Journal of Discourses

Volume 3

By Brigham Young, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

His Two Counsellors, the Twelve Apostles, and Others.

Reported by G. D. Watt, and Humbly Dedicated to the Latter-day Saints in All the World

Liverpool: Edited and Published by Orson Pratt, 42, Islington.
London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 35, Jewin Street, City.

1856

Journal of Discourses, Volume 3. Kindle edition published August 2010 by Ben Crowder. Updated October 2011.

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Table of Contents

Original page numbers are in parentheses.

- Preface

- Gathering the Poor, by Brigham Young (1–6)

- The Holy Spirit, and Human Learning and Science, by Jedediah M. Grant (7–12)

- Trials of the Saints — Redemption of Zion — Second Coming of Christ — The Word of Wisdom, by Orson Pratt (12–19)

- Exhortation to Faithfulness, by Heber C. Kimball (20–23)

- Preaching the Gospel, by George A. Smith (23–28)

- The History of Mahomedanism, by George A. Smith (28–37)

- Mahometanism and Christianity, by Parley P. Pratt (38–42)

- Faith — Practical Religion — Chastisement — Necessity of Devils, by Brigham Young (43–51)

- Times for All Things — Prayer — Chastisement — Unity — Faithfulness — Reverence for Sacred Things — Reformation, by Presidents B. Young, H.C. Kimball, J.M. Grant and E.T. Benson (51–65)

- Instructions to New Comers, by Jedediah M. Grant (65–69)

- The Kingdom of God, by Orson Pratt (70–74)

- The Vine and Fig Tree — Duties of Saints, by Ezra T. Benson (75–79)

- The Gospel of Salvation — A Vision — Redemption of the Earth and All That Pertains to It, by Brigham Young (80–96)

- Language, or the Medium of Communication in the Future State, and the Increased Powers of Locomotion, by Orson Pratt (97–105)

- Education — The Resurrection — The World of Spirits, by Heber C. Kimball (105–114)

- Necessity of Home Missions — Purification of the Saints — Chastisement — Honesty in Business, by Brigham Young (115–123)

- Iniquity — Saints Living Their Religion — Early Marriages, by Heber C. Kimball (120–125)

- Men Rewarded According to their Works, by Jedediah M. Grant (125–127)

- Literal Fulfilment of Prophecy — Destruction of Jerusalem — Restoration of Israel — The Coming of Christ, by Parley P. Pratt (127–139)

- Comprehensiveness of the Gospel — Truth the Bond of Union — Men Must Work Out Their Own Salvation, by Amasa Lyman (140–152)

- The Necessity of the Saints Having the Spirit of Revelation — Faith and Works — The Power of God and of the Devil, by Brigham Young (153–160)

- Rebuking Iniquity — The Potter and the Clay — A Dream, by Heber C. Kimball (160–164)

- Salvation — Men Are Damned by their Misdeeds — Truth — Comprehensiveness of “Mormonism”, by Amasa Lyman (164–177)

- The First Principles of the Gospel, by Parley P. Pratt (177–191)

- The Powers of the Priesthood not Generally Understood — The Necessity of Living by Revelation — The Abuse of Blessings, by Brigham Young (191–196)

- The Necessity of a Living Priesthood — The Utah Legislature, by Heber C. Kimball (197–198)

- The Present Scarcity of Food — Exhortation to the Bishops to Take Care of the Poor — The Failure of the Crops Will Prove a Blessing to the Saints, by Jedediah M. Grant (199–202)

- Eternal Increase of Knowledge — Necessity of Cleaving to Every Good Principle — Men Are Not Made Saints by Miraculous Gifts, but Through Obeying the Truth, and Obtaining the Witness of the Spirit, by Brigham Young (203–213)

- Salvation — The Lord’s Prayer — Newness of Life, by Amasa Lyman (213–220)

- The Necessity of the Saints Living up to the Light which has been Given Them, by Brigham Young (221–226)

- Elders Called to go on Missions, etc., by Heber C. Kimball (227–232)

- Exposing Wickedness Among the Saints, etc., by J.M. Grant (232–236)

- Lawyers, and Those Who Practice Attending Law Courts, Rebuked, etc., by Brigham Young (236–241)

- Wickedness Among the Saints, etc., by Heber C. Kimball (242–243)

- Instructions to the Bishops, etc., by Brigham Young (243–249)

- The Devil to be Cast Out of the Earth, etc., by Heber C. Kimball (249–254)

- Difficulties Not Found Among the Saints Who Live Their Religion, etc., by Brigham Young (254–260)

- Those Saints Who Have Not Seen the Wickedness of the World Cannot Appreciate Their Blessings, etc., by Heber C. Kimball (261–263)

- Plurality of Wives — The Free Agency of Man, by Brigham Young (264–268)

- Men Must Save Themselves, etc., by Heber C. Kimball (268–271)

- Preaching — Necessity of the Saints Having Confidence in Those Over Them — Necessity of Wisdom in Dealing with Those who are Dead to Good Works — Ignorance of Worldly Philosophers — The Principle of Life as Shown in the Disolution of Organized Matter, by Brigham Young (272–279)

- The Leaven of the Gospel — The Saints Should Divest Themselves of Old Traditions — Policy of Making Good Farms and Storing up Grain, by George A. Smith (280–291)

- The Salvation of the Soul of the Greatest Importance — Benefit of the Useful Sciences, etc., by Orson Pratt (291–298)

- The Advantages of the Latter–day Saints, Compared with the Disadvantages Under Which Noah Labored, etc., by Orson Pratt (299–307)

- Progress of the Latter–day Church, etc., by Parley P. Pratt (307–316)

- Disinclination of Men to Learn Through the Teaching and Experience of Others, etc., by Brigham Young (316–327)

- Irrigation, etc., by Brigham Young (328–333)

- Remarks on a Revelation Given at August 1831, etc., by Brigham Young (333–344)

- The Faith and Visions of the Ancient Saints, etc., by Orson Pratt (344–354)

- The Order of Progression in Knowledge — The Way by Which Saints Become One — Aptness of Men to Remember Evil Rather Than Good — A Characteristic of Saints is to Remember Good and Forget Evil — Our Affections Should be Placed on the Kingdom of God Above all Other Things, by Brigham Young (354–361)

- The Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues — The Former Circumstances and Present Condition of the Saints Contrasted — Trials and Temptations Necessary to Exaltation — The Condition of Disembodied Spirits — Redemption of the Dead, by Brigham Young (362–375)

Preface

We are privileged to present to the Saints and the world, the Third Volume of the Journal of Discourses, containing the principles of the Gospel of salvation delivered to this generation through the Apostles and Prophets of the Most High, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

These Discourses as they successively reach us from Zion, show to those who have the spirit of discernment that the Lord’s power is increasing among His people, and that He is purifying and bringing them nearer to Him by chastisements, while at the same time He is blessing them with a continual development of the pure principles of eternal life, in proportion as they yield obedience to His requirements.

The light of truth, as it emanates from the abode of the Eternal Father through His Priesthood on the earth, is exposing the corruptions of hypocrites, and apostate spirits among the gathered Saints, and making the spiritual darkness of the surrounding nations more visible. It is also heaping condemnation upon those who still choose darkness rather than light.

Each successive Volume of these Discourses is a rich mine of wealth, containing gems of great value, and the diligent seeker will find ample reward for his labor. After the fathers and mothers of this generation have made them the study of their lives, their children’s children will find that they are still unexhausted, and rejoice that this Record has been handed down from their fathers to also aid them in following the way of life.

No one can remain a Saint long, unless he progresses by seeking after the higher knowledge, spirit, and power of those who are set to lead him. A little observation and experience will also satisfy him that he can never fully understand their sayings until he has advanced as far as they have, and sees and comprehends as they do, hence he will ever find their instructions the great fountain from which he must draw the elements of his own progress.

THE PUBLISHER

Gathering the Poor

Brigham Young

An address by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sep. 16, 1855.

Concerning the Saints in these Valleys, and those who are abroad, I have a few remarks to make. The promises referred to by the brethren who have addressed you this morning are very reasonable—they are very judicious; they have promised to remember the poor in their prayers, and before their brethren in Zion. I have made the Saints some promises, and I am not aware that I have made any promises to them that I have not fulfilled, at least so far as I was personally concerned. I have promised myself that I would plead for the poor; I have done it—I have continued to do it—and I expect to continue to plead for the poor Saints. I have preached in the United States, in the British Provinces, and in the Island of Great Britain, and have invariably promised the Saints one blessing, viz., hard labor, hard fare, and plenty of persecution, if they would only live their religion, and I believe they are generally well satisfied that this promise has been amply fulfilled. If the Saints cannot endure, and endure to the end, they have no reason to expect eternal salvation

While brother Brown was speaking of the Saints in England, that they would probably be good Saints if they were nursed, nourished, and cherished, I had certain reflections. We gather the Saints, and gather those who are poor; what for? To bring to pass righteousness, but many of them turn and go to the devil. I will relate. Before we arrived in Winter Quarters we held obligations and accounts, against the poor Saints we had emigrated to America, to the amount of about thirty-five thousand dollars, and that too out of our own individual pockets—it was not Church money. But while we were in Winter Quarters, I do not think there could have been ten persons counted, old and young, who were brought from England by our liberality. Is this fact encouraging or discouraging? The honest poor are still suffering, I mean the Lord’s poor. But you may take the devil’s poor and the poor devils, and they will plead a thousand times harder to be brought out of England, to have their feet placed upon American soil, than the Lord’s poor, or the honest poor. The devil’s poor and the poor devils will manage to get here, while very many of the Lord’s poor stay there and suffer, and continue to suffer until they lay down their bodies and sleep in the tomb. Thousands and thousands of them will do this, while that portion who call so loudly for help are those who will come here and then go to the devil.

If there could be any rule by which the honest poor in England could be designated from the dishonest, if the wealthy of that nation could draw the line between them, allow me to tell you that but few of the honest inhabitants of that country would suffer as they now do for want of the common necessaries of life.

What is the cause of so much suffering there? Why the poor devils get licence for begging, and beg from house to house, making a speculation of it; they beg money, bread, and clothing, and then speculate upon it, and thus abuse their friends and their gifts.

There are thousands of houses in England kept by beggars, as fine houses as there are in that country, and their proprietors can ride in their coach and four: that there are such characters is well known among the people. Some of the large boarding houses in England are kept by them, and they hire men, women, and children to beg; they are licensed beggars. The women borrow their neighbor’s children and carry them out to deceive the industrious and wealthy population, and thus they excite the sympathies of, and beg from, every passenger going into or coming out of a conveyance, and perhaps go to their homes twice or three times a-day loaded down with money. This is well known by the wealthy, but they cannot draw the line of distinction between them and the honest poor, hence they are obliged to suffer the consequences.

Were it not for this the worthy poor would be fed and clothed in England. If the wealthy of that nation could know the truth they would feed the hungry and clothe the naked, honest, just, and virtuous portions of the community. But they do not know them, and if they give a loaf of bread or a sixpence, they expect it is given to a poor devil; this makes them very careful how they give.

Has not a similar dishonesty the same effect upon us? It has, and that is what I wish to talk about. For example, a man in England, professing to be a Latter-day Saint, will go to his brother in the Church and promise, in the most sacred manner, and call God and angels to witness, and hope he may die, and not live to get to America, if he is not as prompt to his word as an angel, to pay him back at such a time, if he will lend him ten sovereigns to help him away to America; another will get five sovereigns in the same way; another will beg to be allowed to take so much out of a contribution box, promising to refund it, and saying, “When I get to the Saints, where there is liberty, and get work and good wagess, I will remember you, my brethren, and send for you;” and when they get here they forget it all. This is the way with the devil’s poor; the Lord’s poor do not forget their covenants, while the devil’s poor pay no regard to their promises. Are you afraid the devil’s poor will apostatize? I am not afraid of it, though sooner or later they will. They may hang on to the Church for five, ten, or twenty years, but by and by, when they cannot endure what the Lord will bring upon them, they will falter and fall, and go by the board.

Now this is discouraging to every man who has been punctual to his word, and done just as he said he would. You will find men in England, who have saved, out of their hard earnings, at ten shillings per week, five pounds, or ten pounds, handing it out as freely to their brethren as water to drink, saying, “Go to America now, and you will help me out.” But these men forget their words, and when they have means they tie up their purse strings, before they will bestow their charity upon those who have assisted them.

Do I receive promises? Yes, men will promise me, saying, “If you will let me go out this year by the means of the P. E. Fund, I will refund the means again, that you may have it to send back for more.” And what will they do when they get here? Steal our wagons and go off with them to California, and try to steal. the bake kettles, frying pans, tents, and wagon covers; and will borrow the oxen and run away with them, if you do not watch them closely. Do they all do this? No, but many of them will try to do it. We checked a number this year who were trying to run away with the wagons, instead of paying their just debts to the Fund. They will hang on and plead poverty and sickness, and say that they cannot live unless they have this tent, or that wagon, and when they get it into their possession they will never return it, unless they are compelled to.

This conduct is discouraging to us. I will tell you a little further; it is actually the faltering, and misgiving, and misdealing of unjust persons that prevent the gathering of the Lord’s poor, and that is God’s truth. Were it not for that, the Saints would be gathered by scores of thousands. It is the wicked, the half-hearted, and what I call hickory Mormons that prevent a more extensive gathering of the Saints.

We have done pretty well this season, and quite a number are coming out, and I will tell you how this is operating upon me and the people. It is well known that we annually handle a large amount of means, and that we turn it over and shift it about until it will answer the end for which it was designed.

Now I can ask the world this one question, were we ever in your debt and refused to pay you? And they will all answer, “No.” We can turn to the Saints in England, France, America, or anywhere upon the face of the whole earth; and ask them, “Have you lent us money, or means of any kind, and we were not on hand to pay you?” And they will answer, “No.”

When brother Erastus Snow arrived, on the 1st of this month, he came in the morning and informed me that he had run me in debt nearly fifty thousand dollars; he said, “President Young’s name is as good as the bank.”

My name has been used without my consent, or without my knowing anything about it, and our agents have run us in debt almost fifty thousand dollars to strangers, merchants, cattle dealers, and our brethren who are coming here.

I will tell you a little about the brethren, to show you the amount of confidence there is.

There are men who have lately arrived in town who have a draft on me, and who have hunted me up for the cash before they could find time to shave their beards, or wash themselves, saying, “I have a draft on you at ten days’, fifty days’, or six months’ sight,” as the case may be, with, “Please pay so and so. Brother Young, cannot you let me have the money immediately, for I do not know how I can live without it, or get along with my business at all?” This is the kind of confidence some men have in me. I wanted to name this. Why? Because I am hunted; I am like one that is their prey, ready to be devoured. I wish to give you one text to preach upon, “From this time henceforth do not fret thy gizzard.” I will pay you when I can, and not before. Now I hope you will apostatize, if you would rather do it.

It is the poor who have got your money, and if you have any complaints to make, make them against the Almighty for having so many poor. I do not owe you anything. You have my name attached to the paper to help the poor; whether they are the Lord’s poor, the devil’s poor, or poor devils, is not for me now to judge. I tell the brethren that they may understand here to-day what kind of sacred confidence some of them have in the leader of this people, though I am happy to say that such cases are few. I would be ashamed to join a people, organized as we are, and be afraid to trust their leader.

It has just come into my mind how the brethren can be relieved of their present dilemma, viz., every soul of you come forward and make a donation of those drafts to the P. E. Fund. That will relieve you of the debt at once, and you can then sit down and enjoy yourselves, and lie down and sleep contentedly. This is pleading for the poor again, and I am bound to do that.

I will tell you what I have done, for I know that many of the brethren think that I am building myself up. I am, but let me tell you that if I do not build up the kingdom of God on earth I never expect to be built up; and I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for any man in this kingdom, or for all his substance, who does not build it up, and gather means for that purpose. It is true I gather a great deal of substance around me; I am obliged to do it, I cannot shun it. I must feed the poor, I must clothe them and take care of them; I must see that they have houses; and when they get so as to deserve them they must have a team, a watch, a farm, &c., and must increase; but they must work and pay for it all.

You know I preached you a short charity sermon last Sunday. I am not now preaching for the poor in England, but for Utah poor; and in Utah no man is deserving, or woman either, of fifty or even twenty-five cents’ worth of flour, of a piece of meat, a garment, or the possession of any property without they pay for it with their labor, if they are able. That is for Utah, not for England, France, Ireland, &c. It is plain to you that circumstances actually compel me to do as I do. Do I feed my hundreds? Yes, I have fed them ever since I have been in these valleys, ever since I could raise the grain to do it, which I have always done until this year, and have had a great deal to spare besides.

I collect means around me, the poor must have it, and I make them work and pay for it; that makes me wealthy, and I cannot help it. I have property for sale, and say, if any man in England, or anywhere else, will expand his heart and loosen his purse strings to buy sixty-two thousand dollars’ worth of my individual property, I have it for sale to help the poor. I do not want it destroyed, or to go into the hands of a mob, but I want it to go to the building up of the kingdom of God. I would prefer to let it go, into the hands of the Saints, and use it to pay off those who have drafts against me. Here is brother Duel, he has a good house, and there are many others, go and buy their property, and they will take your drafts and hand them to me. [Here many voices were heard in a low tone, saying, “Yes, take my property.”] Why do I hear such responses on every side? Because they know me and understand “Mormonism” as they ought. Go and throw out your drafts, it is better for you to do this than to have the money and let it go to destruction, and perhaps you with it. How many scores have come into this kingdom, who have mourned themselves to death because Joseph had five dollars of them? And yet they would let their money go into the hands of the enemies of Christ, and sit down calmly, and say, “Though I have lost that money, I am in the kingdom of God yet.” If it is absolutely necessary, and circumstances cannot be controlled to keep the money from going into the hands of our enemies, we will not whine about it, but let it go, and then get more.

All cash means that are in the hands of this people should be kept there for the benefit and convenience of the kingdom of God. What for? To roll on the work of the last days, gather the Saints, preach the Gospel, build up cities and temples, send the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, and revolutionize the whole world.

You who have got those drafts, walk up like men of God and see where you can purchase property, instead of taking the money to put in the hands of some poor apostate, who wants to go to California.

Dare any of you come and buy property? I can furnish as much as you can buy. My house on the hill yonder, I have advertised it for sale, and also my lands and barn. “What do you ask for it?” Sixteen thousand dollars; it is worth that and a great deal more, for it actually cost more. Can any of you buy it? Walk up and buy my beautiful situation on the hill and I will put the proceeds into the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, if you will pay me the money, and gather the Saints, the Lord’s poor, and the devil’s poor, and the poor devils, and when we have got them here we will make Saints of them, if we can, and if we cannot, we will cast them out of the kingdom.

If the brethren all felt as some do, the Perpetual Fund means would increase rapidly, but what do they do? It was reported to you here last Conference, that there were then fifty-six thousand dollars owing to the P. E. Fund, by brethren in this Territory; some of the debtors have run away, but the most of them are here. Can these men pay anything? No, they are poor and distressed; they say, “If we let our oxen go, how can we live? If we let our cows go our families will suffer.” How did your families get along before you got the cows? Another will say, “I have only one span of horses and a wagon; and I cannot pay the debt.” You promised, before you left England, that you would pay it, and pledged your sacred honor, and that is forfeited to the P. E. Fund. You say that you cannot pay the debt; but I know you can if you have a mind to. Live without a cow, as you used to, pay in your houses and farms, and work until you get more. This debt is diminished but little since last Conference; I do not suppose we have gathered in more than one thousand dollars of it, and this season there are about forty-nine thousand dollars more added to it. I calculate that will rest upon my shoulders, but they are so sloping, as you may observe, that it slips off, and then I kick it off at my heels. The money will be forth-coming and all will be well, all will be right; I am not discouraged.

I have a word to say to another portion of the community, some of whom may be here to-day. A great many of the brethren are indebted to the tithing office; and I have a good deal coming to me; and I intend to put you into the screw, for we mean to make you pay these debts this season. One man says, “I owe the Church the money, it is true, but I believe I shall break and not pay it.” They want to get their money into the safe and then break. If they owed a Gentile they would pay their debts, they would work, and toil, and labor, day and night, to pay their enemy; but when they owe the Church and kingdom of God they can lie down and sleep in peace, though they owe thousands of dollars, and say, “O! well, it is all in the family, we are all one, it is no matter whether the debt is paid or not.” I want to have you understand fully that I intend to put the screws upon you, and you who have owed for years, if you do not pay up now and help us, we will levy on your property and take every farthing you have on the earth. I want to see if I can make some of you apostatize; I will if I can, by teaching. sound doctrine and advocating correct principles; for I am tired of men who are eternally gouging their brethren and taking the advantage of them, and at the same time pretending to be Saints until they gain an advantage over this people, and then they are ready to leave. I want you to leave now; I give you this word of caution, prepare to pay the debt you owe to the Church. If I had the money due to the Church by a few individuals, I could pay every one of our individual debts and the Church debt, and have a few scores of thousands lying by me to operate upon; and in such circumstances I could operate to some advantage, and greatly benefit the Church. But it seems that there are many drones in the hive, who are determined to tie up the hands of those who rule the affairs of this kingdom, and the quicker they are thrown out the better.

I have given you some reasons why things are so slow and tardy in their progress with regard to the gathering of the Saints. Let the poor Saints strive to induce the rich to have confidence in them, by keeping their word and punctually paying those who loan them money. I am sorry to say that this is not always the case. The poor are filled with idolatry as well as the rich, and covet the means of those who have helped them; the rich, also, have the same spirit of idolatry, and stick to what they have. Let the poor be honest, let the rich be liberal, and lay their plans to assist the poor, to build up the kingdom of God, and at the same time enrich themselves, for that is the way to build up God’s kingdom. May the Lord bless you. Amen.

The Holy Spirit, and Human Learning and Science

Jedediah M. Grant

A lecture by President J. M. Grant, delivered in the Social Hall, Great Salt Lake City, May, 30, 1855.

I am pleased with the privilege I have in speaking for a short time this evening.

I wish to have your prayers, and by the aid thereof to speak by the Spirit of the Lord, for I have found that without that Spirit I never could command language sufficient to convey my ideas.

With all the study that I have exercised, with all the books I have read and the experience I have had, I never have been able to convey, with any degree of force, the ideas presented to my mind, without the Spirit of the Lord. Believing in this fact, I have never premeditated what I should say. Some suppose that, to treat upon theology, or any other science coming under the general term, a person must have a classical education.

I hope you, as well as myself, have often thought upon the science of theology, or upon other branches of science; but notwithstanding we may reflect upon them, and think upon them till we make our heads ache, yet my experience has proved to me that an Elder of Israel cannot impress any subject on the minds of the people, unless he has the Holy Spirit.

I might reason upon this point at some length; for instance, we have some among us who are good preachers, and who are considered good in language, but yet they are not able to impress their ideas upon other minds, unless they have the Spirit of the Lord. I find others who are not considered good speakers nor good in language, yet when filled with this Spirit they can convey their ideas in a clear manner to those whom they address. Therefore I reason like this, if a person address you and wishes to make a suitable impression upon your mind, he must have the Spirit.

Latter-day Saints are, and have been highly favored; the channel of communication has been opened from heaven to earth in our day, and has inspired this people with the gift of the Holy Ghost, and by that gift they have proved the things of God. When I read the productions of men I am apt to forget them; I go for instance, to Elder Hyde’s grammar class, and I study, and read, and commit the rules of grammar to memory, but unless I keep my mind constantly upon that subject, it will fly away from me; it is like the man’s rabbit, “when he went to put his hand upon it, it was not there.” On the contrary, there are certain truths brought to my mind by the aid of the Spirit of the Lord, that I have never forgotten. Truths deposited by the Holy Ghost are treasured up in the mind, and do not leave it.

One trait I have had in my character from my boyhood, and that is, not to believe every story told me to be true. I well remember that my mother used to instruct and teach me that if I was a bad boy, I should have to go to hell, and that the fire there was seven times hotter than any fire I could possibly make, even if I should make it with beech or maple wood, and there I must burn for ever and ever. I never believed this story, but I presume that my mother did; I could not, therefore I felt no trouble about it.

Still I was particular in my notions of certain ideas. I remember reflecting when very young—my brother had killed a quail, and in conversing upon the circumstances, he asked my mother if there was not a quail heaven, which caused me to reflect much upon the idea of a future state of the animal creation. And, when quite young, I read the sermons of John Wesley, who believed that the animal creation would have an eternal existence as well as man, therefore my ideas were strengthened upon this thing; but when I came to read the vision given to Joseph Smith upon a future state, as contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, I believed it, although some in our neighborhood were much troubled with the doctrine it contained, but it gave me great joy and satisfaction.

From the time I began to read books, I have been particular in relation to what I would accept for doctrine. I am aware that some persons will believe almost anything, and are not particular in relation to the doctrine they receive.

I remember well, when a boy, of hearing brother Brigham speak in tongues, and the effect it produced I shall never forget; I could feel the spirit, although I did not fully understand the tongue. I have heard others speak in tongues, but it had not the same effect, and I have marked the different impressions received under different individuals.

When a man teaches doctrine, let him keep on the track, and teach what we can realize and understand, for I do dislike to receive anything for doctrine and afterwards be under the necessity of giving it up because it is erroneous. Hence, if you desire to be constantly led in the path of truth, you will have to be led by the inspiration of the Lord. If I hear a righteous man teach doctrine which I cannot believe nor comprehend, I mark the saying, and I find, that in course of time, the Holy Spirit makes the principle manifest, and sets the matter right.

When you have a teacher upon the earth and he gives you instruction, is it for you to rise up and say that you will not abide by his counsel, that you can instruct as well as he can? If a person possesses more intelligence, and has more knowledge than his teacher, perhaps they might assume the right to teach those who are placed over them. Yet those in this church who have taken this course have betrayed their own weakness and folly. But as God has given us a teacher, it is his prerogative to teach in every sense of the word, and give unto us every lesson that we need.

Take the balance of the world from the Saints, and with all their learning—with all their vanity—with all their books, science, and education—and contrast it with the fountain of knowledge that God, angels, and the servants of God possess, and what are the world with all their boasted acquirements, when contrasted with these things? What do they understand about the principles by which man is to be exalted into the presence of God?

Take the wisest statesmen and philosophers there are in the world, and with all the knowledge they may acquire upon astronomy, philosophy, or any other branch of science known among the children of men, and they will come far short of a perfect knowledge of science in all its parts and bearings. If we could call up father Abraham, I suppose he could teach us more philosophy and astronomy in one day, than those to whom I have alluded could teach you in years. Call up Daniel, and he would tell us he learned more in one vision, concerning the history of the Medes and Persians, and of the Romans, and others, than modern historians could learn by reading for years.

“No man can understand the things of God, but by the Spirit of God.” Ask a person who has preached for years, if he can remember what he said; I know I cannot. I can remember that I had the Spirit of God at such a time; I remember that I taught by the Holy Ghost at such a time, and the testimony that I bore to the people, and I realize the principle, I trusted in the Lord. I know no more about shaping my discourses than I did when I first commenced to preach, and no more than if I had never preached in my life; but I always speak from the impressions of the moment, as I receive them. I want to go into a meeting without anything premeditated, and speak from the impulse of the moment, for I feel well when taking this course. Whether I feel lively and energetic, or dull and sleepy, I shall speak accordingly.

I have passed through various scenes up and down in the world, and never failed to accomplish anything that has been given me to do. I have in my life, crossed some of the most dangerous water courses—some which no other person would attempt to cross; not that I was any more daring than they were, naturally, but by acting in accordance with the impression that I then received, and from those impressions I knew I could cross. And on different occasions, when I have carried out those impressions, it has come out just right; and when I have not done so, it has been just the reverse.

In the year 1834, when Zion’s camp was moving from Kirtland to Missouri, one day I left the camp and went out to hunt in the woods of Ohio, and strayed away from the camp some 10 or 11 miles. The camp kept moving on all the time, and I entirely lost the track, and having no compass, I knew not towards what point I should travel. I kept travelling on till the after part of the day; I then concluded I would pray, but I could not get any impression where the camp was. However, I soon after received an impression from the Spirit, the same Spirit we had in Kirtland, and the same Spirit we enjoy in this place; and immediately after receiving the impression, I looked before me, and there was the camp moving on in regular order. I could see it just as clear as I did in the morning; there were the people, the wagons and horses, all in their places as I left them in the fore part of the day, and I supposed they were not more than 80 rods off. But after turning away for a moment, I again looked in the same direction, but all was gone. Still the Spirit told me to travel on in the same direction I had seen the camp; I did so, and after travelling some 8 or 10 miles, came up with them, and when they first came in sight, they looked just as I saw them in the vision.

Again, whenever I have had anything that was great or important to accomplish, I have been impressed with my own weakness and inability to perform the task imposed upon me, and that of myself I was as nothing, only as I trusted in God, and under these circumstances I was certain to speak by the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. When I have trusted in books, or in my own acquirements that I had gleaned from reading the productions of different authors, (for I used to be fond of reading the works of Brown, Abercrombie, Locke, Watts, and other metaphysical writers,) I was sure to be foiled in my attempt, for all would leave me. But whenever I have trusted in the Lord, and relied upon Him for strength, it has come out right.

I want the Saints of God, when they come to school, to be filled with the Holy Spirit; I want the Saints to pray that those who speak may do it by the power of the Holy Ghost, and by this course you will learn and understand the principle of eternal life and happiness, and will receive intelligence from the fountain of all knowledge, which will exalt you in the presence of God. You may read all the books in the universe, and study all you can upon the science of astronomy, chemistry, and theology, and make those sciences interwoven with your very nature, till they are like a straight-jacket upon you, and you may be wrapped up in them and bound hand and foot, and after all they will not let you into the fountain of all knowledge; but by taking such a course, you will have to become slaves to the learning that you have acquired. But I want the Saints to use their learning in the same manner as a boy uses the top, which is in perfect subjection to him; upon the same principle let the Saints use their learning, and when they speak, let it be by the power of God. It is not that I discard learning, but let it be used properly.

There is a fountain of intelligence, and the channel thereto is open, thank God for it, and the light of heaven bursts forth through this channel.

I will now come right down to your own houses, and among your own families. When you call upon the Lord, night and morning, and do those things which are right in the sight of God, you feel well, don’t you? But if you act in a different manner, and neglect to pray, and forget to attend to those duties devolving upon a Saint of God, you feel barren in the things of God. Can you go and read, and study any science, and feel that you have the same light beaming upon your understanding, that a person has who is filled with the Spirit of God, and that light which animates a heavenly being?

Why was it that Joseph could take the wisest Elder that ever travelled and preached, and, as it were, circumscribe his very thoughts? Simply because he had the Holy Ghost. Why can our President do the same? Is it because he has read books for years? No. But he has sought his God, and the Holy Ghost is in him, and he is enabled to search the deep things of God. Then, I say, that man knows the most who enjoys the greatest portion of the Holy Spirit. An individual who lacks this principle may be filled with the learning of the world, but can he rise up and tell it, unless he has the Holy Spirit? I answer, no. To impress the knowledge that he possesses upon the minds of others, he must have the Holy Ghost. I wish to enquire whether the channel is open between you and the heavens, and do you draw daily from that source? If so, then you are in the narrow path, and rejoicing in the truth. I mention this that you may come to the school prepared to receive the impression that may be given. I do not wish you to come here as though you were coming to Fun Hall, (you know this is sometimes called Fun Hall), but when you come, have your minds prepared to be instructed in doctrine, and in the love of God, and pray that you may receive a proper impression upon what may be advanced; for you must receive item after item, principle after principle, here a little and there a little, until you get a fountain of wisdom. I want you to follow the impression that would lead you to serve God, and the still small voice of God will direct you in all your ways, and you will be wrapped up and live in revelation, and it will be your food by day and by night, and it will cause the mind to expand and the heart to leap with joy. I admit that there are certain Saints who consider certain items as small affairs, but the least thing, however small it may appear to some, in its results may be great. If we as Saints of God do right, no difference about who calls us simple. I tell you, that if you have the Holy Ghost you can understand, and you can be impressed with truth, and that truth will make you free, and you will not forget those things which you receive under the impressions of the Holy Spirit.

A great many people feast upon imagination instead of feasting upon that which is tangible, and they will allow their minds to be led away by fancy, and will make out how great they will be at some future time, and how good they intend to be and how much of the Holy Ghost they expect to receive; but the idea is, what do you enjoy at the present time, and what are the blessings you enjoy at this present moment, right now? Am I doing right to-day? Is the Holy Ghost in me now? Is God’s blessing with me now—(not at some other time)? If so, then all is well.

I want the Saints to be impressed with the motto of being happy all the time; if you cannot be happy today, how can you be happy to-morrow? I speak this from what I have learned myself; though it has given me much of trouble, and a great amount of perseverance, to be happy under all circumstances. I have learned not to fret myself. It has taken me a great while to arrive at this point, but I have obtained it in a measure, and perhaps many of you have obtained the same thing, but I doubt whether a great many have learned the secret of happiness.

In order to understand the principle of happiness you must not be ever complaining, but learn not to fret yourselves. If things do not go right, let them go as they will, if they go rough, let it be so; if all hell boils over, let it boil. I thank the Lord for the bitter as well as for the sweet; I like to grapple with the opposite: I like to work and have something to oppose. I used to dread those things, but now I like to grapple with opposition, and there is plenty of it on the right hand and on the left. When trouble gets in among you, shake it off, or bid it stand out of the way. If the devil should come and say, “Brother Brigham is not doing his duty, or is not doing right,” kick him right out of your way; bid him depart, do not allow him to have place in your habitation, but learn to be happy.

I remember a noted deist who said that it was a poor religion that would not make a person happy here in this life: he would not give a fig for such a religion; and I would say the same; give me a religion that will make me happy here, and that will make me happy hereafter. If you have the blues, or the greens, shake them off, and learn to be happy, and to be thankful. If you have nothing to eat but johnny cake, be thankful for that, and if you have not johnny cake, but have a roasted potatoe and buttermilk, why, be thankful; or if you have a leg of a chicken, or any other kind of food, learn to be thankful, and if you have only one dollar in your pocket, learn to be as happy under these circumstances as if you had ten dollars.

One time in Nauvoo, some English brethren did not like to eat corn bread, and one of them says to another, just before partaking of some, “Are you going to ask a blessing? I am not going to thank God for nothing else but corn bread, potatoes, and salt.” Brethren, those feelings should not be, we ought to be happy and shake off the blues, no difference what we may be called to pass through, but let us have the light of the Lord, the channel of inspiration open, that the light of truth may break in upon our understandings, that we may be rich in faith and in good works.

I used once to be troubled with dyspepsia, and had frequently to call upon the Elders to administer, and on one occasion, brother Joseph Smith says to me, “Brother Grant, if I could always be with you, I could cure you.” How is it that brother Brigham is able to comfort and soothe those who are depressed in spirit, and always make those with whom he associates so happy? I will tell you how he makes us feel so happy. He is happy himself, and the man who is happy himself can make others feel so, for the light of God is in him, and others feel the influence, and feel happy in his society. I want the Saints to live in a way that they can feel happy all the time, and then we shall enjoy the Holy Spirit; then we shall meet in heaven to part and meet again; and when we get through our work assigned us, then we may assist, if not to make a world as large as this, in organizing some little lump of clay.

May God bless, save and receive you into his kingdom, is the prayer and desire of my heart, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Trials of the Saints, etc.

Orson Pratt

A discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, May 20, 1855.

I have been much interested in the remarks that have been made by brother Jackman, for they have been according to my feelings, they were right to the point, and many useful ideas have been thrown out before us, and his words have been full of meaning. Although he has considered himself bashful before the people, yet the Lord has put into his heart those things that are calculated to interest the Saints.

We see, from what has been portrayed before us, the trials and difficulties that we, some of us, have had to endure in this Church; we also see, from what he has explained, the patience of the people in passing through those difficulties; no murmuring, no complaining, no faultfinding, but all taking hold with one heart and one mind to do the will of God, under the most straightened circumstances.

We can contrast this feeling with what we see manifested by some of our new emigrants; some of them come in here feeling dissatisfied, having become so in crossing the plains; they will differ with each other, lose the good spirit, and allow themselves to be controlled by an evil influence; I say we can see, from the discourse of brother Jackman, a great contrast between those that first came here, and those that now come. Now the question might arise in the minds of some, “Were the pioneers who came here so much better than those persons that now come?” I think not. “Then why was there no murmuring, nor fault-finding, nor apostacy?” The reason is obvious; those who first came here had more experience in such matters than the new emigrants have, who come here almost without experience in those things which they naturally come in contact with when crossing the plains.

In fact there are very few in the world that would do any better than the “Mormon” pioneers did the first year they came here. It requires experience to enable people patiently to pass through the scenes of trial that were endured by the pioneers, and those who first came into these valleys. Take our late emigration that have crossed over the plains, and let them be driven a few times from their comfortable habitations, and let them wander for months in the cold winter, and then send them off on an expedition, such as the pioneers took to this country, and you would see them quite a different people: you would see them altered and improved by the course of experience they had passed through; they would be benefitted by certain kinds of experience which others have passed through before them; and, if attentive, they would add many important items to their former stock of wisdom and knowledge.

Consequently, it requires experience, not only for the old members, but for the new; and should the new members be permitted to come from the old countries, and meet with no poverty, no affliction, it would not be known whether those persons would endure such trials; and hence the necessity of such trials to give people experience.

It is true, they have had some things to pass through in the old country of a trying nature, but they have not had a series of different trials to encounter; therefore, there would be no telling whether they would stand or not, if called to pass through similar scenes of trials to those passed through by the earlier settlers of this Territory.

Then, it is not surprising to me that the Lord takes certain measures to bring those persons into difficult circumstances; in fact, we have the Lord’s own declaration for it, that He will try this people, not in some things, but in all things, to see if they will abide in the covenant, and He says, “If they will not, then they will not abide in me.”

Here, then, we perceive that each will have his share of trials, either in the beginning or in the advanced state of the Church. We do not know what they will be, only so far as God has revealed in His word. He has told us that we should be visited with famine and sword, with pestilence and distress; all these are predicted, and laid before this people in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord says, unless His servants should hearken to the words and counsels that He gives unto them, famine, trouble, and distress would overtake them. Now what benefit or what glory is there to an individual who is placed in circumstances that he cannot help but do right? For instance, suppose there were no intoxicating drinks in the world, what glory and credit would it be to an individual to say that he had kept himself from those things? If his father and his forefathers to the third or fourth generation of them, had died from drunkenness, he would have nothing to boast of; for he could not be a drunkard; therefore, I say, if this temptation was set before us as the forbidden tree was before mother Eve, and we withstood the temptation, then there would be some merit in it, far more than there is for a person to keep himself sober, because he is obliged to do so. So we may take other things in the same light.

Why did the Lord suffer the Hittites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, and various others, to live among Israel? He had two purposes in view; one was to scourge Israel when they went astray from His commandments; and the other was to see whether they would overcome or not; He placed them where they would have temptations to test their fidelity; then, if directly in the face of the Law of God, they would falter or yield, and give way to the customs and vices of the heathen, they were not worthy of the glory of God, nor of being called His people.

But if the heathen had all been swept away, and those temptations had not been presented, where would have been the merit? It would have been very small indeed.

A commandment was given, forbidding the children of Israel to marry with the heathen; it was commanded that the sons of Israel should not take wives from among the heathen, neither should they give their daughters to the heathen.

Now there was temptation in those days, set before the children of Israel, and sometimes they would break through, and go beyond the bounds, like old Solomon, who transgressed, after God had appeared to him three times, and had, given him many choice favors, and manifested Himself to him in dreams, and also when he spread forth his hands to pray God to bless the temple which he had built, then the Lord manifested Himself in the presence of all Israel, to His servant.

He was lifted up in the midst of Israel, and a kingdom and government were given to him, far surpassing all the kingdoms and governments upon the earth, and yet, after all these things, and after the Lord had given him many wives, he took that which was forbidden; he took the daughters of the heathen nations; and he, being their head and their king; set this wicked—this evil example before all Israel, so that if they had followed his foolish and wicked ways, they would have been destroyed, but from the account we have, he was overcome by the temptations laid before him, and consequently the wives that he had taken led him away, so much so, that in his old age, he, in order to please those wives whom he had taken from among the Gentiles, bowed down to their gods. Here then were two evils, first, in taking heathen wives, and the next, in tampering with, and bowing down to their gods; and the Lord will judge him for all those things, just as He will us—according to the works we perform while in this state of probation.

If Solomon, in all his glory, had been contented with all those blessings given him, and had not yielded to the temptations laid to ensnare him, he would have increased in his glory and in his dominions; his glory would have increased in this world and in the future; but the Lord desired to try him.

This shows us that, though a man may be set upon a throne and be exalted high among men, yet he has his temptations, and blessed is he if he endures them and is faithful to his trust; and if he be in distress, bears it all with patience, for he will always, have his: trials; and no person will escape, all men must be tried and proven.

These are reflections that occurred to my mind while brother Jackman addressed us, showing the contrast between those who first came here, and those who now come. I was led to enquire, why there was such a vast difference; and the thought occurred to me that it was because of experience, for those who have been here from the first, have been pretty well buffeted, and before they came here they had learned how to submit, when the Lord saw proper to put upon them a chastisement.

Should all this people here in Utah be called to pass through such scenes as some of us have been called upon to encounter, I believe there would be many who would say, “Let us endure these things with all submission and patience before God.”

In order to do this, it is necessary for us, in our prosperity, to remember the Lord our God, for if men and women will not remember the Lord, when the heavens smile upon them, and when health is in their habitations—if they will not acknowledge the hand of God then, and be thankful for the blessings that they receive, you may be sure that they will not be so well prepared to endure trials, and to pass through adversities, as those who have, in the days of their prosperity, humbled themselves before the Lord, and acknowledged His hand in all things.

There are individuals in this Territory, of a careless disposition, and you may mark them, and those that have waxed fat, and their hearts are upon the things of this world, that when tribulations come, they will be the ones to quake and fear, while those who have taken a different course will be able to stand.

I heard brother Joseph, when speaking of those that were sick in Nauvoo, make remarks similar to those that I have now made. He said, that those who would not, when in good health, call upon the Lord, and acknowledge His hand in all things, and remember him, would not have faith when it was needed—he said that those individuals would have but very little faith in the days of their calamities and affliction.

Then seek to get faith and spirit sufficient to assist us in the days of our afflictions, that we may be prepared for all the vicissitudes of life. We ought to know that we are well off at the present, but all do not realize this fact.

How often I have thought of the remark made by the Prophet; nothing can be more true than that remark; it carries its own evidence with it, that those individuals who have wealth and riches in abundance, but do not remember the Lord, when troubles come, they will be in the greatest distress, generally speaking.

I do not know what the Lord will hereafter do with this people; I have not myself a sufficiency of the spirit of prophecy to understand all the events of the future; and I doubt very much, whether there is an individual in this Church that does know; but we do know, as far as the things of the future are revealed; and we may know many things by dreams and visions, but when it comes to principles, and to what the Lord will do with this people, I doubt very much whether there is an individual in the world, that knows the changes and variety of scenes through which this people will be called to pass.

There are, in many revelations, not only in modern but in ancient prophecy, predictions touching the scenes of the last days, and the trials of the Saints; and we ought to be prepared for whatever is to come, troubles, distress, famine, war, or anything else.

The Lord has said that great prosperity awaits us; far beyond what we now have, but I doubt very much whether this prosperity will come before we have passed through some further tribulations.

There are revelations in relation to the nations of the earth and this people, that seem to indicate that we will have to pass through some things that we never have had to encounter, and it seems to me that we will have to stand forth and defend ourselves against our enemies. And we have got to be tried as Israel was, and to see whether our sons will marry Gentiles, or our daughters Gentile husbands.

Now if there were no Gentiles among us, we could not see whether there was any integrity among the people. Do you suppose that this people will be kept away from the Gentiles? No verily, the Lord does not intend that we should dwell separate from the world altogether. From this time forth, it is our duty to warn our sons and daughters, day by day, and night by night, and week by week, as has been told us from this stand to warn our sons and daughters, as God did our first parents, concerning the forbidden fruit. When He set the forbidden fruit before them, He said, “If you eat, it will make you mortal, whereas you are now immortal, but you may choose for yourselves.”

Now how do we know, but when the gates of Zion shall be open to the nations, that the Gentiles will come flocking in, like a flowing stream? A flowing stream is one that runs continually; and the Gentiles will, in that day, come to us as a flowing stream, and we shall have to set our gates open continually, they will come as clouds and as doves in large flocks. Do you suppose that the Gentiles are going to be ignorant of what is taking place? “Now this will not be the case, they will perfectly understand what is taking place. The people will see that the hand of God is over this people; they will see that He is in our midst, and that He is our watchtower, that He is our shield and our defence, and therefore, they will say, “Let us go up and put our riches in Zion, for there is no safety in our own nations.”

Those nations are trembling and tottering and will eventually crumble to ruin, and those men of wealth will come here, not to be baptized, but many of them will come that have never heard the servants of God; but they will hear that peace and health dwell among us, and that our officers are all peace officers, and our tax-gatherers men of righteousness.

They will come, not to be baptized, but they will come with their old traditions and customs, and they will flee to Zion with their riches, but they will come in favor of their old customs, and of their old Gentile notions of religion; and if God is merciful unto them, so as to cause them to leave their native land, that we may take them up, and teach them, and nourish them, and bring them up to the standard of truth, all will be right; but if they neglect to observe and obey the instructions given, and to follow the good examples set before them, so much the greater their curse and condemnation.

If our sons and daughters will marry among them, they are much worse than the Gentiles are; for we have been instructed, and ought to know better.

But notwithstanding all that I have said, there may be a time to come, I do not know how long it will be, but the time will come when righteousness will be laid to the line and justice to the plummet.

There will be a certain degree of freedom used with those persons who may come unto Zion, but not so far as to partake of their deeds; but on the contrary, you are strictly prohibited from joining in their evil practices.

But if the Saints act wisely they may set an example before them that will do them good, and if there is any good or righteousness in them, an upright, holy example will bring it out. All this will take place, and there are many here that will live to see those things, and I rejoice that there is but a comparatively little time for those things to be accomplished.

I look at matters perhaps a little different from some that get away off this way and then the other, and when they get disappointed will apostatize.

In order to explain my feelings I will bring up one little example; for instance, it was expected that when the Saints gathered to Jackson County, there would be a perfect paradise, and that there would be an end to trouble and to opposition. And when the Saints were driven out from Jackson County, almost all in the Church expected that they would speedily be restored; and a person was considered almost an apostate that would say, they would not come back in five years, or ten at the furthest; but the prevailing opinion seemed to be that it would take place immediately.

When Zion’s Camp went up, and found the Saints all scattered abroad, what did we hear? Why, all in camp were on the tiptoe to have Zion redeemed immediately; perhaps some would stretch their faith and put it off for five years; but those were considered weak in the faith. This was their extreme enthusiasm.

I was appointed to visit all the Saints in Clay County, to strengthen them, and I proved to them from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants that it would be very many years before Zion should be redeemed; and some would believe it, and some others would think that brother Pratt was rather weak in the faith; but I endeavored to show them that such and such things had got to be fulfilled before the redemption of Zion; and time has proved the truth of what I advanced.

Now let us see if they have not got to the other extreme; twenty-two years have passed since that time, and if we look around now, is it not the other way, the very opposite? The people think of almost everything else but the redemption of Zion, and speak to individuals about it, and they put it off a great distance ahead. But I do not feel to go to this extreme. I will give you my opinion; so far as the revelations go, in speaking of this subject, I think that this event is nearer than this people are aware of.

Again, take the subject of the coming of Christ, and as far back as 1831, I remember that I came on from New York to Kirtland, Ohio, and I found many Saints thinking that Christ would come immediately. Though I had but little experience, yet I had applied myself to the written revelations, for they were not then printed, but I frequently got the privilege of reading them, and copying some of them, and therefore, I had an opportunity of judging more correctly, perhaps, than those who had not the same privilege.

No doubt they felt exceedingly anxious to have him come, as we all do, and this anxiety overcame them, and hence they were mistaken. I have no doubt that there are others in the Church that think it is a far off event, an event that will probably take place in the days of their youngest children; but from what is written, I look upon it as an event that is much nearer than is generally supposed.

It is true, there is a great work to be performed, but the Lord has a great many to perform it. If He had them all concentrated in one vast body from England, Scotland, the nations of Europe, and the Islands of the sea, he could soon accomplish the work, notwithstanding its vastness.

A great work has to be brought about; how many years, or scores of years, it will be, I know not, but from the scenes we behold among the people, the breaking up of the nations, and the signs of the times, and the present aspects of the European war, and from the shutting up and closing up of the proclamation of the Gospel in many lands, the coming of Christ seems to be near at hand, yet Zion must be redeemed before that day; the temple must be built upon the consecrated spot, the cloud and glory of the Lord rest upon it, and the Lamanites, many of them, brought in, and they must build up the NEW JERUSALEM! It is true, so says the Book of Mormon, that inasmuch as the Gentiles receive the Gospel, they shall assist my people the remnant of Jacob, saith the Lord, to build the New Jerusalem. And when they have got it built, then we are told that they shall assist my people who are of Jacob to be gathered in unto the New Jerusalem.

Only a few thousands or hundreds of thousands, then, are to be engaged in this work, and then, after it is done, we are to assist the Lamanites to gather in; and then shall the powers of heaven be in your midst; and then is the coming of Christ.

It will not be before the Lamanites come in, nor before the temple is constructed in Jackson County; but there is a great people to do the work.

I look upon these events as something that will take place sooner than many expect, and it will find many putting it away at a distance. This is evident, from the fact, that he will find them eating and drinking with the drunkard, and marrying, and giving in marriage, to the very hour of his coming.

This shows the state of the world as it is to be at his coming, and if they are to perceive one event after another, why do they indulge themselves in these things? It shows that they do not perceive that it is so near.

It will not be those who have oil in their lamps, for they are ready, and when the sound goes forth, the oil is there; but it will be the others; their lamps will have gone out, and they will have no light; and hence he comes, and men are not aware of it; he enters in and the door is shut, and five out of the ten virgins that have actually gathered, as it appears, are numbered among hypocrites and unbelievers.

How often do I think of this, and the condition of the Saints? Will the Saints be ready? With all the evidence and testimony that they have portrayed before them from Sabbath to Sabbath, is it not strange that so many will be so unprepared for that terrible day of the Lord? It will be a pleasing day to the righteous, but terrible to the wicked.

This ought to brace us up, it ought to keep up our spirits, and cause us to prepare for that time. If I should not do this, I neglect my duty. Should I do wrong because some person in the Priesthood, high in authority, does wrong? No, it should have no influence whatever over me.

We should have the Spirit of light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and especially those that obey the truth. And if we will yield to this influence we will not be led away from the right path; we are not to give way, no, not even to angels who may pretend to come from heaven.

The spirit upon us should enable us to do that which is right, and that which is our duty. For instance, take the Word of Wisdom, which is given for our benefit and temporal salvation. It is true, disobedience to that is not so gross a sin as some others; but still, it is given for our temporal salvation, and should be observed. Now, it would require the servants of God to preach it every two weeks, or at least every month, to persuade this people to hearken to it; and yet they know it is the word of the Lord. If I were to call a vote, I presume that there would not be one that has come to the years of understanding but what would say, it is the word of the Lord.

They go away, after hearing a most glorious discourse upon this and other revelations, and perhaps they will keep the Word of Wisdom two or three days; but it makes their head ache, and then they take a little tea, and it does them good for the moment, and they think the Lord don’t know what they need as well as they do. I do not say that you do say this, but your actions bespeak this. But it is such a trial! It must be a terrible trial, which the Lord said the weakest of all that are or can be called Saints could obey. A thing like tea to have influence over us, so that we can only obey the Word of Wisdom two days, and then break it, until we hear another discourse, and thus breaking our covenants, it shows the folly and weakness of man. It shows how the influence of one man prevails over another.

Why cannot you be independent beings, and say, “I will do this, and that, and the other, let my neighbor do as he may; let my neighbor do as he will, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?” This is what ought to be.

In making these remarks I take them to myself, although I have, as an individual, been very strict in relation to the Word of Wisdom since I have been in the Valley, and years before. Do not I like the good old tea? Yes I do, and when it is sweetened up, and a little cream turned in, it is very pleasant, as no doubt also was the forbidden fruit; but it is for me to use my endeavors to have it observed, by setting a good example, that I may have influence over my neighbor and over my family; and I do use that influence as far as is consistent, but it is difficult to persuade persons from their old habits.

I wonder what those persons would do, if called to be martyred for their religion, who cannot do without violating the Word of Wisdom! I am aware that it is not by constraint, and a man should not constrain his family to obey it, but every man will have to give an account of his doings, and abide the consequence, whatever it may be, if it be the destroying angel going through the land to slay the disobedient.

A man may keep the Word of Wisdom so far as tea, coffee, and tobacco are concerned, and still come very short. If he wishes and intends to be right, he must obey this, together with all the commandments and Words of Wisdom. We must regulate our thoughts, our comings in, our goings out, and all our doings and our minds by the Spirit of the Lord, and by the counsels of His servants. Can the destroyer have influence over such a man?

Let such a man stand up and say, “Lord, I have done as you told me, I have kept your words.” Could such a man be destroyed before he had accomplished his work on the earth? I question it. Well, we shall undoubtedly see a time when we shall need such confidence as this.

May the Lord bless us all for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Exhortation to Faithfulness

Heber C. Kimball

An address by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 18, 1852.

I have heard hundreds and perhaps thousands of people make the observation, that, before they would take the interest and bear what brother Young and others do, they would see the people go to the devil. We never have felt so, and I should not wish those who have had such feelings to rule me. I am satisfied of one thing, we have all got to learn to be mild and forbearing, and to do unto others as we would wish others to do unto us. That is a lesson we all have to learn, and the quicker we bring our minds to it the better it will be for us. If you look to the First Presidency to lead you, assisted by the Twelve and other leading members of this Church, you of course consider them to be good men, and we in turn consider that you ought to be good men.

I think you ought to be good men and good women, good children, good fathers and mothers, and good brethren and sisters. Why? Because you know what is right and what is wrong. There is not a little child before me here to-day, that has arrived to years of accountability, but knows what is right to a certain degree. Then why do you not all act upon the knowledge that you have, and bring your feelings and your passions into subjection, and be like the clay in the hands of the potter? When you do right you feel well, you feel satisfied, and as though you had a conscience void of offence before God and man, and before one another.

The instructions given to day by President Young were good and wholesome; did they not sound delicious upon your ears? Yes, you will all say, we know they were good. Well, then, if you know it is good, cleave to it, listen to it, and abide that counsel, for if you do you will prosper and be blessed, and, as he said, you never will be destroyed, and I know it.

Jesus says, “If you are not one, you are not mine.” We must learn to be one, listen to one counsel, and subject ourselves to the will of our God. Some men, in their course, remind me of a man’s trying to reach the top of a ladder, without being satisfied to commence at the first round, whereas, if they would commence at the first round, and go step by step, they would soon arrive at the upper rounds.

Again, we are like to a chain, or should be, one link being connected to the other. Then what is the use of any one’s trying to leave his position? for by so doing he would break the connection. Act in your places and in your callings, and by so doing the Lord will lead you through into the celestial world, by the assistance of His servants, for as to the Lord our God’s coming here in person and leading us into the celestial world, He never will do it, but He will authorize His servants to do it.

When Jesus lived on the earth, he ordained and organized a Quorum of Twelve Apostles, and said to them, “I have laid the foundation, and you must build the house.” Joseph Smith did the same; he made choice of Twelve Apostles, and ordained them, and said, “I have laid the foundation, and you may build upon it, you may rear the house;” and these very persons are the ones who will lead you through into the celestial world, and they will be at your head all the time. It will be a very good thing if you take care of these men and nourish and cherish them, that when you get into difficulty, into snarly hard knots that you do not know how to untie, they may be on hand to render you assistance. Supposing you were the leaders of this people, and they get into a tangle and snarl, like a skein of thread, I tell you there would be snapping, which would only tend to render the difficulty still worse. Reflect upon these things for a moment, and listen to them upon natural principles, for I am only speaking of things as they naturally exist. We are not sufficiently patient; I am not so patient as I wish to be. I wish I was so patient that when a person abused me I could pass away from him, and never notice him; but sometimes I turn round and fight a little; when they shoot, I shoot too.

I again say to you, listen to the counsel that is given to you, from time to time, and be faithful to those men who preside over you—to the President of this Stake and his Council, to brother Hunter as the Presiding Bishop, (to whom all the Bishops are amenable for their conduct), and to all other officers in their places.

Let us all observe obedience to our public officers, be subject to them and listen to them; and all do the best they can; and when we are absent, I know just how you will do, you will do exactly as I used to when my father went away. He would say; “My son Heber, I want you to go to hoeing corn, and to stick to it until I come back.” I would put my best foot foremost, and if any of my play-fellows came round me, I would say, “Come, boys, let us make a good job of this corn, that when my father comes home he may rejoice in the good conduct of his son Heber.” It will be the same with the boys at the public works, they will say, “Boys, let us do the best we can while they are gone.”

Now, brethren, do not be eye servants, do not be merely Christians and Saints while you are here, but be Saints when you are at home, in your secret closets, and in your family, &c. When you labor, be Saints and work while it is called to day you cannot do any too much.

Be faithful in your families, and in your prayer circles; be faithful to your wives and to your children; and I say to the wives, be faithful to your husbands and children; and in so doing I know God will bless us to an extent; that we have never yet experienced. Let us do right when we are behind the house, in front of it, or in the inside; when we are down in the cellar, up stairs, in the meadow, or in the field; and whatever we do, let us do it in the name of the Lord our God. When we sow our wheat, our beans, peas, and potatoes, let us bow down and ask God to bless the seed and the earth, and warm it, that it may bring forth in abundance, that we may reap the best crops we ever reaped in our lives. Often, when a, little child calls upon God to change the mind of its father or mother, the prayer will be heard. I recollect the circumstance of a little boy’s being left in the house while his mother went on a visit; the boy used to get; hold of a valuable piece of crockery so she warned him not to touch it in her absence, telling him if he did would certainly break it, and she should whip him. He took it, and sure enough it slipped out of his hands and broke. The little fellow prayed to his Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus, that his mother might not feel disposed to whip him. When she came home she had not power to punish him. Have you not as much faith and confidence in God as that little boy? It was the same with Daniel in the den of lions. The decree of the king was that he should be thrown into the lions’ den. Daniel called upon his Father continually to take the ferocious feeling from the lions, that they might not have power to harm him, and it was accomplished according to his cry.

I could relate scores of circumstances, while I was on missions, of men swearing that if I went to their houses they would blow my brains out, or do me some violent bodily injury. I would go, but instead of putting their threats into execution, nothing would be too good for me, and they would say, “Come back, Mr. Kimball, for I never had such a good time in my life.” I held them by my faith, and that is the way in which the devil will be bound; but as long as a person will give him a privilege of coming into his tabernacle, he will remain, for his object is to get a body. It would not be proper for me to come to your house, when you have invited a guest to sit with you, and go to casting him out, and I should have no power to do it.

We are growing pretty fast, increasing in faith, multiplying and progressing, and we must continue to improve while we live in this existence; and when we leave this state, what we do not gain here we have got to gain in another. If you do not overcome your passions here, you have got to do it there. You are not going to step right into the presence of God when you leave this state of mortality; you have got to make many covenants and fulfil them to the very letter.

What kind of people ought we to be? We should be Saints of God, and not sinners. We are about to start for the south, and several are going with us, but none but those who are of one heart and one mind.

This work is never to go down, it has commenced and it will never come to an end until it has fulfilled the will of its Author; you need not be troubled about that.

Now, brethren, be humble, be patient, be industrious, and when we come back, we want to hear the spinning wheel in every house. We do not expect the men to do this buzzing, we expect the sisters to do it. I am going to set my folks to work at spinning up the wool, to working up the old rags, and to making a little yarn for carpeting. I would sooner walk on a rag carpet made by my own family, than upon an imported Brussels carpet made in one of the best manufactories in the world.

Let us be industrious and economical, that the blessings of God and of all good persons may rest upon us, and we will multiply and replenish the earth, and our crops and herds will multiply more than they ever have. Listen to the counsel given to you, and the devil will have no business with you. The devil can hurt no man, only when he gives way to his influence. When he offered Jesus the whole world if he would bow down to him, he had no power over him; says he, “I am the Son of God, mind your own business.” Then he took him upon the Temple, and said, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down.” But he told him to get out of his way. The devil had no power over him, any more than he can have power over you, if you resist his power. When the devil has power over persons, it is because they have done something wrong, which gives him power and influence over them. You have heard tell of people having the blues; it is not good for men to be blue, nor for women either, but it is for them to have confidence in God by doing right.

God bless you, and peace be with you, and I bid you good bye for a season, and pray that consolation may be with you. Amen.

Preaching the Gospel

George A. Smith

An address by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Aug. 12, 1855.

It used to be, in the days of the Prophet Joseph, a kind of common adage that “Mormonism,” flourished best out of doors, and although we struggled hard at the time that the brethren undertook in Missouri to build a hewed log house that would cost about $1200, yet that tried the faith of many, and was more than we accomplished before the Saints were driven from Jackson County, and we failed to erect a building big enough to hold the Saints previous to the death of the Prophet. At the time of his death we were still trying to build a Temple, but all our exertions only resulted in our having to go out of doors for room enough.

We on the present occasion have the pleasure of sitting out of doors, and of listening to the counsel and instruction of the servants of God without being crowded, from the fact that we have Father’s big kitchen to meet in, and in this capacious Bowery we can enjoy a great deal of comfort, instead of being jammed into our large Tabernacle, those of us who could get in, and the balance being obliged to go home.

It is by the request of my brethren that I arise on the present occasion to offer a few reflections for your consideration. When I was first called upon by the Prophet to go and preach the Gospel, I received a little good advice, which I have endeavored to profit by ever since, and that too, to the best of my ability.

In the morning, as I was about to start on my first mission to preach the Gospel, I waited upon brother Joseph, and asked if he had any advice to give me. “Yes,” said he, “George A., preach short sermons, make short prayers, deliver your sermons with a prayerful heart, and you will be blessed, and the truth will prosper in your hands.” I was a boy of seventeen at the time, and I called this my college education; I however took a second degree, calling upon father Joseph Smith, who was the Patriarch of the Church, and as I was about starting, he said, “One word of advice George A., whatever you do, be careful to go in at the little end of the horn, then, if you increase, though it be but a very little, you are sure to come out at the big end; but if you go, in at the big end, you are certain to come out at the small end.”

Ever since that time I have applied it, and thought often of the old gentleman’s counsel, and I have found it to be very correct.

At that time Elder Sidney Rigdon, our great preacher, (the perfect comber of all the sects,) a man that could bring to bear all the big, jaw-cracking words of the English language, and who could fill up the interstices with quotations from other languages, and bring all to illustrate the Gospel of Christ, and to contrast it with the errors of the different sects to which he had formerly belonged, I remember seeing him get up to preach when there were present Professor Seixas and several other learned gentlemen who were on a visit to Kirtland, and President Rigdon wanted to show himself to the best possible advantage. I discovered his error when he first began speaking; I saw that he was in his high heeled boots, and at the commencement he soared so far above his subject that he could not get down to it; his whole discourse was a constant series of efforts to descend to a style requisite to illustrate the simplicity of the Gospel, the natural result of his commencing on too high a key—the difficulty and trouble was that he commenced on too grand a scale to carry it through successfully.

Now if he had commenced to preach to those, learned men the first simple principles of the Gospel, and then, as the Spirit had opened up things to his mind, have gone into the more advanced principles, he might have succeeded as he desired, but he got up with the intention of showing his great big self, and began at the big end of the horn.

There are several young Elders present, who are going on missions, and the advice that I received may not be uninteresting to them. I have known many young Elders go out preaching, and the first thing they would do when they began to preach would be to tell what a tremendous smart sermon they were going to preach, and what wonderful results would follow; and I have seen these dashing kind of fellows carry on until they withered, and became depreciated, and went out at the little end of the horn.

Now when we present ourselves to a congregation of people, the first thing should be plainly and simply to communicate to them the first principles that we receive, in the best possible manner. But what is the best way to communicate them to the inhabitants of the earth? Shall we select the greatest jaw-cracking words in the English language, and from other languages, or shall we use reasoning the most abstruse and mysterious? The best method is to select the best and simplest way in our possession, and you will find that to be the most successful method of proclaiming the Gospel. You may note it when you will, in men that go forth to proclaim the truth, and you discover that the man who has the fewest words communicates his ideas to the people, as a general thing, in the plainest manner.

When a man uses ten or fifteen superfluous words to convey one simple idea, his real meaning is lost, he reaches beyond all the rules of grammar and rhetoric, and his idea, which, had it been clothed with simple and appropriate language, might have been good, is lost for want of more suitable words. It is like Massa Gratian’s wit—“two grains of wheat hid in three barrels of chaff.” It is my advice that our Elders should study brevity in all their discourses and communications to the people, and that they should speak in the plainest and simplest manner; for if they were to do this—speak so that the unlearned can comprehend, then the learned will be sure to understand, unless they have got their ears so twisted that it is vulgar for them to listen to common conversation; they are like the young gentleman who had just come from college and was desirous of making a considerable show, so when he stopped at a country hotel, he gave the following order, to the ostler—“You will extricate the quadruped from the vehicle, stabulate him, donate him an adequate supply of nutritious aliment, and when the Aurora of man shall illumine the celestial horizon I will award thee a pecuniary compensation.”

The lad went into the house to the old man, crying—“Landlord, there is a Dutchman out here; I can’t understand a word he says, do come and talk to him yourself.” (Laughter). Now if he had said—“Unharness the horse, water and feed him, and I will pay you for it in the morning,” he would have been understood by the ostler. But the fact is, the world through their wisdom know not God, and have lost sight of and forgotten the simplicity of our fathers, and the plainness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the reason is, that from the beginning the plan of salvation was too plain and simple to be interesting to the learned, and it has ever since been the design of men of learning, to couch the wisdom and knowledge of the world in such high flown language that the poorer classes of mankind could not get anywhere near them, and thereby hide it in the superabundance of nonsense they made use of; they made use of thousands of words to blind the ignorant and illiterate, that they might be kept in the dark, and remain in ignorance all through the learning and cunning of men.

These are my sentiments upon that subject in brief, and however much I may break or violate the instructions I received from President Joseph Smith to preach short sermons, and make short prayers, I have always endeavored to observe those instructions, though I may have failed on some occasions. Sometimes perhaps over anxiety has led me beyond the mark, but as a general thing I have endeavored to observe them strictly, and have found it to be good to do so, and I have often and do yet frequently think of my first degree.

But I ought to make some acknowledgment and confessions probably. I well remember the first time I ever broke those instructions; I was preaching in Virginia, in the County of Tyler. There was a Methodist preacher by the name of West, that would follow me wherever I went, and when I got through preaching he would get up to burlesque me, and he would talk for an hour or two, and then he would get his congregation to sing, but with all he could do he could not get more than thirty or forty to come and hear him preach, whereas I had from three to four hundred attentive hearers. So on one certain occasion he came with his Methodist friends to the meeting, and I invited him to preach first, but no—he said he was “going to preach just as soon as I got through;” so I said to myself, “You will have to wait a pretty considerable spell, old gentleman;” and I then selected and read one of the longest chapters I could find in the Bible, and read it slowly; then read a long hymn and lined it off, and got the preacher to sing it for me, after which I preached about two hours and a half. I saw the preacher was in a terrible great hurry to get a chance to speak; the reason was, there were many at the meeting who had come from 20 to 30 miles on purpose to hear me, the country being very thinly settled, and some of them would have turned their pigs out of the pen if they had known West was going to preach in it, and the very moment I had done speaking, he jumped up and said he wanted to preach before I dismissed the congregation. When he commenced, about 300 of the congregation left.

He had made a practice of following every “Mormon” Elder that came into the country, and keeping up his harangue against the truth, then his Methodist brethren would join him and sing at the top of their voices until the congregation dispersed, and it was his intention to serve me the same, but he did not succeed quite so well as he anticipated.

That was the first time that I recollect violating the instructions I had received, and I must say that I did not repent of it for a good many years, and I have not fully done so yet, for I thought that a man must be pardoned for straining his instructions on an occasion like that; and the fact is we do not often find such men. This man followed and harassed our Elders every time they went into the country, and kept on their track until he had run them clear out of the country. When he perceived I would preach about there, he gave public notice that if I came into the neighborhood where he lived I should get a coat of tar and feathers; so on hearing this, I resolved to go and try it.

There was a man by the name of Mr. Willey, a near neighbor of the Rev. Mr. West. He was a small man of about 130lbs. weight, with a red head, and he had 13 boys with red heads, each of them weighing from 180 to 250lbs. He had his boys perfectly drilled, and when he could not beat the opposite party at the ballot box by voting, he could always beat them by, fighting; for he and his red headed boys, (for they had hair as red as my wig that I wear sometimes,) were more than a match for any party they come in contact with in the County of Tyler; when he could not beat them in the election, he always could the other way. When he heard that West, the Methodist preacher, was going to have me tarred and feathered, he sent his best looking daughter on horseback over the mountains, dressed in the finest silk, and invited me to go over and preach, and assured me that I need not fear the least danger from the Methodists threatening to tar and feather me. I sent an appointment that I would preach at his house in two weeks. Accordingly I proceeded on my way to visit the old man, filling some appointments previously given on Buffalo Creek, Monongahela county, and about 15 miles from Mr. Willey’s, I met three young men, all with red heads, well mounted, and standing about 6 feet 2 inches, dressed in Kentucky jeans, but very neat and clean. They looked big enough to have been employed in Erebus, as strikers for Vulcan, forging thunder-bolts for Jupiter. They informed me that they were the sons of Mr. Willey, and that he had sent them to show me the way through the mountains. They remarked that it was rather a wild country to travel in alone, and they likewise informed me that the rumor was that West, the Methodist priest, was intending to meet me with a party of his pious brethren, and give me a coat of tar and feathers, but assured me, in the name of their father, that I need not apprehend the least possible danger.

Before I got into the neighborhood I was met by two or three other red headed gentlemen, and we shortly after arrived at the old man’s residence, where I was treated with every kindness, and the first salutation was an assurance that I need not be the least afraid, or anticipate that any harm would come to me from my Methodist friends: and the beauty of it was, as I learned afterward, he had long desired an opportunity to whip the whole Methodist church; and if they had turned out to mob me, he would then have had a good chance to pounce upon them. This is an illustration of what men will do to accomplish their ends, or the objects they have in view.

And as long as I remained in that part of the county of Tyler, the old man would have two or three of these boys go along with me to show me the way through the country wherever I wished to go, and two or three more looking out. I suppose he really wanted to have the Methodists execute their threat, and attempt to mob me; but West knowing the feelings of the red headed troop, he concluded it was best not to do so.

Notwithstanding all the opposition, we did succeed in gathering a few “Mormons” in that county. I am aware that things were different then to what they are now, for then when an Elder presented “Mormonism” in a town or city, every one that is acquainted with our history knows that it was looked upon by all as a mere matter of humbug. “Why,” they would say, “it will be all down in two or three weeks; these are some idle fellows going about for the sake of getting a living.” But now it is altogether different; when a “Mormon” goes forth to preach, however much they may oppose him and abuse him, they know that he represents an almighty people, and that he stands in connection with and is backed up by the greatest men of the age. They know that the “Mormons” cannot be successfully contended with by argument and moral suasion, but only on the old Missourian system of mobocracy; they know that the priests have given it up years ago. “O,” say they, “if you talk with a Mormon Elder, you are sure to get worsted; tar and feather them, mob them, and stone them out of the country, for if you listen to them, you will be deceived.”

I remember when Joseph first got the Abrahamic records, (and let me here say that I hope those brethren and sisters who are not already subscribers to the Deseret News, will go to the office and commence to take it while that important record is being published, for it will be of great service in years to come,) there was in the State of New York a very pious Presbyterian deacon, who was very intimate with my father and mother, when they were members of the same church; and, as he was passing through Kirtland, called to see them. It was almost a violation of the pious old man’s faith to shake hands with my father when he met him, but he ventured, and finally got courage enough to call, and not only shake hands, but have a little conversation.

My father told him that Joseph had got this Book of Abraham, and that he could translate it, and that it revealed some very important principles. “It is curious,” replied the old man, “I really would like to see the record.”

“Well, deacon,” said my father, “come, I will go over with you to the Prophet’s, and show you the papyrus.”

“Well, Mr. Smith, but I don’t know about going over now.”

“O come along,” said my father, “there is plenty of time before dinner, it is but a few steps—let us walk over while dinner is being prepared.”

“Mr. Smith, Mr. Smith, there is great danger of being de—cei—ved! Mr. Smith—I’d rather not go?”

This is the way men feel; they are all the time afraid of being deceived; when the truth comes, they dare not trust their eyes, their ears, or their understanding; they are all the day long fearing and trembling lest they should be deceived. And at the same time, Infidelity, Mesmerism, Electro-biology, spiritual communications of various kinds and grades are taking hold of the minds of the human race, from those in the highest ranks of society to the lowest.

And here in the newspapers we will find half their columns taken up with accounts of murder, suicide, plunder, bloodshed, and every other species of crime. “And what of it,” says one. Why, crime seems to be the principal feature of the day. And what is the cause of all this? The reason is because the people have rejected the truth, and therefore the light of truth has ceased to shine in their hearts.

They thirst for one another’s blood, and they thirst after and desire each other’s destruction, and they have no feeling for anything but blood and slaughter: and the great question the world over, but especially in the East, is whether the Emperor of Russia shall have the privilege of building as many ships as he may think proper, and putting them in the Black Sea. He says that a part of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoff are in his dominions, and that he will do as he pleases; but the allied powers swear that he shall not, and they stake the lives of millions, and declare that he shall not build any more ships than some half dozen other nations see proper to keep in that sea. This seems to be the whole question which causes the lives of millions to be in jeopardy continually.

I say, read the Deseret News; read the accounts of the missions of the Elders; read the great things that are being revealed week after week—the History of the Prophet, the revelations which came through him, and see how rapidly they are fulfilling, and observe how partyism and constant rangling are seizing the human mind, and how tremendously they will contend with each other, and sustain one another in lies, and speak evil of those who are good.

With these remarks I shall give way, praying that the Lord may bless you forever. Amen.

The History of Mahomedanism

George A. Smith

A discourse by Elder G. A. Smith, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 23, 1855.

I arise before you this morning, unexpectedly; but as I always feel willing to make an attempt to offer some reflections for the consideration of my brethren and sisters, I feel a degree of pleasure. While looking at the improved appearance of our benches to-day, I see quite a number of comfortable seats have been brought here, which will in a great degree dispense with the occasional breaking of temporary seats, disturbing the congregation.

The Lord has said, in a revelation given through Joseph Smith, that it is His purpose to take care of His Saints. He also promised His people, in the commencement of the foundation of this Church, to sift them as with a sieve. Some of the old Prophets, in referring to the work of the last days, speak of the sieve of vanity. The history of this people since the Church was organized, has been one continued scene of changes.

In the early years of the Church, there was a great anxiety among the brethren to travel and preach the Gospel among the Lamanites, but the rigid laws of the United States at that time, prevented any intercourse with them. The brethren used to feel animated upon the subject; they would speak in tongues and prophesy, and rejoice exceedingly in the things that were about to transpire, or that they believed would transpire when; they should be permitted to go and preach the Gospel to the Lamanites.

A series of unexpected and unthought of events has at length brought about an opportunity, on our part, to instruct these remnants of the house of Israel in the best knowledge it is possible for us to impart to them.

We have now been for eight years right in their midst, where we could have an opportunity of teaching them to read, if we chose; of teaching them to work, or anything else we may take the time, labor, and expense to teach them. We are now familiar with their habits, character, and customs, to a considerable extent.

When the curse of the Almighty comes upon a people, it certainly is the work of generations to remove it. When Cain brought a curse upon his own head, and that of his household, his after generations bore the same curse.

The curse that came upon Canaan, the son of Ham, has extended to a great portion of the human race, and has continued to the present day.

For the last hundred years, philanthropists, who were ignorant of the order of God—of the irrevocable decrees of the Almighty—have exerted themselves vigorously to thwart the purposes of the Almighty, in trying to remove the curse of servitude from the descendants of Canaan; but their endeavors are vain and useless; it is labor lost, and answers no end, only so far as it serves to multiply the difficulties and perplexities which are arising in this generation, to bring about the great destruction of corruption and wickedness from the earth; in this way it all indirectly serves a purpose.

When God has decreed a certain way for men to be in servitude, and has designed they shall hold that position, it is worse than useless for any man or set of men, to undertake to put them in a position to rule.

The Lord conferred portions of the Priesthood upon certain races of men, and through promises made to their fathers they were entitled to the rights, and blessings, and privileges of that Priesthood. Other races, in consequence of their corruptions, their murders, their wickedness, or the wickedness of their fathers, had the Priesthood taken from them, and the curse that was upon them was decreed should descend upon their posterity after them, it was decreed that they should not bear rule.

In looking abroad on the earth and seeing the effects produced upon different races of men, it will be plainly discovered that there are races who have never been permitted to bear rule to any great extent.

The God of heaven is the creator and proprietor of the earth; we will admit, however, that His claim to it has been considered by men very weak for many generations; His title has been, I would not say disputed, but it has been absolutely denied for a great while, so much so, that when the Son of God came on the earth he had nowhere to lay his head; he said himself, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.”

We also read that when the Savior was taken by the tempter on to an exceeding high mountain, he showed him the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, saying, “All these will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me,” although “the poor devil” did not own a single foot of it.

This proves that Satan considered himself so much in possession of the earth, as to actually exclude the Savior’s supremacy entirely, and wished to place him in a position that it might never be acknowledged; but the Savior said, “Get thee behind me, Satan, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

The dominion of portions of the earth has changed hands frequently, and sometimes in a very unexpected and miraculous manner; the Romans overpowered it to a very great extent, and all that was considered habitable, or that was then known, was either reduced to submission to the Roman sway, compelled to pay tribute, or at least to acknowledge Roman supremacy, with a very few exceptions; this is as far as profane history extends: hence, says Luke, “And it came to pass in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.”—ii. 1, 3. This circumstance shows the existence of several emperors possessed of sufficient domains and power in the Roman empire to demand taxation of all the world.

That nation has been compared to a nation of iron in the visions of the Prophet Daniel; it has been considered, by most commentators upon the word of God, that the Prophet Daniel considered the Roman empire to be typified by the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, in which it is represented as being of iron in the great image which he saw.

I believe it came nearer exercising universal dominion than any other empire that has ever existed. Nations of the present time have obtained dominion over a greater extent of the earth’s surface than the Roman empire did, yet it appears to be inhabited, cultivated, improved, and discovered to a far greater extent in proportion.

It has been said by some geographers that the empire of Russia is the most extensive one that ever existed; others, that the empire of Charles the Fifth of Germany, which included Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Mexico, Guatemala, and nearly all South America, was the greatest. Others say the present dominions of Queen Victoria are the most extensive of any other. Be that as it may, it is but a mere matter of speculation. Rome at its time was the only government that was considered all powerful. That this power was given by the Almighty, no man who believes in the dealings of God with men will dispute, though many who are sceptical on this subject may produce different ideas and views.

From the time Rome was founded—a small city upon the seven hills of the Tiber, to the final extent of its dominion, was eight hundred years, when it commenced to crumble, and continued so doing until it fell in pieces.

About six hundred years after Christ a prophet rose in Arabia, by the name of Mahomet, who was born in 569; he was an orphan boy; his father (Abdallah) having died, he was left in childhood, and was raised under the care of his uncle, whose name was Abu Taleb, and finally became an apprentice to learn the mercantile business; he was sent by his master several times on trading expeditions, as his agent, to take charge of his train of merchandize.

He subsequently married Kadija, the widow of his employer, who had left her, at his death, considerable wealth.

Mahomet carried on the business his master left, profitably, until he professed and proclaimed to the world to have received a mission from heaven. He was five years in making his first convert; this was rather slow progress; and that convert, when made, was only a boy of eleven years of age, whose name was Ali, the son of Abu Taleb.

It will be recollected that the climate of Arabia brings persons to maturity in body and mind much earlier than colder climates. Mahomet and Ali commenced to preach, and finally succeeded in gathering around them a considerable number of adherents.

Mahomet descended from one of the most noble families of the Koreish; he came direct in descent from Ishmael, the son of Abraham.

He was set upon by that powerful and popular tribe, the Koreish, who were determined to destroy him, as he proclaimed that their idol gods were all a humbug, and setting forth but one true and living God for them to worship. The persecution continued to increase until he was obliged to leave Mecca, and flee for his life to Medina, on 15th July, 622, which is the great Hegira or Mahometan era. On leaving his native city, Al Abbas, his uncle, one of the most powerful chiefs of the Koreish, made the Ansars, as his friends in Medina were called, promise and swear that they would not deceive, but would protect his nephew at the expense of their lives, though Al Abbas himself did not then believe in his divine mission.

Mahomet continued preaching: there was nothing in his religion to license iniquity or corruption; he preached the moral doctrines which the Savior taught; viz., to do as they would be done by; and not to do violence to any man, nor to render evil for evil; and to worship one God.

He continued so to preach until he was driven from his home. After he had commenced preaching his doctrine extensively in different parts of Arabia, and many had believed it, his persecutors at Mecca gathered a large force, and, followed him, with a determination to exterminate him and his friends. They followed him up with their persecutions until he got so mad, that he could not stand it any longer; his religion caved in, he drew his sword, gathered his followers, and gave his enemies such a drubbing that they went off ashamed. This was the battle of Bedr.

They raised a superior force of 3000 men, and had a second fight with the prophet (in 626) who could scarcely muster 1200 men; his orders not being obeyed, his followers left the field, but the prophet was determined not to be beat from the track, and concluded to fight the battle alone; his intrepidity and boldness on the occasion converted a leader of the infidel army, named Khaled, and he subsequently made him his general, and surnamed him the sword of God. This is called the battle of Ohud.

One hundred years extended the Mahometan power over more territory than the Romans gained in eight hundred years; in a very short time all Arabia bowed to his sceptre, and he was confirmed in his kingly power, and assumed the ensigns of royalty in 628.

He then sends his ambassadors to visit the neighboring nations, for he was now the monarch of Arabia, and asked them to receive his religion. They visited Khosroes the Great, king of the Persians, one of the most warlike sovereigns of his time. Mahomet’s ministers presented his letters, but the Persian king haughtily tore them in pieces, ordered the ambassadors to be scourged, and sent them home in disgrace. They returned to Medina and found Mahomet mending his shoes, and reported their treatment; with tears he replied, “You need not be alarmed, boys, for many of you will live to riot in the white palace of Khosroes.”

It was thought that Mahomet’s death would put a final stop to the progress of his religion; some persons gave him poison to see whether he was a prophet or not, and it was his belief that poison was the cause of his death. He died at the age of sixty-three, in 632, and was succeeded by his father-in-law, Abu Bukker, who was very faithful in sustaining the prophet during his life, and who was acknowledged as the first Khalif after the prophet’s death. This man continued the war which Mahomet had commenced, for when the prophet had found that the people would not leave their idols by being preached to, he concluded the sword was the best argument; he therefore decided he would take up the line of march to his native city, sustained by a powerful army. He destroyed the idols in the Kaaba, the temple of Mecca, and dedicated it to be the great temple of Mahomet, and the centre of Mahometan worship, which position it has held up to the present time. Mahomet set his examples, gave out his laws in relation to pilgrimage, prayer, and matrimony, and adopted many rigid rules, which he kept strictly himself, and which his followers have observed for many generations; and in his last pilgrimage, in 632, 114,000 Mussulmen converts marched under his banner.

Now this man descended from Abraham and was no doubt raised up by God on purpose to scourge the world for their idolatry. Immediately after his death, his successors commenced a series of campaigns against the Roman or Greek empire, under the command of Khaled the Great, surnamed the sword of God, and Abu Obeidah. During the two years of the reign of Abu Bukker, who ascended the throne in 632, he determined to enforce the new religion upon the inhabitants of Persia. This expedition, however, failed in consequence of its being too weak; but the expeditions against the Greeks were more successful; battle after battle was fought, province after province was surrendered, and millions were converted to the new faith; and on the death of Abu Bukker, Omar Ebu Al Khattab ascended the throne in 634, and the war continued.

During the reign of Omar they conquered Syria and Egypt, overthrew the Persian monarchy, the old dynasty of the Sassanides yielded their standard (the blacksmith’s leather apron), which had floated for several hundred years in triumph over the Persian monarchy, to the Saracen rule, and many who surrounded Mahomet’s person in times of his greatest danger rioted in the white palace of Khosroes, which was taken by the Arabs in 637, and where they divided among themselves a spoil of sixty millions of pounds sterling, and many of the companions of the prophet wept when they saw this prophecy so literally fulfilled.

Their manner of doing business was singular; they had a way of their own. When they entered the Persian empire, led by Saud-e-Wekkauss, they received a message from Zezdejird the king, that they were a pack of poor devils, that they came from a country which was a desert, and had not much to eat, and if they would go home and mind their own business he would load their camels with dates. They replied, that they did not come for his riches, nor yet for the fruits of his country, they knew they were poor, and had lived on green lizards and snails, but that had nothing to do with the matter, their business was to present to the king and his people the pure religion which God had revealed to them, and if they would accept of it, and obey its precepts, not one hair of their heads should be hurt, if they would not accept of it, if they would not obey it, they would require of them all to pay tribute, and if they would not pay tribute, they would cut off their heads. It was all told in three words, the Koran, tribute, or the sword.

The proud monarch could not bow to this, but called out his immense armies and placed them under the command of Rustum, the son of Furrukh-zaud and Ameir ul Omra of the empire. And a decisive battle was fought at Kaudsiah; this opened the whole of the Persian monarchy to Saracenic dominion. Saud-e-Wekkauss was afflicted with a disease called the Sciatica, which rendered his joints so stiff that he could not ride on horseback; he sounded the Tekbair (Alla hu akbar—God he is great) from a terrace of the palace in Kaudsiah, which was the signal of battle.

The Persian king drew up his hosts amounting to one hundred and twenty thousand men, while the Mahometan army amounted only to thirty thousand men. The battle commenced in the morning at eight o’clock and lasted until dark, when every Saracen lay down on the ground where he finished his day’s work.

The women of the Saracens carried them food, and dressed their wounds, and carried away the wounded and dead, but the soldiers, men, and officers, never left their position until the call was given in the morning, “God is great.” On account of the position which each army occupied, the one army could not present a greater front than the other; they fought the second day, the third, and the fourth, until tens of thousands were killed. On the second day the Saracens received a reinforcement of two thousand men that had marched five hundred miles under forced marches; the Persians also received a reinforcement of 30,000 men, and on the fourth day at noon the conflict was decided, after about one hundred thousand men had been slaughtered on the field.

I relate this to show you what religious zeal will accomplish. Mahomet, in his day, cautioned his people not to drink wine, or in other words, he had given them a “word of wisdom,” showing that it was not proper to drink wine. There was a warrior whose name was Abu Mohudjen, of some considerable reputation at the time, who had broken this law of Mahomet; he had taken some of the good wine of Persia, in consequence of which he had been put in chains, by order of Saud, and confined in the palace of Kaudsiah, while the battle was going on so severely. The general had not left a single staff officer to communicate the word of command, from the point the Mahometan general occupied, to his officers in the field, so he had to send them by his wives, or his servants. The only man left about the house was the general, and this officer in irons, who begged of the women to beseech the general to dismiss him, and let him go and fight, but they dare not do it for fear of the wrath of their husband. He importuned so earnestly when they brought to him his provisions, declaring that if he did not die in the field, he would return again and put on the irons, that they concluded to let him go, so they gave him the general’s piebald mare and a suit of his armor, and away he went to the battle field.

Saud was not long in observing the actions of the disguised warrior, whose extraordinary prowess excited his admiration. He inquired of his attendants who he was, but they were unable to give him any information. He concluded that if it were possible to suppose that God sent assistance on such occasions, it must be the immortal Kezzer, which word signifies Enoch, Elias, St. John the Evangelist, or St. George.

The Arabs, through suffering severely from the annoyance of the Persians’ elephants, and from the firm and resolute resistance of the troops of Rustum where he commanded in person, were repulsed and thrown into disorder, and were only recovered by the extraordinary and unlooked for exertions of Abu Mohudjen, disguised in the armor of Saud.

After the battle the imprisoned officer returned to his quarters, and the women again put the irons on him, and nothing was said to the general about his having been set at liberty. While the general was exulting over his victory, and the immense spoil he had taken, he told his wives that the immortal Kezzer had fought for him; says he, “The prophet knew I could not ride, and I saw a mighty warrior on my piebald mare, leading the way wherever the battle was thickest.”

His wives then told him who it was he saw; Saud says, “Bring him here, take off his chains, give him the piebald mare and armor, and let him drink all the wine he pleases all the days of his life.” “But,”says the old officer, “if I drink wine now, I shall be doing that which is contrary to the law of God, which if I could atone for by imprisonment I would drink it, but as I cannot, I will drink no more wine;” and he kept his word.

I relate this to show you what union and religious enthusiasm will accomplish: the Greek empire in Asia was crushed to atoms, and in one hundred years the Mahometan dominion was more extensive than that of the Roman empire in eight hundred years from its foundation.

Persia, Egypt, Mauritiana, and nearly all of Northern Africa, Cyprus, and Rhodes were subdued previous to 637, together with Syria, Asia Minor, and the countries now known as Turkistan, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, Circassia, and Asia Minor, and a part of Chinese Tartary. Tarick and Musa completed their conquest of Spain in 714; and had it not been for dissensions among themselves, the probability is, that the crescent would have now surmounted the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, instead of the cross.

Christianity had become so corrupt and divided, that none of the Christian princes were willing to unite their power with the Greek emperor to defend themselves against the Mahometan power, or to prevent them overpowering one Christian nation after another, for so they continued to do until division among themselves prevented their increasing; and now their national existence is waning little by little, until it is becoming very weak.

The battle of Tours, in which 370,000 Mussulmen were killed, which prevented the Saracens from not only overrunning France, but all Europe, was fought in the year 732, by the French, under Charles Martel, who was styled in his time, “the hammerer,” because he struck such hard blows in battle. He seized on a quantity of church revenues to pay his troops, and for this the Catholics damned him to purgatory, and required his children for generations to pay for prayers for his relief, but he was the great chieftain, as far as man is concerned, that prevented the utter annihilation of the religion of the cross, and the constituting in the place thereof that of the crescent.

History is a natural theme with me, and while I have taken so much license of your time in tracing the progress of the history of nations, I will still say to you, that this Mahometan race, this dominant power of the 7th and 8th centuries, were the descendants of Abraham, which Mahometan records show in a straight-forward genealogy, from the family of Mahomet direct to that of Abraham, through the loins of Ishmael, the son of Abraham; and in this dominion there certainly was a recognition of the dominion of the sons of Abraham, and just as long as they abode in the teachings which Mahomet gave them, and walked in strict accordance with them, they were united, and prospered; but when they ceased to do this, they lost their power and influence, to a very great extent.

I am aware that it is a difficult matter to get an honest history of Mahometanism translated into any of the Christian languages. One of the best works I ever read upon the subject, and one I can put the most confidence in, is Simon Ockley’s History of the Saracens; it was a translation of a Mahometan historian named Abu Abdollah Mahommed Ebu Omar Al Wakidi, who wrote eighty years after the flight of Mahomet from Mecca. Ockley prided himself in rendering the Arabic in good style, although his religious prejudices were so strong that he durst not render the sentiments he translated in full force, without rather blinding them a little. He would frequently translate as it ought to be, as nigh as he could, and then stick down a note in the margin, and say, “That was only done out of hypocrisy. “He is one of the best authors, or the one I would rather read.

It is a hard matter, as I have said, to get an honest history of any nation or people by their enemies. For instance, read Governor Ford’s History of Illinois, and you will find that he will contradict himself half-a-dozen times in one statement, for fear that he will not flatter the prejudices the people had against the “Mormons.” He would in one place assert that he had never done anything to favor the Anti-Mormons, and then immediately afterwards declare that he could not see why the Anti-Mormons could have any feelings against him, when he had done so much for them; and then go on to enumerate how he prevented Backenstos from arresting the house burners; yet he declares he had never done anything to favor them, and wonders why that party should feel crossways to him. This is the temper of almost all men who undertake to write the history of their enemies.

Just read the reports of different generals on the battle fields of the Crimea, and you will see that every one has a different side to it. These reports have got to be received with great allowance all round.

All the Christian translations of Mahometan history, as well as of the Koran, should be received with a great deal of allowance. I would recommend the reading of Major David Price’s “History of the Mahometan Empire.” He was educated and trained to be a Church of England man, but had not many conscientious scruples on religion; still he had prejudices against the Mahometans, so that when you read it, you must throw your ear a little quartering. I consider Bush’s Life of Mahomet” written under the influence of a violent Christian prejudice. I would prefer the account in Crichton’s “Arabia” to Bush.

I would like to inspire in the minds of the youth a disposition to study oriental history, because a great deal of human nature is learned therein: how powerful dominions grew up in a short time, and how, through the violation of the principles of union, those nations have as quickly come to naught. Many useful lessons are taught on the pages of history.

Within the last eighty years our own republican government has increased its territorial limits about threefold, and it is constantly on the increase.

The fact is, if a man who is in the habit of raising trees makes his top to grow larger in proportion to the roots and the main trunk of the tree, it will break asunder or be uprooted. The American power is in danger of losing its balance by extending its limits faster than it accumulates strength to consolidate them together.

I will explain one term which I have used. At the time that Mahomet fled from Mecca, (July 15, 622,) it was the new moon: the Mussulmen therefore adopted the crescent as their religious emblem.

When the Mahometans conquered a Christian church, and turned it into a mosque, they put the crescent on the top of the cross. The old Greek cathedral church of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, is now a mosque: the cross is surmounted by a crescent. The Russians have conquered and overpowered various countries that were held by the Mahometan power, where you may now find the Greek cross mounted over the crescent, turning many Mahometan mosques into Christian churches. I give this explanation, thinking it may perhaps be information to some of our young people present.

A great deal has been said about some of the religious emperors who have had dominion in the earth being remarkably good men; but if their characters were impartially examined with any degree of criticism, it would be found that many of them used their religion as a matter of policy; as the present pretender to the throne of France of the house of Bourbon, who is so pious that it is said he goes to church six times a day, and that Pope Pius IX has christened him his own dear son; I suppose he feels that he is honest in heart, but he would like the throne of France, and there is probably a better chance to get it by making a great deal of pretension to religion than by any other process; and if he gets it, he thinks he will have a little better chance to keep it.

Such speculations have a tendency to make men religious. Like men who write to President Young, saying, “I am a physician, and graduated so and so, and I would like you to write to me, and let me know if there aint a good chance for me to make a comfortable living in your place, in case I should embrace your religion, and settle among you.” We frequently receive just such communications. These are the principles that are rankling in the breasts of selfish and ambitious men. I say, ever since Adam eat the apple, it has been more or less the case.

There was Constantine the Great, who was the first Christian emperor; his dominion was termed a Christian dominion, or in other words, it was a Catholic dominion, and extended far and wide, and everything that dared to oppose it was made to suffer the most cruel tyranny. The truths of the Gospel becoming absorbed and swallowed up by Paganism, and Christianity left only in name, there grew out of his administration Christian division, dispute, war, and distraction, which have continued to the present time.

Look in the history of the revolutions and conspiracies of Europe, and you will find that religion has always a finger in the matter, even in the present great war: it amounts to about simply this—whether the Catholic power shall exclusively control the holy places, or whether the Greek power shall. The probability is, that the Mahometans have got to surrender them to the Christian powers soon; even the mosque of Omar, which is upon the site of King Solomon’s temple at Jerusalem, will soon be surrendered to some Christian power; the only thing that delays it is the Christian quarrel between the Greek and Catholic nations.

I do not consider Great Britain has waged this war so much for the sake of religion as to control the trade of India, and the way to it: England is after the purse. But all the Catholic powers that are in any way concerned in the matter are the leading influence in the business to check the growing power of the Greek Church; hence it is a religious war. But the men to whose ancestors God has given Priesthood, and to whom in the last days the privilege of receiving it has been conferred, have been abroad, and published the principles of salvation, and the voice of the Prophet of God to the world, and now the nations are left to wrangle with and destroy each other. It is an old proverb, and one of long standing, that “whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” Peace is taken from the earth, and wrath and indignation among the people is the result: they care not for anything but to quarrel and destroy each other.

The same spirit that dwelt in the breasts of the Nephites during the last battles that were fought by them on this continent, when they continued to fight until they were exterminated, is again on the earth, and is increasing.

I was amused the other day in hearing a relation of a visit of brother Barlow to his native State, Kentucky. He said, “The people are so united in secret conspiracies that everything they do not choose to uphold, they will proscribe in every way.” Says he, “If I had mended a clock or a piece of jewelry, it would have been desecrated, and the man that dared to employ me or feed me would have been proscribed by the community, through their secret organizations.” That is the spirit that is abroad on the earth, and one party will unite against another, and so on, to the utter destruction of every single principle of liberty, human happiness, and human right upon the face of the earth, and bring down upon the heads of the wicked a terrible destruction, which has been predicted by the Prophets.

I have seen the same spirit operate in the midst of these mountains. I have seen individuals here who are filled with the spirit of contention—who are filled with the spirit of wickedness; I have heard them complain, murmur, and find fault, until, by and bye, they conclude Brigham is wrong, the Church is wrong, and everything is wrong, and that they would go to California, and there stay until the great day, when the Prophet should come and set things right.

This spirit will in the end lead a man to destruction; and all that will preserve the Saints in the last days from the general destruction in the vortex of ruin to which the world is rushing, will be their unity with each other, their clinging with all their might, mind, and strength to the building up of this kingdom, and making it their only interest, that they may hang together as one; knowing the text we started on that it is the Lord’s business to provide for His Saints.

If you excuse me for my Mahometan narrative, I will close my remarks, praying that the Lord may bless you, and lead you in peace to inherit the celestial kingdom in the end. Amen.

Mahometanism and Christianity

Parley P. Pratt

An address by Elder Parley P. Pratt, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 23, 1855.

My brother, George A. Smith, has wished us to excuse his Mahometan narration, but I would feel more like giving a vote of thanks to the Almighty and to His servant for so highly entertaining and instructing us.

I am aware it is not without a great deal of prejudice that we, as Europeans, and Americans, and Christians in religion and in our education, so called, have looked upon the history of Mahomet, or even the name; and even now we may think that: Mahometanism, compared with Christianity as it exists in the world, is a kind of heathenism, or something dreadful, and the other we look upon as something very pretty, only a little crippled; and for my part, I hardly know which to call the idolatrous side of the question, unless we consider Mahometanism Christianity, in one sense, and that which has been called Christianity, heathenism.

Mahometanism included the doctrine that there was one God—that He was great, even the creator of all things, and that the people by right should worship Him. History abundantly shows the followers of Mahomet did not take the sword, either to enforce their religion or to defend themselves, until compelled to do so by the persecutions of their enemies, and then it was the only alternative that presented itself, to take up the sword and put down idolatry, and establish the worship of the one God; or, on the other hand, be crushed and cease to be, on account of the idolatrous nations around them; they seemed to act on the defensive, although it might legally be considered aggression.

The Greek and Roman Churches, which have been called Christian, and which take the name of Christians as a cloak, have worshipped innumerable idols. On this account, on the simple subject of the Deity and His worship, if nothing more, I should rather incline, of the two, after all my early traditions, education, and prejudices, to the side of Mahomet, for on this point he is on the side of truth, and the Christian world on the side of idolatry and heathenism.

In the first place, the latter lay it down as a point of theology, and it is a foundation point too, that there is one only true God, consisting of three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but without body, parts, or passions. Here is the exact image and likeness of an idol established through the principal creeds of Christendom, that is, if it is an image at all, or if it makes a shadow at all, it is that of an idol: it is a being that never existed in heaven, earth, or hell; it will not make even a shadow. Indeed, it is a thing literally motionless and powerless, as much so as any term that can be used to mean nonentity.

Jesus Christ, whom we worship as the Son of God, and the Savior of the world, has body, parts, and passions, and he is like his Father; he is the express image of his Father’s person and the brightness of His glory, whom we also worship. They are individual personages organized as a pattern after which men were created; they have tabernacles, and are in every way personages and intelligent beings.

Therefore, that something, or that nothing, that imaginary being, that idol that is recognised in the creeds of Christendom in general as a god without body, parts, or passions, has nothing to do whatever with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or with the Son of God that came in the meridian of time, who was crucified, died, and rose again from the dead, and ascended on high to lead captivity captive, and give gifts to men. Inasmuch as he and his Father are organised with body and parts, with limbs, joints, flesh, and bones, that are immortal and eternal, they have no part or lot, or communication whatever, with that imaginary being which is recognised in the principal creeds of Christendom as their God, viz., a god without body, parts, or passions. Therefore, in that sense, in the very foundation of their creeds they are idolators; and instead of saying that Mahometanism prevailed against Christianity, and that Christianity was in danger of being done away by its prevalence, we would rather say, that where Mahometanism prevailed, it taught and established one truth at least, viz., the true and living God, and so far as this went, it did preserve people from worshipping idols. And had the crescent waved on the tower of London, or on the church of St. Paul, instead of the cross, and had the Mahometan religion been enforced instead of the Roman religion that was enforced for a series of generations, and had tradition riveted what the sword enforced, then that nation and the surrounding nations would have been worshippers of one true God instead of idols; they would have recognized it in theory at least, whether they would have worshipped Him in spirit and in truth or not. But now they do not recognize Him in theory, for they acknowledge as their god an imaginary being without body, parts, or passions.

Setting aside this one point, they acknowledge and worship innumerable idols, pictures, images, &c., amounting almost to an infinite number, in every place where Christianity has been blended with the civil power, and enforced and established by law under the one great standard called Catholic—imaginary deities that are the works of men’s hands, and to which they actually and literally bow down. This may not be the case so fully in these United States, where there is a kind of balance of power, and religion, and population, and influences of various kinds acting as checks upon each other; but go to those countries where there are no such checks or balances of power; go to Chili, Spain, or any other of the states or nations where the Roman cross, instead of the crescent, or any other ensign, is the standard, where there are no Protestant influences and Protestant dissensions to interfere with the prevailing power, and, as a matter of course, all the subjects of that realm have by law one religion prescribed to them, supported and enforced by civil authority, to the prohibition of all others. In such countries, you can contemplate that religion in all its open and unveiled idolatry; it is there you will see more fully exhibited the practice of worshipping images, of bowing down to dumb idols in the shape of pictures, images, saint worship, angel worship, &c., &c.

I have seen all this with mine eyes, and heard it with mine ears. They will pray to the Virgin Mary, so called, in the form of a painting, which they set up to be prayed to. They also set up other canonized saints in like manner, painted on canvas and other substances.

But I will not confine this practice to those countries alone, but in a city of the United States I have beheld a public procession of a vast majority of the populace united in one grand bowery, extending around the public square, and pictures and images of saints were posted in the roads, and an extra bowery was prepared for each of those images or paintings, decorated in all the pomp and splendor the people could command, and while in procession they would kneel down in the dirty streets and public squares, though dressed in the richest silks and satins that money could purchase; persons so richly attired were bowing down on their knees, or prostrating themselves in the dirt and dust at every place where there was an image, and were devoutly offering up prayers.

This is the idolatry that prevails more manifestly in the countries where religion is the law, but it also prevails right in our own country, because there is a liberty of conscience to worship what you please.

Now, if we take Mahometanism during those dark ages, and the corruptions that are so universally prevalent over the earth, and the idolatrous systems of religion, falsely called Christianity, and weigh them in a balance; with all my education in favor of Christian nations and Christian powers, and Christian institutions, so called, with all my prejudices of early youth, and habits of thought and reading, my rational faculties would compel me to admit that the Mahometan history and Mahometan doctrine was a standard raised against the most corrupt and abominable idolatry that ever perverted our earth, found in the creeds and worship of Christians, falsely so named.

It might not have been a very pure standard, for the fulness of the Gospel, with its Priesthood, ordinances, powers, and gifts were not there, because that pertained to another branch of Abraham’s family.

Ishmael and his de[s]cendants were blessed by the Lord, who said, “I will make of him a great nation, and kings shall come of him, and he shall have dominion;” yet there was one thing not said on the head of Ishmael. It was not said that in him should the elect seed be chosen, who should bear the keys of the eternal Priesthood, and salvation, in which all nations should be blessed: this was said on Isaac, the brother of Ishmael, the heir; and it was also said of Jacob and of Abraham; therefore, the blessings that were peculiar, that pertained to the fulness of the Gospel, that pertained to the eternal Priesthood, that pertained to the coming of Christ, and to the things of his ministry, and to those that were called with the same calling, and in which all nations should be blessed and redeemed, could not be given to Ishmael and to his descendants, but they belonged by election to the chosen seed to whom the promises were made, viz., the children of Abraham through Isaac, and through Jacob; but the Lord said of Ishmael, “I will make of him a great nation, because he is thy son; I will bless him because he is thine, and kings shall come of him.” So the Lord seems to have fulfilled, more or less, from those early days until the present, the promises that He made to the children of Abraham, that were not particularly designed to hold the keys of the Priesthood.

All that a nation could have, without the keys of the everlasting Gospel, without the gifts and powers pertaining to those keys, and without the fulness of the Gospel, the people of the East seemed to have been blessed with, so far as the Lord saw fit to bestow upon them blessings during those dark ages.

A great portion of the oriental country has been preserved from the grossest idolatry, wickedness, confusion, bloodshed, murders, cruelty, and errors in religion that have overspread the rest of the world, under the name of Christianity, or mystery of iniquity.

An open defiance of God is no mystery; open drunkenness, and revelling debauchery, and all manner of wickedness and immorality professed by sinners who profess to be nothing else, are no mystery; they do not deceive anybody; but when all manner of wickedness, idolatry, drunkenness, and corruption is cloaked under a sacred name, under an outward sanctity and holiness, and under as high and dignified an appellation as Christian, it is a mystery of iniquity; and that has overspread a great portion of the world, and has borne rule until the present day, sometimes under the name of Roman universality, sometimes under the name of the Greek Church, and at other times under various classes and names.

Many that were honest have been deceived by this mystery of iniquity, who have esteemed things to be sacred, which were abominably corrupt; and corrupt superstitions have been revered because of the great names and sanctified professions that were attached to them.

If such institutions actually professed wickedness, they would go for what they were worth; but when a thing professes to be holy, and takes the name of Christ as its founder, and the holy Prophets and Apostles, to carry out all manner of oppression, all manner of idolatry and idol worship, all manner of priestcraft and kingcraft, and more or less instigating division among nations and governments, all to carry out bloodshed, cruelty, the rack, the inquisition, and holding of men in bondage, ruling them with a rod of iron, it is a mystery of iniquity calculated to deceive millions. The Apostle John, speaking of this same power, says, “By thy sorceries were all nations deceived!!”

The Mahometan operations, in the hands of the descendants of Abraham and Ishmael, seem to have warded off that deception and mystery of iniquity in some measure, so that it has not entirely overrun their country, morals, and institutions.

Though Mahometan institutions are corrupt enough, and need reforming by the Gospel, I am inclined to think, upon the whole, leaving out the corruptions of men in high places among them, that they have better morals and better institutions than many Christian nations; and in many localities there have been high standards of morals.

There are, no doubt, sections of country, and different localities in Asia, where the people have not walked strictly according to the regulations and laws given by Mahomet, and observed by his true followers.

But returning to the general corruption that has prevailed nationally, politically, and religiously, under the name of Christianity, leaving out Christ and his Apostles, I do think there has been no idolatry in the world, under any form or system, that could surpass it. It is the mystery of iniquity, the great whore of all the earth. It has brought the whole earth under a lasting curse, having departed from the laws of God, changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant, in consequence of which the earth is destined to be burned, and few men left.

So far as that one point is concerned, of worshipping the one true God under the name of Mahometanism, together with many moral precepts, and in war only acting on the defensive, I think they have exceeded in righteousness and truthfulness of religion, the idolatrous and corrupt church that has borne the name of Christianity.

There is one thing for which I like Mahometanism better than the present Christianity of the world; if prisoners are taken by them, no matter of what country or religion, and they become lawful captives, doomed to slavery, according to their rules, they will take them from their labor, order them to wash their bodies, and put on clean clothes, give them plenty to eat to refresh them, until they have rested and have full power and vigor of both body and mind to investigate and study the Mahometan religion. If the captives embrace the true religion, as they call it, they are set free from slavery, and permitted to marry among them. But if the captives still reject the religion of the Mahometans, they are made to return to their slavery.

I want to know where the Christian nation is that does this—that will take their lawful captive that may have some other religion, and set him free from servitude, and give him time to wash and clothe himself, and think, and investigate, when both body and mind are enjoying their full power, and if they embrace their religion, then permit them to become citizens.

I will not detain you; I have been more lengthy now than I intended. We would do well to look into the bearings of the history of nations, and the dealings of God with them, as impartially as we can, at all times, and cull out all the good there has been, is, or may be, and acknowledge the hand of God in all things, in His dealings with the nations as well as in other things. I acknowledge His hand even in this Gentile reign, whose corruption I have been hinting at. It has had its day, which has been a long and dark one; the nations have groaned under its sway; all nations have felt its withering power; all nations have been deceived by its darkening and mysterious influences; they have groaned in ignorance and corruption under the hand of oppression, and tyranny, and wrong, until the head and heart are sick, and they are ready to wake up and seek something better.

I acknowledge the hand of God in it; it was to have its day, that the nations might know fully, and experience the difference between light and darkness, mystery and truth, peace and war, liberty and oppression; between truth and falsehood, between the rule of Satan, of priestcraft and kingcraft, and the reign of the kingdom of righteousness; that they might have enough of their own way, and be filled with it until they would be glad to seek the Lord.

That same God has promised His Apostles and Prophets a day when there should be an end of superstition, and ignorance, and falsehood, of priestcraft and kingcraft, an end of Gentile polity; that their fulness would come in, and the prophecies of the holy Prophets would be fulfilled, and the reign of iniquity would complete its time; and then what? A chaos? No, but an organization, a kingdom, a government, a power which should stand for ever, and no more pass away; and what was that? Why, the God of heaven should set it up; suffice it to say, the kingdom of God.

May the Lord bless you all. Amen.

Faith, etc.

Brigham Young

A sermon by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1855.

As we have assembled in the capacity of a Conference to attend to business, we should earnestly seek to enjoy the spirit of our calling. We are called to be Saints, and if we have the spirit of Saints we shall have the spirit of our calling, otherwise we certainly do not enjoy the privileges that the Lord designs we should. The Lord is ready and willing to give His Spirit to those who are honest before Him, and who seek earnestly to enjoy it.

If Saints, assembled to worship the Lord and transact business pertaining to His kingdom, should not have the aid of His Spirit they would be likely to commit errors, it would be strange indeed if they did not, and to do that which they ought not, even in business transactions; they would fall short of accomplishing their own wishes, and of course far short of fulfilling the designs of heaven. We see many led astray, because they have not retained the spirit of Christ to guide them.

When any of this people, who believe the Gospel, forsake the duty which they owe to God and His cause, they are at once surrounded by an influence which causes them to imbibe a dislike to Saints and to the conduct of Saints; they receive a false spirit, and then the Saints cannot do right in their eyes, the ministers of God cannot preach right nor act right, and soon they wish to leave the society of the Saints, and that too, as they suppose, with a sanctified heart and life. They wish to withdraw from this, as they believe, wicked people, fancying all to be wicked but themselves, and wish to separate themselves until the people are as holy as they flatter themselves that they are, when they calculate to return again. Others will lose the spirit of their calling, and realize that they have lost it; they are wicked, and know it, and will have more confidence in others than in themselves. But the self-righteous will go away and wait until we as a people are sanctified and able to endure their presence, and think that then they will, perhaps, gather among us again.

People are liable in many ways to be led astray by the power of the adversary, for they do not fully understand that it is a hard matter for them to always distinguish the things of God from the things of the devil. There is but one way by which they can know the difference, and that is by the light of the spirit of revelation, even the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without this we are all liable to be led astray and forsake our brethren, forsake our covenants and the Church and kingdom of God on earth.

Should the whole people neglect their duty and come short in performing the things required at their hands, lose the light of the Spirit of the Lord, the light of the spirit of revelation, they would not know the voice of the Good Shepherd from the voice of a stranger, they would not know the difference between a false teacher and a true one, for there are many spirits gone out into the world, and the false spirits are giving revelations as well as the Spirit of the Lord. This we are acquainted with; we know that there are many delusive spirits, and unless the Latter-day Saints live to their privileges, and enjoy the spirit of the holy Gospel, they cannot discern between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. Consequently, it becomes us, as Saints, to cleave to the Lord with all our hearts, and seek unto Him until we do enjoy the light of His Spirit, that we may discern between the righteous and the wicked, and understand the difference between false spirits and true. Then, when we see a presentation, we shall know whence it is, and understand whether it be of the Lord, or whether it is not of Him; but if the people are not endowed with the Holy Ghost they cannot tell, therefore it becomes us to have the Spirit of the Lord, not only in preaching and praying, but to enable us to reflect and judge, for the Saints are to judge in these matters. They are to judge not only men, they are to be judges not only in the capacity of a Conference to decide what shall be done, what course shall be pursued to further the kingdom of God, what business shall be transacted, and how it shall be transacted, and so on, but they will actually judge angels.

We sit here as judges, and suppose that business which would prove injurious to this people should now be presented for them to decide upon, or suppose that the leaders of this people had forsaken the Lord and should introduce, through selfishness, that which would militate against the kingdom of God on the earth, that which would in the issue actually destroy this people, how are you going to detect the wrong and know it from the right? You cannot do it, unless you have the Spirit of the Lord. Do the people enjoy that Spirit? Yes, many of them do. Do they enjoy it in as great a degree as it is their privilege? A few of them do, still I think that the people in general might enjoy more of the Holy Spirit, more of the nature and essence of the Deity, than they do. I know that they have their trials, I know they have the world to grapple with, and are tempted, and I know what they have to war against.

But let us ask ourselves individually whether we fight this warfare to such a degree that we do overcome in every instance? In every contest do we come off victorious? Here we have to do with our passions; here is fallen nature, that we can never get rid of until we lie down in the grave, it is sown in the flesh and will remain there, but it is our privilege to overcome that, and bring it under subjection in our reflections, in our meditations, and in all the labor that we perform, though we may be tried, tempted, and buffeted by Satan. It is our privilege to have power to rule, govern, and bring under subjection even our momentary passions; yes, it is our privilege so to live and overcome them that we never would have a temptation to think evil, or at least would never speak before we took time to think, but all would be in subjection to the law of Christ. Do we live up to this privilege?

People may ask, are we not good Saints? Yes, I can say that this people are a good people, and they wish to be Saints, and many of them strive to be Saints, and many of them are Saints. I realize the weaknesses of men; I am not ignorant of my own weaknesses, and this is where I learn every body else, their dispositions and the operations of the spirit upon the inhabitants of the earth; to learn mankind is learn myself.

This is a good people, they are a righteous people; yet there are some who are filled with folly, there are some who are inclined to do wickedly and seem to love wickedness; there are some who are filled with idolatry, and it seems as though it were impossible for them to overcome the spirit of the world, to keep from loving it and from cleaving to it and to the things of the world. I will appeal to the people as judges—are you capable of judging in matters pertaining to the kingdom of God on earth, unless you have the Spirit of truth within you?

Some may say, “Brethren, you who lead the Church, we have all confidence in you, we are not in the least afraid but what everything will go right under your superintendence; all the business matters will be transacted right; and if brother Brigham is satisfied with it, I am.” I do not wish any Latter-day Saint in this world, nor in heaven, to be satisfied with anything I do, unless the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of revelation, makes them satisfied. I wish them to know for themselves and understand for themselves, for this would strengthen the faith that is within them. Suppose that the people were heedless, that they manifested no concern with regard to the things of the kingdom of God, but threw the whole burden upon the leaders of the people, saying, “If the brethren who take charge of matters are satisfied, we are,” this is not pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

Every man and woman in this kingdom ought to be satisfied with what we do, but they never should be satisfied without asking the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, whether what we do is right. When you are inspired by the Holy Ghost you can understandingly say, that you are satisfied; and that is the only power that should cause you to exclaim that you are satisfied, for without that you do not know whether you should be satisfied or not. You may say that you are satisfied and believe that all is right, and your confidence may be almost unbounded in the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ, but if you asked God, in the name of Jesus, and received knowledge for yourself, through the Holy Spirit, would it not; strengthen your faith? It would. A little faith will perform little works; that is good logic. Jesus says, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

A grain of mustard seed is very small; nevertheless if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, and should say unto this mountain, “remove hence to yonder place, it would be done; or to that sycamore tree, “Be thou planted in the sea;” or to the sick, “Be ye healed;” or to the devils, “Be ye cast out; it would be done.”

Suppose that I had faith like a grain of mustard seed, and could do the things which Christ has said are possible to be done through that faith, and that another man on the continent of Asia had the same faith, we could not accomplish much because but two would have all the power of Satan to combat. Do you suppose that Jesus Christ healed every person that was sick, or that all the devils were cast out in the country where he sojourned? I do not. Working miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead, and the like, were almost as rare in his day as in this our day. Once in a while the people would have faith in his power, and what is called a miracle would be performed, but the sick, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the crazy, and those possessed with different kinds of devils were around him, and only now and then could his faith have power to take effect, on account of the want of faith in the individuals.

Many suppose that in the days of the Savior no person was sick, in the vicinity of his labors, but what was healed; this is a mistake, for it was only occasionally that a case of healing a sick person or casting out a devil occurred. But again, suppose that two-thirds of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the regions round about had actually possessed like faith in the Savior that a few did, then it is very probable that all the sick would have been healed and the devils cast out, for there would have been a predominance of a good power over the evil influences.

Let two persons be on the continent of America, having faith like a grain of mustard seed, and let one of them be situated on the Atlantic and the other on the Pacific coast, and most of the sick would remain sick around them, the dying would die, and those possessed of devils would continue to be tormented, though once in a while a sick person might be healed, or a blind person be made to see. Now let each one of those individuals have another person of like faith added to him, and they will do as much again work; then let there be four persons in the east and four in the west, all possessing faith like a grain of mustard seed, and there will be four times as much done as when there was but one in each place; and thus go on increasing their number in this ratio until, by and bye, all the Latter-day Saints have faith like a grain of mustard seed, and where would there be place for devils? Not in these mountains, for they would all be cast out. Do you not perceive that that would be a great help to us?

If I had power of myself to heal the sick, which I do not profess to have, or to cast out devils, which power I have not got, though if the Lord sees fit to cast them out through my command it is all right—still if I had that power, and there was no other person to help me, the people would do as they do now, they would hunt me almost to death, saying,” Won’t you lay hands on this sick person? Won’t you go to my house over yonder?” and so on. I am sent for continually, though I only go occasionally, because it is the privilege of every father, who is an Elder in Israel, to have faith to heal his family, just as much so as it is my privilege to have faith to heal my family; and if he does not do it he is not living up to his privilege. It is just as reasonable for him to ask me to cut his wood and maintain his family, for if he had faith himself he would save me the trouble of leaving other duties to attend to his request.

Let this faith be distributed and it makes all things easy, but put one or two dozen men to hauling a wagon containing a hundred tons’ weight, and the labor is very heavy, whereas if the whole of the Latter-day Saints would put their shoulder to the load it would be moved easily. It is with the mental powers as it is with the physical, and that is why I wish you to consider the matter, and why I lay those things before you. Let the Latter-day Saints have faith and works, and let them forsake their covetousness and cleave unto righteousness.

I have given you a short discourse upon faith and practical religion, and now I say to the Elders of Israel, to the Bishops of the different wards, and to the Presidents of the different Branches, if there is any business you wish to bring before this Conference, pertaining to fellowship and the conduct of individuals, you can have the privilege. We were accustomed, some years ago, to attend to such business before our General Conference, and it is our privilege to do so again, if we choose, or if there is any occasion.

In all High Councils, in Bishops’ Courts, and in all other departments for transacting our business, the Church and kingdom of God, with the Lord Almighty at the head, will cause every man to exhibit the feelings of his heart, for you recollect it is written that in the last days the Lord will reveal the secrets of the hearts of the children of men.

Does not the Gospel do that? It does; it causes men and women to reveal that which would have slept in their dispositions until they dropped into their graves. The plan by which the Lord leads this people makes them reveal their thoughts and intents, and brings out every trait of disposition lurking in their organizations. Is this right? It is. How are you going to correct a man’s faults, by hiding them and never speaking of them, by covering up every fault you see in your brother, or by saying,” O, do not say a word about his faults, we know that he lies, but it will not do to say a word about it, for it would be awful to reveal such a fact to the people?” That is the policy of the world and of the devil, but is it the way that the Lord will do with the people in the latter-days? It is not.

This is a matter that seems to be but little understood by some of the Latter-day Saints, it may be understood by a portion of them, but others do not understand it. Every fault that a person has will be made manifest, that it may be corrected by the Gospel of salvation, by the laws of the Holy Priesthood.

Suppose that a man lies, and you dare not tell of it; “Very well,” says the man, “I am secure, I can lie as much as I please.” He is inclined to lie, and if we dare not chastise him about it he takes shelter under that pavilion, cloaks himself with the charity of his brethren, and continues to lie. By and bye he will steal a little, and perhaps one or two of his brethren know about it, but they say, “We must cover up this fault with the cloak of charity.” He continues to lie and to steal, and we continue to hide his faults; where will it lead that person to? Where will he end his career? Nowhere but in hell.

What shall we do with such men? Shall we reveal their faults? Yes, whenever we deem it right and proper. I know it is hard to receive chastisement, for no chastisement is joyous, but grievous at the time it is given; but if a person will receive chastisement and pray for the Holy Spirit to rest upon him, that he may have the Spirit of truth in his heart, and cleave to that which is pleasing to the Lord, the Lord will give him grace to bear the chastisement, and he will submit to and receive it, knowing that it is for his good. He will endure it patiently, and, by and bye, he will get over it, and see that he has been chastised for his faults, and will banish the evil, and the chastisement will yield to him the peaceable fruits of righteousness, because he exercises himself profitably therein.

In this way chastisement is a benefit to any person. Grant that I have a fault, and wish it concealed, would I not be likely to hide it? And if the Lord would not reveal it I might cling to it, if I had not the spirit of revelation to discern my fault and its consequences. Without the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, I am just as liable to live and abide in false principles, false notions, and unrighteous actions as true ones. It is so with you.

If your faults are not made known to you, how can you refrain from them and overcome them? You cannot. But if your faults are made manifest, you have the privilege of forsaking them and cleaving unto that which is good. The design of the Gospel is to reveal the secrets of the hearts of the children of men.

When men intimate to me, whether in public or in private, that their faults must not be spoken of, I do not know how worldly-minded men feel in similar cases, but like Elijah, when he mocked the priests of Baal, I feel to laugh and make der[i]sion of such men.

Do you suppose that I will thus far bow down to any man in this Territory, or on the earth? Do you suppose that I will suffer myself to be so muzzled that I cannot reveal the faults of the people when wisdom dictates me to do it?

I fear not the wicked half so much as I would a musquito in my bed room at night, for he would keep me from sleeping, but for the unrighteous, those who will act the villain and conduct themselves worse than the devil, to insinuate that I have not the privilege of speaking of their faults makes me feel like laughing at their folly. I will speak of men’s faults when and where I please, and what are you going to do about it?

Do you know that that very principle caused the death of all the Prophets, from the days of Adam until now? Let a Prophet arise upon the earth, and never reveal the evils of men, and do you suppose that the wicked would desire to kill him? No, for he would cease to be a Prophet of the Lord, and they would invite him to their feasts, and hail him as a friend and brother. Why? Because it would be impossible for him to be anything but one of them. It is impossible for a Prophet of Christ to live in an adulterous generation without speaking of the wickedness of the people, without revealing their faults and their failings, and there is nothing short of death that will stay him from it. for a Prophet of God will do as he pleases.

I have been preached to, pleaded with, and written to, to be careful how I speak about men’s faults, more so than ever Joseph Smith was in his life time; every week or two I receive a letter of instruction, warning me to be careful of this or that man’s character. Did you ever have the Spirit of the Lord, so that you have felt full of joy, and like jumping up and shouting hallelujah? I feel in that way when such epistles come to me; I feel like saying, “I ask no odds of you, nor of all your clan this side of hell.”

I have wise brethren around me who will sometimes say, “Don’t speak so and so, be very careful, now do be cautious;” and I have been written to from the east; I have package after package of letters, yes, a wheelbarrow load of them, saying, “O, brother Brigham, I would beseech and pray and plead with you, if I only dare, to be careful how you speak. Would not this or that course be better than for you to get up in the stand, and tell the Gentiles what they are? Would it not be better to keep this to yourself?”

Do you know how I feel when I get such communications? I will tell you, I feel just like rubbing their noses with them. If I am not to have the privilege of speaking of Saint and sinner when I please, tie up my mouth and let me go to the grave, for my work would be done.

It was for this that they killed Joseph and Hyrum, it is for this that they wish to kill me and my brethren; we know their iniquity, and we will tell of it when the Spirit dictates, or talk about this, that, or the other person and conduct at the proper time.

There are people in our midst who grunt at this course, and at the same time have evils that I think are hardly worth notice, for I do not think that such persons will be good for anything even should they happen to get into the kingdom of heaven, though I suppose they are good in their place if we can find out where it is, but as yet I am ignorant of it; I presume that the Lord knows where it is, but I do not. I wish to say to the Elders of Israel, to all people, I shall tell you of your iniquity and talk about you just as I please, and when you feel like killing me for so doing, as some of the people did who called themselves brethren in the days of Joseph Smith, look out for yourselves, for false brethren were the cause of Joseph’s death, and I am not a very righteous man. I have told the Latter-day Saints from the beginning that I do not profess much righteousness, but I profess to know the will of God concerning you, and I have boldness enough to tell it to you, fearless of your wrath, and I expect that it is on this account that the Lord has, called me to occupy the place I do; I feel as independent as an angel.

Some of you have been brought before the High Council, charged with this fault and with that, and you say it is too much for you, that you cannot bear it. But you have got to bear it, and if you will not, make up your minds to go to hell at once and have done with it. If you wish to be Saints you must have your evils taken away and your iniquities exposed, this must be done if you remain in the kingdom of God. If you do wrong, and it is made manifest before the High Council, don’t grunt about it, nor whine about your loving, precious character, but consider that you have none; that is the best way to get along with it. Myriads have scandalized me since I have been in this Church, and I have been asked, “Brother Brigham, are you going to bear this? Do you not know that such and such persons are scandalizing your character?” Said I, “I do not know that I have any character, I have never stopped to inquire whether I have one or not.” It is for me to pursue a course that will build up the kingdom of God on the earth, and you may take my character to be what you please, I care not what you do with it, so you but keep your hands off from me.

If you are brought before the High Council, or before a Bishop’s court, and it is proven before either of those tribunals that you are covetous, don’t fly in a passion and become so excited that you are ready to burst. I may see fit to expose some men who have not paid their tithing; now if you are going to get nervous about it and are afraid of bursting, let me know, and we will slip an egg shell over you and your precious characters. What precious characters some of you had in Wales, in England, in Scotland, and perhaps in Ireland.

Do not be scared if it is proven against some, before the Bishop’s court, that you did steal the poles from your neighbor’s garden fence. If you did, it would be far better for you to get right up and own it, for you have in reality lost your character before God, angels, and men, and then refrain from such evils and try to establish a good character. It would, be better for you to do that, than to become angry when your faults are made manifest. If it is proven before the High Council that you did steal a beef creature, don’t get angry, but rise up and acknowledge that you did steal it.

If it is proven that you have been to some person’s wood pile and stolen wood, don’t be frightened, for if you will steal, it must be made manifest. Some one may say, “Why I did not; think Saints were guilty of such deeds!” Nor I either. Such crimes are committed by people who gather with the Saints, to try them, to afflict and annoy them, and drive them to their duty. Do you not suppose that it is necessary to have devils mixed up with us, to make Saints of us? We are as yet obliged to have devils in our community, we could not build up the kingdom without them. Many of you know that you cannot get your endowment without the devil’s being present; indeed we cannot make rapid progress without the devils. I know that it frightens the righteous sectarian world to think that we have so many devils with us, so many poor, miserable curses. Bless your souls, we could not prosper in the kingdom of God without them. We must have those amongst us who will steal our fence poles, who will go and steal hay from their neighbor’s hay stack, or go into his corn field to steal corn, and leave the fence down; nearly every ax that is dropped in the kanyon must be picked up by them, and the scores of lost watches, gold rings, breast pins, &c., must get into their hands, though they will not wear them in your sight. It is essentially necessary to have such characters here.

After we had given the brethren such a scouring two or three months ago, about returning lost property when found, one or two men brought in two or three rusty nails of no value, which they had picked up; this was tantamount to saying to brother Sprague, “If we had found your purse, or if we had found Brigham’s purse, we would see you, in hell before we would return it.” We wish to impress upon you the necessity of your bringing the ax you find, the hay fork, or any other lost property which you find, to the person who is appointed to take charge of such property, that the owners may again possess it. But if you should pick up a piece of rotten wood, and bring it to brother Brigham, or Dr. Sprague, with a show of honesty, and in derision of the counsel you have received, it would be like saying, “If we could find or steal your purses, you should never see them again. We are poor, miserable devils, and mean to live here by stealing from the Saints, and you cannot help yourselves.”

Live here then, you poor, miserable curses, until the time of retribution, when your heads will have to be severed from your bodies. Just let the Lord Almighty say, “Lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet,” and the time of thieves is short in this community. What do you suppose they would say in old Massachusetts, should they hear that the Latter-day Saints had received a revelation or commandment to lay “judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet?” What would they say in old Connecticut? They would raise a universal howl of, “How wicked those Mormons are; they are killing the evil doers who are among them; why I hear that they kill the wicked away up yonder in Utah.” They do not kill anybody down there, do they?

As for the inhabitants of the earth, who know anything about the “Mormons,” having power to utter worse epithets against us than they do, they have to get more knowledge in order to do it; and as for those enemies who have been in our midst, feeling any worse than they do, they have first to know more; they are as full of bad feeling now as they can hold without bursting. What do I care for the wrath of man? No more than I do for the chickens that run in my dooryard. I am here to teach the ways of the Lord, and lead men to life everlasting, but if they have not a mind to go there, I wish them to keep out of my path.

I want the Elders of Israel to understand that if they are exposed in their stealing, lying, deceiving, wickedness, and covetousness, which is idolatry, they must not fly in a passion about it, for we calculate to expose you, from time to time, as we please, when we can get time to notice you.

During this Conference, I do not want to think where the “Mormons” have been, and how they have been treated, but I want to think of matters that will make my heart light, like the roe on the mountains—to reflect that the Lord Almighty has given me my birth on the land where He raised up a Prophet, and revealed the everlasting Gospel through him, and that I had the privilege of hearing it—of knowing and understanding it—of embracing and enjoying it. I feel like shouting hallelujah, all the time, when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet whom the Lord raised up and ordained, and to whom He gave keys and power to build up the kingdom of God on earth and sustain it. These keys are committed to this people, and we have power to continue the work that Joseph commenced, until everything is prepared for the coming of the Son of Man. This is the business of the Latter-day Saints, and it is all the business we have on hand. When we come to worldly affairs, as they are called, they can be done in stormy weather, if we attend to the kingdom of God in fair weather.

May God bless you. Amen.

Times for All Things, etc.

Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M. Grant, Ezra T. Benson

Discourses by Presidents B. Young, H. C. Kimball, and J. M. Grant, and Elder E. T. Benson, delivered July 13, 1855, at a Conference held at Provo City, Utah Territory.

President Brigham Young

As the people have now begun to assemble, I take the liberty of making a few remarks. I request those who profess to be Saints to exercise faith, and to endeavor to realize that the worship of God is sacred, and beneficial to His people. It is true that we have much to do of a temporal nature, as it is termed; many duties pertaining to daily business and the affairs of this life devolve upon us.

This is necessarily the case, for if we are to build up the kingdom of God, or establish Zion upon the earth, we have to labor with our hands, plan with our minds, and devise ways and means to accomplish that object.

There is a time for all these duties, and there is also a time to serve the Lord by praying, preaching, singing, meditating, watching, and fasting. Inasmuch as there is a time for all things, and as this is the time that we have unitedly set apart for the express purpose of worshipping the Lord, and of enjoying His Holy Spirit by calling in our reflections pertaining to earthly things and objects, that we may attend more immediately to a deep reflection and contemplation of heavenly things, it is necessary for these my brethren, who have accompanied me, to this place, to bring their thoughts to bear upon the things that are present, and while we are here, to let Great Salt Lake City remain where it is—don’t bring it here.

Those who have left their families at home, and are away from their houses, cattle, fields, flocks, herds, and other possessions, and also all who have assembled from the different settlements in this county, one and all, let all your affairs, those that you were obliged to leave at home stay where they are, and you stay here and worship the Lord.

In this way every person who has assembled here can feel to leave their affairs and effects where they belong, and bring their minds to bear upon the spiritual things of the kingdom of God. Then they can have their minds enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and understand that which will make them rejoice.

If those are our feelings and determinations, the candle of the Lord will be lighted within our hearts, but if we keep our minds constantly upon our families and effects, we shall be but little benefitted by coming here; this is true in regard to each one of us.

Where our hearts are, there our thoughts will be: and if our thoughts are bound up in our earthly possessions, we had better remain at home and attend to what we have most set our affections upon, and not pretend to try to obtain happiness from any other source.

There is a time for all things, and this is the time for meeting according to appointment. I am frequently requested to come out and hold meetings among the brethren, but I do not recollect that we have at any time appointed a three days’ meeting here, though we have previously been here and held one during two days. Much instruction has to be given to enable us to overcome our passions, and to govern and control our feelings and disposition.

Those Elders of Israel who have travelled and preached much have had a good opportunity for experience, and have learned that they cannot, figuratively speaking, take their families, friends, and goods with them, or if they did, they accomplished but little good.

Those who go out to preach the Gospel and at the same time say, “My poor wife and my poor children; and I shall be glad when my mission is out,” seldom do much good.

I think that the help mate was designed to take care of the children, house, and gardens, and see, as far as possible, that all is cared for and preserved, as they anciently did. Some went out to war, but they must always leave a few at home to stay with the goods, or whatever they had to be taken care of.

Elders who have had an experience in this matter know whether they carried their families in their feelings, or not; but it is our privilege to train our feelings and dispositions, and to bring all into subjection to the dictates of wisdom, even that wisdom which proceedeth from our God.

When an Elder goes out to preach he ought not to let his mind be filled with care for his family, only when he is praying about them; and if they have lived by faith, all right; and if they have died during his absence, all right; they are the Lord’s; and say, “that He gave them to me, it is all right; at the same time I would like to have them, but blessed be the name of the Lord.”

An Elder has possessions great or small, much or little, and instead of carrying those possessions in his feelings he ought to leave them, and say that they are the Lord’s, and say, “I give my spirit and body and what is committed into my hands, I am only a steward over it; I yield its care to Him, since He sends me from my home so that I cannot directly look after it.” That man can go as free as the air, and will feel that he has in his possession the Spirit of the Lord, which should be considered of paramount importance.

When people assemble to worship they should leave their worldly cares where they belong, then their minds are in a proper condition to worship the Lord, to call upon Him in the name of Jesus, and to get His Holy Spirit, that they may hear and understand things as they are in eternity, and know how to comprehend the providences of our God. This is the time for their minds to be open, to behold the invisible things of God, that He reveals by His Spirit.

Again, suppose a family wish to assemble for prayer, what would be orderly and proper? For the head of the family to call together his wife, or wives, and children, except the children who are too small to be kept quiet, and when he prays aloud, all present, who are old enough to understand, should mentally repeat the words as they fall from his lips; and why so? That all may be one.

If the people will ask in faith, they will receive, and let all mentally ask precisely as does the one who is spokesman. Let all leave the cares of their work behind them; let the kitchens take care of themselves, and let the barns, the flocks and herds take care of themselves, and if they are destroyed while you are praying, be able to freely say, “Go, they are the Lord’s; He gave them to me, and I will worship Him; I will assemble my family and call upon the name of my God.”

By leaving business and the cares thereof where they belong, and attending strictly to worship in its season, if not at first, you soon will be united, and be able to bring every evil principle into subjection. If all are bound up in this manner, don’t you see that it will make a mighty cord of faith?

I will now ask this congregation, how many of you thought of mentally repeating my prayer as the words came to your ears? Did you realize that the order of prayer required you to mentally follow the words of the person who was praying? With us every one should mentally repeat the same words and ask for the same things as does the one who leads vocally, and let all say, amen. There are times and places when all should vocally repeat the words spoken, but in our prayer meetings and in our family circles let every heart be united with the one who takes the lead by being mouth before the Lord, and let every person mentally repeat the prayers, and all unite in whatever is asked for, and the Lord will not withhold, but will give to such persons the things which they ask for and rightly need.

In some denominations the hearers are accustomed to cry out, “Amen, amen, amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord,” &c., during the prayer service, and immediately let their minds wander to the ends of the earth. That is not the right way to pray, but let every one throw off care for their effects, for the Lord knows all about them; He protects them while we are with them; and He is equally able to protect them while we are absent; therefore, while engaged in worshipping Him, let every heart be concentrated upon the subject before them. If this congregation will take this course, I promise them that they will go to their dwellings satisfied that the Almighty has been with us to strengthen us; but if our minds are like the fool’s eyes, we shall be profited but little.

There are several here who will address you, and suppose that they should chastise us a little, do we not deserve it? Still, perhaps some will complain of the speaker for chastising them, when perhaps the first sentences which meet their eyes upon opening the Bible, will convey the idea that every son and daughter whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, but those who are not chastened are bastards and not sons.

Says one, “I am willing to be chastened, but I am not willing to have that brother who has just come from England, or some other country, chasten me, but if some one high in authority should do it, I would kiss the rod and reverence the hand that gave it;” but the man who will only receive chastening from the Lord Himself is not in a proper state of mind before Him.

The Latter-day Saints have been chastened much and often. Many in this congregation have had their corn and wheat stacks burned in consequence of their religion, and have often been called to part with their fathers and mothers, their wives and children, in consequence of their religion. They have been chastened here and there, and perhaps some may think we are being chastened now by the drought and insects. I am willing to take it as a chastisement, and to learn that wisdom and knowledge which I had not before it happened; and if every man could realize and understand it, they would receive it as a prize and as a lesson that would qualify them for future duties. Though our chastisements are often hard to be borne, those who bear them patiently, willingly, and submissively, will find that they yield the Gospel fruits of righteousness insomuch that they will know how to be Saints indeed.

Chastisement often comes upon the Saints of God on account of the wicked, and that also will redound to the benefit of the humble and faithful. If we receive chastisement for our sins, it will teach us to forsake our sins, and become righteous, for we receive chastisement because there is wickedness among us, and it is permitted to come to prevent our turning from the path of duty, and is always designed for our good. In all these things we have to acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and to be passive in His hands, that we may receive the things of His kingdom, that we may govern and control natural things, and all those with whom we have to do, that those we preside over may become eternal heirs of the celestial kingdom of our God.

It seems to be hard work for me to speak here this morning, and I will give way and let the brethren occupy the remaining time this forenoon. The ideas that I have laid before you, if you think of them and lay them to heart, will do you good; and in our protracted meeting we may be spiritually benefited, and receive joy and satisfaction. I feel to bless you all the time, and pray that we may be prepared to build up Zion and to inherit the fulness of the glory of God on the earth; this is my prayer continually. May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Heber C. Kimball

We have heard what has been said by our President, and in my feelings, though I may not always manifest it, I am one with him in all my acts. Brethren and sisters, please to give me your attention, and let your property take care of itself; that is according to the instruction we have had to-day.

Brother Brigham is the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it is our duty to give strict heed to his counsels and instructions. This is one thing which this people, universally, individually, and collectively, have got to implant in their minds, and unless you get this lesson firmly settled in your minds, he can never be of so much benefit to you as he otherwise could, for as sure as you live and dwell here upon this earth, wherever you are inclined to stop, to wait or to lie down, he will leave you there; yes, he will leave you in that very spot, and attend to some more important business, and in some future day he, or some other one, will have to take you and teach you the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and again try to lead you into the kingdom of God. He will not always dwell here in the flesh, that is, in this mortal body.

I look at this people in the north and in the south, and watch their progress in raising grain, building houses, &c., and I am pleased to see what I behold; and although I do not see such progress as there might be, still I see a great deal, and our extension and progress are far beyond that of the world, under like circumstances. But we do not make the progress that we would, if we strictly listened to the word of God, as it proceeds from our President, our leader and Prophet.

Do we bring about that amount of restitution that we might? I say, no. We should have the faith that we would have if we all carefully listened to the instructions that have been already given us this day. They are of great importance to all, and are as necessary to our salvation as baptism for the remission of sins, or any other life giving principle, they are necessary in order that we may become one.

How can we become one upon any other principle? It is impossible to be of one heart and one mind, except we observe all the counsel given from time to time.

I know it has been a practice with me, since I came to a knowledge of the truth and of prayer, when kneeling with my brethren, to pray for the things which they pray for; and we pray continually, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come here on earth, and thy will be done as it is in heaven.” Don’t you all desire this? Well, you may continue to desire from this time to the day of your death, and you never will be gratified, except you individually and collectively practise the things you are taught, and are one.

You have got to be one in all things. Are we all one in this community? Is that the case in this place? You have not progressed as much as those around you, nor as much as you would have done if you had been diligent all the time, for then your station and faith, your works before God, and power with Him would have been far greater than they now are.

We have surpassed the world now; but if we were, and always had been, of one heart and one mind in all our efforts to advance the interest of the work of the Lord, we should have been far ahead of what we are now, and could put to defiance death, hell, and the devil, and all who are in opposition to this work; but we cannot now do all that we could if we had kept all the commandments of the Lord, and been of one heart and one mind.

What was there in the prayer this morning, but what every one of you desired more than gold, silver, and precious stones? Then pray for those things, and practise accordingly.

As for the kingdom to come, and the will of God being done upon the earth as it is done in heaven, it never will, except we practise and carry out the purpose of the Almighty in our daily walk and conversation, and seek to be of one heart and of one mind, and to do unto others as we wish them to do unto us.

I wish that all who call themselves Saints would rise and shine, for the light and glory of God are come upon us, therefore let us rise up and keep His commandments, and serve Him and glorify His name.

As for any man’s going into the celestial glory, or entering through the straight gate into the celestial world, there never will a man or woman go there, except they obey the celestial law which gives them that privilege. I know it is the case, but some think that if brother Brigham, brother Heber, and others go there, they will take the rest with them, but I can tell you that they will not do it, for justice stands at the door and demands its claims, and though mercy stands pleading on the other side it cannot rob justice, for justice must have its demands, and will claim that which is its own, and mercy cannot claim that which is not its own, and neither can rob the other. By observing justice and mercy we can enter through the gates into the city and obtain that glory which we are all anticipating.

Brethren and sisters, reflect where we are, what we are, and what we are doing; how careless and unconcerned some of us often are in relation to those things that we are counselled to do.

I was noticing this morning that the public square and the public buildings are not where brother Brigham first stuck the stake, no, nor within half a mile of that spot. I am only touching upon this one thing to show you how it has been, not to hurt your feelings: and this and like conduct is the reason why there has not been more improvement, and why the Indians burn your wood and kill your cattle and horses, and, in short, is the reason why they do this, that, and a thousand other disagreeable things. Perhaps there is not a perfect unity of faith and feeling towards those appointed to preside in this place. Should any dissension exist here among this little flock of sheep? No.

Whoever is guided by those whom God appoints is the wisest man, although he may appear to be one of the most simple that can be found. Do you not believe that? I know it, for, although he may be rather rough in external appearance, he will be filled with wisdom, inasmuch as he abides the counsel of those placed over him, for it is God who does the work, and He can make a wise man out of one who is very simple in the eyes of the world.

I know some think that they accomplish the work, but it is God that does it. When I place myself passively, like a violin in the hands of a performer, and let the Almighty lay His bow upon me, can He play a good tune upon a rusty fiddle? I have seen and heard a good musician produce some of the best music on an old rusty instrument. It does not matter if you hold out till your hair is as thin as mine, you will have to acknowledge that it is God who gives us wisdom and furnishes us unto good works.

When a man is appointed by the proper authorities and set apart to preside, uphold and sustain that man, for he has power with God; and God will give him revelation for your guidance in the way of all truth, and he will know the mind of the Lord by day and by night.

The difficulty is that no man can be appointed to an office here, nor in Springville, nor in Peteetneet, nor any other place, but what there is some man whom many of the people think is a little smarter, and they think that they know a little better than the one who is appointed. Notwithstanding all the instructions that President Brigham Young has given to this people, many still think that they know better than he does, and they do not like his counsel, but reject it and treat it as the words of some wicked man.

These feelings exist, and I do wish that this people were of one heart and of one mind. You cannot and will not listen to the instructions of those placed to counsel you, until you are more united; but when you are united you will listen to the words and counsels of those placed here to counsel and govern you, as strictly as if President Young was constantly here.

When people will not listen to the instructions of their President, do you suppose they would listen to the instruction of the Lord Himself, if He were here? No, they would not. Do many of you believe that this is brother Brigham? If you do, you do not believe that his words are all for your good, and are those which are given to him for your salvation.

You believe that Joseph was a Prophet, but many could not believe even this when he was alive, but now that he is dead they can believe it. Jesus was a Prophet, though few believed so when he was upon the earth, but when he left them, nearly all could believe his divine mission.

This has always been the case in regard to all the Prophets, for the sons of those who killed the Prophets living in their day adorned the sepulchres of those whom their fathers had put to death, and crucified the Son of God.

Why cannot the people acknowledge a Prophet while he is living? It is because their acts and feelings make them like the old infidel who said, “Old Bright, although I love you so much, I would freely give you away, if by so doing I could know that there is a God.” I presume many of you would give your pet cow, ox, or horse, if by that gift you could know that brother Brigham is a Prophet. He is what he professes to be, and a good deal more; I wish you all to understand that.

If you will be united and go ahead, be of one heart and of one mind, and make this place like the garden of Eden, the blessings of the Almighty, both temporal and spiritual, will rest upon you.

My mind is cheerful and comfortable, except when I see and reflect upon the carelessness, stupidity, and worldly affections of many of this people, whom I love and delight to be with, then I mourn over them.

Let us go on unto perfection, not leaving the doctrines of Christ, repentance from dead works, and baptism for remission of sins, but, keeping them in mind, go on to perfection. Do not make calculations a second time to lay a foundation for repentance and baptism; but walk humbly and faithfully before the Lord our God, and listen to the counsels that He gives to us through His servants.

In all the counsel and teaching that I give, I lay myself liable to be corrected, and if found in error I am willing to acknowledge it at once. Then why should not you be willing also? I am ready and willing to come to the light, that I may be scanned, purged, and purified, that I may love God with all my heart, might, mind, and strength, and my neighbor as myself.

Perhaps many feel a little sober because our bread is cut off, but I am glad of it, because it will be a warning to us, and teach us to lay it up in future, as we have been told. How many times have you been told to store up your wheat against the hard times that are coming upon the nations of the earth? When we first came into these valleys our President told us to lay up stores of all kinds of grain, that the earth might rest once in seven years. The earth is determined to rest, and it is right that it should. It only requires a few grasshoppers to make the earth rest, they can soon clear it. This is the seventh year, did you ever think of it?

There is very little grain in Great Salt Lake county, and but little between here and that county, and none south of this place, except at Peteetneet, but I expect we will have some potatoes, squashes, corn, and so on, and do first rate.

When we first came here, and lived on thistle roots, segos, wolf skins, and like articles of food, we considered that we were doing well; then let us go to, and strive by the help of God to be Saints.

We are going ahead, and if you who live here are not, we shall leave you behind. Fathers and mothers, families, old and young, all who are in favor of going ahead and serving the Lord our God, say, aye. (The response to this call was simultaneous and unanimous.)

Those who wish to go home and attend to their families, their farms, and their cattle, say, no. (No response.)

If you will be humble and faithful from this time forth, the Lamanites will never trouble you, but will come and humble themselves at your feet and do your chores. Why is it that they trouble you now? Because a portion of the same spirit which actuates them exists among some of you. Is not this the case? Tell it out, have you not some of the same feelings towards them which they evince towards you?

If you are not careful, wrong feelings will get power over you, and you will begin to murmur and grumble. If you will be one, there will be no more trouble from this time forth, and this has got to be done, or there will be trouble. We must be one, in order that this earth may be regenerated, and that we may have peace, unity, and love prevailing. Quarrelling in this Church! Can that be the truth? Yes, and it is hard to tell anything else but truth when speaking of vices and follies of men.

Let us listen to our President, sever ourselves from the world, cling to our God, and to His cause, and turn our minds and thoughts to Him, and the building up of His kingdom on the earth. There is everything here in the mountains with which to beautify our homes and make our cities glorious; then let us go to work with all our mights, and be faithful from this time onward.

May God help you, and bless you in all things that pertain to you, is my prayer. Amen. Jedediah M. Grant

President J. M. Grant

The instructions given in the forenoon, to have your thoughts concentrated, and your faith, prayers, and practice one, must be admitted by all to be of the utmost importance to the Saints of God. If we do not enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, there are reasons that we ourselves can assign for the absence of that Spirit. The practice of Saints, if good, will always bring the Spirit of the Lord, and keep that Spirit with them from day to day.

I am aware that the Spirit is grieved with different individuals for different causes; some do not attend to their prayers in the season thereof, they do not attend to their duties of the present moment, they do not concentrate their feelings, but allow their minds to wander like the fools’ eyes to the four winds of heaven, hence they are left to grope for themselves as the blind for the wall. But those who live up to their duties, the duties of the present hour, and always make those duties the primary duties of life, live in the light of the Lord, and walk in the path laid down by the Savior of the world; they are never in the dark, for the light of the Lord is shining upon them.

While there are such items connected with our faith and duty, as were laid before us in the morning, we may do well to give some additional advice in relation thereto.

I have noticed in my travels among the Saints, from time to time, that their profession was long and loud in relation to their strength and faith in “Mormonism,” and in fact they would be much offended if called weak in the faith; they will speak well of faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, the healing of the sick by the administration of the Elders, and of some of the general views of the Church, and claim to be very strong, very devout, and very much attached to the cause, and would feel much offended indeed if any one should even suspect that they were weak in the faith; and at the same time perhaps those individuals, who make such high professions of faith and devotedness, will acknowledge that there are certain important truths revealed from heaven which they would ridicule, scoff at, and trample under their feet.

They will also permit their children to ridicule them, and will laugh them out of their doors by the aid of their children and those friends who visit them, and yet claim to be strong in the faith; to be firm in the principles of “Mormonism,” and Latter-day Saints of good standing. When the Prophet Joseph was living and gave such revelations to the Church as God gave to him, those persons could not endure them all, there were doctrines which they would not receive as from God.

I, as one individual, would give all such persons this advice—whatever you do, and whatever you may have been guilty of, for you are guilty of many improprieties and, probably, of many unvirtuous acts of life, forsake that which is not right, and begin to walk in the light of life.

Do not allow yourselves to laugh at, or treat with scorn, any revelation of God; and I would further advise that you do not allow your wives, sons, or daughters to do it, but rear the standard of truth, and make it one of the leading points of your faith to support that standard in your families, and among your friends, and thus have the law of God made honourable.

Inasmuch as the Almighty God has revealed certain doctrines and sanctioned certain practices, and seeing that the Almighty has said that these revelations and practices are true and righteous, I therefore advise that you do not allow the same to be trampled under foot as salt that has no savor. Again, let no man, whether Gentile or Jew, Israelite or Greek, nor your wives or children, nor any whom you have jurisdiction over, throw out any jeers upon, nor sneer, laugh, and scoff at, any portion of the law of God. Some items of doctrine are especially obnoxious to some men and some women who have peculiar feelings respecting them, and because of such feelings they begin to laugh at those who are favorable to those items, and attempt to spoil the good leaven.

My advice in all such cases is, just tell them that there is the hole which the carpenter made, and they can go through it, for you will have the law of God reverenced by all who reside in or visit your habitation. I merely give this advice as some that might be applied to the Saints; as some of the every day and practical advice. I allude to the entire law of God, to all that the Lord our God has revealed, whether it pertains to the building of tabernacles or to the building of temples, or to faith, repentance, baptism, or the laying on of hands, or to the matrimonial relations, or to any doctrine or principle which relates to the salvation and glory of man.

I say as one, that I have no fellowship for that man who will permit any person, over whom he has any rightful control, to ridicule the law, or any portion of the law, of God. I have no fellowship for those who allow any such proceedings in their houses, neither have I any fellowship for those who ridicule the law of God in any respect; and I shall be glad when they take their exit to California, or to the States, for they are, in their persons, in their actions, and by their words, detrimental to their neighbors and the circles in which they move.

You who live here and round about, whether you are governed by a proper spirit in all these matters of doctrine I know not, but whether or not, these ideas will not hurt you. It is too late in the day to preach poor pussyism here, for you will have to live up to these practical duties of life, one and all, and be one, to pray often in public as well as in private, to honor God and His word in all your ways, and to see that His law is not dishonored by any under your control.

I am aware that some of you suppose that this is a great meeting, a three days’ meeting, and of course you expect to hear some great mysteries pertaining to the kingdom of God. Well, you have heard them this morning, and I wish to offer some further teaching on the practical duties which pertain to family government. I know some men, who have been in this Church twenty or twenty-two years, who are as they were, stereotyped editions, and who admit strangers into their houses, and allow them to blaspheme, to curse, and swear.

I wish to see those who profess to be Saints act as Saints ought to act. In the Church of the living God I believe that every man and woman that will admit evil practices, ought to be called up and dealt with for their fellowship, and if they will not reform, regulate their households and set them in order, they ought to be cut off from the Church. It is humbug to talk about first regulating a city, a county, or a territory; but start with a family at a time, and let the Bishop who presides see what is going on with every family, and when a family is found which will admit of God and His laws being ridiculed, cut them off from the Church. If any are found who will curse and swear, and break the law of the Sabbath, bring them up and deal with them for that; and if any are known to steal, deal with them for that act.

The Church needs trimming up, and if you will search, you will find in your wards certain branches which had better be cut off. The kingdom would progress much faster, and so will you individually, than it will with those branches on, for they are only dead weights to the great wheel.

First get the families united, then get the wards, the towns, the cities, and the counties regulated, and you will have every part of the Territory right; but this spirit of ridicule must not be allowed. Is a man who loves God going to have the law of the Almighty ridiculed? Many of those who profess so much, will feign publicly acknowledge and support the very doctrines which they and their friends deride and permit to be scoffed at, and at the same time they will practise unlawfully, in secret, those things which they accuse others of.

I would like to see the work of reformation commence, and continue until every man had to walk to the line, then we should have something like union; but you might as well cast little pebbles in the air to stay the wind as to undertake to make those walk right, pray right, and do right who are full of the devil. People must be right in their works, and be brought to know and practise their duties. You have got doctrine enough and revelation enough, and perhaps one difficulty is that you are too full of them. One doctrine which you need is to make your families, your streets, and every thing about you clean, and to prepare proper outhouses. Purify yourselves, your houses, lots, farms, and every thing around you on the right and on the left, then the Spirit of the Lord can dwell with you.

Do you suppose, when I go into a house that is filthy, that I believe that Saints of God dwell there? No, I believe that they are a filthy set of beings. Saints must practise cleanliness and purity, and show by their prayers, by all their works, and in their families, that they are reforming, and forsaking all and every kind and species of filthiness and evil practice, no matter what it is, no, not though it takes the hair off from your heads; no matter if it be high, low, rough, or smooth, the Almighty has given you a law to obey and reverence; and if you practise those doctrines which you have embraced, though all hell foam against you, by the power of God you will triumph and ask no odds of any one.

Talk about the Saints coming up to the Church of the first born, to the state of perfection which Enoch attained; if men and women ever attain to this, they have got to be pure in all their habits, pure in their spirits as well as in their doctrines, for the Lord has told us what is right and required in those things.

We have the best code of laws and the best men to teach us there are upon the earth, therefore all that is wanted is for us to practise those lessons which are taught us by the servants of the living God, and to love God with all our hearts, and live continually in the fear of the Almighty. Then when you come to meeting, you will not hear chastisement and reproof, but you will hear the peaceable things of the kingdom, and you will hear men and women speak and sing the sweet things of the kingdom of God.

In conclusion, may that light which is in you increase till you are prepared to bask in the perfect light of God. May God bless and save you, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen. Ezra T. Benson

Elder E. T. Benson

I feel thankful for the privilege and blessing that I now enjoy with my brethren, and for the privilege of bearing my testimony to the peaceable things of the kingdom of God. I have been indeed edified to-day by the, remarks that have been made, and for one I mean to try to practise the teachings, and carry them out to the letter, according to the ability that I have.

Although some people may think that those items are small, and not what they expected to have on this occasion, still they are just such doctrines as I expected to hear; and I shall continue to expect to hear them until we become more perfect in the Gospel than we are at present, for we must learn to practise what has been committed unto us as a people and as individuals, before we shall be taught any greater things. You may search into your own hearts, among your families, and in the midst of your own neighborhood, and you will find that those things which have been touched upon, are what grieve the Holy Spirit, and cause more or less dissension in our midst.

When Jesus commissioned the Apostles, telling them to go and preach the Gospel to every creature, and baptize every one that believed, he promised that they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which would lead them into all truth, and show them things past, present, and to come. We all know that the Spirit is a sure guide for all the Latter-day Saints; hence, we also know that the dictation of that Spirit will not lead to confusion, neither will it bring darkness, hatred, malice, and envy, and it will not lead a man into error, but it will lead and direct him into all truth. That Spirit which we received by being obedient to the Gospel covenant will be our constant guide and companion in sickness and in health; and what is the feeling of that individual who enjoys the sweet and benign influences of the Holy Ghost? He acknowledges the hand of God in all things, whether in life or in death, in prosperity or in adversity; it matters not what his situation may be, all is right with him. He merely wishes to know what there is for him to do, and he is all alive in “Mormonism.”

Such an individual is willing to be taught the simple things of the kingdom, and ‘he will not ridicule “Mormonism” in any respect, neither will he suffer it to be done under his roof, nor upon his possessions, and he is willing to lay down his life for it, and Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” I was actually astonished when I used to hear some of the brethren, at the time the Prophet Joseph was martyred, say they were afraid he was in transgression, and had incurred the displeasure of the Almighty, for no Latter-day Saint ever believed it for a moment. Why? Because there were the words of Jesus, that he had the greatest love who could lay down his life for his friends; and Jesus himself had this love, for he laid down his life for his friends; and by his death and resurrection opened up the way to eternal lives.

It is the little things that we need to observe now, and as brother Brigham says, the observance of the small things is what brings us the great blessings of the Almighty. Look, and think of the position of the people here, and in various other places throughout the Territory of Utah; do they all strictly honor the principles which brother Grant has been speaking upon? Most of them say they do, but I wish to see the works.

A man who has labored from the commencement of the work has embraced certain principles because God has commanded him, not because he wanted such principles to be established, not that his appetite was of such a nature that he desired something of the kind, but because the great Jehovah had so commanded through His Prophets; and hence these things cannot be ridiculed by the Saints; the counsel of the servants of God cannot be treated with contempt, and set at naught., without condemnation following. Still you will find some who ridicule and treat as naught the holy principles of our religion, and say, “I am sound in faith; I am filled with religion, but I cannot put up with that awful doctrine, polygamy.”

It is not best to make a great profession in these days, but let our actions and works correspond with our profession, and that will show that we have embraced the truth for the love of it, and not for gain. Let persecution come, let drought, famine, and distress come, for the Lord has designed them; and when these things come, we can eat thistle roots and drink buttermilk, and honor God, and have His Holy Spirit with us. We can do this because we have embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the faith of Abraham. Abraham did not stand and argue with the Lord, in order to find out whether Sarah was to bear him another Isaac in the place of the one he was commanded to offer up, but he believed that God would order all things right, and his faith was accounted to him for righteousness.

Shall we not have confidence in God’s Prophets, and in those whom He has placed to teach us? Those who are not satisfied with them are constantly grumbling and growling about their circumstances and the prosperity of the Church, but when we have the Holy Spirit, all is right, and we feel satisfied; the visions of the Almighty and of the heavens are before us night and day, and we have confidence in the holy Gospel, in the work of the Lord, in the Priesthood, and in those who hold that authority upon this earth.

When people have the keys of the Priesthood and the light of heaven, they ought to use the blessing of God as not abusing them.

I wish to bear my testimony to the truth of what you have been taught this day, for it is faithful, and has been dictated by the Holy Ghost. When I enjoy the spirit of this Gospel and the power of the Priesthood, do you wish to know how I feel? I feel that t could preach my way through all manner of opposition. Do I rejoice? Yes, all the time; when I lie down and when I rise up. Latter-day Saints never should be troubled by any small matters, but when troubles do arise, say, “The Lord’s will be done in all things; I am short-sighted; I cannot see afar off, and unless my mind is lighted up by the Holy Spirit, I cannot do much good.”

Do we enjoy ourselves without that Spirit? I will ask my brethren and sisters now present, do we enjoy as much as it is our privilege to enjoy? Can we enjoy the Holy Spirit when we are finding fault with our neighbors? No, we cannot. God has set in His Church, firstly, Apostles; secondarily, Prophets; then pastors, teachers, helps, governments, and spiritual gifts; for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, and to prevent the members thereof from being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine; and they are to continue until we all come to a unity of the faith. I think you are pretty well satisfied in Provo with those who are placed over you, for you know that they are appointed by the authority of heaven, and it is the right of those who appointed them to dictate you and all others; it is therefore your duty to give heed to those placed over you in authority, and if you do, you will enjoy the Spirit of God to a great extent, even to your hearts’ satisfaction.

We are called upon to uphold, by our faith, works, and our prayers, those who are over us; we have raised our hands to sustain and uphold them, and will we turn round and find fault with that which we have sanctioned? Can you enjoy the Spirit of God if you do this? No. In order to enjoy that spirit you must reverence all the members of the Priesthood, no matter who may be in possession of it. Do you ever hear brother Brigham, brother Heber, brother Jedediah, or the Twelve Apostles, censuring the Bishops, or any other person, without a cause? No, never. They give them all the influence and power that they can, in order that they maybe bold before the people, and have influence to carry out the things that are given to them to accomplish. Where there is a lack of confidence and proper reverence, people are afraid of the Prophet of God.

Does brother Brigham ever tyrannize! No, he blesses the Saints all the day long, and bears with the sins of the people, as much so as any other Prophet of God ever did, and asks God all the day long, to forgive them; and he continues to do this so long as there is a spark of integrity left in the individuals over whom he is watching.

We do not expect to be purified and become perfect at once, so much so that the old cloven foot can have no influence among us, but I expect that the vision of the Prophet Daniel will be fulfilled, and we are the persons to carry it out. I feel to continue to work righteousness, and the time is soon coming when all will have to walk to the line.

Jesus says, “Except ye are of one heart and of one mind, ye are not mine;” and we have to shape our minds until they become alike. There are not many ways of getting to heaven, for God is one, and His way of saving mankind is one.

“But,” says the old sectarian priest, “going to heaven is like going to mill; if your wheat is good the miller will never inquire which way you came.” Let others say as they please, we know that we have got to walk in that straight and narrow path which has been pointed out to us, and that the course which saved men in former days will save the people in these days, and that the same principles that will save us will save others. If we would carry out practically all that we have received, and not trouble ourselves about any more until that was done, it would exalt us to a higher state than we now enjoy. I have something good to do; I am all right. Here are our blessings now; we taste the blessings of this congregation to-day, and our place and our blessings are at present in this bowery, and not away off somewhere else. If our feelings are centred here, then are we blessed indeed; but if our minds are wandering, they cannot be full of joy, for they must be concentrated on the things of God and His kingdom so long as this meeting continues; then we shall feel refreshed, and I presume we all need to be.

[After making a few remarks about the traditions, habits, and practices of the Indians, Elder Benson continued as follows—]

It is our duty, brethren and sisters, to go to work and bring these natives to an understanding of the principles of civilization, to teach them to till the earth, and earn their bread by the sweat of their brows; and if they are needy and ask us, we should feed them, and at all times be an example to them. We have not been as faithful as we ought to have been in many of these things.

I have a little Indian boy and girl, and certainly it is repugnant to my feelings to have to put up with their dirty practices, but I have passed a great many of these things by; and this I have done because I knew what our duties were. In a short season we shall be rewarded for all that we do to civilize this lost and fallen race. The little boy will soon be quite bright, his mind is becoming clear and perceptive, and if he sees a horse, a man, or any other object, he will always remember them. True, he yet has some of his Indian traits, and I presume it will be some time before they are all, erased from his memory.

And even some Saints are guilty of many filthy habits, for some, when they are sick and ought to observe cleanliness in the fullest degree, will send for the Elders to lay hands upon them, and say, “I was taken sick a week ago last Sunday, and have been so bad that I have not washed since, and I have not had a clean shirt on, or clean sheets upon the bed.”

God has condescended to speak to His Saints, and has instructed them to wash their bodies with pure water, and to observe cleanliness of body as well as of spirit; this is necessary, and belongs to our religion. We should also have wisdom, and exercise it in both eating and drinking, ever keeping a guard over ourselves in all the practices of life, and listen to the still small whisperings of the Holy Spirit which never leads a man into error.

I know that the Lord directed brother Joseph by His Spirit, and he never went wrong. What guides brother Brigham? The same Holy Spirit of promise, and blessed is that man who understands the things of the Spirit, for it will direct him aright and lead him in the way of life, and open up his mind to behold the things of eternity; and the very moment that a man sees with this Spirit, he understands the mind of God.

Many have been led astray, and have believed that they could get to heaven without being united with the body of the Church; but if we are ever saved, we must be concentrated in our feelings, and our power, objects, and faith must be one in the kingdom of God. When we are one, we feel to rejoice in the things of God, and all goes well.

May the Holy Spirit guide you from this time, henceforth. Amen.

Instructions to New Comers

Jedediah M. Grant

A discourse by President Jedediah M. Grant, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, September 24, 1854.

While the sacrament is passing it may be well to speak a few words to the people. I am aware much instruction has been given to the people, at least to the majority of those who are here before me; and we do not wish to preach you to death, but we wish to preach so that you may enjoy life. A thousand ideas float in the minds of the people in relation to preaching; each have their standard, and their notions of what they call the sacred desk. All “Mormon” desks are sacred. I am no more religious to-day than yesterday. I am equally as religious in the kanyons hauling wood as in the pulpit; and if I were agoing to swear in either place, I should prefer the pulpit to swear in; consequently, I consider that a man should live his religion in all places, and under all circumstances and situations in life.

We understand how to serve the Lord, (I speak of all the Latter-day Saints,) that is, we understand how to serve Him in some things—we have learned some duties which are practicable at the present time. I am aware that some Elders who go forth and preach long and pious sermons, frequently represent Zion as one of the most delightsome places in the world, as if the people in Salt Lake City were so pure and holy that the flame of sanctity would almost singe the hair off a common man’s head. Others suppose when they come here, that they are to be fed, clothed, and housed independent of their own exertions. Some of the Elders have told the Saints in England that the first two weeks after they landed here all they would have to do would be to contemplate the beauties of Zion, and be furnished two weeks’ provisions. The imaginations of some Saints have been so exalted by the Elders who preached to them, that they suppose that all our pigs come ready cooked, with knives and forks in them, and are running round squealing to be eaten; that every tray is filled with bread, every manger with potatoes, and every man’s wagon with the choice fruits of the earth. On the contrary, when the Saints from abroad come to Zion, they will find the people so busy that they can scarcely find time to speak to them, and if they have lost some of their friends on the way, the people in Zion have not time even to help them mourn.

Some come here and are astonished, for they had supposed that they should find the stereo-typed editions of Zion sitting on the seats singing “hallelujah,” and shouting “Glory to God” continually; but when they find us all active, some rushing to the kanyons, some gathering in the crops, and others rearing houses—when they find the people all alive with business, they think that the “Mormons” are all telegraphs; and so we are, stereo-typed editions of the telegraph. Every man and woman in Zion at their duty is a telegraph moving and exerting an influence, building up, fortifying, and fulfilling the words of the Prophets by building city after city. It makes no difference whether we have gold and silver, or not; we build just as fast without money as the people of the east build with it, and a little faster. A man who has faith says he has capital in himself; he is telegraph enough to build him a house. Another man has to sit down, and count “three and two are five, five and two are seven, seven and four are eleven, and eleven and six are seventeen;” and so he will calculate, and unless he has so many dimes, he has not faith enough to draw the first rock, or the first adobie, or get the first foot of lumber, or do the first thing.

But you take a man who has got in him the true “Mormon spirit, and he considers that he can accomplish, just what he thinks ought to be accomplished. If he considers that he wants a house, he deems himself competent to go at it, and to build such a one as he wants; if he wants a small one he can build it, and if a large one he can build it. That is the “Mormon” spirit.

If you Saints who have just arrived here expect a heaven, I will tell you how to get it; if you have brought a small one with you, keep it, and keep adding to it; that is, if you want a heaven, go to and make it. If you have not means enough to buy a farm, go to work and make one; if you have not means enough to buy a house, build one, and thus gather around you the comforts of life, and the means to subsist upon. But I will tell you one thing, if you neglect to pray, neglect to watch, neglect to do your duty, and to serve your God for yourselves, you will be apt to become dissatisfied, disheartened, and dispirited, and wish to go back from whence you came. But the opposite will be the result with those who keep the commandments of God, who watch and pray, who are active in their spirits and in their religion, and work out their salvation with fear and trembling, if you please, or they may work as hard as they please without fearing and trembling, if they have a mind to. Consequently, when you come here, it is essential that you keep the same religion that you embraced before you started to come here.

I am aware that a great many have so much piety in them, that they are like the Baptist priest who came to see Joseph Smith. Joseph had the discernment of spirits to read a man, and a peculiar faculty of using up the old sectarian tone to “my dee-e-er brethren.” When he heard that good old tone he used to imitate it; and whenever one of the class, who are so filled with piety, and the good old tone, came to Nauvoo, Joseph used forthwith to take a course to evaporate their sanctimoniousness, a great deal of which consists in the long ass-like tone. Before the Baptist priest, I have referred to, came to Nauvoo, he had heard brother William O. Clark, who could preach a bible and a half at a sermon, and could use the fashionable old tone, the blessed old tone. This Baptist imbibed a notion that we were as much ahead of his ideas of piety, and that our tone was as much longer than his, as the strength of the arguments produced by Clark were stronger than his; and supposed that our sanctimoniousness was co-equal with what he considered the merits of our doctrine.

Under these impressions he came to Nauvoo, and was introduced to the Prophet. In the meantime some person came up that brother Joseph would have a talk with, but while doing this he kept his eye upon the stranger, on this priest. After he got through chatting, the Baptist stood before him, and folding his arms said, “Is it possible that I now flash my optics upon a Prophet, upon a man who has conversed with my Savior?” “Yes,” says the Prophet, “I don’t know but you do; would not you like to wrestle with me?” That, you see, brought the priest right on to the thrashing floor, and he turned a summerset right straight. After he had whirled round a few times, like a duck shot in the head, he concluded that his piety had been awfully shocked, even to the centre, and went to the Prophet to learn why he had so shocked his piety. The Prophet commenced and showed him the follies of the world, and the absurdity of the long tone, and that he had a super-abundant stock of sanctimoniousness.

You Saints who have come here, if you have around you the garb of sectarianism, must calculate that the “Mormon” plow will turn that under; you must calculate that here we are a practical people; a people who believe in their religion, and are good Saints; who do their work, and attend to their prayers in the season thereof; and are not so much in a hurry in the morning, but that they can kneel down and consecrate their families, their effects, themselves, and all they have, to the Most High God.

But in the midst of this people you will find various stripes of character. The net has been cast into the sea, and, if the parable is true, it has drawn to the shore all kinds of fish, and you must not be alarmed if you find in Zion some curiosities. If I wished to find the best men in the world, I should go to Zion to find them; if I wished to find the biggest devil, I would look in Zion for him, among the people of God; there I can find the greatest scamps. I believe the words of Christ are true, that the net has gathered of every kind of fish; that it has gathered men of every class. Do not marvel if you find here goats as well as sheep, and the speckled goats and the long-haired goats, and the smooth goats and the rough goats, and goats of every grade, size and color, mixed among the sheep. Do not think you will be without your trials here, that you are to be a stereotyped edition to sit upon stools, singing glory to God, and that that is all you have to do.

I have often said to the English brethren and sisters that were I in England, for there is where the Elders preach piety, I would tell them the first things they might expect to meet in Zion, viz: to leap into the mire and help to fill up a mud hole, to make adobies with their sleeves rolled up, and be spattered with clay from head to foot; and that some would be set to ditching in Zion, to making ditch fence ankle deep in mire; and that they might expect to eat their bread by the sweat of their brow, as in their native country. I told them when I was in St. Louis, where there were many English and Scotch, that if we succeeded in getting to Zion it was a “knack,” and if we did not it was a “knick,” and consequently there were “knick-knacks” in going to Zion, and “knick-knacks” after we got to Zion.

These things are all connected with the common salvation that you heard Elder Hyde treat upon this forenoon, the salvation that is common with the people of God. You understand it, you have practised it, and tasted the sweets thereof. You come here, and you think that we are busy and active, but only live your religion, and you will feel the power, spirit, and fulness thereof, as you have never felt it previous to this. What I mean by the spirit is the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, which you can feel from the crown of your heads to the soles of your feet. It is here with you if you do right, and everything you anticipate in the Holy Ghost, and in the power of the Priesthood, and in the love of God, and everything you have thought of in your own minds is here, and God is here; and if you have thought of bad, it is here also. If you approach a large furnace, the first thing you see are the black columns of smoke rising up and towering aloft, and if you approach nearer you discover piles of coal and ore, and the ashes, dust, and cinders which have been heaved out; but all this will never convince you that there is no iron there. You would say that where there is so much iron cinders there must be iron; that the iron has been taken out and dressed; that there must have been lots of iron here, and you begin to look for the iron.

If you occasionally see a dirty sheep, do not let it try you; if you do not get a bushel of wheat as quick as you want it, do not let that try your faith. If you are agoing to die of hunger, that is the time to be strong in the God of Israel. I wish to see the new comers active in their religion; I wish to see them live their religion, and not only seek to be endowed with the spirit of Zion, but to bring the spirit of Zion with them. I wish to see them come here with their countenances lit up with the love of God, and their hearts burning with the Holy Ghost, and their voices sounding like the music of sweet instruments, to join in the songs of Zion, and in the work of our God, in cultivating the earth, and in building houses. Bless your souls, if you desire an experience of this kind, in order to build up Zion, you must learn. Unless you have practice in it, unless you begin with one house, and then go from one house to another, you cannot learn how to build. You cannot learn how to make a farm by reading alone, but you have got to have the practical knowledge. So, it is in relation to building; an architect may draw a fine design of a house, yet there is not one man in a thousand who can carry it out, without the architect is continually by him to direct, and to say, place that there, and this yonder.

We may talk of making our own heaven, and of building up the city of Zion, and making it beautiful, and having it polished after the similitude of a palace, but we must have an experience in doing such a work, before we can accomplish it. The world do not comprehend all things as they should; they do not comprehend the greatest things; the light and power of God, pertaining to man in his probation, towering among the clouds and smoke, but its force is down here in the practical duties of life, in the work under the sun that we have to do.

Now when you come to Zion, you will find men standing upon their feet; but go into the world, and there, if a man wants to show himself to be a smart man, he must mount a cabbage leaf, hiccup, and jump up to spit over his shirt collar. There was a man here last winter who thought himself a smart man because his father was a smart man; and he was all the while on the strain, like a man who mounts a cabbage leaf to hiccup, or jumps up to spit over his shirt collar in trying to be smart. What do they make of it? Nothing but a bubble, and a laughing stock for men of sense.

The ore, coal, and flux are put in the tunnel head of the furnace, and iron and cinder run to the boshes below, and are separated. You see the smoke first, but you find here the true metal.—“The Mormons, a little handful of Mormons cannot accomplish much,” used to be said. But we are gathering out the tough wire, it has got to come here.

I wish the Saints who come here, to be Saints. I said last spring, curse a man who will starve the poor by keeping up the price of grain, and who will not help his brethren. I know some men will say that we have fine men among us. I know that we have first-rate, good mercantile houses here; I like them first-rate; but it would be better for us to do our own trading, and by that means keep our money in our midst.

These are my views, and have been all the time. I like to see a “Mormon” be a “Mormon,” and act like a “Mormon.” A good “Mormon” will have an elastic faith, and not say, “O brother Grant, the old snag ship is in snag harbor,” but be mindful that brother Brigham is cautious how he guides her. Brother Joseph had not time to be careful, and run the ship around the snags, but was under the necessity of running the ship right on to them. But when Brigham chooses to run around a snag, or across a snag, he will do so. The ship is all oak, let her slide. If we are in snag harbor, all right; we will steer the ship, and run around the snag, or over it, just as the Lord pleases. Jesus, our elder brother, is at the helm, and has a good crew aboard, who are faithful, meek, and humble. If the Saints desire to strengthen Zion, let them be humble, meek, lowly, and contrite in spirit; let them be diligent, and seek counsel through the light of the Spirit of God, and watch and pray, and they will be filled with joy, and be happy at night; and healthy in the morning; and their spirits will be buoyant, and they can shout “glory hallelujah” in reality.

May the God of heaven fill you with the Holy Ghost, and give you light and joy in His kingdom. Amen.

The Kingdom of God

Orson Pratt

A discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 8, 1855.

I have been highly pleased with the remarks that have fallen from the lips of brother Grant, who first addressed us this morning. The subject of the coming of the kingdom of God, and its organization upon the earth, is one of vast importance to the present generation, as well as to all past generations, who are equally concerned with the present. Ever since the day that men were organized upon the earth they have been equally concerned in regard to that period—that eventful period when God’s kingdom should be established upon the earth. That day or period has been looked forward to as the day of the perfection of their glory and exaltation.

And when that time comes, all governments, and systems of government, that have been organized upon this little creation of the Almighty, contrary to the order of heaven, or in other words—all governments that have not been theocratical in their nature, but that have been organized in a greater or less degree by man’s wisdom, will be done away.

The Almighty in some degree controls among mankind, as far as they will let Him. He controls the destinies of the nations, so far as they will permit Him; yet He does not control them so far as to destroy the agency of the human family, consequently they, through their own corrupt notions, have departed from the great principles of government given by the Lord to man in the beginning. Mankind have felt a disposition to seek after some kind of government of their own; they have all seemed to manifest a feeling to have a different government from the one established by the Almighty; and hence, they have all rebelled against His government, and they have introduced creeds and systems of their own manufacturing.

If there had been a government upon the face of the earth, from the creation of man to the present time, according to the mind and will of God; you would not have seen in the present age, and in generations that are past, different nations, different classes of people, having different governments, as we now behold them, but there would have been a oneness of nationality—a unity existing over all the earth. But mankind have existed for ages past in a divided state—in a broken condition, because of their rebellion against the laws and government of heaven.

If God made this earth, and all things that pertain unto it, and if all were created for His honor and glory, He has the right to govern and control them by His own laws; and He has a right to enforce that government, and show Himself able to control the works of His hands, and it is the duty of all men to render obedience to His requirements. The government of heaven would not have been separated from the government of men, or in other words, there would not have been two kinds, one called ecclesiastical, and the other a civil government; but inasmuch as they have rebelled, and become corrupt and wicked, governments have been introduced of a different character; and the Lord has, in some measure, sanctioned those governments, so far as there were good principles existing among them.

All good principles and laws have emanated from the Almighty, and have come to man by inspiration from Him. For instance, the government of the United States, or the Constitution, came from Him; it was given, we believe, by inspiration, and there are many things connected with the various institutions of men that are very good. There are many good laws and good institutions in the government of the United States, as well as among many other governments, but the government of the United States is one of the best that has been organized among men upon the face of the earth for many generations.

“Did the Lord have a hand in the organization of the United States government?” asks the enquirer. Yes, the Lord had a hand in framing its Constitution. Why did not the Lord at that time, introduce a perfect government—a theocracy? it was simply because the people were not prepared for it—they were too corrupt and although they had more integrity, more virtue, more honesty, and more sympathy and feeling for that which is just and upright and good, than any other portion of the inhabitants of the earth, and probably more than a great many now have, yet they were far from being prepared for the government of God, which is a government of union.

They were far from that, consequently the Lord inspired them to introduce a government that He knew would be just suited to their capacity, and hence it was that He inspired Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, and others to introduce those measures. which they did, and to carry them out, and they were such as were just suited to the conditions and circumstances of the people; hence the government of the United States we, as a people, venerate and defend.

Why do we do this? We do it because God had His hand in the organization of it; He controlled it so far as He could do so without interfering with the agency of man.

We have seen plainly and clearly that had it not been for the organization of this government, as has wisely and justly been said, where would have been the liberty of the Latter-day Saints.

This government, then, was organized to suit the people and the circumstances in which they were placed, until they were prepared to receive a more perfect one.

But will the government of the United States continue for ever? No, it is not sufficiently perfect; and, notwithstanding it has been sanctioned by the Lord at a time when it was suited to the circumstances of the people, yet the day will come, (I will say it on my own responsibility and not that of this people,) the day will come when the United States government, and all others, will be uprooted, and the kingdoms of this world will be united in one, and the kingdom of our God will govern the whole earth, and bear universal sway; and no power beneath the heavens can prevent this taking place, if the Bible be true, and we know it to be true.

The Lord will govern all things that He has made and created, for it is entered upon the records of heaven that all nations shall bow to His authority; and, consequently, we respect the government of the United States, because it has good principles in it, and not that we think it will endure for ever.

Many great and glorious principles are contained within the Constitution of our country, not to say that it is perfect, but it is perfect so far as it pertains to the rights and privileges of the children of men. But there is a nucleus of a government, formed since that of the United States, which is perfect in its nature. It is perfect, having emanated from a Being who is perfect.

But some may enquire, is it right—is it lawful for another government to be organized within the United States, of a theocratical nature? Yes, perfectly so! Does not the Constitution of our country guarantee to all religious societies the right of forming any ecclesiastical government they like? Certainly it does, and every intelligent man knows this to be the fact.

The nucleus of such a government is formed, and its laws have emanated from the throne of God, and it is perfect, having come from a pure fountain; but does this make us independent of the laws of the United States? No, this new government does not come in contact with the government of the United States. In keeping our covenants, and observing our religious laws and ceremonies, or the laws that God has given to the children of men, we are not required to violate the principles of right that are contained in the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Had not the government of the United States been framed, where would have been safety for this people? I answer, nowhere. If this Republican government had not been organized upon this continent, the kingdom of our God could not have been protected; but the hand of the Lord has been in it, and superintended its organization, and no one can hinder its progress.

If this government had been formed in any other kingdom or nation upon the earth except the United States, where would have been the privileges and liberties of this people? Without the interference of the Almighty, and the manifestation of His miraculous power for our protection, we should have been rooted out of the earth.

God foresaw this—He knew what would take place long beforehand, and He saw that it was not only necessary to have a day set for the preparation, and also for the beginning of the Latter-day work, but it was likewise important for the different kingdoms and nations which were in existence, and that had been organized by man, to go to work and start up some religious reform, and for the people to struggle against their mother church, and to fight against her tyranny and oppressions, that religious liberty and freedom, and the right of a free exercise of their religious opinions, might be guaranteed to the human family, not all at once, but gradually. We find that at the Reformation, when the great struggle for freedom and religious liberty took place, some of them were wrought upon to come to this new continent for the purpose of securing to themselves religious freedom and religious right; and inspired by the Almighty, as was Columbus who discovered this land, they planted their feet upon the American soil.

They were an humble people and God began to work in their minds, and they continued to increase, for a while, in union and love, having obtained privileges which before they were deprived of; and no doubt they imagined to themselves that universal freedom was about to be ushered in, but it was not exactly so, neither was that degree of liberty and freedom to suffice which they had then secured, but it was like John the Baptist’s mission, merely to prepare the way. It was said of John, that among all that were born of women there were none greater than he, and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than he; and of all governments that had arisen among men, there were none so great and good, as the government of the United States, and yet the government of God in its very infancy was greater than it.

And why was this? Because its laws emanated from a more perfect Being.

It was for this purpose, then, that a republic was organized upon this continent to prepare the way for a kingdom which shall have dominion over all the earth to the ends thereof.

Hence, the Prophet Daniel has told us, that the kingdom of God should be cut out of the mountains without hands; in other words, when the kingdom of God should be taken from the mountains, it should be taken by the power of the Almighty, and not by human hands; it should be organized by the Lord, and governed by His laws. God, who interests Himself in the affairs of men, was to speak from the heavens, and inspire His servants to give laws and revelations to His people, informing them that His kingdom was to be taken from the mountains in His own due time, and that it should increase until it should become a great mountain and fill the whole earth.

Do the people suppose that they can frustrate the designs of the Almighty, and put to death the Prophets who are sent unto them, and fight and war against them, and belch out their rage, and threats, and persecute them as they have done, without being brought into judgment?

The wicked suppose they can do this with impunity, but there is a God who holds the helm of the ship of Zion, and who will carry out His purposes with regard to the Saints of Latter-days, in which the kingdom, and the greatness of the kingdom, and the dominion under the whole heavens, shall be given to the Saints of the Most High and they shall possess it for ever and for ever.

I was highly delighted with the remarks that were laid before us by our beloved brother this morning. And in speaking concerning the corruptions that men have brought into our midst, I perfectly agree with him, for all such corruptions and wickedness must be done away; they will not be suffered to exist in the kingdom of God; I mean by this that when there are crimes committed, they will be visited with their just reward and that immediately.

In that kingdom, when its laws go forth, there will be officers of peace, and they will lay judgment to the line, and the axe will be laid to the root of every tree that will not yield fruit, and it will be hewn down and cast into the fire, and be utterly burnt up.

I have not said much the past winter in regard to the corruptions that have been practised in our midst, and why? Simply because there are men here, higher in authority, and whose place it is to rebuke sin; and they have borne testimony of the wickedness and corruptions that have been sent into our midst. I do not mean to say that all are corrupt, there are honorable exceptions, but all know that there have been men sent here, who were as corrupt as hell itself.

Such characters, if they had met with their just deserts, would not now have been living to disgrace humanity. These are my feelings, and I will here say, that I have felt to be of one heart and one mind with the Presidency in relation to these things. Brethren, in saying these things, do we feel like excluding all the outsiders, so called? No, God does not design it; He never intended that this people should live exclusively by themselves.

God will so order it, that we shall have a hundred of them, where we have had one; and we shall find that the time will come when all nations shall come, but they will have to walk straight.

David has said, in speaking of that time, that when the wicked rulers, and corrupt kings of the earth, should come up to Zion, they should, while yet afar off, be seized with fear and trembling, and hasten away; for it will be no place for wicked and corrupt characters; but there will be millions of others who will come up to Zion, besides the Saints of God; they will come to behold the glory of God which will rest upon Zion. They will come in such numerous hosts that the gates of Zion will have to be open day and night to receive them; they will come as a multitude of nations, swarming in day and night.

Kings, nobles, and great men, from all the principal nations of the earth, will come flocking to Zion with their armies, and their servants to view the grandeur of Zion; and they will have to be obedient to the mandates of the great King who shall issue forth His laws from Zion, or it will be no place for them to abide in.

We need not think that we can get into any place where we will not be associated with the Gentiles; for the Lord intends that we shall be among them all through this mortal state, and even in the Millenium we find that there will be two classes of beings upon the earth. And if there are corrupt individuals found, they will be visited with punishment according to the deeds they are guilty of.

Then, I rejoice; I look forward to the day of glory, when the glory of Zion shall be like a light upon a hill which will illuminate the whole world; and the great men of the earth will come to see the glory of God, and be taught in the holy commandments that will proceed forth from our midst; and they will look upon Zion, and wonder, and be astonished.

May the Lord bless us, and may the Spirit of the Lord abide with, and continue to surround and overshadow us, and may we not be fearful because of the oppressor and the wicked, but trust in the living God, and He will continue to protect us all the day long, and no power can prevail against us. If we were not one-tenth as numerous as we are, what would it matter; if God be on our side, He can use up the wicked, and protect us.

And as has been said by the First Presidency, all that we have to fear is our own wickedness, and corruptions, and liability to depart from the true faith. If we will be true and righteous, and if we will have faith in God, this is all that is required.

If we are faithful to our covenants, the fury of the oppressor will not harm us, and where will be the strong arm of man? It will be like the flax in the flame, like a moth-eaten garment, the wicked shall vanish away, and there will be no place found for them.

Then hearken to the counsel that proceeds from the First Presidency, and hold up your heads, and do not let them droop, and in this way, we shall prosper, and obtain a holy dwelling place in the presence of our God for ever. May God grant these blessings for His Son’s sake. Amen.

The Vine and Fig Tree

Ezra T. Benson

A discourse by Elder Ezra T. Benson, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, May 13, 1855.

I am requested to make a few remarks at the commencement of our meeting this afternoon, although I would much rather hear from brethren, especially my beloved President Hyde who is about to leave us, but as it is his desire that I should make a few remarks, I will make the attempt.

I rejoiced much this morning in hearing from our brethren who addressed us, as I generally do when I hear the Elders speak. I was reflecting in my mind, and asking myself whether I ever heard a “Mormon” sermon that I did not rejoice in? I cannot remember the time since I have been in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It never made any difference who addressed the people; no matter who was called upon to speak, however eloquent his discourse might be, however pointed his remarks might be, no matter however simple, or how many times I might have heard the same subject treated upon, it was always edifying to me, for I ever found something new, and although I might have heard the same things, perhaps, a great many times, but my memory being so short and treacherous, I had forgotten some things, but as soon as I heard them again I could then recollect them; my mind would be refreshed, and I would remember that I had heard the same things before; and one remark that was made this morning by brother Clements, refreshed my mind upon things which took place when I was on a mission, some eight or ten years ago, in the United States. I mean the remarks referring to that time, which will surely come, when the Saints of God will sit under their own vine and fig tree, none daring to make them afraid.

I was once asked the question by some of our opposers, in something like the following manner—“You Mormons believe that there is a time of peace coming; you believe that the prophecies of the Scriptures are to be fulfilled literally, in the same way that Noah’s prediction of the flood was, and that your God is willing, and in fact designs that you shall sit under your own vine and fig tree, none daring to molest or make you afraid.” “And now,” says he, “Have you got them yet?” “Well,” says I, “not exactly the fig tree, but we have got the cotton-wood tree, and the locust tree, and we sit under them, none daring to molest or make afraid, and we are in anticipation of some day having the fig tree.” We are full of hope that the time is now near at hand, that it is not far ahead, when, if we are faithful to our callings, we shall sit under a great many other kinds of trees, and I don’t know as it will make any difference whether it is the cotton-wood, chesnut, oak, apple, peach-tree, or whatever kind of tree it may be, so that we sit under our own vine and fig tree, and serve the Lord our God with full purpose of heart.

The cotton-wood trees are grown, the peach is beginning to grow, and the apple and pear, and so on, are beginning to grow, and we all expect that not many years hence, we will have the privilege of sitting under our own vine and fig tree, none daring to molest or make afraid, and it is necessary that we should have the opposite in all things.

We are a people that believe in revelation, the whisperings of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and we are a people that believe in the necessity of all those gifts. We say that they ought to exist in the Church of Christ in every age of the world. When a people are in possession of those glorious principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they will see that there is a passing beauty and glory associated with them. You will also find opposition, slander, and reproach to be continually on the increase, and if it were not so, it would show that was not the Church of Christ. It is necessary that there should be an excitement in the world, and that servants of the Lord should in those times show their faith by their works, and it is also important that they should, as the Apostle has exhorted us, contend for all the gifts of the Gospel that are mentioned in the Holy Scriptures—the gift of godliness and of patience and charity, and all those good gifts that are spoken of in the Scriptures of truth. The Apostle says, if all these good gifts abound in you, “ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Seeing, then, that this is the promise, how very necessary it is that we should improve upon those gifts bestowed upon us, by our Heavenly Father, and if we do not improve, we are not on the progressive, but are going downward.

We can live in the kingdom of God and be stereotyped “Mormons, ” but to accomplish this, we have to live and increase in wisdom, knowledge, patience, perseverance, and all the gifts and graces of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it will take all the perseverance, and all the faith and patience that we can command to live the Gospel of Christ.

It is pleasing to reflect that we are all here as a band of brethren, trying to obey all the commandments of God. We are from many climes and countries, and we are here to prove each other, and see whether we can bear with each other’s faults and weaknesses, and to try if we can endure trials, and perplexities, and oppositions, and the sneers of the world—the wicked portion of mankind. How do they look upon us, taking a general view of the question? It is true, there are some who are more thoroughly acquainted with us, who look and speak pretty favourably, but as a general thing they do not believe that we are a virtuous people; they believe that we have many ordinances and principles amongst us established to gratify a certain portion of this community; they do not believe that we are the Saints of the Most High God, yet there is something which they cannot comprehend, but still they think there is something behind the curtain, and they cannot understand it; still they have a good deal of dubiety upon their minds respecting the Latter-day Saints, and why is it so? It is because there are a great many things which they cannot comprehend. They see us united; they are made sensible of our prosperity; they see we proceed with authority and with confidence to do whatever we have to do, and they cannot fathom it; they cannot understand how we hold together in such perfect unity; our whole organization to them is one entire mystery, and ever has been to the sectarian world.

And what is the reason that mankind are so slow to understand? Why Jesus, who had compassion on the, people in his teachings, compared the kingdom of God to a little child, and said, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” All men have to become as little children before they can understand the principles of, or enter the kingdom of heaven, and the Christian world are not willing to humble themselves, and become as little children; therefore they cannot enter the kingdom of God. This is the reason that they cannot comprehend this people, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A strange work, a marvel and a wonder it appears to them.

What is said about the Spirit of the Lord that is possessed by the Saints? We read that it shall lead and guide you into all truth, and further, that it shall show (the Saints) things past, and things which are to come. But the world at large cannot see these things, and they never will until they have taken the same steps that we have taken. Heavenly things cannot be comprehended only by the Spirit of the living God, but says Paul, the Spirit of God discerneth all things, even the deep things of God; the natural mind cannot comprehend.

Well, then, we can see that it is the duty as well as the privilege of every Latter-day Saint to live in the Spirit of the Lord, for “Mormonism” is to rule our actions, and every man and woman has got to be wide awake. They have got to do as brother Kimball used to say, sleep with one eye open and one leg out of bed. I have seen and comprehended for the last few months that the Latter-day Saints have now got to double their diligence; yes, I can feel it to the bottom of my soul; we have to learn to appreciate the blessings of the Almighty more fully than we have heretofore appreciated them. The Lord will be honored, and He will not be angry with any, but those who refuse to acknowledge His hand in all things; we have got to acknowledge His hand in all things, and feel it as well as to say it, and to show it by our works.

We have had several expulsions or drivings through mobocracy, and in all these things we are called upon to acknowledge the hand of the Lord. It takes us all the time to perform in faithfulness the duties of our several respective callings. It is like an old blacksmith’s bellows, the very moment that you cease to blow, the fire goes down, and especially the fires of those that burn cedar coal; and those who use the blacksmith’s bellows, know how long it takes to kindle up the fire, that is, when they have got the same material on hand; and it is just so with the Gospel of Christ. If we quench the Spirit, and do not magnify the Lord by our works and by our faith, that which is in us soon goes out, and we die a natural death in the kingdom. Then, if we wish to obtain influence again we have to become humble, come forth and get re-baptized for the remission of sins, and have hands laid on for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and obey it strictly in all things, before we can get the zeal and flame of the Gospel again to burn in our souls.

We have learned another lesson too, at least I have, viz., that the driving part of “Mormonism,” the burnings, mobbings, and oppressions were all very necessary to the bringing this people to an understanding of their true position before God. All that has ever come upon us has served a good purpose and was very essential to the condemnation of our enemies.

For the last few months I have been travelling considerably through the settlements of the Territory, preaching to the brethren, and instructing them in their duties. A good spirit prevailed in most of the places I visited, and I told the brethren that it was not the inner man that they had to contend with and look after just now, so much as it was the things out of doors, and I promised them that if they would all be agreed in opening their farms, making their fences around their farms, and big fields, and take good care of their flocks and herds, and keep up good schools, pay their tithing, and attend to all the ordinances of the Gospel, live as Saints of God ought to live, I would promise them, in the name of Israel’s God, that when they assembled in the congregations of the Saints, the gifts and blessings of the Gospel would be more copiously poured out upon them, that they should have power to heal the sick, speak with tongues, prophesy, and they should have a mighty influence of the Holy Spirit in their midst. I felt to promise them these things in faith, for it is just so everywhere when people live in humility before God.

How pleasing it is when we can meet a brother here, or there, and can feel that the genial influences of the Holy Spirit of God are with him! When we feel so united, so much of one heart and one mind, that we can buy and sell, trade, traffic, and do all that we have to do in the name of the Lord, do all with an honest heart before God—then, when we feel this way, we can have the Spirit of the Lord in coming before a congregation to qualify us to edify the people. This is but a small portion of our religion, but this is very good. It is obedience that will prepare us to be exalted in the kingdom of our God.

There is a monitor in the heart of every individual, and a man or woman who will obey its dictations, and whose intentions are to do right all the day long, need not be afraid of anything, for they will have confidence; they shall have confidence before God; they shall have confidence before the Saints, and be enabled to claim the promises, and there is no power that can hinder; there is no power that can stand against them, but they shall prevail; and why shall they not prevail? Why the Psalmist says—“No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Let us ask a blessing on the cup.)

I feel first rate, brethren and sisters, and I feel to bless you, and my daily prayer is that the Saints of God may be blessed with wisdom, with knowledge, and with all spiritual blessings, as well as with temporal prosperity, and I say they shall be blessed, and they shall be comforted. And let us be reminded continually of the instructions given last Sunday: “Fret not your gizzards.” We are first-rate, and the grasshoppers are doing first-rate too, and I expect that the Lord will be as good as His word, for we are the Latter-day Saints; we are the only people that acknowledge God and Prophets and the authority of the Priesthood upon the earth, and you know what the Scriptures say: “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.” We all want the Prophet’s blessing, and we all want every good man’s blessing, and the blessing of all this community.

When our hearts are drawn out before the Lord, we feel well, we feel all right; but when we get to fretting our gizzards about this, that, and the other, and begin to say, well, these rewards, these blessings do not appear to us as we looked for them; we do not have them in our assemblies as much as we ought to have.

How is it, says one, that the Lord is going to kill the grain, and thus cause a famine to come? What is the reason the Lord allows the grasshoppers to come and eat the grain? Why, we read in the Scriptures that judgment begins at the house of God, and I expect the Saints may be tried a good deal more yet before they become perfect.

There was one glorious promise that cheered my heart; I mean the words which fell from the lips of President Young a short time ago. Says he, “I don’t know that there will be any surplus grain, neither do I wish there to be any particularly, but we have put in seed, and we shall have harvest.” He promised us a harvest, and my faith is that we shall have something to eat and drink, and we shall not starve or want for bread. If we receive that promise as coming from a Prophet, we shall be blessed, and get what was promised; I calculate to have it; I also expect that the Lord will send the rain just as He pleases, and make all things subserve the interests of His kingdom. I expect to claim the blessings of the Almighty by faith, prayer, and diligence.

Well, now, I know that you are as willing as I am, to have those blessings promised. We want rain, and we all feel very anxious to have some, and we would like to know when we are to have it. Well, I have made up my mind for it to rain some time during the present week. I have had no particular promise, but I have had it in my mind that it will rain within a week. If it should not, it won’t hurt me at all.

I have thought of it in another way; probably the Lord may send a little famine; and if he does, there will be a design in it. There may be somebody coming here, a few curses in the shape of men, to eat up all our surplus grain; and perhaps, if they should hear that the drought and the grasshoppers are eating up our crops, they may be led to say, we are not going to be starved to death with those poor “Mormons.”

We are here sitting under our own Bowery, none daring to molest or make us afraid. The kingdom must be built up, and it belongs to this people to do it; it is our salvation to bear it off, and if we do not bear it off, and do not act as instruments in the hands of the Lord in accomplishing the work, our glory will be clipped; the moment that we cease our exertions, that moment we begin to decline. Every man and every woman that is brought into the covenant take this upon them, to bear a part in this kingdom; this is the right of all, it is the privilege and duty of all Saints, Every man is called upon to do right, to work righteousness all the day long.

I will say in conclusion, let us pray for the peace and prosperity of the Presidency that are. absent from us today, and of those who are with them. I will not take up more time, but will give way, as I wish to hear some remarks from Elder Hyde, who is about to leave for Carson Valley.

May God bless us all, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

The Gospel of Salvation

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, August 8, 1852.

I will read a revelation given to Joseph Smith, junior, and Sidney Rigdon. But previous to my doing so, and commencing upon the subject that I expect to lay before the people this morning, I will say to them, my understanding with regard to preaching the Gospel of Salvation is this: there is but one discourse to be preached to all the children of Adam; and that discourse should be believed by them, and lived up to. To commence, continue, and finish this Gospel sermon, will require all the time that is allotted to man, to the earth, and all things upon it, in their mortal state; that is my idea with regard to preaching. No man is able to set before a congregation all the items of the Gospel, in this life, and continue these items to their termination, for this mortal life is too short. It is inseparably connected, one part with the other, in all the doctrines that have been revealed to man, which are now called the various doctrines of Christianity, of which all the professors of religion believe a portion; but severally reject, or desire to reject, other portions of the truth; each sect or individual, taking to themselves portions of the Bible, portions of the doctrine of salvation, that are the most pleasing to them, rejecting all the rest, and mingling these doctrines with the tenets of men.

But let a Gospel sermon be preached, wherein all the principles of salvation are embodied, and we will acknowledge, at the end of the mortality of this earth, and all things created upon it—at the closing up scene, at the final consummation of all things that have been from the commencement of the creation of the world, and the peopling of it unto the latest generation of Adam and Eve, and the final finishing up of the work of Christ—I say, we shall acknowledge that there is the Gospel sermon, and that it could not be preached to finite beings in one short life.

I make these remarks for the purpose of extricating myself from the arduous task of undertaking to set before this congregation, every item of the doctrine of salvation, in all of their various significations, as they are presented in this life, and according to our understanding. I make these introductory remarks to free myself from the great task of finishing the discourse I shall commence. I did not expect to finish it; I do not expect to see the end of it, until the winding up scene. I do not even commence at the beginning of it; I only catch at it, where it comes to me, in the 19th century, for it has been before me; it is from eternity to eternity.

Christ is the author of this Gospel, of this earth, of men and women, of all the posterity of Adam and Eve, and of every living creature that lives upon the face of the earth, that flies in the heavens, that swims in the waters, or dwells in the field. Christ is the author of salvation to all this creation; to all things pertaining to this terrestrial globe we occupy.

This, however, would be contrary to our prejudices, to admit for a moment, that Christ, in his redeeming properties, has power to redeem any of the works of his hands—any other living creature, but the children of Adam and Eve—this would not be in accordance with our prepossessed feelings, and long-imbibed prejudices, perhaps; but he has redeemed the earth; he has redeemed mankind and every living thing that moves upon it; and he will finish his Gospel discourse when he overcomes his enemies, and puts his last enemy under his feet—when he destroys death, and him that hath the power of it—when he has raised up this kingdom, and finished his work which the Father gave him to do, and presents it to his Father, saying, “I have done the work, I have finished it; I have not only created the world, but I have redeemed it; I have watched over it, and I have given to those intelligent beings, that you have created by me, their agency, and it has been held with perfection to every creature of intelligence, to every grade of mankind; I have preserved inviolate their agency; I have watched over them, and overruled all their actions, and held in my hand the destinies of men; and I have finished up my Gospel sermon,” as he presents the finished work to his Father.

It takes just such a character as the Savior, to preach one Gospel discourse; and this was commenced with the commencement of all men upon this earth or any other; and it will never close until the winding up scene, and all is finished, and the kingdom is presented to the Father.

I expect only to look into some portions of it, as it comes to me in the 19th century of the Christian era.

I will now read a revelation that was given to Joseph Smith, junior, and Sidney Rigdon, called

A VISION

“1. Hear O ye heavens, and give ear O earth, and rejoice, ye inhabitants thereof, for the Lord is God, and beside him there is no Savior: great is his wisdom, marvellous are his ways, and the extent of his doings none can find out; his purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand; from eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail.

“2. For thus saith the Lord, I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honour those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end, great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory; and to them will I reveal all mysteries; yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom; yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations; and their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven: and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught; for by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will; yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.

“3. We, Joseph Smith, junior, and Sidney Rigdon, being in the Spirit on the sixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, by the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God—even those things which were from the beginning before the world was, which were ordained of the Father, through his only begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, even from the beginning, of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision; for while we were doing the work of translation, which the Lord had appointed unto us, we came to the twenty-ninth verse of the fifth chapter of John, which was given unto us as follows: speaking of the resurrection of the dead, concerning those who shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; they who have done good in the resurrection of the just, and they who have done evil in the resurrection of the unjust. Now this caused us to marvel, for it was given unto us of the Spirit; and while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about; and we beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, and received of his fulness; and saw the holy angels, and they who are sanctified before his throne, worshipping God, and the Lamb; who worship him forever and ever. And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony last of all, which we give of him, that he lives; for we saw him, even on the right hand of God, and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the only begotten of the Father—that by him, and through him, and of him the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God. And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the only begotten Son, whom the Father loved, and who was in the bosom of the Father—was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son, and was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him—he was Lucifer, a son of the morning. And while we were yet in the Spirit, the Lord commanded us that we should write the vision, for we beheld Satan, that old serpent—even the devil—who rebelled against God, and sought to take the kingdom of our God, and his Christ, wherefore he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasses them round about. And we saw a vision of the sufferings of those with whom he made war and overcame, for thus came the voice of the Lord unto us.

“4. Thus saith the Lord, concerning all those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves, through the power of the devil, to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power—they are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born, for they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity; concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come, having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the only begotten Son of the Father—having crucified him unto themselves, and put him to an open shame. These are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels, and the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath; for all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb, who was slain, who was in the bosom of the Father before the worlds were made. And this is the gospel, the glad tidings which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us, that he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; that through him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his power and made by him, who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition, who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him; wherefore he saves all except them; they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment; and the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows, neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof: nevertheless I the Lord show it by vision unto many, but straightway shut it up again; wherefore the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, they understand not, neither any man except them who are ordained unto this condemnation. And we heard the voice, saying, write the vision, for lo! this is the end of the vision of the sufferings of the ungodly!

“5. And again, we bear record, for we saw and heard, and this is the testimony of the gospel of Christ, concerning them who come forth in the resurrection of the just; they are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial being buried in the water in his name and this according to the commandment which he has given, that by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power, and who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true. They are they who are the church of the first-born. They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—they are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory, and are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchisedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the only begotten Son; wherefore, as it is written, they are Gods, even the sons of God—wherefore all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs and they are Christ’s and Christ is God’s; and they shall overcome all things; wherefore let no man glory in man, but rather let him glory in God, who shall subdue all enemies under his feet—these shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever. These are they whom he shall bring with him, when he shall come in the clouds of heaven, to reign on the earth over his people. These are they who shall have part in the first resurrection. These are they who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just. These are they who are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly place, the holiest of all. These are they who have come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of Enoch, and of the first-born. These are they whose names are written in heaven, where God and Christ are the judge of all. These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood. These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical.

“6. 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 fulness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun of 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 are blinded by the craftiness of men. These are they who receive of his glory, but not of his fulness. These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness 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 obtained not the crown over the kingdom of our God. And now this is the end of the vision which we saw of the terrestrial, that the Lord commanded us to write while we were yet in the Spirit.

“7. And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament. These are they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus. These are they who deny not the Holy Spirit. These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil, until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb shall have finished his work. These are they who receive not of his fulness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial; and the terrestrial through the ministration of the celestial; and also the telestial receive it of the administering of angels who are appointed to minister for them, or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for them, for they shall be heirs of salvation. And thus we saw in the heavenly vision, the glory of the telestial, which surpasses all understanding, and no man knows it except him to whom God has revealed it. And thus we saw the glory of the terrestrial, which excels in all things the glory of the telestial, even in glory, and in power, and in might, and in dominion. And thus we saw the glory of the celestial, which excels in all things—where God, even the Father, reigns upon his throne forever and ever; before whose throne all things bow in humble reverence and give him glory forever and ever. They who dwell in his presence are the church of the first-born, and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace; and he makes them equal in power, and in might, and in dominion. And the glory of the celestial is one, even as the glory of the sun is one. And the glory of the terrestrial is one, even as the glory of the moon is one. And the glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one, for as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world; for these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ, and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; but received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant. Last of all, these all are they who will not be gathered with the saints, to be caught up unto the church of the first born, and received into the cloud. These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. These are they who suffer the wrath of God on the earth. These are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work, when he shall deliver up the kingdom, and present it unto the Father spotless, saying—I have overcome and have trodden the winepress alone, even the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. Then shall he be crowned with the crown of his glory, to sit on the throne of his power to reign for ever and ever. But behold, and lo, we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the sea shore, and heard the voice of the Lord, saying—these all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to him who sits upon the throne forever and ever; for they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared, and they shall be servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end. This is the end of the vision which we saw, which we were commanded to write while we were yet in the Spirit.

“8. But great and marvellous are the works of the Lord, and the mysteries of his kingdom which he showed unto us, which surpasses all understanding in glory, and in might, and in dominion, which he commanded us we should not write while we were yet in the Spirit, and are not lawful for man to utter; neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and purify themselves before him; to whom he grants this privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves; that through the power and manifestation of the Spirit, while in the flesh, they may be able to bear his presence in the world of glory. And to God and the Lamb be glory, and honor, and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

These are the words of the vision that were given to Joseph and Sidney, My mind rests upon this subject, upon this portion of the Gospel of salvation; and has done so, more or less, for a great many years. The circumstances that surround me, almost daily; things that I see and hear, cause my mind to reflect upon the situation of mankind; create in me an anxiety to find out—to learn why things are as they are; why it is that the Lord should build a globe like this earthly ball, and set it in motion—then people it with intelligent beings, and afterwards cast a vail over the whole, and hide Himself from His creation—conceal from them the wisdom, the glory, the truth, the excellency, the true principles of His character, and His design in forming the earth.

Why cast this vail over them, and leave them in total darkness—leave them to be carried away with erroneous doctrines, and exposed to every species of wickedness that would render them obnoxious to the presence of God, who placed them upon the face of this earth. My daily experience and observation cause me to enquire into these things. Can I attribute all to the wisdom of Him that has organized this earth, and peopled it with intelligent beings, and see the people honestly desiring to do right all the day long, and would not lift hand or heel against the Almighty, but would rather have their heads taken from their bodies than dishonor him? And yet, we hear one crying on the right hand, this is the law of God, this is the right way; another upon the left, saying the same; another in the front; and another in the rear; and to every point of the compass, hundreds and thousands of them, and all differing one from another.

They do the best they can, I admit. See the inhabitants of the earth, how they differ in their prejudices, and in their religion. What is the religion of the day? What are all the civil laws and governments of the day? They are merely traditions, without a single exception. Do the people realize this—that it is the force of their education that makes right and wrong, with them? It is not the line which the Lord has drawn out; it is not the law which the Lord has given them; it is not the righteousness which is according to the character of Him who has created all things, and by His own law governs and controls all things; but by the prejudice of education—the prepossessed feeling that is begotten in the hearts of the children of men, by surrounding objects; they being creatures of circumstances, who are governed and controlled by them more or less. When they, thus, are led to differ one from another, it begets in them different feelings; it causes them to differ in principle, object, and pursuit; in their customs, religion, laws, and domestic affairs, in all human life; and yet every one, of every nation there is under heaven, considers that they are the best people; that they are the most righteous; have the most intelligent and best of men for their priests and rulers, and are the nearest to the very thing the Lord Almighty requires of them. There is no nation upon this earth that does not entertain these sentiments.

Suppose a query arising in the minds of the different sects of the human family—“Do not the Latter-day Saints think they are the best people under the whole heavens, like ourselves?” Yes, exactly; I take that to myself. The Latter-day Saints have the same feelings as the rest of the people; they think also, that they have more wisdom and knowledge, and are the nearest right of any people upon the face of the earth.

Suppose you visit China, and mingle among the “celestial” beings there; you will find a people who hold in scorn and ridicule every other people, and especially those of Christendom. They consider themselves more holy, more righteous, more upright, more honest; filled with more intelligence; they consider themselves better educated; better in every respect, in all their civil and religious rites than any other nation under heaven.

Suppose you next visit Spain; there you will find the mother, and grandmother, and great-grandmother of all the Christian denominations upon the face of the earth—though these are but a scanty proportion of mankind, compared with all the inhabitants upon the face of the globe. I suppose not one twelfth, or one sixteenth part of the inhabitants of the earth, believe in Jesus Christ—and probably not one thirtieth part of them.

Take the mother of modern Christianity; go into Italy—to Rome, the seat of her government, and we find that they also consider themselves to be the best people in the world—the nearest the Lord and the path of right—more so than any other people upon the face of the earth.

Then visit the first Protestant church that was organized, and they consider themselves nearer right than their mother, or any of their sisters. You may thus follow it down to the last reformer upon the earth; and then step back to those we call heathen; to all that ever lived, from the place where Noah landed his ark, to the building of the tower of Babel; and in their dispersion, trace their footsteps to the islands and continents, under the whole heavens, and you cannot find a people that do not believe they are nearest right in their religion—more so than their neighbors—and have the best form of civil government.

Suppose you call upon the aborigines of our country, here, these wild Indians; we call them savages we call them heathens. Let yourselves be divested of prejudice; let it be entirely forgotten and out of the question, together with all your education, and former notions of things, your religious tenets, &c., and let your minds be in open vision before the Almighty, seeing things as they are, you will find that that very people know just as much about the Lord as anybody else; like the rest of mankind, they step into a train of ideas and ordinances, peculiar to the prejudices of their education.

All this I admit; and I admit it upon the resources of my own knowledge that I have pertaining to the inhabitants of the earth; this, also, every person knows, who is acquainted with the different customs and religions of different countries.

Let me step over into England, and carry with me my Yankee notions and manners, and I should be a burlesque to them. Let an Englishman pass over into Scotland, and speak and act according to English customs, it would differ so far from them, that they would laugh at him. Let a Scotchman or an Englishman go to Ireland, and it would be just the same. This difference of feeling, sentiment, and custom, exists in those countries that are so near each other. If you go to France, you find that they walk over the customs and manners of England, as unworthy of their notice. Should you thus go, from one people to another, throughout all nations, you would find that they differ in their religions and national customs, according to the teachings of their mother, and the priest. In this manner the consciences of mankind are formed—by the education they receive. You know this to be true, by your own experience.

That which you once considered, perhaps, to be a non-essential in religion, you now consider to be very essential. That which you once esteemed to be unbecoming in society, has become so interwoven in your feelings, by being accustomed to it, that it ultimately appears quite rational to you.

When you survey the inhabitants of the world, you will find that the religious tenets of all nations have sprung from their education; consequently, if we should summon the whole earth before us, and strictly examine them, we should find that the nations of the earth, as far as they know and understand, are doing about the best they know how; they are just about as near right as they know how to be.

These tribes of Indians differ from one another in their sentiments and feelings; they war with each other, and try to destroy each other; and why do they do it? Why, “you are not as righteous as I am, and I want to bring you over to my holy faith.” You see these bands of Indians doing these things, and you spurn the idea. Suppose you extend the principle, and carry it among the greatest nations of the earth; and you would see Queen Victoria, one of the most powerful sovereigns, sitting at the head of one of the most powerful nations upon the earth, sending her forces among these “celestial” ones, battering down the walls of China, bombarding their cities, throwing confusion into their States, and destroying thousands of their people—extending their sway of empire over India, And why all this? “To subdue you heathens, and bring you over to our more enlightened customs and religion.”

Does one nation rise up to war with another without having motives, and those which they will substantiate as being good and sufficient? Will one people rise up to war with another people, except the motive that moves them is of a nature to justify them in their own minds and judgment for doing so? No. There is not a people upon the face of this earth that would do so; they all calculate to do that which seemeth good to them.

There are the Jews—and recollect that they are a very religious people to this day; a more religious people never lived than they, that is, the tribe of Judah, and the half tribe of Benjamin that were left in Jerusalem—they are as tenacious as any people can be, to this day, for the religion of their fathers; and where can you see them among the nations of the earth, without seeing a hunted, driven, and persecuted people? The laws of nations have been framed for the express purpose of killing and destroying them from the earth. Yes, in the midst of nations that profess to adhere to the doctrines of Christianity—that legislate, and make laws, and put them in force—laws have been made to exterminate them; then cry out against them, and raise mobs to persecute and destroy, and clear the earth of the Jews. Notwithstanding all this, will they forsake their religion? No. They have suffered themselves to be stoned in the streets of the cities, their houses to be burned over their heads; but will they forsake their religion? No; they will perish rather.

The Christians say they are wrong; and the “Holy Roman Catholic Church” would have killed every one of them, hundreds of years ago, had not God promised by His holy Prophets, that they should remain and multiply. They have been distributed, dispersed, scattered abroad among the nations of the earth, to fulfil that, and many more of the sayings of their Prophets: and they are as tenacious, this day, with regard to their religion, as in the days of Moses, and are as anxiously expecting, and looking for the Messiah.

Conscience is nothing else but the result of the education and traditions of the inhabitants of the earth. These are interwoven with their feelings, and are like a cloak that perfectly envelops them, in the capacity of societies, neighborhoods, people, or individuals; they frame that kind of government and religion, and pursue that course collectively or individually, that seemeth good to themselves.

When we look at the whole creation, and that, too, from the days of Adam, down to this time, what do we see? According to the reading of the Bible, the sayings of Jesus Christ, of all the ancient Prophets, and of the Apostles, every soul, every son and daughter of Adam and Eve, that have lived from the day of transgression to this time; and that will live from this time henceforth, so long as any of the posterity of Adam and Eve shall continue upon the earth, unless they know Jesus Christ, and his Father, and receive the Holy Ghost, and be prepared to dwell with the Father and the Son; become acquainted with them, and converse with them, they will all be damned; every soul of them will be sent to hell.

And what do we see on the back of this, I ask? We see that all Christendom are ready to pounce upon them that believe in Jesus Christ, and are trying to attain to this knowledge, and grind them down, and send them down, and continue to bear upon them, and crowd them down, down to the bottom of the “bottomless pit,” and throw upon them pig metal, and lead, to keep them down. This is what we see; and all creation may see it also, if they will open their eyes.

I shall not undertake to prove from the Bible every thing I say, yet it is all there.

With regard to the peculiar and varied formations of the religions of the day, I will say, we can see in them the first strong lines of the religion of Christ drawn out, which have existed among them from the days of the apostacy from the true order, to the present day.

If you could just humble yourselves until your eyes should be enlightened by the Spirit of God, by the spirit of intelligence, you may understand things the world cannot see; and understand that it is the privilege of every person to know the exact situation of the inhabitants of the earth, for themselves. The ancient Apostles saw it; Jesus Christ knew all about it; and the Prophets before them prophesied, and wrote, and preached about what was then upon the earth, what had been, and what would be.

The inquiry might be made, “Can any person in the world prophesy, unless he possess the spirit of it?” No, they cannot. They may prophesy lies by the spirit of lies, by the inspiration of a lying spirit, but can they see and understand things in the future, so as to prophesy truly of things to come, unless they are endowed with the spirit of prophecy? No. Is this the privilege of every person? It is. Permit me to remark here—this very people called Latter-day Saints have got to be brought to the spot where they will be trained (if they have not been there already,) where they will humble themselves, work righteousness, glorify God, and keep His commandments. If they have not got undivided feelings, they will be chastised until they have them; not only until every one of them shall see for themselves, and prophesy for themselves, have visions to themselves, but be made acquainted with all the principles and laws necessary for them to know, so as to supersede the necessity of anybody teaching them.

Is not the time to come when I shall not say to my neighbor, know the Lord, for he will know Him as well as I do? This is the very people that have to come to it, sooner or later. Can we come to it? We can. If you are industrious and faithful scholars in the school you have entered into, you shall get lessons one after another, and continue on until you can see and understand the spirit of prophecy and revelation, which can be understood according to a systematic principle, and can be demonstrated to a person’s understanding as scientifically as Professor Pratt, who sits directly behind me, can an astronomical problem.

I do not purpose to go into that, or to say anything to the brethren or to this people with regard to their daily walk and actions. I proposed to view the inhabitants of the earth and their situation, that you and I might understand that the Lord Almighty has a hand in all these matters; that the Lord is on the earth, and fills immensity; He is everywhere; He dictates governors and kings, and manages the whole affairs of the nations of the earth, and has from the days of Adam, and will until the winding up scene, and the work shall be finished.

There is only one Gospel sermon, recollect, brethren and sisters, and the time that is required to preach it is from the day of the fall, or from the day when Adam and his wife Eve came here upon this planet, and from that time until Jesus Christ has subdued the last enemy, which is death, and put all things under his feet, and wound up all things pertaining to this earth. Then the Gospel will have been preached, and brought up and presented, and the effects thereof, to the Father.

Now what shall we do with the inhabitants of the earth? Their true situation can be presented to your minds, if you will calmly reflect. Every person, whether they have travelled or not, if they are acquainted with the history of nations, can discover at once the variety there is of religions, customs, laws, and governments; and if you will apply your hearts, you can understand the cause of this variety of effects.

Again, there are the nations that have lived before us; what shall we do with them? And what is their situation in the other world? What have we now to say of them? I can tell it in short. We are preaching to them the Gospel of salvation—to the dead—through those who have lived in this dispensation; and it is a part and parcel of the great Gospel discourse, a little here and a little there that is necessary for the nation unto whom given. With regard to doctrine, rules, customs, and many sacraments, they are meted out to the inhabitants of the earth severally as they stand in need, according to their situations and what is required of them.

You may ask, “What is meted out to us?” I answer, the ordinances, the sacraments that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted for the salvation of the Jews, for all the house of Israel, and then for the Gentiles. This is the Gospel—the plan of salvation the Lord has given to us. This is the kingdom the Lord has presented to us; the same he presented to the Apostles in the days of Jesus. Now it is for the people to become acquainted with these laws and ordinances of salvation, then apply them to their lives, and that will save as many in the celestial kingdom, in the presence of the Father and Son, as will strictly adhere to them. This we read in the sacred book; we have it before us all the time, that just as many as will believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, live up to its requirements in their lives, and die in the faith, shall receive a crown of life with the Apostles, and all the faithful in Christ Jesus.

What next? I will tell you a practice of the Latter-day Saint Elders generally. For instance, I get up here, and preach the fulness of the Gospel, perhaps to individuals who never heard it before in their lives, and I close by saying, you that believe this which I have told you, shall be saved; and if you do not, you shall be damned. I leave the subject there. But, says one, “don’t the Bible say so?” You ought to explain yourself. “I only said what the Savior taught—he says, go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, shall be damned. Don’t I say the same?” You leave it there, don’t you? “Yes; the Apostle left it there, and so do I.”

I wish to explain it a little more, according to the plain, simple, English language. The sum of this practice is this; when I preach a gospel sermon, and they don’t believe what I say, I straightway seal their damnation. Brethren, do you believe in such a thing as that? I do not; yet there are many of the Elders just so absurd.

I recollect, in England, sending an Elder to Bristol, to open a door there, and see if anybody would believe. He had a little more than thirty miles to walk; he starts off one morning, and arrives at Bristol; he preached the Gospel to them, and sealed them all up to damnation, and was back next morning. He was just as good a man, too, as we had. It was want of knowledge caused him to do so. I go and preach to the people, and tell them at the end of every sermon, he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, shall be damned. I continue preaching there day after day, week after week, and month after month, and yet nobody believes my testimony, that I know of, and I don’t see any signs of it. “What shall I do in this case, if I am sent to preach there?” you may inquire. You must continue to preach there, until those who sent you shall tell you to leave that field of labour; and if the people don’t manifest by their works, that they believe, as long as they come to hear me, I will continue to plead with them, until they bend their dispositions to the Gospel. Why? Because I must be patient with them, as the Lord is patient with me; as the Lord is merciful to me, I will be merciful to others; as He continues to be merciful to me, consequently I must continue in long-suffering to be merciful to others—patiently waiting, with all diligence, until the people will believe, and until they are prepared to become heirs to a celestial kingdom, or angels to the devil.

When the book of Mormon was first printed, it came to my hands in two or three weeks afterwards. Did I believe, on the first intimation of it? The man that brought it to me, told me the same things; says he, “This is the Gospel of salvation; a revelation the Lord has brought forth for the redemption of Israel; it is the Gospel; and according to Jesus Christ, and his Apostles, you must be baptized for the remission of sins, or you will be damned.” “Hold on,” says I. The mantle of my traditions was over me, to that degree, and my prepossessed feelings so interwoven with my nature, it was almost impossible for me to see at all; though I had beheld, all my life, that the traditions of the people was all the religion they had, I had got a mantle for myself. Says I, “Wait a little while; what is the doctrine of the book, and of the revelations the Lord has given? Let me apply my heart to them;” and after I had done this, I considered it to be my right to know for myself, as much as any man on earth.

I examined the matter studiously for two years before I made up my mind to receive that book. I knew it was true, as well as I knew that I could see with my eyes, or feel by the touch of my fingers, or be sensible of the demonstration of any sense. Had not this been the case, I never would have embraced it to this day; it would have all been without form or comeliness to me. I wished time sufficient to prove all things for myself.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, must be preached to all nations for a witness and a testimony; for a sign that the day has come, the set time for the Lord to redeem Zion, and gather Israel, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man. When this Gospel is preached to the people, some will believe, and some will not know whether to believe it, or not. This is the situation of the world; go forth among the people; go among your own neighbors, and you may see it; because the Lord has touched your understanding with the spirit of truth, it looks to you as though all the world will believe it, if they can only hear your testimony; you go and preach to them, but, to your astonishment, they seem perfectly uninterested; some go to sleep, and others are dreaming of their farms and possessions.

The Methodist will tell you, he has had the Gospel from his youth, and been brought up in the Methodist society; and so will the Quaker; and so will the Presbyterian; and so will the Shakers; for they say they are the only people, who are preparing for the Millennium. What is law here, is not there; and what is not there, is here. I have been used to this method of worship, or that; and have heard the good old tone, all the days of my life.

The Methodists come along and say, you may be baptized by pouring, or by sprinkling, or not at all, for there is nothing essential in it. Another man says, you can partake of the Lord’s Supper if you like, or let it alone, for it is non-essential; if you have only the good old tone, you are all right.

Now I ask a question: Who is there that can know the things of God; who can discern the truth from the error? Where is the man; where are the people now in the world that can do it? They do not exist. Let the best wisdom of the world be summoned to their aid, and they cannot know the things of God. Let a man be endowed with the revelations of Jesus Christ, and he will say at once they cannot tell—it is impossible. Let the just Judge sound his trump, what would he say? I can read it to you in this book. (Laying his hand on the Bible.)

He is compassionate to all the works of His hands, the plan of His redemption, and salvation, and mercy is stretched out over all; and His plans are to gather up, and bring together, and save all the inhabitants of the earth, with the exception of those who have received the Holy Ghost, and sinned against it. With this exception, all the world besides shall be saved. Is not this Universalism? It borders very close upon it.

I have preached portions of the doctrine of salvation to the people, when I travelled abroad. When I would take up this subject, the Universalists would run after me hundreds of miles, saying, “We are Universalists, where I live; we are troubled with the Methodists, and the various sects; won’t you come and use them up for us; we want them whipped out.”

It is only parts and portions of the Gospel that you hear; a little here, and a little there, scattered all over the world. Now let the hearts of the children of men be enlightened; let them be awakened to understand the designs of the Lord, in the salvation of man, and what will their voices echo one to another? I will tell you what would be the feeling of every heart; salvation, glory, hallelujah to God and the Lamb, forever and ever. Why? Because of His abundant mercy and compassion; because His wisdom has devised for us, that which we could not have devised for ourselves. That is what all creation would do.

I will take up another thread of my discourse, by observing, that a few men upon the earth, have found an item of truth, here and there, and incorporated it with their own wisdom, and taught the world that the Lord designs to save all mankind, no matter what they do. Another portion will catch at the Calvinistic principles; they hold that the Lord has fore-ordained this, that, and the other, and vigorously contend that the Lord did decree, and did fore-ordain whatsoever comes to pass, and away they run. Another comes along with free salvation to all; he has caught that principle, and away they all go, deprecating everything else, only the little particle each one has incorporated to himself.

It is this that makes the variance in the religious world. We see a party here, and a party there, crying, “Lo here, and lo there;” and the people are contending bitterly with each other, nation against nation, society against society, and man against man, each seeking to destroy the other, or bring them to this little particle of doctrine, that each one thinks is just right. It is right, as far as it goes.

Man is made an agent to himself before his God; he is organized for the express purpose, that he may become like his master. You recollect one of the Apostle’s sayings, that when we see Him, we shall be like Him; and again, we shall become Gods, even the sons of God. Do you read anywhere, that we shall possess all things? Jesus is the elder brother, and all the brethren shall come in for a share with him; for an equal share, according to their works and calling, and they shall be crowned with him. Do you read of any such thing as the Savior praying, that the Saints might be one with him, as he and the Father are one? The Bible is full of such doctrine, and there is no harm in it, as long as it agrees with the New Testament.

I will continue the point I am now at. The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods like Himself; when we have been proved in our present capacity, and been faithful with all things He puts into our possession. We are created, we are born for the express purpose of growing up from the low estate of manhood, to become Gods like unto our Father in heaven. That is the truth about it, just as it is. The Lord has organized mankind for the express purpose of increasing in that intelligence and truth, which is with God, until he is capable of creating worlds on worlds, and becoming Gods, even the sons of God.

How many will become thus privileged? Those who honor the Father and the Son; those who receive the Holy Ghost, and magnify their calling, and are found pure and holy; they shall be crowned in the presence of the Father and the Son. Who else? Not anybody. What becomes of all the rest. Are you going to cast them down, and sink them to the bottom of the bottomless pit, to be angels to the devil? Who are his angels? No man nor woman, unless they receive the Gospel of salvation, and then deny it, and altogether turn away from it, sacrificing to themselves the Son of God afresh. They are the only ones who will suffer the wrath of God to all eternity.

How much does it take to prepare a man, or woman, or any being, to become angels to the devil, to suffer with him to all eternity? Just as much as it does to prepare a man to go into the celestial kingdom, into the presence of the Father and the Son, and to be made an heir to His kingdom, and all His glory, and be crowned with crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives. Now who will be damned to all eternity? Will any of the rest of mankind? No; not one of them.

The very heathen we were talking about; if they have a law, no matter who made it, and do the best they know how, they will have a glory which is beyond your imagination, by any description I might give; you cannot conceive of the least portion of the glory of God prepared for His beings, the workmanship of His hands; for these people who are seated before me, who are the sons and daughters, legitimately so, of our Father in heaven, they all sprung from Him; it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive what He has prepared for them.

The Lord sent forth His Gospel to the people; He said, I will give it to my son Adam, from whom Methuselah received it; and Noah received it from Methuselah; and Melchisedek administered to Abraham. In the days of Noah, the people generally rejected it. All those who became acquainted with its principles, and thereby were made acquainted with, and tasted the power of salvation, and turned away therefrom, became angels to the devil.

Let us apply it directly to ourselves, who have received the truth, and tasted of the good word of God. Let me turn around with you and reject it, and teach our children that it is an untruth, teach the same to our neighbors, and that it is a burlesque to our senses; let us deny the Lord that bought us, what would be the result? Our children would grow up in unbelief, and the sin would rest upon our heads. Suppose we are faithful, and the people will not believe our testimony, we shall receive our reward, the same as though they did believe it.

Suppose the inhabitants of the earth were before me, those who have died, what shall we say of them? Have they gone to heaven, or to hell? There is a saying of a wise man in the Bible, like this: “Who knoweth the spirit of a man that goeth upward or the spirit of the beast that goeth downward?” All have spirits, I should suppose, by this. Again, there is another saying, “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, and blessed be the name of the Lord.” Man dies, and his spirit goes to God who gave it. All these things are within the scope of the Gospel sermon; all these principles are embraced in this great Gospel discourse.

What shall we say without going to the Scriptures at all? Where do the spirits of this people go to, when they lay down their tabernacles? They go into the presence of God, and are at the pleasure of the Almighty. Do they go to the Father and the Son, and there be glorified? No; they do not. If a spirit goes to God who gave it, it does not stay there. We are all the time in the presence of the Lord, but our being in the presence of the Lord, does not make it follow that He is in our presence; the spirits of men are understood to go into the presence of the Lord, when they go into the spiritual world.

The Prophet lays down his body, he lays down his life, and his spirit goes to the world of spirits; the persecutor of the Prophet dies, and he goes to Hades; they both go to one place, and they are not to be separated yet. Now, understand, that this is part of the great sermon the Lord is preaching in his providence, the righteous and the wicked are together in Hades. If we go back to our mother country, we there find the righteous and the wicked.

If we go back to our mother country, the States, we there find the righteous, and we there find the wicked; if we go to California, we there find the righteous and the wicked, all dwelling together; and when we go beyond this vail, and leave our bodies which were taken from mother earth, and which must return; our spirits will pass beyond the vail; we go where both Saints and sinners go; they all go to one place. Does the devil have power over the spirits of just men? No. When he gets through with this earth, he is at the length of his chain. He only has permission to have power and dominion on this earth, pertaining to this mortal tabernacle; and when we step through the vail, all are in the presence of God. What did one of the ancients say? “Whither shall I go from thy spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy presence; if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there; if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” Where is the end of His power? He is omnipotent, and fills immensity by His agents, by His influence, by His Spirit, and by His ministers. We are in the presence of God there, as we are here. Does the enemy have power over the righteous? No. Where are the spirits of the ungodly? They are in prison. Where are the spirits of the righteous, the Prophets, and the Apostles? They are in prison, brethren; that is where they are.

Now let us notice a little experience, lest some of you should be startled at this idea. How do you feel, Saints, when you are filled with the power and love of God? You are just as happy as your bodies can bear. What would be your feelings, suppose you should be in prison, and filled with the power and love of God; would you be unhappy? No. I think prisons would palaces prove, if Jesus dwelt there. This is experience. I know it is a startling idea to say that the Prophet and the persecutor of the Prophet, all go to prison together. What is the condition of the righteous? They are in possession of the spirit of Jesus—the power of God which is their heaven; Jesus will administer to them; angels will administer to them; and they have a privilege of seeing and understanding more than you or I have, in the flesh but they have not got their bodies yet, consequently they are in prison. When will they be crowned, and brought into the presence of the Father and the Son? Not until they have got their bodies; this is their glory. What did the holy martyrs die for? Because of the promise of receiving bodies, glorified bodies, in the morning of the resurrection. For this they lived, and patiently suffered, and for this they died. In the presence of the Father, and the Son, they cannot dwell, and be crowned, until the work of the redemption of both body and spirit is completed. What is the condition of the wicked? They are in prison. Are they happy? No; They have stepped through the vail, to the place where the vail of the covering is taken from their understanding. They fully understand that they have persecuted the just and Holy One, and they feel the wrath of the Almighty resting upon them, having a terrible foreboding of the final consummation of their just sentence, to become angels to the devil; just as it is in this world, precisely.

Has the devil power to afflict, and cast the spirit into torment? No! We have gained the ascendency over him. It is in this world only he has power to cause affliction and sickness, pain and distress, sorrow, anguish, and disappointment; but when we go there, behold! the enemy of Jesus has come to the end of his chain; he has finished his work of torment; he cannot come any further; we are beyond his reach, and the righteous sleep in peace, while the spirit is anxiously looking forward to the day when the Lord will say, “Awake my Saints, you have slept long enough;” for the trump of God shall sound, and the sleeping dust shall arise, and the absent spirits return, to be united with their bodies; and they will become personages of tabernacle, like the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ; yea Gods in eternity.

They look forward with great anxiety to that day, and their happiness will not be complete—their glory will not attain to the final consummation of its fulness, until they have entered into the immediate presence of the Father and the Son, to be crowned, as Jesus will be, when the work is finished. When it is wound up, the text is preached, in all its divisions, pertaining to the redemption of the world, and the final consummation of all things; then the Savior will present the work to the Father, saying, “Father, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do;” and the Son will give it up to the Father, and then be subject to Him, and then he will be crowned, and that is the time you and I will be crowned also.

We will notice, by this, that all the nations of the earth, with the exception of those who have apostatized from the Gospel salvation; every son and daughter of Adam, except those who have denied the Holy Ghost, after having received it, are placed in prison with the rest of them, with Prophets, Priests, and Saints. Suppose we quote a little Scripture on this point. Jesus died to redeem the world. Did his body lay in the tomb? Did his spirit leave his body? Yes. Where did his spirit go, you may inquire? I do not know that I can tell you any better than what the ancient Apostle has told it; he says he went to preach to the spirits in prison. Who are they to whom he went to preach? the people who lived in the antediluvian world. He preached the Gospel to them in the spirit, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh.

What shall we say of the people who live in the 19th century? When any of the Latter-day Elders or Apostles die, and leave this world, suffice it to say, that their spirits go to that prison, and preach the Gospel to those who have died without hearing it; and every spirit shall be judged precisely as though he lived in the flesh, when the fulness of the Gospel was upon the earth. This leads to the subject of the saving and redeeming powers possessed by the righteous; but we shall not have time this morning to treat upon it, suffice it to say, that saviors are coming up, in the last days, upon mount Zion.

This I say of every son and daughter of Adam, Prophets, Priests, and those that slew the Prophets, all go to prison; the Elders of this Church go there, and there continue their labors; and by and bye you will see Zion redeemed, and saviors will come up upon mount Zion. The faithful Elders will come, and go forward in the ordinances of God, that our ancestors, and all who have died previous to the restoration of the Gospel in these last days, may be redeemed.

Now, ye Elders of Israel, when you say that John Wesley went to hell, say that Joseph Smith went there too. When you tell about Judas Iscariot going to hell, say that Jesus went there too. The world cannot see the whole of the Gospel sermon at one glance; they can only pick up a little here, and a little there. They that do understand it from the beginning to the end, know that is as straight as a line can be drawn. You cannot find a compass on the earth, that points, so directly, as the Gospel plan of salvation. It has a place for every thing, and puts everything in its place. It divides, and sub-divides, and gives to every portion of the human family, as circumstances require.

It is for us to get rid of that tradition in which we are incased, and bring up our children in the way they should go, that when they get old, they will not depart from it. It is your privilege and mine, to enjoy the visions of the Spirit of the Lord, every one in his own order, just as the Lord has ordained it, that every man and woman may know for themselves, if they are doing right, according to the great plan of salvation. I have only touched a little of the great Gospel sermon, and the time has come, that we must close our meeting; so may the Lord God of Israel bless you, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Language, etc.

Orson Pratt

A discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 22, 1854.

By the request of President Kimball, I arise this afternoon for the purpose of speaking to the Saints upon whatever subject may be presented to my mind; at the same time earnestly desiring that the prayers of the Saints, who sit before me, may ascend up before the Lord in my behalf, that I may be able to speak those things that will be calculated to edify you, and do you good.

It is delightful to me, to speak of the things that belong to the salvation of the human family—to speak of God and of His works, plans, and purposes, so far as they are revealed for the salvation and benefit of man.

But, at the same time, I realize that there is but a small degree—a very small degree, indeed, of the purposes of God unfolded to the mind of man. The amount of knowledge, which we in our present state are in possession of, is extremely limited, so that when compared with that vast amount of knowledge that fills eternity, we might say that man, in his highest attainments here in this life, is, as it were, nothing. However far he may expand his intellectual powers, and faculties by studying, by meditation, by seeking unto the Lord diligently for the inspiration of the Spirit, yet all that he can possibly receive and attain to here is, comparatively speaking, nothing. Moses was a man possessed of like passions with other men; he was a man similar to ourselves, but he had by his perseverance, diligence, and faithfulness obtained great favor and power with God; so that by this favor and through this power, he was enabled to obtain greater information and knowledge than the rest of the human family that were on the earth at that period; and far greater in some things than what we have attained to in this generation; at the same time, when the grand and wonderful intelligence of heaven was portrayed before the mind of Moses, and knowledge was poured out from the heavens upon him, he exclaimed before the Lord, “Now I know for this once that man is nothing.”

If there were a being then upon the face of the earth, that had a reason to suppose that man was something, it was Moses; but yet in the midst of the visions of the Almighty, and the vast field of knowledge that was opened to his mind—while he was yet gazing upon the workmanship of the hands of God, and looking into the intricacies of the construction of this world—in the midst of all this, he considered himself nothing. That is just the way I feel; and I presume it is the way that almost every one feels who contemplates the greatness of God, and the immensity of knowledge that there is far beyond our reach in this present state of existence. At the same time, when we compare our knowledge and our intellectual powers with the glimmerings of light that we see manifested in the brute creation, we may exclaim that man is something—that he is advanced far beyond the apparent manifestations of knowledge that exist among the lower orders of beings. He is, indeed, something compared with the small glimmerings of light that exist in the brute creation, in the beasts of the field, in the fowls of the air, and in the fishes of the sea; all these have some degree of knowledge and understanding; and some of them have some degree of information and knowledge that man is not in possession of. Man designates such intelligence by the name of instinct; they seem to be guided by a principle that man, naturally speaking, is not in possession of; but yet, when we contemplate the reasoning powers and faculties of man—the rational faculty—the abstract ideas that are capable of dwelling in his mind, and then look at the brute creation, we see a vast difference between the two.

Mankind, in one sense, are far above the brutes, and not only this, but they are above even some of the angels; for there are certain orders of angels that are far beneath man; they have not progressed in the great scale of being—in the scale of wisdom, knowledge, and intelligence to the same extent as we have; and consequently they are beneath us; they are lower than we are; they have not attained to the same degree of information that we are in possession of; hence we read that man shall judge angels; the Saints are to judge, not only the world—the wicked world, and also one another, but they are to judge angels. Why? Because they are superior, or will be at the time they shall sit in judgment and decide upon the cases brought before them by the angels; they will rule over the angels, or in other words, the angels will be subject to them. This we read in the laws that God has revealed to this Church. We read that there are a certain class of beings, who, because they have not fulfilled the law of God, will, in the next state, enjoy no higher privileges than those of the angels; they will remain angels, while others who have kept the celestial law in all its bearings—in its ordinances, and institutions, and have claimed the privileges of the Saints of God, will be exalted to a higher sphere; they will have greater knowledge and information, and those angels being of a lower order of intelligence will be subject to them, and will minister for them, in carrying out their purposes and designs in the wide field of action in the eternal worlds.

All these, then, in one sense of the word, are something, instead of being nothing; for all of the works of God are intended to show forth His wisdom, power, and goodness, whether it is in the formation of man, in the formation of the brute creation, or in the formation of the highest or lowest order of intelligence. God is there; His intelligence and power are there; His wisdom and goodness are there; and all His works are marked by His great and glorious attributes.

There is something calculated to give great joy and happiness to the mind of man in the idea of improvement, so long as there is anything. to be learned—in the idea of progressing and expanding those principles of light and intelligence that already exist within these tabernacles. There is a joy—a satisfaction, existing in the mind of the righteous man, in the discovery of every additional truth; it matters not whether he himself attains this truth by experience, by reason, by reflection, by immediate revelation from higher powers, or by a revelation from his fellow man. It matters not how or in what way or manner he obtains this new truth, it is calculated to inspire his heart with joy and happiness. We see this illustrated in some small degree in the scientific discoveries of modern ages, as well as in those of ancient times.

If we can depend upon the declarations of the discoverers, who, after long and toilsome researches after some hidden truth, at length, have obtained the key that leads to that truth; they make use of it; the door of knowledge and wisdom is unlocked to them, and they find out and discover something new; it is demonstrated to their minds, and they know it to be true. There is a perceptive faculty, existing in the bosom of man, that is capable of perceiving light and truth, when it is clearly manifested; such truths are as certain and as sure to him as any other truths; when he obtains the knowledge which he has long hunted after, and spent years, perhaps, in close meditation, reasoning, and study in order to obtain, it gives him such a joy, satisfaction, and ecstacy, that he is hardly capable of retaining himself in the body. The mind of that great man Sir Isaac Newton, one of the great discoverers in modern times, was exercised in a wonderful manner. About the time he unfolded the great law that governs the bodies in the universe, which he termed the law of universal gravitation; his mind was so affected, so full of joy, and so overcome, when he was about laying bare the great truths this law unfolded, that he had to obtain the assistance of some one present in carrying out the calculations.

If these scientific truths will have such an effect upon the mind of man how much greater ought the joy to be, in the hearts of the children of men, in relation to those still greater truths that pertain to eternal life and the exaltation of man in the eternal world!

If those truths which only have a bearing upon the present state of existence, are calculated to impart joy and happiness so intense, as almost to overpower the mortal tabernacle of man, are not those still greater truths that proceed from heaven by the ministration of angels, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and by the visions of the Almighty, calculated to impart still greater joy and happiness to the mind of man? They certainly are.

There is something glorious in the contemplation of that period of time, when we shall come in possession of greater truths, even before we do obtain them; for we have the promise given to us by the Almighty, that more truths will be revealed and unfolded; and just the bare anticipation of these truths, before they are revealed, are calculated to give great joy and happiness to the mind of man. Now what do we anticipate brethren and sisters; What are we looking for? I stated to you last Sabbath, that we were looking for a future existence after this mortal body shall crumble back to its mother elements. I also endeavored last Sabbath to inquire into the nature of this future state of existence in some small degree; at the same time, reminding you that in one short discourse it would be utterly impossible to point out the apparent differences, or at least, the real and supposed differences that will exist between man in his present state, and in his future state. There will be a great difference in many respects, and in other respects, a very little difference.

Now let us touch, for a few moments, upon a principle in regard to the communication of knowledge between man and man, in his future state. We know how we communicate knowledge one to another here; it is by speaking, by writing, by arbitrary sounds that we convey our ideas one to another, and reveal knowledge, instruction, and truth one to another. This is a very imperfect medium of communication, consequently man progresses slowly, very slowly, indeed, in obtaining truth. But supposing that we could have revealed to us from on high a language more pure and heavenly, that is a perfect language, so far as it can be made perfect, and be adapted to our present state of existence; let such a language be revealed to us; let us learn it; let us obtain a knowledge of all the various symbols of the same, by which we could communicate our ideas one to another, perfectly, without any ambiguity or uncertainty in the ideas, would not this be a medium by which mankind could greatly enlarge their ideas and knowledge of things? Could not those that have progressed in the principles of truth and righteousness more readily impart their ideas to others? Now we find, in consequence of the imperfection of our language, that it is very difficult, indeed, to communicate readily our ideas to others, so that we have to spend years and years to instil into the minds of children and youth, some very easy and simple principles of knowledge. It is in one sense owing to the weakness of the capacity and intellect in early age, but it is still more owing to the imperfection of language by which these ideas are communicated. [The speaker here asked a blessing upon the bread.]

We were speaking upon the imperfect medium, here in this life, by which we convey our ideas one to another. Let us now compare our present means of obtaining knowledge with the facilities which are no doubt, in store for the people of God. Will there be a pure language restored? There will; through the testimony of the prophets. We are also told that tongues shall cease. We are to understand by this that the great varieties of languages and tongues that have existed on the earth for many ages, are to be done away; they are to cease; now something must take the place of those imperfect, confused languages and tongues. What is that something? It is a language that is spoken by higher orders of beings than ourselves; that is, beings that have progressed further than ourselves; it is that same language that was spoken for nearly two thousand years after the creation; that was spoken by Adam and by his children, from generation to generation that came down to the flood, and was taught extensively among the children of Noah until the Lord by a direct miracle caused the people to forget their own mother tongue, and gave them a variety of new tongues that they had no knowledge of, and by this means scattered them abroad upon the face of the whole earth; and now that same Being that destroyed the memory of the people at the building of the tower, so that they could not remember their own mother tongue, and the same Being that gave to them new languages and tongues, will operate again by His power to do away this curse, for I consider it a curse, and the blessing will be as great and as extensive as the curse, in destroying it from the face of the earth. This is a poor medium of communication between man and man. Whether this pure language here spoken of, which is to be spoken here upon the earth among mankind in their mortal state, is to be as perfect as the language that has to be spoken in our immortal state, is not for us to say; but still we may draw some conclusions upon this matter, from the fact that things in the eternal world will in some measure be different from what they are here.

For instance; how do you suppose that spirits after they leave these bodies, communicate one with another? Do they communicate their ideas by the actual vibrations of the atmosphere the same as we do? I think not. I think if we could be made acquainted with the kind of language by which spirits converse with spirits, we would find that they do not communicate their ideas in this manner; they have a more refined way; I mean that portion of them that are in the school of progress; they have undoubtedly a more refined system among them of communicating their ideas. This system will be so constructed that they can, not only communicate at the same moment upon one subject, as we have to do by making sounds in the atmosphere, but communicate vast numbers of ideas, all at the same time, on a great variety of subjects; and the mind will be capable of perceiving them. Perhaps there may be some who consider this altogether an improbability. They may consider it very improbable that the mind should be able to take in a vast collection of ideas, on different subjects, all at once, and be able to digest and comprehend them; if the mind has such faculty as this, then there must necessarily be a language adapted to such a capacity of the mind; not an imperfect medium of communication to convey a few simple ideas upon one subject at a time, as is done here, but a language exactly adapted to the capacity; if the capacity, is greater, then the language must be more refined than what it is here, in order to communicate in the same ratio that the capacity is capable of receiving and understanding. It is impossible for man to communicate, by our present language, any more than one chain of ideas at the same time. There may be other ideas suggested to the individual who is hearing, but the ideas of the individual who is speaking are always in one line, giving one idea at a time; and the mind seems hardly capable here in the mortal tabernacle, for some reason, of receiving more than one idea at a time, or at least a very few, and such ideas follow each other in quick succession. In the spirit state, we have reason to believe, that inasmuch as there is such a vast field of knowledge to be learned, their medium of communication will be adapted to the nature and capacity of the mind to grasp in a variety of subjects and digest them all at once.

Well inquires one, “Can you imagine up any such system, or language in this, world?” I can imagine up one, but it cannot be made practicable here, from the fact that the mind of man is unable to use it. For instance, the Book of Mormon tells us, that the angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, and man when under the influence of it, speaks the language of angels. Why does he speak in this language? Because the Holy Ghost suggests the ideas which he speaks; and it gives him utterance to convey them to the people. Suppose the Holy Ghost should suggest to the mind of an individual a vast multitude of truths, I mean when in the spiritual state, and he wished to convey that intelligence and knowledge to his fellow spirit; suppose, instead of having arbitrary sounds, such as we have here, to communicate these ideas, that the Holy Ghost itself, through a certain process and power, should enable him to unfold that knowledge to another spirit, all in an instant, without this long tedious process of artificial and arbitrary sounds, and written words. The fact is, if celestial spirits were so organized, and so constructed, as to close up their own ideas in their own bosoms, from those in a lower condition, or to disclose them at their own pleasure, according to the mind and wisdom of the Holy Ghost, and others were so organized and constituted as to receive these ideas by the power of the Holy Ghost, it would be just as good a communication between man and man—between spirit and spirit, as any other medium, and perhaps far better. Now, I have quite an idea that this will be one of the great helps in the eternal world, by which knowledge will be poured out more abundantly upon the mind of man; it will be by this aid; by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that they will progress faster than here, they will learn more rapidly; the intellectual powers will be more expanded.

There is something of this nature that God has revealed. You may think I am now reasoning altogether upon conjecture, and only to be received as such; well, we will let it go as such; but still there are some glimmerings of light ‘and intelligence, which God has revealed in regard to these superior beings in the eternal world, which show us that some such economy will be carried on in the future world. For instance, how does God perceive the thoughts of our hearts? Is there not here a language by which He can discover and discern the thoughts and intents of the heart? Are we not told in many of the revelations how that God can perceive the thoughts of man, and that for every idle thought we are to be brought into judgment? Yes, He discerns the thoughts, and the intents of the hearts of the children of men. Suppose we had some of that power resting upon us, would not that be a different kind of a language from sound, or from a written language? It would. If spirits could commune with spirits, and one higher intelligence commune with another, by the same principle through which God sees the thoughts and intents of the heart, it would be nothing more than what has already existed here in this world, according to that which is revealed.

Much might be said upon this subject; it is a glorious subject to contemplate; and it is that which gives joy to the mind of every righteous man who desires the truth; he knows how happy the principle of truth makes him here, when he discerns it, or it is revealed to him; and if he can get his mind fixed upon a more glorious economy, wherein truth can be unfolded more rapidly, and in such a way that there can be no possibility of mistaking it for error; the very anticipation of it is calculated to inspire the heart of every individual to be faithful in all things, that he may enter into the enjoyment of those blessings which are ahead.

There are a great many things to be contemplated, in connection with man in his future state, compared with his present. One principle I mentioned to you last Sabbath; that mankind would be able, through the power of the Holy Ghost, to obtain a knowledge of a vast number of things at once, and of a vast portion of the works of God all at once, the same as Moses did when he looked upon every particle of this earth and discerned it by the Spirit of God, not only all the various continents and islands, but every particle of the interior of it; all was presented before his mind at once. He did not have to reason out the knowledge concerning these particles; neither did he have to look at one particle of it at a time, but he had the faculty by which he could look at more than one thing at once; he could look at almost an infinite number at the same time; for there are more particles in one grain of sand than we could number in all our life if we lived to be a thousand years old; and if Moses could look upon every particle, and behold the whole all at once, he must have had the capacity of looking in all directions in the same moment, and of beholding it by the Spirit. Here was a language by which he conversed with nature; with the works of God; and the Spirit that is in connexion with the works of God—that is in all creation—conversed with Moses, for the Spirit of God is in all things, around about all things, through all things, and the law by which all things are governed. When that Spirit, which is thus diffused through all the materials of nature, undertakes to converse with the minds of men, it converses in a different kind of language from that we use in our imperfect state. It communicates ideas more rapidly—more fully, and unfolds a world of knowledge in a moment. But the Lord told Moses that a man in the flesh could not see all His glory, without seeing all His works; and that no man could behold all His works and afterwards remain in the flesh. Though the Spirit opened the mind of Moses, so that he could converse, as it were, with this one world, and discern every particle of it, and understand all about it; yet there was a stopping point; he was not permitted to gaze upon the particles of the moon, the sun, the planets, and fixed stars, and of the other worlds which God had made, only so far as God thought fit to open his mind to gaze upon His works; but the same Spirit is in the sun, and is the power thereof by which it is governed; the same Spirit is in the moon, and is the power thereof by which it was made; the same Spirit is also in the planets, and fixed stars, and it is the power thereof by which they are governed. I say the same Spirit, existing in all these worlds, could converse with the mind of man, as it conversed with Moses, and unfold their particles, and all things connected with them with the same ease as it unfolded, the particles of this earth.

So you see that there is a language in the spirit world that can communicate more to the mind in one minute than could be learned here in a hundred years of intense study and reasoning. There is an eternity of knowledge. There are worlds, as it were, without number; kingdoms without number; personages without number; intellectual beings of all grades and orders without number; and all these have their laws, their governments, their kingdoms, their thrones, their principalities, their powers, all moving and acting in the sphere in which they are placed; and they all have their way of communication one with another; therefore, when the Apostle says, that tongues shall cease, he had reference to the imperfect tongues upon the earth; knowledge will not cease, but knowledge in part will be done away, not knowledge in full. Says the Apostle Paul, “We know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” These imperfect things will be done away, and we shall be able by the power of the Holy Ghost to obtain a language by which the angels speak, and by which a higher order of beings speak, and by these means attain to a greater degree of knowledge, that will produce a greater amount of happiness.

What is the body compared with the mind? Just nothing at all comparatively speaking. Hence the Savior says, in one of the new revelations, “Care not for the body, nor for the life of the body, but care for the soul, and the life of the soul.” Again, the Savior says to his Apostles, Why take ye thought for raiment, what ye shall eat, what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” The body is of but little worth compared with that being which dwells within the body, it is not a perceptive being; if it is, we have not learned it; the body is not capable of feeling pain; if it is, we have never learned it; it is the spirit then that receives joy, happiness, and, pleasure, that rejoices, fears, and hopes; it is the spirit, then, that possesses all these feelings and sensations of joy; happiness, pain, or misery. And when we speak about the dissolution, and death of the body, it is only the crumbling back of these coarser materials of earth, but the intellectual being lives, and will enjoy happiness to a greater extent. It is only our transition state, as it were, like some worms that creep out of their shells in the form of a butterfly; instead of crawling around like a snail, they burst their shells, they take the wings of the morning, and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth; not only their sphere of knowledge is extended, but their power of locomotion; so it will be when we burst these mortal shells; it is not death in one sense of the word, but it is only getting out of the prison we got by the fall. If Adam had not fallen, we should not have come here; but having come here, and these mortal tabernacles having produced pain and distress upon the spirit, we look forward to the joyful time, when we shall burst them, and our sphere of action become more enlarged, and our locomotive powers become greatly increased.

Only look at the sluggishness of man in the mortal tabernacle, and then compare it with those swift messengers sent from the eternal worlds to administer to all the creations of the Almighty; they are sent from world to world; they do not have to travel as we do, taking three months to get a thousand miles across the plains, but they mount up as with wings of eagles, they run and are not weary as we are, they walk and are not faint. I do not know whether they get fagued or not in that world; but it seems that we, who have come into this world, are in conditions and circumstances wherein we need to replenish the mortal tabernacle; we need refreshment, and have to lie down and sleep that the body may be refreshed. Give me that state where the active faculties of man—where the intellectual powers will never become weary, when they will be like God who rules the universe, whose eye is ever upon the works of His hands; every moment discerning the intents and thoughts of our hearts, and who governs creation with His power. Let us look forward to that state of more advanced happiness when this mortal shell shall be laid off; and when we, in the spiritual state, shall be enabled to enjoy those enlarged powers of locomotion which we have reason to expect.

How much do we expect? That we may fly swiftly to other worlds on missions. We would not want to occupy three months time, in going from the earth to the moon, or from the earth to the sun, as we do in crossing these plains with ox teams, but we wish to go with greater velocity. If we go with the velocity of light, we should travel at the rate of one hundred and ninety-two thousand miles every second. There are substances in nature which are moving with this velocity. What is it that moves with this velocity? Is it any thing else but spirit? The light we see is spirit. What does the Lord say in one of the new revelations? “Ye shall live by every word that cometh out of the mouth of God; whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is spirit,” consequently the light that comes from the sun is spirit. How fast does that spirit travel? It can be demonstrated that it can travel one hundred and ninety-two thousand miles per second; if then one portion of spirit can travel with that velocity, it is natural for us to suppose that any other portions of spirit can travel with the same velocity, and thus we shall be able to accomplish, and perform a greater amount of righteousness among other worlds and beings, than if we were compelled to lose three fourths, or nine tenths of our time on the journey.

Let us look forward to a different, state of being from what we are now in; it will be different in some respects, and in other respects it will be the same. We shall be there, and fully conscious of our having been here, and remember all our actions; this is clearly taught in the Book of Mormon. The wicked will remember all their wicked actions; their memory will be perfect there, and every act of their lives here will be imprinted on the tablets of the memory. Here we can remember but few things; almost all the knowledge we have at one time, at another is gone from the tablet of our memory; but still it is there, and it will come out, like the daguerreotype likeness; that which appears to be erased from the mind will stand forth in bold relief and we shall read it, and be conscious that we were the beings that did so and so in this life. The righteous will remember all their acts, and it will produce a pleasant sensation upon their minds; we treated upon the subject of memory last Sabbath.

May the Lord bless us, and may His Spirit be continually poured out upon us, and may it inspire our hearts with truth, and with a desire to work righteousness all the day long. And do not forget to look forward to those joys ahead, if we do, we will become careless, dormant, and sluggish, and we will think we do not see much ahead to be anticipated, but if we keep our minds upon the prize that lays ahead—upon the vast fields of knowledge to be poured out upon the righteous, and the glories that are to be revealed, and the heavenly things in the future state, we shall be continually upon the alert; we are beings that are only to live here for a moment, as it were. Let these things sink down in our minds continually, and they will make us joyful, and careful to do unto our neighbors as we would they should do unto us. Lest we should come short of some of these things is the reason I have touched upon the future state of man the two Sabbaths past, to stir up the pure minds of the Saints that we may prepare for the things that are not far ahead, and let all the actions of our lives have a bearing in relation to the future. May the Lord bless us for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Education, etc.

Heber C. Kimball

A discourse by President H. C. Kimball, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 19, 1854.

During the past winter I have spoken but seldom in this tabernacle; for I have been engaged in teaching in other places.

Were the false traditions of past and present generations thrown off entirely, it would be much to the advantage of this people, and of the human family. Jesus Christ could not teach his disciples as freely, and as publicly as he otherwise would, had he not been bound from the same cause.

There are many who think that because they are unlearned, they have not the same amount of tradition as those who are learned; but there is not much difference between the two classes in this respect. The inhabitants of the whole earth are coated over, as it were, with false traditions; which form an almost impenetrable barrier to the shafts of truth.

I am not what the world calls a learned man; neither is President Young. We never went to any college except the one sustained by the Latter-day Saints, and we have been in that from the beginning. Let me tell you, gentlemen and ladies, if we had been brought up in palaces, and been sent to school all the days of our lives to get all the education of the world, and were practical men only in these things, would we be of any advantage to this people? A man may pass through a course of education designed to fit him for a doctor, a minister, or a lawyer, and it is often the case that he comes out an ignoramus, or worse than useless member of society.

President Young and I were born of poor, but honest and industrious parents, in the State of Vermont, when it was new; and we have been in new regions of country from that day to the present time, except when we were in the British Isles preaching the Gospel of salvation to a perishing world. We have cleared and subdued the land at various points from Vermont to this place, so that we have had no opportunity for becoming what the world calls educated. But if it were possible for me to exchange my information for that of the most learned man upon the earth, I would not do it; it would be like exchanging a good substantial warm suit of clothing for a mess of filthy rags.

He has not my experience; it cannot be purchased with money, nor can men by all their learning attain to it. Although I have not education of a worldly nature, I have a spirit in me that knows right from wrong. What is true education, and what is not? There is quite a difference between the true education that all men should have, and that which pertains merely to this life, though when coupled together they are both good.

When the flowers begin to bloom on the mountain sides, the ladies try to imitate them with artificial ones. Which would you rather possess in education—the real flower, or the artificial one? Would you not rather have true education, direct from heaven, than the artificial one of the world? The one educates the head and the heart, the other the head alone.

The circumstances I have named rendered it impossible for me to obtain the education of this world; yet the education we have received from God has qualified me and my brethren to instruct kings and rulers, and bring to nought the wisdom of their wise men.

I do not wish you to understand from these remarks that you may, with propriety, relax your endeavors to educate your children when you have an opportunity. I should have educated my children; but I have been poor and penniless. Instead of helping my children who have now come to maturity, they have been required to help me obtain an honest subsistence. This would not have been the case could I have retained my possessions; but no sooner had I accumulated a little property than it was taken from me by legalized mobs, and neither me nor my brethren could obtain redress.

Query—Which is the most profitable at present to this people, and to the rising generation—President Young and Heber C. Kimball, or their children? You will all say, let us have the fathers instead of the children, for the time being. Some would say, put the children to school, and let the old men work until they are dead! dead!! dead!!! I say let the boys help the father, and let the father and the mother live as long as they can; and let the daughters also do their part, for life is as sweet to the parents as to the children. Life is just as sweet to me now as ever it was; but the world has lost its sweetness to me.

A person asked me this morning how it was that the enjoyments of this world, in which he used to take great pleasure, had sunk so much in his estimation? He said the theatrical performances and other amusements, used to give him much satisfaction and comfort. Then the real and substantial pleasure and happiness which he now enjoys in heavenly realities, was not in his possession; he therefore took comfort in artificials; but when the real rose, blushing in the midst of its own heavenly perfume, attracted his notice, the gum flowers lost their charms.

When “Mormonism” absorbs the whole soul, it yields such a rich feast to the passenger, that earthly enjoyments become insipid and valueless. I have attended theatrical performances from which good morals can be gleaned; I have also engaged in the dance which is good exercise to the body; but when compared with the eternal realities of our holy religion, these enjoyments are in comparison like chaff to the sterling wheat; the one contains the essentials of life, the other is comparatively valueless. When I go to a dance, it is to please my brethren and my family; at the same time thinking I may perhaps get the spirit of dancing; and when I do I improve it, and engage in it, as in “Mormonism,” with all my heart, mind and strength.

I care not what I do if I do not do wrong, so that it comforts myself, my family, or my brethren. But anything that is wrong—anything that violates the holy principles of chastity, virtue, and holiness, I say away with it, and let me be associated with principles of righteousness, and you who want it may take the whole budget of the world and its fleeting pleasures; only let me have the pure unalloyed metal; and all who desire it are freely welcome to the dross.

This people, taking them as a community, I believe would exchange many errors for one truth, and one truth is worth all the errors in existence. Yea further—one principle of truth and righteousness is worth the accumulated wealth of all the world, with all its pomp, titles, and tinseled show. The dross which is separated from iron ore is of no great value, but the metal is of worth to make iron and steel which can be converted into utensils for the use of man, such as plows, shears, spades, shovels, &c. Gold is valuable as a circulating medium because of its scarcity compared with other metals; otherwise it has no particular value more than any other portion of the globe, only in administering to the necessities of man.

So far as we are concerned, we were taken from the earth, and we may expect to return to it again; and that portion of me which is pure, after the dross of this mortality is separated from it, I expect will be brother Heber. It is that which will be resurrected; but all that is not pure will remain; that is it will not go back into my body again; and if there are ten parts out of the hundred which are dross and corruption they will remain in the earth; I do not expect to take that up again, but I expect to take up the purified element that will endure for ever; still the dross is beneficial in its place.

I expect that will be the case with brother Willard Richards. He has gone; and it will not be long before brother Brigham and Heber follow after. He has gone to the world of spirits to engage in a work he could not do if he had remained in the flesh. I do not believe he could have done as much work for the general good of the cause of God, had he remained in the flesh, as he can accomplish now in the spirit; for there is a work to do there—the Gospel to preach, Israel to gather that they may purify themselves, and become united in one heart and mind.

“What! in the spirit world?” Have I not told you often that the separation of body and spirit makes no difference in the moral and intellectual condition of the spirit? When a person, who has always been good and faithful to his God, lays down his body in the dust, his spirit will remain the same in the spirit world. It is not the body that has control over the spirit, as to its disposition, but it is the spirit that controls the body. When the spirit leaves the body the body becomes lifeless. The spirit has not changed one single particle of itself by leaving the body. Were I to fall into a mud-hole I should strive to extricate myself; but I do not suppose I should be any better, any more righteous, any more just and holy when I got out of it, than while I was in it.

Our spirits are entangled in these bodies—held captive as it were for a season. They are like the poor Saints, who are for a time obliged to dwell in miserable mud shanties that are mouldering away, and require, much patching and care to keep them from mingling with mother earth before the time. They feel miserable in these old decaying tabernacles, and long for the day when they can leave them to fall and take possession of a good new house.

It seems natural for me to desire to be clothed upon with immortality and eternal life, and leave this mortal flesh; but I desire to stick to it as long as I can be a comfort to my sisters, brethren, wives, and children. Independent of this consideration I would not turn my hand over to live twenty-five minutes. What else could give birth to a single desire to live in this tabernacle, which is more or less shattered by the merciless storms which have beat upon it, to say nothing of the ravages made upon it by the tooth of time? While I cling to it I must of necessity suffer many pains, rheumatism, head ache, jaw ache, and heart ache; sometimes in one part of my body and sometimes in another. It is all right; it is so ordained that we may not cling with too great a tenacity to mortal flesh; but be willing to pass through the vail and meet with Joseph and Hyrum and Willard and Bishop Whitney, and thousands of others in the world of spirits.

Are they all together as we are today? I believe all Israel have to be gathered; and to accomplish this the Elders, both in this and the world of spirits, will go forth to preach to the spirits in prison. Where? Down into hell. I appeal to the Elders who have been from this place to preach the Gospel to the world, if it was not like going from heaven to hell. It is a world of sorrow, pain, death and misery, and you cannot make anything else of it.

Brethren and sisters, I intend to be a Saint in heart and life; but if I conducted myself as many do, with the knowledge I have, I will tell you what I would do, and what I would advise you to do in such a case—leave these valleys. If you do not intend to be faithful, to do the will of God, and to keep His commandments, if I were in that situation I would at once withdraw. There are some few who are leaving, and I am heartily glad of it. If it was a member of my own house, whom I loved as I do my life, I do not believe my head would ache because such an one left the society of the Saints on account of having no inclination to mingle with them. If such were determined to go, I would say, GO; and I would help them off if they were unable to get away.

I do not feel as I used to when I see a man going away from the society of the Church of God. I used to be filled with sympathy and plead with them hours and hours, importuning with them until my head would ache and my heart sicken; and I never had the satisfaction in even converting one such character in my life. If I should happen to get one converted he would not stay converted, so I have concluded, and I think wisely, to let them go, and not suffer myself to have any more feelings about it than I would about any of the common occurrences of life.

What are my kindred to me when the counsel of God is in the opposite scale? They are only as the dust of the balance. Brother Brigham is my kindred, for we have become kindred spirits; what I say of him will apply to many more of my brethren. When you hit one of those men you hit the whole of them.

You have often heard me speak about my kindred. Many wish to return to the old countries to bring out their kindred, their sons and their daughters, their fathers and their mothers. Why would I not go back for mine? Because they would abuse me as they always have. When I was poor and penniless, and so thinly clad that you might well say I had the blues, for my face and body looked blue, I went to my friends who are all independently rich, and said, I am poor and penniless, and naked, and I am sent forth as a servant of God to the nations of the earth—will you give me some clothing, or a little money? and not one soul of them would help me to a single dime.

Do you suppose I shall run after them? No. Will they be saved? Yes, they will, but they will be saved as I have told you many of this people will; they will first go to hell and remain there until the corruption with which they are impregnated is burnt out; and the day will yet come when they will come to me and acknowledge me as their savior, and I will redeem them and bring them forth from hell to where I live and make them my servants; and they will be quite willing to enter into my service.

Before we heard “Mormonism,” we have said a thousand times, “if we could but live to see a man of God like Paul, or Peter, James, John, Timothy, or Jesus Christ, and hear their instructions we would be willing to suffer any kind or amount of human suffering and not complain.” My friends, who have rejected me and my testimony, will yet feel so towards me.

Who have you now in your midst? Have you Abraham and Isaac, and the Apostles Peter, James and John? Yes, you have them right in your midst—they are talking to you all the time. Do you believe it? More or less of you say you do. But do you know it? Brother Rhoads was saying what he believed; he says he “believes what brother Brigham says is the word of God.” I say, pray that you may have a knowledge that it is the word of God, and be able to declare it in the stand, in your families, and in all the world. What brother Rhoads said was good and true. Did he not teach us good principles? Yes; he taught us the revelations of Jesus Christ. I did not hear anything else.

I beg of you brethren, and beseech you in the name of Jesus Christ, to be subject in your office and in your callings. I know you do not realize your important position as you ought.

Some of you will be asking brother Kimball why he does not talk here as he does up in the Council House? There are very many of this people who have come here to-day, and perhaps you have said, what is very commonly said in the world, “Come, wife, let us go to meeting to day and get warmed up under the droppings of the sanctuary, and become strengthened in our faith.” Why did you not attend to that before you came here to-day? I defy any man on earth to preach the same to you, as to a few individuals of one heart, and of one mind.

There is as great a variety of spirits in this house as there is of countenances; and there are no two persons who look exactly alike. Is it not high time there should be a reformation? We must become of one heart and of one mind, just as though we were one man. Before this people can enter into the celestial world there must be a great reformation among them. Every man and woman must know and faithfully fulfil their duty day by day. Do you think I am disobedient to my file leaders? I never had such a disposition in my heart; if I had I would banish it from me as quick as I would the devil, because such a disposition is pernicious to the interests of the cause of truth, and will end in the destruction of those who encourage it.

Brethren and sisters, I want you to understand these things and cultivate them in your minds, and pray that you may be subject in the sphere in which you are appointed to act, whether in the Priesthood or in a family capacity. You have to learn that lesson, or you can never go into the paradise of God to mingle as equals with those who are counted faithful.

There is no man in the flesh whose right it is to direct or control brother Brigham Young in the first thing. If I have not a right to lead and control him, I want to know who has? It is my meat and my drink to do the will of my Father who is in heaven; and if I do this to the day of my death as brother Willard did, I am as sure of salvation as you are that the sun will rise and set again.

Is brother Willard saved? Yes, he is where Joseph is; and I tell you there was a happy meeting. Was brother Willard obedient? Yes, just as obedient as a well-trained child. He has not got a wife or a child on earth as obedient as he was. And God knows there never was a being on the face of His footstool, that could be any more kind to me than brother Willard and brother Brigham. Were they ever cross and snappish with me? Never, no, never.

There was another trait in his character that will serve to illustrate the profound deference he paid to the man he acknowledged to be his leader. When on visits with brother Brigham and myself, or when he would accompany us to a ball room or to a meeting, he never would enter the room before his leader. I have tried a dozen times to have him do so, but I always failed in accomplishing it. He had so cultivated the spirit of obedience and submission, that it seemed to be incorporated with his being.

I tell you these things to answer as as a kind of spur to encourage you to more diligence, and greater obedience to the commandments of God, that you may live forever.

There is nothing I fear in this Church except contention, and a disposition in the people to run over their fellow beings. What I mean by this is, when a man is appointed by the proper authorities to preside over one of the outposts of the Kingdom of God, in this Territory or anywhere else, there is a disposition in some to create an influence against that man, not to be obedient themselves, and to endeavour to make everybody else disobedient. Now a man will be condemned for not obeying the person properly appointed to preside over him, as much as he would for not obeying brother Brigham if he were there; and the people will be as much condemned if they do not obey brother Brigham, as they would if they should disobey the Lord God were He here in person.

When we sent brother Samuel Richards to England to preside over the affairs of the Kingdom of God there, it became his province to rule and dictate all matters in that flourishing and extensive field of labor, and his word is the word of God to the people. When he sends a man to preside over a Conference, and another over another Conference, they are his representatives, and their word is the word of God to the people over whom they preside; and brother Samuel is their delegate to the General Conference, the same as brother Bernhisel is the delegate of this Territorial Government to the General Assembly in Washington.

I wish you to learn these things, for I wish you to prepare your minds to receive the word of God every day that you live; and not only live like Saints when you are in this Tabernacle, but when you are abroad, and in all your actions. Can you be saved with a complete salvation if you do not do this? No, you cannot. No man or woman can receive a full salvation upon any other principle than by continuing in the new and Everlasting Covenant. When a person violates his covenant he loses all he ever obtained in the Priesthood; whether it is wives, children, or possessions; they all go out of his hands. You have been taught this, and have been instructed by night and by day in these important matters. I have felt of late as though I never could cease exhorting the people. I have felt like a lion in strength.

I want you to pursue the path that is marked out for you by the servants of God, that I may continue to enjoy your society here and hereafter. I wish to enjoy your society, and you mine. Do you not wish to go where I go? You all believe I wish to enter into the kingdom of heaven and be saved with the sanctified.

I care not how the Lord saves me. I am willing to pass through anything under the heavens that He requires me to pass through, that I may do His will and keep His commandments, and have favor in His eyes, through accomplishing the, work He has given me to do.

What does it matter where I am? I am as ready to go and preach the Gospel as to dwell here, if it is the will of the Lord and my brethren. I have told the men who are about to be sent forth this year, that they will go with more power and strength than any former laborers in the vineyard have enjoyed. This applies to those who do right and diligently keep the commandments of God, and love justice and righteousness and do as they are told, refraining from evil. I say they will have more power than former servants of God possessed according to their light and knowledge, and the circumstances in which they will be placed. I prophesy this. A man is a fool that will not prophesy good concerning Israel and concerning his own father’s house.

I told my brethren when they went from here, and from this time, instead of going to dances, and to the theatre, and to parties, to go and fast and pray, and prophesy upon the success of their mission.

If your heart is right you cannot speak without speaking what is right. The Spirit of Prophecy foresees future events. God does not bring to pass a thing because you say it shall be so, but because He designed it should be so, and it is the future purposes of the Almighty that the Prophet foresees. That is the way I prophesy; but I have predicted things I did not foresee, and did not believe anybody else did, but I have said it, and it came to pass even more abundantly than I predicted; and that was with regard to the future situation of the people who first came into this valley. Nearly every man was dressed in skins, and we were all poor; destitute, and distressed, yet we all felt well. I said, “it will be but a little while, brethren, before you shall have food and raiment in abundance, and shall buy it cheaper than can be bought in the cities of the United States.” I did not know there were any Gentiles coming here, I never thought of such a thing; but after I spoke it I thought I must be mistaken this time. Brother Rich remarked at the time, “I do not believe a word of it.” And neither did I; but, to the astonishment and joy of the Saints, it came to pass just as I had spoken it, only more abundantly. The Lord led me right but I did not know it.

I have heard Joseph say many times, that he was much tempted about the revelations the Lord gave through him—it seemed to be so impossible for them to be fulfilled. I do not profess to be a Prophet; but I know that every man and woman can be, if they live for it. To enjoy this blessing they must walk in the channel of the Priesthood, being subject to the order and government of heaven; then they are all revelation and they cannot predict anything that will not come to pass. All that hinders you from enjoying this blessing is because you are not obedient.

You might say, “Do we not do all things that brother Brigham counsels us to do?” No; if you did every wife would be subject to her own husband, and every Elder to their presiding Elder, and every member to the presiding Bishop. If you do not do this you are not walking in the channel of the Priesthood, in the channel of revelation and salvation; and you will stumble and fall if you do not wake to righteousness and gird up the loins of your minds.

Have not the majority of this congregation made the most solemn covenants and vows that they will listen to, obey, and be subject to the Priesthood? Have not the sisters made the same solemn covenants and vows before God and angels, that they would be subject to their husbands? Are you faithful to your vows? If you are, you will have dreams, and visions, and revelations from the world of light, and you will be comforted by night and by day. But if you do not fulfil your covenants you cannot enjoy these blessings.

The matter is plain to your understanding, and not mysterious. I have no mysteries to impart, and I never expect to have; for if this people will do right there is nothing that will be a mystery to them; but those things which appeared the most mysterious will prove to be the most simple things in the world.

Learn to govern yourselves in a family capacity, for there is where reformation ought to commence, after it has commenced in the assembly of the Elders of Israel. There must be order, peace, love, kindness, gentleness, and every noble sentiment to accomplish a reformation that is pleasing to God.

We have got to be gathered, and continue gathered, though there will be all kinds of fish in the net; and the Lord will bring us into all kinds of circumstances until the wheat is separated from the smut, and chaff. There is a time of separation, and I know if I am faithful I shall be among the chosen band who will triumph over hell, death, and the grave, and dwell in the society of men who are perfectly of one heart and mind, where the wicked cease to trouble, unless we go where they are. This day will come as sure as the sun shines.

As for my going into the immediate presence of God when I die, I do not expect it, but I expect to go into the world of spirits and associate with my brethren, and preach the Gospel in the spiritual world, and prepare myself in every necessary way to receive my body again, and then enter through the wall into the celestial world I never shall come into the presence of my Father and God until I have received my resurrected body, neither will any other person; and I doubt whether all those who profess to be Saints will ever be gathered with the spirits of the just in the spiritual world; but they will be left where they attain to. The righteous are gathered to the spirit world to prepare for the resurrection of their bodies.

I do not know that I can talk any plainer. I am speaking as plain as I can to have you understand. I do not expect to be with you forever, neither will brother Brigham in these bodies; they are nearly worn out; they have stood a long and violent siege and will soon go the way of all the earth. Still we may live many years yet to assist in making permanent the foundations of Zion. There are thousands of good men in the earth who can act in the same capacity we do, after we have passed through the veil of death. God can qualify whom He pleases, and put in in them the spirit of Joseph, and Brigham, and Heber.

Brethren, do keep the commandments of God and live your profession; and remember if you were as godly and as holy as the angels, the world would speak against you and seek your destruction. What has the world to do with you? Nothing, only as you associate with it and partake of its spirit. Upon the same principle has a man any power over a woman, any further than she will give him power to pollute herself and him too? Can the Gentiles turn me to unrighteousness any further than I permit them? I am an instrument in the hands of God, and it is not for me to dictate the power that works through me, but it is for Him to control me according to His good, pleasure.

Does brother James’ violin rise up and dictate him? No, it is perfectly passive, permitting him to play any tune he pleases upon it. Upon the same principle we should be like clay in the hands of the potter. It is not for the clay to dictate the potter but the potter dictates the clay, and moulds, and fashions it according to his own pleasure. Just so God controls brother Brigham, and every other good man who is dictated by His Spirit.

Do you ever hear me get up here and say, “I am no preacher and you must not expect anything from me?” I am in the hands of God, and it is for Him to speak through me, or in other words play a tune on me to this people according to His own fancy. I am in the hands of the potter; and if I continue faithful, he will make me a vessel unto honor.

I wish you Elders to apply this illustration to yourselves—if you have anything to say, say it; and if you have not, be as quiet as the musical instrument without the performer.

When I went to England first, I had not much to say. We opened the door to that nation in great simplicity. Had I preached almighty discourses with more words than good sound doctrine, instead of opening the doors, I should have added another lock. The Lord appointed me to that work because I was willing to be the simplest.

After I had spoken they always thought there was something else behind the curtain. We preached three times in Vauxhall Road chapel, Preston. After the third meeting the priest feared the increasing greatness of our testimony and closed the door of his house against us. This was no sooner done than fifty doors were opened to us, and the people were all around us entreating us to preach in their houses.

If you will visit a stone quarry, you will find they use the simplest instruments to crack and remove the largest rocks; so the Lord uses the simplest of His servants to accomplish some of His greatest purposes. When the blacksmith is making a horse-shoe, does it dictate its maker who is making it and fashioning it to a useful purpose? Does the plowshare, the scythe, the ax, or the chisel rise up and dictate the mechanic, saying, “Why do you not form me thus?” Some of these tools have to pass through various shades of temper—sometimes too low, and sometimes too high, before it is just right; and it requires an expert mechanic to hit the proper temper, for they are made to come in contact with all kinds of timber. So we are tools made to come in contact with all kinds of dispositions, and very few tools will stand and keep a good edge coming in contact with every kind of timber, and stone, and the devil.

If you do not learn to temper yourselves properly, you will not be of much use at last.

I speak of these things whether they are edifying or not; as to that I am not concerned, but they are true, and they will save and exalt you, and bring you into the celestial world to mingle in the society of the Father, and Jesus Christ His Son, with the Prophets and Apostles from the beginning to the present day. I am bound for no other place, God helping me. Salvation is what I am after in this world; and food, clothing, and washing are all I need while I stay here, and that is more than I can take away with me.

I have no pride in anything but the principles of salvation, and to see you do right, humble yourselves, retain the Holy Spirit, live your religion—then I am proud of you indeed. My God, His purposes, my religion, and this people, are all I am fond of in this world.

Our religion is different from everything else that was ever instituted, but when you become acquainted with it and partake of its spirit, it is lively and angelic; it is a screen that throws out everything but that which is pure wheat. When we make flour from smutty wheat, we must have a smut machine to clear it all of filth before it goes into the bolt. The smut machine is a powerful place; it will blow to pieces every thing that is not the real grain. Thank God He has got such a machine, and men to enjoy His Holy Spirit.

My prayer is before God and angels, by day and by night, that He would purge this people and purify them from wicked men and women; and I hope the purging operation will continue until there is an entire separation of the wheat and the chaff. There will be a separation, and I tell you what I know, and not what I believe only. I know the truth when I speak it, and so do you when you hear it. It makes no matter what instrument it comes through, it is truth still, and you cannot make anything else of it.

God bless you forever, that peace, goodness, union, love, and the spirit of patience and submission before God, and in the hands of His servants, may abide with you forever. AMEN.

Necessity of Home Missions, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse, by President B. Young, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 8, 1855.

There are many things I wish to say before this Conference comes to a close, but I labour under the same difficulty as did one of the speakers yesterday, for I would like to touch upon so many subjects that I am at a loss to know where to begin.

And when this Conference is over, I presume that I shall think of many things omitted, which it would have pleased me to talk about. When a great number of people are together it affords an excellent opportunity for teaching them the principles of practical religion.

Our Conference has been well attended; there has been the greatest number of Saints assembled that I have ever seen at one time, and they will out number any meeting that the Latter-day Saints have had on this continent, or on any other. I doubt not but this is the largest congregation of Saints that has ever been assembled at one time and place on the face of the whole earth, since the days of the Jews in Jerusalem, or of the Nephites on this continent while they were in their glory and strength.

When all the male members of Israel were obliged to go up to Jerusalem twice a year to worship, pay tribute, &c., probably their congregations were larger than the one to day, but no other denomination in all christendom assembles so many people, at one meeting, as we now have in this Conference.

I can here teach a great many at once their duty to their God, to themselves, to their families, and to their neighbours, if you could spare the time to listen.

As I have observed to my brethren, and as I will now observe to you, neither in China, Siam, nor in any other country in Asia, nor in any part of Europe and Africa, nor in any other place on God’s earth, is there a people who now need preaching to more than do the Latter-day Saints in this Territory, and that too by faithful Elders, faithful ministers of the Gospel, messengers of life and salvation.

The inhabitants of this Territory have been taught the ways of life, they have been taught the principles of the Everlasting Gospel and have received them; they have forsaken their former homes, the countries in which they were born, their friends and family connexions, for the Gospel’s sake; they are here in the midst of these mountains, and many of them will be damned, unless they awake out of their sleep, unless they refrain from their evil ways. Many are stupid, careless, and unconcerned, their eyes are like the fool’s eye, to the ends of the earth, searching for this, that, and the other, they have become greedy, are slow to fulfil their duty, are off their watch, neglect their prayers, forget their covenants and forsake their God, and the devil has power over them.

It is of necessity then that we appoint missionaries for this Territory, to preach to them the word of God which is quick and powerful. Some people say that they believe the Gospel who never live it, they did not embrace it for the love of it, but because they knew its truth. They will not give up their carnal, selfish, devilish dispositions and traits of character, and if you undertake to choke them off from these dispositions you will have to choke them to death before they will let them go; they will hang on to their evil feelings and evil deeds with greater tenacity than does the terrier dog to his prey, or antagonist; it is almost impossible to separate them from evil.

As for making Saints of those characters, we have no such anticipation; we wish to make Saints of those who sincerely desire to be Saints, who are willing to sacrifice their carnal, sinful, devilish feelings, to forsake them altogether, and to strive to become Saints and to establish the principles of honesty within them; we expect that such persons will be Saints, and we feel like doing all that we can to aid them in a righteous course.

As I observed at the commencement of our Conference, people must be chastened; we believe in this principle. We receive as correct doctrine what is said to have been written by one of the ancient Apostles, (why I make this peculiar remark is because this congregation heard brother O. Pratt scan the validity of the Bible, and I thought by the time he got through, that you would scarcely think a Bible worth picking up and carrying home, should you find one in the streets) viz.; For the Lord loveth whom he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, and if you are not chastened you are “bastards, and not sons.”

I am quite inclined to believe this, and I do not care how many hands it has passed through. I will remark that brother Orson has clearly shown how the Bible has come into our hands, in order to convince the people of the necessity of positive proof for the validity of the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God, and to prove that our testimony, witnesses, evidence and knowledge of these facts are ten thousand times more than can be produced in favor of the Bible, unless a man has the power of God to testify to it, for there can be no proof in its favor short of revelation.

This we have known all the time, we have understood it from the beginning. That made us very anxious, in the days of Joseph, to get the new translation; but the Bible is good enough just as it is, it will answer my purpose, and it used to answer it very well when I was preaching in the world.

When brother Luddington was telling about the elephant walking through the cane, it made me think of our Elders going through the world, in past days, with the proclamation of the Gospel. They could take a host of priests, in fair argument, and pull them up by the roots and throw them aside, as easy as that elephant did the cane.

The Bible is good enough as it is, to point out the way we should walk, and to teach us how to come to the Lord of whom we can receive for ourselves.

It is good for this people to be chastened, and we may expect it, and I delight in the feelings and spirit just manifested by brother Luddington in his remarks, there was no crying, no whining upon his mission: if they expelled him from one house he went; to another without crying or whining about it.

All that we have received as chastisement is from the hand of the Lord, and I do not consider that it has been necessary to shed one tear about it. It always takes something besides chastisement, or afflictions heaped upon us by our enemies, to bring tears from me. I can cry for joy, I can cry on beholding my friends after being separated from them.

The soft, loving, still, small voice of the Spirit will bring tears to my eyes, but all the sufferings that could be brought upon me by the malice of the wicked, and all that could be said or done against me by them, I think will not bring many tears from my eyes.

They might torture my body until it would cry, but all that we have hitherto met with, in the shape of affliction, I have received as from the hand of the Lord, and I think the chastisement has been light.

Let us reform, that we may be chastened no more; let us try to profit by the blessing we receive, instead of being made to profit by the things we suffer, for afflictions we shall be obliged to receive, if we do not profit by our blessings.

If we are chastened a little, do not worry about it. We think we are chastened, this season, in the failing of our crops, but I receive this as one of the greatest blessings that could be bestowed upon us.

I have felt like weeping, since I have been in this Territory, on beholding the ungrateful feelings of many of this people, their ingratitude towards their God, and at seeing them trample grain under their feet as a thing of naught.

Now I think what we have received this season is but a small portion of what we will receive, if we do not take care of the things the Lord bestows upon us, and be thankful for them. I look upon it as a prelude, forerunner, or testifier, that afflictions will come upon us, unless we humble ourselves before our God.

This, however, is but a very slight affliction. We have plenty here, no person is going to starve, or suffer, if there is an equal distribution of the necessaries of life which are in the country.

There are practices among this people which have injured my feelings. I see some men so greedy after the things of the world, that they will take their grain from the mouths of innocent, helpless women and children who are suffering for food, and sell it to gentile merchants to speculate upon. I have learned, since this Conference commenced, a circumstance that took place a year ago; it may appear trifling to some, but to me it is grievous. Some of the brethren from San Pete and Fillmore came here last year, when they had plenty of wheat, and sold their flour to C. A. & E. H. Perry, for three, four, and four and a half dollars per hundred weight, and that firm sold all they could to the poor women and children, and made them pay a very high price. Those brethren afterwards learned that I bought nearly the whole of it for four dollars a hundred, and that I paid in cattle at a good, liberal price, and some have felt grieved about it. Why are they grieved? Because they had not the means to buy it themselves to speculate upon.

They have not raised any wheat this year, and now they are whining after me, “Will you let us have a little tithing wheat?” They ask what I have to say to them; I have this to say to every man in this congregation and throughout this Territory, and from this time henceforth, know my feelings, if you will sell grain to the Gentiles, or to your enemies, for the sake of their money when it is needed to be distributed among this people, I wish you would take your property and leave this Territory, for you are not worthy of belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you are unworthy a citizenship in the kingdom of God. If those who are going to sell their grain to speculators this year will rise up and tell us who they are, I will hold up my hands for them to be forthwith severed from this Church, to be delivered over to the buffetings of satan.

Some who are unacquainted with me may say, “Brother Brigham, don’t you speculate?” Yes, I am the greatest speculator in the world, and one of the greatest misers, for I am seeking after eternal riches. “But, don’t you speculate on your flour? You have fine mills.” Ask those who recollect to a few years ago, when wheat was tramped under foot by man and beast. I then had a hired man who said he wanted to get a little money; I told him that I did not want to sell flour to the Gentiles in order to get it. He replied, “If you are willing, I would like to sell them a little, for they are from my country.” He did so, to the value of ninety-three dollars. I do not think that besides that amount, I have ever received fifty-cents in cash for flour sold from my mills, though I have had emigrants come, in a scarce time, and offer me fifty and seventy-five dollars for a hundred pounds. I said to them, you may plead until you are as gray as a rat, and you will not get flour from me for your money, but if you will stay and help us through harvest, and go to work like good men, we will pay you the same as we pay our brethren, and then you may go to California, or any where you please; but as to your getting one pound of flour from my bin for money, you cannot do it, and they never have so far as I recollect. It all goes to feed those men and women who work; those are the ones who eat my flour.

If I cannot get rich only upon the principle of oppressing my brethren, and depriving them of the comforts of life, I say, may God grant that I may never have another farthing upon earth. I do not want it upon such terms, and if I ever should, I hope the Lord will keep it from me.

I told you the other day what makes me rich, it is the labor of those whom I feed and clothe; still I do not feel that I have a dollar in the world that is my own, it is the Lord’s and he has made me a steward over it; and if I can know where the Lord is pleased to have it appropriated, there it shall go. The covetousness of some of this people has grieved me, and it has caused my spirit to weep and mourn to observe their greediness, their cheating and lying, their scheming in every possible way to wring a picayune out of this man, or that woman. I can put my finger upon owners of little shops in this city, who will lie to you for half an hour on a stretch, who will, if you send a child to their shops to buy a yard of ribbon that is worth ten cents, charge the child fifteen or twenty cents for it, but if I go to purchase the same article I can have it for ten cents. I know what goods are worth, but let an ignorant person go to those places and they will cheat him. I can put my hands upon traders now before me, who are guilty of such conduct.

It grieves me to see men who have believed the Gospel, forsaken the land of their nativity for the sake of life and salvation, endured all they have in coming here, and then, for a paltry sum of money, sacrifice their salvation. Such men cannot be saved in the celestial kingdom of God; they may receive their endowments, but they will do them no good; they may read over their Patriarchal blessings every day, but they will do them no good. No man or woman can receive life everlasting, only upon the principle of strict obedience to the requirements of the celestial law of heaven; no man can inherit such a blessing upon unholy principles.

Men must be honest, they must live faithfully before their God, and honor their calling and being on the earth. You ask if that is possible? Yes; the doctrine which we have embraced takes away the stony hearts.

We are naturally prone to wander from that which is good, and to receive every species of iniquity; we must get rid of this disposition, and the Gospel of salvation is expressly for the purpose of changing it, that we may receive the principles which prevail in heaven and are loved by the angels. It is possible for a man who loves the world to overcome that love, to get knowledge and understanding until he sees things as they really are, then he will not love the world but will see it as it is; he will see that it is in the hands of a Superior Being.

Man cannot control the heavens; he cannot control the earth, nor the elements; he can fertilize and prepare the ground for the reception of seed; he can plant, water, till, and reap from the ground the fruit of his toil, but, until his mind is opened by the Spirit of God, he cannot see that it is by a superior power that corn, wheat, and every kind of vegetation spring into life, and ripen for the sustenance of man and beast. Is it possible for him to arrive at this knowledge? It is, and that is what we have brought the doctrine of life and salvation to you for, that you may exchange your low, narrow, contracted, selfish dispositions for the ennobling Spirit of the Lord for the Spirit of the Gospel, which gives joy and peace. If you enjoy that, your food will be sweet to you, your sleep will be refreshing, and your days will pass away in usefulness.

On the contrary, those who are covetous and greedy, anxious to grasp the whole world, are all the time uneasy, and, are constantly laying their plans and contriving how to obtain this, that, and the other. Their minds are continually on the stretch to solve “How can I obtain this farm, or that house and lot? How can I manage to get such and such teams? I want to get my lumber and adobies to build me a house, how can I manage and not pay much for them? I will deceive every man who comes nigh me; I will make him believe that my property is worth more than it is; I will sell ribbons for double their value, and I will ask forty cents a dozen for glass buttons that are worth only twenty, and in this way I will build a house for eighteen hundred dollars that will be worth four thousand.”

Their minds are so intent on cheating their brethren that they cannot sleep soundly, their nerves twitch and they have the jerks in their sleep, thinking, “How shall I manage with this man to-morrow? I want enough out of him to get my adobies.” And they lie and think, and think, and contrive, and plan, and the devil helps them all the time to manage to cheat the Saints. If such men should get a few bushels of wheat, would they let the Saints have it? No, they would sell it to our enemies and feed them, and let the Saints starve.

Again, it is known to all that a great many of the poor are as bad as those who have property; they are all the time in a sweat to know how to get their living without procuring it honestly. They are just as covetous and craving in their feelings as are the rich who hoard up their means and keep it from the honest poor; they are all the time scheming to get along without labor. There are many who live in this city without labor; I have neighbors near me that I do not believe get one cord of wood in the year, only as they steal it, and you have neighbors near you who steal your wood. If you want to keep your wood from the hands of these pilferers, you will have to put it in your houses, and if you want to keep your chickens, you will have to lock them up. I have often told you that we have all kinds of fish in the Gospel net; we have all kinds of poor, but after all the Lord’s poor out number the poor devils.

A few sinners mixed in a community make the whole appear dishonest and odious to the honest portion of the human family, because they have not the power to properly discriminate between them. I have to labor under the same disadvantage that you do, and if I know any of the infernal scoundrels I dare not tell of them, or point them out, unless I have a mind to. There are a great many guilty persons whom I wish to say nothing about; they are liars and thieves, and I know it; but I do not wish to expose their names, in hopes that they will repent and refrain from their bad practices.

A likely man is a likely man, and a good man is a good man, whether in this Church or out of it; and a poor, miserable, sinful creature who gathers as a Saint, is worse than one who gathers as a Gentile, A person who is a thief, a liar, and a murderer in his heart, but professes to be a Saint, is more odious in the sight of God, angels and good men, than a person who comes out and openly declares that he is our enemy. I know how to take such a man, but a devil with a Saint’s cloak on is one of the meanest characters you can imagine. I say, blessings on the head of a wicked Gentile who is my avowed enemy, far sooner than upon an enemy cloaked with a Saint’s profession.

There is one more difficulty in the minds of this community with regard to Saints and sinners, and that is in relation to the channel of our public trade. In the days of Joseph, men would come to me, men who are now in this Church, and some of whom are in this congregation, and say, “Brother Brigham, what do you think? I went down to brother Joseph’s store, and I wanted to get a gallon of molasses, eight yards of calico, a little crockery, &c., and I could not have the articles without paying the money down. Do you think that is right?” I always had but one feeling with regard to such matters, since I have been a Latter-day Saint. My reply to such questions was, should he not be paid for his goods as well as anybody else? But the reply is, “I can go to the store of an enemy, of a man who does not profess to be a Saint, much less a Prophet, and he will trust me, though I hate to go there and run into debt.”

So he goes with his money to the enemy’s store and buys a dress pattern, a piece of factory, some tea, a set of cups and saucers, a dozen knives and forks, boots and shoes for his wives and children, and then turns round and says, “God bless you,” and “well done.” But of Joseph’s store it was, “God Almighty curse you, because you would not allow me to carry off your goods without pay for them.”

Hundreds of instances of this kind I have witnessed in this kingdom, and it is a great fault with many of this people. That is the reason why men who are not in the Church prosper and fatten on the wealth of this people, and the reason why I do not bring goods in sufficient quantities to supply this market. There is not a trader in this community who is paid better than are the Gentile merchants. I could bring plenty of goods into this city and Territory every year, were it not for this fact. I am going to keep this subject before the minds of the Latter-day Saints and pursue it, until such a practice is driven from their midst. Good men, who would give away their shoes and go barefoot, if they saw anybody else going barefoot, were tried because brother Joseph would not trust them.

Brother Woolley was also a mercantile target for our shots in Nauvoo; I say “our,” because I class myself with the Saints. The pious brethren, who were professedly so good, and loving sisters who went to brother Joseph’s store, and could not get trusted, would go to the Gentiles and get trusted and pay them, and think that they had a right to neglect paying Joseph, because he was a Prophet, I presume.

This community would do just so here, if I had a store of goods. They would come to my store and say, “Brother Brigham, I am poor and needy, my wife is feeble and needs a little tea and sugar, and a little medicine; I also want some crockery and a little clothing, can’t you fill the bill?” Yes, if you will pay me for it. “Of course, I will pay you for all I get.” How? “O, never question me about that, am I not good for five or ten dollar’s worth?” Yes, but when are you good, and how? You are good to that Gentile store where you have run into debt, for you will sell your last cow, pawn the dress pattern you got there for your wife, and the tea cups and saucers, to pay the money to that store keeper; but if you trade ten dollars or fifty dollars on credit at brother Joseph’s or brother Brigham’s store, what next? There is no more about it, that is the end of it.

I have known persons that would have cursed brother Joseph to the lowest hell hundreds of times, because he would not trust out everything he had on the face of the earth, and let the people squander it to the four winds. When he had let many of the brethren and sisters have goods on trust, he could not meet his liabilities, and then they would turn round and say, “What is the matter brother Joseph, why don’t you pay your debts?” “It is quite a curiosity that you don’t pay your debts; you must be a bad financier; you don’t know how to handle the things of this world.” At the same time the coats, pants, dresses, boots and shoes that they and their families were wearing came out of Joseph’s store, and were not paid for when they were cursing him for not paying his debts.

But that is nothing, “O,” say they, “it is all in the family. Why, yes, brother Joseph, I will pay you just as quick as I can.” The proof of this is with you, ye rich and poor Saints. I will ask the men who have helped the poor to this place from different countries, when they get a house, a horse, an ox, or a cow, and have accumulated the things of this world, do they often express themselves able to pay you? You will all say “no.” I will hardly make one exception in this congregation, or in this kingdom. There is a sister from Wales, the wife of brother Dan Jones, who has expended thousands of pounds to help the poor to this place, and they have cursed her all the day long, and she has now to labor hard for the support of herself and children.

Can we refer to other instances of this kind? We can. That is the great fault among this people, and I wished to lay it before them that they may learn the truth, and their duty to each other. Let the Latter-day Saints be as punctual in paying the merchant who belongs to the Church of God, as they are in paying a miserable scoundrel, who would take all their money and then turn round and cut their throats, or ask a mob to do it, but thank God such characters are very scarce here. But no, a great many of this people will sustain their enemies, will feed, and clothe them, and trade off their wheat and cattle to them, and foster them in their wickedness, while those very persons would cut the throats of the Saints, if they could get along as well without trading with them. And at the same time that which they owe to their brethren in this kingdom who have helped them here, and who have blessed them all the time, never comes due, and they, perhaps, never think of it any more.

Have you the proof of all this before your eyes? You have. I have hundreds and thousands of dollars owing to me by this community and contracted upon a fair business principle. People will say, “O, brother Brigham, won’t you let me have a team? I must have a horse; won’t you let me have this wagon? I very much need a cow; won’t you help me in my building? And won’t you do this? And I wish you would do that; and could you not do the other?” And the pay never comes. But you will go to a Gentile and run into debt, and sell your last cow to pay that wicked man. You may say, “O, that is only in our business transactions.” Is not the upbuilding of the kingdom of God on earth a temporal labor all the time? It will be built up by physical force and means, by manual labor more than by any particular mental effort of the mind. Suppose that one Elder was left alone among the inhabitants of the earth, and that he should begin, with all the power of his mind, to imagine himself in England, Scotland, France, Germany, Denmark’, Sweden, or anywhere else and still sit in one place, saying, “now I am laboring in the kingdom of God it is a spiritual labor.” What real good would he accomplish? Not any.

You know the old theory is that the kingdom of God, and all pertaining to it, is spiritual and not temporal; that is the traditional notion of our brother Christians. But a person may merely think until he goes down to the grave, and he will never be the means of saving one soul, not even his own, unless he adds physical labor to his thinking. He must think, and pray, and preach, and toil and labor with mind and body, in order to build up Zion in the last days. You cannot build your house, nor gather up your substance and come to this place from different nations by mere thinking, it also requires physical labor. If we attend to the things of the kingdom of God, and nothing else in good weather, we can do everything else, that is necessary to be done, in rainy and bad weather.

If we talk to you and you sit and hear, that involves labor, and everything connected with building up Zion requires actual, severe labor. It is nonsense to talk about building up any kingdom except by labor; it requires the labor of every part of our organization, whether it be mental, physical, or spiritual, and that is the only way to build up the kingdom of God. Hence, what I have been laying before you is directly pertaining to the building up of that kingdom.

Will the people still take a course to feed strangers, and let their brethren starve? They will not. I say to every man who has wheat, set the poor to building your houses, to making fences, opening farms, or doing something, and hand out your grain to them. And if those who wish to speculate in grain, in consequence of the scarcity through drought and the ravages of the grasshoppers, come and offer you money for your grain, do not sell a bushel for five, ten, or twenty dollars, but tell them, “no, our wheat is to feed the poor Saints, and no one else.” If you do not do this, I am watching you. Do you know that I have my threads strung all through the Territory, that I may know what individuals do? If you do not pursue a righteous course, we will separate you from the Church. Is that all? No, if necessary we will take your grain from your bin and distribute it among the poor and needy, and they shall be fed and supplied with work, and you shall receive what your grain is worth.

There is plenty for all who are now in the Territory, and for all that will come in this fall. Talk about starving to death! How do you suppose you could? You could not enter a house in these mountains, where there is one potato left, and tell them that you were perishing for food, but what the inmates of that house would divide with you; I say, not one, whether belonging to Jew or Gentile, Saint or sinner. This is speaking to the praise of those who have the grain.

I do not believe that there is a grain owner in this Territory who does not feel just as liberal as, he need to; at least, I know of no one but what wishes to do right. One man, who had a fine crop of grain, came to this city, and was offered three dollars a bushel for it; he said, “shall I take that? or what shall I do with it?” I replied, let us have it in the Tithing Store, and we will distribute it to the poor.

Flour is six dollars per hundred in that store. What was it last year? Six dollars. You cannot starve to death, because those who have got the grain are willing to divide with you. If you should happen to get hungry you could run to your neighbors for a pumpkin or a squash, and they would even jump out of bed to serve you, in case you chanced to call upon them late in the night. There is no law in this country against begging, therefore, if need be, we can beg from one another, and from Him who gave it all, so we cannot starve to death.

Go without eating two or three days! Bless your souls, I know not what it is to go without food since I have been a “Mormon.” I could travel over the earth without purse or scrip, and not be obliged to go hungry. Before I knew “Mormonism” I was acquainted with straitened circumstances, but it has clothed and fed me, and blessed me all the day long.

We have now held our meeting for three hours and a half, and after singing we will dismiss for one hour.

Iniquity, etc.

Heber C. Kimball

Remarks made by President H. C. Kimball, in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1855.

I do not wish to detain the congregation long, still I do not think that those who have the spirit of a Saint are tired and wish the meeting to come to a close. Every word I have heard to-day is salvation and the very quintessence of righteousness, and I assure you that I have enjoyed myself more under what I have heard to-day, than I ever did in the best party that I ever attended. True, I have enjoyed myself extremely well when I have been with my brethren in the dance, but, gentlemen and ladies, what we have heard to-day is salvation and eternal lives to us, if we will listen to and obey it.

I am thankful that the time has come when brother Brigham is disposed to lift the veil and expose the iniquities of men, if they are not willing to expose them themselves. I know they were exposed in the days of Joseph, and brother Brigham, myself, and many others were with him and stood by him to the day of his death, and do still. When their iniquities were exposed, men whom we thought much of, and those whom we thought nothing of, turned away from the faith. They were poor, miserable, rotten-hearted creatures; we knew that, and knew it when we were in England, and when we came home; and because we would not pamper and flatter those poor, miserable devils, they became our enemies and the enemies of Joseph.

Joseph would many times ostensibly hold men up to see whether this people would worship them, to see whether they had discernment enough to know the difference between a righteous man and a wicked one, and if we preferred the society of a blackleg, or of a whoremaster, or of any other abominable character, he was perfectly willing that we should have the opportunity to prove ourselves.

Now we are here in the mountains and am I not glad? Yes, I am glad, and I rejoice exceedingly, and if I am concealing wickedness or iniquity, I say, let it be exposed, that others by seeing it may repent and forsake their sins. Men will often tell what they will do—that they are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of this Gospel and for their brethren, but the thing is to come and do it, while at the same time they are not willing to pay their tithing, nor do anything else that is required of them. He is no Saint who will not fulfil the requirements of heaven.

Brother Brigham is a servant to this people, and he serves you and waits upon you by night and by day, and his associates are willing to do whatever they are called upon. He is your servant, and I am your servant, but if you do not treat your servants well while in this time, I am afraid that when they come to what is called eternity, you will not have the privilege of troubling them much. Therefore, listen with hearing ears and understanding hearts; walk up like men to do what God requires at your hands, and be willing to come to the light that your sins may be revealed; and if your sins are revealed and you repent of them, there are men who can tell you what road to take and what atonement to make, that you may be set in the road which leads to life, and if you will not be corrected you will be damned as sure as the sun will again set.

What is called “Mormonism” is the delight of my heart; this people are the pride of my heart, and I wish that every one would do right, keep the commandments of the Lord, and listen to those correct principles that are taught them from time to time. Some will come with great zeal and anxiety, saying, “I want my endowments; I want my washings and anointings; I want my blessings; I wish to be sealed up to eternal lives; I wish to have my wife sealed and my children sealed to me;” in short, “I desire this and I wish that.” What good would all this do you, if you do not live up to your profession and practise your religion? Not as much good as for me to take a bag of sand and baptize it, lay hands upon it for the gift of the Holy Ghost, wash it and anoint, and then seal it up to eternal lives, for the sand will be saved, having filled the measure of its creation, but you will not, except through faith and obedience. Those little pebbles and particles of sand gather themselves together and are engaged, as with one heart and mind, to accomplish a purpose in nature. Do they not keep the mighty ocean in its place by one united exertion? And if we were fully united we could resist and overcome every evil principle there is on earth or in hell.

Let us all listen with care and attention to the counsels that are given and that have been given unto us today, for they are more precious and delicious to me than the sweetest thing I ever tasted in this life. Shall we sit down and not rebuke sin?

If you oppose any of the works of God you will cultivate a spirit of apostacy. If you oppose what is called the “spiritual wife doctrine,” the Patriarchal Order, which is of God, that course will corrode you with a spirit of apostacy, and you will go overboard; still a great many do so, and strive to justify themselves in it, but they are not justified of God. When you take that course you put a knife to brother Brigham’s breast, and to the breasts of his associates; and more or less so when you oppose anything which God has instituted for His glory and the exaltation of man. I do not like such conduct myself, and I am opposed to such characters; I do not ask any favors of them, and I have often said that I never want one of them to darken my door. I am against them and God is against them, and I am for sustaining His cause, the cause of my Father who dwells in the heavens; the cause of His Son, and the cause that brother Joseph has been the means of bringing forth by the revelations of Jesus Christ. We sustained Joseph in this cause in his day, and we sustain the same cause now, and we will sustain it for ever, and that is our desire and prayer from this time henceforth, God helping of us.

The principle of plurality of wives never will be done away although some sisters have had revelations that, when this time passes away and they go through the veil, every woman will have a husband to herself. I wish more of our young men would take to themselves wives of the daughters of Zion, and not wait for us old men to take them all; go ahead upon the right principle, young gentlemen, and God bless you for ever and ever, and make you fruitful, that we may fill the mountains and then the earth with righteous inhabitants. That is my prayer, and that is my blessing upon all the Saints and upon your posterity after you, for ever. Amen.

Men Rewarded According to their Works

Jedediah M. Grant

Remarks made by President J. M. Grant, in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1855.

I am pleased with the general spirit manifested through the servants of the Lord who have spoken to us to-day. I was pleased, during the forenoon, with the freedom that seemed to pervade the mind of our President and the mind of Elder Kimball. I am pleased with the freedom of our Patriarch, Elder John Young, this afternoon, and I believe the doctrine which he has advanced to be correct; it is substantially this, all persons shall be judged according to their works. I am aware the old maxim was that men would be judged according to the death they might die, but the Latter-day Saints believe that men will be judged by the life they live, and not by the death they die. We believe that a man will be rewarded according to his works, for it is not written that he shall be rewarded according to his ordination, or the special situation or place in which he may be called to act in the Church of God; but it is written, and that law, I believe, has never been revoked by high heaven, or by any of its legates to earth; hence it stands immutable, that all men shall be rewarded according to their works.

This is the doctrine that our Patriarch has been laboring to impress upon your minds this afternoon. I think it is very wholesome; I am satisfied with it; it is sweet to my taste; it is good that all men in the different dispensations of the Almighty, each in his situation, calling, capacity, and sphere of action, are to be, and of right should be, rewarded according to his works. We do not wish to reverse this law in relation to our enemies, we only wish them to be rewarded according to their works; we do not desire to warp the law in the least.

I am aware that many suppose that we entertain some unchristian feelings to those out of the Church, but this is a mistake; we only wish that persons who have shed the blood of our Apostles may be rewarded just according to their works. And we expect that, sooner or later, they will have meted out to them that reward which the Almighty actually knows that they deserve. When speaking of governors, rulers, kings, emperors, judges, and officers of nations and states, would we wish to reverse the general law that every person shall be rewarded according to their works? No. It would not do to have some men die as soon as many might desire, for they would not meet their proportionate reward on the earth.

I like to meditate upon this doctrine, I like to see its practical workings, rewarding every man according to his works; and I expect that the day will come when all Latter-day Saints will be perfectly satisfied with it.

I am fully aware that many people have been bred and raised in poorpussyism all their days, both in America and in Europe, and when they hear doctrines and principles taught by men who speak as freedom permits them, and as freemen have a right to speak, those who are clothed with the garments of poor-pussyism get the grunts; well, grunt on until you grunt it all out. The Latter-day Saints who enjoy the light of the Lord, that power which loves the intelligence of heaven and imparts it to the faithful, thank the Lord that we expect that our elder brother, Jesus Christ, will give unto us according to our works. We expect that he will be rewarded according to his works, and that his associates will be rewarded according to theirs, and if our works are not good we ask for no good reward.

It is not according to the nation a man sprung from, nor according to the parentage or line of descent he came through, that he is to be rewarded; it is not so written. But it is written in the book of God emanating from, high heaven, from the courts above, that kings, emperors, rulers, and all men on the earth, high and low, shall be rewarded according to their works. Do the people of God understand this? Do all the Saints, in their individual capacities, understand this? The doctrine is applicable to the nations and states. Is it not applicable to all people? It is.

“Why,” says one, “bless my soul, you do not say that it is applicable to females, do you?” Yes I do. “Oh, dear, what will the FIRST wife do in that case?” Why, bless your poor soul, she will be rewarded according to her works. That is the doctrine, and, thank God, there is no other way. You cannot alter it; you cannot revoke this eternal law. If a man has fifty wives and the fiftieth is the best, does the most good, she will get the greatest reward, in spite of all the grunting on the part of the first one.

In the Church of God, if a Teacher, a Priest, or Deacon, has the best works, if his labours are the most, if his acts are the most righteous in magnifying his calling to the utmost, he is better off than any man in the Church who does not magnify his calling. Is this doctrine applicable to ordained men in the Church? Yes, to every man of God, whether he be a Priest, Teacher, Member, Elder, or Apostle; each person will be rewarded according to his works. Is it applicable in families? Yes. “Oh,” says one, “That makes me feel bad; my poor wife, my dear loving wife, the wife of my youth and the companion of my toils, what will she think of this? Bless me, I tremble for her.” If her works are better, if her righteousness exceeds that of the rest of your wives, if she has more philanthropy, greater charity, and deserves more than they, she will get more. But if her works are not equal to those of some of the balance, she will still be rewarded according to her works.

I like the doctrine; I can swallow it without greasing my mouth. It is a first-rate doctrine, and is a goodly part of the real faith, virtue, root and marrow of “Mormonism.” Yes, it is applicable in families, thank God, and in the Church of God, in quorums, in councils, and in every other organized body; it applies to the world which we inhabit, and to every thing that is in heaven.

I know that there are hundreds of thousands of men out of this Church, and do we like them? Yes. When we talk against men out of the Church do we mean to be understood as speaking against good men—men who wish to do right? No; but we mean the poor devils and the devil’s poor, that’s the idea.

To righteous and honorable men who have true integrity, in them we say, “God bless you,” for that is the way we feel towards all such the wide world over. God bless the righteous, whether they are in the Church or out of it. And God bless the righteous Saints in the Church, and in all the families of God’s people. I am backing up what brother John has been speaking. I want the Saints to do right and be blessed, which may God grant, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Literal Fulfilment of Prophecy, etc.

Parley P. Pratt

A discourse, by Elder P. P. Pratt, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 7, 1855.

We wish the entire attention of the congregation; the assembly being so vast, it will almost be impossible for the speaker to be heard unless there is great order and strict attention. We wish no disturbance on the outskirts of the assembly, as we wish all to hear.

I will read for the edification of the assembly, a portion of the 21st chap. of Luke, contained in what is called King James’ translation of the New Testament, from the 5th to the 36th verse.

I will remind those who hear me this day of one fact which can be clearly demonstrated to the mind of every careful reader of the Scriptures, and which fact is a guarantee, as it were, to the rational mind, for the manner of the fulfilment of that which is future; it is this, that the prophecies contained in the Holy Bible, spoken by Moses and the Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles, have been fulfilled literally and naturally, so far as they have been fulfilled at all. Not in the sense, however, that modern blindness and priestcraft have tried to throw over them, but in a plain and common sense, as plain as if a man were to rise here and tell that the wall around this Temple Block would be overthrown, and not one stone left upon another, and then tell the circumstances that would transpire before it, and in connection with it, and after it, and then it afterwards be fulfilled and recorded in history; so plain, so clear, so full, and so exact have the predictions of the Prophets of God, and the Apostles of God, and of the Son. of God been fulfilled, except such portions as remain to be fulfilled.

Keep that one fact in view, and then search the prophecies, and trace them out; search history for their fulfilment, and give diligent heed to the things that are written, for these are the commandments not only of the ancient Apostles and Prophets, but of the Apostles and Prophets of the last days.

Jesus himself, while he travelled upon the earth in his mortal tabernacle read the Scriptures to the people, “he opened the book and taught;” his manner was to do it in the synagogue every Sabbath day—he exhorted them to search into the things that were written.

And after he had risen from the dead, and received all power in heaven and on earth, he refered his disciples to that which was written.

On a certain occasion he said, “O fools and slow of heart to believe that which the Prophets have written.”

When he appeared to the Nephites, in his risen body, as you will find it written in the Book of Mormon, he took pains to refer them to the written prophecies of Isaiah and many others, and quoted many of them, and exhorted the people to search the things contained in the prophecies of Isaiah diligently, bearing testimony of their literal fulfilment; and said he, “A commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently, “for they have been fulfilled, and will be fulfilled according to that which is written, not in some other way.

Not only are we included in these general exhortations and commandments of the ancients, and of Jesus Christ himself, but the same commandments have been renewed to us by our great Prophet and founder, Joseph Smith, and by our Prophets and Apostles that still live.

How often have they told us to treasure up the words of God, those things that are written for our profit and learning, and to search diligently and treasure up in our hearts continually words of wisdom from the best books.

Says the word of God through Joseph Smith to this people, search the Scriptures, treasure them up in your hearts, put them in a good store-house—the store-house of your memory; then the Holy Spirit will be at liberty when you are called up to teach others to select from that well-stored treasure things new and old.

It is not to study up what you shall say particularly, but to treasure up truth in your hearts, to have them well filled with it, kept well stored, and then give free liberty to the Spirit of God to operate upon you, to collect out of that treasure that portion which will be best suited to the wants and condition of men who do not treasure up the words of life.

If the Holy Spirit should come upon a man of that description to select out of that store-house, he would find it empty, and he would have the trouble of putting it there, or it would not be there; hence he would be barren and unfruitful.

Search the Scriptures, ye Saints of the Most High; among all your cares, and all your duties, search the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, of the Book of Mormon, and the revelations of God that have been written for our profit and learning.

And to the young people among us, a generation brought up amid the hurry, toil, and cares of a new country, I say do not neglect to treasure up in your hearts the history, and the prophecies, and their fulfilment, and the promises, and hopes shadowed forth therein, and the doctrines, and principles, and examples left on record.

You may say you have not time; take those portions of time you would otherwise devote to something less useful. We all have time to do it. I have been as hard working in my day as any other man, perhaps, and I always had time to do it, and always have done it, and it was by the light that shone in a dark place, diligently and prayerfully searched out, and the Holy Spirit that shone upon the understanding, through the prayer of faith, and through diligent search, that caused me to see, and understand, and lay hold on certain things that came in fulfilment of these prophecies.

If any one asks how I came to be a Latter-day Saint, or what some people would call a “Mormon,” a follower of Joseph Smith, the modern Prophet, I answer, it was because I had given heed to the sentiments of truth from my early youth, carefully and prayerfully searching and believing them; it was because the Holy Spirit rested upon me, and opened my understanding to the same through the prayer of faith, and diligent search. It was because that the Holy Spirit gave me clearly to understand that this modern Prophet, and the fulness of the Gospel restored by him, had come in fulfilment of certain promises made by the ancient Prophets and Apostles; that is the reason why I really embraced the fulness of the Gospel which the world calls “Mormonism.”

Let us review the things we have read, and make a few remarks upon them.

Some of the disciples, feeling proud of their great temple, or national house of God, and feeling to rejoice in its workmanship, beauty, grandeur, and probably flattering themselves it would endure for ever as the great centre of the Jewish worship for all nations, they called the attention of Jesus to it, saying, “Master, see what manner of stones and buildings are here.” “Why,” said Jesus, “the days will come when there will not be left one of these stones on the top of another.”

Does that need spiritualising? Does it need some learned man from a college to tell you what that means, and give you the spiritual sense of it? It had but one sense, and that a child could understand.

“The days will come when there will not be one of those beautiful stones left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” In the Indian phraseology they inquired how many moons first, or in other words, “Master, when shall these things be, and what sign will there be when these things transpire?” Jesus begins to tell them some of the things that would immediately happen in their day.

The first thing he calls their attention to, among the things that had been transpiring, was, that a great many deceivers should come and profess to be Christ, saying, “I am Christ, but do not go after them, take care and not be deceived by them.”

The reason of this was that the Jews were looking for a Messiah, and for a deliverance from the Roman yoke, and for their national independance to be restored to them; and for their city, and temple, and nation, to be the seat of government for all nations, a universal theocracy.

They were looking for this, and they had rejected the true Messiah, and were about to kill him, and were looking for another to fulfil what all men were in the expectation of; for the old Prophets had told them that such a day would come, in relation to that nation, and their city Jerusalem, and the temple; that the throne of God would be there; that the tabernacle of God would be there; that there would be one king and one Lord, and his name one; that all the nations of the earth would come up to worship—the nations they were acquainted with in that country.

They had reason to look for that day, because the old Prophets had foretold it, and John the Baptist came along as a special Prophet, and nearly all that people had received him as a Prophet, professedly, though in reality, some of them received him, and he told them some of those things were about to be fulfilled.

He had told them about their king, about the Lamb of God, about the Messiah, and that they must repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins, and make his paths strait.

With this double assurance, first the testimony of their old Prophets, and secondly the renewed testimony of a new Prophet, to immediately prepare for the fulfilment of some of the old prophecies; with this double assurance they were looking for somebody to do something, and that pretty largely too; and as they had rejected the true king—the true Messiah, of course they would be looking for somebody, that ambitious spirits would enter, and they would rise up and tell the people, “I am he you look for; set me up, and I will deliver you from the Roman yoke, I will break your fetters, and bring about the restoration of your national independance.”

“Don’t you be deceived,” says Jesus, “for many of those who would not hearken to me will come, saying, ‘I am Christ,’ but do not go after them.” These very things happened in those days, for which you may read history.

“When you hear of wars and commotion, be not terrified, for these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet; nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom”—which had been a common thing, and was then—“great earthquakes, and famine, and pestilence, and great sights from heaven.”

Go and read Josephus, and read about these things being fulfilled in that same age.

“But before all these things shall take place, they shall lay their hands upon you.”

Some people have been in the habit of trying to apply every scripture to every body in every age; they had need to give heed to the exhortation of Paul to Timothy, “Show thyself a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, giving to every one their portion, “not everything that is written for every body in every age.

Jesus was talking to Peter, James, and John, and to the rest of his immediate followers. “They will lay their hands on you, Peter, on you, James, and on you, John, and also upon others, and they will persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, and you shall be brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.” And of which, I need not observe, was literally fulfilled in that age, the New Testament itself bearing record of it in part; “this shall turn to you for a testimony.” That is as much as to say, when this happens to you that I have foretold, it will be a witness and a testimony—it will be another proof; therefore, instead of mourning about it, and feeling down-hearted, understand that I have before told you it must be. And when you are brought before rulers for my name’s sake, do not study up a speech beforehand to speak in self-defence, for I will give you a mouth, and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to gainsay nor resist.

Read the New Testament—the history of Peter and the Twelve, of Stephen and of Paul, and see if they had not a mouth and wisdom that confounded their enemies when they were afterwards summoned before the different authorities, and kings, and magistrates, in fulfilment of this promise.

“Ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.” This was fulfilled in the circumstances of James, the brother of the Lord, whom they killed with the sword, according to the New Testament. It was fulfilled in the case of Peter, in the case of the stoning of Stephen to death; it was fulfilled literally in many instances in that age.

“And he shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” Nations were not singing the name of Jesus then as they are now by tradition, but the bare mention of his name gave a shock to the wicked, to kings and rulers.

Go to Illinois and Missouri, and mention Joseph Smith to the mob that tried to butcher and kill him and drive the Saints; go where they reside, and say, Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and it would not cause a greater shock, greater rage and hate, more bitter feelings than it would in those days to mention the name of that crucified Nazarene; “Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake,” that is, because you will be running from place to place, making use of my name—making mention of what nearly everybody considers the name of an impostor and deceiver.

“That deceiver said he would rise again from the dead on the third day,” said some of those pious Jews after they had killed him, applying the same terms they now apply to the modern martyrs.

To go about and preach his name then was not that pleasant thing it is now in Christendom; I assure you, it was a cross, and nothing but the Spirit of truth, inspired in the heart of man, would give him boldness enough to do it. “But there shall not a hair of your head perish; in your patience, possess ye your souls.”

Now, then, comes the thing the Apostles asked about, after he had told them the preliminary leading to it; filling up the interstices of time, he gets at length to the destruction of that temple—to the throwing down of those beautiful stones. “When ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know the desolation thereof is nigh.” Does that need any spiritualizing?

Go and read Josephus, read the history of the Roman army under Titus, the Roman general, who came up and laid siege against that city and surrounded it with the Roman legions; and then read the history of the war. It took place at the time when almost the whole nation had poured into that devoted city, just as you have poured into Salt Lake City, only we are a mere handful compared with that great nation; they had come into one of the great Conferences that happened about once a year; it was during the time that tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands that come into Jerusalem, from all the surrounding country, that they were laid siege to by the Roman army.

The city was blockaded—none could escape. Besides this there were several factions within the city; Jews were at war with Jews under different leaders. This made a desolating war within, while the enemy was encamped without; and besides all this, famine overtook them, and pestilence caused by want; and by being crowded and shut up in the city, and by the dead bodies with no place to bury them.

Hence with sword, famine, pestilence, &c., Jerusalem began to be desolated. “Now when you see this, understand that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein.”

Some of our Sectarian friends tell us that Jesus Christ did not preach a gathering; he only preached the Gospel, and then let the people live right where they had a mind to. But here is a positive revelation from the Son of God, to those that would give heed to his warning voice, to actually remove to the mountains in order to escape the war, the troubles, and pestilence that awaited the Jews and Jerusalem.

Now if we had all the history of those times; if we only had what the Apostles have written, in full, instead of a little of it, we should have the particular place where they did go, and where they lived, you would have an account of the organization of a gathered people taking care of themselves, while war desolated the nation. We have not got this part of ancient history, but we will have it, for there is nothing secret but what will be revealed—hid but what will be brought to light.

When God sees fit we will have the record of the fulfilment of this gathering; of every man, woman, and child, that heeded the warning of the blessed Jesus. About seventy years after the birth of Christ, which was about the date that the Roman army compassed Jerusalem, I warrant you they left Judea and Jerusalem, and gathered into the mountains to take care of themselves. This is the very period of Christian history I would very much like to read—how they conducted themselves when they were gathered together, and how they maintained themselves when their nation and temple were crumbling to the dust.

“Let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the country enter thereinto.” We are given to understand that there was a little time after the Roman army had laid siege to Jerusalem, in consequence of a certain movement of that army, that gave a chance to the people in the city that were wide awake, to gather. If they would give heed to the warning voice of Jesus, or to the words of his Apostles, not to come down from the house top, or stop to get their bed, but run with all their might, they could escape. A little moment of relaxation, an advantageous position of the army, made escape possible to those who would not stop to take their clothes out of the house, their bed, or anything else, but flee at once.

“For these be the days of vengeance.” Vengeance on what? On the people of the Jews and on all the people of Jerusalem that had rejected the Gospel, that had rejected and killed the true Messiah, and persecuted and killed the Apostles, and his disciples.

“These be the days of vengeance.” What for? That all things that were written may he fulfilled, not spiritualized, nor transformed, nor done away, but absolutely fulfilled.

What did he mean by that saying? Go and read Moses; I shall not trouble myself to give chapter and verse; go and read Moses and the Prophets and see if they do not predict the horrors of war to that age, and desolation, even to the eating of their own children for mere want, because of the pressure of the famine; “even the tender and delicate women,” says Moses, “who would not venture to put the soles of their feet on the ground for tenderness and delicacy, should eat their own children in the siege and the straitness whereby your enemies shall distress you in all your gates, if you will not hearken to my words.” He also predicted that the Lord God would raise up a Prophet like unto him, and the people should hear him in all things whatsoever he should say unto them, and every soul that would not hear him, should be cut off from among the people.

What do our enemies complain of us about? For believing we must hearken to the Prophet of the Lord which we profess to have among us—Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young, or whoever it may be. “They believe,” say our enemies, “that they must hearken to their Prophet in all things whatsoever he shall say unto them.” Just as though it was a new thing; that is what they are mad at us about; it is the main point that is found fault with from California to Maine, and throughout Europe, by editors and priests.

Everywhere the word is, “what is the matter with the Mormons in Utah? They hold to that abominable principle of hearkening to all things the Prophet of God says to them.” O dear, what hurt does that do? It gives them power—they will all vote one way.

We are not the only people that are troubled with that doctrine, and this is not the only, age that has had that kind of trouble to contend with.

Moses had laid it down, that they should not only give heed to his word, and if they did not they should be destroyed, and have to eat their own children while their enemies besieged them, but that they should give heed also to another Prophet that should arise, and that too in all things whatsoever he should say unto them; and if they did not, they should be cut off from among the people.

But that part of “Mormonism” is very ancient, and applied to Moses, and to Christ, and to every Prophet that has ever been sent to lead the people.

“These be the days of vengeance, that all things that are written may be fulfilled.” I have quoted a little of what has been written.

“But woe unto them that are with child and to those that give suck in those days.” What kind of a woe is this? “Eternal hell,” says one. That is not the meaning; but the language signifies that it will be hard on those who are in that situation in those days; they will have trouble because they will not be in circumstances to flee from their enemies; it will be very inconvenient indeed for them to escape; therefore sorrow to them; it will be hard on them; they are to be pitied.

I used to think, when I was a boy, that every time the Scriptures said woe, it meant eternal hell. I did not understand very much of the Scriptures then; in this instance Christ was simply speaking of the trouble and inconvenience it would be to those who had little children.

I have often thought how much more merciful God is to the Latter-day Saints, in telling them not to go in haste nor by flight, without stopping to get their coat, their garment, or their bed; he has not told them to escape empty-handed; I feel thankful for this mercy.

On the other hand, I have thought that we have had some burdens to bear, over and above what they had, which makes the thing about even.

“For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.” That is, in the land of Judea, upon the Jews, and in that city.

“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and they shall be led away captive among all nations, and Jerusalem”—what will become of it finally?—“shall be trodden down of the gentiles, until”—that is a big word, and means much in the position it occupies here—“UNTIL”—on that word is suspended that nation’s fate, and the fate of all the neighboring nations—“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

I tell you there is meaning in these words, contained in that single line. O ye nations of the earth, if I had the voice of an angel’s trump, that I could be heard to earth’s remotest bounds, by kings, rulers, captains, generals, armies, and nations, I would wish to read that one line in their ears, and tell them the things that are summed up in it.

“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the gentiles until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled.” What is meant by it? One thing we know certain, we have no need to conjecture, that is, that all these things happened literally. The Roman army on the outside, and the three factions on the inside of the city of Jerusalem, and the famine, and the pestilence helping it on, performed their work until finally it came to an end by the city being taken by the Romans, the temple set on fire, and burned, and the whole city desolated, and brought under Gentile rule, namely, Roman rule. And it is said, in the history written by Josephus, that one million and a half of Jews perished in that siege, that is, in that one city, in putting an end to a national polity; a national corrupted form of government, a national priesthood, a national house of worship.

One million and a half perished! They fell by the edge of the sword, by pestilence, and by famine, and the remnants of the Jews were carried captive among all nations. To remain how long? As I have said, we know this prophecy has been literally fulfilled, for we see them scattered among all nations to this day.

I have seen them in San Francisco, in Chili, in Scotland, in England, and in every part of the United States, and Canada; and wherever my brethren, the Elders of this Church, have been; I can assure them of one thing, if they have looked about them they have seen a Jew or Jews. Wherever there is a nation to be found, or a people of commerce, ships, camels, or any other means of conveyance, there will be found Jews; that we know.

But about one stone of the temple at Jerusalem not being left one upon another—the fire itself would not do this—but history has informed us that the Jews concealed their treasures under the stones of the temple, and the Roman army went to work, and tumbled them about, and did not leave one stone upon another, and finally they were removed.

In fulfilment of another scripture, they took a plough and ploughed the temple site—so completely was the scripture fulfilled.

Had I time I would quote the chapter and verse of this plowing, and the history which refers to it.

Now then this last line I have read has been fulfilling until now; that is certain. The Jews are among all nations, in captivity—without being organized and nationalized; without being restored; without having returned to the God of their fathers; to His matchless power; to the administration of His Holy Spirit; to the enjoyment of heavenly communication, through Holy Prophets, by the revelations of God; to the administration of angels; to the enjoyment of the religion of their fathers, and to the power of God to defend them, and deliver them from their enemies.

They have been 1800 years without these blessings. This is a fact foretold in this chapter, and literally fulfilled before the eyes of all men. All the nations know it that know anything about the Bible or about history.

Now there was a time allotted for the Gentile powers to reign, for their corruptions to bear rule, and during the time here designated as the times of the Gentiles, the times of their polity, of their nationality, their religion, and to prove them and to see what they would do with the power committed unto them—the times spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, in which the fourth monarchy, namely, the Roman, and all those divisions, and subdivisions that should grow out of it in modern times, the times when these divided powers should bear rule.

There is just as much a time for these to have their day and prove themselves, and bring forth the fruits of their rule, and a time for them to come to an end, as ever there was a time for Jerusalem to rule or for the Jewish polity to come to an end. Now when that time arrives, ye nations look out, for there is a prophecy gone forth about you; it is in these words, and recorded in the Old Testament: “Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet will I not make a full end of you,” speaking of Israel.

Now, when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled there will be an uprooting of their governments and institutions, and of their civil, political, and religious polity. There will be a shaking of nations, a downfall of empires, an upturning of thrones and dominions, as Daniel has foretold, and the kingdom and power, and rule on the earth will return to another people, and exist under another polity, as Daniel has further foretold. But let me read it here, let Jesus speak in his own words, or the writer for him. Now understand that we have got down to the present time, that is sure with this prophecy, no man can mistake it. Jerusalem has been overthrown, and not one stone of that magnificent temple has been left upon another. A great portion of that nation fell by the edge of the sword, and the residue went captive among all nations, and their city has been trodden under foot of the Gentiles, and will be until their times are fulfilled, that is, until they have had their reign out. Then what will happen? We will read; “And there shall be signs in the sun.” Has anybody seen them?—not away back among those other things; there were signs in the air then; Josephus tells you about it, and this book tells you about it, as I have been reading to-day in this chapter, about the signs which happened as a forerunner of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jews as a nation. Now after the Jews have remained among the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, as a forerunner of this latter overturn “there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon.” Have any of you seen them during the last 30 years? I have. “And in the stars.” Have you seen any signs in the stars? Think back for the last 30 years. “And upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And THEN”—not some other time. Are there any Millerites here who have been setting a time for the Son of Man to come? “Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory.” Not you, my disciples, whom I told a little while ago should be delivered up to the synagogues, and to prisons, and be beheaded, and suffer many things; not you whom I have warned to take heed lest you are deceived by false Christs that shall come to you; and when you should hear of wars and commotions to be not terrified, &c.; but Jesus Christ now directs his attention to another age; this does not refer to you my followers, you will be dead, and in paradise when these things that I now refer to shall take place. But THEY. Who? The people who shall live when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled—when their reign is about to come to an end, the generation that will be alive when Jerusalem and the Jews are about to be restored, and the full end of all Gentile polity is about to usher in. “Then shall they see,” those that shall live in those days. And what shall they see? “The Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

That is the proud sight that is to be seen in connection with the end of the Gentile rule, or the breaking up of the Gentile nations, when their times are completed; when Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, to be no more trodden down nor governed by them, when the Jews are to be restored; and when there are signs in the sun, and in the moon and in the stars, and upon the earth men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after the things that are coming, then shall they see, not the crucified Jesus hanging upon the ignominious cross, mocked by the wicked Jews, not persecuted by a Herod, clothed in all the pomp and pride of Gentile authority, not a Roman army to overthrow and succeed the Jewish polity, but they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud clothed with great power and great glory.

Do ye believe this, ye young people, ye boys and girls? Do ye believe this? All the prophetic sayings contained in this chapter have been fulfilled, down to this day. Do you believe that portion of it which is yet in the future, ye people of New York, of San Francisco, of China, of London, of France? Do the Gentile nations believe this? You see the Jew among you, and the Gentile bearing rule; do you believe that this is a true prophecy? You ought to believe it, for it is right before your eyes in its fulfilment, and if you do, do you expect to see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory? That is a sight some of you will see; you have only to live until the time comes, and you will see it.

Whether there has been signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations and perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for fear, in the last few years, I will leave each one to draw his own conclusion. If this has not already been sufficiently fulfilled, one thing is certain, it is being fulfilled, and when it is sufficiently completed the Son of Man will be seen in heaven with power and great glory, as sure as you ever saw a Jew, that is, it is a fact. “And when these things begin to come to pass,” for that is an important point, “then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” Does it not appear a little strange that Peter, and James, and John, and the Jewish nation have to wait until then for their redemption, and the dead and the living, as well as the Latter-day Saints? They have to wait until then, whether in this world or in the other, for the redemption of their bodies, unless they died before Christ, and rose from the dead when he did, and the Jews must wait until then for the redemption of their nation and national polity, and for their triumph over their enemies, and for the putting down of all other power, and for the establishment of the reign righteousness on the earth, the redemption of their friends, and vengeance on all those who have shed the innocent blood whether of Latter-day Saints or Former-day Saints. This is the day of their redemption, be in what world they may, they are preparing for it. “Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” When? Not when Jerusalem is compassed with armies, not when they (the Jews) are destroyed by the edge of the sword, not while wandering among the nations of the earth from age to age, not while the Gentile powers bear rule, but when the sun, moon, and stars shall put forth their signs, the heavens shake, and mens hearts failing them for fear, looking for the things that are coming upon the earth—then is the time to begin and look up, to lift up your heads and rejoice, ye spirits that are waiting for redemption, whether ye are in this world or in the other, straighten your backs in your hard toil, and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

“And he spake to them a parable: Behold the fig trees and all the trees.” We have not any fig trees here, but they had there. “And all the trees, ” embraces trees we have here. “When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.” You do not need a Prophet to come along and prophesy that summer is nigh at hand, for even the children may know it.” So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”

O ye Millerites, ye made a great mistake; you thought the first thing was the coming of the Lord in power and great glory; you were going to have him come immediately, without any kingdom to come to, without a forerunner in the shape of a Prophet, but just by men guessing, and predicting, and remarking, and commenting on the prophecies; but so far as the coming of the Lord being the first thing you knew, you will “begin to see these things come to pass, and then know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” and we have to be born again or we cannot see it.

People hear of “Joe Smith,” as he is called, of the Book of Mormon, of angels coming from heaven again; of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; of modern Prophets and Apostles, and martyrs, and they think, “what under heaven does all this mean, we have no reason to look for anything of the sort, but we expect the Lord here every minute.” They have no idea of a modern Prophet; of angels visiting the earth in the latter times; of modern inspiration; of a modern Church that will hearken to the voice of a Prophet in all things that he shall say unto them; it is all new to them, they are astonished, and say, “what does it mean, I wonder what is this Mormonism coming to?”

The Lord will never come until he has organized his kingdom on the earth, and prepared his people by sending a messenger to prepare the way before him; that messenger has come, and the man that delivered it has been slain, namely, Joseph Smith, and by the instrumentality of that messenger, here sit the Apostles and Prophets, ordained to hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

If the people had read the Scriptures they would have been looking for all this, if they had not listened to a set of blind guides, who have hired out for money to tell them the Scriptures mean something else.

When you see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Says one, “for my part I believe the kingdom of God was set up 1800 years ago, and is not going to be set up again; he is not going to have it set up twice, or I do not know what you are going to do with the Scriptures, you had better burn them up as a thing of no account, because John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, the Twelve Apostles, and the Seventies all agreed in their former testimonies that the kingdom of God was then nigh at hand, it must therefore have been immediately set up, or they were all false witnesses; and if it was immediately setup, as an event following their predictions, namely, on the day of pentecost, when the power of God was shed forth, and the Apostles that held the keys of it organized it upon the earth; if that event did really follow what John the Baptist, Jesus, and his Apostles had predicted, then of course it was set up in those days.”

We say there will be another time when it will be at hand; how do we prove it. By the words of Jesus himself in our text, for he did not only state that the kingdom was then at hand when he first began to preach, but he also said it would be at hand when we should see these modern signs here referred to. What did he say should come? False Christs, and the Apostles were to be betrayed, and hated of all nations, and some would be put to death; He told them they should be brought before kings and rulers; that the Roman army should compass Jerusalem, and there should not be left one stone upon another of their temple, and the Jews should go captive among all nations; that they should remain there for a certain time during which the Gentile power should rule; that after all this there should be signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, and perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for fear; when these thing[s] come to pass, then know that the kingdom of God is at hand.

What does this make out? That there were two distinct times, or ages, varying in circumstances, in which the kingdom of God would be introduced to the inhabitants of the earth; the one should immediately follow John the Baptist, and Jesus, and Peter, who held the keys of it, and the other should be looked for and ushered in, in connection with these modern signs; in short Jesus and Peter held the keys of the one, and his brother Joseph Smith, and his Apostles hold the keys of the other.

Now I think you can understand both predictions; one by John the Baptist, and all the holy Prophets, and by Jesus and his Apostles, and the other was predicted by Jesus Christ and all the Holy Prophets since the world began, and both of them fulfilled right here before your eyes this day. The one in the events recorded in the New Testament, the other in the history of Joseph Smith, and what follows.

I have already been lengthy; having got at the main review, I will close by reviewing one more sentence. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Now I know the habit of praying always in Christendom, that is certain portions of them, they pray in their families and in secret, and have prayer meetings;they pray for this, that, and the other, and say the Lord’s prayer and a great many prayers, but the question is do they pray always? He did not tell them to pray the Lord’s prayer always, particularly, neither did he tell not to; but this one prayer he did tell them to pray always, and causes it to be written; do WE fulfil it, and do they; it is not to pray always nor to watch always, but it is to pray this particular prayer always—that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and stand before the Son of Man.

Whatever else they might pray in all the varying circumstances of their lives, all right, but this one thing they would be sure to need, to be accounted worthy to escape all those things Christ foretold, and stand before him.

And why should they pray this always? Because it is not only the living generation that had to meet it, and had need to be prepared, but it was a chain of prophecy that would be gradually fulfilling from that time until he comes, and whether they passed through the vail or remained in the flesh, one thing was certain, they would all have to meet some part of it; if they lived in Jerusalem they would have some part of it to meet; or if they were scattered among all nations they would have some part of it to meet; and if they live until there should be signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, they would have some part of it to meet; therefore whether they lived in modern or in former times, behind the vail or on this side of it; it was necessary to pray always to be accounted worthy to escape all these things and stand before the Son of Man.

This would have cautioned the drunkard a little, and the miser a little, the man who is engaged head, heart, and hand to accumulate all the riches of the world and heap them up to himself, and not use them to build up the kingdom of God; it would have told him not to have his heart overcharged with the cares of this earth, or with surfeiting and drunkenness, if these words do not say so exactly, another writer does, who writes on the same subject.

Take care how you get drunk, how you are a glutton, how you are wholly swallowed up in the cares of this world, in accumulating riches, and take care to pray that you may escape all these things, and stand before the Son of Man.

It would not do for me to talk always, but I want to tell you how to prepare; and I trust my brother Orson, or some one who will follow me in the course of the day, will enter upon that subject more fully, and illustrate the Gospel; the remission of sins; the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the ordinances pertaining thereto, as well as a good, moral, prayerful life, all of which would open up an extensive field for reflection, had we time to enter upon it.

If we had time, and it was expedient we could show you that in order to restore the kingdom of God, and prepare the way for the coming of the Son of Man, the Gospel would have to be restored in its fulness, baptism, and repentance for the remission of sins preached, and a messenger like John the Baptist sent of old to prepare the way; but we will leave the subject unfinished.

I expect to go where Jesus did and tell the spirits in prison the good news that their redemption draweth nigh, and the good news of the Gospel, my mouth never can be shut on that subject, in heaven, earth, or hell, if I am at liberty to tell it, and the Holy Spirit given to me to direct.

I leave the subject praying God to bless you all, and all those that watch and pray always to be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are coming to pass, and stand before the Son of Man. Amen.

Comprehensiveness of the Gospel, etc.

Amasa Lyman

A discourse, by Elder Amasa Lyman, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, December 2, 1855.

My brethren and sisters—By the changes which mark the history of our journey through life, I again have the privilege of meeting with you. With many of you, no doubt, I have had the same privilege before, and, for aught I know, this may be the first time I have met with others who are present to-day; whether I have met with you before or not, it is a source of gratification to me that we are here.

I am not here because I have fulfilled my mission, or because I have laid down the labor of my mission as having completed it; but I am simply here this afternoon because I have a mission, one that has engaged my time, filled up my time, and engaged all my powers; it is only in the discharge of the duties of that mission that I am here.

Though some may have thought that because I have been laboring in California for a few years, the labors of my mission are confined to California, but I do not so understand it; these are not the feelings that I cherish within me in relation to it. I never have felt, because I was appointed to labor for a time for the accomplishment of certain purposes in the State of California, that I was released from the obligations that rested upon me as a minister of righteousness every day, in every place, and under all circumstances.

I received a mission over twenty years ago to preach the Gospel, and have been engaged in it ever since; it has filled up the hours, days, weeks, months, and years of my life since I received it. It has enlisted my whole affections for that length of time, and I have only just commenced—I say I have just commenced because I have not completed it, and the extent of time that may be occupied in its completion I do not comprehend.

The only fact I fully comprehend in relation to it is that I have began it—I have received it—entered upon the duties of it—and in the prosecution of it so far, I have done all I have done; I have travelled where I have travelled; I have labored as I have labored. It is in the discharge of the duties of this mission I leave Salt Lake, and in the discharge of the duties of it that I return. It is in the discharge of these duties that I do all that I do, so far as I am able to act, as I would wish to act, and as I design to act.

I may this evening address people with whom I have held conversation in relation to principles of, the Gospel long years ago; and others, as I have remarked, perhaps see me for the first time, yet to both of these classes of persons I have but one thing to say, namely, that it is still my business to preach the Gospel. I have nothing else to preach. I know nothing else to preach. It is the subject that has engaged my attention, and still does engage it.

With the years of experience that have added the contributions to the store of knowledge, I have been able to gain in the short time I have lived in the world, the subject seems to increase in its dimensions and in its extent. That which I thought I knew when I was but a boy—that I thought I understood—that I supposed in the vanity and ignorance of childhood I comprehended—I find in the mature years of manhood that I knew nothing about it, so far as the comprehension of the great truths of the Gospel, in their extent, are concerned.

I learned that there was a Gospel, and became satisfied of its truth; and I commenced to labor in the Gospel as did those who taught me its principles, and from whose lips I first heard the testimony thereof; the first man I ever heard preach it is here with me to-day—brother Orson Pratt.

The Gospel is connected with every thing I can think about. It is expanded to such an extent that I cannot see beyond it; I cannot rise above it, nor descend beneath it. There are no depths it does not reach; no heights it does not surmount; no extent which is not filled by it. So let me talk to you what I will, that is true, and calculated to do good to mankind, it must of necessity form a part of the Gospel.

I used to think twenty years ago that I had preached it over and over again; so I confess one thing to you, not as a sin—not as a wrong, that when I was a child I thought as a child, I believed the Gospel as a child, I speculated about it as a child, and I talked about it as a child would; but since I became a man I have learned different things; I have learned that there is a vast difference between, receiving and indorsing a belief in the existence of a fact, and the full and perfect comprehension of it.

This was the relation in which I stood to the Gospel in the days of my childhood, it is the relation in which I stand to it, in a great extent, to-day, It is no more a fact to-day than it was a score of years ago—that I comprehend the Gospel only in part. That I comprehend it fully now, I would not be so understood. I comprehend something of it; all the truth that I am able to comprehend is so much of it.

Now, is this the case with anybody besides myself? I have reason to think that if I have the Gospel to learn, others have it to learn, and that if a comprehension of the truth is requisite to my salvation it is to theirs. Then the important thing in relation to the Gospel is, that we should receive it in its true spirit, that we should duly appreciate the object of its institution, the reasons why it is revealed to us, and the necessity that called for its revelation. This will enlighten us as to the principle upon which we will be really saved, when we are saved.

If, after all, we do not comprehend the Gospel in its fulness, and in its widest extent, we may perhaps fall as far short of what may be called—according to our way of understanding—a perfect salvation, as we may lack understanding to comprehend the Gospel in its fulness.

The Gospel as I receive it, believe it, learned to be true, to be a system of truth, that circumscribes all things; that embraces all the good that exists, is a something that is designed to produce for the children of men such things as are requisite to their happiness; to their deliverance from the bondage of sin; from the bondage of error, ignorance, and darkness; or from ignorance, by whatever name it may be called, or whatever may be the particular agency by which it may exert its influence over the freedom of the soul.

This review of the matter has led me to conclude that it is not the heathen nations alone—as we denominate them in contradistinction to the, christian world—that are groveling in darkness, that are worshiping they know not what, and that are seeing they know not what, but that it is actually the case with thousands who have subscribed to the doctrine God, has revealed in the last days, even the Gospel as a system of truth and salvation. Yet in looking forward to that emancipation from darkness, from error, and from all the concomitant train of consequences resulting from an ignorance of truth, they have failed to recognize, in examining the subject, that the comprehension of truth was actually necessary to constitute the salvation they sought for.

We have looked for heaven, or happiness, in a deliverance from every thing that is in reality a cause of annoyance to us; of sorrow, misery, and wretchedness. From this we expect to be saved, from it we expect the Gospel will redeem us.

Well now, how do we expect to arrive at so desirable a consummation of our wishes? How do we expect to gain the point where we shall realize a full and perfect deliverance from the evils that afflict us—with which we are surrounded in life—and from which we expect to be saved, when the Gospel has wrought out for us all we anticipate, shall have brought to us the realization of our highest hopes, and loftiest expectations? What then shall have been done with us? Where shall we be? What kind of men and women will we be? What country or locality of the great universe shall we occupy? Where can the bread of life be found, and the water of the fountain of life, from which we may fain quench our thirst?

One might calculate that all the good we expect to realize when we are saved, will be obtained, by doing, in all things, as we are told to do, by fulfilling every requisition that is imposed upon us, and thereby securing the fullness of this salvation.

What does this obedience lead people to? It leads them to go where they are required to go, and to stay where they may be required to stay; in fine, it leads them to perform every labor that is required at their hands in the building up of the kingdom of God, and the establishing of Zion, or the cause of truth on the earth. In the pursuance of this, what do we find? We find men crossing the desert, and the ocean, of their own free will; passing through all the contingencies of a journey of that kind; passing through privations, hardships, dangers, and evils that may hang around their path, because they have been commanded to do so. We see some fall off who have spent a score of years in traveling, preaching, laboring, toiling, and striving to gain salvation by being obedient to the requisitions that were laid upon them; they have gone, when, and where they were sent, and have come back when called for; they have made it their business to respond to the calls that were made, regardless of what they might be.

After a while we find those men who have traveled long and far, and suffered much; and what do they tell us? “Why, we have tried Mormonism for twenty years,” and now what conclusion do they come to? To the conclusion, that is sometimes vulgarly expressed in this way—“We have not found Mormonism what it is cracked up to be—it has been misrepresented to us.” This is simply because they have not realized all their expectations, and hopes, and have not been able to grasp the reward they were seeking after, and which they regarded as constituting the elements of happiness. So now, after twenty year’s hard service, they are ready, as we say, to apostatize and go somewhere else to seek happiness, and leave “Mormonism” to go as it may go, to sink or swim.

If toiling, and laboring, and suffering privations and hardships were sufficient to save men, and place within their possession the constituent principles of happiness to redeem them from evil, such men would have been redeemed very likely; such men would have been pure. But what does it prove? It simply proves, that if there is anything in a man’s experience; in his toiling and labor, it is simply the facts that we see, the outward result that may be calculated, that flows from his labors, such as the building of houses, and cities.

He may suffer toil in various ways: for instance, as in preaching the Gospel and trying with all his might to get the people to believe that which they ought to believe; to get them to serve God, and keep His commandments. If there is anything but this results from his labor and toil in the Gospel I am not aware of it. By and by he lays his body down in the dust, his work is not completed, and he is unhappy and wretched.

Why is it? Is it because the Gospel is untrue; because He is not faithful that has promised? No. But it is simply because he has been looking where it is not, for the constituent principles of happiness where they do not exist: and while he has been laboring and toiling he has failed to gather to himself a store of happiness as the reward of his toil. He supposed if he built this house, performed this mission, or discharged that duty, that this would give him salvation. Says one, “Is it not this which gives men salvation?” What does the Savior say? He once on a time defined what eternal life is; and that is what we all seek; that is the principle without which we as Latter-day Saints calculate that men cannot be happy, and be saved in the kingdom of God, which is to know the only true God, and, Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

Then traveling by sea and land, living in luxury or poverty, suffering hardships and toil does not constitute eternal life; because there are countless millions of earth’s sons that are seen to-day, suffering and toiling, and wasting themselves away, wearing themselves out, so far as their bodies are concerned, until they lay down in their mother earth, being as poor at the end of their toil as at the beginning of it, and as a general thing, more wretched.

Then there is something else that should be connected with all this labor; there is some other principle, something that should be developed in the history of every individual, besides the making of a house, the exploring of a new country, the preaching the word of God to others, that word which would save them, and direct them to the fountain of life and salvation. And what is that something? It is the important thing which we all want; whether it is large or small, little or much; whatever may be its name is a matter of no importance to us, only, so we possess it.

There should be developed that which will give life and assurance in the bosom of man, the thing that can constitute him happy; that can be a means of bliss to him. This cannot be found, as I have said, in building houses; there are millions of men that build houses and never know the truth, they never comprehend it; they began poor, and die poor, so far as this principle is concerned.

So it was with the Pharisees, after all the pains Jesus Christ had taken to instruct and teach them, and render his teachings so perfectly simple, that a person with but a child’s capacity could have understood them; when he was demanded of them when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there: for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

We as Latter-day Saints have heard a great deal said to entertain us, and a great many speculations have been formed in our minds with regard to the kingdom of God, and we may have pursued our various ways to impart our ideas to satisfy those to whom we may have addressed our conversation, in the course of our lives, and in the course of our labors, as to what the kingdom of God is, so as to get our hearers to understand it.

Now we, as Latter-day Saints, who are in possession of that principle of salvation, need not say we know of a principle that will produce salvation, for whenever the principle is developed in man, he is already saved; he has no need to go around the bush to find something else—he has not to take another step to get something else in his possession before he is saved, but when the principle is in his possession he is saved, and he is saved to the extent to which the principle is developed in him.

Jesus Christ understood this when he took the mild way of admonishing certain of his disciples, and rebuking them perhaps for their dullness of apprehension, telling them they were slow of heart to believe things that had been spoken by the Prophets.

How often have we been told that it was requisite for us to live that the Spirit of God would come and dwell with us, live in us constantly, until it should be a living fountain of life, and light, and glory in our souls, until it should lead us into all truth.

What did we suppose, when we heard this, was to happen with us? What did we suppose we were to do? What kind of feelings were we to cultivate, if any at all, that we may have the Holy Spirit:

Says one, “that is one thing, and perhaps the thing you are talking about is something else.” What is the Holy Spirit? What will it do for you and me? What has it ever done for any man, or for any people who have been so happy as to enjoy the blessing of its presence with them, as to partake of its fruits, to live and enjoy the life which it imparts? What has it done for us?

I would like to ask every intelligent man this question, as Latter-day Saints, if they suppose it ever revealed anything more than the truth to any soul? Did it ever do anything beyond simply reflecting light around individuals, in which they were enabled to discover just the simple naked truth, which enabled them to comprehend it as well as be sensible to its existence. What did it ever do, whether you apply its power to revelation, to the principle of light that it would impart; or to the fact that there is a God who lives, rules, and reigns in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; or whether you apply it to something that might be called a smaller matter—a matter of less magnitude; did it ever do anything but simply teach mankind the truth?

Then the truth is the highest point that can be gained, it is the richest gem that can be possessed; you cannot go beyond it, nor stop short of it without partaking of falsehood, and error. There is no alternative left. The principle that governs the dwelling of Jehovah is truth, simple truth, and that is all there is upon which a permanent foundation for happiness can be laid.

If we would learn the God of truth that imparts life, and freedom from darkness and error to us; it is simply that truth that enables us to comprehend the facts in relation to Him. If we learn ourselves it is the same; it would be the revelation of some principle applied to ourselves, to our own history, to the reason why we are here, and the same that brought us here. Then this is what the Holy Spirit will do.

We have been taught that we should so live that it should be with us continually. How is it that we are to live that it may dwell with us? Have we to live so as to possess this truth, this counsellor, this adviser, this minister that will admonish us of God, and for our good, and tell us the truth always?

Have we got to depend upon the contingency of our being able, for instance, to go to meeting every Sabbath day to hear somebody inspired of God tell the truth that we may see it, and hear it, mark it, and define the exact ground we should occupy, the path in which we should walk, and the duties that should fill up the measure of days through the week.

If this was the way that we were to be saved, by living for the truth, and getting it in our possession, and this was to be the only principle upon which we were to possess ourselves of its advantages, if anything should happen that we could not go to church, we should be as hard off as a mariner in a fog without a compass or chart. We should, in every sense of the word, be lost, and be entirely unable to find ourselves.

Was this what was contemplated in the Gospel? Was it contemplated to make the condition and circumstances of those individuals that should embrace the Gospel better? I do not think that it was, I do not believe it was.

The Savior intimated that whoever should do the will of his Father, should fulfil his requirements, what should be their condition; he intimated that this principle should be in, them like a well of water springing up to everlasting life. To the woman at the well of Samaria he said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.”

One of the ancient Apostles in admonishing his brethren who had been taught, probably as much as the Latter-day Saints have, and probably might have embraced the Gospel with similar views; says he, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.”

When a man is in darkness it is necessary he should have a candle, or some borrowed means of light to dissipate the darkness around him. How long? Until the day dawns, and the day star arises. Where? In this man’s heart—in your neighbor’s heart? No. But give heed unto the sure word of prophecy until the day dawns, and the day star arises in your heart.

When the day dawns, we dispense with the light of the candle; when the day star arises in the heart, to use the language of the Apostle, it reflects its light there. Does it wear away? No, it is there continually. The Apostle chose that as a figure, that was as near something immutable and without change, probably, as anything that could occur to his mind, in selecting the dawn of day and the rising of the day star.

The Apostle Peter spoke these words, a man inspired of God, who spoke thus to instruct the uninstructed, that they might be brought to the comprehension of some truths, be led to drink at some fountain of life; this was the object for which they were to attend to this instruction. Then you can discover, very readily, that it is the development in the soul of every individual, of this principle of light, or life, I care not which you call it; it is this comprehension of truth the Apostle refers to.

That the great object of the Gospel, and the object of its being preached was the development of its light in the soul of those individuals that are to become heirs of salvation, the sons and daughters of God, who are to be clothed upon with the principles of truth with which God is clothed, that in the comprehension of truth, they may receive capacity to will and do and accomplish those things which are requisite to their happiness and exaltation.

And so long as this objection fails to be accomplished—so long the preaching of the Gospel has failed to accomplish its object, as far as those individuals are concerned, and the object for which that labor was performed. Whether the lack is in the man who preaches, or in the people to whom he preaches, it is all the same.

This is a point that Latter-day Saints should duly appreciate and consider; because if we do not, the consequences are, discontent in the mind, and dissatisfaction; we shall quarrel with circumstances that are around us, we shall find fault, simply because we are not contented; and because the estimates we place upon truth, and the blessings conferred upon us, lead us to consider that they are not worth the labor we are required to bestow, the money or means we are required to give. The consequence is, we consider it a bad bargain, and we want to rue; and then as Latter-day Saints we apostatize—we quit it—we back out, saying, “We have not found Mormonism what it was cracked up to be.”

How have such people received it? What views have they entertained of it? There are those things which will actually tell the truth on a man, when his lips fail to speak it; his actions will tell it. What did they consider it worth? As much of their tithing as they could not avoid paying.

Some may think it is worth a tithing but not any more. Another man considers it worth everything; and more than everything of which he can entertain a perception. He would not refuse to pour out the last dollar; he will hunt the last corner of his pocket to get out the last farthing to give to it. And when it comes to his labor he would not stop to labor one day in ten, but ten whole days, and only wish there were more days to labor to accomplish more; because in so doing he is serving himself and enlarging his own interest, when he is seeking the interest of “Mormonism.”

Why so? Because he estimates it to be that that is universal in its extent, and intimately associated with every principle of the Gospel, in which the narrow conceptions of men are drowned, they are lost, submerged like a mote cast into the ocean.

On taking this view, he does not stop at anything he can do. Does he stand back from pouring out his life’s blood? No, but he pours it out as freely as water that glides down from the summit of the snow-clad hills to the valleys below.

In what consists the difference between these two classes of men? It is in the estimate they place upon the value of “Mormonism.” One class considers it worth what they gave for it, and the other considers it worth more than they can possible give.

Then it is as men receive the Gospel, and endorse the truth; if they consider it excellent above everything else, so that they will manifest their love for it, and their zeal in promoting its interests, and the accomplishment of its object.

You can readily see, then, how the kingdom of God must be built up in the soul of every individual; Zion must be developed there. What is Zion? It is the pure in heart, so says the revelation. Do you suppose you are going to build up the kingdom of God until the perfection of purity and truth is developed in the hearts of the people of that kingdom? No. You may gather them together by thousands, and tens of thousands, until the concourse swell the congregation in Zion to millions, and what will it amount to until this principle is developed in them?

There will be a corresponding stream of apostacy flowing out, at the same time, at the back door. What is the reason? Simply because this principle is wanted, this important part of the Gospel is omitted, if it has ever been thought of; its harmonizing influences are not felt through the sphere of man’s being; his interests are at war with the interests of Zion; he runs after some fanciful notion that is at war with the kingdom of God. He cares not for it, he would exchange it for a piece of bread and cheese, for a farm, or for the glittering treasure of the world.

Why, because the principle is not in the heart, that causes him to estimate the real value of the gem which he rejects; he considers it worth but a trifle, consequently he will barter away his chance for it, for a trifle. That is the way men act for “Mormonism.” We are going to build up the kingdom of God, and compass sea and land to tell the erring sons of earth the Gospel, and testify that the Lord has set His hand again to build up the kingdom, and then get down by the fireside and say, “Mormonism has been preached so many years, and perhaps, in five years the Son of Man must come;” and in their feelings they say, “It cannot be put off; from what brother Joseph said, and from what brother Brigham has said, or somebody else, we calculate the Son of Man will be here in a few years at the farthest. And will he not have nice times when he comes, visiting among this people?”

When will he come? When will be the day of righteousness that we talk about, when peace and truth, and the kingdom of God shall cover the earth as the waters do the deep? It will be when the principle of truth and light and life are developed in the hearts of the people that dwell on the face of the earth, and never until then.

Knowledge is just as near the earth, so far as that is concerned, now as it will be then; but where is it? There is such a thing as truth, as a comprehension of it, but that does not prove that it exists within you or me; or that either of us have the advantage, or can secure to ourselves the advantage of having it in possession; although a seraph might stand by our side, whose being has been made radiant by the light of truth, we still will be in some ignorance, corresponding to the amount of knowledge we possess.

The light must be in the soul before its benefit can be realized. We have heard our teacher tell us that two and two make four; if we had never heard anything else, if this was all that had been connected with it, would we ever have comprehended the principle? No. The comprehension of it must exist in a man’s mind. It must be in the centre of his being, a fountain of light, and consequently of life and glory, from which fountain should proceed life and truth until it is diffused throughout his whole being, until all his affections are sanctified, and his judgment corrected.

Then he would have no need to pile up and read the musty records of past ages, because the principles of light, and life, and truth are planted in him; and when he began to partake of their fruits, to drink of this fountain, would he thirst again? No. When a man learns the truth, he does not feel any more anxiety about it, he does not become hungry for the comprehension of that truth any more. So Jesus said, “They that drink of the water I will give them shall not thirst again.”

A man that receives the knowledge of the truth does not thirst for the same knowledge again. This is the principle that saves men. And if men, while they build houses and inhabit them; while they make cities, and preach the Gospel, and gather the Saints together; if they were enabled to succeed in developing this principle in themselves, and then to lead people to adopt the same course that should result in like development, then both the preacher, and the people influenced, by his preaching, would be saved, and they would be brought together, and associate together, and the kingdom of God would be built up in the beauty of holiness, and in spirit and truth; and it never can be until then.

The knowledge of God will never cover the earth until it is first in the hearts of the people. The principle must be developed there; then our building of houses, our suffering and toil will all find their reward. In what? In securing to us those blessings that cannot be destroyed; in laying up that treasure where moth and rust do not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal.

Where is it? Some people talk as though they would have to go to heaven, to some distant locality to treasure up this indescribable something called wealth where the doors and gates are strong so as to defy the art of the robber and thief. The most secure thing I can think of and the nearest to an imperishable reality is the knowledge of the truth safely treasured in the memory of an intelligent human being. When treasured there, who can steal it or get it away? They may mar the body, and destroy it, or in other words, cause it to cease to live, but they cannot take away from that which constitutes the man; the treasure he holds, they cannot reach it.

If I was going to lay up an imperishable treasure, I would seek for the knowledge of the truth, and get as much as I could of it, and there would be my treasure, and my heart, and my soul affections. If it was in a cold and uninhabitable region, among snow-clad hills; where corn is hard to make, and wheat still harder, and wood a great way off, my affections would be there because my wealth was there, and the fountain from which this springs would be there. Then I would not hanker after another country, only in simple obedience to the requisition laid upon me—to serve the interests of the cause of the truth of God.

This would fix in the soul a principle of contentment that would wear out hardship and toil, and outlive them, and shed the light of peace and harmony throughout the whole field of a man’s being and operations in life. He would be contented all the time.

Would such a man ever apostatize? No. Was a contented man ever known to apostatize? No. I never saw an apostate yet; but could tell me of some dissatisfied desire that caused him to apostatize.

Then if you feel discontented you may know one thing, that you are not as you should be, that you have not within you the principle that should reign there, to influence, govern, and control you; that should dictate your course, and give shape to your actions.

I want you to remember this, and become philosophers, and examine yourselves, establish an inquisition at home, within the circle you should control, over that little empire over which each of you should rule, and learn whether the love of truth is reigning there, or gathering strength each day.

And if you do not, on examination, find your love of truth a little better to-day, and that you would do a little more for it to-day than twenty-five years ago, you had better get up and look around you, for you are certainly going down hill, and you will soon be like the man that found “Mormonism” to be not what it was cracked up to be; you will be going south to a warmer country, or to some other place.

I want you to become philosophers, as far as examining yourselves is concerned, and in seeing how that little kingdom is getting on, that should be built up within you. “O,” says one, “that is too spiritual.” I know it is very spiritual. It is said, “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.”

But I never thought the kingdom could be built up in a man’s heart. I wish you as Latter-day Saints, when you go home, would sit down and study rationally, and see what principle there is that will be developed in building up the kingdom of God, according to the light of inspiration; you can read in the good book, and according to all that has ever shone around you, or in your own heart; and if you can find a principle in building up that kingdom, you will find one that, in the first place, is to be developed in the circle of every human being that hopes to be associated in building it up.

There must be harmony in the kingdom of God in order to its peace, union, and strength. There must be a perfect subordination to those fixed and unchanging principles that characterize the operations of God. If this is not developed in you, what will you do, when associated with faithful brethren and sisters, in building up the kingdom of God?

You will feel yourselves literally crushed under the pressure of responsibility which will rest upon you; you will be broken up, as it were, and will apostatize, and will be cast out as salt that has lost its savor, and is good for nothing but to be trodden underfoot.

If we have counted on you as a Saint, as a substantial material, when we come to look for you, we do not find you, but we find the place you filled unoccupied, waiting to be filled with some better material, when it is on hand, how long will it take us to build up Zion, to emigrate people from the far off corners of the earth, and they apostatize and run away when they get here? What a Zion we should have!

What attraction would it create to the nations? How brilliant its light? The Zion and kingdom of God never was so built up; it is not so being built up now. What is it that marks the advance of the cause of truth on earth—tells it definitely and truly? If you want to find this out, read the people of the Saints of the Most High, and see if they love the truth, and give it their supreme regard, to the exclusion of everything else.

You may take this man or woman, and give them the appropriate place in the organization of the Church, and they are there every time you call for them, they will always answer. When you put your hand where you expect they are, you will not find a vacancy that is not filled. If you require a service done, you will always find the individual there to perform it, no odds whether it is duty at home or abroad, pleasant or grievous.

Then how is the cause of God advanced? Just as fast as those principles are being developed in the people. That tells her strength, power, and durability. If it is not the love of the truth that binds the people of God together, that holds them firmly round the great centre from which they cannot be induced to take their departure, and for which there is no feeling of the soul but would exert its influence to the fullest extent to bind them to it, then what is it? Who is it? It is not Brigham Young and his associates.

It is no man or set of men that binds the Saints to the truth, that holds them together, and that maintains the rule and supremacy of the authority of God on the earth, but it is the principle of truth and the love of it developed in the hearts of the people, and the influence it exerts over them. Do the people appreciate it? I do not think they do fully, or to a very great extent.

Why do I think this? Because, forsooth, some who feel a great deal of human solicitude for the cause of God, would be very sorrowful because somebody is going to leave. “O, dear, I really do feel the cause of God will apostatize, if we lose our President for a little time, for a few months or a year, what will become of us?”

They suppose, with all the strength of the authorities of this kingdom, aided by the strength of God, they have as much as they can do to hold the people together. Such people make no calculation on the influence. and strength of truth, but on the influence of frail man, or on the influence of a set of mortals like themselves, who enjoy more of the light of inspiration than they.

Does the Lord tell us this? We know He has said it is His business to provide for His Saints. What does He require of you and me? Simply, enough to save ourselves. Says one, “I supposed I had to save nearly half the world to become great in the kingdom of God.”

If you are able to save yourselves, you will do first rate, because you will get all the reward you need—all that will make you happy, and an abundant entrance will be administered unto you into the everlasting kingdom of God, and to the enjoyment of every thing that is requisite to your happiness.

They would not ask you in that state whether you have saved one, two, a hundred, or a hundred thousand souls besides yourself. “What, and I sent you to preach for them?” Why, to save yourself. And the reason why a great many of our Travelling Elders apostatize, and now mingle with that class of sinners, is simply because they fail to apply the principles to themselves which they recommend to others.

“What do you preach for?” To save yourselves. If I get myself saved I am not concerned about you. I am preaching these principles to you to-day, to discharge a duty that I owe to you, that I may be saved. It is the same when I am somewhere else. “But is buying a rancho embraced in your salvation. What did you buy that land for, did you do it to preach the Gospel? Do you go down to San Bernardino to preach the Gospel? Did President Young tell you to come here and preach?” No, he said he wanted to see me; so I came and looked at him, and he saw me; and then the brethren wanted me to preach, and I have preached some ideas that may be new, and if I should find out something else I did not before comprehend, I shall preach it. And I would preach just as quick any where else as here, because the Saints are all alike to me; their progression is one, their hopes and expectations are one, or should be; and their heaven and reward will be one when they obtain them; and it will all be in the same country. Will it be in San Bernardino? No. In Salt Lake Valley? No. Will it be in any one of the settlements of the Saints to the exclusion of the rest? No. Where will it be? In here. In your own hearts. When you get your heaven built up there so that it becomes a living organized creation, with all its parts and properties properly associated and developed, as the parts are in the physical being of man, you would not go to tom fooling over the earth to find a heaven, because you carry it with you continually.

If you go on a journey you take your heaven with you, or if you stay at home, it is there; if you go to meeting, you take it with you: and when you die and your spirit mingles with the spirits of just men made perfect, you take your heaven there. Says one, “How is the kingdom of God to be built up if that constitutes the great and important point?” Why, bring in the Saints from the four corners of the earth, by tens of millions, and associate them together, and what will they do? They will do what they are required to do. They will live in harmony one with another collectively, and with themselves individually, and with their God; consequently, the will of God will be done on earth, as in heaven. The principles of truth will be exemplified in the conduct of men on earth as it is with the spirits of the just in heaven, because men will know and appreciate the truth, and their conduct will be shaped according to it.

If this is not good Gospel, get something that is better. This Gospel fills up this little creation we live in. Where do we live? In the midst of space. Why? Because it is all around us. How far does it extend? To infinitude. The creation of man cannot reach it, his thoughts tire in the contemplation of it.

This little portion of the Gospel we commenced to tell the people years ago, this meagre supply of truth, which fills up the narrow comprehension of us mortals, is a part of that great whole which occupies this space, and that constitutes all the glory, happiness, and bliss that is within that illimitable field.

You cannot name another heaven, you cannot find the material to make it of, you have no foundation upon which to build it. You cannot by your own reaching get away any portion of this Gospel, for it takes up all the material around us; you must go beyond this space where we occupy, so to operate. Do you esteem “Mormonism” as being worth all the wealth that is embraced in this vast infinitude of extent? Then what do you wish to exchange it for? Don’t go and fool it away for a little tea and coffee, for a little sugar, peaches, and grapes, or for a warmer climate; in so doing you would show yourselves but poor financiers; I would not wish you to operate for me; and the master will think as I do; if you go and fool away the treasure committed to your keeping, will he ever give you another penny to start upon again? I do not know whether he will or not. He will probably not do it until you have been poor, and ragged, and destitute, and a beggar for a long time.

Be faithful now, and learn this one thing—that we have not learned the Gospel, but learned of it, and are still learning of it, as much truth as we can gain. How fast do we learn? Just as fast as the condition of feeling we cultivate will allow us; just as much as the spirit of it is with us; just so much we learn.

Do you want to secure blessings? Says one, “I want to do a great deal for my dead friends, and to this end I want to get into the temple of the Lord.” The Gospel has to do with this; why? Because it is inside the elements of the Gospel—it comes within the scope of its principles, and extent, and application to man’s existence and happiness.

Then do not be in a hurry about getting into the temple before you are prepared to go there. Some act as though they had no other idea, but that they will be able to get in by stealth; they expect to storm heaven, and force blessings from the Almighty irrespective of their claim. This is not the spirit of the Gospel, it is not thus in the temple of God.

I shall secure to myself, how much? that that my conduct has rendered me worthy of. “But suppose brothers Brigham, Heber, and Jedediah pronounce blessings upon me, shall I not get them?” If you are worthy of them you will. You are not to speculate in prospective on the blessings you expect to get; if you live here so as to be worthy of them, what need you fear about anything.

It is impossible in the nature of truth, for you to lose anything of which you are worthy; God cannot lie; He cannot forsake His faithful children, and disannul the promise He has made to them.

Do you want to hasten the building of the temple, or any other work, which will be to the interest of Zion on earth? Then commence at home; take a home mission, and attend strictly to the “Mormon” creed, which you know is, “Mind your own business.”

Suppose you all individually take a home mission, to examine yourselves, and institute that inquisition I have alluded to, into your own conduct and condition, day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. Is it not of importance that it should be set up?

To keep this perishable body from starving, you would work day and night; is not the soul of man, that, can never die, that must be happy or miserable for eternity, worth your notice? Go to work and examine yourselves for a short time each day, and see how you are getting on.

You need not take it for granted that because you live in Great Salt Lake City, you will be saved; but if there are not thousands damned who live in this place, I shall be mistaken, and things will turn out better than I expect. “If that is the case in Salt Lake City, how are they doing in San Bernardino?” They are doing as you are here.

“Why, I did not suppose you had good people enough there to do as we are doing here.” What do you suppose is the difference between good men here and in San Bernardino? I feel that I am about the same sort of a man there as here, I do not feel any better here to-day than I should if I were there. I do not feel the weight of my responsibility any different, not a particle.

The good men down there, that love the truth, are working righteousness. Is there anymore done here? If any man is doing anything but serving God—that loves the truth—I would like to know his name.

“But have you not many bad people there?” Yes, a great many, I wish we had fewer. You may suppose we have them there, because they left here. However, we try to do as well as we can, and, if on the tide of human events, too great a preponderancy of wickedness does not float in our midst, the truth will triumph; and if it does not, I do not care as concerns myself, so I am found a righteous man, acting according to the dictations of truth, that will save me.

That is the way we are getting along in San Bernardino. And here I may also observe, it is the way they are getting on in all the settlements of the Saints, and everywhere else.

We have not as many Saints down there as you have, but we have as many of one sort: and I feel as though I am interested down there as I am here, only not in the way I am here.

Having made these few scattering remarks, just as they came into my mind, without study or arrangement, I will forbear. If I have said anything wrong, I have no objections that you forget it; I hope you may; and what I have said that is right, I would like you to remember, because I am interested in having you remember it; and in having this people with the Saints everywhere, become a pure, a great and good people, because I am interested in the building up of the kingdom of God, and wherever that people and the interest of the kingdom is represented, there is my interest. And I hope when we have wound up the little routine of duties assigned us here, we shall have secured to ourselves that wealth that shall be to us worth all sublunary considerations, and remain when they have passed away. That we may all obtain this, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Necessity of the Saints Having the Spirit of Revelation, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse, by President B. Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City. May 6, 1855.

It is hardly time to close the meeting, and I take the liberty of making a few remarks. I expect, in a day or two, to leave home for a few weeks, to visit the natives in the south, and shall call on the brethren in that region. I now wish to ask a few favors for myself, for those who may accompany me, and for all who remain.

If you should hear any reports about me during our absence, always have enough of the spirit of truth to know whether they are false or true; always so enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, that you can discern between truth and error, and know the spirit of evil from the spirit of righteousness. If you should hear that I have apostatized from the Gospel and gone to California to get gold, you need not believe that report; but if you hear that I am opposed to a spirit which prevails among a good many, who profess to be Saints, you may believe it; but if you hear that the Indians have killed me, you need not believe that. Still, if the Lord sees fit to take me away, I am just as ready to go while on this mission as at any other time; I never expect to be better prepared, though I presume that I shall only be gone a few weeks and return, and I ask all the brethren and sisters to be faithful while I am gone.

Do not be fretting about this, that, or the other thing, for I will warrant that we shall have harvest as well as seed time, and that we shall reap a good harvest. I expect that some of the brethren may think, “Now is the time for speculation,” and may run and buy up all the wheat and flour for that purpose, but there is enough and will be enough, there will be no lack, and if we have no surplus, what does it matter? It will all be right, and we will acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things.

It would be pleasing if all the Saints had strong faith and confidence, but sometimes many seem to falter in their feelings. I do not know how many I might find in this congregation who would have faith enough to believe that we could live on the tops of these high mountains, which are 6,619 feet higher than the Temple Block, in case we were called to go up there and live, and there was no other place for us; I do not know whether a great many in this congregation could have faith to believe that we could live there.

At the same time, when I exhort the brethren to have faith, I really had rather that they would have good works; I do not care half so much about their faith as I do about their works. Faith is not so obvious a principle, but in good works you see a manifestation, an evidence, a proof that there is something good about the person who is in the habit of doing them.

Now, if the people will only be full of good works, I will insure that they will have faith in time of need. I wish the brethren to be diligent in their affairs here, to be honest, faithful, prudent, and upright, and try to receive the spirit of the Gospel. I am ready to acknowledge that this people have the Gospel, that they are a good people; they are the best we know of upon the earth. At the same time there is a great lack with regard to the sentiments of many of them, with regard to their understanding, their views, the proportions, the degree and quality of the spirit they are in possession of.

All ought to seek to know the mind and will of the Lord, and when they know it, they will be taught that the interest of this people is the interest of the Lord, and that all we do is for His glory. This is not all, it is likewise for our own benefit, and when we learn the principles of the Gospel perfectly, we shall learn that our interest is one, that we have no correct individual interest separate from this kingdom; if we have true interest at all, it is in the kingdom of God. If we truly possess and enjoy anything, it is in this kingdom; if we build it up, we shall be built up; if we neglect so to do, we shall fail to sustain ourselves.

If we draw off in our feelings and have a divided interest from the kingdom of God, we shall fail in obtaining the object of our Priesthood. Nothing will stand on this earth, in the final issue, but the kingdom of God, and that which is in it; everything else will pass away—will be destroyed. Then if we in all our works seek to identify our feelings, our interests, our whole efforts in one to sustain and build up the kingdom of God on the earth, we are sure to build ourselves up.

If we can correctly see and understand the proper labor of man, and will direct our course to build up the kingdom of God, it prepares the people to receive those blessings which the Lord has in store for them. But if a people are separate in their feelings, divided in their efforts, have an individual interest each one for themselves, it tends to destruction. Those who are well instructed in the principles of the kingdom of God, and who receive it as it is, will discern that all they do is in reality to benefit themselves; and when the people do all they can, the Lord is bound to do the rest.

If we have good works and plenty of them, I have not the least doubt but what we shall reap a bountiful harvest this year, and have a surplus of grain after supplying all who will come here this season. But suppose that we should have no surplus, would not good works in abundance produce the faith that is necessary for the Lord to do the rest, when we have done what we can? Good works will produce good faith, and good faith will produce good works.

If our faith is correct, we will apply our labor in that way which will promote our own interest, thereby promoting the interest of the kingdom of God on the earth; but if we have even one interest separate and apart from that kingdom, we do not fully promote our own individual welfare.

If the people will be patient and faithful, industrious and humble, so as to know truth from error, and not worry themselves in the least, no person need be afraid of all earthly powers and influences, nor of the powers and influences of hell, not in the least.

Brother George Q. Cannon has just stated, If he had not believed “Mormonism” until he went to the Sandwich Islands, what he saw there would have proved it to be true. We might ask whether there is an individual here who has seen enough of the handy work of the Lord, to prove “Mormonism” to be true. Are this people convinced by the course that the Lord has taken with them, and by what He has done for them, that “Mormonism” is true? If there was no other proof, that might be satisfactory, but after we have had that proof, we need the testimony within us, and that testimony we must have.

In all the labor of the Saints, when faith springs up in the heart, good works will follow, and good works will increase that pure faith within them. That is the case with brother Cannon, and that is the case with every Saint.

What the Lord has done for this people would convince any man in the world, upon rational principles, that it is not the wisdom of man, nor his power or might, nor the power or might of this people unitedly, that has accomplished what has been done, but that it has been brought to pass by an invisible power. Still a person, unless he has the light of the Spirit within him, will attribute the work of the Lord to the wisdom of man, or necromancy, or the power of the devil. Again, a person may see the power of the devil displayed, and mistake it for the power of God, for without the light of the Spirit one cannot tell the difference between the power of the Lord and the power of the devil.

We must have the testimony of the Lord Jesus to enable us to discern between truth and error, light and darkness, him who is of God, and him who is not of God, and to know how to place everything where it belongs. That is the only way to be a scientific Christian; there is no other method or process which will actually school a person so that he can become a Saint of God, and prepare him for a celestial glory; he must have within him the testimony of the spirit of the Gospel.

Persons may see miracles performed; may see the sick healed, the eyes of the blind opened, the lame made to leap, and even the dead raised, and may acknowledge that it is all done by the power of God, but will all this enable them to discern whether it is the power of God or not? No, it will not. They must have the spirit by which the dead are raised, by which the sick are healed, and the eyes of the blind opened, or they cannot tell whether it is done by the power of God or the power of the devil, or whether there is a mist over their own eyes.

I make these remarks that you may understand that my faith is not placed upon the Lord’s working upon the islands of the sea, upon His bringing the people here, upon His causing a drouth in the eastern lands, and wars, bloodshed, and destruction among the people; nor upon the favors He bestows upon this people, or upon that people, neither upon whether we are blessed or not blessed, but my faith is placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and my knowledge I have received from him.

That must be the case with every person who expects to receive a celestial glory, to be crowned in a celestial kingdom of our God. We might have a drouth here, and still, by some invisible power or hand, this whole people be sustained, even though not a mouthful of bread was raised in this whole Territory. Would that prove that our God is the God we should serve? To a person who knows anything about the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is no proof at all.

If we read right, in the last days we expect the power of the enemy to have a great influence among the people, and to succeed in deceiving very many. Do you expect the eyes of the blind opened by the power of the devil? I do, and I expect to see the lame made to leap, and the ears of the deaf unstopped by that power.

Have any of this congregation ever seen, witnessed, or had any knowledge of such a thing? Yes. Have the sick been healed? Yes, both by the power of God and by the power of the devil. We say that we can witness that the power of God has healed the sick. Are there individuals here who have seen the sick healed when they did not know by what power they were healed? Yes, a great many. Mesmerism has healed many persons in the world. Do you know whether that works by the power of God, or by the power of the devil? You do not, unless you have the light of revelation. You may believe the testimony of others, but unles[s] you get a revelation for yourselves, you do not know whether it is by the power of God or by the power of the devil. Have we witnessed persons apostatizing from this people, from the kingdom of God, to go into the world and become wicked, and give way to swearing, drinking, gambling, and horse-racing, and become as they formerly had been, only more wicked than they were previous to coming into this Church, and that, too, through the principle of Mesmerism?

I know of many whom Mesmerism has led out of this Church; they would see the sick healed, and attribute it to the power of God; would fall under its influence, embrace and practice it, and thus give the devil power over them to lead them out of the kingdom of God. They could not tell whether it was the power of God or the power of the devil. What is the reason? They had not the light of revelation within them; they had not the knowledge of God. Are you not aware how easily we may be deceived? A neighbor comes along and tells you a story, and you are ready, to believe him, for, you say, “That man is a man of truth, I must believe his statement. That sister is a woman of truth, I cannot but believe her statement.

Have any of you ever experienced a circumstance like this? For instance, a person, say a sister in the Church, has a dream, that such and such things are going to take place; she tells it to another in the morning; that one tells it to a second person by noon, who tells it to a third ere night, and so on. How long has that story to go the rounds before it is told as a revelation—as a vision, and perhaps as coming from a man of God, from a proper source, that the Lord is going to do thus and so, for there is a revelation upon it? I have known people to be thus deceived here in this city, and I have also known them to be greatly deceived upon a true principle, if they had only understood it, but they did not understand it.

Mesmerism is an inverted truth; it originated in holy, good, and righteous principles, which have been inverted by the power of the devil.

Again, many people in this city do not know whether astrology is true or not, whether it is of God or of the devil; hence they are liable to be deceived, as is every person unless they have the power of revelation within themselves. If there are any brethren here who have been studying astrology, and they were called upon to speak, would they not say that they believed it to be a true science? They would; they testify that they know it to be true. But what does it do for them? It leads them into thousands of errors. Does God ever lead you into error? Is He mistaken when He reveals? No; when He sets you to make calculations and figures, I will insure you that every sum will prove and come out precisely right. The Lord does not deceive people, but astrology and Mesmerism do lead them astray. How many deceptions are there in the world? Millions, for a great many spirits have gone forth into the world to deceive the people. Spirit rappings are of the same class. Are they calculated to deceive the people? They are.

There are many Elders in this house who, if I had the power to Mesmerise that vase and make it dance on that table, would say that it was done by the power of God; and I expect that some of them would begin to shout, and that some of the sisters would shout, “Glory be to God, hallelujah.” Who could tell whether it was done by the power of God or the power of the devil? No person, unless he had the revelations of Jesus Christ within him. I suppose you are ready to ask brother Brigham if he thinks the power of the devil could make the vase dance. Yes, and could take it up and carry it out doors, just as easy as to turn up a table and move it here and there, or to cause a rap, rap, rap, or to bake and pass around pancakes, or to get hold of a person’s hand, and make him write in every style you can think of, imitating George Washington’s, Benjamin Franklin’s, Joseph Smith’s, and others’ autographs. Can you tell whether that is by the power of God or by the power of the devil? No, unless you have the revelations of Jesus Christ.

Now do not let the power of the devil deceive you. You may ask, “How shall we know, brother Brigham, whether you are telling us the truth or not?” Get the spirit of revelation, then you will know, and not without. Will you take my counsel? (though you may do as you please with regard to that) if you will, I can tell you what to do, and what all the Latter-day Saints—whom I have preached to from the first of my preaching, from the first of my testimony that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon is true—would have done if they had followed my counsel, and that is, to seek unto the Lord your God until He opens the visions of your minds, and lets the rays of eternity shine within you.

I never would have been a “Mormon” had it not been for that; no, never. Not that I am proof against false spirits and delusions, but I had seen so much nonsense on the earth, that I had not the least particle of confidence in any “ism” that was agoing, and I never did have until I sought unto the Lord my God with all my heart.

If you would take my counsel you never would cease to plead with the Lord, until He opened the eyes of your understanding and revealed eternity to you, that you might know for yourselves how things are, and when you know and keep in that spirit, you will never be deceived, but the spirit of truth will always be with you, and if you cleave to that, it will lead you into all truth and holiness. Without it, you are constantly liable to be deceived, to receive evil, false reports, and false testimony, through the evil power and arts which have been upon the earth from the days of Adam until now.

Mesmerism is a true principle inverted, just like every other evil or error. Show me one principle that has originated by the power of the devil. You cannot do it. I call evil inverted good, or a correct principle made an evil use of. Has Mesmerism a resemblance to any true principle? It has. In one feature it resembles the principle taught in the 14th and part of the 15th verses of the 5th chapter of the general epistle of the Apostle James, “If any are sick, &c.” But why not say to the sick, be made well; just as well as to put your hands upon them? Because in the latter case, they come in connection with the same fluid and power which are in the operator, and if I, as the operator, have any good power, it tends to thwart the evil influence that is afflicting the sick, and to cause it to depart; through this connection the power of God administers to the sick, and that, too, upon rational principles.

The first Elders can recollect, when we commenced preaching “Mormonism,” that present revelation and a Prophet of God on the earth were the great stumbling blocks to the people, were what we had to contend against, and were, seemingly, the most potent obstacles in our way to the introduction of the Gospel. The people would meet us with, “There is no such thing now as prophets sent of God; they all died long ago, and the revelations have long since been closed up.” The first Elders had to argue with the people, and show them from the Scriptures that if they were complied with according to the letter and spirit, there would be Prophets and revelations on the earth.

The Elders of Israel were prepared to meet, the priests on this ground, and they prevailed over the devil, for those who believed the Bible saw that they had to believe in new revelation, and the devil had to give up that point.

What next? When the world would believe in new revelation, the devil commenced to give them his revelations by spirit rapping, and by every kind of necromancy that he could induce the people to believe. He had to resort to a new method for deceiving mankind, for the old plan did not entirely succeed against the revelation of the truth, the sending of angels, and the causing the hearts of the people to be filled with the light of eternity.

I recollect meeting some priests; and taking them on their own grounds. They believed that the Bible had a literal meaning, and that if it was literally carried out in the lives of the people, the same gifts and blessings would be produced as anciently. They cited revelation after revelation given in ancient days, and quoted miracle after miracle. I said, “Suppose now that I am an infidel, how do your miracles look to me? Do not your own creed and your own views teach you all the time that a poor miserable witch, called the witch of Endor, had power to raise the Prophet Samuel from the dead? Was that done by the power of your God that you are speaking about?” “O, no.” “What proof have you that she was not as good a woman as ever lived, and had as much power as any in her day? Your own Bible teaches you that Samuel was a Prophet of God, and that she had power to raise him from the dead; then, why don’t you worship her as a great saint?” They left the question and turned to Moses, who had access to all the learning of Egypt; “and when Pharaoh had called in his wise men, his astrologers and soothsayers,” said I, “Moses was a little smarter than the rest of those Egyptians, and all you can say about it is, that he had a few keys which led him a little ahead of the astrologers of Egypt; but they were on the course of miracle working, and you have no evidence to prove to the contrary. You say that Moses was a Prophet of God, and that he led a people out of the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh’s soothsayers could turn the water to blood, &c., and when they threw their canes on the floor they became serpents; now, because Moses’ cane or serpent swallowed up theirs, you naturally give him the preference. True, this indicates that he was a little the smartest man, and that he had a few more keys than those had who were around Pharaoh. Have you any argument to prove more than that? Take your Bible and produce one if you can.” They were compelled to abandon that point.

Had a man who did not know Moses, nor Pharaoh’s wise men—one destitute of revelation and of a knowledge of heavenly things—one who knew nothing about God, devils, angels, nor their power; nothing about good or bad principles—stepped in and seen those miracles wrought, do you not perceive that he could not have told which was from a good or which was from an evil source? He could not have judged the matter upon any worldly principle. Moses says to Pharaoh, “Let the children of Israel go.” He would not do it. “Then,” says Moses, “I will cause frogs to come upon the whole land.” Pharaoh replies, “I don’t believe it.” But up they came. He calls for his soothsayers, astrologers and wise men, and tells them what Moses had done, and asks them what they can do. “We can do just what he has.” And sure enough up came the frogs.

Moses next made the dust into lice. Pharaoh calls for his wise men, saying, “What can you do, my friends?” “O, we can do the same.” How could a man, woman, nation or people, destitute of the spirit of revelation discern and determine which were right, Moses or the wise men of Egypt? They could not.

Hence, you comprehend that every principle set forth in our holy religion—every part of the religious experience which we have obtained on the earth, proves the necessity there is for all Saints to live their religion, that the Lord may reveal unto them, from time to time, His will concerning them. Then you would not be troubled about crickets, nor about grasshoppers, rain, drouth, nor anything else; but you would inquire what the Lord requires of you, and how He wishes you to do His will on the earth. Pay attention to what the Lord requires of you and let the balance go. He will take care of that if you will knowledge His hand in all things. Then you will rejoice that your names are written in heaven—that you have the privilege of being able to discern between the right and wrong, to recognize the goings forth of the Lord and that you can perceive His handy work among the people and His footsteps among the nations; how He pulls down one kingdom here and raises another there, and turns and overturns in the earth according to His good pleasure and men cannot help it, and the people know it not—they understand not.

The Lord causes the people to bring forth His purposes that His Saints may rejoice, and that wickedness may eventually be destroyed from the earth; He will bring it all about, therefore let us pay attention to our duties. Attend to your crops, and let the gardens be attended to; and if your corn is eaten off to-day plant again to-morrow; if your wheat is cut down by the grasshoppers, sow a little more and drag it in. Last season when the grasshoppers came on my crops, I said, “Nibble away, I may as well feed you as to have my neighbors do it; I have sown plenty, and you have not raised any yourselves.” And when harvest came you would not have known that there had been a grasshopper there; the yield was as good as I expected at the planting and sowing.

Do your duty and cleave to the truth, and let us attend to adorning this block and to building the temple, and let the brethren come and pay their labor tithing. We have completed what some call the endowment house, though what I call the House of the Lord. In it you will get your endowments, but do not fret about it, for you will receive them in your times.

Let us build the temple, and when we have finished that building we will call it the Temple of our God. Be diligent and upright in all things, and acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things; rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, even if you have nothing but buttermilk and potatoes.

Do those things that are necessary to be done and let those alone that are not necessary, and we shall accomplish more than we do now.

In the United States, where I lived in my youth, I have known immigrant families who would rise early, have their breakfast ready and eaten in about forty minutes, and all turn out to work on their farm until half-past eleven, then go to the house, eat dinner and, not devote more than an hour for rest. What was the result of this steady labor? People who had crossed the ocean with no money and with very little clothing, who knew little or nothing about farming, and in a new country, would soon have a good farm cleared and paid for. In a few years more they would have their carriages and horses, and every comfort and luxury to be derived from fine gardens and orchards. After a while they could purchase more land and add it to their well cultivated farms, and, perhaps, in fifteen or twenty years, become wealthy, though they had nothing but health and industry to begin with.

If we wish to be rich the Lord has wealth in store for us, but let us take a course to gather it together, and then to prepare it for usefulness when it is gathered. I am not for hoarding up gold and other property to lie useless, I wish to put everything to a good use. I never keep a dollar lying idly by me, for I wish all the means to be put into active operation. If I now had in my possession one hundred million dollars in cash, I could buy the favor of the publishers of newspapers and control their presses; with that amount I could make this people popular, though I expect that popularity would send us to hell. True with such a sum we could gather up the poor scattered Israelites and redeem Zion, but I feel to say, “No, Lord, when riches before their time are agoing to destroy the people.”

Let the people have righteousness, be taught of the Lord, live in the revelations of Jesus Christ, and then they can handle the gold and silver of the whole earth without having a desire for it, only as a means with which to gather Israel, redeem Zion, subdue and beautify the earth, and bring all things in readiness to live with God in heaven.

May the Lord help us to do this great work. Amen.

Rebuking Iniquity, etc.

Heber C. Kimball

A discourse, by President H. C. Kimball, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 25, 1855.

Brother Woodruff has just given us a sketch of many things, touching upon the Prophets, the welfare of Israel, and the sorrow and desolation that will finally fall upon the wicked; and the wicked among us will not escape, any more than will those in the world.

I was thinking considerably upon what he said about the wickedness that is creeping into our midst, and of that wickedness being rebuked. I want my brethren and sisters to understand that only those who are guilty are rebuked. Our rebukes do not touch the innocent, nor affect them one hair’s breadth. When you use the whip the lash will, perhaps, hit a person who sits in the outer edge of the congregation, and one in this, and another in that part of the room. It is intended for them, and not for those it does not hit. You will not hear any man or woman, enter a complaint, or find any fault with brother Brigham, or brother Heber, except that person who is hit.

When you load your musket with buckshot, or coarse shot, and fire into a flock of ducks or geese, you never will see any flutter except the wounded. When you see a person flutter, you may know that is the character who is hit, and is the one who ought to be hit.

I was reflecting, yesterday, whether I had any articles left of all I had when I came into this Church, and I found that I had one chest which brother Brigham Young made and painted at my house, and my wife has a little tin trunk which her father gave her before she was married, and I have one earthen tea canister which I made about the time I was married. I think those are the only articles left of those I had when I came into this Church. What is the reason? I have been driven from my possessions, and robbed of the things which were given me by my father and mother, and of those given to my wife by her parents.

I reflect upon these things, and when I see sin working in our midst like the leaven in a measure of meal, I feel to rebuke it; and I would rather die in the valleys of the mountains than be driven again. I am against sin, and I am one with those who are against it. We are at war with it, and with the devil and with his works; and so is every good, honest, virtuous, holy Saint.

Will you sit down and go to sleep? Will you rock yourselves in your easy chairs and see the leaven of iniquity working in our midst? (Voices, “No”) Don’t say no, and then do it. I have never injured any gentleman, by speaking in this congregation. None of my remarks have had reference to a true gentleman, but I have reference to those who take a course to pollute this people; they are the ones who deserve the lash.

There are men and women in our midst, and perhaps some who profess “Mormonism,” who would take my life in a moment, if they dare, and the life of President Young. As for death, I do not trouble myself much about it. When the time comes for me to depart from this life and go into what we call eternity, to pass through the vail, it is, simply, to leave the body to rest awhile, and blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for their sleep shall be sweet unto them. Death is merely a sleep to the body, and all the fear I have concerning it is what arises from my traditions. I was taught in my youth that after death I had to go directly into the bowels of hell, and go down, down, down, because there is no bottom to it. I am not troubled about any such thing as that, for I never expect to see any worse hell than I have seen in this world. And those who do not the works of righteousness, and are not worthy to be gathered with the spirits of the Saints, will go into precisely such society, in the world of spirits, as they are now in.

The spirits of the Saints will be gathered in one, that is, of all who are worthy; and those who are not just will be left where they will be scourged, tormented, and afflicted, until they can bring their spirits into subjection and be like clay in the hands of the potter, that the potter may have power to mould and fashion them into any kind of vessel, as he is directed by the Master Potter.

When the Lord spoke to Jeremiah He told him to go down to the potter’s house, and there he would cause him to hear His words. When he went down to the potter’s house, “Behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.” The potter tried to bring a lump of clay in subjection, and he worked and tugged at it, but the clay was rebellious, and would not submit to the will of the potter, and marred in his hands. Then, of course, he had to cut it from the wheel and throw it into the mill to be ground over, in order that it might become passive; after which he takes it again and makes of it a vessel unto honor, out of the same lump that was dishonored, because it would not be subject to the potter, and was, therefore, cut from the wheel, and put through another grinding until it was passive. There may ten thousand millions of men go to hell, because they dishonor themselves and will not be subject, and after that they will be taken and made vessels unto honor, if they will become obedient, and God will make us, who are His servants, bring about His purposes. Can you find any fault with that?

The Lord said to Jeremiah, “O, house of Israel, cannot I do with you as the potter? Behold as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand.” They dishonored themselves and were rebellious, and I have cut them off and thrown them in the mill, and they shall grind until they are passive. And I have taken a gentler lump, to see if I cannot make a vessel unto honor. By and by that lump will dishonor itself, and be thrown back into the mill, and God will take Israel and make of them a vessel unto honor.

Some time ago, when I spoke to the congregation in words of rebuke, it made a wonderful stir with a few men, that is, with those who were hit, and with those who were filled with sympathy for them, because they were such fine, accomplished gentlemen. After I went home from the council that same evening, I dreamed that I was at work at my old trade of making pots, that I had a kiln, and that brothers Brigham, Grant, and others were there. The kiln was full of earthen vessels, and we had burnt wood in the arches until it became red hot, but the blaze was coming out of the flues. It did not draw as we wished it to, for the wood was not sufficiently dry. We went and got some good, dry wood, but were gone sometime, and when we came back the kiln got considerably low in heat. We put in some dry wood, and soon brought it back to the same heat it had before we left it. But when I began to look around, I saw a great many vessels, off on one side, that were not good for anything, they would not stand the fire and began to fall in when nobody was touching them; a whole tier of them fell in at a time. Said I, “Why have you made these vessels so thin? You have made them two thirds larger than they ought to be, with the amount of clay that is in them. Their skin is too thin, you have stretched them too far, and not given them the thickness in proportion. What shall we do with them? Let us break them up and put them into the mill, and grind them up again. The material is good, but they all need making over.”

Do you understand that dream? The Elders or somebody else, had stretched those vessels too much; they had got the big head, that is, their heads were larger than the substances would sustain, and they fell in—the vessels fell in. The clay was good, but the vessels were made too big in the start; we must not stretch them too much. Potters always work according to the amount of clay on hand; if it is a small lump they make a small vessel, and make it all the way of a thickness, as near as possible.

In the dream, I discovered that there were many just such thin characters all around us, and they fell in because we touched some of them. I have touched many people here, both men and women, who profess to be Latter-day Saints, and I hurt them just as bad as I hurt some strangers. But I never hurt the feelings of a true Saint, nor of a stranger who is a gentleman, no, not one of them. I hurt scoundrels who will take a course, and have taken a course, to pollute themselves, and to put the leaven of corruption and wickedness in the midst of this people. I am directly opposed to such characters, and to their principles. Do you understand why? Because I have been driven and afflicted, until there is hardly a vestige of anything left which I had when I came into “Mormonism.”

I am plain and definite in my language, and I use plain figures, and now and then one that is sometimes considered vulgar, by those who are themselves vulgar. To those who are pure, all things are pure, but to those who are impure, all things are impure. Again, when you are pure, righteous—without sin, you think, many times, that everybody else is without sin. When I see, hear, and know of practices in our midst, that are impure, I will go against them. Gentlemen, you may expect this, I would rather die, than undergo what I have already undergone in the travel from Nauvoo to this place, under the same circumstances.

When we left that city, between one and two hundred souls were attached to me, and looked to me for bread, and I had to travel to this land when it seemed as though I could not live under the load. And President Young was in the same situation with another company attached to him, and thus we travelled through sorrow, misery, and death.

Now, if any persons wish to begin another scrape, and desire to again break us up, and to corrupt this people, and to bring death, hell, and the devil into our midst, come on, for God Almighty knows that I will strive to slay the man who undertakes it. [The congregation said, “AMEN.”]

I am opposed to corruption; I wish every man to keep himself pure, whether he is Jew, or Gentile, or Latter-day Saint; keep yourselves pure. I do not allow my women to fondle with other men, or to sit in their laps, and they must not suffer other men to kiss or hug them, if they do, I will cast them off. Let my wives alone, and let my daughters alone, except you have my permission to pay them attention, and do as you wish to be done by.

I talk plainly, I am not afraid, for I am my heavenly Father’s friend, and I am a friend to all His sons and daughters, whether they make a profession of religion or not, but they must not undertake to pollute this people. I delight to have strangers come to my house, and they shall have the privilege of visiting and associating with me, and I will associate with them, on condition that they behave like true gentlemen.

“Mormonism” is meat and drink to us, it is sweeter than the honey comb; it is life to us, and to the world it is poison. “Mormonism” is true, it is righteous, and we are a pure people, with but very few exceptions.

I know that there are some who cultivate unwholesome principles and practices. The old saying is, “Birds of a feather will flock together,” so they will, perhaps, leave us. I am plain, and I will tell you what I think of you. If a man rebels, I will tell him of it, and if he resents a timely warning, he is unwise.

Notwithstanding I am a plain spoken man, I never had a difficulty that would bring me before a court of my country. I dislike and despise dissension, war, and bloodshed, and that is why I am not pleased with the lawyers. I may like their persons, but God knows that I do not like their works nor their principles, when they strive to produce confusion and contention here, after we have made laws which suit us, good laws, and as few of them as possible.

This people are a good people, and I love them as I love my life. But I would rather lay down my life, than to again pass through what I have already endured.

I have never yet shed man’s blood, and I pray to God that I never may, unless it is actually necessary. I have never had occasion to fight, but I have often stood, with my firelock in readiness, guarding the Prophet Joseph, (with brother Brigham and others) for his life was sought all the time, and that too in Kirtland, Ohio, that civilized country. I stood by him until his death, and I will stand by President Young in like manner, God helping me, and so will thousands of this people, and I know it.

God grant that this spirit may rest upon you, ye Elders of Israel, ye servants of God, upon you, mothers in Israel, and upon you, daughters of God. May it abound in you, and be inherited by your posterity, that you may become like angels of God, and stand in the defence of Israel. These are the blessings I seal upon all of you. Be virtuous and pure, and keep your hands from everything that is not your own, and restore everything that is your neighbor’s.

Do as you would wish to be done by, and God will bless you for ever. Lay aside all covetous, penurious, and narrow-contracted feelings, cast them off. Be one, brethren. Let each family be one with its head, and let that head be united with the Presidency, and then we are one and God is for us, and who can be against us?

May God instruct you, and cause these principles to enter deep into your hearts and multiply within you, from this time henceforth, and for ever. Amen.

Salvation, etc.

Amasa Lyman

A discourse by Amasa Lyman, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, December 9, 1855.

It seems, my brethren and sisters, that an occurrence of circumstances has brought us together again; and the occurrence of circumstances has taken away from you, for a time, those who have been more with you than I have myself. But there is one thing that has not changed, viz: our interests—the nature of the object to be gained by us as Saints.

The simple fact of the Presidency having left us for a brief period of time, has not effected, legitimately, any change in those things that should interest us, and engage our attention. If we are Saints at all we have the same interest to sustain, the same knowledge to gain, and the same fountain from which to draw that knowledge as those have who have gone from us for a season. It is our right, our privilege, and a duty that we owe to ourselves; to those with whom we stand connected by the ties of the Everlasting Covenant, as well as by all the relationship that binds us to each other as intelligent human beings, to continue our labor, and so labor that our efforts may be continually in the acquisition of that knowledge that is requisite to our salvation; for this comprises all that should interest us, by whatever name you may call it, or how many divisions or subdivisions you may make of it, and yet when all is considered in connexion, the one part with the other constitutes but simply the salvation which we seek. That alone will render us happy; that alone is capable of accomplishing for us that, that is necessary to our peace and comfort here, and hereafter. We may perhaps think that there are many very nice distinctions which might be made between different things, as we may consider them, that may constitute in us, with us, or for us the means of happiness and comfort; and that one thing considered is one thing, and something else is salvation.

I do not know of any thing that exists, as a means of happiness and comfort within our reach, or that can be made available, but that belongs to our salvation.

These things are so various and so numerous that we might fill up a short lifetime in recounting them, and still the sum of them would then lack much of being told; but the great business of our life should be to have them and enjoy them, and then, perchance, we should be able, to some small extent, to appreciate them, and our happiness, and comfort, and glory will be determined in its extent, and defined precisely by the extent to which we appreciate the great truths that exist around us, in the midst of which we have our being.

So that when we have gained the salvation we seek for, in all the vast infinitude to which it may extend, with the experience of untold ages—when the experience of almost numberless ages shall have added their contribution to its stores of wealth and enjoyment; when these shall be circumstances that surround us, we will find that it is all constituted of one thing, which is simply learning to comprehend the truth that exists around us, in the midst of which we live, move, and have our being.

To effect this is the object of the Gospel—the plan of salvation—that is good for us to reason upon and speak of often one to another; to reflect upon, that we may understand the object for which the Gospel is revealed to us, that we may be enabled to appropriate the things that are rendered available to us—those appliances that are thrown within our reach, in such a way as to conduce to the accomplishment of this object. Then, in order to the proper appropriation of those things, it is needful that we should understand what is to be affected by it; it is needful we should be correct on this point, lest we might be seeking after something that does not exist, and, consequently, we should never find the reality; lest we should be exploring some country to find jewels of our happiness where it is not.

All of us have experience enough to give us comprehension of the truth, sufficient to be satisfied, that our search for a thing where it does not exist, must ultimately prove a fruitless one, one that will not bring to us a reward for our labor and toil, that will not give us comfort for the anxiety we have cherished, while in search for something we should fail to find.

Well, then, what is it, my brethren and sisters, let us reason a little this morning, what is it the Gospel has to do for us? What have we calculated in our own minds it is? Has something that does not now exist to be created? Has our natural constitutional being to become changed by our becoming the recipients of salvation? Are we to be saved as we are, constituted as we are, or are we to be saved as some other kind of beings? What are we to be when we are saved? Do we suppose that we will be seen and known, that we will be recognized as the same individuals that we are now?

If we are not, I would like much to know what I would be, and who I might be, because there are some things that, could I avoid it, I would not be. But, in fact, I do not know that there are any reasons that have ever commended themselves to my. judgment, as being good ones, for me to entertain a wish to change my identity at all.

The enjoyment of salvation with me, this far, has been ever cherished and understood in connexion with my own identity, that when I am saved I shall be, simply, brother Lyman saved, and nobody else; I should be, simply, brother Lyman in possession of all the knowledge requisite to salvation, and the consequent participant of all the blessings accruing from having that knowledge in possession. If I am not that, I shall be disappointed, I shall not be happy, or satisfied, unless I lose all my present expectations and faith.

Then it is, simply, we who are here to-day that are to be saved; and what is it all embraced in? Simply, in a change of our condition, and not of the condition of some other individual. In the place of ignorance, we will possess that principle of knowledge and comprehension that makes us free. What from? From ignorance, That is all.

Well, says one, “Are there not many other things besides ignorance?” If there are calculating men and women in this room, who can think and reflect, I wish that class particularly, if they never have done it, to make it their study, for a little time, to determine one thing for their own benefit, and for the benefit of others, as far as their influence may extend, to find out how much of the ill that afflicts mankind is not truly attributable to ignorance, to the existence of darkness that pervades the human mind, and in consequence of which they fail to comprehend the truth. By reason of it they know not God, nor understand the principles upon which He acts.

When you find out an evil that is not traceable, legitimately and truly, to-this great cause—this great apparent fountain of evil and wrong that exists in the world, just mark it down, name it, and let me see it; if there is any other source for evil, I want to know it. Jesus, we understand, came into the world to save sinners; he came to save, as we say, lost and fallen man; he came to restore the sinful sons of earth to the enjoyment of the mercy, and the favor, and the blessing of heaven.

What did Jesus propose to do, any more than, simply, to save men? The Gospel that he sent into the world proposes to do no more than to save men; and it does just as much for the poorest man as for the richest, it saves them, and that is all it does do.

“But,” says one, “does it not damn men also?” Do you think it does? Did you ever find anything about the Gospel that would damn any of you? “But does not the Scriptures hold out such an idea?” I do not know whether they do or not; you ought to know your own experience better than the Scriptures, because it is nearer to you, it is your own property. I would rather have my own experience than to have the Bible thrown in my face, it is richer far to me.

What has the Gospel done for you, and for me? It has never done us any thing but good. “But,” says one, “Here is a man that has embraced the truth and then has gone from it, left it, and is now damned.” What has damned him? Is it the Gospel? Nothing has damned him but his own mean conduct; his own misdeeds that have influenced him thus against his own interest. Does the Gospel require him to commit sin? Does it require him to utter falsehoods, and cherish a principle of hypocrisy and practise deceit with his neighbor? No. The Gospel requires of him practical virtue, righteousness and truth in all his conduct.

Then let us not charge the Gospel with damning any body, until we find out it has actually done it. The Gospel was sent into the world, by the Saviour of mankind, to place the means of salvation within the reach of mortals, to give to those who should believe, the power to become the sons of God. That was the object of this proclamation throughout, the earth, and was the reason why it was taught in that simplicity that marked the teachings of the ministers of truth. The Scriptures promise salvation to those who believe; and those who do not, we are informed, shall be damned. What damns them that do not believe? The same thing that damned them before they heard the Gospel. They were in darkness, and what was their condition afterwards? They were in darkness.

Then the object of this Gospel being sent unto the world was, simply, to give men a knowledge of the truth, and open their eyes, it was to cause the light to shine in the midst of the darkness that surrounded them; that in that light they might discover things as they exist around, that they were before ignorant of, and entertain conceptions of things that before did not reach or occupy their minds at all; all this was to effect man’s salvation. From what? From the fall, or any other of the evils that surround him. I do not care whether you regard them as the consequences of the fall or not, I care not what you name the ills that afflict men, and keep them from the enjoyment of a fulness of happiness and glory; from them mankind have need to be saved; they constitute the chains with which men are bound—the clouds of darkness which obscure the light of truth, that prevents the sun light of truth from rendering the whole sphere of man’s being, radiant, glorious, and resplendent. In what? In that which the great architect of nature has placed there, and made all creation rich with.

We live in the midst of it, and are insensible to the beauties around us, to the excellencies within our reach. We tread the blessings that cluster around our path, like the flowers of spring, under our feet, not appreciating their worth, instead of feasting upon the glory, power, skill, and judgment that are manifested in the combinations that have been associated together, to present this beauty to the eye.

Well, so it is with truth and its excellency in all the various departments of nature’s works and its glory. We live in the midst of it, and are starving; we are a poor, starving, miserable, wretched, beggarly set of creatures in the midst of plenty.

Now it is from these chains, that bind us in this condition, that the Gospel proposes to set us free—that the plan of salvation is to snap asunder, and give unto us an abundant deliverance, and a correspondingly abundant entrance into the kingdom of God, and to make our future as glorious, as luminous, and as broad, as the path in which we have walked has been dangerous, dark, and gloomy. This is what the Gospel proposes to do for us. How is it to be effected? Upon this simple principle—by learning us the truth, and this is the reason why, that to know the only living and true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is eternal life. There is a reason for that as well as for every other truth that extends, as such, throughout the wide range of creation. It is eternal life, because it is freedom from the chains of darkness, from the dominion of error—an emancipation from that bondage that makes man, in his existence, wretched and miserable.

Then, if this is actually salvation, where should we seek to know its blessings? How shall we come to the enjoyment of them? Simply, in the acquisition of knowledge• Says one, “Is this all?” Yes, this comprises all. “But must we not do right; and is it not important that we should?” Yes; but how can you do right before you know what right is?

What do you Latter-day Saints do? I can see that miserable confusion among them that characterizes the men of the world; everything must give way to the pursuit of this world’s wealth and honor; in their eyes this seems to be the only thing that can make them happy. And there are as many ways in which men seek out happiness, as there are men to seek it; and there is as great a variety of interests to be served in the world of mankind, collectively, as there are men who embrace those interests, and labor to save them, and these will be constantly in contact with each other, and what one man labors to build up, another labors to pull down; that which is the wealth of one is the poverty of another; what is the filling of one man’s pocket is the draining of another’s pocket to the last dime—the last dollar leaves him, and gets into his neighbor’s purse. This is the way the world get rich, and imagine themselves happy, and this is the way many of the Latter-day Saints would find salvation—in undertaking to do right without first knowing what is right.

The Saviour spoke sensibly and reasonably, when he said, “This is eternal life, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.” Without knowing Him, what can you know rightly? What do you understand and comprehend of truth, rightly? Like geologists and chemists in the world, they dig a well, and find a great many crusts, that is when you apply the term crust to something that is a riddle to them, they find many kinds of material that enter into the combination of the earth. The alchymist analyzes portions of the earth, that are thrown out, to discover the different proportions and kinds of matter of which it is composed. What do they learn? Some truth. But what is it like? They cannot tell. If it possesses the property of an acid or an alkali they know it. But do they know anything about who combined its various parts, do they know anything about the active mind shadowed forth in the combinations they find? They do not. So we may search for truth in the earth, on the earth, and above the earth, and we may find a great deal, but we, do not comprehend any thing of it, from the fact that we do not know God; we have not commenced at the beginning of our lesson.

Many men have become satisfied there is a God, but they do not know Him, where He lives, who He looks like, or whether He is like anybody or anything that is seen, heard, handled, or comprehended by us. Now the Gospel simply proposes to teach the world of mankind the truth in relation to the great fountain of truth, that is at the beginning of all things that we can see as a beginning; to lead them to a discovery of facts in relation to that truth which pervades universal creation—that exists as far as existence is known, or not known, where it actually is. There is a truth that is co-equal in extent with it. If there is light there, it is its light, if glory, it belongs to truth.

“Well,” says one, “is it great as God? Does it comprehend God, or is God comprehended of it?” You know the great principle of eternal life is to know the only true and living God, &c. In our childish speculations we talk about a great many Lords and Gods, and you can get the doctrine made holy by applying the Scriptural language to it.

But, supposing the Scriptures had said nothing about it, what man that has looked abroad upon the face of universal nature, as it is presented to us, who has lived in this being, and breathing world for only a few years, who has not learned and understood for himself, perfectly, that there is a principle of truth which pervades every thing which is in itself immutable, that is the same everywhere, in every land, country, and clime, whether we speak of a single atom, the crawling insect, or the clustering universe of worlds, all are moving, and existing, and are controlled by the same great law—the same great principle that causes them to have their existence in truth and harmony with each other.

Let us return from travelling abroad—from this wandering, and see if we can find the same applied here at home with us. Is there a principle that does control us, and that we can control, a principle which is in all things, in which we live, move, and have our being, that is greater than the greatest thing we, can conceive of, and embraces all things? Yes, the simple principle revealed in this small thing—two multiplied by two makes four, is one that we cannot change, or conceive of a principle by which it could be changed.

We cannot entertain a conception of what it would be, if it was not what it is. It is all the time the same in every land, country or place. It is the same whether we apply the principle to determine the number of apples in the market basket, or whether we apply it in more extended calculations, in determining the magnitudes, times, and distances of the planets.

Here is a principle to which we must yield; to which we must bow. Why? Simply, because it is greater than we, it defies our efforts to change it; it controls our actions, influences our being; it determines things, and we with other things are determined by it. What can we say to it? Can we treat it with indignity? No; for it will rule us; it governs us. What is it? It is the light that is within us. The revelation says “It is the light of our eyes that enlighteneth our understandings. And what is this? It is the God we see in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, for He is the light thereof, and the power by which they were made. It is, simply, what the Apostle talked about anciently, as recorded in the Scriptures; he exclaims, “Great is the mystery of Godliness, God manifest in the flesh.”

Some may have supposed that the revelation of God is confined to some few things only—some few specimens of what we look upon in the wide range of nature’s works, as they are called; I do not know as nature has any works. While we look upon these, we find that all we do see, read of, and can reach, by the means that we can render available for the acquisition of knowledge, and for the awakening of conceptions within the mind, in relation to the vast infinitude of the work of the Almighty, we find that it is simply the shadowing forth of—what? Of this great principle of truth, this God that we adore, that we seek to know, whom to know aright is life everlasting. Why? Because it bursts the chains of ignorance asunder that have held us in bondage; it dissipates the clouds of darkness that obstructs the sun-light of truth from shining around us, and then, in the light of truth, we begin to see and comprehend what exists around us, and the relationship we sustain to nature, to God, to one another, and the object for which we live, and for which we are constituted, and the end to which we are tending.

Until we begin to learn this, we are benighted and darkened; we are as effectually lost as is any man in a swamp without light, or without a guide, he is no worse off than we without the light of truth, for we know not which way to go, or in what direction to look for succour; we know not from whence deliverance is coming, or if it is coming at all.

Then what do we need to save us? Simply, a knowledge of the truth. Says one, “I do not know but that God will save me.” I know but little about Him, but I know more about Him than I do about any other God. Why? Because I have seen more of Him. Any of you that have gazed on the heavens, have seen the light of day, been cheered by the light of the sun, and comforted by its genial rays, have felt the exhilarating influences of it.

Here is a God that I see, a God that I have heard, whose voice is uttered by all time, and millions of earths, and suns, in the magnitude of the universe, and thousands of universes, associated together, shadow forth His greatness and glory. Then there is a God who is gentle and kind, easy to be entreated, full of compassion and tender mercy, whose store house of good is richly filled to make—who happy? Those that seek for happiness. Where does He live? Everywhere. Which of the Gods is it? It is that God that lives everywhere; that lives through all life, and extends through all extent; that spreads undivided, and operates unspent; that is the God I am talking about now.

What other God is there? You may talk about the Lord Jesus Christ, and about his Father; what did Jesus say of himself—that man who came into the world, and, as the Scriptures say, became the author of eternal salvation, to as many as would believe? What did he say that he came into the world to do? No other work but what he saw his Father do.

He came to do his Father’s will. What is said of him? “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” It was because he loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, that he was preferred before. his fellows, and was anointed with the the oil of gladness above them. What had been done with his Father? Did Jesus say of himself that he was in the sun, and in the moon, and that he was the principle that enlightened our understanding? No, he did not say so, but he said, that any man who had looked upon these, had seen God moving in majesty and power.

What does he say of himself? Says he, “Holiness is my name.” Suppose we change it a little, and say he was a holy man, does it change the facts in the case any? No he was, simply, a holy man. How came he to be holy? Just as you and I shall come to be holy, if we ever are. What constituted him a holy man? Simply, his being guided by holy influences, his being engaged continually in the perpetration of holy and righteous deeds; this made him a man of holiness.

Again he said, “Man of Counsel is my name;” because that he had been subject to counsel always. He came into this world to minister unto man, and laid down his life for him, because he was a man of counsel. He came to save man, because he was a man of counsel; and he preached the truth because he was a man of counsel. Were the perfections with which he was clothed inherent in him? I say no, because the Scriptures say no; he was made perfect through suffering, they inform us.

We might call it experience, for he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Well, then, we are required to be perfect even as he is perfect, and he required his disciples that were with him to be perfect, even as their Father in heaven was perfect. It opens to us this view of the matter. Jesus had nothing but what he gained, as vast and extended as might be the power with which he was clothed. The ability that rendered him sufficient for the accomplishment of the great work he accomplished, was the result of his gathering around him from the great fountain of truth, that amount of comprehension of the vast infinitude of truth, that vested him with the ability he possessed.

This is the path in which we are to travel as Saints of God, in which we are to look for salvation, and gather from the same rich store the sum of our happiness, greatness, and glory. God was not too great to drink from the same fountain, and draw from it all He possessed of power, greatness, and glory. That which constitutes His glory, constitutes the greatness, power, might, and majesty of all who progress, and are clothed with the same principle. That the Father of Jesus Christ was in no way very different from himself is evident from what he said; he came to be nearly equal with his father, and is declared, by virtue of his obedience, heir of all his Father’s inheritance. He says he came to do the same things he saw his Father do.

Then if we wish to read the history of his Father, we have only to read the history of the son; for in reading the history of the son, we also read the history of the Father; and Jesus Christ has told us, his brethren, that this is eternal life to know the only living and true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. What does that lead to? Not only to know that they had the truth, but to understand and comprehend the principle upon which they possessed it; whether it was truth inherent—that dwells in them from all eternity, without beginning or end, in the history of their existence—when they commenced to acquire knowledge. and whether they acquired knowledge of this great truth as we are taught to acquire it.

Now that this was the highest object that was had in view in the proclamation of the Gospel—in its revelation to mankind—is obvious to me, it is as plain to me, as I can see anything else. Because, when man has learned the truth, in relation to all these things, is there anything more which he can learn? No. It is the vast infinitude of truth that has reflected light enough around us to open our minds, and enable us to entertain a conception of nothing higher, more noble, nothing possessing greater excellencies than simply the truth itself.

We talk about holiness, and glory, and power, and might, but there is no power, but what is of truth, no greatness, no uncontaminated bliss but what is of truth. It embraces the sum of all the excellencies combined in the wide range universal existence; whether applied to a mote or a mountain; to a single planet, to a universe or to an association of universes.

To learn the truth is the best thing we can do, it is a pursuit fraught with the greatest good to us, for it will bring salvation to us, and bestow upon us the bliss, and blessedness of that state in full; and enable us to appreciate it, for we shall have the light of truth to discover things as they exist around us.” And this is in fact our happiness, glory, and strength. What can we see more, than when we first heard the sound of the Gospel?

Let us consider—those of us who have had the privileges and blessings that a great many have not enjoyed; we who have had the experience of a score of years since we first heard the Gospel explained, talked about; since it was first suggested to us that the heavens have been propitious, in sending an invitation to the erring sons of earth, to return from their wandering, and place themselves under the tuition which heaven has instituted, to develop in them a perfect knowledge of the principles of truth. I say, what do we know more to-day than then? What capacity do we possess more? Says one, “I know a great deal more, and we are enabled to accomplish more now than we could then.” It is, simply, because we know more truth and in the application of it we can occupy a wider field, and are prepared to encounter a greater variety of circumstances, and under them all to be enabled to apply the truth, and create circumstances that are good and acceptable to God, to our increase in the truth, and to the increase of the kingdom of God upon the earth.

The kingdom of God is being developed under the influence of the Gospel. How fast? Just as fast as true principles are developed in the hearts of men and women. Just so fast, and just so far the kingdom of God is actually developed, possesses strength, and is built up with sound, substantial materials that will outlive the waste of time, continuing to grow in strength and might when sublunary things have passed away. Taking this view of salvation, we see its object is to put that in our possession without which it is impossible for us to be happy.

Well then, should we be subject to counsel, and be advised? Yes. Men here stick up their noses, and complain because they are required to be subject to counsel. Says one, “I know enough to attend to my own business; I don’t wish any man to manage for me, I cannot endure it; I am too independent.” Now you poor independent soul; you that are too independent to learn the truth; to be taught your duty; what independence have you got? “O I have the privilege of moving round in this breathing world as I please; and I wont be controlled?” You wont; but I say you will, and you are controlled, and that is the very reason you say as you say, and do as you do, you are controlled every moment of your lives and still you say you are not. You are not independent, you never was, and you never will be. That being does not exist within the range of man’s history. The very principles upon which we exist make us the objects of dependence.

I know the history of that independent man. What is it? It is the history of every man that comes into the world. Man comes into the world a beggar, naked, destitute, and the veriest specimen of dependence and poverty that ever was laid out on the stage of human existence? Could he help himself, cloth his nakedness? No. The very first thing he needed, when he looked upon this earth, he had to borrow from the atmosphere that God had provided for him before he came here.

And had it not been for the provisions of his great benefactor, he would have been born only to perish in the morning of his days. Such is the man who tells us he is independent. He is too independent to be taught and instructed. I say what did he know, or what could he do in the days of his infancy? The veriest crawling insect that wiggles its way along through the dust of the earth was as independent as he, and had more help for itself. Talk about independence; he has forgot that he was born, and that is the difficulty. He is not only ignorant of the truth, but he has been shutting his eyes against it all the time, since he has been in the world.

He has forgot he was born naked and helpless. I suppose he thinks he was born in silken robes, when he does think about it, because he may, perchance, have worn them ever since. I don’t know but he thinks he was born in the jewelry that bedecks his body since he has been on the earth, or, as the old saying has it, with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He is independent, he says. What does he do in the first place? He had to be cradled in helplessness, and cared for. It is to a mother’s anxiety and tender care he is indebted for his life, for the perpetuity of his being on the earth. When he became of sufficient age to draw his nourishment, and means to sustain his being from other sources, he ate the bread that the earth produced—that was here before him—he had no hand in preparing it, he eats it, enjoys the blessing flowing from it, and still looks up to heaven, and like Nebuchadnezzar of old exclaims, “I have made all these things,” he is so independent.

Supposing there had been no earth to have produced bread for his nourishment, how could he have lived? Supposing there had been no hand that had tilled the earth, and produced bread as the result of labor. He was not able to travel abroad to find it, and could not manufacture it. He is dependent all the time. Here we find him clad in fine robes, enjoying the place his fellows occupied, and men on the right hand, and on the left that go at his bidding, and come at his call.

But what could he do, supposing they were not there, and he the only tenant of this wide world? How much could he accomplish in providing means for his enjoyment? Who would be his farmer, his gardener, or his mechanic? Who would build his palace, serve him, and administer to his wants? Nobody. He would be poor, destitute, naked, without a house in which to dwell, destitute of the blessings of association, and kind attention of friends.

Still he says, he is independent. If he is, let him live alone; and when he has lived alone six months, he will be apt to come to his senses, if he has bread enough to keep him until then.

At the end of that time he would be wishing for the society of the negro baboon, or anything at all like the human form. He would hunger and thirst for an association with his fellow being; he would find himself wretched without it, and he would exclaim like Nebuchadnezzar in the bitterness of his soul, “God is great and good.”

Jesus Christ never declared his independence at all. He said he came into the world—on his own business? No, but he came to do the will of his Father. In this we have an example of what we should seek for, and how we should value the principles we should cherish within us. The truth is before us, and it is for us to learn it. This is the great key to our happiness; and when we have learned all the truth, we shall get all our salvation. That which does not learn us the truth does not bestow salvation on us; it is that which learns us the truth, and enables us to comprehend it, which is salvation to us.

I do not care how it is gained, or where it is found, whether at our labor, or in our moments of rest, and hours of reflection, study, and contemplation. The voice of truth is everywhere. It is but the voice of that Holy Spirit that was to do—what? To lead you and me, and all others who have covenanted with God to keep His commandments, into all truth.

How much of a teacher is that Holy Spirit? What is its capacity? The capacity it is obliged to have; unless there is a falsehood connected with the declaration to do what it promises to do. What is that? Not to lead me into a portion of the truth, and then stop until it has learned the balance, but to lead me into all truth. That is what is promised, and what is declared to be the office of the Holy Spirit.

Can you think of a principle that is universal, and infinite in its extent; there being no space that is not filled with it; no creation that does not owe its existence to its power and influence? Think of that, and ask yourselves the question, who is it, and what is it that can lead you into all that vast infinitude of truth, but that principle.

Can you have any idea what the Holy Ghost is that is to perform this office for you and me, to lead us into all truth; or in other words the Holy Spirit? If it leads us into all truth, it must itself comprehend all truth, or it could not lead us there.

When we have this Spirit dwelling in us, to be our constant companion, and our instructor, we will grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth; because it will each day unfold to us new treasures of truth; our field of truth will become broader and broader, and consequently will embrace more of the facts in nature, as they exist to-day, than yesterday; and in this way we will add knowledge to knowledge, truth to truth, to make up that sum that will constitute us equal to the accomplishment of all that is requisite to our happiness, until it may extend to a vast illimitable infinitude.

Now I want you to cultivate and cherish within you a love and regard for His Spirit. You have been exhorted again and again, so to live, that the Spirit of truth—the Holy Ghost, may dwell within you, and be your constant companion. You should cultivate that condition of feeling that is congenial with the Holy Spirit.

You should banish all littleness of soul; and banish all scanty, meagre conceptions; and learn that the infinitude of truth is boundless. And when you have cherished that conception, do not calculate there is something else bigger; for there can be nothing bigger, than that which is boundless—that fills the immensity of space. Why? Simply, because there is no room for anything bigger.

That is the reason why “Mormonism” is bigger than everything else. Now go to work and apostatize, will you, you poor, independent class of Latter-day Saints. But where will you go to, for you cannot get beyond the range of Mormonism, if you die and go to hell?

Old David was satisfied as to this, for he said, “If I take the wings of the morning, and fly to the uttermost parts of heaven, Thou art there; if I go down to hell, to get out of sight, behold, Thou art there.” You will apostatize, thinking to find something better than “Mormonism.” Where does that something hang? I would like to see the foundation upon which it is based.

“Mormonism” extends to a boundless infinitude; there is no place where it is not; no existence that does not exist by its influence and power. If it has life, it is enlivened by it. If it possesses light, it is enlightened by it. I will continue with “Mormonism;” though I know but little of it, I have learned enough to satisfy me that there is no room for anything else. All I have to do is to live, and extend my acquaintance with it; increase my explorations through its various ramifications.

I expect to range in them through the vast future of my being, gathering knowledge. I never expect to get outside “Mormonism;” I have given up the idea long ago of ever apostatizing to get out of the way of it.

I would advise you who have such thoughts to abandon the idea, for it is a long journey; you will never get to the end of it. After you have fought many hard battles against the rights of truth and its convictions, I shall meet you in your wanderings, and still find you inside of “Mormonism;” and you will live inside of it; I do not care where you go you cannot get rid of it.

I would advise you to give up all ideas of apostatizing. Suppose you wake up from your slumbers, and try my plan of getting a thorough knowledge of the truth. Suppose you try it for twenty years; be faithful to God, deal honestly with yourselves and your neighbor that long; love God that long, and cultivate a love of the truth that long, and it will effect quite a change in you. And probably you may be as much attached to the truth, by that time, as you are to your tea, coffee, and tobacco; not because they loved them when they were born, or had a natural taste for them, but because they have loved them ten, twenty, or thirty years.

They do not wake up and forget them, nor go into the field, and return home and forget them, because the recollection of them is fixed by long using them; they have become a principle of their life and being, as it were. Do you not wish the plan of salvation had become so fixed in you? Would you not be a great deal happier than you are now?

I suppose this is the case with some? I hope so at least. You want a love of the truth, which is the only thing that will ensure you success as Latter-day Saints, for if you have not the love of it in you, you cannot appreciate it; and if you do not appreciate it, you would give it away for a little sweet cake, or some trifling thing, because the love of it was never fixed in your affections.

When you appreciate the truth so—as it is worth everything you can give or exchange for it—then you are secure; and as long as you continue to love it, you will not apostatize, But if you begin to be discontented, look out or you will apostatize. You say, “I like “Mormonism” as well as ever I did, but I do not like this country.” You tell the truth, I believe, but you never believed it firm enough, if you had you would have loved this country where duty has called you; or any other country where the interest of the cause of truth calls you. Why? Because your interest is there; that which you love is there, and the reward you seek is there. You ought to have “Mormonism” get fast hold on your affections, so as to occupy the entire affections of the soul, until the love of the truth is disseminated throughout your whole being.

I want you to watch these things, and not apostatize. It is a bad business, and don’t do you any good. Stand firmly in the covenants you have made, and learn the truth day by day, and gain knowledge continually. If I thought there was anything more or better than “Mormonism,” anything that would do you more good, I would talk about it.

I have not addressed you precisely as I would another people, under other circumstances. A great many of you have been a long time in “Mormonism,” and have had considerable experience in it, and again some have had but a few years experience, in which to learn and be instructed.

Well, as Latter-day Saints, you should learn that you are not independent, but dependent all the time, that you have the truth to learn. You have merely adopted it, and said in your hearts that the testimony of the servants of God is true. You may have received the manifestations of the Holy Spirit that have borne record to you, and brought to your understanding things that were promised you. But this is just at the beginning of truth, it is yet all before you, you only comprehend but a little of it; you simply comprehend the fact, that there is a system of salvation.

Are you living to-day in the enjoyment of that freedom from darkness, doubt, and dubiety that is only the result of a perfect comprehension of truth, that satisfies the soul, and relieves it of all its anxieties and cares? Are you enjoying that to-day? Do you fully understand the principles of “Mormonism?” When you speak honestly, you will tell me you do not.

Seek to learn them. This is the duty which lies before you; your future labor consists in this. You have been baptized for the remission of sins, as a sign of the covenant you have made, that you would put off the old man and his deeds; that you would die according to the rudiments of the world which influenced your former life, and follow the rudiments of Christ.

Are you growing in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth? Are you becoming more and more intelligent? Do you live the truth more to-day than last year, last week, or five or ten years ago, when you first heard it? Do you comprehend more of it? If you do not, you are not growing in grace, and in the knowledge of God, and of the truth.

Obey the Word of Wisdom. “Do you mean I shall not drink tea, or coffee?” I do not care whether you do or not. I do not consider that you obey the Word of Wisdom, simply, because you do not drink tea and coffee. May be you cannot get it. I have seen the time that I drank it when it was hard to get, and when I did not use it, when I could have got it.

Do not work yourselves to death, but try to live a long time, and learn to run and not weary, walk and not faint. Do you think of leaving off tea and coffee, alone, will enable you to scale the mountains, and outstrip the mountain goat in fleetness. It is just as true that weariness is the consequence of excessive toil as that God lives and reigns. It is manifest in you and me, and in every other part of His work. Keep the Word of Wisdom; and if you want to run and not weary, walk and not faint, call upon me and I will tell you how—just stop before you get tired.

The Word of Wisdom was given for a principle, with promise; as a rule of conduct, that should enable the people so to economize their time, and manage and control themselves, as not to eat and drink to excess, or use that which is hurtful to them; that they should be temperate in all things, in the exercise of labor, as well as in eating and drinking. Clothe yourselves properly if you can. Exercise properly if you can, and do right in everything.

Do not stay the work of improvement and reform to pay attention to small things that are beneath your notice, but let it extend through the entire circle of your being, let it reach every relationship in life, and every avocation and duty embraced within your existence.

Let it affect your thinking, and the feelings which you cultivate, and let there be nothing pertaining to your being but what shall be influenced by it. The Word of Wisdom would itself save you, if you would only keep it, in the true sense and spirit of it, comprehending the purpose for which it was given.

It reaches everything that affects your happiness. Go on then and observe the Word of Wisdom. What does wisdom tell you? Let tea and coffee alone, and abstain from that which would overtax the strength of your system, and favor the innovations of disease, and shorten your lives, and thereby limit the extent of your usefulness.

Study to save yourselves. That which saves your life, and lengthens out your days is salvation. And that which fills out your days with the perpetration of good is salvation—it helps to make up the sum of your salvation.

I want you to look at it in this point of view, and be influenced by the spirit of truth, foster it within the fountains of your feelings, and it will give a good character to your conduct.

This will be living your religion every day, in every thing you do; you will have nothing to do outside of your religion.

Now that you may have wisdom to adopt this course of life, and live to enjoy the blessings that will accrue from its adoption, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The First Principles of the Gospel

Parley P. Pratt

Discourse by Elder Parley P. Pratt, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 26, 1855.

I rise before you this morning, my friends and brethren, to preach to you the everlasting Gospel, for as my calling has been for the last quarter of a century to proclaim this Gospel, I have always endeavoured to do my duty both before you and others, here and in many other places.

Before I came here this morning, I was thinking, what shall I say to the brethren and sisters, if called upon to speak, and after a moment’s reflection, I said, I will preach the Gospel, and when brother Kimball called upon me to address you, he said, “Brother Parley, we want you to preach the Gospel to us.”

The Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the only system whereby man can be saved, and his being the only name whereby we can approach our Father in heaven with acceptance, the only name in which remissions of sins can be obtained, and the only name whereby man can have power over unclean spirits, over devils, over diseases, over the elements, and over everything this side the celestial kingdom, and its influences, it is of the highest importance, therefore, that this message of life should be declared to all the world.

This Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was once born in Bethlehem, crucified on Calvary, risen again from the dead, and having ascended to his Father and to our Father to lead captivity captive, and give gifts unto men, his name has become the only name under heaven through which man may be saved—receive everlasting life and exaltation. It is the only name by which man can get remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and all its attendant blessings. It is the only name by which we may approach our Father in heaven and invoke His blessings—the only name by which we may control disease, and the very elements, by the power of His Spirit and the authority of His Priesthood.

This same Jesus, after having risen from the dead, after having received all power in heaven and on the earth, gave a mission to his Apostles, Peter and others, to go into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and gave commandments that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name, in all the world, beginning at Jerusalem.

Having given these commandments, and instructed his Apostles that they should teach all things whatsoever he commanded, he ascended up on high, and took his seat upon the right hand of God his Father, and he then shed forth the gift of the Holy Ghost, and bestowed gifts upon men.

Those Apostles began at Jerusalem to perform the duties of their mission, for it had been said that they should tarry there until they were endowed with power from on high; and after receiving this power they stood forth and preached to the people, on the day of Penticost, the crucified and risen Redeemer, and when the people were convinced of the death and resurrection of the Messiah, and wished to know what to do to get rid of their sins, and become acceptable in the sight of heaven, Peter told them to repent and be baptized, every one of them, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and he then added, “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

This being written in the 2nd chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, in the New Testament, as the first instructions given by Peter and the Apostles, at the place appointed, and at the time appointed, and under the circumstances appointed, and this being the first attempt to carry out the great mission—“to preach the Gospel to the world,” hence we conclude that the Gospel there preached was the same Gospel that was to be preached in all the world, and that was to be efficacious to all the world, it mattered not what color or country, what nation or language, learned or unlearned, Hindoo or anything else, it was the everlasting Gospel given by the Savior, at the place appointed, and at the time appointed, when they were endowed with power from on high, the Holy Ghost descending upon them agreeably to the promise.

Consequently, at that time and under those circumstances, which I have briefly named, the Apostles made that proclamation, viz., that all should repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and they were told that all who would do this, should receive the remission of sins, and that the Gospel, with its promises, should go to every creature; and whether in some distant age or country that mankind should be found; it mattered not; there the Lord should send His Gospel with the promise of remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, through obedience to the Gospel. Yes, in every place and among all people the promises should hold good, and the signs follow them that believe.

This Gospel, its history, and characteristics, are clearly recorded in the New Testament, in the English version, translated by the order of King James, and handed down to us by our fathers; and it is also given to us by our fathers, in the Book of Mormon, and in many other good books, and in the words of many other good men who lived in ancient times, and in the words of many modern men, and many of our young men are made partakers of it by becoming members of the Church of Christ, and they know what it is to become members of the body of Christ, and to be justified, freed from sin, and to stand before God with clean hearts and pure minds.

We have to know these things, and to be made sensible of what it is to feel the satisfying influence of His Holy Spirit.

Mind you do not forget, when we preach this Gospel, that it is a Gospel of repentance; do not slip over part of it, but while summing it up, look at it item by item. It is the Gospel of repentance, not a mere Gospel of baptism, but a Gospel of repentance, and remission of sins, to be preached in all the world.

Why have any people a notion or disposition to obey this Gospel? How can the people determine whether this Gospel is good, whether it is of any value to them, or what it will do for the people generally if complied with? What would this Gospel do for the people of any age if they would obey it as a people? Whether it were a neighborhood, a town, a city, a nation, or a world, or a million of worlds, I ask what would it do for that neighborhood, that people, that city, that nation, or that world? I will tell you. There would be no thieving there any longer, there would be no lying there any longer, no cheating, no deceiving, no intentional breaking of promises, no wrong dealing, no extortion, no hatred, no envy, and no evil speaking. But why would all these things cease? Simply because they obeyed the Gospel; because obedience to the Gospel implies repentance, which means nothing more nor less than putting away all our evils, and ceasing to do them. Among the people that obeyed the Gospel there would be no longer adulterers, nor fornicators, nor any other evil that you can name.

Now what cause of objection can people have in any age, among any nation or language—in England or in Texas, or any where else, to a Gospel that would have a tendency to put away all those evils from among men? But, say you, “Are there no evils where this Gospel is obeyed?”’ No sir; where this Gospel prevails in the heart of an individual, that individual ceases from those things which are evil, for he is cleansed from them; he refrains from all that tends to evil. As the Gospel influences a man’s heart, he ceases to countenance all evil practices, and where the Gospel influences his family, there is a family without those evils, and if a town or a city can be found that is influenced by the Gospel, there you will find a town or city without those evils which I have named, and you will find them gradually putting away those which may be amongst them, as fast as they perceive them.

“But really,” says one, “in Utah, I thought the Gospel was pretty well obeyed, and yet we are not without those evils, we are not entirely free from those sins.” Allowing such to be the case, that does not make these words false. Show me a man that is guilty of false swearing, a man that is found traducing his brethren, or that is found evil speaking, or that is a fornicator or a thief, and I will show you a man that does not obey the Gospel; he may call himself a “Mormon,” a Latter-day Saint, or a brother in Christ, but that is not proving that he has repented of his sins, but as repentance is a part and parcel of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ, and without which we cannot be benefitted by his atonement and his mercy, we cannot have the blessings he purchased without we associate repentance with our faith. I say, as repentance is an essential part of the Gospel, that the man who has not put away his sins has deceived himself, because this repentance is one of the first principles of salvation. If I have other sins, and then add the sin of neglecting repentance, my case is still worse than it was before.

I have known the Gospel, as I remarked, for 25 years, and in that time I have materially altered my views upon some points. I then thought that they came into the Church for the purpose of repenting and forsaking their evils, and receiving the Gospel with all their hearts and with a resolution to do right. Well, it is true that there is a oneness, as far as repentance and faith is concerned, in the outward acknowledgment, but do all who in word acknowledge the Gospel forsake their sins? We would all like to see such a state of things in the world, we would like to see our neighbors forsaking their sins, even if we could not forsake and overcome our own dear sins. Suppose we happen to repent and leave off our sins, would not that be about right? Would not that answer for us without waiting for others? Or can we, have some ceremony performed that will do as well, something besides leaving off our sins and leading a new life?

Perhaps we may not come to the repentance of fear, or feel afraid of doing wrong, but the other part we will come to, says one, “For instance the baptism for the remission of sins given by the Savior, in whose name we can receive every good gift, and without whose name we cannot receive any spiritual gift.” Then seeing that he, with all this power in his hands, and he, knowing all things that would be good for man, not only ordered that repentance should be preached in his, name, but that the Apostles should baptize the people in his name, and to fulfil this mission they did baptize the penitent believer for the remission of sins; and they exhorted the people, every one of them, to repent and obey this ordinance for the remission of sins; and they also assured them that it [if] they would do so they should have the gift of the Holy Ghost; and the Apostles further assured them that this promise was to them that were afar off, to all nations and countries—it extended to every creature.

And now, what objection can a man have to obeying one part more than another part of the Gospel? Why should men have such various opinions about the Gospel when it is so plainly set forth? One man says, “I suppose that baptizing or sprinkling me when I was an infant was sufficient, for that was the custom in those days, and I suppose they called that baptism.” Well, have we not shown you that repentance was of God, and therefore that all men must repent? Jesus Christ did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, and he also commanded his servants to go forth testifying to those that were seeking the kingdom of God, and gave them power to heal the sick and cast out devils.

Can little children commit sins? Can they hear the Gospel and receive it in their hearts? Can, little children reason, think, repent, and bring forth fruits meet for the kingdom of God? Can little children be instructed to obey the Gospel in their infancy? To all these questions every rational man would answer—No! Well, then, what have we to do with the Gospel as it pertains to little children? We are willing to carry out the instructions of the Savior where we are told to bless them, and this we are willing to do wherever we see them, and to pray for them, but to sinners that are sufficiently grown to be free to act for themselves—persons who are sufficiently grown to be accountable before the Almighty, and to be capable of conceiving sin in their hearts, and of bringing forth the fruits of it, to such was repentance and baptism, and therefore the Gospel could never be applied to little infants; it was a Gospel of voluntary obedience, and therefore it could not apply to the infant in its mother’s arms.

Go and “teach” all nations, and baptize the people; not the teaching to “follow” baptism, but teach them to observe all the things spoken by Jesus. Well, now, if you baptize a little infant, then remember to tell it all the things; teach it, then baptize, after which, you must teach it to observe all things.

But you see it wont require a dead form to carry out the Gospel of Christ, but an infant could not ask, what is the word? Persons have been used to trust to a dead form and have their children sprinkled, but if any of you were sprinkled, it was at a time when you could not help yourself, and hence you do not know anything about it, only, that you have been told that somebody sprinkled you when an infant.

Then, notwithstanding your infant sprinkling, you never obeyed the Gospel because it was a Gospel of repentance, and is to be so when carried to all whom the Lord our God shall call. The Gospel, which we have to preach, is a Gospel of repentance and of remission of sins, to every one that will obey it, including a baptism, a voluntary baptism, which is applicable to all the truly obedient, in every nation, who are determined to lead a new life, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance, and what was it? The Apostle, in the New Testament, informs us that it was to be buried with Christ by baptism into his death, and rise to newness of life in the likeness of his resurrection.

In my travels abroad, I sometimes meet, among many others, members of the church of Rome, so called; I believe they call themselves such. I say to them, “Are you sure there was such a church as that in the days of the Apostles, and that you are members of that church?” “If there was such a church,” says I, “it is spoken of in the New Testament. Well are you sure that you are a member of the church of Rome that is spoken of as having grown and swelled and perpetuated itself? How have you become such?” “By being baptized,” is the answer. “Then you would think an unbaptized person was not a member of that church?” “Yes, we would consider all such persons aliens.”

“Well, then, I will convince you that you are not a legal member in the church of Rome, baptism being the initiatory right into that church.” “How will you do it,” Says he, “Because the Apostle in his epistle gives instructions and directions how every member was initiated into the Church, that was established by himself at Rome. He says that “as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, and if ye have put on Christ, then are ye Christ’s.”

“He also says, ‘Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.’” Romans, chapter 6.

“Now,” says I, “remember that every one of your members of the Church of Rome have been buried with Christ by baptism into death, and hence you must have risen to newness of life in the likeness of his resurrection. So writes the Apostle to the true Church of Rome, and you will find it in the New Testament, as before stated.”

“Now then,” says I, “you have acknowledged that no man is a member of the Church of Rome, unless he has been baptized, and the Apostle himself says that ‘every member of the Church of Rome has been buried with Christ by baptism, and has risen again from that grave into the likeness of his resurrection.’ Where, Sir, were you buried with him, and when did you rise from that grave in the likeness of his death and resurrection? And have you ever led a new life, avoiding this sin and the other which you before were guilty of?”

“Well,” says the professor of Roman religion, “You have got us in a curious position, I must acknowledge; I will have to give it up, for that is true; it is the written word of an Apostle of God. I have never become a member of the Church of Rome, and am consequently an heathen, according to the views of the Roman Catholic Church.”

I have conversed with men who have come out as honestly as men could in their positions. Members of the Catholic Church have come out as honestly as I have stated, and said that they must give up, but the Protestants are very tenacious, and will stick to their creed, often in spite of reason. I presume they are like all men in reference to tenacity, they would stick to their oath; that, if possible, they might gain converts to their faith.

The question is often asked, “Are there any honest people among this sect, and the other party?” I tell you there are honest men in every sect of religionists, and if you try to classify men, you will have a difficult job, for you will find honest men in this class and the other, and, in fact, among all classes. and sects of men.

You need not suppose that honesty depends upon our traditions, or upon where a man was born; but there are honest people in every community, and in every sect under heaven, and there are those that hate the truth, and that would not aid in the spread of light and truth, nor lend their influence to any servant of God under the heavens.

Well now, I love a man without regard to his country, or where he was brought up, without reference to color or nation. I love a man that loves the truth, and I do not blame any man under heaven for having been born and brought up in any particular town city, or nation. You might as well blame a man for being brought up under certain traditions, in countries where they have not had the opportunity of discoursing with others, no discussions, no free press, where they never could know anything else but tradition through life.

You might as well blame them for their country as for their traditions. Circumstances might come round, and so order the course of a man’s mind and his mission as to give him a new channel of thought, and prevent his making any distinction, as it was with the Apostle Peter.

There are whole nations, and generations of them, that have lived and died with the same knowledge right before their eyes, and that without the opportunity of thinking of any other degrees of knowledge. Well, what did Peter do with regard to those he was called to visit and preach to? When he preached the Gospel under the instructions of a risen Jesus, when he undertook to preach the Gospel—repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands for the gifts of the Holy Ghost, he said, “The promise is to you;” meaning that present generation, and he thought a little more, and then said, “It is to your children;” meaning the next generation, and finally his heart enlarged a little further, by the Holy Ghost that was in him, and he uttered its dictation, “To all that are afar off;” and then he happened to think that they might count those that had been brought up in some other country, with different tradition, and he limited a little, and said, “Even to as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

Although the mind of Peter was liable to be too contracted, he knew one thing, viz., that the Lord their God was in the habit of communicating with the people, and he understood that He always would be, for he knew that God lived, and he also knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was alive, for he had seen and talked with him, and had handled him, and he had seen him ascend up on high; and he had heard him testify that he had all power given him in heaven and in earth, and he knew that he would have power to send the Gospel to every creature, for he had the keys to send the Gospel wherever he pleased, to all tribes, nations, and languages, in worlds without end, therefore when he made the promise he only limited it, or gave it a certain jurisdiction, recollecting where it belonged.

The promise he gave of the Holy Ghost was to all that are afar off, to those whom the Lord our God shall call. To express it in language more appropriate than any other, perhaps, the promise of the Holy Ghost is, to wherever the Lord sends forth a revelation, wherever He makes proclamation of the Gospel, wherever He commissions men and sends forth the keys of the kingdom of God, and authorizes men to administer those ordinances in His name. It matters not whether in Judea, or America, or whether it be in Samaria, or England, whether to the heathen, the Jew, or the refined philosopher. It matters not whether we apply it to ancient days or modern times, wherever the Almighty God or Jesus Christ His Son, sees fit to reveal the fulness of the Gospel, and the keys of the eternal Priesthood, and the ministration of angels, there the promise contained in the Gospel was to hold good; and the nation or people obeying that call should receive remission of sins in his name, in obedience to his Gospel, and be filled with the Holy Spirit of Promise—the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of prophecy and revelation, and also includes many other gifts.

Is that Gospel any less true because it was revealed to Mormon, and was preached by him? Is that truth any less true because it has been hid up in the earth, inscribed upon plates, and has come forth and been translated in this age of the world? Was not that Gospel as good when preached to the Nephites in America, as it was when preached to the Jews in Palestine?

And if as good why not write it? And if good enough to be preached and written, why not have those writings and read them, and rejoice in the spirit and truths they contain?

Rejoice because it swells the heart, expands the mind, gives a more enlarged view of God’s dealings and mercies, shows them to be extended to all extent, published in different countries, and upon different continents, revealed to one nation as well as another; in short, it gives a man that feeling when he contemplates the bearing and extent of that Gospel; it gives a man a feeling which affords joy and satisfaction to the soul; it give a man that feeling which angels had when they sung in the ears of the shepherds of Judea—“We bring you glad tidings of great joy”—which shall be in a few countries, and to a few people? No, that was not the song, though they were singing to those who had a few traditions in their families; which they had received from their forefathers.

The shepherds were astonished, and well they might be, and they brought every body. to this text throughout the whole of Judea. Still those angels were honest enough to sing the whole truth, notwithstanding the Jews looked upon all Gentiles as dogs, and I think I hear the shepherds saying, that brought glad tidings to every body—“To these dogs?” Still the angels—a choir of them—were bold enough to sing, “We bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people!”

What a big saying for Jewish shepherds! Why they must have enlarged their hearts, and wondered at this very strange news! Why Peter had hardly got his heart sufficiently enlarged to believe these glad tidings, many years after they were proclaimed, although he had preached so much.

It swelled by degrees, and contracted again, I suppose, and at last he had to have a vision, and a sheet let down from heaven, and things shown him, and explained to him over and over again, to get him to realize the truth of the glad tidings sung by angels at the birth of the Savior.

It was showing so much, it was too broad a platform, such a boundless ocean of mercy! It was making such a provision for the human family that Peter could not comprehend it. If the angel had said it was for the Jews, for the peculiar people of God, those that could receive the new revelation, why then it might have done; but to throw off their traditions, they who were the peculiar few, as they considered themselves, to believe that the glad tidings of the Savior’s birth was for those Gentile dogs, they could not endure this for a moment. They were of the house of Israel, the seed of promise.

This was indeed a peculiar vision, bringing the glad tidings of the Savior’s birth—for that was the peculiar mission of those angels—hence they did not bring the Gospel, they did not say anything about baptism, nor repentance, nor remission of sins, but they simply brought glad tidings of it. They announced the fact that a Savior was born at such a date and place, told the birth place and events of a Savior being born in Bethlehem, under the circumstances named at that time, and declared that this news, this glad tidings, should go to all people.

What was the result? Why it went through Judea; it was sounded through Samaria; it went to Rome and to Greece; it went to Ethiopia; it went to the ut[t]ermost parts of the earth; it soon bounded over the sea; the angels of God that sung that song could never contradict their words. If then they had to carry it over the seas, to every country and continent where the seed of promise was, they were bound to fulfil that mission, and they swiftly flew to America, and proclaimed the glad tidings there.

They found the people there shut out by a cloud of darkness, from the light of truth. They found a people there called the Nephites and Lamanites who were a branch of the house of Israel, that were cast off, or rather brought over the great waters from their country, and they bore the glad tidings to them, (you have read it in the Book of Nephi) and they informed them that at such a time and place the Savior was born.

By and by the Savior himself came over here, and told it to the people; but this was after his resurrection, for the work was too much, and the field too large for his mortal life; for he had but a few years to preach the Gospel to the Jews, and part of that short life of 33 years was he a child—a boy, and hence, he had to be limited to that country where he had a mortal body, and could be borne by the mountain waves that might separate one country from another. But after his resurrection, he was as independent of the waves and mountains as he was of those who crucified him; for then he could rise above their power; he was able to pass from planet to planet with perfect ease; he was as able, to ascend up and go from continent to continent; he was as able to ascend to his God, and to our God, as he was to appear to his disciples.

I say, Jesus could not be held in Palestine; the mountains, nor the rolling seas had not power to stay his progress, for he had told his disciples, while he was yet living, that he had other sheep which were not of that fold, and, said he, “They shall hear my voice.”

In fulfilment of this, and according to the nature of his grand commission, the Saviour of the whole world, not half of it, in his glorified body, showed himself to the Nephites in America, and bestowed upon them the Priesthood, with all its gifts and qualifications—that same glorious Gospel that he had just before given to his Prophets and Apostles at Jerusalem—and he told those whom he selected to hold the Priesthood upon this continent, to go forth and preach the same glad tidings of salvation to all their world, fulfiling in part the words of Peter, “For the promise is to all that are afar off.”

And Jesus called to those Nephites, when he descended, and they fell at his feet, as many as could get near him, and they bathed his feet in their tears, and they examined his wounds, and heard the gracious words of his mouth, and they saw him ascend, and descend again, and they felt so large in their charity and affections, and the light of truth was so large and extended in its benefits, and benevolence; and the testimony so strong, that they feasted upon the blessings that were bestowed, and he then commanded them to write his sayings, and an account of the miracles he wrought among them.

They did this as he commanded, and they liked the writings so well that they handed them down to each succeeding prophet, until Mormon, who was born three or four ages afterwards; and he could not hand those sacred records down any further because of apostacy, and the blasphemy and wickedness of the people, and because of the wars and troubles that spread among the people; so he made a secret deposit of those writings, and put them in the earth, and he also wrote a book and called it the “Book of Mormon,” which was an abridgment of the other records, and this was hid up to the Lord, and through the interference of the Almighty, a young man, Joseph Smith, by the gift and power of God—I say, through that young man, and the ministration of holy angels to him, that book came forth to the world, and it has since that time been preached and read in our language, and many others, and we rejoice in it, and have borne testimony of it in the world.

It is through that blessed Book of Mormon, with that blessed Gospel in it, that we have the testimony which we have in reference to the death and resurrection of the Saviour of men.

It is true, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, and as preached upon this continent, and it is true as written in the New Testament, and as it was preached to the Jews in Jerusalem, and as preached to the Ten Tribes, though we have not got their record yet, but we will have it, and we shall find that the blessed Jesus revealed to them the Gospel, and that they rejoiced in it.

And their record will come so that we will know of a surety, and of a truth, that they had the everlasting Gospel as well as their brethren in Jerusalem, and upon this continent.

When these things come to pass we will have three ancient records, delivered in three different countries. We have in the Old and New Testaments, and the Book of Mormon, and other good books, all we at present require.

We shall eventually have the history of the Ten Tribes in the north, of the Nephites in America, and of the Jews in Jerusalem, and their written testimony will become one, and their words will become one, and the people of God will be gathered, under testimony, into one body, and the testimony of the Latter-day Saints will become one with that of the Former-day Saints, (and it is now so far as it goes) and the testimonies of those shall sweep the earth as with a flood, and by the voice of men and angels, and eventually by the great sound of a trumpet, and none shall escape.

Prior to this great destruction, the everlasting Gospel will be taught to them by the servants of God, by the testimony of men and angels, and by the testimony of Jesus Christ, and by the testimony of ancient and modern Prophets; by the testimony of Joseph Smith, and of the Apostles ordained by him, and by the testimony of ancient and modern Saints; by the testimony of the Ten Tribes; by the testimony of heaven and the testimony of earth; then shall the wicked be sent to their own place, and truth shall be established in the earth; and the voice of joy and gladness shall be heard with the meek of the earth.

Those that forsake their sins shall have abundant cause to rejoice with those that love the truth, and are made pure in heart by it.

Joy and gladness shall be heard, and there shall be glad tidings to all the meek, and to all the pure in heart; to all that love instruction; to all that will not harden their hearts; to all the sinners that will be obedient and refrain from their sins, and live a holy life.

The cry will no longer go forth, “They will not repent and be converted, that I may heal them;” for the Lord God, the blessed Savior, who is full of virtue, power, and love, and healing, with his Priesthood will bless them, and they will find comfort, for he will heal them.

From the fact that Jesus complains of a people that will not be converted, lest he might heal them, we would conclude from that, that conversion was a condition of the healing power. Why, says he, “They will not turn from their sins and be converted, that I may heal them.” But when they are converted and grown up into one, the day of his power comes, and then says he, “They are converted, and I will heal them.”

Don’t you see that he came to the Nephites (you have read it in the Book of Mormon), and he said, “Bring forth your halt, and blind, and dumb, and I will heal them, for I see your faith is sufficient and I will heal them all:” and he healed them every one as they were brought to him. That day of general healing came to them, for the more wicked part of the inhabitants had been cut off, and I would to God that that day would come among us.

Well, let us be converted, and those that have been converted and have held on to it, be converted a little more, for I tell you I like conversion pretty often. I don’t mean that I like people to turn round from the truth and then repent, and say, I am sorry; but I mean that a man needs converting to-day, and the next day, and the day after, because a man that is progressing learns by degrees. To-day he gets to understand that a certain principle or practice of his is wrong; and when he finds himself wrong, and learns his error, he turns from it; but even then he does not understand all things pertaining to right and wrong. He has not learned all things that might stand in the way of building up the kingdom of God, and hence, he wants or needs to be converted to-day, and the next day, and the next, and so on until he is converted from all his bad habits, and from his impurities, and he becomes just such a man as the Lord delights in.

And Jesus said, “Be ye as I am, and I am as the Father.” He contrasts himself and them with the Father, and then says, “What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you such as I am, and I am as the Father is.”

It is for this purpose that we came into the world, that we might become like the Father; and that we may become like Him, we need converting every day, or at least until we are free from all evil, even if it be five hundred times—not to turn away from the truth, but keep going on to perfection.

We need converting until we feel that indeed the promise of the Holy Ghost is “to all that afar off, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call” The Lord calls the Jews, the Christians, the “Mormons,” the Gentiles; He calls the Ten Tribes; and He has called us also; God has called brother Joseph, brother Hyrum, and brother Brigham, and His Apostles, and the Elders who hold the Priesthood in this age, and He calls the people of America and of Europe, and the whole human family. Some He calls by His angels, and by His own voice out of the heavens. In this way He called Joseph and his associates, and revealed to them the fulness of the Gospel, put upon them the powers of the eternal Priesthood, after the same order as Himself, and told them to go forth and call others to assist them.

They did so, and others obeyed the Gospel; they laid their hands upon them, after they had baptized them and confirmed them; and they ordained them to bear testimony of their calling, and the restoration of the Gospel in its fulness—that a new call had been, made to the nations of the earth.

And it required another call in our day, for Peter had gone the way of all the earth, and also his brethren who were his contemporaries; and the brethren among the Nephites had gone, or had been taken away; and those holding the authority among the Ten Tribes had gone the way of all the earth.

And it was this that brought those glad tidings and those messengers to us; and those were the ones that brought the light of heaven to our beloved brother Joseph Smith.

Well, if I have been made a high witness of these things, what brought the truth to me? It was through the ministration of angels, under whose hands these my brethren have been ordained to the holy Priesthood, and it brought down with it the blessings of the everlasting Gospel, for it could not be in the world without a call; for those who previously held it had gone to another sphere.

The Gospel was revealed to ancient men in different climes and countries, whenever there were men to be saved, and it was revealed to modern men, because there were modern men to be saved by it. The Gospel was to all whom the Lord our God should call, in every age and country, and but for this call we would have been as blind as bats in the traditions of our fathers, led away by divers creeds and by the cunning of men who lie in wait to deceive. Where would we have been if it had not been for this call? We might have been good men enough, perhaps, but where would we have been?

The introduction of the Gospel was worthy of an angel, yes, the errand was worthy of a corps of them—it was worthy of a host of them! It was worthy of a God! It was an object of importance that called Jesus from the bosom of his Father in the eternal world. A call was necessary then; faith was necessary, and faith comes by hearing the word of God; and how could you have heard it, if nobody had been called to deliver it? We were in the midst of darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. We could see revelations given in other ages, but we want them in our age; but we wanted a call.

I am aware that some will be thinking of their grandmothers or grandfathers who died in the middle ages, and who died in hope, as far as they could get at it. I know they will be querying all the while to know what has become of them.

Well, it is no matter; it is for us to attend to our own business, and see to our own salvation; if we do this, we shall have no condemnation. We do not know but as we progress in righteousness, that in the provisions made by our great Father, we may have to serve them, and to do for those good old fathers and mothers of ours, who did see the light afar off, but could not come at it for want of a call—for want of a Priesthood, which is without beginning of days—and men holding the authority of heaven; yes, we may have to do for them what they have not had the privilege of doing for themselves.

Well, what is the provision? Why did I not just name to you, that this eternal Priesthood is without beginning of days or end of life, after the order of the Son of God? Do you suppose that when a man, passes beyond the veil, he is any less a Priest? If angels or men, by the spirit of prophecy, have laid their hands upon him and ordained him to an office in the Priesthood of the Son of God, and have given him a call in the name of the Lord to give salvation to others do you suppose that by passing the veil he becomes unordained?

What did Jesus say to the Jews? Says he, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is the God you profess to worship; but,” says he, “I want you to understand that He is not the God of the dead, for what glory would their be in that? But,” says he, “He is the God of the living.” He was speaking to the children of Abraham who were dead, as much as to say that Abraham was living then.

Well, then, when a man holding the eternal Priesthood passes the veil, he still holds his authority, and his heart is full of affection and love towards God’s creatures, and he is clothed with the power of God, and he is His Prophet, Apostle, and Elder. It is impossible to keep a man silent who is filled with the testimony of Jesus. I would as soon undertake to shut up fire in dry shavings, as to shut up in that man’s heart the good news, for he has his mission, which is to preach the Gospel to those that were and are in darkness.

The good old fathers and mothers who had not the privileges and blessings of the Gospel—for instance—go to deliver your message to them, that they may come to the light of truth, and be saved.

The Apostle, when addressing the Saints, says, “But ye have obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine which was delivered to you: being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Rom. vi. 17 and 18.

There was the freedom of obedience to that form of doctrine delivered to them. Obedience to that form of doctrine made them free, but it did not prevent them from acting as men, in a temporal point of view.

The Apostle also speaks of passing from death unto life, because they loved the brethren. Passing the veil does not alter a man; it certainly takes him from the eyes of flesh, but the capacity, the intelligence, the thinking powers, are all alive and quick; and if they hear the Gospel, they will be glad, and the promises are made to them, and they will rejoice in them.

Let a man pass the veil with the everlasting Priesthood, having magnified it to the day of his death, and you cannot get it off him; it will remain with him in the world of spirits; and when he wakes up in that world among the spirits, he has that power, and that obligation on him, that if he can find a person worthy of salvation, why, as soon as he ascertains that, and he remembers what he may teach and who he may teach, he then discovers that he has got a mission, and that mission is to those souls who had not the privilege which we have in this world, that they may be partakers of the Gospel as well as we.

And herein; when fully carried out, are the keys of the “baptism for the dead,” and the salvation of those not on the earth, a subject into which I need not now enter, although it is among the first principles of salvation; but they are so lengthy that we cannot dwell upon them all at one time.

But suffice it to say, that when the Lord made provision that there should be one name by which man should be saved; and when He planned glad tidings of great joy to go over the islands and continents, and to the four quarters of the earth, He also remembered the spirits in prison, and He made provision wide as eternity, that it might reach the case of “every creature,” under every circumstance that could arise within the reach of mercy.

He so ordered it, that “all manner of sins and blasphemies, in due time, might be forgiven, except that which could not be justly forgiven in this world, nor in that which is to come.”

The plan was so devised that every man might have repentance and remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, in his time and in his place, if he would; but if he would not, very well then, he might do as he pleased, whether in this world or any other, according to the clear freedom that he lives under.

You know you cannot compel one of the dumb animals to drink; you can lead him to the water, direct his attention to the clear, crystal, pure stream, but still he may die of thirst. And men may die because they will not leave off their sins, and lay hold of the cross; and if they will die of thirst, and will not lay hold of the salvation offered by a bleeding Savior, they may die the death of the wicked.

And if, because they will not give up their freedom to do right, they can go; they will die to all eternity, and never be compelled to obey the truth.

Well, friends, here is the Gospel; and where is the man’s heart so hard that he will not see and embrace it? A man must be hardened in wickedness, that will not abide the law of the Gospel. And that portion of you who have not obeyed, my invitation is to you all; and all of you in the Church, who have not obeyed the Gospel in its fulness, see that you obey it in its fulness; I mean, to every day, attend to the repentance part of it—the leaving off part—forsaking your evils—the conversion part, and bring forth fruits suited to a new life.

I will have to be judged for my preaching, and you for your hearing. I shall be pretty careful for myself; I can do that, I think. I shall look into things, prepare my mind to discern between the right and the wrong; otherwise I might neglect; and it will keep a man pretty busy to repent and bring forth fruits for a new life. There will be a good deal of watching and praying, and he will have to be pretty careful to live so as to get the Holy Spirit, so that it will not leave him, and he will be, without it, like a fish out of water, or like a person in hot weather destitute of pure air. If he once loses the Spirit, after having received it, it will keep him pretty busy to get it again.

That repentance, and that burial in the name of the risen Jesus, wants a good deal of humility and perseverance; for there is the old man with his deeds to put off, and lay aside, and to walk a new life.

It does not only mean something, but it is shown forth in the actions of the man. Well won’t that keep a man pretty busy? I think it will in such a world as this. Well, in this sense of the word the Saints are called upon to obey the Gospel and repent, all the while; but we talk of dying unto sin and of walking in newness of life. The dying unto sin and rising in the new life, and the baptism were to be for a moment, but the stream that flows from obedience is perpetual.

Well, those out of the Church are certainly called upon to obey the Gospel; and when people are careless and indifferent respecting their duties, then it is that wicked people rise up amongst us, and we are then called upon to repent and obey the Gospel. I will clear my garments, as far as one day will do it, before I sit down. The little children are called upon to obey the Gospel, such as are capable of being taught, and they ought to be taught by their parents, so that they may understand it by the time they are eight years of age. Then they are called upon to repent, to understand and bring forth the fruits meet for the kingdom of God, and be buried in the likeness of death as Jesus was, and then leave off all their foolish and sinful ways, and rise out of their watery grave, understanding that Jesus rose again from the dead—from his grave, and knowing this they should then take up their cross. This is a figure to show us that then commences a new life.

Now you folks that have been brought up in the Gospel, in the light of heaven, but have been careless or wicked, rise up and obey the Gospel, and don’t you be baptized without you repent, for all you hear of the Gospel and attend to, unless you are as humble as a little child, it won’t do you any good, and remember that it is through the name, and the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, that you can have remission of sins, through the ordinance of baptism which represents the burial. And those people that have not been brought up within this call and influence, I say, come and obey it and do not call yourselves outsiders and aliens, but fellow heirs to the promises made to Abraham, and which were established by him and given to him for an everlasting covenant.

You may suppose that it was a part of the law given to Moses, and therefore done away in Christ. Let me tell you that the everlasting covenant made with Abraham, and mentioned in the Scriptures, was made four hundred and fifty years before the law was thundered from Mount Sinai. Separate and apart from the Gospel, the law was given to Moses, but not to disannul that covenant, and when the Lord Jesus Christ came he never disannuled it, but commanded his Apostles to preach it. It is much older than the law, for it applied before Moses was born and also afterwards, and all we have to do is to come into it, and be faithful as Abraham was faithful, and then we shall become sons, and if sons, the sons of Abraham, and if daughters, the daughters of Sarah, because we have embraced the same Gospel and principles. And then when we get into heaven with Rachel and Leah, they will not be ashamed of us, and what is more we will not be ashamed of them. Then we shall be hail fellows well met, and we shall sit down in the kingdom of God, and go no more out forever. “And many will come from the east and from the west and will sit down in the kingdom of God,” and unless we are faithful we shall be shut out. Therefore I wish you to understand that the promises, that are special, will not apply to us, and where they go we cannot come, except by adoption.

May the Lord bless you. Amen.

I like preaching the Gospel this morning. Before I came here I thought, what I shall say if they call on me to speak to-day? And the thought came into my mind, I will preach the Gospel, and the moment I came brother Kimball said, “Brother Parley, come preach the Gospel to us;” I replied “That is just what I was thinking of.”

The Powers of the Priesthood not Generally Understood, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 27, 1856.

I am thankful for the privilege of again appearing here before the brethren and sisters. A few of us have been absent for a short time, and, in our absence, I hope and trust you have been blessed with the Holy Spirit of the Lord. I pray for the continuance of the light of that Spirit to rest upon the Saints, this I crave continually for myself and for all who profess to be Saints of the Most High.

As I have frequently thought, and said, when duty requires I am happy in going from home, and I am happy in returning, for it is my greatest joy and comfort to do what the Lord requires of me, and what I know to be my duty, no matter what it is if the Lord requires it of me. This course gives joy and peace. When this principle becomes the acting principle of all the Saints, we shall find that Zion is here; we shall be in the midst of it; we shall enjoy it.

As individuals, we enjoy Zion at present, but not as a community; there is so much sin, darkness, and ignorance, and the veil of the covering which is over the nations of the earth is measurably over the Latter-day Saints. The same unrighteous principles, which becloud the minds of men universally, more or less becloud the minds of the Latter-day Saints. Though the veil is partially broken to the Saints, though it becomes thin, as it were, and the twilight appears like the dawning of the day, yet we may travel for many years before the sunshine appears. It does not yet appear to this people, they are merely in the twilight.

As one expressed it in ancient times, “We see through a glass darkly”—through a smoked or dim glass—through which we cannot behold objects clearly with the natural eye.

We have not faith sufficient to have revelation, to have the visions of eternity opened unto us so clearly that we may see things as they are, consequently, we have to live by faith and not by sight. We have to live by the principles of the Gospel, which is faith in the heart and obedience to its requirements. It is our joy and salvation that we have this privilege.

If we could understand the nature of the Priesthood—could comprehend it fully, this people, as a community, the Elders, as Elders of Israel, quorums, as quorums, when they present themselves before the Lord, would possess keys to unlock the treasury of heaven, and we could receive as one person receives from another. To us, as a people, the keys of the rich storehouse of the Lord are committed, yet we do not fully know how to unlock and receive. We receive a little here and there, and the hearts of the people are comforted by the very Priesthood we are in possession of, which has been given to this people for the express purpose of their receiving that which God has given them, though not yet to possess it independently, but as means for trial.

This Priesthood is given to the people, and the keys thereof, and, when properly understood, they may actually unlock the treasury of the Lord, and receive to their fullest satisfaction. But through our own weaknesses, through the frailty of human nature, we are not yet capable of doing so.

We have to humble ourselves and become like little children in our feelings—to become humble and childlike in spirit, in order to receive the first illuminations of the spirit of the Gospel, then we have the privilege of growing, of increasing in knowledge, in wisdom, and in understanding. This is a great privilege, while the world, excepting this people who inhabit these valleys, and those that are associated with us in different parts of the earth, are destitute of this principle and privilege. Still, many of us, and I may say comparatively all of us, are upon the same ground, situated precisely like other professors of religion, in order that we may struggle, wrestle, and strive, until the Lord bursts the veil and suffers us to behold His glory, or a portion of it.

If we did fully understand the principles of the Gospel—the keys of the Priesthood, it would be familiar with us, and be easy to be understood and to act upon and perform, and be no more of a miracle to know how to receive the things of God by revelation, than it is now a miracle to cast seed into the ground, after it is prepared, and reap our crops.

An individual who holds a share in the Priesthood, and continues faithful to his calling, who delights himself continually in doing the things God requires at his hands, and continues through life in the performance of every duty, will secure to himself not only the privilege of receiving, but the knowledge how to receive the things of God, that he may know the mind of God continually; and he will be enabled to discern between right and wrong, between the things of God and the things that are not of God. And the Priesthood—the Spirit that is within him, will continue to increase until it becomes like a fountain of living water; until it is like the tree of life; until it is one continued source of intelligence and instruction to that individual.

This is one of the most glorious and happy principles that can be set before any people, or any individual who will be faithful to his God and to his religion. Upon whoever are bestowed the keys of the eternal Priesthood, by a faithful life, will secure to themselves power to see the things of God, and will understand them as plainly as they ever understood anything by gazing upon it with their natural eyes, or as clearly as they ever could distinguish one object from another by their sensations.

It is the privilege of every person who is faithful to the Priesthood, who can overcome the enemy, thwart the design of death, or him that hath the power of it, to live upon the earth until their appointed time; and they may know, see, and understand, by revelation, the things of God just as naturally as we understand natural things that are around us.

We inquire, is this the character of the people called Latter-day Saints? We can say it is the character of many of them, but when we reflect, it is not the case with the whole of them. There are many who never fail to improve upon every means of grace given them, upon every particle of light imparted to them. They perform every duty that is made known to them, they cease to do evil wherever an evil is presented to them, they refrain, so far as is in their power, from every act and from every thought and disposition which is contrary to the holy Gospel.

Again, when we look around we see many, very many, men and women who profess to know the things of God, to belong to His family, to the Church of the First-Born—the Church of Jesus Christ, who are ofttimes wrought upon by the Holy Spirit of the Gospel which has caused them to rejoice therein, who give thanks to their God, rejoice with joy unspeakable, and you would think they were very near the kingdom of heaven—near the threshold of the gate which opens into the presence of the Father and the Son, and yet, if anything crosses them, will give way to an evil temper; and if anything is presented to them which they do not understand, they condemn it at once; they are ready to pass judgment upon that which they do not understand. If they are crossed by their friends and families they are ready to speak by the spirit of evil, by the spirit of contention; they are ready to receive a little malice in their hearts. They do all this, they turn round and repent of it, they are sorry for it, and they say they will try to do better, will try to overcome their passions, or the temptations of the evil one in their natures. You see them again, have they kept themselves pure? No they have not, but they have given way to evil, to a little dishonesty, falsifying, shading of sentiment, speeches, sayings, and doings of their neighbors. They have given way to anger, and will remark, “It is true I got angry, I was overcome, true I acted the fool, but I mean to refrain from so doing in the future.” And thus they live for a spell, but how long will it be before they are again overtaken in fault? Then if a delusive spirit, professedly a righteous one, is cast into a neighborhood, how easy such people are decoyed by it, led away by it.

At one time you see them as enthusiastic as mortals can be, in what they call righteous principles, and hear them saying, “I have more light now than I ever had before in my life, I am better now than I ever was, I am filled with the Holy Spirit.”

This is the way we often find them, they are rejoiced exceedingly and are upon Pisgah’s top—flaming Latter-day Saints, and, perhaps, when the next day or the next week has passed over they are angry, filled with malice and wrath. After a while they will say, “That was a delusive spirit, it is true I felt joyful and happy, I thought it was the best spirit and the most light I ever enjoyed in all the days of my life, but I now find I was deceived, I find that if I had continued in that spirit there was a trap laid to catch me, to decoy me away, and destroy my faith in the holy Gospel.” Is this the case with the Latter-day Saints? Yes, with many of them.

Our religion is a practical and progressive one. It will not prepare a thief, a liar, a sorcerer, a whoremonger, an adulterer, a murderer, or a false swearer, in one day, so that he can enter into the celestial kingdom of God. We ought to understand that when our lives have been filled with all manner of wickedness, to turn and repent of our sins, to be baptized for the remission of them, and have our names w[r]itten upon the Church records, does not prepare us for the presence of our Father, and elder brother. What will? A continuation of faithfulness to the doctrines of Christ; nothing short of this will do it. The Latter-day Saints should understand this. Do they? Yes. Do they live to it? A great many of them do not. All ought to live their religion every day, and there are a great many who do. But there are a great many who do not, who are overcome with evil, get out of the true path of righteousness, and do those things which are wrong. They contend with each other, quarrel, have broils and difficulties in families, and in neighborhoods, law with each other touching property, one saying, “This is mine,” and another saying, “It is not yours, but it is mine.” One says, “You have wronged me,” the other says, “I have not.” Thus there are thousands of plans which the enemy of all righteousness employs to decoy the hearts of the people away from righteousness.

If this people would live their religion, and continue year after year to live their religion, it would not be many years before we would see eye to eye; there would be no difference of opinion, no difference of sentiment, and the veil that now hangs over our minds would become so thin that we should actually see and discern things as they are.

True we labor under many embarrassments with regard to our progress in Christian life, and it is right we should be situated just as we are. We wish to save the world of mankind, and difficulties, embarrassments, and obstacles are thrown in our way continually. If this congregation could live twenty years without communion and intercourse with any other people, if we did not preach any more to the world, and no more Saints were gathered from abroad, we might, perhaps, train ourselves so as to see eye to eye, and that too before we had lived as many years to come as this Church has been organized.

But no, if we are instructed now, and understand all it is our privilege to understand, another year we must have another batch of clay thrown in the mill, as brother Kimball calls it, and this new supply spoils more or less of the clay that is already well tempered, and it is right that it should be so. Though this is a good comparison—the making of vessels out of clay, and the grinding up of clay, still, is it in every respect correct? We might carry it out perhaps, but I argue, and believe with all my soul, that if there were 10,000 Saints to emigrate to this point yearly from England, or any other country, and though thousands of the wicked should gather with them, it would not prove, for one moment, that any Saint would be obliged to sin thereby; it would not prove, for one moment, that this congregation before me would be obliged to do wrong.

Though we may be mingled together, and our interchanges are as they are, still if a stranger should look upon us as a community, who have been here many years, and see but few of the new comers do wrong, and then judge us off and say, we are all evil, that none of us are righteous, that there is no good fruit here, that would be an unrighteous judgment and decision.

It is our privilege, for you and me to live, from this day, so that our consciences will be void of offence towards God and man; it is in our power to do so, then why don’t we? What is the matter? I will tell you what the difficulties and troubles are, by relating brother John Young’s dream. He dreamed that he saw the devil with a looking-glass in his hand, and the devil held it to the faces of the people, and it revealed to them everybody’s faults but their own.

The difficulty is, neglecting to watch over ourselves. Just as soon as our eyes are turned away from watching ourselves, to see whether we do right, we begin to see faults in our neighbors; this is the great difficulty, and our minds become more and more blinded until we become entirely darkened. So long as I do the thing the Lord requires of me, and do not stop to inquire what I shall tell to my neighbor as his duty, and pay very close attention to my individual person, that my words are right, that my actions are right before God, that my reflections are right, and that my desires are according to the holy Gospel, I have not much time to look at the faults of my neighbors. Is not this true?

This is our practical religion; it is our duty to stop and begin to look at ourselves. We may have trials to pass through, and when people come to me, and tell me that they are wonderfully tried and have a great many difficulties to encounter—have their troubles on the right and on the left, and what to do they are at a loss to know, I say, “I am glad of it.” I rejoice to think that they must have trials as well as other people. And when they say, “It seems as though the devil would overcome me,” it is a pretty good evidence that an individual is watching himself.

If people could always understand the manifestations of the Spirit upon themselves, they would learn that they can be tempted as well as other people, and that would make them careful to watch against temptation and overcome it. Consequently, I rejoice for them, inasmuch as every individual who is prepared for the celestial kingdom must go through the same things.

I am happy, brethren, for the privilege of having temptation. A great many people have thought that in my life I was not tempted like other men. I tell them if I am it is none of their business; it is nothing to them. Some say “Brother Brigham, you slide along and the devil lets you alone.” If I have battles with him, I can overcome him single handed quicker than to call in my neighbors to help me. If I am tempted to speak an evil word, I will keep my lips locked together. Says one, “I do not know about that, that would be smothering up bad feelings, I am wonderfully tried about my neighbor, he has done wrong, he has abused me and I feel dreadful bad about it. Had I not better let it out than to keep it rankling within me?” No. I will keep bad feelings under and actually smother them to death, then they are gone. But as sure as I let them out they will live and afflict me, If I smother them in myself, if I actually choke them to death, destroy the life, the power, and vigor thereof, they will pass off and leave me clear of fault, and pure, so far as that is concerned; and no man or woman on earth knows that I have ever been tempted to indulge in wicked feelings. Keep them to yourselves.

If you feel evil, keep it to yourselves until you overcome that evil principle. This is what I call resisting the devil, and he flees from me. I strive to not speak evil, to not feel evil, and if I do, to keep it to myself until it is gone from me, and not let it pass my lips.

You should succeed in bringing your tongues into subjection, so as to never let them speak evil, so that they will perfectly obey your judgment and the discretion God has given you, and are perfectly obedient to the will of the holy Gospel. How long have we to live for that? I do not know, but I am strongly of the opinion that it is possible for a person to overcome their dispositions to evil, to such a degree that they will have no evil in the heart to slip out over the tongue; and if there is none in the heart, there is less danger of the tongue being used to the disadvantage of that individual, or to that of anybody else. If there is nothing in the heart which governs us, and controls to an evil effect, the tongue of itself will never produce evil.

Quite a number of us have returned from our southern mission, and as I have given you a few of my views with regard to some of the particular parts of our religion, I say for myself, and for the rest of my brethren who have been absent with me, we are happy to see you. I am, and I am sure that the rest are glad of the privilege of standing before you again in this house. I have nothing particular upon my mind, only to urge all the Latter-day Saints to live their religion.

I might say something with regard to the hard times. You know that I have told you that if any one was afraid of starving to death, let him leave, and go where there is plenty. I do not apprehend the least danger of starving, for until we eat up the last mule, from the tip of the ear to the end of the fly whipper, I am not afraid of starving to death. There are many people who cannot now get employment, but the spring is going to open upon us soon, and we are not going to suffer any more than what is for our good. I am thankful for the hand of the Lord which is visible; I am as thankful for this providence of His as for any that I ever received. I have told you, years ago, my feelings with regard to their sympathies, their faith, gratitude, and thankfulness, and their acknowledgment of the hand of the Lord and of the dispensations of His providence. My soul has been grieved to bleeding, to see the waste, and the prodigal feeling of this people in the use of their bountiful blessings. Many have walked them underfoot, and have been ready to curse God who bestowed them. They wanted gold and silver, instead of wheat and corn, and fine flour, and the best vegetables that ever grew upon the earth. They walked them underfoot, and set at nought the choice blessings of the Lord their God. If I were to see those individuals, obliged to gnaw the the ground in order to get out the thistle roots, and have no fingers to dig them with, it would not be a disagreeable sight to me, until they learn to know who it is that feeds them.

We never ought to be without three or five years provisions on hand. But when you see men run to hell to sell a bushel of wheat for sixty cents, instead of laying it up in their granaries for a day of scarcity, you are forced to conclude that they would trade with the very devil, to get his coat and shoes in exchange for their wheat. I hope they will learn wisdom in the future, and lay up wheat to feed the brethren when they come here from distant countries. If they will learn wisdom now, I will promise them, in the name of Israel’s God, that the earth will yield its abundance, as it has heretofore. Men in these valleys have reaped crop after crop which grew spontaneously, without putting a drag or a plow in the land, and yet they are ready to curse God for His blessings. How do you suppose the Lord feels? If He were no better than I am, He would chastise us far more severely than we have been. I will give way to others.

The Necessity of a Living Priesthood, etc.

Heber C. Kimball

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 27, 1856.

I do not feel as though I desired to take up much time, I merely wish to say a few words in regard to what we have heard to-day. I am aware that a great many in the world are pleased with fancies, they are gratified and edified with that which is artificial, but if people would be pleased and instructed with such remarks as we have heard to-day, it would be well, for they are the principles that will save you, that will lead you into the celestial world. Listen to that which you have heard to-day from brother Brigham; he is our leader, our Prophet, our Priest, and our Governor—the Governor of the Territory of Utah. In him is every power and key of celestial life and salvation, pertaining to every person there is on this earth, and that is a principle which but few persons realize. You take away the keys that are with him, and with those who sustain him, and I would not give a dime for you. Sin to such a degree that brother Brigham and his counsellors, and those who are associated with him—the Apostles of Jesus Christ—withdraw from your midst, and I would not give a dime for all the salvation you have got; that is my faith. He holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven, just as much as Peter, James, and John did after Jesus committed the keys to them on the mount, and said, “I give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whomsoever you bless I will bless, and whomsoever you curse I will curse.”

Take away that power, take away those keys, and you cannot find your way into the celestial kingdom. The keys in his possession will unlock the door and let you through into another existence, more excellent than this. He holds the keys. Can anybody pass without them? No, only as they get authority through him. Are they appreciated as they should be? Do this people listen to the counsel that proceeds from his mouth, as the words of the living oracles of God?

I would not care if there was not a Bible within ten thousand miles of this place, or any other book or scrip; here are the oracles living right in our midst, and we receive them from day to day, by word of mouth from a living man, an Apostle who is alive, and through a Priesthood which is living in our midst.

At the same time, a great many persons think more of the testimony of a dead Apostle than they do of a living one, and think more of dead Prophets than they do of living ones who are here in their midst. It is generally the case that men do not fully appreciate their blessings in life; often when their wives are dead they think more of them than they did when they were living, and it is just so with some wives in regard to their former husbands. We do not always appreciate the blessings we have in our possession until they are taken from us; then we begin to appreciate them; so when good men have left us we cease thinking of their faults, but begin to cherish the memory of their good deeds.

It is thus with a great many of our sisters when their husbands have gone to preach the Gospel; they now think they never had a fault in the world, but when they were at home they were full of failings.

I am not going to preach a discourse filled with high flown, exalted words, having no meaning to it, but I will come down to the capacity of every person that they may understand. Many times we do not appreciate our children, and take a right course with them when living, and when they are dead, we mourn and think of their lovely behavior, but never think of their misdeeds. Let us try to think as much of the living as of the dead. That which is dead will take care of itself, while that which is living wants somebody to care for it.

I consider that what we have heard to-day is of great worth to those who hear, but it is of far more worth to those who receive it, and more still to those who practise it, and bring forth the fruits thereof. Let us treasure up these things in our hearts and be faithful, and serve our God and keep His commandments.

In regard to our doings at Fillmore, all was peaceful and harmonious, so far as the Legislature was concerned; though the brief term of forty days, allotted by Congress for a session, is not long enough for the Members to thoroughly withdraw their minds from the various other channels, in which their thoughts are constantly so busily occupied. This fact tends to postpone important and difficult subjects of legislation, until most of the time has elapsed, when it is too late to enter upon them with that care, reflection, and critical arrangement, and wording, which they demand. Aside from, this, the Assembly of 1854-55, by their revision, and other acts, presented us with a volume of very good laws, and wisdom did not dictate any material alterations for the present, therefore most of the bills passed this winter have been grants to herd grounds.

It would be but just to our new Territory, and highly beneficial to her interests, if Congress would either lengthen the term of our sessions or sanction, by paying the commissioners, our wise policy in appointing a Code Commission to prepare and present laws of an important nature. The latter course is, by far, the most preferable; for by that method capable men can be selected, who have time and opportunity to give all necessary attention to any given subject, and to thoroughly prepare it for speedy and satisfactory action. Our position, surroundings, and characteristics, prohibit the ancient style of enacting very numerous, wordy, and voluminous laws, therefore the more necessity for a longer period, or the payment of Code Commissioners.

In our votes and feelings we were one, and did the best that the time and our judgments permitted; and may God grant that this people ever be one, and cheerfully obey His commandments and all good and wholesome laws. Amen.

The Present Scarcity of Food, etc.

Jedediah M. Grant

Remarks by President J. M. Grant, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 27, 1856.

I have been instructed while listening to the brethren, and am pleased with the practical observations that our President has given. They pertain to the business of every day, and will greatly benefit the Saints. We have had a great variety from this stand, and the scenes of life, as we pass through, are varied in their nature.

I am pleased with brother Kimball’s feelings, testimony, and views, in relation to our visit to the capital of the Territory of Utah.

I am aware that the general labor of the Legislature, perhaps, has been as great as that of any other legislature in the different Territories, in the same length of time.

Our laws, proceedings, grants, &c., are necessarily different from the usual routine of other legislative bodies, but our committees were doubtless as diligent as the committees in any other legislative body.

And when we were in session, we were in order, and in a situation to act as correctly, and with as much precision and consistency, as any other legislative body that can be found upon the face of the earth. Though we may not tie ourselves to all of those strict rules that others tie themselves to, yet we understand legislating, we understand the science as far as legislative science is understood by the present age, which is only in a measure.

I wish, therefore, under all the feelings and circumstances we may be placed in, that we may each act with an eye single to the welfare of the people, as much so as the Legislature has during the present session.

I hope the Saints will treasure up the remarks they have heard to-day, and profit by them. I am satisfied that we should bear with each other’s weaknesses, for we are ourselves subject to the same infirmities as our brethren; we are subject to the same temptations as those who are similar in their nature; we should, therefore, be willing to look with the same complacency on the weaknesses of others, as we would wish them to look upon ours.

I am aware of the feelings that exist in the community through darkness and unbelief; many neglect their duty as Saints, and they grow dark in their minds.

I have doubts of that man who neglects his prayers, and I have also doubts of some who attend to their prayers. I have great doubts of those who profess to be Saints, have all the privileges of Saints, and participate in the enjoyments of Saints, yet do not consider that the duty of prayer is obligatory on them.

They think they can have around them, their wives, and children, and friends, and engage in the duties of life and take great responsibility upon them, and yet slide along and lay aside their duty as a Saint of God in regard to praying.

If a person is in trouble, or in want, he should seek unto the Lord by prayer, and obtain from Him aid, assistance, and light, and by that Divine Spirit he may overcome his weakness, break through the cloud of darkness, and walk in the light of the Lord.

There are instructions in the Gospel, in the words of the men of God, though the language which they use may not, peradventure, be as beautiful as words can be arranged, or as that which others can use, but there is an influence attending the words of a man who speaks by the Spirit of God.

I relish greatly the instructions which you have received this morning; to me they are sweet, very wholesome, and good. I like them, they suit my disposition, they agree with my palate, and I am thankful for such instructions• I am thankful that we live in a day when the Almighty so blesses us.

We are gathered out from the land that gave us birth, and from former associations in life; we are blessed here with peace; the hand of the oppressor is not upon us, and the arm of the tyrant has ceased to afflict and fall upon our neck.

We are enjoying happiness, we can worship our God and keep His commandments, and listen to the voice of His servants without molestation, without being afraid or annoyed, without expecting a mob on the right hand and on the left. For these things I am very thankful.

I am also fully apprised of the truth of our President’s remarks, in reference to that lavish spirit which has existed in the minds of the Saints in relation to their grain. I am aware that all do not husband and take care of their grain as they should; they have counted it of little worth, as dross, as a thing of naught, and have been anxious to sell their wheat, corn, and such staple articles of food as might have been secured in granaries, and laid up for a hard time, or against a day of famine.

In regard to those who have been improvident and not careful, I am with the President, I cannot pity them if they have to suffer. I have seen the time, in this beautiful valley, when we first came here, when we had to bring enough of grain from the States to last eighteen months, that we were under the necessity of boiling and eating the hides of our cattle, and of going to the lowlands to dig thistle roots to subsist upon, that we might not die, but live on the earth.

We did not all have to do this; some of us were comfortable, and had as much to live upon as we have now, for we took care to save what we brought with us. Many of those, who are now destitute of grain, are among those who were lavish with the food that the Almighty caused the earth to produce.

I will here remark that I hope the Bishops in the different wards of the city will see that the poor do not go hungry, that they will keep themselves posted up as to the situation of the poor in their wards, and send round the Teachers and assistants to ascertain the condition of the people. I know that there is not grain enough to feed the people; some will have to suffer for the want of that article of food.

Take the city of Fillmore; they have old grain enough for that place; they have not raised grain the present season, yet there is one man in that city who has eleven hundred bushels of wheat. The price there is two dollars a bushel, and they are selling flour to each other at six dollars a hundred.

In Sanpete they have wheat, corn, and potatoes, sufficient to last them until harvest. The main suffering in the Territory of Utah, this season, will be in Great Salt Lake county. The masses of the people are here, and the grain is consumed where the masses are; consequently, you may look for more suffering in Great Salt Lake county than in any other.

It will necessarily be here that the Bishops and their assistants will look for the poor. Some will not go very hungry before they beg, but there are some who will actually suffer very much before they make their wants known; that class ought to be seen to and felt after, and ought to be administered to. We should feel for each other, and seek to relieve, as far as we can, the needy and distressed.

I do not look for much trouble myself; I do not look for the people to suffer as they did the first winter we came here. The winter is cold and the cattle are dying, but ere long the weather will break, the people will get employment, and feel better.

Do not be discouraged in a hard time, be patient until spring comes, when you will feel pleasant and happy, and then is the time to deny the faith, if you are inclined to do so; never deny the faith in a dark day.

I for one am glad that our crops failed. Why? Because it teaches the people a lesson, it keeps the corrupt at bay, for they know that they would have to starve, or import their rations, should they come to injure us in the Territory of Utah.

With the practical lessons we have learned, and their effects upon our enemies I am glad, and I consider it one of the greatest God-sends that ever happened the people of the Saints, since their immigration to this land. I consider the grasshopper war one of the greatest blessings to those who see it in the light of the Lord, and who discern the hand of the Lord in it.

We found our brethren southward in a pretty good spirit, generally speaking; they needed a little comforting and instruction on this point. We have some men among us who hold high and important offices which we respect, and we would be very glad to respect the men, and will actually respect them, if they will respect the people of the Territory, and the laws of the Territory. But when a man comes among us and will not respect us, nor our laws, will not respect our Governor nor our Legislature, he need not expect us to respect him.

Our brethren southward, I think, through the time of the Legislature, had the privilege of learning this practical lesson, to respect those who respect our laws, and not to respect men when they trample upon the laws of the country, and set at defiance the enactments of the Legislature.

I believe, on the whole, that the capital of this Territory will not be injured by the visit of the Members from the various counties. I believe that the people were benefited, and I believe that the community at large will be profited through the labors of the Legislature.

I hope then to see the Saints united more and more, and notwithstanding we have to be mixed with new clay, and ground over and over again, I say, come on you new recruits, I am not hide-bound in my feelings, I reach out my hands to the south, to the north, and to the universe, and say, come on, we want the new recruits here.

I want to see the Territory filled up in the north and in the south, in the east and in the west, and to see the valleys flourish and blossom as a rose. I like to see the hardy men come forth from the other side of the ocean; I like to see them pouring in by tens of thousands. The new recruits, as a general thing, have stood well.

Take the Yankees in Kirtland, have they all stood the test? No. One half, at least, of the Yankee members of this Church have apostatized. Take the first quorum of the Twelve, how many of them stood by the Prophet of the living God, and kept the faith? Six only.

Then we may expect that some of our new recruits back out, depart and deny the faith, and this has been the case from the commencement. I like to see the new recruits come on, they will get ground up with the old clay and be just as good. You are only in the morning of “Mormonism,” just in the commencement of it. We have no old recruits, in one sense, but we are all new recruits, enlisted under the same banner, worshipping the same God, and united under the same brotherhood of Latter-day Saints which always pertains to the Priesthood of God.

Then I like to see the English, the Scotch, Welsh, French, Danes, and men from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, come forth and unite under the standard of truth, obey God and be one.

We had no difficulty, while at Fillmore, among the “Mormons,” they kept themselves right side up with care, and with them all was harmonious and satisfactory.

May the peace of God be with you; may the light of the Holy Ghost illuminate you; may the words of the Prophet be unto you as a sweet morsel; and may the leaven of the Gospel work in you; and may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ bless you for ever, which may He grant, in the Redeemer’s name. Amen.

Eternal Increase of Knowledge, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 17, 1856.

We have just heard brother Morley’s testimony concerning the religion that web have embraced. The extent of knowledge, incorporated within the salvation extended to the children of men, will vastly exceed the researches of the human family, and when they have passed the veil, they will then understand that they have but just commenced to learn. Brother Morley says he never expects to be too old to learn; I believe that doctrine. That which is to be learned in the eternities of the Gods pertains to life, and that life is exhibited to the human family in the degree which they are capacitated to receive it, that they may be taught as we teach our children, that they may learn the first rudiments of eternal lives.

Could we live to the age of Methuselah, and eat the fruits which the earth would produce in her strength, as did Adam and Eve before the transgression, and spend our lives in searching after the principles of eternal life, we would find, when one eternity had passed to us, that we had been but children thus far, babies just commencing to learn the things which pertains to the eternities of the Gods.

We might ask, when shall we cease to learn? I will give you my opinion about it; never, never. If we continue to learn all that we can, pertaining to the salvation which is purchased and presented to us through the Son of God, is there a time when a person will cease to learn? Yes, when he has sinned against God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost—God’s minister; when he has denied thee Lord, defied Him and committed the sin that in the Bible is termed the unpardonable sin—the sin against the Holy Ghost. That is the time when a person will cease to learn, and from that time forth, will descend in ignorance, forgetting that which they formerly knew, and decreasing until they return to the native element, whether it be one thousand or in one million years, or during as many eternities as you can count. They will cease to increase, but must decrease, until they return to the native element. These are the only characters who will ever cease to learn, both in time and eternity.

A number of items occupy my mind pertaining to the Saints, I may say, a great many more than I could tell in one day, in one month, or in one year. Those who are well acquainted with me, know something of the action of my mind. To explain it, let me say to you, if you wish to tell me a long story, one that will take you two hours to get through with, a key word will at once give me an understanding of all you could say, in that long time. All who are acquainted with me know this, Bring any business matter before me, and the brethren with whom I am associated in business transactions, know that I need, but a word to know the nature of it. So it is with regard to my preaching to the people. If I could put into them the same spirit and understanding which I have, they could see and understand things without a long detail of explanation. But this is not the case with all the people, therefore I am, in a manner, compelled to use the time I do in speaking to them upon the various subjects, at least so far as I can possibly spare it. If I were disposed to, I could train myself to get up here and take a text and explain it, and dwell upon one little item, just as long as any other man, but what is the use of it? Upon this principle it would take us more eternities than we shall ever see, to learn what we have to learn, consequently, when I speak to you I speak the few words I have to say, as I already have upon the subject of intelligence and learning.

We shall never cease to learn, unless we apostatize from the religion of Jesus Christ. Then we shall cease to increase, and will continue to decrease and decompose, until we return to our native element. Can you understand that? It is a subject worthy the attention of the eminent divines of Christendom, and they may search into it until they are tired, and still know comparatively little about it, while I preach it to you in a few words.

I will here introduce a subject that we all should be acquainted with, I allude to morality. Have you been taught morality? Yes, every one of you have been taught not to use profane language, to be honest in all your dealings, to be courteous to all at home and abroad, and to be strictly upright on all occasions. All this you have been taught from your youth.

Many think that all which was taught them by their fathers and mothers, school teachers and priests, ought to be removed, laid aside, dispensed with, and that they should begin anew to learn every principle of civilization; This is a great mistake. I make these remarks because I have heard Elders preach that there was not a sectarian priest—not a man living upon the earth, or that had lived upon it, neither a reformer nor a professed Christian, from the time the Priesthood was taken from the earth until Joseph Smith came, but what went straight to hell fire when he died. Yes, I have heard them preach just as absurdly as that. I have heard many say, I will dispense with this, and I will dispense with that; and many of our Elders actually dispense with praying, and say it is nothing but a sectarian notion. Were you taught by your fathers to pray? “Yes, but that is a sectarian notion.” Were you taught not to lie? “Yes, but that was a sectarian notion.” Were you taught not to pilfer? “Yes, but we think, we wont say it aloud, it is nothing but a sectarian notion, and we have to learn everything over again.” This is a mistaken idea. There is only one thing which the people lack on this point, in order that their traditions and former education may do them good, and that is to know how to sever the good from the bad, how to assimilate to themselves every good trait of character they have seen in their fathers and mothers, teachers and neighbors, and every good thing that has been taught them from their youth, and how to gather to themselves every good principle they have been traditionated in, and store that up as their individual property, and then dispense with every erroneous idea and every inconsistency. Many things which have been taught us in our childhood, or in our early lives, are truly inconsistent, lay them aside and cleave to the traditions which actually tend to virtue, holiness, chastity, loveliness, kindness, honesty, and truthfulness in every respect, and gather all the good into our own store house, and let each one say, that belongs to me.

Some imagine that they must begin and unlearn the whole of their former education, but I say, cling to all the good that you have learned, and discard the bad. This leads me into a field, the gate to which I wish to have closed up, locked up, and passed by; I do not wish to say anything about it. I will say this much, however, if there are not all kinds of fish in this Gospel net, I should like to see the kind that is not in it, and I think that would be something new under the sun.

Treasure up in your hearts that which tends to virtue. You say, “I want an explanation upon virtue.” I wish I could so give it to you, that you could understand it when I am done talking; I will do my best to do so. Learn the will of God, keep His commandments and do His will, and you will be a virtuous person, Can you understand that? If you can know the will of God and do it, you will be a virtuous person. You say, “Perhaps I should be led to do that which is contrary to my former traditions, and to do that which is really wrong.” No matter anything about that; if you can know the will of God and do it, you will be a virtuous person, and will receive knowledge upon knowledge, and wisdom upon wisdom, and you will increase in understanding, in faith, and in the light of eternity, and know how to discriminate between the right and the wrong. I know the people say that that they do not understand, that they do not know what the Lord requires of them. I say keep the commandments of the Lord. We were taught that the commandments of the Lord were this, that, and the other, in our former lives, but when we can know and understand, by the revelations of Jesus Christ, the will of our Father in heaven and do His will, He will make us pure and holy, and fit for the society of angels and Himself. Will we not be virtuous then? yes, in the highest sense. Many say, “I don’t know the will of the Lord, I wish I did. I do really wish I knew what the Lord requires of me, but I do not know, and do not know how to find out.”

I will now refer you to the scripture where it reads that we shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body. If I do not know the will of my Father, and what He requires of me in a certain transaction, if I ask Him to give me wisdom concerning any requirement in life, or in regard to my own course, or that of my friends, my family, my children, or those that I preside over, and get no answer from Him, and then do the very best that roy judgment will teach me, He is bound to own and honor that transaction, and He will do so to all intents and purposes. I have often reflected, with regard to people knowing the mind and will of the Lord by revelation. My thoughts turn within me in a moment, in my reflections upon what has hitherto been, and that which actually now comes before me, concerning the Saints in the last days and in the former days. For instance, Jesus, when upon the earth, called twelve men to be witnesses that he was the Christ. Then, there were a great many others who believed that fact, but he showed to those twelve men things that he showed to none else; he convinced them in a degree that he convinced no other person, that is, in some instances.

My mind then reflects, in a moment, did Jesus have the power to make his disciples believe that he was the Son of God by raising the dead, by laying hands on the sick, by walking on water, by multiplying the particles of bread and fish set before the multitude, or by any other miracle? Did he convince, and prove to twelve men that he was the Christ, by the miracles he performed? He did not. He did not convince them by one or all of the acts, which were called miracles, that he performed upon the earth. I know that many think that they are a great proof, that it is astonishing that people will not believe, when they read over the history and miracles performed in the days of Jesus and his Apostles. Let me tell you that if his Apostles were here in this our day, travelling through the country, raising the dead, laying hands on the sick, casting out devils, walking upon the water, or doing whatever they might be able to perform, it would all be no proof to the people that they were sent of God. I know that some of you think this is strange, and if so, I have strange views upon these subjects. It is no proof to me, it is no proof to any person else, and often serves to throw persons, relying upon it, into temptation, and to cast them still further into darkness. “Have you any proof of this?” Yes, right here in our midst. Men who have professedly seen the most, known and understood the most, in this Church, and who have testified in the presence of large congregations, in the name of Israel’s God, that they have seen Jesus, &c., have been the very men who have left this kingdom, before others who had to live by faith. I have a witness right before me, and I am fearful every time that a man or woman comes to me and relates great visions, saying, “I have had a vision, an angel came and told me thus and so; the visions of eternity were opened, and I saw thus and so; I saw my destiny; I saw what the brethren would do with me; I foresaw this and that. Look out for that man or woman going to the devil.

I ask, is there a reason for men and women being exposed more constantly and more powerfully, to the power of the enemy, by having visions than by not having them? There is and it is simply this—God never bestows upon His people, or upon an individual, superior blessings without a severe trial to prove them, to prove that individual, or that people, to see whether they will keep their covenants with Him, and keep in remembrance what He has shown them. Then the greater the vision, the greater the display of the power of the enemy. And when such individuals are off their guard they are left to themselves, as Jesus was. For this express purpose the Father withdrew His spirit from His Son, at the time he was to be crucified. Jesus had been with his Father, talked with Him, dwelt in His bosom, and knew all about heaven, about making the earth, about the transgression of man, and what would redeem the people, and that he was the character who was to redeem the sons of earth, and the earth itself from all sin that had come upon it. The light, knowledge, power, and glory with which he was clothed were far above, or exceeded that of all others who had been upon the earth after the fall, consequently at the very moment, at the hour when the crisis came for him to offer up his life, the Father withdrew Himself, withdrew His Spirit, and cast a vail over him. That is what made him sweat blood. If he had had the power of God upon him, he would not have sweat blood; but all was withdrawn from him, and a veil was cast over him, and he then plead with the Father not to forsake him. “No,” says the Father, “you must have your trials, as well as others.”

So when individuals are blessed with visions, revelations, and great manifestations, look out, then the devil is nigh you, and you will be tempted in proportion to the vision, revelation, or manifestation you have received. Hence thousands, when they are off their guard, give way to the severe temptations which come upon them, and behold they are gone.

You will recollect that I have often told you that miracles would not save a person, and I say that they never should. If I were to see a man come in here this day, and say, “I am the great one whom the Lord has sent,” and cause fire to come down in our sight, through the ceiling that is over our heads, I would not believe any more for that. It is no matter what he does, I cannot believe any more on that account. What will make me believe? What made the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ witnesses? What constituted them Apostles—special witnesses to the world? Was it seeing miracles? No. What was it? The visions of their minds were opened, and it was necessary that a few should receive light, knowledge, and intelligence, that all the powers of earth and hell could not gainsay or compete with. That witness was within them, and yet, after all that was done for them, after all that Jesus showed them, and after all the power of the spirit of revelation which they possessed, you find that one of them apostatized, turned away and sold his Lord and master for thirty pieces of silver, in consequence of his not being firm to his covenant in the hour of darkness and temptation. Another of them was ready to say, “I do not know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ,” and denied him with cursing and swearing.

Some are apt now to say, “I don’t know anything about this Mormonism, I don’t know about the Priesthood.” Did you not once know? “I thought I did.” Did you not once know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet? “I thought I did.” Did you not once know that this was the kingdom of God set up on the earth? “I thought I did, but now I find myself deceived.” What is the reason? Because they give way to temptation; they may have had great light, knowledge, and understanding, the vision of their minds may have been opened and eternity exhibited to their view, but when this is closed up, in proportion to the light given to them, so is the darkness that comes upon them to try them.

Are you going to apostatize when you are in darkness? That is the time to stand firm. I know there are some people right in our midst, only about on a par with good quakers; say they “I pray when I feel like it.” Have you prayers in your families? “Yes, sometimes, but I do not always feel like praying, and then I feel as though it would be a sin.”

Let me tell you how you should do. If you feel that you are tempted not to open your mouth to the Lord, and as though the heavens are brass over your heads and the earth iron beneath your feet, and that every thing is closed up, and you feel that it would be a sin for you to pray, then walk up to the devil and say, Mr. Devil, get out of my way; and if you feel that you cannot get down upon your knees for fear you will swear, say, get down knees; and if they don’t feel right when they are down, put something under them, some sharp sticks, for instance, and say, knees come to it. “But I dare not open my mouth,” says one, “for fear that I shall swear.” Then say, open, mouth, and now tongue, begin. Cannot I say Father? Yes, I can: I learned that in the days of my youth. Suppose you say, “Father, look in mercy upon me,” do you think the devil is going to snap you up then? If he is still by, and you dare not open your eyes for fear you will see him, tell him to stand there until you have done praying, and bring the body to a state of submission.

I have taught you that the spirit is pure, when it comes into the tabernacle. The tabernacle is subject to sin, but the spirit is not. A great many think that the spirits of the children of men, when they enter the tabernacles, are totally depraved; this is a mistake. They are as holy as the angels; the devil has no power to contaminate them, he only contaminated the bodies. When your spirit wishes to worship the Father, and your body is so full of weakness or wickedness, that you feel as though you could not do it, go to and bring your body into subjection; bow the knee and confess that Jesus is the Christ, if it is darker that 10,000 midnights in your minds; say, “I am for the Lord anyhow.”

That makes me think of a great many Christians in the world; when they are sick and in trouble they will pray; if they are in fear of starving to death for want of food, of freezing through lack of raiment or fuel, then they will call upon the Lord. I know the old Prophet said, “In the day of trouble they draw nigh unto me.” Get out, say I, in my feelings, in regard to such a religion. When I am starving to death it is time for me to be diligent in getting something to eat; when the ship is in a storm, it is then time to look out for the rigging. One may say, “Are you not going down below to pray, in this dreadful storm?” “No, I have no time to pray now, I must take care of the ship.” So it should be with every Latter-day Saint. By and bye the storm is over, then let us go down into the cabin and do up our praying in fair weather. That is what “Mormonism” teaches me; and when it is dark as midnight darkness, when there is not one particle of feeling in my heart to pray, shall I then say, I will not pray? No, but get down knees, bend yourselves upon the floor, and mouth, open; tongue, speak; and we will see what will come forth, and you shall worship the Lord God of Israel, even when you feel as though you could not say a word in His favor. That is the victory we have to gain; that is the warfare we have to wage. It is between the spirit and the body; they are inseparably connected. The spirit was not made here, it was organized in eternity, before the worlds were, with the Father and with angels before they came here.

When the devil got possession of the earth, his power extended to that which pertains to the earth. He obtained influence over the children of men in their present organization, because the spirits of men yielded to the temptations of the evil principle that the flesh or body is subjected to. This causes the warfare spoken of by Paul, when he says, “The spirit warreth against the flesh, and the flush against the spirit.” Paul explained it as well as he could, and I am trying to explain it as well as I can. Often when the spirit would do good the body overcomes, then one does the evil that brings into subjection the spirit. When the spirits of men are subject to the body, and continue to be, and commit the amount of evil necessary to fill up their cup, they are cast out and their names will be blotted out from the Lamb’s Book of Life.

You know that it used to be a great saying, and I might say worthy of all acceptation, among the Methodists, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Their names were always there, and never will be blotted out, though they may be up and down, warm, hot, and cool, and though they may sin to-day, and to-morrow repent of it, but their names will remain in the Lamb’s Book of Life until they sin the sin unto death. And when their names are once blotted out they will never be written there again; they will then be numbered with those who will cease to increase, cease to learn, to multiply, and spread abroad.

But again to the witness, that is on my mind. It was necessary for Jesus Christ to open the heavens to certain individuals that they might be witnesses of his personage, death, sufferings, and resurrection; those men were witnesses. But as Jesus appeared to the two brethren going out of Jerusalem, he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. Now suppose he had eaten that bread, and gone out without opening their eyes, how could they have known that he was the Savior who had been crucified on Mount Calvary? They could not; but in the breaking of bread the vision of their minds was opened. This was necessary in order to constitute safe witnesses, and they returned to Jerusalem and told the brethren what they had seen.

When Jesus came and ate fish broiled upon the coals, and told his disciples to cast the net on the other side of the ship, which they did and got it so full that they could hardly draw it to shore, would they have known that he was the Savior by the catching and hauling in a wonderful quantity of fish, or by anything else that they could have seen with their natural eyes? No, but when he came and ate the broiled fish and honeycomb, he opened their eyes and they saw that he was present with them. He had been back to his Father, had ascended to heaven and again descended, and opened their minds that they might be special witnesses. This is necessary. Did all the disciples, in the days of the Apostles, see the risen Jesus? No. Did all the disciples have visions? No, they did not. Do they now? No. I know the inquiry may arise, can a person be a real disciple without having visions? Yes, but that person cannot be a special witness to the doctrine he believes in.

What makes true disciples to a doctrine, to a religion, to a creed, or to a faith, no matter what it is which is subscribed to? To be faithful adherents to those articles of faith or doctrine taught, makes them true disciples to that religion or doctrine. Then if we have the religion of the Savior we are entitled to the blessings precisely as they were anciently. Not that all had visions, not that all had dreams, not that all had the gift of tongues or the interpretation of tongues, but every man received according to his capacity and the blessing of the Giver. “Well, brother Brigham, have you had visions?” Yes, I have. “Have you had revelations?” Yes, I have them all the time, I live constantly by the principle of revelation. I never received one iota of intelligence, from the letter A to what I now know, I mean that, from the very start of my life to this time, I have never received one particle of intelligence only by revelation, no matter whether father or mother revealed it, or my sister, or neighbor.

No person receives knowledge only upon the principle of revelation, that is, by having something revealed to them. “Do you have the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ?” I will leave that for others to judge. If the Lord requires anything of this people, and speaks through me, I will tell them of it; but if He does not, still we all live by the principle of revelation. Who reveals? Every body around us; we learn of each other. I have something which you have not, and you have something which I have not; I reveal what I have to you, and you reveal what you have to me. I believe that we are revelators to each other. Are the heavens opened? Yes, to some at times, yet upon natural principles, upon the principle of natural philosophy. “Do you know the will and mind of the Lord?” Yes, concerning this people, and concerning myself. Do every one of my brethren and sisters know the will of the Lord? Let me say to the Latter-day Saints, if they will take up their cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ in the regeneration, many of them will receive more, know more, and have more of the spirit of revelation than they are aware of; but the revelations which I receive are all upon natural principles. I will give you one revelation which I had in Far West, and it was upon the same principle that it would be for me to have a revelation now, while I am talking to you. It was in the spring of 1838, before there was any disturbance in Far West, or in Davis County.

This people, thought I, are obnoxious to these Missourians, our religion they hate, our Prophet they despise and would like to kill him; they are ignorant of the things of God; they have received the precepts of men and drank deep into them, and are so interwoven with their feelings that the true religion of heaven cannot abide in their minds. Therefore I saw, upon natural principles, that we would be driven from there, but when, I did not know; but still it was plain to me that we would have to leave the State, and that when we did leave it we would not go south, north or west, but east, back to the other States. That I saw upon natural principles, and I knew what those people were afraid of. I then saw that we would go north, as a Church and people, and then to the west, and that when they went to Jackson County, they would go from the west to the east. Mark my words, write them down, this people, as a Church and kingdom, will go from the west to the east. I can tell you more concerning what I saw upon natural principles; I saw that this people would have to gain a foothold, a strength, power, influence, and ability to walk by themselves and to take care of themselves, and power to contend with their enemies and overcome them, upon the same principle that the whites did when they first came to America and overcame the Indians. Many here do not know anything about the history of the early settling of America.

New Orleans was one of the first places settled by the Europeans, after North America was discovered. St. Louis was settled long before New York, and in that region you can find apple trees two feet through, standing among the oaks which are several feet in diameter. Did the first settlers stay there? No, they were either killed or had to leave lest they should be killed, with the exception of a few of the Spaniards who intermarried and lived with the Indians. The whites had to leave and go down the Mississippi river, and went round into Maine and Massachusetts, and when they reached there the Indians said, “You are welcome to this land;” a region where they have thirteen months of winter during each year. I use that extravagant expression in order to convey an idea of the rigor of the climate; but you talk about hard winters and snows here; in comparison many of you know but little about them.

I can pick up scores of Yankees here, who have lived in countries where they could have fine orchards, and live like nabobs, and yet, in the winter season often ride in their sleighs over fences five feet high. I have rode over snow in the eastern states when it was fifteen feet deep. To return to the subject; I said, upon natural principles, that this people had to go to a country that the Gentiles do not desire. I can tell you another thing, when you see any member of this community wishing to withdraw and go to where there is a beautiful country—where it is easy to live, let me tell you that that man will apostatize, or be driven from his favorite locality: write that down brother George as the word of the Almighty.

I have deed after deed of land for which I did not get a cent when I was obliged to leave it. I also built many houses in the States, they are there now, for ought I know; they will fall down some of these days, and I care not how quickly. This people can only gain strength upon the principle of fleeing to a country where the wicked will not live, and where they can gain strength enough to walk by themselves, and to go where they please. This is one of the truths of heaven.

Whenever you see persons kern this place on their way to a milder climate, seeking a better home, they will apostatize or be driven from their loved asylum; you may set that down for a fact. I saw that this people would have to flee into the mountains, and into a climate and country that the Gentiles would not desire. If we are not in such a place, I do not know where we will find one more undesirable than this. Do the Saints delight in this locality? No, it is repugnant to their feelings, if they could have their choice. Did I come here by choice, or was it not because I had to come? I like this country, and if it is not bare enough, cold and disagreeable enough, to those who wish to live in ease, we will find another location a little farther off. When we came here we were one thousand miles from everybody. Are you afraid of the Gentiles coming here? Should we all move from this city and give the Gentiles liberty to occupy our houses, our farms, &c., in five years you would not find them here; they could not live here, for this is not a place that would suit them. If this is not the place for us to dwell, it is not to be found in Texas, in California, nor in old or new Mexico. Where is it then? That is not for me nor yea to inquire about, but it will not be in any of those places. If we are not now in the right place, the Lord will lead us to where we can gather up our strength, and multiply and sanctify ourselves, so that we can go forth and serve the Lord with clean hands and pure hearts.

I will now tell you a little more about the witnesses; I have strayed some from that point, but I never bind myself while I am with the brethren. If I were preaching abroad in the world I should feel myself somewhat obliged, through custom, to adhere to the wishes and feelings of the people in regard to pursuing the thread of any given subject, but here I feel as free as air. You have gathered the idea from me that it is not the miracles that are performed before a person’s eyes that convince him that one is of God, or of the devil; yet, if the Lord designs that a person should heal the sick, that individual can do so; but is that to convince the wicked that the operator is sent of God? No, it is a blessing on the Saints, and the wicked have nothing to do with it, they have no business to hear of it; that is for the Saints, it is especially for their benefit, and theirs alone. What should the wicked hear? They should hear a man testify that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of God, that he was a good man, and that he did plant and establish the kingdom of God on the earth, and we know it. “How shall I know?” says one. By obeying the commandments given to you. The Lord has said, go into the waters of baptism and be baptized for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive a witness that I am telling you the truth. How? By baptism and the laying on of hands alone? No. By seeing the sick healed? No, but by the Spirit that shall come unto you through obedience, which will make you feel like little children, and cause you to delight in doing good, to love your father in heaven and the society of the righteous. Have you malice and wrath then? No, it is taken from you, and you feel like the child in its mother’s lap. You will feel kind to your children, to your brothers and sisters, to your parents and neighbors, and to all around you; you will feel a glow, as of fire, burning within you. And if you open your mouths to talk you will declare ideas which you did not formerly think of; they will flow into your mind, even such as you have not thought of for years. The Scriptures will be opened to you, and you will see how clear and reasonable everything is which this or that Elder teaches you. Your hearts will be comforted, you can he down and sleep in peace, and wake up with feelings as pleasant as the breezes of summer. This is a witness to you. You ask the Lord to heal you, or your sick child, and if He is disposed to do it He will, and if not it is all right. If He is disposed to open the heavens and give us a visit from an angel, it is all right. If He is disposed to reveal to us, by natural philosophy, what is going to take place, that is right. If He is disposed to show us by vision where this people are going, and when, all right, and it is right if He withholds that information.

If, by the whispering of a small, still voice, He dictates you to do this or that, showing you which is right and which is wrong, it is all right, and it is right to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in His so doing.

But if you had faith to go out to the graveyard and raise up scores of the dead, that alone would not make you Latter-day Saints, neither if the visions of your minds were opened so as to see the finger of God. What will? Keeping the commandments of the Lord, to walk humbly before your God, and before one another, to cease to do evil and learn to do well, and to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God; then you are a Latter-day Saint, whether you have visions or not.

You may be tried and cast down, and be inclined to say that the Lord has not revealed this or that to you, but that has nothing to do with me or you. I do not desire to dictate the Lord in that matter; all I have to do is to concern myself with the things He requires of me, for it is His right to pursue His own way, and take His own time and course in dealing with me. Can you gain a victory? You can.

As I have told you, your spirit is continually warring with the flesh; your spirit dictates one way; your flesh suggests another, and this brings on the combat. What are you to do? You must bring the hands, the elbows, the feet, the tongue, and all the organs of speech, and every power of the body into subjection.

You must say that you will not swear, nor say or do anything which is wrong. An Elder was cut off from the Church here last Sunday for swearing. What do I think of it? Time and time again have I requested the High Priests and Seventies to cut off such members of their several quorums as will break the Sabbath, and take the name of God in vain. I say sever them from the tree, for these loose and wicked characters hurt the tree. They are like dry limbs, and have become so decayed, that the moisture leaks through them, and seeks its way into the heart of the tree, and, by and bye, if we do not cut away such branches, the tree itself will die.

I often think that the High Priests and Seventies dare not walk up strictly to this duty, and I am disposed, at times, to imagine that some of the presidents of those quorums are guilty of such things themselves.

Bring the names of such men to this stand and I will cut them off, if no other person will, and ask no odds of the quorum, and you will go in with me. Bring the names of men who take the name of God in vain and do wrong in any way, and I will not ask for a High Council or Bishop’s Court to deliberate on their case; I will sever them from the tree of life, and ask them what they are going to do about it. They will wither and die.

You may try to make dead limbo grow on the tree, but such a practice is a detriment to the bearing of good fruit.

I want to talk a little more about the witnesses. I am a witness—of what? I have told it here and in Nauvoo. I know what I am a witness of, and I know my Apostleship. I am a witness that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. What an uproar it would make in the Christian world to say, I am an Apostle of Joseph. Write it down, and write it back to your friends in the east, that I am an Apostle of Joseph Smith. He was a man of God and had the revelations of Jesus Christ, and the words of Jesus Christ to the people. He did build and establish the kingdom of God on earth, and through him the Lord Almighty again restored the Priesthood to the children of men.

Brethren, I am a witness of that; not by my laying hands on the sick and they being healed, nor by the revelations which are given of him in the Bible, but by receiving the same Spirit and witness which the ancients received; by the visions of the heavens being opened to my mind; by my understanding that which is revealed in the Book of Mormon, and that which Joseph revealed as comprised in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

I am a witness that those are the revelations of the Lord through Joseph Smith, in this the last dispensation for the gathering of the people; and all who reject my testimony will go to hell, so sure as there is one, no matter whether it be hot or cold; they will incur the displeasure of the Father and of the Son.

I am a witness of this; and all who, will hear the voice of the servants, of God, pay attention to what they say, and obey the commandments given to the people, shall receive a testimony and know that we tell them the truth, that Joseph is a Prophet of God, and did actually finish the work which the Lord gave him to do, sealed his testimony with his blood, and has gone to dwell in the world of spirits, until he gets his body. All will have to acknowledge that this is true.

There are many other things that might be noticed, and much more might be said upon this subject. I have merely hinted at the witness, at the privileges, blessings, and duties of the Saints, and at what makes a Saint, but I feel as though I had talked long enough, or as much as I should to-day. I have a bad cold, and could cough as well as the rest of you, but I have been enabled to refrain from coughing since I have been here, and during the brief time I have occupied while addressing you, this morning.

I hope and trust that we will order our lives so as to be worthy of the blessings promised to us, and live to the glory of God, that we may have a glorious resurrection, and enjoy each other’s society in the kingdom of our God. This is our constant prayer concerning you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Salvation—The Lord’s Prayer—Newness of Life

Amasa Lyman

A discourse by Elder Amasa Lyman, delivered in Kaysville City, December 20, 1855.

Brethren and sisters, it gives me much gratification and joy to have the opportunity of meeting with you on this occasion. And probably there is no necessity for me to tell you why I am glad. You may be enabled to infer that, from what I may say.

I have come not to tell you of any new things, or of any strange things. And I shall not take a text this evening, for this simple fact—that I once had a text given me to preach from, to preach on, and to preach about or to explain to the people; and I have been at work for the last twenty years, and I have not done preaching yet.

We use to think that a man could preach the Gospel in one sermon, and explain all the prophecies, besides making a great many new ones. But I have learned better as I have grown older. I have found out to my astonishment, that instead of having preached all the Gospel, I have learned but very little of it yet; consequently I could not preach it all. I am a pupil in the school, but I have also been engaged by him who teaches me, to teach those of my fellow pupils, in the school, who have not advanced farther than I have.

Now, the accomplishment of the objects for which the Gospel is preached, is a matter that presents itself to our minds. It is of the greatest importance. For men might preach the Gospel till there is not a people under heaven, who have not heard it; and they might return, and sit themselves down as having faithfully made this proclamation, and still there might be but very few saved; and there might have been but a very small work accomplished: for the extent of their salvation is in accordance with the amount of principle and truth which they have learned and obeyed.

We talk about men being saved from sin, and then we get a Scriptural definition of what sin is. It is Scripturally a transgression of the law. Well, now, this leaves us just as dark as if there had been no Scripture. Then sin is a transgression of the law; but in order for us to fully comprehend the matter, we should know what the law is, so that we might know when we transgress it.

Now, for our information, supposing we leave these things, and what we have read in books, and what was told us a great many years ago, and, in our own way of expressing what we do understand, let us reason together. We will reason together as if we were at the beginning, and said all that had been said, and done all that had been done.

Well, now, so that we can understand what salvation is, we shall be enabled to comprehend the way in which we shall have to be saved. Salvation, like everything else, is something that we cannot make or create. We are not going to do one particle towards making it.

Then we will lay down this, that we are not going to make anything, or destroy anything, in becoming saved. There will be no more truth in the world, after we are saved, than there is now. The sun will rise and set, and the works of Jehovah continue to be unchanged, and there will be no difference in things only in what will relate to ourselves. Jesus is said to be the author of our salvation, having learned certain things, and having clothed himself with his love of righteousness and obedience, he came to reveal that salvation to all the sons of earth, so that all might have an opportunity of deriving such advantages as it was calculated to bestow; therefore, he was the author and revealer of the Gospel.

He said, he came unto his own, and his own received him not; but unto as many as did receive him, unto them gave he power to become the sons and daughters of God. And he gathered his disciples and Apostles around him, and taught them the truth that he himself comprehended: and he sent them forth, even as his Father had sent him forth. He said that he had come to do the will of his Father, and bear record of the truth. This was his testimony, and the object of his mission to earth. He taught his disciples this.

Now, for the accomplishment of what purpose were these things to be taught? To bring salvation to the lost and fallen sons of earth, and to bestow upon them the gift of eternal life. Well, what is salvation? It is that which we learn in our every day life; it is what the school-boy learns at school.

One of the old Apostles said, it is eternal life, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

Well, is this what it takes to become the sons and daughters of God? Yes. Then, how did the Apostles obtain this knowledge? I will tell you: Jesus said unto them, “Follow me;” and he took them up into the mountains, and there in secret he taught them the principles of truth. And as evidence that he thought they were learning, he enquired of Peter, and the other Apostles (when they came in; for ought I know, they had been out preaching, as the “Mormon” Elders do, and probably had baptized a thousand persons), who do men say that I am? Why, said they, “Some say that thou art John, others one of the Prophets.”

But, said Jesus, “Who do you say that I am, ye disciples of mine who have been laboring in the vineyard?” Says Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then said he to Peter, “Thou art blessed, for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven.”

The Apostles acquired knowledge as the result of their application to searching for it. Can you tell what change there was effected in these men? They were men just as we are now, subject to like passions; then this is just as interesting as anything we can look at; and we will not question for one moment in our minds, but that it all transpired just as the Bible relates it.

Then what was the change in the condition of these men, I ask? When our Savior called them they were fishing, and they had never made the acquaintance of the Son of God; they knew nothing of him, or of his father who had sent him.

It was his request that first attracted their attention, and we learn that subsequently they were sent forth as messengers to preach the Gospel to their fellow men. And what of all that? “Why,” says one, “they had learned the things of God.” Well had they any more than learned them? What had happened them? Was there any difference with them, more than they knew a little more than they did before?

The very first salvation that Peter was enabled to treasure up as his own property, was that he knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was the Spirit of God that revealed this unto him; and he continued to have the comprehension of truth, in addition to the truth which he had already learned; and that was all the difference there was with Peter or the rest of the Apostles.

“But,” says one, “did they not speak in tongues?” Yes, but they did not learn anything, unless there was an interpreter present. The Apostle Paul said, he had rather speak five words, with his understanding, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

They also prophesied. And did they learn anything by that? Yes, because something was foretold, and they could understand what was said; and for this reason the Apostle Paul once said, “That he would to God that they were all Prophets.” So he seems to have been a disciple to this doctrine—that the love and comprehension of truth was the principle that edified—that it was the principle that would fix and establish the palpable change in the condition of mankind.

We read of the Apostles being in prison, and we read of their getting out of prison; but we do not find them telling of anything that constitutes eternal life, but the comprehending of something.

“Well, but” says one, “is the truth that we comprehend anywhere, eternal life?” A man might comprehend a truth which would not effect a delineation of the Gospel; but this is eternal life—to know the only true God, and His Son Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. Then, according to this language, the knowing certain personages, or the comprehending certain truths, constitutes salvation. It is not simply to know that He exists; for a man might know that He exists, and still not be in a position to receive eternal life.

Perhaps some of my scholars will get impatient to know what brother Lyman is wanting to get at. Well, I will comfort you with a little explanation. I want to show you that it is not merely the labor that you can perform, that will give you eternal life; I want you to understand that if you have eternal life, it will be when you comprehend the truth, so that it becomes your property; so that you can apply it—the same as it is when you have got money in your pocket, you can buy bread with it or anything else you want.

You may sing, or pray, or just do what you please, but if you do not learn the truth, and fully comprehend it, you will fail to obtain salvation. I want you to understand this, that you may not waste yourselves away.

I know the Saints do a great deal of labor, and they suffer a great deal at times; but I want to get you posted up in such a manner that you will see that you need not work and slave yourselves so awfully hard, thinking that it will bring you salvation; if you do, you will find after you get through, that you will be as bad as a man who was endeavoring to become a State’s senator (if I mistake not, in California) in some of the recent political contests. The rival candidates, in connection with other friends, had used all their influence in order to gain the day. At length the election came off, and most of the returns were in, so that they thought the results were actually known; therefore, the one who imagined himself elected, made a great dinner, but just about the time the dinner was to come off, it was proved that his opponent was elected. How bad the poor man felt.

How will it be with us? for we do not expect to live here always. Why, we shall wake up to the comprehension of the fact, that we have not obtained the heaven or salvation we expected. Then, you see, we should have to wait like the Californian did, at least till another election.

I want to have you discriminate between that which is salvation, and that which is not salvation. There is such a thing in the world as means, and the object that the means effect. The object and the means are two different things. I want you to learn this, that it is a comprehension of truth, treasured up in the mind and soul of man, and a just application of the same, that will save him. Just as far as you comprehend and practise truth, you are saved.

“Well,” says one, “is this knowledge which you refer to, all that we have to gain and profit by in order to be saved?” I know of nothing else; I have nothing else to teach you.

“But,” says one, “I thought it was the doing of my duty that would save me; for instance, I am required to pay my tithing, whether ecclesiastical or municipal, or any other; besides this, I have to labor a considerable portion of my time; and I have to go and preach the Gospel, and call upon sinners to obey the truth; I verily thought that this had something to do with my salvation.” Well, this has something to do with your salvation, but I do not want you, because you have been preaching the Gospel, and have returned again, to think that you are saved.

Can we not understand that millions of men are laboring with all their powers, though they are not carrying out “Mormonism.” They labor as much, and suffer as much as we do, and then they go down into the earth by thousands and millions, still there is not a soul of them that has gained eternal life; not a soul of them has gained salvation for their self-martyrdom; for many of them have been martyred?

Well, now, what is the reason if suffering will exalt and save the Latter-day Saints, that it will not save and exalt the suffering millions who never knew anything about “Mormonism?” As I heard a Universal preacher say (the saying struck me when I heard it), that if we could find a plan that would save one man, we could find a plan that would save all men. Well, this is what we want; for if we can find a plan that has saved one, we can find the plan that has saved all that have been saved.

If there is not developed in us the comprehension and correct practice of the truth, we shall fail to be saved. Our baptism for the remission of sins, followed by the laying on of hands, and our washings and anointings will not avail anything, if they are not followed by this development.

If the lamp of eternal truth is not lighted in us—is not planted here—does not receive its strength here, all our efforts will be in vain. If the knowledge and light of eternal truth does not follow as the result of our toil, the ordinances that we receive, and all that is done to us will not save us. We may build cities with gold, adorned with splendor and magnificence, fit to receive the Son of God; it will be all the same.

Nebuchadnezzar built a magnificent city, but was it the principle of salvation with him, or among his people? Was there one soul of them saved who built that great city? No, and instead of Nebuchadnezzar’s going into heaven, he went into the pasture to feed with the cattle. And this is the way that it will be with you, if you do not toil right; instead of going into heaven, you will have to go into the pasture, as he did.

This is a truthful illustration. Nebuchadnezzar held the command of millions of men, and he built magnificent cities and palaces; and we go to work on the same principle, and build cities; but we build them with coarse materials; of one portion we make a wall and of another portion we make a house. We are progressing to the splendor of what Nebuchadnezzar did, but we cannot look up to heaven and say, here are a great many cities that we have made; but we can say, here are a great many cities that we have commenced; but we are far richer than the king; for we have got that which will make us wise unto salvation.

This is a part of my sermon, I have not preached to you about baptism for the remission of sins, and about the laying on of hands, and prophecy, and so forth.

You can read about these things at home; consequently, you have no need for me to come here, and wear myself out in talking about them. I want to teach you something that you cannot read. If I had you in a school, I would not take more liberty with you. You are not saved by the truth till you know and obey it. In “Mormonism” there is A and B. Well, then, you will have to learn A and B and so forth. Do any of you remember learning your letters at home which your mother taught you? She would get some old book or other and say, well, my son, what is the first letter in this book? Why, he could not name it; she might just as well have asked the boy about the sun, as to ask him about that.

The mother would say, well, that is A; then the little fellow would try to say so. After a little she would ask him to tell her again what A is, but the little fellow is just as dumb as before. Well, she tries him again, and after she has told him what it is, he says A; now he has learned something; he has learned to know the formation of the letter before him.

I suppose I was not born into the world with a knowledge of my letters; hence I have had to learn them like the rest of you. Well, I want you to know that this is the way that we shall have to get salvation.

The revelations tell us that intelligence was not created, neither can it be. Hence, what we have to do is to comprehend that which does exist. This explains the propriety and truth of the Lord’s prayer. Now, says the Lord; “When you pray, pray in this manner—Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven.”

Well, what about this? Why, in the first place, we do not suppose that simply the using of these words would save anybody; for fathers and mothers very frequently learn their children this prayer, almost before they can talk, and they will repeat it till they are old enough to run away.

I want you to see that here is one of the guide boards of the Gospel. We say, our Father who art in heaven. Now, what does this language imply? Why, it tells us that we have a Father in heaven, and that we are His children. The next tells us that He is holy: “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” We pray this, simply because we want His will to be done here, as it is done there.

But we have only read one side of the guide board yet. Well, then, we now come to the asking of the Father for a peculiar favor; and we now say to Him, “Father, forgive us of all our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Now, do you want to know how much He will forgive you? If you curse your neighbor because he has trespassed against you, get down and pray for your Father to curse you.

Why, “But,” says one, “I would not like to pray for God to curse me.” I suppose you did not think that the Lord’s prayer meant so much as this. Well, now, as you would have God deal with you, so deal with your neighbor.

Now, we all would like the man on whom we trespass to forgive us, and then we suppose that God would forgive him, just as he has forgiven us. Our Savior said that we should forgive men when they trespass against us. And why? Because that is the way that God will do with us. We ought not to forget or neglect the first principles of the Gospel, but at the same time go on unto perfection.

But have you left off your practical sins? for theory will do you no good; you may have all the knowledge you please, but it will do you no good until it defines the divinity of its character, until it becomes indelibly fixed in your minds. I want that you should learn this.

Says one, “Is it not good for us to be baptized?” Yes. And it is also good to use the Lord’s prayer; and when you ask forgiveness, the example given tells you the very course that you should adopt towards God, and towards all with whom you have anything to do. There is nothing you ought to be more particular about than this; when you say, father, forgive me, just make yourselves certain that you have forgiven your brother; and, if you have not forgiven your brother, when the expression is just about to fall from your lips, shut your mouth—make it a prisoner.

Perhaps you will accuse me and say, “Why, we thought brother Lyman would tell us something new, that would entertain us.” Well, I think I have been good company anyhow.

When Jesus Christ came down here, he came as a character to be followed; he came in the character of a God; not as a simple boy, but to preach the Gospel. Well, then, what comes next? Did he tell the people to go to work and lay up bread for a year, or for ten years? Or, did he tell them to ask for bread for to-morrow? No, he did not. Why? Because that is a day we know nothing about. Supposing we had been without bread for eight or nine days, and were to ask him for bread for to-morrow; what would He think of us? Why, just what you would think of your children, if they were to ask you for bread, with their hands full, and their mouths full.

‘Then, if we have no bread, we ought to ask for this day our daily bread; for we do not know whether we shall want it to-morrow or not. Yesterday is past, and to-day is all that a man lives.

Well, then, what comes next? “Thine be the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.” We have now got through with the Lord’s prayer, but I do not want you always to get through with it so soon; I do not care if you are a week about it. Most of you teach your children this form of prayer, before they can appreciate it. You can appreciate it, but they cannot. You teach them to say, “Our Father who art in heaven,” without their having any rational supposition who He is, or whether He is anybody or nobody.

There are some other things I want you to take into consideration. The ordinance of baptism is abused by a great many. Some of you get baptized a great many times; and what do you get baptized for? As long as I see you getting baptized for the remission of sins, I shall conclude that you are not saved.

Well, now, you go down into the ordinance of baptism, and it is said that you are buried. Are you buried alive? A burial, of course, pre-supposes that somebody is dead. It is also said, that we are to put off the old man of sin—the old garment that we have worn; and from that grave we are to rise unto newness of life, as toucheth the former conversation. We are not to act as we once acted and do as we once did.

Well, then, we are to be dead; but we are not to die as people generally die; for when they are dead, do they come back, and build cities, and do as they did before? It formerly took butter and cheese, and these good things to keep them alive; but when they die, this expense stops.

Well, then, how shall it be with us in relation to our former existence? We were not Saints then; we said and did things which were wrong often, because we did not know that which was right. We should die unto sin and darkness, and learn the light, and live in it, and be dictated and governed by it.

This is what baptism should teach us. Have you so read the guide-board? Simply telling us that we should die unto darkness and corruption, that we might live to immortality and eternal life, will not save us. If you have not read the guide-board so, you have not read it right. Those who have not been buried with Christ in baptism, and risen unto newness of life, and put off the old man of sin, they are living without the light; they are those who have never left the sable shades of darkness; they think wrong, they act wrong, and they go wrong, because they have not the light. They do not know the difference between that which is pure, and that which is not pure.

Perfection is not at the guide-board, but we can read it there, that this is the way that leads to it. But supposing you were to stay there, what would you accomplish? You would be perfectly bewildered, without any possibility of ever getting right. How foolish it would be for us to stay there and say, why, I cannot leave this; it first pointed out to me the way of life; and can I leave it now? No, I will live by it, and die by it.

Is there any such a thing as this in “Mormonism?” No. “Mormonism” gives a man more than one wife. Ah! say some poor, half-hearted “Mormons,” talk about a man’s having more wives than one; now we know that the Church has all apostatized, and Brigham and the Twelve are all going wrong. Such poor wretches have got to the guide-board, and they want to stay there.

The Saints who have the Spirit of light and truth, would shame to own that they are of the same race. As brother Kimball sometimes says, “Such persons are all puckered up; there is not as much of them as there used to be.” All the difference there is between that kind of “Mormon” and us is, that we have passed beyond the first guide-board, and they have not I want you to realize that there is a time for everything; there is a time for you to be baptized, and there is a time for you to put away things of childhood, and become men and women. There is a great difference between the guide-board which leads to salvation, and salvation itself. Says one, “I guess we understand it pretty well.” I hope you do.

Some years ago a text was given me to preach from, but I have not learned it all yet; but I am learning it as fast as I can, and preaching it; this is my mission. Other men might have missions of another kind.

Says one, “Were you always an Apostle?” No. “Were you ordained an Apostle?” Yes. “What did that do for you?” It only connected me with twelve men; it did not give me any more knowledge, or make me any different.

I have come to preach you the Gospel; and if I had thought that there was no necessity for so doing, and that you understood all about it, I would have stayed at home, or up at brother Allred’s here, and enjoyed myself at the fire-side.

It is my right to ordain people, but I shall not ordain you, but I will give you all a mission to teach this Gospel, that I have preached to you to-night, to your neighbors, and to yourselves; and examine yourselves, and see if you live the truth.

I will tell you how to know. Do you know how much you would give for the truth last year? Says one, “I would give a tenth last year.” Would you give any more now? “I do not really know. Why, I thought they only asked me for my tithing, and that that was all it was worth.”

Then you do not think it worth more now than you thought it worth last year. Well, now, what are you going to do? Are you going to swindle somebody out of nine-tenths of their salvation? You gave a tenth. What for? Why, you thought “Mormonism” worth that much; you considered it worth your tithing. Well, what are you going to get? You are going to get a tenth.

I came into this kingdom to identify myself with all that I have, and all that I expect to have. You have given a tenth, and you expect to get a dollar, do you? Now, is there any good hard sense about that? “Well,” says one, “what do you mean by treating the subject in this way?” Why, I want you to think of this, and not deceive yourselves by thinking that you will get a full salvation for paying a tenth; if you devote yourselves and all that you have for the cause of truth, you will merit the whole.

I want you to learn that “Mormonism” is worth everything; that it is all there is of life—that it is all there is of truth—that it is all there is of everything that is worth having; and you will then comprehend, as I do, that to merit it, you will have to throw in all that you have got.

You cannot do more for the truth than it is worth: then come forward and consecrate your property. Says one, “What will it do for me, if I do?” Do you not say, that “Mormonism” is worth everything? Yes; but you will only pay a tenth for it. Then here you have got the bars up.

May God bless you and me with His Holy Spirit, that we may be led into all truth, and fully comprehend and appreciate that salvation which we seek, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Necessity of the Saints Living up to the Light which has been Given Them

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt City, March 2, 1856.

I have many subjects that I would like to speak upon for the benefit of the Saints, and one thing in particular I would like to do for them, which I believe would be the greatest blessing that could be bestowed upon them, and that is to give you eyes with which to see things as they are. If I had power to bestow that description of sight upon the Latter-day Saints, I do not believe that there is a man or woman but what would try to live their religion.

Some might suppose that it would be a great blessing to be taken and carried directly into heaven and there set down, but in reality that would be no blessing to such persons; they could not reap a full reward, could not enjoy the glory of the kingdom, and could not comprehend and abide the light thereof, but it would be to them a hell intolerable, and I suppose would consume them much quicker than would hell fire. It would be no blessing to you to be carried into the celestial kingdom, and obliged to stay therein, unless you were prepared to dwell there.

If people had eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand things as they are, it would prove a blessing to them, for they would then order their lives in a manner to secure the blessings which they anticipate. However, it is out of my power to thus bless this people, but the gift has been placed within the reach of every person by the purchase of the Son of God, and it is for them to obtain it, or to pass along without obtaining it, just as they may choose. But some facts are easily comprehended; take the Latter-day Saints and compare their feelings, lives, and doings with those of the world, and what will be readily discovered? Were any of you now to go forth into the world, if you had one spark of honesty or of virtue about you, you would desire to return as soon as duty would permit, and would exclaim, “I had no idea that the world was as I found it to be.” Many of our Elders exclaim, on their return from foreign missions, “How wicked the world has got to be! They are growing worse and worse, and go rapidly from bad to worse.” I have heard them exclaim, “It was astonishing to see how the people could so alter in the course of two or three years!”

On this point I will remark that the Elders rapidly alter one way, and the people of the world alter directly the other way, thus the space between them increases much faster than we are apt to be aware of. Elders who go forth to proclaim the Gospel, unless they do something to clip their faith, or cause them to apostatize from their religion, so that they are left in the dark, are generally on the increase in improvement, grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, and gather to themselves more knowledge than they had before they went on their mission. They are advancing in the principles of truth, while the world are receding from the truth they once had; consequently, it appears to the Elders, and to those who go from the Saints into the world, that it is growing wicked faster than it really is, and the Elders do not always realize that their advancement in truth produces much of the appearance of the great distance between them and the world.

If many of this congregation knew, if they had eyes to see, and ears to hear, they would often be ashamed of their conduct, when contrasted with all the light that has been manifested in the Gospel of salvation revealed to us. We have heard Joseph the Prophet preach, have seen his face, and have the revelations given through him, and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit; we have knowledge, we have the living oracles in our midst, and with all this let me say to the Latter-day Saints that they stand upon slippery places. They do not all fully know the paths they walk in, they do not all perfectly understand their own ways and doings, many do not altogether realize their own weaknesses, do not understand the power of the devil and how liable they are to be decoyed one hair’s breadth, to begin with, from the line of truth. They are first drawn by a fine line, in a little time it becomes a cord, it soon increases to a strong rope, and from that to a cable; thus it grows from the size of a spider’s web, in comparison.

Let a Saint diverge from the path of truth and rectitude, in the least, no matter in what, it may be in a deal with his neighbor, in lusting after that which is not in his possession, in neglecting his duty, in having an over anxiety for something he should not be anxious about, in being a little distrustful with regard to the providences of God, in entertaining a misgiving in his heart and feeling with regard to the hand of the Lord towards him, and his mind will begin to be darkened.

Brother Amasa Lyman has just observed, that some say “I suppose we must acknowledge the hand of God in all things.” There is no supposition with as me to that matter, we can do as we please about it; but we have to confess or be chastised until we know and understand how things are, and realize that the Lord God is with us, in our midst and around about us, by His angels, by His Spirit, and by His eye which searches and researches our hearts. If He is not here in person, He is conversant with our actions, and scans every thought of our hearts and every action of our lives. He is in our midst, and we might as well begin to think about it first as last.

If there is a misgiving in the heart with regard to confidence in our God, do you not see that there is a chance for one to slide a hair’s breadth from the truth? This gives power to the enemy, and if we are decoyed in the least from the path of duty, do you not perceive that it produces darkness? Do you not understand that, in your experience? Yes, every Saint does. If you become dark, do you not know that the enemy has still greater power to decoy you further from the path? Then how soon the people would go to destruction, how soon they would go to ruin!

I will tell you what this people need, with regard to preaching; you need, figuratively, to have it rain pitchforks, tines downwards, from this pulpit, Sunday after Sunday. Instead of the smooth, beautiful, sweet, still, silk-velvet lipped preaching, you should have sermons like peals of thunder, and perhaps we then can get the scales from our eyes. This style is necessary in order to save many of this people. Give them smooth preaching, and let them glide along in their own desires and wishes, and they will follow after the traditions of their forefathers and the inclinations of their own wicked hearts, and give way to temptation, little by little, until, by and bye, they are ripe for destruction.

If I could take away the vail, and let you see how things really are, you would then know just as well as I know, and I know them just as well as any man on the face of the earth need to. I would not ask for a particle more knowledge upon that subject than I now have in my possession, were I capable of imparting it to this people, until we improve upon what knowledge we already possess. I know the condition of this people, I know what induces them to do as they do, I know the secret springs to their actions, how they are beset, the temptations and evils that are around them, and how liable they are to be drawn away, consequently, I tell you, brethren, that you need to have the thunders of the Almighty and the forked lightnings of truth sent upon you, to wake you up out of your lethargy.

Some may say, “Brother Brigham always chastises us.” But what do I tell you? I say that if there are any Saints on earth they are here, if the kingdom of God is on the earth it is here, if Jesus is not known here, he is not known upon the earth, if his Father is not known here, He is not known upon the earth. What of all this? If we have this knowledge greater is the shame, unless we live to it, and greater will be our condemnation. The people should be preached to, but they need something besides smooth teaching. Comparatively speaking, they should have their ears cuffed and be roughly handled, be kicked out doors, and then kicked in again. Most of the Elders who preach in this stand ought to be kicked out of it, and then kicked into it again, until they overhaul themselves and find out what is the matter with them.

The mass of the people are all asleep together, craving after the world, running after wickedness, desiring this, that, and the other, which is not for their good.

You hear many talk about having made sacrifices; if I had that word in my vocabulary I would blot it out. I have never yet made what I call sacrifices; in my experience I know nothing about making them. We are here in this wicked world, a world shrouded in darkness, principally led, directed, governed, and controlled, from first to last, by the power of our common foe—him who was opposed to Jesus Christ and to his kingdom—the son of the morning—the devil. Lucifer has almost the entire control over the whole earth, rules and governs the children of men and leads them on to destruction. He has millions and millions of agents; they are in every place, the air is full of them and the earth is full of them. You cannot go anywhere without finding some of them, unless it is among a few of the Saints who have faith to turn them out of their hearts and affections, out of their houses, and then out of their midst.

There are a few such places on the earth, but they are very few, compared with all the world beside. The world is drunk with its own folly, with its own wickedness.

I know that I spoke very harshly to you last Sabbath, but that does not hurt the oil and the wine; no, not one particle. There was not a Latter-day Saint then within hearing of my voice but that his soul shouted, “Amen, thank God, glory, hallelujah.” You need such preaching as was that, from day to day, until the rubbish cleaving to you is swept away, until your minds are upon something beside the follies and vanities of the world. You have much to learn. Do you think I was too rash last Sunday? (Voices, no.) Even then I told you only a small portion of the truths pertaining to the subjects touched upon.

I cannot tell you the whole truth, for you are not in a condition to receive it; my voice is not powerful enough to pierce your hearts; I alone am not able to remove the scales from your eyes that you may see things as they are. I can talk to you here, and diffuse my spirit among you, so far as you will receive it. If I have the Spirit of the Lord, and your hearts are soft, I can impart to you what the Lord has for you through me; that is all I can do. I have to cling to my Father, to my God, and to my religion every day, yes, every moment of my life; have to plead with Him and centre all my confidence, hopes, and faith in Him, and so should you.

There is one thing I desire of this people more than everything else on this earth, more than gold, silver, houses, lands, and the riches of this world which are not to compare with it, and that is that this people would so live as to know the Father and the Son, to know the will of God concerning them, and to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and have the visions of eternity opened to them. Then my soul would be satisfied; that is all I could ask of them. I do not care whether we have half rations, or quarter rations, that is a matter I care but little about. I would rather that this people should starve to death in the mountains, than to have the Lord Almighty hand us over to a cursed, infernal mob. I would rather go down to the grave in peace than to fight a mob, unless the Lord would give me enough Saints to fight and kill the poor devils; in such case I wish to live and fight them. But I never want to see a mob again drive and tread under foot the Saints.

While brother Amasa was addressing the people, I admired the principles he taught, and I can apply them to myself, so far as they pertain to me; but I do not know how my little boys and girls, now growing up in our midst, could understand what is in the world, unless we sent them forth so that they could contrast one class with the other. For my part I do not need a mob to aid me to purify myself; I do not require to hear another man take the name of God in vain, in order to complete my experience concerning profanity. I have no occasion for the devil and his imps, nor to see the face of a wicked man while I live, in order to make me more acquainted with their power. I will be perfectly satisfied with the glory and crown I shall receive, if I have no further acquaintance or experience with the power of the devil, so far as I am concerned.

If I have to pass through scenes of trouble, sorrow, and affliction, if we have to fight the devil, and I have the power to live, I pray my Father in heaven, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to let me live to enjoy this privilege. If I, of necessity must pass, through war and bloodshed, toils and labors, let me live, for I love to fight the devils, but I love to overcome them. If I had the power I would doubtless use them up, perhaps to the injury of the Saints. Why? Because if you do not know wickedness you cannot enjoy the happiness God has in store for you.

Paul asks, “Shall we sin that righteousness may abound?” No, there is plenty of sin without your sinning. We can have all the experience we need, without sinning ourselves, therefore we will not sin that good may come, we will not transgress the law of God that we may know the opposite. There is no necessity for such a course, for the world is full of transgression, and this people need not mingle up with it.

Can you discern between the righteous and the wicked here? You know I have spoken of a certain class of men who frequent our law shops, and every other wicked hole they can get into; can they discern the difference between those who love the law of God and those who despise it? No. The vilest sinner on the earth who will come with a bland countenance, using the airs that belong to the etiquette of the day, you receive as a very fine man, a beautiful gentleman. Do you not know that you need the Spirit of the Almighty to look through a man and discern what is in his heart, while his face smiles upon you and his words flow as smoothly as oil? If you had the power of God upon you, you might see the sword lurking within him, and that, if he had the power, he would plunge it in your heart and destroy you from the earth. I meet many such men in these streets, and in the houses round about.

Do you not know that Jesus told the truth when he said, “They that are not for us are against us?” A great many have our patronage and influence, benefit by our forbearance, and enrich themselves with our cash, but when that is gone, what shall we hear next? “Wipe them from the earth, put them out of existence and let the earth not be infested with them any longer, for they have no money, no influence for us now; they cannot patronize and promote us, therefore destroy them from the earth.” That is the spirit of the devil which reigns in every man who is not a Saint at heart. This wicked principle may lay dormant, to all appearance, year after year, lurking in the flesh, until it increases to such a degree that the flesh has overcome the spirit of light which God implanted in them, when it exhibits itself, and then the cry is, “Destroy the Apostles of Jesus and every one of his true followers; root out that clan which will destroy us unless we destroy them; root them out, that we be no more pestered with them.”

Suppose one of my brethren had a large family connection, had many brothers and sisters near and dear to him, as near his feelings as a child is to its father’s or mother’s, and that this blood connection, embracing all the friends he had upon earth, should, on a night so dark that they could not see one inch before their eyes, mount their horses, put spurs to them, and start at the top of their speed, on a road that neither they nor their horses had ever travelled one inch upon, would he not cry at the top of his voice, “Where are you going?” Would he not say, “You are riding in the dark and on a road which you do not know?” They might put spurs in their horses and reply, “We will perform the journey.” You are the individuals I am referring to. Let any one see people hastening to the brink of an awful precipice, hundreds of feet in depth, and before they are aware of it, about to leap into the abyss, what feelings would move the individual looking upon such a sight? Would he not wish to take them by the hair of their heads, if they would not stop, and save them if possible?

So I feel about you. I feel like taking men and women by the hair of their heads, figuratively speaking, and slinging them miles and miles, and like crying, stop, before you ruin yourselves! But I have not the power to do this; I can talk to you a little and can beseech you to stop your mad career, and can ask your Father in heaven to give you the light of His Spirit, and when you receive that you will find every word that I said last Sabbath to be true. There are men here, by the score, who do not know their right hands from their left, so far as the principle of justice is concerned. Does our High Council? No, for they will let men throw dust in their eyes, until you cannot find the hundredth millionth part of an ounce of common sense in them. You may go to the Bishops’ courts, and what are they? A set of old grannies. They cannot judge a case pending between two old women, to say nothing of a case between man and man. We have already dropped many of them, and we are picking up young men. We will train them, and tell them to serve God or apostatize.

The time is coming when justice will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet; when we shall take the old broad sword and ask, “Are you for God?” and if you are not heartily on the Lord’s side, you will be hewn down. I feel like reproving you; you are like a wild ass that rears and almost breaks his neck before he will be tamed. It is so with this people.

Have we not given you salt enough to season you? You have been sweetened with velvet lips, until you do not know salt from anything else. Will you hear now? If I have strength and continue to feel like it, I will come here and train you every Sabbath, and I wish my sermons to be like the raining of pitchforks point foremost, until you awake out of your sleep and find out whether you are Saints or not. We have a great many gars, sharks, sheepheads, lampereels, and every other kind of fish that is to be found, in the pond; the Gospel net has gathered them up, and what may you expect from such a mess? You may expect the best and worst of all God’s creation mingled here together. The foolish will turn from correct principles, go over to the wicked, and cease to be righteous, so that they can go to hell with the fools. I wish to have every man who rises to speak from this stand, lay aside the smooth tongue and velvet lips and let his words be like melted lead, that they may sink into the hearts of the people.

Now do not think that I have cast you off; you are my brethren, if I have any. If there are any Saints on the face of the earth they are here. I am one with you, and if you turn round and say, “Brother Brigham ought to live according to his preaching,” I answer, I live so now that you cannot keep up with me. Do not fret yourselves, I am ready to be weighed in the balance in all my ways, with any of you. Learn to live your religion day by day, and do right all the time. Let us strive to get more light, more of the grace and power of God, that we may increase therein, which is my prayer continually. May God bless you: Amen.

Elders Called to go on Missions, etc.

Heber C. Kimball

A discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 2, 1856.

I wish you to understand and observe what brother Brigham taught here this forenoon. I can say, from knowledge and experience, that every word was true, and, in my humble opinion, he truthfully portrayed the situation in which this people are at the present time, that is, in a careless, stupid condition. I know this from my own feelings, when I stand before this congregation. If you were filled with light, even the light of Christ, I know that I should be constantly inspired by the Holy Ghost, to speak according to the light which is in this people. But it is not so, therefore there is a hindrance to bringing forth light and truth, much more abundantly than they are presented.

The present is a peculiar time, many people are frightened at their condition, and we discover that it is almost universally so; it is tight times. Am I sorry? No, I have never seen anything transpire in these valleys that has given me more satisfaction than do the times that we now see. If you will reflect for one moment, you will remember that the scenery we are now passing through was predicted more than three years past. If this people had observed the counsel that was given to them from time to time, would any of you have been placed in the straightened circumstances you are in this day? No, you would not.

When brother Brigham and myself, with a hundred and forty one men, came into this valley nearly nine years ago, he proclaimed the propriety of this people laying up their grain for a time to come, a time of scarcity, and a time has come. He said there would be a time when it would be one of the greatest temporal blessings, for this people to have wheat in their store-houses.

You have been warned before hand, and that by revelation from God through Joseph Smith, and afterward through brother Brigham who is our Prophet, you have been warned, time and time again, to take care of your grain. In future build yourselves good store-houses and save your grain for a time of famine, and sickness, and death upon the nations of the wicked, to get rid of the evil doers. I have noticed those predictions, I have reflected upon them ever since they were told us.

There will not many calamities come upon the nations of the earth, until this people first feel their effects, and when hard times commence they will begin at the house of God, and if there is any house of God on the earth, where is it? It is here, is it not? It is where the people have assembled together according to the commandments of the Almighty. We have got to feel the effects of these things, and if we do so patiently it will be good for us. No serious loss or injury will arise from calamities, if we do as we are told.

Take this people as a people, throughout the valleys of the mountains, and I presume that they are the best people upon the face of the earth, and even here there is hardly a person but what takes a course to live from hand to mouth, that is, they will never lay up anything. This course will not answer for us, we must lay up grain against the famines that will prevail upon the earth. What shall we lay up that grain for? Shall we lay it up to feed the wicked? No, we shall lay it up to feed the Saints who gather here from all the nations of the earth, and for the millions of lovers of good and wholesome laws who will come from the old countries and from the United States, fleeing to this place for their bread, and I know it.

How much have you got to feed them on now? We talk about those in the household of faith, and those who are inclined to serve the Lord, they will be the ones to suffer first. The Spirit has been in my heart all the time, and when the drouth came I laid up all the wheat that I could get in my mill by toll, and never used any for horses or cattle, but kept it to feed my laborers and my family. I have now dealt it out until I have nearly used it up, and I have not sold it for money. I have not sold twenty-five dollars worth of grain during the past year, but I have let my brethren have it, and kept it to sustain my family.

Let us all take such a course, and in future raise an abundance of grain, and save ourselves from the dilemma which we will otherwise fall into. It is necessary for you to understand and comprehend these things, and I wish you to understand them for yourselves; I can only act for one. When I lay up grain and others do not, I cannot let them starve to death, it is not in me to do that, but it is a pretty difficult position to be placed in. When we attempt to draw the line of distinction between right and wrong, it is unpleasant to have individuals among us who will lie for a pound of flour. When we know such individuals is it right for me to give flour to them? No, it is not right for me to give it to any one, only in exchange for something else, except under certain circumstances.

In the Bible Jesus uses a parable concerning talents which were delivered to different individuals, with instructions to go and improve upon them, to put them to use that they might increase upon that capital. In due time the, lord called upon those men to whom he gave the talents, and the one who had received one talent had hid it, but the others had put theirs to use, and received their reward accordingly. This is the way in which we have got to prove ourselves, and we have got to be tested and become suitable for governors, to govern others and to control our families, and then to control nations and kingdoms.

Have I not worked as hard as any of you for my living? Who ever saw me indolent, or idling away my time around street corners, or about the Council House? No one, either of the living or dead. I am always busy in striving to adorn my plantation, and my works show it all the time. I am not preaching anything but what I practise. Does brother Brigham preach anything but what he practises? No, he practises it night and day, and is just as virtuous and pure before his family as he is when he is before the public, and I would not give a dime for a man who is not. Does not the Almighty know all these things? Some may think that the Almighty does not see their doings, but if He does not, the angels and ministering spirits do. They see you and your works, and I have no doubt but they occasionally communicate your conduct to the Father, or to the Son, or to Joseph, or to Peter, or to some one who holds the keys in connection with them. Perhaps there are some who do not believe much in spirits, but I know that they exist and visit the earth, and I will tell you how and why I know it.

When I was in England, brother Geo. D. Watt was the first man baptized, and his mother was baptized directly after he was. The night previous to my going forward to baptize brother Watt and eight others, I had a vision, as old father Baker used to say, “of the infernal world.” I saw legions of wicked spirits that night, as plain as I now see you, and they came as near to me as you now are, and company after company of them rushed towards me; and brother Hyde and brother Richards also saw them. It was near the break of day, and I looked upon them as I now look upon you. They came when I was laying hands upon brother Russell, the wicked spirits got him to the door of the room, I did not see them till after that took place, and soon afterwards I lay prostrate upon the floor. That was in England, pious England, in the little town of Preston, at the corner of Wilford Street, and they struggled and exerted all their power and influence. That was the first introduction of the Gospel into England, and was shown those spirits as plainly as ever I saw anything. I was thinking of that circumstance while brother Brigham was speaking this morning, and I was thinking that those spirits were just as much on hand to perplex this people as they were on hand there. I saw their hands, their eyes, and every feature of their faces, the hair on their heads, and their ears, in short they had full-formed bodies.

If evil spirits could come to me, cannot ministering spirits and angels also come from God? Of course they can, and there are thousands of them, and I wish you to understand this, and that they can rush as an army going to battle, for the evil spirits came upon me and brother Hyde in that way. There is one circumstance in the visit of those evil spirits, that I would not tell if brother Hyde had not often told it himself; they spoke and said to brother Hyde, “We have nothing against you,” no, but I was the lad that they were after. I mention this to show that the devil is an enemy to me, he is also an enemy to brother Brigham, to brother Jedediah, to the Twelve, and to every righteous man. When brother Benson goes to the old country he will find hosts of evil spirits, and he will know more about the devil than he ever did before. The spirits of the wicked, who have died for thousands of years past, are at war with the Saints of God upon the earth. Do I ever pray that I may see them again? No, I do not. We had prayed all day, and almost all night, that we might have power to establish the Gospel in England. Previous to this, Mr. Fielding, a clergyman, came and forbid my baptizing those persons who had come forward. Said I, sir, they are of age, and I shall baptize them, if they wish for it, and I baptized nine. The next morning I was so weak that I could scarcely stand, so great was the effect that those spirits had upon me. I wrote a few words to my wife about the matter, and brother Joseph called upon her for the letter and said, “It was a choice jewel, and a testimony that the Gospel was planted in a strange land.”

When I returned home I called upon brother Joseph, and we walked down the bank of the river. He there told me what contests he had had with the devil; he told me that he had contests with the devil, face to face. He also told me how he was handled and afflicted by the devil, and said, he had known circumstances where Elder Rigdon was pulled out of bed three times in one night. After all this some persons will say to me, that there are no evil spirits. I tell you they are thicker than the “Mormons” are in this country, but the Lord has said that there are more for us than there can be against us “Who are they,” says one? Righteous men who have been upon the earth.

But do you suppose that angels will pay friendly visits to those who do not live up to their privileges? Would you? No, you would not like to visit with persons who lie, and steal your goods, and borrow and never pay. Would not you forsake such persons? Yes, you would. Will the Holy Ghost dwell with a man who will lie, steal, and swear? No. It is written that where the Holy Ghost takes up its abode the Father and Son will come and abide. That is the God whom I serve, one who has millions of angels at His command. Do you suppose that there are any angels here to-day? I would not wonder if there were ten times more angels here than people. We do not see them, but they are here watching us, and are anxious for our salvation. Will one out of twenty of those who are here to-day go through the gates into the celestial City? As I told some to-day, when passing through the gate at noon, when you go to the straight gate that we read of, you will not go through there crowding by hundreds as you do now, the righteous and wicked all mixed up together; you cannot go into the celestial world unless you are sanctified through the celestial law. Do you not think that it will require faith, repentance, and baptism, to enable you to get through the celestial gates? Yes, and it will require obedience to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

There are many who will feed the ungodly sooner than the Saints, but I tell you I will feed the Saints first and the poor devils afterwards, if there is any to spare. But none of them should have food unless they worked for it. I am expressing some of my feelings, and speaking of some of my actual knowledge of things, temporal and spiritual. The Lord has hosts of angels who are qualified to defend us, and they have information enough to march armies and to select leaders to lead them against the enemy of the Saints; and the devil has leaders enough to march his armies against the Saints.

If men and women do not qualify themselves and become sanctified and purified in this life, they will go into a world of spirits where they will have a greater contest with the devils than ever you had with them here. It will not be fifty years, perhaps, before all of us here to day will leave this state of existence, and then you will prove whether brother Brigham and the rest of the brethren have told you truth or not. You know that the world has made a great deal of fuss, and told many lies about the devil pitching on to Joseph Smith when he went to get the plates, but they will get to a place where the devils will handle them worse than they did Joseph when he got the plates; if they do not embrace the Gospel it will be so.

Let us repent and forsake our sins and turn our hearts to our God, every one of us. I have said a thousand times, if I was to die now, to-day, I could not do better than I have done, still I have my weaknesses. But I don’t go and sell my grain to the Gentiles, and then say that my family are on rations. If there are men who have done so, they will see sorrow and I know it.

Shall we turn unto the Lord with all our hearts, and deal justly, do as we would wish another to do to us? Methinks every heart says, “Yes, we will go to work and try, if we die in the attempt.”

My heart is in “Mormonism;” it is my joy, and I have no joy in anything else. I have no pride in gold or silver, if I had I should take the dimes for my flour. If I have any food to spare I will hand it to the Bishop, and let him hand it to those who are destitute. This is what I believe in doing, and I wish others to do so too. If our Bishops do not attend to their duties, in these and all other matters, we shall drop them when conference comes; I say we, because we shall all take a hand in it. Now mark it. Our Bishops on Juries—under the dictation of those spirits that are in courts! I cannot stay in such places, they are so obnoxious to me. Men will make lawsuits, brother go to law with brother. Does this agree with the word of God? Does this agree with the word of Jesus, or with the words of the Prophets? No, and it is a set of poor devils that will do so, and by so doing they have taken a course by which they have forfeited their right and title as members of this Church and kingdom. Do you wish me to talk softly? If you do, I must be made another man. Let me be made an instrument in the hands of God to play the tune which He influences me to play; that is my way. There are not many who dare do this; they have not got force enough in them, nor intelligence enough, they do not know enough about God.

I am ready, when the time comes, for the line to be drawn, and the ax to be laid at the root of every tree which does not bear good fruit.

I stick to “Mormonism,” and I pray God that it may stick to me. I wish to take a course to love and fear God, that when I bow before Him to ask for His Holy Spirit, I may have the communion thereof. Do I have that communion? I do, day by day, and I am not satisfied without it. If I get into a bad humor, the first thing I do is to pray; and I never am so angry but that I can pray. Often, in the town of Mendon, N. Y., when I went out to pray, it seemed as though there were hosts of devils trying to stop me; they did not wish me to become a “Mormon.” Have I ever been sorry that I became a “Mormon?” Have I ever regretted it? No, never for one moment. I may be asked whether I know Joseph Smith was a Prophet; yes, I know it just as well as I do that you are sitting before me this day; and I also know that brother Brigham is his successor, and that I am his brother. Do not try to get between him and me, nor between me and brother Jedediah, if you do your toes will be pinched. I wish men to keep round about us to encircle us with their love and kindness, but not to get between us, for we intend to stand by each other to death. This is our integrity, and God ever help us to be one, and also the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, and every Latter-day Saint, that we may all be one with Joseph, as is Joseph with Peter, and Peter with Jesus, and Jesus with his Father. This is the connection that we hold in the holy Priesthood.

Do any wish to destroy the union that exists among this people? I am opposed to every one who tries to do so, and so is every true Saint, and those who dwell here and in the heavens will say, Amen. I am an enemy to the devil and all his imps, and to all who come here to make merchandise of the Saints of God. I know that men come here and act on a principle of policy to get trade, but with us dollars and dimes are not objects of worship, for we love to deal with the true principles of righteousness. Let us go to work, every man, woman, and child, and strive to fill these valleys of the mountains with corn, wheat, potatoes, beets, and vegetables of every kind, that, when another fall comes, we may be able to say that we have food in abundance, as well as sealings and marriages. I will say a few words about divorces, do they prove that you are loving men and women, having your prayers ascend to God? No, but they prove that you are contending with each other. However, I presume that such cases will occur, that people will keep apostatizing until the Savior comes, and he says that even then they of the kingdom will be like ten virgins, five wise and five foolish.

Take the counsel that you have heard to-day and last Sunday. Stop your lawing one with another, your quarrelling one with another, and let all cease to do evil, and then will not the angels rejoice? Well, God have mercy upon you all and save you from your follies, that you may be His in time, and His in eternity, which is the prayer of your unworthy servant, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Exposing Wickedness Among the Saints, etc.

Jedediah M. Grant

A discourse by President J. M. Grant, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 2, 1856.

By Elder Kimball’s request, I will occupy a short time.

I have meditated considerably upon the spirit manifested through our President last Sabbath and to-day, and also upon that manifested by brother Kimball, his first Counsellor.

I do not know what effect their views and sayings have had upon your minds, but I am under the impression that there is more blindness and stupidity, more fog and darkness in Israel than I had anticipated, previous to their remarks.

I am aware that persons, not members of our society, listening to the teachings from this stand, might infer that we certainly were in a very bad state. But when they take into consideration that we do not allow any evil, or any kind of wickedness, to grow and flourish in the midst of this community, without revealing and opposing it, they can then understand the subject more clearly.

In the United States, generally, and perhaps in most of Europe, it would not be safe to speak so plainly from the pulpit concerning the wickedness existing in those regions, or to expose it so freely and fully as we expose, from this stand, the evils striving to creep into our midst, for the spirit which reigns abroad upon the face of the earth is different from the spirit that reigns here. If we know a wicked man we feel free to present him before the public, and frequently call him by name, and expose him publicly.

This course would not always be safe, in that portion of the southern States where I have travelled; you would be apt to be involved in a duel, or in a fight of some kind.

When the Latter-day Saints know of wickedness, they are determined to expose it and bring it to the light, and that which should be made public, they proclaim publicly, even though it may have been learned secretly. I am satisfied of the blindness that exists in many of those whom we call upon to officiate, in different capacities in the Church.

The High Council have been referred to to-day as among the number who are in the fog. The reason why I verily believe that they are in the fog, is because the light of the Holy Ghost which is in our President tells us the fact, and faith comes by, hearing the word of God.

The reason why I especially and particularly believe that our Bishops are in the dark, is from the fact that the manifestations of the Almighty through the President of the Church reveals that fact to the people, and he gives us that revelation without making any special reserve therein, hence my faith.

If I had no other evidence, his testimony would be sufficient for me to predicate my faith upon.

The President’s remarks gave a very special rebuke to certain councils, and, more or less, to those who speak from this stand. He is not fond of the smoothness that some are delighted with. I am aware that the Saints come here to listen, and that many of them are fond of smooth sayings and nicely turned periods, being pleased therewith as with a beautiful song; their ears are tickled and their fancies excited, but they go away without being vitally benefited.

We have to deal with the people of God, and we care but little about the ebbing and flowing of nations, when their ebbings and flowings do not particularly affect the Saints of the Most High. We expect to see abominations and commotions abroad on the earth, but I do hope that the time has actually come when filth will be cleansed from the midst of Israel.

As a people we are right in principle, in doctrine, and in precepts. But are we all perfectly right in practice? This is a question which we should well examine and understand.

Do all the people practise righteousness? Do they all live their religion, and the principles that they have received? In other words, do all the people act according to what they understand? Do they do the best they know how? If they were all doing the best they know how, there would be no fault found with them; but I am satisfied that they are not, for if they were, the President would not stand up here and rebuke you. You are rebuked because you suffer yourselves to be led by the enemy into the fog, because the Spirit of God and the light of the Holy Ghost are not at all times upon you.

Last Sunday, the President chastised some of the Apostles and Bishops who were on the grand jury. Did he fully succeed in clearing away the fog which surrounded them, and in removing blindness from their eyes? No, for they could go to their room and again disagree, though, to their credit, it must be admitted that a brief explanation made them unanimous in their action.

Not long ago I heard that, in a certain case, the traverse jury were eleven against one, and what is more singular, the one alone was right in his views of the case.

Several had got into the fog to suck and eat the filth of a Gentile law court, ostensibly a court of Utah, though I call it a Gentile court. Why? Because it does not magnify the laws of Utah, as provided for in the “Organic Act,” by which “Act” and laws it alone exists as a court.”

A brief examination will soon convince a person, of only ordinary observation, that the laws of Utah are not administered in our courts, and that the judges must know that fact, and that they have been seeking from the first, with but few exceptions, to overrule them.

Whether that course is prompted from the City of Washington, I know not. Our laws have been set at naught and walked under foot, and in lieu thereof a constant effort has been made to rule in common law, English law, and law after law totally inapplicable.

Do you suppose I respect persons who so conduct themselves? No, I do not. We have some Gentiles here whom I respect. We had a Shaver whom I respected; he was a man, and a true Virginian, well represented the chivalric spirit of the South, and sought the good of his country.

But when we have a set of politicians here, who can blow hot or cold to suit their own convenience, they can officiate as constables, jurors, marshals, judges, and legislators; they can turn the law, create the law, and execute the law to suite themselves. Do I respect them? No, and I am in hopes that some of their friends present will tell them so. (Voice, I do not know that they have any.)

They act as though they took it for granted that we were a set of ignoramuses, unacquainted with the usages of courts, and unaware that they were setting aside our laws. They have sought to overthrow our laws, when there is not a law in force in Utah that will sanction their rulings, and you cannot bring an upright lawyer, one who actually understands his profession, but what will say that I am right. Every man who is conversant with the laws of the United States and of Utah, will say so.

We do not find fault with the laws of our country, they are good, but we deprecate the acts of men who strive to trample upon them; men who are filled with the Gentile leaven, and we dislike that leaven and the fog which accompanies it.

We have a few whoremasters here. Do you wish to know who they are? I can tell the first letters of their name, and I can tell where they have been practising their abominations in this City. And even some who profess to be “Mormons”are guilty of enticing and leading girls to prostitution, saying, “If you want a new dress you can get it very easily.”

I have a gun and dirks in good order, and powder and lead, and am ready and able to make holes through such miserable, corrupting rascals. These characters take “Mormon” girls and debauch them, telling them that the United States will send their troops here, and that this people will be broken up and driven.

We are a part of the United States ourselves; most of us were raised in America, and we are all cradled in liberty, and if the United States desires to drench the earth with our blood, we are on hand.

Who is afraid to die? None but the wicked. If they want to send troops here let them come to those who have imported filth and whores, though we can attend to that class without so much expense to the General Government; we can wipe them out cheaply and quickly, for they are only a few in number.

They will threaten us with the U.S. troops! Why your impudence and ignorance would bring a blush to the cheeks of the veriest camp follower among them. We ask no odds of you, you rotten carcasses, and I am not going to bow one hair’s breadth to your influence. I would rather be cut into inch pieces than succumb one particle to such filthiness.

I want the Gentiles to understand that we know all about their whoredoms and other abominations here. If we have not invariably killed such corrupt scoundrels, those who will seek to corrupt and pollute our community, I swear to you that we mean to, and to accomplish more in a few hours, towards clearing the atmosphere, than all your grand and traverse juries can in a year.

There are a few professed “Mormons” who, for a few dimes, wink at their iniquities, and keep the poor, mean, lazy scamps in their houses, saying, “O, they are honorable men.” I admit that there are a few honorable men here who are not in the Church, some of whom I respect much.

This eternal threatening of us with the armies of the United States! I wonder what men think we are made of, when they threaten us! As if they expected that we were going to succumb to whoredom! If we were to establish a whorehouse on every corner of our streets, as in nearly all other cities outside of Utah, either by law or otherwise, we should doubtless then be considered good fellows.

If we were to allow gambling, drunkenness, and every species of wickedness, the “Mormons” would then be all right, they would not then threaten us with the armies of the United States. O no.

What is it that maddens the devils? Simply that we are determined to do right, and to set at defiance wickedness and wicked men, and to send them to hell across lots, as quick as we can.

I do not ask any odds of them myself, I never have. If they behave themselves as white men ought to behave, we will treat them as such.

The armies of our nation will have plenty to do without attending to us; they will need us to help them. Yes, instead of bringing their armies to fight the people in Utah, they will need Utah’s armies to help them. They are threatening war in Kansas on the slavery question, and the General Government has already been called upon to send troops there. Well, all I have to say on that matter is, “Success to both parties,” say I.

And in relation to the election of a Speaker in the House of Representatives at Washington, the North and South, the East and West have each other by the ears; “Success to all parties,” say I.

To send men here as spies to watch us! Curse the spies and those who send them, and all who sustain the system of whorehouses and the debauchery of the innocent and unsuspecting, and all who threaten that the United States are going to drive and kill the “Mormons.”

Did you ever hear such a man as Judge Shaver threaten us with the United States? Did you ever hear Judge Reed do such a thing? No. Or Millard Fillmore, or Andrew Jackson? No, such men would scorn to threaten an innocent people with the armies of the nation.

Have we been disloyal to our country? Have we, in one instance, violated her laws? No. Have we rejected her institutions? No. We are lawful and loyal citizens of the government of the United States, and a few poor, miserable, pusilanimous, rotten, stinking rebels, come here and threaten us with the armies of the United States. We wish all such characters to understand that, if the generals and armies and those who wish to send them, are as corrupt as those who threaten us, and as vile as most of those heretofore sent here, we defy them, and the sooner we come in contact with them the better. These are my feelings every time, on that point.

As for you miserable, sleepy “Mormons,” who say to those wretches, “Give us your dimes, and you shall have our wheat, and our daughters, only give us your dimes and you shall have this, that, and the other,” I not only wish but pray, in the name of Israel’s God, that the time was come in which to unsheath the sword, like Moroni of old, and to cleanse the inside of the platter, and we would not wait for the decision of grand or traverse juries, but we would walk into you and completely use up every curse who will not do right.

We are speaking against none who are good, they have our protection; but against those who are evil. We have many good friends who are not members of our Church, but when men come and threaten us with the armies of the United States, and under that color seek to practise every kind of debauchery, telling a young girl that “we are going to be destroyed, and for that reason she had better forsake the Mormon Church and make merchandise of her body,” to serve their vile purposes, poor, miserable devils, what ought you to expect?

I wish the Saints to see and understand men and things as they are, if they have any judgment and eye sight. I could give you a list of the practices I have been speaking of, and of the names of the men engaged in them. If we love salvation and liberty, and must fight for them, let us fight, and they will find that the “Mormons” are on hand to die, those who are right, and what would be the use of living, if we cannot have our rights? If we are to be driven, as we have hitherto been, the sooner we die the better; and the sooner we kill a poor set of miserable devils the better for those who remain.

I wish all the Saints to do right, and as for those who do not, my prayer is, “That they may all go hell-wards, the way Ward’s ducks went.”

May God bless those who do right, and enable them to break in pieces wickedness and put it down, that we may be saved; I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Lawyers, and Those Who Practice Attending Law Courts, Rebuked, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 24, 1856.

So far as I am a judge of the true spirit of the Gospel, I think that we have had that spirit manifested this morning, by brother Joseph Hovey, in his expression of his feelings, and that too in his own natural way. He is a blacksmith, carpenter, stone cutter, wood chopper; or anything else within his power, the particular channel of his operations depending entirely upon counsel. Some of the brethren present are no doubt apprised of the mission which brother Hovey has been engaged in during this present winter; they may also be apprised that his course was found fault with when he was in the county of Utah, and more especially while in a place called Payson. While I was in Fillmore the brethren wrote to me concerning the doings and sayings of brother Hovey, and in searching to know the ground of the complaint against him, I learned that it amounted to simply this—“If brother Hovey is let alone, the people will confess their sins.”

I wrote back to them, inquiring whether they thought there was any danger of any persons confessing to more sin than he was guilty of; that if they could find out that any had confessed to more stealing, swearing, lying, and swindling, than they were really guilty of, it would be well to give brother Hovey a word of caution, and to tell him to hold up a little and not cause the innocent to belie themselves. At the same time I said, that I thought there was not much danger of that, and that they might go on in that course for some time longer, and not then have made all the confessions that they ought to.

I asked brother Hovey to preach to-day, and to frankly express his feelings as they really existed, that I might have a chance to understand some of his “Mormonism.” I wish to see the Elders get up here and manifest their spirits, and speak as they feel when they are alone in their meditations. Let us know how you feel, and what you think. We can form some kind of an idea how a man feels by looking at him, but if you wish a man to portray himself faithfully you must get him to talk, and I will insure that the organs of speech will show out the true state of the mind, sooner or later, and reveal the fruit of his heart. No man can hide it if he is allowed to talk; he will be sure to manifest his true feelings.

Brother Hovey has referred to several incidents in his experience. I will refer to what I witnessed no longer ago than yesterday, in the court-room. A lawyer rose to make his plea before the jury; he took up the laws of Utah, which are strict and pointed in reference to lawyers making pleas, binding them to fairly array the facts in the case, whether they are for or against their clients, and he was so serious, so religious, so pious, and so honest, that he appealed to high heaven to witness his honesty before the jury. When he had induced the jury to believe that he was honest, he stood there and misrepresented the merits of the case, for half an hour at a stretch, in regular lawyer style.

Men will portray what is in their hearts, when they talk freely, and they cannot keep from it. This is the way in which the Lord will exhibit the hearts of the children of men. Will He take out their hearts and show them to the people? No, for that would not exhibit the fruit of their hearts; but He will draw them into circumstances which will compel them to manifest what is in them. Let a man rise up here and talk, and freely express his thoughts, and you can judge of what spirit he is.

We have just heard the words which give a manifestation of the spirit of one of our missionaries, and I say now, as I have said before, I wish we had hundreds of such missionaries throughout this Territory, preaching to the people, and firing up their hearts with the spirit of honesty, so that they would entirely quit pilfering, lying, and deceiving, and deal honestly with one another, with themselves, and with their God, and be industrious and prudent, and pay attention to their business, instead of loafing about the streets. I wish we had one hundred such missionaries in this city to get up prayer meetings, preaching meetings, and evening meetings in every ward. What for? To draw away that filthy, nasty mess which assembles at the corner of this public square. For a week or two past, that court-house has been thronged with men, and it is darker than the bowels of hell. If you ask me how I know, I answer, I have been there and seen for myself: have understood how they felt and tried the spirits, and I saw who were there. It is a shame for men to be found loafing about in such places, where there is contention, and quarrelling, and every stratagem that can be used to deceive juries and witnesses, and lying before them with all the grace and sanctity of a Saint, pretending to be one. Such a place is darker to me than midnight darkness.

There is not a jury which has occupied seats in that court-house that comprehends the full scope of truth; they are put there and then their minds are beclouded, dust is thrown into their eyes, and they do not fully know truth from error, light from darkness, what is of God from what is not of God.

As I have already said, a lawyer commenced his plea yesterday, by appealing to high heaven to witness his honesty before the jury, and this he did to decoy their feelings, to throw them off their guard, and in all this he was true to his client, in accordance with the approved mode of the Gentiles. He has been a Gentile lawyer for many years before he entered this Church, and therefore I do not think that he really merits such severe censure as he otherwise would for taking the Gentile shoot so faithfully, as the strong power of tradition and habit still enfolds him. Instead of setting before the jury the true merits of the case, and nothing else, he never touched upon them, but avoided them at every turn and threw dust in their eyes, that they might give an unrighteous decision.

Elders of Israel also throng such a place, and that too when no spirit reigns there but the devil’s spirit, and unless enough righteous Elders go in to purify the atmosphere and overbalance the power of evil, you can get nothing from that den but the principles of hell. There is not a righteous person, in this community, who will have difficulties that cannot be settled by arbitrators, the Bishop’s Court, the High Council, or by the 12 Referees (as provided in Resolution No. 4, page 390 of Utah Laws), far better and more satisfactorily than to contend with each other in law courts, which directly tends to destroy the best interests of the community, and to lead scores of men away from their duties, as good and industrious citizens. Take from one to two hundred men and detain them in a court room week after week, just look at it!! How many men have been detained at that court-house during the past week? Will a hundred fill the number? No. Will the time of one hundred and fifty men, for the past six days, indemnify this community for the wasted time that has been spent there in trying to decide one case, that any boy 15 years old, possessed of good common sense, and having the spirit of truth within him, could have decided in one hour? I tell you that the time of one hundred and fifty men, for six days, will not supply the loss to this community which has been incurred to satisfy the lustful, wicked, cursed, hellish appetites of professed brethren, in striving to cheat their neighbors, by employing lawyers to deceive or lie for them, which are synonymous terms in the eyes of justice, and by bringing in witnesses to screen the guilty and deceive a jury, whereby they are liable to give a wrong verdict.

I am making these remarks for your benefit, if you will be benefitted by them. I tell you that a cricket war, a grasshopper war, or an Indian war, would not begin to be so direful as what you would have to pass through, were it not for your ignorance. If you are wilfully ignorant you will have to feel the lash, but if you are innocently ignorant, and do the best you know how, you may be excused.

Does the Lord love your conduct when you drag each other before the ungodly? When you run after difficulties, contentions, broils, and strifes? Do you think He has fellowship with your conduct in such things? No, you do not. Do you suppose that Jesus Christ has? No. Do you believe that angels and good men can fellowship your conduct? You do not, for one moment. There is not a man or woman in this house, whether Saint or sinner, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, black or white, that can so believe for a moment.

Do you believe that your consciences can be clear in the day of retribution, if you spend your time for naught, and run after the filthiness of the wicked? Do you believe that, in so doing, you can stand in the great day of account with a clear conscience? You cannot. Then why, in the name of common sense, do you tag after the devil and his imps?

Old grey-headed men, who ought to be fathers in Israel, were empanneled as a jury on the case I have alluded to, and what were they after? The fog, the froth, and spawn of hell, and they feast upon it, men who do not know their right hands from their left, with regard to the influences of the Spirit of God. Might they not have known better? Yes, if they had taken the course which Joseph Hovey has taken. If they would walk humbly before God and know His will, they would go to work and get stone and timber, and work at repairing their fences preparatory to raising grain, potatoes, and other articles of food, instead of following after courts and the nonsense, wickedness, and lying associated with them.

Do I say that lying is practised in those places? Yes, often from beginning to end. Men will take a solemn oath that they will tell the truth, in the name of Israel’s God, and nothing but the truth, and then, if they have a prejudice against Mr. A or B, they will tell their story to suit themselves and if possible crush an innocent person. The juries are liable to be deceived, where there is so much darkness, and the whole posse will go to hell, and I will say it in the name of Jesus Christ.

You men who follow after such a course of things as I refer to, I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for the whole of you, jurymen, witnesses, and every other person who countenances such a place. It is a cage of unclean birds, a den and kitchen of the devil, prepared for hell, and I am going to warn you of it. Some of you wondered why I sent Thomas Bullock to take your names; I wanted to know the men who were coaxing hell into our midst, for I wish to send them to China, to the East Indies, or to where they cannot get back, at least for five years. Who do we wish to stay at home? Such men as Joseph Hovey, men who will pay attention to making fences, tilling the soil, and providing for their families, those who will live their religion at home. But we will send off the poor curses on a mission, and then the devil may have them, and we do not care how soon they apostatize, after they get as far as California.

You may think my remarks are severe upon the lawyers here, but the most of them take a course which is highly censurable, and you may see grey headed men running after them, and asking, “Can you call me up as a witness, or put me on the jury?”—in order that they may get a dollar or two. Would I go there for money? No. There is not an honest man in this community would go there merely for money, or would plead law unless it was demanded at his hands, by the principles of justice, to prevent the innocent from being wronged and abused. No principle would ever lead an honest man into a court room, only to preserve the innocent from being rode down and destroyed.

To see professed brethren, old and young, idling away their time in and around court-rooms, proves them to have little or no love for their religion, and that they care but little about their God. I would like to see a strictly honest community, if we can have one, and then there would be no differences of opinion brought before a Gentile court—never, never! Every difficulty would be settled amicably, without ever calling upon a court. I am ashamed of many of you; it is a disgrace for men who profess to be men of dignity and character—men who have been judges in the supreme court of their country, to condescend to the mean, low-lived calling of a pettifogger, and miserable tools at that. I am ashamed for such persons, their conduct is a disgrace to them, and to the name of “Mormon.”

I wish we had in our midst thousands and millions of such men as Joseph Hovey, I would then bid defiance to all the powers of darkness. But while we have hundreds and thousands of men, whom we hold in fellowship, who would rather take off their hats and scrape their shoes to a servant of the devil, and black his boots, I tell you we are in danger.

Men who love corruption, contention, and broils, and who seek to make them, I curse you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; I curse you, and the fruits of your lands shall be smitten with mildew, your children shall sicken and die, your cattle shall waste away, and I pray God to root you out from the society of the Saints. To observe such conduct as many lawyers are guilty of, stirring up strife among peaceable men, is an outrage upon the feelings of every honest, law abiding man. To sit among them is like sitting in the depths of hell, for they are as corrupt as the bowels of hell, and their hearts are as black as the ace of spades. I have known them for years; I know where they were begotten and by whom, and how they were brought forth, and the history of their lives. They love sin, and roll it under their tongues as a sweet morsel, and will creep around like wolves in sheep’s clothing, and fill their pocket’s with the fair earnings of their neighbors, and devise every artifice in their power to reach the property of the honest, and that is what has caused these courts. I say, may God Almighty curse them from this time henceforth, and let all the Saints in this house say, Amen, [a unanimous Amen from 3000 persons resounded through the house] for they are a stink in the nostrils of God and angels, and in the nostrils of every Latter-day Saint in this Territory.

We have been driven from the face of man into the wilderness, and now the poor devils follow us to stir up strife, and to produce the spawn of hell, in which they delight to live and upon which they feed. And simple ones in this community will beg of them, “Cannot I be on the grand jury? Cannot I get a little to do in the court?” You are fools; God will never pay you; all the pay you will receive will be from the devil, and it will be miserable pay.

This I say to lawyers and to all who will run after strife, and I say it in honesty and soberness before high heaven, before my Father in heaven, before Jesus Christ His Son, and before the holy angels.

To see lawyers, as I saw them yesterday; strive to make the jury believe them honest, and then throw dust in their eyes, who will reward you for this? The devil, when he gets you in deep suffering and trouble, for there he will leave you; and say that he has no more use for you. You would do better to labor for the Lord, and you would get better pay. And the people of this Territory will make money by paying, their honest debts, and gain property and be blessed in their basket; and in their store, in their fields and in their crops, in their flocks and herds, in their wives and children, while the withering touch of the Almighty will be upon them if they practise wickedness.

Keep away from court houses; no decent man will go there unless he goes as a witness, or is in some manner compelled to. I know that many are obliged to go, but those who creep around to see what is going on, let me tell you, the devil has possession of them. I wish such persons to go to California, if they wish to. I counsel you to keep away from courts, we have got the names of those who have attended that court room, and we will send those characters on long missions, for we want to get rid of them, and we do not care whether they apostatize or not.

If the world complain of this, say I, if you have not sense enough to know the difference between an honest man and a devil, you must run the risk of it. I could always discern the difference, and if you have not insight enough to know when they tell the truth and when they lie, you have to run the same chance that we have. People abroad may say, “Why don’t you send us all good men?” Do you believe them? No, you do not, when we send them. We wish them to stay here, only those whom it is necessary to have go, but we have no business here for those poor miserable devils. I call you miserable, because the Spirit of the Almighty has no fellowship for you; your names are written with ours here, and also in the Lamb’s book of life, as I have often told you, where they will remain until you sin against the Holy Ghost. Angels have no fellowship for you, neither have I. Now go and prove yourselves, and if you desire to be Saints you have an opportunity. Were it not for your ignorance, there would be a severing between the righteous and the wicked.

I would not endure what I am obliged to endure, whether I am righteous or not, I would make a scattering among this people, and make the wicked leave forthwith.

I wanted to give you this brief exhortation. You may say that I have talked rather hard, but I do not care what you say about it, not one particle. I will tell you what I think about the matter, if you do not stop your wickedness we will lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and I tell you that the hailstorm that will be around you will sweep away the refuge of lies and all liars.

I am not afraid of all hell nor of all the world, in laying judgment to the line, when the Lord says so. Now, then, behave yourselves, you old gray-headed know nothings, you are doted; you are—shall I say hardshells? No, you are poor old soft shell fogies, that a few pounds of tea and sugar will buy.

I feel as ready as any man to honor gray hairs, but I also believe in the old proverb which reads that “a wise child is better than an old and foolish king.” We do not want any such men to go to courts. When they want you to sit on a jury, tell them to judge the case themselves, and you keep away and mind your own business. Let me ask you, is there a man obliged to go into court and sit on a jury? No. Our law will not oblige him to do it, only on certain conditions. You can get rid of doing so, you are there because you love to be there. You suck down the drink that is there, eat the food that is there, and sup the broth that is there, because it is of hell and you like it better than you do the Saints, and the sustenance of the Saints. May God bless the honest in heart, and separate the wicked and unrighteous from them, and curse the latter class from this time henceforth. Amen.

Wickedness Among the Saints, etc.

Heber C. Kimball

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 24, 1856.

I do not suppose that any good Saint is tried one particle, by the plainness of the remarks just made by brother Brigham.

As to the principles just advanced by brother Joseph Hovey, and by brother Brigham, they are God’s truth, and I know that the curse will be fulfilled upon every character that it applies to, if they do not repent and turn from their sins, and that immediately.

I can say, with all my heart, may God grant that these words may be fulfilled, and I know they will, I will stand by him in these things, yea, I will stand by the going forth of righteousness until there is not a drop of blood left in my veins, if need be, and so will every honest, upright, good son of God.

I am disgusted myself with the evil practices which have just been spoken of. Day before yesterday was the first time that I have been into a court, for between 25 and 30 years. Did I stay there long? No. I said to brother Brigham, I want to go and see about the missionaries, because my spirit was not there, it don’t dwell there. Still I would not have left if he had not, for I feel perfectly willing to go where he goes. These are my feelings, and have been all the time.

When I see evil spirits working and operating, as I have seen many times, I feel like severing the good from bad, for this people have been broken up and robbed, and our Prophets, Patriarchs, and brethren have been slain, through letting such spirits work in our midst, like the leaven of the devil, until the whole lump becomes leavened with them. I say clear out evil in the start, and sever the bitter branches from the tree, as fast as wisdom will permit.

These are my feelings, and, if you do not listen to the warning voice, not, many days will pass before it will be done, and it will not be allowable to introduce into the kingdom that which is against its order, for there is order in the Church of God.

The Elders of Israel, in all their meetings and speeches, say, they are willing to do whatsoever they are called upon to do, by the authorities of this Church. As some missionaries are wanted, we are now ready to test whether you are willing or not; and when a man is appointed to take a mission, unless he has a just and honorable reason for not going, if he does not go he will be severed from the Church. Why? Because you said, you were willing to be passive, and if you are not passive, that lump of clay must be cut off from the wheel and laid aside, and a lump put on that will be passive.

That is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine of Christ and of the Father. The Lord’s servant is here to guide, dictate, and advise you what course to take, that he may mould and fashion you into the image and likeness of the Son of God.

I will present to this congregation the names of those whom we have selected to go on missions. Some are appointed to go to Europe, Australia, and the East Indies, and several will be sent to Los Vegas, to the North, and to Fort Supply, to strengthen those settlements.

We wish to have those who are appointed to go to the Vegas and Fort Supply, immediately begin to gather up their effects, and prepare to take a portion of their families with them, or all if they choose, though where a family is large it will be better to take only a part, and go as soon as the weather will permit.

I mention these things that you may not misunderstand, that you may go to work, without running to brother Brigham and to brother Grant every moment. Those who go north are requested not to take their families, but gather up their teams, seeds, etc., and go as soon as practicable. I believe that is all.

Instructions to the Bishops, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 16, 1856.

I do not now rise expressly for the purpose of giving additional instructions, for we have already heard much to-day; still, I have a few reflections which I will offer. Can you not remember hearing public speakers, both here and in other countries, use many words without clearly and distinctly conveying ideas?

The discourse by brother Vernon, in the forenoon, quite delighted me. I was extremely well pleased to hear him clothe his ideas with such beautiful language, and so easily understood. Hence, I exhort my brethren, the Elders, when they rise to teach, edify, or instruct the people, not to hamper themselves with efforts to merely select nice sounding words, but to deal out correct and useful ideas, even if you do not use one word in ten in a way that the learned would deem proper. If a speaker presents useful ideas to a congregation of the best scholars in existence though not one word of his language is strictly proper, yet what he says will feed that congregation, far more than will a perfect volume of nice sounding words which convey few or no important ideas. I will leave the correctness of this remark to philosophers of every grade.

Still, when any one rises to speak, if his mind is stored with valuable ideas, let him clothe his thoughts with the best language he can command—that which comes to him easily and naturally. I really wish to impress this idea upon the minds of the Elders.

If you will reflect upon what class of speakers have most edified you, no matter whether they are taught or untaught in the learning of the schools, you will readily discover that it has been those whose minds were stored with good ideas, and who spoke so that you could readily and easily understand them, whether their language was couched in the most approved style or not. When you hear individuals speak whose minds are stored with rich ideas, do they not benefit you the most? I care but little about your language, hand out the ideas, and let us know what you have stored in your minds.

I will now refer to a portion of the discourse delivered here this afternoon, and say to the Bishops, that it would be highly gratifying to me, and to all of us, if you would prove yourselves wise stewards. You have a good opportunity to exhibit your abilities, and I say to the Bishop who has just addressed us, won’t you do as I have formerly directed you, and appoint good, wise, judicious men to go through your Ward, to find out what is in that Ward, and the situation of every family, whether they have money, flour, or costly clothing, or whether they are destitute and suffering? This is your business and calling. But many of our Bishops are sleepy and good for nothing, and if I were going to cleanse the Church, knowing the character of individuals, I think I should commence with the Bishops. Theirs is one of the most laborious and responsible offices in the whole Church; it is an office which requires men of the best skill, judgment and talent, to fill, and is one of the greatest importance. Bishops, will you take hold and try to make men of yourselves? After all I have said now and heretofore, if you were going to search your Wards, you would be very apt to come to me to inquire what you should do. I will tell you, do not let there be one place, in the habitations of the Saints in your Wards, about which you are uninformed. Brother Wooley has reported the circumstance of a Bishop finding a woman who had been living upon the charity of her neighbors, and who, at the same time, had valuable property, and money hid up. I can refer you to scores of like circumstances, and what is more, to some of the Elders, those who are supposed to be among the best of our Elders, who have been preaching abroad and brought their hundreds into the Church, who come here with a lie in their hearts and on their tongues, with regard to their means, and declare, emphatically, that they have no means to help themselves with, neither money nor goods.

We have brought them here, and they are still owing the Perpetual Emigrating Fund for their passage, and they have gold, if they have no silver, and have the richest kind of clothing. This brings to my mind the circumstance, of a family in Nauvoo, who were in the habit of travelling from house to house, begging their living, and said, that they were poor and destitute. When the time came for us to leave that city, and that family was starting to St. Louis, the woman loosed her dress and showed one of the sisters her stays, and said, “I have my money sewed up in these stays, and the Church won’t get it.” This woman begged her living, and stayed in Nauvoo almost two years, and would rather be damned than to part with the sovereigns sewed up in her stays. Such people will be damned, and the sooner they leave us the better.

Were I a Bishop, I would know to a reasonable degree of accuracy, the value of the clothing owned by those in my Ward, who were calling upon me for assistance, and I would be familiar with every nook and habitation, and watch carefully that money was not secreted, and the owners begging from those poorer than themselves. I would know whether they had money hoarded, or hid away.

A score of years ago the Elders had to be very watchful, and I do not suppose that, for many years, I slept so soundly but what the slightest tap would wake me up. If any person should say, “Brigham!” I am ready at once to ask, “What is wanted?” I am ready to jump, at a moment’s warning. No person could stir about, without our knowing it.

The Bishops should be equally wide awake, and set those whom they have confidence in, those whom they know to be honest, to be watchmen on the tower, and let them find out who are suffering. Doubtless, there are many who are suffering through want of food, but there is no necessity of any family suffering in this City, and when this City is supplied, the remainder of the Territory may be considered independent.

I presume that we have one fourth less provisions in this City, to the number of the inhabitants, than has any other portion of the Territory, and yet we need not suffer. Here we need not be ashamed to beg, when stern necessity has closed around us. I do not expect to see the day when I am perfectly independent, until I am crowned in the celestial kingdom of my Father, and made as independent as my Father in heaven. I have not yet received my inheritance as my own, and I expect to be dependent until I do, for all that I have is lent to me.

If a man comes to me and says, he is out of food, what of that? He is out of food, that is all. If a man comes along and says, “My family is destitute of food and clothing,” what of that? Simply that they are destitute of food and clothing, and still they may be gentlemen and ladies, for all that, and be honoring their tabernacles and being on the earth.

The customs of the world have made it degrading to ask for food, but it is not, when a person cannot honestly procure it in any other way. The man who is hungry and destitute has as good a right to my food as any other person, and I should feel as happy in associating with him, if he had a good heart, as with those who have an abundance, or with the princes of the earth. They all are esteemed by me, not according to the wealth and position they hold, but according to the character they have.

Bishops, will you try to magnify your calling? I will give you a few words of consolation; at our next Conference we expect to drop a good many Bishops, and appoint others, and we intend to keep doing so, until we get men with good hearts and active brains, to fill that responsible station.

I will now speak upon another subject; one which I have touched upon many times, but which, to this day, is but little understood. I allude to the organization of the spirit and the body, the distinction between the two, and their operations. This subject is not well understood, and generally not much reflected upon, but is one which the Saints have got to learn, if they ever learn the real organization of man. Then they will know and understand the peculiarities of our present organization, and how liable mankind are to submit to its weaknesses, and to the influences of the powers that rule over them.

Were you in possession of this knowledge, you would be more compassionate. As severely as I sometimes talk to you, my soul is full of compassion. It has ever been my study to understand myself, for by so doing I can understand my neighbors.

If this people would apply their minds to wisdom, with regard to themselves, they would be more compassionate than they are now.

From what is at times said here, it might be inferred that every one who did not walk to the line was at once going to be destroyed, but who has been hurt? Who is about to be killed? Who is about to be taken out of the way? When this people have lived long enough upon the earth, to have the principles of life and salvation disseminated among them, and to have their children taught in those principles, so that they fully know the principles of eternal salvation, then let us or our children turn away from the commandments of God, as some do now, and I could tell you what will be done with them.

Brother Wooley has said, the time is not far distant, but it will never come until the inhabitants of the earth, and especially those who have been gathered together, have a sufficient time to be educated in the celestial law, so that each person may understand for himself. Then if they transgress against the light and knowledge they possess, some will be stoned to death, and “judgment will be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.” But people will never be taken and sacrificed for their ignorance, when they have had no opportunity to know and understand the truth. Such a proceeding would be contrary to the economy of heaven. But after we receive and understand things as they are, if we then disobey, we may look for the chastening hand of the Almighty.

If we could learn ourselves, we should see thousands and thousands of weaknesses in the people. They turn to the right and to the left, to this and that which is wrong; yet if we did know and see things as they are, we should understand that thousands of those acts are performed in ignorance.

I presume there are people hearing me talk, who would give the riches of the Indies, if they had them in their possession, to be able to obtain the mind and will of God concerning themselves. They would give all they possess on the earth, or expect to possess, were they in possession of keys by which they could know the path to walk in. What are we going to do with this class of persons? I will tell you what I am going to do with them, so far as I am concerned. I am going to give them my faith, confidence, prayers, and full fellowship. And when they get through with this probation, if they have done, all the time, according to the best they knew, God will not hold them responsible for what they did not know, and they will be received, through the merits of the Son, into the kingdom of our Father.

I mention this to inform the people, that they may understand what they should do with regard to the law of God, and the transgression thereof. The law is very strict; and in this congregation there are men and women who, with uplifted hands to heaven, before the Father, the Son, and all the holy angels, made solemn covenants that they never would do thus and so. For example, one obligation is, “I will never have anything to do with any of the daughters of Eve, unless they are given to me of the Lord.” Men will call God to witness that they never will transgress this law, and promise to live a virtuous life, so far as intercourse with females is concerned; but what can you see? A year will not pass away before some few of them are guilty of creeping into widows’ houses, and into bed with the wives of their brethren, debauching one woman here, and another there. Do we enforce upon them the strict penalty of the law? Not yet. I hope their conduct arises from their ignorance, but let me transgress my covenant, and the case would be different. I want to live as long as I can, on the earth, but I would not like to live to violate my covenants; I would rather go behind the vail before doing so.

A few of the men and women who go into the house of the Lord, and receive their endowments, and in the most sacred manner make covenants before the Almighty, go and violate those covenants. Do I have compassion on them? Yes, I do have mercy on them, for there is something in their organization which they do not understand; and there are but few in this congregation who do understand it.

You say, “That man ought to die for transgressing the law of God.” Let me suppose a case. Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the kingdom of God. I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances, I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands. But you who trifle with your covenants, be careful lest in judging you will be judged.

Every man and women has got to have clean hands and a pure heart, to execute judgment, else they had better let the matter alone.

Again, suppose the parties are, not caught in their iniquity, and it passes along unnoticed, shall I have compassion on them? Yes, I will have compassion on them, for transgressions of the nature already named, or for those of any other description. If the Lord so order it that they are not caught in the act of their iniquity, it is pretty good proof that He is willing for them to live; and I say let them live and suffer in the flesh for their sins, for they will have it to do.

There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants. To what degree? Will they have to go to hell? They are in hell enough now. I do not wish them in a greater hell, when their consciences condemn them all the time. Let compassion reign in our bosoms. Try to comprehend how weak we are, how we are organized, how the spirit and the flesh are continually at war.

I told you here, some time ago, that the devil who tempted Eve, got possession of the earth, and reigns triumphant, has nothing to do with influencing our spirits, only through the flesh; that is a true doctrine. Inasmuch as our spirits are inseparably connected with the flesh, and, inasmuch as the whole tabernacle is filled with the spirit which God gave, if the body is afflicted, the spirit also suffers, for there is a warfare between the flesh and the spirit, and if the flesh overcomes, the spirit is brought into bondage, and if the spirit overcomes, the body is made free, and then we are free indeed, for we are made free by the Son of God. Watch yourselves, and think. As I heard observed, on the evening of the 14th, at the Social Hall, “think, brethren, think,” but do not think so far that you cannot think back again. I then wanted to tell a little anecdote, but I will tell it now.

In the eastern country there was a man who used to go crazy, at times, and then come to his senses again. One of his neighbors asked him what made him go crazy; he replied, “I get to thinking, and thinking, until finally I think so far that I am not always able to think back again.” Can you think too much for the spirit which is put in the tabernacle? You can, and this is a subject which I wish the brethren instructed upon, and the people to understand. The spirit is the intelligent part of man; and is intimately connected with the tabernacle. Let this intelligent part labor to excess, and it will eventually overcome the tabernacle, the equilibrium will be destroyed, and the whole organization deranged. Many people have deranged themselves by thinking too much.

The thinking part is the immortal or invisible portion, and it is that which performs the mental labor; then the tabernacle, which is formed and organized for that express purpose; brings about or effects the result of that mental labor. Let the body work with the mind, and let them both labor fairly together, and, with but few exceptions, you will have a strong-minded, athletic individual, powerful both physically and mentally.

When you find the thinking faculty perfectly active, in a healthy person, it should put the physical organization. into active operation, and the result of the reflection is carried out, and the object is accomplished. In such a person you will see mental and physical health and strength combined, in their perfection. We have the best opportunity afforded any people to cultivate these properties of man.

I do not know that I am trammeled by tradition, or that any of us need to be, hence we are in the best situation to exhibit, through the organization of the tabernacle, the labor and properties of the invisible part. When a person is thinking all the time he is little better than a machine; he perverts the purpose of his organization, and injures both mind and body. Why? Because the mental labor does not find vent through the organism of the tabernacle, and has not that scope—that field of labor which it desires, and which it was wisely designed that it should have. Think according to your labor, labor according to your thinking.

Some think too much, and should labor more, others labor too much, and should think more, and thus maintain an equilibrium between the mental and physical members of the individual; then you will enjoy health and vigor’, will be active, and ready to discern truly, and judge quickly. Is it not your privilege to have discernment to circumscribe all things, no matter what subject comes before you, and to at once know the truth concerning any matter? When you see a person of this character, you see one with a healthy and vigorous mind, throughout the whole operations of organization. True, this is not the privilege of every one; some have to do much thinking, and but little manual labor, while others do much manual labor with little, if any thinking. The latter class are as dull and stupid as the brutes, and when their labor is done, they lie down and sleep, like the brutes. They do not think enough, they should bring their minds into active operation, as well as their bodies. Men who do much thinking, philosophers for instance, should apply their bodies to more manual labor, in order to make their bodies more healthy and their minds more vigorous and active.

Let me take twenty years to come, in which to build cities, temples, tabernacles, halls, dwellings, &c., with my mental organization, and not put forth my hands, or use any manual labor, to perform any of this work, do you not perceive that my body would not have labored during all this period, and that my mind would have labored to excess, even to the overcoming of the tabernacle. Again, let me build house after house, hall after hall, temple after temple, &c., my mind would have something to rest upon, and my body being weary with labor, I could lie down, and both would rest together. When I wish to build a temple it costs me much thought, and when I see a temple finished on this block, as I have seen it in the vision of my mind, do you not perceive that the whole of the labor of the mind, on that matter, is at rest? This is my philosophy on thinking; and if I were obliged to think for ten years, and not erect a building, or help build up a city, or in any way put my thoughts into execution, it would materially injure my mental faculty, through want of results for it to rest upon. But let me engage in active operations, even though I do not personally perform one day’s manual labor, let me see the result of my, thinking budding into existence, and my mind has something to rest upon. If I cannot carry out that which is in my mind—that which I wish to accomplish in all the improvements, in building up Zion in the latter days, as soon as I am deprived of the necessary physical labor I withdraw my mind from that object; I will not suffer my mind to rest upon it. For instance, we are going to suspend labor upon the Temple for a year, until we can prepare ourselves more fully for that work. We have abandoned the idea of using adobies in the walls of that building, and intend to use granite. Now, suppose I should begin to think, and think, and still think about it, are you not aware that it would be a worse than useless waste of time and mental labor? My body would become wearied and languid. I do not expect to think about it for one year; good bye to it, for the present. I must carry out the labor of my mind, or I injure it. Can you go to sleep in one minute, after you have said your prayers and gone to bed? Can you cease reflection, bid good bye to thought, and say to the body, compose yourself and let us go to sleep? How many now in this house can do that? Whether it is natural, or supernatural, mental or mechanical, it matters not, but I have trained myself to go to sleep when I get ready, and when I am in good health, as a general thing, in about one minute I can be fast asleep.

Until you can govern and control the mind and the body, and bring all into subjection to the law of Christ, you have a work to perform touching yourselves. I delight to talk upon the subject of our organization, but I must do so a little at a time, or I might weary your bodies and distract your thoughts. Short sermons fitly spoken, are better than long ones ill spoken. May God bless you, Amen.

The Devil to be Cast Out of the Earth, etc.

Heber C. Kimball

A discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 9, 1856.

How is the will of the Father done in the heavens? Every one may read in the Bible that when Lucifer rebelled against the Father, and against Jesus Christ, His Son, he was cast out of heaven, with all those who partook of his spirit.

Were they not all cast out of heaven? We are praying constantly that that may be done on earth, even as it was done in heaven. Would you not like to have the day come when those who rally to the standard of wickedness, which the devil raises, will be cast out; when the Saints may live in peace, and enjoy the comforts of life—partake of one spirit, and be one from that time henceforth, and for ever? I am praying for that time to come, and I believe that God will spare my life until I can have the privilege, with thousands of others, of casting corrupt, rebellious beings from our midst.

If I do not live to behold that period, in the flesh, as the Lord liveth, I will see and enjoy it in the spirit, and I will help to accomplish that work. What, in this body? If not in this body I shall in my new one, for I am going to have a new one when I have done my work in this tabernacle which I now possess, and which you now see.

I wish to do my work, and to have it well done, that I may merit and purchase, by my faithfulness, a new body which will be after the similitude of the body I now have.

This tabernacle will be laid down, and my spirit will pass through the vail, into the world of spirits. I told you, the other day, that when you are through with this state of existence your labor is not at an end. The spirit world will probably be equal to this, in that respect, and I think, a little harder.

Here we pray that the time will come when the will of the Father will be done on earth as in heaven. Did not they cast out the devil and all who rallied to his standard? They did.

I have been much interested with the discourse just delivered by brother Wells; it is true. Treasure up the words he has spoken, for your salvation depends upon your observing and walking by them. You are not all indebted to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, but a good many of you are. That Company is in debt, and who does the weight of that debt rest upon? Upon brother Brigham, and upon those whom he calls to his assistance. Do you feel interested in the welfare of that Company? Many of you do not care one dime for the P. E. Fund. That is plain language, but it is true.

Is President Young oppressed? He is; and he is perplexed with those debts which have been made without his knowledge and sanction. It is far easier to contract a debt than it is to pay it.

Many of our Elders abroad run the Company into debt. What a sway I could have, if I had the privilege of incurring liabilities to the amount of fifty, sixty, or eighty thousand dollars, and not be under obligation to pay one dime of it, but leave our President to foot the bill.

It is just as reasonable for us all to run into debt at these stores, and then expect the President to pay our debts. What an unwise policy to run the people into debt, beyond the means for prompt payment, and that too at a time when we were clear of debt, the result of brother Brigham’s skillful financiering and wise management.

He foresaw that these hard times were coming, and labored hard that we might be independent and not be oppressed, but instead of that he is oppressed.

It is as necessary to talk about this as it is to talk about anything else. Why? Because all the poor Saints who are in England, France, Denmark, Italy, Asia, or any part of the earth, where there is a poor Saint, are dependent upon the P. E. Fund to bring them to this country.

They are paying their means into that Fund, are struggling to have an interest in it, and should not you have an interest in it? Yes, just as much as they, and have more need to exert yourselves, if you are indebted to it.

To say nothing of indebtedness to the Fund, there is not a man or woman that professes to be a member in this Church, but what should be just as much interested and as diligent in this matter, as are brother Brigham, brother Heber, brother Grant, or the Twelve Apostles. Do you feel so? To all appearance you do not, apparently the most you care for is your bread and meat.

As to the circumstances under which we are placed, I do not particularly care, all I care about them is the extra care and labor they bring upon me, for I have to keep on the trot to wait on the people who come to me for flour and meal, and for this and that.

Do they come from the Ward I live in? No, they come from different Wards, and some come to beg, some to buy, and some to exchange.

I wish that these matters could be attended to in the Wards where they belong. Let each one take what provision he can spare, from time to time, whether little or much, to the Bishop of his Ward, and let that Bishop and his helps make a righteous distribution of that food.

I do not wish to be placed under the necessity of administering to the wants of so many, in addition to the large number I have to provide for, neither does brother Brigham; it is too onerous a burden, and we have not the provisions.

Some may think that there is a great supply of wheat, corn, barley, &c., now in the Tithing Office. I was there myself, two or three weeks ago, and I asked brother Hill to show me all the grain there, and the whole amount would not exceed six hundred bushels. How long will it take to feed that out? I deal out over one thousand pounds every week, and sometimes over fourteen hundred pounds.

What toll has been taken at my mill during the last seven months? Not to exceed one bushel a day, on account of the want of water, and that does not pay the miller. Brother Brigham’s mill does not have more than one quarter or one-third the grain it can grind, and he has hundreds of persons to support. He has enough to do and to think of, to kill any man under God’s heaven, unless he was supported and upheld by an Almighty power.

What are my cares? I said sometime since, that my immediate family consisted of seventy-nine persons, which I feed, clothe, and shelter, and I furnish thirteen fires all the time. This care and expense should be borne by the Church, and I, left free to attend to the labors more directly pertaining to the Priesthood. But, as it is, I now assist many, besides entirely supporting my large family. I feed widows and their families, who do not belong to me any more than they belong to you.

Has brother Brigham got a heavier load than I have? Yes, he feeds his hundreds, besides aiding other hundreds who do not directly belong to his family.

I wish you Bishops to take some of these loads. I sometimes feel as though I could not live, still I get along with those I am obliged to feed. There is not a member in my family, with the exception of my first wife and my first children, who have ever begun to see the hard times that I have seen.

In my younger days I have seen the time when, for two weeks together, we were under the necessity of eating boiled milk-weeds, and that too without having to salt them. Have any of you come to that yet?

I have seen the time in Nauvoo, the last time I went to England, when I could sit down with my family and eat all we had in the house, and then not have half enough. I never was so poor in my life as I was then, and I was sickly and afflicted. Was I happy? Yes, just as happy as I am now, and just as comfortable in my feelings.

I always felt as thankful when I had not anything as when I had plenty; I feel as thankful with a little as I do with ever so much.

But I have heard some people say, that they could not ask God to bless a jonnycake, and feel thankful for it. I could mention many such characters, people who are never thankful, only when they have an abundance. I am thankful when I have a little; I am thankful now, and I never was more so than I am this day, for there is a prospect of some people learning a lesson, though I doubt very much whether all will.

Does it make all humble? No, for many are calculating to start for California directly. Thank God for that, not a soul of them will cause me to shed a tear at their leaving, not even if they were members of my own family. Inasmuch as they wish to go, go, say, I, off with you, there are plenty more where you grew. But when you go, do not steal what few cattle we have left.

Brother Erastus Snow, while in the States, borrowed money to assist the P. E. Fund Company. I have some property close to my house, on the west side of the street, five, six, or seven thousand dollars worth, that I will let any of you have for drafts against the Fund. I also have two farms and some cattle that I will dispose of for the same kind of pay, and the farms have as good soil as you will find in the Territory.

I do not wish to let you have my sheep, for I am determined that my family shall make their own clothing. I am going to organize a domestic manufacturing company, in my own family; we are going to make up our own clothing and attend to our own business. Let us do this in every family throughout this City, and throughout this Territory.

It is necessary for us to take a course, to put ourselves into a situation where we may be as independent in our sphere of action; as God is in His. You have heard brother Brigham say, a thousand times, that there is nothing we wear, eat, or drink, but what is in the elements around us. It is for us to take these elements and organize them, and put them into a condition in which we can use them.

I know that there are a great many good people here; the jewels of the earth are in this congregation, and in different parts of this Territory; they are jewels of the earth, both male and female. Some of the meanest of people are here also; on natural principles there must needs be an opposition.

A company of men was selected to go to Los Vegas to strengthen up that settlement, and I understand that other men were getting up companies for other purposes.

We wish those who are appointed to go to Los Vegas, to Green River, and to other places, to go where they are appointed, and nowhere else, and not to listen to any man on earth, who would influence them to go somewhere else, unless they are dictated to take a different course by the President of this Church.

Thomas S. Williams is getting up a company to go on an exploring excursion; he proposed doing so, and brother Brigham told him to act his own pleasure. It is his own individual proposal and affair, and not an appointment by the authorities of this Church. I speak of this, that the brethren may not misunderstand the matter.

We are willing that brother T. S. Williams should explore the Colorado regions, the Pimo country, and every part of the earth, but those who go with him, go on their own responsibility.

I am not making these remarks with a view to interfere with his operations, but we wish him to understand that we do not intend to have him interfere with those who are going to Los Vegas, Green River, or any other point to which we are sending brethren. You can now understand the matter perfectly, so that you need not run to brother Brigham, to me, to brother Grant, or to anybody else. When we make an appointment we wish it carried out, unless it is altered by the proper authority. I think I have said enough on that subject, you can now understand it, if you choose to.

My feelings are, if God blesses and sustains me, to build a good storehouse for my grain this season; I am going to lay up everything I can raise. I say this for the benefit of brother Hunter, and all the Bishops in the House of Israel. Follow the example if you think it is a good one, and lay up stores of grain, against the time of need, for you will see the time when there will not be a kernel raised and when thousands and millions will come to this people for bread. You cannot believe it, can you? You may say, “If one of the old Prophets could rise from the dead and declare it, we would then believe it, but, brother Heber, it is hard to believe it from you. You are very liable to take colds, if you were a servant of God you would not have any colds.”

Upon the same principle I can say, if you are the servants of God, why do you get hungry? I should not suppose that you would ever be hungry.

I am a servant of God, and if you do not know it, I bear testimony of it, and I am a companion to Brigham Young, and will be for ever and ever.

When I was in Fillmore, a certain Judge came to me in a dream, and wished to know what a portion of Scripture meant; says I, “What Scripture?” He replied, “That Scripture which says, three men shall die for the world.” I observed, that I did not know that it would be any worse for three men, to die for the world than it was for one, but if three men have got to die, they will first have to catch them. When the Lord pleases, we shall die, and not before. Joseph did not die until it was the Lord’s time.

Brethren will you do right? If so, go to and exert yourselves, in every way within your power, in raising grain and every kind of sustenance, and call your wives and children to your assistance, in the accomplishment of the great object now before us.

Since we have been here, my family have always had enough, and I tell them that if they will follow my counsel, they will never go short of food, but if they do not, they may see want. I feel well, I feel as though I could “run through a troop and leap over a wall.” I expect to see close times, and so will you. I expect to see scores of you take the back track, that is, many of you will deny the faith. Why do I say this? Because you do not do right; you do not all keep the commandments of God; you do not all pray and humble yourselves in the hands of the Lord, like clay in the hands of the potter. You are not all subject to the authorities, whom the Lord has placed to counsel and direct you. For this reason, many are losing the good Spirit and are going into darkness. If you will not be moulded and fashioned to take the place, and honor the position in which God designs you to act, He will cut that lump off from the wheel, and throw it back into the mill to be ground over again. Then He will take another lump and put it in the place where the refractory one was, and if that is not passive, He will cut it off and put on another.

Do I feel to bless you? yes, I could bless you from this time henceforth and forever, but what good would it do you, without you live for it? You may go to the Patriarchs, to the Prophets, and Apostles, and even get all the men in Israel to lay their hands on you and bless you, and though they bless you from this time to all eternity, yet, unless you continue steadfast in well doing, you may go to hell after all. What would it avail to receive blessings, if you do not live for them and merit them by doing as God says? If I live to God and keep His commandments, I shall have so many blessings that I shall not have room for them, and you all have the same privilege.

Let us strive to live our religion, that we may continually enjoy the rich blessings of Heaven, which may God grant, for His Son’s sake. Amen.

Difficulties Not Found Among the Saints Who Live Their Religion, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 16, 1856.

I feel very thankful for the privilege that I have enjoyed this morning, and for the discourse that has been delivered to us, it is meat and drink to me—it is joy and peace. Truly if we are good men, and good women, we can make ourselves very comfortable and happy, otherwise we shall be very miserable.

I believe that it is a hell intolerable for a people, a family, or a single person, to strive to grasp truth with one hand, and error with the other, to profess to walk in obedience to the commandments of God, and, at the same time, mingle heart and hand with the wicked.

I believe that I should be one of the most miserable beings upon the earth, if I did not enjoy the spirit of the religion which I profess. I also believe that if every person, who professes to be a Latter-day Saint, was actually a Saint, our home would be a paradise, there would be nothing heard, nothing felt, nothing realized, but praise to the name of our God, doing our duty, and keeping His commandments.

There are thousands of individuals in these valleys, and I may say thousands within this City, men, women, and children, who are constantly minding their own business, living their religion, and are full of joy, from Monday morning until Saturday night.

On this account, they do not obtrude themselves and their acts upon the notice of the public, hence, they are known but by few. Probably my beloved brother Vernon, who has spoken to you this morning, is not known by many of this congregation, for since his arrival in our midst he has been quietly and industriously practising the principles of our religion. For this reason a formal introduction of brother Vernon to the congregation might by some have been deemed necessary, but with me “Mormonism” is, “Out with the truth,” and that will answer our purposes, and is all we desire.

Brother Vernon came here with Elder Taylor, when he returned from Europe. He is not known except by a few of his associates, who have been laboring with him at the Sugar Works. But, suppose he had been guilty of swearing in the streets, of getting intoxicated, of fighting, and carousing, he would have been a noted character, and there would hardly have been a child but what would, by this time, have known brother Vernon; and the expressions would have been “O, he is the man we saw drunk the other day, the one whom we heard swear and saw fight; the one who was tried before the High Council for disorderly conduct, or reproved before a General Conference for his wickedness.

But brother Vernon is almost entirely unknown, because he has lived his religion, kept the commandments. of God, and minded his own business. So it is with many in this City, they are known but by few, they live here, year after year, and are scarcely known in the community, because they pay attention to their own business.

They live their religion, love the Lord, rejoice continually, are happy all the day long, and satisfied, without making an excitement among the people. This is “Mormonism.” I wish we were all so, I should then indeed be very much pleased.

I think such a state of society would answer my happiness, not particularly my spiritual enjoyment, for I know that in that particular I must be happy for myself. I must live my religion for myself, and enjoy the light of truth for myself, and when I do that all hell cannot deprive me of it, nor of its fruits.

My spiritual enjoyment must be obtained by my own life, but it would add much to the comfort of the community, and to my happiness, as one with them, if every man and woman would live their religion, and enjoy the light and glory of the Gospel for themselves, be passive, humble, and faithful; rejoice continually before the Lord, attend to the business they are called to do, and be sure never to do anything wrong.

All would then be peace, joy, and tranquility, in our streets and in our houses. Litigation would cease, there would be no difficulties before the High Council and Bishops’ Courts, and courts, turmoil, and strife would not be known.

Then we would have Zion, for all would be pure in heart. I should be pleased if we had a few more thousands of such men as brother Vernon. That class, I am happy to say, is increasing, this I can truly say, for the encouragement of this community.

When we reflect upon how many strangers we gather to these valleys, those who formerly believed some of the various creeds of the day, which did not fully inform them upon the principles of the Gospel, who come clothed upon with many of the diverse traditions and customs of different nations and neighborhoods, and how harmoniously they mingle, how few differences exist among them, how little strife and wickedness, it is a subject full of consolation.

Still there is much more strife than we should have, yet, with all, consider how easily, under these varied circumstances, we get along, how easily we pass the time, and with what little difficulty. I can say in truth, for the comfort and credit of this community, that the Latter-day Saints are indeed improving.

Do you hear of any difficulty among those long tried and proven, or among that portion of, younger members who are thoroughly imbued with the principles of the Gospel? Rarely.

You seldom find persons who have been reared in this Church, or who were very young when their parents came into the Church, creating any difficulties. They grow into the truth; they understand those principles which are taught; they know the very foundation and essence of the Gospel, they are schooled in the first rudiments of the education of the Saints—in those principles which are designed for the people in their childhood, while learning the science of government.

These principles seem to be lost to the world, judging by their present operations. Brother Vernon beautifully portrayed this fact. The principle of correct government seems to be lost by the world, seems to be taken from the nations.

The very rudiments of the Gospel of our salvation teach the principles best adapted to control the child, and if so, of course, best designed to guide his steps when he has advanced further in life. And if best for instruction in the government of one, they must be for that of two, and if for that of two, then they must needs be for that of a family, of a neighborhood, of a nation, and of the whole earth.

No man ever did, or ever will rule judiciously on this earth, with honor to himself and glory to his God unless he first learn to rule and control himself. A man must first learn to rightly rule himself, before his knowledge can be fully brought to bear for the correct government of a family, a neighborhood, or nation, over which it is his lot to preside.

Is the spirit of the government and rule here despotic? In their use of the word, some may deem it so. It lays the ax at the root of the tree of sin and iniquity; judgment is dealt out against the transgression of the law of God.

If that is despotism, then the policy of this people may be deemed despotic. But does not the government of God, as administered here, give to every person his rights? Does it not sustain the Methodist as well as the “Mormon?” The Quaker equally as well as the Methodist, in his religious rights? The Jew as well as the Gentile? It does. It will sustain all the religions, sects, and parties on the earth in their religious rights, just as much as it will sustain the Latter-day Saints in theirs. Not that the diverse creeds are right, but the agency of the believers therein demands protection for them, as well as for us.

The law of God is pointed against sin and iniquity, and where they appear it is unbending in its nature and must, sooner or later, hold sovereign rule against them, or righteousness could never prevail.

Do we not see this exemplified in a portion of sacred history? When there was rebellion in heaven, judgment was laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and the evil were cast out. Yet there was a portion of grace allotted to those rebellious characters, or they would have been sent to their native element.

But they must go from heaven, they could not dwell there, they must be cast down to the earth to try the sons of men, and to perform their labor in producing an opposite in all things, that the inhabitants of the earth might have the privilege of improving upon the intelligence given to them, the opportunity for overcoming evil, and for learning the principles which govern eternity, that they may be exalted therein.

I know that this people are improving, notwithstanding we have trials and are called to pass through difficulties, and have to endure a season of scarcity.

I tell you honestly that I do not know when I have been more thankful, in all my life, than I have to see the pinching hand of want compel every man and woman to pray God our Father, to give us day by day our daily bread.

It makes me happy, inasmuch as the people will not otherwise understand that the Lord does feed them. In years of plenty their understandings seemed closed to this fact, they did not appear to realize that the Lord made the earth fruitful, and caused it to yield its fruit bountifully.

And while our flocks and herds were increasing upon the mountains and plains, the eyes of the people seemed closed to the operations of the invisible hand of Providence, and they were prone to say, “It is our own handy-work, it is our labor that has performed this.”

The people are so blinded, when they are prospered, that they do not realize that it is all due to the direct providence of that God who is truly invisible to the world, but whose operations should not be unacknowledged by this people.

It seems to be so interwoven with our nature, while we are blessed and surrounded with all the comforts of the earth, to forget that the Lord furnishes these things to us, Then I say that I rejoice, when the Lord brings us into circumstances calculated to make us aware that if we are fed it is Him that feeds us, that if we are clothed it is Him that clothes us, for we cannot do it ourselves, that if we get bread to eat, from this until harvest, it must be the hand of the Lord that furnishes it, for of ourselves we cannot obtain it.

I am glad to see you brought into a state where you may begin to think and realize from whence your blessings flow. The Lord rules and reigns.

If we could see and understand things as they are, we would understand that there is not a king upon his throne, that there never has been from the forming of the earth to this time, without the Lord bringing about the circumstances which placed that king in that position. There never was one dethroned, without the Lord moving the circumstances to cause it.

There never was a nation built up and prospered, except by the hand of the Almighty, and there never was a nation crushed and brought to naught, without its being done by the generalship—the invisible workings of Providence.

The ancient proverb reads, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad,” and it is written that the Lord will destroy the wicked, and He has done so by bringing about circumstances to cause them to destroy themselves.

Do you suppose that the Lord would have ever given a king to Israel, if they had not required one at His hands? No, He would have been their king and ruler, and there would have been a Prophet to guide them, had it not been for their rebellion. They made choice of a king, and God gave them one in His anger.

Their rebellion against the law, the agency given to them allowing their free choice, induced them to ask for a king, and God gave them one.

Was it the Lord’s choice that they should have an earthly king? No, it was not His mind and will, but it was the will of the people, consequently, He brought about circumstances to give them kings and rulers, according to their desire, and to bring judgments upon them.

The Prophet Joseph has been referred to, and his prophecy that this people would leave Nauvoo and be planted in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. We see it fulfilled. This prophecy is not a new thing, it has not been hid in the dark, nor locked up in a drawer, but it was declared to the people long before we left Nauvoo. We see the invisible hand of Providence in all this; we realize that His hand has wrought out our salvation.

Through His control of circumstances this people have been removed from civilization, and have been brought to inhabit these vales among the Rocky Mountains, to dwell in these desolate and barren plains where no other people, that we have any knowledge of, would live one year, if they could get away. The providence of God has brought us here.

Are we here in fulfillment of prophecy? The world say that the Prophet knew nothing about it, that the Lord had nothing to do with it, that the “Mormons” became obnoxious to them and had to leave, because they were the weakest party, and their enemies the strongest. “No, God knew nothing about all this, He had no hand in it, but we could not live with you Mormons.” They said, “We Methodists Presbyterians, Baptists, &c, cannot live with you, one of us must leave, which shall it be? You Mormons must leave, if we can drive you.” They herald forth that, “It was us who drove you to the Rocky Mountains, as every one knows who is acquainted with your history.”

“The Mormons must leave and go where no other people will go, and live where no other people can or will live.” The world cannot see the hand of the Lord in all our movements, they have not eyes to see, nor hearts to understand that the Lord showed the future to the Prophet Joseph, and brought it before him in vision. They cannot understand that the Lord produced all the circumstances which effected the removal of this people. They do not now understand that the Lord is building up His kingdom on the earth, is gathering His Israel, for the last time, to make a great and mighty nation of this people.

Circumstances have planted the Saints in the midst of the mountains, have given them a Territory and a Territorial Government, and will, ere long, give them a free and independent State, and justly make them a sovereign people. Circumstances will accomplish all this. Now, in the name of common sense, who rules these invisible circumstances? Is it you, or I? True, to a certain permitted degree, we rule, govern, and control circumstances, in a great many instances, but, on the other hand, do not circumstances control us? They do. Who has guided all these circumstances, which neither we nor the Prophet knew anything about? Was it in the power of a single man, or of any set of men, to create and control the circumstances which caused this people to be planted within these mountains? The moment that you say it was not, you acknowledge the workings of a Supreme Power.

The world, and those of us who are destitute of the spirit of the Gospel, will say, “Oh, it happened so.” Two years ago there was a hue and cry, from east to west, from north to south, and it was heralded forth in the papers throughout the States and all Europe, that “Governor Young says he is Governor of Utah and will be, and that President Franklin Pierce cannot remove him from the gubernatorial chair.” I ask, am I removed? Is not Brigham yet in the chair? God has ruled in all these things, though we may not know it. I said then, and I shall always say, that I shall be Governor as long as the Lord Almighty wishes me to govern this people.

Do you suppose that it is in the power of any man to thwart the doings of the Almighty? They may as well undertake to blot out the sun. I am in the hands of that God, so is the President of our nation, and so are kings, and emperors, and all rulers. He controls the destiny of all, and what are you and I going to do about it? Let us submit to Him, that we may share in this invisible, almighty, God-like power, which is the everlasting Priesthood. We cannot thwart the plans and purposes of the Almighty. Do the world comprehend that if this people are faithful to God they will become a mighty people? No. It has been leaked out, to a few individuals, that the government of the United States is going to send troops here to drive out the “Mormons.” I say to such threateners, cease your folly, for you can only do as God permits you.

When certain immaculate judges went from here, they were going to obliterate “Mormonism.” What did they accomplish? They did all they could, and, like an empty sound, their vaporings passed away and are known no more, neither are those judges known. Where is Mr. Brandenbury? Is he seated in the President’s chair under the wings which shadow this nation? Does he control the strength and power of any part of the American Union? Where is he? The last we heard of him he was in Washington, doing a little writing for this, that, and the other lawyer, when he could get any to do, and attending to cases as a lawyer, when he could get a few dollars for transacting a little business of that kind, for this or that man; running from office to office, and from pillar to post, to obtain a living. He is a tolerably good man, after all; and, if he had done as I counselled him, he would have stayed here, and let that other judge go. Mr. Brandenbury was a good sort of a man, he never had any difficulty with me, and would have done well, if he had only had sense enough to know that he could not obliterate “Mormonism.” But he thought that his associate was going to blow the advocates of truth out of existence, when he might as well blow towards the sun to puff it out.

When men operate against this people, they may spend all they possess and all their ability, and it will pass away like an empty sound, and they will be forgotten. Such persons have always come to naught, and all who fight against the people of the Most High will continue to come to naught.

Who that has lifted his heel against Joseph has ever prospered, from the day he found the plates, from which the Book of Mormon was translated, until now? No man. So it will be with all others who leave this community thinking to injure them. Show me the priest, the church, the people, the state, or nation, that will prosper in lifting the heel against the kingdom of God, which is built up upon the earth. They cannot prosper in such a course. Do not be fearful, brethren, you and I will live here just as long as the Lord wishes us to. If I have fears about anything, it is that you and I will not live our religion; if we do this I am at the defiance of all the wicked. I sometimes become excited when I talk about them, and so do my brethren. Why? Because we are made of flesh, blood, and bones, like other men, and sometimes our feelings are warm, when we think about the conduct of our enemies. But what do the pure principles of the Gospel teach us? “Be still, and know that I am God, that I rule in the heavens above, and perform my pleasure on the earth, and that I turn the hearts of the children of men, as the rivers of water are turned?” He asks no odds of anybody. Who does He call upon to counsel Him, to dictate Him in the affairs of His rule on the earth? He is the Father, God, Saviour, Maker, Preserver, and Redeemer of man. He holds in His hands the issue of all things, and will judge every man according to his works. I will be Governor so long as God permits, and we will live here, and have hard winters and unfruitful summers, and suffer the ravages of the destroying insects—what for? To bring us to our senses; I am thankful for it.

Those of you who have come here without breakfast this morning, do not go more than five days without eating. When you have gone that long without food, make your wants known to your neighbors and tell them that you need something to eat, and if you come to me I will feed you. I have sustained my family comfortably with eight ounces of bread stuff a-day, to each individual. I have had my children come to me and ask, “Shall I give away my rations to-day?” We have plenty of potatoes, and I presume that my family does not consume, on an average, more than five ounces of bread stuff a-day to each person. We have had plenty, ever since the first year we came here.

Be mindful, and do not go too long without eating. Notwithstanding the scarcity, I say to those who send their children to beg from house to house and who are lugging home a dozen loads a-day—stop that. There are families now in this city, who profess to be out of provisions, sending their children out to beg, and selling flour and meat for money to carry them to the devil; now stop that. I say to you Bishops, appoint assistants to visit every house in your Wards, and instruct them to take the liberty of lifting up the chest lids, and of looking under the floors and under the beds, for I tell you that some will hide their provisions and lie to you, and tell you that they have nothing, while they are getting money for the flour, &c., which their children beg from this community, to carry them to hell, or back to the States, or to England. I say to such as are compelled to beg, when you have received a sufficiency to supply your wants, stop. When the month of June arrives, and the fields are teeming with their golden fruits, there will be plenty of wheat and flour for sale in these streets, for there is a reasonable supply of those articles of food. This is a word of encouragement, therefore do not go too long without eating, and if you are now brought to the pass which compels you to call upon the Lord, saying, “Lord, feed us, for unless thou feedest us we cannot be fed; my Father open the way that I may get a little bread to feed myself and children, or I shall not be able to get it, “I say, good, glory, hallelujah, that you are brought to your knees to confess His power, and to acknowledge His hand. That you may be faithful is my prayer, all the day long, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Those Saints Who Have Not Seen the Wickedness of the World Cannot Appreciate Their Blessings, etc.

Heber C. Kimball

A discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, June 10, 1855.

I can say, as I have said, a great many times, that we are one of the happiest people that ever was upon the earth, but some do not appreciate the blessings which are bestowed from day to day; some do not appreciate that they are settled in the valleys in peace, and that they are with those whom God has been pleased to call to lead His people. If they could appreciate their position, and acknowledge the hand of God in all things, then they could appreciate the things connected with this kingdom. It is with many as it was with my son William, and brother Brigham’s son Joseph, and others who have been about home all the time. They did not realize and could not appreciate their blessings, but in their missions they are sensible of the blessings which we enjoy in these peaceful valleys. William writes, “Father, I often think of your relating the corruptions of the old world, and what you saw and heard, but I now see and feel them by sad, personal experience. I hear the groans of nations, of war and rumors of war, of famine, desolation, and distress in all the world, except in the happy land of Zion, in the valleys of the mountains. How I desire to see them! and we all say, that when we return home we shall know how to prize our fathers and mothers, and the society of the Saints, where we can sit down and worship God with none to molest nor make afraid.”

Those are their feelings, after being absent only a short time. Those who go forth to preach the Gospel see the corruptions and abominations of men, and have joy in contemplating the signs of the times, for they know that those things are tokens of the coming of the Son of Man; their eyes are now open to see that God is at work among the nations. Some of them hardly knew that “Mormonism” was true, until they were sent forth to preach. They believed it—why? Because they were taught it by their parents. Their parents taught them in their infancy; and childhood, that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but they have never before been brought into a situation to know that the God whom we serve lives and reigns in the heavens. Some of you may say, “We wish we could have a knowledge of these things, that we might appreciate our present blessing;” faith and obedience will give you that knowledge, and it will be the best day that we have ever seen, when men will appreciate their blessings, when they can feel assured that God lives above.

The world look upon us as the filth and offscourings of society, and the most corrupt people upon God’s earth. But those who do right, and keep themselves pure and clean; as brother Brigham says, inside and outside, will have houses and lands, wives, and children. They are the ones who will enjoy those blessings, sooner or latter, and do not you thank the Lord for it? Those who live upon this land, or any other that God gives to His people, have peculiar promises made to them. Then do not pollute this land, nor pollute yourselves or your fellow creatures, but let us keep ourselves pure and clean, and do as we would wish to be dealt with ourselves. Deal honorably with your brethren, and if you have wronged any person, even of a pin, make proper restitution. If you will cultivate yourselves in this way, not even daring to take a pin or a needle which is not your own, you will have a spirit of doing right in all things. If a person will cheat you out of a pin, he will out of a darning needle, and then out of our dimes and dollars. Why does not every person live up to the principles of right and justice? Jesus says, “Do unto all men as you would have all men to do unto you.” If you have wrongfully taken anything, restore it, whether it be little or much, and sin no more. I pray for the day to come when the principles of restoration will be carried out to the letter.

I was talking with brother Brigham yesterday about the crops, and he feels that the Lord is about to try this people. Why is this? It is to chastise this people, that they may learn to give heed to counsel.

When I see a prospect for scarcity of food stare me in the face, I feel as well as ever I did in my life, and if I was obliged to see either the Saints or the food cut off, I would say let the bread perish and the Saints be preserved; yes, I would pray for this every time. And my prayer to God is, that He will let the fanning mill blow, until it blows out the chaff, that nothing but the pure article may remain. As for my regretting the loss of the crops, I do not one particle; and as for you, you have been told for years, to save your wheat, corn, oats, and all other products, and to increase your stock upon the mountains. You were told that there was a time coming when they would be wanted. Much grain has been wasted and destroyed, much sold at a very low price to feed horses and mules. Brother Brigham, in the beginning, offered a dollar and a half a bushel for all the wheat that people wished to sell, but many sold their grain to others for a dollar and a quarter, lest the tithing should be required if they sold to him.

I will tell you a dream which brother Kesler had lately. He dreamed that there was a sack of gold and a cat placed before him, and that he had the privilege of taking which he pleased, whereupon he took the cat, and walked off with her. Why did he take the cat in preference to the gold? Because he could eat the cat, but could not eat the gold. You may see about such times before you die. I wish to speak of these things while they are present with us, and I wish I could impress them upon your minds. The first season that we came here, I recollect that brother Brigham proclaimed the policy of our laying up grain, and told us to lay up a seven years’ supply, and prepare for a famine. If our crops are now cut off, it will be one of the best things that has happened to this Church. When a servant of God counsels you, it is your duty to hear and obey his words. I am fully aware that the world do not like the idea of one man ruling this entire people with his word, but I would not give one farthing for this community if they could not be governed by one man, beloved and chosen of the Lord. You have no salvation only what you get through that source, and every true hearted Latter-day Saint believes so.

Our crops are almost entirely destroyed, and what good will that do? It will bring us into a position where we can appreciate the blessings of Providence. Brother Brigham says, that he does not fear earth, hell, nor the devil, if this people will do as they are told, and listen to counsel. Do you suppose that the world could ever come through our bulwarks, if this people were to obey counsel? No, they could not. We generally proclaim what is about to take place, and we tell them that sore judgments are about to fall upon the nations of the earth, but they will not believe us. If you believe us, you will be able to escape.

Dr. Bernhisel has just remarked, that he thought the cat was let out of the bag, when plurality was preached, but I suppose that he did not happen to think that the cat might have kittens, and the kittens grow to be cats, and thus increase to a vast number. Revelations of principles, of one truth after another, will come forth until the work of God is accomplished on the earth. We have to press forward under the banner of Christ, and the more faithful we are the sterner will be the warfare. When I related to brother Joseph the view I had of certain evil spirits in England, he said, that the closer we observe the celestial law, the more opposition we shall meet. These are my feelings, and I should feel better if you would all hearken to the counsel given, from time to time, from this stand.

We are a good people, and we shall eventually triumph over wickedness and prosper, and be built up in the truth. The Lord our God will consider our cause and have mercy upon us; and if we do taste of hardships, does it not read that judgment shall begin. at the house of God? If the Lord lets us taste of the cup when there is no milk in it, what does it matter? We may just as well do it now as at any other time. Why bless you, this people will live and look better without bread than the wicked can with it. If we are to have chastenings, I say, Father let them come, and I will do my best to endure them and profit thereby. But when those times come, you will see a great many murmurers and grumblers, and they will hunt up their filth and rubbish to circulate about the Saints of God, and never go off so long as they have enough to fill their bellies. The Lord blesses those who bless His servants, and keep His commandments. If we all do this, we shall have good times, we shall be blessed, and will not be required to shed man’s blood, if we do right. Have I ever seen the day, when I felt like shedding blood? No, never in my life; I always wished that I might not be called upon to do it. Though I will say that once in Nauvoo I was sorry when peace was declared, for I had got pretty well warmed up through the oppression of the ungodly, and I really felt like fighting.

Because outsiders come here and say that we are foolish for being led by one man, does that make us so? That man and that woman that are not willing to be led by one man, I wish would clear out, for we can get along without them. God bless you and help you to be faithful, I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Plurality of Wives—The Free Agency of Man

Brigham Young

Remarks made by President Brigham Young, in the Bowery, Provo, July 14, 1855.

I have a few words to say concerning one item of doctrine, that I seldom think of mentioning before a public congregation; I refer to the doctrine pertaining to raising up a royal Priesthood to the name of Israel’s God, for which purpose the revelation was given to Joseph, concerning the right of faithful Elders, in taking to themselves more than one wife. I frequently hear from others that this doctrine is laughed at and ridiculed; I heard yesterday of its being laughed out of doors, even jeered and sneered out of a Bishop’s house.

I am not personally cognizant of any one jeering at and deriding this doctrine; still, I hear that there are some few who are opposed to it. Once in a while sentiments reach my ears which sound very curious and strange, and when I hear them, I do really wish that some were possessed of better sense; I will, therefore, tell you a few things that you should know. God never introduced the Patriarchial order of marriage with a view to please man in his carnal desires, nor to punish females for anything which they had done; but He introduced it for the express purpose of raising up to His name a royal Priesthood, a peculiar people. Do we not see the benefit of it? Yes, we have lived long enough to realize its advantages.

Suppose that I had had the privilege of having only one wife, I should have had only three sons, for those are all that my first wife bore, whereas, I now have buried five sons, and have thirteen living.

It is obvious that I could not have been blessed with such a family, if I had been restricted to one wife, but, by the introduction of this law, I can be the instrument in preparing tabernacles for those spirits which have to come in this dispensation. Under this law, I and my brethren are preparing tabernacles for those spirits which have been preserved to enter into bodies of honor, and be taught the pure principles of life and salvation, and those tabernacles will grow up and become mighty in the kingdom of our God.

I believe that our children will become mighty in faith, be powerful in defending the truth, and will soon have to take important places in the great work of this dispensation. They may be rude at, present, yet, you will find within them the true principles of “Mormonism,” and, when our sons become men, they will be men of God, and be useful in accomplishing a good work upon the earth.

The spirits which are reserved have to be born into the world, and the Lord will prepare some way for them to have tabernacles. Spirits must be born, even if they have to come to brothels for their fleshly coverings, and many of them will take the lowest and meanest spirit house that there is in the world, rather than do without, and will say, “Let me have a tabernacle, that I may have a chance to be perfected.”

The Lord has instituted this plan for a holy purpose, and not with a design to afflict or distress the people; hence, an important and imperative duty is placed upon all holy men and women, and the reward will follow, for it is said, that the children will add to our honor and glory.

It hurts my feelings when I see good men, men who love correct principles and cling to the counsels of the Church, who have lived near to God for years and have always been faithful, with not a child to bear up their names to future generations, and I grieve to reflect that their names must go into the grave with them.

It would please me to see good men and women have families; I would like to have righteous men take more wives and raise up holy children. Some say, “I would do so, but brother Joseph and brother Brigham have never told me to do it.”

This law was never given of the Lord for any but his faithful children; it is not for the ungodly at all; no man has a right to a wife, or wives, unless he honors his Priesthood and magnifies his calling before God.

I foresaw, when Joseph first made known this doctrine, that it would be a trial, and a source of great care and anxiety to the brethren, and what of that? We are to gird up our loins and fulfil this, just as we would any other duty. (High wind and clouds of dust prevented speaking for several seconds.)

It has been strenuously urged by many, that this doctrine was introduced through lust, but that is a gross misrepresentation. (A thick cloud of dust prevented speaking for about two minutes.)

This revelation, which God gave to Joseph, was for the express purpose of providing a channel for the organization of tabernacles, for those spirits to occupy who have been reserved to come forth in the kingdom of God, and that they might not be obliged to take tabernacles out of the kingdom of God.

We are commanded to overcome all our lustful desires, also our pride, selfishness, and every evil propensity that pertains to the flesh, to keep the commandments of God, and all the commandments pertaining to the holy Priesthood.

It is important that we get a victory over our earthly passions, and learn to live by the law of God.

I am aware that care and other duties are greatly increased, by the law which I am remarking upon; this I know by experience, yet though it adds to our care and labor, we should say, “Not my will, but thine, O Lord, be done.”

As far as my acquaintance extends, the brethren who have entered into this order, with a pure heart, have enjoyed full as much worldly prosperity as they did before the Prophet Joseph revealed this holy law and order to the Latter-day Saints.

The Lord intended that our family cares should be greater; He knew they would be, yet He is able to bless us in proportion. I know quite a number of men in this Church who will not take any more women, because they do not wish to take care of them; a contracted spirit causes that feeling. I have also known some in my past life, who have said, that they did not desire to have their wives bear any children, and some even take measures to prevent it; there are a few such persons in this Church.

When I see a man in this Church with those feelings, and hear him say, “I do not wish to enlarge my family, because it will bring care upon me,” I conclude that he has more or less of the old sectarian leaven about him, and that he does not understand the glory of the celestial kingdom.

Says one, “How will you explain this to me?” We understand that we are to be made kings and Priests unto God; now if I be made the king and lawgiver to my family, and if I have many sons, I shall become the father of many fathers, for they will have sons, and their sons will have sons, and so on, from generation to generation, and, in this way, I may become the father of many fathers, or the king of many kings. This will constitute every man a prince, king, lord, or whatever the Father sees fit to confer upon us.

In this way we can become King of kings, and Lord of lords, or Father of fathers, or Prince of princes, and this is the only course, for another man is not going to raise up a kingdom for you.

If I did not feel disposed, in my poverty, to enlarge my family and to build up the kingdom, I could not be acquainted with the difficulties thereof, neither should I be counted worthy to enjoy the blessings conferred upon those who are faithful.

This should be the view taken of this matter, by the whole of this people, and, when a man or woman sees that this principle should be introduced among the Latter-day Saints, they should cease their murmurings.

It is not through lust that men and women are to practise this doctrine, but it is to be observed upon righteous principles; and, if men and women would pay attention to those instructions, I would promise, in the name of the Lord, that you would never find them lustful in their dispositions, and you might watch them as closely as you pleased.

Plurality of wives is not designed to afflict you nor me, but is purposed for our exaltation in the kingdoms of God. If any man had asked me what was my choice when Joseph revealed that doctrine, provided that it would not diminish my glory, I would have said, “Let me have but one wife;” not because it is not a great comfort to me to have children, but if I have not children I know them not.

Some of these my brethren know what my feelings were at the time Joseph revealed the doctrine; I was not desirous of shrinking from any duty, nor of failing in the least to do as I was commanded, but it was the first time in my life that I had desired the grave, and I could hardly get over it for a long time. And when I saw a funeral, I felt to envy the corpse its situation, and to regret that I was not in the coffin, knowing the toil and labor that my body would have to undergo; and I have had to examine myself, from that day to this, and watch my faith, and carefully meditate, lest I should be found desiring the grave more than I ought to do.

You will probably wonder at this, and that such should have been my feelings upon this point, but they were even so.

Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned; and I will go still further and say, take this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord has given, and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned.

But the Saints who live their religion will be exalted, for they never will deny any revelation which the Lord has given or may give, though, when there is a doctrine coming to them which they cannot comprehend fully, they may be found saying, “The Lord sendeth this unto me, and I pray that He will save and preserve me from denying anything which proceedeth from Him, and give me patience to wait until I can understand it for myself.”

Such persons will never deny, but will allow those subjects which they do not understand, to remain until the visions of their minds become open. This is the course which I have invariably pursued, and, if anything came that I could not understand, I would pray until I could comprehend it.

Do not reject anything because it is new or strange, and do not sneer nor jeer at what comes from the Lord, for if we do, we endanger our salvation. It is given to us, as agents, to choose or refuse, as brother S. W. Richards has set before you, but we are agents within limits, if it were not so there would be no law.

There are limits to agency, and to all things and to all beings, and our agency must not infringe upon that law. A man must choose life or death, and if he chooses death he will find himself abridged, and that the agency which is given to him is so bound up that he cannot exercise it in opposition to the law, without laying himself liable to be corrected and punished by the Almighty.

A man can dispose of his agency or of his birth-right, as did Esau of old, but when disposed of he cannot again obtain it; consequently, it beho[o]ves us to be careful, and not forfeit the agency that is given to us. The difference between the righteous and the sinner, eternal life or death, happiness or misery, is this, to those who are exalted there are no bounds or limits to their privileges, their blessings have a continuation, and to their kingdoms, thrones, and dominions, principalities, and powers there is no end, but they increase through all eternity; whereas, those who reject the offer, who despise the proffered mercies of the Lord, and prepare themselves to be banished from His presence, and to become companions of the devils, have their agency abridged immediately, and bounds and limits are put to their operations.

The power of the devil is limited; the power of God is unlimited; therefore let us be cautious how we use our liberty and agency, and be careful to choose that which is good and right before the Lord, and then our exaltation is sure.

I now wish to say a few words concerning your meeting house. When brother Geo. A. Smith concluded to make his home here, for a little while, we thought we would erect an old-fashioned meeting house, believing that it would look so good; and we thought to have a bell put in the belfry, and I believe that the foundation for such a building was commenced three years ago.

I was just thinking what a smart people dwell here; three years ago they threw out a few shovels full of earth, to prepare for a foundation, and at that the labor ended. I was talking to some of the brethren about it to-day, and was wondering, if I were to come here to live this summer, whether I could not get this meeting house built; I think that I have lightning enough to accomplish it. Tell the people what I wanted, and they would come with the timber, and the adobies would be piled up, and the building finished.

But I wish to tell you how it can be done without my coming here, that is, if you have a man here in whom you have confidence, though I do not know whether there is a man in this settlement that you have confidence in, but if there is such a man, you can come out every Saturday and work at erecting this meeting house. Draw together the sand and lime, the timber and all the other materials, then employ the masons and carpenters for two or three months, and the house will be completed.

If this had been done you would have had a good meeting house, and, at least, been just as well off as you are now, and I think that you would have greatly increased the value of your property and been better off.

Has the house stopped because there is not a man here who knows how to do the work, or what is the cause? I think that there are men here who know how to do all the work. If you wish to know my mind, I say, haul the materials together, employ men to lay the stone and adobies, to cut the timber, and to put on the shingles, and if I were you I would go right to work and do it; and if you will, we will come and preach to you at the dedication.

Before the commencement of this conference, I ought to have come here with as many of the Twelve and other brethren as I could have handily picked up, and to have held prayer meetings for two or three weeks, in all the Wards of this City; then I think you would have heard something that you will not now hear.

I do not feel that there is any requirement in this congregation for fresh teachings, or new revelations, if I am mistaken, all right. I do not believe that all the brethren pray in their families, or in secret, and I do not believe that all the women are strict enough in their families, for the spirit of the Gospel should be as a constant flowing stream. True, I have not yet heard a man speak here but what has given you good, yes, the best of teaching, and first-rate discourses and ideas, and all has been systematical and calculated to draw us to the line.

Still I hope that you and I will get warmed up, and that the fire of the Spirit will burn in our hearts so that we may be refreshed.

We will now bring the meeting to a close.

Men Must Save Themselves, etc.

Heber C. Kimball

A discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 23, 1856.

Through my labors in giving the brethren and sisters their endowments, and superintending the laborers from the different Wards, in addition to seeing to those affairs more directly personal, my body is considerably wearied, and that is the reason why I have requested the Bishops to come with the brethren of their respective Wards, and to bring the necessary tools and labor with the men, thus setting an example, and not place that burden upon my back. I bless those Bishops who came and labored with their brethren during the past week. I should be relieved from such duties, but I am often compelled to attend to them, or they would fall upon brother Brigham. I am always willing to do all in my power, to relieve him, but such cares and labors do not all belong to him, nor to me nor to brother Grant, but they belong to Bishops, and to those who are appointed to take the immediate oversight of the labors, pertaining to public improvements, to look after such matters, under the directions of the First Presidency of this Church.

As brother Grant has just remarked, and as others have often taught, brother Brigham has understanding, through the power and influence of the Spirit, sufficient for teaching the Saints their duty, and if they do not perform it, if this people do not save themselves by obeying his counsels, they are bound to go to hell. I know this perfectly well, and so does every one who has the Spirit of the Lord dwelling within him.

Compared with the hosts upon the earth, only now and then one will receive the Gospel, and after that, only now and then one of those who do receive the truth will be saved by it, and obtain celestial glory. If all the Saints would obey counsel, doing as they are directed, is there any difficulty in their being saved? No, no more than there is raising a crop of grain. We have only to take a wise, judicious course, listen to counsel, and obey those instructions which we receive from this stand, from day to day, from Sabbath to Sabbath, and from year to year. Can I save you? No, I can only advise a righteous course, and encourage and aid in walking therein, it then remains for them to take the course which I advise, and I always advise people to adopt that policy which Joseph taught and advocated, and which brother Brigham now lays before us, from day to day. This is what will save you, and you cannot be saved upon any other principle. I have power to save myself, and if I do not save myself, who will save me? All have that privilege, and naught can save us but obedience to the commandments of God. You say, that you have repented and been baptized for the remission of sins, that you have received the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, that you pray, pay your tithing, and day by day, fulfil all the duties required at your hands; such a course is saving in its nature. The most of those present have received their endowments, their washings, and anointings, and have made covenants to their God and their brethren, before witnesses, that they would be faithful, that they would be true, that they would listen to the counsels of the Lord’s servants, and cease to do evil. All who have done this have been pronounced clean, and will they then go and pollute themselves with the wicked? I am sorry to say that a few are unwise enough to do so.

Both men and women have also covenanted that they will have no unlawful intercourse with each other. After all this, do any of you make a practice of speaking evil one of another, of cheating one another, of lying and deceiving? Yes, some who are under the covenants just named, actually indulge in those evil practices, and I say to all such, that if they do not repent of their follies and sins, their washings and anointings will prove a curse instead of a blessing, and will expedite their condemnation.

If a man sins to that degree that he is cut off from the Church, he forfeits the blessings promised on condition of keeping his covenants. When a man loses his membership in this Church, he also loses his Priesthood, and of course the blessings of his endowments. Do not flatter yourselves that you can retain the blessings of the Gospel, and at the same time pursue a wicked course, for you cannot do it.

I feel the importance of these truths, and my mind is often exercised and profitted by contemplating upon them. The other night, as I lay in my bed, so weary that I could not sleep, I reflected much upon the principle of obedience, and the government of God in this Church. I then, in my reflections, applied the principle to families in every way, shape, and manner which I could think of, and said, in my heart, I wish I had the skill of a ready writer and power to write what passes through my mind. In the morning I called upon brother Carrington and mentioned the circumstances to him, and I told him that I wished he would write upon the subject of obedience, which he promised to do at the earliest opportunity. I feel the importance of this, for I know that this people cannot continue to prosper as they have done, unless they do as they are counselled; all must be obedient to the powers that be ordained of God.

If it is necessary for me to be subject to my file leaders, I wish to know whether it is not equally for you, and for every High Priest, Elder, Seventy, Apostle, and all others, to be obedient to the Priesthood of those who are appointed to direct them? Is it not right for all men to be obedient to their superiors? And if so, is it not right for women and children to abide the same principle? My spirit, my body, my family, and all I possess in this world are devoted to this kingdom, and so I may say in regard to brother Brigham. These are my feelings upon this subject, and I have had no different feelings during the last twenty-five years.

Is there any difference in the wickedness of the world now and thirty or forty years ago? I think there is. I do not now recollect of having then heard of a divorce in all the region where I lived, and as for a whore or a whoremonger there were few, if any, known in that locality, and if such were found, they were considered unfit for civilized society. But now look down and see what the world is! I have travelled over some of it; I have travelled through most of the enlightened portions of the United States, and much in England, and I have generally found that those who are called the most enlightened are the most corrupt. Does the sad condition of the world hurt my feelings? Not particularly, for that is their own affair; but when the Saints transgress I feel sorrowful. When brother Brigham comes here, and chastises us through the spirit of revelation, or is moved upon to instruct the Saints to their profit, if any portion applies to me, I treasure it up, and humble myself before my God.

I will give you a key which brother Joseph Smith used to give in Nauvoo. He said, that the very step of apostacy commenced with losing confidence in the leaders of this Church and kingdom, and that whenever you discerned that spirit, you might know that it would lead the possessor of it on the road to apostacy. If then you have got this spirit in your hearts, or in your families, and if brethren and sisters, husbands and wives are contending and quarrelling one with another, I say, there is the spirit of apostacy, there is a place where the Spirit of God does not abide in its fulness. Do you suppose that God, His Son, the Holy Ghost, or angels will dwell in a house where there is quarrelling and loss of confidence in the leaders of His appointing? Would you stay in such a habitation? Then let us banish all strife and contention; let no children contend against their parents, nor wives against their husbands, nor any one against the authorities which God has established. This should be the course in every family, and in every quorum, and let all be actuated and governed by the pure spirit and principles of eternal truth. Let my family take my counsel, as I take the counsel of my President, and they will go into celestial glory, where I am bound to go by walking in that path.

Say to all the legions of devils between this and hell, “Walk in your own course,” and they will not have much power over us, nor over our children. Why? Because we should live above their allurements, and they would be obliged to go about more congenial business, and God would defend us so long as we did not give way.

It is for us to learn to be obedient in our callings and to the Priesthood, in our several quorums and families, and in all circles where we associate together. This is a lesson which must be learned, and when you learn the doctrine of obedience, you will have power to control the weaknesses of your nature, to control yourselves in every respect. But you never will learn this lesson, and gain this knowledge, until you are willing to be controlled by those who lead you in this kingdom.

I desire to stand in my place, to be beneficial to the Saints, to go in and out before the house of Israel, pure and holy. This is my character, and these are my wishes, notwithstanding my weaknesses, which I admit; and this is the character of brother Brigham, and I know it. God bless his soul forever, and he shall live forever, and go into the courts of glory, and enjoy the society of the Father, of Jesus, and all the Apostles; and I will be along with him there, and so will my brethren who are faithful. We will stand so near each other that the devil cannot get between us and let all our brethren do the same.

Every family should do so, and if they all did, what trouble would there be? What could the wicked do if all the Saints stood faithful in their own places? Do you suppose that they could commit whoredoms? If no woman would bow to wickedness, where would be the whoredoms? Would there be any? No, there could not be any.

After you have received your endowments, a wicked course will more seriously affect you, it will, therefore, be requisite for you to be much more careful how you trifle with holy principles, and transgress your covenants. For this reason I wish the Bishops to take heed who they recommend as worthy to receive endowments, for we shall require a strict account from them.

We have placed Bishops in the different Wards throughout this Territory, and they should be filled with the Holy Ghost, and know every man and woman in their Wards, that they may be able to discern who are worthy of receiving an endowment.

I have heard of some individuals saying, that if the Bishops come into their houses and opened their cupboards they would split their heads open.

That would not be a wise nor safe operation, for there are some hard heads appointed to counsel and direct you in the path of righteousness.

Brother Brigham and I were raised in the midst of mountains, and we have never yet seen the time when threats would swerve us from the line of duty.

I would like to bless all mankind, if they would take a course that would justify me in doing so, and I have extended my hand to the lawyers, judges, military, and civil officers of the United States, and desire to treat them as I would my own children, but how have some of them treated us? They have endeavored, with a few honorable exceptions, to corrupt the morals of this people. I am opposed to those who strive to work corruption for we wish to be pure, and their course leads to death, hell, and the devil, while we desire to rise in the scale of life and happiness. Amen.

Preaching, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 23, 1856.

I rise desiring that what I may say may be instructive, edifying, and beneficial to the people. At times, when I think of addressing you, it occurs to me that strict sermonizing upon topics pertaining to the distant future, or reviewing the history of the past, will doubtless please and highly interest a portion of my hearers; but my judgment and the spirit of intelligence that is in me teach that, by taking such a course, the people would not be instructed pertaining to their every day duties. For this reason, I do not feel impressed to instruct you on duties to be performed a hundred years hence, but rather to give those instructions pertaining to the present, to our daily walk and conversation, that we may know how to benefit ourselves under the passing time, and present privileges, and be able to lay a foundation for future happiness.

Still, I love to hear historical narrations, to hear the Elders vividly portray the important events which transpired in the days of the Prophets, the Savior, and the Apostles, and it also cheers my heart to hear the Elders of Israel illustrate the beauties and glory of Zion, in the future. Yet, when I reduce it all to the duties of the religion we profess, I realize that it is of vital importance for us to know how to lay a present foundation for our future destiny, that we may attain that exaltation, happiness, and glory, which we anticipate, hence, I confine my remarks, more particularly, to the practical part of religion.

Again, we often have strangers in our midst, and, perhaps, some who never heard one of our Elders preach, until they came to this valley, and, no doubt, they would like to hear a systematic sermon upon the first principles of the Gospel, to have the speaker formally quote his text, divide it into four or five heads, and expatiate upon each part, and illustrate the beauties of Christianity in former days, and picture the scenes of suffering which the former-day Saints had to pass through, and then prescribe the duties that pertain to the people, but not the individual. Some might prefer to have the speaker dwell upon the general duties devolving upon the community, but not upon duties pertaining to the individual, prefering something or other to please the natural feelings of mankind.

This does not suit my disposition, for I am in favor of that instruction which will enable us, this day, to receive the blessings offered and teach us to appreciate them, that we may be prepared to enjoy the glory that has been revealed. That is my “Mormonism,” my reflections, my judgment, and the spirit in me dictates this course, not to speak merely to gratify those who prefer to hear pleasing, delightful discourses, which sound smoothly to the ear and lull the hearers to sleep.

What we have heard from brother Frost this morning is that which I am upon all the time, it was practical religion. Suppose we should actually enjoy the light of truth, to such a degree that we could always foreknow important events—that we had the spirit of prophecy insomuch that we could foresee our future destiny, would we not lay a foundation to secure our best interests? We most certainly would. It would be the constant aim of our daily conduct, to secure to ourselves and our families that happiness and comfort which we desire.

Is it possible for us to do this? It is. There are many who do not know and understand for themselves. Now let each person of that class ask himself this question—“Even though I do not know and understand for myself, is it reasonable that I should have confidence in those who do?” and, through the weakness and blindness of fallen nature, he would answer, “No.” Still it would be best could it be so, for those who are blinded to their own interest to have confidence in those who do know and understand what is for their good, to trust in them, take their counsel, and do in all things as they are told. But, no; the spirit of apostacy, the neglect of duty, tend to cast a vail over the minds of people, and when they cannot see and understand for themselves, they say, “I think I know as well how to dictate my own affairs as does brother Brigham, or any other brother.”

They have no confidence in anybody, and can have none in themselves, for they do not know themselves. They do not comprehend their existence, and were it not that they get tired, and wish to rest, they would scarcely realize that they had a body; and when their stomachs become empty and crave food, they are prompted, like the brutes, to seek for something to eat. This is the case with some in this congregation, they have but little more idea of what they are, who they are, and what will be their future destiny, than has the stall-fed bullock that is fatted for slaughter.

What is the matter with them? The god of this world has blinded their minds, they give way to selfishness, covetousness, and divers other kinds of wickedness, suffer the allurements of this world to decoy them from the paths of truth, forget their God, their religion, their covenants, and the blessings they have received, and become like beasts, made to be taken and destroyed at the will of the destroyer.

This is the situation, not only of the great majority of the world, but of many of the inhabitants of these valleys; they have no correct idea of the day of destruction, the day of calamity; they have no realization of the day of sorrow and retribution. They put these things far away and do not wish to think about them, but say, “Let us eat, drink, and lay down and sleep, and that is all we desire;” then like the brutes they are happy. It never enters the hearts of the mass of mankind that they are preparing for the day of calamity and slaughter.

This people have yet much to learn, even the best of them. For one, I am aware that I know enough to do right to-day, as also do very many who are now before me. If sin present itself to them they know what it is, and know better than to give way to it. I know that it is not right to do wrong, and so do the most of the people, and all may and should, as have all who have received the spirit of the Gospel, and if this knowledge has gone from them, it is because of transgression.

I have often referred to the wickedness of mankind, to how liable they are to step out of the way, how easy it is for them to sin and not know it, and how important it is that we should have compassion upon them; yet mercy is not always to be extended to the people, judgment must claim its right.

If we wish this Church and kingdom of God upon earth, to be like a fine, healthy, growing tree, we should be careful not to let the dead branches remain too long. You have seen limbs which you supposed completely dead, yet when the genial influences of spring operate upon them, only a twig or two of the branch proves to be winter killed.

The entire limb is not dead but still draws sustenance from the trunk, and partly lives and is partly dead. It is so with some of the members of this Church and kingdom, they partly live and partly do not live. Sometimes they enjoy the spirit of the Gospel and feel quite happy, and speak in prayer meetings, and sometimes make confessions of their sins. Their hearts occasionally become a little warmed up, and at times they feel and act as though they wish to bear fruit, and perhaps among the twigs of the limb, you may find here and there a cluster of fruit. Sometimes such members of this kingdom will be found performing good acts and doing their duty, and again they are overcome and turn away, that is for a time, and seemingly enjoy none of the spirit of their religion.

In this manner they pass along, first to the right and then to the left. By and bye they will either receive nourishment from the trunk of the tree, shooting forth into the various twigs of the sickly branches, filling them with life and vigour, and turning the diseased into thrifty growing limbs or the twigs will continue to die until there are none left alive. Who can tell whether a limb is actually dead or not, without proper time to test the matter? This is a point which ought to be closely scrutinized by every Latter-day Saint. You see the failings of your neighbor, he has performed an act to-day which you know is dishonest and wicked, by and bye he does something else which is wrong, and you begin to lose confidence in that person. When you saw no evil and many traits of good in him, then you had a foundation for reposing implicit confidence, but he commits a wrong act and your confidence begins to be shaken. You see him commit another evil and another, but can you yet tell whether that limb is alive or dead? I think that we, as a people, as individuals, have got to learn more and more of the mind of God than we now possess, before we are prepared to judge quickly, distinctly, and truly when limbs are dead and should be severed from the body of the tree.

When we have learned that they are really dead, then there is danger in suffering them to remain too long, for they will begin to decay and tend to destroy the tree. When we are satisfied that a limb is dead we clip it off close to the trunk, and cover up the wound that it may not cause any more injury. That is the principle which brother Frost has just been upon. But the nice point is, for us to be able to determine when a limb is entirely dead. Twig after twig may die, and you may often see half the limbs of a tree killed by the severity of winter, yet in the course of the summer the living portion begins to rapidly put forth young and tender branches, and the increase may be as great, perhaps, as though no part had died. That proves the soundness of the trunk, even though many twigs and branches have died. It requires great discrimination, to be able to rightly decide upon the condition of persons in their religious views, their honesty and integrity before God.

There are many in this kingdom who are as foolish as men and women can well be, so much so that it would seem as though they never had sensed moral instruction. They give way to wickedness, and outrage the feelings of those who are truly moral, yet in their hearts they go all lengths for the kingdom of God on the earth. They are willing to stand in the front of the battle, to go to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel, or to do anything they are called upon to perform, yet, when you examine their morality, it highly outrages the feelings of those who are strictly moral and honest in all their ways. Do you believe this? Yes, and many of you know it.

Many of our boys who play in the streets, and use profane language, know not what they are doing, but there are old men, members of the High Priests’ Quorum, and of the High Council, who, when they get into a difficulty in the kanyon and are perplexed, will get angry and swear at, and curse everything around them. I will insure that I can find High Priests who conduct in this manner. But on their way home their feelings become mollified, and they wish to plead with the Lord to forgive them. Could you place yourselves in some of our kanyons, or in some other difficult places, out of sight but within hearing, and hear some of the brethren curse and swear at their cattle and horses, you would not have the least idea that they had ever known anything about “Mormonism,” but follow them home and you may find them pleading with the Lord for pardon. There are just such characters in our midst. Do you think they should be cut off from the Church? I think that if the Presidents of Quorums would chastise them it might be beneficial, at any rate it would not hurt them, and if that will not do, disfellowship them, and let them know that they must observe the laws of this kingdom, or eventually be cut off. If you do not wish to disfellowship them, you who are without sin, take such men into the kanyon, where they may bellow and bellow in vain, and give them a good cowhiding, until they will remember, and be ashamed of themselves when they take the name of God in vain, or lie.

You may take this counsel spiritually or temporally, just as you please. Such characters ought to be whipped, so that they would remember it to the day of their death, and if they do not then stop their lying, swearing, cursing, and pilfering, I will tell them that sooner or later they will be cut off from the Church and go to hell.

No unrighteous person, no person who is filthy in their feelings will ever enter into the kingdom of God. I know that the inquiry is often made, “What shall we do with such men?” I say chastise them. I have reprimanded some of the brethren severely, and made them first-rate men; it brought them to their senses. You may chastise them or take any judicious course to bring them to their senses, that they may know whether they wish to be Saints or not.

If we continue to sin, if we continue to neglect our duty and disobey counsel, the light afflictions which have visited us in these mountains are but as a drop to a bucketful when compared with what awaits us.

What a pity it is that men who do not know how to govern themselves in the kingdom of God, do not know enough to observe the counsel of those who do know. A pity it is that men and women of mature age, but who have not got a fair stock of good sense, do not know how to control and apply what they do know. Such persons do not know enough to sit still and hear from others, but they must always be indulging in their own gabble; their tongues are like a flutter wheel in rapid motion, and their chatter flows in a continual stream. We have men here who will come into this stand, and preach you and I perfectly blind, figuratively speaking, and when they are through they do not know themselves from a side of sole leather, with regard to the things of God; they are all gab. What a pity it is!

I used to think, until I was forty-five years of age, that I had not knowledge, sense, or ability enough to enable me to associate with the men of the world, until I learned that the inhabitants of the earth were groveling in darkness and ignorance, and that their professed knowledge contained but few correct principles, that they were a set of automatons on the stage of life, following the maxim, “As the old cock crows, so crows the young.” All the learned crow one tune, say one prayer, and mainly act just alike. The learned world, so called, is a great mass of ignorance. I was once conversing with a worldly philosopher concerning the elements, and he told me how many there were. I informed him that we were both ignorant on that subject, but that I knew enough to know that there was a vast number of elements which philosophers had not yet been able to classify and determine. I asked him if he would clearly and fully define the nature and properties of the element called light, remarking, you can philosophize, you understand chemistry, astronomy, and many other sciences; now will you please inform me what puts the light in that candle? He replied, “I cannot.” He could not explain the nature and properties of the light produced by the burning of a cotton yarn in tallow. I said to him, do not talk to me any more about philosophy, and your great learning and knowledge, when you cannot give me the least idea of the properties of light.

So it is with the world’s philosophy. All the learning and knowledge upon the face of the earth cannot, of themselves, make or produce a spear of grass, or the smallest leaf upon a tree. Do you know where they come from and what produces them? I know their origin and mode of production, and so do you, though you may not, in your reflections, have fully carried out the ideas connected with that subject. I will give you one item which pertains to what I call natural, true philosophy; and if a philosopher of the day could understand it and explain it to the world, learned institutions would send him sheep skins conferring praise and titles.

I will bring to your minds what I have formerly stated with regard to the spirit’s entering the body. Our bodies are composed of visible, tangible matter, as you all understand, you also know that they are born into this world. They then begin to partake of the elements adapted to their organization and growth, increase to manhood, become old, decay, and pass again into the dust. Now in the first place, though I have explained this many times, what we call death is the operation of life, inherent in the matter of which the body is composed, and which causes the decomposition after the spirit has left the body. Were that not the fact, the body, from which has fled the spirit, would remain to all eternity just as it was when the spirit left it, and would not decay.

What is commonly called death does not destroy the body, it only causes a separation of spirit and body, but the principle of life, inherent in the native elements, of which the body is composed, still continues with the particles of that body and causes it to decay, to dissolve itself into the elements of which it was composed, and all of which continue to have life. When the spirit given to man leaves the body, the tabernacle begins to decompose, is that death? No, death only separates the spirit and body, and a principle of life still operates in the untenanted tabernacle, but in a different way, and producing different effects from those observed while it was tenanted by the spirit. There is not a particle of element which is not filled with life, and all space is filled with element; there is no such thing as empty space, though some philosophers contend that there is.

Life in various proportions, combinations, conditions, &c., fills all matter. Is there life in a tree when it ceases to put forth leaves? You see it standing upright, and when it ceases to bear leaves and fruit you say it is dead, but that is a mistake. It still has life, but that life operates upon the tree in another way, and continues to operate until it resolves it to the native elements. It is life in another condition that begins to operate upon man, upon animal, upon vegetation, and upon minerals when we see the change termed dissolution. There is life in the material of the fleshly tabernacle, independent of the spirit given of God to undergo this probation. There is life in all matter, throughout the vast extent of all the eternities; it is in the rock, the sand, the dust, in water, air, the gases, and, in short, in every description and organization of matter, whether it be solid, liquid, or gaseous, particle operating with particle.

I have heard some philosophers argue that because no body could move without displacing other matter, therefore there must be empty space. That reasoning is nonsense to me, because eternity is, was, and will continue to be full of matter and life. We put a ship in motion on the water, and have we created an empty space? No, we have only changed the position of matter. Men and animals move upon the earth, birds and fishes cleave the elements they are organized to operate in, but do they leave a track of empty space? No, for all eternity is full of matter and life. True, element is capable of contraction and expansion but that does not by any means imply empty space. You see life in human beings and in the growing vegetation, and when that spirit of life departs, another condition of life at once begins to operate upon the organization which remains. By way of illustration I will quote one passage from the book of Job, who in his afflictions was visited by several friends, and after he had concluded that they were all miserable comforters, he exclaimed, “Though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” To make this passage clearer to your comprehension, I will paraphrase it, though my spirit leave my body, and though worms destroy its present organization, yet in the morning of the resurrection I shall behold the face of my Saviour, in this same tabernacle; that is my understanding of the idea so briefly expressed by Job. If you wish to know how the quoted passage reads, see Job, 19 chapter, 26 verse, King James’ translation.

I have formerly spoken about the spirits overcoming the flesh; the body or flesh, is what the devil has power over. God gave Lucifer power, influence, mastery, and rule, to a certain extent, to control the life pertaining to the elements composing the body, and the spirit which God places in the body becomes intimately connected with it, and is of course more or less affected by it.

Now let some of our philosophers tell us how much empty space there is, and where it is, in all the eternities that exist, or in other words, where life is not. The term death is often used to accommodate the understandings of the people, but they are in darkness upon this subject.

The spirit leaves a body, and then that body begins to pass away by another system of life. I might enlarge upon the death pertaining to this time, and the death that will be hereafter, but it is all upon the same principle, it is plain, simple, natural philosophy, and our religion is based upon it.

I will now leave that subject and ask, will you lay a foundation, for your future happiness?

Quite a number of men came here the first season besides the pioneers. Brother Frost was one of the pioneers, and probably one of the first who hammered iron in this region, since the days of the Nephites. He has travelled through the Territory north, south east, and west, wherever he has been sent. He has also crossed the Pacific ocean, and is again right here on hand—not dead yet. There are many others who have held on in the same way, who have not turned aside but have remained here, or gone where they have been sent.

As I was observing last Sabbath, such persons are the characters who are not generally known, throughout our community, as are the drunkards, and men who go to law; those are the men of notoriety, but the others are men of sense, men who mind their own business. Still, do not go to cutting off twigs before they ought to be cut off, but if they prefer it, let them go to California and put their gold and silver into the hands of the devil, for I ask no odds of them, and expect I could buy the whole of them, so far as property is concerned. However, be merciful to them. I say to those men and women who cannot stay here because famine threatens the land, because we are threatened with being distressed, and through fear that we shall all die, just go, won’t you? for you are nothing but hinderances.

We have lifted you up, as we do poor horses that are down and cannot help themselves, and we have nursed you, year after year, and as soon as you could stand alone, you kick at your benefactors. As soon as you get a hundred dollars in money, and two or three yoke of cattle, you are ready to say, “I want to go to the devil now,” and say, go, but as the Lord Almighty lives, you will meet sore chastenings, and pass through much more sorrow than if you were to continue Saints, and remain with the Saints.

And after you are handled by the devil until you are willing to do as the Lord wishes you to, then you will be glad to come here and black the boots and shoes of such men as brother Frost, and will have to do the drudgery to all eternity, or as long as the faithful have a mind to keep you. The poor miserable curses—I call them so because they are cursed—will prowl around and serve the devil, will run back and forth, and go to California and to the States, and here and there, and at the same time pretend they wish to be Saints.

What will be done with such people? God Almighty will make them our servants. You had better stay here and die, if die it is. California is not the gathering place for the Saints; here is the gathering place, and here we will gather and stay until God says, “Go somewhere else.”

If that is back to Jackson County, do not be scared, for as the Lord lives this people will go back and build a great temple there. Do not be frightened, because a few rotten, corrupt scoundrels in our midst cry out, “O, the troops are coming, and that will be the end of ‘Mormonism,’” in order to deceive the weak-minded females.

Should you see little boys playing with pebbles and small sticks, and hear them say, “Get out of the way, we are going to build a great big structure, that we may climb to the sun, and pull it down,” their words and conduct would be just as sensible as it is for the world to tell us that “Mormonism” is going to be destroyed. If we do right we need care no more about them than we do about musquitoes, for this people will surely go back to Jackson County. How soon that may be, or when it may be, I do not care; but that is not now the gathering place for this people.

You will find a great many “Mormons” who have lived in the States ever since they were driven from Missouri, and who still have a wish to be “Mormons,” but they mingle with the world, and some have joined the Methodists, some the baptists, &c., so as to be on hand when this people go back to Jackson County. Then they expect to walk into Zion; but when that day comes they will be only far enough advanced to black the shoes of the faithful, dig trenches, hew wood, and draw water, and perform such other labors as may be required of them, while the Saints dictate the affairs of this kingdom. They think that they are going to slip in with the crowd, but they will find themselves mistaken, for if any one presents them saying, “Let this or that man in,” I will reply, “He stayed in Missouri all the time that the Saints were in the wilderness.” I should want to baptize such characters, and then send them to preach to the spirits in prison. After they have been there a long time, we will then send them to make our farms, attend to our gardens, to our horses and stables, and to do all the drudgery. They may complain and say, “Really brother Joseph, we have been good Saints all the time,” and Joseph will reply, “Come here and let me anoint your eyes,” then he will touch their eyes, and they will turn round and exclaim, “Let us be doorkeepers, or do anything else, that we may stay with you. Now we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand; we see that we have been fools.”

They will labor under the guidance and dictation of the Elders who have been faithful. Joseph and his faithful brethren will be at the gate, and the unfaithful cannot pass. They think that Jesus will be there, and that if he is there they will have the privilege of seeing him, and that they may gain an entrance, but if they have the privilege of seeing Joseph Smith’s coat tail, they may think themselves well off. If the Father, the Son, and the holy angels are there, they will only attend to the general oversight of affairs, and the faithful of this people will have the privilege of determining who is worthy of admission.

This is my philosophy with regard to the duties of the Saints.

Now if philosophers will point out where empty space is, I will pay them for their trouble, because all the wicked will be running to me to know where it is, that they may be where God does not dwell, for they will want the rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from His presence. I could make money by directing poor devils where empty space is. May God bless you. Amen.

The Leaven of the Gospel, etc.

George A. Smith

A discourse by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1856.

It certainly is enough to try the nerves of the strongest man and the lungs of a giant, to rise and address such an immense assemblage as is here this morning, especially with the reflection that they are expecting to listen to and be edified with what I may be able to say.

When I reflect that yesterday I saw the Saints coming in from the south, and some of them on foot, both men and women, bringing their children some fifty miles in their arms, as many did, to get here and attend this Conference, and consider that such labor is to be requited by the instruction and intelligence which they will receive, and then undertake to address an assembly under these circumstances, I feel the necessity for the faith of the Saints to be exercised in my behalf, to enable me to speak for the instruction and edification of so vast an assemblage.

When I was about twenty-one years old I went on a mission, in company with Elder Don C. Smith, the youngest brother of the Prophet Joseph, through the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. When he rose to preach he wished to see a pretty good sized assembly, and to talk at least a couple of hours; when it was my turn to speak, some thirty minutes, perhaps, was as much time as I would wish to occupy. We occasionally had a small assembly, then Don would say, “Come, George A., you are good at preaching a picayune sermon; suppose you try this time.”

It would seem to-day as though a picayune sermon would not answer the purpose, if the size of the congregation is the scale in which the discourse should be weighed.

It is said, in one of the parables, that “the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.”

In 1830, on the 6th day of April, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized with only six members. Joseph, in one of his letters in relation to Alexander Campbell, in December 1835, said that “the three measures of meal might be compared to the three witnesses who were called upon to testify of the Book of Mormon, and who selected and ordained twelve Apostles to go forth and be special witnesses to all the world.”

Whether the application was really intended to be laid down as a rule I will not say, but it is very evident that when Joseph Smith laid the foundation of this kingdom he commenced depositing the leaven of truth, and that that leaven has continued to increase up to 1856, when an assemblage of the Saints, who are here as representatives of this people, is crowded out of such a spacious building as the Tabernacle, and obliged to assemble in this large Bowery, also densely filled.

It shows that the leaven is operating, and I may say gives fair and conclusive ground upon which to expect that the whole lump will eventually be leavened.

The condition of our Territory, the nature of our soil, the peculiarities of our climate, appear as if designed expressly by the Almighty for the fulfilment of this prophesy, and the up-building of the kingdom of heaven in the last days.

It matters not what corner of the earth men come from, unless they possess the spirit of the leaven of truth they will remain but a short time in these mountains before they begin to consider it the wrong place, for the leaven is working, they cannot quite endure the climate and the peculiarities of the country, or something of the kind, and off they go.

On account of our altitude we are most advantageously situated for the drainage of the filth, scum, and corruption, when it accumulates to a certain extent, for it flows off in different directions, thus leaving the people of the kingdom remaining as it were alone.

Could any one have supposed that, when the proclamation of the Gospel was commenced twenty-six years ago, the people who would receive that testimony would be knocking for admittance into the national confederacy as an independent State?

Had it then been predicted, prophesied, or proclaimed to the world, that such would be the case, the very strangeness of the matter, the difficulty of the task, the unheard of idea, would have been so great an apparent absurdity that men, who would have believed it, would have been considered greater fools than those were deemed who received the testimony of the Prophet concerning the ministry of angels.

We stand here to-day a great and mighty people, the servants of the Most High God, and almost every single circumstance, which has occurred from that time to this, has had a tendency to condense us together, to unite us more and more, and to place us in circumstances and situations to spread forth the curtains of Zion, to enlarge her habitations, to lengthen her cords and strengthen her Stakes, and to make the place of the feet of the Saints glorious.

Such, then, is the present aspect of affairs. Much has been done, and much now remains for us to do. The great work has only just commenced. When we entered into this Church we began our education, and it frequently happens that two or three years, and perhaps more, have to be spent in unlearning what we had learned amiss.

The human mind is wonderfully susceptible and tenacious of traditions, and whatever may have been our traditions, it is an extremely difficult task for us, as human beings, to dispense with our traditions at once. They will hang about us, we will retain them, more or less, hence it often happens that, when you baptize a sectarian preacher into this Church, and a great many of them have been so baptized, in a little time his foolish traditions will become so apparent as to make him despise himself.

For this cause scores of them have turned away and joined the mob to destroy the Saints, rather than be stripped of their traditions, which they had so long hugged to their bosoms, and considered of so much value.

A portion of the persecutions which followed this people in their early history have been influenced, to a considerable extent, by the corruptions of those who professed to be in the midst of the Saints, who had been baptized and lived with the Saints, but finally, when their corrupt practices and traditions were about to be exposed, would turn away and join the enemies of this people, and seek their destruction with greater malice, seemingly, than those who had never joined us.

We ought to make profitable lessons for ourselves from observations of the past. I know, brethren, that we have our traditions on a great many subjects. Take a man, for instance, who has been a lawyer, or a magistrate, in the States, or in England, one who has read Blackstone, Kent, and a few other law books, and undertake to explain to him a simple mode of administering justice, one that can be plainly understood by all the people, and I do not care how much education or “Mormonism” he has, the very moment the simplicity of administering justice is laid before him it comes in contact with his traditions, and he will quibble about the meaning and placing of words, the mode of spelling, or the tail of a comma, and continue so to do, perhaps, during his whole life, without ever learning that matters brought before us ought to be dealt with according to the nature of the case and the circumstances, without going back a thousand years for precedents to govern us.

Take a man who has been educated a sectarian minister, he has certain grave ideas imprinted on his mind, he must pray in a certain form, and perhaps use a certain tone of voice when he offers up his prayer, and however much he may believe the Gospel of the last days, he will constantly be at a loss to know whether he is governed in some things by the principles of truth, or whether in reality he is not following some of the whims or traditions of his early education.

You may apply the same rule in farming. Take a man from the Western States, place him on some of our farming lands and tell him, “Here are twenty acres of land, and it is all you can properly farm, unless you have more help than yourself. Now fence and cultivate it, and you can make an abundant living.” He would be apt to say, “You must be mad; bless you, I need 160 acres, I can cultivate that much at least. I have always done so, and I will not have anything to do with such a little patch.”

I have seen many engage in farming here, and have known them to work four or five years without having the first acre secured by a good fence, and without cultivating the ground in a manner suited to the soil and climate. Why? Traditions interfere, they have been traditionated to run over a great quantity of ground, and to not half cultivate it, until farms are almost entirely exhausted.

Incorrect traditions, though long followed, have to be surrendered, and we have to build up Zion. The plan of Zion contemplates that the earth, the gardens, and fields of Zion, be beautiful and cultivated in the best possible manner. Our traditions have got to yield to that plan, circumstances will bring us to that point, and eventually we shall be under the necessity of learning and adopting the plan of beautifying and cultivating every foot of the soil of Zion in the best possible manner.

When the Saints become instructed, when this people become united as they should be, when they learn things as they should learn them, they will not be subject to the constant and unpleasant annoyances to which they have been subject.

Many think there is no necessity of doing anything more than to throw a little seed in the ground and plough it under, that then they are sure of a crop. They often farm without fences, sow their seed without properly preparing the land and attending to it, and then trust in God for the balance.

Others think it irreligious to speak upon temporal subjects on the Sabbath day, that it is a violation of the day to talk concerning our business transactions on the Sabbath.

If I understand the order of building up the kingdom, it is a spiritual work, on every occasion, to give proper instructions necessary for the good of the kingdom. Very small matters lead sometimes to great results.

There are many here, as religious as this congregation looks, who have not got a good fence around their farms, yet they will kneel down in the morning, perhaps, to offer a prayer. By the time they have got one knee fairly to the floor, peradventure somebody thunders away at the door and cries out, “Neighbor, there are twenty head of cattle in your wheat; they have been there all night, and are there now.”

The man of no fence is roused up, and instead of praying he is apt to think, “Damn it,” and to, start off to get the cattle out and put them into the stray pen.

Perhaps another neighbor has not been quite as wide awake in the morning, and had prepared no place in which to secure his cattle: he is about ready to say his prayers when his ears are saluted with, “Neighbor, all your cattle are in the stray pen, and $100 damage is to pay.”

Thus you must see that some temporal arrangements are necessary, to enable men to enjoy that quiet which would be desirable in attempting to worship our Heavenly Father.

You may think that these small matters amount to but little, but sometimes it happens that out of a small matter grows something exceedingly great. For instance, while the Saints were living in Far West, there were two sisters wishing to make cheese and, neither of them possessing the requisite number of cows, they agreed to exchange milk.

The wife of Thomas B. Marsh, who was then President of the Twelve Apostles, and sister Harris concluded they would exchange milk, in order to make a little larger cheese than they otherwise could. To be sure to have justice done, it was agreed that they should not save the strippings, but that the milk and strippings should all go together. Small matters to talk about here, to be sure, two women’s exchanging milk to make cheese.

Mrs. Harris, it appeared, was faithful to the agreement and carried to Mrs. Marsh the milk and strippings, but Mrs. Marsh, wishing to make some extra good cheese, saved a pint of strippings from each cow and sent Mrs. Harris the milk without the strippings.

Finally it leaked out that Mrs. Marsh had saved strippings, and it became a matter to be settled by the Teachers. They began to examine the matter, and it was proved that Mrs. Marsh had saved the strippings, and consequently had wronged Mrs. Harris out of that amount.

An appeal was taken from the Teacher to the Bishop, and a regular Church trial was had. President Marsh did not consider that the Bishop had done him and his lady justice, for they decided that the strippings were wrongfully saved, and that the woman had violated her covenant.

Marsh immediately took an appeal to the High Council, who investigated the question with much patience, and I assure you they were a grave body. Marsh being extremely anxious to maintain the character of his wife, as he was the President of the Twelve Apostles, and a great man in Israel, made a desperate defence, but the High Council finally confirmed the Bishop’s decision.

Marsh, not being satisfied, took an appeal to the First Presidency of the Church, and Joseph and his Counsellors had to sit upon the case, and they approved the decision of the High Council.

This little affair, you will observe, kicked up a considerable breeze, and Thomas B. Marsh then declared that he would sustain the character of his wife, even if he had to go to hell for it.

The then President of the Twelve Apostles, the man who should have been the first to do justice and cause reparation to be made for wrong, committed by any member of his family, took that position, and what next? He went before a magistrate and swore that the “Mormons” were hostile towards the State of Missouri.

That affidavit brought from the government of Missouri an exterminating order, which drove some 15,000 Saints from their homes and habitations, and some thousands perished through suffering the exposure consequent on this state of affairs.

Do you understand what trouble was consequent to the dispute about a pint of strippings? Do you understand that the want of fences around gardens, fields, and yards, in town and country, allowing cattle to get into mischief and into the stray pen, may end in some serious result? That the corroding influence of such circumstances may be brought to bear upon us, in such a way that we may lose the Spirit of the Almighty and become hostile to the people? And if we should not bring about as mighty results as the pint of strippings, yet we might bring entire destruction to ourselves. If you wish to enjoy your religion and the Spirit of the Almighty, you must make your calculations to avoid annoyances, as much as possible. When brother Brigham was anxious to have men take ten acres of land each and fence it, many thought that he was behind the times. The result is, from the time I came into the Valleys, in 1849, to the present, I never have been to the big field south of this City, or around or through it when it was fenced, and if any other man has seen it fenced, he has seen it at some time when I did not. The reason of this is, and has been, either we undertake to accomplish more than we can do, or neglect to do our duty in many respects.

In travelling through the other settlements you find similar difficulties. I do know that there has been more quarrelling, fault finding, and complaining, throughout the settlements south of this County, in consequence of bad fences, in consequence of men neglecting to fence their fields and secure their crops, than from almost any other source of annoyance.

People have undertaken to fence far more land than they have ever tried to cultivate as it should be.

Brother Kimball requested me to preach on matters of policy, and I have come to the conclusion that the best policy is to undertake to cultivate a little land, and to fence and cultivate it as it should be, and to only keep as many cattle as we can take care of, and keep from destroying our neighbors crops. In that way I believe we will be able to avoid a good many annoyances, and to adopt a great deal better policy than we now have in those respects. In the City of Provo, there has been more grain destroyed, every year since I first went there, than has been saved, and the main cause has been the want of proper fences.

In the commencement of new settlements, we have generally committed an error in undertaking to fence too large a field. When we first established the settlement of Parowan, in Iron County, the brethren got together in a general council, and took into consideration the propriety of fencing a field. I recommended that they should fence 640 acres with a heavy, substantial fence, and cultivate it like a garden; and when that was done, then they might increase their possessions. There was not half a dozen men, out of the hundreds who were there, who came with me, who agreed with me. I was told that I was no farmer, though they would admit that I had a little experience in preaching.

It was urged that my advice, if adopted, would be equivalent to ruining the settlement, consequently, to avoid a general murmuring throughout the camp, it was concluded to fence in 6,000 acres.

We have worked at that job from that day to this, and have not yet had an acre of land securely fenced. They have now come to the conclusion to adopt the identical plan suggested at first, and to fence in a section of land to begin with.

There has been a constant complaint about selling the land for fencing, quarrelling here and there about cattle doing mischief, and they have become thoroughly converted to the doctrine I recommended. Experience had to teach them the lesson, though it was not so much experience with me, for my father taught me that a man could not raise a crop with any certainty unless he first fenced his land, and it was considered one of the most ridiculous things a man could be guilty of, in a new country, to plant a crop and let the cattle destroy it for want of a fence. Some settlements have made tolerably good fences, but as a general thing the poles are stretched too long for their size, the points sag down, and should a cow or an ox happen to pass by such an apology for a fence, and understand that it was designed to keep out animals, they would be insulted, and, were it not against the law to fight a duel, you might expect such cow or ox to give you a challenge for such gross insult. The inhabitants of this County, perhaps, know better how their fences look than I do. I am going to advise my brethren, the farmers, if they have more land than they can fence, to sell, rent, or throw it out to the commons, and secure one acre at least, and from that to ten, or as much as they can actually enclose as it should be, and then cultivate it in good style. Do not haul off the straw to burn, but save it all, and all the manure you can produce. In this way Zion can be made to blossom as a rose, and the beauty of Zion will begin to shine forth like the morning, and if the brethren have not learned by experience that this is the course to pursue, by that time they will learn it. I presume a great many have become satisfied that it would be better to avoid many of these annoyances.

There has been some grumbling, in many of the settlements, that the Indians destroy the crops, that they go through the fences and let their horses into the fields. It has been in my way, frequently, to look at these fields, and, as a general thing, there was no fence there, or, if a fence at all, not such an one as would induce any person to go round it. The leaving of bars, the throwing down of fences have been as often through the carelessness and neglect of white men as of Indians.

On one occasion last season, I heard a tremendous complaint brought up in meeting, that the Indians had done great damage by throwing their fences down and turning their horses into the fields, but before the meeting was dismissed it was made apparent that the Indians only traveled the path made by the white man, and were actually more careful than many white men, for they had been seen to take down the fence and put it up again, when white men would take it down and leave it so, or break it by driving over. I recommend, as a system of economy, that we commence from the year 1856 to avoid these errors, these blunders, that we may escape the results flowing from them.

There is another thing that I think by this time has become understood throughout the Territory, and that is, that we live in a cold northern latitude, at a high altitude, and that we are liable to have very cold winters. There have been several severe winters already. In the winter of 1849-50, many of the animals belonging to the United States’ troops perished in Cache Valley. Many have supposed that our cattle were going to live without being fed; that they would run on the range and fat all the winter, as in Central America; this supposition must have been this winter pretty fully exploded. A system of true policy and domestic economy would indicate, then, that we must collect and preserve feed for our animals, and prepare barns and stables to shelter those necessary to be kept for immediate use.

At last Spring’s Conference, the brethren came in their carriages by hundreds and thousands; I now see numbers of the same persons footing it to this Conference with sore feet, walking 50 or 100 miles. What has become of their horses? They are so poor they cannot get up alone, or are out on the range, as there was nothing to feed them with. Let us take a valuable lesson from this circumstance, and make suitable provision for our stock.

So many coming to this Conference on foot, called to mind some of the history of my early days. I have traveled some thirty thousand miles on foot, and a great portion of that distance with a valise on my back, without purse or scrip, to preach the Gospel, and I understand something about sore feet. But I must say, when I saw brother Graves and his wife walking fifty miles to attend Conference, and carrying a child, that I thought they were indeed anxious to hear instructions. Says sister Graves, “I came all the way here from England to hear brother Brigham, I have not yet had a chance, and I am now determined to hear him.” I will prophesy that the time will come when they, through faith and perseverance, will come to Conference in their carriage.

Good domestic policy requires us to be careful in providing such comforts and necessaries as we can produce within ourselves. If we let our sheep perish our clothing will be scanty, or we shall be forced into the stores to support distant producers. If we let our cattle die we shall not only lack beef, but our home made leather will be missing. In short, the difficulties and wrongs which may grow out of such carelessness are numerous. It should by all means be our policy to produce every article, which we can, within ourselves.

These sentiments are strictly within the scope of my religion, and those comforts and conveniences, which we are constantly in need from day to day, are necessary to enable us to perform the duties God requires at our hands. One of those duties is, to take a course that will enable us to enjoy the blessings and comforts of life, that we may preserve our health and strength to labor for the upbuilding and spread of the kingdom of God.

Much is said in the world, and considerable excitement raised on the subject of “women’s rights.” Complaint is made that the rights of women are taken away, that they have not the privilege of working out doors like men, have not a chance of voting at elections, of holding commissions in the army and navy, or of being elected to honorable offices in government. Whether “women’s rights conventions” will terminate as did the lady’s rebellion in Hungary, in almost universal war, is not now for me to say. But I will say to our “Mormon” sisters that they have the best prospect of having their rights, of enjoying the privilege of a healthful share of our out door labor, of cultivating the gardens and of aiding in the management of business, of any women at present on the earth, for every Conference calls for a considerable number of missionaries, who are sent forth to preach the Gospel, and to perform other duties in relation to the upbuilding of the kingdom in the last days. This operation leaves many wives and daughters at home, frequently not under the most favorable pecuniary circumstances, and the result is that it calls into requisition their economy, brings out their energies, educates them in matters of business, and, I think, enables them to exercise, as long as they probably may wish to, those avocations and duties which custom has assigned to men, but which are so earnestly sought for by the “women’s rights conventions.”

If any of our ladies are really anxious for the privilege of cultivating the earth and producing the necessaries of life, they most certainly have a fair field to labor in; and if any lack this privilege, and will let that fact be known, their husbands can be advantageously sent forth to preach the Gospel.

The various policies now agitating the world, indicate the crazy state of its society, all split up into parties; and law, and agitation appear to be the general order of the day. Our women, who feel proud to exert their talent in sustaining and administering to the wants of those around them, while their husbands are abroad gathering the Saints or preaching the fullness of the Gospel, merit a constant prayer that the Lord will guide, direct and counsel them, and enable them to fulfil the duties of their several callings, to the end that their husbands may feel at ease while abroad fulfilling their duties, that the anxiety which would naturally rest upon their minds, in relation to affairs at home, may be entirely removed, that they may devote their whole faith and energy in the spread of the Gospel among the different nations whither they may be called to travel.

Many of us have, formerly, been very anxious to be made partakers of the privilege of civilizing the Indians, but now we have become exceedingly annoyed with the loose conduct of some few of them, and may have felt a blood-thirsty disposition towards them. The Lord has placed us in a position through which we are brought in contact with them, and requires us to use all reasonable exertion to reclaim the fallen remnants of Israel. We are not to be discouraged if we have to labor much to reclaim them, and should not thirst for their blood, nor suffer ourselves to be led into a feeling to shed their blood. but should cultivate a strong desire to ameliorate their condition, in every instance where it is possible so to do. Reflect how long the Lord has borne with us and our many follies, and learn to labor long and patiently with the children of the forests, that we may, peradventure bring them, or their children, to the knowledge of their fathers, for it is written that the remnants of them shall be saved. After the remnants of Israel shall be gathered in, not many generations shall pass away before they shall become a white and delightsome people. Then we may, perhaps, look back with regret at our present impatience, and at the disposition of some to destroy that race. God created them, and wickedness and corruption have degraded them to their present condition, but according to the education they have had, the code of morals they have learned, they are more moral and virtuous than many of the white men in the world.

It is said that men will be judged according to their works, based upon the knowledge they have been privileged to possess. Now, I believe that many of the Indians residing in these mountains have done better, according to their opportunities and knowledge, than have some of us. We have had far superior advantages, and of course better conduct and a more perfect walk ought to be expected from us. I have frequently observed the feelings of our brethren towards the Indians, and it takes but very little to rouse in some a disposition to kill and destroy them. Of all the policies that is the worst, for it is much easier, cheaper, and in every way better to feed than to fight them. Aside from that view, in one case you are not guilty of shedding blood, but in the other you bring their blood upon your heads, provided it is not shed justifiably. Occasions may occur, perhaps, when it is necessary to fight them, but they might be far more rare if the brethren would always strictly fulfil their duties.

The history of the settlement of most if not all new States has been fraught, chequered, blooded, with the perpetration of cruelties to the Indians. These should learn us a profitable and valuable lesson, and all the brethren should cultivate a disposition to conciliate under all circumstances, and to avoid, so far as possible, every cause of offence between us and these scattered remnants of Jacob. I have always endeavoured to exercise a pacific policy, and still believe it to be the best. The past has proven that a few Indians can conceal themselves in the mountains, and keep a settlement in a state of constant alarm for years. And how has it been even in a level country? The Florida war cost the government of the United States thousands of lives, some twenty millions of dollars, and lasted many years, and after all they purchased a peace, when they could not otherwise reach Sam Jones and his party. Billy Bowlegs, when passing through the gallery of portraits in New York City, recognized the likenesses of Generals Scott and Taylor, and said, “I licked both those generals in the Florida war.”

Peace had to be bought and presents made, which could have been much easier done at the beginning, and thus have avoided the difficulties and consequent expense and loss of life. I hope our brethren will always be courteous, and take a course to avoid the occurrence of any difficulty in this Territory.

I will return to the subjects of home products. We are so situated that we cannot profitably transport our grain to a market outside our borders, nor in case of scarcity easily bring grain here; for these reasons prudence would dictate us to make timely and suitable provisions for storing all surplus, that in case of famine, or great scarcity, we might have a supply of bread.

The Emperor of China has a policy for the preservation of the people of his empire, something like this: he receives one-fifth of all the grain produced, and stores it up against a day of scarcity. That country is so well provided with canals, that in case grain is cut off in any portion of the empire, breadstuff can be easily furnished to the people. And even in case of a general famine, the immense population could be sustained, for some years, from the Imperial stores which have accumulated.

We as well as others, should learn to store our provisions when there is plenty, that we may be prepared against a time of need. The First Presidency, from time to time, since we came here, have taught that it was necessary for us to provide against the day of famine and great trouble, and that it was not only necessary for us to provide for ourselves, but also for the thousands and millions who are flocking to these mountains, for shelter from the calamities that are fast falling upon the world. A goodly share of the human race are now in extreme destitution, and those who are not in very straightened circumstances manifest great wrath towards each other, and war and cruelty are the consequent results. Millions and millions, of funds are diverted from the industrial channels and invested in the operations of war, leaving multitudes of people in a state of utmost destitution.

The grain ports of Russia have been closed for a long time, the war question continues to grow still more complete, and as the perplexity increases, multitudes more are deprived of necessary food. These derangements are constantly increasing, and will increase; and the time is not far distant when millions of people will fly to these Valleys as the only peaceful, plentiful place of refuge. Then it becomes the Saints to store up food for themselves, and for the hosts who will come here for sustenance and protection, for as the Lord lives they will flow here by thousands and millions, and seek bread and protection at the hands of this people.

I lately asked one of the brethren why he had not built a house; said he, “I thought we might be driven away from here, and I should lose my labour.” You can understand what I think about being driven, for I calculate that the Lord has got His children into the mountains where He can handle them at His pleasure, and He is perfectly willing that we should stay here and will not suffer our enemies to drive us, unless we rebel against Him, and I do not presume that we shall do that. We are so nicely situated that when a man gets uneasy, or feels like leaving, he can travel over the rim of the Basin and disappear in the far off regions of gold and plenty, where the comforts of life abound, and that is all he cares about.

When a man apostatizes from this Church, rejects the authorities of the Priesthood and rebels against the principles of the Gospel, he cares no more for anything spiritual, or what pertains to pure religion, than the wild bull of the plains. All he cares about is to satisfy his appetites, gratify his lusts and be filled with the good things of the earth. I have heard numbers of such persons say, “From this day on I care nothing about religion: it is only for myself, my family, and the things we can get, that I care about.” When a man begins to think that brother Brigham is stringent in his measures, and to feel that there is not room enough, that he cannot get enough land, the next thing is he will be seen drunk in San Bernardino, or somewhere else, although he did not go there with the intent to get drunk, but that is the natural result of losing the Spirit of the Almighty. It actually does seem that the Lord has placed us in the most complete position for getting rid of all such characters, and occasional seasons of scarcity, occasional dry years, occasional visits of grasshoppers, and an occasional severe winter, produce constant annoyance in the minds of those who wish to get into a paradise in a hurry. If those who are disposed to complain will but reflect a little, they will understand that we are actually situated in the best country in the world.

Do any of you recollect when you used to have the ague THIRTEEN months in the year? Do you recollect of ever calling upon an Elder to lay hands on the sick, and of his beginning to shake while he was attending to the ordinances? Can you not recollect that at times, in Nauvoo, there would not be a house without two or three sick persons in it a great portion of the year? And when a heavy person died there, do you not remember that it was as much as we could do t get enough men round the coffin to lift it, because we all were so used up with the ague, and were so very sickly? Is it so now? are nine out of ten of the brethren sick here? Do you go to your houses and find a couple shaking on one bed, another in a fever, and a child on the floor unable to get up, and perhaps not one in the family able to get another a drink of water? You can remember such scenes in our former locations, but you are now in a country where these things are comparatively unknown. Do you recollect the time, when in the midst of agues, that the only nourishment many could give the sick was a coarse corn dodger? Corn was often not worth more than twelve cents a bushel, but you could not always get out to carry it to mill; and when you could, you often found the mill so constructed that it would grind two kernels into one, and such was the nourishment for the sick.

Every night the sickly season was talked of, and that sickly season lasted all that part of the year in which we wanted to be at work raising bread. And when you went to meeting, and looked round upon the congregation, you saw an assemblage of pale countenances; and often saw numbers of them starting off before the close of the meeting, because they were unable to stay any longer, and looking as though they would fall down and never be able to rise again. But I now challenge the world to produce a healthier looking congregation than this.

I have heard some say that they were bothered to get provisions, but if there is a fatter, heartier looking congregation in the world I do not know where it is, and challenge the world to produce one. Some have been asking me what I was going to say, at Washington, about our present scarcity, and I gave them to understand that I should tell them that I was about the only person in the Territory but what had plenty to eat, and that the people had thought best to send me away, for fear I would get too lean. The health which has been enjoyed by this people, since they have been in the mountains, exceeds all bounds of previous belief. Through exposure in crossing the Plains, and during our persecutions, has resulted a great portion of the small amount of disease that has appeared among the community. Notwithstanding all these circumstances—the health and the manifold blessings conferred upon us—some have been discontented. I have known men come here so poor that they had to beg the first meal of victuals, and by working three or four years become independently rich, but still they alleged that the country was so hard that they could not live in it, and that they must leave because they had to pay so many taxes, and because so many difficulties surrounded them. I have seen those same men laying on the banks of the Mississippi shaking with the ague, and begging me to administer to their wants, and I suppose they think they will be pretty happy if they can only get back there again. These facts display the weakness of human nature, indicate that our feelings are liable to fluctuate, that our memories are often short and our dispositions uneasy.

These tabernacles must be dissolved, but it is our duty to exercise our talents to the best advantage, and to perform the most good in our power, that we may rightly fulfil the end of our creation, benefit our fellow men, and be prepared for the next state of existence. Let us then be careful not to defile ourselves or corrupt our way before the Lord, not to have our integrity tarnished, but live in humility and in righteousness all our days.

Of all men upon the face of the earth, we are the most favoured; we have the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, the keys of revelation and exaltation, the privilege of making our own rules and regulations, and are not opposed by anybody. No king, prince, potentate, or dominion, has rightful authority to crush and oppress us. We breathe the free air, we have the best looking men and handsomest women, and if they envy us our position, well they may, for they are a poor, narrow-minded, pinch-backed race of men, who chain themselves down to the law of monogamy, and live all their days under the dominion of one wife. They ought to be ashamed of such conduct, and the still fouler channel which flows from their practices; and it is not to be wondered at that they should envy those who so much better understand the social relations.

I have offered these remarks, on the subject of policy, in rather a rambling manner, something like the parson, who was told that he did not speak to his text, “Very well,” says he, “scattering shots hit the most birds.” May the Lord bless us all, and prepare us to enter His kingdom. Amen.

The Salvation of the Soul of the Greatest Importance—Benefit of the Useful Sciences, etc.

Orson Pratt

A discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 10, 1856.

Being requested to speak to the people this morning, I cheerfully rise for that purpose, ever esteeming it a great privilege to address the Saints upon the important principles connected with our salvation.

I esteem the privilege of proclaiming salvation above any privilege that may be named. The subject of salvation is one of far greater importance than any other subject which can or does interest the human family; although, apparently, we might suppose that the accumulation of the comforts of this life was the one that most interests mankind, judging from the actions of men.

Why this is so I cannot tell, unless they think that they can thus lengthen out their lives, and by this means have the advantage of their neighbors.

It is very seldom that we ever hear of the people of this land perishing for want of the comforts of this life, and I doubt very much whether they would if they were not so much interested as they appear to be in respect to riches.

Not that I would discard the command given soon after the fall—for man to till the earth and earn his bread by the sweat of his brow; not that I discard the idea of being industrious, of laboring to procure food and raiment, of beautifying our habitations and inheritances, but these are only temporary considerations, items of a secondary moment.

To secure to ourselves eternal life and future salvation is a subject of so much more importance than all other subjects combined, that it certainly ought to be foremost in our minds and conversation.

If our hearts were supremely placed upon this subject we should converse most about those things that pertain to salvation, instead of being all the time fearful that we were going to perish so far as this mortal life is concerned.

Instead of being afraid that we were going to suffer a little inconvenience, we ought to consider the life of the body in the light that our Saviour speaks of it in one of the new revelations, “Care not for the body, nor for the life of the body; but care for the soul and for the life of the soul,” or in other words, care most for the future salvation and everlasting life that are in store for mankind.

Suppose we should be brought to such extremities that we should all perish with starvation, what of that? If we have done our work may we not as well perish in that way as in any other? Is there any great difference in the kind of death that we die? Does it matter much whether we perish for want of food, or whether we are martyred, or whether the great change which we must all undergo comes in a more common way?

In my opinion, it does not make much difference which way that change comes, but we ought to be in such a frame of mind that we can rejoice in all circumstances.

If we all knew that we must perish under our present scarcity of food, what of that? Ought we not to rejoice in the privilege of exchanging this present life for one which we hope to be more happy, for one where we shall receive greater blessings, greater privileges, where we shall have more solid enjoyment, and where our intellectual faculties will be far more expanded?

Instead of exercising so great an anxiety as to where we shall get a little flour, a little corn meal, a few potatoes, or a little beef with which to nourish these bodies, our enquiries should be, are our hearts right before the Lord our God, are we keeping His commandments, are we living up to our privileges, do we esteem all the words of the Lord as we ought, or are we a little careless and indifferent?

Every person ought to have those ideas foremost in their minds, for the Lord has told us that it is His business to provide for His Saints. At the same time it is necessary that we should be diligent, and endeavour to do our best to do His will in all things, and to find out what His will is concerning us, that we may be able to do it.

I have from my observations last fall and this winter, and from observations previously made, been firmly convinced that we have all been a little unfaithful as a people. This is my opinion according to the light and knowledge I have upon the subject, and it has been more fully impressed upon my mind since last Conference than during any other period of our sojourn here, for I have traveled in most of the settlements to hold Conferences; in connection with my brethren of the home missions, and from the little observation I have made, I am convinced that we have not all fully lived up to our privileges as Saints of the Most High God.

For instance, at a place north of this city, and containing almost inhabitants enough to fill this house, a Conference was lately appointed. Several went from here, according to the missions given us, and when we got there, instead of finding a place suitable for the people to assemble in, we found a very small log building which, perhaps, by crowding, might contain a hundred persons; and it was also quite dilapidated, having scarcely a whole pane of glass in any of its windows.

We stopped near this log building and waited until half an hour after the time, as we did not see many passing to the meeting, and then we went in and found about twenty persons sitting in the cold room, which had scarcely one window but what was more or less destitute of glass.

After a while we opened our meeting, and those few individuals sat shivering while we addressed them. The remaining portion of the citizens were busily engaged with the care of their cattle, and in other occupations, and with them the Conference was only a secondary consideration.

The few who attended our first meeting went and persuaded a few of their neighbors to come, and after holding a few meetings we succeeded in getting this very small house pretty well filled; whereas, if the people had come out as they ought, the place would not have held a quarter of them. Ogden City is the place I have alluded to.

We found that instead of the people’s assembling at the proper time they came about an hour after, and instead of keeping sacred the Lord’s day they worked at almost every kind of labor.

I have also observed in other places that the Lord’s day is scarcely regarded at all. Perhaps the people would attend meeting at times, but often after it is over, “hurrah for the horses, mules, and, carriages,” and directly six or eight young men and women are in each carriage riding out for pleasure. This does look as though they did not rightly value the Lord’s day, it looks as though they did not care whether they went strolling over fields and prairies, or how they spent their time.

I mention those things in order to show the recklessness and carelessness manifested by some of the young people who are growing up in these valleys of the mountains.

I will mention another practice that in my opinion is often carried to excess, though of no harm in itself; it is a pleasant exercise, but may be so indulged in as to bring condemnation. I have referrence to dancing and dancing schools; I do think that these things, and occasionally our parties, are carried to excess.

I will include myself in these matters, and consider that my remarks also apply to myself. Some may ask why I deem these matters carried to excess; because often the minds of the young are not only thus unduly placed upon the follies and vanities of this life, but these things have a tendency to draw their minds away from the things of a hundred times more importance.

Suppose that a person should go to a dancing school for two or three years, and become the most expert dancer in the world, become so proficient that the toes and feet would at every step be placed in the proper position, the hands be held gracefully, and every motion, gesture, and figure be properly made, in short, become as perfect as any one that ever exhibited on “the fantastic toe,” what of all that? How much is the mind improved by the operation?

“But” says one, “does it not have a tendency to make one nimble and graceful in appearance?” Yes, and so equally do other exercises that would be more useful, for they tend to make persons hardy and athletic.

Think of the time consumed in learning how to take every step properly, when it might be used to a hundred times more profit, for after all, “It is the mind that makes the man!”

These bodies are secondary when compared to the mind, for the body is only the shell, or the outward case. If our minds are neglected, I do not care how graceful the body may be, the usefulness is not there.

What particular advantage would it be to this generation, if you should spend twenty years in learning all the technicalities of gracefulness? It might be of some use, but of very little in comparison to a well informed and instructed mind. I do think that our minds are too much taken up by these things, but I would not have you to understand by my remarks that we should entirely deprive ourselves of these pleasures.

It is well enough to occasionally exercise ourselves in the dance, for it was not prohibited in ancient days, and it is predicted that the old and young should enjoy themselves in the dance in modern times; but I am not aware that this has reference to using all our time in dancing.

There is one thing I would like to encourage instead of that carelessness which is now manifested by many, and that is to store our minds with the arts and sciences; not with foolish conjectures, not with vain philosophy, not with something that will fly away with the beams of the sun, but with useful facts, those which have been sought out by men influenced by the inspiration of the Almighty and recorded in books.

Suppose that you and I were deprived of all books, and that we had no faith to get revelation, and no disposition to understand that which has been sought out, understood, and recorded in books, what would be our condition? Suppose that we had not sufficient faith and application to acquire information concerning mathematics, astronomy, geography, mechanism and their kindred branches, or a knowledge of the elements and materials of our globe with their various combinations for useful purposes and their application to machinery, and also of the laws by which machinery acts, and the laws governing motions; then suppose that the present knowledge was all shut out, it would, under these conditions and independent of the aid of the Almighty, require an indefinite period in which to make any great progress in the knowledge that is even now extant.

I am speaking upon the principle naturally, upon that which is revealed without the Holy Ghost to inspire us. Now suppose that we have books to enlighten us upon useful knowledge, how much more easy it is for us to. get knowledge that has been systematized so that we can obtain in a few minutes, that which would otherwise take us years to acquire.

This is the benefit to be derived from the use of books; hence when we say that books are useful we have reference to books that contain useful sciences and knowledge; those facts that are demonstrated by experiment, and not to books filled with the wild theories of speculative men, for those books are laden with humbug in lieu of knowledge.

Who does not know that fifteen minutes’ study would acquaint persons with discovered and recorded laws which might otherwise take a series of years to become familiar with? By reasoning and trying to generalize our ideas we may gain much useful information, but shall we therefore consider books of no use? Is there no wisdom in availing ourselves of the labors of those who have developed truths?

It is still knowledge, notwithstanding it has been discovered by others. Truth is truth, and take it wherever you may find it, or from whatever source it comes, it was truth from all eternity, and it will be truth to all eternity. There is a great fund of useful information laid down in books.

Is not all truth good? Yes; and when we speak of true and useful knowledge we have reference to that which pertains to God, or to the workmanship of His hands; and when there are books that pertain to God, or to the things of His kingdom, or the workmanship of His hands, they must be of use, of some service to the human family.

Therefore we need not despair and think that we shall, by and bye, come to the end, to a time when there will be no knowledge in books. When you have thoroughly learned botany and searched out all its laws, and perhaps all botanical creation, so as to perfectly understand the nature and uses of the great variety of roots, trees, barks, and herbs, you have become familiar with only one branch of the works or laws of our God.

When you are master of all the knowledge there is in books about chemistry, and have arranged the chemical affinity of the various gases, and their uses, what have you found out? You have only found out another branch of the great works of God.

We have mentioned only two branches of the great works of our God, pertaining to which we can acquire knowledge and understanding. We might refer to many others, viz., astronomy, geology, mineralogy and metallurgy, all of which would be useful in our works and discoveries.

Indeed, had it not been for the discoveries in those sciences, civilization would never have risen to its present state in the world, we should not have been blessed with many of the luxuries of life that we now enjoy. And these are only a few of the various branches of His works, out of the number of what are generally termed sciences.

We might go on and enumerate many arts and sciences by which mankind are benefited, especially in machinery and the laws of evolution, explaining and defining what machinery will do and what it will not do.

How many hundred years have been spent by numerous individuals, in order to discover perpetual motion, whereas fifteen minutes labor, with a knowledge of the science of mathematics, would enable a man to demonstrate that it is an impossibility for us to form a machine that when set in motion will supply its own motive power, and not stop until it is worn out. Mathematics would have shown those persons that they were in search of theories and principles which could not be found out.

Again, alchymists tried for generations to transmute the coarser materials into gold, and hundreds of individuals have spent all their time in the pursuit of that vain phantom, when with a knowledge of the chemical properties already sought out, no one would ever think of accomplishing transmutation.

We as a people, with the privileges that we have, the opportunity of being in these valleys where the world and the enemies of this people do not tyrannize over us, “I do verily believe, have not lived as faithfully as we ought, have not lived in proportion to the knowledge we have in our possession. In this respect many of the youths in our Territory are not trying to improve their minds in a way that will render them the most useful to themselves and to others.

I will say to numbers of the youth, your time is spent in frivolity; year after year is spent in this manner by many of the young men in this Territory. If we were being driven from city to city, and had not the opportunity of getting good, competent schoolmasters, those circumstances would be a good excuse.

But having been here a sufficient length of time to build houses, to establish ourselves in peace in the midst of plenty, flourishing upon the mountains, in the valleys, and upon the hills, with all these blessings is it not a shame that we should let so much precious time pass away without being more wisely improved?

When I have had a good exercise in dancing, I take hold of my books and business, and think no more of dancing until I have a seasonable opportunity of going forth in the dance again.

I mention these things that parents may take hold of them, that they may be induced to lead their children in the right way, to set an example that those who are of a proper age may reform, that we may see the rising generation growing up armed with wisdom and knowledge, with the principles of salvation, with the principles of true science.

Have we had a high school here? Not in this Valley. “But,” says one, “we have had a parent school, and that is what we consider a high school.” Yes, we have had a great many things in name, but mere name is not what is wanted. We have had a University in name, and that is greater than a college, for it is expected that in a University all sciences will be taught, but as yet we have had no such University.

Have we colleges? I believe none, even in name. Have we had academies? I believe not. If we have, they have been very inferior to those in the Eastern States. Go to the schools in the New England States and see the order that is kept in them, see the improvement of the youth who are taught in them, and then come back to our high and common schools, and you will see that the common schools of the East will far surpass any that we have yet had in our Territory, for in those schools many of the higher branches of education are thoroughly taught.

I have spoken plainly on these points, and in accordance with my feelings.

What constitutes civilization? The acquirement and correct application of useful knowledge.

Do the world comply with the principles of civilization? They do in part; they have acquired knowledge in part, but they make a very bad use of it.

Have the Latter-day Saints made any better use of their knowledge? They have. After all I have said I must praise the Latter-day Saints a little, but I hope you will not get proud because of it.

You have qualities which I esteem very highly, and which but few in the world have, viz., principles of honesty, of integrity, and of union. You have a foundation laid, and if you will rightly build upon it, it will far outreach the present civilization of the world, and I have no doubt but that you will build upon it.

Build upon the great and glorious principles that commenced in the heart by receiving the principles of salvation. The Latter-day Saints have laid their foundation right, and when they take hold and rear the superstructure, it will be one of the greatest ever constructed by the inhabitants of this earth.

I do not despair when I see such a foundation, for if we are not now altogether what we should be, I believe that the Lord will whip us into it; I have no doubt of that.

Lay hold of the principles of knowledge, treasure up earthly knowledge and heavenly knowledge, a knowledge of things at home and of things abroad, of the laws of nations, of the principles of the most useful arts and sciences, of things past, present, and to come, that when we are abroad preaching the Gospel we may be armed with the full treasures of knowledge, and be able to easily circumscribe those who are of the world. Fancy the things that we have to do in this dispensation!

I am as convinced that the Lord will whip us into this diligent course, as I am that I am standing before you. Why? Because this is the kingdom, this is the people and the Church of the living God, and just as surely as He is our God, will He purify this people by famine, by war, by sickness, by death, by various judgments, and by the flame of devouring fire.

We cannot escape the course of purification. What is more visible to the eye than the dealings of God, our Father, with us for the past year? First came the innumerable swarms of insects by millions, sweeping off our crops, then the drought drying them up as does the sun the dew, consuming nearly all the insects had left. How was this? Because the snows were kept from the mountains during the previous winter.

What next? The drought continued month after month, preventing the grass from growing as it has done in falls of previous years, and thus leaving our ground destitute of feed.

Then what? A severe winter, deep snow, so deep as to cover the few spears of grass that were left. Thus one calamity after another, one punishment after another, is enough to convince us that all proceeded from the hand of the Lord our God.

Has He not a purpose in this? Is it not an affliction to us, to you and to me? Do you not feel it? Will it not learn us a lesson? Yes, it will.

I feel to say in my heart, O Lord, chasten me, let thy chastening hand be upon me, if thou seest there is no other way of escape. I would much rather be chastened than to heap up an abundance of this world’s goods, and neglect some of the most important duties of my religion. Hence, when I pray in relation to myself, my prayer is for the Lord to chasten me, and also in relation to this people my prayer is, O Lord, let thy chastening hand be upon this people, until they learn to obey those good and wholesome counsels that are poured out from this stand by those who preside over us.

They are clear, their garments are clear, and I am a witness, for I have been here, except on a few occasions, and have witnessed these things. And I have heard some of the most touching and forcible discourses and arguments from our Presidents, calling upon the people to be more economical, and faithful in keeping the commandments of God; and they have exhorted us to these things with all their energies and powers.

I have also seen that many, who have had those teachings drop into their ears, would go away, and say, “What a blessed sermon we have heard to-day,” and that be the last of it. Many of you who have heard the instructions I have alluded to are witnesses to this; many of you have heard that saying, and seen it followed by that conduct.

If those instructions be not observed, will not the good have to suffer with the careless and disobedient? Yes, they generally do; but a truly good man or woman will not be forgotten, neither will they be tormented.

If they have not a handful of flour, and no potatoes, yet they feel well, and if they die all is well; but the man whose heart is not right feels the smart.

How much better it would be for the Lord to chasten us, or even to send us down to our graves, than to suffer us to live in carelessness, with our minds given up to the vanities and foolishness of this life instead of attending to the things that are of real value and importance.

In ancient days the righteous had to suffer with the wicked, for we learn that Achan took the wedge of gold and hid it in the earth, contrary to the instructions given by the Lord, and in a day or two the Israelites were smitten and driven before their enemies, and no doubt many of those who perished were good men. There was sin in the camp, and when they found it out that it was with Achan, and he was punished, they prevailed against their enemies, because the sin was put away from their midst.

It was similar in the case of Korah, Dathan, Abiram and some 250 others who rose up to be Presidents, they were usurping authority which did not belong to them, and the fire of the Lord broke out and swept off upwards of 20,000 of the righteous and wicked.

Soon after, when Moses had separated the righteous from the wicked, the earth opened and swallowed up the leaders of the rebellion. In this case the righteous suffered with the wicked, and it was done in order to show that the righteous, or the people of God, could not have wickedness in their midst without suffering, and also to show how the Lord hated rebellion, wickedness, and that which was evil.

In another instance, when the fire of the Lord was kindled, the only thing that would stay the plague was for Moses and Aaron to run in between the living and the dead. But do you suppose that all on one side of them were wicked, and those on the other side righteous? No, this is not probable; but there was wickedness in the camp of Israel.

Are we all strictly righteous and obedient. No, for there are many, even in this community, who take the name of God in vain. How often have I heard the President of this Church speak against profanity in the strongest terms; and yet there are some who will continue to indulge in this evil practice.

In ancient times when a man took the name of the Lord in vain, he was not only cut off from the Church, but a severer punishment than merely cutting him from the Church was inflicted; those who were found guilty of that crime were taken without the camp and put to death.

I do not say that that would be wisdom now, but I mention this one practice on the part of some, to show that the Lord abhors wickedness.

Aside from the profane there are others who are guilty of other sins, and there is room for all of us, as brother Kimball has often said, to become a great deal better; room and opportunity for us to study the oracles of God and to regulate our lives by them, that we may become righteous men and women.

We should do this not only for our own sakes, but that our children may grow up an honor to humanity, and not as children who will be unfit to associate even with the world, to say nothing about associating with Saints and angels.

I have now spoken freely upon the subjects which I have touched upon, though when I arose I had no idea of speaking as I have. It was my intention to have spoken upon the spiritual gifts, upon tongues, visions, and revelations, and to have shown the necessity and importance of seeking earnestly after those gifts, as we are commanded, but I have been led in a course directly from that subject. Why it is I know not, unless the Lord wants us to overcome that we may be prepared for the things that are coming upon the earth, which may He grant for His Son’s sake. Amen.

The Advantages of the Latter-day Saints, Compared with the Disadvantages Under Which Noah Labored, etc.

Orson Pratt

A discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1856.

I feel very grateful to my heavenly Father and to His servants, that I have the privilege of rising this afternoon for the purpose of speaking a short time to the assembly that is before me. Whether I may be able to make those in the outskirts of this vast congregation hear my views, so as to distinguish and understand what I may say, will be better known after I get through.

When I seldom speak before a public congregation, I find that my voice in some small degree fails me, but as I begin to exercise my lungs, and preach some 5, 6, or 8 times a week, I find my voice sufficiently strong, to make a very large congregation hear. It is certainly a source of great joy to me, to see such a vast assemblage of people called Latter-day Saints. There are, perhaps, as many assembled on this occasion, as ever have been assembled, at any one time, since the organization of this Church. Look back upon the history of the past, since the rise of the Church of Christ, and contemplate the various sceneries through which we have been called to pass; it is rejoicing to the mind of the humble servant of God, to think that the Lord has sustained us by His merciful hand, by His outstretched arm and by His kind providence, and has bestowed upon us so great and choice blessings.

How very different we must feel from many who held the Priesthood in ancient times; for instance, in the days of Noah; how very different we must feel compared with what that Patriarch felt. When he looked upon the small assembly of believers converted through his instrumentality and that of his sons, his soul must have been sorrowful, because of the world. (Elder Pratt here blessed the sacramental bread.) How very different, as I was observing, those holding the Priesthood under the present dispensation, must feel compared with those who held the Priesthood in ancient times. If Noah had not been nerved up by the Spirit of the living God, and armed with power from on high, he must have been discouraged under the difficulties that surrounded him. Called upon to publish repentance to the generation in which he lived, in connection with his sons; called upon to proclaim the downfall and destruction of all the nations of the earth, if they would not listen to his heavenly message; called upon to put works with his faith, and prepare an ark of safety for the salvation of those who would listen to his voice, he labored and toiled for a long period; and beholding the hearts of the generation to whom he preached, perfectly sealed up against the truth of heaven, he no doubt sorrowed over their wickedness and abominations; and unless he had been sustained by an Almighty power, he must have been overcome by the discouragements and difficulties which he had to encounter; but the great God, who accomplishes His purposes by few or by many as seemeth Him good, sustained him, strengthened him, gave unto him power from on high, and inspired him to perform the work assigned to him, and to save himself with his own household.

How very different is the case with us at the present period. Although in one respect, we have reason to mourn and lament, when we see hundreds of millions of the inhabitants of the earth, rushing down into the vortex of ruin in their wickedness. When we behold this, it is calculated to give sorrow to the heart. In another respect, it is the same as it was in the days of Noah; but a few, comparatively speaking, among the hundreds of millions who now dwell upon the earth, have their hearts open to hear and receive the truths of heaven.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.” There are but a few who heed the warning voice of the Latter-day Saints, but yet, that few are calculated to uphold and sustain each other in the midst of the wickedness with which they are surrounded. The more there are united with one heart and one mind, the more can be accomplished in the name of the Lord. There are some things that cannot be performed, although we had the power of working great and mighty miracles; indeed, the great God Himself who has power to control the heavens over our heads, and the earth upon which we stand has not the power to do that which would be naturally impossible, or in opposition to the great, necessary, and fundamental truths of nature, which are eternally unalterable, and cannot be otherwise than they are; for instance, He has not power to be personally present among all the nations of the earth at the same instant of time; consequently, He needs agents to assist Him in carrying out His purposes and His works, where He cannot be present Himself personally. So it is in regard to those who have faith in God; though they may be able to say to yonder mountain, be thou cast down and become a level plain, and it should obey them; though they might have power to say to the Salt Lake be thou dried up and it should obey them; one thing they could not have power to accomplish, and that is, for each to be on a mission at the same instant of time in Europe, Asia, Australia, in the Pacific Islands, and among the various tribes of Lamanites that are scattered over this vast continent.

These are the things that each one alone could not do; hence the more there are engaged of the Saints of the living God, having the same faith, bound together by the same great principles of righteousness, being of one heart and of one mind, the greater will be the works which can be accomplished in the earth; because such a people can spread forth on the right hand and on the left, and can proclaim to millions and millions of people, the glorious tidings of salvation at the same instant of time; while one man alone, though he have power to work mighty miracles, could only proclaim them to a few. In this respect, then, we are blest and we rejoice. Again, we rejoice, in another respect; the Lord our God has clothed His servants with power to bring the honest in heart together from the various nations and kingdoms of the earth, so that their strength might be collected in one, in order that their union and power might be greater, for the accomplishment of that which could not be accomplished in a scattered condition. In this respect, then, we are favored, as well as being favored with the privilege of spreading out our missionaries to the four quarters of the globe.

But it may be asked, “What can be accomplished by a concentration of Saints, in one Territory, that could not be accomplished by them while scattered here and there?” I will answer you. If we were scattered forth, only among the people of the United States, instead of over the nations and kingdoms of the earth, we could not organize ourselves, so as to be governed by our own laws; but by a concentration of the Saints from the distant nations of the earth into one Territory their numbers give them power which they never could gain in a scattered condition. By their numbers, they can appeal with faith and confidence, and with a degree of assurance to the parent government of the United States, and say, “Give us a free and independent State.” Without sufficient numbers, it would be useless to ask for admission. Hence, in the concentration of numbers, we are blest, as well as having power to preach to millions in all parts of the earth at the same time.

In what respect would it be a favor and a privilege for the inhabitants of this Territory, composed mostly of Latter-day Saints, to be organized into a free and independent State of this great republic? Among the many privileges resulting from a State government, I will mention one, namely, we should then have the privilege, according to the great principles contained in the Constitution of our country, of electing our own officers. The people would have the privilege of selecting those whom they desired, instead of being ruled over by those whom they desired not. Would not this be a favor? It certainly would.

We should have the Constitutional privileges, as a free, sovereign, and independent State, which are enjoyed by all other States of this Union: in other words, we should more fully be made partakers of the blessings which our Lord promised to us, more than twenty-five years ago, which I will repeat from the Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 62, paragraph 2;—

“It shall come to pass that they (my servants) shall go forth into the regions round about, and preach repentance unto the people; and many shall be converted, insomuch that ye shall obtain power to organize yourselves according to the laws of man; that your enemies may not have power over you, that you may be preserved in all things; that you may be enabled to keep my laws, that every band may be broken wherewith the enemy seeketh to destroy my people.” In other words, that you may not be tyrannized over by unrighteous governors, judges, and officers, that you have no voice in electing or appointing who may, according to their own will, trample upon your rights as American citizens.

The prophecy which I have quoted has been fulfilled in part, indeed it has been fulfilled to a very great extent. True, we are not a free and independent State; but we are organized according to the laws of man; we have the privilege of making laws, not for one little village, or to govern one little city, or only a few miles square, but we have already the privilege of making laws, the influence of which extend over many villages, cities, valleys, settlements, and counties.

All this has come to pass in fulfilment of the prediction, uttered more than a quarter of a century ago, when the Church was not a year old, and very few in numbers. Have we not reason to rejoice in the high and inestimable blessing, already received in fulfilment of the word of the Lord, especially when compared with the few privileges enjoyed by all the other nations of the earth?

Where can you find a people or nation, that scarcely begin to have the liberty and privileges which the Latter-day Saints enjoy here in these mountains? They cannot be found. What wretchedness, tyranny, oppression, and every other evil that can be named, are already falling upon the nations of the earth! Pestilence, plague, the want of confidence in officers, rulers, governors, kings, and emperors, is every where manifest; and, in fact, there is, at the present time, scarcely any confidence between man and man; business men have lost confidence in their neighbors with whom they transact business; and why? Because of fraud and bankruptcy. In a moment, when all is supposed to be favorable, when it is believed that debtors are handling their millions, a sudden rumor breaks upon the unhappy creditor, like the roaring thunder of heaven, proclaiming that their debtors have become bankrupt. Confidence is gone, it has taken the wings of the morning and flown away from the nations, and found a resting-place within these peaceful vales.

Will confidence again be restored, while the wicked rule? No; it will grow weaker and weaker. Officers will not have confidence in one another; the people will not have confidence in their rulers; and rulers will not have confidence in the people. Why? Because rulers have oppressed the people; they have trampled upon their rights; they have governed with partiality and injustice; consequently, they know that the people, if they had the power, would revolutionize their governments and overthrow their power; therefore, they have no confidence in the people, and the people have no confidence in them, neither in one another.

Merchants and the great men of the earth have but little confidence in each other; hence, their business transactions are continually being broken up. Many become bankrupt with millions in their pockets, which is calculated to destroy confidence.

What is to be done? I will tell you what will be done. The day is near, even at our doors, when the wise and thoughtful among the great men, rich men, and heavy capitalists, will look to these mountains and to the inhabitants of these peaceful vales for safety, not only for themselves, but for their abundance of riches. They will come, bringing their riches with them, to secure their own safety, for there will be no safety but among the people of God; and they will say, “Behold they are united, they are strong, they are at peace, they can be depended upon, they are not bankrupts, they will not cheat their creditors while they have millions in their pockets. We will go up there, and we will deposit our riches in their midst for security, and there also we will dwell, for there is no safety abroad for us.”

Latter-day Saints, do you think, when you hear me relating these things, that I am in earnest and mean what I say, as a reality; or do you think that it is merely a wild fancy that passes through the imagination, like a dream of the night?

Do you suppose that these things are mere chimeras of the brain, or like castles in the air that vanish away with the bidding? No; you know them to be facts, predicted years ago.

I am declaring to you realities, as they do and will exist, and as they will come to pass, as sure as the Lord God lives, and rules, and reigns in the heavens. Where can the people look for confidence and safety, if not in the kingdom of God which is built up in the last days, and which, according to the Prophets, shall never be thrown down, and never perish?

Do you suppose that the nations of the earth are always to be in ignorance in regard to the greatness, dignity, power, and majesty of the kingdom of our God? No, brethren, no; God has decreed that He will exert the very powers of heaven in this last dispensation, to give His Saints power, dominion, and rule in the earth.

If all our ancient fathers who died in faith, holding the power of the Priesthood and the blessings of the celestial kingdom, are to be engaged, as the powers of heaven, to bring about and accomplish the purposes of the Lord in the last days, in the establishment of this kingdom, we may be sure that their united faith, together with the faith of the Saints here upon the earth, will bring to pass and accomplish that which could not be brought to pass in any former dispensation; for faith is a powerful principle—it comes by hearing, it increases by union, and it is made stronger by numbers.

Where there are two or three who go to lay hands upon the sick, they, if faithful, generally have more confidence before God than if they were to administer singly; they prevail more before the Lord; and hence, the commandment is, that two or three lay hands upon the sick and pray over them, that they may be healed. We are instructed to send for two or three Elders, because it is supposed that two or three will accomplish more than one can by officiating singly.

Again, we are told that where two or three are assembled to worship the Lord in the right and proper way, they have claim to greater blessings than the man that bows down to worship by himself; and why is this? It is because, if united and pure in heart, their faith is greater. What mighty faith and greatness of power will be in exercise when all the ancient fathers, Enoch and all the inhabitants of his City, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph who was sold into Egypt, Moses, and all the ancient and modern men of God upon both the eastern and western hemispheres, are met together with one aim and with one object in view, to bring about and accomplish the great purposes of the latter days? Something will have to move when so great an amount of faith is united before God. No wonder, then, that the Lord has said that He has put forth His hand to exert the powers of heaven to roll forth this kingdom in the latter day! No wonder, then, that the Lord, through His servants, has predicted that the glory of Zion should become greater and greater, until the nations of the earth should fear and tremble because of her. No wonder, then, that there should be power enough centered among the Latter-day Saints to excite the distant nations of the earth, and cause many of them to come from afar to worship in His house upon the tops of the mountains!

The faith of the ancients was exercised to bring about this event—the ushering in of the latter-day work. They not only exercised faith to accomplish and bring about the purposes that pertained to their own day; they not only exercised faith to preach glad tidings of salvation to the generation in which they lived, but their faith reached down to the latter-day, as the day of rest. Through a long period of darkness of many generations which were to intervene between their day and the latter time, they saw that day of redemption when they should reign most gloriously on mount Zion with immortal bodies.

They felt interested, then, in the sceneries that were to come to pass in the latter days; they felt interested in the glories that were to open upon the world, when their children should be made partakers of all that their fathers desired to accomplish and bring to pass in their own day, that which they sought for and found not, because of wickedness.

If we had to depend upon our own faith alone, to bring about this latter-day work, it would be rather discouraging. The powers of darkness are so strong that our weak human natures might be overcome were it not for other powers that have great influence to aid and assist us. There are evil influences that are ever ready to throw iniquity in our path, and unless we were assisted by beings more powerful than we are, we should most certainly fail to accomplish the work assigned to us.

Consider all these things, Latter-day Saints, and be filled with joy and give thanks to that Being who has thus gathered and established you here in these peaceful Valleys. You say, “It is a rugged country, that it is difficult here to procure a livelihood;” but let me say, that many of you have not been here long enough to try it.

Let me say to this congregation, that there are resources yet undeveloped in this Territory—resources that are able to make you the richest of all people upon the face of the earth, if you only unite yourselves with one heart and one hand to carry out the purposes and plans that are devised by the Presidency of this Church. Let them plan, let them devise and lay out before this people the great work that has to be performed in this Territory. I do not mean that they shall tell you where you shall go out and plant a hill of potatoes, or when you shall pick up a basket of chips, but I am speaking of your greater duties—the important purposes and measures devised and planned by the Presidency of this Church for the general good of this people.

If you will be strict to carry out those plans and measures, and constantly hearken to all counsel from the proper source, you will become the richest of all people upon this earth. Why? Is it because this country is so much better than any other? No; but because the people are better calculated to develop the riches of the country than any other people upon the earth; and even, if the resources were not half so great, the people here, if they abide counsel, can unitedly turn everything to the best advantage, and thus far surpass other countries of much greater facilities in other respects. [Blessed the sacramental cup.]

Who are there under the sound of my voice that doubt the divine authenticity of the great work in which they have enlisted? Who are there that doubt the divine authenticity of the Priesthood organized in this Church and kingdom? Are there any that doubt the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon? You that have searched into the history of this Church; you that have read the sacred, pure, and heavenly principles contained in the Book of Mormon, and in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; you that have heard the sacred principles proclaimed from Sabbath to Sabbath by the mouths of the servants of God, holding the authority of heaven, the living Priesthood in your midst—you that have seen the power of the Almighty working with an invisible hand among the nations of the earth, but very visible to you in bringing about His purposes, establishing you as a free people, organizing you according to the laws of the land, breaking off your yokes and enabling you to worship God according to the great revelations and commandments that He has given; you, that have been so highly blessed, ought never to doubt.

What Latter-day Saint with all these things before him can be justified in doubting the divine authenticity of this work? No one can. I will tell you what makes people doubt; it is when they fall into wickedness; when the devil begins to enshroud their minds with a veil of darkness; when the devil presents to their eyes the great microscope that he has had in existence ever since the fall of man; when he magnifies the faults of their neighbors, and enlarges the weaknesses and imperfections of those holding the Priesthood, then they exclaim, “Oh; this cannot be the latter-day work, it is not the work of the Lord the Priesthood must be in transgression, they are all wrong”—(President B. Young: that is the devil’s looking glass.)

Such is the devil’s looking glass or microscope that is calculated to magnify everybody’s faults but the individual’s looking in it: and when he wishes him to see his own, he turns the glass the other way, so that his own faults can scarcely be seen. You know that when you look th[r]ough the big end of a telescope, or when you look into a convex mirror you see objects diminished, and it is just so, when the devil presents your own faults and your own imperfections. It is then, Latter-day Saints, that you doubt; it is then that you feel miserable, and it is then that you are almost ready to apostatize and deny the faith.

But when you can get the Lord’s microscope and look into your own conduct instead of the conduct of others, and see your own imperfections and your own faults and can have a realizing sense of your own follies, of your own unworthiness before God, and begin to humble yourselves and repent and turn away from sin, then your doubts are gone; they have fled; they trouble you no more; you have an abiding witness in your own hearts, a greater witness than prophecy and its fulfilment, greater than the printed word, greater than the testimony of the servants of God. You have the testimony that assures you every moment that this is the work of God; you feel it; think it in every thought; your whole souls are swallowed up in the work in which you are engaged; you feel that there is nothing that you own or possess, nothing upon the face of the whole earth to be compared with the greatness of the value of the principles which dwell within your own bosoms.

I am speaking to men and women who know by their own experience that these things are true; every one of you can bear testimony of them, who have ever tasted the good Spirit of the Lord, and that have felt its influences upon your hearts.

You very well know, that when you enjoy this good Spirit, you have no trouble, let what will take place, it is no trouble to you, so far as you are concerned. You feel resigned; you are in the hands of that Being who placed you here upon the earth; you feel strong in the midst of weakness; you feel that God is your help, and that He will succor you; you know that He lives and that He loves and cherishes you, and that He has a good feeling towards you, like that which dwells in the bosom of a tender parent towards his own child; you know that the Almighty God has this tender feeling towards you, when you do right; and therefore, you have no trouble.

If you go hungry, you are not troubled; if called to sacrifice your own lives, you will not be troubled, but you would say, “Father, I have done thy will; if my work is finished let me come into thy presence; let me behold thy face in peace; let me dwell in the society of the sanctified; let me go where my works shall be continued, where I can accomplish more good, and do more for thy cause.”

These are the feelings of a righteous man and of a righteous woman.

Perhaps this will be the last opportunity that I shall have as an individual of meeting in a general conference with you for—I was going to say, for a long period of time, but I will say, for the short period of two or three years. I know not how long it may be, before I shall have the privilege of meeting again with the Saints in these Valleys of the mountains, whether I ever shall, I do not know of a certainty, but I feel that I shall again behold the faces of the Saints in Utah; I feel that I shall again lift up my voice upon the mountains and in these Valleys and bear testimony of the great and important truths which we have received; I feel that I shall again meet with you to rejoice in the flesh, in this mortal tabernacle. (President: Prophesy!) I could almost prophesy that I shall, but when it comes to prophesying about myself, I feel a little delicate in doing so; but if the Lord will, I wish to live upon the earth to do much good.

I have been in the Church almost twenty-six years, lacking about four months, and I have endeavored to do some little good; but really when I look back upon the twenty-six years of my life, or nearly that, which I have spent in this Church, when I look back upon my feeble labors, and my feeble endeavors, they seem to have been very small.

And although I have travelled much, and preached much, and written much, and tried to do some little good, yet after all, when I compare that which I have done, with that which it seems to me I ought to have done, in days gone by, I feel very weak, and am anxious that I may not be taken from the earth, until I have done more.

I feel willing to perform any mission, whenever the First Presidency of this Church require it of me. If they say go to China, East Indies, Australia, Europe, England, or wherever it may be upon the face of the whole earth, I hold myself in readiness.

These have been my feelings from the commencement; I do not know that I have ever backed out from any mission that was given to me; but have always rejoiced in every mission up to this time.

I believe that two years ago this day a mission was appointed me while I was yet in Washington to return here, and then go back to Cincinnati to assist brother Spencer and others in establishing a stake of Zion in that country; and I came home with that expectation, to return again the following spring; I had no other idea, when I came home, nor until the word came from the Presidency, saying, brother Pratt you need not go to Cincinnati.

That released me from that mission, but I felt just as willing to go upon that as I do to go on the one that is now before me; I rejoice in all those missions, and I wish I could do more good when I go upon a mission.

I am sometimes troubled lest I may not be able to retain a sufficiency of the Spirit of the Lord and the power of the Priesthood, to accomplish the work required of me acceptably before God. I believe that I am troubled about that more than anything else, and especially when there is a mission which places a great weight of responsibility upon me, where it is expected that my brethren will require a great deal at my hands. But inasmuch as you have lifted your hands to sustain me, in connexion with my brethren that have been appointed to various nations, I feel to say before you, brethren and sisters, with uplifted hands, God being my helper, that I will endeavor with humility and untiring obedience to the commandments of God, to do some little good; I will try to carry out the counsels and instructions of the First Presidency of this Church, as they shall give them from time to time.

And inasmuch as I feel to bear this humble testimony, not in my own strength, not in my own name, but in the name of the Lord, I feel also to crave your assistance and your prayers and supplications that the Spirit of the Lord may be poured out upon brother Benson, and upon the other brethren who are appointed as missionaries, and upon your humble servant, that we may perform a good work—a work that shall be acceptable to you, to the Presidency of this Church, and to God, and return heavily laden with sheaves, which is my earnest prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Progress of the Latter-day Church, etc.

Parley P. Pratt

A discourse by Elder Parley P. Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 7, 1856.

My brethren, sisters, and friends, I have rejoiced in the return of this anniversary of the rise of the Church, and to see so many of those that we have reason to believe love the truth, assembled in general conference; in beholding and seeing the faces of so many as were assembled on yesterday, and as are here to-day; to feel the spirit, behold the unanimity, and the good feeling that appear to exist, and the dispatch with which we are enabled to transact business; and in reviewing the past, looking at the present, and contemplating the future, my heart has been cheered.

I have been highly edified and interested, and have had reason to rejoice in looking at the Saints gathered in from the north and from the south, from the east and from the west, who have met to rejoice and reflect upon the things of God. I have rejoiced while listening to the edifying discourses which have been delivered: I have not heard anything more useful and more to the point for a long time than the discourse on yesterday in the forenoon; it was practical and instructive in all its points, just the advice and counsel that are needed at the present time; nor have I been less edified and instructed in the remarks made, as I conceive in the spirit of prophecy, in a great measure, that flowed from my brother yesterday in the afternoon, a parting discourse as we may call it, as he expects soon to depart to a foreign land on the other side of the ocean.

I have also been led to reflect much in contemplating that this is the twenty-six year since the restoration of the Church of God, visibly as an organization upon the earth. Twenty-six years have rolled away in the experience of this Church, and it naturally leads the mind to contemplate upon the past, and past events will rise in review, the memory will fall back upon them and whether we look at the past, the present, or the future, the mind cannot but view it, if it is constituted like mine, or influenced by the same spirit that mine is influenced by, with pleasure and delight.

Twenty-six years ago, the coming summer, mine eyes glanced over the Book of Mormon, and I afterward heard the voice of the servant of the Lord and enjoyed the smiles and the blessings of the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum, and received under their hands and those of Oliver Cowdery the Priesthood, or a portion of it, and the keys and power of the same, they having received it by the ministering of angels, to be carried through to all the people of the earth; and at that time all the people of this Church upon the face of the earth, could have been assembled in the vestry of this Tabernacle without being much crowded.

The joy which filled my bosom in reading that sacred record, waking up our minds and giving us the knowledge of the past dealings of God with the inhabitants of this vast western hemisphere, and of a nation of people as ancient as that of Abraham or of the Jaredites, and giving us a knowledge also of a branch of scattered Israel led away from the land of their fathers 600 years before Christ, and the glorious fact, the most important of all others in the book, that the risen Jesus in his glorified immortal flesh and bones set his feet upon this western hemisphere and ministered publicly to thousands and thousands of the Nephites, blessed them, revealed to them his Gospel in its fulness, and was glorified in their presence, and thousands of them had the privilege of bowing at his feet, of bathing his feet with their tears and of kissing them, and of handling him and seeing and beholding the wounds that were pierced in his side and his hands and feet, and of hearing the words of salvation and the commandments of God from his own mouth, and then from day to day they had the privilege of assembling in general conference and hearing his prophesyings, and his remarks on the prophecies of the Prophets referring to himself and to others, prophecies also concerning this our day, and the coming forth of this work to us, and the visions that should appear and be given at the opening up of this dispensation; all these things received in faith in my heart, and by the spirit of knowledge and of light and of understanding, and of hope and joy, and charity filled my heart in a way that I never can express to any being; to have the same joy understood, it must be experienced.

Nor have I been disappointed in my hopes since I embraced this Gospel. After twenty-six years of progress—progressive fulfilment of the things spoken by that Redeemer to the Nephites, and the things written by his commandment and brought forth unto us, I not only believe but I realize and know by the Spirit of the Lord as well as a man knows anything that he sees and hears, and better too, for a man might be deceived in seeing or in hearing, but I know these things by that light that reflects on the understanding, and in which there is no mistake, nor deception; by that I knew that the work was true and that Joseph Smith, the finder, translator, and the restorer of the Priesthood upon the earth, was a Prophet and an Apostle of Jesus Christ—a restorer, raised up according to that which is written, to bring back and commit unto the person appointed, those covenants, those keys, those ordinances, that Gospel and plan of salvation which were had in old times, but which had been suspended and lost from the enjoyment of the people; I say, that he was such, I had a knowledge and an understanding.

He was only about twenty-four or twenty-five years old when I first met him, and I became intimately acquainted with him and his brothers, and with his father’s house, and I remained so, as far as I was not separated by foreign missions, until his death; and did I not know, and do I not know and bear testimony that he lived and that he died an Apostle and Prophet of Jesus Christ? And from the day of his death, or long before that until the present, I have been intimately acquainted and associated with the Apostles of this Church and kingdom under all circumstances, whether in sickness or in health, whether in the midst of life or in death, whether in prosperity or adversity; whether abounding or suffering want; whether by sea or land; whether in the midst of peace or of mobs and oppression. And do I not know that President Young and his counsellors and the other Apostles associated with him in this Church, hold the keys of salvation? That they hold that authority which administers life and salvation to the obedient and the humble, and which to reject is condemnation, wherever it exists, to every soul of man upon the earth? Yes I do know it, and I do this day bear testimony of it, and of that glorious Gospel in its fulness which was restored to the earth twenty-six years ago, that filled my heart with joy and charity and love for my fellow men, and with a desire to do good, and to impart the truth as it is revealed.

Has it become dim and waxed cold in my heart, or departed from it? I say unto you no! But if it be possible for a man to rejoice more than I rejoiced twenty-six years ago, I say if it be possible, then I rejoice more to-day than I did on yesterday and more than I did twenty-six years ago—and why? Because my heart is larger; it was full then; it is full now, and although outwardly and according to the flesh, and in the world I may be in tribulation and sorrow, and care, and labor, and anxiety, yet in Jesus Christ there is peace, in the fulness of the Gospel there is joy, in the Spirit of God there is gladness; and whether we look to the past we rejoice with thanksgiving, and whether we look to the present our hearts seem to grow larger, and whether we look to the future there is hope and a fulness of joy, and we increase in understanding—and why? Because the Spirit that is in us sheds forth in abundance in our souls joy and satisfaction, and the Gospel inspires us with a degree of knowledge and light, and certainty in regard to what we are about, in regard to the work we are engaged in and the prospects that lie before us.

We know for what we labor, although in the flesh, subject to mortality and its weaknesses; we may be partially asleep, or in other words we may know in part, comprehend in part, prophesy in part, and hope in part, not seeing and realizing the fulness, nor the thousandth part of the fulness that will be consummated in the progress of this work. But after we see enough of it to serve us for the time being, and we enter into it with sufficient comprehension to rejoice with a heart full of joy and of satisfaction, it inspires us to act with all our heart, might, mind and strength.

I have often been reminded by the faithful laborers in this Church, the Presidency and others, of the parable in the Book of Mormon that these latter-day laborers should be called to prune the vineyard of the Lord. It says that “Their numbers were few, but they did go to labor with their might,” and it says, “The Lord labored with them.”

Well, do they not do so? Do not the old Prophets and Apostles help us? Have we not their aid and their influence in our favor? Zenos and many other Prophets are helping us. Lehi and all the Prophets understood the principle of union and concentration that would be necessary in the last days. And Nephi in bringing up this prophesy which was uttered by the Prophet Zenos and putting it in his book, shows that he considered it of importance to the people of God, and it is written there that we might see and understand how it was that the great work of the last days was to be fulfilled.

Is it not being fulfilled every whit? Have not the eleventh hour laborers been called? Are not their numbers few? And have they not labored with all their might, many of them? We won’t say all, because there are many called but few chosen, but those chosen men that have been faithful, have not denied the faith, nor departed from the labors assigned them, nor forsaken the cause, but have held on and held out all the day long; and many more laborers of more recent date, have they not labored with all their might, temporally, and spiritually? Verily I say unto you, yea, and the Lord has labored with them; and if you want the proof look around here! What else but the power of these laborers and the powers of the Almighty God with them could have led these thousands and tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints over seas, deserts, through the mountains, overcoming every obstacle and then have sustained them in these Valleys? Did not the Almighty labor with them when He clothed them and fed them? Was not His eye over them in providing circumstances through which they might be fed and clothed, and have the necessary comforts of life? When He caused them to flourish in the midst of a desert country? When He inspired the Gentiles to pass through here with all kinds of tools, clothing, shoes, seeds, with cattle and horses, flour, bacon, powder and lead, from the frontiers of the United States, and throw them down at the feet of this people cheaper than they could buy them where the articles were produced?

Did not the Lord labor with His servants and with this people? Yes, He did. And when they had made the track where neither wagon nor horse tracks had been seen for hundreds of years and for hundreds of miles of the journey, and made the bridges and crossed the streams, they had not more than made a commencement on their journey when five hundred men were called for by the United States to go to the seat of the Mexican war; and these men took California and made it secure to the government of the United States.

When these men were discharged from government service, two thousand miles from their friends and without means to return, did not He guide them to bring forth the treasures of the earth, to bring forth the shining dust, and turn the world upside down? And did He not cause persons from all parts of the earth to follow in their wake, with their implements, their provisions, and their various kinds of tools, from the United States to this country, and when they came here they found themselves too heavily laden, their animals worn out; but they were bound to press onward, and hence they stripped for the race and harnessed for the battle, to see who would reach the gold mines first.

Well, suppose a man had stood up and prophesied before the Battalion went to California, or when we were first driven out from Illinois, that we should ever be prospered, clothed and fed until we could come here into these mountains and raise food for our own sustenance, who would have believed it?

And suppose a man had prophesied thus—“The Gentiles will follow you like a flowing stream by scores, and hundreds, and thousands, and they will bring their flour and bacon, their sugar and dry goods, their tools and implements of husbandry, their iron, and everything that is of use and pour them out at your feet, so that your every want will be supplied, and the treasures of the earth will open under your feet, and the treasures of the ancient mountains shall be opened unto you, and the clouds shall drop down their rains. “Suppose that all this had been prophesied; also that Great Salt Lake City would become the great central seat of government for this country, and that the Gentiles would come like a mighty flowing stream, and that we should after all our difficulties be sustained, who would have believed it? Why some one would have said, this is wild enthusiasm; it is too good to be true.

Well, this people came, sustained themselves on the journey, and arrived in this desert country, plowed up the parched earth and put in their seeds, after bringing them more than a thousand miles, besides what they had to bring to sustain themselves on their journey, and they have lived until now on what they could raise in these deserts. Who ever heard such things? And yet the very moment that we are tried, some of us are complaining, and you will find that our stores are not overflowing with plenty, and the insects eat our grain, nearly everything is destroyed by the grasshoppers and drought, and we are then brought to ourselves.

For these trying times some will begin to say in their hearts that the Lord has forsaken us, and the Lord has forgotten us, but He will show that He hath not. Can a mother forget her suckling child? Say, mothers, can you forget your infant children? Peradventure you may, but it is not likely; yet though a mother may forget her child when it cries with hunger, yet the Lord says He will not forget Zion. He may show that He is displeased with the acts of some He may hide His face from them in His justice, yet in His loving kindness He will chastise them, but He will make a way for their escape. Brethren, will His friends ever forsake Him? Or will He ever forsake them? No, never.

To sinners He has never made any promise, but that they shall be rewarded according to their works; but to the Saints that keep the commandments and abide in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to them that do believe and know His will, He has made these; but those who have known Him and in the day of tribulation forsaken His laws will be beaten with many stripes. To all those who stand firm and steadfast when the love of many shall wax cold because of the famine and pestilence, and great trials with which the Saints of God are to be tried before the judgments pass from the house of God to the wicked, to all such He has made precious promises, and they will be fulfilled; and the promises concerning things to the house of Israel as well as to the Saints of the Most High will surely be fulfilled, for those promises hold good to the other side of the vail; for although the remnants of Israel are not yet in the Church, although not in the covenant, yet they are beloved for their father’s sake, and the promises have claim on them because of the promises made to their fathers; and though these their children do not understand it, and though they are in a state of ignorance, not knowing the Lord, ignorant in relation to the promises obtained by the obedience of their fathers, yet the promises extend to them as well as to us Latter-day Saints.

Do you suppose these promises will be fulfilled? I know they will. I knew they would twenty-six years ago this summer; I knew it then, I have testified to it ever since; I know it now, and though heaven and earth. should pass away, yet not one jot nor one tittle of the promises of God concerning the Latter-day Saints, concerning Zion, concerning Jerusalem, concerning the Jews, concerning the Lamanites, concerning the remnants of Joseph, concerning the seed of Lehi, or concerning the ten tribes of Israel, or any of the branches thereof—not one will fail, but they all will be fulfilled in their time and in their season.

The work has rolled on progressively up to the present time; not one jot or tittle has rolled out of its place, but it has moved on harmoniously, and it will continue to progress, and all the promises will be fulfilled.

In order to aid in their fulfilment, the Latter-day Saints, the faithful, those who hold the keys of this ministry, must fill their storehouses with grain, their treasures with the comforts of life, their cellars with vegetables and all kinds of food, which can be preserved, and this will be done in the own due time of the Lord.

Whatever straits, whatever poverty, and however long they may last, yet the Lord will smile upon us and we shall again have plentiful harvests; and however much there may appear to be in the world at the present, yet in the own due time of the Lord they will need bread and provision, and the necessaries of life, and if faithful to the counsel given, we shall be able to succor the poor, and have means to help the laborers and the mechanics, and to supply the wants of the needy.

We shall be able to call into requisition the skill of the able mechanics, to have the benefit of machinery, and we shall have all the skill, and all the power, and all the wisdom, and all the treasures, and all the means necessary to build up Zion, gather the people, redeem Israel, fulfil the promises, and build the holy temples and cities of our God; redeem and bring about the restoration of the living, and administer for the dead, and do all things necessary to accomplish the purposes of God whereunto we are called.

Who will live to see it? We will live to see a great deal of it before we die, but in one sense of the word, we all will live to see it, for we will never die, but we shall part with our bodies, and beyond the vail, we shall then be no less interested in this great and glorious work.

I know some people are apt to think, while the Latter-day Saints are a small people, and considering what we sift out, and what go to California and the States, and with one thing or another, that we do not increase very fast, and that we cannot accomplish all these things that were predicted.

Well, I do not expect that the Latter-day Saints will accomplish the work; I never thought they would. I will tell you my opinion, no, my knowledge, and my testimony; call it opinion if you please. The Latter-day Saints never expect to do it all themselves, but they expect reinforcements of the former-day Saints, and that the two will carry it all out.

You know the prophecy of Daniel about the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens being given to the Saints of the Most High God to possess it forever and forever; you have read it and no doubt understand it.

Well, a mock court under the administration of Austin A. King, since governor of Missouri, while Joseph Smith and others were taken by a mob and were made subject to this inquisition, and to a mock trial, and while undergoing this mock trial the question was put to a witness, “Do these people, these ‘Mormons’ believe in this verse in the Prophet Daniel?” and at the same time quoting it. “Yes,” said the witness. “Put that down,” said the judge, “it is a strong point for treason.” “But,” says one of the lawyers in defence, “Judge, you had better put the Bible down for treason.”

That was a very suitable reply; but mind you the text does not say that the Latter-day Saints would possess the kingdom, but it says that the Saints of the Most High, and of course that includes the Latter-day as well as all the former-day Saints from Adam down to the end of time.

Well, then, when the former-day Saints reinforce the Latter-day Saints, and all the powers of heaven are in the midst of Zion, and all the people from Adam and from Jesus Christ, and from the least and last Latter-day Saint all combine their faith and their works, and their powers, and their gifts, I would leave it to any intelligent person in Christendom whether or no they will be able to do this.

I say they will; I know it; but to say that the Latter-day Saints ever undertook it is not correct, for they never undertook any such thing. It is, as I told them in California, in public debates and everywhere throughout the State where I had an opportunity of speaking to them, and while they were threatening the sword because they could not get the governor out of the chair. I told them to their faces that they need not worry themselves about the Latter-day Saints undertaking that job, for they never would, and they never would be strong enough; but the Saints of the Most High had undertaken it, and I told them that these would reinforce the Latter-day Saints, and then they will all combine together, and they will do it, for it has to be done, and it will be accomplished; and this is what we are here for to-day; it is for what we are assembled at this conference, and we never had but that one object in view, neither have we now, whether we come together to sing, pray, prophesy or bless, to saw wood or to chop it in the kanyon; if we are Saints we never had but this one object in view.

Just so with the former day Saints, they never had any thing in view, in heaven or on earth, but this one object in relation to the earth and the inhabitants thereof, and that was to rule and reign on the earth and over it, and over the elements, and over the people, and over all kings and all presidents, and all governors, and all rulers, and all powers that exist upon this planet, and finally over death, and hell, and the devil, and all his hosts, and the last enemy that will be conquered on this earth is death; so it is written.

Well, that is the object, brethren, is it not, of our coming together into these mountains? This is the object, and we have armed forces enough to do it, and they will be brought to bear, and our part of the business is to get ourselves ready. The powers of the heavens will not co-operate with unholy powers directly, and fully, and immediately; of course we as a people are not yet holy, we have not yet gained that fulness of the Gospel and of righteousness, but hardness of heart and blindness of mind do prevent us from rending the vail, and it doth cause us still to measurably remain in that state of blindness spoken of by the Prophet.

We have not yet learned all things as they are, and to entirely overcome iniquity, and because of this the powers of heaven, although ready, cannot fully commune with us, for we are not ready. For this cause your President labors, and for this cause his counsellors preach here, and lift up their voices from day to day, and from time to time, and for this cause the Apostles labor and toil amongst you; it is to get a modern people, a latter-day people, a latter-day kingdom or Church ready, united, sanctified, enlightened, made holy, and prepared for the glorious union, and immediate presence and co-operation of those who have gone before us; for the conquest of the earth, the elements, and all the powers connected therewith, to put down iniquity, to put down Satan, to put down sin, to put down corruption, darkness, and error, and misrule, that the cause of light and truth, and the principles of virtue and rectitude may prevail, and the reign of peace and righteousness be ushered in.

This is the object, and now, is it not worthy of our attention and of our suffering a little? Why, the Almighty God will chasten His people from time to time, because He loves them, and He will purge out the sinners from among them, and some will repent and become righteous, and a great many who promise themselves that they are going to repent and become first rate Saints, but do not begin, need not flatter themselves, for they never will do so in that manner.

When you see men that are not ready to repent, to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, but say, I want to indulge in sin a little longer, and then I am going to turn round and be a first rate good Saint, I will tell you they are deceiving themselves, for they will not do it, for every time they think of doing it they will love sin as much as they did before, and they will continue to love sin, and why? Because, when He (the Lord) spoke they would not hear; when He sent His servants they would not listen, and they would none of His reproof, and because of this He will laugh at their calamities and mock when their fear cometh, and when they call He will not hear, and when they seek Him earnestly they will not find Him.

A man cannot be righteous of his own will and without the Spirit of the Lord; there is no assurance for men, they cannot have the Spirit unless they determine to walk in the light as fast as they see it. Those who promise to repent, but want to indulge in sin a little longer, do not repent, and their hearts are not fit for the kingdom of God.

That man is on the right track who always loved the truth, and lived up to it, as far as he could, with all his exertions, and walked in the light thereof every day, and every time he saw a little more truth obeyed it, and if he did anything at all it was his purpose continually to avoid error and walk in the truth. If he failed at any time it was his weakness, his error of judgment, his mistake, his temptation; it was not because he did not want to do right, or to put it off purposely and choose sin: but it was through his weakness and temptation.

I tell you there is a poor prospect of a man that makes no progress; there is a more promising prospect of a man that has no light, yet lives in the practical duties of his religion, that man or that woman must be happy. Why, bless your souls, there is hope with such a man, and though he may err in judgment and make mistakes, and though he may trespass, and though he may sin many sins that are not unto death, make many mistakes through weakness, and have to be borne with a long time, yet I tell you there is hope of such a man, because if he lives he learns to see his duties, and if he stumbles and falls down, what of all that?—he will get up again and start on his journey, and when he starts the next time he will start well.

Brethren, don’t seek to discourage or crush such a man; it will not do to destroy a man because he makes one or two blunders; it will never do to cry for spilt milk, but try again; and if you cannot overcome at first, try again, and keep trying until you overcome.

But when a man is not trying, but loves to live in sin, but still says every day, “I am going to be a good ‘Mormon,’” I have but little hope of such a man, and I generally say to him, you will not do it, for the Lord will not give you His Spirit when you please to get ready to repent.

But the honest man says, “I have been brought to see the truth, and I will do the best I know, though I have a thousand traditions, and though I make a thousand mistakes, and my brethren have to bear with me, yet I will do the best I can, and will be willing to try again; and if I find myself weak and unable to progress and overcome, I will pray that the good Spirit and the strength of the Lord may help me.” When a man talks in this way, there is hope in his case; I don’t care how such traditions have been entwined around him, or how many blunders he may make; I say there is hope in those who seek diligently to learn their duties, and endeavor to live up to them; and this makes me have hope for this people and for myself.

But when a man is careless and indifferent to the blessings of providence, and keeps putting off his repentance, and is continually looking after the things of this life, the Lord don’t want such a man; he has no use for him, and damnation awaits such a man, and he will have to wait patiently for the return of the good Spirit to again lead him to repentance. Such a man won’t prosper, for a man that will fix his own business first, and then serve God, he is not worthy of Him. He has no business with his own business, his business is to serve God, he has no other business; as I said, whether preaching or whatever place he may be in, he should have but one object in view—the kingdom of God. In whatever part of the earth he may be located, whether among the Saints or in the very midst of wickedness, and where the power of the devil holds sway, it is his duty to preach righteousness faithfully before the people.

Well, brethren, I bear testimony that Joseph Smith and the witnesses to the Book of Mormon were, and, so far as they held out faithful, are men of God, holding the keys of the dispensation of the fulness of times which is calculated to lead the people out from the iniquity and abominations of this lower world; and that their successors, the Apostles, your President and his Counsellors, received the keys under the hands of the Prophet Joseph. They are the Apostles of Joseph Smith, and holding the keys of a dispensation which will never come to an end, for although all other institutions on the earth come to an end, this will stand for ever.

They are faithful and they labor diligently, and I bear them record that they labor with all diligence, and God is with them, and their counsels will lead to exaltation, and to celestial glory and eternal life, and those that are with them bear a portion of the same keys; they are men that have been faithful and true, many of them have been proved to be such through a long series of years, and they would lay down their lives for the cause; and they, I say, hold a portion of the keys of this kingdom, which they received under the hands of Joseph the Prophet and others of the Apostles, and they will bear those keys and this ministry triumphant to the nations, and while they live they will live for this purpose; whether the flesh lives or not, they will never cease in this world, nor in the spirit world, nor in the resurrected world; whatever their circumstances may be, they never will cease to labor until they accomplish that which they have undertaken; they will labor for this worthy object.

I am not speaking of the eternities, but they will labor for this earth and every creature therein until the conquest is achieved, and death swallowed up in victory; for the powers and keys of endless life, without beginning of days or end of years, have undertaken the great work of the redemption of this earth; they have not and will not pass to others until they have redeemed this little world. Christ offered himself a sacrifice for this earth, for men, for the animals, for fishes, and the creeping things. Christ died for the earth and for the elements; Christ died for all mankind upon its face. Christ died, his blood was spilt, the Priesthood was given, and the labor will continue with the Priesthood from generation to generation, until the kingdom will finally be given to the Saints to possess for ever and ever. He died to accomplish the salvation of all except the sons of perdition, and they have had all these blessings applied to them, and have partaken of them, known them, and then turned enemies to them, and there is not anything greater that you can do for them, and they perish, for after the blood of Christ has been shed and they despised it, nothing more can be done for them than already has been, for they have rejected the means of salvation.

If salt won’t save me, what else will? If salt loses its saltness, what will salt the earth? All this was undertaken, and it will be carried through until every son and daughter of Adam have an opportunity of participating in its benefits.

Then here is my heart, and here is my hand to every good Saint in this world, in the world of spirits, in the resurrected world, and in all the worlds connected with this warfare and this work—here is my heart and hand! Depend upon it, if I am counted worthy, I will be somewhere about, whether I stay here or go there, whether I stay in the flesh or go into the spirit world, or whether in the resurrected world, depend upon it, while my name is Parley P. Pratt, I will be somewhere about, and while I am, I will have that one object in view, and if I go into heaven, I shall think of nothing else until this is done, nor act with any other view, and I want to be counted worthy, and I mean to try to be, and trust in God for the rest. God bless you all. Amen.

Disinclination of Men to Learn Through the Teaching and Experience of Others, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 20, 1856.

Sometimes I think it quite strange that the children of men are so constituted as to need to be taught one lesson all the time, and again it is not so marvellous to me, when I reflect upon and understand their organization, and the designed effect thereupon of this state of probation. Men are organized to be independent in their sphere, are organized for an independent being, yet they have, as soldiers term it, to run the gauntlet all the time. They are organized to be just as independent as any being in eternity, but that independency, in order for them to occupy a position in the sphere of an independent being having control over all things, must be proved and tried while in this state of existence, must be operated upon by the good and the evil.

It is not so strange to me that the people should continually need talking to, that they should continually need instructing, when I take this view of the matter. Mothers when bringing up their children, if they will observe and reflect, can see and understand the feelings of the whole human family. The mother says to the child, “Don’t do that; you must not handle those things;” but the little child thinks itself just as capable of handling a tea-cup, or a tumbler, as are father and mother. The little girl takes up a broom to sweep the hearth, but if mother is not watching her she may let the broom take fire and set it by the bed, and thereby the bed and then the building be set in a blaze. In the actions of their children parents can detect the course of all, from the king upon his throne to the humblest peasant, they are all performing their part on the theatre of the earth.

People may be advanced far in life, and yet be surrounded by weaknesses comparatively like those of children. The man or woman of eighty, sixty, forty, twenty, or the child of two or five years of age, have something ahead of them to attain to, and which they are striving to accomplish. There is a principle in the feelings of people which is implanted in their organization expressly for them to become independent, to become Gods, and it is continually urging them to reach forward and to wish to do and perform that which they do not understand. These weaknesses are in the organization, irrespective of age. True, persons can do many things at twenty-five years of age which they could not do when but five years old, and men may know much more at fifty than at twenty, yet the same common weakness is apparent which you can see exhibited in the little child. There is one rule to adopt, one course to pursue, one lesson to be learned, and it is applicable alike to all ages, from the child of one or two years old to the grey-haired veteran, and which, if they would learn, would prove highly beneficial, and that is, to do those things which they know they can do, and when required by a superior to do a thing they never have done, to take the advice of those who have successfully performed the same act, and then with the best skill they can command, do as they are told, and thus further their education in life and be satisfied.

If the child could understand and be satisfied that the mother knows better than it does, when it is told to let the dishes alone, the broom, or the pin-cushion, or not to swing on the table lest it be turned over and break the dishes, or not to do this or that, and that such and such things it might do, it would be a great aid to it to take the course laid down by a judicious parent, and would save it much trouble while passing through its mortal career. I ask myself why it is that people do not learn to be satisfied and contented with what they do know, until they are instructed and learn more, and practise this principle in their lives. We are taught here all the time to be passive and contented, to do the things we know how to do. Still I have no question, but what, if I could unobserved and unknown to them listen to the remarks of many of the Elders, or of brethren and sisters, I should hear doctrines taught and suggestions made which God never designed to have His servants teach. At the same time remarks such as these might be dropped, “I am impressed and the Spirit leads me thus and so; true I believe all that is written and taught, but I tell you that brother Brigham does not tell us all of it; he says he does not, but that he tells us as fast as we can understand and practise what he does teach.” Now that is true; but all do not stop and reflect, neither do they fully understand the principles of the Gospel, the principles of the holy Priesthood; and from this cause many imbibe the idea that they are capable of leading out in teaching principles that never have been taught. They are not aware that the moment they give way to this hallucination the devil has power over them to lead them on to unholy ground; though this is a lesson which they ought to have learned long ago, yet it is one that was learned by but few in the days of Joseph.

I was speaking about this matter last night, about the feelings of the people towards the Prophet Joseph. The mass of the people never realized, to the day of his death, but what Joseph was made by them. They actually believed that he was amenable to the people, that he did not know it all, and that other men knew things which he did not know concerning the kingdom of God on the earth.

Here let me give you one lesson that may be profitable to many. If the Lord Almighty should reveal to a High Priest, or to any other than the head, things that are, or that have been and will be, and show to him the destiny of this people twenty-five years from now, or a new doctrine that will in five, ten, or twenty years hence become the doctrine of this Church and kingdom, but which has not yet been revealed to this people, and reveal it to him by the same Spirit, the same messenger, the same voice, and the same power that gave revelations to Joseph when he was living, it would be a blessing to that High Priest, or individual; but he must rarely divulge it to a second person on the face of the earth, until God reveals it through the proper source to become the property of the people at large. Therefore when you hear Elders, High Priests, Seventies, or the Twelve, (though you cannot catch any of the Twelve there, but you may the High Priests, Seventies, and Elders) say that God does not reveal through the President of the Church that which they know, and tell wonderful things, you may generally set it down as a God’s truth that the revelation they have had, is from the devil, and not from God. If they had received from the proper source, the same power that revealed to them would have shown them that they must keep the things revealed in their own bosoms, and they seldom would have a desire to disclose them to the second person. That is a general rule, but will it apply in every case, and to the people called the kingdom of God at all times? No, not in the strictest sense, but the Spirit which reveals will impart the proper discretion. All the people have not learned this lesson, they should have learned it long ago.

As I have already observed, comparatively few learned, in the days of Joseph, that he was placed between the people and God, that they had no more right to dictate him than they had to dictate the angel Gabriel, that they had no more business to interfere with him, or call him to an account, than we have to call to an account the angel Gabriel.

This we all ought to understand, and also how and when to teach and practise what we do know, and when we have done that much then stop until we learn more.

I know, and so do many others, by experience, by what we have seen and passed through, by what has passed before us and by what we have seen in others, that when the devil cannot overcome an individual through temptation to commit wickedness, when he sees that a person is determined to walk to the line and travel straight forward into the Celestial Kingdom, he will adopt a course of flattery, will strive to exercise a pleasing influence and move along smoothly with him, and when he sees an opportunity he will try to turn him out of the way, if it is only to the extent of a hair’s breadth. And if he cannot keep a person this side the Gospel line, he will walk with that individual on the line and strive to push him over.

That is so invariably the case that people need eyes to see, and understanding to know how to discriminate between the things of God and the things that are not of Him. Will this people learn? I am happy and joyful, I am thankful, and can say of a truth, brethren and sisters, that the manifestations of goodness from this people are not to be compared, in my opinion, with those from any other people upon the face of the whole earth since the days of Enoch.

Old Israel, in all their travels, wanderings, exercises, powers, and keys of the Priesthood, never came nigh enough to the path this people have walked in to see them in their obedience that was and is required by the Gospel. Yet there are thousands of weaknesses and overt acts in some of this people, which render us more or less obnoxious to each other.

Still, you may search all the history extant of the children of Israel, or that of any people that ever lived on the face of the earth since the days of Enoch, and I very much doubt, taking that people with their traditions, and comparing them with this mixed multitude from the different nations now in the world with our traditions, whether you would find a people from the days of Enoch until now that could favorably compare with this people in their willingness to obey the Gospel, and to go all lengths to build up the kingdom of God.

I have said a great many times, and repeat it now, and whether I am mistaken or not I will leave for the future to determine, and though, as I do, Joseph when living reproved the people, that I believe with all my heart that the people who gathered around Enoch, and lived with him and built up his City, when they had travelled the same length of time in their experience as this people have, were not as far advanced in the things of the kingdom of God.

Make your own comparisons between the two people, think of the traditions of the two. How many nations were there in the days of Enoch? The very men who were associated with him had been with Adam; they knew him and his children, and had the privilege of talking with God. Just think of it.

Though we have it in history that our father Adam was made of the dust of this earth, and that he knew nothing about his God previous to being made here, yet it is not so; and when we learn the truth we shall see and understand that he helped to make this world, and was the chief manager in that operation.

He was the person who brought the animals and the seeds from other planets to this world, and brought a wife with him and stayed here. You may read and believe what you please as to what is found written in the Bible. Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of this earth. He was made as you and I are made, and no person was ever made upon any other principle.

Do you not suppose that he was acquainted with his associates, who came and helped to make this earth? Yes, they were just as familiar with each other as we are with our children and parents.

Suppose a number of our sons were going to Carson Valley to build houses, open farms, and erect mills and workshops, and that we should say to them that we wish them to stay there five years, and that then we will come and visit them, when I go there will they be afraid of me? No, they would receive me as their father, just as Adam received his Father.

The very man who walked and talked with and knew the God of heaven, and knew and understood all about making this earth had associates who were associated with Enoch, and yet twenty-five years of the travel and experience of Enoch with his people had not advanced them so far, in my opinion, as this people have advanced in the same time, taking into account the difference of traditions and other advantages.

They had not a diversity of languages, but all spoke one language; they were not trained in the various traditions in which we have been, for they received only one from Adam; they were as intimately associated as we would be in living in this City two hundred years, with the gates shut down upon all egress and ingress, and under such circumstances do you not think that our traditions would be all alike?

Yet Enoch had to talk with and teach his people during a period of three hundred and sixty years, before he could get them prepared to enter into their rest, and then he obtained power to translate himself and his people, with the region they inhabited, their houses, gardens, fields, cattle, and all their possessions. He had learned enough from Adam and his associates, to know how to handle the elements, and those who would not listen to his teachings were so wicked that they were fit to be destroyed, and he obtained power to take his portion of the earth and move out a little while, where he remains to this day.

You know that I sometimes reprove you because you deserve it, yet there is a constant and rapid increase of willingness to build up this kingdom.

Where is there a woman that would say to her husband, or to her son, “I do not wish you to go on the mission you have been called to perform”? That would say, “It is true you were called, but I do not like to have you go, cannot you get excused and stay at home?” I do not believe you could find five such women in this Territory.

There may be a few who are going to California that would say, “Yes, you may go on your mission, but I will go with you.” All they desire is to get away. Can you find five such women?

I care not if they should be old ladies of seventy-five years of age and had not the first thing to subsist upon, and though their whole dependence was upon their sons or husbands, they would say, “Go John, my son; or, go husband, if you do not we shall suffer; but if you go and do your duty God will provide for us in your absence.” Are not these the feelings of every wife and mother?

In the midst of all this some talk about sacrifices, but upon that point I wish to be allowed to differ from the class who view the matter in that light.

There may be some few exceptions, but I have made no sacrifices. “Mormonism” has done everything for me that ever has been done for me on the earth; it has made me happy, it has made me wealthy and comfortable; it has filled me with good feelings, with joy and rejoicing. Whereas, before I possessed the spirit of the Gospel, I was troubled with that which I hear others complain of, that is, with, at times, feeling cast down, gloomy, and desponding; with everything wearing to me, at times, a dreary aspect.

But have the trees, the streams, the rocks, or any part of creation worn a gloomy aspect to me for one half minute since I came in possession of the Spirit of this Gospel? No, though before that time I might view the most beautiful gardens, buildings, cities, plantations, or anything else in nature, yet to me they all wore at times a shade of death.

They appeared at times as though a vail was brooding over them, which cast a dark shade upon all things, like the shade of the valley of death, and I felt lonesome and bad. But since I have embraced the Gospel not for one half minute, to the best of my recollection, has anything worn to me a gloomy aspect, under all circumstances I have felt pleasant and cheerful.

When surrounded by mobs, with death and destruction threatening on every hand, I am not aware but that I felt just as joyful, just as well in my spirit, as I do now. Prospects might appear dull and very dark, but I have never seen a time in this Gospel but what I knew that the result would be beneficial to the cause of truth and the lovers of righteousness, and I have always felt to joyfully acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things.

When I was among the wicked, they looked to me as do the wicked, and when I saw devils possessing the bodies of the children of men I knew that God permitted it, and that He permitted them to be on the earth, and wherein would this be a state of probation, without those devils? We cannot even give endowments without representing a devil.

What would we know about heaven or happiness were it not for their opposite? Consequently we could not have got along so well and so rapidly without those mobocrats. And if mobbers should happen to come here do not look too sour at them, for we need them.

We could not build up the kingdom of God without the aid of devils, they must help to do it. They persecute and drive us from city to city, from place to place, until we learn the difference between the power of God and the power of the devil.

But does it then follow that we should say to them, “Come on here, we are good fellows well met?” By no means, care must be observed that we do not overrun the rule; we only need enough of them to help do up the work.

If we should get too many here they would overcome the good, and the Saints would have to flee.

Some of our Elders desire all the time to say, as I plainly phrase it, “How do you do brother Christ, and how do you do brother devil? Walk in and take breakfast with me.”

I consider such men useful in their places. This fact was very clearly exemplified to me in a dream which I had while so many were going to California, at a time when many of the brethren were under quite an excitement about the Saints going there to dig gold.

I thought considerably about the movement, and there had been a feeling abroad among the people that when the Saints got into the mountains “judgment would be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet,” that the axe would be laid at the root of the tree, and that every person who did not meet the measure would, in accordance with the iron bedstead rule, be chopped off if too long, and stretched out if too short.

Several supposed that this would be the case; and perhaps thought that they would be able to so sanctify themselves, that in one year they could take Great Salt Lake Valley and the regions round about up to Enoch, or have him come here. I did not so view the matter, and did not give any special instructions upon it.

At that time I dreamed that while I was a little below the road and just north of the Hot Springs, about four miles from here, I saw brother Joseph coming and walked up to the road to see him, and asked him where he was going? He replied, “I am going north.”

There were two or three horsemen along, and some men were riding with him upon a few boards placed loosely upon the running gears of a wagon, upon which were also a tent and camp utensils. I wished to talk with him, but he did not seem inclined to conversation, and it occurred to me that he was going to Captain James Brown’s to buy all his goats.

I had been promised ten or a dozen of them; but I thought that he was going to buy every one, and that I should not get a single goat to put with my sheep, and I laughed in my sleep.

Pretty soon he came back, with a large flock of sheep and goats following the wagon, and as I looked upon them I saw some sheep that were white, pure, and clean, and as large as a two year old cow, with wool from ten to twenty inches in length, as fine as silk and as white as the driven snow.

With them were all lesser sizes down to the smallest goat or sheep I ever saw, and all mixed up together. I saw some sheep with hair like that of goats, and goats of all colors, red, black, white, &c., mixed with the sheep; and their sizes, colors, and quality of fleeces, seemed to be almost innumerable.

I remarked to Joseph that he had got the strangest flock I ever saw, and looked at him slyly and laughed, and asked him what he was going to do with them. He looked at me in his usual shrewd manner and replied, “They are all good in their places.”

On awaking I at once understood the dream, and I then said, go to California, or where you please, for goats are as good in their places as sheep, until the time for them to mingle is over. And in striving to guide and improve the flock we sometimes have to cry out, shoo, and at other times to draw them nigh by calling, sheep, sheep.

We are trying to train the flock, and to turn the goats into sheep, and the spotted, ring-streaked and speckled into beautiful white, and how shall we succeed? Perhaps we shall see rather a curious flock at last, but we will do the best we can.

Sometimes I rise up here and really feel to storm at some who are in this community, for their conduct is awful, it is outrageous. I presume I could come here this afternoon and eat bread and drink of the cup, in the name of Israel’s God, with men who would go straight from the communion and steal my property.

Let us consider this point a little, for this matter has been through me, round me, over me, and under me; I have turned it inside out and round about and looked at it, and then I have turned it over again. Brother Fullmer has just alluded to the rails disappearing from fences. Are not your fences taken? Is not your clothing taken when it is hung out to dry? And is not wood taken from your wood piles? How many have to lock up their wood, or lose it? Taking property without leave from the owner is what I call stealing, but many who practise that do not so understand it.

Even if I had to work by the day for bread, wood, clothing, and comforts for myself and family, and should then without authority go and take wood from brother Joseph’s wood pile, were he living here and President of the Church, my judgment, what I know of right and wrong, the traditions of my fathers, and the teachings of my parents and of the neighbors where I was brought up would all confirm me in the belief that I was stealing. Do all persons feel so? No, they do not.

During two or three of the past winters, except the last, I have no question but that women and children carried from one to three cords of wood per day from my woodyard, and when the wood was scarce they would take my fence poles. I have myself seen them take back loads of wood and then fill their bags with the chips and small sticks, but when they took my fence poles and posts I stopped them, and told them that if they were not satisfied with taking my wood without taking my fencing to leave my yard, and not to come there to steal any more.

But do I see some there yet? Yes, you may see women and children carrying away my wood every day. If my workmen ask them what they are doing, they reply, “Brother Brigham said I might have some wood, he will not say anything.” Do you suppose that those persons fully realize that they are stealing? No.

I will tell you a little that I know about the difference in traditions and customs, and will go no further than where I have traveled and preached. A large number of the inhabitants in the old countries are tenants, renting houses for longer or shorter periods, generally for from three to twelve months.

Now suppose that A, when vacating a house, accidentally leaves his pocket-book in a cupboard, and that B, who next occupies the same building, finds A’s pocket-book with, perhaps, twenty sovereigns in it; what does the custom of that country warrant in such a case? Their traditions are such that B claims that property as his own, and A cannot get it, unless B is honest enough to give it up.

B’s course in that case may not be in accordance with law, but it is according to custom, which in such instances is stronger than law.

An American would consider, if he was to find hand irons left in the fireplace, or a chair or sofa left in the sitting-room, that the former tenant had the right to call and take them away; and if he was to undertake to smuggle any of those things he would consider himself stealing.

That difference of feeling and conduct arises from the difference there is in the traditions of different countries. In America a man would as soon venture to go into his neighbor’s house and steal a chair, as to retain one accidentally left there by a previous occupant. I will notice another difference in traditions.

Among various other occupations I have been a carpenter, painter and glazier, and when I learned my trades and worked, both as journeyman and master, if I took a job of painting and glazing, say to the amount of one pound sterling, or five dollars, and through my own carelessness in any manner injured the work or material, I considered it my duty to repair the injury at my own expense.

In Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, or anywhere else in England if you employ a glazier to work to the value of one pound, ten or fifty pounds, and he can manage in any way to put the windows in such a position that the wind will blow them over and break them, he will do it, in order to get the work to do over.

Do they think they do wrong? No. Why? Because their employers would make them do their work for nothing, and then compel them to live on roots and grass if their physical organization could endure it, therefore, says the mechanic, “If I can get anything out of you I will call it a godsend.”

Servants in the houses of the great ones, if they can get anything out of their masters besides their wages, call it a godsend. If they can take bread, meat, butter, and cheese, without the masters knowing it, to support their wives, mothers, fathers, children, brothers, and sisters who are not capable of taking care of themselves, they will put that provision in their possession, to keep them from starving to death, and call it a godsend.

Let me do that in this country, and I should consider myself a culprit, according to my judgment and traditions. No matter if I were suffering for bread, and at the same time working among millions of it, if I could not procure it by my labor, I must ask for it and have it given to me, for if I got it in any other way, I must consider myself a thief. Are the Americans altogether excusable? No, for if I wish to find the rough and ready ones, I can do it as quick in America as any where else.

Shall I tell you what are some of the traditions of a few of the Americans? Yes. If they have not all they need to eat, drink, or wear, and find an ox or cow on the range over Jordan, or any where else, that belongs to me or you, and can take that animal and kill it they will do so, and then sell the meat to you and me, and call that a godsend, and say, “O we are all of one family.” That is an American tradition among a few; but as a general thing, the customs of this country and the traditions of the nations across the great waters differ materially.

When I went to England the brethren and sisters would not have me to shave on the Sabbath, they would pay any price to have me shave on Saturday. Said I, “I will shave on Sunday morning, if I have no time to do so on Saturday.” I told them that I did not come there to learn their customs and traditions, but to teach the people the Gospel of salvation. That we had traditions in America with regard to blacking boots, shaving, &c. on Sunday, as well as they, but if I had no time to do that work on Saturday, I would do it on Sunday, if I deemed it necessary. And if I wished to go to meeting and worship God, it was just as acceptable to do so on Saturday as on Sunday.

Adam Clark is taken by many as a standard amongst the commentators, and it is said, if the clock struck twelve on Saturday night, and he happened to have but one shoe blacked, that he would drop the blacking and brushes, and go to meeting next day with one shoe blacked and the other unblacked. That might by some be esteemed a pious example, and by others a way-mark to the kingdom of folly.

Such are a few of the traditions extant among different people. I have no question but that many in our community do things which are actually sinful if they did but know the right, but their traditions are such that they act with impunity, and pass on as unconcerned and unconscious of wrong as if they had just been on their knees praying. If we live long enough together, we shall have a tradition of our own, and that is, to be so trained in the law of the Celestial kingdom, to so learn the law of right, as to be able at all times to know right from wrong, and then always to do right. Is this the case now? No.

Suppose that several of the brethren were to go for fuel and timber in Red Bute kanyon, where we generally went when we first came to this Territory. Some go on up the kanyon cutting a tree for timber in one place, and preparing fuel for loading in another, while others follow up with their teams, and you know that when they get a little brush-whipped they are apt to become angry, to forget themselves a little, and to say, “Damn it,” and directly one will begin to say to himself, “This kanyon is as much mine as any persons; I think I shall take this tree and this wood that are already cut.”

Another comes across a wagon that is broken down, and takes one of the hounds from it and puts it into his own. Still another passes by where somebody has lost an axe; he finds it and takes it along, saying, “Well, it is lost here, we are away in the wilderness, these are as much my premises as any one’s; I will take out this helve and put in another, and grind the axe over a little, and nobody will know it; thank the Lord, I have an axe now.”

Do you know that some people feel and act in that manner? I know they do. Some will find wood cut in the kanyon and load it on their wagons, perhaps that which grandad, with his crippled limbs, had toiled hard to collect together; but that makes no difference, they pile it on, saying, “I believe I am blessed of the Lord, I am much favored of Him to-day,” and come out rejoicing, having found a load of wood already cut. But what have they done? They have found loads of wood cut to their hands, and apparently have not reflected but what an angel had cut it expressly for them. This is a tradition and custom of the Mountains. Some of you may inquire whether I believe what I am talking about. Let me tell you what I have observed; two or three years ago I went up City Creek kanyon to show a man where he might get wood on shares, which I was having cut. I came to where my men were cutting wood and brush to clear out the road, and I told them to pile it so that my teamster could drive up and load it handily. Soon afterwards an old gentleman came along and, without any privilege from me, drove off the man to whom I had just engaged the wood and began to load it on his wagon. That individual was an old Saint, one who had been twenty years in this Church.

What is the feeling with some of the Yankees, English, Scotch, Irish, French, Germans, &c.? “We have come to Zion where all things are common.” The devil has put this idea into the minds of some, and the devil, I was going to say, cannot take it away from them. They possess this feeling, and they are determined to have it so. With such the idea is, “We are all children of one parent, we all belong to the household of faith, we are one family, and we will have it so, and will not be beat out of it.”

This notion is partly right and partly wrong, and, as I have often said, people ought to know how to discern between the things that are of God and the things that are not of God. This is the spirit they receive in the first place—“Ye are one in Christ Jesus,” and that is right, but are we one out of Christ Jesus? Many would like to have it so. You have come here from all quarters to be one family, yet if some of you come across a wagon wheel, you will appropriate it to your own use, asking no leave; or if you have no axe, you will get one from some part of the great family, and thank God for an axe; and if you come across piles of wood, that you have not labored to cut, you shout, “Thank God, hallelujah, I have found some wood ready cut to my hand.” That is being one out of Christ.

Others will say, “Let us take down this fence, and turn our cattle into this meadow.” You can find plenty of earth and pole fences purposely thrown down, and might hear the trespassers exclaim, “O, this is Father’s land, let us enjoy it.” Others will say, “Damn it, it is mine as well as yours.” I will take some of the reputed best men now in this congregation, who, through carelessness and thoughtlessness, when they have done their forenoon’s work on their five acre lots, turn out their cattle to feed, but at the same time are sure to keep them off from their own lots; and you will find their cattle in other people’s oats, wheat, or grass, while they lay asleep. Yes, some of the would-be-thought best men in this congregation are sure to keep their cattle on their neighbor’s lots, and off from their own, and should you pass along and rouse them up, saying “Why, brethren, your cattle are in my oats,” they would reply, “Really, brother, I did not know it, I turned them out a little while, and lay down to rest.”

All such people deserve whipping and scolding, and require much training. What for? Not for their goodness, their faith, obedience, honesty, and anxiety to build up the kingdom of God, but for their careless, indolent feelings, for their stupidity in laying down and permitting their animals to trespass upon their neighbor’s crops, for trying to train themselves into the belief that it is right to take this or that, or to do thus and so, when it is not strictly according to the law of God. You and I have got to learn better things.

Let this land come into market and the brethren buy sections, half sections, or quarter sections, and so on, and how soon you would hear, “Bless you, now we have law to defend us.” Can you not see that tradition makes the brethren, where there is a little difficulty, walk into the court room with all the confidence imaginable, feeling almost like little gods, and exclaiming, “Now things will be done as they should be, matters will go right now.” And what is done? Why, the lawyers and court take pretty much all the money; for a debt of five dollars taken into court they will expend one hundred dollars of your means in lawyers’ fees, jury fees, and other court expenses, when the question could have been settled in five minutes.

This is an American tradition, though there are fortunately many exceptions to the power of this general tradition. Some men will go into court and spend five hundred dollars and feel as nicely about it as possible, even when their case has not been adjudicated as justly as a sensible “Mormon” boy, ten years old, would do it. And yet, when they know this fact full well, they will spend their time, day after day, and their means with seeming contentment, saying to themselves, “Oh, if we can only go into the court, and address the court, and say, may it please the court, may it please your honor, may it please you, gentlemen of the jury, O, how joyous we shall be—we shall feel as though we were men of some importance, if we can only get up and strut and splutter before a court.” Even when merely a judge is sitting there, like a bean on the end of a pipe stem, who would be flipped off should a grain of good sense happen to strike him, how big he feels while sitting there for days to adjudicate a case that should not require five minutes.

We have got to learn better than to practise and follow after such nonsense, and learn the principle and law of right. That is the doctrine, the tradition which this people have got to come to. Will they come to it? Yes, or be damned, one or the other. I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for all the law that was ever made on this earth, outside of that which has come from heaven, to control a righteous man, neither would any man or woman that desires truth and righteousness. Cannot you observe the law of righteousness as easily as you can observe the poor, miserable, sunken laws devised by a set of wicked men? Some may reply, “My traditions will not let me.”

How do you suppose that the Lord. looks upon litigation? It is just as mean and contemptible, in the eyes of angels and of the Almighty, to go to law, and thereby wrong a fellow being, as it is for you to go and steal my property, yet some of you justify yourselves in going to law, and in your other false and unholy traditions. Learn the law of Christ and let alone the traditions of the children of men; make the law of Christ your tradition, for we have got to come to this position.

I will now return to where I began, and again ask, why do you require to be talked to so much? You know right from wrong; there is hardly a person here, but what knows right from wrong, then why do you not all do right? Because of your filthy traditions and dispositions. I have often sincerely and absolutely thought that the doctrine and practice of a certain lawyer was in the end strictly worldly wise; he first studied divinity and preached to the people for the salvation of their souls, until he learned that they did not care so much for their spiritual as for their temporal salvation, when he studied and practised medicine, but soon discovered that the poor miserable wills of men were more to them than the salvation of their bodies, and he finally studied law and indulged all his clients in the expensive gratification of their wills, which was dearer to them than the salvation of soul and body.

When we have an antipathy towards a person, the temptation is strong to be revenged, and one is inclined to say, “I will do this and that, and will let the passion of the moment control me.” But we have to learn the law of Christ, and to train ourselves to it until it will become the tradition of this people, and then you can bring up your children in the way they should go. In every nation, community, and family, there are peculiar traditions, and the child is trained in them. If the law of Christ becomes the tradition of this people, the children will be brought up according to the law of the celestial kingdom, else they are not brought up in the way they should go. Children will then be brought up, under the traditions of their fathers, to do just right, and to refrain from all evil, and when old they will not depart from a righteous course. Solomon could not carry out this principle in his life, because he was not thoroughly brought up in the way he should go. The old Indian adage is rather the most applicable to the present practise of many, viz., “Train up a child, and away it goes, as it pleases.”

If this people could be shut out from all communication with other people, and have no customs and traditions introduced foreign to the law of Christ, we should soon see eye to eye, and our traditions would be framed according to the celestial law; and we should then be prepared to bring up our children in the way they should go.

I have spoken with much plainness concerning several traditions and practices, in order that the Saints abroad may correctly understand that we are not all, as yet, fully sanctified by the truth, and that both they and the world may know that the Gospel net still gathereth fish of every kind, that the flock has some goats intermingled with sheep of various grades, and that the day of separation has not yet arrived. May God bless you. Amen.

Irrigation, etc.

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 8, 1856.

I wish to say a few words before this meeting is dismissed, upon the subject of the Big Cottonwood Canal. I have been along the line of the canal, more or less, during nearly every day of the last week, and I will say, for the gratification of the Bishops and brethren present, that I think they have done extremely well. A great many men have labored on that canal during the past week, and had it not been for faith, or the Spirit of the Lord upon them, many might have sunk with fatigue, for they looked as though they would faint; but they have labored faithfully. What was absolutely necessary to be done a week ago to-day could have been done in one week, if all the labor could have been judiciously applied, and the portion we desired to finish this season would have now been completed. But such drawbacks will occur, when time cannot be previously taken to make the proper estimate and distribution of men and teams for different points of the work. With the circumstances under which we commenced last Monday morning, it could not be expected but what there would be more or less confusion and misapplication of labor; but even with these disadvantages the work has prospered extremely well.

If we can get the water of Big Cottonwood as far as Big Kanyon, as ditches have already been opened from the last named point, we can water the five acre lots and about one-third of the city; but we expect to continue operations until we bring the water to the termination of the canal above the city, on the north side. The large reservoirs formed by the embankments across the deep ravines will hold an immense quantity of water, and we wish to have them speedily finished for containing water to be used when we need it.

In regard to irrigation, I will venture to say that one-half of the water is wasted; instead of being applied where and when it is needed, it runs here and there, and perhaps one-half reaches the drooping plants. If people would take a little more pains in preparing ditches, gates, and embankments for economically conducting water where it is most needed, it, would be a very great advantage to them.

When water is brought to the termination of the canal, which we can accomplish in a few days, I presume that the reservoirs on the line of the work and those portions which are excavated in full will contain water enough to allow the people to irrigate when necessary, and thus do away with the practice of watering only two hours a week on a city lot, and much of that to be done in the night. And that is not all, for by the time the water is fairly on a lot it is taken by the next person whose right it is to use it. And lots which have had thousands of dollars expended on them, and which would yield more than a thousand dollars’ worth of fruit and vegetables, could they be properly irrigated, are only allowed a small stream of water for two hours once a week, and at the same time an adjoining lot planted with corn, the hills six feet apart and one stalk in a hill, comparatively speaking, the balance of the ground being covered with weeds, is allotted the same time and amount of water as the one on which the fruit trees and other choice vegetation are worth thousands of dollars.

There ought to be a reformation in the distribution of the water. The man who will not raise five dollars’ worth of produce on his lot, has the same water privilege as the man who could raise a thousand dollars’ worth. For instance, brother Staines gets the water for two hours in a week, and what are his fruit trees worth? He could make his thousand dollars a year from them, if he were disposed to sell the fruit instead of giving it away, could he have a fair portion of water. I have a lot just below him well-cultivated in fruit trees, a nursery, and choice vegetables, I also can only have the water on my lot for two hours in a week; when lots near by, with but little on them except weeds, get the same water privilege, and that too in the day time, while we have to use it in the night. Water masters ought to look to this matter, until they have arranged a more just distribution.

So soon as we can complete the canal and its reservoirs, the people will be enabled to water their gardens thoroughly, which will be scores of thousands of dollars advantage to this city yearly, besides the immense benefit to the farming lands. There is much grain growing in the city lots, and many persons have spaded their ground, not having teams to plow with, consequently their lots are better cultivated this year than heretofore, and we wish to water them that we may not lose our labor. If we can have your help for a few days more, we shall bring much more water to the city than we now have.

I have personally interested myself very diligently in the labors upon the canal, and have endeavored to follow the instructions of brother Kimball during last Sabbath. Who has been impoverished by our labor? Who has been injured by it? Not a single individual, old or young. Who is benefited by it? The whole community: every man, woman, and child. This canal will be a lasting benefit; without it we may be discouraged with regard to the farming interests of this portion of the valley. We expect to see this canal completed. I know that some have thought it would be almost impossible to complete such a work here, to secure the banks of the deep ravines, but we shall not leave it until it is completed.

Shall we stop making canals, when the one now in progress is finished? No, for as soon as that is completed from Big Cottonwood to this city, we expect to make a canal on the west side of Jordan, and take its water along the east base of the west mountains, as there is more farming land on the west side of that river than on the east. When that work is accomplished we shall continue our exertions, until Provo river runs to this city. We intend to bring it around the point of the mountain to Little Cottonwood, from that to Big Cottonwood, and lead its waters upon all the land from Provo kanyon to this city, for there is more water runs in that stream alone than would be needed for that purpose.

If we had time we should build several reservoirs to save the waters of City Creek, each one to contain enough for once irrigating one-third of the city. If we had such reservoirs the whole of this city might be irrigated with water that now runs to waste. Even then we do not intend to cease our improvements, for we expect that part of the Weber will be brought to the Hot Springs, there to meet the waters from the south and empty into Jordan. Then we contemplate that Bear river will be taken out at the gates to irrigate a rich and extensive region on its left bank, and also upon the other side to meet the waters of the Malad. We know not the end of our public labors and enterprises in this Territory, and we design performing them as fast as we can.

Our preaching to you from Sabbath to Sabbath, sending the Gospel to the nations, gathering the people, opening farms, making needed improvements, and building cities, all pertain to salvation. The Gospel is designed to gather a people that will be of one heart and of one mind. Let every individual in this city feel the same interest for the public good as he does for his own, and you will at once see this community still more prosperous, and still more rapidly increasing in wealth, influence, and power. But where each one seeks to benefit himself or herself alone, and does not cherish a feeling for the prosperity and benefit of the whole, that people will be disorderly, unhappy, and poverty-stricken, and distress, animosity, and strife will reign.

Efforts to accumulate property in the correct channel are far from being an injury to any community, on the contrary they are highly beneficial, provided individuals, with all that they have, always hold themselves in readiness to advance the interests of the kingdom of God on the earth. Let every man and woman be industrious, prudent, and economical in their acts and feelings, and while gathering to themselves, let each one strive to identify his or her interests with the interests of this community, with those of their neighbor and neighborhood, let them seek their happiness and welfare in that of all, and we will be blessed and prospered

I do not wish to boast in the least, neither do I think much of myself, nor ever did, nor do I ever pause much to think, in all my labors, doings, travelings, toils, and preachings, whether I have friends or foes, but the care that I have for this community I do manifest in my works. Not that I think that I am extraordinarily praise-worthy, or that I am a very good man, for you know that I have never professed to be a very religious man; but what I wish you to do to your neighbor I do by you; but I will not ask my Father in heaven to deal any more kindly with me than I deal with my brethren.

My interest is the interest of this community; this has been characteristic of my course from the beginning. I have witnesses here to prove that, from the time I entered this kingdom until this day, this community and its welfare have been my interest.

I have proven this all the time, and I prove it still. I have proven it this year, in the scarce time we are passing through. Ask the poor brethren and sisters who have come to me for bread if they have been turned away empty. I have had a large amount of flour and means, for among other property I have two of the best mills in the Territory, and a large farm upon which I generally raise much wheat and other produce. I have always raised more grain than my family consumed, and in these scarce times find the man or woman that I have taken fifty cents from for flour.

I have had money offered to me, but I have told such persons to go and buy where flour is for sale; I have none to sell.

In all my transactions in this community I have acted in a similar manner. What do I get for taking such a course? When I came into this valley I owed for my outfit; I had but little; I do not think that one-third of my family had shoes to their feet, and I had no leather from which to make shoes.

We came with what we had, and I borrowed oxen from one man, and horses from another, which I have since paid for, besides paying thousands of dollars for my poor brethren who could not pay.

What the Lord has done for me, you all know. Have I wronged any man, or pinched any man in a time of trouble, or in any way taken an advantage of his necessities? Bring forward a man whom I have wronged, and I will restore to him not only four but tenfold. My hands are open; I have naturally an open hand, it does not contract on the needy like that. (Holding his hand with the fingers shut.)

Neither am I like the miller who striked the toll dish with a crowning hand, thus leaving the grain convex, but who, when he quit milling and opened a tavern, reversed his hand and left the grain concave.

I do not wish you to deal any better by me than I do by you, neither do I wish God my Father to deal any more kindly towards me than I do towards you. How came I by what I have? We may dig water ditches, make canals, sow wheat, build mills, and labor with our mights, but if God does not give the increase we remain poor. Though we bestow much labor upon our fields, if God does not give the increase we shall have no grain.

How few there are who fully understand this matter, who realize thoroughly that unless God blesses our exertions we shall have nothing. It is the Lord that gives the increase. He could send showers to water our fields, but I do not know that I have prayed for rain since I have been, in these valleys until this year, during which I believe that I have prayed two or three times for rain, and then with a faint heart, for there is plenty of water flowing down these kanyons in crystal streams as pure as the breezes of Zion, and it is our business to use them.

I do not feel disposed to ask the Lord to do for me what I can do for myself. I know when I sow the wheat and water it that I cannot give the increase, for that is in the hands of the Almighty; and when it is time to worship the Lord, I will leave all and worship Him. As I said yesterday to a Bishop who was mending a breach in the canal, and expressed a wish to continue his labor on the following Sabbath, as his wheat was burning up, let it burn, when the time comes that is set apart for worship, go up and worship the Lord.

When Bishops and the brethren can perceive and understand that it is the Lord that gives the increase, after all their exertions to sustain themselves, they will be satisfied that the glory belongs to Him, and not altogether to the exertions of man. You know Paul says that he considered himself an unprofitable servant, and so is every other man; that is, when we have done all we can to save ourselves, spiritually and temporally, it is the Lord who gave us the means.

He opened up the way of life and salvation, organized the elements to sustain our mortal bodies, and thus afforded all the means for increase. It is all through the wisdom of Him who has created all things, who rules. over and sustains all things.

Have the Latter-day Saints got to learn this? Yes. And they have got to learn that the interest of their brethren is their own interest, or they never can be saved in the celestial kingdom of God.

While saying a few words here last Sabbath about the canal, I told you when, you lifted your hands to heaven, in token of your willingness to do a certain thing that you ought to do it. A great many of you have had your endowments, and you know what a vote with uplifted hands means.

It is a sign which you make in token of your covenant with God and with one another, and it is for you to perform your vows. When you raise your hands to heaven and let them fall and then pass on with your covenants unfulfilled, you will be cursed.

I feel sometimes like lecturing men and women severely, who enter into covenants without realizing the nature of the covenants they make, and who use little or no effort to fulfil them.

Some Elders go to the nations and preach the Gospel of life and salvation, and return without thoroughly understanding the nature of a covenant. It is written in the Bible that every man should perform his own vows, even if to his own hurt; in this way you will show to all creation and to God that you are full of integrity.

This people have got to entirely wake out of their sleep, they have got to be a strictly righteous people, or they will have to meet worse things than a scanty morsel of bread.

Do they believe this? Some think—“Well, perhaps it will be so, and perhaps not I have little flour now, and I really want the money, and if I can get twelve or thirteen dollars a hundred for it I can spare it.”

This is the principle some persons operate upon, and it is sectarianism. It seems of the long-faced deacon style, who, when a poor man wants flour for his wife and children, in measured tone and with a long religious face, says, “No; but who, after long importunity on the part of the hungry man, will at last, in a very soft, measured, pious, long-faced, sighing style, reply, “Well, brother, I have not any to spare, but I don’t know but that if you will come and work for me a couple of days in harvest, I will spare you a bushel to accommodate you. I shall have to hire labor at harvest, can you come and help me?”

The answer is, “Yes,” when at the same time he knows that he can have two bushels a day for work in harvest, but the long-faced deacon will make him agree to work two days for one bushel.

I have heard of a man in this city who was stopped from building a house. Why? Because he got first-rate mechanics to work for five pounds of flour a day, which is at the rate of thirty cents a day. His Bishop told him that he could not build a house in his Ward upon any such principle.

Do you suppose that such a man is fit to belong to any church? Yes, to Joe Bowers’ church, and his was a hell-fired church.

You who have surplus flour hoarded up, give it to the poor, and say that you will trust in God.

The first year that I came into this valley I had not flour enough to last my family until harvest, and that I had brought with me, and persons were coming to my house every day for bread. I had the blues about one day; I went down to the old fort, and by the time I got back to my house I was completely cured. I said to my wife, “Do not let a person come here for food and go away empty handed, for if you do we shall suffer before harvest; but if you give to every individual that comes we shall have enough to last us through.”

I have proven this many a time, and we have again proven it this year. I have plenty on hand, and shall have plenty, if I keep giving away. More than two hundred persons eat from my provisions every day, besides my own family and those who work for me. I intend to keep doing so, that my bread may hold out, for if I do not I shall come short.

Do you believe that principle? I know it is true, because I have proven it so many times.

I have formerly told this community of a circumstance that occurred to brother Heber and myself, when we were on our way to England. We paid our passage to Kirtland, and to my certain knowledge we had only $13,50, but we paid out $87,00; this is but one instance among many which I could name.

You who have flour and meat, deal it out, and do not be afraid that you will be too much straightened, for if you will give, you will have plenty, for it is God who sustains us and we have got to learn this lesson. All I ask of you is to apply your heart to wisdom and to watch the providences of God, until you prove for yourselves that I am telling the truth, even that which I do know and have experienced.

I have experienced much in my life, and I will not ask you to do any better by one another nor by me than I do by you, and I will bless you all the time. I feel to bless you continually; my life is here, my interest, my glory, my pride, my comfort, my all are here, and all I expect to have, to all eternity is wrapped up in the midst of this Church.

If I do not get it in this channel, I shall not have it at all. How do you suppose I feel? I feel as a father should feel towards his children. I have felt so for many years, even when I durst not say so; I have felt as a mother feels towards her tender offspring, and durst not express my feelings; but I have tried to carry out their expression in my life. May God bless you. Amen.

Remarks on a Revelation Given at August 1831, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 15, 1856.

I will read a revelation printed in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and given in Zion in August, 1831. It was given in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, I think during the first time that Joseph was in that land. (The President read the revelation, section 18.)

I do not anticipate, in the few remarks that I shall make, throwing any particular light upon this revelation, especially to those who are acquainted with the circumstances under which it was given.

When revelations are given through an individual appointed to receive them, they are given to the understandings of the people. These revelations, after a lapse of years, become mystified to those who were not personally acquainted with the circumstances at the time they were given.

The revelation that I have been reading may be as mysterious to our children, in a thousand or fifteen hundred years from now, in case the world continues in the same degree of enlightenment that it has for a few ages past, as the revelations contained in the Old and New Testaments are to this generation, and it would be commented upon with the same scrutiny and accuracy; and men would study, year after year, and fret themselves almost to death to find out the mysterious meaning of the revelation given to us their forefathers.

This revelation is as plain and clear to the understandings of those who know the circumstances that called it forth, as it would be for you to understand me should I talk about making a canal to bring the waters of Big Cottonwood to this city for irrigating our gardens and the farming lands. It is plain and easy to be understood, it is familiar to us who were in that country at the time, we know all about it.

But a portion of this congregation have not been personally acquainted with the early experience and travels of this Church, and with the sayings and doings of the Prophet Joseph, and it may be that they do not fully understand what this revelation really does mean.

They do not actually know that there is such a place as Independence, in Jackson County, Missouri; they have heard of it, and may have an idea that it is situated in the regions where angels dwell.

The revelation which I have read was perfectly plain, and could readily be understood by all the brethren then in Jackson County, Missouri, and in Kirtland, Ohio, as easily as you can understand me when I talk about digging canals, building dwellings, tabernacles, temples, and store-houses, or when I talk about drawing sand and clay, burning lime, &c.

Is it strange or is it not strange, to people endowed with wisdom, that the inhabitants of the earth, beclouded as they are, should have such revelations given to them? Is it strange or is it not strange that they should reject them?

Would this be a hard question for the congregation to answer? Looking at these things, after the manner of the wisdom of the world, we say that it would be very strange indeed, as a certain professor would say, “It would be passing strange.”

It would be strange indeed should people receive such ideas, upon such subjects, as revelations from God, from the Supreme of the Universe, the great Eloheim, the Creator and upholder of all things, who is enthroned in eternity in glory and in power, yet who condescends to talk about such matters as building store-houses, sending men to do this or that, to go to this or that land, to gather up money for this or that purpose. And very many would exclaim, “O, it is money, money, money!”

That has been the cry continually from the enemies of the kingdom of God. You know that was the cry in the days of Joseph; “O, he is after money, you can see this is in all his revelations; money, money, money; he wants to get your money! He pretends it is going into the hands of the Bishop to purchase lands, but when he gets hold of it you do not get it again. It is money, money, money, all the time.”

The commands to go and buy this or that farm, to build houses, sell out a farm here and rent one there, take a mission to preach the Gospel to the world, gather money to purchase lands, and divide with the poor brethren, are all familiar talk with us, easy to be understood, and without mystery.

When Joseph received this revelation, it was as plain to the understanding of the Saints, as are my instructions when telling you what to do.

The Lord said to the people through Joseph, “You must keep the law here, and be careful to repent of your sins.” Occasionally a man’s name would be mentioned, and he might be pointed out as a pattern for the rest.

Do you repent of your sins? If you do not, you will be overcome by the enemy. He said to the people, “Repent of your sins and keep the law, or you will have no inheritance in this region.”

Many who are here now, owned farms there, and some owned large tracts of land. Have you possession of them now? You have not. You may be rightful owners of those lands, but you are not the possessors. There are many in this congregation who own the right of the soil there, that is to say, if the government of the United States could or would give any right to it.

The Lord said, “Repent of your sins, or you cannot stay here and receive your inheritance; and this land will not be given to the Saints until they are scourged and driven from city to city.” This is plain, and every person can understand it.

As there are persons named in the revelation which I have read, to whom I wish to refer more particularly, I will again read a portion of it.

“Now as I spake concerning my servant Edward Partridge, this land is the land of his residence, and those whom he has appointed for his counsellors. And also the land of the residence of him whom I have appointed to keep my store-house; wherefore let them bring their families to this land as they shall counsel between themselves and me: for behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things, for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.”

Here are two characters pointed out, brother Partridge and another whose name is not mentioned here, but whose name was Gilbert, and who was appointed keeper of the store-house.

You can understand what this plain revelation meant, and it will come home to your comprehension. “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things, for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant.” Those men whose names are mentioned were considered to be as holy, I may say, as any men in the world.

I am a witness, so far as this is concerned, that the persons whose names are mentioned, and many others of the first Elders of the Church, were looked upon almost as angels. They were looked upon by the young members as being so filled with the Spirit and power of God, that we were hardly worthy to converse with them. You hear the names of Bishop Partridge, of brother W. W. Phelps, who is now sitting in this stand, of Parley P. Pratt, of David Whitmer, of Oliver Cowdery, and the names of many others of the first Elders who had been up to Zion, and I declare to you that brethren in other parts of the land, those who had not seen the persons named, felt that should they come into their presence they would have to pull off their shoes, as the ground would be so holy upon which they trod.

Do you know what distance and age accomplish? They produce in people the most reverential awe that can be imagined.

When we reflect; and rightly understand, we learn how easy of comprehension the Gospel is, how plain it is in its plan, in every part and principle fitted perfectly to the capacity of mankind, insomuch that when it is introduced among the lovers of truth it appears very easy and very plain, and how very ready the honest are to receive it.

But send it abroad and give it antiquity, and it is at once clothed with mystery. This is the case with all the ancient revelations. Those which were received and understood by the ancients are shrouded in mystery and uncertainty to this generation, and men are employed to reveal the meaning of the ancient Scriptures.

The people on every hand are inquiring, “What does this scripture mean, and how shall we understand this or that passage?” Now I wish, my brethren and sisters, for us to understand things precisely as they are, and not as the flitting, changing imagination of the human mind may frame them.

The Bible is just as plain and easy of comprehension as the revelation which I have just read to you, if you understand the Spirit of God—the Spirit of revelation, and know how the Gospel of salvation is adapted to the capacity of weak man.

If you could see things as they are, you would know that the whole plan of salvation, and all the revelations ever given to man on the earth are as plain as would be the remarks of an Elder, were he to stand here and talk about our every day business.

I want you to understand this, that you may know how to understandingly read the Bible and the revelations delivered to you in your own generation, and how to honor your religion and your God.

When you read the revelations, or when you hear the will of the Lord concerning you, for your own sakes never receive that with a doubtful heart. This is a matter that I have frequently impressed upon the people here; I have exhorted them from year to year upon this very point, and have asked, why do you receive the counsel of God with doubtful hearts when you are taught the way of life and salvation, when things are made so plain and easy to you that you cannot misunderstand them? Why do you admit of such unbelief in your hearts and feelings as to say—“This or that is beneath the notice of the Almighty, and say that He does not deal in such simple, small, and every day affairs?”

Why say, “We want to hear from the stand concerning the mysteries—the eternal mysteries of the kingdom of God, that which we have never heard?” I might say to such, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken. Is it a mystery to you, sisters, how to knit a stocking? You all answer, “No, not at all.”

But bring an individual from a world where they never had stockings, and it is as much of a mystery to that person, as any thing you have ever thought of could be to you, because he would be perfectly ignorant of all ideas pertaining to that art.

You may now be inclined to say, “O, this is too simple and child-like, we wish to hear the mysteries of the kingdoms of the Gods who have existed from eternity and of all the kingdoms in which they will dwell; we desire to have these things portrayed to our understandings.”

Allow me to inform you that you are in the midst of it all now, that you are in just as good a kingdom as you will ever attain to, from now to all eternity, unless you make it yourselves by the grace of God, by the will of God, by the eternal Priesthood of God, which is a code of laws perfectly calculated to govern and control eternal matter. If you and I do not by this means make that better kingdom which we anticipate, we shall never enjoy it.

We can only enjoy the kingdom we have labored to make. If you say that you want mysteries, commandments, and revelations, I reply that scarcely a Sabbath passes over your heads, those of you who come here, without your having the revelations of Jesus Christ poured upon you like water on the ground.

“Why do you not write them, brother Brigham?” I will tell you one reason why:—I expect that they will be one of these days, but I expect that you will have them written when God and His faithful servants, have suffered enough from the ignorance, foolishness, wickedness, and slothfulness of the people, from their slowness of heart to believe, and from their unrighteous dealing one with another.

Then I expect that there will be just revelation enough given and written to cut all the ungodly off from the Church, and send them to hell. The reason it is not given now, is because of the mercy the Lord still sees fit to extend towards them.

You recollect that last sabbath, and two weeks ago to-day, I told the people that it would be for their good to go and perform a certain piece of work, which was just as much revelation to you as would be teachings upon the subject of getting your endowment. It was life, and was upon the principles of eternal lives. I recollect telling you, when you lift your hands to heaven like that (raising his hand) and say that you will perform thus and so and do not, that such a course would damn you, as sure as you are now living. Men and women ought to fulfil all their covenants.

I exhorted the brethren not to say that they would do the work, unless they intended to go and do it, for if they did not, I said they would be cursed.

I am almost constrained by the power that is within me to draw the dividing line in the midst of this people, and to cut many from the Church, but I plead for mercy. I have mercy for the people, and I ask God to bear with the wickedness there is in their midst, which can hardly be borne with by the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost.

I said, two weeks ago to-day, that some of you would be cursed, but have you ever heard me curse the people? You have not, though I have to hang, as it were, on a slender thread of faith to plead with the Almighty to yet spare the wicked in our midst. What hinders them from observing the law of God? Do I or does any other person hinder them? Who hinders you from doing a good work? I am wearied with seeing the conduct of some of this people, their theiving, lying, tattling, deceiving, running after the Gentile spirit, after the spirits of this world, receiving delusive spirits, and adhering to all manner of principles that are not of God.

What hinders us in living as close to our religion as do the angels? Angels do not hinder us, God certainly does not, and we ought to say to devils, “You shall not.” But in the midst of this people there is a set of theives, idolaters, drunkards, whore-mongers, and vile persons. It may be asked, “Shall we not draw the dividing line soon?” Yes, some will in due time get line enough to send them to hell. Many are pleading for revelations; do you suppose that Saints lack revelations? They have plenty of them, and they are stored in the archives of those who have understanding of the principles of the Priesthood, ready to be brought forth as the people need. I will again read a portion of the revelation, “For he that is compelled in all things the same is a slothful and not a wise servant, wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness, for the power is in them wherein they are agents unto themselves, and inasmuch as men do good they shall in no wise lose their reward.”

There is one principle that I do wish the people would observe, that is, do not ask God to give you knowledge, when you are confident that you will not keep and rightly improve upon that knowledge. It is a mercy in God that many are as ignorant as they are; for were it not so they would not be borne with as they are. Do not ask for revelations to dictate you in this, that, or the other, unless you are sure that you can obey them. Do not suffer yourselves to falter in your faith, and to say that the door of revelation is closed, for I tell you that there are now too many for your good, unless you hearken more diligently than you have hitherto, unless you apply more closely in your lives what is revealed and live your religion more faithfully.

You are frequently told that the chastisements which come upon this people are for their good. We may ask, “Is pinching want for our good? Is the destruction of our crops for our good? Is the losing of our property for our good?” Who will lay it to heart? Who will realize it? There are a few who will. I can say with safety that I firmly believe that there are five wise virgins and five foolish ones; that there are five who are wise servants and hand-maidens to five who are foolish. But in looking at the people in mass this may not appear, for you are frequently told that one evil person can corrupt many. It is an old saying, and a true one, that “a wicked king can corrupt a nation,” and a wicked father will corrupt a family, and a wicked ruler will corrupt those he rules over. We wish to be one, but “evil communications corrupt good manners.” Unrighteous dealings and doings appear to exert a wider influence than righteous ones, consequently in this community when you find one evil person in a family, or in a neighborhood, that person will actually make it appear to a stranger that the whole family, or neighborhood is evil. The good and evil are mixed together, the wheat and the tares are growing together, the wise and foolish virgins are traveling on together. Some of the people are actually foolish, and they think that the Lord looks upon sin with a great deal of compassion, and are thinking, “O, if I should do this or that I will be forgiven. Yes, I will go and tell it all to the heads of the Church and get their forgiveness, and pass on in my wickedness.” Do you wish your friends to stay here, and all to be Saints indeed? Now some children are wicked and their parents righteous, and again children may be Saints and their parents wicked. There are good people who have wicked brothers and sisters, and they say, “Let us be forgiving, let us hold on to them, if we have compassion, perhaps they will do better and repent of their sins, and yet be Saints.” Is this not the feeling of every heart? It is, more or less. Who is there entirely void of these compassionate feelings? Father, save your son if possible; save your daughter, parents, if it is possible; brothers, save your brethren, if it is possible; save your sisters, if it is possible; save this man, or that woman, and let us have mercy on them, we will be compassionate on them.

A great many come to me and say, “I wish to do exactly as the Lord shall direct through you, brother Brigham.” If I had the word of the Lord I would not dare give it to them, unless I knew it was an absolute duty. They never would obey it, because they are taught the word of the Lord here all the time, but do they hearken to it? Those who have wisdom within themselves, who have in possession the spirit of the Gospel, know what they hear from this stand. They know truth from error, they are satisfied, and never ask the Lord to give them more revelation, but to give them grace to observe and keep what they have received.

You can perceive what kind of characters they are who need to be commanded, they are slothful and not wise servants. Many of you may inquire why I am urging this point today; because it is necessary, it ought to be done. I wish those who are Saints to walk uprightly before their God, and to do everything they can for their brethren who are not Saints. I desire every man and woman to exercise themselves to the utmost, for they will, in all probability, be lost unless we save them. You come to me and want to know the will of God, what for? It would send you to hell, as likely as not, for you will not do it, and that would lay the foundation for your condemnation, as it is written, “Those that receive the commandments of God and do not do them are damned.” I feel to urge these things upon the people that they may save themselves, that they may be industrious, and go to with a ready heart and willing mind, with all their might, to do the things that are necessary to be done.

Suppose that the Lord should give you a written revelation through me, I am satisfied that it would not infringe upon your planting corn, sowing wheat, and watering in the season thereof. The very first thing would be to instruct the people to take care of their temporal lives, for if a people do not provide to live on the earth they cannot accomplish the work given them to do. The first thing to be written would be for people to prepare to live on the earth, until they could overcome the wickedness that is in the world.

This would be dictating you in your temporal affairs; I can dictate you in those matters, and if the Lord does not move me to the point of drawing the dividing line, though if He does I expect to be on hand, let us go to with all our might and do every good work we can, and be satisfied, and not be continually grumbling and complaining against the Lord, and teazing Him for more than you know what to do with.

I could not, nor could any other man, give a revelation that would be more plain to the comprehension of the people than the one I have read to you this morning. There is no mystery about it, nothing mysterious or in the dark, but every man may easily know precisely what it means; all the people may understand it to perfection. This revelation was given to the people in their ignorance; it was given, we may say, at the birth of the man child, in the first days of the being of the Priesthood again upon the earth, and yet it was so calculated and so worded, that every person could understand it. Brother Partridge knew what to do; Gilbert, Rigdon, and Peterson knew what to do; and in returning to Kirtland the Elders were to lift up their voices by the way, and to build up Churches.

One man is told to do this, and another to do that. Edward, you go and get your family and move them up here, &c. Can you understand this? It is one of the revelations of God, given to this people in the first rise of the Church. I do not expect to give you any particular light upon it by the way of illustration, for it would be like my telling you that the sun shines, and that we are within the walls of this Temple Block, seated under a partial shade, constructed for screening us from the rays of the sun. You know all this, you understand it as well as I do; so did those to whom it was given understand this revelation. Would you understand what might be said to you, if I should command you to do this or that. Ask some man to command you, and never ask God to do it, until you are prepared to keep His commandments.

You are ready to say in your hearts, “We are always scolded.” Who hurts you? You will never be hurt, unless you hurt yourselves. If we live our religion we shall prosper, and if we live in the neglect of our duty, and continue to do so, as many do, there will be tribulation and anguish here, and the chastening hand of the Almighty will be on this people, more so than it has ever been. If I could stand here and talk to you without advancing these ideas, I would endeavor to do so, and would be very much pleased if there was no occasion for rebuke. It would delight me to be able to preach all the time upon the glories of Zion, that Zion prospers, that we are all in the straight and narrow way, that all feel fully engaged in building up the kingdom of God, and that every man, woman, and child is doing right, but such is not the case. If I could prevail upon the people to so lay instruction to heart, that they would repent of their sins and refrain from them, that they would forsake their hard-heartedness and follies, I should be thankful indeed.

I need not go into particulars in explaining the feelings of this people, for they are too well known. We see them exhibited in our temporal management, and in our transactions one with another. Some you see walking uprightly, and again you may see the honest suffering, and but few ready to extend the hand of charity to relieve them, while the dishonest who have followed this people, we will say, for the loaves and fishes, are begging, and their children also, from morning until night and hoarding up more than they can possibly consume. We see these different dispositions, yet we all are known under the appellation of Saints, we are all brethren and sisters in the Church of Christ.

There is a disposition in many of the brethren like this, “I want to consecrate all I have to the Church, and I will not reserve anything to myself.” Very well, there are blank deeds in the Office, fill one out, if you wish, but do as you please about it. “I really feel as though it would be a great privilege to give everything I possess to the Church.” What have you got? “O, I have a five-acre lot.” What is it worth? “Well, I don’t know; it is full of saleratus and greasewood.” Such characters are so loving and kind, and will say, “Now, brother Brigham, I feel better than I ever felt in my life, I feel happy that I am in the kingdom of God with all that I have; I have dedicated everything I have. Brother Brigham, do you think I can have a house and lot?” They do not talk so loud as I am now talking, they whisper in my ear: “Could you let me have a yoke of oxen, or a span of horses and a wagon, or twenty bushels of wheat, “&c., &c.? If I were to hearken to one third of such calls, these characters would drain our means to that degree, that the Church would never have the first sixpence, from this time forth to the day of judgment, with which to carry on this work. There is not one third enough paid in tithing by this great people, to answer the calls of hypocrites and ungodly persons.

Are all hypocrites? No, but if you see honest persons, you see those who are ready to take hold and labor with their might, even though they have but one potatoe in a day; they will suffer rather than impoverish the Church.

I will relate a circumstance that transpired lately. I think it was last Tuesday or Wednesday night, as I was sitting in one of my houses, about nine o’clock in the evening, that a little boy, some nine or ten years of age, came along. As soon as he came to the door he began a story, but in such a manner that I could not understand him. I called him near to me, and desired him to relate his story again. He commenced by telling about his father’s dying with the cholera on the Plains, that his mother was sick and had several children to take care of, and wound up by saying, that his mother had not eaten anything since the morning of the day previous. I told my wife to give him some bread, remarking that if I could walk as I once could I would know the true situation of that family. Brother Wells was by and said, “I can walk,” I then asked the boy where he lived; he replied, “Over yonder.” In what Ward? He did not know. What is your name? “David Jones.” What was your father’s name? “Jones.” Who are your neighbors? He did not know. Brother Wells started off in an easterly direction with him. The boy began to limp and complained of sore feet, and ere long sat down and began to cry loudly and raise the neighborhood. Bishop Woolley hearing the crying came up, and, after trying to make him hush and start for his home, gave him a good spanking, and started him homeward. He at length mentioned the name of Bishop Perkins, and, from that Bishop, brother Wells learned that the name of the family was Meiklejohn, and that they lived in the Seventh Ward. After much inquiry the boy’s home was found, though he was determined not to go home, and it was soon discovered that he had a father (whose christian name is David) and mother living, both of whom had gone to bed, and a little sister, who waited on the opposite side of a street while the boy who begged, was still out.

The parents of course said the boy did very wrong, and that they had no idea of his conducting himself so, when the fact is the boy has been trained to lie from his childhood by his father and mother, and so has the girl. Scores of times would not amount to the number that these very children have been to my house, and we have given them flour, meal, and bread which they have carried home.

On the same evening, persons were overheard talking beneath some trees. One said, “Sister, where did you get your flour to-day?” “I got it at brother Brigham’s.” “I have some money, and shall have to buy some.”

“Don’t buy one pound, but go to brother Brigham and tell him a good story, and you will get some flour. I have money, but I will not pay one cent for my flour.”

I mention these facts to illustrate the spirit that is in a portion of this community. If you go into England, or into any of the old countries, you will see the same class of poor, guilty, miserable wretches begging for a living, and they carry on that business to such a degree, and in such a manner, that the rich and those who are in comfortable circumstances, aware of the rascality of many, often refrain from given to any through fear of being imposed upon, and thereby the honest innocent poor suffer. They would also suffer here if we were equally fearful of being imposed upon; but many who are unworthy are now aided, by those who are ever ready to assist the destitute, lest some honest poor should suffer; for this reason we withhold not from any.

If this loose course of begging is suffered to go on in this community, without a check being put to it, but a few years would elapse before the honest might be permitted to starve to death in the streets; for those who have would say, “We do not know but that you have your thousands at home, and we will not take the trouble to find out.”

We have our arrangements for learning the condition of the people, and I will here make a few remarks concerning the Bishops. If they magnify their office and calling, they will know the circumstances of every family in their Wards. But with all our experience in regard to Bishops, especially those who have been in the Church so long, and who know so much about the kingdom of God, they ought to know a little more about the families residing in their Wards, and not quite so much about the kingdom, if they cannot understand both at the same time. I very well know that they have their own families to take care of, and that they are allowed nothing for their services. That is partly why we have been appointing some new Bishops. I want men to act as Bishops who are smart enough to take care of themselves, and at the same time magnify their calling; and if we do not find them to be honest we mean to appoint other persons, and to continue so doing until that Quorum is filled with honest men. I am sorry to say that we have proven a few Bishops dishonest. Perhaps some of the Bishops here, or of those who live in other parts of the Territory, will say, “It comes very hard, brother Brigham, for you to make such a statement as that, and not point out the dishonest person; the people may think that you mean me.” You are the very ones I mean, if your consciences accuse you, for if you are not guilty you care not for such a statement, as your consciences are clear and you are not accused, therefore I mean those who say, “This is hard.”

Do you wish me to explain myself? I have proof ready to show that Bishops have taken in thousands of pounds in weight of tithing which they have never reported to the General Tithing Office. We have documents to show that Bishops have taken in hundreds of bushels of wheat, and only a small portion of it has come into the General Tithing Office; they stole it to let their friends speculate upon. If any one is doubtful about this, will you not call on me to produce my proof before a proper tribunal? I should take pleasure in doing so, but we pass over such things in mercy to the people.

Will you repent of your sins, and go to and do that which you know you ought to do, without being commanded of the Lord, and thus be compelled to do it, or be damned? Will you live so as to know the voice of the Good Shepherd when you hear it, or are you determined to live so as not to know the difference between that voice and the voice of a stranger? In this I fear for the people. I have explained and commented upon these seemingly small items, though in reality they are of much importance.

Chemists who are familiar with analizing matter, inform you that the globe we inhabit is composed of small particles, so small that they cannot be seen with the unaided natural eye, and that one of these small particles may be divided into millions of parts, each part so minute as to be undiscernable by the aid of the finest microscopes. So the walk of man is made up of acts performed from day to day. It is the aggregate of the acts which I perform through life that makes up the conduct that will be exhibited in the day of judgment, and when the books are opened, there will be the life which I have lived for me to look upon, and there also will be the acts of your lives for you to look upon. Do you not know that the building up of the kingdom of God, the gathering of Israel, is to be done by little acts? You breathe one breath at a time; each moment is set apart to its act, and each act to its moment. It is the moments and the little acts that make the sum of the life of man. Let every second, minute, hour, and day we live be spent in doing that which we know to be right.

If you do not know what to do, in order to do right, come to me at any time and I will give you the word of the Lord on that point. But if you wish the word of the Lord on your nonsensical, foolish notions and traits, be pleased to keep away from me, for I know too much about such characters for them to pass before me unobserved. Mankind are weak and feeble, poor and needy; how destitute they are of true knowledge, how little they have when they have any at all. We have need to increase in knowledge and understanding, and to apply our hearts more to wisdom.

How necessary it is for us to live our religion so as to know ourselves better, and to know how to live better in accordance with the religion we have embraced. To know how to gather up the sons and daughters of Abraham, and to establish the kingdom of God on the earth, how necessary it is for you and I to live our religion, and not be slothful and negligent in fulfilling our duty.

The Book of Mormon, of Doctrine and Covenants, the Old and New Testaments all corroborate the fact that when you receive the Spirit that gives you light, intelligence, peace, joy, and comfort, that it is from God. But when you, sisters, particularly in your family affairs, are tried and tempted, when parents and children have a spirit come upon them that irritates them, that causes them to have bad feelings, disagreeable, unhappy, and miserable sensations, causing them to I say, “We wish it was some way else; we wish our circumstances were different; we are not happy; something or the other is always wrong; we wish to do just right, but we are very unhappy;” I desire to tell you that your own conduct is the cause of all this. “But,” says one, “I have done nothing wrong, nothing evil.” No matter whether you have or not, you have given way to a spirit of temptation. There is not that man or woman in this congregation, or on the face of the earth, that has the privilege of the holy Gospel, and lives strictly to it, whom all hell can make unhappy. You cannot make the man, woman, or child unhappy, who possesses the Spirit of the living God; unhappiness is caused by some other spirit.

The spirit of contention divides families as we see some divided. We can hardly associate with some persons, for we have to walk in their midst like walking upon eggs. What is the matter? You do not know the spirit they are led by. Treat them kindly, and, perhaps, by and bye they will come to understanding. What would they do were they of one heart and mind? They would be like little children, would respect their superiors and honor their God and their religion. This they would do, if they understood things as they are. Be careful of them, and treat them kindly. Who is there that walks up to the line, and knows the will of God without being commanded? A great many do; but it is not all of this people who are doing as I have been counselling you. Still I will venture to say that there are as many wise ones as foolish. But many will have to separate from their own family connexions, if they do not do better. Parents and children will have to separate, and husbands and wives, ere long. How long shall they live together? Until the Lord says, gather up the tares and prepare them for the burning. I am not going to undertake to separate the tares from the wheat, the sheep from the goat, but we will try to make you goats produce fleeces of wool instead of hair, and we will keep hammering at you with the word of God, which is quick and powerful, until you become sheep, if possible, that we may not have five foolish virgins in the company. Though in all this I do not expect to even desire to thwart the plans and sayings of Jesus Christ in the least.

Let us do all the good we can, extend the hand of benevolence to all, keep the commandments of God and live our religion, and after all there will be five foolish virgins, and if we are not careful, we shall all be on the list of the foolish ones.

I dedicate myself, this congregation, and the whole interest of the kingdom of God on the earth, to our Father, to His Son Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Ghost, that we may be saved; and I pray that this may be our happy lot. Amen.

The Faith and Visions of the Ancient Saints, etc.

Orson Pratt

A discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 13, 1856.

[Elder Pratt read the 7th, 8th, and 9th paragraphs of the Book of Ether.] I have read, from the Book of Ether, a portion of what is written concerning that great and wonderful vision, shown to a man in all respects just like unto ourselves, so far as his nature was concerned, all men being subjected to certain evil influences, through the transgression of our first parents. At the same time, if it had not been for their transgressing the commandments of the Lord, in the garden of Eden, this congregation would not have been here.

Because Adam and Eve transgressed we are here with mortal tabernacles; and these mortal tabernacles are subject to vanity, through the power which the adversary has on account of our organization in the flesh; he has power over the spirit, and to bring us into captivity and bondage, and subject us to the yoke of bondage, of sin, of the fallen and corrupt nature; but by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was prepared before the foundation of the world, we have hope of being redeemed from that which is a yoke upon us in the economy of this probation, for mortality was instituted by the Lord to give us an opportunity of proving ourselves.

Our first parents through transgressing the law of God, brought death into the world, but through the death of Jesus Christ, life and immortality were introduced. The one brings into bondage; the other gives us hope of escape, of redemption, that we may come forth with the same kind of body that Adam had before the fall, a body of immortal flesh and bones.

Adam and Eve were immortal, the same as resurrected beings, but previous to their transgression they had no knowledge of good and evil.

After the redemption we will not only have the same kind of bodies that they possessed in the garden of Eden before the fall, but we will have a knowledge of good and evil through our experience. For this purpose we are made partakers, through our agency, of the knowledge of evil in this life, that we all may know how to appreciate good when we are put in possession of it.

Hence in our immortal tabernacles, when brought forth from the grave, we shall have a knowledge of our past experience, a most perfect knowledge. There will be no imperfection of memory, but we shall remember, as the Prophet tells us in the Book of Mormon, all things that have taken place during our mortal lives; everything that we have thought and done.

We shall remember that we have been made free from sin through the ordinances of the Gospel; we shall remember the new birth that we received while in this mortal state, the being cleansed from sin through the blood of Jesus Christ, and made new creatures; all those things will be plain and clear before the mind of the immortal man.

There is a great lesson of instruction given in the short history which I have read before you; it shows the privileges pertaining to our religion in some respects, and it shows how much there is to be received, and how much we have not received in mortality.

We also learn from the history we have read, the principle upon which these blessings are to be received, viz. by faith in Jesus Christ. The brother of Jared did not receive these blessings without faith; he exercised faith in the Lord, in the revelations previously received, or which the Prophets had spoken in former days; he exercised faith in the promises given to the fathers.

All the circumstances through which they were called to pass, had a tendency to create a great amount of faith in those ancient men of God. It is true that the brother of Jared had been a Prophet for many years; faith had been center[e]d in his heart, and the could lay hold of the promises of God. He was a Revelator at the time the tower of Babel was built; he was a man capable of receiving instructions from heaven; and hence his brother said, at the time the language was confounded, “Enquire of the Lord if He will take us out of the land, and if it please the Lord to let us go by ourselves let us be faithful, that we and our posterity and nation may be blest.”

From these few sayings of Jared we find that he had the utmost confidence in the revelations of his brother, for he knew him to be a Prophet and a Revelator. While wandering many years in the wilderness, the Lord continued to reveal Himself unto them in the wilderness; He had shown forth to them His glory, had come down and talked in a cloud and shown them many things which were to come to pass, and instructed them to build barges and cross large bodies of water, before they came to the ocean.

Being taught for many years in the things of the kingdom of God, their minds were somewhat prepared for the journey before them. They were instructed to build eight barges with which to cross the great ocean; and after being fully informed upon those matters, and having finished the barges, the company saw that there was no light in them, and it would have been very difficult to carry fuel such a long distance, in order to have produced light.

Now reflect upon the faith of this man of God; rather than be tossed upon the bosom of the great deep for many days excluded from the light of sun, moon, and stars, and rather than be under the necessity of taking wood to make fires, without any outlet for smoke, and before he knew how the Lord was going to provide light, he carved out sixteen stones, which, though white and clear like unto glass, gave no light.

He carried those stones into a great mountain, and called upon Him who at the beginning said, “Let there be light and there was light,” to touch those stones that they might have them for lights upon the bosom of the deep. This would be sufficient if there was not another word written, to convince any person that he was a man of great faith, and that when in difficulty he called upon the Lord, and the Lord hearkened to his voice, and put forth His hand. And because of this man’s faith he beheld the finger of the Lord when He touched the stones, and those stones were filled with the principle of imparting light.

This was a miracle to those that beheld it, and why so? Because it was contrary to the general laws with which they were acquainted, though in fact it was no more of a miracle for the Lord to show His finger than to do anything else, or than the falling of a stone to the ground. The same Supreme power that causes the fall of a stone, can cause a stone to give light, and in this instance did perform that operation, and they beheld it, and had constant day until they had crossed the sea. One may enquire, “Brother Pratt, why do you refer to those old historical events, why don’t you refer to that which belongs to our every day duties?” Because there are those around me here who are better qualified to teach you in relation to your every day duties; they are able to instruct you from Sabbath to Sabbath, and are constantly pouring forth instructions for your edification and benefit.

These ideas came into my mind, and are calculated, if properly understood, to be used as examples for our good; they are written for our edification and that of our children. The heed that we give to the every day duties which are pointed out to us, will determine in a great measure our reward. It may be asked, “Do you think that it is really our privilege, as the children of God in this dispensation, to attain to the same blessings which were received by those ancient people of God?” Yes, and far greater; for you will find in this same history, in a part which I have not read, that a portion of the same things should be given to the Latter-day Saints through their faith. The Lord says, “Then will I show the great and marvellous things of my kingdom unto them, as I did to him.”

But it all depends, recollect, upon the great principle of faith, and you are to obtain these things upon condition of practising those every day duties which you are hearing proclaimed from day to day. With such wisdom, and by continuing steadfast therein, your faith will increase in those great and heavenly principles, until you can lay hold by faith upon all the great and marvellous things that were communicated to him.

What were communicated to him besides what I have read? It may not be amiss to read a few more words, for I fear that we are too careless in relation to those things which pertain to our welfare, which, with the various duties and cares of life, make us careless in listening to the Living Oracles. It is my belief that if this people more carefully read the oracles of the ancients, they would be directed more diligently to attend to the Living Oracles.

We are commanded to search the Scriptures for instructions, but I fear that we neglect this counsel too much, and become careless. In consequence of such neglect, the Lord reproved this Church some years ago, and said that the whole Church was under condemnation, because they had neglected the Book of Mormon; and He told them that unless they would repent, they should be held under condemnation, and should be scourged, and judgments should be poured out upon them. If you would read these things in the Spirit, and call upon God to give you His Spirit to fix the sayings of the Prophets upon your minds, you would do good and derive benefit therefrom. If the Saints will give most earnest and diligent heed unto the instructions given in those books which have been preserved, and especially to the instructions which are given by our President, they will prosper and be blest in all things.

I will again read, “And because of the knowledge of this man, he could not be kept from beholding within the vail.” Says one, “That is a curious saying; I thought the Lord could do whatever He pleased.” This was because the Lord had given His word that He would do according to the faith of the Saints—righteous sons and daughters of Adam—hence He could not restrain the brother of Jared from looking within the vail.

When there is sufficient faith in the hearts of the children of men, it is impossible to withhold blessings from them, if that faith is exercised, for if the Lord should do so, He would forfeit His own word, and we read that it is impossible for God to lie.

I will now read as follows: “And it came to pass that the Lord said unto the brother of Jared, Behold thou shalt not suffer these things which ye have seen and heard to go forth unto the world, until the time cometh that I shall glorify my name in the flesh; wherefore ye shall treasure up the things which ye have seen and heard, and show it to no man. And behold, when ye shall come unto me, ye shall write them and shall seal them up, that no one can interpret them; for ye shall write them in a language that they cannot be read. And behold, these two stones will I give unto thee, and ye shall seal them up also, with the things which ye shall write. For behold, the language which ye shall write, I have confounded; wherefore I will cause in my own due time that these stones shall magnify to the eyes of men, these things which ye shall write.”

Now notice the words of Moroni, upwards of 400 years after Christ: “And when the Lord had said these words, the Lord showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth: for the Lord had said unto him, in times before, that if he would believe in Him—that He could show unto him all things—it should be shown unto him; therefore the Lord could not withhold anything from him; for he knew that the Lord could show him all things. And the Lord said unto him, Write these things and seal them up, and I will show them in mine own due time unto the children of men.”

You recollect that when the Book of Mormon was translated from the plates, about two-thirds were sealed up, and Joseph was commanded not to break the seal; that part of the record was hid up. The plates which were sealed contained an account of those great things shewn unto the brother of Jared; and we are told that all those things are preserved to come forth in the due time of the Lord. The 11th paragraph informs us respecting the interpreters. I will read it:—

“And it came to pass that the Lord commanded him that he should seal up the two stones which he had received, and shew them not, until the Lord should shew them unto the children of men. And the Lord commanded the brother of Jared to go down out of the mount from the presence of the Lord, and write the things which he had seen: and they were forbidden to come unto the children of men, until after that he should be lifted up upon the cross; and for this cause did king Mosiah keep them, that they should not come unto the world until after Christ should shew himself unto his people. And after that Christ truly had shewed himself unto his people, he commanded that they should be made manifest.”

These interpreters, the two stones that were given to the brother of Jared, were the two stones that were found with the plates. Again, the Lord says in the next paragraph a portion of which I will read:—

“Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will shew unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief. Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be made manifest unto you how great things the Father hath laid up for you, from the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto you, because of unbelief. Behold, when ye shall rend that vail of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvellous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you: yea, when ye shall call upon the Father in my name, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he made unto your fathers, O house of Israel; and then shall my revelations which I have caused to be written by my servant John, be unfolded in the eyes of all the people. Remember, when ye see these things, ye shall know that the time is at hand that they shall be made manifest in very deed; therefore, when ye shall receive this record, ye may know that the work of the Father has commenced upon all the face of the land. Therefore, repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and believe in my gospel, and be baptized in my name; for he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned: and signs shall follow them that believe in my name. And blessed is he that is found faithful unto my name, at the last day, for he shall be lifted up to dwell in the kingdom prepared for him from the foundation of the world. And behold it is I that hath spoken it. Amen.”

I have felt disposed to read these paragraphs, for I highly esteem the Book of Mormon, as I presume do all the Latter-day Saints. But many lay it upon the shelf and let it remain there for a year or two, consequently they become careless concerning the dealings of the Lord with the Former-day Saints.

You are not to suppose that you are going to be jumped into the midst of revelations, and by one great and grand step are to burst the vail, and to rend it from your eyes, do you think that you are to step into the celestial kingdom and see it all at once? No, these blessings are by far too precious to be attained in such a way; they are to be attained by diligence and faith from day to day, and from night to night. Hence you are to become habituated to do good in your thoughts and conduct, in all that you do, until you become perfectly initiated into the great principles of righteousness, and continue to live uprightly until it becomes a kind of second nature to be honest, to be prudent, to govern all your passions, and bring all of the influences of the flesh, of the fallen nature, into the most perfect subjection to the law of God.

I know that it is necessary for you to keep the commandments of the Lord, and not only to keep those found in the written revelations, but to strictly observe all the words of wisdom, counsel, and advice that He has given through His Spirit and His servants. And when you have given diligent heed to counsel, it becomes a second nature to pay the strictest attention to the covenants made and the counsel given by the Living Oracles of God.

These principles are not to be learned by one or two days’, or one or two months’ humility and obedience, for that would be like a child’s going to school a week and being kept six weeks at home, where there is no one to instruct him. It is obvious that a person keeps retrograding, if he does not progress; you are called upon to increase and progress in knowledge and truth until they influence all your actions and doings, until your conduct is rightly influenced, not only in relation to your neighbors, but in relation to all that belongs to your neighbors. When you have learned righteous principles be careful that they never escape your minds, and that your conduct never severs you from them. This is the time and this is the day that your faith should lay hold of this great and good Spirit, and that you should strive for the rich blessings of heaven, concerning which I have read in your hearing this morning.

Latter-day Saints, are not these things worthy of living for? Suppose that you could have the privilege, by living only one week in strict obedience to all the laws of the kingdom, to have these blessings; I verily believe that there are not many Latter-day Saints, but who, if they knew that they could enjoy all the blessings of the ancients and have the visions of the heavens laid open to their minds, so that they could have before them the past, the present, and the future, so that they could understand the things of God, would live very faithful, and be of one heart and of one mind.

Would not every one who heard such promises try to obtain the prize, to enjoy the blessings promised? The counsels and instructions of those whom God has appointed would be fresh before them every moment; when they arose in the morning it would be the first thing they would think of, and it would be the last thing at night. They would be able to do twice as much labor as when their minds are not upon the things of God. Their minds would be so entirely swallowed up that they would feel like Alma and others, while among the priests of king Noah, when they had burdens upon their backs; their burdens were made light so that they were able to bear them cheerfully, and so it would be with the Latter-day Saints. Let them have that Spirit one week, and they would find their bodies stronger and more active, and they would almost forget whether they had been to their breakfast, dinner, or supper, their minds would be so completely swallowed up with heavenly things, and everything would prosper.

You are to claim blessings by your conduct, you are so instructed; some are apt to be so neglectful and remiss in their duties that they are not able to claim them. They forget what is in store for them, and do not pray for the Spirit to impress those blessings upon their minds, but suffer their minds to be drawn out too much upon temporal business instead of the things of God, and become weary in mind and body, so that they feel like neglecting the more prominent duties, such as family prayer and many others.

This is because they do not enjoy sufficient of the Spirit of the Lord, for it is able to strengthen every one of you. Look at the promises made to the missionaries, “He that shall go forth to preach the Gospel without purse or scrip shall not be weary, nor darkened in spirit nor in body.”

What is it that strengthens them so that they do not become weary in body and in mind? The Elders abroad are called upon to labor diligently, and many times to sit up almost all night to teach the pure principles of eternal life, and when they lie down they rest perfectly calm as though they were not weary, and arise invigorated with faith, intelligence, and power; their minds and bodies are strengthened by the power of God.

So it would be with you, if you were sent on a mission, as well as with those who now go to preach the Gospel of salvation for the gathering of the honest in heart.

The Elders go forth in faith and with prayer for the gathering of Israel; to bring them to Zion, to plant vineyards, to build houses, to help build up the cities of Zion, and beautify the earth.

You are all on a mission to make yourselves of one heart and of one mind before the Lord, and if you are faithful you can claim the promises that He will pour out His Spirit upon you, and that Spirit will be poured out upon those who are faithful from morning until evening, and they will be quickened and invigorated to perform whatever is necessary.

If you come to this house with your minds upon the things of this world, and hear the servants of God speak upon the great things of the kingdom, their words will go in at one ear and out at the other, your minds will be darkened, the devil will step in and tempt you, and you are liable to be prostrated in body and mind by his power, because you have given way.

While we are here there is a chance for every Latter-day Saint, and I feel to say, set yourselves in order, ye heads of families, and then set your families in order; regulate your lives one towards another in your families, in your neighborhoods, and in all your communications and dealings one with another.

In this way the enemy will not have power over you, and all your works of light and righteousness will be regulated by the principles which you have received, and by the order which should govern the Saints of God; showing that you are sick of your old traditions, confusion, and discord, and that you are contending for the faith once delivered to the Saints; believing that the same blessings which they enjoyed may be poured out upon your heads.

Perhaps, before I again return to behold the Saints in these valleys, a great temple may be reared upon this Block, upon the foundation already laid. Before that time, perhaps, the services of the Lord may be administered therein, with baptism for the dead, as the Lord has promised, and other sacred and holy ordinances pertaining to the last dispensation; ordinances that have been kept sacred from the foundation of the world, things kept to be revealed in this last dispensation.

If the time is so near at hand when a temple shall be completed for these sacred and holy purposes, there is none too much time for you to prepare yourselves in the holy course of righteousness.

You cannot expect to live as many have lived, and then be able by one tremendous great effort to at once call down the powers of heaven into your midst. All, who will enjoy the privileges which it is the prerogative of the Latter-day Saints to enjoy, must live for them.

Why not Saints have these blessings? Is it because God is partial, and willing to bestow greater blessings upon some than upon others? No, it is because you do not sufficiently prepare yourselves before Him, for you have to become sanctified; hence it is said in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, speaking of the Temple which shall be built in Jackson County, “That those that enter therein shall behold the face of God.”

The promise was not made to the impure, to those who had not sanctified themselves before the Lord, but to the pure in heart. It naturally follows that similar blessings are prepared to be poured out by the Most High upon the Temple that shall be built upon this Block, and upon the people who shall go therein. How many of this congregation would be prepared to receive such blessings?

The Lord might say to the angels, such and such ones have been faithful to all the calls that have been made upon them; they have not turned to one side; they have not given way to their passions; they have not neglected the counsels of my servants; they have exercised faith in me and have lived to it and by it; and now do you messengers go forth and show yourselves unto them in that Temple, that their eyes may be opened, that they may become as the brother of Jared—to see and taste the joys of the other world. But let the eyes of those who have not been diligent be dark, let them not have sufficient faith to behold your or my glory, let the vail that is over the nations remain between them and my glory. I will venture to say that there are at present comparatively few that would be prepared to receive the great blessings which are in store. I feel anxious upon this point, my brethren and sisters, not only for your sakes but for my own.

When you shall rend the vail that is between you and the heavens, it will be by your works of faith and obedience. Do you realize that you are the individuals to rend that vail? Jesus has done his part, and he is willing that the vail should be rent; he has made intercession before the Father; he has offered his own life, and what more can he do? When you shall have faith to rend that vail which is over your minds, you will find that the heavens are ready and waiting to bestow the blessings promised, just as soon as you are prepared to receive them.

Here let us reflect a little upon the principle by which the brother of Jared was capable of seeing things that are behind the vail, and by which Moses saw every particle of this earth, inside as well as outside. How did they see these things? The revelation says, “By the Spirit of God.” If Moses had the Spirit so that he could discern all things in the earth, while he was quite a finite being like the rest of us, why should not we have that same gift imparted unto us?

The brother of Jared was so filled with the Spirit that he was enabled to behold the person of Jesus Christ, and all the inhabitants of the earth that had lived previous to his day, as well as those who should live afterwards. They rent the vail between them and the heavens by their faith and obedience to the commandments of the Lord; they saw the history of past events from the beginning of the world, and all the inhabitants that ever had been.

There is such a thing as a natural man’s looking into the past, but their power is very much restricted. Lord Ross constructed a very powerful telescope, having an object glass six feet in diameter, and by it a man can see a vast distance into space, and behold what existed ages ago. With this mighty instrument it has been determined that other worlds exist hundreds of thousands of millions of miles distant from us, and that the light from them which reaches the eye through the telescope must have been traveling several hundred thousand years before it reached the eye, hundreds of thousands of years before Adam was placed in the garden of Eden.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago the distant bodies of the universe were lighted up by the glory of God, and the light thereof has at last entered the tremendous telescope of Lord Ross, and thus individuals have been enabled to see—what? Not those bodies as they exist at the present time, but to see them as they existed tens and scores of thousands of years before this world was made.

Here, then, is looking at the past, and that naturally, independent of the mind’s being waked up by the power of God, as were the minds of the brother of Jared and Moses.

Again, this glorious and heavenly principle, with which a righteous man is endowed, reaches forward into the future for thousands of years to come, as far as the Great God will permit the sceneries of ages to be opened to mortals. It is not the fault of our organization that we do not enjoy this principle, but because we do not entirely get rid of those erroneous traditions which we have received from our fathers.

The faith of the Gospel is what is required to lead us on until we burst the vail asunder; for this faith will enable us to burst off the shackles by which we are bound, and prepare us to enjoy the holy Priesthood, with all the blessings guaranteed to the Saints of God, and to gaze into the hidden things of eternity.

Reflect upon past experience and upon the workings of the Spirit of God, and you will discover that you have often been forewarned of events long before they took place; and if you cast your minds into the book of the Spirit of God, and behold the acts and doings of the Lord in ages to come, you will find that the same principle that exists in the bosoms of the Gods is with you, though in a very undeveloped condition. Let your minds be set upon the will of God and upon His kingdom, and what will be withheld from your sight?

There are many principles contained in the words which I have just read. Jesus, for instance, stood before the brother of Jared, not in his body of flesh and bones, not as an infant, not as a small spirit one foot or two feet high, but a full grown spirit; and when the brother of Jared beheld the finger of Christ he beheld a full-sized finger as of a man, for says Jesus, “When I shall take a body of flesh and bones and redeem my people I will appear as thou now seest me, but this is the body of my spirit; I show myself in the spirit, you behold it, you see that it is of the size of a man.”

“All men in the beginning have I created after the body of my spirit,” as much as to say that “you, the brother of Jared, did not receive your existence a few years ago here in the flesh, that was not your origin, but all men, all those that I will show you that have existed or will exist upon this earth, in the beginning have I created after the image of the body of my spirit.” They were all spiritually organized before they came here.

This is the only place in the Book of Mormon where pre-existence is clearly spoken of, and this was revealed before the organization of this Church, and is a doctrine which was not in the possession of the Christian world, hence it shows that it was dictated by a Spirit capable of revealing a doctrine unknown to the Christian world—the pre-existence of man.

There is much doctrine in the Book of Mormon and Book of Doctrine and Covenants that would be instructive to the Saints, if they would not let them stay upon their shelves. Knowledge of truth would not harm you, though it may be better for some to let their books remain shut, rather than to transgress against greater light, for then greater would be their damnation and punishment. In proportion as we advance in the knowledge of the things revealed from the heavens, and in the powers and keys that are conferred upon us, the greater will be the condemnation, if we fall therefrom. This shows the propriety of every man and woman’s habituating themselves, as I have already said, to righteousness.

If you were, within one week from this time, to be let into all the visions that the brother of Jared had, what a weight of responsibility you would have upon you; how weak you would be, and how unprepared for the responsibility; and after the vision had closed up in your minds, and you left to yourselves, you would be tempted in proportion to the light that had been presented before you. Then would come the trial, such as you never have had. This is the principle upon which the devil is allowed to try us. We have a circumstance in relation to Moses’ being tempted; when the vision withdrew, and the heavens closed, the devil presented himself and said, “Moses, son of man, worship me.” Moses replied, “Who are you?” “I am the son of God,” was the answer. Then said Moses, “You call me son of man and say that you are the son of God, but where is your glory?” Could Moses have withstood that terrible manifestation, if he had not practised for many years the principles of righteousness? A mere vision would not have strengthened him, and even to shew him the glory of God in part would not have enabled him to combat with the powers of darkness that then came to him It was by his knowledge of God, by his perseverance, his diligence and obedience in former years, that he was enabled, to rebuke the devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, and drive him from him.

So it will be with you, whether you have the necessary preparation or not, for the Lord will say to the powers of darkness, you are now at liberty to tempt my servants in proportion to the light that I have given. Go and see if they will be steadfast to that light; use every plan so far as I permit you, and if they will yield they are not worthy of me nor of my kingdom, and I will deliver them up and they shall be buffetted. You, Satan, shall buffet and, torment them, until they shall learn obedience by the things that they suffer.

Hence the propriety of preparing for these things, that when they come you will know how to conquer Satan, and not want for experience to overcome, but be like Michael, the archangel, who, with all the knowledge and glory that he had gained through thousands of years of experience, durst not bring a railing accusation, because he knew better. And when Moses withstood Satan face to face, he knew who he was and what he had come for. He had obtained his knowledge by past trials, by a long series of preparation; hence he triumphed.

So it must be with Latter-day Saints, and if we prepare ourselves we shall conquer. We must come in contact with every foe, and those who give way will be overcome.

If we are to conquer the enemy of truth his power must be made manifest, and the power which will be given of the Lord through faithfulness must be in our possession. Do you wish to prevail—to conquer the powers of darkness when they present themselves? If you do, prepare yourselves against the day when these powers shall be made manifest with more energy than is now exhibited. Then you can say, the evil powers that have been made manifest, the agents that came and tempted me, came with all their force, I met them face to face and conquered by the word of my testimony, by patience, by the keys which have been bestowed upon me, and which I held sacred before God, and I have triumphed over the adversary and over all his associates.

Brethren, pray for me, that I may accomplish the mission that has been, given to me acceptably in the sight of the Lord, acceptably to these my brethren that are presiding over me, acceptably to the nations, to the Saints here in Great Salt Lake Valley, that I may be one of the Saints that shall be perfected in righteousness, in long suffering, in patience, in humility, and return in joy and peace to rejoice again in your midst. I ask the Lord to bless us, one and all, with his Holy Spirit, and to guide us in the way of life. Amen.

The Order of Progression in Knowledge, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 15, 1856.

As I have frequently remarked, it seems that the people need a great deal of preaching; they require to be preached to continually to put them in mind of their duties, and to stir them up to perform the works which they know that they ought to do. This at first appears strange, and then again it is not so strange. Our organization is such we are subject to so many spirits and influences that are in the world, that it is not strange that our minds require stirring up to remembrance, and our physical powers to diligence.

As Saints in the last days we have much to learn; there is an eternity of knowledge before us; at most we receive but very little in this stage of our progression.

The most learned men that have ever lived on the earth have only been able to obtain a small amount of knowledge, in comparison to the vast store of information that exists for the faithful Saints.

It cannot be understandingly exhibited by any individual, not even by an angel, to the people any further than they are able to receive and comprehend it; consequently the Lord has to descend to our capacities and give us a little here and a little there, line upon line, and precept upon precept, as the Prophet has said.

But we are so organized, and it is so ordained, that we can receive that little, and still continue to receive a little and a little more, and treasure up and retain in our memories that which we have received, so that it will be ready when it is necessary to bring it forth. What we learn to-day does not prevent our learning more to-morrow, and so on.

This principle is inherent in the organization of all intelligent beings, so that we are capable of receiving, and receiving, and receiving from the inexhaustible fountain of knowledge and truth.

It has been frequently stated to us, and is a doctrine we understand, that this people have got to become of one heart and one mind. They have to know the will of God and do it, for to know the will of God is one thing, and to bring our wills, our dispositions, into subjection to that which we do understand to be the will of God is another.

We might say that this is the first lesson we have to learn and one of the easiest, one that is calculated and adapted to the capacity of the child, to learn to be submissive to our Father in heaven. Parents require this duty of their children, when they have become intelligent enough to understand that the parent is superior in point of government, and strict obedience is required by that authority. That the parent is his superior is one of the first lessons that the child learns—that he is his dictator to measure and guide his steps, as soon as he comes to an understanding of what is required.

If we are obedient to the will of our Father in heaven it accomplishes one grand object, namely, our being the disciples of Christ, for he observed to his disciples, “Except ye are one ye are not mine.” “I am in my Father and ye in me, and I in you,” one eternal principle governing and controlling the intelligence that dwells in the persons of the Father and the Son. I have these principles within me, Jesus has them within him, and you have them within you. I am governed and controlled by them, my elder brother, Jesus, is governed and controlled by them, and his Father is governed and controlled by them. He learned them, Jesus learned them, and we must learn them in order to receive crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives.

The principle of eternal life that sustains all intelligent beings, that governs and controls all things in eternity, the principle by which matter does exist, the principle by which it is organized, by which it is redeemed and brought into celestial glory, is the principle that is in you and me, that is in our heavenly Father.

It is life, it is the life of Christ and of every Saint; in this capacity they are in us and we in them. We must be possessed of the spirit that governs and controls the angels, we must have the same spirit within us that our Father in heaven is in possession of.

That spirit must rule you and me, it must control our actions and dictate us in life, we must cling to it and imbibe it until it becomes a second nature to us. We are accustomed to saying second nature, but in reality it is the first nature that we had, though sin has perverted it. God planted it there as the predominant principle, but our giving way to temptation has frustrated the plan and driven it from us.

How easy it is for people to understand and do the will of God, if they will throw off their unrighteous traditions and let truth stand for truth, light for light, and let that which is of God be received as such.

When truth comes, receive it as from the Lord, and let everything be simplified to us as unto children, for the Lord has ordained that we may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth, and be able to receive more knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and it is not possible for us to receive it any other way, only as we apply our hearts strictly to overcome every evil and cleave to that which is pleasing to the Lord—to that which tends to life and salvation. This is the only channel in which we can become of one heart and of one mind.

This has been the burden of our exhortations, prayers, and pleadings. It was the burden of the exhortations prayers, and pleadings of the servants of God who lived in ancient days, as much as it is of those who live now. No good person has ever lived on the earth—one who understood the principles of life—but what he has desired to see the time when the people would be governed by other principles than those of sin and selfishness.

All the righteous have desired to see the people governed by principles that will endure, and that will give durability to all who obey them. Their bowels of compassion yearned continually after the sons of men, and they labored to bring them under the control and government of the principles of eternal life, and to cut them loose from the little, selfish, frivolous, trifling, deathly principles that pertain to this flesh.

What would be the result of this effort and desire, if accomplished among us? We should be of one heart and of one mind; we should cease to play the hypocrite; we should cease to be slothful servants; we should cease to do evil and do good continually.

The reflections of many are that they cannot govern and control themselves. And should we ask some whether their memory is good, whether they can recollect certain transactions which have transpired thus and so, they would reply, “No, our memory is very treacherous.” That is true, but in different degrees, with all people.

We may ask one person, can you remember anything you wish to, and the reply may be, “It is with difficulty that we remember anything.” This lack of mental force is found in a large class of mankind, but to search into the causes of this would take us far back, for they pertain to parents as well as to children, to the ancient as well as to the modern inhabitants of this globe.

Another peculiarity of memory is, the stronger recollection of an injury than a favor; for instance, take a person of the most treacherous memory and apply a little cayenne pepper to his eyes, and he will remember that act as long as he lives.

It is an old saying, “That we can forgive (it is man’s privilege) but we cannot forget.” Can you forget an injury? No, you will always remember it. But on the other hand, suppose that a friend should come, in the-hour of your distress, to relieve you from pain and suffering, and by laying his hands upon you your pain is gone; or furnish you food when you have none, and administer to your wants in everything calculated to make you happy and comfortable in body and mind, you will forget those kind acts many times quicker than the act of throwing a little cayenne pepper in your eyes.

Think of that and ask yourselves the cause; reason as to why it is that you can remember an injury better than a kindness; why you can retain hatred longer than love. Is it through your fallen nature? Is it because you were begotten and born in sin? Or is it not rather because the power of the tempter has control over you, and because the world is full of evil principles, and you have adhered to them? Yes, this is the cause, and you must acknowledge it. The whole world is contaminated with a spirit to remember evil and forget the good.

Mankind are organized of element designed to endure to all eternity; it never had a beginning and never can have an end. There never was a time when this matter, of which you and I are composed, was not in existence, and there never can be a time when it will pass out of existence; it cannot be annihilated.

It is brought together, organized, and capacitated to receive knowledge and intelligence, to be enthroned in glory, to be made angels, Gods—beings who will hold control over the elements, and have power by their word to command the creation and redemption of worlds, or to extinguish suns by their breath, and disorganize worlds, hurling them back into their chaotic state. This is what you and I are created for.

But in view of all this, what can we discover in ourselves? As an instance, A has a favorite dog, which B discovers doing mischief on his grounds, and kills, whereupon A, who was fond of his dog for serving him so well, and guarding his house and children so long and faithfully, becomes highly enraged, and says, “I tell you I cannot stand it, I am so angry, that I feel as though I should fly all to pieces, and I have almost a mind to take my rifle and shoot you.” What, for a dog?

Let a man or woman come forward that can say they have not had such feelings, to a certain degree. Yes, you have similar feelings in consequence of some one’s abusing your dog, but when you enter into the holy city, (should you be so happy as to get there) you will learn that the dogs will all be on the outside of the walls with the murderers, adulterers, fornicators, liars, and those who take the name of God in vain. “For your conduct towards my dog, I am almost ready to kill you, neighbor.”

Do you here such language used? Yes, right in our midst. Kill almost any person’s favorite animal, and he is ready to draw the rifle to his eye, in a moment, to shed the blood of his neighbor. This is the passion of the animal organization that the devil has power over. When such feelings assail you, stop and reflect, and let the spirit within you reason, and it would say, “Shame on you, Brigham, John, Mary, or Jane?” Grant that an individual has done wrong, should we be so provoked about it?

We are organized for the express purpose of controlling the elements of organizing and disorganizing, of ruling over kingdoms, principalities, and powers, and yet our affections are often too highly placed upon paltry, perishable objects. We love houses, gold, silver, and various kinds of property, and all who unduly prize any object there is beneath the celestial world are idolators.

Some say, “We are placed here, the devils were here, the world is full of wickedness, and we are subjected to all this without any agency on our part,” but this assertion does not prove such to be the case. Will you subject your children to wickedness when it is in your power to deliver them from it? We are measurably subjected to it because of the sin that was in our parents, but have we now the knowledge to deliver our children from this power? We have. Then let us begin and do it, and cast off your unrighteous traditions, as I have often taught and counselled you. Let every man and woman bring up their children according to the law of heaven. Teach your children from their youth, never to set their hearts immoderately upon an object of this world.

Should you train yourselves? Yes, you should. Can you remember to do good instead of evil? Do you watch the operations of the spirits upon the people, upon their affections, upon their hearts? Can you not hear some of this congregation, as they leave the meeting, and afterwards, begin to find fault and complain on this wise? “Well, I do not like this, and I do not like that, and I think I shall go back to the States. I wish I was back in England. I will not pay my money for flour, but I will beg it, and send my children to beg it, and spend my money to get away from here.”

Have I done you any harm since you have been here? Did my brothers who proclaimed the Gospel to you, do you anything but good? “No, O, no.” If they have done the least thing to injure you, why will you not tell of it before you leave? But no, you will not, and as soon as you go away your testimony will be, “Brothers Brigham, and Heber, and Jedediah, and the Twelve, and all the brethren at Great Salt Lake are the worst people we ever saw.” Can you tell of one thing wherein they have wronged you? They may have fed you, you may have lived here on their bounty and kindness, but as soon as you go away, you partake of the spirit of the world, which I am trying to contrast with the spirit of the Gospel.

As soon as you are overcome by the spirit of the world, you forget every good deed and kindness that has been extended to you, and you only remember the transpiring and infliction of what you deemed to be evil. You imagine a thousand things to be evil that would have resulted in good, had you done right. Can you believe that? “O, yes.” Those who have apostatized and left, cannot recollect a kindness that I have done them, but I can say to the praise of a few Gentiles, who have passed through here, they have recollected the kindnesses done to them by this people. Almost universally, after having received the greatest kindnesses they ever received, apostates and some Gentiles after they leave these valleys, vividly remember and proclaim, from Dan to Beersheba, every fancied injury.

Brother Tobin lately arrived from the army in Oregon; he there became acquainted with a part of Colonel Steptoe’s command. Yesterday, as we were walking about, I told him that the Indians who were tried for the murder of Captain Gunnison were confined within the walls of the Penitentiary. He said that he thought they had made their escape; that he had been informed that the lock was broken, the gate opened, and the Indians sent off.

I informed him that it was true that the Indian prisoners escaped, but that I soon recovered them, placed them in charge of the Warden, and wrote to Colonel Steptoe, who was at Bear river en route for California, acquainting him with the circumstances. The Colonel replied, and thanked me in his note. I asked brother Tobin whether the Colonel did not tell him that those Indians were recovered. He replied, “No, but it has appeared in nearly all, if not all, the western papers, that the “Mormons” let the Indians out of prison.” They could publish that the Indians escaped, but they would not proclaim that the “Mormons” speedily recovered them, and that they are still safely lodged in prison.

Those who love righteousness and possess the Spirit of God, those who delight to do good can remember good. They can remember every good principle and every good act; and when they read the Bible, the sayings of the Prophets and Apostles will be as near their hearts as lies are to the hearts of the wicked. By this you may know whether you are Saints or not. Can you remember good? If you forget good and remember evil, you may lay it down as a positive fact that you are on the highway to destruction. If you love the truth you can remember it.

One may here inquire, “Can I strengthen my memory and bring it into lively exercise?” Yes, by applying your mind to the point you wish to improve upon, and you can learn and remember righteous deeds if you are full of integrity.

The Gospel of salvation has been revealed unto us expressly to teach our hearts understanding, and when I learn the principles of charity or righteousness I will adhere to them, and say to selfishness, you must not have that which you want, and when it urges that I have no more flour than I shall need until harvest, and that I must not give any away, not even a pound, I say, get out of my door. And when it argues that a brother will not be profitted by our endeavors to benefit him, that you had better keep your money to yourselves and not let him have this ox, that farm or cow, &c., and strives to persuade you not to feed such a poor person, not to do anything for the P. E. F. Company, that you have not any more than you need, just do as the man did in Vermont, for by the report we would judge him to be a pretty good man. He had a farm, raised a large quantity of grain, and usually had some to spare. It so happened one season that a poor neighbor thrashed out his rye, and was to receive his pay in grain. The poor man came; the farmer told him to leave his bags and he would measure up the amount and have it ready when again called for. He was alone when measuring the grain, and as he put into the measure, something whispered to him, “Pour it in lightly, “but instead of doing this, he gave the measure a kick. When he put on the strike something said to him, “When you take that off, take a little out, the poor man will know nothing about it.” At last the farmer said, “Mr. Devil, walk out of my barn, or I will heap every half bushel I measure for the poor man.”

When you are tempted to do wrong, do not stop one moment to argue, but tell Mr. Devil to walk out of your barn, or you will heap up every half bushel; you can do that I know. A drunkard can walk by a tavern, though I have heard it said that some men cannot go by, or if they do manage to get by, that they say, “Now I know I am the master, and I will go back and treat resolution.”

I am aware that some will argue that they cannot do good without evil being present with them; that has nothing to do with the case. Though it may be present with them, as it was with Paul, there is no necessity for any man’s giving way to that evil. If we should do good, do it, and tell the evil to stand out of the way. You are privileged to be masters of yourselves; you can strengthen your memories, and by a close application you can train yourselves to remember the good instead of the evil. If anybody has injured you, forget it. Can you do so? I know you can.

Forget the imperfections of your brethren; for often the injuries which you imagine to have been done, arise through the weakness of the flesh, and without the individual’s being aware that he has done you an injury, and when no evil was designed. Judge not according to the outward appearance, but according to the intentions of the heart. If they designed to injure you, they sinned; if they have injured you without design, you are bound to forgive. Remember good principles, and when you hear the truth, if you have a love for it, you will remember it.

It is frequently said by mothers, and is a universal characteristic of the rising generation, “How easy it is for children to learn mischief; I do not like to have my children associated with such and such children, or go to this or that school.” Do they learn any good? Perhaps they do a little, and a great deal of evil. It is natural for children to learn that which they should not, and to do that which they should not, but no more so than it is for you and me. There are many now before me who desire something put in their possession which would be injurious to them, therefore do not blame the children so much for desiring to handle that which is not meet for them to handle, and to possess that which they cannot take care of.

What shall we do? We will cut off every avenue of evil, as fast and as far as may lay in our power. You can stop those evil communications that corrupt good manners in yourselves first, and then keep your children as strictly from evil as possible, and not many generations will pass away ere the heavens will acknowledge that there is a reformation among the Latter-day Saints. How many generations we do not know, but I sometimes think that the Lamanites will become a white and delightsome people about as quick. It belongs to us to commence the work of reformation, and in the first place to set the example of good works before our children, and when they grow up they will say, these are the traditions of my fathers. They will thus improve a little, and the next generation will improve a little more, until the traditions of the children are in accordance with the principles of the eternal Priesthood, which will produce life and salvation.

I will speak a little more upon placing your affections on beings who are not worthy of them. Take a Prophet, an Apostle, a man of God, one who is just as good in his calling and capacity as Jesus Christ was in his, a man who has adorned the doctrine of his profession, until he is sealed up unto eternal lives by the power of the Priesthood, one who is sure of a glorious resurrection, and let him desire to have a wife. Now suppose that he gains the affection of a lovely woman and marries her, how much shall that righteous man love that woman? Shall he say, “I love this woman to such a degree that I will go to hell rather than not have her, I will do even this rather than lose my wife?” No, for you ought to love a woman only so far as she adorns the doctrine you profess; so far as she adorns that doctrine, just so far let your love extend to her. When will she be worthy of the full extent of your affection? When she has lived long enough to secure to herself a glorious resurrection and an eternal exaltation as your companion, and never until then.

Elders, never love your wives one hair’s breadth further than they adorn the Gospel, never love them so but that you can leave them at a moment’s warning without shedding a tear. Should you love a child any more than this? No. Here are Apostles and Prophets who are destined to be exalted with the Gods, to become rulers in the kingdoms of our Father, to become equal with the Father and the Son, and will you let your affections be unduly placed on anything this side that kingdom and glory? If you do, you disgrace your calling and Priesthood. The very moment that persons in this Church suffer their affections to be immoderately placed upon an object this side the celestial kingdom, they disgrace their profession and calling. When you love your wives and children, are fond of your horses, your carriages, your fine houses, your goods and chattels, or anything of an earthly nature, before your affections become too strong, wait until you and your family are sealed up unto eternal lives, and you know they are yours from that time henceforth and for ever.

I will now ask the sisters, do you believe that you are worthy of any greater love than you bestow upon your children? Do you believe that you should be beloved by your husbands and parents any further than you acknowledge and practise the principle of eternal lives? Every person who understands this principle would answer in a moment, “Let no being’s affections be placed upon me any further than mine are on eternal principles—principles that are calculated to endure and exalt me, and bring me up to be an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ.” This is what every person who has a correct understanding would say.

Owing to the weaknesses of human nature you often see a mother mourn upon the death of her child, the tears of bitterness are found upon her cheeks, her pillow is wet with the dews of sorrow, anguish, and mourning for her child, and she exclaims, “O that my infant were restored to me,” and weeps day and night. To me such conduct is unwise, for until that child returned to its Father, was it worthy of your fullest love? No, for it was imperfect, but now it is secure in the bosom of the Father, to dwell there to all eternity; now it is in a condition where it is worthy of your perfect love, and your anxiety and effort should be that you may enter at the same gate to immortality.

When the wife secures to herself a glorious resurrection, she is worthy of the full measure of the love of the faithful husband, but never before. And when a man has passed through the vail, and secured to himself an eternal exaltation, he is then worthy of the love of his wife and children, and not until then, unless he has received the promise of and is sealed up unto eternal lives. Then he may be an object fully worthy of their affections and love on the earth, and not before.

I will now briefly call your minds to the principle of being one. Do you not comprehend that you ought to have your affections concentrated in the kingdom of God on the earth? As I observed here last Sabbath, I do not reflect much whether I have friends or foes, or care one groat about it. I do not care whether you take my counsel or not, provided you take the counsel of the Almighty. I do not care what the people do, if they will only serve God and build up this kingdom. I do not care what become of the things of this world, of the gold, of the silver, of the houses and of the lands, so we have power to gather the house of Israel, redeem Zion, and establish the kingdom of God on the earth. I would not give a cent for all the rest. True, these things which the Lord bestows upon us are for our comfort, for our happiness and convenience, but everything must be devoted to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth. I may say that this Gospel is to spread to the nations of the earth, Israel is to be gathered, Zion redeemed, and the land of Joseph, which is the land of Zion, is to be in the possession of the Saints, if the Lord Almighty lets me live; and if I go behind the vail somebody else must see to it. My brethren must bear it off shoulder to shoulder. We must be of one heart and one mind and roll forth this kingdom; and when we get the first Presidency, the Twelve, and so on, shoulder to shoulder to forward the kingdom, wives and children, what are you going to do? Will you pull another way? No, but let your affections, faith, and all your works be with your husbands, and be obedient to them as unto the Lord. And husbands, serve the Lord with all your hearts, and then we shall be a blessed people, and be of one heart and mind, and the Lord will withhold no good thing from us, but we shall put down the power of Satan, walk triumphantly through the world, preach the Gospel and gather the Saints. I say then; let us be faithful, and may God bless you. Amen.

The Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues, etc.

Brigham Young

A discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 22, 1856.

I am happy for the privilege of rising again before you to converse upon those things that pertain to our peace, that most deeply interest us in our reflections and in our lives, it is a matter of constant joy and comfort to me.

It gives me great pleasure to look upon the congregations of the Saints, while I reflect that some of us have been faithful in this Church for many years, have preached to the Saints and to sinners, have called upon people to repent while the finger of scorn has been pointed at us and all manner of evil has been spoken against us falsely. And many times the Elders, while laboring faithfully in preaching to the people, would not find where to lay their heads, no doors open to receive them, and no one to feed them, yet they have traveled and searched until they have found a great many that ought to be honest in heart—a great many who have embraced the Gospel.

It has been a hard labor upon many of the Elders of this Church to accomplish what has been done, to preach this Gospel to so many people in so many different nations and kingdoms.

If the miles our missionaries have traveled were counted they would amount to a great sum, and if you could know how many days they have been without eating, while calling upon the people to repent, you would find them to be a great number.

If the troubles of this people from the commencement of this work, from the early history of the Prophet, and the persecutions of the Saints, could be presented before this congregation you would be astonished, you would marvel at them. You would not believe that a people could endure so much as this people have endured, you would think it an impossibility for men and women to endure and pass through what a great many in this Church have. Truly it is a miracle that we are here.

Taking these things into consideration, and viewing our present circumstances and the privileges we enjoy, there is not a heart that fully realizes what we have passed through and the blessings we now enjoy, without praising God continually and feeling to exclaim, “O praise the name of our God.”

True, many think and feel that we have hard times here, that it is a hard country to live in. We have long cold winters, and we have a great many difficulties to encounter—the Indian wars, the cricket wars, the grasshopper wars, and the drouths.

What we have suffered during the, two years past comes before us, and now the prospect is gloomy pertaining to sustenance for man.

How many are there who feel and say like this? “Were it not for ‘Mormonism’ I should know at once what to do; I know the course I would pursue.” What would you do, brother? “I would pick up my duds and leave; I would sell what I have here, if I could, and if I could not I would leave it. These are the feelings of some.

I will tell you what my feelings are, they are, praise God for hard times, for I feel that it is one of the greatest privileges to be in a country that is not desirable, where the wicked will pass by.

Now, do we all realize this? No, we do not; though I have no doubt but that some do. I will tell you what will make you realize it; to suffer the loss of all things here by the enemy’s coming along and driving you out of your houses, from your farms and fields, and taking your horses, cattle, farming implements, and what little substance you have, and banishing you from this place and sending you off five or six hundred miles, bereft of all you possessed, without suitable clothing and provisions for the journey.

Then you go to work, and toil and labor with all your might, for a few years, to get another home, and then let another set come and drive you out of that place, taking your cattle, your farms, and all you have, telling you that they want your possessions, and by the time they had thus driven you four or five times, as they have many of us, and made you leave every thing you have, and threatened you with death, and watched for you by day and by night, to get a chance to kill you, and they suffered to goat large with impunity, and would kill you in open daylight if they dare, after having passed through fifteen or sixteen years of this kind of persecution, you would thank God for hard times, for a country where mobs do not wish to live.

Many of the people in these valleys have no experience in these things, and I would be very glad to have such persons escape those trials, if they could receive the same glory and exaltation that they would if they had passed through them.

I look upon the people, and as I frequently say, I have compassion upon them, for all have not experience. It was told you this morning that you could not be made perfect Saints in one day, that is impossible. You might as well undertake to learn a child every branch of English literature during its first week’s attendance at school, this cannot be done.

We are not capacitated to receive in one day, nor in one year, the knowledge and experience calculated to make us perfect Saints, but we learn from time to time, from day to day, consequently we are to have compassion one upon another, to look upon each other as we would wish others to look upon us, and to remember that we are frail mortal beings, and that we can be changed for the better only by the Gospel of salvation.

As it was observed this morning, we ought to be ourselves and not anybody else. We do not wish to be anybody else, neither do we wish to be anybody but Saints. We wish the Gospel to take effect upon each one of us; and we can change in our feelings, in our dispositions and natures, to the extent that was observed by brother Kimball in the comparison which he made.

A man, or a woman, desiring to know the will of God, and having an opportunity to know it, will apply their hearts to this wisdom until it becomes easy and familiar to them, and they will love to do good instead of evil. They will love to promote every good principle, and will soon abhor everything that tends to evil; they will gain light and knowledge to discern between evil and good.

The person that applies his heart to wisdom, and seeks diligently for understanding, will grow to be mighty in Israel.

Call to mind when you first embraced the Gospel, how much did you then know compared with what you now know? Could you detect error then as now? Could you then understand the operations of the different spirits as you can now understand them? I know what your reply would be to these interrogations.

In the first rise of the Church, when the gifts of the Gospel were bestowed on an individual, or upon individuals, the people could not understand but that the giver of the gift gave also the exercise of it; how much labor the Elders that understood this matter have had to make it plain to the understandings of the people.

Take, for instance, the gift of tongues; years ago in this Church you could find men of age, and seemingly of experience, who would preach and raise up Branches, and when quite young boys or girls would get up and speak in tongues, and others interpret, and perhaps that interpretation instructing the Elders who brought them into the Church, they would turn round and say, “I know my duty, this is the word of the Lord to me and I must do as these boys or girls have spoken in tongues.”

You ask one of the Elders if they understand things so now, and they will say, “No, the gifts are from the Lord, and we are agents to use them as we please.”

If a man is called to be a Prophet, and the gift of prophecy is poured upon him, though he afterwards actually defies the power of God and turns away from the holy commandments, that man will continue in his gift and will prophecy lies.

He will make false prophecies, yet he will do it by the spirit of prophecy; he will feel that he is a prophet and can prophecy, but he does it by another spirit and power than that which was given him of the Lord. He uses the gift as much as you and I use ours.

The gift of seeing with the natural eyes is just as much a gift as the gift of tongues. The Lord gave that gift and we can do as we please with regard to seeing; we can use the sight of the eye to the glory of God, or to our own destruction.

The gift of taste is the gift of God, we can use that to feed and pamper the lusts of the flesh, or we can use it to the glory of God.

The gift of communicating one with another is the gift of God, just as much so as the gift of prophecy, of discerning spirits, of tongues, of healing, or any other gift, though sight, taste, and speech, are so generally bestowed that they are not considered in the same miraculous light as are those gifts mentioned in the Gospel.

We can use these gifts, and every other gift God has given us, to the praise and glory of God, to serve Him, or we can use them to dishonor Him and His cause; we can use the gift of speech to blaspheme His name. That is true, and I have as good a right as brother Kimball, to say that what I am talking about is true.

He said that all his talk in the forenoon was true, and I have as good a right to say that my talk is true, as he has to say that his is true.

These principles are correct in regard to the gifts which we receive for the express purpose of using them, in order that we may endure and be exalted, and that the organization we have received shall not come to an end, but endure to all eternity.

By a close application of the gifts bestowed upon us, we can secure to ourselves the resurrection of these bodies that we now possess, that our spirits inhabit, and when they are resurrected they will be made pure and holy; then they will endure to all eternity.

But we cannot receive all at once, we cannot understand all at once; we have to receive a little here and a little there. If we receive a little, let us improve upon that little; and if we receive much, let us improve upon it.

If we get a line to-day, improve upon it; if we get another to-morrow, improve upon it; and every line, and precept, and gift that we receive, we are to labor upon, so as to become perfect before the Lord.

This is the way that we are to change ourselves, and change one another, pertaining to the principles of righteousness.

As brother Joseph observed this morning, “Joseph must be Joseph; Brigham must be Brigham; Heber must be Heber; Amasa must be Amasa; Orson must be Orson; and Parley must be Parley;” we must be ourselves.

What should we be, and what are we? I will take the liberty of saying a few words upon this. We were created upright, pure, and holy, in the image of our father and our mother, in the image of our God.

Wherein do we differ? In the talents that are given us, and in our callings. We are made of the same materials; our spirits were begotten by the same parents; in the begetting of the flesh we are of the same first parents, and all the kindreds of the earth are made of one flesh; but we are different in regard to our callings.

In the first place, we may vary with regard to our organizations pertaining to the flesh; brother Kimball explained this morning why and how we vary.

Let a man be devoted to his God and to his religion, and his wives with him, and he is very apt to have children that will grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If the whole of the father and mother in all their acts is devoted to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth, if they have no desire but to do right, if righteousness reigns predominant, then the spirit that is within them controls, to a certain extent, the flesh in their posterity.

Yet every son and daughter have got to go through the ordeal that you and I have to pass through; they must be tried, tempted and buffeted, in order to act upon their agency before God and prove themselves worthy of an exaltation.

Though our children are begotten in righteousness, brought forth in holiness, they must be tried and tempted, for they are agents before our Father and God, the same as you and I.

They must bring this agency into action; the passions and appetites must be governed and controlled: the eye, the speech, the tastes, the desires, all must be controlled.

If the people would thus control themselves in their lives, it would make a great alteration in the generations yet to come.

But we cannot clear ourselves from the power of satan; we must know what it is to be tried and tempted, for no man or woman can be exalted upon any other principle, as was beautifully exhibited in the life of the Savior.

According to the philosophy of our religion we understand that if he had not descended below all things, he could not have ascended above all things.

As he was appointed to ascend above all things, his father and his God so brought it about by the handiwork of His providence, that he was actually accounted, in his birth and in his life, below all things.

Did he descend below all things? His parents had not a house nor even a tent for him to be born in, but were obliged to go to a stable, doubtless because they were denied the privilege of a house.

The Son of Man could not be born in a house, and the poor mother in her distress crawled into a manger, among the litter that had been left by the cattle.

Others may have been born in as low a state as this, but it is hard to find anybody, among the civilized portions of mankind, that gets any lower.

But in the opinion of the people they were not considered worthy of anything better, and by some means it happened so, though they did not know why, neither did the people.

The history of Joseph and Mary is given to us by their best friends, and precisely as we will give the history of the Prophet Joseph. We know him to have been a good man, we know that he performed his mission, we know that he was an honorable man and dealt justly, we know his true character.

But let his enemies give his character, and they will make him out one of the basest men that ever lived. Let the enemies of Joseph and Mary give their characters to us, and you would be strongly tempted to believe as the Jews believe.

Let the enemies of Jesus give his character to us, and, in the absence of the testimony of his friends, I do not know but that the present Christian world would all be Jews, so far as their belief that Jesus Christ was an impostor and one of the most degraded men that ever lived.

Jesus descended very low in his parentage and birth; but the question may be asked, did he condescend to be reduced in his understanding?

By the same reasoning I would believe that he did. I would believe that he was one of the weakest children that was ever born, one of the most helpless at his birth; so helpless that it might have been supposed that he would never grow up to manhood.

What is his history? Read for your selves the account given by his friends. It is said that Josephus has given a pretty just account of Joseph and Mary, of the Apostles, &c., but he has only given just about as good an account of Jesus and his parents as some person in London lately has about the “Mormons” and Joseph Smith their Prophet, though he gives a pretty fair account.

Take a man in Paris or in London and let him write a history of Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saints thirty years after Joseph figured on the earth, for the history of Christ by Josephus was written several years, after he was crucified, and he would come as nigh to the truth, perhaps, as Josephus did in the history he has given of Jesus and his Apostles. Josephus was a pretty fair man, but he knew but little about them.

What account would Jesus have given of himself, could he have transmitted his own statements? Such as every good man would, for he would have told the truth; but now we have to take his history from his friends and from his foes.

What history do we get from the Jews? I will venture to say that no man living on the face of the earth, capable of using language to portray the character of any individual that lives on the earth, could paint a worse character than they have given to Jesus Christ.

Compare that with all that has been said against Joseph Smith, and you will find that the wisdom of this generation will have to succumb to that of the Jews, for they portrayed the meanest character in the history they have given of Jesus; but let that pass.

You can discern that we have to control ourselves, that by the Gospel we can actually do so and reform. Each man and woman, by the spirit of truth, can conform to that principle to improve until we will know and understand the things of God, so as to save ourselves by the commandments and will of God.

The Gospel is simple, it is plain. The mystery of godliness, or of the Gospel, is actually couched in our own ignorance; that is the cause of the mystery that we suppose to be in the revelations given to us; it is in our own misunderstanding—in our ignorance.

There is no mystery throughout the whole plan of salvation, only to those who do not understand.

Brother Joseph, in the forenoon, touched upon one principle that I wish to talk about, that is, our future state—futurity.

From time to time our fathers and our mothers leave us, their bodies are consigned to the silent tomb; our Prophets are taken from us; our companions are taken away; our brothers and sisters leave this world.

The organization that pertains to this life decays, it becomes lifeless, we lay it down. Disease fastens upon our children, and they are gone.

I said a few words upon the principle of affection last Sabbath, now I wish to say a few words with regard to our lives hereafter; I will extend these remarks further than our existence here in the flesh.

We understand, for it has long been told us, that we had an existence before we came into the world. Our spirits came here pure to take these tabernacles; they came to occupy them as habitations, with the understanding that all that had passed previously to our coming here should be taken away from us, that we should not know anything about it.

We come here to live a few days, and then we are gone again. How long the starry heavens have been in existence we cannot say; how long they will continue to be we cannot say. How long there will be air, water, earth; how long the elements will endure, in their present combinations, it is not for us to say. Our religion teaches us that there never was a time when they were not, and there never will be a time when they will cease to be; they are here, and will be here for ever.

I will give you a figure that brother Hyde had in a dream. He had been thinking a great deal about time and eternity; he wished to know the difference, but how to understand it he did not know. He asked the Lord to show him, and after he had prayed about it the Lord gave him a dream, at least I presume He did, or permitted it so to be, at any rate he had a dream; his mind was opened so that he could understand time and eternity. He said that he thought he saw a stream issuing forth from a misty cloud which spread upon his right and upon his left, and that the stream ran past him and entered the cloud again. He was told that the stream was time, that it had no place where it commenced to run, neither was there any end to its running; and that the time which he was thinking about and talking about, what he could see between the two clouds, was a portion of or one with that which he could not perceive.

So it is with you and I; here is time, where is eternity? It is here, just as much as anywhere in all the expanse of space; a measured space of time is only a part of eternity.

We have a short period of duration allotted to us, and we call it time. We exist here, we have life within us let that life be taken away and the lungs will cease to heave, and the body will become lifeless. Is that life extinct? No, it continues to exist as much as it did when the lungs would heave, when the mortal body was invigorated with air, food and the elements in which it lived, it has only left the body. The life, the animating principles are still in existence, as much so as they were yesterday when the body was in good health. Here the inquiry will naturally arise, when our spirits leave our bodies where do they go to?

I will tell you. Will I locate them? Yes, if you wish me to. They do not pass out of the organization of this earth on which we live, You read in the Bible that when the spirit leaves the body it goes to God who gave it. Now tell me where God is not, if you please; you cannot. How far would you have to go in order to go to God, if your spirits were unclothed? Would you have to go out of this bowery to find God, if you were in the spirit? If God is not here, we had better reserve this place to gather the wicked into, for they will desire to be where God is not. The Lord Almighty is here by His Spirit, by His influence, by His; presence I am not in the north end of this bowery, my body is in the south end of it, but my influence and my voice extend to all parts of it; in like manner is the Lord here.

It reads that the spirit goes to God who gave it. Let me render this Scripture a little plainer; when the spirits leave their bodies they are in the presence of our Father and God, they are prepared then to see, hear and understand spiritual things. But where is the spirit world? It is incorporated within this celestial system. Can you see it with your natural eyes? No. Can you see spirits in this room? No. Suppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the spirits? Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies, as did the servant of Elijah. If the Lord would permit it, and it was His will that it should be done, you could see the spirits that have departed from this world, as plainly as you now see bodies with your natural eyes; as plainly as brothers Kimball and Hyde saw those wicked disembodied spirits in Preston, England. They saw devils there, as we see one another; they could hear them speak, and knew what they said. Could they hear them with the natural ear? No. Did they see those wicked spirits with their natural eyes? No. They could not see them the next morning, when they were not in the spirit; neither could they see them the day before, nor at any other time; their spiritual eyes were touched by the power of the Almighty.

They said they looked through their natural eyes, and I suppose they did. Brother Kimball saw them, but I know not whether his natural eyes were open at the time or not; brother Kimball said that he lay upon the floor part of the time, and I presume his eyes were shut, but he saw them as also did brother Hyde, and they heard them speak.

We may enquire where the spirits dwell, that the devil has power over? They dwell anywhere, in Preston, as well as in other places in England. Do they dwell anywhere else? Yes, on this continent; it is full of them. If you could see, and would walk over many parts of North America, you would see millions on millions of the spirits of those who have been slain upon this continent. Would you see the spirits of those who were as good in the flesh, as they knew how to be? Yes. Would you see the spirits of the wicked? Yes. Could you see the spirits of devils? Yes, and that is all there is of them. They have been deprived of bodies, and that constitutes their curse, that is to say, speaking after the manner of men, you shall be wanderers on the earth, you have got to live out of doors all the time you live.

That is the situation of the spirits that were sent to the earth, when the revolt took place in heaven, when Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, was cast out. Where did he go? He came here, and one-third part of the spirits in heaven came with him. Do you suppose that one third part of all the beings that existed in eternity came with him? No, but one third part of the spirits that were begotten and organized and brought forth to become tenants of fleshly bodies to dwell upon this earth. They forsook Jesus Christ, the rightful heir, and joined with Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, and came to this earth; they got here first. As soon as Mother Eve made her appearance in the garden of Eden, the devil was on hand.

You cannot give any person their exaltation, unless they know what evil is, what sin, sorrow, and misery are, for no person could comprehend, appreciate, and enjoy an exaltation upon any other principle. The devil with one third part of the spirits of our Father’s Kingdom got here before us, and we tarried there with our friends, until the time came for us to come to the earth and take tabernacles; but those spirits that revolted were forbidden ever to have tabernacles of their own. You can now comprehend how it is that they are always trying to get possession of the bodies of human beings; we read of a man’s being possessed of a legion, and Mary Magdalene had seven.

You may now see people with legions of evil spirits in and around them; there are men who walk our streets that have more than a hundred devils in them and round about them, prompting them to all manner of evil, and some too that profess to be Latter Day Saints, and if you were to take the devils out of them and from about them, you would leave them dead corpses; for I believe there would be nothing left of them.

I want you to understand these things; and if you should say or think that I know nothing about them, be pleased to find out and inform me. You can see the acts of these evil spirits in every place, the whole country is full of them, the whole earth is alive with them, and they are continually trying to get into the tabernacles of the human family, and are always on hand to prompt us to depart from the strict line of our duty.

You know that we sometimes need a prompter; if any one of you was called by the government of the United States to go to Germany, Italy, or any foreign nation, as an Ambassador, if you did not understand the language somebody would have to interpret for you. Well, these evil spirits are ready to prompt you. Do they prompt us? Yes, and I could put my hands on a dozen of them while I have been on this stand; they are here on the stand. Could we do without the devils? No, we could not get along without them. They are here, and they suggest this, that, and the other.

When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? Into the spiritual world. Are you going into Abraham’s bosom. No, not any where nigh there, but into the spirit world. Where is the spirit world? It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go together? Yes, they do. Do they both inhabit one kingdom? Yes, they do. Do they go to the sun? No. Do they go beyond the boundaries of this organized earth? No, they do not. They are brought forth upon this earth, for the express purpose of inhabiting it to all eternity. Where else are you going? No where else, only as you may be permitted.

When the spirits of mankind leave their bodies, no matter whether the individual was a Prophet or the meanest person that you could find, where do they go? To the spirit world. Where is it? I am telling you. The spirit of Joseph, I do not know that it is just now in this bowery, but I will assure you that it is close to the Latter-day Saints, is active in preaching to the spirits in prison and preparing the way to redeem the nations of the earth, those who lived in darkness previous to the introduction of the Gospel by himself in these days.

He has just as much labor on hand as I have; he has just as much to do. Father Smith and Carlos and brother Partridge, yes, and every other good Saint, are just as busy in the spirit world as you and I are here. They can see us, but we cannot see them unless our eyes were opened. What are they doing there? They are preaching, preaching all the time, and preparing the way for us to hasten our work in building temples here and elsewhere, and to go back to Jackson County and build the great temple of the Lord. They are hurrying to get ready by the time that we are ready and we are all hurrying to get ready by the time our Elder Brother is ready.

The wicked spirits that leave here and go into the spirit world, are they wicked there? Yes.

The spirits of people that have lived upon the earth according to the the best light they had, who were as honest and sincere as men and women could be, if they lived on the earth without the privilege of the Gospel and the Priesthood and the keys thereof are still under the power and control of evil spirits, to a certain extent. No matter where they lived on the face of the earth, all men and women that have died without the keys and power of the Priesthood, though they might have been honest and sincere and have done every thing they could, are under the influence of the devil, more or less. Are they as much so as others? No, no. Take those that were wicked designedly, who knowingly lived without the Gospel when it was within their reach, they are given up to the devil, they become tools to the devil and spirits of devils.

Go to the time when the Gospel came to the earth in the days of Joseph, take the wicked that have opposed this people and persecuted them to the death, and they are sent to hell. Where are they? They are in the spirit world, and are just as busy as they possibly can be to do every thing they can against the Prophet and the Apostles, against Jesus and his kingdom. They are just as wicked and malicious in their actions against the cause of truth, as they were while on the earth in their fleshly tabernacles.

Joseph, also, goes there, but has the devil power over him? No, because he held the keys and power of the eternal Priesthood here, and got the victory while here in the flesh.

Before I proceed further I will give you an illustration. Send a man that is used to magnetizing people, and see if he can magnetize an Elder in Israel, one that is full of the faith, or a faithful sister in the Church of God. Could Le Roy Sunderland, one of their greatest characters, magnetize one of the Latter Day Saints? No. He might as well try to magnetize the sun in the firmament. Why? Because the Priesthood is upon you, and he would try to magnetize you by another and lesser power.

The principle of animal magnetism is true, but wicked men use it to an evil purpose. I have never told you much about my belief in this magnetic principle. Speaking is a true gift, but I can speak to the glory of God, or to the injury of His cause and to my condemnation, as I please; and still the gift is of God. The gift of animal magnetism is a gift of God, but wicked men use it to promote the cause of the devil, and that is precisely the difference. You may travel through the world and make inquiries where the Elders have traveled, and you cannot find an instance where the devil has gained power over a good and faithful Elder through this power. He cannot do it, because the faithful Elder of this Church holds keys and power above that which is used by those who go round lecturing on magnetism, and operating upon all who will become passive to their will. They have not the same power that the faithful Elders of Israel have, for those Elders have the eternal Priesthood upon them, which is above and presides over every other power.

When the faithful Elders, holding this Priesthood, go into the spirit world they carry with them the same power and Priesthood that they had while in the mortal tabernacle. They have got the victory over the power of the enemy here, consequently when they leave this world they have perfect control over those evil spirits, and they cannot be buffeted by Satan. But as long as they live in the flesh no being on this earth, of the posterity of Adam, can be free from the power of the devil.

When this portion of the school is out, the one in which we descend below all things and commence upon this earth to learn the first lessons for an eternal exaltation, if you have been a faithful scholar, and have overcome, if you have brought the flesh into subjection by the power of the Priesthood, if you have honored the body, when it crumbles to the earth and your spirit is freed from this home of clay, has the devil any power over it? Not one particle.

This is an advantage which the faithful will gain; but while they live on earth they are subject to the buffetings of Satan. Joseph and those who have died in the faith of the Gospel are free from this; if a mob should come upon Joseph now, he has power to disperse them with the motion of his hand, and to drive them where he pleases. But is Joseph glorified? No, he is preaching to the spirits in prison. He will get his resurrection the first of any one in this kingdom, for he was the first that God made choice of to bring forth the work of the last days.

His office is not taken from him, he has only gone to labor in another department of the operations of the Almighty. He is still an Apostle, still a Prophet, and is doing the work of an Apostle and Prophet; he has gone one step beyond us and gained a victory that you and I have not gained, still he has not yet gone into the celestial kingdom, or if he has it has been by a direct command of the Almighty, and that too to return again so soon as the purpose has been accomplished.

No man can enter the celestial kingdom and be crowned with a celestial glory, until he gets his resurrected body; but Joseph and the faithful who have died have gained a victory over the power of the devil, which you and I have not yet gained. So long as we live in these tabernacles, so long we will be subject to the temptations and power of the devil; but when we lay them down, if we have been faithful, we have gained the victory so far; but even then we are not so far advanced at once as to be beyond the neighborhood of evil spirits.

The third part of the hosts of heaven, that were cast out, have not been taken away, at least not that I have found out, and the other two-thirds have got to come and take bodies, all of them who have not, and have the opportunity of preparing for a glorious resurrection and exaltation, before we get through with this world; and those who are faithful in the flesh to the requirements of the Gospel will gain this victory over the spirits that are not allowed to take bodies, which class comprises one third of the hosts of Heaven.

Those who have died without the Gospel are continually afflicted by those evil spirits, who say to them—“Do not go to hear that man Joseph Smith preach, or David Patten, or any of their associates, for they are deceivers.”

Spirits are just as familiar with spirits as bodies are with bodies, though spirits are composed of matter so refined as not to be tangible to this coarser organization. They walk, converse, and have their meetings; and the spirits of good men like Joseph and the Elders, who have left this Church on earth for a season to operate in another sphere, are rallying all their powers and going from place to place preaching the Gospel, and Joseph is directing them, saying, go ahead, my brethren, and if they hedge up your way, walk up and command them to disperse. You have the Priesthood and can disperse them, but if any of them wish to hear the Gospel, preach to them.

Can they baptize them? No. What can they do? They can preach the Gospel, and when we have the privilege of building up Zion, the time will come for saviors to come up on Mount Zion. My brother Joseph spoke of this principle this forenoon. Some of those who are not in mortality will come along and say, “Here are a thousand names I wish you to attend to in this temple, and when you have got through with them I will give you another thousand;” and the Elders of Israel and their wives will go forth to officiate for their forefathers, the men for the men, and the women for the women.

A man is ordained and receives his washings, anointings, and endowments for the male portion of his and his wife’s progenitors, and his wife for the female portion.

Then in the spirit world they will say, “Do you not see somebody at work for you? The Lord remembers you and has revealed to His servants on the earth, what to do for you.”

Is the spirit world here? It is not beyond the sun, but is on this earth that was organized for the people that have lived and that do and will live upon it. No other people can have it, and we can have no other kingdom until we are prepared to inhabit this eternally. In the spirit world those who have got the victory go on to prepare the way for those who live in the flesh, fulfilling the work of saviors on Mount Zion.

To accomplish this work there will have to be not only one temple but thousands of them, and thousands and tens of thousands of men and women will go into those temples and officiate for people who have lived as far back as the Lord shall reveal. If we are faithful enough to go back and build that great temple which Joseph has written about, and should the Lord acknowledge the labor of His servants, then watch, for you will see somebody whom you have seen before, and many of you will see him whom you have not seen before, but you will know him as soon as you see him.

This privilege we cannot enjoy now, because the power of Satan is such that we cannot perform the labor that is necessary to enable us to obtain it.

When we commence again on the walls of the temple to be built on this Block, the news will fly from Maine to California. Who will tell them? Those little devils that are around here, that are around this earth in the spirit world; there will be millions of them ready to communicate the news to devils in Missouri, Illinois, California, Mexico, and in all the world. And the question will be, “What is the news? There is some devilish thing going on among the ‘Mormons’ and I know it. Those ‘Mormons’ ought to be killed.” They do not know what stirs them up to this feeling, it is those spirits that are continually near to them.

We all have got spirits to attend us; when the eyes of the servant of Elijah were opened he saw that those for them were more than those that were against them. There are two thirds for us, and one third against us; and there is not a son or daughter of Adam but what will be saved in some kingdom and receive glory and an exaltation to a degree, except those who have had the privilege of the Gospel and rejected it and sinned against the Holy Ghost, they will become servants to devils.

How long will they exist? I do not know, neither do I care. Every one of this people, with the Saints that have lived before us, from the days of Adam until now, and those that may come after us, all say, “Build up the kingdom of God.” What for? To save the inhabitants of the earth, to get them all back into some kind of a kingdom where they can be administered to, and not have this organized matter return again to its native element, for we wish this work to be preserved.

You know that when you make a farm you dislike to see it overrun with weeds, and it would hurt your feelings to see your houses, barns, and other property destroyed. True, you can make more, but how do you suppose the Lord feels, who is much more compassionate than we are, when He sees the devil gaining an advantage over His creatures to lead them away to destroy them? Do you not suppose that the bowels of His compassion yearn over this people, and that He is angry with the wicked? Do you not suppose that He often feels like saying, “O, my children, why do you not hearken to what I tell you, and take hold of the principles of life, and cease pursuing a course that is calculated to destroy you? I have labored to bring forth this organization, and I do not wish to lose my labor, but I desire to have you hearken to the counsel I give to you and prepare yourselves to endure forever and come into my presence, and if you cannot do that and abide a celestial law, at least abide the law of a kingdom where I can send angels to you, and I will send and comfort you and administer unto you and will raise you up and make you glad and happy, and will fill you with joy and with peace.”

It is our business to live our religion, and it is all that we have to do “But,” says one, “I thought we had got to raise grain.” I have told you, many a time, that I would not give you anything for your faith, without you add works. How are you going to work to build up the kingdom?

I now wish to leave the subject we have been considering, for I think I have talked enough about it for the present, and tell you how to prepare yourselves to build up the kingdom of God and save the honest in heart.

Here we are in the valleys of these mountains, and I say that there is not a people on the earth that would live here but the Latter-day Saints, and it seems almost more than they can do to stay here. Now if they would be as swift to hearken to counsel as they are to get rich, and as they are in pleasing their own dispositions, we should not see the hard times that we now see.

When we first came here we had not been two weeks on this square, before the Big Cottonwood canal which we are now building, was just as visible to me as it ever will be when it is completed, and you will yet see boats on it. It has to be there. What for? To sustain this people. Do you think we want the water that is now wasted in those natural channels? Say, sisters, do you think we want any more water for irrigation? Yes, you do, for your peas are drying up, and you are not likely to have many cucumbers for pickling.

Have this people been as swift to hearken to counsel as to get rich? No, and many of you would rather pray the Lord to send rain, than to appropriate, by your labor, the waters that are continually flowing from these kanyons. I tell you now, as I have before said, I do not have much faith to pray for rain; and if I had faith and power to bring rain upon the crops in these valleys, I would not do it. Why? Because it would throw many of you into lazy slothful, idle habits, and every Gentile that came through here would covet your farms, and would say, “This is the finest country we ever saw, how rich you are, how your cattle thrive upon the hills, your grain grows almost without labor in cultivating the earth.”

They would soon begin to desire your inheritances, those houses and this city, and it would be but a few years before we would have to leave, or contend with them. As it is now, there is no people that would live here, except the Latter-day Saints, and they are decidedly the best people upon the earth, even though I sometimes chastise them, and what I say is true, for a few deserve chastising.

I do not believe that the city of Enoch made greater advancement, in the same period of time, than this people have done in the twenty-six years of their career, which is saying a great deal for them. Who else would live here? Nobody. Put Gentiles here and tell them that they had to be confined here, and they would consider themselves in a worse prison than a penitentiary.

Do some of the brethren murmur a little, and say if it were not for” Mormonism,” they would do thus and so? What of that? Is there any other people who would do as well as you do? No, not another.

When I find fault with the people for not hearkening to counsel, it is because I want them to live so as speedily to obtain the reward of righteousness, and not have to wait so long for it.

This is a good people, though there are some in our midst who do not do right. Plant the Gentiles here, and you would soon see cutting throats and hear the sharp crack of the rifle at the water sects. There would be far more fighting for water than there is among the “Mormons” though some of them steal it now.

Many of the brethren feel as I do; if I had my crops growing and somebody should come along and steal my water, I should say, you will raise grain, will you not? Well, go ahead, for we shall get it, if you raise it.

Here sits a man I can now look upon who says I am a greater despot than the Emperor of Russia. May be I am, for should I see the poor suffering, I could knock open flour barrels better than Alexander II, and give the contents to the poor with a better heart than he could.

Who in the wide world could live here more peaceably than we do? Nobody; and I thank God for hard times. Do you suppose that the Gentiles want this country? No; they say, “It is a God-forsaken country,” and I say, hallelujah, for it is the very country I prefer, a country where nobody else will live but those who are willing to keep the commandments of God.

I wish to be tyrannical enough, if that is the proper term, to make you good men and good women. Go to with your might this year, and see if we cannot prepare for another. This is a great Saint raising country; we have seen wheat grow here almost spontaneously, and there could not be a better Saint raising country.

If a person is honest before God and has more than he needs for his own use, and does not covet it, he will make a distribution to those who have not, and there need not any person go without necessary food. I know that there are many here who have given out much flour, and they have by no means suffered on account of their liberality. There is a man sitting on the stand who says that [missing text] scraped the bottom of the flour barrel, and on the next morning has gone to scrape again, to give out more to the poor, and found it half full. She asked him “If he had put it there. He answered, “No.” “Well,” said she, “I scraped it out last night.”

The Lord wishes to try you; shall we say that we will hoard up the blessings of God, that we may be able to say that we have a large amount to ourselves? No, but divide them out, and do so with an honest heart, in all humility; and let those who receive blessings receive them with an honest heart, in all humility and thankfulness. Some who have, will withhold, and some of the poor are covetous and will grab a little here and there and lay it up, or waste it. If you continue in covetousness, your substance will shrink and waste away.

Let the poor, those who have to depend upon their brethren for bread, after they have done all they can to obtain it themselves be thankful, and take no more than they require to use in a frugal manner. By taking such a course, no person would suffer.

With some there is a fearfulness, a want of faith and confidence in God, and a stingy close fistedness; this is the cause of many’s being so pinched. As I have often done, I again invite those who are distrustful, and fearful that God is going to forsake this people, to leave, if they do not wish to be Saints and repose confidence in the God of the Saints. I wish such characters would leave; I shall be glad if they will leave. I would not have them stay; I would rather give them flour and help them to leave because they are a curse to the Saints. And if the devil puts it into their hearts to leave, I know there will be a certain portion of those evil spirits go with them, and still we shall always have plenty more coming.

All I ask of you is to apply your hearts to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be Saints, I will not ask anything else on this earth of you only to live so as to know the mind and will of God when you receive it, and then abide in it. If you will do that, you will be prepared to do a great many things, and you will find that there is much good to be done.

We have no time to spend foolishly, for we have just as much on our hands as we can probably do, to keep pace with that portion of our brethren who have gone into the other room.

And when we have passed into the sphere where Joseph is, there is still another department, and then another, and another, and so on to an eternal progression in exaltation and eternal lives. That is the exaltation I am looking for. May God bless you. Amen.