Journal of Discourses

Volume 13

By President Brigham Young,

His Two Counsellors, and the Twelve Apostles.

Reported by D. W. Evans and John Grimshaw, and Respectfully Dedicated to the Latter-day Saints in All the World.

Liverpool: Printed and Published by Horace S. Eldredge, 42, Islington.
London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 20, Bishop’s Grove, Islington.

1871

Journal of Discourses, Volume 13. Kindle edition published November 2010 by Ben Crowder. Updated January 2012.

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Table of Contents

Original page numbers are in parentheses.

- Preface

- Responsibility for Teachings—The Word of Wisdom—Co-operation, etc., by Brigham Young (1–4)

- The Axe is Laid to the Root—Exhortation to Faithfulness, by Erastus Snow (5–11)

- Religious Confliction in the World—The Gospel of Jesus Christ, by John Taylor (12–19)

- Contributions for Emigrating the Saints—Word of Wisdom, by George A. Smith (20–21)

- Co-operation—Merchandizing and Productive Business—Doing the Lord’s Will, by Daniel H. Wells (22–29)

- Gathering the Saints—Continuous Faithfulness—Women and Fashions, by Brigham Young (29–37)

- Celestial Marriage—Bishops and Deacons Should be Married—Divorce, by George A. Smith (37–42)

- The Right and Authority of the President Brigham Young, by George Q. Cannon (43–55)

- Obeying the Gospel, etc., by Brigham Young (56–62)

- Revelations and Manifestations of God and of Wicked Spirits, by Orson Pratt (62–75)

- At the Funeral of the Late President Daniel Spencer, by Brigham Young (75–77)

- Historical Discourse, by George A. Smith (77–87)

- Latter-day Saint Families—Preaching the Gospel—Building up the Kingdom, by Brigham Young (87–95)

- The Order of Enoch—Socialistic Experiments—The Social Problem, by George Q. Cannon (95–103)

- Historical Address, by George A. Smith (103–124)

- The Latter-day Kingdom of God—Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon—External Testimony, by Orson Pratt (124–138)

- The Lord’s Supper—Miracles and Manifestations of the Power of God—The Gospel and the Gifts and Blessings Thereof, by Brigham Young (139–150)

- Building up Zion—Temperance in Eating and Drinking, by Brigham Young (150–156)

- The Holy Ghost—Laboring in Faith—The Kingdom of God—Patriarchal Marriage, by Wilford Woodruff (156–169)

- The Source of Intelligence, etc., by Brigham Young (170–178)

- The Right to Lead the Church, etc., by Orson Hyde (179–183)

- Celestial Marriage, by Orson Pratt (183–196)

- Celestial Marriage, by George Q. Cannon (197–209)

- Preaching the Gospel—The Principles and Spirit of the Same, by Brigham Young (209–220)

- How to Know the Things of God, by John Taylor (221–233)

- The Saints are a Strange People Because They Practise What They Profess, by Brigham Young (233–242)

- The Power of Tradition on the Human Mind, by Brigham Young (242–253)

- Acting in the Name of the Lord, by Lorenzo Snow (253–259)

- Meeting in Conference, by Brigham Young (260–261)

- Texts for Preaching upon at Conference, etc., by Brigham Young (261–268)

- The Gospel—The One-man Power, by Brigham Young (268–274)

- The Word of Wisdom—Spiritualism, by Brigham Young (274–283)

- The Gospel, by Lorenzo Snow (284–292)

- Written Sermons and Extempore Preaching—The Priesthood—Opposition to It, by George A. Smith (292–299)

- Gathering the Poor—Religion a Science, by Brigham Young (300–309)

- Keeping the Commandments, by Brigham Young (310–318)

- Remarks by Wilford Woodruff, on the Death of Elder Ezra T. Benson, by Wilford Woodruff (318–327)

- The Gospel of Jesus Christ, by Brigham Young (328–331)

- Bearing False Witness, by George A. Smith (332–334)

- Truth and Error, by Brigham Young (334–336)

- The Gospel and the Things of the World—Consistency—Works as Well as Faith—The Word of Wisdom, by Joseph F. Smith (336–342)

- Proper Conduct in Meeting, by Brigham Young (343–345)

- Organization of the Church, by George A. Smith (345–348)

- The Gospel—Building up the Kingdom, by D. H. Wells (349–353)

- The Latter-day Work—Obeying the Commandments, by Orson Pratt (354–363)

- Punctual Payment of Debts, by Orson Hyde (363–368)

- Our Traditions—Receiving Counsel, by George Q. Cannon (368–376)

Preface

The Thirteenth Volume of the Journal contains discourses upon a great variety of subjects of interest to all Saints, and is well worthy of being carefully preserved and frequently referred to for instruction and encouragement in their endeavors to live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God, through His servants who hold the Holy Priesthood.

THE PUBLISHER

Responsibility for Teachings, etc.

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 7, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

I think I shall not be under the necessity of talking long, as there has been a great deal said to the people this afternoon. I will commence by saying to the Latter-day Saints and to all the inhabitants of the earth that I am responsible for the doctrine I teach; but I am not responsible for the obedience of the people to that doctrine. My position in the presence of God, before the Angels and upon the face of the earth, is that it is easier and more delightful to serve God than to serve ourselves and the devil.

There has been considerable said this afternoon with regard to redeeming and building up Zion, the Order of Enoch, &c. I see men and women in this congregation—only a few of them—who were driven from the central stake of Zion. Ask them if they had any sorrow or trouble; then let them look at the beautiful land that the Lord would have given them if all had been faithful in keeping His commandments, and had walked before Him as they should; and then ask them with regard to the blessings they would have received. If they tell you the sentiments of their minds, they will tell you that the yoke of Jesus would have been easy and his burden would have been light, and that it would have been a delightful task to have walked in obedience to his commands and to have been of one heart and one mind; but through the selfishness of some, which is idolatry, through their covetousness, which is the same, and the lustful desire of their minds, they were cast out and driven from their homes. We have been driven many times; but each time, if they who professed to be the servants of God had served Him with an undivided heart, they would have had the privilege of living in their houses, possessing their lands, attending to their meetings, and spreading abroad on the right and the left, lengthening the cords of Zion, and strengthening her stakes until the land had been dedicated to the Gospel of the Son of God. Well, I have been with the rest and I expect I have been covetous like them, and probably I am now; but if I am, I wish somebody would tell me wherein.

Brother Pratt, in his discourse, had considerable to say with regard to the property of the Saints. I would like very much if the time was now when the Lord would say, “Lay down your substance at the feet of the bishops,” and find out who in this Church would be willing to give up all. This co-operative movement is only a stepping stone to what is called the Order of Enoch, but which is in reality the Order of Heaven. It was revealed to Enoch when he built up his city and gathered the people together and sanctified them, so that they became so holy and pure that they could not live among the rest of the people and the Lord took them away.

Ask any Christian in the world if he thinks the Lord rules and reigns supreme in heaven, and he will tell you, “Yes.” Is it right for the Lord to reign? “Certainly it is.” Ask him if he would delight to live in a place where one character rules and reigns supreme, and he will answer, “Yes, if I could go to heaven.” Why? “Why, the Lord reigns there.” Just ask the Christian if he knows the Lord, and he will tell you, “No.” Did you ever see him? “No.” Can you tell me anything of His character? “No, only He is something without body, parts, and passions.” One of the apostles says that “God is love, and they who dwell in God dwell in love.” Ask the Christian world if they know anything about God, and they will tell you they do not. Ask if He has eyes, and they will say, “No—yes, He is all eyes.” Has he a head? “Yes, He is all head.” Has he ears? “Yes, He is all ears, He is all mouth, He is all body, and all limbs;” and still without body, parts, or passions. Why what do they make of Him? A monster, if He is anything; that is what they make of Him. Would you like to go to heaven? “O, yes,” says the Christian, “the Lord reigns there.” How do you know you would like the place and the order when you get there? Do you think you will have your farm and your substance by yourself, and live in the gratification of your selfish propensities as you now do? “O, no, we expect to be made pure and holy.” Where will you begin to be pure and holy? If you do not begin here, I do not know where you will begin. “O,” says the Christian, “if we are going to heaven, where God and angels dwell, and live where one-man power prevails, we should all be satisfied, I expect.” We, Latter-day Saints, say so, too. We like to see that power manifested by those whom God calls to lead the people in righteousness, purity, and holiness. This opens up a subject that I am not going to talk about.

Brother Orson has spoken on the Word of Wisdom. The people have done pretty well in keeping it for the last year or two. But are they going to continue, or will they return to their old habits like the dog to his vomit, or like the sow that is washed, to her wallowing in the mire? The sale of tobacco, tea, and coffee is increasing in the midst of this people at the present time. What does this prove? It proves that, stealthily or openly, the people are eating and drinking that which is not good for them. Hot drinks, tobacco, and spirits are not good for them. Will the people continue to keep the Word of Wisdom, or will they become like the brutes in the parable, or, like fools, return to that which will injure and destroy them? The elders of Israel have talked a great deal to the people upon the principles of life and about the course they should pursue to lay a foundation for health. Let a mother stimulate her system with tobacco, tea, coffee, or liquor, or suffer herself to hanker after such things at certain times, and she lays the foundation for the destruction of her offspring. Do they realize this? No, and in very many instances they care nothing about it. With all the teachings given to this people I think they are very much like the rest of the world, or like the dumb brute beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed. And it almost seems that the last comparison is the most appropriate, for intelligence is given us to preserve ourselves, to preserve our health and prolong our natural lives, preserve our posterity, preserve and beautify the earth and make it like the Garden of Eden. But what is the disposition of the people? It is true we are in advance of the world, but we are only just commencing to learn the things of God. I know that some say the revelations upon these points are not given by way of commandment. Very well, but we are commanded to observe every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

I cannot say that my family is clear in this respect. They want a little of this and a little of that that it is not wise to use, and I suppose it is the same in other families. Every man, I expect, indulges his wife and children and allows them to take this or that when he knows it is not the best for them. But we, in and of ourselves, ought to be independent; every son and daughter in Israel should say, we will keep the “Word of Wisdom” independent of father, mother, or any elder in the church; we know what is right and we will do it. By so doing this people will increase health in their systems, and the destroying angel, when he comes along, will pass them by. Will you take this course? I, as the leader and dictator of this people, feel disgraced when I think they are becoming slothful and negligent and are returning to their former foolish and useless habits; and, refusing to hearken to the least counsel, are turning away to the counsel of the Evil One and doing that which leads to death.

I want to say a few words still further to the people with regard to their faith in temporal things. If the people called Latter-day Saints do not become one in temporal things as they are in spiritual things, they will not redeem and build up the Zion of God upon the earth. This co-operative movement is a stepping stone. We say to the people, take advantage of it, it is your privilege. Instead of giving it into the hands of a few individuals to make their hundreds and thousands, let the people, generally, enjoy the benefit arising from the sale of merchandize. I have already told you that this will stop the operations of many little traders, but it will make them producers as well as consumers. You will find that if the people unitedly hearken to the counsel that is given them, it will not be long before the hats, caps, bonnets, boots and shoes, pants, coats, vests and underclothing of this entire community will all be made in our midst. What next? Shall we have to run to London, Paris, or New York for the fashions? When I see the disposition among the Latter-day Saints to follow the fashions and customs of the world, I think, why do you stay here? You had better go back again. I am tired of this everlasting ding-dong about fashions. If I happen to have a coat on that is not what is called fashionable, some of my wives will be sure to say, “Husband, or Mr. President, may I give this away;” or, “I wish it was out of sight, it is not fashionable.” If I were to tell the truth I should say, who cares for the fashions of the world? I do not; if I get anything that is comfortable and sits well, and suits my system, it is all I ask. I do not care who wears a bonnet that is six feet above the head behind, twelve feet in front, or that sits close to the crown of her head, or whether it is three straws thrown over the head with ribbons to them. But to see a people who say, “We are the teachers of life and salvation,” and yet are anxious to follow the nasty, pernicious fashions of the day, I say it is too insipid to talk or think about. It is beneath the character of the Latter-day Saints that they should have no more independence of mind or feeling than to follow after the grovelling customs and fashions of a poor, miserable, wicked world. All who do not want to sustain co-operation and fall into the ranks of improvement, and endeavour to improve themselves by every good book and then by every principle that has been received from heaven, had better go back to England, Ireland, France, Scandinavia, or the Eastern States; we do not care where you go, if you will only go.

I will take up my text again—I am responsible for the doctrine I teach. I will say to this people, as I have said ever since I commenced to lift up my voice to the inhabitants of the earth, I will read to them out of the Book of Life. If they will hear it, well; if they will not, I am clear of their blood. I read to the Latter-day Saints out of the Book of Life, and I can give them lessons that will lead them back to the presence of God in the celestial kingdom. But oh, the slothfulness, negligence, and the low, groveling feelings in the midst of this people are a disgrace to them. Will we improve? Yes, let us try and redeem the time and commence anew.

Yesterday we explained a little with regard to co-operation; we can explain just as far as the people wish to hear and know. Those who rise up against this or any other measure do it because darkness and the spirit of the Evil One reign within them. There is not a man and woman in this Church and Kingdom, who is in possession of the Holy Ghost, but what will lift up their hands to heaven and say, “Blessed be God, there is somebody to lead and improve the people,” when they contemplate this movement and the results it will work out; and they who fight against it and feel to murmur are actuated by a spirit from beneath.

I frequently think of the difference between the power of God and the power of the devil. To illustrate, here is a structure in which we can be seated comfortably, protected from the heat of summer or the cold of winter. Now, it required labour, mechanical skill and ingenuity and faithfulness and diligence to erect this building, but any poor, miserable feel or devil can set fire to it and destroy it. That is just what the devil can do, but he never can build anything. The difference between God and the devil is that God creates and organizes, while the whole study of the devil is to destroy. Every one that follows the evil inclinations of his own natural evil heart, is going to destruction, and sooner or later he will be no more. I pray you Latter-day Saints to live your religion. Amen.

The Axe is Laid to the Root, etc.

Erastus Snow

Remarks by Elder Erastus Snow, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, February 28, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

I am requested to occupy a little time this afternoon prior to my departure for my field of labour in the South, and if I can have your faith and prayers, I will try to speak upon a few subjects. A certain very expressive passage of Scripture, contained in the New Testament, has been passing through my mind since I have been sitting here. I will repeat it:—

“Now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore every tree which bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.”

This figure of the fruit tree, though spoken in reference to the followers of the Saviour in his day, is equally as applicable to us as to those to whom it was addressed. There are many other sayings of the Saviour of a similar character, applied to the people of God in reference to the diverse doctrines and teachings of men; also warning them against false prophets and those who might come to them in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly were ravening wolves. He said to his disciples, “By their fruits shall ye know them,” for every tree that bears good fruit is a good tree; but a corrupt tree did not bring forth good fruit.

Now this figure of the axe being laid at the root of the tree, and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire, being equally as applicable to God’s people in these days as to His people in the days in which it was spoken, is very impressive, and should be retained in every mind; every heart should reflect upon it, and every one should inquire, “Am I a subject for the burning, or am I bearing good fruit?”

To answer these questions satisfactorily we must be instructed in the things of God, so that we may understand our duties and know what God requires of us, we must become acquainted with the Kingdom of Heaven and the fruits thereof.

The people of olden times, to whom this saying of the Saviour was addressed, were a peculiar people: they and their fathers before them for many generations had claimed to be the people of God. To their forefathers God had sent His prophets, revealed His word, and he had made His covenant with them, and had blessed them with many blessings. Yet in the days of the Saviour, as a nation, they had apostatized and had fallen from their high position; they had become divided into sects and parties, proud, covetous, self-righteous and very conceited; and the Saviour pronounced many woes upon them. He illustrated their condition in a very noted parable concerning a certain vineyard, which the husbandman rented or let out, and then took his journey into another country. At the proper season the lord of the vineyard sent his servant to receive his share of the fruit of the vineyard; but instead of the men who had leased the vineyard paying up frankly and faithfully what they had stipulated to pay, they refused to pay at all, and also cast the servant out of the vineyard. The lord of the vineyard then sent other servants to seek his share of the fruit of the vineyard, but they were treated in like manner, some of them being beaten, whipped, cast out and slain. Last of all the lord of the vineyard said, “I will send my son; peradventure they will reverence him and have respect to their agreement, and render to him the fruits of the vineyard. But, when the son came, the husbandmen said among themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.” And they seized the son, cast him out and slew him. “Now,” said the Saviour to the people to whom He addressed this parable, “what will be done unto these husbandmen? They answered, “He will miserably destroy those wicked husbandmen, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons.” Said the Saviour in effect, “This is a very righteous judgment; even so shall it be done unto you. I blessed your fathers and established my covenant with them; sent my prophets and revealed my word unto you, their children, and have called upon you all the day long, but you have not brought forth the fruits of the kingdom; you have rejected and slain my prophets, and lastly, you have rejected the Son, therefore I say unto you, the kingdom shall be rent from your hands, and given to another people, who will bring forth the fruits thereof.”

Such was the fate of the Jewish people, because they rejected the prophets who were sent unto them, and, last of all, the Saviour. The Saviour revealed himself first to that people, and first established his church in their midst. He sent his disciples to preach, not to the Gentiles, but to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” They were commanded to confine their labours to these; but they to whom he first sent his disciples did not, as a general thing, listen or obey the message they delivered to them. There were a goodly number who believed and were baptized, and from their midst the priesthood with the Gospel and its ordinances were carried to the Gentile nations, and the Jews, as a nation, were given over to unbelief and hardness of heart, their government destroyed, their towns, cities, and provinces absorbed by surrounding nations, their devoted capital city laid in ruins, and of their beautiful temple not one stone was left on another. So complete was the ruin of their chief city that, subsequently, the very ground upon which it stood was broken up and ploughed like a field.

The apostles and servants of God who were called to be witnesses of Jesus went abroad to the surrounding nations, and everywhere baptized and built up churches, grafting the Gentile nations into the “tame olive tree.” Israel was likened by one of the ancient prophets to a tame olive tree and the Gentile nations to a wild olive tree. It is said by the Apostle Paul that the branches of the tame olive tree were cut off because they were barren and unfruitful, and that the branches of the wild olive tree were grafted into the mother stock and brought forth good fruit. So it was in the preaching of the Gospel; the Gentiles accepted with greater freedom and gladness the testimony of the disciples of Christ. It is not my purpose to enlarge upon the cause why the Jewish race continued to persecute and hedge up the way of the disciples and followers of Christ. Through the mercy of God our Father, salvation came unto many Gentile nations, because they believed the testimony of Jesus proclaimed to them by his disciples; and they were baptized into Christ, and became the seed of Abraham by adoption, while the lineal descendants of Abraham were rejected of God because of their unbelief. They did not bring forth the fruits of the kingdom of God, therefore the kingdom was taken from them and given to another people according as Jesus had predicted.

Now, why was all this? Was it simply because of the sins of their rulers and chief priests, or was it because of the general corruption, unbelief, and wickedness of the whole people? I answer, it was not only the wickedness of their rulers and the corruption and hypocrisy of their priests, but of the whole people, priests and rulers included. In the language of one of the prophets, their teachers taught for hire; their judges judged for reward; their prophets divined for money, and “my people love to have it so, and what shall be the end thereof?” The people had lifted themselves up in pride; they loved gold and silver and precious things, and set up gods whom they might adore. If they did not actually set up graven images and gods of wood and stone, they set up teachers and priests like unto themselves. Their judges and priests took bribes, and their public servants could be bought with money. They sought honour one of another and sought not honour which comes from God alone. In short they lived for the present life only, and did not know how to enjoy it properly, for the fruit of evil doings is always evil, though it oft-times appears tempting and alluring to the inexperienced and thoughtless, and its fruits may be sweet in the mouth, but in the belly they are invariably bitter. The fruits of righteousness are joy, peace, and contentment in this life, and life hereafter; while the fruits of unrighteousness are misery, grief, sorrow, and death. There is nothing more certain than the saying in Scripture.” that the wages of sin is death.” That is as true to-day as it was in the day when it was spoken. No man or woman can do a wrong thing, whether ignorantly or with the intent to do wrong, without sooner or later reaping the bitter fruits of that wrong doing. It is true that the mercy and loving kindness of God our Father comes to the aid of all who sin ignorantly, and lightens their punishment because they sinned ignorantly, and as soon as they were enlightened they turned away and repented before the Lord in sorrow. It is written that he who knoweth his master’s will and doeth it not shall be beaten with many stripes; but he who sins ignorantly, though he may do things worthy of many stripes, shall be beaten with few if he forsakes his evil course when he understands it, inasmuch as his spirit is not defiled thereby. He who consents to and approves of a wrong in his heart, or becomes the aider and abettor of those who do wrong, though he may not be the personal doer of that wrong, may be more culpable and more deserving of punishment than the one who is actually guilty, for the latter, ignorant of the consequences, may be influenced by the former, who knows the results and effects of the wrong done. In such a case the prompter of the evil would be punished far more severely than he who actually committed it. It is a consolation to the righteous to know that God judges not by the sight of the eye, but by the secret thoughts and intents of the heart. The final judgment of the human race is deferred to their next estate, that God may judge the spirit according to the deeds done in the body, His judgment not being passed upon the body, but upon the spirit, the body having paid the penalty of its own faults and errors by death. The spirit is held responsible for the acts done in the body. No spirit can plead, before the bar of Jehovah, the weakness of the flesh as a justification of sin; the latter may be urged in palliation, but not in justification. Our Father is full of mercy, but he cannot look upon sin in any individual with the least degree of allowance; but every spirit must be held responsible, and will have to answer at the bar of God, and will there receive a just and righteous judgment for the deeds done in the body.

But it will be found, in the language of Paul, that some men’s sins have gone to judgment beforehand; others will follow after. In other words, some men will have their accounts balanced and settled in time, before the time for the final reckoning arrives, and when that time comes they will have enough on the credit side of their account to balance the debtor side, and they will stand square, free, and accepted; while those whose sins follow them to judgment will have a long list of accounts unadjusted and a heavy balance against them, with nothing to set off against it.

What class of beings are they who are so highly favoured as to have their sins go to judgment before them? Why, they are they who have repented of their sins, and have ever kept the law of God, and not been anxious to run in debt again. There are many people who, in both spiritual and temporal things, as long as they can have an open book account, are ready to run up bills. But prudent, wise, and careful men and women like to have short reckonings and to know pretty often how they stand and to keep their accounts square. They never lay themselves down to rest, or rise in the morning, without communing with their God and learning the position they occupy in His sight. In our communings with our Father it is our privilege to learn this lesson, and it is one that every Saint should learn. If we live continually so as to enjoy the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, it will hold the mirror before our eyes, and enable us to understand our positions before God as plainly as we behold our natural faces in the glass; and if we have been heedless or negligent in the performance of our duties, it will be presented to our minds, and we will learn our faults, and if we sincerely repent, the whisperings of the Holy Spirit will prompt us as to the course we should take to make things right. If you have slandered, given place to envy or jealousy, or have indulged in backbiting, evil speaking, fault-finding, criticising, or have used an evil influence concerning your brother or sister, the Spirit will say to you, “Go and make that right, ask your friends who have suffered by your folly to be merciful to you and to let your fault be buried.” You will thus pour in the oil, and, as far as in you lies, heal the wound you have inflicted. And when you have thus obtained your brother’s forgiveness you can look up to your Father in Heaven and with confidence ask for His forgiveness.

No individual can wrong another without that wrong being thrown back upon himself. This is just as sure as that your face is reflected in a camera when the light shines upon it. You go into a photographic gallery to have your likeness taken; you sit down opposite the camera, and the effect of the light upon the instrument is to make it reflect an exact likeness of yourself. It is precisely similar with every evil action—they exemplify the truth of the well-known maxim that, “curses come home to roost.” This is universally true. No person can, with impunity, put his fingers in the fire; neither can any person violate the laws of life and health without suffering pain and sickness in consequence. Though the Lord is long-suffering and full of loving kindness, the penalties attending the violations of His laws are sure to overtake the offender sooner or later, and foolish is the man or woman who fosters the delusive hope that it will be otherwise.

The foundation and the seeds of dissolution and death are sown in our tabernacles. The passions of human nature work, ultimately, the overthrow and dissolution of our bodies; and this is no more true than that the spirit, in like manner, works out its own dissolution, that is, whosoever suffers the second death, which is a spiritual death, suffers that death as the legitimate fruit of his evil doings as certainly and as naturally as the body suffers death through the violation of the laws of its own organization. Whether we violate the laws of our organizations ignorantly or otherwise, the results are the same. The child who runs innocently into the fire, ignorant of its power to injure him, is burned just as quick as the grown person who does. You overload the stomach of a child who knows not the capacity of his system, and he suffers the consequence just the same as if he had understood all about it.

The purpose of the Gospel of Christ is to enlighten the mind upon all these subjects, and inasmuch as we are willing to receive instruction we, through it, may learn how to prolong our physical existence here, and how to secure everlasting life in the world to come, or in other words, to enter upon our third estate, which will be glorious and immortal; and in which they who are privileged to enter upon it will be prepared to exercise the highest functions of their existence and to enlarge, increase, and extend for ever, until, like Abraham of old, to their increase there shall be no end, and when the stars of the firmament or the sands of the sea-shore shall be less numerous than their creations. Incomprehensible as this may be to our finite minds, it is a faint view of the glories of the third estate. If we would secure a right to such inestimable blessings, it must be by obedience to the laws of life which God has revealed to us. If we sin wilfully, after having been enlightened as to the consequences of our sin, there remains, says the Apostle Paul, no more sacrifice for sin, but ‘“a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” But if we err in ignorance, and, after having been instructed, we repent of our sins, there is a door of mercy opened for us, and we shall be beaten with few stripes. Such persons, when they have wronged a brother or sister in ignorance, will, upon being convinced of it, go straightway and rectify that wrong. If they have oppressed the hireling in his wages, when they become convinced of the fact, they have gone straightway and made it right, paying him fourfold if necessary. After pursuing such a course the Father forgives them. He says if we do not forgive one another, neither will He forgive us. This principle is laid down in the Scriptures in that beautiful and simple prayer which Jesus taught to his disciples—a specimen of honest, childlike brevity and simplicity. In another place the Saviour says, “Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” If thy brother is not convinced of his wrong doing, do not be discouraged at the failure to convince him; but try again. Get some brother, who is filled with faith, love, and charity, to go with you to use his influence with him, and if you do not succeed in melting the icicle from your brother’s heart, your friend will, at least, be your witness before the Lord that you have fulfilled your part; and your unforgiving brother, will be held accountable. Our account is then settled, inasmuch as we obey the ordinances of the House of God—the conditions upon which the children of men may find favour with God. If we have wronged our brother, stolen his property, swindled him out of it unrighteously, or obtained it without having the means to pay him for it, we should repent and make restitution, even if we have to become his servant until he is satisfied, then our Father, who is the judge between us, will “say it is enough. The same principle will hold good with regard to any other evil. If we, through covetousness for filthy lucre, have oppressed the hireling, or have neglected to relieve the wants of the sick and destitute, the Lord’s poor will rise up in judgment against us. They will say, “I was naked, and ye clothed me not; I was sick and in prison, and ye visited me not.” And Jesus himself will be the accuser of such. He has said that he will place such persons at his left hand among the goats, and will say unto them, “Depart from me, I know you not.” Many of them may expostulate and inquire, “Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?” But Jesus will answer, “Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me.”

There were some anciently who seemed to obtain light enough to appreciate these sentiments, and who, in accordance with the counsels of the Saviour, forsook their evil ways and sought to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, and by doing good with their ill-gotten gains, they, in some measure repaired the wrongs they had done. These good deeds will stand on the credit side of their accounts.

There is in the human breast a constant tendency to the allurements of this life. The wants of the present are over forcing themselves upon our attention; while that which is in the future we are apt to put off till another day. The cravings of the stomach must be looked after today; these shivering limbs we must clothe to-day before another storm. Says one, “I must erect this house over the heads of my wives and children before next winter.” And thus the wants of the present constantly impel us to action, while things pertaining to eternity are neglected, forgotten, or laid over till a more convenient opportunity. This procrastination—“the thief of time”—we should guard against; and whenever we detect ourselves with an inclination to neglect our duties to God or each other, and think only of self, we should instantly check the uprising of this passion, and should never fail, when we have it in our power and the opportunity presents itself, to administer to the wants of the poor and needy; or, what is still better, devise ways and means which will enable them to administer to their own necessities. The latter is always preferable. Those who are the Lord’s poor always prefer to provide for their own necessities than to be dependent upon others. They who are able to provide for themselves, but would rather have others bear the burdens of life for them, are not the Lord’s poor, they are the devil’s poor. They covet their neighbour’s property—his food, house, horse and carriage, and peradventure his wife. They desire that which he possesses, without going to and earning them as he has done. It is not he who is most successful in gathering around him the goods of this life, who is always the most covetous.

I refer to these things, which have been so often spoken, by way of reminding us of that which is written, and to which the spirit of the Lord continually urges attention. Let us then, my brethren and sisters, beware of pride, lest we become like the Nephites of old. It seems from reading their history that a very few years sufficed for them to rise from a state of humility, enjoying the favour of God, to one of haughtiness and pride. There is a continual tendency to this state of feeling in the human mind. In the days of our humility we feel after God; but when prosperity comes, too many of us are apt to forget Him, and to feel that all our wants are supplied. A sister says, “I have a good husband, who prays for me and my children, and provides for our wants; he is a guide sufficient for me.” She forgets to pray for herself, or for husband and children. Is she saved because of her believing and faithful husband? It is true that his prayers, good works, and the good spirit continually with him, are blessings thrown around her to aid her in her onward path to glory and exaltation; but unless she herself improves these favourable circumstances she, in the end, will sink while he rises. On the other hand, a sister who is faithful to her God, her covenants, her husband, children, and friends, who ceases not to call upon the name of the Lord though her husband may neglect to pray with his family, and to magnify his calling as a man of God, the day will come when he will sink, while she will rise and be given to a faithful man. So with children who, beholding the evil deeds of father and mother, follow the good counsels of friends who feel after them, and call upon God continually and do His will, while father and mother perish out of their sight for ever and ever; God will exalt them and may give them to good men and women who, perhaps, were never blessed with children.

Those who plant good seed will surely eat the fruit thereof; while those who neglect to cultivate good seed will surely go down to perdition; for, in the language of the Scripture I first repeated, “Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.”

May God Almighty bless us, and help us to remember these things, and to live them as Saints of God should, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Religious Confliction in the World, etc.

John Taylor

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Old Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, March 14, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

We meet together from time to time to hear of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God on the earth. We have our own peculiar views in relation to many things that occupy the minds of men, and we have been in the habit of investigating the principles of the Gospel, and our minds are more or less occupied with affairs connected with the welfare of humanity, whether associated with the present life or that which is to come.

There is a common tendency in the minds of men generally to take very little trouble in relation to religious matters; and men of all nations seem more disposed to let others think and act for them in such matters than to do so for themselves; hence, those who are disposed to prey upon the credulous, have every opportunity to accomplish their ends. Another point upon which men do not reflect much, is the fact that between this and the spirit world there is a veil drawn, which can only be penetrated through the medium which the Scriptures unfold. There we are told that “no man can understand the things of God but by the Spirit of God;” hence, though men may reason upon natural principles, and speak logically on most of the common affairs of life, when they attempt to investigate the principles of religion, and the nature of our relationship to God, they seem to be at a loss; and not being willing on the one hand to acknowledge their own weakness, ignorance, and imperfection, nor on the other hand, to acknowledge the hand of the Almighty, they know not what course to pursue. On account of these various feelings in the world a great many errors of every kind have crept in and have led the human mind astray. The Christian portion of the world are apt to look with contempt upon what is called the heathen, and wonder how men possessing any degree of intelligence can be led to worship stocks and stones and gods of their own making. Yet millions, under the influence of priestcraft do this, and they think they are right and that they are on the high road to Heaven. The Christian world, too, feel that it is all right with them in reference to a future life; in fact, they feel, in respect to religious matters, about as the Athenians did about the goddess Diana—that she had descended from Heaven and that all the world knew it. The various sects of the Christian world—Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Church of Rome, and others, no matter what their peculiar creeds or forms of worship may be—entertain the idea that they are all on the highway to Heaven. They build magnificent churches and pay thousands of ministers; they are also very zealous in missionary labours, and contribute largely for the support of charitable institutions. But it is very few of them who reflect upon first principles; they do not like to trouble themselves on such matters.

I have travelled a great deal, and have come in contact with professors of every creed; but they almost invariably like to assume, without contradiction, that they are right and that their fathers before them were. They do not like the idea to be entertained for a moment that the principles, doctrine, and ordinances they believe in and obey may be wrong, or that there is any possibility of the whole so-called Christian church having departed from the faith and ordinances as laid down in the Gospel by Jesus Christ.

The Methodists, for instance, could not for a moment suppose that John Wesley was not competent to judge all matters pertaining to salvation. Wesleyan ministers will hardly permit his doctrines to be questioned; they must be swallowed without investigation. In fact, I have heard some of them say that he was a man of such erudition, talent, and piety that they would not have his doctrines questioned in their hearing. The Protestant Germans and a great many others are just the same with regard to Luther; yet in some of his ideas and principles the great Reformer was as foolish as any other man. The Scotch are a good deal so with John Knox; they think that he was everything good, praiseworthy, and amiable, and, in fact, that he was the pink of perfection. The Roman Catholics will not for a moment admit that they are not the true church; and they will maintain that they have held the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven from the days of Peter until now, find that they still have the pure doctrines of the Gospel, and have power to bind on earth and in Heaven, and to loose on earth and in Heaven. You may ask a great many who have seceded from the Church of Rome, and you would and that they have similar ideas about their own infallibility, only they are a little better than those from whom they seceded; they have made some improvements and are a little nearer the celestial kingdom.

Feelings of this kind obtain not only among religionists, but also among philosophers, for some Christian philosophers have brought in philosophy to their aid in order to prove the truth of the Christian religion. Paley and Dick, very prominent Christian philosophers, have examined the works of nature, and have endeavoured to prove that the God of nature who controlled all these things must be a Being full of love, intelligence, and power. In their investigations they have examined the anatomical and visceral systems of man, beasts, birds, and insects, and have deduced therefrom many arguments which are interesting and incontrovertible. But when they apply their reasoning to the Christian religion they swallow it at one gulp without investigation. Their arguments go to prove the existence of a Supreme Being, a God; but they do not prove the truth or falsity of the Christian or any other system of religion—they have nothing at all to do with them.

People generally are apt to accept the various religious systems of the day without reasoning or investigation. When I was a little boy I used to ponder over such things; and I do so still. Finding myself an inhabitant of the world, surrounded by ten thousand conflicting opinions on religious subjects, I want to know ‘what is truth?’ Who has it in his possession? Where shall we find it? If I were among the heathen, and had been taught to worship an alligator, I should not think it right to worship a cat; and if it was right to worship a cat, it would not be to worship a bull; and if a bull, it would not be to worship a snake; and if a snake, it would not be to worship a monkey; and if a monkey, it would not be to worship sun, moon, or stars. Were I among the Christians I would think if the Baptists are right the Presbyterians are not; if the Presbyterians are right then the Baptists are not; if the Church of England is right then the others are wrong; if the Roman Catholics are right then others are wrong; and if any of the others are right the Roman Catholics are wrong. I cannot conceive of two ways to go to Heaven and both right. I cannot think of a God of intelligence, who has created the whole human family, and who has organized every living thing, and adapted them to the varied positions which they occupy, being the author of the confusion that exists in the world in relation to the forms of worship. But if God is not the author of it, who is? Where did it come from? I know that men generally are not inclined to investigate these subjects.

When I was a boy I used to be connected with the Church of England. Theirs is a pleasant kind of religion. I liked it very well when I was connected with it. They pay the parson for preaching and pay the clerk for saying “Amen.” No difficulty about the matter, everything moved along pleasantly. Nobody thought of questioning the parson. They considered the whole system correct, and that they were all on the way to Heaven. The Roman Catholics feel a good deal the same way, only their religion is not quite so easy. They have to do penance sometimes; if they do wrong they may get absolution, but they have to pay for it.

In talking with Church of England ministers I have sometimes asked them where they got their authority from. That is a kind of question they hardly deem admissible, but they would say, “Well, if we must confess, we got it from the Roman Catholics.” Where did they get it from? “From Peter.” But, unfortunately, you Episcopalians say that the Roman Catholics are in error. “Yes, they are in error.” Well, if that be the case, how could they confer power upon you? Do not the Scriptures say if a tree is bad its fruit will be bad? “Oh,” say they, “they might retain their power even if they had lost their virtue.” Oh, indeed; you admit that much. Well, if they had power to bind on earth and to bind in Heaven, they had power to loose on earth and to loose in Heaven; and if they had power to give the priesthood they had power to take it away, and if they cut you off you have no authority. They do not like to reason upon these things; but I do. I like to know the “whys” and “wherefores” in all such things, and to understand their foundation, especially in matters pertaining to man’s eternal welfare. I have generally taken the liberty of applying the word of God to principles of religion whether taught by the Methodists, Church of England, Roman Catholics, or any others; and when “Mormonism” was presented to me my first inquiry was, “Is it Scriptural? Is it reasonable and philosophical?” This is the principle I would act upon to-day. No matter how popular the theories or dogmas preached might be, I would not accept them unless they were strictly in accordance with the Scriptures, reason, and common sense.

I used to be told when investigating religious principles that it was dangerous to do so, and I had better let them alone; but I did not think so. I believe it is good to investigate and prove all principles that come before me. Prove all things, hold fast that which is good, and reject that which is evil, no matter what guise it may come in. I think if we, as “Mormons,” hold principles that cannot be sustained by the Scriptures and by good sound reason and philosophy, the quicker we part with them the better, no matter who believes in them or who does not. In every principle presented to us, our first inquiry should be, “Is it true?” “Does it emanate from God?” If He is its Author it can be sustained just as much as any other truth in natural philosophy; if false it should be opposed and exposed just as much as any other error. Hence upon all such matters we wish to go back to first principles.

If I am a man, where did I come from, and what is the nature of my existence and being here? I want information on these points, if anybody can give it. If I had an existence before I came here I want to know something about it. If there is a God and anybody on the earth ever knew anything about Him, I want to know something about, Him. If there are wise, intelligent, and learned men anywhere who can tell me anything about Him, about my own existence and future destiny, I want to know it. These desires are reasonable; why should they not be gratified? You go to the heathen and inquire about God, and they have thousands of them in every form. Go to the Christians and they have one God, but he has neither body, parts, nor passions; his presence is everywhere, but he exists nowhere. They have never heard nor seen him, and they do not know anybody who ever did, not even their ministers, whom, they claim, are sent of God. They are equally as ignorant in relation to their own existence and the ends of their creation. They say they are going to Heaven, but all they can tell you about it is that it is beyond the bounds of time and space.

This kind of doctrine does not suit me. I can read in the Scriptures that men used to converse with God, and that angels conversed with them; that others had visions and could read the purposes of God as they were unfolded before them. But come to the present day when, according to their own account, the most intelligent people that ever were upon the earth are now in existence, and they know nothing about God or His purposes. I care nothing about such knowledge and wisdom. In the language of the old prophet I say, “My soul, enter not thou into their secret.” I want something that is intellectual and true, and that will bear investigation.

When I turn to the Gospel as taught by Jesus, I find that he sent his disciples into all the world and commanded them to preach the Gospel to every creature, saying, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.” This Gospel was no pliant thing, as in this day, that men could receive or refuse as they pleased, or that they could tinker to suit their own notions; but when preached, it involved the salvation or damnation of those who heard it.

When the apostles commenced to preach the Gospel, Jesus said it was necessary for him to go away, for if he went away he would send them the Comforter—the Holy Spirit—which should call all things to their remembrance and show them things to come. This was something very important; a religion that would do this was a religion fit for immortal men. Why should men, made in the image and after the likeness of God, be ignorant of themselves, of their pre-existence, and their future destiny? The religion that Jesus came to teach instructs men in relation to these subjects and puts them in possession of correct information. Well, then, I do not want to go to any of the old doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, or to the Episcopalians, Calvinists, or Lutherans. I want the doctrines that were promulgated by the disciples of Jesus on the day of Pentecost, through obedience to which men may gain the power and inspiration that were enjoyed by them, in accordance with the promises which Jesus had, made. On that day we read that the disciples began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. People from different nations heard them preach the Gospel in their own tongues, and they marvelled and thought they were drunken with new wine. Peter told them that it was not so, “but,” said he, “this is that which was spoken by the prophet: It shall come to pass in the last days that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions, and upon my servants and handmaidens I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy.” It was the pouring out of the Spirit of God in fulfilment of this prophecy. It was the revelation of God to man; it was the introduction of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; it was the power of the Lord God manifested through obedience to the Gospel.

When the people saw these wonderful manifestations, they said, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” I have often reflected upon this saying. If men were to ask this question now among the Methodists they would tell them to come to the mourner’s bench and be prayed for. Some of the other sects would tell them pretty much the same thing. I have seen operations of this kind take place. When their preachers get people excited, they get them to the mourner’s bench and they commence praying, and tell the people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The mourner may say, “I do believe;” but his only answer will be, “Well, you must believe.” “I do believe,” says the mourner again. “Well, you must believe,” is the reply again, and that is about all the minister or the people know about it. Some will say the believer must be baptized; but upon the mode of baptism they are very much divided in opinion. Some say they must be sprinkled; others say the water must be poured upon the believer; while others say that immersion is the correct method. The Methodists are very pliable on this point—they give a man a chance to have which method he pleases; their ministers do not know which is right, so they give the sinner the privilege to take which he likes.

I have reflected upon these matters a good deal. It was very different in former days. When they asked on the day of Pentecost what they were to do to be saved, said Peter, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost.” This was the command to all—to the doctors, lawyers, Pharisees, and pious people, as well as to the harlot, publicans, and thieves. This was the doctrine of the Apostolic Church. The question with me is, “If this was the true Gospel 1800 years ago, is it not the same to-day?” This is a question I have often put to priests when I was very young, and they would tell me not to trouble myself about such things, they were for the consideration of wiser people. But when I investigated further I found that these “wiser people” knew nothing about it.

The Methodists, Presbyterians, and others tell us they have the Gospel and the Holy Ghost. I am glad if they have, but if they have, they will be able to show the fruits of the Gospel, for it will produce the same results now as then. Eighteen hundred years ago, if a man sowed wheat it produced the same as to-day; and if he sowed barley or corn, he reaped the same, for what a man sows that shall he reap. The animal called a horse in those days is not a jackass or a mule now, but is a horse still. Two and two made four then the same as to-day. The Gospel of Jesus Christ produced certain results then, and it will produce the same to-day, or it is not the Gospel. This is the way I reason. “Well,” the inquirer may say, “if the Gospel does not exist anywhere but among you Latter-day Saints, where did you get it from?” We believe God has spoken. Joseph Smith said an angel came and administered to him and revealed the Gospel to him as it existed in former days, and Joseph declares further, that he was ordained by holy angels, and was commanded to go forth and preach the everlasting Gospel. I find in reading the Bible that there is a prophecy in relation to this matter. John says in his revelation, “I saw another angel flying in the midst of Heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, crying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come, and worship Him that made the heavens, earth, the seas, and the fountains of water.”

What is meant by the everlasting Gospel? I know that some people think there was no Gospel until Jesus came; but it is a great mistake. Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses had the Gospel; and when Jesus came he came to offer himself a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and to bring back the Gospel which the people had lost. “Well,” says one, “do you mean to affirm that the men you have just named had the Gospel?” I do, and hence it is called the everlasting Gospel. “How do you know?” Why, the Scriptures say the Gospel held the keys of the mysteries of the revelation of God. Now, Adam was in possession of these things; he was in possession of the spirit of prophecy and revelation. He talked with God, and it was through the medium of the Gospel he was enabled to do it. Enoch also conversed with and had revelations from God, and finally he was not, for God took him. Noah conversed with God, and God told him to build an ark, and gave him revelations about the size of it and the kind of animals he was to introduce into it. And wherever the Gospel existed there was a knowledge of God. Moses had the Gospel and so had Abraham, and they communicated with Him from time to time. And by what medium was this done? It was through the medium of the Gospel. “Do you mean to affirm,” says the objector, “that Moses had the Gospel?” Yes; let us take the Bible for it; we all believe in that. In that book we read that “unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them.” We are also told that the Gospel was preached to them, but that it did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it, therefore the law was added because of transgression. Added to what? Why, to the Gospel, which the Scriptures say Moses preached to the children of Israel. In the New Testament we read, Gal. 3rd chapter and 8th verse, “For the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed.” It was through the medium of the Gospel that Abraham obtained these promises. Now, some people think the law of Moses, as it is called, was given to the children of Israel as a peculiar kind of a blessing; but it was a peculiar kind of a curse, added because of transgression. It was as Peter said—neither they nor their fathers were able to bear it.

We read also that Jesus came and was a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec. Who was Melchizedec? He was the man who blessed Abraham, the father of the faithful, yet Melchizedec was greater than Abraham, for verily the lesser is blessed of the greater. For wherever and whenever the Gospel has existed there has been the opening of the heavens, revelations and visions given to men; and wherever the Gospel has not existed there has been no vision, no revelation, no communication between the heavens and the earth. Hence that which is called the Gospel in the Christian world is not the Gospel, but a perversion of it.

When Jesus came he came to do away with the law and to introduce the Gospel that their fathers had lost because of transgression. After its restoration by Jesus the same results followed: the heavens were opened, the purposes of God unfolded, and His power made manifest among the people.

Joseph Smith’s mission was to restore this same Gospel in its fulness. He brought back the same Gospel that Jesus taught, the same faith and repentance, the same baptism for the remission of sins, and the same laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the same Holy Ghost with all its powers and blessings. This is the doctrine and these the principles we profess to believe in. We do not profess to have received our authority from the Church of England or any other sect: it came directly from God by the ministration of holy angels. The Gospel that we preach is the everlasting Gospel; it reaches back into the eternities that are past; it exists in time and it stretches forward into the eternities to come, and everything connected with it is eternal. Our marriage relations, for instance, are eternal. Go to the sects of the day and you will find that time ends their marriage covenants; they have no idea of continuing their relations hereafter; they do not believe in anything of the kind. It is true there is a kind of natural principle in men that leads them to hope it may be so; but they know nothing about it. Our religion binds men and women for time and all eternity. This is the religion that Jesus taught—it had power to bind on earth and to bind in Heaven, and it had power to loose on earth and to loose in Heaven. We believe in the same principles, and we expect, in the resurrection, that we shall associate with our wives and have our children sealed to us by the power of the holy priesthood, that they may be united with us worlds without end. The Gospel we preach is like the Melchizedec priesthood—without beginning of days or end of years.

There is something pleasant in this. I do not want uncertainty about my eternal welfare; I do not want to dream away my existence and be governed by somebody’s ipse dixit in regard to the future; I do not want to pay a man a few dollars to take care of my soul; I beg the privilege of doing that myself with the assistance of my brethren in the priesthood.

Why, these Christians, so called, cannot trust their God in anything. To show the difference in the workings of their systems and ours I will refer briefly to my early experience amongst them. When young I used to attend their missionary meetings. Their preachers would get up and tell about the dreadful state of the heathen, and in order that they might be converted, the members of the various religious bodies used to subscribe thousands and thousands of pounds to send them abroad and support them while there. I have known them make mathematical calculations about how many souls a missionary might convert, and what it would cost to support him during the time he was doing it; and then they would say if they could have the amounts collected for missionary purposes duplicated, triplicated, or increased a thousand times, there might be so many more heathen converted. Those men would not go out as the apostles did—without purse or scrip. Jesus commanded them to go so in order to try the world. And when Joseph Smith sent out his apostles and disciples he said, Go without purse or scrip. I have travelled thousands and hundreds of thousands of miles that way; and many of my brethren have done the same thing. Have we lacked anything necessary? No, never. The Gospel of Jesus Christ always took good care of me, and to-day I would rather trust in God under such circumstances than in any of the princes of the earth. This is the way our religion has spread, and it has progressed because God has been with and blessed the labours of His servants; and peace, harmony, and union prevail in our midst. Many have got angry with us, but that is nothing new; the wicked have always shown anger when the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been upon the earth.

Many have tried to stay the progress of the work of God, but it has continued to roll on in spite of all the opposition with which it has had to contend. The prophet saw a little stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and it continued to roll and smote the feet of the image made of clay, brass, silver, gold, and iron, and it became as the chaff of the summer threshing floor; but the little stone grew and increased until it became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

It will be so with this stone which God has hewn out in these last days; and though men may combine to stay its progress and may set themselves in array against the Lord and His anointed, yet He will come out of His hiding place and will vex such people and nations, and He will overturn and overturn until Truth shall prevail the wide world over, and until His kingdom shall reach from the rivers to the ends of the earth; until all men shall bow to the sceptre of Immanuel; until the wicked shall be rooted from the earth, and His kingdom shall be established and given to His Saints to possess for ever and ever.

May God help us to be faithful in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Contributions for Emigrating the Saints, etc.

George A. Smith

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 6, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

I am glad, my brethren and sisters, of meeting with you again in General Conference. Our Conferences form a peculiar feature in our history, and the people in all parts of the Territory look forward to these occasions with far more than ordinary interest, and make calculations to participate therein.

The past six months have been a period of remarkable interest. There has been a marked advancement in the progress of the work of the Lord and a great increase and improvement in the knowledge, sentiments, and feelings of the Saints since our last Conference, perhaps more so than in the same space of time at any period in the history of the Church since its organization. The Saints are becoming more united in their business relations, and in all their associations for the purpose of accomplishing the work that is before them, and if the old adage, “Union is strength,” be true, we are certainly growing stronger.

The teachings during this Conference will, as a matter of course, have a tendency to increase this union, to enlarge the understandings and judgments of the Saints, and to banish certain antiquated ideas which, more or less, have been woven into our being, and have formed part of our existence, enable us to free ourselves from the shackles of tradition and ignorance and to move forward more effectually in the discharge of those duties devolving upon us in connection with the great and glorious work which God has entrusted to our charge. It will also be necessary for us to take into consideration the different points pertaining to the progress of that work.

It was a saying of Joseph Smith, that he taught the people correct principles and they governed themselves. A feeling has been engendered and sent abroad that the Latter-day Saints are subject to bondage; but instead of this being so, they are controlled wholly on the principle to which I have just referred, as having been enunciated by Joseph—they are taught correct principles and then govern themselves. When the elders of Israel have succeeded in informing the minds of the Saints in relation to any topic pertaining to the work of God in the last days, they have accomplished a great work, and that work is followed by a feeling of willingness and obedience to carry out that principle on the part of the great mass of the Saints.

Last year we made an effort to bring home the Saints from the Old World, and a pretty strong emigration was the result. It will be remembered that when the matter was first agitated, it seemed as if there was but a small amount of means to be obtained. Many of the brethren in the wards felt that they could do but little, but they went to work and brought home some five thousand Saints. This same work is still before us, and appeals to our sympathy, and we still have occasion to call the attention of each other to the importance of the work of bringing home to Zion our brethren and sisters in foreign lands who are deprived of the privileges that we enjoy because of their inability to gather. An appeal is to be made from this Conference to the Saints generally throughout the Territory, to contribute again of their substance to bring home the Saints from foreign lands.

The facilities for gathering the Saints are far greater than they have been heretofore. We wish to say to any of those who are already gathered, who may be indebted to those who are left behind, that they should remember and discharge their obligations. We also advise the Saints to write to their friends abroad and inform them how things are progressing here. I am aware that when the people land here there are many inconveniences with which they have to contend, and they have to struggle for a time before they can again make a start in the world; but they should not, on that account, forget the brethren and sisters they have left behind, and especially those who may have advanced means to aid them in emigrating. One of our first great duties should be to square our accounts and to stand honourably with our fellow-beings.

Although a great advance has been made within the last two years in the observance of the “Word of Wisdom,” there is yet room to talk on that subject. We find that the tobacco trade is still very considerable in this Territory, and we cannot yet lose sight of the fact that we are compelled to pay a tribute to the Emperor of China for tea, and to the Emperor of Brazil for coffee; and there are still men in Israel who do not seem to realize the importance of observing the “Word of Wisdom.” It is, therefore, necessary to preach, teach, and exhort, and to enforce upon the Saints the importance of its observance, for it is preparatory to great blessings which God has in store for the faithful. The elders will instruct us in relation to these matters as the Spirit of the Lord may dictate.

It has been my privilege this last month to visit most of the branches in the southern part of the Territory. At a large portion of those branches I have attended meetings, and have seen many of the brethren and sisters, and I feel to testify that in all my travels in Zion, I have not found a better spirit, a more united determination, or a warmer feeling with regard to the work of the Lord, and to build up His kingdom, than I found on this visit. I felt thankful to learn that our brethren in the cotton country were filled with the spirit and were zealous for the accomplishment of their work, and that they were progressing very satisfactorily in the accomplishment of their mission, or at any rate that portion of them who have taken hold of it with the zeal which becomes men who are honoured with the privilege of labouring in any department for the building up of Zion. The testimony of the work of the Lord in the hearts of the Saints is a living and abiding testimony. While the work is progressing we must be alive to the fact, and we must not get behind, we must be faithful, live humble before the Lord, observe His counsels and laws, not even forgetting the principles contained in the “Word of Wisdom.” If we take this course the blessings of life and peace will continue to abide with us, which may God grant in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Co-operation, etc.

Daniel H. Wells

Remarks by President D. H. Wells, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 7, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

After our usual custom we have met in a general council of the church to receive instruction in those things which are necessary for the government and well-being of the people, and to be instructed in that which is calculated to promote our best interests. At our Conferences a general interchange of thought and feeling in the midst of Israel takes place. At these meetings we receive great blessings; rich treasures of knowledge and understanding are opened up, and made known to the people throughout the valleys of the mountains. We come here to be instructed; we gather from the nations of the earth that we may be taught in the ways of the Lord and that we may learn to walk in His paths.

We can see a glorious future before us; we can dwell upon the words of the holy prophets and picture to ourselves great things in time to come concerning the beauty and glory of Zion, when she shall be built up. We can talk of exaltations in the Kingdom of God, of thrones, dominions principalities, and powers, but how are we going to attain to these things? It seems as though, when we receive the Gospel and our hearts are lit up with the spirit of truth, we expect, without any particular effort on our part, at some time in the future, to attain to these great excellencies and glories. We are a good deal like children. We tell them of reading and writing, but they will never be able to do either, unless they take the trouble to learn. We often hear it said that if we wish to have a heaven we shall have to create it for ourselves. There is considerable truth in this. In the days of Joseph could he have accomplished with this people what can now be accomplished in the days of Brigham? No; it would have been impossible. I remember hearing him talk, and seeing his endeavours to establish merchandizing on a similar footing to that which has been recently introduced among the Saints; but there were difficulties in the way.

In those days there was a tendency of feeling that each should share alike in everything, so much so that it was impossible for any man to do business in the mercantile line. A good brother who was needy would think it was selfish if he could not go to a store and get what he wanted without paying the money for it. It was a good deal so when we first came here. Let a brother commence the mercantile business, and the first thing he knew his whole capital stock was credited out to the brethren. He could not refuse to credit a brother. O, no! if he did it was said at once that he was selfish and was no friend to the poor. I have never seen the time when cooperation could have been established in the midst of the people until the present. Some will doubtless find fault with it now; but we do not expect to be clear of fault-finders. We have to be instructed; and the Lord has been merciful and kind. He has sought all the day long to train us in the way we should go. We never can learn the principles pertaining to the building up of the Kingdom of God while scattered abroad; hence, the necessity of gathering together that we may be instructed in the ways of the Lord.

There is a great tendency among the people to go into the business of trading, and to shun the more laborious pursuits and avocations of life. A great many seem to think that trading or merchandizing is more genteel, and that it is more gentlemanly not to learn some profitable trade or business. A considerable number who have been engaged in mercantile pursuits, owing to this change in our system of business, will no doubt be thrown out of employment; they will have to seek other avocations. Some persons who possess capital will have to seek other avenues in which to invest that capital. In a new country like this there is a variety of ways open to them for its safe and profitable investment.

A man may invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods and put them on his shelves, and in his warehouses, and dispose of them again to other parties; but what does such a man produce or create with his means that is beneficial to his fellow creatures? Nothing; it is merely an interchange. It is useful and necessary in its way and place, and it is all well enough; but sufficient should be done and no more than sufficient. Trading is overdone; there are too many employed in this kind of business; they should seek employment in some other way, and find other channels for investing their capital that are better calculated to produce something from the earth, and bring forth from the elements that which is necessary for the comfort and well-being of man and beast. Just think how many things could be raised and manufactured here, that, if we had them to-day, would fetch very remunerative prices. Butter, for instance, that at the present time is selling for a dollar and a quarter a pound, in a country like this should not bring more than twenty-five cents. Cheese the same. These two articles are imported twelve or fifteen hundred miles, and then the Territory is not near supplied. Wool and flax, too, might be raised profitably; not near enough of these is raised; and in these articles our surplus means might be safely and profitably invested. There is not near enough grain raised in the Territory. Wheat is selling to-day at four dollars a bushel, when it should not be more than half that price, and even then would well remunerate the producer. It is so with every other article of our own consumption and that is required for the sustenance of our animals; and the same may be said of the animals themselves. Stock raising offers a profitable avenue for the investment of means. Here are many avenues in which they, who have been overturned in their mercantile pursuits, can invest their means, which will pay larger profits, and which are far less liable to fluctuation, because mercantile pursuits are often subject to great depression through being overdone, or through scarcity of money and other causes. If a person has a farm his produce will keep until he can obtain remunerative prices, and he is more free and independent than the merchant; for the earth being his banker, he is not called upon to meet his bills and obligations by any particular and specified time, as the merchant is. By turning our attention in these directions our capital may be safely and profitably invested, and many who are now but little better than idlers in Israel might be remuneratively employed.

I should say let every young man, and woman too, learn some way to procure their own subsistence, and to promote their own independence; this is incumbent upon all. No person should be above learning some useful occupation, trade, or business that is calculated to produce something for his own and the general benefit. Hundreds and thousands of articles are imported here that might just as well be made in our midst, and if they were made here it would render us, as a people, a great deal more independent and comfortable than we are now. That man only is truly rich who knows how to provide for himself and his household. I do not care how much means he has in his possession, he only is independent who has the means of subsistence within himself, who has the capability of going forth, and, by his own industry, drawing from the elements those things which are necessary for his own subsistence.

I remember reading an anecdote of Stephen Girard and of a young man he had had in his employment a long time, who had received some encouragement, and had large expectations from him, that when he had attained his majority he would set him up in business. When that time arrived, instead of giving the young man a draft for a certain amount of money, he told him to go and serve an apprenticeship to some useful trade, by which, in case of a reverse of fortune, he would be enabled to earn his own subsistence. The young man went and bound himself to a cooper and learned that trade. In a year’s time he went back to his patron with a barrel of his own make. The old gentleman examined the barrel, and asked the price he could afford them at, and was told “a dollar each.” Mr. Girard said it was a good article, and worth the money, and if he could make as good barrels as that for that price, he had insured to himself a living in any event that, might happen. For his obedience in going and learning a trade as the old gentleman had directed him, he was rewarded with a check for twenty-five thousand dollars to set him up in business.

In case of any reverse of fortune this man had something to fall back upon. I have always thought this was a very good principle to act upon. I would like to see all of our young men learn some useful trade or occupation which would produce for them an honourable living by their own industry; and if they acquire this in early life, habits of industry and order become natural.

By industry we thrive; industry, in the mechanical and agricultural pursuits, is the foundation of our independence, and they who obtain a livelihood by habits of industry are far more honourable members of society than they who live by their wits.

I heard recently of a city that the outsiders are endeavouring to start, called Corinne, which it is said is to be the great city of the interior West. Who are going there to expend their labour? Can cities be built without labour? I think not. I have no idea that a great city will be built in the location designated, unless a different class of people go there than is to be found in such places generally. I have no doubt that the soil is rich, and that by industry the elements necessary for the building up of a great city could be developed. But any person who expects that a large city is going to be reared without industry and hard labour reckons without his host. There may be a rush there, for a short time, of speculators, loafers, and rowdies; but if these are the only classes of people who go there—as there is good reason to believe—this great city that is to be, like others of the same class, will soon die out, and the people be scattered to some other places.

Can men be industrious and follow the various avocations and pursuits of life and still be servants of God? Yes, such things are conducive to good morals. It is said that an idle brain is the workshop of the devil, and it is far more likely to be so than the brain of a person who is occupied with some useful employment. Can a person work on the railroad, for instance, and be associated with the wicked without being contaminated by them? O yes, if he is so disposed. An elder of Israel should wrap himself as with a mantle, from sin, whether he goes to preach the Gospel to a wicked world, or whether he goes to labour among the wicked. Such a man will lose nothing, but he will gain the esteem even of the wicked themselves, by being faithful and true to his calling, keeping the commandments of God, and observing the Word of Wisdom; and no matter what society he may be in he will be respected, and will be far more likely to be so for the strict observance of the principles of the religion he professes than he will be if he does not observe them. I do not know that it is any excuse for a man to smoke, chew, drink whisky, take the name of God in vain, swear, or drink tea or coffee because he mingles with those who do such things. Do you think your associates would respect you the more for it? No, not a whit; but they would respect you more for not doing such things. They would have greater confidence in you, and if they had money they wished to entrust to the care of any one, they would sooner entrust it to the care of a man who was faithful to the principles of his religion than to their associates who get drunk, gamble, swear, and commit every abomination.

This people have been awakened to a sense of their duty in keeping the Word of Wisdom, yet many of them think it a sufficient excuse for them to use hot drinks, if they happen to be where others use them; in this way they are falling back to the use of tobacco, and are smoking their pipes or cigars, and are drinking tea and coffee or a little whisky now and again, and are letting those old habits grow on them again. This is wrong; they should not do it. I mention this in order to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. We should not forget that we have entered into covenant not to do so. Latter-day Saints should remember that there is not a day, hour, or moment in which they can afford to lay aside the armour of righteousness; there is no time but what the adversary is at their elbows ready to enter in, take hold, and lead them into forbidden paths. It is and ever has been a struggle with this people to trample the wickedness of the world under their feet. It rises before us continually and we are never without it. We do not expect to be without it in our midst if this is the kingdom of God. I suppose Jesus had as good an idea of what constituted the kingdom of God as any of us, and he said it was like a net cast into the sea which brought forth all kinds both good and bad; therefore let no one say this cannot be the kingdom of God because there are some who are not righteous in our midst. Because the wicked and unrighteous are in the world, must we be partakers of their wickedness? By no means; it is not at all necessary that it should be so. Let us endeavour to eradicate from our own bosoms all sin. It is not a matter of enthusiasm, to last for an hour, a day or a week and then die out; it is in this way that people forget God and do wickedly. You know that the Scriptures inform us that they who do wickedly, and all the nations who forget God, shall be turned into hell. The paths of virtue and truth are the paths of peace. The paths of union, that the leaders of this people are striving incessantly to introduce among us, are calculated to create excellence, greatness and power in our midst. By pursuing these paths we shall grow in every virtue and excellence until we shall attain to those great glories that are for the faithful, about which we sing and pray, and the contemplation of which always lights up our minds with so much joy and bliss. By faithfully observing the counsels given to us we shall actually come into possession of these things as naturally as a child, by constant instruction, comes to attainments in learning. It will be done by gaining item by item, by living our holy religion day by day, hour by hour, and all the time.

Blessed is that person, man and woman, who can retain, from youth up, a good, holy and righteous influence; who have never committed an overt act, preserving themselves righteously before the Lord in all good faith and conscience all the days of their lives. I say blessed are such persons. Persons are liable to be overtaken in liquor; but in Zion we should be free from these practices to a far greater extent than in the world. It is to overcome the evils that exist in the world that the Lord is gathering His Saints together. Why, if every man and woman who gathers to Zion were determined to follow their own ways, the state of things that exists in the world would soon be established here, and the object of the Lord, in gathering His people together, would be frustrated. Yet there are many people here who cannot see this; and they feel themselves infringed upon. Why, such persons are greater than the Saviour of the world in their own estimation! He came here to do his Father’s will, and in his greatest agony he prayed that the cup might be taken from him, if it were possible, “Nevertheless,” he said, “not my will, but Thine be done.” His own will was swallowed up in the will of his Father; and yet we, poor, miserable mortals can stick up our noses and say, “We will do as we please,” if anything is brought forth by the inspiration of the Almighty that seems to cut our corners. Are we a band of brethren, standing shoulder to shoulder under the banner of Emanuel —him who said, “Let not my will, but, Thine be done?” If we are, we shall walk in the path marked out for us by the Captain of our salvation. “Oh? says one, “I think I understand, comprehend, and know better than any one else; I am not going to do as such a one tells me—my Bishop, President, or some one else in authority over me; he does not know as much as I do.” Perhaps not, the sequel will show who know most.

If we have a proper conception of the counsels given to us, we shall never utter such sentiments, or let them have place in our hearts. It is difficult sometimes to get into our ears and hearts what is required of us, hence the amount of instruction that has to be given to the people. It was years and years before we got the people to take hold of the Word of Wisdom. There have been such things as reformations in the midst of the people of God, I suppose because of the proneness of the people to relapse into the ways of the world. Hence, it becomes necessary every once in a while to arouse Israel to a sense of their duties, that they may sustain the Kingdom of God.

There are a great many people who cannot see the Kingdom of God, although the events, long since foretold, which should transpire in connexion with that Kingdom are actually transpiring before their eyes. The people of the world are blind, they cannot see the Kingdom; and a great many Saints, and pretty good at that, who should see the Kingdom of Heaven in the introduction of a new principle, oftentimes fail to do so. Is the Word of Wisdom of the Kingdom of Heaven? Yes. Is co-operation of the Kingdom of Heaven? Yes. Is union in the midst of this people of the Kingdom of Heaven? Yes. Is the one-man power, with which the world find so much fault, and talk about so much, of the Kingdom of Heaven? Yes, if God is our Father and is at the head of it, it is. Then why should there be so much dread and fear of the Lord establishing His government in the world? Did it ever do anybody any harm? O, no. Did it ever do anybody any good, or is it calculated in its nature to do anybody any good? Yes, the greatest good. Then why so much dread and fear of it? Because the people cannot see the Kingdom of God in it. But is it not very far from them; God is not very far from them, nor from any of us, and His work is established and is transpiring right before our face and eyes. The government of God is being established on the earth, and the world does not know it; yet it is like a city set on a hill for everybody to gaze upon and investigate. Yet they treat it as if it were of no moment to them. Time will show that it is of the utmost importance to them. Let no person pass it by as an idle tale, for time will disclose that it is of the utmost importance to every son and daughter of Adam. They had better, at least, give it a passing notice and investigate it with honesty of purpose. Our hopes for the present and future, our happiness and prosperity, and even existence itself, are bound up in the Kingdom and government of God. What else is there now upon the face of the earth but what has a tendency to destruction? Look at the stream of vice and corruption that is flowing on, bearing its votaries to the gulf of despair. Who can stem the torrent? People can see it, but can they stop it? No, it bears them along on its surface, and they are lost for ever. Is it not time that some standard should be erected on the earth, around which those who are disposed to do right, may rally, where they will be safe from this great gulf-stream of destruction? I think it is time, because the Lord has thought so, and He has commenced His work; He has erected His standard, and is calling to the people and pointing the way to safety. Not that He or any one else expects this stream to be checked or stopped in its mad career; it will bear its onward course until, finally, it finds its depths. But we may save one here and another there, and so the Lord may get to Himself a people. It is like being snatched as brands from the burning. He will bring them to a place where they can be instructed. This has been the case with us. The Lord has brought us together and He is seeking to instruct us, that we and our children after us may escape those great evils which are so prevalent in the world. I need not mention them, they are patent to the eyes of all. The people have forgotten God; they do not not know His ways, although there are many well-intentioned people who are seeking to do their duty and are living in the hope of a blessed reward hereafter. They will obtain it. They are trying to stem the torrent of evil as far as it is in their power; but they do not know “the only true and wise God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent,” “whom to know is eternal life;” and another evil is, they do not try to know Him, or they would investigate and try to find out God and His Kingdom.

The Lord is not responsible for all the evil of which I have been speaking, neither for all the diversities of religion in the world. He created man upright, but man has sought out many inventions. If the people would seek after the Lord and be content to walk in His ways, do you think the diversities in regard to religion that now exist would be known? By no means; we should all come, then, to a unity of the faith.

The Latter-day Saints have great cause to rejoice, because they are blessed above all other people. They are learning the ways of the Lord; and more blessed are they still, if they follow in them. They are laying a foundation that will stand for ever. There is no principle of virtue, truth, holiness and righteousness but what is calculated to exalt man in time and for ever and ever. Those who build not on these principles are building on sand, and their superstructure will be washed away when the tempest comes; while they who build on the rock of truth will be able to withstand all opposition, and they will eventually obtain that glory and exaltation that the Saints now talk about.

These principles are true and can be depended upon. God is their author; He is at the helm. He is our Father and we may come to exaltation in His presence if we will live for it; and in this earthly probation we can be co-workers with Him in the establishment of His kingdom on the earth if we will serve Him and keep His commandments. We may come to Him on His own platform, on His own terms, but not on our own. That is the trouble with Christendom, and the world at large. They are trying to make the Lord’s ways correspond with theirs. Why, they would tear Him to pieces if they could have their wishes carried out; they would dethrone Jehovah and overturn His power and kingdom. Could He exist if the world could have their own way? A great many called Latter-day Saints feel a little the same way; perhaps they do not know it, but it amounts to no less. I have known people come for counsel when they had their own minds made up about the course they intended to pursue. All they wanted was to receive counsel that corresponded with their notions. If they received that, all right; otherwise it would not do. All the world is after is to try to make the Lord come to their terms; He cannot do it.

It would be well for us, sometimes, if we could see a few of our own inconsistencies, and what we require of the Lord. The plan of salvation is amply sufficient to save to the uttermost. How? In our own way? No, in the way that the Lord has devised. If we are saved in His Kingdom we shall have to bow to His laws; we cannot be saved without. He has a right to dictate; He has done so, and it is for us to do His bidding.

We are blessed in having the living oracles in our midst, and in having a standard erected around which we can rally. The Bible is good, and we believe in it more than any other people. The Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants are the word of God, and they contain many precious gems; every line is full of knowledge, intelligence, and truth, and is calculated to be a benefit to us; but yet, above and far beyond all, we have the living oracles in our midst to tell us what to do to-day. A great portion of the Scripture we have was the living oracles to the people in the day in which it was given, and it has become Scripture because it was given by the inspiration of the Almighty. It was applicable to the day in which it was given. We have the living oracles in our midst to give us that which is applicable to our day. Let us make our ways correspond to the Lord’s, for we read that “as high as the heavens are above the earth so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts.” We are blessed in having His ways made known to us, because He knows best. He has more knowledge and understanding and greater ability, and can perform and accomplish more than any other power that exists; and that people only may be said to be blessed who walk in His ways and do His bidding.

I feel sometimes as though I had never lived, in reality, until I became acquainted with the principles of the Gospel; I feel as though my whole existence had been a waste, In one sense it has. I did not know how to serve God acceptably in His sight. I did not comprehend righteousness, neither did I know how to sanctify myself before Him. We are taught that obedience is better than sacrifice, therefore let us go to, brethren and sisters, with our mights to serve God and keep His commandments, so shall we come, finally, to inherit those blessings which are promised to the faithful, which I pray we may ultimately attain for Christ’s sake, Amen.

Gathering the Saints, etc.

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

I understand that many of the brethren and sisters in the old country lent money to their friends now here to assist them to emigrate; quite a number of letters have been sent, stating that those friends covenanted before leaving that they would repay that means with the first money they earned after arriving here, and that they would also send more than they had borrowed, in order to assist those who had previously assisted them. A number of our elders who have been from here on missions to England and other countries, have been in the habit of borrowing money, or of getting it in some way. Some of these elders, when asked to refund what they had borrowed, have said, “We did not borrow it, it was a gift to us.” I wish to say to such elders, return the money with interest. If it was a gift, return the gift, that it may go back and help many instead of one.

I do not wish to spend much time on this subject, I wish to give instruction, and to tell you my mind with regard to those elders who have borrowed money from the Saints in Europe. They may pretend to say that it was given to them to excuse themselves for not repaying it, but if they do not refund it, they are unworthy of the fellowship of the Saints, and I ask their bishops to cut every one of them from the Church, without favour or affection. If the bishops do this, they will be doing their duty. Disfellowship them, they are not worthy of a standing in the Church and Kingdom of God.

I wish to ask my brethren, the elders of Israel, to give liberally to help home our brethren and sisters who are now in bondage in the old countries. We have not said anything to the people for a long time with regard to donations. A year ago last fall we commenced a subscription to bring home the Saints. By the following February the amount reached, I think, some nine thousand dollars. Our agent left here about the 27th of February, and about ten days before he started we gave notice that he was going, and between that time and the time he left, the nine thousand had swelled to about thirty thousand; and in the course of three months from then the amount had increased to seventy-six or seventy-seven thousand dollars. With this amount a great many were helped here who could only raise part means, some were brought all the way. The brethren and sisters continued to give through the summer, and if I recollect rightly, we have now over thirty thousand dollars in money to help home the poor. Most of this has been sent to Liverpool, but we have some in this city. Now we wish the charity of the brethren and sisters to be extended to bring home the poor Saints, and perhaps it would be as well for me to commence the list. I will say to our clerk he may put down two thousand dollars for Brother Brigham; also one thousand for William H. Hooper, our delegate in Congress, who told me before he went away that he would give another thousand. Now we are ready to receive your thousands or your hundreds, and we will not refuse a five-dollar bill. We got a great many of them from the sisters last fall, more than the people would imagine; if the list were read of the sisters who put in five dollars, ten dollars, and some twenty-five, it would astonish you. This is a short sermon on this subject. The brethren here from the settlements throughout the Territory can carry it home, and it will become generally known.

I have thought of proposing certain conditions in relation to those who are helped here from abroad; but whether it would be prudent and consistent to do so, I leave the Latter-day Saints to judge. The cogitations of my mind on the subject of bringing home the Saints are somewhat strict. I have thought it would be as well, before helping the poor to emigrate, to have them covenant that after arriving here they would be Saints in every sense of the word. Now, to particularize, I will say that we gather a family here, consisting of father, mother, four, eight, or twelve children, as the case may be. They are Latter-day Saints; they wish to gather to Zion and to enjoy all the blessings of Zion; they are anxiously waiting for every gift and blessing God has in store for the faithful, and to be numbered with the Church of the Firstborn; but when they reach here, if we go into their houses, we shall very often find, if they have the means to do it, that they will perfectly soak their systems with tea and coffee, and are perhaps chewing tobacco and doing a little tippling, a little swearing, and so on. This is the way with some who were gathered last year. Now, whether it is better to leave such people to die in the faith in their native lands, or to bring them here to apostatize and deny their Lord and Master, is a question. I think, if I had the knowledge and the power, I would never gather another member of the Church who would apostatize; but I have not this knowledge. I cannot say to a man, you stop and let your family come to Zion. I cannot say to a woman, you stop where you are, you are in the faith now, but if you gather you will apostatize; but your husband and family can gather, they will stick to the faith. I cannot say this, I have not the power, and hence we see many after they arrive here turn away from the holy commandments. I do not know but what it would be perfectly reasonable to make every man and woman, before leaving their native lands, covenant before God to observe the Word of Wisdom, let liquor alone, use no language unbecoming a Saint, and, in a word, live their religion after arriving here. Whether it would be reasonable and consistent to lay such injunctions on the people before assisting them to gather I do not know. If we were to say to them, before leaving their homes, “Now if we gather you home, will you live your religion?” they would jump up, clap their hands together, shout “hallelujah,” and say, “Yes, we will do anything you require if you will only gather us to Zion.”

Do you not see that I am perfectly tied up? and so are all the elders of Israel in this respect. We may lay all these injunctions on the Saints, and some would break them all. All these things are turned over in my mind, and I look at every side of the question, sound every principle and behold the people as they are. Well, what is to be done? I do not know any better way, perhaps, than to gather the Saints and try to sanctify them after they are gathered together, for when they are baptized they virtually covenant to observe all these rules. When we see the course that the Saints, or those professing to be such, have taken in feeding, clothing and making our enemies rich here in our midst, it makes me feel that it is time to cease gathering those who will not be Saints indeed. I know, as well as I know that I am a living being, that there is not one professing to be a Latter-day Saint, who has the spirit of his calling, who would not cease this course as quick as he would draw his hands out of the fire, if he thoroughly knew and understood that it tends to the overthrow of the Kingdom of God; and the fact that he helped to sustain the enemies of the Kingdom of God must be attributed to his ignorance. The people have eyes, but they see not; they have hearts, but they do not understand. I will ensure that there are scores, and perhaps hundreds, looking at me while I am speaking, who think, “Brother Brigham, you are a fool; we have as good a right to trade with one man as another; and we will go to what store we please, and do what we please with our means, and we will trade with those who will do the best by us.” Yet there are hundreds who, and in fact the most of the people, understand the folly of this course, as the experience of the past six months has proved. During that period we have done wonders in guiding the minds and the movements of the Latter-day Saints. Still there are some who seem to have no understanding. I will venture to say they are the foolish virgins. I was going to say they are like the foolish virgins; but they are the foolish virgins, and by and by they will find they have no oil in their vessels, and nothing to prepare them to go and meet the bridegroom, and they will be found wanting. But so it is, and we must cultivate the wheat with the tares; the sheep and the goats have to run together. Here I am thinking of exacting a covenant from men and women before they are gathered, that they will be Saints indeed afterwards; but while I have such feelings the question stares me in the face, how do you know whether they will be or not? You see men and women here who have been in the Church thirty years, and the most trifling, frivolous, foolish little circumstance imaginable will throw them off the track, and they will go to the devil. It is astonishing, it is marvellous! When I think of these things it recalls a saying that I have sometimes made, that I do my swearing in the pulpit, for they make me think that we have those in our midst who profess to be Latter-day Saints, but who are damned fools. You may say that is swearing; but they are damned, and the wrath of God is upon them, just as much as it was in the days of the old apostles. Men and women would take a very different course if they could see and understand things as they are. But I will take back the expression “if they could see and understand.” I say they can see and understand, if they have a mind to cast out of their hearts the love of the world, the love of riches, and the little frivolous traits of character they so often manifest. The love of fashion, for instance, which darkens, beclouds, and casts a shade over the spirits of our sisters. They cannot have this, and they do not like that, and the next thing anger creeps into their hearts and they feel revengeful, and “I wish I could do somebody an injury; I wish I could come up with my husband; I wish I could do something or other to mar his peace, inasmuch as mine is marred, because I cannot follow somebody else’s fashion.” Such little, trifling, contemptible, frivolous, things cast a dark shade over their feelings, and the first thing they know they give way to a revengeful, vindictive, wicked spirit, which leads them to destruction.

Now, I will go back again to my text—whether we should exact the injunctions I have named of the Saints before gathering, or whether we should not? I leave it to the people, for I do not care much about it, for the simple reason that I do not know enough to decide, and yet I know as much as anybody else. I might pick up this man and that woman, and this family and that family, and leave others because I might not think them worthy, when those who are left behind would probably stick to the faith, while those who are gathered might apostatize. I do not know how to do any better than we are doing, unless the Lord reveals it. I will say to the brethren and sisters, we are ready to receive your donations. Open your hearts and your purse strings. I leave this matter now for your action.

I spoke a little here yesterday and the day before; but I have not really said what I wish, and whether I shall be able to answer my own feelings with regard to our success in our cooperative system of merchandising I do not know. I want to say to the Latter-day Saints we have wrought wonders. It was observed here by one of the brethren that to guide the minds of the people and to govern and control them is a greater miracle than to raise the dead. That is very true. The Lord Almighty could resuscitate a corpse lying before us a thousand times easier than He could control the congregation in this house. He has the material on hand, and He knows every process, and He could give life to a lifeless being, with ease, by the elements He would operate upon and with. This is a great miracle in our estimation; but it would be no miracle at all to the Lord, because He knows precisely how to do it. There is no miracle to any being in the heavens or on the earth, only to the ignorant. To a man who understands the philosophy of all the phenomena that transpire, there is no such thing as a miracle. A great many think there are results without causes; there is no such thing in existence; there is a cause for every result that ever was or ever will be, and they are all in the providences and in the work of the Lord. It would be no particular miracle for the Lord to resuscitate a person whose breath had left the body. By bringing the elements to bear on the system, He could make that system breathe again and live, but to control this people can only be done by persuasion. We have the privilege of choosing, refusing, acting, rising up, sitting down, doing this or not doing; we are just as independent in our sphere as the Gods are in theirs, and our agency is our own, and we can do as we please. We can govern and control ourselves, and when we do this by the law of truth it produces life within us and leads to eternal life; but when we take the opposite course and yield to principles that tend downward the result is death and destruction. Now I will make the application, that you and I have done just as we please. We have traded with whom we please. We shall do so as far as we can. We cannot all do just as we please, because a great many times we want to and cannot, and that is what produces misery, which is called hell. We have done as we please with regard to trading. We requested the people last Conference in this room to cease trading with their enemies. Do you see the effects of this? Yes, they are apparent to every inhabitant of this Territory; they are apparent to the passer-by, to the transient person and to the world; and the commercial world has said, “This is the first thing we have ever seen in the character of you Latter-day Saints, that manifested that you knew enough to take care of yourselves.” It tells also upon our enemies. Suppose we had not checked this trading with outsiders, and had not turned the stream into another channel, you would have seen, perhaps, one hundred merchants in this city now more than last year. They would have brought their clerks and friends and a great number who would have operated against us. Not but what there are many here now, and have been, who have been very gentlemanly and kind; but where is their friendship? Is there a man who does not belong to this church who would not vote for a man out of the church for mayor of the city, and for men who do not belong to the church for aldermen and councillors? No, there is not one amongst them but what would do this. And what would they not do? They would not do right and righteously, that is what they would not do. But anything on the face of this earth to remove power and influence from the Latter-day Saints, and to remove them from their homes, many of them would do. We have been able to check this, and it is for our advantage. Many of us have suffered the loss of all things several times. I have been broken up five times and left a handsome property, and have taken the spoiling of my goods just as patiently as I could. I do not want to see these things enacted again. I know how to avert them. If the people will hearken to the counsel which God gives through His servants, they will never experience any such thing again; but if they will not, they will, perhaps, suffer just as they have heretofore—the good with the bad, the righteous through the evil deeds of those who profess to be righteous and are not; the simple, the honest and the good will have to suffer with the hypocrite and the wicked. I am thankful to God that the ears of the Latter-day Saints have been open to hear and their hearts open to receive and act upon good counsel as far as they have been.

The sisters in our Female Relief Societies have done great good. Can you tell the amount of good that the mothers and daughters in Israel are capable of doing? No, it is impossible. And the good they do will follow them to all eternity. If we get the sisters on our side with regard to trading in stores, with regard to donations, or with regard to improvement, we have gained all that we can ask. What do men care about fashion? You will not find one man in a thousand that cares anything about it. Men have their business before them, and their care and attention is occupied with that. You will find that the farmer, the blacksmith, the carpenter and even the merchant, were it not that he is compelled to appear decently in society, care nothing about fashion. They want the dollars and the dimes. The lawyer cares nothing about fashion, only to gain the feelings of the people and have influence over them, that he can bring them one against another, so that he may get their dimes; that is all he cares about fashion. The doctor cares nothing about fashion. If he can make the people believe that he knows it all, and that they know nothing, he would as soon wear a hat with a brim six inches wide, and the crown an inch and a half high, as he would wear one with the crown six inches high and the brim an inch and a half wide. He cares no more for fashion than that, if he can only get the purses of the people, that is all he cares for. I speak now in general terms, for there are exceptions in every class. It is the ladies who care for fashion. They are looking continually to see how this and that lady are dressed. But if we can enlist their feelings and interests in business matters, then victory is sure. The mothers and daughters in Israel have better judgment, and they do know more than females in the world. They do understand the true principles of comfort, and how to adorn their persons so that they may present an attractive appearance to their husbands, families, friends and neighbours; and if we can make them believe this, I reckon that, by and by, they will begin and make fashions to suit themselves, and will not be under the necessity of sending to Paris or to the East to find out the fashions or to find out whether they shall make their Grecian bends one-half, two-thirds or one-third as large as in New York; or whether they shall cut a frock so as to show their garters every step or to drag yards on the ground behind them. I think that, after a while, they will consider that they know a little of something as well as other people, and if we can enlist their sympathies and judgments, tastes and abilities with regard to trading, fashion, etc., the battle is won.

The sisters have already done much good, and I wish them to continue and go ahead. Have a Female Relief Society in every ward in the mountains; and have a Co-operative store in every ward, and let the people do their own trading. There are some of the brethren around who have asked me whether they shall trade at the Parent Store or whether they shall send East for their goods. They cannot see and understand things; after a while they will. You take the Lehi Co-operative Store, for instance: Bishop Evans started it there last summer. Suppose he had sent East for his goods in July; if he had had the same luck that others have had, they would have been landed about this time, and some of them by and by, and when they had been operating three months what would they have made? Nothing. But they came down here and bought their goods and took them home, only a thirty miles’ drive, and put them on the shelves, and they were soon bought up. They sent to Salt Lake City about once a week to replenish their store, and when five months had passed away they struck a balance sheet and every man that had put in twenty-five dollars—the amount of a share—had, in addition to that amount, a little over twenty-eight dollars to his credit. Have any of our city merchants who have traded from here to New York, made money like this? Not one, and yet the people here have paid one-third more for their goods than the people had to pay in the Co-operative Stores. I understand the brethren in Cache Valley are going to send East for their goods. Well, send for them, and you will get a little knowledge; but you will buy it; however bought wit is pretty good, if you do not pay too dear for it.

Recollect that in trading there is great advantage in turning over your capital often. Suppose the Cooperative Stores were to send to New York for their goods, they might turn over their capital once a year; then instead of making anything they would run under.

I want to impress one thing on the minds of the people, which will be for their advantage if they will hear it. When you start your Co-operative Store in a ward, you will find the men of capital stepping forward, and one says, “I will put in ten thousand dollars;” another says, “I will put in five thousand.” But I say to you, bishops, do not let these men take five thousand, or one thousand, but call on the brethren and sisters who are poor and tell them to put in their five dollars or their twenty-five, and let those who have capital stand back and give the poor the advantage of this quick trading. This is what I am after and have been all the time. I have capital, and have offered some to every ward in the country when I have had a chance. I would take shares in such institutions. I am not at all afraid; but nobody would let me take any, except in Provo and in the wholesale store here. I will say to Bishop Woolley, in the 13th ward, do not let these men with capital take all the shares, but let the poor have them. I say the same to the 14th ward and to every ward in the city; and you bishops, tell the man who has five thousand or two thousand to put in, to stand back, he cannot have it. If your capital is doubled every three months, it would make him rich too fast, and he cannot have the privilege; we want the poor brethren and sisters to have the advantage of it. Do you understand this, bishops and people?

The capitalists may say, “What are we to do with our means?” Go and build factories and have one, two, or three thousand spindles going. Send for fifty, a hundred, or a thousand sheep and raise wool. Some of you go to raising flax and build a factory to manufacture it, and do not take every advantage and pocket every dollar that is to be made. You are rich, and I want to turn the stream so as to do good to the whole community.

I am delighted every time I hear a company say, “We do not want your capital, we have plenty.” I know what to do with mine. I have been the means, in the hands of God, of starting every woollen and cotton factory there is in the Territory, and almost every carding machine. We are going to build a large factory at Provo. Some say we have not wool to carry on the business. Yes, we have, and we have plenty of capital. Suppose we send to the States and buy a hundred thousand or five hundred thousand pounds of wool; we are as well able to do it as others; or suppose we send to California or Oregon and buy fifty thousand pounds of wool, and ship it on the railroad and work it up. Will the people wear it? Yes, just as quick as we get the women to tell their husbands to wear home-made instead of broadcloth, they will do it. I would not even wear out the cloth that has been given to me were it not that my wives and daughters want me. If they were to say, “Brother Brigham, wear your home-made, we like to see you in it,” I would give away my broadcloth, but to please the dear creatures I wear almost anything. Only let us get the sisters into this mind, and home-made clothing will soon become the fashion throughout the Territory. I had a present sent me the other day of some home-made linen for a coat, and I calculate to wear it this summer. I wear my home-made a great deal, but I have not got it on to-day; if I could only get my wives to say, “Brother Brigham, your home-made is very nice, and we should like to see you wear it,” I should certainly wear it.

When the first merchants came here I foresaw all that we have passed through. I knew the foundation was laid for the destruction of this people if they were fostered here, and I know so to-day. We have turned the current, and we are controlling it, and the sisters are helping us. Now, sisters, if you will continue to help us, and will trade with none but Latter-day Saints, just hold up your hands. [The vote was unanimous.] Now, I will tell you why we bother you women, though I acknowledge that if we did not go to see the women they would come and see us; but we are so anxious to see you that we follow you up. But the reason why we are so anxious to have you sisters on our side in regard to these trading matters, is because we know if you will only say whom you will trade with and with whom you will not trade, that we shall follow you.

What I have been saying with regard to these ward co-operative stores doubling their capital once in three months, is for the encouragement of the poor, and to induce them to invest their little means and do something for themselves. Here is the 10th and the 5th and 6th wards, which are looked upon as the poorest wards in the city, though I believe the bishop of the 3rd ward feels that his ward is the poorest in the city; but I will venture to say that if these wards will each establish a store and concentrate their influence, they will double their capital every three months. I know that the 10th ward, which started with 700 dollars, three weeks afterwards had a thousand dollars worth of goods paid for and considerable money in the drawer. Think of that, in that poor little ward, though I will give it the praise of being one of the best wards in the city. It has one of the finest bands of music in the city, and they make one of the best turn-outs when they exhibit themselves.

I have talked long enough. I will turn again to my starting point. Let us have your money to bring home the poor Saints. I feel also to urge upon my brethren and sisters to observe every word that the Lord speaks. Observe the counsel that leads to life, peace, glory and happiness, but do not observe that which leads to contention, ruin and destruction. Amen.

Celestial Marriage, etc.

George A. Smith

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 8, 1869. Reported by John Grimshaw.

It is a difficult undertaking to address this immense audience. If a man commences speaking loud, in a short time his voice gives out; whereas, if he commence rather low, he may raise his voice by degrees, and be able to sustain himself in speaking some length of time. But with children crying, a few persons whispering, and some shuffling their feet, it is indeed a difficult task to make an audience of ten thousand persons hear. I have listened with pleasure to the instructions of our brethren from the commencement of our Conference to the present time. I have rejoiced in their testimonies. I have felt that the elders are improving in wisdom, in knowledge, in power, and in understanding; and I rejoice in the privilege, which we have at the present day, of sending out to our own country a few hundred of the elders who have had experience—who have lived in Israel long enough to know, to feel, and to realize the importance of the work in which they are engaged—to understand its principles and comprehend the way of life. They can bear testimony to a generation that has nearly grown from childhood since the death of the Prophet, Joseph Smith.

The Lord said in relation to those who have driven the Saints that He would visit “judgment, wrath, and indignation, wailing and anguish, and gnashing of teeth upon their heads unto the third and fourth generation, so long as they repent not and hate me, saith the Lord your God.”

I am a native of Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York—a town somewhat famous for its literary institutions, its learning and the religion and morality of its inhabitants. I left there in my youth, with my father’s family, because we had received the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as revealed through Joseph Smith; and followed with the Saints through their drivings and trials unto the present day.

I have never seen the occasion, nor let the opportunity slip, from the time when I first came to a knowledge of the truth of the work of the Lord in the last days, that I understood it was in my power to do good for the advancement of this work but what I have used my utmost endeavours to accomplish that good. I have never failed to bear a faithful testimony to the work of God, or to carry out to all intents and purposes, the wishes and designs of the Prophet, Joseph Smith. I was his kinsman; was familiar with him, though several years his junior; knew his views, his sentiments, his ways, his designs, and many of the thoughts of his heart, and I do know that the servants of God, the Twelve Apostles, upon whom he laid the authority to bear off the Kingdom of God, and fulfil the work which he had commenced, have done according to his designs, in every particular, up to the present time and are continuing to do so. And I know, furthermore, that he rejoiced in the fact that the law of redemption and Celestial Marriage was revealed unto the Church in such a manner that it would be out of the power of earth and hell to destroy it; and that he rejoiced in the fact that the servants of God were ready prepared, having the keys to bear off the work he had commenced. Previous to my leaving Potsdam, there was but one man that I ever heard of in that town who did not believe the Bible. He proclaimed himself an atheist, and he drowned himself.

The Latter-day Saints believe the Bible. An agent of the American Bible Society called on me the other day and wanted to know if we would aid the Society in circulating the Bible in our Territory? I replied yes, by all means, for it was the book from which we were enabled to set forth our doctrines, and especially the doctrine of plural marriage.

There is an opinion in the breasts of many persons, who suppose that they believe the Bible, that Christ, when he came, did away with plural marriage, and that he inaugurated what is termed monogamy; and there are certain arguments and quotations used to maintain this view of the subject, one of which is found in Paul’s first epistle to Timothy (3 chap. 2 v.), where Paul says: “A bishop should be blameless, the husband of one wife.” The friends of monogamy render it in this way: “A bishop should be blameless, the husband of but one wife.” That would imply that any one but a bishop might have more. But they will say, “We mean a bishop should be blameless, the husband of one wife only.” Well, that would also admit of the construction that other people might have more than one. I understand it to mean that a bishop must be a married man.

A short time ago, the Minister from the King of Greece to the United States called on President Young. I inquired of him in relation to the religion of his country, and asked him if the clergy were allowed to marry. It is generally understood that the Roman Catholic clergy are not allowed to marry. How is it with the Greek clergy? “Well,” said he, “all the clergy marry, except the bishop.” I replied, “You render the saying of Paul differently from what we do. We interpret it to mean—a bishop should be blameless, the husband of one wife at least;” and “we construe it,” said he, “directly the opposite.”

Now this passage does not prove that a man should have but one wife. It only proves that a bishop should be a married man. The same remark is made of deacons, that they also should have wives. Another passage is brought up where the Saviour speaks of divorce. He tells us that it is very wrong to divorce, and that Moses permitted it because of the hardness of their (the children of Israel’s) hearts. A man should leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife, and they twain should be one flesh. That is the principal argument raised that a man should have but one wife.

In the New Testament in various places, certain eminent men are referred to as patterns of faith, purity, righteousness and piety. For instance, if you read the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, the 11th chapter, you find therein selected those persons “who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turning to flight the armies of the aliens;” and it is said by faith Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph, and that he conferred upon them a blessing to the uttermost bounds of the everlasting hills. Who was Joseph? Why, Joseph was the son of Rachel. And who was Rachel? Rachel was the second wife of Jacob, a polygamist. Jacob had four wives, and after he had taken the second (Rachel), she, being barren, gave a third wife unto her husband that she might bear children unto him for her; and instead of being displeased with her for giving her husband another wife, God heard her prayer, blessed her, worked a miracle in her favour by opening her womb, and she bore a son, and called his name Joseph, rejoicing in God, whom she testified would give her another son. The question now arises, were not Rachel and Jacob one flesh? Yes. Leah and Jacob were also one flesh. Jacob is selected by the Apostle Paul as a pattern of faith for Christians to follow; he blessed his twelve sons, whom he had by four wives. The law of God, as it existed in those days, and as laid down in this book (the Bible) makes a child born of adultery or of fornication a bastard; and the same is prohibited from entering into the congregation of the Lord unto the tenth generation.

Now, instead of God’s blessing Rachel and Jacob and their offspring, as we are told He did, we might have expected something entirely different, had it not been that God was pleased with and approbated and sustained a plurality of wives.

While we are considering this subject, we will inquire, did the Saviour in any place that we can read of, in the course of his mission on the earth, denounce a plurality of wives? He lived in a nation of Jews; the law of Moses was in force, plurality of wives was the custom, and thousands upon thousands of people, from the highest to the lowest in the land, were polygamists. The Saviour denounced adultery; he denounced fornication; he denounced lust; also divorce; but is there a single sentence asserting that plurality of wives is wrong? If so, where is it? Who can find it? Why did he not say it was wrong “Think not,” said he, “that I am come to destroy the law or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law and the Prophets; but all shall be fulfilled.” Of what does the Saviour speak when he refers to “the law?” Why, of the Ten Commandments, and other rules of life commanded by God and adopted by the ancients, and which Brother Pratt referred to yesterday, showing you from the sacred book that God legislated and made laws for the protection of a plurality of wives (Exod. 21. 10), and that He commanded men to take a plurality under some circumstances. Brother Pratt further showed that the Lord made arrangements to protect to all intents and purposes the interests of the first wife; and to shield and protect the children of a wife from disinheritance who might be unfortunate enough not to have the affections of her husband. (Deut. 21. 15,) These things were plainly written in the law—that law of which the Saviour says, “Not one jot or one tittle shall pass away.” Continuing our inquiry, we pass on to the epistles of John the Evangelist, which we find in the Book of Revelations, written to the seven churches of Asia. In them we find the Evangelist denounces adultery, fornication, and all manner of iniquities and abominations of which these churches were guilty. Anything against a plurality of wives? No, not a syllable. Yet those churches were in a country in which plurality was the custom. Hundreds of Saints had more wives than one; and if it had been wrong, what would have been the result? Why, John would have denounced the practice, the same as the children of Israel were denounced for marrying heathen wives, had it not been that the law of plurality was the commandment of God.

Again, on this point, we can refer to the Prophets of the Old Testament—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others. When God called those men He warned them that if they did not deliver the message to the people which He gave them concerning their sins and iniquities that His vengeance should rest upon their heads. These are His words to Ezekiel, “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand; yet if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.” (Ezek. 3. 17, 18, 19.) How do we find these Prophets of the Lord fulfilling the commandments of the Almighty? We find them pouring out denunciations upon the heads of the people—against adultery, fornication, and every species of wickedness. All this, too, in a country in which, from the King down to the lowest orders of the people, a plurality of wives was practiced. Do they say anything against plurality of wives? Not one word. It was only in cases where men and women took improper licence with each other, in violation of the holy law of marriage, that they were guilty of sin.

If plurality of wives had been a violation of the seventh commandment those prophets would have denounced it, otherwise their silence on the matter would have been dangerous to themselves, inasmuch as the blood of the people would have been required at their hands. The opposers of Celestial Marriage sometimes quote a passage in the seventh chapter of Romans, second and third verses, to show that a plurality of wives is wrong; but when we come to read the passage it shows that a plurality of husbands is wrong. You can read that passage for yourselves. In the forcible parable used by the Saviour in relation to the rich man and Lazarus, we find recorded that the poor man Lazarus was carried to Abraham’s bosom—Abraham the father of the faithful. The rich man calls unto Father Abraham to send Lazarus, who is afar off. Who was Abraham? He was a man who had a plurality of wives. And yet all good Christians, even pious church deacons, expect when they die to go to Abraham’s bosom. I am sorry to say, however, that thousands of them will be disappointed, from the fact that they cannot and will not go where any one has a plurality of wives; and I am convinced that Abraham will not turn out his own wives to receive such unbelievers in God’s law. One peculiarity of this parable is the answer of Abraham to the application of the rich man, to send Lazarus to his five brothers “lest they come into this place of torment,” which was—“they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them; and if they hear not Moses and the prophets neither would they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” Moses’ law provided for a plurality of wives, and the prophets observed that law, and Isaiah predicts its observance even down to the latter days. Isaiah, in his 4th chap. and 1st and 2nd verses, says, “Seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent.”

A reference to the Scriptures shows that the reproach of women was to be barren, Gen. 30 chap. and 23 v.; Luke 1st chap. and 25 v.

We will now refer to John the Baptist. He came as a fore-runner of Christ. He was a lineal descendant of the house of Levi. His father was a priest. John the Baptist was a child born by miracle, God having revealed to his father that Elizabeth who had been many years barren should bear a son. John feared not the world, but went forth preaching in the wilderness of Judea, declaiming against wickedness and corruption in the boldest terms. He preached against extortion; against the cruelty exercised by soldiers and tax gatherers. He even was so bold as to rebuke the king on his throne, to his face, for adultery. Did he say anything against a plurality of wives? No; it cannot be found. Yet thousands were believers in and practised this order of marriage, under the law of Moses that God had revealed.

In bringing this subject before you, we cannot help saying that God knew what was best for His people. Hence He commanded them as He would have them act. The law regulating marriage previous to Moses, recognized a plurality of wives. Abraham and Jacob and others had a plurality. These are the men who are referred to in Scripture as patterns of piety and purity. David had many wives. The Scripture says that David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, 1 Kings. 15th chap. 5 v. “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart which shall fulfil all my will. Of this man’s seed hath God, according to His promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.” Acts 13th chap. 22nd and 23rd verses. Did David sin in taking so many wives? No. In what, then, did his sin consist? It was because he took the wife of Uriah, the Hittite—that is, violated the law of God in taking her. The Lord had given him the wives of Saul and would have given him many more; but he had no right to take one who belonged to another. When he did so the curse of adultery fell upon his head, and his wives were taken from him and given to another. We will now inquire in relation to the Saviour himself. From whom did he descend? From the house of David a polygamist; and if you will trace the names of the families through which he descended you will find that numbers of them had a plurality of wives. How appropriate it would have been for Jesus, descending as he did from a race of polygamists, to have denounced this institution of plural marriage and shown its sinfulness, had it been a sin! Can we suppose, for one moment, if Patriarchal marriage were wrong, that He would, under the circumstances, have been silent concerning it or failed to denounce it in the most positive manner? Then if plural marriage be adultery and the offspring spurious, Christ Jesus is not the Christ; and we must look for another.

All good Christians are flattering themselves with the hope that they will finally enter the gates of the New Jerusalem. I presume this is the hope of all denominations—Catholics, Protestants, Greeks and all who believe in the Bible. Suppose they go there, what will they find? They will find at the twelve gates twelve angels, and “names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.” The names of the twelve sons of Jacob, the polygamist Can a monogamist enter there? “And the walls of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb;” and at the gates the names of the twelve tribes of Israel—from the twelve sons of the four wives of Jacob. Those who denounce Patriarchal Marriage will have to stay without and never walk the golden streets. And any man or woman that lifts his or her voice to proclaim against a plurality of wives, under the Government of God, will have to seek an inheritance outside of that city. For “there shall in no wise enter into it, anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, for without are sorcerers, whoremongers, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Is not the man that denounces Celestial Marriage a liar? Does he not work abomination? “I Jesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of (the polygamist) David, the bright and the morning star.”

May God enable us to keep His law, for “blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gate into the city.” Amen.

The Right and Authority of the President Brigham Young

George Q. Cannon

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 5, 1869. Reported by John Grimshaw.

I desire to read, this afternoon, a portion of two revelations, which were given to the Prophet, Joseph Smith, in February, 1831. The first is paragraph 4 of section XIII:

“Again I say unto you, that it shall not be given to any one to go forth to preach my Gospel or to build up my Church, except he be ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the Church that he has authority, and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the Church.”

Also paragraphs 1 and 2 of section XIV:

“O, hearken ye elders of My Church, and give an ear to the words which I shall speak unto you; for behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye have received a commandment for a law unto my Church, through him whom I have appointed unto you, to receive commandments and revelations from my hand. And this ye shall know assuredly that there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until he be taken, if he abide in me.

“But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none else shall be appointed unto this gift except it be through him, for if it be taken from him, he shall not have power except to appoint another in his stead; and this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive not the teachings of any one that shall come before you as revelations or commandments; and this I give unto you that you may not be deceived, that you may know they are not of me. For verily I say unto you, that he that is ordained of me shall come in at the gate and be ordained as I have told you before, to teach those revelations which you have received, and shall receive through him whom I have appointed.”

It is a good thing for us, as a people, to let our minds dwell upon the principles which God our Heavenly Father has given unto us by revelation in this, as well as in preceding ages. The Lord, in His goodness and mercy unto His children, has not left them in ignorance concerning the plan of salvation, nor the manner in which He intends His Church to be built up. He has revealed unto us many principles for our guidance, and they are essentially necessary to enable us to grow and increase in the things of His kingdom; for in these days, as well as in preceding days, as the apostle has said, there are many spirits gone forth into the world and there are many influences brought to bear upon the minds of the children of men. There are many creeds, doctrines, and views propagated industriously by those who entertain them, and unless we cling to the truth and pursue the path which our Heavenly Father desires His children to walk in, with all our claims, and the promises which have been made unto us, we are as liable to go astray as any other people. If we treat these things as matters of no importance, and are careless and negligent in relation to that which we believe, and to those whom we follow, we are sure to err.

There are some principles which have become firmly rooted in the minds of the Latter-day Saints. It is a difficult thing to cause them to doubt in relation to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, baptism for the remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. These principles seem to be clearly understood, and in them the people are apparently fully indoctrinated; and though men may deny the faith, in one sense, and turn away from the path of righteousness, and dissolve their connection with the Church, yet they will cling, in most instances, to what we term the first principles of the Gospel of Christ; and it is a very rare thing to see those who have been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turning away and joining what we call sectarian churches. If they leave this Church, it is an exceedingly difficult thing for them to connect themselves with other denominations, because the Scriptures are so familiar to them, the principles contained therein are so plain to their understanding that, unless there is some speculation, some mercenary or other end to be gained by their alliance with people of other creeds, they are very apt to stand aloof; that is, where they have a thorough understanding of the principles of the Gospel.

But there are other principles more advanced with which the people are not so familiar, and of this the adversary seeks to take advantage; and when men deny the faith, they are apt to deny these principles; and when they get into the dark, there is probably no point upon which they differ more frequently than that which relates to the authority that is exercised in presiding. This is a point that the adversary always aims at. I suppose it was so in ancient days. We read of false prophets then, and also of men turning away; and there is no doubt but what the rock upon which they split was the question of the right and authority of those presiding over them.

It seems as though the adversary, in the day in which we live, seeks, by every means in his power, to undermine the influence and the authority of the man whom God has called to preside over His people. If you will observe, you may perceive in what direction the shafts of the adversary are aimed. In the days of Joseph, he was the man against whom all the enemies of truth hurled their malicious shots; his life was sought, his character assailed, and his influence was decried. He was the target at which every arrow of calumny and hatred was aimed, and the man to whom all eyes were directed. He was held up before men as an object worthy only of their hatred and derision, to be scoffed at, despised and killed.

Did anybody hear then of others who are now prominent? Yes. President Young’s name was talked about, but not as at present; but Joseph’s name occupied every tongue. His deeds, or rather his misdeeds, as his enemies were pleased to call them, occupied every one’s attention. His actions were scrutinized and misrepresented, and everything pertaining to him was made the subject of comment and reproach. It was the case from the hour that he received the plates of the Book of Mormon, until the day of his death. All those who were members of the Church during his lifetime can bear testimony to this. Other elders were comparatively lost sight of; they were merely looked upon as satellites. He was the great object of suspicion. His name was the watch-word of the foes of the Kingdom of God; and mobs banded themselves together in unholy compacts, in order that they might bring to pass his overthrow and shed his blood, imagining that, if they could only kill him, this work, which men call “Mormonism,” would crumble to pieces, because there would not be cohesiveness enough in the system to hold it together after the master-mind had disappeared. But no sooner did he pass away than all this hatred, all the derision, animosity, calumny and slander, which had been directed to Joseph, was transferred to Brigham Young, and he was made the object of vituperation, and the target at which every wicked man should shoot. His deeds and character were paraded abroad, and everything pertaining to him was canvassed and held up, in many instances, to public scorn and ridicule. Such has continued to be the case from the days of the Prophet Joseph up to the present time.

There were others during Joseph’s day, who professed to have the authority which he possessed, or, as they said, which he had once possessed. At one time, in the early days of the Church, there was a number of elders among whom were some of the Twelve Apostles and one or two of the First Presidency, who banded themselves together and declared that Joseph was a fallen prophet, that he had taught correct doctrines, that he had been the instrument in the hands of God, of revealing the truth and of bringing forth the Book of Mormon, restoring the holy Priesthood and of organizing the Church; but that he had fallen. The doctrines which he had first taught were correct, they said, and the position which he first assumed was acceptable in the sight of God; but through some cause, he had strayed from the path and had become a fallen prophet. Said they, “We now have the right and the authority which he once had. We have the right to organize the Saints, to build up the Church and carry out the work of which Joseph was the founder, but which, through transgression, he has forfeited the right to lead.”

There was one peculiarity, however, connected with these pretenders, which distinguished their course from that pursued by Joseph. Instead of being the subject of all the evil remarks, all the calumny, all the hatred, slander, bloodthirstiness and denunciations applied to the Prophet Joseph, singular to state, when you take into consideration the pretensions of those men, the wicked hailed them as brethren, consorted with them, became very brotherly, very fraternal, and looked upon them as very good, clever fellows. But the hatred towards Joseph did not diminish, in fact their conduct only tended to increase it and to make his life and his every deed more odious in their estimation, and in the estimation of those to whom they published his deeds. This was also a peculiarity which attended all who aimed to lead the Church without having the authority so to do.

At Joseph’s death a crop of these pretenders sprang up. There was Sidney Rigdon, who contended that he had the right to lead the people. The Church was fourteen years of age, he said, and it had the right to choose a guardian, to lead the people, and conduct its affairs as its President, and he would be that guardian. James J. Strang also aimed at the same object. He had angels, he said, to visit him; I do not know but he told the names of the angels; but, if my memory serves me right, he affirmed that Joseph appeared to him, blessed him and bestowed upon him the keys and the authority. He also showed a letter bearing the postmark of Nauvoo, which he pretended had been written by Joseph, giving him (Strang) the authority to preside over the Church, in the event of anything happening to him. Others stood up in a similar manner: John E. Page, Lyman Wight, William Smith, and afterwards, Charles Thompson.

All these men arose, claiming that it was their right and privilege, by ordination or by special appointment, to take charge of the Church. But the Church then, as on many occasions previously and since that time, was able, through the light which its members possessed, to discriminate between the voice of the true and false shepherd. Still this peculiarity—being hailed as brethren by the wicked, characterized them in Nauvoo, as their predecessors in New York, Kirtland and Missouri. Instead of being hated and calumniated, and men seeking their lives and persecuting them, they were hailed with seeming pleasure and satisfaction. Men bade them “God speed” and urged them forward to claim the rights they called their own. But against Brigham Young, our President, the old feeling of animosity, that had been entertained against Joseph, existed with as great bitterness and intensity in the minds of the enemies of the Kingdom of God as it had existed during the lifetime of Joseph against him.

President Young, according to the statements of the wicked, re-enacted all the evil deeds, as they were termed, that had been attributed to Joseph, and for which they killed him. Brigham became the inheritor of all that animosity and hatred that had been manifested towards Joseph during his lifetime; and when Joseph slept in a bloody grave, the enemies of the Church turned their attention to Brigham Young, his legal successor.

If the Saints had wanted evidence in relation to who was the right man and who had the authority, the very fact that the world hated, reviled and persecuted Brigham should have been sufficient evidence that he was taking the path which Joseph had trod, and that his course was pleasing in the sight of Heaven, and consequently hateful in the sight of hell.

There are rules, my brethren, which were given in the early days of the Church, respecting the Presidency of the Church. In the revelation which I have just read in your hearing, the Lord plainly sets forth to the Church what course He would have it take in relation to the keys that had been bestowed by Peter, James and John upon Joseph; and that we may not be deceived He gives this rule:

“But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none else shall be appointed unto this gift except it be through him, for if it be taken from him, he shall not have power except to appoint another in his stead; and this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive not the teachings of any that shall come before you as revelations or commandments; and this I give unto you that you may not be deceived, that you may know they are not of me. For verily I say unto you, that he that is ordained of me shall come in at the gate and be ordained as I have told you before, to teach those revelations which you have received, and shall receive through him whom I have appointed.”

The Lord here made express provisions as to who should hold the keys of the kingdom, and how those keys should be held, and the manner in which the authority should be exercised. Men have pretended that angels have visited them, and that, in consequence they must have authority. This was the pretence made by James J. Strang. But he did not understand that the oracles had been given through Joseph, according to the revelation given in March, 1833, to the Church. Others had also had the keys given unto them to enable them to exercise the power and authority which Joseph held. Now we may come to this conclusion; that God, having once bestowed the keys of the holy Priesthood on man here on the earth for the up-building of His Church, will never take them from the man or men who hold them and authorize others to bestow them. If you will read the history of the Church from the beginning, you will find that Joseph was visited by various angelic beings, but not one of them professed to give him the keys until John the Baptist came to him. Moroni, who held the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim, visited Joseph; he had doubtless, also, visits from Nephi and it may be from Alma and others, but though they came and had authority, holding the authority of the Priesthood, we have no account of their ordaining him, neither did Joseph ever profess, because of the ministration of these angels, to have authority to administer in any of the ordinances of the Kingdom of God. He never baptized anybody, nor attempted to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and, in fact, he never attempted, that we have any account of, to exercise any of the functions of the holy Priesthood. He was a prophet, it is true, but a man may be a prophet and yet not have authority to administer in the Priesthood. The prophetic gift, to some extent, is distinct from the Priesthood. Joseph had received the prophetic gift and he exercised it and he acted as such prior to his ordination. But when the time came for him to be baptized, then a man who held the keys of that Priesthood came to him and laid his hands upon Joseph’s head, and upon Oliver Cowdery, and set them apart, and gave them authority to officiate in the Aaronic Priesthood, which Priesthood held the keys of baptism and so forth.

John had the right to baptize when he was upon the earth; he held the keys of that Priesthood. He baptized Jesus by virtue of the Priesthood which he held; and those keys had not been taken from him. At the time when Joseph Smith was ordained, there was no man on the face of the earth that held the keys of the Priesthood and the authority to ordain him. If there had been a man in the Greek, Roman, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal or any other church extant upon the face of the earth, who had the keys of the Priesthood, Joseph Smith would not have been ordained by an angel, because the keys would have been here and been bestowed by the man who held them. But you might have searched from pole to pole and traversed the wide expanse of the earth from continent to continent, and visited all the nations of the earth and enquired of them if there was a man in their midst who had the keys of the holy Priesthood and who claimed the authority which was exercised in olden times by Peter, James and John, and the rest of the servants of God; but you would have heard no response in the affirmative. None would have stood up and said, “I have this authority.” Throughout Christendom, throughout the entire Mahomedan and Pagan world, you could not have found a man who professed to have this authority. No; it had been driven from the midst of mankind by the violence of wicked men, who shed the blood of those who held those keys and that authority; and it had gone back to God who gave it, and dwelt there; for the men who held it dwelt in the presence of the Almighty.

Hence, when Joseph Smith desired baptism, though angels had visited him and had ministered unto him, though he had heard the voice of God and Jesus Christ, though he had been called to be a prophet, he had not the right and the authority to go forth and administer the ordinances of baptism, neither had any living soul, to do it legitimately. It was necessary that he should be ordained; it was necessary that those keys should be restored; and hence how proper it was that John, who held the keys and had been beheaded by a wicked king, should come and restore them? Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery testified that John came and laid his hands upon their heads and bestowed upon them the power and authority to administer in the holy ordinances of the Gospel.

When they were baptized, and had received the authority to administer in that ordinance they did not attempt to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; that was a separate and distinct power from the Aaronic Priesthood. John says, in the 3rd chapter of Matthew, 11th verse, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”

John did not profess to have the authority to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. We read in no part of the Scriptures of his exercising any such authority. He had the authority to baptize, the power which pertained unto his Priesthood, being a descendant of Aaron, and baptism was one of the ordinances which pertained to the Aaronic Priesthood; but he had not the right to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. It was necessary that that authority should be conferred; but who held that power in ancient days? Why, Peter, James and John, who had been ordained by Jesus to the Melchisedec Priesthood, or the Priesthood after the order of Melchisedec, and having exercised that authority while on the earth in the flesh, they came bearing the keys of that Melchizedec Priesthood, and laid their hands upon Joseph Smith and ordained him to the power which he subsequently hold, as the President or head of this great and last dispensation of the fullness of times. By virtue of those keys he was empowered to lay hands on those who were baptized in the name of Jesus, by legal authority, and to confirm upon their heads—upon the heads of the honest in heart—the blessings of the Gospel, and by virtue of these keys they had the right to build up the Church of God in all its ancient purity and glory, and to preach the Gospel in its fullness, with its gifts and blessings, and to send men abroad as ministers of life and salvation to the nations of the world, the same as Peter and those associated with him. Said Jesus, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” Peter therefore held those keys. What wonderful consistency on the part of the Lord, that He should descend from Heaven and confer those keys on men here on the earth!

There are men who say that Joseph was an unlearned impostor; but how strange it is that, if an impostor, he should take the exact course, established in the economy of Heaven for the salvation of mankind; and that he should claim the authority, through the administration—first of John the Baptist, and then of Peter, James and John, the apostles.

The keys of this Priesthood were bestowed never more to be taken from the earth; hence, in the revelation I have read, provision was made by the Lord that Joseph, in case he should fall, should ordain another in his stead, and he should have authority only to lay hands on and set apart some one to act in his place, in case he should prove unworthy. Thus, even from the beginning, the Lord seems to have held constantly before him the possibility of his falling away. He was a young man, and like every man, he was apt to get lifted up in the pride of his heart; therefore, God reminded him that he only held the keys as long as he should be faithful to the truth. But in a subsequent revelation, the Lord informed him that he should hold the keys in this life and in the life to come, and they should never be taken from him.

By virtue of the ordination he received, Joseph had the right and the authority to confer this Priesthood upon others. He called twelve Apostles, and they were ordained under his authority by the direction of the Lord, and those twelve were endowed with the keys. Previous to his death, the Prophet Joseph manifested great anxiety to see the temple completed, as most of you who were with the Church during his day, well know. “Hurry up the work, brethren,” he used to say, “let us finish the temple; the Lord has a great endowment in store for you, and I am anxious that the brethren should have their endowments and receive the fullness of the Priesthood.” He urged the Saints forward continually, preaching unto them the importance of completing that building, so that therein the ordinances of life and salvation might be administered to the whole people, but especially to the quorums of the holy Priesthood; “then,” said he, “the Kingdom will be established, and I do not care what shall become of me.”

These were his expressions oft repeated in the congregations of the Saints, telling the brethren and sisters of the Church, and the world that he rolled the Kingdom on to the Twelve, and they would have to round up their shoulders and bear it off, as he was going to rest for awhile, and many other expressions of a like nature, the full meaning of which the Saints did not realize at the time.

Prior to the completion of the Temple, he took the Twelve and certain other men, who were chosen, and bestowed upon them a holy anointing, similar to that which was received on the day of Pentecost by the Twelve, who had been told to tarry at Jerusalem. This endowment was bestowed upon the chosen few whom Joseph anointed and ordained, giving unto them the keys of the holy Priesthood, the power and authority which he himself held, to build up the Kingdom of God in all the earth and accomplish the great purposes of our Heavenly Father; and it was by virtue of this authority, on the death of Joseph, that President Young, as President of the quorum of the Twelve, presided over the Church.

The enemies of the work of God had done their worst in murdering the Prophet in cold blood, and they supposed that in killing him and taking him away their actions would prove a death-knell to what they called “Mormonism;” but they little knew or understood that God had left the same power on the earth which Joseph wielded with such potent effect. The reins had been transferred to others, who were prepared to wield that power, and to step forward and take the responsibility upon them of carrying forward the work of God. Hence, there was no diminution of hatred, slander and persecution on the part of mobs and those who wished to shed the blood of the Saints.

After the death of Joseph, while the Twelve were in the East, there was seemingly a slight relaxation of bitterness towards the Saints, on the part of the enemies of truth; but it was only for a few days. When the Twelve returned, and it was found that the same power which Joseph had held still existed, persecutions on the part of mobs recommenced with renewed vigor and bitterness, and they swore out several charges against the brethren of the Twelve. So warm did this persecution become, that the houses of President Young and his brethren had to be guarded, and each had to take care of himself, as his blood, and particularly President Young’s, was sought with just as great eagerness and blood-thirstiness as Joseph’s had previously been. This ought to have been an evidence as to who held the authority.

When the Saints were driven from Nauvoo and were told that it was the will of God that we should forsake the land of our inheritance and take our journey across the Mississippi and through the then Territory of Iowa into the far distant West, every Latter-day Saint in the land, who had the Spirit of God, knew the voice of the true shepherd, and those who were in the East made preparations, some to go round by sea and some to go by land, and join the camp of Israel on its westward march. The land to which we were hastening was new and unknown to us. The masses of the people did not know whether it would be in the wilds of the desert, on the tops of the mountains or in some place that would be delightful for man’s habitation. These were subjects that did not concern the people who were thus called to forsake their homes. The Saints sold what they could, which, however, was very little indeed, for their enemies took possession of their property, and they started westward, following the man whom God had chosen, and whom they recognized as God’s anointed.

There were those who went back to Pittsburg with Sidney Rigdon, and to Voree, Wisconsin, with Strang; and also those who tarried in Nauvoo with Wm. Smith and John E. Page. There were others who followed Thompson and other pretenders; but the main body of the Saints were not to be deceived by these pretended shepherds. They knew the voice of him whom God had chosen, and followed him, confident that they would be led aright and brought to a place of safety; and though they were in deep poverty, and it seemed as though the prince of the power of the air had exerted all his malignity to make their travel difficult, the land being deluged with water; yet they did not faint by the wayside, for God was with them, His angels were round about them, and His Spirit was poured out upon them, and they had a testimony which gave them the conviction that they were in the right path; and when history records that wonderful deliverance and march, it will be a matter of the utmost surprise and wonder to posterity that it was ever accomplished, and that the people of the world, in seeing it, were not smitten with a conviction of the truth of the work, and of the divine authority of the Priesthood which led the people in a pathway of safety, through the wilderness, at that time. The songs of Zion ascended from the camps of Israel and peace brooded over the people. Barefooted, and in many instances hungry, they travelled on with their faces westward, their faith failing not; for, as I have said, the angels of God were round about them and His spirit was upon them; and at no period of their history was the power of God more exhibited than during that trying time when God led His servant to this then wild and forbidding region.

Since we have been here, He has blessed us as a people. He has spread us abroad, and caused us to extend North and South, and His peace and blessing have attended the labors and the administration of the elders in our midst. The keys of the Priesthood have been fully honored, not by man alone, but they have been honored by God; and the exercise of that authority which God bestowed on Joseph Smith by the ministration of holy angels, has been a blessing to many thousands in this land. We have had peace, we have had good government, and the songs and prayers of the Saints have ascended up from their habitations unto the Most High God, and Heaven has been moved in our behalf, to bless and preserve us and give us victory and deliverance in every time of trouble; and when we have been threatened with any difficulty or calamity, God has always overruled and controlled it, for our good and for the salvation of His people. Is it any wonder, then, that Latter-day Saints should have confidence in the man whom God has chosen? Many men wonder and say, “You Latter-day Saints are bowed down in tyranny and are groaning under despotism. Why are you not free to exercise your liberty? Why don’t you do as you please? Why do you always do as your prophet and leader tells you?” Because we have proved during twenty-five long years, that God has blessed him in everything he has told us to do, and we have been blessed of God in carrying out his counsels. When we have prayed to the Almighty to give us wisdom and humility to obey the counsels of His servant, He has given unto us His Holy Spirit and witnessed unto our hearts that this course was pleasing and acceptable in His sight. Rebel against him and his authority! as well might we rebel against Jehovah Himself, or against Jesus! Not that President Young is to be worshipped, not that Joseph Smith was to be worshipped, not that Peter or Moses was to be worshipped. There is a difference between obedience and idolatry, or worship. There is a difference between submission to the will of God—at least, I can perceive a difference—and obeying, God’s counsels through a man, and idolizing the man himself, and we have perceived this difference.

God chooses men as guardians and shepherds over His people• We are all of one great family; we are all the children of God, and are all alike before Him. “Yes,” says one, “we are all alike, and therefore there is no distinction between us.” But let me suppose a case. Suppose a man who has a large family of sons and daughters, were to be called on a mission to go abroad to preach the Gospel of Christ, and had to be absent for years; the members of the family during his absence would be left to themselves. But suppose he had a choice son whom he loved, and who had been implicitly obedient to him all the days of his life, and whose course had taught him to respect his judgment, his honesty, his truthfulness and the integrity and justice of his character, and that in the most trying circumstances he had never failed to honor himself, God, his family, and to honor his father. Now, as he is going away to a far distant land, he takes this son aside and says to him, “I will place you in charge of my family, and leave you to watch over their interests in my absence, that while I am gone they may have some one to look up to who can act the part of a father to them.” And then turning to the family he says, “My sons and daughters, I have chosen this son, your elder brother, to act in my place while I am absent. I wish you to obey him and respect and honor him as you would your father, and to submit yourselves to his dictation in all things.” The family consent. They say, “We will do as you desire, father. We will honor your judgment and choice by honoring and obeying our brother whom you have chosen to watch over us during your absence.”

It might be argued that those children, by complying with the wish of their father in this matter, would sacrifice their agency. Do they not exercise that volition just as much by obeying that son as they would by each one taking his or her own course, and saying, “I will judge for myself, as to the correctness of what you say and will differ from you whenever I please.” Let me ask you as parents and as children, brethren and sisters, do you not think you could exercise your agency just as much by obeying the son as by disobeying him? I cannot conceive how it can be otherwise. I cannot see why I, for instance, should not exercise my agency just as much by obeying him as by disobeying him. This is precisely my position to-day.

Brigham Young, our President, has been chosen by God as His representative here on the earth, among His sons and daughters. He has been selected for this special calling. The Father is not present in person; Jesus is not present in person; but God is here through the Holy Ghost and the holy Priesthood, through the power which he has bestowed, and in the same position precisely as the son in the figure which I have used does the President of the Church act for us, his brethren and sisters. We are all alike before God; He loves us all alike; we are all the creatures of His care; but there must be rule, there must be government; there must be order, or this would not be the kingdom of God. The Lord chose President Young to rule and dictate in the affairs of His Church when His servant Joseph was taken from the earth.

Look at the singular combination of circumstances which caused Brigham Young to be President of the Twelve. Reflect on the remarkable combination of events which made him the leader of Israel, showing plainly, in my mind, that long before he was born, yes, probably before the earth was organized, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were chosen, the same as Jeremiah was. The Lord said to Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” This is my opinion about the leaders of Israel in the latter days. I believe they were chosen to act in this capacity; and God, knowing their integrity, and afterwards proving them to the uttermost in the flesh, has greatly blessed them. See the blessings that have followed the administrations of these men in our midst. Who would exchange the peace, the joy, and the knowledge we have concerning the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for the meagre and vague ideas of God and His kingdom that prevailed before the people became acquainted with it? God has given unto us those precious blessings. He has gathered us together from the nations of the earth; He has multiplied upon us abundantly, joys more precious than gold or silver, namely, the riches of eternity; He has given unto us wisdom and knowledge and peace; He has proved to us most effectively that there are riches more precious and far more estimable in the sight of God and good and virtuous men than the perishable things of this world. He has built up a kingdom in which these things will be held at their true value, for He will cleanse from the midst of His people those who idolize riches.

Let me assure you, brethren and sisters, if there is anything in our hearts that interferes with our complete love of God and our reverence for Him and His work, we shall have to banish it, or sooner or later we shall lose our standing in the Church of God; for He wants a people who will render implicit obedience to His laws and the requirements of His Gospel, and who will love Him better than any earthly thing, and place a higher value on the gifts of the Spirit than on worldly possessions or even life itself.

The Lord has proved to us, in the midst of the many trials and difficulties with which we have had to contend during our brief existence as a Church, when surrounded by mobs, when our lives were in danger and the lives of our leaders were threatened when the persecutors of the Saints were howling like a pack of ravening wolves for the blood of this people, that there is something far more precious and estimable than mere eating and drinking and the pleasures and enjoyments of life; although these things are very good and necessary in their place. He has given us His Gospel and this Gospel is being carried to all the nations of the earth, and a kingdom is being established.

Jesus said that this Gospel should be preached as a witness to all nations, and then should the end come. What Gospel? Why, the same Gospel Jesus had and to which he referred; the same Gospel that his apostles had: a Gospel of power, a Gospel of blessings, whose Priesthood had power and authority from God. It is the same Gospel that is now being taught, and which has to be preached as a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come. God is sending forth His messengers to accomplish this object. Our Elders have gone to the Eastern States by hundreds to lift up their warning voices to the people concerning the things which God is doing and is about to do in the midst of the inhabitants of the earth. For this purpose they go to Europe, to the West, to the Islands of the Pacific, to Asia and Africa, and they will yet traverse every country on the face of the whole earth. The millions of Asia will yet hear the glad tidings of salvation from the Elders of Israel. The yoke of bondage is being broken and the nations are being freed from the grasp of despotism and tyranny. Japan now opens her ports; China begins to extend her invitation to western civilization, and the time is near at hand when the sound of this Gospel, proclaimed by the Elders of Israel, will re-echo from one end of the earth to the other, for it must be preached as a witness unto all nations.

We may engage in this work with all our hearts in view of the glorious reward that is promised unto the faithful; or we may fight against it and use our every power to consummate its overthrow; it makes no difference. The word of the Lord Almighty has gone forth to the people of this generation, and it will not remain unfulfilled. It matters not, therefore, who band together and plot in secret, who unite and say we will spoil the plan and destroy the influence of the work of God. The Lord will expose their secret plots and schemes, and He will stand by His servant whom He has chosen, so long as He lives, as He did by His servant Joseph. He told him that He would save him though he should be slain.

The Lord permitted the enemies of the Kingdom of God to take away the life of His servant Joseph, as He did of His servants in ancient days. The blood of the testator was shed, and now the testament is in full force. Joseph had lifted up his voice in solemn warning to the inhabitants of the earth, and declared that God had spoken in these latter days. But his blood and that of other holy men and Saints was shed by wicked men, and their blood, mingled with that of the martyred Saints of past ages, cries unto the Lord for vengeance. The very earth itself groans under the weight of wickedness and corruption that abound on its surface, and the Lord has declared that it shall be delivered. But before the great day of vengeance shall come, when wickedness shall be utterly swept from off the face of the earth, it is necessary that the Elders should proclaim the Gospel to every nation, kindred and tongue on the face of the earth, that the honest in heart may be gathered out and that a people may be found who shall be prepared to meet the Lord at His coming.

For this preparation we should give our whole time and labor to the purifying of our hearts and households. We should labor to purify our cities and settlements, labor to promulgate the principles of righteousness and to establish truth on the earth and seek to bring to pass the Zion of God in its fulness and perfection.

These are the labors which devolve upon us. Think not, my brethren and sisters, because God has chosen earthly vessels to hold this power and authority, that therefore you can treat lightly the holy Priesthood. I have noticed from my boyhood, and it has been a constant lesson to me, that those who speak against the authorities and lift their hands against the holy Priesthood of this Church invariably deny the faith. I have never seen it otherwise. You may trace the history of this people from the beginning and you will find that every man who has indulged in this spirit has always come out and denied the faith. Such men, when Joseph lived, said that he had fallen. Since his death they excuse their conduct by saying that Brigham has gone astray.

But when the Lord spoke to Joseph about falling, He said he would have authority to appoint another in his stead, and that no one would have the right to act except he was ordained by authority, or came in through the gate. You may know by the revelation I have read that no man can get the authority elsewhere. It must come through the holy Priesthood. Men may say they have heard the voice of Jesus, or heard this, that or the other; but you will find that the power of God will attend the keys, and His blessing will follow the administration of His servants who hold the authority.

Paul said, “Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world?” On one occasion Jesus said, “Ye who have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

In a revelation given through Joseph Smith, the Lord says:

“And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, and it hath gone forth in a firm decree, by the will of the Father, that mine apostles, the twelve, which were with me in my ministry at Jerusalem, shall stand at my right hand at the day of my coming in a pillar of fire, being clothed with robes of righteousness, with crowns upon their heads, in glory even as I am, to judge the whole house of Israel.”

This is the authority which Jesus said they should wield. The same authority has been renewed in these days. Says one, “I do not like this sort of thing; it is priestly rule and dominion, and I object to it. I am too much of a democrat in my feelings to submit to it.” Yet a man can be a democrat and a lover of freedom and liberty and enjoy them to the fullest, and honor the Priesthood. There is a difference between priestcraft and Priesthood. Priestcraft builds up itself, it is not authorized of God. Priestcraft oppresses the people; but the Priesthood of God emancipates men and women and makes them free. Jesus says his yoke is easy and his burden light.

We talk of power, and object to the undue exercise of authority. But think of the power given in ancient days, and which has been restored in these days, that man exercises when he goes forth into the water and baptizes a person! Do you ever think of the greatness of the power thus exercised? And further, when the candidate for baptism emerges from the water and has hands laid upon him for the reception of the Holy Ghost, do you think of the power that God has entrusted unto men on earth when they exercise that holy ordinance? Do you think of the power exercised in remitting the sins of men and women through baptism, the ordinance which God has set in His Church for the remission of sins, and conferring upon them the Holy Ghost? If God sends such mighty power, shall we question the bestowal of a higher power when God shall choose to give it? Shall we murmur and contend against it? God forbid, and forbid that we should ever turn aside and fight against Him or His cause in any manner.

My brethren and sisters, my prayers are that God will bless us as a people and sanctify us to walk in all humility and meekness before Him, honoring His laws; for when we honor His laws we honor the laws of righteousness and the laws of the land in equity and truth. We will honor men in their place; we will honor the Government and everything that is just and honorable and true. That God may sustain us and help us to sustain the Priesthood, and to follow its requirements, that eventually we may be saved in His kingdom, is my prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Obeying the Gospel, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 18, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

I will say to my friends—those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—“I beseech you in Christ’s stead be ye reconciled to God.” Treasure up every truth that you hear, practice it in your lives, for this will lead you to Jesus. The words that we have heard this afternoon, with regard to the character of the Son of God and the plan of salvation, are true so far as they have gone. We, the Latter-day Saints, take the liberty of believing more than our Christian brethren: we not only believe part of the Bible, but the whole of it, and the whole of the plan of salvation that Jesus has given to us. Do we differ from others who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? No, only in believing more; we are one with them as far as they believe in him. Do we differ with regard to the practice of the Gospel that he has delivered to us? No, not as far as they really believe in and practice the doctrines taught by him. We believe all that any good man on the earth need believe. We believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ His Son, our Savior. We believe all that Moses spoke and wrote of him, all that the apostles said of him, and all that Jesus himself has said, which was penned and has been left on record by his apostles and servants.

Our Lord and Savior has been beautifully described and set before us, by the gentleman who has addressed us this afternoon, but I will take the liberty of saying to every man and woman who wishes to obtain salvation through him (the Savior) that looking to him, only, is not enough: they must have faith in his name, character and atonement; and they must have faith in his father and in the plan of salvation devised and wrought out by the Father and the Son. What will this faith lead to? It will lead to obedience to the requirements of the Gospel; and the few words that I may deliver to my brethren and sisters and friends this afternoon will be with the direct view of leading them to God.

How am I to know whether I have passed from death unto life? The apostle says by loving the brethren. How shall I know the brethren? They are my brethren who have received and obeyed the Gospel of the Son of God. This is just as easy to test as it is to test a man who says he is a citizen of the United States. A man may declare that he is so, but upon inquiry we find that he has never taken the oath of allegiance nor even declared his intention of becoming a citizen; but his sole claim to be considered a citizen rests on the fact that he lives in this country and has property, perhaps a farm or a store. This will not entitle any foreigner to the rights and privileges enjoyed by the humblest citizen. He must first declare his intention, take the oath of allegiance to this Gover[n]ment and renounce it to his former one, and then receive his papers of citizenship. It is just the same in the kingdom of God. However much we may profess attachment to God and His cause we are not entitled to the blessings and privileges of His kingdom until we become citizens therein. How can we do this? By repenting of our sins, and obeying the requirements of the Gospel of the Son of God which has been delivered to us. Hundreds and thousands of people have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and repented of their sins, and have had the Holy Spirit to witness unto them that God is love, that they loved Him and that He loved them, and yet they are not in His kingdom. They have not complied with the necessary requirements, they have not entered in at the door, and Jesus says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” He says also, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.” Jesus has taught us how we may enter this door and become citizens of his kingdom, and there is no excuse for our neglecting to do so. Herein we exceed and go further than our former brethren. We read in this book (the Bible) of a certain man who came to Jesus by night and asked him what he should do to be saved. This man, in his own estimation, had been a strict observer of the law, but Jesus said to him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” My firm belief is that thousands have been born of the Spirit and have seen the kingdom, but not having been born of the water they have never been permitted to enter that kingdom, for Jesus says, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” This is why we say it is necessary to obey, fully, the Gospel which Jesus has left on record for us; and to do that we must repent of our sins, be baptized for the remission of them, and then receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.

Do we believe in the Holy Ghost? Yes. Do our former brethren in the Christian world? They say they do. They should believe in it, they preach and teach it. What will the Holy Ghost do for those who possess it? It will bring to their remembrance things past, present and to come, and will teach them all things necessary for them to understand, in order to secure salvation. Is this the office and ministry of the Holy Ghost? Jesus says:

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

“Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that he shall speak: and he will show you things to come.”

Then if we receive the Holy Ghost we shall know and understand things as they are, we shall be able to read the Scriptures by the Spirit, with which they were written, and if we continue faithful we shall be led to a knowledge of God and Jesus whom He has sent, which the apostle says “is eternal life.”

Some believe or conceive the idea that to know God would lessen Him in our estimation; but I can say that for me to understand any principle or being, on earth or in Heaven, it does not lessen its true value to me, but, on the contrary, it increases it; and the more I can know of God, the dearer and more precious He is to me, and the more exalted are my feelings towards Him. Therein I may be different to some others.

If we embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, rendering obedience thereunto as he has directed, it will lead us into the kingdom of God here on the earth. We have started to build up this kingdom. The Lord has revealed His will from the heavens, and we have faith in Him. Is there any proof of this? Certainly, there is every proof that is necessary. I recollect reading in the New Testament that Jesus gave a mission to his apostles in these words, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”

This Gospel is for all the children of men, and it will save all who will believe and obey it. Do this people believe in this Gospel? Yes. Is there any proof of this? Yes. Here before me I see men who have left their homes and families; women who have left their homes and families; parents who have left their children, and children their parents; husbands who have left their wives, and wives their husbands, and all to gather with the Saints of the Most High. Is this any testimony that they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes; and this is not all. They speak with new tongues, they lay hands on the sick and they do recover. In these particulars we differ from those with whom we formerly fellowshipped in the Christian world, who say they tell the people how to come to God and be saved. But if they ever have done that. I have never heard them. In my young days I have been called an infidel for talking thus, for there was no man who could tell me anything about the plan of salvation; but I never saw the day but what I would have walked on my knees across this continent to have seen a man who could have told me the first thing about God and Heaven. It is true that the feelings and attention of the people may be moved and attracted by beautiful descriptions of Him and Heaven and with beautiful illustrations of His power and goodness, such as we have heard to-day; but where is God? Who is He? Who is Jesus Christ? Where do they live? What is their power and character, and their connection with the people of the earth? In my scanty experience with the divines of the day I never yet found the first that could describe the character of God, locate His dwelling place, or give the first correct idea with regard to the Father and the Son; but to them they are hidden in impenetrable mystery, and their cry is, “Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.” To us it is simple, plain, glorious and divine, and it is worthy the attention of every intelligent being that dwells on the face of the earth, for it is eternal life to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

In these respects we differ from our Christian brethren. We are the very men and women that have come out from the Mother Church and her daughters, Methodists, Calvinists and almost every other persuasion on the face of the earth, the Pagans not excepted. We never learned from them, however, how to be saved; but we know how to save ourselves, for the Lord has revealed to us a plan by which we may be saved both here and hereafter. God has done everything we could ask, and more than we could ask. The errand of Jesus to earth was to bring his brethren and sisters back into the presence of the Father; he has done his part of the work, and it remains for us to do ours. There is not one thing that the Lord could do for the salvation of the human family that He has neglected to do; and it remains for the children of men to receive the truth or reject it; all that can be accomplished for their salvation, independent of them, has been accomplished in and by the Savior. It has been justly remarked this afternoon that “Jesus paid the debt; he atoned for the original sin; he came and suffered and died on the cross.” He is now King of kings and Lord of lords, and the time will come when every knee will bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus is the Christ. That very character that was looked upon, not as the Savior, but as an outcast, who was crucified between two thieves and treated with scorn and derision, will be greeted by all men as the only Being through whom they can obtain salvation.

We differ from our Christian brethren, and have long been separated from them; but we are here in these mountains through necessity—because we were not permitted to live with them. But we were never hated, despised and derided as Christ was; we have never been crucified and been such outcasts as Jesus, though our prophet and patriarch were slain; but not in such an ignominious manner as Jesus. Who will believe our testimony? “If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” Who will believe our testimony? Who will believe the testimony that has been delivered here this afternoon? I believe and know it is true; and that, too, by the revelations of that very character who was lifted up on the cross. How are we to blame for believing so much? Why, the Scriptures say we are to “prove all things and hold fast that which is good.” I frequently think that the only way for a man to prove any fact in the world is by experience. We go, for instance, into an orchard and some one says there is a sweet apple tree, and he may say the same of other trees, but without tasting how shall I know they are sweet? Unless I taste of them I cannot know it. I may take the testimony of others who have tasted them, as to whether they are sweet, sour or bitter, but without tasting it cannot be proved to my senses that they are so. Now, as I understand it, it is the same with all facts that have come to the knowledge of all beings in Heaven, or on earth—all facts are proved and made manifest by their opposite. Sin has come into the world, and death by sin. I frequently ask myself the question: Was there any necessity for sin to enter the world? Most assuredly there was, according to my understanding and reasoning powers. Did I not know the evil I could never know the good; had I not seen the light I should never be able to comprehend what darkness is. Had I never tried to see and behold a thing in darkness I could not understand the beauty and glory of the light. If I had never tasted the bitter or the sour how could I define or describe the sweet? Consequently, I let all these things pass, being according to the wisdom of Him who has done all things for the benefit and salvation of His children here on the earth. And when we contemplate and realise that He is our Father and that Jesus is our elder brother, and that we have the privilege of overcoming sin and death, by faith in Jesus and obedience to His Gospel, and of being exalted into the presence of the Father and the Son, the thought should fill our hearts with gratitude, praise and humility.

I extend my religion further than a great many do. I say it is far beyond the religions of the day; they consist, mainly, of forms and ceremonies, never revealing to their votaries the object of their creation and existence, or preparing them to fulfil their high calling and destiny; but ours incorporates the whole life of man. Our religion incorporates and includes all the duties devolving upon us every day of our lives, and enables us, if we live according to the spirit of it, to discharge those several duties more honorably and efficiently. I do not think there is as good a financier on the earth as my Father in Heaven is; I do not think there is a being among the whole human family who understands the principles of finance as well as He does. And I believe the same with regard to any other branch of human knowledge, or of anything which affects the peace, happiness, comfort, wealth, health and strength of body, and in fact the entire welfare, whether political, social or physical, of the children of men, consequently I would like to have Him dictate my affairs. Why? That I might become the possessor of power, wealth, and influence, for all the influence the children of men ever possessed they have received from the Father. Every kingdom that has been set up on the face of the earth has been set up by the will of the Father. He sets up a kingdom here and pulls down another there at His pleasure. He gives influence and power to this one and takes them from another; and so we see nations come and go. Some individuals live on the earth rich, noble, powerful and influential; while others are in the depths of poverty. All this is permitted by the Father, and is according to His decree. Every act of the children of men is the result of their own will and pleasure, but the results of these acts God overrules.

Our religion incorporates every act and word of man. No man should go to merchandising unless he does it in God; no man should go to farming or any other business unless he does it in the Lord. No lawyer, no, hold on, I will leave the lawyers out; we do not want them, we have no use for them. No man of council should sit to judge the people but what should judge in the Lord, that he may righteously and impartially discern between right and wrong, truth and error, light and darkness, justice and injustice. Should any legislature sit without the Lord? If it do, sooner or later it will fall to pieces. No nation ever did live that counseled and transacted its national affairs without the Lord, but what sooner or later went to pieces and came to naught. The same is true of all the nations that now live or ever will live.

Our work, our every-day labor, our whole lives are within the scope of our religion. This is what we believe and what we try to practice. Yet the Lord permits a great many things that He never commands. I have frequently heard my old brethren in the Christian world make remarks about the impropriety of indulging in pastimes and amusements. The Lord never commanded me to dance, yet I have danced; you all know it, for my life is before the world. Yet while the Lord has never commanded me to do it, He has permitted it. I do not know that He ever commanded the boys to go and play at ball, yet He permits it. I am not aware that He ever commanded us to build a theatre, but He has permitted it, and I can give the reason why. Recreation and diversion are as necessary to our well-being as the more serious pursuits of life. There is not a man in the world but what, if kept at any one branch of business or study, will become like a machine. Our pursuits should be so diversified as to develop every trait of character and diversity of talent. If you would develop every power and faculty possessed by your children, they must have the privilege of engaging in and enjoying a diversity of amusements and studies; to attain great excellence, however, they cannot all be kept to any one individual branch of study. I recollect once while in England, in the district of country called the “Potteries,” seeing a man pass along the street, his head, perhaps, within sixteen or eighteen inches of the ground. I inquired what occupation he had followed for a living, and learned that he had never done anything in his life but turned a tea cup, and he was then seventy-four years of age. How do we know, but what, if he had had the privilege, he would have made a statesman or a fine physician, an excellent mechanic or a good judge? We cannot tell. This shows the necessity of the mind being kept active and having the opportunity of indulging in every exercise it can enjoy in order to attain to a full development of its powers.

We wish, in our Sunday and day schools, that they who are inclined to any particular branch of study may have the privilege to study it. As I have often told my sisters in the Female Relief societies, we have sisters here who, if they had the privilege of studying, would make just as good mathematicians or accountants as any man; and we think they ought to have the privilege to study these branches of knowledge that they may develop the powers with which they are endowed. We believe that women are useful, not only to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds, and raise babies, but that they should stand behind the counter, study law or physic, or become good book-keepers and be able to do the business in any counting house, and all this to enlarge their sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large. In following these things they but answer the design of their creation. These, and many more things of equal utility are incorporated in our religion, and we believe in and try to practice them.

I will say, now, to the Latter day Saints, sometimes you know, if a word be dropped unguardedly, we are threatened with an army; if we speak a word out of the wrong side of the mouth we are threatened with a legalized mob just as we were in the States. Hence, we must be careful of what we say, for our enemies are ready to “make a man an offender for a word, and to lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate.” I will say, however, that if you, Latter-day Saints, will live your religion there will be no necessity whatever to fear all the powers of earth and hell, for God will sustain you. Jesus is king of this earth and he will sustain those who walk humbly before him, loving and serving him and keeping his commandments. I pray the Latter-day Saints to be faithful; love and serve the Lord, keep His commandments, refrain from evil and walk humbly before him. When we were in the Christian world, and were without the Priesthood, we believed in every good word and work, in every moral principle, in everything that tended to promote peace, happiness, morality and virtue, in fact in every good principle that man could teach. Let us live as consistently now as we did then; let us live so that God will bless us and enable us to overcome and be saved in His kingdom, which may He grant for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Revelations and Manifestations of God and of Wicked Spirits

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 19, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

There is a passage which will be found in one of the epistles of John, the substance of which I will repeat: “Every spirit that confesses not that Jesus is the Christ is not of God.” I may not have given you this passage word for word, as it is recorded, but I have given you the substance of it as laid down in the Scriptures. It is well known by all readers of the Scriptures, that in every age of our world mankind have had to contend against a power which is in opposition to the Almighty. It seems that our world is infested with those spirits of darkness which were, in the beginning, cast down from the Almighty, in consequence of their rebellion against Him; and in every age of the world these wicked spirits have manifested themselves, and especially when the Priesthood has been upon the earth and a dispensation has been committed from Heaven to man; then all hell has seemed to be in an uproar, and the power of all the fallen angels made manifest. Hence, it is written, somewhere in the New Testament, that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood merely, but against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We not only have to meet with wicked men, and the power of the devil manifested in them, but the Saints of God have always had to meet with manifestations of power from beneath—powers not ordained of God, and which are calculated, if possible, to deceive the very elect.

Now there are in existence two great powers: one is of God, including all the heavenly host—the angels and celestial beings who dwell in the presence of God and partake of His glory, holding power and authority from Him to go forth and minister according to His command. The other power is an enemy to God; it is the power of that being who rebelled against Him in Heaven, and sought to take possession of the throne of the Almighty. According to the history that is given of this event, a general council was held in Heaven about the time of the creation of this earth. In that council there was a personage called an angel, who stood in authority in the presence of God; and when the question was asked, “Who shall go forth and redeem mankind?” Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, this angel who stood in the presence of God, answered and said, “Here am I, send me; I will go forth and redeem all mankind, that not one soul shall be lost.” But the only begotten Son of the Father, who was with the Father from the beginning, replied and said, “Father, Thy will be done, and the glory be Thine for ever.” And here a rebellion rose up between Satan, the Son of the Morning, and the Son of the living God, as to the redemption of mankind. One sought to destroy the plan of God and the agency that the Lord intended to give to intelligent beings, and to redeem them whether they would be redeemed or not; and because he considered that his plan was so good before the heavens, and so much superior to the plan that God had devised, said he, “Surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor, which is the power of God.” That is, he sought to obtain the throne of the Almighty, and to carry out his own purposes in preference to yielding to the purposes and power of the Almighty. This rebellion became so great, and the influence of it spread so rapidly among the heavenly host, that one-third part of the heavenly throng, I mean the spirits, rebelled against God and followed the evil design and purpose of this angel. No doubt some of them thought that they could accomplish their design; for they had not a knowledge of the future designs and purposes of God only in a small degree, and consequently they supposed that their plan was better than that of the Almighty; and in this great rebellion the Lord caused Satan, or Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, and those who followed him, to be cast out of Heaven.

We may form some little calculation of the vast numbers thus thrown out of Heaven, when we consider that they were one-third of all the spirits that were born, intended for this creation. Only two-thirds kept their first estate, and they have the great privilege of coming here to this creation and taking bodies of flesh and bones, tabernacles wherein their spirits may dwell, to prepare themselves for a more glorious state of existence hereafter. If, then, only two-thirds of the hosts of Heaven are to come to our earth to tabernacle in the flesh, we may form some idea of the vast number who fell, Already our earth has teemed for six thousand years with numberless millions of human beings whose spirits existed before the foundation of the world. Those who now exist probably number one thousand or twelve hundred millions. Twelve hundred millions of spirits now dwelling in mortal flesh! Think of the immense numbers who must have preceded us and the myriads who are to come! These are the two-thirds who kept their first estate. Their numbers, probably, cannot be less than two hundred thousand millions, leaving, as an approximate estimate, one hundred thousand millions of rebellious spirits or devils who were cast out from Heaven and banished to this creation, having no privilege of fleshly tabernacles.

It was in the Garden of Eden that the devil, or one of those foul spirits, entered into a certain animal or beast, called a serpent, and came before our first parents and beguiled them, and they suffered themselves to partake of the forbidden fruit. If, then, they were in the earth as early as the Garden of Eden, no doubt, they have been here from that day to this, and that the earth is the place of their habitation. They wander to and fro in the earth seeking whom they may devour! Only think of a hundred devils to every being that now exists on the earth.

Though these spirits had not the full knowledge of the Almighty; though they had not that superior knowledge that reigns in the bosom of the Son of God, and of many that stood in His presence, yet they had great information before their fall. They had stood in the presence of God, and had, no doubt, learned many things from His own mouth. How long they had been in His presence it is not for us to say, God has not revealed it. But they had great experience. I am speaking of the knowledge and the cunning that these enemies of God possessed when they were cast down here to the earth. They have cunning beyond what you have ever seen manifested by the children of men. They can, at times, apparently, be perfect gentlemen when they enter the tabernacles of the children of men. They can become, apparently, very pious, and, if you could not discern spirits, you would think, from the manifestations of devils, when in the tabernacles of many individuals, that they were perfect angels on earth.

The devil operates in every conceivable form, and this is what the apostle meant when he said, “We do not merely wrestle against flesh and blood, but also against principalities and powers.” We have enemies far more powerful than men to contend against. The devil has not the power to take full possession of the tabernacles of human creatures, unless they give way to him and his influence to that degree that he gets power over them. But we have not time now to trace the history of the powers of darkness in early ages; but will briefly state, that they did show forth their power in ancient times.

Moses was called of God and ordained to the holy Priesthood after the order of Melchizedec, by the hands of his father-in-law, Jethro, and sent forth with power and authority into Egypt to seek after the welfare of the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in bondage there. Just as soon as the Almighty began to manifest Himself through the power of the legal Priesthood, so soon these opposite powers began to work whenever they could find a chance; and the individuals through whom they worked were the principal men of Egypt, the most popular men they had in their midst—the priests, magicians, and astrologers were the ones through whom Satan manifested this opposite power. His design, no doubt, was to frustrate or destroy the influence of the miracles, signs and wonders that were made manifest by Moses among the people of God for their redemption. Hence when Moses came before Pharaoh he cast down his staff and it was turned into a serpent, or into something having the appearance of a serpent, and was full of life and animation. That was a great miracle that the Lord saw proper, on that occasion, to manifest before this wicked king, that he might have what he had desired, for he had asked for a sign, and the Lord granted it. But immediately others were called by the king—the magicians, soothsayers and those whom Satan had gained power and influence over—and they were commanded to show what they could do. They cast down their rods and they likewise became serpents.

Now, here was a manifestation of similar power—Moses’ rod became a serpent and the rods of the magicians also became serpents; but by and by Moses’ rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians. What did that prove? In the estimation of wicked men like the King of Egypt and his subjects, it was nothing more than the extending of this power had in possession by the magicians. They did not look upon it as a distinct and separate power, because they had not the spirit to discern, the Spirit of the Lord was not with them, and they could not discern the difference. But there were manifested on that occasion two distinct and separate powers, so similar in their effects, that none but those who lived near unto God and understood the workings of the Holy Spirit, could detect the difference between them.

A succession of wonderful manifestations of the power of God was made through Moses, and in all, save two or three instances, the magicians did likewise. What would naturally be the conclusion at which wicked men would arrive under such circumstances? They would naturally say, “Here is Moses, who has been brought up in all the learning of the Egyptians and he is more advanced than our magicians; he has learned lessons that they have not yet acquired,” consequently men of that stamp would decide that it was all by the same spirit, and they would not acknowledge the finger of God in it.

That may be a sample to all people in future generations in the manifestations of these powers. The wicked cannot discern and comprehend the difference between these two powers. If we believe that there is a God and a heavenly host standing in His presence, ready to do His behests, we must believe in the manifestations of divine power; and if we believe that there are fallen spirits who have been cast down to this earth, we must also believe that they will manifest their power just as far as they are suffered or permitted. But we do not wish to dwell too long upon the history of past ages, we want to come down more immediately to our own time.

I now appeal to the aged and to the middle-aged in this assembly, and I will ask them this one question, “What was the condition of the world forty years ago in regard to miraculous manifestations of power, and to new revelation?” I am now speaking of the Christian world at large. Did they believe that God would perform any miracles in our day? The old and the middle-aged know that the whole world had come to the conclusion that there was no such thing as supernatural power to be made manifest in our times. That was the almost universal belief among the children of men. When you talked to them about new revelation, they considered the very idea of such a thing a folly. Tradition had taught them and their fathers for many generations, that the book called the Old and New Testaments contained all that God ever did reveal or ever would reveal to the human family. This notion was not peculiar to some few classes of Christian society, but it was almost universal throughout Christendom. Such a thing as new revelation was discarded by them, all over the world. Said they, “The canon of Scripture is full, it is complete, and it is the very height of blasphemy to suppose that God would give any more!”

This was the condition of mankind before this Church arose, forty years ago. By and by an obscure individual, a young man, rose up, and, in the midst of all Christendom, proclaimed the startling news that God had sent an angel to him; that through his faith, prayers, and sincere repentance he had beheld a supernatural vision, that he had seen a pillar of fire descend from Heaven, and saw two glorious personages clothed upon with this pillar of fire, whose countenance shone like the sun at noonday; that he heard one of these personages say, pointing to the other, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.” This occurred before this young man was fifteen years of age; and it was a startling announcement to make in the midst of a generation so completely given up to the traditions of their fathers; and when this was proclaimed by this young, unlettered boy to the priests and the religious societies in the State of New York, they laughed him to scorn. “What!” said they, “visions and revelations in our day! God speaking to men in our day!” They looked upon him as deluded; they pointed the finger of scorn at him and warned their congregations against him. “The canon of Scripture is closed up; no more communications are to be expected from Heaven. The ancients saw heavenly visions and personages; they heard the voice of the Lord; they were inspired by the Holy Ghost to receive revelations, but behold no such thing is to be given to man in our day, neither has there been for many generations past.” This was the style of the remarks made by religionists forty years ago.

This young man, some four years afterwards, was visited again by a holy angel. It was not merely something speaking in the dark; it was not something wrapped up in mystery, with no glory attending it, but a glorious angel whose countenance shone like a vivid flash of lightning, and who was arrayed in a white robe, and stood before him. This young man saw the countenance of the angel; he saw his person and his glory and rejoiced therein. This angel revealed to him some great realities; not mysterious or dark sayings, covered up without any particular information, light or knowledge, but certain realities were made manifest to him concerning the ancient inhabitants of this land. This angel told him that they were a branch of the House of Israel; that they kept sacred and holy records; that those records were kept by prophets and inspired men; that they were deposited, some fourteen centuries ago, after the nation had fallen into wickedness, by one of their last prophets, and that the time was at hand for this record to be brought forth by the gift and power of God.

Here, then, was a reality—something great and glorious, and after having received from time to time, visits from these glorious personages, and talking with them, as one man would talk with another, face to face, beholding their glory, he was permitted to go and take these plates from the place of their deposit—plates of gold—records, some of which were made nearly six hundred years before Christ. And then, to show still further a reality, something tangible, the Urim and Thummim, a glorious instrument, used by ancient seers, was also obtained with the record, through which, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost and by the commandment of Almighty God, he translated that record into our language, and the book was published in the fore part of the year 1830.

During the translation, before the book was published, when the prophet came towards the latter part of the record, he discovered that the ancient inhabitants of this continent were baptized in a certain way, by those having authority from Almighty God. He felt anxious to know how he, in connection with his scribe, Oliver Cowdery, might participate in the blessings of this holy ordinance. They very well knew, from what God had revealed to them, and from what they had understood by translating the main portion of the record, that there was no man in all Christendom that had authority to baptize them. They were anxious to know how they might be baptized, and how the authority might be restored. They went out into a grove, and joined in secret prayer, and the Lord sent a holy angel to them, a man who once dwelt on the earth, and held the Priesthood of his fathers, according to the promise of God to the lineage of Aaron. John the Baptist, the fore-runner of Christ, who was beheaded by Herod—John who preached repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, came to Joseph and Oliver Cowdery, as a ministering angel.

Perhaps you may inquire here Was John without a tabernacle Was he a spirit or was he a personage of tabernacle, of flesh and bones? We all know that he was beheaded before the crucifixion of Christ; and if you wish to know the condition of John when he came to Joseph and Oliver, read the appendix to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and you will find that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and many others, who are named there, among whom was John the Baptist, were with Christ in his resurrection; that is, they came forth in the first resurrection, at the time that Jesus received his body. About that period the graves of the Saints were opened and many of them came forth. John was amongst them; and he held, legally, the power, keys and Priesthood, bestowed upon the lineage of his father, Aaron.

What did John do, when he appeared to brothers Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery? He did not go forth into the water to baptize them, as he did anciently in the Jordan; but he gave the authority to them to baptize—he laid his hands upon their heads and ordained them. Thus the hands of an immortal being—a man sent from Heaven—were laid upon their heads! They were ordained to that same Priesthood that John himself held, with the promise and prediction that that Priesthood should not be taken from the earth while the earth should stand.

They were commanded to be baptized, and having received the authority to administer the ordinance, they went forth and baptized each other, on the 15th of May, 1829, nearly one year before the rise of this Church, which took place on the 6th of April, 1830. Prior to the last mentioned date the Lord bestowed authority upon His servants to officiate in still higher ordinances than those pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood. That Priesthood could administer baptism for the remission of sins, but it had no power or authority to administer the Spirit. But there was a Priesthood that had that power and authority. John speaks of another Priesthood greater than that which he held. Said he, “There is one coming after me mightier than I. He holds a Priesthood greater than that which has been bestowed upon me, namely, the Priesthood of Melchisedec. He shall baptize you with fire and the Holy Ghost. I can only administer in the outward ordinance; I have not the right to administer to you this higher ordinance.” It was so with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery: they could only baptize with water until they received a Priesthood greater than that which John the Baptist held. And when the Lord was about to organize His Church, He prepared them by sending men who had once been here on the earth—namely, Peter, James and John, to bestow upon them this higher Priesthood.

How did these celestial personages come? Did they come manifesting themselves by a mere voice, or behind some screen as it were? No, they came personally, in their glory. They not only manifested their persons and their glory, but they also spoke and gave them the Melchisedec Priesthood, and the holy apostleship, which is equivalent to that Priesthood, and commanded them to organize and build up the Church of God on the earth, and to administer by the laying on of hands to those who were sincerely baptized in water, that they might be baptized with the greater baptism—of fire and the Holy Ghost.

Here, then, was a succession of manifestations of power from the celestial abode. God did not suffer, in those days, Satan to make manifestations of his power in a very great degree. No such things as spirit rappings in those days! No such thing as planchette—a little heart-shaped wooden thing that the devil makes use of in giving revelations, in those days. No such thing as tables dancing about the room by the power of Satan in those days! No such thing as a power seizing upon the hands of a man and using them independent of his control to write out what were termed revelations, in those days! But why didn’t the devil manifest these powers long before that time? Because God would not suffer him: the devil is under the control of the Almighty in some respects. He has fallen, and the Lord will not suffer him to go any further than He permits; and when the people have not the Gospel and Priesthood in their midst, and light and knowledge from the heavens, He will not suffer the devil to show forth his power to deceive and lead them astray; therefore He determined that the preliminary manifestations should come from the celestial world, and that the Priesthood with its power and authority should be given from on high, before He would suffer the devil to come in and manifest his strong delusions!

Suffice it to say, the Church was organized, individuals were baptized by water and with the Holy Ghost, and when they were filled with the Holy Ghost they were oftentimes, in those early stages of the Church, covered with a pillar of fire. They were immersed in and clothed upon with fire, and the Holy Ghost entered their hearts and they were filled with the spirit of prophecy, and with the gift of tongues, and in process of time with the gift of visions, and had power to heal the sick and cast out devils in the name of Jesus Christ, to build up the kingdom of God and establish righteousness upon the face of the earth, so far as they could gain influence over the hearts of the children of men. But wherever these servants of the Most High went persecution followed them. There was a howl from the pulpit from Maine to Texas and from one extremity of the Union to the other, crying out against new revelation. All the papers and periodicals of the day, far and near, published articles against the idea of receiving new revelation; there seemed to be a perfect flood coming from all quarters of the land testifying to the supposed absurdity of receiving new communication from the Almighty. By and by persecution became so great that scores and scores of the Saints were put to death in Missouri; and this was followed up until the Prophet and Patriarch of the Church were martyred and the people driven from their homes, their property destroyed, and every means in the power of the enemy used to uproot and destroy the fullness of the Gospel and the Priesthood out of the earth.

What was the matter in those days, and why were they so embittered against this people? “You have,” said they, “brought us something so strange! You pretend to visions! You pretend to new revelations! You pretend that God has spoken! You pretend that angels have come! You pretend that God has revealed another record, another Bible! You pretend that you have received the Priesthood and the apostleship, and for these things you are not worthy to dwell in our midst! You must be persecuted from city to city, you must be driven from your houses and lands, your property must be confiscated and destroyed, and there is no power in this country of ours that can protect you in those views which you have so strangely advanced in the midst of this Christian country.”

Was there any polygamy in those days among the Latter-day Saints? No; God had not revealed and established this practice among them in those days; they were not persecuted for any such thing, it was not named; but we were persecuted because we believed in the same principles that the ancient apostles and Christians believed in. But by and by, after having shed the blood of the prophets, and the Saints had been driven from their lands and from one city to another, and their property destroyed, when the wicked had ripened themselves in iniquity, and prepared themselves in a great degree for the overwhelming judgments of the Almighty, and when they found that the people were not to be put down by persecution, and that we would continue publishing these new tidings, far and wide, the devil took another turn. What was it? Said he, “I see they cannot be put down with persecution, they go forth and the people will believe them more or less; we cannot destroy them, and if we destroy their property and drive them from place to place it makes no difference, so I will show them that the world can have revelation enough,” and he commenced. But instead of calling upon men and beginning something great and good, in a godlike manner, he called upon certain females, residing not far from where the plates of the Book of Mormon were found, where the people had been warned, perhaps, longer than in any other portion of the United States. These ladies, Misses Fox by name, began bringing forth supernatural manifestations. Others did the same in a short time, and they have continued until the present day and have spread over the whole United States and many other parts of the world. If you go forth and make inquiries in regard to these manifestations, you will find that there are several millions of people in this country that believe in them. What a change between now and forty years ago! Then you could scarcely find one in the whole Christian world that would admit the probability of new revelation or supernatural manifestations; now there are millions in the United States alone!

Do these manifestations affect, for good, those who believe in them? Do they cause them to repent of their sins? No; they who blaspheme the name of God almost with every breath, and that will cheat and take every advantage possible of their brethren; they who will lie and steal and do every species of wickedness and abominations are the very ones that the devil works through; still the whole Christian world, apparently, are now willing to admit new revelation. Oh, yes! They have forgotten how they persecuted the Latter-day Saints because they believed in new, revelation, and they can now believe in revelation by wholesale! They will not believe in records given through the medium of the prophets; but they are ready enough to believe if a wicked man who will blaspheme the name of Jesus is the medium and is made a participant in this great power. Such characters do not need any organization from God, they do not need any baptism, ordinances or Priesthood.

The devil has invented various names for his manifestations in order to get the people to swallow them down; the same as the doctors. When they wish to administer some nauseous kind of medicine, they sweeten it up a little. So the devil has sweetened up these things in such a way that he has got almost all these manifestations under the name of science. If you want to see a species of devilism made manifest, it comes out under a scientific phraseology, under the specious name of electrobiology, animal-magnetism, or some such popular name—names that have been given to real sciences, which have their laws, founded in nature, are now given to these supernatural manifestations. Why does Satan use these artifices? Because the people at the present day have become naturally scientific, or a great many of them have; and the devil thinks if he can only invent a real, nice, beautiful name, with some resemblance to a scientific name, a great many of these persons will swallow it down, and think it all right.

Several years ago, about the time of the commencement of the war, Brother Erastus Snow and myself were down in New York City. Spiritualism, at that time, was all the order of the day. Almost all those old members of the Church that had been in Nauvoo and Kirtland and had apostatized, had fled into New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and throughout the Eastern cities; and in going through any of these cities, if you heard anything about these apostates, you would hear about them being great mediums: there was scarcely a case but what they were spiritual mediums. Some of the worst kind of apostates—apostates who had turned away from everything good, from every principle of righteousness, had become great mediums. Some of them were writing mediums; some of them would work with a table; some would have manifestations in one way and some in another.

While brother Snow and I were in New York, a very learned judge, a man very noted for his great attainments and who had been a judge in the City of New York, I think his name was Edmunds, gave us an interview. We promised to meet him early in the evening. I think we stayed until nearly twelve at night and talked with that man. He had written a great many works in relation to spiritualism, and had lectured at New York and other places to very large assemblies in regard to its truth. We were very glad to have an opportunity of hearing from his own mouth something about these supernatural manifestations. We did not expect to gain any particular light, any further than this—while travelling on a mission abroad we wished to know how to detect the devil on his own ground, in relation to those things we had continually to meet with. Mr. Edmunds told us about the mediums speaking in Greek and in Latin; about persons who had never learned to write and had never written a word in their lives, whose arms had been taken possession of, and their writing a great variety of writing; also about bells being carried about the room and rung. He also informed us that many persons had not only seen and heard these manifestations, but they had actually seen the personages, by whom they were made, especially their faces, arms and hands.

We inquired of him, if they believed in any Priesthood? Oh, no. “Do they generally believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world?” “Oh no, he was a very good man, no doubt, and wrote a good many good precepts; he was not much better than other good men, only he happened to have some precepts beyond the age in which he lived. But this age is far superior to that, and consequently all those things that Jesus and his apostles revealed are thrown in the shade. They belonged to a semi-barbarous age, but we have a system and dispensation far superior to that.” This was the tenor of this gentleman’s conversation in regard to these things. He also told about different spheres of glory, and different orders of angels, the latter, we were told, being personages from different spheres. They required no Priesthood, no authority, no ordinances, no such thing as baptism or organization.

When we heard these things we saw, truly, that as the devil did manifest his power in ancient times among the Egyptians, because they had persecuted the people of God, put to death their young infants, and shed innocent blood, even so, directly in the midst of our nation, his evil power was again manifested in strong delusion. Having persecuted the Saints of God, and having shed the blood of His prophets and Saints and driven them from place to place, and banished them beyond the Rocky Mountains, thinking that they had certainly got rid of them, and that they would perish there. Having become so exceedingly wicked, we saw that the devil was showing forth his power on the right hand and on the left, for their delusion and destruction.

Now let us again speak of the apostates. Apostates seem to be the greatest mediums in Spritualism, where they have neither order, church, nor Priesthood. These apostates, generally, had fallen into the idea that Jesus, and the apostles and prophets of ancient times, were living in barbarous ages, far behind the civilization of our day, but that they were called upon to open up a wonderful dispensation, and to reveal light far superior to that which had ever been revealed by any prophet who ever lived on the earth. This seems to have been the general idea of those apostates called mediums. I do not know but I am taking up too much time, but I must now come a little nearer home.

You have no doubt heard and reflected upon what is termed a very great and wonderful “movement”—something that is going to build up Zion in purity, taking place in our midst. The “movement” was commenced by a few individuals who had been cut off by the highest authority of the Church and kingdom of God, and expelled because of teaching and publishing things contrary to the order of this Church. Now what do you suppose is the real foundation on which these few individuals are working? I will tell you, and what I tell you, I will tell you as a person that has heard from their own mouths; I would much rather have it from their own mouths than from a secondhand source. I have seen Messrs. W. S. Godbe and E. L. T. Harrison once since they were cut off from the Church. I went to see Mr. Godbe, but he was not at home. I was invited to take a seat in the presence of Mr. E. L. T. Harrison, and heard him, for an hour or two, relate his spiritual manifestations. Mr. Godbe, hearing that I had been to see him, sent me a letter requesting me to meet again with them. I met with him in a private room, separate from any of the rest, and I had a long conversation with him. My object in meeting with these gentlemen was to see if it were possible to point out to them their foolishness and the foolishness of their conduct and the course they were taking, what it would lead to and how much misery it would make them in time to come if they did not repent. I did not know, before going to see them, that they were so fully wrapt up in Spritualism, or what I term Spritualism, for it is a species of this same kind of Spiritualism of which I have been speaking. They both, separately, one on one evening, the other on another, related to me their supernatural manifestations, commencing some fifteen months before. They told me they had had interviews, by hearing a voice without seeing any person, with Heber C. Kimball, who taught them a great many things which, according to my ideas, conflicted with the instructions contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, such as sending men on missions etc. The tenor of the instructions he received on this subject was that no person, when called on a mission need go unless he got the light of the Spirit thereon in his own heart, to tell him whether it was right that he should go; in other words they need not go because of being appointed by the voice of the Priesthood or the general Conference of the Latter-day Saints. Now, who does not know, except those who are infatuated and overcome by false spirits, that that is directly in opposition to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants? The Lord says there, “Whomsoever you shall lay your hands upon and ordain and send forth, I will be with them and bless them; I will go before their faces and will be on their rearward, and my Spirit shall be in their hearts.” It is not, therefore, for every man, when he is commanded by the voice of the Priesthood, to think he is to be his own judge whether he is to go forth on that calling or not and still remain in fellowship. That is not the way of Heaven, for the Lord says in the same book that “all things”—remember this is very broad in its nature—“all things shall be done by the voice of my people and by the voice of my servants whom I have appointed, pertaining to the calling and missions of the Priesthood;” and all things pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God are to be done in this way. Now these spirits have taught them directly to the contrary of this. They named over to me other individuals who came to them. They said that Joseph Smith came to them; that Peter, James and John came to them; they also said that Jesus, himself, came to them, and that Solomon came to them, and he was rather against the idea, recorded in the Book of Mormon, about his concubines; he said he never had any concubines, but that all his women, so far as he understood the subject, were wives. This repudiates not only the Book of Mormon but the Scriptures also, for in the latter we are told that he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. The Book of Mormon does not number the concubines and wives that he had; but the record, contained there, seemed to touch the feelings of the old gentleman, and he desired to get out of it and to explain the matter. He said the things contained in the Book of Mormon and Scriptures were not to be received just as they were spoken, and that he felt himself justified in contradicting that saying of Jacob in the Book of Mormon. So much for Solomon’s visit.

They also said that James, in connection with Peter and John, gave them many instructions, which Mr. Godbe read to me; he also read to me many instructions purporting to have come from Heber C. Kimball and Joseph Smith, and he told me there was a great deal more that they did not let me see. Probably I was not strong enough in the faith to see it. These statements were made to me in the most perfect plainness. I told them, “I do not believe in the truthfulness of your manifestations. I believe you have had manifestations, just as you say, but I do not believe that Peter, James, John, Solomon, Joseph Smith, Heber Kimball or Jesus has been to you. I do not believe one of them has been to you, it is the devil, just the same as he has manifested himself in the world.” “Oh,” said they, “here is the difference between us and them: we believe in the Priesthood; we believe in plurality of wives; we believe in the order of the Church,” and so on. Said I, “Don’t you know that the devil would be very foolish, if he wished to lead astray men who had been in this Church, who had been taught for years to believe the principles you believe in, if he should undertake to lead them astray by telling them there was no truth in all these things? The devil can adapt himself to the belief of any person. If you believed in plurality he would make you think it was all right. If he could get you to swallow down one or two great lies that would effect your destruction, and which you would preach and destroy many others, he would not mind how many truths you might believe. He would be willing that you should believe a great many things absolutely true if he could only deceive you and lead you astray and get you to reject some of the fundamental principles of your salvation, and the salvation of the people.” “But O,” said they, “how happy we feel! We do not feel any animosity to any one; no anger in our bosoms. We love the President and his council; we love the Twelve and the whole Church.”

“Now,” said I, “supposing, for argument’s sake, that you really believe these manifestations were from God, but that the personages calling themselves Peter, James, John, Joseph, Jesus, Heber C. Kimball were not those personages at all, so long as your faith was fixed that they were what they represented themselves to be, what would be your feelings about it? You would die for it, just the same as the Pagans will do for their idol worship; just the same as thousands have done among the false sects of Christendom in ages past. They were sincere, they had joy in their works, but by and by, as the Book of Mormon says, ‘the end comes and they are hewn down and cast into the fire.’”

So those men have joy in their works; they are as happy as happy can be, apparently, because they believe in these simple, foolish, vain, false spirits that have taken advantage of them to lead them astray. Said I, “The true reason that I do not believe in any of your manifestations is, that your ‘manifesto,’ that you have published and sent forth among the people, contains things so absolutely in opposition to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants that I know no good angel or spirit ever revealed them to you.” Mr. Godbe wanted to know in what respects. I pointed out a number of things where they come out in opposition to that book. In order to get around this he told me that the spirits had manifested that it (the Book of doctrine and Covenants) was not to be relied upon in the fullest sense of the word, in our present state of light and knowledge; that those revelations and commandments were given in our weakness; but that God had greater light to give us now, hence we must not take them exactly as they are.

I referred to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, in opposition to their “manifesto,” to show how the Lord and His Priesthood were to govern and control in temporal as well as in spiritual things; “but,” said I, “your spirits teach that they must only teach the spiritual things, and have no business to assume control in temporal concerns, but let every man follow the bent of his own mind.” “This,” said I, “proves to me that your spirits never came from God.” I was very gentle with them; did not express myself harshly, but in a plain and pointed manner.

I have taken up this subject, of false and true spiritual manifestations, and laid it before this congregation on the spur of the moment. I inquired of brother Brigham, as I came on the stand, on what subject I should speak, and he said, “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus is the Christ is of God, and every spirit that does not confess this is not of God.” The nature of these spirits, in their manifestations, is to lessen the power and authority of the great Redeemer, as our God and the Lord of this creation. You go among the Spiritualists abroad and you can scarcely find one individual that will acknowledge the power, glory and greatness of our Redeemer. So it is with those who manifest themselves here. They dare not come out all at once; but, as I told them, “You are so infatuated, so led astray by these false manifestations, and you believe them so firmly, I see no possible hope for your recovery, until, perhaps, at some future time the revelations that you will get may be so absurd as to stagger your own faith; then you may go into infidelity.”

I expect this. I find that this is the case with these manifestations abroad. The mediums will work at, them for a season, but they find so many absurdities and contradictions, that they finally relinquish them, and turn to infidelity, and say, “There is no truth in anything.”

Pardon me for speaking so plain. I did not pledge myself when Messrs. Harrison and Godbe spoke to me about their manifestations that I would hold my peace. I told them I had spoken very pointedly against their principles, and I intended to do so in the future, believing, with all my heart, and knowing that they were not from Heaven.

Did they see any of these personages? Both of them say they saw none of them; it was merely a voice that they heard. They pretended to have seen a light when Jesus came; after he had talked a little while they say they saw a little light, but no personage.

How very different were the manifestations I have laid before you, when Jesus ministered to Joseph Smith, and when the angels came to him! He not only heard their voices but saw their persons and their glory, and how they were dressed; and he was inspired to build up the kingdom of God and bring forth the records of the Book of Mormon, How very different from this is this covering themselves up in the dark to deceive! The whole spirit world in the lower orders is full of deception, and unless you have something to detect and understand the true from the false you are liable to be led astray and destroyed.

I do not know that I need say anything further about these two powers, only that all evil powers will go to their own place; and, unless these men repent, the same being that has power over them here in the flesh will hold them incaptivity in the next world; unless they repent, the same being who gives them revelation here will hold the mastery over them there, and will control them; and if they do not find a dictating and control[l]ing power in the Priesthood, they will find it among those beings to whom they have yielded themselves subject to obey; and so will every other person that yields to false influences: they will be overcome and Satan will destroy them, unless they repent. Amen.

At the Funeral of the Late President Daniel Spencer

Brigham Young

On Thursday, December 10th, 1868, at the 13th Ward Assembly Rooms, Great Salt Lake City.

“Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord: yea, saith the spirit, henceforth they rest from their labors;” or, in other words, blessed are those who have received the Priesthood of the Son of God, and have honored it in their lives. Those who have honored their calling and Priesthood to the end die in the Lord, and their works do follow them. Our brother has lived faithful during his life, and has gone to his rest. We do not mourn as others do. We can truly say that we have a hope—a knowledge. The way of life and salvation has been revealed to us, giving us knowledge of the present and future. We rejoice. Shall we rejoice that we have the opportunity of paying the last respects due to this lifeless clay, which a few days ago was alive and active, full of spirit, attending the High Council, giving decisions full of knowledge? Yes, we will rejoice. It is a matter of rejoicing more than the day of his birth. It is true it is grievous to part with our friends. We are creatures of passion, of sympathy, of love, and it is painful for us to part with our friends. We would keep them in the mortal house, though they should suffer pain. Are we not selfish in this? Should we not rather rejoice at the departure of those whose lives have been devoted to doing good, to a good old age? Brother Spencer has lived beyond what is counted to be the common age of man some four or five years; his judgment was as active as it was twenty-five years ago. He has been faithful in this holy war. He instructed all with whom he met in the way of life. He never gave counsel but what marked the way to life everlasting.

I say to the wives and children and relations, we have more reason to rejoice for Daniel Spencer to-day, than on any day of his mortal life. He lives—he has gone on a mission. We are taking steps to the very place he has gone to. That which was made subject to sin through the fall, has fled to its eternal place. This is only a mystery to those who do not understand. But we have joy in the dissolution of the body. While the spirit remains in the body, it is liable to sin and overthrow. We are only preserved by the grace of God and our own faithfulness. Brother Spencer was, while in the body, subject to temptations and the vanities that are in the world. So with us. That silent clay is consigned to rest, and the spirit is free—gone to God who gave it. How far had he to go to get to the Lord? According to the ancients, he is dwelling there. David says, “If I were to flee to the uttermost parts of the earth, thou art there.” God is everywhere by His Spirit, and his spirit is free—it can see the Lord as well in this room as to travel millions of miles away. If he is watching us now, he has not the privilege of speaking to us. God has placed the spirits of the departed subject to bounds, and they are controlled by certain laws. They have not the privilege of joining with us in our mental exercises; yet brother Spencer is in the presence of the Lord. Shall we be in the presence of God, as brother Spencer is? Yes, if we are faithful, for we have the privilege of being crowned with immortality and eternal lives. All people have their guardian angels. Whether our departed dead guard us is not for me to say. I can say we have our guardian angels.

I say to the family of brother Spencer, there is no cause to mourn. This body is sown in mortality. This tabernacle is from the elements of the earth. We are of the earth, earthy, yet this tabernacle, through faithfulness whilst here in the flesh, has the promise of a glorious resurrection. If the spirit brought into subjection the whole man, bringing every portion of the flesh subject to the law of God, it has the promise of a resurrection. All the component parts of this body, which now lies before us, will be resurrected, and be prepared to enter into the presence of the Father and the Son. Some have supposed that it matters not what particles we receive again. In this they are mistaken. The parts which have been honored by the faithfulness of the spirit in this life will be joined in the life to come.

It has been the idea of many that the spirit goes directly to God who gave it. Does it remain there? Go on the great battle-field of the past, and if they could be seen the spirits of the slain are hovering around their dust. They stay about this earth until there is another call for them. The kingdom and place where brother Spencer is called to dwell, he will be in. Every departed spirit is subject to the laws that govern the spirit world. What do we gain by being faithful to the Gospel of the Son of God? We gain life and salvation. Salvation in this world and the world to come. When they leave the body those spirits are free from the power of the enemy. There are wicked men in the spirit world. Millions of them will have the privilege of receiving the Gospel in the spirit, that they may be judged according to men in the flesh, and no doubt but many will reject the Gospel there. Jesus went to preach to the spirits in prison. The faithful Elders who leave this world will preach to the spirits in the spirit world. In that world there are millions and millions to every Elder who leaves here, and yet every spirit will be preached to that has had a tabernacle on the earth and become ac[c]ountable.

This is the plan of salvation. Jesus will never cease his work until all are brought up to the enjoyment of a kingdom in the mansions of his Father, where there are many kingdoms and many glories, to suit the works and faithfulness of all men that have lived on the earth. Some will obey the celestial law and receive of its glory, some will abide the terrestrial and some the telestial, and others will receive a glory. Our brother is living to-day, and is bright with intelligence to preach the Gospel in the spirit world. We know where his remains are. They are here. But where is his spirit? He is in the line of his duty, and prepared to do more good than if he were upon the earth. As quickly as the spirit is unlocked from this house of clay, it is free to travel with lightning speed to any planet, or fixed star, or to the uttermost part of the earth, or to the depths of the sea, according to the will of Him who dictates. Every faithful man’s labor will continue as long as the labor of Jesus, until all things are redeemed that can be redeemed, and presented to the Father. There is a great work before us. We plant the seed in the ground and it comes forth, being warmed by the sun and nourished by the earth. By the same great laws of God the earth and its fullness have been produced, giving various degrees of intelligence. The Lord is raising a crop, and He will continue to labor until the work is finished.

May we all be faithful as brother Spencer was. I say to his family, God bless you. You have cause to rejoice. In 1840 he was ready to go into the grave with consumption, but he embraced the Gospel, health was restored to him, and he has lived to a good old age and has done a good work. May God bless you. Amen.

Historical Discourse

George A. Smith

Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, June 20, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

When Joseph Smith was about 15 years old there was, in the western part of the State of New York, a considerable excitement upon the subject of religion. The various denominations in that part of the country were stirred up with a spirit of revival. They held protracted meetings and many were converted. At the end of this excitement a scramble ensued as to which of the denominations should have the proselytes.

Of the family of Joseph Smith, his mother, his brothers Hyrum and Samuel, and sister Sophronia, became members of the Presbyterian Church. Joseph reflected much upon the subject of religion, and was astonished at the ill-feeling that seemed to have grown out of the division of the spoils, if we may so use the term, at the close of the reformation. He spent much time in prayer and reflection and in seeking the Lord. He was led to pray upon the subject in consequence of the declaration of the Apostle James: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not.” [James, 1st chap., 5th verse.] He sought the Lord by day and by night, and was enlightened by the vision of an holy angel. When this personage appeared to him, one of his first inquiries was, “Which of the denominations of Christians in the vicinity was right?” He was told they had all gone astray, they had wandered into darkness, and that God was about to restore the Gospel in its simplicity and purity to the earth; he was, consequently, directed not to join any one of them, but to be humble and seek the Lord with all his heart, and that from time to time he should be taught and instructed in relation to the right way to serve the Lord.

These visions continued from time to time, and in 1830 he published to the world the translation of the book now known as the “Book of Mormon,” and on the 6th of April of that year, having received the authority by special revelation, organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was composed of six members—namely, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, jun., Samuel H. Smith and David Whitmer.

The family of Joseph Smith were in moderate circumstances. They were very industrious, and had held a respectable position in society; but on this occasion the tongue of slander was pointed at them, and very soon after the organization of the Church, vexatious lawsuits were commenced, and Joseph was arrested and taken before a magistrate and dismissed. He was again arrested and taken to an adjoining county and treated contemptuously, spit upon and insulted in various other ways. His case was investigated and he was again dismissed. This time the mob resolved to treat him to a coat of tar and feathers, from which, however, he was shielded by the officers in whose custody he had been held. It was looked upon, by many in those days, as a species of fun to treat Joseph Smith or the Elders of the Church, wherever they went, in a contemptuous manner. The pulpit and the press almost invariably joined in the outcry against the new Church, and the predictions were that in a few days it would be annihilated.

After a few months a Conference was organized and missionaries started towards the West, Joseph having been commanded, by revelation from the Lord, to establish a gathering place near the western boundary of Missouri. He accordingly sent missionaries in that direction, among whom were Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt. On their way across the State of Ohio they visited a society known as the Campbellites, led by Sidney Rigdon. They preached to them and baptized Rigdon and about a hundred members of his church, many of whom, and their children, are citizens of this Territory to-day. After this they continued their journey westward to Independence, in the vicinity of Jackson county. Soon after this the Saints who were scattered in various parts of Western New York removed, part to Missouri and part to Kirtland, in Geauga, now Lake, county, Ohio, where they founded a city and built a Temple. In Jackson county, Missouri, they purchased land, built mills, established a printing office, the first one that was established in the western part of the State of Missouri, and opened an extensive mercantile house. They introduced the culture of wheat and many other kinds of grain, for the inhabitants of that locality were principally new settlers, and they cultivated chiefly Indian corn. The Saints also commenced the culture of fruit, and although they came there with little means, the heads of families were generally able to buy from forty acres to a section of land, and in a few months, by their untiring industry, they began to prosper and flourish in a manner almost astonishing.

In about two years, however, they met with opposition; a mob assembled and tore down their printing office, broke open their mercantile house, scattered their goods to the four winds. They also seized their Bishop and presiding Elders, and inflicted upon them personal abuse, such as whipping, and daubing them with tar and feathers, while others were mutilated and killed, which finally resulted, in the month of November, 1833, in the expulsion from the county of Jackson of about fifteen hundred people; about three hundred of their houses were burned to ashes.

During the period of the residence of the Saints in this county there had never been a lawsuit of any description instituted against any of them; if there had been any violation of law amongst them, there were ample means to have had the law enforced, because the officers, both civil and military, were not of their faith. But the real facts of the case were, the Saints were regarded as fanatics; and one of the main points in a declaration published against them was, that they “blasphemously professed to heal the sick with holy oil.” In accordance with the instructions of St. James, contained in his epistle, 5th chap. and 14th verse, it has ever been a practice in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from its organization, when any are sick among them, to send for the Elders of the Church to anoint such with oil and pray for them, believing the Apostle James, “that the prayer of faith will save the sick.” This item of faith is still practiced in all the branches of the Church, and thousands and tens of thousands bear testimony at the present time of the miraculous healings that have been effected by the power of God through these administrations. Yet at that period it was made a crime, and was one of the principal charges on which the Latter-day Saints were expelled from Jackson county.

From this county the Saints were driven to Clay county, and most of them remained there about three years, during which time they performed a great amount of labor for the people of Clay county, for the inhabitants were mostly new settlers who possessed nothing seemingly in the way of property save Indian corn, hogs and cattle. They hired the Saints to labor, who made brick, built fine houses, and enlarged their farms, erected mills, and, in fact, acquired considerable property by industry in laboring for the people in Clay county. The mob of Jackson county endeavored to stir up the people of Clay against the Saints, which culminated in a request on the part of the people of Clay that the Latter-day Saints would leave. They accordingly hunted out a new county without inhabitants and almost without timber, called Caldwell county, and moved into it, purchasing land and occupying it, of which they were the sole inhabitants. They also spread out into the adjoining new counties, on to the unoccupied land, and purchased and improved it.

From the best of my recollection the Latter-day Saints paid the United States Government some $318,000 for land in the State of Missouri, but yet, in the winter and early spring of 1839, they were expelled from that State, with the entire loss of their lands and improvements and most of their personal property, under an exterminating order from Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of that State, requiring them to leave under pain of extermination. But they were told that any of them who would renounce their religion would be permitted to stay. The result was that about fifteen thousand persons were expelled from Missouri and their property, to most of which they still hold the titles; and when the day arrives that the Constitution of the United States becomes absolutely the supreme law of the land, so that all men can be protected in their civil and religious rights, they and their children will go back and enjoy their cherished homes in the State of Missouri.

After leaving Missouri they located themselves in the State of Illinois. There was a town known as Commerce—noted for being unhealthy. The location was very beautiful, but the place was surrounded with swamp lands to a considerable extent. Attempts had been made to settle it, but there were a great many graves in the burying ground, and but very few living people in the vicinity. The Saints went there and purchased property. They drained the swamps and cleaned them out, and converted the whole vicinity into gardens, and continued to improve and enlarge the place until February, 1846. The commencement of the settlement in Commerce, Hancock county, Illinois, was in the summer of 1839.

June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Prophet and Patriarch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were murdered in Carthage jail, in Hancock county, Illinois, while under the pledge of the Governor, Thos. Ford, who had plighted the faith of the State, at the time of their arrest, that they should be protected from mob violence, and have a fair trial in the lawfully constituted courts of the State. They were confined in jail on a trumped up charge of treason upon the affidavit of a drunken vagabond. They were murdered by about 150 persons with blackened faces, some of them persons of high position in society. I will here say that in all these transactions—I refer to the outrages committed by the mobs on the Latter-day Saints—there never was a single instance of the guilty parties being brought to justice under the laws of the State where the occurrence transpired.

The city of Nauvoo and vicinity had probably about 20,000 inhabitants. They were remarkable for their industry, and the city was conspicuous for peace, quietness and good order, and for the rapid manner in which improvements had been made. They continued to build up the city though they were constantly harassed by mob violence, and warned from time to time that they should be driven away. They finished the Temple, which was one of the most beautiful structures in the Western States, and dedicated it unto the Lord. They were progressing with other large buildings, establishing factories and making many improvements, when the efforts of mobocracy culminated in their expulsion from their beautiful city and Temple.

That they might not act hastily nor unadvisedly, a committee of Latter-day Saints prepared a petition and sent it to the Governor of every State in the Union, except the Governor of Missouri, and also to the President of the United States, asking them for an asylum, and to afford them that protection which was extended to other religious bodies. All the States, except one, treated their application with silence. Governor Drew, of Arkansas, wrote them a respectful letter, in which he advised them to seek a home in Oregon.

Previous to the death of Joseph Smith, he had selected twenty-five men—most of whom now reside here—to explore the Rocky Mountains, with the view of finding a place where they could make a location that would be out of the range and beyond the influence of mobs, where they could enjoy the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution of our common country. The premature death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, however, prevented their departure; the result was that, during the year 1845, it devolved upon the Twelve to carry out this design. But in the course of that year the mob broke upon them with more than their usual fury. They commenced by burning the farm-houses in the vicinity of Lima; they burned 175 houses without the least resistance on the part of the inhabitants. The sheriff of Hancock county issued orders for the “citizens who were not Mormons” to turn out and stop the burning; but none obeyed his order. He then issued a proclamation calling upon all, irrespective of sect or party, to turn out and stop the burning. The burning was accordingly stopped, but there was a general outcry against the “Mormons,” and immediately nine counties assembled in convention and passed a decree that the “Mormons” should leave the State. Governor Ford said it was impossible to protect the people of Nauvoo. The Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, Gen. John J. Hardin and several other gentlemen repaired thither and made a kind of a treaty with them, in which it was agreed that mob violence and vexatious lawsuits were to cease on condition that the people of Nauvoo would leave the State, and that they would assist the Saints in the disposal of their property. It was also agreed that if a majority would leave, the remainder should be permitted to remain until they, by the sale of their property, were able to get away. The Saints then organized themselves into companies of a hundred families each, and established wagon shops for every fifty. They took the green timber out of the woods and boiled it in brine and made it into wagons. Their supply of iron was very limited, but with what little means they could control they purchased iron, and exhausted the supply of all the towns on the upper Mississippi, and made up the deficiency with raw hide and hickory withes.

On the 6th of February, 1846, the Saints commenced crossing the river. They crossed first on flat boats; but in a few days the river closed up and something like a thousand wagons crossed over on the ice, moving out west into the sparsely settled district on the eastern borders of Iowa; the settlements extending back from fifty to seventy miles. From that point it was a wilderness without roads, bridges, or improvements of any kind. They moved off, however, into this wilderness country in winter, and continued through the spring amid the most terrific storms and suffering from cold and exposure. In their progress to Council Bluffs they bridged thirty or forty streams, among which were the Locust and Medicine rivers, the three forks of the Grand River, the Little Platte, the One Hundred-and-Two, the Nodaway, Big Tarkeo, and the Nishnabatona. Bridging these streams, constructing roads, and breaking and enclosing three large farms required immense labor, which was done for the benefit and sustenance of those who would follow. In consequence of this and the inclemency of the weather they did not arrive at Council Bluffs on the Missouri river until late in June. The wagons and tents were numbered by thousands. The camps were spread out on the prairie for three hundred miles, moving in companies of tens, fifties, and hundreds.

While the advance companies were crossing the Missouri, they, on the 1st of July, were called upon by Captain James Allen, of the United States army, who was the bearer of an order for the enrolment of five hundred volunteers. They could ill be spared in their condition, but the number was made up in a few days and they proceeded on their journey to Fort Leavenworth and thence by way of Santa Fe to California, where they, among a number of our countrymen, were instrumental in adding this large domain to the United States.

The families of the volunteers who formed the battalion, being thus left without protectors, entailed much additional responsibility and labor upon those left behind, and rendered it impossible for the companies to proceed to the Rocky Mountains that season. They encamped at Winter Quarters, the place now called Florence, in the Omaha country, where they built 700 log cabins and 150 caves or dug-outs, in which a great number of the people resided through the winter. Some two thousand wagons were scattered about in the Pottawattamie country, on the east side of the Missouri—a country then uninhabited except by Indians—which, by a treaty of purchase, came into the possession of the United States the ensuing spring.

The winter of 1846-7 was one of great suffering among the people. They had been deprived of vegetable food; their diet, to a great extent, had consisted of corn meal and pork, which they had purchased from the Missourians, in exchange for clothing, beds, jewellery, or any other property that would sell. Yet they had sold comparatively none of their real estate and valuable property; in fact, most of the land remains unsold to this day. Under these circumstances the people suffered a great deal from scurvy; the exposure they had undergone also brought on fever and ague, hence their stay in Winter Quarters and the region round about is a memorable period in their history, from the sufferings, difficulties, and privations with which they had to contend. However, they made the necessary preparations for their departure, and in the spring of 1847—early in April, 143 pioneers, led by Brigham Young, started to explore and make a road to the Great Salt Lake Basin.

There was not a spear of grass that their animals could obtain for the first two hundred miles of the journey, and they had to feed them on the cotton-woods that grew on the banks of the Platte river and other small streams. In this manner the pioneers worked their way, making the road as they went along. They travelled on the north side of the Platte, where no road had been before until they reached Laramie; they then crossed the North Fork and took the old trappers’ trail and travelled on it over three hundred miles building ferry boats on North Platte and Green rivers, and then constructed a road over the mountains to this place.

During this journey they looked out a route where they were satisfied a railroad could be built, and were just as zealous in their feelings that a railroad would follow their track as we are to-day.

They arrived here on the 24th of July, 1847. They had some potatoes which they had brought from Missouri; they planted them not far from where the City Hall now stands. In a few days after their arrival the Mississippi Company, which had wintered on the Arkansas river, a few of the sick and some families left by the Mormon Battalion, being unable to proceed with them to the Pacific—numbering altogether about 150—arrived here. They then began to feel that they were quite a populous settlement, as they counted in the neighborhood of some four hundred persons. They laid out this Temple Block, and dedicated it to the Lord. It really was one of the most barren spots they ever saw. However, they asked the Lord to bless the land and make it fruitful. They built a dam and made irrigation ditches. Some of their number lacked faith under those trying circumstances, and subsequently turned away and went to other parts of the world.

That fall—the fall of 1847—there came in here 680 wagons loaded with families. They built the fort commenced by the pioneers on the land, a portion of which is now occupied by A. O. Smoot in the 6th Ward of this city, the whole only covering about thirty acres. They dwelt in this contracted space that no temptation should be presented to the Indians to commit depredations.

During the winter they prepared a systematic plan for the irrigation of the land, for they knew nothing about it previously. They were compelled to ration out their food in small allowances, for they had no way to get more until it grew, and it required a great deal of faith on the part of the people to remain here and run the risk of procuring supplies from the earth. In the winter one or two hundred of the brethren from the West arrived almost without provisions, having been discharged from the Mormon Battalion without rations or transportation to the place of their enlistment. They explored a new route from California. Some of them passed on to their families in Winter Quarters, suffering much for the want of provisions by the way. Many of them remained here, using as food everything that possibly could be used. The Saints divided with the battalion their scanty allowance of food. During the next spring many hundred acres of land were planted. There was, however, a pest here that they had never seen anywhere else. After the nursery of twenty thousand fruit trees had come up and the fields were green and there was a good prospect of grain being raised, there came down from the mountains myriads of large black crickets, and they were awfully hungry. The nurseryman went home to dinner, and when he returned he found only three trees left; the crickets had devoured them. The brethren contended with them until they were utterly tired out, then calling on the Lord for help were ready to give up the contest, when just at that time there came over from the Salt Lake large flocks of gulls, which destroyed the crickets. They would eat them until they were perfectly gorged, and would then disgorge, vomiting them up, and again go to and eat, and so they continued until the crickets had entirely disappeared, and thus by the blessing of God the colony was saved. I believe the crickets have never been a pest in this vicinity to any serious extent since. This we regard as a special providence of the Almighty.

The early settlers did not know how to irrigate the crops properly and the result was that their wheat, the first year, was most of it very short, so short that it had to be pulled up by the roots; but singularly enough there was considerable grain in the ear, and they raised enough to encourage them to persevere in their experiments, for their labors were only experiments at that early day and also enabled them to diffuse information on the subject, which proved of general benefit. This location is so high in the mountains, the latitude about 41° and the altitude so great that nearly every one thought it was impossible to raise fruit, but some continued to plant. In the second year of their arrival here their settlement was increased by nearly a thousand wagons from the East and a few from the West. The third year the immigration continued. In 1849 a handsome sum of money was contributed as a foundation for the Perpetual Emigration Fund, and Bishop Edward Hunter went East to aid those to emigrate who could not do so by their own means. While the Saints were surrounded by their enemies on every hand in Illinois, they entered into a solemn covenant within the walls of the Temple at Nauvoo that they would exert themselves to the extent of their influence and property to aid every Latter-day Saint that desired to gather to the mountains. This covenant they did not forget, and the very moment they began to gather a little surplus they commenced to use it to aid their brethren and sisters left behind. At first they purchased, in the East, cattle and wagons necessary to bring the emigrants here; but in a few years they raised cattle here, and sent their teams to the Missouri river year after year, sometimes two hundred and sometimes three hundred, and they have sent as many as five hundred teams, for several successive seasons—a team being four yoke of oxen (or their equivalent in horses and mules), a wagon, a teamster, also the necessary officers and night guard for each company of fifty wagons. In this way they continued to bring their brethren not only from every part of the United States, but also from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. This system of emigration is continued up to the present time, and has resulted in bringing many of the Saints together, and has materially increased the population of Utah.

In the early settlement of the Territory, the Latter-day Saints had other obstacles to contend with besides those already referred to. In 1849, and for several years after, a considerable number of men passed through here on their way to the gold mines in California. Numbers of them would have perished had it not been for the provisions and supplies unexpectedly obtained here. They knew not how to outfit themselves for such a journey, and were unwilling to abide the restraints of organization necessary for their own preservation on the Plains. Hence they wore out their teams and quarreled with each other, and arrived here in every conceivable stage of destitution. Upon their arrival here they were treated as friends, employed, and furnished with the necessary outfit as far it could be obtained. I may say that tens of thousands received the assistance necessary to enable them to proceed to California to realize, if possible, their visions of gold. While the Latter-day Saints were pursuing this course, they too were tempted with a spirit of going to the gold mines. The counsel given to the brethren by President Young was to stay at home, make their farms, cultivate the earth, build houses, and plant gardens and orchards. But many preferred to go to the mines, and they went; but I believe that in every instance those who went returned, not having made as much as if they had followed the counsel given. There was this difference: the men who went to California could dig a hole and take a little gold out of it; but after a time the supply of gold would be exhausted, and then, after paying their expenses, the most of them had nothing left but a hole in the ground; but the men who went to work here on their five or ten acre lots, or even on their city lots of an acre and a quarter, in the course of a year or two had a snug little home. The result was that those who remained at home and diligently attended to agricultural pursuits were the most successful.

But among the strangers travelling through the Territory to the mines were many men of desperate character, and they would cause trouble by killing Indians near the settlements. One difficulty occurred here in the north—a band of men from Missouri shot some squaws who were riding on horseback, and took their horses; in revenge for this the Indians made an attack on our northern settlements. Similar occurrences took place in the south. The result was we were troubled with expensive Indian wars, caused by the acts, not of our own people, but of those over whom we had no control, and in some instances through the acts of men who would rather entail trouble upon us than not. In consequence of outrages inflicted on the Indians, we were under the necessity of keeping ourselves armed and having in our midst a vigilant militia. In the year 1853 the inhabitants found it necessary to encircle this city with a wall of earth, at a cost of $34,000, which they did for the purpose of preventing the Indians stealing their horses, and to enable the small police force to protect the city from their depredations. From that period the Indians have made very little inroad on the property inside this city. There is, among the Indians in these mountains, an innate principle to steal anything and everything that lies unguarded in their way. When the number of horses, sheep, and cattle, that the people throughout the Territory have raised, is considered, the number stolen by the Indians is surprisingly small. Yet some of the outside counties have suffered severely and are suffering to-day from thieving bands from neighboring Territories. In their intercourse with the Indians they have acted on the principle that it is cheaper to feed them than to fight them. In all cases they have treated them with the strictest justice as far as possible, and have maintained their relations with them in a manner truly astonishing.

We look around to-day and behold our city clothed with verdure and beautified with trees and flowers, with streams of water running in almost every direction, and the question is frequently asked, “How did you ever find this place?” I answer, we were led to it by the inspiration of God. After the death of Joseph Smith, when it seemed as if every trouble and calamity had come upon the Saints, Brigham Young, who was President of the Twelve, then the presiding Quorum of the Church, sought the Lord to know what they should do, and where they should lead the people for safety, and while they were fasting and praying daily on this subject, President Young had a vision of Joseph Smith, who showed him the mountain that we now call Ensign Peak, immediately north of Salt Lake City, and there was an ensign fell upon that peak, and Joseph said, “Build under the point where the colors fall and you will prosper and have peace.” The Pioneers had no pilot or guide, none among them had ever been in the country or knew anything about it. However, they travelled under the direction of President Young until they reached this valley. When they entered it President Young pointed to that peak, and said he, “I want to go there.” He went up to the point and said, “This is Ensign Peak. Now, brethren, organize your exploring parties, so as to be safe from Indians; go and explore where you will, and you will come back every time and say this is the best place.” They accordingly started out exploring companies and visited what we now call Cache, Malad, Tooele, and Utah valleys, and other parts of the country in various directions, but all came back and declared this was the best spot.

I have travelled somewhat extensively in the Territory, and I bear my testimony this day, that this is the spot, and I feel confident that the God of Heaven by His inspiration led our Prophet right here. And it is the blessing of God upon the untiring energy and industry of the people that has made this once barren and sterile spot what it is to-day.

We have struggled with all our power and might to maintain that morality and uprightness which pertain to the kingdom of God, and to place all men and all women in that high position which God designs them to occupy, and to prevent them being led astray by the immoral tendencies which are abroad in the world; but while doing so we have had to contend with obstacles of every kind. The Latter-day Saints have built commodious school-houses in every ward of the various cities and through all the settlements of the Territory. They have done all they could to promote education, but they have received no assistance from any source on earth. Almost every newly settled country has received certain donations in land and money to aid them in support of their schools, but in this Territory we have never received a cent. The money that has been expended for the furtherance of education in this Territory has been by the voluntary will of the parents. Oregon received donations in land to encourage its settlement, and persons who made the earlier settlements were permitted to occupy 640 acres of land, others who settled later 320, and subsequently 160, and liberal donations of land were made available to promote the cause of education. Utah has had no such encouragement. But it is my opinion to-day that had Congress been as liberal with us as with Oregon, and had given 640 or 320 acres of land to each, it might have hindered our progress under the circumstances. Most of our farmers cultivate from five to thirty acres of land, very few of them cultivating forty; and it requires tolerably good Saints not to quarrel about the water while irrigating in a dry time even on small tracts of land close together; but how would it have been if our agriculturists had each possessed 640 acres, or even half or quarter of that, if they were compelled by law to live upon and cultivate the same or forfeit it? Most of the water would have been wasted by evaporation and soakage because of the lengthy ditches which extensive cultivation would have rendered necessary. I verily believe that if “Gentiles” lived here they would fight and kill each other with their hoes in a dry time over the water ditches.

The brethren will pardon me for devoting my time on the present occasion to this brief sketch of the history of the Church and of the Territory with which they are so well acquainted. In consequence of there being so many friends and strangers present, I felt inspired to give a little detail of the circumstances that led us here, and of some of the incidents since our arrival in this Territory.

I feel to bless God for the many privileges that we enjoy, and among others that we are now permitted to buy our lands and obtain a title to them. I feel thankful to the rulers of our nation for showing a disposition to extend to us the privileges which are enjoyed in this respect by our fellow-citizens in the other territories.

As early as 1852 our Legislative Assembly memor[i]alized Congress for a national railway, which was subsequently endorsed by immense mass meetings in this and other counties. We have done all in our power to hurry it on. Many looked on it at the time, and since, as if it were work for a hundred years; but the work is completed, and men can come from the States in a few hours. When I came here with my family, in 1849, I was one hundred and five days driving oxen from the Missouri river across the Plains to this place. Now a man can come with his family in a few days. This is a great progress, thank the Lord for it.

We are still at work with all our power developing in the new Territory everything that is useful for the sustenance of its inhabitants, for the establishment of manufactures, the promotion of agriculture, and everything that will tend to build up, strengthen, and benefit mankind. I fully believe that there is no one hundred thousand people in the United States who have done more actual service for their country than we have; for what benefits a nation is to take its worthless desert domain and endow it with beauty and wealth, by the strong hands of a loyal people.

May God help us to fill out our days with honor is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Latter-day Saint Families, etc.

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, January 2, 1870. Reported by John Grimshaw.

After contemplating what you have been hearing, I want to say, for the consolation of these my sisters before me, I give you my word for it, if your children were counted and their number compared with that of the children born in the healthy city of Boston, that you do not lose three where they lose five; and I think the ratio would not vary much from three to six. I want to say this for the consolation of those sisters who live in Utah and bear children.

As for what has been said here of our children and their state of health and general appearance, and how they present themselves to strangers and to friends, I am perfectly willing to compare ours with any in the world; and if the result is not favorable to us, I would be willing to part with them; but if the contrary be the case, let us have theirs.

This revelation about our children came through Anna Dickinson. When she came here I was not at home. She stayed here one day and one night; I understood she was riding a good part of the night with a stranger, for the benefit of her health I suppose. These great statements about the children of Utah have come through the great wisdom and experience of Anna Dickinson. How much does she know about family affairs here? She stayed here at the Townsend House, I suppose, nearly twelve hours. Did sister Townsend make the statement which Anna Dickinson gives to the world? Anna may say so, but I do not believe it. I will give you one specimen of her knowledge with regard to the ladies of this city. In one of her statements she says that Brigham Young will look after the young ladies, and on becoming acquainted with them will find some of them are his own daughters. Her researches in this community were immense. But let me tell you she is hired by some lackeys to lecture against “Mormonism” and the “Mormons.” I say go ahead, lecture away until you get into—; and then continue your lectures, and afterwards hire men to lecture. They may hire lecturers to say this, that and the other about this people; I do not know that it makes the least difference to you and me. It matters not to us what the press says, or what that judge or this officer, or what Congress says. We are here in these mountains; the Lord has called and led us here and sustained us and given us strength.

I know more about the rising generation than most of the people who live in this city. I travel a great deal, and as I go into a small town and see the children strung out a quarter of a mile, I often say: “Have you borrowed these children? Where did you borrow them from?” I am answered: “I guess we own them here.” I go to the next settlement and see another group, stretching perhaps half a mile in length, ready to receive us with their banners and flags and their merry greetings. I go to another and see them by hundreds and thousands. Go through this Territory and what do you see? That which you cannot find elsewhere on the face of the earth with regard to children; not only in numbers, but in intelligence, strength, power of mind and general scholastic ability. Suppose some one says it is not so; does that make any difference to us? No; not the least.

I have never feared but one thing in regard to the Latter-day Saints in the persecutions they have received or that are in prospect: and that is, that we shall come short of doing our duty. It is only when we live short of our privileges, when we neglect to serve our God and to do as we should do, and as the Lord our God requires of us, that I have any apprehensions for this people, and I have certainly seen just about as much with regard to persecutions as any other man that lives in this Church. Still, I never had but this one fear: Are the people doing their duty? Are they neglecting their privileges or are they living so as to have the Spirit of the Lord constantly in their hearts? If we are right before the Lord, it is no matter how we appear before the wicked. We are just as obnoxious now as we can be. Why are we so? Is it because we have drunkenness in our midst? No. Is it because we have houses of ill-fame? No. Is it because we are a gambling people? No. Do we horse-race, bet, drink, quarrel and go to law with one another from Monday morning to Saturday night? No; nothing of this kind is claimed against us. Then what is the matter with the Latter-day Saints? Our enemies cry out, “Polygamy.” It is a false idea. Very many of them believe in polygamy down yonder East; I won’t even except the leaders of our country, only they believe it on the sly, while we have our wives and acknowledge them. Anything that is unlawful is swallowed by them. Anything that is in opposition to the law of God goes down with them. Anything that tramples under foot the ordinances of God is all right with them.

But we love our God, we honor His laws, we obey His precepts, and we honor our father Abraham and perform his works. We should live to the best of our ability in accordance with the revelations God has given to us.

But why need the wisdom of the nation trouble itself about the “Mormons?” The whole cry, according to the newspapers, is about this people. Religious teachers, scribblers, public speakers and everybody join in this murmur against the Latter-day Saints. Let us keep the law of God and the laws of our country and preserve ourselves in these mountains without much quarreling and contention, and where is the great fault that can be found with the Latter-day Saints? We observe the law of God and it makes us one. It is the Priesthood they are opposed to. The wickedness of the whole world is opposed to the Priesthood of the Son of God. It was opposed to Jesus when he was here on the earth in the flesh. It appears that the whole world of mankind was opposed to the Gospel in the days of Noah. Who believed the sayings of Noah? His family. Who else. Nobody. What was the result? Why, Noah kept crying to the people for a hundred years that the Lord certainly would avenge Himself upon the nations unless they repented. Who believed the Gospel in the days of Enoch? A few, who gathered together and built a city to the Lord. Who believes in the Gospel now? Just a few. This Gospel is the Gospel of order and rule; it is the law of God brought forth to the children of men, by which they can save themselves by hearkening to its counsels. Who love it? The righteous. Who hate it? The wicked.

We have been hearing about the Latter-day Saints preaching. I think if our Elders were to go without purse or scrip and had nothing to fall back upon, and could not write here for means, but were obliged to take their valise in their hands and preach the Gospel as we used to do, they would be much more successful than they are and would find many more who would be willing to listen to their testimonies I used to travel without purse or scrip, and many times I have walked till my feet were sore and the blood would run in my shoes and out of them, and fill my appointments—go into houses, ask for something to eat, sing and talk to them, and when they would commence questioning, answer them. Converse with them until they have given you what you want, bless them, and, if they wish, pray with them, and then leave, unless they wish you to stay longer. If you have an appointment, and are obliged to go here and there on your mission, go like Saints—humble before the Lord, full of faith and the power of God, and you will find the honest in heart, for the Lord is going to save a great many.

It is near twenty-five years since we left the confines of the United States. Go back there and you will find hundreds, and perhaps thousands, who are ready to receive the Gospel. Only carry it to them as they are prepared to receive it. But while we go and ride in our silver carriages, many never inquire into our principles; they are looking for something else. The meek and lowly Jesus sent his disciples without purse or scrip; and when the honest in heart see our Elders go in the same manner that Jesus’ disciples did, with the doctrine that he delivered to his disciples, and preach without purse or scrip, our Elders will find plenty of honest-hearted persons who will receive their testimony. But when the Elders go into the great cities, hire large halls and hire carriages to ride to their pulpit in, the people say it is a speculation, and such Elders do not have much of the Spirit of the Lord to preach to the people.

Our Elders who are in the States will do us good; there is no question about it. But they will do themselves and the people good if they will go without purse or scrip. If they travel without purse or scrip, when they land in the midst of a community, or wherever they want to preach, and go into the peoples’ houses and talk with them, pray with them and sing with them, teaching them the way of life and salvation, they will find there are plenty who are willing to receive them. Many of the Latter-day Saints go and say, “I am a ‘Mormon’ Elder, will you take me in and give me shelter and feed me?” “No,” says the owner of the house, “get out of my house, I do not want any ‘Mormons’ here.” If you go and say, “I am a servant of God and want to tarry over night,” and sing and pray, you will find many honest in heart ready and willing to receive you.

But here is the place to sanctify the people. They come here as ignorant as babes; they do not know their first lesson. They believed the sound of the Gospel. They have been baptized for the remission of sins and have had hands laid upon them for the gift of the Holy Ghost. But what do they know about the Kingdom of God? They are mere babes; they know nothing, and they come up here to be instructed and to be taught how to live and walk before the Lord and each other. When they come here they need this teaching, and we are here to teach them; and the people are improving.

Let any of you sisters get out into the world, where you used to live, and what you used to see there will have quite another aspect to you. It will appear quite different to your minds and feelings. Learn how they feel towards His people; learn what is the state of the world; and then look back upon the people of God in these mountains, and you will see them lifted up and perceive that they are pure in heart in comparison with the world, and are striving with all their might and main to build up the kingdom of God on the earth. You who are here do not understand it and cannot see it, because all things are proved by their opposites. Were it not for darkness, could you give any description of light? Ask the individual who never saw light, and see if he can give you any description of it. He cannot do so from actual knowledge.

Those who come here find a pretty good people, but in their estimation we should be just as holy as angels. We are pretty good, and we are trying to be better; trying to devote ourselves more and more to the building up of the kingdom of God; trying to overcome our passions, subdue our tempers within us; trying to sanctify ourselves, our children, our friends and families, and seeking to become Saints in deed. The people are pretty good, and if they were gathered together so that we could see the difference between those who have been here for years and those who have just come, you would understand the comparison brother Kimball used to make of the clay that is thrown into the mill and has been grinding for years and prepared to make vessels of honor of; but in comes a batch of new clay, and you must grind again; and when it is taken out of the mill it is cut to pieces to see if there is anything in it that should not be. The impurities that are in the clay may destroy the vessel. You will therefore gather all out that should not be in it and throw it away. So it is with the Saints. Some keep leaving and this renders the clay purer and purer.

We talk a good deal about building up the kingdom of God upon the earth, according to the knowledge and understanding we have in regard to the kingdom of God; it requires several things to constitute a kingdom. If there is a kingdom, there needs a king, ruler or dictator; some one to govern and control the kingdom. What else does it signify? It says, in language that cannot be misunderstood, you must have subjects; if there is a kingdom there must be a king and subjects; and there must be territory for the subjects to live upon. Well, now, if we are in a kingdom, do you think we are in a kingdom without law? No; the strictest law ever given to mankind is the law of God. If we transgress the law of God, we cannot be sent to the penitentiary, to stay a few years in there; it is before the Lord, and He will judge according to our works, and judge righteous judgment. We cannot pay a fine of one dollar, five or five hundred and then be forgiven; if persons neglect to obey the law of God and to walk humbly before Him, darkness will come into their minds and they will be left to believe that which is false and erroneous; their minds will become dim, their eyes will be beclouded and they will be unable to see things as they are. Why? Because they know not the laws of God. There are a thousand ways by which persons can lose the Spirit of God. They neglect their duties, fall away into temptation and are overcome by Satan, the wicked one.

Among the sayings of Jesus there is a parable about a man who went out to sow. He had good seed to sow in the field. Some of it, however, fell upon stony ground and some among thorns. That which was sown on stony ground came up very quickly, but it was so tender that the rays of the sun were too powerful for it and it dwindled away and died. It was so with this people; they are not prepared for all that comes to them. In some instances the word of God seems to be like seed cast upon stony ground. Some of the seed was sown among thorns; but the cares of the world choked it; and some was sown upon good ground where it took root firmly and brought forth fruit, yielding “some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold.” These are the ideas which Jesus brought forth to show the people wherein they might fail, and the danger of receiving the word unless they did so into good and honest hearts. Look upon the inhabitants of the earth. Whenever any of you go and preach the Gospel to them, they must acknowledge that every iota of it is true. Truth, reason, judgment, teach them so. The revelations the Lord has given teach it. Do they believe it? Some will say they believe it. They receive the truth, but do they receive the love of the truth? If persons receive the love of the truth and are faithful to the laws God gives to them, they will make themselves the elect through their faithfulness; and they will be the elect of God.

It was observed here this morning, in relation to the building up of the kingdom of God, that many think they have the privilege of doing just as they please. We have only the privilege to do right. There is not an iota in the revelations, from Adam down to the present day, but what requires strict obedience. They who cannot abide a celestial law—the law that God has revealed for the sanctification of His people to prepare them to enter into the presence of the Father and the Son, should try and abide a lesser law, but they must expect a lower glory, a secondary glory. If they cannot abide the celestial law, and can abide a lesser law, then they will receive the blessings of that law, and whatever law they abide they will receive the blessings thereof. The Lord has been pleased to reveal unto the people His law by which they can be sanctified and return into His presence. Latter-day Saints observe this law. What shall we say to them? Teach them the law of God. How easy it is? Is it easy to be understood! Yes, very easy; it can be summed up in these words: Do right, love God and keep His commandments. Take the moral code that the Lord has revealed and let it be strictly followed out; and what man or woman would ever infringe upon the rights of his or her neighbor? They would never do it; they would do good to their neighbor all the day long. If we would observe the moral law which God has given us, we would be honest with our neighbors and ourselves; and every man and woman belonging to the kingdom of God would speak truly and honestly. Would they be honest with regard to their dealings? Yes. If we give our word, it should be just as good as a bond that can be ensured and be made strong and powerful by securities. Our word should be just as good as all the words that can be spoken, or all the names that can be written. If we write what we say, we will keep that word. Will we oppress the widow and the fatherless? No. The hireling in his wages? No; we will give them all that they can do or earn and then a little more; and if any one comes to us that is poor, in distress and in want, turn him not away empty handed. “Give to him that asketh, and from him that would borrow turn thou not away.”

This people do this pretty well There is not much complaint on this score. I do not think there is a house in these mountains where a Latter-day Saint lives, that a person can go to and ask for a meal of victuals, where he would not get it if the people living in the house had it in their possession. I do not think he or she could ask to stay over-night and be refused the privilege. That is saying a good deal for a community. Would we be honest in returning that which we have found to the owner? We would. Would we ever take that which is not our own? We would not. Would we be honest in our labor? We would. Would we be honest in our merchandizing? We would. Would we be honest in every respect? We would. Would we take usury? I hope to see the day when there will be no such thing as one man taking usury from another. But it is not so now; people do not come to this; we do not expect them to do so while they follow the spirit of the world. But these are things they have to learn when they gather together. Will there be any extortion, any selling our goods for a hundred to five hundred per cent. in advance of cost? No. The time will come when this co-operative system which we have now partially adopted in merchandizing will be carried out by the whole people, and it will be said, “Here are the Saints.” The time will come when we can give all into the store house of the Lord and have our inheritances given out by those who will be appointed; and when we have had sufficient for the support of our families, the surplus will be given into the store house of the Lord. Will there be any rich or poor then? No. How was it in the time of Enoch? Had they some rich and some poor? Did some ride in their silver carriages, as I do? No. If I had my way, we would foot or ride together, and we shall see the day when we shall do it. Do you think we will relinquish our claims pertaining to oneness in action? No. I do not calculate, as far as I am concerned, to yield one particle. I have asked the Latter-day Saints to go to and become one in all things; the Lord requires this, but until they do, I do not expect to yield, not the least. Let us hold on to all that we can. The enemy of all righteousness is determined to own and possess this world and govern and control it as far as he possibly can; and he will do it until Jesus and his Saints drive him out.

Whatever the Latter-day Saints have gained has been obtained by sheer wrestling and unconquerable resolution. We would never have been permitted to own a foot of land on this earth if the devil had had his own way. But we have the land and can build our temples and endowment houses and then sanctify our inheritances, sanctify ourselves, our families, and sanctify the Lord our God in our hearts, that we may be prepared to build up His kingdom.

I wonder what the Latter-day Saints would say, to-day, in this matter. Do you think we had better hold on to the ground we have already gained from the enemy? We have gained a little in this co-operative system. We feel for each other and try to assist each other. But let me tell you what I am going to do. I do not expect to merchandize with our enemies to any great extent, but to cut it off just as fast as we can. I expect us to raise our own silk here. I would have had plenty for hundreds of silk dresses this year if I could have been blessed with some person who would have taken care of my silk worms and done justly by me. Raise your own silk, I will raise mine. Raise your own wool, work it and then wear it, and stop going anywhere to purchase goods. Let us sustain ourselves, for by and by Babylon will fall. What will be the result? The merchants will stand and look at one another worse than they do in this city. No man will buy their merchandize; and they will look here and there for a customer; but there will be no one to buy their merchandize, and the cry will be, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen!” Is this day coming? Yes; just as sure as we are now living. We are hastening it with all possible speed, as fast as time and circumstances will admit, when it will be said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen!”

Are you going to prepare for it? We say we are the people of God and are building up the kingdom of God. We say we are gathered out of the nations to establish Zion. Let us prove it by our works, and we will then manufacture that which we wear. Do we make clothing enough for me and you to wear? Yes; plenty.

Let us live so that we can say we are the Saints of God; and when the finger of scorn is pointed at us and we are held in derision and the nations talk about us, let us show an example before them that is worthy of imitation, that they cannot but blush before all sensible and intelligent persons when they say, “There is a people that sin; there is a people that are corrupt;” and with shame-facedness they will look upon each other and condemn themselves. Let them howl and bark against us as much as they please, but let us live so that they will have no reason to say a word. Some people say, “Why don’t you contradict this and that? I have been proclaiming the Gospel almost forty years, and a few have come forth and received and obeyed it. What do you think the leading men among our Christian neighbors said about us? They lied about us until we thought they ought to be satisfied and we were tired of hearing them and we found it was no use contradicting them. Yet these professed to be good, pious Methodists and Baptists. There is a world of liars. It is said that a lie will pass out of the key-hole and travel a thousand miles before truth can get out of doors. The whole tribe of scribblers and everybody else, almost, are ready to contradict every truth and make a lie of it; ready to ridicule every just and holy truth; and the individuals that say children born in polygamy are feeble, have no knowledge of the human race or else they belie themselves. Let them study physiology and human nature. Let them study their own bodies. What do you see among them? You see children that are born into the world sickly, weak and unable to walk for years; they are poor, emaciated little things, almost without flesh on their bones. It is from such that the cry comes about the “Mormon” children. Why, one of our children at three months old has much more flesh on its bones than theirs have at ten; and, on an average, they have more marrow in their bones and energy in them than theirs do. They do not know anything about human nature or the organization of human beings, nor of the beasts. To make any such declarations proves they are ignorant, or they belie themselves. These are harsh expressions; I need not have used such harsh words; I might have said they tell that which is not true, they slightly diverge from the truth. How soft it would be! But I say they will be destroyed; and all the nations that follow their corrupt practices will go down to hell; and we will go onward and upward. All we have to do is to perform our duty and keep the law of God, and our course is onward and upward. God overrules the acts of the wicked and the righteous.

I recollect when the army of ‘57 was coming here, a young man named Thomas Williams wrote to his father, saying, “God favors great guns and great armies!” What did those great guns and great armies do? They took two “Mormon” elders into their camp—brother McDonald, at Provo, and brother Kearns, who now lives at Gunnison. What a howl they raised! the whole camp howled to think they had two “Mormon” elders. But there was too much faith; the Saints were praying for those elders and they came out unscathed, unhurt and all right. What power there was! What a magnanimous camp it was! “the flower of the army,” sent to destroy the “Mormons!” When they blow out the sun and stop the moon from shining and the earth from revolving on its axis, they may talk about “wiping out” the “Mormons” or the Gospel, but not until then. This is the way I feel. I am as unconcerned and just as happy as a man can be. It is no matter if the whole world is against us, God is for us. Could not they kill you? Yes, if it be the Lord’s will. If it be the will of the Lord for the people to live, they will live. If it had been the will of the Lord that Joseph and Hyrum should have lived, they would have lived. It was necessary for Joseph to seal his testimony with his blood. Had he been destined to live he would have lived. The Lord suffered his death to bring justice on the nation. The debt is contracted and they have it to pay. The nations of the earth are in the Lord’s hands; and if we serve Him we shall reap the reward of so doing, If we neglect to obey His laws and ordinances, we shall have to suffer the consequences.

Well, brethren and sisters, try and be Saints. I will try; I have tried many years to live according to the law which the Lord reveals unto me. I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office. It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually. In the days of Joseph, revelation was given and written, and the people were driven from city to city and place to place, until we were led into these mountains. Let this go to the people with “Thus saith the Lord,” and if they do not obey it, you will see the chastening hand of the Lord upon them. But if they are plead with, and led along like children, we may come to understand the will of the Lord and He may preserve us as we desire.

Let us, then, you and me and all who profess to be Latter-day Saints, try to be Saints indeed. God bless you, Amen.

The Order of Enoch, etc.

George Q. Cannon

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 6, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

I look upon this Conference as one of the most important, in many respects, that we have ever had the privilege of participating in, for, to my view, there are more interesting and important events connected with the work of God at the present time than have ever been developed before in our history. We are undergoing a great change, a great revolution is in progress in our midst—a revolution foreshadowed by the predictions of both the ancient and modern prophets, but which we, as yet, have scarcely been prepared for.

Nearly 37 years ago the Prophet Joseph, or rather the Lord, through him, gave revelations upon the Order of Enoch. Those revelations were taught to the people in plainness so far as they went. They were simple and easily understood; but they embodied within themselves what might have been termed new principles, and indicated a new course of action and a new organization of society. I say new, because they were new so far as this generation is concerned. The principles taught by those revelations were as old as eternity; and the Order sought to be introduced by their means was called the “Order of Enoch,” in consequence of its having been revealed to and practised by Enoch; and through its practice he and his people were prepared for translation and, as we read in the Scriptures, were taken from the earth.

The Lord inspired the Prophet Joseph Smith to once more communicate these principles unto the children of men; but, as I have remarked, the people were not prepared to carry them out. They, to some extent, could see and understand their beauty and consistency, but in the practical part they were deficient. As a people the Latter-day Saints are like their fellows in many respects. We are very progressive in theory, but our theories are far ahead of our practice. The teachings of the elders are of that character that years of practice on the part of the people is required before they come up to them in their every-day life. It is so with mankind generally. They can comprehend the theory and realize the importance of practically observing certain principles long before they are sufficiently advanced to carry them out in everyday life. But we may say, without boasting, that as a people we excel the world in carrying out in our lives the principles that we teach.

Those principles to which I have been referring were received and admired by the people, but it required faith, knowledge and experience to enable them to carry them out. For years they have remained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants to be read by the curious or by those who had a desire to search after the principles of life and salvation; but, not being a part of our practice in our lives, they have been practically a dead letter.

I speak, now, generally; of course, there have been exceptions in regard to this, as there have been with regard to the “Word of Wisdom.” There have been men and women who have endeavored to carry out the latter strictly and truthfully so far as their knowledge extended. And so with the principles contained in the revelations touching the “Order of Enoch”—there have, doubtless, been men in the Church who have lived in accordance with them so far as it was practicable under the circumstances; but the entire people have not carried them out. But though thirty-six or thirty-seven years have elapsed since these principles were first revealed, they have never been lost sight of by the President and those associated with him. It has been their aim from the day they were given until to-day, the 6th of April, 1869, to bring the Latter-day Saints to such a, condition of union, faith and knowledge that they would receive these principles and carry them out in their lives.

The labors of the elders to accomplish this have been incessant; they have ever felt to impress them upon the minds of the Saints, but more particularly within the last four or five years. It is essentially necessary that we should receive them now, for upon the reception and proper carrying out of this Order hinges the prosperity, development and triumph of the kingdom of God on the earth; and unless we as a people arrive at such a standard of faith and perfection as to practically carry them out, we are assured, on the best of authority, that we cannot be permitted to go back and build up the Centre Stake and fully accomplish the redemption of Zion. The consequences involved in not being able to accomplish that are familiar to the minds of those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, especially if they are old members. One of the greatest calamities that could be thought of by us as a congregation, or a Church, to-day, would be to learn from the Lord through His servants that we should not, be permitted to go back to build up the Centre Stake of Zion. The edict pronounced by the prophet Moses when he told Israel that not one who had arrived at the age of twenty-one years should ever enter the “Promised Land,” had not a greater effect upon Israel than the prohibition I have just referred to would have upon the Latter-day Saints. We can realize then, the importance of adopting and carrying out the principles that will prepare us for that great work.

It is not to be expected that we shall attain to perfection in the carrying out of such principles at once. That is not the way we have progressed in the past; our progress has been gradual. It has been from principle to principle, from knowledge to knowledge, one step after another until we have reached the point for which we have aimed. And so it will be with the principles pertaining to the “Order of Enoch”—we shall take step after step, progressing from one point to another until we have reached the point that God, our Heavenly Father, has designed us to attain to.

When we look abroad among the nations of the earth we see a great many evils in existence—evils that have existed for many centuries; in fact, they have existed from the earliest ages of which we have any account until the present time, in every nation and among all people. Our own nation is a case in point. When the foundations of the Government were laid, and liberty proclaimed throughout the length and breadth of the land, it was anticipated that this nation would grow to a pitch of glory and attain to a greatness and power that no other nation on the face of the earth had ever attained. Everything was favorable to this: a free Government had been established; a continent of almost illimitable extent spread itself before the people, and all that was necessary to develop its boundless resources was population, and industry on the part of that population. But little over ninety years have elapsed [elapsed] since the foundations of our Gover[n]ment were laid, and in that time we have grown to be a great people; but that which has been enacted in other nations has been re-enacted here. The evils that have flourished so long in what is called the Old World have been transplanted to this land. If Western men travel through the Eastern States they are struck with the great distinction of classes that exist there. There is an aristocracy of wealth fast growing up there; and at the same time there is another class in degradation and poverty, utterly unable to obtain the blessings and comforts of life. This is owing to various causes, the chief of which is the incorrect organization of society. It is so in Europe and in Asia, and, in fact, wherever wealth abounds.

Many men have risen from time to time, who have seen and deplored these evils, and they have sought with all the wisdom and knowledge they possessed to correct them. Doubtless many of the Latter-day Saints recollect an instance of this kind at Nauvoo. After the Saints evacuated that place, a community of Socialists, called Icarians, whose leader was Mr. Cabet, came to Nauvoo and settled there. There were the houses, gardens, farms and orchards of the Latter-day Saints; the country was a healthy one when compared with what it was when first settled by the Saints. Many philanthropic men in France were interested in this experiment, and were anxious to have it succeed. They forwarded their means with considerable liberality to sustain the settlement; but, despite their efforts and exertions, it fell to pieces. Yet the object they had in view was a good one, and the means they used were effective, so far as they went. But there was a lack of cohesive power in the system; there was a lack of union, and a lack of wisdom in the management of the affair. They sought to ameliorate the condition of mankind and to diffuse the blessings of life equally among the people, so that hunger, poverty and wretchedness and the dreadful consequences which follow in their train might be removed from the midst of mankind and a better order of things established. But with all the advantages of which I have spoken, their attempt was a signal failure: the society was broken up and to-day has no existence.

This is a case in point with which many of you are familiar. Similar experiments, having the same ends in view, have been tried at other places at various times, but like results have attended them.

It has been seen by thinking men that there is something radically wrong in the organization of society in this respect, but they have not known how to remedy the evils. It is so in the religious world. Religionists have to mourn and deplore the divisions that exist among the so-called followers of Christ; and reformers have risen one after another endeavoring to bring about greater union and to develop a greater amount of love, but with what success let the history of the various sects of Christendom answer. They are split up into innumerable parties, and the effort of every reformer has only resulted in the increase of religious sects. He has been unable, and his inability has been confessed by himself, to unite the Christian world and bring about that oneness which characterized the followers of Christ in the early days of Christianity. It required the Lord our God to stretch forth His arm to bring this to pass. It required the revelation of the Gospel in its purity from the heavens; it required the restoration of the holy Priesthood to the earth in the plentitude of its power to bring it about; and as soon as the Priesthood was restored, as soon as the Gospel was given again in purity to man, and the Church of Christ was again organized, then the object for which these reformers labored in vain began to be accomplished—oneness began to prevail, union began to manifest itself, love was diffused, the Holy Ghost was bestowed, its gifts were enjoyed, and men and women from various nations and from the midst of various churches were gathered together in one as we are here to-day. It required the wisdom, power and Spirit of the Almighty to restore this condition of things for which many men had so long labored in vain.

And so it is in relation to the social organization of society. It requires the wisdom of Almighty God to correct the evils under which mankind groan. Men may labor and devise schemes, expend means and do all that is possible for human beings, not directed by the Spirit and power of God, to do, and after they have done it all they are compelled to confess that they are weak and fallible, and incapable of accomplishing that which they have aimed at. But with God to aid them, with His wisdom to guide and His Spirit to direct, and His blessings to smile upon them they can accomplish all that is necessary to redeem and save the human family, both in a physical and spiritual point of view. God has chosen His people, the Latter-day Saints, to solve these knotty problems that have troubled the brains and affected the children of men for so many centuries.

The Lord has said that “if ye are not equal in earthly things, ye cannot be in obtaining heavenly things” He has revealed a plan by which this equality can be brought about. Yet, He does not design to make us of equal height; He does not design that we should all have the same colored hair or eyes, or that we should dress exactly alike. This is not the meaning of the word “equality,” as as it is used in the revelation; but it means to have an equal claim on the blessings of our Heavenly Father—on the properties of the Lord’s treasury, and the influences and gifts of His Holy Spirit. This is the equality meant in the revelations, and until we attain to this equality we cannot be equal in spiritual things, and the blessings of God cannot be bestowed upon us until we attain to this as they otherwise would. As a people we are expecting the day to come when Jesus will descend in the clouds of Heaven; but before this day comes we must be prepared to receive him. The organization of society that exists in the heavens must exist on the earth; the same condition of society, so far as it is applicable to mortal beings, must exist here. And for this purpose God has revealed this Order; for this purpose He is bringing us into our present condition.

A great many of the Latter-day Saints scarcely understand the persistency with which the Presidency of the Church has labored to bring about the oneness of the people in temporal things; and this co-operative movement is an important step in this direction and is designed to prepare them for the ushering in of this Order to which I have been alluding. It has already produced greater union, and it will produce still greater union than anything that has been witnessed among us; and if we carry it out in the spirit in which it has been taught to us it will produce immense results. The Lord will bless us; He will increase our means and pour into the laps of this people everything necessary for their greatness in the earth. For be it known unto you and to all people that God designs to make of the Latter-day Saints the head; He intends to place in their hands and keeping the wealth of the world. But before blessings of this description can be poured upon us we must be prepared to receive and use them aright. Suppose these things were to be poured upon us in our present condition, what would be the result? Every one can answer this question for himself. Each one knows his or her own heart, and the feelings by which it is animated. We know that if the whole people were to be made rich it would be an exceedingly difficult matter to control them; even with the little means we have to-day it is one of the most difficult things to control the people in regard to the disposition and correct use of that means.

In a revelation given on this subject in the year 1834 the Lord says—

“I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens and built the earth as a very handy work, and all things therein are mine, and it is my purpose to provide for my Saints, for all things are mine; but it must needs be done in mine own way, and behold, this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my Saints, that the poor shall be exalted in that the rich are made low; for the earth is full and there is enough and to spare. Yea, I prepared all things and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves; therefore if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made and impart not his portion, according to the law of my Gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall with the wicked lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment.”

In another revelation on the same subject given in 1832, the Lord says—

“For Zion must increase in beauty and holiness; her borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily, I say unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments: therefore I give unto you this commandment that ye bind yourselves by this covenant, and it shall be done according to the laws of the Lord. Behold, here is wisdom also in me for your good. And you are to be equal, or in other words you are to have equal claims on the properties for the benefit of managing the concerns of your stewardships, every man according to his wants and his needs, inasmuch as his wants are just, and all this for the benefit of the Church of the living God, that every man may improve upon his talent, and every man may gain other talents, yea, even an hundredfold, to be cast into the Lord’s storehouse, to become the common property of the whole Church, every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.

“This order I have appointed to be an everlasting order unto you, and unto your successors, inasmuch as you sin not; and the soul that sins against this covenant, and hardeneth his heart against it, shall be dealt with according to the laws of my Church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption.”

While I am reading I will read another extract, that you may get the idea more fully in your mind. After speaking of the Treasury that shall be appointed, in which shall be preserved the sacred things in the Treasury for sacred and holy purposes, which shall be called the Treasury of the Lord, the Lord continues—

“And again, there shall be another Treasury prepared and a treasurer appointed to keep the Treasury, and a seal shall be placed upon it; and all monies that you receive in your stewardships, by improving upon the properties which I have appointed unto you, in houses, or in lands, or in cattle, or in all things, save it be the holy and sacred writings, which I have reserved unto myself for holy and sacred purposes, shall be cast into the Treasury as fast as you receive the moneys, by hundreds, or by fifties, or by twenties, or by tens, or by fives; or in other words, if any man among you obtain five talents, let him cast them into the Treasury; or if he obtain ten, or twenty, or fifty or an hundred, let him do likewise, and let not any man among you say that it is his own, for it shall not be called his, nor any part of it, and there shall not any part of it be used or taken out of the Treasury, only by the voice and common consent of the Order. And this shall be the voice and common consent of the Order—that any man among you say unto the treasurer, I have need of this to help me in my stewardship; if it be five talents, or if it be ten talents, or twenty, or fifty, or an hundred, the treasurer shall give unto him the sum which he requires, to help him in his stewardship, until he be found a transgressor, and it is manifest before the Council of the Order plainly, that he is an unfaithful and an unwise steward; but so long as he is in full fellowship, and is faithful, and wise in his stewardship, this shall be his token unto the treasurer, that the treasurer shall not withhold.”

From these extracts which I have read in your hearing you can form an idea of the Order which God, our Heavenly Father, intends to establish among us as soon as we are willing to enter upon it. It is not the design of God that we should fall a prey to the evils that have existed and that have worked out such misery and ruin among other people. It is God’s design to save and redeem us from the evils that others have endured. It has been frequently remarked to me by men out of our faith, when conversing upon our principles and the success which has attended their proclamation: “Mr. Cannon, as long as the Latter-day Saints are poor you will do very well; as long as you are persecuted you will stand; but you will be like other people when wealth increases in your midst—when you grow up into classes and some are wealthy and some are poor, and your Church becomes popular, you will be very likely to fall into the same evils and errors that have characterized other churches.” If God did not preside over this Church, such expectations and predictions would doubtless be fulfilled. But God presides; it is His Church, and He has provided remedies for every one of these evils, by which the Church can be preserved, and by which wealth can be increased in the midst of the Latter-day Saints and yet not work out the injurious results that we see elsewhere where it abounds. God has provided a way to prevent this, and that way is to be found in the revelations that were given unto us upwards of thirty-six years ago, and we can read and understand them.

“Well,” says one, “if such an Order as this you speak of be established, will not the careless and indolent enjoy a share in the blessings of those who are industrious? and will it not weaken the hands of the energetic?” Not in the least. The man who is energetic and faithful will receive the reward of his faithfulness. If he has a large surplus of means he has more to put into the Treasury to help to forward that kingdom he loves, and he is credited with it. In the day of the Lord Jesus we are told He will say to him, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many,” and such individuals will receive a reward in proportion to their faithfulness. But if they hide up their talent in a napkin and bury it in the ground, that which was given to, them will be taken from them. They who use their talents righteously and faithfully will have them increased, but the unfaithful will be deprived of that which he seems to have.

This Order will not have the effect that some anticipate, but it will be a blessing to all who are engaged in it. There will not be any temptation to seek for wealth for the sake of aggrandizing one’s self or to place one’s heart upon riches, as there is now. This temptation will be removed. I shall be able to love my neighbor. Why? Because if I make off him in a trade I know that whatever I make goes into the treasury and becomes the property of the whole Church, therefore what inducement would there be to soil my soul and bring a blot on my character by taking advantage of my neighbor when it is not going to specially benefit me?

I look upon this principle as one of the greatest principles to save people from avaricious and sordid feelings that God has ever revealed. It will have a tendency to check dishonesty and remove want. It will have a tendency to stop stealing and to cure the evils under which mankind have groaned from the beginning until now. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ there is a remedy for every evil that exists among men. Here is the “social problem,” that troubles the minds of all nations to-day. The cities of Christendom are crowded with prostitutes; their young men are destroyed in the dawn of their days by the terrible crime of prostitution. How shall these fearful evils be cured? Has there been sufficient wisdom found among men to do it? No; they have confessed their utter inability to cope with it. It is overwhelming them and sweeping them off like a flood throughout the length and breadth of the land, until physicians say that half the diseases that prevail among mankind in Christendom are directly traceable to this devouring evil. What is to correct it? I answer, the Lord, through His people—the Latter-day Saints—is revealing the remedy. You travel throughout the Territory of Utah, from Bear Lake in the north to St. George in the south, and what do you see? You see a people free from secret diseases, you see a people free from the dreadful curse of prostitution. Our young men and maidens grow up in all the vigor of health and there is nothing to sap that vigor and lead them to a premature grave. Then what is to correct these evils in the world? The plan which God has revealed. It will bring about a pure condition of things. If it were universally adopted the “social evil” would be removed, and prostitution would soon cease to exist on the face of the earth.

Will this plan—this glorious Order which God has revealed—correct the other evils with which the world is afflicted? Yes, when that Order is universally established there will no longer be any temptation to steal, defraud one’s neighbor or to commit any wrongs of this kind, for it is said, and truly, that the love of money is the root of all evil. The Order of which I speak will correct these evils because there will be a treasury in the midst of the people, from which those who are worthy can get that which they need to sustain them in their stewardship, and into which all who have a surplus will pour their wealth until it will become the common property of the church; and the church under this organization which God has revealed will become a great and mighty power in the midst of the earth.

We have great power now, though not numerically strong; we are not a very great people so far as numbers are concerned, but we are strong because we are united. The more wealth we have the greater is our power, because the President of this Church can control this people, therefore the people have power, and when our wealth shall be controlled by the President of this Church, we shall have greater power in the earth than we have to-day. But will that power be used for hurtful purposes? No; it will be used for beneficial ends, for the amelioration of the condition of the human family, for the practical inauguration of these great and glorious principles which God has revealed; and it is to bring you to this condition that the elders are laboring as they are; it is to bring you to this oneness that they labor as they do continually—that they travel and preach to and exhort the Saints all the day long to listen to the counsels of God.

Although it has been deferred a good while it will yet be accomplished and fulfilled and the people brought to a condition that is desired.

Much more might be said on this subject; but I am intruding on your time. May God bless you, my brethren and sisters, and prepare us, as a people, to receive the revelations of His will, which are true and perfect and intended to elevate and exalt us, and to bring us back into His presence, there to be crowned with glory and immortality: which I pray may be the case with us all in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Historical Address

George A. Smith

Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 8th and 9th, 1868. Reported by David W. Evans.

The circumstances by which we are surrounded are such as to cause feeling of no ordinary character. In all the Conferences held hitherto, in this city and in Nauvoo, we have enjoyed the society of our late lamented President, Heber C. Kimball; and his being called away from a useful field in which he had long labored, should remind us that each of us, at any moment, may be called to close our career here for time, and to await our reward in the resurrection. We can but rejoice that our brother, in his long life and labors in the Church, was a pattern of humility, faith and diligence, and was instrumental in the hands of God in bringing many thousands to a knowledge of the truth. The blow which has fallen upon us in being deprived of his company, counsel and instruction, should remind us of the necessity of diligence in the discharge of all our duties, that, like him, we may be prepared to inherit celestial glory, and to associate with Joseph and Hyrum Smith and David Patten, and the martyrs who have gone before.

The incidents that have been brought to our notice by our brethren who have spoken during the Conference, give rise to a series of reflections in relation to our early history as a people, which, I presume, it would be well for us all to review. There are some in this Territory who have been in the Church thirty-six, thirty-seven or thirty-eight years, but a great many of the people have been in only a few years. A very large portion of our population have been reared here, and consequently a brief sketch of the early incidents of our history may not be unprofitable to any.

When Joseph Smith took the plates of Mormon from the hill Cumorah, he was immediately surrounded by enemies, and though he was a young man of unexceptional character, he was compelled to go from place to place, while translating the work, to avoid pe[r]secution. The press and the pulpit denounced him as an impostor and his followers as dupes. As soon as he preached the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins, and organized a Church with six members, he was arrested and brought before a magistrate, honorably discharged by him, and immediate[e]ly arrested again and hurried into an adjoining county, where he was insulted, spit upon, and kept without food during the day, and then given crusts of bread and water. The next day he was taken before magistrates who, after a rigid examination, found no fault in him. A mob resolved to “tar and feather” him, but through the instrumentality of the constable, who previously treated him roughly, but who now became his friend, he made his escape in safety. All these proceedings were instigated by clergymen and professors of religion in high standing. A similar spirit of persecution was manifested in a greater or less degree in every place where the Gospel was proclaimed, not only against Joseph Smith, but also against other Elders who preached the word.

This system of persecution continued, especially in the shape of vexatious law suits, numbering some fifty in all, up to the day of his death, and in all of which a most vicious and vindictive spirit was manifested outside of judicial questions. In every case he was honorably acquitted, and upon the charge of treason upon which he was detained in Carthage gail [jail], when murdered, he had not even been lawfully examined before a magistrate. In all these trials except one he had been before persons religiously opposed to him—his enemies were his judges—and all this while every act of his life was prompted by a firm desire to do good to his fellow men—to preach, the Gospel of peace, to magnify the high and holy calling he had received from the Lord, and thereby lead back to the ancient faith of Jesus Christ his fellow beings who had fallen into darkness.

Vexatious law suits not accomplishing the work to the satisfaction of the persecutors of the Saints, mob violence was resorted to, as being more effective. On the 25th day of March, 1832, in Hyrum, Portage Co., Ohio, Joseph Smith was dragged from his bed and carried to the woods, daubed with tar and feathers, and otherwise ill-treated. The following is his account of the outrage:

“On the 25th of March, the twins before mentioned, which had been sick for some time with the measles, caused us to be broke of our rest in taking care of them, especially my wife. In the evening I told her she had better retire to rest with one of the children, and I would watch with the sickest child. In the night she told me I had better lie down on the trundle bed, and I did so, and was soon after awoke by her screaming ‘murder!’ when I found myself going out of the door, in the hands of about a dozen men, some of whose hands were in my hair, and some had hold of my shirt, drawers, and limbs. The foot of the trundle bed was towards the door, leaving only room enough for the door to swing. My wife heard a gentle tapping on the windows, which she then took no particular notice of (but which was unquestionably designed for ascertaining whether we were all asleep), and soon after the mob burst open the door and surrounded the bed in an instant, and, as I said, the first I knew, I was going out of the door in the hands of an infuriated mob. I made a desperate struggle, as I was forced out, to extricate myself, but only cleared one leg, with which I made a pass at one man, and he fell on the door steps. I was immediately confined again; and they swore by God they would kill me if I did not be still, which quieted me. As they passed around the house with me, the fellow that I kicked came to me and thrust his hand into my face, all covered with blood (for I hit him on the nose), and with an exulting horse laugh, muttered, ‘Ge, gee, God damn ye, I’ll fix ye.’

“They then seized me by the throat, and held on till I lost my breath. After I came to, as they passed along with me, about thirty rods from the house, I saw Elder Rigdon stretched out on the ground, whither they had dragged him by the heels. I supposed he was dead. I began to plead with them, saying, ‘You will have mercy and spare my life, I hope,’ to which they replied, ‘God damn ye, call on your God for help, we’ll show ye no mercy;’ and the people began to show themselves in every direction; one coming from the orchard had a plank, and I expected they would kill me, and carry me off on the plank. They then turned to the right and went on about thirty rods further, about sixty rods from the house and thirty from where I saw Elder Rigdon, into the meadow, where they stopped, and one said, ‘Simonds, Simonds,’ (meaning, I suppose, Simonds Rider,) ‘pull up his drawers, pull up his drawers, he will take cold.’ Another replied, ‘Ain’t ye going to kill ‘im, ain’t ye going to kill ‘im?’ when a group of mobbers collected a little way off and said, ‘Simonds, Simonds, come here;’ and Simonds charged those who had hold of me to keep me from touching the ground (as they had all the time done), lest I should get a spring upon them. They went and held a council, and, as I could occasionally overhear a word, I supposed it was to know whether it was best to kill me. They returned after a while when I learned they had concluded not to kill me, but pound and scratch me well, tear off my shirt and drawers, and leave me naked. One cried, ‘Simonds, Simonds, where’s the tar bucket?’ ‘I don’t know,’ answered one, ‘where ‘tis, Eli’s left it.’ They ran back and fetched the bucket of tar, when one exclaimed, ‘God damn it, let us tar up his mouth;’ and they tried to force the tar-paddle into my mouth; I twisted my head around, so that they could not, and they cried out, ‘God damn ye, hold up your head and let us give ye some tar.’ They then tried to force a vial into my mouth, and broke it in my teeth. All my clothes were torn off me except my shirt collar, and one man fell on me and scratched my body with his nails like a mad cat, and then muttered out, ‘God damn ye, that’s the way the Holy Ghost falls on folks.’

“They then left me, and I attempted to rise, but fell again. I pulled the tar away from my lips, so that I could breathe more freely, and raised myself up, when I saw two lights. I made my way towards one of them, and found it was Father Johnson’s. When I had come to the door, I was naked, and the tar made me look as though I had been covered with blood; and when my wife saw me she thought I was mashed all to pieces, and fainted. During the affray abroad, the sisters of the neighborhood had collected at my room. I called for a blanket, they threw me one, and shut the door. I wrapped it around me and went in.” History of Joseph Smith, Mill. Star, vol. 14, 148.

I will add that the exposure of the child above referred to, to the night air, caused its death This murdered child was doubtless the first martyr of the last dispensation.

In a revelation given Sept, 1831, the Lord said, “It is my will that the Saints retain a strong hold in the land of Kirtland for the space of five years.”

The Saints owned several farms in Kirtland. Mr. Lyman, a Presbyterian, also owned a grist mill there, and many of us got our grinding done at his, mill, although our brethren owned mills two or three miles distant. We had commenced building the Kirtland Temple. A portion of the city site had been surveyed, and many of the Saints who had recently come in were building houses on the lots. Mr. Lyman associated himself with a combination to starve us out. The authorities proceeded to warn all the Latter-day Saints out of the township, and formed a compact not to employ us or sell us grain, which was scarce at the time. Mr. Lyman had 3000 bushels of wheat, but refused to let us have it at any reasonable price, and it was believed we were so destitute of money that we would have to scatter abroad. The warning out of town was designed to prevent our becoming a township charge, the law of Ohio being that if a person, who had been warned out of town, applied for assistance, he was to be carried to the next town and so on till he was taken out of the State or to the town from which he formerly came.

We were obliged to send fifty miles for grain, which cost us one dollar and six cents per bushel delivered in Kirtland. Mr. Lyman’s grain remained unsold and his effort to starve us taught us better than to longer patronize his mill, although it cost us the trouble of going two or three miles to mills belonging to our brethren. We built a magnificent temple and a large city. We paid our quota of taxes and we were as noted and remarkable for our industry, temperance, thrift and morality there, as our people are at the present day. We also patronized a Mr. Lyon, who was a gentlemanly outside merchant, but the moment he got an opportunity he united with our enemies to oppress us.

We sent our children to school to Mr. Bates, a Presbyterian minister, who soon after went into court and bore false witness against the Elders, and further testified on oath that every “Mormon” was intellectually insane. This lesson did admonish us not to longer intrust the education of our youth to canting hypocrites.

For several years we had used the paper of Geauga Bank at Painesville, as money. A loan of a few hundred dollars was asked for by Joseph Smith, with ample security, but was refused, and Elder Reynolds Cahoon was told they would not accommodate the “Mormon Prophet,” although they acknowledged the endorsers were above question, simply because it would encourage “Mormonism.” So much of their specie was drawn by Joseph Smith during the three succeeding days, as greatly improved their tempers, and they said to Elder Cahoon, “Tell Mr. Smith he must stop this, and any favor he wants we are ready to accord him.”

Subsequently application was made to the Legislature of the State for a bank charter, the notes to be redeemed with specie and their redemption secured by real estate. The charter was denied us on the grounds that we were “Mormons,” and soon a combination of apostates and outsiders caused us to leave Kirtland, the most of our property unsold; and our beautiful Temple yet remains a lasting monument of our perseverance and industry. The loss sustained through this persecution was probably not less than one million dollars.

MISSOURI

On the 20th day of July, 1831, at Independence, Jackson county, Joseph Smith set apart and dedicated a lot as the site of the Temple of the centre stake of Zion, ground having been purchased for this purpose, and it still is known as the “Temple lot.” The Saints entered lands in different parts of the county, built houses, opened farms, constructed mills, established a printing office (owned by W. W. Phelps and Co., and the first in Western Missouri), and opened a mercantile establishment, the largest, in the county, owned by Messrs. Gilbert and Whitney.

In July, 1833, a mob was organized by signing a circular, which set forth that the civil law did not afford them a sufficient guarantee against the “Mormons,” whom they accused of “blasphemously pretending to heal the sick by the administration of holy oil,” and consequently they must be either “fanatics” or “knaves.” Under the influence of Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian ministers, they tore down the printing office of the Evening and Morning Star, which cost some $6000. They stripped and tarred and feathered Bishop Partridge and Elder Charles Allen, and seized several other Elders and cast them into prison, compelled Gilbert and Whitney to close their store, and soon after broke it open and scattered their goods to the four winds. They tore down twenty houses over the heads of the inmates, and whipped and terribly lacerated with hickory withes many of the Elders, killed Andrew Barber, and severely wounded many others; robbed the houses of their property, and finally expelled fifteen hundred people from the county. They also destroyed some two hundred and sixteen dwellings, and much of the land, being valuable timber land, became public plunder. The Saints were robbed of most of their horses, cattle, implements of husbandry, etc. The total loss in these transactions is estimated at half a million dollars.

“Horrible to relate, several women thus driven from their homes gave birth to children in the woods and on the prairies, destitute of beds or clothing, having escaped in fright. It is stated on the authority of Solomon Hancock, an eye witness, that he, with the assistance of two or three others, protected one hundred and twenty women and children for the space of ten days, who were obliged to keep themselves hid from their pursuers, while they were hourly expecting to be massacred, and who finally escaped into Clay county, by finding a circuitous route to the ferry.”

They could be traced by the blood from their feet, on the burnt prairie. This occurred in the month of November, and is a specimen of the kindness that law-abiding Latter-day Saints received at the hands of those who had power over them. The Saints were so law-abiding that not a single process had been issued against any member of the Church in Jackson county up to the organization of the mob, although all the offices, civil and military, were in the hands of their enemies.

Prominent in these cruelties as actors and apologists were the Revds. Isaac McCoy and D. Pixley, the former a Baptist and the latter a Presbyterian missionary to the Indians.

CLAY COUNTY

The arrival of the Saints in Clay county was a blessing to the inhabitants, who had just opened small prairie farms and planted them with Indian corn, much of which was unharvested. They had cattle on the bottoms and hogs in the woods. The majority of the people received the Saints with gladness and gave them employment, and paid them in corn, pork and beef. The wages were low, but sufficient to supply the more pressing wants of the people. From time to time Joseph Smith forwarded money from Kirtland to Bishop Partridge to supply the most needy. The mob in Jackson county sent committees to stir up the feelings of the people of Clay against the Saints. For some time their oft-repeated efforts to do so were unsuccessful Parties of the mob would come over from Jackson and seize our brethren and inflict violence upon them. The industry of our people soon enabled them to make some purchases of land, and then their numbers were increased by arrivals from the east. The mob of Jackson county continued their endeavors to stir up dissatisfaction among the people of Clay county against the Saints. At length the citizens of Clay county held a public meeting and requested the “Mormons” to seek another home, when the Saints located in the new county of Caldwell, which contained only seven families, who were bee hunters As the county was mostly prairie, their business was not very profitable, and they gladly embraced the opportunity of selling their claims.

Caldwell county, being nearly destitute of timber, was regarded by the people of upper Missouri as worthless. Every Saint that could raise fifty dollars entered forty acres of land, and there were few but what could do that much, while many entered large tracts. The Saints migrated from the east and settled Caldwell in great numbers.

In three years they had built mills, shops, school, meeting and dwelling houses, and opened and fenced hundreds of farms. Our industry and temperance rendered our settlements the most prosperous of any in Missouri, while they embraced all of Caldwell, most of Davis, and large portions of Clinton, Ray, Carrol and Livingston counties, when the storm of mobocracy was again aroused and aided by the Governor of the State, Lilburn W. Boggs, who issued the order expelling all the Latter-day Saints from the State under penalty of extermination. This caused the loss of hundreds of lives through violence and suffering. Houses were plundered, women were violated, men were whipped, and a great variety of cruelties inflicted, and a loss of property amounting to millions was sustained, while any one that would renounce his religion was permitted to remain.

Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Alexander McRae, Lyman Wight and others were for several months thrust; into prison, and in one instance, while there, were fed on human flesh and tantalized with the inquiry, “How they liked Mormon beef”—it being the flesh of some of their murdered brethren.

The Lord softened the hearts of the people of Quincy, Illinois, and while the hundreds of Saints were fleeing over the snow-clad prairies of Missouri, not knowing where to go, the people of Quincy were holding public meetings, raising subscriptions and adopting measures to give the fugitives employment and succor, for which our hearts overflow with gratitude.

As soon as the Saints were all expelled from Missouri, Joseph Smith went to Washington and laid the grievances of the people before the President and Congress of the United States. Mr. Van Buren said, “Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you.” Mr. Clay, when appealed to, said we “had better go to Oregon.” Mr. Calhoun informed Mr. Smith it would involve the question of State rights, and was a dangerous question, and it would not do to agitate it. Mr. Cass, as chairman of the Senate committee, to which the petition was referred, reported that Congress had no business with it.

Elder John P. Green went east, and published an appeal in behalf of the Saints, holding public meetings in Cincinnati and New York, and received some small contributions for the assistance of the most needy.

As soon as Joseph Smith escaped from Missouri to Illinois, he purchased lands at a place known as Commerce, in Hancock county, and commenced the survey of a city which he called Nauvoo, the word being derived from the Hebrew, meaning beauty and rest. Although the situation was handsome, it was famed for being unhealthy. There were but few inhabitants in the vicinity, but many graves in the burying ground, and much of the subsequent sickness was the result of exposure and the want of suitable means of nursing the sick. The swamps in the vicinity of Nauvoo were soon drained, and the lands around put under cultivation. Numerous dwellings and several mills were erected, and thrift and prosperity, the invariable results of industry and sobriety, were manifest.

Demands were made from Missouri for the persons of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Joseph was arrested and tried at Monmouth, before Judge Stephen A. Douglas, and honorably discharged. His principal attorney in this case was the Hon. O. H. Browning, now U.S. Secretary of the Interior. This suit cost him upwards of three thousand dollars. He was soon again arrested on a demand from Missouri, and discharged by Judge Pope, of the U.S. District Court. This time it cost him twelve thousand dollars. Not long after this second acquittal he was again arrested in Lee County, Illinois, and an attempt made, in the face of the State authorities, to kidnap him into Missouri. Nauvoo sent out three hundred men and rescued him. He was afterwards discharged by the municipal court of that place, and Thomas Ford, Governor of Illinois, sanctioned his discharge.

In 1844 Joseph and Hyrum were arrested on a charge of treason, under pledge of the executive that they should have a fair trial, but they were murdered by one hundred and fifty men with blackened faces; merchants and men that we had sustained in business, and apostates, took a leading part in bringing this about.

EXPENSES ATTENDANT UPON THE ARREST OF JOSEPH SMITH

Joseph Smith, the Prophet, was subjected, during his short ministerial career of fifteen years, to about fifty vexatious law suits. The principal expense was incurred in liquidating lawyers’ bills, and the brethren’s time and expenditure in attending courts to defend the Prophet from mob violence.

Magistrates’ court expenses were generally one hundred dollars. The Prophet paid Generals Doniphan and Atchison for legal services at Richmond, Mo., in 1838-9, sixteen thousand dollars; but this amount was fruitlessly expended, as the benefits of the law were not accorded to him, because of the predominance and overruling power of a mob.

At the Prophet’s trial at Monmouth, Ill., in 1841, before Judge Douglas, the lawyers’ fees and expenses amounted to three thousand dollars.

His next trial was before Judge Pope, U.S. District. Court, in 1842-3, the expenses of which may be reasonably estimated at twelve thousand dollars.

Cyrus Walker charged ten thousand dollars for defending Joseph in his political arrest, or the attempt at kidnapping him at Dixon, Ill., in 1843. There, were four other lawyers employed for the defence besides Walker. The expenses of the defence in this trial were enormous, involving the amounts incurred by the horse companies who went in pursuit to aid Joseph, and the trip of the steamer Maid of Iowa, from Nauvoo to Otawa, and may be fairly estimated at one hundred thousand dollars.

When the mantle of Joseph Smith fell upon Brigham Young, the enemies of God and His kingdom sought to inaugurate a similar career for President Young; but he took his revolver from his pocket at the public stand in Nauvoo, and declared that upon the first attempt of an officer to read a writ to him in a State that had violated its plighted faith in the murder of the Prophet and Patriarch while under arrest, he should serve the contents of this writ (holding his loaded revolver in his hand) first; to this the vast congregation assembled said, Amen. He was never arrested.

APPEAL TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE STATES

In 1845, the storm of mobocracy raging around us, we sent an appeal to the President of the United States, and to the Governor of every State in the Union, except Missouri, of which the following, addressed to Governor Drew, of Arkansas, is a copy to the Governor, he being the only one from whom an answer was received—

“To His Excellency Thomas S. Drew, Governor of Arkansas.

“Nauvoo, Ill., May 1, 1845.

“Honorable Sir—Suffer us, sir, in behalf of a disfranchised and long afflicted people, to prefer a few suggestions for your serious consideration, in hope of a friendly and unequivocal response, at as early a period as may suit your convenience, and the extreme urgency of the case seems to demand.

“It is not our present design to detail the multiplied and aggravated wrongs that we have received in the midst of a nation that gave us birth. Some of us have long been loyal citizens of the State over which you have the honor to preside, while others’ claim citizenship in each of the States of this great confederacy. We say we are a disfranchised people. We are privately told by the highest authorities of this State, that it is neither prudent nor safe for us to vote at the polls; still we have continued to maintain our right to vote, until the blood of our best men has been shed, both in Missouri and the State of Illinois, with impunity.

“You are doubtless somewhat familiar with the history of our extermination from the State of Missouri, wherein scores of our brethren were massacred, hundreds died through want and sickness, occasioned by their unparalleled sufferings, some millions of our property were confiscated or destroyed, and some fifteen thousand souls fled for their lives to the then hospitable and peaceful shores of Illinois; and that the State of Illinois granted to us a liberal charter, for the term of perpetual succession, and under its provisions private rights have become invested, and the largest city in the State has grown up, numbering about twenty thousand inhabitants.

“But, sir, the startling attitude recently assumed by the State of Illinois forbids us to think that her designs are any less vindictive than those of Missouri. She has already used the military of the State, with the Executive at their head, to coerce and surrender up our best men to unparalleled murder, and that, too, under the most sacred pledges of protection and safety. As a salve for such unearthly perfidy and guilt, she told us, through her highest Executive officer, that the laws should be magnified, and the murderers brought to justice; but the blood of her innocent victims had not been wholly wiped from the floor of the awful arena, where the citizens of a sovereign State pounced upon two defenceless servants of God, our Prophet and our Patriarch, before the Senate of that State rescued one of the indicted actors in that mournful tragedy from the sheriff of Hancock county, and gave him an honorable seat in her halls of legislation. And all others who were indicted by the grand jury of Hancock county for the murders of Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith, are suffered to roam at large, watching for further prey.

“To crown the climax of those bloody deeds, the State has repealed all those chartered rights by which we might have defended ourselves against aggressors. If we defend ourselves hereafter against violence, whether it comes under the shadow of law or otherwise (for we have reason to expect it both ways), we shall then be charged with treason, and suffer the penalty; and if we continue passive and non-resistant, we must certainly expect to perish, for our enemies have sworn it.

“And here, sir, permit us to state that General Joseph Smith, during this short life, was arraigned at the bar of his country about fifty times, charged with criminal offences, but was acquitted every time by his country, or rather his religious opponents almost invariably being his judges. And we further testify, that as a people we are law-abiding, peaceable, and without crimes; and we challenge the world to prove the contrary. And while other less cities in Illinois have had special courts instituted to try their criminals, we have been stript of every source of arraigning marauders and murderers who are prowling around to destroy us, except the common magistracy.

“With these facts before you, sir, will you write to us without delay, as a father and friend, and advise us what to do? We are, many of us, citizens of your State, and all members of the same great confederacy. Our fathers, nay, some of us, have fought and bled for our country, and we love her dearly.

“In the name of Israel’s God, and by virtue of multiplied ties of country and kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our favor. Will it be too much to ask you to convene a special session of your State Legislature, and furnish us an asylum where we can enjoy our rights of conscience and religion unmolested? Or will you in a special message to that body, when convened, recommend a remonstrance against such unhallowed acts of oppression and expatriation, as this people have continued to receive from the States of Missouri and Illinois? Or will you favor us by your personal influence, and by your official rank? Or will you express your views concerning what is called the Great Western Measure, of colonizing the Latter-day Saints in Oregon, the north-western Territory, or some location, remote from the States, where the hand of oppression shall not crush every noble principle, and extinguish every patriotic feeling?

“And now, honored sir, having reached out our imploring hands to you with deep solemnity, we would importune with you as a father, a friend, a patriot and statesman; by the constitution of American liberty; by the blood of our fathers, who have fought for the independence of this Republic; by the blood of the martyrs which has been shed in our midst; by the wailings of the widows and orphans; by our murdered fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, wives and children; by the dread of immediate destruction from secret combinations now forming for our overthrow; and by every endearing tie that binds men to men, and renders life bearable, and that, too, for aught we know, for the last time, that you will lend your immediate aid to quell the violence of mobocracy, and exert your influence to establish us as a people in our civil and religious rights, where we now are, or in some part of the United States, or at some place remote therefrom, where we may colonize in peace and safety as soon as circumstances will permit.

“We sincerely hope that your future prompt measures towards us will be dictated by the best feelings that dwell in the bosom of humanity; and the blessings of, a grateful people, and of many ready to perish, shall come upon you.

“We are, sir, with great respect, “Your obedient servants, “Brigham Young, Chairman.

“W. Richards,

“Orson Spencer,

“Orson Pratt,

“W. W. Phelps,

“A. W. Babbit,

“Jno. M. Bernhisel,

Committee.

“In behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at Nauvoo, Ill.

“P.S.—As many of our communications postmarked at Nauvoo, have failed of their destination, and the mails around us have been intercepted by our enemies, we shall send this to some distant office by the hand of a special messenger.”

The following reply was received from Governor Drew:—

“Executive Office, Little Rock, Ark., May 27, 1845.

“Hon. Brigham Young, President of the Committee of Twelve of Christ’s Church of Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo, Ill.

“Sir—Your letter of the 1st inst. has been received, and claims my earnest attention. I must acknowledge my inability to serve your people by calling an extra Session of the General Assembly of this State for the object contemplated. And although I do not know that prejudice against your tenets in Arkansas would weigh aught against the action of that body, in refusing to furnish within our borders an asylum from the oppression of which you so sorely complain; yet I am sure the representatives of the people would long hesitate to extend to any class of citizens exclusive privileges, however innocent their motives, aims, objects or actions might appear, when the prospects of collision, from causes of which in your case I know nothing, appear so evident from the two very recent manifestations presented in the States of Missouri and Illinois. I have no doubt Illinois, prompted by the kindest of sympathies for your people in the late struggle and overthrow they encountered in Missouri, extended a liberal helping hand, but to repent her supposed folly. Could Arkansas, after witnessing the same scene re-enacted in Illinois, calculate on anything short of a like catastrophe?

“I am not sufficiently informed of the course taken against you by the authorities of the State of Illinois, in the difficulties detailed in your communication, to justify a recommendation from me to the Legislature to remonstrate against the acts of Illinois—the detailed statement of facts afforded me by your communication being of an ex parte character. But were I regularly informed of all the facts from both parties, and felt able to form a correct opinion as to the justice of the course pursued by the State of Illinois, yet I am of opinion that this State would not have, nor would I have as its chief Executive officer, the right to interfere in the least with the internal concerns or police of the State of Illinois, or of any other neighboring State, where its operations do not distract or in any way affect the good order of the citizens of the State of Arkansas. There are instances, but they are rare, where the interposition of one State to arrest the progress of violence in another, would be at all admissible. Such, for instance, as where the public authorities of the state affected are palpably incompetent to quell an insurrection within her limits, and the violence is likely to extend its ravages and bad influence to such neighboring State, or where a proper call has been made for succor.

“Nor can I afford to exercise my official rank as chief Executive of this State, in behalf of a faction in a neighboring State; and I humbly conceive that my personal influence would add nothing to your cause, unless it should prove to be a just one, in which event public opinion will afford you support of a character more lasting in the eye of an enlightened public, than wiser and greater men than your humble servant—than official rank, or force backed by power. It is true that while prejudice may have the ascendency over the minds of the neighboring community, your people may be exposed more or less to loss of life and destruction of property; I therefore heartily agree with you in the proposed plan of emigration to the Oregon Territory—or to California—the north of Texas, or to Nebraska; thereby placing your community beyond the reach of contention, until, at least, you shall have had time and opportunity to test the practicability of your system, and to develop its contemplated superior advantages in ameliorating the condition of the human race, and adding to the blessings of civil and religious liberty. That such a community, constituted as yours, with the mass of prejudice which surrounds and obstructs its progress at this time, cannot prosper in that or any of the neighboring States, appears very evident from the signal failures upon two occasions under auspices at least as favorable as you could reasonably expect from any of the States.

“My personal sympathies are strong for the oppressed, though my official station can know nothing but what is sanctioned by the strictest justice, and that circumscribed to the limited jurisdiction of my own State; and while I deplore, as a man and a philanthropist, your distressed situation, I would refer you to the emphatic and patriarchal proposition of Abraham to Lot; and whilst I allude to the eloquent paraphrase of one of Virginia’s most gifted sons, wherein he circumscribed the bounds of our domain within to the great valley of the Mississippi, I would only add that the way is now open to the Pacific without let or hindrance. Should the Latter-day Saints migrate to Oregon, they will carry with them the good will of philanthropists, and the blessing of every friend of humanity. If they are wrong, their wrongs will be abated with many degrees of allowance, and if right, migration will afford an opportunity to make it manifest in due season to the whole civilized world.

“With my hearty desires for your peace and prosperity, I subscribe myself respectfully yours,

“THOMAS S. DREW.”

This correspondence shows us the necessity of our being united in sustaining the Latter-day Saints, that we may not build up, by our own acts, a power to renew persecution again in our midst.

EXPULSION FROM ILLINOIS

In September, 1845, the mob commenced burning the houses of the Saints in the southern part of the county of Hancock, and continued until stopped by the sheriff, who summoned a posse comitatus, while few but Latter-day Saints would serve under him. The Governor sent troops and disbanded the posse. The murderers of Joseph and Hyrum had a sham trial and were acquitted. A convention of nine counties notified us that we must leave the State. The Governor informed us through General John J. Harding and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, that we could not be protected in Illinois. We commenced our emigration west on the 6th of February, 1846. During that month some twelve hundred wagons crossed the Mississippi, many of them on the ice. Everybody that was able to leave continued to do so until late in the summer, and the outfits with which they left were insufficient, while the winter and spring weather was inclement, which caused a great deal of suffering.

While the strength of Israel had gone westward, the Illinois mob commenced their hostilities with redoubled fury. They whipped, plundered and murdered men, abused women and children, and drove all the scattering ones into Nauvoo, then laid siege to the place and bombarded it for three days, killing several persons and wounding others, and peremptorily expelled the remainder across the river into Iowa, after robbing them of the remainder of the property they possessed, and leaving them on the shore to perish.

Their encampment was probably one of the most miserable and distressed that ever existed. All who were able, by any possible means, had got away; those left were the poor and the helpless. Great numbers were sick, and they were without tents or conveniences of any kind to make them comfortable. Encamped on the foggy bottoms of the Mississippi river, they were scorched with fevers, without medicine or proper food.

In this helpless condition a merciful Providence smiled on them by sending quails, so tame that many caught them with their hands; yet many perished within sight of hundreds of houses belonging to them and their friends, which were under the dominion of the Rev. Thomas S. Brockman and his mob legions, who viciously trampled the constitution and laws of Illinois, and the laws of humanity, under their feet.

The victims continued to suffer until the camps in the west sent them relief. For a more full description of these scenes, I read from the historical address of Col. (now General) Thomas L. Kane, who was an eye witness.

“A few years ago,” said Colonel Kane, “ascending the Upper Mississippi, in the autumn, when its waters were low, I was compelled to travel by land past the region of the Rapids. My road lay through the Half-breed Tract, a fine section of Iowa, which the unsettled state of its land-titles had appropriated as a sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves, and other outlaws. I had left my steamer at Keokuk, at the foot of the Lower Fall, to hire a carriage, and to contend for some fragments of a dirty meal with the swarming flies, the only scavengers of the locality.

“From this place to where the deep water of the river returns, my eye wearied to see everywhere sordid, vagabond, and idle settlers, and a country marred, without being improved, by their careless hands. I was descending the last hill-side upon my journey, when a landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun; its bright new dwellings, set in cool green gardens, ranging up around a stately dome-shaped hill, which was crowned by a noble edifice, whose high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city appeared to cover several miles, and beyond it, in the background, there rolled off a fair country, chequered by the careful lines of fruitful husbandry. The un-mistakeable marks of industry, enterprise, and educated wealth everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most striking beauty. It was a natural impulse to visit this inviting region. I procured a skiff, and rowing across the river, landed at the chief wharf of the city. No one met me there. I looked, and saw no one. I could hear no one move, though the quiet everywhere was such that I heard the flies buzz, and the water-ripples break against the shallow of the beach. I walked through the solitary street. The town lay as in a dream, under some deadening spell of loneliness, from which I almost feared to wake it, for plainly it had not slept long. There was no grass growing up in the paved ways; rains had not entirely washed away the prints of dusty footsteps.

“Yet I went about unchecked. I went into empty workshops, rope-walks and smithies. The spinner’s wheel was idle; the carpenter had gone from his work-bench and shavings, his unfinished sash and casing. Fresh bark was in the tanner’s vat, and the fresh-chopped lightwood stood piled against the baker’s oven. The blacksmith’s shop was cold; but his coal heap and lading pool, and crooked water horn were all there, as if he had just gone off for a holiday. No work-people anywhere looked to know my errand.

“If I went into the gardens, clinking the wicket-latch loudly after me, to pull the marigolds, heartsease, and lady-slippers, and draw a drink with the water-sodden well-bucket and its noisy chain; or, knocking off with my stick the tall, heavy-headed dahlias and sunflowers, hunted over the beds for cucumbers and love-apples—no one called out to me from any opened window, or dog sprang forward to bark an alarm.

“I could have supposed the people hidden in the houses, but the doors were unfastened; and when at last I timidly entered them, I found dead ashes white upon the hearths, and had to tread a tip-toe, as if walking down the aisle of a country church, to avoid rousing irreverent echoes from the naked floors. On the outskirts of the town was the city graveyard; but there was no record of plague there, nor did it in anywise differ much from other Protestant American cemeteries. Some of the mounds were not long sodded; some of the stones were newly set, their dates recent, and their black inscriptions glossy in the mason’s hardly dried lettering ink. Beyond the graveyard, out in the fields, I saw, in one spot hard by where the fruited boughs of a young orchard had been roughly torn down, the still smouldering remains of a barbecue fire, that had been constructed of rails from the fencing around it. It was the latest sign of life there. Fields upon fields of heavy-headed yellow grain lay rotting un-gathered upon the ground. No one was there to take in their rich harvest.

“As far as the eye could reach they stretched away—they sleeping, too, in the hazy air of autumn. Only two portions of the city seemed to suggest the import of this mysterious solitude. On the southern suburb, the houses looking out upon the country showed, by their splintered wood-work and walls battered to the foundation, that they had lately been the mark of a destructive cannonade. And in and around the splendid Temple, which had been the chief object of my admiration, armed men were barracked, surrounded by their stacks of musketry and pieces of heavy ordnance. These challenged me to render an account of myself, and why I had had the temerity to cross the water without written permit from a leader of their band.

“Though these men were generally more or less under the influence of ardent spirits, after I had explained myself as a passing stranger, they seemed anxious to gain my good opinion. They told the story of the Dead City; that it had been a notable manufacturing and commercial mart, sheltering over twenty thousand persons; that they had waged war with its inhabitants for several years, and had been finally successful only a few days before my visit, in an action fought in front of the ruined suburb; after which they had driven them forth at the point of the sword. The defence, they said, had been obstinate, but gave way on the third day’s bombardment. They boasted greatly of their prowess, especially in this battle, as they called it; but I discovered they were not of one mind as to certain of the exploits that had distinguished it, one of which, as I remember, was, that they had slain a father and his son, a boy of fifteen, not long residents of the fated city, whom they admitted to have borne a character without reproach.

“They also conducted me inside the massive sculptured walls of the curious Temple, in which they said the banished inhabitants were accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed worship. They particularly pointed out to me certain features of the building which, having been the peculiar objects of a former superstitious regard, they had, as a matter of duty, sedulously defiled and defaced. The reputed sites of certain shrines they had thus particularly noticed; and various sheltered chambers, in one of which was a deep well, constructed, they believed, with a dreadful design. Beside these, they led me to see a large and deep chiselled marble vase or basin, supported upon twelve oxen, also of marble, and of the size of life, of which they told some romantic stories. They said the deluded persons, most of whom were emigrants from a great distance, believed their Deity countenanced their reception here of a baptism of regeneration, as proxies for whomsoever they held in warm affection in the countries from which they had come. That here parents ‘went into the water’ for their lost children, children for their parents, widows for their spouses, and young persons for their lovers; that thus the Great Vase came to be for them associated with all dear and distant memories, and was therefore the object, of all others in the building, to which they attached the greatest degree of idolatrous affection. On this account, the victors had so diligently desecrated it, as to render the apartment in which it was contained too noisome to abide in.

“They permitted me also to ascend into the steeple, to see where it had been lightning-struck the Sabbath before; and to look out, east and south, on wasted farms like those I had seen near the city, extending till they were lost in the distance. Here, in the face of the pure day, close to the scar of the divine wrath left by the thunderbolt, were fragments of food, cruises of liquor, and broken drinking vessels, with a bass drum and a steamboat signal bell, of which I afterwards learned the use with pain.

“It was after nightfall when I was ready to cross the river on my return. The wind had freshened since the sunset, and the water beating roughly into my little boat, I edged higher up the stream than the point I had left in the morning, and landed where a faint glimmering light invited me to steer.

“Here, among the dock and rushes, sheltered only by the darkness, without roof between them and the sky, I came upon a crowd of several hundred human beings, whom my movements roused from uneasy slumber on the ground.

“Passing these on my way to the light, I found it came from a tallow candle in a paper funnel shade, such as is used by street vendors of apples and peanuts, and which, flaming and guttering away in the bleak air off the water, shone flickeringly on the emaciated features of a man in the last stage of a billious remittent fever. They had done their best for him. Over his head was something like a tent, made of a sheet or two, and he rested on a partially ripped open old straw mattress, with a hair sofa cushion under his head for a pillow. His gaping jaw and glazing eye told how short a time he would monopolize these luxuries; though a seemingly bewildered and excited person, who might have been his wife, seemed to find hope in occasionally forcing him to swallow, awkwardly, sips of the tepid river water, from a burned and battered bitter-smelling tin coffee-pot. Those who knew better had furnished the apothecary he needed; a toothless old bald-head, whose manner had the repulsive dullness of a man familiar with death scenes. He, so long as I remained, mumbled in his patient’s ear a monotonous and melancholy prayer, between the pauses of which I heard the hiccup and sobbing of two little girls, who were sitting upon a piece of drift wood outside.

“Dreadful, indeed, was the suffering of these forsaken beings; bowed and cramped with cold and sunburn, alternating as each weary day and night dragged on, they were, almost all of them, the crippled victims of disease. They were there because they had no homes, nor hospital, nor poor-house, nor friends to offer them any. They could not satisfy the feeble cravings of their sick; they had not bread to quiet the fractious hunger-cries of their children. Mothers and babes, daughters and grand-parents, all of them alike, were bivouacked in tatters, wanting even covering to comfort those whom the sick shiver of fever was searching to the marrow.

“These were Mormons, in Lee county, Iowa, in the fourth week of the month of September, in the year of our Lord 1846. The city—it was Nauvoo, Ill. The Mormons were the owners of that city, and the smiling country around. And those who had stopped their ploughs, who had silenced their hammers, their axes, their shuttles, and their workshop wheels; those who had put out their fires, who had eaten their food, spoiled their orchards, and trampled under foot their thousands of acres of un-harvested bread; these were the keepers of their dwellings, the carousers in their Temple, whose drunken riot insulted the ears of the dying.

“I think it was as I turned from the wretched night-watch of which I have spoken, that I first listened to the sounds of revel of a party of the guard within the city. Above the distant hum of the voices of many, occasionally rose distinct the loud oath-tainted exclamation, and the falsely intonated scrap of vulgar song; but lest this requiem should go unheeded, every now and then, when their boisterous orgies strove to attain a sort of ecstatic climax, a cruel spirit of insulting frolic carried some of them up into the high belfry of the Temple steeple, and there, with the wicked childishness of inebriates, they whooped, and shrieked, and beat the drum that I had seen, and rang in charivaric unison their loud-tongued steam-boat bell.

They were, all told, not more than six hundred and forty persons who were thus lying on the river flats. But the Mormons in Nauvoo and its dependencies had been numbered the year before at over twenty thousand. Where were they? They had last been seen carrying in mournful train their sick and wounded, halt and blind, to disappear behind the western horizon, pursuing the phantom of another home. Hardly anything else was known of them; and people asked with curiosity, ‘What had been their fate—what their fortunes?’”

OCTOBER 9TH

The rear of the camp of the Saints that were driven out of Nauvoo, as we left them last evening lying on the banks of the Mississippi—a very uncomfortable and distressing situation—were frequently annoyed by the firing of cannon from the opposite side of the river, many of the shot landing in the river, but occasionally some would pass over into the camp. One of them, picked up in the camp, was sent as a present to the Governor of Iowa.

The Rev. Thomas S. Brockman, leader of the mob who expelled the Saints from Nauvoo, said when he entered the city, that he considered he had gained a tremendous triumph; but there is no language sufficient to describe the ignominy and disgrace that must attach, in all time to come, to him and his associates, in the accomplishment of so brutal a work on an innocent and unoffending people on account of their religious opinions.

The settlements of Iowa on the west side of the Mississippi river were scattering, extending back about seventy miles. We passed through these settlements on our journey westward, that is, President Young and the party that left Nauvoo in the winter. We diverged a little from the regular route in order to be in the vicinity of the settlements of Missouri. Our brethren scattered wherever there was an opportunity to take jobs from the people, making rails, building log houses, and doing a variety of work, by which they obtained grain for their animals and breadstuff for themselves. We were enabled to do this while moving slowly. In fact, the spring rains soon rendered the ground so muddy that it was impossible to travel but a very short distance at a time. Soon after, when the grass grew, this divergence from the road southerly was discontinued, by pursuing a direction further north, until we reached a point on the east fork of Grand River, where the President’s company commenced a settlement called Garden Grove, then another called Pisgah was commenced on the west fork of the same river. These streams and a number of others had to be bridged at a heavy expense, which was done by the advanced parties. Our travel west of the settlements, before we reached the Missouri river, was about 300 miles. The country was in the possession of Potawattamie Indians. They, however, had sold their lands to the United States, and were to give possession the following year. We were delayed building ferry boats and crossing the Missouri river. A large portion of our people crossed at a point now known as Omaha city; some crossed a little below, at Bellevue, or what we sometimes termed Whisky Point, there being some missionaries and Indian traders there, who occupied their time in selling whisky to and swindling the Indians.

We were met there by Captain James Allen, of United States dragoons, with an order from the War Department to enrol[l] five hundred volunteers for the war in Mexico. The volunteers were enrolled in a very few days. A portion of our wagons had crossed the Missouri at this time, and the residue of our people, from whom the volunteers were drawn, were scattered on the way two hundred miles towards Nauvoo. The men, however, volunteered, leaving their families and teams on the prairies without protectors, and very materially weakened the camp, because they were the flower of the people. They marched direct for Leavenworth, and there received the arms of infantry, and then marched for California by way of Santa Fe. Their commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Allen, died at Leavenworth, and they were subsequently placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel P. Saint George Cooke. They made a march of 2050 miles, to San Diego. History may be searched in vain for a parallel to this march of infantry. During a portion of this route they were on three-quarter rations, a portion on half rations, and a large portion of it on quarter rations of bread, their only meat being such draught animals as were unable to proceed further. They were, at one time, temporarily relieved from this pressure through an encounter with a herd of wild bulls. These men were discharged on the coast of California; but the Government, finding it necessary to maintain some show of force in the southern part of California, requested a company of them to re-enlist, which they did, and served for a term of six months.

The departure of all these men from our party, left a great burden on the shoulders of those who remained. President Young gathered them together to a place now called Florence, which we denominated Winter Quarters. While there we built seven hundred log houses, one water-power and several horse mills for grinding grain, and some hundred and fifty dug-outs, being a kind of cave dug in the earth, or houses half underground.

We gathered up the families of the battalion the best we could, but a great many were sick. Our exposures through the season, being deprived of vegetable food, and the overwork through so much bridge and road making, brought on sickness; and all who were in Winter Quarters remember it as being a place where a great many persons were afflicted, and many died.

Our brethren who were on the other side of the river established camps in various localities. There were probably two thousand wagons scattered about on the east side of the river in different parts of the Potawattamie country, each grove or camping ground taking the name of its leader. Many of those names are still retained, the various camping grounds being known as Cutler’s, Perkins’, Miller’s, &c.

Elders Orson Hyde, P. P. Pratt and John Taylor, left the camp and went on a mission to England. Brother Benson, accompanied by other brethren, went to the east to solicit donations from our eastern friends. I am not aware of the exact amount that was donated, but it was only a trifle. There were a few old clothes also contributed, which I believe were scarcely worth the freight. Christian sympathy was not very strong for the Latter-day Saints. But we feel very thankful to those who did contribute, and shall ever remember with kindness their generosity towards the Saints.

We were here visited by Col. Thos. L. Kane, of Philadelphia, an extract from whose historical address was read yesterday. He visited our camp and saw our condition, and was the only man, I believe, who by words and deeds manifested that he felt to sympathise with the outraged and plundered people called Latter-day Saints. It may be that he was not the only man, but he was the only man who made himself conspicuous by his sympathy towards us. It is true that we have had men come here, as merchants and officers, who have expressed to us that they did have great sympathy with us at that time. It does us a great deal of good now to hear them say so, we did not know anything about it then.

In the spring of 1847, President Young, with one hundred and forty-three pioneers, started in search of a place of settlement. We started early, before there was a particle of grass in the Platte valley. We carried our food with us, and fed our animals on the cottonwood bark, until the grass grew, and managed to get along, making the road for six hundred and fifty miles, and followed the trappers’ trail about four hundred miles more until we arrived in this valley. The whole company arrived here on the 24th of July, 1847. There were a few bushes along the streams of City Creek, and other creeks south. The land was barren; it was covered with large black crickets, which seemed to be devouring everything that had outlived the drouth and desolation. Here we commenced our work by making an irrigation ditch, and planting potatoes, which we had brought from the States; and late as it was in the season, with all the disadvantages with which we had to contend, we raised enough to preserve the seed, though very few were as large as chestnuts. For the next three years we were reduced to considerable straits for food. Fast-meetings were held, and contributions constantly made for those who had no provisions. Every head of a family issued rations to those dependent upon him, for fear his supply of provisions should fall short. Rawhides, wolves, rabbits, thistle roots, segos, and everything that could be thought of that would preserve life, were resorted to; there were a few deaths by eating poisonous roots. A great deal of the grain planted here the first year grew only a few inches high; it was so short it could not be cut. The people had to pull it. A great many got discouraged and wanted to leave the country; some did leave. The discovery of gold mines in California by the brethren of the battalion, caused many of the discontented to go to that paradise of gold.

During all these trials President Young was firm and decided; he put on a smile when among the people, and said this was the place God had pointed out for the gathering place of the Saints, and it would be blessed and become one of the most productive places in the world. In this way he encouraged the people, and he was sustained by men who felt that God had inspired him to lead us here.

President Young went back to Winter Quarters the first season, and in 1848 returned with his family. John Smith, my honored father, who was subsequently Patriarch of the whole Church, and who had been President of the Stake in Nauvoo, presided during the absence of President Young. I think that, for a man of his age and health, it was, in many respects, a very unpleasant position to be placed in, for all the murmuring, complaining, fault-finding, distress, hunger, annoyances, fears and doubts of the whole people were poured into his ear. But God inspired him, although a feeble man, to keep up their spirits, and to sustain the work that was entrusted to him until the arrival of the President next season.

In three years—1850, the idea of a man issuing rations to his family to keep them from starving had passed away; but the grasshopper war of 1856 inflicted upon us so great a scarcity, that issuing rations had to be resorted to again. Through all these circumstances no one was permitted to suffer, though all had to be pinched. I shall not attempt to give a detailed account of all the circumstances connected with our position in those trying times. But when our brethren arrive here by railroad and see a country smiling with plenty, I think they can hardly appreciate how it looked when we came.

When I first sat down on this ground, in 1847, I was dressed in buckskin, having torn most of my clothes to pieces. I had rawhide soles on my feet, and had a piece of hard bread and a piece of dried antelope meat to eat. I lay down, took my pistol in my hand, and held on to my horse by a lariet while eating my meat and biscuit, for fear the Indians might take a notion to my hair, of which I was always very choice. I took that meal near where our City Hall now stands. There has been quite an improvement since then.

The first year of our settlement here the crops were greatly injured by crickets, and many of the people gave up all hope, and it seemed as if actual starvation was inevitable for the whole colony. God sent gulls from the Lake, and they came and devoured the crickets. It seemed as if they were heavenly messengers sent to stay the famine. They would eat until they were filled, and would then disgorge; and so they continued eating and vomiting until the fields were cleared, and the colony saved: Praise the Lord! During the time of scarcity, when there was a short allowance of bread, the people were remarkably healthy, more so than they were afterwards when food became more plentiful.

In 1847 it was the counsel for every person leaving the Missouri river to be provided with three hundred and sixty-five pounds of bread stuff; many, however, came with less. The next season they were to bring three hundred pounds, the season after two hundred and fifty pounds; but in 1850 the people came with just enough to serve them during their journey across the Plains. In 1849, President Young founded the P. E. Fund. We had covenanted while in Conference in the Temple at Nauvoo, that we would never quit our exertions to the extent of our influence and property, until every man, woman and child of the Latter-day Saints who wanted to come to the mountains had been gathered. In 1849, notwithstanding all our poverty, a large sum in gold was contributed by the brethren for emigration purposes, and Bishop Edward Hunter went back and commenced the work. We also recommenced the work of missions, which for a short time had been partially suspended. Missionaries were sent to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the islands of the Pacific.

The first commercial house established here by strangers was Livingston and Kinkead’s. Mr. Livingston had about eight thousand dollars, which was all the money the firm had to invest. Kinkead was taken in as a partner, and they obtained credit in the east for twenty thousand dollars’ worth of goods, freighted them here and opened their store. They reported to their creditors that on the first day of opening they received ten thousand dollars in gold. They remained here until they made themselves fortunes, and carried gold from this Territory, perhaps to the amount of millions, and established themselves elsewhere. They were an honorable business house, but I have often reflected upon the bad policy that we, as servants of God, adopted at that time in sustaining strangers. If the ten thousand dollars which were paid into that house the first day, had been handled by some of our experienced merchants in a co-operative institution, it would have been just as easy to have furnished our own merchandize as to have bought their’s. Bishop N. K. Whitney, who was then living, or Bishop Woolley, and numbers of others were well acquainted with mercantile business; but they had been robbed of all they had, and had no capital. It only wanted unity and willingness on the part of the people to sustain their brethren in their business relations, to have laid the foundation to supply all that was ever supplied by Livingston and Kinkead.

I would like every one to inquire for himself—What would have been the result if, instead of sustaining Livingston and Kinkead and other merchants, our people had sustained Latter-day Saints? The result would have been, that large sums of money would have remained here and been used for building up the country; and when a dark cloud had lowered over us, our brethren with this means in their possession would have been on hand to aid the Saints in defending and preserving their lives and liberties; while, as it was, the influence of the men we had enriched was turned against us, they believing they could make more money out of the Government, and get rich quicker through war, than they could by continuing their honest, legitimate business with the people here. This firm is but one; several other firms might be mentioned who pursued a similar course.

As soon as it was known in Christendom that the Latter-day Saints were not dead, but that they were alive and flourishing, and were gathering their people to the mountains at the rate of from two to five thousand a year, and that they had succeeded in reclaiming the desert, and in making grain and grass grow where nothing would grow before, it seemed as though all hell was aroused again. Federal officers were sent here, and they thought it policy to join in the general hue and cry, or at least some of them; there were a few honorable exceptions. But the majority of them raised a hue and cry against us, and it was thought so much of, that one of the rotten planks in the platform of the great rising party which contested the elevation of James Buchanan to the Presidency, was the destruction of polygamy. This brought to our country immense armies, more men being concerned in the matter than in some of the principal battles of the revolution, or even in the war of 1812. Some six thousand regulars were marched in this direction, while teamsters and hangers on increased this number to about seventeen thousand. There were also several thousand freight wagons, and everything on the face of the earth, seemingly, that could be done to hurl into this country destruction and vengeance, was done. But God overruled it. When they got here they found that they really had been deceived. They went and established themselves at Camp Floyd, and spent their time in destroying arms and ammunition, and breaking up the property of the United States, until forty million dollars, the reported cost of the expedition, had been wasted. The armies then scattered to the four winds of the heaven. This expenditure of the Government money laid the foundation of these outside mercantile establishments which have been nursed by us to so great an extent from that time to this.

It has been believed that great benefit, financially, accrued to the Saints through this expedition; but I think that as a whole it has been a hindrance to our real progress. Very little of the money came into the hands of the Saints, but some merchandize at high prices, which might have been a temporary convenience. But it caused our people to relax their energies in producing from the elements what they needed, such as flax, cotton and wool; and also turned their attention from the manufacture of iron. The burning of wagons, the bursting of shell, and the destruction of arms, furnished much of the latter at comparatively nominal prices; hence a present benefit worked a permanent injury. The speculators who made vast fortunes at the expense of the nation soon squandered them, and part of this army, and even its commander, and many of the officers, were soon found arrayed against the flag of our country, and taking an active part in the terrible war between the North and South, the results of which are being so severely felt at the present time.

Scandalous sheets have been issued here for years, and, as far as possible, sent to all parts of the world, filled with lies, defamation and abuse, and everything that would tend to rouse the indignation of the Christian world against us, and to get up an excuse for our annihilation. These sheets have been sustained by men in the mercantile business whom we have sustained by our trade, and consequently have been supported indirectly by our money. I have been horrified at such a use of our means, and have felt that it was our duty, as Saints, to stop supporting these slanders, lest, peradventure, should they continue until they produced the designed effect, our blood should be upon our own heads.

What did we cross the Plains for? To get where we could enjoy peace and religious liberty. Why did we drag hand-carts across the Plains? That we might have the privilege of dwelling and associating with Saints, and not build up a hostile influence in our midst, and place wealth in the hands of our enemies, who use it to spread abroad defamation and falsehood, and to light a flame that will again have the direct result, unless overruled by the almighty power of God, of bringing upon the Latter-day Saints here the same sorrow, distress and desolation that have followed them elsewhere. For my part I do not fellowship Latter-day Saints who thus use their money. I advise the Saints to form co-operative societies and associations all over the Territory, and to import everything they need that they cannot manufacture, and not to pay their money to men who use it to buy bayonets to slay them with, and to stir up the indignation of our fellow-men against us. Our outside friends should feel contented with the privilege of paying us the money for the products of our labor, and we should exact it at their hands, as a due reward for our exertions in producing the necessaries of life in this desert.

Some may say, “We are afraid the brethren are making money too fast,” or, “We do not like to trade with them, they charge us too high.” Suppose they do, you need not buy of them; but do not go and buy of men who would use that money to cut your throats, or to publish lies about you, and endeavor to induce all men to come here and dispossess you of your homes. Do not be so mad as that. “Well,” says one, “I really want some little article that I cannot buy elsewhere.” Man’s wants are very numerous, but his necessities are really very few, and we should abridge our wants, and go to work and manufacture everything we can within ourselves; and what we cannot manufacture we can import, and save ourselves the 40, 120, 400, or 1000 per cent. that we are now paying for our merchandize, and so stop building up those who are laying a foundation, openly and above board, for our destruction. And furthermore, cease to fellowship every man that will not build up Zion. Amen.

The Latter-day Kingdom of God, etc.

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 10, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

It has fallen to my lot to speak to the congregation this afternoon, and I humbly hope and trust that, through your faith and prayers, I may be assisted by the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, in speaking to your edification; and I ask my Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, that He will pour out upon me that Spirit which giveth utterance and enlighteneth the understanding, that I may be able to edify all who hear me.

Forty years have passed away since the Church was organized. We held Conference here on Wednesday last, in commemoration of that eventful period in the history of our race, for it is a period that we consider very eventful in our history and in the history of the world; and we have no doubt in our own minds that the Lord looks upon it in the same light, for He is interested more than any other person possibly can be in the salvation of the human family. And as He has set times in His own mind for the performance of His own purposes, He no doubt chose the 6th day of April, 1830, as the set time for the organization, or the beginning of an organization or kingdom that should have no end.

All the governments which have hitherto had a place on our earth, excepting those now in existence, have had an end. Human governments have been very changeable in their nature. The Lord has raised up a nation here and a nation there, a kingdom here and a kingdom there, and He has suffered them to live and flourish for a few centuries, and some, perhaps, even for one or two thousand years; then He has caused them to pass away. But He spoke to His ancient servant, who is called Daniel, whose prophecy is written in this book (the Bible), and said that in the latter days He would set up a government or kingdom which should have no end. This government will differ from all preceding governments set up from the Creation down to the period of its establishment. Daniel says it shall become universal and shall cover the whole earth. He calls the citizens of that government Saints. He beheld that the stone cut out of the mountain without hands should roll forth and become a great mountain and fill the whole earth, and that all earthly governments, kingdoms and empires should become like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and no place should be found for them; while the stone that was cut out of the mountains should have dominion over the whole earth, and the Saints of the Most High should have dominion under the whole heaven.

Now there will have to be a beginning to that work. The Lord will not make such a wonderful revolution as the one I have named, all in one day, or in one year. Jesus made his appearance on the earth in the meridian of time, and he established his kingdom on the earth. But to fulfill ancient prophecies the Lord suffered that kingdom to be uprooted; in other words, the kingdoms of this world made war against the kingdom of God, established eighteen centuries ago, and they prevailed against it, and the kingdom ceased to exist. The great beast that John saw made war with it and prevailed against it, and human institutions, without prophets or inspired men, usurped the place of the ancient kingdom of God. But God has promised that the latter-day kingdom shall stand for ever. Though the heavens and earth be wrapped together as a scroll and pass away, yet the kingdom that was to be set up in the latter days will have no end, but will prevail among all people under the heavens and will have dominion for one thousand years. After that, when the earth passes away, the kingdom will be caught up; it will not perish, be annihilated or overcome, but be caught up into the heavens while the earth is undergoing its last change; and when the Lord shall resurrect the earth, the same as He will our bodies, and make it a new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness, He will then bring down out of Heaven to the new earth this latter-day kingdom, with all the former kingdoms that He has built up in other dispensations, and they will stand for ever, for the new earth will never pass away.

The destiny of all governments established by human wisdom is to pass away. The great nation of the United States, one of the best governments ever organized by human authority on the earth, so far as our knowledge goes, must pass away in many of its features. The only way for safety to the people of the government of the United States is to repent of their sins, turn away from all their iniquities, receive the Gospel of the Son of God and become citizens of that kingdom which is to endure for ever; then all the great and glorious principles incorporated in this great republic will be incorporated in the kingdom of God and be preserved. I mean the principles of civil and religious liberty, especially, and all other good principles that are contained in that great instrument framed by our forefathers will be incorporated in the kingdom of God; and only in this manner can all that is good in this and in foreign governments be preserved.

The time will shortly come when thrones will be cast down and empires will fall; and all republics and empires will eventually fall and become like the dream of a night vision—they will vanish away; but the kingdom of God will grow, flourish, spread abroad and become stronger and more powerful, until its King shall come in the clouds of Heaven, crowned in all the glory and power of his Father, bringing the celestial hosts with him, to sit upon his throne in Jerusalem and also in Zion, to reign over his people here on the earth for the space of a thousand years, before the destruction of the earth.

This is what we believe; and it is the sincere belief and faith of the Latter-day Saints that we are in that kingdom. It is true that our King is now absent: he is in the heavens. But we expect him again; we look for him and he will come in his own due time. The day when he will come he has not revealed to any of the inhabitants of the earth, neither will he do so, for the Lord has told us in a certain revelation, recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, that no one should have it revealed to them; but this much God has revealed—that this kingdom which He has organized on the earth has been organized preparatory to the day of the coming of our Lord from the heavens. Hence in organizing this kingdom He has restored all the essential characteristics of His kingdom in its embryo, or its beginning: such as inspired men, inspired prophets, inspired leaders, called by revelation to act in different positions.

Now there is something very peculiar indeed in setting up the kingdom of God in regard to the time. I told you in the commencement of my remarks that the Lord generally had set times to accomplish His purposes. It can be reasonably inferred, according to the revelations that we have in the Book of Mormon, that God organized His kingdom, precisely to a day, 1800 years after the crucifixion. Of course we do not learn this directly from the Book of Mormon; but we learn enough there of data on which to found a calculation. We learn not only from this book, but also from the antiquities of the Jews, from the New Testament, from historians and from some of the Mosaic rites that Jesus was crucified about the time of the Passover, and that happened some time after the vernal equinox; and that 1833 years had passed from the time of the birth of our Savior before the organization of this latter-day kingdom.

The way we come at this is by the account given in the Book of Mormon. We find that the ancient Israelites on this continent had a sign given of the exact time of the crucifixion and a revelation of the exact time of the Savior’s birth, and according to their reckoning, they made him thirty-three years and a little over three days old from the time of his birth to the time that he hung upon the cross. There is no doubt that the year of the ancient Israelites, who inhabited this continent, differed a little in length from our years; for they probably reckoned their’s somewhat after the manner of the Jews, at Jerusalem, and the Jews had formed their reckoning from the Egyptians, among whom they dwelt some four hundred years. The Egyptians reckoned three hundred and sixty-five days to the year; but the ancient Israelites on this continent, according to the records of the early Spanish historians, did not consider that three hundred and sixty-five days made up a full year, and hence at the end of every fifty-two years they added thirteen days, which is equivalent to adding one day every four years, the same as we do. If such were the reckoning of the ancient Nephites, then thirty-three years and three days of their time had passed away between the time of the Savior’s birth and crucifixion. Now these thirty-three years and three days would, according to our reckoning, lack five days of thirty-three years. When we come to trace back all these authorities, we find that this very day, on which I am speaking, would be the close of the year, and that to-morrow, the 11th day of April, would be the anniversary of the very day on which Jesus was born; and the 6th day of April the very day on which he was crucified precisely eighteen hundred years prior to the organization of this Church.

I have made mention of this, not bringing all the evidences and proofs that might be advanced, but merely to show, in a very brief manner, that God has a set time to perform and accomplish His work, and that the commencement of the organization of His kingdom took place eighteen centuries after the time that the Savior groaned and suffered on the cross.

There are a great many, of course, in the world, who disbelieve this record which is received as divine by the Latter-day Saints. A great many do not believe that the Book of Mormon is true, and the reason they do not believe it is because they never have examined the evidences. I consider that there are some evidences, that never have been sufficiently put forth before the public, to prove the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, quite as strong as those which have been adduced. We have often referred to the Old Testament to prove that a work of this nature was to come forth in the latter days. The ancient prophets have spoken of it in many places, sometimes under the term of a book. Speaking of the manner in which it should be translated, you will find it referred to in the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. It is referred to in other places as sticks, written upon, one for Judah and one for Joseph, that should be united together by the power of the Lord in the latter days preparatory to His coming. In other places it is referred to as truth which, in the latter days, should come out of the ground, and that, at the same time, righteousness should come down out of Heaven, and that this should be a preparatory work for the salvation of Israel and for the coming of the Lord.

But we will pass over all these Scriptural evidences, and name one which, perhaps, our Elders themselves have not dwelt upon to any very great extent to prove the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

This book, the Book of Mormon, informs us that the time of day at which Jesus was crucified, I mean the time of day here in America, was in the morning; the New Testament tells us that Jesus was crucified in Asia in the afternoon, between the sixth and ninth hour according to the Jews’ reckoning. They commenced their reckoning at six o’clock in the morning, and consequently the sixth hour would be twelve o’clock at noon, and the ninth hour three o’clock in the afternoon. Jesus, from the sixth to the ninth hour, in other words from twelve o’clock to three, was hanging on the cross. Now the Book of Mormon, or the historians whose records it contains, when relating the incidents that transpired at the time of the crucifixion—the darkness that was spread over the face of the land, the earthquakes, the rending of rocks, the sinking of cities and the whirlwinds—say these events occurred in the morning; they also say that darkness was spread over the face of the land for the space of three days. In Jerusalem it was only three hours. But the Lord gave them a special sign in this country, and the darkness lasted three days, and at the expiration of three days and three nights of darkness, it cleared off, and it was in the morning. That shows that, according to the time in this country, the crucifixion must have taken place in the morning.

Says one, “Is not this a contradiction between the Book of Mormon and the New Testament?” To an unlearned person it would really be a contradiction, for the four Evangelists place it from twelve to three in the afternoon, while the Book of Mormon says in the morning. An unlearned person, seeing this discrepancy, would say, of course, that both books cannot be true. If the Book of Mormon be true the Bible cannot be; and if the Bible be true the Book of Mormon cannot be.

I do not know that, anybody ever brought up this objection, for I do not think they ever thought of it. I do not think that the Prophet Joseph, who translated the book, ever thought of this apparent discrepancy. “But,” says one, “how do you account for it being in the morning in America and in the afternoon in Jerusalem?” Simply by the difference in longitude. This would make a difference of time of several hours; for when it would be twelve at noon in Jerusalem it would only be half-past four in the morning in the north-west part of South America, where the Book of Mormon was then being written. Seven and a half hours difference in longitude would account for this apparent discrepancy; and if the Book of Mormon had said the crucifixion took place in the afternoon we should have known at once that it could not be true. This is incidental proof to learned or scientific men that they cannot very well reason away, and especially when the instrument who brought forth the Book of Mormon is considered. It must be remembered that he, was but a youth, and unlearned; and, when he translated this work, I presume that he was unaware that there was any difference in the time of day, according to the longitude, in different parts of the earth. I do not suppose that Joseph ever thought about it to the day of his death. I never heard him or any other person bring forth this as confirmatory evidence of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon; I never thought of it myself until years after Joseph’s death; but when I did reflect upon it, I could see the reason why the Lord, through His servants, has said in the Book of Mormon, that the crucifixion took place in the morning.

But we will pass over this and will say a few words in regard to the object of this great work. The Lord has brought forth the Book of Mormon in order that all the nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples on the face of the earth may be warned of the great events which are about to take place. This book contains prophecies which affect every nation under Heaven, prophecies that will be fulfilled on their heads. Can we read the future of this great American nation—or great republic? Yes, we can learn a great many features within its pages concerning this nation and government that we never should have learned without its aid or the spirit of revelation. From it we learn that two great and powerful nations formerly dwelt on this continent. One nation, or rather the colony which founded it, came from the Tower of Babel soon after the days of the Flood. They colonized what we call North America, landing on the western coast, a little south of the Gulf of California, in the south-western part of this north wing of our continent. They flourished some sixteen hundred years. When they first colonized this continent from the Tower of Babel, the Lord told them if they would not serve Him faithfully, but became ripe in iniquity, they should be cut off from the face of the land. That was fulfilled about six hundred years before Christ, when they were entirely swept off, and in their stead the Lord brought a remnant of Israel, a few families, not the ten tribes, but a small portion of the tribe of Joseph. He brought them from Jerusalem first down to the Red Sea. They travelled along the eastern borders of the Red Sea for many days, and then bore off in an eastern direction which brought them to the Arabian Gulf. There they were commanded of the Lord to build a vessel. They went aboard of this vessel and were brought by the special providence of God across the great Indian and Pacific Oceans, and landed on the western coast of South America. This was about five hundred and eighty years before the coming of Christ. Eleven years after the Lord brought this first colony of Israelites from Jerusalem, He brought another small colony, headed by one of the sons of Zedekiah, a descendant of King David. They left Jerusalem the same year that the Jews were carried away captive into Babylon, were brought forth to this continent and landed somewhere north of the Isthmus. They wended their way into the northern part of South America. About four hundred years after this the two colonies amalgamated in the northern part of South America and they became one nation.

The first colony brought with them the Jewish Scriptures, on plates of brass, containing an account of the Creation and the history of their nation down to eleven years before the Captivity, or six hundred years before Christ. These brass plates were kept among them during the period of their righteousness, and were preserved by the hand of the Lord. The second colony that came from Jerusalem came without the Scriptures, and having no copy of the sacred writings they soon fell into wickedness. In four hundred years time they disbelieved in the being of a God, but uniting with the other branch of Israelites they were converted. Their language had become much corrupted, but through their conversion their language was restored in a partial measure by means of the records which were possessed by the other colony.

About forty-five years before Christ a very large colony of five thousand four hundred men, with wives and children, united themselves together in the northern part of South America, and came forth by land into North America, and travelled an exceedingly great distance until they came to large bodies of water and many rivers, very probably in the great Mississippi Valley. In the next ten years numerous other colonies came forth and spread themselves on the northern portion of the continent and became exceedingly numerous.

You may inquire, “Did all these different colonies have the Scriptures?” Yes. “How did they get them?” They had a great many scribes in their midst. The Book of Mormon informs us that they had not only the Scriptures which they brought from Jerusalem, but those given by the living prophets among them; and that a great many copies were written and sent forth into all of these colonies, so that the people in all their colonies were well acquainted with the law of Moses and with the prophecies of her prophets in relation to the first coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.

“But,” some may inquire, “have you any external evidence to prove what you are now saying?” I think we have. Thirty years after the Book of Mormon was put in print, giving the history of the settlement of this country, one of the great mounds south of the great lakes near Newark, in Ohio, was opened. What was found in it? A great many curiosities, among which were some copper pieces, supposed to be money. After digging down many feet, and carrying off many thousand loads of stone, they at length found a coffin in the midst of a hard kind of fire clay. Underneath this they found a large stone that appeared to be hollow; something seemed to rattle inside of it. The stone was cemented together in the middle, but with some little exertion they broke it open, when another stone was found inside of it, of a different nature entirely from its covering. On the stone taken from the inside was carved the figure of a man with a priestly robe flowing from his shoulders; and over the head of this man were the Hebrew characters for Moshe, the ancient name of Moses; while on each side of this likeness, and on different sides of the stone, above, beneath, and around about were the Ten Commandments that were received on Mount Sinai, written in the ancient Hebrew characters. Now recollect that the Book of Mormon had been in print thirty years before this discovery. And what does this discovery prove? It proves that the builders of these mounds, south of the great lakes in the great Mississippi Valley in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, New York, etc., must have understood the Hebrew characters; and not only that, but they must also have understood the law of Moses. Otherwise how happened it that they should write on this stone the Ten Commandments almost verbatim as they are now contained in King James’ translation of the Bible. It proves that the builders of these mounds were Israelites, and that their illustrious dead, buried in these mounds, had these commandments buried with them, in accordance with the custom of many of the ancient nations, especially the Egyptians, who were in the habit of consigning their written sacred papyrus to their great tombs. In Egypt many of these ancient manuscripts have been exhumed and, in many instances, pretended to be translated. So the Israelites followed the customs of these Eastern nations, and buried that which they considered most sacred, namely, the Ten Commandments, thundered by the voice of the Almighty in the midst of flaming fire on Mount Sinai in the ears of all the congregation of Israel.

I have seen that sacred stone. It is not a hatched up story. I heard tell of it as being in the Antiquarian Society, or rather, as it is now called, the Ethnological Society, in the City of New York I went to the Secretary of that Society, and he kindly showed me this stone, of which I have been speaking, and being acquainted with modern Hebrew, I could form some kind of an estimate of the ancient Hebrew, for some of the modern Hebrew characters do not vary much in form from the ancient Hebrew. At any rate we have enough of ancient Hebrew, that has been dug up in Palestine and taken from among the ruins of the Israelites east of the Mediterranean Sea, to form some kind of an estimate of the characters that were in use among them; and having these characters and comparing them, I could see and understand the nature of the writing upon these records. They were also taken to the most learned men of our country, who, as soon as they looked at them, were able to pronounce them to be not only ancient Hebrew, but they were also able to translate them and pronounced them to be the Ten Commandments. This, then, is external proof, independent of the Scriptural proofs to which I have alluded, in testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

Now, our modern Hebrew has many points; it has also many additional characters not found in the ancient Hebrew. These additional characters have been made since these colonies left Jerusalem. Do you find on these ancient writings any of these modern characters that have been introduced during the last two thousand four hundred years? Not one. Do you find any Hebrew points representing vowels? Not one; and all the new consonants that have been introduced during the last two thousand four hundred years were not found upon this stone to which I have referred, showing plainly that it must have been of very ancient date.

Five years after the discovery of this remarkable memento of the ancient Israelites on the American continent, and thirty-five years after the Book of Mormon was in print, several other mounds in the same vicinity of Newark were opened, in several of which Hebrew characters were found. Among them was this beautiful expression, buried with one of their ancient dead, “May the Lord have mercy on me a Nephite.” It was translated a little different—“Nephel.” Now we well know that Nephi, who came out of Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ, was the leader of the first Jewish colony across to this land, and the people, ever afterwards, were called “Nephites,” after their inspired prophet and leader. The Nephites were a righteous people and had many prophets among them; and when they were burying one of their brethren in these ancient mounds, they introduced the Hebrew characters signifying “May the Lord have mercy on me a Nephite.” This is another direct evidence of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, which was brought forth and translated by inspiration some thirty-five years before this inscription was found.

But I said I would tell you some of the objects that the Lord had in view in bringing forth this sacred record. It is in order to prepare the people for the day of His coming, in order to establish the true Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, with all its ordinances, gifts, powers and blessings, that the people might have the old, ancient religion, even the fulness of the blessings of that Gospel that was preached eighteen hundred years ago.

Another object that the Lord had in view was to gather His people out from all nations before the coming of the great and terrible judgments which are pronounced in this ancient record of the Nephites. God has said, concerning the nation which should inherit this land in the latter days, when this work should be brought forth, if they would not repent of their sins and hearken to the servants of God who should be sent forth among them, if they would reject this divine record which He should bring forth by His power, if they would fight against His Church and His Zion, that when they were fully ripened in iniquity they should be cut off from the face of this land. And for this reason He would gather out from their midst His people and assemble them in one.

This is all predicted in the Book of Mormon. And remember this was in print before the organization of the Church took place. The Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, and consisted of six members only; but the Book of Mormon was in print before that. How did Joseph Smith, if an impostor, as he is represented to be by a great many of the world, foretell events that have been taking place during the past forty years? How could he know that this book would be received beyond his own neighborhood, or ever extend beyond the limits of the State of New York? How did he know it would go beyond the limits of this continent and across the ocean and spread forth among many nations? “Well,” says one, “he might have guessed it.” Yes, but guesses are very uncertain indeed. Many people may conjecture, and think that such and such things will be the case; but when it comes to enumerating particulars in regard to the future, if a man is not inspired of God, how liable he is to fall into ten thousand errors!

Now this book predicted, not only the spread of this work among this people or nation, but also that it would go forth to all people, nations and tongues under the whole heavens. Forty years only have passed away, and how much of this has been fulfilled already! This book has been translated into eight different languages and spread forth upon the islands of the sea—the Sandwich Islands, the Society Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Hindostan, and has gone forth to the nations of Europe and has penetrated to almost every nation under heaven in the course, only, of forty years.

Has there been any gathering, according to the predictions of this book? far it not only predicts the organization and rising up of the kingdom of God in the latter days when it should go forth, but it also speaks of the great gathering together of His people. Has this been fulfilled? What do I now see before me? Several thousand people listening to me in the midst of one of the most frightful deserts of the North American continent; that is, it was frightful, so much so that Fremont and others could not traverse it, with any degree of safety, unless a large company was with them; and even, with all the means he had at his command, Fremont could not travel through these deserts without losing a great many of his men. It was a parched up, dry and sterile country, and it looked as though an agricultural people never could possess it with any degree of advantage. This was the description given by those who explored a small portion of this country before the Latter-day Saints settled it. But what do I now see? Not only this large congregation now before me, but as I travel to and fro in the Territory I see four hundred miles of desert reclaimed, and over one hundred towns, cities and villages incorporated and organized, cultivating the earth, and numerous flocks and herds being raised by peaceable settlers. Who are these settlers? Those who believe in the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon; those who believe that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and thus have fulfilled his predictions. Is it not another testimony in favor of the divine authenticity of this record when we see things transpiring that, to all natural appearance, never could have transpired? What did our enemies say when this book was first printed? “O, it is only destined for a year or two; two years at longest will see the end of ‘Mormonism.’” By and by, when two years had passed away, and they began to see that their prophecies were failing, they concluded to extend the time for the extinction of “Mormonism,” and they would say, “Watch five years more, and ‘Mormonism’ will have an end.” Why it was so inconsistent in their opinion that God should again speak from the heavens, and have inspired men on the earth; that He should restore all the gifts of the ancient Gospel; that He should send an angel with the everlasting Gospel in fulfillment of the predictions of John the Revelator and the testimony of many of the ancient prophets. It was so foreign to their minds that any such prophecies should be fulfilled in their day, that they predicted that this work would have an end in five years. That was the way the natural man viewed the matter.

But God, who can foresee all events among the children of men, had His eye fixed on the gathering of His children before the Church was organized, and He predicted that they should come out of every nation under Heaven. Not only from the settled portions of the Gentile nation, but they should be brought forth out of the midst of that Gentile nation, just as we have been.

If you want to learn particularly concerning that prophecy, read the saying of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon, when he descended in the northern part of South America, soon after his resurrection, and ascension to heaven. He descended in the sight of a large congregation of two thousand five hundred men, women and children, a little south of the Isthmus, at a place where they had built a temple. After making his appearance in their midst, he taught them many things, and showed them the wounds in his hands, in his feet and in his side. In his instructions on that occasion he commanded them to do away with the law of Moses, so far as the ordinances, sacrifices and burnt offerings were concerned, and he commanded them to receive the Gospel which he taught them. After he had done all this, he commenced to prophecy to them, and his prophecies are in this record; and one of them has been fulfilled during the last forty years. He said he would bring forth their gold plates, which they then had in their midst. He declared that the Father should bring them forth unto the Gentiles in the latter days. The prophecy says, “If the Gentiles will not receive the fulness of my Gospel which shall be contained in that book, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my Gospel from among them.” These are the words of Jesus, as recorded in this book.

Has this prophecy been fulfilled? How could the Lord have brought the Saints from among the inhabitants of the great nation of Gentiles, called the United States, any more effectually than He did twenty-three years ago when He located us in these mountains? Was there any other part of this continent on which this prophecy could have been so effectually fulfilled? Nowhere. We did not come here altogether of our own accord, that is, all of us did not; some few did, because they understood the mind and will of the Lord in regard to the gathering of the Saints from among the Gentiles; but a great many were so attached to their farms and homes in the East that they had to be driven away before they would come. It was not indeed a pleasurable thing to any of us, only to those who understood the mind and will of God in relation to the matter. The Lord brought us some twelve hundred miles from the settled portions of the United States, and planted us in one of the most wild and isolated regions on the face of the whole continent.

How completely were the words of Jesus fulfilled! “If the Gentiles in that day do not receive the fulness of my Gospel, which shall be translated from the Record, behold, saith the Father, I will bring my people, my Priesthood, my Gospel, and my Saints from their midst.” Twenty-three years that prophecy has been fulfilling, and I think it has been accomplished to the very letter.

What next has the Lord predicted? He has predicted that if the Gentiles do not repent in that day, “Behold, saith the Father, I will sweep them from the face of the land, as I did the nation that I brought from the Tower of Babel. So shall they be swept off from the face of the land, when they are fully ripened in iniquity.”

I do not know when this will be fulfilled; but we are all the time in expectation. The Lord does not generally do things in a hurry. He gives the people plenty of time to ripen themselves in iniquity, if they will not repent. It does not take some people a very great time to ripen, for you know this is a fast age, and things are done in a great hurry now-a-days, and when they get on the downward course, into all manner of wickedness, they seem to rush with lightning speed into all the corruption that can be named. What a difference between our fathers, who lived forty years ago, and the present generation! Every one can see it. The rising generation are proud, haughty, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; fighting against His people; given to whoredom and prostitution and all manner of iniquity and abominations; guilty of all the abominations named by the apostle that should characterize the false churches of the latter days, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. That is, denying the gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, revelation, the ministering and discerning of spirits. All these things were denied when the Book of Mormon came forth. Of course the devil saw that it was not policy, with all the Scriptures staring them in the face, and all the Latter-day Saint Elders quoting these Scriptures to show the necessity of the gifts, to keep them denying these gifts; hence he introduced them under the name of Spiritualism. As soon as the Book of Mormon came forth, the counterfeit then spread like the counterfeit gifts exercised by the old magicians of Egypt. When Moses went down with the power and authority of Heaven, the counterfeit sprang up in order to delude the Egyptians, and make them think the power of Moses was the same in character as that exercised by the magicians. When Moses threw down his rod it became a serpent; the rods of the magicians did the same. When Moses brought up frogs on the land, they did the same; when he turned the rivers of water into blood, they did the same; and thus they deluded the Egyptian nation, and made them believe that if the power of Moses was superior to theirs, it was only because he had learned the magic art more thoroughly than they had.

Well, it seems as if the Lord our God is giving the nation a pretty thorough warning. He told this nation by revelation, twenty-eight years before it commenced, of the great American war. He told all about how the Southern States should be divided against the Northern States, and that in the course of the war many souls should be cut off. This has been fulfilled.

I went forth before my beard was gray, before my hair began to turn white, when I was a youth of nineteen, now I am fifty-eight, and from that time on I published these tidings among the inhabitants of the earth. I carried forth the written revelation, foretelling this great contest, some twenty-eight years before the war commenced. This prophecy has been printed and circulated extensively in this and other nations and languages. It pointed out the place where it should commence in South Carolina. That which I declared over the New England States, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and many other parts in the East, when but a boy, came to pass twenty-eight years after the revelation was given.

When they were talking about a war commencing down here in Kansas, I told them that was not the place; I also told them that the revelation had designated South Carolina, “and,” said I, “you have no need to think that the Kansas war is going to be the war that is to be so terribly destructive in its character and nature. No, it must commence at the place the Lord has designated by revelation.”

What did they have to say to me? They thought it was a Mormon humbug, and laughed me to scorn, and they looked upon that revelation as they do upon all others that God has given in these latter days—as without divine authority. But behold and lo! in process of time it came to pass, again establishing the divinity of this work, and giving another proof that God is in this work, and is performing that which He spoke by the mouths of the ancient prophets, as recorded in the Book of Mormon before any Church of Latter-day Saints was in existence.

This same book says, “In that day the blood of the Saints shall cry from the ground for vengeance on the heads of the wicked.” What! in a free and enlightened nation and government like the United States, which holds forth, in the first amendment to the Constitution, liberty, and freedom of conscience! A Constitution that protects religious societies in their belief! A Constitution that guarantees to all the right of having whatever kind of religion they choose! A Constitution that guarantees liberty of the press, and liberty to all to serve God according to the dictates of their own consciences! Can it be that such a prophecy will be fulfilled in the midst of such an enlightened nation? The Book of Mormon declared it, and that, too, before the existence of the Latter-day Saints’ Church. It has been printed and sent to all the world, that in that day, when that book should come forth, the blood of the Saints should cry to the Lord from the ground of these United States for vengeance upon the heads of their persecutors and murderers. Has this been fulfilled? In the history of this people and Church during the last forty years I read concerning our drivings from Jackson county, Missouri; from Kirtland, Ohio; of our drivings from Clay county, Missouri, and from Caldwell county to Ray, and out of many counties in the western part of Missouri into Illinois.

The word concerning the driving of the people from Illinois, westward to the Rocky Mountains, in the article of the treaty got up by the mobocrats, was that “we must not stop short of the Rocky Mountains, but that we must go beyond them.” Were any lives lost in those terrible persecutions, or was it merely property taken away from the Saints, without paying them a cent, in the shape of thousands of acres of land which they had paid the Government for, and comfortable houses? If it had been only our houses and lands it would have been bad enough; but lives were taken—innocent men, women and children were shot down. I might go on and relate some of the circumstances, but I dislike to dwell on the subject; it is apt to kindle up old nature in one’s heart, therefore I will leave that topic. Suffice it to say that the blood of hundreds, and I might almost say thousands, will be required at the hands of this nation unless the people repent.

Where is our prophet who translated this book, that noble youth whom God raised up when only between fourteen and fifteen years of age? Where is that noble boy to whom God sent His angel, and to whom He gave the Urim and Thummim, and to whom He entrusted the original golden plates from which this book was translated? He fell a martyr to his religion under this free Government of the United States. Where is the Patriarch of our Church, the brother of our Prophet? He, too, was shot down at the same time. By whom? By people who were painted black for the occasion, and who boasted of their bloody deeds in Hancock county, Illinois. Some of them are still alive in that county, and to this day boast of their bloody deeds in persecuting the Latter-day Saints.

Many scores of our people were wasted away, and their blood soaks the soil of this great government, crying aloud to the heavens for vengeance on those who shed the blood of the martyrs, and who persecuted God’s people and sent them forth, as they supposed, to perish in the heart of the Great American Desert.

Not only will they who committed these deeds be brought to judgment, but those also who stood back behind the screen and said, “How glad I am, Joe Smith is now dead, the Mormon Patriarch Hyrum Smith is shot down, and we have killed many of their followers, men, women and children. They have been driven five times from their locations and settlements and been robbed of millions of dollars’ worth of property and we are enjoying it, and it is all right. Joe Smith ought to have been killed before, long ago.”

This seemed to be the feeling of a great many people in the American nation. They sanctioned the shedding of innocent blood, if they did not actually shed it themselves and God will require it at their hands. Will He require anything at the hands of our nation, in a national capacity, in regard to this matter? Was it not within their power to protect us on the lands which we purchased from the General Government? We did not purchase, to any extent, land from the Missourians, but we took up land that belonged to the General Government. We paid our money into that Government Land Office. Did they protect us in the possession of that land which they guaranteed by their deeds to us and our seed or heirs for ever? They did not. Did they protect us in our citizenship? No, they did not. Did we appeal to them for protection? Yes, we laid our case before them. What was their reply? Martin Van Buren, who sat at the head of the Government at that time, said, “Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you.” He saw the testimony; there was no getting away from it. His reply indicated that he thought we had been persecuted so many years that they had the right to persecute us; and when we asked, “Can you protect us according to the Constitution, in our just rights? can you not restore us our property—our houses and lands?” the reply was, “No, we can do nothing for you.”

Then, according to our ideas of the justice that dwells in the bosom of the Almighty, who is the Judge of all the earth, we must suppose that He will not only hold the actual murderers of the Saints responsible, but all who sanctioned the deed, and the nation for not punishing those murderers and for not protecting us in our rights, and suffering us to be exiled unjustly to a foreign territory, for Utah then belonged to Mexico. When we could not find safety in the United States we fled to Mexico for protection; but we ultimately assisted in redeeming the land we now occupy from the Mexican Government and securing it to the United States Government. After sending five hundred of our men to redeem this country, the United States formed a treaty with Mexico, and this became United States territory.

By and by, after having secured this soil to our Government by the Mormon Battalion, and having redeemed it from its sterility, and built upwards of a hundred towns and settlements, it was sold to us. Did we find fault at having to pay for it? No. When the land office was opened in this Territory two or three years ago, we considered it all right, and we were willing to pay our money for it. But what now? A bill is before Congress the object of which is to deprive us of the lands which we have paid for. The Government has got our money in its Treasury for lands we have bought and paid for, and for which it bargained to give us a deed and entered into a compact that we and our children after us should possess this land for ever, and now Congress has got up a law to deprive every man in this Territory, whose religious faith happens to differ from Congress, of these lands. Because we happen to differ on certain religious points with the General Government, we are to be deprived of our homestead rights, guaranteed to us and to the people of all the Territories of the United States, by the laws of Congress.

Does this look like justice? Is this even-handed justice? It does not seem to agree with my ideas of justice any more than the proceedings of the mobocrats in Missouri, Ohio or Illinois. When, therefore, the American nation, as a nation, by the voice of her Representatives, Senators and President, sanctions a law to deprive American citizens of their citizenship, to rob them of their houses and lands, and then deprive them of their liberty, because of a difference of religious belief and practice, I think the nation is pretty well ripened, and that it will not take much more to prepare them for the fulfilment of the prophecies which I have been repeating. I do not know how long-suffering the Lord is. It is a good thing that He has wisdom, knowledge and understanding, that He is not a human being, or He would get wrathy and swallow up the people in a moment. It is a good thing that you and I do not have people to deal with according to our feelings. God is a long-suffering being. He has fulfilled a great many things pertaining to this people during forty years past. There are a great many more to be fulfilled in relation to us, and in relation to the nation which is persecuting us; but whatever the final result may be, whether the American Congress pass laws to persecute us or not; whether they rob us of our houses and lands or not; whether they imprison us and send us for five years to a Penitentiary or a military camp or not, there is one thing sure—as sure as the sun shines forth in yonder heavens, so sure will the Lord fulfil one thing with regard to this people. What is that? He will return them to Jackson county, and in the western part of the State of Missouri they will build up a city which shall be called Zion, which will he the head-quarters of this Latter-day Saint Church; and that will be the place where the prophets, apostles and inspired men of God will have their head-quarters. It will be the place where the Lord God will manifest Himself to His people, as He has promised in the Scriptures, as well as in modern revelation.

“Do you believe that?” says one. Just as much as we believed, long before it came to pass, what has taken place. The world can believe what has taken place, because it has been fulfilled. The Latter-day Saints believe in prophecies before they take place. We have just as much confidence in returning to Jackson county and the building of a great central city that will remain there a thousand years before the earth passes away, as the Jews have in returning to Jerusalem and re-building the waste places of Palestine. In fact we have more faith than they have; for they have been so many generations cast out of their land that their descendants have almost lost their faith in returning. But the Latter-day Saints are fresh, as it were. There are many of the old stock, who passed through all those tribulations I have named, still living, whose faith in returning to Jackson county, and the things that are coming, is as firm and fixed as the throne of the Almighty. We know the future destiny of this kingdom as well as we know its past history, that is concerning the general events which are to transpire.

I am taking up too much of your time. May the Lord bless us as a people; bless us with wisdom, with understanding, with power with the heavens, with union, with peace among ourselves; bless us with righteousness, and joy in the Holy Ghost; bless us with the spiritual gifts of His kingdom, multiply His favors upon us and upon our generations after us, forever and ever, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Lord’s Supper, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 11, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

I need the attention of the congregation and the faith of those who have faith; I need the wisdom of God and His Spirit to be in my heart to enable me to speak to the edification of the people. Although I have been a public speaker for thirty-seven years, it is seldom that I rise before a congregation without feeling a child-like timidity; if I live to the age of Methusaleh I do not know that I shall outgrow it. There are reasons for this which I understand. When I look upon the faces of intelligent beings I look upon the image of the God I serve. There are none but what have a certain portion of divinity within them; and though we are clothed with bodies which are in the image of our God, yet this mortality shrinks before that portion of divinity which we inherit from our Father. This is the cause of my timidity, and of all others who feel this embarassment when they address their fellow beings.

While we are administering the sacrament I will read the 16th verse of the 10th chapter of Corinthians, where Paul, speaking of the administration of this ordinance, says, “The cup of blessings which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”

There are many passages of Scripture which refer to the administering of the sacrament. A saying, direct from the lips of Jesus, has not been understood by all those who have believed in his name. When he was about to take his departure from this world he called his disciples into an upper room and he took bread and brake it and blessed it and gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” He then took the cup and blessed it and gave to his disciples, saying, “Drink ye all of it.” If we were to stop here, I think it would be more difficult to understand than if we were to read the rest of his sayings on this subject. This is my body which is given for you; this is my blood of the New Testament. This do in remembrance of me; I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

We do this in remembrance of the death of our Savior; it is required of his disciples until he comes again, no matter how long that may be. No matter how many generations come and go, believers in him are required to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of his death and sufferings until he comes again. Why are they required to do this? To witness unto the Father, to Jesus and to the angels that they are believers in and desire to follow him in the regeneration, keep his commandments, build up his kingdom, revere his name and serve him with an undivided heart, that they may be worthy to eat and drink with him in his Father’s kingdom. This is why the Latter-day Saints partake of the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

I know that in the Christian world sermon after sermon is preached on this subject; yet people there differ in their belief concerning these emblems. The Mother Church of the Christian world believes that the bread becomes the actual flesh of Jesus, and that the wine becomes his blood; this is preposterous to me. It is bread, and it is wine; but both are blessed to the souls of those who partake thereof. But to be followers of the Lord Jesus more is required than merely to partake of the bread and wine—the emblems of his death and suffering—it is necessary that strict obedience be rendered to his requirements.

On one occasion when the Savior was speaking to his disciples he gave them a mission, saying, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” These are the words spoken by Jesus when he sent his disciples forth to preach the Gospel.

In the search after truth, those who are unconverted might say with propriety that where the signs follow believer’s there is the Gospel. Yet, in the Christian world, it is generally conceded that signs are no longer necessary, and that miracles are not needed now, and were given in the days of Jesus merely to establish the validity of the Gospel he preached and the authenticity of his mission from heaven to earth. I do not so understand it. I think if I had lived in the days of Jesus my mind would have been led very much as it is now. I do not want to see a miracle to confirm the truth of any doctrine or saying that is revealed to me. If I can see that it is calculated to purify the hearts of the people and to sanctify their affections, and to reconcile them to God and to His law and government, it satisfies me; and so far as this goes I might say that I am like the Christian world, in the belief that miracles are no longer needed. But I believe that miracles are as absolutely necessary now as they ever were. Yet I will say with regard to miracles, there is no such thing save to the ignorant—that is, there never was a result wrought out by God or by any of His creatures without there being a cause for it. There may be results, the causes of which we do not see or understand, and what we call miracles are no more than this—they are the results or effects of causes hidden from our understandings.

This, in my own mind, is argued out perfectly, upon natural principles. It is natural for me to believe that, if I plough the ground and sow wheat, in the proper season I shall reap a crop of wheat; this is the natural result. It was precisely so with the miracles that Jesus wrought upon the earth? At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, when they had drunk all the wine they went to the Savior and asked him what they should do He ordered them to fill up their pots with water, and after having done so they drew forth of that water and found that it was wine. I believe that was real wine; I do not believe that it was done on the principle that such things are done in these days by wicked men, who, by means of what they term psychology, electro-biology, mesmerism, &c., influence men and make them believe that water is wine, and other things of a similar character. The Savior converted the water into wine. He knew how to call the necessary elements together in order to fill the water with the properties of wine. The elements are all around us; we eat, drink and breathe them, and Jesus, understanding the process of calling them together, performed no miracle except to those who were ignorant of that process. It was the same with the woman who was healed by touching the hem of his garment; she was healed by faith, but it was no miracle to Jesus. He understood the process, and although he was pressed by the crowd, behind and before, and on each side, so that he could scarcely make his way through it, the moment she touched him he felt virtue leave him and enquired who touched him. This was no miracle to him. He had the issues of life and death in his power; he had power to lay down his life and power to take it up again. This is what he says, and we must believe this if we believe the history of the Savior and the sayings of the apostles recorded in the New Testament. Jesus had this power in and of himself; the Father bequeathed it to him; it was his legacy, and he had the power to lay down his life and take it again. He had the streams and issues of life within him and when he said “LIVE” to individuals, they lived. The diseases that are and ever have been prevalent among the human family are from beneath, and are entailed upon them through the fall—through the disobedience of our first parents; but Jesus, having the issues of life at his command, could counteract those diseases at his pleasure. The case of the Centurion’s servant is a striking instance of this. The Centurion sent and besought Jesus to heal his servant. “Say in a word,” said he, “and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus, seeing the man’s earnestness and solicitude, said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” And it is said that they who were sent, returned to the Centurion’s house and found the servant healed. Jesus counteracted the disease preying upon the system of this man, but to himself, knowing the principle by which the disease was rebuked, it was no miracle.

But these miracles or manifestations of the power of God, though not believed in by the Christian world, are necessary for you and me and for all who wish to be blessed by their means. Some may say, “How are we to obtain them?” I answer by obedience to all the commandments of God in the Gospel of life and salvation. After obedience to these requirements an individual is entitled to and may enjoy the blessing of miracles just as well as Jesus did. To the same degree? Perhaps not. Very few on the earth have ever had power to raise the dead. We read that Peter did. But it was a common thing for Jesus to raise the dead, heal the sick, make the deaf to hear, the blind to see and the lame to walk; and every person is entitled to those things according to the obedience and faithfulness inherent in him. When do we need them? I will tell you when I need them—when my family is sick, and they need something to counteract the principle of death working in their systems. Under such circumstances some might want to administer an emetic to the sick, which might be very well if they lacked faith; but if we have faith to feel that the issues of life and death are in our power, we can say to disease, “Be ye rebuked in the name of Jesus, and let life and health come into the system of this individual, from God, to counteract this disease;” and our faith will bring this by the laying on of hands by administering the ordinances of the holy Gospel.

I am happy to say I have never been under the necessity of calling a doctor to my family for forty years. I have had them in my family, but not from necessity. I like them when they are gentlemen; when they are wise and full of intelligence I am very fond of them; but I do not ask them to doctor my family in any case; and there are no circumstances under which I think them necessary except in case of a broken bone, or where skilful mechanical or surgical aid is necessary. But to call a doctor to my family to administer physic to them, I am not under the necessity of doing it. Is this so? Yes, it is; and if the experiment could be tried, independent of the Gospel and of faith, in any community, I care not where, nor for what length of time, of having any number of persons, with regularly qualified physicians to attend them; and the same number without such physicians, but who will doctor themselves according to nature and their own judgments, among that portion without doctors there would be less sickness and fewer deaths than among those who had their doctors. The experience of the Latter-day Saints in Utah confirms this. When we first came here we had no sickness, and we had no sickness until we had doctors. When they began to obey the Gospel they did not want to dig in the field, hoe potatoes, go to the kanyon for lumber or wood, to secure for themselves and families the necessaries of life; but they wanted to live by doctoring the people, and from that time on, as we got richer and built warm houses, and have lived more richly, indulging in sweet cake, plum pudding, roast beef and so on, we have had more or less disease among us. Perhaps I have said enough about doctors.

I say, again, however, that it is absolutely necessary that we all possess the gift God has seen fit to bestow upon His children to counteract, the power of death. How long? To live for ever? O no, men must die; it is the decree of the Almighty that all men shall die within the thousand years. Said He, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This body must sleep in the bosom of mother earth; this is the decree of the Almighty, hence it is necessary that all must die of disease or old age, but for all that, to my certain knowledge, the sick in hundreds of instances are healed by the power of God through administering the ordinances of His Gospel.

The first principle of the Gospel is faith in God—faith in a Supreme Being. This is a point that meets the infidel, and is one upon which I have reflected and talked a great deal, and I have come to this conclusion—that good, solid, sound sense teaches me never to judge a matter until I understand it, and infidels should never pass their opinion with regard to the character of a Supreme Being until they know whether there is one or not. If this principle were an article in the creed of the infidel world, I think they would not be quite so sceptical as they are; I think we should not meet with any person who would deny the existence of a Deity. The infidel looks abroad and sees the works of nature, in all their diversity—the mountain piercing the clouds with its snowy peaks, the mighty river, fertilizing, in its course to the sea, the valleys and plains in every direction, the sun in his glory at mid-day, the moon in her silvery splendor, and the myriad organizations from man to the minutest form of insect life, all giving the most irrefutable evidence of a designer and creator of infinite wisdom, skill and power, and yet he says there is no Deity, no Supreme Ruler, but all is the result of blind chance. How preposterous! Now, here is a book called the Bible. It is enclosed in what we call the cover, consisting of boards, paper and leather. Within the covers we see a vast amount of writing—syllables, words and sentences; now if we say there never was a person to compose, write, print or bind this book, but that it is here wholly as the result of chance, we shall only give expression to the faith, if faith it can be called, of those who are termed infidels; in fact this is infidelity. I do not want to say much about it, it is too vain! In my travels and labors I have met a great many persons who have desired to contend about the principles I taught, though I am happy to say I have passed through the world thus far without a discussion. My grounds have always been, when out preaching, “If you have a truth and I have errors, I will give you ten errors for one truth just as long as we have any to exchange; and if in setting my views before the people you say that any portion of the principles I preach is untrue, you must prove it or be for ever silent; and if I affirm that anything you have to deliver to the people is false, I must prove it or for ever hold my peace.” On these grounds I have been free from discussions. So much for infidelity and debating.

The Gospel that we preach is the power of God unto salvation; and the first principle of that Gospel is, as I have already said, faith in God, and faith in Jesus Christ His Son our Savior. We must believe that he is the character he is represented to be in the holy Scriptures. Believe that he told the truth when he said to his disciples, “Go ye forth and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.” We must believe that this same Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world, that is for the original sin, not the actual individual transgressions of the people; not but that the blood of Christ will cleanse from all sin, all who are disposed to act their part by repentance, and faith in his name. But the original sin was atoned for by the death of Christ, although its effects we still see in the diseases, tempers and every species of wickedness with which the human family is afflicted. Again, if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. There is not a spiritually minded man in the world who reads the Bible but will acknowledge that the Elders of Israel, the Latter-day Saints, proclaim the Gospel, precisely, as Jesus and his apostles proclaimed it. Is this heresy? I pause and ask the question of the Christian world, is this heresy? Do not my brethren believe in the Bible? Do not all the Christian world say that they believe in the Bible? They do. Then if we preach Jesus and him crucified as the apostles did, and as they have left it on record, what more can be said? Is there any harm or sin in this? No; for this pertains to the Gospel of life and salvation. Jesus set in his Church, so say his apostles, firstly, apostles. Now I will ask the religious and philosophical world if they have ever obtained any information or revelation about Christ having taken them out again? No, they have not; and if there are no apostles, there is no Church. Jesus set in his Church, according to Paul’s words to the Corinthians, firstly apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Again I will ask the question: has there been any revelation from heaven that God has taken these gifts out of His Church; and if so through whom and when? Many persons think if they see a prophet they see one possessing all the keys of the kingdom of God on the earth. This is not so; many persons have prophecied without having any Priesthood on them at all. It is no particular revelation or gift for a person to prophecy. You take a good statesman, for instance, he will tell you what will become of a nation by their actions. He foresees this and that, and knows the results; this is what makes a statesman, and no man is a good statesman unless he can foresee the results of any line of policy that may be pursued. To be a prophet is simply to be a foreteller of future events; but an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, has the keys of the holy Priesthood, and the power thereof is sealed upon his head, and by this he is authorized to proclaim the truth to the people, and if they receive it, well; if not, the sin be upon their own heads.

I have already said that Christ set in his Church apostles and prophets; he also set in his Church evangelists, pastors and teachers; also the gifts of the Spirit, such as diverse tongues, healing the sick, discernment of spirits, and various other gifts. Now, I would ask the whole world, who has received revelation that the Lord has discontinued these offices and gifts in his Church? I have not. I have had revelation that they should be in the Church, and that there is no Church without them. I have had many revelations proving to me that the Old and New Testaments are true. Their doctrines are comprized in the Gospel that we preach, which is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. What are the fruits of this Gospel when it is received into the heart of an individual? It will make a bad man good, and a good man better; it increases their light, knowledge, and intelligence, and enables them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, as the Savior did, until they understand men and things, the world and its doctrines, whether Christian, heathen or Pagan, and will ultimately lead them to a knowledge of things in heaven, on the earth or under the earth. I will say one thing more about, the Gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints, and I will quote the words of Jesus—this Gospel will eventually lead all who faithfully observe its precepts to a knowledge of the “only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, whom to know is life eternal.”

Now I would ask the Christian world a question, and in doing so I do not mean to reflect upon, or cast an insinuation in the least derogatory to, all Christians, or to any who believe in God; but I would ask them, what do you know of God? Take all the divines on the face of the earth and place them in this stand, and beyond the attributes of God they know nothing of Him; they are entirely ignorant of His person. There is the difference between the various religious sects of the Christian world and the Latter-day Saints. We do know God, and we know Jesus Christ We understand why Jesus came to the earth; we know the design of the Father in sending him. We also understand the earth, and the nature of the earth, and why God permitted Mother Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. We should not have been here to-day if she had not; we could never have possessed wisdom and intelligence if she had not done it. It was all in the economy of heaven, and we need not talk about it; it is all right. We should never blame Mother Eve, not the least. I am thankful to God that I know good from evil, the bitter from the sweet, the things of God from the things not of God. When I look at the economy of heaven my heart leaps for joy, and if I had the tongue of an angel, or the tongues of the whole human family combined, I would praise God in the highest for His great wisdom and condescension in suffering the children of men to fall into the very sin into which they have fallen, for He did it that they, like Jesus, might descend below all things and then press forward and rise above all. Our spirits once dwelt in the heavens and were as pure and holy as the angels; but angels have tabernacles and spirits have none, and they are anxious to take tabernacles and they come to the meanest, lowest and humblest of the human race to obtain one rather than run any risk of not doing so. I have heard that the celebrated Mr. Beecher, of Brooklyn, once said that the greatest misfortune that could ever happen to man was to be born; but I say that the greatest good fortune that ever happened or can happen to human beings is to be born on this earth, for then life and salvation are before them; then they have the privilege of overcoming death, and of walking sin and iniquity under their feet, of incorporating into their daily lives every principle of life and salvation and of dwelling eternally with the Gods. I would hardly dare say this, but Jesus said, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods? If He called them Gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God?” The Apostle Paul has also said, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God.” “And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” And all who are faithful to the precepts of the Gospel will see Jesus and be as he is.

I recollect once, not long after we came to the Valley, I think it was in 1851, a Baptist preacher came here; he put up at my house; I kept him while he stayed in the city. He was a gentleman, very kind and very good. I preached one day on the character of the Deity, and when I reached a certain point, a point where he could learn nothing further, I left it. When we reached home he said to me, “Brother Young, why did you not proceed with your discourse? I would have given anything in the world if you had, for I should then have learned your belief with regard to our heavenly Father.” I said to him, “Do you believe the Bible?” “O yes,” he replied. I then quoted to him the 26th and 27th verses of the 1st chapter of Genesis, in which we find the following words: “And God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”

I also referred to the visit of the Lord to Abraham in which Abraham said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on.” I also referred to where the Lord, talking to Moses, says, “Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen.”

All of these passages, said I, to the reverend gentleman, go to prove, if they prove anything at all, that man is made in the image of his Maker, and that he is His exact image, having eye for eye, forehead for forehead, eyebrows for eyebrows, nose for nose, cheekbones for cheekbones, mouth for mouth, chin for chin, ears for ears, precisely like our Father in heaven.” “Well,” said he, “I have been for twenty-nine years a preacher of the truth, and never thought that man was created in the exact image of his Father; I always had the idea that God was a being without body, parts or passions.” He admitted, however, that he had never gained that idea from the Bible. And notwithstanding the Scriptures dwell upon this point with such force and clearness, the idea entertained by this gentleman is that entertained by the Christian world in general. We are told that Jesus was “the express image of his Father’s person.” Think of it! Was Jesus a man? Yes. Clothed upon as we are? Yes. Did he pass for a man the same as others? He did. When he did not wish to be known he could pass through a crowd, and from house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, town to town, without the people knowing who he was. He had this power; and yet he was like other men, having eyes, forehead, nose, eyebrows, mouth, cheekbones and chin like we have, and the Apostle tells us that he was the express image of his Father’s person; and if the saying is true, that to know the only true and wise God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is eternal life, we have eternal life, for we know them.

I have talked a great deal about what we believe as far as spiritual things are concerned; but the result of our faith I have not done with. The faith of the Latter-day Saints, so far as moral excellence is concerned, leads them to adopt in their lives, the practice of every moral principle believed in by the Christian world. It leads them to do good to each other and to all their fellow beings, and to injure none. It leads us to honor our beings upon the earth as sons and daughters of the Almighty; to honor Him that created us, to observe every true principle, everything that produces peace and happiness, for everything that has this tendency is of God The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches him that has stolen to steal no more; it teaches the swearer to swear no more; him that has borne false witness to do it no more; him that has dishonored his being to do it no more; and, in fact, there is no height, depth, length or breadth in moral conduct believed in and practised by the Christian world but what we are one with them; and we go so far beyond them in the things of God that they are lost, and yet they think we are lost. I have smiled thousands of times within myself to hear them talk; they are ignorant, but they think we are. Besides being far ahead of the Christian world in the things of God, I will say that in their morals and their recreations the Latter-day Saints will compare favorably with any of them. The question arises sometimes in me, Is there anything immoral in recreation? If I see my sons and daughters enjoying themselves, chatting, visiting, riding, going to a party or a dance, is there anything immoral in that? I watch very closely, and if I hear a word, see a look, or a sneer at divine things or anything derogatory to a good moral character, I feel it in a moment, and I say, “If you follow that it will not lead to good, it is evil; it will not lead to the fountain of life and intelligence; follow, only, the path that leads to life everlasting.” Where is it? God has it.

Not only does the religion of Jesus Christ make the people acquainted with the things of God, and develop within them moral excellence and purity, but it holds out every encouragement and inducement possible, for them to increase in knowledge and intelligence, in every branch of mechanism, or in the arts and sciences, for all wisdom, and all the arts and sciences in the world are from God, and are designed for the good of His people. If I had only seen in my young days an interest manifested by those who had wealth, power and influence to reach down a hand to take the suffering, ignorant poor and elevate them to the standard they occupied, and to place them in possession of every comfort, it would have been a matter of great joy to me. But it was not so then, neither is it now. Men generally use their wealth for selfish purposes, and do not seek to devote it to God and to the glory of His name. In the kingdom of God only will the poor and the ignorant of the children of men be purified and elevated and prepared to hold the positions God has designed for His children.

I have heard a great many tell about what they have suffered for Christ’s sake. I am happy to say I never had occasion to. I have enjoyed a great deal; but so far as suffering goes I have compared it a great many times, in my feelings and before congregations, to a man wearing an old, worn-out, tattered and dirty coat, and somebody comes along and gives him one that is new, whole and beautiful. This is the comparison I draw when I think of what I have suffered for the Gospel’s sake—I have thrown away an old coat and have put on a new one. No man or woman ever heard me tell about suffering. “Did you not leave a handsome property in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois?” Yes. “And have you not suffered through that?” No, I have been growing better and better all the time, and so have this people. And you may take the history of the world from the days of Adam down, and I am at the defiance of any historian to prove that the Saints have ever suffered as much as the sinners. This is my belief about the religion of Jesus Christ. Some may say, “Did not the children of Israel suffer?” Yes. “Why?” Because of their iniquity. They transgressed the laws God has given them; they changed the ordinances and broke the everlasting covenant, and for their sin and disobedience they were led into captivity. If they had been obedient, I reckon they would have been led direct to the Holy Land and stayed there. Some may say, “Now, Mr. Speaker, you have been driven from your home, was it for righteousness?” No, I expect not. I expect it was to chasten me and make me better. I never attributed the driving of the Saints from Jackson county to anything but that it was necessary to chasten them and prepare them to build up Zion. They were driven from Ohio to Missouri, from Missouri to Illinois, and from Illinois here, only for the advancement of Zion and the work of God on the earth. I do not complain of persecution. I have left a great deal of property in different States, considerable in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Do I care anything about it? No, we have more land here than we can occupy. God led us from a sickly to a healthy country, and I thank him for it. Were the Latter-day Saints driven time after time on account of their sins? One of the first revelations that God gave to Joseph Smith was for the gathering of Israel, and when the people came to Jackson county, Missouri, they were as far from believing and obeying that revelation as the east is from the west, and a great deal further, for the east joins the west; but the people were so far from obeying that revelation that they scarcely complied with it in one instance. They were ignorant and had neither eyes to see, ears to hear, nor hearts to understand, and God suffered their enemies to drive them. What were we driven for? Was it because of polygamy? No, for that was not known generally until after our arrival in these valleys, although we received the revelation years before. The accusation brought against the Latter-day Saints was that they tampered with the slaves in Missouri, with the design of setting them free, and because of this the people were driven, and the Lord suffered it. But I ask did the Latter-day Saints ever suffer in Missouri as the Missourians did in the late struggle? No, not a drop in a bucket compared with it. The Missourians have been driven from their houses and hung up, their property confiscated, their women and children murdered, and every conceivable evil has been heaped upon them. Did we ever suffer like that? In very few instances; and it is a shame for the Latter-day Saints ever to talk about suffering.

What are we doing here, for the people that we are gathering from the nations? The majority of those that we gather are from the poorest that can be found; we gather a few scientific and learned men, but the great majority are the poor and the ignorant. We take them and we calculate to make them rich; we have taken the foolish and we calculate to make them wise; we take the weak and we calculate to make them strong. We calculate to build up this people until they know as much as any other people on the face of the earth, in mechanics, in the arts and sciences, and in every true principle of philosophy. All true wisdom that mankind have they have received from God, whether they know it or not. There is no ingenious mind that has ever invented anything beneficial to the human family but what he obtained it from that One Source, whether he knows or believes it or not. There is only one source from whence men obtain wisdom, and that is God, the fountain of all wisdom; and though men may claim to make their discoveries by their own wisdom, by meditation and reflection, they are indebted to our Father in heaven for all.

We calculate to make this people just as wise and prudent as they will be made and just as humble as they will be made. When I look at the world of mankind and see their pomp, splendor, covetousness and worldly-mindedness, I think what a shame! What have you got to be so proud of? They have gold, silver, houses, lands and possessions, and they feel, “O, we are kings, potentates, or men of great influence, because of our wealth.” But where did they get their wealth? They will say they have been fortunate and have gathered it together; or it was bequeathed to them by their father or grandfather. But none of them have aught but what came from Him who lives and reigns in the heavens—the God whom we serve, who alone bestows blessings upon His children, the sons and daughters of Adam.

I have heard a great many sermons, prayers and exhortations for people to go and get religion and have their names written in the “Lamb’s Book of Life.” I want to inform the whole world, all the sons and daughters of Adam, that their names are written there, and there they will remain to all eternity unless they by their evil acts blot them out. I want to inform everybody of this fact.

I want now to say a few words on political matters. First, I will say we are a very religious people; the world knows that; and it was our religion that influenced our minds to leave our homes and parents, and in many instances our companions and children. Are we a political people? Yes, very political indeed. But what party do you belong to or would you vote for? I will tell you whom we will vote for: we will vote for the man who will sustain the principles of civil and religious liberty, the man who knows the most and who has the best heart and brain for a statesman; and we do not care a farthing whether he is a whig, a democrat, a barnburner, a republican, a new light or anything else. These are our politics. If we could have got men to control the affairs of the nation who had sufficient foresight and forethought to know the results of their own actions, it would have been better for the nation than it is at present. But we are just as we are; no matter what brought about the present condition of things. I leave the people to judge whether it is righteousness or sin that has brought upon the nation the evils it has been called to endure. Of one thing I am sure: God never institutes war; God is not the author of confusion or of war; they are the results of the acts of the children of men. Confusion and war necessarily come as the results of the foolish acts and policy of men; but they do not come because God desires they should come. If the people, generally, would turn to the Lord, there would never be any war. Let men turn from their iniquities and sins, and, instead of being covetous and wicked, turn to God and seek to promote peace and happiness throughout the land, and wars would cease. We expect to see the day when swords shall be turned into ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks, and when men shall learn war no more. This is what we want. We are for peace, plenty and happiness to all the human family.

A great deal could be said about our peculiar faith, and our peculiar internal institutions, as the world terms them. I do not want to say anything about them; I act them out. I have got a family, and a pretty large one. I am willing to compare them with any family on the face of the earth when the privileges they have enjoyed are considered. I think that so far as I myself am concerned, when it is remembered that I never went to school but eleven days in my life, and that until I commenced to preach the Gospel I had to work hard every day for my bread, I have made some improvement. I think this people are improving; and I think we shall continue our work until the whole human family will give up all notion of going to war with each other. I expect to see the time when this people will possess every good thing. All knowledge and wisdom and every good that the heart of man can desire is within the circuit and circle of the faith we have embraced. The day will come when the Gospel will be presented to the kings and queens and great ones of the earth; but it will be presented with a different influence from that with which it has been presented to the poor, but it will be the same Gospel. We shall not present any other Gospel; it is the same from everlasting to everlasting. No man will be saved and come into the presence of the Father only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ—the same for one as the other. The Lord has His cause, His ways, His work; He will finish it up. Jesus is laboring with his might to sanctify and redeem the earth and to bring back his brethren and sisters into the presence of the Father. We are laboring with him for the purification of the whole human family, that we and they may be prepared to dwell with God in His kingdom.

God bless you. Amen.

Building up Zion, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, November 14, 1869. Reported by John Grimshaw.

If the brethren and sisters will give their attention, I will try to talk a few minutes. I preach a great deal to the people; but the exertion of addressing such large congregations as assemble here in the city bears a little too much on my stomach and lungs, especially when laboring under a severe cold as I am at present.

A few of us have recently been on a visit South. We visited twenty settlements, and, in eleven days, held twenty-seven meetings; and universally there was a good turn-out, the largest meeting houses being always filled to overflowing. It is a tolerably easy matter to speak to the people in a small house, much more so than to address a congregation like this.

We found the people very much engaged in their religion, and striving, apparently, to put in practice the faith that they profess. Still, it is a difficult matter to establish the principles of the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people. This is for the want of understanding. Our traditions are strong upon us. We have been taught that, if we will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of our sins and exercise faith in his name, all will be well with us and we shall be brought into the presence of our Father and God. This was our former tradition. But there are Latter-day Saints who have almost come to the conclusion that if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of their sins, and are baptized for the remission of them and have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and partake of the Sacrament or Lord’s Supper, they have accomplished just about all that is required of them in order to establish the kingdom of God on the earth. Herein lies the difficulty which the servants of God have to encounter. The people come short of understanding precisely the order of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven; consequently it is a labor that needs a great deal of attention, and one that requires the influence of the Priesthood over the minds of the people to get them to draw nigh unto God and His cause.

As we have just heard remarked, in relation to the love of the world, a great many Latter-day Saints, after receiving the Gospel, seem to run well for a time and then turn again to the love of the world in its awful, fallen state, lusting after the things that are perishable. Still, if they could but understand true doctrine and correct principles, they would find that there is nothing pertaining to the elements of this earth, but what, in and of itself, is good and of God. Some may exclaim, “Sin excepted.” To this I would say that God permits sin, or it could not be here. All the creations are His work and they are for His glory and for the benefit of the children of men; and all things are put into the possession of man for his comfort, improvement and consolation, and for his health, wealth, beauty and excellency.

We should also understand what to do with the things which God has placed in our possession, We should also desire to understand and should seek to know the object for which the earth was framed; and then we wish to comprehend His object and design in placing His children on it. We should also desire to understand how our Heavenly Father wishes us to act now we are here; how we should devote our time and talents, our daily labor and whatever means He puts into our hands, for the building up of His kingdom on the earth. We want to get the Saints to think of these things. If we could only get to the affections of the people and could plant within them the principles of the kingdom of heaven, it would be an easy matter to bring their hands to join in the establishment of the Zion of God upon the earth. But, herein lies our labor. The weakness and short-sightedness of man are such, and he is so prone to wander and give himself up to the grovelling things of the world, having had so little knowledge with regard to God and godliness for hundreds of years, that it is literally a breaking up of the fallow ground of his heart to prepare him to see the holy city that the Lord will establish.

The Latter-day Saints gather together for the express purpose, they say, to establish Zion. Where is Zion? On the American continent. Where is the gathering place? For the present, in the mountains. What are you going there for? To help to build up Zion.

We find a great many trying to be Saints and endeavoring to understand how they may be of the most benefit in building up the kingdom of God on the earth. My brother Joseph says it is an easy matter to be a Saint. So I say. And taking another view of it, again, it is a hard matter. This is true. It is not an easy thing to serve God and mammon. If the Saints comprehend what they have to do in order to establish Zion, and go to work with ready hands and willing hearts to accomplish the labor, they will find it a comparatively easy matter; but unless there is a unity of action on the part of those who are engaged in the work it is not very easily performed. When there is a great work to be accomplished, and there are but few hands to perform it, the burden weighs very heavily on those who are engaged in it. If we have a farm of six hundred acres to fence, and there is only one man engaged in getting the poles and lumber from the kanyon, we find it a slow and tardy work; but if we have a hundred men engaged it is much easier and pleasanter; if a thousand, still more so. So it is in regard to establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts of the children of men. It is not a very hard matter to prevail on a person to put his treasure where his heart is. Our difficulty is in not understanding the principles of the kingdom of heaven sufficiently to enter into it with our whole hearts.

Many of our brethren who have come here when in their own land worked under ground, and probably seldom saw the light of day, but spent year after year of their lives digging out coal. If you chanced to ask them, “Are you ever going to America?” the answer would invariably be, “Yes, I am going to Zion.” If you asked the wife and children would they like to go to Zion, the reply would be, “Yes, with all our hearts. We would do anything to get there; if necessary we would be the slaves of those of our brethren who have gone there if we could only go.” Yet these same persons when they reach here are not satisfied. If you ask them if this is Zion, they will say, “I do not see much that looks like Zion.” When they received the work perhaps their minds were open to see Zion in its beauty and glory; but when they come here and call this Zion they feel disappointed. They have not the least idea in relation to establishing this kingdom. They thought they were going to a Zion whose towers would reach the clouds, with streets paved with gold and the Tree of Life growing on every block. They say, “I do not like this place; I am not exactly suited with it.” What do you want? “I do not know exactly what I want; I want something else; I do not like this place.” The disposition of some of these murmurers reminds me of the children of some families I have seen while travelling in the world. It is something like this: “Darling, will you have a piece of bread and butter?” “No, ma’am, I don’t want it.” “But, my dear, shall I put some honey upon it?” “No, I don’t like it.” “Well, then, will you have a little mince pie, love?” “No, I can’t eat it.” This is about how the matter stands.

The Saints are full to overflowing with the words of eternal life, yet they do not know what to do with them; and when we come to preach, it seems as though the people were surfeited with much doctrine, persuasion and counsel, and they do not like it very well. This was evident by the many vacant seats this morning. There ought to be ten thousand persons at these meetings, both in the morning and afternoon. But how many do you see? The tabernacle not half filled. Why not come to meeting and fill all the seats. I do not like to see this lack of interest in attending meetings. Those professing to be Latter-day Saints have the words of life and do not know it; the brethren read from the Book of Life and they do not know it, and the words of God are given them in great abundance and they trifle with them. Is this the fact? It is. If the people would live their religion, there would be no apostacy and we would hear no complaining or faultfinding. If the people were hungry for the words of eternal life, and their whole souls even centred on the building up of the kingdom of God, every heart and hand would be ready and willing and the work would move forward mightily and we would advance as we should do.

It is frequently remarked that there is too much of a sameness in this community. True, we do not have the variety they do in the world, drinking, carousing, quarreling, litigation, etc. But if you want a change of this kind, you can get up a dog fight. I think that would be about the extent of the quarreling you want to see. It would be as much as I would desire to witness. I have seen enough of the world, without even desiring to behold another drunken man. I never wish to see another lawsuit. I feel perfectly satisfied without it.

If the people would like something by way of a change, I will propose something to them, as I did to sister Horne, the President of the Female Relief Society in the 14th Ward, who was at Gunnison, about one hundred and thirty miles south of this place, when we were there. I invited her, when she returned, to call the sisters of the Relief Society together, and ask them to begin a reform in eating and housekeeping. I told her I wished to get up a society whose members would agree to have a light, nice breakfast in the morning, for themselves and children, without cooking something less than forty different kinds of food, making slaves of themselves and requiring three or four hired girls to wash dishes. Prepare your breakfast something like they do in England, bread and butter, a little cheese, a few eggs, food that is light and nutritious, and which does not require so much labor in cooking; and instead of tea, if you cannot drink cold water, make a bowl of water gruel or meal porridge and you will save dirtying three or four dishes, knives and forks, or spoons, to each individual that sits at the table.

This would be something to change your feelings and the fashions of society. Will you do it? If you want something new, try this; and when dinner time comes, don’t pile the table full of roast meat, boiled meat and baked meat, fat mutton, beef and pork; and in addition to this two or three kinds of pies and cakes; neither urge the children, the father and every one at the table to eat and gorge themselves till they are so full that when night comes they will want a doctor. This will do for a change.

When we go on a trip to the settlements and stop at the brethren’s houses, it is, “Brother Brigham, let us manifest our feelings towards you and your company. I tell them to do so, but give me a piece of johnny-cake; I would rather have it than their pies and tarts and sweetmeats. Let me have something that will sustain nature and leave my stomach and whole system clear to receive the Spirit of the Lord and be free from headache and pains of every kind. If I can experience this, it will suit me. What do you say to it, sisters? Do you want a revolution? They want one in France; but you need not go to France to have a revolution of this kind. Yet in that country there are about twenty-four millions who never eat any flesh meat at all.

The Americans, as a nation, are killing themselves with their vices and high living. As much as a man ought to eat in half an hour they swallow in three minutes, gulping down their food like the canine quadruped under the table, which, when a chunk of meat is thrown down to it, swallows it before you can say “twice.” If you want a reform, carry out the advice I have just given you. Dispense with your multitudinous dishes, and, depend upon it, you will do much towards preserving your families from sickness, disease and death.

If this method were adopted in this community, I will venture to say that it would add ten years to the lives of our children. That is worth a great deal.

If you want a little of something more—if you want another revolution, let us go to and say we will wear nothing but what we make; and that which we do not make we will not have.

If the people are inclined to complain about co-operation, let them do so. I have a constitutional right to eat sweetmeats if I choose, so long as I raise them and they belong to no one else; or a piece of johnnycake or wheat bread. This is my legal right and yours also. I have a right to wear a hat that my wife or daughters or my sister has made, and I need not be called in question for doing so. I have a legal and constitutional right, and so have my sisters, to set their table out in a morning with a little plain food on it if they choose so to do. Let the people eat as I used to eat when I was a child. It meat were cooked at all, it was on one plate; and if I had any it was off that plate. I can go to thousands of houses that are making the knives and forks and clothing for you and me that will not have a knife on their table at meal time. Have you ever seen any such thing? Yes, plenty of you have!

I have frequently related a circumstance that transpired while I was in England. After I recovered from the sickness which distressed me during the voyage across the ocean, my appetite became unusually good. I was invited to what is known in that country as a tea-party. Fourteen of us sat down at the table, which was about two and a half feet across; but not a knife, fork, plate or spoon could be seen, with the exception of the plate in the middle of the table, with some beautiful ham upon it, swimming in the gravy. I said to myself, “I would like a piece of that ham if I had any way to eat it; but I have no plate nor knife and fork.” By and by a native elder set down his cup on one knee, his bread and butter on the other; and putting his hand in his pocket, pulled out his knife, opened it, and reaching over his bread and butter, took a piece of ham and slipped it on to his bread. I said to myself, “I can do that as well as you;” but I took out my knife before I put down my cup, reached over to the plate and took a fine piece of ham; although I was afraid I would get a little gravy on my clothes in doing so. If I had had a plate it would certainly have been much better; but I got along very well without even greasing my clothes. “Now,” said I, “that is worth money to me; I have learned something.” In about five minutes after the tea table was deserted by the guests, everything was cleared away and the sister was ready to visit with us. It did not take her two hours to fuss around to wash plates and see that the servants did not break them, fixing furniture and so forth as we do here.

If you want a revolution go to work to improve yourselves and give your minds something to act upon instead of looking at the faults of others. We are a poor, feeble set and have hardly eyes to see; and many of those who have eyes see not, but are constantly watching the weaknesses and follies of each other. Endeavor with all your mind and strength to improve yourselves and ask your sisters and brethren to improve their lives. I am preaching to you practical religion. Learn to take proper care of your children. If any of them are sick the cry now, instead of “Go and fetch the Elders to lay hands on my child!” is, “Run for a doctor.” Why do you not live so as to rebuke disease? It is your privilege to do so without sending for the Elders. You should go to work to study and see what you can do for the recovery of your children. If a child is taken sick with fever give it something to stay that fever or relieve the stomach and bowels, so that, mortification may not set in. Treat the child with prudence and care, with faith and patience, and be careful in not overcharging it with medicine. If you take too much medicine into the system, it is worse than too much food. But you will always find that an ounce of preventive is worth a pound of cure. Study and learn something for yourselves. It is the privilege of a mother to have faith and to administer to her child; this she can do herself, as well as sending for the Elders to have the benefit of their faith.

We have come here to build up Zion. How shall we do it? I could tell you how if I had time. I have told you a great many times. There is one thing I will say in regard to it. We have got to be united in our efforts. We should go to work with a united faith like the heart of one man; and whatever we do should be performed in the name of the Lord, and we will then be blessed and prospered in all we do. We have a work on hand whose magnitude can hardly be told. We have now to go to and save ourselves according to the plan provided for our salvation, the Savior having done for us all that he can, except to impart unto us grace to aid us in our lives, and to save our families, friends, ancestors, and the nations that have lived before us and those that may come after us, that all may be brought unto God and be saved, except the sons of perdition. This is the labor we have before us.

Brother Joseph was speaking about prayer. I will say a word with regard to prayer. It matters not whether you or I feel like praying, when the time comes to pray, pray. If we do not feel like it, we should pray till we do. And if there is a heavy storm coming on and our hay is likely to be wet, let it come. You will find that those who wait till the Spirit bids them pray will never pray much on this earth; for they always find a little something else to do, and become like some who wait for the Spirit to bid them pray, consequently they never pray. Such people would come to meeting and look at each other and then, when they had stayed as long as they felt inclined, address their brethren with—“Good bye, I am going home,” and then leave. But when the time comes to have prayers, let them be made, and there will be no danger.

Let us be humble, fervent, submissive, yielding ourselves to the will of the Lord, and there is no danger but that we shall have His Spirit to guide us. If we will open our lips and call upon our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we will have the spirit of prayer. I have proved this to be the best way. If we do everything in the season thereof, attending to our prayers and daily labors in their proper order and all at the right time, all will go well.

In regard to the things of this world, we should learn what they are for, and then use them wisely. To be proud and lifted up is the height of folly. It is beneath the intelligence and understanding of the man of God ever to be filled with foolish and vain desires. If we wish to exult, let us exult in our God; if we desire to be proud, let our pride be in our Heavenly Father; if we desire happiness, let us be humble and faithful in obeying the commandments of the Almighty and He will dispense every blessing to us. This is my constant prayer. I desire to live so that His Spirit may be with me continually; and I ask you to do so in the name of Jesus, and he will bless you. Amen.

The Holy Ghost, etc.

Wilford Woodruff

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 12, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

The few of us who met here this forenoon had the privilege of listening to a very interesting discourse from brother Penrose, on the first principles of the Gospel. I say the “few” who were here, for there were few, and there are every Sabbath in the fore part of the day. I think if the Latter-day Saints prized their privileges as they ought to do, there would be more attend meeting on a Sunday morning, there would be more of us faithful to the Lord our God and to the covenants we have made if we did but realize the rewards that, in the future, will be awarded for the deeds done here in the flesh.

There was one principle referred to by brother Penrose this morning, upon which I wish to make a few remarks, for the benefit of the Elders of Israel. It is a very common saying with us, as Elders, in our remarks concerning the gifts of the Gospel to speak of confirming the gifts of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. There is no difference with regard to our faith, opinions or views, as a Church, pertaining to this principle; it is only in the manner in which we use our language. There is a difference between the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost itself. As brother Penrose said this morning, we repent of our sins, are baptized for the remission of them, and we receive the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; but the Elders, when speaking on this principle, instead of saying so, not unfrequently say “for the reception of the gifts of the Holy Ghost.” Now we have no right, power nor authority to seal the gifts of the Holy Ghost upon anybody, they are the property of the Holy Ghost itself. To explain this I will say, for instance, President Young may go and preach in every ward in this city; yet it is President Young in each ward. When in the 14th Ward he may give a man an apple; in the 13th Ward he may give another person a loaf of bread; in the 10th Ward he may give a man a dollar in money; in the 1st Ward he may give a man a horse and carriage. Now they are all different gifts, but he is one and the same man who bestows them. I merely bring up this figure by way of illustration.

We lay hands upon the heads of those who embrace the Gospel and we say unto them, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ receive ye the Holy Ghost.” We seal this blessing upon the heads of the children of men, just as Jesus and his apostles and the servants of God have done in every age when preaching the Gospel of Christ. But the gifts of the Holy Ghost are his property to bestow as he sees fit. To one is given the spirit of prophecy, to another a tongue, to another the interpretation of tongues and to another the gift of healing. All these gifts are by the same Spirit, but all are the gifts of the Holy Ghost, to bestow as he sees fit, as the messenger of the Father and the Son to the children of men.

The Holy Ghost, as was justly presented this morning, is different from the common Spirit of God, which we are told lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The Holy Ghost is only given to men through their obedience to the Gospel of Christ; and every man who receives that Spirit has a comforter within—a leader to dictate and guide him. This Spirit reveals, day by day, to every man who has faith, those things which are for his benefit. As Job said, “There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth it understanding.” It is this inspiration of God to His children in every age of the world that is one of the necessary gifts to sustain man and enable him to walk by faith, and to go forth and obey all the dictations and commandments and revelations which God gives to His children to guide and direct them in life.

We have a long list given to us in the New Testament Scriptures of those who, in ancient days, lived, labored and performed their duties by faith. Among them was Noah, who, being warned of God, went forth and prepared an ark for the salvation of himself and family. Abraham, also, offered up his son Isaac by faith, because he was called and commanded of God, believing in the promises God had made unto him.

This gift and principle of faith is necessary for the Saints in every age of the world to enable them to build up the kingdom of God and perform the work required of them. All that the ancients did was by faith. Jesus and his apostles often quoted the prophecies of the ancient prophets and showed that they were fulfilling them. Even the labors of Jesus, from the manger to the cross, through his whole life of pain, sorrow, affliction, suffering, persecution and derision, were all by faith. It was by the power of the Father, whose work he had come to perform, that he was sustained. He fully believed that he would be able to accomplish all that he had been sent to perform. It was on this principle that he fulfilled every requirement and obeyed every law, even that of baptism, when he was immersed in the Jordan by John, who held the Aaronic Priesthood and the keys of baptism for the remission of sins. Baptism was a righteous law; in fact, it was the law of God to save the children of men, and Jesus was the door, and he, although free from sin and guile, complied with it as an ensample to his disciples and the rest of the children of men.

The Apostles, in their labors, had to work on the same principle that the Saints in both former and latter days have had to work upon—namely the principle of faith. Joseph Smith had to work by faith. It is true that he had a knowledge of a great many things, as the Saints in former days had, but in many things he had to exercise faith. He believed he was fulfilling the prophecies of the ancient prophets. He knew that God had called him, but in the establishment of His kingdom he had to work continually by faith. The Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, with six members, but Joseph had faith that the kingdom thus commenced, like a grain of mustard seed, would become a great Church and kingdom upon the earth; and from that day until the day on which he sealed his testimony with his blood, his whole life was as if wading through the deep waters of persecution and oppression, received from the hands of his fellowmen. He had all this to endure through faith, and he was true, faithful and valiant in the testimony of Jesus to the day of his death.

All the labors that we have performed from that day until the present have been by faith, and we, as Latter-day Saints, should seek to cherish and grow in this principle, that we may have faith in every revelation and promise and in every word of the Lord, that has been given in the Bible, Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, for they will surely come to pass as the Lord God lives, for the unbelief of this generation will not make the truths of God without effect.

When the members of Zion’s Camp were called, many of us had never beheld each others’ faces; we were strangers to each other and many had never seen the prophet. We had been scattered abroad, like corn sifted in a sieve, throughout the nation. We were young men, and were called upon in that early day to go up and redeem Zion, and what we had to do we had to do by faith. We assembled together from the various States at Kirtland and went up to redeem Zion, in fulfilment of the commandment of God unto us. God accepted our works as He did the works of Abraham. We accomplished a great deal, though apostates and unbelievers many times asked the question, “What have you done?” We gained an experience that we never could have gained in any other way. We had the privilege of beholding the face of the prophet, and we had the privilege of travelling a thousand miles with him, and seeing the workings of the Spirit of God with him, and the revelations of Jesus Christ unto him and the fulfilment of those revelations. And he gathered some two hundred Elders from throughout the nation in that early day and sent us broadcast into the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Had I not gone up with Zion’s Camp I should not have been here to-day, and I presume that would have been the case with many others in this Territory. By going there we were thrust into the vineyard to preach the Gospel, and the Lord accepted our labors. And in all our labors and persecutions, with lives often at stake, we have had to work and live by faith.

The Twelve Apostles were called by revelation to go to Far West, Caldwell county, to lay the foundation of the corner stone of the Temple. When that revelation was given this Church was in peace in Missouri. It is the only revelation that has ever been given since the organization of the Church, that I know anything about, that had day and date given with it. The Lord called the Twelve Apostles, while in this state of prosperity, on the 26th day of April, 1838, to go to Far West to lay the corner stone of the Temple; and from there to take their departure to England to preach the Gospel. Previous to the arrival of that period the whole Church was driven out of the State of Missouri, and it, was as much as a man’s life was worth to be found in the State if it was known that he was a Latter-day Saint; and especially was this the case with the Twelve. When the time came for the corner stone of the Temple to be laid, as directed in the revelation, the Church was in Illinois, having been expelled from Missouri by an edict from the Governor. Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Parley P. Pratt were in chains in Missouri for the testimony of Jesus. As the time drew nigh for the accomplishment of this work, the question arose, “What is to be done?” Here is a revelation commanding the Twelve to be in Far West on the 26th day of April, to lay the corner stone of the Temple there; it had to be fulfilled. The Missourians had sworn by all the gods of eternity that if every other revelation given through Joseph Smith were fulfilled, that should not be, for the day and date being given they declared that it should fail. The general feeling in the Church, so far as I know, was that, under the circumstances, it was impossible to accomplish the work; and the Lord would accept the will for the deed. This was the feeling of Father Smith, the father of the Prophet. Joseph was not with us, he was in chains in Missouri, for his religion. When President Young asked the question of the Twelve, “Brethren, what will you do about this?” the reply was, “The Lord has spoken and it is for us to obey.” We felt that the Lord God had given the commandment and we had faith to go forward and accomplish it, feeling that it was His business whether we lived or died in its accomplishment. We started for Missouri. There were two wagons. I had one and took brother Pratt and President Young in mine; brother Cutler, one of the building committee, had the other. We reached Far West and laid the corner stone according to the revelation that had been given to us. We cut off apostates and those who had sworn away the lives of the brethren. We ordained Darwin Chase and Norman Shearer into the Seventies. Brother George A. Smith and myself were ordained into the quorum of the Twelve on the corner stone of the Temple; we had been called before, but not ordained. We then returned, nobody having molested or made us afraid. We performed that work by faith, and the Lord blessed us in doing it. The devil, however, tried to kill us, for before we started for England everyone of the Twelve was taken sick, and it was about as much as we could do to move or stir. I had travelled in Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Arkansas for two or three years, and that, too, during the sickly season, where they were not well enough to take care of the sick, and I had never had the ague. But upon this occasion I was taken with the ague, the first time in my life. All the Twelve had something the matter with them. But we had to travel sick; we had to travel by faith in order to fulfil the mission to which we had been called by revelation. But the Lord sustained us; He did not forsake us.

We went to England, and we baptized, in the year 1840, something like seven thousand people, and established churches in almost all the principal cities in the kingdom. Brother Pratt established a branch in Edinburgh, Scotland. Brother Kimball, George A. and myself built up a branch in London, and several branches in the south of England. We baptized eighteen hundred persons in the south of England in seven months; out of that number two hundred were preachers belonging to different denominations of that land. We opened an emigration office, published the Book of Mormon and gathered many to Zion. God was with us, and I may say that He has been in all the labors of this Church and kingdom.

In the pioneer journey, coming here, we had to come by faith; we knew nothing about this country, but we intended to come to the mountains. Joseph had organized a company to come here, before his death. He had these things before him, and understood them perfectly. God had revealed to him the future of this Church and kingdom, and had told him, from time to time, that the work of which he was laying the foundation would become an everlasting kingdom—would remain forever. President Young led the pioneers to this country. He had faith to believe that the Lord would sustain us. All who travelled hither at that time had this faith. The Spirit of God was with us, the Holy Ghost was with us, and the angels of the Lord were with us and we were blessed. All, and more than we anticipated, in coming here, has been realized, as far as time would permit.

When the Mormon Battalion was called for by the United States, we were in our exile, having been driven from our homes, our country and graves of our fathers, from lands we had bought of the United States Government, for our religion, into the wilderness. The Government made a demand upon us for five hundred men to go to the Mexican war. I do not suppose that they expected we would furnish them, but we did, and we did it by faith. Five hundred men, the strength of Israel, were sent to fight the battles of their country, leaving their wives, children and teams on the prairie. They had to exercise faith, and so had we who remained, believing it would turn out for the best, and it has proved so. Every member of that battalion who has remained faithful has always rejoiced, from that day to this, that he was a member thereof. It has proved a blessing to him, and it proved salvation to Zion.

I have referred to these things to show that hitherto, in our labors to build up the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, we have had to labor by faith. It is still requisite. God has called upon us to warn this generation. He has set His hand to establish Zion—the great Zion of God—about which the prophets have said so much. No prophet has spoken more pointedly on this subject than Isaiah. Our drivings from Missouri, our persecutions, our travels along the Platte River, the manner of our coming to the mountains of Israel, our return again to the land of Zion and the building of the Temple in Jackson county have all been spoken of by Isaiah as well as by all the prophets who have spoken concerning the Zion of the latter days.

We have exercised faith in the carrying out of these promises and in the fulfilling of those revelations of God unto us. We have walked and lived by faith, precisely the same as the Apostles, prophets and Saints have done in every dispensation and age of the world; for there is one remarkable feature with regard to the work of God, and that is, it has always been unpopular in every age and generation. The Lord has never sent a message to the inhabitants of the earth but what it has been despised, in a great measure, by most of them. As it was in the days of Noah and Lot, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. In the days of Noah there were eight souls saved, after one hundred and twenty years’ labor in preaching and building the Ark. In the days of Lot but very few left the city of Sodom. Lot and his family left, and we are told that his wife was turned into a pillar of salt; and what the angels had told Lot concerning Sodom and Gomorrah came to pass—fire and brimstone were sent down from heaven upon them and they were destroyed.

The work of God and the Gospel of Christ have always been unpopular. Take the life of the Savior himself. There is a fair example. Trace him from the day he was born until his death, and who were his friends? A few illiterate fishermen. Jesus Christ came to the house of Judah and they rejected him; and Jerusalem, Judea, and the inhabitants of all the region round about rose up against him with the exception of a few poor men and women. Still he was the Savior of the world, the great Shiloh of Israel, the great King of the Jews. That is a fair ensample of the way in which the work of God has been received in every age and dispensation. All that Jesus said concerning the Jews has come to pass to the very letter; not one jot or tittle has fallen unfulfilled. Their history for the last eighteen hundred years, until the present day, has been a remarkable ensign to the nations of the earth of the truth of the Bible and of the truth of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of him being the Savior of the world. All that he said concerning them and all that Moses predicted concerning their dispersion and about their being driven, as corn is sifted through a sieve, among the nations; about the manner in which their women did evil to the children of their own bosoms when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman army, when it was taken and over two millions of its inhabitants were destroyed by sword, pestilence and famine, has been fulfilled. All these things have been in strict fulfilment of the sayings of Moses and Jesus concerning them. When the Savior was sentenced to death they cried, “Let his blood be upon us and upon our children;” and they have been trampled under foot by the whole Gentile world for the last eighteen hundred years. In their affliction and persecutions they have had to suffer almost beyond the endurance of man, and until the last few years have scarcely had the right of citizenship in any nation under heaven—except in the United States. All that has been spoken concerning them has had its fulfilment as fast as time would admit.

It is so with regard to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter days. If they called the master of the house Beelzebub, will they not say the same of his household? They said that he cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils, they said he was a pestilent fellow and a stirrer-up of sedition and strife, still he was the Savior of the world.

This principle of unbelief has existed in every age; it exists to-day. The Elders of Israel have had to contend with this power of darkness, with persecution, oppression, ridicule and opposition from those who should have received their message—a message which was for the good and salvation of those who rejected it. The Jews should have received the testimony of Christ, but as a nation they rejected it. Our experience has been very similar to that of Jesus and his Apostles. We have had to labor by faith. We have had to exercise faith in the revelations that have been given to us in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon, as well as in the Bible. These revelations portray what lies before us as a people. The fate of this nation and the nations of the earth has been portrayed by the ancient prophets in the Book of Mormon and Bible. Isaiah has told us what will come to pass in the latter days concerning those who fight against Mount Zion and against the children of Zion. Every weapon will be broken, every nation that will not serve Zion shall be utterly wasted away, saith the Lord; for the Lord will fight in defence of the land of Zion. He will establish the kingdom that Daniel saw, in tact that kingdom has been established; the Zion of God has been set up, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been established by revelation from Jesus Christ in our day and generation; and we are called to build it up, we are called to perform its work. As I have often remarked, the Gods, the angels, the whole heavens, all the good men, all the spirits of the just that dwell in the eternal world are watching with vast interest the labors of this people.

They are not perfect without us, we are not perfect without them. There is no period in the whole history of the world, no dispensation of God to man, that is fraught with such interest as the dispensation in which we live; there never has been. No prophets, no apostles or inspired men in any age of the world ever had the privilege of laying the foundation of the Zion of God to remain on the earth to be thrown down no more for ever. In every other dispensation of the world the people have risen up against God and His Christ, against the kingdom and against the Priesthood, and have overthrown the messengers of heaven, and put to death every man who has borne the kingdom of God, and the kingdom has been taken from the earth. This is true of every age, except that of Enoch. He built up a kingdom and gathered together the people after laboring and preaching three hundred and sixty-five years. He perfected a city, which was called the city of the Zion of God. But behold and lo, the nations of the earth awoke and found that Zion had fled! The Lord took it to Himself; took it away from the earth. The people were righteous; they had become sanctified and the Lord took them away out of the power of the wicked. Zion could not remain on the earth; there was not power sufficient to withstand the assaults of the wicked; or if there was, the time had not come when the Lord would make use of the children of men; or there were not enough of the children of men willing to take hold and manifest those principles in their lives so that they could remain on the earth. But in the latter days he will do so. He has sworn it by Himself, because there is none greater to swear by. He has declared it through the mouth of every prophet that has ever lived on the earth, whose writings we possess, both in the Bible and Book of Mormon, as well as in those glorious revelations in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants given through the mouth of Joseph Smith the prophet. These sayings are true. We as a people should exercise faith in them, no matter what may be transpiring in the outside world. We have had the powers of wicked men and devils to contend with. We may say that the devil is mad; he is stirred up against Zion; he knows that his reign will last but a little season longer.

This arch enemy of God and man, called the devil, the “Son of the Morning,” who dwells here on the earth, is a personage of great power; he has great influence and knowledge. He understands that if this kingdom, which he rebelled against in heaven, prevails on the earth, there will be no dominion here for him. He has great influence over the children of men; he labors continually to destroy them. He labored to destroy them in heaven; he labored to destroy the works of God in heaven, and he had to be cast out. He is here, mighty among the children of men. There is a vast number of fallen spirits, cast out with him, here on the earth. They do not die and disappear; they have not bodies only as they enter the tabernacles of men. They have not organized bodies, and are not to be seen with the sight of the eye. But there are many evil spirits amongst us, and they labor to overthrow the Church and kingdom of God. There never was a prophet in any age of the world but what the devil was continually at his elbow. This was the case with Jesus himself. The devil followed him continually trying to draw him from his purposes and to prevent him carrying out the great work of God. You see this manifested when he took Jesus on to the loftiest pinnacle of the temple and showed him all the glory of the world, telling him that he would give him all this if he would fall down and worship him. The poor devil did not own a foot of land nor anything else! The earth was made by and belonged to the Lord and was His footstool. Yet the devil offered that to Jesus which was not his own. Jesus said unto him, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”

This same character was with the disciples as well as with their master. He is with the Latter-day Saints; and he or his emissaries are with all men trying to lead them astray. He rules in the hearts of the inhabitants of the earth. They are governed and guided by him far more than by the power of God. This is strange, still it is true. See the wickedness in the world. See the abominations with which the earth is deluged, causing it to groan under the burden. Where does this evil come from? From the works of the devil. Everything that leads to good is from God, while everything that leads to evil is from the devil. Here are the two powers. How many on the earth are honoring God, acknowledging His hand in all things and keeping His commandments? Very few. Just the same to-day as in the days of Noah. We read that one of a family and two of a city will be gathered to Zion in the last days. Out of twelve hundred millions, that dwell on the face of the earth, we, after forty years’ labor, have succeeded in gathering a few thousands together to the valleys of the mountains. The numbers are very few; but this few should be faithful.

Last Sabbath, those who were here listened to a discourse from brother George Q. Cannon, in which he delivered his testimony concerning Joseph Smith and President Young. I thought to myself, it seemed a kind of a queer idea that, at this late date, one of the Apostles should he called upon to stand up in the sacred desk and defend the characters of these men as prophets and Apostles. Yet so it was, and these things are necessary.

Joseph Smith was what he professed to be, a prophet of God, a seer and revelator. He laid the foundation of this Church and kingdom, and lived long enough to deliver the keys of the kingdom to the Elders of Israel, unto the Twelve Apostles. He spent the last winter of his life, some three or four months, with the Quorum of the Twelve, teaching them. It was not merely a few hours ministering to them the ordinances of the Gospel; but he spent day after day, week after week and month after month, teaching them and a few others the things of the kingdom of God. Said he, during that period, “I now rejoice. I have lived until I have seen this burden, which has rested on my shoulders, rolled on to the shoulders of other men; now the keys of the kingdom are planted on the earth to be taken away no more for ever.” But until he had done this, they remained with him; and had he been taken away they would have had to be restored by messengers out of heaven. But he lived until every key, power and principle of the holy Priesthood was sealed on the Twelve and on President Young, as their President. He told us that he was going away to leave us, going away to rest. Said he, “You have to round up your shoulders to bear up the kingdom. No matter what becomes of me. I have desired to see that Temple built, but I shall not live to see it. You will; you are called upon to bear off this kingdom.” This language was plain enough, but we did not understand it any more than the disciples of Jesus when he told them he was going away, and that if he went not the Comforter would not come. It was just so with Joseph. He said this time after time to the Twelve and to the Female Relief Societies and in his public discourses; but none of us seemed to understand that he was going to seal his testimony with his blood, but so it was. What he said to us and the Church we have had to perform. Joseph Smith was a good man, a prophet of God. His works are before the world; they are before the eyes of the nation; they are before the heavens and the earth. The foundation that he laid we have built upon until the present day; and that foundation no power on earth or in hell will ever be able to remove. That Church and kingdom of God that is planted here in these valleys of the mountains will remain on the earth until the little stone Daniel saw will become a mountain and fill the earth—until the reign of Jesus is supreme and universal.

It startles men when they hear the Elders of Israel tell about the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our God and His Christ. They say it is treason for men to teach that the kingdom Daniel saw is going to be set up, and bear rule over the whole earth. Is it treason for God Almighty to govern the earth? Who made it? God, did He not? Who made you? God, if you have any eternal Father. Well, whose right is it to rule and reign over you and the earth? It does not belong to the devil, nor to men. It has never been given to men yet; it has never been given to the nations. It belongs solely to God and He is coming to rule and reign over it. When will that be? It may not be perfected until Christ comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory to reward every man according to the deeds done in the body. That kingdom, the germ of which is planted here, will continue to grow and will never be overthrown. As I said before, no matter what takes place outside of this Territory—we as Latter-day Saints should exercise faith in God, for just as sure as God was true to Daniel, Moses, Noah, Enoch and to the prophets and Apostles, so will He be true to us; so will He be true to His word, in these latter days and will fulfill all He has said.

This is the work we have to perform. It is a good work, a great work, a glorious work, and one in which the Latter-day Saints should rejoice, for it confers upon them the privilege of being instruments in the hands of God of helping to build up His kingdom on the earth. This should give us joy, and the promises made to us in connection with this work ought to sustain us and give us hope, joy and consolation.

I have been happy since I formed the acquaintance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: I was never satisfied until I found the Latter-day Saints. In my boyhood I could read in the Bible and New Testament of a people who had power with God, who had the gifts and graces, who could command the elements and they obeyed them; who had power to heal the sick, and had the gifts of the Holy Ghost imparted unto them by God himself. That was the kind of religion I always desired to live to see. I desired to live to see a prophet and an Apostle, or some man who was inspired of God who could teach me the way to be saved. I have lived to see that day. I rejoice in it for I I know it is true. I know this work is true. I know it is the kingdom of God, as you do, and as all men do who have received the testimony of the Holy Spirit and have been faithful for themselves.

As to President Young his labors have been with us. It has been remarked sometimes, by certain individuals, that President Young has said in public that he was not a prophet nor the son of a prophet. I have travelled with him since 1833 or the spring of 1834; I have travelled a good many thousand miles with him and have heard him preach a great many thousand sermons; but I have never heard him make that remark in my life. He is a prophet, I am a prophet, you are, and anybody is a prophet who has the testimony of Jesus Christ, for that is the spirit of prophecy. The Elders of Israel are prophets. A prophet is not so great as an Apostle. Christ has set, in his Church, first, Apostles; they hold the keys of the kingdom of God. Any man who has travelled with President Young knows he is a prophet of God. He has foretold a great many things that have come to pass. All the Saints who are well acquainted with him know that he is governed and controlled by the power of God and the revelations of Jesus Christ. His works are before the world; they are before the heavens; before the earth; before the wicked as well as the righteous; and it is the influence of President Young that the world is opposed to. This Priesthood, these keys of the kingdom of God that have been sealed upon him, the world is at war against; let them say what they may, these things are what they are at enmity with. Their present objection to the Latter-day Saints, they say, is plurality of wives. It is this principle they are trying to raise a persecution against now. But how was it in Missouri, Kirtland, Jackson county, Far West, Caldwell county, in all our drivings and afflictions, before this principle was revealed to the Church? Certainly it was not polygamy then. No, it was prophets, it was revelation, it was the organization of an institution founded by revelation from, God. They did not believe in that, and that was the objection in those days. If we were to do away with polygamy, it would only be one feather in the bird, one ordinance in the Church and kingdom. Do away with that, then we must do away with prophets and Apostles, with revelation and the gifts and graces of the Gospel, and finally give up our religion altogether and turn sectarians and do as the world does, then all would be right. We just can’t do that, for God has commanded us to build up His kingdom and to bear our testimony to the nations of the earth, and we are going to do it, come life or come death. He has told us to do thus, and we shall obey Him in days to come as we have in days past.

Brethren and sisters, let us exercise faith; the ancient prophets lived by faith; it is as necessary for us as for them. I believe what God has said will be fulfilled. I believe the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants will be fulfilled, and all the promises and prophecies made by the faithful servants of God. When any man speaks as he is moved upon by the Holy Ghost, that is the word of God to the people; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, not one jot or tittle of the word of God will fall unfulfilled. I care not whether it be by His own voice out of the heavens; by the ministration of angels; by the voice of a prophet, or by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost through His servants, it is the word of God to the people, it is truth and it will have its effect and fulfilment. Everything that has been communicated to us by revelation I believe to be true; many of them I know. I have faith and knowledge, both in a degree. I want more; I wish for more, and all I ask is that the Lord will enable me to be faithful. I wish eternal life. I want salvation. This is the object of my life; for this I embraced “Mormonism.” This is the principle that has sustained me from the time I entered this Church and kingdom. This hope sustained me when I shouldered my knapsack and went forth to travel and preach without purse or scrip, thousands of miles through the United States. This principle of inspiration has sustained the Elders of Israel in every age of the world. It is that which sustained Joseph Smith from the day he commenced his career as a servant of God until the time that he sealed his testimony with his blood. Somebody has got to pay the bill for the shedding of that innocent blood. Shedding innocent blood has cost the Jews eighteen hundred years of suffering, mourning, woe and destruction; it has cost this nation already four years of war, with two millions of men laid in the dust, and four thousand million dollars in money; and woe be to that nation, tongue or people that sheds the blood of the Saints of God, or undertakes to oppose the work of God in this or any other generation. They will have to reap what they sow; for what you sow you will reap, and the reward you mete will be rewarded to you again, whether you are Saints or sinners, in all nations, kindreds, tongues and people under the whole heavens.

This is the position that we occupy. This warfare is not between man and man but between God and the world. If the Lord does not defend the Latter-day Saints we cannot defend ourselves. We can do what is required of us, but God Himself has to defend us. He has done it and He will continue to do it until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, or until his kingdom triumphs on the earth. This is my faith; and I would rather, today, lay down my life, honoring the faith once delivered to the Saints, than turn round and fear men, who have power only to kill the body, instead of fearing Him who has power to cast both soul and body into hell. Salvation is of more consequence to me and to this people, and to all the inhabitants of the earth, than anything else. What is the world with its honors, gold, silver, thrones, principalities and powers compared with salvation? They all end at death, they are of no force after, and are of no moment when compared with eternal salvation. Oh, what glorious principles have been revealed to the Latter-day Saints! Where did you get them? How did you obtain them? Through the voice of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young by revelation from God. That is the way we obtained them. The principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ have power and efficacy after death; they will bring together men and their wives and children in the family organization and will re-unite them worlds without end. The power of those who sit upon thrones in this life will end at their death; they will have no extra power in the world to come because they have occupied thrones in this. The Czar of Russia, the Emperor of France, the Queen of England, or any other sovereign, will not have any additional power in the world to come because of their present glory. It will all end with their death. These are the kingdoms of men, they are not ordained of God. True, they will be held accountable for the exercise of their power here; God will hold them responsible for that, but so far as salvation and glory hereafter are concerned, their exalted positions here will not avail them anything. There is not a man who has lived since the Church went into the wilderness and the kingdom of God was taken from the earth; until Moroni rent the vail and gave to Joseph Smith the records of the Book of Mormon, and until Peter, James and John sealed upon him the keys of the holy Priesthood, who can claim a wife in the resurrection. Not one of them has been married for eternity, but only until death. But unto the Latter-day Saints the sealing ordinances have been revealed, and they will have effect after death, and, as I have said, will re-unite men and women eternally in the family organization. Herein is why these principles are a part of our religion, and by them husbands and wives, parents and children will be re-united until the links in the chain are re-united back to Father Adam. We could not obtain a fullness of celestial glory without this sealing ordinance or the institution called the patriarchal order of marriage, which is one of the most glorious principles of our religion. I would just as lief the United States Government would pass a law against my being baptized for the remission of my sins, or against my receiving the Holy Ghost, as against my practicing the patriarchal order of marriage. I would just as lief they would take away any other principle of the Gospel as this. The opinion of men generally, in relation to this subject, is that the Latter-day Saints practise it for the gratification of their carnal desires; but such ideas are wholly untrue. The world seek after this; but the Saints of God practise this principle that they may partake of eternal lives, that they may have wives and posterity in the world to come and throughout the endless ages of eternity.

God promised to Abraham that his seed should be as numerous as the stars in the heaven or as the sands on the sea-shore. We all know, from reading the history of Abraham, that this promise has not been fulfilled, for you may take one square yard of sand on the sea-shore, and the grains it would contain would be more numerous than all the inhabitants that ever lived on the earth; hence this promise of the Lord could not be fulfilled if, as the Christian world imagine, the marriage relation ceases with the termination of this life, and that after the resurrection there is no increase. But in the resurrection there will be no end to the increase of Abraham, it will continue through all eternity.

These are some of the principles of the Gospel God has revealed to us. Are they not worth living for and having faith in? They are. Then do not fear because of the wicked. We have everything to encourage us. The Latter-day Saints should be faithful. We should live our religion and be true and faithful to our covenants. We should magnify our callings as Apostles, Elders and Saints, before God, angels and men. We have but little time to work, and we should work while it is called to-day; by and by night comes when no man can work. When the vision of my mind is opened and I gaze abroad upon this generation, I many times feel to mourn in my spirit to see the darkness and unbelief and the carelessness of man with regard to his future and eternal state. Instead of seeking with all their powers to secure to themselves eternal life they seem to be doing their utmost to turn the last key to seal their condemnation and to make themselves the sons of perdition. They will labor to shed innocent blood and to destroy the Church and kingdom of God on the earth. This is one of the promptings of the evil one.

There are two things which have always followed apostates in every age of the world, and especially in our day. In the early days of the Church, in Kirtland, as soon as men apostatized from the Church and kingdom of God, they immediately began to fear their fellow men, and to fancy their lives were in danger. Another peculiarity common to apostates was that they desired to kill those who had been their benefactors. This was the case with the Higbees, Laws and others with regard to the Prophet Joseph, when they turned against him, they sought with all their powers to take away his life. Not only were they afraid of their own lives, but they sought to take his, and they eventually succeeded, and woe is their doom. What would they not give in exchange for their souls? But no matter, they cannot redeem them. This spirit always accompanies the apostates. What are they afraid of? There is something they do not understand or comprehend; they walk in the dark, and by and by they will unite with the wicked and try to overthrow the very work they have been trying to build up.

This spirit has always been with the enemies of righteousness. The devil seeks to overthrow the kingdom of God and the Saints, and he always will do it as long as he has any power on the earth; therefore we should be united. We should be faithful and labor hard to do what we have to do, and not put off anything for the building up of the kingdom of God. We should obey all the ordinances we can for ourselves and our children; for the living and the dead. We should attend to these things as we go along, and when we get through with our work and into the spirit world, we may look back and be satisfied with our labors. There is a great deal for the Latter-day Saints to do. We have done a good deal, but the work is only just commenced. Zion is not what she must be; Zion is growing. She has grown since we came to the valleys of the mountains. We have done something for the living; we have warned the nations; the garments of many of us are clear of the blood of this generation. It cannot rise in judgment against Joseph Smith, Brigham Young or the Twelve Apostles, nor against thousands of the Elders of this Church and kingdom. We have lifted up our voices day and night; we have preached to millions of our fellow men and have travelled hundreds of thousands of miles to offer this Gospel to the nations of the earth. Still they have turned against us, and a great many of them have sought our overthrow. They will receive their reward and we shall receive ours.

What joy, consolation and satisfaction it will be to the Apostles, Elders and Saints of God, of this day, who remain true and faithful to the end, having become members of the Church of the Firstborn, and been valiant in the testimony of Jesus, when they meet Father Adam, Enoch, Jacob, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus and the Apostles, how great their joy will be! They labored in their day for the work of God, and their toils are over; we are having our day and our labor. By and by we shall meet and mingle in the eternal world. How fast we pass away! Where is brother Heber, whom we used to see so often in our midst here and in the Endowment House? In the spirit world. Brother Willard, Joseph, Hyrum, David Patten, Jedediah, Parley Pratt, and brother Benson among the rest, have gone. We shall all go pretty soon, we shall not remain a great while. Our labors in this life are short, and we shall soon pass to the other side of the vail. Our children, the rising generation, will possess the kingdom; on them the labor of rolling on the work of God will rest, until the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven will be given to the Saints of the Most High and they will possess it for ever and ever, and the meek will inherit the earth. Let us be diligent, let us be faithful; let us labor while it is called to-day, that we may be counted worthy to receive a reward that will satisfy us in the end.

I pray that God will bless us, that He will pour out His Spirit upon us and give us the testimony of Jesus Christ; that we may guard our welfare and watch ourselves that our feet may not slip. It is an awful thing for a man, in any generation, to receive this Gospel, to taste the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, and then turn away and lose the testimony of Jesus and turn against God; such a man’s condition is worse than his who never heard the Gospel of Christ. He will lament and mourn, and that, too, without ever receiving redemption. Such individuals cannot be redeemed and restored to that which they have forfeited. It is far better to receive the Gospel and be faithful in the midst of all opposition. If we continue so, when we meet with the fathers we can rejoice with them and partake of the same kingdom and the same glory, quickened by the same spirit, having kept the same law and been preserved thereby.

May God bless us all and help us to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, for Jesus sake. Amen.

The Source of Intelligence, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 29, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

If I can have your attention I will talk to you a few minutes. Speaking as much as I have in public makes me feel most forcibly that I have both stomach and lungs, hence I would like to have stillness in the house. I see some sisters withdrawing in consequence of their children not being quiet; I am very much obliged to them, and trust that others will do likewise if they cannot keep their children still.

I am not in the habit of making many apologies nor very many preliminaries when I speak to a congregation. Sometimes I feel to say a few words that might be called apologetic in rising to address a congregation, having that timidity which most men feel on such occasions. I have seen few public speakers in my life who were capable of rising and speaking directly upon a subject, unless it had been studied or perhaps written beforehand. To speak extempore, on the impulse of the moment, without reflection, requires considerable steadiness of the nerve. This is a matter that I have reflected upon a good deal, for in my experience I have learned that there is a modest timidity in the feelings of almost all persons I ever saw when called upon to speak to their fellow-beings. This is frequently the case in private circles as well as before the public. I think I understand the reason of it; it is a matter which I have studied. I find myself here on this earth, in the midst of intelligence. I ask myself and Wisdom, where has this intelligence come from? Who has produced and brought into existence, I will say, this intelligent congregation assembled here this afternoon? We are here, but whence have we come? Where did we belong before coming here? Have we dropped accidentally from some of the planets on to this earth without order, law or rule? Perhaps some, in their reflections, have come to this conclusion, and think that is all that is known in relation to this matter. I inquire where is this intelligence from which I see, more or less, in every being, and before which I shrink when attempting to address a congregation? I ask the question of my friends, my brethren and of every man that lives: Suppose that you, through duty, are called to speak to a private family, to a small congregation, or even to children in a Sunday school, do you not feel this same timidity? Where is the man who can rise to address children without feeling this same modesty? I have seen a very few in my life who could rise before a congregation, in a prayer meeting, or go on the stage of a theatre, or anywhere else, and speak with perfect ease and confidence. I think they have great reason to be thankful for their self-confidence; but where they obtained it or whether it is inherent, whether they are destitute of real refinement or have a surplus of it, it is not for me to say. I know that I do not possess this faculty. When I speak to a congregation I know that I am speaking to the intelligence that is from above. This intelligence which is within you and me is from heaven. In gazing upon the intelligence reflected in the countenances of my fellow-beings, I gaze upon the image of Him whom I worship—the God I serve. I see His image and a certain amount of His intelligence there. I feel it within myself. My nature shrinks at the divinity we see in others. This is the cause of that timidity to which I have referred which I experience when rising to address a congregation.

I rise with pleasure this afternoon to speak to my friends, brethren and sisters, and to the strangers who are here; and I will take the liberty of looking at my people—my brethren and sisters, as they are, and we will look at each other as we are. I look at others as they are, and we will look at each other as we are. We will chat a little together, and I will give both Saints and strangers a few of my views. First to the Saints, I will say that you and I have professed to believe in God who reigns in the heavens, who formed the earth and the planets. No matter whether He rules the celestial, terrestrial or telestial, you and I have professed to believe in that Supreme Being who has set this machine in motion. He governs by law. He has reduced His offspring, His legitimate offspring, to all the sin, darkness, death and misery that we find on this earth; He has also provided means and, in connection with the attributes He has implanted within us, has instituted ordinances which, if we will receive and improve upon, will enable us to return back into His presence. I say to the Latter-day Saints, live your religion! Live so that the Spirit of the Lord will dwell within you, that you may know for a surety and certainty that God lives. For me to tell you that there is a God in heaven, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world; for me to tell you that Jesus will give his holy Spirit to them that believe on him and obey his Gospel, would be fruitless to you unless you obey his requirements. I know that the Latter-day Saints are looked upon by the world as dupes—as a low, degraded, imbecile race, and that we are so unwise and short-sighted, so vain and foolish, that through the great amount of enthusiasm within us, we have embraced an error, and have been duped by Joseph Smith. You who have obeyed the principles he preached know whether you are deceived or not. I know for myself and you know for yourselves.

Now let me ask you, if you trust to my faith, to my word and teachings, counsel and advise, and do not seek after the Lord to have His Spirit to guide and direct you, can I not deceive you, can I not lead you into error? Look at this and see to what mischief it would lead, and what an amount of evil could be done to a people if they did not live so that the Spirit of the Lord would dwell with them that they might know these things for themselves. It is my request, my prayer, exhortation, faith, wish and earnest desire that the Latter-day Saints will live their religion, and that they will teach their children all things pertaining to God and godliness, that they may grow up into Christ, their living head.

I would ask of my friends or foes, no matter which—I mean those who do not believe as I do—those who look upon us as a set of fanatics, I would ask a few questions of the world of mankind, of the greatest philosophers, of the greatest geniuses, and of the men of the most profound knowledge on the face of the earth, Can you tell me where you get your knowledge? Say some, “The schoolmaster taught me thus and so; my mother taught me thus and so; or I have learned it from books.” Can you tell me the origin of this knowledge? Can you direct me where I can go and get the same knowledge? Was this inherent in you? Was it developed without any nourishment, or instruction—without, the life and intelligence which came from the vision of the mind? Ask the mechanic—Who influenced you to bring forth this and that improvement in mechanism? Who influenced Professor Morse to believe that he could stretch a wire round this building or any other, and then, by applying a battery at one end of the wire, that he could receive an answer at the other? Who taught Robert Fulton that he could apply steam so as to propel a vessel? Did his mother his schoolmaster or his preacher tell him this? No, he would have spurned the idea.

Now, all this is in my remembrance. I lived near by those who assisted Mr. Fulton in building his steamboat. He could not be dissuaded, by any means, to desist from his operations. I ask what was it that influenced the mind of Fulton in this direction? It was that invisible influence or intelligence that comes from our Creator, day by day, and night by night, in dreams and visions of the mind. “I see it, I know it,” said he. I recollect him telling some of our neighbors who assisted him in building the first steam-vessel that ever was built, “I know that I can apply steam so as to propel this vessel from here to New York. I know it just as well as I live.” I recollect a Mr. Curtis, a carriage maker, who lived in the State, of New York; said he, “I have a little property, and I will spend all I have to assist Mr. Fulton to put his project into successful operation; for I have faith in it.”

This is a question which I would like the scientific and philosophic world to answer, Where do you get your knowledge from? I can answer the question; they get it from that Supreme Being, a portion of whose intelligence is in each and every one. They have it not independently; it was not there until put there. They have the foundation, and they can improve and add knowledge to knowledge, wisdom to wisdom, light to light, and intelligence to intelligence. This power to increase in wisdom and intelligence so that we can know things for ourselves is within every one of us.

Now, I ask the wise, where did you get your wisdom? Was it taught you? Yes, I say it was taught you. By your professors in college? No, it was taught you by the influence of the spirit that is in man, and the inspiration of the Spirit of God giveth it understanding; and every creature can thus add intelligence to intelligence. We all know that if we learn one page of a book to-day, we can learn another to-morrow, and yet retain that which we learned previously; and so we can go on step by step, from day to day, improving the faculties with which God has endowed us, until we are filled with the knowledge of God.

The “Mormons” believe all this. I ask strangers and the philosophers of the world, Is there any harm in it? Is it any harm for you and me to exercise faith in God? We have faith, we live by faith; we came to these mountains by faith. We came here, I often say, though to the ears of some the expression may sound rather rude, naked and barefoot, and comparatively this is true. Is that a fact? It is. Shall I explain this? I will in part, and I will commence by satisfying the curiosity of almost everybody that comes here, or with whom our Elders converse when away. A great many men and women have an irrepressible curiosity to know how many wives Brigham Young has. I am now going to gratify that curiosity by saying, ladies and gentlemen, I have sixteen wives. If I have any more hereafter it will be my good luck and the blessing of God. “How many children have you, President Young?” I have forty-nine living children, and I hope to have a great many more. Now put that down. I impart this information to gratify the curiosity of the curious.

“President Young, did you come here naked and barefoot?” I will say, very nearly so. “How many of your wives had shoes to their feet, after leaving every thing you had in the State of Illinois?” I do not think that more than one or two of my wives had shoes to their feet when we came here. We bought buckskins of the Indians and made moccasins of them. How many of these Elders had whole pantaloons when they reached here? I do not believe a dozen of them had. They had worked in the dead of winter ferrying the people across the river until they had nothing, and they came here naked and barefoot, that is, comparatively.

We had to have faith to come here. When we met Mr. Bridger on the Big Sandy River, said he, “Mr. Young, I would give a thousand dollars if I knew an ear of corn could be ripened in the Great Basin.” Said I, “Wait eighteen months and I will show you many of them.” Did I say this from knowledge? No, it was my faith; but we had not the least encouragement—from natural reasoning and all that we could learn of this country—of its sterility, its cold and frost, to believe that we could ever raise anything. But we travelled on, breaking the road through the mountains and building bridges until we arrived here, and then we did everything we could to sustain ourselves. We had faith that we could raise grain; was there any harm in this? Not at all. If we had not had faith, what would have become of us? We would have gone down in unbelief, have closed up every resource for our sustenance and should never have raised anything. I ask the whole world, is there any harm in having faith in God? Have you faith? Ask Mr. Pullman if he had faith that he could build a car more convenient than any the travelling community enjoyed before, and he will say that he had faith that he could build cars in which ladies and gentlemen might travel through the country with all the ease and comfort they could desire; and he showed his faith by his works, as we read of the ancient worthies doing. You know James says, “Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Mr. Pullman and others can show their faith by their works. We show our faith by our works. Is there any harm in this? I ask the whole Christian world, is there any harm in believing in God, in a supreme power and influence?

The Christian world believe in God, but they say He has no body. Christianity does not teach any such thing. “God has no parts and He is without passions,” say the Christian world. I do not read the Scriptures aright if this is the fact. I read that God loves, that God hates. I read that His eyes are over the works of His hands; that His arm is stretched out to save His people; that His footsteps are seen among the nations of the earth. If He has no feet, He certainly can make no impression; if He has no hands or arms he cannot reach down to save His people. I read that the Lord’s ears are open to the petitions of His people; but if He have no ears how can He hear. This is the way that I read the Bible, and I ask, is there any harm in reading and understanding it thus? There are a great many infidels now, who were formerly among our Christian friends and brethren, who are ignoring the Bible in their public schools. I do not. Is there anything in the Bible that should not be read by the scholars in schools? If there be, leave out such parts, or rather replace the language there used, with phraseology more in accordance with modern usage, so that the principles contained in the Bible may be taught in your catechisms or other books. I know that there is some plain talk in the Bible, plainer than I heard this morning; but that plain talk was the custom of the ancients. The mere phraseology there used is not of much consequence, it is the true principle which that book teaches which renders it so valuable. If any of you, ladies and gentlemen, were to step on a steamboat and cross over to Liverpool, you would hear language and see customs that you never heard or saw in Yankee land. It is the same with regard to the Bible, the phraseology is that which was customary centuries ago; but no matter what the language is, that is merely custom. But I will say that the doctrines taught in the Old and New Testaments concerning the will of God towards His children here on the earth; the history of what He has done for their salvation; the ordinances which He has instituted for their redemption; the gift, of His Son and his atonement—all these are true, and we, the Latter-day Saints, believe in them.

Some, in their curiosity, will say, “But you Mormons have another Bible! Do you believe in the Old and New Testaments?” I answer we do believe in the Old and New Testaments, and we have also another book, called the Book of Mormon. What are the doctrines of the Book of Mormon? The same as those of the Bible. “What is the utility of this book—the Book of Mormon? Has it been of any use whatever to the people anywhere?” O, yes. “Where and when?” I will refer to one of the sayings of Jesus recorded in the New Testament. Just before his crucifixion be said to his disciples, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” After his crucifixion he came to this continent, chose Twelve Apostles from among the people and sent them forth to preach his Gospel. He also did many mighty miracles. He was seen to come from heaven down into the midst of the people. He organized his Church amongst them, healed the sick, and left his Church and Gospel in their midst. I am sorry to say that we see the descendants of this very people now in a very low and degraded state. I refer to the aborigines or native Indians of this continent. But this is in consequence of their apostacy and turning from God. The aborigines of this country are the descendants of this very people whom Jesus visited, to whom he delivered his Gospel, and among whom he organized his Church. They were obedient for over three hundred years, and served God with an undivided heart, after which they began to apostatize. For three hundred years the people on the continent of North and South America were benefitted by the work of the Savior in organizing his Church and revealing every principle and ordinance calculated to assist them back into the presence of God. Is not that good?

“What good does it do you, Latter-day Saints?” It proves that the Bible is true. What do the infidel world say about the Bible? They say that the Bible is nothing better than last year’s almanack; it is nothing but a fable and priestcraft, and it is good for nothing. The Book of Mormon, however, declares that the Bible is true, and it proves it; and the two prove each other true. The Old and New Testaments are the stick of Judah. You recollect that the tribe of Judah tarried in Jerusalem and the Lord blessed Judah, and the result was the writings of the Old and New Testaments. But where is the stick of Joseph? Can you tell where it is? Yes. It was the children of Joseph who came across the waters to this continent, and this land was filled with people, and the Book of Mormon or the stick of Joseph contains their writings, and they are in the hands of Ephraim. Where are the Ephraimites? They are mixed through all the nations of the earth. God is calling upon them to gather out, and He is uniting them, and they are giving the Gospel to the whole world. Is there any harm or any false doctrine in that? A great many say there is. If there is, it is all in the Bible.

When I first commenced to preach to the people, nearly forty years ago, to believe the Bible was the great requisite. I have heard some make the broad assertion that every word within the lids of the Bible was the word of God. I have said to them, “You have never read the Bible, have you?” “O, yes, and I believe every word in it is the word of God.” Well, I believe that the Bible contains the word of God, and the words of good men and the words of bad men; the words of good angels and the words of bad angels and words of the devil; and also the words uttered by the ass when he rebuked the prophet in his madness. I believe the words of the Bible are just what they are; but aside from that I believe the doctrines concerning salvation contained in that book are true, and that their observance will elevate any people, nation or family that dwells on the face of the earth. The doctrines contained in the Bible will lift to a superior condition all who observe them; they will impart to them knowledge, wisdom, charity, fill them with compassion and cause them to feel after the wants of those who are in distress, or in painful or degraded circumstances. They who observe the precepts contained in the Scriptures will be just and true, and virtuous and peaceable at home and abroad. Follow out the doctrines of the Bible and men will make splendid husbands, women excellent wives, and children will be obedient; they will make families happy and the nations wealthy and happy and lifted up above the things of this life. Can any see any harm in all this? “Oh, but you Mormons are such a strange people. It is true that we have found things in Utah different from what we expected, but still you people are so strange!” Why, what did you expect? Did you expect to see men and women with fins like fishes? We are right from your country—from England, France, Germany, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, from the South, from every State in the Union; what did you expect to see? We lived with you, went to school and to meeting with you; but still the saying is, “Oh, the Mormons are a strange people.” It is true that we are; but in what does our peculiarity consist? We do not believe in litigation, quarreling, or in having contention with each other. We take the low and degraded and lift them up. If it would be any satisfaction to any man in the world to know what advantages President Young has had, I will say that I used to have the privilege of cutting down the hemlock, beech and maple trees with my father and my brothers: and then rolling them together, burning the logs, splitting the rails, and fencing the little fields. I wonder if any of you ever did this? You who came from England, or from the rich prairies of Illinois or Missouri never did. Well, this was my education. “Did you not go to school?” Yes; I went eleven days, that was the extent of my schooling.

Now, if we can take the low and degraded and elevate them in their feelings, language and manners; if we can impart to them the sciences that are in the world, teach them all that books contain, and in addition to all this, teach them principles that are eternal, and calculated to make them a beautiful community, lovely in their appearance, intelligent in every sense of the word, would you not say that our system is praiseworthy and possesses great merit? Well, this is all in that book called the Bible, and the faithful observance of the principles taught in that book will do this for any family or nation on the earth.

We are not anxious to obtain gold; if we can obtain it by raising potatoes and wheat, all right. “Can’t you make yourselves rich by speculating?” We do not wish to. “Can’t you make yourselves rich by going to the gold mines?” We are right in the midst of them. “Why don’t you dig the gold from the earth?” Because it demoralizes any community or nation on the earth to give them gold and silver to their hearts’ content; it will ruin any nation. But give them iron and coal, good hard work, plenty to eat, good schools and good doctrine, and it will make them a healthy, wealthy and happy people.

This is the great mystery with regard to the Latter-day Saints. We have got a code of laws that the Lord Almighty has left on record in the book called the Old and New Testaments. This same code is contained in the Book of Mormon, also in another book we have, called the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. These doctrines are taught in all these books, and taught alike.

Now then, does the voice of the Lord, as heard from the heavens, ever teach men and women to do wrong? Never. You see a man or woman, in any community, no matter where they are or who they are, that is inclined to do a wrong act to themselves or anybody else, and they profess to do that under a religious influence, and you may know that their ideas of religion are false. Ladies and gentlemen, write that down. His religion is false who does not have love to God and to his fellow-creatures; who does not cherish holiness of heart, purity of life, and sanctification, that he may be prepared to enter again into the presence of the Father and the Son.

The question was asked a great many times of Joseph Smith, by gentlemen who came to see him and his people, “How is it that you can control your people so easily? It appears that they do nothing but what you say; how is it that you can govern them so easily?” Said he, “I do not govern them at all. The Lord has revealed certain principles from the heavens by which we are to live in these latter-days. The time is drawing near when the Lord is going to gather out His people from the wicked, and He is going to cut short His work in righteousness, and the principles which He has revealed I have taught to the people and they are trying to live according to them, and they control themselves.”

Gentlemen, this is the great secret now in controlling this people. It is thought that I control them, but it is not so. It is as much as I can do to control myself and to keep myself straight and teach the people the principles by which they should live. Do all do it? No, and the consequence is we see wickedness in the land. Men do very wrong. Who is guilty? The Lord? No. The religion we have embraced? No. The counsel we have given? No. I have had the question asked me, in the days of Joseph, “Mr. Young, I suppose that you would obey Joseph Smith, let him tell you to do what he might?” “Well, I think I would.” “Suppose that he should tell you to kill your neighbor or to steal, or to do this, that or the other, that is wrong, would you do it?” I would reply, “Wait till I am told. I have never yet been told from heaven, by Joseph Smith, the Old or New Testament, the Book of Mormon or the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, to do a wrong thing; and I will wait until I am, before I say what I would do; that is time enough.”

“Well, have you not committed wrong?” I may have committed a great many wrongs for want of judgment or wisdom—a little here and a little there. “But have you not done great wrongs?” I have not. I know what is in the hearts of almost every person who comes to this city. It is hurled throughout the length and breadth of our country like lightning that Brigham Young and the “Mormons” are guilty of doing this, that and the other, I need not reiterate; and it is often asked, “Have not you Mormons been guilty of this or that crime or evil?” I answer, no, ladies and gentlemen, we have not. It is the wicked who do these crimes; it is men who will go to hell; and then they try to palm them off on the just and righteous. You can imagine what you please of the stories you have read about the people of Utah from the pens of every lying scribbler who has been here. Imagine what you please, but write this down, publish it in your little paper (the Trans-Continental), that a Saint will never do wrong if he knows it. If a man will do a wrong thing wilfully, he is not a Saint. When you hear of Brigham Young, and of his brethren who are in the faith of the holy Gospel, doing this wrong and that wrong, wait until you find out the truth before you publish it to the world.

We have been asked a good many times, “Why do you not publish the truth in regard to these lies which are circulated about you?” We might do this if we owned all the papers published in Christendom. Who will publish a letter from me or my brethren? Who will publish the truth from us? If it gets into one paper, it is slipped under the counter or somewhere else; but it never gets into a second. They will send forth lies concerning us very readily. The old adage is that a lie will creep through the keyhole and go a thousand miles while truth is getting out of doors; and our experience has proved this. We have not the influence and power necessary to refute the falsehoods circulated about us. We depend on God, who sits in the heavens. Our trust is in Him who created the heavens, who formed the earth, and who has brought forth His children on the earth, and who has given the intelligence which they possess. He has given them the privilege of choosing for themselves, whether it be good or evil; but the result of our choice is still in His hand. All His children have the right of making a path for themselves, of walking to the right or to the left, of telling the truth or that which is not true. This right God has given to all people who dwell on the earth, and they can legislate and act as they please; but God holds them in His hands, and He will bring forth the results to His glory, and for the benefit of those who love and serve Him, and He will make the wrath of men to praise Him All of us are in the hands of that God. We are all His children. We are His sons and daughters naturally, and by the principles of eternal life. We are brethren and sisters. What is it that makes the distinctions we see in the classes of the children of men? We see the low and the degraded, like the aborigines of our country; what is the cause of their being in their present condition? It is because of the rejection by their fathers of the Gospel of the Son of God. The Gospel brings intelligence, happiness, and glory to all who obey it and live according to its precepts. It will give them intelligence that comes from God. Their minds will be open so as to understand things as they are; they will rejoice in being blessed themselves and in blessing their fellow beings, and in being prepared to re-enter the presence of the Father and the Son. This will be their delight. Is this so? It is.

I was very much gratified a day or two ago with a little circumstance that transpired while a company of ladies and gentlemen were visiting me. We were talking over some circumstances relating to our coming to the valleys, and our hardships after we got here. I said it was faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that enabled us to endure. A lady present said, “That is right, I believe in exercising faith in him. Have faith in God, for God will bless all who have faith in Him, no matter who they are nor by whom called; if you have faith in God, and live according to the light you have, God will lead you to glory.”

I delight to hear a person give an intimation of their having faith in God; to hear it said, “I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in his crucifixion and atonement, and in his ordinances.” These ordinances we are trying to live, that we may glorify God, and prepare ourselves to build up His Zion on the earth, that the world may be filled with peace, knowledge and joy.

God help us to do so!

The Right to Lead the Church, etc.

Orson Hyde

Remarks by Elder Orson Hyde, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1869. Reported by John Grimshaw.

Being requested to make a few remarks to the Saints at the present time, I have risen with cheerfulness to add my testimony to what has been said, and to speak a few words more in relation to the Church and kingdom of God, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ His Son. I rejoice in the opportunity of meeting with the Saints and seeing their friendly faces, which beam as though their hearts felt glad to associate together—to commune one with another, and to hear what the Lord may say through His servants who may be called upon to address you. Brethren and sisters, the feelings of my heart are—The Lord bless you, and pour His Spirit upon you and upon all His Saints everywhere.

I have listened with interest to the remarks that have been made. I rejoice in anything that goes to advance the cause of Zion; and I know of no one thing more potent to that effect than our living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And I apprehend that, if the Saints will listen to the words of counsel and unto the commandments of God, no very serious inroads will ever be made upon us, either by contestants for the supremacy in this kingdom, or by Congress itself. These are my feelings.

I became connected with the Church of God on the 31st day of October 1831. I do not know how many there are now living that can date their connection with the Church to an earlier period than this. There is one, and perhaps there are two, that I know of, I know of no more; still, I cannot say in relation to this. Now, if I had only improved upon the time that has been allotted to me, and gained the experience I might have gained, perhaps I would have been further in advance than I am at the present time. But I am not discouraged; I have no feelings to linger or flag, but feel to persevere and to do all I can for the building up of the Zion of our God.

I apprehend, brethren and sisters, that there are faithful witnesses in this Church who have lived with the Prophet—who have travelled with him, who have eaten with him, who have slept with him, who have preached and prayed with him, and have been as familiar with him as a child ever was with his father. There are, I say, witnesses that lived contemporary with him, who will continue to live and be able to bear a faithful testimony to the truth, until the kingdom can take care of itself, or God will take care of it. I tell you that light will come upon you pretty soon—the glorious light of heaven. Be patient, enduring—the sun will rise and darkness will flee away. By and by, true to the word of promise, the sun does rise, and darkness flees away; and the sun ascends to the meridian, and his rays illuminate the whole face of nature. You can then see, you can then appreciate the word of promise. Would it be any satisfaction to you if I were to continue and tell you that the sun does shine? It shines in the face of you all. You have no need of my testimony, you have no need of my assurance. It displays its light to all the world, and you behold it, and no one could convince you that the sun does not shine.

So let me say here, that there are faithful witnesses, who will testify to the truth, that lived co[n]temporary with Joseph, the martyred prophet; and they will continue to live and testify till this kingdom can take care of itself. What do you mean by the kingdom taking care of itself? I mean that the veil which is now cast over the world will be rent asunder, and every eye will see and every heart feel. Then the kingdom can take care of itself, and have no need of witnesses to prove that the sun shines. Well, then, if the veil of the covering which has caused so great darkness is rent in twain, and the whole people, as it were, see as they are seen and know as they are known, have they any particular use for the testimony of a feeble mortal, that the power of God, in streams of light from on high, is being poured down upon the children of God on earth? Why it is a character of evidence beyond the feeble voice of mortals.

I apprehend that, so long as these witnesses remain, it will be a pretty hard matter for Congress or for apostates to make many inroads upon the truth, while the servants of the Most High, inspired by the Spirit of God, stand like a flaming sword to guard the way of the Tree of Life.

I will tell you, brethren and sisters, the Apostleship is of some importance to the Saints of God; but I will say, furthermore, that it is very satisfactory to me when I call to mind the remarks of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I will give you my testimony. In one particular place, in the presence of about sixty men, he said, “My work is about done; I am going to step aside awhile. I am going to rest from my labors; for I have borne the burthen [burden] and heat of the day, and now I am going to step aside and rest a little. And I roll the burthen [burden] off my shoulders on the shoulders of the Twelve Apostles. Now,” said he, “round up your shoulders and bear off this kingdom.” Has he ever said this to any one else? I do not know; I do not care. It is enough for me to know that he said it to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And since that time we have endeavored to do our duty and perform the work that was given us to do.

We did not consider, at the time he bore this testimony, that he was going to die or be taken from us; but we considered that as he had been borne down with excessive labors, by day and night, he was going to retire to rest and regain his health, and we should act under his direction and bear the responsibility of the work. But when the fatal news came to us, in the Eastern States, that he, with his brother Hyrum, had been massacred in Carthage jail, I will tell you it brought his words home to our minds, and we could then realize that he had spoken in sober earnest; and the twelve men upon whom he had conferred this power, then stepped forth and took their position. When the Twelve, united heart and soul, stepped forth, everything yielded before them.

Well, now, I will give it as the feelings of my heart—and if I am wrong, I can be corrected right here—that no one need be curious or anxious as to who is going to lead and guide this people. I will tell you that as long as God has a Church on the earth, He will govern it. Now I will tell you a little of my feelings in relation to it. I know that when President Young returned with the Twelve to Nauvoo, he gathered them around him, and said he, “I want you to disperse among the congregation and feel the pulse of the people, while I go upon the stand and speak.”

We went among the congregation and President Young went on the stand. Well, he spoke, and his words went through me like electricity. “Am I mistaken?” said I, “or is it really the voice of Joseph Smith?” This is my testimony; it was not only the voice of Joseph, but there were the features, the gestures and even the stature of Joseph before us in the person of Brigham. And though it may be said that President Young is a complete mimic, and can mimic anybody, I would like to see the man who can mimic another in stature who was about four or five inches higher than himself. Every one in the congregation—every one who was inspired by the Spirit of the Lord—felt it. They knew it. They realized it.

I sat myself down in the midst of the congregation, with my two wives, whom Joseph had given and sealed to me. When President Young began to speak, one of them said, “It is the voice of Joseph! It is Joseph Smith!” The exclamation of the other was,” I do not see him, where is he?” Well, the thought occurred to my mind respecting the Scripture which President Young has just quoted—“My sheep know my voice and follow me.” Where is the one that recognized the voice of Joseph in President Young? Where is she? She is in the line of her duty. But where is the other? Gone where I wish she were not. The sheep of the good shepherd will follow the voice they know, but they will not follow the voice of a stranger.

Now this was a manifestation of the power of the Almighty—it was the power of God resting on an individual in the eyes of all the people, not only in feature and voice, but actually in stature. This is my testimony. I might go on and add many more testimonies. I recollect reading that when our Savior was baptized by John in the Jordan, the Spirit of the Lord descended and rested upon him in the form of a dove, and a voice from heaven was heard, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.”

Well, now, it did not depend upon argument, it did not depend upon reason. The voice of the Almighty—the form of a dove descending and resting upon him, were sufficient evidence to prove he was the Son of God. Argument was out of the question. Did it require argument to prove that brother Brigham Young held the position of Joseph, the martyred Prophet? Did it require proof that Joseph was there in the person of Brigham, speaking with an angel’s voice? It required no argument; with those who feared God and loved truth, it required none.

Well, now, we have the consolation to know that, whatever changes may take place in the government of the Church and kingdom of God, we shall not be left in the dark nor will our destiny be suspended on the frailty of argument; but I believe that whatever changes take place will be brought about by a power that every child of God will recognize.

These are the feelings of my heart; and consequently I dismiss every anxiety in relation to it. It is for me to live my religion and honor my God, and to let Him steady His own ark. Let me do my duty and all will work for the best. This is how I feel, brethren. When I began to speak, I had quite an argument fixed up in my mind, but I cannot touch it now, and it is useless to try. I will say, however, that it is all summed up in the excellent quotation made by our President—“My sheep know my voice and will follow me; but a stranger they will not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers.”

We must learn, brethren and sisters, to be wise. We must learn to let the world alone. The Lord has brought us out from the nations. Said He, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues.” Now, why should we ever have any lingering desire for any connection with the world again? Will we invite them here and scatter our means among them, and put a weapon in their hands to destroy us?

An illustrious visitor, the one only second in office in the United States, expressed a desire that we should see the necessity of inviting men of capital to our midst, to aid in developing the resources of the country, thereby making our Territory a great commercial centre. The Lord knows His own business best, and He will conduct it in a manner and way that will please Him. I apprehend He will take care of His people. And if we will do His will and keep His commandments, He will provide for us; and we may yet learn, in the midst of all our reasoning and argument, that God has never yet desired us to live after the manner of the world. It is for us to keep His commandments and He will provide for His children. He will provide for His servants. Brethren and sisters, you will see the servants of God will have joy at heart; but the enemies of righteousness will have sorrow.

It is well for us to adhere to the principle of co-operation and everything else that is calculated to advance our interests as a people. It is well for us to adhere to the teachings that we receive, and let our enemies and outsiders alone. Is there anything wrong in our concentrating our time and means in a certain channel? Can we not trade where and with whom we will? Are we doing any one any injustice in this? No. Have we the Constitutional right to invest our capital wherever we like? Yes, we have the Constitutional right. Is it my Constitutional right to get all the power and influence that I can? Yes, it is. Is there anything unlawful in it? Nothing at all. I will venture to say that the Hon. Vice. President would not object, to-day, to have influence over all the citizens of the United States. He would not object to it at all; neither would any other politician.

We say there is nothing unlawful in Brigham Young getting all the influence that he can; but they want him out of the way. They are not willing—they cannot be willing, to see a man who has earned the position he occupies, use his influence for the welfare, elevation and advancement of the people. They want to occupy it themselves, and they are jealous.

I do not feel to detain you a great while, brethren and sisters, but there are two or three things in my mind that I wish to make known. Congress, it is said, is going to give the people “their rights!” I wonder why they never thought of giving us our rights? That is another thing; it is a horse of another color. But our rights are safe. Our rights are in the hands of God; and we will trust in Him for them; and when He does give them to us, He will give them on a large scale.

Brother George A. Smith was computing the interest and indebtedness of Missouri to us; but I tell you when the Lord pays us up, it will be a “big” reward. Be patient, live your religion, and when the Almighty does reward, it will be on a large scale.

And now let me give you my feelings in relation to the interference of the Government of the United States. What do they want to interfere with us for? Whom have we injured? Have we injured any one? Have we done wrong to any one, Jew or Gentile? Have we done wrong to the Indians? Have we done wrong in cultivating the soil, and in making this barren and waste desert fertile? What wrong have we done, that it is necessary for Congress to interfere? They say, “We are afraid you intend to do wrong.” Well, then you punish us in advance for the wrong we have not done. They say, “You are guilty of practising polygamy.” Well, now, this is only one feather in the bird; only one single feather. I will tell you, everything is wrong about us in their estimation. It is wrong of us to get such an influence on the earth, both at home and abroad. And the reason why so much is said about polygamy, is because it is the only handle that they think they can get hold of; but they will discover that even this is so doubtful, in the eye of Constitutional law, that it can give them no assurance of success against us; and they will find it the very principle that will break in pieces the power that would set it aside.

I would not say that I am speaking now as a representative of the minds of the Latter-day Saints as a body; I wish merely to express my own sentiments and feelings, and if I say anything that is wrong, let me be corrected for it right here. I will tell you that, just in proportion as any power, whether the United States or any other nation, seeks to hinder or oppose the progress of the Latter-day Saints, or lay any stumbling block in their way, the Lord will lay two stumbling blocks in their way, to their laying one in ours.

We have something more potent than our own arm to defend us—we have the arm of Jehovah pledged for our protection. He will make bare His arm in the eyes of the nations, and they will feel it. It is getting too late in the day. The battle is too far advanced.

Then let us, as Latter-day Saints, be filled with reverence for the kingdom of God—for His laws and institutions; remembering our prayers, being faithful, doing our duty in all things, and the Lord will bear off His kingdom. God bless you. Amen.

Celestial Marriage (Pratt)

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 7, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

It was announced at the close of the forenoon meeting that I would address the congregation this afternoon upon the subject of Celestial Marriage; I do so with the greatest pleasure.

In the first place, let us inquire whether it is lawful and right, according to the Constitution of our country, to examine and practice this Bible doctrine? Our fathers, who framed the Constitution of our country devised it so as to give freedom of religious worship of the Almighty God; so that all people under our Government should have the inalienable right—a right by virtue of the Constitution—to believe in any Bible principle which the Almighty has revealed in any age of the world to the human family. I do not think, however, that our forefathers, in framing that instrument, intended to embrace all the religions of the world. I mean the idolatrous and Pagan religions. They say nothing about those religions in the Constitution; but they give the express privilege in that instrument to all people dwelling under this Government and under the institutions of our country, to believe in all things which the Almighty has revealed to the human family. There is no restriction nor limitation so far as Bible religion is concerned, or any principle or form of religion believed to have emanated from the Almighty; yet they would not admit idolatrous nations to come here and practice their religion, because it is not included in the Bible; it is not the religion of the Almighty. Those people worship idols, the work of their own hands, they have instituted rights and ceremonies pertaining to those idols, in the observance of which they, no doubt, suppose they are worshipping correctly and sincerely, yet some of them are of the most revolting and barbarous character. Such, for instance, as the offering up of a widow on a funeral pile, as a burnt sacrifice, in order to follow her husband into the eternal worlds. That is no part of the religion mentioned in the Constitution of our country, it is no part of the religion of Almighty God.

But confining ourselves within the limits of the Constitution, and coming back to the religion of the Bible, we have the privilege to believe in the Patriarchal, in the Mosaic, or in the Christian order of things; for the God of the patriarchs, and the God of Moses is also the Christians’ God.

It is true that many laws were given under the Patriarchal or Mosaic dispensations, against certain crimes, the penalties for violating which, religious bodies, under our Constitution, have not the right to inflict. The Government has reserved, in its own hands, the power, so far as affixing the penalties of certain crimes is concerned.

In ancient times there was a law strictly enforcing the observance of the Sabbath day, and the man or woman who violated that law was subjected to the punishment of death. Ecclesiastical bodies have the right, under our Government and Constitution, to observe the Sabbath day or to disregard it, but they have not the right to inflict corporeal punishment for its non-observance.

The subject proposed to be investigated this afternoon is that of Celestial Marriage, as believed in by the Latter-day Saints, and which they claim is strictly a Bible doctrine and part of the revealed religion of the Almighty. It is well known by all the Latter-day Saints that we have not derived all our knowledge concerning God, heaven, angels, this life and the life to come entirely from the books of the Bible; yet we believe that all of our religious principles and notions are in accordance with and are sustained by the Bible; consequently, though we believe in new revelation, and believe that God has revealed many things pertaining to our religion, we also believe that He has revealed none that are inconsistent with the worship of Almighty God, a sacred right guaranteed to all religious denominations by the Constitution of our country.

God created man, male and female. He is the Author of our existence He placed us on this creation. He ordained laws to govern us. He gave to man, whom He created, a help-meet—a woman, a wife to be one with him, to be a joy and a comfort to him; and also for another very great and wise purpose—namely, that the human species might be propagated on this creation, that the earth might teem with population according to the decree of God before the foundation of the world, that the intelligent spirits whom He had formed and created, before this world was rolled into existence, might have their probation, might have an existence in fleshly bodies on this planet, and be governed by laws emanating from their great Creator. In the breast of male and female He established certain qualities and attributes that never will be eradicated—namely, love towards each other. Love comes from God. The love which man possesses for the opposite sex came from God. The same God who created the two sexes implanted in the hearts of each love towards the other. What was the object of placing this passion or affection within the hearts of male and female? It was in order to carry out, so far as this world was concerned, His great and eternal purposes pertaining to the future. But He not only did establish this principle in the heart of man and woman, but gave divine laws to regulate them in relation to this passion or affection, that they might be limited and prescribed in the exercise of it towards each other. He therefore ordained the Marriage Institution. The marriage that was instituted in the first place was between two immortal beings, hence it was marriage for eternity in the very first case which we have recorded for an example. Marriage for eternity was the order God instituted on our globe; as early as the Garden of Eden; as early as the day when our first parents were placed in the garden to keep it and till it, they, as two immortal beings, were united in the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant. This was before man fell, before the forbidden fruit was eaten, and before the penalty of death was pronounced upon the heads of our first parents and all their posterity, hence, when God gave to Adam his wife Eve, He gave her to him as an immortal wife, and there was no end contemplated of the relation they held to each other as husband and wife.

By and by, after this marriage had taken place, they transgressed the law of God, and by reason of that transgression the penalty of death came, not only upon them, but also upon all their posterity. Death, in its operations, tore asunder, as it were, these two beings who had hitherto been immortal, and if God had not, before the foundation of the world, provided a plan of redemption, they would, perhaps, have been torn asunder for ever; but inasmuch as a plan of redemption had been provided, by which man could be rescued from the effects of the fall, Adam and Eve were restored to that condition of union, in respect to immortality, from which they had been separated for a short season of time by death. The Atonement reached after them and brought forth their bodies from the dust, and restored them as husband and wife, to all the privileges that were pronounced upon them before the Fall.

That was eternal marriage; that was lawful marriage ordained by God That was the divine institution which was revealed and practiced in the early period of our globe. How has it been since that day? Mankind have strayed from that order of things, or, at least, they have done so in latter times. We hear nothing among the religious societies of the world which profess to believe in the Bible about this marriage for eternity. It is among the things that are obsolete. Now all marriages are consummated until death only; they do not believe in that great pattern and prototype established in the beginning; hence we never hear of their official characters, whether civil or religious, uniting men and women in the capacity of husband and wife as immortal beings. No, they marry as mortal beings only, and until death does them part.

What is to become of them after death? What will take place among all those nations who have been marrying for centuries for time only? Do both men and women receive a resurrection? Do they come forth with all the various affections, attributes and passions that God gave them in the beginning? Does the male come forth from the grave with all the attributes of a man? Does the female come forth from her grave with all the attributes of a woman? If so, what is their future destiny? Is there no object or purpose in this new creation, save to give them life, a state of existence? or is there a more important object in view, in the mind of God, in thus creating them anew? Will that principle of love which exists now, and which has existed from the beginning, exist after the resurrection? I mean this sexual love. If that existed before the Fall, and if it has existed since then, will it exist in the eternal worlds after the resurrection? This is a very important question to be decided.

We read in the revelations of God that there are various classes of beings in the eternal worlds. There are some who are kings, priests, and Gods, others that are angels; and also among them are the orders denominated celestial, terrestrial, and telestial. God, however, according to the faith of the Latter-day Saints, has ordained that the highest order and class of beings that should exist in the eternal worlds should exist in the capacity of husbands and wives, and that they alone should have the privilege of propagating their species—intelligent immortal beings. Now it is wise, no doubt, in the Great Creator to thus limit this great and heavenly principle to those who have arrived or come to the highest state of exaltation, excellency, wisdom, knowledge, power, glory, and faithfulness, to dwell in His presence, that they by this means shall be prepared to bring up their spirit offspring in all pure and holy principles in the eternal worlds, in order that they may be made happy. Consequently, He does not entrust this privilege of multiplying spirits with the terrestrial or telestial, or the lower order of beings there, nor with angels. But why not? Because they have not proved themselves worthy of this great privilege. We might reason, of the eternal worlds, as some of the enemies of polygamy may reason of this state of existence, and say that there are just as many males as females there, some celestial, some terrestrial, and some telestial; and why not have all these paired off, two by two? Because God administers His gifts and His blessings to those who are most faithful, giving them more bountifully to the faithful, and taking away from the unfaithful that with which they had been entrusted, and which they had not improved upon. That is the order of God in the eternal worlds, and if such an order exists there, it may in a degree exist here

When the sons and daughters of the Most High God come forth in the morning of the resurrection, this principle of love will exist in their bosoms just as it exists here, only intensified according to the increased knowledge and understanding which they possess; hence they will be capacitated to enjoy the relationships of husband and wife, of parents and children, in a hundred fold degree greater, than they could in mortality. We are not capable, while surrounded with the weaknesses of our flesh, to enjoy these eternal principles in the same degree that will then exist. Shall these principles of conjugal and parental love and affection be thwarted in the eternal worlds? Shall they be rooted out and overcome? No, most decidedly not. According to the religious notions of the world these principles will not exist after the resurrection; but our religion teaches the fallacy of such notions. It is true that we read in the New Testament that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels in heaven. These are the words of our Savior when he was addressing himself to a very wicked class of people, the Sadducees, a portion of the Jewish nation, who rejected Jesus, and the counsel of God against their own souls. They had not attained to the blessings and privileges of their fathers, but had apostatized; and Jesus, in speaking to them, says that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God.

Now, how are the angels of God after the resurrection? According to the revelations which God has given, there are different classes of angels. Some angels are Gods, and still possess the lower office called angels. Adam is called an Archangel, yet he is a God. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, no doubt, have the right to officiate in the capacity of angels if they choose, but still they have ascended to their exaltation, to a higher state than that of angels—namely, to thrones, kingdoms, principalities and powers, to reign over kingdoms and to hold the everlasting Priesthood. Then there is another order of angels who never have ascended to these powers and dignities, to this greatness and exaltation in the presence of God. Who are they? Those who never received the everlasting covenant of marriage for eternity; those who have not continued in nor received that law with all their hearts, or who, perhaps, have fought against it. They become angels. They have no power to increase and extend forth to kingdoms. They have no wives, no husbands, and they are servants to those that sit upon thrones and rule over kingdoms, and are counted worthy of a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. These, no doubt, were the kind of angels Jesus had reference to when speaking to those ungodly classes of beings called Sadducees and Pharisees, one of which denied the doctrine of the resurrection altogether.

There is a difference between the classes of angels called celestial, terrestrial and telestial. The celestial angels have not attained to all of the power and greatness and exaltation of kings and priests in the presence of God; they are blessed with glory, happiness, peace and joy; but they are not blessed with the privilege of increasing their posterity to all ages of eternity, neither have they thrones and kingdoms, but they are servants to those of the highest order. The angels of the terrestrial and telestial orders, while possessing a degree of happiness and glory, are lower than those of the celestial order. We might inquire, have angels not also these affections which belong to the higher class of beings, inasmuch as they are resurrected beings? Yes, but herein they have lost, through disobedience, the privilege of attaining to the higher glory and exaltation. They have affections and desires that never can be gratified, and in this respect their glory is not full.

I am talking, to-day, to Latter-day Saints; I am not reasoning with unbelievers. If I were, I should appeal more fully to the Old Testament Scriptures to bring in arguments and testimonies to prove the divine authenticity of polygamic marriages. Perhaps I may touch upon this for a few moments, for the benefit of strangers, should there be any in our midst. Let me say, then, that God’s people, under every dispensation since the creation of the world, have, generally, been polygamists. I say this for the benefit of strangers. According to the good old book called the Bible, when God saw proper to call out Abraham from all the heathen nations, and made him a great man in the world, He saw proper, also, to make him a polygamist, and approbated him in taking unto himself more wives than one. Was it wrong in Abraham to do this thing? If it were, when did God reprove him for so doing? When did He ever reproach Jacob for doing the same thing? Who can find the record in the lids of the Bible of God reproving Abraham, as being a sinner, and having committed a crime, in taking to himself two living wives? No such thing is recorded. He was just as much blessed after doing this thing as before, and more so, for God promised blessings upon the issue of Abraham by his second wife the same as that of the first wife, providing he was equally faithful. This was a proviso in every case.

When we come down to Jacob, the Lord permitted him to take four wives. They are so called in Holy Writ. They are not denominated prostitutes, neither are they called concubines, but they are called wives, legal wives; and to show that God approved of the course of Jacob in taking these wives, He blessed them abundantly, and hearkened to the prayer of the second wife just the same as the first. Rachel was the second wife of Jacob, and our great mother; for you know that many of the Latter-day Saints by revelation know themselves to be the descendants of Joseph, and he was the son of Rachel, the second wife of Jacob. God in a peculiar manner blessed the posterity of this second wife. Instead of condemning the old patriarch, He ordained that Joseph, the first-born of this second wife, should be considered the first-born of all the twelve tribes, and into his hands was given the double birthright, according to the laws of the ancients. And yet he was the offspring of plurality—of the second wife of Jacob. Of course, if Reuben, who was indeed the first-born unto Jacob, had conducted himself properly, he might have retained the birthright and the greater inheritance; but he lost that through his transgression, and it was given to a polygamic child, who had the privilege of inheriting the blessing to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills—the great continent of North and South America was conferred upon him. Another proof that God did not disapprove of a man having more wives than one, is to be found in the fact that Rachel, after she had been a long time barren, prayed to the Lord to give her seed. The Lord hearkened to her cry and granted her prayer; and when she received seed from the Lord by her polygamic husband, she exclaimed, “The Lord hath hearkened unto me and hath answered my prayer.” Now do you think the Lord would have done this if he had considered polygamy a crime? Would He have hearkened to the prayer of this woman if Jacob had been living with her in adultery? and he certainly was doing so if the ideas of this generation are correct.

Again, what says the Lord in the days of Moses, under another dispensation? We have seen that in the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He approved of polygamy and blessed His servants who practised it, and also their wives and children. Now, let us come down to the days of Moses. We read that, on a certain occasion the sister of Moses, Miriam, and certain others in the great congregation of Israel, got very jealous. What were they jealous about? About the Ethiopian woman that Moses had taken to wife, in addition to the daughter of Jethro, whom he had taken before in the land of Midian. How dare the great law-giver, after having committed, according to the ideas of the present generation, a great crime, show his face on Mount Sinai when it was clothed with the glory of the God of Israel? But what did the Lord do in the case of Miriam, for finding fault with her brother Moses? Instead of saying, “You are right, Miriam, he has committed a great crime, and no matter how much you speak against him,” He smote her with a leprosy the very moment she began to complain, and she was considered unclean for a certain number of days. Here the Lord manifested by the display of a signal judgment, that He disapproved of any one speaking against His servants for taking more wives than one, because it may not happen to suit their notions of things.

I make these remarks and wish to apply them to fault-finders against plural marriages in our day. Are there any Miriams in our congregation to-day, any of those who, professing to belong to the Israel of the latter days, sometimes find fault with the man of God standing at their head, because he not only believes in but practices this divine institution of the ancients? If there be such in our midst, I say, remember Miriam the very next time you begin to talk with your neighboring women, or anybody else against this holy principle. Remember the awful curse and judgment that fell on the sister of Moses when she did the same thing, and then fear and tremble before God, lest He, in His wrath, may swear that; you shall not enjoy the blessings ordained for those who inherit the highest degree of glory.

Let us pass along to another instance under the dispensation of Moses. The Lord says, on a certain occasion, if a man have married two wives, and he should happen to hate one and love the other, is he to be punished—cast out and stoned to death as an adulterer? No; instead of the Lord denouncing him as an adulterer because of having two wives, He gave a commandment regulating the matter, so that this principle of hate in the mind of the man towards one of his wives should not control him in the important question of the division of his inheritance among his children, compelling him to give just as much to the son of the hated wife as to the son of the one beloved; and, if the son of the hated woman happened to be the first-born, he should actually inherit the double portion.

Consequently, the Lord approved, not only the two wives, but their posterity also. Now, if the women had not been considered wives by the Lord, their children would have been bastards, and you know that He has said that bastards shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, until the tenth generation, hence you see there is a great distinction between those whom the Lord calls legitimate or legal, and those who were bastards—begotten in adultery and whoredom. The latter, with their posterity, were shut out of the congregation of the Lord until the tenth generation, while the former were exalted to all the privileges of legitimate birthright.

Again, under that same law and dispensation, we find that the law provided for another contingency among the hosts of Israel. In order that the inheritances of the families of Israel might not run into the hands of strangers, the Lord, in the book of Deuteronomy, gives a command that if a man die, leaving a wife, but no issue, his brother shall marry his widow and take possession of the inheritance; and to prevent this inheritance going out of the family a strict command was given that the widow should marry the brother or nearest living kinsman of her deceased husband. The law was in full force at the time of the introduction of Christianity—a great many centuries after it was given. The reasoning of the Sadducees on one occasion when conversing with Jesus proves that the law was then observed. Said they, “There were seven brethren who took a certain woman, each one taking her in succession after the death of the other.” and they inquired of Jesus which of the seven would have her for a wife in the resurrection. The Sadducees, no doubt, used this figure to prove, as they thought, the fallacy of the doctrine of the resurrection, but it also proves that this law, given by the Creator while Israel walked acceptably before Him, was acknowledged by their wicked descendants in the days of the Savior. I merely quote the passage to show that the law was not considered obsolete at that time. A case like this, when six of the brethren had died, leaving the widow without issue, the seventh, whether married or unmarried, must fulfill this law and take the widow to wife, or lay himself liable to a severe penalty. What was that penalty? According to the testimony of the law of Moses he would be cursed, for Moses says, “Cursed be he that doth not all things according as it is written in this book of the law, and let all the people say Amen.” There can be no doubt that many men in those days were compelled to be polygamists in the fulfilment of this law, for any man who would not take the childless wife of a deceased brother and marry her, would come under the tremendous curse recorded in the book of Deuteronomy, and all the people would be obliged to sanction the curse, because he would not obey the law of God and become a polygamist. They were not all Congressmen in those days, nor Presidents, nor Presbyterians, nor Methodists, nor Roman Catholics; but they were the people of God, governed by divine law, and were commanded to be polygamists; not merely suffered to be so, but actually commanded to be.

There are some Latter-day Saints who, perhaps, have not searched these things as they ought, hence we occasionally find some who will say that God suffered these things to be. I will go further, and say that He commanded them, and He pronounced a curse, to which all the people had to say amen, if they did not fulfil the commandment.

Coming down to the days of the prophets we find that they were polygamists; also to the days of the kings of Israel, whom God appointed Himself, and approbated and blessed. This was especially the case with one of them, named David, who, the Lord said, was a man after His own heart. David was called when yet a youth to reign over the whole twelve tribes of Israel; but Saul, the reigning king of Israel, persecuted him, and sought to take away his life. David fled from city to city throughout all the coasts of Judea in order to get beyond the reach of the relentless persecutions of Saul. While thus fleeing, the Lord was with him, hearing his prayers, answering his petitions, giving him line upon line, precept upon precept; permitting him to look into the Urim and Thummim and receive revelations, which enabled him to escape from his enemies.

In addition to all these blessings that God bestowed upon him in his youth, before he was exalted to the throne, the Lord gave him eight wives; and after exalting him to the throne, instead of denouncing him for having many wives, and pronouncing him worthy of fourteen or twenty-one years of imprisonment, the Lord was with His servant David, and, thinking he had not wives enough He gave to him all the wives of his master Saul, in addition to the eight he had previously given him. Was the Lord to be considered a criminal, and worthy of being tried in a court of justice and sent to prison for thus increasing the polygamic relations of David? No, certainly not; it was in accordance with His own righteous laws, and He was with His servant, David the King, and blessed him. By and by, when David transgressed, not in taking other wives, but in taking the wife of another man, the anger of the Lord was kindled against him and He chastened him and took away all the blessings He had given him. All the wives David had received from the hand of God were taken from him. Why? Because he had committed adultery. Here then is a great distinction between adultery and plurality of wives. One brings honor and blessing to those who engage in it, the other degradation and death.

After David had repented with all his heart of his crime with the wife of Uriah, he, notwithstanding the number of wives he had previously taken, took Bathsheba legally, and by that legal marriage Solomon was born; the child born of her unto David, begotten illegally, being a bastard, displeased the Lord and He struck it with death; but with Solomon, a legal issue from the same woman, the Lord was so pleased that He ordained Solomon and set him on the throne of his father David. This shows the difference between the two classes of posterity, the one begotten illegally, the other in the order of marriage. If Solomon had been a bastard, as this pious generation would have us suppose, instead of being blessed of the Lord and raised to the throne of his father, he would have been banished from the congregation of Israel and his seed after him for ten generations. But, notwithstanding that he was so highly blessed and honored of the Lord, there was room for him to transgress and fall, and in the end he did so. For a long time the Lord blessed Solomon, but eventually he violated that law which the Lord had given forbidding Israel to take wives from the idolatrous nations, and some of these wives succeeded in turning his heart from the Lord, and induced him to worship the heathen gods, and the Lord was angry with him and, as it is recorded in the Book of Mormon, considered the acts of Solomon an abomination in His sight.

Let us now come to the record in the Book of Mormon, when the Lord led forth Lehi and Nephi, and Ishmael and his two sons and five daughters out of the land of Jerusalem to the land of America, the males and females were about equal in number. There were Nephi, Sam, Laman and Lemuel, the four sons of Lehi, and Zoram, brought out of Jerusalem. How many daughters of Ishmael were unmarried? Just five. Would it have been just under these circumstances to ordain plurality among them? No. Why? Because the males and females were equal in number and they were all under the guidance of the Almighty, hence it would have been unjust, and the Lord gave a revelation—the only one on record I believe—in which a command was ever given to any branch of Israel to be confined to the monogamic system. In this case the Lord through His servant Levi, gave a command that they should have but one wife. The Lord had a perfect right to vary His commands in this respect according to circumstances as He did in others, as recorded in the Bible. There we find that the domestic relations were governed according to the mind and will of God, and were varied according to circumstances, as he thought proper.

By and by, after the death of Lehi, some of his posterity began to disregard the strict law that God had given to their father, and took more wives than one, and the Lord put them in mind, through His servant Jacob, one of the sons of Lehi, of this law, and told them that they were transgressing it, and then referred to David and Solomon, as having committed abomination in His sight. The Bible also tells us that they sinned in the sight of God; not in taking wives legally, but only in those they took illegally, in doing which they brought wrath and condemnation upon their heads.

But because the Lord dealt thus with the small branch of the House of Israel that came to America, under their peculiar circumstances, there are those at the present day who will appeal to this passage in the Book of Mormon as something universally applicable in regard to man’s domestic relations. The same God that commanded one branch of the House of Israel in America, to take but one wife when the numbers of the two sexes were about equal, gave a different command to the hosts of Israel in Palestine. But let us see the qualifying clause given in the Book of Mormon on this subject. After having reminded the people of the commandment delivered by Lehi in regard to monogamy, the Lord says, “For if I will raise up seed unto me I will command my people, otherwise they shall hearken unto these things;” that is, if I will raise up seed among my people of the House of Israel, according to the law that exists among the tribes of Israel I will give them a commandment on the subject, but if I do not give this commandment they shall hearken to the law which I give unto their father Lehi. That is the meaning of the passage, and this very passage goes to prove that plurality was a principle God did approve under circumstances when it was authorized by Him.

In the early rise of this Church, February, 183l, God gave a commandment to its members, recorded in the Book of Covenants, wherein He says, “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and to none else;” and then He gives a strict law against adultery. This you have, no doubt, all read; but let me ask whether the Lord had the privilege and the right to vary from this law. It was given in 1831, when the one-wife system alone prevailed among this people. I will tell you what the Prophet Joseph said in relation to this matter in 1831, also in 1832, the year in which the law commanding the members of this Church to cleave to one wife only was given. Joseph was then living in Portage county, in the town of Hiram, at the house of Father John Johnson. Joseph was very intimate with that family, and they were good people at that time, and enjoyed much of the Spirit of the Lord. In the fore part of the year 1832, Joseph told individuals, then in the Church, that he had inquired of the Lord concerning the principle of plurality of wives, and he received for answer that the principle of taking more wives than one is a true principle, but the time had not yet come for it to be practised. That was before the Church was two years old. The Lord has His own time to do all things pertaining to His purposes in the last dispensation; His own time for restoring all things that have been predicted by the ancient prophets. If they have predicted that the day would come when seven women would take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach;” and that, in that day the branch of the Lord should be beautiful and glorious and the fruits of the earth should be excellent and comely, the Lord has the right to say when that time shall be.

Now supposing the members of this Church had undertaken to vary from that law given in 1831, to love their one wife with all their hearts and to cleave to none other, they would have come under the curse and condemnation of God’s holy law. Some twelve years after that time the revelation on Celestial Marriage was revealed. This is just republished at the Deseret News office, in a pamphlet entitled, “Answers to Questions,” by President George A. Smith, and heretofore has been published in pamphlet form and in the Millennial Star, and sent throughout the length and breadth of our country, being included in our works and published in the works of our enemies. Then came the Lord’s time for this holy and ennobling principle to be practised again among His people.

We have not time to read the revelation this afternoon; suffice it to say that God revealed the principle through His servant Joseph in 1843. It was known by many individuals while the Church was yet in Illinois; and though it was not then printed, it was a familiar thing through all the streets of Nauvoo, and indeed throughout all Hancock county. Did I hear about it? I verily did. Did my brethren of the Twelve know about it? They certainly did. Were there any females who knew about it? There certainly were, for some received the revelation and entered into the practice of the principle. Some may say, “Why was it not printed, and made known to the people generally, if it was of such importance?” I reply by asking another question. Why did not the revelations in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants come to us in print years before they did? Why were they shut up in Joseph’s cupboard years and years without being suffered to be printed and sent broadcast throughout the land? Because the Lord had His own time again to accomplish His purposes, and He suffered the revelations to be printed just when He saw proper. He did not suffer the revelation on the great American war to be published until some time after it was given. So in regard to the revelation on plurality; it was only a short time after Joseph’s death that we published it, having a copy thereof. But what became of the original? An apostate destroyed it; you have heard her name. That same woman, in destroying the original, thought she had destroyed the revelation from the face of the earth. She was embittered against Joseph, her husband, and at times fought against him with all her heart; and then again she would break down in her feelings, and humble herself before God and call upon His holy name, and would then lead forth ladies and place their hands in the hands of Joseph, and they were married to him according to the law of God. That same woman has brought up her children to believe that no such thing as plurality of wives existed in the days of Joseph, and has instilled the bitterest principles of apostacy into their minds, to fight against the Church that has come to these mountains according to the predictions of Joseph.

In the year 1844, before his death, a large company was organized to come and search out a location, west of the Rocky Mountains. We have been fulfilling and carrying out his predictions in coming here and since our arrival. The course pursued by this woman shows what apostates can do, and how wicked they can become in their hearts. When they apostatize from the truth they can come out and swear before God and the heavens that such and such things never existed, when they know, as well as they know they exist themselves, that they are swearing falsely. Why do they do this? Because they have no fear of God before their eyes; because they have apostatized from the truth; because they have taken it upon themselves to destroy the revelations of the Most High, and to banish them from the face of the earth, and the Spirit of God withdraws from them. We have come here to these mountains, and have continued to practice the principle of Celestial Marriage from the day the revelation was given until the present time; and we are a polygamic people, and a great people, comparatively speaking, considering the difficult circumstances under which we came to this land.

Let us speak for a few moments upon another point connected with this subject—that is, the reason why God has established polygamy under the present circumstances among this people. If all the inhabitants of the earth, at the present time, were righteous before God, and both males and females were faithful in keeping His commandments, and the numbers of the sexes of a marriageable age were exactly equal, there would be no necessity for any such institution. Every righteous man could have his wife and there would be no overplus of females. But what are the facts in relation to this matter? Since old Pagan Rome and Greece—worshippers of idols—passed a law confining man to one wife, there has been a great surplus of females who have had no possible chance of getting married. You may think this a strange statement, but it is a fact that those nations were the founders of what is termed monogamy. All other nations, with few exceptions, had followed the Scriptural plan of having more wives than one. These nations, however, were very powerful and when Christianity came to them, especially the Roman nation, it had to bow to their mandates and customs, hence the Christians gradually adopted the monogamic system. The consequence was that a great many marriageable ladies of those days, and of all generations from that time to the present, have not had the privilege of husbands, as the one-wife system has been established by law among the nations descended from the great Roman empire—namely, the nations of modern Europe and the American States. This law of monogamy, or the monogamic system, laid the foundation for prostitution and the evils and diseases of the most revolting nature and character under which modern Christendom groans, for as God has implanted, for a wise purpose, certain feelings in the breasts of females as well as males, the gratification of which is necessary to health and happiness, and which can only be accomplished legitimately in the married state, myriads of those who have been deprived of the privilege of entering that state, rather than be deprived of the gratification of those feelings altogether, have, in despair, given way to wickedness and licentiousness; hence the whoredoms and prostitution among the nations of the earth, where the “Mother of Harlots” has her seat.

When the religious Reformers came out, some two or three centuries ago, they neglected to reform the marriage system—a subject demanding their urgent attention But leaving these Reformers and their doings, let us come down to our own times and see whether, as has been often said by many, the numbers of the sexes are equal; and let us take as a basis for our investigations on this part of our subject the censuses taken by several of the States in the American Union.

Many will tell us that the number of males and the number of females born are just about equal, and because they are so it is not reasonable to suppose that God ever intended the nations to practice plurality of wives. Let me say a few words on that. Supposing we should admit, for the sake of argument, that the sexes are born in equal numbers, does that prove that the same equality exists when they come to a marriageable age? By no means. There may be about equal numbers born, but what do the statistics of our country show in regard to the deaths? Do as many females as males die during the first year of their existence? If you go to the published statistics you will find, almost without exception, that in every State a greater number of males die the first year of their existence than females. The same holds good from one year to five years, from five years to ten, from ten to fifteen, and from fifteen to twenty. This shows that the number of females is greatly in excess of the males when they come to a marriageable age. Let us elucidate still further, in proof of the position here assumed. Let us take, for instance, the census of the State of Pennsylvania in the year 1860, and we shall find that there were 17,588 more females than males between the ages of twenty and thirty years, which may strictly be termed a marriageable age. Says one, “Probably the great war made that difference.” No, this was before the war. Now let us go to the statistics of the State of New York, before the war, and we find according to the official tables of the census taken in 1860, that there were 45,104 more females than males in that one State, between the ages of twenty and thirty years—a marriageable age, recollect! Now let us go to the State of Massachusetts, and look at the statistics there. In the year 1865, there were 33,452 more females than males between the age of twenty and thirty. We might go on from State to State and then to the census taken by the United States, and a vast surplus would be shown of females over males of a marriageable age. What is to be done with them? I will tell you what Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York say. They say, virtually, “We will pass a law so strict, that if these females undertake to marry a man who has another wife, both they and the men they marry shall be subject to a term of imprisonment in the penitentiary.” Indeed! Then what are you going to do with these hundreds of thousands of females of a marriageable age? “We are going to make them either old maids or prostitutes, and we would a little rather have them prostitutes, then we men would have no need to marry.” That is the conclusion many of these marriageable males, between twenty and thirty years of age, have come to. They will not marry because the laws of the land have a tendency to make prostitutes, and they can purchase all the animal gratification they desire without being bound to any woman; hence many of them have mistresses, by whom they raise children, and, when they get tired of them, turn both mother and children into the street, with nothing to support them, the law allowing them to do so, because the women are not wives. Thus the poor creatures are plunged into the depths of misery, wretchedness and degradation, because at all risks they have followed the instincts implanted within them by their Creator, and not having the opportunity to do so legally have done so unlawfully. There are hundreds and thousands of [unmarried] females in this boasted land of liberty, through the narrow, contracted, bigoted State laws, preventing them from ever getting husbands. That is what the Lord is fighting against; we, also, are fighting against it, and for the re-establishment of the Bible religion and the celestial or patriarchal order of marriage.

It is no matter according to the Constitution whether we believe in the patriarchal part of the Bible, in the Mosaic or in the Christian part; whether we believe in one-half, two-thirds, or in the whole of it; that is nobody’s business. The Constitution never granted power to Congress to prescribe what part of the Bible any people should believe in or reject; it never intended any such thing.

Much more might be said, but the congregation is large, and a speaker, of course, will weary. Though my voice is tolerably good, I feel weary in attempting to make a congregation of from eight to ten thousand people hear me. I have tried to do so. May God bless you, and may He pour out His Spirit upon the rising generation among us, and upon the missionaries who are about to be sent to the United States and elsewhere, that the great principles, political, religious and domestic, that God has ordained and established, may be made known to all people.

In this land of liberty in religious worship, let us boldly proclaim our rights to believe in and practice any Bible precept, command or doctrine, whether in the Old or New Testament, whether relating to ceremonies, ordinances, domestic relations, or any thing else, not incompatible with the rights of others, and the great revelations of Almighty God manifested in ancient and modern times. Amen.

Celestial Marriage (Cannon)

George Q. Cannon

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 9, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

I will repeat a few verses in the tenth chapter of Mark, commencing at the twenty-eighth verse.

“Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.

“And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospel’s,

“But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”

In rising to address you this morning, my brethren and sisters, I rely upon your faith and prayers and the blessing of God. We have heard, during Conference, a great many precious instructions, and in none have I been more interested than in those which have been given to the Saints concerning that much mooted doctrine called Patriarchal or Celestial Marriage. I am interested in this doctrine, because I see salvation, temporal and spiritual, embodied therein. I know, pretty well, what the popular feelings concerning this doctrine are; I am familiar with the opinions of the world, having travelled and mingled with the people sufficiently to be conversant with their ideas in relation to this subject. I am also familiar with the feelings of the Latter-day Saints upon this point. I know the sacrifice of feeling which it has caused for them to adopt this principle in their faith and lives. It has required the revelation of God, our heavenly Father, to enable His people to receive this principle and carry it out. I wish, here, to make one remark in connection with this subject—that while there is abundant proof to be found in the Scriptures and elsewhere in support of this doctrine, still it is not because it was practiced four thousand years ago by the servants and people of God, or because it has been practiced by any people or nation in any period of the world’s history, that the Latter-day Saints have adopted it and made it part of their practice, but it is because God, our heavenly Father, has revealed it unto us. If there were no record of its practice to be found, and if the Bible, Book of Mormon and Book of Doctrine and Covenants were totally silent in respect to this doctrine, it would nevertheless be binding upon us as a people, God Himself having given a revelation for us to practice it at the present time. This should be understood by us as a people. It is gratifying to know, however, that we are not the first of God’s people unto whom this principle has been revealed; it is gratifying to know that we are only following in the footsteps of those who have preceded us in the work of God, and that we, to-day, are only carrying out the principle which God’s people observed, in obedience to revelation from Him, thousands of years ago. It is gratifying to know that we are suffering persecution, that we are threatened with fines and imprisonment for the practice of precisely the same principle which Abraham, the “Friend of God,” practiced in his life and taught to his children after him.

The discourses of brother Orson Pratt and of President George A. Smith have left but very little to be said in relation to the Scriptural arguments in favor of this doctrine. I know that the general opinion among men is that the Old Testament, to some extent, sustains it; but that the New Testament—Jesus and the Apostles, were silent concerning it. It was clearly proved in our hearing yesterday, and the afternoon of the day previous, that the New Testament, though not so explicit in reference to the doctrine, is still decidedly in favor of it and sustains it. Jesus very plainly told the Jews, when boasting of being the seed of Abraham, that if they were, they would do the works of Abraham. He and the Apostles, in various places, clearly set forth that Abraham was the great exemplar of faith for them to follow, and that they must follow him, if they ever expected to participate in the glory and exaltation enjoyed by Abraham and his faithful seed. Throughout the New Testament Abraham is held up to the converts to the doctrines which Jesus taught, as an example worthy of imitation, and in no place is there a word of condemnation uttered concerning him. The Apostle Paul, in speaking of him says:

“Know ye, therefore, that they which are of the faith, the same are the children of Abraham…So then they which be of the faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”

He also says that the Gentiles, through adoption, became Abraham’s seed; that the blessing of Abraham, says he, might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, showing plainly that Jesus and all the Apostles who alluded to the subject, held the deeds of Abraham to be, in every respect, worthy of imitation.

Who was this Abraham? I have heard the saying frequently advanced, that in early life, being an idolater, it was an idolatrous, heathenish principle which he adopted in taking to himself a second wife, while Sarah still lived. Those who make this assertion in reference to the great patriarch, seem to be ignorant of the fact that he was well advanced in life and had served God faithfully many years, prior to making any addition to his family. He did not have a plurality of wives until years after the Lord had revealed Himself to him, commanding him to leave Ur, of the Chaldees, and go forth to a land which He would give to him and his posterity for an everlasting possession. He went forth and lived in that land many long years before the promise of God was fulfilled unto him—namely, that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed; and Abraham was still without any heir, except Eliezer, of Damascus, the steward of his house. At length, after living thus for ten years, God commanded him to take to himself another wife, who was given to him by his wife Sarah. When the offspring of this marriage was born, Abraham was eighty-six years old.

We read of no word of condemnation from the Lord for this act—something which we might naturally expect if, as this unbelieving and licentious generation affirm, the act of taking more wives than one be such a vile crime, and so abominable in the sight of God; for if it be evil in the sight of the Lord to-day, it was then, for the Scriptures inform us that He changes not, He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, and is without variableness or the shadow of turning. But instead of condemnation, God revealed Himself continually to His friend Abraham, teaching His will unto him, revealing all things concerning the future it was necessary for him to understand, and promising him that, though he had been blessed with a son, Ishmael, yet in Isaac, a child of promise, not yet born, should his seed be called. Abraham was to have yet another son. Sarah, in her old age, because of her faithfulness, because of her willingness to comply with the requirements and revelations of God, was to have a son given unto her. Such an event was so unheard of among women at her time of life that, though the Lord promised it, she could not help laughing at the idea. But God fulfilled His promise, and in due time Isaac was born, and was greatly blessed of the Lord.

Determined to try His faithful servant Abraham to the uttermost, the Lord, some years after the birth of this son, in whom He had promised that Abraham’s seed should be called, required him to offer up this boy as a burnt offering to Him; and Abraham, nothing doubting, but full of faith and integrity, and of devotion to his God, proved himself worthy of the honored title that had been conferred upon him, namely, “the Friend of God,” by taking his son Isaac, in whom most of his hopes for the future centred, up the mountain, and there, having built the altar, he bound the victim, and with knife uplifted, was about to strike the fatal blow, when the angel of the Lord cried out of heaven commanding him not to slay his son. The Lord was satisfied, having tried him to the uttermost, and found him willing even to shed the blood of his well-beloved son.

The Lord was so pleased with the faithfulness of Abraham, that He gave unto him the greatest promise He could give to any human being on the face of the earth. What do you think was the nature of that promise? Did He promise to Abraham a crown of eternal glory? Did He promise to him that he should be in the presence of the Lamb, that he should tune his harp and sing praises to God and the Lamb throughout the endless ages of eternity? Let me quote it to you, and it would be well if all the inhabitants of the earth would reflect upon it. Said the Lord:

“In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.”

This was the promise which God gave to Abraham, in that hour of his triumph, in that hour when there was joy in heaven over the faithfulness of one of God’s noblest and most devoted sons. Think of the greatness of this blessing! Can you count the stars of heaven, or even the grains of a handful of sand? No, it is beyond the power of earth’s most gifted sons to do either, and yet God promised to Abraham that his seed should be as innumerable as the stars of heaven or as the sand on the sea-shore.

How similar was this promise of God to Abraham to that made by Jesus as a reward for faithfulness to those who followed him! Said Jesus, he that forsakes brothers or sisters, houses or lands, father or mother, wives or children, shall receive a hundred-fold in this life with persecution, and eternal life in the world to come.

A very similar blessing to that which God, long before, had made to Abraham, and couched in very similar terms.

It is pertinent for us to inquire, on the present occasion, how the promises made by Jesus and his Father, in ages of the world separated by a long interval the one from the other, could be realized under the system which prevails throughout Christendom at the present day? In the monogamic system, under which the possession of more than one living wife is regarded as such a crime, and as being so fearfully immoral, how could the promise of the Savior to his faithful followers, that they should have a hundred-fold of wives and children, in this present life, ever be realized? There is a way which God has provided in a revelation given to this Church, in which He says:

“Strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world, neither do ye know me.”

God revealed that strait and narrow way to Abraham, and taught him how he could enter therein. He taught him the principle of plurality of wives; Abraham practiced it and bequeathed it to his children as a principle which they were to practice. Under such a system it was a comparatively easy matter for men to have a hundred-fold of wives, children, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and everything else in proportion; and in no other way could the promises of Jesus be realized by his followers, than in the way God has provided, and which He has revealed to His Church and people in these latter days.

I have felt led to dwell upon these few passages from the sayings of Jesus to show you that there are abundance of Scriptural proofs in favor of this principle and the position this Church has assumed, in addition to those previously referred to.

It is a blessed thing to know that, in this as every other doctrine and principle taught by us as a Church, we are sustained by the revelations God gave to His people anciently. One of the strongest supports the Elders of this Church have had, in their labors among the nations, was the knowledge that the Bible and New Testament sustained every principle they advanced to the people. When they preached faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, the gathering of the people from the nations, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the second coming of Christ, and every other principle ever touched upon by them, it was gratifying to know that they were sustained by the Scriptures, and that they could turn to chapter and verse among the sayings of Jesus and his Apostles, or among those of the ancient prophets, in confirmation of every doctrine they ever attempted to bring to the attention of those to whom they ministered. There is nothing with which the Latter-day Saints can, with more confidence, refer to the Scriptures for confirmation and support, than the doctrine of plural marriage, which at the present time, among one of the most wicked, adulterous and corrupt generations the world has ever seen, is so much hated, and for which mankind generally are so anxious to cast out and persecute the Latter-day Saints.

If we look abroad and peruse the records of every day life throughout the whole of Christendom, we find that crimes of every hue, and of the most appalling and revolting character are constantly committed, exciting neither surprise nor comment. Murder, robbery, adultery, seduction and every species of villainy known in the voluminous catalogue of crime in modern times, are regarded as mere matters of ordinary occurrence, and yet there is hue and cry raised, almost as wide as Christendom, for the persecution, by fine, imprisonment, proscription, outlawry or extermination of the people of Utah because, knowing that God, the Eternal Father, has spoken in these days and revealed His mind and will to them, they dare to carry out His behests. For years they have meekly submitted to this persecution and contumely, but they appeal now, as ever, to all rational, reflecting men, and invite comparison between the state of society here and in any portion of this or any other country, knowing that the verdict will be unanimous and overwhelming in their favor. In every civilized country on the face of the earth the seducer plies his arts to envelop his victim within his meshes, in order to accomplish her ruin most completely; and it is well known that men holding positions of trust and responsibility, looked upon as honorable and highly respectable members of society, violate their marriage vows by carrying on their secret amours and supporting mistresses, yet against the people of Utah, where such things are totally unknown, there is an eternal and rabid outcry because they practice the heaven-revealed system of a plurality of wives. It is a most astonishing thing, and no greater evidence could be given that Satan reigns in the hearts of the children of men, and that he is determined, if possible, to destroy the work of God from the face of the earth.

The Bible, the only work accepted by the nations of Christendom, as a divine revelation, sustains this doctrine, from beginning to end. The only revelation on record that can be quoted against it, came through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and is contained in the Book of Mormon; and strange to say, here in Salt Lake City, a day or two since, one of the leading men of the nation, in his eager desire and determination to cast discredit on this doctrine, unable to do so by reference to the Bible, which he, no doubt, in common with all Christians, acknowledges as divine, was compelled to have recourse to the Book of Mormon, a work which on any other point he would most unquestionably have scouted and ridiculed as an emanation from the brain of an impostor. What consistency! A strange revolution this, that men should have recourse to our own works, whose authenticity they most emphatically deny, to prove us in the wrong. Yet, this attempt, whenever made, cannot be sustained, for brother Pratt clearly showed to you, in his remarks the other day, that instead of the Book of Mormon being opposed to this principle, it contains an express provision for the revelation of the principle to us as a people at some future time—namely, that when the Lord should desire to raise up unto Himself a righteous seed, He would command His people to that effect, plainly setting forth that a time would come when He would command His people to do so.

It is necessary that this principle should be practiced under the auspices and control of the Priesthood. God has placed that Priesthood in the Church to govern and control all the affairs thereof, and this is a principle which, if not practiced in the greatest holiness and purity, might lead men into great sin, therefore the Priesthood is the more necessary to guide and control men in the practice of this principle. There might be circumstances and situations in which it would not be wisdom in the mind of God for His people to practice this principle, but so long as a people are guided by the Priesthood and revelations of God, there is no danger of evil arising therefrom. If we, as a people, had attempted to practice this principle without revelation, it is likely that we should have been led into grievous sins, and the condemnation of God would have rested upon us; but the Church waited until the proper time came, and then the people practiced it according to the mind and will of God, making a sacrifice of their own feelings in so doing. But the history of the world goes to prove that the practice of this principle, even by nations ignorant of the Gospel, has resulted in greater good to them than the practice of monogamy or the one-wife system in the so-called Christian nations. To-day, Christendom holds itself and its institutions aloft as a pattern for all men to follow. If you travel throughout the United States and through the nations of Europe in which Christianity prevails, and talk with the people about their institutions, they will boast of them as being the most permanent, indestructible and progressive of any institutions existing upon the earth; yet it is a fact well known to historians, that the Christian nations of Europe are the youngest nations on the globe. Where are the nations that have existed from time immemorial? They are not to be found in Christian monogamic Europe, but in Asia, among the polygamic races—China, Japan, Hindostan and the various races of that vast continent. Those nations, from the most remote times, practiced plural marriage handed down to them by their forefathers. Although they are looked upon by the nations of Europe as semi-civilized, you will not find among them woman prostituted, debased and degraded as she is through Christendom. She may be treated coldly and degraded, but among them, except where the Christian element prevails to a large extent, she is not debased and polluted, as she is among the so-called Christian nations. It is a fact worthy of note that the shortest-lived nations of which we have record have been monogamic. Rome, with her arts, sciences and warlike instincts, was once the mistress of the world; but her glory faded. She was a monogamic nation, and the numerous evils attending that system early laid the foundation for that ruin which eventually overtook her. The strongest sayings of Jesus recorded in the New Testament were levelled against the dreadful corruptions practiced in Rome and wherever the Romans held sway. The leaven of their institutions had worked its way into the Jewish nation, Jewry or Palestine being then a Roman province, and governed by Roman officers, who brought with them their wicked institutions, and Jesus denounced the practices which prevailed there.

A few years before the birth of the Savior, Julius Caesar was First Consul at Rome; he aimed at and obtained imperial power. He had four wives during his life, and committed numerous adulteries. His first wife he married early; but, becoming ambitious, the alliance did not suit him, and, as the Roman law did not permit him to retain her and to marry another, he put her away. He then married the daughter of a consul, thinking to advance his interests thereby. She died, and a third was married. The third was divorced, and he married a fourth, with whom he was living at the time he was murdered. His grandnephew, the Emperor Augustus Caesar, reigned at the time of the birth of Christ. He is alluded to in history as one of the greatest of the Caesars; he also had four wives. He divorced one after another, except the last, who outlived him. These men were not singular in this practice; it was common in Rome; the Romans did not believe in plurality of wives, but in divorcing them; in taking wives for convenience and putting them away when they got tired of them. In our country divorces are increasing, yet Roman like, men expect purity and chastity from their wives they do not practice themselves. You recollect, doubtless, the famous answer of Caesar when his wife was accused of an intrigue with an infamous man. Some one asked Caesar why he had put away his wife. Said he, “The wife of Caesar must not only be incorrupt, but unsuspected.” He could not bear to have the virtue of his wife even suspected, yet his own life was infamous in the extreme. He was a seducer, adulterer, and is reported to have practiced even a worse crime, yet he expected his wife to possess a virtue which, in his highest and holiest moments, was utterly beyond his conception in his own life.

This leaven was spreading itself over every country where the Roman Empire had jurisdiction. It had reached Palestine in the days of the Savior, hence by understanding the practices prevalent in those times amongst that people, you will be better able to appreciate the strong language used by Jesus against putting away, or divorcing wives. Rome continued to practice corruption until she fell beneath the weight of it, and was overwhelmed, not by another monogamic race, but by the vigorous polygamic hordes from the north, who swept away Roman imperialism, establishing in the place thereof institutions of their own. But they speedily fell into the same habit of having one wife and multitudes of courtesans, and soon, like Rome, fell beneath their own corruptions.

When courtesans were taught every accomplishment and honored with the society of the leading men of the nation, and wives were deprived of these privileges, is it any wonder that Rome should fall? or that the more pure, or barbarous nations, as they were called, overwhelmed and destroyed her?

I have had it quoted to me many times that no great nations ever practiced plural marriage. They who make such an assertion are utterly ignorant of history. What nations have left the deepest impress on the history of our race? Those which have practiced plurality of marriage. They have prevented the dreadful crime of prostitution by allowing men to have more wives than one. I know we are dazzled by the glory of Christendom; we are dazzled with the glory of our own age. Like every generation that has preceded it, the present generation thinks it is the wisest and best, and nearer to God than any which has preceded it. This is natural; it is a weakness of human nature. This is the case with nations as well as generations. China, to-day, calls all western nations “outside barbarians.” Japan, Hindostan and all other polygamic nations do the same, and in very many respects they have as much right to say that of the monogamic nations, as the latter have to say it of them.

I heard a traveller remark a few days ago, while in conversation with him, “I have travelled through Asia Minor and Turkey, and I have blushed many times while contrasting the practices and institutions of those people with those of my own country,” the United States. He was a gentleman with whom I had a discussion some years ago on the principle of plural marriage. He has travelled a good deal since then, and he remarked to me, “Travel enlarges a man’s head and his heart. I have learned a great many things since we had a discussion together, and I have modified my views and opinions very materially with regard to the excellence of the institutions, habits and morals which prevail in Christendom.” This gentleman told me that among those nations, which we call semi-civilized, there are no drinking saloons, no brothels, nor drunkenness, and an entire absence of many other evils which exist in our own nation. I think this testimony, coming from a man who, previously, had such strong prejudices, was very valuable. He is not the only one who has borne this testimony, but all reliable travellers, who have lived in Oriental nations, vouch for the absence of those monstrous evils which flourish in and fatten and fester upon the vitals of all civilized or Christian nations.

In speaking of Utah and this peculiar practice amongst its people, it is frequently said, “Look at the Turks and other Oriental nations and see how women are degraded and debased among them, and deprived of many privileges which they enjoy among us!” But if it be true that woman does not occupy her true position among those nations, is this not more attributable to their rejection of the Gospel than to their practice of having a plurality of wives? Whatever her condition may be there, however, I do not therefore accept, as a necessary conclusion, that she must be degraded among us. We have received the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, the principles of which elevate all who honor them, and will impart to our sisters every blessing necessary to make them noble and good in the presence of God and man.

Look at the efforts which are being made to elevate the sex among the Latter-day Saints! See the privileges that are given to them, and listen to the teachings imparted to them day by day, week by week, and year by year, to encourage them to press forward in the march of improvement! The elevation of the sex must follow as a result of these instructions. The practice in the world is to select a few of the sex and to elevate them. There is no country in the world, probably, where women are idolized to the extent they are in the United States. But is the entire sex in the United States thus honored and respected? No, it is not. Any person who will travel, and observe while he is travelling, will find that thousands of women are degraded and treated as something very vile, and are terribly debased in consequence of the practices of men towards them. But the Gospel of Jesus and the revelations which God has given unto us concerning Patriarchal Marriage have a tendency to elevate the entire sex, and give all the privilege of being honored matrons and respected wives. There are no refuse among us—no class to be cast out, scorned and condemned; but every woman who chooses can be an honored wife and move in society in the enjoyment of every right which woman should enjoy to make her the equal of man as far as she can be his equal.

This is the result of the revelations of the Gospel unto us, and the effect of the preaching and practice of this principle in our midst. I know, however, that there are those who shrink from this, who feel their hearts rebel against the principle, because of the equality which it bestows on the sex. They would like to be the honored few—the aristocrats of society, as it were, while their sisters might perish on every hand around them. They would not, if they could, extend their hands to save their sisters from a life of degradation. This is wrong and a thing which God is displeased at. He has revealed this principle and commanded His servants to take wives. What for? That they may obey His great command—a command by which Eternity is peopled, a command by which Abraham’s seed shall become as the stars of heaven for multitude, and as the sand on the sea-shore, that cannot be counted. He has given to us this command, and shall we, the sterner sex, submit to all the difficulties and trials entailed in carrying it out? Shall we submit to all the afflictions and labor incident to this life to save our sisters, while many of you who are of the same sex, whose hearts ought to beat for their salvation as strongly as ours do, will not help us? I leave you all to answer. There is a day of reckoning coming when you will be held accountable as well as we. Every woman in this Church should join heart and hand in this great work, which has for its result the redemption of the sexes, both male and female. No woman should slacken her hand or withhold her influence, but every one should seek by prayer and faith unto God for the strength and grace necessary to enable her to do so. “But,” says one, “is not this a trial, and does it not inflict upon us unnecessary trials?” There are afflictions and trials connected with this principle. It is necessary there should be. Is there any law that God reveals unattended with a trial of some kind? Think of the time, you who are adults, and were born in the nations, when you joined the Church! Think of the trials connected with your espousal of the Gospel. Did it not try you to go forth and be baptized? Did it not try you, when called upon to gather, to leave your homes and nearest and dearest friends, as many of you have done? Did it not try you to do a great many things you have been required to do in the Gospel? Every law of the Gospel has a trial connected with it, and the higher the law the greater the trial; and as we ascend nearer and nearer to the Lord our God we shall have greater trials to contend with in purifying ourselves before Him. He has helped us thus far. He has helped us to conquer our selfish feelings, and when our sisters seek unto Him He helps them to overcome their feelings; He gives them strength to overcome their selfishness and jealousy. There is not a woman under the sound of my voice to-day, but can bear witness of this, if she has tried it. You, sisters, whose husbands have taken other wives, can you not bear testimony that the principle has purified your hearts, made you less selfish, brought you nearer to God and given you power you never had before? There are hundreds within the sound of my voice to-day, both men and women, who can testify that this has been the effect that the practice of this principle has had upon them.

I am speaking now of what are called the spiritual benefits arising from the righteous practice of this principle. I am sure that, through the practice of this principle, we shall have a purer community, a community more experienced, less selfish and with a higher knowledge of human nature than any other on the face of the earth. It has already had this effect to a great extent, and its effects in these directions will increase as the practice of the principle becomes more general.

A lady visitor remarked to me not long ago in speaking upon this subject, “Were I man, I would feel differently probably to what I do; to your sex the institution cannot be so objectionable.” This may be the case to some extent, but the practice of this principle is by no means without its trials for the males. The difficulties and perplexities connected with the care of a numerous family, to a man who has any ambition, are so great that nothing short of the revelations of God or the command of Jesus Christ would tempt men to enter this order; the mere increase of facilities to gratify the lower passions of our natures would be no inducement to assume such an increase of grave responsibilities. These desires have been implanted in both male and female for a wise purpose, but their immoderate and illegal gratification is a source of evil equal to that system of repression prevalent in the world, to which thousands must submit or criminate themselves. Just think, in the single State of Massachusetts, at the last census, there were 63,011 females more than males. Brother Pratt, in his remarks on this subject, truly remarked that the law of Massachusetts makes these 63,011 females either old maids or prostitutes, for that law says they shall not marry a man who has a wife. Think of this! And the same is true to a greater or less degree throughout all the older States, for the females preponderate in every one.

Thus far I have referred only to the necessity and benefit of this principle being practiced in a moral point of view. I have said nothing about the physiological side of the question. This is one, if not the strongest, source of argument in its favor; but I do not propose to enter into that branch of the subject to any great extent on the present occasion. We are all, both men and women, physiologists enough to know that the procreative powers of man endure much longer than those of woman. Granting, as some assert, that an equal number of the sexes exist, what would this lead to? Man must practice that which is vile and low or submit to a system of repression; because if he be married to a woman who is physically incapable, he must either do himself violence or what is far worse, he must have recourse to the dreadful and damning practice of having illegal connection with women, or become altogether like the beasts. Do you not see that if these things were introduced among our society they would be pregnant with the worst results? The greatest conceivable evils would result therefrom! How dreadful are the consequences of this system of which I am now speaking, as witnessed at the present time throughout all the nations of Christendom! You may see them on every hand. Yet the attempt is being continually made to bring us to the same standard, and to compel us to share the same evils.

When the principle of plurality of wives was revealed I was but a boy. While reflecting on the subject of the sealing power which was then being taught, the case of Jacob, who had four wives, occurred to me, and I immediately concluded that the time would come when light connected with this practice would be revealed to us as a people. I was therefore prepared for the principle when it was revealed, and I know it is true on the principle that I know that baptism, the laying on of hands, the gathering, and everything connected with the Gospel is true. If there were no books in existence, if the revelation itself were blotted out, and there was nothing written in its favor, extant among men, still I could bear testimony for myself that I know this is a principle which, if practiced in purity and virtue, as it should be, will result in the exaltation and benefit of the human family; and that it will exalt woman until she is redeemed from the effects of the Fall, and from that curse pronounced upon her in the beginning. I believe the correct practice of this principle will redeem woman from the effects of that curse—namely, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” All the evils connected with jealousy have their origin in this. It is natural for woman to cleave to man; it was pronounced upon her in the beginning, seemingly as a punishment. I believe the time will come when, by the practice of the virtuous principles which God has revealed, woman will be emancipated from that punishment and that feeling. Will she cease to love man? No, it is not necessary for her to cease to love.

How is it among the nations of the earth? Why, women, in their yearning after the other sex and in their desire for maternity, will do anything to gratify that instinct of their nature and yield to anything and be dishonored even rather than not gratify it; and in consequence of that which has been pronounced upon them, they are not held accountable to the same extent as men are. Man is strong, he is the head of woman, and God will hold him responsible for the use of the influence he exercises over the opposite sex. Hence we were told by brother Pratt that there are degrees of glory, and that the faithful man may receive the power of God—the greatest He has ever bestowed upon man—namely, the power of procreation. It is a godlike power, but how it is abused! How men debase themselves and the other sex by its unlawful and improper exercise! We were told there is a glory to which alone that power will be accorded in the life to come. Still there will be millions of women saved in the kingdom of God, while men, through the abuse of this precious gift, will not be counted worthy of such a privilege. And this very punishment will, in the end, be woman’s salvation, because she is not held accountable to the same degree that men are.

This is a subject that we would all do well to reflect upon. There are many points connected with the question, physiologically, that might be dwelt upon with great advantage. I have heard it said, and seen it printed, that the children born here under this system are not so smart as others; that their eyes lack lustre and that they are dull in intellect; and many strangers, especially ladies, when arriving here, are anxious to see the children, having read accounts which have led them to expect that most of the children born here are deficient. But the testimony of Professor Park, the principal of the University of Deseret, and of other leading teachers of the young here, is that they never saw children with greater aptitude for the acquisition of knowledge than the children raised in this Territory. There are no brighter children to be found in the world than those born in this Territory. Under the system of Patriarchal Marriage, the offspring, besides being equally as bright and brighter intellectually, are much more healthy and strong. Need I go into particulars to prove this? To you who are married there is no necessity of doing so; you know what I mean. You all know that many women are sent to the grave prematurely through the evils they have to endure from their husbands during pregnancy and lactation, and that their children often sustain irremediable injury.

Another good effect of the institution here is that you may travel throughout our entire Territory, and virtue prevails. Our young live virtuously until they marry. But how is it under the monogamic system? Temptations are numerous on every hand and young men fall a prey to vice. An eminent medical professor in New York, recently declared, while delivering a lecture to his class in one of the colleges there, that if he wanted a man twenty-five years of age, free from a certain disease, he would not know where to find him. What a terrible statement to make! In this community no such thing exists. Our boys grow up in purity, honoring and respecting virtue; our girls do the same and the great mass of them are pure. There may be impurities. We are human, and it would not be consistent with our knowledge of human nature to say that we are entirely pure, but we are the most pure of any people within the confines of the Republic. We have fewer unvirtuous boys and girls in our midst than any other community within the range of my knowledge. Both sexes grow up in vigor, health and purity.

These, my brethren and sisters, are some of the results which I wanted to allude to in connection with this subject. Much more might be said. There is not a man or woman who has listened to me to-day, but he and she have thoughts, reasons and arguments to sustain this principle passing through their minds which I have not touched upon, or if touched upon at all, in a very hasty manner.

The question arises, What is going to be done with this institution? Will it be overcome? The conclusion arrived at long ago is that it is God and the people for it. God has revealed it, He must sustain it, we cannot; we cannot bear it off, He must. I know that Napoleon said Providence was on the side of the heaviest artillery, and many men think that God is on the side of the strongest party. The Midianites probably thought so when Gideon fell upon them with three hundred men. Sennacherib and the Assyrians thought so when they came down in their might to blot out Israel. But God is mighty; God will prevail; God will sustain that which He has revealed, and He will uphold and strengthen His servants and bear off His people. We need not be afflicted by a doubt; a shadow of doubt need not cross our minds as to the result. We know that God can sustain us; He has borne off His people in triumph thus far and will continue to do so.

I did intend, when I got up, to say something in relation to the effects of the Priesthood; but as the time is so far gone, I feel that if I say anything it must, be very brief. But in connection with the subject of plural marriage, the Priesthood is intimately interwoven. It is the Priesthood which produces the peace, harmony, good order, and everything which make us as a people peculiar, and for which our Territory has become remarkable. It is that principle—the Priesthood, which governs the heavenly hosts. God and Jesus rule through this power, and through it we are made, so far as we have received it and rendered obedience to its mandates, like our heavenly Father and God. He is our Father and our God; He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; He is the Father of all the inhabitants of the earth, and we inherit His divinity, if we choose to seek for and cultivate it. We inherit His attributes; we can, by taking the proper course, inherit the Priesthood by which He exercises control; by which the heavenly orbs in the immensity of space are governed, and by which the earth revolves in its seasons. It is the holy Priesthood that controls all the creations of the Gods, and though men fight against it, and, if they could, would blot it out of existence, it will prevail and go on increasing in power and strength until the sceptre of Jesus is acknowledged by all, and the earth is redeemed and sanctified.

That this may be brought about speedily, is my prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Preaching the Gospel, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 17, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

I realize that it is quite a trial for young men, who have just started in the life of the Gospel, to speak to an audience, either large or small. In my observation and experience I have noticed that most speakers are timid at the sound of their own voices. If it were prudent and wisdom we would not ask our young brethren to speak when they return home, but would let them pass along and gratify their own feelings, without speaking to the congregations of the Saints. This timidity, experienced on rising to address their fellow creatures, is in all, with very few exceptions. I think I have seen a few men in my life that I suppose never were troubled or felt that trembling, fearfulness, timidity, bashfulness or any hesitancy whatever to get up and say what they had a mind to; but such persons are very rare. I do not know whether I ever saw a female of this character or not, but I think I have seen a few men. As far as I am concerned, although I have addressed congregations so many times, I have scarcely ever felt free from this timidity when rising for that purpose. When I view the faces of my fellow creatures I behold an embodiment of intelligence before which my nature, according to this life, shrinks; and this is the case with most speakers. Still, in my experience, when it has been my duty to declare the Gospel of the Son of God to the children of men, I have found that the Lord has strengthened me; He has given me His Holy Spirit, and when enjoying it while talking to the people fear or timidity soon disappeared. This is the experience of my younger days; and this is the case with our young Elders. When they rise they feel this timidity of which I have been speaking, but if they enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, their humanity or the weakness of human nature is soon forgotten. I know how to feel for and sympathize with them; I have realized all that they have realized for my experience in my early career as a preacher of the Gospel was similar to theirs. I was ignorant of letters to a great degree, yet I had been a Bible student from my youth; but when the Spirit of the Lord was upon me it was no matter to me who heard my voice when declaring the principles of the Gospel, or who felt disposed to dispute, criticise, or spiritualize or do away with the Scriptures of divine truth. To me it was nothing; they were like children, and their efforts were no more than the efforts of babes. I do not think I have ever seen or been acquainted with a “Mormon” Elder who has enjoyed the spirit of his mission but who was able to stand before the learned and wise and before the divines of the day and preach the Gospel fearlessly, for the simple reason that they have not the Gospel. They may have a gospel; I do not dispute that; and they have also their creeds and forms of worship; but when they take this book (the Bible) for their guide, in their religion, faith and works, they are one with us; then we have no disputations, no contentions, no room for arguments; but when they do away with the Scriptures and turn the truth of God into a falsehood, and manifest the same spirit as that manifested by the children of Israel, namely, to transgress every law, to change every ordinance and to break the covenants delivered to them, why the Elder of Israel has God to back him up; he has the word of the Almighty to sustain him; he has the Bible in his hand to prove that his position is correct, and that theirs is false.

We have labored, toiled and travelled, without purse or scrip, to preach the Gospel to all nations and people wherever they would hearken. Wherever they would permit us to enter their cities, towns and villages, their meeting-houses, school-houses or dwelling houses, we have been ready to preach to them the words of life and salvation. It is our delight to hear the young brethren, who have returned from missions, say the past three or five years, as the case may be, “have been the happiest of my whole life.” Where is the man or woman now living, or that ever did live, that was not happy when in possession of the Spirit of God? It makes its possessors happier than all the pleasures of life. Can wealth and worldly honor give that complete joy and satisfaction which the Spirit of God affords to the humble Saint? No. The possession of everything that we can desire—that our eyes could see, our ears hear, or our hearts conceive, would fall at our feet worthless, so far as their capability of conferring real, genuine joy, satisfaction and pleasure is concerned, when compared with the Spirit of God when it enlightens the mind, enriches the soul and lifts up an individual to behold the things of eternity, the work of God and His designs concerning this earth and the children of men. I say that all earthly things fall at the feet of an individual who possesses the Spirit of God; for his life, hopes, desires, thoughts, anticipations and will are far above the things of this life, and earth sinks beneath him. This Spirit animates our young brethren when faithfully attending to their duties while on missions, and it is this which enables them to say that the time so spent has been the happiest of their lives. This enables our Elders, many of whom are to a great degree destitute of education, to stand before the learned, wise and noble, and the divines of the day, and declare the principles of the Gospel of Jesus. Who could do this under such circumstances without the Spirit of the Lord? I do not know the individual; and if there be those who could they are such as I referred to at the commencement of my remarks who, destitute of a knowledge of their own weakness, can stand up anywhere and speak with boldness, and exhibit themselves, whether it be wisdom or folly to do so. None but those who enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, who are filled with the Holy Ghost, can stand before emperors, kings and wise men of the earth and speak the words of truth with all that simplicity and pleasure that children converse together [with].

This is my experience. When contemplating what we have passed through in travelling and preaching, it gives joy to many. The contemplation of my own experience, when I have time to do so, is a source of the greatest pleasure; perhaps this is not quite correct, but it is a source of great pleasure to take a retrospective view of the scenes I have passed through, for I can see where God has favored and blessed me. For instance, I recollect the Sunday morning on which I was baptized, in my own little mill stream; I was ordained to the office of an Elder before my clothes were dry upon me. I passed the day in meeting, and one week from that day I had the pleasure of meeting with and preaching to a large congregation. I think there were present on that occasion four experienced Elders, formerly of the Methodist and Baptist persuasions, who had received the Gospel and had been numbered with us. I expected to hear them address the people on the principles that we had just received through the servants of the Lord. They said that the Spirit of the Lord was not upon them to speak to the people, yet they had been preachers for years. I was but a child, so far as public speaking and a knowledge of the world was concerned; but the Spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I felt as though my bones would consume within me unless I spoke to the people and told them what I had seen, heard and learned—what I had experienced and rejoiced in; and the first discourse I ever delivered I occupied over an hour. I opened my mouth and the Lord filled it; and from that time, wherever we travelled and preached, the people heard, received and rejoiced in the Gospel, and we baptized our thousands upon thousands.

I recollect when I left, to go to England, I was unable to walk twenty rods without assistance. I was helped to the edge of the river Mississippi and carried across. When brother Kimball and I started on our journey there was a struggle between us and the powers of earth and hell whether or not we should accomplish our mission. We were in the depths of poverty, caused by being driven from Missouri, where we had left all. I recollect that one of my own sisters pitied my condition and situation; she was sorry for me, and said, “Brother Brigham, what necessity is there for you to go to England while you are sick? Why not tarry here until you are well?” I said to her, as I started off one morning, “Sister Fanny, I never felt better in my life.” She was a very eccentric woman and, looking at me, with tears in her eyes, she said, “You lie.” I said nothing, but I was determined to go to England or to die trying. My firm resolve was that I would do what I was required to do in the Gospel of life and salvation, or I would die trying to do it. I am so to-day.

We landed upon the shores of England, and then I felt that the chains were broken, and the bands that were upon me were burst asunder. Twelve months and sixteen days a few of the Twelve and Seventies tarried in England. In these twelve months and sixteen days, under my supervision, between eight and nine thousand persons were baptized (though some apostatized) before we left, the Churches were organized, the emigration prepared, ships were chartered and companies sailed out. When I landed in Liverpool I had six bits, with which I purchased a hat. In twelve months and sixteen days one of the finest vessels in the harbor tied up eight days to carry myself and brethren across the water. The agents of the vessel said such a thing had never been done before, but they were urgent and anxious to oblige us, for we had chartered and fitted out several vessels, and as our emigration promised to be a large business they wanted to carry us home. In that twelve months we had printed five thousand copies of the Book of Mormon, three thousand hymn books, and commenced the Millennial Star; over sixty thousand tracts had been printed and sent by the hands of the Elders to many of the houses in the towns they visited or distributed in their meetings; and in this way the word was distributed and the work carried on for one short twelve months. Our labor was successful, God blessed us, and when we returned our Book of Mormon was paid for. The gentleman who bound the first Book of Mormon in England binds them to-day when they have to be bound. We have not owed the first farthing to those who have done this work for us, but have paid promptly, according to promise, for every particle of our printing. Besides doing what I have already mentioned in that twelve months I sustained several families while there, and preserved them from starvation and death. All this was through the blessing of the Lord being upon us. We were strangers and unknown in a strange land, but the work prospered under the hands of the servants of God, and the means to do the work that was done, was procured through our industry and prudence. I have before taken the liberty, in a public capacity like this, to tell my brethren and sisters, that I do not recollect of spending more than one penny, needlessly, while in England, and that was for a bunch of grapes while passing through Smithfield market, Manchester. When I took them in my hand I saw women passing through the market who, I knew, were suffering through hunger, and who probably perished and died. I felt that I ought to have given that penny to the poor. Whenever. I went from my office, if I neglected to take my pocket full of coppers to give to the poor mendicants which are everywhere to be met with, I would return to the office and take a handfull of coppers from the drawer, and as I walked along would give something to such objects of pity and distress as I met, and pass on without being hindered by them. We organized the Church, we ordained two patriarchs, and from that time we have been gathering the poor.

This is the experience of many of my brethren as well as myself. We have toiled and labored together, gathering the people, preaching the Gospel to the nations, hunting for the pure in heart, those who love the Lord our God, those who believe the Bible. Where is the minister, the deacon, where are the people who believe in God the Father? In our Lord Jesus Christ? Who believe the New Testament? Who will accept of the salvation that is proffered to the human family through the labors of Jesus and his Apostles? We are after them. Is there an individual on the face of the earth that will receive the truth? We want to find him. Who will receive the truth? They who will give all for Christ. Not the proud, not the haughty; not those who set stakes and say the Lord must come to them or they will not have salvation, but they who say, “Let the Lord draw the line and mark the path and we will walk to it.” This must be the conclusion of every person who expects to be saved in the kingdom of God.

We preach faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian world say they have faith. Have they? If they have they will bow down and receive the ordinances of the New and Everlasting Covenant, and thank God that they have the privilege of receiving them. Can they who reject the New Testament and the Son of God, who refuse to receive the ordinances of the New Testament that were placed in the Church and kingdom of God on the earth in the days of Jesus and his Apostles, be saved in the celestial kingdom? I answer they can not. The Scriptures make this answer; it is the declaration of Jesus and the Apostles; it is the word of the Almighty, consequently we must concur and say the same. Unless we believe the Gospel of Christ and obey its ordinances we have no promise of the life to come. If we ever attain to that it will be only by complying with the terms that Jesus has laid down. We cannot build and plan for ourselves; if we do we shall be like the Jews of old, who, as the prophet says, “have hewn out cisterns that will hold no water.” We must submit to the ordinances of the house of God.

Who is there that can say baptism is not necessary for the remission of sins? Jesus and the Apostles said it was necessary. Can I say it is not? I cannot, and it is a fact that all who receive eternal life and salvation will receive it on no other conditions than believing in the Son of God and obeying the principles that he has laid down. Can we devise any other means and plan of salvation? We cannot. Will we do away with the Bible? We will not; though the Christian world are actually coming to the point that they will dismiss the Bible from their schools; and by and by they will dismiss it from their pulpits and get one to suit themselves; they will hew out for themselves cisterns that will hold no water. They cannot abide the doctrine contained in the Old and New Testament, “and,” say they, “we must alter and change it; it does not suit our condition. It was not written for us; it was written for people in days of old; but we live under different circumstances and the Bible should be altered, and we will assemble our synods and have the Scriptures revised to suit our condition.” Have they commenced this? Yes, and not very recently either. Can you find a copy of the first printed edition of the Bible? We have Bibles between two and three hundred years old, but where can the first Bibles that were printed be obtained? While I was travelling in England there was one sold for five hundred pounds. It had belonged to one of our brethren—had descended to him from his ancestors; and he, not knowing its value, sold it for fifteen shillings. Afterwards, if my memory serves me correctly, it was sold for the sum I have named. We cannot find books of that edition; some that have been altered and changed are plentiful. I mean King James’ translation, and that is good enough for me; it will answer my purpose. But how is it with the Christian world? Will it answer theirs? If it will, why do they not abide by it? Why do they not say, “This shall be our rule of faith, and our lives and works shall correspond with its principles and precepts?” They would do so if they were honest and their belief was sincere. And it will have to be so with them if ever they gain admittance into the kingdom of God, for in the Bible are the words of life and salvation. I ask again, who can say that baptism is not necessary for the remission of sins? The question has been asked, “What virtue is there in the water?” If there is no virtue in it don’t drink it; it is not good for the system if there is no virtue in it. But there is virtue in it. If there is not, we should never apply it to our clothing or to the surfaces of our bodies for cleansing purposes; we should never use any more for cooking; we should never again apply it to the soil for the purpose of irrigation. How inconsistent it is to suppose that water should be used for so many and important purposes in life if there is no virtue in it! But there is virtue in it, and there is virtue in being buried beneath the wave in the likeness of Christ, and coming forth to a newness of life. There is virtue in being born again, whether in the font or in the river, it makes no difference, for Jesus has said that “except a man be born of the water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” When a person is buried beneath the water he comes forth from one element to another, and is literally born again. Who, then, after the declaration of Jesus on this subject, can say that baptism is not necessary or that there is no virtue in the water? I cannot. Who can say that the laying on of hands is not necessary for the reception of the Holy Ghost? It is true that the house of Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before the Gospel was preached unto them. But the Lord had a special purpose in view in its bestowal in their case, namely, the removal of the prejudice of Peter and his brethren, who, being Jews, and full of the traditions of their fathers, thought that the Gentiles—among whom Cornelius and his house were classed—were not privileged to receive the Gospel. But the vision which Peter had on this subject, and the message sent to him by Cornelius in obedience to the command of the Lord in connection with the fact of the bestowal of the Holy Ghost on Cornelius and his family was so convincing to Peter and his brethren that the former was constrained to exclaim, “Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” Some may say, “What was the necessity of sending for Peter, one of the Apostles, when they had already received the Holy Ghost?” The simple fact is this: there was nobody to baptize Cornelius and his household, nobody to bury them with Christ in the water; no one had authority to baptize them for the remission of their sins; and consequently, although they had received the Holy Ghost, an Apostle had to be sent for to administer that ordinance. And we read further in relation to this case, that Peter “commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.” Did any others receive the Holy Ghost before baptism? None that we have any record of; but there is no doubt that many who were worthy received it in a measure; but, whether in the days of the Apostles or in our day, when the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins is preached by a servant of the Lord, to persons who have received the Holy Ghost, if they reject that doctrine the Holy Ghost will withdraw from them for ever. Is it necessary that believers should obey all the doctrines and ordinances taught and established by the Savior? There is no ordinance that God has delivered, by His own voice, through His Son Jesus Christ or by the mouths of any of His prophets, Apostles or evangelists, that is useless. Every ordinance, every commandment and requirement is necessary for the salvation of the human family.

What are we required to do? To receive the Gospel, the ordinances of the house of God, and then to go on to perfection. We have been baptized for the remission of sins and have received the laying on of hands for the Holy Ghost. We have Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and so on. Are we not perfect? According to the testimony of the Apostle we are not. Says he, Hebrews 6th chapter and 1st verse, “Therefore not leaving the principle of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.”

How will perfection be obtained? By all persons in the kingdom of God living so as to be revelators from the heavens for themselves and for all they preside over, that everything they have to perform in this life—every worldly care and duty, and all their walk and conversation before each other and before the Lord, may be marked out by the spirit of revelation. Is this the way to perfection? It is. This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; this is the Gospel of life and salvation. Who can dispute it? We must destroy the Bible before we can dispute it with any hope of success. But we may do away with the Bible and say it is no use to us, it has lost its virtue; it was written for the people six thousand, four thousand, two thousand, or eighteen hundred years ago, and it is not for us now. We have plenty upon the earth who can tell the will of God to the children of men and lead the people back into the presence of God; and if the Bible were destroyed by accident, it can be re-written, and all the words of the Lord that are necessary for their salvation can be given to the people. We are thankful for this.

Are we, the Latter-day Saints, loved for entertaining these views and for declaring these truths? “Oh, well,” says the stranger, “you should not be hated.” If we are hated for anything it is for preaching the Gospel of life and salvation. If we are hated for anything it is for good works instead of evil works, no matter who hears, tells or writes to the contrary. Truth is truth and will prevail. Are we in fault for believing in Jesus Christ? We ask the whole Christian world, Can you give us the words of life and salvation, or tell us how to be saved? Could you do this when we belonged to your societies, Presbyterians, Baptists or any of you Protestants? Not the first individual amongst you could point out the path, for one short rod, to the kingdom of God. Do I know this? Certainly I do by experience. I have searched for the truth, though in my youth I was called an infidel, and I was an infidel. What to? This Bible? No, to false creeds, and to professing without possessing, as I am to-day.

Where is the man who can point out the way of life and salvation? Who can tell us of God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ, and give us their characters? Who can tell about heaven and heavenly things? Who can introduce heaven to earth or earth to heaven and bring man to his Father again, and re-establish familiarity and association between them, which is so much desired by intelligent beings? The prophet of God, Joseph Smith, commenced it in this generation, no matter how odious his name may be to the inhabitants of the earth. I will defy any nation to hate a man more than the Jews hated the name of Jesus Christ—when he lived in the flesh. I honor and revere the name of Joseph Smith. I delight to hear it; I love it. I love his doctrine. Why? Because it is true, and truth will abide when error passes away. Life will remain when they who have rejected the words of eternal life are swallowed up in death. I like the truth because it is true, because it is lovely and delightful, because it is so glorious in its nature, and so worthy the admiration, faith and consideration of all intelligent beings in heaven or on the earth. Should I be hated and my name cast out as evil because I love the truth? Yes, or the words of Jesus could not be fulfilled, for he said, “Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” He told his disciples to rejoice evermore and to pray without ceasing when they were held in derision by their enemies, and to lift up their heads and rejoice when all men spoke evil of them, for “behold your redemption draweth nigh.”

Is there any harm in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? I frequently ask the question for my own satisfaction. Is there a doctrine taught in this book (the Bible), that would ruin or injure man, woman or child on the face of the earth? Not one. Is there a doctrine taught by Jesus and his disciples that would not do good to the people morally, physically, socially, religiously or politically? Not one. Did Joseph Smith ever teach a doctrine that would not elevate the soul, feelings, heart and affections of every individual who would embrace it? Not one. Did he ever teach a doctrine that would lead those who embraced it down to wretchedness, woe and misery, that would give them pain for ease, darkness for light, error for truth? No; but just the reverse. He proffered life and salvation—light for darkness and truth for error. He proffered all that was in the Gospel of the Son of God, and proclaimed that very Gospel that John saw the angel flying through the midst of heaven to restore. That angel delivered the keys of this apostleship and ministry to Joseph Smith and his brethren, and commanded them to blow the Gospel trump through all the nations of the earth, and to cry to all who love and wait patiently for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Come out of her, my people, that ye may not be partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues.” This was the doctrine of Jesus; this was the cry of John when on the Isle of Patmos. That angel has flown through the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on earth, and his cry was and is, “Come out from Babylon, from pride, from the foolish fashions of the world; come out from the spirit of the world, from the spirit of hatred, anger, malice, wrath, selfishness and every feeling but that that is honorable and justified of the heavens. Gather yourselves together! Sanctify the Lord God in your heart.” This was the cry, and it is the cry to-day, and it will be until the pure in heart are gathered together.

Should the Latter-day Saints be hated for this? “Oh, they have done so many evils!” What have they done? You can see for yourselves what we have done. Mark our settlements for six hundred miles in these mountains, and then mark the path that we made coming here, building the bridges and making the roads across the prairies, mountains and kanyons! We came here penniless in old wagons, our friends back telling us to “take all the provisions you can, for you can get no more! Take all the furniture you can, for you can get no more! Take all the seed grain you can, for you can get none there! Take all the farming implements you can, for you can get none there!” We did this, and in addition to all this we have gathered all the poor we could, and the Lord has planted us in these valleys, promising that He would hide us up for a little season until His wrath and indignation passed over the nations. Will we trust in the Lord? Yes.

What have we been doing here? You can see for yourselves that we have been laboring with our hands, We have had no time to find fault with our neighbors or to do them injury, or to do anything else only to make ourselves comfortable, and to prepare as fast as possible for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. See the settlements that have been built up by the penniless, those who had not clothing to last them three months when they came, and some of whom did not bring a month’s provision with them, and did not know that they could raise a thing, only by faith. Yet we came and we have lived and prospered, and here we are. What fault should be found with us? “Oh, you have done so many evil things!” What evils have we done? I am at the defiance of earth and hell to put a finger on the place or time that a false doctrine was taught to any one, a wrong taught to any one, or when evil was justified in any one, all the liars and all the lies on earth and in hell to the contrary notwithstanding.

We believe the Gospel and in Jesus; is there crime in it? No, there is not; and if the inhabitants of the earth are not disposed to receive the Gospel, they have the liberty to reject it. If men come into this Church and are disposed to apostatize, they have the privilege to do so. Every intelligent being has the right to choose for himself whether he will have the man Christ Jesus or Satan to rule over him. He will certainly have one or the other! Just as sure as he is a living being, the Lord Almighty will be his leader, dictator, director and counselor, or the devil will. We cannot live without them. We were brought here; we did not bring ourselves. We were created, formed, fashioned and made independent of ourselves. We are under this law and we cannot get from under it. But the Lord has given us intelligence, and He has set before us life and death, and has said, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” Which shall we take? I will take the Lord Jesus every time. Why? Because his doctrine is so pure and holy. I love it, because in it there is life; because it will endure; while all error, falsehood, lies and liars will be cast into hell; and when they shall be utterly destroyed and wasted away, truth will live and it will endure for ever. I think I will hold to it. Had not we better all do so? Do you not think that the Latter-day Saints had better keep their religion and hold on to the faith of the holy Gospel? I say to the Latter-day Saints, it is far better for you to retain your characters as Saints than to let them go. I do not care where you go, if it be among the most wicked band of men on earth, they will respect you more if you retain your characters as Saints than they would if they could say to you, “You have been preaching this doctrine that we call false for thirty, thirty-five, or forty years, and bearing your testimony to its truth, and now you turn round and say it is false. You have just learned that you have been a hypocrite, and that those whom you formerly hailed as brethren and friends are a set of hypocrites.” Such individuals will be branded wherever they go, and they will not be trusted either for good or evil; and if they go to hell they will be despised by the damned. That is the condition of apostates. Why? Because they are traitors, and having lied about one thing they will lie about another; having lied once they will lie again. Is it not so? Yes, everybody will admit that. Well, do you not think that good men and good women had better hold on to their goodness? I think so. When a man by his course in life has acquired a character that is spotless, it is a priceless jewel, and nothing should induce him to barter it away. If the wicked try to bring a blemish or cast a stain upon it their efforts will not be successful. They may throw their mud, but it will not stain the garments of the pure and holy. Had we not better preserve the good characters which God has helped us to maintain? I think we had.

Now, what do we believe in? In anything that will do us harm? Not the least in the world. Our belief will bring peace to all men and good will to all the inhabitants of the earth. It will induce all who sincerely follow its dictates to cultivate righteousness and peace; to live peaceably in their families; to praise the Lord morning and evening; to pray with their families, and will so fill them with the spirit of peace that they will never condemn or chasten any one unless it is well deserved. They who live in the enjoyment of the spirit and influence of our holy religion will never feel “cross.” That is the common word. Yankees will understand it, for I have seen lots of them cross—out of humor, out of temper. They will never feel like this. They will rise in the morning with their spirits as smooth and serene as the sun that is rising and giving life and heat to the world; just as calm and as smooth as the breezes on a summer evening. No anger, no wrath, no malice, contention or strife. If a wrong arises, the party wronged will go to his neighbor and quietly investigate whether wrong was designed; and if the seeming transgressor is living according to the spirit of his religion, it will be found that he had designed no wrong, and that he will make ample amends, forgiveness will be accorded, and the trouble will end. This is the spirit and teaching of the Gospel. Peace prevails. There are no lawsuits or contentions; no work for a poor miserable lawyer, who is seeking to breed disturbance in a community. I do think very low of that class of men! If I had no better business than stirring up strife in a community, I would pray for my end on this earth, that I might go where I belonged. The teachings of Jesus and his Apostles inculcated peace and prevented contention, discord, strife, quarrelling and lawsuits; and the Gospel, to-day, has the same effects as then. Here a great many of us have to water from one ditch from year end to year end. But there is no quarrelling over it. Says one, “I am content to have my share at midnight; you can have yours to-morrow at eleven o’clock.” No contention or strife! We meet together and ask God to bless us and to help us to live in the observance of all His laws, and to promote every principle of peace and morality, and so help to make ourselves and our neighbors happy. Is there harm in this? No, there is not. We like it, because it brings us comfort, peace and joy. We may look at the world and we observe a very different state of affairs. What is the condition of the kings of the earth? Can they pass around among their subjects anywhere and everywhere with peace and safety? No, they must have their life-guards to protect them; they are afraid of being destroyed from the earth. We may go to our political men and ask, “Have you got friends?” “Yes, such a man is my friend, he is a nice, good friend; but take care of that one, he is my enemy.” “What has he done?” “Nothing, only he is trying to break my calculations and plans in my election, and I don’t like him or his party.”

Saints have no such parties and feelings; they have no choice but to get the best there is, and be satisfied; and hence, in their political affairs they have no contention. This is one objection which outsiders have to the Latter-day Saints: they all go and vote one way. Is it not right to do so? Let us think about it. Suppose that we do all actually vote one way, or for one man for our delegate to Congress, and have no opposing candidate, and get the best there is, is that; not better than having opposition? What does opposition bring? It certainly brings anger and strife; and of what use are they? They serve no good purpose. Then let us all vote one way, and think and act one way, and keep the commandments of God and build up His kingdom on the earth in peace and righteousness. I certainly think that this is the best idea. We have plenty of competition in our midst, but what will it accomplish? Not much, if anything. They who favor it may contend until they are tired, and then they will drop silently out of the way, and that will be the end of them. Contention does not profit a people.

Have you truth? Let us have it if you have. If people have said to me, in my preachings, “That is error,” I have said, “Perhaps so, but this book (the Bible) is the standard I believe.” I have read out of that book many times to men, and they have said, “Oh, that is the Book of Mormon.” “It is good doctrine, is it not?” and they would not know whether it was the Bible or the Book of Mormon, and yet they would profess to be Bible readers and believers. Sometimes they would listen until tired, and then say, “I will not have any more of that, it is the Book of Mormon,” and some have even gone so far as to say, “It is blasphemous.” I have said, “Will you please look at the title page,” and when they would see that it was the Bible they would say, “Well, I really did not know that such things were in the Bible.”

I say to any and to all, “If you have any truth, let us have it.” If I have errors, I will swap ten of them for one truth. But I have the words of life for you, what have you for me? I ask the infidel world what they can give in exchange for the faith I have in Jesus Christ and the religion I believe in and practice. If I am wrong, mistaken, over-zealous, enthusiastic and bewildered in my imagination, what can you give me? “Nothing, we have nothing; we do not believe in anything.” Then I do not see any necessity of trading, for all I have cannot hurt or wrong anybody on the earth. I do not believe or practice anything that will do harm. I have embraced nothing in my faith, neither do I teach any doctrine that will hurt any person; hence, there is no necessity of trading if you have nothing to give me for my priceless jewel. I am for life everlasting. I have a being and a life here; and this life is very valuable; it is a most excellent life! I have a future! I am living for another existence that is far above this sinful world, wherein I will be free from this darkness, sin, error, ignorance and unbelief. I am looking forward to a world filled with light and intelligence, where men and women will live in the knowledge and light of God. Have you anything to give for this? Not the least in the world. Then I guess we will not trade. I have something for you if you will accept of it. If you will hearken to my counsel you will not only have joy in this life, peace in the Holy Ghost here, but life everlasting hereafter. I have embraced the Gospel for life and salvation; I have embraced it for time; I have embraced it for eternity. I calculate to go back and see my Father. Say the Christian world, “Who are you going to see?” A personage very much like myself; my Father, He who begot my spirit; my Father who set in perfect order the machine to produce this tabernacle in which my spirit dwells. “Oh,” say the Christian world, “we don’t believe in such a God as this.” We know you don’t. You don’t believe in a God at all—only a phantom of the brain. Still they mean better; but they are like those who, in olden times, worshipped an unknown God. The inscription on their temple was, “To the unknown God.” This is not our inscription; ours is, “To the known God,” our Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our elder brother according to the spirit. I am going to see Him one of these days if I live so as to be worthy; and when I see Him I shall fall upon His neck and He upon mine, and we shall kiss each other, shouting “Alleluia” that I have returned. Do not you think it will be a time of rejoicing? Yes.

This is the God that we serve and that we know and understand. Is there any harm in all this? Not the least in the world. Peace on earth and good will to men. Christ has died for all; but we can receive the benefit of his atonement on his conditions only, not on our own. We must repent of our sins and be baptized for the remission of them, and have the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost so that the spirit of the Gospel will live within us. Then we can shout Alleluia in praising Him whom we serve.

God bless you, Amen.

How to Know the Things of God

John Taylor

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 6, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

The Scriptures inform us “that no man knows the things of God, but by the Spirit of God;” and then no man can speak the things of God unless aided by the Spirit of the Lord; and no people can comprehend the things spoken unless inspired and guided by the same Spirit. We need this Spirit continually and so do all mankind, to guide us, to enable us to comprehend the laws of life, to regulate and concentrate our thoughts, to elevate and ennoble our feelings, to give force and vitality to our actions, and to place us in a position before God, before men, and before the holy angels, that will be right, acceptable and proper to all true intelligence, to the angelic host, and to our heavenly Father. It matters very little what we are engaged in, it is impossible for us to do right without the guidance of the Almighty; but aided and directed by the Spirit of the Lord, we can act in consonance with the dignity of our high position as immortal beings possessing the holy Priesthood, and participating in the new and everlasting covenant; by the aid of that unerring Spirit we can fulfil the measure of our creation and prepare ourselves for an inheritance in the celestial kingdom of our God.

We are told “that the world by wisdom knows not God;” yet they do comprehend a great many things, and because of the spread of general intelligence and the great progress of science, literature and the arts, they believe they can find out God. Like the framers of Babel’s Tower, they seek to penetrate the heavens on natural principles. Like them they are mistaken, as all men have been who have sought to solve the problem of life through the influence of human wisdom. No man ever did understand God on this principle; neither can they by mortal agency alone understand the principles of life and salvation. No man in the present generation comprehends them on this principle; neither will human wisdom enable any man who ever will live to understand them. It is true that mankind, within a short time, have made great advances in the arts and sciences. During the last half century scientific research has made many wonderful developments; and many things which, before that time, were unknown to the human family, are now quite familiar. There was very little known of the application of the power of steam half a century ago. I remember, very well, the first steam-boat and locomotive that were propelled by steam, and riding on the first railway. Before that, locomotion had to depend upon the winds and tides and horse power and a few other agencies. These are now supplanted by what all will acknowledge as a very superior agent—namely, the power of steam.

Electricity, or rather its application, so as to subserve the wants of man, was unknown until a comparatively recent period. I refer now more particularly to the electric telegraph. That has been a means of greatly facilitating the transmission of thought and the spread of intelligence among the human family, and has been a great advantage to the world at large. When we came to this valley, for instance, even so late as that, we had to depend upon ox teams to bring our mails and to convey intelligence from the East, and I have known it to be four, five, and sometimes as long as six months before we knew what President was elected. Now we can have it in fewer minutes; this exhibits a great improvement in such matters.

I can remember the time when we had to plod along at night, nearly in the dark, in our largest cities, the streets being lighted only by dim oil lamps. Now we have gas and various luminous oils, which we have made the earth teem forth by millions of gallons, that are almost equivalent to gas. Daguerreotyping, or as it is more generally called photography, is another great achievement of the human mind, conferring the power to take likenesses, landscapes and views in a moment, which formerly required days or months, even by the most eminent artists.

In machinery and chemistry, manufactures, and many other scientific developments connected with human life, wonderful advances have been made, and the world seems to have been progressing with great rapidity in the arts and sciences, in regard to manufactures. Some years ago every texture had to be spun by a single thread, now, by the aid of steam and machinery, it is done by thousands and hundreds of thousands. We might go on enumerating many other improvements which have taken place within the past few years; from which it is very evident that the progress of the present generation has far eclipsed that of any preceding it, of which we have any knowledge. Because of these things it has been supposed by many that the human intellect is capable of grasping everything in this world and the world to come—even eternal things, and many men have got puffed up and vain in their imaginations because of the discoveries they have made and the advancement in science, literature and the arts. They forget “that every good and perfect gift proceeds from God, the Father of light, in whom there is no variableness nor the shadow of a turning.” They forget that every particle of wisdom that any man possesses comes from God, and that without Him they would still continue to grope in the dark. They forget that, with all the increase of wisdom and intelligence and the expansion of the human mind, they are in the dark in regard to God, and that no man by wisdom can find Him out. The mystery which enshrouds Him is as high as heaven, as deep as hell and as wide as the universe; and it is unfathomable and incomprehensible by human intelligence, unaided by the inspiration of the Almighty.

There are men, it is true, who profess from the little knowledge they have of earthly things, by a series of deductions, to be able to find out heavenly things, but there is a very material difference between the two. There is a philosophy of the earth and a philosophy of the heavens; the latter can unravel all mysteries pertaining to earth; but the philosophy of the earth cannot enter into the mysteries of the kingdom of God, or the purposes of the Most High. But because of the advancement to which I have alluded, men set themselves up as teachers of things pertaining to spiritual matters, of which they know nothing. But the moment they do that, they exhibit their folly, vanity, imbecility and shortsightedness, for, as I have stated, they never did comprehend the things of God without the Spirit of God, and they never will. What folly it is, for men with the breath in their nostrils, who are but worms of the earth, existing as it were for a day, and to-morrow are cut down like the grass; or like the moth or butterfly, which flutters around for a brief space and then passes away into everlasting oblivion; I say what folly it is for beings so circumstanced, so weak, imbecile, circumscribed and control[l]ed to set themselves forward, unaided by the Spirit of the Almighty, to fathom the designs of God, to unravel the principles of eternal life, to comprehend the relationship that subsists between God and man and to draw aside the curtain of futurity. Who is there who has seen God or can comprehend Him, His designs and purposes? No man is capable of fathoming these mysteries. Man, indeed, can comprehend some of the principles which are developed in nature, and only a few of these. But who can grasp the intelligence that dwells in the bosom of Jehovah? Who can unravel His designs and penetrate the unfathomable abyss of the future? Who can tell upon what principle this world was organized or anything about the denizens of those worlds that we see moving around us? It is true that by the science of astronomy nice calculation in regard to the heavenly bodies can be made; but none can tell who put those bodies in motion, how they are control[l]ed, or by what class of people they are inhabited. As the Scriptures say, “What man, by his wisdom, can find out God?” No one can comprehend Him. We can find ourselves to be a remarkable enigma, both in regard to body and mind—each individual man, woman and child; but who can draw aside the veil and tell how or why we came here, and what awaits us when we lay aside this mortal coil? None can do this, unless God reveals it. There never was a man, neither is there a man now, nor ever will be, that can comprehend these things upon the principle of natural or human philosophy, and nothing short of the philosophy of heaven—the intelligence that flows from God, can unravel these mysteries.

Some men will stultify themselves with the idea that in ages gone and past the human race was in a semi-civilized or barbarous condition, and that any kind of a religion would do for the people in those days; but with the progress of intelligence, the march of intellect, the development of the arts and sciences and the expansion of the human mind, it is necessary that we should have something more elevated, refined and intellectual than that which existed then. To me such notions are perfect foolishness. If I read my Bible aright and believe in it, known unto God were all things from before the foundation of the world, and I do not think that the intelligence of the nineteenth century can enlighten His mind in relation to these matters. He that framed the body, shall He not know its structure? He that organized the mind, shall not He understand it? Before this world rolled into existence or the morning stars sang together for joy, the great Eloheim comprehended all things pertaining to the world that He organized and the people who should inhabit it; the position that they would occupy and the intelligence that they would possess; their future destiny and the destiny of the world that He then made. It is vanity, puerility and weakness for men to attempt to gainsay the designs of God, or to boast of their own intelligence. What do they know? Why, they discovered awhile ago that there is such a thing as electricity. Who made that electricity? Did man? Did, he originate and place it among the nature’s forces? Did it proceed from the acumen of man’s intelligence and his expansive mind? No, it always existed, and the man who discovered it—a little smarter than his fellows—only found out one of the laws of nature that emanated from and originated with God. It is just so with steam—the properties which render it so useful in subserving man’s purposes always existed, but man discovered them; if there had been no God to make these properties, no one could have found them out. It is so with the various gases and their properties, with minerals—their attractions and repulsions—they originated with God; man is incompetent to form anything of the kind. So we might go on through all man’s boasted achievements; they amount to no more than the discovery of some of the active or latent laws of nature, not comprehended by men generally, but discovered by some who consider themselves, and they no doubt are, smarter than their fellows. Where, then, is the boasted intelligence of man? Science reveals the beauty and harmony of the world material; it unveils to us ten thou, sand mysteries in the kingdom of nature, and shows that all forms of life through fire and analogous decay are returned again to its bosom. It unfolds to us the mysteries of cloud and rains, dew and frost, growth and decay, and reveals the operation of those silent irresistible forces which give vitality to the world. It reveals to us the more wonderful operations of distant orbs and their relations to the forces of nature. It also reveals another grand principle, that the laws of nature are immutable and unchangeable as are all the works of God. Those principles and powers and forces have undergone no change since they were first organized, or, if changed, they have returned again to the original elements from which they were derived. All of the properties of nature were as perfect at the creation as now; all the elements of nature possessed the same specific properties, affinities and capacity of combination that they do at present. Trees, shrubs, plants, flowers, birds, beasts, fishes and man were as perfect then as now. God’s works are all perfect and governed by eternal laws. It reminds me of an infant; I can compare it to nothing else. The new-born child is perfectly oblivious to anything and everything around it, although marvellous in its organization and perfect in its structure. By and by it holds up its hand and discovers for the first time that it has a hand. It had it before, but a new light bursts upon the brain of the child, and it discovers it has a hand, and no doubt thinks it is wonderful wise in finding it out, just as some of our philosophers do when they discover the properties of matter. But God made the child’s hand, and it was in existence before its brain was capable of comprehending it. And so were all these things, about the discovery of which men boast so much. God made them and made them perfect. Yet men will boast that they know things independent of God, whereas unless they had been aided by the Spirit of the Lord, and unless the principles had existed they never could have been found out, for no man could have originated them himself. All that man has ever done, with all his boasted intelligence, has been simply to develop or find out a few of the common principles of nature that always have existed, and always will exist, for these things and every principle of nature are eternal. The Gospel is also eternal. But where is there a man who understands heavenly things? Who can unravel them? Who has been behind the vail and talked with the Gods? Who among the wise men, philosophers, divines, philanthropists, kings, rulers or authorities of the earth can comprehend God or His designs. If we can understand so imperfectly the laws of nature with which we are surrounded, with the privileges of seeing, feeling, comparing and analyzing, what do we know of things beyond our vision, hearing, or comprehension? We can read, in the history of the past, of the rise and fall of nations, of the downfall of thrones and of the destruction of kingdoms; we can read of wars and rumors of wars. History points out what has transpired in relation to the nations of the earth and to men who have lived upon it, but who can penetrate into the future? Man is an immortal being: he is destined to live in time and throughout all eternity. He possesses not only a body, but a soul that will exist while “life or thought or being lasts, or immortality endures.” Who can tell in relation to this future? Who can tell things pertaining to our heavenly existence, or the object God had in view for creating this and other worlds, and the destiny of the human family? No man, except God reveals it to him. What has been and still is the position of the world in relation to these things? It has been governed by every kind of dogma and theory of religion. “Isms” of every kind have prevailed in turn—polytheism, infidelity, Christianity in its ten thousand forms, and every kind of theory and dogma that the human imagination could invent. Such contrarieties show definitely and positively that men, by wisdom, cannot find out God. And Christianity, at the present time, is no more enlightened than other systems have been. What does the Christian world know about God? Nothing; yet these very men assume the right and power to tell others what they shall and what they shall not believe in. Why, so far as the things of God are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God nor the things of God. Our Government is engaged just now in an act of this kind. Our legislators would tell me what I shall and shall not believe in, what shall be the course of my morals, as if they were immaculate and had been made perfect; as though they had inspiration from on high, and had found out the truth in all its richness, power and glory; as though they had conversed with the heavens and were acquainted with God. Oh, fools! What do they know about the truth? No more than a child about its hand. They are imbecile and ignorant and in the dark, and the greatest difficulty in the matter is—they are fools and don’t know it.

We consider, and always have since this Church was organized, that that part of Scripture that I quoted before is true—namely, “No, man knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God.” We, as Latter-day Saints, understood no correct principle until it was revealed to us. I did not, nor have I ever met with anybody that did, and I have travelled very extensively over the world that we live in, and have met with all classes and grades of men in different nations, We, as Latter-day Saints, are indebted to the revelations of God, given unto Joseph Smith, for the knowledge of the very first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and he could not have known it unless it had been revealed to him. One thing I did know of myself before I came into this Church, and that is more than a great many know of themselves—namely, that I was a fool, and did not know anything unless God revealed it. It takes a great deal of hammering to get that into some men’s minds. The main questions in my mind, when this Gospel came, were, “Is this true?” “Is this from God, or is it not?” “Has God, indeed, spoken as this man says He has?” If He has not, it is all a fiction, a farce and delusion, like the other “isms” that exist in the world; if He has, it is for me to obey, no matter what the consequences may be.

There is one thing that has always been satisfactory to my mind in relation to this Gospel—there has never been one principle revealed, at any time, but what has been instructive and in accordance with the Scriptures, which we consider to be of divine origin. Never one principle but what could be substantiated by the word of God, although we did not know it before, and the world does not know it now. And I may also say that there has never been a principle revealed but what has been strictly philosophical and is in accordance with good, sound common sense; and, furthermore, I will go on beyond that and say that no principle ever will be revealed but what will be in accordance with philosophy, if we can comprehend it. As there is a philosophy of the earth and a philosophy of the heavens, it needs heavenly instruction to comprehend the heavenly things. But, as I said before, “no man knows the things of God, but by the Spirit of God.” The Scriptures show unto us how we may obtain that Spirit, which will give us a knowledge for ourselves.

When this Gospel was revealed, it was declared unto us that it was an everlasting Gospel, that there was a Priesthood associated with it, and that that Priesthood was everlasting; so we were presented with an everlasting Priesthood, and with an everlasting Gospel. There was also an everlasting covenant associated with it. We were told how we might obtain a knowledge of this Gospel for ourselves—the promise being that if we would repent of our sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of them, by one having authority, we should receive the Holy Ghost. We were also told that that Holy Ghost would place us in communication with God; that it would take of the things of God and show them unto us, and that we should know for a certainty, each of us for ourselves, of the truths that had been proclaimed unto us.

This was the position that we were placed in. We went forward and obeyed it, for we were told that God had revealed Himself from the heavens, that He had restored the Gospel by the means of a holy angel, as referred to by John the Revelator, and that He had restored, by authority direct from heaven, communication between Himself, the heavenly world and His creatures here. We were told that by obedience to that Gospel we should be made the recipients of a Spirit which would bring things past to our remembrance, that would lead us into all truth and show us things to come.

Believing in this message, this vast crowd of people before me to-day, went forth and bowed in obedience, and they received that Spirit, and they knew and do know that the Gospel they had preached unto them came not in word only, but in power and in the demonstration of the Spirit, and that the Holy Ghost accompanied it. You know, and I know, that when you obeyed this Gospel and had hands laid upon you for the reception of the Holy Ghost, you received it. Who else knows anything about it? Nobody. Do any of these strangers around? No. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man is born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” Then what do they know about it? You talk to a blind man about colors, and ask him to tell the difference between red and white, black and blue, and he would tell you perhaps that one was long and the other short, that one was light and the other heavy. He could not describe, nor his sense comprehend it. Jesus said a man could not see the kingdom of God unless he was born of the Spirit. Did he speak the truth? I think he did. And when you were born again of the water and of the Spirit, you saw and you entered into the kingdom of God, and things that, you were ignorant of before, you then comprehended. Many of you felt a good deal like the blind man spoken of in the Scriptures, after he had been healed by our Savior. The Scribes and Pharisees, a learned and very holy body of men—spoke to his father, saying, “Give God the glory, for we know that this man is a sinner.” They knew that Jesus was an imposter, a deceiver, a false prophet, a blasphemer, and that He cast out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of devils, and that he was one of the wickedest, meanest curses in existence. “Give God the glory,” said they, “for we know this man is a sinner.” The father of him who had been healed of his blindness said, “Whether he is a sinner, I know not; but this I do know, that whereas this my son was once blind and now he sees.” Now a great many of you here are very much deluded in the estimation of the philosophers, wise men and priests of the world; but if you do not comprehend the philosophy of the whole matter, one thing you all know—that once you were blind, but now you see. You understood that years ago and you understand it to-day, and no man can deprive you of that knowledge, or strip you of that information. No man can rob you of that light: it is the gift of God, it emanates from Jehovah, and no man can take it away, or reason or legislate it away; it is an eternal principle, emanating from God, and that is something the worldly-wise and great know nothing about. You who are here to-day, who have obeyed this Gospel, are witnesses of the truth of which I speak; I am a witness and I bear witness to it.

We are told that Jesus said on a certain occasion to his disciples, “It is necessary that I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come. If I go away I will send you a Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.” What will it do for you? It will lead you into all truth, so that you will see eye to eye and comprehend the purposes of God; you will march in line; you will be under one instructor; you will have one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God who is in all and through all, will inspire and guide and dictate you; you will not be split up and divided as the sectarians are—every man taking his own course, every man for himself and the devil for the whole; it will not be setting up human intellect above the intelligence and inspiration of the Almighty. Instead of this, all will bow to the dictates of Jehovah; the aspiration of every heart will be, “O, God, thou that rulest in the heavens; O thou Supreme Governor of the universe, that created all things and controls all things, impart to me a small moiety of Thy wisdom! Inspire me with a little of that intelligence that dwells in Thy bosom! Give me a little of Thy Holy Spirit, that I may comprehend Thee and Thy laws, and walk in obedience to Thy commands!” This will be the feeling of that individual. “O God, teach me the paths of life and then give power to walk in them!”

Jesus told them they should have the Holy Ghost, the Comforter; the Spirit should bring things past to their remembrance, it should enable them to comprehend something about the world and why it was organized and by whom; why man was placed upon it; what the position of the human family is in relation to the present, past and future; find out what God’s dealings had been with the human family in ages gone and past, and His designs in relation to the world. Then it should unfold things to come, it should draw back the curtain of futurity and by the inspiration and intelligence of that Spirit which proceeds from God, it should grasp the future. It should comprehend the destiny of the human family, and by the revelations which God should communicate, make known the life to come in the eternal worlds. This is the kind of thing that the everlasting Gospel communicates, and it is the revelation of God to man. But the world, as I said before, know not the things of God, and they cannot comprehend them.

I have had it asked me by philosophers, “Is this the only way you propose to ameliorate the condition of the human family—faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, baptism for the remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost?” Yes, that is God’s way of doing it; that is the way He has pointed out. I remember, on one occasion, being in the city of Paris, and a gentleman came to me to inquire concerning the Gospel. He was associated with a system of socialism, very common in France, called Icarianism. A company of them went to Nauvoo after we left. This gentleman was a philosopher, and the society was trying to carry out its philosophy in France, and they aimed to bring about the Millennium. They never prayed to God, they were going to do it by human intelligence. This gentleman, whose name was Krolikrosky, called upon me, when after a lengthy conversation on the principles of our faith, said he, referring to faith, repentance, baptism and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, the first principles of our Gospel: “Is this all you propose to ameliorate the condition of the world?” “Yes.” He answered, “I hope you will succeed, but I am afraid you will not.” “Permit me,” I said, “to draw your attention to one or two things. I am a religionist.” “Yes.” “I profess to have had revelation from God; you do not.” “That is so,” said he. “You have sent out to Nauvoo a number of your most intellectual men, well provided with means of every kind and with talent of the first order. Now what is the result? They have gone to a place that we have deserted; they found houses built, gardens and farms enclosed, nothing to do but to take possession of them?” “Yes. They found buildings of all kinds, public and private, in which they could live and congregate.” “Yes. Was there ever a people better situated in regard to testing your natural philosophy? You could not have hit upon a better place. It is a fertile country, on the banks of the most magnificent stream in the United States—the Mississippi. Houses built, gardens made, fields enclosed and cultivated. You have wise men among you—the wisest, the creme de la creme of your society, yet with all this and the favorable circumstances under which your people commenced there, what have you done? Every time that I take up a paper of yours the cry from there is, ‘Send us means;’ ‘we want means;’ ‘we are in difficulty;’ ‘we want more money.’ This is their eternal cry, is it not?” “Yes.” “Now,” said I, “on the other hand, we left our farms, houses, gardens, fields, orchards, and everything we had, except what we took along in the shape of food, seeds, farming utensils, wagons, carts, and we wandered for from ten to fifteen hundred miles, with hand-carts, ox teams and any way we could, and settled, finally, among the red savages of the forest. We had no fields to go to and no houses built; when we went there it was a desert—a howling wilderness, and the natives with which we were surrounded were as savage as the country itself. Now then, what is the result? We have only been there a few years, but what are we doing? We are sending money to bring in our emigration; we are sending hundreds of thousands of dollars, and have expended half a million a year in teams to bring in our poor from the nations. But what of you wise men who know not God, and think you know better than He does, what are you doing—you philosophers, intelligent men and philanthropists, crying out eternally, ‘ Send us help?” Which is the best?” Said he, “Mr. Taylor, I have nothing to say.”

We care nothing about the opinions of men, let them look upon us as they may. We can say as the old Apostle said, “We are living epistles, known and read of all men.” Judge us by our works. Do thieves, renegades, blacklegs and corrupt men accomplish the work done here? Where are your Gentile associations? Here we have a magnificent city called Corinne, instituted by you gentlemen Gentiles here. What a magnificent place it is! It looks as if Tophet has been been spewed out to people it with honorable American citizens! Yet these men will prate to us about morality, the poor miserable curses! O, shame, if thou hadst any blood in thy body, thou wouldst blush for very shame at the transactions of this world in which we live.

But we believe in God, and you Latter-day Saints, your religion is as true as it was ten, twenty, thirty, or eighteen hundred or six thousand years ago. It has not changed, and I do not think that it will. It is everlasting; it is eternal in its nature and its consequences, and, whether other men know what they are doing or not, we do. If others do not attend to eternity, we do; if others know nothing about God, we do, and we know where we are going and how we are going. God has pointed out to us the path, and we intend to walk in it, in spite of all the powers of earth and hell.

God has taught us the relationship that should exist between us and the eternal worlds. That is a thing that is very much found fault with. He has unveiled the future to us and told us that man is not made for here alone, and then to die and rot and be forgotten, or to sing himself away somewhere beyond the bounds of time and space where nobody ever was nor ever will be. We have been taught something different from that. We are aiming at eternal exaltation, at thrones, principal[i]ties and powers in the eternal worlds. Being made in the image of God, male and female, and having had developed to us the laws of this life and the laws of the life to come, we take the privilege of walking according to these laws, despite the ideas and notions of men.

Who is there among the men of the world who know anything about the future? I know how it was with me, and how it was with you, Jew, Gentile, Mormon, everybody. What was it! If you applied to the priesthood of the day to be married, the priest told you he joined you in the holy bonds of matrimony until death. And what then? You had to find out the rest by your own ingenuity. No matter about the future. Is that all man was made for—to live, marry and die—and nothing pertaining to the future? Is man made in the image of God? Is God our Father? Is there a heaven above? Is there an eternity before us, and are we to prepare ourselves for it or not? We take the liberty of following the counsel of Jehovah, revealed to us in relation to it.

What man has a claim upon his wife in eternity? It is true that some of the writers of the yellow-backed literature have a philosophy a little in advance of the priests of the day. Some of them do tell us about eternal unions. They expect to be married here and hereafter. They know nothing about it, still they are in advance of the clergy. They follow the instincts of nature, and nature unperverted looks forward to a reunion. We are not governed by opinion in these matters. God has revealed the principle, and our wives are sealed to us for time and eternity. When we get through with this life we expect to be associated in the next, and therefore we pursue the course that we do, and no power this side of hell, nor there either, can stop it.

Our course is onward. The Lord has revealed to us the pearl of great price. We have sacrificed everything that the world calls good to purchase it; we are in possession and we will not part with it for worlds. We “fear not men, who can kill the body,” as Jesus said; and after that there is no more that they can do. We fear God who is able to cast both soul and body into hell. Yea, we fear Him.

We make our covenants, then, for eternity, because the Gospel is an everlasting Gospel. Every truth that ever did exist is everlasting. Man is an eternal being; his body is eternal. It may die and slumber, but it will burst the barriers of the tomb and come forth in the resurrection of the just. I know that some of our wise men, even some among us, profess to think that these things are only folly. However, I look at them differently. I believe the Bible; I believe in the revelations of God and in the manifestations of the Spirit of God. I would rather possess the feeling that Job had when he was afflicted, cast out, oppressed and despoiled, when he lay scraping himself with a potsherd, wallowing in ashes, than the proud and lofty folly that dwells in the heart of the unbeliever and scorner. Said Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand in the latter days upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, not for another; and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Those were his feelings. This transpired in the “dark ages,” when men did not know so much about electricity, locomotives and a few other scientific discoveries, as they do in this enlightened age. I also read in the sayings of the prophets, given under the inspiration of the Almighty, that “the dead, small and great, shall rise, and that bone shall be joined to its bone, sinew to sinew, and they became a living army before God.” I knew a man, whom many of you knew, who built a tomb for himself in the city of Nauvoo. His name was Joseph Smith, and many of you heard him say what I shall now relate. Said he, “I expect when the time of the resurrection comes to rise up in my tomb there, and strike hands with my brethren, with my father and with my mother, and hail the day when we shall burst from the barriers of the tomb and awake to immortal life.” Have you never heard him talk thus? I have. Shall we reject from our belief the glorious principles of eternity—the resurrection of the just? Says John, when wrapt in prophetic vision, and clothed upon with the Spirit and power of God and the revelations of Jehovah, “I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and all nations stood before God.”

I want a part in the resurrection. The angel said, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.” I want to have part in the first resurrection. It is that which leads me to hope. It is that hope which buoys me up under difficulties and sustains me while passing through tribulation, for I know as well as Job knew that my “Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth,” and I know that I shall stand upon it with him. I therefore bear this testimony.

Allow me to quote a little Scripture. You know that there is a saying, by one of the Apostles, that Jesus was a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec; and speaking further of this Melchizedec, the Apostle says he was “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of years.” A very singular sort of man, was he not? Did you ever see a man like that? We are told that Jesus was a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec. Now, there never was a man without father or mother, but this refers to his Priesthood, that was without beginning of days or end of years, and Jesus had the same kind of Priesthood that Melchizedec had.

Now we talk about the everlasting Gospel, and we will go back to some of these dark ages referred to. The Melchizedec Priesthood holds the mysteries of the revelations of God. Wherever that Priesthood exists, there also exists a knowledge of the laws of God; and wherever the Gospel has existed, there has always been revelation; and where there has been no revelation, there never has been the true Gospel. Let us go back to those times. We find that the Gospel was preached unto Abraham, and that Melchizedec was the man to whom Abraham paid tithes, and that Melchizedec blessed him. Paul tells us, “Verily the less is blessed of the better.” Now Abraham had the Gospel, and Melchizedec had it, and the law was added because of transgression; and by and by, when Jesus came, He was a priest forever after the order of Melchizedec, and he restored the Gospel, and consequently revelations, the opening of the heavens and the manifestation of the power of God; and whenever the Gospel has existed, in any age of the world, these same manifestations have existed with it; and whenever these have not been upon the earth, there has been no Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.”

In addition to Melchizedec, the Bible also mentions a man called Moses, and he had the Gospel, for Paul tells us “that he preached it to the children of Israel in the wilderness, but that it profited them nothing, not being mixed with faith.” There was another man called Elijah, that we read of in the Bible. He was one of those fanatics who believe in revelation, and he had the Gospel. We come down to the time that Jesus was here on the earth; and on one occasion we read that he was on the mount with three of his disciples, Peter, James and John, and Jesus was transfigured before them. And Peter said, “Master, it is good for us to be here, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses and one for Elias.” What? Was Moses, that old fellow who led the children of Israel from Egypt, there? That shows that he had the everlasting Gospel and Priesthood; and having got rid of the affairs of this world, he returned to minister to Jesus when he was on the earth. Was Elias there too? So Peter said. What was he doing there? He died long before, but having held the everlasting Priesthood he lived again, and lives for evermore. We will go to another man. There are curious things in the Bible, if the people only believed them; but they do not, and that is the trouble. I refer to John, the beloved disciple. We are told that he was banished because he was a fanatic—I was going to say a Mormon—as John did not agree with the enlightenment, philosophy and intelligence that existed then. What did they do with him? They banished him and sent him to the Isle of Patmos; and compelled him to labor among the slaves in the lead mines; he was not fit for civilized society, but they could not deprive him of fellowship. While there with the Almighty, he was carried away in the Spirit, and that Spirit manifested to him things past, for generations gone; things present—the condition of the churches that then existed; and also things to come—the world with all its myriads of inhabitants down to the winding-up scene. He saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, called the Book of Life; and he saw a hundred and forty-four thousand, and a number that no man can number, who sang a new song, and the glories of eternity, and the past, present and future were unveiled before his vision. He saw the new Jerusalem descend from above, and the Zion from above meeting the Zion from below, and they were married and became one. He saw the end of the nations, and of the world. “Cloud-capped towers and gorgeous palaces were dissolved,” and everything passed away. He gazed upon the whole; and a mighty angel stood before him, and he was about to bow down before him and to worship him; but the angel said, “Stop, do not worship me!” “Why? Who are you? You are a glorious personage; you are filled with greatness, and surrounded by majesty, glory and power, and the visions of eternity seem to be at your command, for you have unfolded them to me. Will you not let me worship you?” “No.” “Who are you?” “I am one of thy fellow-servants, the prophets, who kept the testimony of Jesus, and the word of God, while here upon the earth, and feared God and kept His commandments. Do not worship me, worship God.” Said he, “I am one of those old fellows who were buffeted, persecuted and misrepresented just as you are; despised as you are by fools who knew nothing about God or eternity.”

Well, now, we believe these things. We believe in a religion that will reach into eternity, that will bring us into connection with God. We believe that God has set up His kingdom on the earth; we believe and know that it will roll forth and spread and extend, that Zion will be built up, that the glory of God will rest upon it; that the arm of Jehovah will be made bare in its defence; that the power of God will be exerted in behalf of His people; that Zion will rise and shine, and that the glory of God will be manifested among His Saints. We know that this kingdom will grow and increase until the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and that He shall rule and reign forever and ever. And we expect to join in the universal anthem, “Hosanna, hosanna, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,” and will reign until all enemies are under His feet.

God bless Israel. God bless all His Saints, and let the wrath of God be upon the enemies of Zion from this time henceforth and for ever, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Saints are a Strange People Because They Practise What They Profess

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Feb. 20, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

It is some time since I have spoken to the people in this capacity, and I have a few words to say to Saints and sinners. That is a common expression, but as we are all sinners, I might say a few words to sinners exclusively.

The Gospel of the Son of God that has been revealed is a plan or system of laws and ordinances, by strict obedience to which the people who inhabit this earth are assured that they may return again into the presence of the Father and the Son.

I frequently contemplate the condition of this so-called strange people the Latter-day Saints. “A strange people” is a peculiar expression, as though we were different from others! I know that we are so considered, but in my opinion we are the most rational, common sense people that live on the face of the earth. We are trying to become natural in our habits, and are striving to fulfil the end and design of our creation. When we read of and contemplate the manners, morals and customs that prevail in the world and compare them with those of the Latter-day Saints, we may justly come to the conclusion that we are “a strange people,” for, in these respects, we are very different to the rest of the world. How strange it is that we should do differently from the rest of mankind! How strange it is that we should believe differently from our neighbors! It is very strange indeed that we cannot embrace the so-called Christian religion and be satisfied therewith. If we were to ask the infidel world some few questions, they might talk, philosophize and bring up their sophistry, but they could not prove a truth to be an untruth. The whole infidel world cannot prove that we are not here on this earth, that the sun does not shine, that we do not speak and hear, that we do not see with our eyes and handle with our hands, that we have not the power of tasting and smelling and have not the use of our natural senses. You all know that I have got eyes, for you can see them; you know I can speak, for you can hear my voice; you know that you are here in a building, rude as it may be, and you know that you walk on the ground; you know that you breathe the air, and you also know that when you are thirsty you desire water to drink, and that when you are hungry you want something palatable to eat. We all know these things by the exercise of our natural senses, but there are many things of which we are ignorant. We may look at ourselves and the people generally, and the earth upon which we walk, and without the revelations of God we know not who we are, whence we came, nor who formed the earth on which we live, move and have our being. Did I bring the particles of matter together and form the earth? No. Did you, Mr. Philosopher? Did you, Mr. Infidel, or you, Mr. Christian, Pagan, or Jew? No, not any of us. We know that we are here, but who brought us here or how we came are questions the solution of which depends upon a power superior to ours. The ideas of the inhabitants of the earth with regard to their own creation and destiny, and with regard to the destiny of the earth, are very crude and vague. But we must all acknowledge that some individual, being, power or influence superior to ourselves produced us and the earth and brought us forth and holds us in existence, and causes the revolutions of the earth and of the planetary system. These are facts that neither we nor all mankind can controvert; the whole Christian and even the heathen world will acknowledge all this; but what do they know about it? Who understands the modus operandi by which all this was brought about and continued? Who is able to leap forth into the immensity of thought, space, contemplation and research, and search out the principles by which we are here and by which we are sustained? The strangest phenomenon to the inhabitants of the earth to-day is that God, the maker and preserver of the earth and all it contains, should speak from heaven to His creatures, the works of His hands here. What would there be strange in the mechanician, after constructing the most beautiful and ingenious piece of mechanism it is possible to conceive of, speaking to it and admiring the beauty, regularity and order of its motions? Nothing whatever. Well, to me it is not at all strange that He who framed and fashioned this beautiful world and all the myriads and varieties of organizations it contains, should come and visit them; to me this is perfectly natural, and when we remember and compare the belief of this people with that of the rest of the world we need not be surprized at being considered “a strange people.”

Brother George A. Smith has been relating to us something about the history and belief of some of his forefathers, and others; one believed one thing and another another. It was with them, as it was in the days of the Apostles—some were for Paul, some for Apollos, some for Cephas and some for Christ. To me it is more rational for an intelligent being to embrace truth, than it is to mix up a little truth with a great deal of error, or to embrace all error and undertake to follow a phantom. Have you embraced truth, Latter-day Saints? Have you anything different from other Christians? Yes. What have you got? You have got a Father in heaven, a system of religion, a plan of salvation, with doctrines and ordinances. What are they? We read them in the Bible, and the same things again in the Book of Mormon, both of which are precisely the same as the principles contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, each one corroborating the other. It is written that out of the mouths of two or three witnesses every word shall be established, and here, in the New Testament, we have the words of the evangelists; in the Old Testament the words of the prophets and patriarchs; and again, the testimony of others in the Book of Mormon; and last of all, given in our own day, the testimony of Joseph Smith in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; all coinciding, and the two latter corroborating, the fact that the Bible, as far as it is correctly translated, is the word of God. The Bible contains the word of God, the word of Jesus, of angels, of good men, of those tolerably good, of wicked men, and the words of the devil, the enemy of all righteousness, the enemy of Jesus, and the enemy of this world, who is determined that he will possess the earth and its inhabitants; and in the main it is true; and every item of doctrine taught by the Latter-day Saints is to be found in this book. Then, why should the Latter-day Saints appear so obnoxious and disagreeable to the world—fairly a hiss and a by-word? What is the reason of this? Is it because we can swear more and better than others? No. Because we can lie more and better than others? Well, can you steal better than others? No; I will defy you to do that. Are you better gamblers? No. Do you intrude more on your neighbors’ rights than others? No. Do you bear false witness more than others? No. Can you revile the name of the Savior more than others? No. Well then, why are we considered so strange a people? Simply because we believe in the reality of the principles contained in the word of God, and maintain that man, in this day, needs and obtains direct revelation from his Creator for his guidance.

Let us look now for a moment at what is termed the “moral code,” the ten commandments revealed by the Lord to the Jews, the House of Israel, for a law to control their everyday walk and conduct. Do the Latter-day Saints keep this? Yes. Does that make them so very strange? Why should it? Does that fact make them a speckled bird in the communities of the world? It should not. Then why is it that we are so considered? We have a Father; He is in heaven; He has told us to call Him Father; He says that we are His children. Now, excuse me everybody that does not believe in the Bible, or who is inclined not to believe in it, we are so unwise, so shortsighted, so foolish in our imagination that we believe the Bible, we actually believe that God the Father is our heavenly Father, that we are His children; and we believe that Jesus Christ is our elder brother—that he is actually the Son of our Father and that he is the Savior of the world, and was appointed to this before the foundations of this earth were laid. We are just so foolish and short-sighted as to believe all this.

We know that this age, by the outside world, is considered a fast age; we think it is very fast, so far as unbelief goes. The people now-a-days profess to be very enlightened and they say, “Don’t be so superstitious as to believe the Bible;” and the idea of Jesus being sacrificed for the sins of the world is ridiculed by many. They say, “Oh, don’t have any such ideas, be more liberal, be as we are;” and I heard of one man who said he would not believe in, worship, nor acknowledge a God who would command a man to sacrifice his only son, as Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac. We Latter-day Saints are just so unwise and foolish as to believe that the Lord Almighty required this at the hands of Abraham; and He did not tell Abraham that he would have that ram ready in the bushes. He said, “Have you confidence in me, my son Abraham?” “Yes,” said Abraham. “Well, I will prove you. Bring up your son Isaac to Mount Moriah, build an altar there, place the wood on the altar and bind your son and place him on the altar and sacrifice him to me, and this will prove whether you have faith in me or not.” The sacrifice was offered and ac[c]epted, and the Lord provided a way whereby Isaac could live. We are just so foolish, unwise and shortsighted, and so wanting in philosophy that we actually believe God told Abraham to do this very thing.

Who is that God? He is my Father, He is your Father; we are His offspring. He has planted within each of us the germ of the same intelligence, power, glory and exaltation that He enjoys Himself. This proves that we are a peculiar race. We belong to the highest order of intelligence; and though we, as yet, are very ignorant, we have the privilege of increasing in intelligence, growing, expanding, spreading abroad, gathering in, enlarging and gaining, and the more we learn to-day, the better for us, for it does not destroy the knowledge we had yesterday; and when we learn more to-morrow it does not destroy the knowledge of to-day. We are creatures susceptible of continual education and improvement. And we take this book, the Bible, which I expect to see voted out of the so-called Christian world very soon, they are coming to it as fast as possible, I say we take this book for our guide, for our rule of action; we take it as the foundation of our faith. It points the way to salvation like a fingerboard pointing to a city, or a map which designates the locality of mountains, rivers, or the latitude and longitude of any place on the surface of the earth that we desire to find, and we have no better sense than to believe it; hence, I say that the Latter-day Saints have the most natural faith and belief of any people on the face of the earth.

We believe in God the Father, in Jesus the Mediator; we believe in the ordinances that He has placed in His house, we believe in keeping the laws that He has left on record by which His Saints are required to square their lives, and to direct their steps. We do all this and we keep the moral code. Others do this, and when we reflect upon the righteous course of many of those who have lived before us, who have observed this moral code, we can see that great good has been done. But why should we be considered so strange by those who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?

One says, “You believe in baptism by immersion, and we do not believe in it; you Latter-day Saints believe that a person should come to the years of accountability before he is baptized, but we believe in taking our infants and dipping our fingers, or in the priest dipping his fingers in the water and touching the children’s foreheads and that they then become members of the living church and heirs of salvation.” But where do you find this in the Bible?

The method of administering the ordinance of baptism is a much disputed point among the different sects of the religious world, the Baptists alone maintaining that immersion is absolutely necessary. Some are so liberal in their views on this subject that they will either sprinkle or immerse at the option of the candidate. None, however, regard it as necessary or efficacious for the remission of sins, but simply as a profession of faith. We, the Latter-day Saints, believe in being baptized by immersion for the remission of sins, according to the testimony of the disciples of Jesus and the revelations of the Lord given in these last days. Infants are pure, they have neither sorrow of heart nor sins to repent of and forsake and consequently are incapable of being baptized for the remission of sin. If we have sinned, we must know good from evil; an infant does not know this, it cannot know it; it has not grown into the idea of contemplation of good and evil; it has not the capacity to listen to the parent or teacher or to the priest when they tell what is right or wrong or what is injurious; and until these things are understood a person cannot be held accountable and consequently cannot be baptized for the remission of sin.

“Well,” says the Christian, “If you really believe in being baptized by immersion, I expect it is correct for you, and it will answer every purpose; but we think sprinkling will answer for us.” If, however, sprinkling infants be the correct method of administering the ordinance of baptism, we are safe even on Christian grounds, for all Christians will acknowledge that immersion is as good. If, on the other hand, immersion, or being buried with Christ by baptism, be the only correct method of administering the ordinance, and it is, according to the testimony of more than one of his disciples, our system will not avail those who have been sprinkled. But we are safe anyhow.

Again, with regard to faith in Jesus. Along comes a man and says, “It is all folly to have faith in the name of Jesus. It is true that Christ died for all, but it is folly for you to fret yourselves about keeping his commandments and observing the ordinances left on record in the Scriptures. Jesus will save all. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, and if he came to save sinners do you not think he will accomplish the task?”

We, the Latter-day Saints, certainly believe that Christ will accomplish all that he undertook to do, but he never yet said he would save a sinner in his sins, but that he would save him from his sins. He has instituted laws and ordinances whereby this can be effected. But this gentleman says, “Christ will save all.” The Mormon Elder says that he will save all who come to him, all who hearken to his word and keep his commandments, and Jesus has said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Now this character to which I have referred says he loves Jesus, but it is nonsense to keep his commandments; but the “Mormon” says, “I love Jesus, and in proof of it I keep his commandments.” Now, suppose the former is correct and Christ will save all, whether they do or do not keep his commandments, in that case the “Mormons” are right again, for they will all be saved; but suppose that Jesus requires strict obedience to his laws and ordinances and commandments, those who merely believe without rendering obedience to his laws are slightly incorrect, and, in the end, the disadvantage will again be with them.

Now the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes every word of truth believed in by the holy Catholic Church—the mother church of the Christian world; and then every truth believed in by every Protestant reformer and revivalist that has ever come out from the mother church or from any of her children; and having all this, we wish to frame, fashion and build after the pattern that God has revealed; and in doing so we take all the laws, rules, ordinances and regulations contained in the Scriptures and practice them as far as possible, and then keep learning and improving until we can live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

You may take the mother church of the Christian world, the reformers, universalists, deists, atheists, spiritualists and everybody else, and if any or all of them are right, we are sure that we are, for every particle of truth believed in by any one of them, and all the truth possessed by the whole of them combined is believed in by the Latter-day Saints; but if we are right, they will fail. Now, who is on the safe ground? Who is most likely to be deluded and to be found wanting? Let the people decide.

There is not a word in these three books, Bible, Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that I have ever found yet, that has been delivered by the Lord to His servants, but what, if it is lived up to, or practiced in the life of an individual, it makes him or her better in every sense of the word. There is no code ever got up by the children of men that would direct them so purely in their lives as that contained in these three books, and if the people of the Christian world, or any portion of them, were to throw away or set aside faith in God and in Jesus Christ, and the various ordinances of the Gospel as contained in the Scriptures, and were to observe only the moral code, and observe it strictly, it would make them a better people than any who now live on the face of the earth, the Latter-day Saints excepted.

But what is the use of forsaking any portion of the law of the Lord? It is true that some portions of it, through disuse or neglect, are now looked upon as obsolete, just as it is with some laws still remaining on the statute books of the nations of the earth; but a law possesses neither more nor less intrinsic merit on this account. The law once passed in England inflicting a penalty upon all who ate bread until it was three days old, possesses no less merit or virtue now that it is obsolete than in the day when it was enacted. It was gotten up many years ago because fresh bread was considered injurious to the stomach; but, although it is not enforced now, I believe it has never been repealed. Did my English brethren and sisters observe this law while they lived in England? I think not; perhaps they did not know anything about it. If, however, that law was good when it was made, it is good now, and there is no person in that country who uses bread under that age but is liable to be prosecuted. So it is with regard to many laws under our own and other governments. They are found to be inapplicable to the situation and condition of the people, and hence they become obsolete. We may take the laws contained in the Old and New Testaments, and if they were good in the days of the Apostles, Prophets and Patriarchs, why are they not good to-day? It is not because they are not good that they are passed over, but in some respects they are not as applicable to the feelings of the Christian world now as when they were given, because of the traditions of the fathers.

I know that the outside world say, “Oh, you Mormons, what a poor degraded people you are!” You know, one public lecturer says there is not a public school in all Utah. I can say that if there are no public schools there are plenty of private schools, and there are no people on the face of the earth that support as many children in private schools as the people of Utah, according to their numbers. Still the world declare that we are degraded, miserable and ignorant; and, “Oh, that horrid principle! Oh dear, it makes me blush!” Yes, it makes one think of a little circumstance that transpired with one of our Elders who went after machinery to Massachusetts. He went to inquire about machinery for a cotton factory, and the gentleman to whom he applied said, “Where are you from?” “Utah.” “O, you are out among the Mormons?” “Yes.” “Are you a Mormon?” “Yes.” “Well, I believe,” said the interrogator, “you, out there, believe in having more wives than one?” “Yes, that is true,” said the Elder. “Well,” said the gentleman, “I want you to come up and see my partner.” So our brother was invited up to see the partner of the gentleman who had questioned him so closely, in order to talk a little about the number of people here, and the improvements, etc. The first thing, on meeting the partner, was to pitch into the “Mormon” about how many wives he had, and he replied that “he had just enough to enable him to keep from troubling his neighbors’ wives.” The gentleman that took our Elder to this place had a family, but the gentleman whom they visited had not, and he was considered a great libertine; and the one who had a family was delighted with the answer made by the Elder, and said he to his partner, “I guess you are satisfied now, I wish you could say as much.” This is the way with the world—“How many wives have you got?” and, “Oh, it is so wicked, it is so degrading!”

Well, I need not talk about this; but I will say that the principle of patriarchal marriage is one of the highest and purest ever revealed to the children of men. I do not say that it will not injure a great many. I heard brother Joseph Smith say a number of times, “There is no question but it will be the means of damning many of the Elders of Israel; it is nevertheless true and must be revealed; and the Lord designs that it shall be revealed and go forth, and that this people must receive the oracles of truth, and they must receive this holy ordinance, and that that pertains to the celestial world; and they will retrograde if they do not embrace more of the celestial law than they have yet.”

I say, with regard to this principle, if it was good in the days of Abraham and of the Patriarchs and Prophets, or at any other period of the world’s history, and the fact that the Lord commanded His servants anciently to observe it, is conclusive proof that it was so considered by Him, why is it not good now? It certainly does not go as far as some of our lecturers in the East, who advocate the abolition of the marriage ceremony by Government. We do not go quite as far as this; we can’t receive all that they do or would receive. We can’t believe a great many things the so-called Christian world believe, because they are neither Scriptural nor true.

Now, with regard to this moral code, of which I have been speaking, I will leave it to the greatest infidel, or to the smallest infidel on the earth, or to the wickedest and most riotous person that can be found, and I am satisfied that he will say that lives squared according to its precepts, whether of individuals or communities, are the very best that can be led. I say to the world, do not blame us for believing it. Do not blame the Latter-day Saints for believing the Bible. “We will not,” says the Christian world, “if you will not practice it.” Aye, there’s the rub! Now, I ask the question, who manifest true wisdom, they who possess the principles of truth and practice them or they who possess and profess to believe them and yet refuse to practice them? I leave it to the world to say which is the wiser course. I think that if I did not believe in baptism enough to be baptized for the remission of my sins, I would say I do not believe and consequently I will not be baptized. And if I did not believe in the Lord’s Supper, I would say so, and would set that aside in my practice. If I did not believe in the atonement of the Son of God, or in the virtue and efficacy of his blood, I would say I do not believe in them. If I could not believe enough to practice what he has told me, I think I would be honest enough to say so, and I would live as fast and as close as my feeble capacity would permit me to what I did believe in.

When I look at universalism, deism, atheism, and at the various sects of the day, I feel that if we fail they are ready to catch us; but if we are right, they are wrong, and we must officiate for them and bring them up or they are forever lost. Who is right and who is wrong, who are on sure ground and who are not? This is an important question. It brings to mind a little anecdote that I have heard my brother Joseph tell. A certain king came along by a house where there resided a poor family of children, little girls, who were out at play. He stopped his carriage and spoke to them, saying, “Children, I am going a little further; I shall be back presently. I wish you to wash yourselves and get on your best clothing, for I want to take you home with me to a feast.” The children, all but one, kept on playing and paid no attention; this one stepped into the house and washed herself. When asked what she was doing, she said she was washing and was going to put on her best clothing, for the king had promised to take her in his carriage if she would do so. She was laughed at for believing that he would do any such thing, and told to go on with her play. But she washed and dressed and sat until the king’s carriage returned; and she being the only one ready, the king took her up, carried her home, gave her presents and blessed her; but the rest of the children, not having heeded the words of the king, received no blessing at his hands. So it is with the whole world of mankind. They say it is folly in the extreme to believe as we Latter-day Saints believe; it is all nonsense. They say, “Jesus will never call us to judgment; he will never come to receive his own; he will never come to reign on the earth;” but they will find their mistake out when the king comes along; and I am thankful that I am looking at some who, like the little girl, are preparing for his coming.

Let me ask again, who is on safe ground? Is the apostate on safe ground? What has he got? If he has found truth, it is here. We have embraced all truth in the heavens, on the earth, under the earth, on other planets, and in every kingdom there is in all the eternities. Every truth in every kingdom that exists is embraced in our faith, and the Lord reveals a little here and a little there, line upon line, and He will continue to do so until we can reach into eternity and embrace a fullness of His glory, excellency and power. Who are on safe ground, then? These poor despised “Mormons” are the only people who live on the face of the earth that we know anything of who are on safe ground. Whether the Bible is true or not, no matter.

Now then, for a few words on the opposite side. Leaving the difference between the good and the evil, between light and darkness, and between right and wrong, truth and error, as marked out by the dividing line, let us glance at the effects of the two principles. Light, intelligence, good, that which is of God, creates, fashions, forms, builds up, brings into existence, beautifies, makes excellent, glorifies, extends and increases; while on the other hand that which is not of God burns, destroys, cuts down, ruins and produces darkness and unbelief in the minds of the people. Light and intelligence lead people to the fountain of truth; while the opposite principle says, “Don’t believe a word, don’t do a thing; burn up and destroy.” Well now, when you leave the truth you have nothing but unbelief. And this latter is precisely the condition of the ungodly world, and, as fast as the wheels of time can roll they are going downward, downward to confusion, distress, anarchy and ruin. Their much boasted liberal feelings and extended views will not bring peace or truth to them; but they are bringing contention and darkness, hatred and malice. That system that brings present security and peace is the best to live by, and the best to die by; it is the best for doing business; it is the best for making farms, for building cities and temples, and that system is the law of God. But it requires strict obedience. The rule of right and the line which God has drawn for the people to walk by insures peace, comfort, and happiness now and eternal glory and exaltation; but nothing short of strict obedience to God’s law will do this.

Brethren and sisters, I can bear my testimony that the Gospel is true. But what will this do for a person who has no eyes to see it and its beauties, no mind or heart to understand the excellency of this code of laws and ordinances that God has revealed? I say the Gospel is true, but what does this amount to, to such a person? Nothing. What does? Draw the contrast between the rule of heaven and the rule of wickedness that now prevails on the earth, and see which will make the people the most happy and place them in the best circumstances; show which will give them the most peace, the greatest enjoyment, the greatest amount of intelligence, light and happiness. That which leads to the fountain of life and happiness will produce the most. Let the people judge between the two by the contrast. All live so as to produce intelligence, light and happiness, or misery, confusion and destruction. A person before he can understand the law and government of God, must see and understand the propriety of it and see its beauties. So it is with the whole system of salvation. Not that I would say we are machines, for we have our agency; but God has placed us here, and He exacts strict obedience to His laws before we can derive the benefit and blessings their observance will yield. You may take a beautiful machine of any kind you please, and when the machinist has finished his work and set it in perfect order, how could it be expected to operate satisfactorily if a hook here or a journal yonder were to say, I am not going to stay here, or I am going to jump out of this place and am going somewhere else; and then another piece of the machinery would jump out of its place into another part of the machine? What would be the state of such a machine? Confusion and disorganization would soon result and the machinist might very properly say, what a pity that I bestowed so much labor on such unruly members of my machine.

The Priesthood of the Son of God, which we have in our midst, is a perfect order and system of government, and this alone can deliver the human family from all the evils which now afflict its members, and insure them happiness and felicity hereafter. Brethren and sisters, God bless you. Amen.

The Power of Tradition on the Human Mind

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sept. 25, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

A few words to the Latter-day Saints. First, I feel very thankful for the privilege of returning to my home and my friends that dwell here in this city. I am thankful that I am able to stand before you to bear my humble testimony to the truth. Truth, in the end, will prevail.

You have been hearing a description of our travels, of the route we passed over, and the ministrations to our comfort from our friends in the South. I feel wearied, having been broken of my rest a good deal, not being able, while travelling, to obtain the quantity of rest that I require. I feel almost unable to stand here before you, still I look flush and hale and hearty, and think that I have probably gained from six to ten pounds of flesh since I have been gone. We have only travelled a little over nine hundred miles in 28 days. How many times we have preached I do not know. I have not kept count. Whenever we came to a settlement, either in the daytime or evening, while stopping to feed, the brethren would say, “Can’t we have a meeting? We want a meeting! Brethren, will you hold meeting? Frequently we would say, “Yes,” and while our animals were refreshing themselves, we would assemble with the people and talk with them.

It made no difference how arduous our labors had been; if we had travelled and preached a month without sleep, I don’t know that the brethren would have supposed that we needed rest. I asked one brother, a presiding Elder, who wanted to have a meeting, how old his father was. “Why,” said he, “he is sixty-seven.” I suppose that man does not do as much labor in a month as I do in a day, take it year in and year out. Still I may be mistaken in this. Said I, “Brother, if your father had endured what I have endured for three or four weeks past, and was asked to go to meeting and there spend an hour or two, talking to the people, you would feel insulted, and would consider it an imposition for your father to be required to labor without cessation.” Said he, “I did not think of that.” Said I, “I am considerably older than he is, yet look at my labors!” So we passed on and did not have a meeting. But it was meeting, meeting, meeting, from the time we left this city until our return.

In our communications to the Saints I have taken the liberty to speak of our traditions. The world of mankind have no idea of the force of tradition upon them, it does not come into their hearts, they do not contemplate it; if they did they would correct many of their errors, and cease a great many of their practices, and adopt others more in accordance with the principles of life and truth. We wish the Latter-day Saints instructed in such a way that the traditions they communicate to their children will be correct. If we did but understand truth from error, light from darkness, and knew the will of God perfectly and were disposed to do it, it would be just as easy to give our children an education to profit themselves and others, to enable them to be profitable to the human family, and to show forth that wisdom which God has given us, as to take a course to fill their lives with error and wrong. Many, very many, people regret much of their lives, because, through circumstances over which they have had no control, they have been deprived of the knowledge that some few possess. It makes no difference how children are brought up so far as the permanence of the impressions and habits of childhood are concerned. Whether surrounded with error or truth, the web woven around them in childhood’s days lasts, and seldom wears threadbare; but in many instances it grows brighter and brighter and stronger and stronger until its possessor goes down to the grave.

You have heard it declared here, within the few minutes just passed, that we have the truth, the Priesthood of the Son of God; that we are endowed with that understanding and wisdom by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we do know the way of life and salvation, and know, better than any other people, the course to pursue here on this earth to prepare us for glory, immortality and endless lives which are to come. If this is the fact, we should manifest and show it forth to God and man by our teachings, practice and every act of our lives.

I may say that the infidel world has grown up in consequence of false religions; it has been strengthened by false theories. For any individual in the world to teach what he does not practice is a stumbling block to all beholders; then if the Latter-day Saints know the truth and do it not, certainly, great will be their condemnation. Hence it stands us in need to be on the watch continually. I do not know of a more absolute monarch that ever reigned on earth than the one who has perfect control over his passions. Do you know of a more absolute monarch than such a person? If you do, I do not. We should all learn to govern and control ourselves! The question may be asked, “Can we govern our own thoughts?” Yes, we can by steady application in gathering to ourselves reflections, thoughts and meditations which are according to truth and righteousness and justified of God and of all the good on the face of the earth, we can avoid evil thoughts, communications, reflections and enticements, and can bring the whole man into subjection to the law of Christ. Is this the fact? It is. If we are filled with good thoughts, ideas and feelings formed upon precepts which God has taught for the salvation of the human family, our communications will be beneficial to our fellow beings. This is to the Latter-day Saints.

When I look over the character of the few who have been gathered together—a pretty fair representation of almost all nations, it is astonishing to see the various ideas of right and wrong entertained by them in consequence of their traditions, and the teachings they have received from their fathers, mothers, schoolmasters and school madames; the priest in the pulpit and the deacon under the pulpit. I say it is astonishing to see this variety—all springing from tradition. Not but what there should be a great variety; we see a variety of countenances in the human family, and we may also expect a variety of dispositions; but all these dispositions can be governed and control[l]ed by the principles of right and righteousness.

Our traditions, then, should be correct! We should know how to teach our children correct principles from their youth up. The first thing that is taught by the mother to the child should be true; we should never allow ourselves to teach our children one thing and practice another. I have sometimes said to my sisters, “Do not teach your children to lie.” This is the course pursued by many, without designing to do so. The very first lessons that are given to the infant mind capable of receiving impressions is to falsify or tell that which is untrue. “Well,” says a mother, “if I do so, I do not know it.” It may be quite true that you do not know it. But what did you promise your little girl if she would do so and so? Did you promise her a present for well doing? “Yes.” Have you recollected it? “No, it has gone from my mind,” says the mother. If she does ill have you promised her a chastisement? “Yes.” Did you keep your word? You have not, and the child forms the conclusion in its own mind directly that the mother tells that which is not true—she says she will do this or that, and she does not do it. It is an easy lesson for mothers to learn to pass their time with their children and never give them a false impression. Think before you speak; promise your children nothing. If you wish to make them presents, do so; if you promise a chastisement, keep your word, but be cautious! Never give a promise for good or for evil, but let the reward come in consequence of well doing, and chastisement in consequence of doing ill. Silence is a thousand times better than words, especially if those words are not in wisdom. But so great is the love of the mother for her offspring, so tender the feeling with which she regards it, that many cannot see wrong in the acts of their children; and if they do, they will pass it without chastisement, even if chastisement has been promised. These are our traditions, and so great is their power that we are governed and control[l]ed by them continually.

I sometimes bring up circumstances to illustrate the traditions of the fathers. We in this country are acquainted with a great many different classes of people, different sects and beliefs in religion, and with a great variety of beliefs in regard to morality. If a mother, for instance, permit her child to bring eggs into the house, when she does not own a fowl, she knows that they come from some other source. If her child pick up a knife that does not belong to her and bring it to the house, she cultivates dishonesty in the child; and from such little circumstances, thousands of which occur, the principles of dishonesty grow and strengthen with the strength of the individuals until they become natural thieves. Perhaps this term is too harsh, and should not be so applied; it might be better to say that, through habit, such individuals become accustomed to appropriate the property of others to their own use.

I will tell a little circumstance that I was acquainted with; I was not an eye-witness of it, but had it from one of my neighbors. A Methodist preacher, in company with a friend, was returning from a preaching tour, and while passing a plow lying by the side of a man’s farm the companion of the priest had considerable difficulty to prevent him putting the plow into the wagon. Said the priest, “It will be lost, it ought to be taken care of;” and he would have taken care of it by taking it home, making use of it and wearing it out, without advertising it, and the owner of the plow would have had to buy another. That is appropriating other people’s property to our own use. In this case the partner of the priest forbid it. Said he, “Take that and lay it by the fence; it belongs there; do not put it in the wagon,” and the priest did so. You may ask, “Was he a good man?” Yes, as good as he knew how to be according to his traditions.

So many circumstances flood upon my mind with regard to these traditions, that I hardly dare commence saying anything about them, that that I have seen and learned. One man brings up his child to strictly observe the letter of the law. The spirit and essence of his teaching to his child is, “You must not break the law, if you do you will be chastened by the law; but at the same time,” says the father, and he may be a deacon or a priest, “if you can take advantage of the poor in their daily labor, in purchasing your neighbor’s property”—for instance, perhaps he owns a small farm by the side of him, who, through necessity, is obliged to sell, and if he can purchase it for one-half or one-third its value in cash he will do it, because the law will not condemn such an act. This is tradition or the influence of it; but in the eyes of God he who thus takes advantage of his neighbor’s necessities is as guilty as if he had robbed him.

Do we know of any here who have been brought up to work on the first day of the week, and who would like to do so now? Yes, we have them. Can they refrain from doing something or other that is like labor on the Sabbath day? It is almost impossible; they must work on the Sabbath. There is a certain class of our Christians by whom the first day of the week must be devoted to labor, just to show to their fellow-Christians that they are not sectarian in their feelings. Say they, “One day to us is as good as another. God is the author of all days; all days are His, and to show to the Christian world that we are free from their narrow, illiberal views, we labor on the first day of the week.”

Another class of the religious world, equally conscientious with that to which I have just referred, is as stringent in prohibiting all kinds of labor on that day. Towards evening on the seventh day of the week the father cries to the children, “Your chores must be done by sunset;” and as soon as the rays of the glorious orb of day have disappeared, parents and children assemble, and chapter after chapter of the Bible is read, and comments are made thereon; and there the children sit until bedtime, and on the first day of the week they repair to the Sunday school, or to the house of worship, and so spend the Sabbath, believing that it is wrong to walk out, to play, or even to laugh; but when sunset comes again, away go the children to work, and the hurry of the world again begins. Do we see any such traditions as these? Yes. The traditions of another have been of such a nature, perhaps, that all labor must cease at twelve o’clock on Saturday night sure, and as soon as twelve o’clock on Sunday night comes we are at liberty to work again; and so we might go through the thousand traditions, the effects of which we see manifested by our fellow creatures around us.

I was traditionated to believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, and I believe it is a Bible doctrine. I do not think I am mistaken in my religious faith. My priest would pray, “Father of all mercies, God of all grace, make thou one in our midst! Send thou the Holy Ghost upon us, upon our minds, that we may see! Reveal thyself unto us as thou dost not unto the world! Give unto us thy mind and thy will! Give unto us the revelations of thy Son, and bestow upon us thy power and the influence thereof;” and after making such a prayer the sermon that would be preached would deny every word of it. Ask the ministers of the Christian world if the Holy Ghost is given in this day, and they will tell you “no.” I have heard it preached hundreds and perhaps thousands of times. Ask them if God manifests Himself to the human family in this our day, and you will be informed that “He does not; that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain the word of God, the plan of salvation, and all that is necessary to save the human family. God does not reveal Himself; He does not come down to dwell with the children of men; the Son of God does not come to visit his people; the Holy Ghost is not given as in ancient times.” Ask them if the gift of healing is with them, and the reply is, “No, it is done away.” “Have you the gift of prophecy?” “No, it is done away.” “Have you the gift of seeing spirits?” “No, it is done away; all these gifts are done away and we want you to understand that we do not believe them.” All this is in accordance with their traditions, and it is taught to the children, and they are confused in their understandings. Well, the Latter-day Saints know better than to teach their children one thing at one time and another at another time; they also know better than to teach their children principles and doctrines in theory which they deny in practice. The Latter-day Saints are not at liberty to do this; we are not so called; we have not so received the Gospel; but having received the truth in our hearts, we should practice it in our lives, and on this basis—the truth as it is in Jesus—should the traditions which we instil into the minds of our children be built.

With regard to the faith that the Lord has revealed for the salvation of the human family, teach them principles that are correct. Do not say, “Do not do this or that, child, the Lord sees you!” “Well, ma,” says the child, “I heard the minister say to-day that the Lord has no eye, how can he see me? How is this, ma? I want to know; is this true, or is it not true? You say that the Lord looks upon my acts, and knows everything I do, and will judge me according to my acts; yet I heard the minister say to-day that the Lord has no body and no parts, that He has no ears, that He has no head, that He has no arms, that He has no feet, and so on. How is this, ma?” And the child is confused in its mind and does not know what to believe; it is lost in its thought. The same is true of grown people. The children know very little more than their parents, but they would if they were let alone. I will illustrate this by a simple fact, if I do not prove it. You go to the heathen nations, the aborigines of our country, for instance. They believe nothing in religion as we suppose, yet their ideas of God and heaven are far above those entertained by professed Christians. They believe in a God who has body, parts and passions, possessed of principle and power; who can see, handle, walk, talk and communicate. This is their faith; whether it is through tradition I cannot say. If they have no traditions on these points they have certainly imbibed these ideas from some source, and whether natural or by tradition it is immaterial to me. They are a people who know nothing of the Bible or of the Christian religion, and still their ideas are more correct than many of ours. This will illustrate what I wished, to my own satisfaction.

I say, with regard to traditioning children falsely, especially in religious matters, rather let them alone; give a good common education, and no teachings whatever with regard to the Bible, and their own philosophy will teach them there is a Supreme Being, better than many who, though identified with Christian nations, have repudiated their religious notions. I mean the infidel world, and its members are very numerous. The philosophy of the child, if untrammeled by false tradition, will teach him, by what he sees every day, that there is a Supreme Being—a supreme principle and power somewhere. It cannot think of anything but what is brought into existence in some way or other. Nothing is self-made or self-existent. This is the natural philosophy of the thinking child. As it grows up, the idea naturally suggests itself to its own mind, “I did not bring myself here; I have parents. I understand this; this is on natural principles. I can, to some extent, understand the creations which are before and around me.” Says the child, “I can understand very readily that if we cast wheat into the ground when it is properly prepared, it produces wheat; if we cast corn into properly prepared ground it will produce corn. So of rye, the various grass seeds, shrubs, plants and flowers—they all yield according to their kind.” This, the child naturally understands, “but,” he says, “where is the origin of myself? I know not; yet it must be somewhere. The origin of life whether human or inferior, must be lodged in some character whom I have not seen! Follow it back, no matter whether it be for six thousand years, six millions, six million millions, or billions of years, the figures and numbers are immaterial, I must have come from some source, my natural philosophy teaches me this.” But, leaving the natural philosophy of the child free from false tradition let us inquire. What does the philosophy of the Christian sects, or many of them, not all, teach? “God made the world in six days, out of nothing!” This is very wrong; no child should be taught any such dogma. God never did make a world out of nothing; He never will, He never can! There is no such principle in existence. Worlds are made of crude element which floats, without bounds in the eternities—in the immensity of space; an eternity of matter—no limits to it, in its natural crude state and the power of the Almighty has this influence and wisdom—when He speaks He is obeyed, and matter comes together and is organized. We take the rock, and the lime from the mountains and burn it and make mortar with lime and sand and lay the foundation of houses, and rear the superstructure with bricks, stones, adobies or lumber. We bring these elements together and organize them according to our pleasure. We should teach our children that God has so organized the earth from the rude, rough native element. It is true that some believe that it never was created Well, all right then! It is here anyhow; they cannot dispute the fact that the earth is here, no matter how long it has stood!

This calls to my mind some circumstances of our trip. We had Major Powell with us on some portions of our journey South. He is now preparing to explore more of the Colorado. He was engaged in this undertaking last year; then he went on his own responsibility. This year he has received a little aid from Congress. One evening while sitting by the camp fire, said I, “Major, how long will it take light to come from the nearest fixed star to the earth? Some of our astronomers say thir[t]y thousand years.” Said he, “O dear! thirty thousand years will not do it, it will take as many millions of years.” Well, that opened up conversation, and I do not know but I might have indulged in a little of my boyism. In our journeyings we came to some petrified trees lying on the ground; they were broken to pieces. Some had very fine quartz between the bark and wood, very finely formed, beautifully crystallized, perfect diamond shape. Said I, “Major, how came these here?” Well, he did not know when they were brought, or how they had become petrified; they had certainly, according to his opinion, come from some other country, for no such trees grow here now. In our travels we came to one place where there had been a slide of rocks, and there was a perfect bed of oyster shells in the rock—perfect rock. Said I, “Major, how long has it taken for these shells to become petrified?” He philosophised a little upon it, when I said, “Look here, you and I both know that there are springs of water that will petrify things of this kind in a short time, and that petrified human bodies have been exhumed which, it was known, had not been buried very many years, and how do you know that it has required a hundred and fifty million of years to bring about what we now behold? It may only have required eighteen years!” I recollect a circumstance bearing on this question, which occurred in the State of New York, which I will relate. A certain lady had been laboring under disease, pain and sorrow for eighteen years, her sufferings and the nature and character of her affliction baffling the skill of the best physicians; after suffering for the space of time I have mentioned she died, and, for the cause of science, was opened by the surgeons, when a petrified child was taken from her. That was near Utica, in the state of New York. How long did it take to bring about this petrifaction? Certainly not millions of years as some of the philosophers talk about. All that can be said of such things is that they are phenomena, or freaks of nature, for which the knowledge and science of man cannot account.

Since I parted company with Major Powell I have heard another story, which will furnish another problem for the geologists to solve. A short time since a piece of petrified bacon was found on the trail of Colonel Fremont, and there is no question but it was left where found by his party when exploring in the Rocky Mountains. It is petrified, having become perfect rock. We all know that it is not half a million years since Colonel Fremont and his party went through this region of country. It is impossible for man to tell the cause of certain freaks of nature unless it is revealed to him by divine wisdom unless his eyes are open to understand the invisible things of God; for the ways of God and His dealings are very different from the ways and dealings of the children of men. Yet there is nothing done only on the science of true philosophy if we did but understand the facts. If we cannot define the power by which these things are done it is not our prerogative to dispute the effects, for they are before us. These and kindred topics give rise to much speculation on the part of the scientific; but it is for me to wait until their causes are made known from the proper source. It is very sure that there is no such thing in existence as a piece of wood being turned to stone without the action of elements upon it; and though we do not understand the combination, nature, and action of those elements, we can see their results.

A few words more with regard to our traditions. We want he Latter-day Saints to believe and practice every correct principle with regard to their religion, also with regard to their moral lives. We know there are a great many who depend upon a moral life for future happiness and joy, believing that will prove satisfactory. I can tell you that I would rather have the practice of a good moral religion without any faith at all in a Supreme Being, than to have faith in a Supreme Being without any moral good action, and a life filled with vice, sin and iniquity. That is my choice. I will say that sin or evil is simply doing that which injures some thing or being. This is sin; but that that promotes life, happiness, peace, joy and the well-being of intelligence—no matter what the degree is—that that promotes happiness, builds up, refines and makes better, is as good religion as we can ask for. This is the doctrine of the Son of God; but there are thousands of these little intricate questions or ideas connected with salvation which are mysteries to the human family, which it would take a lifetime to teach to them unless the revelations of God were given to open up their minds at once, that they might see things as they do exist.

Let us train our minds, first to think aright, believe aright, that the meditations of our hearts may be correct, for our actions will naturally correspond with that that is in the heart. This, my brethren and sisters, is our duty. Train ourselves with regard to our faith. Believe the Scriptures as they are. I have met with a great many gentlemen who refer to the dead languages for the proper interpretation of the Scriptures, which, to my mind, is folly, and absurd in the extreme. If I were a divine, and had all the learning which could be bestowed upon a mortal being, and considered that the Bible is translated incorrectly, I should hold myself accountable and responsible to give a correct translation as quickly as time and opportunity would permit, that all people might know the truth. So I hold every divine, and especially those who preach for hire and divine for money, for they have nothing else to do. I have to raise my own potatoes; but yet I would find time to do this. I say it is an absurdity in the very nature of good sound argument and reason to refer to the dead languages for the true interpretation of the Scriptures. Take the Bible, then, as it is. If it is not translated correctly, wait until it is. It will do for us as it is, consequently we teach the principles it contains to each other and to our children, and endeavor to avoid giving them false ideas with regard to the faith of the Gospel that we believe in.

We believe in our Father, and do not apply this term to a nonentity—to a fancied something that never existed; the application would not be correct. We do not so use language. We use this term to a being, and we claim this title as children. He is our Father; He is our God, the Father of our spirits; He is the framer of our bodies, and set the machine in successful operation to bring forth these tabernacles that I now look upon in this building, and all that ever did or ever will live on the face of the whole earth.

This is the doctrine taught by the ancients, taught by the prophets, taught by Jesus, taught by his Apostles, taught by Joseph Smith, taught by those who believe the same doctrine that Joseph Smith believed in—the revelations that God has given in modern times, who believe in that Being after whose image and in whose likeness man was formed, framed and made, precisely like Him that made him. This is the doctrine. To believe that He lives; He is a Being of place, of habitation. He dwells at home; His influence fills immensity to us; His eye is upon all His works, and He sends forth His ministers to administer here and there according to His will and pleasure. He has given His son, according to His good pleasure, to redeem the earth, and all intelligent beings thereon, and all inanimate matter, if there is any such thing; to redeem the whole earth and all pertaining to it, and it is His good pleasure to do it. The reasons why He did it are plain and obvious, though we may not say anything about them to-day; yet there are reasons for all this, and that that we may call eternal philosophy, God’s philosophy, the philosophy of angels—natural philosophy, reasonable philosophy, that that commends itself to the human mind, to the intelligence that man possesses, will explain it. If men understood the religion that we believe in they would receive it; it naturally commends itself to the conscience of every just and righteous person, and none such would refuse it if they understood it.

Well, then, we ought, in the first place, to train ourselves to believe correctly, to think correctly, and to practice correctly, and instil correct principles into the minds of the rising generation, so that when they are old they will not depart from them. This is the idea, and not bring up the children as we bring them up. You recollect the wise man said, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” That is, teach them correct principles. If we do that, they will understand the principles by which God lives and acts, and has brought forth the earth and the intelligence it contains; the intelligence he has entrusted to man in giving him eyes to see and ears to hear—properties that are worthy the attention of a God—that will enable Him to contrast and know, from reason and from self experience, the good from the evil. I say if we train our children so as to place them in possession of these principles we shall train them in the way they should go, and the saying of the wise man will be verified—they will not depart from it.

In teaching false doctrine there always will be more or less of truth mixed with it; there always has been where anything of importance has been taught. The enemy, the serpent, who beguiled our first mother, told some truth. Said he, “If you take this and eat thereof, your eyes will be opened and you will see as the Gods see.” This was true, but when he told her that she would not suffer death as the consequence of so doing, he lied—told that that was not true. He mixed some truth with the error he taught; her eyes were opened, or how could she have seen?

If I were to preach to this congregation, who have been brought up in countries where there is no fruit raised, and I was to teach them that there is such fruit as oranges, if you had not seen or tasted them how could you know whether I told the truth or not? If I were to say to this congregation there is such a fruit as a sweet apple, but you had never seen nor tasted nor had any knowledge of it, how could you tell whether I told the truth or not? But having tasted the bitter and the sweet; having enjoyed ease and suffered pain; having seen the light and endured the darkness, you know that which is good and that which is evil. Without this experience how could we know it? Consequently God has committed to the children of men this knowledge, and He has made it plain and reasonable before them, that they should know as well as the Gods, that they might choose the good and refuse the evil. So it is, and so we should be taught.

And then, with regard to the religion of God, of His Son Jesus Christ, of the holy angels and of the prophets and Apostles, from first to last, it can never injure any soul who will receive it. If men would observe that, they would never go to war with each other, they would never destroy a good work that others have performed. It is an evil principle which introduces destruction, wickedness and confusion into any community whatsoever. A good principle—that which is of God, ornaments, builds up, gathers the elements, beautifies the earth and makes it like the garden of Eden; it improves the hearts of the people, teaches children right doctrine, correct principle, to which they will adhere through life. Through imbibing false ideas, principles and teachings, children become as the old Indian said. The missionary had been trying to instruct him in the saying, “Bring up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it;” but the old Indian gave it a little different interpretation. Said he, “Bring up a child and away he goes.” So it is now—we bring up children and away they go. Look at our young, middle aged and old men! Look at the community that we have in our country and in other countries! You take the sons of those flaming divines! If you want to find the most polished, complete and perfect outlaws that can be found, you hunt up the son of some priest who has received a liberal education; after having been taught the highest branches of education, away he goes. At least the son of such a man is just as apt to do so as the son of the lawyer, farmer, mechanic, judge or statesman. This is for the lack of correct tradition, and this shows the force of early training and of the traditions imbibed in childhood. The power of it upon myself is perfectly astonishing to me; with all that I have learned from the Scriptures and from the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, the traditions of my earliest recollection are so forcible upon me that it seems impossible for me to get rid of them. And so it is with others; hence the necessity of correct training in childhood.

Teach your children honesty and uprightness, and teach them also never to injure others. As I say to my sisters sometimes, “Look here, my dear sister, if your child quarrels with your neighbor’s child, do not chasten your neighbor’s child. Go and make peace, be a peace-maker. Teach your child never to do a wrong; and if your neighbor’s child has injured you or yours, or taken anything from you, never mind. You stop until you find out. Perhaps the child has meant no wrong. You should learn the facts in the case, and go with a meek, humble, quiet spirit, and peace will result.” How many neighbors become enemies to each other in consequence of contention with children! Woman will contend with woman, “Your child injured my child,” and so on. Why if you understood and would practice the true doctrines you would not mind this; you would say, “It is the act of a child and not of a matured mind; it is only the work of children.” Perhaps it may have done some mischief; and if so, reason with it, and teach it never to do anything wrong among its play-fellows, but to promote good feelings continually. You will see occasionally a child that is ready to give up everything rather than have contention; and why not have it so with all. It might be so, just as easy as it is otherwise. Let mothers be possessed of a meek, humble, quiet spirit in child-bearing, and when their children come forth into the world and commence on this stage of action, teach them correct principles, and by imbibing them they will be enabled to lead lives of purity, joy, peace and tranquility that surpasses all understanding. So let our traditions be, and never do or say a wrong thing. Never do or say that which we shall regret. Watch yourselves day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute. Keep a guard over yourselves so that you will never do or say anything that you will regret hereafter, and your lives will be filled with usefulness, and you will increase your own peace and promote it among your neighbors, and this will insure a great degree of salvation here, and prepare for a higher degree hereafter. The principles of life and salvation are the greatest blessings which can be bestowed upon us here on this earth. The greatest gift God can give to His children is eternal life. We have its principles in our possession. We know how to teach and to live them, and how to practice them so as to enjoy their benefits. This is what gives peace and joy to the heart. Who else that live on the earth could endure as the Latter-day Saints have endured, if they did not enjoy the Spirit of the Lord? If they had not the spirit of peace and union and of love to God and to one another and the whole human family? Let our traditions and practices be such that we can say, to the whole world, in the words of the Apostle, “Follow us, as we follow Christ.”

This is the doctrine. In our scanty, hasty reflections to the Latter-day Saints we say, live your religion! If you do, you will do no evil to any person on the face of the earth. I sometimes ask myself the question, “Do people understand what we teach, believe and practice?” They cannot see and understand as we see and understand; they cannot believe as we believe, if they did they would never do as they do—that is our enemies.

I have occupied all the time I should this morning. This is only a little. God bless you. Peace be with you. Do right. Love God and keep His commandments, and, in the words of the Scripture, “Eschew evil!” Have nothing to do with it. Let us seek continually to do good to ourselves and each other, that when we sleep in our mother dust, when these tabernacles take that happy nap in the bosom of our mother earth, our spirits may be prepared for higher society than we enjoy here. This is my desire and prayer for the good all the day long. God bless you. Amen.

Acting in the Name of the Lord

Lorenzo Snow

Remarks by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 9, 1869. Reported by John Grimshaw.

I am very much pleased in having an opportunity to make a few remarks to this Conference. The subjects that have been presented to our consideration are fraught with many very interesting reflections. Every privilege that is afforded us of meeting together in the capacity of a Conference, and taking a retrospective view of the past, gives us a chance to behold the great and marvellous success that has hitherto attended our labors, as the servants of God, in this great and glorious work of the redemption of Israel and the gathering of the Latter-day Saints from the four quarters of the world, to establish the kingdom of God on the earth in the last days.

There are many peculiarities that distinguish the order of things pertaining to the work of God in which we are engaged, from the different systems of religion that are to be met with in Christendom and throughout the various parts of the world. What we do we perform in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and are willing to acknowledge the hand of the Almighty in everything we do. When Moses stood forth as the deliverer of the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage, he did not present himself in the manner of a common deliverer, but he went in the name of the Lord God of Israel, having been commanded to accomplish their redemption by the power and authority which he received from God. And from the moment that he appeared before them in this capacity, until he had accomplished his work, he acted in and through the name of the Lord, and not by his own wisdom or ingenuity, nor because he possessed superior intelligence to the rest of mankind. The Lord appeared to him in the burning bush, and commanded him to go forth and accomplish a certain work, which concerned the peace, happiness and salvation of a great people; and its success and prosperity depended upon the carrying out of the order of things revealed to him by the God of heaven. His success and prosperity were made perfectly sure from the fact that the work to which he was assigned was not a thing of his own invention, but it emanated from Jehovah.

A great deal of speculation might have been entertained by some in reference to his mode of procedure. There might have been some things in the working of the system he introduced that were very disagreeable to certain parties whom they concerned—to the government of Egypt and King Pharaoh, for instance; but that was a matter of very small consideration with him and with the people whom he had occasion to deliver from bondage.

It is so in reference to ourselves. The great work now being accomplished—the gathering of the people from the nations of the earth, had not its origin in the mind of any man or any set of men, but it emanated from the Lord Almighty. Joseph Smith received a revelation and commandment from the Lord, to go forth and preach the Gospel of salvation to the nations of the earth, with power and authority to baptize those who would repent of their sins and be immersed in water for the remission of them; he was also commanded to preach the gathering to them, that a people might be drawn together who would be willing to hearken to the voice of the Lord and keep His laws, that a righteous seed might thereby be preserved when the great day of His wrath should come. This Gospel was preached, and thousands of Saints have been gathered from almost all parts of the globe, who are now scattered throughout the length and breadth of this Territory, making farms, building houses, planting orchards and reclaiming the soil; creating villages, towns and cities where nothing but wild beasts and savages used to roam, and causing the desert to blossom as the rose. Yet all this has not been accomplished by human wisdom, although the enemies of the Saints would try to make the world believe so; it has been done by the wisdom and power of Almighty God, whose outstretched arm has been over His Saints, preserving them from evil of every kind.

Jesus, while travelling here on earth, fulfilling his mission, told the people he did not perform the miracles he wrought in their midst by his own power, nor by his own wisdom; but he was there in order to accomplish the will of his Father. He came not to seek the glory of men, and the honor of men; but to seek the honor and glory of his Father that sent him. Said he, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not, if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”

Now, the peculiarity of his mission, and that which distinguished it from other missions, was this: he came not to seek the glory and honor of men, but to seek the honor and glory of his Father, and to accomplish the work of his Father who sent him. Herein lay the secret of his prosperity; and herein lies the secret of the prosperity of every individual who works upon the same principle.

There are many things that are admirable in what is called by our neighbors “Mormonism.” Great men admire the effects that are produced by its operations, or the work of preaching the Gospel, gathering the people from the nations of the earth and settling them in this Territory, in establishing towns, villages and settlements, in gathering the poor from their indigent circumstances, from their conditions of poverty and distress, and placing them in a position where they can sustain themselves and have an opportunity of educating their children and gathering around them the necessaries, comforts and conveniences of life.

People admire the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, they admire the wisdom that is manifest in the perfect organization observable in their cities, towns and settlements, and the unity existing amongst them. They are struck with the peace and good order that reign in our midst, which are not found, to the same extent, in any of the cities of the United States or Europe. One hundred and fifty thousand people, who have been gathered from the poorest classes of persons and brought from the various nations and established in prosperous and happy circumstances, are admired by every one. But all this is being done in the name of the Lord, and professedly through the commandments of the Almighty; and herein lies the difficulty. Our acknowledgement of the hand of God in what we do is something they do not approve of. If we gathered the people from the various nations, built cities, towns and villages in our own name, and in our own strength and wisdom, and gave ourselves the honor and glory, we should be a very admirable people indeed, and everybody would admire the “Mormons,” and would be pleased with our operations; and as far as the influence of politicians and members of Congress is concerned, it would be employed in obtaining our admission into the Union as a State.

It may be considered by some as unfortunate that we have a principle in the operations of “Mormonism” so disagreeable and annoying; but we cannot help it. This work is not one of our own getting up, and we have not the responsibility of its success resting upon us. Jesus says himself that he would have been received by the people if he had sought the honor of men. If he had not come in the name of his Father, but simply in his own, the people would have received him, honored him and made him King of the Jews; and all would have been agreeable, pleased and satisfied.

It was said by the Prophet that Israel should be scattered, that they should be sifted among the nations, and in the latter days they should be gathered out, two from a city and one from a family, and there should be a time when the people would be gathered from the nations when it should be said to them, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

Joseph Smith received a commandment of the Almighty similar to that which Moses received to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. The command to the Prophet Joseph was to go forth and declare the Gospel to the children of men, to gather them from the nations of the earth and place them in a land of peace and plenty, where they could plant and reap the fruit thereof. In many instances the people who received this Gospel were in a far worse condition than the children of Israel, when found by Moses in their bondage.

There are hundreds of Elders here who have travelled through England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, Norway and elsewhere, who know very well that the people were found in most of those lands in circumstances of slavery—bondage far worse than the “blacks” in the South previous to their liberation. There was nothing before the people but the prospect of starvation; and they were subject to the will and caprice of their masters, and dependent upon them for their labor and daily bread; and when work was dull, they had before them nothing but the prospect of being turned from their employment and to have their only source of obtaining food for themselves and families entirely cut off. They did not own a foot of land, a plough, an ox, a wagon, a cow, a mule, a horse, in fact, nothing they saw around them could they call their own. They were, in short, entirely dependent upon the will and disposition of their employers for what they wanted, and had to look to them for their only means of gaining a living. Thousands upon thousands of these people are now located in various parts of this Territory, in a far more prosperous and independent condition than that in which they lived while abroad among the nations. Many of them are comparatively rich in this world’s goods. The command of the Almighty to this people is to come out of Babylon to a land where his Saints may gather around them such things as are necessary to the well-being of his children. This is a greater work than that performed by Moses, of redeeming the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage; yet it is done on the same principle. The voice of God to Moses was to deliver His people from their bondage and he would be with him and assist him. The command is now for the people to be delivered from their bondage, poverty and distress, and come to these valleys of the mountains, where they can sustain themselves.

There are many philanthropists who admire the works that have been accomplished in this respect. They say, “The ‘Mormons’ have done a great deal more than any religious society ever did or even expected to do. They have increased the population of the nation and have extended their cities to the east, to the west, to the north and to the south.” But it has been done by the command of the Almighty, and that is where the trouble lies. As for polygamy, our enemies would not be so wrath about our practising it, so long as we did not do so in the name of the Lord. But as these things are done in His name, they are obnoxious in the eyes of the world. The same state of feeling existed in the days of Moses, the same in the days when Jesus appeared among the Jews. Had Moses presented himself in the same way as Washington or William Tell, the deliverer of the people of Switzerland from the yoke of bondage under which they labored, or as Wallace, the hero of Scotland—had he, I say, appeared in his own name, and presented himself before the people as a person of superior powers and ability, and [not] claimed power greater than that he possessed as a man, all would have been well. But when he went before them in the name of the Lord Almighty, he experienced some difficulty in performing the work which had been assigned him.

We know well we differ very much in our religious concerns from the various denominations existing in the world. An Elder goes in the name of the Lord; he crosses the ocean, calls into an individual’s house and says, “I am a missionary; I have come from America to preach the Gospel.” It is not a very unusual thing for persons to cross the ocean as missionaries and go to Europe. This is all very natural; but when an Elder goes and says he comes in the name of the Lord to deliver them from their circumstances of poverty and distress, and to call upon them to repent of their sins and be immersed in water for the remission of them, promising them the Gift of the Holy Ghost, he creates a distinction between his mission and that of the various systems introduced by the different sects of the day. Says he, “I come to tell you that the time for the fulfilment of the predictions of the Prophets has arrived. The Lord wants His people gathered from Babylon unto the place where there shall be deliverance.” There is deliverance. There is something that can be realized and experienced, that can be seen and felt and known. There is the promise that, if any man will do the will of God, he shall know for himself that the doctrine we teach is true. There is no chance of imposition. There is an opportunity to know whether the message of this Elder is true or false.

If a sectarian minister had gone to the children of Israel and discovered them in the same condition in which Moses found them, his message would have been entirely different from that of Moses, as would also his conversation and address. Moses said to them, “In the name of the Almighty, having received authority from God, I come to deliver you from bondage and to give you a national existence; to take you to a land that the Lord God has commanded you to go to, and which He has promised you shall receive.” Had a sectarian minister gone under similar circumstances, his ideas and manner would have been entirely different. Says he, “I have come to beseech you who are now subject to your masters’ will and have to recline upon straw, to be patient and long-suffering. Servants, be obedient to your masters and wait upon the providence of the Lord. Bear up, and be kind,” and so on. Anything in regard to delivering them from their bondage under which they are suffering? No, nothing of the kind.

It is the same when a sectarian minister goes to England. He knocks at a man’s door and says, “I am a missionary from America.” Well, the man on whom he calls is in distress. Says he, “I am sorry I cannot take you in; but I am in distress. It is meal-time, but my family has nothing to eat. I am out of employment and have nothing to live upon. I wish I could relieve your wants, but I have nothing with which to assist you.” Oh, says the minister, you must wait upon Providence, you must have a great deal of patience and long-suffering. I am come to preach to you the Gospel, and you must pray and keep praying until you think you have got a pardon of your sins; but still remain where you are. No redemption!

Well, now, that is different from the “Mormon” Elder’s manner. He presents himself in something like this way: “I have come in the name of the Almighty, in obedience to a call from God, to deliver you from your present circumstances. Repent of your sins and be baptized, and the Holy Ghost shall rest upon you, and you shall know that I have the authority to administer the ordinances of the Gospel by the power of the Almighty and the revelations of God. Gather out from this nation, for it is ripening in iniquity, there is no salvation here. Flee to a place of safety.” And as the messenger who went to Sodom said to the family whom he found there, so says the Elder of Israel, telling them, as Moses did the children of Israel, to go to the land that the Lord God has appointed for the gathering of His people.

There is a great difference between the operations of the Latter-day Saints and those of the Christian world. With us there is no deception; nor indeed is there any chance for any. People gather here in thousands on the principle that the Lord God has revealed, and they have an opportunity of knowing that the Almighty has spoken from the heavens. They are not left to the mere statement of any one.

Jesus says that if any man will do the will of God, he shall know His doctrine. If he will repent of his sins and be immersed in water, by the laying on of the hands of those having authority, the gift of the Holy Ghost shall be given to him and he shall receive knowledge from God in regard to the divine authenticity of these ordinances. People are not left in the dark, they have a chance to know for themselves. They get this intelligence and know what they are doing.

Will we do these things in the name of the Lord God that sent us? This work is the Almighty’s, and it is His business to sustain and support it. If, in keeping the laws of God we do things that are not quite so pleasant to the people around us or the Government under which we dwell, we cannot help it. We cannot act save we do so in the name of the Lord. When Nebuchadnezzar established a certain edict, and that edict was contrary to the revelations of the Almighty, it was disagreeable to many persons whom it concerned. There were three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who received a command from the Almighty that they should not worship any other God than the Lord God of Israel, that they should worship no images. But King Nebuchadnezzar set up an image and commanded that every nation, kindred and tongue, over whom he reigned, should bow down and worship it, when they heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music.

It so happened that the King’s edict concerned, among others, the three men who had received the revelation from the Lord that they should not worship any image. They were in a rather awkward fix. Either they must set aside the command of Jehovah to worship no God but Him, or, on the other hand, disobey the mandate of the King. They knew if they refused to comply with the wishes of so mighty a man as Nebuchadnezzar, their lives would not be of much value, unless they were preserved by the hand of the God of Israel. But they feared not the King and trusted in the arm of Jehovah to shield them from evil. Accordingly, when the signal was given for the people to fall down and worship the image, these three men refused to do so; and being observed, they were taken before the King, who was greatly enraged at the idea that there could be found any one in all his dominions so fearless as to refuse to comply with his wishes. When they appeared before him he looked at them in a fierce and savage manner and said, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well; but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?”

I often admire the answer of those men, placed as they were in such a perplexing position. A person might be brought before the Emperor of France or Russia and get along very well; but it was something awful to come in collision with a man like Nebuchadnezzar, whose will was as the word of the Almighty, and had never been disobeyed. When the King had done speaking, they answered, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Upon hearing this, the King was extremely angry, and caused the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual, at the same time commanding the most mighty men of his army to bind them and thrust them into the furnace. After a while, however, he discovered he had made a grand mistake. He had been deceived, and hastily calling his counselors together, he demanded of them whether only three men were cast into the furnace. They answered, yes. “Well,” said he, “I see four there; and one of them is like the Son of God.” He then sent forth another edict, that all those who refused to worship the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, should be cut in pieces and their houses should be made into dunghills.

Now, Nebuchadnezzar was honest, but through ignorance he was led to act in this way.

It would be very agreeable and pleasant when we carry the words of life and salvation to the various nations, if every part and operation of the work of God should be in perfect harmony with the feelings of the people to whom it is preached; if it is not so, we cannot help it. We know this, that the Almighty has given us power and authority to go forth and gather the people from the nations of the earth and establish them in the land of Zion. But strip from this operation the supernatural part, and the people of the world, members of Congress included, would be pleased; and the Vice-President would be proud of us. They would say we were very patriotic. But they do not like our doing these things in the name of the Lord our God. They are afraid that in getting power and influence, and uniting our interests as one great people, we will do something by and by.

Let us continue, brethren and sisters, to work in the name of the Lord our God; gathering wisdom and intelligence day by day, that every circumstance which transpires may minister to our good and increase our faith and intelligence. If we continue to work righteousness, being faithful to each other and to God, no power will be able to overthrow us, and as brother Hyde remarked, for every stumbling block that our enemies place in our way, to hinder and prevent the work of God from moving forward, two will be placed in the paths of those who put one in ours. If we are faithful and keep the commandments of God, His works will continue to prosper until the prophecies are fulfilled, and we become a great, a glorious and a mighty people. God bless you. Amen.

Meeting in Conference

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 6, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

As we have met in the capacity of a General Conference, we shall expect to hear instructions from the Elders pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth This is our calling, this is the labor devolving upon us, and it should occupy our attention day by day from morning until evening and from week to week; in fact, we have no other calling or business, and if we are humble and faithful, God will strengthen us and increase our ability and give us power sufficient to accomplish the tasks devolving upon us in the performance of His work.

The oracles of truth are delivered; men have been called and ordained; the gifts and graces of the Gospel are restored; the kingdom is organized; it is committed to the servants of the Lord, and if we are faithful we shall bear it off; we will establish it and make it firm in the earth, no more to be interrupted or removed, and the teachings that we shall hear will be pertaining to our spiritual and temporal labors in this kingdom. With God, and also with those who understand the principles of life and salvation, the Priesthood, the oracles of truth and the gifts and callings of God to the children of men, there is no difference in spiritual and temporal labors—all are one. If I am in the line of my duty, I am doing the will of God, whether I am preaching, praying, laboring with my hands for an honorable support; whether I am in the field, mechanic’s shop, or following mercantile business, or wherever duty calls, I am serving God as much in one place as another; and so it is with all, each in his place, turn and time. Consequently our teachings during Conference will be to instruct the people how to live and order their lives before the Lord and each other; how to accomplish the work devolving upon them in building up Zion on the earth. To accomplish this will require steady faith and firm determination, and we come together in this capacity that our faith and determination may be increased and strengthened. When we have spent three, four or five days together in giving instruction, we shall only just have commenced to instruct the people; and when we have spent a lifetime in learning and dispensing what we do learn to our fellow beings, we have only commenced in the career of intelligence. Our faith and prayers, the ordinances that we attend to, our assembling ourselves together, our dispersing after attending to the business of life, in our schools, all our educational pursuits are in the service of God, for all these labors are to establish truth on the earth, and that we may increase in knowledge, wisdom, understanding in the power of faith and in the wisdom of God, that we may become fit subjects to dwell in a higher state of existence and intelligence than we now enjoy. We can attain to this only by adding faith to faith, knowledge to knowledge, temperance to temperance, patience to patience, and godliness to godliness, and so increasing in the principles of happiness and salvation.

We shall call upon the Elders to speak to the congregation as they assemble here from day to day, and I hope and trust that the brethren and sisters will treasure up in their hearts the instructions that they receive, and that they will carry them out in their lives. This Sunday religion that a great many of our Christian brethren believe in and practice, when their every-day life is spent in selfishness and for self-aggrandizement, will not do for the Latter-day Saints; with us Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday must be spent to the glory of God, as much as Sunday, or we shall come short of the object of our pursuit. Consequently we must pay attention to the things that we hear, and to the principles of the religion that we have embraced in our faith, and seek diligently to break up the prejudices and prepossessed notions and feelings that have woven themselves around us through the traditions of the fathers, and endeavor to know and understand as God knows, that we may do His will. Our traditions are so firmly fixed in our feelings that it is almost impossible to rise above, over-ride, or get rid of them; they cling to us like the affections of tender friends. But we must learn to know the will of God and do it, and let our traditions go, then we shall be blessed.

There are many things that we should understand with regard to ourselves and our children; and when the mind opens upon the vision of life by the spirit of revelation, there is not a person but what can see the eternity of teaching yet to be imparted to the Saints.

I trust that we shall be edified and rejoice together, and shall return from this place strengthened and confirmed in our faith and hopes, feeling that steadiness of nerve, by the spirit of revelation, that we shall not be wafted to and fro, imagining a thousand things incorrect, and pass by those doctrines and truths that are calculated to exalt the human family.

Texts for Preaching upon at Conference, etc.

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

I have a request to make of the door-keepers and of those brethren who seat the congregation, as also of our sisters, some of whom, I see, are occupying a few of the seats that we usually reserve for strangers. We should be very much pleased if the sisters would fill up other parts of the house first, and we would like the brethren who seat the congregation, to see that the seats generally occupied by strangers are held in reserve to-day until the meeting commences; then, if those for whom they are reserved do not come to fill them, they may be used by the sisters. I hope this will be recollected and observed.

As our brethren of the Twelve will address us during the Conference, I feel like giving them a few texts to preach upon if they choose to do so. I should have no objection to hear them discourse upon union of action, or concentration of faith and action, or, as some call it, co-operation. That is one item. I would also like to hear them give instruction with regard to our traditions; instruction on this subject is necessary all the time. We must overcome them and adopt the rules laid down in revelation for the guidance of man’s life here on the earth. If any of our brethren feel to speak upon this subject we should be very pleased to hear them; if they are not disposed to preach to the text, they may preach from it, as most ministers do. I have heard very few ministers preach to their texts, they generally preach from them.

The education of our children is worthy of our attention, and the instruction of the Elders from this stand. It is a subject that should be thoroughly impressed upon the minds of parents and the rising generation; and those who wish to preach from this text may do so. And if they do not feel to preach to the text, they may preach from it.

The subject of the building of the Temple is a very good one for occupying a portion of the time. The ordinances of the House of God are for the salvation of the human family. We are the only ones on the earth at the present time, that we have any knowledge of, who hold the keys of salvation committed to the children of men from the heavens by the Lord Almighty; and inasmuch as there are those who hold these keys, it is important that they should be acted upon for the salvation of the human family. The building of Temples, places in which the ordinances of salvation are administered, is necessary to carry out the plan of redemption, and it is a glorious subject upon which to address the Saints.

The gathering of the House of Israel is another text upon which the brethren might address the Saints with profit. We are in the midst of Israel; they are also scattered among the nations of the earth. They are mixed with all nations, especially the tribe of Ephraim. These are to be gathered out. We have Israel in our midst; we live upon their land; we have communion with them and we are under the necessity of feeding and clothing them to a certain extent, and to preserve peace with them at present, until they come to a knowledge of the truth. I mean the Lamanites, the aborigines of our country. They are of the House of Israel.

Not least nor last, but one subject that I would as soon hear treated upon in this house as in any other place, is the union of the sexes. We cannot go into any town or little village in the Territory but we find quite a large number of young people who have arrived at a marriageable age and still they remain single. But this can be accounted for to some extent. The young man says, “I dare not marry a wife, the fashions and customs of the world prevail among the ladies here to such a degree that I should need a fortune to maintain one.” The young lady says, “I don’t wish to marry unless I can find a husband who can take care of me and support me according to my idle wishes.” By their acts only can people be judged, and from observing them we must conclude that the ideas of the young men are too true, they are founded in fact. This should be done away. Such feelings, views and influences should be dispelled from and broken up in the midst of the people. Our young men and women should consider their obligations to each other, to God, the earth, their parents, and to future generations for their salvation and exaltation among the Gods and for the glory of Him whom we serve. These are not idle tales, they are not fictions, but facts; and for a community, believing as we do, to live like the Gentile nations in these things is very incorrect. It is not according to our faith; we should put our faith into practice, and be willing to sustain ourselves, each and every one of us. Our young folks who have arrived at years of maturity should think and act for themselves. They are citizens of the earth; they have a share here, and have a part to bear—a character to form and frame and present to the world, or they will sink into oblivion and forgetfulness. These things are of importance to us at least, and especially in this nation, where many of the people are wasting away their lives, bartering away their very existence, and will hardly receive in return therefor a mess of pottage.

The education of youth is an important text for the brethren to preach from. A very high value should be placed upon it by the Saints. We have the privilege of enjoying the spirit of revelation and the knowledge which comes from above, and in addition to this, every branch of education known in the world should be taught among and acquired by us. All the arts and sciences, and every branch of mechanism known and understood by man should be understood by this people. But no matter how much knowledge we may acquire in a worldly point of view, by study, unless the revelations of the Lord Jesus are dispensed to each and every individual, they cannot use or apply their acquirements to the best advantage. A man may know facts without revelation. The mathematician, for instance, may acquire a great amount of knowledge without any special revelation by the Spirit of the Lord to enlighten his mind; but still he will not know and understand what he might if he had applied his heart unto wisdom. So it is with all the sciences.

These principles should be considered by this people. This is the place, brethren, to teach them. But I will give a caution to my brethren, the Elders—never undertake to teach a thing that you do not understand. Such things will come into your minds; but without launching out on such subjects, questions may be asked and answered, and we gain knowledge from each other. There is plenty within the scope of our own brains that, by the assistance of the Spirit of the Lord, will enable us to tell many things—more than the world or even more than the Saints can receive.

Suppose a man should come here and tell you the very nature of our Father Adam—tell precisely how he was organized, his height, his proportions, the extent of his knowledge, tell you the agreement that was entered into, the amount of knowledge that he had to forget to reduce himself to the capacity of a corruptible being! Suppose this could all be told to the congregations of the Saints, what would they know about it? Very little. There may be some minds which could grasp some things pertaining to it, but others could not. The spirit of revelation can reveal these things to the people, but unless they live so as to have the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will remain a mystery, for there is a vail before the minds of the people, and they cannot be understood. Some of these principles have been taught to the Latter-day Saints, but who can understand them?

Brother Orson Hyde referred to a few who complained about not getting revelations. I will make a statement here that has been brought against me as a crime, perhaps, or as a fault in my life. Not here, I do not allude to anything of the kind in this place, but in the councils of the nations—that Brigham Young has said “when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture.” I say now, when they are copied and approved by me they are as good scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God, without any special command to one man to go here, and to another to go yonder, or to do this or that, or to go and settle here or there. In the early days of the Church, if a man was going to sell a farm he must have a revelation—Joseph must receive and give a revelation. Many men would not do one thing until God had given them a revelation through the prophet. It must be: “Thus saith the Lord, sell your farm, devote such a portion of your means to education, or printing, or for distributing knowledge to the world. Devote such a portion of your means to do this, and such a portion to do that.” I have known a good many men in the early days of the Church who had property, that must have revelation to know what disposition to make of their substance; but who, when they received it, were sure not to strictly obey it. What did revelation do for such persons? Nothing but seal their condemnation. Why do the people want revelations to damn themselves?

Give the mind of the Lord to this people here in this Conference, would they observe it? There is a few who would like to; but take some of those who are called Latter-day Saints, would they follow it if it were given them? I know they would not, still the Lord is merciful and forbearing and He bears with His people. He has borne with and blest us, to see if we would walk in the knowledge of the truth and yield strict obedience to His requirements.

Poverty, persecution and oppression we have endured; many of us have suffered the loss of all things in a worldly point of view. Give us prosperity and see if we would bear it, and be willing to serve God. See if we would be as willing to sacrifice millions as we were to sacrifice what we had when in comparative poverty. Men of property, as a general thing, would not be. We know this, God knows it, and He has to treat us as unruly, disobedient, slow to think and slow to act—as a set of children.

It has been said, time and time again, that if the people would live worthy of the great things God has in store for them, they are ready to come forth for their salvation and edification; but until we improve upon little things and hearken to the voice of the Lord in our first duties, He is not going to bestow the great mysteries of the invisible worlds upon us. We know too much already unless we do better. You may think I am complaining; well, I am just a trifle. I see the Latter-day Saints here and there going to destruction, apostatizing. “Oh,” say they, “we have a little wealth, a little means,” and in some instances that is leading them to destruction.

These merchants that we have made rich, where are they? Those who are not in fellowship and some who are in fellowship with us? They are in our midst, but their feelings are, “We want more, we want your money, Latter-day Saints.” Ask them to sacrifice their all and see what course they will take. When they came here they had not a wagon and did not own five dollars in the world; we have made them rich. Is there one in ten that would endure if we were to get a revelation for them to make a sacrifice of all they have? No, they would lift up their heels against the Almighty and His Anointed. Whether I am complaining or not, this is too true.

Now, brethren, preach the things that we verily believe, and when we come to points of doctrine that we do not know, even if we have good reason to believe them, if our philosophy teaches us they are true, pass them by and teach only to the people that that we do know.

You can know nothing of this Gospel short of the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ. If our Gospel, that we preach in this house and that the Elders of Israel teach, is hid to any man on earth, it is because he is lost. It is not hid to him whose eyes are open to the things of God; he understands it. When he hears the voice of the Good Shepherd, when he hears sound doctrine—that that comes from God, he knows it and receives it. Says he, “That is right, correct, that is congenial to my ears and sits smoothly and satisfactorily on my understanding. I like that doctrine because it is true. The reason we like “Mormonism” is because it is true. It is good; it embraces all the good there is in the sciences, and all that ever was revealed for the benefit of the children of men. There is no art beneficial to the human family but what, is incorporated in our religion. The only true philosophy ever revealed by God to man on this earth is comprised within and is part of our religion. It embraces the whole man and all his talents and time while he lives here on the earth, and then will only prepare him, let him do his best, to enter a higher state of glory, where he will see that he is but just commencing to learn the things of God and the riches of eternity, to know and understand the life of those immortal beings who dwell in light and live in glory and who are surrounded with light, glory, immortality, and eternal lives, and live in accordance with the laws which control the Gods. When we have learned all that we can learn here by a close application in our lives to the faith which Jesus has unfolded, we shall see that we are then just commencing to learn, as it were; and when the spirit is reunited with the body we shall be prepared to enter into the joy of our Lord.

A good deal is said about so much power being given to one man. What does man’s power on the earth consist of? Of the influence he possesses. If a man have influence with God he has power with Him. Again, if he has influence with the people he has power with them; that is all the legitimate or righteous power man has. We have influence; God has given it to us, and the Latter-day Saints delight to place that confidence in us that is deserving, and the wicked world cannot help it. It may be a great pity in the estimation of a great many, but still the world cannot help it; and justice, mercy, truth, righteousness, love, and good will command this respect, and the worthy get it. We have heard considerable about “down with the one-man power!” All right, down with it! What is it and how are you going to get it down? When you get down the power of God, that which is called one-man power in the midst of the Latter-day Saints will fall, but not before! It is no more nor less than the concentration of the faith and action of the people. And this brings to my mind the facts that exist with regard to the faith of the Latter-day Saints.

When we go into the world we find quite a portion of the people who belong to a class called Spiritualists. I do not know that I am right in styling them a class, but they aspire to be so considered. They would like to have it considered that “Mormonism” is nothing but Spiritualism; but it is temporalism as well as Spiritualism. A great many want to know the difference between the two. I will give one feature of the difference, and then set the whole scientific world to work to see if they can ever bring to bear the same feature in Spiritualism. Take all who are called Spiritualists and see if they can produce the order that is in the midst of this people. Here are system, order, organization, law, rule, and facts. Now see if they can produce any one of these features. They cannot. Why? Because their system is from beneath, while ours is perfect and is from above; one is from God, the other is from the devil, that is all the difference. Now see if the whole Spiritualist world can organize a community of six individuals who will agree for a year, that will not fall to pieces like a rope of sand. Now, Spiritualists, go to work, bring your science to bear and demonstrate the fact that you have a system if you can. We have demonstrated it to the world; it is manifest, it is before us, we see it, it is tangible, we can see its results, it has wrought wonders. See if they can do like this. If the kingdom of the devil can do like the kingdom of God on the earth, it is deserving of credit; but its members can only divide and sub-divide, produce confusion on confusion, disorder following on the heels of disorder, one to the right, another to the left, another for the front, another for the rear, one pulling this way, another pulling that, sect against sect, people against people, community against community, politically, religiously, and I may say morally to a great extent; and I do not know but I might say scientifically, although the sciences agree better than the faith, feelings and imaginations of the people. Now try this, Spiritualists! This is a text for you; and when you have produced order, system and unity among the inhabitants of the earth we will look and see what more there is that we have that the world have not. I am not going into details at all, but I just mention this to see if the Spiritualists can systematize or organize anything. When they have done this it will be time enough to admit that they have some science; but until then we will say that Spiritualism is a mass of confusion, it is a body without parts and passions, principle or power, just like, I do not like to say it, but just like the so-called Christians’ God. The creed of the so-called Christians represents that their God is without body, parts or passions; and it should be added, without principle or power, for the latter is the corollary of the former. When we see anything that has solidity and permanency, that produces good, that builds up, creates, organizes, sustains, and betters the condition of the people, we pronounce that good and from God; but when we see that that injures, hurts, destroys, produces confusion in a community, disturbance and discord, strife and animosity, hatefulness and bitter feelings one towards another, we at once pronounce it evil, and declare that it springs from beneath. All evil is from beneath, while all that is good is from God.

I did not think to preach you a sermon when I commenced, but to call upon some of the brethren to do so. I have given them some texts, and they may preach to or from them, just as they please. Some of them will probably talk about organizing the kingdom of God on the earth, and so governing a community as to make them of one heart and one mind. I am prepared to prove to any sensible congregation, any good philosopher or thinking person or people, who have steady brain and nerve to look at things as they are, that can tell white from black and daylight from midnight darkness, that the closer the connection in a business point of view that a community hold themselves together, the greater will be their joy and wealth. I am prepared to prove, from all the facts that have existed or that now exist in all branches of human affairs, that union is strength, and that division is weakness and confusion.

I do not know but I will advert once more to Spiritualism. Spiritualism is like Methodism and the sects of the day exactly, I mean so far as unity of faith or action is concerned. When I was a Methodist, as I was once, they said to me, “You may be baptized by immersion if you absolutely require it, but we do not believe in it, but we do believe in giving every person his choice.” “Well,” said I, “I believe in it. There are some things required in the doctrine of the Close Communion Baptists which I cannot subscribe to as well as to most of the principles that you hold in your catechisms, and in the tenets of your church, but,” said I, “they believe in baptism by immersion, and I want to be baptized by immersion;” and finally they consented to baptize me, and did do it. So say the Spiritualists.

Another one says, “I want to kneel down in the water and have the water poured on my head.” Says the Methodist priest, “We don’t believe in it, but you can have it done. It is no matter, one method of baptism, perhaps, is as good as another.” So say the Spiritualists. Another one says, “I want to get down into the water and be baptized face foremost.” “Well,” says the priest, “we don’t think it makes any difference, and if you really desire it, you may have the ordinance administered to you according to your wishes.” So say the Spiritualists. Another one says, “I want to sit in my chair and have the minister dip his fingers into a bowl, and put it on my forehead, and call that baptism in the name of the Trinity, The Methodist says, “We will consent to that; it is just as good as anything else.” So say the Spiritualists. Another one says he wants to kneel down in the water and have water poured on him. The priest consents to this also. So do the Spiritualists. Why do I say this? Because men baptized by these various methods can all get communications, they say, from the spirits sanctioning each and every different form of baptism. The Methodists say, “We believe in a God without body, parts and passions;” so say the Spiritualists, the Presbyterian and other sects, but the Latter-day Saints do not. And in reference to the ordinance of baptism; the Latter-day Saints say, “Go down into the water and be buried with Christ in the water; and come out of the water as Christ came up out of the water, when the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove rested on His head, and a voice from heaven was heard saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.’ He will tell you what to do, teach you correct doctrine. He has no traditions to overcome, no prepossessed notions taught by parents, binding him to the sects that are now on the earth. Hear ye Him! have hands laid upon you that you may receive the Holy Ghost.” The Latter-day Saints say to the people, “Believe in God the Father and in Jesus, the Son! Believe in the gifts of the holy Gospel! They are as ready to be bestowed upon His children at this day as any other in the history of the world. This is the time to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; this is the very time that we should acknowledge him and believe in his ordinances and in the gifts and graces that are promised to the children of God. We are living in a Gospel age and dispensation, we are living right in the day in which, as the Apostles said on the Day of Pentecost, the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Has the Lord called upon the children of men in this day? Yes, in the east and the west, from the north to the south, and in the uttermost parts of the earth. He has called upon the inhabitants of the earth to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Suppose this order of things had continued from the days of the ancient Apostles; suppose there had been no backsliding, no merchants to lift their heels because they are getting rich, no apostates, and the successors of the Apostles had received the holy Priesthood and had gone to the uttermost parts of the earth, where would have been your paganism to-day? It would not have been on the earth; infidelity would not have been known. Children would have been taught the ways of the Lord and brought up in the way they should go, and the whole world would have been full of the knowledge of God, instead of being in darkness as now!

The Gospel—The One-man Power

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 24, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

Short sermons are very frequently interesting, if the speaker can say what he wishes to say from the time he commences to speak until the end. But most of us who are public speakers labor under timidity, and experience that lack of the governing and controlling principle which prevents our doing this. I notice this in almost every public speaker I hear. It is seldom that a speaker can arise and deliver his thoughts and reflections readily, unless his speech and subject have been studied and fixed previously. For my part, as far as my public speaking is concerned, I do not know that I ever troubled myself to take thought beforehand of what I should say. There have been times in my life that I have been led to lecture on certain principles, and on such occasions my mind would be confined to those principles alone, consequently my subject would be before me more immediately. But upon rising to address the people I trust in Him from whom we all derive the power of thought and reflection, and I strive to express my reflections acceptably to God and to my hearers.

The Gospel, whose principles we have been hearing about this morning, is the Gospel that every Christian professes to believe in. I do not know of a Christian but what will admit that the Bible is true; then where is the difference between the Latter-day Saints and the various Christian sects that dwell on the earth? The difference is that we believe enough to obey; while they believe just enough to acknowledge but not to obey.

If there be one principle in this Gospel that we preach that is not perfectly true, we would like some divine to make us acquainted with the fact; and prove by principles of true philosophy wherein it is not true, or wherein it is injurious to those who believe it. We believe that every principle that God has revealed to the children of men is strictly true, and absolutely beneficial to the life of every intelligent being that dwells upon the whole earth. We have come to this conclusion, for we have tried to learn and understand and to carry out in our lives the principles of the Gospel that we believe in, and if we sum them up, in a few words, we might, with the strictest propriety, use the words of one anciently, and say that the Gospel is “peace on earth and good will to men.” We can also say truly that this is eternal life to know the only wise God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. But when we examine the faith and acknowledgements of the Christian world we find that, with all their professions, they are involved in midnight darkness concerning the true nature and character of God. Is there a divine on the face of the whole earth who can give you or me any description of the Being that the whole Christian world worship as God? There is not. Where is the proof of this assertion? I am a witness; their writings are witnesses; their sermons are witnesses; their declarations are witnesses. Yet this book, the Bible, portrays the character of God, the Father of our spirits, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as clearly as any work ever written by man portrays the shape, nature, construction and constitution of the human frame. If this is so, why do not the Christian world believe in it? The Latter-day Saints do believe enough of it to try and carry it out in their practice.

What do we believe about the faith that Jesus revealed? He said a great deal with regard to life and salvation. His Apostles wrote and taught after him, and the Gospel was among the children of men from the days of Adam until the coming of the Messiah; this Gospel of Christ is from the beginning to the end. Then why was the law of Moses given? Just answer the question! In consequence of the disobedience of the children of Israel, the elect of God; the very seed that He had selected to be His people, and upon whom He said He would place His name. This seed of Abraham so rebelled against Him and His commands that the Lord said to Moses, “I will give you a law which shall be a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ.” But this law is grievous; it is a law of carnal commandments. Still it will be hard for any divine that now lives to draw the line between the law of carnal commandments and the law of divine commandments. I have not seen them who can do it.

I ask what is the nature of our religion? Why, it is “peace on earth and good will to men” in every particular; and if its precepts be observed it will fill society with peace, joy, wealth, beauty and excellence; it lifts man above the things of earth, gives him the philosophy of eternity, and shows the works of God in all their glory and magnitude, and leads the mind of the creature to admire and worship the Creator. Is this the fact? Certainly it is. I have not found anything in my religion that will do harm to any creature on the face of the earth. I have not found errors in our religion. Are there errors in the people? O yes, plenty of them. I recollect a gentleman from Philadelphia who was tarrying in this city for the benefit of his health, but was called home on business, who said he believed the Bible and believed all, as far as he had learned, with regard to the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints. Said he, one day, when visiting me for the last time, “Mr. Young, am I to understand that you consider yourselves perfect?” I said to him, “Such an idea with regard to us is a mistaken one, and if you entertain it you have not got the matter placed correctly in your mind. Let me correct you, so that when at home you may meditate upon it. The doctrine that we preach is perfect; but our lives are very imperfect. To say that a human being is perfect, that he has no errors, would say that he is divine—a God or a holy angel. But we are in a world of sin and darkness, a world that knows not God; in a world where error dwells and reigns supreme. Now,” said I, “remember this. The doctrine that we preach is from God; this doctrine is pure and holy; it is without spot or blemish; and it is the doctrine of the Son of God, the Savior of the world.” Is it good for man here? Certainly it is—the best that can be given to any beings on the earth; to organize a society, to rule a family to dictate and control scholars at school, to rule, govern and control an individual, a community, a nation or kingdom, it is the very best code of principles and laws ever delivered to the children of men. In all my researches into the doctrine of Jesus I have never found an error.

It has been observed here this morning that we are called fanatics. Bless me! That is nothing. Who has not been called a fanatic who has discovered anything new in philosophy or science? We have all read of Galileo the astronomer who, contrary to the system of astronomy that had been received for ages before his day, taught that the sun, and not the earth, was the centre of our planetary system? For this the learned astronomer was called “fanatic,” and subjected to persecution and imprisonment of the most rigorous character. So it has been with others who have discovered and explained new truths in science and philosophy which have been in opposition to long-established theories; and the opposition they have encountered has endured until the truth of their discoveries has been demonstrated by time. The term “fanatic” is not applied to professors of religion only. How was it with Dr. Morse, when shut up in the attic of an old building in Baltimore for more than a year, with a little wire stretched round the room, experimenting upon it with his battery, he told a friend that by means of that he could sit there and talk to Congress in Washington? Was he not considered a fanatic, and wild, and crazy? Certainly he was; and so it was with Robert Fulton, when he was conducting his experiments with steam and endeavoring to apply it so as to propel a vessel through the water. And all great discoverers in art, science, or mechanism have been denounced as fanatics and crazy; and it has been declared by their contemporaries that they did not know what they were saying, and they were thought to be almost, as wild and incoherent as the generality of the people now think George Francis Train to be.

I will tell you who the real fanatics are: they are they who adopt false principles and ideas as facts, and try to establish a superstructure upon, a false foundation. They are the fanatics; and however ardent and zealous they may be, they may reason or argue on false premises till doomsday, and the result will be false. If our religion is of this character we want to know it; we would like to find a philosopher who can prove it to us. We are called ignorant; so we are: but what of it? Are not all ignorant? I rather think so. Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon? When we view its face we may see what is termed “the man in the moon,” and what some philosophers declare are the shadows of mountains. But these sayings are very vague, and amount to nothing; and when you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the most ignorant of their fellows. So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain. It was made to give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and so will this earth when it is celestialized. Every planet in its first rude, organic state receives not the glory of God upon it, but is opaque; but when celestialized, every planet that God brings into existence is a body of light, but not till then. Christ is the light of this planet. God gives light to our eyes. Did you ever think who gave you the power of seeing? who organized these little globules in our heads, and formed the nerves running to the brain, and gave us the power of distinguishing a circle from a square, an upright from a level, large from small, white from black, brown from gray, and so on? Did you acquire this faculty by your own power? Did any of you impart this power to me or I to you? Not at all. Then where did we get it from? From a superior Being. When I think of these few little things with regard to the organization of the earth and the people of the earth, how curious and how singular it is! And yet how harmonious and beautiful are Nature’s laws! And the work of God goes forward, and who can hinder it, or who can stay His hand now that He has commenced His kingdom?

This brings us right back to this Gospel. God has commenced His kingdom on the earth. How intricate it is, and how difficult for a man to understand if he be not enlightened by the Spirit of God! How can we understand it? O, we have nothing to do but to humble ourselves and get the spirit of the Lord by being born of the water and of the Spirit; then we can enter into it. How is it if we are not born of the Spirit? Can the natural man behold the things of God? He can not, for they are discerned spiritually—by the Spirit of the Almighty, and if we have not this Spirit within us we cannot understand the things of God. But the most simple thing in the world to understand is the work of the Lord. What shall we do? Divest ourselves! of great, big “Mr. I.” Let him fall at the feet of good sound reason. What next? Humble ourselves before the Lord and receive the truth as He has revealed it, then we will be born of the Spirit. Then if we wish further blessings, be born of the water; then, if we wish further blessings, receive the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and if we wish still further blessings, live by every word that proceeds out of His mouth, that is spoken from the heavens, then things will be brought to our remembrance by the Comforter that Jesus promised his disciples, which should show them things past, present, and to come.

This is the Gospel as we believe it. Is there any harm in it? Not the least in the world. Should we not obey it? We should. Should we not obey the requirements of Heaven? Certainly we should. Would it be the least injurious to the human family to receive the Gospel of the Son of God, and to have the man Christ Jesus to rule over them? Not at all; but, on the contrary, it would fill them with peace, joy, love, kindness, and intelligence. Would the principles of the Gospel, if obeyed, teach us to control ourselves? They would. They will teach men and women to govern and control their own passions. You very frequently hear it said, “Such a man or woman has too much temper.” This is a mistaken idea. No person on earth has too much of this article. But do we not frequently see the evil conduct of people through allowing their passions and tempers to have full control of them? Certainly we do. What is the difficulty? We want the spirit, knowledge, power and principle within us to govern and control our tempers; there is no danger of having too much if we will only control them by the Spirit of the Almighty. Every intelligent being on the earth is tempered for glory, beauty, excellency and knowledge here, and for immortality and eternal lives in the worlds to come. But every being who attains to this must be sanctified before God and be completely under the control of His Spirit. If I am thus controled by the Spirit of the Most High I am a king, I am supreme so far as the control of self is concerned; and it also enables me to control my wives and children. And when they thus see that I am under the government and control of the Good Spirit, they will be perfectly submissive to my dictates. They feel and say, “Yes, father, or husband, certainly, you never require anything that is wrong; I have learned that long ago. Your judgment and discretion and the power of thought and reflection in you are sufficient; you know what is right.” And if I could extend this power I could reign supreme, not only over my family and friends, but also over my neighbors and the people all around me. Could the spirit of error, hatred and wickedness perform this? No, it can be accomplished only by means of the meek and humble spirit of the Lord Jesus. If an individual is filled with that, it makes him a perfect monarch over himself, and it will give him influence over all who will hearken to his counsel. What a pity it would be in the estimation of the wicked and corrupt, if any man on the earth really did possess this power! Suppose that Napoleon, for instance, was actually filled with the power of God to that degree that the whole people of France would love him as much as a child ever loved a parent, because they knew every word he uttered was full of wisdom and would produce health, wealth, joy and peace among all classes; would elevate the suffering poor—those in need and distress, fill them with knowledge and wisdom and give them the good things of life, why, there would be a general out-cry against him, and he would be denounced because of the exercise of the “one-man power!” But let him be a devil and rule with an iron rod, a tyrant’s hand, and take off heads every day by the score or hundred, and there would not be a word said against him! Let the good I have referred to be brought about, as it would be, under the rule and government of Heaven, and the ruler would be called a tyrant. But this is the way to rule, no matter what the inhabitants and the wise men and philosophers of the earth may think; and the time will come when this earth will be revolutionized by these principles, and when through their influence war, dissension, hatred, malice, and persecution will cease among the children of men and when there will be a universal reign of peace and righteousness. Suppose we live to see it! We shall all be of one heart and one mind, shall we not? I will here ask, for my own satisfaction, what will you do, Mr. Politician, when there is no division at the polls, but when the cry will be, from one end of the earth to the other, “We want one man only, but the best that can be found for this office; this is the only man we want?” Your occupation will be gone about that time. Will there be wars in those days? No, they will be done away. Any contentions then? No, all will be peace. Bickering and strife will have passed away, and a better spirit will have taken possession of the minds of the people, and they will be peaceful, joyous, kind and full of benevolence, and the general feeling will be, “Friend, what can I do for you? Brother, how can I do you good?” or, “Sister, can I add to your comfort, or make any addition to your joy and peace here on the earth?” You and I are looking for this day. Let me ask the poor miserable apostate, the hater of God and righteousness,” Do you not think that will be one-man power?” I reckon it will. That is what leading men everywhere are after now, not only in this country, but in every other; they are all scrambling after it, and they are mad because they can not get it.

I think I will take the liberty of relating a little circumstance which was related to me. Whether it is a fact or not I cannot say. Some of our good government officers here inquired of a man from the Southern part of the Territory: “Do you know Brigham?” Yes, I know him very well.” “Do you not know that he is trying to influence the election?” “No,” I never heard anything about it.” “Can’t you make oath that he has always guided and influenced the elections in this Territory?” The man said, “No, I am not well enough acquainted with him nor with politics to know anything about it.” I laughed heartily inside at the poor miserable fools when I heard this. Why, yes, I would govern and control the elections of the earth if I desired and could; certainly I would, and help yourselves the best way you can! Bless my heart, who don’t do it? The poor creatures! Isn’t that what they are after? Would not they do it if they could? I can govern and control the Latter-day Saints, not by the iron hand, but by the principles of true government—the principles of our religion, which, in their very nature, are bound to make those who will be guided by them healthy, wealthy and wise. I think we are doing our best at it; and I also think that we will go on and be successful in this good work in spite of earth and hell.

I say God speed everybody that is for freedom and equal rights! I am with you. Whom do we want to fill our public offices? We want the best men that we can find for governor, president and statesmen, and for every other office of trust and responsibility; and when we have obtained them, we will pray for them and give them our faith and influence to do the will of God and to preserve themselves and the people in truth and righteousness. I have talked as long as time will allow. God bless you. Amen.

The Word of Wisdom—Spiritualism

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 30, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

I can say to the people, as I have frequently said, if we were apt scholars to learn the truth and to understand the mind and will of God concerning us, and would then each and every one of us with fervency perform his duty, it would not be necessary to talk quite so loud and quite so long as we do now. But we are still children and can learn but little at a time; and we need to have our lessons repeated in our hearing very frequently, for we are apt to lay down our books when we go out of these schools where instructions are given. We are very apt to slumber and sleep and forget what resolutions we have made in our own minds, and to forget what we have heard from the servants of God. If we could learn our lessons, treasure them up and practice upon them, it would not be necessary to spend so much time in talking or in listening to those who talk; but it is necessary for us to talk and then to practice and show the people as well as teach them how to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth. It is quite a pity that we do not understand things! Take the inhabitants of the earth as they are, and in many things pertaining to what is called worldly wisdom—mechanism, the sciences and the arts, there seems to be a great deal of knowledge displayed; but they are ignorant, at the same time, of the fountain of this knowledge. They cannot conceive of anything any broader or deeper than the extension of their own minds and that of their neighbors. If we—that is, mankind generally, could understand that whatever we enjoy, whatever wisdom and knowledge we possess, is bestowed upon us by and comes from God, we should perhaps be more willing to acknowledge Him in these blessings; and until the people called Latter-day Saints do this, we shall continue to talk to them and to ourselves.

The Word of Wisdom has been preached to this people, first and last, a good deal, that is the written word in the Doctrine and Covenants. It has been read and taught to the people now, some thirty-eight years! and yet we neglect to observe this trifling lesson concerning our health. Is it not strange? Yes, it is; it is passing strange; it is astonishing! How many there are of our brethren who say, “I can’t dispense with my tobacco! I can’t lay down my pipe or cigar and let it alone; I must take it up again, I can’t live unless I have a little tobacco in my mouth, or in my nose;” I have no knowledge of their using it in their ears. Old men, middle-aged men, men strong in intellect and physical force, athletic men, will say, “I must have a little tobacco.” Is this the case with the Elders of Israel? You recollect that, here, a year ago I think it was last Conference, if my memory serves me aright, when the Bishop of the Church was presented for acceptance to the people, and then his counsellors came up, I made this reservation—I would vote for them if they would let their liquor and tobacco alone; and I believe the people voted for them on the ground that they were to cease using ardent spirits and tobacco. If they have not used it from that day to this, there were but few days that they did not use it. They should be examples to the Church; they should be like fathers to the Church. If they are really the counsellors of the Bishop, they should practice everything that is good that he practices; and if the Bishop himself should neglect any duty, they should perform their duty as counsellors, and should teach, guide, direct and counsel the Bishop to improve in his life.

But to return to the brethren and the use of tobacco. There are many of our Elders who say, “I can’t live without indulging in this unseemly appetite.” To say that the nature of man requires tobacco and spirits is absurd. I do not know but we might prove that the nature of a dumb brute desires this at certain times. I am not sure but what cattle would drink liquor if it were reduced considerably; perhaps they might drink it when rather strong. I think I have heard of some few instances in the course of my life. But you put cattle into a field where there is tobacco and you will see that none of them will eat it unless they are sick, they will take it then, but at no other time. If a horse, ox or sheep be in good, ordinary health it will not touch it, and to say that it is necessary for man is absurd! Well, is it good for nothing? Was it created in vain? No, the Word of Wisdom tells us that tobacco is for sick cattle, and the dumb brute will demonstrate this if it is sick and can get at it. The tobacco plant and the lobelia plant are similar in taste and outward appearance, though not in their effects; but the former is for cattle, the latter for man. The difference in their effects is chiefly, that lobelia has no narcotic influence, while tobacco has.

I wish to ask those brethren who are in the habit of using tobacco, Won’t you leave it alone and try lobelia, and see if you can become attached to it? If you can, it will prove that it possesses narcotic properties; if you cannot, it will prove that it possesses no such properties. Mankind would not become attached to these unnecessary articles were it not for the poison they contain. The poisonous or narcotic properties in spirits, tobacco and tea are the cause of their being so much liked by those who use them. I hear something occasionally about tea, but I say if the ladies would take the natural leaf from the stem and dry it upon wood they would not become attached to it as they do to the green tea, Young Hyson, Gunpowder and other popular brands, for these kinds are cured on copper, and they partake more or less of the nature of the copper on which they are dried, through being impregnated with its poisonous qualities.

I say this to the brethren and sisters, that they may see if they can become attached to and really crave any of these stimulants that do not contain quite a quantity of poison. There is no doubt whatever that the food we eat, and which is absolutely necessary to sustain us, contains poison. I do not dispute that the poison contained in the bread that has been distributed from the table this afternoon, if extracted by a skilful chemist, would be enough to kill; but still, as combined with the other constituent elements of which bread is composed, it is not injurious, and we eat it without harm. But where we find so much poison in articles the people will become very strongly attached to them in a very short time. For instance, how quickly persons become attached to the practice of opium eating; they cannot live without it! If there was no poison in it it would not operate upon the system as it does. In some countries it is said that the fair sex are in the habit of arsenic eating, and this is for the special purpose of improving the complexion. Let a lady commence taking the smallest possible particle of this article, and if she continues the practice, in a few years she will not be able to live without it.

Many of our sisters think they cannot live without tea. I will tell you what we can do—I have frequently said it to my brethren and sisters—if they cannot live without tea, coffee, brandy, whisky, wine, beer, tobacco, &c., they can die without them. This is beyond controversy. If we had the determination that we should have, we would live without them or die without them. Let the mother impregnate her system with these narcotic influences when she is bringing forth a family on the earth, and what does she do? She lays the foundation of weakness, palpitation of the heart, nervous affections, and many other ills and diseases in the system of her offspring that will afflict them from the cradle to the grave. Is this righteous or unrighteous, good or evil? Let my sisters ask and answer the question for themselves, and the conclusion which each and every one of them may come to is this, “If I do an injury to my child, I sin.”

We very well know that the customs which prevail in the world are such as to cause millions and millions of children to go to untimely graves. Infants, children, youth, young men and young women, thousands and tens of thousands of them go to an untimely grave through the diseases engendered in their systems by their progenitors. Is this wrong or is it right? If it is wrong we should abstain from every influence and practice which produces these evil effects; if it is right, then practice them. But we say it is wrong; God says it is wrong, and He has pointed out in a few instances the path for us to walk in, by observing the Word of Wisdom, and He has declared that it is fitted to the capacity of the Saints, yea the weakest of all who are or can be called Saints. And this Word of Wisdom prohibits the use of hot drinks and tobacco. I have heard it argued that tea and coffee are not mentioned therein; that is very true; but what were the people in the habit of taking as hot drinks when that revelation was given? Tea and coffee. We were not in the habit of drinking water very hot, but tea and coffee—the beverages in common use. And the Lord said hot drinks are not good for the body nor the belly, liquor is not good for the body nor the belly, but for the washing of the body, &c. Tobacco is not good, save for sick cattle, and for bruises and sores, its cleansing properties being then very useful.

Now then, will we observe the Word of Wisdom? Will we let our tea, coffee, whisky and tobacco alone? Shall I answer for my brethren and sisters? Yes, I will answer. A large proportion of the Elders of Israel will let these things alone, they do let them alone; but there is a certain percentage of them that you might as well talk to the wind as to talk to them about these things. As for my sisters, I can answer the question for them. They may not have their tea on the table when the husband sits down to breakfast or supper, and their tea-cups, saucers and tea-pot may be out of sight, but I will insure that many of them take a little tea for the stomach’s sake in the course of the day, whether the father or husband knows anything about it or not; and if the question is asked why I think so, I answer from the statistics of the sales of tea and coffee in our stores; they prove this. We were very urgent, a year or two ago, with regard to the Word of Wisdom, and the influence then raised made an impression on the people which caused them to forsake the use of these unnecessary articles for the time being. It was our wish then, and is still, that the money generally paid out for tea and coffee, liquor, tobacco, &c., be used to send for the poor Saints and bring them to a land where they can accumulate the common necessaries of life, instead of staying in their own land, and going down to an untimely grave for the want of food. I recollect one sister said to me, one day, “Brother Brigham, here is twenty dollars”—I think that was the sum—“I give this into the poor fund. At such a time you advised us to let our tea and coffee alone, and contribute the same amount that we would expend for these articles in bringing the poor from the old country. It would have taken me twenty dollars to supply me with these articles to this time. I have saved the money; my health now is more than fifty per cent better than when I left off tea. I can now work ten, or perhaps twelve, hours a day easier than I could two or three when I took these stimulants.” Some others have sent in a few dollars thus accumulated for the relief of the poor; but I think most of our sisters have taken to their old practice of drinking tea again. Perhaps I do not judge rightly, but my conclusions are formed from information in my possession: as to the amount of this article sold.

As far as I can learn the cup of tea stands on the stoves in the houses of my near neighbors, associates, and those with whom I am best acquainted. I go along occasionally and take up a tin cup, and say, “What is this?” “It is a little tea; we have just made a little tea this morning;” or, “we thought we would have a little tea this morning.” I have not seen any on my table, but frequently I am asked, “Will you have a little tea?” I can say I have tasted it to see whether I have liked it or not. I have desired not to like it. I never was in the habit of using it, except a very small portion of my life. But I do not like it. It has got to be made very delicate, about as weak as if for a child, and then a good share of nice cream and sugar in it for me to like it at all. I have frequently taken a spoon and said, “Let us see what you are drinking? Oh, yes, tea! It wants a little sugar and cream in it.” If you who use it will drink a large share of sugar and cream in it, it will not have that same influence on your stomach as if you drink it raw, I mean without the sugar and cream; it will not injure the coating of the stomach to the same extent. And if you adopt this practice, adding a little more sugar and cream, and having your tea gradually weaker and weaker you may finally get rid of it.

I ask again will we observe the Word of Wisdom? “No, we will not, unless we have a mind to.” That is the answer. “If we have a mind to and feel disposed to do so, we will observe it, but not without.” I say to all the Elders of Israel, if it makes you sick and so sleepy that you cannot keep out of bed unless you have tobacco, go to bed and there lie. How long? Until you can get up and go to your business like rational men, like men who have heads on their shoulders and who are not control[l]ed by their foolish appetites. I have said to my family, and I now say to all the sisters in the Church, if you cannot get up and do your washing without a cup of tea in the morning, go to bed, and there lie. How long? Until the influence of tea is out of the system. Will it take a month? No matter if it does; if it takes three months, six months, or a year, it is better to lie there in bed until the influence of tea, coffee and liquor is out of the system, so that you may go about your business like rational persons, than to give way to these foolish habits. They are destructive to the human system; they filch money from our pockets, and they deprive the poor of the necessaries of life. Hundreds and thousands could have been brought here to this Territory, where they could have had food to eat, raiment to wear, and been taught so as to have a house of their own, could have known how to build a good cabin, lived under their own roof and eaten their own bread; whereas, now they are perishing by scores and hundreds. Do these habits rob the poor? Yes, they do. Do they produce evil? Yes, they do. They do not bring that sweet satisfaction of the Spirit of God to our hearts and our feelings and affections that would come to us by the observance of the Word of Wisdom, and using the means thus wasted to feed the poor and clothe the naked.

A few words with regard to our tithes and offerings—a subject that was presented to the people yesterday. You come to the rich, that is, those who are best off, for we cannot boast that anybody is rich in our community, but those who have the most means, as a general thing, do the least. Our tithes and offerings are neglected; the poor are needy, they want bread, and a little of something to make them comfortable. There may be a few, perhaps, sick in this Ward, and the next, and so on through the Wards, and there is nothing contributed for their assistance. I know it is the disposition of many to turn round and say, “We pay our tithing.” I want to inform the Latter-day Saints that since we have been in these valleys there has not been one-tenth part of the tithing paid into the Church that was due to it; but everything that we can rake and scrape goes to the poor, and for the building of the kingdom of God, as it was designed; and the poor and the needy get pretty much all of it. If they do not, I do not know it. It is left in the hands of our agents and clerks, and I know it is dealt out to our workmen and the poor as long as we have anything left. And then upon this God has blessed me sufficiently that I feed and clothe my scores of poor, independent of the tithing office; and He will bless any man, any family, or any people who is liberal. As it is written in the good book,” The liberal man deviseth liberal things,” and if he deviseth liberal things by his liberality he shall stand. The Lord will bless that people that is full of charity, kindness and good works. When our monthly fast days come round, do we think of the poor? If we do, we should send in our mite, no matter what it is. What is it to give ten or twenty pounds of flour, or a hundred pounds of flour? What is it to give a little meat, or sugar, or a little money, or whatever is wanted? Does it impoverish us? It does not. If this people have not been sustained by the hand of the Almighty, I ask how they have been sustained? Could any other people have lived in these valleys except the Latter-day Saints? No, they could not. The elements would not have produced the corn, the wheat, the oats, the rye, the peas, the barley, the vegetables and the fruit. These elements in which we live would not have produced them for anybody else. But the Lord suffered us to be driven here from our homes, and He promised us He would lead us into a goodly land. He has done so. He has blessed the soil, the water and the atmosphere; He has blessed the shining sun and the falling rain, and He has forbidden the hoary frosts to cut off our crops, as they did when we first came here; and we have been sustained and preserved, and if the Lord Almighty has not done it, let some man tell who has. As far as my knowledge goes, the providences of God have sustained this people, the hand of the Lord has fed and clothed them, and given them all they possess. We were not fit to live in Christian society; we were not worthy of the holiness, beauty, excellency and glory of the Christian world, let our enemies tell the story; but they must drive us into the wilderness, there to perish as they thought. And if God has not sustained us after all that we have passed through, let some one tell how we have been sustained.

Will He sustain us in being covetous? No; let the hearts of the people dry up with regard to the poor, in sending for those in foreign lands, in sending the Elders to the nations of the earth, in preaching the Gospel, in purifying ourselves here; let us neglect the Word of Wisdom, neglect our prayers, tithes, offerings, donations, and public works, and see how much we will enjoy the Spirit of the Lord. The danger now in the midst of the people arises from their neglect of these things; it leaves them in cold and darkness. See the apostacy in our midst; see also the love of riches. The spirit of the world and of apostacy is prevalent here, and the people want stirring up, and sometimes I feel as if they wanted a rap on each side of the head to wake them up, that they may see where they are going and what they are doing.

How is it with most of those who were our merchants here? “A little more of your money, brethren and sisters;” and the best of them are so to-day. I hardly know where I could draw the line of distinction between the just and the unjust; between those who, while trading, let their avaricious, craving disposition control them, and those who dealt justly. It is hard to draw the line between them, the feeling was so general. “A little more of your money, a little more wealth, a little more ease, a little more land, a little more means, a little finer house, a little better carriage, a few more horses, a few more possessions; give us your money, it is all we want of you.” And that spirit is distributed among the people.

I will stop right here and say to the Latter-day Saints, I have sought to teach you how to get rich, but I never taught you to neglect your duty; I never instructed you nor taught you to forsake the Lord; and to-day I would rather not own one farthing, and take my valise in my hand, as I did at the rise of the Church, and travel among the nations of the earth, and beg my bread from door to door, than to neglect my duty and lose the Spirit of Almighty God. If I have wealth and cannot use it to the glory of God and the building up of His kingdom I ask the Lord to take it from me. But how is it with some of the people? A little more ease, a little more ease to my eyelids; as the Prophet said, “a little more sleep and a little more slumber and a little more folding of the hands.” Say some, “We are pretty easy in circumstances, have quite enough to last us through life; but we want a little more for our children; and when we get enough for them we want a little more for grand-children, and then a little more for our great-grand-children,” and finally they never want to stop until they get the whole world; and, in very many cases; what they get will canker their souls and send them down to hell. It has been so in this Church from the beginning.

I will say to you that we have the capacity to receive, but we need teaching continually. We had three sermons this morning, and we had not half enough; and we shall keep this meeting two hours this afternoon; and we might talk to each other again to-morrow morning, and continue until our hearts get full of the kingdom of God, and building it up and the establishment of peace and righteousness upon the earth. We are called, as it has been told you, to redeem the nations of the earth. The fathers cannot be made perfect without us; we cannot be made perfect without the fathers. There must be this chain in the holy Priesthood; it must be welded together from the latest generation that lives on the earth back to Father Adam, to bring back all that can be saved and placed where they can receive salvation and a glory in some kingdom. This Priesthood has to do it; this Priesthood is for this purpose. God has revealed the plan of salvation, we know how to carry it out. If we neglect this will we be justified? No, we will not; we must carry out this plan of salvation, and in so doing we expect the whole world to be against us. It was revealed to me in the commencement of this Church, that the Church would spread, prosper, grow and extend, and that in proportion to the spread of the Gospel among the nations of the earth, so would the power of Satan rise. It was told you here that Brother Joseph warned the Elders of Israel against false spirits. It was revealed to me that if the people did not receive the spirit of revelation that God had sent for the salvation of the world, they would receive false spirits, and would have revelation. Men would have revelation, women would have revelation, the priest in the pulpit and the deacon under the pulpit would have revelation, and the people would have revelation enough to damn the whole nation, and nations of them, unless they would hearken to the voice of God. It was not only revealed to Joseph, but to your humble servant, that false spirits would be as prevalent and as common among the inhabitants of the earth as we now see them.

Seeing that I have got on this thread, I will ask, Is there any revelation in the world? Yes, plenty of it. We are accused of being nothing more nor less than a people possessing what they term the higher order of Spiritualism. Whenever I see this in print, or hear it spoken, “You are right,” say I. Yes, we belong to that higher order of Spiritualism; our revelations are from above, yours from beneath. This is the difference. We receive revelation from Heaven, you receive your revelations from every foul spirit that has departed this life, and gone out of the bodies of mobbers, murderers, highwaymen, drunkards, thieves, liars, and every kind of debauched character, whose spirits are floating around here, and searching and seeking whom they can destroy; for they are the servants of the devil, and they are permitted to come now to reveal to the people.” It was not so once, anciently or formerly, when there was no Priesthood on the earth, no revelations from Heaven. Then the Lord Almighty shut up this evidence, and all intercourse between men on the earth and the foul spirits, so that the latter could not deceive and destroy the former with their revelations. But God has spoken now, and so has the devil; Jesus has revealed his Priesthood, so has the devil revealed his, and there is quite a difference between the two. One forms a perfect chain, the links of which can not be separated; one has perfect order, laws, rules, regulations, organization; it forms, fashions, makes, creates, produces, protects and holds in existence the inhabitants of the earth in a pure and holy form of government, preparatory to their entering the kingdom of Heaven. The other is a rope of sand; it is disjointed, jargon, confusion, discord, everybody receiving revelation to suit himself. If I were disposed to go into their rings I could make every table, every dot, every particle of their revelations prove that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I could lay my hands on the table with them, and if I would consent to have the spirits wrap, I would make them prove every time that Joseph Smith was a prophet; but let me go, and another man come along, a wicked man, and he would have all the evidence he desired that Joseph was not a prophet of God. I could make them say, every time, that this is the Church of Christ; while a wicked man might enter the circle and he would be told that this was not the Church of Christ; and this is their system—it is confusion and discord. It is like a rope of sand. There is no order, no organization; it cannot be reduced to a system, it is uncertainty. That is the difference between the two spiritual systems—yes, this is the higher order of spiritualism, to be led, governed and control[l]ed by law, and that, too, the law of heaven that governs and controls the Gods and the angels. There is no being in heaven that could endure there, that could abide the heavens unless he is sanctified, purified and glorified by law, and lives by law. But take the other party, and it is without law. Well, what is it? Death. What is that? Dissolution of the body. And what will be next? The second death, and I leave every person to speculate to suit himself with regard to that; but the Scriptures say “Blessed is he on whom the second death hath no power;” and they who serve God and keep His commandments, that receive the holy Priesthood of the Son of God, have something tangible, and if they live according to this law the second death has nothing to do with them. They are above it, free from it, they are masters of it, for they command in the name of Jesus, and their words are obeyed; and what they say shall be done, is done. This is the authority that God gives. As the Scriptures say, “Whatsoever you bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you loose on earth, is loosed in heaven; and whosesoever sins you remit on earth, shall be remitted to them in heaven; and whosesoever sins, ye retain on earth, are retained in heaven.” This is the authority of the kingdom of God on the earth, and we possess and expect nothing less.

Look at the Christian world! How many times it was said to me, in my early career: “Oh, if the Lord had spoken to such a man, to such a divine that we have all confidence in; if the Lord had revealed His will to that man, we could have believed the whole thing.” The Lord Almighty could not do it. Do you know the reason why? I do. I was acquainted with some of the best reformers that ever walked on the American continent, as good to all appearance as lived. They would say: “We have prayed, we have fasted, we have sought, we have believed, we have had faith that God was about to reveal something from the heavens, but He has not revealed it to us.” That was the trouble. They had their way marked out before them, and if the Lord would not walk in that path they would not have anything to do with Him, and their conduct proved it. When men say: “O Lord, we are the clay, you are the potter! Fashion, shape and make us, and do with us as seems good in Thy sight, only let us know Thy will, we are here to perform whatever Thou requirest,” it makes me think of that second person that came forth in the heavens when the voice went forth: “Who will redeem the earth, who will go forth and make the sacrifice for the earth and all things it contains?” The eldest son said: “Here am I;” but he did not say “send me.” But the second one, which was “Lucifer, son of the morning,” said, “Lord, here am I, send me, I will redeem every son and daughter of Adam and Eve that lives on the earth, or that ever goes on the earth.” “But,” says the Father, “that will not answer at all. I give each and every individual his agency; all must use that in order to gain exaltation in my kingdom; inasmuch as they have the power of choice they must exercise that power. They are my children; the attributes which you see in me are in my children and they must use their agency. If you undertake to save all, you must save them in unrighteousness and corruption. You will be the man that will say to the thief on the cross, to the murderer on the gallows, and to him who has killed his father, mother, brothers, and sisters and little ones, “Now, if you will say, I repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or on the Savior of the world, you shall be saved.” This is what all the religious sects of the day are saying now, but Jesus did not say any such thing.

How many churches are there upon the earth? Two. Let everybody speculate just as much as they please about this, there are no more, and the earth never saw but two, and there never will be but two. If one is for good, what must the other be? Why, for evil? If one is right, what must the other be? Why, wrong. And there cannot be two just right without being one. The Father cannot operate without the Son, neither can the Son officiate and operate without the Father. They cannot divide their kingdom, and one go to the right and the other to the left, like Abraham and Lot, when they divided their stock; no, they must live together; they must be one, and labor together, and all their efforts being for the salvation of the human family, must be one. If they made a division they would fall. Consequently the Lord Jesus works just as he said he would. “I come not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” He also said, “I do nothing of myself; but what I have seen the Father do, that does the Son.” “Whosoever has seen the Son has seen the Father.” All this you know, with hundreds of other Scriptures and testimonies had in ancient days, showing that the people must be sanctified by law, they must live according to that law; and they must be justified, purified, and sanctified in order to get into the kingdom of heaven, that is, the highest glory.

That saying, “the highest glory,” may give rise to a little speculation on the part of some. Let me quote one passage of Scripture. When Jesus was about to go hence said he, “I will go away, but I will not leave you comfortless, but I will send you another comforter,” &c. I have not worded it exactly as it is in the Scriptures, that is a little fuller. He then said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it had not been so I would have told you; but I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye may be also.” What kind of mansions did Jesus refer to? This is a question which I shall not pretend to answer at this time, for I have not time; neither how many there are, nor the rules, laws and regulations that pertain to each. But Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions;” or, in other words, in my Father’s dominion are many houses, apartments, degrees, &c. Well, what does this signify, if it does not mean in my Father’s house or dominions are many grades and degrees of glory? Now speculate just as much as you please; it is no matter how much you say or think or reflect upon this. There is space, and in that space there are mansions or kingdoms which God has prepared for His children to inhabit, according to their several capacities. We shall all go somewhere, and all upon whom the second death has no power will live eternally. We want to prepare for that mansion that Jesus went to prepare for his disciples.

The whole world of wickedness is opposed to this kingdom; but when they reduce every doctrine and principle that is believed in and preached by the Latter-day Saints, they will not find one iota, I will be as particular as Bro. Carrington was in defining the wisdom and power of man, and I will say there is not the dot of an i nor the crossing of a t that makes anything against the welfare of the human family for time or eternity; but all for comfort, help, satisfaction, glory and immortality; and all for the glory of God, to be crowned with glory and eternal lives in the presence of the Father and the Son. Every doctrine and principle that is believed in and taught by the Latter-day Saints leads, guides and directs man into the presence of the Father and the Son. May God help us to take that path. Amen.

The Gospel

Lorenzo Snow

Discourse by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, Jan. 23, 1870. Reported by John Grimshaw.

In addressing an assembly of Saints, I expect the benefit of their prayers, without the ceremony of asking, being assured that they are aware as well as I am that our teachings and administrations in the Gospel of life are blessed to us according to our faith and prayers, and the diligence we give and the attention we bestow.

I propose to make some general observations upon the Gospel and its administrations, and in relation to its effects when received, and the important blessings derived by this community through its divine power and virtue. This Gospel, which God has commanded us to offer to the world, is an order or system of things simple, plain, and may be easily understood. In regard to its principles, the nature of its requirements, and the precise kind and character of its blessings and promises, no one, however ignorant or unlearned, needs be left in the dark any great length of time; but may discover its golden truths, and the emblazoned mark of divinity in its arrangements as distinctly, as speedily as Naaman, the Captain of the Assyrian host, found divine virtue and the hand of Divinity in the order prescribed to him by Elijah, through which his leprosy was removed. In his case, the order of obtaining miraculous blessings—viz.: to immerse seven times in Jordan, as prescribed by Elijah—was so simple, so plain, and in regard to the knowledge of its divine efficacy, so easy of ascertainment, that the great Captain, at first, was exceedingly wrathy at the idea that God should propose to work upon him through such easy means and simple forms; but the order, through which he could be healed of his leprosy was prescribed of God through the Prophet, and finally the Assyrian officer, through the plain, common-sense reasoning of his servant, concluded to waive his objections, and comply with the requirements, and having done so, he received the promised blessing. The first principles of the Gospel which we offer, and which put men in possession of the revelations of God and of a knowledge of this work, are precisely as simple, plain, and as easy of understanding, as the order before alluded to, through which the Heavens were opened in Naaman’s behalf.

The Gospel was brought to our respective habitations far remote from these mountain vales. It found us citizens of many nations, speaking our respective languages, each possessing his peculiar notions and prejudices, with his associations, and a strong attachment to kindred, friends and country. However unpleasant, unkind, unjust and inconsistent it might appear at first; yet we clearly foresaw that, in receiving this Gospel, we should be compelled to break up those associations, and sever those attachments, leaving the lands of our nativity, and going forth with our wives and children to a distant land, of which we had but little knowledge. But a similar requisition was made upon the House of Israel, in the land of Egypt; also upon Noah and his family, and upon Abraham and the family of Lot, in the City of Sodom; and upon the families of Lehi and Ishmael, as mentioned in the Book of Mormon. But in the provisions of the Gospel which was offered to us, there were fairness and safety; it proposed to give us, through obedience to its requirements, a perfect knowledge of its Divine authenticity, so that in leaving our kindred, breaking up our social relations, and going forth from our native land, we should first become perfectly assured that it was no human contrivance, something gotten up to effect some political purpose, or satisfy some worldly ambition, to achieve some private end through human cunning and craftiness. The Gospel was plain and simple in its requirements; and there could be no mistaking the precise nature and character of its blessings and promises, nor the manner and time in which they were to be reached. The first feature in this system, which struck us with surprise, and arrested our attention, was its perfect similarity, in all its parts, with the Gospel as recorded in the New Testament. It required repentance, and a forsaking of sins, immersion in water for the remission of sins, with a promise that, through the laying on of hands by those having authority, people should receive the Holy Ghost, by which should come a knowledge of the truth of the doctrine. Another remarkable feature which called forth our most serious consideration, was the solemn testimony of the Elders, that they possessed the right to administer these sacred ordinances, by virtue of the holy priesthood committed to Joseph Smith, through the ministration of the Apostles, Peter, James and John. And furthermore, that the solemn and most important facts should be revealed to every man upon his faithful obedience to the Gospel requirements. In these propositions, though at first seemingly strange, we saw everything was plain, fair and honorable. In doing what they required, we should only do, in fact, what as true-hearted believers in the ancient Gospel, we ought to do, and if we failed to receive the promised blessings, and thereby proved the Elders’ testimony false, our religious condition would nevertheless be then as good as any other Christian’s, and a little better, perhaps, because we should have approached a little nearer to the doctrines of the Scripture, inasmuch as their true forms and ceremonies were concerned. Of course, in this case, having proved to our satisfaction that there was no Holy Ghost, no supernatural manifestations, no knowledge, no revelations accompanying the Elders’ administrations of the Gospel, no human persuasion, no cunning sophistry could have induced us to leave our homes and friends to embark in a scheme which our common sense taught us would eventuate in bitter disappointment and inevitable ruin; but like other Christians, continued in the enjoyment of friends and home, groping our way through religious darkness, expecting nothing, hoping nothing, and receiving nothing. But the fact that I am now speaking to assembled thousands of intelligent and enlightened people, who received this Gospel with the aforementioned fond considerations and lively expectations, gathered here by their own free will and choice, out of almost every nation, demonstrates most clearly, most forcibly, and most solemnly, that this scheme of life this Gospel as proclaimed by Joseph Smith, has been shown to us by the revelations of the Almighty, that it is undeniably His will, His word and His message; not only this, but we find within ourselves a fixed purpose, an unalterable resolution to do, if need be, what many of us have already done—show the sincerity of our convictions of these solemn truths, through sacrificing all we possess, not even holding our lives as dear to us as this religion. There was yet another prominent feature embraced in this order of things—viz., where it found people in poverty, misery, and in a condition but little above starvation, it spoke in positive terms of future relief and effectual deliverance. It did not simply say,” Be ye warmed and be ye clothed,” but it declared plainly, and in distinct terms, that the Lord had seen their bondage and oppression, and heard their cries of sorrow and misery, and had now sent them His Gospel for their deliverance, and would lead them into circumstance of independence, where they could supply their own wants and necessities. Here, again, was something fair and consistent and worthy of all praise and admiration, and characteristic of our Great Parent, which we discover in all of His dispensations, when they are in actual working order, as they were in the case of Noah; and in calling Israel and making them an independent people; likewise as in calling Lehi to establish a people upon this continent, as well as in many other instances.

A religion or system is of little account where it possesses no virtue nor power to better a man’s condition, spiritually, intellectually, morally and physically. Enoch’s order of the Gospel did for his people all this, and it has done the same in every instance, when preached in its purity and obeyed in sincerity. Many of the thousands of persons in these beautiful valleys who formerly were compelled to subsist with their wives and children in a half-starved condition, not owning an habitation, nor a foot of land, nor a horse, cow, pig, nor chickens, in fact nothing they could call their own, subject at any moment, through the whim of their employer, to be turned into the streets, miserable beggars, now own cabinet shops, factories, mills, flocks and herds, beautiful gardens and orchards, productive farms, wagons and carriages, dwelling in their own houses in comfortable and easy circumstances. No one has any apprehension of starvation within the jurisdiction of the Latter-day Saints. The Gospel proposed these blessings at its announcement, and they have been most miraculously accomplished. No other religious system could have achieved such things, nor dared any other Christian denomination venture to send out its missionaries without purse or script and without a college education to state to the people that they had authority from God to administer the sacred ordinances of the Gospel, through which should be revealed tangible evidence and knowledge of its divinity, and of their being authorized to administer it and take the people from a state of poverty, and lead them thousands of miles and despite every obstacle establish them as a comparatively independent people in the midst of a wild desert country. Had they found the people poor, friendless and without the means of living, and in servitude not much better than the Egyptian bondage, as we found many of them, they could have imparted no cheering news of an approaching salvation from the God of Heaven; but could only have instructed them to be contented and reconciled with their unhappy lot, and in no case must look for any new revelation or any miraculous interposition.

What philanthropists have wished to accomplish and have often attempted, the Lord is now doing upon a magnificent scale in this great American desert. Flourishing settlements, towns and cities are rapidly being built, extending over a distance of 500 miles in length, hundreds of miles in width, through the untiring energy and perseverance of a people formerly totally ignorant of such labors. In these cities people live in harmony and peace, and robberies, grog shops, gambling hells, houses of ill-fame and prostitutes are not known in any of our numerous towns and cities, except in some instances where Christians, so-called, possess a footing and an influence; everywhere else this community flourishes without these demoralizing institutions. No one, however prejudiced he may be, can scarcely avoid acknowledging the palpable fact that this scheme of things has conferred marvelous blessings upon thousands and tens of thousands in the way of putting them in possession of the means of sustaining themselves, after having delivered them from oppression and tyranny, little better than African slavery; and no doubt our legislators at Washington, one and all, would give us credit for our indefatigable and successful labors in establishing an extensive and flourishing colony upon a portion of our government’s domain formerly inhabited only by savages and wild beasts, provided we would allow this work was of man and not of God—that it had been accomplished through the artifice and wisdom of man, and not by the power, wisdom and revelations of God.

Joseph Smith, whom God chose to establish this work, was poor and uneducated, and belonged to no popular denomination of Christians. He was a mere boy, honest, full of integrity, unacquainted with the trickery, cunning and sophistry employed by the politicians and the religious hypocrite to accomplish their ends. Like Moses he felt incompetent and unqualified for the task, to stand forth as a religious reformer, in a position the most unpopular, to battle against opinions and creeds which have stood for ages, having had the sanction of men, the most profound in theological obedience; but God had called him to deliver the poor and honest-hearted of all nations from their spiritual and temporal thraldom. And God promised him that whosoever should receive and obey his message, and whosoever would receive baptism for remission of sins, with honesty of purpose, should receive divine manifestations, should receive the Holy Ghost, should receive the same Gospel and blessings as were promised and obtained through the Gospel, as preached by the ancient Apostles, and this message, this promise, was to be in force wherever and to whomsoever it should be carried by the Elders, God’s authorized messengers. So said Joseph Smith, the uneducated, the unsophisticated, the plain, simple, honest boy. It is through the virtue and force of this boy’s statement that I speak this afternoon to assembled thousands. In the integrity of my heart, with honesty of purpose to know the truth, I received this message; I obeyed this form of Gospel, and I received, in the most tangible and satisfactory manner, a divine manifestation, the promised blessing, a knowledge of this work. Am I the only witness? How is it with the experience of the thousands whom I now address? Are you also witnesses? If you are not, I ask you in the name of common sense, why are you here? Why did you leave your homes and countries, giving your sanction to the truth of a system which promised you divine manifestations, but which you failed in experiencing? Being honest ourselves, if we cannot bear a solemn testimony of having received divine manifestations of the great fact that God Himself has founded this system of things, then it becomes a serious fact that we are witnesses, and in truth the only proper witnesses, that this whole plan and pretension of Joseph Smith is a sheer falsehood, a miserable fabrication. It will be recollected that this Gospel message proposed to give us divine manifestations through doing certain specified acts; we have performed those acts precisely in the manner indicated. No one else but we ourselves has attempted to conform to this arrangement, consequently, no other people are prepared to be witnesses either for or against this system.

The Gospel, as recorded in the New Testament, in its promises and provisions, was precisely similar. It required certain specified acts to be done, with promises that divine manifestations should follow their performance. Jesus said: “He that will do the will of God, shall know of the doctrine.” Peter said, on Pentecost day, “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Again, Jesus said: “These signs shall follow them that believe,” etc. A multitude of testimonies could be adduced from the New Testament, showing that divine manifestations and perfect knowledge were promised to and were actually received in a specified and tangible form by those who then obeyed the Gospel. Those who obeyed its requirements were the only competent witnesses for or against its divine authenticity. After honestly complying with its requisitions—viz., repenting of and forsaking their sins, being immersed in water for the remission of sins, and receiving the ordinance of the laying on of hands, then had they failed to receive the Holy Ghost, with its gifts and promised knowledge and attendant signs, they would have seen that the entire apostolic scheme of salvation rested on a baseless fabric.

When this Gospel, or order of things which we have received, was presented to us, we carefully compared it with the Gospel recorded in the scriptures, and found it alike precisely in every particular, as regarded its forms, ordinances and the authority to administer them, its promise of the Holy Ghost and of the signs that should follow, together with a promise of a knowledge of its divinity. In many instances it was brought to us by men with whose character we were perfectly familiar, and for whose honesty and integrity we could vouch, who would solemnly state, in private and in public, that through an obedience to its requirements, they had obtained, in a tangible form, a perfect knowledge of its Heaven-born principles. This was my experience, and after having complied with its demands, and thereupon received a knowledge of its genuineness, and having obtained authority to preach and administer its ordinances, I commenced forthwith to proclaim it to the world; and no doubt there are persons in this audience, out of different nations, to whom I have administered this Gospel that can witness to its virtue and efficacy. Thirty-five years I have been employed in forwarding the interests of this order of things, and you are the proper judges whether it be of God or of man. We have the same Gospel the primitive churches had, and the same knowledge and evidence they had of its divine authenticity, and just, as honest and brave men to preach it as they had, men that have proved their integrity through sacrifice as great as the Elders of the primitive churches ever made. The testimony of our Elders is as valid and worthy of credit as the testimony of their Elders. Our Apostles who are living, are as honest as the Apostles of the New Testament, and their testimony is as worthy of credit, so far as they live and speak according to the Scriptural law and testimony. If this order of things which we have obeyed is not the Gospel—if these evidences, these manifestations, this knowledge, this Holy Ghost, these deliverances from misery, bondage, and starvation, and being placed in happy and comfortable circumstances, living together in peace and harmony, building beautiful towns and cities, free from demoralizing institutions, be not the legitimate fruits of the working of a pure and holy system, established by God through Joseph Smith, we shall be compelled to question the genuineness of the Gospel in the former-day Saints, as recorded of the New Testament.

By some it has been argued that Joseph Smith and his prominent Elders were the most corrupt, wicked and infamous of impostors, but his followers, the Latter-day Saints in general, though deceived, were very good people and perfectly honest in their religious opinions.

From what I have already said in regard to the operations and effects of this scheme, it is easy to be seen that, if it be an imposition, it is not confined exclusively to the leaders of this people, but this whole community are actively and knowingly engaged in this stupendous work of deception and hypocrisy; and by the way, as I before hinted, if this could be proved to be the case, we should be compelled to the belief that the former-day Saints also had been engaged in the same disgraceful business. More than one hundred thousand people now dwell in these valleys, many of them having come from distant climes and nations; in this great fact they willingly and knowingly exhibit to the world a clear and powerful testimony, more expressive and forcible than any language could command, that they did undeniably and most positively receive, through the ordinances of this Gospel, administered unto them by our Elders, a knowledge of this work, through the divine manifestations of the Almighty.

But it may be objected that, whereas this community were found by our missionaries in great poverty and distress, therefore they obeyed the Gospel and emigrated here to better their circumstances financially, without any regard to its truth or falsity, as a divine system. This might be true in some instances, but impossible as regards its application to this people as a community. Such persons who received this work, not with religious motives, not with honest convictions of its divine requirements, but solely for the loaves and fishes, cannot possibly abide the test to which every man’s faith, sooner or later, must be brought, but will have their dishonesty and hypocrisy exposed, and will apostatize. Hundreds of my brethren, Elders of this Church, full of godly zeal, animated with the purest motives, having obtained a knowledge of the will of God, have left their wives and children, everything that the heart holds most dear, and gone forth to the nations, without compensation, and called on all to repent and turn their hearts to the Lord, obey the Gospel, and they should receive the Holy Ghost, which should “lead them into all truth, and show them things to come,” and it should be their guide and monitor, a principle of revelation, remaining with them through life, provided they preserved their honesty and integrity, and were faithful in keeping the commandments of God, devoting their time, their means, their talents, their all, to the building up of the Kingdom of God. These duties were required, these blessings promised in the preaching of the Gospel by our missionaries and the prominent Elders of this Church. To obtain light, a knowledge of the will of God, to get the true religion as now revealed through the Gospel, divine manifestations regarding the truth of the doctrine, as taught by Joseph Smith, was the first and all-absorbing proposition presented to the people.

Now, whether these Elders and missionaries were miserable impostors, promulgating base falsehoods or not, is, of course, a question of grave consideration; and it is a matter of far greater importance, and of more curious inquiry, whether this people, as a community, having failed to receive those divine manifestations, kept silent as to that important and vital fact, and came here to practice hypocrisy in religion, and thus fasten, irresistibly, on our children and future generations, a system of falsehoods for a divine-religion. Joseph Smith affirmed that Peter, James and John visited him and gave him authority to administer the holy ordinances of the Gospel, through which every honest-hearted man was promised the Holy Ghost, and a perfect knowledge of the doctrine. Our Elders simply affirm having received a divine knowledge of the fact that this Gospel was a heaven-born institution, and through its virtue and divine force every honest-hearted man might obtain this same knowledge. I had been a member of this Church but a few days when I obtained, through a divine manifestation, a clear, explicit, and tangible knowledge of the truth of this work. Thousands and tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints, men and women, in private life, could testify to the same experience, and though I may know many things in regard to this doctrine which in their limited experience, they may not understand, yet in this one fact they are equal with me in knowledge, equal with the messengers who administered to them this Gospel.

I wish now to examine another prominent feature connected with this Gospel religion. An important item which was put forward prominently wherever this Gospel was announced, was that its followers should have abundance of persecutions, and would probably, in the progress of their new life, be compelled to make the most serious sacrifices of wife, children, houses and lands, spoiling of goods, and even life itself, perhaps. No persons are properly prepared to enter upon this new life until they have formed within themselves this resolution. The Savior, the Apostles, Joseph Smith and our Elders, when offering the people this great system of salvation, told them clearly and distinctly it required sacrifices of the most serious and trying nature—that it would bring persecutions, change our best friends into bitter and relentless enemies, and that instances would arise when people, in their confused notions of right and wrong, would even conceive they were doing God service in taking our lives. These were dull and forbidding prospects to a rational person, in being proselytized to a system whose truths he could not know, but only guess at, by what he was told, or read somewhere. Every man and every woman, before receiving a system of such sacrifices, would require a positive assurance, that a submission to its requirements would bring indisputable knowledge of its real divinity, so that, after having obtained a divine witness of its genuineness, they could willingly, cheerfully, understandingly, and with a resolution inspired by divinity, move onward over the pathway of persecution and sacrifice, traversed in all ages by the martyred Saints and Prophets.

On this point permit me again to quote what Jesus promised, viz.: “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonah, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father in Heaven, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Peter had obtained a revelation which Jesus called a rock, which every man might receive individually to himself and build upon with perfect assurance and safety, upon which he could found all his hopes and prospects of salvation. Peter, at Pentecost, promised the Holy Ghost to all who would be baptized, or in other words, obey the Gospel. The Holy Ghost would impart the knowledge which would constitute the rock of revelation upon which the Savior said his people should be established. This people have their hopes and prospects of peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come, resting and grounded upon this rock of revelation, and we are the only religious community which dares profess to occupy such a Scriptural position, and our claims upon the Savior’s promise, that hell shall not prevail against a people so established, give us peace, tranquility, unshaken confidence, and a pleasing and happy assurance of security in the midst of all kinds of display of threatened ruin and over-throw.

It is the people, the masses—not exclusively their leaders—who have this knowledge and boldly testify of its possession. The astronomer may know of many laws and phenomena connected with the sun and its movements through ethereal space; but as regards the simple fact that it exists and shines upon the earth, millions know it as well as himself. President Brigham Young, or even Joseph Smith, so far as respects the simple fact that this Gospel, which we preach, as a divine institution, never professed to have a knowledge more perfect, more convincing, more satisfactory, than tens of thousands in these valleys, who never arose to address a public audience. This system of things in its nature, in the character of its origin, the manner of its operations, and in the purposes for which it was designed, coupled with the fact that men of honest hearts can and will apprehend and appreciate divine truth, is such that it cannot be destroyed. A person honest, full of integrity and love for the interest and happiness of his species, having explored this long untrodden path and made this grand and glorious discovery, will not and cannot keep silence, but despite threatened opposition, however fierce and terrific, will boldly declare the solemn fact, spreading and multiplying the divine intelligence, and if so required, will seal this testimony with his own life’s blood.

Should the prominent men of this Church, together with tens of thousands of its Elders, be swept away by our enemies, the Gospel would still survive, and with unabated force and vigor, still continue its irrepressible operations. So long as one solitary Elder, however unlearned, obscure or possessing an honest heart, remain alive upon the earth, these holy and sacred truths will be avowed and vindicated, order and proper authority continue their peaceful and happy reign, and Elders with hearts overflowing with love and heaven born-zeal, go forth to the nations, churches spring up in every land and clime, Saints increase and multiply and gather together; the Kingdom of God continue to be established, and the suggestive and inspired sayings of the Prophet Daniel be literally and emphatically accomplished.

Written Sermons and Extempore Preaching, etc.

George A. Smith

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Nov. 20, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

In rising before the Saints I ever feel a desire to be guided and inspired by the light of the Holy Spirit to speak as the circumstances and condition of the people require. It is not as I used to observe in my boyhood. I would hear our minister pray the Lord to give him His Spirit to dictate and indite precisely such matter as should be suited to the wants and condition of the assembly, and then he would open his Bible and slip in his written pamphlet and read a sermon. Now, I confess that I never had such remarkable answers to my prayers on this subject. The Lord furnished it to him already written and pointed plainly, and he had nothing to do but to read it. Whether preaching by notes in this way is the better policy or not is doubted by many of the Protestant churches; but I believe it is the custom among most of them. There are some clergymen who differ from this rule, thinking probably that, if a man sits in his study and composes his discourse, he does not have the spirit of delivering it and enforcing it upon his audience as if it were delivered extemporary.

With the Latter-day Saints the idea of writing sermons or preparing addresses beforehand is entirely discarded, it never was practiced amongst them. It was the order of God to choose the weak things of the world. The learned, as a general thing, scouted the idea of the Lord revealing Himself to an ignorant man like Joseph Smith, or of Joseph Smith having faith to obtain knowledge from God. I know they used to say, “Why did not the Lord call upon a learned man who has devoted his whole life to the study of divinity if He wanted anything done?” The real fact was they thought they knew too much, they would not listen to anything the Lord might have to say. He simply called upon Joseph, because he got puzzled with hearing those learned men preach. He had heard them preach four or five different doctrines, and then had seen them quarrel over the converts; he went humbly to God and asked Him, according to the advice given by the Apostle James, who says, “If any lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and up-braideth not.” Joseph Smith was just foolish and simple enough to take this advice, and he went humbly before the Lord and asked Him which was the right way, and the Lord showed him. To be sure, I have heard, in theory, sentiments of this kind in the sectarian world. I have heard men pray the Lord for a pentecost in their meetings. You know on the day of Pentecost the disciples prophecied, and spoke in so many tongues that devout men from almost every nation under heaven, assembled in Jerusalem, heard the Gospel preached in the language in which they were born. Now, if any such event should take place in a Christian church in modern times there would be a very great excitement, the people would be alarmed, they do not believe in any such thing. The gifts of the Spirit—tongues, prophecy, &c., were done away with long ago, they say, and they are governed by the written word, and they differ very much in their interpretation of that written word.

Joseph Smith taught that every man and woman should seek the Lord for wisdom, that they might get knowledge from Him who is the fountain of knowledge; and the promises of the Gospel, as revealed, were such as to authorize us to believe, that by taking this course we should gain the object of our pursuit. “He that believes in me,” says the Savior, “the works that I do he shall do also; and greater works than these, because I go to the Father.” We find that, when the Savior commenced his mission, he came to John and was baptized of him in Jordan, thus setting an example for others to follow; and he declared that those who believed in him must take up their cross and follow him. He furthermore promised them that, in rendering obedience to his doctrines, they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and be born of the Spirit; and that by the light of the Spirit he would lead them into all truth and make known to them things to come.

How many of us Latter-day Saints are living up to this calling and in the light of this Spirit? How many of us are guided as we ought to be by the light of the Holy Ghost? Have not many of us become careless, thoughtless, negligent, heedless, and turned away to the right or to the left, and fallen into snares and temptations, and suffered ourselves to be led astray by false spirits and the doctrines of devils?

The Apostle says the Lord set in His Church Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, that they who believe might be no more children, carried away by every wind of doctrine, by the cunning craftiness of those who lie in wait to deceive. Hunt the world for this organization and you cannot find it except among the Latter-day Saints; it does not exist anywhere else, that is, so far as travel and a knowledge of humanity have developed. I remember once going to a Baptist church when quite a youth. I asked the gentleman at the door what church it was. He said it was the Church of Christ. Said I, “What Apostle built it up?” He said, “There are no Apostles in these days.” “Well,” I remarked, “Paul tells us that God sets in His Church first Apostles.” “Oh,” he replied, “the organization of the priesthood, with its authority and power, as mentioned in the New Testament, is done away.” That is the trouble throughout Christendom. This man to whom I refer, asserted however that they had the priesthood in the Baptist Church, and that it had descended to them through the Waldenses. This idea naturally sets us to inquire who the Waldenses were. One Peter Waldo, we are told by Buck, was a merchant who used a certain portion of his fortune in hiring a monk to translate the four Gospels; and on the strength of this work he commenced preaching and gathered around him a number, of persons who believed in his doctrines. They were severely persecuted by the Catholic Church, which anathematized them and inflicted upon them every penalty in its power—even excommunication, sword and fire. Notwithstanding all this the Waldenses progressed, and their doctrines and the work they performed was a nursery for the Reformation.

But so far as the question of priesthood is concerned, if the Catholic Church had the authority, it cut the Waldenses off; and if it had none, all the Waldenses had was derived from it, for the Waldenses were seceders from the Catholic Church. The result is that the Baptists could have no priesthood except by special revelation, and to this they lay no claim whatever.

The same rule will apply to other denominations; for I believe all of them have to acknowledge that they received, either directly or indirectly, their priesthood originally from the Roman Catholic Church. Now if that church is not true, the priesthood which came from it could not be true; if their priesthood and authority were genuine and bona fide, their expulsion of the so-called Reformers would have its effect; the result is that, viewed in any light whatever, these various denominations are left, without a duly authorized and legal priesthood. Unless the Catholic Church had it, they could not receive it from it; and if the Catholics did have it they cut the Reformers off, or expelled them. If you talk with the various Protestant denominations about these points they will tell you that the Catholic Church had degenerated, that it had gone into darkness, was anti-Christ, and all this sort of thing, which doubtless was correct; and according to modern revelation this must be true; and being true, we are urged to the conclusion that all the sects and parties of the religious world are wandering in darkness.

Now one denomination out of five or six hundred, more or less, the number grown out of the original Church, might probably be correct; but it is quite certain that no two of them, differing in faith and practice, could be; and under these circumstances the difficulty would be to determine which was right. It was in this position of perplexity and doubt that Joseph Smith was placed when he went and asked the Lord to tell him which was right; and the Lord revealed to him, through an holy angel, that they were all wrong, and said He: “I call upon you to go and preach the Gospel in simplicity and purity.” The result was that the Elders went forth and proclaimed the Gospel, and it produced a very singular effect on the minds of the people. A few received it, but they were treated with scorn; their preachers were mobbed, daubed with tar and feathers, pelted with eggs, their houses torn down and burned, and finally the leaders of the Church were murdered, and their followers expelled from the face of society and driven into the wilderness, or were compelled to renounce their religion, and the very great majority took shelter from the face of man in the midst of wild deserts, savage beasts and savage men. This was the history of it, and this tells why we are here.

Now, brethren, knowing these facts are we faithful to our calling? Do we live in the enjoyment of the Holy Spirit? Or do we suffer the things of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the trials incident to our humanity to lead us into difficulty and cause us to forget God, to neglect our prayers, our tithes and offerings, our fast meetings, our secret prayers, and other duties devolving upon us as Saints? How is it with us? Let us ask ourselves these questions and awake to the performance of our several duties. If we have been careless, repent of the carelessness. If we are negligent, wake up! If we suffer ourselves to do wrong, cease to do so, and live in obedience to the principles of our faith and the dictations of the Holy Spirit. The fact is, in relation to our religion, that if we do not abide by it and observe it, it would have been better for us if we had never known it; and if we do observe it, much is expected at our hands, both on our own behalf and on behalf of our forefathers.

You know Paul tells us, in the 15th chapter of Corinthians, speaking of the resurrection, as an argument in favor of it, “Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?” This was a principle connected with the Christian religion that pertained to the dead, and it was so thoroughly understood that it was used as an argument in favor of the doctrine of the resurrection. I suppose that this is seldom or ever thought of by the Protestants; and when Joseph Smith came forth and announced that it was the duty of the Latter-day Saints to go forth and be baptized for their relatives who had died without the knowledge of the Gospel, it was regarded as an astounding idea; yet, as I understand the passage in Corinthians, no man can give any other interpretation to it.

In order to have the benefits and blessings of this ordinance resting upon ourselves and our progenitors it is necessary for us to live up to our calling and to pay strict attention to our duties. According to the revelations which were given through Joseph Smith certain places were set apart for the administration of these ordinances. Temples had to be built and fonts prepared and dedicated for this purpose.

The Prophet Malachi, in speaking of the latter days, says, “the day shall come that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble, it shall burn them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” But the Lord declares through Malachi that He will send the Prophet Elijah before that great and terrible day shall come, and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest He come and smite the earth with a curse. This prophecy has a reference to the revelation of the doctrine of baptism for the dead in the last days.

The Apostle Paul, in enumerating the great blessings which were bestowed on the ancients through faith, speaks in glowing terms of those who subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens; he says women received their dead to life; others were tortured, sawn asunder, wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, and dwelt in dens and caves of the earth, and all this for the faith; and then he winds up by saying that they without us could not be made perfect. Think then, brethren and sisters, of the duties that we owe to ourselves and to our ancestors! But, if we suffer ourselves to go into darkness, if we indulge in wickedness, fall into snares and temptations, we lose the Holy Spirit and the blessings which pertain to ourselves and our progenitors, referred to by Obadiah, who says that in the last days saviors shall stand on Mount Zion, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

These sentiments may be clearly and readily appreciated by Latter-day Saints; and to stir them up to diligence, faithfulness and obedience I would refer them to the revelation given on the 19th of January, 1841, through Joseph Smith, relative to the building of the temple at Nauvoo. It was there said that there was not a baptismal font in the world, and the Church was required to build that Temple, and the promise was that if it was built the people should receive certain blessings. It was further stated that when the Lord commanded any people to do a work, and they were hindered from performing it by their enemies or by oppression, the Lord would not require that work at their hands any more. No people on the face of the earth, probably, during the present generation at least, or perhaps in any other, were more oppressed than were the people of Nauvoo while laboring to perform this work. They were persecuted in various ways: attacked through vexatious lawsuits by the State of Missouri and by the State authorities of Illinois, and all means that could be taken within reach of the law were used to bring distress upon them. Then the conclusion was, that if law could not reach them powder and ball should, and the result was that the Prophet and Patriarch of the Church were murdered, and other Elders severely wounded. Hundreds of houses were burned and every kind of outrage that could be imagined was committed on the Saints; and while building this Temple the brethren had to stand guard at night; and when working they were in a manner compelled to have their weapons of defence in one hand and their tools to work with in the other. But they continued amid all this storm of persecution, during which numbers had to flee to the wilderness, until the Temple was finished and dedicated; and having completed this task they had the promise of the Lord to go with them into the wilderness, with all the powers, blessings and privileges of the Priesthood, that in the wilderness they might receive and administer the ordinances for their dead.

We should now continue the work for the Temple which the Latter-day Saints are always commanded to build. We have a foundation here, a very good substantial one, and that must be approved by good men and pleasing to the Lord. We have to haul the material seventeen miles to continue this work, which has been interrupted from time to time through various causes. Still it progresses and we should not let it sleep, but should continue the work until we have an edifice reared according to the pattern, and dedicate it to the Most High God; and build in its basement a baptismal font, something after the pattern of King Solomon’s brazen sea, for the baptism of the dead, that within the walls of that sacred edifice we may be able to perform the duties and ordinances pertaining to the dead which God has commanded. Every Latter-day Saint, man or woman, young or old, should feel alive and awake to this great duty.

I understand why it is that men persecute the Latter-day Saints. It is because of the priesthood and power which exist among them: Satan stirs up the hearts of the children of men to wickedness, and to hate and persecute the Saints, to drive them and murder their leaders. This is the only cause; for the Latter-day Saints, from the time of their organization to the present time, have been the most orderly, law-abiding, industrious, temperate, and moral people that have lived on the face of the earth; and they are the same in this Territory as they have been elsewhere. For instance, let a man pass through this country, as Major Powell did last year, and he comes back and published a statement that he has visited five hundred miles of Mormon villages, and has seen a people happy and contented, and has not seen a grog shop, a loafer, drunkard or idler; but everybody enjoying himself, and that peace and good order prevail throughout, such a man will have the same greeting as Major Powell. “Why, Major, you are interested some way or the other; the ‘Mormons’ have got you blinded.” That, is the spirit and feeling manifested if a man tells the truth about the Latter-day Saints; and it is one of the greatest evidences of the truth of the work. The Lord says, “Woe unto you when all men speak well of you.” Sometimes I have known the papers say this and that good thing about the “Mormons,” and I have said, “What’s up? Are we getting wicked, that the world loves us?” And I almost wondered at it. The fact is we should live our religion, keep the commandments of God and observe all things required of us, and care nothing whatever what the world either says or does about us. “Well, but suppose they should get up armies and kill you?” If they do they will send us right straight to heaven; and our duty is to labor in this life as long as we can and do all the good in our power, and never flinch from the truth or the principles of eternity. If our enemies are permitted to kill us they ensure to us a martyr’s crown, and we go to glory celestial. I have heard of men so foolish as to jump overboard from Zion’s ship because they thought she was going to sink. Why, if she does we shall only sink with her, and the man who jumps overboard is sure to sink anyhow.

I know men who apostatized in Missouri just to save their property. We were told there, “If you ‘Mormons’ will renounce your religion, you can stay here on your farms.” I remember one man who stayed there just for that reason. I got a letter from him a short time ago. He professes to be a friend to the “Mormons;” but he apostatized from them for the sake of keeping his property. I could have stayed in Missouri, and President Young could have stayed there, if we would have renounced our “Mormonism,” and our faith in Joseph Smith as a prophet, in the ordinances of anointing the sick with oil and baptism for the remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost; but we knew these things were true, and we would not renounce them, and we had to leave what we had. Some called it a sacrifice. To be sure it was a pretty country and rich soil, and we had made handsome improvements, and were having many beautiful farms opened around us; and we were building towns and villages. But what were they when compared with our religion? We built them, and we knew how to build more; we had tried it twice in Missouri and in Illinois; and when they drove us again we thought that we would go into a country so wretched and miserable that no man on earth could want it. So we came right into the heart of the American Desert and built this place; and singularly enough, some say now, that this is too good a place for the “Mormons,” and they must drive us out.

Now, brethren, if we live our religion and are faithful to the Lord, we may escape the necessity of being driven again. It will not be a great while before many of us will take great pleasure in moving; because when the day comes that the Constitution of the United States becomes the supreme law of this land—the land of America, every man will be protected in his religious faith, and then we will go right back to Jackson county, and build a Temple, the most beautiful ever built on this continent or any other. We are going to do it, and the time is not far distant; and knowing this, our hearts do not cling in the least to any spot in the world any longer than is necessary to stay there to do our duty. When that day comes, and it will come, our countrymen will become so converted that their intolerance will cease and they will come to the conclusion that all men may enjoy their faith in the Supreme Being as they please without being interrupted. If we wait awhile, and are worthy, we will see this day and then we shall be able to go and build our Temple.

Now let us all be diligent and faithful and trust in the Lord and seek His protection; for it is worth all the protection a man can give a thousand times told. What can man do? He can kill the body. What else? That is the end of it, he has no further power. The principles of Mormonism can not only destroy the body, but the soul and spirit; and they can confer the bliss of eternal glory and increase.

I do not expect to be permitted to address you again for some months. I expect to travel and visit the brethren in the southern country during the winter; shall probably visit some thirty-three settlements in our Dixie, and be absent several months. I wish to bear my testimony to the principles of the Gospel which have been revealed. I know these things are true. I don’t come here believing them simply, I know they are true, and that God has revealed them; and I also know that all the plans, powers and schemes of the wicked can never overthrow them. Distress may be brought upon individuals; and the fact is, that many of us, who have seemed to move along prosperously, and have surrounded ourselves in an incredibly short space of time with many of the comforts of life may cling too close to them and be unwilling to surrender them; and it may be necessary that we and the Lord should know by actual experiment whether we worship the things of this world more than we do the things of a better. It may be necessary for us to ask ourselves the question, and consider it thoroughly and carefully: “Do we love the Lord Jesus Christ, and his laws and the principles of his Gospel more than we love a piece of land, a little orchard, a garden, field, store, vineyard, ranch, or a herd of cattle, &c. How is it? Ask these questions, and if we do, it is time for us to repent, and we had better begin and make sacrifices. We had better contribute for the Temple, to help the poor and needy, &c. I remember, very well, reading of a man who came to the Savior, and said, “Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” After the Savior had answered him he said, “All these things have I kept from my youth up.” The Savior replied, “Yet lackest thou one thing, go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and come and follow me.” And we are told that he went away sorrowful. Why? Because he had great possessions and could not part with them. Are we getting into that track? The Savior once remarked that it was very hard for a rich man to get into heaven. I do not pretend to quote these passages exactly, you are familiar with them. But we are told that it is a very hard matter for a rich man to get into heaven. That is the substance of it. Don’t let us get so rich that we can’t go there; and don’t let us get so poor that we can’t contribute our mite to help to roll on the work of God. I remember reading in the Proverbs of an individual who prayed the Lord not to make him either rich or poor. He didn’t want to be rich for fear he should get proud and forget the Lord; and if he became poor he was afraid he might steal and take the name of the Lord in vain. We don’t want to go to either extreme. The time is coming, and is not far hence, when the Latter-day Saints will get so much knowledge of the things of God that they will be able to bear wealth and control it, and use it to the glory of God; and when that time comes, to use a familiar expression, “the Lord will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing upon them that there will not be room to receive it.”

I ask my brethren and sisters to cultivate their minds. My counsel is sustain your Sunday schools; remember and send your children there, and go yourselves and act as teachers, and contribute the means necessary to carry them on. Remember also all, the duties devolving upon us as Saints in the domestic circle. We are almost all ready to go on a mission to preach; we should not forget to preach in our houses, families and wards, and bear testimony to the truth, and don’t let heathens grow up in our midst. Impress on the minds of your children their duties. You understand the law in relation to it. We are commanded to teach our children the principles of salvation, the doctrine of repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the principles of righteousness to that extent that when they reach a proper age, they will wish to be baptized. We are to set before them examples, precepts and teachings, that they may grow up without sin unto salvation. These are duties devolving upon us. And when any of our children rebel against us and turn to wickedness, for all have to have their trials and temptations, parents ought to ask themselves, “Have we done our duty?” You know it is said, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Now, a very excellent way for parents to pursue with regard to their children, is to walk in that way themselves.

I bear my testimony to the principles of the Gospel, and I pray that the blessings of Heaven may be upon you; that you may be able to keep the faith, understand the law and abide in it, and roll on the great and glorious work. In a short season we shall be with you again, bearing our testimony, for we are determined to fulfil our calling and preach the Gospel, which was sealed upon our heads by Joseph Smith, by the commands of God. Bear testimony of the truths of salvation, and instruct the children of men; and there is no field in which greater good can be done in preaching and in missionary labor by the Elders of Israel than in Utah amongst the Latter-day Saints.

May the blessings of Israel’s God be upon you all is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Gathering the Poor—Religion a Science

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, Nov. 13, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

While I attempt to speak to the people I would like their attention, and for them to keep quiet. I do not particularly object to the crying of children, but I do to the whispering of the people. I suppose that, if we were in the congregations of some of our Christian fellow-countrymen, we would not hear any children crying. I believe they have none in some societies. I am very happy to hear the children crying when it is really necessary and they cannot be kept from it. One thing is certain, whereever we go there is a proof that the people are keeping the commandments of the Lord, especially the first one—to multiply and replenish the earth.

The first of my remarks this afternoon will consist of a petition. We are told to pray, and this is one of the practices that we consider absolutely necessary. We frequently offer prayers to kings, legislators, presidents, governors, etc.; but I am going to offer up a prayer to the Latter-day Saints and my prayer is simply—I beseech you, my brethren and sisters, in the name of the Lord, in the name of humanity, in the name of honor and for the sake of honor, justice and mercy, that you do listen and pay attention to the exhortation of my brother Joseph, delivered this morning, in behalf of our poor brethren in foreign lands. I might ask the Lord a thousand times over to deliver them from the oppression and poverty with which they are now surrounded, and He would not do it unless the means were provided; He will not do it without agents and agencies. He will not build balloons or come down with his chariots and pick up the poor in Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Scandinavia, the islands of the sea, or any other parts of the globe where they dwell, and load up with them and their baggage and bring them to this land while He has given us the ability to gather ourselves and the poor. If the Latter-day Saints do not understand this it is time they did. And when we pray the Lord to open the way for the gathering of the poor, we merely mean that He will operate upon the hearts of those who have the means, that they will be reasonable with themselves, their faith and covenants and the requirements of God and toward those who are members of the same family with us.

You heard the statement of Brother Joseph this morning, and there are a great many witnesses here, to the truth of what he said. When people are in poverty and in their low estate, when they are pinched with hunger and destitute of the clothing necessary to make them comfortable, how deeply they can feel for their friends! But place those very ones where they can have all they need to eat, of food that relishes and suits their appetite, and clothing enough to keep them warm and comfortable, and many of them will sit down and fold their hands, and if you speak to them about the wants of their poor brethren in foreign lands, and mention their own situation in former days, their reply will be: “Oh, I had forgotten all about that! Yes, I believe, now you mention it, that I have seen the time when I had not sufficient food to satisfy the demands of hunger, nor clothing to make me comfortable and respectable. But, dear me, I had forgotten all that, that was in the past, and I have plenty now, and, what is that you are saying?” “‘Why, your brethren and sisters in foreign lands are suffering.” “What! Did you say that some of our brethren and sisters are suffering? I have enough to eat, and all the clothing I need to make me comfortable, and a pretty good cabin that I built myself, and I am in debt to no one and quite happy and comfortable; and I wish you would not trouble me about other people.”

This is the story and these are the feelings of some of the Latter-day Saints that have been gathered from the depths of poverty. I do not wish to chide them for their well doing, and neither do I nor my brethren require of them things that are unreasonable; but we are under obligations to our families, connections and friends, and then to the whole human family. We are not independent of them; we are not here isolated and alone, differently formed and composed of different material from the rest of the human race. We belong to and are part of this family, consequently we are under obligations one to another, and the Latter-day Saints in these mountains are under obligations to their brethren and sisters scattered in the nations who, through indigent circumstances, are unable to gather to themselves the comforts of life. No matter what may be the cause of their poverty, they are helpless and destitute. Could I pick out any in this congregation who have been in these circumstances? I presume I could, a few score.

Sometimes I am inclined to be silent rather than speak of facts that have come under my own observation. I have seen people in districts of country, where they were so destitute of the comforts of life that if they gave a meal to a friend they had to pinch themselves, perhaps, for a week, having barely sufficient to keep body and spirit together; and yet when these very individuals get into circumstances in which they are well fed and well clothed they forget their former lives.

There are certain things connected with what we see and know to be facts, that actually form principles, and resolve themselves into eternal principles; and if people could see and understand them they would be a benefit to them. But we are on the surface, or outlines of the facts concerning the Latter-day Saints. There are many of our brethren who have been born and brought up in America, who have never been called to pass through the ordeals of poverty that some of our people have in the old countries. A few of these American Elders, wanting in faith, honesty and integrity, while on foreign missions, have borrowed money from these impoverished people, with a promise to pay when they returned home; but those promises have not been observed. I do not know whether there are any such Elders here this afternoon; but, whether there is or not, I want to say to them, wherever they may be, that I have no fellowship for a man that will make a promise and not fulfil it, and especially under such circumstances as I am talking about now; and if there is such an Elder in this congregation I say omit partaking of the sacrament here to-day, and never cease your efforts until you pay that honest debt. I do not offer this as a petition, but as counsel, to be observed by all such individuals in the Church on the penalty of being disfellowshipped by the Saints. But to myself and all of you who are free from such obligations I pray you to listen to the prayers of those who are asking for deliverance; and I have a few words to say with regard to this matter on this wise: We have nothing but what has been given or loaned us of the Lord; and if we have our hundreds or thousands we may foster the idea that we have nothing more than we need; but such a notion is entirely erroneous, for our real wants are very limited. What do we absolutely need? I possess everything on the face of the earth that I need, as I appear before you on this stand. I am not hungry, but I am well fed; I am not cold, but I am well clothed. I am not suffering for a hat, for I have hair on my head, and when I go out doors I have my hat to put on; and with these and a shelter to protect me from the scorching heat or the piercing cold I have everything that a man needs or can enjoy if he owned the whole world. If I were the king of the earth I could enjoy no more. When you have what you wish to eat and sufficient clothing to make you comfortable you have all that you need, I have all that I need. Some persons, I know, will ask, “Why not give the rest to the poor?” I will answer this question, as far as I am concerned, by saying I do give to the poor and am willing to.

If the poor had all the surplus property of the rich many of them would waste it on the lusts of the flesh, and destroy themselves in using it. For this reason the Lord does not require the rich to give all their substance to the poor. It is true that when the young man came to Jesus to know what he must do to be saved, he told him, finally, “sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me;” and a great many think that he told the young man to give away all that he had, but Jesus did not require any such thing, neither did he say so, but simply, “distribute to the poor.” If the poor knew what to do with what they have many, yea very many, in this land would have all that is necessary to make them comfortable. But it is different with the great majority of our friends over the water—they are fettered and bound, and in the prison of poverty, and have not power to extricate themselves from the thraldom and wretchedness they are in, and hence it becomes our duty to lend a helping hand and send for them.

Many of us may think that we have nothing we can spare; but the providences of God might speedily make us think otherwise. If the Lord were to let loose our enemies upon us! Let Him hiss for the fly, and whisper for the locust, and they would come here by myriads and eat up every green thing there is in these mountains; and when they were destroyed, if the Lord so willed it, they could commence on the people and the cattle and devour every living creature on the land. Do we know this? We might know and realize it. Then, if we had a little bread to eat we should be happy and contented, and in our poverty we would be willing to divide with and assist our poor brethren and sisters, and help to save them from starvation. But now the cry is, “I have a house, and I want my furniture! I have a farm, I want my teams and my wagons, and then I want a carriage and time to ride,” until the whole world is swallowed up by the few.

You will excuse me if I say a few words with regard to myself in these charitable sermons. What is my feeling to-day? The same as it has been for years concerning houses, lands and possessions. I say to the people, “If you will give me for my property half what it has cost me I will devote that means for the gathering of the poor and the building of Zion upon the earth, and will start again with nothing. I have done it before, and I am willing to do it again if the people will take my property on these terms, and the means, to the last dollar, shall be used to send for the poor if they apostatize the next year. They will not apostatize where they are now; you could not hire them to do it, you could not whip them to it; you can not starve their religion out of them; but bring them here and give them houses and lands, horses and chariots, make merchants and traders of them, and give them our means, then some of them will apostatize, but not all. Some of them will apostatize for very little, it takes but few dollars; but they will not do it where they are. I would bring them here if they would apostatize, for they must have a chance to prove themselves before God and angels with regard to their integrity to and faith in the religion that we believe in.

Now, brethren and sisters, I pray you to remember the poor, and every time you feel like spending twenty-five or fifty cents in tea or coffee, liquor or tobacco, stay your hand and put that money into a safety or charitable fund to help to gather the poor. Brother Joseph has been pleading for them; I am giving you the plan. If we will leave off tea, coffee, liquor and tobacco and devote the means as I have requested, we shall bring the blessings of heaven to ourselves and bestow the blessings of earth upon our brethren and sisters, and we shall feel that comfort and consolation that we could not feel otherwise. Our hearts will rejoice, our food will be sweet to us, our dreams will be pleasant and our reflections will be filled with peace, comfort and consolation in the power of God. But if we shut up our bowels of compassion our condition will be exactly the reverse.

If the people will take this course towards their poor brethren and sisters it will relieve our hands at once. I suppose that there is a million of money now due the Perpetual Emigration Fund; by those who have been gathered who have not paid their arrearage. But we cannot get it. If we were to send an agent through the Territory to collect this indebtedness from these brethren and sisters, it would probably cost more to sustain him than the amount he would collect, consequently we conclude to say nothing about it, and to use the means we have or that is contributed for this purpose.

As for our being comfortable, I will venture to say that we could pick out, in this congregation, needless articles of dress that have cost several hundred if not thousands of dollars. I do not like to charge the ladies with extravagance, but how many yards of cloth does it take now to make a dress? If Brother Heber C. Kimball were here he would tell you he used to buy six yards of calico for his wife Vilate, who was a tall woman. That used to make a dress, and it was a pretty large pattern; then it got up to seven since my recollection, then to eight, then to nine, then to eleven, and I have been called upon to buy sixteen, seventeen and eighteen yards for a dress. I know there is a cause for this. My wife will say, “Dear me! Sister so and so wears such and such a thing, and I want to look as well as she does; and you have plenty of means, Brigham; O, yes, you have plenty of means, and you can buy it as well as not.” Well, all that I have said, and my general reply is, “If I am pressed to the necessity of indulging my family in these needless articles the responsibility must be upon themselves, not upon me.” I will not take that responsibility. In the day of reckoning if we are in debt and found wanting in consequence of our extravagance I will not bear any more responsibility than I have incurred in my own person in the gratification of this taste for needless articles of dress; and that will not be much I reckon.

Now, brethren and sisters, do you indulge in this taste for fashion and frivolity in dress? Most assuredly you do, and circumstances right before my eyes furnish proof of this. I will venture to say that my mother wore the cloak and hood that her mother before her wore, and wore them until the day of her death when she had occasion to wear a cloak; and when she left this place for the next apartment she was forty-nine years old; and they went to her daughter. I do not know what has become of them. She did not take a cloak worth twenty-five, thirty, forty or fifty dollars and sit down in it with a child with a piece of meat in each hand to grease it all over. But, now, let some women get a silk or satin dress and they will, perhaps, while wearing it, take up a child that has a piece of chicken in one hand and a piece of pork in the other, or a cup of milk to drink, and as likely as not some of it is spilled on the dress, and then they say, “Well, I declare my dress is spoiled.”

I recollect very well, and so do others in this room, when our fathers and mothers raised the flax and the wool, and when it was carded with handcards, spun on handwheels, and woven into cloth on hand looms, and in this way the wants of the family had to be supplied or they had to go without. But now every woman wants a sewing machine. What, for? To do her sewing. Well, but she can do a hundred times as much sewing with a machine as she could by hand, and she does not need a machine more than one day in two or three weeks. “O yes,” she says, “I want my sewing machine every day of my life.” “What are you going to do with it?” “I am going to sew;” and when the sewing machine is procured they want a hundred times as much cloth as they used to have. Now, too, they want a hired girl for every child; and a hired man to every cow in the yard. I will admit that I am extravagant in these expressions; but they show the present condition of affairs. The improvements which have taken place during the last half century in matters pertaining to domestic life are wonderful, but has not the extravagance of the people kept pace with these improvements? It is true that the people are getting wiser in some respects, and some are getting wealthy; but there is only so much property in the world. There are the elements that belong to this globe, and no more. We do not go to the moon to borrow; neither send to the sun or any of the planets; all our commercial transactions must be confined to this little earth and its wealth cannot be increased or diminished; and though the improvements in the arts of life which have taken place within the memory of many now living are very wonderful, there is no question that extravagance has more than kept pace with them.

We talk to the Latter-day Saints a great deal, and we wish them to become a thinking people, a people that will reflect and begin to systematize their lives, and know the object of their existence here. This life is as precious and valuable as any life ever possessed, or that ever will be possessed by any intelligent being, and hence the necessity and propriety of understanding its object and using it to the best advantage in every respect, and of understanding principle in all things.

It was observed here by Brother Taylor, this morning, when speaking of the arts and sciences, they are from eternity to eternity. They can neither be increased nor diminished; and the Lord has had to teach the people all that they know, no matter whether it be the wicked who acknowledge Him not, or the righteous, both are alike in that respect—they receive their knowledge from the same source. The construction of the electric telegraph and the method of using it, enabling the people to send messages from one end of the earth to the other, is just as much a revelation from God as any ever given. The same is true with regard to making machinery, whether it be a steamboat, a carding machine, a sailing vessel, a rowing vessel, a plow, harrow, rake, sewing machine, threshing machine, or anything else, it makes no difference—these things have existed from all eternity and will continue to all eternity, and the Lord has revealed them to His children.

In the infancy of creation the human family commenced down at the bottom of the ladder, and had to make their way upward. How small and frail that commencement looks now; why it is considered almost beneath the notice of the wise of this day to talk of the intelligence of our First Parents. When they waked from their sleep and found themselves in a state of nudity, we are told that they hid themselves, because they were ashamed and mortified and did not wish to expose themselves when the Lord came along. And he picked some fig leaves—what a simple idea! He picked some fig leaves and sewed them together and made aprons of them. I do not know whether he used scissors or His penknife for the cutting out of the garments, or what kind of a needle and thread He used, but he made aprons for the whole human family—Adam and Eve! What a simple idea! It is beneath the notice, of the mechanic or artist, or the science of the world now-a-days. Yet simple as it seems now, the Lord had to reveal to our first parents the modus operandi of the manufacture of an apron of fig leaves. And when they wanted a little copper made up, after having found the ore, the Lord had to come along and show them how to do it; and how to manufacture the iron. How simple this is! It is beneath the notice of the intelligence and science that are in the world now; the scientific men of the present time say those were the days of ignorance. Yes, that was in the period of the childhood of the human family; in the infancy of the world. But what does it manifest unto us? Why that there is a Being superior to man, and though we may not know the place where He resides, He has come along occasionally and shown His creatures how to make and work up brass, iron, copper, and in fact has revealed to them everything they know at various stages of their development and progress.

The people of this day think they know more than all who have preceded them—that this is the wisest generation that ever did live on the earth. Perhaps it is in worldly things, and in some of the arts and sciences it may be; but there is no question that many things of great worth known anciently have been lost. Archaeological developments and investigations bring to light facts in the mechanical arts which set at defiance the skill of the world in our day. For instance, where is the mechanic now, who can sharpen copper so that it would shave the beard from a man’s face, or chop timber like an axe made of steel? The skill to do that is not in existence now; yet it once was, and many other arts, revealed to man anciently, have been lost through the wickedness of the people.

I want to say a few words about our religion, but first I will ask you to remember this prayer which I offered at the commencement of my remarks with regard to the poor. If you will do that, they will be looked after and brought home. Now we will talk a little about our religion. Ask the scientific men of the world how many of the arts can be reduced to a science? When they are so reduced they become permanent; but until then they are uncertain. They go and come, appear and disappear. When they are reduced to science and system their permanency and stability are assured. It is so with government—until it is reduced to a science it is liable to be rent asunder by anarchy and confusion, and caprice, and scattered to the four winds. Government, to be stable and permanent and have any show for success, must be reduced to a science. It is the same with religion; but our traditions are such that it is one of the most difficult things in the world to make men believe that the revealed religion of heaven is a pure science, and all true science in the possession of men now is a part of the religion of heaven and has been revealed from that source. But it is hard to get the people to believe that God is a scientific character, that He lives by science or strict law, that by this He is, and by law He was made what He is; and will remain to all eternity because of His faithful adherence to law. It is a most difficult thing to make the people believe that every art and science and all wisdom comes from Him, and that He is their Author. Our spirits are His: He begot them. We are His children; He set the machine in motion to produce our tabernacles; and when men discard the principle of the existence of a Supreme Being, and treat it with lightness, as Brother Taylor says, they are fools. It is strange that scientific men do not realize that all they know is derived from Him; to suppose, or to foster the idea for one moment, that they are the originators of the wisdom they possess is folly in the highest! Such men do not know themselves. As for ignoring the principle of the existence of a Supreme Being, I would as soon ignore the idea that this house came into existence without the agency of intelligent beings.

Well, the Latter-day Saints are beginning to comprehend that true religion is a science; and their religion consists of principles, law and order, and they acknowledge God in all things; and the time will come when every knee will bow and every tongue confess to and acknowledge Him, and when they who have lived upon the earth and have spurned the idea of a Supreme Being and of revelations from Him, will fall with shamefacedness and humble themselves before Him, exclaiming, “There is a God! O, God, we once rejected Thee and disbelieved Thy word and set at naught Thy counsels, but now we bow down in shame and we do acknowledge that there is a God, and that Jesus is the Christ.” This time will come, most assuredly. We have the faith of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. It is not a frenzied, frantic idea, like the systems of religion invented by men. We have ceremonies, but there is life in those ceremonies; and our religion has organization, body and soul. The religious systems of men have a kind of organization, and seemingly they will build a body, but they have no soul, and some seem to have a soul without a body, but it is like their god, it cannot be found.

We reason with and try to convince the Latter-day Saints that they should live their religion so that God is in all their thoughts and reflections, and they should acknowledge Him in their daily walk and conversation and business transactions as well as in their prayers. Each of us should continually feel, and live so as to have it so. “God must be with me and I must have His Spirit with me under all circumstances.” How many are there of our Elders who carry out their religion in all the affairs of life? Set them to merchandizing, for instance, and Brother John, William or Caleb will say, “You set me here at merchandizing, and my mind is altogether occupied with my business. I have to lay my plans, and do my best to make my business successful, and I have not time to pray and seek unto the Lord; I have not got the spirit of preaching, and do not call upon me to preach, I can not do it, I have to attend to this store.” I say it is almost impossible to get it into the mind of a business man that he needs God with him in carrying on his business. Says he, “I must do this by my natural ability; my business qualities must be brought into exercise, and that is all I want.” To persons who feel thus I say, Stop and think! Hold on! Do you know how to buy goods? “Yes,” Mr. Merchant says, “I think I understand goods as well as any man.” Where did you get your knowledge, can you tell me? “Oh, I got that from practice. I have learned, as soon as I touch a piece of broadcloth, linen, or cotton cloth, to tell its quality without ever looking at the fabric; I can tell instantly by the touch of the finger. I have got this by practice.” Very good, we will say you did. Did you plant that ability in your finger, and which gives sensibility to your nervous system from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet, which is the foundation of the knowledge you have acquired by practice? Acquired or practical knowledge is one thing, but natural or internal knowledge is the foundation of practical or acquired knowledge, and without this in the soul no being could acquire it any more than this stand, not one particle more. Now, Mr. Merchant, that is the secret of your acquired knowledge or skill. Then acknowledge it, manly, honestly, uprightly, firmly, and positively, and give God the praise and honor, for to Him they belong.

Do you need anything more than this innate ability to acquire knowledge to guide you and to ensure success in your business? Yes, you do. They say when a person preaches experience, the facts are not easily got over. I am going to tell Mr. Merchant what he needs. You take a man who conducts his business on his own resources, and however well he may lay his plans his business frequently fails on his hands and he becomes bankrupt; for he cannot foresee what is going to transpire in the markets. “Well, how are you going to prevent such mishaps?” You need the Spirit of the Lord to enable you to foresee. This is what is needed when you buy goods, where you trade and do business; you need the spirit of revelation to be with you. We frequently hear our merchants say they cannot do business and then go into the pulpit to preach. I will say that there is not a merchant in this Territory who attends to as much of what is called worldly business, or temporal things, as I do, yet I can afford to preach several times each week, and say my prayers as long as I wish to. Now, if I preach experience, who can controvert it? If any one does not believe my statement, let him live with me and he will soon learn that a pressure of business that will take a merchant a week to think about, I know the moment it is mentioned to me. I see and understand it from beginning to end, and I say, at once, “Do thus and so,” “Go yonder,” or “Take such and such a course;” but I need the Spirit of the Lord continually to guide and dictate me, in business pertaining to farms, merchandizing, mining, missions, buying, selling, etc., etc.; and the more I have to do the more revelation I need, and the more acute my spirit must become.

It is a great mystery to many people, and especially to strangers, how I have preserved myself. My life depends upon the Spirit of the Lord, although my, body gets sometimes a little out of order, and it is very probable my stomach will ache pretty bad after this loud talking, for I am neither iron nor immortal. But a great many marvel at my preservation. I have revealed the secret a great many times, and can now—I never worry about anything. I try to live so as to know my business and understand my duty, and to do it at the moment without a long study. If ever I am in the least bothered with anything that comes before me it is in some frivolous case, trying to give counsel and advice to an individual without doing any mischief. If they want to do right, regardless of self or the world, it is no trouble to tell them what to do. And I say to a farmer or a merchant, if you want to live so as to prolong your days, never worry about anything; but have the Spirit of the Lord so as to know what to do, and when you have done or counseled right never fret about the result. It is in the hands of the Lord, and He will work out the problem, and you need not be at all afraid of the matter. And this is true of all the acts of the children of men. The Lord has constituted us rational beings, and our volition is free to choose good or evil, just as we will; but when we have followed out our choice the Lord will overrule the result of our acts—it is in His hands and He will bring it out to suit Himself, and He will make the wrath of man praise Him. When men undertake, as we see them occasionally, to interrupt every movement, of the kingdom of God, and lay their plans, and have the train well laid in their own minds, for the destruction of the kingdom, the first thing they know they are in the mud and the Saints are thrown up. We have seen this scores of times. It is just so in the world. Men may propose, but God will dispose according to His good will and pleasure.

I want to say to the Latter-day Saints, and to those who are not Saints, we have faith in God, and we have a reason for it. Every character who has declared himself to be God, except the one we serve, has failed and been failed in his calculations; he has come short in his plans and been put to shame. There is no question but foul spirits have declared themselves to be deities; we have history to this effect. But they have come off in shame. But the Lord is our God and it is He whom we serve; and we say to the whole world that He is a tangible Being. We have a God with ears, eyes, nose, mouth; He can and does speak. He has arms, hands, body, legs and feet; He talks and walks; and we are formed after His likeness. The good book—the Bible, tells us what kind of a character our Heavenly Father is. In the first chapter of Genesis and the 17th verse, speaking of the Lord creating men, it reads as plain as it can read, and He created man in His own image and likeness; and if He created Adam and Eve in His own image, the whole human family are like Him. This same truth is borne out by the Savior. Said he, when talking to his disciples: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;” and, “I and my Father are one.” The Scripture says that He, the Lord, came walking in the Temple, with His train; I do not know who they were, unless His wives and children; but at any rate they filled the Temple, and how many there were who could not get into the Temple I cannot say. This is the account given by Isaiah, whether he told the truth or not I leave every body to judge for himself.

The Bible also says the Lord talked with Moses; He talked with the rich and the poor, the noble and the ignoble. He sent His angels, and at last sent His Son, who was in the express image of the Father—His Only Begotten Son, according to the flesh, here on this earth. That is the God we serve and believe in. He is a God of system, order, law, science, and art; a God of knowledge and of power. He says to the human family, “Do as you please, but I will overrule the results of your actions.” He says to the wicked, “You may fight these Latter-day Saints, but they are my people, I have called them, and commanded them to come out of Babylon and to gather themselves together. You, wicked world, may fight them; you may lay your plans and schemes, but with all your machinations and wisdom I will show you that I am greater than you all, and I will put you to shame, and blast your expectations, and disappoint your calculations, and your attempts to injure my people will be foiled; for Zion shall arise, her glory shall be seen, and the kings of the earth shall enquire of the wisdom of Zion; and God shall be great, and His name shall be terrible among the inhabitants of the earth; and He will bring forth His kingdom and establish His government, and Jesus will come and rule; King of nations, as he does King of Saints.” We have law, we have rule, we have regulations; and they are here, they are written and published to the world. They are in the Old and New Testament, Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; and we call upon all the earth, the rich and the poor, to hearken unto these things! Who will receive them? Not many rich, not many noble, not many great men of the earth; but the poor of this world the Lord has chosen, and He will make them rich, and they will be heirs of the earth. But they will be heirs with pure hearts, not with that covetousness we see manifested now. When we are prepared to receive the kingdom in its purity, and to honor its laws and principles in our lives, just so soon the Lord Almighty will bestow upon us strength, power, wisdom, glory, riches and honor, and all the good things that pertain to His kingdom; and the Lord will be great among the people, and they will revere and acknowledge His name.

God bless you brethren and sisters, Amen.

Keeping the Commandments

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, April 17, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

I would like the attention of the congregation. First, to my brethren and sisters, How do you do? I hope you are well. My health is very excellent. I am happy to greet you again. It gives me pleasure to see the people, but greater pleasure to see them striving to do the will of God.

I understand that this morning the congregation were treated to a discourse giving the details of our travels for fifty-two days. I have no doubt they were very satisfactory. Those who heard the remarks of Brother George A. Smith this morning must be aware that we are somewhat fatigued in body and want a little rest. We went from here to rest; but travelling every day for nearly two months, and holding sometimes two or three meetings a day, does not afford much chance for rest. However, it was a change—a change of climate, scenery, congregations and friends; and we have had great pleasure in visiting the Saints. It is delightful to see those who profess to be Saints living together in unity and peace, which I am happy to say is the case to a great degree with the people among whom we have been travelling.

When we talk to and instruct the people we have to chasten and correct them sometimes, so as to lead their minds to principles more advanced than they are in the habit of practicing. The Latter-day Saints are an excellent good people; but when we contemplate the perfection of the inhabitants of Zion we see that there is an opportunity for a great deal of improvement. Of the time that is allotted to man here on the earth there is none to lose or to run to waste. After suitable rest and relaxation there is not a day, hour or minute that we should spend in idleness, but every minute of every day of our lives we should strive to improve our minds and to increase in the faith of the holy Gospel, in charity, patience, and good works, that we may grow in the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. If we are not Saints I do not think I ever saw any; but still there is a lack in the faith and works of this people, preparatory to the inhabiting of the Zion that is spoken and prophecied of and written about.

There are a great many texts which might be used, very comprehensive and full of meaning, but I know of none, either in the Old or New Testament, more so than that saying, said to have been made by the Savior, and I have no doubt it was, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” You recollect that, after the resurrection, when Jesus came to Peter and others who had been fishing all night, but had caught nothing, he said to them, “Cast your net to the right side of the ship.” They did so, and we read that they drew a multitude to shore, and then they beheld their Savior. After broiling and eating of their fish, Jesus, knowing their feelings, and how apt men are to forget that which they once knew, said to Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” pointing to the fish. They had professed to love him; they had followed him, and had suffered persecution for his sake; they had delighted in his words, rejoiced in his labors, and had seen the wonderful works which he performed, and some which, in his name, they had performed themselves; yet, after all this, they seemed inclined to turn away and go a fishing; and when they had caught fish and drawn them to the shore, Jesus said, “Do you love me more than you love these?” He had previously told them: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

“How long? For a day? Keep the commandments of the Lord for a week? Observe and do his will for a month or a year? There is no promise to any individual, that I have any knowledge of, that he shall receive the reward of the just, unless he is faithful to the end. If we fully understand and faithfully carry out in our lives the saying of Jesus, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” we shall be prepared to go back and dwell in the presence of the Father and the Son.

What are his commandments? Did he ever teach the people anything that is wrong? If we read the requirements made by Jesus, by the Father, or by any messenger sent from the Heavens to the children of men we shall find nothing that will injure any human being or that will destroy the soul of one of the sons or daughters of Adam and Eve. Many think that the sayings and doings of some of the prophets and servants of God, in ancient and modern times, said and done in obedience to the commands of the Lord Almighty, tend to evil; but it is not so. All God’s requirements tend to good to His children. Any notion to the contrary is the result of ignorance. The human family are enveloped in ignorance, so far as the origin and object of their existence here is concerned. Their ignorance, superstition, darkness and blindness are very apparent to all who are in the least enlightened by the spirit of truth. They seek to hide themselves in ignorance and blindness rather than learn who they are and the object of their being here. What do the human family know of God or Jesus, or of the words which I have quoted, “If ye love me, keep my commandments?” “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life,” says Jesus, “and they are they which testify of me.” They testify of the Savior, of his doctrines and requirements, and of the ordinances of his house; the plan of salvation is there portrayed, and any person who follows its dictation may redeem himself from the thraldom of sin, and know, by the Spirit, that Jesus is the Christ. All who will take this course will know by revelation that God is our Father; they will understand the relationship they hold to him and to their fellow-beings. The world may in vain ask the question, “Who are we?” But the Gospel tells us that we are the sons and daughters of that God whom we serve. Some say, “We are the children of Adam and Eve.” So we are, and they are the children of our Heavenly Father. We are all the children of Adam and Eve, and they and we are the offspring of Him who dwells in the heavens, the highest Intelligence that dwells anywhere that we have any knowledge of Here we find ourselves, and when infants, the most helpless, and needing the most care and attention of any creatures that come into being on the face of the earth. Here we find in ourselves the germ and the foundation, the embryo of exaltation, glory, immortality and eternal lives. As we grow up we receive strength, knowledge and wisdom, some more and some less; but only by keeping the commands of the Lord Jesus can we have the privilege of knowing the things pertaining to eternity and our relationship to the heavens.

When I contemplate the effects of keeping the commands of the Lord, and look at the Christian world, I cannot help being struck with the difference of the results which flow from serving God and Satan. I have dwelt, for many years, in the Christian world. I have tried to learn all that they know. But what does it amount to? Nothing. How many chapters, pamphlets, and volumes have been written upon the Holy Ghost, the birth of the Savior, and concerning the being of that God whom we serve? But who knows the truth pertaining to these subjects or to any one of them? Not one. But all who keep the commandments of Jesus have the privilege of gaining a correct understanding of these things. If we draw near to him, he will draw near to us; if we seek him early, we shall find him; if we apply our minds faithfully and diligently, day by day, to know and understand the mind and will of God, it is as easy as, yes, I will say easier than, it is to know the minds of each other, for to know and understand ourselves and our own being is to know and understand God and His being. It is true there is a great deal of speculation in the world; and it becomes more apparent every year; and it will continue so until the people believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, or are given over to infidelity. See the sects and parties springing up here and springing up there, from this and that, and embracing this and the other phantom; or following after this and that dream or phantasy of their imagination. They are dividing and subdividing, and drifting, as fast as time can roll, into infidelity.

Who will know the Son of God? Who will know that Jesus is the Christ? Who, in this our day, can say as Peter did, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” How many will come to this? Very few. How often I have contemplated the condition of the Christian world! I have preached the Gospel to hundreds of thousands of them. Did they believe? If they did, they did not yield obedience. They would contend and argue against the truth, but only one here and another there, or as it is written, “one of a city, and two of a family;” or, to reverse it, one of a family and two of a city, would obey it, and gather with the Saints. Many of those who have gathered, when they have been blessed with a few of the good things of this life, have lifted their heels against Jesus and in opposition to his commands and revelations, and have turned away to fables. I have often asked this question, “Has one-half of those who have obeyed the Gospel and been baptized into the Church ever gathered with the Saints?” No, they have not; and to[o] many who have gathered the Gospel soon became like a dream. They have had their minds opened and seen things correctly; they have had the manifestations of the Spirit of the Lord and have rejoiced in the truth; but by and by, through the lusts of the flesh, they have become sordid, have turned again to the world, and have forgot the Gospel and its blessings.

Is this the case with the Saints? It is the case with many who have been called Saints, and yet we say that the Latter-day Saints, as a body, are the best people that can be found. Who would have done as they have? Who, in the world, are willing to manifest that they are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the prophets and Apostles, and in Joseph Smith? One of the Apostles, writing of confessing the Savior, says, “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus is the Christ is not of God.” I say that every spirit that confesseth Jesus to be the Savior of the world, the Old and New Testament and the Book of Mormon to be true, and Joseph Smith to be a prophet, is of God; but every spirit that does not confess these things is not of God.

I can say to my brethren and sisters who profess to believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, as it has been revealed to us in these latter days, that we need to pay attention to our faith, and to observe the principles of our religion inviolate, and to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, or we shall not be prepared to inherit that glory that we anticipate. Is this so? It is, most assuredly. I know that many Latter-day Saints think when they have obeyed the Gospel, made a sacrifice in forsaking their homes, perhaps their parents, husbands, wives, children, farms, native lands, or other things held dear, that the work is done; but it is only just commenced. The work of purifying ourselves and preparing to build up the Zion of God on this continent has only just begun with us when we have got as far as that. Are we prepared now to establish the Zion that the Lord designs to build up? I have many times asked the questions, “Where is the man that knows how to lay the first rock for the wall that is to surround the New Jerusalem or the Zion of God on the earth? Where is the man who knows how to construct the first gate of the city? Where is the man who understands how to build up the kingdom of God in its purity and to prepare for Zion to come down to meet it?” “Well,” says one, “I thought the Lord was going to do this.” So He is if we will let Him. That is what we want: we want the people to be willing for the Lord to do it. But He will do it by means. He will not send His angels to gather up the rock to build up the New Jerusalem. He will not send His angels from the heavens to go to the mountains to cut the timber and make it into lumber to adorn the city of Zion. He has called upon us to do this work; and if we will let Him work by, through, and with us, He can accomplish it; otherwise we shall fall short, and shall never have the honor of building up Zion on the earth. Is this so? Certainly. Well, then, let us keep the commandments.

What are His commandments to us? Has He commanded us to build an ark? No. He told Noah to do that for the salvation of those who would go into it; and after he had built it, and had preached righteousness for a long space of time, warning the people of the coming judgments of the Almighty, how many believed his testimony? Only eight souls, and they were members of his own family. All the rest were swept from the face of the earth. This is according to the account given to us in the Old Testament which we believe. I know that there are a great many in the world who are so wise in their own eyes that they are not disposed to believe the account contained in the Bible of the Creation, of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the antediluvian world and other things, but we profess to believe, and we do or should believe these things.

The Lord has said that He will never again destroy the world by a flood. What will the next great catastrophe be? It will be fire: He will cleanse the earth as by fire, and will purify and make it holy, and prepare it, for the habitation of His Saints. But in doing this, which will be accomplished by the united labors of His Saints under His direction, He has not told us to build an ark; He has not told us to go out of Sodom, as He did Lot and his family; neither has He told us to go down into Egypt or to come out of Egypt. What has He told us? He has told us, and it is recorded in the revelations contained in the New Testament, that in the latter days He would send His angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth. That angel has flown, the Gospel is delivered, the kingdom is established, and Zion has to be built up. Are the Latter-day Saints going to do this? Yes, we say so; we think the Latter-day Saints are going to do it. But are these my brethren and sisters now before me going to do it? Am I going to help to do it? I know that I have labored nearly forty years to get the people to believe and to embrace, in their faith and practise, what the Lord has told us to do. The Lord wants to build up His Zion, and He wants to build it up through you and me. We are the ones He has called upon. Will we consent to do this? I firmly believe that, before we make any very effectual progress in the accomplishment of that work, we must become more united and more fervent in our faith and practice than we have ever yet been at any time. We have to become more like a single family, and be one, that we may be the Lord’s; and not every one have his own individual interest. This is destructive, this disconnects the feelings of the people one from another, and causes divisions and disunion. But when we make the general cause of Zion our individual cause it brings us closer together.

We must observe all the words of the Lord. The commandments contained in the New Testament with regard to the ordinances of the house of God are obligatory upon us. But we are not called upon to build an ark to save ourselves; we are called to build up Zion. God has spoken from the heavens, and given us revelations, and it is for you and me to obey. The command has been given, it is recorded, and you can all read for yourselves.

In partaking of this Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper we are all agreed. When Jesus broke the bread and poured out and blessed the wine, said he, “Do this till I come.” We do it every Sabbath in remembrance of him, and we all agree in doing this. When the word is, “Be baptized for the remission of sins, we also agree on this: no dissenting voice. When we say we must have hands laid on for the reception of the Holy Ghost, we all consent to it, all feel alike in this. When we say that the Lord is pouring out the gifts of prophecy, revelation, tongues, visions, faith, healings, and so forth, we all agree in these things. They are all right, all correct, we believe in them all, and we yield obedience to them. But when He speaks from the heavens and says, “Now, my children, gather out from the wicked,” some consent to this, and actually go so far as to gather, and that is why we are here in these mountains. But our labor is not done: we must still progress until we become one. The Lord says, “Be one, except ye are one, ye are not mine, be united.” But do we take a course to become so? I will ask, have we, as a general thing, obeyed the first revelations, to gather to Zion, and when there, to consecrate our property and devote all our substance, time and talents for the building up the kingdom? Have we obeyed the commandments and requirements of Heaven in yielding up everything to the will of God, and being dictated, as we should be, by the spirit of revelation? No, we have not. Herein we come short of that that we might do and perform for our own benefit, and for the salvation of others, for it is not only for the glory of God, but for our own benefit that we each of us labor. The Lord is perfectly independent: He has received His glory, He reigns supreme and omnipotent. He is not dependent upon you and me. If every one of us should apostatize and go down to hell, it would neither add to nor diminish from His glory. He would mourn at our folly in turning away from the holy commandments and suffering the wrath of the Almighty to come upon us; the Heavens would weep over us, but still the Lord has His glory, and you and I are not laboring for His benefit. For whose benefit are we laboring? For our own. All my preaching, laboring, and toils in this kingdom have been for myself, to get into the Celestial Kingdom of God. I have been laboring for that and nothing else.

The Latter-day Saints require considerable preaching to; they ought to pray a little more; they are doing pretty well, but if we try to draw them a little closer together, how quickly we see the selfishness of the children of men in our own midst. If we ask them to devote their time, talents and powers more completely to the building up of the Kingdom of God, one says, “This is mine, I am not going to have anybody control me;” another one says, “I am not going to submit to this.” Why, bless me! what have they? Nothing but what the Lord gave them, even to their own lives. Everything they have is what the Lord has given, and He can take it away at His pleasure. He can bestow millions upon them if He pleases, or take away at His pleasure. Yet, while men will acknowledge this, one will say, “I am not going to be controlled;” and another, “I am going to draw out of this.” You have heard and seen through this city a great deal of talking, writing, and sophistry on this subject. No matter how many pretty words are strung together into sentences and made to appear beautiful on paper, it amounts to nothing. It is the truth; it is the love and the power of the Lord Almighty, and it is the Gospel of the Son of God that you and I have embraced. Should we be controlled by that? Yes, in everything. Well, get the people united together and they will be controlled by it; but as it is now, the purchasing of a little merchandise sends a parcel of them to the devil. It is folly in the extreme! By and by such characters will go to their own place. There will be no carriages there; no horses, fine houses, silks and satins there. Oh, the foolishness of the children of men!

Who are we, I ask again? We are the children of the Almighty, of Him who framed this earth and brought it into existence and placed His children upon it, to see what they would do. He gave them their agency and said, “Now, act for yourselves;” and every one does act for himself, for good or evil, for blessings or curses. We all act for ourselves. I am laboring expressly to get back again into the presence of my Father and of my elder brother. What are you laboring for? Gold? Just see how some are running to the gold mines! “Oh,” says one, “there is silver found yonder.” Says another, “There is gold or there is copper found yonder.” See the greediness of the hearts of the children of men, and that too right in the midst of this people. We can praise the people, generally a great deal; we give them credit for considerable good they have done; but we cannot give our brethren and sisters credit for any particular good while following the foolish fashions of the world. The Lord cannot credit them for running after gold and silver and the riches of this world. If they do good, they shall receive credit; if they give alms to the poor, they shall receive credit for it. If they are disposed to do anything for the benefit of the kingdom of God on the earth, they will be blessed and credited for it. But when their hearts are turned from the holy commandments of the Lord Jesus, and to seeking after the things of this life, which perish, they will find that they will perish as well as the things they are using. What a pity! How lamentable it is.

Now I ask the Latter-day Saints, have you anything to fear? Yes, you have. Have I anything to fear? Yes. What is it? I fear lest I may slacken in my faith and obedience in living as the Spirit of the Lord Almighty has required me to live, and is urging this people to live, so that we may be worthy to build up Zion. Have you or I anything else to be afraid of? No; not at all. I have no fear of heavenly beings, for they are my friends. I want to go to their society and to be associated with them. I like some of God’s messengers, who travel about, to visit me. I am fond of their society. I like the spirits that dwell there. I want to go home; I want to go back again and live there forever. Why, the thought that the intelligence that is brought into existence here, may be annihilated, is enough to make one shudder! There are some who go so far in their unbelief that they deny the resurrection of the body; and even to say that the soul sleeps eternally. What is the use of your intelligence, what is it good for if this be true? There is no such thing as destroying element! There is no such philosophy as annihilation. If the spirit should return to native element the element would not be destroyed; the particles of matter will remain forever. There are some now getting so lofty in their imaginations, and so wise and intelligent in their own estimation that they pretend to explain all the mysteries of the past, present and future. They are like some called Latter-day Saints; they can talk very glibly about the principles of what they term the Gospel; but the practical workings of the religion of the Savior they know or care little about. You come to the Latter-day Saints, and you may find plenty who talk their religion a great deal; you may find a hundred willing even to die for it to one who is willing to live it. If all were willing to live it we would risk the dying; we care nothing about that. We shall all go sooner or later, We shall not stay in this world in our present condition for ever. Something or other will divide this intelligence or spirit from the body which it inhabits; and the tabernacle will go down to dust. Our spirits will not sleep an eternal sleep, but our bodies will be resurrected, and our spirits and our bodies will be reunited; and all who believe to the contrary are in a state of darkness, wretchedness and unbelief.

Brethren and sisters, be faithful to your religion. There is not the least reason for fear from any other source in the world. Keep as calm as a summer’s evening; no harm can come to him who serves God with all his heart and trusts in Him for future results. “But” some say, “cannot they kill us?” Yes, they can kill you and me, if the Lord permits; but if He does not, I reckon they cannot. And suppose they do kill us! Do we want to stay in this world in our present condition for ever? O, no. If Joseph and Hyrum Smith had not been killed in Carthage jail, do you think they would have lived for ever? No, they could not; the fiat has gone forth that our bodies must all return to mother earth.

There is no danger for the Latter-day Saints. The Lord reigns. He has said that he would fight our battles. Has He done so? Look back, ye Saints, for forty years, from the sixth of this month, when this Church was organized. Brother George A. Smith and a few of us were away on the anniversary of the day; but you, here, had a little Conference and adjourned over. Did you realize that forty years had elapsed since this Church was organized? Yes, and there is no question that you talked of it. Look back, members of this Church, for thirty-nine years! Has the Lord fought our battles? He has. Has He protected and fed and clothed us? Certainly He has. When we came here no man knew that we could raise an ear of corn, and a great many believed that we could not. How many contended against our setting out fruit trees? Said they, “You never can raise an apple, plum, or pear, and you certainly can never raise a peach or an apricot. We told them we should set out trees and trust in the Lord; and although when we came here everything was freezing to death, yet now, through the Lord blessing the elements and tempering the soil, water and atmosphere, the Saints in every settlement are raising beautiful grains and fruits; and the people are increasing and multiplying. Wherever we have been on our recent journey they flocked out by hundreds to welcome us; and there were swarms of healthy, bright intelligent children everywhere.

Talk about polygamy! There is no true philosopher on the face of the earth but what will admit that such a system, properly carried out according to the order of heaven, is far superior to monogamy for the raising of healthy, robust children! A person possessing a moderate knowledge of physiology, or who has paid attention to his own nature and the nature of the gentler sex, can readily understand this.

“But,” says one, “are we not all to be killed for our belief in this principle?” I reckon not. “Are we not going to be driven from our homes?” I don’t know. This is a good place; I would like to stay here; I would rather not go; I have considerable to leave if we should go from here. I do not know how to do without the liberty that my father fought for. He went into the Revolutionary army when he was fourteen years old, and stayed until the close of the war; and I do not know how to do without that liberty anyway in the world. I guess I can think as I please, and I guess I can live happy, I shall try to, at any rate, until I finish my work, and I rather think you will, brethren and sisters, if you love Jesus, and prove it by keeping his commandments. If you do this, there is no danger in the world. But when I look round and see the foolish habits of the people, it is a little mortifying, and I wish it were otherwise. Still we put up with it, and do the best we can; and talk and preach and set you examples, and teach you how to be Saints in very deed, so that by and by you may be prepared to go and build up the Centre Stake of Zion. If I have to go from here, if I live to do so, I want to go to Jackson county. May I? (Yes, from the congregation.) That is the place I want to go to. It is not healthy like this; but the Lord will make it so, and He will bless the soil, the water, and the atmosphere, and they will become healthy if the Saints will live their religion. Let us do the will of God and there is no fear from any quarter. I never felt calmer since I have been in this Church, and I have been in the wars. I have left my home five times, and a good handsome property each time; but I do not feel a bit like it now, and I cannot get the spirit of it.

To the Latter-day Saints I say, live your religion, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and we shall we [be] prospered.

God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by Wilford Woodruff, on the Death of Elder Ezra T. Benson

Wilford Woodruff

Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sept. 5, 1869. Reported by David W. Evans.

I am called upon this afternoon to make some remarks upon the life and death of Brother Ezra Taft Benson, who has been suddenly taken out of our midst—from time into eternity.

I have long since considered it unnecessary to make any excuses for performing my duty upon any occasion in public; but if there is any position where a man might have doubts about satisfying his own mind or the minds of his friends, perhaps it is on an occasion like this. It is well known, at least to the Latter-day Saints, that the Elders of Israel rise to speak without any written sermon or preparation of any kind. Many of us have been engaged the greater portion of our lives in preaching the Gospel to the world, and on every occasion we depend for assistance and preparation upon the Spirit of God. This is my position this afternoon. I rise before you with no prepared sermon, and with no particular principles that I have settled in my mind to address you upon; depending, as on all occasions, upon the Spirit of God and the faith and prayers of my friends. This dispensation of Providence causes me many reflections; and I presume it is the case with every Latter-day Saint present. In the first place I will ask the question, “What position did Brother Benson occupy while in the flesh, and how many have ever held the same position on the face of the earth? The words contained in the 7th verse of the 52nd chapter of the prophecies of Isaiah are brought to my mind. While contemplating the great work of building up the Zion of God in the last days, he says—

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”

What position can any man occupy on the face of the earth, that is more noble, God-like, high and glorious than to be a messenger of salvation unto the human family? What more responsible position can a man occupy than to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ? I do not know of any in this or any other generation. The thought also arises in my mind, how many individuals have ever held this position on the earth? I find in the history recorded in the Bible, from the days of Adam down through the different dispensations and generations, that prophets have existed on the earth. Adam, himself, was a prophet and he ordained his sons to the Melchizedek Priesthood; the Gospel of Christ was taught to him after the Fall, and he attended to the ordinances of the house of God. He was a High Priest, and, as a High Priest, held the keys of the kingdom of God. There were many sons who were High Priests, having been ordained to this office by their father Adam. Three years before his death he called together Seth, Enos, Jared, Cainan, Mahaleel, Methusaleh, and many other of his descendants in the Valley of Adam-Ondi-Ahman, and there rose up and blessed them with his great and last patriarchal blessing. This has been given to us by revelation; and these men were prophets and High Priests.

Tracing down the sacred history through the different ages and dispensations, we learn that many prophets existed among the children of men. Moses was a lawgiver in Israel, and held the office of a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. When I say that many prophets have existed, it probably needs some qualification. The number of persons thus honored of God has not been many when compared with the whole of the people who have lived; but in every Gospel age and dispensation God has had His prophets and servants upon the earth to make known His will to its inhabitants. In the days of Moses Elders were chosen as his counselors; and seventy Elders were ordained to bear record of the things of God and to assist Moses in the work to be performed in his day; but we do not read of Apostles being chosen under Moses’s dispensation. Jesus tabernacled in the flesh to establish the kingdom of his Father upon the earth, and when he was thirty years of age he went forth administering in the ordinances of the house of God, and he chose twelve Apostles to assist him, and he gave to them the keys of the kingdom of God. And the highest office that any man has ever held on the face of the earth in this or any other generation is that of an Apostle.

We read that God set in His Church first Apostles, then prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, gifts, graces and helps; and the office of an Apostle entitles him to hold the keys of the kingdom of God; and what he binds on earth is bound in heaven, and what he looses on earth is loosed in heaven. The history of the Twelve whom Jesus chose is to be found in the New Testament; within the lids of that book their travels, the course they pursued and the doctrines they taught are published to the world. Nearly the whole of them sealed their testimony with their blood. Some were crucified as their master was; some were beheaded; and all, except John, suffered martyrdom in some way for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. This was the fate of the first quorum of Apostles we have any history of.

After the death and resurrection of the Savior, when he ministered to his disciples the last time on earth, he informed them that he had other sheep not of this fold whom he was going to visit and minister unto. The Book of Mormon is a record of the descendants of the House of Israel who dwelt on this continent anciently. It gives us the history of the Jaredites who came from the Tower of Babel; of Lehi and his family, who came from Jerusalem, and also of the Lamanites and Nephites, the descendants of Nephi and Lemuel, sons of Lehi. In that record we find that Christ, after his death and resurrection, visited that branch of the house of Israel which dwelt on this continent. On the occasion of that visit we are informed that Jesus chose Twelve Apostles and gave to them the same power, keys, gifts and graces that he had given to his Apostles on the eastern continent, and they went forth and magnified their callings. All of this quorum of the Twelve Apostles had the promise of departing and being with Christ when they were seventy-two years old, except three of them. To these three Jesus gave a promise similar to that which he gave to John the Revelator—namely, that they should tarry in the flesh until he came. History informs us that the wicked tried to kill John in various ways, placing him, on one occasion, in a cauldron of boiling oil, but his life was preserved; and that finally, in the reign of Domitian Caesar, he was banished to the Isle of Patmos to work in the lead mines. While there he was blessed with visions, revelations, knowledge, light and truth, a portion of which we have recorded in what are called the Revelations of St. John. In the reign of Nerva John was recalled, and afterwards wrote his epistles. The first quorum of Apostles were all put to death, except John, and we are informed that he still remains on the earth, though his body has doubtless undergone some change. Three of the Nephites, chosen here by the Lord Jesus as his Apostles, had the same promise—that they should not taste death until Christ came, and they still remain on the earth in the flesh.

Thus we have an account in the Bible and Book of Mormon of but two quorums of Twelve Apostles being chosen previous to this dispensation; but in these last days the Lord called upon Joseph Smith, gave him power and authority to organize His Church and kingdom again upon the earth, and gave him the Holy Priesthood and the keys of the kingdom of God. Joseph was ordained to the Apostleship under the hands of men holding the keys of the kingdom of God in the days of Jesus—namely, Peter, James and John.

I shall not occupy time with entering into the details of these things. I have referred to them to show the importance of the office held by Brother Benson. He was a member of one of the three quorums of Apostles that have ever been chosen on the face of the earth since Jesus Christ tabernacled in the flesh, that we have any knowledge of. The first chosen when Jesus commenced his public labors in the flesh; the second after his resurrection, here on this continent; and the third, since he revelation of the Gospel in our own day. Here we find only thirty-six men, chosen at various times and dispensations, in six thousand years, to hold this order of Priesthood, unless they were chosen in the days of Enoch and at times in which the Bible does not inform us. This number has been increased, however, by others who have been chosen to fill vacancies in these quorums, as in the case of Judas, and others; but it is safe to say that the entire number who have held this office from the days of Adam until to-day has been very limited. As to the number of inhabitants who have dwelt on the earth during that period, it is a pretty difficult matter to form any correct idea in relation to it. I do not think that any statistician could tell this to any degree of correctness. It is a kind of a given point in these days to say that the population of the earth is about a thousand millions, and that this number pass away every generation. It is also estimated that about three generations pass away in a century; this gives three thousand millions in a century, thirty thousand millions in a thousand years, and one hundred and eighty thousand millions in six thousand years—about the period that is supposed to have elapsed since the creation of man upon the earth. Whether these statistics are anything like correct it is not of much importance to discuss; but it is an important reflection that Brother Benson, who has been associated with us so many years, is one of the chosen few, of all the immense numbers who have dwelt on the face of the earth, who have been called to hold the office of Apostle. Well might the prophet say, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet,” &c.

I will say that in my boyhood, while attending Sabbath school in my native State, Connecticut, there seemed something glorious to me about the Apostles of Jesus Christ who were called to preach the Gospel of the Son of God to the inhabitants of the earth; and I have many times felt that I would willingly walk a thousand miles to see a prophet, an Apostle, or any man called of God, who could teach me the way to be saved, a man who held in his hands the power of the Priesthood, who could command the elements and they would obey him, and who could declare the words of life in their truth and purity to the inhabitants of the earth. I always looked upon the lives and missions of these men, though despised by the world generally, as the most important of any men who ever dwelt in the flesh. Jesus himself was called master of the house of Beelzebub, and travelled through a constant scene of poverty, ridicule, persecution and affliction; yet there was something great, good, grand and glorious in the life of the Savior of the world. This was the fate of him and his Apostles; and though they descended below all things, they held in their hands the destiny and salvation, not only of that generation, but of all the human race; and woe be to that house, nation, kindred, tongue or people who rejected their words and testimony, for they will rise in judgment against them.

From the days of my childhood until I heard the fulness of the Gospel, as taught by the Latter-day Saints, I had a great desire to live to see a prophet or Apostle. I have lived to see this day. I have lived to see the Church and kingdom of God on the earth, with all its gifts, graces, power, glory and dominion, revealed and organized by the ministrations of angels from God in heaven and by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have lived to see Apostles and the full organization of the Priesthood again officiating in and administering the ordinances of salvation to the children of men.

Brother Ezra T. Benson, whose death has occurred so unexpectedly, was one of the few called in this day to bear testimony to the nations of the earth of the restoration of this Gospel, and he has travelled many thousand miles to do so. He has been true and faithful unto death, and he will receive a crown of life. He has gone from our midst to the spirit world to mingle with the Gods, or at least with his brethren who have gone before him; whether he will mingle with the Gods until after the resurrection perhaps it is not for me to say. He has gone home to receive his reward. What a cloud of reflection it brings to the mind! It speaks in loud language to every Apostle, prophet, Elder and Saint of God, and to all the inhabitants of the earth, “Be ye also ready!” That is what it says to all men. If you have anything to do, any work to perform that is of consequence to yourself or friends, living or dead, do it.

Is there any sorrow or mourning in my heart with regard to the departure of Brother Benson? I would rather follow a thousand Apostles and Prophets to the grave and see their lifeless remains deposited in the dark and silent tomb, than see one man who has tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, make shipwreck of his faith, lose his crown and go to perdition. I have had more sorrow in seeing men, with whom I have traveled and preached the Gospel, turn from the truth, commit wickedness, and lose their standing in the Church, than over all the faithful Latter-day Saints I have seen laid in the tomb. When I see a man depart who, like Brother Benson, has been ever willing to go and come and do the bidding of those over him, I look forward with great joy to his reward. He is the first man in the Quorum of the Twelve, who, for the last forty years, has had the privilege of dying a natural death; for most of the Apostles who ever tabernacled in the flesh have died as martyrs. We have had two in our quorum who have died thus, besides our Prophet and Patriarch. True, they will receive a martyr’s crown, so will all men who are true and faithful unto death and lay down their lives for the work of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Brother Benson has died among his friends; he had not been in pain or suffering, or endured a lingering sickness. Thank God he died in the harness and has gone home to receive his reward. During the time he has been a member of the Church he has been on many missions. I will here remark, without entering into details, that, at the time the Saints were driven from Illinois to this land, he was called upon and sent east, as one of the agents of the Church, to prove the eastern country—our Puritan fathers and friends in New England, after we had been driven from our homes, country, and the graves of parents, wives and children, to see if they would stretch out their hand to assist us while in the wilderness. He labored faithfully on that mission, visiting Boston and other leading New England cities, calling for contributions to help the poor, the widow and the fatherless, who were, in a measure, in a state of starvation in the wilderness, after having been driven from their homes in the midst of an inclement winter. I believe he got fifty dollars. If he had gone into Missouri and split rails by the day, I guess he would have made considerable more money in the same time. But never mind! He was faithful on his mission, and returned faithful, and continued so from the commencement of his career as a Latter-day Saint until the day of his death. I rejoice in this, and it is a consolation to his family and to all Israel to know that he has been true and faithful to his calling. When I contemplate and realize that the little time spent here in this mortal life will fix and mould our destiny for all the endless ages of eternity, I try to realize what manner of men we all ought to be.

I have traveled a good deal with Brother Benson and have been acquainted with him, as you have, a good many years past, and I can bear this testimony of him—he has always been ready and willing to labor in either temporal or spiritual things. Here on this road he labored faithfully during the past year in building a hundred miles of the railroad; he and those associated with him finished their job with punctuality. All these things show the untiring industry and perseverance of the man.

This is the way with all of us. We are all called to labor in temporal and spiritual things in building up the kingdom of God in these last days. We have to preach the Gospel to the children of men; we have to warn the nations of the earth. We have been called to do this; this is the command of God to the Elders of Israel. In obedience to this they shoulder their knapsacks, and without purse or scrip, travel the world over to declare to the children of men the words of life and salvation. In doing this they swim rivers, wade swamps, and endure much toil and privation. During the last thirty-seven years of my life I have traveled one hundred thousand miles in obedience to this command. It will be well with all men who are faithful in the performance of these duties. Brother Benson never performed a mission or any other duty but what he will rejoice over for ever and so it will be with us all. The reward of the faithful will amply repay them for all the labors they ever performed or for the privations they have endured. No labor we have ever done that has helped to promote the happiness and well-being of our fellow-men will go unrewarded. Brother Benson to-day, instead of being with his family in Logan, that is in the flesh, he may be with them in spirit, is privileged to mingle with his brethren who have gone before—Joseph, Hyrum, David, Parley, Heber and the prophets and Apostles of former days. He is mingling with them. They have finished their work in the flesh. So has he. He has been suddenly called away from his labors, but his works will follow him.

I wish to speak to my friends a little with regard to the position which we occupy as Elders of Israel, and as the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth. I feel impressed to do so. I do not know that I wish to say a great deal more with regard to Brother Benson. His labors are before us and the world, and they are before God and angels. I am satisfied with them, and I do not know who is not who, was acquainted with him. I wish now to say something with regard to the organization of this Church and the position occupied by Joseph Smith, Elder Benson and the Apostles and Priesthood of this Church.

We are living in a very important age, an age in which preparations are making for the second coming of the Messiah to reign a thousand years upon the earth with his Saints. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament will never be fulfilled until this comes to pass. An angel of God, the Revelator John informs us, was to fly through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth—to every nation, kindred, tongue and people; saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come, and worship Him who made the heaven, the earth, the seas and the fountains of water.” You may take up Isaiah and all the prophets, and you will find that they refer to this latter-day dispensation, when the kingdom of God should be established on the earth. There never was a prophet, from Adam down, whose records we have, but had his eye upon this great dispensation of the last days. When the Lord created the earth He placed men upon it, and though the power of sin has entered it, it has not been left by the Lord to go at random. In Adam all fell, or died; but in Christ, the Apostle says, all are made alive. Our worthy President has often said, when speaking upon the prevalence of sin in this world, that one of the greatest honors and blessings ever conferred on the sons of men was to come and dwell in the flesh in a sinful world like this, amid the power of evil, temptation and darkness, that they might have the privilege of overcoming them and of inheriting eternal life, which is the greatest gift of God. All the prophets have foreseen the establishment of the kingdom of God in the last days; they have seen Zion pass through all her travail and persecution to her final triumph, when she possessed great glory, power and dominion upon the land of Joseph. Daniel saw the kingdom of God, which he likens to a little stone cut out of the mountains without hands, which grew and increased in size until it filled the whole earth. Daniel said this kingdom was to be an everlasting kingdom.

Well, brethren and sisters, you and I have lived to see the dawn of the great day thus referred to by the prophets, in which the God of heaven has set His hand for the last time to establish His kingdom upon the earth; a kingdom not to be overthrown, but to remain until sin. Satan and the power of the devil are banished from the face thereof, and until, as the prophets have said, the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ.

This day we have lived to see. This tabernacle, this congregation, and the multitudes through the valleys of the mountains are the fruits of this work. How did it commence? It commenced by an angel of God flying through the midst of heaven and visiting a young man named Joseph Smith, in the year 1827. That was the time of a great awakening among the sectarians of the day—a day of revivals and protracted meetings, when the people were called upon to join themselves to the sectarian churches. This young man looked around amid the confusion among the different sects, each proclaiming the plan of salvation differently, and each claiming it was right and that all others were wrong; in the midst of this contention he did not know which to join. While in this state of uncertainty he turned to the Bible, and there saw that passage in the epistle of James which directs him that lacks wisdom to ask of God. He went into his secret chamber and asked the Lord what he must do to be saved. The Lord heard his prayer and sent His angel to him, who informed him that all the sects were wrong, and that the God of heaven was about to establish His work upon the earth. This angel quoted many of the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and told this young man that they were about to be fulfilled among the nations of the earth; and he also told him that if he would listen and render obedience to the commands of God, he should be an instrument in the hands of the Lord in establishing His kingdom upon the earth.

These visits were repeated from time to time, during which Joseph received revelation and much instruction in the things of God. He taught some of these things to his father and some of his brothers and a few others, but he had no authority to preach or administer in the ordinances of the house of God. Why? Because, as the prophet has said, “No man taketh this honor unto himself, except he be called of God, as was Aaron.” No man, in any generation, has ever had authority to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ unless he was called by revelation. You may read the history of all the prophets and Apostles from the creation down, and they have all received the Holy Priesthood under the hands of God or angels, or under the hands of men who have held this authority. It was so with Joseph Smith. He could not find anybody who possessed this authority, and he called upon the Lord to know what to do, and the Lord sent John the Baptist, who was beheaded for his religion. John held the Aaronic Priesthood, and he came and ordained Joseph Smith to the same Priesthood. This gave him power to administer in some of the ordinances of the Gospel of Christ. He could baptize for the remission of sins, but could not lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Lord afterwards sent Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the kingdom in their day and generation upon the earth, and they ordained him an Apostle, and sealed upon his head every key, power and blessing, and all the authority which they exercised in their day.

This is the origin of the authority of the Latter-day Saints; and from that day until the present the little stone cut out of the mountain has been growing. The Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, with six members, and the Elders immediately went forth, one here and another there, bearing testimony and preaching the doctrines the angel made known to Joseph, and some few, out of many, have received and obeyed the same. This Gospel is the same as that taught by the ancient Apostles, namely, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, baptism for the remission of sin, then the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. These were the doctrines taught by the ancient Apostles, and the signs that followed believers anciently follow them in our day. Said Jesus, when sending his Apostles forth to preach:

“Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.

“He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

“They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

All these gifts and graces were promised by Joseph and the early Elders of the Church, just the same as by the ancient Apostles; and this is the testimony that every Elder has borne from that day until the present. Has the Lord backed up this testimony? He has. All of the Twelve who have labored abroad, and we have been doing so, more or less, thirty or forty years, traveling hundreds of thousands of miles—have made this declaration. I have preached to millions of my fellow-men in my own and other countries; and I and the other Apostles, as well as hundreds of Elders of this Church and Kingdom, have all made the same proclamation, to kings, princes, presidents and rulers, and to the inhabitants of the earth wherever we have gone, as far as we have had an opportunity and have had the privilege of opening our mouths. We have borne the same testimony to all—namely, that all who would receive our testimony and obey the Gospel should receive the Holy Ghost. Would we have dared to go forth and bear this testimony if we had not known this was the work of God? No, there is not a man on the face of the earth who dare do it under any other circumstances, for his hypocrisy and deception would soon have been apparent; the very first, man that received his testimony would have proved it. Could we have gathered our hundreds of thousands from the nations of the earth if we had been deceivers and had preached false doctrines? As the Apostle says, “But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” No, we should have had no success; we might have preached false doctrines until we were grey, or as old as Methusaleh, but if we had we should never have seen Utah, this tabernacle or these valleys of the mountains. But the Lord backed up our testimony, and tens of thousands throughout this Territory and in the world, who received it, can bear record that they have received the Holy Ghost, and the revelations of Jesus Christ, and that the gifts and graces of the Gospel have followed them.

This Church is organized exactly as it was anciently—with Apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, gifts, helps and governments. Are all Apostles, or are all prophets? Do all have the gifts of healing, or do all speak with new tongues? No, but all these gifts and offices are in the Church, and, as the Apostle says, they are placed there for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, and for the perfecting of the Saints—until we are come to the unity of the faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God, and to the fulness of the stature of a man in Christ Jesus. That is what they are given for, and they are needed just as much as they ever were in any generation. But the world has been without these blessings and wandering in darkness for nearly eighteen centuries. Now the Lord has raised up a people to establish His kingdom on the same foundation as anciently. This is the work of the Latter-day Saints. We have been called to warn this generation; we understand the signs of the times and know that the judgments of God are at hand. If we had not been faithful to our calling and mission the Lord would have raised up another people, because the set time is at hand for Him to establish His kingdom.

There are one or two ideas more I wish to refer to with regard to the mission of Christ. That mission did not end when he was crucified. When that event took place we are told that his body lay in the tomb for three days, and that his spirit went to preach to the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient when the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing. Jesus went and preached to them in the spirit that they might be judged according to men in the flesh. Here is a principle of which the Christian world know nothing, and which has been revealed to us in our own day—namely, preaching the Gospel of life and salvation to the spirits of those who pass away without rendering obedience thereunto. Nearly eighteen hundred years have passed away since God had a Church upon the earth. In that time about fifty-four thousand millions of human beings have passed away without the Gospel. Are they to perish because they lived in generations when God had no Church on the earth? No, they will be preached to by men who go into the spirit world, who hold the keys of the kingdom of God, and the ordinances of the house of God will be administered to them by their descendants and friends here on the earth. The Apostle Paul evidently had his mind on this subject when He says, “Why then are they baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not?”

I do not know how fully Brother Benson has attended to the work for his dead, but I know that he has worked hard for the living; and when he goes into the spirit world and meets with those for whom he has been baptized and been the means of liberating them from prison in the spirit world, what joy he will have! And it will be so with others. And this work of administering the ordinances of the house of God to the dead, I may say, will require the whole of the Millennium, with Jesus at the head of the resurrected dead to attend to it. The ordinances of salvation will have to be attended to for the dead who have not heard the Gospel, from the days of Adam down, before Christ can present this world to the Father, and say, “It is finished.”

Brethren and sisters, let us be admonished by the death of Brother Benson, and if we have anything to do let us do it. Let us go to and attend to our ordinances, then when we go to the spirit world and meet with father, mother, brother or sister they cannot rise up and accuse us of negligence. I have attended to the ordinances for a great many of my friends, and I want you to do the same, so that when we get to the other side of the vail we may look back and be satisfied. This power has been placed in the hands of the Latter-day Saints, then let us go forth and use it for the salvation of the living and the dead. With regard to the unbelief of the world, it will not make the truth of God without effect. These ordinances have been revealed to us; we understand them, and unless we attend to them we shall fall under condemnation.

I rejoice in the work of God and I rejoice to live in this day and age of the world. I want to live as long as I can do good; but, not an hour longer than I can live in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, with my Father in heaven, my Savior, and with the faithful Latter-day Saints. To live any longer than this, would be torment and misery to me. When my work is done I am ready to go; but I want to do what is required of me. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, both Jew and Greek. Let us be faithful, keep our covenants, do our duty, and attend to all the ordinances of the Gospel as far as we can, both for ourselves and our dead. When we have done this we shall be satisfied. I pray that God may bless you; that he may bless the Apostles who dwell on the earth; that His power may rest on the presiding Twelve, the Seventies, the High Priests, the Bishops, Elders, Teachers and Deacons, and all who have entered into covenant to keep His commandments. Let us be faithful and we shall obtain our reward; we shall overcome and obtain eternal life and a crown of glory if we magnify our calling by living the religion which we have received, which may God grant for Christ’s sake. Amen.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, April 24, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

We delight in the spirit manifested by our young friend who has just spoken. He advocates the use of the sword of the Spirit, or the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, backed by the spirit of that Gospel, to convince people of the error of their ways. We, as a people, or the Elders of this Church, have carried that over the face of the earth; we have offered it to the people in nearly all parts of the earth, without money and without price.

We delight to meet together to worship God; we delight to have our brethren and sisters come together for this purpose, and we also esteem it a pleasure to have strangers of age and experience, who have the spirit to discern, meet with and preach to us. In our community we have very few from the heathen world; but from the Christian world thousands have gathered here. They understand and know the effects of what, is called Christianity. But it is otherwise with our children. They have been brought up here; and, except in a few instances, they have heard nothing but the Gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints. They are not capable of judging what the outside world is until they have had it exhibited before them, which has been their privilege occasionally; and I always feel to urge our youth to attend meetings when strangers preach, that they may be able to understand that which is and that which is not of God, and learn the difference between the doctrine taught by us and others. We believe a great many things that the Christian world cannot believe. If their eyes were open and they had the spirit to see things as they are, they could understand them. There is not a man or woman on the earth but what, if they understood God and the things of God, would yield obedience to His requirements. Those who set themselves up against the truth do it in consequence of not seeing things as they are—in consequence of ignorance, and were it not for this ignorance with regard to God and His Gospel they would be able to believe in the Gospel. The Latter-day Saints believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, simply because it is true. They believe in baptism for the remission of sins, personal and by proxy; they believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world; they believe that all who attain to any glory whatever, in any kingdom, will do so because Jesus has purchased it by his atonement.

The Christian world says, “We are going to the kingdom of Heaven;” but what is to become of those who have died, not believing as they do, or who have died without hearing the Gospel? Millions of them have passed away, both in the Christian and in the heathen worlds, just as honest, virtuous and upright as any now living. The Christian world say they are lost; but the Lord will save them, or, at least, all who will receive the Gospel. The plan of salvation which Jesus has revealed, and which we preach, reaches to the lowest and most degraded of Adam’s lost race. Is He going to save all in the same glory and bring all to the same state of felicity? Will they who refuse to obey the Gospel of the Son of God be saved and exalted in the same kingdom and glory as they who have obeyed? No, never, never! It is impossible. Do you suppose that a person can see the kingdom of heaven without being born of the Spirit? Jesus said not. Shall we say to the contrary, and maintain that we can see the kingdom of God without being born of the Spirit, and say that Jesus is a liar? Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man is born of the spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Shall we admit that Jesus spoke the truth, or shall man say that his doctrine is true and Jesus spoke that which is not true? Which shall we do? There is no alternative but to admit that Jesus is true, and will save on no other condition than that laid down in the Scriptures, and that all who preach any other doctrine take the testimony of men instead of the testimony of Jesus, or that the Christian world with their varied opinions and creeds are true and that Jesus is untrue.

This is plain talk, my friends. Can you mistake it? Can you gain any idea from what I say except what I mean—let God be true, if it makes every man a liar. I think my words are so pointed and emphatic that no person can mistake them. Did Jesus say, “Except a man is born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God?” Yes, all Christians will admit that. Then do you think there was one plan of salvation for Nicodemus and another for you and me? It is all folly for any person to expect any such thing! Come with the sword of the Spirit! Let the whole world of Christendom come with their arguments and Scriptures, and let us argue these things together! Let us lay them before the people and see who is right and who is wrong.

Let me say to you, if it is true that no man can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit, God must provide a plan by which those who have died ignorant of the Gospel may have the privilege of doing so, or he would appear to be a partial being. Has He provided that way? He has. The Christian world have taught, preached, contemplated, meditated, sung about and prayed for the Millennium. What are you going to do during that period, Christians? Do you know what the Millennium is for, and what work will have to be done during that period? Suppose the Christian world were now one in heart, faith, sentiment and works, so that the Lord could commence the Millennium in power and glory, do you know what would be done? Would you sit and sing yourselves away to everlasting bliss? No, I reckon not. I think there is a work to be done then which the whole world seems determined we shall not do. What is it? To build temples. We never yet commenced to lay the foundation of a temple but what all hell was in arms against us. That is the difficulty now: we have commenced the foundation of this temple. What are we going to do in these temples? Anything to be done there? Yes, and we will not wait for the Millennium and the fullness of the glory of God on the earth; we will commence, as soon as we have a temple, and work for the salvation of our forefathers; we will get their genealogies as far as we can. By and by, we shall get them perfect. In these temples we will officiate in the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for our friends, for no man can enter the kingdom of God without being born of the water and of the Spirit. We will officiate for them who are in the spirit world, where Jesus went to preach to the spirits, as Peter has written in the third chapter, verses 18, 19, and 20, of his first epistle:

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing,” etc.

In the next chapter, Peter, alluding to this same subject, says—

“For, for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”

What will we do for and in behalf of the dead? We will be baptized for the remission of sins, as Paul has said, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, 15th chapter and 29th verse:

“Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?”

We will also have hands laid on us for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and then we will receive the washings and anointings for and in their behalf, preparatory to their becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Are you going to do this, Latter-day Saints? Yes. What will the Christian world do with their dead? Let them sleep an eternal sleep, for there are no provisions made for them in the gospel they believe in and have taught to them.

This is one item of doctrine believed in by the Latter-day Saints that the inhabitants of the earth are opposed to. Why? Because they are governed and controlled by the spirit of darkness. This may seem harsh, but it is true. They are opposed to Jesus, to God, and to the salvation of the children of men, and are control[l]ed by this evil spirit, and they know it not. They say:

“Latter-day Saints, let your dead and ordinances for their benefit alone, we will pass laws forbidding you the observance and practice of the ordinances of the house of God.”

We trust in God. I reckon He will fight our battles and we will be baptized for and in behalf of the human family during a thousand years; and we will have hundreds of temples and thousands of men and women officiating therein for those who have fallen asleep, without having had the privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel, that they may be brought forth and have a glorious resurrection, and enjoy the kingdom which God has prepared for them. The devil will fight hard to hinder us, and we shall not take an inch of ground except by obedience to the power of, and faith in, the Gospel of the Son of God. The whole world is opposed to this doctrine. But is there any harm in it? If they could only see it as it is in the Lord, they would rejoice in it, and instead of fighting it, they would praise God for having revealed so glorious a doctrine. Suppose that the notion entertained by some is true, that after the death of our bodies our spirits sleep an eternal sleep, and I am baptized for my father, grandfather, and so on, does it injure them? Answer, all ye intelligences on the face of the earth, above, beneath, or around about the earth! All will admit that no harm would be done in practicing these ordinances. Then let us alone if our practices will do no harm, why oppose us in their observance? The result might possibly affect beneficially our progenitors, and then you who oppose would be found fighting against God. Better let the Gospel have its course.

We have had a nice discourse this morning from the Rev. Mr. Andrews, exhorting all to believe in Jesus. His text was as good a one as ever a man quoted, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation unto all them that believe; to the Jew first, and then to the Greek,” or to the rest of the world. Jesus says, pointedly, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” This is the test? Are there any commandments? Yes, plenty of them, and the only way to prove our belief in and love for the Lord Jesus is by observing the sayings that he has left on record.

They are coming from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South to sit down in our Father’s kingdom; but no man can sit down there unless he gain admittance through the faithful observance of the commands of God, and obedience to the ordinances of His house. Then why not repent and obey the ordinances and commandments? Why not be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there any harm in it? I say to every being on the face of the earth, Christian, Pagan, or Jew, supposing my doctrine is not true, and that there is no necessity for believing in Jesus, being baptized for the remission of sins and having hands laid upon you for the Holy Ghost, will it do you any harm? Pagan, will it do you any harm? Believers or unbelievers, will it do you any harm? Universalian, will it do you any harm? Apostates, will it do you any harm? Wise man, will it do you any harm? Fools, will it do you any harm? What is your answer? ‘“No; it will not.” Well, then, let me alone. I may be right, and you wrong; and if I should be right, you are cut off, and I have the advantage of you; but if you are right, and I am wrong, I am with you and will share in all the blessings that you can get.

This Gospel will save the whole human family; the blood of Jesus will atone for our sins, if we accept the terms he has laid down; but we must accept those terms or else it will avail nothing in our behalf.

I have talked long enough. I bid you all welcome to the Gospel. Jesus Christ has commissioned me to say to the whole human family, “You can have this Gospel without money and without price.” We have traversed the world over and offered it to the human family and asked them to receive it. We are still saying to them believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, keep his commandments, and obey his ordinances, that it may be well with you. God bless you. Amen.

Bearing False Witness

George A. Smith

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, April 24, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

The 16th verse of the 20th chapter of Exodus, one of the ten commandments, reads as follows: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” We, as a people, are situated in the Great Basin, among the mountains, and occupy the little valleys which form the backbone of the American continent. We have been here about 23 years, and we have had the privilege of contending with the fury of the elements, with a sterile country and with desolation itself, and by the magic wand of industry and the blessing of our heavenly Father upon our labors, and upon the waters and the land, we have been able to make for ourselves comfortable homes and to enjoy religious liberty—a blessing which had been denied to us in other localities where we had resided. No other community can be found on the face of the earth that has had more good order, peace and harmony. In all the settlements, protection, safety, and every necessary blessing have been extended to the traveler, to the stranger and the resident alike. I believe that for the forty or fifty thousand square miles we have occupied in spots, the desert of course intervening between the settlements, there have better police regulations and more safety to all parties than have existed in the streets of New York or Washington. And the protection which has existed and which does still exist has been the work of the Latter-day Saints. Of this we have every reason to be proud.

I have recently traveled more than 1,000 miles among the settlements, and have visited perhaps 30,000 people. During that journey I have not seen an idler, loafer, or heard an oath or blasphemous word; I have not seen a drinking saloon, dram shop, gambling hell, or brothel; but all has been perfect order and peace, the people worshipping God as they understand the Gospel and rejoicing in the same.

It was my lot, during the past season, to be present much of the time in this city, which was visited by great numbers of men, from nearly all parts of the earth. Many of them were clergymen of the various denominations—Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, Baptists, and others. Some of these men occupied our pulpits in this and the New Tabernacle. We were glad to hear them. We had many good reasons for wishing them to preach to us. Many of the younger members of our community have not been conversant with the religions of the age. The elder members of our body have been, for most of us were raised in some one or other of the religious denominations, and have felt and realized the effects of their principles, and are fully acquainted with their doctrines. Thousands of our Elders have traveled abroad in the earth preaching and have been observant of their workings and progress. But the young and rising generation among us have not had this opportunity. It is therefore very desirable to us, whenever ministers of standing in their own denominations visit us, to have them set forth their doctrines and sentiments before us, that the young persons among us may understand all other religions as well as ours, and be able to compare the doctrines that are taught or held in Christendom with those which we have been introducing under the revelations given to Joseph Smith. It was on this and other grounds that the general spiritual liberty, so marked among us in the days of Joseph Smith, had been constantly continued. We all remember, who lived in the days of Joseph, that every clergyman of any prominence who visited Nauvoo was invited to preach to our congregations. This has ever been our course. It was so at Kirtland. They preached in our Temple and in other localities, and it has been continued up to the present time. During the long years that we were in a manner isolated from the rest of the world, ministers passing across the continent by stage or in emigrant companies have spoken in our tabernacles.

It is true that when our Elders have been abroad preaching they have not met with similar courtesy. There was not long since, in the Vermont Journal, a little article in relation to Rev. John Todd, D.D., at Pittsfield, Mass., who, the Journal says, did not reciprocate the courtesies shown him at Salt Lake last summer. He preached in this building, and afterwards requested the privilege of preaching in the New Tabernacle. He did so, and was treated with due courtesy. He delivered us an address, showing us his faith and religion, which was what we desired him to do. We requested him to conduct the meeting as he chose, as we wished to see his manner of worship, or rather that our young people might see it. He went away and published a book in which he misrepresented us in many things and asserted that there was no liberty nor freedom here, that he felt bound, and he hoped that this plague spot of Sodom would be removed, and prayed that God might speed the day.

This course, pursued by Dr. Todd, put me in mind of the commandment—our text, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”

A freer people do not exist on the earth, nor any who have greater opportunities for free thought and understanding. Elders are going forth to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, preaching the Gospel and gathering up the poor and needy; and their going and returning keep us posted thoroughly in relation to the progress and improvements made by and going on in the religious, scientific and mechanical world. These are the facts, and every man has the privilege of exercising his own will and freedom; and the privilege of preaching in our congregations is extended through all our settlements to ministers and men of standing in other religious bodies. I saw recently invitations published to the learned of all denominations, to occupy the halls of Brigham city; and the same is true of other settlements. All that we desire of our fellow men, when they visit us, is to tell the truth about us, and not to tell for truth the forecastle yarns they have heard spun at some street corner by some who, while manufacturing lies, were trying to imitate Dean Swift’s tales of Gulliver. Many men who have called here have done this.

I remember one particular instance which occurred last season. There were five gentlemen of the Baptist Church who came here, with whom I had a conversation. They said their people had never, under any circumstances, persecuted the Latter-day Saints. I told them that I did not know that they had as a church. But I told them that the Rev. I. McCoy, a Baptist minister, with his gun on his shoulder, at the head of forty men, drove women and children out of their houses and robbed them in Jackson county, Missouri, in 1833; that Levi Williams, a Baptist preacher, led the party of men who murdered Joseph Smith; and that the Rev. Thomas Brockman, of the Reformed Baptists, at the head of 1800 men, drove forth to perish 500 or 600 Saints, men, women, and children, poor and helpless, who were left in Nauvoo, Ills., having previously cannonaded the town for three days. I did not know that, as a church, they had persecuted us, but certain individuals of their persuasion had taken part in the matter. They seemed considerably hurt to hear it. They wished to preach to us, and they had the opportunity to do so in the New Tabernacle. It was not long before an article appeared in the Baptist paper, describing the meeting. I presume most of the audience recollect the discourse of Dr. Backus. The description these gentlemen gave of the meeting was something like this. The Twelve Apostles were on the stand, and they looked around to see which was Judas; finally they came to the conclusion that they were all Judases, except Elder Taylor. The paper said it was desired and hoped that in a short time the Government would adopt efficient measures to put a stop to Mormonism.

Now I do really think that it is degrading to the religion, science and civilization of the age, where there are five hundred thousand ministers, editors and public teachers in the country, to ask the Government to interfere in any manner whatever to correct any moral or religious error. I think it is acknowledging a weakness in the civilization and religion of the age to do so.

I wish to say to our friends who have visited us, in conclusion, we are glad to see you; you are welcome among us; we like to hear you speak, but when you go away tell the truth about us, and remember the commandment of God, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”

Truth and Error

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, April 24, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

I am sure that, to strangers, such a meeting as this must be very novel. I might say to those who have been here to-day that our meetings are conducted very much like the meetings of the Presbyterians, the Baptists and Methodists in England and in the United States. It is true that we continue our discourses longer than they usually do, and sometimes two or three speak; but such a meeting as this is to-day is a novel thing to me. I might almost say it is equal to a theatre; but there is good here, and I would not permit evil in my theatre. If I were to learn of any unbecoming conduct there, in looks, words or actions, those guilty of it would have to leave that stage. I would not allow them to remain there.

I want to say to my friends that we believe in all good. If you can find a truth in heaven, earth or hell, it belongs to our doctrine. We believe it; it is ours; we claim it. Is that right? If you find an error here, I ask you to leave it, pass it by, let it alone; do not embrace it in your faith, do not practice it in your lives. I say to all, to my brethren and sisters and to strangers, if we teach anything that is good, receive it, I beseech you. If we have any good in our doctrine, believe it and embrace it, it will do you good. If we have errors, do not embrace them. I have been trying, for almost forty years, to tell the people how to be saved. I have always made this proposition to every man I have conversed with on the subject of truth and error, “If I have errors, I will give ten errors for a truth. Do you want to trade?”

Do not embrace error! Christians, search the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they that testify of the doctrine that we preach; and if we can get you to believe what is written there concerning God the Father and Jesus the Mediator, and to render obedience to what is required there of the children of men, we ask no more.

Here is the Book of Mormon. We believe it contains the history of the Aborigines of our continent, just as the Old Testament contains the history of the Jewish nation. In that book we learn that Jesus visited this continent, delivered his Gospel and ordained Twelve Apostles. We believe all this, but we do not ask you to believe it. What we do ask is that you will believe what is recorded in the Holy Bible concerning God and His revelations to the children of men. Do this in all honesty and sincerity, then you will know that the Book of Mormon is true. Your minds will be opened and you will know by the visions of the Spirit of God that we teach the truth. For this we are persecuted; for this we have been driven; for this we have left our homes and all many times; for this we came to these mountains, comparatively naked and barefoot, and here you can see what we have done. And now they are seeking again to break up this people. God will hold them in derision. (Amen, from the congregation.)

Now, I say, honestly, if the inhabitants of the earth will read this book called the Old and New Testament (though it contains the words of God and the words of men; the words of Jesus and the words of the devil), and believe the truth that is there, just as it is portrayed and written and given to us without any new translation, it will be good for them in time and eternity. The Bible, or part of it, has been re-translated by Joseph Smith. Many precious parts were taken out by men in former days. But believe it as it is and we are one—if we practice it. I will put that in. But if we believe the truth, we will practice it. We may say we believe it, and practice it not. But this is no proof to God, angels, or to one another. “By their fruits ye shall know them,” is a scriptural saying, and is as true now as when it was spoken.

I have a little item which, if I had time, I would like to read, portraying our feelings towards the inhabitants of the earth. It is called the “Vision”—a vision Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had while they were translating the New Testament. I would like to read this because it is our faith. But we also believe the Bible. Do you, my friends? I would to God you did. I am like Moses when a messenger came to him saying, “The people are prophesying in their tents.” Said Moses, Well, what of that? I would to God that the Lord’s people were all prophets! I would to God that they all had revelation! When they receive revelation from heaven the story is told, they know for themselves.

Now, my friends, brethren and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, how do you know anything? Can you be deceived by the eye? You can; you have proved this; you all know that there are men who can deceive the sight of the eye, no matter how closely you observe their movements. Can you be deceived in hearing? Yes; you may hear sounds but not understand their import or whence they come. Can you be deceived by the touch of the finger? You can. The nervous system will not detect everything. What will? The revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of truth will detect everything, and enable all who possess it to understand truth from error, light from darkness, the things of God from the things not of God. It is the only thing that will enable us to understand the Gospel of the Son of God, the will of God, and how we can be saved. Follow it, and it will lead to God, the fountain of light, where the gate will be open, and the mind will be enlightened so that we shall see, know and understand things as they are.

God bless you, and help us all to do what He requires of us. Amen.

The Gospel and the Things of the World, etc.

Joseph F. Smith

Discourse by Elder Joseph F. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, Nov. 12, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

In rising before you this evening I desire an interest in your prayers that I may be able to speak to our mutual edification. I realize, most truly, in my own experience, that it is a very difficult matter to rise before a congregation of Saints and preach the Gospel without the assistance of God’s Spirit; I do not feel capable of doing it, and I therefore pray that that Spirit may be enjoyed by us who are here this evening. I feel that we have had a good and profitable time to-day, if we can but treasure up the instructions which have been given. But the great difficulty is—we are too careless, listless and unconcerned in relation to what is taught us from time to time; we do not weigh, with that thought and care that we should do, the instructions and counsels which we receive. We allow other things to occupy our minds; the cares of the world, the desire for gain, the anxiety to promote our own interests and to provide for the necessities of life choke out the word of God to some extent. This is too much so with the Latter-day Saints, and it is pre-eminently so with the world at large. They do not believe the Gospel when they are taught it, which is the reason that our Elders meet with so little success abroad. The world has grown so indifferent to the Gospel, that it is almost impossible to excite inquiry regarding it. Perhaps one cause of this is that there has been too much teaching and too many varieties of it, and the minds of the people are unsettled and filled with speculation regarding the principles of salvation. They see men preaching various doctrines, hence they conclude that they who claim to be ministers and presume to preach have neither the authority to do so, nor the spirit of the Gospel, the knowledge of the truth or the testimony of Jesus, and they are losing confidence in them. People who reflect cannot do otherwise, for, however much the various gospels are taught to the people, nothing but dissatisfaction, doubt and disappointment result therefrom. There is no prospect, to all earthly appearance, of their ever arriving at a knowledge of the truth; in fact, the Christian world to-day are in exactly the position described by the ancient Apostle—they have a “form of godliness, but deny the power thereof;” and “they are ever learning, but never come to the knowledge of the truth.”

But while this is the condition of the world, why should we, who have received the Gospel, as revealed in our day through Joseph Smith, sink to a level with them in our faith and actions? Having received the Gospel, it is our privilege to receive the testimony of the same; and if we have not, it is our own fault, for it is promised freely to every man and woman who will obey it; and there is not a son or daughter of Adam with common reason, but he or she is entitled to a perfect knowledge of the Gospel of salvation upon rendering obedience to its requirements; and if all who do so do not receive the promised blessings, it is their own fault, and not the fault of the Gospel or its Originator. The Gospel plan is broad and ample, and its Author has promised that they who seek shall find, and to them that knock the door shall be opened. James, the Apostle, says, “If any lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.” This is well known in the world, for the Scriptures are read there, and they are aware of the existence of these promises; and I presume that many of them endeavor to ask for what they need in conformity with the teachings of the Scriptures; for they do certainly realize, to some extent, that they need wisdom and understanding which they have not, and which seems out of their power to obtain. But why do they not get what they ask for? The promise is very pointed, and is given in language that cannot be mistaken. James explains this. Says he, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed.” “For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” But he who asks in a proper manner, who humbles himself before the Lord like a little child before its earthly parent, and is willing to trust in God, and comes before him doubting nothing, that man, or that woman, will receive what he or she shall ask for. God has said it; He has promised it by the mouths of His servants, the Prophets and the Apostles, and the promise is sure and unfailing; and if there is any fault, it is on our part, and through our own lack of faith, meekness and humility before the Lord.

The Apostle James says that “ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” We may ask blessings of the Lord, from now to all eternity, and if we ask with pride and ambition in our hearts, and with a desire to increase our worldly possessions for our own aggrandizement, God will not grant what we ask. Hence the necessity of learning how to approach our Creator, and of asking Him according to the way He has appointed.

When we meet together it is for the purpose of listening and being instructed and uniting our hearts in prayer to God, not as individuals, but as a community, that by our combined supplications we may obtain from His hands that which we need. We do not come together, as some do, to admire fashionable attire; but we meet to worship God, and to be instructed regarding the principles of salvation, that we may be strengthened and encouraged in the prosecution of the labors devolving upon us, in overcoming the evils of our own fallen natures and bringing ourselves into subjection to the law of God. Those who come together for this purpose will receive their reward.

There are evils in the midst of Israel as well as in the world, arising from pride and neglect of duty. Many have no anxiety for anything but the things of the world. A man, for instance, has a farm and flocks, and they engross his whole time and attention. If he does take a little time to rest from his toils in the field and attends meeting, he comes drowsy and thoughtless, and leaves no better than when he came. He has learned nothing; in fact he did not come to be taught. He came, perhaps, simply because it was customary, or because some of his family or neighbors came, and not because he felt any interest in being there himself. If an angel should address a congregation of such individuals, his words would have no effect. The words of an angel would have no effect on the minds of women who attend meeting to look at the bonnets of their neighbors, or to see how the fashions change, any more than upon the minds of men who do the same thing for form’s sake. Such persons have no conception of truth, and have no place for its reception; it is shut out from their understanding, and they sit like figure heads, and derive no benefit from the instructions of the servants of God. So far as their influence goes, if they have any, it is as a damper thrown upon those around them.

I do not believe it would be necessary to preach so much to the Saints, as it now appears to be, if we lived our religion, and would exercise one-tenth part of the faith that we should exercise for our own good and the good of Israel; but, under present circumstances, it seems to be absolutely necessary to preach day after day and week after week to the Saints to keep them anywhere within the bounds of the Gospel. We are so easily led astray, so easily benumbed and chilled in our perceptions of truth. If there ever was a time that we needed to live the religion of Jesus Christ it is at the present. We should begin to realize that every man and woman is an agent, and exercises a certain amount of influence in the sphere in which he or she moves. Parents have an influence over their children; children have an influence over each other; neighbor has an influence with neighbor; and although we may not perceive that our example has any influence or weight, I assure you many times injury has been done by acts that we regarded as trifling through the influence they had upon our neighbors or children. Who can tell the result of a promise, made and not kept, by a father to his child? Will the child grow up in the belief that the father and mother guilty of this practice, mean what they say, or that they say one thing and mean another? From the conduct of the parents in this respect the child is very likely to take license to follow their example, and perhaps to do worse. Who can tell how long evils of this nature will tell upon children, transmitted through them to their posterity? Yet we see fathers and mothers set an example before their children which they themselves condemn and warn their children against. The inconsistent conduct of parents has a tendency to blunt the sensibilities of children, and to lead them from the way of life and salvation, for if parents teach their children principles which they do not practice themselves, that teaching is not likely to have much weight or effect, except for evil. We do not look at and reflect upon these things as we should. What will a child, when he begins to reflect, think of a parent who, professing to believe that the Word of Wisdom is part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and has been given by revelation, violates it every day of his life? He will grow up to believe that his parent is a hypocrite and without faith in the Gospel. They who take such a course incur fearful responsibilities. We cannot be too consistent in our course, neither can we be too faithful in fulfilling promises.

What confidence would you have in a man who will tell you, “Tomorrow morning I will pay you what I owe you;” but when to-morrow morning comes he does not fulfil his word? You meet him during the day and says he, “Brother, I forgot all about that little matter, but I will call in the morning.” The morning comes, but he does not come, and so it passes on day after day, and that promise remains unredeemed. You may extend this to any other promise or profession. If men are untruthful and fail to meet their obligations, you come finally to the conclusion that they are dishonest and all confidence is lost in them. They cannot be trusted in anything, and you are compelled to regard them as little else than liars and swindlers, and you avoid having anything to do with them. Yet there are such men who have been down into the waters of baptism for the remission of sin, and have covenanted with God to forsake every evil. What does such a profession of repentance amount to? No mouth profession of repentance is acceptable to God unless it is carried out in practice. We must have works as well as faith; we must do as well as pretend to do. The majority of the Latter-day Saints that have been gathered to these valleys any length of time have made covenants with God that they will keep His commandments, and walk in the counsels of the Almighty at all hazards; yet many, nevertheless, continually dabble in the contemptible customs of corrupt and degenerate human nature. Instead of raising themselves to the standard of the Gospel, they are content to descend to the level of the wicked and corrupt. Many of the Elders of Israel who have responsibilities resting upon them, with which they will find they cannot trifle with impunity, are taking this course all the time. What wonder, then, that the Spirit of the Lord is grieved? What wonder that the Latter-day Saints need to be preached to continually? It is no wonder to me when I contemplate the condition of the people of these valleys, and especially Salt Lake City, Ogden, and our cities contiguous to the railways.

What is to become of us, if we are to give way to every temptation, and ape every poor skunk that comes from the world? I mean those who do not regard themselves as gentlemen; I do not mean men who profess to be gentlemen and who carry out their professions, and there are many such in the world. I now have reference to that class who do not scruple to do any mean thing to serve their purposes or gratify their desires. Some of us, I regret to say, feel to follow their examples in our dealings, habits and customs. What will God do with us? What are we worth? What will we come to? What will God Almighty make of us? What kind of an exaltation, glory and reward will we gain if this is the height of our ambition and the strength of our morality, integrity and stamina in the cause of Jesus Christ? It will be said to such, “Depart from me, ye cursed, I never knew you.” What, Lord, never knew me? Why, I am Elder B—. I lived at Ogden, or Salt Lake City, and associated with Thy servant Brigham, with the Apostles, and with the Elders of the Church. I bore the Holy Priesthood; I have healed the sick by the laying on of hands; I have cast out devils in Thy name, and you don’t know me?” “No, I don’t know you; depart from me, ye cursed.” “Why?” “Because you are a hypocrite, a liar, a sophist, a poor, weak, miserable creature, who didn’t live near to God and had not strength to overcome the follies and weaknesses of your own nature, but were ready and willing to fall right into the habits and follies of the people from the midst of whom you were gathered that you might escape their plagues and the destruction to which they were doomed.”

I would not give much for a man that could not be a Latter-day Saint in one place as well as another. If a man cannot be a Latter-day Saint in the mountains, canons and fields, or in the midst of strangers, as well as at home under the droppings of the sanctuary in the midst of his brethren, he has not got the pure metal in him, and the time will come when he will be tried and will fall, just as sure as he lives. I want to see men live their religion everywhere, and while performing every kind of labor. The idea is quite prevalent with a certain class of Latter-day Saints, that if they engage in mining they must adopt all the habits of the miner—they must swear a little, swagger a great deal, drink liquor, tea and coffee, because they are in the mountains mining, as was the case at our drill to some extent. For the first two or three meals the tea or coffee was scarcely thought of; but before the camp broke up I noticed several good brethren who never missed having tea or coffee at their meals, and they endeavored to justify themselves because they were on a campaign. I enjoyed my cup of cold water while there, and had as good health as any of them. I don’t believe that wrong is right anywhere. God has said it is wrong to take hot or strong drinks. I believe that He meant what He said, and that it applies to me to-day, to-morrow, next week, and through my whole life, whether in the canons or at home, or wherever my lot may be cast. I also believe that it applies to the whole Church, that no man or woman can consistently rear a family in the Church unless they will strictly observe these counsels of God given for the guidance and salvation of all Saints. I believe that men and women who are rearing families and neglect these things incur fearful responsibilities.

God has given much to us, and He will require much at our hands. He has restored the Gospel with its gifts, blessings and powers; He has restored the Holy Priesthood, and has organized His Church on the earth; He has deigned to acknowledge His people, and has signally blessed them since the Church was organized to the present moment. We have professed to receive that Gospel, acknowledged the name of God, and have been gathered out from the nations of the earth for the purpose of being purified ourselves, that we may have power to save our children, setting before them worthy examples, and rearing them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, so that God may have a pure and righteous people, whom he will delight to acknowledge and honor. This is one object of our gathering together; but take heed lest, through our unfaithfulness over the little God has imparted unto us, He will be unable to bestow the great blessings which He has in store for the faithful. The Lord will give to those who merit. His compassion is turned to us continually, but we do not realize it.

I rejoice in being able to testify to you that we have received the Gospel that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and that he was instrumental in the hands of God in revealing principles that are calculated to unite the whole human family in the bonds of fellowship, brotherhood and love, and making of them one people, with one King, on the face of the earth. I know this, and I bear my testimony to it, as one having received a knowledge thereof, for I do know that this is true. But, notwithstanding this knowledge, salvation depends upon ourselves; we are agents, and can choose or reject the Gospel, follow the examples of the Savior or Lucifer. It is left optional with us. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, and have the privilege of attaining to glory and exaltation in the kingdom where Jesus and the sanctified dwell, but it is left optional with us to choose or refuse. God has declared that He will require nothing at our hands but what He will enable us to perform. If He asks and requires duties of us that are difficult for us to perform, looking at them naturally, He will give us power to accomplish them. But unless we are worthy, and use all the energy and intelligence that we possess naturally, the promise on His part will not be fulfilled, because it is made on conditions that we do our part.

I would now warn my brethren and sisters to look well to their ways in future, and to let their words and examples be such as to ensure upon them the blessing and approval of God. If they profess to be Latter-day Saints and desire to continue steadfast, they should prove before God and their brethren that they have repented of their sins with a repentance that needs not to be repented of; for if we repent only in profession and say that we are Latter-day Saints when we are not, it is a mockery before God, and we incur the penalty for hypocrisy which will be awarded to us sooner or later.

He called forth the Prophet Joseph Smith in this dispensation to be His agent in establishing His Gospel upon the earth, that the honest in heart, like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is over, might be gathered out as the Apostle John beheld in vision while on the Isle of Patmos. He saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven, crying aloud, “Come out of her, O, my people.” The same great truth is also contained in the revelations given through the Prophet Joseph, and the Saints are being gathered from the uttermost parts of the earth that they may receive the ordinances and blessings of the Gospel, that they may be prepared to rear, to the name of God, temples and cities and communities worthy of His continual blessings and favors.

This is the work before the Saints; and the residue of the inhabitants of the earth will be visited with the judgments of the Almighty, and “Babylon the mother of harlots,” will fall to rise no more. I tell you, in the name of Israel’s God, that this world and its inhabitants are doomed; their doom is sealed, and the only way of escape is the Gospel of the Son of God, the door to which is baptism for the remission of sins, after repenting of and forsaking every practice that tends to degrade and degenerate the human race. Nothing but this will save the world from the doom that is hanging over it, which God has decreed shall be poured out upon it. When the testimony of His servants has gone forth in the midst of its inhabitants.

They are first to be warned by the testimony of His servants, afterwards by the voice of thunders and lightnings, earthquakes, famines, pestilence and devastation; and He will send them in their midst until they are wasted away, whether the world believe it or not; they may laugh the declaration to scorn and derision, and regard it as fanaticism; but that little stone seen by the Prophet Daniel, which was taken out of the mountains without hands, is beginning to roll, and it will as surely break in pieces the great image, as that the great image exists. The kingdom of God exists, and it will become a great mountain and fill the whole earth, just as Daniel foresaw. I am a witness to this, and so are the Latter-day Saints. We do know that God has revealed these things, and all who desire can test what we say, and prove whether we speak of ourselves, or are commanded of God. The path is clear, so that all may know whether we speak the truth and have received the Holy Ghost and the Gospel of the Son of God or not—repent of your sins by forsaking them; be baptized by one having authority, for the remission of sins, and have hands laid on you for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and you shall know whether the doctrine we preach is true or false, and whether or not this is, as we say, the only way in which man can obtain eternal life. We invite all men to walk in this path, and we are fearless as to the result, for in my own experience, in hundreds and thousands of instances, I have received a witness and testimony that this is the truth. Thousands of Latter-day Saints can bear the same testimony, and we desire that all the honest in heart may receive this testimony, and know for themselves. I bear this testimony for the benefit of those who know not, but desire to gain a knowledge of the truth; and also for the benefit of the weak, if there be any here, who may be called Latter-day Saints. I have borne this testimony to strangers abroad, and I do it here for your encouragement. Amen.

Proper Conduct in Meeting

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 5, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

During our Conference we shall require the people to pay attention and to preserve good order, and perhaps we shall require that that will not be altogether pleasing in some respects. One thing which strikes me here this morning, and which is a source of considerable annoyance to the congregation, appears to me might be avoided, and that is bringing children here who are not capable of understanding the preaching. If we were to set them on the stand, where they could hear every word, it would convey to them no knowledge or instruction, and would not be the least benefit to them. I will ask my sisters: Cannot we avoid this? Have you not daughters, sisters, or friends, or some one who can take care of these children while you attend meeting? When meetings are over, the mothers can go home and bestow all the care and attention upon their children which may be necessary. I cannot understand the utility of bringing children into such a congregation as we shall have here through the Conference, just for the sake of pleasing the mothers, when the noise made by them disturbs all around them. I therefore request that the sisters will leave their babies at home in the care of good nurses. And when you come here, sisters and brethren, sit still and make no noise by shuffling your feet or whispering. Wait till meeting is dismissed, then you may go out and talk and walk as much as you please; but while you are in this house it is necessary to keep perfectly still.

I hope our doorkeepers are instructed and understand, so that they will keep order, and also be still themselves. I have noticed sometimes that our doorkeepers and policemen will make more disturbance in a congregation than the people do. This is very unbecoming, and it certainly exhibits a great lack of understanding. If a look or motion will not answer, do not holloa; we, on the Stand, will do all the talking necessary. But if a doorkeeper holloas to this one and that one, he makes more confusion than the people will make. Now, doorkeepers, be sure that you are perfectly still; and if you are obliged to walk around here much, I would recommend that you wear india-rubber overshoes, so that you may be able to walk without making a noise.

There is another subject I wish to refer to. Last Sabbath this front gallery, the gentleman’s gallery, was very full. After meeting was dismissed I took a walk through it, and to see the floor that had been occupied by those professing to be gentlemen, and I do not know but brethren, you might have supposed that cattle had been there rolling and standing around, for here and there were great quids of tobacco, and places one or two feet square smeared with tobacco juice. I want to say to the doorkeepers that when you see gentlemen who cannot omit chewing and spitting while in this house, request them to leave; and if such persons refuse to leave, and continue their spitting, just take them and lead them out carefully and kindly. We do not want to have the house thus defiled. It is an imposition for gentlemen to spit tobacco juice around, or to leave their quids of tobacco on the floor; they dirty the house, and if a lady happen to besmear the bottom of her dress, which can hardly be avoided, it is highly offensive. We therefore request all gentlemen attending Conference to omit tobacco chewing while here. To the Elders of Israel who cannot and will not keep the Word of Wisdom, I say, omit tobacco chewing while here.

In all probability our congregations will be large, and we shall be under the necessity of being a little stringent and exacting in regard to leaving the children at home and in preserving quietness and order while in the house. You may think it a little unreasonable, sisters, to make such a request, but it is not so, for you who are here this morning have seen the great amount of confusion and annoyance the crying of children has caused; and if you cannot, for the space of two or three hours, forego the pleasure of gazing upon the faces of your little darlings, just stay at home with them. This we earnestly request while we are here in Conference. We have all the brethren of the Twelve here, except Brother Carrington, who is in Liverpool, and we shall have speeches, exhortations and advice from them, which, if followed and observed by the people, will lead them in the path of truth, light, intelligence, virtue, soberness and godliness, and we want such good order preserved and maintained that all attending Conference can hear the instructions given.

We have many things to say to the people. They need a great amount of talking to and instruction. They are a good deal like children and need to have words of counsel and advice constantly reiterated. The mother says to the child, “My darling little Johnny, don’t you get that knife,” or “Can’t you let your father’s razor alone,” or “Let the crockery alone, you will break it.” And the “little darling Johnny” lets it alone for a minute or two, but soon he makes another stretch after the knife, razor, tumbler, pitcher, or something that his mother does not want him to have, and again her voice is heard, “Johnny, let that alone, it is not good for you to have;” or, “You will break that pitcher.” Johnny sets down the pitcher, and pretty soon it is gone from his mind, but he runs around a little, and then he wants a drink, and while getting the pitcher, or perhaps the knife, the mother coaxingly says, “My darling dear, will you let that alone,” and finally, wearied with talking to “Johnny,” she probably boxes his ears. It is precisely so with the people, or many of them. We exhort them to observe the Word of Wisdom, to be faithful, truthful and prayerful, and so on, but many of them forget, and we have to ask and beseech them again and again.

We shall now dismiss our morning’s meeting, and shall assemble again at two o’clock this afternoon, and I trust that strict attention will be paid to what is said. I am of the opinion that what is said will be instructive and good for the people. We do not want the teachings of the Elders to drop upon senseless, careless, indolent ears; but let every ear be open, and every heart receive understanding, that good may result from our labors. We are teaching the people how to be saved—how to walk and talk so as to secure eternal salvation, and I do hope and pray my brethren and sisters to pay attention, that the Spirit of the Lord may be in your hearts, that you may see and understand things as they are. I would say, still further, if there be error advanced here, do not receive it, pass it by, and live so that you will know truth from error, light from darkness, the things that are of God from those not of God; and if an error should drop from the lips of one of our Elders, do not receive, believe, or practice it. Truth is what we want, and we ought to live so that we can understand and know it for ourselves. This is our privilege and duty; and we request of the Latter-day Saints; and of all people, to live so that they may know and understand the things of God, and receive and embrace them in their faith, and practice them in their lives.

Organization of the Church, etc.

George A. Smith

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 5, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

It is a great pleasure to meet with the brethren again in Conference, and it is certainly very gratifying to see the people so comfortably seated, with a prospect of enjoying the benefits and blessings of the Conference; even should the elements not be favorable we have a shelter and a shade. It has been the fortune of the Latter-day Saints never to stay in any place long enough to build a house sufficiently large to hold the people; but, with the blessing of the Lord and the united efforts of the brethren, we have room sufficient to hold a very large audience, though no doubt occasions will still occur when we shall cry out, “More room,” and probably before our Conference closes. I think, however, that we need not ask any of our brethren who reside in this city, as we have had to do, to stay at home to make room for those who may be in from a distance; all may come and be accommodated. The acoustic properties of the Tabernacle are evidently improved by the erection of the gallery, and if all who attend Conference will leave their coughing at home, sit still while here and omit shuffling their feet, they may have an opportunity of hearing pretty much everything that may be said. It will certainly require, even when all these conditions are complied with, considerable effort to fill so large a house with one voice, and that effort must be met by a corresponding effort on the part of the audience to preserve perfect stillness.

It was forty years ago on the 6th of last month since the organization of the Church took place, in the chamber of Father Whitmer, in Fayette, Seneca county, New York, with six members. The history of that forty years would require volumes to record. The institution, as it then commenced, was in its infancy; yet the Lord revealed to His servant that He had laid the foundation of a great work; the truth of that saying has been realized by the progress of events. The changes that have transpired in connection with this people have been very remarkable. The work commenced by preaching faith in the Lord Jesus, repentance and the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, which was an innovation upon the creeds and practices of every other religious sect; I am not aware that any one denomination believed in and practiced all the principles that were introduced at the organization of this Church. The first three of these principles were faith in the Lord Jesus, repentance, and baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. The next principle was the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, precisely as it was pointed out by the Savior and practised by his disciples in Judea.

There were denominations who believed in baptism by immersion, but not for the remission of sins, they believed that remission of sins was necessary previous to baptism; but they were ignorant of the possibility of the reception of the Holy Ghost, and, consequently, of the doctrine of the laying on of hands. The Church of England, it is true, would confirm by the laying on of the hand of the bishops, but not for confirming the gift of the Holy Ghost on the heads of the believers; and while all the professed believers in the doctrine of Christ had some portions or fragments of his Gospel as revealed and established by him and his Apostles, it was the Church of Latter-day Saints which introduced and established, complete, the principles of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance towards God, baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. These principles were all important, and the moment the Bible was brought forth everybody could find that they coincided exactly with the principles set forth by the Savior, and it required to be spiritualized and changed to make it appear otherwise. But the Christian world had gone astray from these things, and when they were restored they rejected them. There were, however, honest persons in all of the denominations, and God has respect to every man who is honest of heart and purpose, though he may be deceived, and in error as to principle and doctrine; yet so far as that error is the result of their being deceived by the cunning craftiness of men, or of circumstances over which such have no control, the Lord in His abundant mercy looks with allowance thereon, and in His great economy He has provided different glories and ordained that all persons shall be judged according to the knowledge they possess and the use they make of that knowledge, and according to the deeds done in the body, whether good or evil.

“And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo, these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of the first born, who have received the fullness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from that of the sun in the firmament. Behold, these are they who died without law, and also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the Gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it. These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men. These are they who receive of His glory, but not of His fullness. These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fullness of the Father; wherefore they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the moon differs from the sun. These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God.”

In opening this Conference it would be well for us individually to ask ourselves, Have we received the first principles of the Gospel of Christ, and have we continued in those principles which were first taught unto us; or is it necessary for us again to lay the foundation of repentance from dead works? It is very singular that when the principles of the Gospel, as I have stated them, were presented to the different sects, they were disposed to reject them and to persecute those who preached them in their fullness. Such, however, was the fact, and it is owing to this that the Latter-day Saints are now in the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains, in the heart of the American continent, in the enjoyment of political and religious liberty and freedom, for which they have sacrificed more perhaps than any other people on the face of the earth. And we have the greatest reason of all people to be thankful to God for these blessings.

Then let, us ask ourselves, Are we prepared for the great blessings which God has bestowed upon us? Are we living up to our callings and magnifying the same? Do we observe the duties which are imposed upon us by our holy religion? Or are we foolish enough, while recognizing its truth, and professing to be Latter-day Saints, to treat it with carelessness and neglect, and failing to live up to our high and holy calling?

From the earliest days of the preaching of the Gospel by Joseph Smith men were tried and tempted and led astray by false spirits and doctrines of devils. We find at the commencement of Joseph’s mission that many who entered into covenant turned away, and some became very bitter enemies. It was necessary from the very beginning that there should be a sifting, for the Lord declared unto His people that He would sift them as with a sieve. This sifting had to continue, and hence every time the Latter-day Saints were driven, scattered, or otherwise persecuted, it caused those who could not abide in the faith to pass quietly away, or to make their wickedness manifest unto the church and unto the world. But while this was going on, the strength of Zion was increasing. It is said, and I presume correctly, that Oliver Cowdery remarked at one time to Joseph Smith, “If I should apostatize and leave the Church, the Church would be broken up.” The answer of the Prophet was, “What and who are you? This is the work of God, and if you turn against it and withdraw from it, it will still roll on and you will not be missed.” It was not long until Oliver turned away, but the work continued. God raised up men from obscurity to step forth and shoulder the burdens, and it was hardly known when and where he went. In about ten years he came back again, came before a local Conference at Mosquito Creek, Pottawatomie Co., Iowa, Oct., 1848, and acknowledged his faults. He bore testimony of the mission of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, and of the truth of the Book of Mormon; he exhorted the Saints to follow the authority of the Holy Priesthood, which he assured them was with the Twelve Apostles. He said, “When the Saints follow the main channel of the stream, they find themselves in deep water and always right, pursuing their journey with safety; but when they turned aside into sloughs and bayous, they are left to flounder in the mud and are lost, for the Angel of God said unto Joseph in my hearing that this Priesthood shall remain on the earth until the end.”

Oliver declared he took pleasure in bearing this testimony to the largest congregation of Saints he had ever seen together. He was re-baptized and made arrangements to come to the mountains, but died soon after, while on a visit to the Whitmers, in Missouri.

This circumstance shows how little God depends upon man to carry on His work. He does it by His own power, His own majesty, by His own mighty hand and for the accomplishment of His own glorious purposes.

It was thought and felt throughout the world, about the year 1844, that if Joseph Smith, the Prophet, could be destroyed, that would be the end of the Latter-day Saints. Men conspired together to shed his blood; they sought occasion against him; they made him an offender for a word; they swore falsely against him, and some who had been his friends turned traitors and conspired with the wicked and shed his blood. It was generally believed by the enemies of the Saints that that was the end of the work of the Lord. The pulpit resounded with thanks to God that the great arch-impostor, Joseph Smith, was slain. The priests rejoiced over it; and though there was a feeling, tolerably wide-spread, that it was barbarous to kill him, under the plighted faith of Illinois, yet the general feeling was that it was a good thing that he was dead. But God had a work to perform, and it did not depend upon the life of one or two individuals. It was His work, His kingdom, His Church, His plan of salvation, and He, by His own wisdom and His own mighty hand bore it off.

These were the facts, and these continue to be the facts; and all that the Latter-day Saints have to do is to live within the confines of God’s holy law and up to their privileges. Are we doing so? Are we walking in accordance with these principles? Let us ask ourselves these questions, and if any of us are remiss, let us immediately commence to reform, humble ourselves before God, and be ready to sacrifice ourselves and all we have, if necessary, for the building up and redemption of Zion and for our salvation.

We have come together as a Conference to compare notes with each other, to rejoice together and to receive instruction; and let every man and woman that has come or that may yet come, lift their hearts to God in solemn prayer that His blessing may rest upon His servants, that they may be inspired with a double portion of His holy Spirit, that the Priesthood, in all its life, power and glory, may speak forth the words of truth, light and intelligence, that shall pour comfort into the hearts of the Saints, and guide and strengthen them, and illuminate their path, that we, one and all, may continue in the great and glorious work which we have commenced.

May the Lord God of Hosts bless you, and peace be and abide in your hearts, that you may appreciate these things, and exercise faith, union, knowledge, power, and wisdom in your walk and conduct henceforth, and that these meetings may be a blessing to all who attend them, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Gospel—Building up the Kingdom

Daniel H. Wells

Remarks by President D. H. Wells, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 5, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

It has pleased God in the day and generation in which we live to reveal His holy Gospel. I expect that He knew the time to bring it forth; that He understood the proper time to introduce its principles, and chose that period in the world’s history in which it would be received by, at least, a portion of His children. I apprehend that He made no mistake; that the angel which John prophesied should come forth, bearing the everlasting Gospel to the children of men, came to the right person, to the true Joseph—to the one who would receive it, and bear testimony that he had seen an angel, though all the world should deride and point the finger of scorn, call him a dreamer, and treat him with every kind of contumely and reproach; and though they eventually persecuted him unto the death, they could not prevail upon him to deny that he had seen an angel, and that he received from the Lord those principles which he taught.

We believe, then, that it was the right time, and that he, the angel, came to the right person; that the Gospel has gone forth unto the world, that the minds of the children of men have been touched with the light of truth, and that it has had the effect to inspire some to seek after the Lord, to observe and keep His laws, learn His ways and walk in His paths. The object and purpose of our gathering together, brethren and sisters, is to learn of His ways, and walk in His paths.

It is one of the greatest conceivable blessings which can be conferred upon the children of men to live in the day and generation in which the Lord has sent forth His Gospel; in an age in which He has conferred upon men the authority of the holy Priesthood to administer in sacred and holy things. It is one of the greatest blessings that could be conferred upon His children to become the happy recipients of that knowledge which leads to eternal life and exaltation in His kingdom. All people have this privilege so far as the knowledge of the Gospel has come to their ears. In this the children of men are independent; they have their volition and agency to receive or to reject these principles when they shall hear them; but when they are sent forth with the authority of the holy Priesthood, which is the authority of God, and are sounded in the ears of God’s creatures here on the earth, and they reject them, they incur a fearful responsibility. Still they have the power to act as they please in this matter; but the consequences rest upon themselves—the Lord has left them without excuse. It is a matter for you and me and for all persons to canvas in their own minds, and we can then act upon our own volition in receiving or rejecting the truth.

All who have not heard the principles of life and salvation proclaimed will have the privilege of doing so; if not here, then in some other sphere or state of existence. The plan of salvation is ample, full and complete, and will save all the children of men who let it, and the Lord will be left without excuse in the final winding up, so far as the probation of man on the earth is concerned.

We read in the Scriptures that to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent, is life eternal. To enable His creatures to obtain this knowledge the Lord has kindly sent forth His revelations from time to time; but we do honestly believe that the Latter-day Saints are the only people on the face of the earth at the present time that have any true knowledge of God, of the relationship that does exist between Him and the inhabitants of the earth and of the design and object of the Almighty in bringing them into existence, and the purpose to be accomplished thereby in their future state. I say we believe that the Latter-day Saints are the only people who possess this knowledge. The world have no just conceptions of the Deity; even the Christian world are without the knowledge of God as much as the heathen nations. This may be deemed a sweeping declaration, but it is susceptible of proof, if we take the Scriptures for our guide and as the foundation of our argument; that is, if the Christian world believe as they profess to do. I do not care to illustrate at this present time, or to bring evidence to bear to sustain my position, to a people who understand these arguments and principles, and who have learned better things, as is the case with this congregation. We know in whom we have trusted; we know who has led us forth to the valleys of the mountains; who has blessed the land and caused it to bring forth its strength for our sustenance; who has shielded and protected us from the power of the adversary—those who have sought our overthrow and destruction. We have learned to know Him as our Father, the Father of our spirits, and the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has exercised a parental care over us, and has delivered us at all times from the power of our enemies, brought us an inheritance in a goodly land, blessed the land and caused it to bring forth in its strength for our sustenance. We know that we are dependent upon Him for our very existence, and that by Him only are we preserved, just as well as we know that the children of men, impelled by the great adversary, Satan, are seeking to overthrow us, to break in pieces the kingdom of God, and to destroy from the face of the earth the rule and authority of the Priesthood of God.

Are we prepared to take upon ourselves the labor, the self-denial, the self-abnegation, I might say the persecution, if it should be permitted to come upon us, that continually besets the pathway of the Saint of God? If we are, we are all right; if we are not, we had better repent and seek unto the Lord for strength, retrace our steps, and get the Spirit of God in our hearts that we may become more confirmed in our most holy faith. When we received the Gospel we felt as though it would be a great privilege to devote our whole lives and all our interests in this existence to the extension of this great and glorious cause. Have we grown lukewarm in our feelings and love? If so it is time to retrace our steps, lest we become darkened in the counsel of our minds and turn away to the beggarly elements of the world.

I will say, this morning, that the Gospel that I received is as sweet to me to-day as it ever was during my existence on the earth, yea, more so, for as I advance, greater and more glorious truths and beauties develop themselves and come home to my understanding. If the first principles of the Gospel were true in the days of Joseph, they are true to-day. If the principles that have been developed as we have passed along were true when they first struck our minds with their convincing proofs, they are also true to-day. If what we believed were the whisperings of the Spirit of God confirming these truths on our minds, were really so, and we received them from Heaven, we should live faithful to what we have received, that we may progress and improve as we pass along. We have received an item of truth here and another there, as we could receive and maintain it; but the revelations declare that there are things yet to be revealed which have been kept hid from the foundations of the world. I, for one, expect that the volume of revelation will remain open, and that the servants of God will, in the future as they have in the past, read to us from the Book of Life. The reflection that we shall not be confined to what has already been given, but that we shall continue to grow and increase in the knowledge of God, and in every good, is one of the most highly-prized principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How true it is that, when any new principle, or any new idea concerning an old principle is promulgated, the human heart seems to rise up in rebellion against it, and the Saints are no exception in this respect, for when the Lord condescends to reveal any new principle pertaining to their welfare and the building up of His kingdom on the earth, many are ready, both in feelings and practices, to rise up and rebel against it. What is the matter? Are we pent up in a nut-shell and confined in our feelings to such an extent that we cannot receive new revelations and instructions from time to time when they come from the proper source? No. I think that, for the great majority of the Latter-day Saints, I can answer it is not so. It may be so with individuals; but as a general thing the Saints are glad to receive instruction, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, as they can receive and endure it. I heard President Young say that he told the Prophet Joseph never to reveal a new principle to him if he thought that he could not receive it, that it would be detrimental to his faith or cause him to turn from that which he had received. He said he would rather remain in ignorance than to have it prove a stumbling-block to him. I have seen a great many people anxious for revelation, and for the development of some great mystery concerning the kingdom of God. I have never felt so; I have been satisfied with what the Lord should condescend to reveal, and more than glad if, when it did come, I was able to receive and practice it.

How many are there within the hearing of my voice who have felt infringed upon in their feelings when they were told to sustain Zion and not to trade with their enemies. This was a new feature, but it touched things of a temporal nature. Why a great many felt as though they could not submit to be dictated to, though it was by the servant of God, in regard to temporal affairs. Is not this true, and we, too, right in the midst of Israel? O, yes, we can’t deny it, there has been considerable howling made concerning this item. But yet this is the kingdom of God, and the kingdom and the greatness thereof are to be given to the Saints of the Most High. Can we expect anything else than that His servant will dictate us concerning our temporal matters? I do not understand it in any other way. When, I would ask, can the kingdom of God be established on the earth, or in other words when can the kingdom and the greatness thereof be given to the Saints of the Most High? Never until a people is found possessing sufficient good, hard, sound sense to use the blessings of that kingdom to build it up and not to give it to the devil just as fast as the Lord hands them over to them. We have come up to Zion that we may be taught in the ways of the Lord and that we may learn to walk in His paths. And you know I have told you how independent we are—we can either receive the Gospel, or reject it and take the consequences. But let no man lay the flattering unction to his soul that he can do just as he pleases and obtain celestial glory. We can never do this except we make our ways, notions and ideas correspond with the Lord’s. If we expect to attain to celestial glory, and be prepared and qualified to receive the kingdom of God in its greatness upon the earth, we shall have to make our ways correspond with the Lord’s, so much so at least as to be found faithful in making good use of the blessings which He has entrusted to us. It is those who are found faithful over a few things unto whom the promise is made that they shall become rulers over many things. It is not those who fly the track at the moment of peril and difficulty who will obtain the blessings of high heaven; no, the Lord tests and tries us, to prove if we have integrity, and the man who flies the track, when tested, proves that he is lacking in integrity and is not worthy to receive the blessings of those who are faithful and true. Blessings are no doubt withheld in kindness for a time, for many who receive them grow fat and kick, thus proving to the Lord that they are not worthy; and peradventure He withholds blessings from many very good people, who will finally triumph over their own peculiar notions and ideas, and make their ways so far correspond with the Lord’s as to be worthy.

We are in a school of experience, brethren and sisters, and it will be well for us if we will wisely use and apply the blessings we receive and the experience that we are passing through, and so govern and control ourselves in the future that the experience of the past may be a light to our feet in time to come.

It is most desirable to us all that we should be preserved in the purity of our most holy faith, and never depart therefrom or swerve either to the right hand or to the left. The fate of others who have departed from the path of rectitude ought to be a warning to us all to be careful not to grieve the Holy Spirit, lest we fall into the same pit. It is a very easy thing for a man to get into the dark, and small things often lead to it. He sees, peradventure, something in his Bishop or Teacher, or in some of the authorities, which he does not like, and instead of going to the proper place to ascertain the truth in the case, and informing his mind correctly concerning the matter, he lets it corrode in his heart until disaffection is produced and he begins to lose confidence. In a short time, if he indulges in this spirit, he mouths it to some confidant or friend, and after doing it once he mouths it again, and if you follow that man a little longer you will find that he neglects his prayers and the duties of his calling, and very soon the counsel of his mind becomes darkened, and soon he is on the highway to apostasy, and, in fact, he has been there from the beginning, if he had only known it; and if no good friend should tell him his error, in a short time such a man goes over the dam and makes shipwreck of his faith, and that is the greatest calamity that can befall any person.

What matters it to the Saints what path they are led into if the Lord leads? If they are submissive and yield to His dictation, no matter whether it brings weal or woe, it will work out good; it may bring poverty, so far as the things of the world are concerned, but it will never bring poverty to the soul. And it will be a happy reflection when we have passed through this mortal existence, that we were able to stand the test, enduring the ordeals and remaining steadfast and faithful to the end.

I do not know that we are promised anything here but the hatred and persecution of the world; and this has been the portion of the Saints of God in every age of the world. I do believe, however, that the table is going to change; I believe that when the people are sufficiently pure and worthy, and capable of wisely using the blessings of which I have spoken, the blessings of earth and heaven will be poured upon them in rich abundance. We have a little foretaste of this in the blessings that we have received and enjoy to-day. Although the power of the Adversary is very great, and he still seeks the overthrow and destruction of the cause and kingdom of God on the earth; yet it is a different age of the world, it is a different dispensation; it is the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which, no matter how much we may be overturned, no matter how much individuals may suffer, or how much they may be called to endure, the final result will be triumph to the kingdom, and it will not be given to another people; but we shall have power to redeem Zion and to build that great and glorious temple in which the Saints will receive the blessings of eternity, and on which the glory of God will rest as a cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night. This people are that people; these Saints are the Saints of the Most High, to whom the kingdom and the greatness thereof will be given, and another people shall never possess it.

This should be a great satisfaction to us, and should encourage us in our pathway through all the difficulties we may have to encounter. We would not be worth much if we could not pass through ordeals. The Savior of the world had to pass through them, and we should not complain if we have to tread in his footsteps in order to obtain great blessings at the end of the race. Let us reflect on these things and go on our way rejoicing, filling the full measure of our creation with credit to ourselves, and with honor to God, our Father, who brought us to this state of existence, which is my prayer for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Latter-day Work, etc.

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 5, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

It is with great pleasure and satisfaction that I arise before so large an assembly of people this afternoon, in the capacity of a General Conference. It is truly wonderful to me that God has begun so great and important a work in the day in which I am permitted to live. I do not read in history of any other work of a similar character since the creation of the world. We behold before us, in these interior wilds of North America, a great people called the Latter-day Saints—a people whose faith and doctrine are one, who believe in the same God, and in the same great plan of salvation; who believe that God has established His kingdom on the earth for the last time. It has been a manifestation of faith on the part of this people to gather here; they have exhibited to one another and before all mankind that they have faith in the doctrines which they have received. What other purpose could have gathered out so great a people? If we had gathered into a healthy, rich country where there was an expectation of bettering our condition, temporarily; where there were prospects of our becoming exceedingly rich in the goods of this world, it might have been supposed that we had some selfish motive in view in thus assembling ourselves together. But there were no such prospects before us. We came here, some 1200 miles, from the Eastern settlements to this isolated region, almost naked and barefoot, having been despoiled by our enemies—having suffered the loss of property to the extent of millions—having been reduced to the last degree of poverty. We came here—not into the midst of a land of cities and villages, not into the midst of a country where all was prepared for us beforehand; but we came into the heart of a desert, since, in some measure, reclaimed from its barrenness and sterility. We came because we had faith in our religion, because we not only believed, but most of us knew with a certainty, that God had spoken from on high and had commanded us to gather together. In this we have manifested a sincerity that ought to be convincing to all the world that we have embraced a religion in all of the depths of the sincerity of our hearts. We did not care for the riches and honors of the world; we did not care for the pleasures of our native countries, nor for the luxuries with which those countries abounded; but we came because we verily believed in our hearts that it was our duty to do so in obedience to the voice of the Lord through His servants. It is true that some of this people came to this land because they were forced hither by persecution; but whether obliged to come or not we, many of us, clearly understood from the spirit of prophecy and revelation, as manifested through our prophet and leader before his martyrdom, that we should be required to locate ourselves in the heart of this continent. We came here then to fulfil the commandments of the Lord our God, and to be free, in a measure, from the persecutions of our enemies, that we might have none to mob or molest us as they had done from the time of the rise of the Church until our flight to these mountains. We came here because we loved God, because we loved His laws—we loved the plan of salvation, we loved the principles that He had revealed, and because we knew that in process of time, in fulfilment of ancient prophecy respecting the Latter-day Zion and the Church of the Most High God, we should become a great and powerful people.

We are taught in the Jewish record, the Bible, that a little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation. We believe these prophecies, we know this to be the kingdom of God. We well understood by the spirit of revelation that God intended to fulfil all that was spoken by the mouths of His ancient prophets, as well as that which had been delivered in our day in regard to the future glory and prosperity of Zion, or the Church of the living God. We understood that Zion was to be located in the mountains; we understood, as I have often repeated, from the 40th chapter of Isaiah, that the time would come when the Lord would command His people, saying unto Zion, “Get up into the high mountains.” These things had not been fulfilled in former ages, consequently we know that they were yet in the future. We knew that the Zion of the latter days must be located in the mountains. We could read the ancient prophecies of that great prophet—Isaiah, in the 18th chapter, that a great work should be performed in the mountains, a work that should attract the attention of all the nations of the earth, so much so that the prophet, when gazing upon the work as shown to him by the spirit of prophecy, calls upon all the inhabitants of the world and the dwellers on the earth to see when the Lord should lift up an ensign upon the mountains. That ensign we knew must be reared, that great work must be accomplished, and all people—not only those on the American continent but all dwelling in the four quarters of the globe, however obscure, and however distant they might be from the place where the ensign was to be reared, would be required by the power of the Lord, and by the marvellous work that He should perform, to open their eyes and contemplate that ensign, understand its nature and comprehend, in some measure, its purpose.

We came here to fulfil these ancient prophecies. God has lifted up this Church—this kingdom, as a standard—as an ensign to which the nations are invited, and the ambassadors of the Most High are sent forth from these mountains carrying the glad tidings of salvation in their mouths—carrying forth the great and glorious principles that God has revealed in establishing his latter-day kingdom on the earth. Beautiful indeed are the feet of those who are sent forth from the mountains of Zion to publish glad tidings of great joy among the various nations and kingdoms of the earth; God is with them in very deed. His power is over them, and His arm encircles them round about. Their voice is lifted up to the nations; their hands are pointed to the West, to the heart of the American continent—to the everlasting hills, saying to mankind, “Yonder, in those mountains, is a kingdom that is never to be destroyed, a kingdom that must exist forever; while all earthly kingdoms and governments will crumble to the dust and will be blown away, like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, to the four winds of heaven.”

Jesus said on a certain occasion to his disciples, and to the multitudes, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” There are tens of thousands, yes, hundreds of thousands, of people now upon our globe who profess to love Jesus Christ. Do they keep his commandments? Some of them no doubt strive to do so. But there are many things to be taken into consideration in connection with the keeping of the commandments of Jesus. In the first place it is very essential and necessary that we should know what his commandments are before we can keep them. In the second place it is very important and essential that we should give heed to all those commandments, whether they appear great or small in our estimation.

Do this people, called Latter-day Saints, really love the Lord their God, or is it a mere profession? When God raised up His servant Joseph Smith and inspired him from on high to give commandments and revelations and to organize His Church, forty years ago, we were but few in number. I well recollect when I was but a boy of nineteen visiting the place where this Church was organized, and visiting the Prophet Joseph, who resided at that time in Fayette, Seneca County, New York, at the house where the Church was organized. I became acquainted more fully with that man and with the revelations and commandments that God had given to him; also with the few people who had been organized into a Church capacity. I saw the spirit of the people, that is, I saw there was a desire to do good, to love the Lord, and to be obedient to the commandments which the Prophet Joseph had delivered unto them.

On the 2nd day of January, 1831, a Conference was held in the same house where this Church was organized, and the various Branches in the State of New York were there gathered together. By the solicitations of the Conference the Prophet Joseph enquired of the Lord to know what was His will concerning the few Latter-day Saints that were then in existence. The Lord hearkened to him, and gave on that occasion a revelation contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, in which certain commandments were given, one being that all the Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons of the various Branches of the Church, instead of going out to preach, should go to with all their might and labor for the gathering up of the people from the State of New York to the State of Ohio; that is, they were to assist those in the various Branches who had property to dispose of the same, and in regulating all their affairs, and to arrange business in such a manner that they might be able to keep this commandment to gather together.

Now, suppose the people had refused to comply with this commandment; suppose that the Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons had considered the physical labor which the carrying out of this command entailed upon them beneath their notice, and had refused to make preparations to flee from the State of New York and to gather up some six hundred miles to the State of Ohio, what would have been the result? Would the love of God have dwelt in their hearts? No. Would they have manifested before the heavens that they loved God with all their hearts? No. Would they have manifested to the Prophet, to the Priesthood and to one another that they really were sincere in their religion? No. There was no possible way for these Latter-day Saints to show their love to God, only by obeying His command that was given and written for their instruction on that occasion. If there were any who refused to do that, I will venture to say that they are not members of the Church to-day. If there were any who had so much means or property that they did not feel disposed to leave their pleasant homes and make a sacrifice of their wealth, in some measure, in order to fulfil the commandment of Jehovah, I will venture to say that they are not in the Church to-day. Why? Because God would withdraw His Holy Spirit from them They might make great profession, and say how much they loved the Lord and His ways; how much they loved Jesus, who was crucified for the sins of the world, yet all this would be foolish and vain if they refused to keep his commandments, for, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” saith the Savior. Again, it is written, “This is the love of God, that ye do keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous.” His commandments to most of the people of the Latter-day Saints were not grievous in the winter and spring of 1831. They rejoiced in having the privilege of obeying the Lord’s commandments, through His servant, the Prophet. Hence they gathered up all the various Branches of the Church, with some few exceptions, to Kirtland, in the State of Ohio.

This is the right way to keep the Lord’s commandments; but it is, in the first place, necessary to find what His commandments are. You might have taken this big book, the Jewish record, or Bible, and searched it from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelations to find out your duties as Saints, and you never could have found within it what the Lord required of His Saints at that time—namely, to remove from the State of New York to the State of Ohio. No such Scripture as that was given. That was the duty required of individuals in the nineteenth century. No other people were ever required to do that; it cannot be found within the lids of the Bible. That commandment was specially adapted to the circumstances of the few Latter-day Saints then existing, and they were the ones required to keep it. The ancients were not required to do that, neither are we; it was a commandment having relation to the time then being, and it was fulfilled. With that commandment we have nothing further to do, provided that we, or as many of us as were included among those to whom it was given, kept it. If we have not kept it we have something further to do with it—we shall have to meet it in the great judgment day.

When we came to Kirtland the Lord gave us further commandments, and He revealed a great many things through His servant Joseph. Among others, He gave one that the Latter-day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, should go to with their might and build a house to His name, wherein He promised to bestow great and choice blessings upon His people. He revealed the pattern according to which that house should be built, pointing out the various courts and apartments, telling the size of the house, the order of the pulpits, and in fact everything pertaining to it was clearly pointed out by revelation. God gave a vision of these things, not only to Joseph, but to several others, and they were strictly commanded to build according to the pattern revealed from the heavens.

Now, then, no other people was ever commanded to do that work in Kirtland, Ohio, but the people then living there, called Latter-day Saints. It was not a work required of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, nor of any other man that ever existed on the earth, nor of any people but those to whom it was given, then living in the State of Ohio. Supposing they had said, “We will not build the house; we can meet in a common meeting-house, after the order of the Gentiles, and we will take their forms of building, it does not matter, we do not think it necessary to be at all this expense, and we can hire a house.” Would that have been sufficient? No, the only way we could witness to one another and before the Lord of hosts that we loved Him with all our hearts was to go to and build a house just according to the pattern.

Well, when we did build it, did the Lord accept it, according to promise? He did, and He revealed great and important things in that house through His servant, Joseph the Prophet; and not only did Joseph have the privilege of seeing and understanding the mind and will of the Lord, but after the house was built many others had this great privilege given to them. For instance, the Lord had promised to reveal Himself unto many of His people and His Priesthood in that house. He did so. Among other great revelations and visions given there, was the revelation, which you will find recorded in our Church history, of Elijah, the Prophet, of him who was translated to heaven in a chariot of fire. That same personage came and stood in that temple and manifested certain keys, gave these keys to the servant of the Lord, the Prophet Joseph, and said unto him that that was the fulfilment of that which was spoken by the Prophet Malachi. What has Malachi said? He has told us of the great day of the Lord that should come, when it should burn as an oven, and when all the proud and they that do wickedly shall become as stubble and shall be burned up, leaving them neither root nor branch. He has told us that before that great and terrible day the Lord would send Elijah the Prophet. Or, to quote the words of Scripture, “Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come.” What great object had the Lord in view in sending His ancient prophet as a ministering angel to His people on the earth? It is expressed in one sentence—“He shall turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children and the hearts of the children unto the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” In other words, there will be no flesh prepared to escape the day appointed—no flesh but what will become as stubble, no flesh will be able to abide the presence of the Lord until Elijah comes. He did come in that Kirtland Temple; he appeared in his glorious majesty, and there revealed the keys unto the servants of the Lord which should restore this union between the fathers and the children—something that we did not understand anything about, until the angel Elijah revealed it unto us. This was a great work to be accomplished in the latter days, in order that the fathers, from the days of the ancient Priesthood, or those who were in the spirit world—millions and millions of them, might be redeemed through the ordinance of baptism for the dead, turning the minds and thoughts and affections of the children, living on the earth, to search after their ancient fathers and to be baptized for them according to that which is contained in the New Testament about baptism for the dead. Moreover it turned the hearts of those ancient fathers to their children, for they looked to us, their children, to accomplish a work that is needful to be accomplished in their behalf, for God’s house is a house of order; God’s kingdom is a kingdom of order; and His ordinances were instituted from before the foundation of the world, and they are adapted to the condition of the living and the dead; and God revealed these things that our fathers, in all past generations, might rejoice with their children in the latter days, by being united in the same bonds, in the same New and Everlasting Covenants. They died without the Gospel, without understanding the plan of salvation. They were brought up in the midst of the sectarian world, where all was confusion and darkness; where no voice of God was heard; no voice of living prophets or Apostles to direct them, or to teach them in the mysteries of the kingdom of God. They went down to their graves as sincere, many of them, as you and I are. Must they be forever cast off? Must they always remain in prison and be forever deprived of the society of their children that should live on the earth in the latter days, when God should again open the heavens and send His angels to minister to His people? No; they without us cannot be made perfect; for there is no way for them to receive the Gospel only through their children. We have the work to do for them, and that work we could not commence until Elijah the Prophet was sent from heaven, holding the keys that were to be committed to the children in behalf of the fathers, in the last dispensation, before the great day of the Lord should come.

Then you see that even this one revelation, which God gave in that Temple, paid the people for the toil they had endured in erecting it. What a satisfaction it was to them to know that angels administered in that Temple! What a satisfaction it was for them to go into that Temple and have the heavens opened to them so that they could gaze on the glory of God! What a satisfaction it was for them to know that the Lord accepted, as His own, the house which they had built according to the pattern which He had given! And what a satisfaction it was for them to know that they loved God by keeping His commandments!

Elijah was not the only angel that administered in that house. Others holding keys pertaining to the last dispensation of the fullness of times came forth and manifested those keys and bestowed the authority upon the servants of God living in the flesh to carry out certain great and important purposes pertaining to this dispensation. These keys are still on the earth. Here are the servants of the living God, sitting on my right hand and on my left, who have had these keys committed into their hands by authority from the proper source, from those who received them from the heavenly messengers. These keys, being now in the hands of the Priesthood, never will be taken from them while the earth shall stand or eternal duration shall roll on. There may be apostates, those who fight against the anointed of the Lord and lift up their heel against those holding these keys; yet be it known to the Latter-day Saints and to all the ends of the earth that the almighty hand of the Great Jehovah is stretched out and He will accomplish the purposes ordained by Him in regard to this great and important work of the latter-days.

Are these the only commandments that God has given for us to keep wherein we have manifested our love towards Him? No. God gave commandment to His people in the summer of 1831 that they should gather up from the Eastern lands, New York, the New England States, Pennsylvania and the Middle States, from Ohio and various parts of the United States, upon the western frontiers of Missouri; that is, that they should continue to gather, but not let their flight be in haste, and let all things be prepared before them. God led forth the Prophet that He had raised up to the western part of Missouri, and pointed out, by His own finger, where the great city of Zion should stand in the latter days, the great city of the New Jerusalem that should be built up on the American continent. I say He pointed out these things and gave direction to His people to gather to that land, and commanded them to lay the corner stone of a great and magnificent temple that was to be built during the generation in which the people then lived. The corner stone was laid in the summer of 1831, in Jackson County, State of Missouri. All these things were done by the people of God by commandment and revelation, and in this way they still further showed, one to another and to all people as well as to the heavens, that they did love the Lord their God.

Many commandments were given to the people about affairs there in Jackson county—how they should regulate their property and how they should become one—revelations that were intended to produce the greatest possible union that could exist among the people of God, if they had been complied with. The people complied with them in part, but yet, through inexperience, for the want of understanding, because of the weakness of mortality, and because of the wicked and corrupt traditions that they had imbibed in regard to property, they did not fully carry out the mind and will of God in relation to their consecrations and inheritances. It is true that they purchased the land from the American Government, or much of it, and paid their money into the land office in that county; but yet, not carrying out the command of God to the very letter, the Lord was not pleased, and before they had been located there fourteen months He threatened them very severely. Said He, “If you do not remember my commandments to keep them, and not only my commandments, but the Book of Mormon, which I have caused to come forth and to be written for your edification, as the New and Everlasting Covenant; if you do not give heed to the words of instruction and counsel, and the commandments written in that book, behold, saith the Lord, there remains a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the inhabitants of Zion.”

We did not know what the judgment or scourging was. We had only been about fourteen months on the land, and we did not understand the nature of it. The Lord told us in another revelation, which is published in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that, inasmuch as we did not do just precisely as He told us to do in regard to obtaining our lands, we should be driven by our enemies—“Behold and lo, your enemies shall be upon you; you shall be persecuted and driven from city to city, and but few of you shall stand to receive an inheritance.” We could not comprehend all this. We thought perhaps we should be faithful enough that this prophecy might not be fulfilled upon our heads. Although they were the very best people on the earth, yet there was a lack among them, through want of experience or through the former traditions of the Gentiles which they had imbibed from their childhood; but the Lord required us to be very good and to give heed to every word that proceeded out of His mouth, and never disobey the least thing; and consequently when He found that we lacked in some of these things, He told us He would not suffer that land to be polluted by those who were called by His name; for it was a choice land—a holy land, and those who were called by His name, and professed to be His disciples, should not pollute it, and if they did they should be scourged and driven away and persecuted, and there would be few left who would receive their inheritance there.

In the year 1833, in the month of November, we began to feel this scourge that the Lord had forewarned us of. Yet so anxious was the Prophet Joseph that the scourge might be averted that he took a journey, in connection with some of the prominent Elders of the Church, from the State of Ohio, about one thousand miles, to the western frontiers of Missouri, to warn the people of the terrible judgment that would overtake them, if they were not more obedient. But, alas! their repentance was not sufficient, though they were such a good people—far better than any other people or Church on the face of the earth; but yet they did not come up to the letter of the law which God had revealed, consequently they did not manifest before Him that they loved Him with all their hearts, souls, might, mind and strength, and judgment came upon them and they were driven. Two hundred houses were burned, our haystacks were burned, our cattle were shot down by the mob, our merchandize were strewn in the streets, our household furniture broken up and scattered, and the people were driven forth on the bleak prairies in the cold month of November. Then they remembered the prophecies which the Lord had delivered by His servant Joseph; they remembered what had been written and published, which they had been warned of time and time again, both by letter and by the personal ministry of the servants of God in their midst.

They fled to Clay County and were driven thence in a few months, when they fled still further north into other unsettled portions of the State of Missouri, and again purchased lands of the Government, and entered them and continued there a few years; but by and by we were again driven, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord through His servant Joseph—that we should be persecuted and driven from place to place and from city to city unless we did as He told us. Finally, we were driven into the State of Illinois, where we purchased a beautiful spot of ground on the eastern bank of the Mississippi river, called Commerce, which we afterwards called Nauvoo, a Hebrew word which means beautiful for location.

After we had worked in Nauvoo for a few years, and had gathered together our people from various parts of the United States and some from Great Britain, to the number of some fifteen or twenty thousand souls, in Nauvoo and the regions round about, behold the mob was again upon us and we were driven again, thus fulfilling more fully the prophecies that had been made, and we were driven here to these mountains. We came here by the direction of the servant of God, being led by him on whom the Lord had placed the great responsibility of leading this people. He brought us here, and established us in the heart of this country. Here we have extended our settlements south, north, east and west, until the country is now populated with, as I suppose, some hundred thousand inhabitants. I do not know how many, it may be a hundred and fifty thousand for aught I know. Suffice it to say, we have over a hundred towns, cities and villages built up in the various portions of this great Basin, this desert country. We have beautified our inheritances; we have planted fruit trees in abundance and ornamental shade trees, so as to make our residences cheering and beautiful in the midst of a desert. God has been with us from the time that we came to this land, and I hope that the days of our tribulation are past. I hope this, because God promised in the year 1832 that we should, before the generation then living had passed away, return and build up the City of Zion in Jackson County; that we should return and build up the temple of the Most High where we formerly laid the corner stone. He promised us that He would manifest Himself on that temple, that the glory of God should be upon it; and not only upon the temple, but within it, even a cloud by day and a flaming fire by night.

We believe in these promises as much as we believe in any promise ever uttered by the mouth of Jehovah. The Latter-day Saints just as much expect to receive a fulfilment of that promise during the generation that was in existence in 1832 as they expect that the sun will rise and set to-morrow. Why? Because God cannot lie. He will fulfil all His promises. He has spoken, it must come to pass. This is our faith. It will depend upon the conduct of the Latter-day Saints whether we suffer more tribulation. We may suffer tribulation although we are righteous in every respect, though there were no sin found in the midst of the people. Why? Because the wicked always did persecute the righteous, they always did hate the principles and plan of salvation; still we have greater claim upon the arm of Jehovah for protection and assistance when we keep His commandments and love and serve Him.

Did you ever hear of the Elders of this Church getting up like the sectarian world and speaking about the love of God dwelling in their bosoms, and saying how much they loved Jesus, and at the same time transgressing his laws? No, we have no right to make any such declaration as this; hence we show to the heavens that we are determined to do the will of God. Then we may say that we love God; then we can say that we love His ways, and His Priesthood, and His Church, and His kingdom, and His Gospel which He has sent forth by His angels in the latter day.

I feel truly grateful to the Most High God that such a great improvement has been made among the Latter-day Saints in these mountains. I think I am able to judge. I have been with this people from my youth up. Forty years have almost expired since I was baptized into this Church and kingdom. I have known the former history of the Saints; and I know and understand, in some measure, their present condition, and I can contrast the two, and I see a decided improvement. Is there more union amongst them? Yes; far more than there was in the lifetime of Joseph; and all that the great mass of the people want is to know what God requires, and, with one heart and mind, they will do it. If God requires them to be baptized for their dead, as far as they can search and find out their ancestors’ names, they will do it with all their hearts and souls. If He requires them to receive the sacred ordinance of the endowments, by which they may attain to greater blessings and glory in His presence, they will go to with one heart and mind to receive those ordinances. If God requires His people to take a plurality of wives and have them sealed to them for time and eternity, behold they will do these things. If God requires the young, middle-aged, or even the aged, Elders to start from their farms or from their various occupations and leave this Territory on a journey across the Plains or across the great ocean and to the different nations of the earth and study their language and preach to the people, behold they will do it. If God calls upon this people to go forth into the South country, which is still more barren and desolate than the northern portion of the Territory, behold they are willing to go and do it. If God requires anything at their hands there is a union, oneness and willingness to go forward and carry out His great designs and purposes in regard to the rolling forth of His kingdom in the last days. By all these acts, by all these manifestations, by the good feeling that exists in the bosoms of this people, we know that they have made great improvement and advancement in the things of the kingdom of God since our Prophet was called upon to offer his great and last testimony by the shedding of his blood.

This union will increase and become stronger and stronger; it will continue until this people shall be prepared and sanctified before the heavens, and be permitted to return and build up the waste places of Zion in the western frontiers of the United States. This people will wax stronger in faith, in love towards God, in the power of the Priesthood and in the demonstration of the Spirit, until they are able to build the city wherein God shall reveal Himself, as He did in ancient times before the flood, among the people of ancient Zion—the Zion built up by Enoch. This people will increase in union, faith, greatness and glory, until the heavens shall come down and embrace us, and we shall embrace them, and all the heavenly host shall be united together in one with the hosts of the Saints of God here on earth, and a union will be created such as exists nowhere but in the celestial kingdom of our God, for the Saints themselves will ere long become celestial. Amen.

Punctual Payment of Debts

Orson Hyde

Discourse by President Orson Hyde, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 5, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

Brethren and sisters, my heart almost falters at the idea of attempting to make you all distinctly hear me, but by the aid of the Spirit of the Lord, in answer to your good wishes and prayers, I will do my best to make you hear such things as it may suggest to me. I am thankful for this opportunity of meeting the Saints from different parts of the Territory, of beholding their friendly faces, and of greeting them with a cordial “How do you do?” and “God bless you.” It really fills me with joy and gladness, and I am thankful that I have the privilege of meeting with my brethren who bear the Priesthood, and of mingling my testimony with theirs, to establish the truths of heaven long since revealed by the Lord to His people—the Latter-day Saints. Brethren and sisters, I know that the cause in which we are engaged is the cause of God. I know that Joseph Smith was a true and faithful Prophet of the Most High God. I know that he sealed his testimony with his blood, and though he is invisible to our natural eyes at the present time, he is moving the cause of Zion by an influence which we can better feel than see. I feel thankful that I have the privilege of bearing this testimony; and not only do I bear it in behalf of the martyred Prophet, but I bear the same testimony in behalf of him whom God has placed to lead, guide and govern the affairs of His kingdom on the earth—namely, President Brigham Young.

You can all behold the “Twin Peaks” down here, when you are out in the open air, towering aloft towards heaven. You have seen the clouds gather around their brow, you have heard the thunders roll and seen the lightnings flash as if they would demolish those proud monuments of nature, and the elements have expended upon them their fury, yet after all, the clouds retired, the thunders ceased to roll, the lightnings to flash, and the sky became clearer; and there stand to-day those proud monuments, unscathed and unmoved. Why? Because God Almighty’s hand reared them and placed them there. And the elements by which we are more or less surrounded may gather around our President, Brigham Young, until his name is almost obscured for the time being; the thunders may roll over his head, the lightnings may flash or the clouds gather; is he affected? Is he not the same identical pillar, leading, guiding and sustaining the cause of God? Most assuredly he is. And remember that, although the elements are lively and they play around the “Twin Peaks” with a great deal of force and fury, they can have but very little effect upon them; and so it is with the man whom God has ordained and placed to guide His Saints. Apostates may cause the clouds to gather, and they may thunder and they may lighten, and they may do this, that and the other, but at last they must yield and give place to the monument that God has erected; and he will stand forth in bold relief, towering to heaven and pointing the way to eternal life.

This is my testimony. This is the way my heart feels to-day; and it is the way it has ever felt towards that individual; it is the way that I am inclined to think that it ever will feel. It is my determination. Why? Because I have had evidence that is unmistakable that I am occupying grounds that are correct, that are true and faithful, and I cannot forget it. I pray the Lord that He may always lead me to keep the truth in mind, vivid and clear as the sun at noonday.

Brethren and sisters, if we will be united in keeping the commandments of God, in observing and cleaving to the Word of Wisdom, not for the time being only, but always while life shall last; if we will remember our prayers and be faithful in the discharge of our duties, I will tell you that any measure, inimical to our welfare and interests it may seem, that may be sought to be carried against us, will utterly fail. We have the means within ourselves to defeat almost anything that is intended for our destruction and overthrow. However I want to talk but little about this. I have endeavored to instruct the brethren and sisters where I have labored in relation to this matter, and if I shall repeat here to-day some things that I have said heretofore, do not think that it is because Brother Hyde lacks a subject; but he is happy to have the opportunity of declaring the truth; and truth never becomes stale because of being often repeated.

We are a commercial and trading people, although far inland, and hence we buy and sell. Now the question is, are we always punctual to pay according to promise and agreement? I am sorry to say that in too many instances we are careless and indifferent with regard to fulfilling our word and agreement. We are told in the good Book that we should owe no man anything but love and good will; and if every man that hears the sound of my voice to-day could stand out like an angel of God and say, “I owe no man anything but love and good will,” what missile from the enemies’ ranks could be successfully hurled against us? I say not one. We have paid that which we owe, and no man can say aught in complaint against us because we are delinquents; and every one that knows us will be ready to say, “God bless you, you are punctual and faithful.” Do we all desire, brethren and sisters, to maintain this character and stand upon this ground? I know that cases will arise, and almost unavoidably, in which we may be indebted to our brethren; but how is it with some of us when those to whom we are indebted apply for payment? I am afraid that such creditors, instead of receiving that which is their due, are sometimes turned away with an excuse; when, if the debtor would exert himself, he might pay about as well then as at any other time. But though we may turn away a brother with an excuse, does that turn away the demands of justice and right? I tell you no. I have seen individuals who would contract a debt, apparently regardless whether they paid or not. I do not know that there are any here, but if there are I hope they will heed the words which I speak. Let me say that I very much question whether, if we have contracted debts and do not pay them, nor manifest any desire to do so, we shall go into the celestial kingdom. I cannot tell how this will be, but I should rather fear that, instead of going into the celestial kingdom, we should go down to that prison that is spoken of in the Scriptures. Hence we are exhorted to “agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison: verily, verily, I say unto thee that thou shalt not come out thence until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” Whether this Scripture legitimately applies in this case, I will not say; but to my mind it has a strong beginning in that direction. Well, if I have to go to prison and there work to pay the uttermost farthing, heaven nerve my arm so that I may meet and pay my obligations while I am in the flesh. I know that in relation to these matters some of us have been in the habit of considering, “Well, it is a brother to whom I owe this debt, and I can put him off, he will bear with me, and if he begins to make any particular demonstration towards collecting it, I will twine around him, and say, ‘Bear with me a little, and I will pay you,’” when perhaps we have no real, firm and fixed determination to pay that debt at all.

Will the Lord hear and answer our prayers if this be our condition? I cannot say, but I will tell you I would rather be clear of any obligation except those of love and good will. I would rather risk prayer offered under these circumstances than when offered while the suppliant is involved in debts and obligations he has failed to discharge.

Now, brethren and sisters, if we will train ourselves never to contract a debt, unless we feel sure, and not only feel sure, but determined, to pay according to promise, we shall not have the burdens on our shoulders that we otherwise shall have. Times are changing. Sometimes we are tempted by the allurements of the world, by the flow of money and by the abundance of everything, to go beyond the mark, and we contract debts; then perhaps there is a shutdown on the sources of prosperity, and a dark, dull time, financially, may set in, and everything we have got is at stake. Which, then, is the better way? The better way, in my opinion, is to keep clear of debt; whether times are prosperous or tight, keep clear of debt if possible.

Some will run into debt to gratify pride, and they will really rob themselves and their creditors just to keep up with this fanciful thing called fashion. Brother or sister So and So says, “I must have this or that, because somebody else has it;” or somebody has got such a thing, and I feel that I am as much entitled to it as he or she. I say let somebody else have as many fashions as they like, but let us abide by what God has given us and be content therewith; and if we really want more, let us make a little extra exertion, and before we spend money let us earn it. I know men who will actually go to work and sell the crop, that they are perhaps planting now, to merchants; and when they irrigate those crops it is not for themselves, but for them to whom they have sold it. The same is true when the grain is harvested and when it is threshed. There is no liberty, independence or nobility in this; but they who take this course are bound down and are slaves to somebody else. I feel that a little economy and self-denial would relieve us very much from this embarrassment and incumbrance. I believe the good Book says, “Except a man deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, he cannot be my disciple.” Do we seek to deny ourselves or to gratify ourselves? Which is the greater labor, to gratify or to deny ourselves? I will tell you that if we would bestow as much labor in denying ourselves as we do in gratifying ourselves, we should feel better and should be happier, and the heavens would plead our cause more effectually. How comfortable a man feels when he can say to himself, “Though I have but little, thank God I do not owe anybody anything.” I have paid up my tithing, my emigration indebtedness, I have paid for my newspaper, and done the best I could to keep the hearts of my brethren whole by paying promptly, according to promise, so that the great machine of progress may move without obstruction and hindrance? I believe that if we will all turn in from this time and be honest, and really pay our debts and obligations, we have no great reason to fear anything injurious proceeding from any quarter.

Suppose now, brethren and sisters, that we should be united in this one thing, and should actually go to and pay our debts and obligations. Let me suggest to you one thing. Says one, “Really, I would very much like if I had the assurance that God heard my prayers.” Now, when you go home, just think of them to whom you are indebted and who is in most need among your creditors, and then go right to that individual and bless him with an instal[l]ment of what you owe him, and I tell you that will aid very much the acceptance of your offering unto God; it will induce Him to hear your prayer and to answer it. If you don’t believe it, try it, and instead of putting off your brother, to whom you are indebted, and making a thousand excuses and apologies, and trying to get out of his road, go right to him, be honest, lay your heart open to him, and say, “My brother, I will do all I can for you. I will bless you by paying you what I owe, or a portion of it, and I will pay you the remainder as fast as I possibly can.” Let this course be taken throughout Israel, and see if the tables will not turn in favor of Zion. I feel that they will; let us all take this course and see.

I intend, if the Lord will let me live, and I believe He will, to work just as hard as I can to pay every just obligation that I owe, and I believe I shall accomplish it. I pray the Lord to let me live until I can say, boldly and honestly and truly, that I owe no man anything but love and goodwill; and then as much longer as He pleases. That is what I desire and intend. And I believe that if we, as a people, do this, remember our prayers, and keep the words of wisdom, the Lord will not suffer the enemy to prevail against us.

Now I look around this congregation, and contemplate that there are, perhaps, some ten or twelve thousand persons, and it may be more, I do not know, there is a very large number; then when I think that numerous as we are here we are but the representatives—not more than a tithing of those left behind, of the same stripe, it reminds me of the words of Joseph the Prophet, when he said, “Brethren, remember that the majority of this people will never go astray; and as long as you keep with the majority you are sure to enter the celestial kingdom.” I am satisfied, brethren, that if we will go to with our might and strength and pay our debts and liabilities the blessing of God will attend us, and that too in the eyes of all the world.

I will tell you what I expect. I expect to live to see the day when those in our midst, who have sought our injury and ruin, will stand the same as men do, when discovered, that I read of in the papers, who rob henroosts or steal sheep. You know how they feel—they feel “cheap,” they would feel very mean in the presence of honorable men. I expect to live to see the day, brethren, when those who have sought our injury will quail in our presence.

Well, this is no time for long sermons. There are my brethren of the Twelve here, besides many others, who want to speak; and I presume to say that I have occupied my share of the time. One thing more, however, I will say. You who have money owing to you, do not, from my remarks, go to him who owes you and take him by the throat and say, “Pay me that which thou owest.” Do not do that. No, let your debtor remain undisturbed by you; you be silent, and see whether that man’s conscience will operate upon him so as to induce him to come and make reasonable and proper satisfaction to you; and if he will not when this subject is fully laid before him you may begin to think that he is not as honest as he should be, and by and by he will work himself out of the kingdom.

I feel, brethren and sisters, that I am in the right company. If I can only manage to keep right myself, if I can only manage to be true and faithful to my God and myself, while I am in the midst of this assembly—the representatives of a host of Latter-day Saints—their hearts beating in unison with my words, and my words with their hearts, I feel that I am not following the few who break off, but that I am with the majority, and we are bound for the celestial kingdom.

God defend His people and their rights, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Our Traditions—Receiving Counsel

George Q. Cannon

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, Nov. 13, 1870. Reported by David W. Evans.

The instructions which we have heard from our brethren, this morning and afternoon, are calculated to benefit every one of us, if we have listened attentively and are disposed to treasure them up in our hearts; but that is the great difficulty with us as individuals and as a people. We hear so much good instruction that it is apt to pall upon us, like persons who have plenty of food; they sometimes eat to satiety and lose their appetite, their food does not relish as it did when they were pinched with hunger and did not have such abundance. I do not know that you ever have that feeling here in Ogden; it is a feeling that no Latter-day Saints should have. In fact, there is this peculiarity about the truth, as it is preached by the servants of God—the more it is listened to the more it is sought after and cultivated, and the more precious and sweet is its influence upon the hearts of those who take this course. But where there is indifference and formality, and people don’t seek, as Brother Heber used to say, to dig down to the roots, it may in such cases become wearisome and fail to have the effect it should have. But when I look at the progress that the brethren and sisters are making I feel gratified. There are times, perhaps, when I feel as others do—that we are not making the progress that we should do; that we are more careless and harder in our hearts and less under the influences of the Holy Spirit and the counsels of the servants of God than we should be. This is my feeling sometimes; but when I look calmly at the Saints, and consider the many difficulties with which they have to contend and the vast amount of tradition that has to be uprooted and overcome, I am gratified at the progress which they make, and feel comforted in the prospects that are before us, and before the Zion of God with which we are connected.

It is these traditions that we have to contend with that are so difficult for us to overcome, that interfere so seriously with the progress of the people in the things of God. They cling more closely to us than many of us imagine, and it is only when the Spirit of God rests upon us and we realize its power to a greater extent that we can understand and comprehend the power of tradition over our minds and conduct. This is the great obstruction to the teachings of the Elders and to the reception of and obedience to counsel; and that prevents the people being united as the heart of one man. It is this which prevents us entering upon the more perfect order that God has revealed, and that gives our enemies more power in our midst than they otherwise would have. It should be the aim of every one of us to seek, as far as possible, to put these things away from us. It is our privilege to have power from God, to have sufficient faith bestowed upon us through His Holy Spirit, to overcome these traditions. The writers in the Book of Mormon, in speaking of the vail of darkness that rested upon the minds of the people, alluded to it as a vail which can be rent asunder by the exercise of faith and by the blessing of God upon His Saints. There is a vail over our minds in consequence of the Fall, and our being shut, as it were, through that, from the presence of God. He can see us, but to us He is invisible, and we can know Him only through His Holy Spirit, as He reveals Himself to us from time to time. In consequence of this the adversary has great power over the hearts of the children of men; and it is only by exercising faith, by seeking earnestly for that Spirit which He bestows, that we are enabled to counteract this darkness and the influence which Satan seeks to exercise over our hearts.

I rejoice in one fact which God has revealed; it comforts my heart when I think of our condition and circumstances and of His kingdom, and that is that we live in the day when, according to the words of the prophets and according to the revelations which God has given to us in this dispensation, the power of Satan is becoming less and less, and the power of God is to increase and to be made more and more manifest, to the exposing of the works of darkness and to the breaking of the yoke which the enemy of all righteousness seeks to fasten upon the minds and understandings of the children of men.

It is a glorious thought for us to reflect upon that we live in a day and at a time in which God has promised to exercise His power in our behalf; when He and Jesus and the holy angels and the spirits of just men made perfect are all engaged with us in hastening the great work of redemption, and in banishing from the earth the power of evil which has so long held it in thraldom. God has given us this promise, and if we will labor with the zeal and industry which should characterize His Saints in carrying out His purposes He will bestow upon us every blessing that we need, and will give us power, as I have said, to overcome our traditions, to see the things of God in their true light, and to behold the truth in all its splendor and beauty.

There is one great truth that we have to learn. Brother Carrington alluded to it in his remarks; and all the Elders allude to it more or less when addressing the Saints, and that is, that the Gospel offers every advantage to those who obey and are faithful to it that God can bestow upon His children. There is no advantage to be gained outside of this Church or outside this Gospel; there is no blessing that we can seek for or desire, or that would be proper for us to receive under our present circumstances that we cannot obtain inside the Gospel, or inside the truth; or that we can obtain outside the Gospel, or by departing from the servants of God. You may let your minds run, if you please, over all there is pertaining to the earth and man, or that will contribute to the happiness of man on the earth, and you cannot conceive of any blessing or advantage that is not within your reach legitimately, if you pursue the path God has marked out and by abiding the counsels He makes known from time to time.

A great many do not comprehend this; and this is one of the traditions that we have to contend with, and it arises from the lack of faith in our hearts, and the unbelief that we have received from our forefathers. And we have to contend with it when counsel is given to us in relation to our temporal circumstances and other matters. It is frequently the case that we cannot see any particular advantage in that counsel; it does not strike us favorably. We imagine that some other course would be better for us to pursue, and that by adopting some other line of policy or conduct greater advantages would accrue unto us. But we have to learn, if we have not already learned it, that obedience to counsel is the policy for us to pursue; and that when we indulge in thoughts of an opposite character we suffer ourselves to be led astray by the power of the adversary. Hence it has become almost proverbial among the Saints that the path of counsel is the path of safety. Those who have had years of experience in the Church have arrived at the conclusion that the path marked out for us to walk in by those who have authority to counsel and dictate is invariably the path of safety to those who adopt it. But our traditions interfere with this.

You look back over the policy that has been taught us for the past few years. I refer more particularly to this because, having been at home in the midst of the Saints, I have been more familiar with the counsels given. I can cast my eyes back for that time, and see, and doubtless you can when you reflect upon it, that there have been many items of counsel given that the Saints have been reluctant to obey or adopt, and which, if they had been carried out in the spirit in which they were given, would have resulted in great advantage to us as a people, and doubtless as individuals. I will refer to one item, that has been talked about a great deal—namely, sustaining our enemies. Now it seems that a moment’s reflection on this point would satisfy every individual that the policy foreshadowed in this counsel was the best that could be adopted by a people surrounded with such circumstances as those surrounding us. But how difficult it has been to induce the people to carry that counsel out; why it has been so difficult that in some instances men have actually run the risk of losing their standing in the Church of Jesus Christ rather than forego the gratification of traditions and desires, which, seemingly, have taken entire possession of them—namely, to do as they please in relation to these matters.

Now, as I have said, a moment’s reflection ought to satisfy everybody that this is the true course for us to pursue; that if we intend to build up the Zion of God and to become a great people, it is essential that we should concentrate our means in one channel; that we should sustain those who are friendly to and whose whole interest is centred in the cause of Zion; and that, instead of spending our means in fostering a power in our midst that is opposed to the work of God, we should be willing, rather than do this, to forego what may seem to be an advantage to us, and even deprive ourselves of comforts and submit to privation if necessary to carry out this policy. If our minds were not blinded by tradition we should see at once that it would be an advantage to us as a people to put our means in one direction, and not allow it to go outside the kingdom of God any more than it is absolutely necessary; and that we should never use the influence which God has given us, or the means which He has bestowed upon us to foster or maintain any man or anything that is opposed to His cause. Why, the security that we have here in these mountains depends upon our taking this course to a very great extent.

We are engaged, as has been remarked, in a warfare. The enemy that we have to oppose is one that does not relent in the least degree; he does not yield or show the least sign of mercy or even to give us fair play; but continually shows a disposition to crowd us to the wall and take every advantage, and to overwhelm us in every possible manner. God has brought us to this land; He has given it unto us and has made it a blest land for our sakes. He has sustained us in a wonderful manner for a great many years, and has given unto us the means whereby we could surround ourselves with those things necessary for our convenience and comfort. For long years the effort has been incessant on the part of God’s servants to induce us to become a self-sustaining people. Now that the railway is completed we can see God’s Spirit and His wisdom in this, impelling His servants to dwell upon this theme. Year after, year, conference after conference, and meeting after meeting were the Saints instructed and continually urged to establish home manufactures, and to develop the resources which they had in their own midst, so that they might become self-sustaining. There was a providence in this. As I now view it, I can see its force more clearly than ever, although I always saw the force and necessity of the counsel; but now that events have worked out the results that we see around us I can see the propriety in God inspiring His servants to give this counsel so many years ago. He could see in His divine wisdom that a day was coming when we should be, so to speak, overwhelmed, or when attempts would be made to overthrow us, and when there would be a greater necessity, apparently, than at that day, that we should be able to sustain ourselves, and to keep our means within ourselves, and not be under the necessity of fostering those from abroad who might come amongst us to acquire fortunes from our means and labors. For years has counsel on these subjects been reiterated in our ears, and scarcely a meeting has been held by the First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles, or any of the Elders of Israel in which this subject has not been prominently dwelt upon, the Elders feeling in their spirit and in their entire being that it was essentially important that the Latter-day Saints should carry out this policy strictly. We can now begin to see, if this counsel had not been given, and the Saints had continued to spend their money with anybody and everybody, no matter if it were the greatest enemy of the kingdom of God, what would have been our position to-day. Our enemies would have been in our midst, numbering hundreds where they now only number tens; and the efforts to disintegrate the kingdom of God might have been attended with a degree of success, whereas they have been entirely abortive.

You may trace the counsels that have been given to us from the beginning, one step following another in natural order and succession; one principle leading to another, and one important truth engendering, as it were, another important truth, revealing it and bringing it more forcibly home to our minds, until finally co-operation and its necessity have been brought to our attention and enforced upon us. Here tradition has come up again and has had its effect; and it has required days, weeks, and it may be said years of preaching to bring this principle home to the minds of the Latter-day Saints, so that they could see and understand its beauty and propriety, and the advantages which would result from its adoption in our midst. If we had not these traditions to contend with, co-operation would be sustained with hardly a dissentient. We should grasp the idea at once, and see beauty in it. We would say, “That is a principle I can recognize; I see its force and its advantages, and I am ready to adopt it and carry it out.” But no, there are these traditions; there is this unbelief, this reluctance on the part of the people to part with their old systems and to adopt the principles of the Gospel and the revelations of Jesus Christ, as they are given unto us. There is that terrible tradition, that has such strong hold of all our minds, that the Priesthood of God and the religion of Jesus Christ have nothing to do particularly with temporal matters. It is a tradition almost as old as Christianity. It has come down to us for generations and centuries, and is fully interwoven in the hearts, minds and feelings of the children of men, and it is an exceedingly difficult thing to get them to comprehend that temporal things and spiritual things are alike in the sight of God; that there is no line of demarcation between the two; that the religion of Jesus Christ applies to one as much as another, and comprehends within its scope, temporal equally with spiritual matters.

This has made it difficult to enforce upon us the necessity of practically carrying out the principle of cooperation. “O,” say men, “that is a temporal matter, pertaining merely to the buying and selling of goods; it is not particularly connected with life and salvation or with eternal glory in the kingdom of God.” But there they mistake. I look upon that principle, though it may be subordinate in some respects, as divine, as coming through revelation, and as necessary in its place as any other principle that can be mentioned which is connected with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are all alike to me—all alike necessary and divine. Divine wisdom has prompted their practice, and has inspired the servant of God who presides and whom God has chosen to be His mouthpiece in our midst, to reveal them, one as much as another, unto us as a people.

When we have practiced this principle long enough, and are sufficiently advanced in it, there are other principles, now ahead, which we shall be prepared to enter upon and practice. But we must get rid of this tradition that envelopes us and which lies in our pathway, and which is so serious an obstacle to our progress. As fast as we overcome our traditions there will be other principles revealed to us, and thus it will go on, law after law and principle after principle being revealed until we shall be prepared to enter into the glory of our God, and to dwell in the presence of God and the Lamb.

It is essentially necessary then, in view of these things, that we should exercise faith. Our minds should be drawn out and our faith exercised. It may be but little in the beginning. As the Prophet Alma said, when addressing the people on one occasion, and referring to the word of the Lord, it was like seed planted in the heart; its influence and effect at first were not very powerful; but if it were planted in the heart, by and by it began to germinate and grow and the possessor of it said, “Why it is a good seed, I feel it growing!” And if it were nourished and cherished it would continue to grow until, to use a figure, it would become a great tree, and fill the whole man with light, knowledge and wisdom, and with the gifts and qualifications necessary to make him perfect before the Lord. Our faith may be small in the beginning, but if we cultivate it, it will grow; if we do not it will die out, noxious weeds will spring up and choke it. But if we exercise it as we should, the vail of darkness that separates us from God, and which prevents us comprehending the things of His kingdom, will grow thinner and thinner, until we see with great distinctness and clearness the purposes of God our heavenly Father, and comprehend them as He designs we should, and carry them out in our lives.

This should be our aim as a people and as individuals, every day living so near to God that we shall have more of His Spirit and power, and more of the gifts and endowments of the holy Gospel of the Son of God. If we take and continue in this course we shall feel and understand that we are progressing in the knowledge of God and in the comprehension of truth. And let me tell you, my brethren and sisters, if we thus live, when counsel is given, no matter what it may be, or what principle it may refer to, it will be plain and simple, and as clear unto our minds as the light we now see; and our understandings will be enlightened by it and we shall see beauty in it. If it be to stop trading with our enemies, we will adopt it. We shall feel, “That principle is true, it recommends itself to my understanding; the Spirit of God bears witness to my spirit that it is true, and I will adopt it.” And then, after awhile, when co-operation is taught unto us we will receive that also in a like spirit and faith; and if our minds are possessed of the Spirit of God we will say, “There is light in this principle; I see its advantages, I will sustain it by carrying it out myself, and I will try and exercise influence with my friends and induce them to do the same, that it may become universally practiced in the midst of the Saints.” It will be thus, if we live our religion, not only with every principle that God has revealed, but that He may hereafter reveal. We shall know for ourselves concerning them; they will be plain and simple and in harmony with our feelings. There will be no disturbance of mind, no difficulty in carrying them out. This will go on under the leadership of him whom God has chosen to be our guide, and we shall progress step by step, week by week, gaining power, knowledge, influence, territory and wealth, until we shall emancipate this land and redeem it from the thraldom of sin and from the power of Satan; and the kingdom of Satan will recede before the light, faith and power of the Saints of the kingdom of God.

This is the work in which we are engaged. It is not a work to occupy our attention for one day, and then have it diverted from it for a week; but it is the work of our entire lifetime, all that we have to do. It is a mission that God has given to us here on earth. We can’t be engaged in anything more noble than this work, for it is the work of God—a work in which He, Himself, is engaged—a work that occupies the attention and labors of Jesus, and every holy apostle, prophet, and Saint that has ever lived on the earth. These things are not gained without exertion; they require industry, zeal and attention on our part; and when we thus bestow attention on the work in which we are occupied, why God is with us, angels around about us, the heavens are open to us, the Spirit of God is poured out upon us, and our lives are a pleasant flowing stream, full of peace, joy and heaven. We feel that we have heaven indeed, here below; and wherever we go we carry this holy influence with us and diffuse it around us; and thus the power of Satan is weakened on the earth, and the power of God is increased.

There are some of the brethren and sisters, doubtless, who cannot see these things in this light. You will hear them very frequently say, “I cannot see this counsel, I can’t comprehend it, it don’t strike me;” but there is no fault in the counsel. They would, by their words, reflect on the counsel; they would convey the idea to those who listen to them, that there is something at fault; they are right, but the counsel is wrong. Now, it may be given as a rule, I believe, to the Latter-day Saints, that in every such case, whether it be man or woman, he or she has got to repent and seek unto the Lord for faith and for the light of His Holy Spirit to be given unto them.

How was it with us when we first heard the truth? Oh! how sweet and delightful the sound of the Elder’s voice when he proclaimed that God had spoken from the heavens; that angels had come to the earth again, and that the holy Priesthood was bestowed upon men! How sweet, when he said that the Church was organized with its ancient power and purity and pristine fullness; that the Holy Ghost, with its wealth of gifts, and blessings, had been bestowed upon men! How was it with those who were prepared for these tidings when they heard them proclaimed? Their hearts burned within them and they were filled with joy when the testimony of the truth came to them; and when other principles were taught unto them, O, the joy that filled them in listening to them, and they knew by the testimony of Jesus and by the Spirit and power of God that rested upon them that these things were true! They could get up in their meetings and testify “I know this is true.” When they heard the gathering preached they had the testimony that it was true; and some had it before it was preached. They knew it was from God and that God established His Zion, and their hearts burned at the thought that they would soon be with the Saints of God in Zion. They yearned for the land of Zion and for the society of the people of God. This was their testimony, and they had it in the States, Europe, Africa, Asia, islands of the sea, and in every land where the Gospel has been preached and the people have been prepared to receive it.

This has been the testimony, and if this spirit has continued to rest upon them every principle that has been taught has been plain and delightful to them. Is not this our experience, brethren and sisters? We can all bear testimony to it. Then whence come this darkness and these doubts respecting counsel? Whence comes this query about co-operation? Whence comes this distrust about other counsel in relation to temporal matters? Why, it is very easy to understand whence it comes and what its origin is. It can be traced to neglect of duty, to the hardening of the heart, to the indulgence of a spirit of unbelief, to the neglect of prayer, to becoming selfish and sordid, and to the commission of sin. There are causes for all this, for let me tell you, and testify to you to-day, that the Latter-day Saint who lives near to God, and has the Spirit of God constantly resting upon him or her, never has any doubts about any principle that God has revealed. When the gathering was taught they were prepared for it; when the payment of tithing was taught they were prepared for it; when consecration was taught they were prepared for it; when the move South was taught they were prepared for it; when the move back was taught they were prepared for it; when celestial marriage was taught they were prepared for it; when the word came, “Cease to trade with our enemies,” they were prepared for it; and when co-operation was taught they were prepared for it. There was no doubt in their minds, because the same Spirit that taught them that this was the truth in the beginning, and that God had spoken from the heavens, taught them also that all these things were true. But when you have doubts respecting counsel given by the servants of God, then be assured, my brethren and sisters, there is room for repentance; we are not living as near to God as we should do; we have not the Spirit of God as we once had it, and we should seek unto God with full purpose of heart, that the light of His Spirit may be bestowed upon us again. Then, when the servant of God stands up and teaches us concerning the things of the kingdom, his words will find a lodging place in our hearts; his counsels will be clear and sweet unto us, and there will be no dubiety, no distress, neither any disposition to repel these counsels or to feel offended at them. And if the word come to us to go on a foreign mission, to go to “Dixie,” to Bear Lake, or any other place to perform this or that labor, we shall be ready to obey, for the Spirit will reveal to us beforehand what we have to do and prepare us for its performance.

These are the privileges of the Latter-day Saints. I talk not something that is theory, or away off, or that happened years ago; I talk not of that which is out of our reach, but I speak of that which is within our reach, within the reach of all: it is practical. We can obtain and possess and enjoy it; and if we do not, we do not live up to our privileges as Latter-day Saints. O! I feel sometimes, I wish I had the tongue of an angel to proclaim to the children of men the glad tidings of salvation that God has revealed to us in the day in which we live. This blessed time! This time of times, when God in His mercy has restored His Church to the earth, and has given us prophets and Apostles and the Holy Ghost and its gifts; and in His great mercy has brought us to this land, where we can dwell in peace, where we can go out and in before the Lord without any to molest or make us afraid.

My brethren and sisters, what blessed privileges we do enjoy when compared with the Saints in former days; and even when compared with our own circumstances in the early history of the Church, what blessed privileges God has given us in this glorious land! We have rulers of our own choice—men whom God has chosen; we have the voice of God in our midst, so that we need not walk in darkness and doubt. There is no uncertainty in all the land of Zion concerning the purposes of God. It need not be said of us as it was of Israel, “There is no Urim and Thummim; there is no dream or vision, and no prophet in the land.” We have the prophet of God; we have the visions of the Almighty; we have the Spirit of God descending upon us like sweet dew; we have the gifts of the Spirit of God; we have the Gospel in the fulness and plenitude of its power. We have all this, and we have the promises of God concerning us and our posterity; and, as I have said, we have this glorious land of freedom and liberty, where we can build up the kingdom of God in power and great glory; where we can be a free people, if we so choose. If this is not the case, it is because we are wicked, because we disobey counsel; because we harden our hearts and have placed ourselves in a position to be scourged. It is not God’s will that we should be, or that our enemies should have power over us. It is His good will and pleasure to give unto us the kingdom and dominion, and to strengthen and uphold us.

Let us then be faithful! Let us live day by day, from morning until night, in the moments of business and when perplexed with its cares, with our thoughts on the kingdom, and our prayers ascending to the God of our fathers, yea, unto our Father, for His blessings upon us; and that He may fill us with His spirit and prepare us for the things that await us, and help us to be faithful even unto the end.

That we may all be thus faithful and overcome, and be counted worthy to sit down with our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and with all the holy ones in the presence of God and the Lamb, and be crowned with glory, immortality and endless lives, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.