Journal of Discourses Volume 4
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4
Journal of Discourses,
Volume 4
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, June 29, 1856
Heber C. Kimball, June 29, 1856
THE SAINTS SHOULD PREPARE FOR FUTURE EMERGENCIES--EVIL
SPIRITS--THEIR POWER AND ORGANIZATION--THE CHAIN OF THE
PRIESTHOOD--ANGELS ARE MINISTERING SPIRITS.
A Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, June 29, 1856.
1
On account of the breeze that is playing beneath this shade,
brother Brigham thought I had better put on my hat, but I never
feel as though I wanted to wear my hat when he is present. I
consider that the master should wear his hat, or hang it on the
peg that God made for it, which is his head, of course.
1
I feel tolerably well as to health to-day, but I suffer much from
bad colds, and have to be very careful, for I am often confined
in my house with colds. I took a very violent cold here last
Sabbath, by sitting in the draft, and I have not felt very well
since, still I feel ambitious in the cause that I have espoused.
The things concerning which brother Grant has this day been
speaking are good, and I believe in his doctrines because they
are true, especially in regard to our being one. I do know most
definitively that unless we are one we are not Christ's; and I
also know that if we are not one with brother Brigham, our
leader, we are not one with Christ. Yes, I know this, and my
feelings are and have been with brother Brigham all the time.
1
I have learned by experience that there is but one God that
pertains to this people, and He is the God that pertains to this
earth--the first man. That first man sent his own Son to redeem
the world, to redeem his brethren; his life was taken, his blood
shed, that our sins might be remitted. That Son called twelve men
and ordained them to be Apostles, and when he departed the keys
of the kingdom were deposited with three of those twelve, viz.:
Peter, James, and John. Peter held the keys pertaining to that
Presidency, and he was the head.
2
How did these keys come to us? Did not Peter, James, and John,
ordain Joseph Smith our Prophet? They did. And Joseph Smith
called and ordained brother Brigham, brother Heber, brother
Parley, and others, enough to make twelve Apostles. Thus you see
that there is always a governing principle in the Church upon the
earth; there is always a Presidency, three who represent the
Deity here on the earth. Just think of your position; you have
heard the teachings and instructions of President Young, and his
instructions are the word of God to us, and I know that every man
and woman in this Church who rejects his testimony, and the
testimony of those that he sends, rejects the testimony of God
his Father. I know that, just as well as I know that I see your
faces to-day.
2
Where will those go to that reject this Gospel? Why, in reality
they will not go anywhere. [A voice from the stand: They will not
go anywhere else, for they have no other place to go to.] They
will remain where they are, in hell, where my spirit was for a
short time, when I was in England. Where was my body during that
brief period? It was in Preston, on the corner of Wilford-street,
but my spirit could see and observe those evil spirits as plainly
as it ever will after I die. Legions of disembodied evil spirits
came against me, organized in companies that they might have more
power, but they had not power over me to any great extent,
because of the power that was in and sustaining me. I had the
Priesthood, and the power of it was upon me. I saw the invisible
world of the condemned spirits, those who were opposed to me and
to this work, and to the lifting up of the standard of Christ in
that country. Did I at the same time see or have a vision of the
angels of God--of His legions? No, I did not; though they were
there and stood in defence of me and my brethren, and I knew it.
And all this not that there was any very great virtue in me, but
there was virtue in the Priesthood and Apostleship which I held,
and God would and did defend; and the evil spirits were dispersed
by the power of God.
2
Some people suppose that when they leave this state of existence
they are going into the paradise of God, but if they do not
overcome evil and subject themselves to the will of God and to
him that is appointed to lead us here in the flesh, they will
become subject to those wicked spirits. Angels will not come by
legions to defend those whose faith fails them when the destroyer
comes, but he will be permitted to waste the wicked. I never said
that I ever saw an angel from God, though I have dreamed about
them; neither did I see those evil spirits with my natural eyes,
nor was I at the time asleep, but I saw them after I was laid
prostrate upon the floor.
2
When I recovered I sat upon the bed thinking and reflecting upon
what had past, and all at once my vision was opened, and the
walls of the building were no obstruction to my seeing, for I saw
nothing but the visions that presented themselves. Why did not
the walls obstruct my view? Because my spirit could look through
the walls of that house, for I looked with that spirit, element,
and power, with which angels look; and as God sees all things, so
were invisible things brought before me, as the Lord would bring
things before Joseph in the Urim and Thummim. It was upon that
principle that the Lord showed things to the Prophet Joseph.
2
I speak of these things because I do know that if you do not
yield obedience to true principles, and bring your wills into
subjection thereto, you will be overcome of evil. Jesus says, I
have not come to do my will, but the will of my Father who sent
me. Upon the same principle I say that I have not come to do my
will, but to do the will of him that sent me, even that of
brother Brigham.
3
This is my place and my calling, and this is my wish and the
wish of brother Jedediah, of brother Amasa, of brother Parley,
and of every other Apostle that God has appointed and called upon
this earth, or ever will while we remain here. It is for brother
Brigham to do the will of Joseph, and for Joseph to do the will
of Peter, for Peter to do the will of Jesus, and for Jesus to do
the will of his Father. That is the chain that reaches from
heaven to earth, and do you not understand that it is so? If you
will keep hold of that chain and keep your hands strongly
fastened in the links, you can reach into the vail. But you must
hold on firm and fast to the cable--why? Because there is an
anchor at the end of the cable, and that cable is fastened to the
ship so that it is made sure at both ends. That is the way it is
in a ship, and it is so with the kingdom of God.
3
My feelings are for you to learn to follow our leader, our
Prophet, our President. He will be our President in eternity, and
Joseph is his President and will counsel him, and you need not
trouble yourselves, but do as you are told and you will obtain
salvation and go into the celestial glory. You will then dwell in
the same glory with Joseph, with father Smith, with the Apostles
and Saints; and by taking such a course not one of you will fall,
and I know it.
3
You have got to be organized and disciplined by the Priesthood,
and you have got to stick to that organization, for you cannot be
saved with a celestial glory unless you are saved by this
Priesthood. Brother Brigham says stick to it, and then we will
all be saved in the kingdom of our God.
3
Thousands of this world, with large herds of cattle and much
substance, are fleeing to California or Oregon to escape the
troubles, but they will be caught in the snare. [President B.
Young: They will, and they will fall into the pit.] The road on
the Plains is full of emigrants of that class, and there are
several thousand Saints on the way here. The hand-carts are
rolling, and those with them can sleep at night and be up in the
mornings, and the carts will jingle through the day; and as soon
as we can get teams, after our wheat is harvested, we shall call
on you to go back and meet them with flour and other comforts of
life; what do you say? [Yes, from many voices in the
congregation.] There are squally times in the east; they have got
so that they cannot really stand it, without drubbing each other
with canes. The world is in commotion; I have been talking about
it here, and about the state of affairs in this Church, and what
we have got to do, and I cannot get this subject out of my mind,
no, not for one moment.
3
Brethren and sisters, take care of your grain; do not waste any
of your grain, for you will need it all; and do not make an
unwise or unsaintly disposition of it. I beg of you to attend to
this counsel, for I have told it three or four times; not because
I profess to be a Prophet, but because I naturally see the
necessity for so doing. The people are out of grain and out of
bread, and I have but little myself; and from what I see, I
should think that very many had none, for if you were to go to my
house and stay one day, you would see enough to craze you, for
they come in crowds and are hungry, and I feel to pity them, but
I cannot feed all creation.
4
Suppose all this people had been wise and taken counsel, would
they have suffered the present destitution? No, they would not.
Much of our grain has been consumed by our enemies, by those who
care not for what they have to pay, for Uncle Sam pays their
bills. Shall they have our grain this year? Doubtless many of
this people will sell their grain to them at a low price, and
thus they will be fed, while many worthy persons will see
straitened circumstances through lack of food, and I see this
naturally. This is a numerous people, and they have no surplus of
bread, not a particle, and our crop is very light in many places;
there are hundreds and thousands of men that have lost their
crops entirely. I understand that brother Grant has lost a great
portion of his crop, and thousands of acres have been parched up
for the want of water, and there will be but little wheat, not
near enough to supply the wants of this people, and bring them
safely through to another harvest.
4
In addition to our present number, according to accounts that I
see, there are five thousand Saints ready for the Plains at one
place, and five thousand more at another, besides those that are
casually falling into the ranks, and they have to eat as well as
we, until another harvest.
4
I speak of these things to warn and forewarn you to take care of
your grain and save it, and it will be better for you to do this,
even though in so doing you have to go bare-footed. And it will
be better for the sisters to let fine shoes, fine dresses, fine
bonnets, ribbons, veils, laces, and all other imported finery
stay in the stores until they rot, than to let their grain go for
such articles. Will you take the course that you have been
exhorted to take? If you do not, a few men may not suffer, but
the majority will. I do firmly believe that our bread has been
blest and multiplied this season, for I know there was not enough
in the Territory to sustain the people. However, the present
scarcity is one of the best things that ever happened to this
people, for it will teach them wisdom. This is one of the poorest
countries for occupancy for Gentiles that I have ever seen,
though for the same reasons it is as present the very best for
the Saints, for we can get along in it better than any other
people.
4
There are those here who will censure brother Brigham and me,
notwithstanding all that we have done for them. [President B.
Young: We do not care what they say about us, if they will not
steal.] There is but little left in this Territory, so far as
bread is concerned. Brother Brigham and I have had to put our
families on half rations, in order that we might have wherewith
to feed the destitute, and they now say that they feel better
than they did before; and I judge, from the testimony that they
have given, that it is best to keep them on short rations, for
they are fat and fair, and enjoy a good portion of the Spirit of
God.
4
Now, as anciently, the more some are blest, the more they
complain; the more the Lord pours out His blessings upon some,
the more covetous they are, and a great many of such characters
will go to the devil. Brother Brigham and I would rather see our
families beg for a living, go poor, penniless, and afflicted, and
become sanctified, become celestial beings, and enter into glory,
than to see them transgress the law of God. The bodies we do not
care so much about, though we intend to support them in time and
eternity.
4
I believe that Joseph has got the Church organized in the spirit
world, and that he calls and sends the Elders to preach the
Gospel to the spirits in prison.
5
Inasmuch as we do right, we shall have good times and prosper;
and the majority of this people are honest and righteous, and
they will be saved in the kingdom of God, for they will cleave to
brother Brigham for ever, and will be one family. And if I am not
very much mistaken, I shall be along with brother Brigham; and if
there is anything necessary for me to do, I will do it, though it
takes my head off from my shoulders, for I am to be one and will
be one with those who will be one with brother Brigham. I will go
into the celestial kingdom with him and with Joseph, also with
Peter, Paul, Adam, Noah, Job, Daniel, and all the ancient
worthies, Prophets and Apostles, that ever lived in this world,
and we will dwell there forever. I am on the right track;
"Mormonism" is the pride of my heart, and I take no pride in any
thing else. If I was driven to break up my home to-morrow, I
would not cry for any thing which I have on this earth.
5
Do you suppose that I would cry at being compelled to leave my
house? Do you wish to know what I would do with it? I would say,
let the houses and everything else go. Just before I left Nauvoo,
I had finished me a good house, and when compelled to start, I
told the devil to take it and stick it in his hat, and I would go
to the mountains and get rich.
5
Many think that they are going right into the celestial kingdom
of God, in their present ignorance, to at once receive glories
and powers; that they are going to be Gods, while many of them
are so ignorant, that they can see or know scarcely anything.
Such people talk of becoming Gods, when they do not know anything
of God, or of His works; such persons have to learn repentance,
and obedience to the law of God; they have got to learn to
understand angels, and to comprehend and stick to the principles
of this Church.
5
I feel to pray that the Lord may preserve you all from every
evil. As for the departure from this state of existence, it is
but for a little moment; and though I have not tasted death, yet
I have seen in vision the invisible enemies of God, and they were
organized and arranged in battle against one or two men, simply
because those men were going to proclaim the Gospel to the
nations, and the devil did not like it; and the devil will work
against every man who goes into a new place to preach the Gospel.
As to the length of that vision, after they took their departure,
brother Willard Richards said that it was an hour and a half that
we were in the vision, though it seemed to me not to have been a
moment. One of the devils spoke, and said to brother Hyde, "I
have said nothing against you."
5
I did not contend with them, and I assure you it was enough for
me to look upon them; though I expect, after passing through the
valley of death, that I shall preach to companies and nations of
those spirits that are in prison. Those that were disobedient in
the days of Noah? No, but to those that have been disobedient in
the days of Joseph and Brigham, and that have been condemned for
their sins; and we shall have many of them to contend with.
5
They will come by and bye in legions, but we shall have power to
overcome by the power of God. They will have great power in the
last days, and if you do not overcome them, you will fall into
the same spirit; and you will be as liable to be deceived in that
state of existence as you are in this, if you turn against God or
this kingdom.
5
I bear testimony of this, and I wish you would listen to counsel
and lay aside every sin that doth so easily beset you, and turn
to the Lord with full purpose of heart.
5
Brother Brigham has fellow-laborers here, and they are just as
good men as any that ever lived upon this earth. Adam and Jesus,
and all the Prophets, down to the present, have contemplated this
work, and would have rejoiced to live in our day, that they might
have participated while in the flesh, in the glories of the last
days.
6
We cannot become perfect, without we are assisted by our heavenly
Father. We must be faithful and of one heart, and one mind, and
let every man and woman take a course to build up and not pull
down. See that you save your grain, that you may save yourselves
from the wicked of the world. Try to take care of every thing
that is good to eat, for this is the work of the Lord God
Almighty, and we shall have times that will test the integrity of
this people, that will test who is honest and who is not.
6
Omitting prayer is calculated to lead the mind away from those
duties which are incumbent upon us; then let us attend to our
prayers and all our duties, and you will know that brother
Brigham and his brethren have told you of these things.
6
Rejoice in all things brought forth in these last days, for the
time will come when you will say that we indeed live in the last
dispensation.
6
The trials in the last days will be numerous, but to the faithful
they will be of but small moment, for they will live above these
things, they will increase in power. The work of God is bound to
increase, and just in that proportion will the devil's kingdom
rise in power and strength, and walk up to battle against us. The
adversary is bent on having a war with this people, we shall have
him right by the side of us, and you will find that he will keep
you very busy, if you strive to come off victorious.
6
We feel the responsibility that is resting upon us, and we wish
to save this people, if they will listen to our counsel, both
temporal and spiritual. I have to restrain myself, many times,
from speaking of things which pass through my mind. I naturally
delight in truth and plainness, this is my character, hence I
make use of expressions and figures which are plain and easy to
be understood.
6
I wish to have you receive the truth and obey counsel, and become
thoroughly imbued with correct principles, that you may bring
forth that which is good, raise up righteous sons and daughters,
and bear off this kingdom, for it is beginning to work in you.
6
Take the boys here, the sons of our brethren and sisters, and you
may cut them into inch pieces, and they will not forsake this
cause, but they will defend it to the last. Some of them may be
rough, and perhaps some of them do not pray much, but send them
into the vineyard, and then you will see them shew forth the
power that is in them.
6
At present the Prophet Joseph's boys lay apparently in a state of
slumber, every thing seems to be perfectly calm with them, but by
and bye God will wake them up, and they will roar like the
thunders of mount Sinai.
6
There is much work to be done: God is not asleep, and He will
wake up our children and they will bear off this kingdom to the
nations of the earth, and will bear testimony to the truth of
this work, and of the integrity and true character of Joseph, and
Hyrum, and Brigham, of Heber, and Jedediah, and the Twelve, and
of thousands of others.
6
There are trying times ahead of you, do you not begin to feel and
see them? If you do not, I say you are asleep. I wish that the
spirit which rests upon a few individuals could be upon you,
every one of you, it would be one of the most joyful times that
brother Brigham and I ever saw with the Saints of God upon this
earth.
6
Let us be one; brethren, let us be of one heart and one mind;
sisters, listen to counsel, and then, as I have said a hundred
times, you never will want for flour and the comforts of life,
from this time henceforth and forever.
7
Do I believe that God can increase our substance, increase our
flour and our wheat, as He did those loaves and fishes with which
Jesus fed 5,000 people?
7
Supposing that there was a tub standing here and the people
perishing for want of water, could not I, were I beyond the vail,
come and pour in water? Yes, and you could not see me. Unless
your eyes are touched by the power of God, you cannot see an
angel; it is as much as you can do to see me.
7
Angels are ministering spirits, and do you suppose that they will
see this people want? Do you suppose that my Father will sit upon
His throne, and see us starve? No, no more than He suffered His
servant Elijah--to starve, He then inspired a bird to carry meat
to His servant Elijah, and He can do the same now.
7
Did He not cause manna to come from heaven? Yes, and there is
plenty more on hand.
7
I am telling the truths of God, and I am one with brother
Brigham, and I can bear testimony to him and of him, and our
testimony is as good as that of Peter, or of John.
7
Brother Brigham and I once started to travel with sixteen dollars
and fifty cents, and in five hundred miles we paid out eight-two
dollars, and had some money left when we got to the end of our
journey. Do you not suppose that we believe in angels and holy
beings, having visited us on those occasions? Cannot angels
furnish Saints with money? Our wants were supplied, and we are
witnesses of the fact, and we still live, and shall continue to
live, and bear testimony to this generation.
7
Do you not think that angels can bring flour? Can they not go and
take it from those who have plenty, and put it in the empty bins,
sacks, and barrels belonging to good men, and that too without
your knowing it? It is very common for one to increase, and for
another to decrease.
7
Prepare yourselves for the future scenes through which you may be
called to pass.
7
May the Lord God of Israel bless you all, is my prayer. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Jedediah M. Grant, July, 1856
Jedediah M. Grant, July, 1856
A PRAYER.
By President J. M. Grant, at the celebration of the
24th of July, 1856, in Big Cottonwood kanyon, Utah.
7
Our Father and our God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
bow before thee, and thank thee that we have the privilege of
coming to the tops of these mountains to worship thee our God,
and to celebrate the liberty of thy people, and their entrance
into these peaceful valleys and mountains.
7
We thank thee for these mountains, for the fountains of waters
that flow from them, for the timber that grows upon them, and for
all the blessings that thou hast vouchsafed to thy people in this
land.
8
We thank thee that thou hast preserved this land from the eye of
the wicked, that they have not desired it, that they have not
coveted it, that thou hast kept it for thy people and hast
brought them hither, through the instrumentality of thy servant
Brigham, whom thou hast inspired by the Holy Ghost.
8
We thank thee that we here rest secure from our enemies, that we
and our families enjoy peace and rest from the persecutions of
those who hate thy chosen people.
8
We thank thee for this goodly inheritance which thou hast
vouchsafed to thy people, and for the privilege of raising our
banners and ensigns on these mountain tops. May our enemies never
have power over us, and may we be blessed by doing right and
keeping thy commandments, by living pure, and by being watchful
and careful to do no evil, that we may multiply in our families,
in our flocks, and in our herds, in our fields and habitations.
8
We pray thee, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that thou
wouldst bless this valley and all the adjacent valleys; and bless
the streams of water that flow from the mountains. As we are at
the head of Big Cottonwood kanyon, we pray thee that thou wilt
bless it, and the water that flows to the mills, and to the land
we cultivate. And may the timber and grass, and vegetation of
every description, growing in this little valley in the tops of
these mountains, be blessed; and we consecrate and dedicate it to
thee for the benefit of thy people, for their happiness, that
they may rest here and be safe. Bless all the elements that are
here; may the rocks and the mountains be blessed, and every thing
that has life.
8
We pray thee, in the name of the Lord Jesus, that thou wouldst
bless thy servant Brigham, and those associated with him, who
have taken pains to prepare the way, and kindly invite us to
these regions. May we feel that we are blest, and that the Lord,
through the dispensation of His providence, has granted to us
these favors. We ask thy choicest blessings on thy servants
Brigham, Heber, and the Twelve, and upon all thy faithful people
in every kingdom and nation. Bless our friends, and all who speak
comforting words to thy people, and defend them, and may the
enemies of truth and righteousness be confounded, and not have
power to injure the people of God. Bless thy servant George A.
Smith, and thy servant John Taylor, and thy servant John M.
Bernhishel, and bless all thy servants in every land and clime.
Bless those who write and defend thy people through the press,
may our prayers come up before thee in their behalf, for thou
knowest we have not sinned against thee in these groves--in this
kanyon. We do not visit groves, as did Israel of old, to commit
adultery, nor to depart from the Lord our God. But we desire to
appear before thee with clean hands and hearts, to call upon thee
for thy blessing and do thy will, that our inheritance may be
blest and all we have, and that all the efforts we make to build
up Zion and rear temples to thy name may be blest, that the
people of God may flock to the mountains by tens of thousands;
may the wicked be cut off, may they be taken in the snares they
have spread for thy people, and fall into the pits they have dug
for thy Saints, and may they not prosper on the earth.
9
We desire that thou wouldst fulfil the covenants made with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Lehi and Nephi, and with all the
Prophets that have lived on this land, that Zion may come down
from above, and Zion come up from beneath; that every band may be
broken, and all Israel be saved. O Lord, we ask thee to bless us
in our efforts on the earth; may righteousness and peace spread
as the light of the morning, may we rejoice in the natural
fortresses of this land, and may we be the pioneers of truth, men
who will break the crust of nations, gather Israel, and send the
truth to every clime. May we accomplish the great work thou didst
commence through thy servant Joseph, that truth may reign on the
earth, and righteousness predominate among all people. May we
have power over the wicked nations, that Zion may be the seat of
government for the universe, the law of God be extended, and the
sceptre of righteousness swayed over this wide world; and
eventually, with the redeemed, may we be brought to celebrate thy
praise, in thy kingdom and presence. These favors, and all we
need to prepare us to live here, to dwell with thee and the
sanctified hereafter, we humbly crave, in the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Parley
P. Pratt, June 29, 1856
Parley P. Pratt, June 29, 1856
A VISIT, BY P. P. PRATT, TO THE SOUTHERN SETTLEMENTS--THE
POWER OF THE PRIESTHOOD--UNION AMONG THE SAINTS--A MIRACLE.
A Discourse, Delivered by Elder P. P. Pratt, in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, June 29, 1856.
9
Brethren and Sisters,--It is with no ordinary feelings of joy and
thanksgiving that I have the privilege of again standing before
you, in a good degree of health.
9
I have been absent some five weeks, on a mission through the
southern settlements. Many of you will remember that I had been
very low with sickness previous to my departure, and I thank God
this day that I have, in a great measure, recovered my health and
strength.
9
I have had a good visit among the Saints throughout the south,
from here to Washington county, distance 300 miles. The hot
weather, prevailing south winds, and the dust, rendered our
traveling somewhat disagreeable and fatiguing; nevertheless, I
have enjoyed myself well.
9
The Saints among whom we have labored received us with
hospitality, the best they were capable of; they could have done
no better if angels from heaven had visited them; and I feel to
bless them for it.
9
I will say a word about the crops and the industry of the people
south, as I presume you are all anxious on that subject. I know
of no particular drawback in any large portion of the settlements
in the way of good crops.
9
They are later in the south than here, the climate being a little
colder; but in every settlement a peculiar spirit of industry
characterises the Saints; they seem to strain every nerve to put
in crops and to take care of them, and with some few exceptions
in small places, there is every prospect of good crops, good
gardens, and good grain, and I hope, with the blessing of the
Lord, that the people in these distant regions will be able to
produce sufficient for themselves and those who are coming this
season, and I think the most of them will take care of it.
10
If we do the same, and all the other settlements, we will be
enabled to live, and to enable those of our brethren to live who
may come to us. I found it true, as our President said this
spring, that there was four times the destitution in this city
that there was out of it.
10
When I arrived as far as Nephi, and from that onward south, I
heard of but very little scarcity, but very little want, but they
all seemed to have enough to eat, and occasionally some to spare.
10
I mention these few things for your comfort, as we are one body
and rejoice in each others welfare.
10
I would also mention that a good spirit, the spirit of union and
peace, seems generally to prevail so far as I could tell; and as
to myself, I have enjoyed myself well and felt a good portion of
the Spirit during my ministry in the south, and feel to thank my
Heavenly Father for all these things.
10
I have been led to reflect in viewing the unanimity of the
people, and the extent to which they can endure and suffer for
the sake of their religion. I have been led to reflect upon the
power of the Gospel, the ordinances ministered for this people,
and the spirit received in connexion therewith.
10
Some people inquire after miracles, and signs, and wonders; I
will mention one sign, and wonder, and miracle, that I have
reflected upon of late; it is very public, and before the eyes of
this people, and hence I have pleasure in referring to it.
10
It is this: here are a people congregated in the capacity of
civil and religious governments in the valleys of Utah, made up
of almost all nations and languages, comparatively speaking, or
of many nations, having brought with them a variety of manners
and customs, as well as many peculiar opinions and nationalities.
And besides these, religiously speaking, they have been gathered
out from almost every sect and creed under heaven, or at least
from many of them. A miracle, a sign, and a wonder, is this this!
10
How came this? When found among all nations and languages, and
religions, I say how came they to be made one, not that all are
perfect in one, but so far as they are? And if any body doubts
this being a miracle, a sign or wonder, what we ask of them is,
to produce the same, if they can.
10
If any body needs a miracle, this is one for them. Has any
person, or I might say, have all persons power upon natural
principles, by their own wisdom and power, to take people of
different nations, and languages, and tongues, habits, customs,
and religions, and unite them in one common band, civil and
religious, and then govern them in a great measure as a unit? I
ask, have they the power? I would like to see it tried somewhere,
either in Kansas or in some part of the United States, or
elsewhere.
10
If the union which exists in Utah cannot be effected by others,
and elsewhere, with similar materials, then all must acknowledge
a miraculous power existing and operating in these valleys.
10
A great many throughout the nations, learned men, philosophers,
rulers--those that have studied the science of government, would
fain inquire by what means or power this miracle is accomplished
over so many conflicting elements.
10
Well, suppose we touch upon a little key, or give a clue to it,
for the benefit of those to whom it was and is a mystery, and
also for our own satisfaction.
10
Then, in the first place, we say that it is by the power and keys
of the holy Priesthood, and the ordinances and spirit thereof.
11
This people, composed of diverse nations, tongues, habits and
religions, have all been baptized by one Spirit into one body. So
far as they have, in all honesty repented, and been baptized,
they have all received a portion of the Holy Spirit of promise by
the laying on of the hands of the Priesthood, in the name of
Jesus, and they have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one
Holy Spirit, and one God and Father of all. This is as it was
said by the ancient writer in relation to the ancient Saints.
11
Is there power in the Priesthood as there was anciently? We say
the Priesthood has been restored by the ministration of angels to
Joseph Smith and others, and confirmed and ordained upon the
heads of others by that same authority, by him and the word of
the Lord through him.
11
Is there power in it? If not, how came this people to be
concentrated and united, after being gathered out of many jarring
elements, from the United States and from Europe?
11
Although they are very far from being perfect in this union, yet
we say that by the power of the ordinances and by the power of
the Spirit that accompanies the ordinances, this great miracle
has been done in the name of Jesus Christ.
11
We take, for instance, a Presbyterian Methodist, a Quaker, a
Baptist, and an Infidel, as they are called, or whatever name,
community, or creed they belong to, and on their profession of
reformation and faith in Jesus Christ, we bury them in the water,
in the name of Jesus, for the remission of sins; they rise again
out of the water in newness of life, that is, with a fixed
purpose of leading a new life; and after receiving instruction at
the hands of the authorized Priesthood, we lay our hands upon
them, accompanied with prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, for
the gift of the Holy Ghost; and if they do not receive that
Spirit, you may know that they have not obeyed this Gospel from
the heart.
11
Was there any power in the ordinances anciently, in the
ordinances of God administered by proper authority? And is there
power now? Let us look at it for a few moments.
11
Moses, being about to depart from his great responsibilities in
the midst of Israel, laid his hands upon Joshua by the word of
the Lord. After this Joshua was filled with the Spirit of God and
of his calling. His works in leading Israel into the promised
land, and there defending them and settling them according to the
word of the Lord, go to show that he not only received a form
under the hands of Moses, but he actually received the power and
spirit of that form.
11
Saul, king of Israel, was anointed by the direction of the word
of the Lord under the hands of a Prophet; literally anointed when
he was a young man, to be king over Israel. He was a poor,
inexperienced young man, and probably knew no more of inspiration
than other youths. But soon after his anointing, the Philistines
made war against Israel, and would not make peace only on
condition that every man of Israel would consent to lose his
right eye. Saul, on hearing of these humiliating proposals, felt
the power of his anointing. The Spirit of God came mightily upon
him; he raised an army, conquered the haughty foe, and saved his
country.
11
But by and bye this man, Saul, so far transgressed, that the word
of the Lord came to him through Samuel, the same that anointed
him, and said, the kingdom is rent from thee, and given to thy
neighbor, who is better than thou art.
12
And after that he did not have the Spirit of the Lord to guide
him, and shortly after that he got into trouble with the
Philistines, whose armies were placed in battle array against
him.
12
I have mentioned these circumstances to show you that there is
power in the ordinances of the Almighty, when administered by
authority. There are a great many other circumstances, but I name
these few to illustrate the question under consideration.
12
Well, was their power in the ordinances of the kingdom, when
administered by Joseph Smith: We say there was power in all that
he did.
12
Well, he ordained men to be Apostles, and Prophets, and Elders,
and they went forth to administer in the sacred ordinances of the
house of God; and I ask, is there power in their administration?
12
If not, how came these Americans here, and Britons, and Irishmen,
and Scotchmen, and Danes, and French, and more nations than my
memory will serve to name, coming together as a unit, scarcely
anything occurring to mar their happiness?
12
You do not hear a man say that he is a Dane, or an Englishman, or
of any peculiar nation, but losing his nationality, and all
blending into one mass, with a united heart to build up the
kingdom of our God, and to become one great nation, Americans to
be sure, if you wish to call it so, as it is in that country.
12
How came this to be, if there is no power in the modern
Priesthood and in the modern ordinances? As I said before, if any
body disputes this power being with us, will they set us a
similar example?
12
Leave out their nationalities, and the variety of jarring
politics, and our political predispositions and prejudices; leave
that out of consideration, and I just come to the advantages and
disadvantages in our traditions that have come down from our
fathers, and are now held sacred by us, so much so, that I heard
a person who was brought up in New Hampshire say that he grew up
in the world among all the jarring of politics, and to use his
own language, "I was brought up to believe that my father was
right in both religion and politics." "What was he," said I? "O,
he was a Whig in politics, and a Congregationalist in religion;"
and, says he, "I was so glad that my father was so lucky in both
as to be right." "What is the proof," says I, "that your father
was right in both?" "Why, the proof is, he was my father, and
therefore he must be right, in both his religion and politics,
for my father could not be wrong!"
12
Well, fortunately or unfortunately, we have all had fathers; and,
of course, because they are our fathers, they must be right in
politics and religion, no matter which it is. Such has been our
strong prejudice with reference to our fathers.
12
Well, now, how do we stand now: have we got rid of all this? How
came we to have one faith, one Lord, and one baptism, and one
Holy Spirit, as it is in a great measure this day? Probably there
may be few exceptions, persons who have got the opposite spirit,
like Saul when the Lord rejected him through rebellion. How came
this to be, as I said before, when we turn from our errors and
sins as well as we can? How is this? We came forward, when we see
our sins, with honest hearts, determined to do right, believing
in Jesus Christ; then some Apostle or Elder that had received the
Priesthood through the ministration of Joseph Smith, or that grew
out of his administration, took us and buried us in the waters of
baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins,
and we then resolved to lead a new life.
13
It expresses a covenant, whether they said it in so many words or
not--they promised to lead a new life. Then just as soon as they
could receive sufficient instruction, the Elders laid their hands
upon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and they could receive
their blessings; and the Elders confirmed upon them the gift of
the Holy Ghost, and the power thereof. And, by and bye, many
others were ordained to holy and important callings, and were
anointed to take part in the work, and partake of the power of
the holy Priesthood after the order of the Son of God, and it is
this power that unites us together in one. The world do not
believe this I am aware.
13
It is really so long since I was among the sectarian world, that
I had almost forgotten that I was a sectarian of any kind, and
that I was a political partizan of any kind. I have been so long
removed from those scenes which characterise the numerous parties
of the world, I had almost forgotten whether there was a whig or
democratic party, or whether parties existed; I say, I had almost
forgotten whether I had ever belonged to any sect or party, and I
had almost forgotten my nationality. It is true that I do not
speak a different language from what I did in the world, but I
had almost forgotten that, but I feel that I am with the
Priesthood, and with all good men, I am one with them, to be used
nationally, politically, morally, and religiously, to hold fast
our faith, to build up a righteous people from every country, to
preach and establish righteousness, and union, and peace, to all
people in every country, for the benefit of all men that will
obey it, without regard to persons.
13
Well now, this, so far as I can tell it in a few words, is the
great secret, or one secret out of the great mystery, or rather
one mystery out of another, which exists in the minds of the
people, that do not know it. How is it that this people, that are
come up of so many parties, and tongues, and people, and creeds,
are measurably become one in faith and spirit? And what is
further to increase in them this oneness? Being careful to live
to our righteous religion, and to do right continually so that we
become one in heart and mind. We are required to overcome our
faults, and be careful to increase in and learn the truth, and
put in practice, and to pray for the Holy Spirit of promise, and
to be careful to keep the commandments of God, careful to do
nothing to our neighbors, but what I would have them do under the
like circumstances and be perfectly willing for them to do to me.
13
By adopting these means we are sure to progress in that oneness,
and in that union nationally, religiously, politically and
socially, and in every way to learn to co-operate, and to be more
and more in the spirit, one in heart and in mind. Well, then, a
great reward lies before us upon conditions of obedience, but
there is still a mighty work to be done. I have taken but little
praise for what has been done, though much has been done, still
much remains to be done, not only to convert the honest in heart,
but to build up cities, and make farms. We have much to do with
each other in order to bring us into union more perfectly as
families and communities, as we will have to form ourselves and
be prepared to form a more intimate union with the powers that
have gone before us, even the powers of heaven, because there is
a work to be done, and we have been called to help to do it. We
are called upon not to do it alone, for the Prophets that have
gone before us, that have fallen martyrs to it, are to help in
the work.
14
We have never said that we would do it alone; but rather that the
powers of the heavens that have gone before us and been perfected
in the same Gospel, were engaged in it, and wish to help to do
it. Nothing short of this fond union of the Saints who have gone
before us with the living Latter-day Saints, will ever bring
about and complete that great restoration that we have all been
looking for, and believing in, that all the Prophets have
prophesied of since the world began; nothing short of these
united powers can possibly attain to that which is designed,
hence they in the other world will attend to their part of it;
they are doing it now. But by and bye they will have to be
ministers on the earth, and to the Latter-day Saints, and we have
to be prepared to have the vail rent, and to be united more
perfectly in our co-operations with them, and they with us; and
we should endeavor to do our part of the work, to prepare for
that which is to come, progressively, and be ready to enter into
the kingdom of righteousness and truth, act so that we can be
worthy and ready to be wrought upon by the Spirit of God.
14
We should prepare for the ministration and society of the pure in
heart, for they are preparing to meet the people down here. And I
know not but that some among us are looking for the Lord Jesus
Christ to appear very shortly with all his Saints and angels
publicly. Well, I am looking for it too, but it is not the first
thing that I am looking for, but I am looking for it when all
things are ready, and when all things are prepared, so that when
coming he will not break one jot nor tittle of the prophecies,
but they will all be fulfilled in their time and place. If the
coming of the Savior is the next thing in order, I consider that
it would become all of us, so imperfect, so unprepared, so far
from being perfectly united in righteousness, to become
sanctified and made ready for his appearance. There will be
people on the earth that will be ready when he does come, and how
will it be at his coming? There are a great many that stand
between us and Jesus Christ, and who stand in more immediate
relationship to this work, and also to us. There is our leader,
and many others that are leaders, and who hold the keys, and who
have gone before us; and they stand between us and Jesus Christ,
they hold keys between him and us, and then again there are
others of the former day Saints, such as Peter, James and John,
and they hold keys which are ahead of our leaders that are dead,
our Prophet, for instance? Yes, they hold keys between him and
Jesus. Here we all see that we have only got a portion of the
Priesthood and the keys, the others are in the possession of the
congregations of Saints in the heavens, and before we are
prepared to be ministered to by them and enjoy their society, we
must alter considerably. Some say, why, the coming of the Lord is
nearer than some of you suppose. Well, I would not wonder if it
was further off than some of you suppose, from the fact of the
things that have to be accomplished.
15
If we were to say that before the coming of the Lord many great
things await us, and that we are to be prepared for all the
changes which have to take place, and that they are nearer at
hand than we would imagine them to be; and if we should say that
that event was much nearer than many of us suppose, and that we
have already received many warnings, most certainly we ought to
prepare to receive greater covenants, to become more closely
acquainted with the Spirit of God, to be more perfect in union,
to know how to act more in concert, to overcome our weaknesses
and errors of judgment, and ignorance and follies, learn to be
happy and to come up to the mark, and be sanctified before the
Lord, that peradventure some portion of the keys and powers from
the eternal world may be more fully bestowed upon us, that we may
be prepared by gradual experience from time to time, that we may
progress in the science and plan of salvation, and be prepared
for the greater things that await us.
15
I will not complain of our deficiencies for we have to be
satisfied with the things which we have accomplished, but we have
full confidence in the union and power that attends this work. It
is for us to prepare ourselves and to repent of all our errors,
and follow our leaders until we reach celestial glory. The powers
of heaven are neither ashamed nor afraid, but they have
confidence in us and will dwell in our society. There are a great
many keys, and manifestations, and preparations, and associations
between us and that great and perfect day, when the Lord will
come in the power of heaven.
15
Let us all do our duty, and be faithful to our covenants. May God
bless you all. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Jedediah M. Grant, August 3, 1856
Jedediah M. Grant, August 3, 1856
WHY THE SAINTS REJOICE--THE SPIRIT RECEIVED THROUGH
LAYING ON OF HANDS--CLEANLINESS.
A Discourse, Delivered by President J. M. Grant, in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, August 3, 1856.
15
Having the privilege of speaking to you this morning, I
particularly need the aid and assistance of the Spirit of the
Lord, for I have been labouring under indisposition for several
weeks, and do not possess that physical force which is natural to
me, therefore I need more of the divine influence of the Holy
Spirit.
15
We have professedly gathered ourselves to this land to serve our
God; we feel that we have found the pearl of great price. It
matters but little in relation to the land that we dwell upon, or
the special comforts of life that we may have found and now enjoy
in this land, so we but have within us that eternal treasure that
warrants us in believing that we please our God, and that He
approbates our course.
15
I am aware that the christians would think inasmuch as they have
circulated the Bible among the nations of the earth, that they
have thereby done much towards spreading the Gospel and
establishing the kingdom of God on the earth. But you, as
reasonable men, would consider that I reasoned very badly, were I
to say that the United States by circulating the Constitution
among the various governments on the earth, had thereby
established so many republics.
16
In order for the kingdom of God to have an existence upon the
earth, we naturally need the radiant light of heaven, we need the
divine sanction of the Almighty, and He will set a man to
properly organize His people, and execute those things which He
designs to have carried out. Some may ask, why the Latter-day
Saints rejoice? I answer, we rejoice not alone in that we have a
claim superior to the claims of others; not alone in that we have
houses and lands, and power and authority, and the comforts of
this city, but in the privileges given us by the Almighty,
through faith and obedience, for being more happy than other
people. We have not the facilities that the people of many other
cities and parts of the earth possess; indeed, we are deprived of
many of the comforts and luxuries which many enjoy in other
climes. But suppose we are, did we come here for them? Were they
the grand object of our leaving our native soil? Was this the
view we had when we left Europe, the United States, or any other
part of the earth, or the islands of the sea? Did we come here to
obtain a better farm, to obtain the luxuries of life? If this was
the object of our pursuit, we have certainly been mistaken.
16
It is possible that some may have been tempted, as they were in
the days of Jesus, by the loaves and fishes; but those who
understood the truth, and comprehended and loved virtue, had no
such idea. They understood that the Gospel of the Son of God,
proclaimed and taught by the proper officers, had been brought
unto them, and that the sceptre of life had been held out to
them. And may we not, as Saints of God, rejoice that we have
found and received the truth, that we have tasted of its
sweetness, and that it has made us happy.
16
It matters not whether you dwell in Great Salt Lake City, or in
the different settlements of this territory, or whether you are
associated with those that are following some special branch of
mechanism, if you have the principles of eternal life, the gift
of the Holy Ghost, the will of the Lord, the power of God within
you, for then you will be contented. On the other hand, if you
have not the principles that come from Heaven, though you may
have rich soil to cultivate, and splendid houses to dwell in,
though you may be connected with wealthy and influential
families, and possess choice localities in a powerful state, you
are not happy, you are not contented, for there is a vacuum where
the principles of life should be, and gold and silver will not
fill it and satisfy the cravings within.
16
Some people act as if they looked for this city to be like the
various other cities of the earth, and if they do not prosper as
well as they think they ought, they turn round upon us as though
this world's goods were the primary object of their coming here.
I admit that Heaven has seen fit to give us many of the comforts
of life, but the primary object of our coming here was not to
obtain more desirable temporal blessings, or to obtain more gold
or silver. This was not our view, but we came here to do the will
of our Father; and we built houses, laid our farms and went to
work as we would elsewhere, but these things did not induce us to
come here. When we enlisted in the covenant of the everlasting
Gospel of Jesus Christ, our object was to attain eternal life;
the object of our coming here was to please our God.
17
We did not merely have the Bible circulated among us; Joseph
Smith did not merely tell us that he was a missionary sent to
proclaim that which was proclaimed and believed in the Garden of
Eden, or the testimony that was given to Noah before the flood;
or that he was sent simply to bring the books of Moses with the
writings of the ancient Apostles and Prophets, or alone to inform
us of the works of Jesus Christ when upon the earth. This was not
alone the work of the Prophet, but it was that he had received a
commission from the Almighty, that he had been ordained by Peter,
James and John, who were sent unto him as messengers or ministers
from the heavens with proper authority, and had given him the
legal authority of God--for what? To build up the kingdom of God
upon the earth, to organize it and set it in order, and to ordain
proper officers to execute the law. This Apostle of Jesus Christ
told the people that if they would obey the Gospel, if they would
repent of their sins, if they would be baptized for the remission
of their sins, they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, by
the laying on of hands, which he was authorized to administer.
17
Many complied with the teachings of the Prophet, and what was the
result? Much the same as we read of in the Bible and the Book of
Mormon. The Prophet translated the Book of Mormon, and therein
found the subject of salvation set forth as it is in the Bible,
only more plainly and fully. The Book of Mormon and the Prophet
Joseph taught repentance the same as the Bible, therefore they
agreed; and the Prophet never limited that instruction, neither
did he limit any of the teachings of the ancients.
17
If Joseph had merely sold the people the Bible and Book of
Mormon, would they have received the gift of the Holy Ghost? It
was, and I presume still is, a favorite theme with Mr. Alexander
Campbell, of the United States, that "the word is the Spirit and
the Spirit is the word," in short that there is no Spirit to be
received separate from the word of God. His logic amounts
virtually to this--"Simply preach the Bible, the word of God and
salvation as printed in the Bible; and all who purchase the Bible
thereby purchase eternal life."
17
Who that is rational and possessed of a disposition to scan the
subject can believe such a doctrine? Doubtless Moses heard the
thunder of the Almighty on Mount Sinai, and saw the lightnings,
but would you say that I was reasoning correctly, if I were to
say that I heard that thunder and saw those lightnings simply
through reading the history thereof in the Bible? Again, would I
be reasoning correctly to say, because I have read the account of
what transpired on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was
poured out upon the people and Peter spoke as he was moved upon
by the Holy Ghost, that I, therefore, have seen the day of
Pentecost? That because I have read the history of some of the
operations of the Holy Ghost, therefore I have the Holy Ghost? Or
that I heard them speak in tongues, because I have read the
history of persons speaking in tongues? Certainly not.
17
I am aware that hundreds and thousands of different denominations
disagree with Mr. Campbell, and also declare that they receive
the Spirit of the Lord, what they call the new birth, a change of
the heart, put off the old man and put on the new man, and at the
same time the operations of their minds, their course of life and
all their doings and saying, prove that they are equally as far
behind as Mr. Campbell, and that they have only the history of
the light itself.
17
Should you light a room with gas, and should an artist take a
sketch of the light, and some author write a history of the
affair, and at a subsequent date some other man write a history,
and should the two accounts be placed together, describing the
beauty thereof and benefit thereof, would the history of the
light and the benefit that had been derived therefrom, and the
abundance of that light that was said to have exited, light up a
hall? If it would, do not buy any more candles, but read the
history in your candlesticks; read the history of oil and wick,
and stick that in your lamp, and see how much light you will get.
18
You may read the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, and the word of God in its various written and printed
forms, and after you have read them all, have you, by so doing,
gained any right to say that you have the light of Moses, Isaiah,
Daniel, and other ancient and modern men of God? Have you any
reason to say that you possess the same light, the same joy, the
same spirit, as they did, in consequence of your possessing the
same written word of God that they possessed? Yes, if Mr.
Campbell's doctrine be correct. No doubt the followers of Mr.
Campbell consider the doctrine true, and his logic and reasoning
correct.
18
Some, in the so called Christian world, contend that the spirit
is the word, and that word, they argue, will save the people.
18
Now suppose that some missionary or Bible society should send a
few missionaries to the Latter-day Saints in these valleys, upon
hearing that we were short of bread and other kinds of food, and
suppose that those missionaries should tell us about the various
kinds of food necessary to sustain life; and then suppose that
this benevolent institution should publish 15 or 20,000 tracts to
teach us what an advantage it is to live in New York, London,
Paris, or New Orleans, and what they live upon in the various
regions of the habitable portions of the earth, what good would
all that do us? I answer, not any.
18
After you have read in this book (holding up the Bible)
concerning the commission which Jesus gave to certain of his
disciples, can you get up and say that you are Peter, James,
John, or any of the ancient Apostles, or Prophets? or by so
doing, that you had the Holy Ghost, the same as they had?
18
Could you reason that when you had read the account of the
Psalmist, where he says, "The mountains skipped like rams, and
the little hills like lambs," that you had seen the glory of God
in this way, because the Psalmist records that he saw it?
18
Could you, when you have read that Paul knew a man who was caught
up to the third heavens, testify that you knew the man who was
caught up, simply from having read that account?
18
When you read of the gifts that were bestowed upon and circulated
among the people of God, you certainly would not wish others to
suppose that mere reading about them puts you in possession of
the same blessings.
18
But many in the world would suppose that when they preach and
circulate the Bible, they actually put in the possession of the
people that power and life and those gifts, that the ancient
Apostles and Prophets and Saints of God enjoyed.
18
Brethren and sisters, we understand the difference between
enjoying and reading of enjoyment, between the history of a feast
and the feast itself; also between the history of the law of God
and the law itself.
18
When the Prophet Joseph came among the people he did not tell
them that he would sell them the word of God, but after he had
established the truth in their minds and they were baptized, he
then laid his hands upon them that they might receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost, for he had promised this, and they received the
Holy Comforter and the same light, the same Spirit, the same
power of God, and the same principles of eternal life; that very
gift which is the greatest gift of God, and it gave them the same
joy, and the same great blessings, and this Spirit taught them
the will of God.
18
Herein is the difference between this Church and the people of
the world. They rejoice in thinking that their forefathers had
such rich blessings, and that they were so happy and rejoiced so
much that they saw God, His Son Jesus Christ, and Peter, James,
and John; and that their forefathers received the Holy Ghost.
19
We rejoice that we have seen and that our Prophets have received
the like blessing, and not that we read of their enjoyment. We
rejoice that our God lives, that Jesus Christ His Son lives, and
that the gifts and blessings are bestowed upon us.
19
It is generally admitted that it is natural for parents to love
their young children as well as the older ones, and if there be
any difference, they will love the youngest ones a little the
most, for they sometimes have to be more severe with the older
ones.
19
But the world reverse this doctrine with regard to the Almighty,
for they make God love Adam, Abraham, and the ancients, but when
it comes down to the present time their wonderful, peace-making
religion makes them rejoice that their older brethren and sisters
had rich dinners and suppers, and that they had feasted on the
good things of heaven, but that our father is so unmerciful in
our day that we have to eat husks.
19
According to the doctrine of our religious friends, we have to
rejoice that the ancients enjoyed the rich blessings of our
Father, and that He will not give us anything but the history
thereof. (President B. Young: And the chaff.)
19
Such a course is not as consistent as that of the devil, for he
treats his first children in a certain way, and then he treats
all the others in much the same way; he treats everybody about
alike.
19
Have we not a right to receive those blessings that were enjoyed
by our elder brethren? If the devil tempts and tries everybody,
and if the young children have to be tried, why not the young be
blest like the old children?
19
I am aware that the Latter-day Saints require a great deal of
preaching, and some of that, too, on subjects very easy of
comprehension; I will tell you what I said to one of our home
missionaries a few days ago, and I said the same to one of the
brethren from Grantsville, when speaking to him about the petty
wrangling there.
19
They wanted a new local President and a new local Bishop, they
wanted this, that, and the other, and wished to know what we had
to say. I remarked, if you wish to know what I have to say, I
will tell you.
19
Said I, if an angel of God should come to that village, he would
say to its inhabitants, "repent and wash your bodies, repent and
clean up your door yards, repent and cleanse your out-houses,"
all of which I seriously think that they have very much need to
do.
19
After they have actually cleansed themselves and commenced doing
right, and have cleansed their locality, I presume that then an
angel, or a man of God, might tell them what further to do.
19
I actually suppose that in the instructions which an angel of God
would give, the very first lesson would be to teach cleanliness
to the filthy, and then instruct them to keep themselves cleanly
all the time. This is what our President is frequently teaching
you; and yet you may go into some parts of this city, and you
would actually think that Provo river affords no more water than
would suffice for cleansing them.
19
I like a place constantly kept clean, and that must be so to
satisfy me. I not only want the history of a people's being
clean, and of their having cleansed up their door yards,
outbuildings, and grounds, but I want them to do it.
19
We have preached cleanliness at Fillmore, last winter; and when I
went there lately I was pleased to see that they had made some
little improvement.
20
But there is still by far too much carelessness in this matter,
and some people seem to love to live amidst filth, and to snuff
its nauseous and unhealthy odors, when it would be far better to
apply it to enriching your soil.
20
You have been taught true doctrines, and the Lord God has given
you the Holy Ghost which has purified your hearts, and now purify
all that pertains to you.
20
The time will come when you will be tried in this respect; and
the days of power will come, when the power of God will be more
abundantly poured out upon those who are prepared for it. And you
who have the truth and do not live up to it, who do not live up
to that light and intelligence which is given you, who do not
purify your bodies, your clothing, your buildings, your door
yards, gardens, and fields, may look for the wrath of God to burn
against you.
20
It is your duty to be clean and neat, and it is the duty of all
the settlements throughout the Territory.
20
You have the history of the light, and you have received the
virtue and power which are in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it
is for you to obey your leaders and the intelligence which is in
you, which may the Lord grant, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, August 17, 1856
THE HOLY GHOST NECESSARY IN PREACHING--FAITH--HEALING THE
SICK--THE SAINTS' INTERESTS ARE ONE--ALL OF OUR EFFORTS SHOULD
TEND TO THE UPBUILDING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
A Discourse by President B. Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, August 17, 1856.
20
We have had the privilege of hearing the testimony of brother
Whiting, who has just returned from his mission, upon which he
started two years ago from San Pete.
20
Brothers Merril and Clinton, and several others, have lately
arrived from their missions, and I will here give an invitation
to those brethren to come to the stand, Sabbath after Sabbath,
and bear testimony and speak to the people. I wish to say to the
Elders who arrive, come, we would be happy to see you with us;
come, we will find seats for you; and if you are not all eloquent
preachers, come and bear your testimony. Brother Whiting says
that he is a man of but few words. I am satisfied that there is
greater wisdom with many who say but little, than there is with
those who talk so much; as for the multitude of words, they are
but of little consequence, the ideas are of far the greatest
importance.
21
The kingdom of our God, that is set upon the earth, does not
require men of many words and flaming oratorical talents, to
establish truth and righteousness. It is not the many words that
accomplish the designs of our Father in heaven, with Him it is
the acts of the people more than their words; this I was
convinced of, before I embraced the Gospel. Had it not been that
I clearly saw and understood that the Lord Almighty would take
the weak things of this world to confound the mighty, the wise,
and the talented, there was nothing that could have induced me,
or persuaded me to have ever become a public speaker. I did
think, and I now think, that I am personally as well acquainted
with my own weaknesses as any other mortal is with them, for this
is my fortune, my good fortune and blessing, and I am ready to
acknowledge that it is more than many have got. I am of the
opinion that I know and understand myself, about as well as any
person can know and understand me; yet I may think that I know my
weaknesses and incapabilities to the fullest, while others may
see weaknesses that I do not. Still I am so constituted that when
I discover my weaknesses I bear them off as well as I can; and I
say to all people, if you discover that I falter, when I do the
best I can, what are you going to do about it?
21
When I first commenced preaching, I made up my mind to declare
the things that I understood, fearless of friends and threats,
and regardless of caresses. They were nothing to me, for if it
was my duty to rise before a congregation of strangers and say
that the Lord lives, that He has revealed Himself in this our
day, that He has given to us a Prophet, and brought forth the new
and everlasting covenant for the restoration of Israel, and if
that was all I could say, I must be just as satisfied as though I
could get up and talk for hours. If I could only say that I was a
monument of the Lord's work upon the earth, that was sufficient;
and had it not been for this feeling, nothing could have induced
me to have become a public speaker.
21
With regard to preaching, let a man present himself before the
Saints, or go into the world before the nobles and great men of
the earth, and let him stand up full of the Holy Ghost, full of
the power of God, and though he may use words and sentences in an
awkward style, he will convince and convert more, of the truth,
than can the most polished orator destitute of the Holy Ghost;
for that Spirit will prepare the minds of the people to receive
the truth, and the spirit of the speaker will influence the
hearers so that they will feel it.
21
These reflections are my true sentiments, and it is knowledge
with me with regard to speakers and people who have honest
hearts, who desire the knowledge of the Lord, who are seeking to
know the will of God, and willing to become subject to it. The
Spirit of truth will do more to bring persons to light and
knowledge, than flowery words. This is my experience, and I
presume it is the experience of many of you, and that you can
call that to mind when you first received the Spirit of this
Gospel.
21
When you see a person at a distance, you can, at times, see the
spirit of that person before you have the opportunity of speaking
to him; you can discern his spirit by the appearance of his
countenance. This has been my experience from my younger days,
and more especially since I have become acquainted with sacred
things. My later experience has been very vivid with regard to
the spirits of people, and it matters not to me whether they say
much or little, so they but let me hear their voices and see
them, let me hear and see the manifestation of their spirit, that
I may know whether they are constantly with us in their feelings.
I wish to know the spirits of those that are around and with us.
21
Brethren, you who have returned and are this season returning
from missions, we shall be happy to have you take your seats with
us on this stand, and when opportunity offers we shall be glad to
hear your voices and testimonies.
22
When I rise before you, brethren and sisters, I often speak of
the faults of the people and try to correct them; I strive to put
the Saints in a right course and plead with them to live their
religion, to become better and to purify themselves before the
Lord; to sanctify themselves, to be prepared for the days that
are fast approaching. I do this oftener than I speak of the good
qualities of this people, and I have reasons for this which,
perhaps you would like to hear.
22
The froward and disobedient need chastisement, the humble and
faithful are sealed by the Spirit of the Gospel that we have
received. I have not time nor opportunity to caress the people,
nor flatter them to do right; nor often to speak well of them,
portraying their good qualities.
22
The consolations of the Holy Spirit of our Gospel comfort the
hearts of men and women, old and young, in every condition of
this mortal life. The humble, the meek, and faithful are all the
time consoled and comforted by the Spirit of the Gospel that we
preach; consequently, their comfort, happiness, joy, and peace
must be received from the fountain head. As Jesus says, "In the
world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye have peace," so we
say to ourselves, so we say to the Saints; in the Lord ye have
joy and comfort, and the light of truth which shines upon your
path.
22
The Holy Ghost reveals unto you things past, present, and to
come; it makes your minds quick and vivid to understand the handy
work of the Lord. Your joy is made full in beholding the
footsteps of our Father going forth among the inhabitants of the
earth; this is invisible to the world, but it is made visible to
the Saints, and they behold the Lord in His providences, bringing
forth the work of the last days.
22
The hearts of the meek and humble are full of joy and comfort
continually; do such need comfort from me? Yes, if any mourn,
perhaps a few encouraging words from me would give them
consolation and do them good. I am always ready to impart what I
have to this people, that which will cheer and comfort their
hearts, and if the Lord will lead me by His Spirit into that
train of reflections and teaching, I am more willing and ready to
speak comforting words to this people, than I am to chastise
them.
22
But I hope and trust in the Lord my God that I shall never be
left to praise this people, to speak well of them, for the
purpose of cheering and comforting them by the art of flattery;
to lead them on by smooth speeches day after day, week after
week, month after month, and year after year, and let them roll
sin as a sweet morsel under their tongues, and be guilty of
transgressing the law of God. I hope I shall never be left to
flatter this people, or any people on the earth, in their
iniquity, but far rather chasten them for their wickedness and
praise them for their goodness.
22
The Lord praises you and comforts you, if you live as you are
directed; if you live with your life hid with Christ in God, you
do receive, from the fountain head, life, joy, peace, truth, and
every good and wholesome principle that the Lord bestows upon
this people, and your hearts exult in it, and your joy is made
full.
22
This people are the best people upon the face of the earth, that
we have any knowledge of. Take the congregation now before me,
and what portion of them has been in the Church twenty-six years?
What portion has been in the Church fifteen years? But a small
part.
23
How many of those before me were personally acquainted with
Joseph, our Prophet? I can see now and then one; you can pick up
one here and another there; but the most of the people now
inhabiting this Territory never beheld the face of our Prophet;
even quite a portion of this congregation never beheld his face.
All this I consider.
23
But few of this congregation have been assembled together more
than a very few years, to receive and be benefitted with the
teachings from the fountain head, directly from the living
oracles.
23
How long have they been gathered? Some one year, some two years,
and some five or six years; and I can only pick out a few in this
congregation, who were acquainted with the Prophet.
23
I could pick out a few of this assembly who have been here seven
and eight years.
23
You who understand the process of preparing mortar, know that it
ought to lay a certain time before it is in the best condition
for use. Now, suppose that our workmen should work over a portion
and prepare it for use, and when it is rightly tempered, suppose
some one should throw into the mixture a large quantity of
unslacked lime, this would at once destroy its cementing quality,
and you would have to work it all over and over again.
23
This is precisely like what we have to do with this people; when
a new batch is mixed with the lime and sand which were prepared
ten days ago, before it is fit for use it has to be worked all
over with the ingredients and proportions that were used to make
the first.
23
Some think this rather hard, but they have to be worked over,
because they are in the batch. Again, they are in the mill, and
like the potter's clay which brother Kimball uses for a figure,
they have got to be ground over and worked on the table, until
they are made perfectly pliable and in readiness to be put on the
wheel, to be turned into vessels of honor.
23
Now, suppose, when it is in this good state, that somebody should
throw in a batch of unworked clay, it would spoil the lot, and
the potter would have to work it all over; the clay that we
prepared has to be worked over with the unprepared.
23
This principle makes many feel sore, and some are starting for
the States, and some for California, because they will not be
worked over so much, and we cannot set a guard over the mill to
keep the new clay from being thrown in.
23
You may say that that is my business; no, it is my business to
throw in the new clay, and work it over and over, and to use the
wire to draw from the lump any material that would obstruct the
potter from preparing a vessel unto honor.
23
I do not wish you to think that I chastise good men and good
women; chastisements do not belong to them, but we have some
unruly people here, those who know the law of God, but will not
abide it. They have to be talked to; and we have to keep talking
to them, and talking to them, until by and by they will forsake
their evils, and turn round and become good people, or take up
their line of march and leave us.
24
I have reflected much upon the true character of mankind,
pertaining to the Gospel of salvation, and more particularly in
reference to the character of that portion of mankind that is
here in the capacity in which we now are. How hard it is for
people to see and understand things as they are. I allude, in my
remarks, to this people who do reflect, and who profess to
believe in a Supreme Being, the Creator of the heavens and the
earth, who have professed, by their acts, that God has spoken in
the last days, that unto us He has revealed His will; that He has
given unto us the oracles of divine truth, the Gospel of life and
salvation, with the privilege of making sure unto ourselves
eternal life; this is the people I am now preaching to, and unto
whom I wish to address my few remarks.
24
How slow many of us are to believe the things of God, O how slow.
How many men and women can I find here who place implicit
confidence in their God? Perhaps you might wish an explanation
with regard to the term I here make use of. I will acknowledge my
inability to explain to the fullest extent, what I regard as
implicit confidence in our God; the reason of this is the ten
thousand opinions that people have.
24
If I were to urge that we ought to have implicit confidence in
the power and willingness of our God to sustain us by doing
everything for us, that would cut the thread of my own faith, it
would run counter to many of my ideas in regard to the dealings
of the Almighty with the human family. On the other hand, how
much confidence shall I have in God? One says, "I have no
confidence in Him, any further than what I can see, hear, and
understand. I have no confidence that wheat will grow here,
unless I put it into the ground; or that I will have good to eat,
unless I take the proper steps for raising it, or purchase it
from those that have it." Both of these points are true in part,
but the minds of the people are more or less beclouded.
24
To explain how much confidence we should have in God, were I
using a term to suit myself, I should say implicit confidence. I
have faith in my God, and that faith corresponds with the works I
produce. I have no confidence in faith without works. Shall I
explain this? I do not think I can fully present the idea to your
understanding, but I will a portion of it; and to do so, I will
refer to a circumstance that transpired in Nauvoo. A President of
the Elders' Quorum, old father Baker, was called upon to visit a
very sick woman, a sister in the Church; they sent for him to lay
hands upon her. It was a very sickly time, and there were
scarcely a person to attend upon the sick, for nearly all were
afflicted. Father Baker was one of those tenacious, ignorant,
self-willed, over-righteous Elders, and when he went into the
house he enquired what the woman wanted. She told him that she
wished him to lay hands upon her. Father Baker saw a tea-pot on
the coals, and supposed that there was tea in it, and immediately
turned upon his heels, saying, "God don't want me to lay hands on
those who do not keep the Word of Wisdom," and he went out. He
did not know whether the pot contained catnip, penny-royal, or
some other mild herb, and he did not wait for any one to tell
him. That class of people are ignorant and over-righteous, and
they are not in the true line by any means.
24
You may go to some people here, and ask what ails them, and they
answer, "I don't know, be we feel a dreadful distress in the
stomach and in the back; we feel all out of order, and we wish
you to lay hands upon us." "Have you used any remedies?" "No. We
wish the Elders to lay hands upon us, and we have faith that we
shall be healed." That is very inconsistent according to my
faith. If we are sick, and ask the Lord to heal us, and to do all
for us that is necessary to be done, according to my
understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the
Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my plowing the
ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me to
apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge,
and to ask my Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to
sanctify that application to the healing of my body; to another
this may appear inconsistent.
25
If a person afflicted with a cancer should come to me and ask me
to heal him, I would rather go the graveyard and try to raise a
dead person, comparatively speaking. But supposing we were
traveling in the mountains, and all we had or could get, in the
shape of nourishment, was a little venison, and one or two were
taken sick, without anything in the world in the shape of healing
medicine within our reach, what should we do? According to my
faith, ask the Lord Almighty to send an angel to heal the sick.
This is our privilege, when so situated that we cannot get
anything to help ourselves. Then the Lord and his servants can do
all. But it is my duty to do, when I have it in my power. Many
people are unwilling to do one thing for themselves, in case of
sickness, but ask God to do it all.
25
A portion of our community have so much confidence in God, even
men and women in this city, that if you put in their possession
five bushels of wheat, they will dispose of it and trust in God
for their food for a year to come. To me this is inconsistent; I
know nothing about the consistency of such a confidence in God.
But to me it is consistent for the poor man, or woman, that has
been gleaning wheat, and has saved five or ten bushels, to lay it
up for a time of need; though I understand that some of them are
trying to sell it. Poor men and women who have had to beg for the
last six months, and who have had nothing but what they obtained
through charity, but who have now obtained a few bushels of
wheat, are ready to sell it for something of no intrinsic worth,
trusting in God to provide for them. This is inconsistent to me.
25
How shall I present consistent faith and religion, so that you
may comprehend the subject? I will do my best, and leave the
event with God. I believe, according to my understanding of the
principles of eternal truth, that I should have implicit faith in
our God; and when we are where we have not help for ourselves in
the case of diseases, that we have the right to ask the Father,
in the name of Jesus, to administer by His power and heal the
sick, and I am sure it will be done to those who have implicit
confidence in Him.
25
Again, in regard to food, implicit faith and confidence in God is
for you and I to do everything we can to sustain and preserve
ourselves; and the community that works together, heart and hand,
to accomplish this, their efforts will be like the efforts of one
man. The past year was a hard one for us with regard to
provisions, but I never had one faltering feeling in reference to
this community's suffering, provided all had understood their
religion and lived it. Some few understand their religion and
live it; others make a profession, without understanding their
religion, and do not live it; consequently there has been a lack
of union of effort to sustain ourselves, which has made it very
hard for the few.
25
Suppose that we had done our best and had not raised on bushel of
grain this year, I have confidence enough in my God to believe
that we could stay here, and not starve to death. If all our
cattle had died through the severity of the past winter, if the
insects had cut off all our crops, if we still proved faithful to
our God and to our religion, I have confidence to believe that
the Lord would send manna and flocks of quails to us. But He will
not do this, if we murmur and are neglectful and disunited.
26
Not having breadstuff nor manna, if we are cut off from those
resources, from our provisions, the Lord can fill these mountains
and valleys with antelope, mountain sheep, elk, deer, and other
animals; He can cause the buffalo to take a stampede on the east
side of the Rocky mountains, and fill these mountains and valleys
with beef; I have just that confidence in my God. I have
confidence enough to believe that if we had not raised our own
provisions this year, and had proved true and faithful to our God
and to our religion, that the Lord would have given us a little
bread, even though he should have to put it in the minds of other
people in the States to go to California and Oregon, and to load
their wagons with sugar, flour, and everything needed, more than
they could consume, and cause them to leave their superabundance
here, as some did a great quantity of clothing, dried fruit,
tools, and various other useful articles, in 1849, the first
season that large emigrating companies passed through this valley
to California. I could then buy a vest for twenty-five cents,
that would now sell here for two or three dollars; and coats
could be bought for a dollar each, such as are now selling for
fifteen dollars.
26
This is my confidence in my God. I am no more concerned about
this people's suffering unto death, than I am concerned about the
sun's falling out of its orbit and ceasing to shine on this earth
again. I know that we should have that confidence in God; this
has been my experience, I have been led into this confidence by
the miraculous providences of God. My implicit confidence in God
causes me to husband every iota of property He gives me; I will
take the best care of my farm, I will prepare my ground as well
as I can, and put in the best seed I have got, and trust in God
for the result, for it is the Lord that gives the increase.
26
I will illustrate by relating a circumstance which occurred this
summer. A certain brother sowed a field with wheat, and he has
been afraid, and afraid, all the summer, about the water, saying,
"When shall we get the water? We shall quit farming, for I am
tired of it." I said to him, it is God that gives the increase,
and it is for us to do the best we can; and if there is no water
for the grain, He is close by, and is careful to give the
increase, when it is necessary. This brother has sowed five or
six acres; and the straw was so short, that a portion of the crop
had to be pulled, and when thrashed, he had over one hundred and
seventy bushels of wheat.
26
The Lord wishes to show this people that He is close by, that He
walks in our midst daily, and we know but little about him; yet
He intends to train us until we find out. This year, I think,
gives us a positive manifestation of the hand of our God in
giving the increase. I do not know that any person can cavil upon
that question any more, and say that it is all in accordance with
natural philosophy, as the world term it.
26
Natural philosophy, as you and I understand it, would not have
produced one bushel of grain, where we now have ten. I would like
the philosopher to make it appear how the trees have grown so
luxuriantly this year, with so little water. Have you ever before
seen the weeds flourish so finely on these dry hills? Look at
your grain; though much of it is so low that you have to pull it,
can you tell what it is that has caused the kernels to be so
numerous and plump? Let the natural philosopher tell the reason,
if he can; he cannot do it.
27
After all that has been said and done, after He has led this
people so long, do you not perceive that there is a lack of
confidence in our God? Can you perceive it in yourselves? You may
ask, "Brother Brigham, do you perceive it in yourself?" I do, I
can see that I yet lack confidence, to some extent, in Him whom I
trust. Why? Because I have not the power, in consequence of that
which the fall has brought upon me. I have just told you that I
have no lack of confidence in the Lord's sustaining this people;
I never had one shadow of doubt on that point.
27
But through the power of fallen nature, something rises up within
me, at times, that measurably draws a dividing line between my
interest and the interest of my Father in heaven--something that
makes my interest and the interest of my Father in heaven not
precisely one.
27
I know that we should feel and understand, as far as possible, as
far as fallen nature will let us, as far as we can get faith and
knowledge to understand ourselves, that the interest of that God
whom we serve is our interest, and that we have no other, neither
in time nor in eternity.
27
If I have an interest in any object, but should not live to enjoy
that object, you can perceive that it is cut off from me, and
that my interest and my hopes are gone, so far as worldly things
are concerned. If any one has an interest in an object that is
changeable, in anything of an earthly nature, and is separated
from it, it can be of but little use to him, and should cease to
be an object of great care or desire. Any object or interest that
we have, aside from our Father in heaven, will be taken from us,
and though we may seem to enjoy it here, in eternity we shall be
deprived of it.
27
Consequently, I say that we have no true interest, only
conjointly with our Father in heaven. We are His children, His
sons and daughters, and this should not be a mystery to this
people, even though there are many who have been gathered with us
but a short time. He is the God and Father of our spirits; He
devised the plan that produced our tabernacles, the houses for
our spirits to dwell in.
27
My interests are with His, yours are there, and if you,
seemingly, have any interest anywhere else, it will be severed
from you, and you will never enjoy it. Still there is a feeling
which has come by the fall, by transgression, in the heart of
every person, that his interest is individually to himself; and
that if he serves God, or does anything for Him, it is for some
being for whom he has no particular concern. This is a mistaken
idea; for every thing you do, every act you perform, every duty
incumbent upon you, is solely for your interest in God, and no
where else, neither can it be.
27
When you promote His interest, you promote your own; and when you
promote your own interest, you promote His. When you gain a title
of glory, or any good thing, you gain this to your Father in
heaven as well as to yourself. And every object you are in
pursuit of, should be that which will pertain to eternity, and
let time take care of itself, only be sure to do the duties
pertaining to it.
27
If we can see and realise that our interests are hid in God, and
that we can have no interest anywhere else, perhaps we can learn
obedience faster than we now do. Many think, "Well, I am an
independent character; I do not like to be counseled, governed,
or controlled; I wish to do as I please." That feeling, in a
degree, is in every person.
27
There is an impulse in man that separates his interest from the
interest of his God, and the interest of our Father in heaven
from ours.
27
This must be learned so that you can discern it in yourselves, so
that you can apply all your efforts, every act of your lives, to
the interest that pertains to your eternal exaltation.
27
If in this world we had every object that we could desire, of an
earthly nature, do you not understand that death would separate
us from it? You can understand that naturally. A man possessing
thrones, kingdoms, and power, leaves them when he is laid in the
grave.
28
Now suppose that you let the common mode of reflection and
practice reach into eternal things, upon the same principle you
would have a selfish interest in eternity; you would there be to
yourself, by yourself, and for yourself, regardless of every
other creature. But the truth is, you are not going to have a
separate kingdom; I am not going to have a separate kingdom; it
is not our prerogative to have it on this earth.
28
If you have a kingdom and a dominion here, it must be
concentrated in the head; if we are ever prepared for an eternal
exaltation, we must be concentrated in the head of the eternal
Godhead. Why? Because everything else is opposed to that kingdom,
and the heir of that kingdom will keep up the warfare with that
opposing power until death is destroyed, and him that hath the
power of it; not annihilated, but sent back to native element. He
will never cease to contend with the opposite power, with that
power that contends against the heir of this earth; consequently,
if we fancy that we have an independent interest here and in the
world to come, we shall fail in getting any of it.
28
Your interest must be concentrated in the head on the earth, and
all of our interest must centre in the Godhead in eternity, and
there is no durable interest in any other channel.
28
I desire the people to consider whether they have any faltering
in their feelings, any misgivings, or lack of confidence in their
God. If they have, they should seek, with all the spirit and
power they are in possession of, until they can understand the
principle of eternity and eternal exaltation, and then apply the
actions of their lives to these principles, that they may be
prepared to enjoy that which their hearts now anticipate and
desire. If we will learn these things correctly and advance, and
advance, and continue to advance, though the new clay may be
continually thrown into the mill, we will bring it to the same
pliability as the old, much sooner than if it was ground alone;
for the old clay soon mixes with the new and makes the whole lump
passive. If we apply our hearts to these things, we shall soon
learn to have our interests one here on the earth.
28
The principles of eternity and eternal exaltation are of no use
to us, unless they are brought down to our capacities so that we
practise them in our lives. We must learn the principles of
government, must learn ourselves, the eternal government of our
God, the interest that the Father has here on the earth and the
interest that we have; then we will place our interest with the
interest of our Father and God, and will have no self-interest,
no interest only in His kingdom that is set up on the earth; then
we will begin and apply these principles in our lives.
28
How shall we apply them? We must learn that we have not one
farthing's worth of anything in heaven, earth, or hell, not even
our own being.
28
We have been brought forth on this earth, organized for the
purpose of giving us an opportunity of proving ourselves worthy
to possess something by and bye.
28
We make farms, build fine houses, get possessions around us, and
these we call ours, when not a dime's worth of them is either
yours or mine. This is what we must learn.
29
I have much property in my possession, and we use the terms, "my
farm, my house, my cattle, my horses, my carriage," &c., but the
fact is we do not truly own anything; we never did and never
will, until many long ages after this. We seemingly have
property; we have gold and silver in our possession, and houses
and lands, and goods, &c. These things we are accustomed to call
ours, but that is for the want of understanding.
29
Every man and woman has got to feel that not one farthing of
anything in their possession is rightfully theirs, in the strict
sense of ownership. When we learn this lesson, where will be my
interest and my effort? I do not own anything--it is my Father's.
How came I by my possessions? His providence has thrown them into
my care; He has appointed me a steward over them, and I am His
servant, His steward, His hired man, one with whom He has placed
certain property in charge for the time being, that is,
pertaining to the things of this world.
29
Says one, "It was preached thirty years ago, that nothing belongs
to us, and, if I have a thousand dollars, to at once give it all
to the poor." That is your enthusiasm and ignorance. Were you to
make an equal distribution of property to-day, one year would not
pass before there would be as great an inequality as now.
29
How could you ever get a people equal with regard to their
possessions? They never can be, no more than they can be in the
appearance of their faces.
29
Are we equal? Yes. Wherein? We are equal in the interest of
eternal things, in our God, not aside from Him.
29
We behold Church property, and not one farthing of it is yours or
mine. Of the possessions that are called mine, my individual
property, not a dollar's worth is mine; and of all that you seem
to possess, not a dollar's worth is yours.
29
Did you ever organize a tree, gold, silver, or any other kind of
metal, or any other natural production? No, you have not yet
attained to that power, and it will be ages before you do. Who
owns all the elements with which we are commanded and permitted
to operate? The Lord, and we are stewards over them. It is not
for me to take the Lord's property placed under my charge and
wantonly distribute it; I must do with it as He tells me. In my
stewardship I am not to be guided by the mere whims of human
folly, by those who are more ignorant than I am, not by the
lesser power, but by the superior and wiser.
29
Those who are in favor of an equality in property say that that
is the doctrine taught in the New Testament. True, the Savior
said to the young man, "Go and sell that thou hast, and give to
the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and
follow me," in order to try him and prove whether he had faith or
not.
29
In the days of the Apostles, the brethren sold their possessions
and laid them at the Apostles' feet. And where did many of those
brethren go to? To naught, to confusion and destruction. Could
those Apostles keep the Church together, on those principles? No.
Could they build up the kingdom on those principles? No, they
never could. Many of those persons were good men, but they were
filled with enthusiasm, insomuch that if they owned a little
possession they would place it at the feet of the Apostles.
29
Will such a course sustain the kingdom? No. Did it, in the days
of the Apostles? No. Such a policy would be the ruin of this
people, and scatter them to the four winds. We are to be guided
by superior knowledge, by a higher influence and power.
30
The superior is not to be directed by the inferior, consequently
you need not ask me to throw that which the Lord has put into my
hands to the four winds. If, by industrious habits and honorable
dealings, you obtain thousands or millions, little or much, it is
your duty to use all that is put in your possession, as
judiciously as you have knowledge, to build up the kingdom of God
on the earth. Let this people equalize their means, and it would
be one of the greatest injuries that could be done to them.
During the past season, those who lived their religion acted upon
the principles thereof by extending the hand of charity and
benevolence to the poor, freely distributing their flour and
other provisions, yet I am fearful that that mode was an injury
instead of a real good, although it was designed for good.
30
Many poor people who receive flour of the brethren, if they have
a bushel of wheat will sell it in the stores for that which will
do them no good. My object is to accomplish the greatest good to
this people. If I can by my wisdom and the wisdom of my brethren,
by the wisdom that the Lord gives unto us, get this people into a
situation in which they can actually sustain themselves and help
their neighbors, it will be one of the greatest temporal
blessings that can be conferred upon them. If you wish to place
persons in a backsliding condition, make them idle and dilatory
in temporal things, even though they may be good Saints in other
respects. If the whole of this people can be put in a situation
to take care of themselves, individually, and collectively, it
will save a great many from apostatizing, and be productive of
much good. I have got to wait for the Lord to dictate from day to
day, and from time to time, as to what particular course to
pursue for the accomplishment of so desirable a result.
30
Suppose that we should say that we intend to sell flour at ten
dollars per hundred, would that make the people take care of
themselves and their grain? It is not so very material what flour
costs, nor whether the brethren sell it for three or ten cents a
pound, as it is whether each will strive to secure and economise
his own provisions. If you establish the selling price of flour
at one dollar a hundred, or even at thirty cents, there are some
who will sell all they have before night, and then beg their
living of their neighbors. What course shall we pursue to produce
the greatest good? We have the Gospel and the ordinances of
salvation, and if we can get the people to do that which will
produce the greatest good, then we shall further promote the
interests of the kingdom of God on the earth.
30
I do not like to have the Saints, those who profess to be Saints,
get such extravagant confidence in our God that they will not do
one thing to provide for the body, but omit securing provision
enough to sustain themselves, and say, "O, I shall have as long
as there is any means, or wheat, or flour; I know that brother
Brigham will not see me suffer. Mr. store-keeper, take the little
I have and give me some ribbons for it, or a nice dress, for I
want the best I can get, and I know that brother Brigham will not
let me suffer." Will this course produce good to the people, or
are they ignorant that they do not know what course to pursue?
31
The grand difficulty with this community is simply this, their
interest is not one. When you will have your interests
concentrated in one, then you will work jointly, and we shall not
have to scold and find fault, as much as we are not required to.
Somebody ought to be reproved here to-day, for some of our
farmers are bringing in wheat and selling it to the stores for a
dollar and a half a bushel. Would they sell it that low to the
poor? No, they would not, if the poor had money to pay for it. If
this is the best way, the most conducive of the greatest good to
this community, all right, but I cannot see any good resulting
from it.
31
I can see no good accruing to this community in maintaining a
divided interest; our interest must be one throughout, in order
to produce the good we desire. Many are distrustful in the
providences of God; they profess faith enough to have the Lord
extract a cancer from their flesh, or drive a fever from them,
though they would not do a single thing for themselves; yet if
they have a few bushels of grain, or five dollars, and you touch
that, you touch the apple of their eye. You will run counter to
the feelings of "here is my individual family, my individual
substance, my individual habitation, and my individual property
that I have gathered together; it is all my own, it is not
yours."
31
I know that there is great liberality among this people, and on
the other hand there is much liberality like this, though I do
not know that I can fully explain it to you, but I will try. A
few years ago we wished to drive off the cattle not needed here,
so as to leave the feed for our milch cows, and there was not a
man who was not heart and hand for the policy. When the time came
to gather up the cattle, every man said to his neighbor, "This is
one of the best possible plans for our stock, now you drive off
you cattle," so each man said to his neighbor, and thought to
himself "mine will have a better chance." And in the matter of
fencing, each one says to his neighbor, "You put up a good fence
round your garden and herd your cattle," at the same time
intending to let his own run at large. These few instances
explain the feelings and conduct of some, and in what manner they
are liberal.
31
I again say that I do not wish any to take chastisement but those
who need it, though most of the people are generally so righteous
and liberal that they give over every part of it to their
neighbors; they consider that none of it belongs to them. Some
are so liberal that they will pick up my cattle on the range and
butcher them, saying, "There is nothing here belonging to brother
Brigham, nor to anybody else, it is the Lord's, and I will have a
little beef."
31
I wish the people to understand that they have no interest apart
from the Lord our God. The moment you have a divided interest,
that moment you sever yourselves from eternal principles.
31
It is reported that many are going away; I say, gentlemen and
ladies, you who wish to go to California, or to the States, go
and welcome; I had rather you would go than stay. I wish every
one to go who prefers doing so, and if they will go like
gentlemen, they go with my best feelings; but if they go like
rascals and knaves, they cannot have them. I have never requested
but two things of those who leave, namely, to pay their debts and
not steal; that is all that I have required of them. Go about
your business, for I would rather you would go than stay.
32
The moment a person decides to leave this people, he is cut off
from every object that is durable for time and eternity, and I
have told you the reason why. Everything that is opposed to God
and His Son Jesus Christ, to the celestial kingdom and to
celestial laws, those celestial laws and beings will hold warfare
with, until every particle of the opposite is turned back to its
native element, though it should take millions and millions of
ages to accomplish it. Christ will never cease the warfare, until
he destroys death and him that hath the power of it. Every
possession and object of affection will be taken from those who
forsake the truth, and their identity and existence will
eventually cease. "That is strange doctrine." No matter, they
have not an object which they can place their hands or affections
upon, but what will vanish and pass away. That is the course and
will be the tendency of every man and woman, when they decided to
leave this kingdom.
32
They are welcome to go, and to stay where they go; I heartily
wish that a great many would go, such as I can point out. Like
old Lorenzo Dow, when he was trying to detect the person who had
stolen an axe; he said that he could throw the stone which he had
carried into the pulpit and hit the man that stole the axe; he
handled the stone as though he would throw it, and the guilty
person dodged, when he said, that is the man. So I could throw
and hit a great many that I wish to go.
32
I say again, you that wish to go, go in peace, and we like to
have you go; and those that wish to come here we like to have
them come and be Saints, and if they would, they would stay; but
if not, I like to have them leave, no matter whether they belong
to the Church or not.
32
My soul feels hallelujah, it exults in God, that He has planted
this people in a place that is not desired by the wicked; for if
the wicked come here they do not wish to stay, no matter how well
they are treated, and I thank the Lord for it; and I want hard
times, so that every person that does not wish to stay, for the
sake of his religion, will leave. This is a good place to make
Saints, and it is a good place for Saints to live; it is the
place the Lord has appointed, and we shall stay here until He
tells us to go somewhere else.
32
All I ask of the Saints is to live their religion, serve their
God, and recollect that their interest should be in Him and no
where else; that the inferior must be controlled by the superior,
and our efforts and affections all be concentrated in one,
namely, in building up the kingdom of God to the destruction of
wickedness; and may God help us to do it, I ask in the name of
Jesus Christ: Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, August 31, 1856
Brigham Young, August 31, 1856
TESTIMONY TO THE DIVINITY OF JOSEPH SMITH'S MISSION--ELDERS
SHOULD GO TO THEIR MISSIONS WITHOUT PURSE OR SCRIP--THE
LORD DEALS WITH THE SAINTS--JESUS THEIR PRESIDENT--SATAN ANGRY.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, August 31, 1856.
33
I appear before you to bear my testimony to the truth of
"Mormonism," that Joseph Smith, jun., was a Prophet called of
God, and that he did translate the Book of Mormon by the gift and
power of the Holy Ghost. This same testimony all can bear, who
have received and continue to retain the Spirit of the Gospel.
33
We are happy to hear from our brethren who have returned from the
fields of their labor, it rejoices our hearts, and we like to see
their faces. I know how they feel when they return home, for I
have felt many times, in returning to the Saints, as though the
privilege of beholding their faces was a feast to overflowing, my
soul has been full. I rejoice all the time, and I can understand
why brother Clinton has rejoiced so exceedingly; it is because
the lightning and thunder are in him, and because he gave vent to
his feelings. Brother Robins' calling has been different, of such
a nature that the lightning and thunder in him have lain dormant,
to a certain degree, and he has not enjoyed himself so well as he
would, had he been sent solely to preach and build up churches.
33
Let me reduce this to your understandings. Right here, in our
midst, many who gather from foreign lands, who have undergone all
the toil, labor, and hardship that it is possible for their
nature to sustain on their journey, after they arrive in these
valleys begin to sink in their spirits, neglect their duties, and
in a little time do not know whether "Mormonism" is true or not.
Take the same persons and keep them among the wicked, and they
will preserve their armor bright, but it has become dull and
rusty here; this is the cause of so many leaving these valleys.
The seas are so calm and the vessel is wafted over them so
smoothly, and in a manner so congenial to the feelings of the
people, that they forget that they are in Zion's ship. This is
the main reason of so many leaving for the States, California,
and other places. Send those persons among their enemies, among
those who will oppose "Mormonism," among those who will oppose
truth, and let them be continually persecuted, and they will know
very quickly whether they are "Mormons" or not, for they must go
to the one side or the other. But the condition of society here,
and the feelings of the people, are so different from those of
the wicked, that many glide smoothly along, forget their religion
and their God, and finally think that this is not the place for
them and go away.
34
I will now state that I am thus far perfectly satisfied with the
labors of the brethren who have returned from their missions this
season, and have come on the stand to-day, and at other times; I
am highly gratified with the doings and labors of those Elders.
34
With regard to brother John Taylor, I will say that he has one of
the strongest intellects of any man that can be found; he is a
powerful man, he is a mighty man, and we may say that he is a
powerful editor, but I will use a term to suit myself, and say
that he is one of the strongest editors that ever wrote.
Concerning his financial abilities, I have nothing to say; those
who are acquainted with the matter, know how "The Mormon" has
been sustained. We sent brother Taylor, and other brethren with
him, to start that paper without purse or scrip, and if they had
not accomplished that object, we should have known that they did
not trust in their God, and did not do their duty.
34
Let me call your reflections to the days of Joseph; here are some
of the Twelve, here are the Seventies and High Priests, and
members of the High Council, and several who have been long in
the Church, did any of you ever receive any support from the
Church, while on your missions in the days of Joseph? Were you
all to answer, you would say that you do not know the time.
34
I came into this Church in the spring of 1832. Previous to my
being baptized, I took a mission to Canada at my own expense; and
from the time that I was baptized until the day of our sorrow and
affliction, at the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, no summer
passed over my head but what I was traveling and preaching, and
the only thing I ever received from the Church, during over
twelve years, and the only means that were ever given me by the
Prophet, that I now recollect, was in 1842, when brother Joseph
sent me the half of a small pig that the brethren had brought to
him, I did not ask him for it; it weighed 93 pounds. And that
fall, previous to my receiving that half of a pig, brother H. C.
Kimball and myself were engaged all the time in pricing property
that came in on tithing, and we were also engaged in gathering
tithing, and I had an old saddle valued at two dollars presented
to me, and brother Heber was credited two dollars in the Church
books for one day's services, by brother Willard Richards who was
then keeping those books. Brother Heber said, "Blot that out, for
I don't want it." I think it was crossed out, and so was the
saddle, for I did not want it, even had it been given to me.
These were the only articles I ever received in the days of
Joseph, so far as I recollect.
34
I have traveled and preached, and at the same time sustained my
family by my labor and economy. If I borrowed one hundred
dollars, or fifty, or if I had five dollars, it almost
universally went into the hands of brother Joseph, to pay
lawyers' fees and to liberate him from the power of his enemies,
so far as it would go. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars that I
have managed to get, to borrow and trade for, I have handed over
to Joseph when I came home. That is the way I got help, and it
was good for me; it learned me a great deal, though I had
learned, before I heard of "Mormonism," to take care of number
one.
35
For me to travel and preach without purse or scrip, was never
hard; I never saw the day, I never was in the place, nor went
into a house, when I was alone, or when I would take the lead and
do the talking, but what I could get all I wanted. Though I have
been with those who would take the lead and be mouth, and been
turned out of doors a great many times, and could not get a
night's lodging. But when I was mouth I never was turned out of
doors; I could make the acquaintance of the family, and sit and
sing to them and chat with them, and they would feel friendly
towards me; and when they learned that I was a "Mormon" Elder, it
was after I had gained their good feelings.
35
When the brethren were talking about starting a press in New
York, and how it has been upheld, I did wish to relate an
incident in my experience. In company with several of the Twelve
I was sent to England in 1839. We started from home without purse
or scrip, and most of the Twelve were sick; and those who were
not sick when they started were sick on the way to Ohio; brother
Taylor was left to die by the road-side, by old father Coltrin,
though he did not die. I was not able to walk to the river, not
so far as across this block, no, not more than half as far; I had
to be helped to the river, in order to get into a boat to cross
it. This was about our situation. I had not even an overcoat; I
took a small quilt from the trundle bed, and that served for my
overcoat, while I was traveling to the State of New York, when I
had a coarse sattinet overcoat given to me. Thus we went to
England, to a strange land to sojourn among strangers.
35
When we reached England we designed to start a paper, but we had
not the first penny to do it with. I had enough to buy a hat and
pay my passage to Preston, for from the time I left home, I had
worn an old cap which my wife made out of a pair of old
pantaloons; but the most of us were entirely destitute of means
to buy even any necessary article.
35
We went to Preston and held our Conference, and decided that we
would publish a paper; brother Parley P. Pratt craved the
privilege of editing it, and we granted him the privilege. We
also decided to print three thousand hymn books, though we had
not the first cent to begin with, and were strangers in a strange
land. We appointed brother Woodruff to Herefordshire, and I
accompanied him on his journey to that place. I wrote to brother
Pratt for information about his plans, and he sent me his
prospectus, which stated that when he had a sufficient number of
subscribers and money enough in hand to justify his publishing
the paper, he would proceed with it. How long we might have
waited for that I know not, but I wrote to him to publish two
thousand papers, and I would foot the bill. I borrowed two
hundred and fifty pounds of sister Jane Benbow, one hundred of
Brother Thomas Kington, and returned to Manchester, where we
printed three thousand Hymn Books, and five thousand Books of
Mormon, and issued two thousand Millennial Stars monthly, and in
the course of the summer printed and gave away rising of sixty
thousand tracts. I also paid from five to ten dollars per week
for my board, and hired a house for brother Willard Richards and
his wife who came to Manchester, and sustained them; and gave
sixty pounds to brother P. P. Pratt to bring his wife from New
York. I also commenced the emigration in that year.
35
I was there one year and sixteen days, with my brethren the
Twelve and during that time I bought all my clothing, except one
pair of pantaloons, which the sisters gave me in Liverpool soon
after I arrived there, and which I really needed. I told the
brethren, in one of my discourses, that there was no need of
their begging, for if they needed anything the sisters could
understand that. The sisters took the hint, and the pantaloons
were forthcoming.
36
I paid three hundred and eighty dollars to get the work started
in London, and when I arrived home, in Nauvoo, I owed no person
one farthing. Brother Kington received his pay from the books
that were printed, and sister Benbow, who started to America the
same year, left names enough of her friends to receive the two
hundred and fifty pounds, which amount was paid them,
notwithstanding I held her agreement that she had given it to the
Church.
36
We left two thousand five hundred dollars worth of books in the
Office, paid our passages home, and paid about six hundred
dollars to emigrate the poor who were starving to death, besides
giving away the sixty thousand tracts; and that too though I had
not a sixpence when we first landed in Preston, and I do not know
that one of the Twelve had.
36
I could not help thinking that if I could accomplish that much in
England, in that poor, hard country, it could not be much of a
job for a man to establish paper in New York. I thought that to
be one of the smallest things that could be; I could make money
at it. We sent brother George Q. Cannon, one of brother Taylor's
nephews, to California, over a year ago last spring, to print the
Book of Mormon in the Hawaiian language. He has printed a large
and handsome edition of that book; has published a weekly paper
and paid for it; has paid for the press and the type, and paid
his board and clothing bills, though he had not a farthing to
start with, that is, he went without purse and scrip, so far as I
know, as did also brothers Bull and Wilkie who went with him.
36
It is one of the smallest labors that I could think of to
establish a paper and sustain it in St. Louis, New York,
Philadelphia, Boston, or any of the eastern cities. I wish to say
this much, for the information of those who think it is a great
task to establish and sustain a paper; though I am not aware that
any of the brethren think so.
36
I will relate another incident, which occurred during our journey
to England. Brother George A. Smith accompanied me to New York
City, and we had not money enough to pay the last five miles'
fare.
36
We started from New Haven in a steam boat, and when we left the
boat, I hired passage in the stage to New York; the captain of
the steam boat happened to be in the same stage.
36
When we left the coach, I said to the captain, will you have the
kindness to pay this gentleman's passage and mine. I had had no
conversation with him during the day, only in interchanging the
common and usual compliments, but when we left him he greeted us
cordially, and said that he had paid our stage-fare with the
greatest pleasure, and shook our hands as heartily as a brother,
saying, "May God bless and prosper you in your labors."
36
In five minutes we were in the house with Parley P. Pratt, who
had moved to that city the fall before. As soon as those of the
Twelve who were appointed on that mission to England came in, we
concluded that we would not go among the Branches, but seek out
and preach to those who had not had an opportunity of hearing the
Gospel.
36
Accordingly we separated and went into many parts of the State of
New York, Long Island and New Jersey, and some went into the city
of Philadelphia.
36
After we had got through with the regular meetings, we proposed
to the brethren, if any of them wished to have meetings in their
private houses and would tell us when and where that we would
meet with them.
37
It was not more than a week or ten days before we had been in
fifty different places in New York city and the surrounding
country, and those who came to hear us invited their neighbors,
and thus we preached and baptized, and soon gathered means enough
to defray the expenses of our passage to England, principally
from those who were the fruits of our own labor.
37
Though the people in the States are daily becoming more hardened
against the truth, yet if I was in New York this day, and it was
my business to be there, I would not be there long before I would
have many Elders preaching through different parts of that city;
I would have them preaching in the English, Danish, French,
German, and other languages. And soon would have Elders dispersed
all over the State, and would raise up new friends enough to
sustain me, that is if the Lord would help me, and if He did not
I would leave.
37
That is the way we have traveled and preached, but now we do a
great deal for our missionaries, for they gather money on
tithing, and ask me to credit such and such a man so much on
tithing; this course tends to shut up every avenue for business
here.
37
We do not receive cash on tithing from abroad, because our
missionaries are so liberal, and feel so rich, that they gather
every dollar that can be scraped up, and then come here and have
it credited to such and such individuals on tithing, without
handing over the money.
37
This course hedges up the work at head quarters. Did I have that
privilege? No, never; and men should not have it now. If a paper
should be published, brethren ought to have wisdom enough to
sustain themselves and the paper, and they can do it.
37
I do not wish to find fault with our missionaries, but many of
them now live on cream and short cake, butter, honey, light
biscuit, and sweet meats, while we had to take the butter milk
and potatoes. That kind of fare was good enough for us, but now
it is short cake and cream, light biscuit, with butter and honey,
and sweet meats of every kind, and even then some of them think
that they are abused.
37
I see some here who did not have as good fare as buttermilk and
potatoes; I see some of the brethren who have been to Australia,
the East Indies, &c. When I returned from England, I said it is
the last time I will travel as I have done, unless the Lord
specially requires me to do so; for if we could ride even as
comfortably as brother Woodruff once rode on one of the
Mississippi steam boats we considered ourselves well off. All the
bed he had was the chines of barrels, with his feet hanging on a
brace, and he thought himself well off to get the privilege of
riding in any shape, to escape constant walking.
37
How do they go now? They take the first cabins, cars, and
carriages. I wish to see them cross the Plains on foot, and then
have wisdom enough to preach their way to the city of New York,
and there, in the same manner, to get money enough to cross the
ocean. But no, they must start from here with a full purse, and
take broad cloth from here, or money to buy it in the States, and
hire first cabin passages in the best ocean steamers; and after
all this many think it is hard times.
37
I want to see the Elders live on buttermilk and potatoes, and
when they return be more faithful. But they go as missionaries of
the kingdom of God, and when they have been gone a year or two,
many of them come back merchants, and how they swell, "how
popular 'Mormonism' is, we can get trusted in St. Louis for ten
thousand dollars as well as not, and in New York brother
Brigham's word is so good that we can get all the goods we want;
'Mormonism' is becoming quite popular." Yes, and so are hell and
the works of the devil.
38
When "Mormonism" finds favor with the wicked in this land,
it will have gone into the shade; but until the power of the
Priesthood is gone, "Mormonism" will never become popular with
the wicked. "Mormonism" is not one farthing better than it was in
the days of Joseph.
38
The hand of the Almighty is over mankind, and "Mormonism" is hid
from them; they do not know anything about it. The Lord deals
with this people, and draws them into close quarters, and makes
them run the gauntlet, and tries their faith and feelings. He
draws them into diverse circumstances to prove whether they
believe in Jesus Christ, or not; and if need be He will let the
enemy persecute us and destroy many of us; He will let them take
our substance and drive us from our homes. Was "Mormonism"
popular with those who have formerly persecuted, killed and
driven us? Yes, as much so as it is at this day.
38
The hand of the Almighty is over the wicked, and He handles them
according to His good pleasure, as He does the Saints. His hand
is over us, and His hand is over them. But there is a thick mist
cast before their eyes, so they do not discern the truth of
"Mormonism." Do you wonder that they are mad, when they see the
progress of truth? I do not.
38
The different political parties are in opposition. One party
says, "We are republicans, and we are opposed in principle to all
who are not of our party." Can the various parties be reconciled?
No. Each party wishes to elect a President of the United States.
We design to elect Jesus Christ for our President, and the wicked
wish to elect Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, and swear that
they will have him; and we declare that we will serve Jesus
Christ, and he shall be our President.
38
Do you think that the democrats and republicans have made
friends? No, they are just as much opposed to each other now as
ever they were, and the devil is just as much opposed to Jesus
now as he was when the revolt took place in heaven. And as the
devil increases his numbers by getting the people to be wicked,
so Jesus Christ increases his numbers and strength by getting the
people to be humble and righteous. The human family are going to
the polls by and by, and they wish to know which party is going
to carry the day.
38
When you see mild weather, when all is smooth and our religion is
becoming popular, the Lord is casting mist before the eyes of the
wicked, and they do not see nor understand what will take place
at the polls when the day of voting comes. Those who vote for
Jesus will be on the right hand, and those who vote for Lucifer
on the left; one part will be right and the other wrong. We
calculate that we are right, and we are going to vote for the
sovereign we believe in; and when he comes behold he will go into
the chair of state and take the reins of government. Do you
suppose the wicked will feel bad about it? That is what they are
afraid of all the time.
38
They may kill the bodies we have, they may strive to injure us,
but when the day of the great election comes, as the Lord
Almighty lives, we shall gain our President, and we anticipate
holding office under him. Do you blame the wicked for being mad?
No. They desire to rule, to hold the reins of government on this
earth; they have held them a great while. I do not blame them for
being suspicious of us; men in high standing are suspicious of
us, hence the frequent cry, "Treason, treason, we are going to
have trouble with the people in Utah." What is the matter?
Wherein can they point out one particle of injury that we have
done to them?
39
True we have more wives than one, and what of that? They
have their scores of thousands of prostitutes, we have none. But
polygamy they are unconstitutionally striving to prevent: when
they will accomplish their object is not for me to say. They have
already presented a resolution in Congress that no man, in any of
the Territories of the United States, shall be allowed to have
more than one wife, under a penalty not exceeding five years
imprisonment, and five hundred dollars fine. How will they get
rid of this awful evil in Utah? They will have to expend about
three hundred millions of dollars for building a prison, for we
must all go into prison. And after they have expended that amount
for a prison, and roofed if over from the summit of the Rocky
Mountains to the summit of the Sierra Nevada, we will dig out and
go preaching through the world. (Voice on the stand: what will
become of the women, will they go to prison with us?) Brother
Heber seems concerned about the women's going with us; they will
be with us, for we shall be here together. This is a little
amusing.
39
Brother Robbins, in his remarks, said that the Constitution of
the United States forbids making an ex post facto law. The
presenting of the resolution alluded to shows their feelings,
they wish the Constitution out of existence, and there is no
question but that they will get rid of it as quickly as they can,
and that would be by ex post facto law, which the Constitution of
the United States strictly forbids.
39
Brother Robbins also spoke of what they term the "nigger drivers
and nigger worshippers," and observed how keen their feelings are
upon their favourite topic slavery. The State of New York used to
be a slave State, but there slavery has for some time been
abolished. Under their law for abolishing slavery the then male
slaves had to serve until they were 28 years old, and if my
memory serves me correctly, the females until they were 25,
before they could be free. This was to avoid the loss of, what
they called, property in the hands of individuals. After that law
was passed the people began to dispose of their blacks, and to
let them buy themselves off. They then passed a law that black
children should be free, the same as white children, and so it
remains to this day.
39
But at the time that slavery was tolerated in the northern and
eastern States, if you touched that question it would fire a man
quicker than any thing else in the world; there was something
very peculiar about it, and it is so now. Go into a slave State
and speak to a man on the subject, even though he never owned a
slave, and you fire up his feelings in defence of that
institution; there is no other subject that will touch him as
quickly. They are very tenacious and sensitive on those points,
and the North are becoming as sensitive as the South. The North
are slow and considerate; they have their peculiar customs; and
are influenced by the force of education, climate, &c., in a
manner which causes them to think twice before they act; and
often they will think and speak many times before they act. The
spirit of the South is to think, speak, and act all at the same
moment. This is the difference between the two people.
39
Matters are coming to such a point, the feelings of both parties
are aroused to that degree, that they would as soon fight as not.
But I do not wish to speak any longer in that strain, though, if
you want to know what I think about the question, I think both
parties are decidedly wrong.
40
It is not the prerogative of the President of the United States
to meddle with this matter, and Congress is not allowed,
according to the Constitution, to legislate upon it. If Utah was
admitted into the Union as a sovereign State, and we chose to
introduce slavery here, it is not their business to meddle with
it; and even if we treated our slaves in an oppressive manner, it
is still none of their business and they ought not to meddle with
it.
40
If we introduce the practice of polygamy it is not their
prerogative to meddle with it; if we should all turn to be Roman
Catholics to-day, if we all turned to the old Mother Church, it
would not be their prerogative, it would not be their business,
to meddle with us on that account. If we are Mormons or
Methodists, or worship the sun or a white dog, or if we worship a
dumb idol, or all turn Shaking Quakers and have no wife, it is
not their prerogative to meddle with these affairs, for in so
doing they would violate the Constitution.
40
There is not a Territory in the Union that is looked upon with so
suspicious an eye as is Utah, and yet it is the only part of the
nation that cares anything about the Constitution. What have they
done in the States? Why, in some places they have celebrated the
fourth of July by hoisting the National flag bottom side up,
making a burlesque of the celebration, but "Utah is hell and the
devil." This reminds me of a circumstance that transpired in
England. A boy was brushing his shoes on Sunday morning, and a
priest observing him said, "What, do you brush your shoes on
Sunday?" "Yes, sir; do you brush your coat?" "Yes." "Well, I
suppose it is life and salvation for you to brush your coat, but
hell and damnation for me to brush my shoes." That is the
difference.
40
"Mormonism" is true, and all hell cannot overthrow it. All the
devil's servants on the earth may do all they can, and, as
brother Clinton has just said, after twenty six years faithful
operation and exertion by our enemies, including the times when
Joseph had scarcely a man to stand by him, and when the
persecution was as severe on him as it ever was in the world,
what have they accomplished? They have succeeded in making us an
organized Territory, and they are determined to make us an
independent State or Government, and as the Lord lives it will be
so. (The congregation shouted amen.) I say, as the Lord lives, we
are bound to become a sovereign State in the Union, or an
independent nation by ourselves, and let them drive us from this
place if they can; they cannot do it. I do not throw this out as
a banter; you Gentiles, and hickory and basswood "Mormons," can
write it down if you please, but write it as I speak it.
40
I wish you to understand that God rules and reigns, that he led
us to this land and gave us a Territorial government. Was this
the design of the wicked? No. Their design was to banish us from
the earth, but they have driven us into notoriety and power; we
are now raised to a position where we can converse with kings and
emperors.
41
In the days of Joseph it was considered a great privilege to be
permitted to speak to a member of Congress, but twenty-six years
will not pass away before the Elders of this Church will be as
much thought of as the kings on their thrones. The Lord Almighty
will roll on the wheels of His work, and none can stop them; and
they cannot drive us from these mountains, because the Lord will
not suffer them to do so. I desire them to let us alone; "hands
off and money down," we crave no jobs and make none. Let them
attend to their own business, and we will build up Zion while
they go to hell. Jesus Christ will be the President, and we are
his officers, and they will have to leave the ground: for they
will find that Jesus has the right of soil. This they are afraid
of, do you blame them? No, I do not, and you should not: let them
feel bad and worry.
41
I have frequently told you, and I tell you again, that the very
report of the Church and kingdom of God on earth is a terror to
all nations, wheresoever the sound thereof goeth. The sound of
"Mormonism" is a terror to towns, counties, states, the pretended
republican governments, and to all the world. Why? Because, as
the Lord Almighty lives and the Prophets have ever written the
truth, this work is destined to revolutionize the world and bring
all under subjection to the law of God, who is our lawgiver.
41
I am still governor of this Territory, to the constant chagrin of
my enemies; but I do not in the least neglect the duties of my
Priesthood, nor my office as governor; and while I honor my
Priesthood I will do honor to my office as governor. This is hard
to be understood by the wicked, but it is true. The feelings of
many are much irritated because I am here, and Congress has
requested the President to inquire why I still hold the office of
governor in the Territory of Utah. I can answer that question; I
hold the office by appointment, and am to hold it until my
successor is appointed and qualified, which has not yet been
done. I shall bow to Jesus, my Governor, and under him, to
brother Joseph. Though he has gone behind the vail, and I cannot
see him, he is my head, under Jesus Christ and the ancient
Apostles, and I shall go ahead and build up the kingdom. But if I
was now sitting in the chair of state at the White House in
Washington, everything in my office would be subject to my
religion. Why? Because it teaches me to deal justice and mercy to
all. I am satisfied to love righteousness and be full of the Holy
Ghost, while all hell yawns to destroy me, though it cannot do
it.
41
If I were to forsake this kingdom, the car of righteousness would
roll over and crush me into insignificance; and so it will every
other man that gets out of the right path. What then are we going
to do? We had better stick to the ship than jump overboard,
because if we stay aboard we stand a good chance to be saved, but
if we jump over we shall be drowned.
41
Who can help all these things? I did not devise the great scheme
of the Lord's opening the way to send this people to these
mountains. Joseph contemplated the move for years before it took
place, but he could not get here, for there was a watch placed
upon him continually to see that he had no communication with the
Indians. This was in consequence of that which is written in the
Book of Mormon; one of the first evils alleged against him was
that he was going to connive with the Indians; but did he ever do
anything of the kind? No, he always strove to promote the best
interest of all, both red and white. Was it by any act of ours
that this people were driven into their midst? We are now their
neighbors, we are on their land, for it belongs to them as much
as any soil ever belonged to any man on earth; we are drinking
their water, using their fuel and timber, and raising our food
from their ground.
42
I do not wish men to understand I had anything to do with our
being moved here, that was the providence of the Almighty; it was
the power of God that wrought out salvation for this people, I
never could have devised such a plan. What shall we do? Be still
and know that the Lord is God: and let all people be silent and
know that the Lord Almighty reigns, and does His pleasure on the
earth. What had we better do? Be submissive and passive, serve
our God and walk humbly before Him.
42
The same Spirit pervades the Latter-day Saints in all the world,
and what the Lord designs doing here is made manifest to the
brethren in different parts, and the world feels the power of it
and begins to persecute. When we commence that temple you will
hear the devils howl.
42
We are now doing but little besides taking care of ourselves, but
the kingdom has got to be taken and the Lord Jesus come to reign
here. When you wonder why it is that we are building many large
buildings here and the temple not going on, be silent and
patient.
42
Here let me ask the old Saints a question. Have you ever seen a
temple finished, since this Church commenced? You have not. The
Lord says, "Be patient and gather together the strength of my
house;" then do not fret yourselves, and if you feel a little
worried, be sure that you are right, and do as you are counseled.
42
Why do we urge this upon the people? They are only counseled to
love God and do His will. You cannot point out where a man has
been counseled one hair's breadth from this course, and in this
we have a right to be urgent, and strenuous, and sharp in our
remarks. Serve your God and love your religion.
42
I could tell you a great many lessons that I have learned in
"Mormonism," but it is very seldom that I refer to past scenes,
they occupy but a small portion of my time and attention. Do you
wish to know the reason of this? It is because there is an
eternity ahead of me, and my eyes are ever open and gazing upon
it, and I have but little time to reflect upon the many
circumstances I have been placed in thus far during life. They
are behind me, and I am thankful that I have not time to reflect
on past transactions, only once in a while, when it seems almost
necessary to refer to them.
42
May the Lord God of heaven and earth bless you, and may He
preserve us and all good men and women upon the earth, and give
us power to blow the Gospel trump to earth's remotest bounds, and
gather up the honest in heart, build up Zion, redeem Israel,
rebuild Jerusalem, and fill the earth with the glory and
knowledge of our God, and we will shout hallelujah! Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, September 21, 1856
Brigham Young, September 21, 1856
A CALL FOR AN EXPRESSION OF THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE--
REPENTANCE AMONG THE SAINTS NECESSARY--RENEWING OF COVENANTS.
Instructions by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, September 21, 1856.
43
I have an impulse within me to preach the Gospel of salvation. I
am here by the providence of our God; I have professed to be a
teacher of righteousness for many years, and to preach the Gospel
of salvation which is still within me, and I feel to pour it
forth upon the people; and I present myself here this morning as
a teacher in Israel, as a man having the words of eternal life
for the people.
43
I feel to call upon this congregation to know whether any of
them, or whether all of them wish salvation. If they do, I have
the Gospel of salvation for them; and I call upon the people to
know whether they are the friends of God, or only of themselves
individually. I do not know of any better way to get an
expression from the people, as to whether they wish the Gospel
preached to them, whether they desire to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, to obey his counsels, and live to his glory,
denying themselves of worldly lusts and of every thing that is
sensual and contrary to his Gospel, and feel as though they
wanted to be Saints of the Most High, than to have the brethren
and sisters, those who so wish and desire, manifest it by rising
upon their feet. You will observe all who do not rise. [The vast
congregation all responded by standing up.] Take your seats
again. You have manifested that you want to be Saints, and I am
happy for the privilege of talking to such a people.
43
When we get the font prepared that is now being built, I will
take you into the waters of baptism, if you repent of your sins.
If you will covenant to live your religion and be Saints of the
Most High, you shall have that privilege, and I will have the
honor of baptizing you in that font, or of seeing that it is
done.
43
As for living here, as I have done for a length of time, hid up
in the chambers of the Lord, with a people that are full of
contention, full of covetousness, full of pride, and full of
iniquity, I will not do it. And if the people will not repent,
let the sinners and hypocrites look out. I will repent with you
and I will try with my might to get the spirit of my calling; and
if I have not that spirit now to a fulness, I will get more of
it, so as to enjoy it to its fulness. And if I should be filled
with the power and spirit of the mission that is upon me, I shall
not spare the wicked; I shall be like a flaming sword against
them, and so will all those that live their religion; it is not
to be suffered any longer.
44
As I told you last Sabbath, if I was not mistaken, my feelings
were that this people were preparing themselves, many of them,
for apostacy; were preparing themselves for the apostacy of their
neighbors and their families; their children and their friends
were all leading the way of the sinner. I had not then an idea
that I was mistaken; I have not now an idea that I am mistaken. I
understand these things perfectly well; and if the people are
disposed to awake out of their lethargy and walk up to their
religion, to their duty, to the highest privilege that ever was
or ever can be granted to mortal man upon this earth, which is
eternal life, and will do so, then we will be brethren. And if
not, the thread must be severed, for I cannot hold men and women
in fellowship that serve the devil and themselves, and give no
heed to the Almighty; I cannot do it.
44
This people have been taught a great deal; they have had
principle and doctrine fed to them till they are surfeited; and
where is the man, the officer, or the community, that understands
what has been taught them? There may be one here and there that
understands, but generally the eyes of the people are closed upon
eternal things, and they seek for that which pleases the eye,
that which is in accordance with the lusts of the flesh, that
which is full of iniquity, and they care not for the
righteousness of our God.
44
I repeat that, as for those who are disposed to refrain from
their evils, to renew their covenants and live their religion, I
will have the honor and you the privilege of going forth and
renewing your covenants, otherwise their must be a separation.
Let those who have been with us ten or fifteen years, who have
passed through the sorrowful scenes that Joseph and many others
who have gone behind the vail had to wade through, look back and
see the hand of God that has led us to a land where we enjoy
liberty, where we enjoy all the freedom that ever the city of
Enoch enjoyed, until they were more perfectly made acquainted
with God. All that we can enjoy more than we do, unless we
further acquaint ourselves with our God and become His friends
and His associates, will be but very little more than we now
possess.
44
I tell you that this people will not be suffered to walk as they
have walked, to do as they have done, to live as they have lived.
God will have a reckoning with us ere long, and we must refrain
from our evils and turn to the Lord our God, or He will come out
in judgment against us. I refer to the doctrine and the teachings
that have been laid before this people; and I will say that it
would take me weeks and months to tell you what has been already
told you. But it passes into your ears and out again, and is no
more remembered.
44
Show me the man who knows enough about his God, and is
sufficiently acquainted with the principle of eternal lives to be
able to say, "I can handle the gold and the silver, the goods,
the chattels, and the possessions of this world, with my heart
not more set upon them than it is upon the wind. I know how to
use them, to deal out this and to distribute that, and to do all
to the glory of my Father in heaven." If there is one in this
congregation that knows how to do all this, will you please to
rise up? These are things that I have taught you week after week,
and year after year, but do you understand them? No. You may say,
with shamefacedness, that there is hardly a man in this
congregation that can righteously manage even earthly things.
Just as quick as you are prospered you are lost to the Lord, you
are filled with darkness.
45
Do you think the angels of the Lord lust after the things that
are before them? All heaven is before us, and all this earth, the
gold and the silver, all these are at our command, and shall we
lust after them? They are all within our reach; they are for the
Saints whom God loves, even all who fix their minds upon Him and
the interests of His kingdom. Our Father possesses all the riches
of eternity, and all those riches are vouchsafed unto us, and yet
we lust after them.
45
I have taught you these things weeks and months ago, and yet
there is not a man or woman in this congregation that understands
them in their fulness. These are simple principles that should be
learned; and although they have been taught you from time to
time, yet you have not learned them. And for me to repeat to you
what I have taught you, and what my brethren have taught you,
would take me weeks.
45
And notwithstanding all that has been taught, still the people
are full of idolatry, the spirit of contention and the spirit of
the world are in them, and they are full of the things of the
world.
45
Well, I just say, my brethren and sisters, it cannot be suffered
any longer, a separation must take place; you must part with your
sins, or the righteous must be separated from the ungodly. I will
now give way, and call upon others of the brethren to speak to
you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, September 21, 1856
Heber C. Kimball, September 21, 1856
APPLICATION OF THE WORDS OF HELAMAN TO THE
CONDITION OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
Remarks by President H. C. Kimball, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, September 21, 1856.
45
I have a great many things on my mind constantly, by night and by
day, in regard to this people, ourselves I mean, here in these
valleys of the mountains.
45
I was lately looking in the Book of Mormon, and I thought that a
portion of the Book of Helaman, from nearly the 420th page
(second European edition) to the end of the 4th chapter, would
apply very well to this people, and if they would appreciate it
rightly, it would be what I should call a very great sermon. [It
was read to the congregation in the afternoon, by brother Leo
Hawkins.]
45
It treats upon the conduct of the people when they were blest.
They were led into a land away from their enemies, and the Lord
blest them exceedingly; yet the only way that He could keep them
within due and proper bounds, so that they would live their
religion, so that they would be humble before their Maker and
their God, was to let afflictions come upon them.
45
The Lord, through the Prophet relates that He had withheld their
enemies from them by softening their hearts from day to day, so
that they would not go up to war against the people of God; and
that He had multiplied blessings upon them, insomuch that they
became exceedingly rich in fine clothing, jewelry, raiment, and
every thing that heart could wish.
46
God poured out His blessings upon them, and as quick as they
began to prosper, and to increase in property, they were raised
up in the pride of their hearts, forgot their God, their prayers,
and the covenants they had made with and before their God. And
when we read the Bible and the Book of Mormon, we are led to
contrast the proceedings of the former-day Saints on this
continent with the travels and course of this people; and to
reflect that many of us have been rooted up and driven some five
or six times, and that last of all we are driven here into the
Valleys of the Mountains, a thousand miles from every body, where
God has let us come to worship Him, to carry out His designs, to
establish His ordinances, and to qualify a people that they may
obtain a celestial glory.
46
Are not this people running into pride? Are they not filled with
discord, contention, broils, and animosity? Have they not
forgotten their God and their covenants? Do they hold their
covenants sacred, those they made when they received their
endowments, when they covenanted not to speak evil of one
another, nor of the Lord's anointed, nor of those that lead them?
Did they not make all these covenants? Have they not broken them,
or many of them?
46
Do you suppose that God would have spoken to you through brother
Brigham as He did last Sunday, if all was right, if you were all
living your religion? No, it would have been another tune that
would have been sung or played, and it would have given you
credit. But that sermon was good to me; and God knows that I
never heard a better one since I was born, considering the
occasion and the circumstances in which this people stand before
their God.
46
This will not apply to all, but it will apply pretty generally,
more or less. We have got to take a different course, and it must
needs be that this people repent of their sins and do their first
works over, or God will remove their candlestick out of its
place.
46
When our President, our Leader, our Prophet, speaks unto us from
week to week, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, do his teachings reach
our hearts? Do the people hear? Do the people understand? If they
do, they are not all careful to practice.
46
I have told you, a great many times, that the word of our Leader
and Prophet is the word of God to this people, and you play with
those words, and you neglect them. You neglect the voice and word
of God, and it will fall upon you in a way that you never
expected, and you do not expect it now. But there is yet a chance
for us to redeem ourselves; and there is a great deal more
necessity for us to redeem ourselves, than there is for us to
redeem the dead, for the dead they are dead, and you cannot help
it; but we are living and can help ourselves, and I suppose God
helps those who help themselves.
46
Let us rise up as a people and turn unto the Lord our God with
full purpose of heart, and, peradventure, our sins may be
remitted and forgiven, and blotted out. This is what the Lord has
placed men to lead you for. You cannot see God, you cannot behold
Him and hold converse with Him, as one man does with another; but
He has given us a man that we can talk to and thereby know His
will, just as well as if God Himself were present.
47
Am I afraid to risk my salvation in the hands of the man that is
appointed to lead me, and to lead this people? No, no more than I
am to trust myself in the hands of the Almighty. He will lead me
right, if I do as He says in every particular, in every
circumstance, in poverty, in riches, in sickness, and in death.
That is the course for me take; and if that is the course for me
to take, it is the course for brother Grant to take, and for the
Twelve Apostles, for the Seventies, for the High Priests, for the
Elders, and for every person in the Church and Kingdom of God. We
should be like the clay in the hands of the potter. Bless your
souls, that is just as true a figure as can be presented before a
people, if they ever saw a potter work; but if they never saw one
work, they do not know what course he takes, any more than a
person knows about a mill that never saw one.
47
Well, this is the course for us to take, to be like clay in the
hands of the potter. Who is the potter? God our Father is the
great potter, the head potter, and brother Brigham is one of His
servants, to preside over this pottery here in the flesh; and his
word is the word of God to this people, and to those that he has
called to assist him in this great work.
47
These are my feelings, and a part of what I was meditating and
reflecting upon, as also upon how much we are blest. I know that
there are several going away, and that they say that this is a
hard country. Let the people that have come from Denmark turn
round and go back to where they came from, and then they will say
that this land is a perfect Eden, and this place a perfect
palace, when compared to the land they lived in before they came
here. They come here as hearty and as robust as our mountain
sheep, or elk, or the buffalo, and why is it so? Because they
have always worked from the days of their youth; they are the
chaps. We want those men that have been raised in the mountains,
and that have learned to be obedient from the days of their
youth. They are the Saints that the men of God want. I love to
see them come here under their own flag, the Danish flag, for the
standard is raised, and they may come with their own banners, and
bow to king Immanuel.
47
What is required of us, now that we have run into a snare? We
should be willing to come out of the forbidden path, and turn
unto the Lord with full purpose of heart. Here are hundreds of
people that desire their endowments, as soon as they can get
them. I would not give them their endowments to almost the last
we took through, until they repented and were baptized. We have
taken hundreds through, when they ought to have previously done
their first works over.
47
I offer these few remarks that you may reflect upon them, and
know when you are guilty. When a man has done wrong he knows it;
and when he is breaking his covenants he knows it, and those
persons are under condemnation, and it need be that they repent.
I am willing to repent of my sins. I repent every day of my life,
and I humble myself before my God and acknowledge my sins, both
in private and in public. And I take a course to be industrious
and I do as I am told, and I do not care what that is, for I know
it will be right. If I were told to build a house that would
include this whole city, I would go at it. It might make me groan
a little, but I would go at it, don't you believe I would? I tell
you I would, though it broke my neck, or cut my throat and
chopped me into mince meat. I will stand by the kingdom, and by
the Prophets and Apostles, and by all that stand up for the
kingdom of our God. I am their friend, and hands off from those
men, if you do not want to take Jesse. These are my feelings, and
may God bless you, and may peace be multiplied unto you. Amen.
47
[The following is that part of the Book of Mormon alluded to by
President Kimball.]
49
"And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of
the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord
in His great, infinite goodness, doth bless and prosper those who
put their trust in Him; yea, and we may see at the very time when
He doth prosper His people; yea, in the increase of their fields,
their flocks, and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in
all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing
their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their
enemies: softening the hearts of their enemies, that they should
not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things
for the welfare and happiness of His people; yea, then is the
time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord
their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One; yea, and
this because of their ease, and their exceeding great prosperity.
And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten His people with
many afflictions, yea, except He doth visit them with death, and
with terror, and with famine, and with all manner of pestilences,
they will not remember Him. O how foolish, and how vain, and how
evil, and devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to
do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto
the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain
things of the world; yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride;
yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is
iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God,
and to give ear unto His counsels; yea, how slow to walk in
wisdom's paths! Behold they do not desire that the Lord their God
who hath created them, should rule and reign over them,
notwithstanding His great goodness and His mercy towards them;
they do set at naught His counsels, and they will not that He
should be their guide. O how great is the nothingness of the
children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the
earth. For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and
thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and
everlasting God; yea, behold at His voice doth the hills and the
mountains tremble and quake; and by the power of His voice they
are broken up, and become smooth, yea, even like unto a valley;
yea, by the power of His voice doth the whole earth shake; yea,
by the power of His voice, doth the foundations rock, even to the
very centre; yea, and if He say unto the earth, move, it is
moved; yea, if He say unto the earth, thou shalt go back, that it
lengthen out the day for many hours, it is done; and thus
according to His word, the earth goeth back, and it appeareth
unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold this is so;
for sure it is the earth that moveth, and not the sun. And
behold, also, if He say unto the water of the great deep, be thou
dried up, it is done. Behold, if He say unto this mountain, be
thou raised up, and come over and fall upon that city, that it be
buried up, behold it is done. And behold, if a man hide up a
treasure in the earth, and the Lord shall say let it be accursed,
because of the iniquity of him who hath hid it up, behold, it
shall be accursed; and if the Lord shall say, be thou accursed,
that no man shall find thee from this time henceforth and for
ever, behold, no man getteth it henceforth and for ever. And
behold if the Lord shall say unto a man, because of thine
iniquities, thou shalt be accursed for ever, it shall be done.
And if the Lord shall say, because of thine iniquities, thou
shalt be cut off from my presence, He will cause that it shall be
so. And woe unto him to whom He shall say this, for it shall be
unto him that will do iniquity, and he cannot be saved;
therefore, for this cause, that men might be saved, hath
repentance been declared. Therefore, blessed are they who will
repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for
these are they that shall be saved. And may God grant, in His
great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good
works, that they might be restored unto grace, for grace
according to their works. And I would that all men might be
saved. But we read that in that great and last day, there are
some who shall be cast out; yea, who shall be cast off from the
presence of the Lord; yea, who shall be consigned to a state of
endless misery, fulfilling the words which say, they that have
done good, shall have everlasting life; and they that have done
evil, shall have everlasting damnation. And thus it is. Amen."
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Jedediah M. Grant, September 21, 1856
Jedediah M. Grant, September 21, 1856
REBUKING INIQUITY.
Remarks by President J. M. Grant, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, September 21, 1856.
49
I feel that the remarks which we have heard this morning are
true, and they apply directly to you who are now present, and to
the inhabitants of this city and of the Territory generally, and
we do not excuse any of you.
49
If the arrows of the Almighty ought to be thrown at you we want
to do it, and to make you feel and realize that we mean you. And
although we talk of the old clay's being ground in the mill, we
do not mean it to apply to some other place, for we have enough
here who have been dried ever since their baptism, and many of
them are cracked and spoiling.
49
Some have received the Priesthood and a knowledge of the things
of God, and still they dishonor the cause of truth, commit
adultery, and every other abomination beneath the heavens, and
then meet you here or in the street, and deny it.
49
These are the abominable characters that we have in our midst,
and they will seek unto wizards that peep, and to star-gazers and
soothsayers, because they have no faith in the holy Priesthood,
and then when they meet us, they want to be called Saints.
49
The same characters will get drunk and wallow in the mire and
filth, and yet they call themselves Saints, and seem to glory in
their conduct, and they pride themselves in their greatness and
in their abominations.
49
They are the old hardened sinners, and are almost--if not
altogether--past improvement, and are full of hell, and my prayer
is that God's indignation may rest upon them, and that He will
curse them from the crown of their heads to the soles of their
feet.
49
I say, that there are men and women that I would advise to go to
the President immediately, and ask him to appoint a committee to
attend to their case; and then let a place be selected, and let
that committee shed their blood.
49
We have those amongst us that are full of all manner of
abominations, those who need to have their blood shed, for water
will not do, their sins are of too deep a dye.
50
You may think that I am not teaching you Bible doctrine, but what
says the apostle Paul? I would ask how many covenant breakers
there are in this city and in this kingdom. I believe that there
are a great many; and if they are covenant breakers we need a
place designated, where we can shed their blood.
50
Talk about old clay; I would rather have clay from a new bank
than some that we have had clogging the wheels for the last
nineteen years. They are a perfect nuisance, and I want them cut
off, and the sooner it is done the better.
50
We have men who are incessantly finding fault, who get up a
little party spirit, and criticise the conduct of men of God.
They will find fault with this, that, and the other, and nothing
is right for them, because they are full of all kinds of filth
and wickedness.
50
And we have women here who like any thing but the celestial law
of God; and if they could break asunder the cable of the Church
of Christ, there is scarcely a mother in Israel but would do it
this day. And they talk it to their husbands, to their daughters,
and to their neighbors, and say they have not seen a week's
happiness since they became acquainted with that law, or since
their husbands took a second wife. They want to break up the
Church of God, and to break it from their husbands and from their
family connections.
50
Then, again, there are men that are used as tools by their wives,
and they are just a little better in appearance and in their
habits than a little black boy. They live in filth and nastiness,
they eat it and drink it, and they are filthy all over.
50
We have Elders and High Priests that are precisely in this
predicament, and yet they are wishing for more of the Holy Ghost,
they wish to have it in larger doses. They want more revelation,
but I tell you that you now have more than you live up to, more
than you practise and make use of.
50
If I hurt your feelings let them be hurt. And if any of you ask,
do I mean you? I answer, yes. If any woman asks, do I mean her? I
answer, yes. And I want you to understand that I am throwing the
arrows of God Almighty among Israel; I do not excuse any.
50
I am speaking to you in the name of Israel's God, and you need to
be baptized and washed clean from your sins, from your
backslidings, from your apostacies, from your filthiness, from
your lying, from your swearing, from your lusts, and from every
thing that is evil before the God of Israel.
50
We have been trying long enough with this people, and I go in for
letting the sword of the Almighty be unsheathed, not only in
word, but in deed.
50
I go in for letting the wrath of the Almighty burn up the dross
and the filth; and if the people will not glorify the Lord by
sanctifying themselves, let the wrath of the Almighty God burn
against them, and the wrath of Joseph and of Brigham, and of
Heber, and of high heaven.
50
There is nothing to prevent you from being humble and doing
right, but your own little, foolish, and wicked acts and doings.
I will just tell you that if an angel of God were to pass Great
Salt Lake City, while you are in your present state, he would not
consider you worthy of his company.
50
You have got to cleanse yourselves from corruption, before you
are fit for the society of those beings. You may hear of people
in other cities being baptized and renewing their covenants, but
they are not sinners above all others; and except the inhabitants
of Great Salt Lake City repent, and do their first works, they
shall all likewise perish, and the wrath of God will be upon them
and round about them.
51
You can scarcely find a place in this city that is not full
of filth and abominations; and if you would search them out, they
would easily be weighed in the balances, and you would then find
that they do not serve their God, and purify their bodies.
51
But the course they are taking leads them to corrupt themselves,
the soil, the waters, and the mountains, and they defile
everything around them.
51
Brethren and sisters, we want you to repent and forsake your
sins. And you who have committed sins that cannot be forgiven
through baptism, let your blood be shed, and let the smoke
ascend, that the incense thereof may come up before God as an
atonement for your sins, and that the sinners in Zion may be
afraid.
51
These are my feelings, and may God fulfil them. And my wishes are
that He will grant the desires of my brethren, that Zion may be
purified, and the wicked purged out of her, until God shall say I
will bless the rest; until He shall say I will bless your flocks,
your herds, your little ones, your houses, your lands, and all
that you possess; and you shall be my people, and I will come and
take up my abode with you, and I will bless all those that do
right; which may He grant, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, September 21, 1856
Brigham Young, September 21, 1856
THE PEOPLE OF GOD DISCIPLINED BY TRIALS--ATONEMENT BY THE
SHEDDING OF BLOOD--OUR HEAVENLY FATHER--A PRIVILEGE GIVEN TO ALL
THE MARRIED SISTERS IN UTAH.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, September 21, 1856.
51
Before I sit down, I shall offer a proposition to the
congregation; though I will first say a few words concerning our
religion, our circumstances, and the circumstances of the
brethren and people generally that inhabit these valleys, but
more especially of those that have the privilege of assembling at
this Tabernacle from Sabbath to Sabbath.
51
If they will rightly consider their situation, they will believe
for themselves that they are in a place, in a country, where they
can be Saints as well as in any other place there is on the face
of this earth.
51
True, we hear some complaints from those who lose the spirit of
their religion, who turn away from us. They think that this
people will suffer here. I will give you my feelings upon the
subject.
51
There is not a hardship, there is not a disappointment, there is
not a trial, there is not a hard time, that comes upon this
people in this place, but that I am more thankful for than I am
for full granaries.
52
We have been hunting during the past twenty-six years, for a
place where we could raise Saints, not merely wheat, and corn.
Comparatively I care but little about the wheat and corn, though
a little is very useful.
52
It is true that this is a good country for fruits of some kinds;
this soil produces, as good peaches as can be raised on any soil,
and also grapes, apples, and so on. But what of all that? The
man, or the woman, that mainly looks after the fruit, after the
luxuries of life, good food, fine apparel, and at the same time
professes to be a Latter-day Saint, if he does not get that
spirit out of his heart, it will obtain a perfect victory over
him; whereas he is required to obtain a victory over his lusts
and over his unwise feelings; and if he does not get rid of that
spirit, the quicker he starts east for the States, or west for
California, the better.
52
If we could not raise any fruit, if we could not raise an ear of
corn, I should be quite thankful if we could raise the oats and
the peas, and make the oat bread and the pea broth, and live on
them from year to year.
52
I say hallelujah, this is a first-rate place to raise Saints. Let
the people complain of hard times, complain of their poverty,
their poor fare and their hard labor; that wood is scarce, that
we have to go far for it, and have to toil so hard to raise our
grain; that we lose our stock upon the prairie, that a cow is
gone to-day, and an ox was lost last year; that if we turn out
our cattle they will stray off, and we shall see them no more.
52
How would you feel were you in a country where you could not
raise stock, except you provided comfortable shelter and an
abundance of fodder for them all?
52
In the country where I was brought up, could you turn out a calf
in the fall and have it live through the winter? There never was
such a thing done, to my knowledge; and no man ever thought of
such a thing as wintering a calf, unless he had a shelter
prepared for it almost as warm as the rooms for the children.
52
I mention these things for the benefit of those here to-day, if
any, who think that this is not a good country, and who do not
really know whether they wish to stay, or whether we are right or
wrong, or whether "Mormonism" is true or false.
52
I would advise those persons to repent of their sins forthwith,
and to try with all their might to get the spirit of their
religion upon them, and if they cannot do that, to take their own
course and go where their hearts desire, for doubtless there is
some place where you would wish to go.
52
Those that have the Gospel, who enjoy the Spirit of their
religion, lie down in peace, and wake up full of rejoicing, full
of peace, of glory, of faith and thanksgiving; this is the case
with all who are full of good works.
52
We need a reformation in the midst of this people; we need a
thorough reform, for I know that very many are in a dozy
condition with regard to their religion; I know this as well as I
should if you were now to doze and go to sleep before my eyes.
52
You are losing the spirit of the Gospel, is there any cause for
it? No, only that which there is in the world. You have the
weakness of human nature to contend with, and you suffer that
weakness to decoy you away from the truth, to the side of the
adversary; but now it is time to awake, before the time of
burning.
52
Whether the time of burning will be this week, or the next, or
next year, I do not know that I care; and I do not know that I
would ask, if I was sure the Lord would tell me. But I tell you
that which I do know, and that is sufficient.
53
I do know that the trying day will soon come to you and to me;
and ere long we will have to lay down these tabernacles and go
into the spirit world. And I do know that as we lie down, so
judgment will find us, and that is scriptural; "as the tree falls
so it shall lie," or, in other words, as death leaves us so
judgment will find us.
53
I will explain how judgment will be laid to the line. If we all
live to the age of man the end thereof will soon be here, and
that will burn enough, without anything else; and the present is
a day of trial, enough for you and me.
53
We have got to be rightly prepared to go into the spirit world,
in order to become kings. That is, so far as the power of Satan
is concerned you and I have got to be free from his power, but we
cannot be while we are in the flesh.
53
Here we shall be perplexed and hunted by him; but when we go into
the spirit world there we are masters over the power of satan,
and he cannot afflict us any more, and this is enough for me to
know.
53
Whether the world is going to be burned up within a year, or
within a thousand years, does not matter a groat to you and me.
We have the words of eternal life, we have the privilege of
obtaining glory, immortality, and eternal lives, now will you
obtain these blessings?
53
Will you spend your lives to obtain a seat in the kingdom of God,
or will you lie down and sleep, and go down to hell?
53
I want all the people to say what they will do, and I know that
God wishes all His servants, all His faithful sons and daughters,
the men and the women that inhabit this city, to repent of their
wickedness, or we will cut them off.
53
I could give you a logical reason for all the transgressions in
this world, for all that are committed in this probationary
state, and especially for those committed by men.
53
There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive
forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, and if
they had their eyes open to see their true condition, they would
be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the ground,
that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for
their sins; and the smoking incense would atone for their sins,
whereas, if such is not the case, they will stick to them and
remain upon them in the spirit world.
53
I know, when you hear my brethren telling about cutting people
off from the earth, that you consider it is strong doctrine; but
it is to save them, not to destroy them.
53
Of all the children of Israel that started to pass through the
wilderness, none inherited the land which had been promised,
except Caleb and Joshua, and what was the reason? It was because
of their rebellion and wickedness; and because the Lord had
promised Abraham that he would save his seed.
53
They had to travel to and fro to every point to the compass, and
were wasted away, because God was determined to save their
spirits. But they could not enter into His rest in the flesh,
because of their transgressions, consequently He destroyed them
in the wilderness.
54
I do know that there are sins committed, of such a nature that if
the people did understand the doctrine of salvation, they would
tremble because of their situation. And furthermore, I know that
there are transgressors, who, if they knew themselves, and the
only condition upon which they can obtain forgiveness, would beg
of their brethren to shed their blood, that the smoke thereof
might ascend to God as an offering to appease the wrath that is
kindled against them, and that the law might have its course. I
will say further; I have had men come to me and offer their lives
to atone for their sins.
54
It is true that the blood of the Son of God was shed for sins
through the fall and those committed by men, yet men can commit
sins which it can never remit. As it was in ancient days, so it
is in our day; and though the principles are taught publicly from
this stand, still the people do not understand them; yet the law
is precisely the same. There are sins that can be atoned for by
an offering upon an altar, as in ancient days; and there are sins
that the blood of a lamb, of a calf, or of turtle doves, cannot
remit, but they must be atoned for by the blood of the man. That
is the reason why men talk to you as they do from this stand;
they understand the doctrine and throw out a few words about it.
You have been taught that doctrine, but you do not understand it.
54
It is our desire to be prepared for a celestial seat with our
Father in heaven. It was observed by brother Grant that we have
not seen God, that we cannot converse with Him; and it is true
that men in their sins do not know much about God. When you hear
a man pour out eternal things, how well you feel, to what a
nearness you seem to be brought with God. What a delight it was
to hear brother Joseph talk upon the great principles of
eternity; he would bring them down to the capacity of a child,
and he would unite heaven with earth, this is the beauty of our
religion.
54
When it was mentioned this morning about seeing God, about what
kind of a being He was, and how we could see and measurably
understand Him, I thought I would tell you. If we could see our
heavenly Father, we should see a being similar to our earthly
parent, with this difference, our Father in heaven is exalted and
glorified. He has received His thrones, His principalities and
powers, and He sits as a governor, as a monarch, and overrules
kingdoms, thrones, and dominions that have been bequeathed to
Him, and such as we anticipate receiving. While He was in the
flesh, as we are, He was as we are. But it is now written of Him
that our God is as a consuming fire, that He dwells in
everlasting burnings, and this is why sin cannot be where He is.
54
There are principles that will endure through all eternity, and
no fire can obliterate them from existence. They are those
principles that are pure, and fire is made typical use of to show
the glory and purity of the gods, and of all perfect beings. God
is the Father of our spirits; He begat them, and has sent them
here to receive tabernacles, and to prove whether we will honour
them. If we do, then our tabernacles will be exalted; but if we
do not, we shall be destroyed; one of the two--dissolution or
life. The second death will decompose all tabernacles over whom
it gains the ascendancy; and this is the effect of the second
death, the tabernacles go back to their native element.
54
We are of the earth, earthy; and our Father is heavenly and pure.
But we will be glorified and purified, if we obey our brethren
and the teachings which are given.
54
When you see celestial beings, you will see men and women, but
you will see those beings clothed upon with robes of celestial
purity. We cannot bear the presence of our Father now; and we are
placed at a distance to prove whether we will honor these
tabernacles, whether we will be obedient and prepare ourselves to
live in the glory of the light, privileges, and blessings of
celestial beings. We could not have the glory and the light
without first knowing the contrast. Do you comprehend that we
could have no exaltation, without first learning by contrast?
55
When you are prepared to see our Father, you will see a being
with whom you have long been acquainted, and He will receive you
into His arms, and you will be ready to fall into His embrace and
kiss Him, as you would your fathers and friends that have been
dead for a score of years, you will be so glad and joyful. Would
you not rejoice? When you are qualified and purified, so that you
can endure the glory of eternity, so that you can see your
Father, and your friends who have gone behind the vail, you will
fall upon their necks and kiss them, as we do an earthly friend
that has been long absent from us, and that we have been
anxiously desiring to see. This is the people that are and will
be permitted to enjoy the society of those happy and exalted
beings.
55
Now for my proposition; it is more particularly for my sisters,
as it is frequently happening that women say they are unhappy.
Men will say, "My wife, though a most excellent woman, has not
seen a happy day since I took my second wife;" "No, not a happy
day for a year," says one; and another has not seen a happy day
for five years. It is said that women are tied down and abused:
that they are misused and have not the liberty they ought to
have; that many of them are wading through a perfect flood of
tears, because of the conduct of some men, together with their
own folly.
55
I wish my own women to understand that what I am going to say is
for them as well as others, and I want those who are here to tell
their sisters, yes, all the women of this community, and then
write it back to the States, and do as you please with it. I am
going to give you from this time to the 6th day of October next,
for reflection, that you may determine whether you wish to stay
with your husbands or not, and then I am going to set every woman
at liberty and say to them, Now go your way, my women with the
rest, go your way. And my wives have got to do one of two things;
either round up their shoulders to endure the afflictions of this
world, and live their religion, or they may leave, for I will not
have them about me. I will go into heaven alone, rather than have
scratching and fighting around me. I will set all at liberty.
"What, first wife too?" Yes, I will liberate you all.
55
I know what my women will say; they will say, "You can have as
many women as you please, Brigham." But I want to go somewhere
and do something to get rid of the whiners; I do not want them to
receive a part of the truth and spurn the rest out of doors.
55
I wish my women, and brother Kimball's and brother Grant's to
leave, and every woman in this Territory, or else say in their
hearts that they will embrace the Gospel--the whole of it. Tell
the Gentiles that I will free every woman in this Territory at
our next Conference. "What, the first wife too?" Yes, there shall
not be one held in bondage, all shall be set free. And then let
the father be the head of the family, the master of his own
household; and let him treat them as an angel would treat them;
and let the wives and the children say amen to what he says, and
be subject to his dictates, instead of their dictating the man,
instead of their trying to govern him.
55
No doubt some are thinking, "I wish brother Brigham would say
what would become of the children." I will tell you what my
feelings are; I will let my wives take the children, and I have
property enough to support them, and can educate them, and then
give them a good fortune, and I can take a fresh start.
56
I do not desire to keep a particle of my property, except enough
to protect me from a state of nudity. And I would say, wives you
are welcome to the children, only do not teach them iniquity; for
if you do, I will send an Elder, or come myself, to teach them
the Gospel. You teach them life and salvation, or I will send
Elders to instruct them.
56
Let every man thus treat his wives, keeping raiment enough to
clothe his body; and say to your wives, "Take all that I have and
be set at liberty; but if you stay with me you shall comply with
the law of God, and that too without any murmuring and whining.
You must fulfil the law of God in every respect, and round up
your shoulders to walk up to the mark without any grunting."
56
Now recollect that two weeks from to morrow I am going to set you
at liberty. But the first wife will say, "It is hard, for I have
lived with my husband twenty years, or thirty, and have raised a
family of children for him, and it is a great trial to me for him
to have more women;" then I say it is time that you gave him up
to other women who will bear children. If my wife had borne me
all the children that she ever would bare, the celestial law
would teach me to take young women that would have children.
56
Do you understand this? I have told you many times that there are
multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles,
now what is our duty?--to prepare tabernacles for them; to take a
course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the
families of the wicked, where they will be trained in wickedness,
debauchery, and every species of crime. It is the duty of every
righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles for all the
spirits they can; hence if my women leave, I will go and search
up others who will abide the celestial law, and let all I now
have go where they please; though I will send the Gospel to them.
56
This is the reason why the doctrine of plurality of wives was
revealed, that the noble spirits which are waiting for
tabernacles might be brought forth.
56
If the men of the world were right, or if they were anywhere near
right, there might not be the necessity which there now is. But
they are wholly given up to idolatry, and to all manner of
wickedness.
56
Do I think that my children will be damned? No, I do not, for I
am going to fight the devil until I save them all; I have got my
sword ready, and it is a two-edged one. I have not a fear about
that, for I would almost be ashamed of my body if it would beget
a child that would not abide the law of God, though I may have
some unruly children.
56
I am going to ask you a good many things, and to begin with I
will ask, what is your prayer? Do you not ask for the righteous
to increase, while the unrighteous shall decrease and dwindle
away? Yes, that is the prayer of every person that prays at all.
The Methodists pray for it, the Baptists pray for it, and the
Church of England and all the reformers, the Shaking Quakers not
excepted. And if the women belonging to this Church will turn
Shaking Quakers, I think their sorrows will soon be at an end.
57
Sisters, I am not joking, I do not throw out my proposition to
banter your feelings, to see whether you will leave your
husbands, all or any of you. But I do know that there is no
cessation to the everlasting whining of many of the women in this
Territory; I am satisfied that this is the case. And if the women
will turn from the commandments of God and continue to despise
the order of heaven, I will pray that the curse of the Almighty
may be close to their heels, and that it may be following them
all the day long. And those that enter into it and are faithful,
I will promise them that they shall be queens in heaven, and
rulers to all eternity.
57
"But," says one, "I want to have my paradise now." And says
another, "I did think I should be in paradise if I was sealed to
brother Brigham, and I thought I should be happy when I became
his wife, or brother Heber's. I loved you so much, that I thought
I was going to have a heaven right off, right here on the spot.
57
What a curious doctrine it is, that we are preparing to enjoy!
The only heaven for you is that which you make yourselves. My
heaven is here--[laying his hand upon his heart]. I carry it with
me. When do I expect it in its perfection? When I come up in the
resurrection; then I shall have it, and not till then.
57
But now we have got to fight the good fight of faith, sword in
hand, as much so as men have when they go to battle; and it is
one continual warfare from morning to evening, with sword in
hand. This is my duty, and this is my life.
57
But the women come and say, "Really brother John, and brother
William, I thought you were going to make a heaven for me," and
they get into trouble because a heaven is not made for them by
the men, even though agency is upon women as well as upon men.
True there is a curse upon the woman that is not upon the man,
namely, that "her whole affections shall be towards her husband,"
and what is the next? "He shall rule over you."
57
But how is it now? Your desire is to your husband, but you strive
to rule over him, whereas the man should rule over you.
57
Some may ask whether that is the case with me; go to my house and
live, and then you will learn that I am very kind, but know how
to rule.
57
If I had only wise men to talk to, there would be no necessity
for my saying what I am going to say. Many and many an Elder
knows no better than to go home and abuse as good a woman as
dwells upon this earth, because of what I have said this
afternoon. Are you, who act in that way, fit to have a family?
No, you are not, and never will be, until you get good common
sense.
57
Then you can go to work and magnify your callings; and you can do
the best you know how; and on that ground I will promise you
salvation, but upon no other principle.
57
If I were talking to a people that understood themselves and the
doctrine of the holy Gospel, there would be no necessity for
saying this, because you would understand. But many have been
(what shall I say? pardon me, brethren,) hen-pecked so much, that
they do not know the place of either man or woman; they abuse and
rule a good woman with an iron hand. With them it is as Solomon
said--"Bray a fool in a mortar among wheat, with a pestle, yet
will not his foolishness depart from him." You may talk to them
about their duties, about what is required of them, and still
they are fools, and will continue to be.
57
Prepare yourselves for two weeks from to morrow; and I will tell
you now, that if you will tarry with your husbands, after I have
set you free, you must bow down to it, and submit yourselves to
the celestial law. You may go where you please, after two weeks
from to-morrow; but, remember, that I will not hear any more of
this whining.
57
In the midst of all my harsh sayings, shall I say
chastisements?--I am disposed, in my heart, to bless this people;
and I do bless you, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, November 2, 1856
Brigham Young, November 2, 1856
REFORMATION NECESSARY AMONG THE SAINTS.--INFIDEL PHILOSOPHY.
A Discourse, by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, November 2, 1856.
58
I am very thankful for the privilege that I enjoy this morning,
with so many of the Latter-day Saints. I am thankful that we have
the privilege of assembling here to worship the Lord in so
comfortable a building, and in quite a moderate climate. I am
happy for the privilege of addressing the Saints, and I could
hope with all my heart, that I may never be called upon to
address any other class of people; still, the Gospel must be
preached to the world, that the wicked may be left without
excuse. We have done a great deal of preaching and talking to
persons that knew nothing of the Gospel of salvation, and I have
occupied many years in trying to lay before the inhabitants of
the earth the principles of life and salvation, until, through
the providence of God, I have been called to other duties than to
mingle or associate with those who would not believe and practise
the Gospel. Still, I should have been more than satisfied, had my
duty led me in a path to associate, more or less, with
unbelievers, for I can say that I would rather preach to them,
would rather associate with them, would rather take my chance
among a people who have never heard the Gospel preached at all,
than to live in the midst of the ungodly. The term ungodly
conveys an idea to my mind, perhaps, that it does not to all
present, for it is a fact that a man or woman must know the ways
of God before they can become ungodly. Persons may be sinners,
may be unrighteous, may be wicked, who have never heard the plan
of salvation, who are even unacquainted with the history of the
Son of Man, or who have heard of the name of the Savior, and,
perhaps, the history of his life while on the earth, but have
been taught unbelief through their tradition and education; but
to be ungodly, in the strict sense of the word, they must
measurably understand godliness.
59
It is lamentable to any person who understands by the visions of
eternity the plan of salvation, the providences of God to His
creatures, to see one who has his mind opened to see, understand,
and embrace the principles of life and salvation in his faith,
and who has the privilege of being adopted into the family of
heaven, of becoming an heir with the Saints that have formerly
lived upon the earth, an heir with the Prophets and with Jesus
Christ, and of being numbered with the children of the Most High,
with a legal administrator to officiate for the attainment of all
these privileges, and to open the door of salvation and
admittance into the kingdom, neglect so great a salvation. But
for any of this people who enjoy the privilege of seeking unto
the Lord their God, of being made acquainted with the ways of
life and salvation, to procure to themselves an eternal
exaltation, who have the privilege of preparing themselves to
dwell with Christ in the presence of their Father and their God,
of being joint heirs with Christ, and with all the Holy Ones that
have lived, to turn from those holy commandments, to cease or
neglect performing every duty made known to them, and to let the
gay and giddy fancies of this life entangle their feelings, and
draw them from the principles of eternal salvation, is most
astonishing to me, or to any person that ever had the vision of
their minds opened.
59
Every principle of philosophy that is known upon the face of the
earth, every argument and reason that can be adduced, would prove
that such a man or woman was taking a course destructive to
themselves; that they were blindfolding themselves by shutting
their own eyes, and, literally speaking, rushing to a precipice
from whose verge they would be dashed to pieces. It is most
astonishing to every principle of intelligence that any man or
woman will close their eyes upon eternal things after they have
been made acquainted with them, and let the gay things of this
world, the lusts of the eye, and the lusts of the flesh, entangle
their minds and draw them one hair's breadth from the principles
of life.
59
True there are many in the world who profess to be what we call
infidels, who have no knowledge of anything beyond the researches
of their education, who have not the faculty to pry into and
understand things beyond what they can see with their natural
eyes, hear with their ears, or comprehend with their natural
understandings; yet there are but few that are really left indeed
in the dark, left to be in reality what they profess to be. And
those few have not one particle of good sound reason, not one
argument on their side, to prove that a licentious, ungodly life
is of any advantage to any person on the earth, but will argue
the point, and that strenuously, that strict morality should be
observed among all intelligences, and an honest bearing, an
upright walk, and a gentlemanly conversation, not giving way to
vulgarity and foul language, nor doing anything in the dark that
they would not be willing to be scanned in daylight. For all this
they argue strenuously, and yet say that they know nothing about
God and eternity. We are here, we exist on the earth. I am sure
that I am alive, for I can see others living. I am endowed with a
certain degree of intelligence, where did it come from? An
infidel might say, "I do not know." Where did I originate? "I do
not know." Who was the maker and former of all we can see? "I do
not know." Yet those very characters will argue the necessity of
a moral life, of an honest upright walk, one with the other.
59
But what are their arguments and what are their hopes? Why, they
say, "We are to-day, to-morrow, perhaps, we shall be no more. We
came into existence, but how we cannot tell. We have no faith, or
belief, or confidence in the God that you Christians talk about;
we have no confidence in His providence; by chance we are, and by
chance we shall go and be no more." Do you not perceive that
their arguments land them in the vortex of ignorance and
unbelief, of misery and annihilation? Go into the world and
observe those who do not possess principles that reach into
eternity, and that are in eternity, principles by which they
exist and by which God created all things, and you will see that
those principles are lost to them, and that, whether they believe
in those principles or not, their course and profession will land
them without an existence, or the possession of the least thing
in heaven, earth, or hell.
60
These reflections bring to my understanding the greatest
ignorance that can be manifested by an intelligent people, those
in particular that are now before me, who have had the privilege
of the holy Gospel and neglected their duty, turned away from the
holy commandments, and ceased to live their religion in every
point; such conduct does manifest the greatest weakness,
ignorance, foolery, and wickedness that can be produced by
intelligences. If you comprehend my ideas you will agree with me,
for no sensible man or woman can see the subject in any different
light. If we are here by chance, if we happened to slip into this
world from nothing, we shall soon slip out of this world to
nothing, hence nothing will remain; consequently we have nothing
to gain or lose. But the man of better judgment, of more sound
reasoning, must know that every thing that was, that is, or that
will be, every thing that can be in all the eternities in the
vast expanse that we behold, must have had a Creator. No
principles exhibited to the human family will suggest that a
book, a bench, a house, a tree, or any growing or manufactured
article, can be produced without a producer. All we know, all we
see, hear, and understand, proves to us that there is no fabric
without a constructor.
60
These reflections lead me to contrast the world with a people
like this before me, a people endowed with intelligence and a
knowledge of heavenly principles. That is our profession before
the world, and is our confession to God and angels, to all that
have lived on the earth and that are now on it; and you will hear
the world exclaim, "You poor Mormons, you Latter-day Saints that
have left your homes, your houses, your friends, your families,
your possessions, the place of your birth, and every thing that
is near and dear to you, you say that the visions of your minds
have been opened, that you have had the visions of eternity
opened to your understanding, so that you do know that there is a
God, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world; so that you do
know of the principles of life and salvation proffered to you;
and for these you have forsaken all and gone to the mountains."
60
Of these things the whole world are witnesses against us and for
us, wherever the sound of this Gospel has been; and you can
hardly find a nook on the earth where the sound of it has not
reached, for it has gone to the uttermost parts of the earth, and
hosts are witnesses of this. Yet all acknowledge that you have
something superior, that you have light and intelligence that
others do not enjoy; that God has opened up the heavens to your
minds, and taken away the vail from your understandings. And you
say that there is a God, that you understand His character, that
He has revealed Himself to you, and that you have left all and
come to the mountains, and what is the cry here? Why the people
need reforming, there is necessity for reformation.
61
"I am thankful," says one, "that I found the spirit of
reformation when I came home." What would an angel of the Lord
say, if he came here, or a devil either? "O, shame on these
Latter-day Saints, it is a disgrace to intelligence,. to your
officers as Elders in Israel, to your characters, to your names
and beings on the earth, that you have had the visions of
eternity opened to you, and many have forsaken everything that is
near and dear to them by way of preparation for the Celestial
kingdom, and now cry out the necessity of a reformation. It is
most astonishing." I will leave it to every man, woman, and
child, if it does not look strange. What! reformation? Yes, for
in one sense we intend, that is as knowledge comes to us, to
reform daily. But shall the sound go forth that we do not see and
understand things as we did when in England, in France, in
Germany, in Denmark, in the East Indies, or anywhere else on this
earth? This sound goes forth, it is echoed by the angels into the
ears of our God and Father in eternity, and it is carried on the
wings of the wind over the earth, that the Latter-day Saints are
digging and toiling, going by sea and by land, traversing
distances of thousands of miles and circumscribing the earth to
be with their brethren, and when they get here they need
reforming. Why? Because they have backslidden.
61
You may ask me whether there is a need of reformation. Yes; and
if I were to dictate you how to reform I should have to tell the
old story over again, as I already have hundreds of times. First,
reform as to your moral character, dealing, walk, precepts and
examples. Reform first morally, before you get down before the
Lord and plead with Him for the visions of eternity to be opened
to your understandings, before you ask for the vail to be taken
from your eyes. First reform in your moral character and conduct
one towards another, so that every man and woman will deal
honestly, and walk uprightly with one another, and extend the arm
of charity and benevolence to each other, as necessity requires.
Be moral and strictly honest in every point, before you ask God
to reform your spirit.
61
If the people in their present situation and mode of dealing in
this city, to say nothing of those out of the city, all go to
work now and have meetings and call upon God to get the spirit of
reformation, but sing and pray about doing right without doing
it, instead of singing themselves away to "everlasting bliss,"
they will sing and pray themselves into hell, shouting
hallelujah. You cannot be saved by any other principle than that
of the holy Gospel; and if you live in the neglect of the
performance of the duties that you know are required at your
hands, if you do not walk uprightly before God and your brethren,
if you do not deal justly with one another, if you do not walk in
honesty and soberness with one another, your faith is vain and
your reformation is vain. You must repent of your evil deeds and
first of all morally reform yourselves, before you can ask God
for His Spirit to reform and enlighten your spirits. This is my
doctrine and philosophy; were it not, I would say, let those who
steal, steal on; and you that are in the habit of swearing, swear
away; and you that have been in the habit of taking advantage of
each other, cheat away; and those who lie, lie away; and you that
trespass upon your brother, trespass away; and so continue,
Christian like, only be sure, just as you are going to die, to
look out and not have death catch you asleep, that when it comes
you may be awake enough just to repent of all your sins and turn
to God, and then you will be as fit subjects for heaven as powder
would be for a burning dwelling. Our lime-kiln, when it is
burning to its zenith, would be as fit a place for a powder
house, as in the celestial kingdom for such characters.
62
Do you think that I am telling you the truth? I do not care one
groat whether you think that I am telling you the truth, or not;
for when the day comes that we shall be weighed in the balance,
you will know. I am charged by the whole world with almost every
degree of immoral conduct, with the most erroneous practices that
were ever indulged in by any person on the earth, and for what?
Because I have such an influence over these men who are sitting
here; because you all hearken to your leader. I would to God that
this was altogether the truth, for I tell you, in the name of the
Lord, that there would not be a professed Latter-day Saint in
this Territory, but what would live his religion. They think we
are all one, but when the Saints gather here they are far from
being one; they have not yet learned to be one in Christ, they do
not understand the principle of being one in a church capacity,
to say nothing about being one in a family capacity, or in a
neighborhood capacity. The people might have known, long ago,
what the difficulty is, if the influences, temptations, and lusts
that are in us naturally are given way to, and we are led captive
at the will of him that rules the world; that forms the grand
difficulty.
62
Do you want to know the reason why I speak of our being so
comfortably situated this morning in so comfortable a meeting
house? We can return home and sit down and warm our feet before
the fire, and can eat our bread and butter, &c., but my mind is
yonder in the snow, where those immigrating Saints are, and my
mind has been with them ever since I had the report of their
start from Winter Quarters, (Florence,) on the 3rd of September.
I cannot talk about any thing, I cannot go out or come in, but
what in every minute or two minutes my mind reverts to them; and
the questions--whereabouts are my brethren and sisters who are on
the Plains, and what is their condition--force themselves upon me
and annoy my feelings all the time. And were I to answer my own
feelings, I should do so by undertaking to do what the conference
voted I should not do, that is, I should be with them now in the
snow, even though it should be up to the knees, up to the waist,
or up to the neck. My mind is there, and my faith is there; I
have a great many reflections about them.
62
Have any of you suffered while coming here? Yes. How many of you
sisters present buried your husbands, or your fathers, or your
mothers, or children, on the Plains? How many of you brethren
buried your wives? Have you suffered, and been in peril and
trouble? Yes, you had to endure anguish and pain from the effects
of cholera, toil, and weariness. Do you live your religion when
you get there, after all the trouble, afflictions, an pains you
have passed through to come to Zion? and to a pretty Zion! Men
and women start across the Plains for this place, and are they
willing to wade through the snow? Yes. To travel through snow
storms? Yes. To wade rivers? Yes. What for? To get to Zion. And
here we are in Zion, and what a Zion! where it is necessary for
the cry of reformation to go through the land, both a spiritual
and temporal reformation. God is more merciful than man can be,
and it is well for us. Again, when I consider the backsliding of
the people, and their sins, I will not ask God to be more
merciful, and have more sympathy towards me, than I have for my
brethren and sisters.
62
A good many teams have already gone out to meet the Saints who
are struggling to gain this place; I can hardly keep from talking
about them all the time, for when I am preaching they are
uppermost in my mind. The brethren were liberal last Sunday in
turning out to meet them with teams, still if any more feel
desirous of going to their assistance, I will give them the
privilege, and advise them to take feed, not only for their own
animals, but also for those of the brethren who have already gone
out, for they will very likely be short. But I should be more
particularly thankful if the minds of this community could be so
impressed and stirred up, so wakened up, that when those poor
brethren and sisters who are now on the Plains do arrive they may
be able to say of a truth and in very deed, "God be thanked, we
have got to Zion." But fearfulness and forebodings of
disappointment to them are in my feelings. How far they may be
disappointed, I do not know.
63
I do not wish to be personal in this congregation, but let me say
to the authorities, to the Elders of Israel, the Seventies, High
Priests, Bishops, or any other quorum or class of officers, if
you will appoint meetings and have only those present whom we
wish to be there, I will then tell you how to commence a
reformation. I will there be particular and personal in my
remarks, if necessary, and I will talk to you as severely as I
already have to some of the quorums. Now then, morally reform.
"In what?" In everything. Reform your moral character, and be at
least as moral as you would if you belonged to a Methodist,
Presbyterian, or Baptist church, or to the Roman Catholics: be as
moral as those classes of people, for heaven's sake. Then there
will be a chance for you to reform in spirit, and to get the
light of eternity to shine upon your efforts.
63
There are a great many things to be taught and practised. I have
frequently thought that I would rather preach to and baptize new
converts than to fashion over the old ones, for you can seldom
get a good pattern out of them. Some will be full of seams and
checks, and you never can make a sound piece out of them. If I
had the material to work with I would rather make new ones, than
patch up the old ones: but as we have not the new materials to
work upon, we must patch up the old ones. Patch up
yourselves--make your characters comely to each other. I am not
so anxious about the Spirit; let a man walk as pure and holy as
the Gods and angels, and then see if there will not be the light
of eternity in him. Let a man or woman walk without spot or
blemish and the Spirit and power of God Almighty will be with
them all the time, and the angels of God will be round about them
all the time, they will be preserved to do the will of God
preparatory to an eternal exaltation.
63
Do not talk to me and tell me that you are so backslidden and
dark, but reform and get the light of God within you. Some get up
here and say, "I will live my religion, I will brethren; O pray
for me, I will live my religion, if it costs me my life." Yes,
some of the great men of Israel talk in that style. Some of the
Presidents come here and say, "I will live my religion, God being
my helper, if it takes away my life." When a man talks about his
religion costing him his life, I want to ask that man if he has
any common sense about him. Have you any true philosophy,
argument, light, or intelligence in the least degree? "O yes, we
are philosophers." Then ask yourselves from whence you derive
your lives, your means, your property, everything you can enjoy
in time and eternity. Do you receive them outside of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ? No you do not. And still a man will get up here
and say, "I will serve the Lord, if it costs me my life." I will
say what I said yesterday, such a man is a fool. Such a man is
condemned, and the wrath of God is upon him. His eyes are closed,
and he is no more fit for a President of the Seventies, or any
other quorum, than a red hot lime-kiln is for a powder house. Cut
such a man off from the Church, for he has backslidden to that
degree that nothing but death stares him in the face, when he
looks to God and Christ with a view of keeping their law. We wish
those rotten branches cut off from the Church, severed from the
trunk of the tree; slash them off, and put a little wax on where
you cut the limb off, that the wound may heal over, and the tree
grow more thrifty. May the Lord bless us. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, November 2, 1856
Heber C. Kimball, November 2, 1856
EFFECTS OF A MURMURING SPIRIT--COMPANIES ON THE PLAINS--THOSE
WHO ENTER HEAVEN HAVE TO PASS THE INSPECTION OF THE FIRST
PRESIDENCY.
A Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, November 2, 1856.
64
You have heard what brother Brigham has said to you to-day, and
his words are as true as any that were ever spoken by Moses, by
the Prophet Joseph Smith, or by any other man that ever lived or
is now living upon the face of the earth.
64
Were this people living their religion as faithfully as they
ought to, when a person rose up to teach you the principles of
life and salvation, his mind would be free, his tongue would be
loosed, and you would be able to draw from him those instructions
best adapted to your feelings and circumstances. But at times it
is almost impossible for a man to speak to this people. It seemed
to brother Grant and me, in the Social Hall the other night, as
though every person in that congregation had their hearts shut
against our words; and in our congregations here I occasionally
notice more or less of the same feeling. This may be measurably
due to a murmuring spirit, which I am rather inclined to believe
some of you have, and I will tell you wherein. Some find fault
with and blame brother Brigham and his Council, because of the
sufferings they have heard that our brethren are enduring on the
Plains. A few of them have died, and you hear some exclaim, "What
an awful thing it is! Why is it that the First Presidency are so
unwise in their calculations? but it falls on their shoulders."
Well, the late arrival of those on the Plains cannot be helped
now, but let me tell you, most emphatically, that if all who were
entrusted with the care and management of this year's immigration
had done as they were counseled and dictated by the First
Presidency of this Church, the sufferings and hardships now
endured by the companies on their way here would have been
avoided. Why? Because they would have left the Missouri river in
season, and not have been hindered until into September.
64
There is a spirit of murmuring among the people, and the fault is
laid upon brother Brigham. For this reason the heavens are closed
against you, for he holds the keys of life and salvation upon the
earth; and you may strive as much as you please, but not one of
you will ever go through the strait gate into the kingdom of God,
except those that go through by that man and his brethren, for
they will be the persons whose inspection you must pass. I tell
you this plain truth, and you may do what you think best with it.
65
Three hand-cart companies have arrived in safety and in good
season, and with much less sickness and death than commonly occur
in wagon companies. Does it make a man sick to labor and be
diligent? Let me sit down and be inactive in mind and body, let
me cease building and making improvements, or doing something
useful, and I should not live six months, nor would brother
Brigham, because we have become so inured to occupation.
65
If the immigration could have been carried on as dictated by
brother Brigham, there would have been no trouble. The devil has
tried to hedge up the way, so that we should not bring about the
wise plans devised by our President, and has tried to make those
plans look as disagreeable and as miserable as possible. Our
brethren and sisters on the Plains are in my mind all the time,
and brother Brigham has given, to those who wish it, the
privilege of going back to help bring them in. If I do not go
myself I will send a team, though I have already sent back nearly
all my teams, and so has brother Brigham. Those who have gone
back never will be sorry for or regret having done so. If
brothers Joseph A. Young, my son William H., George D. Grant, and
my son David P. had not gone to the assistance of those now on
the Plains, I should always have regretted it. If they die during
the trip, they will die while endeavoring to save their brethren;
and who has greater love than he that lays down his life for his
friends?--Manifest your love by your works. Jesus said, "If you
love me, keep my commandments;" by this you shall know that you
love him. If you love brothers Brigham, Heber, Jedediah, and the
Twelve, please to keep our commandments that are given to you
from day to day, and you will be blest and exalted. I do not want
a women to tell me that she loves me, when she does not keep my
commandments, for her statement would be vague and foolish.
65
Were I in the situation of some of you, I would not sleep another
night before starting to the assistance of the people that are
now struggling through the snow. I would not wait until
to-morrow, I would start to-day, and I would toil until I reached
those brethren, and they were in this valley. When the brethren
who went back first met them, they felt as though they were truly
saviors to them; and when they came into their midst, they would
not permit them to go ten rods from them, for while one of them
was present they felt as though they were safe, as though they
would be preserved from misery, from starvation, and death. And
yet, perhaps, some of these very persons we are striving to save
may turn against the Church, and become our most bitter enemies.
65
Those that have died, I presume were some of the best men and
women in the company, and the most faithful. Why did not the Lord
take the ungodly? It may be that He thought He would let the
devil handle them a little, and kill a few of them, and the devil
is so much of a financier that he will not kill his own subjects.
Well, if he has slain the Saints with God's permission, and they
were a good people coming to Zion to serve God and seek for
eternal glory, they have gone home happy, and we will see them
again. And they will thank God that they stepped out of the world
when they did, for if they had come here they would have seen the
wickedness of some of this people, and perhaps they would have
become unrighteous too.
66
As brother Brigham has said, I would rather be helping in those
on the Plains than to be here, if circumstances and duty would
permit. We offered our offering and started to go, but the Lord
ordered it otherwise and we came home. But we have done a better
work than if we had gone, for the brethren would have said,
"Brother Brigham is there with his Council, and we will sit down
here and roast our shins, say our prayers and lull ourselves to
sleep." There would have been no general stir in behalf of our
brethren on the Plains; but scores and hundreds have now gone to
meet them, and they have had good weather so far, have they not?
66
I cannot account for the barrier that is between you and the Lord
in any other way, only that there is quite a sympathy at work
against brother Brigham and his Council. But there is not a thing
which he has dictated but what has come out right, and will now,
and will work together for good to those that love God and keep
His commandments. We have to acknowledge the hand of God in all
things; and that man or woman that feels to murmur and complain
is in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity, and does
not know it. May God have mercy on you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, November 2, 1856
Brigham Young, November 2, 1856
COUNSEL CONCERNING IMMIGRATION--BENEFITS TO BE DERIVED FROM AN
EARLY
START--CROSSING THE PLAINS WITH HANDCARTS, ETC.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, November 2, 1856.
66
Brother Kimball, in his remarks, touched upon an idea that had
not previously entered my mind, that is, that some of the people
were dissatisfied with me and my counselors, on account of the
lateness of this season's immigration. I do not know but what
such may be the case, as I am aware that those persons now on the
Plains have a great many friends and relatives here; but it never
came into my mind that I was in the least degree censurable for
any person's being now upon the Plains. Why? Because there is not
the least shadow of reason for casting such censure upon me. I am
about as free from what is called jealousy, as any man that
lives; I am not jealous of any body, though I know what the
feeling is; but it never troubled me much, even in my younger
days. Neither am I suspicious of my brethren, therefore I was not
suspecting any censure of the kind just named.
66
Aside from entire want of foundation, and aside from my freedom
from jealousy and suspicion, there are other reasons why I could
not be expected to have indulged in the suspicion of such a
charge. Our general epistles usually go from here twice a year,
and the immigration, the gathering of the people, is dictated in
those epistles, with a considerable degree of minute detail; I
also advance many ideas on the same subject, from time to time,
which are written and published; and I write a great many letters
on this subject, and many of these are published.
67
There is not a person, who knows anything about the counsel of
the First Presidency concerning the immigration, but what knows
that we have recommended it to start in season. True, we have not
expressly, and with a penalty, forbidden the immigration to start
late, but hereafter I am going to lay an injunction and place a
penalty, to be suffered by any Elder or Elders who will start the
immigration across the Plains after a given time; and the penalty
shall be that they shall be severed from the Church, for I will
not have such late starts. You know my life; there is not a
person in this Church and kingdom but what must acknowledge that
gold and silver, houses and lands, &c., do multiply in my hands.
There is not an individual but what must acknowledge that I am as
good a financier as they ever knew, in all things that I put my
hands to. This is well known by the people, and they consider me
a frugal, saving man, therefore there is no ground or room for
their suspecting that my mismanagement caused the present
sufferings on the Plains. I presume that brother Kimball never
would have thought of such an idea, had he not heard it.
67
Say that we start a company from the Missouri river as late as
the first of June, and allow them three months in which to
perform the journey, then they have time to travel moderately and
one month of good weather for lee-way, in which to finish the
journey, provided they do not complete it in three months; then
they may be ninety days or more in coming a thousand miles, which
a child of four years old could walk it in that time. They may
stop and feed their teams, and after they arrive they will have
the autumn in which to look round and prepare for winter. This is
my policy, and then during the first half of the journey the
cattle can get what is called prairie grass while it is at its
best, for it is easily killed by frost, and cattle must have the
privilege of feeding upon it before it is too dry, or frost
bitten. The month of June is the best month for that grass, and
this all know who are acquainted with the western prairies. Then
they come to the mountain grass in the latter part of their
journey, which though probably dry by the time they get to it, is
filled with nutrition, nearly as much so as grain, and will
fatten cattle.
67
They can come along moderately, take their time, and arrive here
in August. They should be here in that month, what for? To help
us harvest our late wheat, corn, potatoes; to help get up wood,
put up fences and prepare for winter. This plan also puts into
the possession of new comers time and ability to secure to
themselves their winter's provision. Do you not see that such is
the result? I have known this all the time. I have always said,
send the companies across the Plains early. Companies have
suffered loss upon loss of lives and property, but never by the
dictation of the First Presidency. Do you not readily understand
that if the immigration had been here a few months ago, or by the
first of September, that they would have had opportunity to rest,
and then to secure wheat, to lay up a few potatoes, to get up
wood and lay in the staple necessaries for winter?
67
But our Elders abroad say, by their conduct all the time, that we
here in the mountains do not understand what is wanted in the
east, as well as they do. They do not proclaim it in so many
words, but their conduct does, and "by their fruits ye shall know
them." Their actions assert that they know more than we do, but I
say that they do not. If they had sent out immigration in the
season that they should have done, you and I could have kept our
teams at home; we could have fenced our five and ten acre lots;
we could have put in our fall wheat; could have got up wood for
ourselves and for the poor that cannot help themselves; and thus
we might have been providing for ourselves, and making ourselves
comfortable; whereas, now your hands and mine are tied.
68
This people are this day deprived of thousands of acres of
wheat that would have been sowed by this time, had it not been
for the misconduct of our immigration affairs this year, and we
would have had an early harvest, but now we may have to live on
roots and weeds again before we get the wheat. I look at this
matter as plainly as I do upon your faces. I have a philosophical
forecast, and I do know the results of men's work; I know what
the conduct of this people will produce in their future life. If
I have not this power naturally, God has surely given it to me.
68
Well, what shall be done? Why, we must bear it. The Elders east
fancy that they know more about what is wanted here than we do,
and we have to bear it. Let me have had the dictation of the
emigration from Liverpool, and I could have brought many more
persons here, and at a cost of no more than from three to five
dollars of what it has now cost, provided I could have dictated
matters at every point. That is not boasting; I only want to tell
you that I know more than they know. But what have we to do now?
We have to be compassionate, we have to be merciful to our
brethren.
68
Here is brother Franklin D. Richards who has but little knowledge
of business, except what he has learned in the Church; he came
into the Church when a boy, and all the public business he has
been in is the little he has done while in Liverpool, England;
and here is brother Daniel Spencer, brother Richards' First
Counselor and a man of age and experience, and I do not know that
I will attach blame to either of them. But if, while at the
Missouri river, they had received a hint from any person on this
earth, or if even a bird had chirped it in the ears of brothers
Richards and Spencer, they would have known better than to rush
men, women, and children on to the prairie in the autumn months,
on the third of September, to travel over a thousand miles. I
repeat that if a bird had chirped the inconsistency of such a
course in their ears, they would have thought and considered for
one moment, and would have stopped those men, women, and children
there until another year.
68
If any man or woman complains of me or of my Counselors, in
regard to the lateness of some of this season's immigration, let
the curse of God be on them and blast their substance with mildew
and destruction, until their names are forgotten from the earth.
I never thought of my being accused of advising or having
anything to do with so late a start. The people must know that I
know how to handle money and means, and I never supposed that
anybody had a doubt of it. It will cost this people more to bring
in those companies from the Plains, than it would to have
seasonably brought them from the outfitting point on the Missouri
river. I do not believe that the biggest fool in the community
could entertain the thought that all this loss of life, time, and
means, was through the mismanagement of the First Presidency.
69
I know how to dictate affairs; and no man need to have walked in
darkness touching this duty with regard to the foreign
immigration. You can read their duty in our epistles, letters,
and sermons; and what is the purport of those documents, on this
point? That we are new settlers in a wild and uninhabited
country, and are thrown upon our own resources; that we need all
our teams and means to prepare for those persons who are coming,
instead of crippling us by taking our bread, men, and teams, and
going out to meet them. And if the present system continues, this
people will be found like the Kilkenny cats, which eat up each
other clear to their tails, and they were left jumping at one
another; such operations will financially use us up.
69
Last year my back and head ached, and I have been about half mad
ever since, and that too righteously, because of the reckless
squandering of means and leaving me to foot the bills. Last year,
without asking me a word of counsel, without a word being spoken
to me about the matter, there was over sixty thousand dollars of
indebtedness incurred for me to pay. What for? To fetch a few
immigrants here, when I could have brought the whole of them with
one quarter of the means.
69
What is the cause of our immigration being so late this season?
The ignorance and mismanagement of some who had to do with it,
and still, perhaps they did the best they knew how.
69
Are those people in the frost and snow by my doings? No, my
skirts are clear of their blood, God knows. If a bird had chirped
in brother Franklin's ears in Florence, and the brethren there
had held a council, he would have stopped the rear companies
there, and we would have been putting in our wheat, &c., instead
of going on the Plains and spending weeks and months to succor
our brethren. I make these remarks because they are true.
69
As to the companies now out, we must bring them in; and another
year we will send men to the Missouri river who understand the
right management of affairs, and will send them in the speediest
conveyances, so that they may not get the "big head" before they
arrive there, and then they may be able to do as we tell them.
69
Can people come across the Plains with hand-carts? Ask brothers
Edmund Ellsworth, Daniel D. McArthur and William Bunker, who led
the three hand-cart companies that have already arrived; and the
brethren and sisters in those companies state that they crossed
quicker and easier than the wagon companies.
69
Those who counseled the companies to come on have nearly all gone
back to their assistance, after staying at home but about two
days, after their return from a long mission, thus manifesting
their faith by their works.
69
I cannot help what is out of my reach, but I am on hand to send
more teams, and to send and send, until, if it is necessary, we
are perfectly stopped in every kind of business. Brother Heber
says that he will send another team, and I mean to send as many
more as he does; I ought to send more than brother Heber, for I
am fourteen days older than he is. I can send more teams, but I
do not intend that the fetters shall be on me another season.
69
I will mention something more. You cannot hear George D. Grant,
Daniel Spencer and others of the lately returned missionaries
speak without eulogizing Franklin D. Richards. They are full of
eulogizing Franklin D. Richards, but they need to be careful or
they will have the "big head" and become as dead and devoid of
the Spirit as old pumpkins. And with them it is, "What could I
have done without brother George? And what could we have done
without brother Franklin?--and when you hear me calling you
Rabbi, know ye that I want to be called Rabbi;" and so it goes,
but I suppose that this is not what they do it for.
70
Don't you know that I know whether you are good for anything, or
not, without my praising you? I know all about you, without
telling what great things you have done, and what you have not
done. But the very spirit some have in them of pride, arrogance,
and self esteem, has led men and women to die on the Plains, by
scores, at least their folly has. And if they had not had any
such spirit about them, God would have whispered to them to have
held a council, and would have stopped them from rushing their
brethren and sisters into such suffering. But we must now rescue
those people, and may God help us to do it. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Jedediah M. Grant, November 2, 1856
Jedediah M. Grant, November 2, 1856
COMPANIES ON THE PLAINS--PRACTICABILITY OF HAND-CARTS--THE TIME
FOR STARTING FROM MISSOURI RIVER--REFORMATION, ETC.
A Discourse by President J. M. Grant, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, November 2, 1856.
70
I always regret that circumstances should occur to call from our
President remarks like some of those he was moved upon to make
this forenoon; but such circumstances do occur, hence similar
remarks must be made.
70
As an individual I have been and am very anxious in relation to
the immigration now upon the Plains. Their situation is very
distressing, and several have died in brother Willie's company.
Some had died before the brethren could reach them, and a few
more died during the first five days after they met them. The
company had encountered cold and storms, and one very stormy day
which caused nearly one third of the deaths that had happened.
70
They had no serious or contagious diseases, but the storms came
and the air was very cold, as a matter of course some who were
fatigued with the toil and anxiety of the journey sank under the
inclemency of the weather; they were furnished by those that
returned to them, with shoes, clothing, and food. They were not
entirely destitute of provisions when the return teams met them;
their rations at the outfitting were more than those of the
companies in advance of them. When met they had nearly four
hundred pounds of sea bread, but their last rations of flour had
been dealt out on the evening previous.
70
Brother Willie's company was met with on the upper crossing of
Sweet Water, but the whereabouts of the ox-trains and the
hand-cart company in rear of brother Willie are yet unknown to
us.
70
We have now some two hundred teams out to meet them, and some
were only prepared with seven days forage for animals. It will be
necessary for more teams to go to their relief, with grain and
hay to sustain the animals already sent out, or they will die.
70
The weather had been cold enough to freeze over the Sweet Water;
I mention this that you may know how the thermometer stood in
that region; and some animals had been frozen to death. It is
winter where they are, and they are actually in the cold and snow
which was near one foot deep, and as they went east it appeared
to grow deeper.
71
The observations made this morning, as a matter of course, would
only be treasured up by those who had in them the spirit of life.
We have persons that have so much death in them that they do not
know the counsels that are given to the immigrating Saints, that
do not know the tenor of advice contained in the general epistles
of the Presidency of the Church. But I do not suppose that the
thinking part of the community anticipated any censures being
placed upon the First Presidency of this Church, in consequence
of the sufferings of the people now upon the Plains. Still there
is a certain class of people whose brains never reach above the
calves of their legs, and they never will know anything about the
general policy of the Church, about what is written, what is
desired, counseled, or asked for.
71
In relation to hand-cart companies, I have said, and I say it
again, that they should start by the first of May, and then they
can travel leisurely according to their strength and feelings;
they can then have May, June, July, and August for the
accomplishment of their journey. They could not travel so
leasurely this year, from the fact that there were no grain
depots on the route, consequently they had to hurry through, lest
their rations should fail. Were grain deposited at convenient
points on the route, the trip is, in every sense of the word, a
feasible one for hand-carts, for without that advantage, the
present year has proved the feasibility of the undertaking.
71
The grand difficulty with a portion of our immigration this year
has been in starting in the fore-part of September instead of the
first of May, but even then it is worse with ox teams than with
hand-carts, for if the cattle fail the people have no facilities
for transporting their tents, bedding, clothing, and provisions.
Unless I have different feelings to what I now have, I should
never wish to see a train leave the Missouri river after the
middle of June, or after the first day of July at the latest,
until we can establish grain depots on the route, for I do not
consider any train safe in starting late.
71
Brother Brigham has invariably advised early starts, and he gave
his reasons for so doing this morning, and I do not wish to
reiterate them.
71
I wish to see those who are directly engaged in carrying out the
operations of gathering the Saints, to correctly understand the
advice given and the system adopted for the gathering, and when
they understand that and carry it out, as planned and given by
brother Brigham, our immigration will be free from the sad
results of mismanagement. But for persons, who are ignorant of
the special causes and agents in any unpleasant transaction, to
at once blame the head is the height of nonsense, though people
in all ages have been prone to censure their leader, in times of
special distress. When crickets and grasshoppers devour, when
famine wastes, and when snows, storms, and accidents occur, it is
natural, in that portion of the community that lack the gift of
the Holy Ghost, to murmur against the leader of the people.
71
With Saints, what is the practical result of that murmuring? It
shuts down the gate between you and heaven, between you and the
Almighty, and you cannot get the Spirit of God. The murmurings
and rebellions of ancient Israel prevented Moses from leading
them to the land of Canaan. So soon as they had to endure
hardship they began to murmur against Moses, and the result was
the Lord would not give them His Spirit; the same has been the
result in this dispensation.
72
In the days of Joseph, if a woman happened to put on her stocking
wrong side out she would blame the Prophet; and if a man happened
to tie his shoestring in a hard instead of a bow know, he was
angry with the Prophet for not having inspiration enough to have
prevented so dire an event. The brains of that class of people
never reach above the calves of their legs. I like to see the
people have a little hard sense, like the mule; I like to see
them understand the principles of the Son of God.
72
With regard to this people, I know that they are the best people
on the earth, but there is more or less alloy among them which we
hate. The Savior said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a
net that gathereth all kinds of fish; and I believe that parable
holds good in our day, with regard to the gathering of the people
that are caught by the Gospel of the Son of God, through the
practical preaching of the Elders. I believe this, from observing
the unwise sayings and doings of some who profess to be Saints.
72
I am aware that the world, because we are not all strictly living
our religion, will imagine, as a matter of course, that we are
bursting to pieces up here, and will say, "that is what we like;
we told you that if you would let the 'Mormons' alone they would
all burst to pieces." We can, by taking an unrighteous course,
burst ourselves to pieces, but they cannot burst us to pieces, if
we do right, that is certain, for they tried it when there were
but eight or ten in the Church, and when there were a few
hundred, and when there were a few thousand, and they were unable
to burst the Church. Now they flatter themselves that we shall
burst under the weight of our own conduct, but I will tell you
that we are after the evil doers.
72
If the Bishop and Teachers will go to work, together with every
officer in the Church, we can soon find out those who are not
disposed to do right; and let their names be written down, and
let the offence and place of residence be written against the
name, that we may know who are living in sin, where they live and
what their offences are.
72
I know that a great many people are full of sympathy, and yet
they talk of the celestial law that they are going to keep and
abide; but let me tell you that if you violate that law, you must
meet the penalty. How many have we got here that would sympathize
with those who are guilty of breaking their covenants, and
thereby virtually partake of their crimes? I believe it to be a
correct doctrine that the sympathizer is more or less implicated.
The President enjoined it on the High Priests to expose those
they knew to have committed or to be committing evil, and if they
did not, hereafter the sin would be upon their heads.
72
Let the whole people take warning; and let every man and woman in
Israel understand that the indignation of the Almighty rests upon
that person who fails to expose iniquity. And let the wrath of
God be upon any officer of the Church that knows of abomination,
unless he comes out and makes known that abomination. I believe
this ought to be, for we want the evil deeds of every person
exposed.
73
We want to feel after the people and hunt them up; and we want
the wrath of Brigham, and the wrath of Heber, and the wrath of
all the men and women on earth that are right, and the wrath of
Joseph, and the wrath of Michael, and the wrath of Raphael, and
the wrath of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the wrath of Almighty God
and of all the Gods in eternity to burn against those that will
sin. And we want the indignation and fire of the Almighty to
sweep through the land like the locusts of Egypt, until every
nauseous weed that grows among the Saints of God is destroyed.
73
Words are said to be light and windy, but I tell you that talking
these things foreshadows what will be literally and really. I
would be glad, when I speak to the people, that the Lord would
let His Holy Spirit accompany my words, for I do not want my
words to go alone. We have to speak to this people often, and
when we talk to them like a man reading off a sermon that is
written, it takes but little effect. When words go to the people
alone, they are not profited by them.
73
Instead of all the people being desirous and anxious, as they
should, to serve their God and practise what they know to be
right, many are all the time longing for some fantastical
doctrine, for something to gratify their vain imaginations. If
you wish to feast on the word of God and feel its realities, you
must practise the revelations of Jesus Christ. You must advance
and do the will of God, and then you will be blest.
73
I am aware, as the President said this morning, that it is of no
use talking about the Holy Ghost, the power of God, the gift of
God, or the light of the Almighty resting on this people, until
they become morally reformed. Some people laugh at and deride
sectarian religion. I never was a sectarian; I have been in this
Church from my boyhood; but in the region where I was raised,
sectarian morality exceeds, in some respects, the morality of
many who call themselves Latter-day Saints.
73
Some here keep their children too dirty for admission into a
district school where I was raised; and in some houses the towels
look as though they had passed Noah's ark, or had been used by
some of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the knives and
forks have the appearance of having been rusting ever since Adam
was driven from the garden of Eden.
73
I want to see the people wake up and reform, forsake all their
evil habits and everything that is dark, loathsome and impure. I
want to see them eschew all dirt, and filth, and degradation, and
cease profaning the Sabbath, and the name of the Lord God of
Israel; I want to see them become at least as moral and temperate
as any people in the Gentile world, as we call it. I tell you
that the Gentiles would be shocked at the filth and dirt of some
of the sons and daughters of Israel, and feel offended to
associate with them; I mean that portion of the Gentiles that are
pure in their moral habits.
73
I want to see the people repent, as the President said this
morning, and make a reformation in their lives, in their doings,
and in keeping their houses, farms, and everything they have,
clean and tidy.
73
We talk about our boys being smarter than their fathers. How many
of our boys are learning trades, are learning to be farmers, or
to understand any useful occupation? How many boys have we that
are trustworthy; and as good as their fathers were at the same
age? I know that our boys are bright and active, full of energy,
life, and power, but many of the parents do not teach their
children as they ought. They expect the schoolmaster to teach
them, but what can the schoolmaster teach them, when the parents
teach them nothing at home, and take no interest in what they are
learning at school?
74
We talk about daughters rivalling their mothers. How many
daughters have we that know how to spin, make butter, keep hairs
and flies' wings and legs on one plate, and the butter on the
other, make good cheese, knit their own stockings, and make good
hasty pudding or mush? How many of them can make their own
bonnets and dresses? How many know how to use fine needles and
coarse needles, and every kind of needles?
74
Many parents need to reform. Let the fathers teach their sons how
to work, the art of chopping and hauling wood, of breaking up the
ground, and of raising grain, cattle, sheep, hogs, &c.; and let
the mothers set their daughters to work; and let every man,
woman, and child, that is old enough, learn the arts of industry.
74
We want every Bishop to teach these reforms in Israel, we want
every man in Israel to teach them; and when all reform in such
matters, the Lord our God, will shower His blessings upon the
people of this city and upon the people in the valleys of these
mountains.
74
You may talk of reform, you may preach upon a virtuous life, upon
cleanliness, upon God and the Holy Ghost, but while there is
filth around the house, filth in the yard, and in every part of
the city, your preaching will not amount to much. Some people are
never contented unless the cow yard is under their noses, the hen
coop in the parlor, and the privy in the kitchen, that is if they
have any privy.
74
I want the people to wake up to a sense of their duty, and begin
to serve God and repent of their sins, repent of every improper
habit.
74
I sometimes confess men's sins for them, and they will get up and
parry off. I confessed a man's sins here lately, and he supposed
that I did not know what I was talking about. If he had corrected
me a little further, I would have told all his sins; I would have
told the things that were in his very heart; and if he parries
again, I will come out more pointedly than I did then.
74
In some of the wards men will rise up and confess their sins, and
after a week's reflection, they will go to meeting and commence
parrying, and make themselves as good as an angel. Again, some
people, when they get the Spirit of God, when they actually pray
fervently, are deemed by their neighbors to have sectarian
religion. If God Almighty moves upon a man to pray with a loud
voice and in earnest, some are ready to exclaim that he is a
sectarian, and are so anxious to put away sectarianism, that they
bundle the religion of Jesus Christ out of doors. In their zeal
against sectarianism and doctrines they do not like, they leave
God and the Lord Jesus Christ out of the question, and prayer,
and keeping the Sabbath, and moral honesty, and virtue, and
purity and everything that is good.
74
Every portion of sectarian religion that is good is my religion.
If they have a precious gem it belongs to my religion; if it is
purity, virtue, integrity, the gift of the Holy Ghost, fervency,
and prayer, it is my religion. Some people talk of wild fire; I
would rather have wild fire than no fire at all. I would like you
to come up to the light of the Almighty, and if you want to pray
to God, if you want to shout and make heaven and earth
ring--drive the devil out of doors, chase darkness from your
houses, and from your families, and raise the banner of the Lord
Jesus Christ in your households, and the flag of God in your
city, and say, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I will do
right, and root up everything that is wrong.
75
This makes me think of a circumstance that occurred when we went
to Kaysville to preach the reformation, under the direction of
brother Brigham. There was a dark and dull spirit there which was
not very congenial to our natures, and brother Joseph Young felt
life in him, he was full of the Spirit. After staying a couple of
days, he said to me, "Brother Grant, they feel cold, and I guess
we had better go to Farmington, preach there, and go home." After
a while I said to him, "Do you know how I feel about it? In the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I will never leave this land,
until this people surrender. I will hang the flag of the Lord
Jesus Christ on their doors, and there shall be a siege of forty
days. Then let every man storm the castle, and rule against the
bulwarks of hell, and let every Elder throw the arrows of God
Almighty through the sinner, and pierce their loins, and
penetrate their vitals, until the banner of Christ shall wave
triumphantly over Israel. Shall we give up, and let the wicked
and ungodly overcome us? No, in the name and by the power of God
we will overcome them. We will cleanse the inside of the platter
and have Israel saved, through the name of Jesus Christ, and by
the power of his word."
75
Those who will not repent by the preaching of the Gospel, we will
bring to the standard of the Lord Jesus Christ in the right and
proper way, for we are determined to save you all, if possible.
In former days the Lord cut off rebellious Israel by thousands,
to save them; He had no other way for saving them. He had tried
every other means; He had opened the sea for them to pass over
dry shod, and overthrew their enemies, the horse and his rider,
in the flood; He made the mountains skip like rams, and the
little hills like lambs; He spoke to the angels, saying, throw
down your food to them, and the bright clouds shed down manna to
sustain them; He spake to them in thunders, in lightnings, in
earthquakes, and tried every means to save them, that a God could
try in the plentitude of His mercy, and when He had exhausted the
arrows of His wrath in chastisement, and the wells of His mercy
in blessings and entreaty, He cut them off by thousands.
75
O Israel, hear, while the voice of entreaty is in the land, hear
the voice of brother Brigham, and awake from your slumbers;
forsake your sins and abominations and turn unto your God, that
repentance may reach you, and remission of sins, and the gifts
and blessings of God come upon you. May God bless you in the name
of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, November 9, 1856
Brigham Young, November 9, 1856
THE GOSPEL LIKE A NET CAST INTO THE SEA--GOOD AND BAD IN THE
CHURCH--EMBRACE PRINCIPLES IN YOUR FAITH, NOT MEN--CONFESS ONLY
TO THOSE
AGAINST WHOM YOU HAVE SINNED--ECONOMIZE THE GIFTS OF GOD, ETC.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, November 9, 1856.
75
I rise to explain one principle to Elders who are in the habit of
preaching the Gospel to the world. Not but what their views
coincide with mine, not but what they fully comprehend the
matter, but all have not the power and faculty to develop what is
in them; some are at a loss to explain that which they
understand.
76
I wish to refer more particularly to a remark made by brother
Benjamin L. Clapp, who has just been speaking to us concerning
men coming to him in Texas, and saying that things were thus and
so in Utah. What can they tell about Utah? To begin with, they do
not know any evil of this people; the sins of this people are
with themselves and their God. I defy all hell and all the devils
in and about the inhabitants of the earth to substantiate
permanent acts of wickedness against the Elders of this people.
76
Suppose that men came to brother Benjamin in Texas, and told him
that I was the biggest scoundrel in the world, do not this people
know better about that than they? and even Benjamin himself knows
it to be a falsehood? We know that is falsehood, and I should
have taken the liberty of telling them so.
76
I never preached in Texas, but I have preached in places as
wicked; and when a man told me that which was not true about this
people or about the leaders of this people, I would take the
liberty of telling him that he was not telling the truth. I
preached during twenty-four or twenty-five years among the
wicked, and I never yet saw a man that I was afraid to tell that
he was saying that which was not so, when I knew better;
frequently they would turn and say to me, "You had better tell me
that I lie," and my prompt reply would be, you do, sir, and that
before God.
76
What fault could the world justly find with this people? Some
have passed through here to California to dig gold, but they have
received nothing at the hands of this people but kindness. What
do they know about us? They cannot charge us with one evil.
Suppose there are wicked men here, I say the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a net that gathers fish both good and bad, and I say
this because it is true.
76
We have in our community the worst creatures that the world can
produce; the Gospel net must gather them of necessity, or the
saying of Jesus, and what he knew of the kingdom in the last day
would not come to pass. There are as bad men and women within the
pales of this Church as there are upon this earth, and the Gospel
being preached to them prepares them to become devils. As you
have frequently been told, that is the only way men can become
devils; they must have the knowledge to sin against the Holy
Ghost, or yet the day of redemption awaits them, one or the
other.
76
Suppose I was preaching in the world, and they should allege that
some of the people in Utah swore, stole, and were wicked in many
ways, I would acknowledge it to be the case. They might then
inquire, "Why do you say that you have got the Gospel of
salvation? and why do you come to us to preach, seeing that your
own people do wickedly?" I would reply that the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a net that gathers fish of all kinds, therefore we
must have the good and the bad in Utah, or else it cannot be the
kingdom of heaven.
76
We have some of the bad, and those who pass through our
settlements, or sojourn in our midst for a brief period, become
familiar with those who are wicked, but do not become acquainted
with the righteous. The great majority of this people are
righteous, but the worldlings seek out and mingle with the few
wicked here, because both those classes love the spirit of the
world.
77
As to the great argument against the kingdom of God, because
there are some evil doers in the Church, I will take the
principles and doctrines taught by Jesus and his Apostles, and
show that these go to prove and substantiate the fact that this
is the kingdom of God. Why? Because we can produce the meanest
curses there are on the earth, those who take all the revelations
given by the Almighty, and every influence and revelation they
can get from the devil, and make use of them to add sin to sin.
This fact is also another proof that all hell is against this
people, for there is not a person in the world, that gives way to
wickedness, but what has antipathy against this people.
77
Now hearken, O ye Texans; do you say there are people here who
are wicked? So we say. Could I wish things to be otherwise? No, I
would not have them different if I could. We can produce the best
men and the worse, the best women and the worst, and thus prove,
according to the sayings of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, that
this is the kingdom of God, or at least answers to the Savior's
description of that kingdom.
77
Were I in Texas I would say, let me tell you that I have not
embraced any man on this earth, in my faith, but I have embraced
the doctrine of salvation, and it is no matter what the people do
in Utah. Here is the doctrine of salvation, talk against that,
prove that to be false, or find a flaw in it, if you can. Ask for
the people, they cannot save you. Never embrace a man in your
faith, for that is sectarianism.
77
There are many of the men and women now before me who have looked
for a pure people, and have supposed that that was a proof of the
truth of our doctrines, but they will never find such a people
until Satan is bound, and Jesus comes to reign with his Saints.
The doctrine we preach is the doctrine of salvation, and it is
that which the Elders of this Church take to the world, and not
the people of Utah.
77
Some of the Elders seem to be tripped up in a moment, if the
wicked can find any fault with the members of this Church; but
bless your souls, I would not yet have this people faultless, for
the day of separation has not yet arrived. I have many a time, in
this stand, dared the world to produce as mean devils as we can;
we can beat them at anything. We have the greatest and smoothest
liars in the world, the cunningest and most adroit thieves, and
any other shade of character that you can mention.
77
We can pick out Elders in Israel right here who can beat the
world at gambling, who can handle the cards, cut and shuffle them
with the smartest rogue on the face of God's foot-stool. I can
produce Elders here who can shave their smartest shavers, and
take their money from them. We can beat the world at any game.
77
We can beat them, because we have men here that live in the light
of the Lord, that have the Holy Priesthood, and hold the keys of
the kingdom of God. But you may go through all the sectarian
world, and you cannot find a man capable of opening the door of
the kingdom of God to admit others in. We can do that. We can
pray the best, preach the best, and sing the best. We are the
best looking and finest set of people on the face of the earth,
and they may begin any game they please, and we are on hand, and
can beat them at anything they have a mind to begin. They may
make sharp their two-edged swords, and I will turn out the Elders
of Israel with greased feathers, and whip them to death. We are
not to be beat. We expect to be stumbling block to the whole
world, and a rock of offence to them.
77
I never preached to the world but what the cry was, "that damned
old Joe Smith has done thus and so." I would tell the people that
they did not know him, and I did, and that I knew him to be a
good man; and that when they spoke against him, they spoke
against as good a man as ever lived.
78
I recollect a conversation I had with a priest who was an old
friend of ours, before I was personally acquainted with the
Prophet Joseph. I clipped every argument he advanced, until at
last he came out and began to rail against "Joe Smith," saying,
"that he was a mean man, a liar, money-digger, gambler, and a
whore-master;" and he charged him with everything bad, that he
could find language to utter. I said, hold on, brother Gillmore,
here is the doctrine, here is the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and
the revelations that have come through Joseph Smith the Prophet.
I have never seen him, and do not know his private character. The
doctrine he teaches is all I know about the matter, bring
anything against that if you can. As to anything else I do not
care. If he acts like a devil, he has brought forth a doctrine
that will save us, if we will abide it. He may get drunk every
day of his life, sleep with his neighbor's wife every night, run
horses and gamble, I do not care anything about that, for I never
embrace any man in my faith. But the doctrine he has produced
will save you and me, and the whole world; and if you can find
fault with that, find it. He said, "I have done."
78
It is the fashion in the world to embrace men in their faith, or
a fine meeting house, or a genteel congregation, thinking, "O,
what perfect order, and how pretty they look; how straight they
walk to meeting, and how long their faces are during the
services; how pretty that deacon looks under the pulpit; the
people are so pretty, the meeting house is so nice, that we want
to join such pretty people." Such feelings will take a people to
hell. Embrace a doctrine that will purge sin and iniquity from
your hearts, and sanctify you before God, and you are right, no
matter how others act.
78
I wish you all to understand that no Elders go to any place among
the world, but what the wicked find fault with the people of God.
They found fault with Joseph Smith, and at length killed him, as
they have a great many others of the Latter-day Saints. What for?
Because of his wickedness? No. But the cry was, "Away with him,
we cannot do with this man nor with his people." Did they hate
him for his evil works? No. If he had been a liar, a swearer, a
gambler, or in any way an evil doer, and of the world, it would
have loved its own, and they would have embraced him, because he
could have spread still more delusion through the world around
him.
78
We are hated, because we are righteous. If we have sinned, the
people in Texas know nothing about it; they cannot in truth find
a word of fault with the character of this people, except with
the few we have on hand ready to beat them at their meanness. The
Lord wants those few here to fulfil His words and purposes, and
they are fit for no other place. The sheep and the goats, the
calves and the pigs, are all good in their places. The Lord will
make use of us to His glory; and though a good many of those who
now profess to be good Latter-day Saints may meet condemnation,
even their course will finally result to the glory of God. Are
these ideas correct? Judge ye.
79
Now, brethren, let me say a few words to you. Let us repent of
our backslidings and tell the people of Texas that we ask no odds
of them, nor of any one else but our Father and our God, and
those we are associated with in His kingdom. As brother Benjamin
has exhorted you, confess your faults to the individuals that you
ought to confess them to, and proclaim them not on the house
tops. Be careful that you wrong not yourselves. Do you not know
that if a good person is guilty of committing a crime he thinks
that everybody knows it, and is ready to confess here, and there,
and everywhere he has an opportunity?
79
I do not want to know anything about the sins of this people, at
least no more than I am obliged to. If persons lose confidence in
themselves, it takes away the strength, faith and confidence that
others have in them; it leaves a space that we call weakness. If
you have committed a sin that no other person on the earth knows
of, and which harms no other one, you have done a wrong and
sinned against your God, but keep that within your own bosom, and
seek to God and confess there, and get pardon for your sin.
79
If children have sinned against their parents, or husbands
against their wives, or wives against their husbands, let them
confess their faults one to another and forgive each other, and
there let the confession stop; and then let them ask pardon from
their God. Confess your sins to whoever you have sinned against,
and let it stop there. If you have committed a sin against the
community, confess to them. If you have sinned in your family,
confess there. Confess your sins, iniquities, and follies, where
that confession belongs, and learn to classify your actions.
79
Suppose that the people were to get up here and confess their
sins, it would destroy many innocent persons. Does Texas know
about it? No, nor you about one another, if you will be wise and
confess your wrongs where they ought to be confessed, and keep
the knowledge of them from every person it ought to be kept from.
In this way you will have strength against the enemy, who would
otherwise buffet you and say, "Here is your wickedness made
manifest," and would overcome you and destroy all the confidence
you have in yourselves and in your God.
79
If the Lord has confidence in you, preserve it, and take a course
to produce more. If the Lord had a people on the earth that He
had perfect confidence in, there is not a blessing in the
eternities of our God, that they could bear in the flesh, that He
would not pour out upon them. Tongue cannot tell the blessings
the Lord has for a people who have proved themselves before Him.
79
That we may have confidence in Him, and He in us, let us take a
course to create it, that He may open the heavens and pour upon
us the blessings and power of the Holy Ghost.
79
Fathers, reflect for yourselves. Suppose that a father had thirty
thousand dollars to distribute among three of his boys, and that
one of them was a spendthrift who would prodigally sow his share
to the four winds, and cause his wife and children to come on his
father for support. Would that father have confidence to bestow
ten thousand dollars on his spendthrift son? No, but he would
deal it out to that son's wife and children as they might need,
and the rest he would preserve for him to another time. Our
Father has to deal in that manner with us, for He has not
confidence to know that we will do the things we ought and
economize His blessings, if He should bestow them upon us.
79
We are like children who want the looking-glass to play with, and
who cry for the sharp razor and for the moon they see reflected
in the water, desiring them for play-things. Let us take such a
course that God will have confidence in us, and then we shall
receive all we need, all we desire and ask for.
80
Take a wise course; do not be foolish. I want you to reform, for
there is need of it; though the world knows nothing about it.
They hate us for the truth's sake, and seek to destroy us; and I
say to them, go it ye cripples, while you are young; for the day
is coming in which you will find yourselves as badly crippled as
ever the "Mormons" were.
80
May the Lord bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, November 9, 1856
Heber C. Kimball, November 9, 1856
PERSONS NOT TO BE BAPTIZED UNTIL THEY REPENT AND MAKE
RESTITUTION--ALL
SIN TO BE REPENTED OF BEFORE PARTAKING OF THE SACRAMENT, ETC.
A Discourse, by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, November 9, 1856.
80
I wish to advance a few ideas that are upon my mind, and they
concern every individual in this congregation and every person
that professes to be a Latter-day Saint. I have often reflected
upon them, and they are particularly in my mind to-day.
80
Last evening I attended the High Priests' Quorum, and perhaps
there were a hundred or a hundred and fifty High Priests present.
In that meeting brother Brigham gave permission to the members of
that Quorum to be baptized in the font; but he objected to any
one going into that font, to be baptized for the remission of
sins, until he had actually repented of and made restitution for
the sins he had committed. If any of them had done anything
wrong, he wished them to confess to those they had aggrieved or
injured, and make restitution; and wherein they had committed
sins and violated their Priesthood and their covenants, they must
make satisfaction to those they had injured; and not step into
that font, until they have done these things.
80
That is the course to take; and how do you expect to get a
remission of your sins, and be forgiven by the Father, and His
Son Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Ghost, so that you can have the
Holy Ghost rest upon you, unless you repent and make restitution
or restoration, and make atonement for the sins that you may have
committed?
80
I pray to my Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, that
the High Priest or any other person that attempts to go into that
font without previously making restitution for such evil as he
may have committed, may be cursed and withered until he does make
restitution.
80
I will now touch upon another point. Our Bishops are now breaking
bread, the emblem of the broken body of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, and I say let every one who is guilty of sins they have
not repented of, and made restitution for, refuse to partake of
that bread, also of that water, (which is an emblem of the blood
of Jesus that was spilled for the remission of our sins,) until
they have repented and made restitution; for unless you do, you
shall drink damnation to yourselves, until you make restitution.
I do not care who the persons are.
81
If the High Priests, who are clothed with the Priesthood
which is after the order of God, should be prohibited a Gospel
ordinance, until they make good that which they may have done
wrong, why should you as a people partake of these emblems upon
any other conditions? If you do you eat damnation unto
yourselves, and you will become sickly and pine away and die.
81
Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, 11th chap. and
26th, 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th verses, has written as follows:--
81
"26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do
show the Lord's death till he come.
81
"27. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup
of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of
the Lord.
81
"28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that
bread and drink of that cup.
81
"29. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
81
"30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many
sleep."
81
According to Paul you perceive that those who partook of the
bread and wine unworthily, became sickly and died; but those that
eat and drink worthily will receive life and salvation by
partaking. Now, gentlemen and ladies, what do you think of
partaking of this bread and this wine in remembrance of the Lord
Jesus Christ?
81
Some of you, doubtless, have been guilty of committing more or
less sin, of being more or less rebellious to the authorities of
this Church, and to the Priesthood and government of God, and
then coming and partaking of this sacrament. Do not such persons
comprehend that they are drinking damnation to themselves? Why
should persons wish to partake of this sacrament, when they know
that they are unworthy?
81
I want to warn you and forewarn you not to trifle with this
ordinance, nor to indulge in any unwise conduct. I desired the
opportunity of telling you my feelings before this bread is
dedicated and consecrated. I do not consider that it is dedicated
and consecrated to any person that cannot eat it with an upright
heart, or to one that will eat it and then live in a course of
rebellion against God and His authority.
81
I do not consider that one of my wives, or one of my children,
has a right to partake of these emblems, until they make a full
and proper restitution to me, if they have offended me. Why is
this? Because I am their head, I am their governor, their
dictator, their revelator, their prophet, and their priest, and
if they rebel against me they at once raise a mutiny in my
family.
81
I forbid all unworthy persons partaking of this sacrament; and if
such do partake of it, they shall do it on their own
responsibility, and not on mine. In partaking unworthily, a
person is corroding and destroying himself, not me. This
ordinance is administered on condition of your living in
righteousness, and of your hearts being true to your God and to
your brethren.
81
How can you love your God and Jesus Christ, and not love those
that He has sent to you to do you good? Can you love God and His
Son Jesus Christ, and not take the counsel pointed out by brother
Brigham and those that are sent to you? Jesus says, "If you love
me, keep my commandments;" and brother Brigham and his counselors
can say, if you love God, love us and keep our commandments. Why?
Because brother Brigham is placed as God's agent to us in the
flesh.
82
When you go into heaven, into the celestial world, you will
see the Church organized just as it is here, and you will find
all the officers down to the Deacon. Our Church organization is a
manifestation of things as they are in heaven, and you are all
the time praying that the Church here may be brought into union
and set in order as it is in heaven.
82
Do you think a wife is contending against her husband with a good
spirit, when she is commanded to be subject to her husband, even
as we are to Christ? Is it not just as necessary that women
should be governed, as that men should be? Is it not just as
reasonable that a wife should be governed, as that her husband
should be? I want to know what good a wife is to me, unless she
will let me lead and guide, and let me govern her by the word of
God.
82
When a wife is obedient to her husband there is union, there is
heaven, that is, there is one heaven, though it is a little one;
and a righteous union is what will make a heaven.
82
There are many kinds of sin, among which is the sin of confusion;
and I tell you there is plenty of confusion in a family where
each one wants to be head. Just look at it, what a heaven that
is? We all have to make our heaven, or do without one.
82
A great many of this people want their endowments; but I never
wish to give another man or woman their endowments, until they
have reformed from whatever they may have done amiss. I had as
soon give the devil his endowment as to confer it upon some men
and women who profess to be Latter-day Saints; I want them to
reform first.
82
Do I feel as though I wanted to dance? No, I never want to go
forth again in the dance, until the spirit of reformation is rife
among the people. Neither do I want to see any man or woman
partake of this sacrament, when they are living in open rebellion
against God, against his government, and His servants.
82
I have no wife nor child that has any right to rebel against me.
If they violate my laws and rebel against me they will get into
trouble, just as quickly as though they transgressed the counsels
and teachings of brother Brigham. Does it give a woman a right to
sin against me, because she is my wife? No, but it is her duty to
do my will, as I do the will of my Father and my God.
82
It is the duty of a woman to be obedient to her husband, and
unless she is, I would not give a damn for all her queenly right
and authority; nor for her either, if she will quarrel, and lie
about the work of God and the principle of plurality.
82
I tell you, as the Lord God Almighty lives, my sword is
unsheathed, and I never will sheath it until those of you who
have done wrong, repent of your evil deeds. Some of you have
found fault, because I am so plain and severe. No man can rise up
here with his sophistry and silver lips, and have the Holy Spirit
for a moment.
82
A disregard of plain and correct teachings is the reason why so
many are dead and damned and twice plucked up by the roots, and I
would as soon baptize the devil, as some of you. You call that a
hard saying, do you not?
83
Brethren and sisters, shall I ask the Lord to bless this bread
and dedicate it to Him for you, and then you partake of it
unworthily? You would only drink condemnation to yourselves, not
to me. I have not knowingly injured one of you; if I have injured
any one in this congregation, or in this Church, I must have done
it by telling them the truth, if that can be called an injury.
There is not that man or that woman that can justly say that I
have taken the first dime from them, or stolen anything, or told
a lie; if there are any such let them come forward and I will
make restitution four-fold.
83
All the fault I have to find with myself, and I presume all that
God has to find with me, is because I have sometimes held back
and resisted His Spirit; and so have my brethren, for if we would
yield to it at all times, we should be ten times more severe than
we now are. I know that when I have seen certain evil practices
in our midst, I have felt bad about it. For instance, hire some
men to work, and the moment you are out of their sight they will
scarcely do a thing. What are such men good for?
83
The man that will be lazy and spend his time for nought, will
steal, and will also be liable to consider it no sin to commit
adultery. And some of the men and women whom you employ, will
steal from you almost as much as the wages for which they were
hired.
83
While standing between you and the bread, I know of no way but to
preach plain to you, and to tell you of your faults. Now I feel
clear; and I could not feel at peace, until I had told you what
was in my mind.
83
May God have mercy upon you and enlighten your minds, touch your
intellects and qualify you for your callings.
83
I will tell you a dream that brother Joseph Fielding had in
England, about the time that brother Brigham and I went back on
our second visit, for it will apply to many in this congregation.
83
Brother Fielding dreamed that he had a sharp sickle, and that he
hung it up on a bush, but when he returned and took down his
sickle, he found the edge all taken off from it. This will apply
to many others. You remember it, do you not, brother Joseph?--and
is it correct? It is, and his sickle has not cut from that time
to the present, and the reason is he has had a woman straddle of
his neck from that day to this. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Jedediah M. Grant, November 9, 1856
Jedediah M. Grant, November 9, 1856
HYPOCRISY REPROVED--FAMILY GOVERNMENT, ETC.
A Discourse by President J. M. Grant, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, November 9, 1856.
83
I believe, with brother Kimball, that many of this people partake
of the sacrament unworthily. Some will steal their neighbour's
spade, or his crowbar, or wood from his pile, or cabbages and
potatoes from his garden, or hay from his stack, or go into his
yard and milk his cows, and commit numerous other sins, and the
next day come here and partake of the sacrament.
84
When I see persons very religious outwardly, I always look for
them to commence stealing the first opportunity they have, and on
the next day expect to hear them speak in tongues in some class
meeting, or ward meeting, and give the interpretation of tongues,
or relate some remarkable dream or vision. I noticed another
thing in this Tabernacle. When it was first completed, brother
Brigham wanted a certain number of seats reserved for his family.
Now, would you believe that some of the most pious old ladies and
sisters in the Church would be at the four doors of this
Tabernacle by seven o'clock in the morning, that they might crowd
into the seats reserved for the President's family and crowd them
out. Those are professedly the most pious among us; bless you,
they are professedly just as full of religion as they can be.
84
I wish to see people come to meeting right and in order; to do so
they must be right at home, they must be right all the while.
84
I seriously question, when some people are baptized, whether they
do not come out of the water the same poor miserable devils as
they went in.
84
There must be a foundation in the people, the right standard in
the breast, and that must be inherent in the people more or less,
or else our professions are in vain. I, therefore, want ever
person to leave the bread in the salvers, and the water in the
cups, and not partake of the sacrament, unless they are right. I
want every thief, and every unrighteous person to let the bread
alone.
84
If I could have one prayer effectually answered forthwith, it
would put a stop to a great many evils in Israel, to say the
least of it. But as the work of reformation increases among the
people, our President says, and it is so, that we may look for
the workings of an opposite power. The solution he gave last
night, in the High Priest's Quorum, is the best explanation that
I have heard concerning the fogs that we have felt for some time
past. The principle was this, that as we advance in the light and
in the truth, the arch adversary and his associates will make a
corresponding effort to darken our minds and becloud our
atmosphere, and thereby throw us into the fog.
84
I am aware that we have only a few among us but what feel
determined to reform; the great majority wish to live their
religion, and I am glad of it. I believe that the majority of
this congregation that are here to-day, actually intend to do
right. Now do not let the devil cheat you; and if the devil
marshals his forces against you and beclouds your minds, tell him
that you are serving the God of Israel. If you are in the dark
and cannot get light, keep a firm hold on the foundation of
truth, and be determined not to be jostled off it.
84
Brother Kimball frequently alludes to discords in families. I was
listening, as I came along the street, to a Bishop who spoke of
discord in a certain family in his Ward. The person he alluded to
has but one wife and is said to be a fine man, and his wife is
said to be a fine woman, and of good parentage. They have some
five promising children, but that woman wants to forsake her
husband and go to her father.
84
You may sum up the difficulties in families throughout the
country, and you will find ten to one more jars in families where
there is but one wife, than in families where there are a number.
85
I believe there has been a disposition, on the part of some men
and women to break the strong tie that ought to bind families
together, but I do not believe they will accomplish much. I look
for our relations to be permanent and the institutions of the
Church to be eternal, because they are perfectly right; I now
refer more particularly to our family organizations. But there is
more or less discord in families, I would like it to cease
altogether; and I would actually like the day to come in Israel,
when the people will not only love the doctrines and revelations
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but rejoice that they live in the day
when the Prophet Joseph has brought them forth.
85
To the man I have just now been alluding to, say to that wife,
"Go to your darling people then." If she wished to leave me, and
the Almighty had blessed me with the means, I would bless her and
bestow upon her everything that I could. I would give her all my
cattle, horses, and other property, and say, "God bless you, go
and prosper, if you can." If necessary, I would rise at midnight
and write her out the neatest bill she ever saw, and I would
figure it all over with flowers and doves, and bedeck it with red
ribbons.
85
I make these remarks, not that I have had any difficulty with my
own family, but because there is a principle I wish to speak
upon. I believe that men should lead their families, and not
drive them. Some people do not understand the difference between
leading and driving a flock of sheep. Brother Willes has seen the
shepherds and their flocks in the Eastern countries, and can tell
you the difference in the management of flocks in those countries
and America. In America the sheep are driven; in the East the
shepherds lead their flocks. The American and English spirit, and
also the spirit of some other nations, places the sheep in front
and the shepherd must follow.
85
If there is any difficult place, a stream to ford, or a slippery
log to walk on, the American's spirit is to try his wife first on
the log, to drive his wife and children across first; he must
drive. I do not like that, though some men are almost compelled
to do so, because the women are determined to lead.
85
I have traveled with brother Heber, and I never saw a milder man
in my life, when everything is right and people keep out of his
track. But when they get in his path he is obliged to tread on
their heels, for they cannot walk so fast as he can. He is not to
blame for that; they are to blame.
85
In the early ages of the world there was a youth imprisoned by
the ruler of the people. His parents went to the ruler and plead
with him to release their son, but they could not prevail at
first. They then wept and tore their reverend locks from their
heads to move the ruler to pity, and when they had done this he
released their son from prison. The historian remarks that it was
not so much the weakness existing in the youth's parents that
caused them to tear their hair, as it was the obstinacy in the
ruler; they were obliged to take that course, resort to such
means, to effect their purpose.
85
Am I to blame for scolding the people? Not at all. Is brother
Heber? Not at all. Is he to blame for chastising an unruly wife?
No. If she gets in his path and he steps on her heels, is he to
blame? No, and if she is hurt thereby, it is the result of her
own acts.
86
What will be the result of the chastisements given to this
people? I answer, if they heed them, they will bring them into
the true path. It is the situation of the people that prompts the
teachings they now receive from God's servants. If all the people
did right, they would not be chastised at all. If a man's family
conduct themselves right, do you suppose that a consistent,
reasonable man will find fault with them? No. If all the people
in a Ward do right, will the Bishop chastise them? No; but if
they do not do right, the Bishop is placed under the necessity of
coming forth, clothed in the armor and power of the Almighty, to
put them right, and of calling upon the teachers to assist him in
this work. And when the people repent and are found to be on the
right track, the Bishop lays the rod on the shelf.
86
This is the case with brother Brigham. Does he chastise this,
that, and the other man, because he likes the job? No. You know
that he is mild, and is a father to this people; and were I to
take any exception to his course, it would be on account of his
being so merciful. Why? Because he is more merciful than I am.
When he extends mercy to the people, he deals it out more
lavishly than I would, unless the Lord should lead me as he does
him. I have not so much mercy, so much of God and eternal life in
me as brother Brigham has in him; it does not belong to me to
have so much, for he stands at the fountain of life; he descends
below all things and ascends above all things to this
dispensation.
86
I hear men undertake to laugh and joke in their familiar chat
with each other, and say that they heard brother Brigham say this
or that, and that they saw brother Brigham do this, that, or the
other, and strive to justify themselves on that account. But
brother Brigham commands an influence that you do not command,
and cannot be thrown off the line of propriety and truth, as
easily as you and I. When men do not know the power that
constrains them, they ought to be cautious how they speak and how
they act.
86
Brother Brigham is a father to the Quorums of this Church; and
when the people are right, has he a disposition to chastise them?
No, he has a fatherly feeling to bless them, and so has brother
Heber. I do not know whether I have as much of that feeling as
either of them, with regard to the Church, but I do not suppose
that there is a man on the earth that is fonder of children than
I am. If I do not like old people so well as some do, I like
children well enough to balance the deficiency.
86
I would be glad to see more peace, mercy, truth, equity, justice,
and righteousness made manifest in the midst of this people. We
want the hay, the straw, the wood, the stubble, the dross, and
every impure principle burnt up. When a man is wrong and will
turn round and do right, I love him better than I did before. We
do not feel like casting you off, like casting you into the mire,
and saying "God Almighty damn you." "Get out of the mud and may
the Lord God of Israel bless you" is what we say. I had rather
bless ten men than curse one. I am not led to curse, but I am led
to chastise iniquity, to bring out the alloy, expose sins and
bring to light that which is wrong among the people; but I do not
want to curse them.
86
I tell you that the devil is working against us, and Lucifer is
in the land. Did you know that he had come to this country? Let
me tell you that news to-day, if you have not heard it; he has
come to this country and has been seen, the real old fellow
himself, the same Lucifer that was cast down from heaven.
86
Another thing; did you know that all hell is let out for noon?
The master is in the school-house, therefore. When we talk of
hell we mean uncle Jim, uncle Bill, uncle Sam, and all our uncles
and cousins over the wide world. We mean old Babylon, the
confusion that is over the wide world.
87
But thanks be to our God, and to high heaven, the light of God is
here and the truth of God is here, and we have waged a war with
Lucifer, under the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be
able to stand in the contest and overcome. We bring no railing
accusation against our common enemy, but we tell him and his host
that they must surrender. We say to the sinners in Zion, be
afraid, you must surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. We say to
you, Saints, rub up your armor, gird on the sword of the Almighty
and walk forth to battle, and never yield the ground.
87
Some men say that they feel sick and faint, and weary, when they
see so much darkness among the people. I feel as though I could
say to the mountains and to all hell, get out of my way, or I
will kick you out; I am not going to surrender. I want no poor
pussyism around me; hang not your sickle on the tree to rust, but
make it still sharper, and cut more grain in one day than you
have ever done; and tell the devil that you are ahead of him. You
old men, that let your sickles rust, take them down and sharpen
them up, and walk into the fields and reap down the grain, that
there may be wheat in the house of our God, for the harvest is
great and the reapers are few.
87
I am not of that class that believes in shrinking; if there is a
fight on hand, give me a share of it. I am naturally good
natured, but when the indignation of the Almighty is in me I say
to all hell, stand aside and let the Lord Jesus Christ come in
here; He shall be heir of the earth; the truth shall triumph, the
Priesthood and Christ shall reign.
87
I had rather fight the devils that are out of tabernacles, than
those that are embodied. The grand difficulty we have to
encounter is from devils that enter into you; they take
possession of your houses, and then we have to fight devils in
tabernacles. We want the devils cast out of you, and the power of
God and the light of the Almighty to shine in you as a lamp.
87
The result of the teachings we are receiving, if practised, will
reform the whole community. When you are right we will cease to
chastise, we will cease to rebuke; we will cease throwing the
arrows of the Almighty through you, we will cease telling you to
surrender, to repent of all your sins. But until you do this, we
will continue to throw the arrows of God through you, to hurl the
darts of heaven upon you and the power of God in your midst; and
we will storm the bulwarks of hell, and we will march against you
in the strength of the God of Israel. And by the power of the
Priesthood restored by the Prophet Joseph, by the light of heaven
shed forth by brother Brigham and his associates, we expect to
triumph; and in the name of Jesus Christ, we do not mean to
surrender to evil.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, November 9, 1856
Heber C. Kimball, November 9, 1856
THE EMIGRANT SAINTS--CHILDREN MORE SUSCEPTIBLE OF TUITION THAN
ADULTS.
Remarks, by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, November 9, 1856.
88
We have had some good instructions, and as far as I have
knowledge they are all true; and obedience to those principles
that we have heard will save every man and woman in this
congregation and in the world, and they will open the gates of
hell, and eventually redeem every man and woman that has not
sinned the sin unto death. Many suppose, and I used to suppose so
from what the sectarians taught me, that people went to hell for
good, but I can tell you that there will be a great many who will
go there for evil and not for good.
88
Captain Smoot's and Captain Willie's companies will arrive this
afternoon, and the Bishops have prepared houses to take them to.
A great many who went out to assist those companies, found their
relatives and friends, and will take them home with them.
88
It is expected that the people will send in their offerings, and
that the Bishops will report to brother Hunter, their presiding
Bishop, that he may direct the distribution of the provisions and
comforts of life to the new comers. And it will be necessary to
be as careful in dealing out food to them, as you would be with
little children, otherwise they will be apt to injure themselves
by eating vegetables, &c. Now do you understand me?
88
Let your offerings be to your Bishops, that they may be able to
issue and control them in wisdom. This word of caution will also
apply to those brethren who take the newcomers into their houses.
Give them what you think they ought to eat, and no more; and have
compassion upon them, and do not kill them with your kindness. A
great many are killed by unkind acts, but this is a case of
sympathy, and if you are not very careful you will injure them
instead of doing them good.
88
I now want to say to the door keepers, those who attend to
seating the congregation, let the men, women, and children who
come here in season and take seats keep them; do not drive them
away, but let them keep their seats; let all who come in good
season, keep their seats. There are many children six years old
who comprehend and practise what is here taught, better than many
of the grown persons: their intellects are brighter than those of
many of the old men and women, therefore do not drive up nor
drive out the children.
88
Some women come in here tossing their heads about, with their
bonnets and everything about them all on a wiggle, but go to
their homes and you will often find them as abusive to their
parents as the devil can wish them to be; they come here late and
expect that the little children will be made to leave their
seats.
89
I will illustrate the difference between the temperaments of the
old and young, by referring you to the buffaloes on the Plains,
as most of you had a chance to observe their habits. If I wish to
domesticate buffaloes, I will take none but the calves, for I can
do nothing with the old ones, they have become too set in their
wild ways. But I can take the calves and learn them to become
domesticated and useful. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, November 16, 1856
Brigham Young, November 16, 1856
TEMPTATION AND TRIALS NECESSARY TO EXALTATION--IF THE SAINTS
PERFORM
THEIR OBLIGATIONS, THE LORD WILL NOT FAIL IN HIS--HAND-CART
EMIGRATION
PREFERABLE TO THAT BY OX-TEAMS.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, November 16, 1856.
89
I rise to make a few remarks, to satisfy the feelings of the
people and correct their minds and judgment.
89
You have heard concerning the sufferings of the people in the
handcart trains; and, probably you will hear the Elders, for some
time to come, those who have lately returned from their missions
and those now on the Plains, speak about the scenes they have
witnessed, and I would like to forestall the erroneous
impressions that many may otherwise imbibe on this subject.
89
Count the living and the dead, and you will find that not half
the number died in brother Willie's hand-cart company, in
proportion to the number in that company, as have died in past
seasons by the cholera in single companies travelling with wagons
and oxen, with carriages and horses, and that too in the forepart
of the season. When you call to mind this fact, the relations of
the sufferings of our companies this season will not be so
harrowing to your feelings. With regard to those who have died
and been laid away by the roadside on the Plains, since the cold
weather commenced, let me tell you they have not suffered one
hundredth part so much as did our brethren and sisters who have
died with the cholera.
89
Some of those who have died in the hand-cart companies this
season, I am told, would be singing, and, before the tune was
done, would drop over and breathe their last; and others would
die while eating, and with a piece of bread in their hands. I
should be pleased when the time comes, if we could all depart
from this life as easily as did those our brethren and sisters. I
repeat, it will be a happy circumstance, when death overtakes me,
if I am privileged to die without a groan or struggle, while yet
retaining a good appetite for food. I speak of these things, to
forestall indulgence in a misplaced sympathy.
90
You have heard the brethren relate their trials through Iowa; it
is a wicked place. Those regions of the country are the locality
of the afflictions that have come upon this people. Take
Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, and they are the places where we
have been afflicted and driven. What can we expect from those
people? anything but hell out of doors?
90
Not long since I was talking with one of the brethren, who has
crossed the Plains this season, in regard to the propriety of
companies starting so late. He argued that it was far better for
the Saints to be striving with all their might, doing all they
could to serve the Lord and keep His commandments, and traveling
the road to Zion with intent to build it up and establish the
kingdom of God on earth, even though they should lay down their
lives by the way, than to stop among the Gentiles and apostates.
I told him it was a good argument, though it was not exactly
according to the will of the people and the will of the Lord, for
He wishes to throw temptation and trial before His people, to
prove them preparatory to their eternal exaltation; consequently,
if the people have not an opportunity of proving themselves
before they die, by the ruler of their faith and religion, they
cannot expect to attain to so high a glory and exaltation as they
could if they had been tried in all things. Yet I believe it is
better for the people to lay down their bones by the way side,
than it is for them to stay in the States and apostatize.
90
I told the Elder that his argument seemed reasonable, but it made
me think of the story about a Roman Catholic priest and a Jew.
The priest was crossing on the ice, and on his way found a Jew,
who had fallen through an air hole, clinging to the edge of the
ice, and unable to get out. He begged of the priest to help him
out, but he would not, unless he first professed a belief in
Jesus Christ. "I cannot," said the Jew. "Then I will let you
down," replied the priest, and let go of him. Still clinging to
the ice, as the priest was about to leave, he again begged him to
pull him out. "I cannot, unless you believe in Christ." "I cannot
believe," said the Jew, and the priest let him go again. At
length the Jew said, "Take me out, I do believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ with all my might." "Do you?" said the priest, "then I
think it is best to save you, while you are a Christian and
strong in the faith," and he shoved him under the ice.
90
If he could have it so, I would a little rather the Saints could
be privileged to come here and serve the Lord, or apostatize, as
they might choose, for we surely expect to gather both the good
and the bad. You recollect what I told you, last Sabbath, that we
can beat the world at anything. If brother Willie has brought in
some of the sharks, the garfish, the sheepheads, and so on and so
forth, it is all right, for we need them to make up the
assortment; as yet, I do not know how we could get along without
them; all these kinds seem to be necessary.
90
I have seriously reflected upon the gathering of the people. They
have all the time urgently plead and importuned to be gathered,
especially from the old countries where they are so severely
oppressed; and they are willing to come on foot and pull
hand-carts, or do anything, so they can be gathered with the
Saints. Well, we do gather them, and where do many of them go? To
the devil.
90
In Nauvoo we had obligations, to an amount exceeding $30,000,
against Saints that we had brought from England with our private
means; and there is not to exceed two, of all the persons thus
brought out, who have honorably come forward to pay one cent of
that outlay in their behalf; and some of them were in the mob
when it killed Joseph.
91
I knew all the time that it was better for many of these persons
to stop in England and starve to death, for then they might have
received a salvation; but they plead with the Lord and with His
servants for an opportunity to prove themselves, and made use of
it to seal their damnation and become angels to the devil. They
had the opportunity, do you not see that they had?
91
If Saints do right and have performed all required of them in
this probation, they are under no more obligation, and then it is
no matter whether they live or die, for their work here is
finished. This is a doctrine I believe.
91
If brother Willie's company had not been assisted by the people
in these valleys, and he and his company had lived to the best
light they had in their possession, had done everything they
could have done to cross the Plains, and done justice as they
did, asking no questions and having no doubting; or in other
words, if, after their President or Presidents told them to go on
the Plains, they had gone in full faith, had pursued their
journey according to their ability, and done all they could, and
we could not have rendered them any assistance, it would have
been just as easy for the Lord to send herds of fat buffaloes to
lay down within twenty yards of their camp, as it was to send
flocks of quails or to rain down manna from heaven to Israel of
old.
91
My faith is, when we have done all we can, then the Lord is under
obligation, and will not disappoint the faithful; He will perform
the rest. If no other assistance could have been had by the
companies this season, I think they would have had hundreds and
hundreds of fat buffaloes crowding around their camp, so that
they could not help but kill them. But, under the circumstances,
it was our duty to assist them, and we were none too early in the
operation.
91
It was not a rash statement for me to make at our last
Conference, when I told you that I would dismiss the Conference,
if the people would not turn out, and that I, with my brethren,
would go to the assistance of the companies. We knew that our
brethren and sisters were on the Plains and in need of
assistance, and we had the power and ability to help them,
therefore it became our duty to do so.
91
The Lord was not brought under obligation in the matter, so He
had put the means in our possession to render them the assistance
they needed. But if there had been no other way, the Lord would
have helped them, if He had had to send His angels to drive up
buffaloes day after day, and week after week. I have full
confidence that the Lord would have done His part; my only lack
of confidence is, that those who profess to be Saints will not do
right and perform their duty.
91
You hear the testimony of the brethren with regard to the
feasibility of the hand-cart mode of traveling; that testimony
and their experience have fully sustained the correctness of the
views and feelings of myself and others upon that subject from
the beginning. It is the very essence of my feelings that the
people in this house, if we wanted to cross the Plains next
season to the States, could start from here with hand-carts, and
beat any company in traveling that would cross the Plains with
teams, and be better off and healthier. These are my feelings,
and they have been all the time.
92
I have argued the point before the people that they are not aware
of their ability, that they do not know what they can do; that
they are healthier when they live in the open air. What gives the
people colds and makes them sick? You hear many say, "I had not
had a cold this fall, until I came into our new house." Brethren
and sisters that have come into the city from living in the
kanyons, and those who have arrived from the States this season,
have not been troubled with colds until they came into warm
houses; that gives them colds, by depriving their lungs of the
benefit they are organized to receive from the atmosphere.
92
It is a strange thought, but could you weigh the particles of
life that you constantly receive from the water you drink and
from the air you breathe, you would learn that you receive a
greater proportion of nourishment from those sources than from
the food you consume. Many are not aware of this, for they are
not apt to reflect how much longer they can live when deprived of
food than they can when deprived of air. When people are obliged
to breathe confined air, they do not have that free, full flow of
the purification and nourishment that is in the fresh air, and
they begin to decay, and go into what we call consumption.
92
People need not be afraid of living out of doors, nor of sleeping
out of doors; this country is much healthier than the lowlands in
the States, or than many places in the old world. I recollect
that in 1834, myself, brother Kimball, and others, traveled two
thousand miles inside of three months, and that we too in the
heat of summer. We cooked our own food, carried our guns, got our
provisions by the way, and performed the journey within ninety
days. We laid on the ground every night, and there was scarcely a
night that we could sleep, for the air rose from the ground hot
enough to suffocate us, and they supplied musketos in that
country, as they did eggs, by the bushel; they never thought of
supplying less than a bushel or so at once to an individual. That
journey was many times more taxing upon the health and life of a
person, than this season's hand-cart journey over the plains.
92
You may take the rich and the poor, every person, and they can
gather from the Missouri river, or from parts of the States where
there are no railroads or steamboats, easier than they can with
teams. And I am ashamed of our Elders that go out on missions, it
is a disgrace to the Elders of Israel, that they do not start
from here with hand-carts, or with knapsacks on their backs, and
go to the States, and from thence preach their way to their
respective fields of labor. Brother Kimball moves that we do not
send any Elders from this place again, unless they take handcarts
and cross the Plains on foot. When the time comes, I expect that
this motion will be put to vote.
92
It is a shame for the Elders to take with them from this place
everything they can rake and scrape. I can go on foot across the
Plains. As old as I am, I can take a hand-cart and draw it across
those Plains quicker than you can go with animals and loaded
wagons, and be healthier when I get to the Missouri river. Our
Elders must have a good span of horses, or mules, and must ride,
ride, ride; kill many of their animals, and get little or nothing
for those left when they arrive at the Missouri river, besides
taking four or five hundred dollars worth of property from their
families. And some ride so much that they do not know how to
preach, whereas, if they would walk, they would be in far better
condition to labor in the Gospel.
93
As to the expediency of the handcart mode of traveling, brothers
Ellsworth, McArthur, and Bunker, who piloted the three first
hand-cart companies over the Plains, can testify that they easily
beat the wagon companies. Brother Ellsworth performed the journey
in sixty-three days, and brother McArthur in sixty-one and a
half, notwithstanding the hindrance by the baggage wagons. If
brother Willie's company could have had their provisions
deposited at Laramie and at Green river, and had been free from
wagons, they would have been in this valley by the time they were
in the storms.
93
We are not in the least discouraged about the hand-cart method of
traveling. As to its preaching a sermon to the nations, as has
been remarked, they are preached pretty nigh to destruction
already. We do not care whether the hand-cart scheme preaches to
them, or whether it be by the teachings of the Elders of Israel.
They are so bound up with their friends and so priest-ridden,
that they cannot burst through those chains; and they will have
to remain so until Jesus devises some other means to save them,
for the great majority will not hear and obey.
93
There are a few who are sufficiently independent to obey the
truth when they hear it. We will gather them up, and let the
devils howl and let all hell be moved in striving to overthrow
this people. We will gather the faithful, God being our helper,
and we do not care whether the rest hear and believe or not. The
sound of the Gospel has gone to the uttermost parts of the earth,
as I have told you already; and I know not a people, and hardly a
nation, but what it makes them quake from centre to
circumference. If they do not believe the sound that has gone
forth, let them disbelieve; we ask no odds of them.
93
We do not expect that all the people will believe, and wickedness
will increase while the Saints are gathering together. If those
who profess to know what right is, will do right and live to the
Gospel of Christ which they understand, there is no danger but
what the elect will be saved, and that the devil cannot get them.
All that Jesus designs to save he will save; all that are
disposed to believe and obey, he is disposed to save, and will do
it. And those that will falter and hearken to the teachings and
seductions of the world, the flesh, and the devil, he can save
upon the principles he has established.
93
Men act upon their own agency; we do not expect that those who
will not hearken and obey will be saved by the Gospel; and many
that obey the first principles of the Gospel will not live their
religion.
93
Let this people live their religion here. We cry to you all the
time to live your religion. Let every man and woman forsake their
evil ways, and turn unto the Lord with all their hearts, that He
may have mercy on us, that the light may shine, and the nations
feel its influence, and the honest in heart rejoice therein and
be gathered to Zion.
93
As I told the brethren the other evening, if the candle of the
Almighty does not shine from this place, you need not seek for
light any where else. If this people have not the light and power
of God with them, the Elders that go forth cannot have the light
and enjoy the power that we do not have here; they must be lower
than we are; they cannot attain to the light that we can here.
93
Shall we forsake our wickedness? I say, thank God, that I see a
spirit of repentance in a degree; but I want to see so thorough a
reform that sin and wickedness will be done away. Live your
religion; that tells the whole story. If you live your religion
you have the Holy Ghost in you, it abides with you; you shun
evil, and put forth your energies to do all the good you can; you
will refrain from everything that is evil, and do everything you
can to promote the cause of God on the earth.
94
It is all embraced in the three words, live your religion; that
is what I wish to say to all good people. That the Lord may help
us so to do, that we may be accounted worthy to be saved in His
kingdom, is my constant prayer, brethren and sisters, in the name
of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Wilford
Woodruff, October 6, 1856
Wilford Woodruff, October 6, 1856
THE FACILITIES AFFORDED BY THE HAND-CART MOVEMENT FOR THE
GATHERING
OF ISRAEL--THE SAINTS SPECIALLY OPPOSED BY THE DEVIL IN ANY NEW
ENTERPRISE--REFORMATION.
A Discourse by Elder Woodruff, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1856.
94
Brethren and sisters, I feel to take the liberty of occupying a
few moments in expressing some few of my feelings. I have heard
all the brethren that have spoken for several days past. I have
heard them say that it was with great difficulty that they
expressed their feelings, and I did not wonder at this, for any
one who will reflect upon the state of the world and the kingdom
of God upon the earth, and the dealings of God with us, will be
filled with feelings and re-reflections which they cannot
express. No man could listen to what we have heard to-day and
yesterday, and I may say for the past month, without having many
feelings in reference to the condition of the people, Church, and
kingdom of God. There is no man that has been acquainted in this
Church and kingdom, that has felt any responsibility resting upon
him, that has any desire in relation to the gathering of Israel,
that has beheld with his eyes for the last week or two, and that
has listened to our brethren, but must have felt that the Spirit
of God has been with them.
94
I have a desire to bear my testimony with my brethren, for I feel
thankful to God for His blessings unto us, and unto our brethren
who have journeyed on foot to the valleys. My heart was filled
with joy on listening to our returned missionaries who have told
of the dealings of God with them. I have been much edified and
interested in listening to the testimony of our returned
missionaries.
94
When I first met the train of handcarts my soul was full, the
scene was overwhelming, our hearts were swollen, as brother
Kimball said, till they felt as though they were as big as a two
bushel basket. Was it sorrow that produced this? No, but joy; and
why so? Because it looked as if the very flood-gates of
deliverance were opened, and as if we could say to the starving
millions, "Come home to Zion, and improve the opportunity that is
now open, and renew your covenants, reform yourselves in your
lives and conduct."
94
President Brigham Young has talked about this plan for some time
before it came before the public; he has felt that an improvement
and change must take place in relation to the gathering of the
people, as well as a reformation of life of all those who were
gathered.
95
Whatever counsel the Presidency of this Church have been led to
give unto this people, it has been dictated by the Spirit and
power of God, and our safety and salvation lies in obeying that
counsel and putting it into practice. We should learn to listen
to the operation and manifestation of the Spirit of Truth.
95
When President Young launched forth into the wilderness, leading
the pioneer camp to seek a new location and home as a resting
place for the Saints, there were many men that felt as though it
was a wild and speculation, they thought it was taking a stand
that was dangerous, but were they men of faith? They might well
feel so if they had not the Spirit of God, but all those that
were governed and controlled by the right spirit, felt as he did,
and that God was leading him, and that he would lead the people
right; and it is so with the hand-cart trains.
95
We should learn a lesson by this hand-cart operation as we should
by every other operation of the servants of God. I know how it
looks to the Saints, but "Mormonism" to men that have not the
Spirit of God is a great mystery and a strange work indeed, they
do not understand the ways or work of God; it looks to them like
leading the people to destruction; but in all cases where
destruction comes in all ages of the world, it is where the
counsels of the Prophets of God are not fully carried out, but
where the people deviate in some measure from their counsel. And
this was fully manifest in the days of the ancient Prophets as
well as in our day.
95
The word of the Lord and the words of His servants have been
proved many times, and that before our eyes; our leaders were led
by the Spirit of God, and I can bear testimony that our Prophets
and leaders have the Spirit of the Lord, and they are clothed
upon with the holy Priesthood of God, and all the powers and keys
thereof, and with the holy anointing, and are fully authorized
and qualified to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth; they
are inspired by the very same spirit that the ancients were; they
want to build up the kingdom of God, this is their object.
95
When I saw brother Ellsworth come into this city covered with
dust and drawing a hand cart, I felt that he had gained greater
honor than the riches of this world could bestow, and he looked
better to me than he would have done had he been clothed with the
most costly apparel that human ingenuity can produce; he looked
better, I say, to me, than a man adorned with jewels and finery
of every description. The honor any man can obtain by his
faithfulness in this cause and kingdom is worth far more than all
the honors and riches of the world.
95
The Elders of this Church have been inspired while on their
missions abroad among the nations of the earth; they have had the
Spirit of the Lord, and they have borne it forth among the
people, and we can see the spirit by which they have been
governed in their works. I feel thankful that the Lord has heard
our prayers in their behalf, for these men have been remembered;
there has not been a prayer offered up by a man or a woman in
Israel who have enjoyed the Spirit of the Lord, but they have
offered their prayers and exercised their faith in behalf of and
in favor of those men; they have prayed for the "hand-cart
company," that they might be strong and be able to perform their
duties, and we have prayed that they might be preserved from
cholera, from sickness, and from the power of the destroyer; and
these prayers have ascended up on high and entered into the ears
of the God of Sabaoth, and our brethren have felt the power of
them; they felt, as brother Ellsworth said he felt, viz., that
they had the prayers and faith of their friends in Zion.
96
Do I look upon these brethren and sisters that come in with
hand-carts with any less degree of respect than I should if they
had come with horses, with dromedaries, with mules and swift
beasts? No, I do not; but I feel that they have accomplished a
good work in thus coming to Zion, in the way the Presidency have
pointed out.
96
I feel to rejoice also to see the Spirit and power of God poured
out so powerfully upon the Presidency of the Church and those who
have been faithful either at home, or those who have been on
missions abroad.
96
The Presidency of this Church are calling upon us as a people to
repent and put off our sins. It is right, it is just that we
should awake and reform, for we have got to have the same spirit;
we have to wake up from the deep sleep and slumbering condition
in which we find ourselves. We must arise to a sense of our
position and to understand the signs of the times, and become
acquainted with what the Lord requires at our hands.
96
I am satisfied, and have been for some length of time, that the
Lord would open some way of relief for the poor Saints; it would
require all the Saints that are upon the earth with their
means--I was going to say that it would require all the means in
the world to bring the poor in the way they have been gathering.
There must be a change in the way of the gathering, in order to
save them from the calamities and the scourges that are coming
upon the wicked nations of the earth. It would require more gold
than all the Saints possess upon the earth, to gather the Saints
unto Zion from all nations in the way they have been gathering,
but now the hand-cart operation has been introduced to this
people, it will bring five here to where one has been brought
heretofore.
96
I rejoice in all those men who have stood up to their posts as
men of God, and defended the words of His servants, and assisted
in carrying out their plans and designs in gathering the people
from the nations; they have been inspired by the power of the
great God, and they have carried the words of His servants into
operation with success, and had it not been so, the devil would
have gained a great victory over the Saints; they have conquered,
and this has been the case in every operation that we as a people
have taken in hand under the direction of the servants of God.
96
The moment that you take in hand any new operation in the kingdom
of God, that moment you have to renew your warfare, and the
Saints will find that wherein they undertake any new enterprize
and are sent to the nations of the earth, the devil will be up
against them. Look how he raged when the Prophet Joseph commenced
preaching upon this continent, and then again when we went from
this country to Europe, it seemed as if all hell was let loose.
As soon as brothers Kimball and Hyde arrived in England, all the
devils in Europe, or in England at any rate, were let loose upon
them, and it was precisely the same in London when the brethren
went there; and I will say still further, it has been so in every
place.
96
I thank God that those men that have been appointed to lead these
hand-carts have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and have had
courage and faith to carry out the plan designed by the servants
of the Almighty. It is an omen, not only to the Jews, but to the
Gentiles; it shows them that there is a God in Israel whose power
and Priesthood have been commited into the hands of men upon the
earth, and their works cause "the wisdom of the wise to perish,
and the understanding of the prudent to be hid;" and this power
and principle is felt by the great and the mighty among men.
97
I feel thankful that the Lord has preserved our brethren the
missionaries, and that they have been permitted to return to our
midst, and that we have the privilege of greeting them, and that
we can rejoice together in the goodness and mercy of God.
97
I wish to say a few words to the Elders. I suppose we are all
Elders; do you teach your families the way of life and salvation?
Do you teach your wives and children the counsel of God? We
should impress upon the minds of our children the evil
consequences of committing sin or breaking any of the laws of
God, they should be made to understand that by doing wrong they
will inherit sorrow and tribulation which they can easily escape
by doing right, and they should learn this principle by precept
without learning sorrow and affliction by experience from doing
wrong.
97
We as a people should be humble, be prayerful, be submissive to
the powers that be, that we may receive the promised blessings of
our Heavenly Father.
97
I want now to say a few words upon the subject of our
reformation. The Presidency have called upon us to reform our
ways, to renew our covenants, and to commence to live the lives
of Saints. I take this liberty because I have the opportunity of
speaking to you. I say then that they have called upon us to put
on the whole armor, to reform our conduct. Men having authority
have called upon us to forsake our wickedness and our follies,
and I may here say that the Presidency have preached to the
people in this Territory, not only for the last month, but for
the last year, and I have thought that it was a good deal like
throwing a ball against a rock, it did not penetrate but bounded
back, but they have told us that we were asleep as a people, and
we have been told of the condition that we are in by the Prophets
of God, and as brother Grant has said, we may take the Church as
a body with the Priesthood, with but few exceptions, and we have
been asleep. What! should the Apostles of Jesus Christ go to
sleep, men who ought to have their minds upon nothing else but
the things of the kingdom of God? No, they should not, they
should not be asleep, but they have not always felt as they
should feel.
97
You may take the Twelve, and the Seventies, and High Priests, and
all the other quorums, except the First Presidency, and they have
been more or less asleep. I believe the First Presidency have
been awake or they would not have known that we were asleep, and
they now think that it is time for us to awake and arise from our
slumbers, and I feel so too.
97
I will tell you how I feel about it; men bearing the Priesthood
of God, it is a solemn truth, and you know it as well as I do,
that almost all the male members in this land bear the holy
Priesthood of the Most High, and yet at the same time we have had
more stealing, more lying, more swearing in one year than there
should have been in a thousand; we have had more stealing here in
Utah than has been for our credit, and when you have taken up
that you may also take up every other sin and pile them up
together and what is our condition before God? Why, we have
violated our covenants which we made at the waters of baptism.
What is the use then of our saying that we have been righteous,
that we have been holy, when we have actually been in a sound
sleep, when we have been so much out of the way? It is no use
whatever, and the time of sifting and purifying the Saints has
come, and for one I am willing to put on the garment, and keep it
on, until we burn out all the evil that exists.
98
Why will we suffer our hearts to be set upon the things of the
world, when they should be upon the Lord and the building up of
His kingdom? And as long as the angels are ready to write down
our actions, and the Spirit of God is taken away from the nations
of the earth, and they are filled with wickedness and
abominations of every kind, and the judgments of God are ready to
fall upon the earth, for "Hell has enlarged herself, and the pomp
and glory of the world will descend into it." And where should
men be awake if not here in Zion?
98
It is our duty, brethren, to live in that way and manner before
our God, that we will find no difficulty in administering in any
of the ordinances of the kingdom of God; we should live so that
the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost will rest down upon us; we
should humble ourselves before the Lord in our closets, and live
day by day, so that we can know what is right and what is wrong,
and when the Presidency give us any instruction or charge, to
live so that we will be ready to follow their counsel.
98
I believe that the majority of the people are ready to wake up; I
believe that they already begin to feel the reformation spirit in
them, and it is certainly time, for there are great events at our
door, and I likewise feel that we will have as much labor upon
our hands as we will be able to perform; it is a great and an
important day that we live in, and when we look upon the work of
the Lord as Elders, as High Priests, as Seventies, and as men
should who bear the Priesthood, we should never be asleep, but be
ever ready to do the work of God, and to build up His kingdom,
for the day is now come when we must awake and become the friends
of God; we must not allow anything to stand between us and our
God, or we shall be cut off.
98
There has been a great deal among us which has been wrong, and
for which we have been reproved, and I will not hand the garments
to my neighbor, but I will give every one their due, and take
that portion to myself which belongs to me. It has been a custom
at times when reproofs have been given, and the garment would fit
a man, to hand it to his neighbor, but I know that but few of us
will escape.
98
I know that I can take the reproof to myself, and I consider that
it is one of the greatest victories for a man to gain, to learn
how to control himself. Show me a man that does control himself
and I will show you a safe man; or a man that has prepared
himself by this principle is on the road to salvation. A man that
is prepared to lay all that he hath upon the altar, and his life
with it, for the Gospel's sake and the kingdom of God, is in the
right way, but the moment that we teach a doctrine that we do not
practise we show our weakness. The moment a man or a woman
becomes angry they show a great weakness, and so it is with any
of us when we do anything wrong.
98
I feel, as President Young said, that our Father in heaven is
touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and when I have
looked at the magnitude of the work, and the nature of our
Priesthood, and the authority and responsibility which rests upon
us and upon all the hosts of Israel, I have felt oftentimes to
mourn and weep over the passions and follies to which men is
subject in this life.
98
If men could see and understand their relationship to God, and
the position they occupy, they would not see one moment of their
lives that they would desire to do a wrong thing, but they would
pursue a straightforward course, they would avoid all kinds of
evil words and improper expressions.
99
What was intended by the establishment of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ? Was it for men to become darkened and sleepy? No, for the
moment what we do we come under condemnation. I say, then, that
we have all been reproved by our brethren. I speak of the
reproofs given because they have been among the things foremost
before our brethren, who have preached to us for some time past.
99
I feel that this call of repentance and baptism for the remission
of our sins is an important one, and that we cannot again go to
sleep with impunity, and I feel that inasmuch as we will walk in
the light, awake from our slumber, repent of our sins, we shall
receive the blessings of the Gospel of Christ, and all things
that pertain to the kingdom of our God.
99
These things that God has given to us through our Prophets, will
prove the savor of life unto life, or of death unto death.
99
When I was a boy, there was an old man used to visit at my
father's house; his name was Robert Mason, and I heard teachings
from him from the time that I was eight years old and upwards,
and they were teachings that I shall ever remember, and he taught
my father's household many important truths concerning the Church
and kingdom of God, and told them many things in relation to the
Prophets and the things that were coming upon the earth, but his
teachings were not received by but few, they were unpopular with
the Christian world, but nearly all that did receive his
teachings have joined the Latter-day Saints. Prophets were not
popular in that day any more than now, and I have often thought
of many things which the old man taught me in the days of my
youth since I received the fulness of the Gospel and became a
member of the Church of Christ.
99
He said, "When you read the Bible do you ever think that what you
read there is going to be fulfilled? The teachers of the day,"
said he, "spiritualize the Bible, but when you read in the Bible
about the dreams, visions, revelations and predictions of
Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or any other of the Prophets or
Apostles, relative to the gathering of Israel and the building up
of Zion, where they say that Israel shall be gathered upon
litters, swift beasts and dromedaries, you may understand that it
means just what it says, and that it will be fulfilled upon the
earth in the last days. And when you read of men laying hands
upon the sick and healing them, and casting out devils and
working miracles in the name of Jesus Christ, it means what it
ways." And he further said "The Church of Christ and kingdom of
God is not upon the earth, but it has been taken from the
children of men through unbelief, and because they have taken
away from the Gospel some of its most sacred ordinances, and have
instituted in their stead forms and ceremonies without the power
of God, and have turned from the truth unto fables, but," said
he, "it will soon be restored again unto the children of men upon
the earth, with its ancient gifts and powers, for the Scriptures
cannot be fulfilled without it; but I shall not live to see it,
but," said he to me, "you will live to see that day, and you will
become a conspicuous actor in that kingdom, and when you see that
day, then that which the Prophets have spoken will be fulfilled.
99
And as brother Van Cott said about his father and grandfathers,
that they did not join any church, it was so with me; I did not
join any church, believing that the Church of Christ in its true
organization did not exist upon the earth, but when the
principles of the everlasting Gospel were first proclaimed unto
me, I believed it with all my heart, and was baptized the first
sermon I heard, for the Spirit of God bore testimony to me in
power that it was true.
100
And I believe that I should never have joined any Church had
I not heard some men preach who had the holy Priesthood. But when
I heard the fulness of the Gospel, I was greatly blessed in
receiving it, and was filled with joy unspeakable, and I have
never been sorry, but I have rejoiced all the day long, and when
I saw that train of hand-carts, I thought of the teaching and
words of the old prophet Mason, for he came the nearest to being
a true Prophet of God in his predictions and works of any man I
ever saw, until I saw men administering in the holy Priesthood.
100
He also cast out devils in the name of Jesus Christ, by the
laying on of hands and the prayer of faith. "But," said he, "I
have no right to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel,
neither has any man unless he receives it by revelation from God
out of heaven, as did the ancients. But if my family or friends
are sick, I have the right to lay hands upon them, and pray for
them in the name of Jesus Christ, and if we can get faith to be
healed, it is our privilege; and I will here say that many were
healed through his faith and prayers, and that, too, within my
knowledge." And when that first hand-cart company came into the
city, I, indeed, thought of the old prophet, for if they did not
come with litters it was as near as possible to it, and I now
believe that from this time forth hand-carts will be used more
than horses, mules, and oxen.
100
I thank God that I have lived to see this day and generation, and
I pray God to bless you and me, that we may do our duty in our
families, and among our friends, and in our neighborhoods, and in
every circumstance in which we are placed. I also feel thankful
to see our brethren and sisters coming in, and especially the
missionaries, for they have returned filled with the gifts and
powers of the Holy Ghost; it does my soul good and I feel to
thank God for these things.
100
When I came into the Tabernacle, and saw the offerings that were
made, I felt satisfied that there was an improvement; and I will
say here that whenever the Prophets who lead us call upon us, we
should be ready and on hand to take hold of that wheel which he
points to and pull, and when we get the spirit of our calling,
and the power of God upon us, the Church and kingdom will grow.
As President Young said, the vail will be rent, and when the
armies of Gog and Magog arise, they will say, let us not go
against Israel to battle, for her sons are terrible, and we
cannot stand.
100
If we as a people follow the counsel of the Presidency of this
Church, repent of our sins, wake up, do our duty, keep on the
armor of righteousness, live our religion, and are filled with
the Holy Ghost, we shall soon see that sinners in Zion will
tremble, and fearfulness will surprise the hypocrite.
100
I feel to bless you, brethren and sisters, and pray that we may
do our duty in all things, and ever honor the Priesthood, and at
last be crowned in the Church and kingdom of God; I ask it in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, September 28, 1856
Brigham Young, September 28, 1856
THE HAND-CART EMIGRATION--OPINIONS OF THE EMIGRANTS CONCERNING
IT--FEMALES ENDURE THE JOURNEY BETTER THAN MALES, ETC.
Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, September 28, 1856.
101
I think it is now proven to a certainty that men, women, and
children can cross the Plains, from the settlements on the
Missouri river to this place on foot, and draw hand-carts, loaded
with a good portion of the articles needed to sustain them on the
way.
101
To me this is no more a matter of fact this morning, after seeing
the companies that have crossed the Plains, than it was years
ago. I have no different knowledge, feelings, or faith, upon this
subject to-day than I have had from the beginning. It has been a
matter of doubt with many of our Elders who have gone out to
preach, and with many who have staid at home, as to the propriety
of starting a train upon the Plains for men, women, and children
to walk.
101
Probably my faith has been based upon actual knowledge. There are
a great many men who know but little about what they can do, and
there are a great many women that never consider what they can
perform; people do not fully reflect upon their own acts, upon
their own ability, and therefore do not understand what they are
capable of doing.
101
My reasoning has been like this: Take small children, those that
are over five years of age, and if their steps were counted and
measured, those that they take in the course of one day, you
would find that they had taken enough to have traveled from
twelve to twenty miles.
101
Count the steps that a woman takes when she is doing her work,
let them be measured, and it will be found that in many instances
she had taken steps enough to have traveled from fifteen to
twenty miles a day; I will warrant this to be the case. The steps
of women who spin would, in all probability, make from twenty to
thirty miles a day.
101
So with men, they do not consider the steps they make when they
are at their labor; they are all the time walking. Even our
masons upon the walls are all the time stepping; they take a step
almost at every breath.
101
Many people have believed that they could not walk much of a
distance, if they had to walk right along in a road, but this is
not so. Our carpenters, joiners, masons, tenders, road makers,
tillers of the soil, and persons of almost all avocations in
life, men, women, and children, are subject to continual travel.
These things I have contemplated, and I have seen walking put
into practise.
102
The longest journey on foot that ever I took at one time was in
the year 1834, when a company of the brethren went up to
Missouri, the next season after the Saints were driven out of
Jackson County. Many in this congregation, and some on the stand,
were in that company; brother Kimball and brother Woodruff were
in it. We performed a journey of two thousand miles on foot; we
started on the 5th day of May, and accomplished that journey
inside of three months, carrying our guns on our shoulders, doing
our own cooking, &c. And instead of walking along without having
to labor, much of the way we had to draw our baggage wagons
through mud holes and over sections of bad road. Twenty or thirty
men would take hold and draw a wagon up a hill, or through a mud
hole; and it was seldom that I ever laid down to rest until
eleven or twelve o'clock at night, and we always rose very early
in the morning, I think the horn was blown at three o'clock to
arouse us, to prepare breakfast, &c. and get an early start; and
we averaged in the outward trip upwards of forty miles a day.
102
If we laid by a day, or half a day, we generally calculated to
make the travel of the week average forty miles a day.
102
We spent considerable time in waiting upon the sick; and some
days and nights the brethren who were able, were standing over
the sick and dying, and burying the dead; we buried eighteen of
the company. Notwithstanding all this, inside of three months we
walked about two thousand miles.
102
I am not a good walker, though I have walked a great deal in the
course of my life, but it is not natural to me to be a great
walker. I have walked much during my missions to preach the
Gospel; and we have many in this congregation who have walked
from twenty to thirty miles on a Sabbath, after working hard all
the week, and then preached two or three times.
102
When I was in England I found that I was poor at walking, in
comparison with the females there. Brother Edmund Ellsworth, who
has led this first company of hand-carts over the Plains, says
that the females have stood the journey better than the males;
taking the girls and the boys of equal age, the men and the
women, and the females have best endured the travel.
102
In England I could walk comfortably with the men, but if the
women undertook, they could easily out do me in walking.
102
Our American women think it strange to advance such an idea as
women's walking. I will refer you to one individual that many of
you know, and that is sister Turley, who now lives in San
Bernardino; after working hard all the week, she and her husband
frequently used to walk twenty or thirty miles on the Sabbath,
and attend three meetings.
102
There are many in this congregation that used to walk and preach,
and some of them did so on week days as well as on Sabbaths.
102
True, in those old countries people are not in the habit of
taking journeys of hundreds of miles as the Americans do, but
they walk through their towns and counties, throughout their
circuits, and walk a great deal more and better than do the
Americans.
102
The common people, the masses that work in the factories, do not
own teams in the old countries, and if they wish to visit or go
to a fair, they go on foot. If they should get any way of
conveyance to places where the railroads have not yet reached,
they hire a cart, or perhaps a wagon on springs, and six, eight,
twelve, or twenty persons will get in and ride for a few miles;
but that is only for the sake of the name of riding, and not
particularly for the comfort of it, for they would, as a general
thing, rather foot it than ride in many of their modes of
conveyance.
103
To the American this seems strange; but you may go into Scotland
and Wales, and then cross to the little island called Ireland,
and then to France and the German States, and pass on to Italy,
and you will find the generality of the people in the habit of
performing their journeys on foot, not depending upon being
conveyed in vehicles.
103
They are in the habit of working and walking, and their toils and
labors are very excessive, and apparently without cessation. Go
into the mountainous regions of some of those old countries, and
you will see men, women, and children packing soil, like it would
be to take it from the banks of Jordan and carry it half way up
the sides of these mountains, and, when they can get one, two, or
three rods of level surface, making their gardens upon the rocks.
103
They will take cows up to such places, and pack up fodder, and
there keep them, for they are not able to go down and feed and
return again the same day.
103
They will walk on the brinks of precipices, clamber around the
rocks, pack up the soil from the bottoms, and thus make a
subsistence, raising a few potatoes and whatever vegetables they
can, and there they live summer and winter; they are all the time
toiling and laboring.
103
In many districts of England, it is the custom to put children
into factories at five years of age, and there they remain so
long as they live. Children from five years old and upwards, will
go for miles to their labor early in the morning, winter and
summer, and must be at the factory at factory time, and there
they must stand upon their feet until they are dismissed for half
an hour, or an hour, to eat their breakfast, or their dinner, and
all the rest of the time they are upon their feet. They are used
to labor, accustomed to being on their feet and walking.
103
We have not yet had a report from any of the brethren who have
led the hand-cart companies, with regard to their traveling
across the Plains, any more than to say they are here. I think
brother Ellsworth says that seven persons died in his company,
between here and Iowa City. How many died in the companies last
year? How many will die in the companies who ride? Double that
number, very likely. As for health, it is far healthier to walk
than to ride, and better every way for the people. When they get
up in the morning, instead of wearying the women with running
through the long grass hunting the oxen, &c., they are there in
camp, and if they wish to do any walking, they can take hold of
their little hand carts and go on about their business. when they
come to sandy hills, it is then no doubt hard. (Voice, they can
then double teams.) Yes, they can easily double teams, for they
are right on hand all the time.
103
The hand-carts look rather broken up, but if they had been made
of good seasoned timber, they would have come in as nice as when
they started with them. True, the brethren and sisters that came
in with hand-carts have eaten up their provisions, and some have
hired their clothing brought, and they had but little on their
carts when they came in.
103
They also started with full loads, and I presume it was hard for
them at first, but they became inured to it. And yesterday I
heard many of them, and especially the women, observing to some
of the sisters that came to see them, while they were questioning
them about their journey across the Plains on foot, "that if we
had the journey to perform again, and had our choice, we would go
on foot rather than go with teams, and be plagued with oxen and
wagons." Why, I will answer one query, "We have not time to wait
for oxen and wagons."
104
The hand-cart companies that have come in, had a few strong teams
with them, well able to travel, but the companies had to wait
every day for these teams, and they hindered them exceedingly. If
this is not so, let brother Ellsworth correct me; this is what I
have heard some of them say.
104
They could have been here ten days ago, perhaps twelve, had it
not been for waiting for the teams. If persons have a journey to
perform and can get at railroad speed with hand-carts, it is
better than to drag along with ox teams.
104
This is the subject I have on my mind, and I presume the people
feel as I do; it is an interesting subject, an interesting event
in our history as a people. There is nothing that can be brought
before the Latter-day Saints of deeper interest than to know how
they can be gathered together, without so great an expense as has
hitherto attended the gathering.
104
We know that our sorrows and our cares in this particular are
measurably at an end if we can avoid buying teams and expensive
outfits to bring the people here. We have now proved that they
can come pretty much by themselves, working their way along and
drawing their own provisions, and also their little ones, and the
maimed, and old, and blind. If any way can be opened for the
gathering together of the poor, it takes off a great burden and
labor from the body of the people.
104
It is an interesting subject, and my feelings are precisely as
they have been all the time. I have believed, and I believe
to-day, that I can take my own family, my women and children,
across those Plains, asking no odds of any team in the world,
only what we make ourselves; and I believe I could beat any ox
train at it. I have always believed it, I believe it to-day. I
presume my family would feel, as others feel, that it is a hard
task, a great trial; who can bear such great afflictions? to have
to walk a thousand miles? Those who get into the Celestial
Kingdom will count this a very light task in the end, and if they
have to walk thousands of miles, they will feel themselves happy
for the privilege, that they may know how to enjoy celestial
glory.
104
I recollect that in my young days, before I made any profession
of religion, when people were disposed to call me an infidel
(though they did not know what infidelity was) because I did not
believe in the sectarian religion, I could not see any utility in
it, any further than a moral character was concerned, yet I
believed the Bible. I felt in those days, after I had made a
profession of religion, that if I could see the face of a
Prophet, such as had lived on the earth in former times, a man
that had revelations, to whom the heavens were opened, who knew
God and His character, I would freely circumscribe the earth on
my hands and knees; I thought that there was no hardship but what
I would undergo, if I could see one person that knew what God is
and where He is, what was His character, and what eternity was;
and I presume that the people feel with regard to religion, to
the doctrine of the Gospel, partially, if not altogether, as I
did. They are very anxious to know the ways of life, they want to
know the ways of God; they want to become acquainted with His
character, to know who He is and what He is. They want to
understand just as they are directed to understand in the New
Testament, and said to be the words of the Savior, "this is
eternal life, to know the only living and true God, and Jesus
Christ whom He hath sent." To know that God, and to know Jesus,
the people who wish to do right are willing to undergo anything.
Those that gather here, if they will do the best they know, will
know God, and Jesus whom He has sent, and be as familiar with Him
as they can be with any character whose face they see not; they
can know His character and understand His ways.
105
I shall now give way, and call upon brother Ellsworth to address
you; and if any of the other brethren who have been called upon
to come to the stand, are in the congregation, they will please
come forward, for it is of great interest to me, to learn
something of the travels of our brethren and sisters.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, September 28, 1856
Heber C. Kimball, September 28, 1856
EMIGRATION--THE SAINTS WARNED TO REPENT OR JUDGMENTS WILL COME
UPON THEM.
A Discourse, by President H. C. Kimball, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, September 28, 1856.
105
I feel very thankful to my Father and my God in regard to the two
hand-cart companies that have just come in, led by brothers
Ellsworth and McArthur.
105
I went out with brother Brigham to meet those companies, and when
within a mile and a half of the foot of the Little Mountain we
left the company that was with us, and drove on until we met
Captain Ellsworth's company. I did not shed any tears, though I
could have done so, but they would have been tears of joy; my
heart was so full that it was impossible for a tear to pass it;
that is the way I felt. Why did I have those feelings? Was it
because the company were on foot, dusty, and pulling hand-carts?
No, for I was aware that they had come into these valleys easier
than most, if not all, other companies. Their task was light in
comparison with that of the pioneers in 1847, for they had to
build bridges, cross deep and wide rivers upon rafts, and make
hundreds of miles of road, digging up and throwing out stones and
cutting down trees and thick brush.
105
Brother Mills mentioned in his song, that crossing the Plains
with hand-carts was one of the greatest events that ever
transpired in this Church. I will admit that it is an important
event, successfully testing another method for gathering Israel,
but its importance is small in comparison with the visitation of
the angel of God to the Prophet Joseph, and with the reception of
the sacred records from the hand of Moroni at the hill Cumorah.
105
How does it compare with the vision that Joseph and others had,
when they went into a cave in the hill Cumorah, and saw more
records than ten men could carry? There were books piled up on
tables, book upon book. Those records this people will yet have,
if they accept of the Book of Mormon and observe its precepts,
and keep the commandments.
105
Again, how does it contrast with Joseph's being sent forth with
his brethren to search out a location in Jackson County, where
the New Jerusalem will be built, where our Father and our God
planted the first garden on this earth, and where the New
Jerusalem will come to when it comes down from heaven?
106
I mention these few things by way of contrast with the hand-cart
operation; they are events that I have heard Joseph speak of,
time and time again.
106
There will not one soul of you go to build up that holy city in
Jackson County, until you learn to keep the commandments of God,
and listen to the counsel of brother Brigham and his counselors,
of the Twelve Apostles, of the Bishops, and of every officer in
the Church of God; until you are willing to keep what we call the
celestial law.
106
What is the celestial law? A great many of you think that you
have not come to it, but the fundamental principles of
"Mormonism," faith in Jesus Christ, repentance for sins, and
baptism for their remission, which is the door into the kingdom
of God, are the first letters of the alphabet of the celestial
law; and if you turn away from those principles, you turn away
from everything that your salvation depends upon.
106
There is a reformation proposed; it has already commenced in the
north, and the people there are repenting, that is, they say they
repent; and many have gone forward and been baptized for the
remission of their sins.
106
But, brethren and sisters, you may go forward and be baptized,
and say you repent, and receive the laying on of hands, and if
you do not repent and lay aside your wickedness, you will go to
hell. I tell you that there is nothing that will turn away the
wrath of God, and the chastenings that are to come on this
people, if they do not repent indeed; now mark my words.
106
There has been too much said here, by brother Brigham, and his
brethren, to fall to the ground unnoticed, and you must observe
every word of it.
106
I am very thankful that so many of the brethren have come in with
hand-carts; my soul rejoiced, my heart was filled and grew as big
as a two-bushel basket. Two companies have come through safe and
sound. Is this the end of it? No; there will be millions on
millions that will come much in the same way, only they will not
have hand carts, for they will take their bundles under their
arms, and their children on their backs, and under their arms,
and flee; and Zion's people will have to send out relief to them,
for they will come when the judgments come on the nations. And
you will find that judgments will be more sore upon this people,
if they do not repent and lay aside their pride and their
animosities, their quarrelling and contentions, their
disputations among themselves.
106
Those that have come in with the hand-carts may wonder how this
can be, for doubtless many of them thought that they were coming
to where it was all peace and harmony, and so remain for ever. So
it would, were it not for the wicked ones that come here. You who
come with the hand-carts have brought nobody here but yourselves,
and probably, as brother Ellsworth said, there are as good people
among his company as ever were on the earth, according to their
knowledge; and then he said there were some of the worst. I do
not doubt it, for he never stopped to select them, but he brought
all that happened to be in the net, and there were several kinds,
I suppose.
106
Any man or woman that has got the Spirit of the Lord, may know
that God is with those missionaries who have come in with these
companies, and they have made a character for themselves that
will live for ever, and they will live for ever; and God bless
them for ever, and they shall be blessed for ever. And when
brother Brigham, and Heber, and Jedediah, and the Twelve Apostles
go through the straight gate into the kingdom, they shall go with
us.
107
Your face looks good to me, brother McArthur; I sat beside
you to-day, and it warmed my heart clear through. I have known
him from his boyhood, and so I have the others. And Joseph A.
Young, and William H. Kimball, they know nothing but "Mormonism;"
they were born in it. They could not fully discern the difference
until they went on a mission to the lower world, where they were
under the necessity of depending upon their God, and now they
know that God lives, that "Mormonism" is true, that Brigham Young
is a Prophet of God, and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet.
107
No man or woman can have the spirit of Prophecy, and at the same
time do evil and speak against their brethren; and you will find
that man or that woman barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of
God, and filled with disputations.
107
When you hear false statements from disaffected characters, do
not circulate them; do not send them back to England, France,
&c., to prevent those from coming here that otherwise would come.
The Saints will gather, and hand-cart companies will become
common; there will be more of them than there will be of ox or
mule trains.
107
If brother Brigham should say to me, next spring, go back and
bring up a hand-cart company, I am ready to do so. I can do it
with less fatigue than the labour I perform every day of my life.
Will twenty or twenty-five miles daily travel excuse me? No. I am
never still, never idle, and I never expect to be, in heaven nor
on earth.
107
I have often told you that all my lazy hairs were gone; and I
have often told the young Elders, to encourage them, that the
first mission I took, after I was ordained one of the Twelve, was
through New England and into Nova Scotia, 1500 miles travel on
foot with my valise on my back. Soon after I started I found that
I was rather unlearned, though I knew that before, but I knew it
better after I started.
107
I began to study the Scriptures, as brother McArthur did, and I
had so little knowledge that the exercise of study began to swell
my head and open my pores insomuch that the hairs dropped out;
and if you will let your minds expand as mine did you will have
no hair on your heads. I expected to lose all my hair, and my
head too; but I am alive and in the house of Israel; and I expect
to live to see this people prosper, the house of Israel gathered,
and scattered Israel connected with this people; and we will
bring about the purposes of God. My body may fail, but my spirit
will never die, nor will the spirit of any good "Mormon." Let us
"live our religion."
107
I presume there were as many devils after those hand-cart
companies as ever followed any company of Saints that ever left
the States, and their object was to defeat them in this attempt,
but they have not been permitted to do it.
107
The Elders that go forth and preach the Gospel will have to lead
the hand-cart companies over the Plains, and learn to go on foot.
Am I not glad? Yes, I rejoice exceedingly. I have prayed for
those companies night and day, and I never was more pleased to
see any persons than I was to see those brethren and sisters, and
the Elders that have brought them here. I baptized several of
them eighteen years ago in Chatburn and Downham, England, and I
thank God that they have come here. It proves that they were good
Saints, to stand so long in that wicked country, and sustain
"Mormonism" eighteen or nineteen years.
108
In Tithebarn I stood upon a barrel and preached, and a woman came
and took hole of my coat; I said, "What is wanted, lady?" "I want
to be baptized." I jumped from the barrel and baptized
twenty-five persons, some of whom are here. That was nineteen
years ago, when "Mormonism" was introduced into that nation; I
went over about the time when the Church was broken up in
Kirtland, and when there were not twenty persons on the earth
that would declare that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God.
108
When we returned from England, we could report from two thousand
to twenty-five hundred Saints added to the Church, after being
away about eleven months. When we got back the Church was all
driven from Ohio, and we went to Missouri. I arrived there in
time to be sick three weeks; and then the mob prevailed and we
were driven out.
108
And as fast as we could get well and get out of a place, I was
taken sick and driven again. That is the way I have been kept
going, and I expect to be kept going in that way, if this people
do not do right and keep the commandments of God.
108
"Live your religion," keep the commandments of God, listen to the
servants of God, and you will stand for ever, and the world
cannot trouble you.
108
Last Sabbath I referred to the conduct of the ancient inhabitants
on this continent, and the dealings of the Lord with them; and it
is the only way in which those who profess to be the people of
God are kept humble. When they prospered in riches they were
lifted up, and God sent famine and pestilence among them, and
sickness and death, until He pretty much destroyed the nation,
until they humbled themselves; and I wish to apply that
experience to this people, and they will feel it if they do not
repent.
108
Your ears may hear my words, but do my words enter your hearts?
Will you repent sincerely before God? If you will we never will
be afflicted, no, never. I do not know of any way for this people
to appreciate their blessings, only by affliction and by being
brought into sorrow. And if you do not repent, the little we saw
night before last, when the hand-cart train came in, will be no
comparison to the straitened circumstances you will be brought
into; and people will look upon us and weep to see the suffering
and affliction that we will be brought into.
108
Many of this people have broken their covenants by speaking evil
of one another, by speaking against the servants of God, and by
finding fault with the plurality of wives and trying to sink it
out of existence. But you cannot do that, for God will cut you
off and raise up another people that will carry out His purposes
in righteousness, unless you walk up to the line of your duty. On
the one hand there is glory and exaltation; and on the other no
tongue can express the suffering and affliction this people will
pass through, if they do not repent.
108
Brother Brigham is placed here, and he has chosen men to stand by
him, holding the keys of life and salvation to this people; and
we shall bear off the kingdom, even though there be but few that
will stick to us. They cannot be shaken, for God says everything
that can be shaken shall be shaken, and that which cannot be
shaken shall remain.
108
Scores will shake, and the earth will be caused to shake, and the
thunders will roll and the lightnings flash, and the desolation
of famine and pestilence awaits the world and its inhabitants.
109
How many times I have told you to take care of your grain and not
waste it, for before another harvest many of you will see such
times as you did the past season. Some do not believe this, but a
great many do, and they are laying up their grain. Much wheat has
already been sold here, by those who were begging last year, for
a dollar a bushel, and from that to a dollar and a quarter, and a
dollar and a half. I had grain enough, last spring, to have
sustained my family and lasted me another year, though it takes
over a thousand bushels to feed my family one year; but I have
fed it all out, and now I have not over two hundred bushels, and
I shall have to buy eight hundred more to feed my family till
another harvest.
109
I am going to live my religion; and if need be I will sell my
furniture, my beds and bedding, and everything I have, for grain.
I look for hard times, and this year is not going to end them.
109
There are from eight to ten thousand people coming here this
year, and scarcely a man in all the valleys of the mountains has
any old wheat; nearly all had to commence consuming the present
crops; just look at it, and reflect.
109
I have not stopped rationing my family to half a pound a day, and
do not mean to this year: though I would have added a little more
to it if they had needed it, but they do not. Many are wasting
their grain, and feeding it to their horses and cattle; and
others are lavish with it. Do not lay out your means, your wheat,
and your substance, for that which profiteth nothing, for
ribbons, gewgaws, jewelry, artificials.
109
For God's sake cease this course; for your own sake, for my sake,
and for Christ's sake, let us go to work and make our own shoes
from our own leather, and make and produce all we need, and use
it wisely.
109
If I would suffer it, I should have to lay out $500 yearly for
morocco shoes and bootees at from three to five dollars a pair,
for the women could not wash without putting on a pair of fine
shoes. How many times have I told you these things? And brother
Brigham has told you. They are on my mind all the time, and I
cannot get them off, but I must keep telling you until my mission
is complete; I cannot help it. I foresee the consequences of an
unwise course, as plainly as I see your faces to day.
109
Let the men who are on the Public Works, if they get a pound of
bread stuff a day, lay up one third of it; I tell the men who are
laboring for me to lay up their flour for a rainy day. Why?
Because when I get my grainery full, I do not want to deal it out
to you; for harder times are coming by and bye, and there is
going to be an awful famine. And if we do right, we shall take a
course to lay up our surplus grain, and labor to cultivate the
earth six years, and let it rest during the seventh. Brother
Brigham taught us that when we first came into these valleys, and
brother Woodruff has his prediction written, and by and bye it
will come out in the History.
109
I want you to repent and lay up wheat, corn, and everything else
you save. I have handed out bread to some of the most industrious
and saving people, until I have handed out every ounce, and had
to borrow for six weeks. Why did I do it? That I might answer a
good conscience before God and man, and not come under
condemnation. Will I do it another year? If I do, you shall pay
for it. Why? Because it will not answer for us to be dilatory and
neglect our duties, when the servants of God are teaching us from
Sabbath to Sabbath, and from day to day.
110
I hope that the Bishops will step forth and get places for those
who have just come in; and I hope that the people will employ
them, and not let them lay in their tents, for if they stay there
idle they will become sick but if you set them to work they will
not be sick.
110
I will not tell you to do a thing that I will not do myself. I
have spoken to a man that brother Ellsworth gave me an
introduction to, and to his wife and child, and to his wife's
mother, who is seventy-six years of age, and I am going to
provide them a home and set them to work. I told the man that he
need not make any calculation on receiving wages, for if I took
care of them all, I thought I should have plenty to do to feed
them and make them comfortable through the winter; for the winter
is at hand, and it probably will be a hard one. I will use them
as well as I was used when I was in England. I spent seven months
in London, and established a Church there, brother Woodruff was
with me, and did not do it with their purse and scrip. That is
now a great Conference; it is the greatest Conference in the
world, except this. Listen to what you hear, and tell your
neighbors of it; and when it comes spring, do not have it to say
that you are without bread. When you get your full rations, save
one third of them. I feel for this people; my heart is good
towards them; I feel kind and generous, and I do all that I can
to do them good. But I cannot do everything, and set everybody to
work. Every one of you extend the hand of kindness and
benevolence to those that have come with the hand-carts. They
have shown their faith by their works, and it made the tears come
out of your eyes to see them, and God bless them for ever and
ever; and I pray that not one of them may ever deny the faith.
And I bless every one of you, and every thing that is within the
pale of the kingdom of God; and I curse every thing that seeks to
pull this people down and destroy them; I say, may the curse of
God descend upon them, that they may go down and become
powerless; and those that speak well of, and administer to Zion,
they shall be blessed forever, and no enemy shall prevail against
them from this time, henceforth and for ever, and all who are in
favour of this say amen. [All the congregation said amen.]
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, November 9, 1856
Brigham Young, November 9, 1856
THE EMIGRATING SAINTS WERE PROMPTED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, November 9, 1856.
111
I wish to say to the brethren, as many as are here to-day, who
have come across the Plains with the hand-carts, that I feel to
bless you, and you may be sure that you have my best feelings all
the time.
111
While brother Ellsworth was speaking about the Spirit, and the
spirits that were around them, the spirit that he seemed to have
to contend with, and the spirit that the people had to contend
with, I wanted to tell one secret. While those brethren and
sisters were faltering, and did not know whether to stop or go
along, there was faith in this valley that bound them to that
journey, and they were obliged to perform it, they could not help
performing it. Who had that faith? The people here; and the
Spirit of the Lord was all the time prompting them, and the
brethren who led them. They were, as many are now, they were
prompted to do as they did; they could not do anything else,
because God would not let them do anything else. The brethren and
sisters came across the Plains because they could not stay; that
is the secret of the movement. But let the devil have his will,
and do you suppose that any of them could have crossed the
Plains? No, not a person ever would have started. But they did
start, and they performed the journey.
111
We are doing a great many things, and Joseph did a great many
things, because the Spirit of the Lord prompts us to do them, as
it prompted him. Joseph could not do anything else than what he
did; it is the same with us all the time. The Lord prompted the
hand-cart companies all the time, in the midst of their
afflictions, to prepare for and start upon their journey, and
they only had faith and power for the day, and on the morrow it
seemed as though they certainly had to stop. But when to-morrow
came they had faith and power to perform the journey of that day,
and so they have been prompted day by day, to this point.
111
God is at the helm of this great ship, and that makes me feel
good. When I think about the world, and the enemies of the cause
of God, I care no more about them than I do for a parcel of
musketoes. All hell may howl, and they may run up and down the
earth and seek whom they may destroy, but they cannot move the
faithful and pure in heart. Let those apostatize who wish to, but
God will save all who are determined to be saved.
111
Brethren and sisters, I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, October 5, 1856
Brigham Young, October 5, 1856
DISCORD AT MEETINGS REBUKED--A TEXT FOR SPEAKERS AT THE
CONFERENCE--SUBJECT FOR THE PEOPLE--A CALL FOR MULES,
HORSES, WAGONS, TEAMSTERS, FLOUR, ETC.
Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, October 5, 1856
112
I wish the most strict attention of the entire congregation, for
if there is walking and talking within and around this bowery, a
great many will not be able to hear. And I request those who wish
to talk and whisper, to remove so far that they will not disturb
the congregation to-day, nor during the Conference, as the
assembly, undoubtedly, will be very large.
112
If we could possibly build a bowery, or a tabernacle, that would
bring the people so near to us that we would not have to speak so
loud, we should certainly do it; but this we cannot do, for by
the time that we could build a tabernacle for seating fifteen
thousand persons nearer the speaker than are the outskirts of
this congregation, the people would have so increased, that we
should just be as far from our object as now.
112
I shall require the people to be perfectly still, while they are
here and we are trying to speak to them. Let there be no talking,
whispering, nor shuffling of feet. It would be beneficial for
mothers who have small children here that will cry, to leave the
bowery, if they cannot keep their children still. I make this
suggestion, in consequence of what has passed.
112
I will say, in regard to the sisters who bring children here to
make a noise, they have never yet sufficiently thought, nor
sufficiently considered their own place in this world, nor the
place of others, to know that there is any other person living on
the earth but themselves; and they think, when they hear people
talk, that it is a noise through a dark veil. I cannot say much
for the education, based on good feeling, that such persons have.
Were I to describe it in a plain way, I should say that they are
people of no breeding, that they were never bred but came up;
that is about as good a character as I can afford to give to any
mother that will keep a squalling child in a meeting. I have
never said to the congregation, look and see who they are, for
you may distinguish by your ears, without looking, the mothers
that have had good teaching and been brought up in a civilized
society.
112
So it is with some men; and to the disgrace of some of our
police, I will state that in Conference times, and when we have
unusually large assemblies, they will converse right in the
congregation, and just on the outside, disturbing the meeting. I
would that we had a police that understood good breeding. If the
police want to know how to manage to keep order, notwithstanding
I have frequently told them, I will now tell them again. Instead
of shouting "silence," go and touch the unruly person.
113
Were I a policeman I would follow a practice of my father's; it
used to be a word and a blow, with him, but the blow came first.
I should act upon that plan, when persons are holding caucus
meetings in or about our congregations; and if they would not
desist, I would rap them hard enough for them to take the hint
without my speaking.
113
I make these remarks, because I wish the brethren who will speak
to you to-day, the Elders who have lately returned, to be heard.
Those who speak in large assemblies understand that they often
have to raise their voices as though they were giving commands to
a large army, but we expect our Elders will speak as they have
been in the habit of doing. If they can raise their voices above
the crying of children and the talking and whispering of the
people, so that all can hear, it will be well; but this we cannot
expect.
113
To-morrow our semi-annual Conference commences, and I notice that
many have come in from a distance. We shall have large
congregations during the Conference, and we wish perfect order
maintained.
113
I will now give this people the subject and the text for the
Elders who may speak to-day and during the Conference, it is
this, on the 5th day of October, 1856, many of our brethren and
sisters are on the Plains with hand-carts, and probably many are
now seven hundred miles from this place, and they must be brought
here, we must send assistance to them. The text will be--to get
them here! I want the brethren who may speak to understand that
their text is the people on the Plains, and the subject matter
for this community is to send for them and bring them in before
the winter sets in.
113
That is my religion; that is the dictation of the Holy Ghost that
I possess, it is to save the people. We must bring them in from
the Plains, and when we get them here, we will try to keep the
same spirit that we have had, and teach them the way of life and
salvation; tell them how they can be saved, and how they can save
their friends. This is the salvation I am now seeking for, to
save our brethren that would be apt to perish, or suffer
extremely, if we do not send them assistance.
113
I shall call upon the Bishops this day, I shall not wait until
to-morrow, nor until next day, for sixty good mule teams and
twelve or fifteen wagons. I do not want to send oxen, I want good
horses and mules. They are in this Territory, and we must have
them; also twelve tons of flour and forty good teamsters, besides
those that drive the teams. This is dividing my text into heads;
first, forty good young men who know how to drive teams, to take
charge of the teams that are now managed by men, women, and
children who know nothing about driving them; second, sixty or
sixty-five good spans of mules, or horses, with harness,
whipple-trees, neck-yokes, stretchers, load chains, &c.; and,
thirdly, twenty-four thousand pounds of flour, which we have on
hand.
113
I will repeat the division; forty extra teamsters is number one;
sixty spans of mules or horses is part of number two; twelve tons
of flour, and wagons to take it, is number three; and, fourthly,
I will allow the brethren to tell something about their missions,
by way of exhortation to wind up with.
114
I will tell you all that your faith, religion, and profession of
religion, will never save one soul of you in the celestial
kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such principles as
I am now teaching you. Go and bring in those people now on the
Plains, and attend strictly to those things which we call
temporal, or temporal duties, otherwise your faith will be in
vain; the preaching you have heard will be in vain to you, and
you will sink to hell, unless you attend to the things we tell
you. Any man or woman can reason this out in their own minds,
without trouble. The Gospel has been already preached to those
brethren and sisters now on the Plains; they have believed and
obeyed it, and are willing to do anything for salvation; they are
doing all they can do, and the Lord has done all that is required
of Him to do, and has given us power to bring them in from the
Plains, and teach them the further things of the kingdom of God,
and prepare them to enter into the celestial kingdom of their
Father. First and foremost is to secure our own salvation and do
right pertaining to ourselves, and then extend the hand of right
to save others.
114
I have given you my text and the subject, and shall give way to
the brethren, and request close attention, and that there be no
noise; for I realize that men who go forth to preach are in the
habit of speaking to small congregations, in small halls, where
all can hear without much elevation of the voice. This cannot be
done here, for we have to shout, and exercise our lungs to the
utmost, to make so many people hear.
114
I am satisfied that the prayer by brother Spencer was not heard
by one-third of the congregation this morning; a little moving of
the feet, a little whispering, the noise occasioned by mothers'
trying to keep their children still, a little noise of this kind
and a little of that, all tend to break the sound of the
speaker's voice, and the people cannot catch his words, and of
course are not edified. May the Lord bless us all. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Franklin D. Richards, October 5, 1856
Franklin D. Richards, October 5, 1856
THE HAND-CART ENTERPRISE--RETURNING MISSIONARIES--EXHORTATION TO
THE
SAINTS TO RESCUE THE BRETHREN AND SISTERS ON THE PLAINS, ETC.
A Discourse by Elder Franklin D. Richards, Delivered in the
Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, October 5, 1856.
114
My brethren and sisters in the Lord, I rejoice exceedingly in
being permitted to go to the nations of the earth to engage in
the discharge of duties laid upon me, and in getting back in
safety to your midst. To see how you have increased in numbers,
and how you have extended abroad, truly indicates that the work
of the Lord is onward here, and it is onward too in the old
countries, where the Gospel has been preached with success.
114
I cannot take the time now to rehearse the varied circumstances
and incidents of my mission, for the main thing before us now is
to help in the brethren who are on the Plains. The subject of
immigration by hand-carts is one that will do to talk about; I
have learned that by experience in the little I have had to do
with them; it will also do to pray about, and it does a great
deal better to lay hold of and work at, and we find it to work
admirably.
115
We have not had much preaching to do to the people in the old
countries, to get them started out with hand-carts. There were
fifteen or twenty thousand waiting for the next year to roll
around, that they may be brought out by the arrangements of the
P. E. F. company. Those who had any objections to this mode of
traveling we wanted to wait, and see if the experiment would work
well.
115
The subject is popular in those countries, and the hardest part
of my talking was to find the means to bring out the many that
were urgently teasing me to let them come. When the first
hand-cart company came in it was a soul stirring time; banners
were flying, bands of music played, and the citizens turned out
almost en masse to greet them. But they will yet come with
hand-carts by thousands, and when they get there, they will be
most likely to enjoy "Mormonism."
115
This time we have not been preaching them easy and smooth things,
for we had heard of the hard times you have had in the valleys,
and we have invited them to come and share with you; and we have
given them to understand that in coming here they came to work
out their salvation.
115
The Saints that are now on the Plains, about one thousand with
hand-carts, feel that it is late in the season, and they expect
to get cold fingers and toes. But they have this faith and
confidence towards God, that He will overrule the storms that may
come in the season thereof and turn them away, that their path
may be freed from suffering more than they can bear.
115
They have confidence to believe that this will be an open fall;
and I tell you, brethren and sisters, that every time we got to
talking about the hand-carts in England, and on the way, we could
not talk long without prophesying about them. On shipboard, at
the points of outfit, and on the Plains, every time we spoke we
felt to prophesy good concerning them. We started off the rear
company from Florence about the first of September, and the
Gentiles came around with their sympathy, and their nonsense,
trying to decoy away the sisters, telling them that it was too
late in the season, that the journey would be too much for their
constitutions, and if they would wait until next year, themselves
would be going to California, and would take them along more
comfortably.
115
When we had a meeting at Florence, we called upon the Saints to
express their faith to the people, and requested to know of them,
even if they knew that they should be swallowed up in storms,
whether they would stop or turn back. They voted, with loud
acclamations, that they would go on. Such confidence and joyful
performance of so arduous labors to accomplish their gathering
will bring the choice blessings of God upon them.
115
I would like to say a word to the sisters here, for they have a
tremendous influence sometimes. Let me say to some of those that
came out in the earlier years of our settlement in these valleys,
you thought the journey quite long enough, and that if it had
been a week, a fortnight, or a month longer, you did not know how
you could have endured it. Many of you came in wagons, bringing
the comforts of life with you in abundance.
115
Sisters, think of those fatiguing times, and stir up your good
men in behalf of those who are footing it, and pulling hand-carts
thirteen hundred miles, instead of riding one thousand as you
did. The aged, the infirm and bowed down, and those who have been
lame from their birth, are coming along upon their crutches; and
they think it is a good job if they can walk the most of the way
through the day, and avoid riding all they can.
116
Indeed persons of nearly all ages and conditions are coming.
There are also delicate ladies, those who have been brought up
tenderly from their youth, and used to going to school and
teaching school, playing music, &c.; but when they received the
Gospel they had to bid good bye to fathers, and mothers, and were
turned out of doors; that taught them the first principles of
gathering up to Zion. And the idea that there was a place here
that could be truly called home, inspired them to go along, to
the astonishment of their friends, and kindred, and that of the
Gentiles on the way.
116
When I think of the devilish doings of those abroad, I feel wroth
in my soul to see what the Saints have to put up with. The wicked
found, after trying their best, that they could not coax away
even the most tender and delicate from their toil of drawing
their hand-carts, from fifteen to twenty miles a day. The Saints
are happy to perform this labor, and make the welkin ring at
night, when their day's toil is over, with their songs of praise
and rejoicings. I could but think of the way Israel walked in
olden times, when the Lord rained down manna for bread, and they
were not allowed to keep any till to-morrow, and in that
wilderness required of them to build a gorgeous tabernacle and
carry it on their shoulders.
116
I have thought that the gathering of the honest in heart in these
latter times is much like that good old mode; and it must be
good, because it is in the Bible. The Gentiles found that they
could not turn away the good and the faithful, who are back in
the hills pulling their hand-carts.
116
Many of those now back are poor, and had not enough to get away
from their homes with, and now they have scarcely a change of
clothing. If they can have some shoes sent out to them, and a few
blankets to make them comfortable at night, and flour enough,
with what beef they have along, to make them a good meal in the
morning, they will make those hand-carts work powerfully. But if
they are tender footed through going shoeless, and when they lay
down at night, if they lay cold, it will tend to retard their
progress very much, however good their faith and resolution may
be.
116
I realize in talking to you, and applying to you for help to aid
those brethren and sisters, that it is as just and worthy a cause
as can be espoused. I pray you, as you regard those on the
Plains, as you wish them to come and share with you the words of
life and the ordinances of the House of the Lord, and as you
desire Zion to be strengthened, and righteousness to take the
place of wickedness on the earth, to arise up and bring those
Saints in, for it is late in the season, and ten to one they will
have snow storms to encounter; though the Lord will not let them
suffer any more than they have grace to bear. It is our highest
privilege to do all we can to ameliorate the sufferings of those
brethren that are thus trying to work out their emigration.
116
President Young wrote to me a year ago, stating that if I got his
letter I should have joy in carrying out his plans; I testify
here that I never entered into any measures that filled up my
soul with joy, faith, and energy so much as this plan for
gathering of the honest poor. It was late when I began the work,
but we could not get at it any sooner. We have wrought with our
might, and brother Daniel Spencer has been a pillar of strength
upon which the hopes of thousands have rested securely. I rejoice
exceedingly with him in the excellent feelings that his own
conscience and bosom inspires him with when he remembers his
labors.
116
Brother Wheelock has been like an angel among the churches in the
old countries, and they have been strengthened in the work we are
called to do. We did not stop to enquire whether the plan was a
feasible one or not, that was none of our business; and when the
word said hand carts, we understood it so.
117
Brothers Van Cott, Grant, Kimball, Webb, and others have
labored with all their mights this season. I assure you it has
been by some hard thinking, hard working, and doing the best we
could unitedly that we have accomplished what we have. But our
souls cannot be satisfied nor rest, until we feel assured that
the brethren and sisters now on the Plains are brought forward,
and made as comfortable as the circumstances of the case will
admit of.
117
Before leaving England, on the 26th of July, I had the pleasure
of welcoming brothers Pratt and Benson to that interesting and
important field of labor. We had a joyful Conference at
Birmingham, and a Council of the general authorities of the
Church in those countries. Those brethren expressed themselves
very satisfactorily and cheeringly, as to the condition in which
they received the work at our hands; they spoke with great energy
and power. The fire of the Lord was felt through that Conference,
and will be felt in all the Conferences through the Pastors and
Presidents who were with us, counseling on the condition of the
work of the Lord in the European missions. The cause of truth is
progressing there as well as here.
117
It gives me great joy, on returning, to see what an advancement
there is in the increased out-pouring of the Spirit of God upon
this people. Those that stay here continually cannot so
abundantly realize and appreciate this, as those can who go out
into the world for a season and return again.
117
I feel thankful for the privilege of being with you to try to
partake of that Spirit, and improve with you in the work of
reformation. I realize every time I go out from you, that the
works of darkness are more consolidated and powerful against the
cause of God on the earth, hence the Saints need increasing
strength and power. I feel joyful to come back here, and feel the
spirit and influences that are here.
117
The brethren that abide here year after year, do not know the
power that is in them by the workings of the Holy Ghost, and the
exercise of the holy Priesthood; but when they get out in the
field of battle, where they have to contend against the
adversaries of truth, then they can realize the strength of the
Lord upon them, they can realize that He is with them, and makes
their labors successful.
117
It is, I believe, as comforting a thought as the human soul can
enjoy, to realize the worth of home, while abroad in the world.
When you were first called to receive the Gospel, many of you
were at once alienated from your homes and nearest kindred, and
have never found a place where you could feel at home, until you
found it among the Saints. This is the only home for the
righteous on the earth, and blessed is that Saint who can
appreciate it, and enter into the righteousness and power of it,
and enjoy its benefits in their true light and spirit.
117
I felt to-day that I could love to sit and drink in the Spirit's
gracious influences. I could feel, while on my way in from the
Weber, that there was a spirit here watching over the people,
such as is not to be found anywhere else on the face of the
earth. It is nourishing and cherishing to the servants of God,
and the whole Church in these mountains. How thankful we ought to
be. The Lord has brought His Zion here to strengthen her; to
admonish, reprove, build up, and prepare His Saints for the
events that are coming. And I pray the Lord to give us hearing
ears and understanding hearts, that we may always have ready
hearts to do His will.
118
In ten years past, last July, I have been sent to England on
three missions; and out of that ten years I have been absent from
home something over seven. I have made a good many acquaintances
and friends in the old countries; I have labored with joy in my
field of labor, and God has blessed me. My heart has been made
glad, and I have been enabled to bless others.
118
During the last two years, we have sent out eight thousand
Saints; and nearly double that number have been added to the
Church by baptism in that country. I fear that I have almost
become a stranger in Israel; there are but few that I am
acquainted with here, and it helps me to appreciate the privilege
of getting home, and of seeing brother Brigham and Heber, and
Jedediah, and the Saints in Zion.
118
The Elders that go out to labor in the world, are from time to
time called upon to measure themselves, and they have labors and
duties laid upon them that no man can perform, except in the name
of his God. And it behooves every man and woman to strengthen
themselves in the name of their God continually, to have their
armor on, and keep it bright, as the President said to us last
night; I do not intend to lay it off.
118
I thank God for the strength He has given me among the nations; I
praise His name for these good brethren that were with me. I
never labored with a company of brethren with more joy,
satisfaction, and good cheer; I mean these brethren who went with
me, Joseph A. Young, William H. Kimball, George D. Grant, and
others. They have been like the deer on the mountains to carry
the expresses of the Saints, and to render any and all kinds of
help in hard times. They are men for whom the Lord has much
regard; and though their words might not come forth in the same
smooth shape as those of some men, yet they hit as hard when they
were called upon to chastize the wicked; and they also comforted
those that needed comfort.
118
They took hold with me, shoulder to shoulder. I do not wish to
take much credit to myself, for what I have done has been
accomplished in the name of the Lord; my brethren out of the
Office and in the Office helping me to their utmost. I wonder and
am astonished, when I think of what the Lord has brought His
people through in the last days. What would have put another
people under ground, they have surmounted by the influence and
power of the Eternal.
118
Already we are a great people, there is hardly room for us, yet
we are but as a drop of the bucket to the great work before us
which has yet to be done; and the more there is accomplished the
more we see there is to do, and doubtless it will keep on so,
worlds without end.
118
I want to grow up with the Church: it fills my heart with praise,
and melts me into contrition, when I think I am called upon to
engage in such a work. I wish to employ all my energies and
influence, everything I can control in its interests. I ask the
Lord to lend me the blessings and comforts of this life for the
time being, and to inspire me to use them to His glory, whether
it be a family, or earthly substance.
118
It is one thing for a man to learn to live away from home, and to
preach the Gospel and magnify his calling there, and it is
another thing for a man to learn to live at home, and magnify his
calling here. I want to obtain grace, that I may magnify my
calling at home and away from home, and I desire the continuation
of your confidence, love and faith, that I may live and wisely
improve upon that which is not my own; that in the end I may
receive the true riches.
119
Concerning the hand-cart companies this year, it is an
experiment. We cannot yet tell you exactly what it costs to come
through in that way; but we know that it is going to cost those
on the other side of the mountains cold feet, and a great deal of
affliction and sorrow, unless we help them. The word to-day is,
mules, wagons, flour, shoes, and clothing. I entreat you, as you
value yourselves, and the interests of this people, do to those
brethren and sisters that are out on the Plains as you wish to be
done by.
119
Many of you have been permitted to live at home to enjoy the
comforts of life, and you have accumulated to yourselves wagons
and teams, and now is a time for you to do good with them. I feel
to thank the Lord my God; my heart is full of thanksgiving and
praise to Him, for blessings bestowed upon me and upon His
people, while I have been gone. When we were crossing the Plains,
men, women, and children were destroyed, but the Lord has
preserved us, and permitted us to arrive in time to attend
Conference.
119
May He ever help us to appreciate His goodness unto us, and
thereby we be led to do good unto others so long as we dwell on
the earth, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, October 5, 1856
Heber C. Kimball, October 5, 1856
GOD IS OUR FATHER; JOSEPH SMITH HIS REPRESENTATIVE ON THE EARTH;
BRIGHAM YOUNG JOSEPH'S LEGAL SUCCESSOR.--CALL FOR TEAMS
TO MEET THE EMIGRANTS.
Remarks by H. C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, October 5, 1856.
119
There is a little matter of business I wish to lay before this
congregation this morning, and I do not know of anything that
will test the people only to lay before them their duty, which
gives them a chance to step forward and act therein.
119
We have not as yet any durable location; we are merely
probationers in this present state, and we shall always be so,
until we obtain a permanent exaltation, by following in the
footsteps of our God. He is our Father and our God, and His Son
Jesus Christ is our Savior, and the Holy Ghost is to be our
comforter, and will comfort all those who will prepare their
tabernacles as fit temples for him to dwell in.
119
When the Holy Ghost dwells in us it will enable us to discern
between right and wrong, will show us things to come, and bring
things to our remembrance, and will make every one of this people
prophets and prophetesses of God.
119
We have acknowledged brother Brigham to be our leader, and he
holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven here on the earth.
Whether people believe it or not, he is God's representative in
the flesh, and is the mouth-piece of God unto us.
119
Brother Joseph Smith many a time said to brother Brigham and
myself, and to others, that he was a representative of God to us,
to teach and direct us and reprove the wrong doers. He has past
behind the veil, but there never will a person in this
dispensation enter into the celestial glory without his
approbation.
120
Brother Brigham is brother Joseph's rightful successor, and
he has his Counselors, and together they are an earthly pattern
of the divine order of government. Those men are God's agents,
His servants, and are witnesses of your covenants, which you will
have to fulfil. And what you do not fulfil in this year you will
have to do in the next; and what are not then fulfilled will have
to be in some future time.
120
Some people think that, because they have passed through a great
many troubles, have been to the nations to preach the Gospel, and
have been robbed and plucked up several times, that will make an
atonement for their sins. What you have passed through has
nothing to do with atonement for sins. If you have sinned you
have got to make an atonement for that sin, and the trials you
have passed through in doing your duty are not the atonement.
Trials are to test you, to prove whether you will do those things
that are right. Some try to make out that their trials will
answer as an atonement, but I tell you that they will not. If you
commit sin there must be an atonement to satisfy the demands of
justice, and then mercy claims you and saves you. But, as brother
Grant has said, many of our old men think, because they were in
the Church in the first beginning, that they can now lay upon
their oars, that is, that they can sit down in the ship and not
use the oars any more. But God requires every man and woman to be
faithful; and if they have sinned, they have got to make an
atonement for that sin, and your trials do not make that
atonement.
120
God says that we shall be tried in all things, even as was
Abraham of old. He was called upon to offer up his son, and was
found willing to offer him up, but, as the sin was not sufficient
to require the shedding of his son's blood, a lamb was provided,
and its blood atoned for the sin that Abraham's son was to be
offered up for, and saved the son.
120
If you are ever saved, you have got to take a course to draw near
to the throne of God; and how can you draw near to the throne of
God, except you draw near to those men who are placed as His
representatives in the flesh? The same principles, the same
order, the same Priesthood, the same gifts, and the same powers
are instituted, established and organized in our day as they were
in the days of Jesus, and all the reason that people do not see
it is because of their traditions; the veil of darkness is over
their minds, and they cannot see it.
120
With all the instructions that are given to you by brother
Brigham, brother Heber, and brother Jedediah, many of you will go
home and find fault with them; and you will have your contentions
and your animosities, when you should take a course to sustain
their words, for you cannot sustain them without sustaining their
words, nor can you serve God and slight their counsels. If you
expect the favor of God, favor His servants and sustain them.
This is plain doctrine, and you will find it so, and I am not
ashamed to teach it to you.
120
When brother Brigham points out a course, it is for this people
to rise up and go to and carry out His purposes with their might;
and until that is done this kingdom never will prosper as it
should, worlds without end.
121
Now I will come to the business, and tell you what is wanted. Our
brethren and sisters are on the Plains with their hand-carts, and
there is snow on the ground, and many are bare-footed, and
destitute of comfortable clothing, and we want some men and teams
to fix up this day, and be ready to start for them to-morrow. We
want horse and mule teams, if they can be had; but if they
cannot, we want ox teams.
121
We do not wish you to take out loads, though it will be well to
put in a couple of hundred pounds or so of forage, grain, &c., to
two span of mules or horses, or to two yoke of cattle, with a
light wagon, and go speedily and take those people into your
wagons and bring them here, doing as you would wish to be done by
in the same circumstances.
121
Would not all of you, if you were out on the Plains, say that if
you were the good people in the valleys you would go out and help
them in? Would you not all feel so? But you are not there, and
you do not fully realize their feelings.
121
Now manifest your faith by your works. You will not, probably,
have to go any further than Fort Bridger before you meet some of
them, and you can go and return in a week, or may be in two
weeks, and may be in twenty days.
121
"O, dear," says one, "I have not got up my winter's wood." Well,
you will not get it up by staying here, but if you will help in
those on the Plains and do all other things that you are required
to do, God will give us a summer all winter; and if you do not do
so, He will give us winter all summer.
121
Our God can change the seasons and drive away the storms, the
tempest and the snows, to favor this people, if they will do
right; and if you wish to be favored of God, favor us and this
people; favor your brethren, and do as you are told.
121
Brother Dan Jones has been talking to you about the clay in the
hands of the potter. If you get hold of a lump of clay that is
snappish and wilful, and not willing that you should twist it
into any shape or form, what is the use of working it? You throw
it back into the mill and let it be ground again, and then take
it out and make of it a vessel unto honor.
121
Perhaps some do not really believe that when a man is thrown back
into the mill, or goes into the spirit world, that he ever will
be redeemed, but he will, if he has not sinned against the Holy
Ghost. He will be ground and worked up until he becomes passive,
and then God, through His servants, will redeem him, and make him
a vessel unto honor.
121
A great many will go to hell, and the very men that are preaching
to you now will visit you and offer you salvation, after you have
laid there, perhaps, thousands of years, for you must stay in the
mill until you are passive and obedient.
121
Jeremiah, at the command of God, went to the potter's house where
the potter was molding the clay, and when he went to turn it on
the wheel it was refractory and rebellious; and he worked at it
and sweat over it, but after all it was rebellious, and fell down
on the wheel.
121
What did he do then? He cut it off from the wheel and threw it
back into the mill, and after he had ground it awhile, he took it
out and made of it a vessel unto honor; so of the same lump he
made a vessel unto dishonor, and one unto honor.
121
Did the potter make it dishonorable? No, the vessel made itself
unto dishonor; and the next time it was pliable and passive, and
the potter made of it a vessel unto honor, because it was
honorable and submissive.
121
I wished to make these few remarks, because they touch upon
things that are on my mind all the time. And if you wish to be
Saints, for God's sake be Saints, and if you wish to be devils,
be devils, and get out of this place; and let those that will be
Saints, be Saints; and let them commune together and carry out
the purpose of God.
122
I would rather have three hundred men and women that are
perfectly amenable to the authorities of this Church, than a
numerous people that are rebellious; and I could do more to bring
about the purposes of God, and do it ten times quicker, with a
few faithful persons, than with hosts of the wicked.
122
You know this, every one of you. I can accomplish more work with
one man that is amenable to me, and will do as I tell him, than I
can with twenty who are disobedient; so I can with one woman. I
had rather have one woman that is humble, than twenty that are
not; and she is more honor and glory, and happiness and heaven to
a man, than twenty disobedient ones.
122
You that have but one wife know this pretty well, but we who have
scores, know it better; we are further advanced in the experience
of this life.
122
Now, brethren, what do you say? This is the word of the Lord to
us, that we rise up and gather up our teams and start forthwith,
not with loads, except feed; take hay and deposit it in different
places, so that you can have some when you come back, and bring
in those brethren and sisters, and you will have a pleasant time,
and God and His angels will go with you, and you will be
prospered, upheld, and sustained.
122
That man that drops down his head under his wife's arm, and says,
"I guess they don't see me;" and that wife that says, "O, my
husband, I cannot spare you, I cannot sleep alone, for when night
comes I shall get cold;" O, the poor little things.
122
I say that those who will take counsel and prepare themselves to
go back on this mission shall be blest; and if a man has but one
yoke of cattle, let him put that on with those of some other
person.
122
I now want every man that will actually go and help, and not say
he will go, and not go, to rise up.
122
[One hundred and fourteen teams were volunteered, and reported
ready to start forthwith.]
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Jedediah M. Grant, October 26, 1856
Jedediah M. Grant, October 26, 1856
THOSE WHO ARE IN DARKNESS CANNOT DISCERN THE LIGHT--EXHORTATIONS
TO MALE AND FEMALE TO SEEK AFTER THE LIGHT OF THE HOLY
GHOST--WOMEN
WHO LEAVE THEIR HUSBANDS, ETC.
A Discourse, Delivered by J. M. Grant, in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, October 26, 1856.
122
While the sacrament is passing, I will occupy a short time, for I
wish to bear my testimony to the truth of what we heard in the
fore part of the day. It is not for want of truths or testimonies
that the people are careless, but it is for the lack, on their
part, of living up to the truths and testimonies they hear.
123
We have, in the revelations of God and in the teachings of the
servants of God, a great variety of truths, but those truths are
not specially in force and brought to bear upon our minds, and to
be carried out in our practice, until we are fully impressed by
that gift of the Lord God, which we call the Holy Ghost.
123
When the Spirit of the Lord rests upon a community, they
naturally are inclined to feel after the Lord their God, and they
are inclined unto righteousness, and they like the influence of
that Spirit which leads into all truth; it is sweet and very
delicious to them. But when darkness beclouds the people in
consequence of their transgressions, they have but little relish
for the things of God; they relish every thing else but the
things which pertain to the kingdom of God on the earth, and the
kingdom of God hereafter. They cannot enjoy the Gospel as do
those who are not in the dark, for those who are in the light can
appreciate the light they are in the enjoyment of.
123
But while people are in the dark, they do not see the light;
their deeds are not made manifest, for it is the light that
maketh manifest. If a room be dark, the objects in that room are
not discernible, but when light breaks into the room, the objects
therein can be plainly seen.
123
We may say the same of the people of God; when they are in the
dark, no difference how much light they may have had, if they
pass from the light into the dark, they may remember that they
once saw the light, they do not enjoy the light because they have
passed from light into darkness, and they do not discern the
objects in themselves. They gradually are sliding from the law of
God, or from the Church of God, and do not discover where they
are going or what from, from the fact that they are in the dark,
they cannot see.
123
But when the light comes they discover that they are about
falling from a precipice, about plunging into ruin, about going
to destruction; the light makes this manifest, and they see their
situation.
123
I have no idea that chastisement from this stand will increase
the darkness, or aggravate the transgressions of the people; but
if light breaks forth from any source and reflects upon the
people, they then see the motes, the beams, and the dross in
themselves. While the light make manifest, the Spirit of God
reveals the secrets of the heart, and makes manifest those dark
spots that exist among the Saints of God.
123
Some suppose that they can pass by the Priesthood of God on the
earth, and very lightly esteem the men who hold it. They think it
is not material about offending the Bishops or the presiding
Elders, or the councils that preside over them, and no
difference, specially, about brother Brigham, "he is only brother
Brigham, no difference about giving offence to him, or in
associating with him."
123
"We are conscious," says one, "that we have offended him and many
of the Councils of the Church, but notwithstanding this, we will
go to God and ask Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to forgive
us, and we will make it all right between us and our God; and if
we can only keep the stream pure between us and our God, no
difference whether the water is dark and turbid between us and
His servants, or not. We can get the Spirit of God for ourselves,
and the blessings we want we will ask God for, no difference
about offending His Servants."
124
A great many people actually suppose that they can treat with
impunity the authority of God, and the light of God, the chain
that the Almighty has let down from heaven to earth, which we
call the Priesthood; that they can break and insult that chain
and trifle therewith, as much as they please, and when they
please, that they can abuse Jehovah in His power and attributes.
I reason in a different circle, or upon a different principle.
When I offend one of God's servants, I consider it my duty to
atone, to make reconciliation for my offence, no matter whether
he be above or below in this Church, as the term is used; no
matter whether it be President Brigham Young or my teacher, I
have erred in either case.
124
A great many say, "If I can only keep the stream clear between me
and the heads of the Church, that is all I want or care for."
124
A High Priest in the road the other day, a talented man, an
important man, said, "If he could only keep the stream clear
between himself and the heads of the Church, that he would
consider that he was all right." I said to him, if you act upon
that principle, in the same sense you have thrown it out to me,
it will send you across lots to hell. The spirit of the principle
to me was, that it did not matter about offending persons below
him, or injuring different individuals in the Church, such as
Elders, Priests, Teachers, Deacons, and Members, if he could only
keep the stream pure between him and the First Presidency.
124
This idea a great many people entertain; they can offend their
Bishops, or the Bishop's Counsellors, and the Teachers, and they
can offend the President of a Branch of the Church, the President
over the High Priests' Quorum, and the president over the High
Council, and they can offend all the Church, so they can only
have the good graces of brother Brigham and his Council, that is
enough for them.
124
That is actually the idea of some people. Such doctrine as that,
with me, is the height of nonsense. You have not their good
graces, only as you treat every person right. If you are
dishonest with one of those poor benighted Indians, you foul the
water between me and you, and God Almighty will not give me power
to bless you, until you rectify that wrong with that poor Indian,
or with the least person on the footstool of God. And you should
not pass by your Bishop and insult him, if you do, you will
forfeit your claim to the throne of God in heaven, until you make
reconciliation to that Bishop, or to any other person you have
injured; and then it is time enough for you to bring your
offerings, and they will be accepted in the sight of god, and in
the sight of His servants.
124
We exist here in an organized Branch of the Church, we have
several councils, quorums, and organizations. We were called upon
during the last Conference, to elect a President of this Stake of
Zion; Daniel Spencer and his two Counsellors, Elders Fullmer and
Rhodes, preside over this Stake. Now suppose they know that the
Bishop of some ward, or one of his Counsellors, is teaching an
erroneous doctrine, it is the duty of Daniel Spencer to send for
that Bishop, or that Counsellor, or instruct some one in that
ward to rectify that people.
125
The Presidency of this Branch of the Church should go to work and
learn whether every quorum in this Branch is doing its duty. The
First Presidency, by their sanction, have ceded the local Branch
of the Church in Great Salt Lake City, to Daniel Spencer and his
Council, and he should understand whether the first, second,
third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth,
eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth,
seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth wards are in
order; and if his jurisdiction extends beyond the city, he should
ascertain whether every man is doing right within the bounds of
that jurisdiction. And he ought to come up to the First President
of the Church, and consider himself one of his Council, and
report the situation of the different wards; and he ought to have
a book containing full and correct reports from every Bishop of
the different wards, that when the First President of the Church
shall say, brother Spencer, in what condition is this or that
Branch of the Church, he may be able at once to give a truthful
report. He ought to know all about the High Priests, their
number, and the number of the Seventies; where they meet, and
what they are about. His eye ought to be through the city like
the eye of God, to search the people over whom he is made
President; and he ought to know that his Counsellors are alive
and active in the discharge of their duty. I do not know whether
he can report so now or not, but I very much doubt whether he
can.
125
Brother Spencer should come to the First President of the Church,
and not consider that he is intruding, for he is rightly
connected with him. Can a man be intruding when he does those
things he has a right to do, and which pertain to his duty? No.
Neither can he be intruding by reporting to the first President
of the Church.
125
The presiding Bishop belongs to the First Presidency of this
Church, and he ought to know about the situation of each ward,
and not merely talk about the people's paying their tithing, for
there has been too much mere talking about it already. I would
ask, have the people in this city paid their tithing? I sincerely
doubt whether one fourth or even one eighth, have paid it. It is
the duty of the Bishop not only to sound his trump outside this
city, but in this city, and learn what persons are deficient in
this point, and not cease with merely talking about it. Talking
so much and not doing is one of the grand evils; it is not for
the Bishop to merely talk about the people's paying their
tithing, and say that they are good fellows, &c., but we want him
to know that the people pay their tithing, and that they are
right; and then come to the First President of the Church and
tell him those facts, reporting faithfully the situation of all
the Bishops in the Church, and how they stand in their accounts
with the General Tithing Office; and let him gather all the pile
together.
125
If Bishop Hunter waits until the roads are muddy, he may expect
to meet with drawbacks and losses, the bins are now as full as
they will be. Strike while the iron is hot, is the old adage; but
my adage is, strike while the roads are good, and while there is
grain.
125
If you wait until after cold weather comes, after the mud comes,
and after the people come in hungry, the bins where the wheat is
now may be like they were with brother Browning; he had several
hundred bushels of tithing wheat, and when we sent for it, there
were somewhere about forty or fifty bushels; it had wasted; the
cats, the goats, the ducks, the rats, the mice, the geese, and
the ganders all were at work in those bins.
125
I want the Bishop to understand that we want the tithing brought
to the store-house of God, while it can be brought without delay;
not merely to talk about it, but we want the work performed. I
tell you that the people in this city do not walk up to their
duty on the subject of tithing.
126
Members of the quorum of the Twelve, when at home, ought to be
right about the First President of the Church with the power of
God that is in them, and communicate some of that light to
brother Brigham to comfort him. Do you expect brother Brigham to
put fire into the whole of this people, and no man on earth put
fire in him and bless him, and give him instruction and
information? Must he impart and teach, and teach, and no man tell
him anything?
126
We have missionaries who go out to different parts of this
Territory, and over the earth, gaining experience and
information, but can we get them up here to tell us one single
thing they know? No, unless you take them by the back of the
neck, and the seat of their pantaloons and haul them in sight,
making them squeal like a "possum cat," before you can get
anything out of them.
126
We want you to impart what you know, if you have the light of
God, or any information about heaven, earth, or hell. We want you
to furnish your share to the fund of information, and not cry,
all the day long, give, give, give, without imparting anything to
the giver. We want the Twelve, when they are full of the Holy
Ghost, to come up and bless us. And if any of you know how to
make a good goose yoke, a hog yoke, a good jackknife, or anything
else that is valuable, do not put your hands on your mouths and
cry mum.
126
If you know how to raise wheat, potatoes, or anything else,
impart your knowledge, that the light in you may not be hid under
a bushel. It is so with almost every person in the Church; if
they have light they keep it under a bed, or under a bushel; they
keep it locked up within their bosoms, and we cannot get it out.
126
If a man knows anything valuable, we want him to impart his
knowledge. We want the President of the Seventies, brother Joseph
Young, about us; we do not want him to go on the hill where
Lorenzo lived, but we want him to live in the city near brother
Brigham, because, if he does not, he will die. Some of brother
Joseph's Council want to wander off, saying that brother Brigham
says they may go. Why? Because they want to go. If the light of
God was in them, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, they would know
that their place is at head quarters. We want such men to come
and be one with the Prophet, and believe and understand for
themselves.
126
If you offend your brother, you have to make reconciliation. You
might as well baptize a dog, as baptize a man or woman who will
not make reconciliation for the offences they have committed.
Some women will say, "What is the difference, suppose I offend my
husband, if I can only lie to brother Brigham, and tell him a
first-rate tale, and make out that my husband is a poor curse? I
will get as many blessings as I want from brother Brigham, and
from others that I can make believe that I am a good woman."
126
I may not have used their words exactly, but those words portray
their practices. That woman who offends her husband, if he has on
him the power of the Priesthood and does right, I would not give
a groat for all the blessings she will get from the Holy Ghost.
You may as well baptize a dog, or a skunk, as such a woman, until
she makes reconciliation with that man of God whom she has
offended.
126
I sometimes talk about the old stereotyped edition of "Mormons?"
Is it that I do not love our old fathers in Israel? No, for I
know their labors, toils, and anxiety, and I love them; but many
of them feel that they have done enough. Men have to be rewarded
according to their works; if a man ceases to work, there is no
more blessings for him. He is lariatted out, as Orson Pratt
lariatted out the Gods in his theory; his circle is as far as the
string extends. My God is not lariatted out.
127
I do not want the old men to grow dull. Was father Adam dull in
his old age, when he blessed his children, and predicted what
would befall them down to the latest generation? Will a man,
fired up by the fire of the Almighty, be dull? No. I do not want
the old men to think that they have done enough, but to exert
themselves to the last, and not to believe in a God that is
lariatted out, nor be lariatted out themselves, and say, "I have
worked ten, fifteen, or twenty-five years, and I do not want to
work any more, my rope is long enough now."
127
Do not imbibe that principle, but keep advancing and advancing in
the knowledge of the truth, in the light of the Almighty, which
brightens up your intellects, enlightens your minds, and makes
you feel the fire and power of God Almighty in your earthly
tabernacles. We want our fathers in Israel to wake up and bless
their children, to bless the young men and the Church of God, and
let the fire of the Almighty be in them. We want the presiding
Patriarch to freely call upon the Prophet, brother Brigham; and
we want the heads of the different departments of the kingdom of
God to come up and strengthen the hands of the Prophet.
127
The old men, those men who have been in the Church twenty years
and more, are ready to run from the man of God that holds the
keys of the kingdom of heaven. If you was full of the Holy Ghost
you would not do this, but you would be round about us, instead
of being all the time with your wives. It is the greatest piece
of nonsense that was ever planted in a Gentle breast, for a man
to tie himself down to be at home day and night with his women.
Where would this kingdom go, if brother Brigham and his Council
were to do so? It would go to hell, across lots, in double quick
time. Do not let your wives bind you up with green withes and
strong cords as Delilah did Sampson, and make you powerless.
Break asunder the cords, the ropes and cables that bind you, and
come forth, ye old men, out of your shells, and break your
lariats and your stakes, and begin to drink of the fountain of
life, with God and His servants.
127
I might say to the young men wake up from your sleep, that you
may have the blessings of God poured out upon you. And if the
women want to know what I think of many of them, let them read
the 32nd chapter of Isaiah; I had better read part of it for you.
"Rise up ye women that are at ease, hear my voice, ye careless
daughters, give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye
be troubled, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the
gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be
troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and
gird sackcloth upon your loins."
128
I want to say to many of our old women, and to hundreds and
thousands of our young women, that the life of God Almighty is
not in you; you are at ease, and careless, and dull, and blind,
and you do not understand the rights that God Almighty wishes you
to enjoy. I want such women to humble themselves in sackcloth and
ashes, until they get the Holy Ghost. I want every mother and
daughter in Israel to serve their God, have the light of God in
them, instead of pride, foolery, nonsense, and everything that is
light and vain. Rise up, ye careless women that are asleep in
Zion, and betake yourselves to mourning and lamenting before God,
until the light of heaven shall shine upon you, until the light
of God shall chase away your pride, and your abomination, and
your sins, and be round about you, and until the eye of heaven
smiles upon you and blesses you forever. I want you to be blest
and saved, that your children may rise up and be blest. I want
the women to understand that there is something in Zion for them
to do, instead of going to sleep. There is a work upon you; you
have made covenants and sacred obligations, as well as the men,
and we want you not to falsify those obligations, but to keep the
law of your husbands, and listen to them, and know that they are
your head.
128
A man is a president to his family. If the Church has a head,
which is Christ, then is the man the head of his family. Some men
are not the heads of their families, but their wives walk on
them, their daughters walk on them, and their sons walk on them,
and they are as the soles of their shoes.
128
Talk of some men's being the heads of their families. It makes me
think of the old deacon, that went to teach a man and his wife
who were quarrelsome; said he, "Do you not know that you and your
husband are one flesh?" "You don't say that, do you, deacon?"
"Yes, the Lord has made you one." "Lord God," said she, "if you
were to pass by here when me and my old man are quarreling, you
would think there were fifty of us." This is often the case in
Israel; instead of the men being the heads of their families,
they are as sole leather under their feet.
128
I want the women to understand, when they have a good husband,
one that does his duty, that he is president over them, and that
they have made covenants to abide the law of that husband. Talk
about women leaving their husbands! I would be far from taking a
woman that would leave a GOOD man. A woman that wants to climb up
to Jesus Christ, and pass by the authorities between her and him,
is a stink in my nostrils. I have large nostrils, and I often
talk about smelling, for my olfactory nerves are very sensitive.
I want women to know their places and do their duty; but there is
a low, stinking pride in a woman, that wants to leave a good
husband to go to another. What does it matter where you are, if
you do your duty? Being in one man's family or the other man's
family is not going to save you, but doing your duty before your
God is what will save you.
128
Because I am one of the Council of the First President, will that
save me? No, but if I am saved, I shall be saved because I do my
duty as a man of God. Shall a man be saved because of some
particular Quorum to which he belongs, or a woman be saved
because she is in some particular family? No, that is foolery.
Men and women are saved because they do right. It is nonsense for
a woman to suppose, that because she is sealed to some particular
man she will be saved, and at the same time kick up hell's
delight, play the whore, and indulge in other evil acts and
abominations.
128
Even some mothers in Israel actually suppose that if their
daughters are sealed to a certain man they will be saved, no
matter what they do afterwards. That is damned foolery; and I
want men and women to understand that salvation is based on a
better foundation, that it is made up of righteousness, joy, and
peace in the Holy Ghost.
129
We want you to understand that the power of the Holy Ghost should
be in you. We want fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and the
whole Church renovated and made one. Do you suppose that I can be
saved by standing alone, or that brother Heber can, or by
attempting to use our Apostleship independent of brother Brigham?
We have sense enough to know that we have no power, only as we
are one with him. Or can the Twelve, or any one else, have any
power, only as they are one with brother Brigham? No. In the same
way no woman can be right, only that woman who is one in spirit
with her husband. We should then be one in understanding, in
power, in the gifts of God and in the light of the Gospel, and do
right all the time. May God Almighty wake up the fathers, the
mothers, the sons and the daughters, and bless you all and keep
you in the path of your duty, and save you in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, December 4, 1856
ON THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
A Funeral Sermon, by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the
Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, December 4,
1856.
129
We expected that this congregation would have been assembled and
seated by ten o'clock, or by a quarter past ten at the latest; it
is now twelve, lacking five minutes, and near the time when we
should be moving to the place of burial.
129
The time is so far advanced, that I shall not presume to answer
my feelings, in my remarks on this occasion. I expected to have
had time enough for offering some of my feelings and views, with
regard to the living and the dead. True, it would take me a long
time to reveal to you what is in my heart, but I expected to have
had time to bestow a portion thereof on this congregation.
129
I will say to those here assembled, and especially to those more
immediately connected with brother Grant in the capacity of a
family, you have no cause for mourning, neither have we. True, we
were very fond of the company and society of brother Grant;
brother Jedediah was a man we all loved, and we would have liked
to have had him staid with us; we would have been pleased in
longer enjoying his society here.
129
But this our place of abode is only temporary; we are on a
journey; we have only to winter and summer, as it were. Brother
Grant has got through here, and has gone to his spiritual place
of abode for a season. Not that he has reached his journey's end,
nor will he, until he has again received this body that now lies
before me. Every material part and portion pertaining to his
body, to the temporal organization that constitutes the man, will
clothe his spirit again, before he is prepared to receive the
place and habitation that is prepared for him, yet he has gone to
his spiritual home for a season.
129
I am aware of the feelings of families and friends on such
occasions. Many times I can govern and control my feelings, at
other times I cannot. When I can control my own feelings, I can
collect my thoughts and express my ideas as clearly as my
language will permit.
129
In the few remarks that I will make to-day, I will not go to the
Bible, to the Book of Mormon, nor to the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, for my text, for I will give you a text which
comprehends the sermon also, so that if I do not dwell directly
upon it, I trust that what I say will be true, for it will be
incorporated in my text, and the text alone will be a sermon.
130
On this occasion I will say, as on other occasions, blessed are
they that hear the Gospel of salvation, believe it, embrace it,
and live to all its precepts. That is the text, and a whole
sermon in and of itself.
130
Time will not permit me to tell, only in part, wherein they are
blessed, how and with what they will be blessed, for it takes a
life time to prepare for this blessing.
130
Some people would have to live to be a hundred years of age, in
order to be as ripe in the things of God as was brother Grant,
whose body now lies lifeless before us; to be as ripe as was the
spirit which lately inhabited this deserted earthly tabernacle.
130
There are but few that can ripen for the glory, the immortality
that is prepared for the faithful; for receiving all that was
purchased for them by the Son of God; but very few can receive
what brother Grant has received in his life time. He has been in
the Church upwards of twenty-four years, and was a man that would
live, comparatively speaking, a hundred years in that time. The
storehouse that was prepared in him to receive the truth, was
capable of receiving as much in twenty-five years as most of men
can in one hundred.
130
Though we might say that the time has been short which he has had
to prepare himself in the flesh for receiving all that is
treasured up for the faithful, yet there are but few men in this
Church that ever will be prepared to receive what he will
receive, though they live thirty, fifty, seventy-five, or a
hundred years, or to the coming of the Son of Man; there are but
few men that will be prepared to receive the same degree of glory
and exaltation that brother Jedediah will receive. This may be
attributed to the peculiar organization of man.
130
It is not every man that is capable of filling every station,
though there is no man but what is capable of filling his proper
station, and that, too, with dignity and honor to himself. When
you find a person that is capable of receiving light and wisdom,
one that can descend to the capacity of the weakest of the weak,
and can comprehend the highest and most noble intelligence that
can be obtained by man, can receive it with all ease, and
comprehend it, circumscribe it, understand it from first to last,
that is the man that can ripen for eternity in a few years; that
is the individual who is capable of occupying stations that many
cannot occupy.
130
Brother Grant we were well acquainted with, and there is no
person but what laments his departure from this world. But what
will we mourn for? I want to ask myself that question, as I have
a great many times. What will you mourn for, because brother
Grant has gone where he can do more good? No, we will not mourn
for that. Will we mourn because he has overcome all his enemies
here, all that are opposed to Jesus Christ and to his Gospel,
because he has won the prize? Will we mourn for that?
130
He is prepared to dwell with Prophets, with brother Joseph, with
the ancient Apostles, with Moses, with Abraham, and to dwell in
the presence of Jesus Christ. We will not mourn for that. What
will we mourn for? He has lost nothing, but has gained all.
131
Why do we mourn? Perhaps it will be difficult for me to tell you,
yet I know. It is not the knowledge that God has given you or me,
that causes us to mourn; it is not the Spirit of the Gospel that
produces within us a mournful feeling; it is not the Spirit of
Christ, the knowledge of eternity, of God, or of the way of life
and salvation. Our mourning proceeds from none of those causes.
What causes us to mourn? Neither more nor less, to me and so far
as I can convey my idea by language, than the earthly weakness
that is in us. It is not the knowledge of the Almighty, the power
of God, the light of eternity, but it is the darkness, the
weakness, the ignorance, the want of that eternal knowledge, so
far as I can conceive, that makes any person mourn here on the
earth. If this conveys the idea to you, as it does to me, it will
satisfy me.
131
Mourning for the righteous dead springs from the ignorance and
weakness that are planted within the mortal tabernacle, the
organization of this house for the spirit to dwell in. No matter
what pain we suffer, no matter what we pass through, we cling to
our mother earth, and dislike to have any of her children leave
us. We love to keep together the social family relation that we
bear one to another, and do not like to part with each other; but
could we have knowledge and see into eternity, if we were
perfectly free from the weakness, blindness, and lethargy with
which we are clothed in the flesh, we should have no disposition
to weep or mourn.
131
Perhaps it is not proper for me to make a few remarks with regard
to this day's operations. Funeral ceremonies have often borne
upon my mind with considerable, I will say, weight, and
especially since I came into the vestry at the time appointed for
the services to commence. I have often reflected with regard to
paying particular respect to that which is useless, to that which
is nothing at all to us. And while waiting in the vestry, I was
pondering upon how many bands of music attended Jesus to the
tomb, upon what the procession was, how many wore crape, who
mourned, and the situation of the mourners.
131
There are but few of us but what have been honored with as
convenient a place for a birth as was Jesus, though I presume
that his mother was comparatively comfortable while lieing on the
hay in the manger; there are but few of us but what have had the
privilege of a house to be born in.
131
I was reflecting upon how many there were to lament and mourn for
Him when he went out of the world; and the few that did mourn had
to make their escape, like going on to Ensign Peak; they had to
stand afar off to mourn, and durst not be seen near the place of
the crucifixion. When the body had hung on the cross until night,
Joseph begged the privilege of taking it down and carrying it to
the tomb.
131
I was reflecting further. Suppose brother Grant could speak to us
this day, he would deprecate to the lowest degree the fuss and
parade we are making. He would say, "Away with you; stop your
blowing of horns, beating of drums, and hoisting of colors. Give
my body a place to lay and rest, and do not consider me better
than other men. Take my body and bury it deep enough, so that it
can rest where the floods cannot wash it out, where is can remain
until the trumpet sounds, when I may awake up and help you again.
131
Perhaps it is not proper for me to make these remarks, yet I hope
they will not injure the feelings of any one. But I say to each
and every one of you, whether I die in this city, or wherever I
die, when my spirit leaves my body, know ye that that tabernacle
is of no use, until the command comes for it to be resurrected;
and I do not want you to cry over it, nor make any parade, but
give me a good place where my bones can rest, that have been
weary for many years, and have delighted to labor until nearly
worn out; and then go home about your business, and think no more
about me, except you think of me in the spirit world, as I do
about Jedediah.
131
I have not felt, for one minute, that Jedediah is dead; I feel he
is with us just as much as he was a week or a month ago.
132
The few words I say will perhaps be a consolation to you, and
perhaps not, but I tell you some of my feelings and views.
132
I want you all to remember this; when I die, let your flags
remain in their proper places, omit your parade, and lay me away
where I can rest. And I do not wish any of you to cry and feel
badly, but prepare yourselves to fight the devils while you live,
and after you pass through the vail; and let me tell you, that
there we will do a great deal more than we can here.
132
Another thing I want to promise you, every one of you, if you
will be faithful; I promise it to myself. True, brother Grant was
a great help to me; he stood by me, and was willing to come and
go, and to do whatever was requested of him, in order to take the
burden from me; but I tell you that we will have not only four,
but an hundred fold for him, just as good, and so we will for
every good man that lies down; I promise you that. Brother Grant
we call a great man, a giant, a lion; but let me tell you that
the young whelps are growing up here who will roar louder than
ever he dare, and instead of there being two, or three, or four,
there are hundreds of them.
132
Perhaps many of you will think I am not correct in my views, that
I am enthusiastic, that I am mistaken; but let me tell you that
the very sons of these women that sit here will rise up and be as
great as any man that ever lived, and as far beyond Jedediah, or
myself, and brother Heber, as we are in the Gospel beyond our
little children. I am not going to gather the lions of the forest
from the sectarian world, that is not where I am going to get
them, but the mothers in Israel are going to rear them. They will
raise hundreds and thousands that will know more about the things
of God in twenty years than Jedediah did in his lifetime, which
was forty years. Will they know more than I do? Yes.
132
I do not make any calculation, and never did, but that my boys
who are now growing up will be as far beyond me, at my age, as I
am beyond the knowledge I had in my infancy. We will not mourn
for that, will we? No. For one I am comforted, if I can overcome
the weakness that is upon me, which is the result of ignorance;
that pertains to the flesh--to fallen nature. The cause of
mourning does not pertain to God, nor to the things of God, but
arises from the weakness of human nature.
132
When we lose such men as we have since we came into the valleys
of the mountains, such men as brother Whitney, brother Willard,
brother Jedediah, brother Orson Spencer, and many others, it is a
matter of regret.
132
Brother Grant can now do ten times more than if he was in the
flesh; do you want to know how? He is in the spirit world, he has
conquered death and hell, and will the grave, when he again
assumes his body. He is no more subject to the devils that dwell
in the infernal regions; he commands them, and they must go at
his bidding; he can move them just as I can move my hand. Do you
know how that is done? It is done by the principle in me that is
called will, which principle God has planted in all intelligences
according to the capacity bestowed upon them. That intelligence
is in us; we may call it will; it is the power of life in every
creature and in all intelligences, and by that power I stretch
out my arm and bring it to me again at my pleasure, I look to the
right or to the left, and I speak according to the dictates of my
will. When I govern myself, I do this or that, I rise up to go to
that city and return again, I sit down and rise up, and do what I
please.
133
When men overcome as our faithful brethren have, and go where
they see Joseph, who will dictate them and be their head and
Prophet all the time, they have power over all disembodied evil
spirits, for they have overcome them. Those evil spirits are
under the command and control of every man that has had the
Priesthood on him, and has honored it in the flesh, just as much
as my hand is under my control.
133
Do you not think that brother Jedediah can do more good than he
could here? When he was here the devils had power over his flesh,
he warred with them and fought them, and said that they were
around him by millions, and he fought them until he overcame
them. So it is with you and I. You never felt a pain and ache, or
felt disagreeable, or uncomfortable in your bodies and minds, but
what an evil spirit was present causing it. Do you realize that
the ague, the fever, the chills, the severe pain in the head, the
plurisy, or any pain in the system, from the crown of the head to
the soles of the feet, is put there by the devil? You do not
realize this, do you?
133
I say but little about this matter, because I do not want you to
realize it. When you have the rheumatism, do you realize that the
devil put that upon you? No, but you say, "I got wet, caught
cold, and thereby got the rheumatism." The spirits that afflict
us and plant disease in our bodies, pain in the system, and
finally death, have control over us so far as the flesh is
concerned. But when the spirit is unlocked from the body it is
free from the power of death and Satan; and when that body comes
up again, it also, with the spirit, will gain the victory over
death, hell, and the grave.
133
When the spirit leaves the tabernacle of flesh and goes into the
spirit world, it has control over every evil influence with which
it comes in contact, and when it takes up the body again, then
the body also, with the spirit, will have control over every evil
spirit that is in a tabernacle, if there is any such being, just
as far as the spirit that has the Priesthood had control over
evil spirits.
133
Perhaps you do not understand me. Take a spirit that has gone
into the spirit world, does it have control over corruptible
bodies? No. It can only act in the capacity of a spirit. As to
the devils inhabiting these earthly bodies, it cannot control
them, it only controls spirits. But when the spirit is again
united to the body, that spirit and body unitedly have control
over the evil bodies, those controlled by the devil and given
over to the devils, if there is any such thing. Resurrected
beings have control over matter as well as spirit.
133
Brother Grant's body which lies here is useless, is good for
nothing until it is resurrected, and merely needs a place in
which to rest; his spirit has not fled beyond the sun. There are
millions and millions of spirits in these valleys, both good and
evil. We are surrounded with more evil spirits than good ones,
because more wicked than good men have died here; for instance,
thousands and thousands of wicked Lamanites have laid their
bodies in these valleys. The spirits of the just and unjust are
here. The spirits that were cast out of heaven, which you know
are recorded to have been one-third part, were thrust down to
this earth, and have been here all the time, with Lucifer, the
Son of the Morning, at their head.
134
When a good man or woman dies, the spirit does not go to the sun
or the moon. I have often told you that the spirits go to God who
gave them, and that He is everywhere; if God is not everywhere,
will you please tell me where He is not. The moment your eyes are
opened upon the spirit land, you will find yourselves in the
presence of God, for as David says, "If you take the wings of the
morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, He is there;
and if you make your bed in hell, behold He is there."
134
You are in the presence of God, and when your eyes are opened you
will understand it. Brother Grant's spirit is in the presence of
God; and he is with Joseph, when he is not required to be
somewhere else. He is at work for the benefit of Zion, for that
is all the business that Joseph and the Elders of this Church
have on hand.
134
You and I have yet to deal with evil spirits, but Jedediah has
control over them. When we have done with the flesh, and have
departed to the spirit world, you will find that we are
independent of those evil spirits. But while you are in the flesh
you will suffer by them, and cannot control them, only by your
faith in the name of Jesus Christ and by the keys of the eternal
Priesthood. When the spirit is unlocked from the tabernacle it is
as free, pure, holy, and independent of them as the sun is of
this earth. Jedediah can now do more for us than he could by
longer staying here.
134
Where do you suppose the spirits of our departed friends are?
Where they ought to be; they are here, on the other side of the
earth, in the East Indies, in Washington, &c.; they are
controlling the fallen spirits here, or somewhere else. They
could not control the spirits of evil men while here, only by
faith, but now one of our departed brethren can control millions
of disembodied evil spirits; while they were in the flesh they
were afflicted by them. Is this not a great consolation to us?
Some one may ask me for the proof for my statements, and may
enquire whether it is in the Bible; yes, every word of it. I
could prove it every word from that book, but I do not need to go
to the Bible, my scripture is within me.
134
Brother Kimball could tell what I will now just touch upon better
than I can, for he heard it; I will, however, say a few words
about it. A short time before his death, brother Jedediah went to
the world of spirits two nights in succession, and saw perfect
order amongst them. He saw many of the Saints whom he was
acquainted with, and saw his wife Caroline and his child that was
buried on the route across the Plains, and dug up and eaten by
the wolves. She said to him, "Here is my child; you know it was
eaten up by the wolves, but it is here, and has taken no harm."
It was the spirit of the child he saw. He came back to his body,
but did not like to enter it again, for he saw that it was filthy
and corrupt. He also told how his brethren and family felt, when
he told them what he saw in the spirit world. He said that his
friends felt like saying, "Well brother Grant, may be it is so,
and may be it is not so; we do not know anything about it."
134
You know nothing about what I am telling you concerning the
spirit world any more than brother Grant's friends knew about
what he told them. Why? Because we are encumbered with this
flesh, we are in darkness; the flesh is the vail that is over the
nations. When we go from the body, we have eyes to see spiritual
things and understand them.
134
I have not answered my feelings, and cannot, owing to the
lateness of the hour. It wanted but five minutes to twelve when I
began to speak, and it is now time to bring the services to a
close.
134
I hope you will remember what I have said, for it is true; and if
you do not, I hope it will be told to you until you do. May God
bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, December 4, 1856
Heber C. Kimball, December 4, 1856
REMARKS AT THE FUNERAL OF PRESIDENT JEDEDIAH M. GRANT,
By President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, December 4, 1856,
135
The ideas that brother Brigham has just advanced are congenial
with my feelings, perfectly so.
135
During brother Grant's brief sickness I would not believe, for
one moment, that he was going to die, though my feelings would at
times incline me to doubt as to his recovery; but I would not
give way to them. And now it is only the body that is dead, for
his spirit will never die! It has overcome death and hell, and
laid aside its earthly tenement that may return to its native
element, awaiting the morn of the resurrection, when the spirit
will receive it in an immortal state, and then have gained the
victory over death, hell and the grave.
135
In regard to the lifeless body that now lies before us, let me
tell you that mourning and making a great parade over it, is
similar to what it would be for me to lament about a house which
the occupants had forsaken. I left a house in Nauvoo, but do you
suppose that I fret about it? I do not. And what is the use of
gathering the bands together and the troops, and performing
lengthy and pompous ceremonies over a tenement the spirit has
left? I would not give a picayune for all your parade.
135
I will not stoop to the principle of death. I could weep, but I
will not. There is a spirit in me that rises above that feeling,
and it is because Jedediah is not dead.
135
I went to see him one day last week, and he reached out his hand
and shook hands with me; he could not speak, but he shook hands
warmly with me. I felt for him, and wanted to raise him up, and
to have him stay and help us whip the devils and bring to pass
righteousness. Why? Because he was valiant, and I loved him. He
was a great help to us, and you would be, if you were as valiant
as he was, which you can be through faithfulness and obedience.
135
I laid my hands upon him and blessed him, and asked God to
strengthen his lungs that he might be easier, and in two or three
minutes he raised himself up and talked for about an hour as
busily as he could, telling me what he had seen and what he
understood, until I was afraid he would weary himself, when I
arose and left him.
136
He said to me, brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world
two nights in succession, and, of all the dreads that ever came
across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body,
through I had to do it. But O, says he, the order and government
that were there! When in the spirit world, I saw the order of
righteous men and women; beheld them organized in their several
grades, and there appeared to be no obstruction to my vision; I
could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked
to see whether there was any disorder there, but there was none;
neither could I see any death nor any darkness, disorder or
confusion. He said that the people he there saw were organized in
family capacities; and when he looked at them he saw grade after
grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony. He would
mention one item after another and say, "Why, it is just as
brother Brigham says it is; it is just as he has told us many a
time."
136
That is a testimony as to the truth of what brother Brigham
teaches us, and I know it is true, from what little light I have.
136
He saw the righteous gathered together in the spirit world, and
there were no wicked spirits among them. He saw his wife; she was
the first person that came to him. He saw many that he knew, but
did not have conversation with any except his wife Caroline. She
came to him, and he said that she looked beautiful and had their
little child, that died on the Plains, in her arms, and said,
"Mr. Grant, here is little Margaret; you know that the wolves ate
her up, but it did not hurt her; here she is all right."
136
"To my astonishment," he said, "when I looked at families there
was a deficiency in some, there was a lack, for I saw families
that would not be permitted to come and dwell together, because
they had not honored their calling here."
136
He asked his wife Caroline where Joseph and Hyrum and Father
Smith and others were; she replied, "they have gone away ahead,
to perform and transact business for us." The same as when
brother Brigham and his brethren left Winter Quarters and came
here to search out a home; they came to find a location for their
brethren.
136
He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that the
Lord gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver into his
hands that he might display his skill and ability, and said that
the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most
ordinary buildings he saw in the spirit world.
136
In regard to gardens, says brother Grant, "I have seen good
gardens on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those
that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with
from fifty to a hundred different colored flowers growing upon
one stalk." We have many kinds of flowers on the earth, and I
suppose those very articles came from heaven, or they would not
be here.
136
After mentioning the things that he had seen, he spoke of how
much he disliked to return and resume his body, after having seen
the beauty and glory of the spirit world, where the righteous
spirits are gathered together.
136
Some may marvel at my speaking about these things, for many
profess to believe that we have no spiritual existence. But do
you not believe that my spirit was organized before it came to my
body here? And do you not think there can be houses and gardens,
fruit trees, and every other good thing there? The spirits of
those things were made, as well as our spirits, and it follows
that they can exist upon the same principle.
136
After speaking of the gardens and the beauty of every thing
there, brother Grant said that he felt extremely sorrowful at
having to leave so beautiful a place and come back to earth, for
he looked upon his body with loathing, but was obliged to enter
it again.
136
He said that after he came back he could look upon his family and
see the spirit that was in them, and the darkness that was in
them; and that he conversed with them about the Gospel, and what
they should do, and they replied, "Well, brother Grant, perhaps
it is so, and perhaps it is not," and said that was the state of
this people, to a great extent, for many are full of darkness and
will not believe me.
137
I never had a view of the righteous assembling in the
spirit-world, but I have had a view of the hosts of hell, and
have seen them as plainly as I see you to-day. The righteous
spirits gather together to prepare and qualify themselves for a
future day, and evil spirits have no power over them, though they
are constantly striving for the mastery. I have seen evil spirits
attempt to overcome those holding the Priesthood, and I know how
they act.
137
I feel well, and I do not feel to condescend to a spirit of
mourning. If I do weep, I will weep for my own sins and not for
Jedediah. If he could speak he would say, "Weep not for me, but
weep for your own sins."
137
Before brother Grant was taken sick, he said that he had
unsheathed his sword, and that it never should be sheathed again
until the enemies of righteousness were subdued; and he fought
the devil up to the last, and used to proclaim that he should not
prevail on this earth. I can say that he left us with his sword
unsheathed, and he will help Joseph and Hyrum and Willard.
137
Previous to the late Reformation, I saw brother Willard in a
dream. I dreamed that we had a very large kiln filled with
articles of ware of various kinds and sizes. Many of them had
previously fallen down, being thin, not having strength to remain
upright; we had put the good ones into the kiln and put in the
fire, and had got them considerably warmed; but, somehow or
other, they got cold again, and we thought we would go down to a
certain stream and get some dry wood, and burn the earthenware
for use. As we were going towards the stream, brother Willard
came along and said, "Brethren, I am gathering up better fuel
than that--some that will make a bigger fire." So he is, and
Jedediah has gone to help, and the day will come that many of us
will go too; and as the Lord Almighty lives, and as my soul
lives, we have unsheathed the sword, and we never will sheath it
until the enemies of our God are overcome. Jedediah has overcome
all his enemies.
137
Brother Brigham says that he will have hundreds and thousands of
boys right here that will help us with a power greatly increased
beyond that of their fathers, and I know that it will be so. When
boys go back on the Plains to encounter storms and rescue the
suffering, as did David P. Kimball, Stephen Taylor, Joseph A.
Young, Ephraim Hanks, and many others, it makes me feel well.
David took the consecrated oil and went forth, like a man of God,
and anointed the sick and afflicted, and commanded them to arise;
and those boys acted valiantly, having been trained up amid the
Saints.
137
Brother Ephraim Hanks has put a feather in his cap, through his
noble conduct in aiding our belated immigration, he has
unsheathed his sword upon the side of doing good, and I exhort
him not to sheath it again.
137
I feel encouraged; brother Jedediah has gone to be with Joseph.
137
Let us be faithful, and listen to the words of brother Brigham
and brother Jedediah and those placed to lead us, and what joy I
will have. Would I be willing to lay down my body? Yes, if that
would sooner accomplish so great an object, and bring this whole
people into a position where they could see and understand for
themselves.
137
These are my feelings, brethren and sisters, and may God bless
you. To those who delight in uprightness I am all blessings, from
the crown of my head to the soles of my feet; but I am heavy on
the tracks of sinners, because I know that if they do persist in
their course, and if the Quorums do not purify themselves
quickly, you will see something that will make you lament; some
are nourishing a cankerworm that they will not easily get rid of.
138
Why do you not all listen to brother Brigham and Jedediah and
Heber and many others? They have had the spirit of reformation
all the time. Then wake up ye Saints of Latter Days, and cleanse
your platters inside and out, and God Almighty will rescue us
from our enemies. He will slay them; He will hurl kings from
their thrones and unrighteous rulers from their places of
authority, and they will drop faster than you saw the stars drop
from heaven, at the time that the Saints were driven out of
Jackson county Missouri.
138
I am talking of what I know, and not of what I merely believe;
and may the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, rest
upon you, my brethren and sisters, and upon our families and
every good person. Brother Brigham is my brother, and brother
Jedediah is my brother; I loved him, I love those men, God knows
I do, better than I ever loved a woman; and I would not give a
dime for a man that does not love them better than they love
women. A man is a miserable being, if he lets a woman stand
between him and his file leaders; he is a fool, and I have no
regard for him; he is not fit for the Priesthood.
138
I want to stir you up to faith, obedience, integrity, and
everything that is good. I am preaching to you; not to Jedediah.
What remains here of him goes back to mother earth, and let us
strive to honor our tabernacles as did brother Grant his.
138
My body has got to return to dust, and I will honor it, then I
will take it again. I am as sure of that, as I am that I am
standing here before you.
138
God bless you forever: Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, December 21, 1856
Heber C. Kimball, December 21, 1856
REFORMATION--A TEST AT HAND TO PROVE THE SAINTS.
A Discourse, by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, December 21, 1856.
138
Brethren, I wish to speak to you about the reformation that is
now taking place, and to inform you that God would have this
people adhere to and listen to it. He would have this people take
a course to live their religion, that they may be faithful and
have confidence in God their Father, and have a testimony of
things in heaven, and that brother Brigham is our Prophet and
leader, and that the Twelve Apostles are called of God; that they
may know these things for themselves, and thus get such a
testimony and such a portion of the Spirit of God, of the Holy
Ghost, that they will stand.
139
This people must come to a position where they will be tested,
every one of them; and the day is just at our door, although many
of you will not believe it, even when you are told so by brother
Brigham and brother Heber; and when Jedediah was alive you would
not believe it. You might have believed, "But," said some, "we
cannot realize it." Whether you believe it or not, you will
realize such a scenery as you have never seen, and it will go
ahead of anything I have, ever seen, for we have promised you
that you shall all be tested; that is, you will be tested as to
whether you are of the religion of Christ or not. Some may often
think that we merely talk to frighten you, but I tell you that
the testing time is right at your doors, and you know it not. I
want you to understand it; I am going to tell it to you, and I
mean to warn and forewarn you of it. I have done so for these
five years in succession, and so has brother Brigham.
139
I presume there are hundreds here to-day who can say that I speak
the truth. I have said that the scarcity of bread was nothing in
comparison of what is coming: for this reason the Lord wants this
people to repent, reform, and live their religion; to lean to be
punctual, true, and humble; and those who do not will go
overboard. Mark it; you will see hundreds, if not thousands, in a
few years, turn their backs to us and seek the death of brother
Brigham and brother Heber, and hundreds of you that now hear me
speak. Men are sitting here to-day, and are at home and in other
places, who will rally to the mob, to those that will seek to
destroy this people.
139
I have seen such scenes, but I shall see more of them. I do not
come here with velvet lips, nor with silver lips; my lips are not
fixed for silver, nor for gold. I tell you the truth as to what
those who will not live their religion may expect, and they
cannot expect anything else. As to those who do live their
religion, God will make a way for our escape and we will go free.
Then I will tell you there will be many a scape goat that we
shall always be pleased about, for that will sift this people and
cleanse them, and the power of God Almighty will rest on those
who remain true and faithful.
139
These are my feelings, and I want to tell them to you, for I do
not want you to go home and lay down and sleep; but I wish you to
repent and forsake your sins and your wickedness, your lying and
your hypocrisy. I will tell you how I feel; I have no fellowship
for those men and women in our midst who do not live their
religion, who do not pray and pay their tithing and do as they
are told; I have no confidence in such persons. I cannot have
confidence in any man or woman any further than they do right;
and I know that the Spirit of God will not rest on one of you,
any further than you do right. When you have reformed one inch,
the Spirit of God is upon you precisely in that proportion; and
when you have reformed all over, inside and out, your bodies will
be filled with light; but you have more light, only according to
the amount you live your religion.
139
There are men right in our midst, some of whom are now sitting in
this assembly, who will gamble, associate with lewd women,
frequent grog shops, get drunk, use profane language, and sit
with the wicked and hear them curse brother Brigham and brother
Heber and the authorities of this Church. Do you suppose that I
have confidence in such men? Do you suppose that I have
confidence enough in them to invite them to associate with the
servants and representatives of the Almighty? No, I will not
abuse my brethren by inviting such persons anywhere; I will show
wickedness and its votaries a proper resentment.
140
God and mammon, or the righteous and the ungodly, have no
fellowship for each other. Those that are for God love one
another, and those that are for the devil try to love one
another; I have no fellowship for the devil and his servants. Are
there such characters here? Yes, there are some who are in the
Quorums of the Seventies, and brother Pulsipher and others will
sit in this stand and let those poor curses pervert the ways of
righteousness and damn themselves. There are men now sitting
close by this stand as wicked as hell, who associate with
apostates, with whoremasters and with whores and gamblers; and
there are men in our midst who would destroy every one of us in
one moment, if they had the power.
140
And here are brother Pulsipher, Herriman and Clapp, members of
the first Presidency of the Seventies, sitting here as dead as
door nails, and suffering these poor curses to live in our midst
as Seventies. As the Lord God Almighty lives, if you do not rise
up and trim your quorums, we will trim you off, and not one year
shall pass away before you are trimmed off.
140
Am I telling you the truth? I am, and I ask no odds of any
unrighteous man that lives, nor of any one who wishes to cherish
unrighteous curses in our midst. I have not said anything about
those who do not belong to this Church; I am talking about those
who are in the Church, and am striving to impress it upon you
that we have got to go to work and cleanse and purify the inside
of the platter; we must remove those dead men's bones and
rottenness that are as corrupt as hell. Do you believe that such
things exist? There is an example of them not ten feet from
brother Pulsipher's left hand.
140
Do I ask any odds of the unrighteous? God knows that I do not,
nor of any who associate with them or strive to justify them. And
I am disgusted with many of you; I am disgusted with your
meanness, your corruption, and your ungodliness.
140
The Spirit and power that rested upon the First Presidency when
brother Jedediah was in the flesh are with brother Brigham and
me, and you cannot get them away from us. We have the keys of the
kingdom of God, and they will be on this earth, even though there
should be but one left of those who hold them.
140
You read, in the revelation that God gave through Joseph the
Prophet, concerning the plurality of wives, that all shall be
redeemed, except those who sinned against the Holy Ghost by
shedding innocent blood or consenting thereto, after having
entered into the new and everlasting covenant. Thus you can see
that a man or woman that consents to the shedding of innocent
blood is partaker of the crime, and is just as bad as the one
that committed the deed; and that the damnation is just as sure
to the accessory as to the principal, which is also in accordance
with the law of the land. Now suppose that one of our Elders will
associate with the ungodly, with apostates, with adulterers, with
whoremongers and liars, and will tamely sit and hear them damn
brother Brigham and brother Heber and every thing that is pure
and holy, without rising up and reproving them, I wish to know if
he is not just as bad as the characters that conduct so wickedly?
Yes, he is. And those that will quietly sit and hear such
language are partakers of that sin, and will soon begin to curse
and swear with those wicked persons.
140
If you do not repent of these things and stop them, there are
many among this people that will be damned. I know that many of
you associate with and cherish the wicked. What would I give for
the friendship of such men and women? Not one farthing, nor for
their religion, nor for their presence, nor for their preaching.
I wish all such persons would go from this place. They will go by
and bye, if they do not now; for the Lord our God will bring a
test on this people; and if you do not feel it and acknowledge to
me that it is something that surpasses anything we have ever
passed through, then I am mistaken.
141
I have been through strait places, and there are many who know
it; and we have individuals in this place that were apostates and
treacherous then, and who did drink and were drunken with the
poor curses that oppressed us. Do they ever come near me or
brother Brigham? No, not unless they are obliged to. If they were
Saints they would associate with us, they would come and comfort
us and cheer us up, and with us investigate matters and try to do
us good; but instead of that, they are with the drunken. Did you
ever see me with such characters, or hear of my associating with
them? No, never in your lives. God knows that I despise their
society. I have been in the world, through the United States and
Great Britain, and I have plowed and worked, and God knows that I
did abhor their wickedness.
141
Who is bearing off the kingdom of our God? Those who stand right
up breast to breast to those who are leading this people in the
paths of truth. As brother Hyde has said, those men will have
power, glory, immortality, and eternal life; and they will
increase upon them as fast as we can lead this people along. But
leading this people is at times a harder work than drawing a
large tree, top foremost, and yet I know that there are just as
good men and women sitting here as ever were on this earth, and
also that there is an opposite class.
141
You talk of angels and ministering spirits, and let me tell you
that they are ready to abundantly minister to all who are
faithful in their different callings. And if brother Hyde, who is
the President of the Twelve, and if the President of the High
Priests, the Presidents of the Seventies, the Patriarchs, the
Bishops and all the officers of this Church will honor and
magnify their respective callings, the spirit and power of those
who have previously filled those stations with honour, but who
are now behind the vail, will rest mightily upon them, and they
will become a terror to evil doers. If you do not honor the
callings which have been delivered to you, as the Lord Almighty
lives, you shall be severed from those callings. For me to speak
in this congregation until I am worn out, and still know that
drunkards, whoremongers, sorcerers, adulterers, gamblers, and
every species of vile characters are rioting in our midst, I tell
you that I will not endure it any longer. Are they here? Yes, and
the Presidency of the Seventies are aware of them. Why do you not
rise up and purify your Quorums and bring such vile persons to
justice? If they deserve severing from this Church, sever them;
if you do not, you Elders will be severed.
141
Why pursue this course? To cleanse Israel and qualify and prepare
them, for there is going to be a test, A TEST, A TEST; and if you
do not forsake your wickedness you will see sorrow, as the
children of Israel did in Jerusalem. Do you believe it? If you
will cleanse your hearts and purify them, and call on your God,
He will tell you that I speak the truth. I would not give a dime
for all the learning upon this earth, without it is devoted to
the dictation of the Holy Ghost. There are a great many learned
men, and they can be used to good advantage in the kingdom of
God, if they will listen to the dictates of His Spirit. Yet I
would rather take a clean, pure, white sheet of paper to fill
with useful matter, than to take an old scrap book already filled
with matter that I did not want, and undertake to correct that.
If God has a pure heart, like a pure piece of white paper, He can
easily write on it what He has a mind to.
142
I want to see every man rise up, in the name of Elijah's God. I
will not ask you whether you will or not, for I do not want you
to make covenants, because there are many who make covenants
to-day and break them to-morrow. I would not give a dime for such
persons, and God is going to send forth a test that will tumble
them over the board, because there is not integrity in them. They
are not honest, they will not fulfil the duties that are required
of them. Justice will make her demands, and God will require an
account from them in a coming day, and He will cast them into
prison, into hell, and they will lie there until they pay the
uttermost farthing.
142
As we progress in the reform, as we confess our faults and make
restitution to those we have wronged, asking pardon of those we
have offended, the opposition of the devil will proportionally
increase, and his power be manifested in a greater degree; and
there is going to be a mighty time. I understand this; I wish you
did, and some of you do. It is a peculiar day, a peculiar time.
142
Do you suppose that we would take a course to send the Gospel to
every nation, if God did not dictate and require it? This Gospel
shall go to every kindred, nation, tongue, and people under
heaven, and then the end shall come.
142
Righteous and holy men and their sons, all who honor their
calling, will bear off the kingdom and become a royal Priesthood.
But while we are multiplying and gathering such as will be saved,
adulterers, whoremongers, and every kind of abominable characters
creep into our midst. Many who are as corrupt as they possibly
can be, come forward and are baptized in their corruption, and
then come here and live in it.
142
Do you suppose that an unbeliever, a Gentile, could induce a
woman to prostitute herself to his hellish desires, if every
woman was pure and holy? No, there is not an upright woman that
would submit or even listen for a moment to such a course. Why do
any women submit to such wickedness? Because they were in the
habit of doing so before they came here, and they delight to
follow their old practices. They are the ones that find fault
with brother Brigham and with brother Heber, because we have many
wives. And when you meet whoremongers they are the ones who find
fault with us, and at the same time will whore it with every
woman, married or single, that will listen to them. This is true,
and men who are pure are like the gleaning of grapes, after the
vintage is done.
142
Brother Hyde: 19 years ago this winter we were proclaiming
salvation in England, and since then that nation has greatly
multiplied in corruption. Father and Mother Black, if you were
now to go back to Manchester you would not want to stay there
long, for you would not find it as it was when we were there.
142
Many of those who have come from foreign lands do not realize the
wickedness, the poverty and the distress that abound there. Our
Elders who have lately returned from abroad understand the
matter; they comprehend the condition of the people. When I was
about leaving England, I left brother Lorenzo Snow in London, and
God knows that I nourished him and blessed him, and he had more
power unto salvation than all the rest of the citizens put
together.
142
I feel free, and have not the least desire to reprove or offend
any good person. I have not interfered with the wine and the oil,
but I am trying to defend them, to get the dross from among the
pure metal, that you may all be like virgin gold seven times
tried in the furnace, that you may be pure. They melt and refine
gold until there is no dross in it, and we wish this people to
cleanse and purify themselves until they are parted from all
dross.
143
Wake up, you Bishops, Elders, and High Priests, and go and be
baptized for the remission of sins, that you may receive the Holy
Ghost, for it will not rest on you until you do. I say to brother
John Young, President of the High Priests' Quorum, baptize those
who will repent; and to brother Spencer, it is your duty to
exercise a careful oversight of the affairs in this Stake of
Zion, and I will not ask you to be any more obedient to me in my
calling than I will be to you in yours. May the Almighty bless
you and your counselors, and fill you with the power of God. And
I say to the faithful of all Israel, God bless you when you go
out and when you come in, and bless all your good wives and
children for ever. You shall be blessed; and I will bless you all
the time, for I have nothing about me but blessings and telling
you the truth.
143
I want to be one with brother Brigham, just as Jesus was one with
his Father. Jesus replied to Philip, when he said, "Shew us the
Father," "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." I want to
live in the same element and in the same power with God and with
brother Brigham, that when you see me, you may see brother
Brigham. Jesus said, "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the
Father in me:" and again, "At that day ye shall know that I am in
my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." Let me maintain the
Father's words and enjoy the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and I
will be one with the Father, with brother Brigham, and with all
holy beings, even as the Son is one with the Father.
143
Wake up, ye Elders of Israel, and purge yourselves, and purge out
the filth that is in your Quorums, for we will not countenance
unrighteousness in our midst. There are thousands and millions of
men that will have to become eunuchs, to obtain the kingdom of
God, and God will cut off their posterity, so that when they come
up in the resurrection they will find their houses left unto them
desolate. God will not have their names perpetuated on the earth,
because they have forfeited their Priesthood.
143
We are going to send some missionaries to Europe in the spring,
and when they come back I do not want to hear any of them say,
"brother Brigham, I was ignorant;" for you will lie, if you say
so; because all who are sent forth are carefully instructed, and
especially in regard to the sin of adultery, a crime so prevalent
in the world. Some have committed adultery and been cut off from
the Church, and the rest who are guilty of that crime will be cut
off, sooner or later. O ye unbelieving of the world, ye call us
impure; but I would have my head severed from my body, yea, a
thousand times, before I would be guilty of such a crime. Ought
not adulterers to be damned and go to hell? Yes, for they are
bringing destruction and wasting upon the human family by their
acts. You have all read or been taught the revelation which
positively and plainly informs us that all such characters shall
be destroyed in the flesh, and that their spirits shall be given
over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption. That
is true, and why do you not read and understand it as I do? I am
pleading all the time to save you from stumbling and falling.
144
I am talking more particularly about things that have transpired
since you came into the new and everlasting covenant; I am not
talking about the world. Have you lived your religion and been
faithful and virtuous, since you came into the Church? Have you
been ungodly, since you were admitted into the fold of God? I
have told you time and again, to refrain from all ungodly
conduct; and yet Elders have women coming in here, with whom they
made covenants while abroad. You cannot find a man who has done
that, but what is to-day as spiritually dead as a door nail, and
will be. Why? Because he has broken his former covenants.
144
I am telling you the truth, and trying to save you from falling
into snares; I see a great many men falling by these things. I
have said, months ago, that there is an under current of
wickedness working in this city. How do I know it? By the Holy
Ghost, which shows it to me.
144
Why don't you wake up, ye sleepy heads and stop your murmuring
and complaining? Why don't you engage more thoroughly and wisely
in providing the raw material for every article we need, and in
manufacturing those materials into hats, boots, cloth, and
everything useful? I have been engaged in this movement, and have
been pleading with and exhorting my family to go into home
manufacturing. They have done pretty well; they made some six or
seven hundred yards of cloth last year, and this year some eight
or nine hundred yards. You have not heard of any trouble about my
family, because they have been at work with the spinning wheels,
the looms and the dye tubs. I furnish them with rolls, and they
spin, color, weave and manufacture them into stockings and cloth.
I say to them, "Ladies, you don't get me to buy you another
ribbon, or artificial. If you want flowers in your hair, or in
your bonnets, take the peach, apple, and other blossoms in their
season, and then you will have the real instead of the
artificial."
144
Where are many woman spending their time? Around the Tithing
Office, idling from morning until night, spending their time for
naught. What are you lounging about there for, with your dresses
and petticoats, looking as though they were sadly in want of soap
and repairing? You know that I have said that the women who go
about with the lower edges of their clothes draggled into strings
and fragments, are the women who rule their husbands; they are so
constantly making snaps and flirts, like a whip lash.
144
I cannot let go of you, I feel such an interest, such an anxiety
for this people. Go to work and cut off the few poor miserable
devils in our midst, for they will never think that they are
sinners, until you do cut them off; they will not know but what
they are in full fellowship, they have become so darkened.
144
I am not going to often attend your evening ward meetings, for my
health will not admit of it. What I do here, with what I have to
do through the week, is a little more than I can well endure.
145
God bless those men who went to the rescue of our late
immigration, and all who have in anywise assisted it; also those
who have come in this season, if they live their religion and
appreciate their blessings. Perhaps some have had their feet
frozen a little, but if some others had had their heads frozen
off it would have been best for them, for they will murmur and
find fault, after the immense toil and expense we have been at to
bring them here. What I have individually done towards
accomplishing their deliverance amounts to $1100. What has
brother Brigham done for the same purpose? Several times more
than I have. Will one hundred thousand dollars pay the expense of
that operation? No, and if those people murmur, after all their
experience and all that has been freely done for them, the
Almighty will cut them off. We have taken them into our houses as
we would little children, and have nursed and cherished them, and
after all some of them will murmur and go to hell, and there are
some of them that will be true unto death.
145
Do as you are told, and you will be blessed. A great many men and
women have received the word, and will treasure it up: and it
will bring forth fruit, and be like a well of water springing up
to everlasting life, to every soul that receiveth it.
145
Ye Elders of Israel, you who have lately come from your missions,
continue your labors and go forth among the people by the power
of God. Ye Bishops, teach your people to go to meetings at the
hour appointed.
145
I feel perfectly free and sociable, because the Gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ is a spirit of freedom; and I am going to be
free, and not be in bondage any longer. We shall be a free
people, if we only do right, and reform and live our religion;
and we never will be in bondage again, worlds without end. I most
sincerely wish that you so had the Spirit on you that you could
see it all, without a man's saying one word, or giving you a
single wink.
145
My forefathers came out of the old world, and some of them were
in the American revolution. One of their mottoes was, "Go a
head," and the other was "Press forward." Do you not perceive
that I possess the same spirit? I am one of the sons of the
revolution, and in the first beginning of this Church God called
upon that class of men, and they are the ones to sustain the
constitution of the United States, for they are of the real blood
of Israel, and they will raise up a royal Priesthood, and you
cannot help yourselves. I have twenty-three boys living and ten
dead, and lots of girls. They were all honestly begotten, and the
Almighty will sustain them, and they will be like lions among
this generation; they will live to let live, and the world cannot
help themselves.
145
Do I feel as though I ever wanted to stop? I never will; as the
Lord lives, I never will stop. I will always strive to root out
iniquity; and Jedediah will work behind the vail, and I will work
this side with brother Brigham, and may God aid us, and all who
love truth, in bringing to pass righteousness, for His Son's
sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Wilford
Woodruff, December 21, 1856
Wilford Woodruff, December 21, 1856
THE PEOPLE ASLEEP--THOSE HOLDING THE PRIESTHOOD MUST MAGNIFY
THEIR CALLINGS OR BE REMOVED--THE SAINTS TO BE TRIED EVEN UNTO
DEATH.
Remarks by Elder Wilford Woodruff, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, December 21, 1856.
146
We have some few missionaries returned very recently, and I wish
to notify them to meet with us on Tuesday evening in the
Seventies' Council Hall; and we want all the Bishops in the city,
and the missionaries who have been appointed to labor here, to
meet at the same place, on the same evening.
146
I attended the High Priests' meeting last evening, in company
with brothers F. D. Richards and Lorenzo Snow, and I want to say
to all the High Priests in this city, I want them to meet with
their quorum; and we are going to meet with you; the Twelve will
meet with you and with the Seventies, and I want every man who is
a president of Seventies to meet with his quorum at the time
appointed. There was not more than half the High Priests out last
evening.
146
We are called upon to wake up and reform, and it makes me feel
curious when I go into the High Priests' meeting, and see not one
half of them there when a meeting is held to prepare them to wake
up the people.
146
I want this people to listen to what they have heard to-day. I
feel thankful to see brother Kimball again come into this stand.
I expressed my feelings when I saw the sacrament removed from the
table; I felt that it was a loud sermon to this people; I said I
knew not what would come next; I thought likely the Presidency
would be removed next from us, not that I expected they would
die; brother Grant, however, is gone; the load he undertook to
draw killed him, the same load that was pressing the President of
this Church to the earth, when Jedediah rose up to bear it off;
his spirit was strong enough, but as brother Kimball said, his
mortal body was not strong enough to bear its weight. The First
Presidency have not addressed this people but a little time since
the sacrament was removed, therefore I was glad to see and hear
brother Kimball to-day.
146
Although Jedediah has been taken from us, that load, which in a
measure has been removed from the Presidency of this Church, has
not returned unto them, and I pray it never may. When Jedediah M.
Grant went forth among the people through the north country and
this city to carry out the views of President Young, and lifted
up his voice like the trump of the angel of God, and called upon
the people to awake out of their deep sleep and repent of their
sins and turn unto God, the people were so sound asleep that they
did not realize the importance of his mission; many felt that his
labors and reproofs were unnecessary and uncalled for, the people
did not know what he was doing. Had the vision of their minds
been open as was brother Grant's, and those who sent him, they
would have seen and felt the importance of that mission.
147
I tell you the people have been asleep, and they are not yet half
awake, they have not more than one eye open, and not that quite;
when we hear such things as we have to-day, this people have got
to wake up to righteousness. I have lived twenty-three years in
the Church, and I have been acquainted with Prophets and have
heard them prophesy, and I have not yet seen their words fall to
the ground unfulfilled; and when they speak Israel should hear
and obey.
147
We have been called upon, some of us, as missionaries to the
people of this city, to wake them up. We shall be among you,
brethren, and we do not intend to let you sleep. Brother Orson
Hyde is with us to-day; he has had a dream which refers to the
wheat and the thrashing floor. I am glad brother Hyde is with us,
and I want to say to you, brother Hyde, in the name of the Lord,
wake up and rise up in the midst of your brethren the Twelve, and
lead them forth into the field of labor, and we will stand by
you; if you will lead the Twelve, brother Hyde, in the spirit and
power of your calling as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, you will see
your brethren by your side; we will back you up, and step forth
and help to bear that mighty load which has rested upon the
Presidency of the Church like a mountain, and nearly crushed them
to the ground. As a Quorum we have got to more fully obtain the
spirit and power of our Apostleship and take more upon ourselves
the care and burthen of the Church and Kingdom of God than we
have done.
147
The Twelve Apostles have got to rise up and magnify their
calling, or they will be removed out of their place. The High
Priests, the Seventies, the Bishops, and every other Quorum of
the Church and Kingdom of God have got to do the same, or they
also will be removed; we cannot sleep any longer with the
Priesthood of Almighty God resting upon us, and the work that is
required at our hands. WE CANNOT SLEEP. I do not wonder that
calling on the people to wake up has killed one man, and it will
kill more if we do not respond to the call; mortality cannot
endure the visions of eternity that rests on them when they look
on the Priesthood and see the position they are in; it has nearly
laid brother Young in the grave; he felt he could not live until
some man rose up and started the work of reformation.
147
I know it is my duty to wake up and enter into the labors of my
calling, and it is the duty of Elder Hyde, and the duty of every
other man in Israel that bears this Priesthood to do the same; it
is our duty to bear off that burden and labor which has been
resting like a mountain upon the leaders of this Church. I know
they have groaned under the load that has rested on them, when
they have seen all Israel going to sleep.
147
Let the Twelve Apostles, and the Seventy Apostles, and High
Priest Apostles, and all other Apostles rise up and keep pace
with the work of the Lord God, for we have no time to sleep. What
is man's life good for, or his words or work good for when he
stands in the way of men's salvation, exaltation, and glory? They
are of no use at all.
147
As an individual I am determined to wake up and do my duty, God
being my helper. I want to see brother Hyde, who is the President
of the Twelve, walk into all these Quorums and attend their
meetings, and we will back him up; I want him to lift up his
voice like a trumpet and go to winnowing the wheat; it is for the
Twelve to rise up and carry off the load. The Seventies have got
to walk up in their place and do their duty. I know God requires
this at our hands. The law of God, the holy Priesthood, and the
holy anointing and washing, and everything else that is holy
requires it at our hands. I know this.
148
It is necessary to reform. The question may be asked, what is the
matter? Why, we are asleep; if the eyes of any man or woman is
opened as they should be, they could see the things of God as
they are in one moment; they would see there is a necessity of
waking up and doing something. Here is a great and mighty
dispensation committed into the hands of this people for the
living and the dead; the candle of the Lord God is placed in
these mountains like a city that is set on a hill that cannot be
hid; the work is on your shoulders, ye Priests of the Most High
God!--on you rests the salvation of this generation, and the Lord
will require this stewardship at your hands.
148
The Lord has given you the keys of the Priesthood with all the
blessings pertaining to it--as great and as mighty a work as ever
was committed to any man on the earth, and that too in the midst
of the last dispensation and fulness of times. The Lord requires
us to prepare this generation, both Jew and Gentile, either for
salvation or damnation through the proclamation of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and the administering of the ordinances of the House
of God, and we go to sleep! The Apostles go to sleep--the
Seventies go to sleep--the Elders of Israel close their eyes to
slumber, and we the only people God has on the earth, upon whose
shoulders He has laid the responsibility of performing this great
and mighty work!
148
Do you wonder that Prophets get up here and chastise, and draw
the sword of justice and hold it over our heads? I do not. I
wonder that our children at the fireside do not rise up and
prophesy, with a voice like thunder and in flames of fire, unto
their fathers and mothers, and unto the people of Israel. I know
that the counsels we have had here through the mouths of the
Prophets of God are just and true. I know that the warning voice
that has been heard in this Stand, and the call that has been
made on this floor is necessary; and I do hope and pray God that
we, as missionaries, will listen to it. I want my brother
missionaries in the first place to wake up, and get aroused with
the mantle of salvation and Spirit of God ourselves, and get our
own armor bright. It has been justly remarked here that we have
got to labor ourselves until we get the Spirit of God, and then
we can walk out among the people and correct them; but if we as
Seventies, as High Priests, and Apostles, and Elders bearing the
Priesthood, if we are resolved to set our hearts upon things of
this earth, without being engaged in the interest of the kingdom
of God, what can we expect of the people? Not anything. I desire
that we may all wake up, and listen to the counsel of these men
who lead us from day to day.
148
We have no time to lose to prepare ourselves for the things that
are coming on the earth; and who wants to lose his crown, his
glory, and hope of eternal lives that he has had in days past and
gone by receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ? No man that has any
portion of the Spirit of God. Let us rise up and magnify our
calling, and labor before God until we can get the Holy Spirit,
and until our prayers rend the vail of eternity and enter into
the ears of the God of Sabbaoth and be answered in blessings upon
our heads.
148
When shall the fire be kindled in Zion? I do not mean wild
fire--there is a true fire, and that is the fire we need to get,
that is necessary to kindle; and if we live up to our privileges,
do our duty, walk up to the word of the Lord God, and magnify our
calling, we do know that the blessings of God will attend us, and
the sinners in Zion will tremble and fearfulness will surprise
the hypocrite; and let what will come, all will be right with the
Latter-day Saints.
149
There are great things awaiting us and the world--the Lord
is withdrawing His Spirit from the nations of the earth, His
sword is bathed in heaven and will fall upon Idumea or the world;
the seals are about to be opened and the judgments of God poured
out upon the wicked, for the cup of their wickedness and
abominations is filled to the brim and the indignation of the
Lord will be poured out without measure.
149
Let the Saints read the revelations of God, and they will see
that there are important events at our doors. Let us hearken and
wake up, and be doing the things required of us. Let the
missionaries first get their lamps trimmed and burning, and then
go among the people, and go with the Spirit of God and the
salvation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and let the other
Quorums do the same; and when you do this you will see a reform,
and sin and iniquity cannot abide in our habitations, in our
wards, or in our city.
149
We have sin and sinners among us, and what are we going to do
about it? Why, we are going to try to live our religion, and when
we do that we shall do right. The business with me is to do right
to-day, to live my religion to-day, and leave the events with
God; He holds the destinies of the nations and of all men; they
are in His hand; He made the earth and controls the children of
men upon it.
149
Then let events roll on--if we are only right, all is well. We
have got to be tried even unto death. The Lord says He will prove
us, and see if we abide in His covenants. There is where we have
got to stand as a people, not only our horses, and gold and
silver, and land and houses, but our lives have got to lie on the
altar, and when anything comes to test us, even at the stake of
our lives, we should be in the possession of the Holy Ghost not
to flee from it, and such will be crowned with the gift of
eternal lives, exaltation and glory.
149
There is nothing to encourage a man to draw back; there is
nothing short of the most damnable principle that dwells in the
spirit of devils that would tempt any man to shed the blood of
the Lord's anointed, yet men will try to do it. There are men
here to-day who will possess that spirit; I believe it; they are
in our city. If they shed blood they have got the bill to pay.
Let the wicked and the ungodly, who will not repent, but fight
against God, do their worst, their time is short, and the day
will come, and that soon when they will be called to judgment.
149
I remember what Joseph said, a short time before he was slain in
one of the last sermons I ever heard him preach. Said he, "Men
are here to-day who are seeking my blood, and they are those who
have held the Priesthood and have received their washings and
anointings; men who have received their endowments." I saw the
faces of those men at that time, and they had a hand in slaying
the Prophet. There are men who now possess the same spirit and
the same desire. There are men here, too, that have faith, that
have the Priesthood and the spirit of it, and they will do their
duty, and God will sustain them in it, and He will sustain this
Church and kingdom; let the trials of the Saints be what they
will, the kingdom of God is not to be torn down any more at
all--it will not again be taken from the earth until it is
prepared to receive Christ at his coming.
150
Let us prepare ourselves and do our duty, and let the High
Priests and Seventies go to their meetings, and before you go
there, go to work and get the Spirit of God, that when you get
there you may not freeze to death. And I want to have the people,
when they come here, to get enough of the Spirit of God, that
when the Presidency rise in this Stand they may give us what is
in their hearts. They are filled with blessings for this people.
All the trouble is our eyes have been closed, we have been in a
deep sleep; let us wake up and attend to our duty, and make it
the first business we do.
150
Those who lay their plans in secret chambers to seek the blood of
the Prophets, will have their case attended to by messengers on
the other side of the vail, ministers will be sent to them who
will render unto them a righteous judgment there. I do not want
to preach to them here, but to those who want to be saved.
150
Go to, and if you have not the Spirit of God, make it your first
business to get it, that your minds may be opened to see the
things of God as they are; it is your privilege and mine, that we
may be prepared for what is to come.
150
That this people may repent of all their sins and wake up, and
have power to come before God that their prayers may be heard, be
prepared to defend the kingdom and never desert their covenants
and their brethren, or betray the Gospel, but overcome the world
and be prepared to become joint heirs with Christ to the fulness
of the first resurrection which is prepared for those who keep
the commandments of God, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Jedediah M. Grant, October 12, 1856
Jedediah M. Grant, October 12, 1856
OVERCOME THE POWERS OF DARKNESS BY PRAYER--SPIRITUAL THINGS
FIRST IN IMPORTANCE--CLEANLINESS.
Remarks, by President J. M. Grant, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, October 12, 1856.
150
I am glad this morning to hear from brother Daniel Spencer, and
to learn that he feels that the Lord has blest the people in this
land, as well as in the land where he has been sojourning for a
time.
150
I do not and have not felt that I need a mission to a foreign
land for the purpose of causing me to understand myself, or to
fill me with the Holy Ghost, or to prepare me to be useful in
this land; neither have I felt I needed to go to the United
States or any other part of the world to put on the Gospel armor.
I feel it to be necessary that I should wear that armor here, and
if I ever have had it on, I feel that I have had it on in this
land; and I do not deem it necessary for many men to cross the
ocean to get the Holy Ghost, or to enjoy the power of God. If
they will do the will of God in this land, they will see their
situation and be filled with His power from the crown of their
heads to the soles of their feet; I believe that if the Saints
were to have more religion in their own homes they would be
better off.
151
Were I thirsty and could go to a spring or lake whose water was
pure and clear as crystal, even the best that could be found, I
should have no occasion for going to another and more distant
place to procure water. And if I should find ice there, should I
say it was too much trouble to break it? No, but I should labor
to break that ice; and the thicker the ice, the more persevering
I should labor, until I got some of the water of the crystal
fountain.
151
While paying attention to the prayers of some persons in their
family devotions, I sometimes notice that they often stop praying
without breaking through the darkness and obtaining the Holy
Spirit. If I found that it was necessary to pray three hours I
would keep praying for that length of time, or until I got the
Spirit, unless I remembered that I had neglected a special duty,
when I would go and attend to that duty; after which I should
want to return and pray until I got the Holy Ghost; I would keep
praying until I broke the ice and obtained the Holy Ghost.
151
Some think that they have already labored enough to obtain
heaven. Such persons put me in mind of Sydney Rigdon, who said
that he had suffered enough to obtain salvation. He said that the
sufferings of Jesus Christ were light in comparison with what he
had endured, and he would be damned to hell if he would suffer
any more.
151
I notice that some who gather here think they have already
suffered enough, and feel like saying, "I will be damned to hell
if I will suffer any more."
151
Many of those who have come with hand-carts think that they have
done wonders, therefore they want every hat hoisted in deference
to them, and every meal bag gratuitously opened; and they want
every body to feed, clothe, and lodge them, and find them every
thing they need, because they have dragged a hand-cart across the
Plains.
151
You deserve credit for what you have done, but I make this
observation that you may know that you have not yet got into the
harbor of eternal life; and that you may not think that you have
not anything to do now that you have come here, for, unless you
keep on the armor, you will be overcome.
151
We want people that have come here with their Gospel armor on to
keep it on, that they may shed abroad the light of God, and the
gift of the Holy Ghost. We have given the same instructions to
Elders that have returned, and we want every class of men and
women in this Church to keep on the Gospel armor.
151
I want to say to every institution in our midst, whether the
talent they have is under the supervision of eight, ten, or
twelve men, we wish you to manifest that you have the Holy Ghost
for your guidance, and then to go to work and convert Great Salt
Lake City. I want you to try your skill and the power of God upon
this city, and exert yourselves through your Wards, under the
direction of the Bishops, that you may be the means of filling
the people with the Holy Ghost, and in order that you may have
power and discretion to act wisely, see that you have the light
of heaven in your own hearts.
151
Many talk of their visions, revelations, and mighty works; but we
have to have minds and men that think, and have wisdom in all
their ways. It is for us to occupy our minds and direct our
labors in the proper channel, and to use our talents and
intellects as the head shall direct.
151
There is a drought and has been; the people have felt too much
like putting their temporal affairs first, and then attending to
the spiritual at their leisure.
152
So much do many act upon this principle that their intellectual
faculties become dark, they do not get into the light of the Lord
Jesus Christ and of the gift of the Holy Ghost, of the light of
eternity; but their temporal matters are first and foremost. If
they have a gewgaw, they take great pleasure in going round to
exhibit it, and they will borrow beads, rings, watches, and all
kinds of gewgaws to gratify the pride of their hearts. Such
hearts are not right before God, and such conduct must be done
away from among the Latter-day Saints.
152
I will now mention another thing; some will ask you three dollars
a day for common labor, and others will not lift a pick, shovel,
or ax, short of two dollars a day; and they have left the best
situations in the Territory and have gone to Provo and other
places, because they could get but $1.50 a day. They are our
hand-cart men who are acting so. This proves that they came here
for the loaves and fishes. They will tell you that they have
learned to draw the hand-carts, and now they expect the highest
wages.
152
I want to notify all Saints, whether they came with hand-carts,
horses, mules, or oxen, wagons, carriages, or wheelbarrows, that
in this land we wish you to keep the commandments of God, and
when you have food, raiment, and shelter, be satisfied and don't
be greedy. Do not expect to get as many comforts around you the
first year, as men have got in many years by hard labor and toil.
Remember that some of us came here in 1847, with scarcely
anything, and we have had to toil assiduously to accumulate what
we have. Do not you the first year, month, or week, covet every
thing that you see; do not covet every man's house and business,
but seek the blessings of the Lord God of Israel, and bring up
your temporal matters in their place and season.
152
I will explain what I mean by place and season. Go to different
parts of the Territory and advance the people in their religion,
make them humble and faithful so that the Spirit of the Lord
shall govern them, till all shall be sweetened in their minds and
be united as one, till they shall see eye to eye, and hear ear to
ear, and if they do not keep up their temporal affairs, they will
fall right back. A man that advances in spiritual and in temporal
matters at the same time, minding to keep the spiritual first,
will not let the temporal lead him; he will not place his heart
upon his farm, his horses, or any possession that he has. He will
place his desires in heaven, and will anchor his hope in that
eternal soil; and his temporal affairs will come up as he
advances in the knowledge of God.
152
The temporal will keep pace as the spiritual advances. I do not
believe that a man who is full of the Holy Ghost is going to live
contentedly in a hog pen, in filth and in dirt, when it is in his
power to prevent it. Go through our city and you will find some
who are living in dirt and degradation; some who like dirt, who
like to have their cow in the house and their chickens in the
buttery; who like to have their pigs and children near enough for
them to feed together; and their children are as naughty and
filthy as they can be. And yet such persons think they have the
Spirit and power of God! This is one reason why so many people
die, while journeying to this place; it is because the Holy Ghost
is sick of them.
152
If you want the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves clean. I know that
some think, when they get here, "O, we are in Zion, everything is
right; there is no use in washing our children or combing their
hair." I want you to understand that we wish you to be clean
outside as well as inside; we want you to be clean and pure; to
be good natured and possessed of every qualification requisite in
a Saint of God; to have everything that can bring the light and
gift of God among you.
153
I want the people to be pure in their words, in their deeds, in
their spirits, and to be diligent in their prayers. I want men
that come in from Europe, and from different parts of the United
States, to purify themselves and go to with their might to work
righteousness. I want the returned missionaries to know that if
they have been out preaching the Gospel, we also want them to go
to work now they have come home.
153
I want every one to understand that we have plenty of grunters,
plenty of those who are made up of whining. Yes, we have more of
those instruments to play upon than we have any use for.
153
We want you all to keep the light of our God. And we want to see
the spirit of reformation in the people; we wish them to have it
in practice in their houses; not only to talk about it, but to
practise upon it.
153
The difficulty is that we cannot get the people to practise; they
will listen as to a fine sermon, and we can get them to work in
the kanyons and in the fields, and to do many other things; but
there are too many who like intoxicating drinks, tobacco, filth,
dirt, and meanness. Some like to break the Sabbath, to brand
another's ox, which they find on the range, and to occasionally
steal a little; there are some here who will steal, when they
have an opportunity.
153
I wish to inform the new comers that if they want to find the
finest and best men in the world, they are here; and if they want
to find the meanest, most pusillanimous curses that the world can
produce, we have them here. We have here some of the most
miserable curses that ever the Almighty frowned upon, for it
takes an apostate "Mormon" to be a mean devil. We want you to
have eyes to see; we do not want you to see merely what is in the
books you have read, in your mathematics and your philosophy, but
want you to have in you the Holy Ghost, to be full of the spirit
of the Lord Jesus.
153
We have Elders who are fine speakers, fine orators, and who wish
to talk very properly after the manner of the world. They did so
in Europe, and they want to do so here; they want to preach those
old sermons over, those that they have been accustomed to preach
in the old world. But we want Elders to get up and preach as the
Holy Ghost shall dictate; we do not want any of your long, prosy
sermons; we prefer the word of life by the power of the Spirit.
153
I desire to see men reform in their acts, and not say "let our
neighbors be converted," but let them say, in the name of
Israel's God, "the reformation shall be carried into our houses,
to our children, and we will take it home with us, and will gird
on our armor, and go ahead in the cause of God," for this is what
we are sent here for.
153
May God grant that you may all strive to work righteousness, in
the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Lorenzo
Snow, January 4, 1857
Lorenzo Snow, January 4, 1857
THE SAINTS HAVE NOT MAGNIFIED THEIR CALLING AS SAVIORS OF THE
LIVING AND THE DEAD--ONENESS--PRACTICAL REPENTANCE.
A Discourse, by Elder Lorenzo Snow, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, January 4, 1857.
154
Brethren: In consequence of the deep fall of snow, the present
assembly is not so large this morning as usual, still we may feel
thankful that the spirit of gathering to this Tabernacle
predominates with the Saints.
154
On the subject of reformation I presume, brethren, most of us
feel alike its importance and necessity, and that great diligence
is required, and much faith and spiritual energy, in order to
obtain immediate possession of gifts and powers, which, through
our great neglect and dilatoriness we have failed heretofore in
obtaining, but must absolutely have in order to pass the fiery
ordeal that, by the whisperings of the Holy Spirit, we feel is
fast approaching. We cannot obtain those blessings unless we
sincerely repent of our sins, and with deep humility and with
prayer and fasting call mightily on the God of our Fathers whom
we have neglected and whose words we have set at naught, to
listen once more to the voice of our supplications and pour out
His Holy Spirit upon us, that we may trim our lamps and have them
burning.
154
Brethren, is it not strange, and should we not be ashamed of
ourselves that after receiving the words of life, and coming to a
knowledge of glory and immortality and eternal lives, instead of
pressing forward and preparing ourselves for those blessings, we
slacken our pace, close our eyes, and sink into a state of
drowsiness? It was so with the people of the Lord in ancient
times, and they were sorely chastised, and such as would not
repent were destroyed.
154
The word of the Lord through brother Brigham to this people is to
repent speedily and seek the God of heaven with deep repentance,
and this is the mind of the Lord, and the voice of the Lord which
is quick and powerful, peace and salvation to the humble and
obedient, confusion and destruction upon the wilful and
disobedient.
154
Brethren, most of you hold high and important positions in this
kingdom, indeed but few men have lived on the earth that were
placed in so important and responsible situations; the salvation
of the present world, also many generations past and generations
to come look to you for life, exaltation, and happiness. High
Priests, Seventies, and ye Elders of Israel, are you this day
prepared with wisdom and power to officiate for the living and
the dead, and to lay a pure and holy foundation through your
wives and children, that salvation may go forth to the rising
generations; or have you neglected qualifying yourselves in your
holy callings, and let the cares of the world occupy your entire
thoughts and attention, and your minds become dull, your
spiritual armor rusty and but little room found in you for the
Holy Ghost to abide?
155
Brethren, your eye should be single to the glory of God, to
hearkening to the counsel of brother Brigham, and to the building
up of Zion, then your bodies would be filled with spirit, and
your understandings with light, and your hearts with joy, and
your souls would be quickened into eternal life with the power of
the Holy Ghost, you would then become the depositories of that
wisdom and knowledge which would qualify you to be saviors unto
your brethren and your posterity.
155
It is the case with many in this community that instead of
preparing themselves for positions in the eternal world, they
have been satisfied with the cares of this life, and attending to
those things which have been for the comfort of themselves and
their wives and children; they have been satisfied in exercising
themselves in this small way of ambition. They have forgotten the
salvation of their forefathers, and that on them lay the
responsibility of laying a holy and pure foundation upon which
their posterity may build and obtain life and salvation, and upon
which the generations to come might return back to their pristine
purity. Instead of being sanctified this day as the people might
have been had they sought it diligently, they are weak in their
intellects, weak in their faith, weak in their power in reference
to the things of God, and many of them this day, setting aside
their being saviors of men, are incapable of administering
salvation to their individual wives and children. This, brethren,
whatever you may think about it, is a solemn consideration, and
you must know it, for at the present you do not see this as you
want to see it, and as you should see it.
155
The men who are sitting here this day ought to be, when in the
presence of their families, filled with the Holy Ghost, to
administer the word of life to them as it is administered in this
stand from sabbath to sabbath. When they kneel down in the
presence of their wives and children they ought to be inspired by
the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, that the husband may be
such a man as a good wife will honor, and that the gift and power
of God may be upon them continually. They ought to be one in
their families, that the Holy Ghost might descend upon them, and
they ought to live so that the wife through prayer may become
sanctified, that she may see the necessity of sanctifying herself
in the presence of her husband, and in the presence of her
children, that they may be one together, in order that the man
and the wife may be pure element, suitable to occupy a place in
the establishment and formation of the kingdom of God, that they
may breathe a pure spirit and impart pure instruction to their
children, and their children's children. But it is otherwise than
this now; the man is full of tradition, and has not got rid of
that which was taught him in the Gentile world, he has not become
one with his file leader, as brother Kimball frequently remarks.
155
That principle which I spoke of last Sunday, in regard to a man
becoming his own daddy is correct, for a man that feels so has
not subjected himself to the Priesthood, but is disposed to
become his own leader and his own head, and it is the case with
many in this Church, they have not become one with their file
leader, and therefore the Spirit is not transmitted to their wife
or wives, and not having learned true obedience themselves, the
wife cannot receive that which the husband has not got to impart.
How can it be expected that the wife can obtain that which the
husband has not received.
156
In regard to being one I will say that if ever there was a day
when it was necessary for us to be one, now is the time, now is
the day and the hour that we are called upon to be one, as Jesus
and His Father are one; it is for us to be one together, as
brother Brigham and brother Kimball are one, that we may be one
indeed.
156
The Twelve are determined to be one, and to be inspired by the
same Holy Ghost, and that we may all have the same spirit
continually, and that we may echo the same feeling and
intelligence unto the people that exists in brother Brigham, that
we may be one with him in all things, and that we carry out his
sayings at the expense of our all, our property our wives and
children, that we may stand up with them, and be inspired by the
same Spirit, that inasmuch as they walk in the light of eternity
and in the wisdom of the Holy Ghost that we may have the same
spirit, and that inasmuch as they are determined to lay down
everything for the work of purging out iniquity, we may do
likewise.
156
In this way we, the Twelve, are resolved to lay down everything
that would draw our attention from the path of duty, that we may
be one as the Presidency are one, and be bound together by the
principle of love that binds the Son of God with the Father. It
is an impossibility for a man to love another unless he has the
same Holy Spirit that is in himself.
156
Now I will respect a man because he is a High Priest, a Seventy;
I respect him, I honor him because he is the anointed of the
Lord, but can I respect him as I wish to do, and move in him and
he in me, unless he moves in the same spirit, and moves heart and
hand with me, and is willing to clear out iniquity with me? When
the Holy Ghost teaches and inspires me to lift my hand against
that which is causing our destruction and is bringing sin among
the people, how can we be inspired and walk in the same spirit
unless our minds are one, and unless we are united in all things?
156
We have got to be one, and to make ourselves worthy to receive
the same Holy Spirit, and to receive it alike one with another.
Jesus prayed to His Father that those He had given Him out of the
world might be one, as He and the Father were one, and says he, I
pray that thou wilt give them the same love which thou hast for
me, that I may be in them, and thou in me, that all may be one.
There is something very important in this, and we have got to
practise ourselves until we become like the Father and the Son,
one in all things.
156
When we are cold-hearted we respect men because they are the
anointed of the Lord, but I tell you it is a perfect up hill
business to have to do this. Now if a man is not the anointed of
the Lord we may have a fellow feeling for him, that feeling which
human nature teaches, but when a man is the anointed of the Lord,
we feel like David did with Saul. David would not lift his hand
against Saul, because, said he, he is the anointed of the Lord,
but how could they move hand in hand and be one, when they were
of a different spirit? There was an opposite spirit in Saul, but
yet David would not put forth his hand and slay him, although he
had him in his power; he had a respect for him because he was the
Lord's anointed. A man may move on the same car or in the same
kingdom, and yet be of a different spirit from another man, and
he may pass quietly along for a time, because he is the Lord's
anointed, but still he will not exert himself for the carrying
out of the principles of the kingdom, he lies dormant all the
time. How can he who is filled with the principles of
righteousness and with the love of Jesus love that man? He cannot
do it as he desires. We have got to be inspired by the same
Spirit and by the same kind of knowledge, in order that we may
love one another and be of one heart and one mind.
157
Now, brethren, there is no use for us to occupy time talking
about this, for it is necessary and it has got to be done. We
talk about repenting of our sins, and I suppose the brethren have
heard a great deal of talk about this, and hence I say there is
no necessity for a great deal of talk upon this question, for we
call ourselves Saints, the children of God, but the word has come
to us that we are in sin and transgression.
157
I want to ask is there any need of hammering and pounding all the
time in our speeches to convince the people of this fact? I say
there is not. A man that has any life in him soon catches the
fire of the Almighty when the word of the Lord comes to his ears,
he is waked up, and like the king of Nineveh, he humbles himself,
that peradventure he may get the Spirit of the Lord bestowed upon
him again.
157
We have got to attend to our duties, make use of that
intelligence which is given us, that we may be one with each
other. The High Priesthood have got to do this, every husband
must do this, that he may be full of the Holy Ghost, that he may
be the means of sanctifying his wife and his children, and that
he may be an instrument in the hands of the Lord of extending the
kingdom of God, and of aiding in the accomplishment of His
purposes.
157
When a man is full of sin he is not capable of lifting his voice
to teach his family. How does a man expect he can be a Patriarch
to a large family when he is going on in sin and darkness, and is
becoming more blind to the things of the kingdom? He goes forward
and gathers other wives and increases his family, but how does he
expect to teach them when he is not susceptible of instruction
himself? I tell you he will see the day when he will be too late
and will have to stand out of the way. A man has to look well at
the foundation upon which he builds; a man has to look to the
Lord for strength, he has to be purified and sanctified, and he
has to purify those that are around him, and among that number
will be his one wife, if she is worthy of salvation, and if she
is susceptible of being saved. He must have sufficient in him of
the saving principle to impart to her, and inasmuch as she can
conform to that, she can thereby become sanctified, and be
prepared for an exaltation; but if he cannot get faith enough to
receive the principles of life and salvation, so that he can
communicate those truths to others, he may get one wife, and then
he may get another, and after that another, and still another,
and then he is worse off than before, and is no nearer to the
kingdom of God, but much farther off.
157
Brethren we have got to think of these things, and to enter into
the practice of them, and to understand them as they are, and to
acknowledge this one fact--that we have been slack, negligent,
and in the back ground, and we must see this and acknowledge
ourselves before God and our brethren, and walk up to those
principles which are being taught, and have our religion in
practice as well as in theory.
158
Men who wish to retain their standing before God in the Holy
Priesthood, must have the spirit of prophecy, and be qualified to
administer life and salvation to the people: and if they cannot
do it to the world, they must do it at home, in their families,
in their shops, and in the streets, that their hearts may be
inspired with words of life at their firesides, in teaching the
Gospel to their children, and to their neighbors, as much so as
when they are speaking to their brethren from this stand. This
having a little of the Spirit when before the people and then
laying it aside, will not do. Some men will speak to the people
and then go home and be just as dry as moulding stock, and
instead of having the words of life in them, they become
perfectly dry and dead, but this will not do any longer.
158
It becomes the duties of fathers in Israel to wake up and become
saviors of men, that they may walk before the Lord in that
strength of faith, and that determined energy, that will insure
them the inspiration of the Almighty to teach the words of life
to their families, as well as to teach them when they are called
into this stand. Then all our words will savor of life and
salvation wherever we go, and wherever we are.
158
In this we will see a spirit of determination that will enable us
to become one, that we may learn how to love each other, and I
pray to the Lord that He will deposit that love in each of our
hearts which He deposited in Jesus His Son, and that He will
continue to deposit a knowledge of that which is good.
158
Let us remember that we have all got to show by our works that we
are worthy of this life and of this salvation which is now
offered.
158
Now when a man is not willing to sacrifice for the benefit of his
brethren, and when he knows that he trespasses upon the feelings
of his brethren, and yet he has not that love which will enable
him to make satisfaction, that man is not right before the Lord,
and where is the love of that individual for his brother?
158
When one brother is not willing to suffer for his brother, how is
it in his power to manifest that he has love for his brother? I
tell you it is in our folly and weakness that we will not bear
with our brethren, but if they trespass upon our rights we
immediately retaliate, and if they tread upon our toes we
immediately jump upon theirs, the same as the people do in the
Gentile world, where it is thought necessary to act in a state of
independence, and to defend oneself against aggressors.
158
It is all nonsense for us any longer to act upon this principle,
for there is a day coming that we will have to suffer for each
other, and even be willing to lay down our lives for each other,
as Jesus did for the Twelve Apostles in his day, and as they did
for the cause which he established. When I see a brother that has
been trespassed against, and then he turns round and jumps upon
the offender, then I say, how far is that brother from the path
of duty, and I say to him you must learn to govern yourself, or
you never will be saved in the kingdom of God.
158
We are all called upon to think of these things, and we might as
well think now, at the present time as to defer it till the
future, for we have got to do it, or we never will receive the
Spirit of the Lord to a great degree, nor the advantages of this
reformation, nor the outpouring of that Holy Spirit which is
anticipated.
158
Why do I say these things when we are all so far advanced in the
knowledge of God? I make these remarks because they are the only
things which will save us at the present time.
159
This quarrelling and bickering will not do; it is the work of
salvation we are engaged in. Now for an example, and what is the
use of going to heaven for an example when there is one here? The
Presidency of this Church are one, there is no jar existing
between them; and the Twelve Apostles have got to be one like
them, and when we see perfect union with ourselves, we expect
others to imitate our example. Did you ever see us to rebel when
the Presidency saw fit to chastise us? No, we are one with them,
and we will not stop the Spirit that is in them, nor attempt to
stop up the channel through which the Holy Ghost designs to
prepare us for that which is to come. Did they see proper to
chastise, we will not rebel, neither will we lose our confidence
in them.
159
Well, the High Priests and Seventies, they ought to be one with
the Twelve Apostles, and they ought to learn to echo our
sentiments as we echo forth those of the First Presidency, for we
must all learn to be one.
159
Just so far as we echo forth the words of President Young and
brother Heber, just so far are the High Priests and Seventies
under obligations to echo forth our words. Now ye High Priests
and Seventies, if you do right you will carry out this counsel;
you are obliged to carry out those counsels, if you walk in the
light of the Holy Ghost which is now manifest. And why is it not
so at the present time?
159
The Seventies were spoken to and counseled to pursue a certain
course a few days ago, but did they do it? No they did not. It is
not the Seventies that speak, it is not the High Priests, neither
is it the Twelve, nor Brigham Young, but it is the Holy Ghost
through those various channels that is calling upon the people to
carry out the mind and will of our Father who is in heaven. It is
God that is all in all, Him whom we call our Father in heaven, He
qualifies us upon the earth, and we speak forth by the dictation
of His Spirit the things that are necessary to be laid before the
people.
159
Brethren, I will not take up any more time; may the Lord bless
you and enable you to see things as they should be seen; may He
give you power to double your diligence as I am determined to do,
and may He give you power to see your duties, and to have the
inspiration of the Holy Ghost as I feel to have it, and may you
see by the spirit of prophecy those things that are approaching,
that they may awaken you to a true sense of your position before
God and your brethren, that you may have the qualifications which
are necessary for you to possess, which I ask in the name of
Jesus: Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Franklin D. Richards, January 11, 1857
Franklin D. Richards, January 11, 1857
OFFERS OF MERCY--THE GREAT DISPENSATION IN WHICH WE LIVE.
A Discourse, by Elder Franklin D. Richards, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, January 11, 1857.
159
Brethren and sisters, I have no apology to make this morning for
presenting myself before you. It becomes my duty and privilege to
address you a little while, longer or shorter as I may be led to
do, upon such things as shall be suggested to my mind.
160
I desire with your kind attention, your solicitations also to God
that the Holy Spirit may rest upon me and upon you, and that we
may all be edified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a
pleasing idea to me to reflect and behold that the people have
come together this morning so generally, to this Tabernacle. They
have come anticipating being fed with the bread of life, and I
feel as though the present is a time when the Lord is willing to
administer unto His people the bread of life and salvation; that
it is a time when the Saints may with one heart and one mind call
upon Him for great blessings, and I may say a great many of them.
We should ask for those blessings first and foremost which every
one needs for their own present salvation, increase of faith,
increase of the knowledge of God, and an increase in ourselves of
every thing that is good and praiseworthy for Saints to enjoy
through the revelations of the Holy Spirit.
160
This, it appears to me, is the legitimate object for which we
should seek now a blessing at the hand of God. It is His good
pleasure to bestow upon us according to our needs, and this He
will do if we seek unto Him in faith.
160
When I contemplate the present situation of the people, if I were
to think of one text more than another, that I could like to talk
about it would be this; "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins
shall find mercy." I have not been in the habit of taking a text
for a long time, but there is something in this directly
applicable to this people, that whoso confesseth and forsaketh
his sins shall find mercy. This is a favor and a blessing that is
now extended to the people of God to an extent, and with a
liberality that has never before been witnessed in this
dispensation, and it appears to me that such has never been known
upon the earth. A time when the Lord has spoken so openly, so
abundantly, and so extensively to His people, and told them that
if they will but confess and forsake their sins they shall be
forgiven and be saved. I say the like (as it appears to me) has
never before been known. I conceive that we as a people have the
very greatest occasion to seek the mercy and blessings of God
because of the condition we are in, and because of those things
which He has committed unto us. We all have been taught and do
understand that the time in which we live is a time of times; a
time when the consummation of that which is great and good, and
which has been promised shall be brought about here upon the
earth; a time when characters shall make and do make their
appearance upon the earth who have been reserved for the
performance of this work, for generations. It has not been for
them to labor in the flesh in former dispensations, but they have
been reserved until now in order that the greater purposes of God
may in this dispensation be accomplished, that all who are in
Christ may be gathered in one, and a work be done in this our
day, which has never been done before. All the revelations and
prophecies go to show and declare this. We live then in a time of
times; we live among, as we may see, those who are men of men,
rulers of rulers, for such I hold those who are rulers in Zion to
be, and they are taking hold of those principles, of that
knowledge and that power, which shall qualify them to sway such a
sceptre of righteousness as has never been exercised over the
earth. These qualifications we could see in our Prophet that is
gone, and also in others that are with us.
161
With these men before us here continually, we have seen
exemplified a measure of that knowledge, understanding and power
that is offered us in the keys of the endowment that are given in
the House of the Lord, by which we may grow to a knowledge of all
that affects our salvation and exaltation in His kingdom. This
manifests a degree of liberality, a degree of munificence such as
has never been bestowed upon the people generally in any age of
the world. We are indebted to the Lord our God for this
knowledge, and are responsible to Him for the use we make of it,
for He has not given us all this that we may feast our souls and
sit down and go to sleep. He has not given it to us for this
purpose, but for us to act upon it, and by the use of it become
strong to carry out His work on the earth. He has given us this
power and means of obtaining knowledge from the heavens, that we
may exercise the principles of righteousness and truth, in order
to prove ourselves worthy of those greater things that are yet in
store for the faithful, and that are yet to be revealed, through
a constant scene of trial and of proving. What has been the case
in Israel? Why the fact has been that as soon as the people got
those blessings which they obtain in the "House of the Lord,"
that seemed to be the end of the law unto them, it seemed to be
the height of their ambition, and they sat down and went to
sleep, or became covetous and greedy of gain, whereas the powers
conferred were tools or instruments in their hands to enable them
to work for God.
162
This is the course that has been pursued by the people generally,
and those whom we can say the least of in relation to
transgression have some sins to atone for and make restitution.
We have been nearly all more or less in the dark. Yes, all the
quorums in the Church except the First Presidency: God be thanked
His light and power has been in them to watch, while the rest
have slumbered. The Twelve take this as strongly to themselves as
any, and have acknowledged that they have been asleep. Yet we
have been abroad labouring to bring people to the knowledge of
the truth, to the knowledge of God, a knowledge and power such as
they never could have before received on the earth, hence the
condemnation that we are brought under is beyond that which any
other people could be under; then what has been the mercy of God?
It is that now while in these circumstances, nearly all have got
to sleep, and some in the darkness of their minds have wandered
far from the Lord, and have committed sins that in their own
estimation and judgment cause them to feel that they are worthy
of damnation for having violated their holy covenants. And does
the Lord go to and cut them off? Or does He send a chastisement
and destroy them with plague, and sweep them off from the earth?
No, this is not the tone of our Heavenly Father to us this day,
but His voice to us is, that if we will now turn from and forsake
our sins and draw near unto Him, that He will forgive and never
cause the sins of this people to be remembered against them, but
will blot them out from His remembrance forever. What unbounded
love and tender mercy are here evinced to this people, while
asleep, and enveloped in the dark shadows of death to that
fearful extent that the word sleep will not properly express the
state of the people. We have been mesmerized and could not be
brought out of it without the most extraordinary means being
used. We had become like "icebergs," we were so cold and dead,
that when President Young got up to speak he could not free his
mind, and has not been able to do so for the last several times
that he has spoken, feeling that there was not room in our hearts
to receive his words. And what a sight was it in Israel to see
the Social Hall filled with the chief authorities and Elders of
the Church, a body of men upon whom rests the responsibility of
administering salvation to this earth and its inhabitants, and to
see such a fog there, and such darkness that the Presidency could
not there free their minds, but had to lift the almighty sledge
hammer to break the flinty rock. The mesmerism of the devil was
so great, so strong that it required the most stringent teachings
to bring the people to the standard of truth, and to a sense of
their condition.
162
This you have all realized more or less in our wards, and at your
habitations, truly awful it has been to contemplate. Yet for all
this the words of the Lord unto us is not judgment, nor
pestilence, nor plague, nor famine, nor sword, if we will now
awake, repent and live our religion.
162
Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy, but
they who do not, have not the promise of mercy. I wish this
morning to warn you against taking a course which will prevent
the blessings and mercy of God coming unto you, for now is the
time that is most exceedingly opportune in the favour of God, and
it is a time that will work upon those that are transgressors,
that are dishonest with themselves and with others, and that will
endeavour to avoid the truth and shun the light, avoid the
standard and add sin to transgression, the Lord God will harden
their hearts that they cannot enter into His mercy. Although we
thus speak we have the assurance that the people will as a people
with heart-felt penitence and obedience turn unto Him and be
saved. There never was a time in this dispensation or in any
other that has been so full of mercy in His calling upon us and
giving us an opportunity to feel after Him, and if we do this we
shall find Him to be a God at hand and not afar off; we shall
find Him in our habitations and it is for every man having the
Priesthood to seek after God with all his might, mind and
strength, and to obtain the spirit and power of his calling and
ordination. There are a great many among us who have not yet
obtained this spirit and power. There is a great difference among
those who dwell in the light of Zion. Some walk in the light of
others, and some walk having the light in themselves. There are
those, and always have been, and always will be, while saviours
and saved dwell together, that walk in the light of others, and
do not get it into their own souls. They do not seem to think
that they ought to or can have the light in themselves. If you
look you have an illustration of it in the difference that exists
in the heavenly bodies. The sun has light of itself to warm the
earth and the inhabitants of the earth, has power to give heat,
light, and vegetation to this earth, and to other heavenly
bodies. The moon and other planets do not appear to have light of
themselves, but they reflect the light of the sun.
163
It is right and our duty brethren, for us to take the light that
is offered, and to take hold of the counsel that is now given to
us and turn from our errors, make all that is crooked straight,
and make restitution to all that we have injured that we may go
into the waters of baptism and come out clean from everything
that would hinder us from receiving the light, and that we may
receive the Holy Ghost; that it may be our constant companion,
that the light of the Lord may be in us. If all things are not
made right with each other we shall not be in a position to
obtain the blessings promised, but if we make all right the Holy
Spirit will be poured out and be a light to our feet, and a lamp
to our path. We shall by it receive strength and power to magnify
our calling. This is the duty of our men, and it is the duty of
our women to seek this light and strength, and this help from the
Lord. But it is especially the duty of men, the Elders of Israel,
it is for them to lay hold, by the power of faith, and by their
Priesthood. Yes brethren, if we have been mesmerised it is for us
to wake up and do our duties that the light may go forth from us
to others. This is not done in a week, nor in a month, but by a
constant series of works and diligence, and that will bring the
light of heaven upon us which has been shut out from our souls.
As you see that some of our brethren that administer to you in
your wards, increase in the power of their callings so every man
that has a part in the Priesthood must prevail and obtain favour
with God, and get light in himself, get rid of his sins, and all
his hardness of heart, for the time is coming when everything
that can be shaken will be shaken, and we must have this light
and strength within us, or we never shall stand the times that
are yet to try our souls. Of course when we got dull and
paralyzed, our duties were left for some one else to do.
163
Quorums, families, and individuals have alike failed to magnify
their callings. They have looked over the Teachers, the Bishops
and High Councils, and there was no authority but the First
Presidency that could settle a little family dispute; such has
been the dullness of the quorums and the condition of the people
generally that they seemed lifeless until the Presidency have had
to bear the burdens, discharge the responsibilities and perform
the labours of nearly every other Quorum and Council in the
Church.
163
Who is there that has any part of the Priesthood, and who has
received his endowments but that ought to be able to administer
in his household all those things which are necessary for life
and salvation? They ought to be ready at all times to manifest
their authority as men of God, and administer not only to all in
their families but to perform the duties which they owe to the
Church and the world also.
163
Surely to say we have been "asleep" does not tell the condition
we were in, but now, notwithstanding all our transgressions,
backslidings, hardness of heart, and blindness of mind "whoso
confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy." What a broad
saying it is of the Prophet Brigham that we shall be forgiven of
all our sins, except such as cannot be forgiven in this world nor
in that which is to come. What an extent of kindness and mercy is
now revealed unto us by our Heavenly Father in this accepted time
which is peculiarly a day of salvation.
163
I will tell you how I feel about it; I consider that those who
will not make a thorough work of it and obtain the Holy Spirit to
dwell in them, it will be a hard case for them ever to find
favour with the Lord.
163
If you and I and all Israel had lived up to our privileges what
might we have been able to do for the kingdom? In purity and in
power we could have increased the numbers and strength of it
mightily, we could have had that faith that one would chase a
thousand and two put ten thousand to flight. It is a power that
will disperse wickedness, and the words of righteousness will be
felt like the voice of thunders; men have now got to arouse
themselves to activity and power in works of righteousness and
faith. The First Presidency have been drawing us too long.
163
I do not feel to detain you much longer as brother Kimball and
brother Wells have come in, but will say a few words more. We
have now offered to us the great and glorious blessings of God's
favour renewed upon us. If we lay hold of this by faith and
obtain the strength of our calling in the spirit and power
thereof, it seems to me that we shall be blest far beyond our
present or past conceptions. When I think of this I feel like
exhorting the people to take hold and get the spirit and power of
their calling, for all can plead guilty of neglecting their duty,
if they are not guilty of more and overt transgressions.
164
Now if we will do to all as we wish them to do unto us, we shall
be prepared to sit down in the presence of God and our Elder
Brother, and then we can be one with them and they with us. Do
not let it be so, that while the door of mercy is open, that any
will seal it against themselves, for it would have been better
for them not to have been born.
164
These are the times for us to wake up and take hold with the
energies of our souls that light may come back to us, and that we
may have light in our understandings, that we may have power to
administer to those around us, and to do those things that are
required at our hands; and I can say, brethren and sisters, that
in future it shall be my study, my faith, and my prayer and my
labour to obtain these blessings with you, and to stand in my
place and calling and obtain grace to magnify them, and have
faith like those who have gone before us, that are and have been
labouring before us, and they are all labouring now, they are
waiting and watching for the completion of the work that is laid
upon us, that they may receive the blessings and promises given
to them in ages that are gone. It is not to be wondered at when
we contemplate the condition of the world what a vast deal is
depending upon our exertions, but when we look at the extent of
our follies it is wonderful that the Lord should give us such
wholesale forgiveness. For the sake of ourselves, our families,
the living and the dead, we should all turn to God with full
purpose of heart and sanctify ourselves that there may be a
people whom He will delight to own and bless, that He may fully
establish this work and establish righteousness upon the earth
for ever.
164
May the Lord grant us power to do this, in the name of Jesus
Christ: Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, January 11, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, January 11, 1857
THE BODY OF CHRIST--PARABLE OF THE VINE--A WILD ENTHUSIASTIC
SPIRIT
NOT OF GOD--THE SAINTS SHOULD NOT UNWISELY EXPOSE EACH OTHERS'
FOLLIES.
A Discourse, by Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, January 11, 1857.
164
We have a little business to lay before the brethren, and we
might as well do it this forenoon as to do it in the afternoon.
We many times leave our business matters for the afternoon, to
transact in the time of the sacrament, though the administration
of that ordinance has been omitted for a time. There are a great
many people in this congregation and in this Valley who could
justly and beneficially partake of the sacrament, but they are
prohibited for the present in consequence of the wickedness of
some who would also partake and thus eat and drink to their
condemnation.
165
You talk about such persons being asleep; you call it sleep; well
it is, comparatively speaking, the sleep of death that is on a
great many individuals, and they do not realize it, and you
cannot make them realize it. They think they are awake to their
duties; they think they are living their religion, and when we
speak to this people in a mass, as you are here, almost every man
and woman will go home and say, "That sermon does not touch me,
the coat, or the jacket does not fit me." I am aware of this, for
if it did fit you and you would acknowledge it, you would put it
on and wear it; and the coat you would put on would be sack-cloth
and ashes; it would be a cloak that would be wet and soaked with
ashes, and it would be so strong it would eat off the rush and
filth that are on you, yea, eat them off with ashes put on with a
cloth, so as to open the pores of life that the Spirit of God may
penetrate through your systems.
165
There is a little matter of business that we want to lay before
this congregation in regard to John Hyde, who went to the
Sandwich Islands on a mission. There are a couple of letters that
the brethren have received; we shall read a little from them, and
give you to understand the course he is taking. (The letters were
read.) You hear the letters and the testimony of our brethren in
regard to John Hyde. Such matters, many times, have passed along
and we have not noticed them but have let men deny the faith,
speak against it and deliver lectures through the world. Many
times we have let them run at large, but the time is now passed
for such a course of things. By the consent of my brethren I
shall move that John Hyde be cut off from the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I will put the motion in full,
that is, that he be cut off root and branch; that means
pertaining to himself. When this motion is put, I want you to
vote, every one of you, either for or against, for there is no
sympathy to be shown unto such a man. Brother Wells has seconded
the motion I have made. All that are in favour that John Hyde be
cut off from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and
that he be delivered over to Satan to be buffeted in the flesh,
will raise their right hands. (All hands were raised.)
165
When there was a vote of this kind taken before the congregation
in regard to Thomas S. Williams, it caused a great deal of
sympathy with some, for they looked upon it as though it had cut
off his family, his wives and his children. I will ask the
congregation, was a motion put to cut off his family? No, there
was not. A motion has been put, and unanimously carried, that
John Hyde be cut off root and branch, that is, himself and all
the roots and branches that are within him; this has no allusion
to his family. He has taken a course by which he has lost his
family and forfeited his Priesthood; he has forfeited his
membership. The limb is cut off, but the Priesthood takes the
fruit that was attached to the limb and saves it, if it will be
saved. Do you understand me? His wife is not cut off from this
Church, but she is free from him; she is just as free from him as
though she never had belonged to him. The limb she was connected
to is cut off, and she must again be grafted into the tree, if
she wishes to be saved; that is all about it.
165
When a limb that has got two or more branches or shoots is cut
off, those shoots and branches, and their fruit, if any, are cut
off with the limb. Why? Because they are attached to it. But they
can all be taken and grafted right back again into the tree, or
into the Priesthood.
166
I do not wish to say much this morning, without I feel a great
deal of liberty; and my liberty will be in proportion to the
liberty, and freedom, and life there in this people. If our
Father and our God was to come here, or Jesus, or Peter, or
Joseph, or brother Brigham, or any other man, he could not speak
to this people and advance light to them, only in proportion to
the light that is in this people and their willingness and
readiness to receive more.
166
Have not brother Brigham and his Counsellors cried unto this
people, as with a voice of thunder and earthquake, for years and
could not wake you up? You did not believe but that you were all
the time living your religion, every one of you, men and women.
Can brother Brigham advance any farther than this people strive
to follow, and at the same time retain his present connection
with them? Can brother Heber rise any faster than brother
Brigham? No. Can brother Wells? No he cannot. Why? The church of
God is compared to the body of a man; there is the head, there
are the arms and every part of the body. God has joined them
together, and they are brought up as an illustration to compare
with the Church. Now if my legs and feet, and arms and hands, and
other members of my body give up and lose their strength and
power, become paralyzed or benumbed, how is it possible for my
head to rise up, without the use of those members? It cannot,
because the head is attached to them. On the other hand, if the
arms, which are designed to defend the head, and all the members
below the head lost their power and have gone to sleep, what can
those members do? Can they rise until the rest of that body
rises? No. I use the figure of the body of a man, just as the
Apostle Paul did in ancient times:--1 Cor. xii.
166
14. For the body is not one member, but many.
166
15. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of
the body; is it therefore not of the body?
166
16. And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not
of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
166
17. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the
whole were the hearing, where were the smelling?
166
18. But now hath God set the members every one of them in the
body, as it hath pleased Him.
166
19. And if they were all one member, where were the body?
166
20. But now are they many members, yet but one body.
166
21. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee:
nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
166
22. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seems to be
more feeble, are necessary:
166
23. And those members of the body, which we think to be less
honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our
uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
166
24. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the
body together, having given more abundant honour to that part
which lacked:
166
25. That there should be no scism in the body; but that the
members should have the same care one for another.
166
26. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with
it: or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.
166
27. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
166
28. And God hath set some in the Church, first Apostles,
secondarily Prophets, thirdly Teachers, after that miracles, then
gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
166
29. Are all Apostles? are all Prophets? are all Teachers? are all
workers of miracles?
167
30. Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do
all interpret?
167
31. But covet earnestly the best gifts. And yet shew I unto you a
more excellent way.
167
There is one way in which the Presidency of this Church can rise,
but it would be greatly to the injury of the body, and I will
tell you how. If you will go to work and reject them, you will
see them rise quickly, but you will also see this body go down to
death and hell, while the Priesthood of the Church would go to
heaven. You can liberate them in this way, but not in any other
except through obedience, unless that Presidency rises up and
cuts you off. They can do that, for they have as much power to
cut you off as you have to reject them. I want you to understand
this. They are an independent body, still they are attached to
you as the head of the body of Christ for the purpose of saving
the whole body, that all might be a perfect system. You will find
in the Bible what I am talking about, only I am applying it to
this people, as Paul applied it to the people in his days.
167
Jesus says, in the 15th chapter of St. John, "I am the true vine,
and my Father is the husbandman," or, in other words, my Father
is the root and I am the vine springing from the root, and it is
for men to abide in that vine. And when he abode in it he
received the same nourishment, the same fatness, and the same
power that proceeded from the Father, or from the root from
whence the vine spraing. Then if the twelve Apostles abode in
him, they received the same nourishment that he did, and had the
same power; then those the believed on the Apostles' words, if
they abode in their words, received the same power the Apostles
received from the vine, they becoming branches of that vine in
common with the Apostles. Jesus is that vine, the Apostles were
the branches that sprang from him, then the Seventies, and other
members, or those that sprang from them.
167
Joseph Smith sprang from Peter, James, and John; and brother
Brigham and brother Heber, and brother Hyde sprang from Joseph;
and you sprang from that authority now existing, did you not? Do
you not see that you are all in the same vine? There are
different branches, and every different branch springing out of
the same vine. There are hundreds of lesser branches connected to
the main branches of the vine, others again extend from them.
There are the Seventies, the High Priests, the Elders, &c.; they
are all branches, are they not, belonging to the same root, the
same vine?--John xv.
167
1. I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
167
2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and
every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring
forth more fruit.
167
3. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto
you.
167
4. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, except it abide in the vine: no more can ye, except ye
abide in me.
167
5. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and
I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye
can do nothing.
167
6. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and
they are burned.
167
7. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
167
8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so
shall ye be my disciples.
167
9. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye
in my love.
168
10. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love;
even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his
love.
168
11. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain
in you, and that your joy might be full.
168
12. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have
loved you.
168
13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends.
168
14. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
168
15. Henceforth I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not
what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all
things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
168
16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained
you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit
should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my
name, he may give it you.
168
17. These things I command you, that ye love one another.
168
18. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it
hated you.
168
19. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.
168
20. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not
greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also
eprsecute you: if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours
also.
168
21. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's
sake, because they know not Him that sent me.
168
22. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin:
but now they have no cloak for their sin.
168
23. He that hateth me, hateth my Father also.
168
24. If I had not done among them the works which none other man
did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated
both me and my Father.
168
25. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled
that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
168
26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you
from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from
the Father, he shall testify of me:
168
27. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me
from the beginning.
168
I want to show you your connection with the Church, and then you
can see what an effect it has when there is a dead member
attached to the head of any limb, or at its junction with the
trunk. When you go into your gardens and look at your peach
trees, do you not see many great and important limbs, also many
branches to those limbs? Now if a main branch is partly dead or
lifeless where it joins the trunk, the sap has to go through
there to support the limb, and of course affects its nourishment,
for the sap become spartially dormant, and when it goes into the
rest of the members, they are dormant; like unto the sap that has
passed through those dead parts. You may say that the Presidency
of the Seventies are at the junction of one main limb with the
trunk, and when the members that pertain to that department of
government are partly dead, it affects the whole limb and every
branch pertaining to it.
169
That is the connection we have got to form with each other, or we
shall be severed from the tree and lost. We will say that here is
a peach tree, and that there is one limb extends away yonder, and
that away at the far end of it are six or eight peaches, and that
there is not another particle of fruit on the whole tree. Now is
not that one fruit-bearing limb worth more to the master than all
the rest, except the trunk and root to which it is connected?
Why? Because it brings forth fruit. God looks upon this matter
just as I am trying to explain it to you. Jesus calls his true
followers his disciples, because they bring forth much fruit. How
can you be reckoned the disciples of Christ, the disciples of God
in the last days, except you bring forth fruit?
169
I talked very plain to you, three weeks ago. The power of God ran
through me just as City creek would run through this city,
provided there was no obstruction to its course. Such would be
the case to-day, if there was no obstruction to the manifestation
of the power of God, and every member would receive his full
supply. Is there an obstruction? There is. Was there on that day?
There was; but the power of God was there sufficient to penetrate
a stone, and it did penetrate the hardest and most corrupt men in
the congregation, and they did not know what was the matter with
them. Did you see any particular difference with me? Nothing more
than you generally see. I was calm and composed, and the truth
kept pouring out without creating any convulsaion, because there
was no obstruction to it in me.
169
The more of the Spirit of God a man has, the more composed he is.
You will not hear him rage and tear, saying, "Oh, the Holy Ghost
is in me; I shall die; hell and the devil is to pay." [The
speaker mimicked the manner of wild enthusiasts.] I am trying to
show you the folly, wild spirit, and devil that gets into some
men, and they try to make the people believe that it is the Holy
Ghost, when it is not any such thing. You never see brother
Brigham operated upon in that way; you never see brother Heber so
affected. I have had to fire here. Why? Because the enemy was so
strong against me that I had to force the word of God towards the
people to effect them in any way, shape, or manner.
169
There is more danger of people's getting wild fire than there is
of their getting the true fire of God. There is danger of going
too far, and of pressing this people too far. There is a medium
in all things. It would be but a little while, let some men lead
and dictate, before the people would be as they are in London.
How are they there? They have been excited with everything that
could be raked and scraped, to such a degree that there is
nothing now that will excite them one particle. In like manner
some would get this people in a little while so that you could
not create an excitement that would move them.
Some men in this town come pretty near tearing down the stands
and benches, and the roofs off from the houses, crying out, "The
Holy Ghost is in me," &c.
170
[The speaker jumped and threw his arms about.]
170
I am mimicking those persons, in order to show the folly of their
conduct. I want you to understand, and not let men get these
powers on them. It would not be any wonder if brother Gifford
were to get into that spirit, because that is the spirit he had
before he came into the Church: and he had it a while after he
came into the Church, and he feels as though he had lost all his
religion, because he is not actuated by that wild spirit. I have
seen the manifestations of those spirits both in America and
England; they were in this Church in the first commencement of it
in Kirtland.
170
In the commencement of this Church the devil came along, and
there were men that saw written letters come down from the
heavens in their presence; that was in Kirtland, Ohio, 25 or 26
years ago. Some enthusiastic spirits received those letters as
revelation, and they would read them to the people. A spirit
would come on those individuals, and they would begin to run
around the house, and be thrown into all manner of shapes and
convulsions, saying it was the operation of the Holy Ghost. If
you do not look out, you will get such spirits as those here. I
merely speak of them to give you a check, that you may be aware
of the course you are taking.
170
I will tell you what kind of characters will have those kinds of
revelations; they will be men who have committed whoredom in our
midst, and women who have played the whore. Good, virtuous men
and women are not actuated by those spirits, because they ask the
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, to give them His Spirit, and
not those wild, enthusiastic spirits manifested by some. How was
it with those men in Kirtland? Almost every one of them denied
the faith and went over the board, and afterwards we found out
that they were adulterous persons.
170
As for the gift to tongues, I do not speak in tongues often. Can
I speak in tongues? Yes, I can speak in a good, beautiful
language to this people at any time. Why? Because God gave me the
gift, and He does not give gifts to men and then take them away
again, so long as those men are doing their duty. They are gifts,
and God gives them to men and women; and so long as they improve
upon them they do not forfeit them. If they do not improve upon
them, the devil takes the advantage and will make it appear like
the gifts of God which they have possessed, as nearly as
possible, and thus they go overboard.
170
I do not know why it is that I am led to speak so to-day, but I
am led as I am, and you may judge whether it is right or wrong.
Can I interpret tongues? Yes, because that gift is in me, and I
have not forfeited it. Is it in brother Brigham? Yes, and so is
every gift that God ever gave to His ancient Apostles. God has
given them to brother Brigham, and He will never take them away
from him. He has the Spirit in him, and so have his Counsellors,
that can discern your spirits and gifts, whether they are of God
or of the devil. When any of you get up to speak in tongues,
whether you do so by the power of God or of the devil, I can tell
you which source that tongue came from, and if it is from the
Lord I can interpret it.
171
Are the gifts of the Gospel given to you to fool with? No,
neither are they given to dictate the Church, nor the Priesthood.
Have such things been done? Yes, thousands of men and women have
received revelations and stood up to dictate the President, the
Prophet, the Seer, and Revelator, in his Priesthood. When we came
to find out who such characters were, we learned that they were
men and women who had been in the habit of committing whoredom.
You cannot refer me to an instance of the kind, but what I can
show you that that is their character, more or less. Is it not
singular? Those gifts and those blessings are for the Priesthood
to dictate, and it will dictate them.
171
When persons get the religion of Christ, and enjoy the Holy
Ghost, they will never see any of that wildness which I have
spoken of, unless, in the progress of this work, our President
should be moved upon to bring it into action. When he unlocks and
opens the door for that Spirit to come upon this people, then it
is right and never will be wrong. Brother Brigham is my brother,
and holds the keys to all the departments of the Priesthood on
this earth, and when he unlocks the door it will come open. He
has a bundle of keys, and, if they were keys like these in my
hand, no ten men in this congregation could carry or lift them.
He possesses the keys of all the different gifts and graces that
God designs for this people. Can you realise it? Some do, and
some do not. It is brother Brigham that holds the keys, yes,
above every other man that lives in the flesh. When he says,
"Brother Heber, take that key and open such or such a door," then
I have authority to go and unlock that door, the same as he has.
If he says, "Brother Wells, take this key and go and unlock such
a door," he then has the same power as brother Brigham has to
unlock that door. If he says, "Brother Hyde, take this key and
other small keys and go to the nations of the earth and open into
different nations," brother Hyde then has the power and
authority, with his brethren of the Twelve, to open the door,
preach the Gospel, build up the Church, organize it, and set it
in order in every nation, kingdom, tongue, and island, so far as
he has received the keys and authority. When brother Brigham give
a Bishop a key pertaining to a Ward, that Bishop has power to
open and shut, to teach, prophesy, and administer the word of
life, according to his holy calling in his department. Every man
has his department as it is set off to him, and if he lives his
religion he has the power of God, the power of Brigham, the power
of Heber and of Daniel, yea, all the power we have in that
department, when he goes and acts in our authority. Brother
Franklin, did you realize that power while acting in your
department in England? Yes, and you say, here I carry out the
purposes of my leaders. Do you suppose that you would have failed
a hair's breadth, if you had constantly done so? No, but you fail
when you draw back a little, or swerve through the influence of
any one not having authority. Do you understand me? Some of you
do, I know.
172
There are just as good men and women in this congregation as ever
were on the earth or ever will be, according to their age and
experience; then, on the other hand, we have some of the meanest,
and, O heavens, how they stink. Are they not ashamed? I am
ashamed of them, that is, of their corruption. If they were
served as they should be, they would be severed from the Church,
as John Hyde has been this day, and would be made a public
example of before this people. For what? I will not talk it, for
I am ashamed of it. I want the Elders and Missionaries to take
the keys and go and open their private rooms, and take such
persons into them and talk to them, and not to do it in public. I
am ashamed of them; take them into the private rooms in your
Wards and talk to them, and try to save the poor, miserable
curses, if you can. Do you understand me, brother Raleigh? [Yes.]
172
Call upon the High Priests, the Seventies, Elders, Priests,
Teachers, and Deacons, and first cleanse those ruling members,
those that hold the Priesthood; and if you find those that
deserve to be severed from the Church, sever them. Do not call in
the females, when catechizing the males; but when you have done
with them, then call the females together and talk to them and
show them their duty. And let the heads of families call their
children into their private rooms and teach them. Do not make
that public, brother Raleigh, which should be kept private, lest
you do more harm than good. I have not said that you do so, but I
am talking to you for all the rest of the Bishops, knowing that
you are a man of good order, and one who loves to carry out
things as you are dictated by the heads of Israel. I know that is
your character, and God Almighty bless you for ever, and every
such man. There are lots of such men, and I wish to God there
were a thousand where there is but one.
172
I would go to work and trim up the Wards in a gentle manner,
without making such an ungodly stink, without exposing the
brethren as Ham did his father Noah. Ham's children were cursed
with a skin of blackness, for Ham pulled the clothing off from
his father Noah, who had drank a little too much wine. He had not
drank any wine for a long time, as he had been in the ark, and
when he had once more raised grapes, and made some wine, the old
gentleman said to his family, come, boys and girls, let us sit
down and take a little wine. Many of us might do as Noah did,
were we placed under similar circumstances. But that poor,
little, pusillanimous fellow, Ham, after the old gentleman had
drank a little too much, and, perhaps, it operated upon him as an
emetic, and he had besmeared himself a little, pulls off his
father's coverlet and exposes him to the whole family. That is,
probably, just as it was, only I have told it a little plainer
than it reads. If you find any persons besmeared, do not pull off
the coverlets and expose them, lest you take a course to bring a
curse on them by unwisely exposing iniquity.
172
Take a course to save men, not to kill them, not to destroy them.
Take a course to save women, not to destroy them. I mean all the
Elders in the house of Israel, Bishops, High Priests, Prophets,
Apostles, Teachers, Evangelists, and every member in the Church
of God, take a course to save; and if a man has done wrong, tell
him to do right for the future, and do a good work, and,
peradventure, God will remit his sins and not require any more
than a lamb, a pigeon, a calf, or something of that kind, as an
atonement. But He will require a great many heifers from some of
you, and you will find your houses left unto you desolate. Still
if God will forgive you, I will, of all the sins you have
committed, if you have not shed innocent blood, or sinned against
the Holy Ghost. I will forgive you of all sins that God will
forgive you of. God be merciful to you, and God bless the poor
and honest, and those who are filled with integrity and virtue,
God bless you for ever, and you shall be blessed, whether the
rest do right or not. Let us do right and the day of deliverance
will come, I know it, and we will be rescued from the evil that
is coming.
173
Can I preach to you anything better than this? I do not know
whether it is plain to your minds or not, is it brother Wells?
[Yes.] I have been led just as I have, and it has been on my mind
and working with me for a long time. I know that our faithful
Priests and Bishops understand me, but there are some, perhaps,
who do not, because I have spoken by comparison rather than to
expose the meanness of the corrupt. I am ashamed to speak of the
sins that some are guilty of. I have not said anything about the
world, and do you suppose that I am going to speak about the
world, so long as there are evils in our midst equally as bad as
they commit?
173
There are a great many old men who have the Priesthood upon them,
who have been in the Church from the beginning, and yet they are
spiritually dead. What is the matter? I can expose them, I can
tell you just what ails them, and why they are spiritually dead.
They do not wake up, and cannot wake up, because they do not
consider that they are guilty of anything wrong. They cannot see
themselves, but when you come to find out you will find that they
have, from the death of Joseph and before he was slain, murmured
and complained at Brigham and Heber, saying that "Mormonism is
not as it was then; and if Joseph had lived, he would have taken
hold of us and made us prominent members in the house of Israel."
You will find that that is a fact; I shall not draw back from
that one hair. Let us have the plain English, and you will find
that to be the difficulty with them.
173
there are men here 60 or 65 years of age, holding the Bishopric
of Aaron's Priesthood and the High Priesthood of God, whom I have
known to leave their important meetings and dismiss the business
of the kingdom of God to spend their time with this man or that
woman who was lying about their neighbours; and those very men
would sit and hear that slander, and never rebuke it. There is
where they have lost the Spirit of God and their authority, the
power of their Priesthood. Do you hear it, ye old gentlemen, and
also ye ladies that are connected with them? for you are just as
bad, more or less.
173
You say, "We knew and understood 'Mormonism,' when Joseph was
alive, but we do not know the tree now, it has grown so fast,"
and that is the difficulty with you. We have had trees set out in
these valleys seven years, and you can now see some of them large
enough for rafters. Suppose a man had gone away about the time
they were set out, or had been asleep to the sight of those
things, would he recognise those trees? No, for they change as
they increase. That applies to you elderly people, both men and
women; and then to you who are younger, there is something will
apply rather plainer than that.
174
Have I not been modest to-day? I do think it is outrageous to
unwisely expose so much filth as some of our Elders and
Missionaries do. If a man is asleep and has besmeared himself, do
not expose him, unless the necessity of the case requires it. I
feel a good, wholesome spirit and a fatherly spirit to you,
brethren; you know I do. But I want my brethren to take a course,
if they find their brethren lying under blankets besmeared, not
to pull the blankets off from them before they first get water
and wash them; save them if you can. You hear us talk about it a
great deal, and probably many do not believe one word we say, but
this people will never, no never, prosper to a high degree until
we make a public example of--what? Men, who have been warned and
forewarned, but who will associate with the wicked and take a
course to commit whoredom, and will strive to lead our daughters
and our wives into the society of poor, wicked curses, with a
view to gratify their cursed passions; we will take them and slay
them before this people. I am talking of those that will persist
in this course of iniquity, and not about those who will repent
and forsake their sins. Are there men in our midst who will court
other men's wives? Yes, and will take them right to the ungodly
for them to seduce, and they will take our daughters and do the
same. What are such men worthy of? They are worthy of death, and
they will get it. That time is near by, and God has spoken from
the heavens, and when certain things are about right, we shall
make a public example of those characters. Do you see me? Do you
see this Bible and Book of Mormon? If there were ten thousand of
those books, I could raise them all to heaven, saying, it is as
true as the contents of those books. Do you believe me, brethren?
[Yes.] There is no doubt of it. But do all believe me? No. If God
forgives you, I will; but there will be a public example made of
such characters, and the time is just at our doors. Can we stop
this iniquity, until that is done? No, no more than we can stop
some from stealing. There is some stealing right in the midst of
your reform, brethren.
174
Don't you think it is a better course to take the gentlemen
privately and talk over matters, and then take the ladies
privately and instruct them, and not open the budget of the filth
of their husbands before the wives, nor that of the wives before
their husbands? Such filthy characters seem to be the most
sanctimonious, the most holy and gracious. I wish you could know
one thing, that is, that we know you and can see right through
you. I wish all those kind of men and women would get away to the
back side of the congregation, and not stick themselves right
under my nose. And if we make a party they stick themselves there
also, and want to be the head, back, and everything else. If they
would take a proper course, they would never intrude upon decent
society, until they had repented of and forsaken their
abominations.
174
John Hyde may spout as much as he has a mind to, and all such
characters may spout and try to make out that Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Jedediah M. Grant, and Daniel
H. Wells are guilty of things they are; but we are as clean as a
piece of white paper. No women from heaven, earth, or hell can
present themselves with a truthful allegation that we have ever
led them astray. We have lawful wives, and the most of them
honour their callings, and God will bless them, and they will be
raised to immortality and eternal lives. They will go with us,
and then there will be others that will not go with us, who will
not go where Brigham and Heber will go, I will warrant you, for
ten thousand years.
174
I wish you would obey the Book of Mormon. I was reading a little
in it, the night before last, where Alma gives commandments to
his son Corianton, as follows:--
175
1. "And now, my son, I have somewhat more to say unto thee than
what I said unto thy brother: for behold, have ye not observed
the steadiness of thy brother, his faithfulness, and his
diligence in keeping the commandments of God? Behold, has he not
set a good example for thee? For thou didst not give so much heed
unto my words as did thy brother, among the people of the
Zoramites. Now this is what I have against thee; thou didst go on
unto boasting in thy strength, and thy wisdom. And this is not
all, my son. Thou didst do that which was grievous unto me; for
thou didst forsake the ministry, and did go over into the land of
Siron, among the borders of the Lamanites, after the harlot
Isabel; yea, she did steal away the hearts of many: but this was
no excuse for thee, my son. Thou shouldst have tended to the
ministry wherewith thou wast entrusted. Know ye not, my son, that
these things are an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea,
most abominable above all sins, save it be the shedding of
innocent blood, or denying the Holy Ghost? For behold, if ye deny
the Holy Ghost when it once has had place in you, and ye know
that ye deny it, behold, this is a sin which is unpardonable;
yea, and whosoever murdereth against the light and knowledge of
God, it is not easy for him to obtain forgiveness; yea, I say
unto you, my son, that it is not easy for him to obtain a
forgiveness. And now, my son, I would to God that ye had not been
guilty of so great a crime. I would not dwell upon your crimes,
to harrow up your soul, if it were not for your good. But behold,
ye cannot hide your crimes from God, and except ye repent, they
will stand as a testimony against you at the last day.
175
2. "Now, my son, I would that ye should repent and forsake your
sins, and go no more after the lusts of your eyes, but cross
yourself in all these things; for except you do this, ye can in
nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, remember, and take it upon
you, and cross yourself in these things. And I command you to
take it upon you to counsel your elder brothers in your
undertakings; for behold, thou art in thy youth, and ye stand in
need to be nourished by your brothers. And give heed to their
counsel; suffer not yourself to be led away by any vain or
foolish thing; suffer not the devil to lead away your heart again
after those wicked harlots. Behold, O my son, how great iniquity
ye brought upon the Zoramites: for when they saw your conduct,
they would not believe my words. And now the Spirit of the Lord
doth say unto me, command thy children to do good, lest they lead
away the hearts of many people to destruction; therefore I
command you, my son, in the fear of God, that ye refrain from
your iniquities; that ye turn to the Lord with all your mind,
might, and strength; that ye lead away the hearts of no more to
do wickedly; but rather return unto them, and acknowledge your
faults, and retain that wrong which ye have done; seek not after
riches, nor the vain things of this world, for behold, you cannot
carry them with you."
175
I did not know but that I was too hard on such crimes, but the
passage referred to plainly states that adultery is next to
shedding innocent blood. Hyrum Smith gave the same instructions
in Nauvoo; many of you have heard him speak of this sin many
times.
175
Again, I wish you to read another passage in that good book, as
follows:--
176
"And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles
them in the arms of safety, whilst he that exercises no faith
unto repentance, is exposed to the whole law of the demands of
justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance,
is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption.
Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that you may begin
to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye being to call
upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you; yea, cry
unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save; yea, humble
yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him: cry unto him when ye
are in your fields; yea, over all your flocks; cry unto him in
your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day,
and evening; yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies;
yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all
righteousness. Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that
ye may prosper in them; cry over the flocks of your fields, that
they may increase. But this is not all; ye must pour out your
souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your
wilderness; yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your
hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your
welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.
176
29. "And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not
suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these
things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not
the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have,
to those who stand in need; I say unto you, if you do not any of
these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you
nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith;
therefore, if ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as
dross, which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth,)
and is trodden under foot of men.
176
30. "And now, my brethren, I would that after ye have received so
many witnesses, seeing that the holy scriptures testify of these
things, come forth and bring fruit unto repentance; yea, I would
that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer;
for behold, now is the time, and the day of your salvation; and
therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts,
immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about
unto you. For behold, this life is the time for men to rpepare to
meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to
perform their labours. And now, as I said unto you before, as ye
have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you, that ye
do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end;
for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for
eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this
life, then cometh the night of darkness, wherein there can be no
labour performed. Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that
awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God.
Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess
your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same
spirit will have the power to possess your body in that eternal
world. For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your
repentance, even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to
the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the
Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in
you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final
state of the wicked. And this I know, because the Lord hath said,
he dwelleth not in unholy temples, but in the hearts of the
righteous doth he dwell; yea, and he has also said, that the
righteous shall sit down in his kingdom, to go no more out: but
their garments should be made white, through the blood of the
Lamb."
176
Brethren and sisters, it is for us to prepare and qualify
ourselves for the great change that is coming upon us all. Many
do not attend to it, but sleep and sleep on until the time of
death, and Satan will seal their spirits his, as the Book of
Mormon says; he will have power over them, and they cannot help
themselves.
176
God and His servants have instructed you to read that book, and
if you read it faithfully and with a prayerful heart, you will
find many principles and doctrines that you have heard brothers
Brigham and Heber teach.
177
You who are tampering with the sin of adultery are sealing your
damnation. Some are sitting right before me, with their locks as
white as a sheet, who have tempered in these things. What have
they done? They have done more hurt, more injury, and thrown more
obstructions in the way of the work of God than they ever can
restore. They have an atonement to make, there is a debt against
them. Why? Because justice will rquire the debt to be paid. It is
for you to arouse yourselves from these things and pay all you
can, that there may not be much against you when the accounts are
settled up.
177
I have said so much, and you may call it a kind of an eccentric
discourse. What is eccentric? I will explain it to you. Supposing
that here is a pivot on the top of this stand, and I preach to a
man away yonder and come back, to another away there and come
back, and so I preach every way from the centre, that is
eccentric, that is, I do not confine myself to any particular
subject, but I am here and there and yonder, and yet I am always
in the centre; that is what is called eccentric, or original, or
what is deemed by some extravagant, because it is out of the
usual custom. I am tempered just as I am, and don't you like me
better in this way than in a stereotyped style? Don't you like me
in my way better than you would if I should try to imitate
brother Hyde, and try to be like him? I hit on one thing and then
on another, but brethren, is not all plain to you?
177
[Yes.]
177
Brethren and sisters, God bless you; God bless the good, God
bless the oil and the wine; God bless all the authorities of this
Church that honour their high and holy calling; and may the peace
of the Almighty be with you for ever. These are my feelings; and
may He authorize His holy angels in heaven, and upon the earth,
to cause the wrath of Almighty God to burn against the wicked,
the corrupt, and those that seek and wish to follow corruption.
May the wrath of the Almighty God come on them, that they may
never have any more rest, from this time henceforth, until they
repent. May they not have peace at home or abroad, out of doors
or in the house, up stairs nor down in the cellar, and I say it
in the name of Almighty God and by virtue of the Priesthood, may
the curse of Almighty God be on such men and women, and they
shall welter in sorrow.
177
I know that if this people will do right, our enemies, those who
lay snares and gins to ensnare the servants of the living God,
shall be slain by the sword of His wrath, and shall have no power
to fight against God, nor against Zion, and all Israel shall say,
AMEN.
177
[The congregation was unanimous in saying amen, with a loud
voice.]
177
It will be so, and I know it.
177
Live your religion. Bishops go to now and take the course I have
suggested; take a course not to expose and ruin men, but let
their private sins be privately acknowledged to the Bishop, and
he has authority to report them to head quarters; then there can
be a way of disposal--why? Because God our Father has made a way.
There is no situation or circumstance that ever a man was or will
be in, but what there is a law touching his case.
177
Be cautious of your wild fire; I have touched on that, and I want
the Bishops to be cautious about it, and not to be overbearing
and hard on the people, nor require them to fast three days in
the week, and keep them under the big sledge hammer continually.
It will not answer. You should pour in a little wine and oil, and
the good things of the kingdom of God, and that will temper the
iron so that it will yield to the hammer.
178
I mean this for the Bishops, the Missionaries, the Elders,
Priests, Teachers, and Evangelists; pour in a little oil and wine
and soften the material, and not be putting on with three or four
sledges and a small hammer in the bargain. It will not answer for
the big hammers to go on beating, after the little hammer has
sounded stop, you big fellows.
178
When I strike with a big sledge hammer, it performs much more
than the little hammer. They used to say in England, when brother
Hyde had preached, "Bring brother Kimball here and let him hit
the old rock one crack with the big sledge, and we will warrant
it to split." Brother Hyde used to polish the rock before it was
taken out of the quarry.
178
Brother James Brown, has it not been good for you to be here
to-day? [Yes.] God bless you, if you will only live your
religion, and let brother Brigham, brother Heber, and brother
Daniel live theirs; for he is our brother now and always was. If
you will rise up and let us rise a little higher, you will see no
particular difference in us, but the difference will be in you.
Rise up, and do not hold us down.
178
As we are members of one body, except we cut you off from us we
never can rise, unless you rise. If you will cleanse the platter,
and throw out the dead men's bones that corrupt it, and all
wicked things, you will rise; you will not feel so much
difference, only you will be calm and composed, and you will not
find any wild fire in the people. They swell when they have got
wild fire, until their corporations are larger, figuratively
speaking, than a dozen of mine. The Holy Ghost does not make a
man act in any such way.
178
Why do I keep talking these things over? Because I want you to
understand them and get the Spirit of God, and let its peaceable
influence be upon you; then you will know the spirit of men and
things. Read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and every other good
book, and keep busy at some good thing or other, and stop your
quarrelling. There is a great deal of quarrelling in the houses,
and contending for power and authority; and the second wife is
against the first wife, perhaps, in some instances. But that is
done away in my family, and there is none of it in brother
Brigham's, nor in brother Wells', nor in any family where they
have common sense.
178
If every member of my body performs its office and does its duty,
according to the order and government of God, then I want to know
if one member is any better than another? Is any one of my
fingers any better than another, if each one fulfills its
calling? If one of these fingers sticks itself where it should
not be, it brings dishonour on the whole body; and there are
certain men and women who have dishonoured themselves and this
whole community. John Hyde, probably, was living in adultery
before he went from here, or if not, he was after he went from
here, and he lost the Spirit of the Lord God. Any man that will
do such wickedness, cannot keep the Spirit of God.
179
Do right, and let the Bishops and Missionaries understand their
duty, and they may be the means of palliating your sins and
making you comfortable for life. There are women in this
congregation who have, probably, been seduced by Elders, by High
Priests and men in authority. What do those women think? They
believe that I am guilty of the same sin, and that brother
Brigham and brother Wells, and every other good man, is alike
guilty. Read the words of Alma over and over, and learn how he
talked to his son. The people in that age would not hear the
words of Alma, nor the words of his brethren, because of the
wickedness of his son Corianton. I am showing you the cause of
such iniquity, and the desolation it brings on the human family.
I am not preaching as the world preaches; I preach not to show
myself eloquent, but I am bringing right out these little matters
that lay the axe at the root of the tree and obstruct the onward
progress of this great work. The wickedness of the Latter-day
Saints throws an obstacle before it.
179
Brethren, don't you think the course you would take with a flock
of sheep is better for this people, than it is to keep all the
time hitting them on the head? It is well enough to hit a rap now
and then, that is, to rap some of the old bucks and does that
always want to stick their noses first in the salt. In accordance
with my eccentric discourse, don't you see that I have not thrown
out salt on the floor or on the grass to be wasted? I have given
one sheep out there a lap, and another one there, returning to
the centre, and don't you feel just as comfortable now as before
eye got the salt, and a little more so? That is the way to lead
the people along, and do not gag them. You may take custard pie
and cram it down a person's throat until it makes him vomit;
doubtless some of you have crammed your little children until
they have vomited the food you gave them.
179
The people are often fed too much, with too long sermons. How
long have I preached to-day? Though I have not stuck to one
subject, but I have always come back to the centre and began
again. Stop your long sermons, except God leads and dictates. I
should advise you, if you have but a little water in the pond,
not to let your saw run the full length of the log. Get up when
you have something to say, and sit down when you have done. Long
sermons will not answer. Preach short sermons, you Bishops; and
when the missionaries come along and give a first-rate good
sermon at a Ward meeting, and perhaps one or two others also
speak, and it is eight o'clock in the evening, or half-past
eight, close the meeting. You Bishops are always there, and you
can preach when the sheep are not crammed to death. There is too
much of this cramming, for by it you will gag the people and
throw them overboard.
179
I am holding on to this idea, because I see that you are wrong.
And if brother Brigham had been here to-day he would, probably,
have been led to speak on the same matter; and if I had been away
from here, probably brother Wells would have been led the same;
and if none of us had been here, perhaps somebody else would have
spoken of it. I am telling you what to do, I am relieving your
minds. Do not put on the double sledge hammers all the time, but
pour in the wine and the oil, and scatter a little salt, and the
sheep will be belating and teasing for more.
179
I am a shepherd, I was brought up a shepherd; and I was a
plough-boy; and I am a blacksmith, a potter, a joiner and
carpenter, and a tailor; I understand all these branches. I never
was confined to either of them long, but always returned to the
centre. This is my mode of preaching; I do not want to talk a
whole dictionary. I do not use any squatalations, as brother
Hyde, brother Franklin, and others do. I am just what I am, and
cannot be anything else. Brother Hyde, did you ever know me try
to imitate anybody? I never did and cannot do it, unless I have
the power given me. There is only one thing that I can mimic, and
that is the power that some enthusiasts show, when they suppose
the Holy Ghost is on them.
180
I don't want you to merely talk about it, but I want you to go to
and live your religion, do your duty, do all things that are
required of you. If you have not done so, go and do it. If you
have done wrong, don't do wrong again, and do right from this
time, making satisfaction and restitution for your wrong doing,
and I will say you shall be forgiven, every one of you who has
not shed innocent blood or sinned against the Holy Ghost; that
cannot be forgiven. If you will take this course, brother Brigham
and Heber will live, yea, they will live and let live scores and
scores of years.
180
Brethren and sisters, do not be the aggressors, always act on the
defensive. I never will touch any of you, I never will offend or
scold at you, nor injure you in any way, if you will not harm me
but live your religion. I never will strike one of you, without
you first strike me; but when you strike me, I shall be
justifiable in striking you. I want you to remember what you read
in the Book of Mormon, where Alma tells his son not to be the
aggressor; also what Mormoni said to Zerahemnah, at the time
Nephites and Lamanites fought by the river Sidon.
180
12. "And it came to pass that they did stop and withdrew a pace
from them. And Mormoni said unto Zerahemnah, behold Zerahemnah,
that we do not desire to be men of blood.--Ye know that ye are in
our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you. Behold, we have not
come out to battle against you, that we might shed your blood for
power; neither do we desire to bring any one to the yoke of
bondage. But this is the very cause for which ye have come
against us; yea, and ye are angry with us because of our
religion. But now ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye
behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would
that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of
our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye
cannot destroy this our faith. Now ye see that this is the true
faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and
preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our
faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we
shall be destroyed, except we should fall into transgression and
deny our faith. And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name
of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we
have gained power over you by our faith, by our religion, and by
our rites of worship, and by our Church, and by the sacred
support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that
liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and
also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we
owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us; yea,
and that is not all; I command you by all the desires which ye
have for life, that ye deliver up your weapons of war unto us,
and we will seek not your blood, but we will spare your lives, if
ye will go your way, and come not again to war against us. And
now, if we do not this, behold, ye are in our hands, and I will
command my men that they shall fall upon you, and inflict the
wounds of death in your bodies, that ye may become extinct; and
then we will see who shall have power over this people; yea, we
will see who shall be brought into bondage."
180
That shows the mercy and compassion of our God; although his
enemies are in his hands, he will have mercy upon them. In the
book of Doctrine and Covenants it is said, if thine enemy comes
upon thee and falls into thine hand, forgive him, if he repent;
and if he comes upon thee the second time, forgive him, if he
repent; but if he comes upon thee the third time, thou mayst do
with him as seemeth thee good, still, if thou shalt forgive him,
I will add glory unto thee for thy mercy. Just look at it, and
see what kind of a God we are serving. That God is talking to
you, through me, to-day.
181
Some of you may, perhaps, think that I have had wild fire in me
to-day, but I have not had a bit of it about me. I am preaching
all the time to show you the propriety of being filled with
mercy, for God says the merciful man shall obtain mercy. That is
the spirit which is in me. When I step forward here God speaks
through me; and if brother Brigham had been here He would have
spoken through him. Don't you see that I have the same fatherly
care, when I step up here to act in brother Brigham's place for
the time being? I do not care who you put here, he will have the
same spirit when he is put here, that is, if he is dictated by
the Holy Ghost.
181
I have had a good time here to-day. How nice it feels; there are
good feelings here. Brethren, cultivate the spirit of compassion;
if any man has committed adultery, have mercy on him and pity
him, if he repents. You may say, "O Lord God, I thank thee that I
never fell into that sin." Have compassion on those who have, if
they will repent.
181
You leading members of the Church, you Twelve, High Priests,
Seventies, Bishops, &c., go ahead, press forward, and we will
gain the victory. We will overcome, because with those that do
repent, if there are not more than three hundred men, we will
whip out the unrighteous, for, says the Lord, everything that can
be shaken shall be, and that which cannot be shaken will remain.
Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Lorenzo
Snow, January 18, 1857
Lorenzo Snow, January 18, 1857
MAN MUST USE HIS ENERGIES AND CULTIVATE THE GIFTS OF
GOD--NECESSITY OF FOLLOWING COUNSEL--REFORMATION MUST
BE INTRINSIC AND NOT A MATTER OF EXCITEMENT.
A Discourse by Elder Lorenzo Snow, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, January 18, 1857.
181
By the request of the President of this Stake, Elder Spencer, I
will occupy a short time in speaking such things as may come to
my mind, or as the Lord shall see proper to dictate.
181
I have observed, brethren, that both speakers and hearers are
frequently troubled with certain weaknesses, and I want to occupy
a moment or two in pointing out some of those weaknesses, as this
is a time of reformation. I presume when Elders rise to speak,
those who have not been in the habit of speaking before
assemblies, that it is sometimes very hard and difficult for
them, but they will stand before a congregation because it is
absolutely their duty to do so. They do it because it is
obligatory upon them; they do it because they cannot well escape
that situation, which, peradventure, they would be well pleased
to do, if they could do so and feel approbated in their own
consciences. This is a weakness that individuals in this position
feel more than they do in any other, though I do not think that
this will apply to the Elders of Israel very extensively. Another
weakness consists in their not taking care how they express
themselves in the communication of their ideas and instructions.
182
I would not wish to stand before you this morning for the purpose
of being seen or of getting rid of an unpleasant feeling, nor
that my oratory may be spoken of hereafter, but I wish to stand
before you for the purpose of communicating that which shall be
for your good and benefit.
182
I understand that we are brethren together, that we are of the
same Father in the celestial worlds, and that if we knew each
other as we should, if each one was endowed by the power of God,
our sympathies would be excited more than they are at the present
time, and there would be a desire on the part of every individual
to study in their own minds how they might do their brethren
good, how they might alleviate their sorrows and build them up in
truth, how remove the darkness from their minds. If we understood
each other and the real relationship which we hold to each other,
we should feel different from what we do; but this knowledge can
be obtained only as we obtain the Spirit of life, and as we are
desirous of building each other up in righteousness.
182
Again, I have noticed on the part of the people what I have
attributed to weakness. They come together, some of them, more
for the purpose of being pleased with the oratory of their
speaker, for the purpose of admiring the style in which he may
address them, or they come together more for the purpose of
seeing the speaker or speculating in regard to his character, or
the true relationship that he sustains to the Lord in the
Priesthood, than for the purpose of receiving instructions that
will do them good and build them up in righteousness.
182
I think that speakers ought to try and improve themselves,
wherein they see their weaknesses, the hearers ought to try to
eschew their weaknesses, so that when the Elders are called upon
to speak they may have it in their hearts to do the people good.
182
One of the greatest prayers that a man can offer, so far as I
understand prayers and their consistency, is that, when an Elder
of Israel stands before the people, he may communicate and tell
some thoughts to do the people good, and build them up in the
principles of truth and salvation. Prayers of this kind are as
agreeable in the ears of the Lord as any prayers that an Elder of
Israel can possibly offer, for when an Elder stands before the
people he should do so realizing that he stands before them for
the purpose of communicating knowledge, that they may receive
truth in their souls and be built up in righteousness by
receiving further light, progressing in their education in the
principles of holiness.
182
This cannot be done, except by a labour of mind, by an energy of
faith, and by seeking with all one's heart the Spirit of the Lord
our God. It is just so on the part of the hearers; unless
particular attention is paid to that which is required of them
from time to time by those who address the people from this
stand, and unless individuals labour in their minds with all
their mights and with all their strength in their prayers before
the Lord, they will not receive that good and benefit to
themselves which they ought to receive. If, for instance, you are
attending school, you have your lessons to learn, and just in
proportion to your energy and faithfulness, and intelligence in
regard to acquiring a knowledge of those lessons, you will be
prepared to enjoy their benefit, that for which they are
designed. And, just in proportion to your neglecting to exercise
your mind and your intelligence, your mind will be barren and
unfruitful in relation to that knowledge which you should have
attained.
183
You remember, probably, a revelation in the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants giving to Oliver Cowdery the privilege of translating
certain records, and that after receiving this he got the idea
that all he had to do was to stand idle and not do anything; but
he found that his mind was barren. The Lord gave a revelation to
inform him of the difficulty, and told him that because he did
not exercise his mind, the powers or intellect that were given
him, his mind had become darkened.
183
It is precisely so in regard to ourselves. If we do not exercise
those faculties given us, and get the Spirit of the Lord, but
little information will be received from speakers, even though
ideas may be communicated of great value and worth.
Notwithstanding, ideas may be communicated in a very broken
style, if the people will exert themselves, as a boy should at
school, they will soon learn that they will never return from
meeting without their minds being benefitted by the speakers.
183
Brethren, I will tell you there is a fault, a weakness, with
regard to this principle, and I know it. There must be a labour
of mind, an exertion of those talents that God has given us; they
must be put into exercise. Then, being enlightened by the gift
and power of the Holy Ghost, we may get those ideas and that
intelligence, and those blessings that are necessary to prepare
us for the future, for sceneries that are to come.
183
The same principle will apply in all our actions in relation to
the things of God. We have to exert ourselves, brethren. This
remaining idle without putting ourselves into action is of no
use; if we remain perfectly neutral, nothing is accomplished.
Every principle that is revealed from the heavens is for our
benefit, for our life, for our salvation, and for our happiness.
183
Counsel that is given to us when it comes from the proper
authority, is given for a certain purpose; and that purpose is
our happiness, so far as the present time is concerned; it is for
the purpose of adding happiness unto us in the present state, and
also for the purpose of communicating benefits unto us in a state
hereafter. Upon this principle is counsel established, upon the
principle of doing our fellow-men good; for the purpose of doing
them good here and hereafter.
183
The design of the Lord in regard to ourselves, in regard to His
people generally, is to bring them to that state and fulness of
knowledge, and to that perfection which their spiritual
organizations are susceptible of receiving or arriving at. There
are certain laws established from all eternity for the purpose of
effecting this object.
183
The question is asked, "Why are we under obligations to follow
counsel?" Because that counsel possesses those qualities
necessary to make us better here, and to exalt us to honour and
glory hereafter. If it were not so, there would be no obligation
on our part to follow counsel. A minor is under obligation to
follow his father's counsel, for that counsel is designed to make
him happy while in the state of boyhood, and to qualify him to
act in an after state, in a state of manhood. That counsel is
designed to benefit that father who gave it, as well as the son
to whom it is given. It is the father's privilege to counsel as
shall be for the benefit of that father, and as shall contribute
to the greatest happiness of that boy while in his boyhood, so
that it shall benefit him to the greatest extent when he shall
arrive at the state of manhood.
184
In the same light President Brigham Young is a counsellor to this
whole people, and the counsel he gives is for the purpose of
benefitting them in this state, also for preparing them to
receive the greatest happiness it is possible for human beings to
receive in the world to come. It accomplishes the two-fold object
of benefitting himself and those to whom it is given. No man can
give counsel to any one, but what it has a tendency to benefit
himself as well as others. We are so constituted and organized,
that we cannot counsel that which will contribute to the benefit
and exaltation of others, without at the same time contributing
to our own good.
184
A father, in communicating counsel to his son, should in the
first place prepare himself to communicate those proper counsels
which will suit the condition of his son. It is his privilege to
extend happiness to himself; it is his privilege to increase his
own happiness, and in increasing his own happiness he should
extend it throughout his family dominions. And when he is
increasing his own happiness, his own glory, his own authority,
he at the same time is increasing that of his children, provided
that counsel which he reveals is all the time that which is best
for his family. If good counsel was not established for the
benefit of the individual that communicates it, also of those who
receive it, it would be of no service.
184
The people are under obligation to obey the counsel that is
given; they are necessarily required to apply the counsel of
brother Brigham, because that counsel possesses those objects. No
man can be more happy than by obeying brother Brigham's counsel.
You may go from east to west, from north to south, and tread this
footstool of the Lord all over, and you cannot find a man that
can make himself happy in this Church, only by applying the
counsel of brother Brigham in this life; it is a matter of
impossibility for a man to receive a fulness who is not
susceptible of receiving and carrying out brother Brigham's
counsel. An individual that applies the counsel of this Church is
bound to increase in all that is good, for there is a fountain of
counsel which the Lord has established. He has made it, has
deposited that counsel, that wisdom and those riches, and it will
circumscribe all that pertains unto good, unto salvation; all
that pertains unto peace and unto happiness; all things that
pertain to glory and to the exaltation of the Saints in this
world and in the world to come.
184
If that counsel, if that intelligence, that is deposited in the
President of this Church, was calculated to bring misery and
misfortune and unhappiness upon the people, and to undo or hinder
that which their nature is susceptible of receiving, then it
would not be upon that principle of which we have been speaking.
But it is our privilege to follow it; and if we carry out the
principles that are established in our nature and that are being
taught us, we shall keep rising and being exalted. If we follow
that counsel, we shall advance in those principles that pertain
to happiness in this world and the world to come.
185
It is the business of the father to be qualified to teach and
instruct his children, and to lay principles before them, so that
by conforming to those instructions they can be the most happy
that their natures are susceptible of in a state of childhood,
while at the same time they learn the principles upon which they
can gain the most happiness and enjoyment in a state of manhood.
Those children are under obligations to follow their father's
counsel precisely, so long as the counsel which the father gives
is calculated for this express purpose. They are under
obligations to follow that and carry it out in its design and in
its object, and the moment they break off and separate themselves
from the father they become like a branch that is separated from
a tree; they no longer flourish nor bring forth fruit. The branch
that is cut off from the tree ceases to have the life-giving
power, ceases to bring forth fruit. Let a person be cut off from
this Church and he no longer remains a wise director and
counsellor for his children, but only so long as he has the
privilege of receiving and having counsel in which is deposited
that wisdom and knowledge, and power that can give life to those
that are around him.
185
There is a necessity of our being more industrious, many of us,
in getting into the spirit of this reformation more than what has
already been received. There is a danger of our being satisfied
with a superficial advancement, with merely advancing on the
surface. We talk of walking in the light of the Spirit and of
feeling it upon us, but do we do these things? We ought to dig
deep into the things of God, lay our foundation upon the rock,
until we come to that water which shall be in us an everlasting
fountain of eternal life in the midst of the people in this
reformation. When the Elders stand forth in the various ward
meetings, the prayer meetings, the general assembly meetings, and
when the Bishops exercise themselves in the power of their
Priesthood, and feel pretty bright themselves, there has all
along been this fact, these circumstances, a certain overwhelming
spirit which the people feel more or less; and there is a spirit
of excitement attending the exercise of those powers. Some
individuals, I am fearful, do not partake of the spirit of this
reformation any more than the external effect that it has upon
them; there is nothing more than show, by the power that is
around them and that is being exercised among them. With some it
is simply the popularity of the reformation, if I may be allowed
that expression, for the reformation has become very popular.
185
If a person does not see the necessity of a reformation, he is
set down as being grossly ignorant. But few people would have the
boldness to say that there was no necessity of a reformation in
this day, when the people know that it has become popular. We
ought to be careful not to be carried away with popularity alone,
but lay a good, a strong foundation to build upon, and know
precisely the foundation of this reformation, and get the Spirit
ourselves, and not be satisfied to walk in the light as it is
shadowed forth by others; we should have it incorporated with our
spiritual organizations. We should not merely rest satisfied with
the necessity of this reformation, but we should have the spirit
of it within ourselves.
186
I will, for the purpose of expressing my ideas, present a figure.
We will suppose that here is a large army organized for the
purpose of contending against their enemies. All the officers in
that army, from the general down to the lesser officers, are clad
in bright uniforms; that bands are playing their thrilling
martial music, and everything, to use a worldly expression, is
grand and glorious. Here is a general excitement, a war spirit is
upon every man, from the crown of his head to the soles of his
feet, and the only feeling is, "Let me go forth to battle against
the enemy." They all feel strong in the midst of this excitement,
but who will pronounce in reference to the bravery of this army?
Everybody is excited to push ahead to battle, but is every one
prepared? Are those that cry, "Lead us forth to the battle
field?" When the day of test and trial comes, when they are in
the battle field, with the death balls flying, the artillery
playing, then there is a different scene. The gay flags are no
longer seen, the martial music is drowned by the groans of the
dying, and, instead of the sun in full splendor and everything in
grandeur, the air is filled with smoke, rendered lurid by the
flashes of musketry and artillery. Then you will see a different
feeling with those soldiers; the pomp, the splendor, the show are
seen no longer, but they then stand in their callings, in
proportion to the real intrinsic value and worth that they have
acquired by a long series of experience, and which have got
thoroughly incorporated in their systems.
186
When individuals are first baptized into the Church, there is
more or less excitement about them; they feel well, they feel
good; every thing seems to wear a new appearance. They love
everybody and everything; they wish they could at once take the
line of march to the valleys of the mountains, there to
contribute their exertions to the upbuilding of the kingdom of
God. They see everything in a delightful condition and in a very
pleasing state, but in a few days or weeks they feel that there
is something for them to do, something that requires a strong
sacrifice to enable them to conform to the doctrines that they
have espoused.
186
Take a person that is penurious, one that thinks a great deal of
his property, and who has accumulated a good deal; it never comes
to his mind, when the good spirit is upon him, that there will be
anything that will be difficult. When a call comes from the
Church for the property he has, because it is wanted for a
certain necessary purpose, it strikes in upon him like an
electric shock. The spirit strikes in so that he feels perfectly
powerless and palsied, when an exertion is required on his part.
All that feeling of joy and gladness, that being sealed up unto
the Spirit of goodness that was before him, is gone and he is
left so that he feels all is gone. But there is a certain
knowledge left which tells him that it is right for him to comply
with the call, inasmuch as he calculates to follow up to the
doctrines of the Church. He stands the test; he is just able to
reach forth and contribute that which is required; he feels that
he has done a duty, and he feels that he has past through the
field of battle and come off unscathed; he did not get wounded
but came off clear. This individual, then, must pronounce to
himself that he has gained a victory, and he can gain faith and
confidence in himself and in his God. He can see that he has been
tried in doing that which was required of him, and he can look
back upon that point and the position in which he stood, and can
see that he acted wisely and faithfully. Then he can say to
himself what he will do, if circumstances of a similar character
should come before him; he can say, with a little confidence,
what he will do if, in future, a similar or even a greater
requirement shall be made of him.
186
Individuals that have not past through such an ordeal cannot say
in regard to themselves what they will do, with that confidence
which those can who have had the experience. In this way we have
to learn to do what is required. But it is a warfare, and we have
to live so that we can be approbated in our doings. We have to
look at things calmly, coolly, seriously, and firmly, and to live
in a way to get righteousness incorporated in our systems. We are
placed under certain regulations, certain restrictions, that we
may get the notion of acting from practice.
186
An individual undertaking to learn to play upon a flute at first
finds a difficulty in making the notes, and in order to play a
tune correctly there is a great deal of diligence and patience
required. He has to go on, to pause, to turn back and commence
afresh, but after a time he is enabled, through a great deal of
exertions, to master that tune. When called upon to play that
tune afterwards, there is no necessity for remembering where to
place the fingers, but he plays it naturally. It was not natural
at the first; there had to be a great deal of patience and
labour, before it became natural to go through with the tune.
187
It is just so in regard to matters that pertain to the
things of God. We have to exert ourselves and go from grace to
grace, to get the law of action so incorporated in our systems,
that it may be natural to do those things that are required of
us. The son cannot always see the intrinsic benefit of a father's
counsel when it is given, but that which he does know is that his
father has a right to give that counsel; he also knows that he is
in duty bound to act in accordance with that counsel and that
knowledge. By acting in that way he will feel well, and he will
do his duty.
187
It is a great matter to act firm, for one of the main objects
that the Saints should accomplish is to be perfectly calm and
serene, no matter how sudden accidents may occur. If you find
that you are surrounded by a host of evil spirits that are
choking you to death, have presence of mind enough to call upon
the Lord; but some have not had presence of mind enough for that.
187
I will say, in relation to the counsel given by brother Brigham,
that often all you know is that he has the right to give that
counsel; you cannot always see that the counsel is for your good,
neither can you see the propriety of many things, until you put
them into practice; you have a right to know that the source is
legal, but its intrinsic value you cannot always foresee.
187
The son acts upon the counsel of his father, that he may have the
law established in himself, that he may be put forth by the law
that is or has been incorporated in him. It is just so with
ourselves; we value the counsel that is given and learn the
principles of righteousness, and to conform to those things that
are necessary for us, until we get the law of the celestial
kingdom incorporated in our systems; a law that will have a
direct tendency to benefit us here and hereafter. But in our
present state of blindness the perfect law is not always in us,
we do not fully understand it.
187
Then again, I will bring another figure in regard to bringing
about and getting this spirit in us, and digging deep, that we in
the time of storm may not be driven off. Place a cucumber in a
barrel of vinegar and there is but little effect produced upon it
the first hour, nor in the first twelve hours. Examine it and you
will find that the effect produced is merely upon the rind, for
it requires a longer time to pickle it. A person being baptized
into this Church has an effect upon him, but not the effect to
pickle him immediately. It does not establish the law of right
and of duty in him during the first twelve or twenty-four hours;
he must remain in the Church, like the cucumber in the vinegar,
until he becomes saturated with the right spirit, until he
becomes picked in "Mormonism," in the law of God; we have got to
have those things incorporated in our systems.
187
With these few words and with these exhortations, brethren and
sisters, I will give way and leave the subject to your close
application, consideration, and meditation, praying the Lord God
of our fathers to pour out His Spirit upon His people. You are
those whom the Lord has selected to glorify Him in His presence,
and may the Lord bless you and fill you with His Spirit, and may
your eyes be clear to discern the things that pertain to your
salvation. And if there is any man or woman that is nor fairly
awake, may the time soon come that the Spirit and power of the
Holy Ghost may be upon them, that it may teach them things past,
present, and to come, and by the assistance of the Lord, plant
righteousness and the principle of truth in their systems, that
they may be prepared for the storms that are coming. These are my
prayers, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 /
Jedediah M. Grant, October 2, 1856
Jedediah M. Grant, October 2, 1856
EXHORTATION TO CLEANLINESS--MANY OF THE SAINTS SPIRITUALLY DEAD.
Remarks, by President J. M. Grant,
Delivered in the 17th Ward School-house,
Great Salt Lake City, October 2, 1856.
188
You are not acquainted with the spirit that prevails with this
work, neither with the fact that many of the people who come to
this place think that the Presidency will save them, regardless
of their own individual conduct.
188
We gather all kinds of people in this kingdom; some of them are
as corrupt as men can be, and they are scattered all over the
Territory, and I think you have a few of them in your Ward.
188
Elders while abroad in the vineyard feel to have the Holy Ghost,
but many of them, when they get home, act like the devil. They
will do well until they get their companies here in the Valley
and turn them over to the Presidency of the Church; then they
will say, "I will not have them in my charge any more, let the
consequences be what they may." They will not render the
Presidency any encouragement or assistance about their companies
after they arrive here.
188
Now we have all kinds of people in this Church, and you have some
of the different kinds. Some cannot pray night or day, nor ask a
blessing, lest they should spend some time which they wish to use
for something else. Some think the reason why we do not progress
more rapidly is because we are continually adding new clay, but I
would rather have new clay than to undertake to make a vessel of
honour out of a good deal of our old clay, for much of it has
stuck to the tempering vessel until it stinks.
188
If there is a place on the earth where we should be faithful, it
is in this city; or if there is a place where we should watch our
children, it is here. Go to all the quorums in this city, and you
will find some of their Presidents and Officers as corrupt as the
devil. We have men that can beat the Gentiles in any mean tricks
they are a mind to start up, but those who intend to serve God
should do right.
188
I want to see the Bishops of the Wards right, then I want to see
the Teachers right; I want to see them all filled with the Holy
Ghost, then they can do something. Did I ever cry peace and
safety to this people, that they were ALL doing well, and that
their warfare was over? No, I never did. When I know that sudden
destruction awaits a people, if they do not awake to their
situation, I cannot cry peace.
188
This people are asleep; and I will vouch that there are many of
them who do not pray, or if they do, three such prayers "would
freeze hell over," as a Methodist minister once said. I want you
to pray with the Holy Ghost upon you.
189
It is your duty to keep clean. I have given the Teachers a new
set of questions to ask the people. I say to them, ask the people
whether they keep clean. Do you wash your bodies once in each
week, when circumstances will permit? Do you keep your dwellings,
outhouses, and dooryards clean? The first work of the reformation
with some, should be to clean away the filth about their
premises. How would some like to have President Young visit them
and go through their buildings, examine their rooms, bedding,
&c.?
189
Many houses stink so bad, that a clean man could not live in
them, nor hardly breathe in them. Some men were raised in stink,
and so were their fathers before them. I would not attempt to
bless any body in such places. You may inquire why I talk so. Can
you talk in a better style about dirt, nastiness, and filth? If
you can, I cannot, and at the same time make people feel enough
upon the subject to put away their filth and be clean. If you
want me to speak smoother, do better and keep cleaner. Were I to
talk about God, heaven, angels, or anything good, I could talk in
a more refined style, but I have to talk about things as they do
exist among us.
189
Some people wish to have me shut my mouth, and to have President
Young talk. But, thank God, they cannot shut my mouth until I get
through, for I never had a gag in my mouth.
189
I now want to tell you of another fault there is among some of
the people; they want to hear a new man preach and teach, and do
not wish to hear the Bishop of their own Ward. I understand that
to-night, while we have a meeting here, there must be a party got
up in this same Ward. I would see them in Tophet before I would
allow it.
189
There are many of the Seventies who are spiritually dead and
damned, and so are many of the Elders. Many of the Presidents of
Quorums are like pipe which needs to be burnt out, before it is
fit to be used. It is the same with many of the High Priests and
others. I pray God that this people may rise up and get the Holy
Ghost, and wake up and live their religion, which I ask in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Wilford
Woodruff, January 25, 1857
Wilford Woodruff, January 25, 1857
NECESSITY OF OBEYING THE INSTRUCTIONS AND REVELATIONS GIVEN--THE
IMPORTANCE OF OBTAINING THE HOLY GHOST--THE LABOURS OF THE SAINTS
ARE FOR
THEIR OWN SALVATION, AND NOT TO ENRICH THE LORD.
Remarks by Elder Wilford Woodruff, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, Sunday, January 25, 1857.
189
I am requested to get up and address you a short time. I do not
know that I will be able to make this large assembly of people
hear me this morning, but I will do the best I can to accomplish
it. I feel that it is a very good sign to see so many people out
to meeting, it seems as though they felt interested in meeting
together to receive instructions; to see as crowded a house as
this is this morning, is a proof that there is an increasing
interest resting upon the people to hear the word of the Lord and
receive instructions from the servants of God, and I do hope,
brethren and sisters, that what instructions you do receive, you
will prize, lay it up, and practise it, whether it be much or
little.
190
I realize that the salvation of this people does not depend
upon the great amount of teaching, instruction, or revelation
that is given unto them, but their salvation depends more upon
their obeying the commandments of God which are given unto them,
their becoming a doer of the word, and following the counsel of
those who are set to lead them. We certainly have a great amount
of teaching, of instruction, of principle, of revelation, and of
the word of God, which has been given unto this people, not only
that which is recorded in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Book of
Doctrine and Covenants, the Church History, but we have day by
day, and night by night, instructions given unto us, we have a
little here and a little there, a discourse to-day and another
to-night, and we are continually receiving instructions from the
servants of God. We receive instructions in our Ward meetings,
and almost every time a few of us meet together, we do so for the
purpose of receiving the word of the Lord.
190
It appears to me, then, that we are certainly a favoured people,
and that we are having a great deal of important instruction,
such as is calculated to lead us unto salvation. Inasmuch then as
we have been called upon to reform, or to advance and to grow in
the principles of eternal life, and to become holy in our lives,
I hope there are none of us but that will take hold with our
whole soul and carry out the instruction, and try to practise it
in word and deed. We frequently hear remarks made about the
reformation being over, and about their having got through with
it in this place or in that place, but the amount of it is there
never will be any end to the reformation, or in other words there
will never be any end to our advancement, there will be no end to
our improvement nor to our increase, neither in time nor in all
eternity.
190
If we act up to our privileges as a people, we have no more time
to lose or to spend in an unprofitable manner. We should not act
indifferently with regard to the blessings which the Lord is
offering unto us, and which we have the privilege of obtaining;
we should labour with all our might to build up the kingdom of
God, that we may secure unto ourselves every blessing necessary
for our salvation. We live in an important day; it is a day of
mercy and a day of great blessings unto us as a people, and we
should appreciate it as such.
190
I have reflected a good deal within the last few months, and
especially while sitting and listening to the teachings of the
First Presidency, the Twelve, and the Elders of Israel, in their
various spheres and callings in which they are called to act. In
my prayers and reflections I have thought much of our present
position, and I have concluded that if we do not enjoy the Holy
Spirit, and if the vision of our mind is not open to comprehend
the things of God, and the power which is being made manifest for
our benefit and good, that we are in great danger of suffering
loss; we should see more fully the importance of taking hold with
our might, and then, as brother Kimball says, the Holy Spirit of
God would be diffused through our whole bodies, and through the
whole body and Church of Christ.
191
I feel and see the importance of this work, and I see the
necessity of our walking up to the line of our duty, that we may
live and walk daily in the light of the Lord. I realize that the
Presidency of this Church stand between this people and the Lord,
for they are the head, and I realize that God reveals to them His
will, and therefore we should look unto them for light and for
information. The head may be full of light, of inspiration,
revelation, and of the mind and will of God, but if those
officers who stand next to them, and if we ourselves are asleep
in relation to our duties, and are not in a fit state to receive
that light, do you not see that the river is dammed up at the
head? There is no current or medium through which the light may
flow to the limbs and branches of the body.
191
I realize that it is the duty, not only of us who hold the
Priesthood but of this people generally, to present ourselves in
humility and faith before the Lord, that we may obtain the
blessings which are in readiness for us, and we can obtain all
the light, the knowledge, the faith the intelligence and power
which is necessary for our salvation by humility, obedience, and
submission to the will of God. We should attend to this in order
that our minds may be prepared, and our bodies become fit
subjects for the reception of the Holy Ghost, so that the Spirit
of God may flow freely through the whole body from the head to
the foot. Then when this is the case we will all see alike, feel
alike, and be alike, and become one as far as the Gospel and
kingdom of God is concerned, as the Father and Son are one, and
then this people will begin to see the position and relationship
which we bear towards each other and towards God, and we shall
feel the importance of attending to our duties, and we will
willingly step forward and improve our time, make good use of our
talents, and obtain the blessings that the Lord has for us to
enjoy; but do you not see that if the people are asleep, and
slothful, and not living up to their privileges, and the Spirit
of God begins to flow from the head to the body, that it soon
becomes obstructed and dammed up?
191
We may trace this principle through the Church and kingdom of
God, and you may carry it into the family government, and you
will find it as brother Kimball has already presented it to us.
It is like the vine with its limbs, its branches, and its twigs.
This is a very good figure to teach us the principle of
righteousness.
191
In order for us to be prepared to do the will of God, and be in a
position to build up His kingdom upon the earth, and to carry out
His purposes, we must not only become united and act as the heart
of one man, but we must obtain the Holy Spirit of God, and the
mind and will of God concerning us, and be governed and
controlled by it in all of our movements and acts, in order to be
safe, and to secure unto ourselves salvation.
191
If I do not enjoy the Holy Spirit, there is something the matter,
and I should labour until that is removed, for I consider that to
be the first turning key, and we should do this to prove that we
are honest before the Lord, and that we desire to do right in our
minds and in our hearts. Yet, as I have said before, unless that
Spirit is with us, we do not know whether we are doing right or
wrong.
191
[President Kimball: Shut that door and let it remain so, for I
tell you there is no one can enjoy the peaceful influence of the
Holy Spirit where there is confusion; and I am sure this
congregation cannot while that door is going clickitty-clack.]
192
As I was remarking, unless we do obtain the Holy Spirit, we are
in danger every step we take, we are not safe, neither are we in
a condition to build up the kingdom of God or do His work. I
consider that the Lord requires this at the hand of every man and
woman in Israel, every Latter-day Saint, that we first obtain the
Holy Spirit, then bring forth the fruits of it unto salvation,
then you will see this people keep their covenants and obey the
commandments of God; this is the duty of all of us, and we should
live our religion and follow its dictates. When this is done, you
will see this people awake and bring forth works of
righteousness, then they will have faith, and they will have
power, and rise up, and the power and glory of God will be made
manifest through such instruments as the Lord has chosen in this
dispensation upon the earth, into whose hands He has committed
the Holy Priesthood.
192
Ask any people, nations, kingdoms, or generations of men the
question, and they will tell you they are seeking for happiness,
but how are they seeking for it? Take the greatest portion of
mankind as an ensample, and how are they seeking for happiness?
By serving the devil as fast as they can, and almost the last
being or thing that the children of men worship, and the last
being whose laws they want to keep are the laws of the God of
heaven. They will not worship God nor honour His name, nor keep
His laws, but blaspheme His name, from day to day, and nearly all
the world are seeking for happiness by committing sins, breaking
the law of God, and blaspheming His name and rejecting the only
source whence happiness flows.
192
If we really understood that we could not obtain happiness by
walking in the paths of sin and breaking the laws of God, we
should then see the folly of it, every man and every woman would
see that to obtain happiness we should go to work and perform the
works of righteousness, and do the will of our Father in heaven,
for we shall receive at His hand all the happiness, blessing,
glory, salvation, exaltation, and eternal lives, that we ever do
receive, either in time or eternity.
192
We should understand that we should not deceive ourselves in this
matter, for if we deceive ourselves we shall suffer the loss. We
may just as well search our own hearts, and at once resolve that
we will do the works of righteousness, honour our Father in
heaven, do our duty to God and man, take hold and build up the
kingdom of God, and we will then understand that in order to
obtain happiness and satisfy the immortal soul in a fulness of
glory, that man must abide a celestial law, and be quickened by a
portion of the celestial Spirit of God; and we will also
understand that to commit sin, break the law of God, and
blaspheme His name, will bring sorrow and misery, and it will
bring death, both temporally and spiritually. If we walk in the
paths of unrighteousness, we grieve the Holy Spirit, and grieve
our brethren, and injure ourselves.
192
Again, I wish to say a few words upon the blessings to be
obtained by what we do, the labours we perform, the work we are
called upon to do in paying our tithing, in building temples, and
in doing those things that are required of us. These are things
that are for our own benefit and good, these, with other
subjects, have been impressed upon my mind for some weeks past,
and it does appear to me that the people have not understood
these things in their proper light.
193
Some of the people have looked upon the law of tithing as a kind
of tax and burthen laid upon them, but who is it for? Our
tithing, our labour, and all that we do in the kingdom of God,
who is it all for? The tithing is not to exalt the Lord, or to
feed or clothe Him, He has had His endowments long ago; it is
thousands and millions of years since He received His blessings,
and if He had not received them, we could not give them to Him,
for He is far in advance of us. I want the brethren to understand
this one thing, that our tithing, our labour, our works are not
for the exaltation of the Almighty, but they are for us. Not but
what the Lord is pleased to see us obey His commandments, because
by doing this it will place us in a position that will fulfil and
accomplish the object of our creation, and bring about the end
designed by our coming to take tabernacles here in the flesh.
Again, when we do wrong, the Lord knows we shall inherit sorrow
and misery if we continue in that wrong. Then I say, brethren,
let us understand this as it is, and we shall do well. In paying
our tithing, in obeying every law that is given to exalt us and
to do us good, it is all for our individual benefit and the
benefit of our children, and it is not of any particular benefit
to the Lord, only as He is pleased in the faithfulness of His
children and desires to see them walk in the path which leads to
salvation and eternal life.
193
If we look upon things in this light, we shall do every thing
cheerfully, and whatever calls are made upon us, we shall gladly
respond, and then the channels will be opened, there will be no
obstruction in the edification of the body of Christ, and light
and intelligence will flow from the fountain-head unto the
people, then when a man speaks, the people will, by their prayers
and faith, draw forth the word of the Lord from him, and they
will have their minds upon the things of God, and not upon
everything else as it has been heretofore.
193
If this people would rise up and do their duty, when men rise
before them in this stand to point out the way of life, the
Spirit of the Lord would reveal the things necessary for the
people to understand, for the faith of the people would draw them
out. All that is required is for the people to arouse themselves,
and get the light of God within them.
193
Brethren, I do not feel to speak much longer; I have done what I
was required to do--to occupy a few moments in opening the
meeting this morning, and there are two of the Presidency here
who will speak to the people, and we wish to hear from them. I
will say, let us awake to righteousness, and in doing this we
will see that there is no time to go to sleep; this we shall all
know when we come to the end of the race, if not before. We are
now in our alphabet, we are yet engaged in doing our first works,
and there are many lessons and principles which we have yet to
learn before we get to those who are gone far in the advance of
us and received their reward with the just; and, therefore, I
say, there is no time to be lost. Let us make the best use of our
time, and in doing so, I pray that our minds may be enlightened,
that we may live our religion, that we may grow in grace and in
the knowledge of God, from this time forth, that we may improve
the talents we have received, and that we may be satisfied at the
end of the race, which may God grant, for Christ's sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, February 1, 1857
Brigham Young, February 1, 1857
PROPHETS WEEP BECAUSE OF THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE--ONE GENERATION
SHOULD
IMPROVE UPON THE EXPERIENCE OF ANOTHER--MANY SET
THEIR HEARTS ON PERISHABLE THINGS--PROVISIONS ARE MADE
FOR THE EXALTATION OF ALL--THE SPIRIT SHOULD
RULE THE FLESH--LIMITED KNOWLEDGE OF MAN--PHENOMENON OF
FORGETFULNESS--NATURAL PHILOSOPHY--EMIGRATION.
A Discourse, by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, February 1, 1857.
194
Let the congregation be as still as possible.
194
I wish to occupy a short time in speaking to you, and I am not
able to talk with the ease that I could wish, for my health has
for some time obliged me to confine myself pretty closely to my
rooms. This is the first time that I have walked so far as to
come to this Tabernacle since the burial of Jedediah M. Grant. My
bodily afflictions would not permit me to walk much, and they
also still hinder my efforts in speaking or exercising. I have
been troubled this winter as are many in this high altitude, with
a rising of the blood to the head; that is what is troubling me
this morning, insomuch that I hardly felt able to get here.
194
Aided by the faith and prayers of the Saints, I will endeavour to
speak so that you can hear me, and to edify you according to the
best of my ability.
194
I have a great desire to teach people the way of life and
salvation; I have been occupied in that labour for many years. It
has been my chief business to instruct the inhabitants of the
earth how they can secure unto themselves eternal life. The more
I become acquainted with the principles pertaining to salvation,
and the more strictly I adhere to them, the more importance I
attach to them.
194
If I do not always view people as they really are, yet I see them
partially as they are, perhaps, as looking through a glass
darkly, and in the vision of my mind, looking at this people
called Latter-day Saints, and leaving out the residue of the
inhabitants of the earth, to give vent to my understanding, I
could cry aloud and weep before the Lord. It appears to me that
very many, in their understandings, according to the past conduct
of the people, leaving out the present, are too much like brute
beasts, or like the door on its hinges, which opens and shuts as
it is acted upon, and is insensible. This appears to be the
situation of some of the people.
194
Sometimes this seems strange and inconsistent, knowing that
mankind are organized to receive and continue to receive, and
that receiving one fact in the understanding does not deprive
them in the least of receiving another. There is no heathen
nation but what expects their posterity to improve in all the
knowledge they possess, and that is required by the parents. But
the Christian nations with whom we have been associated, boast of
their intelligence, suppose that they are exhibiting great
knowledge, and that it towers to the heavens, and expect their
children to improve in all the arts and sciences in their
possession.
195
When people have the privilege of securing to themselves eternal
exaltation, when the words of eternal life are given to them,
what a pity it is that they do not understand, how liable they
are to fall out by the way, and that this is necessary in this
state of probation. Place before some persons that which their
appetites crave and require, and they will forsake every other
thing, even their best friends. They will contend against their
best friends and benefactors, in order to glut their appetites.
When I look at this people, to say nothing about any people but
the Latter-day Saints, if I have a correct understanding, some
few of them look to me to be much like what we call brute beasts.
The people are instructed, from their youth, that there is no end
to their learning. They are taught by their parents and by their
teachers that they can continue to learn, that they can store up
knowledge, treasure up the wisdom of the world, and never see the
time, although they shall live to the age of Methusela or older,
but what they can add to their store of knowledge.
195
When I apply these principles to the Latter-day Saints, it would
seem that when they are once filled, when they are once fed upon
the words of eternal life until their souls are satisfied, they
conclude that that meal will last for ever. They think they will
never require any more, and so they become empty, faint, wearied,
dull, stupid, and before they are aware of it, they need a spirit
of reformation; they need a fresh manifestation of the power of
God to stir them up and waken them out of their sleep, to remove
the scales from their eyes, to arouse them from their lethargy.
And when again awakened, they begin to see that they have been
without food; then they can realize that they have neglected the
more weighty matters. I ask the Latter-day Saints, is such the
case? Is it true that any of the Elders of Israel, with their
wives and children, neglect the things of God, and turn to the
paltry, corruptible things of earth, and let their affections and
feelings be attracted from holy principles, and placed on objects
of no moment? You can answer this question at your leisure.
195
You that see and understand things as they are, you who can
obtain the visions of eternity, whose minds soar aloft to things
beyond this vale of tears, how does it appear to you? Do you feel
as though you can weep over the people? Whether you do or not,
that is my feeling. To observe for what trifling things men and
women will turn away from the spirit of the holy Gospel, after
travelling a few hundred miles with, perhaps, a few little trials
to pass through, such as being perplexed with wild cattle in
their teams, with misfortunes and losses; and they thirst, thirst
greedily for the vain and foolish things of the world, and
neglect the Spirit and principles of the holy Gospel. It has
killed them spiritually to pass through those sorrows,
privations, and trials.
195
You may ponder these ideas in your hearts, at your leisure. Such
conduct is one of the most astonishing things to me that ever I
have experienced or beheld; yet I have reasons for thinking that
I understand the natural causes why the people are as they are.
196
I flattered myself years ago, that whoever embraced the doctrine
of salvation would so live as to enter in at the straight gate,
in this, however, I have been mistaken. If we this day had
congregated the vast multitudes that have taken upon them the
name of Christ, that have entered into the new and everlasting
covenant to serve the Lord our God, those who have embraced the
Gospel of salvation that has been revealed through His Prophet
and Seer in the last days, and then selected out those who still
stand firm in the faith, you would find that but a small portion
of the vast congregation had kept the faith; far the greatest
number would be on the left hand. If you were to inquire of them
individually, "after you heard the Gospel, believed and embraced
it, did you think you would ever leave the faith?" every man and
woman would reply, "No, no; I will believe and obey until death;
no power on earth shall deprive me of the blessings of the Gospel
that I have embraced; for it I have sacrificed my all."
196
Again, would not thousands that have forsaken their fathers,
mothers, children, or companions, for the sake of the Gospel, but
are now enveloped in the spirit of the world, when asked whether
they know this Gospel to be true, reply, "We believe it;" and
when asked whether Joseph Smith was a Prophet, reply, "We believe
it?" Ask such persons why they do not gather with the Saints, and
the ten thousand obstacles that would be presented would tower up
like mountains and keep them from gathering. Ask them why they do
not pay their tithing, and they have ten thousand excuses and
reasons to render. Inquire why they do not do something for the
Gospel, and instruct them if they cannot pay their tithing, nor
gather with the Saints, to go and preach to their neighbours, and
they will say to you, "O, my neighbours are pretty well off, they
are good people; here are the Methodists, Baptists,
Presbyterians, &c., and they are good people, and I really do not
feel it my duty to preach to them." Where are such persons? They
are in darkness, they have apostatized. Another great class you
will find have come out in open rebellion to the faith, to those
principles they once testified they knew to be true, and that too
by the power of the Holy Ghost.
196
Now leave that vast multitude, and come to this place. Here is
the gathering of the people; here is the carcass, and the eagles
gather to this place; here they are by thousands and scores of
thousands. Look through this vast multitude before me, and
through the inhabitants of this Territory, and then go to the
United States and to Europe, and the Islands of the sea, and
gather up all who profess to be Latter-day Saints, and how many
of them are there in the way to enter into the straight gate? How
many are going to be crowned with the Gods? You will all admit
that this is a hard question to answer. Do you think one half of
them will enter in at the straight gate, pass by the angels and
the Gods, and receive a celestial exaltation? I pray they may,
even if I do not believe so.
196
Is there any person deprived of this privilege? No, not one. Has
the Lord cast an obstacle in the way of any individual, to
deprive him of the privilege of being exalted? No, not one: but
every thing that could be done has been done, every provision
that could be made has been made, every law that could be
instituted to encourage and elevate the people, to increase their
faith, their knowledge, their understanding, and to lead them to
life and salvation, the Lord has brought to this people. Then the
Lord is not to blame. Are angels to blame? Are they hindering the
people? No. Are the spirits of the just casting stumbling blocks
before the people, or tying their hands, or turning them away
from the right path? No.
197
Do you think that one half of the people walk up to every known
duty, are so doing and labouring that they are in the straight
and narrow path that leads to the lives? Answer this question at
your leisure. Yet every person will acknowledge that every thing
the Lord could do for our salvation has been done. All heaven is
anxious that the people should be saved. The heavens weep over
the people, because of their hard heartedness, unbelief, and
slowness to believe and act.
197
You have been taught, all the day long, that you are in a world
of sin; you have been taught, all your lives, that the seeds of
sin are sown in your mortal bodies; you have been taught that the
spirit warreth against the flesh, and the flesh against the
spirit; that the spirit of every man and woman that gets into the
celestial kingdom must overcome the flesh, must war against the
flesh until the seeds of sin that are sown in the flesh are
brought into subjection to the law of Christ. This has been
taught you, from your youth up. There is not a society in
Christendom but what has taught these principles, and you have
read them in your Bibles when you were children. Your mothers
taught you that we were in a world of sin, and that the enemy of
righteousness is all the time ready and watching to overcome
every individual. You reply at once, "We believe this doctrine,"
and yet, from day to day, from week to week, from month to month,
from year to year, we go on as we have. Some will say, "I did
give way to my evil passion yesterday, and I will give way again
to-day, and I will let the flesh overcome the spirit. I will
bring my spirit into subjection to my evil passions and evil
influences that the enemy of Christ has sown in the human system.
I will let the tongue speak just what it pleases; I will rail out
against my neighbour; when I get mad I will blaspheme; I will
deceive my brother, or my neighbour," and thus they bring the
spirit into subjection to the flesh, until the Lord Almighty will
withdraw the light of truth from those individuals, and they are
left, if not to apostatize, to deny Joseph as a Prophet, Jesus
Christ as the Saviour, and to esteem Holy Writ and all the
revelations from God as a burlesque. They are left in the dark,
to welter in sorrow in the flesh, and in the spirit world they
never can be exalted.
197
Is it, then, any marvel, that those who dwell in the heavens
should weep over the people? Do you wonder, now, that the
Prophets used to weep over the people in ancient times? That
Joseph used to weep over the people in his day? If you do, I do
not.
197
Here is a large number of the Latter-day Saints situated upon the
mountain tops, and right before each individual is eternal day or
eternal night; eternal light or eternal darkness; eternal love or
eternal hatred; eternal glory or eternal misery. This would want
a great deal of explaining, to bring it down to your capacities,
so that you can understand; but I use one class of these
expressions to convey an idea of the opposite of the glory
prepared for the very people now before me. The Lord has done
every thing He can do in justice and in truth; in His mercy and
in His longsuffering and kindness there is nothing He has
neglected, in order to put into the possession of this people
power to secure to themselves eternal day, eternal peace, instead
of eternal misery. Eternal glory, happiness, beauty, power,
exaltation, excellency, and every good thing are prepared for the
Elders that now sit before me to enter into the presence of the
Father and the Son, where they could be exalted, sit with the
Gods, be crowned with immortality and eternal lives; become the
fathers, not only of many nations, but of an endless posterity;
be the framers, not only of a kingdom, but of an endless chain of
kingdoms. Nothing more can be done, than what has been done.
198
How many of those now looking on me will order their lives so
that they will secure to themselves eternal happiness an
exaltation? Do you think that one half of this congregation will
answer that question? I pray that they may, whether I believe it
or not.
198
Do you see people neglect their eternal welfare? A feeling
prevails with some that, "we do not know these things, we have
not seen these things, we do not understand that there is a
kingdom prepared for the faithful; we do not understand that
there is a place prepared for those that are unruly, those that
disbelieve, those that neglect the truth and the Gospel when put
in their possession. We do not know anything about these things."
Is this so? What do you say, brethren and sisters? Have you seen
the Father and the Son? Do you know where they live? "O, no."
Have you seen the courts of glory, have they been opened to your
view? "O, no." What next? The spirit of unbelief takes place in
your hearts. The enemy, the evil that is in the world, that has
caused the trouble, sorrow, and perplexity, is with you, is your
constant companion, and is continually suggesting that you know
nothing about these things, consequently, without the utmost care
and exercise of faith, and close application in life of the
requirements of heaven, you are left to drink into the spirit of
infidelity.
198
In this manner people are left in darkness, do not understand the
things of God, neglect their salvation, and go grovelling and
feeling their way through this world, without a ray of light to
shine on their path; hoping that there is a God, and, if there
is, that He will be merciful to them; thinking that, if there is
a heaven, they want to go there; if there is such a character as
a Saviour, they hope his blood will atone for their sins; and if
there are any such beings as angels, they hope they will pick
them up, by and bye. It resolves itself to this, "If there is a
God, O, be merciful to me." You do not know, do you? "O, no, we
cannot realize it."
198
Let me ask a question, before I proceed further. How did you feel
when the Spirit of the Gospel first entered into your hearts,
when the light of the Gospel first shone in your understanding?
Had you any such feelings then within you? Had you any doubts?
How did you talk, when you first rose to testify that the Book of
Mormon was true, that Joseph was a true Prophet, that this work
was of God, that the Lord Almighty has revealed Himself in these
our days? Had you any doubts? "No, I could not help bearing
testimony to those things, I was so full of light and peace." Did
you hate anybody, at that time? "No. I was filled with peace and
union; I loved God and all the works of His hands. There was no
anger, malice, or wrath in me." Do you feel so now? Many of you
would tell me, "no." Have you abode in that Spirit and feeling?
You will answer, "no."
198
You say within yourselves, "I believe the Gospel, I believe the
Lord has revealed the truth concerning Himself, concerning the
Son, concerning angels, salvation, eternal exaltation, &c.; I
admit all this to be true." Then you have to admit that we are
organized to inherit all glory, power, and excellency; to be
filled with eternal salvation and exaltation, and to become the
sons of God, as the Apostle says, to be "gods, even the sons of
God;" fathers who shall endure, and whose posterity shall never
end; though the Apostle turned the point very quick, because the
people were not prepared to receive it. You admit the fact that
we are organized expressly for the purpose of being exalted with
the Gods.
199
You have the words of eternal life in your possession. What next?
Take your own philosophy; if I am organized and capacitated to
receive this glory and this exaltation, I must be the friend of
Him who has brought me forth and instituted this exaltation for
me; I must not be His enemy at any time. Again, you say, "we are
organized to become Gods, even sons of God; to act
independently." You expect to see the time when you will have at
your control worlds on worlds, if your existence endures. Take
Abraham, for instance, you can read the promise made to him, and
again to Jesus. "Now," say you, "we are to have kingdoms,
thrones, principalities, powers, dominions, &c." Can you read it
in this book? This is the Old and New Testament, which you and I
were taught, from our youth, to believe is the word of God. If I
am to receive these blessings I will be an independent character,
like those who dwell in eternity. If this is the case, let me
pause for a moment and use my own natural philosophy. How can I
prove myself the friend of God, who has placed all this glory
within my reach, unless His influences are withdrawn from me, to
see whether or not I will be His friend? At the time when you
receive the greatest blessings by the manifestations of the power
and Spirit of God, immediately the Lord may leave you to
yourselves, that you may prove yourselves worthy of this
exaltation. Multitudes, on the right hand and on the left, when
this Spirit and power are withdrawn from them, sink into
unbelief, and do not know whether there is a God, or not. Ask
them, "What did you realize and experience yesterday?" The reply
is, "I do not know anything about it. I can see this house, I can
see the sun, I can see men and women, but I can say no more." "Do
you believe what you believed yesterday?" "I do not know."
199
Can a man be exalted upon any other principle? When men are left
to themselves, it is then they manifest their integrity, by
saying and feeling, "I am the friend of God. Do all people
realize that? If they did, let me tell you, they would cling fast
to their integrity. When the mind of a righteous man is beclouded
by darkness, when he does not know the first thing about the
religion he believes in, it is because the vail is dropped so
that he may act on the organization of his own individual person,
which is calculated to be as independent as the Gods, in the end.
When you are fully aware of this, then you are ready to lay down
your lives for the cause of God and for His people, if you act on
your own integrity and philosophy.
199
One of the greatest trials that ever came on the Son of God when
he was in the flesh, upon that man whom we hold as our Saviour,
was when the mob had him in their possession. They spit on him,
scourged him, mocked him, and made a wreath of thorns and placed
it upon his head, (and I will insure that it was so placed on his
head as to cause the blood to start) and said to him, "Here is
your cross, you poor, worthless scamp, take and carry it on to
that hill, for there we are going to nail you to it." How would
you feel in such a time, and at that very hour and moment when
this tabernacle suffers, should the Father then withdraw Himself
and say, "Now, my son, I will see whether you will prove yourself
worthy or not." Did he walk up the hill? He did, and carried the
cross until he fainted under it; then they took it and went on,
and he submitted patiently to the will of his Father.
200
Will you submit patiently to the will of your Father in the hour
of darkness? Will you say that you are the friends of God? O
shame! Many of you will not say so, in the hour of darkness. Take
these Latter-day Saints, the Elders of Israel, and let many of
them pass where they can hear the name of Jesus Christ and the
name of their Father and God blasphemed, and they will pass along
as unconcerned, and will never move a muscle nor a nerve of their
systems. That is nothing to them compared to what it would be to
have their own dear name spoken against in the least. Speak
against William, John, or Thomas, and then you will see the fire
of resentment roused in that individual; while, at the same time,
they may be opposed to their Father and God, to their Saviour, to
the Prophet, and to their holy religion. People may scandalize
these as much as the tongue of slander can, and not a word said,
nor a look of disapprobation given. But, my dear brethren, those
holy men and women, (pardon me if I burlesque the idea a little)
your names are so dear to you that, let any one speak a word
against them, you are at once for fight.
200
If you want to know what you should do, when you hear a man
blaspheme the name of God, and you feel that there are ten
thousand million devils around you to see whether you will be for
your religion, knock down the man that blasphemes, and say, "If I
cannot pray, I can fight for my religion and my God." When you
are in darkness is the time for you to exhibit your integrity,
and to prove that you are the friends of Him who has called you
to this glory and eternal life.
200
Do you want to know how to pray in your families? I have told
you, a great many times, how to do when you feel as though you
have not a particle of the Spirit of prayer with you. Get your
wives and your children together, lock the door so that none of
them will get out, and get down on your knees; and if you feel as
though you want to swear and fight, keep on your knees until they
are pretty well wearied, saying, "Here I am; I will not abuse my
Creator nor my religion, though I feel like hell inside, but I
will stay on my knees until I overcome these devils around me."
That will prove to me that you are the friend of God, that you
are filled with integrity. This is good for every person to
practise in the hour of trial and darkness. Say, "I am the friend
of God, and if you abuse Him, I shall abuse you." This is what
Abraham used to do. He would take his servants and go out, once
in a while, and chastise the poor, miserable characters that
ridiculed the Priesthood that was on him.
200
Here are the people that say they are Latter-day Saints. Now, if
you can understand your own position, you will know, perhaps,
better how to deal with yourselves and control yourselves; how to
bring into subjection your own dispositions, your passions,
appetites, and wills, and let the Spirit commence and conquer and
overcome, little by little, until you gain the mastery in the
spirit. This prepares the tabernacle for a resurrection and
eternal life. You cannot inherit eternal life, unless your
appetites are brought in subjection to the spirit that lives
within you, that spirit which our Father in heaven gave. I mean
the Father of your spirits, of those spirits which He has put
into these tabernacles. The tabernacle must be brought in
subjection to the spirit perfectly, or your bodies cannot be
raised to inherit eternal life; if they do come forth, they must
dwell in a lower kingdom. Seek diligently, until you bring all
into subjection to the law of Christ.
200
As to the knowledge of the people, what do they know? They know
many things. What do they not know? Ten thousands of millions of
times more than they know, for, comparatively speaking, they know
but little. What knowledge we have, we have obtained by an
experience. No man could know that he could build a building,
unless he was to go to work and try. Were he to go to work and
erect a building, he would then know that he knew how to do it.
201
Some things you do know, and there are a great many things
that you do not know. "Can you mention anything that we do not
know?" Yes, we could enumerate a great many things, and then have
mentioned only a small portion of what is unknown to man. I will
take that class of this congregation that do not know anything
about God, heaven, earth, or hell, nor about anything else only
as they sense with their natural senses, and ask them, can you
tell me your own origin? I would be glad to see such a person,
but he is not to be found. Take a man who does not know anything
about these things, and he cannot tell his origin.
201
Again, with all the wisdom there is in the world, I can refer you
to another thing which you do not know; you do not know how to
take the native elements and organize a body like the ones you
possess. You may take the chemical apparatus of the most
extensive laboratory, and go into these mountains, and see
whether you can, with all your knowledge and appliances, make a
human body that can breathe, to say nothing about the spirit: you
cannot do that; then you do not know how.
201
If we were to ask the question how we came here, we cannot answer
it. We know that we are here, and we know that we live. We know
that we see, hear, smell, &c., through the organization of our
senses. We know that when we have something good to eat, and
plenty of it, that we can satisfy our appetite, and we also know
that we get hungry again; we get sleepy, awake, and go about our
business. The brute beasts know all this, although their
sensitive powers are not so acute, nor possessed of so extensive
a range as are those of the human family; their attention more
particularly belongs to the things of this earth.
201
The Scriptures say that man is created but a little lower than
the angels, still the great majority do not know whether there is
a God; they do not even know whether it is of any use to pray to
our Father in heaven, nor whether they have got a Father there.
We do not know how to make a spear of grass grow on the earth,
nor a tree, nor any other kind of vegetation; all this is beyond
our knowledge. They grow, but we do not understand how. They are
produced from the elements, but undertake to organize the
elements and make a cucumber grow, and we fail; that is beyond
our knowledge.
201
We do know, by observation, that this earth revolves on its axis,
that it has its circuit and performs its annual times. We know,
by observation, that the firmament is filled with small
flickering lights. The astronomer says he knows that many of
those lights are actually suns to solar systems, the same as our
sun is to us. Does he know that? Has he been there to see? "No."
Then he may be deceived; men's eyes are often deceived. They have
had their eyes, ears, and all the other sensitive organs brought
to bear upon a person, and have been positive that they were
conversing with and looking upon him, when at the same time that
person was a hundred miles from them; they were certain that they
heard him speak with their natural ears, yet they were deceived.
So the astronomer may be deceived by his powerful glasses. But
all the argument in the world could not make you believe that
those stars, or lights, were not there; you see them. Suppose
that our optical powers have all been deceived, just as they are
in some instances. There is plenty of proof that the optic nerve
has been deceived, even through a glass, persons supposing that
they saw things which they, in reality, never did see.
202
Upon natural principles, leaving out the light of the Spirit, the
light of revelation, or saying that there is no God, and such
being the case, on the natural philosophy of the natural world,
and the natural belief, and ideas of those who imbibe deistical
principles, they do not know whether it is the sun or not that
shines upon us; they feel warm, they think they see the sun. But
if your optic nerve may deceive you, so the astronomer may be
deceived. "No," says he, "I cannot be deceived," and this
congregation says, "We cannot be deceived; we know that we hear
you preach to-day; we see you in the stand to-day, and all the
earth cannot make us believe to the contrary." May be you are
deceived. "But we cannot be mistaken in this, we do know that it
is certain." Suppose that you go home and to-night sleep very
soundly, and that perchance a stupor should come over you,
causing you to forget what has transpired to-day; I have known
such circumstances. Suppose you forget to-morrow what has
transpired to-day in this Tabernacle, and somebody should come
along and ask you whether you recollected what brother Brigham
said yesterday, you would answer, "I did not hear him say
anything." It would be said, "You were at the meeting, and I saw
you." You would ask, "What meeting? I was not at any meeting."
"Don't you recollect of going to meeting yesterday?" "No, I do
not." Did you ever know a person so forgetful as this? Well, it
is not more strange than much other forgetfulness, not a particle
more.
202
A child says, "Mother, where did you put those shears, or that
knitting? or, what did you do with your pipe?" The reply is, "I
laid it up." "But you must have had it since." "Don't dispute me,
child," while all the time she had the pipe in her mouth. I bring
up these small things, to compare with greater things. Have you
never laid things carefully away and entirely forgotten them,
and, when you have accidentally found them, had all the
circumstances opened to your mind, and said, "O, I know all about
them now, but I have never before been able to bring them to
mind, since the things were so carefully laid by"? That is no
more strange than it is that you should forget what the Lord has
done for you fifty years ago; that is no more strange, than it is
for you to forget when your spirits came into your bodies, for
you came here under a covenant to prove yourselves, in a day of
darkness, to be friends of God, and under a covenant that you
would forget everything that had past previous to your coming
here.
202
What do you know? All that you know, aside from what God has
taught you, is not worth much to you; that I will say on my own
responsibility. You know that the sun shines; you can see the
stars shine in a clear night. You know that when you embraced the
Gospel of salvation in England, the State of New York, Vermont,
&c., you felt happy; that your hearts were full of joy and peace;
that you felt as though the heavens smiled upon you, and that all
around was glory. There was no malice, wrath, or root of
bitterness in you, but since then a cloud has come over you, the
vail has been dropped over the vision of your minds, and you have
been left to act for yourselves. You know all this.
203
What do you know on natural principles? I do not say natural
philosophy, because my religion is natural philosophy. You never
heard me preach a doctrine but what has a natural system to it,
and, when understood, is as easy to comprehend as that two and
two equal four. All the revelations of the Lord Almighty to the
children of men, and all revealed doctrines of salvation are upon
natural principles, upon natural philosophy. When I use this
term, I use it as synonomous with the plan of salvation; natural
philosophy is the plan of salvation, and the plan of salvation is
natural philosophy. I need not say any more with regard to what
you do not know.
203
I have shown you, by instancing small circumstances of common
occurrence, that people are apt to deny to day what they knew
yesterday; and you know that you have disputed others with regard
to these little things which have transpired, after the
circumstances connected therewith had escaped your memory. It is
just so with regard to your religion. And when you come to the
almighty philosophers, those who think they know so much, they
are in the same dilemma; their optic nerves and their glasses may
all deceive them. Unless a person is taught by the principle of
eternity, and is insured by those principles that dwell with the
Gods, he may be in doubt, because it is a doubtful case. All is
doubtful, except what comes from the Almighty in His revelations
to His people.
203
I will now say something about our immigration this season. In
the providences of God when understood, you will see that one
thing has a bearing upon another. The providences of God are
natural principles, when they are all understood, but you take a
little here and a little there, and you leave the people in
mystery and doubt, and they will say that wonderful things have
taken place, when at the same time you will find that they have
all transpired upon natural principles.
203
Previous to the death of Joseph, he said that the time would come
when the Saints would be glad to take a bundle, if they could get
one, under their arms and start to the mountains, and that they
would flee there, and that if they could pick up a change of
linen they would be glad to start with that, and to go into the
wilderness with anything, in order to escape from the destruction
that is coming on the inhabitants of the earth. This we believed,
or at least I did; though it seemed to be pretty hard that people
should be obliged to leave their houses, farms, friends, and
comforts that they had gathered around them, and run from them
all. I am going to take that as a leading item for this season.
203
We have been experimenting. Five companies, I think, have come
across the Plains with hand-carts, and they have come a great
deal cheaper and better than other companies. I believe that if a
company was to try it once with ox-teams and once with
hand-carts, every one of them would decide in favour of the
hand-carts, unless they could ride more and be more comfortable
than people generally are with ox-teams.
204
I count the hand-cart operation a successful one, and there is a
lesson in it which the people have overlooked. What is it? Let me
ask the sisters and brethren here, what better off are you
to-day, than as though you had started with a bundle under your
arm? You started with an abundance, but have you any oxen, or
wagons, or trunks of valuable clothing, or money? "No." What have
you got? A sister says, "I have the underclothes I wore on the
Plains, and a dress, and a handkerchief which I pinned over my
head in the absence of my sun bonnets which were worn out, and I
am here." Are you here? "Yes." Did you come across the Plains?
"Yes." Do you feel bad? "O, no; I feel pretty well." Now reflect,
what else do we want of you, and what else do you want of
yourselves? "Why," says one, "I want a dress and a pair of
shoes." Well, go to work, and earn them, and put them on and wear
them. "I want a bonnet." Go to work and earn it, and then wear it
as you used to do.
204
What do you want here but yourselves? Nothing, but yourselves and
your religion; that is all you want to bring here. If you come
naked and barefooted, (I would not care if you had naught but a
deer skin around you when you arrive here) and bring your God and
your religion, you are a thousand times better than if you come
with wagon loads of silver and gold and left your God behind. If
I want to take a wife from among the sisters who came in with the
hand-cart trains, I would rather take one that had nothing, and
say to her, I will throw a buckskin around you for the present,
come into my house, I have plenty, or, if I have not, I can get
plenty.
204
Some want to marry a woman because she has got property; some
want a rich wife; but I never saw the day when I would not rather
have a poor woman. I never saw the day that I wanted to be
henpecked to death, for I should have been, if I had married a
rich wife. I asked one of my family, when in conversation upon
this very point, what did you bring, when you came to me? "I
brought a shirt, and a dress, and a pair of slippers, and a
sun-bonnet," and she is as high a prize as ever I got in my life,
and a great deal higher than many would have been with cart loads
of silver and gold.
204
The people are what we want. Reflect about this; and let the
Elders when they go upon Missions, sound this in the ears of the
Saints; and, if you please, philosophise upon it, weigh the
matter well, and see what else there is that is in reality good
for anything, but just the Saint at the gathering place; let the
Saint come, and we have all we can get.
204
I want you to keep in mind what Joseph said, that the day would
come when the Saints would be glad to take a bundle under their
arms and run to the mountains. What else have they done this
season? Men and women started with their fine things, they had
their gold and their silver, their flocks and their herds, and
their abundance, but they have nearly all come here naked and
bare footed, comparatively speaking; thank God for that. What do
I care, if not the first particle of the property that is left
behind is ever gathered up again? You are situated precisely as
we were when we left Nauvoo, Kirtland, Missouri, &c. We started
naked and bare. If I can only take myself and my God, and my
religion, it is all I want. The heavens are full, the earth is
the Lord's, and we have nothing to do but go to work and organize
the elements and get what we want.
205
This is the day in which we are to learn and to increase in our
knowledge. Have we got a good lesson this time? I think we have.
What is it? That the Saints, when they start from England, may
stop buying their silks and satins, their ribbons and finery. You
cannot bring them here, unless Providence provides different for
you, than it did for the immigration last season. If you have a
fine silk mantilla, a fine satin dress, fine kid shoes, a fine
lace bonnet, and you say that you want to carry them to Zion, do
as they did last season. Here are the poor we have to bring over.
Now let me tell you that if you had taken the money you paid to
William Walker to bring out the baggage, and used it for the
gathering of the honest poor, it would have done some good; but
that property is spoiled, I understand, and I am glad of it. Much
of it was spoiled before it was taken from Iowa City, or, if it
was not then, it probably is now. And I expect that the goods are
all spoiled at the Devil's Gate. You will pardon me for my
abruptness, but I will tell you what that operation made me think
of, that what you did not leave in hell's kitchen, you had to
leave at the Devil's Gate. If you only honour your God and your
religion, the silks and the satins, and the money you paid out
for them, may all go to hell with the balance. Live your
religion, and the promise I make you is that you shall have what
you want in righteousness. "Then," some one may say, "I will have
a new dress to-morrow, if that is it." But will you not wait,
until your patience is well tried? If you will not, I will make
you, if I can. At the proper time, you will have all the riches
you need. If you had riches now, they would do you no good.
205
Recollect the text, which is that the time will come when the
Saints will be glad to catch a bundle under their arms and run to
the mountains. The time has been when they undertook to come with
an abundance, but they got here with nothing. Take the money that
was laid out for those articles which you expected to put on when
you came into this Tabernacle, and it would have more than made a
comfortable fit-out for the companies from the States. If those
articles had been left in the stores, and you had taken your
sovereigns and half-sovereigns, and shillings, and pence, you
would have had enough to have brought all the companies over
those Plains. This is something that I want you Elders to think
of; and I want you to thunder it among the people, long and loud,
like the thunders of Mount Sinai.
205
Take the money heretofore spent for useless articles, and pick up
your poor neighbours who have not the first shilling; make your
way to Liverpool, pay your passage across the ocean to the United
States, and then take a hand-cart, or a good hickory stick
between two, and put your luggage on it, and let the hand cart
go, and walk to Zion.
205
When you get here, we want nothing but yourselves, if you have
your God and your religion with you; but if you have not them,
stay back. We have already got enough half-hearted Christians
here; we have enough poor devils here now, and half-hearted
hypocrites, and we do not want any more of them to come here. All
hell is boiling over to fill this place with such poor, miserable
characters.
205
If you bring yourselves, it is all we want. Take the money that
bought the goods which have been left on the way, and it would
have brought every soul that came in last season, without the
assistance of the P. E. Fund Company; and, instead of our paying
out fifty or sixty thousand dollars, that sum would have been
saved. That money would have made your fit-out across the Plains,
to say nothing about what has been done for you at this end of
the route.
205
Again, we could have taken every soul that has come in this
season with the wagon trains, by the P. E. Fund, &c., and brought
them from Liverpool cheaper than we brought them out of the snow
at this end of the journey, to say nothing of the hardship and
suffering. Do you not see that there has been a great outlay that
we must save hereafter?
205
I will say to the Saints abroad, if you can get some good hickory
cloth, or some buckskins, and let the sisters make dresses and
garments that cannot be easily torn, and that will last till you
get here, and come and bring yourselves, that is all we want. And
for the time to come, let the P. E. Fund money alone, and let
your silks and satins alone, and take the means you have, and
bring yourselves to this place.
206
The Lord, in His providence, has shown you and me, and the
community in this Territory, and will show to the people in the
old countries, if the Elders are faithful, that they may bid
farewell to bringing their millions' worth of goods here. If they
bring anything, let them bring their sovereigns here; the gold
will do them more good here than anything else. Do not peddle it
out in the world. Get the Lord to send an angel with you; get His
Holy Spirit to travel with you to this place, and leave all trash
behind.
206
If the companies are composed solely of young females, they may
come by tens of thousands, if they like, for I have never yet
seen anything in this market than can equal the hand-cart girls.
206
I want to see men and women come as I have suggested; and I think
just as much of them, if they come and bring their religion with
them, as though they came with cart-loads of gold, silver and
merchandize.
206
I wish you to contemplate upon these things! and I want you to
listen to my exhortation in spiritual things. Here is a people
before me that say they are in a reformation; I believe it. There
is a good spirit they have now in their possession, which some
have not had for some time.
206
I believe that the brethren and sisters are trying to do right,
to make satisfaction, and to order their lives better before God
and each other. And let me tell you that, when you have lived a
whole life time, you will find that you have never righteously
had a single hour to spend for anything except reformation, for
an increase of faith, for a growth in the knowledge of the truth.
You have no time to backslide, nor to spare for the world. It is
God and His kingdom; all things else will be secondary
considerations.
206
I am happy for the privilege of speaking to you to-day, and I
trust that I shall see you here many times. I pray for you
continually, and I know that you pray for me. I do not ask this
people to pray for me, for I have the witness that there is not
an honest heart in this kingdom but what is praying for me
continually. You are before me always, and my whole desire is for
your welfare, and the welfare of the kingdom of God on the earth.
May God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, February 1, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, February 1, 1857
THE PRESIDENCY--THE CONTINUANCE OF THE HEAD WITH THE BODY
DEPENDS ON THE
FAITHFULNESS OF THE MEMBERS--MEN WHEN THEY DIE CANNOT TAKE THEIR
EARTHLY
POSSESSIONS WITH THEM--ELDERS GOING ON MISSIONS WITH
HAND-CARTS--THE
VINEYARD, A PARABLE.
Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, February 1, 1857.
207
I do not know, but the people are getting weary, though I rather
think not, for your eyes look pretty bright; when people become
weary, their eyes look dim.
207
I assure you, brethren, that I feel well, that is, I feel very
well in my mind, and it is a great pleasure to me to see brother
Brigham here in this stand once more. I am satisfied that he will
be with us a great many years, if this people will do right.
207
All, who have the Spirit of the Gospel and live their religion,
will admit that brother Brigham is our head, to use the figure
which I did three Sundays ago; and our head has two Counsellors,
and together they are an independent Quorum. Still they are
attached to the vine that runs through the vail. The vail is let
down, and that throws brother Joseph on the other side of it,
while we stand on this side, that is all the difference. The
nearer you approach that organization, the nearer you approach
the throne of God. I am talking to you who understand, there is
no clip of that vine and Priesthood.
207
If this people are the members of that body of which brother
Brigham is head this side of the vail, the more you rise up, the
more active and useful those members become, the higher the head
can rise, can it not? being elevated by each member acting firmly
in its office. If that be the fact, he is out of the reach of his
enemies, is he not? They cannot approach him, he is out of their
reach.
207
If you will take this course, you will live, and he will live and
will dwell with us a great many years; but if you do not, you
have no assurance that he will be permitted to tarry with you for
many years, nor that I will, nor that several other good men,
whom I could name, will. The period of their sojourn with you for
your guidance, comfort, and edification in righteousness, will
depend more or less upon your faithfulness, inasmuch as you
profess to be attached to the body. The more useless the members
of my body are, the more they oppress the head and the members
that are nearly connected to the head, do they not? They tend to
destroy its fruitfulness. We are members of Christ, and if every
one of those men, those members pertaining to the body of Christ,
or to the Church, will do their duty, do you not see what a
beautiful people we will be?
207
I know that this is the place of gathering, and I know that
thousands, and tens of thousands, and millions will flock to this
land, for wherever the carcass is, they will come with their
budgets under their arms, I know that.
208
I want to know if persons who have nothing but a budget of
clothing under their arms, nothing but one frock, one shirt, one
pair of stockings, and one bonnet, are called to lay down their
bodies and leave this earth, whether they are not just as well
off as I would be, though I have millions of millions of gold,
and thousands of wagon loads of the things of this world? At such
a time, those persons would be just as well off as I would be, so
far as taking any earthly possessions with them is concerned.
208
Suppose that to-morrow my body falls, that I die, these clothes
will be taken from me, and a shirt and a shroud, and a pair of
stockings will be put on this body, and a napkin about my head to
keep my chin up, and that is all of this earth's goods I shall
then need, with the exception of the narrow house you would make
and deposit me in. And should you go to my grave in five years
from this time, you would find everything there that you put
there, even to the ring now on my finger, in case you had left it
at the time of my burial.
208
6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the
sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie.
208
7 And the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the
linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
208
What do I take from this earth? Nothing but my spirit and those
eternal principles connected therewith as it leaves this body,
and the dross remains to turn to its native elements, which
restores back to the earth that which had been organized from it.
When I die, I die to everything that is of an earthly nature, and
leave all that surrounds me here by way of property in earthly
possessions. Nothing leaves here, but heavenly matters and those
things that pertain to heaven and happiness.
208
Then what good does it do to hoard up earthly treasures? None,
whatever. What should you do with them? Put them to a good use.
In what way? Go and buy, for instance, one sheep, and when you
have got one sheep you have got one root, if you cultivate it, it
will add to itself, and by and bye you will have a large flock of
sheep, whereas if you had the money in your pocket it would not
have increased. If you will turn your means to raising sheep,
horses, and cattle, to cultivating peach and apple trees, or to
anything else that is useful, they will increase, just as we
increase. We want to gather, and re-gather, and increase.
208
Many men are desirous to gather to themselves wives, and this,
that, and the other thing. When I go into the world of spirits I
throw off the old clothing and the old body, with all that
pertains to it. And when I go there I shall be clothed anew, with
the elements that are made in the country that I go to. Why?
Because it is immortal and eternal duration. That is the
difference between this world and that world; and then at the
same time that world is this world, and this world is that world.
208
These are my feelings; and as for hurting my feelings to see my
brethren and sisters come from the old countries without anything
except a little food, and a budget under their arms, it did not
worry me. Neither will it worry me to see the Elders, this
season, take their hand-carts and go through to the States, on
their way to foreign lands. I feel now that if I was in the old
countries I would not hear a word an Elder from here said, unless
he had crossed the Plains with a hand-cart, or with a bundle or
knapsack, but I would listen to the man that came with the
hand-cart, or budget. You would say, "This is the boy for me;"
you would hear his words, or, if you did not, his example has
preached louder than earthquakes, and is the power of God unto
salvation to those that believe and practise.
209
That day has come, and the other day has past. I have known
men from Nauvoo, men who were there worth $150 or $200,000, come
here with nothing but a handkerchief, containing a change of
shirts, under their arms. They left their property there; and
what we did not leave in hell's kitchen we left at Devil's Gate.
The devil has a gate where he may catch everything that is not to
do us good, but that is calculated to create a craving appetite
for that which is not here.
209
There are some of this people who have been kept as long as they
have, only upon the principle of their being fondled and
pampered. If they could not have the privilege of nursing at the
breast and have a full supply, or the use of a sugar teat to keep
them alive, they would dwindle and die; they must have something
to suck, in order to keep them alive and in existence, for they
are nothing but pets; pets they are, and pets they will go to
hell, but will find no sugar teats there.
209
Probably a few will leave next spring; they are all fair weather
while they are in our midst, but when it comes spring they will
leave. Thank the Lord for that; and while I feel as I do now, I
shall be thankful for everything that transpires from this time
henceforth, that is, if I live my religion.
209
Supposing that I have a wife or a dozen of them, and she should
say, "You cannot be exalted without me," and suppose they all
should say so, what of that? The never will affect my salvation
one particle. Whose salvation will they affect? Their own. They
have got to live their religion, serve their God, and do right,
as well as myself. Suppose that I lose the whole of them before I
go into the spirit world, but that I have been a good, faithful
man all the days of my life, and lived my religion, and had
favour with God, and was kind to them, do you think I will be
destitute there? No, the Lord says there are more there than
there are here. They have been increasing there; they increase
there a great deal faster than we do here, because there is no
obstruction. They do not call upon the doctors to kill their
offspring; there are no doctors there, that is, if they are
there, their occupation is changed, which proves that they are
not there, because they have ceased to be doctors. In this world
very many of the doctors are studying to diminish the human
family.
209
In the spirit world there is an increase of males and females,
there are millions of them, and if I am faithful all the time,
and continue right along with brother Brigham, we will go to
brother Joseph and say, "Here we are brother Joseph; we are here
ourselves are we not, with none of the property we possessed in
our probationary state, not even the rings on our fingers?" He
will say to us, "Come along, my boys, we will give you a good
suit of clothes. Where are your wives?" "They are back yonder;
they would not follow us." "Never mind," says Joseph, "here are
thousands, have all you want." Perhaps some do not believe that,
but I am just simple enough to believe it.
209
Help brother Brigham along, help brother Heber, brother Daniel,
the Twelve, and every other good person. I am looking for the
day, and it is close at hand, when we will have a most heavenly
time, one that will be romantic, one with all kinds of ups and
downs, which is what I call romantic, for it will occupy in full
all the time, so that we may never become idle, nor sleepy, nor
cease being active in the things of God, which will prevent
dotage.
210
Am I thankful now? I never was more thankful in my life than I am
to-day, to see this people. I know that the majority of them are
rising, and that there are enough of them who will rise, and we
shall see good days, and God will protect us and make a way for
our escape, for this is the natural branch of the House of
Israel, and it sprang from that root that was planted in the
nethermost part of the garden. When it began to spread, the Lord
said, "Cut away those bitter branches, but do not cut them away
any faster than the vine grows." Let us grow together and be one
vine, but many branches, and we shall prosper from this time
henceforth and for ever.
210
"And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto the
servant, let us go to and hew down the trees of the vineyard, and
cast them into the fire, that they shall not cumber the ground of
my vineyard, for I have done all: what could I have done more for
my vineyard? But, behold, the servant said unto the Lord of the
vineyard, Spare it a little longer. And the Lord said, yea, I
will spare it a little longer, for it grieveth me that I should
lose the trees of my vineyard. Wherefore let us take of the
branches of these which I have planted in the nethermost parts of
my vineyard, and let us graft them into the tree from whence they
came; and let us pluck from the tree those branches whose fruit
is most bitter, and graft in the natural branches of the tree in
the stead thereof. And this will I do, that the tree may not
perish, that, perhaps, I may preserve unto myself the roots
thereof for mine own purpose. And, behold, the roots of the
natural branches of the tree which I planted whithersoever I
would, are yet alive; wherefore that I may preserve them also for
mine own purpose, I will take of the branches of this tree, and I
will graft them in unto them. Yea, I will graft in unto them the
branches of their mother tree, that I may preserve the roots also
unto mine own self, that when they shall be sufficiently strong,
perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me, and I may yet
have glory in the fruit of my vineyard.
211
"And it came to pass that they took from the natural tree which
had become wild, and grafted in unto the natural trees, which
also had become wild; and they also took of the natural trees
which had become wild, and grafted into their mother tree. And
the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant, Pluck not the
wild branches from the trees, save it be those which are most
bitter; and in them ye shall graft according to that which I have
said. And we will nourish again the trees of the vineyard, and we
will trim up the branches thereof; and we will pluck from the
trees those branches which are ripened, that must perish, and
cast them into the fire. And this I do that, perhaps, the root
thereof may take strength because of their goodness; and because
of the change of the branches, that the good may overcome the
evil; and because that I have preserved the natural branches and
the roots thereof, and that I have grafted in the natural
branches again into their mother tree, and have preserved the
roots of their mother tree, that, perhaps, the trees of my
vineyard may bring forth again good fruit; and that I may have
joy again in the fruit of my vineyard, and, perhaps, that I may
rejoice exceedingly that I have preserved the roots and the
branches of the first fruit. Wherefore go to, and call servants,
that we may labour diligently with our mights in the vineyard,
that we may prepare the way, that I may bring forth again the
natural fruit, which natural fruit is good, and the most precious
above all other fruit. Wherefore, let us go to and labour with
our mights this last time, for behold the end draweth nigh, and
this is for the last time that I shall prune my vineyard. Graft
in the branches, begin at the last that they may be first, and
that the first may be last, and dig about the trees, both old and
young, the first and the last, and the last and the first, that
all may be nourished once again for the last time. Wherefore, dig
about them, and prune them, and dung them once more, for the last
time, for the end draweth nigh. And if it be so that these last
grafts shall grow, and bring forth the natural fruit, then shall
ye prepare the way for them, that they may grow; and as they
begin to grow, ye shall clear away the branches which bring forth
bitter fruit, according to the strength of the good and the size
thereof: and ye shall not clear away the bad thereof all at once,
lest the roots thereof should be too strong for the graft, and
the graft thereof shall perish, and I lose the trees of my
vineyard; for it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my
vineyard; wherefore ye shall clear away the bad, according as the
good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in
strength, until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be
hewn down and cast into the fire, that they cumber not the ground
of my vineyard; and thus will I sweep away the bad out of my
vineyard; and the branches of the natural tree will I graft in
again into the natural tree; and the branches of the natural tree
will I graft into the natural branches of the tree; and thus will
I bring them together again, that they shall bring forth the
natural fruit and they shall be one. And the bad shall be cast
away, yea, even out of all the land of my vineyard: for behold,
only this once will I prune my vineyard.
211
"And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard sent his
servant; and the servant went and did as the Lord had commanded
him, and brought other servants; and they were few. And the Lord
of the vineyard said unto them, go to, and labour in the
vineyard, with your mights. For, behold, this is the last time
that I shall nourish my vineyard: for the end is nigh at hand,
and the season speedily cometh; and if you labour with your
mights with me, ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay
up unto myself, against the time which will soon come.
211
"And it came to pass that the servants did go, and labour with
their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard laboured also with
them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the
vineyard in all things. And there began to be the natural fruit
again in the vineyard; and the natural branches began to grow and
thrive exceedingly; and the wild branches began to be plucked
off, and to be cast away; and they did keep the root and the top
thereof, equal, according to the strength thereof. And thus they
laboured, with all diligence, according to the commandments of
the Lord of the vineyard, even until the bad had been cast away
out of the vineyard, and the Lord had preserved unto himself,
that the trees had become again the natural fruit; and they
became like unto one body; and the fruit were equal; and the Lord
of the vineyard had preserved unto himself the natural fruit,
which was most precious unto him from the beginning.
212
"And it came to pass that when the Lord of the vineyard saw that
his fruit was good, and that his vineyard was no more corrupt, he
called up his servants, and said unto them, behold, for this last
time, have we nourished my vineyard; and thou beholdest that I
have done according to my will; and I have preserved the natural
fruit, that it is good, even like as it was in the beginning; and
blessed are thou. For because ye have been diligent in labouring
with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have
brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no
more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have
joy with me, because of the fruit of my vineyard. For behold, for
a long time, will I lay up of the fruit of my vineyard unto mine
own self, against the season, which speedily cometh; and for the
last time have I nourished my vineyard, and pruned it, and dug
about it, and dunged it; wherefore I will lay up unto mine own
self of the fruit, for a long time, according to that which I
have spoken. And when the time cometh that evil fruit shall again
come into my vineyard, then will I cause the good and the bad to
be gathered; and the good will I preserve unto myself, and the
bad will I cast away into its own place. And then cometh the
season and the end; and my vineyard will I cause to be burned
with fire."--Book of Mormon.
212
I know that this is the work of God, and that we shall triumph. I
am going to prophesy good pertaining to Israel, that is, to those
that are Israel, for there are a great many who call themselves
Israel that are not, and those that are not shall have the
opposite. I will prophesy evil upon our enemies, upon those who
hate God and kill His servants; may the curse of God be on them.
212
[The congregation responded with a loud voice, AMEN.]
212
God bless the good; God bless the oil and the wine, and all good
men and good women, and good children; bless them from the crowns
of their heads to the soles of their feet, that they may be
sanctified in body and spirit, in root and branches, and in the
seed that is in the root, that it may come forth pure.
212
These are my feelings, and they are good, are they not? You would
feel just so, if you would get the same Spirit, which is the
Spirit of God, and there is no bondage in the Spirit of God; it
is freedom, it is glory, it is happiness, it is heaven when you
go out and when you come in, and there is nothing impure or
oppressive about it.
212
How does my heart feel towards brother Brigham: I have felt, time
and again, as though I was a good mind to lay my hands upon him,
and say, brother Brigham, God bless you with health, with the
power of God, with the Holy Ghost, with angels and revelations,
and every good thing, that you may be lifted up and get out of
the way of the nasty little dogs and whelps, and bitches. Those
are my feelings, and they are the feelings of every good man and
woman in heaven and on earth.
212
Let us live our religion, serve our God, listen to the counsel we
have received this day, and we will prosper always, for evermore,
and we never will go down, but we will always be on the increase
from this time henceforth and for ever, and I know it. Still I do
not know how to make a spear of grass grow, nor how to make two
loaves of bread from one, without I take and cut it in two.
213
Jesus had that power, so had Moses. When the Lord commanded Moses
to tell Aaron to smite the waters of Egypt with his rod, he did
so, and the waters were turned into blood; and when by the order
of Moses, Aaron smote the dust with his rod, "the dust of the
land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt;" and many
mighty miracles did Moses and Aaron perform in the sight of
Pharaoh, by smiting with the rod. Are we in a day more mighty
than that? Yes, and we will see more mighty works in the latter
days, than were the wonders performed in Egypt. The power and
manifestation that was in every dispensation will be manifested
in this kingdom. It is the last time that God will set to His
hand to gather His people. Then, brethren, let us be of this
faith, all of us who are desirous, in this last time, to lay up
fruit for our Father and our God, that we may have joy with Him.
Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Orson
Hyde, December 21, 1856
Orson Hyde, December 21, 1856
A DREAM--WHEAT AND THE CHAFF--WAY OF ESCAPE FROM
TRIBULATION--NECESSITY OF CONSECRATION.
Remarks, by President Orson Hyde, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, December 21, 1856.
213
Being requested to make a few remarks this afternoon, I rise to
comply with the request. I can say, like those that have spoken,
and as I have spoken myself, I feel thankful to the Lord for the
privilege of once more standing in your midst to speak to you of
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. It is true we have
had rather a cold time in coming through from the western portion
of Utah, and I thought before we arrived within the borders of
the settlements, we had had a pretty severe time; but after we
arrived and ascertained what kind of times our brethren had had
here in the eastern mountains, I concluded that we had had pretty
fair times, and nothing to complain of. We are sound in body,
limb, and joint, and none of us suffered materially, and what any
of us might have suffered last year in the snows of the Sierra
Nevada mountains, those injuries are fully repaired, and I
believe we are all fit for service, and I feel thankful to God
our Heavenly Father for these blessings. I have the privilege of
meeting once more with my friends; I have met with friends and
with enemies both since I have been gone.
213
I simply rise to relate a dream I had a few nights before I
arrived within the borders of our settlements. The old Prophet
says, "He that hath a dream, let him tell it; and he that hath my
word, let him speak it faithfully." We had the word faithfully
spoken in the former part of the day by brother Kimball.
214
I dreamt that I had a very large pile of wheat thrashed, but in
the chaff, and also a good deal in the bundle stacked away that
had to be thrashed, and there seemed to be a portion of the floor
on which the wheat lay that had been removed, but there was quite
a quantity of wheat that lodged on the beams or sleepers, and
this was excellent wheat, but there was considerable dirt with
it. I went to work with a shovel and wing to save that which was
lodged on the beams, and to separate the wheat from the dirt, and
threw it into the pile. But it seemed to be quite a task for me
to clean that wheat. I threw it, by the shovel full, in the air,
with the expectation, as usual, for the chaff to blow away with
the wind, but a portion of the chaff would come down and settle
with the wheat all the time, and I kept to work at in this way.
It seemed, however, to get clearer and clearer of chaff and dirt,
but all I could do a portion of the chaff would come down with
the wheat. I thought it was excellent wheat and good.
214
You can judge for yourselves of the interpretation. At any rate I
feel disposed to contribute my mite and what little strength I
have to save and clean the wheat, that it may be prepared for the
use for which it was intended.
214
The remarks made in the former part of the day are worthy to be
indelibly written upon every heart; that they were made in truth
and in power there is no doubt, and for one I have decreed to set
about the work of repentance and reformation right off. I have
tried to reform and live about as well as I thought I could; but
when I come to look into the glass and see myself, I own there is
room for improvement, and that improvement I intend to make, God
being my helper, with all the speed in my power.
214
I think it was in August last that I wrote to my family, and told
them I thought there was a day of trial near at hand, and that my
feelings were that it would be general throughout the Church; I
presume they have the letter now. These were my feelings back
yonder, these are my feelings all the time. Well, it matters not
how soon it transpires. But let me here, brethren and sisters,
admonish and caution you all, and myself, too, that while we have
the opportunity to right every wrong that is within our power, or
that is within our control, that we do it forthwith, and that we
right ourselves before the Lord. It is not necessary to say many
words, the subject with me is too deep to spend much time in
multiplying words about. I feel that plainness has been the
characteristic of the remarks by brother Kimball this morning,
and truth also; and in order that we may be benefited, let us
cherish his words in our hearts and reduce them to practise, and
square our lives according to the circumstance portrayed before
us, and if we will do this, we shall have reason to hope in the
mercy and favour of our God, that in the midst of tribulation
there will be a way for our escape.
214
And with regard to my time, my talents, and every thing I possess
on earth, it is at the service of this Church and the building up
of the kingdom of God; whenever I, or anything I possess can be
used to further the work of God on earth, I say, with all my
heart, let it go; and furthermore, I feel proud of the
opportunity of doing all in my power to build up this Church.
215
In fact, I will mention one little circumstance with regard to
the consecration law. We heard a good deal about it in the early
part of its agitation. I preached the principle; I believed in
it. Yet business not having been arranged with me to make it
exactly convenient as I thought, I did not subscribe to it, but
put it off to a more convenient season. The Indians are hostile a
portion of the way between here and Carson valley, and we did not
know how we might fare in passing among them; and again, it had
got to be late in the season, and the snows were coming thicker
and faster, and more of them, and it was pretty difficult to tell
whether we should get through safely or not. Thought I, what
evidence have I ever given that I have made a consecration to God
and His Church of that which I possess, suppose it be our
misfortune not to return? In the resurrection what evidence will
appear on record that I have consecrated to God and His Church?
What can I produce? What will the book show? I prayed that I
might, with my brethren, be spared to return and be allowed the
privilege of consecrating to God my earthly goods, and felt a
pleasure in dashing ahead, be the consequences what they might.
Our prayers were answered, and I have, in part, complied with the
dictates of conscience teaching this thing, so that when the
books shall be opened, and another book opened, and the dead
judged out of those things that are written in the books, I shall
rejoice to see that the records will show my feelings towards the
Church. Whatever earthly goods I possess, and what I am, are at
the service and disposal of my brethren to advance the interests
of the kingdom of God.
215
When I heard this morning the remarks that were made, all worldly
interests looked like trash to me. I have laboured hard to lay a
good foundation in the west for a settlement, but if what we have
done must fall a sacrifice, so be it. We did what we thought was
right, and tried to do considerable of it. The fact is, I count
an inheritance in the kingdom of God greater than anything that
this world can afford.
215
Let us remember what has been said to us to-day, and not forget
it; and let us make our calling and election sure, and ask God
Almighty to save us from every ill, except what He gives us
strength to endure, that we may be accounted worthy to be crowned
in His presence, which may He grant in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, February 8, 1857
Brigham Young, February 8, 1857
TO KNOW GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE--GOD THE FATHER OF OUR SPIRITS AND
BODIES--THINGS CREATED SPIRITUALLY FIRST--ATONEMENT BY THE
SHEDDING OF BLOOD.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young,
Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, February 8, 1857.
215
I feel myself somewhat under obligations to come here and talk to
the people, inasmuch as I have absented myself for some time, and
others have occupied this stand.
215
Perhaps I will not talk to you long, but I desire to pursue some
of the ideas that brother Cummings has just laid before you. I
can testify that every word he has spoken is true, even to the
advancement of the Saints at a "small gallop." Though that is
rather a novel expression, still it is true, as well as all the
rest which he advanced.
215
The items that have been advanced are principles of real
doctrine, whether you consider them so or not. It is one of the
first principles of the doctrine of salvation to become
acquainted with our Father and our God. The Scriptures teach that
this is eternal life, to "know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent;" this is as much as to say that no
man can enjoy or be prepared for eternal life without that
knowledge.
216
You hear a great deal of preaching upon this subject; and when
people repent of their sins, they will get together, and pray and
exhort each other, and try to get the spirit of revelation, try
to have God their Father revealed to them, that they may know Him
and become acquainted with Him.
216
There are some plain, simple facts that I wish to tell you, and I
have but one desire in this, which is, that you should have
understanding to receive them, to treasure them up in your
hearts, to contemplate upon these facts, for they are simple
facts, based upon natural principles; there is no mystery about
them when once understood.
216
I want to tell you, each and every one of you, that you are well
acquainted with God our heavenly Father, or the great Eloheim.
You are all well acquainted with Him, for there is not a soul of
you but what has lived in His house and dwelt with Him year after
year; and yet you are seeking to become acquainted with Him, when
the fact is, you have merely forgotten what you did know. I told
you a little last Sabbath about forgetting things.
216
There is not a person here to-day but what is a son or a daughter
of that Being. In the spirit world their spirits were first
begotten and brought forth, and they lived there with their
parents for ages before they came here. This, perhaps, is hard
for many to believe, but it is the greatest nonsense in the world
not to believe it. If you do not believe it, cease to call Him
Father; and when you pray, pray to some other character.
216
It would be inconsistent in you to disbelieve what I think you
know, and then to go home and ask the Father to do so and so for
you. The Scriptures which we believe have taught us from the
beginning to call Him our Father, and we have been taught to pray
to Him as our Father, in the name of our eldest brother whom we
call Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world; and that Saviour,
while here on earth, was so explicit on the point that he taught
his disciples to call no man on earth father, for we have one
which is in heaven. He is the Saviour, because it is his right to
redeem the remainder of the family pertaining to the flesh on
this earth, if any of you do not believe this, tell us how and
what we should believe. If I am not telling you the truth, please
to tell me the truth on this subject, and let me know more than I
do know. If it is hard for you to believe, if you wish to be
Latter-day Saints, admit the fact as I state it, and do not
contend against it. Try to believe it, because you will never
become acquainted with our Father, never enjoy the blessings of
His Spirit, never be prepared to enter into His presence, until
you most assuredly believe it; therefore you had better try to
believe this great mystery about God.
216
I do not marvel that the world is clad in mystery, to them He is
an unknown God; they cannot tell where He dwells nor how He
lives, nor what kind of a being He is in appearance or character.
They want to become acquainted with His character and attributes,
but they know nothing of them. This is in consequence of the
apostacy that is now in the world. They have departed from the
knowledge of God, transgressed His laws, changed His ordinances,
and broken the everlasting covenant, so that the whole earth is
defiled under the inhabitants thereof. Consequently it is no
mystery to us that the world knoweth not God, but it would be a
mystery to me, with what I now know, to say that we cannot know
anything of Him. We are His children.
217
To bring the truth of this matter close before you, I will
instance your fathers who made the first permanent settlement in
New England. There are a good many in this congregation whose
fathers landed upon Plymouth Rock in the year 1620. Those fathers
began to spread abroad; they had children, those children had
children, and their children had children, and here are we their
children. I am one of them, and many of this congregation belong
to that class. Now ask yourselves this simple question upon
natural principles, has the species altered? Were not the people
who landed at Plymouth Rock the same species with us? Were they
not organized as we are? Were not their countenances similar to
ours? Did they not converse, have knowledge, read books? Were
there not mechanics among them, and did they not understand
agriculture, &c., as we do? Yes, every person admits this.
217
Now follow our fathers further back and take those who first came
to the island of Great Britain, were they the same species of
beings as those who came to America? Yes, all acknowledge this;
this is upon natural principles. Thus you may continue and trace
the human family back to Adam and Eve, and ask, "are we of the
same species with Adam and Eve?" Yes, every person acknowledges
this; this comes within the scope of our understanding.
217
But when we arrive at that point, a vail is dropt, and our
knowledge is cut off. Were it not so, you could trace back your
history to the Father of our spirits in the eternal world. He is
a being of the same species as ourselves; He lives as we do,
except the difference that we are earthly, and He is heavenly. He
has been earthly, and is of precisely the same species of being
that we are. Whether Adam is the personage that we should
consider our heavenly Father, or not, is considerable of a
mystery to a good many. I do not care for one moment how that is;
it is no matter whether we are to consider Him our God, or
whether His Father, or His Grandfather, for in either case we are
of one species--of one family--and Jesus Christ is also of our
species.
217
You may hear the divines of the day extol the character of the
Saviour, undertake to exhibit his true character before the
people, and give an account of his origin, and were it not
ridiculous, I would tell what I have thought about their views.
Brother Kimball wants me to tell it, therefore you will excuse me
if I do. I have frequently thought of mules, which you know are
half horse and half ass, when reflecting upon the representations
made by those divines. I have heard sectarian priests undertake
to tell the character of the Son of God, and they make him half
of one species and half of another, and I could not avoid
thinking at once of the mule, which is the most hateful creature
that ever was made, I believe. You will excuse me, but I have
thus thought many a time.
217
Now to the facts in the case; all the difference between Jesus
Christ and any other man that ever lived on the earth, from the
days of Adam until now, is simply this, the Father, after He had
once been in the flesh, and lived as we live, obtained His
exaltation, attained to thrones, gained the ascendancy over
principalities and powers, and had the knowledge and power to
create--to bring forth and organize the elements upon natural
principles. This He did after His ascension, or His glory, or His
eternity, and was actually classed with the Gods, with the beings
who create, with those who have kept the celestial law while in
the flesh, and again obtained their bodies. Then He was prepared
to commence the work of creation, as the Scriptures teach. It is
all here in the Bible; I am not telling you a word but what is
contained in that book.
218
Things were first created spiritually; the Father actually
begat the spirits, and they were brought forth and lived with
Him. Then He commenced the work of creating earthly tabernacles,
precisely as He had been created in this flesh himself, by
partaking of the course material that was organized and composed
this earth, until His system was charged with it, consequently
the tabernacles of His children were organized from the coarse
materials of this earth.
218
When the time came that His first-born, the Saviour, should come
into the world and take a tabernacle, the Father came Himself and
favoured that spirit with a tabernacle instead of letting any
other man do it. The Saviour was begotten by the Father of His
spirit, by the same Being who is the Father of our spirits, and
that is all the organic difference between Jesus Christ and you
and me. And a difference there is between our Father and us
consists in that He has gained His exaltation, and has obtained
eternal lives. The principle of eternal lives is an eternal
existence, eternal duration, eternal exaltation. Endless are His
kingdoms, endless His thrones and His dominions, and endless are
His posterity; they never will cease to multiply from this time
henceforth and forever.
218
To you who are prepared to enter into the presence of the Father
and the Son, what I am now telling will eventually be no more
strange than are the feelings of a person who returns to his
father's house, brethren, and sisters, and enjoys the society of
his old associates, after an absence of several years upon some
distant island. Upon returning he would be happy to see his
father, his relatives and friends. So also if we keep the
celestial law when our spirits go to God who gave them, we shall
find that we are acquainted there and distinctly realize that we
know all about that world.
218
Tell me that you do not know anything about God! I will tell you
one thing, it would better become you to lay your hands upon your
mouths and them in the dust, and cry, "unclean, unclean."
218
Whether you receive these things or not, I tell you them in
simplicity. I lay them before you like a child, because they are
perfectly simple. If you see and understand these things, it will
be by the Spirit of God; you will receive them by no other
spirit. No matter whether they are told to you like the
thunderings of the Almighty, or by simple conversation; if you
enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, it will tell you whether they are
right or not.
218
I am acquainted with my Father. I am as confident that I
understand in part, see in part, and know and am acquainted with
Him in part, as I am that I was acquainted with my earthly father
who died in Quincy, Illinois, after we were driven from Missouri.
My recollection is better with regard to my earthly father than
it is in regard to my heavenly Father; but as to knowing of what
species He is, and how He is organized, and with regard to His
existence, I understand it in part as well as I understand the
organization and existence of my earthly father. That is my
opinion about it, and my opinion to me is just as good as yours
is to you; and if you are of the same opinion you will be
satisfied as I am.
219
I know my heavenly Father and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, and
this is eternal life. And if we will do as we have been told this
morning, if you will enter into the Spirit of your calling, into
the principle of securing to yourselves eternal lives, eternal
existence, eternal exaltation, it will be well with you. But if,
after being put into a carriage and placed upon the road, after
having everything prepared for the journey that infinite wisdom
could devise, this people stroll into the swamp, get into the
woods among the brambles and briars, and wander around until
night overtakes them, I say, shame on such people.
219
I am ashamed to talk about a reformation, for if you have entered
into the spirit of your religion, you will know whether these
things are so or not. If you have the spirit of your religion and
have confidence in you, walk along and continue to do so, and
secure to yourselves the life before you, and never let it be
said, from this time henceforth, that you have wakened out of
your sleep, from the fact that you are always awake.
219
We talk about the reformation, but recollect that you have only
just commenced to walk in the way of life and salvation. You have
just commenced in the career to obtain eternal life, which is
that which you desire, therefore you have no time to spend only
in that path. It is straight and narrow, simple and easy, and is
an Almighty path, if you will keep in it. But if you wander off
into swamps, or into brambles, and get into darkness, you will
find it hard to get back.
219
Brother Cummings told you the truth this morning with regard to
the sins of the people. And I will say that the time will come,
and is now nigh at hand, when those who profess our faith, if
they are guilty of what some of this people are guilty of, will
find the axe laid at the root of the tree, and they will be hewn
down. What has been must be again, for the Lord is coming to
restore all things. The time has been in Israel under the law of
God, the celestial law, or that which pertains to the celestial
law, for it is one of the laws of that kingdom where our Father
dwells, that if a man was found guilty of adultery, he must have
his blood shed, and that is near at hand. But now I say, in the
name of the Lord, that if this people will sin no more, but
faithfully live their religion, their sins will be forgiven them
without taking life.
219
You are aware that when brother Cummings came to the point of
loving our neighbours as ourselves, he could say yes or no as the
case might be, that is true. But I want to connect it with the
doctrine you read in the Bible. When will we love our neighbour
as ourselves? In the first place, Jesus said that no man hateth
his own flesh. It is admitted by all that every person loves
himself. Now if we do rightly love ourselves, we want to be saved
and continue to exist, we want to go into the kingdom where we
can enjoy eternity and see no more sorrow nor death. This is the
desire of every person who believes in God. Now take a person in
this congregation who has knowledge with regard to being saved in
the kingdom of our God and our Father, and being exalted, one who
knows and understands the principles of eternal life, and sees
the beauty and excellency of the eternities before him compared
with the vain and foolish things of the world, and suppose that
he is overtaken in a gross fault, that he has committed a sin
that he knows will deprive him of that exaltation which he
desires, and that he cannot attain to it without the shedding of
his blood, and also knows that by having his blood shed he will
atone for that sin, and be saved and exalted with the Gods, is
there a man of woman in this house but what would say, "shed my
blood that I may be saved and exalted with the Gods?"
220
All mankind love themselves, and let these principles be known by
an individual, and he would be glad to have his blood shed. That
would be loving themselves, even unto an eternal exaltation. Will
you love your brothers or sisters likewise, when they have
committed a sin that cannot be atoned for without the shedding of
their blood? Will you love that man or woman well enough to shed
their blood? That is what Jesus Christ meant. He never told a man
or woman to love their enemies in their wickedness, never. He
never intended any such thing; his language is left as it is for
those to read who have the Spirit to discern between truth and
error; it was so left for those who can discern the things of
God. Jesus Christ never meant that we should love a wicked man in
his wickedness.
220
Now take the wicked, and I can refer to where the Lord had to
slay every soul of the Israelites that went out of Egypt, except
Caleb and Joshua. He slew them by the hands of their enemies, by
the plague, and by the sword, why? Because He loved them, and
promised Abraham that He would save them. And He loved Abraham
because he was a friend to his God, and would stick to Him in the
hour of darkness, hence He promised Abraham that He would save
his seed. And He could save them upon no other principle, for
they had forfeited their right to the land of Canaan by
transgressing the law of God, and they could not have atoned for
the sin if they had lived. But if they were slain, the Lord could
bring them up in the resurrection, and give them the land of
Canaan, and He could not do it on any other principle.
220
I could refer you to plenty of instances where men have been
righteously slain, in order to atone for their sins. I have seen
scores and hundreds of people for whom there would have been a
chance (in the last resurrection there will be) if their lives
had been taken and their blood spilled on the ground as a smoking
incense to the Almighty, but who are now angels to the devil,
until our elder brother Jesus Christ raises them up--conquers
death, hell, and the grave. I have known a great many men who
have left this Church for whom there is no chance whatever for
exaltation, but if their blood had been spilled, it would have
been better for them. The wickedness and ignorance of the nations
forbid this principle's being in full force, but the time will
come when the law of God will be in full force.
220
This is loving our neighbour as ourselves; if he needs help, help
him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his
blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it. Any
of you who understand the principles of eternity, if you have
sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood, except the sin unto
death, would not be satisfied nor rest until your blood should be
spilled, that you might gain that salvation you desire. That is
the way to love mankind.
220
Christ and Belial have not become friends; they have never shaken
hands; they never have agreed to be brothers and to be on good
terms; no, never; and they never will, because they are
diametrically opposed to each other. If one conquers, the other
is destroyed. One or the other of them must triumph and utterly
destroy and cast down his opponent. Light and darkness cannot
dwell together, and so it is with the kingdom of God.
220
Now, brethren and sisters, will you live your religion? How many
hundreds of times have I asked you that question? Will the
Latter-day Saints live their religion? I am ashamed to say
anything about a reformation among Saints, but I am happy to
think that the people called Latter-day Saints are striving now
to obtain the Spirit of their calling and religion. They are just
coming into the path, just waking up out of their sleep. It seems
as though they are nearly all like babies; we are but children in
one sense. Now let us begin, like children, and walk in the
straight and narrow path, live our religion, and honour our God.
221
With these remarks, I pray the God of Israel to bless you forever
and ever, for you are the best people on earth. I can say that I
am happy that you are doing so well as you are. Continue to
increase in all the graces of God's Spirit until the day of His
coming, which I desire with all my heart, in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, February 8, 1857
THE AX THAT IS LAID AT THE ROOT OF THE
TREE--REGENERATION--PRODUCTS
OF POLYGAMY, A NUMEROUS OFFSPRING, ETC.
A Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, February 8, 1857.
221
I know not what I shall say or how I shall be led to address you,
but I have no doubt many are thinking that perhaps I shall be led
to speak as plainly as I did two or three weeks ago. With regard
to that I wish to tell you, brethren and sisters, that I never
could have led myself in such a train of ideas; the Holy Ghost
led me to speak upon those items that you consider small items,
for if you did not consider them of little moment you would
reform in your practices touching those points, and take a
different course from what you do. I do know, and that most
positively, that if this people would put into practice those
things that I recommend, they would be blessed, for they are
fundamental principles of our holy religion.
221
These things are the ax that is laid at the root of your trees;
and what is it? It is rottenness. Where is that rottenness? It is
at the root of the tree; and if the roots have become
rotten--have become defiled--then of course the tree will also be
rotten, with every branch pertaining to it, and the whole tree
will perish. You are every one of you compared to a tree, or to a
body; and there is no body, neither will there be, but what has a
root to it; if it were not so you could not produce a posterity.
It is for you to take that evil--that corruption--away from the
root. It is a corruption that the world is dabbling in, and this
people are dabbling in it more or less. Such a thing as adultery
never would be known in the house of Israel, if some were not
dabbling in that evil, and if rottenness was not at the roots of
some of the trees. It is this which leads to the principle of
adultery, and the body has become tinctured with corruption.
222
It is like this: take a good sweet barrel and fill it with good
sweet pork, and then deposit in the centre of it a tainted piece
as big as my fist, and how long will it be before it will ruin
the whole barrel of good meat, in case the tainted meat is not
removed? Upon the same principle let wickedness be in our midst
undisturbed--pay no attention to it at all--and it will ruin this
whole people. It will canker the roots of the trees and spread,
until all the branches pertaining to those trees are defiled and
corrupted. We have got to lay those evils aside--to cease
tampering with them, and pursue a course that will lead to
regeneration.
222
Many may not know what regeneration is. If I can tell you what
degeneration is, then I can tell you what regeneration is. For
instance: take a quart of the strongest alcohol, and mix ten
quarts of water with it, and you have reduced its strength ten
degrees lower than it was; or if you mix twenty quarts of water
with it, then you have reduced it twenty degrees below the point
at which it was. I bring this up as a comparison, to show that
the world have become degenerated. Upon the same principle some
are a great many degrees below zero, that is, below the point of
perfection at which God first made us.
222
Some are so far from the summit they first occupied that they
cannot see it, nor can they see our Father who lives there. How
is the quart of strong alcohol to be restored back to its
original strength? It must go through the process by which it was
first produced, or some process for separating it from that by
which it has been degenerated. I do not know of any other way;
and that is regeneration.
222
What I mean to convey is that we become degenerate by receiving
principles that are less pure and perfect than the principles of
God. Some have received the principles of the opposite, that is,
of the devil, and have been degenerating and degenerating until
they are, as it were, 260 degrees below zero. I merely use this
figure to show you the principle of regeneration and
degeneration.
222
I was speaking here a few Sundays ago for you to multiply and
increase. Our generation is on the increase, and is returning
back towards our Father and God. Brother Brigham has talked here
to-day so plain that a little child cannot misunderstand it. He
spoke about our Father and our God; I believe what he has said,
in fact I know it. Often when I have been in the presence of
brother Brigham, we would feel such a buoyant spirit that when we
began to talk we could not express our feelings, and so,
"Hallelujah," says Brigham, "Glory to God," says I. I feel it and
say it.
222
Some of the brethren kind of turn their noses on one side at me
when I make such expressions, but they would not do it if they
knew God. Such ones do not even know brothers Brigham and Heber;
if they did they would not turn a wry face at us. I am perfectly
satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant,
lively, and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful,
pleasant, lively, and good-natured when I have His Spirit. That
is one reason why I know; and another is--the Lord said, through
Joseph Smith, "I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful
countenance." That arises from the perfection of His attributes;
He is a jovial, lively person, and a beautiful man.
222
I cannot refer to any man of my acquaintance in my life as being
so much like God as was brother Brigham's father. He was one of
the liveliest and most cheerful men I ever saw, and one of the
best of men. He used to come and see me and my wife Vilate almost
every day, and would sit and talk with us, and sing, and pray,
and jump, and do anything that was good to make us lively and
happy, and we loved him. I loved him as well as I did my own
father, and a great deal better, I believe. Thus you see that I
am not partial in my feelings. If I see a tree bring forth better
fruit than the tree I was brought forth from, I will like that
tree the best.
223
"31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing
without, sent unto him calling him.
223
"32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him,
Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
223
"33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my
brethren?
223
"34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and
said, Behold my mother and my brethren.
223
"35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my
brother, and my sister, and father and mother."--St. Mark iii.
223
Why should I be partial and selfish? Some men cannot go and live
but a short time in Tooele, or San Pete, or Box Elder, or in any
other of our settlements, before they begin to feel that there is
no people like the people in the place where they are living. I
do not mean Bishop Warren Snow, for it will not hit him; no, but
it will hit lots. I don't mean Lot Smith, but I mean that it will
hit many.
223
I am national in one respect: I am strongly in favour of the
house of Israel, and of all good men and women of every nation,
clime, and country, for they are of my kindred, and have sprung
from the same Father and God that I have. But, as brother James
W. Cummings said when speaking about them, do I love the wicked?
Yes, I love them insomuch that I wish they were in hell, that is,
a great many of them, for that is the best wish I can wish them.
And those that killed Joseph and Hyrum, and David W. Patten, and
other Patriarchs and Prophets, I wish they were in hell; though I
need not wish that, for in one sense they are in hell all the
time; and if they have not literally gone down into hell they
will go there, as the Lord God lives, every one of them, and
every man that consented to the acts those murderers performed.
That is loving the wicked, to send them there to hell to be burnt
out until they are purified. Yes, they shall go there and stay
there and be burnt, like an old pipe that stinks with long usage
and corruption, until they are burnt out, and then their spirits
may be saved in the day of God Almighty. It is my feelings that
they may be damned for their awful iniquity in shedding innocent
blood, as also all who sanction their acts, both men and women,
together with all who associate with them and partake of their
spirit, for that spirit is opposite to God and His servants.
223
As brother Brigham has said, I can say that every word is true
that brother James has spoken. God bless him and fill him with
the Spirit of righteousness, that the power of God may be upon
him; and God bless every good man and woman; the blessings of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob shall be upon them, and you cannot help
it. We will arise and live our religion and serve our God;
instead of running down into degradation we will regenerate
ourselves.
223
Brethren, do listen to what I said here a few weeks ago. It was
spoken in plainness, but it has gone from my mind and I am glad
of it, for through tradition and human weakness I presume I
should feel bad, if I could think what I did say. It was the
truth of God, and it laid the ax at the roots of trees, for I
told you where you were corrupting yourselves. You are corrupting
yourselves--where? In the root. Now let us take a course and
pursue the other path, and go on unto perfection--unto the
restitution, and go back to God from whom we sprung.
224
Does the Lord hear me when I pray to Him? Yes, I do not know that
I ever asked Him in earnest for a thing that was right, but what
I received an answer from Him. I know that He lives; I know that
His Son Jesus Christ lives; I know that the Holy Ghost lives; and
I know that the angels of God live. I know that Joseph, Hyrum,
Willard, and Jedediah, and all other good men who have died in
the faith, live and associate with those who held the Priesthood
before they did. And they are with brother Brigham and with us,
and will be with us forever, for we never will be separated, and
I know it. I know that, brother Brigham, just as well as I know
that I see this people to-day; and I shall be with you, and we
will have a happy time when we meet Joseph and Hyrum and Willard
and Jedediah and father Smith! Will not the old gentleman be
jolly! Yes, for he always was; and he will be more so in
proportion to the greater light and knowledge he has. Those are
the men we are going to meet with; also with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, three of the old polygamists.
224
Do you suppose that Joseph and Hyrum and all those good men would
associate with those ancient worthies, if they had not been
engaged in the same practices? They had to do the works of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in order to be admitted where they
are;--they had to be polygamists in order to be received into
their society. God knows that I am not ashamed of those good men
now, and how much more I shall prize my associate polygamists,
when I am further advanced in knowledge, I do not know. I am
talking in earnest, and from the experience I have had.
224
I know the character of the human family and the course that many
men and women are taking; they are making a desolation and taking
a course to bring destruction upon their root; they are following
a course that would ultimately depopulate the earth. All will
come to that, if they do not take a course of continual increase
for ever and for ever.
224
How long do you suppose it will take a little man like me, though
I feel perfectly able to thrash any six common wicked men, if I
am faithful in keeping the commandments of God and true all the
days of my life to my brethren, as I have been hitherto and mean
to be more so, to get into the celestial kingdom of God with my
whole posterity, in case there should be no obstruction? How long
do you suppose it will be before my posterity increases to over a
million? A hundred years will not pass away before I will become
millions myself. You may go to work and reckon it up, and
twenty-five years will not pass away before brother Brigham and I
will number more than this whole Territory. Now, if that number
proceeds from us, I tell you our roots are fruitful. Take away
every cause of death to those roots and nourish them and cherish
them, and they will increase and you cannot help yourselves. In
twenty-five or thirty years we will have a larger number in our
two families than there now is in this whole Territory, which
numbers more than seventy-five thousand. If twenty-five years
will produce this amount of people, how much will be the increase
in one hundred years? We could not number them, or if we did sum
up the amount to any given time, they are still on the increase.
225
But some of you are taking a course to spend your lives for
nought, while brother Brigham and I are becoming like Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and the Prophets. Why do you not be profitable
to yourselves, and put out your lives to usury? Do you understand
me? That is the principle I love to talk about, and I would just
as soon talk about it here to-day, before you, as in the chimney
corner. Some say that I am vulgar, but I never spoke a word of
vulgarity here. Those who are vulgar receive my language as such,
but the pure never received it so. To those who are pure, all
things are pure; and to those who are vulgar, all things are
vulgar.
225
I have not spoken vulgarly, but have spoken of the acts wherein
some have degraded themselves in the eyes of heaven. God cannot
abide with such persons, nor His angels, and the Holy Ghost will
not dwell with them, when they are so corrupt. Some still
continue in the corruption they were in while they mingled among
the wicked in the world. Is it not time for all to quit it--to
reform and break off from those things? Brothers Brigham, Heber,
and Daniel do not do as you do. We have taken another course--a
course of exaltation, and put out our lives and strength to
usury, while some of you are throwing away your lives--spending
your existence for nought--the axe is laid at the root of the
tree--and you will be cut down by and by, except you forsake such
evils.
225
"19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire.--[St. Matthew's Gospel, 7th chap."
225
My feelings are that I may be like clay in the hands of the
potter, or like a fiddle in the hands of the performer. I am not
going to dictate God, but I feel to say, Father play through me
in a manner that shall be for the salvation of this people. These
are my feelings all the time and my prayer, and that should be
the prayer of every man, and not get up here, as almost every man
does, and say, "I am no preacher, I am not an eloquent man, I
have not got silver lips," and this and that. We know all this,
and what do you want to tell of it here for? It is like a
fiddle's getting up here to make an excuse for the fiddler. I
would knock a fiddle into a cocked up hat, if it should undertake
to dictate me, would not you, brother Smithies? Brother Smithies
is our chorister and is a very modest man, but he would not
permit the fiddle to dictate him. I do not like to hear the
Twelve, the High Priests, the Seventies, the Bishops, nor any
member in this Church and Kingdom who has got the Priesthood, get
up here to make apologies.
225
While speaking of our sins, brother James said let us forsake
them and turn over a new leaf, that is, throw the old one
entirely overboard and commence a new life, as though we never
had commenced. I will illustrate this idea by bringing up a
figure. Suppose that you have an old scrap-book, in which you
have written from your childhood all kinds of scribbling, pot
hooks and hook pots, and marks of every kind and description,
using it one year one end up, and then turning the other end up
and writing down again, insomuch that the old scrap-book presents
to view a miserable mess of confusion. Now, can you correct that
book and put every character into line? You cannot correct it,
except you entirely blot out the old marks, and commence afresh
to write in it and keep it as it should be, so that you will not
be ashamed for the angels to look upon it and be able to say, "It
is well done." You cannot correct the old book, for it has become
a blot. What shall you do with it? If you do as you have been
told, you will take the old scrap-book and tumble it overboard,
or lay it aside and not undertake to look at it any more, and
take a new blank book and fill it up anew, and learn to be men
and women approved of God.
226
Brother Brigham says that if you will all quit your sins and
follies and begin now to pursue a righteous course, your sins
shall all be remitted; the old book will be laid aside and never
again presented before you. But if you persist in your sins after
this mercy, the old book will be brought up against you again,
and you will have to pay the debt or be judged by it. If you will
not quit your sinning, God will have mercy upon you and His
servants will, and you will be blessed. Do you not know that the
Prophet says, that if the people turn away from their sins and
repent, and forsake them, thus saith the Lord, I will no more
remember their sins against them for ever; but if they turn from
their righteousness to their unrighteousness, I will bring all
their former sins back upon their heads, those which they have
committed in all their days? And if you persist in your sins, you
will have to be judged out of the old scrap-book. Is not this a
great promise?
226
It is easy to do right, to lay aside old erroneous notions,
hypocrisy, thieving, lying, and a thousand other things that are
a rebellion against God and against His authority. I want to know
if God will love and respect and send His angels to one of my
wives, though she were fifty, sixty, or a hundred years of age,
if she is disobedient to me when I am as merciful, generous, and
kind a man to her as ever lived? If she disobeys me, persists in
taking a course contrary to my will and the will of God all the
time, saying, "I will do as I please, and the angels will come
and visit me?" Neither God nor His Son Jesus Christ will send the
holy angels to minister to such a woman, and she need not tell
about their coming to visit her, nor about receiving revelations
from heaven concerning brother Brigham, and about what brother
Brigham and brother Heber should do. Damn such fixings, they are
not of God; they never saw Him, nor never will, unless they
repent of such foolishness. I discard such things, and so does
our God, and so do angels. Get revelations for the Prophet of God
to be subject to your requests!!! Get out, you stinking things,
and your swamp angels too. I am as independent of you as God upon
His throne, and of all such creatures and so is any man of God
that is valiant in the latter days. I ask no odds of the world
and its corruptions, nor of anything that pertains to it, for God
my Father and my Elder brother Jesus Christ, and his faithful
servants are my friends.
226
I have spoken these things with good feelings, and these
principles are laying the axe at the root of the trees, and that
tree will fall which is not connected with God and His children.
The Scripture says that there is an axe laid at the root of every
tree, that is, it is laid at the root of every man and woman, and
that axe will be used to slay them, if they persist in iniquity.
If there is an axe at the root of my tree, let me so live that I
may be worthy to pick up that axe and slay the wicked, and not be
slain. That man or woman who will not do that, will be slain.
226
God bless you. I feel good; I feel to bless you. I bless the
Saints, the good men, the good women, and the good children the
wide world over, and I bless the earth we inherit; but I feel to
curse the wicked, and the ungodly, and those who are taking the
road to destruction. I bless all Saints, and all good people.
Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Wilford
Woodruff, February 22, 1857
Wilford Woodruff, February 22, 1857
INTELLIGENCE COMES FROM GOD--SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF
GOD--GREAT CHANGES
TO TAKE PLACE ON THE EARTH--ISRAEL OF THE LAST DAYS--WHY THE
JEWS CANNOT BE CONVERTED.
A Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, February 22, 1857.
227
I feel it a privilege to bear testimony before the Saints to the
exhortations we have heard this morning from brothers Richards
and Wells. We have had good teachings, good counsel, and good
doctrine taught us. And I presume I feel in a measure like the
rest of my brethren when I rise to speak to this people in the
Tabernacle, where such large congregations of Saints assemble; I
have a desire that what I say may do the people good, may edify
them. My brethren also have the same desire.
227
We realize that the minds of this people need feeding
continually, and we all have to depend upon the Holy Spirit and
the Lord to feed our minds from that inexhaustible fountain of
intelligence which comes from God, for we cannot obtain food from
any other source to feed the immortal mind of man. Here are a
large assembly of minds who are reaching forth to receive light
and truth before the Lord.
227
I realize that we have a great many lessons to learn in the
school we are in, and myself as a teacher in connexion with my
brethren have also a great deal to learn. I feel that I am yet in
my alphabet, and feel sometimes that I am incapable of teaching
this people, when I realize they are in the road which leads to
celestial glory--to eternal life and eternal exaltation. I know I
am dependent as I know my brethren are upon God, upon the Holy
Ghost for all the light, truth, and intelligence which we have to
impart unto you.
227
The words which brother Wells quoted, and which brother Samuel
Richards referred to, furnish as strong a proof as can be
furnished as to the true principle of prosperity, touching things
temporal and things spiritual. I refer to the words of Jesus
Christ which he spoke to his followers: "Seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added
unto you." I will tell you, brethren and sisters, we may try it
all the days of our lives, we may try every path and every
principle in this world, and we as Saints cannot prosper upon any
other mode of proceeding than by first seeking the kingdom of
heaven and its righteousness; when we do this there is no
blessing, there is no good, no exaltation, gift, grace, desire,
or anything that a good man can wish that is profitable, and good
for time and for eternity, but will be given unto us.
227
A great many people have tried to seek for happiness independent
of first seeking the kingdom of heaven, &c., but they have always
found it an uphill business, and so shall we if we try it.
228
We as a people should have learned by this time, after having the
experience we have gained, to make up our minds to take hold and
build up the kingdom of God, and it should be the first thing
before us, for if we build up the kingdom of God we build up
ourselves, and if we do not we never shall be built up. This is
the truth. There seems to be something connected with the kingdom
of God and that is righteousness; we are exhorted to seek the
righteousness that belongs to it as well as the kingdom itself.
228
The kingdom of God is a righteous kingdom, all its laws are
righteous, its government is a righteous government, and the king
who governs and controls it does so upon righteous and eternal
principles, and we must act upon the same principles of
righteousness. Who cannot see that if a man seeks first the
kingdom of heaven and its righteousness that he will become
righteous and hence he will be blessed and justified in all of
his acts.
228
With regard to the feelings of the people that brothers Wells and
Richards have referred to, touching the consecration of their
property and dedicating themselves to God, I will say, if we
build up the kingdom of God we should be in that kingdom, and all
we have should be in it, and we should have faith enough in the
Lord to know it is in a safe place.
228
I am a good deal of the opinion of old Captain Russell, who was
an extensive ship-builder, and paid thousands of dollars yearly
to the Gentiles as insurance fees. After he embraced "Mormonism,"
he began to reflect, "here am I paying thousands of dollars
yearly to the Gentiles to insure my ships, and I have to trust to
the God of heaven after all to save my ships from sinking, and to
prosper me in all my undertakings; this is not right." So he went
to Liverpool, where the insurance office was, to settle his
insurance bills and close up his business with the firm.
228
The gentlemen of the firm asked him when he had got through,
saying, "Have we not treated you well, Mr. Russell?" "Yes, I have
no fault to find with you." "What, then, is your object in
pursuing this course? We have done business with you a good many
years; we want to know if you are going to change your insurance
office?" "I am." "Will you tell us where you are going to have
your business done in the future/" "Yes, I am going to have it
done in heaven, for the insurance offices do not control the
winds, the elements are not obedient to them, and I have been
paying ten thousand dollars a year for insuring a few ships, and
I have to trust in the Lord anyhow, so in the future I shall pay
my insurance fee into the Lord's treasury."
228
The gentlemen of the office thought he was cracked or beside
himself, for I tell you trusting in the Lord in these days is an
unpopular business with the world. But the Saints have to trust
in the Lord, and we might as well begin and seek this kingdom and
the interest of it, and the righteousness of it, and build it up
first as last. I believe the people are reforming in this thing;
I believe they are increasing in their faith, and have manifested
it here in the city this winter, and I am glad to see it.
228
The exhortation we have had this morning is proper and
seasonable, as we have been sowing the seed of the word this
winter among the people, and we should watch and see that the
seed is sown in good ground, and try to cultivate the principles
we hear that the fruits of righteousness may appear in abundance.
In doing this we will be saved.
229
We have had one of the most interesting seasons this winter that
we have ever enjoyed since the Church and kingdom of God has been
organized in the last days. We have had new lessons opened unto
us by the servants of the Lord, and among those things the mercy
of the Lord has been manifested in a great degree towards this
people. I have reflected on His mercy and I feel we should be
faithful and humble, and prove true unto the Lord our God because
of this mercy which has been manifested unto us, and we should be
very careful hereafter, as President Young exhorted us the last
time he spoke concerning this people continuing to commit sin. He
plainly laid before us the consequences of this course; we should
let the past suffice wherein we have done anything in which we
cannot be justified. I am satisfied that the people in these
valleys will never hear the same proclamation which we have heard
this winter.
229
If this people with the light they have, the teachings they have,
and the examples they have had set before them intermingled with
chastisement--if they still will go on and be neglectful of their
duties, with regard to their salvation they will have to pay the
debt, for the sinner in Zion will be cut off from the Church of
God, and will have to pay the penalty whether it be small or
great. It is of the utmost importance that we should guard
ourselves against sin as the tree of life is guarded. We have no
time to throw away in the service of sin, in committing iniquity
and grieving the Holy Spirit of God.
229
I tell you when you look around and see the state of the world on
the one hand, and what we have to perform on the other, and what
the kingdom of God has got to arrive at in order to fulfil its
destiny and the revelations of Jesus Christ, our chief object
should be to build up the kingdom of God and roll it on.
229
As I remarked last evening in the High Priests' Quorum, we have
been toiling against a mighty current all the day long from its
first organization, but the day will soon come, if this people
will do their duty and take hold of the kingdom of God as they
should do, it will soon get on the top of the mountain, and then
it will begin to roll down from the mountains, and it will gather
both strength and speed as it goes, and then instead of singing
"Get out of the way, the hand-carts rolling," it will be "Get out
of the way the kingdom's coming," and it will not stop until it
has filled the whole earth. The Lord has proclaimed this in all
the revelations He has given on the subject.
229
This kingdom has got to stand, spread itself abroad, and gather
unto itself strength. The Lord is going to work with this
kingdom, and with this people. The Lord says in the parable of
the vineyard, "My servants laboured with their mights, and the
Lord laboured with them, and they prevailed, and brought forth
the fruits of the kingdom, and the bitter branches were broken
off, and the tame olive brought forth good fruit, and the
vineyard was no more corrupt." This should be uppermost in our
minds, we should look for the building up of the kingdom, and
secure not only blessings for ourselves, but seek to become
saviours of men on Mount Zion, and try to do all the good we can,
labouring to promote the cause and interest of Zion in every
department thereof where we are all called to act.
230
By pursuing this course we shall be prospered, and have continual
peace in our minds, and as the Lord has said, nothing will be
withheld from any man that seeks for the righteousness and
blessings of the kingdom of God. Salvation should be the
uppermost thing with us, and you will find if ever we seek to do
something else besides carrying out the dictates of the Holy
Spirit, we will get into the fog and into darkness and trouble,
and we shall be ignorant of the way we are pursuing. Every day
that we live we need the power of the Lord--the power of His Holy
Spirit and the strength of the Priesthood to be with us that we
may know what to do. And if we will so live before the Lord, the
Spirit will reveal to us every day what our duties are; I do not
care what it is we are engaged in, we should first find out the
will of the Lord and then do it, and then our work will be well
done and acceptable before the Lord, but if we take a course
against light and against the Spirit of God, we will find it an
unprofitable road to travel.
230
I feel as though the Lord is going to do a great work in the
midst of this people. There are a great many things at our door,
a great many changes to take place in the earth, and the kingdom
is growing; and I would here exhort all the Latter-day Saints who
hear me this day to study well the position you are in, and
search your hearts and see if we are in the favour of the Lord
our God, and then let us increase continually in faith, in hope,
in righteousness, and in every virtuous principle which is
necessary for us to have to sustain us in every trial through
which we may be called to pass, in order to prove us as the
friends of God, whether we will abide in the covenant or not; we
will be tried from this time, until the coming of the Messiah or
while we live on the earth.
230
If we could open the vision of our minds, and let it extend into
the future and see this kingdom, and what it is bound to
accomplish, and what we have to do, the warfare we have to pass
through, we would certainly see that we have a great work on
hand. We have not only to fight the powers of darkness, the
invisible forces that surround us, but we have to war with a
great many outward circumstances and to contend with a great many
difficulties that we must of necessity meet, and the more of this
we have to meet the more we should be stimulated to action, and
to labour with all our power before the Lord for the
establishment of righteousness and truth and the building up of
the work of God, and to see that His name is honoured upon the
earth.
230
Brother Wells has said, why the world is troubled about us is
because we are united. This is true; the world and the devil are
afraid of it, and he has laboured all his life to divide
everything where righteousness dwelt, or at least ever since he
was cast out from the presence of God, what he did before that I
cannot say any further than what is revealed. We have got to be
one and labour together to build up this kingdom because we
cannot establish it upon any other principle.
230
We should be careful to know that we are right and then go ahead,
and we will find it to our advantage, and we shall be satisfied
with our reward if we pursue that course which is according to
the commandments of God. When we come into the presence of our
Father in heaven we shall meet with His approbation, this alone
will reward us for our labours.
230
If we go to work and build up the kingdom of God instead of
ourselves, it is no matter in what shape we do it, whether it is
in building a canal, or in building a temple, preaching the
Gospel, cultivating the earth, or anything else, let us take that
and make it a business, and we will find the Lord will help,
sustain, and nerve us with His power, and will assist us in
everything we have to do, and if we are called to lay down our
lives in the defence of God and eternal truth, then all right,
and if we live, all right, and when we come into the presence of
the Lord we shall be satisfied with our reward and blessings.
231
The Lord has said He would prove us whether we would abide in His
covenant even unto death; indeed we have been tried from the
commencement of this great work, but there has been an invisible
hand at work for our defence all the time; the wicked have not
seen the power that has sustained us, they cannot see the inside
machinery that is at work in this kingdom, the nations of the
earth cannot understand it, and they never can comprehend it, but
the Latter-day Saints understand it, and they know that it is the
power of God and the word of God, for the Lord has made
proclamations and decrees, and covenants concerning Israel in the
last days, and all the Prophets, from righteous Abel to Brigham
Young, have proclaimed it to the nations of the earth, as with
the voice of thunder, and we know they will be fulfilled; we know
the Gospel has to be offered to the Gentiles first, we have
offered it to them for the space of twenty-five years, that we
may be prepared to go to the house of Israel.
231
The Gentiles in a great measure, have rejected it; we have borne
a faithful testimony to the nations of the earth, and they prefer
to take their own course, and act on their own agency; they would
rather build themselves up than the kingdom of God. The
consequence is, it will soon be taken from the Gentile nations,
and it will not be long before the judgments of God are abroad
among them, and those bitter branches will be taken off the tree.
231
Now there is no personage, or subject, or work upon the face of
the whole earth, but what is more popular than the Lord, and His
Gospel, and kingdom; His name is dishonoured and blasphemed, with
impunity by nearly all the inhabitants of the earth and in the
midst of every nation under heaven, but the day is nigh at hand
when He will make bare His arm of power, and show the world that
there is a God in Israel, who will no longer bear the blasphemies
of the wicked without bringing them to judgment, but He will send
forth those angels, those messengers who dwell in the presence of
God, who are waiting with their sharp sickles in their hands to
reap down the earth; but this will not be until the Gospel has
been fully offered to the Gentiles; then the bitter branches will
be broken off.
231
This kingdom will go forward, for the Lord God has decreed it,
and Zion will arise and be adorned with beauty and power, and
true refinement, in light and knowledge, and in every good gift
that will prepare the minds of men for the Society of their
Heavenly Father and of celestial beings. These lessons have got
to be given, and we have got to learn them, and we have got to
bring ourselves to the celestial law of God; we have to be
quickened by the Spirit and power of the kingdom of God and its
righteousness, that we may be prepared to carry out the purposes
of the Lord; then this kingdom will be borne to the house of
Israel, and they will receive it.
231
The door has already been unlocked to the Lamanites in these
mountains, and they will begin to embrace the Gospel and the
records of their fathers, and their chiefs will be filled with
the Spirit and power of God, and they will rise up in their
strength, and a nation will be born in a day, because they are of
the seed of Abraham, and God has promised to bless the
descendants of Abraham, and they will be saved with the house of
Israel, for the Lord has spoken it, and made those promises unto
them through their fathers.
232
Again, here are the ten tribes of Israel, we know nothing about
them only what the Lord has said by His Prophets. There are
Prophets among them, and by and by they will come along, and they
will smite the rocks, and the mountains of ice will flow down at
their presence, and a highway will be cast up before them, and
they will come to Zion, receive their endowments, and be crowned
under the hands of the children of Ephraim, and there are persons
before me in this assembly to-day, who will assist to give them
their endowments. They will receive their blessings and
endowments, from under the children of Ephraim, who are the first
fruits of the kingdom of God in this dispensation, and the men
will have to be ordained and receive their Priesthood and
endowments in the land of Zion, according to the revelations of
God.
232
Again, here is Judah, which is the tribe of Israel, from whom
Jesus sprang; how many times have I seen them among the nations
of the earth, standing in their synagogues, even grey-haired
rabbis, with their faces to the east, calling on the great
Eloheim to open the door for them to go back to Jerusalem, the
land of their fathers, and to send their shiloh, their king of
deliverance. When I have seen this my soul has been filled with a
desire to proclaim unto them the word of God unto eternal life,
but I knew I could not do this, the time had not come, I could
not preach to them. I might have stood in their midst for a month
and preached unto them Jesus Christ or their shiloh and king, but
I should have failed to establish one particle of faith in their
minds that he was the true Messiah.
232
They do not believe in Jesus Christ; there is an unbelief resting
upon them, and will until they go home and rebuild Jerusalem and
their temple more glorious than at the beginning, and then by and
by, after this Church and kingdom has arisen up in its glory, the
Saviour will come to them and show the wounds in his hands and
side, and they will say to him, "Where did you get those wounds?"
and he will answer, "In the house of my friends," and then their
eyes will begin to open, and they will repent and mourn, they and
their wives apart, and there will be a fountain opened for
uncleanness to the house of Judah, and they will for the first
time receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour, they will begin to
comprehend where they have been wandering for the space of two
thousand years.
232
You cannot convert a Jew, you may as well try to convert this
house of solid walls as to convert them into the faith of Christ.
They are set in their feelings, and they will be until the time
of their redemption. They are looking forward to the time when
they will go home and rebuild Jerusalem; they have looked for it
many hundreds of years, they are looking for the coming of their
king, and they do not suppose for a moment that he has already
come, but they are looking for him to come as the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, not as a lamb led to the slaughter, and as a
sheep that is dumb before his hearers; they are looking for him
to come with power and great glory.
233
I thank God that the day is at hand when the Jews will be
restored. I have felt to pray for them; I feel interested in
their behalf, for they are of the seed of Abraham and a branch of
the house of Israel, and the promises of God still remain with
them. It is true they fell through unbelief, and the kingdom was
taken from them and given to the Gentiles, and when it came from
them, it came clothed with all its gifts, powers, and glory,
Priesthood and ordinances which were necessary for the salvation
of men, and to prepare them to dwell in the presence of the Gods;
and when the kingdom was given to the Gentiles, they for a while
brought forth the natural fruits of the kingdom. But they, like
the Jews, have fallen through the same example of unbelief, and
now, in the last days, the kingdom of God has to be taken from
the Gentiles, and restored back to every branch and tribe of the
house of Israel; and when it is restored to them, it must go back
with all its gifts, and blessings, and Priesthood which it
possessed when it was taken from them. But the Lord has said that
in restoring these blessings to the children of Abraham, that He
would be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.
But from what branch or part of the house of Israel will the Lord
look for this petition or request to issue, if not from the
Latter-day Saints, for we are out of the tribe of Joseph through
the loins of Ephraim, who have been as a mixed cake among the
Gentiles, and are the first fruits of the kingdom, and the Lord
has given unto us the kingdom and Priesthood and keys thereof.
Hence the Lord will require us to ask for those blessings which
are promised unto Israel, and to labour for their salvation.
233
These things will be required at our hands; a great work is
before us, a work worthy of intelligent beings--worthy of the
most noble of spirits that ever existed around the throne of God
in time or in eternity, in heaven or on the earth. Then, if we
would feel right about this important subject, and look upon it
as it is, we will go to work and labour with all our mights to
build up the kingdom of our God, to carry out the purposes of the
Lord, in the building up of Zion, the establishment of his
kingdom, and restoration, and salvation of the house of Israel;
we should listen strictly to those men who are the words of the
Lord to us.
233
The Prophet Jeremiah saw this kingdom established, and saw that
Ephraim was the first born, and in gathering the children of
Jacob and establishing Zion in the last days, their nobles should
be of themselves, and their governor should proceed from the
midst of them. I have looked forward for years by faith to that
time when the children of Zion would have the privilege of having
their rulers, and a governor of their own choice of the house of
Israel, to rule over them and counsel and lead them.
233
We have had a governor since we have been a Territory, who is
actually of the loins of Joseph, the son of Jacob. Jeremiah saw
this, spake of it, and it has been fulfilled. There has been a
great exertion to make this prophecy fail. It hurt the feelings
of the Gentiles to think this prophecy should have its fulfilment
in these days. It has been fulfilled so far, and I feel thankful
to-day that all the prophecies which have not been fulfilled will
be; hence I have hope and confidence in looking forward to the
fulfilment of the blessings that are promised to us.
233
Let us be faithful and seek diligently to build up the kingdom of
God in righteousness and do our duty, and try to save ourselves,
our wives, and children, our kindred and our friends, and the
house of Israel, and also the Gentiles as far as they will be
saved, and then we will be satisfied with our reward which we
shall obtain in this life and in the world to come. I pray the
Lord to bless us all, and save us in His kingdom, for Christ's
sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Daniel
H. Wells, February 22, 1857
Daniel H. Wells, February 22, 1857
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER--THE PRIESTHOOD REACHES BEHIND THE
VAIL--HOW
INTOLERABLE IT WILL BE FOR THOSE WHO APOSTATIZE--POPULARITY OF
GOVERNOR
YOUNG COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE RULERS OF THE NATIONS--THE
KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD, ETC.
Remarks, by President Daniel H. Wells, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, February 22, 1857.
234
Brethren and sisters, while brother Samuel Richards was
addressing you, a great many reflections passed through my mind,
a few of which I will try to lay before you, in regard to the
parable of the sower and the seed. The Scripture reads--"Behold a
sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by
the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up; some fell
upon stony places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith
they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth; and when the
sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root they
withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang
up and choked them; but others fell into good ground, and brought
forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, and some
thirty-fold." I have thought of this parable considerably this
winter. You will find that when the seed is cast into stony
ground, it will spring up quickly and grow rapidly, but when the
sunbeams come upon it with strength and power, it will wither and
die. Have any received the good word during what we have called
the reformation, and will they now wither and die?--or will they
be like the seed that is cast into good ground which takes root
downward, and springs upward, and bring forth the works of
righteousness unto salvation? And now, as the season advances, we
will have to be more specially engaged in our various business
avocations, and shall not have so much time to spend in hearing
the word of the Lord as we have had during the past winter,
therefore let us see to it, that the plants now growing in our
bosoms do not wither and die.
234
I have told you, and others have, that we have no expectations in
this life of a worldly nature but what will go into the grave
with us when we go. "Mormonism" and the Priesthood which we have
resting upon us reach behind the vail, and what we have to do
here is to prepare ourselves in this channel for the blessings we
expect to receive hereafter.
234
It is a true remark, "He that seeks to save his life shall lose
it." What is there worth having outside of our faith and
religion? If we want to live either here or in eternity, this is
the only channel wherein we can obtain that which is really worth
having. If we want to be prospered, let us put on the yoke of
Christ and keep it on, seeking first the kingdom of heaven and
its righteousness, and all other things will be added thereto.
This is the only principle upon which we can obtain aught that is
of lasting worth, no matter what it is that we want.
235
In order to redeem Zion, we had to come from Nauvoo to the
mountains, and we must abide here until the Lord shall say to the
contrary. If we want wives and children in eternity, we must be
faithful stewards over those committed to our trust in time, that
we may receive an inheritance in eternity. If we want
inheritances in this world--if we want worldly possessions--we
must be faithful stewards in the things of this world, and hold
them as from the Lord, always keeping them upon the altar. No
matter whether in spiritual or temporal affairs, the principle is
the same, faithfulness is required. And if we do not feel willing
to devote ourselves with heart, mind, and talent, as well as our
worldly possessions, to the cause of God, we are not worthy to
receive the inheritance to which we are looking forward.
235
How is it with those who turn away and wither and die, after
having partaken of the good word of life, and partaken of the
powers of the world to come? In view of these things the Saviour
said unto the generation in which he lived, "It shall be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of
judgment, than for you." This will strictly apply to us, if we
turn away. Or might it not be said with equal force, it shall be
more tolerable for Carthage and Warsaw than for us in that great
day, if we turn away from the principles of life and salvation
that are poured upon us? There is no damnation so complete as
that which will come on those persons, who, after having tasted
the good word of God, after having received the principles of
life and salvation, and been made acquainted with the powers of
the world to come, again turn unto the beggarly elements of the
world. Then it becomes us to hang on to these principles and to
this power--to this principle of life and salvation which has
been revealed to us--and not let them slip from us, and we
finally go down to perdition.
235
Do we see and appreciate the blessing of this Gospel which has
been made known to us? Sometimes I think we do, and at other
times I think we become careless and indifferent. This should
never be, but we should progress and increase in the knowledge of
God and in faith, for it is a treasure indeed, and is like all
other things pertaining to the kingdom of God. We must be
faithful to increase in it, as well as in light and knowledge.
Let us get the truth and stick to it, and not let it slip through
our fingers.
235
We go to the ends of the earth, and proclaim this Gospel to those
who sit in darkness, and we feel desirous for the salvation of
Israel--we desire to impart to the world the good and saving
feelings we possess. This is good, and there is nothing in the
world that begins to compare with the things accomplished by the
Latter-day Saints. They go upon the principle of faith for their
support, and they prosper. There is no people equal to this
people. They are the pure in heart, which constitutes Zion. If
they will only apply to their every day lives the principles
which have brought them together, and faithfully live their
religion, they are the happiest people in the world, and a people
the Lord delights to bless, when He can do it without sending
them to hell; and there is nothing but what they will be able to
accomplish, inasmuch as they are faithful.
236
They love the authorities of this Church; they love brother
Brigham, and he has great influence over them. What fault has the
world to find with brother Brigham? None, except that the people
are united in sustaining him, and that his word and counsel are
as the law unto them. What right have they to find fault with or
complain of this? He has a just right to his popularity; Joseph
Smith had a right to his; the Lord gave it to them. And there is
no governor, president, emperor, or king, but what would be glad
to get just such a popularity, and is seeking for it all the
time. They seek to gain an affection in the breasts of the people
over whom they preside, but they have not that wisdom, and hence
cannot obtain it, it is not for them. But brother Brigham has
obtained it, and all the rulers and all the world are seeking the
same thing and finding fault with him, and would take his life,
because he has that which they are seeking for and cannot find.
That fact of itself shows up their inconsistency.
236
Would not the governors of the United States be called the best
men in the world, if they had and could retain the popularity
which President Brigham Young enjoys? If there was any such
person among them, the people would say, "Let him be the
governor, for his equal cannot be found?" and yet they would
destroy Governor Young, because the people are willing to adhere
to his counsel. They are afraid of the union of Church and State,
this they dread very much. Any person would like to have all the
popularity that brother Brigham has, but the people of the world
are afraid to trust any of their men with the affairs of the
nation, especially if the person happened to be a preacher, for
they have no confidence in each other nor in any of their
numerous religions. They have no confidence in their clergy's
knowing anything about politics or temporal affairs in general,
but they say, "We know more about such things than you do. It is
your calling to administer in spiritual things only; you may have
the keeping of our consciences, but when it comes to temporal
matters you must stand aside." They consider that their clergy,
and of course their God, knows no more about temporal things than
they do about spiritual things. They leave all spiritual matters
to their sectional clergy, to whom they dare not trust their
temporal matters, but, on the contrary, do thrust their clergymen
from their national halls.
236
This shows clearly all the faith and confidence they have in
their God and in their clergy, for if they had any faith or
confidence in their God, they would also have in their clergy,
who should be His servants. But this is in strict keeping with
their religion, for they go to meeting to hear their clergy
dilate upon an imaginative something, filling the immensity of
boundless space, sitting upon a topless throne, and which they
call God. We are entirely different, and I rejoice that it is so.
We have men to counsel and guide us in whom we repose unlimited
confidence, men who are before us and lead ahead, and the
counsels they give we feel to appreciate and abide both in
spiritual and temporal things. We hold ourselves ready to go at a
moment's warning to the uttermost parts of the earth to subserve
the principles of our holy religion, by making them known to
others, to save Israel and bring out those the Lord has
scattered, to aid in building up Zion, and in building temples of
the Most High, wherein we may go and receive the blessings of
eternity. We hold our property--our possessions--on the altar,
ready at a moment's notice to be handed over to subserve the
cause of Zion.
237
Notwithstanding these are our feelings, our governmental and
temporal affairs are kept as distinct from our religious concerns
as are those of any other people, and far more so than are those
of many others. We have never organized a political party, as
some people have done, to enable us to express our peculiar
conscientious notions about freedom, slavery, and Catholicism,
about which so much phrenzied zeal has been exhibited during the
past ten years. Our holy religion does not interfere with our
political or governmental affairs, only to make us more
competent, faithful, and energetic in the duties pertaining
thereunto. It is eminently above all such considerations, and
only influences them, as it does all the varied duties of life,
by lending its aid, light, and intelligence.
237
These are the principles which unite us together; let us keep
them warm in our bosoms, and be alive and continue to increase in
the knowledge of God. Let us strive to have our minds expand, and
let us perform our duties with an eye single to the glory of God,
and the advancement of His cause. In this course we see our own
salvation and eternal exaltation, and find the road we ought to
travel, and we cannot find anything outside of this worth having.
We are interested in it; it is the best investment we can make.
No matter how poor a person may be, he can be faithful and work
the work of righteousness, and it is the poor and meek that will
inherit the earth.
237
I ask my Heavenly Father to bless us one and all, individually
and collectively, and to preserve us and enable us to remain firm
in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may not go astray
but cling to the principles of life and salvation, cleaving to
the Lord our God, serving Him with willing hearts and minds
perfectly, and do it because we like to do it, being partakers of
the truth because we love it, and for the principle's sake, and
because it is better than anything else. It is meat, drink,
clothing, and lodging to us, as well as everything else worth
having. If we will do this, we need not fear for the future.
237
If we have our wives and children arising around us and
multiplying greatly, let us all be for God, and other things will
come along in their season. We sacrificed all things when we came
into this kingdom, laid aside our former associations in life,
and left everything that pertained to them, regardless of the
future and of the consequences resulting therefrom, and can we
not keep on this same road, preserve those feelings which filled
our bosoms when we came into the Church and kingdom of our God,
and strip ourselves of every earthly tie for God? We can do this,
if we are disposed. We will do it, and I verily believe that we
will get the majority of this people at last. Many may turn
aside, but that makes no difference. Those who remain faithful
will get their reward, while those who turn away will, in a time
to come, see where they have missed it.
237
Let me exhort you to do the works of righteousness and be
faithful in the kingdom of God, and cleave together unto Him with
full purpose of heart, and work the works of righteousness all
your days, and never falter and fall. I know we shall not fall,
but the kingdom will increase and grow and spread abroad, and her
stakes will be strengthened, and her cords will be lengthened,
and the kingdoms of this world will be broken in pieces, and
become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. We shall
accomplish this work, or our children will. The purposes of the
Almighty cannot fail; the kingdom is set up and established,
never more to be thrown down.
238
We are aware that the world is arrayed against us, and has it not
been so from the beginning? But what have they been able to
accomplish against this people? If they have driven and scattered
us, they have scattered the seed still wider, and it will be so
again. They do not know who they are fooling with; they are
fooling with the Lord. He knows how to set up His kingdom, and if
we are submissive in His hands, like clay in the hands of the
potter, we shall not again be scattered and peeled. We have
heretofore been driven measurably because of our unrighteousness,
and of our unworthiness, and God's inability through that cause
to bless us, and because of the wickedness of the wicked. How
soon would another persecution have come on us I cannot say, if
the people had not turned around and sought the Lord with
penitent hearts.
238
I trust that persecution will be warded off now a few years
longer, and that the blessings of the Almighty will be drawn upon
the people. I know that He delights to bless His people, but He
has to chastise them like a parent has to chastise an unruly
child. These chastisements have not hindered the rolling on of
His work, for it has rolled on with accelerated power all the
time. The people have had to suffer, more or less, but we are in
His hands, and if we want to draw down His blessings upon us, we
must do our duty, or the chastisements of the Almighty will be
upon us again, as in times past, for our good. They will not
impede the progress of His work, but it will go forth with still
greater accelerated power.
238
May God bless us and enable us to work the work of righteousness
in His sight all the days of our lives, for His Son's sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Lorenzo
Snow, March 1, 1857
Lorenzo Snow, March 1, 1857
UNION OF THE SAINTS--THE WORLD IS TRAINED TO BE SELFISH--WE ARE
DEPENDENT UPON CHRIST AND EACH OTHER--INDIVIDUAL
EXERTION NECESSARY TO ACCOMPLISH THE PURPOSES OF GOD.
Discourse by Elder Lorenzo Snow, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, on Sunday, March 1, 1857.
238
I am not much in the habit of taking texts, especially of late
years, and more especially since the commencement of the
reformation. However, this afternoon, I think I will take a text,
as a subject for the few remarks that I may make on this
occasion, and that one was presented to me this morning when in
conversation with brother Kimball, and that text is embraced in
one word, which is Union.
238
I expect that a great deal might be said on this subject, and
probably a great deal has been said, but more may yet be said,
and that which intimately concerns us at the present time. If we
would rightly understand things as they are, a more interesting
subject could not be introduced at the present time, and it
embraces a great deal more than what we should be enabled to say
in one hour, or in one day. Unless we go into the practice of
paying more attention and more regard to the interests of others,
we shall not get along as a people, near so well as, perhaps,
many of us have been anticipating.
239
In the Gentile world, where the Gospel first reached us, our
manner of training, our habits and our education, all went to
influence our minds to look after self, and never to let our
contemplations or meditations go beyond that which pertained to
ourselves. In making any exertion that would in any way tend to
benefit our selves, to exalt ourselves, and assist us in amassing
riches, or in gathering information that would confirm or aid in
the bringing about this object, we considered we were doing
first-rate, for that was the object of life with us.
239
We then depended upon ourselves almost entirely, and thought that
we should have means around us, gathered for the purpose of
securing ourselves from the evils that we found we were
continually exposed to, in regard to poverty and in regard to the
lack of friends. We were all looking within ourselves, we
regarded our own dear selves in all our meditations, and directed
all our exertions for our own individual benefit. This is what
our parents taught us to a great extent, and it mattered, with
us, but very little, how or what course was pursued if we could
gain those things we desired, if we could secure to ourselves
those things which were necessary for our own comfort, and for
our own individual temporal convenience.
239
This is the education of the world, and this is the way they are
taught, this is one reason we have so much difficulty in acting
upon the principles of union. Then it should not seem so very
strange that the same feelings that were in the minds of the
people around us, that were instilled into us by traditions,
should linger around us at the present time, and become a blind
or a barrier against receiving those blessings and privileges
that we might otherwise receive, and be injurious to us when we
receive the Gospel and endeavour to become Saints of God.
239
I can discover that these things have extended and spread
themselves in the feelings and hearts of the Saints pretty
extensively, and they act very powerfully in hindering the Saints
from obtaining the blessings and privileges which it is their
right to receive. Until these feelings are removed, we shall be
liable to be baffled in regard to the blessings that are promised
to the people of God.
239
We talk considerably in regard to the principle of loving our
neighbours as well as we love ourselves; we talk about it, and we
sometimes think about it, but how much do we really enter into
the spirit of these things, and see that the difficulty lies
within ourselves. We must understand that we have got to act upon
certain principles by which we can bind ourselves together as a
people, to bind our feelings together that we may become one, and
this never can be accomplished unless certain things are done,
and things that require an exertion on our part. How would you go
to work to bind yourselves together? How would a man go to work
to unite himself with his neighbour? If two men were associated
together who had never been acquainted, how would they go to work
to secure each other's friendship, attachment, and affection one
towards another? Why something would have to be done, and that
not by one party only, but would have to be done by one as well
as by the other. It would not answer for one to do the business
alone; it would not do for one to answer those feelings and do
the work himself, but in order to become as one in their
sentiments and affection, the action of both would be requisite.
239
Now it is so ordered and so arranged, that we are dependent, in a
great measure, one upon another. For instance, take us as a
people, we are dependent upon a being that is above us to secure
our peace, our happiness, our glory, and exaltation; we are
individually dependent upon the exertions of an individual who is
above ourselves.
240
For instance, we are all dependent upon Jesus Christ, upon his
coming into the world to open the way whereby we might secure
peace, happiness, and exaltation. And had he not made these
exertions, we never could have been secured in these blessings
and privileges which are guaranteed unto us in the Gospel,
through the mediation of Jesus Christ, for he made the necessary
exertions.
240
In order to accomplish the gathering of Israel out of Egyptian
bondage, there had to be something done to liberate them from
their thraldom, and this something had to be done by a higher
power, by an individual that had more wisdom, more intelligence,
more understanding, and more power and means within his hands for
the purpose of securing those blessings which they needed. They
never could have got out from their difficulties nor from their
bondage, unless this power had been exerted by one who had more
intelligence, more knowledge, more information in relation to the
means of their deliverance.
240
It is just so in a thousand other cases, there has to be a power
exercised for the benefit of the people, there has to be
exertions made, and they never can receive the blessings and
privileges that are for them, unless those exertions were made by
an individual possessing more knowledge, more wisdom, and greater
power than themselves.
240
Jesus, on a certain occasion, speaking to Peter, said to him,
"Simon Peter, lovest thou me?" he answered that he did. Well,
then, replied Jesus, "feed my sheep." Jesus interrogated him
again, saying, "Simon Peter, lovest thou me?" Peter answered, "I
do, Lord." Jesus said unto him, "Feed my lambs." In this case we
perceive there was an exertion to be made for the benefit of
those that had not that power and information, but this alone is
not sufficient.
240
Had Moses, for instance, having done all that he did, had he
delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, and having done all that
he could and all that mortal man could do for their redemption,
having done all in his power, and been willing to lay down his
life and to sacrifice everything that he had to accomplish that
work, would he have secured the people to himself, and have
brought about that union which was so necessary, without any
exertion on their part? No, most assuredly it would not have been
accomplished, for there had to be a return, an exertion on their
part, in order to secure that union and that love, and to secure
that fellowship between them and him, which it was necessary
should exist, and so it is in reference to Jesus Christ, though
he has sacrificed himself and laid the plan for the redemption of
the people, yet unless the people labour to obtain that union
between him and them, their salvation never will be accomplished.
Thus we see that some thing has to be done by each party, in
order to secure each other's friendship, and to bind us together
as a community.
241
Now, let an individual possess information and intelligence, and
let that individual be one who holds the Holy Priesthood, a man
who has been in the Church for years and years, let him be one
that is filled with knowledge and understanding, and let him go
to work and look about him, or in other words, let him consider
there are others around him that are less favoured than himself,
and that they are not all so strong, nor so forward in the
blessings and graces of the Gospel as he is. Let him reflect that
those around him desire the intelligence and blessings that God
has given him through his greater experience in the things of the
kingdom; then begin to impart that information to those around
him, and to communicate his strength to those that are weak, and
shadow forth his light to those who are in darkness. Then, so far
as regards himself he is doing that which is necessary for him to
do to secure their good feelings and affections to himself.
241
But let him take the opposite course, and think of improving his
own dear self, and that there is only himself to be saved, that
all he has to accomplish is to secure life and salvation for
himself, and only think of his own sins, to reform himself, and
to take care of himself. A man who takes this course is going
upon a principle that will always keep him bound up and
contracted in his feelings and contracted in his views, and will
never accomplish the thing that is desired.
241
As, for instance, you let an individual keep his ideas and
knowledge to himself in going on to acquire any information in
relation to any particular branch of study or business, will he
ever accomplish the thing that is required?
241
A great many pursue this course in reference to their mechanical
skill, but this is not the right way.
241
In pursuing any kind of study, a man has to continue to work, and
after going through one course, he has to go through again, and
keep at work in order to make himself master of them, and he
never will master them near so well as by communicating his
information while engaged in gaining it. Let him go to work and
gather up his friends, and endeavour to give them the same
knowledge that he has received, and he then begins to find
himself being enlightened upon those things which he never would
have known unless by pursuing that course of teaching, and
imparting the information he is in possession of unto others. Any
one that has been a school teacher will understand me well upon
this point.
241
So you perceive that he who indulges in this narrow contracted
kind of feeling, instead of benefiting himself in keeping the
knowledge he possesses within himself, he is the loser in
considering that by keeping all he has received to himself he
would be exalted in spirit, in knowledge, and intelligence.
241
Let a man remember that there are others that are in darkness and
that have not advanced so far in knowledge, wisdom, and
intelligence, and let him impart that knowledge, intelligence,
and power unto his friends and brethren, inasmuch as he is
farther advanced than they are, and by so doing he will soon
discover that his mind will expand, and that light and knowledge
which he had gained would increase and multiply more rapidly.
241
I have heard brother Kimball state that when he was very much
down-hearted, he would find somebody worse than himself, and
endeavour to comfort him up, and by so doing he would comfort
himself, and increase in spirit and in life. It is upon this
principle that I am speaking.
241
If you want to secure the friendship and affections of our
friends, go to work and comfort them with that light which you
have received, remembering those blessings came down from God,
and that by doing this you are only doing what every man should
do.
241
Those of you who have got the Priesthood, go and make friends
among the individuals by whom you are surrounded; or select one
and try to start his feelings, his faith, his circumstances, and
his mind, and try to enlighten them, and if they are sinners,
endeavour to save them from their sins, and bring them from their
bondage in which they are placed, to participate in the light and
liberty which you participate in, for in this way you can do good
through the information which the Lord has imparted to you. In
this way you will discover that their minds will be drawn out
towards you, and their affections will be gained and centred upon
you.
242
In order that this thing may be accomplished, and in order
that those blessings which are necessary may be secured, and that
the feelings and faith that we want as a people may be secured to
us, we have to go to work individually and more anxiously, more
ambitiously than we have done before to bind each other's
feelings together.
242
Now, for instance, take a shepherd who has charge of a large
flock of sheep; he goes into his field, and his flock hasten to
gather around him, and follow after him. How is this
accomplished? The shepherd has gone from day to day, and from
time to time, with plenty of salt, and they discover that he has
it with him every time he makes his appearance, and that he has
those things that are necessary to supply their wants. They learn
by experience, that he has looked after their welfare, and they
appreciate his kindness; it is a good deal so among men.
242
If you will allow me to carry out the figure, though perhaps it
may not apply quite so well as some other, but it is the one now
upon my mind. You let the President of your settlement, or the
Bishop, or President Brigham Young, for instance, continue to
administer incessantly among this people, and let them do all
that individuals will call upon them to do; they will be worn
down, and as brother Kimball was speaking, unless there is
something done by the people as a return for that which is done
by those men, there never will be a perfect people, but will be
very far off from perfection. And it is still more so in regard
to the cultivation of that feeling which is necessary for us to
have one for another.
242
In regard to the shepherd's flock of sheep, what do they do in
reference to making a return for the good that is done to them?
Is it sufficient for them to return one tenth part of their wool,
which would be a very great source of benefit, providing they
only give that? If one of them could speak and say we will give
you one tenth part of our wool for the purpose of manifesting
unto you our gratitude, would not that be a very good and proper
acknowledgement?
242
But they do more than this, they do as brother Kimball was
speaking, they put every thing into the reservoir, they return
their entire fleece. This secures a very good feeling in the
shepherd or in the bosom of the farmer towards the sheep that he
has been administering to, and they find themselves, after the
next year comes round, in possession of a great abundance.
242
Well, I was thinking of these things as brother Kimball was
speaking this morning. If the people had confidence in the things
which are taught, and if they would let their minds expand, and
throw in their substance for the establishment of Zion and the
extension of the kingdom of God, they would learn that it is the
very principle upon which they would receive stores of those
things which they are after.
242
But there is a fearfulness in the minds of the people, they are
afraid to trust their substance in the hands of the Lord, but if
we expect acts of kindness and affection; if we understand our
true position, and want to secure the affections of the Almighty
and all good men, so that they will be bound to us, we have got
to do something that will secure to us those affections, and
other manifestations of that kindness which we have previously
participated in.
243
If individuals would look upon this principle as they should look
upon it, view it in its proper light, they would take much more
pains than they do, for they would see the necessity of binding
the feelings of their brethren together, they would see and
understand the importance of this more than they do at the
present time, and they would enter into the spirit of it. We
might carry this principle into families, and illustrate upon it
quite largely.
243
For instance, if you ever secure a union in any family in Zion,
if you ever secure that heavenly union which is necessary to
exist there, you have got to bind that family together in one,
and there has got to be the Spirit of the Lord in the head of
that family, and he should possess that light and that
intelligence, which, if carried out in the daily life and conduct
of those individuals, will prove the salvation of that family,
for he holds their salvation in his hands.
243
He goes to work, and associates his feelings and affections with
theirs as far as lies in his power, and endeavours to secure all
those things that are necessary for their comfort and welfare,
and they, on the other part, have got to turn round and manifest
the same feeling, the same kindness, and the same disposition,
and to the utmost of their ability manifest feelings of gratitude
for the blessings which they receive.
243
This is necessary, that there may be a oneness of feeling, or
oneness of sentiment and a corresponding affection, that they
being one, may be bound together in this way. Now, it is just the
same in regard to ourselves as neighbours, as Saints of God, as
individuals that hold the Priesthood, and that have travelled in
the light of truth, and got the power of God upon them, and who
know what salvation is.
243
The things of God have been revealed to this people, that they
may go to work and obtain more faith and more confidence in God
than any other people upon the face of the whole earth. We have
to eat, drink, and clothe ourselves, as well as other people, but
in gaining these things we should regard sacredly each other's
rights. When two individuals are bound together, as they
eventually must be if they ever stand in the presence of God,
rather than to take a course to injure each other's feelings,
when they are united as they should be and as they will be, they
would sooner have a limb severed from their body, they would
sooner suffer any thing that could be executed upon them than to
disturb or hurt each other's feelings. There would be the same
love that existed between David and Jonathan. Before David would
do anything to disturb the feelings of Jonathan, he would have
suffered a hundred-fold of trouble to come upon himself. I think
we sometimes pass by those things which are of such great
importance. I often think of the little anecdote that is recorded
in the Bible about the sons of the prophets. On a certain
occasion, when the sons of the Prophets were cutting timber, it
appears that the axe fell off the handle into the water, and it
seemed there was a great disturbance in the feelings of the young
Prophets. Why, says one, master, the axe was borrowed, and it
seems there was quite an anxiety about the axe on account of its
being borrowed property. I have thought that had the circumstance
transpired in these days the expression would have been on this
wise, "O, it is no matter, master, the axe was borrowed." But in
those days they had feelings in regard to their neighbours, and
in consequence of this the power of God could be manifested for
the purpose of raising the axe from the bottom of the water. Thus
we see they had feelings of interest for the welfare of their
neighbours and friends as well as for themselves.
244
Now an individual, in order to secure the highest and greatest
blessings to himself, in order to secure the approbation of the
Almighty, and in order to continually improve in the things
pertaining to righteousness, he must do all things to the best
advantage. Let him go to work and be willing to sacrifice for the
benefit of his friends. If he wants to build himself up, the best
principle he can do it upon is to build up his friends. This is
the same principle I wish to refer your minds to in relation to
the master who wished to make himself perfect in those sciences
which he had partially studied, and he did it by communicating to
his scholars that information which he had obtained, and he did
it again and again, and by teaching them he improved himself.
244
You, brethren, that are going forward in any undertaking, and
that want to get rich, and that want to make large farms, to get
many wives, and to extend your household and your popularity, you
make up your minds to make your wives comfortable, to feed and
clothe your children, and do those things that are required of
you. But while you are engaged in this, let your minds be
expanded to comprehend and look after the interest of your
friends that are around you, and where it is in your power to
secure benefits to your friends do so, and in so doing, you will
find that those things which you need will come into your hands
quicker than if you labour entirely to secure them to yourselves,
independent of regarding the interests of your friends. I know
this is a good and important principle.
245
Now if a man has been blessed of the Lord, and has got
information from the eternal world, has been endowed with much
grace and knowledge from on high, and is one to whom the Lord has
imparted many great and glorious blessings, when he comes in
contact with his friends that are around him, and that have not
had this advantage and this experience, if they in their
arrangements should run across his track, let him exercise these
godly feelings which will tend to secure their confidence and
good will. And just so far as he exercises them above that of his
fellows, he exhibits the education that he has received in the
principles of righteousness, and just in proportion as a person
does this to those that are ignorant around him, just in that
proportion will he secure the good feelings of those individuals;
it cannot do otherwise. Peradventure in a future day, when
through the mercy of the Lord that darkness is taken away, and
they receive the knowledge that you have, they will discover that
you have acted upon the principles of mercy and salvation, and in
consequence of that you secure their good feelings, their faith,
their prayers, and their confidence; this is upon natural
principles. You will find that wherever you exhibit a feeling of
brotherly love, you secure that brotherly friendship and kindness
which is so desirable. I can refer you to your own experience in
this; I can think of a thousand instances of the kind. I can
think of thousands of instances where brother Brigham and brother
Heber imparted to me certain knowledge and blessings, under
certain circumstances then surrounding me; I remember them, they
are fresh in my memory, and those acts have secured a feeling in
my bosom that never could have been there had not those acts of
kindness created it. You take the same course, and so far as you
have exercised yourself in the Priesthood, and secured the
blessings and knowledge of your Priesthood, you may work for your
friends upon the same principle, and if you consider the
circumstances by which they are surrounded, and act so far as may
be consistent with your calling, and if they have got the spirit
that is wrong, and that you perceive would lead to apostacy, go
to work and see what they want, and see what portion of
information you can impart to them. If they want those things
that are good, and you see that through their misfortune and
weakness they have got into darkness, try to get that spirit from
them, and you will discover when they have overcome the evils of
their nature, and secured their salvation, you will find that you
have bound their feelings to you in such a way they never will be
severed, and when you need a manifestation of friendship, you
will always find a friend in time of need. Now this can be done,
but not without some self-sacrifice. We have just got to feel,
brethren, that there are other people besides ourselves; we have
got to look into the hearts and feelings of others, and become
more godly than what we are now.
245
We should be bound together and act like David and Jonathan as
the heart of one, and sooner let our arm be severed from our
bodies than injure each other. What a mighty people we would be
if we were in this condition, and we have got to go into it,
however little feelings of friendship we may have in exercise at
the present time. I can just tell you that the day will come when
we must become united in this way if we ever see the presence of
God. We shall have to learn to love our neighbours as we love
ourselves. We must go into this, however, far we are from it at
the present time, yet no matter, we must learn these principles
and establish them in our bosoms. Now this I can see clearly, and
that is the reason why I talk about these matters in the style in
which I do, for I wish to plant them in the minds of the Saints,
and to have these things among their every day feelings. I see
that some of the Saints are laying a foundation to destroy the
confidence of their brethren. If a person will allow himself to
fall into temptation of this kind because others do, and to
transgress the law of right, to come in contact with things that
pertain to the rights of his brethren, and trample upon the
interest of his brethren, he may see the day that he will repent
in sorrow, and not have forgiveness as soon as he would like.
245
Now let a person trample upon the interests of brother Brigham,
while he is endeavouring to do him good, would he not find that
his confidence in God is departing? A man that would do this,
would just as soon trample upon the rights of the Lord, for he is
doing this, and the man that will trample upon the rights of his
brethren, no matter who they are, he will trample upon the rights
of any man, if he can do it and get along without being
particularly punished. If in our movements and dealings with each
other we are seriously tempted in these matters, we have got to
know that it is our business to learn to secure the peace and
happiness of those that are around us, and never take a course to
trample upon the feelings and rights of our neighbours. Let a man
go and trample upon the rights of a brother, and how long would
it take him to destroy that feeling of confidence that had
heretofore existed between them? And when once destroyed, how
long will it take to establish that feeling which once existed
between them? It will take a great while. This is what we have to
place our eye upon; I feel it is so; in all our thinking, in all
our movements, and in our secret meditations, we want to let our
minds reflect upon the interests of all around; and to consider
that they have rights and privileges as well as ourselves; we
ought to have this firmly established in our minds.
246
Now you take a man that is continually looking after the
interests of the people around him, and let him feel to bless
anything and all things that belongs to his brethren, and he will
in this way establish happiness in himself and around him. Let a
man take the opposite course, and instead of blessing and
labouring for the benefit of others, find fault and pull down,
will he make the same improvement? Assuredly he will not.
246
I think the people are very good, and that they feel first-rate
towards brother Brigham and the general authorities of the
Church, they feel to bless them all the time. At the same time
they do not feel in the way I think they might feel; but they
feel like blessing, and actually do have a first-rate good
feeling, especially when filled with the good Spirit as they have
been of late. They have not been accustomed to make any sacrifice
of a temporal character, and I think they do not feel in this way
as they might, if they had more understanding. They feel to bless
all around them, and their feelings of kindness are first-rate.
Now this is a very good thing, but a person that can take all his
temporal substance that is valuable, comfortable, happifying, and
nice, and take of that substance for the purpose of benefiting
another, that is the way I should think a man could show that he
is establishing those principles in himself. If we feel that it
is our duty to go to work more ambitiously than what we have done
to secure confidence, we will proceed, if it is in our power, to
yield temporal blessings and favours, to secure the friendship of
those around us. In this way, and in no other, can we be bound
together, and manifest that we have a kind and brotherly feeling.
We must exhibit this feeling by our works, and instead of shaking
a person by the hand, and saying, God bless you, my good fellow,
and the next day pay no regard to what we have previously said,
but trample upon his best feelings and sever them from us.
246
I feel that if we secure to ourselves the blessings and
privileges of this reformation, we must also try to secure
something for the interests of those that are around us, for
there is a self sacrifice to be made for the interests of those
with whom we are associated. We see this in brother Joseph, and
we see it in our President. Jesus, brother Joseph, and brother
Brigham have always been willing to sacrifice all they possess
for the good of the people; that is what gives brother Brigham
power with God and power with the people, it is the
self-sacrificing feeling that he is all the time exhibiting. It
is so with others, just in proportion as they are willing to
sacrifice for others, so they get God in them, and the blessings
of the eternal worlds are upon them, and they are the ones that
will secure not only the rights of this world, but will secure
the blessings of eternity. Just in proportion as you women, you
wives, sacrifice one for another, just in that proportion you
will advance in the things of God. Now if you want to get heaven,
within you, and to get into heaven you want to pursue that course
that angels do who are in heaven. If you want to know how you are
to increase, I will tell you, it is by getting godliness within
you.
246
Let angels be here, do you suppose that they would enjoy
themselves here? They would until they felt disposed to leave.
Well just so individuals can enjoy heaven around them in all
places. We have got to go to work and do this; we must go to work
and establish heaven upon this earth, notwithstanding the evils
that are around us, the devils that are around us, and
notwithstanding the wickedness that exists, still we have got to
go to work and establish heaven upon this earth.
247
A person never can enjoy heaven until he learns how to get it,
and to act upon its principles. Now you take some individuals,
and you refer back to the circumstances that surrounded them
twenty years ago, when they were living in log huts, when they
had a certain amount of joy, of peace, of happiness at that time,
though things were uncomfortable. Now they may have secured
comfortable circumstances and temporal means that would
administer to their temporal wants and necessities, but if they
have not secured friends, the good feelings of their brethren,
they are unhappy, and more so than they were twenty years ago.
247
I do not feel to occupy more of the time to-day, but may the Lord
bless you brethren and sisters, and may you think of these
things, and may we love each other, and live so to exalt
ourselves as far as the Lord shall give us wisdom and ability,
and secure confidence with each other, which may the Lord grant
for Christ's sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, March 1, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, March 1, 1857
OBEDIENCE PRODUCES CONFIDENCE--CONSECRATION--CONCENTRATION
OF INTERESTS--ETC.
Discourse, by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, March 1, 1857.
247
A more sensitive man than brother Joseph Smith never lived, and
that sensitiveness was in proportion to the light he had. So it
is with brother Brigham, and so it is with brother Heber, and so
it is with brother Daniel, and it will increase upon him as he
presses his way forward, and works in the harness, and becomes
used to it; and he will be just as good a teamhorse as the Lord
ever used, and I know it.
247
I will speak of brother Joseph Young. I often speak of him; he is
one of the most sensitive men that ever walked on the earth, and
that is in proportion to the light he has, and if the Lord had
not laid His hands on him and said, "My servant Joseph, be thou
sick and go to thy bed and rest, he would have been in his grave
long ago. His late sickness saved his life. That may be a
curiosity to you, but the best days I ever had with regard to the
happiness of my spirit, have been when I was prostrate on my bed,
and in reality could not help myself. People will say, "O how I
pity such and such brethren and sisters, because they are
unwell." If persons would appreciate their blessings when they
are on beds of sickness, and say, "Father, thy will be done, and
not mine," there would be no room for that pity. When necessary
in God's providences towards me, I would as soon lay on a bed of
sickness as to do anything else, for we have got to learn that
lesson. I have to struggle, and brother Brigham has to struggle
to exist here on the earth.
248
I will say, not that I speak of these things to boast, that if
this people, both men and women, would pray, and that devoutly
before God in their secret places, one quarter as much as brother
Brigham, and I, and brother Joseph Young do, you would see
different days from what you see to-day. When Jesus came to his
people on this continent, and appeared in their midst, they could
not at first realize and appreciate him. They saw him and felt
the wounds in his side, in his hands, and in his feet, and he
talked with them and instructed them, and chose and instructed
twelve disciples. And after healing their sick and blessing their
children, he administered bread and wine to the people, and
taught them to "watch and pray always." He could not heal their
sick, until through prayer they had become humble, and got the
power of God on them. And when he had done this he said, bring
all your children, and he blessed them one by one, and the power
of God rested on them, and angels descended from heaven and
encircled them round about, and ministered to them before the
eyes of the people.
248
What do you suppose we are going to do with you? Are you ever
going to be prepared to see God, Jesus Christ, His angels, or
comprehend His servants, unless you take a faithful and prayerful
course? Did you actually know Joseph Smith? No. Do you know
brother Brigham? No. Do you know brother Heber? No, you do not.
Do you know the Twelve? You do not, if you did, you would begin
to know God, and learn that those men who are chosen to direct
and counsel you are near kindred to God and to Jesus Christ, for
the keys, power, and authority of the kingdom of God are in that
lineage. I speak of these things with a view to arouse your
feelings and your faithfulness towards God the Father, and His
Son Jesus Christ, that you may pray and be humble, and penitent.
248
When Jesus Christ came to this earth, he came to fulfil the law,
and he taught the people to seek to the Father with a broken
heart and contrite spirit, and then whatever they asked He would
give. If you so come unto Him, repenting and being sorry for your
sins, then He will hear you and forgive you, and He will forgive
this whole people. Why? Because brother Brigham never would have
said to you that God would forgive you if you would repent,
unless he had received some intimation of that kind from the
Father and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But brother Brigham told
you the truth, and the Lord will forgive you, if you stop sinning
now, and begin anew to-day to work righteousness with full
purpose of heart. Then through continued faithfulness that
Spirit, light, and glory will rest upon you, that brother Joseph
has been talking about this morning.
248
I am speaking of these things to comfort you, for they comfort
me. I am talking to you of nothing more than what I know, feel,
and have experienced. What brother Joseph Young has said, is
good. I feel very well in my body and in my spirit, that is, I
feel well in regard to the things of God. I feel well, because
there are some trying to live their religion, and worship their
God in spirit and in truth. When they hear the servants of God
declare the truth here, they understand it, and the seed springs
up, and brings forth fruit to the glory of God, and that fruit
will remain. But there are others who hear the word and do not
conceive; they sit and hear the voice of God speaking through His
servants, and like the sound thereof, but the moment they leave
this place they forget it.
249
Some say that they have not faith, that they cannot believe. What
is faith? It is confidence. What is confidence? It is faith. Some
people are striving and striving to get faith, when saving faith
is simply confidence in God, flowing from walking in obedience to
His commandments. When you have confidence in yourself, in any
man, woman, or child, you have faith; and when you have not
confidence, you have not faith. I believe they are co-partners,
and the principle of faith and confidence is synonymous to me.
249
If you have not faith to deed your property over to the Trustee
in Trust, it is because you have not confidence in the Trustee in
Trust. If you had confidence in him, you would have faith in him.
You may pay your tithing--you may tithe your sage, mint, and
catnip, and this and that, and the other, and after all you may
be leaving the more weighty matters undone. It is not best to
become stereotyped in paying tithing and stop at that; but if you
are going to become stereotyped, I wish you to stereotype the
whole edition, and let it remain so, and then go on and make
another. I do not object to your stereotyping one letter at a
time, if you will go on through the whole edition.
249
In regard to deeding over your property, no one compels you to do
it. I do not compel you to do it, the Trustee in Trust does not,
God does not; but He says that if you will do this, that and the
other thing which He has counselled for our good, do so, and
prove Him. He goes to work and proves us, as we go to work and
prove one another under various circumstances. The Lord says,
cast in your tithes, and then your offerings. Tithing is one
thing, and offerings are another. And when that is done,
consecrate your property to the Church, and make strong the hands
of our President, and he will handle and distribute it to the
best advantage. We are to be tried in all things, like unto
Abraham, and God even told Abraham to offer up his son Isaac. He
went and built the altar, got the wood and the knife, and was
ready to do the work; but instead of offering up his son, the
Lord said to him, take this ram and offer him up, and put your
son to usury, and he shall become a multitude of nations--his
offspring shall be as numerous as the sands on the sea shore, and
as the stars in the firmament. It will be just so with the
property deeded over to the Trustee in Trust; every man becomes a
steward, and puts out his property to usury. The principle of the
consecration is to hold property secure and in the channel of
blessings and increase.
250
Our property should not be dearer to us than salvation, and
should freely be put to the best use for building up the kingdom
of God. To illustrate my ideas, I will use a comparison. Here is
my little finger, does not the blood go into that finger as
freely and as fully, in proportion as it goes into my leg, or
into my arm? Does it always stay there? Does that little finger
become selfish--superstitious with the principle of idolatry--and
never restore that blood to the fountain? No, for if it did, the
fountain would be weakened, and the finger would wither, because
of an interrupted communication. How can this Church exist upon
any other principle than that of free interchange according to
the dictation of the head? My finger restores back the blood to
the fountain, where it again becomes impregnated with the
principles of life, and then when it goes back again is not that
finger impregnated with the power of my vitality--of my
attributes? If that is a fact, when we take the same course with
the things of God and turn in our property, it will become
empowered with the attributes of God and His Son Jesus Christ and
the Holy Ghost, and of all those who act with them in the eternal
worlds, and from them to us, and from us back to the throne of
God. And except we become impregnated with saving principles as
they exist with God, with Jesus Christ, with angels, with Peter
and with Joseph, you may bid farewell to salvation, every soul of
you.
250
I wish that this whole people would so get religion that brother
Brigham and myself, and other good men could always freely and
fully teach you all things pertaining to salvation, and show you
your condition, even as the Lord views it. Here is the kingdom of
God, here are the Prophet and the Apostles, the Patriarch, and
all the leading men of Israel, and where is there a man in
Europe, or in any other country, who sprung from this Church, but
what sprung from the authority, the life, vitals, and power of
this Church and kingdom? If he has not got his power unto
salvation in this Church, he has not any power towards an
exaltation in the celestial kingdom of our God. And those who
have power from the true source have not predominance over those
who hold the keys in advance of them, for the kingdom of God is a
kingdom of order. How can you become impregnated with the spirit
and power of God, except you become impregnated through us? There
is no true path, except to do as you are told by those whom the
Lord has called and chosen, and placed to direct you.
250
I do not care so much whether you have faith or not, for if you
have confidence in yourselves, I would risk the confidence you
should have in us. And if you have lost confidence in yourselves,
you will not have much confidence in your brethren; and in that
case I want to know what confidence you can have in your God? The
Lord often takes a course to try the confidence of His people,
for He planted a branch of the olive tree in the poorest spot in
all the land of His vineyard, and He caused it to yield much
fruit that was good. That was considered a marvellous work, and
one of His servants said, "How camest thou hither to plant this
tree, or this branch of the tree? for behold it was the poorest
spot in all the land of thy vineyard. And the Lord of the
vineyard said unto him, counsel me not, but go to and do all
things as I command you."
250
Now suppose I should say, here, John, William, and Richard, I
want you to go up near the arsenal and dig a well, and when you
have dug ten feet you will find water. They would be very apt to
say, "We have not a particle of confidence in that operation." I
would reply, I do not care about that; it is the well I want, and
that will afford water. They go to work without one particle of
confidence in what I say, and dig to the depth of ten feet, and
come to good water. By so doing, have they not obtained knowledge
without confidence? Yes, by their works. And Jesus says, by your
works shall you be judged, and by your works shall you be
justified. John, Bill, and Dick, dig the well, and I have
accomplished my design with them, though they had not a particle
of confidence in me, nor in God. And when they have found water,
they say, "That gives me confidence in you, brother Heber, and in
your God." The result of their works gives them confidence. It
may stimulate some of you to go to work upon that principle,
viz., to do as you are told, without knowing whether you will get
water or not.
251
Well, go to work and dig the Big Cottonwood canal on the same
principle. Begin to-morrow morning, and do not cease until that
canal is done, and I will warrant the water to come, and when it
comes, that will increase your confidence. Brethren, will you all
with your Bishops lay aside everything that is not of greater
importance, and go to work on that canal until it is finished? If
you will work, instead of merely saying you will, and go to with
all your hearts, it will be but a short time before you see the
rock being boated on it for our Temple; and it need not be only a
few years before the Temple is built, wherein you will receive
your endowments and blessings. And God our Father will protect us
and give us good peace, until we have accomplished that work and
many other things. He will strengthen our feet and fill our
granaries.
251
Will you go to work at once on the canal, letting your Bishops
lead out and you follow? If you will, raise your right hands.
[All hands were raised.] If you live up to the covenant now made,
you will soon accomplish the work; and it will be but a few days
before the ground will be in readiness for ploughing and seeding,
and God will bless the earth and strengthen it to yield an
abundance, through your going and doing that little work, and
letting the water into that canal, so that we can boat rock from
the quarry unto this place. Let us go to and do, instead of
merely saying. That is drawing our feelings into the one
reservoir.
251
Upon the same principle, let every man render over his property
with an eternal deed that cannot be broken; throw it all into the
big reservoir. Suppose that one puts in one drop, another two,
another ten, and another a hundred, do you not see, when you
throw in your property--your substance--into one reservoir, that
it makes us all one, and that you cannot become one without this
principle? You may work to all eternity, and never connect the
branch with the vine, upon any other principle than that of
putting your property and temporal blessings with your spiritual
interests, whereby they will both become one. If you do not do
that, I do not mean in one thing only, but in everything that God
requires of you by His servants, if you do not bring your
substance forward and lay it down at the Apostles' feet, you will
be stripped. Brother Brigham is the chief Apostle of Jesus, and
he is our President, our Prophet, and our leader, and we the
Twelve are his brethren, and you have got to lay down your
substance at their feet, as the Saints did in the days of the
ancient Apostles of Jesus.
251
Look at Ananias and Sapphira. I have heard you read their history
a great many times, and talk about it. They came with a part of
their substance, and lied about it. You may do as you have a mind
to. In one sense, we do not care whether you lie, or tell the
truth. If you tell the truth and do right, who is blessed? Is it
any one but yourselves? It is not brother Brigham, nor brother
Heber, only in connection with you, inasmuch as you take a course
to do right; for being members of the same body to which we are
connected, it influences the whole body, and the whole body is
blessed at the same time. It does not particularly make any
difference with us, as individuals.
251
You have got to render an account of everything you have, for we
are all stewards. You Bishops, Seventies, High Priests, Elders,
Priests, Teachers, Deacons, and members, where did you get the
Priesthood and authority you hold? It came from this very
authority, the First Presidency that sits here in this stand.
There was an authority before us, and we got our authority from
that, and you got it from us, and this authority is with the
First Presidency. Now do not go off and say that you are
independent of that authority. Where did you get your wives? Who
gave them to you? By what authority were they given to you? Where
did you get anything?'
252
If you do not take the course you have been told to take, and as
I am trying to tell you, viz., to render all you have on this
earth, every man in this Church and kingdom will be as bare when
he leaves this earth as he will find himself when he gets out of
it for he cannot even take his shroud with him nor a pair of
stockings. I do not care if he has forty wives and a thousand
children, every soul of them will be taken from him. Your wives
are given to you as a stewardship to improve upon in building up
and establishing the kingdom of God, and your children are given
to you as a stewardship. Where did their spirits come from? Did
they come from you? No; they came from God. Who is the Father of
those spirits? God, and He will require them of you, and those
spirits have also got to give an account to their Father from
whom they came; they have got to render up an account. Thus you
see, that you have to render an account of your wives and
children, of your substance, and everything that pertains to this
earth, and you cannot avoid it, without suffering a loss.
252
I want to get you to live your religion, and worship our God. I
am not troubled about our not prospering; I trouble myself about
living my religion and being faithful to the things of God, and
that leads me to confidence, if not in myself, in my leader. It
is not so much matter about my trying to obtain confidence in
myself, or in you. We are to be connected like a vine, and then
when we receive any good thing we will become impregnated with
God, with Jesus Christ, with the Holy Ghost, and with angels, and
it is the only way in which we can become one.
252
I feel as brother Joseph Young feels. God bless him, and may he
live a hundred years, if he wants to. I pray that God may renew
him in body and blood, and bless him with every good thing that
he desires; also brother Brigham, and brother Daniel, and brother
Heber, and every other good man. That is my prayer and my
feeling. And may the Lord bless every good woman with the same
blessings.
252
Brethren, tumble in your interest into this great reservoir, and
we will drink up the earth. And if you do not do it, as the Lord
lives, the First Presidency of this Church and the Twelve will
drink you up. If you trifle with me, when I tell you the truth,
you will trifle with brother Brigham; and if you trifle with him,
you will also trifle with angels and with God, and thus you will
trifle yourselves down to hell. You cannot with impunity trifle
with God, for the day is too far advanced for that. Do not
trouble yourselves about your sins if you have repented of them;
and if you have not, it is time you did.
252
I will say to the Bishops in general, take those who are humble,
those who have repented and made restitution, and baptize them
for the remission of their sins, and then lay hands upon them,
that they may receive the Holy Ghost, and they will receive it,
if you take counsel and do right. And you will feel as you never
felt before since you were born, and the works of God will
continue, if you will do right, for the time has come.
252
God bless you, peace be with you for ever. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Daniel
H. Wells, March 1, 1857
Daniel H. Wells, March 1, 1857
MISAPPLICATION OF THE TERM SACRIFICE--THE SAINTS ARE GAINERS BY
THE
WORK OF GOD--RESISTANCE OF EVIL--DEGENERACY--THE WAY OF
REGENERATION--HOW TO TREAT OUR WIVES.
Remarks, by President Daniel H. Wells, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, March 1, 1857.
253
About the Devil's Gate, and the property left there last season.
We expect to start back some teams, according to the notice which
was read this morning, as soon as the season will permit us to
carry feed for the different stations on the route. Those who
have goods left at the Devil's Gate, by making proper
arrangements, can have them brought in; and if any persons prefer
going for their own goods, of course they have the privilege.
253
I have been highly interested and entertained this day by the
instructions and exhortations we have received; they are
calculated to inspire confidence and love towards our Father and
our God.
253
Brother Heber and brother Lorenzo Snow have spoken upon the unity
of our feelings and the identifying of our interests; and it is
frequently urged upon this people to identify their interests,
that we may have no undivided interests--no half heartedness. To
be powerful we must be united, and to be united we must have our
interests identified. How can we have them better identified than
in that we have set our hands to do--than in consecrating all our
property to the Lord? We have started out in a good cause; let us
not look back, but let us urge forward in the things of God, and
work together for each other's benefit, for in this we shall not
sacrifice anything.
253
We talk a great deal about sacrifices, when strictly there is no
such thing; it is a misnomer--it is a wrong view of the subject,
for what we do in the kingdom of God is the best investment we
can possibly make. It pays the best, which ever way we may look
at it, it is the principle of all others to be coveted--to be
appreciated--and is the best investment we can make of all that
pertains to us in this life. It is an inestimable privilege, and
should be so esteemed by the community. We cannot fully fathom
it, we cannot as yet altogether understand it, for ear hath not
heard, nor eyes seen the benefit that will accrue to the
individual that will be faithful unto the end in this Church and
kingdom, and receive the exaltation to which he is looking
forward. There is virtually no sacrifice about it. It is like
sacrificing the things of time in time, to gain eternal riches,
and such a sacrifice sinks into insignificance in a moment. All
the sacrifice we could make, even of life itself, in this world,
is nothing to those who are faithful. Let us not be half hearted,
but let us go into this matter whole souled, and cleave unto God
and His servants, and identify our interests in His kingdom.
254
As to the devil, what have we to do with him? It is true, what we
heard this forenoon while brother Joseph Young was talking. If we
could breathe twice where we now do once, the Holy Ghost is ready
every moment to administer to our salvation, and the evil spirit
is also ready to lead us into temptation. That is true, but look
at the word the Lord gave us through our first parents, when He
planted us on this earth. He said to the serpent, "Because thou
has done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every
beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt
thou eat all the days of thy life; and I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." We have that
advantage over the devil; we can, if we have a mind to, resist
him, and he will flee from us. He can be cast out, and he is
subject to us. We have the length and breadth of ourselves clear
from being contaminated with him. I will say that, without
fearing successful contradiction. If he overcomes us, we first
let down the bars, and invite him to enter; or he would not come
further than our heels.
254
The Lord gave us our agency to do as we please, and it is for us
to say whether we will be for God or the devil. We may make
ourselves angels to the devil, or Saints of the Most High. We may
have the blessings of the Almighty assisting us, or reject them
and go to the devil; it is optional with ourselves. I will admit
that we have been corrupted in our generations for thousands of
years, and that the devil has power over us through this cause in
a measure that he otherwise would not have; and were it not for
the multiplicity of the blessings of the Almighty that gives us
power and strength, we would most likely be overcome of the
devil. We have become small in stature and short in years--weak
in body and mind--compared with our forefathers in the primitive
ages of the world. We know they attained to a great age, and
large in stature, and had great power with God. We know there has
been a falling away, and we have come down through the loins of
progenitors who have corrupted their ways, changed the
ordinances, and but little of the blood of Abraham may be flowing
in our veins.
254
God has looked at the generations of men, and has brought spirits
into the world, and they have come through this long line of
corrupted generation. What has He made known unto us? He has
developed little by little the ways of the Lord, if we will
pursue the course His servants have laid out through the channels
of the holy and eternal Priesthood. He has again opened to the
children of men the channels of life, and we may bring ourselves
back again to the might and power, life and immortality spoken of
this morning. The Lord will cut His work short in righteousness,
and will permit us, if we are faithful, to progress so fast that
we may make up in a few years what we have lost in a thousand. We
may gain, in a few generations of righteousness, what twenty of
unrighteousness have robbed us of. It is a work of righteousness
which the Lord will bless and prosper.
254
The principles of plurality have been established, in order to
raise up a righteous seed unto God. The way has been pointed out,
and it is a blessing that has been restored to this generation.
It is a turning back to the holy principles of ancient days, even
to the purity that was known in primitive ages. In this way only
may we rise from corruption, through the Holy Priesthood of our
God. We do not handle these things with proper sacredness,
perhaps. It is a principle that is calculated to produce health,
strength, and happiness here, as well as salvation hereafter. It
is so esteemed by many, and when you see the principle as it
really is, you will say that it is as I tell you.
255
I know our forefathers have changed the ordinance, and corrupted
their ways in their generations, and it has brought misery and
degradation on the human family. And now, if we can turn round
and reform in this, ourselves--our posterity--will be better
prepared to reform themselves and become mighty before God. They
will be better capable of receiving those principles which have
been made known to us; they can lay hold with greater power and
faith on the blessings of the Priesthood, and can obtain greater
power than we now can, because they will not have the traditions
around them that we have. They will be measurably free from the
corruptions which have been entailed on us.
255
I do not wish to take up much time, but I wish to impress these
facts upon the people. I wish to have my sisters feel that this
order is the order of God, and that in it they will find
happiness and exaltation; in it they will find every principle
that is calculated to lead them to glory and favour with God, and
exaltation into His presence; and by it they are redeeming
themselves and their posterity from the corruptions of man, that
have been in existence for many generations before us, and from
which they have been brought out by the sound and proclamation of
the Gospel. I believe they do feel to appreciate and understand
this; and I wish to exhort the brethren also, that they adhere to
these holy principles and try to see and understand them as they
exist, and act according to the principles of life and salvation,
and not according to those of death and destruction; that they
make allowance for thousands of things they may have around them
in their families.
255
There are many men who think they have an understanding of these
things, and make no allowance for the traditions that hang around
the women. Do you realize that they have been brought up in their
Gentile notions, as well as yourselves? A man may have, perhaps,
three or four wives, and not make such allowance for them as they
do for him, and find fault, and be very exacting in requiring of
them the most perfect obedience to every whim and notion. By
taking such a course he is liable to lose the Holy Ghost, and if
he does, he will lose his women. It is upon the principle that
you are a man of God--that you have the Holy Ghost and desire to
raise up a holy seed to the name of the Most High--that your
wives have been sealed to you; they would not upon any other
principle have come to you. Now if your wives discover that you
lack in any virtues pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and if you
take a course that is not calculated to exalt them, do you not
see that you lose their confidence? You will lose them also.
256
The reformation has touched the hearts of both men and women. The
people generally are turning round, and they will serve God more
perfectly than hitherto. Many of you have never tried this order
until now, and let me tell you, brethren, that it is necessary
for you to keep the Holy Ghost. If you have not got it, you must
get it, and never be without it. You must shed forth that
influence on your family, as brothers Joseph and Heber told you
this morning, or they will leave you. They will not stay with a
man who is destitute of it, if they are good women, neither
should they. This is a word for you, my brethren, who are now
starting out on this principle. It is a good, virtuous, and holy
principle, and not to be trifled with. The women, as a general
thing, have power and faith in this kingdom, and they come into
this order with full purpose of heart, desiring to do right; and
in leading them, if you will be careful of your own feelings, and
have a little magnanimity of mind, it will be better for you, and
they will stick to you, because it is for their salvation in the
kingdom of our God. It is for this they are here, and they will
cleave to you for it; and it is your office, right, and privilege
to extend that blessing to them. I do not make these remarks for
wives to run ahead of their husbands, for they seek their
salvation through them. Of course there are exceptions to all
general rules. I am speaking upon general principles, to Saints
of the Most High. This is a good people, generally.
256
I say to the sisters, seek to have confidence in your husbands,
and believe that they are capable of leading you; and when you
seek instruction, believe them capable of giving it to you; and
be faithful, humble, and obedient to them. Their feelings should
not be concentrated in you, but your feelings should be in them,
and their's should be in those who lead them in the Priesthood.
Their feelings are concentrated in the Lord their God and what is
ahead, and there is where they should be. You should be glad to
see them step forward and walk onward in the path of their duty,
and not require them to devote themselves to you to the exclusion
of things and duties of life which lie before them. As they
progress and lead on, you will feel to travel in the same road.
This is the order, and if order is maintained in this thing, you
will see the beauty of it; and it will be a satisfaction to you
and them to believe that your husband, he who is at your head, is
progressing in the things of God. That should be a satisfaction
to you, and it will be, if you are inspired by the right spirit
and feeling. In this way you will have happiness, and see good
times.
256
I have heard brother Brigham remark, many times, that he did not
believe that Enoch had a better people than this, a people who
progressed half as fast in the things of God as have the
Latter-day Saints, notwithstanding they lived in primitive ages
when they were comparatively pure, when they were not corrupted
as our progenitors have been. They built and perfected a city in
365 years. I believe, and I have often heard brother Brigham and
Heber so express themselves, that this people have made far more
progress towards perfection in the same time than did Enoch's
people. I rejoice in this and to see this people obedient to
their head, to their Bishops, and to their God.
256
There are great blessings, happiness, and salvation for this
people, so long as they continue faithful in these things. And
the more they identify their interests and become subservient and
passive in the hands of this Priesthood here, they will be, both
men and women, the more satisfied and happy in this life, and
better prepared to live in the flesh, as well as to enter into
the life which is to come.
256
May the Lord bless us and help us to do right; and may we be
worthy to receive His blessings. The Lord delights to bless His
servants and handmaidens, and He will bless us until we become
powerful in this land, and are made capable of bringing to pass
His purposes and designs in the last days.
256
If we are in the world, we are not of it, because they will not
let us be. They drive us and scatter us, and try to destroy us,
but it matters not. We have been brought to these chambers of the
Lord; we have nothing to do but praise His holy name, and we can
make the arch of heaven ring with praises to our God and King,
and no one to make us afraid; though it makes the sinner fear and
tremble, while there is none to make the Saints afraid in Zion.
257
Let us do the things that are for us to do, no matter what they
are, whether spiritual or temporal, for they are united together,
and we do not wish to sever them; it is not necessary we should.
We have to do with spiritual and temporal things, they go hand in
hand, and the Lord will bless us, if we are faithful, which is
what we seek. Do we not feel well when we do that which meets the
approbation of our Father and our God? Then let us be careful how
we do anything to displease Him, for then we do not feel well.
The idea of offending or grieving our Heavenly Father is
unpleasant. Let us also be careful how we do anything to
displease our Bishops, and let the wives be careful how they do
anything to displease their husbands, and let us all be united
and dwell in harmony, and see how beautifully we shall move
forward as a people--as the Saints of the Most High God--being
such in character as well as in name.
257
Let us cultivate good feelings one towards another, that we may
promote our own peace, happiness, and final exaltation in the
kingdom of God. We can enjoy ourselves in heaven only upon this
principle, and if we can bring out minds to enjoy that principle
here, then we have a heaven here. If we have a heaven at all, we
have to make it, and for this reason we have the power given us
to make it; the devil cannot get into our hearts, unless we give
him a welcome there.
257
May the Lord bless us, and preserve us, and help us to do His
will on the earth and bring to pass His purposes, which favours I
ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Orson
Hyde
Orson Hyde
MAN THE HEAD OF WOMAN--KINGDOM OF GOD--THE SEED OF
CHRIST--POLYGAMY--SOCIETY IN UTAH.
A Sermon, by President Orson Hyde,
Delivered in Great Salt Lake City.
257
Dear brethren and sisters, it is with feelings not a little
peculiar that I arise to address you on this occasion. By this
effort I have solely for my object your edification in the wide
field of truth, which has been opened by the "key of knowledge"
to our mind's eye, and we are bade to enter and regale ourselves
among the undying beauties that flourish spontaneously in this
heavenly soil. We wish to be made wiser by a knowledge of true
principles, and better by adopting them in all the practical
walks of life.
258
Had I copied the style of address adopted by the fashionable
world, I might have said, "Ladies and gentlemen," placing the
fair in the van, but as this would only be to reverse the order
of our being through life's thorny way, ordained and established
by heaven's law, I have felt, and still feel, to observe the
spirit of that law and that order, not only in my manner of
address, but in all the varied duties, responsibilities, and
pleasures of life. The hypocritical respect lavished upon females
by the etiquette of the world in pushing them forward, and in
exciting their vanity by making them most conspicuous in all the
novels and romances which, like so much trash, have flooded
society and cursed the land, is only to make them a more easy
prey to the unbridled sensuality and the ungodly lusts of their
benighted authors. Flattery is food for the silly and shallow
brained, but a wise heart and pure hand will never administer it.
258
The order of heaven places man in the front rank; hence he is
first to be addressed. Woman follows under the protection of his
counsels, and the superior strength of his arm. Her desire should
be unto her husband, and he should rule over her. I will here
venture the assertion, that no man can be exalted to a celestial
glory in the kingdom of God whose wife rules over him; and as the
man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man in
the Lord, it follows a matter of course, that the woman who rules
over her husband, thereby deprives herself of a celestial glory.
258
[Here the speaker was interrupted by the question from the
congregation, "What, then, will become of Prince Albert and Queen
Victoria?" The speaker replied, General and eternal principles
are too stubborn to yield to individual accommodation. They must
see to their own affairs.]
258
But to my subject: The day in which we live is an important
one--important to the world at large, and to us as a people. As
time is measured off to us by the day, by the week, and by the
year, our quantum will soon be run off, and we be summoned to
render an account of the use and improvement we have made of it.
Let the question now arise in every breast, Am I acting well my
part while I occupy the stage of life? Remember that your daily
prayer to God is, "Thy kingdom come, and Thy will be done on
earth, as it is done in heaven." Remember, also, that we are the
favoured and chosen people to whom that kingdom is come, and it
will continue with us, provided our energies, coupled with the
wisdom and power of God, be directed to that object--an object
for which all Christendom is praying to be accomplished; and one,
too, against which their skill, learning, and power will be
arrayed. Even the devils in hell will burst forth from their
fiery cells to unite with the fallen sons of earth, to oppose the
kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our God. The kings
and rulers of the earth will not willingly cast their crowns and
sceptres at the feet of the Priesthood, and worship the God of
Hosts. His almighty power, in judgments, alone will humble them
into this submission. "He shall send forth judgment unto
victory." Let strict integrity and purity of heart and life be
our bulwarks, and the faith of Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, be our shield and fortress of strength
now, and in the day of temptation and trial. To incite you to
diligence and perseverance, let me tell you that our foes are not
only strong, but wily; and yet to encourage you--to inspire you
with faith and hope, allow me to say that God is stronger and
more wily than they. The Almighty never did, neither will He ever
display His power in behalf of His people until they are brought
into tried and straightened places; and what if some of us should
lay down our lives for Christ's sake? We all have to die at some
time; and if we are but in the faithful discharge of our duty, it
should matter not to us when or by what means we go. Our enemies
may say, for righteousness sake we kill thee not, but for thine
own wickedness and perverseness.
259
What persecutors of the followers of Jesus ever acknowledged that
they martyred or killed the Saints for righteousness sake? None!
They claimed that they did it on account of their wickedness; and
if they never have made this acknowledgement, do you think they
ever will? No! With a blind and maddened zeal against the Saints,
strengthened by the eternal hatred and jealousy of the fallen
angels, will they fill the cup of their iniquity and ripen in the
glare of their oppression for the judgments of Almighty God.
259
Are we everywhere spoken against? Is almost every newspaper and
journal, with a thousand and one anonymous letter writers,
pouring forth their spleen, animadversions, and maledictions upon
the Saints in Utah? Do they wish and intend to blow up a storm--a
tempest to burst upon our heads with all the fury of the combined
elements to sweep us from the face of the earth? Or secretly and
under cover, do they intend to rig a purchase to prey upon the
peace and happiness of the Saints who have fled from the face of
the "serpent," unprotected and unredressed, to this desolate
land, to which no other people would come until after we came and
killed the snakes, built the bridges, proved the country, raised
bread and built houses for them to come to, a land where no other
people can or will dwell, should the Mormons leave it!
259
Why this hatred and ill-will against you? What have you done to
provoke it? We have rebuked iniquity; and, in some instances, in
rather high places. But the real cause is explained by our
Saviour: "Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world, therefore the world hate you."
259
Remember that God not only rules the storm, but visits the secret
chambers. He can hush the storm, and say to the winds, "Peace, be
still," and catch the fowler in his own snare.
259
The professed purity of this generation will not allow the
institutions of Utah to exist undisturbed, if they can devise any
scheme to disturb them. It is true that the people of Utah
believe in and practise polygamy. Not because our natural desires
lead us into that condition and state of life, but because our
God hath commanded it, and wishing to comply with that as well as
with all others of His commands, we are as we are. We also wish
to be counted Abraham's children, to whom the promises were made,
and also with whom the covenants were established; and being told
that if we are the children of Abraham, we will do the works of
Abraham, we are not a little anxious to do as he did. Among other
things that he did, he took more than one wife. In this he was
not alone, for this example was copied by most of the ancient
worthies and others who succeeded him under the same everlasting
covenant. Even the wisest and best men--men after God's own
heart, entered the most deeply into this practice. Nor was this
practice limited to the days of the Old Testament.
259
It will be borne in mind that once on a time, there was a
marriage in Cana of Galilee; and on a careful reading of that
transaction, it will be discovered that no less a person than
Jesus Christ was married on that occasion. If he was never
married, his intimacy with Mary and Martha, and the other Mary
also whom Jesus loved, must have been highly unbecoming and
improper to say the best of it.
260
I will venture to say that if Jesus Christ were now to pass
through the most pious countries in Christendom with a train of
women,. such as used to follow him, fondling about him, combing
his hair, anointing him with precious ointment, washing his feet
with tears, and wiping them with the hair of their heads and
unmarried, or even married, he would be mobbed, tarred, and
feathered, and rode, not on an ass, but on a rail. What did the
old Prophet mean when he said (speaking of Christ), "He shall see
his seed, prolong his days, &c." Did Jesus consider it necessary
to fulfil every righteous command or requirement of his Father?
He most certainly did. This he witnessed by submitting to baptism
under the hands of John. "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness," said he. Was it God's commandment to man, in the
beginning, to multiply and replenish the earth? None can deny
this, neither that it was a righteous command; for upon an
obedience to this, depended the perpetuity of our race. Did
Christ come to destroy the law or the Prophets, or to fulfil
them? He came to fulfil. Did he multiply, and did he see his
seed? Did he honour his Father's law by complying with it, or did
he not? Others may do as they like, but I will not charge our
Saviour with neglect or transgression in this or any other duty.
260
At this doctrine the long-faced hypocrite and the sanctimonious
bigot will probably cry, blasphemy! Horrid perversion of God's
word! Wicked wretch! He is not fit to live! &c., &c. But the wise
and reflecting will consider, read, and pray. If God be not our
Father, grandfather, or great grandfather, or some kind of a
father in reality, in deed and in truth, why are we taught to
say, "Our Father who art in heaven?" How much soever of holy
horror of this doctrine may excite in persons not impregnated
with the blood of Christ, and whose minds are consequently dark
and benighted, it may excite still more when they are told that
if none of the natural blood of Christ flows in their veins, they
are not the chosen or elect of God. Object not, therefore, too
strongly against the marriage of Christ, but remember that in the
last days, secret and hidden things must come to light, and that
your life also (which is the blood) is hid with Christ in God.
260
Abraham was chosen of God for the purpose of raising up a chosen
seed, and a peculiar people unto His name. Jesus Christ was sent
into the world for a similar purpose, but upon a more extended
scale. Christ was the seed of Abraham, so reckoned. To these,
great promises were made; one of which was, that in Abraham and
in his seed, which was Christ, all the families of the earth
should be blessed. When? When the ungodly or those not of their
seed should be cut off from the earth, and no family remaining on
earth except their own seed. Then in Abraham and in Christ, all
the families and kindreds of the earth will be blessed--Satan
bound, and the millennium fully come. Then the meek will inherit
the earth, and God's elect reign undisturbed, at least, for one
thousand years.
261
Is there no way provided for those to come into this covenant
relation who may not possess, in their veins, any of the blood of
Abraham or of Christ? Yes! By doing the works of Abraham and of
Christ in the faith of Abraham and of Christ; not in unbelief and
unrighteousness, like the wicked world who have damned themselves
in their own corruption and unbelief. If thou wilt believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and repent of thy sins, and put them all away,
and forsake them for ever, and turn unto the Lord our God, and
serve Him with all thy might, mind, and strength, the Holy Ghost
will change the vile body, quicken and renew thy spirit and
natural system, so that thou shalt lay off or overcome that
fallen nature which is in the body with its sins, and be created
anew in Christ Jesus, with a new heart and a new spirit, even the
Holy Ghost; this will cause your spirits to cry, Abba, Father.
Your lips may even now cry, "Abba, Father;" but your spirit
cannot until it is renovated; and lip service, you know, is
mockery before God. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth,
and with the understanding also. But if you wish to destroy us
for doing the works of Abraham and of Christ, know ye that God
will curse you; and neither He nor His people will allow you to
have any part in the covenant of promise; and neither in Abraham,
nor yet in Christ can ye be blessed. There is something more
implied in this change often alluded to by all professing
Christians than is usually considered. It is, nevertheless,
scripturally and philosophically true.
261
During the late session of the Legislature, a very polite note
was received by that body from Mr. Van Emman, agent of the
American Bible Society, who wished to have the members call at
his depository and examine his Bibles, quality, and prices, and
to advertise them in the various localities to which they were
about to repair, and also to lay before them the object of the
society in sending the Bibles to Utah. The Legislature thought
proper to appoint a committee to wait upon Mr. V., examine his
books, &c., and being a member of the House, I, with brother F.
D. Richards, was appointed said committee. In the discharge of
our duties, I remarked to Mr. Van Emman, who, by the by, received
us very gentlemanly, that the society which he had the honour to
represent, no doubt considered us degraded and almost beyond the
reach of Bible truth. He replied, that they did not consider us
so degraded as we might think they did; but that it was the
design of the society to put the word of God into the hands of
every man in the world, Utah not excepted. I replied, that this
was very good. But however charitable and benevolent the designs
of that society may be, so far as Utah is concerned, they have
sent us the wrong book if they wish to reclaim us from the belief
in and practice of Polygamy: for instead of its reclaiming us, it
confirms us in our belief and practice, and no where condemns it;
and, hence, we are conscientious in our manner of life, having
the word of God which you bring us for our standard. Although our
faith and practice are such as we declare unto you, yet no people
on earth look with greater abhorrence and indignation upon a
violation of the principles that govern us than we do. No man or
woman among us, not of our faith, that behaves himself, and
violates not our laws and regulations, has any occasion to fear
molestation. But if he or she violates them and will not desist,
I cannot vouch for his safety, member of our Church or not,
neither can I insure his house to stand.
262
We have had, and still have among us, men who write back to the
States glaring accounts of our character and conduct, and bitter
complaints of our treatment toward them; but it would be hard for
them to detail the awful treatment they pretend to represent. We
do not often act without a cause; and one, too, which, with them,
we are willing to meet at the bar of God and answer to our
treatment. We have been unmercifully forced to come to Utah; but
we force no one else to come; yet if they do come, we want them
to behave themselves, and attend to their own business. We do not
consider an officer of the government to have any more right to
commit wickedness than any one else; and if he does, he merits as
severe a rebuke, and even more so, for he not only destroys his
influence and power to do good, but brings dishonour upon the
power that sent him. I would say to our friends, that I have no
hesitancy in recommending the Bibles of Mr. Van Emman. They are,
most unquestionably, a well got up book, and afforded much
cheaper than they can usually be bought in this place. You who
want the Bible, I would advise to avail yourselves of this
favourable opportunity.
262
Are the "Mormons" an industrious people? Every body says they
are, I say we are, and for the rest, our works may speak. One
circumstance, however, I will mention. Some letter writer,
probably of the corps militaire, thought it deeply degrading that
the wife of Orson Hyde, chief of the Apostles, should take in
washing for a living: but if she had kept some house other than a
laundry, not necessary to say what kind, it might have elevated
her in the gentleman's estimation, to the ranks of fashionable
life.
262
If this gentleman had ever ascended the Nile, he would have
learned that the native men who tow and propel boats up that
stream in which travelers are conveyed, are mostly in a state of
perfect nudity. This they do on account of the exceeding warm
weather, and also for convenience sake, being as often in the
water as out of it. They do not wish to be encumbered with
clothing. European gentlemen, travelling with their families up
the Nile, often purchase them entire suits, not out of any
particular regard they have for the natives, but out of special
regard for the modesty and delicacy of their families. So also
some of our good and industrious wives, who are not above doing
whatever is necessary to be done in their sphere, often
condescend (however humiliating the service) to wash up a
stranger's linen, that he may appear in "Mormon society" without
being particularly obnoxious. Industry is our element.
262
Is persevering industry a faithful index to all the crime,
debauchery, and wickedness with which we are charged? Men of
reputation and sense, consider! Can such a mass of corrupt beings
as we are represented, hang together, be united and submit to
rigid rule and discipline so long--encounter every hardship and
privation that we have, and still be cheerful and buoyant with
hope? There may be some little family irregularities
occasionally, but they are soon adjusted. Are there no family
disturbances among other people? I have often read of the husband
murdering the wife, and the wife the husband, among those who
consider it a high crime to have more than one wife. This is a
thing of frequent occurrence. But who ever knew of a "Mormon"
intentionally killing any of his wives, or any wife her husband?
No one! I answer again, no one!
262
All things, now, candidly and impartially considered, to what
conclusion must the unprejudiced and candid arrive respecting the
"Mormons?" It seems to me that they must conclude something as
follows:
263
There may be those among them, both male and female, who do not
behave as they ought, for their net catches of every kind, both
good and bad. The crucible or refining pot is Utah. There the
heat is raised to a degree that causes the pure to melt and sink
beneath, out of sight of the casual observer, while the dross,
slag, or scoria meets every eye, and forms the principal subjects
for our letter writers and numerous Editors to display their
talents upon, while the pure metal is consolidated beneath,
unobserved and unnoticed; and yet this dross is a faithful index
to the actual existence of pure metal near by. May not this
generation have bright and keen eyes, and still not able to see;
ears, but not able to hear; and hearts, yet not able to
understand? After all that has been said, done, and written about
the "Mormons," Mormon religion, &c., may there not be a principle
incorporated with them that flows in a deep channel which
operates upon their hearts and consciences, and that principle
emanate from God Himself? Are there not tangible facts connected
with their religion and history sufficient to warrant this
conclusion? Ye juries of nations consider well--weigh the subject
impartially--remember that life and death are involved in the
issue! Should there be an existing doubt in your minds, you are
bound to give the accused the benefit of that doubt; and though
it may not accord with popular practice for an attorney to be a
witness in behalf of his client, yet knowing his innocence and
the justice of his cause--the rectitude of his intention, the
purity of his purpose and the general benevolence aimed at as the
crowning climax of his exertions and hopes, I cannot refrain from
adding my testimony in his behalf.
263
In the most pious and well-regulated families on earth, there are
sometimes occurrences take place of which no member of that
family would be proud to speak openly; and which none but a
foolish and silly member would speak. On application of this
simile to the Church, I am silent. But the bone and sinew of
"Mormonism," "Mormon" religion, faith, doctrine, and practice are
true as God is true. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, with as many
wives as David and Solomon, (leaving out the concubines) are men
after God's own heart; inspired from on high to bring forth the
last dispensation of mercy to man--to remove the vail of the
covering cast over all people, and light up a flame that will
eventually consume the ungodly, and fill the earth with the
knowledge and glory of our God; and the "serpent" cannot cast
forth waters enough to put it out.
263
Gentlemen of the jury, you may shudder for me on account of the
testimony which I bear, thinking that I shall have it to meet at
the court of appeals. I am glad that you are thus sensitive; and
allow me to remind you, that you also will have it to meet at the
same tribunal! Therefore consider it well; weigh the testimony
and arguments in favour of Zion's cause, in a just and even
balance, and a true verdict hangs your own destiny for weal or
for woe. With these remarks I submit the case.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, March 8, 1857
Brigham Young, March 8, 1857
NECESSITY FOR REFORMATION A DISGRACE--INTELLIGENCE A GIFT,
INCREASED
BY IMPARTING--SPIRIT OF GOD--VARIETY IN SPIRITUAL AS WELL AS IN
NATURAL ORGANIZATIONS--GOD THE FATHER OF THE SPIRITS OF ALL
MANKIND--ETC.
A Discourse, by President Brigham Young,
Delivered in Great Salt Lake City,
March 8, 1857.
264
I presume there will not any person object to my talking this
morning, although there may be many who wish to occupy the time.
264
There are a few items that I wish to lay before the brethren; the
first is concerning our northern mission. A good many names of
persons invited to go north have been read here, and I want to
say to all those brethren that we do not desire any of them to go
north with us this spring, unless they would like so to do, and
can make it convenient to take the trip to see the country. We
will excuse all who do not wish to go, also all whose
circumstances rather forbid their going, and whose other duties
of greater importance prevent them. Again, I would like to have
all who wish to go on that journey consider that they have an
invitation, so far as they can go consistently with their
circumstances. I invite all to go who wish to and can do so
conveniently. I think that the brethren understand, both those
who live in the country and in this city, that the invitation to
go north is not given in respect of persons, but any who have not
been invited and who wish to go, may have the privilege; and
those who have been invited but cannot go consistently, we will
excuse.
264
The brethren who have been called upon foreign missions we expect
to respond to the call cheerfully, where it is a duty; but where
we invite persons to accompany us in visiting different regions
of country for our gratification, health, information, and
satisfaction, the case is a little different.
264
Last Sabbath I was here in the forenoon, but I did not feel able
to come in the afternoon. However, I gave brother Kimball a text
with regard to this people to preach upon in the afternoon, and I
expect that he did so, and presume that it proved satisfactory to
the congregation.
265
Concerning what has been said by brother Orson Hyde since I came
in, pertaining to light and knowledge, it is worth our serious
attention. I understand that this people do not all live up to
their privileges. I have told you that I was really mortified to
hear the Elders of Israel preaching a reformation; this is a
source of mortification to me, and the reasons are these. When
life and salvation are put into the possession of individuals or
of a community, and they have all the means of obtaining the
knowledge of God, and the wisdom of God, to understand the ways
of God and to secure to themselves light, life, and immortality;
and when those means are in them and round about them, and in all
their communications and avocations of life are present with
them, then to think that those individuals, or that community,
should neglect such a great opportunity and prize, a prize beyond
all earthly prizes or wealth of this earth, which can bear no
comparison to it, is exceedingly marvellous; and to see them
neglect this great prize, their conduct is like, speaking after
the manner of the world, that of a miser who should turn from a
mountain of gold which is so valuable, and go to a sand bank to
scratch it over, to pick out shot to make himself wealthy.
265
When life and salvation are put in the possession of individuals,
or of a people, to see them neglect those principles for anything
pertaining to this world, or to let sorrow or affliction, or
trials, or temptations, or buffeting, or smiting, or driving with
the sword, fire, or anything else in the shape of persecution
that can be poured on them, and to see them turn away from the
things of God and be driven from the path of righteousness that
would lead them to eternal glory, and crown them with crowns of
glory, immortality, and eternal lives, is mortifying to my
feelings, and I feel mortified when we have to say,
"Reformation," yet such is often the case. And many times when
people have received and enjoyed great light and intelligence,
the things of this world choke the good word, thorns and thistles
spring up, and they seem to have but little root in themselves.
The sun rises and scorches the tender plants that seem to be
growing in them, and we have to cry to the people, "reform,
REFORM, REFORM," when in reality it is a disgrace that such
instruction should ever be necessary. It is a great disgrace; it
is mortifying to angels, and I will insure that it is mortifying
to our Father Adam. His heart is pained with such things; and the
Prophets are pained with them, and so are all who understand and
have proved themselves worthy of eternal life, both those who now
live on the earth and those who have gone behind the vail.
265
For us to be repenting and reforming is really a disgrace. If it
is annoying to borrow light from others, it is a disgrace to take
a course in life to have to repent of the use made of that light.
It is a disgrace to our organization, to the design of heaven,
and to the intelligence God has given to man for his benefit.
Truly wise persons hate to look upon such conduct, they look upon
it with contempt. They are more worthy and noble than to
condescend to take a course in life which they have continually
to be repenting of.
265
As to light, a subject that brother Hyde has been speaking upon,
I will present a few of my views in somewhat different terms. In
the first place, to say that we "borrow light from one another."
I do not know that I precisely understand that idea, for I have
no light to lend. Perhaps I am not so well endowed with light as
some who have lived on the earth, but I have none to lend. I will
use another term, and I might say, perhaps, with a good deal of
propriety, that the poet conveys my idea pretty correctly in his
lines concerning the wise and foolish virgins:--
265
"Go to them that sell and buy,
And get yourselves a full supply."
265
Another wrote:--
"The richest man I ever saw, was him that begged the
most;
His soul was filled with Jesus, and with the Holy
Ghost."
265
I will go to begging instead of borrowing. But it is no great
matter whether light is borrowed or begged, for it is not so much
the way in which I obtain knowledge, as in the use I make of the
knowledge I have obtained. The wrong use of our knowledge is what
brings default in me or you.
266
I say that I have no light to lend. If God has given me light, if
I possess the light of the Spirit of revelation, and bestow that
knowledge upon my brethren, that same fountain increases in me;
whereas, if I were to shut it up--to close up the vision--and
keep it from the people, it would be like the candle lighted and
put under the bushel, where of course the want of free air would
extinguish it; and if the light in me becomes darkness, how great
is that darkness! This is my explanation with regard to the light
that is in me. If I receive from the fountain, the more I give
the more I receive. The freer I am to hand out that which the
Lord bestows on me, the better my mind is prepared to receive
more from the fountain; that is the experience of every
individual.
266
Here let me say what I do know and understand; every branch of
knowledge, of wisdom, of light, of understanding, all that I
know, all that is within my organization mentally or physically,
spiritually or temporally, I have received from some source. So
it is with you. There is no knowledge, no light, no wisdom that
you are in possession of, but what you have received from some
source. Do you think this is true?
266
When will we possess knowledge, and power, and glory, and wisdom
independently? When Jesus has finished his work. When we have
proved ourselves worthy to be crowned, when we have passed
through all the ordeals of suffering, trials, and temptations,
and proven to our Father and our God that we are His friends,
that we will live and serve Him, and not forsake our
parents--will not forsake our Father's house and His precepts;
when we have proven ourselves faithful in the flesh, and have
gone through the vail into the spirit world--have done all that
is required of us in preaching to those who are in prison, and
are faithful until we receive our bodies again--until these
tabernacles which we now occupy are resurrected and brought again
to the spirits, and the spirits to the tabernacles, and Jesus
calls on us to come up and be crowned among the faithful who will
receive crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal life, then we
will receive that power, knowledge, and wisdom, and possess it as
independently as the Gods possess their power. It will then be
bequeathed to them that they will have light within themselves.
Why? Because they have control over the elements, and it will
never be until then.
266
We have no light, no power at present, only what is given to us.
Brother Hyde calls it borrowing, but I call it a free gift, or
begging. The Lord's giving does not diminish His fountain of
spirit that our philosopher brother Orson Pratt speaks of, that
he believes occupies universal space, or, in other words, that
universal space is filled with, and that every particle of it is
a Holy Spirit, and that spirit is all powerful and all wise, full
of intelligence and possessing all the attributes of all the Gods
in eternity. I hardly dare say what I think and what I know, but
that theory, though apparently very plausible and beautiful, is
not true, for it is, or would be contradicted by the Prophets, by
Jesus and the Apostles, and by all good men who understand the
principles of eternity, both those who have lived and are now
living on the earth. Brother Hyde was upon this same theory once,
and in conversation with brother Joseph Smith advanced the idea
that eternity or boundless space was filled with the Spirit of
God, or the Holy Ghost. After portraying his views upon that
theory very carefully and minutely, he asked brother Joseph what
he thought of it? He replied that it appeared very beautiful, and
that he did not know of but one serious objection to it. Says
brother Hyde, "What is that?" Joseph replied, "it is not true."
267
With all the knowledge and wisdom that are combined in the
person of brother Orson Pratt, still he does not yet know enough
to keep his feet out of it, but drowns himself in his own
philosophy, every time that he undertakes to treat upon
principles that he does not understand. When he was about to
leave here for his present mission, he made a solemn promise that
he would not meddle with principles which he did not fully
understand, but would confine himself to the first principles of
the doctrine of salvation, such as were preached by brother
Joseph Smith and the Apostles. But the first that we see in his
writings, he is dabbling with things that he does not understand;
his vain philosophy is no criterion or guide for the Saints in
doctrine. According to his philosophy, the devils in hell are
composed of and filled with the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, and
possess all the knowledge, wisdom, and power of the Gods. If he
believes his own doctrine pertaining to the celestial and other
kingdoms, viz., that the devils in hell possess the same power as
the Gods, they being opposed to Jesus and his Father, the whole
fabric must fall. When I read some of the writings of such
philosophers, they make me think, "O dear, granny, what a long
tail our puss has got!" The influences of the Almighty, by the
Holy Spirit, have got to work upon us to revolutionize us. We
must with our organization, as we are organized to become
independent beings, though not yet independent of the influences
around us, bring into subjection our own wills and efforts, and
subject ourselves to the principle of obedience to the celestial
law. And when we have overcome the seeds of sin that are in our
mortal tabernacles, and brought our bodies and spirits in
subjection to the celestial law of Christ, and proven ourselves
worthy to receive that exaltation promised to the faithful, then
it will be high time for us to receive independent kingdoms,
thrones, principalities, and powers. We have them not now, and if
we had we would not know what to do with them.
267
There are but few men that know how to govern in temporal things;
fewer still who know how to control the feelings of the people,
how to guide the power of any kingdom that was ever organized on
the earth. Nations and kingdoms of this world rise up and
flourish only for a season. What is the difficulty? They contain
the seeds of their own destruction, sown therein by the framers
of human governments; those combustive elements are organized in
their construction from the first. With all the excellency, and
all the carefulness and correctness exhibited in the formation of
constitutions and laws, they have the seeds of destruction within
themselves. In the laws of every government now on this earth,
there are certain principles in their constitutions that will ere
long sap the foundations of their existence; and so it will be,
so long as men continue to persist in ruling and making laws, in
regulating and controlling by human wisdom alone, and in issuing
their mandates and sending their officers to administer laws,
made by the wisdom of man. I repeat, that just so long they will
continue to throw into their laws, into the constitutions of
their governments, principles that are calculated to destroy the
fabrics.
268
Why are they thus lead to sow the seeds of their own destruction?
Because the kingdoms of this world are not designed to stand.
When men are placed at the head of government who are actually
controlled by the power of God--by the Holy Ghost--they can lay
plans, they can frame constitutions, they can form governments
and laws that have not the seeds of death within them, and no
other men can do it. Consequently I say that there are but few
who know how to control or govern even in temporal affairs on
this earth. Then why should we have kingdoms and thrones
committed to our charge, when we are not capacitated to rule over
them? We are now trying to frame our lives in a way that we may
be prepared to live in a kingdom that is eternal, and it will be
just about as much as we can do to prepare ourselves to enter
into that kingdom which will endure for ever, without our being
made Kings and Priests in that kingdom for some time yet.
268
Can any man tell the variety of the spirits there are? No, he
cannot even tell the variety that there is in the portion of his
dominions in which God has placed us, on this earth upon which we
live, for we can see an endless variety on this little spot,
which is nothing but a garden spot in comparison to the rest of
the kingdoms of our God. Again, you may observe the people, and
you will see an endless variety of disposition, and an endless
variety of physiognomy. Bring the millions of faces before you,
and where can you find two faces precisely alike in every point?
Where can you find two human beings precisely alike in the
organization of their bodies with the spirits? Where can you
point out two precisely alike in every particular in their
temperaments and dispositions? Where can you find two who are so
operated upon precisely alike by a superior power that their
lives, their actions, their feelings, and all pertaining to human
life are alike? I conclude that there is as great a variety in
the spiritual as there is in the temporal world, and I think that
I am just in my conclusion.
268
You will see people possessed of different spirits; but I will
say to you what I have heretofore frequently said, and what
brother Joseph Smith has said, and what the Scripture teaches,
your spirits when they came to take tabernacles were pure and
holy, and prepared to receive knowledge, wisdom, and instruction,
and to be taught while in the flesh; so that every son and
daughter of Adam, if they would apply their minds to wisdom, and
magnify their callings and improve upon every grace and means
given them, would have tickets for the boxes, to use brother
Hyde's figure, instead of going into the pit. There is no spirit
but what was pure and holy when it came here from the celestial
world. There is no spirit among the human family that was
begotten in hell; none that were begotten by angels, or by any
inferior being. They were not produced by any being less than our
Father in heaven. He is the Father of our spirits; and if we
could know, understand, and do His will, every soul would be
prepared to return back into His presence. And when they get
there, they would see that they had formerly lived there for
ages, that they had previously been acquainted with every nook
and corner, with the palaces, walks, and gardens; and they would
embrace their Father, and He would embrace them and say, "My son,
my daughter, I have you again;" and the child would say, "O my
Father, my Father, I am here again."
269
These are the facts in the case, and there are none ticketed for
the pit, unless they fill up that ticket themselves through their
own misconduct. Are all spirits endowed alike? No, not by any
means. Will all be equal in the celestial kingdom? By no means.
Some spirits are more noble than others; some are capable of
receiving more than others. There is the same variety in the
spirit world that you behold here, yet they are of the same
parentage, of one Father, one God, to say nothing of who He is.
They are all of one parentage, though there is a difference in
their capacities and nobility, and each one will be called to
fill the station for which he is organized, and which he can
fill.
269
We are placed on this earth to prove whether we are worthy to go
into the celestial world, the terrestrial, or the telestial, or
to hell, or to any other kingdom or place, and we have enough of
life given us to do this. And as I frequently say, and think more
frequently, it is a disgrace for the Latter-day Saints to say,
"Let us lay hold now, and have a reformation." We should never
cease reforming and seeking to the Lord our God; and wherein we
can better any trait in our lives, let us go to with our mights
and reform ourselves, and not ask an Elder to come and preach
reformation to us, and we will find that every one of us will be
ticketed for the boxes, if we will do what we ought to do. If we
fill out tickets so as to pass Joseph, Peter, Jesus, the
Prophets, Abraham, and the Patriarchs, our tickets will take us
into the celestial kingdom. And if we can pass the Prophet
Joseph, answer his questions, and bear his scrutiny, we shall
consider ourselves pretty safe. We may fill out our tickets for
seats in the celestial, terrestrial, telestial, or some other
kingdom, just as we please. We have got to fill out our own
tickets; our own lives will fill them up, and we will be judged
according to the deeds done in the body, every one of us, and
that is the filling up of the ticket.
269
I remarked to brother Kimball last Sabbath, that this people are
the best people that ever lived upon the earth; I am actually a
good deal inclined to think so. Do not marvel at this remark. How
long did it take Enoch to purify his people--to become holy and
prepared for what we want this people to be prepared for in a
very few years? It took him 365 years. How long has this people
lived? It will be 27 years on the sixth of next month, since this
Church was organized. What do you think about this people? I say
that the virtuous acts of their lives beat the whole world. Were
the children of Israel ever so obedient to Moses, as this people
are to me? No, they never began to be; for obedience they could
not favourably compare with this people. Moses led his people
forty years in the wilderness in rebellion, fighting, stealing,
whoring, and every manner of iniquity; and their evils were so
great, that God cut every one of them off in the wilderness,
except Caleb and Joshua. He did not suffer one of them to go into
the land of Canaan, except the two I have named; they never
revolted from Moses, but held up his hands all the time. They
never turned away, not even when Aaron, his half-brother and
right hand man, made the golden calf. When Aaron gathered up the
earrings, and finger rings, and jewels, and made a calf, and led
the children of Israel astray to worship an image, and say,
"these be thy Gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage," while Moses was
in the mountain talking to the Lord, Caleb and Joshua did not
turn away; and if they were in that company, their souls
shuddered while the people were making that calf.
270
Were Enoch's men as obedient and advanced as far as this people
in the same time? I think not. Let this people continue to make
the improvement they have made, and it would not be 165 years
before they could take this part of the country and go off,
should it be necessary, until the earth is purified. Yet Enoch
had to live and strive, and toil during 365 years, in order to
bring his people under the principle of strict obedience. This
contrast is encouraging to this people.
270
Now let me tell you that there are hundreds of men and women in
this community that believe they ought to repent, but cannot find
out for what, cannot tell wherein to do differently, from what
they do, and do not know what to do. Do you do everything you
know to be right and pleasing in the sight of God? Yes, say
hundreds and thousands of the people. Do you do anything you know
to be wrong? Hundreds may reply, "We do not know that we do, but
we do not feel as though we enjoyed as much as we should." Hold
on, do not get away from us. If you were now in the enjoyment of
the things you have a presentiment of in your own feelings, that
in the anxiety of your own hearts you are longing for, if you
could get all that in your possession, you would not stay here;
we should lose you, for you would be too pure to tarry in our
society. Do not be in a hurry; let us stay together and fight the
devil a little longer. Some of you think that by next fall you
must obtain all that the Elders preach, if you do, you will go
behind the vail, and we cannot have your society.
270
With many, a presentiment arises in their hearts like this, "We
want something wonderful, or we must do something that we have
not done. We must revolutionize our lives; we must reform," but
they do not know wherein. Serve God according to the best
knowledge you have, and lay down and sleep quietly; and when the
devil comes along and says, "You are not a very good Saint, you
might enjoy greater blessings and more of the power of God, and
have the vision of your mind opened, if you would live up to your
privileges," tell him to leave; that you have long ago forsaken
his ranks and enlisted in the army of Jesus, who is your captain,
and that you want no more of the devil.
270
Should a sister, full of faith, happen to lay her hands on the
sick, and they thereby be relieved in the hour of distress, then
the devil will come along and say, "Sister, I tell you that you
have more faith than brother Brigham, brother Heber, or the
Twelve." In such cases just tell Mr. devil to kiss your foot and
leave, that you have no more faith and knowledge than your Father
and God has given you; that you are not any more or less than His
child, and mean to serve Him, and that you have broken friendship
with the devil, and therefore he must leave forthwith. Some of
you sisters will get to thinking, "O that I knew what to do.
Brother Kimball pours it out on me and tells me to repent;
brother Brigham pours it on me, and brother Hyde and others, and
they tell me that I am not half so good as I should be." Hold on,
do not get so nervous that you cannot eat your bread and meat.
271
We have Zion in our view in her perfection, as you have. Do you
know how you looked on Zion when you first embraced the Gospel?
You thought there would be no more trial, no more sorrow or
vexation of spirit; that everybody would do right, and that there
would be no more wrong; that if you once reached the gathering
place, there your souls would be full of glory, and you expected
that you could then sit and "sing yourself away to everlasting
bliss." You have to go through the smut mill, in order to be made
clean; then you have to be winnowed, then ground, and then go
through the bolt; and in this operation a good many will actually
"bolt." There are many pretty good men who want to go to
California and to the States; they have felt the effect of the
boltings. You have come here, and many have undergone a great
deal of trouble to do so, in order to serve your God and live
your religion; and when you do not know what to do to make
yourselves better, be contented, and eat your food with a
thankful heart to the glory of God. And when you lay down, say
"All is peace, all is right; and if the Lord wishes to take me
away to night, I am ready to go." There are thousands of this
people who, if they were to live ten thousand years in the flesh
and according to the chance they have had, would be no better
than they are now.
271
It is said to be eternal life, "to know the only wise God, and
Jesus Christ whom He has sent." I will tell you one thing, as
brother Hyde has said, it would be an excellent plan for us to go
to work and find out ourselves, for as sure as you find out
yourselves, you will find out God, whether you are Saint or
sinner. A man cannot find out himself without the light of
revelation; he has to turn round and seek to the Lord his God, in
order to find out himself. If you find out who Joseph was, you
will know as much about God as you need to at present; for if He
said, "I am a God to this people," He did not say that He was the
only wise God. Jesus was a God to the people when he was upon
earth, was so before he came to this earth, and is yet. Moses was
a God to the children of Israel, and in this manner you may go
right back to Father Adam.
271
If you look at things spiritually, and then naturally, and see
how they appear together, you will understand that when you have
the privilege of commencing the work that Adam commenced on this
earth, you will have all your children come and report to you of
their sayings and acts; and you will hold every son and daughter
of yours responsible when you get the privilege of being an Adam
on earth.
271
Suppose that one of us had been Adam, and had peopled and filled
the world with our children, they, although they might be great
grandchildren, &c., still, say I, had I been Adam, they would be
my flesh, blood, and bones, and have the same kind of a spirit
put into them that is in me. And pertaining to the flesh they
would all be my children, and I would call them to account, and
by and bye I would call every one of them home. They would have
to render up to father an account, that he may know what their
works have been on earth, for man is judged according to his
works on the earth.
271
Comparing spiritual with temporal things, it must be that God
knows something about temporal things, and has had a body and
been on an earth, were it not so He would not know how to judge
men righteously, according to the temptations and sin they have
had to contend with. If I can pass brother Joseph, I shall stand
a good chance for passing Peter, Jesus, the Prophets, Moses,
Abraham, and all back to Father Adam, and be pretty sure of
receiving his approbation. If I can pass all this ordeal, shall I
not be pretty safe? I think I shall.
272
When we get before father Adam and the innumerable company that
will come before him--when we draw near to the Ancient of Days
with the rest of his children, and receive his approbation, shall
we not be safe? If we can pass the sentinel Joseph the Prophet,
we shall go into the celestial kingdom, and not a man can injure
us. If he says, "God bless you, come along here;" if we will live
so that Joseph will justify us, and say, "Here am I, brethren,"
we shall pass every sentinel; there will be no danger but that we
will pass into the celestial kingdom. Will we all become Gods,
and be crowned kings? No, my brethren, there will be millions on
millions, even the greater party of the celestial world, who will
not be capable of a fulness of that glory, immortality, eternal
lives and a continuation of them, yet they will go into the
celestial kingdom. Will this people all go into that kingdom? I
think a good many will have to be burnt out like an old pipe,
before they can go into any decent kingdom.
272
Think how many have come into this church, from the commencement
of it until now, and apostatized. Will our present population
equal them in number? No, it would be like a drop in a bucket,
compared with them. Do you know of any other people's striving to
enter in at the strait gate besides this people? Yes, many in the
sectarian world, and the honest among the heathen nations are
seeking with all their mights to enter in, and I do not know but
what they are the foolish virgins that brother Hyde has been
talking about. The parable will apply to them, as well as to a
portion of this people. They live according to the moral law
given to them, and no people can be morally any better than are
thousands and millions of them, for they have spent days and
years on their knees to get the power we have, but could not
obtain it. Why? Because they had not the keys of the everlasting
Priesthood. Where will they go? To heaven, and they will have all
the heaven, bliss, and crowns that they have anticipated in the
flesh, and then you may add a hundred fold more. Can they go into
the celestial kingdom? No, not without the keys of that kingdom.
272
Well, brethren and sisters, may the Lord bless you and comfort
your hearts. Be true to your God and to your religion. Do not
forsake them, but forsake sin wherever you may see it. Shun sin,
whether it is in me or in any other person, and cleave to
righteousness and to the Lord. Do not betray your God nor your
covenants, and I say, God bless you and prepare us all for His
celestial kingdom. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, January 25, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, January 25, 1857
DEPARTED SPIRITS CONTINUE WITH THE DISPOSITIONS THEY POSSESSED
ON
EARTH--THE ORDER AND NECESSARY UNITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD
ILLUSTRATED--COUNSEL TO THE MARRIED.
A Discourse, by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, January 25, 1857.
273
When brother Woodruff was speaking, he was the centre; and when
brother Wells was speaking, he was the centre; and the speaker
should draw every mind and feeling to the centre, for this is the
way you get your reformation.
273
Where there is so large a congregation, it is impolitic to bring
little children here. I am perfectly willing that children from
four to six years of age should come, because a great many of
them have more sense than some grown persons; I know that mine
have.
273
I want to speak, as brother Wells says, just what comes to my
mind, that is, if the Spirit thinks proper.
273
God says, "My house is a house of order, and not of confusion."
The Holy Ghost will not dwell where there is confusion. I do not
ask you whether you know this or not, because every one knows
that confusion does not come from the Father, nor from the Son.
Does it come from the Holy Ghost? Every one of you will answer,
"No." Where does it come from? It comes from the author of
confusion, and is produced by those who rebel against God and
against His authority. There were many who did this formerly, and
they form part of that hell which brother Wells was talking
about. Although those men and women are dead, they have a good
deal of power; their spirits have power over us when we render
ourselves subject to them; their spirits are busy at work. They
are diligent in performing the work of destruction and confusion;
they go at that work the very moment their spirits leave their
bodies.
273
On the other hand, when righteous persons die, their spirits also
go into the spirit world, but they go to work with the servants
of God to help to do good, and to bring about the purposes of the
Almighty pertaining to this earth; while wicked spirits, those
who have been wicked in this probation, take the opposite course,
just the same as they did here. I have said, a great many times,
that that spirit which possesses us here will possess us when our
spirits leave our bodies, and we shall there be very much the
same as we are here.
274
If you are subject to rebellious spirits, or to a spirit of
apostacy here, will you not have the same spirit beyond the vail
that you had on this side? You will, and it will have power over
you to lead you to do wrong, and it will control your spirits.
If, then, you are opposed to the truth while you are here, you
will be occupied in that opposition hereafter, for the spirit
that is opposed to the work of God here, will be opposed to that
work when beyond the vail. I do not guess at this, because I have
been at the other side of the vail, in vision, and have seen a
degree of its condition with the eyes that God gave me. I have
seen it and have seen those that lived in the faith and had the
privilege of seeing Jesus, Peter, James, and the rest of the
ancient Apostles, and of hearing them preach the Gospel. I have
also seen those who rebelled against them, and they still had a
rebellious spirit, fighting against God and His servants.
274
Brother Wells has been explaining to you the spirit of apostacy
that is apt to possess persons when they feel that they have been
injured by any of their brethren. Doubtless some have felt
grieved and hurt with some of my remarks. During last week
several men came to me to make confessions for having talked
about me, because I was too hard upon them in this stand. I told
them that they had not injured me, because they were not
partaking of the sap and spirit of the vine, while they were
finding fault with me. If they had been, I should have felt the
effects of it. When faulting me they were the branches that had
withered, and the sap, the nourishment, was not in them, for
while indulging in those feelings it had withdrawn to Him who
gave it.
274
Of course their conduct would not affect me much, but would
affect them at the junction of that branch with the vine, or of
that limb with the tree. They did not hurt me; and I told them to
make their consciences clear by going and making a confession to
those that they had talked to against me, and whose minds they
had perhaps prejudiced against me.
274
I mention this to show you that you need not come to me, not one
of you who have talked against me; but acknowledge to your God
and those that you have injured, for you have not injured me, nor
brother Brigham, nor brother Wells, because you cannot get high
enough to do it. You cannot reach higher than your length, and if
your length does not reach high enough, you cannot reach us. It
is the spirit of apostacy, when any one takes that course, as
brother Wells has said.
274
I knew brother Wells in Nauvoo before he came into this Church,
and apostates and wicked men used to go to him and to Lewis
Robison, and tell them every thing they knew or imagined to be
transpiring in regard to this people. Do those characters take
the same course here? Yes, Mr. Bell and Mr. Gerrish know
everything that is done, almost, if not quite as well as you know
it. They are hearing things all the time, and from whom? From
those who profess to be our brethren.
274
Have I any ill feeling towards Mr. Gerrish or Mr. Bell? No, for
they have been our friends all the time. But have all who have
come here been our friends? No, they have not. There are several
who would destroy brother Brigham, brother Daniel, and myself in
a moment, if they had the power. How does this feeling come
about? Through the apostates in our midst. They go to work to
destroy men and women, and to make themselves reckless and
miserable. This is their condition.
274
Many men and women unfold everything they know and can think of,
and that too, while professing to be good Saints. Have they
injured me or brother Brigham? No, for they cannot reach us, they
cannot destroy us. They can only destroy the house that we live
in, or our tabernacles, and shall not we hold the Priesthood
hereafter? Yes, we shall hold it forever.
274
If you will hearken to the teachings of brother Woodruff, brother
Franklin, brother Samuel, and brother Wells, you will also
receive my words; and if you will receive my words, you will
receive brother Brigham's; and if you will receive his, you will
also receive brother Joseph's, and so on until you get back to
the root, or to the tree, or to the trunk from whence that
Priesthood came.
275
Should you go into Iron county, you would there find a branch of
this Church, a branch of the vine which is figurative of Jesus.
So it is with the general authority of this Church; here are the
First Presidency, the Twelve, the High Priests, the Seventies,
Elders, Bishops, and lesser Priesthood, and they are all branches
of the vine. Now if the people in Iron county are connected to
the main branch that is there, to the President and his
Counsellors there, and if they will hearken to their words, then
they will hearken to our words. And if they won't hear the words
of those who are authorised to teach them, do you not comprehend
that they cannot remain in the vine? But if they will hear our
words, then there is a junction of the lesser with the larger
branches to which they are connected. And if men hearken to our
words, they will also hearken to the words of their Bishops and
Presidents, and what is the result? They will partake of the same
sap and nourishment that are in us.
275
Brother Brigham is our head, and we will say, by way of
comparison, that brother Heber and brother Wells are the arms,
and you can see that there are several members springing from the
arms. These arms are for defending the head, and should there be
any disunion? Or should anything step in between them? Or should
any one try to make a separation between them? No, for they
should be agreed in nourishing and cherishing the head, or the
branch to which they belong.
275
Reflect upon the union that should exist between those men! They
should be of one heart and of one mind. Should not I know the
mind of brother Brigham? Yes, just as much as he should know the
mind of brother Joseph, and brother Joseph the mind of Peter, and
Peter the mind of Jesus, and Jesus the mind of the Father. I
should know the mind of brother Brigham; and brother Wells should
know my mind, and the mind of brother Brigham. This is why that
in my counsel I never run against him, and he knows it and speaks
of it. And he never gave me any commandment, but what I was ready
to sustain him. Then here is a Quorum that is of one heart and of
one mind in all things; and just as the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost are one, so we are one, and always should be.
275
The Twelve Apostles come next. Are they a separate and
independent body? No, for they sprang from those three, and are
branches that are connected to the same stock; and we sprang from
Joseph, and Joseph from Peter, and Peter from Jesus, and Jesus
from his Father. The Twelve may enquire, "Should not we have the
same mind as the First Presidency have? Yes, they most certainly
should. If the Twelve have the same Spirit, they will speak our
mind, and will not suffer any person to get between us, nor
between us and them, nor between them; for no person has the
right to dictate to them, except brother Daniel, brother Heber,
and brother Brigham, because they form a Quorum next in authority
to the First Presidency, and hold the keys of the kingdom to all
men and nations upon the earth. They should be one in spirit with
the First Presidency, and the Seventies should be one with the
Twelve and with us.
276
The First Presidency of the Seventies, Joseph Young and his six
counsellors, form another body holding power and authority, and
where did they receive their power and authority from? They
sprang from the Twelve. Then there are seven Presidents to each
Seventy, and each Seventy is a branch, and they are all joined to
the vine, their seven first Presidents are the junction by which
the Seventies are connected to that vine, even to the very last;
and they should all have the same power and faith that the first
have. If the nourishment and connection are good, and the
junctions of those branches or limbs are all alive, then the
farthest Seventy has got the spirit of the first, and all will go
on right. Why? Because they will all be in intimate connection
with the vine.
276
I use the figure of the vine to show you the connection of this
people with each other, and when the connection is unobstructed,
you will find excellent fruit even on the farthest. If that be
true, no matter how far he be from the head, he may be as a
member of this Church, bright and useful in his sphere as are any
of the members who are nearer.
276
Again, most of the members of those Seventies have wives and
children, and from five to ten branches from each of them, and
still the last child is as goodly as the first, because it
receives the same nourishment, the same care and attention, for
it sprang out of the vine, and abides in its fatness.
276
There has got to be that connection, and it must go to the
farthest person in this kingdom, and if there is no obstruction,
what can hinder its proceeding to the minutest branch and
tendril? But should an obstruction occur, what will be done in
such a case? Destroy the branch or limb causing the obstruction,
and the other part of the tree will thrive.
276
I have been over many parts of this earth, and the power that is
in me extends to the uttermost parts of God's creation. But do
you not see that I must be connected to the vine or tree? We also
have to see that the fruit is gathered so as to be saved and
preserved, because there is a storm coming, and if the fruit is
gathered up and properly stored, it can be preserved on natural
principles.
276
If there should be disorder in the root, vine, and branches, what
would be the result? If there should be confusion and men should
be opposed in their faith and feelings, there would not be much
good done. But if every man was acting in his authority and the
power of the calling placed upon him, there would be no
obstruction. Suppose that City creek extended into ten thousand
branches through this city, and that no obstruction or filth is
thrown into them, then the ten thousandth stream would be just as
good, as pure and as wholesome as the rest. It is just the same
with men and women in this Church and kingdom.
276
How long is it going to take you to become men and women of God,
and to honour your calling? When you fight against your leaders,
or against the head of a branch, do you not see that you are
fighting against your head? It is the same as a child's fighting
against its mother, for when it does so, it is fighting against
its own existence.
276
I want to show you the propriety of cleaving to the vine or the
branch to which you are connected, for if you do not you will be
cut off, as many have been. Are they cleaved off? Yes, with all
the roots and branches that are in them, that is, supposing that
they should afterwards have ten thousand children, they will not
be acknowledged in this kingdom, except they are taken and
grafted back into the Priesthood. I want to present these ideas
to you, brethren and sisters, that you may lead new lives.
277
I have not a wife but what was taken from another man's family
and grafted into a space that I had got in my family. Now if I
have a woman who says that she has no love for plurality, I do
not think that there could be much affection towards her. And
when there is affection, such a woman would soon banish it all.
Suppose she has no love, no attachment, can she expect the
affection of her husband? Can a graft grow to a tree unless its
nature is congenial to that of the tree in which it is grafted?
Say that one man gives me a graft from his tree, and that I get
hundreds of grafts from other trees, and that they are all
grafted into my tree, then if they partake of the nourishment and
fatness that are in the tree, they will certainly grow, but if
they alienate themselves, they will wither and drop off.
277
Perhaps some of you do not believe that the Spirit of the Lord
goes and comes throughout every portion of the vine, even to the
smallest and farthest extremity thereof, but it does. How could
the members of my body exist, if the blood did not pass to the
extremities? Then it has to turn and go back to the vitals. Now
say that I am a branch, how am I to partake of brother Brigham's
spirit and know his mind, unless I also partake of the fatness of
the true vine, and permit its sap, or essence, or spirit, to flow
through me without obstruction?--that my mind and will may become
amalgamated and run together with the mind and will of brother
Brigham, that our spirits may freely and fully unite through the
same genial influences of the Spirit of truth. And if my wife
wants to be one with me, she must let her will and affections
centre in me, just as if I were a vine, and my wife a branch;
then where is there room or occasion for confusion? Were such
universally the case, do you not think that we could raise up a
still better posterity?
277
When wives become one with their husbands, when there is no evil
interruption, children will be begotten, born and reared under
greatly improved influences. The Holy Ghost will rest upon and
dwell with the parents, and their offspring will be mighty and
godlike. I would not give much for a man nor a woman that does
not enjoy the fellowship of the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost. If I do not have the Holy Ghost, I shall not produce
the fruit that is designed by the holy order of matrimony. Mary,
the mother of Jesus, was a pure woman, and was ordained and
designed to bear the Son of God, because no woman in her sins was
worthy of performing that work. How long will it be before we
will have children filled with the Holy Ghost from their birth,
who will grow up steadfast in the truth, even sons and daughters
of God? No woman entering into this holy order should do so
without she has the Holy Ghost, and she should ever after keep
it, that her nourishment, example, and teachings may always
partake of the life-giving principles of that Spirit.
278
Stop all wickedness, all your quarrelling, and all unholy
divorces. Some women will marry a man one day, and call for a
divorce the next. They are playing with the things of God, and
are sealing their own damnation. Some women get married and then
run after other men; and some men get married and run after other
women. What are such persons doing? They are sealing their own
damnation. On the other hand, every man and woman that will not
yield to passion, nor to any evil practice or principle, will
become filled with the Spirit of God, and it will pass from one
to another. This is why, as I have often said, I love brother
Brigham Young better than I do any woman upon this earth, because
my will has run into his, and his into mine, and there is a free
interchange of feelings. There are but few men that will do that,
for they generally want their own way and their own will,
therefore their wills do not run into ours and the Father's. This
free interchange of pure feelings should run through all the
organizations in this Church, and through every member in every
family through out all our borders.
278
I have been trying to tell you how you may raise children to hold
the Priesthood and be holy unto the Lord; and if all would take a
right and proper course in regard to rearing children, from the
commencement until they are grown up, and not take a course to
weary the tree while it is maturing fruit, many would do far
better than they now do. Many who have but one wife, and several
of those who have more than one, take a course to excite
adultery, and what is much worse, they often take that course at
the most improper and unwise times, and thereby seriously injure
their offspring. If husbands and wives will pursue a righteous
course in this matter, their children will be much less subject
to lustful desires, and will enter into the holy bonds of
matrimony with a view to keep the commandment and raise up a pure
posterity. For this purpose God has instituted the plurality of
wives.
278
How I would like to talk to you in the plainest way that the
Spirit dictates to me, but the delicacies and wickedness of the
corrupt and ungodly cannot bear it. I want you to have a
reformation, for God is working upon me. I wanted to stay at home
this morning, but I could not; I had to come here to talk to you.
The world judge brother Brigham and me as they do themselves, and
some of you judge us in the same way. I wish to just touch upon
this, for the world do not believe in our religion, still they
take the liberty of judging us, and they judge us, as some of you
do, according to the glasses, or microscopes which they have.
This is not the right way, for there are but few men who hold
their ages as brother Brigham and I. Whereas if we took the
course that those do who thus unjustly judge us, we should have
been old long ago.
278
Some of you are living in adultery or in the spirit of adultery.
And some have wives that do not bear children. Why don't you let
them alone? Why don't you take a course to regenerate, and not to
degenerate?
278
How do you suppose I feel? As I live, and as the Lord lives, I
will defend the oil and the wine; and they will be blest with the
blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with all the
blessings of the fathers clear back through all generations and
dispensations; all these blessings will rest upon them. I care
not whether it be men or women who live the religion of the
everlasting Gospel, nor whether they be Americans, English,
Scotch, Dutch, Danes, or inhabitants of any other nation, for all
such persons have my blessing and my good feelings. I am not
national nor sectional, and God forbid that I should be, for I
have that Spirit that delighteth in the welfare and salvation of
the human family. And when I have that Spirit about me, can I be
national? You never knew that feeling to be in me, for I abhor
it. I will not bow my head to that national spirit, nor to any
spirit that is not of God.
278
Cultivate the principles I have tried to lay before you, for I
have done this for your good, for your happiness and salvation. I
have endeavoured to let you know that we must become one, or we
never shall be connected to that vine or tree that I have spoken
of. Everything will be saved that cleaves to the vine; but if you
are not connected to the vine, you cannot be saved. That vine is
like a cable which reaches within the vail, and the Father has
hold of it.
279
The Twelve Apostles sprang from Jesus in his day, and Joseph
sprang from them, and brother Brigham, myself, and others, sprang
from brother Joseph, and if we cleave together, how can any of us
be lost? We never shall be. But do not jump on to the car and
ride, instead of trying to do something to help keep the car in
motion. Do not jump on, as did some women who crossed the Plains
last season. They jumped on to the hand-cart and made the men
draw them, until the men died.
279
The true seed of the house of Israel are coming out of the world,
and the Saints are shut up in the mountains to learn and practise
those principles which pertain to salvation in the celestial
kingdom of our God, and my prayer is that we may be enabled to
accomplish the gathering of Israel and the redemption of Zion.
Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, March 15, 1857
Brigham Young, March 15, 1857
OUR RELATIVES, THOSE WHO DO THE WILL OF GOD--THE ELDERS SHOULD BE
AS
FATHERS AND SHEPHERDS IN ISRAEL, AND NOT AS
MASTERS--SELF-CONFIDENCE,
AND THE WAY TO OBTAIN IT--THE PROPHET JOSEPH NOT YET
RESURRECTED--PREACHING TO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON, ETC.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, March 15, 1857.
279
I am not in the habit of taking a text, when I preach to the
Saints; but I will quote a portion of Scripture, and offer a few
remarks upon it.
279
It is recorded, concerning the Saviour, Matthew xii. 46-50, that
"While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his
brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said
unto him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without,
desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him
that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he
stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, Behold
my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my
Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister,
and mother."
279
The Saviour's reply to the questions, "Who is my mother? and who
are my brethren?" is fraught with a principle that is very little
noticed by many. I frequently hear the brethren, and you may hear
both them and the sisters, in the prayer-meetings, where they
have a privilege of speaking, say, "I have not a father, mother,
brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first nor second cousin, nor any
relative whatever in this Church." Do you not hear such
expressions made by the Saints? Yes; and I sometimes hear them
from this stand.
280
Whether to the understanding of his hearers at that time, or
whether to ours, those questions were correctly answered by our
Saviour in the observation, "For whosoever shall do the will of
my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister,
and mother." So far as I am concerned, I do not claim
relationship anywhere else. And I do not think that the Saviour
will claim any son or daughter of Adam to be his brother, sister,
mother, or kin, or connection of any kind or description,
according to the flesh, except those who do the will of our
Father in heaven--the will of Jesus and his Father.
280
We presume that the Saviour perfectly understood his origin, for
he was then over thirty years of age, and had been instructed by
his Father in heaven and by the Holy Ghost, and had had the
visions of his mind repeatedly opened, according to the history
given by his disciples; therefore we have no hesitation in
believing that he understood his origin, who he was, the errand
for which he came into the world, the business he had to attend
to here, and understood the end of his mission in the meridian of
time. He understood that which you and I do not understand,
without the same kind of revelations and teachings as he enjoyed.
280
Let the human family do as they did in the days of Adam, in the
days of Noah, or even as they did in the days of Lot; let parents
propagate children, and let one generation succeed another, and
this does not change the blood, flesh, bones, sinews, &c.,
pertaining to our organization in the flesh; this does not change
in the least the peculiar characteristics of the organization of
our bodies. The Apostle merely hinted at this subject when he
said, "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell
on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times
before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." (Acts
xvii. 26.)
280
No matter who they are, nor whether they are upon the islands, or
upon the continents; no matter whether they are the wild Arabs
who traverse the scorching sands of Arabia, the aborigines of our
own country, who roam over its plains and mountains, or the
delicately nurtured dwellers in highly civilized nations; they
are all of one flesh and blood.
280
Consequently we can readily and safely draw the conclusion that a
man or woman who has sprang from the loins of Father Adam and
Mother Eve, whether upon the islands of the sea, in the west, in
the east, or on the opposite side of this globe, is flesh of our
flesh, and bone of our bone, as much so as any person now in this
house or in this Territory. But the relationship that I claim, is
to those who do the will of our Father in heaven; they are my
brethren and sisters.
280
I know a great man here who have no relatives in this Church,
using that term in its customary acceptation. Sometimes wives
leave their husbands, to come here; mothers also leave their
children, and children their parents. Ask them, "Where is your
husband?" "In England," or in some other country. "Have you any
children?" "Yes." "Where are they?" "They would not come with
me." "Have you any brothers and sisters, or parents?" "Yes, my
father and mother are living." "Did they believe the Gospel?"
"No." "Did your brothers and sisters believe it?" "No, I am a
lone person."
281
Such persons are apt to feel a spirit of despondency, to mourn
and complain, "O that I had a Father's house to go to; or if I
had one person whom I could visit and call sister, how happy I
should be; but I am a stranger here, I have no relatives in this
kingdom." Is that feeling correct or incorrect? I say that it is
incorrect; such conclusions are not true. That man or woman that
is a child of God, that honours his or her calling in the kingdom
of God on the earth, is just as much your brother or sister as
any person you have been accustomed to claim that relationship
with. If you see a woman who lives her religion, who is owned of
God, you see a person that is flesh of your flesh, blood of your
blood, and bone of your bone, although she may have been born
upon the opposite side of the earth from where you was born.
Those who actually live the religion we profess, are as much your
brothers and sisters as are those born of the same earthly
parents. Jesus understood this, as we may learn from his
expression, "For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which
is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."
281
Let your hearts be at rest, for you have brothers and sisters
here to visit; they are your connections, your relatives, your
brethren and sisters.
281
A great many have an experience that has proven to them the truth
of this doctrine. Ask those individuals, those who at times have
desponding feelings about the absence of their relatives, when
they are in the light of the Spirit, when the joys of salvation
fill their bosoms, whether they would prefer the society of their
fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters whom they have left
behind, or whether they would like to associate with them better
than with their neighbours here, and they will tell you, "No."
Would you visit them, as quick as you would a good Saint? "No."
Do you have the same feeling and fellowship for them, as for a
Saint? "No." Are they are near and dear to you as those who are
Saints? "No." And yet, when the Spirit is gone from them and they
are left to themselves, they are apt to feel lonesome and cast
down, to be filled with desponding feelings, and to cry out, "I
wish I could see my father, my mother, my brothers and sisters; I
wish they were here." And I wish you to understand that your
brethren and sisters are here, even according to the flesh. Yes,
according to the connection and relationship we bear to each
other to our Father and God, and to our Elder Brother, Jesus
Christ.
281
It is true that I have not altogether the experience that those
have whose parents would not embrace the Gospel, nor any of their
father's family. My father and step-mother embraced the plan of
salvation as revealed through Joseph the Prophet; and four of my
brothers, five sisters, and their children and their children's
children, almost without exception, are in this Church; also many
of my cousins, uncles, and other classes of what we call
relatives or relations, are in this Church. But I had this trial
when I embraced this Gospel, "Can you forsake your friends and
your father's house?" This was in the vision of my mind, and I
had just as much of a trial as though I had actually been called
to experience all that some really have. I felt, yes, I can leave
my father, my brothers and sisters, and my wife and children, if
they will not serve the Lord and go with me.
282
I did not ask my wife whether she believed the Gospel; I did not
ask her whether she would be baptized. Faith, repentance, and
baptism are free for all. I did not know, when I was baptized,
whether my wife believed the Gospel or not; I did not know that
my father's house would go with me. I believed that some of them
would, but I was brought to the test, "Can I forsake all for the
Gospel's sake?" I can, was the reply within me. "Would you like
to?" "Yes, if they will not embrace the Gospel." "Will not these
earthly, natural ties be continually in your bosom?" "No; I know
no other family but the family of God gathered together, or about
to be, in this my day; I have no other connection on the face of
the earth that I claim." And from that day to this, if my father
was still living, or my mother, and would not believe the Gospel,
embrace it, and then live it, or if any of my living brothers and
sisters would not, I would rather meet a Saint who was a beggar
in the streets and bid him welcome to my house, than to receive a
visit from any of my unbelieving connections, even though they
had the wealth of the Indies. I was brought to this test in my
own feelings, in the first of my experience in this Church.
282
Here are our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. And perhaps
it would be strictly correct to say that we have fathers in the
Gospel, spiritual Fathers, for the Apostle Paul called Timothy,
whom he brought into the Church, his "own son in the faith," and
charged him to "be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient;"
to be careful, cautious, with regard to the people that believed
in Jesus Christ; to learn the disposition and the nature of the
people, that he might understand himself and those he taught; and
alluded to others that were travelling and preaching; building up
Churches, or presiding over them after they were built up.
282
Looking at the conduct of many, yea, very many, as we can see it
exhibited in this our day, they want the mastery, the influence,
the power. They want to be able to say to the people, "Do this or
do that," and have no objections raised. They would have the
people obey their voice, and yet they do not know how to gain the
affections of the people; they do not understand the dispositions
of the people.
282
Paul observed the same difficulty in his day. Many Elders were
preaching and presiding, who were ignorant, aspiring, and
tyrannical, and but few of them treated the people as kind and
benevolent fathers treat their children. There were not many
fathers, but there was a disposition to be "many masters," as we
see here.
282
The most of our Elders want to be obeyed, as strictly as you are
taught by them from this stand that this people ought to obey
brother Heber, or brother Brigham; as strictly as they preach to
you to obey our counsel. I do not threaten you much; No. If I
have not wisdom and power to gain the influence necessary for me
to wield in the midst of this people, without cursing them,
without telling them that they and their substance shall be
cursed, and that if they do not do as I say they shall go to
hell--without threatening the people all the time with my
judgments and the judgments of the Almighty--I say, let Brigham
sink a little lower, and get into the field where I can find my
true level, where I can be made more useful.
282
You never hear me plead with nor threaten the people much, nor
chastise them often and severely for not obeying my counsel. Is
it right that others should do so? Yes, it is all right, if they
are so disposed; I have no fault to find with regard to others
urging the people to obey counsel. But if I do not give the
Saints and others the counsel of the Almighty, and that too by
the Spirit of my mission, they are at liberty to dictate me, or
to correct me in every error I commit; and certainly I should
commit great errors, if I did not enjoy and have the Spirit of my
mission, and counsel according to the will of the Lord. If all
who are called to responsible stations would look at themselves
precisely as they are, I will venture that we would have many
more fathers than we now have, and fewer masters to drive the
people.
283
As I have frequently said to the brethren, stop, hold on. If you
have sheep and have become a shepherd in the fold of Christ, you
must bear in mind that you must know your sheep, and that then
they will know you, that is, if you have got sheep. Perhaps some
of you are nursing a flock of goats, and do not know the
difference. But if you actually have a flock of sheep, you
should, instead of hallooing, "Shoo, shoo, shoo, get out of the
way," and instead of driving them, take a course that when they
hear your voice they may begin to bleat and run for their
shepherd, because he has a little salt for them. When the sheep
hear the voice of a good shepherd they expect to hear the words
of life; and every one that has the knowledge of God will know
and understand that such a shepherd is acting in his duty, and
they will walk up to his counsels and example. Do all the
shepherds take a wise course? No, and the reasons have been told
here times enough.
283
Elders of Israel and Bishops, be fathers, and take a course by
which you will win the affections of the people. How? with your
silken lips? No, no; but with the fear of the Almighty. Do you
know that men and women of God love truth? They do not love
sophistry, it is an abomination to them. When men are smooth as
oil, with a smile always upon their countenances, as some Elders
have, to gain an influence, the love people have for such men is
rotten, is without foundation; and in the day of trouble, when
they need a foundation in their people, they will find that it
will fall to the ground, and that the people will pass by them
and say, "We do not know those men." Let your influence and your
power be gained by the power of the Lord Almighty, by the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven, and see that you have within you a
well of water, springing up to everlasting life. Then when your
brethren and sisters come around you they will drink at that
fountain, and say, "We are one with you."
283
You hear the Elders teaching the people to try and have
confidence in God, and saying, "Do have confidence in the
ordinances of the house of God; brethren and sisters try and live
your religion; try and have confidence in your religion; have
confidence in your God; have confidence in the Elders of Israel,
that lead you; have confidence in your Bishops and other
presiding officers, &c."
283
You know that almost every man who becomes a public speaker uses
certain peculiar words to convey particular ideas, selects a
vocabulary and arrangement more or less peculiar to himself,
thereby causing that great variety of style observed in speakers
and writers. I have mine, which is peculiar to me. Did you ever
see a man who had such a peculiar vocabulary as brother Heber
has? I never did. Orson Hyde has a mode of expression peculiar to
himself, and so has every public speaker. My use of language is
good to me; and though others may use different words to convey
the same ideas, let me give out those ideas in my own style,
according to my understanding.
283
Now to return to those teachings by the Elders, in such cases I
would say to my dear brethren, to those who are of the household
of faith, try to get a little confidence in yourselves, and then
try to live so as to have confidence in your God. Ask even an
infidel whether he believes that the wonder workings of nature,
the strange phenomena which he sees and cannot account for, are
produced, and he will answer, "Yes, I know they are." Do you know
that men, women, and children are healed? Yes, you know they are.
You behold those remarkable phenomena, though you cannot fully
account for them. You believe in a great many things which you do
not understand, but do you believe in yourselves? No, that is the
grand difficulty with every one of us.
284
I will take my own experience. When men and women bring their
sick to me, if I had the power I would heal all that should be
healed. And if I had perfect confidence in myself, and the Lord
had that confidence in me which I should then have in Him, no
power beneath the heavens could prevent the power of God from
coming on them and healing them through me. But I have not yet
attained to perfect confidence in myself in all circumstances,
neither has God in me, for were such the case, He would answer
every request I made of Him, every wish of mine would be answered
to the letter. And this is the difficulty with the people, they
have not attained to perfect confidence in themselves, neither
have we as yet sufficient grounds for that degree of confidence.
284
We lay hands on the sick and wish them to be healed, and pray the
Lord to heal them, but we cannot always say that He will. We do
not always know that He will actually hear our prayers and answer
them. Sometimes the Elders will get that faith, and the sisters
will often lay hands on their children and have faith and
confidence in themselves that God will answer their prayers, and
say to fevers and pains, "Be ye rebuked and stand far off from
this the afflicted," and it is done. But you have to attain to
this power by your faithfulness and confidence in yourselves,
that God will answer your prayers. We know that the Lord often
heals the sick; and we believe all the time that He is able to do
so, but will He because we ask Him to? That is the question, and
we are often doubtful about it.
284
Do you think that I would have let my brother die, if I had the
power the Lord has? Would I have let Jedediah gone behind the
veil, had I had that power? No; though in that I might have gone
contrary to the wishes of the Almighty. For want of the knowledge
which the Lord has, if I had power I might bring injury upon
myself and this people.
284
We must have knowledge pertaining to ourselves, and that
knowledge will give us the key to know how to ask and obtain, and
without that knowledge we cannot have eternal life, which is "to
know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent." If we
have that knowledge we will know how to ask so as to obtain, and
not ask amiss, we will ask and have our requests granted. How can
we have that knowledge? By applying our hearts to wisdom and our
lives to rectitude; by living as perfectly before God as we know
how; by doing those things that we know to be right, those about
which we have no doubt or dubiety, and never doing that which we
are suspicious is wrong, and then be satisfied and not crave
after that which is not for us, but let it remain in the hands of
God. If we can obtain faith and confidence in ourselves, there is
no lack in the power of God; neither is there any lack in His
diligence, for He is always on the alert.
284
In our ignorance and darkness we may be led into error, if we
follow our feelings, as I just now observed might have been the
case in regard to retaining brother Jedediah, as also brother
Willard, brother Whitney, and many others. Had we had the power,
would we have parted with Joseph? No, notwithstanding his work
was finished on the earth. Many ideas have been imbibed and
advanced concerning the death of Joseph. It was precisely as the
Lord had decreed, designed, willed and brought about. No power
could have altered it in the least. He had finished his work on
the earth. Still if you and I had had the power without the
knowledge, we would have kept Joseph on this earth, and then he
would have failed to perform his mission in the spirit world.
285
I learned during the intermission, that several understood
brother Heber to say, in his remarks in the forenoon, that Joseph
was resurrected. He did not say any such thing, but left the
sentence with a word understood at each end of it, or a sort of
conjunction disjunctive at each side of it. I thought at the time
that many would understand brother Heber as saying that Joseph
was resurrected, and I take this opportunity to correct that
misunderstanding. Joseph is not resurrected; and if you will
visit the graves you will find the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum yet
in their resting place. Do not be mistaken about that; they will
be resurrected in due time.
285
Jesus had a work to do on the earth. He performed his mission,
and then was slain for his testimony. So it has been with every
man who has been fore-ordained to perform certain important
missions. Joseph truly said, "No power can take away my life,
until my work is done." All the powers of earth and hell could
not take his life, until he had completed the work the Father
gave him to do; until that was done, he had to live. When he died
he had a mission in the spirit world, as much so as Jesus had.
Jesus was the first man that ever went to preach to the spirits
in prison, holding the keys of the Gospel of salvation to them.
Those keys were delivered to him in the day and hour that he went
into the spirit world, and with them he opened the door of
salvation to the spirits in prison.
285
Compare those inhabitants on the earth who have heard the Gospel
in our day, with the millions who have never heard it, or had the
keys of salvation presented to them, and you will conclude at
once as I do, that there is an almighty work to perform in the
spirit world. Joseph has not yet got through there. When he
finishes his mission in the spirit world, he will be resurrected,
but he has not yet done there. Reflect upon the millions and
millions of people that have lived and died without hearing the
Gospel on the earth, without the keys of the kingdom. They were
not prepared for celestial glory, and there was no power that
could prepare them without the keys of this Priesthood.
285
They must go into prison, both Saints and sinners. The good and
bad, the righteous and the unrighteous must go to the house of
prison, or paradise, and Jesus went and opened the doors of
salvation to them. And unless they lost the keys of salvation on
account of transgression, as has been the case on this earth,
spirits clothed with the Priesthood have ministered to them from
that day to this. And if they lost the keys by transgression,
some one who had been in the flesh, Joseph, for instance, had to
take those keys to them. And he is calling one after another to
his aid, as the Lord sees he wants help.
285
Jedediah is not asleep, his spirit is not dead, he is not idle;
neither is Willard idle, asleep, or dead. Joseph needed them
there, also brother Whitney, and all the rest of the faithful who
have departed in our day; and he is now anxious to get a few more
of the faithful Elders to assist him in the great labours in the
prison house. He is there attending to the business of his
mission; and if they did lose the keys of the Priesthood in the
spirit world, as they have formerly done on the earth, Joseph has
restored those keys to the spirits in prison, so that we who now
live on the earth in the day of salvation and redemption for the
house of Israel and the house of Esau, may go forth and officiate
for all who died without the Gospel and the knowledge of God.
285
Brother Heber did not say that Joseph was resurrected, though I
was satisfied that many of the hearers would draw such a
conclusion. As quick as Joseph finishes his mission in the spirit
world he will be resurrected.
286
I do not know that any news would come to my ears so sad and
discouraging, so calculated to blight my faith and hope as to
hear that Joseph is resurrected and has not made a visit to his
brethren. I should know that something serious was the matter,
far more than I now apprehend that there is. When his spirit
again quickens his body, he will ascend to heaven, present his
resurrected body to the Father and the Son, receive his
commission as a resurrected being, and visit his brethren on this
earth, as did Jesus after his resurrection. Mary met the Saviour
after his resurrection, and, "supposing him to be the gardner,
saith, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast
laid him." But when she learned who he was, and was about to
greet him, he said, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to
my Father." As quick as Joseph ascends to his Father and God, he
will get a commission to this earth again, and I shall be the
first woman that he will manifest himself to. I was going to say
the first man, but there are so many women who profess to have
seen him, that I thought I would say woman.
286
I should feel worse than I now do, if I knew that Joseph was
resurrected and had not paid us a visit, which he most assuredly
will do, when that period arrives.
286
When Jesus was resurrected they found the linen, but the body was
not there. When Joseph is resurrected, you may find the linen
that enshrouded his body, but you will not find his body in the
grave, no more than the disciples found the body of Jesus when
they looked where it was lain.
286
To return more closely to the subject I have in mind, I will ask,
can we do anything to restore confidence in ourselves? Yes, we
can; and those principles that will actually give us confidence
in ourselves, as what we ought to have constantly before us. But
those who have been intimately acquainted with this people can
see a difficulty on the other hand. A man would get exceeding
great faith, if he did not outweigh and outmeasure himself, for
it is but a short time before some are prone to take the glory to
themselves, and say, "I have laid hands on the sick and they have
been healed. Stand out of the way, everybody, I am the man for
you to look at," and they go to the devil.
286
Again, many will pray for the sick and for themselves, for this
blessing and that, without receiving an answer, and think "I am
so unworthy, I have not lived my religion and walked up to my
privileges, though I have thought of everything that I can
confess." Some people will come and confess to me things as
simple as it would be for a woman to take the last egg from her
hen's nest, and then reflect, "what an evil I have done to rob
that poor hen of her last egg," and talk about that which the
Lord cares nothing about, and say within themselves, "I do not
receive the blessings I desire; I have tried to humble myself and
do the best I know, and yet I do not receive that faith and power
I want, that I am looking for and expect." You cannot receive it,
until you are capable of using it, neither should you. It would
not be wisdom in the Lord to give you power any faster than you
gain knowledge.
287
Those who humble themselves before the Lord, and wait upon Him
with a perfect heart and willing mind, will receive little by
little, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and
there a little, "Now and again," as brother John Taylor says,
until they receive a certain amount. Then they have to nourish
and cherish what they receive, and make it their constant
companion, encouraging every good thought, doctrine and principle
and doing every good work they can perform, until by and bye the
Lord is in them a well of water, springing up unto everlasting
life.
287
Some of you may remember hearing Elder Taylor preach on that
subject some years ago. He illustrated it most beautifully, I
never heard it so beautifully illustrated, by instancing people's
applying their words, works, and wisdom, in seeking first the
kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, seeking to build up the
kingdom of God on the earth, and exhorted that every other
interest should sleep to wake no more; that every man and woman
should have a lively interest for the kingdom of God, and let
narrow, contracted, sectional, individual interests lie dormant,
asleep, severed from us, and taught that our whole lives would
then be occupied in loving God and doing good, until Jesus would
form in us that living fountain from which we may have revelation
and gain wisdom.
287
Can you learn by what you see? Yes, if you know how. No matter
what your circumstances are, whether you are in prosperity or in
adversity, you can learn from every person, transaction, and
circumstance around you. You can learn from yourselves and your
neighbours, and can apply all your energies to the building up of
the kingdom of God on the earth, if your knowledge, interests,
hopes, joys, efforts, and labours are concentrated therein; and
you will be in that almighty big root that brother Heber was
talking about in the forenoon.
287
Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, and his Father is the
husbandman. In reality his Father was the root of that vine, and
Jesus was the vine, though he did not tell them that, for they
could not understand anything about it. His Father was the root,
the living fountain, and the God whom we have to serve. Let us be
branches and cling to this vine, hang to the true principles, and
all that we do, let it be to nourish, cherish, love, build,
increase, and multiply the size, glory, power, and excellency of
this tremendous great vine. There will be but one big vine in the
vineyard, according to that. Never mind, we will be the branches,
and the roots will fill the whole soil and the branches the
heavens.
287
It may be just as well to have one tree that will bear a million
bushels of peaches, as to have a million trees that will only
produce one bushel each. All can partake and be filled; all who
will can rejoice, and all can strive to build up this one
kingdom, or to nourish this great tree.
287
I now wish to particularize a little, and will commence by asking
whether any persons here are sick, and if so, I will tell you
what their disease is, when I get ready. Some men and women
fairly get sick, so that they have to go to bed. What is the
matter? "O I feel that I cannot stand it any longer." What is the
matter, sister? "My husband knows something that he cannot tell
me." Do some of you men know something that you cannot tell your
wives? "O, I have received something in the endowment that I dare
not tell my wife, and I do not know how to do about it." The man
who cannot know millions of things that he would not tell his
wife, will never be crowned in the celestial kingdom, never,
NEVER, NEVER. It cannot be; it is impossible. And that man who
cannot know things without telling any other living being upon
the earth, who cannot keep his secrets and those that God reveals
to him, never can receive the voice of his Lord to dictate him
and the people on this earth.
288
Does brother Heber know things that I do not? Yes, facts that
have slept in his bosom from the time I first knew him. Did he
ever have a thought, a wish, or desire, to tell them to me? No.
Do I know anything that I should keep fast locked in my bosom?
Yes, thousands of things pertaining to other people, that ought
to sleep as in the silent grave. Do those things go from me to
brother Heber? No. To my wife? No, for I might as well at once
publish them in a paper. Not that I wish to undervalue the
ability, talent, and integrity of woman, for I have many women to
whom I would rather reveal any secret that ought to be revealed,
than to nine hundred and nine out of a thousand men in this
Church. I know that many can keep secrets, but that is no reason
why I should tell them my secrets. When I find a person that is
good at keeping a secret, so am I; you can keep yours, and I
mine.
288
Now I want to tell you that which, perhaps, many of you do not
know. Should you receive a vision of revelation from the
Almighty, one that the Lord gave you concerning yourselves, or
this people, but which you are not to reveal on account of your
not being the proper person, or because it ought not to be known
by the people at present, you should shut it up and seal it as
close, and lock it as tight as heaven is to you, and make it as
secret as the grave. The Lord has no confidence in those who
reveal secrets, for He cannot safely reveal Himself to such
persons. It is as much as He can do to get a particle of sense
into some of the best and most influential men in the Church, in
regard to real confidence in themselves. They cannot keep things
within their own bosoms.
288
They are like a great many boys and men that I have seen, who
would cause even a sixpence, when given to them, to become so hot
that it would burn through the pocket of a new vest, or pair of
pantaloons, if they could not spend it. It could not stay with
them; they would feel so tied up because they were obliged to
keep it, that the very fire of discontent would cause it to burn
through the pocket, and they would lose the sixpence. This is the
case with a great many of the Elders of Israel, with regard to
keeping secrets. They burn with the idea, "O, I know things that
brother Brigham does not understand." Bless your souls, I guess
you do. Don't you think that there are some things that you do
not understand? "There may be some things which I do not
understand." That is as much as to say, "I know more than you." I
am glad of it, if you do. I wish that you knew a dozen times
more. When you see a person of that character, he has no
soundness within him.
288
If a person understands God and godliness, the principles of
heaven, the principle of integrity, and the Lord reveals anything
to that individual, no matter what, unless He gives permission to
disclose it, it is locked up in eternal silence. And when persons
have proven to their messengers that their bosoms are like the
lock-ups of eternity, then the Lord says, I can reveal anything
to them, because they never will disclose it until I tell them
to. Take persons of any other character, and they sap the
foundation of the confidence they ought to have in themselves and
in their God.
289
If you cannot have confidence in God, try and have it in
yourselves. If you lay on hands for the recovery of the sick, or
for the reception of the Holy Ghost, or to bless or curse, unless
you know that God hears you and will answer you, your
administration is liable to fall to the ground. When you have
confidence in yourselves you will have confidence in your God.
You know that God is able to do what you desire of Him in
righteousness, but the question is, will He? No, He will not do
for this people that which we want Him to, until we prove to Him
and to the angels that we are the friends of God, and will never
betray Him in any way, shape, or manner. If we are His friends,
we will keep the secrets of the Almighty. We will lock them up,
when he reveals them to us, so that no man on earth can have
them, and no being from heaven, unless he brings the keys
wherewith to get them legally. No person can get the things the
Lord has given to men, unless by legal authority; then I have a
right to reveal them, but not without. When we can keep our own
secrets, when we can keep the secrets of the Almighty strictly,
honestly, truly in our own bosoms, the Lord will have confidence
in us. Will He before? No. Are we going to become secret keepers
in any other way than by applying our lives to the religion we
profess to believe? No.
289
We want confidence in each other. The Bishops, Presiding Elders,
and men in authority seek for the obedience and confidence of the
people. How are they going to get it? By abusing the people? By
scolding them? Are they going to get it by flattering them with
smooth, deceitful tongues? No, they will not get it in any of
those ways. There is only one way to get it. This people are a
good people. As I said last Sabbath, they are willing to do
anything to obtain eternal life, to secure to themselves a seat
in the boxes, as brother Orson Hyde termed it. If you have a
blank ticket for a theatre, you may fill it up for the boxes, or
the gallery, or the pit, just as you please. Your lives must fill
that blank, and if you would fill it for one of the best seats in
the kingdom, you must live accordingly.
289
Do not flatter the man of influence, or the rich man. I know that
the brethren might turn round and say, "Brother Brigham, do you
see any of this, very lately?" The brethren have learned, years
ago, that if a man was to give me a gold watch, a suit of
clothes, a span of horses, a fine carriage, or a purse containing
a million of dollars to buy my friendship, that does not buy it,
has nothing to do with it, consequently I have not much
opportunity of knowing whether the people have this spirit or
not, for they do not exhibit it to me. If they feel to give me
anything, they give it because they wish to give brother Brigham
something.
289
If a man should offer to make me a present of a thousand dollars,
though I knew at the time that he would be kicked out of the
Church in the next minute, I would accept it and try to make good
use of it. On the other hand, if a man was in beggary, and owing
this Church a thousand dollars and lacking a suit of clothes, but
with his heart right, brother Brigham would say, "Come along
here, you are the man I want to see; come to my table and eat,
and I will also give you clothing to put on." Let a man have the
power of God with him--the Holy Ghost within him--so that when he
talks you can see, feel, and understand that power; so that you
can see and understand that the water of life is in him insomuch
that when he speaks, the sweet words of life flow out; then I am
ready to exclaim, "Come, here, my brother, you are the man for
me."
290
When every person will cease to hang upon the brittle, rotten
threads upon which the world hang, and turn round and say, in the
power of God, "I will make friends and gain my influence, by that
power; I will have all I do have in the name and power of God,
and that which I do not thus get, I will not have," then you will
begin to gain the influence you want, and to have confidence in
yourselves and in each other. Can the people have confidence in
each other, and continue to conduct themselves as many have? No,
they have got to be strictly honest.
290
I will take myself as an example, with all the influence I have
in the midst of this people and over them, (and I really and
honestly think that I have a great deal more influence here than
Moses had among the children of Israel), and suppose that I lie
to that man, and deceive that woman; pilfer from that neighbour,
and have what the Indians call two tongues, talk this way and
that way to gain power; and be very plausible, very soft and kind
to those present, and say that the brother who is not before me
is the devil, and when he is gone, that the other is the same;
while each one is with me all is smooth and fine weather; but of
the absent say, that man who was just here, I am glad I have
found out his iniquity, he is full of it; and be dishonest with
this and the other person, falsifying my words here and there,
how long would I have confidence in the midst of this people? I
would lose it at once, and ought to, because I would not be
deserving of their confidence.
290
When a man or woman ought to be chastised, I am able to do it,
and I will do it righteously. If they need a severe chastisement,
I can put it on severely; if a light one, I can bear on with a
light hand.
290
When people come to me, I look at them to see them as they are,
though I am not yet perfect in this. I have not yet the eyes I
wish to have, nor the wisdom. Do I wish to know how they look
with man, or to my brother? No, but how they appear before the
God of heaven. If I can gain that knowledge, if I can know
precisely how an individual appears to my Father in heaven, and
be able to look at him with the same kind of eyes as do the Holy
Ghost and holy angels, then I can judge the good or evil in the
person, without further trouble.
290
That is the method by which I settle so many difficulties. I can
go to the High Council, even should they have forty cases of the
most difficult kind, and if I would dictate, I could wind up the
forty cases, while they would wind up one or two. The reason is
this, I bring the individuals before me, and they cannot deceive.
If there is lying, wickedness, malice, and deception, I will
detect them and judge them from the words that flow from their
own mouths. I take the parties and hear them, and I can know at
once as much as dozen witnesses could show, so far as pertains to
the truth in the case. Look at people as the Lord sees them, and
then deal with them accordingly; and be honest with that man,
woman, or neighbour.
290
Brethren and sisters, you know that often, when you hear that any
one has spoken against you, your feelings are irritated,
disturbed by anger, and you imagine that that person is your
enemy, when, in reality, such is not the case. Are you never
liable to err? If your neighbour has spoken something derogatory
to your character, go to that neighbour and say to him, "I heard
that you said so and so, and with such and such reason, and I
connected this and that with it," and you can soon learn the
facts in the case. It is often all right, when we talk calmly
together, like brethren; and we think alike about each other,
about this circumstance and that. When we hear a part of a
conversation, we may easily make wrong and false construction,
and thereby bring evil. How many evils do we produce by this
course?
291
If we take isolated sentences of Scripture, and pick out words
here and there, and place them together, how inconsistent we can
make the Bible. It would be as inconsistent as some individuals
now say it is, whereas, if read by the Spirit in which it was
given, it is not inconsistent.
291
We often make the consistent acts of our fellow beings
inconsistent, by thinking that some one has done us an injury,
when after all the heart of the person was honest, and no harm
was designed. If a brother has spoken ten thousand words wrong,
if he is full of error, full of weakness, a man of passions like
unto ourselves, but is honest at heart, what then? Overlook their
follies, and do not watch for iniquity in our brethren. If the
real sentiments of honesty are in every man and woman, be
unsuspicious of evil intent, and have confidence in their
fidelity, and you will have confidence in yourselves, and will
restore confidence in each other, so that every word will be as
the law to each other.
291
Then when the Lord sees that we have confidence in each other,
that we are full of integrity, that we never forsake each other,
nor violate our covenants, nor the keys of the kingdom, nor are
untrue to our God, He will say, "There is a people I can reveal
myself to and tell what I please, and they will keep my secrets
and their own, and no power can get them from them." This is the
way you will get confidence in your God and in yourselves. We may
have confidence in God until doom's day, until we carry out in
our lives all that we now know about God, and it will profit us
little, unless we take a course that He may have confidence in
us, and reveal unto us His secrets, as the Prophets have said,
for His secrets are with the Prophets.
291
There are other things that I might speak upon, for my mind is
pretty full and fruitful, but I have spoken about as much as my
health will permit.
291
I feel to wish that I could bless you as I want to, but I have
not yet perfect confidence in myself. If I had, would I not lift
the curtain, that you might see things as they are? I would rend
it, so that you might see heavenly things; though, perhaps, that
would not be prudent.
291
May the Lord enable us to increase in that which we have, and to
continually do and say according to the knowledge we gain. May
God bless us. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, March 15, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, March 15, 1857
THE "DESERET NEWS," ITS VALUE--WORTH AND VIRTUE OF SACRED
RELICS--RESURRECTION--CONFIDENCE IN OUR LEADERS.
Remarks, by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, March 15, 1857.
292
It is immaterial who the authorities invite to speak in this
stand, that man should be so pliable that God can dictate him to
speak to this people the very things that are necessary to
correct our judgments and understandings, to inform our minds,
and to set in order, organize and attach every quorum to the vine
where it should be. Also to teach this people that there should
be order and government in families; that they should be
connected together by the same spirit with which a man is
connected to the Priesthood. When this is done, then every man is
connected to the Priesthood, and the wife to the man, and the
children to their parents, from generation to generation. Were we
all thus actually connected like the limbs and branches of one
tree, and there was no disturbance or obstruction by any evil
principle, would we not be in a far better condition than we now
are for accomplishing the work we have to perform.
292
While brother McAllister was speaking, I could not avoid the
reflection that there is time and opportunity for all to improve,
if they will. When persons cease to make improvement, they either
go back or have become stereotyped, that is, fixed, unchangeable
in regard to true progression, and then of what use are they
towards promoting the welfare of the cause in which we are
engaged? While a tree is growing, while it is thrifty and limber,
it is passive and submissive to the man that labours to give it
form. But I will let that subject drop, and pass to another which
is on my mind.
292
Some may very naturally suppose that there is a host of
subscribers to The Deseret News, especially when the character of
its matter is fairly considered, as also the fact that it is
entirely owned by the Church, and controlled for the mutual
benefit of all who are interested in building up the kingdom of
God on the earth. I had supposed that there were at least ten
thousand subscribers, but I have learned that there are not so
many, and not near as many as it seems to me there should be; and
I was perfectly astonished that the circulation was not much
greater than I found it to be. Some may be careless in this
matter, under the supposition that brother Carrington is part
owner or proprietor of the News, when such is in no wise the
case, for, as I have already stated, the presses, type, and all
that pertains to the Printing Office and Bookbindery, are the
property of the Church.
293
I presume that there are from twelve to twenty thousand families
in this Territory, and I really know of no reason why every
family should not take, read, and pay for one copy of the News,
for some large families now take from two to six copies. And I am
all the more surprised at the slackness of the people in this
matter, from the fact that the manner of payment is so easy,
every kind of article of any real value being received, even to
"hemlock slabs after harvest."
293
Again, I am considerably astonished at the apparent indifference
manifested by some of the Agents for the News, for they are
allowed a very liberal per centage for a very small amount of
time and attention; and instead of using a little skill and
exertion to devise ways for the poor to pay for the paper in
labour, some make little or no effort, either to increase the
number of subscribers or to collect and remit payments. And what
is still worse, some receive cash from the subscribers and retain
it, paying the Office in something else, and that, too, at their
leisure.
293
The Agents should become acquainted with each family within their
agency, and wherever they find poor persons who would rejoice to
take the paper, read it, and be profitted thereby, it will be
easy for them to lay plans for their being accommodated,
especially since the modes of payment are so numerous, and
thereby confer a benefit upon their neighbours and the great
cause of truth, while at the same time extending their own sphere
of influence for good, and earning the sum so liberally awarded
to them. In this, so useful an operation, the Bishops, where they
are not also Agents, can lend most essential aid, and soon the
News will gladden and enlighten every family within our borders.
293
To the people in Utah it is almost invaluable, for in it first
appear the History of Joseph Smith, the public counsels and
teachings of the First Presidency, the Twelve and others at head
quarters, and all home items and news of interest, besides such
foreign news and matter as may be deemed interesting, amusing, or
instructive. And it often happens that one sermon alone is of
more real value than the subscription price of many copies of the
paper, to any person who will read and properly appreciate it by
the Spirit that should connect us to the vine. You should
properly appreciate every thing you hear from every man that
speaks from this stand; but memories are often treacherous, and
comparatively but few can assemble here to hear for themselves,
but when those sayings are printed, you can read, ponder, and
reflect upon them at your leisure, and again and again, as your
memories may require; and your sons and your daughters will
acquire a taste for reading and treasuring up useful knowledge.
293
It has always been the case that the few have had to bear the
burden attendant upon opposing evil principles, but there is now
quite a number who are earnestly striving to establish
righteousness upon the earth, by listening to the dictates of the
Spirit and the counsels of the Living Oracles, and by striving to
be active in every laudable undertaking. For this reason our
publications will be sustained, whether subscribers are many or
few, but will any one professing to be a Saint look idly on and
see others reap the reward due to diligence?
293
What is the use in pursuing the indifferent course that some are
doing here? I will call a vote, and I want every man in this
congregation, who takes the News, to manifest it by raising his
right hand, for I wish to show you what proportion take the
paper. [The subscribers present raised their hands.] There is not
more than one quarter of this congregation that take The Deseret
News, and that, too, the only paper printed in the mountains, and
one of the most useful and interesting papers that ever was
published. And if you had a lively interest for the truth, and
was living your religion, let me tell you that you never would
rest or cease your operations of taking every course and every
advantage to obtain every word that is uttered from this stand.
294
At the prices of stock, wheat, lumber, labour, &c., all of
which command PRICES FULLY IN PROPORTION TO THE PRICE OF THE
News, how easy a matter it is to pay for a most valuable kind and
variety of reading matter admirably adapted to your wants, and
furnished at weekly intervals which afford opportunity for
reading it. And with a little care it can be preserved and handed
down to your children, from generation to generation, and they
will prize it a hundred degrees more than many of you now do.
294
How much would you give for even a cane that Father Abraham had
used? or a coat or ring that the Saviour had worn? The rough oak
boxes in which the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were brought from
Carthage, were made into canes and other articles. I have a cane
made from the plank of one of those boxes, so has brother Brigham
and a great many others, and we prize them highly, and esteem
them a great blessing. I want to carefully preserve my cane, and
when I am done with it here, I shall hand it down to my heir,
with instructions to him to do the same. And the day will come
when there will be multitudes who will be healed and blessed
through the instrumentality of those canes, and the devil cannot
overcome those who have them, in consequence of their faith and
confidence in the virtues connected with them.
294
Some do not appreciate these things nor the counsels of their
leaders. And then again many do appreciate brother Brigham; they
love him and his counsels, and his words are jewels to them. When
persons do not care anything about his words, what do they care
about mine? And if they do not care for his words, they will not
care for those of any righteous man.
294
If I had those relics of Abraham and the Saviour which I have
mentioned, I would give a great deal for them. In England, when
not in a situation to go, I have blessed my handkerchief, and
asked God to sanctify it and fill it with life and power, and
sent it to the sick, and hundreds have been healed by it; in like
manner I have sent my cane. Dr. Richards used to lay his old
black cane on a person's head, and that person has been healed
through its instrumentality, by the power of God. I have known
Joseph, hundreds of times, send his handkerchief to the sick, and
they have been healed. There are persons in this congregation who
have been healed by throwing my old cloak on their beds.
294
To return to The Deseret News; I have alluded to a few items to
show you the advantages and blessings of that paper, aside from
its great present benefit, if you will take care of it and hand
it down to your children, and they to theirs, and so on, until
you see it in the resurrection. Such publications are not going
to be burned up, according to my faith they will go into the
resurrection. And I trust that Bishops, Agents, and the Saints in
Utah, generally, will take a lively interest in this matter, as
in tithings, donations, consecrations, and other important
duties, and thereby magnify their callings and professions, and
gain honour to themselves by doing the good within their power.
295
Having used the word resurrection, I will make a few remarks
touching it. After my body is laid in the grave, and after the
Prophet Joseph has received his resurrected body, he probably
will not suffer my body to remain long in the ground, but will be
apt to say, "Come and let us go and help brother Heber to again
take his body." Do you suppose that if brother Brigham were to
die to-morrow, and if Joseph is resurrected, which he will be so
soon as his mission is filled in the spirit world, that Joseph
will permit brother Brigham's body to remain longer in the grave
than may be requisite? No, for he then will have need of the
assistance of his faithful resurrected brethren, as he now has of
faithful spirits.
295
Why do you not all have confidence in God? I would not give a
cent for your confidence in God, unless you have confidence in
those men He has appointed to lead and counsel you. If you will
have confidence in brother Brigham, I care not so much whether
you have confidence in me and in brother Daniel or not, for if
you have it in him, you are sure to have it in us, because we are
actuated by the same Spirit.
295
We should be like the branches of one tree, and except we become
one like unto that, we shall never be saved with that salvation
which we are striving for. Nobody can be saved in a celestial
kingdom, except those connected with the celestial tree. Then
there is a terrestrial tree pertaining to the terrestrial
kingdom, and you will never go there without being grafted in it.
I make use of figures in order to make my ideas plain, and to
rivet your attention and assist your memories.
295
Let us be active and diligent in the performance of all duties,
that the Lord our God may sustain us in living our holy religion.
Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, March 29, 1857
Brigham Young, March 29, 1857
HE THAT LOVETH NOT HIS BROTHER LOVETH NOT GOD--IF WE HAVE NOT
CONFIDENCE
IN OUR LEADERS WE SHALL NOT HAVE IT IN A HIGHER POWER--THE CHURCH
HOLDS
THE KEYS OF SALVATION--THE PROVIDENCES OF GOD TO THE SAINTS.
A Discourse, by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, March 29, 1857.
295
I am thankful that the weather has become so mild that we can
again meet in this Bowery, which is large enough to accommodate
the congregation; also that we are here under comfortable
circumstances--happily situated, and trust that for several
months to come, none of the Saints will be under the necessity of
coming here an hour or two before the meeting commences, in order
to obtain a seat here, nor of going away because there is not
room.
295
There has been a good deal said by the brethren who have just
spoken to you, and I have not heard anything but what pleases me,
but what I consider to be correct; their ideas and doctrines are
good.
295
I am happy to see brother Joseph L. Heywood here again. He has
had a very tedious journey, and rather a wearisome sojourn at the
Devil's Gate, during most of the past winter. Many of the
brethren and sisters in this congregation can testify that the
Devil's Gate is a place rather subject to cold and storms, and
that hardships are common from that point to this.
296
Many persons are so constituted, that if you put them in a
parlour, keep a good fire for them, furnish them tea, cake,
sweetmeats, &c., and nurse them tenderly, soaking their feet, and
putting them to bed, they will die in a short time; but throw
them into snow banks, and they will live a great many years.
Brother Heywood would have been in his grave long ago, if he had
not led an out-door life, and such is the case with others; but
he is again here, and we have the privilege of seeing him.
296
It rejoices me to hear the brethren rise up and tell their
feelings, their faith and views. I was much gratified with the
remarks made by brothers William H. Hooper and Robert T. Burton,
especially upon the subject of obedience.
296
It may at first sight appear strange, and is so to an uninspired
mind, that any people should have a want of confidence and faith
in a righteous man on the earth, a lack which blights their hopes
and faith quicker than it does to lack confidence in their God.
This is the case, however curious it may appear, though we may
hear some men declare that they wish to have such confidence in
their leaders as not to enquire whether this or that is right,
but to perform what they are bid to do. No man will have that
degree of confidence, unless it is founded in truth. Here a
question immediately occurs to the mind, will it save the people
to do as they are told by any man upon the earth, if they are in
the neglect of their duty towards their God and do not enjoy the
Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ? The answer is obvious; no one
can have that implicit confidence in a righteous man, unless that
person is in the line of duty.
296
The difficulty with the whole world in their divisions and
subdivisions, is that they have no more confidence in each other
than they have in their God, and that is none at all, no, not one
particle. This confuses nations, and breaks them up; it weakens
them, and they tumble to pieces. It disturbs cities and
countries, and really the seeds of destruction are within those
kingdoms where the people have not confidence in each other.
296
The Apostle John, treating upon the love of God that should dwell
within us, writes, "For he that loveth not his brother, whom he
hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" It is
impossible. This subject is not understood by the human family.
Naturally they have no conception of the character called
"brother" by the Apostle. As just observed by brother Hooper,
they have in their minds and creeds formed ideas of a great many
characters that they call God. With the majority of the Christian
world there are three Gods in one. With them that one God is
three persons, and still but one, which actually amounts to His
being no God at all. Why? Because He has no body, parts, or
passions, consequently is nothing at all; their idea virtually
annihilates the being they profess to believe to be three in one.
296
What effect has this doctrine, wherever the influence of the
Christian world extends? Wherever they preach their own doctrine
they destroy every idea of God in the minds of every person they
have influence over, consequently they know nothing of Him, and
of course we cannot expect the people to have confidence in Him.
He, knowing the weaknesses of men, is compassionate; and if they
speak against Him, in a manner derogatory to His character,
misrepresenting His person and speaking evil of His dignity, He
attributes that to the delusion and ignorance which His
professedly Christian people have spread so generally in the
minds of the people, and holds them not guilty, in consequence of
their ignorance.
297
Let us even speak against a fellow-being with whom we are
acquainted and do understand, one whom we can see and comprehend,
whose life and conduct we are familiar with, and, unless faults
are made manifest that we have a privilege of exposing in that
individual, it will destroy our faith and confidence, and weaken
us more than it will to speak against a being that we know
nothing of. This is reasonable, and is according to good sound
logic, sense, and argument.
297
It is folly in the extreme for persons to say that they love God,
when they do not love their brethren; and it is of no use for
them to say that they have confidence in God, when they have none
in righteous men, for they do not know anything about God. It is
reasonable for the Elders of Israel to be very sanguine and
strenuous on this point. And were I to be asked whether I have
any experience in this matter, I can tell the people that once in
my life I felt a want of confidence in brother Joseph Smith, soon
after I became acquainted with him. It was not concerning
religious matters--it was not about his revelations--but it was
in relation to his financiering--to his managing the temporal
affairs which he undertook. A feeling came over me that Joseph
was not right in his financial management, though I presume the
feeling did not last sixty seconds, and perhaps not thirty. But
that feeling came on me once and once only, from the time I first
knew him to the day of his death. It gave me sorrow of heart, and
I clearly saw and understood, by the spirit of revelation
manifested to me, that if I was to harbor a thought in my heart
that Joseph could be wrong in anything, I would begin to lose
confidence in him, and that feeling would grow from step to step,
and from one degree to another, until at last I would have the
same lack of confidence in his being the mouthpiece for the
Almighty, and I would be left, as brother Hooper observed, upon
the brink of the precipice, ready to plunge into what we may call
the gulf of infidelity, ready to believe neither in God nor His
servants, and to say that there is no God, or, if there is, we do
not know anything about him; that we are here, and by and bye
shall go from here, and that is all we shall know. Such persons
are like those whom the Apostle calls "As natural brute beasts,
made to be taken and destroyed." Though I admitted in my feelings
and knew all the time that Joseph was a human being and subject
to err, still it was none of my business to look after his
faults.
298
I repented of my unbelief, and that too, very suddenly; I
repented about as quickly as I committed the error. It was not
for me to question whether Joseph was dictated by the Lord at all
times and under all circumstances or not. I never had the feeling
for one moment, to believe that any man or set of men or beings
upon the face of the whole earth had anything to do with him, for
he was superior to them all, and held the keys of salvation over
them. Had I not thoroughly understood this and believed it, I
much doubt whether I should ever have embraced what is called
"Mormonism." He was called of God; God dictated him, and if He
had a mind to leave him to himself and let him commit an error,
that was no business of mine. And it was not for me to question
it, if the Lord was disposed to let Joseph lead the people
astray, for He had called him and instructed him to gather Israel
and restore the Priesthood and kingdom to them.
298
It was not my prerogative to call him in question with regard to
any act of his life. He was God's servant, and not mine. He did
not belong to the people but to the Lord, and was doing the work
of the Lord, and if He should suffer him to lead the people
astray, it would be because they ought to be led astray. If He
should suffer them to be chastised, and some of them destroyed,
it would be because they deserved it, or to accomplish some
righteous purpose. That was my faith, and it is my faith still.
298
If we have any lack of confidence in those whom the Lord has
appointed to lead the people, how can we have confidence in a
being whom we know nothing about? It is nonsense to talk about
it. It will weaken a person quicker to lose confidence in those
who dictate the affairs of God's kingdom on the earth, than to
say "I do not know whether there is a God or not, and I care
nothing about Him." A man or woman will not be prepared to be
taken by the enemy, and led captive by the devil so quickly for
disbelieving in a being they do not know about, as for
disbelieving in those whom they do know.
298
To say nothing of names, creeds, or titles, brother Joseph
taught, and it is taught to the people now continually, to have
implicit confidence in our leaders to be sure that we live so
that Christ is within us a living fountain, that we may have the
Holy Ghost within us to actuate, dictate, and direct us every
hour and moment of our lives. The people are urged from year to
year, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, to live very near unto the
Lord, to forsake every sin, and cling to the Lord with all our
hearts, minds, and souls, so that we may know by the spirit of
revelation whenever truth comes to us.
298
How many hundreds and hundreds of times have you been taught that
if people neglect their prayers and other daily duties, that they
quickly begin to love the world, become vain in their
imaginations, and liable to go astray, loving all the day long to
do those things that the Lord hates, and leaving undone those
things that the Lord requires at their hands? When people neglect
their private duties, should their leaders lead them astray, they
will go blindfolded, will be subject to the devil, and be led
captive at his will. How useless this would be! How unnatural,
unreasonable, and unlike the Gospel and those who believe it!
298
How are we going to obtain implicit confidence in all the words
and doings of Joseph? By one principle alone, that is, to live so
that the voice of the Spirit will testify to us all the time that
he is the servant of the Most High; so that we can realize as it
were the Lord's declaring that "Joseph is my servant, I lead him
day by day whithersoever I will, and dictate him to do whatever I
will; he is my mouth to the people. And I say to the nations of
the earth, hear ye the servants I send, or you cannot be saved."
This is comprehended in the remarks just made by brother Burton,
which comprises one of the greatest and fullest sermons that can
be preached to the world. And I wish we had more Elders to go and
preach just such sermons by the power of God, that is, "I know
that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God, that this is the Gospel of
salvation, and if you do not believe it you will be damned, every
one of you."
299
That is one of the most important sermons that ever was preached,
and then if they could add anything by the power of the Spirit,
it would be all right. When a man teaches that doctrine by the
power of God in a congregation of sinners, it is one of the
loudest sermons that was ever preached to them, because the
Spirit bears testimony to it. That is the preaching which you
hear all the time, viz.--to live so that the voice of God's
Spirit will always be with you, and then you know that what you
hear from the heads of the people is right. When you do not so
live, you are ignorant; and then when you testify, you testify to
what you know nothing of. Live so that you can know and testify
to every principle that is right, not with mere lip service, but
from the heart be able to say truly, "I know that everything is
right."
299
As I have frequently said to this people, they are a good people.
We are striving to make the kingdom of heaven. Many think that
this people have got to make great sacrifices, but what have we
to sacrifice? Nothing, for all is the Lord's. But suppose that we
had something to sacrifice, they would be willing to do it; they
would be willing to do anything for the sake of salvation. They
have already forsaken their homes and friends, and come here to
serve the Lord, and now continue, shall I say continue to reform?
Yes, continue this reformation that has been talked about.
Continue to improve yourselves, to live so that your faith and
knowledge will increase in the things of God, that our minds may
be opened to those things that pertain to our peace and eternal
salvation, and live no more in the dark, whereby you are
constrained to say, "I do not understand the things that are
taught, these are great and marvellous things, they are beyond my
comprehension; I do not know why it is that I feel as I do many
times; I have feelings come on me that I cannot account for."
299
If you live near to God, and every moment have your minds filled
with fervent desires to keep the law of God, you will understand
the Spirit that comes to you; you will know how to build up the
Lord's kingdom, and increase in every good thing; and it will be
one continual scene of rejoicing instead of mourning. Those who
mourn and feel that they have really endured sufferings and
afflictions, and sacrifices to a great amount for the kingdom of
heaven, do not enjoy the Spirit of their religion. They do not
enjoy the Spirit of this Holy Gospel, for they do not live near
enough to the Lord so that Christ is in them like a living
fountain, like a well of water springing up to everlasting life.
299
The persons who enjoy that Spirit are never sorrowful nor cast
down. They never endure afflictions and mourn because they
suppose that they have sacrificed for the Gospel, but they are
always joyful, always cheerful, with a happy smile on their
faces, and, as brother Robert said, it does make the devil mad.
That is true, it makes him mad that he cannot afflict this people
so as to make them have a sad countenance.
299
When you come across those who have a wonderful sight of trouble,
trouble with their wives and with their neighbours, it is those
who do not live their religion. Those who have the Spirit of
their religion feel hope bound in their feelings, and have a word
of comfort for themselves, their families, and their neighbours,
and all is right with them. Let us make the building up of the
kingdom of heaven our first and only interest, and all will be
well, sure.
299
Have we reason to rejoice? We have. There is no other people on
this earth under such deep obligation to their Creator, as are
the Latter-day Saints. The Gospel has brought to us the holy
Priesthood, which is again restored to the children of men. The
keys of that Priesthood are here; we have them in our possession;
we can unlock, and we can shut up. We can obtain salvation, and
we can administer it. We have the power within our own hands, and
this has been my deep mortification, one that I have frequently
spoken of, to think that a people, having in their possession all
the principles, keys, and powers of eternal life, should neglect
so great salvation. We have these blessings, they are with us.
300
Have we the visible hand of God with us? We have. Many
circumstances transpired last year with regard to the immediate
providences of God. Can we see the visible hand of the Lord in
His dealings to us this season? We can. Any person who could have
numbered Israel in the valleys of the mountains, and the bushels
of grain taken from the earth last fall, would have said there is
not enough grain raised in 1856 to last the people to the first
of April, 1857.
300
That was so obviously the prospect, that brother Kimball
prophesied that there would be harder times in 1857 than we had
seen in 1856. I told him that I would bring to bear all my faith,
and all the power I had, and all my ability against that
prophecy, when he said the times would be harder this year than
they were last. Still there were no human prospects, visible
signs, means, or substance to prevent it, according to the number
of bushels of grain taken from the earth, and the number of
people in this Territory to be sustained therewith. There was a
better prospect for our suffering for want of food this year,
than there was in either 1856 or 1855, but I promised myself that
I should exercise my power against that prophecy. Brother Heber
says, "Amen," to that statement now. He said so then, and I know
that he would rather have it fail than to have people suffer.
300
Brother Heber says, "The wheat swells." I believe that. It
increases in the granaries. I have believed that principle for
many years. I know that God has dealt with me and with others in
a way that cannot be accounted for upon common modes of
reasoning. I have heretofore mentioned what some may think the
trifling circumstance of a man's finding money in his pocket that
could not have been there, unless an angel or some other person
had put it there unbeknown to that man. Flour and wheat have been
found in barrels and bins, after they had been taken out even to
the scraping of the barrels, and that, too, without the owner's
knowing how the stock had been replenished. Who put it there, is
not for me to say; but I know who did not. Let the people guess
who put it there.
300
Have we any visible signs of the providences of God to us? We
have, if men have their eyes open to see for themselves. If this
people called Latter-day Saints could see by the visions of the
Spirit the hand dealings of the Lord as visible as some see,
there would be nothing but rejoicing among us from the oldest to
the youngest, from the first to the last, from the one side of
this globe to the other.
300
We will now turn right round, and ask, are there afflictions?
Yes. People are taken sick and die, and we have not the power to
keep them alive; and I do not think I would, if I had power; and
I do not think I will when I have power, because I then shall
have more wisdom than I have now. Knowledge is power; and as I
gain knowledge I gain power. If we will consider these things, we
will see that the visible hand of the Lord is with us
continually.
301
Let the Latter-day Saints in these valleys of the mountains ask
themselves this question, Do we, as a community, as a Church and
kingdom of God on the earth, as individuals, believe that if we
had shut up the bowels of our compassion last fall, and said to
our immigration, "Suffer and perish in the mountains, I have
nothing to spare, I cannot relieve you," we should have as much
grain and substance on hand as we now have? Would not every man
and woman exclaim, "We would have been in poverty and want?" What
has made us rich in this matter? One united effort by this people
to bring men, women, and children out of the snow, and off from
the Plains, and keep them from perishing. "Here are the wheat,
the barley, the corn, the boys, horses, mules, blankets, saddles,
&c., go, my brethren, and bring those persons off the Plains."
They went, and that, too, cheerfully.
301
Brother Kimball says that the movement prevented his prophecy
coming to pass. If that did it, I wish I could as easily and
cheaply turn aside all prophecies of that kind and nature, for I
do not wish this people to suffer, to go hungry and naked, nor to
be sick and afflicted, or in pain. I want them to live and
increase in every good work.
301
Suppose the whole community should ask themselves this question,
Do you not believe that the Lord has favoured and blessed us in
consequence of our doing right? Yes, we would reply at once, we
believe that our faith to our God and proving ourselves friends
to Him and His people, and being kind to the suffering poor, have
caused His blessings to be poured out upon us, and we are
favoured as we are. If the people continue to be humble before
Him, to keep His commandments, to love and serve the Lord, and
forsake those little trifling concerns which pertain to the
world, and to the spirit of the world, which is the spirit of
sorrow, anxiety, and trouble, and get the Spirit of the Lord and
live in it, we shall increase in the facilities of life; we shall
have the comforts of life from our gardens, farms, orchards,
flocks and herds, and we shall have means to gather up the poor
from every land.
301
This is the land of Zion. West of us is a body of water that we
call the Pacific, and to the east there is another large body of
water which we call the Atlantic, and to the north is where they
have tried to discover a northwest passage; these waters surround
the land of Zion, and we will bring the poor home to this land.
These valleys are nothing more than a temporary hiding place for
the Saints, and if they will do right here, no power can disturb
them. Be kind to all, to our friends, to the household of faith,
and even to our enemies. Do all you can to save everybody, and
the Lord's hand will be over us for good, and we will be
preserved.
301
Hitherto there has been too much of a spirit to find fault, but I
expect that this spirit is very near kicked out of doors. And you
may still hear some saying, "There are hard times coming by and
bye; the mob are coming; the crickets and the grasshoppers will
eat us out." They have tried that, and I have no more fears about
one army than I have about the other; though the crickets and the
grasshoppers are the greatest plague, for we can hit men, but
when you hit one cricket or grasshopper, the air is at once alive
with them, and if you kill one, two come to bury him.
301
Dismiss all feelings of fear, and say nothing about them. Let it
be the whole aim of the Saints to know how to build up the
kingdom of God on the earth. And if you want to know how to spend
your time, inquire from hour to hour what you can do to do good.
If necessary, take off your hat, and run through the streets for
something to do. Go into the garden, plant potatoes, set out
fruit trees, sow peas, and put all kinds of useful seeds into the
ground. And when the devil tells you to do some wonderful big
thing, wait until you become some wonderful big person, and
reflect that you are yet only like one of the people, and must
take care of yourself.
302
I am glad that we have the privilege of again assembling in this
Bowery, where there is plenty of pure air and the people can be
comfortable. The ground under this shade is yet damp, although we
have had fires burning upon it to make it as dry as possible, and
it may be wisdom for those sisters who wear thin shoes, to bring
a small piece of oil cloth or carpet to put their feet upon. I
would rather see the sisters come to meeting with wooden bottomed
shoes, than to come with their fine morocco shoes and take cold.
If you will accustom yourselves to wearing wooden bottomed or
thick soled shoes, you can sit here with impunity.
302
Take care of yourselves, and live as long as you can, and do all
the good you can. Let us try to live until we can kick the devils
out of this land, and off from the earth. I want to live for
this, to see Zion redeemed, and the Church and kingdom of God
cover the face of the whole earth, and have one universal reign
of peace. May the Lord bless us. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, April 6, 1857
Brigham Young, April 6, 1857
OBJECT OF THE EXPRESS CARRYING COMPANY--WHY SUCCESS ATTENDS THE
MINISTERIAL LABOURS OF SOME ELDERS, AND NOT THOSE OF
OTHERS--COUNSEL
TO STORE UP GRAIN ENOUGH TO LAST SEVEN YEARS.
Remarks, by President Brigham Young, Delivered at the opening of
the
Conference, Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1857.
302
If you will now give me your attention strictly, I will lay
before you some items of business for the consideration and
action of this Conference.
302
I trust that we have come here for the purpose of acceptably
presenting ourselves before the Lord, to transact business for
the building up of His kingdom in this our day, with pure hearts
and fervent desires to magnify the name of our God, that we may
be useful and have power to establish peace and righteousness
upon the earth.
302
Our religion is first and foremost with us, it is of the greatest
importance of all in this generation, for in it is incorporated
the acts and doings of the Saints in the ordinances of the house
of God, to promote His kingdom upon the earth, to sustain
ourselves, gather Israel, redeem Zion, build up Jerusalem, and
prepare for the coming of the Son of Man.
302
The items of business before this Conference may be considered
texts for the Elders who may speak here to preach upon, though if
they wish to exhort the brethren, to relate a portion of their
experience, or tell a dream or a vision, they have the privilege.
But our Conferences are more particularly for other transactions
of business, for the furtherance of the kingdom of God on the
earth.
302
I will first present the subject of prosecuting our labours and
operations for building the Temple, under our present
circumstances and future prospects. We have deemed it wise and
expedient to prepare for bringing the rock for that building from
quite a distance, in boats, which will be much cheaper than
hauling it in wagons, and thus far facilitate the erection of the
Temple.
303
I will next cite your memories to a mass meeting that was held in
the Tabernacle upwards of a year ago, to take into consideration
the propriety and expediency of establishing an Express and
Carrying Company to operate between here and the States to the
east, and California to the west. That Company has now commenced
its business operations. Three companies have already left this
city, and the particular object in view is to establish places
where our brethren can stop and rest, recruit and refresh
themselves until they can continue their journey and arrive in
this valley. Our main object is to make settlements and raise
grain at suitable points and convenient distances, where we can
prepare resting places for the Saints. The last season's
immigration I think has prompted us materially to this action. If
we had had settlements at Deer Creek, La Bonte, below Laramie,
and on the Sweet Water, where people can raise grain, our last
year's belated immigration might have had habitations, food, and
other conveniences for comfortably tarrying through the winter,
and thus saved this community a vast expense. This Express
Company will be laid before this Conference, so that you will
have an understanding of it, that you may act knowingly, and give
your faith, influence, and means to accomplish the object of its
organization.
303
We are calling quite a number to go on missions, and are
appointing a portion of them to visit the Canadas. We have a
great many Elders labouring throughout Europe, but more
especially in England, and the Canadas are mostly settled by the
same classes of people. True there has formerly been much
preaching in that region, and many churches raised up, especially
in Upper or Canada West, but many have emigrated to the States
and are now with us, and I do not know of an Elder in this Church
now labouring in either of the Canadas. We wish to send a company
to labour there, and gather out the honest in heart.
303
I would also propose sending missionaries to the States, if we
could by accident, or by foreknowledge, or by revelation, or by
any other means, select and spare from here the right kind of
men; in that case we would like to send a good many there. My
reasons are these; there are honest people by thousands, and
scores of thousands in the States, those who have never yet heard
the sound of the Gospel. There are also scores of places where
branches have been raised up, but the inhabitants have so changed
that they now hardly know what you mean when you say "Mormon" or
"Mormonism," and when you talk about the preaching of the
everlasting Gospel, it is almost forgotten by the few that are
still remaining in those places. Other people occupy the place of
those who have left, of those who had been preached to, and
children have grown up and taken the place of their parents;
others have moved away, and strangers have moved in. There are
honest people there, and if we could get Elders, to use a western
phrase, of "The right stripe," we could gather multitudes from
the United States. For an example, we sent brother John Taylor to
New York with a number of Elders to preach, labour, and assist
him. Some of them tarried in New York with brother Taylor,
visited their families, connections, friends, &c. for a time, and
returned. They did not baptize any with them, "There was no call
for preaching, no place to sow the seed, or distribute the good
word of God; they could not find any who wanted to hear them
preach or who wished to know anything of the Gospel," while at
the same time others who felt for the interest of the kingdom and
for the people, stepped forth, and laboured like men, and found
plenty of chances for preaching.
304
Brother Jeter Clinton was one of the last named class.
Brother Taylor sent him to Philadelphia, and when he got there,
those who professed "Mormonism" were dead, dead, dead; they were
withered and twice plucked up by the roots. Brother Clinton had
not been there six months before the Church numbered a great many
more than when he went there. The old members revived, and they
began to baptize and to have calls from the country, and when he
left he could probably have employed from ten to thirty Elders in
his field of labour.
304
The secret of the difference is this, he felt for the kingdom,
and when he went into his field of labour he did not say, "O, how
lonesome I am, how I wish I had my family here; I really wish I
was back in the valley; my spirits are cast down; how bad I do
feel." When such persons endeavor to preach, their preaching is
as dry as an old, dead, dried up, three years old mullen stalk;
there is no more juice in them than there is in that.
304
Brother Alexander Robbins is a man of that description, and
although he is naturally a good kind and feeling man, one that I
think much of, yet when he spoke from this stand at the last
fall's Conference, he was as perfectly void of sap or juice as
any one of those dry posts, and I reproved the spirit he seemed
to manifest. He sat quietly down in New York with brother Taylor,
until he became so dried up that he came home disbelieving in
God, heaven, hell, angels, and religion. He has lost every
particle of the knowledge and spirit that he formerly had.
304
When brother Clinton and others return, those who have laid aside
self and laboured, asking, "What can we do to win the souls of
the children of men?" they are full of life, full of the good
Spirit, full of animation; their countenances are bright and
lively, and when you talk with them or hear them preach, you can
glean and gather truth, life and salvation from their lips, while
others are as lifeless as leached ashes.
304
If we could spare one or two hundred Elders like brother Clinton
and others to go to Canada and the United States, we could gather
scores and hundreds of thousands of good people from those
regions. But reflect for a moment upon the difference in the
conduct of our missionaries and the treatment they receive. In
Texas some have been mobbed, and some have had no place to preach
in. Brother Benjamin L. Clapp, who has lately returned from a
mission there, could scarcely find a place to preach in, although
others at the same time travelled and preached there, and many
wished to hear them.
304
For another instance I will refer to my own Quorum. When we had
started the work in England, brothers Heber, George A. and
Woodruff went to London. It cost much faith, care, money, and
diligence to establish the work in that place, and after they had
baptized about thirty persons, they came to Manchester to attend
a Conference. As soon as the Conference was over, brothers
Woodruff and George A. went to London, and brother Kimball and I
took a tour through the country, and held Conferences; and when
we arrived in London I preached in the first meeting we held
after our arrival, and how many do you think there were present
to hear me? Thirty had been baptized, but brothers Kimball,
Woodruff, and Geo. A., the man who owned the small room that we
had hired, and, I think, two other persons, comprised the
congregation. I preached as well as I could, though it was pretty
hard work to pump when there was no water in the well. Brother
Kimball and I staid there eleven days, and when I left the little
meeting-house was crowded to overflowing. What was the reason of
this?
305
I have spoken against brother Clapp's course in Texas; it
sprang from a want of knowledge. I have also spoken against the
course taken by brothers Woodruff and George A. in London; it
proceeded from a want of tact and turn in those individuals to
know how to win the people. When we found them in London, brother
Woodruff was busily engaged in writing his history from morning
until evening; and, if a sister called on him, he would say, "How
do you do? take a chair," and keep on writing and labouring to
bring up the history of the Church and his own.
305
That was all right and well, in its place; but, if a sister asked
a question, the answer would be "Yes;" and if she asked another,
"No;" and that was the sum of the conversation. If a brother came
in, it would be the same. But brother Kimball would say, "Come,
my friend, sit down; do not be in a hurry;" and he would begin
and preach the Gospel in a plain, familiar manner, and make his
hearers believe everything he said, and make them testify to its
truth, whether they believed or not, asking them, "Now, ain't
that so?" and they would say "Yes." And he would make Scripture
as he needed it, out of his own bible, and ask, "Now, ain't that
so?" and the reply would be "Yes." He would say, "Now, you
believe this? You see how plain the Gospel is? Come along now;"
and he would lead them into the waters of baptism. The people
would want to come to see him early in the morning, and stay with
him until noon, and from that until night; and he would put his
arm around their necks, and say, "Come, let us go down to the
water."
305
Thousands of Elders go upon missions, and conduct themselves like
a man by the name of Glover. He was preaching in Herefordshire,
and we sent him to Bristol, about thirty miles distant, telling
him to go there and start the work. He would get up and preach a
splendid discourse. He went to Bristol, and cried, "Mormonism,"
or the Gospel, and no person would listen to him. On the next
morning he was back at Ledbury, and said, "I came out of Bristol,
washed my feet against them, and sealed them up all to
damnation." That is the way in which some of our Elders operate.
305
I know that when I have travelled with some of the Twelve, and
one of them has asked for breakfast, dinner, supper, or lodging,
we have been refused dozens of times. Now, you may think that I
am going to boast a little; I will brag a little of my own tact
and talent. When others would ask, we would often be refused a
morsel of something to eat, and so we would go from house to
house; but when I had the privilege of asking, I never was turned
away--no, not a single time.
305
Would I go into the house and say to them, "I am a 'Mormon'
Elder; will you feed me?" It was none of their business who I
was. But when I asked, "Will you give me something to eat?" the
reply was, invariably, "Yes." And we would sit, and talk, and
sing, and make ourselves familiar and agreeable; and before our
departure, after they had learned who we were, they would
frequently ask, "Will you not stay and preach for us?" and
proffer to gather in the members of their family and their
neighbours; and the feeling would be, "Well, if this is
'Mormonism,' I will feed all the 'Mormon' Elders that come."
Whereas, if I had said, "I am a 'Mormon' Elder; will you feed
me?" the answer would often have been, "no: out of my house."
305
Now, if we could find the "right stripe" that could be spared
from important duties here, we would send a good many Elders to
the States.
306
I will relate another circumstance,--one concerning an Elder who
went on a mission from Nauvoo; and, if I remember rightly, he
went through Indiana. He lives in this place, and his name is
James Carroll. He went into a neighbourhood where there was a
Baptist Society, which had recently built a meeting house. They
had heard of the "Mormons," but knew nothing of the doctrine.
They wished him to tarry and preach, and the minister invited him
into his pulpit. He rose, and began to preach "Mormonism," as he
called it; and about the first item that he presented to the
people was nearly the last event that will take place on the
earth concerning the Church. Instead of preaching the restoration
and first principles of the Gospel, almost the first remark that
he made was, "You have a pretty meeting-house, and good buildings
and farms; but do you know that the 'Mormons' are coming here to
possess the whole of them?"
306
He never heard Joseph Smith, the Twelve, or any of the Elders
that understood the Gospel, teach any such doctrine, but had
probably gathered the idea from reading the Bible. By the time he
had got through with so short a sermon, the congregation was
ready to kick him out of the neighbourhood, and he ought to have
been kicked out of the pulpit at the first dash. This does not
particularly militate against the character of that man; but many
of the Elders do not seem to understand how to gain the attention
and feelings of the people, and lead them in the pathway of
truth.
306
We have received letters from the East, stating that "There is no
place for preaching there," whereas I really think that there
might be hundreds of Elders selected here, if we could spare
them, who could go to the States and find as good openings for
preaching as there are in the world; at least I would run the
risk of it. Had I the choice whether to go to the States and
gather Saints, or to go where the Gospel was preached by the
ancient Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, among the children of
the people who have formerly had the Gospel preached to them, I
would engage to go to the States and gather one hundred Saints to
one that could be gathered from among the children of those who
heard Peter, Paul, and others of the ancient Apostles preach the
Gospel.
306
Reports of the business transactions and condition of the Church
and Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company have been prepared, and
will be read, so that you can understand the true situation of
our general financial affairs. The P. E. Fund is founded upon the
principle of everlasting increase, and if the people do right, or
even half right, our means will increase.
306
The means arising from the sale of stray cattle, that some like
so well to claim, all go towards swelling the amounts at the
disposal of the P. E. Fund for gathering the poor. Still, when
strays are driven into the general stray pound, you can see men
come and swear to this ox and that cow; and they will bring two
or three others to testify to an animal they claim; and another
man will step up and say, "That is my animal;" and he will also
bring three or four witnesses to prove it; and pretty soon still
another comes and claims the same animal; and so on until there
are, perhaps, four or five persons in the pound, each one with
his witnesses, claiming the same animal, and all willing to swear
on a stack of Bibles, as they hope for salvation, that such a
creature is theirs, when they must know that they never saw it
before. Such circumstances transpire every time that stray cattle
are driven in. I want to tell you, so that you cannot fail to
understand it, without you are consummate hypocrites and
scoundrels, let stray cattle alone, unless you actually know them
to be yours.
307
I could name a good many individuals in our own community
that would steal all the cattle that we have, if they knew which
were the ones that we owned. I thought that the reformation had
stopped such proceedings; but as soon as the stray cattle were
driven in, a few miserable sneaks were ready to own them all.
Those animals are sold, and every cent of the means thus raised
goes into the P. E. Fund, and the only ones benefited thereby are
the poor Saints in foreign lands. You must stop intruding upon
your neighbours.
307
If those who are heads of quorums strictly attended to their
duties, the man that does not live according to his late
covenants, who violates the ordinances and laws of the house of
God, would be severed from his Quorum and cut off from this
Church; and if they will not do this, we will do it from this
stand. Men must quit swearing and taking the name of God in vain;
they must refrain from lying, stealing, cheating, and doing that
which they know they ought not to do, or they must be severed
from this Church and kingdom.
307
I will now present a subject which will be a text for the
brethren to preach upon from this stand, viz., the necessity of
building store houses in which to preserve our grain. If we have
a fruitful season this coming summer, we shall have a large
amount of surplus grain which we cannot carry out of the country
to market: it must tarry here. And if the people do their duty in
this matter, they will continue to lay up grain for themselves
and for this community throughout this Territory, and for fifty
or a hundred times as many more, until they have enough to last
them seven years. You can figure at that, and learn how much
grain you ought to lay up. If we have, as I believe we shall, a
few seasons fruitful in grain, the staple article that we can
cure and preserve, it is our indispensable duty to safely store
it for a time to come. This will be a text for some of the
brethren.
307
I will say to the missionaries going west to the Sandwich
Islands, California, and Oregon, that we expect to start a herd
of cattle from here as early as they can be driven across the
mountains; and if they will provide their own clothing, bedding,
and weapons for defence, we will furnish them board and
transportation to California.
307
I will now ask the people whether they will do me the favour of
giving me one hundred and twenty-five dollars in money during
this Conference. I will let the brethren and sisters throw in
their dollars, or half or quarter dollars, just as they please,
and I want to do what I please with the amount. And if you will
not be satisfied with giving me $125, you can double the sum, and
make it $250; and I wish to do with it as I please. If I have a
mind to give it away immediately, that is nobody's business.
307
A few of us contemplate going north this spring. You remember
that I told you at the last fall's Conference that I was going
east to help in our immigration, and you voted I should not go. I
did start, and went over the Big Mountain into East Kanyon creek,
but the devil had ears so ready to hear the prayers of the people
and help them, that he made me so sick that I could not go any
further. I do not want any such influence exercised this spring,
for I am going with some of my brethren to take a pleasure ride,
see the country, enjoy ourselves, and recruit our health; and I
wish you to pray for us, give us your faith, and be willing that
we should go. I do not want to be stopped, as I was last fall.
308
Now comes another item of business. It so happens that this year
the election of officers for this city falls upon to day, as does
also the election of the Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion,
which has been ordered by proclamation by the Governor. Both
elections will be held in the Council House, and we want the
brethren to stop there and give in their votes. For the
Lieutenant-General, those from abroad have as good a right to
vote here as if they were at home in Iron County, Davis, Sanpete,
or any other part of our Territory. We have nominated Daniel H.
Wells for the office of Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion,
the same person who has held that position since our settlement
in Utah. The polls will be kept open until sundown.
308
I have now briefly presented the items which I have noted down.
Other matters will come before this Conference, such as
preaching, exhortation, &c., &c. I will now give way for others.
God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Daniel
H. Wells, April 6, 1857
Daniel H. Wells, April 6, 1857
INDEBTEDNESS TO THE P. E. FUND--PUBLIC WORKS--TRUE
PROSPERITY--DEPENDENCE ON THE LORD--SELF-CONSECRATION.
Remarks, by President Daniel H. Wells, April 6, 1857.
308
Brethren and sisters, I do not know that I shall be able to speak
so that all of you can hear, neither do I feel that what I may
say is of the greatest importance. I have never felt that
confidence in addressing the people that perhaps I should; but I
feel to-day, as I always have felt, an interest for the welfare
of the Church and kingdom of God to which I belong, and to devote
myself, and all I possess, or can control, to its progress and
building up.
308
We had in the forenoon a large amount of business presented to
this Conference as texts for the Elders to preach upon; and
having the direction of the operations connected with the Public
Works and building the Temple more immediately under my
particular charge, I was pleased to hear that subject presented
among the texts; for I know that it is the mind of our President,
having often heard him so express himself, that those
improvements should progress as fast as possible; and it will be
my endeavour, so long as I am connected therewith, to devote all
the energy I possess to their rolling forth. That is the feeling
in my bosom, and I believe it is the feeling of every Saint to
have the labours upon our Public Works and the Temple forwarded
with all possible diligence. In order to do this, it is necessary
for us to be faithful and diligent in our efforts, that we may
have sufficient help to carry forward the work.
308
From the reports laid before you in the forenoon, the financial
condition of the Church has been well represented, showing how
means have been received and disbursed during the last two years,
and of course the amount and kind remaining on hand.
309
You observed from that report a large amount of indebtedness by
individuals,--some $82,000, if I remember correctly. If those who
know that they have unsettled balances against them, and are able
to liquidate them with labour and grain would settle and pay, it
would have a material tendency to expedite the accomplishment of
important public designs.
309
Many of those debts have accrued against men who had advances
made to them when provisions were scarce, and some of them have
removed to other places. There is an invitation now extended to
them to return and pay their indebtedness. They can do so by
their labour, or in other ways, and it is very desirable that
they should attend to this duty as soon as possible.
309
There is also a great amount due to the P. E. Fund; and it really
seems as though brethren, who have means to liquidate their
indebtedness, would scarcely need an invitation to do so. They
have had the benefit of that Company's means; they have been
brought from the old country to this place by that aid; and when
they get here, some appear to feel indifferent with regard to
paying their indebtedness. All know that this is not right, for
that should be the first debt they should pay. They should not
wait until they get rich before they pay, especially when these
debts can be paid in labour, stock, grain, cast and wrought iron,
or any and every description of available property at command in
this country. Money, of course, is preferable, for other articles
have to be turned into cash before they can be made available for
bringing the people from foreign lands. In consequence of these
facts, the operations of the Fund have to be measurably suspended
for a time; and Church means cannot be used to aid the
immigration this year, as hitherto.
309
If those who are indebted to the Fund for aid rendered to them
will return the compliment for assisting their friends, do you
not understand that they will have to make good the expenditure
that now stands against them? If you understand this subject, as
I presume you do, you will see the obligations under which you
lie, if you do not respond, when able, and as soon as you can, to
aid others who are equally worthy and desirous of coming to this
place. Remember the situation that you were in when in the old
countries, and reflect upon their anxiety to come, and that it is
impossible for many of them to do so, except through the aid of
the P. E. Fund. Hundreds and thousands have been helped out that
would have been still there but for this assistance, and hundreds
and thousands are still there who look to that Fund as their only
hope. You stand indebted for the use of the means you have had:
will you refund them or not? That is the question for you to
decide. This is not a day of many words, but a day for men to go
forth in their power, in their might and strength, and do those
things incumbent upon them.
309
The Big Cottonwood canal should be finished, to facilitate
procuring rock for building the Temple. Much labour has already
been expended upon it, but it requires still more. The brethren
have been very diligent in this matter, but we expect that we
shall have to call upon them for further labour on that work. We
are anxious to have the water let into that canal, to test all
weak places, that they may be strengthened, and the work
thoroughly completed; for the water is needed for irrigation as
well as for boating. Will you lend your aid in this enterprize?
Will we complete it this season, that we may boat rock for the
Temple? This will be proved by your acts, as well as by your
faith.
310
Stone-cutters have been called for, and only a few have as yet
reported themselves. Are there but few in the country? If so, men
can soon learn the trade. Will those who are desirous of
obtaining work come forward at once and take hold of this branch
of business, and dress the stone needed for rapidly prosecuting
the work on the Temple?
310
I thought I would draw your attention to these few plain facts.
And let the brethren who preach to the people have an eye to
these things, to the interest and general welfare of the kingdom
of God, to the rolling forth of the work, to the building of
Temples, that we may be prospered in the things of God.
310
What is prosperity? According to my understanding, it is not so
much gaining the things of this world, as it is progressing in
the knowledge of God? What are true riches? They are not so much
the obtaining of the things of this world, as they are in
securing the principles and keys which unlock the treasure of
heavenly wisdom, of the knowledge of God and things that pertain
to eternity. These are the riches we are seeking after; this is
the progress we wish to make. In order to accomplish this, it is
necessary that we should be faithful in all matters committed to
our trust, honest before God, and obedient to the counsels of His
servants. I know that I have ever felt to be so, and I have felt
to do more than to talk. I have ever felt ready to go here or
there as I have been told, and I feel so to-day. It is my meat
and drink to do whatever I am told, according to the best
understanding I have. It is upon this principle that I have been
able to do anything I have done. The Lord has enabled me to do
it, because I verily know that I have not strength in and of
myself to do what I have done since I have been in the Church and
kingdom.
310
I have ever felt to lean upon the Lord for help, and I feel so
to-day. I do not know when I felt weaker, or more like humbling
myself before my God and my brethren, than I do at present. It is
necessary that we should humble ourselves, and lean on the Lord
our God, and go in His might and strength, and give His name the
honour and glory, if we would succeed in accomplishing anything
for the benefit of the house of Israel. It is His work; He only
wants servants to do it, and He will not have any but willing
servants. He will compel no person to bring forth his purposes;
they must do so of their own free volition; they must esteem it a
privilege, even as it is a most inestimable privilege to have it
to do. He gives this to us to be our work, if we will do it; if
not, He will give it to some one else. He does not expect to run
after us, nor to have His servants do so; it is for us to seek to
them and the Lord, that we may know His will concerning us, and
be faithful stewards and honest before Him, and willing
instruments in His hands to do whatever we can to roll forth His
cause and kingdom. To have our duty made manifest to us is all we
need; then it is for us to go here and there, as He shall dictate
and require.
310
These are my feelings, if I know myself, and have always been;
and I feel to rejoice before the Lord that I have the privilege
of being associated with His servants in the things designed for
the rolling forth of His kingdom, and bring to pass His purposes
on the earth. I have felt to renew my covenant and obligations to
walk forth before them according to the best light I have got,
and to strive for more. I think it is necessary for us all to
feel thus, and I think we will do better in that way than in any
other, if we wish to have the juice of "Mormonism" within us, as
brother Brigham remarked this morning--if we wish to be
instruments for good in the hands of God.
311
I feel more like receiving exhortation than giving it. I feel
more like doing than talking; still I do not wish to withhold any
good thing I may be in possession of. I feel to do what the Lord
desires and will help me to do. I care not what it is; so that it
is the word and will of the Lord, I should strive to do it.
311
I feel to be submissive in the hands of my brethren, to be
moulded as they will. I may at times be stiff, and do things not
pleasing to them, but they have been merciful and kind to me in
these matters, and have been filled with forbearance. I feel to
devote myself to the Lord with all I have and can control, and
with all the Lord shall bless me with; and I ask of Him, as a
great favor, to accept of this my offering and dedication. True,
I have not much to offer Him; I wish I had far more; but what I
have has always been consecrated and on the altar. I understand
that to be the principle of salvation, and I want to be clothed
with salvation, that my words may be words of comfort and
consolation to the people.
311
I feel more like blessing the people of God--like blessing my
brethren and those whom I am associated with. I know that this is
a good people, and the Lord delights to bless them, if they will
so live as to admit of it. He withholds His blessings, many
times, for our good. Perhaps some would not make a good use of
blessings, but would turn away and deny the faith; hence I feel
that chastisement is also good. The Lord loveth whom He
chasteneth.
311
May the Lord bless us through this Conference and through future
life, and help us to do His will and keep His commandments. And
if we have had the blessings of the Holy Ghost poured upon us to
any extent, let us keep what we have, and seek for more. If we
have been faithful over a few things, let us try to be faithful
in all committed to our trust, and increase. Let us seek for
eternal riches, get hold of the principles and keys of knowledge
which shall unlock the treasures of heaven to our understandings,
that we may be better qualified for the performance of our
duties, that we may go forward in the work of God, and be
faithful children, and seek unto Him, our Father, with full
purpose of heart, and work righteousness all the days of our
lives, with perfect hearts and willing minds.
311
May the Lord pour out His blessings upon us, and may we be
faithful and diligent in all things we have to do. May He bless
the earth for our sakes, that it may bring forth for the
sustenance of the people in the valleys of these mountains. May
He hasten His work in its time, that we may be useful under all
circumstances in building up the kingdom of God, be united with
Him, dwell in peace, unity, and strength, that the fruits of
righteousness may spring forth and increase a hundredfold. Then
we have nothing to fear, for no power on earth can prevail
against this people, if they are united one with another.
311
Let us seek this unity of spirit, and put away all quarrelling
and dissensions, and sustain each other.
311
There are many more ideas that could be advanced, but I do not
believe in long sermons. I love to hear the brethren speak, and I
like to speak myself, to say what I may have to say, and then
stop. I think that is most beneficial, and keeps our minds more
stirred up and lively; I will therefore close with asking God to
bless us all, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, April 6, 1857
Brigham Young, April 6, 1857
THE POWER AND IMPORTANCE OF ECONOMY--DOMESTIC EXTRAVAGANCE
AND MISMANAGEMENT, WITH THEIR BAD RESULTS.
A Discourse, by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1857.
312
Brother Heber has made a remark which I will take for a text. He
said, "It is whispered about that some of the brethren labouring
on the Public Works are living on dry bread." I want to preach a
short discourse upon this subject, and I will endeavour to do so
to the understanding of those present. I acknowledge that some
persons live very poorly, and are very destitute; but there is
not one family out of a thousand in this Territory of those who
live poorly, but what that destitute mode of living is brought
upon them by themselves through their own mismanagement or the
want of economy. For this reason I wish to confine my remarks to
the principles of economy necessary in obtaining a comfortable
living.
312
I have been a poor boy and a poor man, and my parents were poor.
I was poor during my childhood, and grew up to manhood poor and
destitute; and I am acquainted with the various styles of living,
and with the different customs, habits, and practices of people;
and I do know, by my own experience, that there is no necessity
for people being so very poor, if they have judgment, and will
rightly use it.
312
You may take the mechanics that are employed upon our Public
Works. I am very well aware that the great majority of them are
splendid workmen--that they can make fine buildings, with all the
mason, and carpenter, and joiner work, and the painting of the
very best quality of finish; and yet many of them are in poverty.
We have some of the very best workers in brass, iron, wood, &c.,
that there are in the world; yet many of them are poor, suffer
from hard living, and have to live on bread and water.
312
There is no necessity for any persons living on bread and water.
We have not a man at work for us but what has had means put into
his hands sufficient to support from five to twenty persons, and
many of them could lay up from five hundred to a thousand dollars
a year, if they would use proper economy. I comfortably and that,
too, in a country where supported a family when I was poor, it
was more difficult to do so than it is here,--where it often was
almost impossible to hire to do a day's work,--where a man would
have to run and, perhaps, beg and plead to be employed to do a
day's work; and when the labour was performed, it was frequently
worth twice the amount to get the pay, which would generally be
only three or four bits; though sometimes ordinary mechanics
would receive five or six bits, and good mechanics one dollar or
one dollar and a quarter a day.
313
I have laboured for fifteen dollars a month to support a family,
and that, too, in a place that was as hard gain for a person to
live in as it is in this city. You could not have the free use of
so much as a quarter of an acre of ground thrown out to the
public for a cow to graze upon. You could not get a stick of
wood, although in a well-wooded country, without paying for it.
You could not get a pint of milk, or even of buttermilk, unless
you paid the money for it.
313
I have worked for nearly all the various grades of wages, and
supported a family since I was quite young. I know how to live
and I have taught my brethren here how to live, and I know how
many of them do live. But you may take a hard-working man, one
earning good wages, and though he carries an abundance into his
house, his wife may sit there and toss it out again. You will
find that much depends upon the economy of women, in regard to
the living of the poorer class of the people--of the labouring
class. For instance, let a man buy ten pounds of fresh meat and
carry it home, in the morning the wife will cook up, perhaps,
four or five pounds of that meat for the breakfast of the man,
the wife, and a little child. To begin with, it is often cooked
very badly, not properly seasoned, smoked up, part of it burnt,
and the rest raw, so that they cannot eat much of it; and there
is a great platter-full left that cannot be eaten, and the
uncooked portion has probably been neglected until it is spoiled,
and thus nearly the whole is wasted.
313
Sisters, if you do not believe this, many of you go home and
remember what you cooked this morning, and see the platters full,
and the plates full, and the little messes standing here and
there. By-and-by it is not fit to eat, and it is finally thrown
out of door. Is this true? It is. The reason I say so is because
I see it with my own eyes. You may wish to know where I see it.
Among some of my neighbours where I visit, among some of my own
family, and in many places where I go.
313
If a man is a good husband, and knows how to live, let him teach
his wife how to cook the food he provides, as I have some of my
wives, more or less, notwithstanding I have some excellent cooks;
but I do not think that I have one but what I can teach in the
art of cooking some particular varieties of food, for I have at
times been obliged to pay considerable attention to this matter.
And when I go into a house, I can soon know whether the woman is
an economical housekeeper or not; and if I stay a few days, I can
tell whether a husband can get rich or not. If she is determined
on her own course, and will waste and spoil the food entrusted to
her, that man will always be poor.
313
Some women will set emptyings in the morning, and let them stand
until they sour, and mix up the flour with them, and sweeten it
with saleratus, and then knead it ready for baking; and if sister
Somebody comes in, they will sit down and begin to talk over old
times, and the first they know is, the bread is sour: "Dear me, I
forgot all about that bread," and into the oven she puts it, and
builds up a large fire, and again sits down to visiting with her
neighbour, and before she thinks of the loaf, there is a crust
burnt on it from a quarter to half an inch in thickness. So much
of the bread is spoiled; there goes one quarter of the flour; it
is wasted, and the bread is sour and disagreeable to eat; and the
husband comes home and looks sour, and is sour, as well as the
bread. He finds fault, and that makes the wife grieve, and there
are feelings and unhappiness and dissatisfaction in the family.
The husband may be a good man, and the wife may be a good woman,
and try to please her husband, and to do so as much as the old
lady did, who said, "It was impossible for her to please her
husband in baking bread; for if it was half dough, he did not
like it; and if it was half burnt up, he scolded about it."
314
You may say that it is hard work to please a man; yes, and
woman too. But when a man does his duty in providing for a
family, there can reasonably be but little complaint on the part
of any sensible woman.
314
A man may be good and industrious--may be an excellent mechanic,
and in many things a diligent man, as is the case with a number
with whom I am acquainted; yet go to his house and ask, "Have you
a pig in your pen?" "No, I have nothing to feed a pig with; I
cannot keep one." Sit down to his table, and he has not a
mouthful of meat from week's end to week's end, unless he buys a
little. "Have you a cow?" "No, I have nothing to feed a cow; I
cannot hire a pasture; and were I to hire one driven to grass as
far as the herd boys go, she would not give milk enough to pay
the herd bill." I have been in worse places than this, and kept a
cow.
314
I have taught the brethren how to live upon less than five,
three, or even two dollars a day for the support of a small
family; and when men complain that they live here on bread alone,
they do not reflect that they do not know how to provide for
themselves. Years pass away, one after another, and I see more
and more that there are but very few men and women that are even
capable of taking care of themselves temporally.
314
You will see women, if their husbands have got fifty cents, who
must buy crackers with it, or something nice. Johnny, Susan,
Betsy, and Billy come along, and want a cracker, and the first
you know is that the crackers are in the hands of the children
who are out-doors playing with them, breaking them up, wasting
and scattering them abroad. I will leave it to you, sisters, if
some of you do not act in this manner. When children crumble up
the bread, what do you do with it? You throw it into the fire. I
learned my wife in the first place what the swill pail was made
for, and said to her, do not let one crumb or kernel of anything
be wasted, but put it into the swill pail, and when night came, I
had something to feed the pig with. But often out of door go the
pieces of bread and meat; or if half a gill of corn should be on
the floor, it is swept out of doors, or more frequently into the
fire to be wasted.
314
A great many men do not know that they can keep a pig; but there
is not a family in this city, where there are two, three, four,
or five persons, but what can save enough from their table, from
the waste made by the children, and what must be swept in the
fire and out of door, to make pork sufficient to last them
through the year, or at least all they should eat. When you know
enough to put a pig in a pen, do so; and when you have an
opportunity to buy a bushel of corn, oats, or bran, get your bins
ready and lay it away.
314
I say to the mechanics, especially to those who work for me, make
your bins in the mornings and evenings, and do not spend the time
we hire you to work for us to do your chores in. And another
thing I will caution you about; do not steal the nails from the
Public Works. Some of you have stolen our nails and lumber to
work into articles for your own use. Do not do this.
315
We pay our mechanics from two and a half to five dollars a day,
and there is no necessity for many of them using more than fifty
cents or one dollar a day throughout the year. Why do you not buy
a cow? "I have nothing to feed her with." Yes, you have. In the
course of the season, you will find a time that you can buy a
little straw, and stack it up and take good care of it. Buy now
and then a bushel of bran, or oats, or corn, and lay it by. When
you have done your day's work, take your axe, cut up the straw,
throw a little meal on it, give it to the cow, and sit down and
milk her yourself, unless your wife is a good hand to milk, and
can attend to it better and more conveniently than you can; in
that case, let her do the milking, but do not set six or eight
years' old children to stripping the cows.
315
Purchase cows, for if we have not already supplied you with cows,
we are able and willing to do so. Most, if not all, have already
been furnished with cows. What did you do with the calves? "We
sold them for a trifle." Why did you not raise them? Do you not
know that they would very soon be valuable? No, but you waste
your calves, neglect buying pigs, and live without milk, and many
of the easily procured comforts of life. Is there any necessity
for this? No, there is not, if people will try to use a little
economy.
315
Go round this city now, and probably you will not see one garden
out of twenty, even where men have lived here four or five years,
that has a single fruit tree growing in it. Have they set out
anything? Yes, some cottonwoods; but they would not set out a
peach tree, if you would give it to them. In many lots there is
not a fruit tree, or currant bush, or anything to produce the
little necessaries to make a family comfortable.
315
If I lived as I used to, I would have my cow, and she would give
milk, and would not stray off; for I would always have a little
handful of food to give her when she came up at night; I would
also feed her a little in the morning, and at night she would
come for more. I would keep my pig in the pen, and have a few
fowls to lay eggs. I would raise my own pork, and in the spring I
would not have to run to the Public Works and say, "I have not
anything to eat."
315
It is a shame that men and women do not pay more attention to the
principles of economy in living. They want to have money to go to
market and buy everything ready made. They want to have somebody
feed them. I have thought, many times, that some persons would
not be satisfied, unless we baked plum puddings, and roasted beef
for them, and then fed them while they were lounging in big easy
chairs; and still perhaps they would think that they were ill
treated, if we did not chew the meat for them.
315
I worked hard when I first gathered with the Saints. I had to
walk two miles to my labour, and the sun seldom, if ever, shone
on my work before I had my tools in my hands and busily engaged;
and I rarely laid down my tools so long as I could see to use
them. In the morning I would get up and feed my cow and milk her,
and do the other out-door chores while my wife would be preparing
breakfast. My pig was in the pen, and I would gather a little
here and a little there, and a day would not pass without its
having sufficient food. Why do you not think of these things?
Because you will not.
315
Sisters, if you cannot properly attend to your bread-making, and
manage to not let any more flour be wasted, tie a string round
one of your fingers so tight that it will hurt you, and every
time you think of the string, think of what brother Brigham tells
you. When the emptyings are in the flour, think of the string,
also when the bread is put in the oven; and if you are still
afraid that you will forget, tie the string a little tighter. And
after your bread is beautifully baked, do not let a crumb of it
be wasted.
316
When your husband brings home meat, exercise sufficient judgment
to enable you to cook such portion as will be eaten, which is far
better than so much placed upon the table that a large part of it
will be wasted. Then take care of that which remains uncooked,
put a little salt upon it, and put it in a cool place where it
will keep a few days, and you will not be obliged to throw half
of it away.
316
You may hear some women here saying, "Husband, can you not go to
the store and get me some ribbon? I want a bonnet and a pair of
new shoes. Can you not get me some lining for a bonnet? I wish
you would get me a new dress, I have not had one for a whole
month, and I want to go a visiting; I cannot bear to wear these
old dresses so often. I want a few aprons and a few pairs of
stockings." The man then has to buy the bonnets, the linings, the
dress patterns, &c., and also to hire them made; and he has to
buy aprons, shoes, and stockings, and even the garters that are
worn on the stockings. There is not judgment, economy, and force
enough in some women, to knit their own garters.
316
Let me tell you one thing, husbands; determine this year that you
will stop buying these things, and say to your wife. "Here is
some wool; knit your own stockings, or you will not have any; you
will have to prepare the cloth for yourselves and children: I
will provide the wool, the wheels, &c.; and if you will not make
the cloth, you may go without." Also raise flax, and prepare it
for the women to manufacture into summer clothing.
316
I remember going into a friend's house, one afternoon, when I was
quite young: I think I was about fifteen; and pretty soon a
couple of neighbouring women came in to visit. They had not been
in the house more than twenty minutes before the woman of the
house went and brought out a pillow, and began to rail against
her husband, saying, "He is a dirty, nasty man; he is the
filthiest man in the world; that is the pillow he sleeps on." I
thought, you miserable fool, Why do you not wash that slip? Those
women see that the blame rests on you, and not on your husband.
And she continued telling them how nasty, filthy, and lazy he
was. I knew enough about a family, at that early age, to know
where the fault lay. At the same time there was plenty of wool
and flax lying in her chamber, for I saw them; and a wheel and
the other implements were on hand, all of which the husband had
toiled for. He had also provided the cows, flour, and meat in
abundance; but because he did not do everything, he was a "nasty,
lazy man." He must feed the hogs, spin the wool, wash the
pillowcases and sheets, and do everything else, or be bemeaned by
his wife. I said to myself, I expect I shall be married when I am
old enough, and if I get such an animal as you are, I will put
hooks in her nose to lead her in a way you have not thought of.
316
I have seen a great many persons live in the neglect of all the
comforts of life, because they would not take hold and make
themselves comfortable. Others do not know what to do with the
comforts of life, when they have them. I have been in places
where people had an abundance, and yet they lived, figuratively
speaking, at death's door, with regard to food.
317
I recollect once walking up to a house in Illinois, where a young
woman was sitting just within the door dressed up, I may say,
within an inch of her life, in calico that cost ten or twelve
cents a yard in my country; and she was, according to her ideas,
titivated out to the ninety-nines. Fourteen milch cows, with
calves by their sides, were feeding on the prairie. I first asked
her, "Can I buy some butter here?" "No, Sir." "Can I buy a little
milk?" "No, sir." I then asked her whether her father owned those
cows. "Yes, sir." "Do you milk them?" "No, sir; only a little in
the morning to put in the coffee." I wanted to laugh in her face,
but politeness forbad me. There stood fourteen new milch cows,
and not a drop of milk in the house, nor a pound of butter, and
everything else was in keeping. An abundance of good things was
around them, and yet they had nothing comfortable and wholesome.
317
It is just so with some people here. Every facility is in the
possession of this people for living in the very best manner, if
they would only learn how, and practise upon that knowledge. How
much do you have to pay for your cow's running on the range, or
for the use of a lot? Nothing. How much rent do you pay for your
land? Not any. What hinders you from raising something to feed a
cow? Nothing. Who hinders you from planting your garden with
corn, and saving the suckers and the fodder? Who hinders you from
raising carrots, parsnips, squashes, &c., to feed a cow with
through the winter? This you can do on a little more than a
quarter of an acre, but will you do it? No; many of you will not.
Does any one hinder you? No; and yet some of you complain that
you live poorly, and lay the blame upon me and brother Kimball,
and brother Wells, and those men who dictate the Public Works.
317
We pay the public hands higher wages than they earn, and if they
are obliged to live on bread alone from day to day, it is for
want of economy and proper management. Am I to blame? No. Will I
milk your cows for you? No. Will I buy butter for you? No; we
will give you all that is brought in on tithing, and when we have
done that, you may calculate to do without, or make your own
butter. I know families that milk one cow for eight or ten in the
family, and yet have butter on the table all the time, and
occasionally sell a little. Others have six or eight cows, and
seldom have any butter in the house; they do not take care of
what they have.
317
Instead of people being poor, we already have too much, unless we
take better care of it. I heard a man who is living in this
city--one who has always been well off--state that he used to
keep twelve cows when he first came here, and was often nearly
destitute of milk and butter. After a few years, the number of
his cows was reduced to six, and he said that the six did him
more good than the twelve had done. In two years more, they were
reduced to two, and the two cows have done him much more good
than the twelve or the six did, for they could be and were more
properly attended to.
318
Let me have the privilege of dictating every chore about my
house, and I would soon put everything right. I do not have that
privilege, for I have so many and so much around me, that I have
to depend upon others. During the past six years, I have seldom
kept in my yard less than thirteen cows for the use of my family,
and there has not been one year of that time that we have had
much more than milk enough the year round to put in the tea and
coffee. I have directed the men who feed my cows to take a course
to prevent such a variation in the supply of milk. I have told
them to feed the cows thus and so; to give them so much in the
morning, and so much at night, and to allow them as much water as
they would drink. And after all, though perhaps I would not go to
the barn as often as once in the week, I have frequently seen
from a peck to a bushel of good wheat meal shovelled into the
yard out of one cow's trough. And when I have asked what does
this mean, "Why, such a brother wanted to go a visiting, and
would not be back for three days, so he put the three days' feed
before the cow at once." Again, I might remark, "This cow looks
poor; I have thousands of feed to give her; what is the matter?"
"She eat until she nearly killed herself, and we have just made
out to save her," and that is all the satisfaction I would get.
It is too often a perfect waste and destruction under my own
nose, because I cannot find time to look after my private
affairs.
318
I have asked myself, Shall I go and attend to my own business, or
let it go? And I have replied, I will let it go to hell backwards
rather than neglect my public duties. I will not neglect my
public duties, if my property all goes to destruction--if we do
not have a drop of milk from this time henceforth and forever.
During the past winter, my large family have had three cows, and
they have done me six times more good than ever the thirteen did.
I prevailed upon one or two of my women to do the milking for the
first time, whereas heretofore I have had to hire Jim, and Jack,
and Peter Gimblet to do the milking, and they would often pound a
cow until she would not give down her milk, and would kick her
half to death, and then half milk her, and ruin everything about
me. Three cows now do us more good than fifty would have done
four years ago, under the old plan.
318
I expect that all persons who will not try to help and take care
of themselves the best they can, will see the time when they will
wish they had done so; yet I would like to turn away the evil day
from them, if I can possibly do it, by correct teaching and
example. All persons that will not try to take care of
themselves, will see a day of sorrow, and will regret the waste
of time misspent in this life.
318
When I laboured, I did the milking and feeding most of the time,
and fed the pig, and attended to all the outdoor chores; though,
at the same time, if I was absent, I had a wife, after I came
into this Church, who was always ready to feed pigs, milk and
feed cows, and work in the garden, or do anything that should be
done, so far as she was able. Wives, go into the garden and raise
the salad and numerous other articles within your judgment and
strength. Who hindered you from making a little vinegar last
year? People are frequently running round and asking, "Where can
I buy some vinegar?" When I was keeping a house, if my neighbours
had a million hogsheads of vinegar, I had no need to buy a
spoonful of it, for I would make a plenty for my own use, and
would have eggs, butter, and pork, of my own producing, and
manage to secure beef, and salt it away nicely, and we had all
the essentials for comfortable diet.
319
Will the people continue to live? Many of them will merely manage
to stay, just as a family did in Illinois. During a conference
held in their neighbourhood, we would sit down at the table, in
the centre of which was a great big milk-pan piled full of lean
beef, and sour bread to eat with it. After awhile, a plate of
butter would be brought on, quite white, and full of buttermilk;
and those articles comprised our dinner. When Sunday morning
came, we had the rarity. In the mean time, I found out who owned
the farm, the sheep, the horses, the cows, the oxen, the turkeys,
the geese, the fowls, and the fine orchards. They were all owned
by Esquire Walker. On Sunday morning, we sat down to the meat and
bread, as usual, and clean butter was on the table that time, if
I recollect rightly; but there was one plate with something upon
it that I had not deciphered. I looked at it carefully, and by
and by I concluded that it faintly resembled a pie. Sister Walker
came along, saying, "Brother Young, there is some pie; it is
peach pie; do eat some." It was made of dough rolled out into a
thin cake, and put on a plate, with a thin streak of poor,
refuse, fuzzy peaches that had been merely halved, and the pits
taken out; and then another thick tough crust put over them. I
took a piece, and said to brother Kimball, What is this? at the
same time giving him a wink. "Why, brother Young," replied Mrs.
Walker, "It is peach pie." I remarked, Brother Kimball, I never
saw the like before in my life; did you?" "Never." I went into
the orchard, where they had been making brandy out of the best
peaches for three or four weeks. Could they be put into a pie?
No; but they must use the little, nasty, withered up ones.
319
I have related that circumstance to show you how much they knew
about living. That family had plenty of fowls, cattle, and milk;
and if they had known how to manage their abundance, they would
have had every comfort of life served up in the richest and best
style. They could also have made hundreds of pounds of maple
sugar, which is the best of sweetening; for they had a sugar
orchard on the farm. Yet, when I was there, they had a house with
five or seven beds in one room; and when you walked across the
floor, the planks would go clatter-to-bang. And when they wanted
to see in the day time, they had to open the door, or draw up to
the fireplace, and benefit by the light that came down the
chimney. I asked Esquire Walker why he did not put a good floor
in his house, and put in windows. He replied, "I have been
thinking I would, for several years. Friend Young, I have a good
deal of money and property on hand, and I think of going to
Nauvoo, to invest several thousand dollars." I state this to show
you that many people do not know what to do with what they have.
319
You may see some little girls around the streets here with their
mothers' skirts on, or their sun bonnets, and with their aprons
full of dirt. Your husbands buy you calico, but you do not know
what to do with it. It is to be carefully worn until the last
thread is worn out, and then put into the rag bag to make paper
with.
319
Some men do not know what to do with their means. You may take
the poorest mechanic here, and one who has nothing but bread to
eat, and you may see him paying half a dollar or a dollar for a
meal of victuals at the Globe. You may see the barber shops
crowded with our poor mechanics, who pay from three to five
dollars a quarter for being shaved. I bought a razor, when I
began to shave, that cost thirty-seven and a half cents, and used
it for fifteen years. Some black their boots, so that they will
not last more than two or three months. I keep my boots well
oiled, wear then two or three years, and then give them to the
poor.
319
Nearly all who grumble about their poor scanty fare, would be
rich if they would do as I do. Take care of your articles of
food, of your clothing, of your boots, and hats, and you will
have plenty; and let the women take care of what is taken into
the house. If you do not go to now and prepare for the day of
trouble, you will be sorry, and will lament and mourn.
319
I now want to tell you the feelings of several in this community:
"I do not want to build a good house, because I shall have to
move away by and bye; our enemies will come and possess it. I do
not want to lay up corn, because our enemies will come and take
it from me." If this people will do as they are told, will live
their religion, walk humbly before their God, and deal justly
with each other, we will make you one promise, in the name of
Israel's God, that you will never be driven from the mountains.
And instead of mobs coming here to break open your granaries,
they will come to this people, bringing their gold, and their
silver, and their fine things, and plead with them for something
to eat.
319
I told you last Sabbath, that if this people had not stepped
forward to help the poor last fall, you would have seen harder
times in 1857 than you did in 1855 and 1856.
320
Let us keep in the favour of the Lord, and be his friends,
live to our covenants, love the Lord, and walk uprightly in all
our acts and dealings, so that we will not be afraid to have them
scanned by the Lord and His angels, and all good men on the
earth; and we can stand justified. May the Lord bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Wilford
Woodruff, April 8, 1857
Wilford Woodruff, April 8, 1857
THE LATTER-DAY WORK--NECESSITY OF AN INSPIRED LEADER TO STAND AT
THE
HEAD OF ISRAEL, ETC, AND TO DICTATE IN SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL
AFFAIRS.
Remarks, by Elder Wilford Woodruff, Made in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, April 8, 1857.
320
I will say to my brethren and sisters that I count it a blessing
and a privilege to occupy a few moments this morning in bearing
my testimony and expressing my feelings to you; and I hope what
little I may say may be dictated by the Holy Spirit, for I have
lived long enough in this world to know that I can neither edify
myself nor the children of men without the Holy Spirit.
320
I have a few thoughts upon my mind, which I wish to present.
Since I have attended this conference, I have listened
attentively to the teachings, counsels, reproof, corrections,
testimonies, and subjects which have been given to us by the
servants of God.
320
It brings to mind the days before I heard "Mormonism." I have
spent hours, and days, and nights, among the rocks and in the
forest, praying to Almighty God to enlighten my mind, and lead me
in the paths of rectitude and duty, and that he would let me live
to behold a people he could own, who did receive the revelations
of Jesus Christ, the Gospel, the principles and covenants which
the ancients received and enjoyed.
320
The Lord revealed to me that I should have this privilege, and I
have lived to see the Kingdom of God set up; it is before me
to-day, in this tabernacle, and all the blessings of the
Priesthood, and all the covenants, and all the power necessary to
lead a people into salvation is here to-day.
320
I want to say in answer to my feelings, that as I realize the
Kingdom of God is here, I realize also that we have a leader to
it. We live in a great and important day and generation, we live
in the midst of the mighty work of God, in a time when he has
stretched out his hand to accomplish that great and mighty work,
in fulfilment of the word of God, written in the volume of
revelation which points to our day.
321
Any man who has a particle of the Spirit of God can see that
there were great things to transpire in our day. We are in our
alphabet: there are but a few of the works of Almighty God that
have yet been declared in our ears in comparison to that which is
to come. No man is qualified to stand at the head of the house of
Israel, to carry out the great purposes of our God, unless he is
inspired by the Almighty all the time. We have such men at our
head. Joseph Smith was of that class. From his childhood, or from
the time the angel rent the vail of eternity and showed him the
record of Ephraim, until the day of his death, he was led by the
hand of God. No man had any business to say unto him, Why dost
thou so? He was a shaft in the hand of the Almighty.
321
It is not less so now with President Young, who stands at the
head of this people; for he does point out the way in which this
people should walk. Who is going to take hold of the Ark and
steady it for him? No man. President Young has the right to make
use of my name or yours before the people, by way of correction.
It is not our business to call him to an account for it. He has a
right to correct, reprove, and guide us, and he has had to do so
all the day long; and he has been a father to this people
continually. I have been acquainted with him, and travelled with
him, for many years; and I will say, I have felt many a time to
thank God that he has given to us fathers, as leaders and
teachers, who have been filled with mercy and compassion, and
with the words of eternal life.
321
I have wondered many a time in my life how I have passed along so
smoothly as I have. I have felt that I have been worthy of
correction in a good many things; yet I desire to pursue a course
whereby I may become justified. I have my weaknesses, errors, and
follies, and can see them by the light of the Holy Spirit.
321
There is nothing I have ever done in my life that was wrong but
what I have been sorry for. I know President Young is endowed
with the power of God, and so do you know it; and I know he can
discover weaknesses in many of us, and he corrects us for our
good. The reproofs of a friend are far better than the kisses of
an enemy.
321
With regard to correcting the Twelve, or any body else, I am
glad, when we are corrected, to see the brethren kiss the rod. We
have to learn to build up this kingdom before we are prepared, as
polished shafts in the hands of the Lord, to stand up and magnify
our calling as Apostles of Jesus Christ. There is nothing that
President Young brings forth for this people to carry out but we
are all interested in, whether we understand it or not.
321
Should I, or any man in the kingdom of God feel for a moment to
object to President Young's handling or controlling gold or
wealth for his own benefit, or the rolling of the kingdom? No, we
should not. I wish he had his millions, for he has clearly
manifested before our eyes, from the beginning until now, his
talents and gifts as a financier; and we all know he has been
profitable to the Church and kingdom of God, to Zion, and this
whole people. It matters not to me whether it is in building a
Temple, establishing a Carrying Company, or anything else that is
presented for the accomplishment of the purposes of the Lord and
the building up of his kingdom, and the gathering of Israel; we
are equally interested in it, and should go to with our might,
and carry out the work assigned us.
321
Many things will be made manifest unto us, and our labours will
have to extend through many channels, ways, and means, before the
way is prepared for the coming of the Son of Man.
321
I feel thankful to God that his hand is over us. He has guided,
controlled, and delivered us from the hands of our enemies.
322
We may thank the Lord that we have a man among us who has got the
Holy Ghost enough to reprove sin, whether among his wives, or his
best friends, or worst enemies. What would become of this people,
were it not so? We would go to hell. No man can govern his steps,
control his life, and correct his errors, if there is not
somebody inspired by the power of God to lead in this matter.
322
There is a just cause many times for reproof and correction; and
it is a good sign to me when we are reproved. It shows there are
redeeming qualities in this people. When President Young wants
anything of us, I care not what, let us respond to his request.
We have to build up this kingdom by union and faithfully
following those men set to lead us, or else we will be scattered.
The blessings of God will be taken from us, if we take any other
course.
322
The Presidency, in their remarks here, have referred to the
hatred of the wicked against us. Jesus says, "I have chosen you
out of the world; therefore the world hate you. If you were of
the world, the world would love its own; but because I have
chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hate you."
322
Look at the world; they are divided on every point; there is
hardly two men or women united in matters of government or
religion. Send an Elder of this Church to proclaim to them the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, and you will see the devils in hell
united with the priests and people of Christendom to oppose him.
They know they are wicked and weltering in their own corruptions
and abominations. But here comes a man to proclaim to them the
word of God. Why do they oppose him? Because he has the testimony
of Jesus Christ, and is sent of God. Do the world believe we have
a false religion, that we are deceivers, and have not the true
faith? No: they are afraid that what we preach is true; they are
afraid of our union in the Valleys of the Mountains. It has more
terror in it to the kings of the earth than any other subject
that has been revealed to man in this generation. They are afraid
God is with this people--that he controls them.
322
The same feeling exists among the nations now as anciently, when
the Jews said, He (Jesus) will take away our place and nation, if
he is let alone. This should be a testimony to all the world,
when they see the spirit of division increasing upon almost every
subject. They cannot unite upon any subject only in opposing the
Latter day Saints.
322
I feel to say to my brethren and sisters, Let us make up our
minds to do right, and let our union increase, and truly follow
the men God has set to lead us. There is where our salvation
lies.
322
Some of us have been in a measure reproved and corrected. Well,
what of it? no doubt we deserved all we have got and more. We
should not boast over each other because one man is reproved
to-day; you may receive the rod of chastisement to-morrow.
322
Let us prepare ourselves, so that, in whatsoever we are
corrected, we may be passive in the hands of the servants of God,
and thank the Lord; for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and
scourges every son and daughter he receives.
322
When I get through, if I can only find myself associated with the
Twelve Apostles of the Latter-day Saints and with this people, I
will be satisfied. If I can steer my way through this life, and
have a place with you, it is all I will ask.
323
I pray the Lord to bless you and me, and more particularly the
Presidency of this Church, and clothe them with the power of God
and with salvation, that their hearts may be filled with joy,
light, and truth. And may this people rise up and humble
themselves before the Lord, and take the counsel that is given to
them, that we may be well educated in the things of God, and be
obedient children in treasuring up their teachings and carrying
them out, that we may be saved in the kingdom of God; which is my
prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, May 31, 1857
Brigham Young, May 31, 1857
JOURNEY TO THE NORTH--UNANIMITY AND PEACEFUL ORDER OF THE
COMPANY--GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY TRAVERSED--GOOD
CONDITION AND BLESSINGS OF THE SAINTS IN ZION.
Remarks, by President Brigham Young, Made in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, May 31, 1857.
323
We have accomplished our short and speedy journey to the North in
safety and in peace, and again have the privilege of assembling
with you in this Bowery for the purpose of worshipping the Lord
our God, for which we are thankful. Every heart responds to these
sentiments, and we give glory to our Father and to our God. His
hand is over us for good; He has preserved us, He has marked out
our path. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the
Patriarchs of old, of the ancient Prophets and Apostles, of
Joseph and of this people, is our God--the only wise and true
God, our Saviour. It is him that we look to; in him we trust, and
from him we receive all our blessings.
323
I believe that every heart is filled with thankfulness, and is
also measurably filled with joy and peace. I can truly say to
you, my brethren and sisters, that I am thankful to you, as well
as to my Father in Heaven; for I have felt the strong cord of
faith in my absence arising from this people to our Father and
our God in our behalf. And I have no doubt but that our brethren
who have just returned from their missions to the East can
testify to the same. They have felt that the faith of the Saints
has been in their behalf; they have been sustained and upheld,
and brought through their trials by the arm of Jehovah, by the
faith of the Saints.
323
The brethren have done me a kindness, and I am thankful to them
for it. I am also thankful that I live in the midst of a people
whose hearts and faith are measurably one, that what they rightly
ask for is granted unto them; and that when they feel to bless an
individual or a people, that individual or people is blessed; and
when they feel it a duty that the Lord should stay the wicked in
their progress, their faith accomplishes their desire. I am
thankful that I am in the midst of such a people--that I am
numbered with you, my brethren and sisters in the gospel of
salvation.
324
I have sustained, I believe, a good character before our Father
and our God. I believe that your faith has been united with ours
to accomplish that which ought to be performed; and on this
occasion I am thankful that I have had your prayers, and have
accomplished the business proposed. I requested the people to
have faith for us, and to willingly release us to visit the
northern country. They voted that they would do so, and their
acts have proved that their faith was and is in accordance with
their votes.
324
On our journey, I can truly say that we had perfect peace. In my
travels with the Saints, up to this day, I can truly say that I
never had the pleasure of journeying with so peaceful and orderly
a company as the one with which I travelled to Salmon River. They
were schooled and instructed, and knew how to contribute to the
comfort of each other, and performed every duty in peace, without
noise, without strife, without contention. Every man was at his
post, performing the duties assigned him, and that, too, in the
faith of the Gospel, with a perfect resignation to the
requirements upon him. I believe that I have never seen men
together, to anywhere near the same number, who were so united as
the company I have travelled with this spring.
324
We took up our line of march on the morning of the 24th of April,
and were gone one month and two days, during which time we
travelled 763 miles, and that, too, over a very rough country,
381 1/2 miles out. Only one accident occurred worthy of mention,
and that happened on the evening after we drove out of Fort
Limhi. While chopping some fire-wood, brother Franklin Woolley
had the misfortune to cut his foot, but the wound is already so
far healed that he is walking about.
324
We did not lose an animal, though we left two at the Fort.
Brother Woolley's was the only accident that occurred in our
camp; and I do not think that I heard one cross word from man or
woman during the journey, unless it was from myself. I think if
any body was out of humour, or cross, or irritated, it must have
been myself, for I did not see anybody else so; and I endeavoured
to keep my own temper as cool as possible.
324
I feel to bless the brethren who accompanied me and those we have
visited, and I feel to bless the brethren, with all that pertains
to them, who have tarried at home. Strict industry and quietness
have marked well their doings in my absence, so far as I have
seen or been informed. The improvements in the settlements we
have passed through bespeak a contented, industrious spirit, and
this place bespeaks faith and industry during our absence.
324
Our crops look well, and I find that the brethren have attended
to making things comfortable about their houses so far as I have
seen, though as yet I have not been much about the city. The
Temple Block indicates hard labour; and I feel that the brethren
are united in the great work that is upon us, and I am thankful
for it.
325
I could give you a detailed account of our journey, and a
description of the country through which we have passed; but
perhaps it is unnecessary to-day, though I will say, that I had
not received, from all the northern travellers with whom I had
conversed, hardly one correct idea of that region of country. I
have asked several who had been there to describe Salmon River
Valley and the intermediate country, the quality of the soil, the
nature of the climate, the positions of the mountains, &c.; but I
must say that, when I came to travel through the country, I might
readily suppose that I had never conversed about it with a man
who had been there. I have frequently asked with regard to the
location of Fort Hall, and the replies have been, "It is built
near Snake River." Is there anything of a valley? "Yes,
something." Is there any timber there? "I think there is pretty
plenty of timber on the river, such as cottonwood, quaking asp,
and willows." Is it anything of a country for settling? "I should
think likely it might be." Is there any timber in the mountains?
"I should presume there is." How are the mountains situated?
"Similar to other mountains in other countries." That is about
all I have ever been able to learn of the country, previous to my
late journey.
325
When we began to approach Fort Hall, we learned that we could see
over it and all around it to a great distance; and, if our eyes
had been good enough, we might have seen the little Fort some 30
miles before we reached it. It is located on Shanghi Plains. From
the Rocky Mountains, at the source of Snake River, this plain
extends some 150 miles to 200 miles in a westerly and
south-westerly direction; and from the mountains south of Snake
River to those north is a distance of some 90 miles. I never had
this idea before, nor could I get it from any man I had conversed
with. It is a vast desert plain, and we called it Shanghi Plain.
I think it is as desert a country as ever was brought together to
aid in holding the earth from parting asunder.
325
Upon the banks of Snake River, when it does not overflow, there
is a lengthy, narrow strip of good soil, varying from a quarter
of a mile to ten rods wide, and in some places not six inches
wide. It is a sterile, barren, desert country, filled with belts
of rock and sand. As we passed over some portions of Shanghi
Plain, the brethren undertook to remove the stones, so that we
might drive our waggons with a little more ease to ourselves and
less danger to our vehicles. I begged of them not to take all the
rock out of the road; for, if they did, there would be nothing to
travel on.
325
Much of the track in that region was a perfect bed of rock
covered with occasional strips of sand, which much retarded the
progress of our teams. I wished the sand and the rock to lie
there, for I was confident that, if they were taken away,
California and Oregon would be separated from the States by a
vast gulf.
326
Malad Valley, north of Bear River, has been considered a pretty
desolate, cold, hard, sterile valley; it was so looked upon by
us, as we passed through it on our way North. At the same time,
we considered it a tolerably good grazing country, and thought
that people could possibly live there. But after we had travelled
over the Basin rim into Bannack Valley, descending a mountain,
beside which the one we call the Big Mountain is a mole hill,
down through the little Bannack Valley on to Shanghi Plain; and
travelled north-easterly and north-westerly, almost in a
semicircle, to Spring Creek; then up Spring Creek over to Salmon
River; and wended our way down that stream, through swamps and
willows, and climbed over points of bluffs to keep from being
mired; and had paid our brethren a visit, and returned again to
Malad Valley. It looked to us like one of the most beautiful
valleys that any person had ever beheld; while, before this
experience, we thought that nobody could live there; and I expect
that, if we had gone a few hundred miles north, it would have
looked still better to us; for the further we went north the
further we found ourselves in the northern country. And if the
Malad is a good valley, we can go further north to those not
quite so good; and the further we go north the less good
characteristics are connected with the valleys, except in the
articles of fish, water, and, in some instances, timber; and when
people are obliged to live in the north country, that will be
high time for them to go there. That is about the amount of the
geographical part of our journey that we shall now present,
though I think that I am pretty correct in my observations, and
could mark out the road, the mountains, the valleys, and streams,
and could sketch a tolerably good map of the country.
326
I have accomplished what I designed to accomplish, and I believe
the brethren will join with me, at least, on one point, viz, that
we started from here to rest the mind and weary the body; and so
far as the body is concerned, I believe all parties will agree
with me in saying that we have done that most effectually. I see
one man that went for his health,--brother East. I expect that it
will prove a benefit to him. Others also went for their health.
It is a hard medicine to take, but the result will be beneficial.
326
I rested my mind. From the time I left this city until my return,
I do not think that this valley, this Tabernacle, my own house,
or any of my family scarcely ever came before me to reflect upon.
We spent part of the first Sabbath at Box Elder, and on the next
we were camping away up Snake River, where we held meeting in the
forenoon.
326
A number of the brethren spoke, and I told them that I would say
a few words, and relate some of my feelings, especially those
pertaining to the journey and myself; but I could not have told,
from my sensations, whether I had been from home a week, a month,
or a year; and I could not fully realize whether I ever had a
house or lived in it, or ever had any family, only those that
were with me. This was a blessing to me. My mind was so taken
from the cares that surround me here, that it was perfectly
relaxed into an easy state of rest; and I had no anxiety, not in
the least, about one care that had formerly been upon me; or
whether I ever saw this valley, this congregation, or my family
again; or ever saw any other country than the one where I was at
the time. All my home reflections, desires, and cares were as far
from me as the east is from the west.
326
Whether this was the case with others I cannot tell, but I
believe they are all joined in saying that their bodies were most
thoroughly tired. I feel that I am renewed, though my body has
been very tired since I returned. But I am becoming rested, and I
now feel just about right. I feel that I have renewed my
strength, renewed the vigour of my body and mind; and I believe
that I am as ready to act in any capacity now as ever I have been
in my life, and a little more so; for I hope, as I grow old, to
grow wise. As I advance in years, I hope to advance in the true
knowledge of God and godliness. I hope to increase in the power
of the Almighty, and in influence to establish peace and
righteousness upon the earth, and to bring all the sons and
daughters of Adam and Eve, even all who will hearken to the
principles of righteousness, to a true sense of the knowledge of
God and godliness, of themselves, and the relation they sustain
to heaven and heavenly beings. I hope to increase and advance, as
I do in days and years, in the wisdom and the knowledge of God,
and in the power of God; and I pray that this may be the case,
not only with myself, but with all the Saints, that we may grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, and be made perfect
before Him.
327
There never has been a day for ages and ages, not since the true
church was destroyed after the days of the Apostles, that
required the faith and the energy of godly men and godly women,
and the skill, wisdom, and power of the Almighty to be with them,
so much as this people require it at the present time. There
never was that necessity; there never has been a time on the face
of the earth, from the time that the church went to destruction,
and the Priesthood was taken from the earth, that the powers of
darkness and the powers of earth and hell were so embittered, and
enraged, and incensed against God and godliness on the earth, as
they are at the present. And when the spirit of persecution, the
spirit of hatred, or wrath, and malice ceases in the world
against this people, it will be the time that this people have
apostatized and joined hands with the wicked, and never until
then; which I pray may never come.
327
I feel thankful for the privilege of lifting up my voice before
you this day, my brethren; I feel that it is a great privilege.
There is no other people on the earth that are blessed like this
people, though some of them say they are not blessed, because
they have trials,--that they are not blessed as they wish to be,
because they have cares upon them, because they are persecuted
and hated. But I say that in all this you are blessed, if the
words of the Saviour are correct, which you and I believe. He
said to his disciples formerly, which will also correctly apply
to the Saints in our day, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile
you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you, falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for
great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the
prophets which were before you." If this is not now done to
perfection by the world, wait a little while, and it will be. The
world will hate us to perfection; and if they have not spoken all
manner of evil against us, falsely, it is because they have not
knowledge enough to do it. At this time there is no falsehood
which they can invent, but what they are active in their service
to their father the devil against the Saints; consequently,
according to the words of the Saviour, "Blessed are ye."
327
We know that we are blessed, and God knows it, if we love the
Lord our God; and our works prove that we do. Blessed are the
Latter-day Saints, if they love God and keep His commandments.
And, let the world revile them, and do what they will, we are
blessed, because we have the words of eternal life, and know how
to perform, and are actually performing the works, to secure to
ourselves an eternal salvation and an existence in the presence
of our Father and God, while they will be wasted away, and be
destroyed from the earth, and from every kingdom where there is
peace and righteousness.
327
We are blessed, and we may never expect our happiness and heaven
until we gain a perfect victory over the devil, hell, and the
grave; and that we cannot do in this mortality; but we can
conquer to a certain degree, and gain admission into the favour
of our Father and God, and receive His promise to be received
into His celestial kingdom, when we shall have a perfect victory
and power over everything that is evil. I will give way for
others. May God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, May 31, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, May 31, 1857
JOURNEY TO THE NORTH--FOLLY OF EXPECTING TO SIT AT EASE IN
ZION--PROGRESSION--THE NATIONS UNDER GOD'S CONTROL--PROSPERITY
OF THE SAINTS--POWER OF BRIGHAM YOUNG--THE GOSPEL ALPHABET.
A Discourse, by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, May 31, 1857.
328
Brother Brigham has expressed my feelings in regard to our
journey to Salmon river, so far as he has spoken upon that
subject. The trip was considerably fatiguing, for our travel
averaged nearly two hundred miles a week, which left but little
time to rest, only when our animals were eating. Yesterday and
the day before I felt sick, and I told brother Brigham that I
felt as though I was sore and afflicted from the crown of my head
to the soles of my feet. That expression conveys an idea of my
physical feelings, and still I have recruited, for I am now eight
pounds heavier than I was when I went away.
328
As for the country north, I am satisfied with it; for, were we to
go a great way beyond where we were, it would not be an easy job
to touch us, for we got pretty nearly to the end, and there was
no way to get further with waggons, but by crossing the Rocky
Mountains, to some of the head waters of the Missouri. But with
all the poor country I have seen during our journey, much of it
is far beyond that part of Vermont in which I was raised until I
was eleven years of age; and had I always remained there, I never
should have personally known but what it was a beautiful country;
for people are prone to think that the regions they are brought
up in are the most beautiful in the world. I have been back there
twice, and have never found, in all my travels through these
mountains, so rough a country as where I was born; and I presume
it was so where brother Brigham, and Joseph Smith, and many more
of the Elders of the House of Israel were born: they came from a
rough, hard country.
328
After receiving the Gospel, the Lord has so ordered it, that we
have come to where he has led us, because at present there was no
other place. We have come into the mountains, to become inured to
hardship, privation, and want, and to raise up a posterity that
will become hard, substantial men, to bear off this kingdom to
every nation and kingdom upon the face of the earth. That is why
it is so, and I am thankful. I would not change these mountains
for any portion of the earth I ever beheld, until God has
accomplished His designs with us here. When He has done this, and
when we have overcome and kept His commandments, these mountains
and these valleys are ours, and all the earth in the four
quarters thereof, and we can go and come at our pleasure; and
that day is not a great way off, for many generations will not
pass away before that time will come.
329
I do not fear the world. We are here in the mountains and in the
valleys, and are as secure here as though we were in heaven;
because, if we were there, and did not keep the commandments, we
would have to suffer the consequences. When Lucifer sinned
against God and His commandments, he was cast out, with all those
that sustained and upheld him in his rebellious course. Many
suppose that when they get to heaven they can sit down upon
flowery beds of ease and have nothing to do. I never expect that
day. It is just so with a great many, when they come here, they
suppose that everything is going to be prepared for them; they
suppose that they will sit down in ease, and eat, and drink, and
wear, and that there will be no person to trouble them. We have
come here to become inured to work--to build temples, and improve
upon the elements that God has placed around us, that we may
become more skilful to-morrow, through the experience of to-day.
What I do not to-day, when the sun goes down, I lay down to
sleep, which is typical of death; and in the morning I rise and
commence my work where I left it yesterday. That course is
typical of the probations we take. But suppose that I do not
improve my time to-day, I wake up to-morrow and find myself in
the rear; and then, if I do not improve upon that day, and again
lay down to sleep, on awaking, I find myself still in the rear.
This day's work is typical of this probation, and the sleep of
every night is typical of death, and rising in the morning is
typical of the resurrection. They are days' labours, and it is
for us to be faithful to-day, to-morrow, and every day.
329
Brethren, this is the course we have to take; it is a progressive
work from one day to another, and from one week to another; and
if we advance this year, we are so far advanced in preparation to
better go through the next year. If I have one thousand bushels
of wheat laid up this year, can you not understand that I am
better qualified to lay up two thousand bushels during the next
year? And then in the succeeding year I am better prepared to add
four thousand bushels to my amount on hand, and then eight
thousand, and so on.
329
My feelings are for us to wake up as a people, every one of us;
and, instead of taking a course to throw away our substance, let
us gather together; for, so sure as this people will do this,
they will be blessed, and God will hold the nations by the bit,
as you hold a horse. If we are faithful, He will do it,--mark my
words. God will hold the world by the bit, and they cannot help
themselves. If we will do right from this time henceforth they
never can move or take a step against us, but what they will fail
in it; and I know it. It is for us to do right, to walk humbly,
and keep the commandments of God, repent where we have done
wrong, and do wrong no more.
330
There never was a time when the devil worked harder with this
people than now. He will work with men and women, and try to stir
up contention in this Church; and you have got to guard against
it with all your hearts. As brother Brigham has mentioned, there
never was a time when the devil worked harder to destroy this
people than now; and it is for every man and woman and child to
wake up, and live their religion, and serve their God. Now is the
time. Is it a good time? I never saw a better time since I was on
the earth than I see to-day. I never saw this people so
prosperous, and I never saw the earth with such a carpet upon it
as it has this year. In all the lands I ever travelled, I never
saw such wheat, and oats, and barley, as are now growing from
here to Bear River; and they say it is so in the south, in the
east, and in the west. And at Limhi the crops look promising.
They have sowed 125 bushels of wheat and other grain at Salmon
River.
330
Everything is flourishing; but how easy God can clip it, even
now. He can send the grasshoppers, and make a perfect desolation
of this year's crop, as easily as I can throw this book lid over.
Why? Because He rules in the armies of heaven, and controls the
affairs of this earth, according to His own pleasure, and the
world know it not. He sends angels and ministering spirits to
transact His business, upon the same principle that brother
Brigham sends his brethren to England, Denmark, the States, and
this way, and that. He sits upon His throne and says, Joseph, go
and do that; Peter, attend to that; and they do it. This is a
natural principle there just as much as here, though the people
cannot realize it so sensibly. He sends his Elders and delegates
as we sent brother George A. Smith, and brother Bernhisel, and
brother John Taylor. Brother Brigham did not go; but his
authority accompanied those brethren; also the power of God who
controls him. If I should tell one of my wives to go to Box Elder
and transact business for me, she has more authority in that
matter than any king upon his throne, or the President of the
United States. Why? Because she goes in my authority.
330
I go in brother Brigham's authority, which is the authority of
God. That power you have all got, so far as you are faithful. I
have heard brother Brigham say that a Bishop now has more
influence over his ward than Joseph had over the Church in his
day. Joseph could not so thoroughly control the people, for they
were wild like bulls; but when he could not make them do what he
wanted them to, he suffered them to do what they pleased.
330
I speak of these things by way of encouragement to you, brethren
and sisters. You are a good people: I respect you; I have pride
in you, when you live your religion; but let us wake up. We have
done first rate; but we can wake up more, and keep waking up, and
attend to the things you have been told to attend to; and one of
them is, to lay up stores of corn, wheat, oats, peas, beans, buck
wheat, and every thing else that can be preserved; for you will
see a day when you will want it; and it will be when we shall
feel the effects of famine, and when the United States have not
any food. And inasmuch as we are wise and prudent in this matter,
we shall have power over them, and they cannot help themselves.
And the day will come when the wicked shall not come here to
impose upon our good feelings, and for us to nourish them, while
they are infusing the poison of their corruption in our midst. I
have borne and borne that wickedness until I will not bear it any
longer. How long have I borne their abuse? For twenty-five years;
and the law of the land is, that a man is of age when he is 21;
and we have served four years beyond that time, free gratis. We
are now pretty free, and we will be more free when we are thirty.
It will be so, if we will do right.
330
It takes us all to do right, like the limbs and branches of one
tree partaking of the nourishment of the stock to which they
belong, and the stock draws its nourishment from the root. Let us
find out the nature of the roots, that we may better understand
the trunk and the branches. I have to take the alphabet of
salvation with which to learn the first principles of the
doctrine of Christ, and then, as I progress, I can read all the
celestial law by the same letters. We learn the alphabet of the
English language, then we learn the spelling book, the reader,
the geography, history, and everything by means of the same
alphabet.
331
The first principles of the doctrine of Christ are the
alphabet of the celestial law; therefore, not leaving the first
principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto
perfection. Let us be diligent in keeping the commandments of our
God, that we may be saved in His celestial kingdom. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / George
Albert Smith, May 31, 1857
George Albert Smith, May 31, 1857
RESULT OF THE DELEGATION TO CONGRESS FOR THE ADMISSION OF UTAH AS
A
STATE--CONDITION OF SOCIETY IN THE STATES--RETURN OF APOSTATES.
Remarks, by Elder George A. Smith, Made in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, May 31, 1857.
331
It is with the greatest pleasure, brethren and sisters, that I
have the privilege of beholding your faces, and of hearing the
voice, testimony, and narrative of our worthy President, Brigham
Young. It is not easy for me to find language to describe my
feelings and to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father, and
to my brethren and sisters, for the preservation of my life, and
for the privilege I enjoy among you on the present occasion.
331
I went abroad, and have been absent a little more than one year
and one month to perform a mission which was new to me, depending
upon the faith of the Saints and the blessings of the Almighty,
that through their faith and my own exertions I might accomplish
the work I started out to do; but it came out a good deal like
the fishermen in the days of our Saviour who toiled all night and
caught nothing; still it has been to me a school of experience,
as I have had a chance to behold something of the manner, and
have observed a little of the principles, the honour, and the
integrity which rule the actions of the Federal Government of our
great and glorious union.
331
It is generally considered in the world that truth bears away the
victory. It was in fact laid down by some of the ancient prophets
that such was really the case. Things have changed a little
now-a-days, but it is an age of improvement. If a man tells the
truth, he stands no earthly chance whatever; he has got to lie
and mix so much lie with the truth that it will hide it almost
entirely, or he cannot receive any credit whatever. So it is to a
great extent, and instead of truth governing the world at the
present time, lies and falsehood govern it, as far as I have
observed.
332
It will be recollected, when I left the Valley, there was a great
scarcity of provisions; we were on half rations, and very
frequently not half. We were making the best estimate we could to
stretch out flour until harvest, and picking up everything we
could to sustain ourselves until the glorious day of harvest
should come. Such was the case with a great many of us; and those
who had provisions were dividing it out to those who had none, by
the spoonful. If they had a spoonful, they divided it; and if
they had two, they were dividing that; and this condition of
affairs was proving to the world that brotherly love and
affection existed here, unheard of and unknown in the history of
mankind, except in Deseret, for a whole people to be so
straitened for provisions, and at the same time not a solitary
person perish of starvation or want--I say such a thing is
unheard of in the history of mankind. When this was fairly
commencing, I went away. It was understood in the States that we
were all starving to death. When I got down there, I told them I
was as short of provisions as anybody else, and consequently had
come down where they had something to eat.
332
I went away from here weighing 243 pounds at the Tithing Office,
and not being well fed at that, and falling off considerably
during the last year previous to going away.
332
When I got down to the States, where the climate did not agree
with my lungs, I spend a good share of the winter in doing some
of the tallest coughing of any man living. However, I fatted up
considerably, and got to be quite a decent looking "chap." When I
left St. Louis, I weighed 260 pounds. I thought I was going home
in fine order; but, behold, and lo! all my Missouri and eastern
beef I had gathered shook off on the plains, and I found myself
the poor, "lean," meagre man you see before you. When I got to
the Tithing Office, the other day, I was about seven pounds
lighter than when I went away; and I expect I have made that up
since I have got home. My health has greatly improved since I
left the Missouri river, with my decreasing weight.
332
I am very thankful that the Lord has preserved me and returned me
again to your midst. The news which you probably have received is
unimportant, though you have received very little for the last
six months; for, you know, Uncle Sam is poor, and not able to
carry his mails; and the winter has been very hard, and the
circumstances have been such that he could not even send out
messages or anything. But the rivers all run the same way they
did when I was there before, and they run in about the same
direction. Railroad collisions, steamboat accidents, fires, and
freezing to death are just as common as before, and a little more
so. And another thing I suppose you will be glad to learn--the
devil is not dead. [Brigham Young: I feel thankful for that.]
332
A great portion of the people have come to the conclusion, after
having been a great many years considering the subject over, that
we are a very desperate set of fellows out here. Politicians are
a little vexed, for they do not know what to do with us. They did
not admit any Territory into the Union during this session of
Congress, though they did grant a permission graciously to
250,000 inhabitants residing in the Territory of Minnesota to
make a constitution.
332
I have looked on and taken items, thought and reflected, saw how
it was going, waiting for an opportunity. You know it was a very
modest mission I went down on; I went to Washington to ask
permission to enter the Union; and I did not want to go in until
I saw a fair chance; I hated to ask, and be refused admission. I
have rejoiced very much at every particle of news that I could
receive from the mountains. I received letters from President
Young and others, three, four, and sometimes six months after
they were written. When they did arrive, they afforded me a great
deal of pleasure, and were a source of rejoicing, especially to
learn that the Saints were waking up.
333
On my way here with the mail, I had the additional cause of
rejoicing in beholding that a great many sick persons--persons
whose lives had been dreadfully in danger--had been lucky enough
to escape, and by escaping the narrow chance of a hundred
thousand deaths, have been enabled to travel to some peaceable
land where they expect to enjoy themselves. But I must say, from
the little observation I had of them, they were a sickly crowd;
and when they had an opportunity, they vomited freely, and by
that process would be able, probably, to keep along until they
got down to the Missouri river.
333
But we understand that they are not agreed. A part of the party
would relate their narrow escape, their hair's breadth
deliverance, and the other part would pronounce it all a lie--not
a word of truth in it. One end of the party would contradict what
the other end of it would affirm. If I ever desired anything on
the earth with all my heart, since I came to these Valleys, it
was that the Lord would gather out of our midst all those that
offend. Every time I met a party, I felt like shouting "Glory,
hallelujah." The work I saw was going on, and I felt to rejoice.
333
I did not go to Washington putting my trust in man, neither do I
come home putting my trust in man. The Almighty God is at the
helm; He rules His people, He governs and controls all men, and
He can restrain the wicked at His pleasure; but let me tell you,
if the designs of the spirit of the devil that reigns in the
hearts of the wicked against us, prompting them to our
destruction, could be executed, we would be exterminated from the
face of the earth: but God limits their power, and as long as
they cannot gratify their whole desires, just so long they may
rage and foam; but if you put any trust whatever in man, if you
rely on the arm of man to protect you, you will be disappointed.
What protection have we ever had from the day we commenced to
preach the Gospel to the present day? We expect nothing but the
arm of the Almighty to protect His people; let us, therefore, put
our trust in Him, and just let the devil howl.
333
I had a little serious conversation with Captain Smith at Fort
Kearney. The very gentlemanly commander of that fort, Major
Wharton, had nearly lost his eyesight, principally by watching
for the hostile Cheyenne Indians through the spy glass, and
Captain Smith was acting commander. I enquired what was the
condition of the dragoons stationed there? He replied, they had
about fifty horses but their hoofs had come off. How many have
you that can do efficient service, if called upon? He said they
had about ten or twelve in good condition, but fresh horses were
expected.
333
The company of handcart Elders were an astonishment to everybody
that saw them. The traders on the road say that mules are nowhere
by the side of them. I never saw such a pretty sight in my life.
We had a meeting with them on Horse-shoe Creek, and a better set
of men I never saw, and men that were old when I was a boy were
as active as boys, rolling on with their handcarts, singing and
rejoicing.
333
Perhaps, when I get some other opportunity, I may feel free,
without intruding on the time of others, to speak more
particularly on the things that pertained to my mission. May the
Lord bless us, and enable us to live righteously and soberly, and
rise with the Star of the Morning, and enjoy eternal glory, is my
prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, June 7, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, June 7, 1857
UTILITY OF CORRECTION--NECESSITY OF LIVING OUR RELIGION--OUR OWN
CHARACTER AFFECTING POSTERITY--THE SAINTS BLESSED ABOVE ALL OTHER
PEOPLE--RESULT OF REBELLION AGAINST AUTHORITY, ETC.
A Discourse, by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, June 7, 1857.
334
I feel as though I would like to express a few of the sentiments
and feelings that are passing in my mind. We have had much
preaching, exhortation, correction, and reproof, and some might
say a great deal of chastisement; though I call chastisement
neither more nor less than reproof or correction. When we are
corrected by our leaders, it is to set us right, to show us the
wrong course, and induce us to pursue the right one. If I do
wrong, if I get astray, it is perfectly right that some one
should correct me; and when I am corrected, it is not right for
me to justify myself; for, if I do, I sustain the course of an
incorrect purpose. When I am corrected, it is my duty to listen,
to reform, and walk in the straight and narrow way. If we will
not learn by precept nor by example, we have to learn by the
things we suffer. Is it not better for people to learn by
correction than by bitter experience? The old saying is, that
"Experience is a hard master."
334
There are some who are not so much benefitted by preaching as
they might be, because they do not remember and apply what they
hear. It has a pleasing effect upon the ear, like a tune well
played upon a musical instrument, but makes so little of an
impression, that it cannot be repeated by the hearer. The word
does not enter the ear and proceed to the heart, which is the
place of deposit. There the word of God should be deposited,
which would be at the seat of government in the human form. We
each have a seat of government within us, because we are
incorporated bodies. Every man that comes into this world is an
independent being, upon the same principle that our Father and
our God is independent, only He is independent to a greater
degree, being further advanced in perfection. He came here, and
helped to organize this earth; and having had an experience in
organizing earths before He came here, He was capable, and had
every principle necessary to create this earth and fill it with
inhabitants. If there had not been a seat of government in Him,
and all those powers and faculties necessary to propagate the
human species, He never could have done that work. We are His
sons and daughters.
335
Now, what course is it for us to take as a people? It is for us
to unitedly go to work and live our religion, practise it in our
lives; and the more you live it and practise it the better you
will be, and it will beget a love of truth and righteousness in
you that you never can get rid of in time nor in eternity. Then
our posterity will also partake of that holy principle which is
in us, wherefore they will naturally love the truth from their
infancy. A great many people do not think that our characters and
course of life are going to affect our posterity, but they will.
The seed from a good ripe cucumber will produce good fruit, like
that which produced the seed. Has the woman an interest in this,
as well as the man? She has. The tree that bears the fruit
affects that fruit for better or worse. The Saviour says that a
good tree will produce good fruit, and a corrupt tree cannot
produce good fruit, but it will produce corrupt fruit. Upon the
same principle, how can a woman produce a good posterity when she
is corrupt? She cannot.
335
If we will do right, will do just as we have been told in all
things, we will dwell in peace and quietness from this time
henceforth and for ever, and I know it.
335
For some time past, the weather has been warm, and the ground
parched by heat, and now the Lord has again given us rain. What a
beautiful shower we had last night! Do I not feel thankful? Yes,
as much so as for anything of this nature I ever received. Did it
bless me? Yes. It also blessed every one of you, whether you have
any grain, fruit, and vegetables growing, or not. Why? Because if
you have not, you have to live upon the products of the fields
and gardens of some of your neighbours. It affects every one of
you as much as it does me; you are blessed as much as I am; I can
only eat what one man can eat. I cannot partake of these benefits
to any greater amount than you can, and all that I expect while I
dwell in the flesh is what I want to eat, clothes that are
comfortable to wear, houses to live in, and what I want to drink;
I cannot drink all City Creek myself; I can only just partake of
enough of those blessings to sustain myself.
335
My feelings are that we are blessed above all the people that
ever did live, that we read of. We are blessed above the people
of Enoch; and far beyond the people in the days of Jesus, for
they were driven, scattered, and peeled throughout the world, and
they have never yet been able to gather again. But we are
gathered, and we never will be scattered again--no never, while
the earth stands, if you will do as you are told. Will we go to
Jackson county? Yes, we will go there, just as we will to the
city of Fillmore, independently. We will go and come at our
pleasure, and no one to molest us; and we will build up that
city, and that, too, upon natural principles, just as we go and
build up Farmington, in Davis county, or this city, or any place
we occupy.
335
How will it be with our enemies? The Lord deals with them and
leads them, just as much as He does you and me. Can He hold them
as with a bit, the same as you can a horse? Yes, and He can put
it into the hearts of that people to send up a petition here for
the Mormons to buy that whole land, and we will be under no
necessity of shedding blood. God does not want to shed blood
without it is necessary, any more than He wants us to go and
slaughter a beast when we have no need of it. But when we have
need of meat, and are driven to it by necessity, then it is all
right. If it is necessary that we should shed blood, then it is
right. All things are right that are done according to the will
and pleasure of God.
336
My feelings are to exhort you, to pray you, be ye reconciled to
God and to His servants; and if you will be reconciled to His
servants you will be to God, and you cannot without. How can you
be reconciled to a Being you never saw, and not to a being you do
see? If you cannot love those you see and associate with every
day, how can you love a Being you never did see? It is
impossible. And one of the greatest sins you commit is to sin
against those you do know--those whom God has sent and
authorized,--for it is His authority which you rebel against;
and, in sinning against it, you sin against God the Father who
sent them. Upon the same principle, when we send brother
Bernhisel to Washington, should they take him and misuse him,
they show despite to the authority that sent him. You send a
minister to Europe, and should they cast him out and whip him
they show despite to the authority that sent him--to the whole
United States, in case they had sent him.
336
Our Father and our God has sent Brigham and his brethren. If you
rebel against them, you rebel against the authority that sent
them. You sin not only against the authority or servants he has
sent, but you sin against God who authorized them. If brother
Brigham sends brother Wells to me as a delegate, to authorize me
to do a thing, and I refuse, I sin against brother Brigham and
against the one that sent him. Now, brethren, what are we told to
do? Read a revelation that Joseph received of the Lord to Thomas
B. Marsh concerning the Twelve; He told them to go forth and
preach the Gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people,
or cause it to be done; and after your testimony cometh the
testimony of earthquakes, of famine, of fire, and of desolation;
it shall come upon the world, and it shall begin at my house,
saith the Lord, that is, with that portion who rebel against Him
in the midst of His house.
336
You can also read other revelations wherein the Lord says that,
after you have done so and so, He will send famine, and
earthquakes, and desolating sickness, &c.; and that he who
rejecteth you rejecteth me, and he that rejecteth me rejecteth my
Father and my God. When you do this, you do it at your own risk,
and to your own sorrow and distress, and the Spirit of God will
so teach you all the time.
336
These calamities are coming; go and read for yourselves. If you
do not believe me, and brother Brigham, and the Twelve, believe
the revelation that God gave to Joseph. And then, if you do not
believe Joseph, believe Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Prophets; and
if you cannot believe them, believe Jesus Christ; and if you
cannot believe him, believe the Father. [Voice: "And if they
believe the Father, they will believe all the rest."] Yes;
brother Brigham says that if you believe the Father, you will
believe all the rest. You can believe Jesus; and if you can
believe Jesus, you can believe his apostles, and then you can
believe Joseph and his Apostles, and brother Brigham and his
Apostles. Has brother Brigham got Apostles? Yes, he has ordained
Twelve. Brother Joseph ordained Twelve, and so did Peter.
336
Brother Brigham is an apostle of Jesus, and I know it, just as
much as ever Joseph was. I do not ask you to believe that for me;
I know it is true. Brother Brigham, myself, and some others
walked with brother Joseph in his regeneration, but we do not
know whether we shall sit at his right hand or his left, or not;
that is for the Father or others to dictate. It mattereth not,
however; for if we keep the commandments of God we shall triumph
over the world, the flesh, and the devil, and over every person
living upon God's footstool that does not surrender themselves
and all they have to him.
337
Brethren and sisters, this is the time in which to prepare. If
you are not saved temporally in these Valleys, I shall not be. If
you will take a course to bring distress on this people, we shall
have to be distressed. I have learned enough to know that, when
we were in Kirtland, and distress and desolation came upon this
people, I had to suffer with them. I fled for England; brother
Joseph and brother Brigham fled to Missouri; and every man that
would honour "Mormonism" and sustain it had to flee. Why? Because
some would not honour it. The righteous had to suffer with the
wicked; and it is the ungodly who bring trouble upon the
righteous, and they have to pay that debt. If it is not in ten
thousand times ten thousand years, they will have to pay the debt
for unlawfully bringing distress upon the righteous.
337
What shall we do? The Lord is blessing us; and such a time of
blessing I never saw. We never have been blessed so much as we
are this year. Go to the north, to the south, to the east, and to
the west, and you will see the earth matted over with vegetation
to such an extent as I have never before seen. Go into our
gardens and orchards, and you will find our trees even now
actually breaking down with fruit. We shall have to thin out the
peaches on the boughs, or they will break before they can ripen
the load that is upon them. The limbs are breaking down with
apples, plums, currants, and every kind of fruit that we are
raising; and the strawberry vines would break down, if they were
not already on the ground. I never saw the like before in the
States, nor in England, nor anywhere else.
337
The people are doing right; they are waking up; and the Lord
looks upon us as a good father looks upon his boys who are in the
field at work, digging and watering the ground, in the hot sun,
up to the knees in mud, with their wives and their children. Says
he, "My boys, you are good boys; I will give you some rain, I
will wet your crops, and rest you a little while; but I will not
let you have but a little water, for if I send the rains here the
devil will come upon you with his gang. I will not let you have
much rain, only enough to ease your labours a little while." That
is the way my Father feels, and I feel so, when I have His
Spirit; and that is the reason I can comprehend Him when I have
His Spirit. You have heard me say that I felt joyful, funny, and
jocular, according to the portion of the Spirit of the Lord I
enjoyed. Do I feel like dancing and jumping? Yes, and like doing
everything else that is good and comfortable. When I have the
Spirit of the Lord, I feel so; and that makes me think that my
Father in heaven felt so before me.
337
Brethren, go and build your storehouses before your grain is
harvested, and lay it up, and let us never cease until we have
got a seven years' supply. You may think that we shall not see
times in which we shall need it. Do you not comprehend how
comfortable it will be for us to know that we have grain enough
to last us seven years? But it would make me feel bad for brother
Brigham, myself, and a few others, and the Tithing Office, to
have our granaries full, and the rest of the people have none.
Why? Because we should have to hand out of our granaries as long
as there was a kernel left. [Voice: "We should have to buy the
whole of them."] Yes, we should have to buy your fine dresses,
your jewellery, and everything you have got; which we shall do,
if you do not lay up in store.
338
I ask, would things have been with us as they are now, if we had
not repented and commenced anew? Now, 7 tons, or 14,000 lbs. of
flour are dealt out of the Tithing Office every week to the hands
upon the Public Works; and can they reduce the supplies that are
in that office? They have not been able to yet, for some of the
cellars are being dug out to put in grain. We have not store room
enough to hold it, and we are obliged to go to the flouring mills
to get storage for it. And the men who deal out the flour say
that they have not reduced the supplies on hand, that they
continually keep about so, and a little more so. If you can
account for that, go at it.
338
Does the Lord cause our grain to increase? He does, and that,
too, upon natural principles. Sow one bushel of wheat, for
instance; and when you harvest the product of that, you get, say,
from 25 to 50 bushels. Where do those 25 or 50 bushels come from?
Say that I go and put 100 pounds of flour into my bin, and that I
afterwards take out forty times more flour than I put in, how did
it come there? Upon the same principle that one bushel of wheat
increased to forty. I will take one peach stone and plant it, and
in about four years that peach stone will produce a tree that
will bear from 500 to 1,000 peaches. Where did they come from?
There was only one planted. They all come from the elements. Then
cannot God increase our grain in the bin, as well as He can
increase it in the field?
338
Brother Brigham and I once started with $13.50 and travelled 500
miles, paying $16 for every hundred miles travel, and paying for
from two to three meals of victuals a day, and once in a while
paying 50 cents apiece for a night's lodging; and when we got
through, we had not quite as much money as when we started. But
if we had not any, it was quite a miracle, though we had some
money left. We performed that journey with the means I have
mentioned. That money we spent was in the elements, or else an
angel of God went where it was, and got it, and put it into our
pockets. Brother Brigham kept the purse; I put my money with his,
and he kept paying out; and if it had been in the line of our
duty to have kept travelling to this day, we should had money
unto this day. And once in a while we would take a weak sling,
for we were so weakened by disease that both of us could not take
a common trunk two feet long and ten inches square and put it in
a waggon. We were feeble, and we continued so until we landed on
Europe's shores, and then disease left us. The Devil meant to
afflict us, to see whether he could not back us out; but he had
two hard fellows to deal with.
338
The Lord was with us, and His angels went before us; and when we
went to Kirtland, the people would not let us preach there only
once apiece. I preached once, and compared them to a mess of old
cracked pots, and every thing else I could think of, and declared
that I would not preach there again. I never wanted to. They said
that we were under the censure of the Almighty, because we were
sick and afflicted. The Lord suffered it to be so, that He might
try their righteousness and virtue.
338
Let us go to work, every man and woman of us, and lay up our
stores, and build good store-houses, and increase. If we will do
this, brethren, we will have some of the finest seasons you ever
saw. Our grain will increase, and we will lay a foundation for
the world and the ungodly, and we will buy them for our servants.
They will be glad to come and work for us for bread, and each one
of us will be like Joseph in Egypt was to his father's house.
They will come to us and buy grain and the good things of this
world; for I know that we are the people who have got to do that
thing.
339
Will you be slack, brethren, and let the evil come upon us, when
we forewarn you of the future events that are coming? Now,
supposing that I had not the spirit of prophecy upon me, then I
had better sit down. If a man gets up here and lets the Spirit of
God dictate him, he cannot help prophesying, for the Holy Ghost
is the Spirit of prophecy, and he will foretell future events,
and you cannot help it. We are telling of what the prophets have
said--of what the Lord has said to Joseph. Wake up, now, wake up,
O Israel, and lay up your grain and your stores. I tell you that
there is trouble coming upon the world. They have a pretty good
drouth in some places this year. I do not know whether brother
Amasa has told you, but almost everything is burnt up in Southern
California. They have got to live there and get bread, and
probably will be glad to take a handcart.
339
Is it so in the United States? It is. They have got to eat that
dish; and when famine, pestilence, and starvation come upon us in
a small degree, it will increase upon them fourfold, packed down
and running over, and they cannot help it. Let them exult. There
never was such a prejudice existing against this people as there
is at this day. The Devil is stirring them up because we have
commenced that Temple; and we will build it, and they cannot help
themselves; and we will lay up the grain for seven years, and
thousands of them will worship us for a little johnny cake, and I
will live to see it: so will you. And when you see it, you will
then have knowledge, won't you?
339
We do not so much care whether you have any confidence in our
being Prophets, or not; but if you will go to and do as you are
told, you shall see these things, and have a knowledge of all we
tell you. That is practical religion, if all men go to work and
till the earth, raise grain, and live our religion, and not come
up here as a few of you dandies do, and suck our vitals out of us
by getting into fancy shops, and this, and that, and the other.
You are no better than we are, and not half as good. We are the
saviours of men, and we have got to work for it--to dig and
scrape; and the harder we scrape the quicker it will come about.
This people work, and they are the best people that ever did
live; but there is a great chance for improvement.
339
I improved yesterday: I worked and made all the improvements I
could, and did the best I could; but it came night, and I laid
down to take a nap, which is typical of death. This morning I
have risen up and again commenced my labours; and I am going to
improve to-day, and do better than I did yesterday. But in comes
another night of sleep; I lay down, which is typical of death;
and I rise in the morning, which is typical of the resurrection,
and I renew my labours. I have to begin where I left off; but you
cannot realize but that you have to take one jump away ahead,
when you come to leave your bodies and go into the spirit world.
That is not so, for you will have to commence to hoe your row
where you left off.
339
People talk about running races for a wager. No person can gain
the wager, only those that run lawfully through to the place
appointed. These half runs will not gain the prize. There are a
great many that turn back and run the other way, but their road
will be a thousand times longer than ours; and the straighter we
run the nearer we get to the point we have to gain.
340
As for our store-house ever being empty again--if we will take
the course laid down to us, it will never be. And we have to
increase our store-houses more than a hundredfold; and if this
people take that course, the granaries will be fuller than they
are now; and they must be built in a more substantial manner. And
when we have built this Temple, it is hardly a comparison to what
we will build the next time; and the Devil will still rage worse
and worse, and he will rage, and rage, and foam; but if we will
do right he never can come over these mountains; or, in other
words, he may get here, but the tabernacles he wants to come here
never can--no never, for they will fall without our touching
them. [Voice: "And it will be laid on the 'Mormons.'"] Yes, they
lay the killing of Babbitt and Gunnison to the "Mormons," and
they say that Dr. Bernhisel will kill Brigham in one year,
[laughter in the stand and in the congregation,] because he has
got jealous of him. I must confess that would be the biggest
miracle that I ever saw. Almost every evil that has been
committed during the past twenty years has been laid upon the
"Mormons;" and they are trying to make themselves believe that
the "Mormons" have Danites, or destroying angels, in every nook
and corner.
340
Now, you may call that extravagant, but the world believe it. I
never saw people so foolish as are the world at this time, and
they never can affect us. I want you to keep that in view. That
is my text; they never can trouble us, if we do as we are told.
And when brother Brigham crooks his little finger, let our hands
move. I am preaching what they say.
340
We shall prosper, and the soil and the mountains will grow rich,
and we will never lack for anything. We may draw wood out of the
mountains continually, as we need it, and there will still be as
much as there is now. We will eat bread to all eternity, and our
bins will still be full. You may wear dresses to all eternity, if
you will make them, and there will always be plenty.
340
I am in my element when I am among this people and speaking to
them; and my prayer is, by night and day, that I may be as simple
as a child in my communications, and speak the truth. As for my
praying that God will make me eloquent, as the world call it, I
never want it, but that He may make me eloquent in the truth, to
speak it in its plainness and simplicity.
340
Brethren and sisters, here in these mountains is the centre of
government; here is head-quarters for the whole earth; and this
will be head-quarters until this head-quarters make another. And
when head-quarters are made at Jerusalem, we shall make them.
Why? Because this is the dispensation of dispensations; and where
Israel has dropped down, we have got to build them up and
establish them, just as much as men and women have to be raised
in the resurrection where they lie down, by the authority of God.
340
The earth is the Lord's, and we are His servants; and let every
man, according to the authority he possesses, dedicate his
houses, the material of which they are built, the earth they
stand upon, and his orchards and fields; and they will be
blessed, and I know it. We are in the best place on the earth in
which to sanctify and bless the earth and the inhabitants upon
it, and the mountains, and the little hills, and the fountains of
water. That is our business, and to bless each other, and build
each other up, and raise up a pure and a holy people. That is
what we are here for; and if you do not honour the calling you
are called to, you will be good for nothing.
340
God bless you, brethren; God bless you, sisters; and God bless
your children, and the earth, and all there is in it, for your
sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, June 7, 1857
Brigham Young, June 7, 1857
PRACTICAL RELIGION--SIMPLICITY--TEMPORAL SALVATION--ADVANTAGES
OF
UTAH AS A SETTLEMENT FOR THE SAINTS--FALSE REPORTS, ETC.
Remarks, by President Brigham Young, Made in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, a.m. of June 7, 1857.
341
I am thankful for the privilege of assembling with the
congregation of the Saints on another day that is set apart to
worship God. I delight in hearing the servants of the Lord speak
of those things that pertain to life and salvation. Practical
religion is what we all need, to prepare us to enjoy that which
we have in our anticipations--that which we hold in our faith.
Merely the theory of any religion does people but little good.
This is the great failing of Bible Christians, as they are
called. They have the theory of the religion of which the Bible
testifies, but the practical part they spurn from them. This is
why the Latter-day Saints have become so obnoxious to the
Christian world. They believe in the practical part of the
religion of which the Scriptures are a history. You may take the
plan and details of former Christianity; but, unless it is
reduced to practice, it will not benefit the people.
341
I delight extremely in plain simplicity. Brother Kimball desires
to be plain and simple, even like a child. I delight in this. I
believe, according to my feelings, that if I had all the mastery
of language that has ever been obtained by the learned, my spirit
would delight more in childlike conversation, and that, too, in a
simple language, than in the most learned literary style that is
used. A plain clear method of expressing ideas is the most
pleasing to me. I always delight to hear brother Kimball speak,
and I will take the liberty of saying to this congregation that
brother Heber C. Kimball, in his spirit and in his faith, I do
believe, is as true, as faithful, and correct, as any man that
ever lived; but he has not that peculiar mastery of language that
some have. He does not tell the people all that is in his mind:
that would be impossible. He conveys a great deal in a few words.
341
There is no person that ever heard me complain of or disapprobate
in the least anything that brother Kimball says. The reason is
simply this: I do know his spirit, and what is in his mind.
Whether he tells one fourth of it, or speaks it to the right or
to the left, or whether he hits a particle of it, I know what he
means, and know that his meaning is just right. If he was blessed
with the talent to clearly convey and explain the ideas that are
in his mind, I will venture to say that he would be one of the
greatest speakers that ever spoke on this earth, for true
knowledge, sentiment, and principle. We need the spirit by which
he speaks and lives in order to understand all that he means by
his expressions. I say this, not having any fear in my mind that
brother Kimball will, in his feelings, cast any reflections upon
me for thus expressing myself.
342
I know that I am a great many times placed under difficulty to
bring before the people the truth in a manner plain and simple
enough to reach their understandings; and I know that this is the
case with others.
342
I have seen Joseph when it was impossible for him to give the
people his views upon a subject that he designed to speak upon.
342
Such is the case with myself; such is the case with every man
that I ever heard speak. It is so with brother Kimball and many
others who arise to address you here. When some rise here to
present a dish of mental food to the congregation, they will be
two hours, perhaps, in bringing out a dozen kernels of corn; but
brother Kimball produces a full dish of both corn and beans in
one quarter of the time, or less; and we have a fine soup and
sweetmeats mixed with it--a taste here and a taste there. If it
could be comprehended by the people, they would generally find as
much in one of his sermons as there is in forty or two hundred
sermons delivered by those flowery speakers that sometimes
address you.
342
Brother Kimball was afraid of tiring us. I said that I should
never be afraid of being tired with eating sucotash so long as I
had room for a single spoonful. I generally deal out the
sucotash, and I do not care whether there are two beans to one
grain of corn, or one bean to two grains of corn; for those who
like the beans best can pick them out, and those who prefer the
corn can select it out. I really like the sucotash that brother
Kimball has just laid before you, for it contains ingredients
that pertain to our salvation.
342
I told you last Sabbath, and I can tell you again to-day, what
brother Heber has just told you, that the enemy of all
righteousness never was more formidably arrayed against the
Saints than at this very present time. There never was a greater
hatred against pure, undefiled, practical religion; and it seem
as though every person was our enemy. But if your eyes were
opened, as were those of Elijah's servant, you would see more
that are for us than all that are against us.
342
When people falter in their path, and stumble, and fall, if they
had eyes to see--if they would cling to the Lord, and sustain His
cause here upon the earth, in preference to turning their backs
upon it, they would see that there are infinitely more for His
cause than there are against it.
342
Men and women must have eyes to see, or they cannot understand
these things: they must be revealed by the Spirit of God; for
that is the only way in which people can understand the things of
God. This makes it our imperative duty to study and know the will
of God, and then do it with all our might. It brings us under the
deepest obligations, for our own safety and security, to live so
that we can have the mind of Christ within us, and understand the
mind of the Lord day by day. If we do this, we are a happy
people. As brother Heber observed, we are the happiest people
upon the face of the whole earth.
342
You cannot go into any other community on the earth, and find
that peace and union and those principles of honour, of justice,
and of right between man and man, that you find in this
community. You cannot find the same amount of good works, faith,
virtue, kindness, gentleness, and peace that you find here: there
is hardly enough of these good qualities among the world to
enable me to establish a comparison. The whole world is in a
turmoil, in a terror, and every man's hand seems to be against
his neighbour, nation against nation, party against party, people
against people. The world is in confusion, but this people are
dwelling in peace.
343
As I told you last Sabbath, I have an experience with regard to
the feelings of over one hundred brethren during our late
travels. Perfect peace and union reigned. If there was a cross
word, I did not hear it; if there was a cross look, I did not see
it; if there was a cross feeling, I did not perceive it. Can any
other community produce such a set of men and women? Is any other
people blessed like this people? No. We have the privilege now of
living in peace, of securing to ourselves our temporal salvation;
we enjoy this right. And we will find those words of brother
Kimball to be true with regard to the suffering of the children
of men around us; and if we do not hearken to the counsel given
us, we will see the day in which we will wish that we had. We
will lament, if we do not go to and secure to ourselves means for
our temporal existence.
343
It is true that the Saviour says, "Seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness;" but now we have the kingdom of heaven
with us. We have sought it, and we have it in our possession. We
enjoy the blessings of that kingdom; consequently, if we neglect
everything else, we would be foolish, we would become extinct.
But inasmuch as we have the kingdom of God within us, inasmuch as
we have it here among us, inasmuch as we have the keys of it, the
glory of it, the comfort of it, the power of it, and the laws of
it, let us now go to and sustain our bodies, that we may live
long on the earth to do good. And let us sustain our
families--our wives and children--inasmuch as we have the
necessary means and blessings preparatory to having all things
added unto us.
343
Be wise: be as wise as the generations of this world. In the days
of Jesus, those who received the kingdom and the spirit of the
kingdom seemed to lose all sight of a temporal salvation; and
Jesus said to his disciples, "The children of this world are
wiser in their generations than the children of light." The
children of light did not know how to sustain themselves; they
did not understand how to preserve themselves and the kingdom
with them.
343
There is danger on the other hand with this people. We have
witnessed it; we have an abundant proof of it, that when the
people actually turn to the world and seek after the things of
this world, in order to secure to themselves the comforts of
life, their affections appear to be weaned from the kingdom of
God, and they become attached to the things of the world. It
would be better if you and I never should have anything
pertaining to this world, than to lose the spirit of the Gospel
and love the world.
343
But have we not learned enough? Do we not now understand enough
to know that strict economy is required at our hands, in order to
sustain ourselves and prepare for our friends, and also for our
foes, and to be able to deal out the staff of life, not only to
our friends, but also to our foes, and prove to them, what we
have preached all the day long, that we are the friends of
mankind? We are actually their friends, not only spiritually, but
temporally. Let us go to, then, and lay up in our store-houses,
and prepare for the day of famine, of sorrow, and of trouble; for
all those things written in the prophecies, in ancient days and
in this our day, will surely come upon the inhabitants of the
earth.
343
I bless you and your substance, with all that pertains to you;
and if I could, I would so bring the Spirit of God upon your that
you might have eyes to see, and be able to know the mind and will
of God for yourselves.
344
We are in the happiest situation of any people in the world. We
inhabit the very land in which we can live in peace; and there is
no other place on this earth that the Saints can now live in
without being molested. Suppose, for instance, you should go to
California. Brothers Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich went and
made a settlement in South California, and many of the brethren
were anxious that the whole Church should go there.
344
If we had gone there, this would have been about the last year in
which any of the Saints could stay there. They would have been
driven from their homes. It is about the last year that brother
Amasa can stay there. Were he to tell you the true situation of
that place, he would tell you that hell reigns there, and that it
is just as much as any "Mormon" can do to live there, and that it
is about time for him and every true Saint to leave that land.
344
Suppose that we should go south. A great many wanted to go to the
Gila River: that was proposed when we first came to this Valley.
It was said to be a lively country, and that men could live there
almost without labour. What if we had gone there? You see what
has followed us here; but what would have been the result, if we
had gone there? Long before this time we would have been
outnumbered by our enemies: there would have been more against us
than for us in our community. Suppose we had gone to Texas, where
Lyman Wight went? He tried to make all the Saints believe that
Joseph wanted to take the whole Church there. Long before this,
we would have been killed, or compelled to leave that country. We
could not have lived there; and it is as much as ever they can do
to let us alone here.
344
As I have often said, I am thankful to a fulness that the Lord
has brought us to these barren valleys, to these sterile
mountains, to this desolate waste, where only Saints can or would
live, to a region that is not desired by another class of people
on the earth. When they come and have succeeded in getting our
money, they will not stay any longer. When they have made all
they can out of the Latter-day Saints, they wish to leave. And
when you see a person who becomes tired of "Mormonism," and
falters in his path, backslides in his feelings, at once his eye
is to the States, to California, or to some other place besides
this. Though, previous to their departure, such persons will
write to their friends, and to newspapers abroad, every
conceivable misrepresentation; and even the majority of the
officers that have been sent here are trying to make the
Government believe that we are taking the country; that we are
actually usurping power to ourselves with regard to the soil;
that we are transgressing the laws of the United States; that we
are treasoners in our feelings, alienated from our Government,
and so on and so forth. They also declare that the "Mormons" are
getting out what little timber there is in the kanyons, and that
if the timber is used up this land is not worth one penny an
acre.
345
In playing the game that they do, they give us nine out of ten. A
gentleman by the name of Morrill wished to deliver a speech in
the House of Representatives, on the "Mormon" question; but his
friends managed to prevent it; for they saw the light surface on
which he rode while he was writing his speech. They saw that the
delivery of his speech would do the "Mormons" more good than
harm, and they managed to head off its delivery by a motion to
adjourn, which prevailed. He felt chagrined at losing the
opportunity to make his speech, which he thought was full of
thunder, and which occupies six-and-a-half columns in a large
newspaper, and much of it in nonpareil type. They did not want to
hear it. Every man of sense said, "Mr. Morrill, this will destroy
your influence with your constituents, and do the 'Mormons' more
good than hurt, and ruin our cause." No doubt his friend wished
to seal it from him and let it have a still-birth; but Mr.
Morrill feels himself imposed upon, runs straightway to the Globe
Office, and gets it stuck into the paper, much to our credit and
advantage. That is the way all our enemies do; they overshoot the
mark they are aiming at.
345
Another man has written and got published a long article; and I
have really thought that I would like to have the speech, which
was never delivered, the long article, and some other articles of
like character read before the public congregation. William
Smith, brother to the Prophet, is the one suspected of having
dictated the writing of the long article mentioned. He defies the
United States to send a Governor here that can do anything with
the "Mormons," except himself. He declares that no man can go to
Utah but a man who is well acquainted with the "Mormons," and one
who has as much influence among them as Brigham Young; and
presents himself as the man. He also tells about the Danites, and
asserts that they are in every town and city throughout the whole
of the United States, and that their object is not known by the
people; that they are all over the world; that there are
thousands of them; and that the life of every officer that comes
here is in the hands of the Danites; that even the President of
the United States is not safe; for, at one wink from Brigham, the
Danites will be upon him and kill him. After all this, he says
that no man can go there; and when he gets through with this
story, sufficiently so to expose who he is, he says, in purport,
"I can go there; and if you do not believe me, try me; and if you
think I cannot, give me the right to go there with a good large
army.
345
Judge Drummond comes out with death and thunder on the "Mormons,"
and that no other an ought to govern the "Mormons" but Judge
Drummond, the HORSE DEALER; and so it goes. And they publish that
we have thousands and tens of thousands of men scattered over the
world, full of fervor, integrity, and courage, and ready at a
moment's warning. Just one word from Brigham, and they are ready
to slay all before them; and then they turn round and proclaim
that the "Mormons" ought to be used up, and that you can do this
and that with them. It is all a pack of nonsense, the whole of
it.
345
"The devil is mad, and I am glad; And what can we do to please him?"
345
I know what I think, but I will not tell it now. It would please
me better to have him kicked out of doors than anything else, and
especially from this community.
345
If we would not say one word about people's living their
religion, and let this Temple alone, and the spirit of
improvement in regard to our religion, and everything pertaining
to the world, and bid the world welcome to our houses and
firesides, and strike hands with them, and call them our friends,
we should have no difficulty with them. They have nothing against
us, only they cannot do as they please when they come here, but
have to observe the laws of the United States and this territory,
and a certain degree of moral decorum. They cannot do as they
please in their corruptions, and they raise a hue and cry against
the "Mormons."
346
If we would not say to the brethren and sisters, Try and live
your religion according to the Spirit of the Gospel, grow in
grace, and in the knowledge of the truth, and in all the graces
and gifts of God's Spirit, all would be peace between us and the
wicked. If we were to say nothing about building a Temple to the
name of Israel's God, the Devil would not be mad, and the case
would be like that of a priest. In his vision in the night, he
came along to a pretty good-sized town, walled in fine and nice;
and he thought that he came to one corner where there stood a
post, and that the Devil sat asleep and nodding on the top of it.
But he opened his eyes--and noticed the priest, and asked him,
"Which way are you going?--to the city?" "Yes," replied the
priest, "but what are you doing here?" "O I am just overlooking
the city." "How many devils does it take, besides you, to take
care of this people?" "There is no other here besides myself; the
whole people are under my control, and I have trained them so
well that I have nothing to do; and they are so well learned in
the doctrine of the devils, that they can almost get along
without me. I am merely here to see whether they continue to do
as they have been doing. I was thinking that I should have to go
to another city; but, as you have come, I shall have more work."
If we live so that the devil has need to look after us carefully,
all is right.
346
The world would like to have us their friends, and to have us to
do service to their father the Devil. We profess to be Saints of
the Most High, and the people prove it by their actions. They are
full of integrity and good works, and yet there are a few that
ought to mend their ways; though I am happy to see that there are
not many in this community, and that that number is growing less.
And it is my constant prayer, all the day long, that God would
multiply the righteous and righteous principles throughout the
world, while he decreases the ungodly; and also that we may so
live as to enjoy all the brethren have spoken of this morning,
root out the devils, and bid all foul spirits to depart from our
houses and community, that we may enjoy the peace of the Gospel
in its fulness.
346
I pray both for my friends and for my enemies, that, if they will
not repent, the earth may be speedily emptied of the ungodly. I
have often told you how I love my enemies. I would do something
for their salvation, if the Lord would permit me. And if the time
was come, I would take a step to give them, not a superlative
heaven, but a comparative place of peace. If it was in my power,
I should perhaps be for doing this before the time.
346
Pray that our enemies may have no power over us; pray for the
Spirit of the Gospel, that the Lord may strengthen the Elders,
and keep them in the spirit of humility, while they are out
preaching the Gospel; pray for the anointed of the Lord, for the
house of Israel, those poor degraded Lamanites, that light and
truth may spring up among them more and more. They begin to
improve greatly; pray that it may continue, that they may come to
acknowledge of the truth, and help to build up Zion, and they
will be a shield to us in the day of trouble. All this, and a
great deal more, I feel to say; but, for the present, I will give
way. May God bless us all. Amen.
347
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES GUARANTEES ALL WE
ASK--HOLLOW
GENTILITY--POWER OF THE "MORMON" LEADERS--GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION.
Remarks, by President Brigham Young, Made in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, p. m. of June 7, 1857.
347
I can bear witness to the truth of what brother Hyde has said
with regard to the principle of government; and I wish to add my
testimony in these words. There is no people on this earth, in a
national capacity, but what have been operated upon to return to
what they themselves, in their own government, have prepared the
way to accomplish. That is the overruling hand of God in the
midst of the people, when they know it not.
347
Pertaining to the officers that brother Hyde has alluded to,
there is no statute law in the United States, in neither the
constitution nor the statutes at large, but what allows the
Latter-day Saints every prerogative they could ask for. There is
no right or privilege that we could ask to enjoy--none that any
other people could reasonably ask to enjoy, but what is
guaranteed unto us by the constitution and laws of the United
States. Officials who feel to traduce the name and character of
the Latter-day Saints, whether they be judges, marshals, Indian
agents, or holding any other office under the United States'
Government in this Territory, have to violate and trample under
their feet their oaths to be loyal to the Government and laws by
which they profess to be governed, in order to intrude in the
least on the rights of this or any other peaceful, law-abiding
community. To the honour of a few of those officials that have
come here, we can say that they have honoured the law under which
they came, while others have trampled it under their feet. And
for officers to infringe upon any of our rights, they have got to
transgress the law that they are sworn to maintain. These are
facts. If men will only observe the laws of the United
States--will only honour the laws they are sworn to honour, we
are safe.
347
It would please me much if the congregation that assembles here
from Sabbath to Sabbath could hear the details of the foul
slanders of men that have been here, that they might know what
they will spew out. The great majority of this people have no
idea what rottenness those characters carry within them; and they
did not find it here: they brought it from the places from whence
they came. They come here as full of foul matter as any shell or
skin can be stuffed; and yet I have heard some of the Saints say
that such and such a one of the lot was a perfect gentleman.
Speaking as the world view men and things, in the eyes of the
vast majority of mankind, the Devil is the greatest gentleman
that ever made his appearance on this earth. In accordance with
their estimate, you cannot begin to produce a person who is so
much of a gentleman as the Devil himself.
348
There are but few here that actually know the face of a Saint
from that of a devil; and that is one reason why we are exhorting
the people all the time to obtain the spirit of revelation, that
they may know whether they are right themselves or not, and
whether their neighbours are right or not; and that when truth is
presented to them they can partake of it and receive it with a
keen appetite, as food which their spirits rejoice in; and that
when evil is presented they can detect it. But there are so many
who profess to be Saints that live beneath their privileges, that
it becomes a constant task on me and others to plead with the
people to repent, to forsake their heart wanderings, and return
to the Lord their God, and seek His face and favour, and never
stop until they get the spirit of revelation within them, that
they may know for themselves who are gentlemen and ladies, who
are angels or devils; and know and understand the truth from
error, light from darkness, and be able to detect every deception
and every deceptive character. How long shall we labour? We will
labour on until we are worn out.
348
I am exceedingly thankful that the excessive labours that have
been upon me are not on me now as they have been. The spirit of
reformation has taken hold on the people; it has kindled the fire
of the Almighty in Mount Zion to burn out many of the ungodly
that could not stand it, and they have fled. I feel happy; it is
a rest to me. I feel as though I should endure yet for many
years. But the labour that has been upon me in observing the
grovelling backwardness of many of the Latter-day Saints, to see
where they were going, was indeed hard to be endured. It is not
long since many of our Bishops and other leading men in this
community could not tell a Saint from a devil. Do you not suppose
that that danger is before me all the time? But within the last
six months, comparatively a hundred tons of care and anxiety have
been removed from my shoulders; and I hope that this fire will
continue to burn among this people until those poor, miserable
curses--those poor, miserable gentlemen, shall all leave us. I
pray that the fire of God may burn them out. I pray for this
continually.
348
There are few men who, like myself, feel the burden of this; but
take the mass of the community, and it is, "How do you do, Mr.
Devil?" And for a pound of tea, or a pint of whiskey, it seems
that many might be bought. And when a "Mormon" undertakes to sell
goods here, many of the people think that he ought to give them
away, or sell to them upon credit, which they never try to
cancel. And if the "Mormon" merchant deals upon a business
principle, the people will flock to the gentile stores, where
they will trust them. Why will they trust them? Because they know
that they will get their pay. I know of men bearing the character
of Latter-day Saints, who, because a "Mormon" dealer would not
let his goods go out of the store without pay, or a good prospect
of pay, would go to the gentile stores and get trusted, and then
say, "O what a good man that gentile is!" while, at the same
time, he is as full of hell as an egg is full of meat, and all he
wants is a chance to spew it out. They will meet you with bland
expressions, with soft silky hands, and velvet lips, and will
blarney around you; but let a mob come, and they are ready to
point out their victims here and there, and be glad to see us
destroyed.
349
Those whom the Government sends here are a most miserable set;
and, as a general thing, they do know enough to tell a decent
lie. But this is not altogether to be wondered at, for they are
under the same difficulty as we are sometimes: it is hard for
them to tell a man who has got brains in his head from one who is
filled with pudding. The President and his Cabinet know nothing
about the characters whom they send here: if they did, many who
have come here never would have been sent. If we cannot always
discern the children of men, it is no wonder that they are blind,
and cannot send men here capable of making a decent lie. If they
have not already told every falsehood about us that they can
invent, they will be mighty sorry when they think of it; for, if
they could have told any more, they would have done so. They have
made and told every lie that they knew how to; and if there is
any blame on them for not lying more, it must be attributed to
their ignorance.
349
I would like to come here next Sunday morning, at about eight
o'clock, and read to you those beautiful stories they have
invented and published, (Oh, they are lovely!) and let you
understand how little sense they contain. They have us eaten up
by crickets, then by grasshoppers (I suppose that the
grasshoppers must have beaten the crickets); and when they found
that the grasshoppers and crickets had not eaten us up, then the
drouth came and destroyed us; and after all that, the cry from
one end of the nation to the other now is to destroy the
"Mormons." They will have quite a job, for there is more than one
that can work at that game.
349
What do you suppose the Government thinks about those furiosos
and their lies? The Government feels about that matter somewhat
as a friend felt towards Morrill, who was going to deliver that
GREAT--(but I cannot hollow loud enough)--that GREAT speech, that
he thought was so full of thunder; but behold, when the shell
cracked, it made no noise. I have no doubt but what his friends
were determined to have the speech hushed up; they saw its
shallowness, and were satisfied that it would not accomplish one
thing that he designed it should. Men who think, know that all
such persons are devoid of the principal item, viz., good sense
to discern that they do not rightly understand things themselves.
They are like the chap who thought he knew it all, and a doctor
said to him, "Between you and me, we know everything." The young
man thought it was first rate, and calculated to find out what
the doctor knew. Says the doctor, "I cannot think of but one
thing that you do not know." "O doctor, will you reveal that to
me?" "If I thought it would do much good, or if you would profit
by it, I would reveal it to you. Perhaps I may as well tell you;
for there is one thing you do not know, though I believe that you
know everything else, and that is, that you are a fool; which I
have learned since I began to converse with you. And now, between
you and me, we do know the whole of it."
349
Government knows full well the miserable nonsense and the tirade
of abuse that is heaped upon us; but what do they care about it?
If they had the power of putting such characters on chips, as we
do, and carrying them out, perhaps they would never give them
office; but they have not that faculty as we have. We can look
men out of our community, and they will run and howl, thinking
that their lives are in danger.
350
I presume that there are still hundreds and thousands of
communications daily sent to the President of the United States
by applicants for office, whom, if he could take up on chips, as
we can, and set them out at Washington, he would most gladly so
dispose of. But what is to be done? Why, give the poor, miserable
dog a crumb, or an old bone, and say, "Get out, now!" and that is
the way they get here. To the praise of a few who have been here,
be it said, they kept the law; but almost universally the
Government officers that have come here have trampled the laws
under their feet, and have spurned them to derision.
350
If officers of the law will keep the law, it is all we ask of
them while they are here; but if they do not keep the law, we
will make them suffer the penalty. They are afraid of
"Mormonism," like the Irishman who was arraigned before a court
of justice for a misdemeanor. He lamented bitterly, and the judge
told him not to mourn, for he would see that he had justice done
to him. "And sure that is what I am afraid of," replied Paddy. So
it is with them; they are all the time afraid of justice. When
they come here they are afraid that justice is going to overtake
them, instead of the "Mormons" doing them harm; and they do not
like justice.
350
I will now say a few words in regard to the brethren's helping us
on the Public Works. I think that scores of men have come to me
and said, "Brother Brigham, don't you want a team to work on the
Public Works? I really want to let a team go on to the Public
Works." We have not needed them until now. We are going to sell
our oxen to pay our debts, and we will now let the brethren work
with their teams, as they have desired. We shall now prove them
by their works. James said, "Show me your faith without your
works, and I will show you my faith by my works." We will apply
that Scripture to you; if you will show your faith without your
works, we will show you our faith by our works, and see how many
will follow the example.
350
There are horse teams and mule teams in abundance, and the spring
work is pretty nigh done. Horse teams and mule teams will haul
rock as well as oxen, though it is generally supposed that they
cannot. We will sell our cattle to pay our debts; for, if some
poor, miserable people tell the truth, and we have to leave here,
I do not want to go away in debt to our enemies; for the Lord has
told us not to go in debt to our enemies. If I can get the
brethren to do as we want them to do, in a short time we will not
owe a Gentile one half-dollar. We never would have been in debt
to our enemies, if I could have had my plans carried out. Some
others have had their way; and I, with a few others, have had to
stand and lift the load. If I could be permitted to have my way,
I would always have the dollar on hand to buy my enemy, instead
of owing him a dollar and having to be sold for it. I would
always have a purse ready to buy those who are for sale, instead
of being out of means at the sale. I would make every thousand
dollars return two, whereas I cannot do that while letting others
have their way.
350
We want you to report yourselves forthwith, brethren. You can
tell your neighbours, and the word will go through the city and
county. But we do not want men to come here and say, "Here is a
horse," or "I will turn out an ox," or, "Brother Wells, I will
send a team, if you will support it and hire a man to drive it."
We do not want any such proffered blessings, but we want them
proffered upon the principle that you hire your own board or
bring it with you, and bring your horse-feed and maintain
yourselves, just as you do at home about your own work, and come
and do the labour necessary to be done. We do not wish any man to
say, "Here I am; I want you to board me, and I want some horse
feed, stable room, reins, whipletrees and everything else." We
want men to stay at home, unless they come to do the clean work
and provide for themselves and animals.
351
We have wagons rigged for transporting heavy blocks of stone, and
we are going to try hauling them with horses. If you do not
believe that horses and mules can haul heavy stones as well as
oxen, come and see my horses and mules do it; they will do it
better than oxen.
351
Would you like to assemble here next Sunday morning and hear
those pretty stories read? They are delightful. If that is your
wish, you will all signify it by being here by eight o'clock next
Sunday morning, when you shall hear those beautiful stories, and
learn how delightful you appear in the eyes of the world,
according to their representations. In the absence of important
news, I think the reading of those stories will cheer you so
much!
351
There is but one fact that makes our enemies mad at us, and it is
a principle visible and tangible to the natural senses, though I
would not say that it is the internal working of the natural
senses to the natural man. But one fact can be produced, that
makes our enemies angry at us, and that is this--we actually will
sustain our leaders; we will be of one heart and mind, which is
the same thing. I do have that power and influence here that no
other man on this earth has in the midst of his community, with
the exception, perhaps, of some whom we call heathen, and the
members of the Church of Rome. And I do not suppose that there
can be a bishop or priest in the whole Roman Catholic kingdom who
has a people around him that have that implicit confidence in him
which this people have in their leaders.
351
If the President of the United States could have the influence
that I have in the midst of this people--even over as many people
in the United States as there are Latter-day Saints that I
preside over, he would in a moment give $100,000, which is his
salary for four years. They spend their scores of thousands and
hundreds of thousands to get the name of having an influence--of
being a man who can wield a certain amount of power. This is also
the feeling with Cabinet officers, Senators, Representatives, and
Governors of States; and even the clerks in the different
departments at Washington will, if they have the money, give a
large portion of their salary just to get a clerkship.
Office-hunters will throw a hundred dollars here, and fifty
dollars there, to secure their election or appointment.
Candidates for Congress will deal out a thousand dollars to a
certain set of men to go to one district and electioneer, and
five hundred to another, and two hundred to another, according to
the influence of the people in the district. They buy their
positions with money, and know that they have not the influence
that they would like to have, and which they see that I have; and
that mortifies them. And I presume that not many Presidents of
the United States have been elected without its costing them a
quarter or half of their salary.
351
What do you suppose that Fremont expended during the last
presidential campaign? Probably not less than two million
dollars. His California property was rated at eight million, and
a company in England proffered five million for one half of that
property which the Government had ceded to him. It is presumable
that he expended twice ten hundred thousand dollars, and perhaps
five hundred thousand on the top of that; but he did not succeed
in being elected President. Had he succeeded, he would have been
the most influential man in the Government, simply because he had
become the President.
352
It has been the practice for years, in the United States, for
each party to have what they call a Corruption Fund, to which the
members contribute their fifty cents, five dollars, or fifty
dollars. What for? To carry on an election. There is not an
election for a President of the United States that probably costs
less than one-half of the worth of the State of New York or
Pennsylvania. Hundreds of millions are expended in the
presidential election at each four years.
352
What do they do in Congress? Before the last presidential
election, there was not as much business done by that army of men
as would rightly occupy the time of any legislative body for a
very few days. What were they doing? Log rolling. They also get
fine ladies to electioneer with different influential gentlemen,
and they exert their influence in the various States where they
reside. The female portion of the community have elected the
President for years and years. And the Corruption Fund is made
use of by the different parties, one man throwing out five
hundred dollars for one place, another a thousand, another two or
three thousand. But I will now stop speaking on that subject, for
there is no end to those matters.
352
Commotion and war are abroad among the nations, and they will
continue to be troubled; and sore vexations, and mourning, and
weeping, and desolation await the inhabitants of the earth.
352
While we enjoy the privilege of the holy gospel, does it not
become us, as men and women of God, to be sober, full of faith
and good works, and to administer salvation to one another, and
to every person that will receive the truth at our hands? It
becomes us to be Saints indeed. We know that the world is angry
at us, and that we cannot help. We mean to pursue our course,
build up the kingdom of God on earth, and establish Zion. We have
also got to assist in rebuilding Jerusalem; for, as brother
Kimball has said, if it is built up, we have got to assist in
doing it.
352
The house of Israel is scattered upon every island and among
every nation; they have to be gathered by the Gospel's being
preached to them; and we expect to have the Devil to fight.
Joseph said, years ago, that he had all hell on his back, and all
the world. All the evil influences that knew anything about him
were combined to crush him; but, said he, "I will rise above them
all, and bear off the kingdom;" and so he did, until he was
slain. God suffered him to be slain for His testimony, that it
might become a law through being sealed by his blood, which was
the case the moment his blood was spilled, the same as with the
law of Jesus Christ when he spilled his blood. Then the testimony
became in force. It must be so; God suffered it.
352
It now remains with us to bear off this kingdom, build up Zion,
and establish the law thereof, until Christ shall reign King of
nations as he now reigns King of Saints, which is nearer at hand
than you and I may believe. May the Lord help us to be faithful
in this, that we may rejoice in the perfect law of liberty, in
the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Charles
C. Rich, June 14, 1857
Charles C. Rich, June 14, 1857
PRIVILEGES BETTER APPRECIATED BY ABSENCE--PRESENT SALVATION.
Remarks by Elder Charles C. Rich, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, June 14, 1857.
353
Brethren and sisters, I can say that I feel rejoiced with the
opportunity of beholding your faces in this place. It has been a
little over two years since I enjoyed such a privilege, and
perhaps I can appreciate it better by being deprived of it. Those
who have been absent from this place can appreciate this
privilege as well as myself.
353
I see a great many faces that I am acquainted with, and many that
I am not. Thousands have immigrated from different countries to
this place, since I left here, who have embraced the everlasting
Gospel for the same purpose I have--that is, for the purpose of
being Saints.
353
I have often remarked, and truly feel, that even the Saints
themselves do not appreciate the blessings they enjoy. Those who
have been away from the Saints, in the world, have been made
acquainted with the doings of the world and with their spirit:
these can to a little extent appreciate the blessings that the
Saints enjoy.
353
We have embraced the everlasting Gospel in different countries,
and immigrated to this country, for the purpose of obtaining
salvation; and truly there is nothing to hinder us in obtaining
it, if we only embrace the Gospel as it should be embraced; for
if we embrace the Gospel as we should, we embrace the salvation
that pertains to it; that is, it will save us all the time.
353
The difference between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the
ceremonies that are in the world is, that they propose to save
people a thousand years hence, or some other time; but the Gospel
we have embraced proposes to save us at the time we receive it,
and so continue to all eternity.
354
For this purpose we immigrated to these valleys, that we may live
our religion, obey the precepts of the Gospel, and do as we
should do every day we live; consequently, we are all the time
saved by discharging the duties incumbent upon us to-day; we are
saved to-day. But, if we do not do these duties to-day, we are
not saved to-day. It is this course that will make us happy--that
will establish us in a present salvation, and make us rejoice
continually.
354
Truly we can embrace these principles of salvation which have
been revealed to us in the Gospel; we can live them: but we have
seen that at present we cannot do it in any other land than this.
Consequently, this is a choice land to us; and we have much
reason to rejoice in the blessings we enjoy.
354
When I look around and behold the prospects before the Saints,
and the great improvements since I left this place, it astonishes
me. We have great reason to acknowledge the hand of God in the
rich blessings he is continually bestowing upon us. It remains
for us to fully embrace the principles of salvation taught to us
from time to time, and live our religion from day to day.
354
If we pursue this course, we shall all the time be saved and
prepared for what is coming to-morrow; but, if we do not do this,
we can neither be prepared for present duties nor for the duties
of the future.
354
It is to me the greatest satisfaction I can think of to enjoy the
privilege of being with the Saints, and being engaged in
establishing the principles of the kingdom of God on the earth.
If we cultivate those principles in our bosoms and practice them
in our lives, it brings universal peace and happiness: this is
what we will enjoy. Principles that dwell in the bosom of our
heavenly Father he has revealed unto us, and will continue to
reveal to us what will make us happy and prepare us to dwell with
him in heaven.
354
That we may live and discharge the duties incumbent upon us all
the days of our lives, and build up and establish the kingdom of
God on the earth, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, June 14, 1857
Brigham Young, June 14, 1857
COMPREHENSIVENESS OF THE TRUE RELIGION--SACRIFICE FOR THE
KINGDOM OF GOD--THE SAINTS SHOULD BE SUPERIOR TO THE WORLD
IN ALL THINGS--TRUST IN GOD, ETC.
Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, June 14, 1857.
354
I cannot express my feelings; I can imagine, but cannot give vent
to my imaginations, when I realize the situation of the Saints in
the valleys of these mountains. I expect, if I should give way to
my feelings mingled with the weakness pertaining to mankind, that
you would call me more foolish than a Methodist, or even more
foolish than a right down shouting Ranter.
354
I think that I know how to prize the blessings I enjoy; and I
also really think that there are a great many here who know how
to prize theirs. My soul is full of gratitude. We are far from
our oppressors, far from those who seek to destroy us solely on
account of our faith, and are secured in the midst of these
sterile, inhospitable mountains and valleys. They are so to every
person, upon natural principles; but the Saints live here.
354
When I go abroad, when I visit a neighbour, when I meet a man or
a woman in the street, when I assemble with the community in
which I live, I am in the midst of Saints, or at least of those
who profess to be Saints; and if they are not Saints, I think
they are trying to become so with all their might. I know how to
prize these blessings; and, if I was a right good old fashioned
shouting Methodist, I should get up here and begin to talk, and
it would not be long before I should be shouting "Glory!"
"Hallelujah!" "Praise the Lord!" and you would hear the response,
all over the meeting, "Amen!" "Glory!" and in a short time we
should get into a real shout.
355
I am full all the time; and there are many here who know how to
enjoy the society of the Saints. I am not obliged to mingle my
voice with the wicked and the ungodly; I am not obliged to
associate with them. Brother Rich knows what it is to be with the
wicked, for he has been living in the nethermost corner of sin
and iniquity for a long time; and he knows how to appreciate the
society of the Saints here--how to mingle with them with a heart
of gratitude.
355
I wish to say a few words to the Saints upon what we call our
holy religion. If you and I are in the line of our duty when we
talk, when we sing, when we preach, when we pray, when we rise up
and when we lie down, when we go out and when we come in, in all
the varied scenes and duties of this busy life, every iota that
we perform is embraced in our holy religion. The one is
inseparably connected with the other through the whole march of
life, from the day that persons know the truth until they have
completed their work on the earth preparatory to entering into a
higher state of bliss. The religion that we have embraced is
designed to correct people, to give them a true system, true
laws, true ordinances, true customs, and to correct them in every
point in all the social duties and enjoyments of life. It teaches
us every principle that is necessary to prepare people here on
the earth to become a perfect Zion--the pure in heart--a perfect
heaven on earth.
355
When the law is revealed to us and the ordinances committed to
our charge, if we exercise ourselves therein according to the
best knowledge and wisdom that we have, and continue so to do,
God will add to us, until we shall know how to establish Zion in
perfection, and have the kingdom of God, in the fulness thereof,
in our midst and within us, and enjoy the society of holy beings.
All the real business we have on hand is to promote our religion.
355
When the brethren rise up here to exhort you, as brother Hyde
has, to attend to a little temporal business, that is a portion
of our religion. I told you, I think, last Sabbath, while
speaking on that subject, to seek now to sustain this
community--to seek to sustain ourselves. As brother Hyde has
remarked, the first thing now to attend to is to prepare for a
day of want and sorrow.
355
I told you, you will recollect, that we have the kingdom of God
with us: we sought that first. There may be here and there, in
this congregation, a person who has not done this; but almost
every man and woman before me have sought the kingdom of God with
all their hearts. Some may have done so in Missouri, in Illinois,
in other parts of the United States, in Ireland, Scotland, Wales,
Germany, France, England, and in many other foreign lands. They
have sought the kingdom of God with all their hearts, and have
found it, and enjoy the principles, and spirit, and power of it.
It is that which gives me the privilege of looking at you in
these distant valleys.
355
We have got the kingdom: we sought it with all our hearts; though
many of us have been robbed of our substance not less than five
times. Yes, we have been robbed many times of all we possessed on
earth, because we sought the kingdom of God and its principles.
We have been driven from our homes time and time again. We have
many times suffered the loss of all temporal possessions. I say
we; though there are brethren and sisters here who have not been
in the Church over a year, and some two, others three years; but
you are numbered with the Saints, and the Saints have suffered
the loss of all things, time and time again. What for? For the
kingdom of heaven's sake and its righteousness.
356
It is our privilege to be as wise in our generation as the
children of this world; and not only so, but it is our duty to be
as wise in our generation as the children of this world. We have
the true light and knowledge, and we ought to know as much as the
philosophical world, or as any other people on the earth. We
ought at least to know as much about politics as do the political
world, or as do any other people. I expect that we do; and if we
only apply our minds in the proper time and channel, we know as
much about the Christian world as do any other people, and we
ought to know as much about the whole world as do any other
people. In fact, we ought to know more upon all those matters
than any other people; for we are privileged with far superior
advantages through faith and obedience to the Gospel.
356
There is one principle which we will acknowledge to be
infallible; and I feel like illustrating it by a few
circumstances pertaining to this people. We are under obligation
to trust in our God and this is the groundwork of all we can do
ourselves. You know that we cannot actually make one hair white
or black by exercising the power that we have. We cannot, as it
is written, add to our stature one cubit. That proves that in and
of ourselves alone we can do nothing. We have been trusting in
God, you know, all the time, in order to accomplish what we have.
We have trusted in the Lord, or we never would have received this
gospel. We have had confidence in him, and in His revealed will
to the children of men. If we should lose this confidence, our
faith, and our hope, we are then left without any strength;
consequently we know better than to leave our God. In performing
everything we can for our temporal salvation, do you not
naturally understand that it is through a more or less implicit
confidence in our God?
356
It is not by our works alone, but we are co-workers with the God
of heaven--with our Father: we are helpers. We expect to be
saved, and we have the work to perform to save ourselves. That is
necessary to give us experience to know what to do with our
salvation when we have obtained it. We do not intend to forsake
our God, nor to say that we have done this or that; for we have
not done it alone, and do not expect to. We must learn, and I may
say that very many have learned in a great degree, that it is by
implicit confidence in our God that we perform all that we do
here pertaining to His kingdom on the earth.
356
We have heard much said, during six months past, to this
congregation with regard to our acts--with regard to our conduct
one towards the other. There has been much said in regard to the
spirit of reform. That spirit manifested itself in the case of
our immigration last season. We did prove to God, angels, and
good men and good women, also to wicked men and women, and to the
devils in hell, that we had confidence in our God and in our
religion.
357
Perhaps many of the congregation are ignorant with regard to the
true situation of this community, in a temporal point of view, at
the time assistance was sent to our late immigration and for the
year past. You may take men that are keen observers, close
calculators, and they can prove to themselves and to you this one
fact, that last September--and I do not know but in August--this
community had eaten up the small amount of produce that grew the
previous year, so that there was not a bushel of grain to start
upon, or that had been kept over. When the harvest came, and the
grain and vegetables were all gathered, the declaration of close
observers was that you could not find enough provisions raised
throughout the Territory to sustain this community nine months.
It was not in the country; it did not grow here. It was not in
the fields of wheat when the grain was threshed; the potatoes and
the buckwheat were not gathered; the pease and the beans did not
grow; and the amount necessary to sustain life was not on hand to
sustain this community nine months, if a close calculation had
been made.
357
I couple this with the faith and acts of the people in assisting
the immigration last fall. We said to the brethren, Get the wheat
ground, take the flour, and go and bring in the immigration. And
I bear my testimony in the name of the Lord God of Israel, that
if this community had not have done as they were requested
pertaining to the immigration, we this day would not have had a
bushel of wheat in the market in this Territory.
357
But this community took their teams, loaded up provisions and
clothing, and went to the immigrants on the Plains; and some of
them went almost naked and barefooted. I know of men who were in
the City on business when the call was made, and they started off
to assist those who were in the snow, and were gone two months
without shoes to their feet or comfortable clothing to keep them
warm; for they had not brought those articles from home with
them, on account of expecting to return. They did not go back to
get a new pair of shoes and clothing sufficient to keep them from
freezing among the snows of these mountains, and then stay at
home; but they promptly obeyed the call, saying, If I can borrow
flour, I will take it to the brethren, and will pay it back when
I come in.
357
Did the people prove that they had implicit confidence in their
God? They did. They left their families without wood, and their
grain lying in the field; their wheat not threshed, their
potatoes not dug; no forage gathered for their cattle, and no
preparations for sowing the fall wheat; and trusted in the Lord
to provide for them, or to have an opportunity to sow in the
winter, or the next spring, or never. What was the result of that
highly praiseworthy conduct? Hundreds of lives were saved, and we
have plenty.
357
Some go against the people selling wheat to anybody but those who
build up the kingdom of God. Have I ever objected to it? I say,
let the Saints have it, if you have got it. But what did we see
here a year ago last winter? A merchant bought up a large amount
of wheat at from a dollar to a dollar-and-a-half a bushel, and
flour at from four to five dollars a hundred. What was the
result? He could not take it to the States nor to California; and
I bought it at a much less price than he paid for it in cash and
goods, and paid him in cattle. I am now buying wheat for
seventy-five cents a bushel that the merchants here have bought
in at from $1.25 to $1.75 a bushel.
357
If this community had not hearkened to the wants of their
brethren and sisters who came in last fall, this would not have
been; but we would now have been in want. Who believes this? I
reasonably know it; and it would almost be impossible for me to
view the matter in any different light. I was careful to look,
for the welfare and salvation of this people.
357
I have always looked for their salvation, both spiritually and
temporally. I looked well to it last year, and the year before
that.
358
A year ago this spring was about as hard a time as has been in
this Territory. There was not flour nor wheat for sale. I had not
much, and I was feeding a great many. I told you then what I
intended to do; I can tell you now what I did. When the pinching
time came on, my knowledge with regard to the dealings of God
with His people taught me to labour in accordance with my faith
and His promises, and I said, "I will part with that which I have
to sustain life, until the last four ounces are gone; for, if I
undertake to keep enough to sustain my family and workmen, and
deprive the destitute, I shall come to want with the community,
and we shall not sustain ourselves. If I will not turn away any
that are in need, I can induce the next brother to do the same,
and this community will not suffer for the staff of life." Still,
I suppose that some did suffer; and what was the reason? If all
persons had felt in their hearts to hand out just as long as they
had anything to deal out, and not have been pinched up in their
feelings, and bound up in their hearts and in their affections in
the love of the things of this world, and one man on this side,
and another on the other side had not have said in his heart,
"True, I can spare five hundred pounds of flour; but now is my
time to get fifty dollars a hundred for it, and now is my time to
make the spoil," there need not one have suffered. There was just
enough such men in the community to affect the faith of the
Saints, and to cause a few to suffer.
358
If there had been as many to act as they should, as there were to
act as they should not, our bins would have been as full of flour
as they are this year. All that saved us this year was renewing
our covenants, keeping the commandments of God, and walking
humbly before Him. That is what causes the wheat to be here,
whether you believe it or not.
358
It is the liberal heart, the liberal feelings of men and
women--of those who are full of faith in God that they will not
suffer, because He will provide for His people in the last days.
He has done so; but He will not provide for you and me, except we
live our religion. If we will live our religion, walk in the
light of the Lord's countenance, day by day, so as to have
fellowship with our Father and His Son Jesus Christ, by the power
of the Holy Ghost, and with every good being in heaven and on
earth, let me tell you that hell may spew and bellow, and the
devils may howl, and they cannot scathe you and me any more than
can a few crickets. But, to enjoy the protection of the Almighty,
we have got to live our religion--to live so that we have the
mind of Christ within us.
358
We have obtained the kingdom of heaven and the keys of it long
ago, and now we have got to live so that they will not be taken
from us, but that we will continue to increase in all the graces
of His Spirit. Then, instead of backsliding, we shall become rich
in heavenly things, and grow up into Christ our living head,
until the things of this world are as plentiful with us in our
days as they are with the children of the world.
358
We ought to have a little more wisdom; and I mean to have it, and
mean that this people shall have it. They shall have more
knowledge and understanding pertaining to heaven and heavenly
beings, and to earth and everything pertaining to it, than any
other people. I am determined that I will so lead this people,
according to the best of my ability and skill, that they shall
obtain it, with the help of God and the prayers of faith. If the
people had been as liberal last year as they have been this,
there would have been no crying for bread. This year our hearts
are soft--they are a little more elastic, and our blessings are
more. Another circumstance I will mention is this:--
359
We were owing a debt of $12,000 to one of the merchants in this
city, and have been disappointed in the East with regard to
drafts and money matters. As I have frequently told you, and tell
you now, when the business of this Church that belongs here to be
conducted is conducted in other lands, we have as yet no men but
what get in a muss and entangle our feet. They undertake to do
that which should be done here, and God is not with them to
dictate their doings as they should be dictated, and they fail in
their calculations. Such transactions had somewhat straitened our
financial condition. We were not ready to discharge this one
debt. We had expected to pay the debt in cash, but had the
opportunity of paying it with the cattle, when upon examination
we had but a few scattering here and there--a few cows, and a few
two year olds and yearlings. Last spring we raked the herd
ground, and gathered up all the cattle that would answer any
purpose for working, for sale, or for beef.
359
Said I, "Every cow that I own shall go to pay this debt; and if
the brethren will come and buy my mules and horses, they shall go
also." The next man said the same--"We will turn out our whole
stock, and pay this debt, and trust in God for the result."
359
We stopped the teams which were hauling stone, expecting that we
should have to go to drawing stone with our horses and mules. By
that method we had one hundred head of cattle to turn into good
feed, to rest a few days, and be fit for travelling. We had sent
north and south to the Bishops of the various wards, and also
hunted the ranges for our own cattle; and, said I, "I know that
God has provided for me, and I am not afraid to trust Him;" and
so said the next, and the next. We wanted to turn out four
hundred head of cattle, in order to accomplish what was desired.
359
Yesterday we turned out the last of the cattle that we needed to
pay that debt. We went to the herd ground, where brother
Stringham had said there were none, and we got about one hundred
and seventy head there. And the brethren began to bring in and
bring in, and the cattle that we had drawn stone with are all
still in the good feed, and the debt is paid, and we have now
almost two hundred head of cattle on hand more than we had when
we commenced. We are now better supplied with cattle for teams
and beef, and with milch cows, and everything of the kind, than
when we commenced; and we have not touched one of those animals
that we needed to work on the Public Works.
359
But if I had puckered up to begin with, and if brother Kimball,
and brother Wells, and Bishops Hunter, Hardy, and Little, and the
rest of the brethren had done the same, and then sent out to see
whether the brethren abroad would turn out stock to meet the
liability, we never would have got those cattle into our hands.
We would not even have seen them in the Territory; our eyes would
have been so darkened that we could not so much as have seen
them. I will venture that we can find more cattle now than we
could six weeks ago, notwithstanding we have just turned out so
many. These are stubborn facts; there is no dodging them. They
cannot be philosophised away with me, for I know they are truths.
360
If this people will continue in well doing, I warrant them that
they will multiply. You know the figure that brother Kimball
presents once in a while; but I am not for stripping the old cow
to death. And I say to the brethren, If any of you have turned
out a cow or cattle to your injury, come, and we will return them
again. If you do not wish for them back, feel as I do and let
them go. I have given them, and I will not go and take them back
again. A good many have turned out cattle on donations. When we
wrote to the Bishops on the subject, we prepared the way so that
we might receive them; for I felt then, by the Spirit, that a
good many men and women would say, "Would you take anything as
donations, for our tithing, &c., is paid? I have a cow or an ox,
or a little money, that I can spare as well as not, and I will
turn it out, if you will take it as a donation." The brethren
were not instructed upon that point, so I informed them by letter
that, if they were disposed to donate, they might; but we would
take cattle on tithing or on the P. E. Fund debts; for there is a
great amount owing us. If these debts were paid, we should have
an abundance; for there is nearly $200,000 dollars due to the
Perpetual Emigrating Fund alone. We cannot now collect these
debts, for the brethren are poor; hence we have to operate
without those means.
360
If any have suffered by their donations, I will say to them, We
have more cattle than we had in the commencement, and we are
better able to give than we were before we paid those debts. Do
you not see the hand of the Lord in this? I know it, and I want
every man to live so that he may see the hand of the Lord in all
things, like the sun shining before him, that he may see the
dealings of the Lord among the people, as plain as to see the
path home to-day. If we live so, all is right; we are safe; we
know how to save ourselves spiritually and temporally. What do
you think of such a people? Are they not blessed of the Lord?
They are a God-blessed people; and I do bless you in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, even so. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, April 19, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, April 19, 1857
THE FOUNTAIN OF TRUTH AND THE FOUNTAIN OF LIES--THE WORK OF GOD
CANNOT BE
IMPEDED--ONENESS IN THE
PRIESTHOOD--ELECTION--SELF-JUSTIFICATION--SPIRIT
OF HUMILITY.
A Discourse, by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the
Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, April 19, 1857.
360
We have heard, I will say, most excellent doctrine from brother
Lorenzo Young. What can be better? It is truth, and truth is
light, and light is life.
361
Inasmuch as we receive the truth, we receive light; and if we
receive light, we receive life. If that principle is in us, and
it abounds--that is, in the practice of good works, it will be in
us as a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Why?
Because that little light--that little life that dwells in us,
has got to run back into the fountain of life, just the same as a
stream of water runs into its fountains, the sea. If these
principles dwell in us and abound, they go back into the fountain
of everlasting lives, and lead us into the reservoir of all
truth. Why is it the reservoir of all truth? Because all truth
emanates from that fountain, and everything that emanates from it
has to be restored back thereto. There must be a restoration of
all things which have been spoken by the mouths of all the holy
prophets since the world began.
361
Is there also a fountain of lies? Yes; inasmuch as we receive a
lie, we are impregnated with the influence of it. Although we
have received it from another person, inasmuch as we received it
for a truth and cultivate it, we nourish the principles of lies
within us; and all lies, all dishonesty, everything that is
unwholesome, and that has not emanated from God, the fountain of
all good, have emanated from the fountain of lies or error.
361
Then, upon the same principle, all lies have got to be restored
to their fountain from whence they came; and those who become
amalgamated must be restored to the same fountain where all liars
go. So everything has got to be restored to the fountain from
whence it came. If this is not so, I am grandly mistaken.
361
Will God restore and bring back his children? Yes. If every son
and daughter of Adam are not brought back into His presence, or
into the fountain from whence they sprang, it will be because
they have perverted themselves and have become innoculated with
the principles of evil until they are depraved. God will restore
the righteous to His presence by righteousness, and the
unrighteous to the fountain of unrighteousness with the principle
of evil they have imbibed.
361
I am a full-blooded Restorationist you will perceive. I know, as
well as I know anything, that everything must be restored to its
own place, and this upon natural principles.
361
I did not think of these ideas before I rose to speak; but, as
quick as I got up here, they came to me the same as though I had
always been acquainted with them.
361
When we want the Spirit of Christ, what course shall we take to
get it? There is but one way. Brother Brigham is our leader, our
Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, to organise and set in order this
Church and kingdom; and my calling is to be one with him, to
assist him and act with him, and have the same spirit in me that
is in him. That is my calling, whether I live up to it or not to
the fullest extent. I should be one with him in all things, and
should partake of the same power--the same spirit of revelation;
and if I partake of these elements with him, then I am one with
him; and if I do not come up to these privileges and duties, I am
so far a hindrance to him, and draw him back instead of helping
him forward.
361
Talk about blocking wheels, I tell you, gentlemen, you have no
power or business to do that in the last days. The car is
started, and will never stop to need blocking: you cannot block
it.
361
[Voice: "They cannot run fast enough to block it."]
361
No; those who are not in that car are unable to keep up with it
or to block it behind or before.
361
I have got on the car; I am in the kingdom of God in the last
days, which will continue and bring in the winding up scene of
all things. Do you suppose it goes bumping along like an old,
worn out, over-loaded conveyance, and every three or four feet
somebody came along and put a block behind the wheel to keep it
from rolling back? Get out with your nonsense. Brother Brigham,
our leader, and myself, with every true Saint of God, have got on
a car that moves swiftly along, and will never stop to need a
block behind or before; and those that have not the spirit and
power of this kingdom can never trammel it in its course--not one
hair's breadth.
362
I have heard the Elders talk about blocking the wheel, as though
they were giving great assistance; but, let me tell you, such a
man would be in a poor business: it will be with him a good deal,
as it was with those anciently who undertook to steady the ark of
the Lord: they were broken to pieces.
362
Now, there are a great many people going from here. Are they
going to hinder this work? No; they have gone as missionaries to
advance it ten-fold faster, I will say, than if they had not
gone. They cannot do anything against the truth, but for it. What
they may do will make it more permanent, if their doings and
sayings affect it at all.
362
Now, I pray; and you pray, many of you, and are humble: you pray
for brother Brigham; you pray that the Holy Ghost may rest upon
him; and then you pray that brothers Heber and Daniel may be one
with him as he is one with Joseph, and as Joseph is one with
Peter, Peter with Jesus, and Jesus with his Father.
362
Now, what course should I pursue? I should evade everything that
would prevent me from stepping forward and being one with brother
Brigham. Now, which would be the most profitable, and advance the
cause of God the most, if a person should step in and undertake
to break asunder that union that exists in the First Presidency
of this Church, for me to allow it, or to step forward and slay
him or her? It would be better for me to slay them and let the
union continue; for it is better for one person to suffer than a
whole nation to perish.
362
I pray that I may have the Spirit of my Father and my God, and
the Spirit of Jesus, my elder brother, who is like unto his
Father; and I pray that I may partake of the Spirit of the Holy
Ghost, which is in the same family and lineage. Well, then,
Father, let that Spirit and that power that was in Peter, and in
James, and John, rest upon Brigham, and Heber, and Daniel; and
then, Father, let the same power rest upon the Twelve Apostles
that rested on the Twelve anciently; and let the same power and
blessings rest upon the Seventies that were on the Seventies
anciently; and let the same power rest upon the Patriarchs and
Prophets that rested upon those orders anciently; and let the
Bishopric and lesser Priesthood be blessed with the power of the
calling and priesthood which rested upon those officers in former
days.
362
Let this people pray for the same Spirit of the Father that
rested upon the Patriarchs and Prophets, Jesus and his Apostles,
upon Joseph and Brigham, and his brethren; for you never can
become one unless you obtain that Spirit of oneness.
362
You have heard brother Brigham preach it here time and time
again, and other men, that a scattering spirit was not the Spirit
of God; and I know it is not. A spirit in a man's family that
don't gather with him and act with him--is that the same kind of
a spirit he possesses? No; it is the spirit of evil, and one that
will lead a man or woman to death and destruction; and they
cannot prosper who encourage it.
362
What course shall we take? The course we are taught and directed
from time to time, by the revelations we have received that
pertain to us, and by the teachings of the servants of God; and
that will make us one.
362
Perhaps there may be some here who believe in Joseph Smith as a
Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and not in Brigham; but if you
believe Joseph, it is all I ask of you. Don't that book say there
shall be a famine and sickness, death and destruction among the
nations? And don't it say it shall begin here, or at the house of
God, first? Say you, "That was in Kirtland." Well, Kirtland is
here. Another says, "That was in Nauvoo." I want to know if the
Nauvoo Legion is not here, with all its officers? The kingdom is
here, the empire of God is here, and everything pertaining to
this kingdom.
363
The Lord may say to brother Brigham, I want you to go to San
Bernardino and take this people. I want to know if Kirtland,
Nauvoo, Great Salt Lake City, &c., are not there? If our Governor
sits at one corner, or on one side, or under the table, that is
the head.
363
It is so; Kirtland is here, Nauvoo and Winter Quarters are here,
and the Nauvoo Legion is here: it certainly is, and they are
going to train to-morrow, with all our officers. Brother Daniel
is our Lieutenant-General, and brother Brigham is Governor still,
and I am Lieutenant-Governor, and I am Daniel's
Lieutenant-General. We have all got generalship about us, don't
you see. And if we live faithfully, we shall have worlds without
end; and we never shall cease our operations in this earth, nor
in heaven; and if we do not whip out hell before we get through,
it is because there is none. Find me a place where hell is, and
we will root it out. Is hell always going to be on this earth?
No; we'll tumble it overboard, or else it shall go on another
earth, or we will throw it out of the back window.
363
In a pottery establishment, their broken jugs, churns, teapots,
and all the ware that has been glazed, and burnished, and made
fit for burning, but have cracked in the burning, and broke to
pieces, they throw through the back windows: they do not go into
the mill again, but are thrown upon a heap to return again to
their native element, or to be used for such purposes as they may
serve, and they do not decompose very quick. The potter takes
such broken ware and crushes it under a large stone wheel, mixes
the coarse powder with a little clay, and makes it into what they
call sagers, which are in the shape of a half-a-bushel with a
bottom. These serve for a protection to the finer articles of
ware in the operation of burning; these sagers are filled with
fine ware, and piled one on the top of another in the furnace.
Why do they make the sagers of that material? Because, if they
should make them of close, raw clay, they would crack; the fire
would get through them and defile the ware inside. They take
these broken dishonoured vessels for this purpose, because they
are porous and good for nothing else; they are made as vessels of
wrath fitted for destruction.
363
God makes use of them as sagers to defend the better material in
the time of burning and trial by fire. God used Pharaoh upon the
same principle: he was a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction.
Did God fit him for destruction? No; no more than I would make a
vessel to be destroyed. I never made one on that principle; but
when I made vessels, it was to honour.
363
Did I go to England and preach the Gospel, win souls, and bring
them here, to deny the faith, and go to hell? No. We go to win
souls that we may save them and have joy with them in the day of
eternity. I did not go to England for your money, or your goods,
or fine things: if I went there for that purpose, I wad
disappointed. [Voice, "I guess you were."] I guess I was, and
brother Brigham was, when I had to borrow money to pay our
passage across the sea. I never went there for that, but some
have. But what of that?
364
There are a great many people in the world that God ordained to
give them their endowment, and they become vessels of wrath,
fitted for destruction. Have we not laboured years here, and
toiled to give you our blessings, and endowments, and anointings,
and then sealed you up, and this, and that, and the other? Do you
see them turn away? Did we make them so? We gave them all their
blessings as much as we have given you yours; and they have
become vessels of wrath, they are fitting for destruction, and
they will go and do the work of God, and He will bring about His
purposes by them, and they will be destroyed, they will be used
for sagers for a while, and answer as a shield--a protector to
the house of Israel.
364
Now you say I believe in the principle of election. I do; I
believe every thing that is right. Everybody is elected that will
be elected, and then honour their calling and priesthood, and
obtain the blessings and promises; and if they be faithful to the
end of their days, they will be saved--every one of them. That is
as far as I believe in election; and there are some elected to be
damned. Why? Because they have taken a course to be damned, and
they go to that fountain where they belong, and from whence they
have drawn the evil principles that have changed them into
vessels of wrath. That restores everything to its place.
364
Why must they go to that place--to the fountain of destruction?
Because they have received those elements; and they have to go to
that fountain to carry them back, or they carry you back with
them because they predominate in you. That is my way of
restoration.
364
If I gather good, virtuous, holy, pure, and undefiled principles,
and have always been true and faithful to my brethren and to my
God, these principles predominate in me and bring me to the
fountain from whence they emanated.
364
Now, how can you help yourselves? You cannot. If I keep the
commandments of God, I cannot be turned away from the true path,
and so continue to the day of my death. I shall go into the
celestial kingdom of our God, while those who take the opposite
course will be damned and go to hell, where they belong.
364
If you want the spirit of the Prophets--the spirit that brother
Brigham has got, which is the spirit of Joseph, (and Joseph had
the spirit of Peter, from whence he received the Priesthood,) you
must live your religion. Do you not see it is a line running,
drawn from the Father to the Son, and from the Son to the
Apostles, then to Joseph, then to brother Brigham, and then to
those that are connected with him in their callings?
364
As I told brother Franklin the other day, I hit him a crack on
the stand. Some have an idea that I have no business to speak. If
I have not, I will tell you I have a right to give you a crack
over the head, and then the head will talk to you. Since I hit
brother Franklin over the head, then the head began to talk with
him; and, says he, I will never hit you a crack with my right arm
if you do right. I have a right to correct you, because I have
the spirit of brother Brigham, or else I should never have done
it.
364
You will admit I am his right arm. Is it the head that strikes?
No; says he, You fellow, you give him a crack, and perhaps that
will bring him to his senses; then I will talk to him. And what
hurt did it do? It did hundreds of men good that were as faulty
in some things as he was in that: it waked them up.
364
I will profit by the lash you got on your back, brother Franklin;
and I will be cautious to do right. I did not get it on mine. Do
I think any less of him? Not one particle. I love him better,
because he received it and bowed under it as humble as a little
child. Whom do I think less of? Those persons who will not
receive a chastisement when they are guilty, but will justify
themselves in their sins. I do not receive the spirit that is in
them, because it is a spirit of evil. Did I ever? No.
365
I can remember an instance or two where I did wrong; but did I
humble myself? Yes, like a little child; and it seemed as though
I never could get over it. Said I, "I am sorry brother Brigham;
wont you forget it and let it pass?" I could have wept my eyes
out, and melted into tears my whole body. Did brother Brigham
despise me for it? No, he loved me better. I do not want to give
him occasion to chastise me; but if I do, what course shall I
take? Shall I get up here to justify myself? No; the Lord God
Almighty help me from ever doing such a thing as that. When I am
guilty, I am guilty. Supposing I don't know it--if he says it,
that is enough.
365
There is nothing that will lead to damnation and destruction
quicker than self-justification when you are guilty of sin. As
brother Orson said last Sunday, it is the first step to apostacy.
Those men or women who will justify themselves in sin, and
persist in that course, will deny this Gospel, and will go
overboard. Were they one with Israel? No. Were they one with
God's anointed? No. Were they one with their husbands? No. Were
they one with the principle to which they were connected in the
Gospel? No.
365
These are my views; they are the views of my brethren, and the
views of Jesus; for he says, except we are one, we are not his.
We should be one, like a large tree.
365
Some say they have tasted of the fruit of the tree of life. I
have been talking about it: that tree is light, and light is
life; the fruit is the element of the tree of life; and, except
every man and woman on the earth become grafted into it, and into
Christ, they will be lost.
365
You read about the tree of life: it says there are twelve manner
of fruit on it. Some will say it means the twelve tribes of
Israel. Admit this, they are grafted in; and then we will admit
that we are their children, and that we belong to one of those
tribes. If we are not grafted into the limbs of this tree
according to our place, we shall be lost.
365
I do not care which way you take it, it is just as long one way
as the other. We belong to some of those families you must admit;
and I suppose all belong to the house of Israel; some of the
blood of Ephraim, and some of Joseph, some of one, and some of
another. Because we belong to the house of Israel, is it going to
save us? No. Because we have been cut off in our fathers; and we
have got to be grafted in; for God said he did not acknowledge
any covenants when this Church commenced; all old covenants were
done away. Enter into the strait gate, therefore; and don't you
counsel me. Don't counsel brother Brigham. You can come to him
for counsel; so can I; but I do not undertake to chastise him,
nor to justify myself; but, says I, "Brother Brigham, I pray of
thee, I entreat of thee, I beseech of thee to do this or that.
Brother Daniel cannot chastise me without I am out of my place,
any more than I can brother Brigham.
365
I entreat of my father to give me a piece of bread and butter,
for I am hungry; that is the course for me to take; that is the
course of the Twelve, the Seventies, High Priests, Bishops,
Elders, &c., to take; and that is the course, ladies, for you to
take with your husbands, and the course your children ought to
take towards their parents.
365
Would not that make us one? There is no other principle that will
make us one, only to be amenable to where we belong; and every
person who refuses to be will go to destruction--I do not care
whether they are men or women--and you cannot help yourselves.
Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, June 21, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, June 21, 1857
OPPOSITION TO THE PRIESTHOOD, ETC.
Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, June 21, 1857.
366
My health is not very good, though I am in most excellent
spirits. I have a good spirit on me, and my spirit is to do good;
I have no other desire in my heart. And when I do good to my
brethren and my sisters, it is the greatest happiness I have in
this life to see them appreciate it; and the next thing is for me
to appreciate every thing I receive from God through my brethren.
366
Is there anything in this life that I hold more dear to me than I
do this Gospel and this kingdom? If there is, I know it not. If
there ever should an object get between me and that, I should
most humbly desire that object might be taken from me.
366
I am a weak man, and I am in a fallen world--in a world of devils
and evil and corrupt spirits. Will they seek to afflict me in my
body? They seek to afflict brother Brigham in his body; and it is
just about as much as he can do to live and dwell here. And if it
was not for the Spirit of God that inspires him, he would not
want to live here; he would want to leave, and so would I.
366
I just know that there are more devils in this valley and in the
world who are opposed to him and his two counsellors, than there
are opposed to all the Elders of Israel; but they do not know it.
And then their opposition is made manifest against those who
stand next to us in authority, and so on down. But we shall live
and prosper. And this people--every man, woman, and child that
will follow brother Brigham and his brethren, will go into the
celestial world also, as you have heard me say,--every one of
brother Brigham's posterity and mine. And every man, woman, and
accountable child that will live their religion, obey counsel,
honour the Priesthood and our God, shall live.
366
A great many ask, "Why do you put those ifs into this promise?
Because all promises and blessings are conditional: they are
conjunctions; and where there is a conjunction there is a
condition, if I understand the English language; and I believe
that I understand it about as well as anybody. I can make grammar
faster than you can swallow it; and my grammar is just as good as
anybody's, if theirs is not better than mine.
366
I feel to say, God bless you.
367
I have been pleased to hear brother Lamb to-day. He began his
discourse at a period long before the possession of the garden of
Eden by Adam, and came down to this time; and when he got down to
where he himself was acting, he began to bear testimony of this
work and of the servants of God living in his day, and the Holy
Ghost fell upon him; and it did not until then. God bless him,
that he may be blessed, and live long, and increase, that there
may many lambs spring from him; and may the same blessing rest
upon all of you who wish to increase. And those that do not wish
to increase, may God help them to dry up quickly, that they may
pucker up and come to an end. And let them that will increase,
increase, and increase, and multiply, and fill the earth with the
knowledge and power of God. Why? Because this work is true.
367
Joseph was a true prophet of God, and Brigham is his successor,
and I am his brother, and Daniel is my brother; and we will live
and prosper until the devils are all shut up in hell, where they
belong. They will cease troubling this earth; for the will all
dry up like an old herring, as will every one that sympathises
for them or with them. Now, sympathise with the Devil, if you
want to crimp up. Just as quick as you begin that, the juice will
run out of your eyes; and when the juice is drawn out of a tree
it will dry up and die.
367
God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Brigham
Young, June 28, 1857
Brigham Young, June 28, 1857
EXCHANGE OF FEELING AND SENTIMENT PRODUCES MUTUAL
CONFIDENCE--NECESSITY
OF CULTIVATING A CHILD-LIKE SPIRIT--DEVOTEDNESS OF THE SAINTS IN
UTAH
TOWARDS THE WORK OF GOD--GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF HIS OWN WORK, ETC.
Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, June 28, 1857.
367
I arise to express some of my feelings in relation to the
brethren who may address the Saints from this stand from time to
time. I wish you to understand that when you are called upon to
speak to us here, we wish you to speak upon the same principle
that brother Chislett has. Out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh. Brother Chislett has spoken upon that principle.
We do not expect the brethren to rise up here to instruct the
people with regard to the special duties devolving upon them, or
to give the revelations of Jesus Christ to lead the people.
367
Let me ask this congregation, what does strengthen your minds,
your faith, and your confidence in your religion? Is it not the
Spirit of the Lord? It is. Is not that what you require day by
day? Do you not receive as much of the spirit of intelligence, of
the spirit of knowledge, and the consoling influences of the Holy
Ghost, to have people rise and testify of the things of God which
they do know, of those things which they have experienced
themselves? Does not that vividly bring to your minds the
goodness of the Lord in revealing to you the truths of the
Gospel? Does not that strengthen your faith, give you an increase
of confidence, and witness to you that you are a child of God?
Most assuredly it does. Therefore, when any testify of the things
of God, it strengthens their brethren precisely as it did in days
of old when they observed the counsel to "speak often one to
another," "strengthen the brethren," and so on.
368
A mutual interchange of feelings one with the other, increases
confidence in our own hearts, as well as in the hearts of our
friends. We are made sensible by our own experience that in
changing and interchanging our views, we reveal our hearts,
feelings, sentiments, and confidence that we have in each other;
consequently, it is a natural result that we increase confidence
in each other by our mutual conversation. This is proved to us
day by day. Perhaps all have no the opportunity to prove this in
so public a manner; but some few have.
368
In my experience I have learned that the greatest difficulty that
exists in the little bickerings and strifes of man with man,
woman with woman, children with children, parents with children,
brothers with sisters, and sisters with brothers arises from the
want of rightly understanding each other. It is not that this man
or that woman wishes to do wrong; but if they do wrong with their
connections or with their neighbours, it is in consequence of a
misunderstanding. Let us learn then to give each other our true
sentiments.
368
It is a great fault in the Elders of Israel, when they talk to a
congregation, that they speak a great while about something, but
you cannot always easily tell what. It may be more or less
natural for some to do this, but it is a habit which can be
overcome. Persons can learn to express their feelings by their
words. Do not hesitate to tell your feelings.
368
Many have a foreboding in their hearts; a fearfulness, a tremor
comes over them, when they arise to address a congregation. They
think that is will not do to tell the people just what they
understand, but talk about it and talk about it. In this way they
darken counsel. Do not darken counsel by your words.
368
I do not now refer in the least to what has been said this
morning; for I really believe that the feelings of brother
Chislett were portrayed frankly, honestly, and child-like. That
is the way I like to have the Elders talk; and I wish to have
them testify to what they know. That will help and encourage
others to get the same Spirit; for, in the midst of all that we
hear from this stand with regard to counsel and implicit
obedience to counsel, you and I must have the testimony of Jesus
within us, or it is of but little use for us to pretend to be
servants of God. We must have that living witness within us. We
need the light of the Holy Spirit continually, day by day, as you
have been told hundreds of times. How easy it would be for your
leaders to lead you to destruction, unless you actually know the
mind and will of the Spirit yourselves. That is your privilege.
And when you testify in this public congregation, or in your
prayer meetings, testifying of the things of God that you know
and understand, you are at liberty to speak freely upon those
things which you believe. Instead of getting up to instruct, to
lead, guide, and direct the kingdom of God, we want the brethren
to tell what they know, what they understand, the joy that they
feel, and their experience day by day.
368
We do not expect the brethren to rise here to instruct pertaining
to the leading of the Church. But do they instruct, when taking
the course I have suggested? Yes; they instruct me; they cheer
and comfort my heart; they increase confidence in me towards
them. When they rise to speak here, they cannot hide their
feelings, the sentiments of their hearts. And when they exhibit
an honest, child-like spirit, it increases my confidence in them,
and so it does the confidence of the people, and we are all
encouraged and strengthened; we are edified and benefitted, and
we increase in our religion.
369
Allusions were made to our situation and the situation of the
world. No tongue can fully portray that subject to you. It is
impossible for any man to rise here and exhibit the true state of
this people--of the blessings of the favour of God towards them.
That is not to be known or realized, except by the revelations of
the Spirit of the Lord.
369
This is the kingdom of God; and no man can understand it, except
by the Spirit of God. We are enjoying the blessings of our Father
in heaven. No person can understand these blessings; except by
the Spirit of revelation. When that Spirit has gone from the
hearts of individuals, these valleys cease to be the valleys of
peace to them, cease to be the valleys of comfort and joy to
them, and they seek for other climes. They first wander from the
Saints and from their religion in their feelings, and finally
they wander in person.
369
This people are blessed, and are a blessed people. When I
meditate upon our present circumstances, and view the situation
of the people, I can feel nothing in my heart only to say, "God
bless them." They are a God-blessed people. They do manifest to
God, angels, and men, that they are willing to sacrifice, if we
may use the expression, all that they have, or expect to have in
this world, in its present situation, that they may be the
children of light, and walk in the favour of God, and secure
their inheritance in the celestial kingdom of our God. All else
is in the shade to them. They prove by their works that they are
a blessed people, and you will be blessed. You need have no fear
but the fear to offend God. If you have any tremblings in your
hearts, or timid feelings with regard to our present situation,
let me tell you one thing, which is as true as that the sun now
shines, that whatever transpires with us, with our enemies, with
the world here or there, will still more promote the kingdom of
God on the earth, and bring to a final end the kingdoms of this
world.
369
But the people of the Most High God must be tried. It is written
that they will be tried in all things, even as Abraham was tried.
If we are called to go upon mount Moriah to sacrifice a few of
our Isaacs, it is no matter; we may just as well do that as
anything else. I think there is a prospect for the Saints to have
all the trials they wish for, or can desire. Do not be
discouraged when you hear of wars, and rumours of wars, and
tumults, and contentions, and fighting, and bloodshed; for behold
they are at the thresholds of our doors. Now, do not let your
hearts faint; for all this will promote the kingdom of God, and
it will increase upon the earth. Why? Because the world will
decrease. We will be strengthened, while they will be weakened.
Righteous principles will be multiplied and spread abroad, while
wickedness will diminish and become limited in its power. The
Saints of the Most High will increase. God's kingdom will
increase upon the earth. And all we have to do, in order to
increase, is to be sure that we are the children of God,
inheritors of the blessings, promises, and faith of Abraham of
old: then, whatever transpires, it is no matter.
370
The world are determined to destroy the kingdom of God upon the
earth: they wish to obliterate it. The kingdoms of darkness are
determined to destroy this kingdom. In their feelings they are
fighting you and me, and do not know that they are contending
against Jehovah. They have not the least idea of that, but think
they are contending against the "Mormons." They are not
contending against you and me--they are contending against the
God of heaven. Do you think he can manage his own affairs? "Yes,
if he only will," you say. Do you think He can lead this people
to victory and glory? "O yes," every heart responds, "if He has a
mind to." Do you think we are safe in trusting in God? "Yes, if
the Lord will actually preserve us."
370
How are you going to be assured of all this, and a great many
more things? There is but one way--live so that you have the
abiding witness within you that, if all the rest go to the devil,
I am a servant of God, and will go into His presence. Let every
man and woman take that course, and then the Lord will take care
of the whole of them.
370
There is a great deal said by our enemies with regard to
destroying us. I will tell you how I feel about that. I have
heretofore used a comparison, and it is a very plain one. When I
see a number of little boys by the Tithing Office, where we shell
the corn, building a cob-house in order to pluck the sun from the
heavens and bring it down to the earth, I believe that they will
accomplish their design just as readily as I believe that the
devil and all his imps will accomplish the destruction of this
people.
370
There are very many here who have been brought into tight
places--into what we used to call running the gauntlet; and I
want to know whether there is a faithful heart in this
congregation--one who has been in this church for twenty five
years, but what the Spirit of the Lord has witnessed to him in
every difficulty that He enlarged His kingdom more and more, and
weakened our enemies. Has not that been the testimony of every
heart? [Many voices, "Yes."] It has been so.
370
When the brethren were driven from Jackson county, Joseph
gathered up 205 men, and went to Missouri to see whether he could
not bring about a reconciliation, that the Saints might live then
in peace. At that time hosts of Missourians were gathered in
different places. True, there were a few in the camp who
apostatized, because they could not have the privilege of
fighting. So far as I was concerned, I did not wish to fight.
Perhaps you will think that I was very enthusiastic, should I
tell you the feelings that I had at that time; but they were
true, and have remained so with me to this day. Inasmuch as we
were called to go there by the prophet of the Lord, though I knew
and had a witness of this fact, we were in the midst of our
enemies, and surrounded by them on every side; yet my faith then
was, and it has continued with me, that they might array their
sharpshooters with their best rifles and cannon, and shoot at me,
and every other man that felt as I did and do, and they would see
me a little to one side, and could never make a ball take effect
on me. That is the way I feel now. Unless the Lord wishes to
deliver this people into the hands of their enemies, they may
shoot at me or any other man--they may fight, and howl, and bark,
until they wear out their lungs and exhaust all their means, and
will sink down and rot in their own corruption, and we will live
and spread abroad. That is my faith.
371
Brethren and sisters, my heart is all the time, God bless you,
God bless you. You are blessed. No tongue can tell the blessings
that his people enjoy, if they have the spirit to understand
their blessings. Where is there peace, besides in the valleys of
these mountains? Where is the place that people can serve God,
but in the valleys of these mountains? Brother Chislett just told
you, "No where." Where is the continent, the people, nation, or
kingdom, in which and among whom the Book of Mormon could have
been translated, angels have visited the servants of God to
restore the priesthood and establish the kingdom of God, and that
have risen, grown, and spread abroad, but in the government of
the United States? Nowhere else, as you were told here a few
Sundays ago. How is it now, with the present feelings of the
people? Could that work now be done in the United States? It
could not. The very duties performed by Joseph, Oliver, David,
Hyrum, and others, could not now be done in the United States;
for the people would rise en masse and put them to death, or
drive them from their borders.
371
The kingdom rises, increases, and spreads out to the right and
left--it goes to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the
south; and when the Gentiles are faithfully warned by the words
of life freely given to them, and they utterly reject them, you
will then find that the blood of Abraham that is scattered upon
the islands of the sea and on this continent, will come like
doves to the windows, and like clouds before a mighty torrent of
wind. They will come and acknowledge the truth, though not at
once, and they will greatly increase in the knowledge of their
fathers. We can say to the praise of God's name, and to the
praise of the industry of the Saints, that this will commence,
and hundreds and thousands of them begin to turn from their
wickedness, forsake their folly and their loathsome degradation,
wash themselves, and begin to live more as men and women should,
and to learn at the hands of the servants of God. They will go
into the waters of baptism, confessing their sins, and taking
upon them the new and everlasting covenant, by thousands; and it
will increase; and many generations will not pass away before
they become a white and delightsome people.
371
The nation that gave me and many of you birth is very nigh to the
hours of sorrow. Their cup is very nigh filled to the brim. They
reject the servants of God; they reject the Gospel of salvation;
they turn away from the principles of truth and righteousness;
and they are sinking in their own sins and corruptions. I would
that they would have mercy on themselves. I will pray the Lord to
have mercy on them, but I pray them to have mercy on themselves
to return to the Lord, forsake their wickedness and learn
righteousness, and then God would have mercy on them, and bestow
His blessing upon them, if they would receive them. But they
harden their hearts, shut their ears, stop them up tight, close
their eyes, and are determined to hear nothing that is true
concerning this people, or the doctrines we preach. But every lie
they can hear, imagine, or hatch up, they publish to the world,
and it is drank down; they roll it under their tongue as a sweet
morsel. They reject the truth and receive lies, until their cup
is nearly full to the brim.
371
The Lord's time is not for me to know but He is kind,
long-suffering, and patient, and His wrath endureth silently, and
will until mercy is completely exhausted, and then judgment will
take the reins. I do not know how, neither do I at present wish
to know. It is enough for us to know how to serve our God and
live our religion, and thus we will increase in the favour of
God.
371
You often hear people desiring more of the knowledge of God, more
of the wisdom of God, more of the power of God. They want more
revelation, to know more about the kingdom of heaven, in heaven
and on the earth, and they wish to learn and increase.
372
There is one principle that I wish the people would understand
and lay to heart. Just as fast as you will prove before your God
that you are worthy to receive the mysteries, if you please to
call them so, of the kingdom of heaven--that you are full of
confidence in God--that you will never betray a thing that God
tells you--that you will never reveal to your neighbour that
which ought not to be revealed, as quick as you prepare to be
entrusted with the things of God, there is an eternity of them to
bestow upon you. Instead of pleading with the Lord to bestow more
upon you, plead with yourselves to have confidence in yourselves,
to have integrity in yourselves, and know when to speak and what
to speak, what to reveal, and how to carry yourselves and walk
before the Lord. And just as fast as you prove to Him that you
will preserve everything secret that ought to be--that you will
deal out to your neighbours all which you ought, and no more, and
learn how to dispense your knowledge to your families, friends,
neighbours, and brethren, the Lord will bestow upon you, and give
to you, and bestow upon you, until finally he will say to you,
"You shall never fall; your salvation is sealed unto you; you are
sealed up unto eternal life and salvation, through your
integrity."
372
Let every person be the friend of God, that whatever He reveals
to you, you can wisely handle without asking Him whether you
shall tell your wife of it or not. You can recollect the
backhanded blow I gave to some of the brethren last winter. They
were in pain, because they knew something which they could not
tell to their wives. I would not trust such men out of sight of
my dinner. God will not trust the least thing to such persons.
Sisters, if you are in pain, because you cannot tell your
husbands everything, you had better take a little catnip tea, and
get over it, if you can. What will God reveal to such persons?
Just enough to keep them from the gulf of despair, and lead them
along until they get a little sense. I say this that you may
learn to reveal that which you ought, and to keep the rest to
yourselves. By so doing you prove to God that you are His
friends, and will keep His secrets.
372
The world may howl around you and plead for the secrets of the
Lord which he has given you, but they will not get them. When the
Lord has proved His children true to what He has given into their
charge, and that they will do His bidding, He will tell such
persons anything that they should know. A great many desire just
enough of knowledge to damn them and it does damn a great many.
372
Giving endowments to a great many proves their overthrow, through
revealing things to them which they cannot keep. They are not
worthy to receive them. Brother Heber takes the lead in giving
endowments, and you may ask, "Why do you give such folks their
endowments?" To qualify them to be devils, if they wish to be.
The plan of salvation is calculated to make devils as well as
Saints; for by and by we shall need some to serve as devils; and
it takes almost as much knowledge to make a complete devil as it
does to fit a man to go into the celestial kingdom of God, and
become an heir to His kingdom. We want to complete the education
of a number of such fellows; they are running to the States, to
California, and elsewhere, and are trying to reveal this, that,
and the other; but I defy any one of them to give any idea of
what is taught them in their endowments, except a garbled mass of
trash. God takes that knowledge from their minds. We have to make
devils, and we are preparing them. Everybody must have the same
chance of accepting or rejecting the blessings of the Gospel, you
know.
373
Suppose that we should meet a man at the judgment, and he should
say, "Here is my friend Brigham: I was in great Salt Lake Valley,
or in Nauvoo, and I did everything that he told me; but he would
not let me go in and obtain my endowment; and it offended me so
that I actually did forsake the faith, when I verily believe that
if I had have had the privilege, I would now have been numbered
with the Saints; but, instead of that, I am found on the left
hand." Shall I give them occasion to make such an accusation? No.
I wish to give every one as good a chance for salvation as I have
myself: then out of their own mouths they will be judged. If the
Lord did not take this plan, we would not.
373
I wish to tell you a truth; it is God's truth; it is eternal
truth: neither you nor I would ever be prepared to be crowned in
the celestial kingdom of our Father and our God, without devils
in this world. Do you know that the Saints never could be
prepared to receive the glory that is in reserve for them,
without devils to help them to get it? Men and women never could
be prepared to be judged and condemned out of their own mouths,
and to be set upon the left hand, or to have it said to them, "Go
away into everlasting darkness," without the power both of God
and the devil. We are obliged to know and understand them, one as
well as the other, in order to prepare us for the day that is
coming, and for our exaltation. Some of you may think that this
is a curious principle, but it is true. Refer to the Book of
Mormon, and you will find that Nephi and others taught that we
actually need evil, in order to make this a state of probation.
We must know the evil in order to know the good. There must needs
be an opposition in all things. All facts are demonstrated by
their opposites. You will learn this in the Bible, the Book of
Mormon, and in the revelations given through Joseph. We must know
and understand the opposition that is in all things, in order to
discern, choose, and receive that which we do know will exalt us
to the presence of God. You cannot know the one without knowing
the other. This is a true principle.
373
Brethren and sisters, my heart rejoices exceedingly. I cannot
talk all my feelings, I cannot tell you what I feel and what I
see in the Spirit; for, as I lately told you, if I should
undertake to manifest my feelings before the people, I might
display a style and manner which many would deem that of a
perfect ranting Methodist, and halloo, and shout Glory!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! and this, that, and the other. The
tongue of man cannot express the feelings I have in seeing this
people returning unto the Lord, in seeing them faithful to their
covenants, in seeing that there is no contention among them, in
seeing the willingness and obedience of their feelings. They are
willing at the call to go and do whatever is required of them. I
contemplate these things; they are before me.
373
I will cite one instance of the freedom from contention. Brothers
Lamb and Jolly came to me the other day with a difficulty that
existed between them. Brother Lamb has seen the day in this
Church when there would have to have been a High Council over
such a case as he and brother Jolly came to me about; but in five
minutes it was settled, and both parties felt perfectly
satisfied. How did it used to be? They would argue and argue, and
aggravate feelings in themselves and in others. Now brethren will
come and settle a difficulty in two or three minutes, and say,
"It is right; all is right; all I want is to know what right is,
and I am ready to do it. I have no will of my own: give me the
good Spirit, and I feel right; I bow down to it, and feel the
power and blessing of my God."
374
When I see the people willing and obedient, my heart is all the
time full to overflowing. I almost sit up nights to say, God
bless you. And I say further, let every man on the face of this
earth that curses this people be cursed. [Many voices, "Amen."]
And every man that blesses them shall be blessed. [Many voices,
"Amen."] And those who oppose this religion, and feel to destroy
it from the earth, shall go down to hell. [Many voices, "Amen."]
And their time is very short: they will find it plenty short
enough.
374
Suppose that the wicked kill us, who cares? They never will kill
any, but what it will swell the kingdom a little faster. And if
my blood is required to enlarge this kingdom, and build it up,
and increase the speed of it on the earth, I do not ask but one
thing, and that is, that the grace of God may be sufficient for
me at the moment and every moment. I do not care what I do, if
God only be with me, and I be led in the path of honour and
glory; for we all want to secure to ourselves eternal salvation.
374
I did not expect to speak more than a few minutes. I will return
to the subject and say, brethren, do not get up here with a
feeling to give a very interesting discourse--to lead out upon
the mysteries of the kingdom of God, thinking thereby to tell
something that will edify the people; for that will not edify
them. What will? Come down to the simple, child-like spirit of
the Gospel, and give us the testimony of Jesus, and all will be
edified, and we will grow together. May God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 4 / Heber
C. Kimball, August 16, 1857
Heber C. Kimball, August 16, 1857
LIMITS OF FORBEARANCE--APOSTATES--ECONOMY--GIVING ENDOWMENTS.
Remarks, by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Bowery,
Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, August 16, 1857.
374
I presume the brethren and sisters are not tired. [Voices: "No."]
You have heard what has been said to-day by brother Brigham; and
I want you to understand most definitely that what he has said
expresses my present feelings, and also the feelings that I have
had for some time.
374
I am aware that my words have not gone into every heart. You have
supposed that I was hard and rough in my remarks; but if I had
listened strictly to the Spirit of God, I should have been a
great deal rougher, and so would brother Brigham.
374
Well, what he has said to-day is God's truth. The time has past
for us to be abused and persecuted as we have been. We have been
driven from place to place, and hunted by our enemies long
enough. We have been broken up five times by our enemies.
375
7 "And again, verily I say unto you, if, after thine enemy has
come upon thee the first time, he repent and come unto thee,
praying thy forgiveness, thou shalt forgive him, and shall hold
it no more as a testimony against thine enemy, and so on unto the
second and third time; and as oft as thine enemy repenteth of the
trespass wherewith he has trespassed against thee, thou shalt
forgive him, until seventy times seven; and if he trespass
against thee and repent not the first time, nevertheless thou
shalt forgive him; and if he trespass against thee the second
time, and repent not, nevertheless thou shalt forgive him; and if
he trespass against thee the third time, and repent not, thou
shalt forgive him; but if he trespass against thee the fourth
time, thou shalt not forgive him, but shall bring these
testimonies before the Lord, and they shall not be blotted out
until he repent and reward thee fourfold in all things wherewith
he has trespassed against you; and if he do this, thou shalt
forgive him with all your heart; and if he do not this, I the
Lord will avenge thee of thine enemy an hundredfold; and upon his
children, and upon his children's children, of all them that hate
me, unto the third and fourth generation: but if the children
shall repent, or the children's children, and turn to the Lord
their God with all their hearts, and with all their might, mind,
and strength, and restore fourfold for all their trespasses,
wherewith they have trespassed, or wherewith their father's have
trespassed, or their father's fathers, then thine indignation
shall be turned away, and vengeance shall no more come upon them,
saith the Lord your God, and their trespass shall never be
brought any more as a testimony before the Lord against them.
Amen."--[Book of Doc. and Cov., sec. lxxxvi.]
375
I said last winter that I never would sit in another Legislative
Assembly under Uncle Sam again, except they behaved themselves;
and I say it now. It has been my feelings, for years and years,
that the time would come when we would not endure the abuses of
bloodthirsty enemies any longer; and I would ten thousand times
rather go and live in the mountains than to live here under
oppression and unjust government, such as United States'
officials have sought to mete out to us, the Saints of the Most
High God.
375
I do not feel vain, but I feel to say, brethren and sisters, lay
aside your vanity and your feelings to exult: there will be a
time when you can exult and do it in righteousness and in mercy.
There will also be a day when you will be brought to the
test--when your very hearts and your inmost souls will melt
within you because of the scenes that many of you will witness.
Yes, you will be brought to that test, when you will feel as if
every thing within you would dissolve. Then will be the time you
will be tried whether you will stand the test or fall away.
375
I have not a doubt but there will be hundreds who will leave us
and go away to our enemies. I wish they would go this fall: it
might relieve us from much trouble; for if men turn traitors to
God and His servants, their blood will surely be shed, or else
they will be damned, and that too according to their covenants.
375
Brother Brigham would rather go to battle against the whole world
with three hundred men filled with the Holy Ghost, than to have
the whole of you, except you are united with us; and I am sure I
would.
375
The day is to come when one shall chase a thousand, and two put
ten thousand to flight. When that day comes, the Lord will make
the enemies of His people flee as if there were thousands after
them, when there is only one; and that is the way that God will
deal with our enemies. The day of God Almighty is at hand, when
He will show forth His power, and when He will deliver His people
from all their enemies.
375
Some who have been apostates for years past are beginning to come
back to us; and, inasmuch as they did not stand and be valiant
for the truth, we are now going to place them in the front ranks,
and put them to the test.
376
I stand in the name and in the strength of Israel's God, by the
side of my brother Brigham; for there is my place; and your place
is to stand where you belong.
376
Let me say to all of you, Learn to be true and faithful; and,
instead of laying out your means for fine bonnets and fine shoes,
and for coffee and tea, my advice to you is, if you can five or
ten dollars, go and buy a good blanket, a gun, or a sword. And we
want you, ladies, to provide yourselves with weapons, and with
all that is necessary, and be ready to defend yourselves; for you
won't always have your husbands to defend you.
376
I have often told you that you would look upon this day, and say
it was the best day you had ever seen.
376
I have received a good many letters from the several Bishops in
the country wards, stating that they have understood that we are
working by night and by day, giving endowments to those who are
going out to help the handcarts in. I want to tell you we are
doing no such thing: we are working one day in a week to keep the
devil from getting asleep.
376
I will say for the benefit of those who are going out on the
Plains, and who have not had their endowments, if they will live
their religion they shall be protected as much so as those who
have had them. When we went up to Missouri, 205 men, we had not
had our endowments; but we went to redeem Zion according to the
word of the Lord; and that was a preparatory work. And I will say
to you that, if you will live your religion while you are gone,
when you come back you shall have your endowments, and God shall
bless you, while the man or the woman who has received their
endowments and does not magnify their calling, will not be
benefitted at all by them, and they will only tend to their
condemnation.
376
The Lord bless every righteous Saint from this time henceforth
and forever. Amen.