Journal of Discourses Volume 13
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13
Journal of Discourses,
Volume 13
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, April 7, 1869
Brigham Young, April 7, 1869
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 7, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
RESPONSIBILITY FOR TEACHING--THE WORD OF WISDOM--CO-OPERATION,
ETC.
1
I think I shall not be under the necessity of talking long, as
there has been a great deal said to the people this afternoon. I
will commence by saying to the Latter-day Saints and to all the
inhabitants of the earth that I am responsible for the doctrine I
teach; but I am not responsible for the obedience of the people
to that doctrine. My position in the presence of God, before the
Angels and upon the face of the earth, is that it is easier and
more delightful to serve God than to serve ourselves and the
devil.
2
There has been considerable said this afternoon with regard to
redeeming and building up Zion, the Order of Enoch, &c. I see men
and women in this congregation--only a few of them--who were
driven from the central stake of Zion. Ask them if they had any
sorrow or trouble; then let them look at the beautiful land that
the Lord would have given them if all had been faithful in
keeping His commandments, and had walked before Him as they
should; and then ask them with regard to the blessings they would
have received. If they tell you the sentiments of their minds,
they will tell you that the yoke of Jesus would have been easy
and his burden would have been light, and that it would have been
a delightful task to have walked in obedience to his commands and
to have been of one heart and one mind; but through the
selfishness of some, which is idolatry, through their
covetousness, which is the same, and the lustful desire of their
minds, they were cast out and driven from their homes. We have
been driven many times; but each time, if they who professed to
be the servants of God had served Him with an undivided heart,
they would have had the privilege of living in their houses,
possessing their lands, attending to their meetings, and
spreading abroad on the right and the left, lengthening the cords
of Zion, and strengthening her stakes until the land had been
dedicated to the Gospel of the Son of God. Well, I have been with
the rest and I expect I have been covetous like them, and
probably I am now; but if I am, I wish somebody would tell me
wherein.
2
Brother Pratt, in his discourse, had considerable to say with
regard to the property of the Saints. I would like very much if
the time was now when the Lord would say, "Lay down your
substance at the feet of the bishops," and find out who in this
Church would be willing to give up all. This co-operative
movement is only a stepping stone to what is called the Order of
Enoch, but which is in reality the Order of Heaven. It was
revealed to Enoch when he built up his city and gathered the
people together and sanctified them, so that they became so holy
and pure that they could not live among the rest of the people
and the Lord took them away.
2
Ask any Christian in the world if he thinks the Lord rules and
reigns supreme in heaven, and he will tell you, "Yes." Is it
right for the Lord to reign? "Certainly it is." Ask him if he
would delight to live in a place where one character rules and
reigns supreme, and he will answer, "Yes, if I could go to
heaven." Why? "Why, the Lord reigns there." Just ask the
Christian if he knows the Lord, and he will tell you, "No." Did
you ever see him? "No." Can you tell me anything of His
character? "No, only He is something without body, parts, and
passions." One of the apostles says that "God is love, and they
who dwell in God dwell in love." Ask the Christian world if they
know anything about God, and they will tell you they do not. Ask
if He has eyes, and they will say, "No,--yes, He is all eyes."
Has he a head? "Yes, He is all head." Has he ears? "Yes, He is
all ears, He is all mouth, He is all body, and all limbs;" and
still without body, parts, or passions. Why what do they make of
Him? A monster, if He is anything; that is what they make of Him.
Would you like to go to heaven? "O, yes," says the Christian,
"the Lord reigns there." How do you know you would like the place
and the order when you get there? Do you think you will have your
farm and your substance by yourself, and live in the
gratification of your selfish propensities as you now do? "O, no,
we expect to be made pure and holy." Where will be begin to be
pure and holy? If you do not begin here, I do not know where you
will begin. "O," says the Christian, "if we are going to heaven,
where God and angels dwell, and live where one-man power
prevails, we should all be satisfied, I expect." We, Latter-day
Saints, say so, too. We like to see that power manifested by
those whom God calls to lead the people in righteousness, purity,
and holiness. This opens up a subject that I am not going to talk
about.
3
Brother Orson has spoken on the Word of Wisdom. The people have
done pretty well in keeping it for the last year or two. But are
they going to continue, or will they return to their old habits
like the dog to his vomit, or like the sow that is washed, to her
wallowing in the mire? The sale of tobacco, tea, and coffee is
increasing in the midst of this people at the present time. What
does this prove? It proves that, stealthily or openly, the people
are eating and drinking that which is not good for them. Hot
drinks, tobacco, and spirits are not good for them. Will the
people continue to keep the Word of Wisdom, or will they become
like the brutes in the parable, or, like fools return to that
which will injure and destroy them? The elders of Israel have
talked a great deal to the people upon the principles of life and
about the course they should pursue to lay a foundation for
health. Let a mother stimulate her system with tobacco, tea,
coffee, or liquor, or suffer herself to hanker after such things
at certain times, and she lays the foundation for the destruction
of her offspring. Do they realize this? No, and in very many
instances they care nothing about it. With all the teachings
given to this people I think they are very much like the rest of
the world, or like the dumb brute beasts that are made to be
taken and destroyed. And it almost seems that the last comparison
is the most appropriate, for intelligence is given us to preserve
ourselves, to preserve our health and prolong our natural lives,
preserve our posterity, preserve and beautify the earth and make
it like the Garden of Eden. But what is the disposition of the
people? It is true we are in advance of the world, but we are
only just commencing to learn the things of God. I know that some
say the revelations upon these points are not given by way of
commandment. Very well, but we are commanded to observe every
word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
3
I cannot say that my family is clear in this respect. They want a
little of this and a little of that that is not wise to use, and
I suppose it is the same in other families. Every man, I expect,
indulges his wife and children and allows them to take this or
that when he knows it is not the best for them. But we, in and of
ourselves, ought to be independent; every son and daughter in
Israel should say, we will keep the "Word of Wisdom" independent
of father, mother, or any elder in the church; we know what is
right and we will do it. By so doing this people will increase
health in their systems, and the destroying angel, when he comes
along, will pass them by. Will you take this course? I, as the
leader and dictator of this people, feel disgraced when I think
they are becoming slothful and negligent and are returning to
their former foolish and useless habits; and, refusing to hearken
to the least counsel, are turning away to the counsel of the Evil
One and doing that which leads to death.
4
I want to say a few words still further to the people with regard
to their faith in temporal things. If the people called
Latter-day Saints do not become one in temporal things as they
are in spiritual things, they will not redeem and build up the
Zion of God upon the earth. This co-operative movement is a
stepping stone. We say to the people, take advantage of it, it is
your privilege. Instead of giving it into the hands of a few
individuals to make their hundreds and thousands, let the people,
generally, enjoy the benefit arising from the sale of
merchandize. I have already told you that this will stop the
operations of many little traders, but it will make them
producers as well as consumers. You will find that if the people
unitedly hearken to the counsel that is given them, it will not
be long before the hats, caps, bonnets, boots and shoes, pants,
coats, vests and underclothing of this entire community will all
be made in our midst. What next? Shall we have to run to London,
Paris, or New York for the fashions? When I see the disposition
among the Latter-day Saints to follow the fashions and customs of
the world, I think, why do you stay here? You had better go back
again. I am tired of this everlasting ding-dong about fashions.
If I happen to have a coat on that is not what is called
fashionable, some of my wives will be sure to say, "Husband, or
Mr. President, may I give this away;" or, "I wish it was out of
sight, it is not fashionable." If I were to tell the truth I
should say, who cares for the fashions of the world? I do not; if
I get anything that is comfortable and sits well, and suits my
system, it is all I ask. I do not care who wears a bonnet that is
six feet above the head behind, twelve feet in front, or that
sits close to the crown of her head, of whether it is three
straws thrown over the head with ribbons to them. But to see a
people who say, "We are the teachers of life and salvation," and
yet are anxious to follow the nasty, pernicious fashions of the
day, I say it is too insipid to talk or think about. It is
beneath the character of the Latter-day Saints that they should
have no more independence of mind or feeling than to follow after
the grovelling customs and fashions of a poor, miserable, wicked
world. All who do not want to sustain co-operations and fall into
the ranks of improvement, and endeavour to improve themselves by
every good book and then by every principle that has been
received from heaven, had better go back to England, Ireland,
France, Scandinavia, or the Eastern States; we do not care where
you go, if you will only go.
4
I will take up my text again--I am responsible for the doctrine I
teach. I will say to this people, as I have said ever since I
commenced to lift up my voice to the inhabitants of the earth, I
will read to them out of the Book of Life. If they will hear it,
well; if they will not, I am clear of their blood. I read to the
Latter-day Saints out of the Book of Life, and I can give them
lessons that will lead them back to the presence of God in the
celestial kingdom. But oh, the slothfulness, negligence, and the
low, groveling feelings in the midst of this people are a
disgrace to them. Will we improve? Yes, let us try and redeem the
time and commence anew.
4
Yesterday we explained a little with regard to co-operation; we
can explain just as far as the people wish to hear and know.
Those who rise up against this or any other measure do it because
darkness and the spirit of the Evil One reign within them. There
is not a man and woman in this Church and Kingdom, who is in
possession of the Holy Ghost, but what will lift up their hands
to heaven and say, "Blessed be God, there is somebody to lead and
improve the people," when they contemplate this movement and the
results it will work out; and they who fight against it and feel
to murmur are actuated by a spirit from beneath.
4
I frequently think of the difference between the power of God and
the power of the devil. To illustrate, here is a structure in
which we can be seated comfortably, protected from the heat of
summer or the cold of winter. Now, it required labour, mechanical
skill and ingenuity and faithfulness and diligence to erect this
building, but any poor, miserable fool or devil can set fire to
it and destroy it. That is just what the devil can do, but he
never can build anything. The difference between God and the
devil is that God creates and organizes, while the whole study of
the devil is to destroy. Every one that follows the evil
inclinations of his own natural evil heart is going to
destruction, and sooner or later he will be no more. I pray you
Latter-day Saints to live your religion. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Erastus Snow, February 28, 1869
Erastus Snow, February 28, 1869
REMARKS BY ELDER ERASTUS SNOW,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, February 28, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE AXE IS LAID TO THE ROOT--EXHORTATION TO FAITHFULNESS.
5
I am requested to occupy a little time this afternoon prior to my
departure for my field of labour in the South, and if I can have
your faith and prayers, I will try to speak upon a few subjects.
A certain very expressive passage of Scripture, contained in the
New Testament, has been passing through my mind since I have been
sitting here. I will repeat it:--
5
"Now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore
every tree which bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down and
cast into the fire."
5
This figure of the fruit tree, though spoken in reference to the
followers of the Saviour in his day, is equally as applicable to
us as to those to whom it was addressed. There are many other
sayings of the Saviour of a similar character, applied to the
people of God in reference to the diverse doctrines and teachings
of men; also warning them against false prophets and those who
might come to them in sheep's clothing, but inwardly were
ravening wolves. He said to his disciples, "By their fruits shall
ye know them," for every tree that bears good fruit is a good
tree; but a corrupt tree did not bring forth good fruit.
5
Now this figure of the axe being laid at the root of the tree,
and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn
down and cast into the fire, being equally as applicable to God's
people in these days as to His people in the days in which it was
spoken, is very impressive, and should be retained in every mind;
every heart should reflect upon it, and every one should inquire,
"Am I a subject for the burning, or am I bearing good fruit?"
5
To answer these questions satisfactorily we must be instructed in
the things of God, so that we many understand our duties and know
what God requires of us, we must become acquainted with the
Kingdom of Heaven and the fruits thereof.
6
The people of olden times, to whom this saying of the Saviour was
addressed, were a peculiar people: they and their fathers before
them for many generations had claimed to be the people of God. To
their forefathers God had sent His prophets, revealed His word,
and he had made His covenant with them, and had blessed them with
many blessings. Yet in the days of the Saviour, as a nation, they
had apostatized and had fallen from their high position; they had
become divided into sects and parties, proud, covetous,
self-righteous and very conceited; and the Saviour pronounced
many woes upon them. He illustrated their condition in a very
noted parable concerning a certain vineyard, which the husbandman
rented or let out, and then took his journey into another
country. At the proper season the lord of the vineyard sent his
servant to receive his share of the fruit of the vineyard; but
instead of the men who had leased the vineyard paying up frankly
and faithfully what they had stipulated to pay, they refused to
pay at all, and also cast the servant out of the vineyard. The
lord of the vineyard then sent other servants to seek his share
of the fruit of the vineyard, but they were treated in like
manner, some of them being beaten, whipped, cast out and slain.
Last of all the lord of the vineyard said, "I will send my son;
peradventure they will reverence him and have respect to their
agreement, and render to him the fruits of the vineyard. But,
when the son came, the husbandmen said among themselves, "This is
the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be
ours." And they seized the son, cast him out and slew him. "Now,"
said the Saviour to the people to whom He addressed this parable,
"what will be done unto these husbandmen? They answered, "He will
miserably destroy those wicked husbandmen, and will let out his
vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits
in their seasons." Said the Saviour in effect, "This is a very
righteous judgment; even so shall it be done unto you. I blessed
your fathers and established my covenant with them; sent my
prophets and revealed my word unto you, their children, and have
called upon you all the day long, but you have not brought forth
the fruits of the kingdom; you have rejected and slain my
prophets, and lastly, you have rejected the Son, therefore I say
unto you, the kingdom shall be rent from your hands, and given to
another people, who will bring forth the fruits thereof."
6
Such was the fate of the Jewish people, because they rejected the
prophets who were sent unto them, and, last of all, the Saviour.
The Saviour revealed himself first to that people, and first
established his church in their midst. He sent his disciples to
preach, not to the Gentiles, but to "the lost sheep of the house
of Israel." They were commanded to confine their labours to
these; but they to whom he first sent his disciples did not, as a
general thing, listen or obey the message they delivered to them.
There were a goodly number who believed and were baptized, and
from their midst the priesthood with the Gospel and its
ordinances were carried to the Gentiles nations, and the Jews, as
a nation, were given over to unbelief and hardness of heart,
their government destroyed, their towns, cities, and provinces
absorbed by surrounding nations, their devoted capital city laid
in ruins, and of their beautiful temple not one stone was left on
another. So complete was the ruin of their chief city that,
subsequently, the very ground upon which it stood was broken up
and ploughed like a field.
7
The apostles and servants of God who were called to be witnesses
of Jesus went abroad to the surrounding nations, and everywhere
baptized and built up churches, grafting the Gentile nations into
the "tame olive tree." Israel was likened by one of the ancient
prophets to a tame olive tree and the Gentile nations to a wild
olive tree. It is said by the Apostle Paul that the branches of
the tame olive tree were cut off because they were barren and
unfruitful, and that the branches of the wild olive tree were
grafted into the mother stock and brought forth good fruit. So it
was in the preaching of the Gospel; the Gentiles accepted with
greater freedom and gladness the testimony of the disciples of
Christ. It is not my purpose to enlarge upon the cause why the
Jewish race continued to persecute and hedge up the way of the
disciples and followers of Christ. Through the mercy of God our
Father, salvation came unto many Gentile nations, because they
believed the testimony of Jesus proclaimed to them by his
disciples; and they were baptized into Christ, and became the
seed of Abraham by adoption, while the lineal descendants of
Abraham were rejected of God because of their unbelief. They did
not bring forth the fruits of the kingdom of God, therefore the
kingdom was taken from them and given to another people according
as Jesus had predicted.
8
Now, why was all this? Was it simply because of the sins of their
rulers and chief priests, or was it because of the general
corruption, unbelief, and wickedness of the whole people? I
answer, it was not only the wickedness of their rulers and the
corruptions and hypocrisy of their priests, but of the whole
people, priests and rulers included. In the language of one of
the prophets, their teachers taught for hire; their judges judged
for reward; their prophets divined for money, and "my people love
to have it so, and what shall be the end thereof?" The people had
lifted themselves up in pride; they loved gold and silver and
precious things, and set up gods whom they might adore. If they
did not actually set up graven images and gods of wood and stone,
they set up teachers and priests like unto themselves. Their
judges and priests took bribes, and their public servants could
be brought with money. They sought honour one of another and
sought not honour which comes from God alone. In short they lived
for the present life only, and did not know how to enjoy it
properly, for the fruit of evil doings is always evil, though it
oft-times appears tempting and alluring to the inexperienced and
thoughtless, and its fruits may be sweet in the mouth, but in the
belly they are invariably bitter. The fruits of righteousness are
joy, peace, and contentment in this life, and life hereafter;
while the fruits of unrighteousness are misery, grief, sorrow,
and death. There is nothing more certain than the saying in
Scripture "that the wages of sin is death." That is as true
to-day as it was in the day when it was spoken. No man or woman
can do a wrong thing, whether ignorantly or with the intent to do
wrong, without sooner or later reaping the bitter fruits of that
wrong doing. It is true that the mercy and loving kindness of God
our Father comes to the aid of all who sin ignorantly, and
lightens their punishment because they sinned ignorantly, and as
soon as they were enlightened they turned away and repented
before the Lord in sorrow. It is written that he who knoweth his
master's will and doeth it not shall be beaten with many stripes;
but he who sins ignorantly, though he may do things worthy of
many stripes, shall be beaten with few if he forsakes his evil
course when he understands it, inasmuch as his spirit is not
defiled thereby. He who consents to and approves of a wrong in
his heart, or becomes the aider and abettor of those who do
wrong, though he may not be the personal doer of that wrong, may
be more culpable and more deserving of punishment than the one
who is actually guilty, for the latter, ignorant of the
consequences, may be influenced by the former, who knows the
results and effects of the wrong done. In such a case the
prompter of the evil would be punished far more severely than he
who actually committed it. It is a consolation to the righteous
to know that god judges not by the sight of the eye, but by the
secret thoughts and intents of the heart. The final judgment of
the human race is deferred to their next estate, that God may
judge the spirit according to the deeds done in the body, His
judgment not being passed upon the body, but upon the spirit, the
body having paid the penalty of its own faults and errors by
death. The spirit is held responsible for the acts done in the
body. No spirit can plead, before the bar of Jehovah, the
weakness of the flesh as a justification of sin; the latter may
be urged in palliation, but not in justification. Our Father is
full of mercy, but he cannot look upon sin in any individual with
the least degree of allowance; but every spirit must be held
responsible, and will have to answer at the bar of God, and will
there receive a just and righteous judgment for the deeds done in
the body.
8
But it will be found, in the language of Paul, that some men's
sins have gone to judgment before-hand; others will follow after.
In other words, some men will have their accounts balanced and
settled in time, before the time for the final reckoning arrives,
and when that time comes they will have enough on the credit side
of their account to balance the debtor side, and they will stand
square, free, and accepted; while those whose sins follow them to
judgment will have a long list of accounts unadjusted and a heavy
balance against them, with nothing to set off against it.
9
What class of beings are they who are so highly favoured as to
have their sins go to judgment before them? Why, they are they
who have repented of their sins, and have ever kept the law of
God, and not been anxious to run in debt again. There are many
people who, in both spiritual and temporal things, as long as
they can have an open book account, are ready to run up bills.
But prudent, wise, and careful men and women like to have short
reckonings and to know pretty often how they stand and to keep
their accounts square. They never lay themselves down to rest, or
rise in the morning, without communing with their God and
learning the position they occupy in His sight. In our communings
with our Father it is our privilege to learn this lesson, and it
is one that every Saint should learn. If we live continually so
as to enjoy the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, it will hold
the mirror before our eyes, and enable us to understand our
positions before God as plainly as we behold our natural faces in
the glass; and if we have been heedless or negligent in the
performance of our duties, it will be presented to our minds, and
we will learn our faults, and if we sincerely repent, the
whisperings of the Holy Spirit will prompt us as to the course we
should take to make things right. If you have slandered, given
place to envy or jealousy, or have indulged in backbiting, evil
speaking, fault-finding, criticising, or have used an evil
influence concerning your brother or sister, the Spirit will say
to you, "Go and make that right, ask your friends who have
suffered by your folly to be merciful to you and to let your
fault be buried." You will thus pour in the oil, and, as far as
in you lies, heal the would you have inflicted. And when you have
thus obtained your brother's forgiveness you can look up to your
Father in Heaven and with confidence ask for His forgiveness.
9
No individual can wrong another without that wrong being thrown
back upon himself. This is just as sure as that your face is
reflected in a camera when the light shines upon it. You go into
a photographic gallery to have your likeness taken; you sit down
opposite the camera, and the effect of the light upon the
instrument is to make it reflect an exact likeness of yourself.
It is precisely similar with every evil action--they exemplify
the truth of the well-known maxim that "curses come home to
roost." This is universally true. No person can, with impunity,
put his fingers in the fire; neither can any person violate the
laws of life and health without suffering pain and sickness in
consequence. Though the Lord is long-suffering and full of loving
kindness, the penalties attending the violations of His laws are
sure to overtake the offender sooner or later, and foolish is the
man or woman who fosters the delusive hope that it will be
otherwise.
9
The foundation and the seeds of dissolution and death are sown in
our tabernacles. The passions of human nature work, ultimately,
the overthrow and dissolution of our bodies; and this is no more
true than that the spirit, in like manner, works out its own
dissolution, that is, whosoever suffers the second death, which
is a spiritual death, suffers that death as the legitimate fruit
of his evil doings as certainly and as naturally as the body
suffers death through the violation of the laws of its own
organization. Whether we violate the laws of our organizations
ignorantly or otherwise, the results are the same. The child who
runs innocently into the fire, ignorant of its power to injure
him, is burned just as quick as the grown person who does. You
overload the stomach of a child who knows not the capacity of his
system, and he suffers the consequence just the same as if he had
understood all about it.
10
The purpose of the Gospel of Christ is to enlighten the mind upon
all these subjects, and inasmuch as we are willing to receive
instruction we, through it, may learn how to prolong our physical
existence here, and how to secure everlasting life in the world
to come, or in other words, to enter upon our third estate, which
will be glorious and immortal; and in which they who are
privileged to enter upon it will be prepared to exercise the
highest functions of their existence and to enlarge, increase,
and extend for ever, until, like Abraham of old, to their
increase there shall be no end, and when the stars of the
firmament or the sands of the sea-shore shall be less numerous
than their creations. Incomprehensible as this may be to our
finite minds, it is a faint view of the glories of the third
estate. If we would secure a right to such inestimable blessings,
it must be by obedience to the laws of life which God has
revealed to us. If we sin wilfully, after having been enlightened
as to the consequences of our sin, there remains, says the
Apostle Paul, no more sacrifice for sin, but "a certain fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour
the adversaries." But if we err in ignorance, and, after having
been instructed, we repent of our sins, there is a door of mercy
opened for us, and we shall be beaten with few stripes. Such
persons, when they have wronged a brother or sister in ignorance,
will, upon being convinced of it, go straightway and rectify that
wrong. If they have oppressed the hireling in his wages, when
they become convinced of the fact, they have gone straight way
and made it right, paying him fourfold if necessary. After
pursuing such a course the Father forgives them. He says if we do
not forgive one another, neither will He forgive us. This
principle is laid down in the Scriptures in that beautiful and
simple prayer which Jesus taught to his disciples--a specimen of
honest, childlike brevity and simplicity. In another place the
Saviour says, "Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against
thee, tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall
hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." If thy brother is not
convinced of his wrong doing, do not be discouraged at the
failure to convince him; but try again. Get some brother, who is
filled with faith, love, and charity, to go with you to use his
influence with him, and if you do not succeed in melting the
icicle from your brother's heart, your friend will, at least, be
your witness before the Lord that you have fulfilled your part;
and your unforgiving brother will be held accountable. Our
account is then settled, inasmuch as we obey the ordinances of
the House of God--the conditions upon which the children of men
may find favour with God. If we have wronged our brother, stolen
his property, swindled him our of it unrighteously, or obtained
it without having the means to pay him for it, we should repent
and make restitution, even if we have to become his servant until
he is satisfied, then our Father, who is the judge between us,
will "say it is enough." The same principles will hold good with
regard to any other evil. If we, through covetousness for filthy
lucre, have oppressed the hireling, or have neglected to relieve
the wants of the sick and destitute, the Lord's poor will rise up
in judgment against us. They will say, "I was naked, and ye
clothed me not; I was sick and in prison, and ye visited me not."
And Jesus himself will be the accuser of such. He has said that
he will place such persons at his left hand among the goats, and
will say unto them, "Depart from me, I know you not." Many of
them may expostulate and inquire, "Lord, when saw we thee an
hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not minister unto thee?" But Jesus will answer,
"Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did
it not unto me."
10
There were some anciently who seemed to obtain light enough to
appreciate these sentiments, and who, in accordance with the
counsels of the Saviour, forsook their evil ways and sought to
make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, and by doing good
with their ill-gotten gains, they, in some measure repaired the
wrongs they had done. These good deeds will stand on the credit
side of their accounts.
11
There is in the human breast a constant tendency to the
allurements of this life. The wants of the present are ever
forcing themselves upon our attention; while that which is in the
future we are apt to put off till another day. The cravings of
the stomach must be looked after to-day; these shivering limbs we
must clothe to-day before another storm. Says one, "I must erect
this house over the heads of my wives and children before next
winter." And thus the wants of the present constantly impel us to
action, while things pertaining to eternity are neglected,
forgotten, or laid over till a more convenient opportunity. This
procrastination--"the thief of time"--we should guard against;
and whenever we detect ourselves with an inclination to neglect
our duties to God or each other, and think only of self, we
should instantly check the uprising of this passion, and should
never fail, when we have it in our power and the opportunity
presents itself, to administer to the wants of the poor and
needy; or, what is still better, devise ways and means which will
enable them to administer to their own necessities. The latter is
always preferable. Those who are the Lord's poor always prefer to
provide for their own necessities than to be dependent upon
others. They who are able to provide for themselves, but would
rather have others bear the burdens of life for them, are not the
Lord's poor, they are the devil's poor. They covet their
neighbour's property--his food, house, horse and carriage, and
peradventure his wife. They desire that which he possesses,
without going to and earning them as he has done. It is not he
who is most successful in gathering around him the goods of this
life, who is always the most covetous.
11
I refer to these things, which have been so often spoken, by way
of reminding us of that which is written, and to which the spirit
of the Lord continually urges attention. Let us then, my brethren
and sisters, beware of pride, lest we become like the Nephites of
old. It seems from reading their history that a very few years
sufficed for them to rise from a state of humility, enjoying the
favour of God, to one of haughtiness and pride. There is a
continual tendency to this state of feeling in the human mind. In
the days of our humility we feel after God; but when prosperity
comes, too many of us are apt to forget Him, and to feel that all
our wants are supplied. A sister says, "I have a good husband,
who prays for me and my children, and provides for our wants; he
is a guide sufficient for me." She forgets to pray for herself,
or for husband and children. Is she saved because of her
believing and faithful husband? It is true that his prayers, good
works, and the good spirit continually with him, are blessings
thrown around her to aid her in her onward path to glory and
exaltation; but unless she herself improves these favourable
circumstances she, in the end, will sink while he rises. On the
other hand, a sister who is faithful to her God, her covenants,
her husband, children, and friends, who ceases not to call upon
the name of the Lord though her husband may neglect to pray with
his family, and to magnify his calling as a man of God, the day
will come when he will sink, while she will rise and be given to
a faithful man. So with children who, beholding the evil deeds of
father and mother, follow the good counsels of friends who feel
after them, and call upon God continually and do His will, while
father and mother perish out of their sight for ever and ever;
God will exalt them and may give them to good men and women who,
perhaps, were never blessed with children.
11
Those who plant good seed will surely eat the fruit thereof;
while those who neglect to cultivate good seed will surely go
down to perdition; for, in the language of the Scripture I first
repeated, "Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down and cast into the fire."
11
May God Almighty bless us, and help us to remember these things,
and to live them as Saints of God should, is my prayer, in the
name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / John
Taylor, March 14, 1869
John Taylor, March 14, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER JOHN TAYLOR,
Delivered in the Old Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, March 14, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
RELIGIOUS CONFLICTION IN THE WORLD--THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.
12
We meet together from time to time to hear of things pertaining
to the Kingdom of God on the earth. We have our own peculiar
views in relation to many things that occupy the minds of men,
and we have been in the habit of investigating the principles of
the Gospel, and our minds are more or less occupied with affairs
connected with the welfare of humanity, whether associated with
the present life or that which is to come.
13
There is a common tendency in the minds of men generally to take
very little trouble in relation to religious matters; and men of
all nations seem more disposed to let others think and act for
them in such matters than to do so for themselves; hence, those
who are disposed to prey upon the credulous, have every
opportunity to accomplish their ends. Another point upon which
men do not reflect much, is the fact that between this and the
spirit world there is a veil drawn, which can only be penetrated
through the medium which the Scriptures unfold. There we are told
that "no man can understand the things of God but by the Spirit
of God;" hence, though men may reason upon natural principles,
and speak logically on most of the common affairs of life, when
they attempt to investigate the principles of religion, and the
nature of our relationship to God, they seem to be at a loss; and
not being willing on the one hand to acknowledge their own
weakness, ignorance, and imperfection, nor on the other hand, to
acknowledge the hand of the Almighty, they know not what course
to pursue. On account of these various feelings in the world a
great many errors of every kind have crept in and have led the
human mind astray. The Christian portion of the world are apt to
look with contempt upon what is called the heathen, and wonder
how men possessing any degree of intelligence can be led to
worship stocks and stones and gods of their own making. Yet
millions, under the influence of priestcraft do this, and they
think they are right and that they are on the high road to
Heaven. The Christian world, too, feel that it is all right with
them in reference to a future life; in fact, they feel, in
respect to religious matters, about as the Athenians did about
the goddess Diana--that she had descended from Heaven and that
all the world knew it. The various sects of the Christian
world--Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Church
of Rome, and others, no matter what their peculiar creeds or
forms of worship may be--entertain the idea that they are all on
the highway to Heaven. They build magnificent churches and pay
thousands of ministers; they are also very zealous in missionary
labours, and contribute largely for the support of charitable
institutions. But it is very few of them who reflect upon first
principles; they do not like to trouble themselves on such
matters.
13
I have travelled a great deal, and have come in contact with
professors of every creed; but they almost invariably like to
assume, without contradiction, that they are right and that their
fathers before them were. They do not like the idea to be
entertained for a moment that the principles, doctrine, and
ordinances they believe in and obey may be wrong, or that there
is any possibility of the whole so-called Christian church having
departed from the faith and ordinances as laid down in the Gospel
by Jesus Christ.
13
The Methodists, for instance, could not for a moment suppose that
John Wesley was not competent to judge all matters pertaining to
salvation. Wesleyan ministers will hardly permit his doctrines to
be questioned; they must be swallowed without investigation. In
fact, I have heard some of them say that he was a man of such
erudition, talent, and piety that they would not have his
doctrines questioned in their hearing. The Protestant Germans and
a great many others are just the same with regard to Luther; yet
in some of his ideas and principles the great Reformer was as
foolish as any other man. The Scotch are a good deal so with John
Knox; they think that he was everything good, praiseworthy, and
amiable, and, in fact, that he was the pink of perfection. The
Roman Catholics will not for a moment admit that they are not the
true church; and they will maintain that they have held the keys
of the Kingdom of Heaven from the days of Peter until now, and
that they still have the pure doctrines of the Gospel, and have
power to bind on earth and in Heaven, and to loose on earth and
in Heaven. You may ask a great many who have seceded from the
Church of Rome, and you would find that they have similar ideas
about their own infallibility, only they are a little better than
those from whom they seceded; they have made some improvements
and are a little nearer the celestial kingdom.
13
Feelings of this kind obtain not only among religionists, but
also among philosophers, for some Christian philosophers have
brought in philosophy to their aid in order to prove the truth of
the Christian religion. Paley and Dick, very prominent Christian
philosophers, have examined the works of nature, and have
endeavoured to prove that the God of nature who controlled all
these things must be a Being full of love, intelligence, and
power. In their investigations they have examined the anatomical
and visceral systems of man, beasts, birds, and insects, and have
deduced therefrom many arguments which are interesting and
incontrovertible. But when they apply their reasoning to the
Christian religion they swallow it at one gulp without
investigation. Their arguments go to prove the existence of a
Supreme Being, a God; but they do not prove the truth or falsity
of the Christian or any other system of religion--they have
nothing at all to do with them.
14
People generally are apt to accept the various religious systems
of the day without reasoning or investigation. When I was a
little boy I used to ponder over such things; and I do so still.
Finding myself an inhabitant of the world, surrounded by ten
thousand conflicting opinions on religious subjects, I want to
know "what is truth?" Who has it in his possession? Where shall
we find it? If I were among the heathen, and had been taught to
worship an alligator, I should not think it right to worship a
cat; and if it was right to worship a cat, it would not be to
worship a bull; and if a bull, it would not be to worship a
snake; and if a snake, it would not be to worship a monkey; and
if a monkey, it would not be to worship sun, moon, or stars. Were
I among the Christians I would think if the Baptists are right
the Presbyterians are not; if the Presbyterians are right then
the Baptists are not; if the Church of England is right then the
others are wrong; if the Roman Catholics are right then others
are wrong; and if any of the others are right the Roman Catholics
are wrong. I cannot conceive of two ways to go to Heaven and both
right. I cannot think of a God of intelligence, who has created
the whole human family, and who had organized every living thing,
and adapted them to the varied positions which they occupy, being
the author of the confusion that exists in the world in relation
to the forms of worship. But if God is not the author of it, who
is? Where did it come from? I know that men generally are not
inclined to investigate these subjects.
14
When I was a boy I used to be connected with the Church of
England. Theirs is a pleasant kind of religion. I liked it very
well when I was connected with it. They pay the parson for
preaching and pay the clerk for saying "Amen." No difficulty
about the matter, everything moved along pleasantly. Nobody
thought of questioning the parson. They considered the whole
system correct, and that they were all on the way to Heaven. The
Roman Catholics feel a good deal the same way, only their
religion is not quite so easy. They have to do penance sometimes;
if they do wrong they may get absolution, but they have to pay
for it.
15
In talking with Church of England ministers I have sometimes
asked them where they got their authority from. That is a kind of
question they hardly deem admissible, but they would say, "Well,
if we must confess, we got it from the Roman Catholics." Where
did they get it from? "From Peter." But, unfortunately, you
Episcopalians say that the Roman Catholics are in error. "Yes,
they are in error." Well, if that be the case, how could they
confer power upon you? Do not the Scriptures say if a tree is bad
its fruit will be bad? "Oh," say they, "they might retain their
power even if they had lost their virtue." Oh, indeed; you admit
that much. Well, if they had power to bind on earth and to bind
in Heaven, they had power to loose on earth and to loose in
Heaven; and if they had power to give the priesthood they had
power to take it away, and if they cut you off you have no
authority. They do not like to reason upon these things; but I
do. I like to know the "whys" and "wherefores" in all such
things, and to understand their foundation, especially in matters
pertaining to man's eternal welfare. I have generally taken the
liberty of applying the word of God to principles of religion
whether taught by the Methodists, Church of England, Roman
Catholics, or any others; and when "Mormonism" was presented to
me my first inquiry was, "Is it Scriptural? Is it reasonable and
philosophical?" This is the principle I would act upon to-day. No
matter how popular the theories or dogmas preached might be, I
would not accept them unless they were strictly in accordance
with the Scriptures, reason, and common sense.
15
I used to be told when investigating religious principles that it
was dangerous to do so, and I had better let them alone; but I
did not think so. I believe it is good to investigate and prove
all principles that come before me. Prove all things, hold fast
that which is good, and reject that which is evil, no matter what
guise it may come in. I think if we, as "Mormons," hold
principles that cannot be sustained by the Scriptures and by good
sound reason and philosophy, the quicker we part with them the
better, no matter who believes in them or who does not. In every
principle presented to us, our first inquiry should be, "Is it
true?" "Does it emanate from God?" If He is its Author it can be
sustained just as much as any other truth in natural philosophy;
if false it should be opposed and exposed just as much as any
other error. Hence upon all such matters we wish to go back to
first principles.
15
If I am a man, where did I come from, and what is the nature of
my existence and being here? I want information on these points,
if anybody can give it. If I had an existence before I came here
I want to know something about it. If there is a God and anybody
on the earth ever knew anything about Him, I want to know
something about Him. If there are wise, intelligent, and learned
men anywhere who can tell me anything about Him, about my own
existence and future destiny, I want to know it. These desires
are reasonable; why should they not be gratified? You go to the
heathen and inquire about God, and they have thousands of them in
every form. Go to the Christians and they have one God, but he
has neither body, parts, nor passions; his presence is
everywhere, but he exists nowhere. They have never heard nor seen
him, and they do not know anybody who ever did, not even their
ministers, whom, they claim, are sent of God. They are equally as
ignorant in relation to their own existence and the ends of their
creation. They say they are going to Heaven, but all they can
tell you about it is that it is beyond the bounds of time and
space.
15
This kind of doctrine does not suit me. I can read in the
Scriptures that men used to converse with God, and that angels
conversed with them; that others had visions and could read the
purposes of God as they were unfolded before them. But come to
the present day when, according to their own account, the most
intelligent people that ever were upon the earth are now in
existence, and they know nothing about God or His purposes. I
care nothing about such knowledge and wisdom. In the language of
the old prophet I say, "My soul, enter not thou into their
secret." I want something that is intellectual and true, and that
will bear investigation.
15
When I turn to the Gospel as taught by Jesus, I find that he sent
his disciples into all the world and commanded them to preach the
Gospel to every creature, saying, "He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be
damned." This Gospel was no pliant thing, as in this day, that
men could receive or refuse as they pleased, or that they could
tinker to suit their own notions; but when preached, it involved
the salvation or damnation of those who heard it.
16
When the apostles commenced to preach the Gospel, Jesus said it
was necessary for him to go away, for if he went away he would
send them the Comforter--the Holy Spirit-- which should call all
things to their remembrance and show them things to come. This
was something very important; a religion that would do this was a
religion fit for immortal men. Why should men, made in the image
and after the likeness of God, be ignorant of themselves, of
their pre-existence, and their future destiny? The religion that
Jesus came to teach instructs men in relation to these subjects
and puts them in possession of correct information. Well, then, I
do not want to go to any of the old doctrines of the Roman
Catholic Church, or to the Episcopalians, Calvinists, or
Lutherans. I want the doctrines that were promulgated by the
disciples of Jesus on the day of Pentecost, through obedience to
which men may gain the power and inspiration that were enjoyed by
them, in accordance with the promises which Jesus had, made. On
that day we read that the disciples began to speak with other
tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. People from different
nations heard them preach the Gospel in their own tongues, and
they marvelled and thought they were drunken with new wine. Peter
told them that it was not so, "but," said he, "this is that which
was spoken by the prophet: It shall come to pass in the last days
that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your old men
shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions, and
upon my servants and handmaidens I will pour out my spirit and
they shall prophesy." It was the pouring out of the Spirit of God
in fulfilment of this prophecy. It was the revelation of God to
man; it was the introduction of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; it
was the power of the Lord God manifested through obedience to the
Gospel.
16
When the people saw these wonderful manifestations, they said,
"Men and brethren, what shall we do?" I have often reflected upon
this saying. If men were to ask this question now among the
Methodists they would tell them to come to the mourner's bench
and be prayed for. Some of the other sects would tell them pretty
much the same thing. I have seen operations of this kind take
place. When their preachers get people excited, they get them to
the mourner's bench and they commence praying, and tell the
people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The mourner may say,
"I do believe;" but his only answer will be, "Well, you must
believe." "I do believe," says the mourner again. "Well, you must
believe," is the reply again, and that is about all the minister
or the people know about it. Some will say the believer must be
baptized; but upon the mode of baptism they are very much divided
in opinion. Some say they must be sprinkled; others say the water
must be poured upon the believer; while others say that immersion
is the correct method. The Methodists are very pliable on this
point--they give a man a chance to have which method he pleases;
their ministers do not know which is right, so they give the
sinner the privilege to take which he likes.
17
I have reflected upon these matters a good deal. It was very
different in former days. When they asked on the day of Pentecost
what they were to do to be saved, said Peter, "Repent and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the
remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost."
This was the command to all--to the doctors, lawyers, Pharisees,
and pious people as well as to the harlot, publicans, and
thieves. This was the doctrine of the Apostolic Church. The
question with me is, "If this was the true Gospel 1800 years ago,
is it not the same to-day?" This is a question I have often put
to priests when I was very young, and they would tell me not to
trouble myself about such things, they were for the consideration
of wiser people. But when I investigated further I found that
these "wiser people" knew nothing about it.
17
The Methodists, Presbyterians, and others tell us they have the
Gospel and the Holy Ghost. I am glad if they have, but if they
have, they will be able to show the fruits of the Gospel, for it
will produce the same results now as then. Eighteen hundred years
ago, if a man sowed wheat it produced the same as to-day; and if
he sowed barley or corn, he reaped the same, for what a man sows
that shall he reap. The animal called a horse in those days is
not a jackass or a mule now, but is a horse still. Two and two
made four then the same as to-day. The Gospel of Jesus Christ
produced certain results then, and it will produce the same
to-day, or it is not the Gospel. This is the way I reason.
"Well," the inquirer may say, "if the Gospel does not exist
anywhere but among you Latter-day Saints, where did you get it
from?" We believe God has spoken. Joseph Smith said an angel came
and administered to him and revealed the Gospel to him as it
existed in former days, and Joseph declares further, that he was
ordained by holy angels, and was commanded to go forth and preach
the everlasting Gospel. I find in reading the Bible that there is
a prophecy in relation to this matter. John says in his
revelation, "I saw another angel flying in the midst of Heaven,
having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the
earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, crying with
a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His
judgment is come, and worship Him that made the heavens, earth,
the seas, and the fountains of water."
18
What is meant by the everlasting Gospel? I know that some people
think there was no Gospel until Jesus came; but it is a great
mistake. Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses had the Gospel; and when
Jesus came he came to offer himself a sacrifice for the sins of
the world, and to bring back the Gospel which the people had
lost. "Well," says one, "do you mean to affirm that the men you
have just named had the Gospel?" I do, and hence it is called the
everlasting Gospel. "How do you know?" Why, the Scriptures say
the Gospel held the keys of the mysteries of the revelation of
God. Now, Adam was in possession of these things; he was in
possession of the spirit of prophecy and revelation. he talked
with God, and it was through the medium of the Gospel he was
enabled to do it. Enoch also conversed with and had revelations
from God, and finally he was not, for God took him. Noah
conversed with God, and God told him to build an ark, and gave
him revelations about the size of it and the kind of animals he
was to introduce into it. And wherever the Gospel existed there
was a knowledge of God. Moses had the Gospel and so had Abraham,
and they communicated with Him from time to time. And by what
medium was this done? It was through the medium of the Gospel.
"Do you mean to affirm," says the objector, "that Moses had the
Gospel?" Yes; let us take the Bible for it; we all believe in
that. In that book we read that "unto us was the Gospel preached
as well as unto them." We are also told that the Gospel was
preached to them, but that it did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in those who heard it, therefore the law was
added because of transgression. Added to what? Why, to the
Gospel, which the Scriptures say Moses preached to the children
of Israel. In the New Testament we read, Gal. 3rd chapter and 8th
verse, "For the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the
heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham,
saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed." It was through the
medium of the Gospel that Abraham obtained these promises. Now,
some people think the law of Moses, as it is called, was given to
the children of Israel as a peculiar kind of a blessing; but it
was a peculiar kind of a curse, added because of transgression.
It was as Peter said--neither they nor their fathers were able to
bear it.
18
We read also that Jesus came and was a priest for ever after the
order of Melchizedek. Who was Melchizedek? He was the man who
blessed Abraham, the father of the faithful, yet Melchizedek was
greater than Abraham, for verily the lesser is blessed of the
greater. For wherever and whenever the Gospel has existed there
has been the opening of the heavens, revelations and visions
given to men; and wherever the Gospel has not existed there has
been no vision, no revelation, no communication between the
heavens and the earth. Hence that which is called the Gospel in
the Christian world is not the Gospel, but a perversion of it.
18
When Jesus came he came to do away with the law and to introduce
the Gospel that their fathers had lost because of transgression.
After its restoration by Jesus the same results followed: the
heavens were opened, the purposes of God unfolded, and His power
made manifest among the people.
18
Joseph Smith's mission was to restore this same Gospel in its
fulness. He brought back the same Gospel that Jesus taught, the
same faith and repentance, the same baptism for the remission of
sins, and the same laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy
Ghost, and the same Holy Ghost with all its powers and blessings.
This is the doctrine and these the principles we profess to
believe in. We do not profess to have received our authority from
the Church of England or any other sect: it came directly from
God by the ministration of holy angels. The Gospel that we preach
is the everlasting Gospel; it reaches back into the eternities
that are past; it exists in time and it stretches forward into
the eternities to come, and everything connected with it is
eternal. Our marriage relations, for instance, are eternal. Go to
the sects of the day and you will find that time ends their
marriage covenants; they have no idea of continuing their
relations hereafter; they do not believe in anything of the kind.
It is true there is a kind of natural principle in men that leads
them to hope it may be so; but they know nothing about it. Our
religion binds men and women for time and all eternity. This is
the religion that Jesus taught--it had power to bind on earth and
to bind in Heaven, and it had power to loose on earth and to
loose in heaven. WE believe in the same principles, and we
expect, in the resurrection, that we shall associate with our
wives and have our children sealed to us by the power of the holy
priesthood, that they may be united with us worlds without end.
The Gospel we preach is like the Melchizedek priesthood--without
beginning of days or end of years.
19
There is something pleasant in this. I do not want uncertainty
about my eternal welfare; I do not want to dream away my
existence and be governed by somebody's ipse dixit in regard to
the future; I do not want to pay a man a few dollars to take care
of my soul; I beg the privilege of doing that myself with the
assistance of my brethren in the priesthood.
19
Why, these Christians, so called, cannot trust their God in
anything. To show the difference in the workings of their systems
and ours I will refer briefly to my early experience amongst
them. When young I used to attend their missionary meetings.
Their preachers would get up and tell about the dreadful state of
the heathen, and in order that they might be converted, the
members of the various religious bodies used to subscribe
thousands and thousands of pounds to send them abroad and support
them while there. I have known them make mathematical
calculations about how many souls a missionary might convert, and
what it would cost to support him during the time he was doing
it; and then they would say if they could have the amounts
collected for missionary purposes duplicated, triplicated, or
increased a thousand times, there might be so many more heathen
converted. Those men would not go out as the apostles
did--without purse or scrip. jesus commanded them to go so in
order to try the world. And when Joseph Smith sent out his
apostles and disciples he said, Go without purse or scrip. I have
travelled thousands and hundreds of thousands of miles that way;
and many of my brethren have done the same thing. Have we lacked
anything necessary? No, never. The Gospel of Jesus Christ always
took good care of me, and to-day I would rather trust in God
under such circumstances than in any of the princes of the earth.
This is the way our religion has spread, and it has progressed
because God has been with and blessed the labours of His
servants; and peace, harmony, and union prevail in our midst.
Many have got angry with us, but that is nothing new; the wicked
have always shown anger when the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been
upon the earth.
19
Many have tried to stay the progress of the work of God, but it
has continued to roll on in spite of all the opposition with
which it has had to contend. The prophet saw a little stone cut
out of the mountain without hands, and it continued to roll and
smote the feet of the image made of clay, brass, silver, gold,
and iron, and it became as the chaff of the summer threshing
floor; but the little stone grew and increased until it became a
great mountain and filled the whole earth.
19
It will be so with this stone which God has hewn out in these
last days; and though men may combine to stay its progress and
may set themselves in array against the Lord and His anointed,
yet He will come out of His hiding place and will vex such people
and nations, and He will overturn and overturn until Truth shall
prevail the wide world over, and until His kingdom shall reach
from the rivers to the ends of the earth; until all men shall bow
to the sceptre of Immanuel; until the wicked shall be rooted from
the earth, and His kingdom shall be established and given to His
Saints to possess for ever and ever.
19
May God help us to be faithful in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Albert Smith, April 6, 1869
George Albert Smith, April 6, 1869
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT GEORGE A. SMITH
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 6, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans)
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR EMIGRATING THE SAINTS--WORD OF WISDOM.
20
I am glad, my brethren and sisters, of meeting with you again in
General Conference. Our Conferences form a peculiar feature in
our history, and the people in all parts of the Territory look
forward to these occasions with far more than ordinary interest,
and make calculations to participate therein.
20
The past six months have been a period of remarkable interest.
There has been a marked advancement in the progress of the work
of the Lord and a great increase and improvement in the
knowledge, sentiments, and feelings of the Saints since our last
Conference, perhaps more so than in the same space of time at any
period in the history of the Church since its organization. The
Saints are becoming more united in their business relations, and
in all their associations for the purpose of accomplishing the
work that is before them, and if the old adage, "Union is
strength," be true, we are certainly growing stronger.
20
The teachings during this Conference will, as a matter of course,
have a tendency to increase this union, to enlarge the
understandings and judgments of the Saints, and to banish certain
antiquated ideas which, more or less, have been woven into our
being, and have formed part of our existence, enable us to free
ourselves from the shackles of tradition and ignorance and to
move forward more effectually in the discharge of those duties
devolving upon us in connection with the great and glorious work
which God has entrusted to our charge. It will also be necessary
for us to take into consideration the different points pertaining
to the progress of that work.
20
It was a saying of Joseph Smith, that he taught the people
correct principles and they governed themselves. A feeling has
been engendered and sent abroad that the Latter-day Saints are
subject to bondage; but instead of this being so, they are
controlled wholly on the principle to which I have just referred,
as having been enunciated by Joseph--they are taught correct
principles and then govern themselves. When the elders of Israel
have succeeded in informing the minds of the Saints in relation
to any topic pertaining to the work of God in the last days, they
have accomplished a great work, and that work is followed by a
feeling of willingness and obedience to carry out that principle
on the part of the great mass of the Saints.
21
Last year we made an effort to bring home the Saints from the Old
World, and a pretty strong emigration was the result. It will be
remembered that when the matter was first agitated, it seemed as
if there was but a small amount of means to be obtained. Many of
the brethren in the wards felt that they could do but little, but
they went to work and brought home some five thousand Saints.
This same work is still before us, and appeals to our sympathy,
and we still have occasion to call the attention of each other to
the importance of the work of bringing home to Zion our brethren
and sisters in foreign lands who are deprived of the privileges
that we enjoy because of their inability to gather. An appeal is
to be made from this Conference to the Saints generally
throughout the Territory, to contribute again of their substance
to bring home the Saints from foreign lands.
21
The facilities for gathering the Saints are far greater than they
have been heretofore. We wish to say to any of those who are
already gathered, who may be indebted to those who are left
behind, that they should remember and discharge their
obligations. We also advise the Saints to write to their friends
abroad and inform them how things are progressing here. I am
aware that when the people land here there are many
inconveniences with which they have to contend, and they have to
struggle for a time before they can again make a start in the
world; but they should not, on that account, forget the brethren
and sisters they have left behind, and especially those who may
have advanced means to aid them in emigrating. One of our first
great duties should be to square our accounts and to stand
honourably with our fellow-beings.
21
Although a great advance has been made within the last two years
in the observance of the "Word of Wisdom," there is yet room to
talk on that subject. We find that the tobacco trade is still
very considerable in this Territory, and we cannot yet lose sight
of the fact that we are compelled to pay a tribute to the Emperor
of China for tea, and to the Emperor of Brazil for coffee; and
there are still men in Israel who do not seem to realize the
importance of observing the "Word of Wisdom." It is, therefore,
necessary to preach, teach, and exhort, and to enforce upon the
Saints the importance of its observance, for it is preparatory to
great blessings which God has in store for the faithful. The
elders will instruct us in relation to these matters as the
Spirit of the Lord may dictate.
21
It has been my privilege this last month to visit most of the
branches in the southern part of the Territory. At a large
portion of those branches I have attended meetings, and have seen
many of the brethren and sisters, and I feel to testify that in
all my travels in Zion, I have not found a better spirit, a more
united determination, or a warmer feeling with regard to the work
of the Lord, and to build up His kingdom, than I found on this
visit. I felt thankful to learn that our brethren in the cotton
country were filled with the spirit and were zealous for the
accomplishment of their work, and that they were progressing very
satisfactorily in the accomplishment of their mission, or at any
rate that portion of them who have taken hold of it with the zeal
which becomes men who are honoured with the privilege of
labouring in any department for the building up of Zion. The
testimony of the work of the Lord in the hearts of the Saints is
a living and abiding testimony. While the work is progressing we
must be alive to the fact, and we must not get behind, we must be
faithful, live humble before the Lord, observe His counsels and
laws, not even forgetting the principles contained in the "Word
of Wisdom." If we take this course the blessings of life and
peace will continue to abide with us, which may God grant in the
name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / Daniel
H. Wells, April 7, 1869
Daniel H. Wells, April 7, 1869
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT D. H. WELLS,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 7, 1869.
(Reported by David W. Evans)
CO-OPERATION--MERCHANDIZING AND PRODUCTIVE
BUSINESSES--DOING THE LORD'S WILL.
22
After our usual custom we have met in a general council of the
church to receive instruction in those things which are necessary
for the government and well-being of the people, and to be
instructed in that which is calculated to promote our best
interests. At our Conferences a general interchange of thought
and feeling in the midst of Israel takes place. At these meetings
we receive great blessings; rich treasures of knowledge and
understanding are opened up, and made known to the people
throughout the valleys of the mountains. We come here to be
instructed; we gather from the nations of the earth that we may
be taught in the ways of the Lord and that we may learn to walk
in His paths.
22
We can see a glorious future before us; we can dwell upon the
words of the holy prophets and picture to ourselves great things
in time to come concerning the beauty and glory of Zion, when she
shall be built up. We can talk of exaltations in the Kingdom of
God, of thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, but how
are we going to attain to these things? It seems as though, when
we receive the Gospel and our hearts are lit up with the spirit
of truth, we expect, without any particular effort on our part,
at some time in the future, to attain to these great excellencies
and glories. We are a good deal like children. We tell them of
reading and writing, but they will never be able to do either,
unless they take the trouble to learn. We often hear it said that
if we wish to have a heaven we shall have to create it for
ourselves. There is considerable truth in this. In the days of
Joseph could he have accomplished with this people what can now
be accomplished in the days of Brigham? No; it would have been
impossible. I remember hearing him talk, and seeing his
endeavours to establish merchandizing on a similar footing to
that which has been recently introduced among the Saints; but
there were difficulties in the way.
23
In those days there was a tendency of feeling that each should
share alike in everything, so much so that it was impossible for
any man to do business in the mercantile line. A good brother who
was needy would think it was selfish if he could not go to a
store and get what he wanted without paying the money for it. It
was a good deal so when we first came here. Let a brother
commence the mercantile business, and the first thing he knew his
whole capital stock was credited out to the brethren. He could
not refuse to credit a brother. O, no! if he did it was said at
once that he was selfish and was no friend to the poor. I have
never seen the time when co-operation could have been established
in the midst of the people until the present. Some will doubtless
find fault with it now; but we do not expect to be clear of
fault-finders. We have to be instructed; and the Lord has been
merciful and kind. He has sought all the day long to train us in
the way we should go. We never can learn the principles
pertaining to the building up of the Kingdom of God while
scattered abroad; hence, the necessity of gathering together that
we may be instructed in the ways of the Lord.
23
There is a great tendency among the people to go into the
business of trading, and to shun the more laborious pursuits and
avocations of life. A great many seem to think that trading or
merchandizing is more genteel, and that it is more gentlemanly
not to learn some profitable trade or business. A considerable
number who have been engaged in mercantile pursuits, owing to
this change in our system of business, will no doubt be thrown
out of employment; they will have to seek other avocations. Some
persons who possess capital will have to seek other avenues in
which to invest that capital. In a new country like this there is
a variety of ways open to them for its safe and profitable
investment.
24
A man may invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods and
put them on his shelves, and in his warehouses, and dispose of
them again to other parties; but what does such a man produce or
create with his means that is beneficial to his fellow creatures?
Nothing; it is merely an interchange. It is useful and necessary
in its way and place, and it is all well enough; but sufficient
should be done and no more than sufficient. Trading is overdone;
there are too many employed in this kind of business; they should
seek employment in some other way, and find other channels for
investing their capital that are better calculated to produce
something from the earth, and bring forth from the elements that
which is necessary for the comfort and well-being of man and
beast. Just think how many things could be raised and
manufactured here, that, if we had them to-day, would fetch very
remunerative prices. Butter, for instance, that at the present
time is selling for a dollar and a quarter a pound, in a country
like this should not bring more than twenty-five cents. Cheese
the same. These two articles are imported twelve or fifteen
hundred miles, and then the Territory is not near supplied. Wool
and flax, too, might be raised profitably; not near enough of
these is raised; and in these articles our surplus means might be
safely and profitably invested. There is not near enough grain
raised in the Territory. Wheat is selling to-day at four dollars
a bushel, when it should not be more than half that price, and
even then would well remunerate the producer. It is so with every
other article of our own consumption and that is required for the
sustenance of our animals; and the same may be said of the
animals themselves. Stock raising offers a profitable avenue for
the investment of means. Here are many avenues in which they, who
have been overturned in their mercantile pursuits, can invest
their means, which will pay larger profits, and which are far
less liable to fluctuation, because mercantile pursuits are often
subject to great depression through being overdone, or through
scarcity of money and other causes. If a person has a farm his
produce will keep until he can obtain remunerative prices, and he
is more free and independent than the merchant; for the earth
being his banker, he is not called upon to meet his bills and
obligations by any particular and specified time, as the merchant
is. By turning our attention in these directions our capital may
be safely and profitably invested, and many who are now but
little better than idlers in Israel might be remuneratively
employed.
24
I should say let every young man, and woman too, learn some way
to procure their own subsistence, and to promote their own
independence; this is incumbent upon all. No person should be
above learning some useful occupation, trade, or business that is
calculated to produce something for his own and the general
benefit. Hundreds and thousands of articles are imported here
that might just as well be made in our midst, and if they were
made here it would render us, as a people, a great deal more
independent and comfortable than we are now. That man only is
truly rich who knows how to provide for himself and his
household. I do not care how much means he has in his possession,
he only is independent who has the means of subsistence within
himself, who has the capability of going forth, and, by his own
industry, drawing from the elements those things which are
necessary for his own subsistence.
24
I remember reading an anecdote of Stephen Girard and of a young
man he had had in his employment a long time, who had received
some encouragement, and had large expectations from him, that
when he had attained his majority he would set him up in
business. When that time arrived, instead of giving the young man
a draft for a certain amount of money, he told him to go and
serve an apprenticeship to some useful trade, by which, in case
of a reverse misfortune, he would be enabled to earn his own
subsistence. The young man went and bound himself to a cooper and
learned that trade. In a year's time he went back to his patron
with a barrel of his own make. The old gentleman examined the
barrel, and asked the price he could afford them at, and was told
"a dollar each." Mr. Girard said it was a good article, and worth
the money, and if he could make as good barrels as that for that
price, he had insured to himself a living in any event that might
happen. For his obedience in going and learning a trade as the
old gentleman had directed him, he was rewarded with a check for
twenty-five thousand dollars to set him up in business.
24
In case of any reverse of fortune this man had something to fall
back upon. I have always thought this was a very good principle
to act upon. I would like to see all of our young men learn some
useful trade or occupation which would produce for them an
honourable living by their own industry; and if they acquire this
in early life, habits of industry and order become natural.
24
By industry we thrive; industry, in the mechanical and
agricultural pursuits, is the foundation of our independence, and
they who obtain a livelihood by habits of industry are far more
honourable members of society than they who live by their wits.
25
I heard recently of a city that the outsiders are endeavouring to
start, called Corinne, which it is said is to be the great city
of the interior West. Who are going there to expend their labour?
Can cities be built without labour? I think not. I have no idea
that a great city will be built in the location designated,
unless a different class of people go there than is to be found
in such places generally. I have no doubt that the soil is rich,
and that by industry the elements necessary for the building up
of a great city could be developed. But any person who expects
that a large city is going to be reared without industry and hard
labour reckons without his host. There may be a rush there, for a
short time, of speculators, loafers, and rowdies; but if these
are the only classes of people who go there--as there is good
reason to believe--this great city that is to be, like others of
the same class, will soon die out, and the people be scattered to
some other places.
25
Can men be industrious and follow the various avocations and
pursuits of life and still be servants of God? Yes, such things
are conducive to good morals. It is said that an idle brain is
the workshop of the devil, and it is far more likely to be so
than the brain of a person who is occupied with some useful
employment. Can a person work on the railroad, for instance, and
be associated with the wicked without being contaminated by them?
O yes, if he is so disposed. An elder of Israel should wrap
himself as with a mantle, from sin, whether he goes to preach the
Gospel to a wicked world, or whether he goes to labour among the
wicked. Such a man will lose nothing, but he will gain the esteem
even of the wicked themselves, by being faithful and true to his
calling, keeping the commandments of God, and observing the Word
of Wisdom; and no matter what society he may be in he will be
respected, and will be far more likely to be so for the strict
observance of the principles of the religion he professes than he
will be if he does not observe them. I do not know that it is any
excuse for a man to smoke, chew, drink whisky, take the name of
God in vain, swear, or drink tea or coffee because he mingles
with those who do such things. Do you think your associates would
respect you the more for it? No, not a whit; but they would
respect you more for not doing such things. They would have
greater confidence in you, and if they had money they wished to
entrust to the care of any one, they would sooner entrust it to
the care of a man who was faithful to the principles of his
religion than to their associates who get drunk, gamble, swear,
and commit every abomination.
26
This people have been awakened to a sense of their duty in
keeping the Word of Wisdom, yet many of them think it a
sufficient excuse for them to use hot drinks, if they happen to
be where others use them; in this way they are falling back to
the use of tobacco, and are smoking their pipes or cigars, and
are drinking tea and coffee or a little whisky now and again, and
are letting those old habits grow on them again. This is wrong;
they should not do it. I mention this in order to stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance. We should not forget that we
have entered into covenant not to do so. Latter-day Saints should
remember that there is not a day, hour, or moment in which they
can afford to lay aside the armour of righteousness; there is no
time but what the adversary is at their elbows ready to enter in,
take hold, and lead them into forbidden paths. It is and ever has
been a struggle with this people to trample the wickedness of the
world under their feet. It rises before us continually and we are
never without it. We do not expect to be without it in our midst
if this is the kingdom of God. I suppose Jesus had as good an
idea of what constituted the kingdom of God as any of us, and he
said it was like a net cast into the sea which brought forth all
kinds both good and bad; therefore let no one say this cannot be
the kingdom of God because there are some who are not righteous
in our midst. Because the wicked and unrighteous are in the
world, must we be partakers of their wickedness? By no means; it
is not at all necessary that it should be so. Let us endeavour to
eradicate from our own bosoms all sin. It is not a matter of
enthusiasm, to last for an hour, a day or a week and then die
out; it is in this way that people forget God and do wickedly.
You know that the Scriptures inform us that they who do wickedly,
and all the nations who forget God, shall be turned into hell.
The paths of virtue and truth are the paths of peace. The paths
of union, that the leaders of this people are striving
incessantly to introduce among us, are calculated to create
excellence, greatness and power in our midst. By pursuing these
paths we shall grow in every virtue and excellence until we shall
attain to those great glories that are for the faithful, about
which we sing and pray, and the contemplation of which always
lights up our minds with so much joy and bliss. By faithfully
observing the counsels given to us we shall actually come into
possession of these things as naturally as a child, by constant
instruction, comes to attainments in learning. It will be done by
gaining item by item, by living our holy religion day by day,
hour by hour, and all the time.
26
Blessed is that person, man and woman, who can retain, from youth
up, a good, holy and righteous influence; who have never
committed an overt act, preserving themselves righteously before
the Lord in all good faith and conscience all the days of their
lives. I say blessed are such persons. Persons are liable to be
overtaken in liquor; but in Zion we should be free from these
practices to a far greater extent than in the world. It is to
overcome the evils that exist in the world that the Lord is
gathering His Saints together. Why, if every man and woman who
gathers to Zion were determined to follow their own ways, the
state of things that exists in the world would soon be
established here, and the object of the Lord, in gathering His
people together, would be frustrated. Yet there are many people
here who cannot see this; and they feel themselves infringed
upon. Why, such persons are greater than the Saviour of the world
in their own estimation! He came here to do his Father's will,
and in his greatest agony he prayed that the cup might be taken
from him, if it were possible, "Nevertheless," he said, "not my
will, but Thine by done." His own will was swallowed up in the
will of his Father; and yet we, poor, miserable mortals can stick
up our noses and say, "We will do as we please," if anything is
brought forth by the inspiration of the Almighty that seems to
cut our corners. Are we a band of brethren, standing shoulder to
shoulder under the banner of Emmanuel--him who said, "Let not my
will, but Thine by done?" If we are, we shall walk in the path
marked out for us by the Captain of our salvation. "Oh!" says
one, "I think I understand, comprehend, and know better than any
one else; I am not going to do as such a one tells me--my Bishop,
President, or some one else in authority over me; he does not
know as much as I do." Perhaps not, the sequel will show who know
most.
27
If we have a proper conception of the counsels given to us, we
shall never utter such sentiments, or let them have place in our
hearts. It is difficult sometimes to get into our ears and hearts
what is required of us, hence the amount of instruction that has
to be given to the people. It was years and years before we got
the people to take hold of the Word of Wisdom. There have been
such things as reformations in the midst of the people of God, I
suppose because of the proneness of the people to relapse into
the ways of the world. Hence, it becomes necessary every once in
a while to arouse Israel to a sense of their duties, that they
may sustain the Kingdom of God.
28
There are a great many people who cannot see the Kingdom of God,
although the events, long since foretold, which should transpire
in connexion with that Kingdom are actually transpiring before
their eyes. The people of the world are blind, they cannot see
the Kingdom; and a great many Saints, and pretty good at that,
who should see the Kingdom of Heaven in the introduction of a new
principle, oftentimes fail to do so. Is the Word of Wisdom of the
Kingdom of Heaven? Yes. Is co-operation of the Kingdom of Heaven?
Yes. Is union in the midst of this people of the Kingdom of
Heaven? Yes. Is the one-man power, with which the world find so
much fault, and talk about so much, of the Kingdom of Heaven?
Yes, if God is our Father and is at the head of it, it is. Then
why should there be so much dread and fear of the Lord
establishing His government in the world? Did it ever do anybody
any harm? O, no. Did it ever do anybody any good, or is it
calculated in its nature to do anybody any good? Yes, the
greatest good. Then why so much dread and fear of it? Because the
people cannot see the Kingdom of God in it. But it is not very
far from them; God is not very far from them, nor from any of us,
and His work is established and is transpiring right before our
face and eyes. The government of God is being established on the
earth, and the world does not know it; yet it is like a city set
on a hill for everybody to gaze upon and investigate. Yet they
treat it as if it were of no moment to them. Time will show that
it is of the utmost importance to them. Let no person pass it by
as an idle talk, for time will disclose that it is of the utmost
importance to every son and daughter of Adam. They had better, at
least, give it a passing notice and investigate it with honesty
of purpose. Our hopes for the present and future, our happiness
and prosperity, and even existence itself, are bound up in the
Kingdom and government of God. What else is there now upon the
face of the earth but what has a tendency to destruction? Look at
the stream of vice and corruption that is flowing on, bearing its
votaries to the gulf of despair. Who can stem the torrent? People
can see it, but can they stop it? No, it bears them along on its
surface, and they are lost for ever. Is it not time that some
standard should be erected on the earth, around which those who
are disposed to do right, may rally, where they will be safe from
this great gulf-stream of destruction? I think it is time,
because the Lord has thought so, and He has commenced His work;
He has erected His standard, and is calling to the people and
pointing the way to safety. Not that He or any one else expects
this stream to be checked or stopped in its mad career; it will
bear its onward course until, finally, it finds its depths. But
we may save one here and another there, and so the Lord may get
to Himself a people. It is like being snatched as brands from the
burning. He will bring them to a place where they can be
instructed. This has been the case with us. The Lord has brought
us together and He is seeking to instruct us, that we and our
children after us may escape those great evils which are so
prevalent in the world. I need not mention them, they are patent
to the eyes of all. The people have forgotten God; they do not
know His ways, although there are many well-intentioned people
who are seeking to do their duty and are living in the hope of a
blessed reward hereafter. They will obtain it. They are trying to
stem the torrent of evil as far as it is in their power; but they
do not know "the only true and wise God and Jesus Christ whom He
has sent," "whom to know is eternal life;" and another evil is,
they do not try to know Him, or they would investigate and try to
find out God and His Kingdom.
28
The Lord is not responsible for all the evil of which I have been
speaking, neither for all the diversities of religion in the
world. He created man upright, but man has sought out many
inventions. If the people would seek after the Lord and be
content to walk in His ways, do you think the diversities in
regard to religion that now exist would be known? By no means; we
should all come, then, to a unity of the faith.
28
The Latter-day Saints have great cause to rejoice, because they
are blessed above all other people. They are learning the ways of
the Lord; and more blessed are they still, if they follow in
them. They are laying a foundation that will stand for ever.
There is no principle of virtue, truth, holiness and
righteousness but what is calculated to exalt man in time and for
ever and ever. Those who build not on these principles are
building on sand, and their superstructure will be washed away
when the tempest comes; while they who build on the rock of truth
will be able to withstand all opposition, and they will
eventually obtain that glory and exaltation that the Saints now
talk about.
28
These principles are true and can be depended upon. God is their
author; He is at the helm. He is our Father and we may come to
exaltation in His presence if we will live for it; and in this
earthly probation we can be co-workers with Him in the
establishment of His kingdom on the earth if we will serve Him
and keep His commandments. We may come to Him on His own
platform, on His own terms, but not on our own. That is the
trouble with Christendom, and the world at large. They are trying
to make the Lord's ways correspond with theirs. Why, they would
tear Him to pieces if they could have their wishes carried out;
they would dethrone Jehovah and overturn His power and kingdom.
Could He exist if the world could have their own way? A great
many called Latter-day Saints feel a little the same way; perhaps
they do not know it, but it amounts to no less. I have known
people come for counsel when they had their own minds made up
about the course they intended to pursue. All they wanted was to
receive counsel that corresponded with their notions. If they
received that, all right; otherwise it would not do. All the
world is after is to try to make the Lord come to their terms; He
cannot do it.
28
It would be well for us, sometimes, if we could see a few of our
own inconsistencies, and what we require of the Lord. The plan of
salvation is amply sufficient to save to the uttermost. How? In
our own way? No, in the way that the Lord has devised. If we are
saved in His Kingdom we shall have to bow to His laws; we cannot
be saved without. He has a right to dictate; He has done so, and
it is for us to do His bidding.
29
We are blessed in having the living oracles in our midst, and in
having a standard erected around which we can rally. The Bible is
good, and we believe in it more than any other people. The Book
of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants are the word of
God, and they contain many precious gems; every line is full of
knowledge, intelligence and truth, and is calculated to be a
benefit to us; but yet, above and far beyond all, we have the
living oracles in our midst to tell us what to do to-day. A great
portion of the Scriptures we have was the living oracles to the
people in the day in which it was given, and it has become
Scripture because it was given by the inspiration of the
Almighty. It was applicable to the day in which it was given. We
have the living oracles in our midst to give us that which is
applicable to our day. Let us make our ways correspond to the
Lord's, for we read that "as high as the heavens are above the
earth so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts than
our thoughts." We are blessed in having His ways made known to
us, because He knows best. He has more knowledge and
understanding and greater ability, and can perform and accomplish
more than any other power that exists; and that people only may
be said to be blessed who walk in His ways and do His bidding.
29
I feel sometimes as though I had never lived, in reality, until I
became acquainted with the principles of the Gospel; I feel as
though my whole existence had been a waste. In one sense it has.
I did not know how to serve God acceptably in His sight. I did
not comprehend righteousness, neither did I know how to sanctify
myself before Him. We are taught that obedience is better than
sacrifice, therefore let us go to, brethren and sisters, with our
mights to serve God and keep His commandments, so shall we come,
finally, to inherit those blessings which are promised to the
faithful, which I pray we may ultimately attain for Christ's
sake, Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, April 8, 1869
Brigham Young, April 8, 1869
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
GATHERING THE SAINTS--CONTINUOUS FAITHFULNESS--WOMEN AND
FASHIONS.
30
I understand that many of the brethren and sisters in the old
country lent money to their friends now here to assist them to
emigrate; quite a number of letters have been sent, stating that
those friends covenanted before leaving that they would repay
that means with the first money they earned after arriving here,
and that they would also send more than they had borrowed, in
order to assist those who had previously assisted them. A number
of our elders who have been from here on missions to England and
other countries, have been in the habit of borrowing money, or of
getting it in some way. Some of these elders, when asked to
refund what they had borrowed, have said, "We did not borrow it,
it was a gift to us." I wish to say to such elders, return the
money with interest. If it was a gift, return the gift, that it
may go back and help many instead of one.
30
I do not wish to spend much time on this subject, I wish to give
instruction, and to tell you my mind with regard to those elders
who have borrowed money from the Saints in Europe. They may
pretend to say that it was given to them to excuse themselves for
not repaying it, but if they do not Refund it, they are unworthy
of the fellowship of the Saints, and I ask their bishops to cut
every one of them from the Church, without favour or affection.
If the bishops do this, they will be doing their duty.
Disfellowship them, they are not worthy of a standing in the
Church and Kingdom of God.
30
I wish to ask my brethren, the elders of Israel, to give
liberally to help home our brethren and sisters who are now in
bondage in the old countries. We have not said anything to the
people for a long time with regard to donations. A year ago last
fall we commenced a subscription to bring home the Saints. By the
following February the amount reached, I think, some nine
thousand dollars. Our agent left here about the 27th of February,
and about ten days before he started we gave notice that he was
going, and between that time and the time he left, the nine
thousand had swelled to about thirty thousand; and in the course
of three months from then the amount had increased to seventy-six
or seventy-seven thousand dollars. With this amount a great many
were helped here who could only raise part means, some were
brought all the way. The brethren and sisters continued to give
through the summer, and if I recollect rightly, we have now over
thirty thousand dollars in money to help home the poor. Most of
this has been sent to Liverpool, but we have some in this city.
Now we wish the charity of the brethren and sisters to be
extended to bring home the poor Saints, and perhaps it would be
as well for me to commence the list. I will say to our clerk he
may put down two thousand dollars for Brother Brigham; also one
thousand for William H. Hooper, our delegate in Congress, who
told me before he went away that he would give another thousand.
Now we are ready to receive your thousands or your hundreds, and
we will not refuse a five-dollar bill. We got a great many of
them from the sisters last fall, more than the people would
imagine; if the list were read of the sisters who put in five
dollars, ten dollars, and some twenty-five, it would astonish
you. This is a short sermon on this subject. The brethren here
from the settlements throughout the Territory can carry it home,
and it will become generally known.
31
I have thought of proposing certain conditions in relation to
those who are helped here from abroad; but whether it would be
prudent and consistent to do so, I leave the Latter-day Saints to
judge. The cogitations of my mind on the subject of bringing home
the Saints are somewhat strict. I have thought it would be as
well, before helping the poor to emigrate, to have them covenant
that after arriving here they would be Saints in every sense of
the word. Now, to particularize, I will say that we gather a
family here, consisting of father, mother, four, eight, or twelve
children, as the case may be. They are Latter-day Saints; they
wish to gather to Zion and to enjoy all the blessings of Zion;
they are anxiously waiting for every gift and blessing God has in
store for the faithful, and to be numbered with the Church of the
Firstborn; but when they reach here, if we go into their houses,
we shall very often find, if they have the means to do it, that
they will perfectly soak their systems with tea and coffee, and
are perhaps chewing tobacco and doing a little tippling, a little
swearing, and so on. This is the way with some who were gathered
last year. Now, whether it is better to leave such people to die
in the faith in their native lands, or to bring them here to
apostatize and deny their Lord and Master, is a question. I
think, if I had the knowledge and the power, I would never gather
another member of the Church who would apostatize; but I have not
this knowledge. I cannot say to a man, you stop and let your
family come to Zion. I cannot say to a woman, you stop where you
are, you are in the faith now, but if you gather you will
apostatize; but your husband and family can gather, they will
stick to the faith. I cannot say this, I have not the power, and
hence we see many after they arrive here turn away from the holy
commandments. I do not know but what it would be perfectly
reasonable to make every man and woman, before leaving their
native lands, covenant before God to observe the Word of Wisdom,
let liquor alone, use no language unbecoming a Saint, and, in a
word, live their religion after arriving here. Whether it would
be reasonable and consistent to lay such injunctions on the
people before assisting them to gather I do not know. If we were
to say to them, before leaving their homes, "Now if we gather you
home, will you live your religion?" they would jump up, clap
their hands together, shout "hallelujah," and say, "Yes, we will
do anything you require if you will only gather us to Zion."
32
Do you know see that I am perfectly tied up? and so are all the
elders of Israel in this respect. We may lay all these
injunctions on the Saints, and some would break them all. All
these things are turned over in my mind, and I look at every side
of the question, sound every principle and behold the people as
they are. Well, what is to be done? I do not know any better way,
perhaps, than to gather the Saints and try to sanctify them after
they are gathered together, for when they are baptized they
virtually covenant to observe all these rules. When we see the
course that the Saints, or those professing to be such, have
taken in feeding, clothing, and making our enemies rich here in
our midst, it makes me feel that it is time to cease gathering
those who will not be Saints indeed. I know, as well as I know
that I am a living being, that there is not one professing to be
a Latter-day Saint, who has the spirit of his calling, who would
not cease this course as quick as he would draw his hands out of
the fire, if he thoroughly knew and understood that it tends to
the overthrow of the Kingdom of God; and the fact that he helped
to sustain the enemies of the Kingdom of God must be attributed
to his ignorance. The people have eyes, but they see not; they
have hearts, but they do not understand. I will ensure that there
are scores, and perhaps hundreds, looking at me while I am
speaking, who think, "Brother Brigham, you are a fool; we have as
good a right to trade with one man as another; and we will go to
what store we please, and do what we please with our means, and
we will trade with those who will do the best by us." Yet there
are hundreds who, and in fact the most of the people, understand
the folly of this course, as the experience of the past six
months has proved. During that period we have done wonders in
guiding the minds and the movements of the Latter-day Saints.
Still there are some who seem to have no understanding. I will
venture to say they are the foolish virgins. I was going to say
they are like the foolish virgins; but they are the foolish
virgins, and by and by they will find they have no oil in their
vessels, and nothing to prepare them to go and meet the
bridegroom, and they will be found wanting. But so it is, and we
must cultivate the wheat with the tares; the sheep and the goats
have to run together. Here I am thinking of exacting a covenant
from men and women before they are gathered, that they will be
Saints indeed afterwards; but while I have such feelings the
question stares me in the face, how do you know whether they will
be or not? You see men and women here who have been in the Church
thirty years, and the most trifling, frivolous, foolish little
circumstance imaginable will throw them off the track, and they
will go to the devil. It is astonishing, it is marvellous! When I
think of these things it recalls a saying that I have sometimes
made, that I do my swearing in the pulpit, for they make me think
that we have those in our midst who profess to be Latter-day
Saints, but who are damned fools. You may say that is swearing;
but they are damned, and the wrath of God is upon them, just as
much as it was in the days of the old apostles. Men and women
would take a very different course if they could see and
understand things as they are. But I will take back the
expression "if they could see and understand." I say they can see
and understand, if they have a mind to cast out of their hearts
the love of the world, the love of riches, and the little
frivolous traits of character they so often manifest. The love of
fashion, for instance, which darkens, beclouds, and casts a shade
over the spirits of our sisters. They cannot have this, and they
do not like that, and the next thing anger creeps into their
hearts and they feel revengeful, and "I wish I could do somebody
an injury; I wish I could come up with my husband; I wish I could
do something or other to mar his peace, inasmuch as mine is
marred, because I cannot follow somebody else's fashion." Such
little, trifling, contemptible, frivolous, things cast a dark
shade over their feelings, and the first thing they know they
give way to a revengeful, vindictive, wicked spirit, which leads
them to destruction.
32
Now, I will go back again to my text--whether we should exact the
injunctions I have named of the Saints before gathering, or
whether we should not? I leave it to the people, for I do not
care much about it, for the simple reason that I do not know
enough to decide, and yet I know as much as anybody else. I might
pick up this man and that woman, and this family and that family,
and leave others because I might not think them worthy, when
those who are left behind would probably stick to the faith,
while those who are gathered might apostatize. I do not know how
to do any better than we are doing, unless the Lord reveals it. I
will say to the brethren and sisters, we are ready to receive
your donations. Open your hearts and your purse strings. I leave
this matter now for your action.
34
I spoke a little here yesterday and the day before; but I have
not really said what I wish, and whether I shall be able to
answer my own feelings with regard to our success in our
co-operative system of merchandising I do not know. I want to say
to the Latter-day Saints we have wrought wonders. It was observed
here by one of the brethren that to guide the minds of the people
and to govern and control them is a greater miracle than to raise
the dead. That is very true. The Lord Almighty could resuscitate
a corpse lying before us a thousand times easier than He could
control the congregation in this house. He has the material on
hand, and He knows every process, and He could give life to a
lifeless being, with ease, by the elements He would operate upon
and with. This is a great miracle in our estimation; but it would
be no miracle at all to the Lord, because He knows precisely how
to do it. There is no miracle to any being in the heavens or on
the earth, only to the ignorant. To a man who understands the
philosophy of all the phenomena that transpire, there is no such
thing as a miracle. A great many think there are results without
causes; there is no such thing in existence; there is a cause for
every result that ever was or ever will be, and they are all in
the providences and in the work of the Lord. It would be no
particular miracle for the Lord to resuscitate a person whose
breath had left the body. By bringing the elements to bear on the
system, He could make that system breathe again and live, but to
control this people can only be done by persuasion. We have the
privilege of choosing, refusing, acting, rising up, sitting down,
doing this or not doing; we are just as independent in our sphere
as the Gods are in theirs, and our agency is our own, and we can
do as we please. We can govern and control ourselves, and when we
do this by the law of truth it produces life within us and leads
to eternal life; but when we take the opposite course and yield
to principles that tend downward the result is death and
destruction. Now I will make the application, that you and I have
done just as we please. We have traded with whom we please. We
shall do so as far as we can. We cannot all do just as we please,
because a great many times we want to and cannot, and that is
what produces misery, which is called hell. We have done as we
please with regard to trading. We requested the people last
Conference in this room to cease trading with their enemies. Do
you see the effects of this? Yes, they are apparent to every
inhabitant of this Territory; they are apparent to the passer-by,
to the transient person and to the world; and the commercial
world has said, "This is the first thing we have ever seen in the
character of you Latter-day Saints, that manifested that you knew
enough to take care of yourselves." It tells also upon our
enemies. Suppose we had not checked this trading with outsiders,
and had not turned the stream into another channel, you would
have seen, perhaps, one hundred merchants in this city now more
than last year. They would have brought their clerks and friends
and a great number who would have operated against us. Not but
what there are many here now, and have been, who have been very
gentlemanly and kind; but where is their friendship? Is there a
man who does not belong to this church who would not vote for a
man out of the church for mayor of the city, and for man who do
not belong to the church for aldermen and councillors? No, there
is not one amongst them but what would do this. And what would
they not do? They would not do right and righteously, that is
what they would not do. But anything on the face of this earth to
remove power and influence from the Latter-day Saints, and to
remove them from their homes, many of them would do. We have been
able to check this, and it is for our advantage. Many of us have
suffered the loss of all things several times. I have been broken
up five times and left a handsome property, and have taken the
spoiling of my goods just as patiently as I could. I do not want
to see these things enacted again. I know how to avert them. If
the people will hearken to the counsel which God gives through
His servants, they will never experience any such things again;
but if they will not, they will, perhaps, suffer just as they
have heretofore--the good with the bad, the righteous through the
evil deeds of those who profess to be righteous and are not; the
simple, the honest and the good will have to suffer with the
hypocrite and the wicked. I am thankful to God that the ears of
the Latter-day Saints have been open to hear and their hearts
open to receive and act upon good counsel as far as they have
been.
35
The sisters in our Female Relief Societies have done great good.
Can you tell the amount of good that the mothers and daughters in
Israel are capable of doing? No, it is impossible. And the good
they do will follow them to all eternity. If we get the sisters
on our side with regard to trading in stores, with regard to
donations, or with regard to improvement, we have gained all that
we can ask. What do men care about fashion? You will not find one
man in a thousand that cares anything about it. Men have their
business before them, and their care and attention is occupied
with that. You will find that the farmer, the blacksmith, the
carpenter and even the merchant, were it not that he is compelled
to appear decently in society, care nothing about fashion. They
want the dollars and the dimes. The lawyer cares nothing about
fashion, only to gain the feelings of the people and have
influence over them, that he can bring them one against another,
so that he may get their dimes; that is all he cares about
fashion. The doctor cares nothing about fashion. If he can make
the people believe that he knows it all, and that they know
nothing, he would as soon wear a hat with a brim six inches wide,
and the crown an inch and a half high, as he would wear one with
the crown six inches high and the brim an inch and a half wide.
He cares no more for fashion than that, if he can only get the
purses of the people, that is all he cares for. I speak now in
general terms, for there are exceptions in every class. It is the
ladies who care for fashion. They are looking continually to see
how this and that lady are dressed. But if we can enlist their
feelings and interests in business matters, then victory is sure.
The mothers and daughters in Israel have better judgments, and
they do know more than females in the world. They do understand
the true principles of comfort, and how to adorn their persons so
that they may present an attractive appearance to their husbands,
families, friends and neighbours; and if we can make them believe
this, I reckon that, by and by, they will begin and make fashions
to suit themselves, and will not be under the necessity of
sending to Paris or to the East to find out the fashions or to
find out whether they shall make their Grecian bends one-half,
two-thirds or one-third as large as in New York; or whether they
shall cut a frock so as to show their garters every step or to
drag yards on the ground behind them. I think that, after a
while, they will consider that they know a little of something as
well as other people, and if we can enlist their sympathies and
judgments, tastes and abilities with regard to trading, fashion,
etc., the battle is won.
35
The sisters have already done much good, and I wish them to
continue and go ahead. Have a Female Relief Society in every ward
in the mountains; and have a Co-operative store in every ward,
and let the people do their own trading. There are some of the
brethren around who have asked me whether they shall trade at the
Parent Store or whether they shall send East for their goods.
They cannot see and understand things; after a while they will.
You take the Lehi Co-operative Store, for instance: Bishop Evans
started it there last summer. Suppose he had sent East for his
goods in July; if he had had the same luck that others have had,
they would have been landed about this time, and some of them by
and by, and when they had been operating three months what would
they have made? Nothing. But they came down here and bought their
goods and took them home, only a thirty miles' drive, and put
them on the shelves, and they were soon bought up. They sent to
Salt Lake City about once a week to replenish their store, and
when five months had passed away they struck a balance sheet and
every man that had put in twenty-five dollars--that amount of a
share--had, in addition to that amount, a little over
twenty-eight dollars to his credit. Have any of our city
merchants who have traded from here to New York, made money like
this? Not one, and yet the people here have paid one-third more
for their goods than the people had to pay in the Co-operative
Stores. I understand the brethren in Cache Valley are going to
send East for their goods. Well, send for them, and you will get
a little knowledge; but you will buy it; however bought wit is
pretty good, if you do not pay too dear for it.
35
Recollect that in trading there is great advantage in turning
over your capital often. Suppose the Co-operative Stores were to
send to New York for their goods, they might turn over their
capital once a year; then instead of making anything they would
run under.
36
I want to impress one thing on the minds of the people, which
will be for their advantage if they will hear it. When you start
a Co-operative Store in a ward, you will find the men of capital
stepping forward, and one says, "I will put in ten thousand
dollars;" another says, "I will put in five thousand." But I say
to you, bishops, do not let these men take five thousand, or one
thousand, but call on the brethren and sisters who are poor and
tell them to put in their five dollars or their twenty-five, and
let those who have capital stand back and give the poor the
advantage of this quick trading. This is what I am after and have
been all the time. I have capital, and have offered some to every
ward in the country when I have had a chance. I would take shares
in such institutions. I am not at all afraid; but nobody would
let me take any, except in Provo and in the wholesale store here.
I will say to Bishop Woolley, in the 13th ward, do not let these
men with capital take all the shares, but let the poor have them.
I say the same to the 14th ward and to every ward in the city;
and you bishops, tell the man who has five thousand or two
thousand to put in, to stand back, he cannot have it. If your
capital is doubled every three months, it would make him rich too
fast, and he cannot have the privilege; we want the poor brethren
and sisters to have the advantage of it. Do you understand this,
bishops and people?
36
The capitalists may say, "What are we going to do with our
means?" Go and build factories and have one, two, or three
thousand spindles going. Send for fifty, a hundred, or a thousand
sheep and raise wool. Some of you go to raising flax and build a
factory to manufacture it, and do not take every advantage and
pocket every dollar that is to be made. You are rich, and I want
to turn the stream so as to do good to the whole community.
36
I am delighted every time I hear a company say, "We do not want
your capital, we have plenty." I know what to do with mine. I
have been the means, in the hands of God, of starting every
woollen and cotton factory there is in the Territory, and almost
every carding machine. We are going to build a large factory at
Provo. Some say we have not wool to carry on the business. Yes,
we have, and we have plenty of capital. Suppose we send to the
States and buy a hundred thousand or five hundred thousand pounds
of wool; we are as well able to do it as others; or suppose we
send to California or Oregon and buy fifty thousand pounds of
wool, and ship it on the railroad and work it up. Will the people
wear it? Yes, just as quick as we get the women to tell their
husbands to wear home-made instead of broadcloth, they will do
it. I would not even wear out the cloth that has been given to me
were it not that my wives and daughters want me. If they were to
say, "Brother Brigham, wear your home-made, we like to see you in
it," I would give away my broadcloth, but to please the dear
creatures I wear almost anything. Only let us get the sisters
into this mind, and home-made clothing will soon become the
fashion throughout the Territory. I had a present sent me the
other day of some home-made linen for a coat, and I calculate to
wear it this summer. I wear my home-made a great deal, but I have
not got it on to-day; if I could only get my wives to say,
"Brother Brigham, your home-made is very nice, and we should like
to see you wear it," I should certainly wear it.
36
When the first merchants came here I foresaw all that we have
passed through. I knew the foundation was laid for the
destruction of this people if they were fostered here, and I know
so to-day. We have turned the current, and we are controlling it,
and the sisters are helping us. Now, sisters, if you will
continue to help us, and will trade with none but Latter-day
Saints, just hold up your hands. [The vote was unanimous.] Now, I
will tell you why we bother you women, though I acknowledge that
if we did not go to see the women they would come and see us; but
we are so anxious to see you that we follow you up. But the
reason why we are so anxious to have you sisters on our side in
regard to these trading matters, is because we know if you will
only say whom you will trade with and with whom you will not
trade, that we shall follow you.
37
What I have been saying with regard to these ward co-operative
stores doubling their capital once in three months, is for the
encouragement of the poor, and to induce them to invest their
little means and do something for themselves. Here is the 10th
and the 5th and 6th wards, which are looked upon as the poorest
wards in the city, though I believe the bishop of the 3rd ward
feels that his ward is the poorest in the city; but I will
venture to say that if these wards will each establish a store
and concentrate their influence, they will double their capital
every three months. I know that the 10th ward, which started with
700 dollars, three weeks afterwards had a thousand dollars worth
of goods paid for and considerable money in the drawer. Think of
that, in that poor little ward, though I will give it the praise
of being one of the best wards in the city. It has one of the
finest bands of music in the city, and they make one of the best
turn-outs when they exhibit themselves.
37
I have talked long enough. I will turn again to my starting
point. Let us have your money to bring home the poor Saints. I
feel also to urge upon my brethren and sisters to observe every
word that the Lord speaks. Observe the counsel that leads to
life, peace, glory and happiness, but do not observe that which
leads to contention, ruin and destruction. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Albert Smith, October 8, 1869
George Albert Smith, October 8, 1869
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT GEORGE A. SMITH,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 8, 1869
(Reported by John Grimshaw.)
CELESTIAL MARRIAGE--BISHOPS AND DEACONS SHOULD BE
MARRIED--DIVORCE.
37
It is a difficult undertaking to address this immense audience.
If a man commences speaking loud, in a short time his voice gives
out; whereas, if he commence rather low, he may raise his voice
by degrees, and be able to sustain himself in speaking some
length of time. But with children crying, a few persons
whispering, and some shuffling their feet, it is indeed a
difficult task to make an audience of ten thousand persons hear.
I have listened with pleasure to the instructions of our brethren
from the commencement of our Conference to the present time. I
have rejoiced in their testimonies. I have felt that the elders
are improving in wisdom, in knowledge, in power, and in
understanding; and I rejoice in the privilege, which we have at
the present day, of sending out to our own country a few hundred
of the elders who have had experience--who have lived in Israel
long enough to know, to feel, and to realize the importance of
the work in which they are engaged--to understand its principles
and comprehend the way of life. They can bear testimony to a
generation that has nearly grown from childhood since the death
of the Prophet, Joseph Smith.
38
The Lord said in relation to those who have driven the Saints
that He would visit "judgment, wrath, and indignation, wailing
and anguish, and gnashing of teeth upon their heads unto the
third and fourth generation, so long as they repent not and hate
me, saith the Lord your God."
38
I am a native of Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York--a town
somewhat famous for its literary institutions, its learning and
the religion and morality of its inhabitants. I left there in my
youth, with my father's family, because we had received the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, as revealed through Joseph Smith; and
followed with the Saints through their drivings and trails unto
the present day.
38
I have never seen the occasion, nor let the opportunity slip,
from the time when I first came to a knowledge of the truth of
the work of the Lord in the last days, that I understood it was
in my power to do good for the advancement of this work, but what
I have used my utmost endeavours to accomplish that good. I have
never failed to bear a faithful testimony to the work of God, or
to carry out to all intents and purposes, the wishes and designs
of the Prophet, Joseph Smith. I was his kinsman; was familiar
with him, though several years his junior; knew his views, his
sentiments, his ways, his designs, and many of the thoughts of
his heart, and I do know that the servants of God, the Twelve
Apostles, upon whom he laid the authority to bear off the Kingdom
of God, and fulfil the work which he had commenced, have done
according to his designs, in every particular, up to the present
time, and are continuing to do so. And I know, furthermore, that
he rejoiced in the fact that the law of redemption and Celestial
Marriage was revealed unto the Church in such a manner that it
would be out of the power of earth and hell to destroy it; and
that he rejoiced in the fact that the servants of God were ready
prepared, having the keys to bear off the work he had commenced.
Previous to my leaving Potsdam, there was but one man that I ever
heard of in that town who did not believe the Bible. He
proclaimed himself an atheist, and he drowned himself.
38
The Latter-day Saints believe the Bible. An agent of the American
Bible Society called on me the other day and wanted to know if we
would aid the Society in circulating the Bible in our Territory?
I replied yes, by all means, for it was the book from which we
were enabled to set forth our doctrines, and especially the
doctrine of plural marriage.
38
There is an opinion in the breasts of many persons, who suppose
that they believe the Bible, that Christ, when he came, did away
with plural marriage, and that he inaugurated what is termed
monogamy; and there are certain arguments and quotations used to
maintain this view of the subject, one of which is found in
Paul's first epistle to Timothy (3 chap. 2 v.), where Paul says:
"A bishop should be blameless, the husband of one wife." The
friends of monogamy render it in this way: "A bishop should be
blameless, the husband of but one wife." That would imply that
any one but a bishop might have more. But they will say, "We mean
a bishop should be blameless, the husband of one wife only."
Well, that would also admit of the construction that other people
might have more than one. I understand it to mean that a bishop
must be a married man.
39
A short time ago, the Minister from the King of Greece to the
United States called on President Young. I inquired of him in
relation to the religion of his country, and asked him if the
clergy were allowed to marry. It is generally understood that the
Roman Catholic clergy are not allowed to marry. How is it with
the Greek clergy? "Well," said he, "all the clergy marry, except
the bishop." I replied, "You render the saying of Paul
differently from what we do. We interpret it to mean--a bishop
should be blameless, the husband of one wife at least," and "we
construe it," said he, "directly opposite."
39
Now this passage does not prove that a man should have but one
wife. It only proves that a bishop should be a married man. The
same remark is made of deacons, that they also should have wives.
Another passage is brought up where the Saviour speaks of
divorce. He tells us that it is very wrong to divorce, and that
Moses permitted it because of the hardness of their (the little
children of Israel's) hearts. A man should leave his father and
his mother and cleave unto his wife, and they twain should be one
flesh. That is the principal argument raised that a man should
have but one wife.
39
In the New Testament in various places, certain eminent men are
referred to as patterns of faith, purity, righteousness and
piety. For instance, if you read the epistle of Paul to the
Hebrews, the 11th chapter, you find therein selected those
persons "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out
of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turning to
flight the armies of the aliens;" and it is said by faith Jacob
blessed the two sons of Joseph, and that he conferred upon them a
blessing to the uttermost bounds of the everlasting hills. Who
was Joseph? Why, Joseph was the son of Rachel. And who was
Rachel? Rachel was the second wife of Jacob, a polygamist. Jacob
had four wives, and after he had taken the second (Rachel), she,
being barren, gave a third wife unto her husband that she might
bear children unto him for her; and instead of being displeased
with her for giving her husband to another wife, God heard her
prayer, blessed her, worked a miracle in her favour by opening
her womb, and she bore a son, and called his name Joseph,
rejoicing in God, whom she testified would give her another son.
The question now arises, were not Rachel and Jacob one flesh?
Yes. Leah and Jacob were also one flesh. Jacob is selected by the
Apostle Paul as a pattern of faith for Christians to follow; he
blessed his twelve sons, whom he had by four wives. The law of
God, as it existed in those days, and as laid down in this book
(the Bible) makes a child born of adultery or of fornication a
bastard; and the same is prohibited from entering into the
congregation of the Lord unto the tenth generation.
39
Now, instead of God's blessing Rachel and Jacob and their
offspring, as we are told He did, we might have expected
something entirely different, had it not been that God was
pleased with and approbated and sustained a plurality of wives.
40
While we are considering this subject, we will inquire, did the
Saviour in any place that we can read of, in the course of his
mission on the earth, denounce a plurality of wives? He lived in
a nation of Jews; the law of Moses was in force, plurality of
wives was the custom, and thousands upon thousands of people,
from the highest to the lowest in the land, were polygamists. The
Saviour denounced adultery; he denounced fornication; he
denounced lust; also divorce; but is there a single sentence
asserting that plurality of wives is wrong? If so, where is it?
Who can find it? Why did he not say it was wrong? "Think not,"
said he, "that I am come to destroy the law or the Prophets. I am
not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Not one jot or one tittle
shall pass from the law and the Prophets; but all shall be
fulfilled." Of what does the Saviour speak when he refers to "the
law?" Why, of the Ten Commandments, and other rules of life
commanded by God and adopted by the ancients, and which Brother
Pratt referred to yesterday, showing you from the sacred book
that God legislated and made laws for the protection of a
plurality of wives (Exod. 21. 10), and that He commanded men to
take a plurality under some circumstances. Brother Pratt further
showed that the Lord made arrangements to protect to all intents
and purposes the interests of the first wife; and to shield and
protect the children of a wife from disinheritance who might be
unfortunate enough not to have the affections of her husband.
(Deut. 21. 15.) These things were plainly written in the
law--that law of which the Saviour says, "Not one jot or one
tittle shall pass away." Continuing our inquiry, we pass on to
the epistles of John the Evangelist, which we find in the Book of
Revelations, written to the seven churches of Asia. In them we
find the Evangelist denounces adultery, fornication, and all
manner of iniquities and abominations of which these churches
were guilty. Anything against a plurality of wives? No, not a
syllable. Yet those churches were in a country in which plurality
was the custom. Hundreds of Saints had more wives than one; and
if it had been wrong, what would have been the result? Why, John
would have denounced the practice, the same as the children of
Israel were denounced for marrying heathen wives, had it not been
that the law of plurality was the commandment of God.
40
Again, on this point, we can refer to the Prophets of the Old
Testament--Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others. When God called
those men He warned them that if they did not deliver the message
to the people which He gave them concerning their sins and
iniquities that His vengeance should rest upon their heads. These
are His words to Ezekiel, "Son of man, I have made thee a
watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore hear the word at my
mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked,
thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning nor
speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life,
the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will
I require at thine hand; yet if thou warn the wicked and he turn
not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in
his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul." (Ezek. 3:17, 18,
19.) How do we find these Prophets of the Lord fulfilling the
commandments of the Almighty? We find them pouring out
denunciations upon the heads of the people--against adultery,
fornication, and every species of wickedness. All this, too, in a
country in which, from the King down to the lowest orders of the
people, a plurality of wives was practiced. Do they say anything
against plurality of wives? Not one word. It was only in cases
where men and women took improper license with each other, in
violation of the holy law of marriage, that they were guilty of
sin.
41
If plurality of wives had been a violation of the seventh
commandment those prophets would have denounced it, otherwise
their silence on the matter would have been dangerous to
themselves, inasmuch as the blood of the people would have been
required at their hands. The opposers of Celestial Marriage
sometimes quote a passage in the seventh chapter of Romans,
second and third verses, to show that a plurality of wives is
wrong; but when we come to read the passage it shows that a
plurality of husbands is wrong. You can read that passage for
yourselves. In the forcible parable used by the Saviour in
relation to the rich man and Lazarus, we find recorded that the
poor man Lazarus was carried to Abraham's bosom--Abraham the
father of the faithful. The rich man calls unto Father Abraham to
send Lazarus, who is afar off. Who was Abraham? He was a man who
had a plurality of wives. And yet all good Christians, even pious
church deacons, expect when they die to go to Abraham's bosom. I
am sorry to say, however, that thousands of them will be
disappointed, from the fact that they cannot and will not go
where any one has a plurality of wives; and I am convinced that
Abraham will not turn out his own wives to receive such
unbelievers in God's law. One peculiarity of this parable is the
answer of Abraham to the application of the rich man, to send
Lazarus to his five brothers "lest they come into this place of
torment," which was--"they have Moses and the prophets, let them
hear them; and if they hear not Moses and the prophets neither
would they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." Moses'
law provided for a plurality of wives, and the prophets observed
that law, and Isaiah predicts its observance even down to the
latter days. Isaiah, in his 4th chap. and 1st and 2nd verses,
says, "Seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will
eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called
by thy name to take away our reproach. In that day shall the
branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the
earth shall be excellent."
41
A reference to the Scriptures shows that the reproach of women
was to be barren, Gen. 30 chap. and 23 v.; Luke 1st chap. and 25
v.
41
We will now refer to John the Baptist. He came as a fore-runner
of Christ. He was a lineal descendant of the house of Levi. His
father was a priest. John the Baptist was a child born by
miracle, God having revealed to his father that Elizabeth who had
been many years barren should bear a son. John feared not the
world, but went forth preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
declaiming against wickedness and corruption in the boldest
terms. He preached against extortion; against the cruelty
exercised by soldiers and tax gatherers. He even was so bold as
to rebuke the king on his throne, to his face, for adultery. Did
he say anything against a plurality of wives? No; it cannot be
found. Yet thousands were believers in and practised this order
of marriage, under the law of Moses that God had revealed.
42
In bringing this subject before you, we cannot help saying that
God knew what was best for His people. Hence He commanded them as
He would have them act. The law regulating marriage previous to
Moses, recognized a plurality of wives. Abraham and Jacob and
others had a plurality. These are the men who are referred to in
Scripture as patterns of piety and purity. David had many wives.
The Scriptures say that David did that which was right in the
eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from anything that he
commanded him all the days of his life, save in the matter of
Uriah the Hittite, 1 Kings 15th chap. 5 v. "I have found David
the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart which shall fulfil
all my will. Of this man's seed hath God, according to His
promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus." Acts 13th chap.
22nd and 23rd verses. Did David sin in taking so many wives? No.
In what, then, did his sin consist? It was because he took the
wife of Uriah, the Hittite--that is, violated the law of God in
taking her. The Lord had given him the wives of Saul and would
have given him many more; but he had no right to take one who
belonged to another. When he did so the curse of adultery fell
upon his head, and his wives were taken from him and given to
another. We will now inquire in relation to the Saviour himself.
From whom did he descend? From the house of David a polygamist;
and if you will trace the names of the families through which he
descended you will find that numbers of them had a plurality of
wives. How appropriate it would have been for Jesus, descending
as he did from a race of polygamists, to have denounced this
institution of plural marriage and shown its sinfulness, had it
been a sin! Can we suppose, for one moment, if Patriarchal
marriage were wrong, that He would, under the circumstances, have
been silent concerning it or failed to denounce it in the most
positive manner? Then if plural marriage be adultery and the
offspring spurious, Christ Jesus is not the Christ; and we must
look for another.
42
All good Christians are flattering themselves with the hope that
they will finally enter the gates of the New Jerusalem. I presume
this is the hope of all denominations--Catholics, Protestants,
Greeks and all who believe in the Bible. Suppose they go there,
what will they find? They will find at the twelve gates twelve
angels, and "names written thereon, which are the names of the
twelve tribes of the children of Israel." The names of the twelve
sons of Jacob, the polygamist. Can a monogamist enter there? "And
the walls of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the
names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb;" and at the gates the
names of the twelve tribes of Israel--from the twelve sons of the
four wives of Jacob. Those who denounce Patriarchal Marriage will
have to stay without and never walk the golden streets. And any
man or woman that lifts his or her voice to proclaim against a
plurality of wives, under the Government of God, will have to
seek an inheritance outside of that city. For "there shall in no
wise enter into it, anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination or maketh a lie, for without are sorcerers,
whoremongers, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Is not the
man that denounced Celestial Marriage a liar? Does he not work
abomination? "I Jesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you
these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of
(the polygamist) David, the bright and the morning star."
42
May God enable us to keep His law, for "blessed are they that do
His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life
and may enter in through the gate into the city." Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Q. Cannon, December 5, 1869
George Q. Cannon, December 5, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 5, 1869.
(Reported by John Grimshaw.)
THE RIGHT AND AUTHORITY OF PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG.
43
I desire to read, this afternoon, a portion of two revelations,
which were given to the Prophet, Joseph Smith, in February, 1831.
The first is paragraph 4 of section XIII:
43
"Again I say unto you, that it shall not be given to any one to
go forth to preach my gospel or to build up my Church, except he
be ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the
Church that he has authority, and has been regularly ordained by
the heads of the church."
43
Also paragraphs 1 and 2 of section XIV:
43
"O, hearken ye elders of My Church, and give an ear to the words
which I shall speak unto you; for behold, verily, verily, I say
unto you, that ye have received a commandment for a law unto my
Church, through him whom I have appointed unto you, to receive
commandments and revelations from my hand. And this ye shall know
assuredly that there is none other appointed unto you to receive
commandments and revelations until he be taken, if he abide in
me.
43
"But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none else shall be
appointed unto this gift except it be through him, for if it be
taken from him, he shall not have power except to appoint another
in his stead; and this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive
not the teachings of any one that shall come before you as
revelations or commandments; and this I give unto you that you
may not be deceived, that you may know they are not of me. For
verily I say unto you, that he that is ordained of me shall come
in at the gate and be ordained as I have told you before, to
teach those revelations which you have received, and shall
receive through him whom I have appointed."
44
It is a good thing for us, as a people, to let our minds dwell
upon the principles which God our Heavenly Father has given unto
us by revelation in this, as well as in preceding ages. The Lord,
in His goodness and mercy unto His children, has not left them in
ignorance concerning the plan of salvation, nor the manner in
which He intends His Church to be built up. He has revealed unto
us many principles for our guidance, and they are essentially
necessary to enable us to grow and increase in the things of His
kingdom; for in these days, as well as in preceding days, as the
apostle has said, there are many spirits gone forth into the
world and there are many influences brought to bear upon the
minds of the children of men. There are many creeds, doctrines,
and views propagated industriously by those who entertain them,
and unless we cling to the truth and pursue the path which our
Heavenly Father desires His children to walk in, with all our
claims, and the promises which have been made unto us, we are as
liable to go astray as any other people. If we treat these things
as matters of no importance, and are careless and negligent in
relation to that which we believe, and to those whom we follow,
we are sure to err.
44
There are some principles which have become firmly rooted in the
minds of the Latter-day Saints. It is a difficult thing to cause
them to doubt in relation to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
repentance of sin, baptism for the remission of sins and the
laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. These
principles seem to be clearly understood, and in them the people
are apparently fully indoctrinated; and though men may deny the
faith, in one sense, and turn away from the path of
righteousness, and dissolve their connection with the Church, yet
they will cling, in most instances, to what we term the first
principles of the Gospel of Christ; and it is a very rare thing
to see those who have been members of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints turning away and joining what we call
sectarian churches. If they leave this Church, it is an
exceedingly difficult thing for them to connect themselves with
other denominations, because the Scriptures are so familiar to
them, the principles contained therein are so plain to their
understanding that, unless there is some speculation, some
mercenary or other end to be gained by their alliance with people
of other creeds, they are very apt to stand aloof; that is, where
they have a thorough understanding of the principles of the
Gospel.
44
But there are other principles more advanced with which the
people are not so familiar, and of this the adversary seeks to
take advantage; and when men deny the faith, they are apt to deny
these principles; and when they get into the dark, there is
probably no point upon which they differ more frequently than
that which relates to the authority that is exercised in
presiding. This is a point that the adversary always aims at. I
suppose it was so in ancient days. We read of false prophets
then, and also of men turning away; and there is no doubt but
what the rock upon which they split was the question of the right
and authority of those presiding over them.
44
It seems as though the adversary, in the day in which we live,
seeks, by every means in his power, to undermine the influence
and the authority of the man whom God has called to preside over
His people. If you will observe, you may perceive in what
direction the shafts of the adversary are aimed. In the days of
Joseph, he was the man against whom all the enemies of truth
hurled their malicious shots; his life was sought, his character
assailed, and his influence was decried. He was the target at
which every arrow of calumny and hatred was aimed, and the man to
whom all eyes were directed. He was held up before men as an
object worthy only of their hatred and derision, to be scoffed
at, despised and killed.
45
Did anybody hear then of others who are now prominent? Yes.
President Young's name was talked about, but not as at present;
but Joseph's name occupied every tongue. His deeds, or rather his
misdeeds, as his enemies were pleased to call them, occupied
every one's attention. His actions were scrutinized and
misrepresented, and everything pertaining to him was made the
subject of comment and reproach. It was the case from the hour
that he received the plates of the Book of Mormon, until the day
of his death. All those who were members of the Church during his
lifetime can bear testimony to this. Other elders were
comparatively lost sight of; they were merely looked upon as
satellites. He was the great object of suspicion. His name was
the watch-word of the foes of the Kingdom of God; and mobs banded
themselves together in unholy compacts, in order that they might
bring to pass his overthrow and shed his blood, imagining that,
if they could only kill him, this work, which men call
"Mormonism," would crumble to pieces, because there would not be
cohesiveness enough in the system to hold it together after the
master-mind had disappeared. But no sooner did he pass away than
all this hatred, all the derision, animosity, calumny and
slander, which had been directed to Joseph, was transferred to
Brigham Young, and he was made the object of vituperation, and
the target at which every wicked man should shoot. His deeds and
character were paraded abroad, and everything pertaining to him
was canvassed and held up, in many instances, to public scorn and
ridicule. Such has continued to be the case from the days of the
Prophet Joseph up to the present time.
45
There were others during Joseph's day, who professed to have the
authority which he possessed, or, as they said, which he had once
possessed. At one time, in the early days of the Church, there
was a number of elders, among whom were some of the Twelve
Apostles and one or two of the First Presidency, who banded
themselves together and declared that Joseph was a fallen
prophet, that he had taught correct doctrines, that he had been
the instrument in the hands of God, of revealing the truth and of
bringing forth the Book of Mormon, restoring the holy Priesthood
and of organizing the Church; but that he had fallen. The
doctrines which he had first taught were correct, they said, and
the position which he first assumed was acceptable in the sight
of God; but through some cause, he had strayed from the path and
had become a fallen prophet. Said they, "We now have the right
and the authority which he once had. We have the right to
organize the Saints, to build up the Church and carry out the
work of which Joseph was the founder, but which, through
transgression, he has forfeited the right to lead."
45
There was one peculiarity, however, connected with these
pretenders, which distinguished their course from that pursued by
Joseph. Instead of being the subject of all the evil remarks, all
the calumny, all the hatred, slander, bloodthirstiness and
denunciations applied to the Prophet Joseph, singular to state,
when you take into consideration the pretensions of those men,
the wicked hailed them as brethren, consorted with them, became
very brotherly, very fraternal, and looked upon them as very
good, clever fellows. But the hatred towards Joseph did not
diminish, in fact their conduct only tended to increase it and to
make his life and his every deed more odious in their estimation,
and in the estimation of those to whom they published his deeds.
This was also a peculiarity which attended all who aimed to lead
the Church without having the authority so to do.
46
At Joseph's death a crop of these pretenders sprang up. There was
Sidney Rigdon, who contended that he had the right to lead the
people. The Church was fourteen years of age, he said, and it had
the right to choose a guardian, to lead the people, and conduct
its affairs as its President, and he would be that guardian.
James J. Strang also aimed at the same object. He had angels, he
said, to visit him; I do not know but he told the names of the
angels; but, if my memory serves me right, he affirmed that
Joseph appeared to him, blessed him and bestowed upon him the
keys and the authority. He also showed a letter bearing the
postmark of Nauvoo, which he pretended had been written by
Joseph, giving him (Strang) the authority to preside over the
Church, in the event of anything happening to him. Others stood
up in a similar manner: John E. Page, Lyman Wight, William Smith,
and afterwards, Charles Thompson.
46
All these men arose, claiming that it was their right and
privilege, by ordination or by special appointment, to take
charge of the Church. But the Church then, as on many occasions
previously and since that time, was able, through the light which
its members possessed, to discriminate between the voice of the
true and false shepherd. Still this peculiarity--being hailed as
brethren by the wicked, characterized them in Nauvoo, as their
predecessors in New York, Kirtland and Missouri. Instead of being
hated and calumniated, and men seeking their lives and
persecuting them, they were hailed with seeming pleasure and
satisfaction. Men bade them "God speed" and urged them forward to
claim the rights they called their own. But against Brigham
Young, our President, the old feeling of animosity, that had been
entertained against Joseph, existed with as great bitterness and
intensity in the minds of the enemies of the Kingdom of God as it
had existed during the lifetime of Joseph against him.
46
President Young, according to the statements of the wicked,
re-enacted all the evil deeds, as they were termed, that had been
attributed to Joseph, and for which they killed him. Brigham
became the inheritor of all that animosity and hatred that had
been manifested towards Joseph during his lifetime; and when
Joseph slept in a bloody grave, the enemies of the Church turned
their attention to Brigham Young, his legal successor.
46
If the Saints had wanted evidence in relation to who was the
right man and who had the authority, the very fact that the world
hated, reviled and persecuted Brigham should have been sufficient
evidence that he was taking the path which Joseph had trod, and
that his course was pleasing in the sight of Heaven, and
consequently hateful in the sight of hell.
46
There are rules, my brethren, which were given in the early days
of the Church, respecting the Presidency of the Church. In the
revelation which I have just read in your hearing, the Lord
plainly sets forth to the Church what course He would have it
take in relation to the keys that had been bestowed by Peter,
James and John upon Joseph; and that we may not be deceived He
gives this rule:
46
"But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none else shall be
appointed unto this gift except it be through him, for if it be
taken from him, he shall not have power except to appoint another
in his stead; and this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive
not the teachings of any that shall come before you as
revelations or commandments; and this I give unto you that you
may not be deceived, that you may know they are not of me. For
verily I say unto you, that he that is ordained of me shall come
in at the gate and be ordained as I have told you before, to
teach those revelations which you have received, and shall
receive through him whom I have appointed.
47
The Lord here made express provisions as to who should hold the
keys of the kingdom, and how those keys should be held, and the
manner in which the authority should be exercised. Men have
pretended that angels have visited them, and that, in consequence
they must have authority. This was the pretence made by James J.
Strang. But he did not understand that the oracles had been given
through Joseph, according to the revelation given in March, 1833,
to the Church. Others had also had the keys given unto them to
enable them to exercise the power and authority which Joseph
held. Now we may come to this conclusion; that God, having once
bestowed the keys of the holy Priesthood on man here on the earth
for the up-building of His Church, will never taken them from the
man or men who hold them and authorize others to bestow them. If
you will read the history of the Church from the beginning, you
will find that Joseph was visited by various angelic beings, but
not one of them professed to give him the keys until John the
Baptist came to him. Moroni, who held the keys of the record of
the stick of Ephraim, visited Joseph; he had doubtless, also,
visits from Nephi and it may be from Alma and others, but though
they came and had authority, holding the authority of the
Priesthood, we have no account of their ordaining him, neither
did Joseph ever profess, because of the ministration of these
angels, to have authority to administer in any of the ordinances
of the Kingdom of God. He never baptized anybody, nor attempted
to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and, in
fact, he never attempted, that we have any account of, to
exercise any of the functions of the holy Priesthood. He was a
prophet, it is true, but a man may be a prophet and yet not have
authority to administer in the Priesthood. The prophetic gift, to
some extent, is distinct from the Priesthood. Joseph had received
the prophetic gift and he exercised it and he acted as such prior
to his ordination. But when the time came for him to be baptized,
then a man who held the keys of that Priesthood came to him and
laid his hands upon Joseph's head, and upon Oliver Cowdery, and
set them apart, and gave them authority to officiate in the
Aaronic Priesthood, which Priesthood held the keys of baptism and
so forth.
48
John had the right to baptize when he was upon the earth; he held
the keys of that Priesthood. He baptized Jesus by virtue of the
Priesthood which he held; and those keys had not been taken from
him. At the time when Joseph Smith was ordained, there was no man
on the face of the earth that held the keys of the Priesthood and
the authority to ordain him. If there had been a man in the
Greek, Roman, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal or any
other church extant upon the face of the earth, who had the keys
of the Priesthood, Joseph Smith would not have been ordained by
an angel, because the keys would have been here and been bestowed
by the man who held them. But you might have searched from pole
to pole and traversed the wide expanse of the earth from
continent to continent, and visited all the nations of the earth
and enquired of them if there was a man in their midst who had
the keys of the holy Priesthood and who claimed the authority
which was exercised in olden times by Peter, James and John, and
the rest of the servants of God; but you would have heard no
response in the affirmative. None would have stood up and said,
"I have this authority." Throughout Christendom, throughout the
entire Mahomedan and Pagan world, you could not have found a man
who professed to have this authority. No; it had been driven from
the midst of mankind by the violence of wicked men, who shed the
blood of those who held those keys and that authority; and it had
gone back to God who gave it, and dwelt there; for the men who
held it dwelt in the presence of the Almighty.
48
Hence, when Joseph Smith desired baptism, though angels had
visited him and had ministered unto him, though he had heard the
voice of God and Jesus Christ, though he had been called to be a
prophet, he had not the right and the authority to go forth and
administer the ordinances of baptism, neither had any living
soul, to do it legitimately. It was necessary that he should be
ordained; it was necessary that those keys should be restored;
and hence how proper it was that John, who held the keys and had
been beheaded by a wicked king, should come and restore them?
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery testified that John came and laid
his hands upon their heads and bestowed upon them the power and
authority to administer in the holy ordinances of the Gospel.
48
When they were baptized, and had received the authority to
administer in that ordinance they did not attempt to lay on hands
for the reception of the Holy Ghost; that was a separate and
distinct power from the Aaronic Priesthood. John says, in the 3rd
chapter of Matthew, 11th verse, "I indeed baptize you with water
unto repentance; but He that cometh after me is mightier than I,
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, He shall baptize you with
the Holy Ghost and with fire."
49
John did not profess to have the authority to lay on hands for
the reception of the Holy Ghost. We read in no part of the
Scriptures of his exercising any such authority. He had the
authority to baptize, the power which pertained unto his
Priesthood, being a descendant of Aaron, and baptism was one of
the ordinances which pertained to the Aaronic Priesthood; but he
had not the right to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy
Ghost. It was necessary that that authority should be conferred;
but who held that power in ancient days? Why, Peter, James, and
John, who had been ordained by Jesus to the Melchizedek
Priesthood, or the Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, and
having exercised that authority while on the earth in the flesh,
they came bearing the keys of that Melchizedek Priesthood, and
laid their hands upon Joseph Smith and ordained him to the power
which he subsequently held, as the president or head of this
great and last dispensation of the fullness of times. By virtue
of those keys he was empowered to lay hands on those who were
baptized in the name of Jesus, by legal authority, and to confirm
upon their heads--upon the heads of the honest in heart--the
blessings of the Gospel, and by virtue of these keys they had the
right to build up the Church of God in all its ancient purity and
glory, and to preach the Gospel in its fullness, with its gifts
and blessings, and to send men abroad as ministers of life and
salvation to the nations of the world, the same as Peter and
those associated with him. Said Jesus, "Thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the
Kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall
be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be loosed in Heaven." Peter therefore held those keys. What
wonderful consistency on the part of the Lord, that He should
descend from heaven and confer those keys on men here on the
earth!
49
There are men who say that Joseph was an unlearned impostor; but
how strange it is that, if an impostor, he should take the exact
course, established in the economy of heaven for the salvation of
mankind; and that he should claim the authority, through the
administration--first of John the Baptist, and then of Peter,
James and John, the apostles.
49
The keys of this Priesthood were bestowed never more to be taken
from the earth; hence, in the revelation I have read, provision
was made by the Lord that Joseph, in case he should fall, should
ordain another in his stead, and he should have authority only to
lay hands on and set apart some one to act in his place, in case
he should prove unworthy. Thus, even from the beginning, the Lord
seems to have held constantly before him the possibility of his
falling away. He was a young man, and like every man, he was apt
to get lifted up in the pride of his heart; therefore, God
reminded him that he only held the keys as long as he should be
faithful to the truth. But in a subsequent revelation, the Lord
informed him that he should hold the keys in this life and in the
life to come, and they should never be taken from him.
49
By virtue of the ordination he received, Joseph had the right and
the authority to confer this Priesthood upon others. He called
twelve Apostles, and they were ordained under his authority by
the direction of the Lord, and those twelve were endowed with the
keys. Previous to his death, the Prophet Joseph manifested great
anxiety to see the temple completed, as most of you who were with
the Church during his day, well know. "Hurry up the work,
brethren," he used to say, "let us finish the temple; the Lord
has a great endowment in store for you, and I am anxious that the
brethren should have their endowments and receive the fullness of
the Priesthood." He urged the Saints forward continually,
preaching unto them the importance of completing that building,
so that therein the ordinances of life and salvation might be
administered to the whole people, but especially to the quorums
of the holy Priesthood; "then," said he, "the Kingdom will be
established, and I do not care what shall become of me."
49
These were his expressions oft repeated in the congregations of
the Saints, telling the brethren and sisters of the Church, and
the world that he rolled the Kingdom on to the Twelve, and they
would have to round up their shoulders and bear it off, as he was
going to rest for awhile, and many other expressions of a like
nature, the full meaning of which the Saints did not realize at
the time.
49
Prior to the completion of the Temple, he took the Twelve and
certain other men, who were chosen, and bestowed upon them a holy
anointing, similar to that which was received on the day of
Pentecost by the Twelve, who had been told to tarry at Jerusalem.
This endowment was bestowed upon the chosen few whom Joseph
anointed and ordained, giving unto them the keys of the holy
Priesthood, the power and authority which he himself held, to
build up the Kingdom of God in all the earth and accomplish the
great purposes of our Heavenly Father; and it was by virtue of
this authority, on the death of Joseph, that President Young, as
President of the quorum of the Twelve, presided over the Church.
50
The enemies of the work of God had done their worst in murdering
the Prophet in cold blood, and they supposed that in killing him
and taking him away their actions would prove a death-knell to
what they called "Mormonism;" but they little knew or understood
that God had left the same power on the earth which Joseph
wielded with such potent effect. The reins had been transferred
to others, who were prepared to wield that power, and to step
forward and take the responsibility upon them of carrying forward
the work of God. Hence, there was no diminution of hatred,
slander and persecution on the part of mobs and those who wished
to shed the blood of the Saints.
50
After the death of Joseph, while the Twelve were in the East,
there was seemingly a slight relaxation of bitterness towards the
Saints, on the part of the enemies of truth; but it was only for
a few days. When the Twelve returned, and it was found that the
same power which Joseph had held still existed, persecutions on
the part of mobs recommenced with renewed vigor and bitterness,
and they swore out several charges against the brethren of the
Twelve. So warm did this persecution become, that the houses of
President Young and his brethren had to be guarded, and each had
to take care of himself, as his blood, and particularly President
Young's was sought with just as great eagerness and
blood-thirstiness as Joseph's had previously been. This ought to
have been an evidence as to who held the authority.
50
When the Saints were driven from Nauvoo and were told that it was
the will of God that we should forsake the land of our
inheritance and take our journey across the Mississippi and
through the then Territory of Iowa into the far distant West,
every Latter-day Saint in the land, who had the Spirit of God,
knew the voice of the true shepherd, and those who were in the
East made preparations, some to go round by sea and some to go by
land, and join the camp of Israel on its westward march. The land
to which we were hastening was new and unknown to us. The masses
of the people did not know whether it would be in the wilds of
the desert, on the tops of the mountains or in some place that
would be delightful for man's habitation. These were subjects
that did not concern the people who were thus called to forsake
their homes. The Saints sold what they could, which, however, was
very little indeed, for their enemies took possession of their
property, and they started westward, following the man whom God
had chosen, and whom they recognized as God's anointed.
51
There were those who went back to Pittsburg with Sidney Rigdon,
and to Voree, Wisconsin, with Strang; and also those who tarried
in Nauvoo with Wm. Smith and John E. Page. There were others who
followed Thompson and other pretenders; but the main body of the
Saints were not to be deceived by these pretended shepherds. They
knew the voice of him whom God had chosen, and followed him,
confident that they would be led aright and brought to a place of
safety; and though they were in deep poverty, and it seemed as
though the prince of the power of the air had exerted all his
malignity to make their travel difficult, the land being deluged
with water; yet they did not faint by the wayside, for God was
with them, His angels were round about them, and His Spirit was
poured out upon them, and they had a testimony which gave them
the conviction that they were in the right path; and when history
records that wonderful deliverance and march, it will be a matter
of the utmost surprise and wonder to posterity that it was ever
accomplished, and that the people of the world, in seeing it,
were not smitten with a conviction of the truth of the work, and
of the divine authority of the Priesthood which led the people in
a pathway of safety, through the wilderness, at that time. The
songs of Zion ascended from the camps of Israel and peace brooded
over the people. Barefooted, and in many instances hungry, they
travelled on with their faces westward, their faith failing not;
for, as I have said, the angels of God were round about them and
His spirit was upon them; and at no period of their history was
the power of God more exhibited than during that trying time when
God led His servant to this then wild and forbidding region.
51
Since we have been here, He has blessed us as a people. He has
spread us abroad, and caused us to extend North and South, and
His peace and blessing have attended the labors and the
administration of the elders in our midst. The keys of the
Priesthood have been fully honored, not by man alone, but they
have been honored by God; and the exercise of that authority
which God bestowed on Joseph Smith by the ministration of holy
angels, has been a blessing to many thousands in this land. We
have had peace, we have had good government, and the songs and
prayers of the Saints have ascended up from their habitations
unto the Most High God, and Heaven has been moved in our behalf,
to bless and preserve us and give us victory and deliverance in
every time of trouble; and when we have been threatened with any
difficulty or calamity, God has always overruled and controlled
it, for our good and for the salvation of His people. Is it any
wonder, then, that Latter-day Saints should have confidence in
the man whom God has chosen? Many men wonder and say, "You
Latter-day Saints are bowed down in tyranny and are groaning
under despotism. Why are you not free to exercise your liberty?
Why don't you do as you please? Why do you always do as your
prophet and leader tells you?" Because we have proved during
twenty-five long years, that God has blessed him in everything he
has told us to do, and we have been blessed of God in carrying
out his counsels. When we have prayed to the Almighty to give us
wisdom and humility to obey the counsels of His servant, He has
given unto us His Holy Spirit and witnessed unto our hearts that
this course was pleasing and acceptable in His sight. Rebel
against him and his authority! as well might we rebel against
Jehovah Himself, or against Jesus! Not that President Young is to
be worshipped, not that Joseph Smith was to be worshipped, not
that Peter or Moses was to be worshipped. There is a difference
between obedience and idolatry, or worship. There is a difference
between submission to the will of God--and obeying God's counsels
through a man, and idolizing the man himself, and we have
perceived this difference.
52
God chooses men as guardians and shepherds over His people. We
are all of one great family; we are all the children of God, and
are all alike before Him. "Yes," says one, "we are all alike, and
therefore there is no distinction between us." But let me suppose
a case. Suppose a man who has a large family of sons and
daughters, were to be called on a mission to go abroad to preach
the Gospel of Christ, and had to be absent for years; the members
of the family during his absence would be left to themselves. But
suppose he had a choice son whom he loved, and who had been
implicitly obedient to him all the days of his life, and whose
course had taught him to respect his judgment, his honesty, his
truthfulness and the integrity and justice of his character, and
that in the most trying circumstances he had never failed to
honor himself, God, his family, and to honor his father. Now, as
he is going away to a far distant land, he takes this son aside
and says to him, "I will place you in charge of my family, and
leave you to watch over their interests in my absence, that while
I am gone they may have some one to look up to who can act the
part of a father to them." And then turning to the family he
says, "My sons and daughters, I have chosen this son, your elder
brother, to act in my place while I am absent. I wish you to obey
him and respect and honor him as you would your father, and to
submit yourselves to his dictation in all things." The family
consent. They say, "We will do as you desire, father. We will
honor your judgment and choice by honoring and obeying our
brother whom you have chosen to watch over us during your
absence."
52
It might be argued that those children, by complying with the
wish of their father in this matter, would sacrifice their
agency. Do they not exercise that volition just as much by
obeying that son as they would by each one taking his or her own
course, and saying, "I will judge for myself, as to the
correctness of what you say and will differ from you whenever I
please." Let me ask you as parents and as children, brethren and
sisters, do you not think you could exercise your agency just as
much by obeying the son as by disobeying him? I cannot conceive
how it can be otherwise. I cannot see why I, for instance, should
not exercise my agency just as much by obeying him as by
disobeying him. This is precisely my position to-day.
52
Brigham Young, our President, has been chosen by God as His
representative here on the earth, among His sons and daughters.
He has been selected for this special calling. The Father is not
present in person; Jesus is not present in person; but God is
here through the Holy Ghost and the holy Priesthood, through the
power which He has bestowed, and in the same position precisely
as the son in the figure which I have used does the President of
the Church act for us, his brethren and sisters. We are all alike
before God; He loves us all alike; we are all the creatures of
His care; but there must be rule, there must be government; there
must be order, or this would not be the kingdom of God. The Lord
chose President Young to rule and dictate in the affairs of His
Church when His servant Joseph was taken from the earth.
53
Look at the singular combination of circumstances which caused
Brigham Young to be President of the Twelve. Reflect on the
remarkable combination of events which made him the leader of
Israel, showing plainly, in my mind, that long before he was
born, yes, probably before the earth was organized, Joseph Smith
and Brigham Young were chosen, the same as Jeremiah was. The Lord
said to Jeremiah: "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew
thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified
thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." This is my
opinion about the leaders of Israel in the latter days. I believe
they were chosen to act in this capacity; and God, knowing their
integrity, and afterwards proving them to the uttermost in the
flesh, has greatly blessed them. See the blessings that have
followed the administrations of these men in our midst. Who would
exchange the peace, the joy, and the knowledge we have concerning
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ of the meagre and vague ideas
of God and His kingdom that prevailed before the people became
acquainted with it? God has given unto us those precious
blessings. He had gathered us together from the nations of the
earth; He has multiplied upon us abundantly, joys more precious
than gold or silver, namely, the riches of eternity; He has given
unto us wisdom and knowledge and peace; He has proved to us most
effectively that there are riches more precious and far more
estimable in the sight of God and good and virtuous men than the
perishable things of this world. He has built up a kingdom in
which these things will be held at their true value, for He will
cleanse from the midst of His people those who idolize riches.
53
Let me assure you, brethren and sisters, if there is anything in
our hearts that interferes with our complete love of God and our
reverence for Him and His work, we shall have to banish it, or
sooner or later we shall lose our standing in the Church of God;
for He wants a people who will render implicit obedience to His
laws and the requirements of His Gospel, and who will love Him
better than any earthly thing, and place a higher value on the
gifts of the Spirit than on worldly possessions or even life
itself.
53
The Lord has proved to us, in the midst of the many trials and
difficulties with which we have had to contend during our brief
existence as a Church, when surrounded by mobs, when our lives
were in danger and the lives of our leaders were threatened, when
the persecutors of the Saints were howling like a pack of
ravening wolves for the blood of this people, that there is
something far more precious and estimable than mere eating and
drinking and the pleasures and enjoyments of life; although these
things are very good and necessary in their place. He has given
us His Gospel and this Gospel is being carried to all the nations
of the earth, and a kingdom is being established.
53
Jesus said that his Gospel should be preached as a witness to all
nations, and then should the end come. What Gospel? Why, the same
Gospel Jesus had and to which he referred; the same Gospel that
his apostles had: a Gospel of power, a Gospel of blessings, whose
Priesthood had power and authority from God. It is the same
Gospel that is now being taught, and which has to be preached as
a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come. God is
sending forth His messengers to accomplish this object. Our
Elders have gone to the Eastern States by hundreds to lift up
their warning voices to the people concerning the things which
God is doing and is about to do in the midst of the inhabitants
of the earth. For this purpose they go to Europe, to the West, to
the Islands of the Pacific, to Asia and Africa, and they will yet
traverse every country on the face of the whole earth. The
millions of Asia will yet hear the glad tidings of salvation from
the Elders of Israel. The yoke of bondage is being broken and the
nations are being freed from the grasp of despotism and tyranny.
Japan now opens her ports; China begins to extend her invitation
to western civilization, and the time is near at hand when the
sound of this Gospel, proclaimed by the Elders of Israel, will
re-echo from one end of the earth to the other, for it must be
preached as a witness unto all nations.
54
We may engage in this work with all our hearts in view of the
glorious reward that is promised unto the faithful; or we may
fight against it and use our every power to consummate its
overthrow; it makes no difference. The word of the Lord Almighty
has gone forth to the people of this generation, and it will not
remain unfulfilled. It matters not, therefore, who band together
and plot in secret, who unite and say we will spoil the plan and
destroy the influence of the work of God. The Lord will expose
their secret plots and schemes, and He will stand by His servant
whom He has chosen, so long as He lives, as He did by His servant
Joseph. He told him that He would save him though he should be
slain.
54
The Lord permitted the enemies of the Kingdom of God to take away
the life of His servant Joseph, as He did of His servants in
ancient days. The blood of the testator was shed, and now the
testament is in full force. Joseph had lifted up his voice in
solemn warning to the inhabitants of the earth, and declared that
God had spoken in these latter days. But his blood and that of
other holy men and Saints was shed by wicked men, and their
blood, mingled with that of the martyred Saints of past ages,
cries unto the Lord for vengeance. The very earth itself groans
under the weight of wickedness and corruption that abound on its
surface, and the Lord has declared that it shall be delivered.
But before the great day of vengeance shall come, when wickedness
shall be utterly swept from off the face of the earth, it is
necessary that the Elders should proclaim the Gospel to every
nation, kindred and tongue on the face of the earth, that the
honest in heart may be gathered out and that a people may be
found who shall be prepared to meet the Lord at His coming.
54
For this preparation we should give our whole time and labor to
the purifying of our hearts and households. We should labor to
purify our cities and settlements, labor to promulgate the
principles of righteousness and to establish truth on the earth
and seek to bring to pass the Zion of God in its fulness and
perfection.
54
These are the labors which devolve upon us. Think not, my
brethren and sisters, because God has chosen earthly vessels to
hold this power and authority, that therefore you can treat
lightly the holy Priesthood. I have noticed from my boyhood, and
it has been a constant lesson to me, that those who speak against
the authorities and lift their hands against the holy Priesthood
of this Church invariably deny the faith. I have never seen it
otherwise. You may trace the history of this people from the
beginning and you will find that every man who has indulged in
this spirit has always come out and denied the faith. Such men,
when Joseph lived, said that he had fallen. Since his death they
excuse their conduct by saying that Brigham has gone astray.
54
But when the Lord spoke to Joseph about falling, he said he would
have authority to appoint another in his stead, and that no one
would have the right to act except he was ordained by authority,
or came in through the gate. You may know by the revelation I
have read that no man can get the authority elsewhere. It must
come through the holy Priesthood. Men may say they have heard the
voice of Jesus, or heard this, that or the other; but you will
find that the power of God will attend the keys, and His blessing
will follow the administration of His servants who hold the
authority.
55
Paul said, "Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the
world?" On one occasion Jesus said, "Ye who have followed me in
the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of
his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel."
55
In a revelation given through Joseph Smith, the Lord says:
55
"And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, and it hath gone
forth in a firm decree, by the will of the Father, that mine
apostles, the twelve, which were with me in my ministry at
Jerusalem, shall stand at my right hand at the day of my coming
in a pillar of fire, being clothed with robes of righteousness,
with crowns upon their heads, in glory even as I am, to judge the
whole house of Israel."
55
This is the authority which Jesus said they should wield. The
same authority has been renewed in these days. Says one, "I do
not like this sort of thing; it is priestly rule and dominion,
and I object to it. I am too much of a democrat in my feelings to
submit to it." Yet a man can be a democrat and a lover of freedom
and liberty and enjoy them to the fullest, and honor the
Priesthood. There is a difference between priestcraft and
Priesthood. Priestcraft builds up itself, it is not authorized of
God. Priestcraft oppresses the people; but the Priesthood of God
emancipates men and women and makes them free. Jesus says his
yoke is easy and his burden light.
55
We talk of power, and object to the undue exercise of authority.
But think of the power given in ancient days, and which has been
restored in these days, that man exercises when he goes forth
into the water and baptizes a person! Do you ever think of the
greatness of the power thus exercised? And further, when the
candidate for baptism emerges from the water and has hands laid
upon him for the reception of the Holy Ghost, do you think of the
power that God has entrusted unto men on earth when they exercise
that holy ordinance? Do you think of the power exercised in
remitting the sins of men and women through baptism, the
ordinance which God has set in His Church for the remission of
sins, and conferring upon them the Holy Ghost? If God sends such
mighty power, shall we question the bestowal of a higher power
when God shall choose to give it? Shall we murmur and contend
against it? God forbid, and forbid that we should ever turn aside
and fight against Him or His cause in any manner.
55
My brethren and sisters, my prayers are that God will bless us as
a people and sanctify us to walk in all humility and meekness
before Him, honoring His laws; for when we honor His laws we
honor the laws of righteousness and the laws of the land in
equity and truth. We will honor men in their place; we will honor
the Government and everything that is just and honorable and
true. That God may sustain us and help us to sustain the
Priesthood, and to follow its requirements, that eventually we
may be saved in His kingdom, is my prayer in the name of Jesus,
Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, July 18, 1869
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 18, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
OBEYING THE GOSPEL--RECREATION--INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT.
56
I will say to my friends--those who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ--"I beseech you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to
God." Treasure up every truth that you hear, practice it in your
lives, for this will lead you to Jesus. The words that we have
heard this afternoon, with regard to the character of the Son of
God and the plan of salvation, are true so far as they have gone.
We, the Latter-day Saints, take the liberty of believing more
than our Christian brethren: we not only believe part of the
Bible, but the whole of it, and the whole of the plan of
salvation that Jesus has given to us. Do we differ from others
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? No, only in believing more;
we are one with them as far as they believe in him. Do we differ
with regard to the practice of the Gospel that he has delivered
to us? No, not as far as they really believe in and practice the
doctrines taught by him. We believe all that any good man on the
earth need believe. We believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ
His Son, our Savior. We believe all that Moses spoke and wrote of
him, all that the apostles said of him, and all that Jesus
himself has said, which was penned by his apostles and servants.
56
Our Lord and Savior has been beautifully described and set before
us, by the gentleman who has addressed us this afternoon, but I
will take the liberty of saying to every man and woman who wishes
to obtain salvation through him (the Savior) that looking to him,
only, is not enough: they must have faith in his name, character
and atonement; and they must have faith in his father and in the
plan of salvation devised and wrought out by the Father and the
Son. What will this faith lead to? It will lead to obedience to
the requirements of the Gospel; and the few words that I may
deliver to my brethren and sisters and friends this afternoon
will be with the direct view of leading them to God.
57
How am I to know whether I have passed from death unto life? The
apostle says by loving the brethren. How shall I know the
brethren? They are my brethren who have received and obeyed the
Gospel of the Son of God. This is just as easy to test as it is
to test a man who says he is a citizen of the United States. A
man may declare that he is so, but upon inquiry we find that he
has never taken the oath of allegiance nor even declared his
intention to becoming a citizen; but his sole claim to be
considered a citizen rests on the fact that he lives in this
country and has property, perhaps a farm or a store. This will
not entitle any foreigner to the rights and privileges enjoyed by
the humblest citizen. He must first declare his intention, take
the oath of allegiance to this Government and renounce it to his
former one, and then receive his papers of citizenship. It is
just the same in the kingdom of God. However much we may profess
attachment to God and His cause we are not entitled to the
blessings and privileges of His kingdom until we become citizens
therein. How can we do this? By repenting of our sins, and
obeying the requirements of the Gospel of the Son of God which
has been delivered to us. Hundreds and thousands of people have
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and repented of their sins, and
have had the Holy Spirit to witness unto them that God is love,
that they loved Him and that He loved them, and yet they are not
in His kingdom. They have not complied with the necessary
requirements, they have not entered in at the door, and Jesus
says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by
the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the
same is a thief and a robber." He says also, "I am the door: by
me if any man enter in he shall be saved." Jesus has taught us
how we may enter this door and become citizens of his kingdom,
and there is no excuse for our neglecting to do so. Herein we
exceed and go further than our former brethren. We read in this
book (the Bible) of a certain man who came to Jesus by night and
asked him what he should do to be saved. This man, in his own
estimation, had been a strict observer of the law, but Jesus said
to him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." My firm belief is that
thousands have been born of the Spirit and have seen the kingdom,
but not having been born of the water they have never been
permitted to enter that kingdom, for Jesus says, "Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God." This is why we say it is necessary to obey, fully, the
Gospel which Jesus has left on record for us; and to do that we
must repent of our sins, be baptized for the remission of them,
and then receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.
57
Do we believe in the Holy Ghost? Yes. Do our former brethren in
the Christian world? They say they do. They should believe in it,
they preach and teach it. What will the Holy Ghost do for those
who possess it? It will bring to their remembrance things past,
present and to come, and will teach them all things necessary for
them to understand, in order to secure salvation. Is this the
office and ministry of the Holy Ghost? Jesus says:
57
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
57
"Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that he shall speak: and he will shew
you things to come."
57
Then if we receive the Holy Ghost we shall know and understand
things as they are, we shall be able to read the Scriptures by
the Spirit, with which they were written, and if we continue
faithful we shall be led to a knowledge of God and Jesus whom He
has sent, which the apostle says "is eternal life."
58
Some believe or conceive the idea that to know God would lessen
Him in our estimation; but I can say that for me to understand
any principle or being, on earth or in Heaven, it does not lessen
its true value to me, but, on the contrary, it increases it; and
the more I can know of God, the dearer and more precious He is to
me, and the more exalted are my feelings towards Him. Therein I
may be different to some other.
58
If we embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, rendering obedience
thereunto as he has directed, it will lead us into the kingdom of
God here on the earth. We have started to build up this kingdom.
The Lord has revealed His will from the heavens, and we have
faith in Him. Is there any proof of this? Certainly, there is
every proof that is necessary. I recollect reading in the New
Testament that Jesus gave a mission to his apostles in these
words, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but
he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall
follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils;
they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents;
and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they
shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.
58
This Gospel is for all the children of men, and it will save all
who will believe and obey it. Do this people believe in this
Gospel? Yes. Is there any proof of this? Yes. Here before me I
see men who have left their homes and families; women who have
left their homes and families; parents who have left their
children, and children their parents; husbands who have left
their wives, and wives their husbands, and all to gather with the
Saints of the Most High. Is this any testimony that they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes; and this is not all. They speak
with new tongues, they lay hands on the sick and they do recover.
In these particulars we differ from those with whom we formerly
fellowshipped in the Christian world, who say they tell the
people how to come to God and be saved. But if they ever have
done that I have never heard them. In my young days I have been
called an infidel for talking thus, for there was no man who
could tell me anything about the plan of salvation; but I never
saw the day but what I would have walked on my knees across this
continent to have seen a man who could have told me the first
thing about God and Heaven. It is true that the feelings and
attention of the people may be moved and attracted by beautiful
descriptions of Him and Heaven and with beautiful illustrations
of His power and goodness, such as we have heard to-day; but
where is God? Who is He? Who is Jesus Christ? Where do they live?
What is their power and character, and their connection with the
people of the earth? In my scanty experience with the divines of
the day I never yet found the first that could describe the
character of God, locate His dwelling place, or give the first
correct idea with regard to the Father and the Son; but to them
they are hidden in impenetrable mystery, and their cry is, "Great
is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh." To us it
is simple, plain, glorious and divine, and it is worthy the
attention of every intelligent being that dwells on the face of
the earth, for it is eternal life to know God and Jesus Christ
whom He has sent.
59
In these respects we differ from our Christian brethren. We are
the very men and women that have come out from the Mother Church
and her daughters, Methodists, Calvinists and almost every other
persuasion on the face of the earth, the Pagans not excepted. We
never learned from them, however, how to be saved; but we know
how to save ourselves, for the Lord has revealed to us a plan by
which we may be saved both here and hereafter. God has done
everything we could ask, and more than we could ask. The errand
of Jesus to earth was to bring his brethren and sisters back into
the presence of the Father; he has done his part of the work, and
it remains for us to do ours. There is not one thing that the
Lord could do for the salvation of the human family that He has
neglected to do; and it remains for the children of men to
receive the truth or reject it; all that can be accomplished for
their salvation, independent of them, has been accomplished in
and by the Savior. It has been justly remarked this afternoon
that "Jesus paid the debt; he atoned for the original sin; he
came and suffered and died on the cross." He is now King of kings
and Lord of lords, and the time will come when every knee will
bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father,
that Jesus is the Christ. That very character that was looked
upon, not as the Savior, but as an outcast, who was crucified
between two thieves and treated with scorn and derision, will be
greeted by all men as the only Being through whom they can obtain
salvation.
60
We differ from our Christian brethren, and have long been
separated from them; but we are here in these mountains through
necessity--because we were not permitted to live with them. But
we were never hated, despised and derided as Christ was; we have
never been crucified and been such outcasts as Jesus, though our
prophet and patriarch were slain; but not in such an ignominious
manner as Jesus. Who will believe our testimony? "If our Gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." Who will believe our
testimony? Who will believe the testimony that has been delivered
here this afternoon? I believe and know it is true; and that,
too, by the revelations of that very character who was lifted up
on the cross. How are we to blame for believing so much? Why, the
Scriptures say we are to "prove all things and hold fast that
which is good." I frequently think that the only way for a man to
prove any fact in the world is by experience. We go, for
instance, into an orchard and some one says there is a sweet
apple tree, and he may say the same of other trees, but without
tasting how shall I know they are sweet? Unless I taste of them I
cannot know it. I may take the testimony of others who have
tasted them, as to whether they are sweet, sour or bitter, but
without tasting it cannot be proved to my senses that they are
so. Now, as I understand it, it is the same with all facts that
have come to the knowledge of all beings in Heaven, or on
earth--all facts are proved and made manifest by their opposite.
Sin has come into the world, and death by sin. I frequently ask
myself the question: Was there any necessity for sin to enter the
world? Most assuredly there was, according to my understanding
and reasoning powers. Did I not know the evil I could never know
the good; had I not seen the light I should never be able to
comprehend what darkness is. Had I never tried to see and behold
a thing in darkness I could not understand the beauty and glory
of the light. If I had never tasted the bitter or the sour how
could I define or describe the sweet? Consequently, I let all
these things pass, being according to the wisdom of Him who has
done all things for the benefit and salvation of His children
here on the earth. And when we contemplate and realise that He is
our Father and that Jesus is our elder brother, and that we have
the privilege of overcoming sin and death, by faith in Jesus and
obedience to His Gospel, and of being exalted into the presence
of the Father and the Son, the thought should fill our hearts
with gratitude, praise and humility.
60
I extend my religion further than a great many do. I say it is
far beyond the religions of the day; they consist, mainly, of
forms and ceremonies, never revealing to their votaries the
object of their creation and existence, or preparing them to
fulfil their high calling and destiny; but ours incorporates the
whole life of man. Our religion incorporates and includes all the
duties devolving upon us every day of our lives, and enables us,
if we live according to the spirit of it, to discharge those
several duties more honorably and efficiently. I do not think
there is as good a financier on the earth as my Father in Heaven
is; I do not think there is a being among the whole human family
who understands the principles of finance as well as He does. And
I believe the same with regard to any other branch of human
knowledge, or of anything which affects the peace, happiness,
comfort, wealth, health and strength of body, and in fact the
entire welfare, whether political, social or physical of the
children of men, consequently I would like to have Him dictate my
affairs. Why? That I might become the possessor of power, wealth,
and influence, for all the influence the children of men ever
possessed they have received from the Father. Every kingdom that
has been set up on the face of the earth has been set up by the
will of the Father. He sets up a kingdom here and pulls down
another there at His pleasure. He gives influence and power to
this one and takes them from another; and so we see nations come
and go. Some individuals live on the earth rich, noble, powerful
and influential; while others are in the depths of poverty. All
this is permitted by the Father, and is according to His decree.
Every act of the children of men is the result of their own will
and pleasure, but the results of these acts God overrules.
60
Our religion incorporates every act and word of man. No man
should go to merchandising unless he does it in God; no man
should go to farming or any other business unless he does it in
the Lord. No lawyer, no, hold on, I will leave the lawyers out;
we do not want them, we have no use for them. No man of council
should sit to judge the people but what should judge in the Lord,
that he may righteously and impartially discern between right and
wrong, truth and error, light and darkness, justice and
injustice. Should any legislature sit without the Lord? If it do,
sooner or later it will fall to pieces. No nation ever did live
that counseled and transacted its national affairs without the
Lord, but what sooner or later went to pieces and came to naught.
The same is true of all the nations that now live or ever will
live.
61
Our work, our every-day labor, our whole lives are within the
scope of our religion. This is what we believe and what we try to
practice. Yet the Lord permits a great many things that He never
commands. I have frequently heard my old brethren in the
Christian world make remarks about the impropriety of indulging
in pastimes and amusements. The Lord never commanded me to dance,
yet I have danced; you all know it, for my life is before the
world. Yet while the Lord had never commanded me to do it, He has
permitted it. I do not know that He ever commanded the boys to go
and play at ball, yet He permits it. I am not aware that He ever
commanded us to build a theatre, but He has permitted it, and I
can give the reason why. Recreation and diversion are as
necessary to our well-being as the more serious pursuits of life.
There is not a man in the world but what, if kept at any one
branch of business or study, will become like a machine. Our
pursuits should be so diversified as to develop every trait of
character and diversity of talent. If you would develop every
power and faculty possessed by your children, they must have the
privilege of engaging in and enjoying a diversity of amusements
and studies; to attain great excellence, however, they cannot all
be kept to any one individual branch of study. I recollect once
while in England, in the district of country called the
"Potteries," seeing a man pass along the street, his head,
perhaps, within sixteen or eighteen inches of the ground. I
inquired what occupation he had followed for a living, and
learned that he had never done anything in his life but turned a
tea cup, and he was then seventy-four years of age. How do we
know, but what, if he had had the privilege, he would have made a
statesman or a fine physician, an excellent mechanic or a good
judge? We cannot tell. This shows the necessity of the mind being
kept active and having the opportunity of indulging in every
exercise it can enjoy in order to attain to a full development of
its powers.
61
We wish, in our Sunday and day schools, that they who are
inclined to any particular branch of study may have the privilege
to study it. As I have often told my sisters in the Female Relief
societies, we have sisters here who, if they had the privilege of
studying, would make just as good mathematicians or accountants
as any man; and we think they ought to have the privilege to
study these branches of knowledge that they may develop the
powers with which they are endowed. We believe that women are
useful, not only to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds, and
raise babies, but that they should stand behind the counter,
study law or physic, or become good book-keepers and be able to
do the business in any counting house, and all this to enlarge
their sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large.
In following these things they but answer the design of their
creation. These, and many more things of equal utility are
incorporated in our religion, and we believe in and try to
practice them.
62
I will say, now, to the Latter day Saints, sometimes you know, if
a word be dropped unguardedly, we are threatened with an army; if
we speak a word out of the wrong side of the mouth we are
threatened with a legalized mob just as we were in the States.
Hence, we must be careful of what we say, for our enemies are
ready to "make a man an offender for a word, and to lay a snare
for him that reproveth in the gate." I will say, however, that if
you, Latter-day Saints, will live your religion there will be no
necessity whatever to fear all the powers of earth and hell, for
God will sustain you. Jesus is king of this earth and he will
sustain those who walk humbly before him, loving and serving him
and keeping his commandments. I pray the Latter-day Saints to be
faithful; love and serve the Lord, keep His commandments, refrain
from evil and walk humbly before him. When we were in the
Christian world, and were without the Priesthood, we believed in
every good word and work, in every moral principle, in everything
that tended to promote peace, happiness, morality and virtue, in
fact in every good principle that man could teach. Let us live as
consistently now as we did then; let us live so that God will
bless us and enable us to overcome and be saved in His kingdom,
which may He grant for Christ's sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / Orson
Pratt, December 19, 1869
Orson Pratt, December 19, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER ORSON PRATT,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 19, 1869.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
REVELATIONS AND MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD AND OF WICKED SPIRITS.
62
There is a passage which will be found in one of the epistles of
John, the substance of which I will repeat: "Every spirit that
confesses not that Jesus is the Christ is not of God." I may not
have given you this passage word for word, as it is recorded, but
I have given you the substance of it as laid down in the
Scriptures. It is well known by all readers of the Scriptures,
that in every age of our world mankind have had to contend
against a power which is in opposition to the Almighty. It seems
that our world is infested with those spirits of darkness which
were, in the beginning, cast down from the Almighty, in
consequence of their rebellion against Him; and in every age of
the world these wicked spirits have manifested themselves, and
especially when the Priesthood has been upon the earth and a
dispensation has been committed from Heaven to man; then all hell
has seemed to be in an uproar, and the power of all the fallen
angels made manifest. Hence, it is written, somewhere in the New
Testament, that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood merely,
but against spiritual wickedness in high places." We not only
have to meet with wicked men, and the power of the devil
manifested in them, but the Saints of God have always had to meet
with manifestations of power from beneath--powers not ordained of
God, and which are calculated, if possible, to deceive the very
elect.
63
No there are in existence two great powers: one is of God,
including all the heavenly host--the angels and celestial beings
who dwell in the presence of God and partake of His glory,
holding power and authority from Him to go forth and minister
according to His command. The other power is an enemy to God; it
is the power of that being who rebelled against Him in Heaven,
and sought to takes possession of the throne of the Almighty.
According to the history that is given of this event, a general
council was held in Heaven about the time of the creation of this
earth. In that council there was a personage called an angel, who
stood in authority in the presence of God; and when the question
was asked, "Who shall go forth and redeem mankind?" Lucifer, the
Son of the Morning, this angel who stood in the presence of God,
answered and said, "Here am I, send me; I will go forth and
redeem all mankind, that not one soul shall be lost." But the
only begotten Son of the Father, who was with the Father from the
beginning, replied and said, "Father, Thy will be done, and the
glory be Thine for ever." And here a rebellion rose up between
Satan, the Son of the Morning, and the Son of the living God, as
to the redemption of mankind. One sought to destroy the plan of
God and the agency that the Lord intended to give to intelligent
beings, and to redeem them whether they would be redeemed or not;
and because he considered that his plan was so good before the
heavens, and so much superior to the plan that God had devised,
said he, "Surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor,
which is the power of God." That is, he sought to obtain the
throne of the Almighty, and to carry out his own purposes in
preference to yielding to the purposes and power of the Almighty.
This rebellion became so great, and the influence of it spread so
rapidly among the heavenly host, that one-third part of the
heavenly throne, I mean the spirits, rebelled against God and
followed the evil design and purpose of this angel. No doubt some
of them thought that they could accomplish their design; for they
had not a knowledge of the future designs and purposes of God,
only in a small degree, and consequently they supposed that their
plan was better than that of the Almighty; and in this great
rebellion the Lord caused Satan, or Lucifer, the Son of the
Morning, and those who followed him, to be cast out of Heaven.
63
We may form some little calculation of the vast numbers thus
thrown out of Heaven, when we consider that they were one-third
of all the spirits that were born, intended for this creation.
Only two-thirds kept their first estate, and they have the great
privilege of coming here to this creation and taking bodies of
flesh and bones, tabernacles wherein their spirits may dwell, to
prepare themselves for a more glorious state of existence
hereafter. If, then, only two-thirds of the hosts of Heaven are
to come to our earth to tabernacle in the flesh, we may form some
idea of the vast number who fell. Already our earth has teemed
for six thousand years with numberless millions of human beings
whose spirits existed before the foundation of the world. Those
who now exist probably number one thousand or twelve hundred
millions. Twelve hundred millions of spirits now dwelling in
mortal flesh! Think of the immense numbers who must have preceded
us and the myriads who are to come! These are the two-thirds who
kept their first estate. Their numbers, probably, cannot be less
than two hundred thousand millions, leaving, as an approximate
estimate, one hundred thousand millions of rebellious spirits or
devils who were cast out from Heaven and banished to this
creation, having no privilege of fleshly tabernacles.
64
It was in the Garden of Eden that the devil, or one of those foul
spirits, entered into a certain animal or beast, called a
serpent, and came before our first parents and beguiled them, and
they suffered themselves to partake of the forbidden fruit. If,
then, they were in the earth as early as the Garden of Eden, no
doubt, they have been here from that day to this, and that the
earth is the place of their habitation. They wander to and fro in
the earth seeking whom they may devour! Only think of a hundred
devils to every being that now exists on the earth.
64
Though these spirits had not the full knowledge of the Almighty;
though they had not that superior knowledge that reigns in the
bosom of the Son of God, and of many that stood in His presence,
yet they had great information before their fall. They had stood
in the presence of God, and had, no doubt, learned many things
from His own mouth. How long they had been in His presence it is
not for us to say, God has not revealed it. But they had great
experience. I am speaking of the knowledge and the cunning that
these enemies of God possessed when they were cast down here to
the earth. They have cunning beyond what you have ever seen
manifested by the children of men. They can, at times,
apparently, be perfect gentlemen when they enter the tabernacles
of the children of men. They can become, apparently, very pious,
and, if you could not discern spirits, you would think, from the
manifestations of devils, when in the tabernacles of many
individuals, that they were perfect angels on earth.
64
The devil operates in every conceivable form, and this is what
the apostle meant when he said, "We do not merely wrestle against
flesh and blood, but also against principalities and powers." We
have enemies far more powerful than men to contend against. The
devil has not the power to take full possession of the
tabernacles of human creatures, unless they give way to him and
his influence to that degree that he gets power over them. But we
have not time now to trace the history of the powers of darkness
in early ages; but will briefly state, that they did show forth
their power in ancient times.
64
Moses was called of God and ordained to the holy Priesthood after
the order of Melchizedek, by the hands of his father-in-law,
Jethro, and sent forth with power and authority into Egypt to
seek after the welfare of the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
in bondage there. Just as soon as the Almighty began to manifest
Himself through the power of the legal Priesthood, so soon these
opposite powers began to work whenever they could find a chance;
and the individuals through whom they worked were the principal
men of Egypt, the most popular men they had in their midst--the
priests, magicians, and astrologers were the ones through whom
Satan manifested this opposite power. His design, no doubt, was
to frustrate or destroy the influence of the miracles, signs and
wonders that were made manifest by Moses among the people of God
for their redemption. Hence when Moses came before Pharaoh he
cast down his staff and it was turned into a serpent, or into
something having the appearance of a serpent, and was full of
life and animation. That was a great miracle that the Lord saw
proper, on that occasion, to manifest before this wicked king,
that he might have what he had desired, for he had asked for a
sign, and the Lord granted it. But immediately others were called
by the king--the magicians, soothsayers and those whom Satan had
gained power and influence over--and they were commanded to show
what they could do. They cast down their rods and they likewise
became serpents.
65
Now, here was a manifestation of similar power--Moses' rod became
a serpent and the rods of the magicians also became serpents; but
by and by Moses' rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians. What
did that prove? In the estimation of wicked men like the King of
Egypt and his subjects, it was nothing more than the extending of
this power had in possession by the magicians. They did not look
upon it as a distinct and separate power, because they had not
the spirit to discern, the Spirit of the Lord was not with them,
and they could not discern the difference. But there were
manifested on that occasion two distinct and separate powers, so
similar in their effects, that none but those who lived near unto
God and understood the workings of the Holy Spirit, could detect
the difference between them.
65
A succession of wonderful manifestations of the power of God was
made through Moses, and in all, save two or three instances, the
magicians did likewise. What would naturally be the conclusion at
which wicked men would arrive under such circumstances? They
would naturally say, "Here is Moses, who has been brought up in
all the learning of the Egyptians and he is more advanced than
our magicians; he has learned lessons that they have not yet
acquired," consequently men of that stamp would decide that it
was all by the same spirit, and they would not acknowledge the
finger of God in it.
65
That may be a sample to all people in future generations in the
manifestations of these powers. The wicked cannot discern and
comprehend the difference between these two powers. If we believe
that there is a God and a heavenly host standing in His presence,
ready to do His behests, we must believe in the manifestations of
divine power; and if we believe that there are fallen spirits who
have been cast down to this earth, we must also believe that they
will manifest their power just as far as they are suffered or
permitted. But we do not wish to dwell too long upon the history
of past ages, we want to come down more immediately to our own
time.
65
I now appeal to the aged and to the middle-aged in this assembly,
and I will ask them this one question, "What was the condition of
the world forty years ago in regard to miraculous manifestations
of power, and to new revelation?" I am now speaking of the
Christian world at large. Did they believe that God would perform
any miracles in our day? The old and the middle-aged know that
the whole world had come to the conclusion that there was no such
thing as supernatural power to be made manifest in our times.
That was the almost universal belief among the children of men.
When you talked to them about new revelation, they considered the
very idea of such a thing a folly. Tradition had taught them and
their fathers for many generations, that the book called the Old
and New Testaments contained all that God ever did reveal or ever
would reveal to the human family. This notion was not peculiar to
some few classes of Christian society, but it was almost
universal throughout Christendom. Such a thing as new revelation
was discarded by them, all over the world. Said they, "The canon
of Scripture is full, it is complete, and it is the very height
of blasphemy to suppose that God would give any more!"
66
This was the condition of mankind before this Church arose, forty
years ago. By and by an obscure individual, a young man, rose up,
and, in the midst of all Christendom, proclaimed the startling
news that God had sent an angel to him; that through his faith,
prayers, and sincere repentance he had beheld a supernatural
vision, that he had seen a pillar of fire descend from Heaven,
and saw two glorious personages clothed upon with this pillar of
fire, whose countenance shone like the sun at noonday; that he
heard one of these personages say, pointing to the other, "This
is my beloved Son, hear ye him." This occurred before this young
man was fifteen years of age; and it was a startling announcement
to make in the midst of a generation so completely given up to
the traditions of their fathers; and when this was proclaimed by
this young, unlettered boy to the priests and the religious
societies in the State of New York, they laughed him to scorn.
"What!" said they, "visions and revelations in our day! God
speaking to men in our day!" They looked upon him as deluded;
they pointed the finger of scorn at him and warned their
congregations against him. "The canon of Scripture is closed up;
no more communications are to be expected from Heaven. The
ancients saw heavenly visions and personages; they heard the
voice of the Lord; they were inspired by the Holy Ghost to
receive revelations, but behold no such thing is to be given to
man in our day, neither has there been for many generations
past." This was the style of the remarks made by religionists
forty years ago.
66
This young man, some four years afterwards, was visited again by
a holy angel. It was not merely something speaking in the dark;
it was not something wrapped up in mystery, with no glory
attending it, but a glorious angel whose countenance shone like a
vivid flash of lightning, and who was arrayed in a white robe,
and stood before him. This young man saw the countenance of the
angel; he saw his person and his glory and rejoiced therein. This
angel revealed to him some great realities; not mysterious or
dark sayings, covered up without any particular information,
light or knowledge, but certain realities were made manifest to
him concerning the ancient inhabitants of this land. This angel
told him that they were a branch of the House of Israel; that
they kept sacred and holy records; that those records were kept
by prophets and inspired men; that they were deposited, some
fourteen centuries ago, after the nation had fallen into
wickedness, by one of their last prophets, and that the time was
at hand for this record to be brought forth by the gift and power
of God.
66
Here, then, was a reality--something great and glorious, and
after having received from time to time, visits from these
glorious personages, and talking with them, as one man would talk
with another, face to face, beholding their glory, he was
permitted to go and take these plates from the place of their
deposit--plates of gold--records, some of which were made nearly
six hundred years before Christ. And then, to show still further
a reality, something tangible, the Urim and Thummim, a glorious
instrument, used by ancient seers, was also obtained with the
record, through which, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost
and by the commandment of Almighty God, he translated that record
into our language, and the book was published in the fore part of
the year 1830.
67
During the translation, before the book was published, when the
prophet came towards the latter part of the record, he discovered
that the ancient inhabitants of this continent were baptized in a
certain way, by those having authority from Almighty God. He felt
anxious to know how he, in connection with his scribe, Oliver
Cowdery, might participate in the blessings of this holy
ordinance. They very well knew, from what God had revealed to
them, and from what they had understood by translating the main
portion of the record, that there was no man in all Christendom
that had authority to baptize them. They were anxious to know how
they might be baptized, and how the authority might be restored.
They went out into a grove, and joined in secret prayer, and the
Lord sent a holy angel to them, a man who once dwelt on the
earth, and held the Priesthood of his fathers, according to the
promise of God to the lineage of Aaron. John the Baptist, the
fore-runner of Christ, who was beheaded by Herod--John who
preached repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, came
to Joseph and Oliver Cowdery, as a ministering angel.
67
Perhaps you may inquire here: Was John without a tabernacle? Was
he a spirit or was he a personage of tabernacle, of flesh and
bones? We all know that he was beheaded before the crucifixion of
Christ: and if you wish to know the condition of John when he
came to Joseph and Oliver, read the appendix to the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants, and you will find that Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and Joseph and many others, who are named there, among
whom was John the Baptist, were with Christ in his resurrection;
that is, they came forth in the first resurrection, at the time
that Jesus received his body. About that period the graves of the
Saints were opened and many of them came forth. John was amongst
them; and he held, legally, the power, keys and Priesthood,
bestowed upon the lineage of his father, Aaron.
67
What did John do, when he appeared to brothers Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery? He did not go forth into the water to baptize
them, as he did anciently in the Jordan; but he gave the
authority to them to baptize--he laid his hands upon their heads
and ordained them. Thus the hands of an immortal being--a man
sent from heaven--were laid upon their heads! They were ordained
to that same Priesthood that John himself held, with the promise
and prediction that the Priesthood should not be taken from the
earth while the earth should stand.
67
They were commanded to be baptized, and having received the
authority to administer the ordinance, they went forth and
baptized each other, on the 15th of May, 1829, nearly one year
before the rise of this Church, which took place on the 6th of
April, 1830. Prior to the last mentioned date the Lord bestowed
authority upon His servants to officiate in still higher
ordinances than those pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood. That
Priesthood could administer baptism for the remission of sins,
but it had no power or authority to administer the Spirit. But
there was a Priesthood that had that power and authority. John
speaks of another Priesthood greater than that which he held.
Said he, "There is one coming after me mightier than I. He holds
a Priesthood greater than that which has been bestowed upon me,
namely, the Priesthood of Melchizedek. He shall baptize you with
fire and the Holy Ghost. I can only administer in the outward
ordinance; I have not the right to administer to you this higher
ordinance." It was so with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery: they
could only baptize with water until they received a Priesthood
greater than that which John the Baptist held. And when the Lord
was about to organize His Church, He prepared them by sending men
who had once been here on the earth--namely, Peter, James and
John, to bestow upon them this higher Priesthood.
68
How did these celestial personages come? Did they come
manifesting themselves by a mere voice, or behind some screen as
it were? No, they came personally, in their glory. They not only
manifested their persons and their glory, but they also spoke and
gave them the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the holy apostleship,
which is equivalent to that Priesthood, and commanded them to
organize and build up the Church of God on the earth, and to
administer by the laying on of hands to those who were sincerely
baptized in water, that they might be baptized with the greater
baptism--of fire and the Holy Ghost.
68
Here, then, was a succession of manifestations of power from the
celestial abode. God did not suffer, in those days, Satan to make
manifestations of his power in a very great degree. No such
things as spirit rappings in those days! No such thing as
planche'te--a little heart-shaped wooden thing that the devil
makes use of in giving revelations, in those days. No such thing
as tables dancing about the room by the power of Satan in those
days! No such thing as a power seizing upon the hands of a man
and using them independent of his control to write out what were
termed revelations, in those days! By why didn't the devil
manifest these powers long before that time? Because God would
not suffer him: the devil is under the control of the Almighty in
some respects. He has fallen, and the Lord will not suffer him to
go any further than He permits; and when the people have not the
Gospel and Priesthood in their midst, and light and knowledge
from the heavens, He will not suffer the devil to show forth his
power to deceive and lead them astray; therefore He determined
that the preliminary manifestations should come form the
celestial world, and that the Priesthood with its power and
authority should be given from on high, before He would suffer
the devil to come and manifest his strong delusions!
68
Suffice it to say, the Church was organized, individuals were
baptized by water and with the Holy Ghost, and when they were
filled with the Holy Ghost they were oftentimes, in those early
stages of the Church, covered with a pillar of fire. They were
immersed in and clothed upon with fire, and the Holy Ghost
entered their hearts and they were filled with the spirit of
prophecy, and with the gift of tongues, and in process of time
with the gift of visions, and had power to heal the sick and cast
out devils in the name of Jesus Christ, to build up the kingdom
of God and establish righteousness upon the face of the earth, so
far as they could gain influence over the hearts of the children
of men. But wherever these servants of the Most High went
persecution followed them. There was a howl from the pulpit from
Maine to Texas and from one extremity of the Union to the other,
crying out against new revelation. All the papers and periodicals
of the day, far and near, published articles against the idea of
receiving new revelation; there seemed to be a perfect flood
coming from all quarters of the land testifying to the supposed
absurdity of receiving new communication from the Almighty. By
and by persecution became so great that scores and scores of the
Saints were put to death in Missouri; and this was followed up
until the Prophet and Patriarch of the Church were martyred and
the people driven from their homes, their property destroyed, and
every means in the power of the enemy used to uproot and destroy
the fullness of the Gospel and the Priesthood out of the earth.
69
What was the matter in those days, and why were they so
embittered against this people? "You have," said they, "brought
us something so strange! You pretend to visions! You pretend to
new revelations! You pretend that God has spoken! You pretend
that angels have come! You pretend that God has revealed another
record, another Bible! You pretend that you have received the
Priesthood and the apostleship, and for these things you are not
worthy to dwell in our midst! You must be persecuted from city to
city, you must be driven from your houses and lands, your
property must be confiscated and destroyed, and there is no power
in this country of ours that can protect you in those views which
you have so strangely advanced in the midst of this Christian
country."
69
Was there any polygamy in those days among the Latter-day Saints?
No; God had not revealed and established this practice among them
in those days; they were not persecuted for any such thing, it
was not named; but we were persecuted because we believed in the
same principles that the ancient apostles and Christians believed
in. But by and by, after having shed the blood of the prophets,
and the Saints had been driven from their lands and from one city
to another, and their property destroyed, when the wicked had
ripened themselves in iniquity, and prepared themselves in a
great degree for the overwhelming judgments of the Almighty, and
when they found that the people were not to be put down by
persecution, and that we would continue publishing these new
tidings, far and wide, the devil took another turn. What was it?
Said he, "I see they cannot be put down with persecution, they go
forth and the people will believe them more or less; we cannot
destroy them, and if we destroy their property and drive them
from place to place it makes no difference, so I will show them
that the world can have revelation enough," and he commenced. But
instead of calling upon men and beginning something great and
good, in a godlike manner, he called upon certain females,
residing not far from where the plates of the Book of Mormon were
found, where the people had been warned, perhaps, longer than in
any other portion of the United States. These ladies, Misses Fox
by name, began bringing forth supernatural manifestations. Others
did the same in a short time, and they have continued until the
present day and have spread over the whole United States and many
other parts of the world. If you go forth and make inquiries in
regard to these manifestations, you will find that there are
several missions of people in this country that believe in them.
What a change between now and forty years ago! Then you could
scarcely find one in the whole Christian world that would admit
the probability of new revelation or supernatural manifestations;
now there are millions in the United States alone!
70
Do these manifestations affect, for good, those who believe in
them? Do they cause them to repent of their sins? No; they who
blaspheme the name of God almost with every breath, and that will
cheat and take every advantage possible of their brethren; they
who will lie and steal and do every species of wickedness and
abominations are the very ones that the devil works through;
still the whole Christian world, apparently, are now willing to
admit new revelation. Oh, yes! They have forgotten how they
persecuted the Latter-day Saints because they believed in new
revelation, and they can now believe in revelation by wholesale!
They will not believe in records given through the medium of the
prophets; but they are ready enough to believe if a wicked man
who will blaspheme the name of Jesus is the medium and is made a
participant in this great power. Such characters do not need any
organization from God, they do not need any baptism, ordinances
or Priesthood.
70
The devil has invented various names for his manifestations in
order to get the people to swallow them down; the same as the
doctors. When they wish to administer some nauseous kind of
medicine, they sweeten it up a little. So the devil has sweetened
up these things in such a way that he has got almost all these
manifestations under the name of science. If you want to see a
species of devilism made manifest, it comes out under a
scientific phraseology, under the specious name of
electro-biology, animal-magnetism, or some such popular
name--names that have been given to real sciences, which have
their laws, founded in nature, are now given to these
supernatural manifestations. Why does Satan use their artifices?
Because the people at the present day have become naturally
scientific, or a great many of them have; and the devil thinks if
he can only invent a real, nice, beautiful name, with some
resemblance to a scientific name, a great many of these persons
will swallow it down, and think it all right.
70
Several years ago, about the time of the commencement of the war,
Brother Erastus Snow and myself were down in New York City.
Spiritualism, at that time, was all the order of the day. Almost
all those old members of the Church that had been in Nauvoo and
Kirtland and had apostatized, had fled into New York,
Philadelphia, St. Louis, and throughout the Eastern cities; and
in going through any of these cities, if you heard anything about
these apostates, you would hear about them being great mediums:
there was scarcely a case but what they were spiritual mediums.
Some of the worst kind of apostates--apostates who had turned
away from everything good, from every principle of righteousness,
had become great mediums. Some of them were writing mediums; some
of them would work with a table; some would have manifestations
in one way and some in another.
71
While brother Snow and I were in New York, a very learned judge,
a man very noted for his great attainments, and who had been a
judge in the City of New York, I think his name was Edmunds, gave
us an interview. We promised to meet him early in the evening. I
think we stayed until nearly twelve at night and talked with that
man. He had written a great many works in relation to
spiritualism, and had lectured at New York and other places to
very large assemblies in regard to its truth. We were very glad
to have an opportunity of hearing from his own mouth something
about these supernatural manifestations. We did not expect to
gain any particular light, any further than this--while
travelling on a mission abroad we wished to know how to detect
the devil on his own ground, in relation to those things we had
continually to meet with. Mr. Edmunds told us about the mediums
speaking in Greek and in Latin; about persons who had never
learned to write and had never written a word in their lives,
whose arms had been taken possession of, and their writing a
great variety of writing; also about bells being carried about
the room and rung. He also informed us that many persons had not
only seen and heard these manifestations, but they had actually
seen the personages, by whom they were made, especially their
faces, arms and hands.
71
We inquired of him, if they believed in any Priesthood? Oh, no.
"Do they generally believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the
world?" "Oh no, he was a very good man, no doubt, and write a
good many good precepts; he was not much better than other good
men, only he happened to have some precepts beyond the age in
which he lived. But this age is far superior to that, and
consequently all those things that Jesus and his apostles
revealed are thrown in the shade. They belonged to a
semi-barbarous age, but we have a system and dispensation far
superior to that." This was the tenor of this gentleman's
conversation in regard to these things. He also told about
different spheres of glory, and different orders of angels, the
latter, we were told, being personages from different spheres.
They required no Priesthood, no authority, no ordinances, no such
thing as baptism or organization.
71
When we heard these things we saw, truly, that as the devil did
manifest his power in ancient times among the Egyptians, because
they had persecuted the people of God, put to death their young
infants, and shed innocent blood, even so, directly in the midst
of our nation, his evil power was again manifested in strong
delusion. Having persecuted the Saints of God, and having shed
the blood of His prophets and Saints and driven them from place
to place, and banished them beyond the Rocky Mountains, thinking
that they had certainly got rid of them, and that they would
perish there. Having become so exceedingly wicked, we saw that
the devil was showing forth his power on the right hand and on
the left, for their delusion and destruction.
71
Now let us again speak of the apostates. Apostates seem to be the
greatest mediums in Spiritualism, where they have neither order,
church, nor Priesthood. These apostates, generally, had fallen
into the idea that Jesus, and the apostles and prophets of
ancient times, were living in barbarous ages, far behind the
civilization of our day, but that they were called upon to open
up a wonderful dispensation, and to reveal light far superior to
that which had ever been revealed by any prophet who ever lived
on the earth. This seems to have been the general idea of those
apostates called mediums. I do not know but I am taking up too
much time, but I must now come a little nearer home.
72
You have no doubt heard and reflected upon what is termed a very
great and wonderful "movement"--something that is going to build
up Zion in purity, taking place in our midst. The "movement" was
commenced by a few individuals who had been cut off by the
highest authority of the church and kingdom of God, and expelled
because of teaching and publishing things contrary to the order
of this Church. Now what do you suppose is the real foundation on
which these few individuals are working? I will tell you, and
what I tell you, I will tell you as a person that has heard from
their own mouths; I would much rather have it from their own
mouths than from a second-hand source. I have seen Messrs. W. S.
Bodge and E. L. T. Harrison once since they were cut off from the
Church. I went to see Mr. Godbe, but he was not at home. I was
invited to take a seat in the presence of Mr. E. L. T. Harrison,
and heard him, for an hour or two, relate his spiritual
manifestations. Mr. Godbe, hearing that I had been to see him,
sent me a letter requesting me to meet again with them. I met
with him in a private room, separate from any of the rest, and I
had a long conversation with him. My object in meeting with these
gentlemen was to see if it were possible to point out to them
their foolishness and the foolishness of their conduct and the
course they were taking, what it would lead to and how much
misery it would make them in time to come if they did not repent.
I did not know, before going to see them, that they were so fully
wrapt up in Spiritualism, or what I term Spiritualism, for it is
a good species of this same kind of Spiritualism of which I have
been speaking. They both, separately, one on one evening, the
other on another, related to me their supernatural
manifestations, commencing some fifteen months before. They told
me they had had interviews, by hearing a voice without seeing any
person, with Heber C. Kimball, who taught them a great many
things which, according to my ideas, conflicted with the
instructions contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, such as
sending men on missions, etc. The tenor of the instructions he
received on this subject was that no person, when called on a
mission, need go unless he got the light of the Spirit thereon in
his own heart, to tell him whether it was right that he should
go; in other words they need not go because of being appointed by
the voice of the Priesthood or the general Conference of the
Latter-day Saints. Now, who does not know, except those who are
infatuated and overcome by false spirits, that that is directly
in opposition to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants? The Lord
says there, "Whomsoever you shall lay your hands upon and ordain
and send forth will be with them and bless them; I will go before
their faces and will be on their rearward, and my Spirit shall be
in their hearts." It is not, therefore, for every man, when he is
commanded by the voice of the Priesthood, to think he is to be
his own judge whether he is to go forth on that calling or not
and still remain in fellowship. That is not the way of Heaven,
for the Lord says in the same book that "all things"--remember
this is very broad in its nature--"all things shall be done by
the voice of my servants whom I have appointed, pertaining to the
calling and missions of the Priesthood;" and all things
pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God are to be
done in this way. Now these spirits have taught them directly to
the contrary of this. They named over to me other individuals who
came to them. They said that Joseph Smith came to them; that
Peter, James and John came to them; they also said that Jesus,
himself, came to them, and that Solomon came to them, and he was
rather against the idea, recorded in the Book of Mormon, about
his concubines; he said he never had any concubines, but that all
his women, so far as he understood the subject, were wives. This
repudiates not only the Book of Mormon but the Scriptures also,
for in the latter we are told that he had seven hundred wives and
three hundred concubines. The Book of Mormon does not number the
concubines and wives that he had; but the record, contained
there, seemed to touch the feelings of the old gentleman, and he
desired to get out of it and to explain the matter. He said the
things contained in the Book of Mormon and Scriptures were not to
be received just as they were spoken, and that he felt himself
justified in contradicting that saying of Jacob in the Book of
Mormon. So much for Solomon's visit.
73
They also said that James, in connection with Peter and John,
gave them many instructions, which Mr. Godbe read to me; he also
read to me many instructions purporting to have come from Heber
C. Kimball and Joseph Smith, and he told me there was great deal
more that they did not let me see. Probably I was not strong
enough in the faith to see it. These statements were made to me
in the most perfect plainness. I told them, "I do not believe in
the truthfulness of your manifestations. I believe you have had
manifestations, just as you say, but I do not believe that Peter,
James, John, Solomon, Joseph Smith, Heber Kimball or Jesus has
been to you. I do not believe one of them has been to you, it is
the devil, just the same as he has manifested himself in the
world." "Oh," said they, "here is the difference between us and
them: we believe in the Priesthood; we believe in plurality of
wives; we believe in the order of the Church," and so on. Said I,
"Don't you know that the devil would be very foolish, if he
wished to lead astray men who had been in this Church, who had
been taught for years to believe the principles you believe in,
if he should undertake to lead them astray by telling them there
was no truth in all these things? The devil can adapt himself to
the belief of any person. If you believed in plurality he would
make you think it was all right. If he could get you to swallow
down one or two great lies that would effect your destruction,
and which you would preach and destroy many others, he would not
mind how many truths you might believe. He would be willing that
you should believe a great many things absolutely true if he
could only deceive you and lead you astray and get you to reject
some of the fundamental principles of your salvation, and the
salvation of the people." "But O," said they, "how happy we feel!
We do not feel any animosity to anyone; no anger in our bosoms.
We love the President and his council; we love the Twelve and the
whole Church."
73
"Now," said I, "supposing, for argument's sake, that you really
believe these manifestations were from God, but that the
personages calling themselves Peter, James, John, Joseph, Jesus,
Heber C. Kimball were not those personages at all, so long as
your faith was fixed that they were what they represented
themselves to be, what would be your feelings about it? You would
die for it, just the same as the Pagans will do for their idol
worship; just the same as thousands have done among the false
sects of Christendom in ages past. They were sincere, they had
joy in their works, but by and by, as the Book of Mormon says,
'the end comes and they are hewn down and cast into the fire.'"
74
So those men have joy in their works; they are as happy as happy
can be, apparently, because they believe in these simple,
foolish, vain, false spirits that have taken advantage of them to
lead them astray. Said I, "The true reason that I do not believe
in any of your manifestations is, that your 'manifesto,' that you
have published and sent forth among the people, contains things
so absolutely in opposition to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
that I know no good angel or spirit ever revealed them to you."
Mr. Godbe wanted to know in what respects. I pointed out a number
of things where they come out in opposition to that book. In
order to get around this he told me that the spirits had
manifested that it (the Book of doctrine and Covenants) was not
to be relied upon in the fullest sense of the word, in our
present state of light and knowledge; that those revelations and
commandments were given in our weakness; but that God had greater
light to give us now, hence we must not take them exactly as they
are.
74
I referred to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, in opposition
to their "manifesto," to show how the Lord and His Priesthood
were to govern and control in temporal as well as in spiritual
things; "but," said I, "your spirits teach that they must only
teach the spiritual things, and have no business to assume
control in temporal concerns, but let every man follow the bent
of his own mind." "This," said I, "proves to me that your spirits
never came from God." I was very gentle with them; did not
express myself harshly, but in a plain and pointed manner.
74
I have taken up this subject, of false and true spiritual
manifestations, and laid it before this congregation on the spur
of the moment. I inquired of brother Brigham, as I came on the
stand, on what subject I should speak, and he said, "Every spirit
that confesses that Jesus is the Christ is of God, and every
spirit that does not confess this is not of God." The nature of
these spirits, in their manifestations, is to lessen the power
and authority of the great Redeemer, as our God and the Lord of
this creation. You go among the Spiritualists abroad and you can
scarcely find one individual that will acknowledge the power,
glory and greatness of our Redeemer. So it is with those who
manifest themselves here. They dare not come out all at once;
but, as I told them, "You are so infatuated, so led astray by
these false manifestations, and you believe them so firmly, I see
no possible hope for your recovery, until, perhaps, at some
future time the revelations that you will get may be so absurd as
to stagger your own faith; then you may go into infidelity."
74
I expect this. I find that this is the case with these
manifestations abroad. The mediums will work at them for a
season, but they find so many absurdities and contradictions,
that they finally relinquish them, and turn to infidelity, and
say, "There is no truth in anything."
74
Pardon me for speaking so plain. I did not pledge myself when
Messrs. Harrison and Godbe spoke to me about their manifestations
that I would hold my peace. I told them I had spoken very
pointedly against their principles, and I intended to do so in
the future, believing, with all my heart, and know that they were
not from Heaven.
74
Did they see any of these personages? Both of them say they saw
none of them; it was merely a voice that they heard. They
pretended to have seen a light when Jesus came; after he had
talked a little while they say they saw a little light, but no
personage.
74
How very different were the manifestations I have laid before
you, when Jesus ministered to Joseph Smith, and when the angels
came to him! He not only heard their voices but saw their persons
and their glory, and how they were dressed; and he was inspired
to build up the kingdom of God and bring forth the records of the
Book of Mormon. How very different from this is this covering
themselves up in the dark to deceive! The whole spirit world in
the lower orders is full of deception, and unless you have
something to detect and understand the true from the false you
are liable to be led astray and destroyed.
75
I do not know that I need say anything further about these two
powers, only that all evil powers will go to their own place;
and, unless these men repent, the same being that has power over
them here in the flesh will hold them in captivity in the next
world; unless they repent, the same being who gives them
revelation here will hold the mastery over them there, and will
control them; and if they do not find a dictating and controling
power in the Priesthood, they will find it among those beings to
whom they have yielded themselves subject to obey; and so will
every other person that yields to false influences: they will be
overcome and Satan will destroy them, unless they repent. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, December 10th, 1868
Brigham Young, December 10th, 1868
SYNOPSIS OF REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
At the Funeral of the late President Daniel Spencer, on Thursday,
December 10th, 1868, at the 13th Ward Assembly Rooms,
Great Salt Lake City.
75
"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord: yea, saith the
spirit, henceforth they rest from their labors;" or, in other
words, blessed are those who have received the Priesthood of the
Son of God, and have honored it in their lives. Those who have
honored their calling and Priesthood to the end die in the Lord,
and their words do follow them. Our brother has lived faithful
during his life, and has gone to his rest. We do not mourn as
others do. We can truly say that we have a hope--a knowledge. The
way of life and salvation has been revealed to us, giving us
knowledge of the present and future. We rejoice. Shall we rejoice
that we have the opportunity of paying the last respects due to
this lifeless clay, which a few days ago was alive and active,
full of spirit, attending the High Council, giving decisions full
of knowledge? Yes, we will rejoice. It is a matter of rejoicing
more than the day of his birth. It is true it is grievous to part
with our friends. We are creatures of passion, of sympathy, of
love, and it is painful for us to part with our friends. We would
keep them in the mortal house, though they should suffer pain.
Are we not selfish in this? Should we not rather rejoice at the
departure of those whose lives have been devoted to doing good,
to a good old age? Brother Spencer has lived beyond what is
counted to be the common age of man some four or five years; his
judgment was as active as it was twenty-five years ago. He has
been faithful in this holy war. He instructed all with whom he
met in the way of life. He never gave counsel but what marked the
way to life everlasting.
76
I say to the wives and children and relations, we have more
reason to rejoice for Daniel Spencer to-day, than on any day of
his mortal life. He lives--he has gone on a mission. We are
taking steps to the very place he has gone to. That which was
made subject to sin through the fall, has fled to its eternal
place. This is only a mystery to those who do not understand. But
we have joy in the dissolution of the body. While the spirit
remains in the body, it is liable to sin and overthrow. We are
only preserved by the grace of God and our own faithfulness.
Brother Spencer was, while in the body, subject to temptations
and the vanities that are in the world. So with us. That silent
clay is consigned to rest, and the spirit is free--gone to God
who gave it. How far had he to go to get to the Lord? According
to the ancients, he is dwelling there. David says, "If I were to
flee to the uttermost parts of the earth, thou art there." God is
everywhere by His Spirit, and his spirit is free--it can see the
Lord as well in this room as to travel millions of miles away. If
he is watching us now, he has not the privilege of speaking to
us. God has placed the spirits of the departed subject to bounds,
and they are controlled by certain laws. They have not the
privilege of joining with us in our mental exercises; yet brother
Spencer is in the presence of the Lord. Shall we be in the
presence of God, as brother Spencer is? Yes, if we are faithful,
for we have the privilege of being crowned with immortality and
eternal lives. All people have their guardian angels. Whether our
departed dead guard us is not for me to say. I can say we have
our guardian angels.
76
I say to the family of brother Spencer, there is no cause to
mourn. This body is sown in mortality. This tabernacle is from
the elements of the earth. We are of the earth, earthy, yet this
tabernacle, through faithfulness whilst here in the flesh, has
the promise of a glorious resurrection. If the spirit brought
into subjection the whole man, bringing every portion of the
flesh subject to the law of God, it has the promise of a
resurrection. All the component parts of this body, which now
lies before us, will be resurrected, and be prepared to enter
into the presence of the Father and the Son. Some have supposed
that it matters not what particles we receive again. In this they
are mistaken. The parts which have been honored by the
faithfulness of the spirit in this life will be joined in the
life to come.
76
It has been the idea of many that the spirit goes directly to God
who gave it. Does it remain there? Go on the great battle-field
of the past, and if they could be seen the spirits of the slain
are hovering around their dust. They stay about this earth until
there is another call for them. The kingdom and place where
brother Spencer is called to dwell, he will be in. Every departed
spirit is subject to the laws that govern the spirit world. What
do we gain by being faithful to the Gospel of the Son of God? We
gain life and salvation. Salvation in this world and the world to
come. When they leave the body those spirits are free from the
power of the enemy. There are wicked men in the spirit world.
Millions of them will have the privilege of receiving the Gospel
in the spirit, that they may be judged according to men in the
flesh, and no doubt but many will reject the Gospel there. Jesus
went to preach to the spirits in prison. The faithful Elders who
leave this world will preach to the spirits in the spirit world.
In that world there are millions and millions to every Elder who
leaves here, and yet every spirit will be preached to that has
had a tabernacle on the earth and become accountable.
77
This is the plan of salvation. Jesus will never cease his work
until all are brought up to the enjoyment of a kingdom in the
mansions of his Father, where there are many kingdoms and many
glories, to suit the works and faithfulness of all men that have
lived on the earth. Some will obey the celestial law and receive
of its glory, some will abide the terrestrial and some the
telestial, and others will receive a glory. Our brother is living
to-day, and is bright with intelligence to preach the Gospel in
the spirit world. We know where his remains are. They are here.
But where is his spirit? He is in the line of his duty, and
prepared to do more good than if he were upon the earth. As
quickly as the spirit is unlocked from this house of clay, it is
free to travel with lightning speed to any planet, or fixed star,
or to the uttermost part of the earth, or to the depths of the
sea, according to the will of Him who dictates. Every faithful
man's labor will continue as long as the labor of Jesus, until
all things are redeemed that can be redeemed, and presented to
the Father. There is a great work before us. We plant the seed in
the ground and it comes forth, being warmed by the sun and
nourished by the earth. By the same great laws of God the earth
and its fullness have been produced, giving various degrees of
intelligence. The Lord is raising a crop, and He will continue to
labor until the work is finished.
77
May we all be faithful as brother Spencer was. I say to his
family, God bless you. You have cause to rejoice. In 1840 he was
ready to go into the grave with consumption, but he embraced the
Gospel, health was restored to him, and he has lived to a good
old age and has done a good work. May God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Albert Smith, June 20, 1869
George Albert Smith, June 20, 1869
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE A. SMITH,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, June 20, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
78
When Joseph Smith was about 15 years old there was, in the
western part of the State of New York, a considerable excitement
upon the subject of religion. The various denominations in that
part of the country were stirred up with a spirit of revival.
They held protracted meetings and many were converted. At the end
of this excitement a scramble ensued as to which of the
denominations should have the proselytes. Of the family of Joseph
Smith, his mother, his brothers Hyrum and Samuel, and sister
Sophronia, became members of the Presbyterian Church. Joseph
reflected much upon the subject of religion, and was astonished
at the ill-feeling that seemed to have grown out of the division
of the spoils, if we may so use the term, at the close of the
reformation. He spent much time in prayer and reflection and in
seeking the Lord. He was led to pray upon the subject in
consequence of the declaration of the Apostle James: "If any of
you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men
liberally and upbraideth not." [James, 1st chap., 5th verse.] He
sought the Lord by day and by night, and was enlightened by the
vision of an holy angel. When this personage appeared to him, one
of his first inquiries was, "Which of the denominations of
Christians in the vicinity was right?" He was told they had all
gone astray, they had wandered into darkness, and that God was
about to restore the Gospel in its simplicity and purity to the
earth; he was, consequently, directed not to join any one of
them, but to be humble and seek the Lord with all his heart, and
that from time to time he should be taught and instructed in
relation to the right way to serve the Lord.
78
These visions continued from time to time, and in 1830 he
published to the world the translation of the book now known as
the "Book of Mormon," and on the 6th of April of that year,
having received the authority by special revelation, organized
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was
composed of six members--namely, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery,
Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, jun., Samuel H. Smith and David
Whitmer.
78
The family of Joseph Smith were in moderate circumstances. They
were very industrious, and had held a respectable position in
society; but on this occasion the tongue of slander was pointed
at them, and very soon after the organization of the Church,
vexatious lawsuits were commenced, and Joseph was arrested and
taken before a magistrate and dismissed. He was again arrested
and taken to an adjoining county and treated contemptuously, spit
upon and insulted in various other ways. His case was
investigated and he was again dismissed. This time the mob
resolved to treat him to a coat of tar and feathers, from which,
however, he was shielded by the officers in whose custody he had
been held. It was looked upon, by many in those days, as a
species of fun to treat Joseph Smith or the Elders of the Church,
wherever they went, in a contemptuous manner. The pulpit and the
press almost invariably joined in the outcry against the new
Church, and the predictions were that in a few days it would be
annihilated.
79
After a few months a Conference was organized and missionaries
started towards the West, Joseph having been commanded, by
revelation from the Lord, to establish a gathering place near the
western boundary of Missouri. He accordingly sent missionaries in
that direction, among whom were Oliver Cowdery and Parley P.
Pratt. On their way across the State of Ohio they visited a
society known as the Campbellites, led by Sidney Rigdon. They
preached to them and baptized Rigdon and about a hundred members
of his church, many of whom, and their children, are citizens of
this Territory to-day. After this they continued their journey
westward to Independence, in the vicinity of Jackson county. Soon
after this the Saints who were scattered in various parts of
Western New York removed, part to Missouri and part to Kirtland,
in Geauga, now Lake, county, Ohio, where they founded a city and
built a Temple. In Jackson county, Missouri, they purchased land,
built mills, established a printing office, the first one that
was established in the western part of the State of Missouri, and
opened an extensive mercantile house. They introduced the culture
of wheat and many other kinds of grain, for the inhabitants of
that locality were principally new settlers, and they cultivated
chiefly Indian corn. The Saints also commenced the culture of
fruit, and although they came there with little means, the heads
of families were generally able to buy from forty acres to a
section of land, and in a few months, by their untiring industry,
they began to prosper and flourish in a manner almost
astonishing.
79
In about two years, however, they met with opposition; a mob
assembled and tore down their printing office, broke open their
mercantile house, scattered their goods to the four winds. They
also seized their Bishop and presiding Elders, and inflicted upon
them personal abuse, such as whipping, and daubing them with tar
and feathers, while others were mutilated and killed, which
finally resulted, in the month of November, 1833, in the
expulsion from the county of Jackson of about fifteen hundred
people; about three hundred of their houses were burned to ashes.
79
During the period of the residence of the Saints in this county
there had never been a lawsuit of any description instituted
against any of them; if there had been any violation of law
amongst them, there were ample means to have had the law
enforced, because the officers, both civil and military, were not
of their faith. But the real facts of the case were, the Saints
were regarded as fanatics; and one of the main points in a
declaration published against them was, that they "blasphemously
professed to heal the sick with holy oil." In accordance with the
instructions of St. James, contained in his epistle, 5th chap.
and 14th verse, it has ever been a practice in the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from its organization, when any
are sick among them, to send for the Elders of the Church to
anoint such with oil and pray for them, believing the Apostle
James, "that the prayer of faith will save the sick." This item
of faith is still practiced in all the branches of the Church,
and thousands and tens of thousands bear testimony at the present
time of the miraculous healings that have been effected by the
power of God through these administrations. Yet at that period it
was made a crime, and was one of the principal charges on which
the Latter-day Saints were expelled from Jackson county.
79
From this county the Saints were driven to Clay county, and most
of them remained there about three years, during which time they
performed a great amount of labor for the people of Clay county,
for the inhabitants were mostly new settlers who possessed
nothing seemingly in the way of property save Indian corn, hogs
and cattle. They hired the Saints to labor, who made brick, built
fine houses, and enlarged their farms, erected mills, and, in
fact, acquired considerable property by industry in laboring for
the people in Clay county. The mob of Jackson county endeavored
to stir up the people of Clay against the Saints, which
culminated in a request on the part of the people of Clay that
the Latter-day Saints would leave. They accordingly hunted out a
new county without inhabitants and almost without timber, called
Caldwell county, and moved into it, purchasing land and occupying
it, of which they were the sole inhabitants. They also spread out
into the adjoining new counties, on to the unoccupied land, and
purchased and improved it.
80
From the best of my recollection the Latter-day Saints paid the
United States Government some $318,000 for land in the State of
Missouri, but yet, in the winter and early spring of 1839, they
were expelled from that State, with the entire loss of their
lands and improvements and most of their personal property, under
an exterminating order from Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of that
State, requiring them to leave under pain of extermination. But
they were told that any of them who would renounce their religion
would be permitted to stay. The result was that about fifteen
thousand persons were expelled from Missouri and their property,
to most of which they still hold the titles; and when the day
arrives that the Constitution of the United States becomes
absolutely the supreme law of the land, so that all men can be
protected in their civil and religious rights, they and their
children will go back and enjoy their cherished homes in the
State of Missouri.
80
After leaving Missouri they located themselves in the State of
Illinois. There was a town known as Commerce--noted for being
unhealthy. The location was very beautiful, but the place was
surrounded with swamp lands to a considerable extent. Attempts
had been made to settle it, but there were a great many graves in
the burying ground, and but very few living people in the
vicinity. The Saints went there and purchased property. They
drained the swamps and cleaned them out, and converted the whole
vicinity into gardens, and continued to improve and enlarge the
place until February, 1846. The commencement of the settlement in
Commerce, Hancock county, Illinois, was in the summer of 1839.
80
June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Prophet and Patriarch
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were murdered
in Carthage jail, in Hancock county, Illinois, while under the
pledge of the Governor, Thos. Ford, who had plighted the faith of
the State, at the time of their arrest, that they should be
protected from mob violence, and have a fair trial in the
lawfully constituted courts of the State. They were confined in
jail on a trumped up charge of treason upon the affidavit of a
drunken vagabond. They were murdered by about 150 persons with
blackened faces, some of them persons of high position in
society. I will here say that in all these transactions--I refer
to the outrages committed by the mobs on the Latter-day
Saints--there never was a single instance of the guilty parties
being brought to justice under the laws of the State where the
occurrence transpired.
80
The city of Nauvoo and vicinity had probably about 20,000
inhabitants. They were remarkable for their industry, and the
city was conspicuous for peace, quietness and good order, and for
the rapid manner in which improvements had been made. They
continued to build up the city though they were constantly
harassed by mob violence, and warned from time to time that they
should be driven away. They finished the Temple, which was one of
the most beautiful structures in the Western States, and
dedicated it unto the Lord. They were progressing with other
large buildings, establishing factories and making many
improvements, when the efforts of mobocracy culminated in their
expulsion from their beautiful city and Temple.
80
That they might not act hastily nor unadvisedly, a committee of
Latter-day Saints prepared a petition and sent it to the Governor
of every State in the Union, except the Governor of Missouri, and
also to the President of the United States, asking them for an
asylum, and to afford them that protection which was extended to
other religious bodies. All the States, except one, treated their
application with silence. Governor Drew, of Arkansas, wrote them
a respectful letter, in which he advised them to seek a home in
Oregon.
81
Previous to the death of Joseph Smith, he had selected
twenty-five men--most of whom now reside here--to explore the
Rocky Mountains, with the view of finding a place where they
could make a location that would be out of the range and beyond
the influence of mobs, where they could enjoy the rights
guaranteed to them by the Constitution of our common country. The
premature death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, however, prevented
their departure; the result was that, during the year 1845, it
devolved upon the Twelve to carry out this design. But in the
course of that year the mob broke upon them with more than their
usual fury. They commenced by burning the farm-houses in the
vicinity of Lima; they burned 175 houses without the least
resistance on the part of the inhabitants. The sheriff of Hancock
county issued orders for the "citizens who were not Mormons" to
turn out and stop the burning; but none obeyed his order. He then
issued a proclamation calling upon all, irrespective of sect or
party, to turn out and stop the burning. The burning was
accordingly stopped, but there was a general outcry against the
"Mormons," and immediately nine counties assembled in convention
and passed a decree that the "Mormons" should leave the State.
Governor Ford said it was impossible to protect the people of
Nauvoo. The Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, Gen. John J. Hardin and
several other gentlemen repaired thither and made a kind of a
treaty with them, in which it was agreed that mob violence and
vexatious lawsuits were to cease on condition that the people of
Nauvoo would leave the State, and that they would assist the
Saints in the disposal of their property. It was also agreed that
if a majority would leave, the remainder should be permitted to
remain until they, by the sale of their property, were able to
get away. The Saints then organized themselves into companies of
a hundred families each, and established wagon shops for every
fifty. They took the green timber out of the woods and boiled it
in brine and made it into wagons. Their supply of iron was very
limited, but with what little means they could control they
purchased iron, and exhausted the supply of all the towns on the
upper Mississippi, and made up the deficiency with raw hide and
hickory withes.
82
On the 6th of February, 1846, the Saints commenced crossing the
river. They crossed first on flat boats; but in a few days the
river closed up and something like a thousand wagons crossed over
on the ice, moving out west into the sparsely settled district on
the eastern borders of Iowa; the settlements extending back from
fifty to seventy miles. From that point it was a wilderness
without roads, bridges, or improvements of any kind. They moved
off, however, into this wilderness country in winter, and
continued through the spring amid the most terrific storms and
suffering from cold and exposure. In their progress to Council
Bluffs they bridged thirty or forty streams, among which were the
Locust and Medicine rivers, the three forks of the Grand River,
the Little Platte, the One Hundred-and-Two, the Nodaway, Big
Tarkeo, and the Nishnabatona. Bridging these streams,
constructing roads, and breaking and enclosing three large farms
required immense labor, which was done for the benefit and
sustenance of those who would follow. In consequence of this and
the inclemency of the weather they did not arrive at Council
Bluffs on the Missouri river until late in June. The wagons and
tents were numbered by thousands. The camps were spread out on
the prairie for three hundred miles, moving in companies of tens,
fifties, and hundreds.
82
While the advance companies were crossing the Missouri, they, on
the 1st of July, were called upon by Captain James Allen, of the
United States army, who was the bearer of an order for the
enrollment of five hundred volunteers. They could ill be spared
in their condition, but the number was made up in a few days and
they proceeded on their journey to Fort Leavenworth and thence by
way of Santa Fe to California, where they, among a number of our
countrymen, were instrumental in adding this large domain to the
United States.
82
The families of the volunteers who formed the battalion, being
thus left without protectors, entailed much additional
responsibility and labor upon those left behind, and rendered it
impossible for the companies to proceed to the Rocky Mountains
that season. They encamped at Winter Quarters, the place now
called Florence, in the Omaha country, where they built 700 log
cabins and 150 caves or dug-outs, in which a great number of the
people resided through the winter. Some two thousand wagons were
scattered about in the Pottawattamie country, on the east side of
the Missouri--a country then uninhabited except by
Indians--which, by a treaty of purchase, came into the possession
of the United States the ensuing spring.
82
The winter of 1846-7 was one of great suffering among the people.
They had been deprived of vegetable food; their diet, to a great
extent, had consisted of corn meal and pork, which they had
purchased from the Missourians, in exchange for clothing, beds,
jewellery, or any other property that would sell. Yet they had
sold comparatively none of their real estate and valuable
property; in fact, most of the land remains unsold to this day.
Under these circumstances the people suffered a great deal from
scurvy; the exposure they had undergone also brought on fever and
ague, hence their stay in Winter Quarters and the region round
about is a memorable period in their history, from the
sufferings, difficulties, and privations with which they had to
contend. However, they made the necessary preparations for their
departure, and in the spring of 1847--early in April, 143
pioneers, led by Brigham Young, started to explore and make a
road to the Great Salt Lake Basin.
82
There was not a spear of grass that their animals could obtain
for the first two hundred miles of the journey, and they had to
feed them on the cotton-woods that grew on the banks of the
Platte river and other small streams. In this manner the pioneers
worked their way, making the road as they went along. They
travelled on the north side of the Platte, where no road had been
before until they reached Laramie; they then crossed the North
Fork and took the old trappers' trail and travelled on it over
three hundred miles building ferry boats on North Platte and
Green rivers, and then constructed a road over the mountains to
this place.
82
During this journey they looked out a route where they were
satisfied a railroad could be built, and were just as zealous in
their feelings that a railroad would follow their track as we are
to-day.
83
They arrived here on the 24th of July, 1847. They had some
potatoes which they had brought from Missouri; they planted them
not far from where the City Hall now stands. In a few days after
their arrival the Mississippi Company, which had wintered on the
Arkansas river, a few of the sick and some families left by the
Mormon Battalion, being unable to proceed with them to the
Pacific--numbering altogether about 150--arrived here. They then
began to feel that they were quite a populous settlement, as they
counted in the neighborhood of some four hundred persons. They
laid out this Temple Block, and dedicated it to the Lord. It
really was one of the most barren spots they ever saw. However,
they asked the Lord to bless the land and make it fruitful. They
built a dam and made irrigation ditches. Some of their number
lacked faith under those trying circumstances, and subsequently
turned away and went to other parts of the world.
83
That fall--the fall of 1847--there came in here 680 wagons loaded
with families. They built the fort commenced by the pioneers on
the land, a portion of which is now occupied by A. O. Smoot in
the 6th Ward of this city, the whole only covering about thirty
acres. They dwelt in this contracted space that no temptation
should be presented to the Indians to commit depredations.
83
During the winter they prepared a systematic plan for the
irrigation of the land, for they knew nothing about it
previously. They were compelled to ration out their food in small
allowances, for they had no way to get more until it grew, and it
required a great deal of faith on the part of the people to
remain here and run the risk of procuring supplies from the
earth. In the winter one or two hundred of the brethren from the
West arrived almost without provisions, having been discharged
from the Mormon Battalion without rations or transportation to
the place of their enlistment. They explored a new route from
California. Some of them passed on to their families in Winter
Quarters, suffering much for the want of provisions by the way.
Many of them remained here, using as food everything that
possibly could be used. The Saints divided with the battalion
their scanty allowance of food. During the next spring many
hundred acres of land were planted. There was, however, a pest
here that they had never seen anywhere else. After the nursery of
twenty thousand fruit trees had come up and the fields were green
and there was a good prospect of grain being raised, there came
down from the mountains myriads of large black crickets, and they
were awfully hungry. The nurseryman went home to dinner, and when
he returned he found only three trees left; the crickets had
devoured them. The brethren contended with them until they were
utterly tired out, then calling on the Lord for help were ready
to give up the contest, when just at that time there came over
from the Salt Lake large flocks of gulls, which destroyed the
crickets. They would eat them until they were perfectly gorged,
and would then disgorge, vomiting them up, and again go to and
eat, and so they continued until the crickets had entirely
disappeared, and thus by the blessing of God the colony was
saved. I believe the crickets have never been a pest in this
vicinity to any serious extent since. This we regard as a special
providence of the Almighty.
84
The early settlers did not know how to irrigate the crops
properly and the result was that their wheat, the first year, was
most of it very short, so short that it had to be pulled up by
the roots; but singularly enough there was considerable grain in
the ear, and they raised enough to encourage them to persevere in
their experiments, for their labors were only experiments at that
early day and also enabled them to diffuse information on the
subject, which proved of general benefit. This location is so
high in the mountains, the latitude about 41° and the altitude so
great that nearly every one thought it was impossible to raise
fruit, but some continued to plant. In the second year of their
arrival here their settlement was increased by nearly a thousand
wagons from the East and a few from the West. The third year the
immigration continued. In 1849 a handsome sum of money was
contributed as a foundation for the Perpetual Emigration Fund,
and Bishop Edward Hunter went East to aid those to emigrate who
could not do so by their own means. While the Saints were
surrounded by their enemies on every hand in Illinois, they
entered into a solemn covenant within the walls of the Temple at
Nauvoo that they would exert themselves to the extent of their
influence and property to aid every Latter-day Saint that desired
to gather to the mountains. This covenant they did not forget,
and the very moment they began to gather a little surplus they
commenced to use it to aid their brethren and sisters left
behind. At first they purchased, in the East, cattle and wagons
necessary to bring the emigrants here; but in a few years they
raised cattle here, and sent their teams to the Missouri river
year after year, sometimes two hundred and sometimes three
hundred, and they have sent as many as five hundred teams, for
several successive seasons--a team being four yoke of oxen (or
their equivalent in horses and mules), a wagon, a teamster, also
the necessary officers and night guard for each company of fifty
wagons. In this way they continued to bring their brethren not
only from every part of the United States, but also from Europe,
Asia, Africa, and Australasia. This system of emigration is
continued up to the present time, and has resulted in bringing
many of the Saints together, and has materially increased the
population of Utah.
85
In the early settlement of the Territory, the Latter-day Saints
had other obstacles to contend with besides those already
referred to. In 1849, and for several years after, a considerable
number of men passed through here on their way to the gold mines
in California. Numbers of them would have perished had it not
been for the provisions and supplies unexpectedly obtained here.
They knew not how to outfit themselves for such a journey, and
were unwilling to abide the restraints of organization necessary
for their own preservation on the Plains. Hence they wore out
their teams and quarreled with each other, and arrived here in
ever conceivable stage of destitution. Upon their arrival here
they were treated as friends, employed, and furnished with the
necessary outfit as far it could be obtained. I may say that tens
of thousands received the assistance necessary to enable them to
proceed to California to realize, if possible, their visions of
gold. While the Latter-day Saints were pursuing this course, they
too were tempted with a spirit of going to the gold mines. The
counsel given to the brethren by President Young was to stay at
home, make their farms, cultivate the earth, build houses, and
plant gardens and orchards. But many preferred to go to the
mines, and they went; but I believe that in every instance those
who went returned, not having made as much as if they had
followed the counsel given. There was this difference: the men
who went to California could dig a hole and take a little gold
out of it; but after a time the supply of gold would be
exhausted, and then, after paying their expenses, the most of
them had nothing left but a hole in the ground; but the men who
went to work here on their five or ten acre lots, or even on
their city lots of an acre and a quarter, in the course of a year
or two had a snug little home. The result was that those who
remained at home and diligently attended to agricultural pursuits
were the most successful.
85
But among the strangers travelling through the Territory to the
mines were many men of desperate character, and they would cause
trouble by killing Indians near the settlements. One difficulty
occurred here in the north--a band of men from Missouri shot some
squaws who were riding on horseback, and took their horses; in
revenge for this the Indians made an attack on our northern
settlements. Similar occurrences took place in the south. The
results was we were troubled with expensive Indian wars, caused
by the acts of men who would rather entail trouble upon us than
not. In consequence of outrages inflicted on the Indians, we were
under the necessity of keeping ourselves armed and having in our
midst a vigilant militia. In the year 1853 the inhabitants found
it necessary to encircle this city with a wall of earth, at a
cost of $34,000, which they did for the purpose of preventing the
Indians stealing their horses, and to enable the small police
force to protect the city from their depredations. From that
period the Indians have made very little inroad on the property
inside this city. There is, among the Indians in these mountains,
an innate principle to steal anything and everything that lies
unguarded in their way. When the number of horses, sheep, and
cattle, that the people throughout the Territory have raised, is
considered, the number stolen by the Indians is surprisingly
small. Yet some of the outside counties have suffered severely
and are suffering to-day from thieving bands from neighboring
Territories. In their intercourse with the Indians they have
acted on the principle that it is cheaper to feed them than to
fight them. In all cases they have treated them with the
strictest justice as far as possible, and have maintained their
relations with them in a manner truly astonishing.
86
We look around to-day and behold our city clothed with verdure
and beautified with trees and flowers, with streams of water
running in almost every direction, and the question is frequently
asked, "How did you ever find this place?" I answer, we were led
to it by the inspiration of God. After the death of Joseph Smith,
when it seemed as if every trouble and calamity had come upon the
Saints, Brigham Young, who was President of the Twelve, then the
presiding Quorum of the Church, sought the Lord to know what they
should do, and where they should lead the people for safety, and
while they were fasting and praying daily on this subject,
President Young had a vision of Joseph Smith, who showed him the
mountain that we now call Ensign Peak, immediately north of Salt
Lake City, and there was an ensign fell upon that peak, and
Joseph said, "Build under the point where the colors fall and you
will prosper and have peace." The Pioneers had no pilot or guide,
none among then had every been in the country or knew anything
about it. However, they travelled under the direction of
President Young until they reached this valley. When they entered
it President Young pointed to that peak, and said he, "I want to
go there." He went up to the point and said, "This is Ensign
Peak. Now, brethren, organize your exploring parties, so as to be
safe from Indians; go and explore where you will, and you will
come back every time and say this is the best place." They
accordingly started out exploring companies and visited what we
now call Cache, Malad, Tooele, and Utah valleys, and other parts
of the country in various directions, but all came back and
declared this was the best spot.
86
I have travelled somewhat extensively in the Territory, and I
bear my testimony this day, that this is the spot, and I feel
confident that the God of Heaven by His inspiration led our
Prophet right here. And it is the blessing of God upon the
untiring energy and industry of the people that has made this
once barren and sterile spot what it is to-day.
86
We have struggled with all our power and might to maintain that
morality and uprightness which pertain to the kingdom of God, and
to place all men and all women in that high position which God
designs them to occupy, and to prevent them being led astray by
the immoral tendencies which are abroad in the world; but while
doing so we have had to contend with obstacles of every kind. The
Latter-day Saints have built commodious school-houses in every
ward of the various cities and through all the settlements of the
Territory. They have done all they could to promote education,
but they have received no assistance from any source on earth.
Almost every newly settled country has received certain donations
in land and money to aid them in support of their schools, but in
this Territory we have never received a cent. The money that has
been expended for the furtherance of education in this Territory
has been by the voluntary will of the parents. Oregon received
donations in land to encourage its settlement, and persons who
made the earlier settlements were permitted to occupy 640 acres
of land, others who settled later 320, and subsequently 160, and
liberal donations of land were made available to promote the
cause of education. Utah has had no such encouragement. But it is
my opinion to-day that had Congress been as liberal with us as
with Oregon, and had given 640 or 320 acres of land to each, it
might have hindered our progress under the circumstances. Most of
our farmers cultivate from five to thirty acres of land, very few
of them cultivating forty; and it requires tolerably good Saints
not to quarrel about the water while irrigating in a dry time
even on small tracts of land close together; but how would it
have been if our agriculturists had each possessed 640 acres, or
even half or quarter of that, if they were compelled by law to
live upon and cultivate the same or forfeit it? Most of the water
would have been wasted by evaporation and soakage because of the
lengthy ditches which extensive cultivation would have rendered
necessary. I verily believe that if "Gentiles" lived here they
would fight and kill each other with their hoes in a dry time
over the water ditches.
86
The brethren will pardon me for devoting my time on the present
occasion to this brief sketch of the history of the Church and of
the Territory with which they are so well acquainted. In
consequence of there being so many friends and strangers present,
I felt inspired to give a little detail of the circumstances that
led us here, and of some of the incidents since our arrival in
this Territory.
87
I feel to bless God for the many privileges that we enjoy, and
among others that we are now permitted to buy our lands and
obtain a title to them. I feel thankful to the rulers of our
nation for showing a disposition to extend to us the privileges
which are enjoyed in this respect by our fellow-citizens in the
other territories.
87
As early as 1852 our Legislative Assembly memorialized Congress
for a national railway, which was subsequently endorsed by
immense mass meetings in this and other counties. We have done
all in our power to hurry it on. Many looked on it at the time,
and since, as if it were work for a hundred years; but the work
is completed, and men can come from the States in a few hours.
When I came here with my family, in 1849, I was one hundred and
five days driving oxen from the Missouri river across the Plains
to this place. Now a man can come with his family in a few days.
This is a great progress, thank the Lord for it.
87
We are still at work with all our power developing in the new
Territory everything that is useful for the sustenance of its
inhabitants, for the establishment of manufactures, the promotion
of agriculture, and everything that will tend to build up,
strengthen, and benefit mankind. I fully believe that there is no
one hundred thousand people in the United States who have done
more actual service for their country than we have; for what
benefits a nation is to take its worthless desert domain and
endow it with beauty and wealth, by the strong hands of a loyal
people.
87
May God help us to fill out our days with honor is my prayer, in
the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, January 2, 1870
Brigham Young, January 2, 1870
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, January 2, 1870
(Reported by John Grimshaw.)
LATTER-DAY SAINT FAMILIES--PREACHING THE
GOSPEL--BUILDING UP THE KINGDOM.
87
After contemplating what you have been hearing, I want to say,
for the consolation of these my sisters before me, I give you my
word for it, if your children were counted and their number
compared with that of the children born in the healthy city of
Boston, that you do not lose three where they lose five; and I
think the ratio would not vary much from three to six. I want to
say this for the consolation of those sisters who live in Utah
and bear children.
88
As for what has been said here of our children and their state of
health and general appearance, and how they present themselves to
strangers and to friends, I am perfectly willing to compare ours
with any in the world; and if the result is not favorable to us,
I would be willing to part with them; but if the contrary be the
case, let us have theirs.
88
This revelation about our children came through Anna Dickinson.
When she came here I was not at home. She stayed here one day and
one night; I understood she was riding a good part of the night
with a stranger, for the benefit of her health I suppose. These
great statements about the children of Utah have come through the
great wisdom and experience of Anna Dickinson. How much does she
know about family affairs here? She stayed here at the Townsend
House, I suppose, nearly twelve hours. Did sister Townsend make
the statement which Anna Dickinson gives to the world? Anna may
say so, but I do not believe it. I will give you one specimen of
her knowledge with regard to the ladies of this city. In one of
her statements she says that Brigham Young will look after the
young ladies, and on becoming acquainted with them will find some
of them are his own daughters. Her researches in this community
were immense. But let me tell you she is hired by some lackeys to
lecture against "Mormonism" and the "Mormons." I say go ahead,
lecture away until you get into ----; and then continue your
lectures, and afterwards hire men to say this, that and the other
about this people; I do not know that it makes the least
difference to you and me. It matters not to us what the press
says, or what that judge or this officer, or what Congress says.
We are here in these mountains; the Lord has called and led us
here and sustained us and given us strength.
88
I know more about the rising generation than most of the people
who live in this city. I travel a great deal, and as I go into a
small town and see the children strung out a quarter of a mile, I
often say: "Have you borrowed these children? Where did you
borrow them from?" I am answered: "I guess we own them here." I
go to the next settlement and see another group, stretching
perhaps half a mile in length, ready to receive us with their
banners and flags and their merry greetings. I go to another and
see them by hundreds and thousands. Go through this Territory and
what do you see? That which you cannot find elsewhere on the face
of the earth with regard to children; not only in numbers, but in
intelligence, strength, power of mind and general scholastic
ability. Suppose some one says it is not so; does that make any
difference to us? No; not the least.
89
I have never feared but one thing in regard to the Latter-day
Saints in the persecutions they have received or that are in
prospect: and that is, that we shall come short of doing our
duty. It is only when we live short of our privileges, when we
neglect to serve our God and to do as we should do, and as the
Lord our God requires of us, that I have any apprehensions for
this people, and I have certainly seen just about as much with
regard to persecutions as any other man that lives in this
Church. Still, I never had but this one fear: Are the people
doing their duty? Are they neglecting their privileges or are
they living so as to have the Spirit of the Lord constantly in
their hearts? If we are right before the Lord, it is no matter
how we appear before the wicked. We are just as obnoxious now as
we can be. Why are we so? Is it because we have drunkenness in
our midst? No. Is it because we have houses of ill-fame? No. Is
it because we are a gambling people? No. Do we horse-race, bet,
drink, quarrel and go to law with one another from Monday morning
to Saturday night? No; nothing of this kind is claimed against
us. Then what is the matter with the Latter-day Saints? Our
enemies cry out, "Polygamy." It is a false idea. Very many of
them believe in polygamy down yonder East; I won't even except
the leaders of our country, only they believe it on the sly,
while we have our wives and acknowledge them. Anything that is
unlawful is swallowed by them. Anything that is in opposition to
the law of God goes down with them. Anything that tramples under
foot the ordinances of God is all right with them.
89
But we love our God, we honor His laws, we obey His precepts, and
we honor our father Abraham and perform his works. We should live
to the best of our ability in accordance with the revelations God
has given to us.
89
But why need the wisdom of the nation trouble itself about the
"Mormons?" The whole cry, according to the newspapers, is about
this people. Religious teachers, scribblers, public speakers and
everybody join in this murmur against the Latter-day Saints. Let
us keep the law of God and the laws of our country and preserve
ourselves in these mountains without much quarreling and
contention, and where is the great fault that can be found with
the Latter-day Saints? We observe the law of God and it makes us
one. It is the Priesthood they are opposed to. The wickedness of
the whole world is opposed to the Priesthood of the Son of God.
It was opposed to Jesus when he was here on the earth in the
flesh. It appears that the whole world of mankind was opposed to
the Gospel in the days of Noah. Who believe the sayings of Noah?
His family. Who else. Nobody. What was the result? Why, Noah kept
crying to the people for a hundred years that the Lord certainly
would avenge Himself upon the nations unless they repented. Who
believed the Gospel in the days of Enoch? A few, who gathered
together and built a city to the Lord. Who believes in the Gospel
now? Just a few. This Gospel is the Gospel of order and rule; it
is the law of God brought forth to the children of men, by which
they can save themselves by hearkening to its counsels. Who love
it? The righteous. Who hate it? The wicked.
89
We have been hearing about the Latter-day Saints preaching. I
think if our Elders were to go without purse or scrip and had
nothing to fall back upon, and could not write here for means,
but were obliged to take their valise in their hands and preach
the Gospel as we used to do, they would be much more successful
than they are and would find many more who would be willing to
listen to their testimonies. I used to travel without purse or
scrip, and many times I have walked till my feet were sore and
the blood would run in my shoes and out of them, and fill my
appointments--go into houses, ask for something to eat, sing and
talk to them, and when they would commence questioning, answer
them. Converse with them until they have given you what you want,
bless them, and, if they wish, pray with them, and then leave,
unless they wish you to stay longer. If you have an appointment,
and are obliged to go here and there on your mission, go like
Saints--humble before the Lord, full of faith and the power of
God, and you will find the honest in heart, for the Lord is going
to save a great many.
90
It is near twenty-five years since we left the confines of the
United States. Go back there and you will find hundreds, and
perhaps thousands, who are ready to receive the Gospel. Only
carry it to them as they are prepared to receive it. But while we
go and ride in our silver carriages, many never inquire into our
principles; they are looking for something else. The meek and
lowly Jesus sent his disciples without purse or scrip; and when
the honest in heart see our Elders go in the same manner that
Jesus' disciples did, with the doctrine that he delivered to his
disciples, and preach without purse or scrip, our Elders will
find plenty of honest-hearted persons who will receive their
testimony. But when the Elders go into the great cities, hire
large halls and hire carriages to ride to their pulpit in, the
people say it is a speculation, and such Elders do not have much
of the Spirit of the Lord to preach to the people.
90
Our Elders who are in the States will do us good; there is no
question about it. But they will do themselves and the people
good if they will go without purse or scrip. If they travel
without purse or scrip, when they land in the midst of a
community, or wherever they want to preach, and go into the
peoples' houses and talk with them, pray with them and sing with
them, teaching them the way of life and salvation, they will find
there are plenty who are willing to receive them. Many of the
Latter-day Saints go and say, "I am a 'Mormon' Elder, will you
take me in and give me shelter and feed me?" "No," says the owner
of the house, "get out of my house, I do not want any 'Mormons'
here." If you go and say, "I am a servant of God and want to
tarry over night," and sing and pray, you will find many honest
in heart ready and willing to receive you.
90
But here is the place to sanctify the people. They come here as
ignorant as babes; they do not know their first lesson. They
believed the sound of the Gospel. They have been baptized for the
remission of sins and have had hands laid upon them for the gift
of the Holy Ghost. But what do they know about the kingdom of
God? They are mere babes; they know nothing, and they come up
here to be instructed and to be taught how to live and walk
before the Lord and each other. When they come here they need
this teaching, and we are here to teach them; and the people are
improving.
90
Let any of you sisters get out into the world, where you used to
live, and what you used to see there will have quite another
aspect to you. It will appear quite different to your minds and
feelings. Learn how they feel towards His people; learn what is
the state of the world; and then look back upon the people of God
in these mountains, and you will see them lifted up and perceive
that they are pure in heart in comparison with the world, and are
striving with all their might and main to build up the kingdom of
God on the earth. You who are here do not understand it and
cannot see it, because all things are proved by their opposites.
Were it not for darkness, could you give any description of
light? Ask the individual who never saw light, and see if he can
give you any description of it. He cannot do so from actual
knowledge.
91
Those who come here find a pretty good people, but in their
estimation we should be just as holy as angels. We are pretty
good, and we are trying to be better; trying to devote ourselves
more and more to the building up of the kingdom of God; trying to
overcome our passions, subdue our tempers within us; trying to
sanctify ourselves, our children, our friends and families, and
seeking to become Saints in deed. The people are pretty good, and
if they were gathered together so that we could see the
difference between those who have been here for years and those
who have just come, you would understand the comparison brother
Kimball used to make of the clay that is thrown into the mill and
has been grinding for years and prepared to make vessels of honor
of; but in comes a batch of new clay, and you must grind again;
and when it is taken out of the mill it is cut to pieces to see
if there is anything in it that should not be. The impurities
that are in the clay may destroy the vessel. You will therefore
gather all out that should not be in it and throw it away. So it
is with the Saints. Some keep leaving and this renders the clay
purer and purer.
91
We talk a good deal about building up the kingdom of God upon the
earth, according to the knowledge and understanding we have in
regard to the kingdom of God; it requires several things to
constitute a kingdom. If there is a kingdom, there needs a king,
ruler or dictator; some one to govern and control the kingdom.
What else does it signify? It says, in language that cannot be
misunderstood, you must have subjects; if there is a kingdom
there must be a king and subjects; and there must be territory
for the subjects to live upon. Well, now, if we are in a kingdom,
do you think we are in a kingdom without law? No; the strictest
law ever given to mankind is the law of God. If we transgress the
law of God, we cannot be sent to the penitentiary, to stay a few
years in there; it is before the Lord, and He will judge
according to our works, and judge righteous judgment. We cannot
pay a fine of one dollar, five or five hundred and then be
forgiven; if persons neglect to obey the law of God and to walk
humbly before Him, darkness will come into their minds and they
will be left to believe that which is false and erroneous; their
minds will become dim, their eyes will be beclouded and they will
be unable to see things as they are. Why? Because they know not
the laws of God. There are a thousand ways by which persons can
lose the Spirit of God. They neglect their duties, fall away into
temptation and are overcome by Satan, the wicked one.
92
Among the sayings of Jesus there is a parable about a man who
went out to sow. He had good seed to sow in the field. Some of
it, however, fell upon stony ground and some among thorns. That
which was sown on stony ground came up very quickly, but it was
so tender that the rays of the sun were too powerful for it and
it dwindled away and died. It was so with this people; they are
not prepared for all that comes to them. In some instances the
word of God seems to be like seed cast upon stony ground. Some of
the seed was sown among thorns; but the cares of the world choked
it; and some was sown upon good ground where it took root firmly
and brought forth fruit, yielding "some thirty, some sixty, and
some a hundred fold." These are the ideas which Jesus brought
forth to show the people wherein they might fail, and the danger
of receiving the word unless they did so into good and honest
hearts. Look upon the inhabitants of the earth. Whenever any of
you go and preach the Gospel to them, they must acknowledge that
every iota of it is true. Truth, reason, judgment, teach them so.
The revelations the Lord has given teach it. Do they believe it?
Some will say they believe it. They receive the truth, but do
they receive the love of the truth? If persons receive the love
of truth and are faithful to the laws God gives to them, they
will make themselves the elect through their faithfulness; and
they will be the elect of God.
92
It was observed here this morning, in relation to the building up
of the kingdom of God, that many think they have the privilege of
doing just as they please. We have only the privilege to do
right. There is not an iota in the revelations, from Adam down to
the present day, but what requires strict obedience. They who
cannot abide a celestial law--the law that God has revealed for
the sanctification of His people to prepare them to enter into
the presence of the Father and the Son, should try and abide a
lesser law, but they must expect a lower glory, a secondary
glory. If they cannot abide the celestial law, and can abide a
lesser law, then they will receive the blessings of that law, and
whatever law they abide they will receive the blessings thereof.
The Lord has been pleased to reveal unto the people His law by
which they can be sanctified and return into His presence.
Latter-day Saints observe this law. What shall we say to them?
Teach them the law of God. How easy it is? Is it easy to be
understood! Yes, very easy; it can be summed up in these words:
Do right, love God and keep His commandments. Take the moral code
that the Lord has revealed and let it be strictly followed out;
and what man or woman would ever infringe upon the rights of his
or her neighbor? They would never do it; they would do good to
their neighbor all the day long. If we would observe the moral
law which God has given us, we would be honest with our neighbors
and ourselves; and every man and woman belonging to the kingdom
of God would speak truly and honestly. Would they be honest with
regard to their dealings? Yes. If we give our word, it should be
just as good as a bond that can be ensured and be made strong and
powerful by securities. Our word should be just as good as all
the words that can be spoken, or all the names that can be
written. If we write what we say, we will keep that word. Will we
oppress the widow and the fatherless? No. The hireling in his
wages? No; we will give them all that they can do or earn and
then a little more; and if any one comes to us that is poor, in
distress and in want, turn him not away empty handed. "Give to
him that asketh, and from him that would borrow turn thou not
away."
93
This people do this pretty well. There is not much complaint on
this score. I do not think there is a house in these mountains
where a Latter-day Saint lives, that a person can go to and ask
for a meal of victuals, where he would not get it if the people
living in the house had it in their possession. I do not think he
or she could ask to stay over-night and be refused the privilege.
That is saying a good deal for a community. Would we be honest in
returning that which we have found to the owner? We would. Would
we ever take that which is not our own? We would not. Would we be
honest in our labor? We would. Would we be honest in our
merchandizing? We would. Would we be honest in every respect? We
would. Would we take usury? I hope to see the day when there will
be no such thing as one man taking usury from another. But it is
not so now; people do not come to this; we do not expect them to
do so while they follow the spirit of the world. But these are
things they have to learn when they gather together. Will there
be any extortion, any selling our goods for a hundred to five
hundred per cent in advance of cost? No. The time will come when
this co-operative system which we have now partially adopted in
merchandizing will be carried out by the whole people, and it
will be said, "Here are the Saints." The time will come when we
can give all into the store house of the Lord and have our
inheritances given out by those who will be appointed; and when
we have had sufficient for the support of our families, the
surplus will be given into he store house of the Lord. Will there
be any rich or poor then? No. How was it in the time of Enoch?
Had they some rich and some poor? Did some ride in their silver
carriages, as I do? No. If I had my way, we would foot or ride
together, and we shall see the day when we shall do it. Do you
think we will relinquish our claims pertaining to oneness in
action? No. I do not calculate, as far as I am concerned, to
yield one particle. I have asked the Latter-day Saints to go to
and become one in all things; the Lord requires this, but until
they do, I do not expect to yield, not the least. Let us hold on
to all that we can. The enemy of all righteousness is determined
to own and possess this world and govern and control it as far as
he possibly can; and he will do it until Jesus and his Saints
drive him out.
93
Whatever the Latter-day Saints have gained has been obtained by
sheer wrestling and unconquerable resolution. We would never have
been permitted to own a foot of land on this earth if the devil
had had his own way. But we have the land and can build our
temples and endowment houses and then sanctify our inheritances,
sanctify ourselves, our families, and sanctify the Lord our God
in our hearts, that we may be prepared to build up His kingdom.
93
I wonder what the Latter-day Saints would say, to-day, in this
matter. Do you think we had better hold on the ground we have
already gained from the enemy? We have gained a little in this
co-operative system. We feel for each other and try to assist
each other. But let me tell you what I am going to do. I do not
expect to merchandize with our enemies to any great extent, but
to cut it off just as fast as we can. I expect us to raise our
own silk here. I would have had plenty for hundreds of silk
dresses this year if I could have been blessed with some person
who would have taken care of my silk worms and done justly by me.
Raise your own silk, I will raise mine. Raise your own wool, work
it and then wear it, and stop going anywhere to purchase goods.
Let us sustain ourselves, for by and by Babylon will fall. What
will be the result? The merchants will stand and look at one
another worse than they do in this city. No man will buy their
merchandize; and they will look here and there for a customer;
but there will be no one to buy their merchandize, and the cry
will be, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen!" Is this day coming? Yes;
just as sure as we are now living. We are hastening it with all
possible speed, as fast as time and circumstances will admit,
when it will be said, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen!"
93
Are you going to prepare for it? We say we are the people of God
and are building up the kingdom of God. We say we are gathered
out of the nations to establish Zion. Let us prove it by our
works, and we will then manufacture that which we wear. Do we
make clothing enough for me and you to wear? Yes; plenty.
94
Let us live so that we can say we are the Saints of God; and when
the finger of scorn is pointed at us and we are held in derision
and the nations talk about us, let us show an example before them
that is worthy of imitation, that they cannot but blush before
all sensible and intelligent persons when they say, "There is a
people that sin; there is a people that are corrupt;" and with
shame-facedness they will look upon each other and condemn
themselves. Let them howl and bark against us as much as they
please, but let us live so that they will have no reason to say a
word. Some people say, "Why don't you contradict this and that? I
have been proclaiming the Gospel almost forty years, and a few
have come forth and received and obeyed it. What do you think the
leading men among our Christian neighbors said about us? They
lied about us until we thought they ought to be satisfied and we
were tired of hearing them and we found it was no use
contradicting them. Yet these professed to be good, pious
Methodists and Baptists. There is a world of liars. It is said
that a lie will pass out of the key-hole and travel a thousand
miles before truth can get out of doors. The whole tribe of
scribblers and everybody else, almost, are ready to contradict
every truth and make a lie of it; ready to ridicule every just
and holy truth; and the individuals that say children born in
polygamy are feeble, have no knowledge of the human race or else
they belie themselves. Let them study physiology and human
nature. Let them study their own bodies. What do you see among
them? You see children that are born into the world sickly, weak
and unable to walk for years; they are poor, emaciated little
things, almost without flesh on their bones. It is from such that
the cry comes about the "Mormon" children. Why, one of our
children at three months old has much more flesh on its bones
than theirs have at ten; and, on the average, they have more
marrow in their bones and energy in them than theirs do. They do
not know anything about human nature or the organization of human
beings, nor of the beasts. To make any such declarations proves
they are ignorant, or they belie themselves. These are harsh
expressions; I need not have used such harsh words; I might have
said they tell that which is not true, they slightly diverge from
the truth. How soft it would be! But I say they will be
destroyed; and all the nations that follow their corrupt
practices will go down to hell; and we will go onward and upward.
All we have to do is to perform our duty and keep the law of God,
and our course is onward and upward. God overrules the acts of
the wicked and the righteous.
95
I recollect when the army of '57 was coming here, a young man
named Thomas Williams wrote to his father, saying, "God favors
great guns and great armies!" What did those great guns and great
armies do? They took two "Mormon" elders into their camp--brother
McDonald, at Provo, and brother Kearns, who now lives at
Gunnison. What a howl they raised! the whole camp howled to think
they had two "Mormon" elders. But there was too much faith; the
Saints were praying for those elders and they came out unscathed,
unhurt and all right. What power there was! What a magnanimous
camp it was! "the flower of the army," sent to destroy the
"Mormons!" When they blow out the sun and stop the moon from
shining and the earth from revolving on its axis, they may talk
about "wiping out" the "Mormons" or the Gospel, but not until
then. This is the way I feel. I am as unconcerned and just as
happy as a man can be. It is no matter if the whole world is
against us, God is for us. Could not they kill you? Yes, if it be
the Lord's will. If it be the will of the Lord for the people to
live, they will live. If it had been the will of the Lord that
Joseph and Hyrum should have lived, they would have lived. It was
necessary for Joseph to seal his testimony with his blood. Had he
been destined to live he would have lived. The Lord suffered his
death to bring justice on the nation. The debt is contracted and
they have it to pay. The nations of the earth are in the Lord's
hands; and if we serve Him we shall reap the reward of so doing.
If we neglect to obey His laws and ordinances, we shall have to
suffer the consequences.
95
Well, brethren and sisters, try and be Saints. I will try; I have
tried many years to live according to the law which the Lord
reveals unto me. I know just as well what to teach this people
and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring
them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office.
It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He
teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a
sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not
call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon,
and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the
oracles of God continually. In the days of Joseph, revelation was
given and written, and the people were driven from city to city
and place to place, until we were led into these mountains. Let
this go to the people with "Thus saith the Lord," and if they do
not obey it, you will see the chastening hand of the Lord upon
them. But if they are plead with, and led along like children, we
may come to understand the will of the Lord and He may preserve
us as we desire.
95
Let us, then, you and me and all who profess to be Latter-day
Saints, try to be Saints indeed. God bless you, Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Q. Cannon, April 6, 1869
George Q. Cannon, April 6, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 6, 1869.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE ORDER OF ENOCH--SOCIALISTIC EXPERIMENTS--THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.
96
I look upon this Conference as one of the most important, in many
respects, that we have ever had the privilege of participating
in, for, to my view, there are more interesting and important
events connected with the work of God at the present time than
have ever been developed before in our history. We are undergoing
a great change, a great revolution is in progress in our midst--a
revolution foreshadowed by the predictions of both the ancient
and modern prophets, but which we, as yet, have scarcely been
prepared for.
96
Nearly 37 years ago the Prophet Joseph, or rather the Lord,
through him, gave revelations upon the Order of Enoch. Those
revelations were taught to the people in plainness so far as they
went. They were simple and easily understood; but they embodied
within themselves what might have been termed new principles, and
indicated a new course of action and a new organization of
society. I saw new, because they were new so far as this
generation is concerned. The principles taught by those
revelations were as old as eternity; and the Order sought to be
introduced by their means was called the "Order of Enoch," in
consequence of it having been revealed to and practised by Enoch;
and through its practice he and his people were prepared for
translation and, as we read in the Scriptures, were taken from
the earth.
96
The Lord inspired the Prophet Joseph Smith to once more
communicate these principles unto the children of men; but, as I
have remarked, the people were not prepared to carry them out.
They, to some extent, could see and understand their beauty and
consistency but in the practical part they were deficient. As a
people the Latter-day Saints are like their fellows in many
respects. We are very progressive in theory, but our theories are
far ahead of our practice. The teachings of the elders are of
that character that years of practice on the part of the people
is required before they come up to them in their every-day life.
It is so with mankind generally. They can comprehend the theory
and realize the importance of practically observing certain
principles long before they are sufficiently advanced to carry
them out in every-day life. But we may say, without boasting,
that as a people we excel the world in carrying out in our lives
the principles that we teach.
96
Those principles to which I have been referring were received and
admired by the people, but it required faith, knowledge and
experience to enable them to carry them out. For years they have
remained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants to be read by the
curious or by those who had a desire to search after the
principles of life and salvation; but, not being a part of our
practice in our lives, they have been practically a dead letter.
96
I speak, now, generally; of course, there have been exceptions in
regard to this, as there have been with regard to the "Word of
Wisdom." There have been men and women who have endeavored to
carry out the latter strictly and truthfully so far as their
knowledge extended. And so with the principles contained in the
revelations touching the "Order of Enoch"--there have, doubtless,
been men in the Church who have lived in accordance with them so
far as it was practicable under the circumstances; but the entire
people have not carried them out. But though thirty-six or
thirty-seven years have elapsed since these principles were first
revealed, they have never been lost sight of by the President and
those associated with him. It has been their aim from the day
they were given until to-day, the 6th of April, 1869, to bring
the Latter-day Saints to such a condition of union, faith and
knowledge that they would receive these principles and carry them
out in their lives.
97
The labors of the elders to accomplish this have been incessant;
they have ever felt to impress them upon the minds of the Saints,
but more particularly within the last four or five years. It is
essentially necessary that we should receive them now, for upon
the reception and proper carrying out of this Order hinges the
prosperity, development and triumph of the kingdom of God on the
earth; and unless we as a people arrive at such a standard of
faith and perfection as to practically carry them out, we are
assured, on the best of authority, that we cannot be permitted to
go back and build up the Centre Stake and fully accomplish the
redemption of Zion. The consequences involved in not being able
to accomplish that are familiar to the minds of those who are
members of the Church of Jesus Christ, especially if they are old
members. One of the greatest calamities that could be thought of
by us as a congregation, or a Church, to-day, would be to learn
from the Lord through His servants that we should not be
permitted to go back to build up the Centre Stake of Zion. The
edict pronounced by the prophet Moses, when he told Israel that
not one who had arrived at the age of twenty-one years should
ever enter the "Promised Land," had not a greater effect upon
Israel than the prohibition I have just referred to would have
upon the Latter-day Saints. We can realize, then, the importance
of adopting and carrying out the principles that will prepare us
for that great work.
97
It is not to be expected that we shall attain to perfection in
the carrying out of such principles at once. That is not the way
we have progressed in the past; our progress has been gradual. It
has been from principle to principle, from knowledge to
knowledge, one step after another until we have reached the point
for which we have aimed. And so it will be with the principles
pertaining to the "Order of Enoch"--we shall take step after
step, progressing from one point to another until we have reached
the point that God, our Heavenly Father, has designed us to
attain to.
98
When we look abroad among the nations of the earth we see a great
many evils in existence--evils that have existed for many
centuries; in fact, they have existed from the earliest ages of
which we have any account until the present time, in every nation
and among all people. Our own nation is a case in point. When the
foundations of the Government were laid, and liberty proclaimed
throughout the length and breadth of the land, it was anticipated
that this nation would grow to a pitch of glory and attain to a
greatness and power that no other nation on the face of the earth
had ever attained. Everything was favorable to this: a free
Government had been established; a continent of almost
illimitable extent spread itself before the people, and all that
was necessary to develop its boundless resources was population,
and industry on the part of that population. But little over
ninety years have elapsed since the foundations of our Government
were laid, and in that time we have grown to be a great people;
but that which has been enacted in other nations has been
re-enacted here. The evils that have flourished so long in what
is called the Old World have been transplanted to this land. If
Western men travel through the Eastern States they are struck
with the great distinction of classes that exist there. There is
an aristocracy of wealth fast growing up there; and at the same
time there is another class in degradation and poverty, utterly
unable to obtain the blessings and comforts of life. This is
owing to various causes, the chief of which is the incorrect
organization of society. It is so in Europe and in Asia, and, in
fact, wherever wealth abounds.
98
Many men have risen from time to time, who have seen and deplored
these evils, and they have sought with all the wisdom and
knowledge they possessed to correct them. Doubtless many of the
Latter-day Saints recollect an instance of this kind at Nauvoo.
After the Saints evacuated that place, a community of Socialists,
called Icarians, whose leader was Mr. Cabet, came to Nauvoo and
settled there. There were the houses, gardens, farms and orchards
of the Latter-day Saints; the country was a healthy one when
compared with what it was when first settled by the Saints. Many
philanthropic men in France were interested in this experiment,
and were anxious to have it succeed. They forwarded their means
with considerable liberality to sustain the settlement; but
despite their efforts and exertions, it fell to pieces. Yet the
object they had in view was a good one, and the means they used
were effective, so far as they went. But there was a lack of
cohesive power in the system; there was a lack of union, and a
lack of wisdom in the management of the affair. They sought to
ameliorate the condition of mankind and to diffuse the blessings
of life equally among the people, so that hunger, poverty and
wretchedness and the dreadful consequences which follow in their
train might be removed from the midst of mankind and a better
order of things established. But with all the advantages of which
I have spoken, their attempt was a signal failure: the society
was broken up and to-day has no existence.
98
This is a case in point with which many of you are familiar.
Similar experiments, having the same ends in view, have been
tried at other places at various times, but like results have
attended them.
99
It has been seen by thinking men that there is something
radically wrong in the organization of society in this respect,
but they have not known how to remedy the evils. It is so in the
religious world. Religionists have to mourn and deplore the
divisions that exist among the so-called followers of Christ; and
reformers have risen one after another endeavoring to bring about
greater union and to develop a greater amount of love, but with
what success let the history of the various sects of Christendom
answer. They are split up into innumerable parties, and the
effort of every reformer has only resulted in the increase of
religious sects. He has been unable, and his inability has been
confessed by himself, to unite the Christian world and bring
about the oneness which characterized the followers of Christ in
the early days of Christianity. It required the Lord our God to
stretch forth His arm to bring this to pass. It required the
revelation of the Gospel in its purity from the heavens; it
required the restoration of the holy Priesthood to the earth in
the plentitude of its power to bring it about; and as soon as the
Priesthood was restored, as soon as the Gospel was given again in
purity to man, and the Church of Christ was again organized, then
the object for which these reformers labored in vain began to be
accomplished--oneness began to prevail, union began to manifest
itself, love was diffused, the Holy Ghost was bestowed, its gifts
were enjoyed, and men and women from various nations and from the
midst of various churches were gathered together in one as we are
here to-day. It required the wisdom, power and Spirit of the
Almighty to restore this condition of things for which many men
had so long labored in vain.
99
And so it is in relation to the social organization of society.
It requires the wisdom of Almighty God to correct the evils under
which mankind groan. Men may labor and devise schemes, expend
means and do all that is possible for human beings, not directed
by the Spirit and power of God, to do, and after they have done
it all they are compelled to confess that they are weak and
fallible, and incapable of accomplishing that which they have
aimed at. But with God to aid them, with His wisdom to guide and
His Spirit to direct, and His blessings to smile upon them they
can accomplish all that is necessary to redeem and save the human
family, both in a physical and spiritual point of view. God has
chosen His people, the Latter-day Saints, to solve these knotty
problems that have troubled the brains and affected the children
of men for so many centuries.
99
The Lord has said that "if ye are not equal in earthly things, ye
cannot be in obtaining heavenly things." He has revealed a plan
by which this equality can be brought about. Yet, He does not
design to make us of equal height; He does not design that we
should all have the same colored hair or eyes, or that we should
dress exactly alike. This is not the meaning of the word
"equality," as it is used in the revelation; but it means to have
an equal claim on the blessings of our Heavenly Father--on the
properties of the Lord's treasury, and the influences and gifts
of His Holy Spirit. This is the equality meant in the
revelations, and until we attain to this equality we cannot be
equal in spiritual things, and the blessings of God cannot be
bestowed upon us until we attain to this as they otherwise would.
As a people we are expecting the day to come when Jesus will
descend in the clouds of Heaven; but before this day comes we
must be prepared to receive him. The organization of society that
exists in the heavens must exist on the earth; the same condition
of society, so far as it is applicable to mortal beings, must
exist here. And for this purpose God has revealed this Order; for
this purpose He is bringing us into our present condition.
100
A great many of the Latter-day Saints scarcely understand the
persistency with which the Presidency of the Church has labored
to bring about the oneness of the people in temporal things; and
this co-operative movement is an important step in this direction
and is designed to prepare them for the ushering in of this Order
to which I have been alluding. It has already produced greater
union, and it will produce still greater union than anything that
has been witnessed among us; and if we carry it out in the spirit
in which it has been taught to us it will produce immense
results. The Lord will bless us; He will increase our means and
pour into the laps of this people everything necessary for their
greatness in the earth. For be it known unto you and to all
people that God designs to make of the Latter-day Saints the
head; He intends to place in their hands and keeping the wealth
of the world. But before blessings of this description can be
poured upon us we must be prepared to receive and use them
aright. Suppose these things were to be poured upon us in our
present condition, what would be the result? Every one can answer
this question for himself. Each one knows his or her own heart,
and the feelings by which it is animated. We know that if the
whole people were to be made rich it would be an exceedingly
difficult matter to control them; even with the little means we
have to-day it is one of the most difficult things to control the
people in regard to the disposition and correct use of that
means.
100
In a revelation given on this subject in the year 1834 the Lord
says--
100
"I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens and built the earth as a
very handy work, and all things therein are mine, and it is my
purpose to provide for my Saints, for all things are mine; but it
must needs be done in mine own way, and behold, this is the way
that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my Saints, that the
poor shall be exalted in that the rich are made low; for the
earth is full and there is enough and to spare. Yea, I prepared
all things and have given unto the children of men to be agents
unto themselves; therefore if any man shall take of the abundance
which I have made and impart not his portion, according to the
law of my Gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall with the
wicked lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment."
100
In another revelation on the same subject given in 1832, the Lord
says--
100
"For Zion must increase in beauty and holiness; her borders must
be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily, I say
unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments:
therefore I give unto you this commandment that ye bind
yourselves by this covenant, and it shall be done according to
the laws of the Lord. Behold, here is wisdom also in me for your
good. And you are to be equal, or in other words you are to have
equal claims on the properties for the benefit of managing the
concerns of your stewardships, every man according to his wants
and his needs, inasmuch as his wants are just, and all this for
the benefit of the Church of the living God, that every man may
improve upon his talent, and every man may gain other talents,
yea, even an hundredfold, to be cast into the Lord's storehouse,
to become the common property of the whole Church, every man
seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with
an eye single to the glory of God.
100
"This order I have appointed to be an everlasting order unto you,
and unto your successors, inasmuch as you sin not; and the soul
that sins against this covenant, and hardeneth his heart against
it, shall be dealt with according to the laws of my Church, and
shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day
of redemption."
100
While I am reading I will read another extract, that you may get
the idea more fully in your mind. After speaking of the Treasury
that shall be appointed, in which shall be preserved the sacred
things in the Treasury for sacred and holy purposes, which shall
be called the Treasury of the Lord, the Lord continues--
101
"And again, there shall be another Treasury prepared and a
treasurer appointed to keep the Treasury, and a seal shall be
placed upon it; and all monies that you receive in your
stewardships, by improving upon the properties which I have
appointed unto you, in houses, or in lands, or in cattle, or in
all things, save it be the holy and sacred writings, which I have
reserved unto myself for holy and sacred purposes, shall be cast
into the Treasury as fast as you receive the moneys, by hundreds,
or by fifties, or by twenties, or by tens, or by fives; or in
other words, if any man among you obtain five talents, let him
cast them into the Treasury; or if he obtain ten, or twenty, or
fifty or an hundred, let him do likewise, and let not any man
among you say that it is his own, for it shall not be called his,
nor any part of it, and there shall not any part of it be used or
taken out of the Treasury, only by the voice and common consent
of the Order. And this shall be the voice and common consent of
the Order--that any man among you say unto the treasurer, I have
need of this to help me in my stewardship; if it be five talents,
or if it be ten talents, or twenty, or fifty, or an hundred, the
treasurer shall give unto him the sum which he requires, to help
him in his stewardship, until he be found a transgressor, and it
is manifest before the Council of the Order plainly, that he is
an unfaithful and an unwise steward; but so long as he is in full
fellowship, and is faithful, and wise in his stewardship, this
shall be his token unto the treasurer, that the treasurer shall
not withhold."
101
From these extracts which I have read in your hearing you can
form an idea of the Order which God, our Heavenly Father, intends
to establish among us as soon as we are willing to enter upon it.
It is not the design of God that we should fall a prey to the
evils that have existed and that have worked out such misery and
ruin among other people. It is God's design to save and redeem us
from the evils that others have endured. It has been frequently
remarked to me by men out of our faith, when conversing upon our
principles and the success which has attended their proclamation:
"Mr. Cannon, as long as the Latter-day Saints are poor you will
do very well; as long as you are persecuted you will stand; but
you will be like other people when wealth increases in your
midst--when you grow up into classes and some are wealthy and
some are poor, and your Church becomes popular, you will be very
likely to fall into the same evils and errors that have
characterized other churches." If God did not preside over this
Church, such expectations and predictions would doubtless be
fulfilled. But God presides; it is His Church, and He has
provided remedies for every one of these evils, by which the
Church can be preserved, and by which wealth can be increased in
the midst of the Latter-day Saints and yet not work out the
injurious results that we see elsewhere where it abounds. God has
provided a way to prevent this, and that way is to be found in
the revelations that were given unto us upwards of thirty-six
years ago, and we can read and understand them.
101
"Well," says one, "if such an Order as this you speak of be
established, will not the careless and indolent enjoy a share in
the blessings of those who are industrious? and will it not
weaken the hands of the energetic?" Not in the least. The man who
is energetic and faithful will receive the reward of his
faithfulness. If he has a large surplus of means he has more to
put into the Treasury to help to forward that kingdom he loves,
and he is credited with it. In the day of the Lord Jesus we are
told He will say to him, "Thou hast been faithful over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many," and such individuals
will receive a reward in proportion to their faithfulness. But if
they hide up their talent in a napkin and bury it in the ground,
that which was given to them will be taken from them. They who
use their talents righteously and faithfully will have them
increased, but the unfaithful will be deprived of that which he
seems to have.
102
This Order will not have the effect that some anticipate, but it
will be a blessing to all who are engaged in it. There will not
be any temptation to seek for wealth for the sake of aggrandizing
one's self or to place one's heart upon riches, as there is now.
This temptation will be removed. I shall be able to love my
neighbor. Why? Because if I make off him in a trade I know that
whatever I make goes into the treasury and becomes the property
of the whole Church, therefore what inducement would there be to
soil my soul and bring a blot on my character by taking advantage
of my neighbor when it is not going to specially benefit me?
102
I look upon this principle as one of the greatest principles to
save people from avaricious and sordid feelings that God has ever
revealed. It will have a tendency to check dishonesty and remove
want. It will have a tendency to stop stealing and to cure the
evils under which mankind have groaned from the beginning until
now. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ there is a remedy for every
evil that exists among men. Here is the "social problem," that
troubles the minds of all nations to-day. The cities of
Christendom are crowded with prostitutes; their young men are
destroyed in the dawn of their days by the terrible crime of
prostitution. How shall these fearful evils be cured? Has there
been sufficient wisdom found among men to do it? No; they have
confessed their utter inability to cope with it. It is
overwhelming them and sweeping them off like a flood throughout
the length and breadth of the land, until physicians say that
half the diseases that prevail among mankind in Christendom are
directly traceable to this devouring evil. What is to correct it?
I answer, the Lord, through His people--the Latter-day Saints--is
revealing the remedy. You travel throughout the Territory of
Utah, from Bear Lake in the north to St. George in the south, and
what do you see? You see a people free from secret diseases, you
see a people free from the dreadful curse of prostitution. Our
young men and maidens grow up in all the vigor of health and
there is nothing to sap that vigor and lead them to a premature
grave. Then what is to correct these evils in the world? The plan
which God has revealed. It will bring about a pure condition of
things. If it were universally adopted the "social evil" would be
removed, and prostitution would soon cease to exist on the face
of the earth.
102
Will this plan--this glorious Order which God has
revealed--correct the other evils with which the world is
afflicted? Yes, when that Order is universally established there
will no longer be any temptation to steal, defraud one's neighbor
or to commit any wrongs of this kind, for it is said, and truly,
that the love of money is the root of all evil. The Order of
which I speak will correct these evils because there will be a
treasury in the midst of the people, from which those who are
worthy can get that which they need to sustain them in their
stewardship, and into which all who have a surplus will pour
their wealth until it will become the common property of the
church; and the church under this organization which God has
revealed will become a great and mighty power in the midst of the
earth.
103
We have great power now, though not numerically strong; we are
not a very great people so far as numbers are concerned, but we
are strong because we are united. The more wealth we have the
greater is our power, because the President of this Church can
control this people, therefore the people have power, and when
our wealth shall be controlled by the President of this Church,
we shall have greater power in the earth than we have to-day. But
will that power be used for hurtful purposes? No; it will be used
for beneficial ends, for the amelioration of the condition of the
human family, for the practical inauguration of these great and
glorious principles which God has revealed; and it is to bring
you to this condition that the elders are laboring as they are;
it is to bring you to this oneness that they labor as they do
continually--that they travel and preach to and exhort the Saints
all the day long to listen to the counsels of God.
103
Although it has been deferred a good while it will yet be
accomplished and fulfilled and the people brought to a condition
that is desired.
103
Much more might be said on this subject; but I am intruding on
your time. May God bless you, my brethren and sisters, and
prepare us, as a people, to receive the revelations of His will,
which are true and perfect and intended to elevate and exalt us,
and to bring us back into His presence, there to be crowned with
glory and immortality: which I pray may be the case with us all
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Albert Smith, October 8 & 9, 1868
George Albert Smith, October 8 & 9, 1868
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT GEORGE A. SMITH,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October
8th and 9th, 1868.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
103
The circumstances by which we are surrounded are such as to cause
feeling of no ordinary character. In all the Conferences held
hitherto, in this city and in Nauvoo, we have enjoyed the society
of our late lamented President, Heber C. Kimball; and his being
called away from a useful field in which he had long labored,
should remind us that each of us, at any moment, may be called to
close our career here for time, and to await our reward in the
resurrection. We can but rejoice that our brother, in his long
life and labors in the Church, was a pattern of humility, faith
and diligence, and was instrumental in the hands of God in
bringing many thousands to a knowledge of the truth. The blow
which has fallen upon us in being deprived of his company,
counsel and instruction, should remind us of the necessity of
diligence in the discharge of all our duties, that, like him, we
may be prepared to inherit celestial glory, and to associate with
Joseph and Hyrum Smith and David Patten, and the martyrs who have
gone before.
104
The incidents that have been brought to our notice by our
brethren who have spoken during the Conference, give rise to a
series of reflections in relation to our early history as a
people, which, I presume, it would be well for us all to review.
There are some in this Territory who have been in the Church
thirty-six, thirty-seven, or thirty-eight years, but a great many
of the people have been in only a few years. A very large portion
of our population have been reared here, and consequently a brief
sketch of the early incidents of our history may not be
unprofitable to any.
104
When Joseph Smith took the plates of Mormon from the hill
Cumorah, he was immediately surrounded by enemies, and though he
was a young man of unexceptional character, he was compelled to
go from place to place, while translating the work, to avoid
persecution. The press and the pulpit denounced him as an
impostor and his followers as dupes. As soon as he preached the
doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins, and organized a
Church with six members, he was arrested and brought before a
magistrate, honorably discharged by him, and immediately arrested
again and hurried into an adjoining county, where he was
insulted, spit upon, and kept without food during the day, and
then given crusts of bread and water. The next day he was taken
before magistrates who, after a rigid examination, found no fault
in him. A mob resolved to "tar and feather" him, but through the
instrumentality of the constable, who previously treated him
roughly, but who now became his friend, he made his escape in
safety. All these proceedings were instigated by clergymen and
professors of religion in high standing. A similar spirit of
persecution was manifested in a greater or less degree in every
place where the Gospel was proclaimed, not only against Joseph
Smith, but also against other Elders who preached the word.
104
This system of persecution continued, especially in the shape of
vexatious law suits, numbering some fifty in all, up to the day
of his death, and in all of which a most vicious and vindictive
spirit was manifested outside of judicial questions. In every
case he was honorably acquitted, and upon the charge of treason
upon which he was detained in Carthage jail, when murdered, he
had not even been lawfully examined before a magistrate. In all
these trials except one he had been before persons religiously
opposed to him--his enemies were his judges--and all this while
every act of his life was prompted by a firm desire to do good to
his fellow men--to preach the Gospel of peace, to magnify the
high and holy calling he had received from the Lord, and thereby
lead back to the ancient faith of Jesus Christ his fellow beings
who had fallen into darkness.
104
Vexatious law suits not accomplishing the work to the
satisfaction of the persecutors of the Saints, mob violence was
resorted to, as being more effective. On the 25th day of March,
1832, in Hyrum, Portage Co., Ohio, Joseph Smith was dragged from
his bed and carried to the woods, daubed with tar and feathers,
and otherwise ill-treated. The following is his account of the
outrage:
105
"On the 25th of March, the twins before mentioned, which had been
sick for some time with the measles, caused us to be broke of our
rest in taking care of them, especially my wife. In the evening I
told her she had better retire to rest with one of the children,
and I would watch with the sickest child. In the night she told
me I had better lie down on the trundle bed, and I did so, and
was soon after awoke by her screaming 'murder!' when I found
myself going out of the door, in the hands of about a dozen men,
some of whose hands were in my hair, and some had hold of my
shirt, drawers, and limbs. The foot of the trundle bed was
towards the door, leaving only room enough for the door to swing.
My wife heard a gentle tapping on the windows, which she then
took no particular notice of (but which was unquestionably
designed for ascertaining whether we were all asleep), and soon
after the mob burst open the door and surrounded the bed in an
instant, and, as I said, the first I knew, I was going out of the
door in the hands of an infuriated mob. I made a desperate
struggle, as I was forced out, to extricate myself, but only
cleared one leg, with which I made a pass at one man, and he fell
on the door steps. I was immediately confined again; and they
swore by God they would kill me if I did not be still, which
quieted me. As they passed around the house with me, the fellow
that I kicked came to me and thrust his hand into my face, all
covered with blood (for I hit him on the nose), and with an
exulting horse laugh, muttered, 'Gee, Gee, God damn ye, I'll fix
ye.'
105
"They then seized me by the throat, and held on till I lost my
breath. After I came to, as they passed along with me, about
thirty rods from the house, I saw Elder Rigdon stretched out on
the ground, whither they had dragged him by the heels. I supposed
he was dead. I began to plead with them, saying, 'You will have
mercy and spare my life, I hope,' to which they replied, 'God
damn ye, call on your God for help, we'll show ye no mercy;' and
the people began to show themselves in every direction; one
coming from the orchard had a plank, and I expected they would
kill me, and carry me off on the plank. They then turned to the
right and went on about thirty rods further, about sixty rods
from the house and thirty from where I saw Elder Rigdon, into the
meadow, where they stopped, and one said, "Simonds, Simonds,'
(meaning, I suppose, Simonds Rider,) 'pull up his drawers, pull
up his drawers, he will take cold.' Another replied, "Ain't ye
going to kill 'im, ain't ye going to kill 'im?' when a group of
mobbers collected a little way off and said, 'Simonds, Simonds,
come here;' and Simonds charged those who had hold of me to keep
me from touching the ground (as they had all the time done), lest
I should get a spring upon them. They went and held a council,
and, as I could occasionally overhear a word, I supposed it was
to know whether it was best to kill me. They returned after a
while when I learned they had concluded not to kill me, but pound
and scratch me well, tear off my shirt and drawers, and leave me
naked. One cried, 'Simonds, where's the tar bucket?' 'I don't
know,' answered one, 'where 'tis, Eli's left it.' They ran back
and fetched the bucket of tar, when one exclaimed, 'God damn it,
let us tar up his mouth;' and they tried to force the tar-paddle
into my mouth; I twisted my head around, so that they could not,
and they cried out, 'God damn ye, hold up your head and let us
give ye some tar.' They then tried to force a vial into my mouth,
and broke it in my teeth. All my clothes were torn off me except
my shirt collar, and one man fell on me and scratched my body
with his nails like a mad cat, and then muttered out, 'God damn
ye, that's the way the Holy Ghost falls on folks.'
106
"They then left me, and I attempted to rise, but fell again. I
pulled the tar away from my lips, so that I could breathe more
freely, and raised myself up, when I saw two lights. I made my
way towards one of them, and found it was Father Johnson's. When
I had come to the door, I was naked, and the tar made me look as
though I had been covered with blood; and when my wife saw me she
thought I was mashed all to pieces, and fainted. During the
affray abroad, the sisters of the neighborhood had collected at
my room. I called for a blanket, they threw me one, and shut the
door. I wrapped it around me and went in." History of Joseph
Smith, Mill. Star, vol. 14, page 148.
106
I will add that the exposure of the child above referred to, to
the night air, caused its death. This murdered child was
doubtless the first martyr of the last dispensation.
106
In a revelation given Sept, 1831, the Lord said, "It is my will
that the Saints retain a strong hold in the land of Kirtland for
the space of five years."
106
The Saints owned several farms in Kirtland. Mr. Lyman, a
Presbyterian, also owned a grist mill there, and many of us got
our grinding done at his mill, although our brethren owned mills
two or three miles distant. We had commenced building the
Kirtland Temple. A portion of the city site had been surveyed,
and many of the Saints who had recently come in were building
houses on the lots. Mr. Lyman associated himself with a
combination to starve us out. The authorities proceeded to warn
all the Latter-day Saints out of the township, and formed a
compact not to employ us or sell us grain, which was scarce at
the time. Mr. Lyman had 3000 bushels of wheat, but refused to let
us have it at any reasonable price, and it was believed we were
so destitute of money that we would have to scatter abroad. The
warning out of town was designed to prevent our becoming a
township charge, the law of Ohio being that if a person, who had
been warned out of town, applied for assistance, he was to be
carried to the next town and so on till he was taken out of the
State or to the town from which he formerly came.
106
We were obliged to send fifty miles for grain, which cost us one
dollar and six cents per bushel delivered in Kirtland. Mr.
Lyman's grain remained unsold and his effort to starve us taught
us better than to longer patronize his mill, although it cost us
the trouble of going two or three miles to mills belonging to our
brethren. We built a magnificent temple and a large city. W paid
our quota of taxes and we were as noted and remarkable for our
industry, temperance, thrift, and morality there, as our people
are at the present day. We also patronized a Mr. Lyon, who was a
gentlemanly outside merchant, but the moment he got an
opportunity he united with our enemies to oppress us.
106
We sent our children to school to Mr. Bates, a Presbyterian
minister, who soon after went into court and bore false witness
against the Elders, and further testified on oath that every
"Mormon" was intellectually insane. This lesson did admonish us
not to longer intrust the education of our youth to canting
hypocrites.
106
For several years we had used the paper of Geauga Bank at
Painesville, as money. A loan of a few hundred dollars was asked
for by Joseph Smith, with ample security, but was refused, and
Elder Reynolds Cahoon was told they would not accommodate the
"Mormon Prophet," although they acknowledged the endorsers were
above question, simply because it would encourage "Mormonism." So
much of their specie was drawn by Joseph Smith during the three
succeeding days, as greatly improved their tempers, and they said
to Elder Cahoon, "Tell Mr. Smith he must stop this, and any favor
he wants we are ready to accord him."
107
Subsequently application was made to the Legislature of the State
for a bank charter, the notes to be redeemed with specie and
their redemption secured by real estate. The charter was denied
us on the grounds that we were "Mormons," and soon a combination
of apostates and outsiders caused us to leave Kirtland, the most
of our property unsold; and our beautiful Temple yet remains a
lasting monument of our perseverance and industry. The loss
sustained through this persecution was probably not less than one
million dollars.
107
MISSOURI.
107
On the 20th day of July, 1831, at Independence, Jackson county,
Joseph Smith set apart and dedicated a lot as the site of the
Temple of the centre stake of Zion, ground having been purchased
for this purpose, and it still is known as the "Temple lot." The
Saints entered lands in different parts of the county, built
houses, opened farms, constructed mills, established a printing
office (owned by W. W. Phelps and Co., and the first in Western
Missouri), and opened a mercantile establishment, the largest in
the county, owned by Messrs. Gilbert and Whitney.
107
In July, 1833, a mob was organized by signing a circular, which
set forth that the civil law did not afford them a sufficient
guarantee against the "Mormons," whom they accused of
"blasphemously pretending to heal the sick by the administration
of holy oil," and consequently they must be either "fanatics" or
"knaves." Under the influence of Methodist, Baptist and
Presbyterian ministers, they tore down the printing office of the
Evening and Morning Star, which cost some $6000. They stripped
and tarred and feathered Bishop Partridge and Elder Charles
Allen, and seized several other Elders and cast them into prison,
compelled Gilbert and Whitney to close their store, and soon
after broke it open and scattered their goods to the four winds.
They tore down twenty houses over the heads of the inmates, and
whipped and terribly lacerated with hickory withes many of the
Elders, killed Andrew Barber, and severely wounded many others;
robbed the houses of their property, and finally expelled fifteen
hundred people from the county. They also destroyed some two
hundred and sixteen dwellings, and much of the land, being
valuable timber land, became public plunder. The Saints were
robbed of most of their horses, cattle, implements of husbandry,
etc. The total loss in these transactions is estimated at half a
million dollars.
107
"Horrible to relate, several women thus driven from their homes
gave birth to children in the woods and on the prairies,
destitute of beds or clothing, having escaped in fright. It is
stated on the authority of Solomon Hancock, an eye witness, that
he, with the assistance of two or three others, protected one
hundred and twenty women and children for the space of ten days,
who were obliged to keep themselves hid from their pursuers,
while they were hourly expecting to be massacred, and who finally
escaped into Clay county, by finding a circuitous route to the
ferry."
107
They could be traced by the blood from their feet on the burnt
prairie. This occurred in the month of November, and is a
specimen of the kindness that law-abiding Latter-day Saints
received at the hands of those who had power over them. The
Saints were so law-abiding that not a single process had been
issued against any member of the Church in Jackson county up to
the organization of the mob, although all the offices, civil and
military, were in the hands of their enemies.
108
Prominent in these cruelties as actors and apologists were the
Revds. Isaac McCoy and D. Pixley, the former a Baptist and the
latter a Presbyterian missionary to the Indians.
108
CLAY COUNTY.
108
The arrival of the Saints in Clay county was a blessing to the
inhabitants, who had just opened small prairie farms and planted
them with Indian corn, much of which was unharvested. They had
cattle on the bottoms and hogs in the woods. The majority of the
people received the Saints with gladness and gave them
employment, and paid them in corn, pork and beef. The wages were
low, but sufficient to supply the more pressing wants of the
people. From time to time Joseph Smith forwarded money from
Kirtland to Bishop Partridge to supply the most needy. The mob in
Jackson county sent committees to stir up the feelings of the
people of Clay against the Saints. For some time their
oft-repeated efforts to do so were unsuccessful. Parties of the
mob would come over from Jackson and seize our brethren and
inflict violence upon them. The industry of our people soon
enabled them to make some purchases of land, and then their
numbers were increased by arrivals from the east. The mob of
Jackson county continued their endeavors to stir up
dissatisfaction among the people of Clay county against the
Saints. At length the citizens of Clay county held a public
meeting and requested the "Mormons" to seek another home, when
the Saints located in the new county of Caldwell, which contained
only seven families, who were bee hunters. As the county was
mostly prairie, their business was not very profitable, and they
gladly embraced the opportunity of selling their claims.
108
Caldwell county, being nearly destitute of timber, was regarded
by the people of upper Missouri as worthless. Every Saint that
could raise fifty dollars entered forty acres of land, and there
were few but what could do that much, while many entered large
tracts. The Saints migrated from the east and settled Caldwell in
great numbers.
108
In three years they had built mills, shops, school, meeting and
dwelling houses, and opened and fenced hundreds of farms. Our
industry and temperance rendered our settlements the most
prosperous of any in Missouri, while they embraced all of
Caldwell, most of Davis, and large portions of Clinton, Ray,
Carrol and Livingston counties, when the storm of mobocracy was
again aroused and aided by the Governor of the State, Lilburn W.
Boggs, who issued the order expelling all the Latter-day Saints
from the State under penalty of extermination. This caused the
loss of hundreds of lives through violence and suffering. Houses
were plundered, women were violated, men were whipped, and a
great variety of cruelties inflicted, and a loss of property
amounting to millions was sustained, while any one that would
renounce his religion was permitted to remain.
108
Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Alexander McRae, Lyman Wight and others
were for several months thrust into prison, and in one instance,
while there, were fed on human flesh and tantalized with the
inquiry, "How they liked Mormon beef"--it being the flesh of some
of their murdered brethren.
109
The Lord softened the hearts of the people of Quincy, Illinois,
and while the hundreds of Saints were fleeing over the snow-clad
prairies of Missouri, not knowing where to go, the people of
Quincy were holding public meetings, raising subscriptions and
adopting measures to give the fugitives employment and succor,
for which our hearts overflow with gratitude.
109
As soon as the Saints were all expelled from Missouri, Joseph
Smith went to Washington and laid the grievances of the people
before the President and Congress of the United States. Mr. Van
Buren said, "Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you."
Mr. Clay, when appealed to, said we "had better go to Oregon."
Mr. Calhoun informed Mr. Smith it would involve the question of
State rights, and was a dangerous question, and it would not do
to agitate it. Mr. Cass, as chairman of the Senate committee, to
which the petition was referred, reported that Congress had no
business with it.
109
Elder John P. Green went east, and published an appeal in behalf
of the Saints, holding public meetings in Cincinnati and New
York, and received some small contributions for the assistance of
the most needy.
109
As soon as Joseph Smith escaped from Missouri to Illinois, he
purchased lands at a place known as Commerce, in Hancock county,
and commenced the survey of a city which he called Nauvoo, the
word being derived from the Hebrew, meaning beauty and rest.
Although the situation was handsome, it was famed for being
unhealthy. There were but few inhabitants in the vicinity, but
many graves in the burying ground, and much of the subsequent
sickness was the result of exposure and the want of suitable
means of nursing the sick. The swamps in the vicinity of Nauvoo
were soon drained, and the lands around put under cultivation.
Numerous dwellings and several mills were erected, and thrift and
prosperity, the invariable results of industry and sobriety, were
manifest.
109
Demands were made from Missouri for the persons of Joseph and
Hyrum Smith. Joseph was arrested and tried at Monmouth, before
Judge Stephen A. Douglas, and honorably discharged. His principal
attorney in this case was the Hon. O. H. Browning, now U.S.
Secretary of the Interior. This suit cost him upwards of three
thousand dollars. He was soon again arrested on a demand from
Missouri, and discharged by Judge Pope, of the U.S. District
Court. This time it cost him twelve thousand dollars. Not long
after this second acquittal he was again arrested in Lee County,
Illinois, and an attempt made, in the face of the State
authorities, to kidnap him into Missouri. Nauvoo sent out three
hundred men and rescued him. He was afterwards discharged by the
municipal court of that place, and Thomas Ford, Governor of
Illinois, sanctioned his discharged.
109
In 1844 Joseph and Hyrum were arrested on a charge of treason,
under pledge of the executive that they should have a fair trial,
but they were murdered by one hundred and fifty men with
blackened faces; merchants and men that we had sustained in
business, and apostates, took a leading part in bringing this
about.
109
EXPENSES ATTENDANT UPON THE ARREST
OF JOSEPH SMITH.
109
Joseph Smith, the Prophet, was subjected, during his short
ministerial career of fifteen years, to about fifty vexatious law
suits. The principal expense was incurred in liquidating lawyers'
bills, and the brethren's time and expenditure in attending
courts to defend the Prophet from mob violence.
110
Magistrates' court expenses were generally one hundred dollars.
The Prophet paid Generals Doniphan and Atchison for legal
services at Richmond, Mo., in 1838-9, sixteen thousand dollars;
but this amount was fruitlessly expended, as the benefits of the
law were not accorded to him, because of the predominance and
overruling power of a mob.
110
At the Prophet's trial at Monmouth, Ill., in 1841, before Judge
Douglas, the lawyers' fees and expenses amounted to three
thousand dollars.
110
His next trial was before Judge Pope, U.S. District Court, in
1842-3, the expenses of which may be reasonably estimated at
twelve thousand dollars.
110
Cyrus Walker charged ten thousand dollars for defending Joseph in
his political arrest, or the attempt at kidnapping him at Dixon,
Ill., in 1843. There were four other lawyers employed for the
defence besides Walker. The expenses of the defence in this trial
were enormous, involving the amounts incurred by the horse
companies who went in pursuit to aid Joseph, and the trip of the
steamer Maid of Iowa, from Nauvoo to Otawa, and may be fairly
estimated at one hundred thousand dollars.
110
When the mantle of Joseph Smith fell upon Brigham Young, the
enemies of God and His kingdom sought to inaugurate a similar
career for President Young; but he took his revolver from his
pocket at the public stand in Nauvoo, and declared that upon the
first attempt of an officer to read a writ to him in a State that
had violated its plighted faith in the murder of the Prophet and
Patriarch while under arrest, he should serve the contents of
this writ (holding his loaded revolver in his hand) first; to
this the vast congregation assembled said, Amen. He was never
arrested.
110
APPEAL TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE STATES.
110
In 1845, the storm of mobocracy raging around us, we sent an
appeal to the President of the United States, and to the Governor
of every State in the Union, except Missouri, of which the
following, addressed to Governor Drew, of Arkansas, is a copy to
the Governor, he being the only one from whom an answer was
received--
110
"To His Excellency Thomas S. Drew, Governor of Arkansas.
"Nauvoo, Ill., May 1, 1845.
110
"Honorable Sir,--Suffer us, sir, in behalf of a disfranchised and
long afflicted people, to prefer a few suggestions for your
serious consideration, in hope of a friendly and unequivocal
response, at as early a period as may suit your convenience, and
the extreme urgency of the case seems to demand.
110
"It is not our present design to detail the multiplied and
aggravated wrongs that we have received in the midst of a nation
that gave us birth. Some of us have long been loyal citizens of
the State over which you have the honor to preside, while others
claim citizenship in each of the States of this great
confederacy. We say we are a disfranchised people. We are
privately told by the highest authorities of this State, that it
is neither prudent nor safe for us to vote at the polls; still we
have continued to maintain our right to vote, until the blood of
our best men has been shed, both in Missouri and the State of
Illinois, with impunity.
111
"You are doubtless somewhat familiar with the history of our
extermination from the State of Missouri, wherein scores of our
brethren were massacred, hundreds died through want and sickness,
occasioned by their unparalleled sufferings, some millions of our
property were confiscated or destroyed, and some fifteen thousand
souls fled for their lives to the then hospitable and peaceful
shores of Illinois; and that the State of Illinois granted to us
a liberal charter, for the term of perpetual succession, and
under its provisions private rights have become invested, and the
largest city in the State has grown up, numbering about twenty
thousand inhabitants.
111
"But, sir, the startling attitude recently assumed by the State
of Illinois forbids us to think that her designs are any less
vindictive than those of Missouri. She has already used the
military of the State, with the Executive at their head, to
coerce and surrender up our best men to unparalleled murder, and
that, too, under the most sacred pledges of protection and
safety. As a salve for such unearthly perfidy and guilt, she told
us, through her highest Executive officer, that the laws should
be magnified, and the murderers brought to justice; but the blood
of her innocent victims had not been wholly wiped from the floor
of the awful arena, where the citizens of a sovereign State
pounced upon two defenceless servants of God, our Prophet and our
Patriarch, before the Senate of that State rescued one of the
indicted actors in that mournful tragedy from the sheriff of
Hancock county, and gave him an honorable seat in her halls of
legislation. And all others who were indicted by the grand jury
of Hancock county for the murders of Generals Joseph and Hyrum
Smith, are suffered to roam at large, watching for further prey.
111
"To crown the climax of those bloody deeds, the State has
repealed all those chartered rights by which we might have
defended ourselves against aggressors. If we defend ourselves
hereafter against violence, whether it comes under the shadow of
law or otherwise (for we have reason to expect it both ways), we
shall then be charged with treason, and suffer the penalty; and
if we continue passive and non-resistant, we must certainly
expect to perish, for our enemies have sworn it.
111
"And here, sir, permit us to state that General Joseph Smith,
during this short life, was arraigned at the bar of his country
about fifty times, charged with criminal offences, but was
acquitted every time by his country, or rather his religious
opponents almost invariably being his judges. And we further
testify, that as a people we are law-abiding, peaceable, and
without crimes; and we challenge the world to prove the contrary.
And while other less cities in Illinois have had special courts
instituted to try their criminals, we have been stript of every
source of arraigning marauders and murderers who are prowling
around to destroy us, except the common magistracy.
111
"With these facts before you, sir, will you write to us without
delay, as a father and friend, and advise us what to do? We are,
many of us, citizens of your State, and all members of the same
great confederacy. Our fathers, nay, some of us, have fought and
bled for our country, and we love her dearly.
112
"In the name of Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied ties of
country and kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our
favor. Will it be too much to ask you to convene a special
session of your State Legislature, and furnish us an asylum where
we can enjoy our rights of conscience and religion unmolested? Or
will you in a special message to that body, when convened,
recommend a remonstrance against such unhallowed acts of
oppression and expatriation, as this people have continued to
receive from the States of Missouri and Illinois? Or will you
favor us by your personal influence, and by your official rank?
Or will you express your views concerning what is called the
Great Western Measure, of colonizing the Latter-day Saints in
Oregon, the north-western Territory or some location, remote from
the States, where the hand of oppression shall not crush every
noble principle, and extinguish every patriotic feeling?
112
"And now, honored sir, having reached out our imploring hands to
you with deep solemnity, we would importune with you as a father,
a friend, a patriot and statesman; by the constitution of
American liberty; by the blood of our fathers, who have fought
for the independence of this Republic; by the blood of the
martyrs which has been shed in our midst; by the wailings of the
widows and orphans; by our murdered fathers and mothers, brothers
and sisters, wives and children; by the dread of immediate
destruction from secret combinations now forming for our
overthrow; and by every endearing tie that binds men to men, and
renders life bearable, and that, too, for aught we know, for the
last time, that you will lend your immediate aid to quell the
violence of mobocracy, and exert your influence to establish us
as a people in our civil and religious rights, where we now are,
or in some part of the United States, or at some place remote
therefrom, where we may colonize in peace and safety as soon as
circumstances will permit.
112
"We sincerely hope that your future prompt measures towards us
will be dictated by the best feelings that dwell in the bosom of
humanity; and the blessings of a grateful people, and of many
ready to perish, shall come upon you.
112
"We are, sir, with great respect,
"Your obedient servants,
"Brigham Young, Chairman.
"W. Richards,
"Orson Spencer,
"Orson Pratt, } Committee
"W. W. Phelps,
"A. W. Babbit,
"Jno. M. Bernhisel,
"In behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at
Nauvoo, Ill.
112
"P. S.--As many of our communications postmarked at Nauvoo, have
failed of their destination, and the mails around us have been
intercepted by our enemies, we shall send this to some distant
office by the hand of a special messenger."
112
The following reply was received from Governor Drew:--
112
"Executive Office, Little Rock,
Ark., May 27, 1845.
112
"Hon. Brigham Young, President of the Committee of Twelve of
Christ's Church of Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo, Ill.
113
"Sir,--Your letter of the 1st inst. has been received, and claims
my earnest attention. I must acknowledge my inability to serve
your people by calling an extra Session of the General Assembly
of this State for the object contemplated. And although I do not
know that prejudice against your tenets in Arkansas would weigh
aught against the action of that body, in refusing to furnish
within our borders an asylum from the oppression of which you so
sorely complain; yet I am sure that representatives of the people
would long hesitate to extend to any class of citizens exclusive
privileges, however innocent their motives, aims, objects or
actions might appear, when the prospects of collision, from
causes of which in your case I know nothing, appear so evident
from the two very recent manifestations presented in the States
of Missouri and Illinois. I have no doubt Illinois, prompted by
the kindest of sympathies for your people in the late struggle
and overthrow they encountered in Missouri, extended a liberal
helping hand, but to repent her supposed folly. Could Arkansas,
after witnessing the same scene reenacted in Illinois, calculate
on anything short of a like catastrophe?
113
"I am not sufficiently informed of the course taken against you
by the authorities of the State of Illinois, in the difficulties
detailed in your communication, to justify a recommendation from
me to the Legislature to remonstrate against the acts of
Illinois--the detailed statement of facts afforded me by your
communication being of an ex parte character. But were I
regularly informed of all the facts from both parties, and felt
able to form a correct opinion as to the justice of the course
pursued by the State of Illinois, yet I am of opinion that this
State would not have, nor would I have as its chief Executive
officer, the right to interfere in the least with the internal
concerns or police of the State of Illinois, or of any other
neighboring State, where its operations do not distract or in any
way affect the good order of the citizens of the State of
Arkansas. There are instances, but they are rare, where the
interposition of one State to arrest the progress of violence in
another, would be at all admissible. Such, for instance, as where
the public authorities of the State affected are palpably
incompetent to quell an insurrection within her limits, and the
violence is likely to extend its ravages and bad influence to
such neighboring State, or where a proper call has been made for
succor.
113
"Nor can I afford to exercise my official rank as chief Executive
of this State, in behalf of a faction in a neighboring State; and
I humbly conceive that my personal influence would add nothing to
your cause, unless it should prove to be a just one, in which
event public opinion will afford you support of a character more
lasting in the eye of an enlightened public, than wiser and
greater men than your humble servant--than official rank, or
force backed by power. It is true that while prejudice may have
the ascendency over the minds of the neighboring community, your
people may be exposed more or less to loss of life and
destruction of property; I therefore heartily agree with you in
the proposed plan of emigration to the Oregon Territory--or to
California--the north of Texas, or to Nebraska; thereby placing
your community beyond the reach of contention, until, at least,
you shall have had time and opportunity to test the
practicability of your system, and to develop its contemplated
superior advantages in ameliorating the condition of the human
race, and adding to the blessings of civil and religious liberty.
That such a community, constituted as yours, with the mass of
prejudice which surrounds and obstructs its progress at this
time, cannot prosper in that or any of the neighboring States,
appears very evident from the signal failures upon two occasions
under auspices at least as favorable as you could reasonably
expect from any of the States.
114
"My personal sympathies are strong for the oppressed, though my
official station can know nothing but what is sanctioned by the
strictest justice, and that circumscribed to the limited
jurisdiction of my own State; and while I deplore, as a man and a
philanthropist, your distressed situation, I would refer you to
the emphatic and patriarchal proposition of Abraham to Lot; and
whilst I allude to the eloquent paraphrase of one of Virginia's
most gifted sons, wherein he circumscribed the bounds of our
domain within to the great valley of the Mississippi, I would
only add that the way is now open to the Pacific without let or
hindrance. Should the Latter-day Saints migrate to Oregon, they
will carry with them the good will of philanthropists, and the
blessing of every friend of humanity. If they are wrong, their
wrongs will be abated with many degrees of allowance, and if
right, migration will afford an opportunity to make it manifest
in due season to the whole civilized world.
114
"With my hearty desires for your peace and prosperity, I
subscribe myself respectfully yours,
"Thomas S. Drew."
114
This correspondence shows us the necessity of our being united in
sustaining the Latter-day Saints, that we may not build up, by
our own acts, a power to renew persecution again in our midst.
114
EXPULSION FROM ILLINOIS.
114
In September, 1845, the mob commenced burning the houses of the
Saints in the southern part of the county of Hancock, and
continued until stopped by the sheriff, who summoned a posse
comitatus, while few but Latter-day Saints would serve under him.
The Governor sent troops and disbanded the posse. The murderers
of Joseph and Hyrum had a sham trial and were acquitted. A
convention of nine counties notified us that we must leave the
State. The Governor informed us through General John J. Harding
and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, that we could not be protected in
Illinois. We commenced our emigration west on the 6th of
February, 1846. During that month some twelve hundred wagons
crossed the Mississippi, many of them on the ice. Everybody that
was able to leave continued to do so until late in the summer,
and the outfits with which they left were insufficient, while the
winter and spring weather was inclement, which caused a great
deal of suffering.
114
While the strength of Israel had gone westward, the Illinois mob
commenced their hostilities with redoubled fury. They whipped,
plundered and murdered men, abused women and children, and drove
all the scattering ones into Nauvoo, then laid siege to the place
and bombarded it for three days, killing several persons and
wounding others, and peremptorily expelled the remainder across
the river into Iowa, after robbing them of the remainder of the
property they possessed, and leaving them on the shore to perish.
114
Their encampment was probably one of the most miserable and
distressed that ever existed. All who were able, by any possible
means, had got away; those left were the poor and the helpless.
Great numbers were sick, and they were without tents or
conveniences of any kind to make them comfortable. Encamped on
the foggy bottoms of the Mississippi river, they were scorched
with fevers, without medicine or proper food.
114
In this helpless condition a merciful Providence smiled on them
by sending quails, so tame that many caught them with their
hands; yet many perished within sight of hundreds of houses
belonging to them and their friends, which were under the
dominion of the Rev. Thomas S. Brockman and his mob legions, who
viciously trampled the constitution and laws of Illinois, and the
laws of humanity, under their feet.
114
The victims continued to suffer until the camps in the west sent
them relief. For a more full description of these scenes, I read
from the historical address of Col. (now General) Thomas L. Kane,
who was an eye witness.
115
"A few years ago," said Colonel Kane, "ascending the Upper
Mississippi, in the autumn, when its waters were low, I was
compelled to travel by land past the region of the Rapids. My
road lay through the Half-breed Tract, a fine section of Iowa,
which the unsettled state of its land-titles had appropriated as
a sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves, and other outlaws. I had
left my steamer at Keokuk, at the foot of the Lower Fall, to hire
a carriage, and to contend for some fragments of a dirty meal
with the swarming flies, the only scavengers of the locality.
115
"From this place to where the deep water of the river returns, my
eye wearied to see everywhere sordid, vagabond, and idle
settlers, and a country marred, without being improved, by their
careless hands. I was descending the last hill-side upon my
journey, when a landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my
view. Half encircled by a bend of the river, a beautiful city lay
glittering in the fresh morning sun; its bright new dwellings,
set in cool green gardens, ranging up around a stately
dome-shaped hill, which was crowned by a noble edifice, whose
high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city
appeared to cover several miles, and beyond it, in the
background, there rolled off a fair country, chequered by the
careful lines of fruitful husbandry. The unmistakable marks of
industry, enterprise, and educated wealth everywhere, made the
scene one of singular and most striking beauty. It was a natural
impulse to visit this inviting region. I procured a skiff, and
rowing across the river, landed at the chief wharf of the city.
No one met me there. I looked, and saw no one. I could hear no
one move, though the quiet everywhere was such that I heard the
flies buzz, and the water-ripples break against the shallow of
the beach. I walked through the solitary street. The town lay as
in a dream, under some deadening spell of loneliness, from which
I almost feared to wake it, for plainly it had not slept long.
There was no grass growing up in the paved ways; rains had not
entirely washed away the prints of dusty footsteps.
115
"Yet I went about unchecked. I went into empty workshops,
ropewalks and smithies. The spinner's wheel was idle; the
carpenter had gone from his work-bench and shavings, his
unfinished sash and casing. Fresh bark was in the tanner's vat,
and the fresh-chopped lightwood stood piled against the baker's
oven. The blacksmith's shop was cold; but his coal heap and
lading pool, and crooked water horn were all there, as if he had
just gone off for a holiday. No work-people anywhere looked to
know my errand.
115
"If I went into the gardens, clinking the wicket-latch loudly
after me, to pull the marigolds, heartsease, and lady-slippers,
and draw a drink with the water-sodden well-bucket and its noisy
chain; or, knocking off with my stick the tall, heavy-headed
dahlias and sunflowers, hunted over the beds for cucumbers and
love-apples--no one called out to me from any opened window, or
dog sprang forward to bark an alarm.
116
"I could have supposed the people hidden in the houses, but the
doors were unfastened; and when at last I timidly entered them, I
found dead ashes white upon the hearths, and had to tread a
tip-toe, as if walking down the aisle of a country church, to
avoid rousing irreverent echoes from the naked floors. On the
outskirts of the town was the city graveyard; but there was no
record of plague there, nor did it in anywise differ much from
other Protestant American cemeteries. Some of the mounds were not
long sodded; some of the stones were newly set, their dates
recent, and their black inscriptions glossy in the mason's hardly
dried lettering ink. Beyond the graveyard, out in the fields, I
saw, in one spot hard by where the fruited boughs of a young
orchard had been roughly torn down, the still smouldering remains
of a barbecue fire, that had been constructed of rails from the
fencing around it. It was the latest sign of life there. Fields
upon fields of heavy-headed yellow grain lay rotting ungathered
upon the ground. No one was there to take in their rich harvest.
116
"As far as the eye could reach they stretched away--they
sleeping, too, in the hazy air of autumn. Only two portions of
the city seemed to suggest the import of this mysterious
solitude. On the southern suburb, the houses looking out upon the
country showed, by their splintered wood-work and walls battered
to the foundation, that they had lately been the mark of a
destructive cannonade. And in and around the splendid Temple,
which had been the chief object of my admiration, armed men were
barracked, surrounded by their stacks of musketry and pieces of
heavy ordnance. These challenged me to render an account of
myself, and why I had had the temerity to cross the water without
written permit from a leader of their band.
116
"Though these men were generally more or less under the influence
of ardent spirits, after I had explained myself as a passing
stranger, they seemed anxious to gain my good opinion. They told
the story of the Dead City; that it had been a notable
manufacturing and commercial mart, sheltering over twenty
thousand persons; that they had waged war with its inhabitants
for several years, and had been finally successful only a few
days before my visit, in an action fought in front of the ruined
suburb; after which they had driven them forth at the point of
the sword. The defence, they said, had been obstinate, but gave
way on the third day's bombardment. They boasted greatly of their
prowess, especially in this battle, as they called it; but I
discovered they were not of one mind as to certain of the
exploits that had distinguished it, one of which, as I remember,
was, that they had slain a father and his son, a boy of fifteen,
not long residents of the fated city, whom they admitted to have
borne a character without reproach.
117
"They also conducted me inside the massive sculptured walls of
the curious Temple, in which they said the banished inhabitants
were accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed
worship. They particularly pointed out to me certain features of
the building which, having been the peculiar objects of a former
superstitious regard, they had, as a matter of duty, sedulously
defiled and defaced. The reputed sites of certain shrines they
had thus particularly noticed; and various sheltered chambers, in
one of which was a deep well, constructed, they believed, with a
dreadful design. Beside these, they led me to see a large and
deep chiselled marble vase or basin, supported upon twelve oxen,
also of marble, and of the size of life, or which they told some
romantic stories. They said the deluded persons, most of whom
were emigrants from a great distance, believed their Deity
countenanced their reception here of a baptism of regeneration,
as proxies for whomsoever they held in warm affection in the
countries from which they had come. That here parents 'went into
the water' for their lost children, children for their parents,
widows for their spouses, and young persons for their lovers;
that thus the Great Vase came to be for them associated with all
dear and distant memories, and was therefore the object, of all
others in the building, to which they attached the greatest
degree of idolatrous affection. On this account, the victors had
so diligently desecrated it, as to render the apartment in which
it was contained too noisome to abide in.
117
"They permitted me also to ascend into the steeple, to see where
it had been lightning-struck the Sabbath before; and to look out,
east and south, on wasted farms like those I had seen near the
city, extending till they were lost in the distance. Here, in the
face of the pure day, close to the scar of the divine wrath left
by the thunderbolt, were fragments of food, cruises of liquor,
and broken drinking vessels, with a bass drum and a steam boat
signal bell, of which I afterwards learned the use with pain.
117
"It was after nightfall when I was ready to cross the river on my
return. The wind had freshened since the sunset, and the water
beating roughly into my little boat, I edged higher up the stream
than the point I had left in the morning, and landed where a
faint glimmering light invited me to steer.
117
"Here, among the dock and rushes, sheltered only by the darkness,
without roof between them and the sky, I came upon a crowd of
several hundred human beings, whom my movements roused from
uneasy slumber on the ground.
117
"Passing these on my way to the light, I found it came from a
tallow candle in a paper funnel shade, such as is used by street
vendors of apples and peanuts, and which, flaming and guttering
away in the bleak air off the water, shone flickeringly on the
emaciated features of a man in the last stage of a billious
remittent fever. They had done their best for him. Over his head
was something like a tent, made of a sheet or two, and he rested
on a partially ripped open old straw mattress, with a hair sofa
cushion under his head for a pillow. His gaping jaw and glazing
eye told how short a time he would monopolize these luxuries;
though a seemingly bewildered and excited person, who might have
been his wife, seemed to find hope in occasionally forcing him to
swallow, awkwardly, sips of the tepid river water, from a burned
and battered bitter-smelling tin coffee-pot. Those who knew
better had furnished the apothecary he needed; a toothless old
bald-head, whose manner had the repulsive dullness of a man
familiar with death scenes. He, so long as I remained, mumbled in
his patient's ear a monotonous and melancholy prayer, between the
pauses of which I heard the hiccup and sobbing of two little
girls, who were sitting upon a piece of drift wood outside.
117
"Dreadful, indeed, was the suffering of these forsaken beings;
bowed and cramped with cold and sunburn, alternating as each
weary day and night dragged on, they were almost all of them, the
crippled victims of disease. They were there because they had no
homes, nor hospital, nor poor-house, nor friends to offer them
any. They could not satisfy the feeble cravings of their sick;
they had not bread to quiet the fractious hunger-cries of their
children. Mothers and babes, daughters and grand-parents, all of
them alike, were bivouacked in tatters, wanting even covering to
comfort those whom the sick shiver of fever was searching to the
marrow.
118
"These were Mormons, in Lee county, Iowa, in the fourth week of
the month of September, in the year of our Lord 1846. The
city--it was Nauvoo, Ill. The Mormons were the owners of that
city, and the smiling country around. And those who had stopped
their ploughs, who had silenced their hammers, their axes, their
shuttles, and their workshop wheels; those who had put out their
fires, who had eaten their food, spoiled their orchards, and
trampled under foot their thousands of acres of unharvested
bread; these were the keepers of their dwellings, the carouses in
their Temple, whose drunken riot insulted the ears of the dying.
118
"I think it was as I turned from the wretched night-watch of
which I have spoken, that I first listened to the sounds of revel
of a party of the guard within the city. Above the distant hum of
the voices of many, occasionally rose distinct the loud
oath-tainted exclamation, and the falsely intonated scrap of
vulgar song; but lest this requiem should go unheeded, every now
and then, when their boisterous orgies strove to attain a sort of
ecstatic climax, a cruel spirit of insulting frolic carried some
of them up into the high belfry of the Temple steeple, and there,
with the wicked childishness of inebriates, they whooped, and
shrieked, and beat the drum that I had seen, and rang in
charivaric unison their loud-tongued steam-boat bell.
118
"They were, all told, not more than six hundred and forty persons
who were thus lying on the river flats. But the Mormons in Nauvoo
and its dependencies had been numbered the year before at over
twenty thousand. Where were they? They had last been seen
carrying in mournful train their sick and wounded, halt and
blind, to disappear behind the western horizon, pursuing the
phantom of another home. Hardly anything else was known of them;
and people asked with curiosity, 'What had been their fate--what
their fortunes?'"
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Albert Smith, October 9, 1868
George Albert Smith, October 9, 1868
OCTOBER 9TH.
118
The rear of the camp of the Saints that were driven out of
Nauvoo, as we left them last evening lying on the banks of the
Mississippi--a very uncomfortable and distressing situation--were
frequently annoyed by the firing of cannon from the opposite side
of the river, many of the shot landing in the river, but
occasionally some would pass over into the camp. One of them,
picked up in the camp, was sent as a present to the Governor of
Iowa.
118
The Rev. Thomas S. Brockman, leader of the mob who expelled the
Saints from Nauvoo, said when he entered the city, that he
considered he had gained a tremendous triumph; but there is no
language sufficient to describe the ignominy and disgrace that
must attach, in all time to come, to him and his associates, in
the accomplishment of so brutal a work on an innocent and
unoffending people on account of their religious opinions.
119
The settlements of Iowa on the west side of the Mississippi river
were scattering, extending back about seventy miles. We passed
through these settlements on our journey westward, that is,
President Young and the party that left Nauvoo in the winter. We
diverged a little from the regular route in order to be in the
vicinity of the settlements of Missouri. Our brethren scattered
wherever there was an opportunity to take jobs from the people,
making rails, building log houses, and doing a variety of work,
by which they obtained grain for their animals and breadstuff for
themselves. We were enabled to do this while moving slowly. In
fact, the spring rains soon rendered the ground so muddy that it
was impossible to travel but a very short distance at a time.
Soon after, when the grass grew, this divergence from the road
southerly was discontinued, by pursuing a direction further
north, until we reached a point on the east fork of Grand River,
where the President's company commenced a settlement called
Garden Grove, then another called Pisgah was commenced on the
west fork of the same river. These streams and a number of others
had to be bridged at a heavy expense, which was done by the
advanced parties. Our travel west of the settlements, before we
reached the Missouri river, was about 300 miles. The country was
in the possession of Potawattamie Indians. They, however, had
sold their lands to the United States, and were to give
possession the following year. We were delayed building ferry
boats and crossing the Missouri river. A large portion of our
people crossed at a point now known as Omaha city; some crossed a
little below, at Bellevue, or what we sometimes termed Whisky
Point, there being some missionaries and Indian traders there,
who occupied their time in selling whisky to and swindling the
Indians.
119
We were met there by Captain James Allen, of United States
dragoons, with an order from the War Department to enroll five
hundred volunteers for the war in Mexico. The volunteers were
enrolled in a very few days. A portion of our wagons had crossed
the Missouri at this time, and the residue of our people, from
whom the volunteers were drawn, were scattered on the way two
hundred miles towards Nauvoo. The men, however, volunteered,
leaving their families and teams on the prairies without
protectors, and very materially weakened the camp, because they
were the flower of the people. They marched direct for
Leavenworth, and there received the arms of infantry, and then
marched for California by way of Santa Fe. Their commander,
Lieutenant-Colonel Allen, died at Leavenworth, and they were
subsequently placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel P.
Saint George Cooke. They made a march of 2050 miles, to San
Diego. History may be searched in vain for a parallel to this
march of infantry. During a portion of this route they were on
three-quarter rations of bread, their only meat being such
draught animals as they were unable to proceed further. They
were, at one time, temporarily relieved from this pressure
through an encounter with a herd of wild bulls. These men were
discharged on the coast of California; but the Government,
finding it necessary to maintain some show of force in the
southern part of California, requested a company of them to
re-enlist, which they did, and served for a term of six months.
119
The departure of all these men from our party, left a great
burden on the shoulders of those who remained. President Young
gathered them together to a place now called Florence, which we
denominated Winter Quarters. While there we built seven hundred
log houses, one water-power and several horse mills for grinding
grain, and some hundred and fifty dug-outs, being a kind of cave
dug in the earth, or houses half underground.
119
We gathered up the families of the battalion the best we could,
but a great many were sick. Our exposures through the season,
being deprived of vegetable food, and the overwork through so
much bridge and road making, brought on sickness; and all who
were in Winter Quarters remember it as being a place where a
great many persons were afflicted, and many died.
120
Our brethren who were on the other side of the river established
camps in various localities. There were probably two thousand
wagons scattered about on the east side of the river in different
parts of the Potawattamie country, each grove or camping ground
taking the name of its leader. Many of those names are still
retained, the various camping grounds being known as Cutler's,
Perkins', Miller's, &c.
120
Elders Orson Hyde, P. P. Pratt and John Taylor, left the camp and
went on a mission to England. Brother Benson, accompanied by
other brethren, went to the east to solicit donations from our
eastern friends. I am not aware of the exact amount that was
donated, but it was only a trifle. There were a few old clothes
also contributed, which I believe were scarcely worth the
freight. Christian sympathy was not very strong for the
Latter-day Saints. But we feel very thankful to those who did
contribute, and shall ever remember with kindness their
generosity towards the Saints.
120
We were here visited by Col. Thos. L. Kane, of Philadelphia, an
extract from whose historical address was read yesterday. He
visited our camp and saw our condition, and was the only man, I
believe, who by words and deeds manifested that he felt to
sympathise with the outraged and plundered people called
Latter-day Saints. It may be that he was not the only man, but he
was the only man who made himself conspicuous by his sympathy
towards us. It is true that we have had men come here, as
merchants and officers, who have expressed to us that they did
have great sympathy with us at that time. It does us a great deal
of good now to hear them say so, we did not know anything about
it then.
120
In the spring of 1847, President Young, with one hundred and
forty-three pioneers, started in search of a place of settlement.
We started early, before there was a particle of grass in the
Platte valley. We carried our food with us, and fed our animals
on the cottonwood bark, until the grass grew, and managed to get
along, making the road for six hundred and fifty miles, and
followed the trappers' trail about four hundred miles more until
we arrived in this valley. The whole company arrived here on the
24th of July, 1847. There were a few bushes along the streams of
City Creek, and other creeks south. The land was barren; it was
covered with large black crickets, which seemed to be devouring
everything that had outlived the drouth and desolation. Here we
commenced our work by making an irrigation ditch, and planting
potatoes, which we have brought from the States; and late as it
was in the season, with all the disadvantages with which we had
to contend, we raised enough to preserve the seed, though very
few were as large as chestnuts. For the next three years we were
reduced to considerable straits for food. Fast-meetings were
held, and contributions constantly made for those who had no
provisions. Every head of a family issued rations to those
dependent upon him, for fear his supply of provisions should fall
short. Rawhides, wolves, rabbits, thistle roots, segos, and
everything that could be thought of that would preserve life,
were resorted to; there were a few deaths by eating poisonous
roots. A great deal of the grain planted here the first year grew
only a few inches high; it was so short it could not be cut. The
people had to pull it. A great many got discouraged and wanted to
leave the country; some did leave. The discovery of gold mines in
California by the brethren of the battalion, caused many of the
discontented to go to that paradise of gold.
121
During all these trials President Young was firm and decided; he
put on a smile when among the people, and said this was the place
God had pointed out for the gathering place of the Saints, and it
would be blessed and become one of the most productive places in
the world. In this way he encouraged the people, and he was
sustained by men who felt that God had inspired him to lead us
here.
121
President Young went back to Winter Quarters the first season,
and in 1848 returned with his family. John Smith, my honored
father, who was subsequently patriarch of the whole Church, and
who had been President of the Stake in Nauvoo, presided during
the absence of President Young. I think that, for a man of his
position to be place din, for all the murmuring, complaining,
fault-finding, distress, hunger, annoyances, fears and doubts of
the whole people were poured into his ear. But God inspired him,
although a feeble man, to keep up their spirits, and to sustain
the work that was entrusted to him until the arrival of the
President next season.
121
In three years--1850, the idea of a man issuing rations to his
family to keep them from starving had passed away; but the
grasshopper war of 1856 inflicted upon us so great a scarcity,
that issuing rations had to be resorted to again. Through all
these circumstances no one was permitted to suffer, though all
had to be pinched. I shall not attempt to give a detailed account
of all the circumstances connected with our position in those
trying times. But when our brethren arrive here by railroad and
see a country smiling with plenty, I think they can hardly
appreciate how it looked when we came.
121
When I first sat down on this ground, in 1847, I was dressed in
buckskin, having torn most of my clothes to pieces. I had rawhide
soles on my feet, and had a piece of hard bread and a piece of
dried antelope meat to eat. I lay down, took my pistol in my
hand, and held on to my horse by a lariat while eating my meat
and biscuit, for fear the Indians might take a notion to my hair,
of which I was always very choice. I took that meal near where
our City Hall now stands. There has been quite an improvement
since then.
121
The first year of our settlement here the crops were greatly
injured by crickets, and many of the people gave up all hope, and
it seemed as if actual starvation was inevitable for the whole
colony. God sent gulls from the Lake, and they came all devoured
the crickets. It seemed as if they were heavenly messengers sent
to stay the famine. They would eat until they were filled, and
would then disgorge; and so they continued eating and vomiting
until the fields were cleared, and the colony saved: Praise the
Lord! During the time of scarcity, when there was a short
allowance of bread, the people were remarkably healthy, more so
than they were afterwards when food became more plentiful.
122
In 1847 it was the counsel for every person leaving the Missouri
river to be provided with three hundred and sixty-five pounds of
bread stuff; many, however, came with less. The next season they
were to bring three hundred pounds, the season after two hundred
and fifty pounds; but in 1850 the people came with just enough to
serve them during their journey across the Plains. In 1849,
President Young founded the P. E. Fund. We had covenanted while
in Conference in the Temple at Nauvoo, that we would never quit
our exertions to the extent of our influence and property, until
every man, woman and child of the Latter-day Saints who wanted to
come to the mountains had been gathered. In 1849, notwithstanding
all our poverty, a large sum in gold was contributed by the
brethren for emigration purposes, and Bishop Edward Hunter went
back and commenced the work. We also recommenced the work of
missions, which for a short time had been partially suspended.
Missionaries were sent to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy,
Switzerland, Germany, and the islands of the Pacific.
122
The first commercial house established here by strangers was
Livingston and Kinkead's. Mr. Livingston had about eight thousand
dollars, which was all the money the firm had to invest. Kinkead
was taken in as a partner, and they obtained credit in the east
for twenty thousand dollars' worth of goods, freighted them here
and opened their store. They reported to their creditors that on
the first day of opening they received ten thousand dollars in
gold. They remained here until they made themselves fortunes, and
carried gold from this Territory, perhaps to the amount of
millions, and established themselves elsewhere. They were an
honorable business house, but I have often reflected upon the bad
policy that we, as servants of God, adopted at that time in
sustaining strangers. If the ten thousand dollars which were paid
into that house the first day, had been handled by some of our
experienced merchants in a co-operative institution, it would
have been just as easy to have furnished our own merchandize as
to have bought their's. Bishop N. K. Whitney, who was then
living, or Bishop Woolley, and numbers of others were well
acquainted with mercantile business; but they had been robbed of
all they had, and had no capital. It only wanted unity and
willingness on the part of the people to sustain their brethren
in their business relations, to have laid the foundation to
supply all that was ever supplied by Livingston and Kinkead.
122
I would like every one to inquire for himself--What would have
been the result if, instead of sustaining Livingston and Kinkead
and other merchants, our people had sustained Latter-day Saints?
The result would have been, that large sums of money would have
remained here and been used for building up the country; and when
a dark cloud had lowered over us, our brethren with this means in
their possession would have been on hand to aid the Saints in
defending and preserving their lives and liberties; while, as it
was, the influence of the men we had enriched was turned against
us, they believing they could make more money out of the
Government, and get rich quicker through war, than they could by
continuing their honest, legitimate business with the people
here. This firm is but one; several other firms might be
mentioned who pursued a similar course.
123
As soon as it was known in Christendom that the Latter-day Saints
were not dead, but that they were alive and flourishing, and were
gathering their people to the mountains at the rate of from two
to five thousand a year, and that they had succeeded in
reclaiming the desert, and in making grain and grass grow where
nothing would grow before, it seemed as though all hell was
aroused again. Federal officers were sent here, and they thought
it policy to join in the general hue and cry, or at least some of
them; there were a few honorable exceptions. But the majority of
them raised a hue and cry against us, and it was thought so much
of, that one of the rotten planks in the platform of the great
rising party which contested the elevation of James Buchanan to
the Presidency, was the destruction of polygamy. This brought to
our country immense armies, more men being concerned in the
matter than in some of the principal battles of the revolution,
or even in the war of 1812. Some six thousand regulars were
marched in this direction, while teamsters and hangers on
increased this number to about seventeen thousand. There were
also several thousand freight wagons, and everything on the face
of the earth, seemingly, that could be done to hurl into this
country destruction and vengeance, was done. But God overruled
it. When they got here they found that they really had been
deceived. They went and established themselves at Camp Floyd, and
spent their time in destroying arms and ammunition, and breaking
up the property of the United States, until forty million
dollars, the reported cost of the expedition, had been wasted.
The armies then scattered to the four winds of the heaven. This
expenditure of the Government money laid the foundation of these
outside mercantile establishments which have been nursed by us to
so great an extent from that time to this.
123
It has been believed that great benefit, financially, accrued to
the Saints through this expedition; but I think that as a whole
it has been a hindrance to our real progress. Very little of the
money came into the hands of the Saints, but some merchandize at
high prices, which might have been a temporary convenience. But
it caused our people to relax their energies in producing from
the elements what they needed, such as flax, cotton and wool; and
also turned their attention from the manufacture of iron. The
burning of wagons, the bursting of shell, and the destruction of
arms, furnished much of the latter at comparatively nominal
prices; hence a present benefit worked a permanent injury. The
speculators who made vast fortunes at the expense of the nation
soon squandered them, and part of this army, and even its
commander, and many of the officers, were soon found arrayed
against the flag of our country, and taking an active part in the
terrible war between the North and South, the results of which
are being so severely felt at the present time.
123
Scandalous sheets have been issued here for years, and, as far as
possible, sent to all parts of the world, filled with lies,
defamation and abuse, and everything that would tend to rouse the
indignation of the Christian world against us, and to get up an
excuse for our annihilation. These sheets have been sustained by
men in the mercantile business whom we have sustained by our
trade, and consequently have been supported indirectly by our
money. I have been horrified at such a use of our means, and have
felt that it was our duty, as Saints, to stop supporting these
slanders, lest, peradventure, should they continue until they
produced the designed effect, our blood should be upon our own
heads.
124
What did we cross the Plains for? To get where we could enjoy
peace and religious liberty. Why did we drag hand-carts across
the Plains? That we might have the privilege of dwelling and
associating with Saints, and not build up a hostile influence in
our midst, and place wealth in the hands of our enemies, who use
it to spread aborad defamation and falsehood, and to light a
flame that will again have the direct result, unless overruled by
the almighty power of God, of bringing upon the Latter-day Saints
here the same sorrow, distress and desolation that have followed
them elsewhere. For my part I do not fellowship Latter-day Saints
who thus use their money. I advise the Saints to form
co-operative societies and associations all over the Territory,
and to import everything they need that they cannot manufacture,
and not to pay their money to men who use it to buy bayonets to
slay them with, and to stir up the indignation of our fellow-men
against us. Our outside friends should feel contented with the
privilege of paying us the money for the products of our labor,
and we should exact it at their hands, as a due reward for our
exertions in producing the necessaries of life in this desert.
124
Some may say, "We are afraid the brethren are making money too
fast," or, "We do not like to trade with them, they charge us too
high." Suppose they do, you need not buy of them; but do not go
and buy of men who would use that money to cut your throats, or
to publish lies about you, and endeavor to induce all men to come
here and dispossess you of your homes. Do not be so mad as that.
"Well," says one, "I really want some little article that I
cannot buy elsewhere." Man's wants are very numerous, but his
necessities are really very few, and we should abridge our wants,
and go to work and manufacture everything we can within
ourselves; and what we cannot manufacture we can import, and save
ourselves the 40, 120, 400, or 1000 per cent that we are now
paying for our merchandize, and so stop building up those who are
laying a foundation, openly and above board, for our destruction.
And furthermore, cease to fellowship every man that will not
build up Zion. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / Orson
Pratt, April 10, 1870
Orson Pratt, April 10, 1870
DISCOURSE BY ELDER ORSON PRATT,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 10, 1870
(Reported by David W. Evans)
THE LATTER-DAY KINGDOM OF GOD--DIVINE AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF
MORMON--EXTERNAL TESTIMONY.
124
It has fallen to my lot to speak to the congregation this
afternoon, and I humbly hope and trust that, through your faith
and prayers, I may be assisted by the Comforter, the Holy Ghost,
in speaking to your edification; and I ask my Heavenly Father, in
the name of Jesus Christ, that He will pour out upon me that
Spirit which giveth utterance and enlighteneth the understanding,
that I may be able to edify all who hear me.
125
Forty years have passed away since the Church was organized. We
held Conference here on Wednesday last, in commemoration of that
eventful period in the history of our race, for it is a period
that we consider very eventful in our history and in the history
of the world; and we have no doubt in our own minds that the Lord
looks upon it in the same light, for He is interested more than
any other person possibly can be in the salvation of the human
family. And as He has set times in His own mind for the
performance of His own purposes, He no doubt chose the 6th day of
April, 1830, as the set time for the organization, or the
beginning of an organization or kingdom that should have no end.
125
All the governments which have hitherto had a place on our earth,
excepting those now in existence, have had an end. Human
governments have been very changeable in their nature. The Lord
has raised up a nation here and a nation there, a kingdom here
and a kingdom there, and He has suffered them to live and
flourish for a few centuries, and some, perhaps, even for one or
two thousand years; then He has caused them to pass away. But He
spoke to His ancient servant, who is called Daniel, whose
prophecy is written in this book (the Bible), and said that in
the latter days He would set up a government or kingdom which
should have no end. This government will differ from all
preceding governments set up from the Creation down to the period
of its establishment. Daniel says it shall become universal and
shall cover the whole earth. He calls the citizens of that
government Saints. He beheld that the stone cut out of the
mountain without hands should roll forth and become a great
mountain and fill the whole earth, and that all earthly
governments, kingdoms and empires should become like the chaff of
the summer threshing floor, and no place should be found for
them; while the stone that was cut out of the mountains should
have dominion over the whole earth, and the Saints of the Most
High should have dominion under the whole heaven.
125
Now there will have to be a beginning to that work. The Lord will
not make such a wonderful revolution as the one I have named, all
in one day, or in one year. Jesus made his appearance on the
earth in the meridian of time, and he established his kingdom on
the earth. But to fulfill ancient prophecies the Lord suffered
that kingdom to be uprooted; in other words, the kingdoms of this
world made war against the kingdom of God, established eighteen
centuries ago, and they prevailed against it, and the kingdom
ceased to exist. The great beast that John saw made war with it
and prevailed against it, and human institutions, without
prophets or inspired men, usurped the place of the ancient
kingdom of God. But God has promised that the latter-day kingdom
shall stand for ever. Though the heavens and earth be wrapped
together as a scroll and pass away, yet the kingdom that was to
be set up in the latter days will have no end, but will prevail
among all people under the heavens and will have dominion for one
thousand years. After that, when the earth passes away, the
kingdom will be caught up; it will not perish, be annihilated or
overcome, but be caught up into the heavens while the earth is
undergoing its last change; and when the Lord shall resurrect the
earth, the same as He will our bodies, and make it a new earth,
wherein shall dwell righteousness, He will then bring down out of
Heaven to the new earth this latter-day kingdom, with all the
former kingdoms that He has built up in other dispensations, and
they will stand for ever, for the new earth will never pass away.
126
The destiny of all governments established by human wisdom is to
pass away. The great nation of the United States, one of the best
governments ever organized by human authority on the earth, so
far as our knowledge goes, must pass away in many of its
features. The only way for safety to the people of the government
of the United States is to repent of their sins, turn away from
all their iniquities, receive the Gospel of the Son of God and
become citizens of that kingdom which is to endure for ever; then
all the great and glorious principles incorporated in this great
republic will be incorporated in the kingdom of God and be
preserved. I mean the principles of civil and religious liberty,
especially, and all other good principles that are contained in
that great instrument framed by our forefathers will be
incorporated in the kingdom of God; and only in this manner can
all that is good in this and in foreign governments be preserved.
126
The time will shortly come when thrones will be cast down and
empires will fall; and all republics and empires will eventually
fall and become like the dream of a night vision--they will
vanish away; but the kingdom of God will grow, flourish, spread
abroad and become stronger and more powerful, until its King
shall come in the clouds of Heaven, crowned in all the glory and
power of his Father, bringing the celestial hosts with him, to
sit upon his throne in Jerusalem and also in Zion, to reign over
his people here on the earth for the space of a thousand years,
before the destruction of the earth.
126
This is what we believe; and it is the sincere belief and faith
of the Latter-day Saints that we are in that kingdom. It is true
that our King is now absent: he is in the heavens. But we expect
him again; we look for him and he will come in his own due time.
The day when he will come he has not revealed to any of the
inhabitants of the earth, neither will he do so, for the Lord has
told us in a certain revelation, recorded in the Doctrine and
Covenants, that no one should have it revealed to them; but this
much God has revealed--that this kingdom which He has organized
on the earth has been organized preparatory to the day of the
coming of our Lord from the heavens. Hence in organizing this
kingdom He has restored all the essential characteristics of His
kingdom in its embryo, or its beginning: such as inspired men,
inspired prophets, inspired leaders, called by revelation to act
in different positions.
126
Now there is something very peculiar indeed in setting up the
kingdom of God in regard to the time. I told you in the
commencement of my remarks that the Lord generally had set times
to accomplish His purposes. It can be reasonably inferred,
according to the revelations that we have in the Book of Mormon,
that God organized His kingdom, precisely to a day, 1800 years
after the crucifixion. Of course we do not learn this directly
from the Book of Mormon; but we learn enough there of data on
which to found a calculation. We learn not only from this book,
but also from the antiquities of the Jews, from the New
Testament, from historians and from some of the Mosaic rites that
Jesus was crucified about the time of the Passover, and that
happened some time after the vernal equinox; and that 1833 years
had passed from the time of the birth of our Savior before the
organization of this latter-day kingdom.
127
The way we come at this is by the account given in the Book of
Mormon. We find that the ancient Israelites on this continent had
a sign given of the exact time of the crucifixion and a
revelation of the exact time of the Savior's birth, and according
to their reckoning, they made him thirty-three years and a little
over three days old from the time of his birth to the time that
he hung upon the cross. There is no doubt that the year of the
ancient Israelites, who inhabited this continent, differed a
little in length from our years; for they probably reckoned
their's somewhat after the manner of the Jews, at Jerusalem, and
the Jews had formed their reckoning from the Egyptians, among
whom they dwelt some four hundred years. The Egyptians reckoned
three hundred and sixty-five days to the year; but the ancient
Israelites on this continent, according to the records of the
early Spanish historians, did not consider that three hundred and
sixty-five days made up a full year, and hence at the end of
every fifty-two years they added thirteen days, which is
equivalent to adding one day every four years, the same as we do.
If such were the reckoning of the ancient Nephites, then
thirty-three years and three days of their time had passed away
between the time of the Savior's birth and crucifixion. Now these
thirty-three years and three days would, according to our
reckoning, lack five days of the thirty-three years. When we come
to trace back all these authorities, we find that this very day,
on which I am speaking, would be the close of the year, and that
to-morrow, the 11th day of April, would be the anniversary of the
very day on which Jesus was born; and the 6th day of April the
very day on which he was crucified precisely eighteen hundred
years prior to the organization of this Church.
127
I have made mention of this, not bringing all the evidences and
proofs that might be advanced, but merely to show, in a very
brief manner, that God has a set time to perform and accomplish
His work, and that the commencement of the organization of His
kingdom took place eighteen centuries after the time that the
Savior groaned and suffered on the cross.
127
There are a great many, of course, in the world, who disbelieve
this record which is received as divine by the Latter-day Saints.
A great many do not believe that the Book of Mormon is true, and
the reason they do not believe it is because they never have
examined the evidences. I consider that there are some evidences,
that never have been sufficiently put forth before the public, to
prove the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, quite as
strong as those which have been adduced. We have often referred
to the Old Testament to prove that a work of this nature was to
come forth in the latter days. The ancient prophets have spoken
of it in many places, sometimes under the term of a book.
Speaking of the manner in which it should be translated, you will
find it referred to in the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. It is
referred to in other places as sticks, written upon, one for
Judah and one for Joseph, that should be united together by the
power of the Lord in the latter days preparatory to His coming.
In other places it is referred to as truth which, in the latter
days, should come out of the ground, and that, at the same time,
righteousness should come down out of Heaven, and that this
should be a preparatory work for the salvation of Israel and for
the coming of the Lord.
128
But we will pass over all these Scriptural evidences, and name
one which, perhaps, our Elders themselves have not dwelt upon to
any very great extent to prove the divine authenticity of the
Book of Mormon.
128
This book, the Book of Mormon, informs us that the time of day at
which Jesus was crucified, I mean the time of day here in
America, was in the morning; the New Testament tells us that
Jesus was crucified in Asia in the afternoon, between the sixth
and ninth hour according to the Jews' reckoning. They commenced
their reckoning at six o'clock in the morning, and consequently
the sixth hour would be twelve o'clock at noon, and the ninth
hour three o'clock in the afternoon. Jesus, from the sixth to the
ninth hour, in other words, from twelve o'clock to three, was
hanging on the cross. Now the Book of Mormon, or the historians
whose records it contains, when relating the incidents that
transpired at the time of the crucifixion--the darkness that was
spread over the face of the land, the earthquakes, the rending of
rocks, the sinking of cities and the whirlwinds--say these events
occurred in the morning; they also say that darkness was spread
over the face of the land for the space of three days. In
Jerusalem it was only three hours. But the Lord gave them a
special sign in this country, and the darkness lasted three days,
and at the expiration of three days and three nights of darkness,
it cleared off, and it was in the morning. That shows that,
according to the time in this country, the crucifixion must have
taken place in the morning.
128
Says one, "Is not this a contradiction between the Book of Mormon
and the New Testament?" To an unlearned person it would really be
a contradiction, for the four Evangelists place it from twelve to
three in the afternoon, while the Book of Mormon says in the
morning. An unlearned person, seeing this discrepancy, would say,
of course, that both books cannot be true. If the Book of Mormon
be true the Bible cannot be; and if the Bible be true the Book of
Mormon cannot be.
129
I do not know that anybody ever brought up this objection, for I
do not think they ever thought of it. I do not think that the
Prophet Joseph, who translated the book, ever thought of this
apparent discrepancy. "But," says one, "how do you account for it
being in the morning in America and in the afternoon in
Jerusalem?" Simply by the difference in longitude. This would
make a difference of time of several hours; for when it would be
twelve at noon in Jerusalem it would only be half-past four in
the morning in the north-west party of South America, where the
Book of Mormon was then being written. Seven and a half hours
difference in longitude would account for this apparent
discrepancy; and if the Book of Mormon had said the crucifixion
took place in the afternoon we should have known at once that it
could not be true. This is incidental proof to learned or
scientific men that they cannot very well reason away, and
especially when the instrument who brought forth the Book of
Mormon is considered. It must be remembered that he was but a
youth, and unlearned; and, when he translated this work, I
presume that he was unaware that there was any difference in the
time of day, according to the longitude, in different parts of
the earth. I do not suppose that Joseph ever thought about it to
the day of his death. I never heard him or any other person bring
forth this as confirmatory evidence of the divine authenticity of
the Book of Mormon; I never thought of it myself until years
after Joseph's death; but when I did reflect upon it, I could see
the reason why the Lord, through His servants, has said in the
Book of Mormon, that the crucifixion took place in the morning.
129
But we will pass over this and will say a few words in regard to
the object of this great work. The Lord has brought forth the
Book of Mormon in order that all the nations, kindreds, tongues
and peoples on the face of the earth may be warned of the great
events which are about to take place. This book contains
prophecies which affect every nation under Heaven, prophecies
that will be fulfilled on their heads. Can we read the future of
this great American nation--our great republic? Yes, we can learn
a great many features within its pages concerning this nation and
government that we never should have learned without its aid or
the spirit of revelation. From it we learn that two great and
powerful nations formerly dwelt on this continent. One nation, or
rather the colony which founded it, came from the Tower of Babel
soon after the days of the Flood. They colonized what we call
North America, landing on the western coast, a little south of
the Gulf of California, in the south-western part of this north
wing of our continent. They flourished some sixteen hundred
years. When they first colonized this continent from the Tower of
Babel, the Lord told them if they would not serve Him faithfully,
but became ripe in iniquity, they should be cut off from the face
of the land. That was fulfilled about six hundred years before
Christ, when they were entirely swept off, and in their stead the
Lord brought a remnant of Israel, a few families, not the ten
tribes, but a small portion of the tribe of Joseph. He brought
them from Jerusalem first down to the Red Sea. They travelled
along the eastern borders of the Red Sea for many days, and then
bore off in an eastern direction which brought them to the
Arabian Gulf. There they were commanded of the Lord to build a
vessel. They went aboard of this vessel and were brought by the
special providence of God across the great Indian and Pacific
Oceans, and landed on the western coast of South America. This
was about five hundred and eighty years before the coming of
Christ. Eleven years after the Lord brought this first colony of
Israelites from Jerusalem, He brought another small colony,
headed by one of the sons of Zedekiah, a descendant of King
David. They left Jerusalem the same year that the Jews were
carried away captive into Babylon, were brought forth to this
continent and landed somewhere north of the Isthmus. They wended
their way into the northern part of South America. About four
hundred years after this the two colonies amalgamated in the
northern part of South America and they became one nation.
129
The first colony brought with them the Jewish Scriptures, on
plates of brass, containing an account of the Creation and the
history of their nation down to eleven years before the
Captivity, or six hundred years before Christ. These brass plates
were kept among them during the period of their righteousness,
and were preserved by the hand of the Lord. The second colony
that came from Jerusalem came without the Scriptures, and having
no copy of the sacred writings they soon fell into wickedness. In
four hundred years time they disbelieved in the being of a God,
but uniting with the other branch of Israelites they were
converted. Their language had become much corrupted, but through
their conversion their language was restored in a partial measure
by means of the records which were possessed by the other colony.
130
About forty-five years before Christ a very large colony of
five thousand four hundred men, with wives and children, united
themselves together in the northern part of South America, and
came forth by land into North America, and travelled an
exceedingly great distance until they came to large bodies of
water and many rivers, very probably in the great Mississippi
Valley. In the next ten years numerous other colonies came forth
and spread themselves on the northern portion of the continent
and became exceedingly numerous.
130
You may inquire, "Did all these different colonies have the
Scriptures?" Yes. "How did they get them?" They had a great many
scribes in their midst. The Book of Mormon informs us that they
had not only the Scriptures which they brought from Jerusalem,
but those given by the living prophets among them; and that a
great many copies were written and sent forth into all of these
colonies, so that the people in all their colonies were well
acquainted with the law of Moses and with the prophecies of her
prophets in relation to the first coming of our Savior Jesus
Christ.
131
"But," some may inquire, "have you any external evidence to prove
what you are now saying?" I think we have. Thirty years after the
Book of Mormon was put in print, giving the history of the
settlement of this country, one of the great mounds south of the
great lakes near Newark, in Ohio, was opened. What was found in
it? A great many curiosities, among which were some copper
pieces, supposed to be money. After digging down many feet, and
carrying off many thousand loads of stone, they at length found a
coffin in the midst of a hard kind of fire clay. Underneath this
they found a large stone that appeared to be hollow; something
seemed to rattle inside of it. The stone was cemented together in
the middle, but with some little exertion they broke it open,
when another stone was found inside of it, of a different nature
entirely from its covering. On the stone taken from the inside
was carved the figure of a man with a priestly robe flowing from
his shoulders; and over the head of this man were the Hebrew
characters for Moshe, the ancient name of Moses; while on each
side of this likeness, and on different sides of the stone,
above, beneath, and around about were the Ten Commandments that
were received on Mount Sinai, written in the ancient Hebrew
characters. Now recollect that the Book of Mormon had been in
print thirty years before this discovery. And what does this
discovery prove? It proves that the builders of these mounds,
south of the great lakes in the great Mississippi Valley in Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, New York, etc., must have understood the
Hebrew characters; and not only that, but they must also have
understood the law of Moses. Otherwise how happened it that they
should write on this stone the Ten Commandments almost verbatim
as they are now contained in King James' translation of the
Bible. It proves that the builders of these mounds were
Israelites, and that their illustrious dead, buried in these
mounds, had these commandments buried with them, in accordance
with the custom of many of the ancient nations, especially the
Egyptians, who were in the habit of consigning their written
sacred papyrus to their great tombs. In Egypt many of these
ancient manuscripts have been exhumed and, in many instances,
pretended to be translated. So the Israelites followed the
customs of these Eastern nations, and buried that which they
considered most sacred, namely, the Ten Commandments, thundered
by the voice of the Almighty in the midst of flaming fire on
Mount Sinai in the ears of all the congregation of Israel.
131
I have seen that sacred stone. It is not a hatched up story. I
heard tell of it as being in the Antiquarian Society, or rather,
as it is now called, the Ethnological Society, in the City of New
York. I went to the Secretary of that Society, and he kindly
showed me this stone, of which I have been speaking, and being
acquainted with modern Hebrew, I could form some kind of an
estimate of the ancient Hebrew, for some of the modern Hebrew
characters do not vary much in form from the ancient Hebrew. At
any rate we have enough of ancient Hebrew, that has been dug up
in Palestine and taken from among the ruins of the Israelites
east of the Mediterranean Sea, to form some kind of an estimate
of the characters that were in use among them; and having these
characters and comparing them, I could see and understand the
nature of the writing upon these records. They were also taken to
the most learned men of our country, who, as soon as they looked
at them, were able to pronounce them to be not only ancient
Hebrew, but they were also able to translate them and pronounced
them to be the Ten Commandments. This, then, is external proof,
independent of the Scriptural proofs to which I have alluded, in
testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
131
Now, our modern Hebrew has many points; it has also many
additional characters not found in the ancient Hebrew. These
additional characters have been made since these colonies left
Jerusalem. Do you find on these ancient writings any of these
modern characteristics that have been introduced during the last
two thousand four hundred years? Not one. Do you find any Hebrew
points representing vowels? Not one; and all the new consonants
that have been introduced during the last two thousand four
hundred years were not found upon this stone to which I have
referred, showing plainly that it must have been of very ancient
date.
131
Five years after the discovery of this remarkable memento of the
ancient Israelites on the American continent, and thirty-five
years after the Book of Mormon was in print, several other mounds
in the same vicinity of Newark were opened, in several of which
Hebrew characters were found. Among them was this beautiful
expression, buried with one of their ancient dead, "May the Lord
have mercy on me a Nephite." It was translated a little
different--"Nephel." Now we well know that Nephi, who came out of
Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ, was the leader of the
first Jewish colony across to this land, and the people, ever
afterwards, were called "Nephites," after their inspired prophet
and leader. The Nephites were a righteous people and had many
prophets among them; and when they were burying one of their
brethren in these ancient mounds, they introduced the Hebrew
characters signifying "May the Lord have mercy on me a Nephite."
This is another direct evidence of the divine authenticity of the
Book of Mormon, which was brought forth and translated by
inspiration some thirty-five years before this inscription was
found.
132
But I said I would tell you some of the objects that the Lord had
in view in bringing forth this sacred record. It is in order to
prepare the people for the day of His coming, in order to
establish the true Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, with
all its ordinances, gifts, powers and blessings, that the people
might have the old, ancient religion, even the fulness of the
blessings of that Gospel that was preached eighteen hundred years
ago.
132
Another object that the Lord had in view was to gather His people
out from all nations before the coming of the great and terrible
judgments which are pronounced in this ancient record of the
Nephites. God has said, concerning the nation which should
inherit this land in the latter days, when this work should be
brought forth, if they would not repent of their sins and hearken
to the servants of God who should be sent forth among them, if
they would reject this divine record which He should bring forth
by His power, if they would fight against His Church and His
Zion, that when they were fully ripened in iniquity they should
be cut off from the face of this land. And for this reason He
would gather out from their midst His people and assemble them in
one.
132
This is all predicted in the Book of Mormon. And remember this
was in print before the organization of the Church took place.
The Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, and consisted
of six members only; but the Book of Mormon was in print before
that. How did Joseph Smith, if an impostor, as he is represented
to be by a great many of the world, foretell events that have
been taking place during the past forty years? How could he know
that this book would be received beyond his own neighborhood, or
ever extend beyond the limits of the State of New York? How did
he know it would go beyond the limits of this continent and
across the ocean and spread forth among many nations? "Well,"
says one, "he might have guessed it." Yes, but guesses are very
uncertain indeed. Many people may conjecture, and think that such
and such things will be the case; but when it comes to
enumerating particulars in regard to the future, if a man is not
inspired of God, how liable he is to fall into ten thousand
errors!
132
Now this book predicted, not only the spread of this work among
this people or nation, but also that it would go forth to all
people, nations and tongues under the whole heavens. Forty years
only have passed away, and how much of this has been fulfilled
already! This book has been translated into eight different
languages and spread forth upon the islands of the sea--the
Sandwich Islands, the Society Islands, Australia, New Zealand,
Hindostan, and has gone forth to the nations of Europe and has
penetrated to almost every nation under heaven in the course,
only, of forty years.
133
Has there been any gathering, according to the predictions of
this book? for it not only predicts the organization and rising
up of the kingdom of God in the latter days when it should go
forth, but it also speaks of the great gathering together of His
people. Has this been fulfilled? What do I now see before me?
Several thousand people listening to me in the midst of one of
the most frightful deserts of the North American continent; that
is, it was frightful, so much so that Fremont and others could
not traverse it, with any degree of safety, unless a large
company was with them; and even, with all the means he had at his
command, Fremont could not travel through these deserts without
losing a great many of his men. It was a parched up, dry and
sterile country, and it looked as though an agricultural people
never could possess it with any degree of advantage. This was the
description given by those who explored a small portion of this
country before the Latter-day Saints settled it. But what do I
now see? Not only this large congregation now before me, but as I
travel to and fro in the Territory I see four hundred miles of
desert reclaimed, and over one hundred towns, cities and villages
incorporated and organized, cultivating the earth, and numerous
flocks and herds being raised by peaceable settlers. Who are
these settlers? Those who believe in the divine authenticity of
the Book of Mormon; those who believe that Joseph Smith was a
true prophet, and thus have fulfilled his predictions. Is it not
another testimony in favor of the divine authenticity of this
record when we see things transpiring that, to all natural
appearance, never could have transpired? What did our enemies say
when this book was first printed? "O, it is only destined for a
year or two; two years at longest will see the end of
'Mormonism.'" By and by, when two years had passed away, and they
began to see that their prophecies were failing, they concluded
to extend the time for the extinction of "Mormonism," and they
would say, "Watch five years more, and 'Mormonism' will have an
end." Why it was so inconsistent in their opinion that God should
again speak from the heavens, and have inspired men on the earth;
that He should restore all the gifts of the ancient Gospel; that
He should send an angel with the everlasting Gospel in
fulfillment of the predictions of John the Revelator and the
testimony of many of the ancient prophets. It was so foreign to
their minds that any such prophecies should be fulfilled in their
day, that they predicted that this work would have an end in five
years. That was the way the natural man viewed the matter.
133
But God, who can foresee all events among the children of men,
had His eye fixed on the gathering of His children before the
Church was organized, and He predicted that they should come out
of every nation under Heaven. Not only from the settled portions
of the Gentile nation, but they should be brought forth out of
the midst of that Gentile nation, just as we have been.
133
If you want to learn particularly concerning that prophecy, read
the saying of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon, when
he descended in the northern part of South America, soon after
his resurrection, and ascension to heaven. He descended in the
sight of a large congregation of two thousand five hundred men,
women and children, a little south of the Isthmus, at a place
where they had built a temple. After making his appearance in
their midst, he taught them many things, and showed them the
wounds in his hands, in his feet and in his side. In his
instructions on that occasion he commanded them to do away with
the law of Moses, so far as the ordinances, sacrifices and burnt
offerings were concerned, and he commanded them to receive the
Gospel which he taught them. After he had done all this, he
commenced to prophecy to them, and his prophecies are in this
record; and one of them has been fulfilled during the last forty
years. He said he would bring forth their gold plates, which they
then had in their midst. He declared that the Father should bring
them forth unto the Gentiles in the latter days. The prophecy
says, "If the Gentiles will not receive the fulness of my Gospel
which shall be contained in that book, behold, saith the Father,
I will bring the fulness of my Gospel from among them." These are
the words of Jesus, as recorded in this book.
134
Has this prophecy been fulfilled? How could the Lord have
brought the Saints from among the inhabitants of the great nation
of Gentiles, called the United States, any more effectually than
He did twenty-three years ago when He located us in these
mountains? Was there any other part of this continent on which
this prophecy could have been so effectually fulfilled? Nowhere.
We did not come here altogether of our own accord, that is, all
of us did not; some few did, because they understood the mind and
will of the Lord in regard to the gathering of the Saints from
among the Gentiles; but a great many were so attached to their
farms and homes in the East that they had to be driven away
before they would come. It was not indeed a pleasurable thing to
any of us, only to those who understood the mind and will of God
in relation to the matter. The Lord brought us some twelve
hundred miles from the settled portions of the United States, and
planted us in one of the most wild and isolated regions on the
face of the whole continent.
134
How completely were the words of Jesus fulfilled! "If the
Gentiles in that day do not receive the fulness of my Gospel,
which shall be translated from the Record, behold, saith the
Father, I will bring my people, my Priesthood, my Gospel, and my
Saints from their midst." Twenty-three years that prophecy has
been fulfilling, and I think it has been accomplished to the very
letter.
134
What next has the Lord predicted? He has predicted that if the
Gentiles do not repent in that day, "Behold, saith the Father, I
will sweep them from the face of the land, as I did the nation
that I brought from the Tower of Babel. So shall they be swept
off from the face of the land, when they are fully ripened in
iniquity."
135
I do not know when this will be fulfilled; but we are all the
time in expectation. The Lord does not generally do things in a
hurry. He gives the people plenty of time to ripen themselves in
iniquity, if they will not repent. It does not take some people a
very great time to ripen, for you know this is a fast age, and
things are done in a great hurry now-a-days, and when they get on
the downward course, into all manner of wickedness, they seem to
rush with lightning speed into all the corruption that can be
named. What a difference between our fathers, who lived forty
years ago, and the present generation! Every one can see it. The
rising generation are proud, haughty, high-minded, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God; fighting against His people;
given to whoredom and prostitution and all manner of iniquity and
abominations; guilty of all the abominations named by the apostle
that should characterize the false churches of the latter days,
having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. That
is, denying the gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, revelation,
the ministering and discerning of spirits. All these things were
denied when the Book of Mormon came forth. Of course the devil
saw that it was not policy, with all the Scriptures staring them
in the face, and all the Latter-day Saint Elders quoting these
Scriptures to show the necessity of the gifts, to keep them
denying these gifts; hence he introduced them under the name of
Spiritualism. As soon as the Book of Mormon came forth, the
counterfeit then spread like the counterfeit gifts exercised by
the old magicians of Egypt. When Moses went down with the power
and authority of Heaven, the counterfeit sprang up in order to
delude the Egyptians, and make them think the power of Moses was
the same in character as that exercised by the magicians. When
Moses threw down his rod it became a serpent; the rods of the
magicians did the same. When Moses brought up frogs on the land,
they did the same; when he turned the rivers of water into blood,
they did the same; and thus they deluded the Egyptian nation, and
made them believe that if the power of Moses was superior to
theirs, it was only because he had learned the magic art more
thoroughly than they had.
135
Well, it seems as if the Lord our God is giving the nation a
pretty thorough warning. He told this nation by revelation,
twenty-eight years before it commenced, of the great American
war. He told all about how the Southern States should be divided
against the Northern States, and that in the course of the war
many souls should be cut off. This has been fulfilled.
135
I went forth before my beard was gray, before my hair began to
turn white, when I was a youth of nineteen, now I am fifty-eight,
and from that time on I published these tidings among the
inhabitants of the earth. I carried forth the written revelation,
foretelling this great contest, some twenty-eight years before
the war commenced. This prophecy has been printed and circulated
extensively in this and other nations and languages. It pointed
out the place where it should commence in South Carolina. That
which I declared over the New England States, New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and many other parts in the East, when but a
boy, came to pass twenty-eight years after the revelation was
given.
135
When they were talking about a war commencing down here in
Kansas, I told them that was not the place; I also told them that
the revelation had designated South Carolina, "and," said I, "you
have no need to think that the Kansas war is going to be the war
that is to be so terribly destructive in its character and
nature. No, it must commence at the place the Lord has designated
by revelation."
135
What did they have to say to me? They thought it was a Mormon
humbug, and laughed me to scorn, and they looked upon that
revelation as they do upon all others that God has given in these
latter days--as without divine authority. But behold and lo! in
the process of time it came to pass, again establishing the
divinity of this work, and giving another proof that God is in
this work, and is performing that which He spoke by the mouths of
the ancient prophets, as recorded in the Book of Mormon before
any Church of Latter-day Saints was in existence.
136
This same book says, "In that day the blood of the Saints shall
cry from the ground for vengeance on the heads of the wicked."
What! in a free and enlightened nation and government like the
United States, which holds forth, in the first amendment to the
Constitution, liberty, and freedom of conscience! A Constitution
that protects religious societies in their belief! A Constitution
that guarantees liberty of the press, and liberty to all to serve
God according to the dictates of their own consciences! Can it be
that such a prophecy will be fulfilled in the midst of such an
enlightened nation? The Book of Mormon declared it, and that,
too, before the existence of the Latter-day Saints' Church. It
has been printed and sent to all the world, that in that day,
when that book should come forth, the blood of the Saints should
cry to the Lord from the ground of these United States for
vengeance upon the heads of their persecutors and murderers. Has
this been fulfilled? In the history of this people and Church
during the last forty years I read concerning our drivings from
Jackson county, Missouri; from Kirtland, Ohio; of our drivings
from Clay county, Missouri, and from Caldwell county to Ray, and
out of many counties in the western part of Missouri into
Illinois.
136
The word concerning the driving of the people from Illinois,
westward to the Rocky Mountains, in the article of the treaty got
up by the mobocrats, was that "we must not stop short of the
Rocky Mountains, but that we must go beyond them." Were any lives
lost in those terrible persecutions, or was it merely property
taken away from the Saints, without paying them a cent, in the
shape of thousands of acres of land which they had paid the
Government for, and comfortable houses? If it had been only our
houses and lands it would have been bad enough; but lives were
taken--innocent men, women and children were shot down. I might
go on and relate some of the circumstances, but I dislike to
dwell on the subject; it is apt to kindle up old nature in one's
heart, therefore I will leave that topic. Suffice it to say that
the blood of hundreds, and I might almost say thousands, will be
required at the hands of this nation unless the people repent.
136
Where is our prophet who translated this book, that noble youth
whom God raised up when only between fourteen and fifteen years
of age? Where is that noble boy to whom God sent His angel, and
to whom He gave the Urim and Thummim, and to whom He entrusted
the original golden plates from which this book was translated?
He fell a martyr to his religion under this free Government of
the United States. Where is the Patriarch of our Church, the
brother of our Prophet? He, too, was shot down at the same time.
By whom? By people who were painted black for the occasion, and
who boasted of their bloody deeds in Hancock county, Illinois.
Some of them are still alive in that county, and to this day
boast of their bloody deeds in persecuting the Latter-day Saints.
136
Many scores of our people were wasted away, and their blood soaks
the soil of this great government, crying aloud to the heavens
for vengeance on those who shed the blood of the martyrs, and who
persecuted God's people and sent them forth, as they supposed, to
perish in the heart of the Great American Desert.
136
No only will they who committed these deeds be brought to
judgment, but those also who stood back behind the screen and
said, "How glad I am, Joe Smith is now dead, the Mormon Patriarch
Hyrum Smith is shot down, and we have killed many of their
followers, men, women and children. They have been driven five
times from their locations and settlements and been robbed of
millions of dollars' worth of property and we are enjoying it,
and it is all right. Joe Smith ought to have been killed before,
long ago."
137
This seemed to be the feeling of a great many people in the
American nation. They sanctioned the shedding of innocent blood,
if they did not actually shed it themselves and God will require
it at their hands. Will He require anything at the hands of our
nation, in a national capacity, in regard to this matter? Was it
not within their power to protect us on the lands which we
purchased from the General Government? We did not purchase, to
any extent, land from the Missourians, but we took up land that
belonged to the General Government. We paid our money into that
Government Land Office. Did they protect us in the possession of
that land which they guaranteed by their deeds to us and our seed
or heirs for ever? They did not. Did they protect us in our
citizenship? No, they did not. Did we appeal to them for
protection? Yes, we laid our case before them. What was their
reply? Martin Van Buren, who sat at the head of the Government at
that time, said, "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do
nothing for you." He saw the testimony; there was no getting away
from it. His reply indicated that he thought we had been
persecuted so many years that they had the right to persecute us;
and when we asked, "Can you protect us according to the
Constitution, in our just right? can you not restore us our
property--our houses and lands?" the reply was, "No, we can do
nothing for you."
137
Then, according to our ideas of the justice that dwells in the
bosom of the Almighty, who is the Judge of all the earth, we must
suppose that He will not only hold the actual murderers of the
Saints responsible, but all who sanctioned the deed, and the
nation for not punishing those murderers and for not protecting
us in our rights, and suffering us to be exiled unjustly to a
foreign territory, for Utah then belonged to Mexico. When we
could not find safety in the United States we fled to Mexico for
protection; but we ultimately assisted in redeeming the land we
now occupy from the Mexican Government and securing it to the
United States Government. After sending five hundred of our men
to redeem this country, the United States formed a treaty with
Mexico, and this became United States territory.
137
By and by, after having secured this soil to our Government by
the Mormon Battalion, and having redeemed it from its sterility,
and built upwards of a hundred towns and settlements, it was sold
to us. Did we find fault at having to pay for it? No. When the
land office was opened in this Territory two or three years ago,
we considered it all right and we were willing to pay our money
for it. But what now? A bill is before Congress the object of
which is to deprive us of the lands which we have paid for. The
Government has got our money in its Treasury for lands we have
bought and paid for, and for which it bargained to give us a deed
and entered into a compact that we and our children after us
should possess this land for ever, and now Congress has got up a
law to deprive every man in this Territory, whose religious faith
happens to differ from Congress, of these lands. Because we
happen to differ on certain religious points with the General
Government, we are to be deprived of our homestead rights,
guaranteed to us and to the people of all the Territories of the
United States, by the laws of Congress.
138
Does this look like justice? Is this even-handed justice? It does
not seem to agree with my ideas of justice any more than the
proceedings of the mobocrats in Missouri, Ohio or Illinois. When,
therefore, the American nation, as a nation, by the voice of her
Representatives, Senators and President, sanctions a law to
deprive American citizens of their citizenship, to rob them of
their houses and lands, and then deprive them of their liberty,
because of a difference of religious belief and practice, I think
the nation is pretty well ripened, and that it will not take much
more to prepare them for the fulfilment of the prophecies which I
have been repeating. I do not know how long-suffering the Lord
is. It is a good thing that He has wisdom, knowledge and
understanding, that He is not a human being, or He would get
wrathy and swallow up the people in a moment. It is a good thing
that you and I do not have people to deal with according to our
feelings. God is a long-suffering being. He has fulfilled a great
many things pertaining to this people during forty years past.
There are a great many more to be fulfilled in relation to us,
and in relation to the nation which is persecuting us; but
whatever the final result may be, whether the American Congress
pass laws to persecute us or not; whether they rob us of our
houses and lands or not; whether they imprison us and send us for
five years to a Penitentiary or a military camp or not, there is
one thing sure--as sure as the sun shines forth in yonder
heavens, so sure will the Lord fulfil one thing with regard to
this people. What is that? He will return them to Jackson county,
and in the western part of the State of Missouri they will build
up a city which shall be called Zion, which will be the
head-quarters of this Latter-day Saint Church; and that will be
the place where the prophets, apostles and inspired men of God
will have their head-quarters. It will be the place where the
Lord God will manifest Himself to His people, as He has promised
in the Scriptures, as well as in modern revelation.
138
"Do you believe that?" says one. Just as much as we believed,
long before it came to pass, what has taken place. The world can
believe what has taken place, because it has been fulfilled. The
Latter-day Saints believe in prophecies before they take place.
We have just as much confidence in returning to Jackson county
and the building of a great central city that will remain there a
thousand years before the earth passes away, as the Jews have in
returning to Jerusalem and re-building the waste places of
Palestine. In fact we have more faith than they have; for they
have been so many generations cast out of their land that their
descendants have almost lost their faith in returning. But the
Latter-day Saints are fresh, as it were. There are many of the
old stock, who passed through all those tribulations I have
named, still living, whose faith in returning to Jackson county,
and the things that are coming, is as firm and fixed as the
throne of the Almighty. We know the future destiny of this
kingdom as well as we know its past history, that is concerning
the general events which are to transpire.
138
I am taking up too much of your time. May the Lord bless us as a
people; bless us with wisdom, with understanding, with power and
with the heavens, with union, with peace among ourselves; bless
us with righteousness, and joy in the Holy Ghost; bless us with
the spiritual gifts of His kingdom, multiply His favors upon us
and upon our generations after us, forever and ever, is my prayer
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, July 11, 1869
Brigham Young, July 11, 1869
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 11, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans)
THE LORD'S SUPPER--MIRACLES AND MANIFESTATIONS OF THE POWER
OF GOD--THE GOSPEL AND THE GIFTS AND BLESSINGS THEREOF.
139
I need the attention of the congregation and the faith of those
who have faith; I need the wisdom of God and His Spirit to be in
my heart to enable me to speak to the edification of the people.
Although I have been a public speaker for thirty-seven years, it
is seldom that I rise before a congregation without feeling a
child-like timidity; if I live to the age of Methusaleh I do not
know that I shall outgrow it. There are reasons for this which I
understand. When I look upon the faces of intelligent beings I
look upon the image of the God I serve. There are none but what
have a certain portion of divinity within them; and though we are
clothed with bodies which are in the image of our God, yet this
mortality shrinks before that portion of divinity which we
inherit from our Father. This is the cause of my timidity, and of
all others who feel this embarrassment when they address their
fellow beings.
139
While we are administering the sacrament I will read the 16th
verse of the 10th chapter of Corinthians, where Paul, speaking of
the administration of this ordinance, says, "The cup of blessings
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of
Christ?"
139
There are many passages of Scripture which refer to the
administering of the sacrament. A saying, direct from the lips of
Jesus, has not been understood by all those who have believed in
his name. When he was about to take his departure from this world
he called his disciples into an upper room and he took bread and
brake it and blessed it and gave it to his disciples, and said,
"Take, eat; this is my body." He then took the cup and blessed it
and gave to his disciples, saying, "Drink ye all of it." If we
were to stop here, I think it would be more difficult to
understand than if we were to read the rest of his sayings on
this subject. This is my body which is given for you; this is my
blood of the New Testament. This do in remembrance of me; I will
not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day
when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
140
We do this in remembrance of the death of our Savior; it is
required of his disciples until he comes again, no matter how
long that may be. No matter how many generations come and go,
believers in him are required to eat bread and drink wine in
remembrance of his death and sufferings until he comes again. Why
are they required to do this? To witness unto the Father, to
Jesus and to the angels that they are believers in and desire to
follow him in the regeneration, keep his commandments, build up
his kingdom, revere his name and serve him with an undivided
heart, that they may be worthy to eat and drink with him in his
Father's kingdom. This is why the Latter-day Saints partake of
the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.
140
I know that in the Christian world sermon after sermon is
preached on this subject; yet people there differ in their belief
concerning these emblems. The Mother Church of the Christian
world believes that the bread becomes the actual flesh of Jesus,
and that the wine becomes his blood; this is preposterous to me.
It is bread, and it is wine; but both are blessed to the souls of
those who partake thereof. But to be followers of the Lord Jesus
more is required than merely to partake of the bread and
wine--the emblems of his death and suffering--it is necessary
that strict obedience be rendered to his requirements.
140
On one occasion when the Savior was speaking to his disciples he
gave them a mission, saying, "Go ye into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be
damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my
name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new
tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any
deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the
sick, and they shall recover." These are the words spoken by
Jesus when he sent his disciples forth to preach the Gospel.
140
In the search after truth, those who are unconverted might say
with propriety that where the signs follow believers there is the
Gospel. Yet, in the Christian world, it is generally conceded
that signs are no longer necessary, and that miracles are not
needed now, and were given in the days of Jesus merely to
establish the validity of the Gospel he preached and the
authenticity of his mission from heaven to earth. I do not so
understand it. I think if I had lived in the days of Jesus my
mind would have been led very much as it is now. I do not want to
see a miracle to confirm the truth of any doctrine or saying that
is revealed to me. If I can see that it is calculated to purify
the hearts of the people and to sanctify their affections, and to
reconcile them to God and to His law and government, it satisfies
me; and so far as this goes I might say that I am like the
Christian world, in the belief that miracles are no longer
needed. But I believe that miracles are as absolutely necessary
now as they ever were. Yet I will say with regard to miracles,
there is no such thing save to the ignorant--that is, there never
was a result wrought out by God or by any of His creatures
without there being a cause for it. There may be results, the
causes of which we do not see or understand, and what we call
miracles are no more than this--they are the results or effects
of causes hidden from our understandings.
141
This, in my own mind, is argued out perfectly, upon natural
principles. It is natural for me to believe that, if I plough the
ground and sow wheat, in the proper season I shall reap a crop of
wheat; this is the natural result. It was precisely so with the
miracles that Jesus wrought upon the earth? At the wedding in
Cana of Galilee, when they had drunk all the wine they went to
the Savior and asked him what they should do. He ordered them to
fill up their pots with water, and after having done so they drew
forth of that water and found that it was wine. I believe that
was real wine; I do not believe that it was done on the
principles that such things are done in these days by wicked men,
who, by means of what they term psychology, electro-biology,
mesmerism, &c., influence men and make them believe that water is
wine, and other things of a similar character. The Savior
converted the water into wine. He knew how to call the necessary
elements together in order to fill the water with the properties
of wine. The elements are all around us; we eat, drink and
breathe them, and Jesus, understanding the process of calling
them together, performed no miracle except to those who were
ignorant of that process. It was the same with the woman who was
healed by touching the hem of his garment; she was healed by
faith, but it was no miracle to Jesus. He understood the process,
and although he was pressed by the crowd, behind and before, and
on each side, so that he could scarcely make his way through it,
the moment she touched him he felt virtue leave him and enquired
who touched him. This was no miracle to him. He had the issues of
life and death in his power; he had power to lay down his life
and power to take it up again. This is what he says, and we must
believe this if we believe the history of the Savior and the
sayings of the apostles recorded in the New Testament. Jesus had
this power in and of himself; the Father bequeathed it to him; it
was his legacy, and he had the power to lay down his life and
take it again. He had the streams and issues of life within him
and when he said "LIVE" to individuals, they lived. The diseases
that are and ever have been prevalent among the human family are
from beneath, and are entailed upon them through the
fall--through disobedience of our first parents; but Jesus,
having the issues of life at his command, could counteract those
diseases at his pleasure. The case of the Centurion's servant is
a striking instance of this. The Centurion sent and besought
Jesus to heal his servant. "Say in a word," said he, "and my
servant shall be healed." Jesus, seeing the man's earnestness and
solicitude, said, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel." And it is said that they who were sent, returned to the
Centurion's house and found the servant healed. Jesus
counteracted the disease preying upon the system of this man, but
to himself, knowing the principle by which the disease was
rebuked, it was no miracle.
142
But these miracles or manifestations of the power of God, though
not believed in by the Christian world, are necessary for you and
me and for all who wish to be blessed by their means. Some may
say, "How are we to obtain them?" I answer by obedience to all
the commandments of God in the Gospel of life and salvation.
After obedience to these requirements an individual is entitled
to and may enjoy the blessing of miracles just as well as Jesus
did. To the same degree? Perhaps not. Very few on the earth have
ever had power to raise the dead. We read that Peter did. But it
was a common thing for Jesus to raise the dead, heal the sick,
make the deaf to hear, the blind to see and the lame to walk; and
every person is entitled to those things according to the
obedience and faithfulness inherent in him. When do we need them?
I will tell you when I need them--when my family is sick, and
they need something to counteract the principle of death working
in their systems. Under such circumstances some might want to
administer an emetic to the sick, which might be very well if
they lacked faith; but if we have faith to feel that the issues
of life and death are in our power, we can say to disease, "Be ye
rebuked in the name of Jesus, and let life and health come into
the system of this individual, from God, to counteract this
disease;" and our faith will bring this by the laying on of hands
by administering the ordinances of the holy Gospel.
142
I am happy to say I have never been under the necessity of
calling a doctor to my family for forty years. I have had them in
my family, but not from necessity. I like them when they are
gentlemen; when they are wise and full of intelligence I am very
fond of them; but I do not ask them to doctor my family in any
case; and there are no circumstances under which I think them
necessary except in case of a broken bone, or where skilful
mechanical or surgical aid is necessary. But to call a doctor to
my family to administer physic to them, I am not under the
necessity of doing it. Is this so? Yes, it is; and if the
experiment could be tried, independent of the Gospel and of
faith, in any community, I care not where, nor for what length of
time, of having any number of persons, with regularly qualified
physicians to attend them; and the same number without such
physicians, but who will doctor themselves according to nature
and their own judgments, among that portion without doctors,
there would be less sickness and fewer deaths than among those
who had their doctors. The experience of the Latter-day Saints in
Utah confirms this. When we first came here we had no sickness,
and we had no sickness until we had doctors. When they began to
obey the Gospel they did not want to dig in the field, hoe
potatoes, go to the kanyon for lumber or wood, to secure for
themselves and families the necessaries of life; but they wanted
to live by doctoring the people, and from that time on, as we got
richer and built warm houses, and have lived more richly,
indulging in sweet cake, plum pudding, roast beef and so on, we
have had more or less disease among us. Perhaps I have said
enough about doctors.
142
I say, again, however, that it is absolutely necessary that we
all possess the gift God has seen fit to bestow upon His children
to counteract the power of death. How long? To live for ever? O
no, men must die; it is the decree of the Almighty that all men
shall die within the thousand years. Said He, "In the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This body must sleep
in the bosom of mother earth; this is the decree of the Almighty,
hence it is necessary that all must die of disease or old age,
but for all that, to my certain knowledge, the sick in hundreds
of instances are healed by the power of God through administering
the ordinances of His Gospel.
143
The first principle of the Gospel is faith in God--faith in a
Supreme Being. This is a point that meets the infidel, and is one
upon which I have reflected and talked a great deal, and I have
come to this conclusion--that good, solid, sound sense teaches me
never to judge a matter until I understand it, and infidels
should never pass their opinion with regard to the character of a
Supreme Being until they know whether there is one or not. If
this principle were an article in the creed of the infidel world,
I think they would not be quite so sceptical as they are; I think
we should not meet with any person who would deny the existence
of a Deity. The infidel looks abroad and sees the works of
nature, in all their diversity--the mountain piercing the clouds
with its snowy peaks, the mighty river, fertilizing, in its
course to the sea, the valleys and plains in every direction, the
sun in his glory at mid-day, the moon in her silvery splendor,
and the myriad organizations from man to the minutest form of
insect life, all giving the most irrefutable evidence of a
designer and creator of infinite wisdom, skill and power, and yet
he says there is no Deity, no Supreme Ruler, but all is the
result of blind chance. How preposterous! Now, here is a book
called the Bible. It is enclosed in what we call the cover,
consisting of boards, paper and leather. Within the covers we see
a vast amount of writing--syllables, words and sentences; now if
we say there never was a person to compose, write, print or bind
this book, but that it is here wholly as the result of chance, we
shall only give expression to the faith, if faith it can be
called, of those who are termed infidels; in fact this is
infidelity. I do not want to say much about it, it is too vain!
In my travels and labors I have met a great many persons who have
desired to contend about the principles I taught, though I am
happy to say I have passed through the world thus far without a
discussion. My grounds have always been, when out preaching, "If
you have a truth and I have errors, I will give you ten errors
for one truth just as long as we have any to exchange; and if in
setting my views before the people you say that any portion of
the principles I preach is untrue, you must prove it or be for
ever silent; and if I affirm that anything you have to deliver to
the people is false, I must prove it or for ever hold my peace."
On these grounds I have been free from discussions. So much for
infidelity and debating.
144
The Gospel that we preach is the power of God unto salvation; and
the first principle of that Gospel is, as I have already said,
faith in God, and faith in Jesus Christ His Son our Savior. We
must believe that he is the character he is represented to be in
the holy Scriptures. Believe that he told the truth when he said
to his disciples, "Go ye forth and preach the Gospel to every
creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but
he that believeth not shall be damned." We must believe that this
same Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world, that is for
the original sin, not the actual individual transgressions of the
people; not but that the blood of Christ will cleanse from all
sin, all who are disposed to act their part by repentance, and
faith in his name. But the original sin was atoned for by the
death of Christ, although its effects we still see in the
diseases, tempers and every species of wickedness with which the
human family is afflicted. Again, if our Gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost. There is not a spiritually minded man in
the world who reads the Bible but will acknowledge that the
Elders of Israel, the Latter-day Saints, proclaim the Gospel,
precisely, as Jesus and his apostles proclaimed it. Is this
heresy? I pause and ask the question of the Christian world, is
this heresy? Do not my brethren believe in the Bible? Do not all
the Christian world say that they believe in the Bible? They do.
Then if we preach Jesus and him crucified as the apostles did,
and as they have left it on record, what more can be said? Is
there any harm or sin in this? No; for this pertains to the
Gospel of life and salvation. Jesus set in his Church, so say his
apostles, firstly, apostles. Now I will ask the religious and
philosophical world if they have ever obtained any information or
revelation about Christ having taken them out again? No, they
have not; and if there are no apostles, there is no Church. Jesus
set in his Church, according to Paul's words to the Corinthians,
firstly apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after
that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues. Again I will ask the question: has there
been any revelation from heaven that God has taken these gifts
out of His Church; and if so through whom and when? Many persons
think if they see a prophet they see one possessing all the keys
of the kingdom of God on the earth. This is not so; many persons
have prophecied without having any Priesthood on them at all. It
is no particular revelation or gift for a person to prophecy. You
take a good statesman, for instance, he will tell you what will
become of a nation by their actions. He foresees this and that,
and knows the results; this is what makes a statesman, and no man
is a good statesman unless he can foresee the results of any line
of policy that may be pursued. To be a prophet is simply to be a
foreteller of future events; but an apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ has the keys of the holy Priesthood, and the power thereof
is sealed upon his head, and by this he is authorized to proclaim
the truth to the people, and if they receive it, well; if not,
the sin be upon their own heads.
144
I have already said that Christ set in his Church apostles and
prophets; he also set in his Church evangelists, pastors and
teachers; also the gifts of the Spirit, such as diverse tongues,
healing the sick, discernment of spirits, and various other
gifts. Now, I would ask the whole world, who has received
revelation that the Lord has discontinued these offices and gifts
in his Church? I have not. I have had revelation that they should
be in the Church, and that there is no Church without them. I
have had many revelations proving to me that the Old and New
Testaments are true. Their doctrines are comprized in the Gospel
that we preach, which is the power of God unto salvation to all
who believe. What are the fruits of this Gospel when it is
received into the heart of an individual? It will make a bad man
good, and a good man better; it increases their light, knowledge,
and intelligence, and enables them to grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the truth, as the Savior did, until they understand
men and things, the world and its doctrines, whether Christian,
heathen or Pagan, and will ultimately lead them to a knowledge of
things in heaven, on the earth or under the earth. I will say one
thing more about the Gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints,
and I will quote the words of Jesus--this Gospel will eventually
lead all who faithfully observe its precepts to a knowledge of
the "only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent,
whom to know is life eternal."
145
Now I would ask the Christian world a question, and in doing so I
do not mean to reflect upon, or cast an insinuation in the least
derogatory to, all Christians, or to any who believe in God; but
I would ask them, what do you know of God? Take all the divines
on the face of the earth and place them in this stand, and beyond
the attributes of God they know nothing of Him; they are entirely
ignorant of His person. There is the difference between the
various religious sects of the Christian world and the Latter-day
Saints. We do know God, and we know Jesus Christ. We understand
why Jesus came to the earth; we know the design of the Father in
sending him. We also understand the earth, and the nature of the
earth, and why God permitted Mother Eve to partake of the
forbidden fruit. We should not have been here to-day if she had
not; we could never have possessed wisdom and intelligence if she
had not done it. It was all in the economy of heaven, and we need
not talk about it; it is all right. We should never blame Mother
Eve, not the least. I am thankful to God that I know good from
evil, the bitter from the sweet, the things of God from the
things not of God. When I look at the economy of heaven my heart
leaps for joy, and if I had the tongue of an angel, or the
tongues of the whole human family combined, I would praise God in
the highest for His great wisdom and condescension in suffering
the children of men to fall into the very sin into which they
have fallen, for He did it that they, like Jesus, might descend
below all things and then press forward and rise above all. Our
spirits once dwelt in the heavens and were as pure and holy as
the angels; but angels have tabernacles and spirits have none,
and they are anxious to take tabernacles and they come to the
meanest, lowest and humblest of the human race to obtain one
rather than run any risk of not doing so. I have heard that the
celebrated Mr. Beecher, of Brooklyn, once said that the greatest
misfortune that could ever happen to man was to be born; but I
say that the greatest good fortune that ever happened or can
happen to human beings is to be born on this earth, for then life
and salvation are before them; then they have the privilege of
overcoming death, and of walking sin and iniquity under their
feet, of incorporating into their daily lives every principle of
life and salvation and of dwelling eternally with the Gods. I
would hardly dare say this, but Jesus said, "Is it not written in
your law, I said, Ye are Gods? If He called them Gods, unto whom
the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye
of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world,
thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God?" "And if
children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."
And all who are faithful to the precepts of the Gospel will see
Jesus and be as he is.
146
I recollect once, not long after we came to the Valley, I think
it was in 1851, a Baptist preacher came here; he put up at my
house; I kept him while he stayed in the city. He was a
gentleman, very kind and very good. I preached one day on the
character of the Deity, and when I reached a certain point, a
point where he could learn nothing further, I left it. When we
reached home he said to me, "Brother Young, why did you not
proceed with your discourse? I would have given anything in the
world if you have, for I should then have learned your belief
with regard to our heavenly Father." I said to him, "Do you
believe the Bible?" "O yes," he replied. I then quoted to him the
26th and 27th verses of the 1st chapter of Genesis, in which we
find the following words: "And God said let us make man in our
image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own
image, in the image of God created He him; male and female
created He them."
146
I also referred to the visit of the Lord to Abraham in which
Abraham said, "My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight,
pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water,
I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet, and rest yourselves
under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort ye
your hearts; after that ye shall pass on." I also referred to
where the Lord, talking to Moses, says, "Behold there is a place
by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it shall come to
pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft
of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts,
but my face shall not be seen."
146
All of these passages, said I, to the reverend gentleman, go to
prove, if they prove anything at all, that man is made in the
image of his Maker, and that he is His exact image, having eye
for eye, forehead for forehead, eyebrows for eyebrows, nose for
nose, cheekbones for cheekbones, mouth for mouth, chin for chin,
ears for ears, precisely like our Father in heaven." "Well," said
he, "I have been for twenty-nine years a preacher of the truth,
and never thought that man was created in the exact image of his
Father; I always had the idea that God was a being without body,
parts or passions." He admitted, however, that he had never
gained that idea from the Bible. And notwithstanding the
Scriptures dwell upon this point with such force and clearness,
the idea entertained by this gentleman is that entertained by the
Christian world in general. We are told that Jesus was "the
express image of his Father's person." Think of it! Was Jesus a
man? Yes. Clothed upon as we are? Yes. Did he pass for a man the
same as others? He did. When he did not wish to be known he could
pass through a crowd, and from house to house, neighborhood to
neighborhood, town to town, without the people knowing who he
was. He had this power; and yet he was like other men, having
eyes, forehead, nose, eyebrows, mouth, cheekbones, and chin like
we have, and the Apostle tells us that he was the express image
of his Father's person; and if the saying is true, that to know
the only true and wise God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is
eternal life, we have eternal life, for we know them.
147
I have talked a great deal about what we believe as far as
spiritual things are concerned; but the result of our faith I
have not done with. The faith of the Latter-day Saints, so far as
moral excellence is concerned, leads them to adopt in their
lives, the practice of every moral principle believed in by the
Christian world. It leads them to do good to each other and to
all their fellow beings, and to injure none. It leads us to honor
our beings upon the earth as sons and daughters of the Almighty;
to honor Him that created us, to observe every true principle,
everything that produces peace and happiness, for everything that
has this tendency is of God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches
him that has stolen to steal no more; it teaches the swearer to
swear no more; him that has borne false witness to do it no more;
him that has dishonored his being to do it no more; and, in fact,
there is no height, depth, length or breadth in moral conduct
believed in and practised by the Christian world but what we are
one with them; and we go so far beyond them in the things of God
that they are lost, and yet they think we are lost. I have smiled
thousands of times within myself to hear them talk; they are
ignorant, but they think we are. Besides being far ahead of the
Christian world in the things of God, I will say that in their
morals and their recreations the Latter-day Saints will compare
favorably with any of them. The question arises sometimes in me,
Is there anything immoral in recreation? If I see my sons and
daughters enjoying themselves, chatting, visiting, riding, going
to a party or a dance, is there anything immoral in that? I watch
very closely, and if I hear a word, see a look, or a sneer at
divine things or anything derogatory to a good moral character, I
feel it in a moment, and I say, "If you follow that it will not
lead to good, it is evil; it will not lead to the fountain of
life and intelligence; follow, only, the path that leads to life
everlasting." Where is it? God has it.
147
Not only does the religion of Jesus Christ make the people
acquainted with the things of God, and develop within them moral
excellence and purity, but it holds out every encouragement and
inducement possible, for them to increase in knowledge and
intelligence, in every branch of mechanism, or in the arts and
sciences, for all wisdom, and all the arts and sciences in the
world are from God, and are designed for the good of His people.
If I had only seen in my young days an interest manifested by
those who had wealth, power and influence to reach down a hand to
take the suffering, ignorant poor and elevate them to the
standard they occupied, and to place them in possession of every
comfort, it would have been a matter of great joy to me. But it
was not so then, neither is it now. Men generally use their
wealth for selfish purposes, and do not seek to devote it to God
and to the glory of His name. In the kingdom of God only will the
poor and the ignorant of the children of men be purified and
elevated and prepared to hold the positions God has designed for
His children.
148
I have heard a great many tell about what they have suffered for
Christ's sake. I am happy to say I never had occasion to. I have
enjoyed a great deal; but so far as suffering goes I have
compared it a great many times, in my feelings and before
congregations, to a man wearing an old, worn-out, tattered and
dirty coat, and somebody comes along and gives him one that is
new, whole and beautiful. This is the comparison I draw when I
think of what I have suffered for the Gospel's sake--I have
thrown away an old coat and have put on a new one. No man or
woman ever heard me tell about suffering. "Did you not leave a
handsome property in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois?" Yes. "And
have you not suffered through that?" No, I have been growing
better and better all the time, and so have this people. And you
may take the history of the world from the days of Adam down, and
I am at the defiance of any historian to prove that the Saints
have ever suffered as much as the sinners. This is my belief
about the religion of Jesus Christ. Some may say, "Did not the
children of Israel suffer?" Yes. "Why?" Because of their
iniquity. They transgressed the laws God has given them; they
changed the ordinances and broke the everlasting covenant, and
for their sin and disobedience they were led into captivity. If
they had been obedient, I reckon they would have been led direct
to the Holy Land and stayed there. Some may say, "Now, Mr.
Speaker, you have been driven from your home, was it for
righteousness?" No, I expect not. I expect it was to chasten me
and make me better. I never attributed the driving of the Saints
from Jackson county to anything but that it was necessary to
chasten them and prepare them to build up Zion. They were driven
from Ohio to Missouri, from Missouri to Illinois, and from
Illinois here, only for the advancement of Zion and the work of
God on the earth. I do not complain of persecution. I have left a
great deal of property in different States, considerable in Ohio,
Missouri, and Illinois. Do I care anything about it? No, we have
more land here than we can occupy. God led us from a sickly to a
healthy country, and I thank him for it. Were the Latter-day
Saints driven time after time on account of their sins? One of
the first revelations that God gave to Joseph Smith was for the
gathering of Israel, and when the people came to Jackson county,
Missouri, they were as far from believing and obeying that
revelation as the east is from the west, and a great deal
further, for the east joins the west; but the people were so far
from obeying that revelation that they scarcely complied with it
in one instance. They were ignorant and had neither eyes to see,
ears to hear, nor hearts to understand, and God suffered their
enemies to drive them. What were we driven for? Was it because of
polygamy? No, for that was not known generally until after our
arrival in these valleys, although we received the revelation
years before. The accusation brought against the Latter-day
Saints was that they tampered with the slaves in Missouri, with
the design of setting them free, and because of this the people
were driven, and the Lord suffered it. But I ask did the
Latter-day Saints ever suffer in Missouri as the Missourians did
in the late struggle? No, not a drop in a bucket compared with
it. The Missourians have been driven from their houses and hung
up, their property confiscated, their women and children
murdered, and every conceivable evil has been heaped upon them.
Did we ever suffer like that? In very few instances; and it is a
shame for the Latter-day Saints ever to talk about suffering.
148
What are we doing here, for the people that we are gathering from
the nations? The majority of those that we gather are from the
poorest that can be found; we gather a few scientific and learned
men, but the great majority are the poor and the ignorant. We
take them and we calculate to make them rich; we have taken the
foolish and we calculate to make them wise; we take the weak and
we calculate to make them strong. We calculate to build up this
people until they know as much as any other people on the face of
the earth, in mechanics, in the arts and sciences, and in every
true principle of philosophy. All true wisdom that mankind have
they have received from God, whether they know it or not. There
is no ingenious mind that has ever invented anything beneficial
to the human family but what he obtained it from that One Source,
whether he knows or believes it or not. There is only one source
from whence men obtain wisdom, and that is God, the fountain of
all wisdom; and though men may claim to make their discoveries by
their own wisdom, by meditation and reflection, they are indebted
to our Father in heaven for all.
149
We calculate to make this people just as wise and prudent as they
will be made and just as humble as they will be made. When I look
at the world of mankind and see their pomp, splendor,
covetousness and worldly-mindedness, I think what a shame! What
have you got to be so proud of? They have gold, silver, houses,
lands and possessions, and they feel, "O, we are kings,
potentates, or men of great influence, because of our wealth."
But where did they get their wealth? They will say they have been
fortunate and have gathered it together; or it was bequeathed to
them by their father or grandfather. But none of them have aught
but what came from Him who lives and reigns in the heavens--the
God whom we serve, who alone bestows blessings upon His children,
the sons and daughters of Adam.
149
I have heard a great many sermons, prayers and exhortations for
people to go and get religion and have their names written in the
"Lamb's Book of Life." I want to inform the whole world, all the
sons and daughters of Adam, that their names are written there,
and there they will remain to all eternity unless they by their
evil acts blot them out. I want to inform everybody of this fact.
149
I want now to say a few words on political matters. First, I will
say we are a very religious people; the world knows that; and it
was our religion that influenced our minds to leave our homes and
parents, and in many instances our companions and children. Are
we a political people? Yes, very political indeed. But what party
do you belong to or would you vote for? I will tell you whom we
will vote for: we will vote for the man who will sustain the
principles of civil and religious liberty, the man who knows the
most and who has the best heart and brain for a statesman; and we
do not care a farthing whether he is a whig, a democrat, a
barnburner, a republican, a new light or anything else. These are
our politics. If we could have got men to control the affairs of
the nation who had sufficient foresight and forethought to know
the results of their own actions, it would have been better for
the nation than it is at present. But we are just as we are; no
matter what brought about the present condition of things. I
leave the people to judge whether it is righteousness or sin that
has brought upon the nation the evils it has been called to
endure. Of one thing I am sure: God never instituted war; God is
not the author of confusion or of war; they are the results of
the acts of the children of men. Confusion and war necessarily
come as the results of the foolish acts and policy of men; but
they do not come because God desires they should come. If the
people, generally, would turn to the Lord, there would never be
any war. Let men turn from their iniquities and sins, and,
instead of being covetous and wicked, turn to God and seek to
promote peace and happiness throughout the land, and wars would
cease. We expect to see the day when swords shall be turned into
ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks, and when men shall learn
war no more. This is what we want. We are for peace, plenty and
happiness to all the human family.
150
A great deal could be said about our peculiar faith, and our
peculiar internal institutions, as the world terms them. I do not
want to say anything about them; I act them out. I have got a
family, and a pretty large one. I am willing to compare them with
any family on the face of the earth when the privileges they have
enjoyed are considered. I think that so far as I myself am
concerned, when it is remembered that I never went to school but
eleven days in my life, and that until I commenced to preach the
Gospel I had to work hard every day for my bread, I have made
some improvement. I think this people are improving; and I think
we shall continue our work until the whole human family will give
up all notion of going to war with each other. I expect to see
the time when this people will possess every good thing. All
knowledge and wisdom and every good that the heart of man can
desire is within the circuit and circle of the faith we have
embraced. The day will come when the Gospel will be presented to
the kings and queens and great ones of the earth; but it will be
presented with a different influence from that with which it has
been presented to the poor, but it will be the same Gospel. We
shall not present any other Gospel; it is the same from
everlasting to everlasting. No man will be saved and come into
the presence of the Father only through the Gospel of Jesus
Christ--the same for one as the other. The Lord has His cause,
His ways, His work; He will finish it up. Jesus is laboring with
his might to bring back his brethren and sisters into the
presence of the Father. We are laboring with him for the
purification of the whole human family, that we and they may be
prepared to dwell with God in His kingdom.
150
God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, November 14, 1869
Brigham Young, November 14, 1869
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, November 14, 1869.
(Reported by John Grimshaw.)
BUILDING UP ZION--TEMPERANCE IN EATING AND DRINKING.
150
If the brethren and sisters will give their attention, I will try
to talk a few minutes. I preach a great deal to the people; but
the exertion of addressing such large congregations as assemble
here in the city bears a little too much on my stomach and lungs,
especially when laboring under a severe cold as I am at present.
150
A few of us have recently been on a visit South. We visited
twenty settlements, and, in eleven days, held twenty-seven
meetings; and universally there was a good turn-out, the largest
meeting houses being always filled to overflowing. It is a
tolerably easy matter to speak to the people in a small house,
much more so than to address a congregation like this.
151
We found the people very much engaged in their religion, and
striving, apparently, to put in practice the faith that they
profess. Still, it is a difficult matter to establish the
principles of the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people.
This is for the want of understanding. Our traditions are strong
upon us. We have been taught that, if we will believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, repent of our sins and exercise faith in his name,
all will be well with us and we shall be brought into the
presence of our Father and God. This was our former tradition.
But there are Latter-day Saints who have almost come to the
conclusion that if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent
of their sins, and are baptized for the remission of them and
have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost,
and partake of the Sacrament or Lord's Supper, they have
accomplished just about all that is required of them in order to
establish the kingdom of God on the earth. Herein lies the
difficulty which the servants of God have to encounter. The
people come short of understanding precisely the order of the
establishment of the kingdom of heaven; consequently it is a
labor that needs a great deal of attention, and one that requires
the influence of the Priesthood over the minds of the people to
get them to draw night unto God and His cause.
151
As we have just heard remarked, in relation to the love of the
world, a great many Latter-day Saints, after receiving the
Gospel, seem to run well for a time and then turn again to the
love of the world in its awful, fallen state, lusting after the
things that are perishable. Still, if they could but understand
true doctrine and correct principles, they would find that there
is nothing pertaining to the elements of this earth, but what, in
and of itself, is good and of God. Some may exclaim, "Sin
excepted." To this I would say that God permits sin, or it could
not be here. All the creations are His work, and they are for His
glory and for the benefit of the children of men; and all things
are put into the possession of man for his comfort, improvement
and consolation, and for his health, wealth, beauty and
excellency.
151
We should also understand what to do with the things which God
has placed in our possession. We should also desire to understand
and should seek to know the object for which the earth was
framed; and then we wish to comprehend His object and design in
placing His children on it. We should also desire to understand
how our Heavenly Father wishes us to act now we are here; how we
should devote our time and talents, our daily labor and whatever
means He puts into our hands, for the building up of His kingdom
on the earth. We want to get the Saints to think of these things.
If we could only get to the affections of the people and could
plant within them the principles of the kingdom of heaven, it
would be an easy matter to bring their hands to join in the
establishment of the Zion of God upon the earth. But herein lies
our labor. The weakness and short-sightedness of man are such,
and he is so prone to wander and give himself up to the
grovelling things of the world, having had so little knowledge
with regard to God and godliness for hundreds of years, that it
is literally a breaking up of the fallow ground of his heart to
prepare him to see the holy city that the Lord will establish.
151
The Latter-day Saints gather together for the express purpose,
they say, to establish Zion. Where is Zion? On the American
continent. Where is the gathering place? For the present, in the
mountains. What are you going there for? To help to build up
Zion.
152
We find a great many trying to be Saints and endeavoring to
understand how they may be of the most benefit in building up the
kingdom of God on the earth. My brother Joseph says it is an easy
matter to be a Saint. So I say. And taking another view of it,
again, it is a hard matter. This is true. It is not an easy thing
to serve God and mammon. If the Saints comprehend what they have
to do in order to establish Zion, and go to work with ready hands
and willing hearts to accomplish the labor, they will find it a
comparatively easy matter; but unless there is a unity of action
on the part of those who are engaged in the work it is not very
easily performed. When there is a great work to be accomplished,
and there are but few hands to perform it, the burden weighs very
heavily on those who are engaged in it. If we have a farm of six
hundred acres to fence, and there is only one man engaged in
getting the poles and lumber from the kanyon, we find it a slow
and tardy work; but if we have a hundred men engaged it is much
easier and pleasanter; if a thousand, still more so. So it is in
regard to establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts of the
children of men. It is not a very hard matter to prevail on a
person to put his treasure where his heart is. Our difficulty is
in not understanding the principles of the kingdom of heaven
sufficiently to enter into it with our whole hearts.
152
Many of our brethren who have come here when in their own land
worked under ground, and probably seldom saw the light of day,
but spent year after year of their lives digging out coal. If you
chanced to ask them, "Are you ever going to America?" the answer
would invariably be, "Yes, I am going to Zion." If you asked the
wife and children would they like to go to Zion, the reply would
be, "Yes, with all our hearts. We would do anything to get there;
if necessary we would be the slaves of those of our brethren who
have gone there if we could only go." Yet these same persons when
they reach here are not satisfied. If you ask them if this is
Zion, they will say, "I do not see much that looks like Zion."
When they received the work perhaps their minds were open to see
Zion in its beauty and glory; but when they come here and call
this Zion they feel disappointed. They have not the least idea in
relation to establishing this kingdom. They thought they were
going to a Zion whose towers would reach the clouds, with streets
paved with gold and the Tree of Life growing on every block. They
say, "I do not like this place; I am not exactly suited with it."
What do you want? "I do not know exactly what I want; I want
something else; I do not like this place." The disposition of
some of these murmurers reminds me of the children of some
families I have seen while travelling in the world. It is
something like this: "Darling, will have you a piece of bread and
butter?" "No, ma'am, I don't want it." "But, my dear, shall I put
some honey upon it?" "No, I don't like it." "Well, then, will you
have a little mince pie, love?" "No, I can't eat it." This is
about how the matter stands.
153
The Saints are full to overflowing with the words of eternal
life, yet they do not know what to do with them; and when we come
to preach, it seems as though the people were surfeited with much
doctrine, persuasion and counsel, and they do not like it very
well. This was evident by the many vacant seats this morning.
There ought to be ten thousand persons at these meetings, both in
the morning and afternoon. But how many do you see? The
tabernacle is not half filled. Why not come to meeting and fill
all the seats. I do not like to see this lack of interest in
attending meetings. Those professing to be Latter-day Saints have
the words of life and do not know it; the brethren read from the
Book of Life and they do not know it, and the words of God are
given them in great abundance and they trifle with them. Is this
the fact? It is. If the people would live their religion, there
would be no apostacy and we would hear no complaining or
fault-finding. If the people were hungry for the words of eternal
life, and their whole souls even centred on the building up of
the kingdom of God, every heart and hand would be ready and
willing and the work would move forward mightily and we would
advance as we should do.
153
It is frequently remarked that there is too much of a sameness in
this community. True, we do not have the variety they do in the
world, drinking, carousing, quarreling, litigation, etc. But if
you want a change of this kind, you can get up a dog fight. I
think that would be about the extent of the quarreling you want
to see. It would be as much as I would desire to witness. I have
seen enough of the world, without even desiring to behold another
drunken man. I never wish to see another lawsuit. I feel
perfectly satisfied without it.
153
If the people would like something by way of a change, I will
propose something to them, as I did to sister Horne, the
President of the Female Relief Society in the 14th Ward, who was
at Gunnison, about one hundred and thirty miles south of this
place, when we were there. I invited her, when she returned, to
call the sisters of the Relief Society together, and ask them to
begin a reform in eating and housekeeping. I told her I wished to
get up a society whose members would agree to have a light, nice
breakfast in the morning, for themselves and children, without
cooking something less than forty different kinds of food, making
slaves of themselves and requiring three or four hired girls to
wash dishes. Prepare our breakfast something like they do in
England, bread and butter, a light cheese, a few eggs, food that
is light and nutritious, and which does not require so much labor
in cooking; and instead of tea, if you cannot drink cold water,
make a bowl of water gruel or meal porridge and you will save
dirtying three or four dishes, knives and forks, or spoons, to
each individual that sits at the table.
153
This would be something to change your feelings and the fashions
of society. Will you do it? If you want something new, try this;
and when dinner time comes, don't pile the table full of roast
meat, boiled meat and baked meat, fat mutton, beef and pork; and
in addition to this two or three kinds of pies and cakes; neither
urge the children, the father and every one at the table to eat
and gorge themselves till they are so full that when night comes
they will want a doctor. This will do for a change.
154
When we go on a trip to the settlements and stop at the
brethren's houses, it is, "Brother Brigham, let us manifest our
feelings towards you and your company. I tell them to do so, but
give me a piece of johnnycake; I would rather have it than their
pies and tarts and sweetmeats. Let me have something that will
sustain nature and leave my stomach and whole system clear to
receive the Spirit of the Lord and be free from headache and
pains of every kind. If I can experience this, it will suit me.
What do you say to it, sisters? Do you want a revolution? They
want one in France; but you need not go to France to have a
revolution of this kind. Yet in that country there are about
twenty-four millions who never eat any flesh meat at all.
154
The Americans, as a nation, are killing themselves with their
vices and high living. As much as a man ought to eat in half an
hour they swallow in three minutes, gulping down their food like
the canine quadruped under the table, which, when a chunk of meat
is thrown down to it, swallows it before you can say "twice." If
you want a reform, carry out the advice I have just given you.
Dispense with your multitudinous dishes, and, depend upon it, you
will do much towards preserving your families from sickness,
disease and death.
154
If this method were adopted in this community, I will venture to
say that it would add ten years to the lives of our children.
That is worth a great deal.
154
If you want a little of something more--if you want another
revolution, let us go to and say we will wear nothing but what we
make; and that which we do not make we will not have.
154
If the people are inclined to complain about co-operation, let
them do so. I have a constitutional right to eat sweetmeats if I
choose, so long as I raise them and they belong to no one else;
or a piece of johnnycake or wheat bread. This is my legal right
and yours also. I have a right to wear a hat that my wife or
daughters or my sister has made, and I need not be called in
question for doing so. I have a legal and constitutional right,
and so have my sisters, to set their table out in a morning with
a little plain food on it if they choose so to do. Let the people
eat as I used to eat when I was a child. If meat were cooked at
all, it was on one plate; and if I had any it was off that plate.
I can go to thousands of houses that are making the knives and
forks and clothing for you and me that will not have a knife on
their table at meal time. Have you ever seen any such thing? Yes,
plenty of you have!
155
I have frequently related a circumstance that transpired while I
was in England. After I recovered from the sickness which
distressed me during the voyage across the ocean, my appetite
became unusually good. I was invited to what is known in that
country as a tea-party. Fourteen of us sat down at the table,
which was about two and a half feet across; but not a knife,
fork, plate or spoon could be seen, with the exception of the
plate in the middle of the table, with some beautiful ham upon
it, swimming in the gravy. I said to myself, "I would like a
piece of that ham if I had any way to eat it; but I have no plate
nor knife and fork." By and by a native elder set down his cup on
one knee, his bread and butter on the other; and putting his hand
in his pocket, pulled out his knife, opened it, and reaching over
his bread and butter, took a piece of ham and slipped it on to
his bread. I said to myself, "I can do that as well as you;" but
I took out my knife before I put down my cup, reached over to the
plate and took a fine piece of ham; although I was afraid I would
get a little gravy on my clothes in doing so. If I had had a
plate it would certainly have been much better; but I got along
very well without even greasing my clothes. "Now," said I, "that
is worth money to me; I have learned something." In about five
minutes after the tea table was deserted by the guests,
everything was cleared away and the sister was ready to visit
with us. It did not take her two hours to fuss around to wash
plates and see that the servants did not break them, fixing
furniture and so forth as we do here.
155
If you want a revolution go to work to improve yourselves and
give your minds something to act upon instead of looking at the
faults of others. We are a poor, feeble set and have hardly eyes
to see; and many of those who have eyes see not, but are
constantly watching the weaknesses and follies of each other.
Endeavor with all your mind and strength to improve yourselves
and ask your sisters and brethren to improve their lives. I am
preaching to you practical religion. Learn to take proper care of
your children. If any of them are sick the cry now, instead of
"Go and fetch the Elders to lay hands on my child!" is, "Run for
a doctor." Why do you not live so as to rebuke disease? It is
your privilege to do so without sending for the Elders. You
should go to work to study and see what you can do for the
recovery of your children. If a child is taken sick with fever
give it something to stay that fever or relieve the stomach and
bowels, so that mortification may not set in. Treat the child
with prudence and care, with faith and patience, and be careful
in not overcharging it with medicine. If you take too much
medicine into the system, it is worse than too much food. But you
will always find that an ounce of preventive is worth a pound of
cure. Study and learn something for yourselves. It is the
privilege of a mother to have faith and to administer to her
child; this she can do herself, as well as sending for the Elders
to have the benefit of their faith.
155
We have come here to build up Zion. How shall we do it? I could
tell you how if I had time. I have told you a great many times.
There is one thing I will say in regard to it. We have got to be
united in our efforts. We should go to work with a united faith
like the heart of one man; and whatever we do should be performed
in the name of the Lord, and we will then be blessed and
prospered in all we do. We have a work on hand whose magnitude
can hardly be told. We have now to go to and save ourselves
according to the plan provided for our salvation, the Savior
having done for us all that he can, except to impart unto us
grace to aid us in our lives, and to save our families, friends,
ancestors, and the nations that have lived before us and those
that may come after us, that all may be brought unto God and be
saved, except the sons of perdition. This is the labor we have
before us.
155
Brother Joseph was speaking about prayer. I will say a word with
regard to prayer. It matters not whether you or I feel like
praying, when the time comes to pray, pray. If we do not feel
like it, we should pray till we do. And if there is a heavy storm
coming on and our hay is likely to be wet, let it come. You will
find that those who wait till the Spirit bids them pray will
never pray much on this earth; for they always find a little
something else to do, and become like some who wait for the
Spirit to bid them pray, consequently they never pray. Such
people would come to meeting and look at each other and then,
when they had stayed as long as they felt inclined, address their
brethren with--"Good bye, I am going home," and then leave. But
when the time comes to have prayers, let them be made, and there
will be no danger.
156
Let us be humble, fervent, submissive, yielding ourselves to the
will of the Lord, and there is no danger but that we shall have
His Spirit to guide us. If we will open our lips and call upon
our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we will have the
spirit of prayer. I have proved this to be the best way. If we do
everything in the season thereof, attending to our prayers and
daily labors in their proper order and all at the right time, all
will go well.
156
In regard to the things of this world, we should learn what they
are for, and then use them wisely. To be proud and lifted up is
the height of folly. It is beneath the intelligence and
understanding of the man of God ever to be filled with foolish
and vain desires. If we wish to exult, let us exult in our God;
if we desire to be proud, let our pride be in our Heavenly
Father; if we desire happiness, let us be humble and faithful in
obeying the commandments of the Almighty and He will dispense
every blessing to us. This is my constant prayer. I desire to
live so that His Spirit may be with me continually; and I ask you
to do so in the name of Jesus, and he will bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Wilford Woodruff, December 12, 1869
Wilford Woodruff, December 12, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER WILFORD WOODRUFF,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 12, 1869.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE HOLY GHOST--LABORING IN FAITH--THE KINGDOM
OF GOD--PATRIARCHAL MARRIAGE.
156
The few of us who met here this forenoon had the privilege of
listening to a very interesting discourse from brother Penrose,
on the first principles of the Gospel. I say the "few" who were
here, for there were few, and there are every Sabbath in the fore
part of the day. I think if the Latter-day Saints prized their
privileges as they ought to do, there would be more attend
meeting on a Sunday morning, there would be more of us faithful
to the Lord our God and to the covenants we have made if we did
but realize the rewards that, in the future, will be awarded for
the deeds done here in the flesh.
157
There was one principle referred to by brother Penrose this
morning, upon which I wish to make a few remarks, for the benefit
of the Elders of Israel. It is a very common saying with us, as
Elders, in our remarks concerning the gifts of the Gospel to
speak of confirming the gifts of the Holy Ghost by the laying on
of hands. There is no difference with regard to our faith,
opinions or views, as a Church, pertaining to this principle; it
is only in the manner in which we use our language. There is a
difference between the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost
itself. As brother Penrose said this morning, we repent of our
sins, are baptized for the remission of them, and we receive the
laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; but the
Elders, when speaking on this principle, instead of saying so,
not unfrequently say "for the reception of the gifts of the Holy
Ghost." Now we have no right, power nor authority to seal the
gifts of the Holy Ghost upon anybody, they are the property of
the Holy Ghost itself. To explain this I will say, for instance,
President Young may go and preach in every ward in this city; yet
it is President Young in each ward. When in the 14th Ward he may
give a man an apple; in the 13th Ward he may give another person
a loaf of bread; in the 10th Ward he may give a man a dollar in
money; in the 1st Ward he may give a man a horse and carriage.
Now they are all different gifts, but he is one and the same man
who bestows them. I merely bring up this figure by way of
illustration.
157
We lay hands upon the heads of those who embrace the Gospel and
we say unto them, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ receive
ye the Holy Ghost." We seal this blessing upon the heads of the
children of men, just as Jesus and his apostles and the servants
of God have done in every age when preaching the Gospel of
Christ. But the gifts of the Holy Ghost are his property to
bestow as he sees fit. To one is given the spirit of prophecy, to
another a tongue, to another the interpretation of tongues and to
another the gift of healing. All these gifts are by the same
Spirit, but all are the gifts of the Holy Ghost, to bestow as he
sees fit, as the messenger of the Father and the Son to the
children of men.
157
The Holy Ghost, as was justly presented this morning, is
different from the common Spirit of God, which we are told
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The Holy Ghost is
only given to men through their obedience to the Gospel of
Christ; and every man who receives that Spirit has a comforter
within--a leader to dictate and guide him. This Spirit reveals,
day by day, to every man who has faith, those things which are
for his benefit. As Job said, "There is a spirit in man and the
inspiration of the Almighty giveth it understanding." It is this
inspiration of God to His children in every age of the world that
is one of the necessary gifts to sustain man and enable him to
walk by faith, and to go forth and obey all the dictations and
commandments and revelations which God gives to His children to
guide and direct them in life.
157
We have a long list given to us in the New Testament Scriptures
of those who, in ancient days, lived, labored and performed their
duties by faith. Among them was Noah, who, being warned of God,
went forth and prepared an ark for the salvation of himself and
family. Abraham, also, offered up his son Isaac by faith, because
he was called and commanded of God, believing in the promises God
had made unto him.
158
This gift and principle of faith is necessary for the Saints in
every age of the world to enable them to build up the kingdom of
God and perform the work required of them. All that the ancients
did was by faith. Jesus and his apostles often quoted the
prophecies of the ancient prophets and showed that they were
fulfilling them. Even the labors of Jesus, from the manger to the
cross, through his whole life of pain, sorrow, affliction,
suffering, persecution and derision, were all by faith. It was by
the power of the Father, whose work he had come to perform, that
he was sustained. He fully believed that he would be able to
accomplish all that he had been sent to perform. It was on this
principle that he fulfilled every requirement and obeyed every
law, even that of baptism, when he was immersed in the Jordan by
John, who held the Aaronic Priesthood and the keys of baptism for
the remission of sins. Baptism was a righteous law; in fact, it
was the law of God to save the children of men, and Jesus was the
door, and he, although free from sin and guile, complied with it
as an ensample to his disciples and the rest of the children of
men.
158
The Apostles, in their labors, had to work on the same principle
that the Saints in both former and latter days have had to work
upon--namely the principle of faith. Joseph Smith had to work by
faith. It is true that he had a knowledge of a great many things,
as the Saints in former days had, but in many things he had to
exercise faith. He believed he was fulfilling the prophecies of
the ancient prophets. He knew that God had called him, but in the
establishment of His kingdom he had to work continually by faith.
The Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, with six
members, but Joseph had faith that the kingdom thus commenced,
like a grain of mustard seed, would become a great Church and
kingdom upon the earth; and from that day until the day on which
he sealed his testimony with his blood, his whole life was as if
wading through the deep waters of persecution and oppression,
received from the hands of his fellowmen. He had all this to
endure through faith, and he was true, faithful and valiant in
the testimony of Jesus to the day of his death.
158
All the labors that we have performed from that day until the
present have been by faith, and we, as Latter-day Saints, should
seek to cherish and grow in this principle, that we may have
faith in every revelation and promise and in every word of the
Lord, that has been given in the Bible, Book of Mormon and
Doctrine and Covenants, for they will surely come to pass as the
Lord God lives, for the unbelief of this generation will not make
the truths of God without effect.
158
When the members of Zion's Camp were called, many of us had never
beheld each others' faces; we were strangers to each other and
many had never seen the prophet. We had been scattered abroad,
like corn sifted in a sieve, throughout the nation. We were young
men, and were called upon in that early day to go up and redeem
Zion, and what we had to do we had to do by faith. We assembled
together from the various States at Kirtland and went up to
redeem Zion, in fulfilment of the commandment of God unto us. God
accepted our works as He did the works of Abraham. We
accomplished a great deal, though apostates and unbelievers many
times asked the question, "What have you done?" We gained an
experience that we never could have gained in any other way. We
had the privilege of beholding the face of the prophet, and we
had the privilege of travelling a thousand miles with him, and
seeing the workings of the Spirit of God with him, and the
revelations of Jesus Christ unto him and the fulfilment of those
revelations. And he gathered some two hundred Elders from
throughout the nation in that early day and sent us broadcast
into the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Had I not
gone up with Zion's Camp I should not have been here to-day, and
I presume that would have been the case with many others in this
Territory. By going there we were thrust into the vineyard to
preach the Gospel, and the Lord accepted our labors. And in all
our labors and persecutions, with lives often at stake, we have
had to work and live by faith.
160
The Twelve Apostles were called by revelation to go to Far West,
Caldwell county, to lay the foundation of the corner stone of the
Temple. When that revelation was given this Church was in peace
in Missouri. It is the only revelation that has ever been given
since the organization of the Church, that I know anything about,
that had day and date given with it. The Lord called the Twelve
Apostles, while in this state of prosperity, on the 26th day of
April, 1838, to go to Far West to lay the corner stone of the
Temple; and from there to take their departure to England to
preach the Gospel. Previous to the arrival of that period the
whole Church was driven out of the State of Missouri, and it was
as much as a man's life was worth to be found in the State if it
was known that he was a Latter-day Saint; and especially was this
the case with the Twelve. When the time came for the corner stone
of the Temple to be laid, as directed in the revelation, the
Church was in Illinois, having been expelled from Missouri by an
edict from the Governor. Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Parley P.
Pratt were in chains in Missouri for the testimony of Jesus. As
the time drew nigh for the accomplishment of this work, the
question arose, "What is to be done?" Here is a revelation
commanding the Twelve to be in Far West on the 26th day of April,
to lay the corner stone of the Temple there; it had to be
fulfilled. The Missourians had sworn by all the gods of eternity
that if every other revelation given through Joseph Smith were
fulfilled, that should not be, for the day and date being given
they declared that it should fail. The general feeling in the
Church, so far as I know, was that, under the circumstances, it
was impossible to accomplish the work; and the Lord would accept
the will for the deed. This was the feeling of Father Smith, the
father of the Prophet. Joseph was not with us, he was in chains
in Missouri, for his religion. When President Young asked the
question of the Twelve, "Brethren, what will you do about this?"
the reply was, "The Lord has spoken and it is for us to obey." We
felt that the Lord God had given the commandment and we had faith
to go forward and accomplish it, feeling that it was His business
whether we lived or died in its accomplishment. We started for
Missouri. There were two wagons. I had one and took brother Pratt
and President Young in mine; brother Cutler, one of the building
committee, had the other. We reached Far West and laid the corner
stone according to the revelation that had been given to us. We
cut off apostates and those who had sworn away the lives of the
brethren. We ordained Darwin Chase and Norman Shearer into the
Seventies. Brother George A. Smith and myself were ordained into
the quorum of the Twelve on the corner stone of the Temple; we
had been called before, but not ordained. We then returned,
nobody having molested or made us afraid. We performed that work
by faith, and the Lord blessed us in doing it. The devil,
however, tried to kill us, for before we started for England
everyone of the Twelve was taken sick, and it was about as much
as we could do to move or stir. I had travelled in Tennessee,
Mississippi, Kentucky and Arkansas for two or three years, and
that, too, during the sickly season, where they were not well
enough to take care of the sick, and I had never had the ague.
But upon this occasion I was taken with the ague, the first time
in my life. All the Twelve had something the matter with them.
But we had to travel sick; we had to travel by faith in order to
fulfil the mission to which we had been called by revelation. But
the Lord sustained us; He did not forsake us.
160
We went to England, and we baptized, in the year 1840, something
like seven thousand people, and established churches in almost
all the principal cities in the kingdom. Brother Pratt
established a branch in Edinburgh, Scotland. Brother Kimball,
George A. and myself built up a branch in London, and several
branches in the south of England. We baptized eighteen hundred
persons in the south of England in seven months; out of that
number two hundred were preachers belonging to different
denominations of that land. We opened an emigration office,
published the Book of Mormon and gathered many to Zion. God was
with us, and I may say that He has been in all the labors of this
Church and kingdom.
160
In the pioneer journey, coming here, we had to come by faith; we
knew nothing about this country, but we intended to come to the
mountains. Joseph had organized a company to come here, before
his death. He had these things before him, and understood them
perfectly. God had revealed to him the future of this Church and
kingdom, and had told him, from time to time, that the work of
which he was laying the foundation would become an everlasting
kingdom--would remain for ever. President Young led the pioneers
to this country. He had faith to believe that the Lord would
sustain us. All who travelled hither at that time had this faith.
The Spirit of God was with us, the Holy Ghost was with us, and
the angels of the Lord were with us and we were blessed. All, and
more than we anticipated, in coming here, has been realized, as
far as time would permit.
160
When the Mormon Battalion was called for by the United States, we
were in our exile, having been driven from our homes, our country
and graves of our fathers, from lands we had bought of the United
States Government, for our religion, into the wilderness. The
Government made a demand upon us for five hundred men to go to
the Mexican war. I do not suppose that they expected we would
furnish them, but we did, and we did it by faith. Five hundred
men, the strength of Israel, were sent to fight the battles of
their country, leaving their wives, children and teams on the
prairie. They had to exercise faith, and so had we who remained,
believing it would turn out for the best, and it has proved so.
Every member of that battalion who has remained faithful has
always rejoiced, from that day to this, that he was a member
thereof. It has proved a blessing to him, and it proved salvation
to Zion.
160
I have referred to these things to show that hitherto, in our
labors to build up the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth,
we have had to labor by faith. It is still requisite. God has
called upon us to warn this generation. He has set His hand to
establish Zion--the great Zion of God--about which the prophets
have said so much. No prophet has spoken more pointedly on this
subject than Isaiah. Our drivings from Missouri, our
persecutions, our travels along the Platte River, the manner of
our coming to the mountains of Israel, our return again to the
land of Zion and the building of the Temple in Jackson county
have all been spoken of by Isaiah as well as by all the prophets
who have spoken concerning the Zion of the latter days.
161
We have exercised faith in the carrying out of these promises and
in the fulfilling of those revelations of God unto us. We have
walked and lived by faith, precisely the same as the Apostles,
prophets and Saints have done in every dispensation and age of
the world; for there is one remarkable feature with regard to the
work of God, and that is, it has always been unpopular in every
inhabitants of the earth but what it has been despised, in a
great measure, by most of them. As it was in the days of Noah and
Lot, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.
In the days of Noah there were eight souls saved, after one
hundred and twenty years' labor in preaching and building the
Ark. In the days of Lot but very few left the city of Sodom. Lot
and his family left, and we are told that his wife was turned
into a pillar of salt; and what the angels had told Lot
concerning Sodom and Gomorrah came to pass--fire and brimstone
were sent down from heaven upon them and they were destroyed.
161
The work of God and the Gospel of Christ had always been
unpopular. Take the life of the Savior himself. There is a fair
example. Trace him from the day he was born until his death, and
who were his friends? A few illiterate fishermen. Jesus Christ
came to the house of Judah and they rejected him; and Jerusalem,
Judea, and the inhabitants of all the region round about rose up
against him with the exception of a few poor men and women. Still
he was the Savior of the world, the great Shiloh of Israel, the
great King of the Jews. That is a fair ensample of the way in
which the work of God has been received in every age and
dispensation. All that Jesus said concerning the Jews has come to
pass to the very letter; not one jot or tittle has fallen
unfulfilled. Their history for the last eighteen hundred years,
until the present day, has been a remarkable ensign to the
nations of the earth of the truth of the Bible and of the truth
of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of him being the Savior of
the world. All that he said concerning them and all that Moses
predicted concerning their dispersion and about their being
driven, as corn is sifted through a sieve, among the nations;
about the manner in which their women did evil to the children of
their own bosoms when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman army,
when it was taken and over two millions of its inhabitants were
destroyed by sword, pestilence and famine, has been fulfilled.
All these things have been in strict fulfilment of the sayings of
Moses and Jesus concerning them. When the Savior was sentenced to
death they cried, "Let his blood be upon us and upon our
children;" and they have been trampled under foot by the whole
Gentile world for the last eighteen hundred years. In their
affliction and persecutions they have had to suffer almost beyond
the endurance of man, and until the last few years have scarcely
had the right of citizenship in any nation under heaven--except
in the United States. All that has been spoken concerning them
has had its fulfilment as fast as time would admit.
161
It is so with regard to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter
days. If they called the master of the house Beelzebub, will they
not say the same of his household? They said that he cast out
devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils, they said he was a
pestilent fellow and a stirrer-up of sedition and strife, still
he was the Savior of the world.
162
This principle of unbelief has existed in every age; it exists
to-day. The Elders of Israel have had to contend with this power
of darkness, with persecution, oppression, ridicule and
opposition from those who should have received their message--a
message which was for the good and salvation of those who
rejected it. The Jews should have received the testimony of
Christ, but as a nation they rejected it. Our experience has been
very similar to that of Jesus and his Apostles. We have had to
exercise faith in the revelations that have been given to us in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon, as well as
in the Bible. These revelations portray what lies before us as a
people. The fate of this nation and the nations of the earth has
been portrayed by the ancient prophets in the Book of Mormon and
Bible. Isaiah has told us what will come to pass in the latter
days concerning those who fight against Mount Zion and against
the children of Zion. Every weapon will be broken, every nation
that will not serve Zion shall be utterly wasted away, saith the
Lord; for the Lord will fight in defence of the land of Zion. He
will establish the kingdom that Daniel saw, in fact that kingdom
has been established; the Zion of God has been set up, the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been established by
revelation from Jesus Christ in our day and generation; and we
are called to build it up, we are called to perform its work. As
I have often remarked, the Gods, the angels, the whole heavens,
all the good men, all the spirits of the just that dwell in the
eternal world are watching with vast interest the labors of this
people.
163
They are not perfect without us, we are not perfect without them.
There is no period in the whole history of the world, no
dispensation of God to man, that is fraught with such interest as
the dispensation in which we live; there never has been. No
prophets, no apostles or inspired men in any age of the world
ever had the privilege of laying the foundation of the Zion of
God to remain on the earth to be thrown down no more for ever. In
every other dispensation of the world the people have risen up
against God and His Christ, against the kingdom and against the
Priesthood, and have overthrown the messengers of heaven, and put
to death every man who has borne the kingdom of God, and the
kingdom has been taken from the earth. This is true of every age,
except that of Enoch. He built up a kingdom and gathered together
the people after laboring and preaching three hundred and
sixty-five years. He perfected a city, which was called the city
of the Zion of God. But behold and lo, the nations of the earth
awoke and found that Zion had fled! The Lord took it to Himself;
took it away from the earth. The people were righteous; they had
become sanctified and the Lord took them away out of the power of
the wicked. Zion could not remain on the earth; there was not
power sufficient to withstand the assaults of the wicked; or if
there was, the time had not come when the Lord would make use of
the children of men; or there were not enough of the children of
men willing to take hold and manifest those principles in their
lives so that they could remain on the earth. But in the latter
days he will do so. He has sworn it by Himself, because there is
none greater to swear by. He has declared it through the mouth of
every prophet that has ever lived on the earth, whose writing we
possess, both in the Bible and Book of Mormon, as well as in
those glorious revelations in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
given through the mouth of Joseph Smith the prophet. These saying
are true. We as a people should exercise faith in them, no matter
what may be transpiring in the outside world. We have had the
powers of wicked men and devils to contend with. We may say that
the devil is mad; he is stirred up against Zion; he knows that
his reign will last but a little season longer.
163
This arch enemy of God and man, called the devil, the "Son of the
Morning," who dwells here on the earth, is a personage of great
power; he has great influence and knowledge. He understands that
if this kingdom, which he rebelled against in heaven, prevails on
the earth, there will be no dominion here for him. He has great
influence over the children of men; he labors continually to
destroy them. He labored to destroy them in heaven; he labored to
destroy the works of God in heaven, and he had to be cast out. He
is here, mighty among the children of men. There is a vast number
of fallen spirits, cast out with him, here on the earth. They do
not die and disappear; they have not bodies only as they enter
the tabernacles of men. They have not organized bodies, and are
not to be seen with the sight of the eye. But there are many evil
spirits amongst us, and they labor to overthrow the Church and
kingdom of God. There never was a prophet in any age of the world
but what the devil was continually at his elbow. This was the
case with Jesus himself. The devil followed him continually
trying to draw him from his purposes and to prevent him carrying
out the great work of God. You see this manifested when he took
Jesus on to the loftiest pinnacle of the temple and showed him
all the glory of the world, telling him that he would give him
all this if he would fall down and worship him. The poor devil
did not own a foot of land nor anything else! The earth was made
by and belonged to the Lord and was His footstool. Yet the devil
offered that to Jesus which was not his own. Jesus said unto him,
"Get thee behind me, Satan."
163
This same character was with the disciples as well as with their
master. He is with the Latter-day Saints; and he or his
emissaries are with all men trying to lead them astray. He rules
in the hearts of the inhabitants of the earth. They are governed
and guided by him far more than by the power of God. This is
strange, still it is true. See the wickedness in the world. See
the abominations with which the earth is deluged, causing it to
groan under the burden. Where does this evil come from? From the
works of the devil. Everything that leads to good is from God,
while everything that leads to evil is from the devil. Here are
the two powers. How many on the earth are honoring God,
acknowledging His hand in all things and keeping His
commandments? Very few. Just the same to-day as in the days of
Noah. We read that one of a family and two of a city will be
gathered to Zion in the last days. Out of twelve hundred
millions, that dwell on the face of the earth, we, after forty
years' labor, have succeeded in gathering a few thousands
together to the valleys of the mountains. The numbers are very
few; but this few should be faithful.
164
Last Sabbath, those who were here listened to a discourse from
brother George Q. Cannon, in which he delivered his testimony
concerning Joseph Smith and President Young. I thought to myself,
it seemed a kind of a queer idea that, at this late date, one of
the Apostles should be called upon to stand up in the sacred desk
and defend the characters of these men as prophets and Apostles.
Yet so it was, and these things are necessary.
164
Joseph Smith was what he professed to be, a prophet of God, a
seer and revelator. He laid the foundation of this Church and
kingdom, and lived long enough to deliver the keys of the kingdom
to the Elders of Israel, unto the Twelve Apostles. He spent the
last winter of his life, some three or four months, with the
Quorum of the Twelve, teaching them. It was not merely a few
hours ministering to them the ordinances of the Gospel; but he
spent day after day, week after week and month after month,
teaching them and a few others the things of the kingdom of God.
Said he, during that period, "I now rejoice. I have lived until I
have seen this burden, which has rested on my shoulders, rolled
on to the shoulders of other men; now the keys of the kingdom are
planted on the earth to be taken away no more for ever." But
until he had done this, they remained with him; and had he been
taken away they would have had to be restored by messengers out
of heaven. But he lived until every key, power and principle of
the holy Priesthood was sealed on the Twelve and on President
Young, as their President. He told us that he was going away to
leave us, going away to rest. Said he, "You have to round up your
shoulders to bear up the kingdom. No matter what becomes of me. I
have desired to see that Temple built, but I shall not live to
see it. You will; you are called upon to bear off this kingdom."
This language was plain enough, but we did not understand it any
more than the disciples of Jesus when he told them he was going
away, and that if he went not the Comforter would not come. It
was just so with Joseph. He said this time after time to the
Twelve and to the Female Relief Societies and in his public
discourses; but none of us seemed to understand that he was going
to seal his testimony with his blood, but so it was. What he said
to us and the Church we have had to perform. Joseph Smith was a
good man, a prophet of God. His works are before the world; they
are before the eyes of the nation; they are before the heavens
and the earth. The foundation that he laid we have built upon
until the present day; and that foundation no power on earth or
in hell will ever be able to remove. That Church and kingdom of
God that is planted here in these valleys of the mountains will
remain on the earth until the little stone Daniel saw will become
a mountain and fill the earth--until the reign of Jesus is
supreme and universal.
165
It startles men when they hear the Elders of Israel tell about
the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our God and
His Christ. They say it is treason for men to teach that the
kingdom Daniel saw is going to be set up, and bear rule over the
whole earth. Is it treason for God Almighty to govern the earth?
Who made it? God, did He not? Who made you? God, if you have any
eternal Father. Well, whose right is it to rule and reign over
you and the earth? It does not belong to the devil, nor to men.
It has never been given to men yet; it has never been given to
the nations. It belongs solely to God and He is coming to rule
and reign over it. When will that be? It may not be perfected
until Christ comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory to reward every man according to the deeds done in the
body. That kingdom, the germ of which is planted here, will
continue to grow and will never be overthrown. As I said before,
no matter what takes place outside of this Territory--we as
Latter-day Saints should exercise faith in God, for just as sure
as God was true to Daniel, Moses, Noah, Enoch and to the prophets
and Apostles, so will He be true to us; so will He be true to His
word in these latter days and will fulfill all He has said.
165
This is the work we have to perform. It is a good work, a great
work, a glorious work, and one in which the Latter-day Saints
should rejoice, for it confers upon them the privilege of being
instruments in the hands of God of helping to build up His
kingdom on the earth. This should give us joy, and the promises
made to us in connection with this work ought to sustain us and
give us hope, joy and consolation.
165
I have been happy since I formed the acquaintance of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ: I was never satisfied until I found the
Latter-day Saints. In my boyhood I could read in the Bible and
New Testament of a people who had power with God, who had the
gifts and graces, who could command the elements and they obeyed
them; who had power to heal the sick, and had the gifts of the
Holy Ghost imparted unto them by God himself. That was the kind
of religion I always desired to live to see. I desired to live to
see a prophet and an Apostle, or some man who was inspired of God
who could teach me the way to be saved. I have lived to see that
day. I rejoice in it for I know it is true. I know this work is
true. I know it is the kingdom of God, as you do, and as all men
do who have received the testimony of the Holy Spirit and have
been faithful for themselves.
166
As to President Young his labors have been with us. It has been
remarked sometimes, by certain individuals, that President Young
has said in public that he was not a prophet nor the son of a
prophet. I have travelled with him since 1833 or the spring of
1834; I have travelled a good many thousand miles with him and
have heard him preach a great many thousand sermons; but I have
never heard him make that remark in my life. He is a prophet, I
am a prophet, you are, and anybody is a prophet who has the
testimony of Jesus Christ, for that is the spirit of prophecy.
The Elders of Israel are prophets. A prophet is not so great as
an Apostle. Christ has set in his Church, first, Apostles; they
hold the keys of the kingdom of God. Any man who has travelled
with President Young knows he is a prophet of God. He has
foretold a great many things that have come to pass. All the
Saints who are well acquainted with him know that he is governed
and controlled by the power of God and the revelations of Jesus
Christ. His works are before the world; they are before the
heavens; before the earth; before the wicked as well as the
righteous; and it is the influence of President Young that the
world is opposed to. This Priesthood, these keys of the kingdom
of God that have been sealed upon him, the world is at war
against; let them say what they may, these things are what they
are at enmity with. Their present objection to the Latter-day
Saints, they say, is plurality of wives. It is this principle
they are trying to raise a persecution against now. But how was
it in Missouri, Kirtland, Jackson county, Far West, Caldwell
county, in all our drivings and afflictions, before this
principle was revealed to the Church? Certainly it was not
polygamy then. No, it was prophets, it was revelation, it was the
organization of an institution founded by revelation from God.
They did not believe in that, and that was the objection in those
days. If we were to do away with polygamy, it would only be one
feather in the bird, one ordinance in the Church and kingdom. Do
away with that, then we must do away with prophets and Apostles,
with revelation and the gifts and graces of the Gospel, and
finally give up our religion altogether and turn sectarians and
do as the world does, then all would be right. We just can't do
that, for God has commanded us to build up His kingdom and to
bear our testimony to the nations of the earth, and we are going
to do it, come life or come death. He has told us to do thus, and
we shall obey Him in days to come as we have in days past.
166
Brethren and sisters, let us exercise faith; the ancient prophets
lived by faith; it is as necessary for us as for them. I believe
what God has said will be fulfilled. I believe the Book of Mormon
and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants will be fulfilled, and all
the promises and prophecies made by the faithful servants of God.
When any man speaks as he is moved upon by the Holy Ghost, that
is the word of God to the people; and though the heavens and the
earth pass away, not one jot or tittle of the word of God will
fall unfulfilled. I care not whether it be by His own voice out
of the heavens; by the ministration of angels; by the voice of a
prophet, or by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost through His
servants, it is the word of God to the people, it is truth and it
will have its effect and fulfilment. Everything that has been
communicated to us by revelation I believe to be true; many of
them I know. I have faith and knowledge, both in a degree. I want
more; I wish for more, and all I ask is that the Lord will enable
me to be faithful. I wish eternal life. I want salvation. This is
the object of my life; for this I embraced "Mormonism." This is
the principle that has sustained me from the time I entered this
Church and kingdom. This hope sustained me when I shouldered my
knapsack and went forth to travel and preach without purse or
scrip, thousands of miles through the United States. This
principle of inspiration has sustained the Elders of Israel in
every age of the world. It is that which sustained Joseph Smith
from the day he commenced his career as a servant of God until
the time that he sealed his testimony with his blood. Somebody
has got to pay the bill for the shedding of that innocent blood.
Shedding innocent blood has cost the Jews eighteen hundred years
of suffering, mourning, woe and destruction; it has cost this
nation already four years of war, with two millions of men laid
in the dust, and four thousand million dollars in money; and woe
be to that nation, tongue or people that sheds the blood of the
Saints of God, or undertakes to oppose the work of God in this or
any other generation. They will have to reap what they sow; for
what you sow you will reap, and the reward you mete will be
rewarded to you again, whether you are Saints or sinners, in all
nations, kindreds, tongues and people under the whole heavens.
167
This is the position that we occupy. This warfare is not between
man and man but between God and the world. If the Lord does not
defend the Latter-day Saints we cannot defend ourselves. We can
do what is required of us, but God Himself has to defend us. He
has done it and He will continue to do it until the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, or until his kingdom triumphs on the earth.
This is my faith; and I would rather, to- day, lay down my life,
honoring the faith once delivered to the Saints, than turn around
and fear men, who have power only to kill the body, instead of
fearing Him who has power to cast both soul and body into hell.
Salvation is of more consequence to me and to this people, and to
all the inhabitants of the earth, than anything else. What is the
world with its honors, gold, silver, thrones, principalities and
powers compared with salvation? They all end at death, they are
of no force after, and are of no moment when compared with
eternal salvation. Oh, what glorious principles have been
revealed to the Latter-day Saints! Where did you get them? How
did you obtain them? Through the voice of Joseph Smith and
Brigham Young by revelation from God. That is the way we obtained
them. The principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ have power and
efficacy after death; they will bring together men and their
wives and children in the family organization and will re-unite
them worlds without end. The power of those who sit upon thrones
in this life will end at their death; they will have no extra
power in the world to come because they have occupied thrones in
this. The Czar of Russia, the Emperor of France, the Queen of
England, or any other sovereign, will not have any additional
power in the world to come because of their present glory. It
will all end with their death. These are the kingdoms of men,
they are not ordained of God. True, they will be held accountable
for the exercise of their power here; God will hold them
responsible for that, but so far as salvation and glory hereafter
are concerned, their exalted positions here will not avail them
anything. There is not a man who has lived since the Church went
into the wilderness and the kingdom of God was taken from the
earth, until Moroni rent the vail and gave to Joseph Smith the
records of the Book of Mormon, and until Peter, James and John
sealed upon him the keys of the holy Priesthood, who can claim a
wife in the resurrection. Not one of them has been married for
eternity, but only until death. But unto the Latter-day Saints
the sealing ordinances have been revealed, and they will have
effect after death, and, as I have said, will re-unite men and
women eternally in the family organization. Herein is why these
principles are a part of our religion, and by them husbands and
wives, parents and children will be re-united back to Father
Adam. We could not obtain a fullness of celestial glory without
this sealing ordinance or the institution called the patriarchal
order of marriage, which is one of the most glorious principles
of our religion. I would just as life the United States
Government would pass a law against my being baptized for the
remission of my sins, or against my receiving the Holy Ghost, as
against my practising the patriarchal order of marriage. I would
just as lief they would take away any other principle of the
Gospel as this. The opinion of men generally, in relation to this
subject, is that the Latter-day Saints practise it for the
gratification of their carnal desires; but such ideas are wholly
untrue. The world seek after this; but the Saints of God practise
this principle that they may partake of eternal lives, that they
may have wives and posterity in the world to come and throughout
the endless ages of eternity.
168
God promised to Abraham that his seed should be as numerous as
the stars in the heaven or as the sands on the sea-shore. We all
know, from reading the history of Abraham, that this promise has
not been fulfilled, for you may take one square yard of sand on
the sea-shore, and the grains it would contain would be more
numerous than all the inhabitants that ever lived on the earth;
hence this promise of the Lord could not be fulfilled if, as the
Christian would imagine, the marriage relation ceases with the
termination of this life, and that after the resurrection there
is no increase. But in the resurrection there will be no end to
the increase of Abraham, it will continue through all eternity.
168
These are some of the principles of the Gospel God has revealed
to us. Are they not worth living for and having faith in? They
are. Then do not fear because of the wicked. We have everything
to encourage us. The Latter-day Saints should be faithful. We
should live our religion and be true and faithful to our
covenants. We should magnify our callings as Apostles, Elders and
Saints, before God, angels and men. We have but little time to
work, and we should work while it is called to-day; by and by
night comes when no man can work. When the vision of my mind is
opened and I gaze abroad upon this generation, I many times feel
to mourn in my spirit to see the darkness and unbelief and the
carelessness of man with regard to his future and eternal state.
Instead of seeking with all their powers to secure to themselves
eternal life they seem to be doing their utmost to turn the last
key to seal their condemnation and to make themselves the sons of
perdition. They will labor to shed innocent blood and to destroy
the Church and kingdom of God on the earth. This is one of the
promptings of the evil one.
168
There are two things which have always followed apostates in
every age of the world, and especially in our day. In the early
days of the Church, in Kirtland, as soon as men apostatized from
the Church and kingdom of God, they immediately began to fear
their fellow men, and to fancy their lives were in danger.
Another peculiarity common to apostates was that they desired to
kill those who had been their benefactors. This was the case with
the Higbees, Laws and others with regard to the Prophet Joseph,
when they turned against him, they sought with all their powers
to take away his life. Not only were they afraid of their own
lives, but they sought to take his, and they eventually
succeeded, and woe is their doom. What would they not give in
exchange for their souls? But no matter, they cannot redeem them.
This spirit always accompanies the apostates. What are they
afraid of? There is something they do not understand or
comprehend; they walk in the dark, and by and by they will unite
with the wicked and try to overthrow the very work they have been
trying to build up.
169
This spirit has always been with the enemies of righteousness.
The devil seeks to overthrow the kingdom of God and the Saints,
and he always will do it as long as he has any power on the
earth; therefore we should be united. We should be faithful and
labor hard to do what we have to do, and not put off anything for
the building up of the kingdom of God. We should obey all the
ordinances we can for ourselves and our children; for the living
and the dead. We should attend to these things as we go along,
and when we get through with our work and into the spirit world,
we may look back and be satisfied with our labors. There is a
great deal for the Latter-day Saints to do. We have done a good
deal, but the work is only just commenced. Zion is not what she
must be; Zion is growing. She has grown since we came to the
valleys of the mountains. We have done something for the living;
we have warned the nations; the garments of many of us are clear
of the blood of this generation. It cannot rise in judgment
against Joseph Smith, Brigham Young or the Twelve Apostles, nor
against thousands of the Elders of this Church and kingdom. We
have lifted up our voices day and night; we have preached to
millions of our fellow men and have travelled hundreds of
thousands of miles to offer this Gospel to the nations of the
earth. Still they have turned against us, and a great many of
them have sought our overthrow. They will receive their reward
and we shall receive ours.
169
What joy, consolation and satisfaction it will be to the
Apostles, Elders and Saints of God, of this day, who remain true
and faithful to the end, having become members of the Church of
the Firstborn, and been valiant in the testimony of Jesus, when
they meet Father Adam, Enoch, Jacob, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus and
the Apostles, how great their joy will be! They labored in their
day for the work of God, and their toils are over; we are having
our day and our labor. By and by we shall meet and mingle in the
eternal world. How fast we pass away! Where is brother Heber,
whom we used to see so often in our midst here and in the
Endowment House? In the spirit world. Brother Willard, Joseph,
Hyrum, David Patten, Jedediah, Parley Pratt, and brother Benson
among the rest, have gone. We shall all go pretty soon, we shall
not remain a great while. Our labors in this life are short, and
we shall soon pass to the other side of the vail. Our children,
the rising generation, will possess the kingdom; on them the
labor of rolling on the work of God will rest, until the kingdom
and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven will be
given to the Saints of the Most High and they will possess it for
ever and ever, and the meek will inherit the earth. Let us be
diligent, let us be faithful; let us labor while it is called
to-day, that we may be counted worthy to receive a reward that
will satisfy us in the end.
169
I pray that God will bless us, that He will pour out His Spirit
upon us and give us the testimony of Jesus Christ; that we may
guard our welfare and watch ourselves that our feet may not slip.
It is an awful thing for a man, in any generation, to receive
this Gospel, to taste the good word of God and the powers of the
world to come, and then turn away and lose the testimony of Jesus
and turn against God; such a man's condition is worse than his
who never heard the Gospel of Christ. He will lament and mourn,
and that, too, without ever receiving redemption. Such
individuals cannot be redeemed and restored to that which they
have forfeited. It is far better to receive the Gospel and be
faithful in the midst of all opposition. If we continue so, when
we meet with the fathers we can rejoice with them and partake of
the same kingdom and the same glory, quickened by the same
spirit, having kept the same law and been preserved thereby.
169
May God bless us all and help us to overcome the world, the flesh
and the devil, for Jesus sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, May 29, 1870
Brigham Young, May 29, 1870
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 29, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE SOURCE OF INTELLIGENCE, ETC.
170
If I can have your attention I will talk to you a few minutes.
Speaking as much as I have in public makes me feel most forcibly
that I have both stomach and lungs, hence I would like to have
stillness in the house. I see some sisters withdrawing in
consequence of their children not being quiet; I am very much
obliged to them, and trust that others will do likewise if they
cannot keep their children still.
171
I am not in the habit of making many apologies nor very many
preliminaries when I speak to a congregation. Sometimes I feel to
say a few words that might be called apologetic in rising to
address a congregation, having that timidity which most men feel
on such occasions. I have seen few public speakers in my life who
were capable of rising and speaking directly upon a subject,
unless it had been studied or perhaps written beforehand. To
speak extempore, on the impulse of the moment, without
reflection, requires considerable steadiness of the nerve. This
is a matter that I have reflected upon a good deal, for in my
experience I have learned that there is a modest timidity in the
feelings of almost all persons I ever saw when called upon to
speak to their fellow-beings. This is frequently the case in
private circles as well as before the public. I think I
understand the reason of it; it is a matter which I have studied.
I find myself here on this earth, in the midst of intelligence. I
ask myself and Wisdom, where has this intelligence come from? Who
has produced and brought into existence, I will say, this
intelligent congregation assembled here this afternoon? We are
here, but whence have we come? Where did we belong before coming
here? Have we dropped accidentally from some of the planets on to
this earth without order, law or rule? Perhaps some, in their
reflections, have come to this conclusion, and think that is all
that is known in relation to this matter. I inquire where is this
intelligence from which I see, more or less, in every being, and
before which I shrink when attempting to address a congregation?
I ask the question of my friends, my brethren and of every man
that lives: Suppose that you, through duty, are called to speak
to a private family, to a small congregation, or even to children
in a Sunday school, do you not feel this same timidity? Where is
the man who can rise to address children without feeling this
same modesty? I have seen a very few in my life who could rise
before a congregation, in a prayer meeting, or go on the stage of
a theatre, or anywhere else, and speak with perfect ease and
confidence. I think they have great reason to be thankful for
their self-confidence; but where they obtained it or whether it
is inherent, whether they are destitute of real refinement or
have a surplus of it, it is not for me to say. I know that I do
not possess this faculty. When I speak to a congregation I know
that I am speaking to the intelligence that is from above. This
intelligence which is within you and me is from heaven. In gazing
upon the intelligence reflected in the countenances of my
fellow-beings, I gaze upon the image of Him whom I worship--the
God I serve. I see His image and a certain amount of His
intelligence there. I feel it within myself. My nature shrinks at
the divinity we see in others. This is the cause of that timidity
to which I have referred, which I experience when rising to
address a congregation.
171
I rise with pleasure this afternoon to speak to my friends,
brethren and sisters, and to the strangers who are here; and I
will take the liberty of looking at my people--my brethren and
sisters, as they are, and we will look at each other as we are. I
look at others as they are, and we will look at each other as we
are. We will chat a little together, and I will give both Saints
and strangers a few of my views. First to the Saints, I will say
that you and I have professed to believe in God who reigns in the
heavens, who formed the earth and the planets. No matter whether
He rules the celestial, terrestrial or telestial, you and I have
professed to believe in that Supreme Being who has set this
machine in motion. He governs by law. He has reduced His
offspring, His legitimate offspring, to all the sin, darkness,
death and misery that we find on this earth; He has also provided
means and, in connection with the attributes He has implanted
within us, has instituted ordinances which, if we will receive
and improve upon, will enable us to return back into His
presence. I say to the Latter-day Saints, live your religion!
Live so that the Spirit of the Lord will dwell within you, that
you may know for a surety and certainty that God lives. For me to
tell you that there is a God in heaven, that Jesus Christ is the
Savior of the world; for me to tell you that Jesus will give his
holy Spirit to them that believe on him and obey his Gospel,
would be fruitless to you unless you obey his requirements. I
know that the Latter-day Saints are looked upon by the world as
dupes--as a low, degraded, imbecile race, and that we are so
unwise and short-sighted, so vain and foolish, that through the
great amount of enthusiasm within us, we have embraced an error,
and have been duped by Joseph Smith. You who have obeyed the
principles he preached know whether you are deceived or not. I
know for myself and you know for yourselves.
171
Now let me ask you, if you trust to my faith, to my word and
teachings, counsel and advice, and do not seek after the Lord to
have His Spirit to guide and direct you, can I not deceive you,
can I not lead you into error? Look at this and see to what
mischief it would lead, and what an amount of evil could be done
to a people if they did not live so that the Spirit of the Lord
would dwell with them that they might know these things for
themselves. It is my request, my prayer, exhortation, faith, wish
and earnest desire that the Latter-day Saints will live their
religion, and that they will teach their children all things
pertaining to God and godliness, that they may grow up into
Christ, their living head.
172
I would ask of my friends or foes, no matter which--I mean those
who do not believe as I do--those who look upon us as a set of
fanatics, I would ask a few questions of the world of mankind, of
the greatest philosophers, of the greatest geniuses, and of the
men of the most profound knowledge on the face of the earth, Can
you tell me where you get your knowledge? Say some, "The
schoolmaster taught me thus and so; my mother taught me thus and
so; or I have learned it from books." Can you tell me the origin
of this knowledge? Can you direct me where I can go and get the
same knowledge? Was this inherent in you? Was it developed
without any nourishment, or instruction--without the life and
intelligence which came from the vision of the mind? Ask the
mechanic--Who influenced you to bring forth this and that
improvement in mechanism? Who influenced Professor Morse to
believe that he could stretch a wire round this building or any
other, and then, by applying a battery at one end of the wire,
that he could receive an answer at the other? Who taught Robert
Fulton that he could apply steam so as to propel a vessel? Did
his mother, his schoolmaster or his preacher tell him this? No,
he would have spurned the idea.
172
Now, all this is in my remembrance. I lived near by those who
assisted Mr. Fulton in building his steamboat. He could not be
dissuaded, by any means, to desist from his operations. I ask
what was it that influenced the mind of Fulton in this direction?
It was that invisible influence or intelligence that comes from
our Creator, day by day, and night by night, in dreams and
visions of the mind. "I see it, I know it," said he. I recollect
him telling some of our neighbors who assisted him in building
the first steam vessel that ever was built, "I know that I can
apply steam so as to propel this vessel from here to New York. I
know it just as well as I live." I recollect a Mr. Curtis, a
carriage maker, who lived in the State of New York; said he, "I
have a little property, and I will spend all I have to assist Mr.
Fulton to put his project into successful operation, for I have
faith in it."
172
This is a question which I would like the scientific and
philosophic world to answer, Where do you get your knowledge
from? I can answer the question; they get it from that Supreme
Being, a portion of whose intelligence is in each and every one.
They have it not independently; it was not there until put there.
They have the foundation, and they can improve and add knowledge
to knowledge, wisdom to wisdom, light to light, and intelligence
to intelligence. This power to increase in wisdom and
intelligence so that we can know things for ourselves is within
every one of us.
172
Now, I ask the wise, where did you get your wisdom? Was it taught
you? Yes, I say it was taught you. By your professors in college?
No, it was taught you by the influence of the spirit that is in
man, and the inspiration of the Spirit of God giveth it
understanding; and every creature can thus add intelligence to
intelligence. We all know that if we learn one page of a book
to-day, we can learn another to-morrow, and yet retain that which
we learned previously; and so we can go on step by step, from day
to day, improving the faculties with which God has endowed us,
until we are filled with the knowledge of God.
173
The "Mormons" believe all this. I ask strangers and the
philosophers of the world, Is there any harm in it? Is it any
harm for you and me to exercise faith in God? We have faith, we
live by faith; we came to these mountains by faith. We came here,
I often say, though to the ears of some the expression may sound
rather rude, naked and barefoot, and comparatively this is true.
Is that a fact? It is. Shall I explain this? I will in part, and
I will commence by satisfying the curiosity of almost everybody
that comes here, or with whom our Elders converse when away. A
great many men and women have an irrepressible curiosity to know
how many wives Brigham Young has. I am now going to gratify that
curiosity by saying, ladies and gentlemen, I have sixteen wives.
If I have any more hereafter it will be my good luck and the
blessing of God. "How many children have you, President Young?" I
have forty-nine living children, and I hope to have a great many
more. Now put that down. I impart this information to gratify the
curiosity of the curious.
173
"President Young, did you come here naked and barefoot?" I will
say, very nearly so. "How many of your wives had shoes to their
feet, after leaving every thing you had in the State of
Illinois?" I do not think that more than one or two of my wives
had shoes to their feet when we came here. We bought buckskins of
the Indians and made moccasins of them. How many of these Elders
had whole pantaloons when they reached here? I do not believe a
dozen of them had. They had worked in the dead of winter ferrying
the people across the river until they had nothing, and they came
here naked and barefoot, that is, comparatively.
173
We had to have faith to come here. When we met Mr. Bridger on the
Big Sandy River, said he, "Mr. Young, I would give a thousand
dollars if I knew an ear of corn could be ripened in the Great
Basin." Said I, "Wait eighteen months and I will show you many of
them." Did I say this from knowledge? No, it was my faith; but we
had not the least encouragement--from natural reasoning and all
that we could learn of this country--of its sterility, its cold
and frost, to believe that we could ever raise anything. But we
travelled on, breaking the road through the mountains and
building bridges until we arrived here, and then we did
everything we could to sustain ourselves. We had faith that we
could raise grain; was there any harm in this? Not at all. If we
had not had faith, what would have become of us? We would have
gone down in unbelief, have closed up every resource for our
sustenance and should never have raised anything. I ask the whole
world, is there any harm in having faith in God? Have you faith?
Ask Mr. Pullman if he had faith that he could build a car more
convenient than any the travelling community enjoyed before, and
he will say that he had faith that he could build cars in which
ladies and gentlemen might travel though the country with all the
ease and comfort they could desire; and he showed his faith by
his works, as we read of the ancient worthies doing. You know
James says, "Show me your faith without works, and I will show
you my faith by my works." Mr. Pullman and others can show their
faith by their works. We show our faith by our works. Is there
any harm in this? I ask the whole Christian world, is there any
harm in believing in God, in a supreme power and influence?
174
The Christian world believe in God, but they say He has no body.
Christianity does not teach any such thing. "God has no parts and
He is without passions," say the Christian world. I do not read
the Scriptures aright if this is the fact. I read that God loves,
that God hates. I read that His eyes are over the works of His
hands; that His arm is stretched out to save His people; that His
footsteps are seen among the nations of the earth. If He has no
feet, He certainly can make no impression; if He has no hands or
arms he cannot reach down to save His people. I read that the
Lord's ears are open to the petitions of His people; but if He
have no ears how can He hear. This is the way that I read the
Bible, and I ask, is there any harm in reading and understanding
it thus? There are a great many infidels now, who were formerly
among our Christian friends and brethren, who are ignoring the
Bible in their public schools. I do not. Is there anything in the
Bible that should not be read by the scholars in schools? If
there be, leave out such parts, or rather replace the language
there used, with phraseology more in accordance with modern
usage, so that the principles contained in the Bible may be
taught in your catechisms or other books. I know that there is
some plain talk in the Bible, plainer than I heard this morning;
but that plain talk was the custom of the ancients. The mere
phraseology there used is not of much consequence, it is the true
principle which that book teaches which renders it so valuable.
If any of you, ladies and gentlemen, were to step on a steamboat
and cross over to Liverpool, you would hear language and see
customs that you never heard or saw in Yankee land. It is the
same with regard to the Bible, the phraseology is that which was
customary centuries ago; but no matter what the language is, that
is merely custom. But I will say that the doctrines taught in the
Old and New Testaments concerning the will of God towards His
children here on the earth; the history of what He has done for
their salvation; the ordinances which He has instituted for their
redemption; the gift of His Son and his atonement--all these are
true, and we, the Latter-day Saints, believe in them.
175
Some, in their curiosity, will say, "But you Mormons have another
Bible! Do you believe in the Old and New Testaments?" I answer we
do believe in the Old and New Testaments, and we have also
another book, called the Book of Mormon. What are the doctrines
of the Book of Mormon? The same as those of the Bible. "What is
the utility of this book--the Book of Mormon? Has it been of any
use whatever to the people anywhere?" O, yes. "Where and when?" I
will refer to one of the sayings of Jesus recorded in the New
Testament. Just before his crucifixion he said to his disciples,
"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must
bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold
and one shepherd." After his crucifixion he came to this
continent, chose Twelve Apostles from among the people and sent
them forth to preach his Gospel. He also did many mighty
miracles. He was seen to come from heaven down into the midst of
the people. He organized his Church amongst them, healed the
sick, and left his Church and Gospel in their midst. I am sorry
to say that we see the descendants of this very people now in a
very low and degraded state. I refer to the aborigines or native
Indians of this continent. But this is in consequence of their
apostacy and turning from God. The aborigines of this country are
the descendants of this very people whom Jesus visited, to whom
he delivered his Gospel, and among whom he organized his Church.
They were obedient for over three hundred years, and served God
with an undivided heart, after which they began to apostatize.
For three hundred years the people on the continent of North and
South America were benefitted by the work of the Savior in
organizing his Church and revealing every principle and ordinance
calculated to assist them back into the presence of God. Is not
that good?
175
"What good does it do you, Latter-day Saints?" It proves that the
Bible is true. What do the infidel world say about the Bible?
They say that the Bible is nothing better than last year's
almanac; it is nothing but a fable and priestcraft, and it is
good for nothing. The Book of Mormon, however, declares that the
Bible is true, and it proves it; and the two prove each other
true. The Old and New Testaments are the stick of Judah. You
recollect that the tribe of Judah tarried in Jerusalem and the
Lord blessed Judah, and the result was the writings of the Old
and New Testaments. But where is the stick of Joseph? Can you
tell where it is? Yes. It was the children of Joseph who came
across the waters to this continent, and this land was filled
with people, and the Book of Mormon or the stick of Joseph
contains their writings, and they are in the hands of Ephraim.
Where are the Ephraimites? They are mixed through all the nations
of the earth. God is calling upon them to gather out, and He is
uniting them, and they are giving the Gospel to the whole world.
Is there any harm or any false doctrine in that? A great many say
there is. If there is, it is all in the Bible.
176
When I first commenced to preach to the people, nearly forty
years ago, to believe the Bible was the great requisite. I have
heard some make the broad assertion that every word within the
lids of the Bible was the word of God. I have said to them, "You
have never read the Bible, have you?" "O, yes, and I believe
every word in it is the word of God." Well, I believe that the
Bible contains the word of God, and the words of good men and the
words of bad men; the words of good angels and the words of bad
angels and words of the devil; and also the words uttered by the
ass when he rebuked the prophet in his madness. I believe the
words of the Bible are just what they are; but aside from that I
believe the doctrines concerning salvation contained in that book
are true, and that their observance will elevate any people,
nation or family that dwells on the face of the earth. The
doctrines contained in the Bible will lift to a superior
condition all who observe them; they will impart to them
knowledge, wisdom, charity, fill them with compassion and cause
them to feel after the wants of those who are in distress, or in
painful or degraded circumstances. They who observe the precepts
contained in the Scriptures will be just and true, and virtuous
and peaceable at home and abroad. Follow out the doctrines of the
Bible and men will make splendid husbands, women excellent wives,
and children will be obedient; they will make families happy and
the nations wealthy and happy and lifted up above the things of
this life. Can any see any harm in all this? "Oh, but you Mormons
are such a strange people. It is true that we have found things
in Utah different from what we expected, but still you people are
so strange!" Why, what did you expect? Did you expect to see men
and women with fins like fishes? We are right from your
country--from England, France, Germany, Massachusetts, Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, New York, from the South, from every State in
the Union; what did you expect to see? We lived with you, went to
school and to meeting with you; but still the saying is, "Oh, the
Mormons are a strange people." It is true that we are; but in
what does our peculiarity consist? We do not believe in
litigation, quarreling, or in having contention with each other.
We take the low and degraded and lift them up. If it would be any
satisfaction to any man in the world to know what advantages
President Young has had, I will say that I used to have the
privilege of cutting down the hemlock, beech and maple trees with
my father and my brothers: and then rolling them together,
burning the logs, splitting the rails, and fencing the little
fields. I wonder if any of you ever did this? You who came from
England, or from the rich prairies of Illinois or Missouri never
did. Well, this was my education. "Did you not go to school?"
Yes; I went eleven days, that was the extent of my schooling.
176
Now, if we can take the low and degraded and elevate them in
their feelings, language and manners; if we can impart to them
the sciences that are in the world, teach them all that books
contain, and in addition to all this, teach them principles that
are eternal, and calculated to make them a beautiful community,
lovely in their appearance, intelligent in every sense of the
word, would you not say that our system is praiseworthy and
possesses great merit? Well, this is all in that book called the
Bible, and the faithful observance of the principles taught in
that book will do this for any family or nation on the earth.
176
We are not anxious to obtain gold; if we can obtain it by raising
potatoes and wheat, all right. "Can't you make yourselves rich by
speculating?" We do not wish to. "Can't you make yourselves rich
by going to the gold mines?" We are right in the midst of them.
"Why don't you dig the gold from the earth?" Because it
demoralizes any community or nation on the earth to give them
gold and silver to their hearts' content; it will ruin any
nation. But give them iron and coal, good hard work, plenty to
eat, good schools and good doctrine, and it will make them a
healthy, wealthy and happy people.
176
This is the great mystery with regard to the Latter-day Saints.
We have got a code of laws that the Lord Almighty has left on
record in the book called the Old and New Testaments. This same
code is contained in the Book of Mormon, also in another book we
have, called the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. These doctrines
are taught in all these books, and taught alike.
176
Now then, does the voice of the Lord, as heard from the heavens,
ever teach men and women to do wrong? Never. You see a man or
woman, in any community, no matter where they are or who they
are, that is inclined to do a wrong act to themselves or anybody
else, and they profess to do that under a religious influence,
and you may know that their ideas of religion are false. Ladies
and gentlemen, write that down. His religion is false who does
not have love to God and to his fellow-creatures; who does not
cherish holiness of heart, purity of life, and sanctification,
that he may be prepared to enter again into the presence of the
Father and the Son.
177
The question was asked a great many times of Joseph Smith, by
gentlemen who came to see him and his people, "How is it that you
can control your people so easily? It appears that they do
nothing but what you say; how is it that you can govern them so
easily?" Said he, "I do not govern them at all. The Lord has
revealed certain principles from the heavens by which we are to
live in these latter days. The time is drawing near when the Lord
is going to gather out His people from the wicked, and He is
going to cut short His work in righteousness, and the principles
which He has revealed I have taught to the people and they are
trying to live according to them, and they control themselves."
177
Gentlemen, this is the great secret now in controlling this
people. It is thought that I control them, but it is not so. It
is as much as I can do to control myself and to keep myself
straight and teach the people the principles by which they should
live. Do all do it? No, and the consequence is we see wickedness
in the land. Men do very wrong. Who is guilty? The Lord? No. The
religion we have embraced? No. The counsel we have given? No. I
have had the question asked me, in the days of Joseph, "Mr.
Young, I suppose that you would obey Joseph Smith, let him tell
you to do what he might?" "Well, I think I would." "Suppose that
he should tell you to kill your neighbor or to steal, or to do
this, that or the other, that is wrong, would you do it?" I would
reply, "Wait till I am told. I have never yet been told from
heaven, by Joseph Smith, the Old or New Testament, the Book of
Mormon or the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, to do a wrong
thing; and I will wait until I am, before I say what I would do;
that is time enough."
177
"Well, have you not committed wrong?" I may have committed a
great many wrongs for want of judgment or wisdom--a little here
and a little there. "But have you not done great wrongs?" I have
not. I know what is in the hearts of almost every person who
comes to this city. It is hurled throughout the length and
breadth of our country like lightning that Brigham Young and the
"Mormons" are guilty of doing this, that and the other, I need
not reiterate; and it is often asked, "Have not you Mormons been
guilty of this or that crime or evil?" I answer, no, ladies and
gentlemen, we have not. It is the wicked who do these crimes; it
is men who will go to hell; and then they try to palm them off on
the just and righteous. You can imagine what you please of the
stories you have read about the people of Utah from the pens of
every lying scribbler who has been here. Imagine what you please,
but write this down, publish it in your little paper (the
Trans-Continental), that a Saint will never do wrong if he knows
it. If a man will do a wrong thing wilfully, he is not a Saint.
When you hear of Brigham Young, and of his brethren who are in
the faith of the holy Gospel, doing this wrong and that wrong,
wait until you find out the truth before you publish it to the
world.
178
We have been asked a good many times, "Why do you not publish the
truth in regard to these lies which are circulated about you?" We
might do this if we owned all the papers published in
Christendom. Who will publish a letter from me or my brethren?
Who will publish the truth from us? If it gets into one paper, it
is slipped under the counter or somewhere else; but it never gets
into a second. They will send forth lies concerning us very
readily. The old adage is that a lie will creep through the
keyhole and go a thousand miles while truth is getting out of
doors; and our experience has proved this. We have not the
influence and power necessary to refute the falsehoods circulated
about us. We depend on God, who sits in the heavens. Our trust is
in Him who created the heavens, who formed the earth, and who has
brought forth His children on the earth, and who has given the
intelligence which they possess. He has given them the privilege
of choosing for themselves, whether it be good or evil; but the
result of our choice is still in His hand. All His children have
the right of making a path for themselves, of walking to the
right or to the left, of telling the truth or that which is not
true. This right God has given to all people who dwell on the
earth, and they can legislate and act as they please; but God
holds them in His hands, and He will bring forth the results to
His glory, and for the benefit of those who love and serve Him,
and He will make the wrath of men to praise Him. All of us are in
the hands of that God. We are all His children. We are His sons
and daughters naturally, and by the principles of eternal life.
We are brethren and sisters. What is it that makes the
distinctions we see in the classes of the children of men? We see
the low and the degraded, like the aborigines of our country;
what is the cause of their being in their present condition? It
is because of the rejection by their fathers of the Gospel of the
Son of God. The Gospel brings intelligence, happiness, and glory
to all who obey it and live according to its precepts. It will
give them intelligence that comes from God. Their minds will be
open so as to understand things as they are; they will rejoice in
being blessed themselves and in blessing their fellow beings, and
in being prepared to re-enter the presence of the Father and the
Son. This will be their delight. Is this so? It is.
178
I was very much gratified a day or two ago with a little
circumstance that transpired while a company of ladies and
gentlemen were visiting me. We were talking over some
circumstances relating to our coming to the valleys, and our
hardships after we got here. I said it was faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ that enabled us to endure. A lady present said,
"That is right, I believe in exercising faith in him. Have faith
in God, for God will bless all who have faith in Him, no matter
who they are nor by whom called; if you have faith in God, and
live according to the light you have, God will lead you to
glory."
178
I delight to hear a person give an intimation of their having
faith in God; to hear it said, "I believe in Jesus Christ. I
believe in his crucifixion and atonement, and in his ordinances."
These ordinances we are trying to live, that we may glorify God,
and prepare ourselves to build up His Zion on the earth, that the
world may be filled with peace, knowledge and joy.
178
God help us to do so!
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / Orson
Hyde, October 6, 1869
rson Hyde, October 6, 1869
REMARKS BY ELDER ORSON HYDE,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1869.
(Reported by John Grimshaw.)
THE RIGHT TO LEAD THE CHURCH, ETC.
179
Being requested to make a few remarks to the Saints at the
present time, I have risen with cheerfulness to add my testimony
to what has been said, and to speak a few words more in relation
to the Church and kingdom of God, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ
His Son. I rejoice in the opportunity of meeting with the Saints
and seeing their friendly faces, which beam as though their
hearts felt glad to associate together--to commune one with
another, and to hear what the Lord may say through His servants
who may be called upon to address you. Brethren and sisters, the
feelings of my heart are--The Lord bless you, and pour His Spirit
upon you and upon all His Saints everywhere.
179
I have listened with interest to the remarks that have been made.
I rejoice in anything that goes to advance the cause of Zion; and
I know of no one thing more potent to that effect than our living
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And I
apprehend that, if the Saints will listen to the words of counsel
and unto the commandments of God, no very serious inroads will
ever be made upon us, either by contestants for the supremacy in
this kingdom, or by Congress itself. These are my feelings.
179
I became connected with the Church of God on the 31st day of
October, 1831. I do not know how many there are now living that
can date their connection with the Church to an earlier period
than this. There is one, and perhaps there are two, that I know
of, I know of no more; still, I cannot say in relation to this.
Now, if I had only improved upon the time that has been allotted
to me, and gained the experience I might have gained, perhaps I
would have been further in advance than I am at the present time.
But I am not discouraged; I have no feeling to linger or flag,
but feel to persevere and to do all I can for the building up of
the Zion of our God.
180
I apprehend, brethren and sisters, that there are faithful
witnesses in this Church who have lived with the Prophet--who
have travelled with him, who have eaten with him, who have slept
with him, who have preached and prayed with him, and have been as
familiar with him as a child ever was with his father. There are,
I say, witnesses that lived contemporary with him, who will
continue to live and be able to bear a faithful testimony to the
truth, until the kingdom can take care of itself, or God will
take care of it. I tell you that light will come upon you pretty
soon--the glorious light of heaven. Be patient, enduring--the sun
will rise and darkness will flee away. By and by, true to the
word of promise, the sun does rise, and darkness flees away; and
the sun ascends to the meridian, and his rays illuminate the
whole face of nature. You can then see, you can then appreciate
the word of promise. Would it be any satisfaction to you if I
were to continue and tell you that the sun does shine? It shines
in the face of you all. You have no need of my testimony, you
have no need of my assurance. It displays its light to all the
world, and you behold it, and no one could convince you that the
sun does not shine.
180
So let me say here, that there are faithful witnesses, who will
testify to the truth, that lived contemporary with Joseph, the
martyred prophet; and they will continue to live and testify till
this kingdom can take care of itself. What do you mean by the
kingdom taking care of itself? I mean that the veil which is now
cast over the world will be rent asunder, and every eye will see
and every heart feel. Then the kingdom can take care of itself,
and have no need of witnesses to prove that the sun shines. Well,
then, if the veil of the covering which has caused so great
darkness is rent in twain, and the whole people, as it were, see
as they are seen and know as they are known, have they any
particular use for the testimony of a feeble mortal, that the
power of God, in streams of light from on high, is being poured
down upon the children of God on earth? Why it is a character of
evidence beyond the feeble voice of mortals.
180
I apprehend that, so long as these witnesses remain, it will be a
pretty hard matter for Congress or for apostates to make many
inroads upon the truth, while the servants of the Most High,
inspired by the Spirit of God, stand like a flaming sword to
guard the way of the Tree of Life.
180
I will tell you, brethren and sisters, the Apostleship is of some
importance to the Saints of God; but I will say, furthermore,
that it is very satisfactory to me when I call to mind the
remarks of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I will give you my
testimony. In one particular place, in the presence of about
sixty men, he said, "My work is about done; I am going to step
aside awhile. I am going to rest from my labors; for I have borne
the burthen and heat of the day, and now I am going to step aside
and rest a little. And I roll the burthen off my shoulders on the
shoulders of the Twelve Apostles. Now," said he, "round up your
shoulders and bear off this kingdom." Has he ever said this to
any one else? I do not know; I do not care. It is enough for me
to know that he said it to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And
since that time we have endeavored to do our duty and perform the
work that was given us to do.
180
We did not consider, at the time he bore this testimony, that he
was going to die or be taken from us; but we considered that as
he had been borne down with excessive labors, by day and night,
he was going to retire to rest and regain his health, and we
should act under his direction and bear the responsibility of the
work. But when the fatal news came to us, in the Eastern States,
that he, with his brother Hyrum, had been massacred in Carthage
jail, I will tell you it brought his words home to our minds, and
we could then realize that he had spoken in sober earnest; and
the twelve men upon whom he had conferred this power, then
stepped forth and took their position. When the Twelve, united
heart and soul, stepped forth, everything yielded before them.
181
Well, now, I will give it as the feelings of my heart--and if I
am wrong, I can be corrected right here--that no one need be
curious or anxious as to who is going to lead and guide this
people. I will tell you that as long as God has a Church on the
earth, He will govern it. Now I will tell you a little of my
feelings in relation to it. I know that when President Young
returned with the Twelve to Nauvoo, he gathered them around him,
and said he, "I want you to disperse among the congregation and
feel the pulse of the people, while I go upon the stand and
speak."
181
We went among the congregation and President Young went on the
stand. Well, he spoke, and his words went through me like
electricity. "Am I mistaken?" said I, "or is it really the voice
of Joseph Smith?" This is my testimony; it was not only the voice
of Joseph, but there were the features, the gestures and even the
stature of Joseph before us in the person of Brigham. And though
it may be said that President Young is a complete mimic, and can
mimic anybody, I would like to see the man who can mimic another
in stature who was about four or five inches higher than himself.
Every one in the congregation--every one who was inspired by the
Spirit of the Lord--felt it. They knew it. They realized it.
181
I sat myself down in the midst of the congregation, with my two
wives, whom Joseph had given and sealed to me. When President
Young began to speak, one of them said, "It is the voice of
Joseph! It is Joseph Smith!" The exclamation of the other was, "I
do not see him, where is he?" Well, the thought occurred to my
mind respecting the Scripture which President Young has just
quoted--"My sheep know my voice and follow me." Where is the one
that recognized the voice of Joseph in President Young? Where is
she? She is in the line of her duty. But where is the other? Gone
where I wish she were not. The sheep of the good shepherd will
follow the voice they know, but they will not follow the voice of
a stranger.
181
Now this was a manifestation of the power of the Almighty--it was
the power of God resting on an individual in the eyes of all the
people, not only in feature and voice, but actually in stature.
This is my testimony. I might go on and add many more
testimonies. I recollect reading that when our Savior was
baptized by John in the Jordan, the Spirit of the Lord descended
and rested upon him in the form of a dove, and a voice from
heaven was heard, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased. Hear ye him."
181
Well, now, it did not depend upon argument, it did not depend
upon reason. The voice of the Almighty--the form of a dove
descending and resting upon him, were sufficient evidence to
prove he was the Son of God. Argument was out of the question.
Did it require argument to prove that brother Brigham Young held
the position of Joseph, the martyred Prophet? Did it require
proof that Joseph was there in the person of Brigham, speaking
with an angel's voice? It required no argument; with those who
feared God and loved truth, it required none.
181
Well, now, we have the consolation to know that, whatever changes
may take place in the government of the Church and kingdom of
God, we shall not be left in the dark nor will our destiny be
suspended on the frailty of argument; but I believe that whatever
changes take place will be brought about by a power that every
child of God will recognize.
182
These are the feelings of my heart; and consequently I dismiss
every anxiety in relation to it. It is for me to live my religion
and honor my God, and to let Him steady His own ark. Let me do my
duty and all will work for the best. This is how I feel,
brethren. When I began to speak, I had quite an argument fixed up
in my mind, but I cannot touch it now, and it is useless to try.
I will say, however, that it is all summed up in the excellent
quotation made by our President--"My sheep know my voice and will
follow me; but a stranger they will not follow, for they know not
the voice of strangers."
182
We must learn, brethren and sisters, to be wise. We must learn to
let the world alone. The Lord has brought us out from the
nations. Said He, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues." Now, why
should we ever have any lingering desire for any connection with
the world again? Will we invite them here and scatter our means
among them, and put a weapon in their hands to destroy us?
182
An illustrious visitor, the only one second in office in the
United States, expressed a desire that we should see the
necessity of inviting men of capital to our midst, to aid in
developing the resources of the country, thereby making our
Territory a great commercial centre. The Lord knows His own
business best, and He will conduct it in a manner and way that
will please Him. I apprehend He will take care of His people. And
if we will do His will and keep His commandments, He will provide
for us; and we may yet learn, in the midst of all our reasoning
and argument, that God has never yet desired us to live after the
manner of the world. It is for us to keep His commandments and He
will provide for His children. He will provide for His servants.
Brethren and sisters, you will see the servants of God will have
joy at heart; but the enemies of righteousness will have sorrow.
182
It is well for us to adhere to the principle of co-operation and
everything else that is calculated to advance our interests as a
people. It is well for us to adhere to the teachings that we
receive, and let our enemies and outsiders alone. Is there
anything wrong in our concentrating our time and means in a
certain channel? Can we not trade where and with whom we will?
Are we doing any one any injustice in this? No. Have we the
Constitutional right to invest our capital wherever we like? Yes,
we have the Constitutional right. Is it my Constitutional right
to get all the power and influence that I can? Yes, it is. Is
there anything unlawful in it? Nothing at all. I will venture to
say that the Hon. Vice President would not object, to-day, to
have influence over all the citizens of the United States. He
would not object to it at all; neither would any other
politician.
182
We say there is nothing unlawful in Brigham Young getting all the
influence that he can; but they want him out of the way. They are
not willing--they cannot be willing, to see a man who has earned
the position he occupies, use his influence for the welfare,
elevation and advancement of the people. They want to occupy it
themselves, and they are jealous.
182
I do not feel to detain you a great while, brethren and sisters,
but there are two or three things in my mind that I wish to make
known. Congress, it is said, is going to give the people "their
rights!" I wonder why they never thought of giving us our rights?
That is another thing; it is a horse of another color. But our
rights are safe. Our rights are in the hands of God; and we will
trust in Him for them; and when He does give them to us, He will
give them on a large scale.
183
Brother George A. Smith was computing the interest and
indebtedness of Missouri to us; but I tell you when the Lord pays
us up, it will be a "big" reward. Be patient, live your religion,
and when the Almighty does reward, it will be on a large scale.
183
And now let me give you my feelings in relation to the
interference of the Government of the United States. What do they
want to interfere with us for? Whom have we injured? Have we
injured any one? Have we done wrong to any one, Jew or Gentile?
Have we done wrong to the Indians? Have we done wrong in
cultivating the soil, and in making this barren and waste desert
fertile? What wrong have we done, that it is necessary for
Congress to interfere? They say, "We are afraid you intend to do
wrong." Well, then you punish us in advance for the wrong we have
not done. They say, "You are guilty of practising polygamy."
Well, now, this is only one feather in the bird; only one single
feather. I will tell you, everything is wrong about us in their
estimation. It is wrong of us to get such an influence on the
earth, both at home and abroad. And the reason why so much is
said about polygamy, is because it is the only handle that they
think they can get hold of; but they will discover that even this
is so doubtful, in the eye of Constitutional law, that it can
give them no assurance of success against us; and they will find
it the very principle that will break in pieces the power that
would set it aside.
183
I would not say that I am speaking now as a representative of the
minds of the Latter-day Saints as a body; I wish merely to
express my own sentiments and feelings, and if I say anything
that is wrong, let me be corrected for it right here. I will tell
you that, just in proportion as any power, whether the United
States or any other nation, seeks to hinder or oppose the
progress of the Latter-day Saints, or lay any stumbling block in
their way, the Lord will lay two stumbling blocks in their way,
to their laying one in ours.
183
We have something more potent than our own arm to defend us--we
have the arm of Jehovah pledged for our protection. He will make
bare His arm in the eyes of the nations, and they will feel it.
It is getting too late in the day. The battle is too far
advanced.
183
Then let us, as Latter-day Saints, be filled with reverence for
the kingdom of God--for His laws and institutions; remembering
our prayers, being faithful, doing our duty in all things, and
the Lord will bear off His kingdom. God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / Orson
Pratt, October 7, 1869
Orson Pratt, October 7, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER ORSON PRATT,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 7, 1869.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
CELESTIAL MARRIAGE.
184
It was announced at the close of the forenoon meeting that I
would address the congregation this afternoon upon the subject of
Celestial Marriage; I do so with the greatest pleasure.
184
In the first place, let us inquire whether it is lawful and
right, according to the Constitution of our country, to examine
and practice this Bible doctrine? Our fathers, who framed the
Constitution of our country devised it so as to give freedom of
religious worship of the Almighty God; so that all people under
our Government should have the inalienable right--a right by
virtue of the Constitution--to believe in any Bible principle
which the Almighty has revealed in any age of the world to the
human family. I do not think, however, that our forefathers, in
framing that instrument, intended to embrace all the religions of
the world. I mean the idolatrous and Pagan religions. They say
nothing about those religions in the Constitution; but they give
the express privilege in that instrument to all people dwelling
under this Government and under the institutions of our country,
to believe in all things which the Almighty has revealed to the
human family. There is no restriction nor limitation so far as
Bible religion is concerned, or any principle or form of religion
believed to have emanated from the Almighty; yet they would not
admit idolatrous nations to come here and practice their
religion, because it is not included in the Bible; it is not the
religion of the Almighty. Those people worship idols, the work of
their own hands, they have instituted rights and ceremonies
pertaining to those idols, in the observance of which they, no
doubt, suppose they are worshipping correctly and sincerely, yet
some of them are of the most revolting and barbarous character.
Such, for instance, as the offering up of a widow on a funeral
pile, as a burnt sacrifice, in order to follow her husband into
the eternal worlds. That is no part of the religion mentioned in
the Constitution of our country, it is no part of the religion of
the Almighty God.
184
But confining ourselves within the limits of the Constitution,
and coming back to the religion of the Bible, we have the
privilege to believe in the Patriarchal, in the Mosaic, or in the
Christian order of things; for the God of the patriarchs, and the
God of Moses is also the Christians' God.
184
It is true that many laws were given under the Patriarchal or
Mosaic dispensations, against certain crimes, the penalties for
violating which, religious bodies, under our Constitution, have
not the right to inflict. The Government has reserved, in its own
hands, the power, so far as affixing the penalties of certain
crimes is concerned.
184
In ancient times there was a law strictly enforcing the
observance of the Sabbath day, and the man or woman who violated
that law was subjected to the punishment of death. Ecclesiastical
bodies have the right, under our Government and Constitution, to
observe the Sabbath day or to disregard it, but they have not the
right to inflict corporeal punishment for its non-observance.
185
The subject proposed to be investigated this afternoon is that of
Celestial Marriage, as believed in by the Latter-day Saints, and
which they claim is strictly a Bible doctrine and part of the
revealed religion of the Almighty. It is well known by all the
Latter-day Saints that we have not derived all our knowledge
concerning God, heaven, angels, this life and the life to come
entirely from the books of the Bible; yet we believe that all of
our religious principles and notions are in accordance with and
are sustained by the Bible; consequently, though we believe in
new revelation, and believe that God has revealed many things
pertaining to our religion, we also believe that He has revealed
none that are inconsistent with the worship of Almighty God, a
sacred right guaranteed to all religious denominations by the
Constitution of our country.
185
God created man, male and female. He is the Author of our
existence. He placed us on this creation. He ordained laws to
govern us. He gave to man, whom He created, a helpmeet--a woman,
a wife to be one with him, to be a joy and a comfort to him; and
also for another very great and wise purpose--namely, that the
human species might be propagated on this creation, that the
earth might teem with population according to the decree of God
before the foundation of the world, that the intelligent spirits
whom He had formed and created, before this world was rolled into
existence, might have their probation, might have an existence in
fleshly bodies on this planet, and be governed by laws emanating
from their great Creator. In the breast of male and female He
established certain qualities and attributes that never will be
eradicated--namely, love towards each other. Love comes from God.
The love which man possesses for the opposite sex came from God.
The same God who created the two sexes implanted in the hearts of
each love towards the other. What was the object of placing this
passion or affection within the hearts of male and female? It was
in order to carry out, so far as this world was concerned, His
great and eternal purposes pertaining to the future. But He not
only did establish this principle in the heart of man and woman,
but gave divine laws to regulate them in relation to this passion
or affection, that they might be limited and prescribed in the
exercise of it towards each other. He therefore ordained the
Marriage Institution. The marriage that was instituted in the
first place was between two immortal beings, hence it was
marriage for eternity in the very first case which we have
recorded for an example. Marriage for eternity was the order God
instituted on our globe; as early as the Garden of Eden; as early
as the day when our first parents were placed in the garden to
keep it and till it, they, as two immortal beings, were united in
the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant. This was before
man fell, before the forbidden fruit was eaten, and before the
penalty of death was pronounced upon the heads of our first
parents and all their posterity, hence, when God gave to Adam his
wife Eve, He gave her to him as an immortal wife, and there was
no end contemplated of the relation they held to each other as
husband and wife.
185
By and by, after this marriage had taken place, they transgressed
the law of God, and by reason of that transgression the penalty
of death came not only upon them, but also upon all their
posterity. Death, in its operations, tore asunder, as it were,
these two beings who had hitherto been immortal, and if God had
not, before the foundation of the world, provided a plan for
redemption, they would, perhaps, have been torn asunder for ever;
but inasmuch as a plan of redemption had been provided, by which
man could be rescued from the effects of the fall, Adam and Eve
were restored to that condition of union, in respect to
immortality, from which they had been separated for a short
season of time by death. The Atonement reached after them and
brought forth their bodies from the dust, and restored them as
husband and wife, to all the privileges that were pronounced upon
them before the Fall.
186
That was eternal marriage; that was lawful marriage ordained
by God. That was the divine institution which was revealed and
practiced in the early period of our globe. How has it been since
that day? Mankind have strayed from that order of things, or, at
least, they have done so in latter times. We hear nothing among
the religious societies of the world which profess to believe in
the Bible about this marriage for eternity. It is among the
things that are obsolete. Now all marriages are consummated until
death only; they do not believe in that great pattern and
prototype established in the beginning; hence we never hear of
their official characters, whether civil or religious, uniting
men and women in the capacity of husband and wife as immortal
beings. No, they marry as mortal beings only, and until death
does them part.
186
What is to become of them after death? What will take place among
all those nations who have been marrying for centuries for time
only? Do both men and women receive a resurrection? Do they come
forth with all the various affections, attributes and passions
that God gave them in the beginning? Does the male come forth
from the grave with all the attributes of a man? Does the female
come forth from her grave with all the attributes of a woman? If
so, what is their future destiny? Is there no object or purpose
in this new creation, save to give them life, a state of
existence? or is there a more important object in view, in the
mind of God, in thus creating them anew? Will that principle of
love which exists now, and which has existed from the beginning,
exist after the resurrection? I mean this sexual love. If that
existed before the Fall, and if it has existed since then, will
it exist in the eternal worlds after the resurrection? This is a
very important question to be decided.
187
We read in the revelations of God that there are various classes
of beings in the eternal worlds. There are some who are kings,
priests, and Gods, others that are angels; and also among them
are the orders denominated celestial, terrestrial, and telestial.
God, however, according to the faith of the Latter-day Saints,
has ordained that the highest order and class of beings that
should exist in the eternal worlds should exist in the capacity
of husbands and wives, and that they alone should have the
privilege of propagating their species--intelligent immortal
beings. Now it is wise, no doubt, in the Great Creator to thus
limit this great and heavenly principle to those who have arrived
or come to the highest state of exaltation, excellency, wisdom,
knowledge, power, glory, and faithfulness, to dwell in His
presence, that they by this means shall be prepared to bring up
their spirit offspring in all pure and holy principles in the
eternal worlds, in order that they may be made happy.
Consequently, He does not entrust this privilege of multiplying
spirits with the terrestrial or telestial, or the lower order of
beings there, nor with angels. But why not? Because they have not
proved themselves worthy of this great privilege. We might
reason, of the eternal worlds, as some of the enemies of polygamy
may reason of this state of existence, and say that there are
just as many males as females there, some celestial, some
terrestrial, and some telestial; and why not have all these
paired off, two by two? Because God administers His gifts and His
blessings to those who are most faithful, giving them more
bountifully to the faithful, and taking away from the unfaithful
that with which they had been entrusted, and which they had not
improved upon. That is the order of God in the eternal worlds,
and if such an order exists there, it may in a degree exist here.
187
When the sons and daughters of the Most High God come forth in
the morning of the resurrection, this principle of love will
exist in their bosoms just as it exists here, only intensified
according to the increased knowledge and understanding which they
possess; hence they will be capacitated to enjoy the
relationships of husband and wife, of parents and children, in a
hundred fold degree greater than they could in mortality. We are
not capable, while surrounded with the weaknesses of our flesh,
to enjoy these eternal principles in the same degree that will
then exist. Shall these principles of conjugal and parental love
and affection be thwarted in the eternal worlds? Shall they be
rooted out and overcome? No, most decidedly not. According to the
religious notions of the world these principles will not exist
after the resurrection; but our religion teaches the fallacy of
such notions. It is true that we read in the New Testament that
in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels in heaven. These are the words of our
Savior when he was addressing himself to a very wicked class of
people, the Sadducees, a portion of the Jewish nation, who
rejected Jesus, and the counsel of God against their own souls.
They had not attained to the blessings and privileges of their
fathers, but had apostatized; and Jesus, in speaking to them,
says that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in
marriage, but are as the angels of God.
187
Now, how are the angels of God after the resurrection? According
to the revelations which God has given, there are different
classes of angels. Some angels are Gods, and still possess the
lower office called angels. Adam is called an Archangel, yet he
is a God. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, no doubt, have the right to
officiate in the capacity of angels if they choose, but still
they have ascended to their exaltation, to a higher state than
that of angels--namely, to thrones, kingdoms, principalities and
powers, to reign over kingdoms and to hold the everlasting
Priesthood. Then there is another order of angels who never have
ascended to these powers and dignities, to this greatness and
exaltation in the presence of God. Who are they? Those who never
received the everlasting covenant of marriage for eternity; those
who have not continued in nor received that law with all their
hearts, or who, perhaps have fought against it. They become
angels. They have no power to increase and extend forth to
kingdoms. They have no wives, no husbands, and they are servants
to those that sit upon thrones and rule over kingdoms, and are
counted worthy of a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory. These, no doubt, were the kind of angels Jesus had
reference to when speaking to those ungodly classes of beings
called Sadducees and Pharisees, one of which denied the doctrine
of the resurrection altogether.
188
There is a difference between the classes of angels called
celestial, terrestrial and telestial. The celestial angels have
not attained to all of the power and greatness and exaltation of
kings and priests in the presence of God; they are blessed with
glory, happiness, peace and joy; but they are not blessed with
the privilege of increasing their posterity to all ages of
eternity, neither have they thrones and kingdoms, but they are
servants to those of the highest order. The angels of the
terrestrial and telestial orders, while possessing a degree of
happiness and glory, are lower than those of the celestial order.
We might inquire, have angels not also these affections which
belong to the higher class of beings, inasmuch as they are
resurrected beings? Yes, but herein they have lost, through
disobedience, the privilege of attaining to the higher glory and
exaltation. They have affections and desires that never can be
gratified, and in this respect their glory is not full.
188
I am talking, to-day, to Latter-day Saints; I am not reasoning
with unbelievers. If I were, I should appeal more fully to the
Old Testament Scriptures to bring in arguments and testimonies to
prove the divine authenticity of polygamic marriages. Perhaps I
may touch upon this for a few moments, for the benefit of
strangers, should there be any in our midst. Let me say, then,
that God's people, under every dispensation since the creation of
the world, have, generally, been polygamists. I say this for the
benefit of strangers. According to the good old book called the
Bible, when God saw proper to call out Abraham from all the
heathen nations, and made him a great man in the world, He saw
proper, also, to make him a polygamist, and approbated him in
taking unto himself more wives than one. Was it wrong in Abraham
to do this thing? If it were, when did God reprove him for so
doing? When did He ever reproach Jacob for doing the same thing?
Who can find the record in the lids of the Bible of God reproving
Abraham, as being a sinner, and having committed a crime, in
taking to himself two living wives? No such thing is recorded. He
was just as much blessed after doing this thing as before, and
more so, for God promised blessings upon the issue of Abraham by
his second wife the same as that of the first wife, providing he
was equally faithful. This was a proviso in every case.
189
When we come down to Jacob, the Lord permitted him to take four
wives. They are so called in Holy Writ. They are not denominated
prostitutes, neither are they called concubines, but they are
called wives, legal wives; and to show that God approved of the
course of Jacob in taking these wives, He blessed them
abundantly, and hearkened to the prayer of the second wife just
the same as the first. Rachel was the second wife of Jacob, and
our great mother; for you know that many of the Latter-day Saints
by revelation know themselves to be the descendants of Joseph,
and he was the son of Rachel, the second wife of Jacob. God in a
peculiar manner blessed the posterity of this second wife.
Instead of condemning the old patriarch, He ordained that Joseph,
the first-born of this second wife, should be considered the
first-born of all the twelve tribes, and into his hands was given
the double birthright, according to the laws of the ancients. And
yet he was the offspring of plurality--of the second wife of
Jacob. Of course, if Reuben, who was indeed the first-born unto
Jacob, had conducted himself properly, he might have retained the
birthright and the greater inheritance; but he lost that through
his transgression, and it was given to a polygamic child, who had
the privilege of inheriting the blessing to the utmost bounds of
the everlasting hills--the great continent of North and South
America was conferred upon him. Another proof that God did not
disapprove of a man having more wives than one, is to be found in
the fact that Rachel, after she had been a long time barren,
prayed to the Lord to give her seed. The Lord hearkened to her
cry and granted her prayer; and when she received seed from the
Lord by her polygamic husband, she exclaimed, "The Lord hath
hearkened unto me and hath answered my prayer." Now do you think
the Lord would have done this if he had considered polygamy a
crime? Would He have hearkened to the prayer of this woman if
Jacob had been living with her in adultery? and he certainly was
doing so if the ideas of this generation are correct.
189
Again, what says the Lord in the days of Moses, under another
dispensation? We have seen that in the days of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, He approved of polygamy and blessed His servants who
practised it, and also their wives and children. Now, let us come
down to the days of Moses. We read that, on a certain occasion
the sister of Moses, Miriam, and certain others in the great
congregation of Israel, got very jealous. What were they jealous
about? About the Ethiopian woman that Moses had taken to wife, in
addition to the daughter of Jethro, whom he had taken before in
the land of Midian. How dare the great law-giver, after having
committed, according to the ideas of the present generation, a
great crime, show his face on Mount Sinai when it was clothed
with the glory of the God of Israel? But what did the Lord do in
the case of Miriam, for finding fault with her brother Moses?
Instead of saying, "You are right, Miriam, he has committed a
great crime, and no matter how much you speak against him," He
smote her with a leprosy the very moment she began to complain,
and she was considered unclean for a certain number of days. Here
the Lord manifested by the display of a signal judgment, that He
disapproved of any one speaking against His servants for taking
more wives than one, because it may not happen to suit their
notions of things.
189
I make these remarks and wish to apply them to fault-finders
against plural marriages in our day. Are there any Miriams in our
congregation to-day, any of those who, professing to belong to
the Israel of the latter days, sometimes find fault with the man
of God standing at their head, because he not only believes in
but practices this divine institution of the ancients? If there
be such in our midst, I say, remember Miriam the very next time
you begin to talk with your neighboring women, or anybody else
against this holy principle. Remember the awful curse and
judgment that fell on the sister of Moses when she did the same
thing, and then fear and tremble before God, lest He, in His
wrath, may swear that you shall not enjoy the blessings ordained
for those who inherit the highest degree of glory.
190
Let us pass along to another instance under the dispensation of
Moses. The Lord says, on a certain occasion, if a man have
married two wives, and he should happen to hate one and love the
other, is he to be punished--cast out and stoned to death as an
adulterer? No; instead of the Lord denouncing him as an adulterer
because of having two wives, He gave a commandment regulating the
matter, so that this principle of hate in the mind of the man
towards one of his wives should not control him in the important
question of the division of his inheritance among his children,
compelling him to give just as much to the son of the hated wife
as to the son of the one beloved; and, if the son of the hated
woman happened to be the first-born, he should actually inherit
the double portion.
190
Consequently, the Lord approved, not only the two wives, but
their posterity also. Now, if the women had not been considered
wives by the Lord, their children would have been bastards, and
you know that He has said that bastards shall not enter into the
congregation of the Lord, until the tenth generation, hence you
see there is a great distinction between those whom the Lord
calls legitimate or legal, and those who were bastards--begotten
in adultery and whoredom. The latter, with their posterity, were
shut out of the congregation of the Lord until the tenth
generation, while the former were exalted to all the privileges
of legitimate birthright.
190
Again, under that same law and dispensation, we find that the law
provided for another contingency among the hosts of Israel. In
order that the inheritances of the families of Israel might not
run into the hands of strangers, the Lord, in the book of
Deuteronomy, gives a command that if a man die, leaving a wife,
but no issue, his brother shall marry his widow and take
possession of the inheritance; and to prevent this inheritance
going out of the family a strict command was given that the widow
should marry the brother or nearest living kinsman of her
deceased husband. The law was in full force at the time of the
introduction of Christianity--a great many centuries after it was
given. The reasoning of the Sadducees on one occasion when
conversing with Jesus proves that the law was then observed. Said
they, "There were seven brethren who took a certain woman, each
one taking her in succession after the death of the other," and
they inquired of Jesus which of the seven would have her for a
wife in the resurrection. The Sadducees, no doubt, used this
figure to prove, as they thought, the fallacy of the doctrine of
the resurrection, but it also proves that this law, given by the
Creator while Israel walked acceptably before Him, was
acknowledged by their wicked descendants in the days of the
Savior. I merely quote the passage to show that the law was not
considered obsolete at that time. A case like this, when six of
the brethren had died, leaving the widow without issue, the
seventh, whether married or unmarried, must fulfill this law and
take the widow to wife, or lay himself liable to a severe
penalty. What was that penalty? According to the testimony of the
law of Moses he would be cursed, for Moses says, "Cursed be he
that doth not all things according as it is written in this book
of the law, and let all the people say Amen." There can be no
doubt that many men in those days were compelled to be
polygamists in the fulfilment of this law, for any man who would
not take the childless wife of a deceased brother and marry her,
would come under the tremendous curse recorded in the book of
Deuteronomy, and all the people would be obliged to sanction the
curse, because he would not obey the law of God and become a
polygamist. They were not all Congressmen in those days, nor
Presidents, nor Presbyterians, nor Methodists, nor Roman
Catholics; but they were the people of God, governed by divine
law, and were commanded to be polygamists; not merely suffered to
be so, but actually commanded to be.
191
There are some Latter-day Saints who, perhaps, have not searched
these things as they ought, hence we occasionally find some who
will say that God suffered these things to be. I will go further,
and say that He commanded them, and He pronounced a curse, to
which all the people had to say amen, if they did not fulfil the
commandment.
191
Coming down to the days of the prophets we find that they were
polygamists; also to the days of the kings of Israel, whom God
appointed Himself, and approbated and blessed. This was
especially the case with one of them, named David, who, the Lord
said, was a man after His own heart. David was called when yet a
youth to reign over the whole twelve tribes of Israel; but Saul,
the reigning king of Israel, persecuted him, and sought to take
away his life. David fled from city to city throughout all the
coasts of Judea in order to get beyond the reach of the
relentless persecutions of Saul. While thus fleeing, the Lord was
with him, hearing his prayers, answering his petitions, giving
him line upon line, precept upon precept; permitting him to look
into the Urim and Thummim and receive revelations, which enabled
him to escape from his enemies.
191
In addition to all these blessings that God bestowed upon him in
his youth, before he was exalted to the throne, the Lord gave him
eight wives; and after exalting him to the throne, instead of
denouncing him for having many wives, and pronouncing him worthy
of fourteen or twenty-one years of imprisonment, the Lord was
with His servant David, and, thinking he had not wives enough He
gave to him all the wives of his master Saul, in addition to the
eight he had previously given him. Was the Lord to be considered
a criminal, and worthy of being tried in a court of justice and
sent to prison for thus increasing the polygamic relations of
David? No, certainly not; it was in accordance with His own
righteous laws, and He was with His servant, David the King, and
blessed him. By and by, when David transgressed, not in taking
other wives, but in taking the wife of another man, the anger of
the Lord was kindled against him and He chastened him and took
away all the blessings He had given him. All the wives David had
received from the hand of God were taken from him. Why? Because
he had committed adultery. Here then is a great distinction
between adultery and plurality of wives. One brings honor and
blessing to those who engage in it, the other degradation and
death.
192
After David had repented with all his heart of his crime with the
wife of Uriah, he, notwithstanding the number of wives he had
previously taken, took Bathsheba legally, and by that legal
marriage Solomon was born; the child born of her unto David,
begotten illegally, being a bastard, displeased the Lord and He
struck it with death; but with Solomon, a legal issue from the
same woman, the Lord was so pleased that He ordained Solomon and
set him on the throne of his father David. This shows the
difference between the two classes of posterity, the one begotten
illegally, the other in the order of marriage. If Solomon had
been a bastard, as this pious generation would have us suppose,
instead of being blessed of the Lord and raised to the throne of
his father, he would have been banished from the congregation of
Israel and his seed after him for ten generations. But,
notwithstanding that he was so highly blessed and honored of the
Lord, there was room for him to transgress and fall, and in the
end he did so. For a long time the Lord blessed Solomon, but
eventually he violated that law which the Lord had given
forbidding Israel to take wives from the idolatrous nations, and
some of those wives succeeded in turning his heart from the Lord,
and induced him to worship the heathen gods, and the Lord was
angry with him and, as it is recorded in the Book of Mormon,
considered the acts of Solomon an abomination in His sight.
192
Let us now come to the record in the Book of Mormon, when the
Lord led forth Lehi and Nephi, and Ishmael and his two sons and
five daughters out of the land of Jerusalem to the land of
America, the males and females were about equal in number. There
was Nephi, Sam, Laman and Lemuel, the four sons of Lehi, and
Zoram, brought out of Jerusalem. How many daughters of Ishmael
were unmarried? Just five. Would it have been just under these
circumstances to ordain plurality among them? No. Why? Because
the males and females were equal in number and they were all
under the guidance of the Almighty, hence it would have been
unjust, and the Lord gave a revelation--the only one on record I
believe--in which a command was ever given to any branch of
Israel to be confined to the monogamic system. In this case the
Lord through His servant Lehi, gave a command that they should
have but one wife. The Lord had a perfect right to vary His
commands in this respect according to circumstances as He did in
others, as recorded in the Bible. There we find that the domestic
relations were governed according to the mind and will of God,
and were varied according to circumstances, as he thought proper.
192
By and by, after the death of Lehi, some of his posterity began
to disregard the strict law that God had given to their father,
and took more wives than one, and the Lord put them in mind,
through His servant Jacob, one of the sons of Lehi, of this law,
and told them that they were transgressing it, and then referred
to David and Solomon, as having committed abomination in His
sight. The Bible also tells us that they sinned in the sight of
God; not in taking wives legally, but only in those they took
illegally, in doing which they brought wrath and condemnation
upon their heads.
192
But because the Lord dealt thus with the small branch of the
House of Israel that came to America, under their peculiar
circumstances, there are those at the present day who will appeal
to this passage in the Book of Mormon as something universally
applicable in regard to man's domestic relations. The same God
that commanded one branch of the House of Israel in America, to
take but one wife when the numbers of the two sexes were about
equal, gave a different command to the hosts of Israel in
Palestine. But let us see the qualifying clause given in the Book
of Mormon on this subject. After having reminded the people of
the commandment delivered by Lehi in regard to monogamy, the Lord
says, "For if I will raise up seed unto me I will command my
people, otherwise they shall hearken unto these things;" that is,
if I will raise up seed among my people of the House of Israel,
according to the law that exists among the tribes of Israel I
will give them a commandment on the subject, but if I do not give
this commandment they shall hearken to the law which I give unto
their father Lehi. That is the meaning of the passage, and this
very passage goes to prove that plurality was a principle God did
approve under circumstances when it was authorized by Him.
193
In the early rise of this Church, February, 1831, God gave a
commandment to its members, recorded in the Book of Covenants,
wherein He says, "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart,
and shalt cleave unto her and to none else;" and then He gives a
strict law against adultery. This you have, no doubt, all read;
but let me ask whether the Lord had the privilege and the right
to vary from this law. It was given in 1831, when the one-wife
system alone prevailed among this people. I will tell you what
the Prophet Joseph said in relation to this matter in 1831, also
in 1832, the year in which the law commanding the members of this
Church to cleave to one wife only was given. Joseph was then
living in Portage county, in the town of Hiram, at the house of
Father John Johnson. Joseph was very intimate with that family,
and they were good people at that time, and enjoyed much of the
Spirit of the Lord. In the fore part of the year 1832, Joseph
told individuals, then in the Church, that he had inquired of the
Lord concerning the principle of plurality of wives, and he
received for answer that the principle of taking more wives than
one is a true principle, but the time had not yet come for it to
be practised. That was before the Church was two years old. The
Lord has His own time to do all things pertaining to His purposes
in the last dispensation; His own time for restoring all things
that have been predicted by the ancient prophets. If they have
predicted that the day would come when seven women would take
hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our
own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our
reproach;" and that, in that day the branch of the Lord should be
beautiful and glorious and the fruits of the earth should be
excellent and comely, the Lord has the right to say when that
time shall be.
193
Now supposing the members of this Church had undertaken to vary
from that law given in 1831, to love their one wife with all
their hearts and to cleave to none other, they would have come
under the curse and condemnation of God's holy law. Some twelve
years after that time the revelation on Celestial Marriage was
revealed. This is just republished at the Deseret News office, in
a pamphlet entitled, "Answers to Questions," by President George
A. Smith, and heretofore has been published in pamphlet form and
in the Millennial Star, and sent throughout the length and
breadth of our country, being included in our works and published
in the works of our enemies. Then came the Lord's time for this
holy and ennobling principle to be practised again among His
people.
194
We have not time to read the revelation this afternoon; suffice
it to say that God revealed the principle through His servant
Joseph in 1843. It was known by many individuals while the Church
was yet in Illinois; and though it was not then printed, it was a
familiar thing through all the streets of Nauvoo, and indeed
throughout all Hancock county. Did I hear about it? I verily did.
Did my brethren of the Twelve know about it? They certainly did.
Were there any females who knew about it? There certainly were,
for some received the revelation and entered into the practice of
the principle. Some may say, "Why was it not printed, and made
known to the people generally, if it was of such importance?" I
reply by asking another question. Why did not the revelations in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants come to us in print years
before they did? Why were they shut up in Joseph's cupboard years
and years without being suffered to be printed and sent broadcast
throughout the land? Because the Lord had His own time again to
accomplish His purposes, and He suffered the revelations to be
printed just when He saw proper. He did not suffer the revelation
on the great American war to be published until some time after
it was given. So in regard to the revelation on plurality; it was
only a short time after Joseph's death that we published it,
having a copy thereof. But what became of the original? An
apostate destroyed it; you have heard her name. That same woman,
in destroying the original, thought she had destroyed the
revelation from the face of the earth. She was embittered against
Joseph, her husband, and at times fought against him with all her
heart; and then again she would break down in her feelings, and
humble herself before God and call upon His holy name, and would
then lead forth ladies and place their hands in the hands of
Joseph, and they were married to him according to the law of God.
That same woman has brought up her children to believe that no
such thing as plurality of wives existed in the days of Joseph,
and has instilled the bitterest principles of apostacy into their
minds, to fight against the Church that has come to these
mountains according to the predictions of Joseph.
194
In the year 1844, before his death, a large company was organized
to come and search out a location, west of the Rocky Mountains.
We have been fulfilling and carrying out his predictions in
coming here and since our arrival. The course pursued by this
woman shows what apostates can do, and how wicked they can become
in their hearts. When they apostatize from the truth they can
come out and swear before God and the heavens that such and such
things never existed, when they know, as well as they know they
exist themselves, that they are swearing falsely. Why do they do
this? Because they have no fear of God before their eyes; because
they have apostatized from the truth; because they have taken it
upon themselves to destroy the revelations of the Most High, and
to banish them from the face of the earth, and the Spirit of God
withdraws from them. We have come here to these mountains, and
have continued to practice the principle of Celestial Marriage
from the day the revelation was given until the present time; and
we are a polygamic people, and a great people, comparatively
speaking, considering the difficult circumstances under which we
came to this land.
195
Let us speak for a few moments upon another point connected with
this subject--that is, the reason why God has established
polygamy under the present circumstances among this people. If
all the inhabitants of the earth, at the present time, were
righteous before God, and both males and females were faithful in
keeping His commandments, and the numbers of the sexes of a
marriageable age were exactly equal, there would be no necessity
for any such institution. Every righteous man could have his wife
and there would be no overplus of females. But what are the facts
in relation to this matter? Since old Pagan Rome and
Greece--worshippers of idols--passed a law confining man to one
wife, there has been a great surplus of females who have had no
possible chance of getting married. You may think this a strange
statement, but it is a fact that those nations were the founders
of what is termed monogamy. All other nations, with few
exceptions, had followed the Scriptural plan of having more wives
than one. These nations, however, were very powerful and when
Christianity came to them, especially the Roman nation, it had to
bow to their mandates and customs, hence the Christians gradually
adopted the monogamic system. The consequence was that a great
many marriageable ladies of those days, and of all generations
from that time to the present, have not had the privilege of
husbands, as the one-wife system has been established by law
among the nations descended from the great Roman empire--namely,
the nations of modern Europe and the American States. This law of
monogamy, or the monogamic system, laid the foundation for
prostitution and the evils and diseases of the most revolting
nature and character under which modern Christendom groans, for
as God has implanted, for a wise purpose, certain feelings in the
breasts of females as well as the males, the gratification of
which is necessary to health and happiness, and which can only be
accomplished legitimately in the married state, myriads of those
who have been deprived of the privilege of entering that state,
rather than be deprived of the gratification of those feelings
altogether, have, in despair, given way to wickedness and
licentiousness; hence the whoredoms and prostitution among the
nations of the earth, where the "Mother of Harlots" has her seat.
195
When the religious Reformers came out, some two or three
centuries ago, they neglected to reform the marriage system--a
subject demanding their urgent attention. But leaving these
Reformers and their doings. let us come down to our own times and
see whether, as has been often said by many, the numbers of the
sexes are equal; and let us take as a basis for our
investigations on this part of our subject the censuses taken by
several of the States in the American Union.
196
Many will tell us that the number of males and the number of
females born are just about equal, and because they are so it is
not reasonable to suppose that God ever intended the nations to
practice plurality of wives. Let me say a few words on that.
Supposing we should admit, for the sake of argument, that the
sexes are born in equal numbers, does that prove that the same
equality exists when they come to a marriageable age? By no
means. There may be about equal numbers born, but what do the
statistics of our country show in regard to the deaths? Do as
many females as males die during the first year of their
existence? If you go to the published statistics you will find,
almost without exception, that in every State a greater number of
males die the first year of their existence than females. The
same holds good from one year to five years, from five years to
ten, from ten to fifteen, and from fifteen to twenty. This shows
that the number of females is greatly in excess of the males when
they come to a marriageable age. Let us elucidate still further,
in proof of the position here assumed. Let us take, for instance,
the census of the State of Pennsylvania in the year 1860, and we
shall find that there were 17,588 more females than males between
the ages of twenty and thirty years, which may strictly be termed
a marriageable age. Says one, "Probably the great war made that
difference." No, this was before the war. Now let us go to the
statistics of the State of New York, before the war, and we find
according to the official tables of the census taken in 1860,
that there were 45,104 more females than males in that one State,
between the ages of twenty and thirty years--a marriageable age,
recollect! Now let us go to the State of Massachusetts, and look
at the statistics there. In the year 1865, there were 33,452 more
females than males between the age of twenty and thirty. We might
go on from State to State and then to the census taken by the
United States, and a vast surplus would be shown of females over
males of a marriageable age. What is to be done with them? I will
tell you what Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York say. They
say, virtually, "We will pass a law so strict, that if these
females undertake to marry a man who has another wife, both they
and then men they marry shall be subject to a term of
imprisonment in the penitentiary." Indeed! Then what are you
going to do with these hundreds of thousands of females of a
marriageable age? "We are going to make them either old maids or
prostitutes, and we would a little rather have them prostitutes,
then we men would have no need to marry." That is the conclusion
many of these marriageable males, between twenty and thirty years
of age, have come to. They will not marry because the laws of the
land have a tendency to make prostitutes, and they can purchase
all the animal gratification they desire without being bound to
any woman; hence many of them have mistresses, by whom they raise
children, and, when they get tired of them, turn both mother and
children into the street, with nothing to support them, the law
allowing them to do so, because the women are not wives. Thus the
poor creatures are plunged into the depths of misery,
wretchedness and degradation, because at all risks they have
followed the instincts implanted within them by their Creator,
and not having the opportunity to do so legally have done so
unlawfully. There are hundreds and thousands of [unmarried]
females in this boasted land of liberty, through the narrow,
contracted, bigoted State laws, preventing them from ever getting
husbands. That is what the Lord is fighting against; we, also,
are fighting against it, and for the re-establishment of the
Bible religion and the celestial or patriarchal order of
marriage.
196
It is no matter according to the Constitution whether we believe
in the patriarchal part of the Bible, in the Mosaic or in the
Christian part; whether we believe in one-half, two-thirds, or in
the whole of it; that is nobody's business. The Constitution
never granted power to Congress to prescribe what part of the
Bible any people should believe in or reject; it never intended
any such thing.
196
Much more might be said, but the congregation is large, and a
speaker, of course, will weary. Though my voice is tolerably
good, I feel weary in attempting to make a congregation of from
eight to ten thousand people hear me. I have tried to do so. May
God bless you, and may He pour out His Spirit upon the rising
generation among us, and upon the missionaries who are about to
be sent to the United States and elsewhere, that the great
principles, political, religious and domestic, that God has
ordained and established, may be made known to all people.
196
In this land of liberty in religious worship, let us boldly
proclaim our rights to believe in and practice any Bible precept,
command or doctrine, whether in the Old or New Testament, whether
relating to ceremonies, ordinances, domestic relations, or
anything else, not incompatible with the rights of others, and
the great revelations of Almighty God manifested in ancient and
modern times. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Q. Cannon, October 9, 1869
George Q. Cannon, October 9, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 9, 1869.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
CELESTIAL MARRIAGE.
197
I will repeat a few verses in the tenth chapter of Mark,
commencing at the twenty-eighth verse.
197
"Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have
followed thee.
197
"And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, there is no
man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the
Gospel's,
197
"But he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses,
and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands,
with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life."
198
In rising to address you this morning, my brethren and sisters, I
rely upon your faith and prayers and the blessing of God. We have
heard, during Conference, a great many precious instructions, and
in none have I been more interested than in those which have been
given to the Saints concerning that much mooted doctrine called
Patriarchal or Celestial Marriage. I am interested in this
doctrine, because I see salvation, temporal and spiritual,
embodied therein. I know, pretty well, what the popular feelings
concerning this doctrine are; I am familiar with the opinions of
the world, having travelled and mingled with the people
sufficiently to be conversant with their ideas in relation to
this subject. I am also familiar with the feelings of the
Latter-day Saints upon this point. I know the sacrifice of
feeling which it has caused for them to adopt this principle in
their faith and lives. It has required the revelation of God, our
heavenly Father, to enable His people to receive this principle
and carry it out. I wish, here, to make one remark in connection
with this subject--that while there is abundant proof to be found
in the Scriptures and elsewhere in support of this doctrine,
still it is not because it was practiced four thousand years ago
by the servants and people of God, or because it has been
practiced by any people or nation in any period of the world's
history, that the Latter-day Saints have adopted it and made it
part of their practice, but it is because God, our heavenly
Father, has revealed it unto us. If there were no record of its
practice to be found, and if the Bible, Book of Mormon and Book
of Doctrine and Covenants were totally silent in respect to this
doctrine, it would nevertheless be binding upon us as a people,
God Himself having given a revelation for us to practice it at
the present time. This should be understood by us as a people. It
is gratifying to know, however, that we are not the first of
God's people unto whom this principle has been revealed; it is
gratifying to know that we are only following in the footsteps of
those who have preceded us in the work of God, and that we,
to-day, are only carrying out the principle which God's people
observed, in obedience to revelation from Him, thousands of years
ago. It is gratifying to know that we are suffering persecution,
that we are threatened with fines and imprisonment for the
practice of precisely the same principle which Abraham, the
"Friend of God," practiced in his life and taught to his children
after him.
198
The discourses of brother Orson Pratt and of President George A.
Smith have left but very little to be said in relation to the
Scriptural arguments in favor of this doctrine. I know that the
general opinion among men is that the Old Testament, to some
extent, sustains it; but that the New Testament--Jesus and the
Apostles, were silent concerning it. It was clearly proved in our
hearing yesterday, and the afternoon of the day previous, that
the New Testament, though not so explicit in reference to the
doctrine, is still decidedly in favor of it and sustains it.
Jesus very plainly told the Jews, when boasting of being the seed
of Abraham, that if they were, they would do the works of
Abraham. He and the Apostles, in various places, clearly set
forth that Abraham was the great exemplar of faith for them to
follow, and that they must follow him, if they ever expected to
participate in the glory and exaltation enjoyed by Abraham and
his faithful seed. Throughout the New Testament Abraham is held
up to the converts to the doctrines which Jesus taught, as an
example worthy of imitation, and in no place is there a word of
condemnation uttered concerning him. The Apostle Paul, in
speaking of him says:
198
"Know ye, therefore, that they which are of the faith, the same
are the children of Abraham. . . . So then they which be of the
faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."
198
He also says that the Gentiles, through adoption, became
Abraham's seed; that the blessing of Abraham, says he, might come
upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, showing plainly that
Jesus and all the Apostles who alluded to the subject, held the
deeds of Abraham to be, in every respect, worthy of imitation.
198
Who was this Abraham? I have heard the saying frequently
advanced, that in early life, being an idolater, it was an
idolatrous, heathenish principle which he adopted in taking to
himself a second wife, while Sarah still lived. Those who make
this assertion in reference to the great patriarch, seem to be
ignorant of the fact that he was well advanced in life and had
served God faithfully many years, prior to making any addition to
his family. He did not have a plurality of wives until years
after the Lord had revealed Himself to him, commanding him to
leave Ur, of the Chaldees, and go forth to a land which He would
give to him and his posterity for an everlasting possession. He
went forth and lived in that land many long years before the
promise of God was fulfilled unto him--namely, that in his seed
should all the nations of the earth be blessed; and Abraham was
still without any heir, except Eliezer, of Damascus, the steward
of his house. At length, after living thus for ten years, God
commanded him to take to himself another wife, who was given to
him by his wife Sarah. When the offspring of this marriage was
born, Abraham was eighty-six years old.
199
We read of no word of condemnation from the Lord for this
act--something which we might naturally expect if, as this
unbelieving and licentious generation affirm, the act of taking
more wives than one be such a vile crime, and so abominable in
the sight of God; for if it be evil in the sight of the Lord
to-day, it was then, for the Scriptures inform us that He changes
not, He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, and is
without variableness or the shadow of turning. But instead of
condemnation, God revealed Himself continually to His friend
Abraham, teaching His will unto him, revealing all things
concerning the future it was necessary for him to understand, and
promising him that, though he had been blessed with a son,
Ishmael, yet in Isaac, a child of promise, not yet born, should
his seed be called. Abraham was to have yet another son. Sarah,
in her old age, because of her faithfulness, because of her
willingness to comply with the requirements and revelations of
God, was to have a son given unto her. Such an event was so
unheard of among women at her time of life that, though the Lord
promised it, she could not help laughing at the idea. But God
fulfilled His promise, and in due time Isaac was born, and was
greatly blessed of the Lord.
199
Determined to try His faithful servant Abraham to the uttermost,
the Lord, some years after the birth of this son, in whom He had
promised that Abraham's seed should be called, required him to
offer up this boy as a burnt offering to Him; and Abraham,
nothing doubting, but full of faith and integrity, and of
devotion to his God, proved himself worthy of the honored title
that had been conferred upon him, namely, "the Friend of God," by
taking his sons Isaac, in whom most of his hopes for the future
centred, up the mountain, and there, having built the altar, he
bound the victim, and with knife uplifted, was about to strike
the fatal blow, when the angel of the Lord cried out of heaven
commanding him not to slay his son. The Lord was satisfied,
having tried him to the uttermost, and found him willing even to
shed the blood of his well-beloved son.
199
The Lord was so pleased with the faithfulness of Abraham, that He
gave unto him the greatest promise He could give to any human
being on the face of the earth. What do you think was the nature
of that promise? Did He promise to Abraham a crown of eternal
glory? Did He promise to him that he should be in the presence of
the Lamb, that he should tune his harp and sing praises to God
and the Lamb throughout the endless ages of eternity? Let me
quote it to you, and it would be well if all the inhabitants of
the earth would reflect upon it. Said the Lord:
199
"In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will
multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which
is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his
enemies."
199
This was the promise which God gave to Abraham, in that hour of
his triumph, in that hour when there was joy in heaven over the
faithfulness of one of God's noblest and most devoted sons. Think
of the greatness of this blessing! Can you count the stars of
heaven, or even the grains of a handful of sand? No, it is beyond
the power of earth's most gifted sons to do either, and yet God
promised to Abraham that his seed should be as innumerable as the
stars of heaven or as the sand on the sea-shore.
200
How similar was this promise of God to Abraham to that made by
Jesus as a reward for faithfulness to those who followed him!
Said Jesus, he that forsakes brothers or sisters, houses or
lands, father or mother, wives or children, shall receive a
hundred-fold in this life with persecution, and eternal life in
the world to come.
200
A very similar blessing to that which God, long before, had made
to Abraham, and couched in very similar terms.
200
It is pertinent for us to inquire, on the present occasion, how
the promises made by Jesus and his Father, in ages of the world
separated by a long interval the one from the other, could be
realized under the system which prevails throughout Christendom
at the present day? In the monogamic system, under which the
possession of more than one living wife is regarded as such a
crime, and as being so fearfully immoral, how could the promise
of the Savior to his faithful followers, that they should have a
hundred-fold of wives and children in this present life, ever be
realized? There is a way which God has provided in a revelation
given to this Church, in which He says:
200
"Strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth unto the
exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that
find it, because ye receive me not in the world, neither do ye
know me."
200
God revealed that strait and narrow way to Abraham, and taught
him how he could enter therein. He taught him the principle of
plurality of wives; Abraham practiced it and bequeathed it to his
children as a principle which they were to practice. Under such a
system it was a comparatively easy matter for men to have a
hundred-fold of wives, children, fathers, mothers, brothers,
sisters and everything else in proportion; and in no other way
could the promises of Jesus be realized by his followers, than in
the way God has provided, and which He has revealed to His Church
and people in these latter days.
200
I have felt led to dwell upon these few passages from the sayings
of Jesus to show you that there are abundance of Scriptural
proofs in favor of this principle and the position this Church
has assumed, in addition to those previously referred to.
200
It is a blessed thing to know that, in this as every other
doctrine and principle taught by us as a Church, we are sustained
by the revelations God gave to His people anciently. One of the
strongest supports the Elders of this Church have had, in their
labors among the nations, was the knowledge that the Bible and
New Testament sustained every principle they advanced to the
people. When they preached faith, repentance, baptism for the
remission of sins, the laying on of hands for the reception of
the Holy Ghost, the gathering of the people from the nations, the
rebuilding of Jerusalem, the second coming of Christ, and every
other principle ever touched upon by them, it was gratifying to
know that they were sustained by the Scriptures, and that they
could turn to chapter and verse among the sayings of Jesus and
his Apostles, or among those of the ancient prophets, in
confirmation of every doctrine they ever attempted to bring to
the attention of those to whom they ministered. There is nothing
with which the Latter-day Saints can, with more confidence, refer
to the Scriptures for confirmation and support, than the doctrine
of plural marriage, which at the present time, among one of the
most wicked, adulterous and corrupt generations the world has
ever seen, is so much hated, and for which mankind generally are
so anxious to cast out and persecute the Latter-day Saints.
201
If we look abroad and peruse the records of every day life
throughout the whole of Christendom, we find that crimes of every
hue, and of the most appalling and revolting character are
constantly committed, exciting neither surprise nor comment.
Murder, robbery, adultery, seduction and every species of
villainy known in the voluminous catalogue of crime in modern
times, are regarded as mere matters of ordinary occurrence, and
yet there is hue and cry raised, almost as wide as Christendom,
for the persecution, by fine, imprisonment, proscription,
outlawry or extermination of the people of Utah because, knowing
that God, the Eternal Father, has spoken in these days and
revealed His mind and will to them, they dare to carry out His
behests. For years they have meekly submitted to this persecution
and contumely, but they appeal now, as ever, to all rational,
reflecting men, and invite comparison between the state of
society here and in any portion of this or any other country,
knowing that the verdict will be unanimous and overwhelming in
their favor. In every civilized country on the face of the earth
the seducer plies his arts to envelop his victim within his
meshes, in order to accomplish her ruin most completely; and it
is well known that men holding positions of trust and
responsibility, looked upon as honorable and highly respectable
members of society, violate their marriage vows by carrying on
their secret amours and supporting mistresses, yet against the
people of Utah, where such things are totally unknown, there is
an eternal and rabid outcry because they practice the
heaven-revealed system of a plurality of wives. It is a most
astonishing thing, and no greater evidence could be given that
Satan reigns in the hearts of the children of men, and that he is
determined, if possible, to destroy the work of God from the face
of the earth.
201
The Bible, the only work accepted by the nations of Christendom,
as a divine revelation, sustains this doctrine, from beginning to
end. The only revelation on record that can be quoted against it,
came through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and is contained in the
Book of Mormon; and strange to say, here in Salt Lake City, a day
or two since, one of the leading men of the nation, in his eager
desire and determination to cast discredit on this doctrine,
unable to do so by reference to the Bible, which he, no doubt, in
common with all Christians, acknowledges as divine, was compelled
to have recourse to the Book of Mormon, a work which on any other
point he would most unquestionably have scouted and ridiculed as
an emanation from the brain of an impostor. What consistency! A
strange revolution this, that men should have recourse to our own
works, whose authenticity they most emphatically deny, to prove
us in the wrong. Yet, this attempt, whenever made, cannot be
sustained, for brother Pratt clearly showed to you, in his
remarks the other day, that instead of the Book of Mormon being
opposed to this principle, it contains an express provision for
the revelation of the principle to us as a people at some future
time--namely, that when the Lord should desire to raise up unto
Himself a righteous seed, He would command His people to that
effect, plainly setting forth that a time would come when He
would command His people to do so.
202
It is necessary that this principle should be practiced under the
auspices and control of the Priesthood. God has placed that
Priesthood in the Church to govern and control all the affairs
thereof, and this is a principle which, if not practiced in the
greatest holiness and purity, might lead men into great sin,
therefore the Priesthood is the more necessary to guide and
control men in the practice of this principle. There might be
circumstances and situations in which it would not be wisdom in
the mind of God for His people to practice this principle, but so
long as a people are guided by the Priesthood and revelations of
God, there is no danger of evil arising therefrom. If we, as a
people, had attempted to practice this principle without
revelation, it is likely that we should have been led into
grievous sins, and the condemnation of God would have rested upon
us; but the Church waited until the proper time came, and then
the people practiced it according to the mind and will of God,
making a sacrifice of their own feelings in so doing. But the
history of the world goes to prove that the practice of this
principle, even by nations ignorant of the Gospel, has resulted
in greater good to them than the practice of monogamy or the
one-wife system in the so-called Christian nations. To-day,
Christendom holds itself and its institutions aloft as a pattern
for all men to follow. If you travel throughout the United States
and through the nations of Europe in which Christianity prevails,
and talk with the people about their institutions, they will
boast of them as being the most permanent, indestructive and
progressive of any institutions existing upon the earth; yet it
is a fact well known to historians, that the Christian nations of
Europe are the youngest nations on the globe. Where are the
nations that have existed from time immemorial? They are not to
be found in Christian monogamic Europe, but in Asia, among the
polygamic races--China, Japan, Hindostan and the various races of
that vast continent. Those nations, from the most remote times,
practiced plural marriage handed down to them by their
forefathers. Although they are looked upon by the nations of
Europe as semi-civilized, you will not find among them woman
prostituted, debased and degraded as she is through Christendom.
She may be treated coldly and degraded, but among them, except
where the Christian element prevails to a large extent, she is
not debased and polluted, as she is among the so-called Christian
nations. It is a fact worthy of note that the shortest-lived
nations of which we have record have been monogamic. Rome, with
her arts, sciences and warlike instincts, was once the mistress
of the world; but her glory faded. She was a monogamic nation,
and the numerous evils attending that system early laid the
foundation for that ruin which eventually overtook her. The
strongest sayings of Jesus recorded in the New Testament were
levelled against the dreadful corruptions practiced in Rome and
wherever the Romans held sway. The leaven of their institutions
had worked its way into the Jewish nation, Jewry or Palestine
being then a Roman province, and governed by Roman officers, who
brought with them their wicked institutions, and Jesus denounced
the practices which prevailed there.
203
A few years before the birth of the Savior, Julius Caesar was the
First Consul at Rome; he aimed at and obtained imperial power. He
had four wives during his life, and committed numerous
adulteries. His first wife he married early; but, becoming
ambitious, the alliance did not suit him, and, as the Roman law
did not permit him to retain her and to marry another, he put her
away. He then married the daughter of a consul, thinking to
advance his interests thereby. She died, and a third was married.
The third was divorced, and he married a fourth, with whom he was
living at the time he was murdered. His grandnephew, the Emperor
Augustus Caesar, reigned at the time of the birth of Christ. He
is alluded to in history as one of the greatest of the Caesars;
he also had four wives. He divorced one after another, except the
last, who outlived him. These men were not singular in this
practice; it was common in Rome; the Romans did not believe in
plurality of wives, but in divorcing them; in taking wives for
convenience and putting them away when they got tired of them. In
our country divorces are increasing, yet Roman like, men expect
purity and chastity from their wives they do not practice
themselves. You recollect, doubtless, the famous answer of Caesar
when his wife was accused of an intrigue with an infamous man.
Some one asked Caesar why he had put away his wife. Said he, "The
wife of Caesar must not only be incorrupt, but unsuspected." He
could not bear to have the virtue of his wife even suspected, yet
his own life was infamous in the extreme. He was a seducer,
adulterer, and is reported to have practiced even a worse crime,
yet he expected his wife to possess a virtue which, in his
highest and holiest moments, was utterly beyond his conception in
his own life.
203
This leaven was spreading itself over every country where the
Roman Empire had jurisdiction. It had reached Palestine in the
days of the Savior, hence by understanding the practices
prevalent in those times amongst that people, you will be better
able to appreciate the strong language used by Jesus against
putting away, or divorcing wives. Rome continued to practice
corruption until she fell beneath the weight of it, and was
overwhelmed, not by another monogamic race, but by the vigorous
polygamic hordes from the north, who swept away Roman
imperialism, establishing in the place thereof institutions of
their own. But they speedily fell into the same habit of having
one wife and multitudes of courtesans, and soon, like Rome, fell
beneath their own corruptions.
203
When courtesans were taught every accomplishment and honored with
the society of the leading men of the nation, and wives were
deprived of these privileges, is it any wonder that Rome should
fall? or that the more pure, or barbarous nations, as they were
called, overwhelmed and destroyed her?
203
I have had it quoted to me many times that no great nations ever
practiced plural marriage. They who make such an assertion are
utterly ignorant of history. What nations have left the deepest
impress on the history of our race? Those which have practiced
plurality of marriage. They have prevented the dreadful crime of
prostitution by allowing men to have more wives than one. I know
we are dazzled by the glory of Christendom; we are dazzled with
the glory of our own age. Like every generation that has preceded
it, the present generation thinks it is the wisest and best, and
nearer to God than any which has preceded it. This is natural; it
is a weakness of human nature. This is the case with nations as
well as generations. China, to-day, calls all western nations
"outside barbarians." Japan, Hindostan and all other polygamic
nations do the same, and in very many respects they have as much
right to say that of the monogamic nations, as the latter have to
say it of them.
204
I heard a traveller remark a few days ago, while in conversation
with him, "I have travelled through Asia Minor and Turkey, and I
have blushed many times while contrasting the practices and
institutions of those people with those of my own country," the
United States. He was a gentleman with whom I had a discussion
some years ago on the principle of plural marriage. He has
travelled a good deal since then, and he remarked to me, "Travel
enlarges a man's head and his heart. I have learned a great many
things since we had a discussion together, and I have modified my
views and opinions very materially with regard to the excellence
of the institutions, habits and morals which prevail in
Christendom." This gentleman told me that among those nations,
which we call semi-civilized, there are no drinking saloons, no
brothels, nor drunkenness, and an entire absence of many other
evils which exist in our own nation. I think this testimony,
coming from a man who, previously, had such strong prejudices,
was very valuable. He is not the only one who has borne this
testimony, but all reliable travellers, who have lived in
Oriental nations, vouch for the absence of those monstrous evils
which flourish in and fatten and fester upon the vitals of all
civilized or Christian nations.
204
In speaking of Utah and this peculiar practice amongst its
people, it is frequently said, "Look at the Turks and other
Oriental nations and see how women are degraded and debased among
them, and deprived of many privileges which they enjoy among us!"
But if it be true that woman does not occupy her true position
among those nations, is this not more attributable to their
rejection of the Gospel than to their practice of having a
plurality of wives? Whatever her condition may be there, however,
I do not therefore accept, as a necessary conclusion, that she
must be degraded among us. We have received the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus, the principles of which elevate all who honor them,
and will impart to our sisters every blessing necessary to make
them noble and good in the presence of God and man.
204
Look at the efforts which are being made to elevate the sex among
the Latter-day Saints! See the privileges that are given to them,
and listen to the teachings imparted to them day by day, week by
week, and year by year, to encourage them to press forward in the
march of improvement! The elevation of the sex must follow as a
result of these instructions. The practice in the world is to
select a few of the sex and to elevate them. There is no country
in the world, probably, where women are idolized to the extent
they are in the United States. But is the entire sex in the
United States thus honored and respected? No, it is not. Any
person who will travel, and observe while he is travelling, will
find that thousands of women are degraded and treated as
something very vile, and are terribly debased in consequence of
the practices of men towards them. But the Gospel of Jesus and
the revelations which God has given unto us concerning
Patriarchal Marriage have a tendency to elevate the entire sex,
and give all the privilege of being honored matrons and respected
wives. There are no refuse among us--no class to be cast out,
scorned and condemned; but every woman who chooses can be an
honored wife and move in society in the enjoyment of every right
which woman should enjoy to make her the equal of man as far as
she can be his equal.
205
This is the result of the revelations of the Gospel unto us, and
the effect of the preaching and practice of this principle in our
midst. I know, however, that there are those who shrink from
this, who feel their hearts rebel against the principle, because
of the equality which it bestows on the sex. They would like to
be the honored few--the aristocrats of society, as it were, while
their sisters might perish on every hand around them. They would
not, if they could, extend their hands to save their sisters from
a life of degradation. This is wrong and a thing which God is
displeased at. He has revealed this principle and commanded His
servants to take wives. What for? That they may obey His great
command--a command by which Eternity is peopled, a command by
which Abraham's seed shall become as the stars of heaven for
multitude, and as the sand on the sea-shore, that cannot be
counted. He has given to us this command, and shall we, the
sterner sex, submit to all the difficulties and trials entailed
in carrying it out? Shall we submit to all the afflictions and
labor incident to this life to save our sisters, while many of
you who are of the same sex, whose hearts ought to beat for their
salvation as strongly as ours do, will not help us? I leave you
all to answer. There is a day of reckoning coming when you will
be held accountable as well as we. Every woman in this Church
should join heart and hand in this great work, which has for its
result the redemption of the sexes, both male and female. No
woman should slacken her hand or withhold her influence, but
every one should seek by prayer and faith unto God for the
strength and grace necessary to enable her to do so. "But," says
one, "is not this a trial, and does it not inflict upon us
unnecessary trials?" There are afflictions and trials connected
with this principle. It is necessary there should be. Is there
any law that God reveals unattended with a trial of some kind?
Think of the time, you who are adults, and were born in the
nations, when you joined the Church! Think of the trials
connected with your espousal of the Gospel. Did it not try you to
go forth and be baptized? Did it not try you, when called upon to
gather, to leave your homes and nearest and dearest friends, as
many of you have done? Did it not try you to do a great many
things you have been required to do in the Gospel? Every law of
the Gospel has a trial connected with it, and the higher the law
the greater the trial; and as we ascend nearer and nearer to the
Lord our God we shall have greater trials to contend with in
purifying ourselves before Him. He has helped us thus far. He has
helped us to conquer our selfish feelings, and when our sisters
seek unto Him He helps them to overcome their feelings; He gives
them strength to overcome their selfishness and jealousy. There
is not a woman under the sound of my voice to-day, but can bear
witness of this, if she has tried it. You, sisters, whose
husbands have taken other wives, can you not bear testimony that
the principle has purified your hearts, made you less selfish,
brought you nearer to God and given you power you never had
before? There are hundreds within the sound of my voice to-day,
both men and women, who can testify that this has been the effect
that the practice of this principle has had upon them.
206
I am speaking now of what are called the spiritual benefits
arising from the righteous practice of this principle. I am sure
that, through the practice of this principle, we shall have a
purer community, a community more experienced, less selfish and
with a higher knowledge of human nature than any other on the
face of the earth. It has already had this effect to a great
extent, and its effects in these directions will increase as the
practice of the principle becomes more general.
206
A lady visitor remarked to me not long ago in speaking upon this
subject, "Were I man, I would feel differently probably to what I
do; to your sex the institution cannot be so objectionable." This
may be the case to some extent, but the practice of this
principle is by no means without its trials for the males. The
difficulties and perplexities connected with the care of a
numerous family, to a man who has any ambition, are so great that
nothing short of the revelations of God or the command of Jesus
Christ would tempt men to enter this order; the mere increase of
facilities to gratify the lower passions of our natures would be
no inducement to assume such an increase of grave
responsibilities. These desires have been implanted in both male
and female for a wise purpose, but their immoderate and illegal
gratification is a source of evil equal to that system of
repression prevalent in the world, to which thousands must submit
or criminate themselves. Just think, in the single State of
Massachusetts, at the last census, there were 63,011 females more
than males. Brother Pratt, in his remarks on this subject, truly
remarked that the law of Massachusetts makes these 63,011 females
either old maids or prostitutes, for that law says they shall not
marry a man who has a wife. Think of this! And the same is true
to a greater or less degree throughout all the older States, for
the females preponderate in every one.
206
Thus far I have referred only to the necessity and benefit of
this principle being practiced in a moral point of view. I have
said nothing about the physiological side of the question. This
is one, if not the strongest, source of argument in its favor;
but I do not propose to enter into that branch of the subject to
any great extent on the present occasion. We are all, both men
and women, physiologists enough to know that the procreative
powers of man endure much longer than those of woman. Granting,
as some assert, that an equal number of the sexes exist, what
would this lead to? Man must practice that which is vile and low
or submit to a system of repression; because if he be married to
a woman who is physically incapable, he must either do himself
violence or what is far worse, he must have recourse to the
dreadful and damning practice of having illegal connection with
women, or become altogether like the beasts. Do you not see that
if these things were introduced among our society they would be
pregnant with the worst results? The greatest conceivable evils
would result therefrom! How dreadful are the consequences of this
system of which I am now speaking, as witnessed at the present
time throughout all the nations of Christendom! You may see them
on every hand. Yet the attempt is being continually made to bring
us to the same standard, and to compel us to hare the same evils.
207
When the principle of plurality of wives was revealed I was but a
boy. While reflecting on the subject of the sealing power which
was then being taught, the case of Jacob, who had four wives,
occurred to me, and I immediately concluded that the time would
come when light connected with this practice would be revealed to
us as a people. I was therefore prepared for the principle when
it was revealed, and I know it is true on the principle that I
know that baptism, the laying on of hands, the gathering, and
everything connected with the Gospel is true. If there were no
books in existence, if the revelation itself were blotted out,
and there was nothing written in its favor, extant among men,
still I could bear testimony for myself that I know this is a
principle which, if practiced in purity and virtue, as it should
be, will result in the exaltation and benefit of the human
family; and that it will exalt woman until she is redeemed from
the effects of the Fall, and from that curse pronounced upon her
in the beginning. I believe the correct practice of this
principle will redeem woman from the effects of that
curse--namely, "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee." All the evils connected with jealousy have their
origin in this. It is natural for woman to cleave to man; it was
pronounced upon her in the beginning, seemingly as a punishment.
I believe the time will come when, by the practice of the
virtuous principles which God has revealed, woman will be
emancipated from that punishment and that feeling. Will she cease
to love man? No, it is not necessary for her to cease to love.
207
How is it among the nations of the earth? Why, women, in their
yearning after the other sex and in their desire for maternity,
will do anything to gratify that instinct of their nature and
yield to anything and be dishonored even rather than not gratify
it; and in consequence of that which has been pronounced upon
them, they are not held accountable to the same extent as men
are. Man is strong, he is the head of woman, and God will hold
him responsible for the use of the influence he exercises over
the opposite sex. Hence we were told by brother Pratt that there
are degrees of glory, and that the faithful man may receive the
power of God--the greatest He has ever bestowed upon man--namely,
the power of procreation. It is a godlike power, but how it is
abused! How men debase themselves and the other sex by its
unlawful and improper exercise! We were told there is a glory to
which alone that power will be accorded in the life to come.
Still there will be millions of women saved in the kingdom of
God, while men, through the abuse of this precious gift, will not
be counted worthy of such a privilege. And this very punishment
will, in the end, be woman's salvation, because she is not held
accountable to the same degree that men are.
208
This is a subject that we would all do well to reflect upon.
There are many points connected with the question,
physiologically, that might be dwelt upon with great advantage. I
have heard it said, and seen it printed, that the children born
here under this system are not so smart as others; that their
eyes lack lustre and that they are dull in intellect; and many
strangers, especially ladies, when arriving here, are anxious to
see the children, having read accounts which have led them to
expect that most of the children born here are deficient. But the
testimony of Professor Park, the principal of the University of
Deseret, and of other leading teachers of the young here, is that
they never saw children with greater aptitude for the acquisition
of knowledge than the children raised in this Territory. There
are no brighter children to be found in the world than those born
in this Territory. Under the system of Patriarchal Marriage, the
offspring, besides being equally as bright and brighter
intellectually, are much more healthy and strong. Need I go into
particulars to prove this? To you who are married there is no
necessity of doing so; you know what I mean. You all know that
many women are sent to the grave prematurely through the evils
they have to endure from their husbands during pregnancy and
lactation, and that their children often sustain irremediable
injury.
208
Another good effect of the institution here is that you may
travel throughout our entire Territory, and virtue prevails. Our
young live virtuously until they marry. But how is it under the
monogamic system? Temptations are numerous on every hand and
young men fall a prey to vice. An eminent medical professor in
New York, recently declared, while delivering a lecture to his
class in one of the colleges there, that if he wanted a man
twenty-five years of age, free from a certain disease, he would
not know where to find him. What a terrible statement to make! In
this community no such thing exists. Our boys grow up in purity,
honoring and respecting virtue; our girls do the same, and the
great mass of them are pure. There may be impurities. We are
human, and it would not be consistent with our knowledge of human
nature to say that we are entirely pure, but we are the most pure
of any people within the confines of the Republic. We have fewer
unvirtuous boys and girls in our midst than any other community
within the range of my knowledge. Both sexes grow up in vigor,
health and purity.
208
These, my brethren and sisters, are some of the results which I
wanted to allude to in connection with this subject. Much more
might be said. There is not a man or woman who has listened to me
to-day, but he and she have thoughts, reasons and arguments to
sustain this principle passing though their minds which I have
not touched upon, or if touched upon at all, in a very hasty
manner.
208
The question arises, What is going to be done with this
institution? Will it be overcome? The conclusion arrived at long
ago is that it is God and the people for it. God has revealed it,
He must sustain it, we cannot; we cannot bear it off, He must. I
know that Napoleon said Providence was on the side of the
heaviest artillery, and many men think that God is on the side of
the strongest party. The Midianites probably thought so when
Gideon fell upon them with three hundred men. Sennacherib and the
Assyrians thought so when they came down in their might to blot
out Israel. But God is mighty; God will prevail; God will sustain
that which He has revealed, and He will uphold and strengthen His
servants and bear off His people. We need not be afflicted by a
doubt; a shadow of doubt need not cross our minds as to the
result. We know that God can sustain us; He has borne off His
people in triumph thus far and will continue to do so.
209
I did intend, when I got up, to say something in relation to the
effects of the Priesthood; but as the time is so far gone, I feel
that if I say anything it must be very brief. But in connection
with the subject of plural marriage, the Priesthood is intimately
interwoven. It is the Priesthood which produces the peace,
harmony, good order, and everything which make us as a people
peculiar, and for which our Territory has become remarkable. It
is that principle--the Priesthood, which governs the heavenly
hosts. God and Jesus rule through this power, and through it we
are made, so far as we have received it and rendered obedience to
its mandates, like our heavenly Father and God. He is our Father
and our God; He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; He is the
Father of all the inhabitants of the earth, and we inherit His
divinity, if we choose to seek for and cultivate it. We inherit
His attributes; we can, by taking the proper course, inherit the
Priesthood by which He exercises control; by which the heavenly
orbs in the immensity of space are governed, and by which the
earth revolves in its seasons. It is the holy Priesthood that
controls all the creations of the Gods, and though men fight
against it, and, if they could, would blot it out of existence,
it will prevail and go on increasing in power and strength until
the sceptre of Jesus is acknowledged by all, and the earth is
redeemed and sanctified.
209
That this may be brought about speedily, is my prayer in the name
of Jesus, Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, July 17, 1870
Brigham Young, July 17, 1870
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 17, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
PREACHING THE GOSPEL--THE PRINCIPLES AND SPIRIT OF THE SAME.
210
I realize that it is quite a trial for young men, who have just
started in the life of the Gospel, to speak to an audience,
either large or small. In my observation and experience I have
noticed that most speakers are timid at the sound of their own
voices. If it were prudent and wisdom we would not ask our young
brethren to speak when they return home, but would let them pass
along and gratify their own feelings, without speaking to the
congregations of the Saints. This timidity, experienced on rising
to address their fellow creatures, is in all, with very few
exceptions. I think I have seen a few men in my life that I
suppose never were troubled or felt that trembling, fearfulness,
timidity, bashfulness or any hesitancy whatever to get up and say
what they had a mind to; but such persons are very rare. I do not
know whether I ever saw a female of this character or not, but I
think I have seen a few men. As far as I am concerned, although I
have addressed congregations so many times, I have scarcely ever
felt free from this timidity when rising for that purpose. When I
view the faces of my fellow creatures I behold an embodiment of
intelligence before which my nature, according to this life,
shrinks; and this is the case with most speakers. Still, in my
experience, when it has been my duty to declare the Gospel of the
Son of God to the children of men, I have found that the Lord has
strengthened me; He has given me His Holy Spirit, and when
enjoying it while talking to the people fear or timidity soon
disappeared. This is the experience of my younger days; and this
is the case with our young Elders. When they rise they feel this
timidity of which I have been speaking, but if they enjoy the
Spirit of the Lord, their humanity or the weakness of human
nature is soon forgotten. I know how to feel for and sympathize
with them; I have realized all that they have realized, for my
experience in my early career as a preacher of the Gospel was
similar to theirs. I was ignorant of letters to a great degree,
yet I had been a Bible student from my youth; but when the Spirit
of the Lord was upon me it was no matter to me who heard my voice
when declaring the principles of the Gospel, or who felt disposed
to dispute, criticise, or spiritualize or do away with the
Scriptures of divine truth. To me it was nothing; they were like
children, and their efforts were no more than the efforts of
babes. I do not think I have ever seen or been acquainted with a
"Mormon" Elder who has enjoyed the spirit of his mission but who
was able to stand before the learned and wise and before the
divines of the day and preach the Gospel fearlessly, for the
simple reason that they have not the Gospel. They may have a
gospel; I do not dispute that; and they have also their creeds
and forms of worship; but when they take this book (the Bible)
for their guide, in their religion, faith and works, they are one
with us; then we have no disputations, no contentions, no room
for arguments; but when they do away with the Scriptures and turn
the truth of God into a falsehood, and manifest the same spirit
as that manifested by the children of Israel, namely, to
transgress every law, to change every ordinance and to break the
covenants delivered to them, why the Elder of Israel has God to
back him up; he has the word of the Almighty to sustain him; he
has the Bible in his hand to prove that his position is correct,
and that theirs is false.
211
We have labored, toiled and travelled, without purse or scrip, to
preach the Gospel to all nations and people wherever they would
hearken. Wherever they would permit us to enter their cities,
towns and villages, their meeting-houses, school-houses or
dwelling houses, we have been ready to preach to them the words
of life and salvation. It is our delight to hear the young
brethren, who have returned from missions, say the past three or
five years, as the case may be, "have been the happiest of my
whole life." Where is the man or woman now living, or that ever
did live, that was not happy when in possession of the Spirit of
God? It makes its possessors happier than all the pleasures of
life. Can wealth and worldly honor give that complete joy and
satisfaction which the Spirit of God affords to the humble Saint?
No. The possession of everything that we can desire--that our
eyes could see, our ears hear, or our hearts conceive, would fall
at our feet worthless, so far as their capability of conferring
real, genuine joy, satisfaction and pleasure is concerned, when
compared with the Spirit of God when it enlightens the mind,
enriches the soul and lifts up an individual to behold the things
of eternity, the work of God and His designs concerning this
earth and the children of men. I say that all earthly things fall
at the feet of an individual who possesses the Spirit of God; for
his life, hopes, desires, thoughts, anticipations and will are
far above the things of this life, and earth sinks beneath him.
This Spirit animates our young brethren when faithfully attending
to their duties while on missions, and it is this which enables
them to say that the time so spent has been the happiest of their
lives. This enables our Elders, many of whom are to a great
degree destitute of education, to stand before the learned, wise
and noble, and the divines of the day, and declare the principles
of the Gospel of Jesus. Who could do this under such
circumstances without the Spirit of the Lord? I do not know the
individual; and if there be those who could they are such as I
referred to at the commencement of my remarks who, destitute of a
knowledge of their own weakness, can stand up anywhere and speak
with boldness, and exhibit themselves, whether it be wisdom or
folly to do so. None but those who enjoy the Spirit of the Lord,
who are filled with the Holy Ghost, can stand before emperors,
kings and wise men of the earth and speak the words of truth with
all that simplicity and pleasure that children converse together
[with].
211
This is my experience. When contemplating what we have passed
through in travelling and preaching, it gives joy to many. The
contemplation of my own experience, when I have time to do so, is
a source of the greatest pleasure; perhaps this is not quite
correct, but it is a source of great pleasure to take a
retrospective view of the scenes I have passed through, for I can
see where God has favored and blessed me. For instance, I
recollect the Sunday morning on which I was baptized, in my own
little mill stream; I was ordained to the office of an Elder
before my clothes were dry upon me. I passed the day in meeting,
and one week from that day I had the pleasure of meeting with and
preaching to a large congregation. I think there were present on
that occasion four experienced Elders, formerly of the Methodist
and Baptist persuasions, who had received the Gospel and had been
numbered with us. I expected to hear them address the people on
the principles that we had just received through the servants of
the Lord. They said that the Spirit of the Lord was not upon them
to speak to the people, yet they had been preachers for years. I
was but a child, so far as public speaking and a knowledge of the
world was concerned; but the Spirit of the Lord was upon me, and
I felt as though my bones would consume within me unless I spoke
to the people and told them what I had seen, heard and
learned--what I had experienced and rejoiced in; and the first
discourse I ever delivered I occupied over an hour. I opened my
mouth and the Lord filled it; and from that time, wherever we
travelled and preached, the people heard, received and rejoiced
in the Gospel, and we baptized our thousands upon thousands.
211
I recollect when I left, to go to England, I was unable to walk
twenty rods without assistance. I was helped to the edge of the
river Mississippi and carried across. When brother Kimball and I
started on our journey there was a struggle between us and the
powers of earth and hell whether or not we should accomplish our
mission. We were in the depths of poverty, caused by being driven
from Missouri, where we had left all. I recollect that one of my
own sisters pitied my condition and situation; she was sorry for
me, and said, "Brother Brigham, what necessity is there for you
to go to England while you are sick? Why not tarry here until you
are well?" I said to her, as I started off one morning, "Sister
Fanny, I never felt better in my life." She was a very eccentric
woman and, looking at me, with tears in her eyes, she said, "You
lie." I said nothing, but I was determined to go to England or to
die trying. My firm resolve was that I would do what I was
required to do in the Gospel of life and salvation, or I would
die trying to do it. I am so to-day.
212
We landed upon the shores of England, and then I felt that the
chains were broken, and the bands that were upon me were burst
asunder. Twelve months and sixteen days a few of the Twelve and
Seventies tarried in England. In these twelve months and sixteen
days, under my supervision, between eight and nine thousand
persons were baptized (though some apostatized) before we left,
the Churches were organized, the emigration prepared, ships were
chartered and companies sailed out. When I landed in Liverpool I
had six bits, with which I purchased a hat. In twelve months and
sixteen days one of the finest vessels in the harbor tied up
eight days to carry myself and brethren across the water. The
agents of the vessel said such a thing had never been done
before, but they were urgent and anxious to oblige us, for we had
chartered and fitted out several vessels, and as our emigration
promised to be a large business they wanted to carry us home. In
that twelve months we hand printed five thousand copies of the
Book of Mormon, three thousand hymn books, and commenced the
Millennial Star; over sixty thousand tracts had been printed and
sent by the hands of the Elders to many of the houses in the
towns they visited or distributed in their meetings; and in this
way the word was distributed and the work carried on for one
short twelve months. Our labor was successful, God blessed us,
and when we returned our Book of Mormon was paid for. The
gentleman who bound the first Book of Mormon in England binds
them to-day when they have to be bound. We have not owed the
first farthing to those who have done this work for us, but have
paid promptly, according to promise, for every particle of our
printing. Besides doing what I have already mentioned in that
twelve months I sustained several families while there, and
preserved them from starvation and death. All this was through
the blessing of the Lord being upon us. We were strangers and
unknown in a strange land, but the work prospered under the hands
of the servants of God, and the means to do the work that was
done, was procured through our industry and prudence. I have
before taken the liberty, in a public capacity like this, to tell
my brethren and sisters, that I do not recollect of spending more
than one penny, needlessly, while in England, and that was for a
bunch of grapes while passing through Smithfield market,
Manchester. When I took them in my hand I saw women passing
through the market who, I knew, were suffering through hunger,
and who probably perished and died. I felt that I ought to have
given that penny to the poor. Whenever I went from my office, if
I neglected to take my pocket full of coppers to give to the poor
mendicants which are everywhere to be met with, I would return to
the office and take a handful of coppers from the drawer, and as
I walked along would give something to such objects of pity and
distress as I met, and pass on without being hindered by them. We
organized the Church, we ordained two patriarchs, and from that
time we have been gathering the poor.
213
This is the experience of many of my brethren as well as myself.
We have toiled and labored together, gathering the people,
preaching the Gospel to the nations, hunting for the pure in
heart, those who love the Lord our God, those who believe the
Bible. Where is the minister, the deacon, where are the people
who believe in God the Father? In our Lord Jesus Christ? Who
believe the New Testament? Who will accept of the salvation that
is proffered to the human family through the labors of Jesus and
his Apostles? We are after them. Is there an individual on the
face of the earth that will receive the truth? We want to find
him. Who will receive the truth? They who will give all for
Christ. Not the proud, not the haughty; not those who set stakes
and say the Lord must come to them or they will not have
salvation, but they who say, "Let the Lord draw the line and mark
the path and we will walk to it." This must be the conclusion of
every person who expects to be saved in the kingdom of God.
213
We preach faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian world say
they have faith. Have they? If they have they will bow down and
receive the ordinances of the New and Everlasting Covenant, and
thank God that they have the privilege of receiving them. Can
they who reject the New Testament and the Son of God, who refuse
to receive the ordinances of the New Testament that were placed
in the Church and kingdom of God on the earth in the days of
Jesus and his Apostles, be saved in the celestial kingdom? I
answer they can not. The Scriptures make this answer; it is the
declaration of Jesus and the Apostles; it is the word of the
Almighty, consequently we must concur and say the same. Unless we
believe the Gospel of Christ and obey its ordinances we have no
promise of the life to come. If we ever attain to that it will be
only by complying with the terms that Jesus has laid down. We
cannot build and plan for ourselves; if we do we shall be like
the Jews of old, who, as the prophet says, "have hewn out
cisterns that will hold no water." We must submit to the
ordinances of the house of God.
215
Who is there that can say baptism is not necessary for the
remission of sins? Jesus and the Apostles said it was necessary.
Can I say it is not? I cannot, and it is a fact that all who
receive eternal life and salvation will receive it on no other
conditions than believing in the Son of God and obeying the
principles that he has laid down. Can we devise any other means
and plan of salvation? We cannot. Will we do away with the Bible?
We will not; though the Christian world are actually coming to
the point that they will dismiss the Bible from their schools;
and by and by they will dismiss it from their pulpits and get one
to suit themselves; they will hew out for themselves cisterns
that will hold no water. They cannot abide the doctrine contained
in the Old and New Testament, "and," say they, "we must alter and
change it; it does not suit our condition. It was not written for
us; it was written for people in days of old; but we live under
different circumstances and the Bible should be altered, and we
will assemble our synods and have the Scriptures revised to suit
our condition." Have they commenced this? Yes, and not very
recently either. Can you find a copy of the first printed edition
of the Bible? We have Bibles between two and three hundred years
old, but where can the first Bibles that were printed be
obtained? While I was travelling in England there was one sold
for five hundred pounds. It had belonged to one of our
brethren--had descended to him from his ancestors; and he, not
knowing its value, sold it for fifteen shillings. Afterwards, if
my memory serves me correctly, it was sold for the sum I have
named. We cannot find books of that edition; some that have been
altered and changed are plentiful. I mean King James'
translation, and that is good enough for me; it will answer my
purpose. But how is it with the Christian world? Will it answer
theirs? If it will, why do they not abide by it? Why do they not
say, "This shall be our rule of faith, and our lives and works
shall correspond with its principles and precepts?" They would do
so if they were honest and their belief was sincere. And it will
have to be so with them if ever they gain admittance into the
kingdom of God, for in the Bible are the words of life and
salvation. I ask again, who can say that baptism is not necessary
for the remission of sins? The question has been asked, "What
virtue is there in the water?" If there is no virtue in it don't
drink it; it is not good for the system if there is no virtue in
it. But there is virtue in it. If there is not, we should never
apply it to our clothing or to the surfaces of our bodies for
cleansing purposes; we should never use any more for cooking; we
should never again apply it to the soil for the purpose of
irrigation. How inconsistent it is to suppose that water should
be used for so many and important purposes in life if there is no
virtue in it! But there is virtue in it, and there is virtue in
being buried beneath the wave in the likeness of Christ, and
coming forth to a newness of life. There is virtue in being born
again, whether in the font or in the river, it makes no
difference, for Jesus has said that "except a man be born of the
water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." When
a person is buried beneath the water he comes forth from one
element to another, and is literally born again. Who, then, after
the declaration of Jesus on this subject, can say that baptism is
not necessary or that there is no virtue in the water? I cannot.
Who can say that the laying on of hands is not necessary for the
reception of the Holy Ghost? It is true that the house of
Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before the Gospel was preached
unto them. But the Lord had a special purpose in view in its
bestowal in their case, namely, the removal of the prejudice of
Peter and his brethren, who, being Jews, and full of the
traditions of their fathers, thought that the Gentiles--among
whom Cornelius and his house were classed--were not privileged to
receive the Gospel. But the vision which Peter had on this
subject, and the message sent to him by Cornelius in obedience to
the command of the Lord in connection with the fact of the
bestowal of the Holy Ghost on Cornelius and his family was so
convincing to Peter and his brethren that the former was
constrained to exclaim, "Can any man forbid water that these
should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as
well as we?" Some may say, "What was the necessity of sending for
Peter, one of the Apostles, when they had already received the
Holy Ghost?" The simple fact is this: there was nobody to baptize
Cornelius and his household, nobody to bury them with Christ in
the water; no one had authority to baptize them for the remission
of their sins; and consequently, although they had received the
Holy Ghost, an Apostle had to be sent for to administer that
ordinance. And we read further in relation to this case, that
Peter "commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord."
Did any others receive the Holy Ghost before baptism? None that
we have any record of; but there is no doubt that many who were
worthy received it in a measure; but, whether in the days of the
Apostles or in our day, when the doctrine of baptism for the
remission of sins is preached by a servant of the Lord to persons
who have received the Holy Ghost, if they reject that doctrine
the Holy Ghost will withdraw from them for ever. Is it necessary
that believers should obey all the doctrines and ordinances
taught and established by the Savior? There is no ordinance that
God has delivered, by His own voice, through His Son Jesus Christ
or by the mouths of any of His prophets, Apostles or evangelists,
that is useless. Every ordinance, every commandment and
requirement is necessary for the salvation of the human family.
215
What are we required to do? To receive the Gospel, the ordinances
of the house of God, and then to go on to perfection. We have
been baptized for the remission of sins and have received the
laying on of hands for the Holy Ghost. We have Apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and so on. Are we not
perfect? According to the testimony of the Apostle we are not.
Says he, Hebrews 6th chapter and 1st verse, "Therefore not
leaving the principle of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on
unto perfection."
215
How will perfection be obtained? By all persons in the kingdom of
God living so as to be revelators from the heavens for themselves
and for all they preside over, that everything they have to
perform in this life--every worldly care and duty, and all their
walk and conversation before each other and before the Lord, may
be marked out by the spirit of revelation. Is this the way to
perfection? It is. This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ;
this is the Gospel of life and salvation. Who can dispute it? We
must destroy the Bible before we can dispute it with any hope of
success. But we may do away with the Bible and say it is no use
to us, it has lost its virtue; it was written for the people six
thousand, four thousand, two thousand, or eighteen hundred years
ago, and it is not for us now. We have plenty upon the earth who
can tell the will of God to the children of men and lead the
people back into the presence of God; and if the Bible were
destroyed by accident, it can be re-written, and all the words of
the Lord that are necessary for their salvation can be given to
the people. We are thankful for this.
215
Are we, the Latter-day Saints, loved for entertaining these views
and for declaring these truths? "Oh, well," says the stranger, "
you should not be hated." If we are hated for anything it is for
preaching the Gospel of life and salvation. If we are hated for
anything it is for good works instead of evil works, no matter
who hears, tells or writes to the contrary. Truth is truth and
will prevail. Are we in fault for believing in Jesus Christ? We
ask the whole Christian world, Can you give us the words of life
and salvation, or tell us how to be saved? Could you do this when
we belonged to your societies, Presbyterians, Baptists or any of
you Protestants? Not the first individual amongst you could point
out the path, for one short rod, to the kingdom of God. Do I know
this? Certainly I do by experience. I have searched for the
truth, though in my youth I was called an infidel, and I was an
infidel. What to? This Bible? No, to false creeds, and to
professing without possessing, as I am to-day.
216
Where is the man who can point out the way of life and salvation?
Who can tell us of God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and give us their characters? Who can tell about heaven and
heavenly things? Who can introduce heaven to earth or earth to
heaven and bring man to his Father again, and re-establish
familiarity and association between them, which is so much
desired by intelligent beings? The prophet of God, Joseph Smith,
commenced it in this generation, no matter how odious his name
may be to the inhabitants of the earth. I will defy any nation to
hate a man more than the Jews hated the name of Jesus
Christ--when he lived in the flesh. I honor and revere the name
of Joseph Smith. I delight to hear it; I love it. I love his
doctrine. Why? Because it is true, and truth will abide when
error passes away. Life will remain when they who have rejected
the words of eternal life are swallowed up in death. I like the
truth because it is true, because it is lovely and delightful,
because it is so glorious in its nature, and so worthy the
admiration, faith and consideration of all intelligent beings in
heaven or on the earth. Should I be hated and my name cast out as
evil because I love the truth? Yes, or the words of Jesus could
not be fulfilled, for he said, "Ye shall be hated of all men for
my name's sake." He told his disciples to rejoice evermore and to
pray without ceasing when they were held in derision by their
enemies, and to lift up their heads and rejoice when all men
spoke evil of them, for "behold your redemption draweth nigh."
216
Is there any harm in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? I
frequently ask the question for my own satisfaction. Is there a
doctrine taught in this book (the Bible), that would ruin or
injure man, woman or child on the face of the earth? Not one. Is
there a doctrine taught by Jesus and his disciples that would not
do good to the people morally, physically, socially, religiously
or politically? Not one. Did Joseph Smith ever teach a doctrine
that would not elevate the soul, feelings, heart and affections
of every individual who would embrace it? Not one. Did he ever
teach a doctrine that would lead those who embraced it down to
wretchedness, woe and misery, that would give them pain for ease,
darkness for light, error for truth? No; but just the reverse. He
proffered life and salvation--light for darkness and truth for
error. He proffered all that was in the Gospel of the Son of God,
and proclaimed that very Gospel that John saw the angel flying
through the midst of heaven to restore. That angel delivered the
keys of this apostleship and ministry to Joseph Smith and his
brethren, and commanded them to blow the Gospel trump through all
the nations of the earth, and to cry to all who love and wait
patiently for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, "Come out
of her, my people, that ye may not be partakers of her sins and
that ye receive not of her plagues." This was the doctrine of
Jesus; this was the cry of John when on the Isle of Patmos. That
angel has flown through the midst of heaven having the
everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on earth, and his
cry was and is, "Come out from Babylon, from pride, from the
foolish fashions of the world; come out from the spirit of the
world, from the spirit of hatred, anger, malice, wrath,
selfishness and every feeling but that that is honorable and
justified of the heavens. Gather yourselves together! Sanctify
the Lord God in your heart." This was the cry, and it is the cry
to-day, and it will be until the pure in heart are gathered
together.
217
Should the Latter-day Saints be hated for this? "Oh, they have
done so many evils!" What have they done? You can see for
yourselves what we have done. Mark our settlements for six
hundred miles in these mountains, and then mark the path that we
made coming here, building the bridges and making the roads
across the prairies, mountains and kanyons! We came here
penniless in old wagons, our friends back telling us to "take all
the provisions you can, for you can get no more! Take all the
furniture you can, for you can get no more! Take all the seed
grain you can, for you can get none there! Take all the farming
implements you can, for you can get none there!" We did this, and
in addition to all this we have gathered all the poor we could,
and the Lord has planted us in these valleys, promising that He
would hide us up for a little season until His wrath and
indignation passed over the nations. Will we trust in the Lord?
Yes.
217
What have we been doing here? You can see for yourselves that we
have been laboring with our hands. We have had no time to find
fault with our neighbors or to do them injury, or to do anything
else only to make ourselves comfortable, and to prepare as fast
as possible for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. See the
settlements that have been built up by the penniless, those who
had not clothing to last them three months when they came, and
some of whom did not bring a month's provision with them, and did
not know that they could raise a thing, only by faith. Yet we
came and we have lived and prospered, and here we are. What fault
should be found with us? "Oh, you have done so many evil things!"
What evils have we done? I am at the defiance of earth and hell
to put a finger on the place or time that a false doctrine was
taught to any one, a wrong taught to any one, or when evil was
justified in any one, all the liars and all the lies on earth and
in hell to the contrary notwithstanding.
218
We believe the Gospel and in Jesus; is there crime in it? No,
there is not; and if the inhabitants of the earth are not dispose
to receive the Gospel, they have the liberty to reject it. If men
come into this Church and are disposed to apostatize, they have
the privilege to do so. Every intelligent being has the right to
choose for himself whether he will have the man Christ Jesus or
Satan to rule over him. He will certainly have one or the other!
Just as sure as he is a living being, the Lord Almighty will be
his leader, dictator, director and counselor, or the devil will.
We cannot live without them. We were brought here; we did not
bring ourselves. We were created, formed, fashioned and made
independent of ourselves. We are under this law and we cannot get
from under it. But the Lord has given us intelligence, and He has
set before us life and death, and has said, "Choose ye this day
whom ye will serve." Which shall we take? I will take the Lord
Jesus every time. Why? Because his doctrine is so pure and holy.
I love it, because in it there is life; because it will endure;
while all error, falsehood, lies and liars will be cast into
hell; and when they shall be utterly destroyed and wasted away,
truth will live and it will endure for ever. I think I will hold
to it. Had not we better all do so? Do you not think that the
Latter-day Saints had better keep their religion and hold on to
the faith of the holy Gospel? I say to the Latter-day Saints, it
is far better for you to retain your characters as Saints than to
let them go. I do not care where you go, if it be among the most
wicked band of men on earth, they will respect you more if you
retain your characters as Saints than they would if they could
say to you, "You have been preaching this doctrine that we call
false for thirty, thirty-five, or forty years, and bearing your
testimony to its truth, and now you turn round and say it is
false. You have just learned that you have been a hypocrite, and
that those whom you formerly hailed as brethren and friends are a
set of hypocrites." Such individuals will be branded wherever
they go, and they will not be trusted either for good or evil;
and if they go to hell they will be despised by the damned. That
is the condition of apostates. Why? Because they are traitors,
and having lied about one thing they will lie about another;
having lied once they will lie again. Is it not so? Yes,
everybody will admit that. Well, do you not think that good men
and good women had better hold on to their goodness? I think so.
When a man by his course in life has acquired a character that is
spotless, it is a priceless jewel, and nothing should induce him
to barter it away. If the wicked try to bring a blemish or cast a
stain upon it their efforts will not be successful. They may
throw their mud, but it will not stain the garments of the pure
and holy. Had we not better preserve the good characters which
God has helped us to maintain? I think we had.
219
Now, what do we believe in? In anything that will do us harm? Not
the least in the world. Our belief will bring peace to all men
and good will to all the inhabitants of the earth. It will induce
all who sincerely follow its dictates to cultivate righteousness
and peace; to live peaceably in their families; to praise the
Lord morning and evening; to pray with their families, and will
so fill them with the spirit of peace that they will never
condemn or chasten any one unless it is well deserved. They who
live in the enjoyment of the spirit and influence of our holy
religion will never feel "cross." That is the common word.
Yankees will understand it, for I have seen lots of them
cross--out of humor, out of temper. They will never feel like
this. They will rise in the morning with their spirits as smooth
and serene as the sun that is rising and giving life and heat to
the world; just as calm and as smooth as the breezes on a summer
evening. No anger, no wrath, no malice, contention or strife. If
a wrong arises, the party wronged will go to his neighbor and
quietly investigate whether wrong was designed; and if the
seeming transgressor is living according to the spirit of his
religion, it will be found that he had designed no wrong, and
that he will make ample amends, forgiveness will be accorded, and
the trouble will end. This is the spirit and teaching of the
Gospel. Peace prevails. There are no lawsuits or contentions; no
work for a poor miserable lawyer, who is seeking to breed
disturbance in a community. I do think very low of that class of
men! If I had no better business than stirring up strife in a
community, I would pray for my end on this earth, that I might go
where I belonged. The teachings of Jesus and his Apostles
inculcated peace and prevented contention, discord, strife,
quarrelling and lawsuits; and the Gospel, to-day, has the same
effects as then. Here a great many of us have to water from one
ditch from year end to year end. But there is no quarrelling over
it. Says one, "I am content to have my share at midnight; you can
have yours to-morrow at eleven o'clock." No contention or strife!
We meet together and ask God to bless us and to help us to live
in the observance of all His laws, and to promote every principle
of peace and morality, and so help to make ourselves and our
neighbors happy. Is there harm in this? No, there is not. We like
it, because it brings us comfort, peace and joy. We may look at
the world and we observe a very different state of affairs. What
is the condition of the kings of the earth? Can they pass around
among their subjects anywhere and everywhere with peace and
safety? No, they must have their life-guards to protect them;
they are afraid of being destroyed from the earth. We may go to
our political men and ask, "Have you got friends?" "Yes, such a
man is my friend, he is a nice, good friend; but take care of
that one, he is my enemy." "What has he done?" "Nothing, only he
is trying to break my calculations and plans in my election, and
I don't like him or his party."
219
Saints have no such parties and feelings; they have no choice but
to get the best there is, and be satisfied; and hence, in their
political affairs they have no contention. This is one objection
which outsiders have to the Latter-day Saints: they all go and
vote one way. Is it not right to do so? Let us think about it.
Suppose that we do all actually vote one way, or for one man for
our delegate to Congress, and have no opposing candidate, and get
the best there is, is that not better than having opposition?
What does opposition bring? It certainly brings anger and strife;
and of what use are they? They serve no good purpose. Then let us
all vote one way, and think and act one way, and keep the
commandments of God and build up His kingdom on the earth in
peace and righteousness. I certainly think that this is the best
idea. We have plenty of competition in our midst, but what will
it accomplish? Not much, if anything. They who favor it may
contend until they are tired, and then they will drop silently
out of the way, and that will be the end of them. Contention does
not profit a people.
219
Have you truth? Let us have it if you have. If people have said
to me, in my preachings, "That is error," I have said, "perhaps
so, but this book (the Bible) is the standard I believe." I have
read out of that book many times to men, and they have said, "Oh,
that is the Book of Mormon." "It is good doctrine, is it not?"
and they would not know whether it was the Bible or the Book of
Mormon, and yet they would profess to be Bible readers and
believers. Sometimes they would listen until tired, and then say,
"I will not have any more of that, it is the Book of Mormon," and
some have even gone so far as to say, "It is blasphemous." I have
said, "Will you please look at the title page," and when they
would see that it was the Bible they would say, "Well, I really
did not know that such things were in the Bible."
220
I say to any and to all, "If you have any truth, let us have it."
If I have errors, I will swap then of them for one truth. But I
have the words of life for you, what have you for me? I ask the
infidel world what they can give in exchange for the faith I have
in Jesus Christ and the religion I believe in and practice. If I
am wrong, mistaken, over-zealous, enthusiastic and bewildered in
my imagination, what can you give me? "Nothing, we have nothing;
we do not believe in anything." Then I do not see any necessity
of trading, for all I have cannot hurt or wrong anybody on the
earth. I do not believe or practice anything that will do harm. I
have embraced nothing in my faith, neither do I teach any
doctrine that will hurt any person; hence, there is no necessity
of trading if you have nothing to give me for my priceless jewel.
I am for life everlasting. I have a being and a life here; and
this life is very valuable; it is a most excellent life! I have a
future! I am living for another existence that is far above this
sinful world, wherein I will be free from this darkness, sin,
error, ignorance and unbelief. I am looking forward to a world
filled with light and intelligence, where men and women will live
in the knowledge and light of God. Have you anything to give for
this? Not the least in the world. Then I guess we will not trade.
I have something for you if you will accept of it. If you will
hearken to my counsel you will not only have joy in this life,
peace in the Holy Ghost here, but life everlasting hereafter. I
have embraced the Gospel for life and salvation; I have embraced
it for time; I have embraced it for eternity. I calculate to go
back and see my Father. Say the Christian world, "Who are you
going to see?" A personage very much like myself; my Father, He
who begot my spirit; my Father who set in perfect order the
machine to produce this tabernacle in which my spirit dwells.
"Oh," say the Christian world, "We don't believe in such a God as
this." We know you don't. You don't believe in a God at all--only
a phantom of the brain. Still they mean better; but they are like
those who, in olden times, worshipped an unknown God. The
inscription on their temple was, "To the unknown God." This is
not our inscription; ours is, "To the known God," our Father, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our elder brother according to
the spirit. I am going to see Him one of these days if I live so
as to be worthy; and when I see Him I shall fall upon His neck
and He upon mine, and we shall kiss each other, shouting
"Alleluia" that I have returned. Do not you think it will be a
time of rejoicing? Yes.
220
This is the God that we serve and that we know and understand. Is
there any harm in all this? Not the least in the world. Peace on
earth and good will to men. Christ has died for all; but we can
receive the benefit of his atonement on his conditions only, not
on our own. We must repent of our sins and be baptized for the
remission of them, and have the laying on of hands for the
reception of the Holy Ghost so that the spirit of the Gospel will
live within us. Then we can shout Alleluia in praising Him whom
we serve.
220
God bless you, Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / John
Taylor, May 6, 1870
John Taylor, May 6, 1870
DISCOURSE BY ELDER JOHN TAYLOR,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 6, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
HOW TO KNOW THE THINGS OF GOD.
221
The Scriptures inform us "that no man knows the things of God,
but by the Spirit of God;" and then no man can speak the things
of God unless aided by the Spirit of the Lord; and no people can
comprehend the things spoken unless inspired and guided by the
same Spirit. We need this Spirit continually and so do all
mankind, to guide us, to enable us to comprehend the laws of
life, to regulate and concentrate our thoughts, to elevate and
ennoble our feelings, to give force and vitality to our actions,
and to place us in a position before God, before men, and before
the holy angels, that will be right, acceptable and proper to all
true intelligence, to the angelic host, and to our heavenly
Father. It matters very little what we are engaged in, it is
impossible for us to do right without the guidance of the
Almighty; but aided and directed by the Spirit of the Lord, we
can act in consonance with the dignity of our high position as
immortal beings possessing the holy Priesthood, and participating
in the new and everlasting covenant; by the aid of that unerring
Spirit we can fulfil the measure of our creation and prepare
ourselves for an inheritance in the celestial kingdom of our God.
221
We are told "that the world by wisdom knows not God;" yet they do
comprehend a great many things, and because of the spread of
general intelligence and the great progress of science,
literature and the arts, they believe they can find out God. Like
the framers of Babel's Tower, they seek to penetrate the heavens
on natural principles. Like them they are mistaken, as all men
have been who sought to solve the problem of life through the
influence of human wisdom. No man ever did understand God on this
principle; neither can they by mortal agency alone understand the
principles of life and salvation. No man in the present
generation comprehends them on this principle; neither will human
wisdom enable any man who ever will live to understand them. It
is true that mankind, within a short time, have made great
advances in the arts and sciences. During the last half century
scientific research has made many wonderful developments; and
many things which, before that time, were unknown to the human
family, are now quite familiar. There was very little known of
the application of the power of steam half a century ago. I
remember, very well, the first steam-boat and locomotive that
were propelled by steam, and riding on the first railway. Before
that, locomotion had to depend upon the winds and tides and horse
power and a few other agencies. These are now supplanted by what
all will acknowledge as a very superior agent--namely, the power
of steam.
222
Electricity, or rather its application, so as to subserve
the wants of man, was unknown until a comparatively recent
period. I refer now more particularly to the electric telegraph.
That has been a means of greatly facilitating the transmission of
thought and the spread of intelligence among the human family,
and has been a great advantage to the world at large. When we
came to this valley, for instance, even so late as that, we had
to depend upon ox teams to bring our mails and to convey
intelligence from the East, and I have known it to be four, five,
and sometimes as long as six months before we knew what President
was elected. Now we can have it in fewer minutes; this exhibits a
great improvement in such matters.
222
I can remember the time when we had to plod along at night,
nearly in the dark, in our largest cities, the streets being
lighted only by dim oil lamps. Now we have gas and various
luminous oils, which we have made the earth teem forth by
millions of gallons, that are almost equivalent to gas.
Daguerreotyping, or as it is more generally called photography,
is another great achievement of the human mind, conferring the
power to take likenesses, landscapes and views in a moment, which
formerly required days or months, even by the most eminent
artists.
222
In machinery and chemistry, manufactures, and many other
scientific developments connected with human life, wonderful
advances have been made, and the world seems to have been
progressing with great rapidity in the arts and sciences, in
regard to manufactures. Some years ago every texture had to be
spun by a single thread, now, by the aid of steam and machinery,
it is done by thousands and hundreds of thousands. We might go on
enumerating many other improvements which have taken place within
the past few years; from which it is very evident that the
progress of the present generation has far eclipsed that of any
preceding it, of which we have any knowledge. Because of these
things it has been supposed by many that the human intellect is
capable of grasping everything in this world and the world to
come--even eternal things, and many men have got puffed up and
vain in their imaginations because of the discoveries they have
made and the advancement in science, literature and the arts.
They forget "that every good and perfect gift proceeds from God,
the Father of light, in whom there is no variableness nor the
shadow of a turning." They forget that every particle of wisdom
that any man possesses comes from God, and that without Him they
would still continue to grope in the dark. They forget that, with
all the increase of wisdom and intelligence and the expansion of
the human mind, they are in the dark in regard to God, and that
no man by wisdom can find Him out. The mystery which enshrouds
Him is as high as heaven, as deep as hell and as wide as the
universe; and it is unfathomable and incomprehensible by human
intelligence, unaided by the inspiration of the Almighty.
223
There are men, it is true, who profess from the little knowledge
they have of earthly things, by a series of deductions, to be
able to find out heavenly things, but there is a very material
difference between the two. There is a philosophy of the earth
and a philosophy of the heavens; the latter can unravel all
mysteries pertaining to earth; but the philosophy of the earth
cannot enter into the mysteries of the kingdom of God, or the
purposes of the Most High. But because of the advancement to
which I have alluded, men set themselves up as teachers of things
pertaining to spiritual matters, of which they know nothing. But
the moment they do that, they exhibit their folly, vanity,
imbecility and shortsightedness, for, as I have stated, they
never did comprehend the things of God without the Spirit of God,
and they never will. What folly it is, for men with the breath in
their nostrils, who are but worms of the earth, existing as it
were for a day, and to-morrow are cut down like the grass; or
like the moth or butterfly, which flutters around for a brief
space and then passes away into everlasting oblivion; I say what
folly it is for beings so circumstanced, so weak, imbecile,
circumscribed and controlled to set themselves forward, unaided
by the Spirit of the Almighty, to fathom the designs of God, to
unravel the principles of eternal life, to comprehend the
relationship that subsists between God and man and to draw aside
the curtain of futurity. Who is there who has seen God or can
comprehend Him, His designs and purposes? No man is capable of
fathoming these mysteries. Man, indeed, can comprehend some of
the principles which are developed in nature, and only a few of
these. But who can grasp the intelligence that dwells in the
bosom of Jehovah? Who can unravel His designs and penetrate the
unfathomable abyss of the future? Who can tell upon what
principle this world was organized or anything about the denizens
of those worlds that we see moving around us? It is true that by
the science of astronomy nice calculation in regard to the
heavenly bodies can be made; but none can tell who put those
bodies in motion, how they are controled, or by what class of
people they are inhabited. As the Scriptures say, "What man, by
his wisdom, can find God out?" No one can comprehend Him. We can
find ourselves to be a remarkable enigma, both in regard to body
and mind--each individual man, woman and child; but who can draw
aside the veil and tell how or why we came here, and what awaits
us when we lay aside this mortal coil? None can do this, unless
God reveals it. There never was a man, neither is there a man
now, nor ever will be, that can comprehend these things upon the
principle of natural or human philosophy, and nothing short of
the philosophy of heaven--the intelligence that flows from God,
can unravel these mysteries.
225
Some men will stultify themselves with the idea that in ages gone
and past the human race was in a semi-civilized or barbarous
condition, and that any kind of a religion would do for the
people in those days; but with the progress of intelligence, the
march of intellect, the development of the arts and sciences and
the expansion of the human mind, it is necessary that we should
have something more elevated, refined and intellectual than that
which existed then. To me such notions are perfect foolishness.
If I read my Bible aright and believe in it, known unto God were
all things from before the foundation of the world, and I do not
think that the intelligence of the nineteenth century can
enlighten His mind in relation to these matters. He that framed
the body, shall He not know its structure? He that organized the
mind, shall not He understand it? Before this world rolled into
existence or the morning stars sang together for joy, the great
Eloheim comprehended all things pertaining to the world that He
organized and the people who should inhabit it; the position that
they would occupy and the intelligence that they would possess;
their future destiny and the destiny of the world that He then
made. It is vanity, puerility and weakness for men to attempt to
gainsay the designs of God, or to boast of their own
intelligence. What do they know? Why, they discovered awhile ago
that there is such a thing as electricity. Who made that
electricity? Did man? Did he originate and place it among the
nature's forces? Did it proceed from the acumen of man's
intelligence and his expansive mind? No, it always existed, and
the man who discovered it--a little smarter than his
fellows--only found out one of the laws of nature that emanated
from and originated with God. It is just so with steam--the
properties which render it so useful in subserving man's purposes
always existed, but man discovered them; if there had been no God
to make these properties, no one could have found them out. It is
so with the various gases and their properties, with
minerals--their attractions and repulsions--they originated with
God; man is incompetent to form anything of the kind. So we might
go on through all man's boasted achievements; they amount to no
more than the discovery of some of the active or latent laws of
nature, not comprehended by men generally, but discovered by some
who consider themselves, and they no doubt are, smarter than
their fellows. Where, then, is the boasted intelligence of man?
Science reveals the beauty and harmony of the world material; it
unveils to us ten thousand mysteries in the kingdom of nature,
and shows that all forms of life through fire and analogous decay
are returned again to its bosom. It unfolds to us the mysteries
of cloud and rains, dew and frost, growth and decay, and reveals
the operation of those silent irresistible forces which give
vitality to the world. It reveals to us the more wonderful
operations of distant orbs and their relations to the forces of
nature. It also reveals another grand principle, that the laws of
nature are immutable and unchangeable as are all the works of
God. Those principles and powers and forces have undergone no
change since they were first organized, or, if changed, they have
returned again to the original elements from which they were
derived. All of the properties of nature were as perfect at the
creation as now; all the elements of nature possessed the same
specific properties, affinities and capacity of combination that
they do at present. Trees, shrubs, plants, flowers, birds,
beasts, fishes and man were as perfect then as now. God's works
are all perfect and governed by eternal laws. It reminds me of an
infant; I can compare it to nothing else. The new-born child is
perfectly oblivious to anything and everything around it,
although marvellous in its organization and perfect in its
structure. By and by it holds up its hand and discovers for the
first time that it has a hand. It had it before, but a new light
bursts upon the brain of the child, and it discovers it has a
hand, and no doubt thinks it is wonderful wise in finding it out,
just as some of our philosophers do when they discover the
properties of matter. But God made the child's hand, and it was
in existence before its brain was capable of comprehending it.
And so were all these things, about the discovery of which men
boast so much. God made them and made them perfect. Yet men will
boast that they know things independent of God, whereas unless
they had been aided by the Spirit of the Lord, and unless the
principles had existed they never could have been found out, for
no man could have originated them himself. All that man has ever
done, with all his boasted intelligence, has been simply to
develop or find out a few of the common principles of nature that
always have existed, and always will exist, for these things and
every principle of nature are eternal. The Gospel is also
eternal. But where is there a man who understands heavenly
things? Who can unravel them? Who has been behind the vail and
talked with the Gods? Who among the wise men, philosophers,
divines, philanthropists, kings, rulers or authorities of the
earth can comprehend God or His designs. If we can understand so
imperfectly the laws of nature with which we are surrounded, with
the privileges of seeing, feeling, comparing and analyzing, what
do we know of things beyond our vision, hearing, or
comprehension? We can read, in the history of the past, of the
rise and fall of nations, of the downfall of thrones and of the
destruction of kingdoms; we can read of wars and rumors of wars.
History points out what has transpired in relation to the nations
of the earth and to men who have lived upon it, but who can
penetrate into the future? Man is an immortal being: he is
destined to live in time and throughout all eternity. He
possesses not only a body, but a soul that will exist while "life
or thought or being lasts, or immortality endures." Who can tell
in relation to this future? Who can tell things pertaining to our
heavenly existence, or the object God had in view for creating
this and other worlds, and the destiny of the human family? No
man, except God reveals it to him. What has been and still is the
position of the world in relation to these things? It has been
governed by every kind of dogma and theory of religion. "Isms" of
every kind have prevailed in turn--polytheism, infidelity,
Christianity in its ten thousand forms, and every kind of theory
and dogma that the human imagination could invent. Such
contrarieties show definitely and positively that men, by wisdom,
cannot find out God. And Christianity, at the present time, is no
more enlightened than other systems have been. What does the
Christian world know about God? Nothing; yet these very men
assume the right and power to tell others what they shall and
what they shall not believe in. Why, so far as the things of God
are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God
nor the things of God. Our Government is engaged just now in an
act of this kind. Our legislators would tell me what I shall and
shall not believe in, what shall be the course of my morals, as
if they were immaculate and had been made perfect; as though they
had inspiration from on high, and had found out the truth in all
its richness, power and glory; as though they had conversed with
the heavens and were acquainted with God. Oh, fools! What do they
know about the truth? No more than a child about its hand. They
are imbecile and ignorant and in the dark, and the greatest
difficulty in the matter is--they are fools and don't know it.
226
We consider, and always have since this Church was organized,
that the part of Scripture that I quoted before is true--namely,
"No man knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God." We, as
Latter-day Saints, understood no correct principle until it was
revealed to us. I did not, nor have I ever met with anybody that
did, and I have travelled very extensively over the world that we
live in, and have met with all classes and grades of men in
different nations. We, as Latter-day Saints, are indebted to the
revelations of God, given unto Joseph Smith, for the knowledge of
the very first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and he could
not have known it unless it had been revealed to him. One thing I
did know of myself before I came into this Church, and that is
more than a great many know of themselves--namely, that I was a
fool, and did not know anything unless God revealed it. It takes
a great deal of hammering to get that into some men's minds. The
main questions in my mind, when this Gospel came, were, "Is this
true?" "Is this from God, or is it not?" "Has God, indeed, spoken
as this man says He has?" If He has not, it is all a fiction, a
farce and delusion, like the other "isms" that exist in the
world; if He has, it is for me to obey, no matter what the
consequences may be.
226
There is one thing that has always been satisfactory to my mind
in relation to this Gospel--there has never been one principle
revealed, at any time, but what has been instructive and in
accordance with the Scriptures, which we consider to be of divine
origin. Never one principle but what could be substantiated by
the word of God, although we did not know it before, and the
world does not know it now. And I may also say that there has
never been a principle revealed but what has been strictly
philosophical and is in accordance with good, sound common sense;
and, furthermore, I will go on beyond that and say that no
principle ever will be revealed but what will be in accordance
with philosophy, if we can comprehend it. As there is a
philosophy of the earth and a philosophy of the heavens, it needs
heavenly instruction to comprehend the heavenly things. But, as I
said before, "no man knows the things of God, but by the Spirit
of God." The Scriptures show unto us how we may obtain that
Spirit, which will give us a knowledge for ourselves.
226
When this Gospel was revealed, it was declared unto us that it
was an everlasting gospel, that there was a Priesthood associated
with it, and that that Priesthood was everlasting; so we were
presented with an everlasting Priesthood, and with an everlasting
Gospel. There was also an everlasting covenant associated with
it. We were told how we might obtain a knowledge of this Gospel
for ourselves--the promise being that if we would repent of our
sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of them, by one having authority, we should receive the
Holy Ghost. We were also told that that Holy Ghost would place us
in communication with God; that it would take of the things of
God and show them unto us, and that we should know for a
certainty, each of us for ourselves, of the truths that had been
proclaimed unto us.
226
This was the position that we were placed in. We went forward and
obeyed it, for we were told that God had revealed Himself from
the heavens, that He had restored the Gospel by the means of a
holy angel, as referred to by John the Revelator, and that He had
restored, by authority direct from heaven, communication between
Himself, the heavenly world and His creatures here. We were told
that by obedience to that Gospel we should be made the recipients
of a Spirit which would bring things past to our remembrance,
that would lead us into all truth and show us things to come.
227
Believing in this message, this vast crowd of people before me
to-day, went forth and bowed in obedience, and they received that
Spirit, and they knew and do know that the Gospel they had
preached unto them came not in word only, but in power and in the
demonstration of the Spirit, and that the Holy Ghost accompanied
it. You know, and I know, that when you obeyed this Gospel and
had hands laid upon you for the reception of the Holy Ghost, you
received it. Who else knows anything about it? Nobody. Do any of
these strangers around? No. Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Except a
man is born again, he can not see the kingdom of God." Then what
do they know about it? You talk to a blind man about colors, and
ask him to tell the difference between red and white, black and
blue, and he would tell you perhaps that one was long and the
other short, that one was light and the other heavy. He could not
describe, nor his sense comprehend it. Jesus said a man could not
see the kingdom of God unless he was born of the Spirit. Did he
speak the truth? I think he did. And when you were born again of
the water and of the Spirit, you saw and you entered into the
kingdom of God, and things that you were ignorant of before, you
then comprehended. Many of you felt a good deal like the blind
man spoken of in the Scriptures, after he had been healed by our
Savior. The Scribes and Pharisees, a learned and very holy body
of men--spoke to his father, saying, "Give God the glory, for we
know that this man is a sinner." They knew that Jesus was an
imposter, a deceiver, a false prophet, a blasphemer, and that he
cast out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of devils, and that
he was one of the wickedest, meanest curses in existence. "Give
God the glory," said they, "for we know this man is a sinner."
The father of him who had been healed of his blindness said,
"Whether he is a sinner, I know not; but this I do know, that
whereas this my son was once blind and now he sees." Now a great
many of you here are very much deluded in the estimation of the
philosophers, wise men and priests of the world; but if you do
not comprehend the philosophy of the whole matter, one thing you
all know--that once you were blind, but now you see. You
understood that years ago and you understand it to-day, and no
man can deprive you of that knowledge, or strip you of that
information. No man can rob you of that light: it is the gift of
God, it emanates from Jehovah, and no man can take it away, or
reason or legislate it away; it is an eternal principle,
emanating from God, and that is something the worldly-wise and
great know nothing about. You who are here to-day, who have
obeyed this Gospel, are witnesses of the truth of which I speak;
I am a witness and I bear witness to it.
228
We are told that Jesus said on a certain occasion to his
disciples, "It is necessary that I go away, for if I go not away
the Comforter will not come. If I go away I will send you a
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost." What will it do for you? It
will lead you into all truth, so that you will see eye to eye and
comprehend the purposes of God; you will march in line; you will
be under one instructor; you will have one Lord, one faith, one
baptism; one God who is in all and through all, will inspire and
guide and dictate you; you will not be split up and divided as
the sectarians are--every man taking his own course, every man
for himself and the devil for the whole; it will not be setting
up human intellect above the intelligence and inspiration of the
Almighty. Instead of this, all will bow to the dictates of
Jehovah; the aspiration of every heart will be, "O, God, thou
that rulest in the heavens; O thou Supreme Governor of the
universe, that created all things and controls all things, impart
to me a small moiety of Thy wisdom! Inspire me with a little of
that intelligence that dwells in Thy bosom! Give me a little of
Thy Holy Spirit, that I may comprehend Thee and Thy laws, and
walk in obedience to Thy commands!" This will be the feeling of
that individual. "O God, teach me the paths of life and then give
power to walk in them!"
228
Jesus told them they should have the Holy Ghost, the Comforter;
the Spirit should bring things past to their remembrance, it
should enable them to comprehend something about the world and
why it was organized and by whom; why man was placed upon it;
what the position of the human family is in relation to the
present, past and future; find out what God's dealings had been
with the human family in ages gone and past, and His designs in
relation to the world. Then it should unfold things to come, it
should draw back the curtain of futurity and by the inspiration
and intelligence of that Spirit which proceeds from God, it
should grasp the future. It should comprehend the destiny of the
human family, and by the revelations which God should
communicate, make known the life to come in the eternal worlds.
This is the kind of thing that the everlasting Gospel
communicates, and it is the revelation of God to man. But the
world, as I said before, know not the things of God, and they
cannot comprehend them.
229
I have had it asked my by philosophers, "Is this the only way you
propose to ameliorate the condition of the human family--faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, baptism for the remission of sins and the
laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost?" Yes,
that is God's way of doing it; that is the way He has pointed
out. I remember, on one occasion, being in the city of Paris, and
a gentleman came to me to inquire concerning the Gospel. He was
associated with a system of socialism, very common in France,
called Icarianism. A company of them went to Nauvoo after we
left. This gentleman was a philosopher, and the society was
trying to carry out its philosophy in France, and they aimed to
bring about the Millennium. They never prayed to God, they were
going to do it by human intelligence. This gentleman, whose name
was Krolikrosky, called upon me, when after a lengthy
conversation on the principles of our faith, said he, referring
to faith, repentance, baptism and the laying on of hands for the
reception of the Holy Ghost, the first principles of our Gospel:
"Is this all you propose to ameliorate the condition of the
world?" "Yes." He answered, "I hope you will succeed, but I am
afraid you will not." "Permit me," I said, "to draw your
attention to one or two things. I am a religionist." "Yes." "I
profess to have had revelation from God; you do not." "That is
so," said he. "You have sent out to Nauvoo a number of your most
intellectual men, well provided with means of every kind and with
talent of the first order. Now what is the result? They have gone
to a place that we have deserted; they found houses built,
gardens and farms enclosed, nothing to do but to take possession
of them?" "Yes. They found buildings of all kinds, public and
private, in which they could live and congregate." Yes. Was there
ever a people better situated in regard to testing your natural
philosophy? You could not have hit upon a better place. It is a
fertile country, on the banks of the most magnificent stream in
the United States--the Mississippi. Houses built, gardens made,
fields enclosed and cultivated. You have wise men among you--the
wisest, the creme de la creme of your society, yet with all this
and the favorable circumstances under which your people commenced
there, what have you done? Every time that I take up a paper of
yours the cry from there is, 'Send us means;' 'we want means;'
'we are in difficulty;' 'we want more money.' This is their
eternal cry, is it not?" "Yes." "Now," said I, "on the other
hand, we left our farms, houses, gardens, fields, orchards, and
everything we had, except what we took along in the shape of
food, seeds, farming utensils, wagons, carts, and we wandered for
from ten to fifteen hundred miles, with hand-carts, ox teams and
any way we could, and settled, finally, among the red savages of
the forest. We had no fields to go to and no houses built; when
we went there it was a desert--a howling wilderness, and the
natives with which we were surrounded were as savage as the
country itself. Now then, what is the result? We have only been
there a few years, but what are we doing? We are sending money to
bring in our emigration; we are sending hundreds of thousands of
dollars, and have expended half a million a year in teams to
bring in our poor from the nations. But what of you wise men who
know not God, and think you know better than He does, what are
you doing--you philosophers, intelligent men and philanthropists,
crying out eternally, 'Send us help?" Which is the best?" Said
he, "Mr. Taylor, I have nothing to say."
229
We care nothing about the opinions of men, let them look upon us
as they may. We can say as the old Apostle said, "we are living
epistles, known and read of all men." Judge us by our works. Do
thieves, renegades, blacklegs and corrupt men accomplish the work
done here? Where are your Gentile associations? Here we have a
magnificent city called Corinne, instituted by you gentlemen
Gentiles here. What a magnificent place it is! It looks as if
Tophet has been spewed out to people it with honorable American
citizens! Yet these men will prate to us about morality, the poor
miserable curses! O, shame, if thou hadst any blood in thy body,
thou wouldst blush for very shame at the transactions of this
world in which we live.
229
But we believe in God, and you Latter-day Saints, your religion
is as true as it was ten, twenty, thirty, or eighteen hundred or
six thousand years ago. It has not changed, and I do not think
that it will. It is everlasting; it is eternal in its nature and
its consequences, and, whether other men know what they are doing
or not, we do. If others do not attend to eternity, we do; if
others know nothing about God, we do, and we know where we are
going and how we are going. God has pointed out to us the path,
and we intend to walk in it, in spite of all the powers of earth
and hell.
230
God has taught us the relationship that should exist between us
and the eternal worlds. That is a thing that is very much found
fault with. He has unveiled the future to us and told us that man
is not made for here alone, and then to die and rot and be
forgotten, or to sing himself away somewhere beyond the bounds of
time and space where nobody ever was nor ever will be. We have
been taught something different from that. We are aiming at
eternal exaltation, at thrones, principalities and powers in the
eternal worlds. Being made in the image of God, male and female,
and having had developed to us the laws of this life and the laws
of the life to come, we take the privilege of walking according
to these laws, despite the ideas and notions of men.
230
Who is there among the men of the world who know anything about
the future? I know how it was with me, and how it was with you,
Jew, Gentile, Mormon, everybody. What was it! If you applied to
the priesthood of the day to be married, the priest told you he
joined you in the holy bonds of matrimony until death. And what
then? You had to find out the rest by your own ingenuity. No
matter about the future. Is that all man was made for--to live,
marry and die--and nothing pertaining to the future? Is man made
in the image of God? Is God our Father? Is there a heaven above?
Is there an eternity before us, and are we to prepare ourselves
for it or not? We take the liberty of following the counsel of
Jehovah, revealed to us in relation to it.
230
What man has a claim upon his wife in eternity? It is true that
some of the writers of the yellow-backed literature have a
philosophy a little in advance of the priests of the day. Some of
them do tell us about eternal unions. They expect to be married
here and hereafter. They know nothing about it, still they are in
advance of the clergy. They follow the instincts of nature, and
nature unperverted looks forwards to a reunion. We are not
governed by opinion in these matters. God has revealed the
principle, and our wives are sealed to us for time and eternity.
When we get through with this life we expect to be associated in
the next, and therefore we pursue the course that we do, and no
power this side of hell, nor there either, can stop it.
230
Our course is onward. The Lord has revealed to us the pearl of
great price. We have sacrificed everything that the world calls
good to purchase it; we are in possession and we will not part
with it for worlds. We "fear not men, who can kill the body," as
Jesus said; and after that there is no more that they can do. We
fear God who is able to cast both soul and body into hell. Yea,
we fear Him.
231
We make our covenants, then, for eternity, because the Gospel is
an everlasting Gospel. Every truth that ever did exist is
everlasting. Man is an eternal being; his body is eternal. It may
die and slumber, but it will burst the barriers of the tomb and
come forth in the resurrection of the just. I know that some of
our wise men, even some among us, profess to think that these
things are only folly. However, I look at them differently. I
believe the Bible; I believe in the revelations of God and in the
manifestations of the Spirit of God. I would rather possess the
feeling that Job had when he was afflicted, cast out, oppressed
and despoiled, when he lay scraping himself with a potsherd,
wallowing in ashes, than the proud and lofty folly that dwells in
the heart of the unbeliever and scorner. Said Job, "I know that
my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand in the latter days
upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself and
mine eyes shall behold, not for another; and though worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Those were his
feelings. This transpired in the "dark ages," when men did not
know so much about electricity, locomotives and a few other
scientific discoveries, as they do in this enlightened age. I
also read in the sayings of the prophets, given under the
inspiration of the Almighty, that "the dead, small and great,
shall rise, and that bone shall be joined to its bone, sinew to
sinew, and they became a living army before God." I knew a man,
whom many of you knew, who built a tomb for himself in the city
of Nauvoo. His name was Joseph Smith, and many of you heard him
say what I shall now relate. Said he, "I expect when the time of
the resurrection comes to rise up in my tomb there, and strike
hands with my brethren, with my father and with my mother, and
hail the day when we shall burst from the barriers of the tomb
and awake to immortal life." Have you never heard him talk thus?
I have. Shall we reject from our belief the glorious principles
of eternity--the resurrection of the just? Says John, when wrapt
in prophetic vision, and clothed upon with the Spirit and power
of God and the revelations of Jehovah, "I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God; and the sea gave up the dead which were
in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in
them, and all nations stood before God."
231
I want a part in the resurrection. The angel said, "Blessed and
holy is he who has part in the first resurrection." I want to
have part in the first resurrection. It is that which leads me to
hope. It is that hope which buoys me up under difficulties and
sustains me while passing through tribulation, for I know as well
as Job knew that my "redeemer lives, and that He shall stand in
the latter days upon the earth," and I know that I shall stand
upon it with him. I therefore bear this testimony.
231
Allow me to quote a little Scripture. You know that there is a
saying, by one of the Apostles, that Jesus was a priest for ever
after the order of Melchizedek; and speaking further of this
Melchizedek, the Apostle says he was "without father, without
mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end
of years." A very singular sort of man, was he not? Did you ever
see a man like that? We are told that Jesus was a priest for ever
after the order of Melchizedek. Now, there never was a man
without father or mother, but this refers to his Priesthood, that
was without beginning of days or end of years, and Jesus had the
same kind of Priesthood that Melchizedek had.
232
Now we talk about the everlasting Gospel, and we will go back to
some of these dark ages referred to. The Melchizedek Priesthood
holds the mysteries of the revelations of God. Wherever that
Priesthood exists, there also exists a knowledge of the laws of
God; and wherever the Gospel has existed, there has always been
revelation; and where there has been no revelation, there never
has been the true Gospel. Let us go back to those times. We find
that the Gospel was preached unto Abraham, and that Melchizedek
was the man to whom Abraham paid tithes, and that Melchizedek
blessed him. Paul tells us, "Verily the less is blessed of the
better." Now Abraham had the Gospel, and Melchizedek had it, and
the law was added because of transgression; and by and by, when
Jesus came, He was a priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedek, and he restored the Gospel, and consequently
revelations, the opening of the heavens and the manifestation of
the power of God; and whenever the Gospel has existed, in any age
of the world, these same manifestations have existed with it; and
whenever these have not been upon the earth, there has been no
Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believes, for therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith."
233
In addition to Melchizedek, the Bible also mentions a man called
Moses, and he had the Gospel, for Paul tells us "that he preached
it to the children of Israel in the wilderness, but that it
profited them nothing, not being mixed with faith." There was
another man called Elijah, that we read of in the Bible. He was
one of those fanatics who believe in revelation, and he had the
Gospel. We come down to the time that Jesus was here on the
earth; and on one occasion we read that he was on the mount with
three of his disciples, Peter, James and John, and Jesus was
transfigured before them. And Peter said, "Master, it is good for
us to be here, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one
for Moses and one for Elias." What? Was Moses, that old fellow
who led the children of Israel from Egypt, there? That shows that
he had the everlasting Gospel and Priesthood; and having got rid
of the affairs of this world, he returned to minister to Jesus
when he was on the earth. Was Elias there too? So Peter said.
What was he doing there? He died long before, but having held the
everlasting Priesthood he lived again, and lives for evermore. We
will go to another man. There are curious things in the Bible, if
the people only believed them; but they do not, and that is the
trouble. I refer to John, the beloved disciple. We are told that
he was banished because he was a fanatic--I was going to say a
Mormon--as John did not agree with the enlightenment, philosophy
and intelligence that existed then. What did they do with him?
They banished him and sent him to the Isle of Patmos; and
compelled him to labor among the slaves in the lead mines; he was
not fit for civilized society, but they could not deprive him of
fellowship. While there with the Almighty, he was carried away in
the Spirit, and that Spirit manifested to him things past, for
generations gone; things present--the condition of the churches
that then existed; and also things to come--the world with all
its myriads of inhabitants down to the winding-up scene. He saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were
opened; and another book was opened, called the Book of Life; and
he saw a hundred and forty-four thousand, and a number that no
man can number, who sang a new song, and the glories of eternity,
and the past, present and future were unveiled before his vision.
He saw the new Jerusalem descend from above, and the Zion from
above meeting the Zion from below, and they were married and
became one. He saw the end of the nations, and of the world.
"Cloud-capped towers and gorgeous palaces were dissolved," and
everything passed away. He gazed upon the whole; and a mighty
angel stood before him, and he was about to bow down before him
and to worship him; but the angel said, "Stop, do not worship
me!" "Why? Who are you? You are a glorious personage; you are
filled with greatness, and surrounded by majesty, glory and
power, and the visions of eternity seem to be at your command,
for you have unfolded them to me. Will you not let me worship
you?" "No." "Who are you?" "I am one of thy fellow-servants, the
prophets, who kept the testimony of Jesus, and the word of God,
while here upon the earth, and feared God and kept His
commandments. Do not worship me, worship God." Said he, "I am one
of those old fellows who were buffeted, persecuted and
misrepresented just as you are; despised as you are by fools who
knew nothing about God or eternity."
233
Well, now, we believe these things. We believe in a religion that
will reach into eternity, that will bring us into connection with
God. We believe that God has set up His kingdom on the earth; we
believe and know that it will roll forth and spread and extend,
that Zion will be built up, that the glory of God will rest upon
it; that the arm of Jehovah will be made bare in its defence;
that the power of God will be exerted in behalf of His people;
that Zion will rise and shine, and that the glory of God will be
manifested among His Saints. We know that this kingdom will grow
and increase until the kingdoms of this world will become the
kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and that He shall rule and
reign for ever and ever. And we expect to join in the universal
anthem, "Hosanna, hosanna, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,"
and will reign until all enemies are under His feet.
233
God bless Israel. God bless all His Saints, and let the wrath of
God be upon the enemies of Zion from this time henceforth and for
ever, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, February 20, 1870
Brigham Young, February 20, 1870
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, February 20, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE SAINTS ARE A STRANGE PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY PRACTISE WHAT THEY
PROFESS.
233
It is some time since I have spoken to the people in this
capacity, and I have a few words to say to Saints and sinners.
That is a common expression, but as we are all sinners, I might
say a few words to sinners exclusively.
233
The Gospel of the Son of God that has been revealed is a plan or
system of laws and ordinances, by strict obedience to which the
people who inhabit this earth are assured that they may return
again into the presence of the Father and the Son.
234
I frequently contemplate the condition of this so-called strange
people the Latter-day Saints. "A strange people" is a peculiar
expression, as though we were different from others! I know that
we are so considered, but in my opinion we are the most rational,
common sense people that live on the face of the earth. We are
trying to become natural in our habits, and are striving to
fulfil the end and design of our creation. When we read of and
contemplate the manners, morals and customs that prevail in the
world and compare them with those of the Latter-day Saints, we
may justly come to the conclusion that we are "a strange people,"
for, in these respects, we are very different to the rest of the
world. How strange it is that we should do differently from the
rest of mankind! How strange it is that we should believe
differently from our neighbors! It is very strange indeed that we
cannot embrace the so-called Christian religion and be satisfied
therewith. If we were to ask the infidel world some few
questions, they might talk, philosophize and bring up their
sophistry, but they could not prove a truth to be an untruth. The
whole infidel world cannot prove that we are not here on this
earth, that the sun does not shine, that we do not speak and
hear, that we do not see with our eyes and handle with our hands,
that we have not the power of tasting and smelling and have not
the use of our natural senses. You all know that I have got eyes,
for you can see them; you know I can speak, for you can hear my
voice; you know that you are here in a building, rude as it may
be, and you know that you walk on the ground; you know that you
breathe the air, and you also know that when you are thirsty you
desire water to drink, and that when you are hungry you want
something palatable to eat. We all know these things by the
exercise of our natural senses, but there are many things of
which we are ignorant. We may look at ourselves and the people
generally, and the earth upon which we walk, and without the
revelations of God we know not who we are, whence we came, nor
who formed the earth on which we live, move and have our being.
Did I bring the particles of matter together and form the earth?
No. Did you, Mr. Philosopher? Did you, Mr. Infidel, or you, Mr.
Christian, Pagan, or Jew? No, not any of us. We know that we are
here, but who brought us here or how we came are questions the
solution of which depends upon a power superior to ours. The
ideas of the inhabitants of the earth with regard to their own
creation and destiny, and with regard to the destiny of the
earth, are very crude and vague. But we must all acknowledge that
some individual, being, power or influence superior to ourselves
produced us and the earth and brought us forth and holds us in
existence, and causes the revolutions of the earth and of the
planetary system. These are facts that neither we nor all mankind
can controvert; the whole Christian and even the heathen world
will acknowledge all this; but what do they know about it? Who
understands the modus operandi by which all this was brought
about and continued? Who is able to leap forth into the immensity
of thought, space, contemplation and research, and search out the
principles by which we are here and by which we are sustained?
The strangest phenomenon to the inhabitants of the earth to-day
is that God, the maker and preserver of the earth and all it
contains, should speak from heaven to His creatures, the works of
His hands here. What would there be strange in the mechanician,
after constructing the most beautiful and ingenious piece of
mechanism it is possible to conceive of, speaking to it and
admiring the beauty, regularity and order of its motions? Nothing
whatever. Well, to me it is not at all strange that He who framed
and fashioned this beautiful world and all the myriads and
varieties of organizations it contains, should come and visit
them; to me this is perfectly natural, and when we remember and
compare the belief of this people with that of the rest of the
world we need not be surprized at being considered "a strange
people."
235
Brother George A. Smith has been relating to us something
about the history and belief of some of his forefathers, and
others; one believed one thing and another another. It was with
them, as it was in the days of the Apostles--some were for Paul,
some for Apollos, some for Cephas and some for Christ. To me it
is more rational for an intelligent being to embrace truth, than
it is to mix up a little truth with a great deal of error, or to
embrace all error and undertake to follow a phantom. Have you
embraced truth, Latter-day Saints? Have you anything different
from other Christians? Yes. What have you got? You have got a
Father in heaven, a system of religion, a plan of salvation, with
doctrines and ordinances. What are they? We read them in the
Bible, and the same things again in the Book of Mormon, both of
which are precisely the same as the principles contained in the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants, each one corroborating the other.
It is written that out of the mouths of two or three witnesses
every word shall be established, and here, in the New Testament,
we have the words of the evangelists; in the Old Testament the
words of the prophets and patriarchs; and again, the testimony of
others in the Book of Mormon; and last of all, given in our own
day, the testimony of Joseph Smith in the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants; all coinciding, and the two latter corroborating, the
fact that the Bible, as far as it is correctly translated, is the
word of God. The Bible contains the word of God, the word of
Jesus, of angels, of good men, of those tolerably good, of wicked
men, and the words of the devil, the enemy of all righteousness,
the enemy of Jesus, and the enemy of this world, who is
determined that he will possess the earth and its inhabitants;
and in the main it is true; and every item of doctrine taught by
the Latter-day Saints is to be found in this book. Then, why
should the Latter-day Saints appear so obnoxious and disagreeable
to the world--fairly a hiss and a by-word? What is the reason of
this? Is it because we can swear more and better than others? No.
Because we can lie more and better than others? Well, can you
steal better than others? No; I will defy you to do that. Are you
better gamblers? No. Do you intrude more on your neighbors'
rights than others? No. Do you bear false witness more than
others? No. Can you revile the name of the Savior more than
others? No. Well then, why are we considered so strange a people?
Simply because we believe in the reality of the principles
contained in the word of God, and maintain that man, in this day,
needs and obtains direct revelation from his Creator for
guidance.
236
Let us look now for a moment at what is termed the "moral code,"
the ten commandments revealed by the Lord to the Jews, the House
of Israel, for a law to control their everyday walk and conduct.
Do the Latter-day Saints keep this? Yes. Does that make them so
very strange? Why should it? Does that fact make them a speckled
bird in the communities of the world? It should not. Then why is
it that we are so considered? We have a Father; He is in heaven;
He has told us to call Him Father; He says that we are His
children. Now, excuse me everybody that does not believe in the
Bible, or who is inclined not to believe in it, we are so unwise,
so shortsighted, so foolish in our imagination that we believe
the Bible, we actually believe that God the Father is our
heavenly Father, that we are His children; and we believe that
Jesus Christ is our elder brother--that he is actually the Son of
our Father and that he is the Savior of the world, and was
appointed to this before the foundations of this earth were laid.
We are just so foolish and short-sighted as to believe all this.
236
We know that this age, by the outside world, is considered a fast
age; we think it is very fast, so far as unbelief goes. The
people now-a-days profess to be very enlightened and they say,
"Don't be so superstitious as to believe the Bible;" and the idea
of Jesus being sacrificed for the sins of the world is ridiculed
by many. They say, "Oh, don't have any such ideas, be more
liberal, be as we are;" and I heard of one man who said he would
not believe in, worship, nor acknowledge a God who would command
a man to sacrifice his only son, as Abraham was called to
sacrifice Isaac. We Latter-day Saints are just so unwise and
foolish as to believe that the Lord Almighty required this at the
hands of Abraham; and He did not tell Abraham that he would have
that ram ready in the bushes. He said, "Have you confidence in
me, my son Abraham?" "Yes," said Abraham. "Well, I will prove
you. Bring up your son Isaac to Mount Moriah, build an altar
there, place the wood on the altar and bind your son and place
him on the altar and sacrifice him to me, and this will prove
whether you have faith in me or not." The sacrifice was offered
and accepted, and the Lord provided a way whereby Isaac could
live. We are just so foolish, unwise and short-sighted, and so
wanting in philosophy that we actually believe God told Abraham
to do this very thing.
236
Who is that God? He is my Father, He is your Father; we are His
offspring. He has planted within each of us the germ of the same
intelligence, power, glory and exaltation that He enjoys Himself.
This proves that we are a peculiar race. We belong to the highest
order of intelligence; and though we, as yet, are very ignorant,
we have the privilege of increasing in intelligence, growing,
expanding, spreading abroad, gathering in, enlarging and gaining,
and the more we learn to-day, the better for us, for it does not
destroy the knowledge we had yesterday; and when we learn more
to-morrow it does not destroy the knowledge of to-day. We are
creatures susceptible of continual education and improvement. And
we take this book, the Bible, which I expect to see voted out of
the so-called Christian world very soon, they are coming to it as
fast as possible, I say we take this book for our guide, for our
rule of action; we take it as the foundation of our faith. It
points the way to salvation like a fingerboard pointing to a
city, or a map which designates the locality of mountains,
rivers, or the latitude and longitude of any place on the surface
of the earth that we desire to find, and we have no better sense
than to believe it; hence, I say that the Latter-day Saints have
the most natural faith and belief of any people on the face of
the earth.
237
We believe in God the Father, in Jesus the Mediator; we believe
in the ordinances that He has placed in His house, we believe in
keeping the laws that He has left on record by which His Saints
are required to square their lives, and to direct their steps. We
do all this and we keep the moral code. Others do this, and when
we reflect upon the righteous course of many of those who have
lived before us, who have observed this moral code, we can see
that great good has been done. But why should we be considered so
strange by those who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?
237
One says, "You believe in baptism by immersion, and we do not
believe in it; you Latter-day Saints believe that a person should
come to the years of accountability before he is baptized, but we
believe in taking our infants and dipping our fingers, or in the
priest dipping his fingers in the water and touching the
children's foreheads and that they then become members of the
living church and heirs of salvation." But where do you find this
in the Bible?
237
The method of administering the ordinance of baptism is a much
disputed point among the different sects of the religious world,
the Baptists alone maintaining that immersion is absolutely
necessary. Some are so liberal in their views on this subject
that they will either sprinkle or immerse at the option of the
candidate. None, however, regard it as necessary or efficacious
for the remission of sins, but simply as a profession of faith.
We, the Latter-day Saints, believe in being baptized by immersion
for the remission of sins, according to the testimony of the
disciples of Jesus and the revelations of the Lord given in these
last days. Infants are pure, they have neither sorrow of heart,
nor sins to repent of and forsake, and consequently are incapable
of being baptized for the remission of sin. If we have sinned, we
must know good from evil; an infant does not know this, it cannot
know it; it has not grown into the idea of contemplation of good
and evil; it has not the capacity to listen to the parent or
teacher or to the priest when they tell what is right or wrong or
what is injurious; and until these things are understood a person
cannot be held accountable and consequently cannot be baptized
for the remission of sin.
237
"Well," says the Christian, "If you really believe in being
baptized by immersion, I expect it is correct for you, and it
will answer every purpose; but we think sprinkling will answer
for us." If, however, sprinkling infants be the correct method of
administering the ordinance of baptism, we are safe even on
Christian grounds, for all Christians will acknowledge that
immersion is as good. If, on the other hand, immersion, or being
buried with Christ by baptism, be the only correct method of
administering the ordinance, and it is, according to the
testimony of more than one of his disciples, our system will not
avail those who have been sprinkled. But we are safe anyhow.
237
Again, with regard to faith in Jesus. Along comes a man and says,
"It is all folly to have faith in the name of Jesus. It is true
that Christ died for all, but it is folly for you to fret
yourselves about keeping his commandments and observing the
ordinances left on record in the Scriptures. Jesus will save all.
He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,
and if he came to save sinners do you not think he will
accomplish the task?"
238
We, the Latter-day Saints, certainly believe that Christ will
accomplish all that he undertook to do, but he never yet said he
would save a sinner in his sins, but that he would save him from
his sins. He has instituted laws and ordinances whereby this can
be effected. But this gentleman says, "Christ will save all." The
Mormon Elders says that he will save all who come to him, all who
hearken to his word and keep his commandments, and Jesus has
said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Now this character
to which I have referred says he loves Jesus, but it is nonsense
to keep his commandments; but the "Mormon" says, "I love Jesus,
and in proof of it I keep his commandments." Now, suppose the
former is correct and Christ will save all, whether they do or do
not keep his commandments, in that case the "Mormons" are right
again, for they will all be saved; but suppose that Jesus
requires strict obedience to his laws and ordinances and
commandments, those who merely believe without rendering
obedience to his laws are slightly incorrect, and, in the end,
the disadvantage will again be with them.
238
Now the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes
every word of truth believed in by the holy Catholic Church--the
mother church of the Christian world; and then every truth
believed in by every Protestant reformer and revivalist that has
ever come out from the mother church or from any of her children;
and having all this, we wish to frame, fashion and build after
the pattern that God has revealed; and in doing so we take all
the laws, rules, ordinances and regulations contained in the
Scriptures and practice them as far as possible, and then keep
learning and improving until we can live by every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of God.
238
You may take the mother church of the Christian world, the
reformers, universalists, deists, atheists, spiritualists and
everybody else, and if any or all of them are right, we are sure
that we are, for every particle of truth believed in by any one
of them, and all the truth possessed by the whole of them
combined is believed in by the Latter-day Saints; but if we are
right, they will fail. Now, who is on the safe ground? Who is
most likely to be deluded and to be found wanting? Let the people
decide.
238
There is not a word in these three books, Bible, Book of Mormon
and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that I have ever found
yet, that has been delivered by the Lord to His servants, but
what, if it is lived up to, or practiced in the life of an
individual, it makes him or her better in every sense of the
word. There is no code ever got up by the children of men that
would direct them so purely in their lives as that contained in
these three books, and if the people of the Christian world, or
any portion of them, were to throw away or set aside faith in God
and in Jesus Christ, and the various ordinances of the Gospel as
contained in the Scriptures, and were to observe only the moral
code, and observe it strictly, it would make them a better people
than any who now live on the face of the earth, the Latter-day
Saints excepted.
239
But what is the use of forsaking any portion of the law of the
Lord? It is true that some portions of it, through disuse or
neglect, are now looked upon as obsolete, just as it is with some
laws still remaining on the statute books of the nations of the
earth; but a law possesses neither more nor less intrinsic merit
on this account. The law once passed in England inflicting a
penalty upon all who ate bread until it was three days old,
possesses no less merit or virtue now that it is obsolete than in
the day when it was enacted. It was gotten up many years ago
because fresh bread was considered injurious to the stomach; but,
although it is not enforced now, I believe it has never been
repealed. Did my English brethren and sisters observe this law
while they lived in England? I think not; perhaps they did not
know anything about it. If, however, that law was good when it
was made, it is good now, and there is no person in that country
who uses bread under that age but is liable to be prosecuted. So
it is with regard to many laws under our own and other
governments. They are found to be inapplicable to the situation
and condition of the people, and hence they become obsolete. We
may take the laws contained in the Old and New Testaments, and if
they were good in the days of the Apostles, Prophets and
Patriarchs, why are they not good to-day? It is not because they
are not good that they are passed over, but in some respects they
are not as applicable to the feelings of the Christian world now
as when they were given, because of the traditions of the
fathers.
239
I know that the outside world say, "Oh, you Mormons, what a poor
degraded people you are!" You know, one public lecturer says
there is not a public school in all Utah. I can say that if there
are no public schools there are plenty of private schools, and
there are no people on the face of the earth that support as many
children in private schools as the people of Utah, according to
their numbers. Still, the world declare that we are degraded,
miserable and ignorant; and, "Oh, that horrid principle! Oh dear,
it makes me blush!" Yes, it makes one think of a little
circumstance that transpired with one of our Elders who went
after machinery to Massachusetts. He went to inquire about
machinery for a cotton factory, and the gentleman to whom he
applied said, "Where are you from?" "Utah." "O, you are out among
the Mormons?" "Yes." "Are you a Mormon?" "Yes." "Well, I
believe," said the interrogator, "you, out there, believe in
having more wives than one?" "Yes, that is true," said the Elder.
"Well," said the gentleman, "I want you to come up and see my
partner." So our brother was invited up to see the partner of the
gentleman who had questioned him so closely, in order to talk a
little about the number of people here, and the improvements,
etc. The first thing, on meeting the partner, was to pitch into
the "Mormon" about how many wives he had, and he replied that "he
had just enough to enable him to keep from troubling his
neighbors' wives." The gentleman that took our Elder to this
place had a family, but the gentleman whom they visited had not,
and he was considered a great libertine; and the one who had a
family was delighted with the answer made by the Elder, and said
he to his partner, "I guess you are satisfied now, I wish you
could say as much." This is the way with the world--"How many
wives have you got?" and, "Oh, it is so wicked, it is so
degrading!"
239
Well, I need not talk about this; but I will say that the
principle of patriarchal marriage is one of the highest and
purest ever revealed to the children of men. I do not say that it
will not injure a great many. I heard brother Joseph Smith say a
number of times, "There is no question but it will be the means
of damning many of the Elders of Israel; it is nevertheless true
and must be revealed; and the Lord designs that it shall be
revealed and go forth, and that this people must receive the
oracles of truth, and they must receive this holy ordinance, and
that that pertains to the celestial world; and they will
retrograde if they do not embrace more of the celestial law than
they have yet."
240
I say, with regard to this principle, if it was good in the days
of Abraham and of the Patriarchs and Prophets, or at any other
period of the world's history, and the fact that the Lord
commanded His servants anciently to observe it, is conclusive
proof that it was so considered by Him, why is it not good now?
It certainly does not go as far as some of our lecturers in the
East, who advocate the abolition of the marriage ceremony by
Government. We do not go quite as far as this; we can't receive
all that they do or would receive. We can't believe a great many
things the so-called Christian world believe, because they are
neither Scriptural nor true.
240
Now, with regard to this moral code, of which I have been
speaking, I will leave it to the greatest infidel, or to the
smallest infidel on the earth, or to the wickedest and most
riotous person that can be found, and I am satisfied that he will
say that lives squared according to its precepts, whether of
individuals or communities, are the very best that can be led. I
say to the world, do not blame us for believing it. Do not blame
the Latter-day Saints for believing the Bible. "We will not,"
says the Christian world, "if you will not practice it." Aye,
there's the rub! Now, I ask the question, who manifest true
wisdom, they who possess the principles of truth and practice
them, or they who possess and profess to believe them and yet
refuse to practice them? I leave it to the world to say which is
the wiser course. I think that if I did not believe in baptism
enough to be baptized for the remission of my sins, I would say I
do not believe and consequently I will not be baptized. And if I
did not believe in the Lord's Supper, I would say so, and would
set that aside in my practice. If I did not believe in the
atonement of the Son of God, or in the virtue and efficacy of his
blood, I would say I do not believe enough to practice what he
has told me, I think I would be honest enough to say so, and I
would live as fast and as close as my feeble capacity would
permit me to what I did believe in.
241
When I look at universalism, deism, atheism, and at the various
sects of the day, I feel that if we fail they are ready to catch
us; but if we are right, they are wrong, and we must officiate
for them and bring them up or they are for ever lost. Who is
right and who is wrong, who are on sure ground and who are not?
This is an important question. It brings to mind a little
anecdote that I have heard my brother Joseph tell. A certain king
came along by a house where there resided a poor family of
children, little girls, who were out at play. He stopped his
carriage and spoke to them, saying, "Children, I am going a
little further; I shall be back presently. I wish you to wash
yourselves and get on your best clothing, for I want to take you
home with me to a feast." The children, all but one, kept on
playing and paid no attention; this one stepped into the house
and washed herself. When asked what she was doing, she said she
was washing and was going to put on her best clothing, for the
king had promised to take her in his carriage if she would do so.
She was laughed at for believing that he would do any such thing,
and told to go on with her play. But she washed and dressed and
sat until the king's carriage returned; and she being the only
one ready, the king took her up, carried her home, gave her
presents and blessed her; but the rest of the children, not
having heeded the words of the king, received no blessing at his
hands. So it is with the whole world of mankind. They say it is
folly in the extreme to believe as we Latter-day Saints believe;
it is all nonsense. They say, "Jesus will never call us to
judgment; he will never come to receive his own; he will never
come to reign on the earth;" but they will find their mistake out
when the king comes along; and I am thankful that I am looking at
some who, like the little girl, are preparing for his coming.
241
Let me ask again, who is on safe ground? Is the apostate on safe
ground? What has he got? If he has found truth, it is here. We
have embraced all truth in the heavens, on the earth, under the
earth, on other planets, and in every kingdom there is in all the
eternities. Every truth in every kingdom that exists is embraced
in our faith, and the Lord reveals a little here and a little
there, line upon line, and He will continue to do so until we can
reach into eternity and embrace a fullness of His glory,
excellency and power. Who are on safe ground, then? These poor
despised "Mormons" are the only people who live on the face of
the earth that we know anything of who are on safe ground.
Whether the Bible is true or not, no matter.
241
Now then, for a few words on the opposite side. Leaving the
difference between the good and the evil, between light and
darkness, and between right and wrong, truth and error, as marked
out by the dividing line, let us glance at the effects of the two
principles. Light, intelligence, good, that which is of God,
creates, fashions, forms, builds up, brings into existence,
beautifies, makes excellent, glories, extends and increases;
while on the other hand that which is not of God burns, destroys,
cuts down, ruins and produces darkness and unbelief in the minds
of the people. Light and intelligence lead people to the fountain
of truth; while the opposite principle says, "Don't believe a
word, don't do a thing; burn up and destroy." Well now, when you
leave the truth you have nothing but unbelief. And this latter is
precisely the condition of the ungodly world, and, as fast as the
wheels of time can roll they are going downward, downward to
confusion, distress, anarchy and ruin. Their much boasted liberal
feelings and extended views will not bring peace or truth to
them; but they are bringing contention and darkness, hatred and
malice. That system that brings present security and peace is the
best to live by, and the best to die by; it is the best for doing
business; it is the best for making farms, for building cities
and temples, and that system is the law of God. But it requires
strict obedience. The rule of right and the line which God has
drawn for the people to walk by insures peace, comfort, and
happiness now and eternal glory and exaltation; but nothing short
of strict obedience to God's law will do this.
242
Brethren and sisters, I can bear my testimony that the Gospel is
true. But what will this do for a person who has no eyes to see
it and its beauties, no mind or heart to understand the
excellency of this code of laws and ordinances that God has
revealed? I say the Gospel is true, but what does this amount to,
to such a person? Nothing. What does? Draw the contract between
the rule of heaven and the rule of wickedness that now prevails
on the earth, and see which will make the people the most happy
and place them in the best circumstances; show which will give
them the most peace, the greatest enjoyment, the greatest amount
of intelligence, light and happiness. That which leads to the
fountain of life and happiness will produce the most. Let the
people judge between the two by the contrast. All live so as to
produce intelligence, light and happiness, or misery, confusion
and destruction. A person before he can understand the law and
government of God, must see and understand the propriety of it
and see its beauties. So it is with the whole system of
salvation. Not that I would say we are machines, for we have our
agency; but God has placed us here, and He exacts strict
obedience to His laws before we can derive the benefit and
blessings their observance will yield. You may take a beautiful
machine of any kind you please, and when the machinist has
finished his work and set it in perfect order, how could it be
expected to operate satisfactorily if a hook here or a journal
yonder were to say, I am not going to stay here, or I am going to
jump out of this place and am going somewhere else; and then
another piece of the machinery would jump out of its place into
another part of the machine? What would be the state of such a
machine? Confusion and disorganization would soon result and the
machinist might very properly say, what a pity that I bestowed so
much labor on such unruly members of my machine.
242
The Priesthood of the Son of God, which we have in our midst, is
a perfect order and system of government, and this alone can
deliver the human family from all the evils which now afflict its
members, and insure them happiness and felicity hereafter.
Brethren and sisters, God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, September 25, 1870
Brigham Young, September 25, 1870
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, September 25,
1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE POWER OF TRADITION ON THE HUMAN MIND.
242
A few words to the Latter-day Saints. First, I feel very thankful
for the privilege of returning to my home and my friends that
dwell here in this city. I am thankful that I am able to stand
before you to bear my humble testimony to the truth. Truth, in
the end, will prevail.
243
You have been hearing a description of our travels, of the route
we passed over, and the ministrations to our comfort from our
friends in the South. I feel wearied, having been broken of my
rest a good deal, not being able, while travelling, to obtain the
quantity of rest that I require. I feel almost unable to stand
here before you, still I look flush and hale and hearty, and
think that I have probably gained from six to ten pounds of flesh
since I have been gone. We have only travelled a little over nine
hundred miles in 28 days. How many times we have preached I do
not know. I have not kept count. Whenever we came to a
settlement, either in the daytime or evening, while stopping to
feed, the brethren would say, "Can't we have a meeting? We want a
meeting! Brethren, will you hold meeting? Frequently we would
say, "Yes," and while our animals were refreshing themselves, we
would assemble with the people and talk with them.
243
It made no difference how arduous our labors had been; if we had
travelled and preached a month without sleep, I don't know that
the brethren would have supposed that we needed rest. I asked one
brother, a presiding Elder, who wanted to have a meeting, how old
his father was. "Why," said he, "he is sixty-seven." I suppose
that man does not do as much labor in a month as I do in a day,
take it year in and year out. Still I may be mistaken in this.
Said I, "Brother, if your father had endured what I have endured
for three or four weeks past, and was asked to go to meeting and
there spend an hour or two, talking to the people, you would feel
insulted, and would consider it an imposition for your father to
be required to labor without cessation." Said he, "I did not
think of that." Said I, "I am considerably older than he is, yet
look at my labors!" So we passed on and did not have a meeting.
But it was meeting, meeting, meeting, from the time we left this
city until our return.
243
In our communications to the Saints I have taken the liberty to
speak of our traditions. The world of mankind have no idea of the
force of tradition upon them, it does not come into their hearts,
they do not contemplate it; if they did they would correct many
of their errors, and cease a great many of their practices, and
adopt others more in accordance with the principles of life and
truth. We wish the Latter-day Saints instructed in such a way
that the traditions they communicate to their children will be
correct. If we did but understand truth from error, light from
darkness, and knew the will of God perfectly and were disposed to
do it, it would be just as easy to give our children an education
to profit themselves and others, to enable them to be profitable
to the human family, and to show forth that wisdom which God has
given us, as to take a course to fill their lives with error and
wrong. Many, very many, people regret much of their lives,
because, through circumstances over which they have had no
control, they have been deprived of the knowledge that some few
possess. It makes no difference how children are brought up so
far as the permanence of the impressions and habits of childhood
are concerned. Whether surrounded with error or truth, the web
woven around them in childhood's days lasts, and seldom wears
threadbare; but in many instances it grows brighter and brighter
and stronger and stronger until its possessor goes down to the
grave.
243
You have heard it declared here, within the few minutes just
passed, that we have the truth, the Priesthood of the Son of God;
that we are endowed with that understanding and wisdom by the
revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we do know the way
of life and salvation, and know, better than any other people,
the course to pursue here on this earth to prepare us for glory,
immortality and endless lives which are to come. If this is the
fact, we should manifest and show it forth to God and man by our
teachings, practice and every act of our lives.
244
I may say that the infidel world has grown up in consequence of
false religions; it has been strengthened by false theories. For
any individual in the world to teach what he does not practice is
a stumbling block to all beholders; then if the Latter-day Saints
know the truth and do it not, certainly, great will be their
condemnation. Hence it stands us in need to be on the watch
continually. I do not know of a more absolute monarch that ever
reigned on earth than the one who has perfect control over his
passions. Do you know of a more absolute monarch than such a
person? If you do, I do not. We should all learn to govern and
control ourselves! The question may be asked, "Can we govern our
own thoughts?" Yes, we can by steady application in gathering to
ourselves reflections, thoughts and meditations which are
according to truth and righteousness and justified of God and of
all the good on the face of the earth, we can avoid evil
thoughts, communications, reflections and enticements, and can
bring the whole man into subjection to the law of Christ. Is this
the fact? It is. If we are filled with good thoughts, ideas and
feelings formed upon precepts which God has taught for the
salvation of the human family, our communications will be
beneficial to our fellow beings. This is to the Latter-day
Saints.
244
When I look over the character of the few who have been gathered
together--a pretty fair representation of almost all nations, it
is astonishing to see the various ideas of right and wrong
entertained by them in consequence of their traditions, and the
teachings they have received from their fathers, mothers,
schoolmasters and school madames; the priest in the pulpit and
the deacon under the pulpit. I say it is astonishing to see this
variety--all springing from tradition. Not but what there should
be a great variety; we see a variety of countenances in the human
family, and we may also expect a variety of dispositions; but all
these dispositions can be governed and controlled by the
principles of right and righteousness.
245
Our traditions, then, should be correct! We should know how to
teach our children correct principles from their youth up. The
first thing that is taught by the mother to the child should be
true; we should never allow ourselves to teach our children one
thing and practice another. I have sometimes said to my sisters,
"Do not teach your children to lie." This is the course pursued
by many, without designing to do so. The very first lessons that
are given to the infant mind capable of receiving impressions is
to falsify or tell that which is untrue. "Well," says a mother,
"if I do so, I do not know it." It may be quite true that you do
not know it. But what did you promise your little girl if she
would do so and so? Did you promise her a present for well doing?
"Yes." Have you recollected it? "No, it has gone from my mind,"
says the mother. If she does ill have you promised her a
chastisement? "Yes." Did you keep your word? You have not, and
the child forms the conclusion in its own mind directly that the
mother tells that which is not true--she says she will do this or
that, and she does not do it. It is an easy lesson for mothers to
learn to pass their time with their children and never give them
a false impression. Think before you speak; promise your children
nothing. If you wish to make them presents, do so; if you promise
a chastisement, keep your word, but be cautious! Never give a
promise for good or for evil, but let the reward come in
consequence of well doing, and chastisement in consequence of
doing ill. Silence is a thousand times better than words,
especially if those words are not in wisdom. But so great is the
love of the mother for her offspring, so tender the feeling with
which she regards it, that many cannot see wrong in the acts of
their children; and if they do, they will pass it without
chastisement, even if chastisement has been promised. These are
our traditions, and so great is their power that we are governed
and controlled by them continually.
245
I sometimes bring up circumstances to illustrate the traditions
of the fathers. We in this country are acquainted with a great
many different classes of people, different sects and beliefs in
religion, and with a great variety of beliefs in regard to
morality. If a mother, for instance, permit her child to bring
eggs into the house, when she does not own a fowl, she knows they
come from some other source. If her child pick up a knife that
does not belong to her and bring it to the house, she cultivates
dishonestly in the child; and from such little circumstances,
thousands of which occur, the principles of dishonesty grow and
strengthen with the strength of the individuals until they become
natural thieves. Perhaps this term is too harsh, and should not
be so applied; it might be better to say that, through habit,
such individuals become accustomed to appropriate the property of
others to their own use.
245
I will tell a little circumstance that I was acquainted with; I
was not an eye-witness of it, but had it from one of my
neighbors. A Methodist preacher, in company with a friend, was
returning from a preaching tour, and while passing a plow lying
by the side of a man's farm the companion of the priest had
considerable difficulty to prevent him putting the plow into the
wagon. Said the priest, "It will be lost, it ought to be taken
care of;" and he would have taken care of it by taking it home,
making use of it and wearing it out, without advertising it, and
the owner of the plow would have had to buy another. That is
appropriating other people's property to our own use. In this
case, the partner of the priest forbid it. Said he, "Take that
and lay it by the fence; it belongs there; do not put it in the
wagon," and the priest did so. You may ask, "Was he a good man?"
Yes, as good as he knew how to be according to his traditions.
245
So many circumstances flood upon my mind with regard to these
traditions, that I hardly dare commence saying anything about
them, that that I have seen and learned. One man brings up his
child to strictly observe the letter of the law. The spirit and
essence of his teaching to his child is, "You must not break the
law, if you do you will be chastened by the law; but at the same
time," says the father, and he may be a deacon or a priest, "if
you can take advantage of the poor in their daily labor, in
purchasing your neighbor's property"--for instance, perhaps he
owns a small farm by the side of him, who, through necessity, is
obliged to sell, and if he can purchase it for one-half or
one-third its value in cash he will do it, because the law will
not condemn such an act. This is tradition or the influence of
it; but in the eyes of God he who thus takes advantage of his
neighbor's necessities is as guilty as if he had robbed him.
246
Do we know of any here who have been brought up to work on the
first day of the week, and who would like to do so now? Yes, we
have them. Can they refrain from doing something or other that is
like labor on the Sabbath day? It is almost impossible; they must
work on the Sabbath. There is a certain class of our Christians
by whom the first day of the week must be devoted to labor, just
to show to their fellow-Christians that they are not sectarian in
their feelings. Say they, "One day to us is as good as another.
God is the author of all days; all days are His, and to show to
the Christian world that we are free from their narrow, illiberal
views, we labor on the first day of the week."
246
Another class of the religious world, equally conscientious with
that to which I have just referred, is as stringent in
prohibiting all kinds of labor on that day. Towards evening on
the seventh day of the week the father cries to the children,
"Your chores must be done by sunset;" and as soon as the rays of
the glorious orb of day have disappeared, parents and children
assemble, and chapter after chapter of the Bible is read, and
comments are made thereon; and there the children sit until
bedtime, and on the first day of the week they repair to the
Sunday school, or to the house of worship, and so spend the
Sabbath, believing that it is wrong to walk out, to play, or even
to laugh; but when sunset comes again, away go the children to
work, and the hurry of the world again begins. Do we see any such
traditions as these? Yes. The traditions of another have been of
such a nature, perhaps, that all labor must cease at twelve
o'clock on Saturday night sure, and as soon as twelve o'clock on
Sunday night comes we are at liberty to work again; and so we
might go through the thousand traditions, the effects of which we
see manifested by our fellow creatures around us.
247
I was traditionated to believe in God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Ghost, and I believe it is a Bible doctrine. I
do not think I am mistaken in my religious faith. My priest would
pray, "Father of all mercies, God of all grace, make thou one in
our midst! Send thou the Holy Ghost upon us, upon our minds, that
we may see! Reveal thyself unto us as thou dost not unto the
world! Give unto us thy mind and thy will! Give unto us the
revelations of thy Son, and bestow upon us thy power and the
influence thereof;" and after making such a prayer the sermon
that would be preached would deny every word of it. Ask the
ministers of the Christian world if the Holy Ghost is given in
this day, and they will tell you "no." I have heard it preached
hundreds and perhaps thousands of times. Ask them if God
manifests Himself to the human family in this our day, and you
will be informed that "He does not; that the Scriptures of the
Old and New Testament contain the word of God, the plan of
salvation, and all that is necessary to save the human family.
God does not reveal Himself; He does not come down to dwell with
the children of men; the Son of God does not come to visit his
people; the Holy Ghost is not given as in ancient times." Ask
them if the gift of healing is with them, and the reply is, "No,
it is done away." "Have you the gift of prophecy?" "No, it is
done away." "Have you the gift of seeing spirits?" "No, it is
done away; all these gifts are done away and we want you to
understand that we do not believe them." All this is in
accordance with their traditions, and it is taught to the
children, and they are confused in their understandings. Well,
the Latter-day Saints know better than to teach their children
one thing at one time and another at another time; they also know
better than to teach their children principles and doctrines in
theory which they deny in practice. The Latter-day Saints are not
at liberty to do this; we are not so called; we have not so
received the Gospel; but having received the truth in our hearts,
we should practice it in our lives, and on this basis-- the truth
as it is in Jesus--should the traditions which we instil into the
minds of our children be built.
247
With regard to the faith that the Lord has revealed for the
salvation of the human family, teach them principles that are
correct. Do not say, "Do not do this or that, child, the Lord
sees you!" "Well, ma," says the child, "I heard the minister say
to-day that the Lord has no eye, how can he see me? How is this,
ma? I want to know; is this true, or is it not true? You say that
the Lord looks upon my acts, and knows everything I do, and will
judge me according to my acts; yet I heard the minister say
to-day that the Lord has no body and no parts, that He has no
ears, that He has no head, that He has no arms, that He has no
feet, and so on. How is this, ma?" And the child is confused in
its mind and does not know what to believe; it is lost in its
thought. The same is true of grown people. The children know very
little more than their parents, but they would if they were let
alone. I will illustrate this by a simple fact, if I do not prove
it. You go to the heathen nations, the aborigines of our country,
for instance. They believe nothing in religion as we suppose, yet
their ideas of God and heaven are far above those entertained by
professed Christians. They believe in a God who has body, parts
and passions, possessed of principle and power; who can see,
handle, walk, talk and communicate. This is their faith; whether
it is through tradition I cannot say. If they have no traditions
on these points they have certainly imbibed these ideas from some
source, and whether natural or by tradition it is immaterial to
me. They are a people who know nothing of the Bible or of the
Christian religion, and still their ideas are more correct than
many of ours. This will illustrate what I wished, to my own
satisfaction.
248
I say, with regard to traditioning children falsely, especially
in religious matters, rather let them alone; give a good common
education, and no teachings whatever with regard to the Bible,
and their own philosophy will teach them there is a Supreme
Being, better than many who, though identified with Christian
nations, have repudiated their religious notions. I mean the
infidel world, and its members are very numerous. The philosophy
of the child, if untrammeled by false tradition, will teach him,
by what he sees every day, that there is a Supreme Being--a
supreme principle and power somewhere. It cannot think of
anything but what is brought into existence in some way or other.
Nothing is self-made or self-existent. This is the natural
philosophy of the thinking child. As it grows up, the idea
naturally suggests itself to its own mind, "I did not bring
myself here; I have parents. I understand this; this is on
natural principles. I can, to some extent, understand the
creations which are before and around me." Says the child, "I can
understand very readily that if we cast wheat into the ground
when it is properly prepared, it produces wheat; if we cast corn
into properly prepared ground it will produce corn. So of rye,
the various grass seeds, shrubs, plants and flowers--they all
yield according to their kind." This, the child naturally
understands, "but," he says, "where is the origin of myself? I
know not; yet it must be somewhere. The origin of life whether
human or inferior, must be lodged in some character whom I have
not seen! Follow it back, no matter whether it be for six
thousand years, six millions, six million millions, or billions
of years, the figures and numbers are immaterial, I must have
come from some source, my natural philosophy teaches me this."
But, leaving the natural philosophy of the child free from false
tradition, let us inquire. What does the philosophy of the
Christian sects, or many of them, not all, teach? "God made the
word in six days, out of nothing!" This is very wrong; no child
should be taught any such dogma. God never did make a world out
of nothing; He never will, He never can! There is no such
principle in existence. Worlds are made of crude element which
floats, without bounds in the eternities--in the immensity of
space; an eternity of matter--no limits to it, in its natural
crude state, and the power of the Almighty has this influence and
wisdom--when He speaks He is obeyed, and matter comes together
and is organized. We take the rock, and the lime from the
mountains and burn it and make mortar with lime and sand and lay
the foundation of houses, and rear the superstructure with
bricks, stones, adobies or lumber. We bring these elements
together and organize them according to our pleasure. We should
teach our children that God has so organized the earth from the
rude, rough native element. It is true that some believe that it
never was created! Well, all right then! It is here anyhow; they
cannot dispute the fact that the earth is here, no matter how
long it has stood!
249
This calls to my mind some circumstances of our trip. We had
Major Powell with us on some portions of our journey South. He is
now preparing to explore more of the Colorado. He was engaged in
this undertaking last year; then he went on his own
responsibility. This year he has received a little aid from
Congress. One evening while sitting by the camp fire, said I,
"Major, how long will it take light to come from the nearest
fixed star to the earth? Some of our astronomers say thirty
thousand years." Said he, "O dear! thirty thousand years will not
do it, it will take as many millions of year." Well, that opened
up conversation, and I do not know but I might have indulged in a
little of my boyism. In our journeyings we came to some petrified
trees lying on the ground; they were broken to pieces. Some had
very fine quartz between the bark and wood, very finely formed,
beautifully crystallized, perfect diamond shape. Said I, "Major,
how came these here?" Well, he did not know when they were
brought, or how they had become petrified; they had certainly,
according to his opinion, come from some other country, for no
such trees grow here now. In our travels we came to one place
where there had been a slide of rocks, and there was a perfect
bed of oyster shells in the rock--perfect rock. Said I, "Major,
how long has it taken for these shells to become petrified?" He
philosophised a little upon it, when I said, "Look here, you and
I both know that there are springs of water that will petrify
things of this kind in a short time, and that petrified human
bodies have been exhumed which, it was known, had not been buried
very many years, and how do you know that it has required a
hundred and fifty million of years to bring about what we now
behold? It may only have required eighteen years!" I recollect a
circumstance bearing on this question, which occurred in the
State of New York, which I will relate. A certain lady had been
laboring under disease, pain and sorrow for eighteen years, her
sufferings and the nature and character of her affliction
baffling the skill of the best physicians; after suffering for
the space of time I have mentioned she died, and, for the cause
of science, was opened by the surgeons, when a petrified child
was taken from her. That was near Utica, in the State of New
York. How long did it take to bring about this petrifaction?
Certainly not millions of years as some of the philosophers talk
about. All that can be said of such things is that they are
phenomena, or freaks of nature, for which the knowledge and
science of man cannot account.
249
Since I parted company with Major Powell I have heard another
story, which will furnish another problem for the geologists to
solve. A short time since a piece of petrified bacon was found on
the trail of Colonel Fremont, and there is no question but it was
left where found by his party when exploring in the Rocky
Mountains. It is petrified, having become perfect rock. We all
know that it is not half a million years since Colonel Fremont
and his party went through this region of country. It is
impossible for man to tell the cause of certain freaks of nature
unless it is revealed to him by divine wisdom, unless his eyes
are open to understand the invisible things of God; for the ways
of God and His dealings are very different from the ways and
dealings of the children of men. Yet there is nothing done only
on the science of true philosophy if we did but understand the
facts. If we cannot define the power by which these things are
done it is not our prerogative to dispute the effects, for they
are before us. These and kindred topics give rise to much
speculation on the part of the scientific; but it is for me to
wait until their causes are made known from the proper source. It
is very sure that there is no such thing in existence as a piece
of wood being turned to stone without the action of elements upon
it; and though we do not understand the combination, nature, and
action of those elements, we can see their results.
249
A few words more with regard to our traditions. We want the
Latter-day Saints to believe and practice every correct principle
with regard to their religion, also with regard to their moral
lives. We know there are a great many who depend upon a moral
life for future happiness and joy, believing that will prove
satisfactory. I can tell you that I would rather have the
practice of a good moral religion without any faith at all in a
Supreme Being, than to have faith in a Supreme Being without any
moral good action, and a life filled with vice, sin and iniquity.
That is my choice. I will say that sin or evil is simply doing
that which injures some thing or being. This is sin; but that
that promotes life, happiness, peace, joy and the well-being of
intelligence--no matter what the degree is--that that promotes
happiness, builds up, refines and makes better, is as good
religion as we can ask for. This is the doctrine of the Son of
God; but there are thousands of these little intricate questions
or ideas connected with salvation which are mysteries to the
human family, which it would take a lifetime to teach them unless
the revelations of God were given to open up their minds at once,
that they might see things as they do exist.
250
Let us train our minds, first to think aright, believe aright,
that the meditations of our hearts may be correct, for our
actions will naturally correspond with that that is in the heart.
This, my brethren and sisters, is our duty. Train ourselves with
regard to our faith. Believe the Scriptures as they are. I have
met with a great many gentlemen who refer to the dead languages
for the proper interpretation of the Scriptures, which, to my
mind, is folly, and absurd in the extreme. If I were a divine,
and had all the learning which could be bestowed upon a moral
being, and considered that the Bible is translated incorrectly, I
should hold myself accountable and responsible to give a correct
translation as quickly as time and opportunity would permit, that
all people might know the truth. So I hold every divine, and
especially those who preach for hire and divine for money, for
they have nothing else to do. I have to raise my own potatoes;
but yet I would find time to do this. I say it is an absurdity in
the very nature of good sound argument and reason to refer to the
dead language for the true interpretation of the Scriptures. Take
the Bible, then, as it is. If it is not translated correctly,
wait until it is. It will do for us as it is, consequently we
teach the principles it contains to each other and to our
children, and endeavor to avoid giving them false ideas with
regard to the faith of the Gospel that we believe in.
250
We believe in our Father, and do not apply this term to a
nonentity--to a fancied something that never existed; the
application would not be correct. We do not so use language. We
use this term to a being, and we claim this title as children. He
is our Father; He is our God, the Father of our spirits; He is
the framer of our bodies, and set the machine in successful
operation to bring forth these tabernacles that I now look upon
in this building, and all that ever did or ever will live on the
face of the whole earth.
250
This is the doctrine taught by the ancients, taught by the
prophets, taught by Jesus, taught by his Apostles, taught by
Joseph Smith, taught by those who believe the same doctrine that
Joseph Smith believed in--the revelations that God has given in
modern times, who believe in that Being after whose image and in
whose likeness man was formed, framed and made, precisely like
Him that made him. This is the doctrine. To believe that He
lives; He is a Being of place, of habitation. He dwells at home;
His influence fills immensity to us; His eye is upon all His
works, and He sends forth His ministers to administer here and
there according to His will and pleasure. He has given His son,
according to His good pleasure, to redeem the earth, and all
intelligent beings thereon, and all inanimate matter, if there is
any such thing; to redeem the whole earth and all pertaining to
it, and it is His good pleasure to do it. The reasons why He did
it are plain and obvious, though we may not say anything about
them to-day; yet there are reasons for all this, and that that we
may call eternal philosophy, God's philosophy, the philosophy of
angels--natural philosophy, reasonable philosophy, that that
commends itself to the human mind, to the intelligence that man
possesses, will explain it. If men understood the religion that
we believe in they would receive it; it naturally commends itself
to the conscience of every just and righteous person, and one
such would refuse it if they understood it.
251
Well, then, we ought, in the first place, to train ourselves to
believe correctly, to think correctly, and to practice correctly,
and instil correct principles into the minds of the rising
generation, so that when they are old they will not depart from
them. This is the idea, and not bring up the children as we bring
them up. You recollect the wise man said, "Train up a child in
the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from
it." That is, teach them correct principles. If we do that, they
will understand the principles by which God lives and acts, and
has brought forth the earth and the intelligence it contains; the
intelligence he has entrusted to man in giving him eyes to see
and ears to hear--properties that are worthy the attention of a
God--that will enable Him to contrast and know, from reason and
from self experience, the good from the evil. I say if we train
our children so as to place them in possession of these
principles we shall train them in the way they should go, and the
saying of the wise man will be verified--they will not depart
from it.
251
In teaching false doctrine there always will be more or less of
truth mixed with it; there always has been where anything of
importance has been taught. The enemy, the serpent, who beguiled
our first mother, told some truth. Said he, "If you take this and
eat thereof, your eyes will be opened and you will see as the
Gods see." This was true, but when he told her that she would not
suffer death as the consequence of so doing, he lied--told that
that was not true. He mixed some truth with the error he taught;
her eyes were opened, or how could she have seen?
251
If I were to preach to this congregation, who have been brought
up in countries where there is no fruit raised, and I was to
teach them that there is such fruit as oranges, if you have not
seen or tasted them how could you know whether I told the truth
or not? If I were to say to this congregation there is such a
fruit as a sweet apple, but you had never seen nor tasted nor had
any knowledge of it, how could you tell whether I told the truth
or not? But having tasted the bitter and the sweet; having
enjoyed ease and suffered pain; having seen the light and endured
the darkness, you know that which is good and that which is evil.
Without this experience how could we know it? Consequently God
has committed to the children of men this knowledge, and He has
made it plain and reasonable before them, that they should know
as well as the Gods, that they might choose the good and refuse
the evil. So it is, and so we should be taught.
252
And then, with regard to the religion of God, of His Son Jesus
Christ, of the holy angels and of the prophets and Apostles, from
first to last, it can never injure any soul who will receive it.
If men would observe that, they would never go to war with each
other, they would never destroy a good work that others have
performed. It is an evil principle which introduces destruction,
wickedness and confusion into any community whatsoever. A good
principle--that which is of God, ornaments, builds up, gathers
the elements, beautifies the earth and makes it like the garden
of Eden; it improves the hearts of the people, teaches children
right doctrine, correct principle, to which they will adhere
through life. Through imbibing false ideas, principles and
teachings, children become as the old Indian said. The missionary
had been trying to instruct him in the saying, "Bring up a child
in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart
from it;" but the old Indian gave it a little different
interpretation. Said he, "Bring up a child and away he goes." So
it is now--we bring up children and away they go. Look at our
young, middle aged and old men! Look at the community that we
have in our country and in other countries! You take the sons of
those flaming divines! If you want to find the most polished,
complete and perfect outlaws that can be found, you hunt up the
son of some priest who has received a liberal education; after
having been taught the highest branches of education, away he
goes. At least the son of such a man is just as apt to do so as
the son of the lawyer, farmer, mechanic, judge or statesman. This
is for the lack of correct tradition, and this shows the force of
early training and of the traditions imbibed in childhood. The
power of it upon myself is perfectly astonishing to me; with all
that I have learned from the Scriptures and from the revelations
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the traditions of my earliest
recollection are so forcible upon me that it seems impossible for
me to get rid of them. And so it is with others; hence the
necessity of correct training in childhood.
252
Teach your children honesty and uprightness, and teach them also
never to injure others. As I say to my sisters sometimes, "Look
here, my dear sister, if your child quarrels with your neighbor's
child, do not chasten your neighbor's child. Go and make peace,
be a peace-maker. Teach your child never to do a wrong; and if
your neighbor's child has injured you or yours, or taken anything
from you, never mind. You stop until you find out. Perhaps the
child has meant no wrong. You should learn the facts in the case,
and go with a meek, humble, quiet spirit, and peace will result."
How many neighbors become enemies to each other in consequence of
contention with children! Woman will contend with woman, "Your
child injured my child," and so on. Why if you understood and
would practice the true doctrine, you would not mind this; you
would say, "It is the act of a child and not of a matured mind;
it is only the work of children." Perhaps it may have done some
mischief; and if so, reason with it, and teach it never to do
anything wrong among its play-fellows, but to promote good
feelings continually. You will see occasionally a child that is
ready to give up everything rather than have contention, and why
not have it so with all. It might be so, just as easy as it is
otherwise. Let mothers be possessed of a meek, humble, quiet
spirit in child-bearing, and when their children come forth into
the world and commence on this stage of action, teach them
correct principles, and by imbibing them they will be enabled to
lead lives of purity, joy, peace and tranquility that surpasses
all understanding. So let our traditions be, and never do or say
a wrong thing. Never do or say that which we shall regret. Watch
yourselves day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute. Keep a
guard over yourselves so that you will never do or say anything
that you will regret hereafter, and your lives will be filled
with usefulness, and you will increase your own peace and promote
it among your neighbors, and this will insure a great degree of
salvation here, and prepare for a higher degree hereafter. The
principles of life and salvation are the greatest blessings which
can be bestowed upon us here on this earth. The greatest gift God
can give to His children is eternal possession. We know how to
teach and to live them, and how to practice them so as to enjoy
their benefits. This is what gives peace and joy to the heart.
Who else that live on the earth could endure as the Latter-day
Saints have endured, if they did not enjoy the Spirit of the
Lord? If they had not the spirit of peace and union and of love
to God and to one another and the whole human family? Let our
traditions and practices be such that we can say, to the whole
world, in the words of the Apostle, "Follow us, as we follow
Christ."
253
This is the doctrine. In our scanty, hasty reflections to
the Latter-day Saints we say, live your religion! If you do, you
will do no evil to any person on the face of the earth. I
sometimes ask myself the question, "Do people understand what we
teach, believe and practice?" They cannot see and understand as
we see and understand; they cannot believe as we believe, if they
did they would never do as they do--that is our enemies.
253
I have occupied all the time I should this morning. This is only
a little. God bless you. Peace be with you. Do right. Love God
and keep His commandments, and, in the words of the Scripture,
"Eschew evil!" Have nothing to do with it. Let us seek
continually to do good to ourselves and each other, that when we
sleep in our mother dust, when these tabernacles take that happy
nap in the bosom of our mother earth, our spirits may be prepared
for higher society than we enjoy here. This is my desire and
prayer for the good all the day long. God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Lorenzo Snow, October 9, 1869
Lorenzo Snow, October 9, 1869
REMARKS BY ELDER LORENZO SNOW,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 9, 1869.
(Reported by John Grimshaw.)
ACTING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.
253
I am very much pleased in having an opportunity to make a few
remarks to this Conference. The subjects that have been presented
to our consideration are fraught with many very interesting
reflections. Every privilege that is afforded us of meeting
together in the capacity of a Conference, and taking a
retrospective view of the past, gives us a chance to behold the
great and marvellous success that has hitherto attended our
labors, as the servants of God, in this great and glorious work
of the redemption of Israel and the gathering of the Latter-day
Saints from the four quarters of the world, to establish the
kingdom of God on the earth in the last days.
254
There are many peculiarities that distinguish the order of things
pertaining to the work of God in which we are engaged, from the
different systems of religion that are to be met with in
Christendom and throughout the various parts of the world. What
we do we perform in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and are
willing to acknowledge the hand of the Almighty in everything we
do. When Moses stood forth as the deliverer of the children of
Israel from their Egyptian bondage, he did not present himself in
the manner of a common deliverer, but he went in the name of the
Lord God of Israel, having been commanded to accomplish their
redemption by the power and authority which he received from God.
And from the moment that he appeared before them in this
capacity, until he had accomplished his work, he acted in and
through the name of the Lord, and not by his own wisdom or
ingenuity, nor because he possessed superior intelligence to the
rest of mankind. The Lord appeared to him in the burning bush,
and commanded him to go forth and accomplish a certain work,
which concerned the peace, happiness and salvation of a great
people; and its success and prosperity depended upon the carrying
out of the order of things revealed to him by the God of heaven.
His success and prosperity were made perfectly sure from the fact
that the work to which he was assigned was not a thing of his own
invention, but it emanated from Jehovah.
254
A great deal of speculation might have been entertained by some
in reference to his mode of procedure. There might have been some
things in the working of the system he introduced that were very
disagreeable to certain parties whom they concerned--to the
government of Egypt and King Pharaoh, for instance; but that was
a matter of very small consideration with him and with the people
whom he had occasion to deliver from bondage.
254
It is so in reference to ourselves. The great work now being
accomplished--the gathering of the people from the nations of the
earth, had not its origin in the mind of any man or any set of
men, but it emanated from the Lord Almighty. Joseph Smith
received a revelation and commandment from the Lord, to go forth
and preach the Gospel of salvation to the nations of the earth,
with power and authority to baptize those who would repent of
their sins and be immersed in water for the remission of them; he
was also commanded to preach the gathering to them, that a people
might be drawn together who would be willing to hearken to the
voice of the Lord and keep His laws, that a righteous seed might
thereby be preserved when the great day of His wrath should come.
This Gospel was preached, and thousands of Saints have been
gathered from almost all parts of the globe, who are now
scattered throughout the length and breadth of this Territory,
making farms, building houses, planting orchards and reclaiming
the soil; creating villages, towns and cities where nothing but
wild beasts and savages used to roam, and causing the desert to
blossom as the rose. Yet all this has not been accomplished by
human wisdom, although the enemies of the Saints would try to
make the world believe so; it has been done by the wisdom and
power of Almighty God, whose outstretched arm has been over His
Saints, preserving them from evil of every kind.
254
Jesus, while travelling here on earth, fulfilling his mission,
told the people he did not perform the miracles he wrought in
their midst by his own power, nor by his own wisdom; but he was
there in order to accomplish the will of his Father. He came not
to seek the glory of men, and the honor of men; but to seek the
honor and glory of his Father that sent him. Said he, "I am come
in my Father's name, and ye receive me not, if another shall come
in his own name, him ye will receive."
254
Now, the peculiarity of his mission, and that which distinguished
it from other missions, was this: he came not to seek the glory
and honor of men, but to seek the honor and glory of his Father,
and to accomplish the work of his Father who sent him. Herein lay
the secret of his prosperity; and herein lies the secret of the
prosperity of every individual who works upon the same principle.
255
There are many things that are admirable in what is called
by our neighbors "Mormonism." Great men admire the effects that
are produced by its operations, or the work of preaching the
Gospel, gathering the people from the nations of the earth and
settling them in this Territory, in establishing towns, villages
and settlements, in gathering the poor from their indigent
circumstances, from their conditions of poverty and distress, and
placing them in a position where they can sustain themselves and
have an opportunity of educating their children and gathering
around them the necessaries, comforts and conveniences of life.
255
People admire the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, they
admire the wisdom that is manifest in the perfect organization
observable in their cities, towns, and settlements, and the unity
existing amongst them. They are struck with the peace and good
order that reign in our midst, which are not found, to the same
extent, in any of the cities of the United States or Europe. One
hundred and fifty thousand people, who have been gathered from
the poorest classes of persons and brought from the various
nations and established in prosperous and happy circumstances,
are admired by every one. But all this is being done in the name
of the Lord, and professedly through the commandments of the
Almighty; and herein lies the difficulty. Our acknowledgement of
the hand of God in what we do is something they do not approve
of. If we gathered the people from the various nations, built
cities, towns and villages in our own name, and in our own
strength and wisdom, and gave ourselves the honor and glory, we
should be a very admirable people indeed, and everybody would
admire the "Mormons," and would be pleased with our operations;
and as far as the influence of politicians and members of
Congress is concerned, it would be employed in obtaining our
admission into the Union as a State.
255
It may be considered by some as unfortunate that we have a
principle in the operations of "Mormonism" so disagreeable and
annoying; but we cannot help it. This work is not one of our own
getting up, and we have not the responsibility of its success
resting upon us. Jesus says himself that he would have been
received by the people if he had sought the honor of men. If he
had not come in the name of his Father, but simply in his own,
the people would have received him, honored him and made him King
of the Jews; and all would have been agreeable, pleased and
satisfied.
255
It was said by the Prophet that Israel should be scattered, that
they should be sifted among the nations, and in the latter days
they should be gathered out, two from a city and one from a
family, and there should be a time when the people would be
gathered from the nations when it should be said to them, "Come
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and
that ye receive not of her plagues."
255
Joseph Smith received a commandment of the Almighty similar to
that which Moses received to deliver the children of Israel from
Egyptian bondage. The command to the Prophet Joseph was to go
forth and declare the Gospel to the children of men, to gather
them from the nations of the earth and place them in a land of
peace and plenty, where they could plant and reap the fruit
thereof. In many instances the people who received this Gospel
were in a far worse condition than the children of Israel, when
found by Moses in their bondage.
256
There are hundreds of Elders here who have travelled through
England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, Norway and
elsewhere, who know very well that the people were found in most
of those lands in circumstances of slavery--bondage far worse
than the "blacks" in the South previous to their liberation.
There was nothing before the people but the prospect of
starvation; and they were subject to the will and caprice of
their masters, and dependent upon them for their labor and daily
bread; and when work was dull, they had before them nothing but
the prospect of being turned from their employment and to have
their only source of obtaining food for themselves and families
entirely cut off. They did not own a foot of land, a plough, an
ox, a wagon, a cow, a mule, a horse, in fact, nothing they saw
around them could they call their own. They were, in short,
entirely dependent upon the will and disposition of their
employers for what they wanted, and had to look to them for their
only means of gaining a living. Thousands upon thousands of these
people are now located in various parts of this Territory, in a
far more prosperous and independent condition than that in which
they lived while abroad among the nations. Many of them are
comparatively rich in this world's goods. The command of the
Almighty to this people is to come out of Babylon to a land where
his Saints may gather around them such things as are necessary to
the well-being of his children. This is a greater work than that
performed by Moses, of redeeming the children of Israel from
Egyptian bondage; yet it is done on the same principle. The voice
of God to Moses was to deliver His people from their bondage and
he would be with him and assist him. The command is now for the
people to be delivered from their bondage, poverty and distress,
and come to these valleys of the mountains, where they can
sustain themselves.
256
There are many philanthropists who admire the works that have
been accomplished in this respect. They say, "The 'Mormons' have
done a great deal more than any religious society ever did or
even expected to do. They have increased the population of the
nation and have extended their cities to the east, to the west,
to the north and to the south." But it has been done by the
command of the Almighty, and that is where the trouble lies. As
for polygamy, our enemies would not be so wrath about our
practising it, so long as we did not do so in the name of the
Lord. But as these things are done in His name, they are
obnoxious in the eyes of the world. The same state of feeling
existed in the days of Moses, the same in the days when Jesus
appeared among the Jews. Had Moses presented himself in the same
way as Washington or William Tell, the deliverer of the people of
Switzerland from the yoke of bondage under which they labored, or
as Wallace, the hero of Scotland--had he, I say, appeared in his
own name, and presented himself before the people as a person of
superior powers and ability, and [not] claimed power greater than
that he possessed as a man, all would have been well. But when he
went before them in the name of the Lord Almighty, he experienced
some difficulty in performing the work which had been assigned
him.
257
We know well we differ very much in our religious concerns from
the various denominations existing in the world. An Elder goes in
the name of the Lord; he crosses the ocean, calls into an
individual's house and says, "I am a missionary; I have come from
America to preach the Gospel." It is not a very unusual thing for
persons to cross the ocean as missionaries and go to Europe. This
is all very natural; but when an Elder goes and says he comes in
the name of the Lord to deliver them from their circumstances of
poverty and distress, and to call upon them to repent of their
sins and be immersed in water for the remission of them,
promising them the Gift of the Holy Ghost, he creates a
distinction between his mission and that of the various systems
introduced by the different sects of the day. Says he, "I come to
tell you that the time for the fulfilment of the predictions of
the Prophets has arrived. The Lord wants His people gathered from
Babylon unto the place where there shall be deliverance." There
is deliverance. There is something that can be realized and
experienced, that can be seen and felt and known. There is the
promise that, if any man will do the will of God, he shall know
for himself that the doctrine we teach is true. There is no
chance of imposition. There is an opportunity to know whether the
message of this Elder is true or false.
257
If a sectarian minister had gone to the children of Israel and
discovered them in the same condition in which Moses found them,
his message would have been entirely different from that of
Moses, as would also his conversation and address. Moses said to
them, "In the name of the Almighty, having received authority
from God, I come to deliver you from bondage and to give you a
national existence; to take you to a land that the Lord God has
commanded you to go to, and which He has promised you shall
receive." Had a sectarian minister gone under similar
circumstances, his ideas and manner would have been entirely
different. Says he, "I have come to beseech you who are now
subject to your masters' will and have to recline upon straw, to
be patient and long-suffering. Servants, be obedient to your
masters and wait upon the providence of the Lord. Bear up, and be
kind," and so on. Anything in regard to delivering them from
their bondage under which they are suffering? No, nothing of the
kind.
257
It is the same when a sectarian minister goes to England. He
knocks at a man's door and says, "I am a missionary from
America." Well, the man on whom he calls is in distress. Says he,
"I am sorry I cannot take you in; but I am in distress. It is
meal-time, but my family has nothing to eat. I am out of
employment and have nothing to live upon. I wish I could relieve
your wants, but I have nothing with which to assist you." Oh,
says the minister, you must wait upon Providence, you must have a
great deal of patience and long-suffering. I am come to preach to
you the Gospel, and you must pray and keep praying until you
think you have got a pardon of your sins; but still remain where
you are. No redemption!
258
Well, now, that is different from the "Mormon" Elder's manner. He
presented himself in something like this way: "I have come in the
name of the Almighty, in obedience to a call from God, to deliver
you from your present circumstances. Repent of your sins and be
baptized, and the Holy Ghost shall rest upon you, and you shall
know that I have the authority to administer the ordinances of
the Gospel by the power of the Almighty and the revelations of
God. Gather out from this nation, for it is ripening in iniquity,
there is no salvation here. Flee to a place of safety." And as
the messenger who went to Sodom said to the family whom he found
there, so says the Elder of Israel, telling them, as Moses did
the children of Israel, to go to the land that the Lord God has
appointed for the gathering of His people.
258
There is a great difference between the operations of the
Latter-day Saints and those of the Christian world. With us there
is no deception; nor indeed is there any chance for any. People
gather here in thousands on the principle that the Lord God has
revealed, and they have an opportunity of knowing that the
Almighty has spoken from the heavens. They are not left to the
mere statement of any one.
258
Jesus says that if any man will do the will of God, he shall know
His doctrine. If he will repent of his sins and be immersed in
water, by the laying on of the hands of those having authority,
the gift of the Holy Ghost shall be given to him, and he shall
receive knowledge from God in regard to the divine authenticity
of these ordinances. People are not left in the dark, they have a
chance to know for themselves. They get this intelligence and
know what they are doing.
258
Will we do these things in the name of the Lord God that sent us?
This work is the Almighty's, and it is His business to sustain
and support it. If, in keeping the laws of God, we do things that
are not quite so pleasant to the people around us or the
Government under which we dwell, we cannot help it. We cannot act
save we do so in the name of the Lord. When Nebuchadnezzar
established a certain edict, and that edict was contrary to the
revelations of the Almighty, it was disagreeable to many persons
whom it concerned. There were three men, Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego, who received a command from the Almighty that they
should not worship any other God than the Lord God of Israel,
that they should worship no images. But King Nebuchadnezzar set
up an image and commanded that every nation, kindred and tongue,
over whom he reigned, should bow down and worship it, when they
heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery,
dulcimer, and all kinds of music.
259
It so happened that the King's edict concerned, among others, the
three men who had received the revelation from the Lord that they
should not worship any image. They were in a rather awkward fix.
Either they must set aside the command of Jehovah to worship no
God but Him, or, on the other hand, disobey the mandate of the
King. They knew if they refused to comply with the wishes of so
mighty a man as Nebuchadnezzar, their lives would not be of much
value, unless they were preserved by the hand of the God of
Israel. But they feared not the King and trusted in the arm of
Jehovah to shield them from evil. Accordingly, when the signal
was given for the people to fall down and worship the image,
these three men refused to do so; and being observed, they were
taken before the King, who was greatly enraged at the idea that
there could be found any one in all his dominions so fearless as
to refuse to comply with his wishes. When they appeared before
him he looked at them in a fierce and savage manner and said, "Is
it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my
gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye
be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet,
flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and dulcimer, and all kinds of
music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made,
well; but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into
the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that
shall deliver you out of my hands?"
259
I often admire the answer of those men, placed as they were in
such a perplexing position. A person might be brought before the
Emperor of France or Russia and get along very well; but it was
something awful to come in collision with a man like
Nebuchadnezzar, whose will was as the word of the Almighty, and
had never been disobeyed. When the King had done speaking, they
answered, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in
this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to
deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us
out of thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto thee, O
King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden
image which thou hast set up." Upon hearing this, the King was
extremely angry, and caused the furnace to be heated seven times
hotter than usual, at the same time commanding the most mighty
men of his army to bind them and thrust them into the furnace.
After a while, however, he discovered he had made a grand
mistake. He had been deceived, and hastily calling his counselors
together, he demanded of them whether only three men were cast
into the furnace. They answered, yes. "Well," said he, "I see
four there; and one of them is like the Son of God." He then sent
forth another edict, that all those who refused to worship the
God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, should be cut in pieces
and their houses should be made into dunghills.
259
Now, Nebuchadnezzar was honest, but through ignorance he was led
to act in this way.
259
It would be very agreeable and pleasant when we carry the words
of life and salvation to the various nations, if every part and
operation of the work of God should be in perfect harmony with
the feelings of the people to whom it is preached; if it is not
so, we cannot help it. We know this, that the Almighty has given
us power and authority to go forth and gather the people from the
nations of the earth and establish them in the land of Zion. But
strip from this operation the supernatural part, and the people
of the world, members of Congress included, would be pleased; and
the Vice-President would be proud of us. They would say we were
very patriotic. But they do not like our doing these things in
the name of the Lord our God. They are afraid that in getting
power and influence, and uniting our interests as one great
people, we will do something by and by.
259
Let us continue, brethren and sisters, to work in the name of the
Lord our God; gathering wisdom and intelligence day by day, that
every circumstance which transpires may minister to our good and
increase our faith and intelligence. If we continue to work
righteousness, being faithful to each other and to God, no power
will be able to overthrow us, and as brother Hyde remarked, for
every stumbling block that our enemies place in our way, to
hinder and prevent the work of God from moving forward, two will
be placed in the paths of those who put one in ours. If we are
faithful and keep the commandments of God, His works will
continue to prosper until the prophecies are fulfilled, and we
become a great, a glorious and a mighty people. God bless you.
Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, October 6, 1870
Brigham Young, October 6, 1870
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
MEETING IN CONFERENCE.
260
As we have met in the capacity of a General Conference, we shall
expect to hear instructions from the Elders pertaining to the
building up of the kingdom of God on the earth. This is our
calling, this is the labor devolving upon us, and it should
occupy our attention day by day from morning until evening and
from week to week; in fact, we have no other calling or business,
and if we are humble and faithful, God will strengthen us and
increase our ability and give us power sufficient to accomplish
the tasks devolving upon us in the performance of His work.
261
The oracles of truth are delivered; men have been called and
ordained; the gifts and graces of the Gospel are restored; the
kingdom is organized; it is committed to the servants of the
Lord, and if we are faithful we shall bear it off; we will
establish it and make it firm in the earth, no more to be
interrupted or removed, and the teachings that we shall hear will
be pertaining to our spiritual and temporal labors in this
kingdom. With God, and also with those who understand the
principles of life and salvation, the Priesthood, the oracles of
truth and the gifts and callings of God to the children of men,
there is no difference in spiritual and temporal labors--all are
one. If I am in the line of my duty, I am doing the will of God,
whether I am preaching, praying, laboring with my hands for an
honorable support; whether I am in the field, mechanic's shop, or
following mercantile business, or wherever duty calls, I am
serving God as much in one place as another; and so it is with
all, each in his place, turn and time. Consequently our teachings
during Conference will be to instruct the people how to live and
order their lives before the Lord and each other; how to
accomplish the work devolving upon them in building up Zion on
the earth. To accomplish this will require steady faith and firm
determination, and we come together in this capacity that our
faith and determination may be increased and strengthened. When
we have spent three, four or five days together in giving
instruction, we shall only just have commenced to instruct the
people; and when we have spent a lifetime in learning and
dispensing what we do learn to our fellow beings, we have only
commenced in the career of intelligence. Our faith and prayers,
the ordinances that we attend to, our assembling ourselves
together, our dispersing after attending to the business of life,
in our schools, all our educational pursuits are in the service
of God, for all these labors are to establish truth on the earth,
and that we may increase in knowledge, wisdom, understanding in
the power of faith and in the wisdom of God, that we may become
fit subjects to dwell in a higher state of existence and
intelligence than we now enjoy. We can attain to this only by
adding faith to faith, knowledge to knowledge, temperance to
temperance, patience to patience, and godliness to godliness, and
so increasing in the principles of happiness and salvation.
261
We shall call upon the Elders to speak to the congregation as
they assemble here from day to day, and I hope and trust that the
brethren and sisters will treasure up in their hearts the
instructions that they receive, and that they will carry them out
in their lives. This Sunday religion that a great many of our
Christian brethren believe in and practice, when their every-day
life is spent in selfishness and for self-aggrandizement, will
not do for the Latter-day Saints; with us Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday must be spent to the
glory of God, as much as Sunday, or we shall come short of the
object of our pursuit. Consequently we must pay attention to the
things that we hear, and to the principles of the religion that
we have embraced in our faith, and seek diligently to break up
the prejudices and prepossessed notions and feelings that have
woven themselves around us through the traditions of the fathers,
and endeavor to know and understand as God knows, that we may do
His will. Our traditions are so firmly fixed in our feelings that
it is almost impossible to rise above, over-ride, or get rid of
them; they cling to us like the affections of tender friends. But
we must learn to know the will of God and do it, and let our
traditions go, then we shall be blessed.
261
There are many things that we should understand with regard to
ourselves and our children; and when the mind opens upon the
vision of life by the spirit of revelation, there is not a person
but what can see the eternity of teaching yet to be imparted to
the Saints.
261
I trust that we shall be edified and rejoice together, and shall
return from this place strengthened and confirmed in our faith
and hopes, feeling that steadiness of nerve, by the spirit of
revelation, that we shall not be wafted to and fro, imagining a
thousand things incorrect, and pass by those doctrines and truths
that are calculated to exalt the human family.
261
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
TEXTS FOR PREACHING UPON AT
CONFERENCE--REVELATIONS--DECEITFULNESS
OF RICHES--ONE-MAN POWER--SPIRITUALISM.
262
I have a request to make of the door-keepers and of those
brethren who seat the congregation, as also of our sisters, some
of whom, I see, are occupying a few of the seats that we usually
reserve for strangers. We should be very much pleased if the
sisters would fill up other parts of the house first, and we
would like the brethren who seat the congregation, to see that
the seats generally occupied by strangers are held in reserve
to-day until the meeting commences; then, if those for whom they
are reserved do not come to fill them, they may be used by the
sisters. I hope this will be recollected and observed.
262
As our brethren of the Twelve will address us during the
Conference, I feel like giving them a few texts to preach upon if
they choose to do so. I should have no objection to hear them
discourse upon union of action, or concentration of faith and
action, or, as some call it, co-operation. That is one item. I
would also like to hear them give instruction with regard to our
traditions; instruction on this subject is necessary all the
time. We must overcome them and adopt the rules laid down in
revelation for the guidance of man's life here on the earth. If
any of our brethren feel to speak upon this subject we should be
very pleased to hear them; if they are not disposed to preach to
the text, they may preach from it, as most ministers do. I have
heard very few ministers preach to their texts, they generally
preach from them.
262
The education of our children is worthy of our attention, and the
instruction of the Elders from this stand. It is a subject that
should be thoroughly impressed upon the minds of parents and the
rising generation; and those who wish to preach from this text
may do so. And if they do not feel to preach to the text, they
may preach from it.
262
The subject of the building of the Temple is a very good one for
occupying a portion of the time. The ordinances of the House of
God are for the salvation of the human family. We are the only
ones on the earth at the present time, that we have any knowledge
of, who hold the keys of salvation committed to the children of
men from the heavens by the Lord Almighty; and inasmuch as there
are those who hold these keys, it is important that they should
be acted upon for the salvation of the human family. The building
of Temples, places in which the ordinances of salvation are
administered, is necessary to carry out the plan of redemption,
and it is a glorious subject upon which to address the Saints.
262
The gathering of the House of Israel is another text upon which
the brethren might address the Saints with profit. We are in the
midst of Israel; they are also scattered among the nations of the
earth. They are mixed with all nations, especially the tribe of
Ephraim. These are to be gathered out. We have Israel in our
midst; we live upon their land; we have communion with them and
we are under the necessity of feeding and clothing them to a
certain extent, and to preserve peace with them at present, until
they come to a knowledge of the truth. I mean the Lamanites, the
aborigines of our country. They are of the House of Israel.
263
Not least nor last, but one subject that I would as soon hear
treated upon in this house as in any other place, is the union of
the sexes. We cannot go into any town or little village in the
Territory but we find quite a large number of young people who
have arrived at a marriageable age and still they remain single.
But this can be accounted for to some extent. The young man says,
"I dare not marry a wife, the fashions and customs of the world
prevail among the ladies here to such a degree that I should need
a fortune to maintain one." The young lady says, "I don't wish to
marry unless I can find a husband who can take care of me and
support me according to my idle wishes." By their acts only can
people be judged, and from observing them we must conclude that
the ideas of the young men are too true, they are founded in
fact. This should be done away. Such feelings, views and
influences should be dispelled from and broken up in the midst of
the people. Our young men and women should consider their
obligations to each other, to God, the earth, their parents, and
to future generations for their salvation and exaltation among
the Gods and for the glory of Him whom we serve. These are not
idle tales, they are not fictions, but facts; and for a
community, believing as we do, to live like the Gentile nations
in these things is very incorrect. It is not according to our
faith; we should put out faith into practice, and be willing to
sustain ourselves, each and every one of us. Our young folks who
have arrived at years of maturity should think and act for
themselves. They are citizens of the earth; they have a share
here, and have a part to bear--a character to form and frame and
present to the world, or they will sink into oblivion and
forgetfulness. These things are of importance to us at least, and
especially in this nation, where many of the people are wasting
away their lives, bartering away their very existence, and will
hardly receive in return therefore a mess of pottage.
263
The education of youth is an important text for the brethren to
preach from. A very high value should be placed upon it by the
Saints. We have the privilege of enjoying the spirit of
revelation and the knowledge which comes from above, and in
addition to this, every branch of education known in the world
should be taught among and acquired by us. All the arts and
sciences, and every branch of mechanism known and understood by
man should be understood by this people. But no matter how much
knowledge we may acquire in a worldly point of view, by study,
unless the revelations of the Lord Jesus are dispensed to each
and every individual, they cannot use or apply their acquirements
to the best advantage. A man may know facts without revelation.
The mathematician, for instance, may acquire a great amount of
knowledge without any special revelation by the Spirit of the
Lord to enlighten his mind; but still he will not know and
understand what he might if he had applied his heart unto wisdom.
So it is with all the sciences.
263
These principles should be considered by this people. This is the
place, brethren, to teach them. But I will give a caution to my
brethren, the Elders--never undertake to teach a thing that you
do not understand. Such things will come into your minds; but
without launching out on such subjects, questions may be asked
and answered, and we gain knowledge from each other. There is
plenty within the scope of our own brains that, by the assistance
of the Spirit of the Lord, will enable us to tell many
things--more than the world or even more than the Saints can
receive.
264
Suppose a man should come here and tell you the very nature of
our Father Adam--tell precisely how he was organized, his height,
his proportions, the extent of his knowledge, tell you the
agreement that was entered into, the amount of knowledge that he
had to forget to reduce himself to the capacity of a corruptible
being! Suppose this could all be told to the congregations of the
Saints, what would they know about it? Very little. There may be
some minds which could grasp some things pertaining to it, but
others could not. The spirit of revelation can reveal these
things to the people, but unless they live so as to have the
revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will remain a mystery,
for there is a vail before the minds of the people, and they
cannot be understood. Some of these principles have been taught
to the Latter-day Saints, but who can understand them?
264
Brother Orson Hyde referred to a few who complained about not
getting revelations. I will make a statement here that has been
brought against me as a crime, perhaps, or as a fault in my life.
Not here, I do not allude to anything of the kind in this place,
but in the councils of the nations--that Brigham Young has said
"when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call
them Scripture." I say now, when they are copied and approved by
me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if
you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the
mind of God, without any special command to one man to go here,
and to another to go yonder, or to do this or that, or to go and
settle here or there. In the early days of the Church, if a man
was going to sell a farm he must have a revelation--Joseph must
receive and give a revelation. Many men would not do one thing
until God had given them a revelation through the prophet. It
must be: "Thus saith the Lord, sell your farm, devote such a
portion of your means to education, or printing, or for
distributing knowledge to the world. Devote such a portion of
your means to do this, and such a portion to do that." I have
known a good many men in the early days of the Church who had
property, that must have revelation to know what disposition to
make of their substance; but who, when they received it, were
sure not to strictly obey it. What did revelation do for such
persons? Nothing but seal their condemnation. Why do the people
want revelations to damn themselves?
264
Give the mind of the Lord to this people here in this Conference,
would they observe it? There is a few who would like to; but take
some of those who are called Latter-day Saints, would they follow
it if it were given them? I know they would not, still the Lord
is merciful and forbearing and He bears with His people. He has
borne with and blest us, to see if we would walk in the knowledge
of the truth and yield strict obedience to His requirements.
264
Poverty, persecution and oppression we have endured; many of us
have suffered the loss of all things in a worldly point of view.
Give us prosperity and see if we would bear it, and be willing to
serve God. See if we would be as willing to sacrifice millions as
we were to sacrifice what we had when in comparative poverty. Men
of property, as a general thing, would not be. We know this, God
knows it, and He has to treat us as unruly, disobedient, slow to
think and slow to act--as a set of children.
265
It has been said, time and time again, that if the people would
live worthy of the great things God has in store for them, they
are ready to come forth for their salvation and edification; but
until we improve upon little things and hearken to the voice of
the Lord in our first duties, He is not going to bestow the great
mysteries of the invisible worlds upon us. We know too much
already unless we do better. You may think I am complaining;
well, I am just a trifle. I see the Latter-day Saints here and
there going to destruction, apostatizing. "Oh," say they, "we
have a little wealth, a little means," and in some instances that
is leading them to destruction.
265
These merchants that we have made rich, where are they? Those who
are not in fellowship and some who are in fellowship with us?
They are in our midst, but their feelings are, "We want more, we
want your money, Latter-day Saints." Ask them to sacrifice their
all and see what course they will take. When they came here they
had not a wagon and did not own five dollars in the world; we
have made them rich. Is there one in ten that would endure if we
were to get a revelation for them to make a sacrifice of all they
have? No, they would lift up their heels against the Almighty and
His Anointed. Whether I am complaining or not, this is too true.
265
Now, brethren, preach the things that we verily believe, and when
we come to points of doctrine that we do not know, even if we
have good reason to believe them, if our philosophy teaches us
they are true, pass them by and teach only to the people that
that we do know.
265
You can know nothing of this Gospel short of the revelations of
the Lord Jesus Christ. If our Gospel, that we preach in this
house and that the Elders of Israel teach, is hid to any man on
earth, it is because he is lost. It is not hid to him whose eyes
are open to the things of God; he understands it. When he hears
the voice of the Good Shepherd, when he hears sound
doctrine--that that comes from God, he knows it and receives it.
Says he, "That is right, correct, that is congenial to my ears
and sits smoothly and satisfactorily on my understanding. I like
that doctrine because it is true. The reason we like "Mormonism"
is because it is true. It is good; it embraces all the good there
is in the sciences, and all that ever was revealed for the
benefit of the children of men. There is no art beneficial to the
human family but what is incorporated in our religion. The only
true philosophy ever revealed by God to man on this earth is
comprised within and is part of our religion. It embraces the
whole man and all his talents and time while he lives here on the
earth, and then will only prepare him, let him do his best, to
enter a higher state of glory, where he will see that he is but
just commencing to learn the things of God and the riches of
eternity, to know and understand the life of those immortal
beings who dwell in light and live in glory and who are
surrounded with light, glory, immortality, and eternal lives, and
live in accordance with the laws which control the Gods. When we
have learned all that we can learn here by a close application in
our lives to the faith which Jesus has unfolded, we shall see
that we are then just commencing to learn, as it were; and when
the spirit is reunited with the body we shall be prepared to
enter into the joy of our Lord.
266
A good deal is said about so much power being given to one man.
What does man's power on the earth consist of? Of the influence
he possesses. If a man have influence with God he has power with
Him. Again, if he has influence with the people he has power with
them; that is all the legitimate or righteous power man has. We
have influence; God has given it to us, and the Latter-day Saints
delight to place that confidence in us that is deserving, and the
wicked world cannot help it. It may be a great pity in the
estimation of a great many, but still the world cannot help it;
and justice, mercy, truth, righteousness, love, and good will
command this respect, and the worthy get it. We have heard
considerable about "down with the one-man power!" All right, down
with it! What is it and how are you going to get it down? When
you get down the power of God, that which is called one-man power
in the midst of the Latter-day Saints will fall, but not before!
It is no more nor less than the concentration of the faith and
action of the people. And this brings to my mind the facts that
exist with regard to the faith of the Latter-day Saints.
267
When we go into the world we find quite a portion of the people
who belong to a class called Spiritualists. I do not know that I
am right in styling them a class, but they aspire to be so
considered. They would like to have it considered that
"Mormonism" is nothing but Spiritualism; but it is temporalism as
well as Spiritualism. A great many want to know the difference
between the two. I will give one feature of the difference, and
then set the whole scientific world to work to see if they can
ever bring to bear the same feature in Spiritualism. Take all who
are called Spiritualists and see if they can produce the order
that is in the midst of this people. Here are system, order,
organization, law, rule, and facts. Now see if they can produce
any one of these features. They cannot. Why? Because their system
is from beneath, while ours is perfect and is from above; one is
from God, the other is from the devil, that is all the
difference. Now see if the whole Spiritualist world can organize
a community of six individuals who will agree for a year, that
will not fall to pieces like a rope of sand. Now, Spiritualists,
go to work, bring your science to bear and demonstrate the fact
that you have a system if you can. We have demonstrated it to the
world; it is manifest, it is before us, we see it, it is
tangible, we can see its results, it has wrought wonders. See if
they can do like this. If the kingdom of the devil can do like
the kingdom of God on the earth, it is deserving of credit; but
its members can only divide and sub-divide, produce confusion on
confusion, disorder following on the heels of disorder, one to
the right, another to the left, another for the front, another
for the rear, one pulling this way, another pulling that, sect
against sect, people against people, community against community,
politically, religiously, and I may say morally to a great
extent; and I do not know but I might say scientifically,
although the sciences agree better than the faith, feelings and
imaginations of the people. Now try this, Spiritualists! This is
a text for you; and when you have produced order, system and
unity among the inhabitants of the earth we will look and see
what more there is that we have that the world have not. I am not
going into details at all, but I just mention this to see if the
Spiritualists can systematize or organize anything. When they
have done this it will be time enough to admit that they have
some science; but until then we will say that Spiritualism is a
mass of confusion, it is a body without parts and passions,
principle or power, just like, I do not like to say it, but just
like the so-called Christians' God. The creed of the so-called
Christians represents that their God is without body, parts or
passions; and it should be added, without principle or power, for
the latter is the corollary of the former. When we see anything
that has solidity and permanency, that produces good, that builds
up, creates, organizes, sustains, and betters the condition of
the people, we pronounce that good and from God; but when we see
that that injures, hurts, destroys, produces confusion in a
community, disturbance and discord, strife and animosity,
hatefulness and bitter feelings one towards another, we at once
pronounce it evil, and declare that it springs from beneath. All
evil is from beneath, while all that is good is from God.
267
I did not think to preach you a sermon when I commenced, but to
call upon some of the brethren to do so. I have given them some
texts, and they may preach to or from them, just as they please.
Some of them will probably talk about organizing the kingdom of
God on the earth, and so governing a community as to make them of
one heart and one mind. I am prepared to prove to any sensible
congregation, any good philosopher or thinking person or people,
who have steady brain and nerve to look at things as they are,
that can tell white from black and daylight from midnight
darkness, that the closer the connection in a business point of
view that a community hold themselves together, the greater will
be their joy and wealth. I am prepared to prove, from all the
facts that have existed or that now exist in all branches of
human affairs, that union is strength, and that division is
weakness and confusion.
267
I do not know but I will advert once more to Spiritualism.
Spiritualism is like Methodism and the sects of the day exactly,
I mean so far as unity of faith or action is concerned. When I
was a Methodist, as I was once, they said to me, "You may be
baptized by immersion if you absolutely require it, but we do not
believe in it, but we do believe in giving every person his
choice." "Well," said I, "I believe in it. There are some things
required in the doctrine of Close Communion Baptists which I
cannot subscribe to as well as to most of the principles that you
hold in your catechisms, and in the tenets of your church, but,"
said I, "they believe in baptism by immersion, and I want to be
baptized by immersion;" and finally they consented to baptize me,
and did do it. So say the Spiritualists.
268
Another one says, "I want to kneel down in the water and have the
water poured on my head." Says the Methodist priest, "We don't
believe in it, but you can have it done. It is no matter, one
method of baptism, perhaps, is as good as another." So say the
Spiritualists. Another one says, "I want to get down into the
water and be baptized face foremost." "Well," says the priest,
"we don't think it makes any difference, and if you really desire
it, you may have the ordinance administered to you according to
your wishes." So say the Spiritualists. Another one says, "I want
to sit in my chair and have the minister dip his fingers into a
bowl, and put it on my forehead, and call that baptism in the
name of the Trinity. The Methodist says, "We will consent to
that; it is just as good as anything else." So say the
Spiritualists. Another one says he wants to kneel down in the
water and have water poured on him. The priest consents to this
also. So do the Spiritualists. Why do I say this? Because men
baptized by these various methods can all get communications,
they say, from the spirits sanctioning each and every different
form of baptism. The Methodists say, "We believe in a God without
body, parts and passions;" so say the Spiritualists, the
Presbyterian and other sects, but the Latter-day Saints do not.
And in reference to the ordinance of baptism; the Latter-day
Saints say, "Go down into the water and be buried with Christ in
the water; and come out of the water as Christ came up out of the
water, when the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove rested on His
head, and a voice from heaven was heard saying, 'This is my
beloved Son, hear ye him.' He will tell you what to do, teach you
correct doctrine. He has no traditions to overcome, no
prepossessed notions taught by parents, binding him to the sects
that are now on the earth. Hear ye Him! have hands laid upon you
that you may receive the Holy Ghost." The Latter-day Saints say
to the people, "Believe in God the Father and in Jesus, the Son!
Believe in the gifts of the holy Gospel! They are as ready to be
bestowed upon His children at this day as any other in the
history of the world. This is the time to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ; this is the very time that we should acknowledge
him and believe in his ordinances and in the gifts and graces
that are promised to the children of God. We are living in a
Gospel age and dispensation, we are living right in the day in
which, as the Apostles said on the Day of Pentecost, the promise
is to you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even
as many as the Lord our God shall call." Has the Lord called upon
the children of men in this day? Yes, in the east and the west,
from the north to the south, and in the uttermost parts of the
earth. He has called upon the inhabitants of the earth to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Suppose this order of things had
continued from the days of the ancient Apostles; suppose there
had been no backsliding, no merchants to lift their heels because
they are getting rich, no apostates, and the successors of the
Apostles had received the holy Priesthood and had gone to the
uttermost parts of the earth, where would have been your paganism
to-day? It would not have been on the earth; infidelity would not
have been known. Children would have been taught the ways of the
Lord and brought up in the way they should go, and the whole
world would have been full of the knowledge of God, instead of
being in darkness as now!
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, July 24, 1870
Brigham Young, July 24, 1870
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 24, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE GOSPEL--THE ONE-MAN POWER.
269
Short sermons are very frequently interesting, if the speaker can
say what he wishes to say from the time he commences to speak
until the end. But most of us who are public speakers labor under
timidity, and experience that lack of the governing and
controlling principle which prevents our doing this. I notice
this in almost every public speaker I hear. It is seldom that a
speaker can arise and deliver his thoughts and reflections
readily, unless his speech and subject have been studied and
fixed previously. For my part, as far as my public speaking is
concerned, I do not know that I ever troubled myself to take
thought beforehand of what I should say. There have been times in
my life that I have been led to lecture on certain principles,
and on such occasions my mind would be confined to those
principles alone, consequently my subject would be before me more
immediately. But upon rising to address the people I trust in Him
from whom we all derive the power of thought and reflection, and
I strive to express my reflections acceptably to God and to my
hearers.
269
The Gospel, whose principles we have been hearing about this
morning, is the Gospel that every Christian professes to believe
in. I do not know of a Christian but what will admit that the
Bible is true; then where is the difference between the
Latter-day Saints and the various Christian sects that dwell on
the earth? The difference is that we believe enough to obey;
while they believe just enough to acknowledge but not to obey.
269
If there be one principle in this Gospel that we preach that is
not perfectly true, we would like some divine to make us
acquainted with the fact; and prove by principles of true
philosophy wherein it is not true, or wherein it is injurious to
those who believe it. We believe that every principle that God
has revealed to the children of men is strictly true, and
absolutely beneficial to the life of every intelligent being that
dwells upon the whole earth. We have come to this conclusion, for
we have tried to learn and understand and to carry out in our
lives the principles of the Gospel that we believe in, and if we
sum them up, in a few words, we might, with the strictest
propriety, use the words of one anciently, and say that the
Gospel is "peace on earth and good will to men." We can also say
truly that this is eternal life to know the only wise God and
Jesus Christ whom He has sent. But when we examine the faith and
acknowledgements of the Christian world we find that, with all
their professions, they are involved in midnight darkness
concerning the true nature and character of God. Is there a
divine on the face of the whole earth who can give you or me any
description of the Being that the whole Christian world worship
as God? There is not. Where is the proof of this assertion? I am
a witness; their writings are witnesses; their sermons are
witnesses; their declarations are witnesses. Yet this book, the
Bible, portrays the character of God, the Father of our spirits,
and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as clearly
as any work ever written by man portrays the shape, nature,
construction and constitution of the human frame. If this is so,
why do not the Christian world believe in it? The Latter-day
Saints do believe enough of it to try and carry it out in their
practice.
270
What do we believe about the faith that Jesus revealed? He said a
great deal with regard to life and salvation. His Apostles wrote
and taught after him, and the Gospel was among the children of
men from the days of Adam until the coming of the Messiah; this
Gospel of Christ is from the beginning to the end. Then why was
the law of Moses given? Just answer the question! In consequence
of the disobedience of the children of Israel, the elect of God;
the very seed that He had selected to be His people, and upon
whom He said He would place His name. This seed of Abraham so
rebelled against Him and His commands that the Lord said to
Moses, "I will give you a law which shall be a schoolmaster to
bring them to Christ." But this law is grievous; it is a law of
carnal commandments. Still it will be hard for any divine that
now lives to draw the line between the law of carnal commandments
and the law of divine commandments. I have not seen them who can
do it.
270
I ask what is the nature of our religion? Why, it is "peace on
earth and good will to men" in every particular; and if its
precepts be observed it will fill society with peace, joy,
wealth, beauty and excellence; it lifts man above the things of
earth, gives him the philosophy of eternity, and shows the works
of God in all their glory and magnitude, and leads the mind of
the creature to admire and worship the Creator. Is this the fact?
Certainly it is. I have not found anything in my religion that
will do harm to any creature on the face of the earth. I have not
found errors in our religion. Are there errors in the people? O
yes, plenty of them. I recollect a gentleman from Philadelphia
who was tarrying in this city for the benefit of his health, but
was called home on business, who said he believed the Bible and
believed all, as far as he had learned, with regard to the
doctrines of the Latter-day Saints. Said he, one day, when
visiting me for the last time, "Mr. Young, am I to understand
that you consider yourselves perfect?" I said to him, "Such an
idea with regard to us is a mistaken one, and if you entertain it
you have not got the matter placed correctly in your mind. Let me
correct you, so that when at home you may meditate upon it. The
doctrine that we preach is perfect; but our lives are very
imperfect. To say that a human being is perfect, that he has no
errors, would say that he is divine--a God or a holy angel. But
we are in a world of sin and darkness, a world that knows not
God; in a world where error dwells and reigns supreme. Now," said
I, "remember this. The doctrine that we preach is from God; this
doctrine is pure and holy; it is without spot or blemish; and it
is the doctrine of the Son of God, the Savior of the world." Is
it good for man here? Certainly it is--the best that can be given
to any beings on the earth; to organize a society, to rule a
family to dictate and control scholars at school, to rule, govern
and control an individual, a community, a nation or kingdom, it
is the very best code of principles and laws ever delivered to
the children of men. In all my researches into the doctrine of
Jesus I have never found an error.
271
It has been observed here this morning that we are called
fanatics. Bless me! That is nothing. Who has not been called a
fanatic who has discovered anything new in philosophy or science?
We have all read of Galileo the astronomer who, contrary to the
system of astronomy that had been received for ages before his
day, taught that the sun, and not the earth, was the centre of
our planetary system? For this the learned astronomer was called
"fanatic," and subjected to persecution and imprisonment of the
most rigorous character. So it has been with others who have
discovered and explained new truths in science and philosophy
which have been in opposition to long-established theories; and
the opposition they have encountered has endured until the truth
of their discoveries has been demonstrated by time. The term
"fanatic" is not applied to professors of religion only. How was
it with Dr. Morse, when shut up in the attic of an old building
in Baltimore for more than a year, with a little wire stretched
round the room, experimenting upon it with his battery, he told a
friend that by means of that he could sit there and talk to
Congress in Washington? Was he not considered a fanatic, and
wild, and crazy? Certainly he was; and so it was with Robert
Fulton, when he was conducting his experiments with steam and
endeavoring to apply it so as to propel a vessel through the
water. And all great discoverers in art, science, or mechanism
have been denounced as fanatics and crazy; and it has been
declared by their contemporaries that they did not know what they
were saying, and they were thought to be almost as wild and
incoherent as the generality of the people now think George
Francis Train to be.
271
I will tell you who the real fanatics are: they are they who
adopt false principles and ideas as facts, and try to establish a
superstructure upon a false foundation. They are the fanatics;
and however ardent and zealous they may be, they may reason or
argue on false premises till doomsday, and the result will be
false. If our religion is of this character we want to know it;
we would like to find a philosopher who can prove it to us. We
are called ignorant; so we are: but what of it? Are not all
ignorant? I rather think so. Who can tell us of the inhabitants
of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon?
When we view its face we may see what is termed "the man in the
moon," and what some philosophers declare are the shadows of
mountains. But these sayings are very vague, and amount to
nothing; and when you inquire about the inhabitants of that
sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard
to them as the most ignorant of their fellows. So it is with
regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is
inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life
there? No question of it; it was not made in vain. It was made to
give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and
so will this earth when it is celestialized. Every planet in its
first rude, organic state receives not the glory of God upon it,
but is opaque; but when celestialized, every planet that God
brings into existence is a body of light, but not till then.
Christ is the light of this planet. God gives light to our eyes.
Did you ever think who gave you the power of seeing? who
organized these little globules in our heads, and formed the
nerves running to the brain, and gave us the power of
distinguishing a circle from a square, an upright from a level,
large from small, white from black, brown from gray, and so on?
Did you acquire this faculty by your own power? Did any of you
impart this power to me or I to you? Not at all. Then where did
we get it from? From a superior Being. When I think of these few
little things with regard to the organization of the earth and
the people of the earth, how curious and how singular it is! And
yet how harmonious and beautiful are Nature's laws! And the work
of God goes forward, and who can hinder it, or who can stay His
hand now that He has commenced His kingdom?
272
This brings us right back to this Gospel. God has commenced His
kingdom on the earth. How intricate it is, and how difficult for
a man to understand if he be not enlightened by the Spirit of
God! How can we understand it? O, we have nothing to do but to
humble ourselves and get the spirit of the Lord by being born of
the water and of the Spirit; then we can enter into it. How is it
if we are not born of the Spirit? Can the natural man behold the
things of God? He can not, for they are discerned spiritually--by
the Spirit of the Almighty, and if we have not this Spirit within
us we cannot understand the things of God. But the most simple
thing in the world to understand is the work of the Lord. What
shall we do? Divest ourselves of great, big "Mr. I." Let him fall
at the feet of good sound reason. What next? Humble ourselves
before the Lord and receive the truth as He has revealed it, then
we will be born of the Spirit. Then if we wish further blessings,
be born of the water; then, if we wish further blessings, receive
the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and
if we wish still further blessings, live by every word that
proceeds out of His mouth, that is spoken from the heavens, then
things will be brought to our remembrance by the Comforter that
Jesus promised his disciples, which should show them things past,
present, and to come.
273
This is the Gospel as we believe it. Is there any harm in it? Not
the least in the world. Should we not obey it? We should. Should
we not obey the requirements of Heaven? Certainly we should.
Would it be the least injurious to the human family to receive
the Gospel of the Son of God, and to have the man Christ Jesus to
rule over them? Not at all; but, on the contrary, it would fill
them with peace, joy, love, kindness, and intelligence. Would the
principles of the Gospel, if obeyed, teach us to control
ourselves? They would. They will teach men and women to govern
and control their own passions. You very frequently hear it said,
"Such a man or woman has too much temper." This is a mistaken
idea. No person on earth has too much of this article. But do we
not frequently see the evil conduct of people through allowing
their passions and tempers to have full control of them?
Certainly we do. What is the difficulty? We want the spirit,
knowledge, power and principle within us to govern and control
our tempers; there is no danger of having too much if we will
only control them by the Spirit of the Almighty. Every
intelligent being on the earth is tempered for glory, beauty,
excellency and knowledge here, and for immortality and eternal
lives in the worlds to come. But every being who attains to this
must be sanctified before God and be completely under the control
of His Spirit. If I am thus controled by the Spirit of the Most
High I am a king, I am supreme so far as the control of self is
concerned; and it also enables me to control my wives and
children. And when they thus see that I am under the government
and control of the Good Spirit, they will be perfectly submissive
to my dictates. They feel and say, "Yes, father, or husband,
certainly, you never require anything that is wrong; I have
learned that long ago. Your judgment and discretion and the power
of thought and reflection in you are sufficient; you know what is
right." And if I could extend this power I could reign supreme,
not only over my family and friends, but also over my neighbors
and the people all around me. Could the spirit of error, hatred
and wickedness perform this? No, it can be accomplished only by
means of the meek and humble spirit of the Lord Jesus. If an
individual is filled with that, it makes him a perfect monarch
over himself, and it will give him influence over all who will
hearken to his counsel. What a pity it would be, in the
estimation of the wicked and corrupt, if any man on the earth
really did possess this power! Suppose that Napoleon, for
instance, was actually filled with the power of God to that
degree that the whole people of France would love him as much as
a child ever loved a parent, because they knew every word he
uttered was full of wisdom and would produce health, wealth, joy
and peace among all classes; would elevate the suffering
poor--those in need and distress, fill them with knowledge and
wisdom and give them the good things of life, why, there would be
a general out-cry against him, and he would be denounced because
of the exercise of the "one-man power!" But let him be a devil
and rule with an iron rod, a tyrant's hand, and take off heads
every day by the score or hundred, and there would not be a word
said against him! Let the good I have referred to be brought
about, as it would be, under the rule and government of Heaven,
and the ruler would be called a tyrant. But this is the way to
rule, no matter what the inhabitants and the wise men and
philosophers of the earth may think; and the time will come when
this earth will be revolutionized by these principles, and when
through their influence war, dissension, hatred, malice, and
persecution will cease among the children of men and when there
will be a universal reign of peace and righteousness. Suppose we
live to see it! We shall all be of one heart and one mind, shall
we not? I will here ask, for my own satisfaction, what will you
do, Mr. Politician, when there is no division at the polls, but
when the cry will be, from one end of the earth to the other, "We
want one man only, but the best that can be found for this
office; this is the only man we want?" Your occupation will be
gone about that time. Will there be wars in those days? No, they
will be done away. Any contentions then? No, all will be peace.
Bickering and strife will have passed away, and a better spirit
will have taken possession of the minds of the people, and they
will be peaceful, joyous, kind and full of benevolence, and the
general feeling will be, "Friend, what can I do for you? Brother,
how can I do you good?" or, "Sister, can I add to your comfort,
or make any addition to your joy and peace here on the earth?"
You and I are looking for this day. Let me ask the poor miserable
apostate, the hater of God and righteousness, "Do you not think
that will be one-man power?" I reckon it will. That is what
leading men everywhere are after now, not only in this country,
but in every other; they are all scrambling after it, and they
are mad because they can not get it.
274
I think I will take the liberty of relating a little circumstance
which was related to me. Whether it is a fact or not I cannot
say. Some of our good government officers here inquired of a man
from the Southern part of the Territory: "Do you know Brigham?"
Yes, I know him very well." "Do you not know that he is trying to
influence the election?" "No," I never heard anything about it."
"Can't you make oath that he has always guided and influenced the
elections in this Territory?" The man said, "No, I am not well
enough acquainted with him nor with politics to know anything
about it." I laughed heartily inside at the poor miserable fools
when I heard this. Why, yes, I would govern and control the
elections of the earth if I desired and could; certainly I would,
and help yourselves the best way you can! Bless my heart, who
don't do it? The poor creatures! Isn't that what they are after?
Would not they do it if they could? I can govern and control the
Latter-day Saints, not by the iron hand, but by the principles of
true government--the principles of our religion, which, in their
very nature, are bound to make those who will be guided by them
healthy, wealthy and wise. I think we are doing our best at it;
and I also think that we will go on and be successful in this
good work in spite of earth and hell.
274
I say God speed everybody that is for freedom and equal rights! I
am with you. Whom do we want to fill our public offices? We want
the best men that we can find for governor, president and
statesmen, and for every other office of trust and
responsibility; and when we have obtained them, we will pray for
them and give them our faith and influence to do the will of God
and to preserve themselves and the people in truth and
righteousness. I have talked as long as time will allow. God
bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, October 30, 1870
Brigham Young, October 30, 1870
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 30,
1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE WORD OF WISDOM--SPIRITUALISM.
275
I can say to the people, as I have frequently said, if we were
apt scholars to learn the truth and to understand the mind and
will of God concerning us, and would then each and every one of
us with fervency perform his duty, it would not be necessary to
talk quite so loud and quite so long as we do now. But we are
still children and can learn but little at a time; and we need to
have our lessons repeated in our hearing very frequently, for we
are apt to lay down our books when we go out of these schools
where instructions are given. We are very apt to slumber and
sleep and forget what resolutions we have made in our own minds,
and to forget what we have heard from the servants of God. If we
could learn our lessons, treasure them up and practice upon them,
it would not be necessary to spend so much time in talking or in
listening to those who talk; but it is necessary for us to talk
and then to practice and show the people as well as teach them
how to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth. It is quite a
pity that we do not understand things! Take the inhabitants of
the earth as they are, and in many things pertaining to what is
called worldly wisdom--mechanism, the sciences and the arts,
there seems to be a great deal of knowledge displayed; but they
are ignorant, at the same time, of the fountain of this
knowledge. They cannot conceive of anything any broader or deeper
than the extension of their own minds and that of their
neighbors. If we--that is, mankind generally, could understand
that whatever we enjoy, whatever wisdom and knowledge we possess,
is bestowed upon us by and comes from God, we should perhaps be
more willing to acknowledge Him in these blessings; and until the
people called Latter-day Saints do this, we shall continue to
talk to them and to ourselves.
275
The Word of Wisdom has been preached to this people, first and
last, a good deal, that is the written word in the Doctrine and
Covenants. It has been read and taught to the people now, some
thirty-eight years! and yet we neglect to observe this trifling
lesson concerning our health. Is it not strange? Yes, it is; it
is passing strange; it is astonishing! How many there are of our
brethren who say, "I can't dispense with my tobacco! I can't lay
down my pipe or cigar and let it alone; I must take it up again,
I can't live unless I have a little tobacco in my mouth, or in my
nose;" I have no knowledge of their using it in their ears. Old
men, middle-aged men, men strong in intellect and physical force,
athletic men, will say, "I must have a little tobacco." Is this
the case with the Elders of Israel? You recollect that, here, a
year ago I think it was last Conference, if my memory serves me
aright, when the Bishop of the Church was presented for
acceptance to the people, and then his counsellors came up, I
made this reservation--I would vote for them if they would let
their liquor and tobacco alone; and I believe the people voted
for them on the ground that they were to cease using ardent
spirits and tobacco. If they have not used it from that day to
this, there were but few days that they did not use it. They
should be examples to the Church; they should be like fathers to
the Church. If they are really the counsellors of the Bishop,
they should practice everything that is good that he practices;
and if the Bishop himself should neglect any duty, they should
perform their duty as counsellors, and should teach, guide,
direct and counsel the Bishop to improve in his life.
275
But to return to the brethren and the use of tobacco. There are
many of our Elders who say, "I can't live without indulging in
this unseemly appetite." To say that the nature of man requires
tobacco and spirits is absurd. I do not know but we might prove
that the nature of a dumb brute desirest his at certain times. I
am not sure but what cattle would drink liquor if it were reduced
considerably; perhaps they might drink it when rather strong. I
think I have heard of some few instances in the course of my
life. But you put cattle into a field where there is tobacco and
you will see that none of them will eat it unless they are sick,
they will take it then, but at no other time. If a horse, ox or
sheep be in good, ordinary health it will not touch it, and to
say that it is necessary for man is absurd! Well, is it good for
nothing? Was it created in vain? No, the Word of Wisdom tells us
that tobacco is for sick cattle, and the dumb brute will
demonstrate this if it is sick and can get at it. The tobacco
plant and the lobelia plant are similar in taste and outward
appearance, though not in their effects; but the former is for
cattle, the latter for man. The difference in their effects is
chiefly, that lobelia has no narcotic influence, while tobacco
has.
276
I wish to ask those brethren who are in the habit of using
tobacco, Won't you leave it alone and try lobelia, and see if you
can become attached to it? If you can, it will prove that it
possesses narcotic properties; if you cannot, it will prove that
it possesses no such properties. Mankind would not become
attached to these unnecessary articles were it not for the poison
they contain. The poisonous or narcotic properties in spirits,
tobacco and tea are the cause of their being so much liked by
those who use them. I hear something occasionally about tea, but
I say if the ladies would take the natural leaf from the stem and
dry it upon wood they would not become attached to it as they do
to the green tea, Young Hyson, Gunpowder and other popular
brands, for these kinds are cured on copper, and they partake
more or less of the nature of the copper on which they are dried,
through being impregnated with its poisonous qualities.
276
I say this to the brethren and sisters, that they may see if they
can become attached to and really crave any of these stimulants
that do not contain quite a quantity of poison. There is no doubt
whatever that the food we eat, and which is absolutely necessary
to sustain us, contains poison. I do not dispute that the poison
contained in the bread that has been distributed from the table
this afternoon, if extracted by a skilful chemist, would be
enough to kill; but still, as combined with the other constituent
elements of which bread is composed, it is not injurious, and we
eat it without harm. But where we find so much poison in articles
the people will become very strongly attached to them in a very
short time. For instance, how quickly persons become attached to
the practice of opium eating; they cannot live without it! If
there was no poison in it it would not operate upon the system as
it does. In some countries it is said that the fair sex are in
the habit of arsenic eating, and this is for the special purpose
of improving the complexion. Let a lady commence taking the
smallest possible particle of this article, and if she continues
the practice, in a few years she will not be able to live without
it.
276
Many of our sisters think they cannot live without tea. I will
tell you what we can do--I have frequently said it to my brethren
and sisters--if they cannot live without tea, coffee, brandy,
whisky, wine, beer, tobacco, &c., they can die without them. This
is beyond controversy. If we had the determination that we should
have, we would live without them or die without them. Let the
mother impregnate her system with these narcotic influences when
she is bringing forth a family on the earth, and what does she
do? She lays the foundation of weakness, palpitation of the
heart, nervous affections, and many other ills and diseases in
the system of her offspring that will afflict them from the
cradle to the grave. Is this righteous or unrighteous, good or
evil? Let my sisters ask and answer the question for themselves,
and the conclusion which each and every one of them may come to
is this, "If I do an injury to my child, I sin."
277
We very well know that the customs which prevail in the world are
such as to cause millions and millions of children to go to
untimely graves. Infants, children, youth, young men and young
women, thousands and tens of thousands of them go to an untimely
grave through the diseases engendered in their systems by their
progenitors. Is this wrong or is it right? If it is wrong we
should abstain from every influence and practice which produces
these evil effects; if it is right, then practice them. But we
say it is wrong; God says it is wrong, and He has pointed out in
a few instances the path for us to walk in, by observing the Word
of Wisdom, and He has declared that it is fitted to the capacity
of the Saints, yea the weakest of all who are or can be called
Saints. And this Word of Wisdom prohibits the use of hot drinks
and tobacco. I have heard it argued that tea and coffee are not
mentioned therein; that is very true; but what were the people in
the habit of taking as hot drinks when that revelation was given?
Tea and coffee. We were not in the habit of drinking water very
hot, but tea and coffee--the beverages in common use. And the
Lord said hot drinks are not good for the body nor the belly,
liquor is not good for the body nor the belly, but for the
washing of the body, &c. Tobacco is not good, save for sick
cattle, and for bruises and sores, its cleansing properties being
then very useful.
277
Now then, will we observe the Word of Wisdom? Will we let our
tea, coffee, whisky and tobacco alone? Shall I answer for my
brethren and sisters? Yes, I will answer. A large proportion of
the Elders of Israel will let these things alone, they do let
them alone; but there is a certain per centage of them that you
might as well talk to the wind as to talk to them about these
things. As for my sisters, I can answer the question for them.
They may not have their tea on the table when the husband sits
down to breakfast or supper, and their tea-cups, saucers and
tea-pot may be out of sight, but I will insure that many of them
take a little tea for the stomach's sake in the course of the
day, whether the father or husband knows anything about it or
not; and if the question is asked why I think so, I answer from
the statistics of the sales of tea and coffee in our stores; they
prove this. We were very urgent, a year of two ago, with regard
to the Word of Wisdom, and the influence then raised made an
impression on the people which caused them to forsake the use of
these unnecessary articles for the time being. It was our wish
then, and is still, that the money generally paid out for tea and
coffee, liquor, tobacco, &c., be used to send for the poor Saints
and bring them to a land where they can accumulate the common
necessaries of life, instead of staying in their own land, and
going down to an untimely grave for the want of food. I recollect
one sister said to me, one day, "Brother Brigham, here is twenty
dollars"--I think that was the sum--"I give this into the poor
fund. At such a time you advised us to let our tea and coffee
alone, and contribute the same amount that we would expend for
these articles in bringing the poor from the old country. It
would have taken me twenty dollars to supply me with these
articles to this time. I have saved the money; my health now is
more than fifty per cent better than when I left off tea. I can
now work ten, or perhaps twelve, hours a day easier than I could
two or three when I took these stimulants." Some others have sent
in a few dollars thus accumulated for the relief of the poor; but
I think most of our sisters have taken to their old practice of
drinking tea again. Perhaps I do not judge rightly, but my
conclusions are formed from information in my possession, as to
the amount of this article sold.
278
As far as I can learn the cup of tea stands on the stoves in the
houses of my near neighbors, associates, and those with whom I am
best acquainted. I go along occasionally and take up a tin cup,
and say, "What is this?" "It is a little tea; we have just made a
little tea this morning;" or, "we thought we would have a little
tea this morning." I have not seen any on my table, but
frequently I am asked, "Will you have a little tea?" I can say I
have tasted it to see whether I have liked it or not. I have
desired not to like it. I never was in the habit of using it,
except a very small portion of my life. But I do not like it. It
has got to be made very delicate, about as weak as if for a
child, and then a good share of nice cream and sugar in it for me
to like it at all. I have frequently taken a spoon and said, "Let
us see what you are drinking? Oh, yes, tea! It wants a little
sugar and cream in it." If you who use it will drink a large
share of sugar and cream in it, it will not have that same
influence on your stomach as if you drink it raw, I mean without
the sugar and cream; it will not injure the coating of the
stomach to the same extent. And if you adopt this practice,
adding a little more sugar and cream, and having your tea
gradually weaker and weaker you may finally get rid of it.
278
I ask again will we observe the Word of Wisdom? "No, we will not,
unless we have a mind to." That is the answer. "If we have a mind
to and feel disposed to do so, we will observe it, but not
without." I say to all the Elders of Israel, if it makes you sick
and so sleepy that you cannot keep out of bed unless you have
tobacco, go to bed and there lie. How long? Until you can get up
and go to your business like rational men, like men who have
heads on their shoulders and who are not controled by their
foolish appetites. I have said to my family, and I now say to all
the sisters in the Church, if you cannot get up and do your
washing without a cup of tea in the morning, go to bed, and there
lie. How long? Until the influence of tea is out of the system.
Will it take a month? No matter if it does; if it takes three
months, six months, or a year, it is better to lie there in bed
until the influence of tea, coffee and liquor is out of the
system, so that you may go about your business like rational
persons, than to give way to these foolish habits. They are
destructive to the human system; they filch money from our
pockets, and they deprive the poor of the necessaries of life.
Hundreds and thousands could have been brought here to this
Territory, where they could have had food to eat, raiment to
wear, and been taught so as to have a house of their own, could
have known how to build a good cabin, lived under their own roof
and eaten their own bread; whereas, now they are perishing by
scores and hundreds. Do these habits rob the poor? Yes, they do.
Do they produce evil? Yes, they do. They do not bring that sweet
satisfaction of the Spirit of God to our hearts and our feelings
and affections that would come to us by the observance of the
Word of Wisdom, and using the means thus wasted to feed the poor
and clothe the naked.
279
A few words with regard to our tithes and offerings--a subject
that was presented to the people yesterday. You come to the rich,
that is, those who are best off, for we cannot boast that anybody
is rich in our community, but those who have the most means, as a
general thing, do the least. Our tithes and offerings are
neglected; the poor are needy, they want bread, and a little of
something to make them comfortable. There may be a few, perhaps,
sick in this Ward, and the next, and so on through the Wards, and
there is nothing contributed for their assistance. I know it is
the disposition of many to turn round and say, "We pay our
tithing." I want to inform the Latter-day Saints that since we
have been in these valleys there has not been one-tenth part of
the tithing paid into the Church that was due to it; but
everything that we can rake and scrape goes to the poor, and for
the building of the kingdom of God, as it was designed; and the
poor and the needy get pretty much all of it. If they do not, I
do not know it. It is left in the hands of our agents and clerks,
and I know it is dealt out to our workmen and the poor as long as
we have anything left. And then upon this God has blessed me
sufficiently that I feed and clothe my scores of poor,
independent of the tithing office; and He will bless any man, any
family, or any people who is liberal. As it is written in the
good book, "The liberal man deviseth liberal things," and if he
deviseth liberal things by his liberality he shall stand. The
Lord will bless that people that is full of charity, kindness and
good works. When our monthly fast days come round, do we think of
the poor? If we do, we should send in our mite, no matter what it
is. What is it to give a little meat, or sugar, or a little
money, or whatever is wanted? Does it impoverish us? It does not.
If this people have not been sustained by the hand of the
Almighty, I ask how they have been sustained? Could any other
people have lived in these valleys except the Latter-day Saints?
No, they could not. The elements would not have produced the
corn, the wheat, the oats, the rye, the peas, the barley, the
vegetables and the fruit. These elements in which we live would
not have produced them for anybody else. But the Lord suffered us
to be driven here from our homes, and He promised us He would
lead us into a goodly land. He has done so. He has blessed the
soil, the water and the atmosphere; He has blessed the shining
sun and the falling rain, and He has forbidden the hoary frosts
to cut off our crops, as they did when we first came here; and we
have been sustained and preserved, and if the Lord Almighty has
not done it, let some man tell who has. As far as my knowledge
goes, the providences of God have sustained this people, the
hands of the Lord has fed and clothed them, and given them all
they possess. We were not fit to live in Christian society; we
were not worthy of the holiness, beauty, excellency and glory of
the Christian world, let our enemies tell the story; but they
must drive us into the wilderness, there to perish as they
thought. And if God has not sustained us after all that we have
passed through, let some one tell how we have been sustained.
279
Will He sustain us in being covetous? No; let the hearts of the
people dry up with regard to the poor, in sending for those in
foreign lands, in sending the Elders to the nations of the earth,
in preaching the Gospel, in purifying ourselves here; let us
neglect the Word of Wisdom, neglect our prayers, tithes,
offerings, donations, and public works, and see how much we will
enjoy the Spirit of the Lord. The danger now in the midst of the
people arises from their neglect of these things; it leaves them
in cold and darkness. See the apostacy in our midst; see also the
love of riches. The spirit of the world and of apostacy is
prevalent here, and the people want stirring up, and sometimes I
feel as if they wanted a rap on each side of the head to wake
them up, that they may see where they are going and what they are
doing.
280
How is it with most of those who were our merchants here? "A
little more of your money, brethren and sisters;" and the best of
them are so to-day. I hardly know where I could draw the line of
distinction between the just and the unjust; between those who,
while trading, let their avaricious, craving disposition control
them, and those who dealt justly. It is hard to draw the line
between them, the feeling was so general. "A little more of your
money, a little more wealth, a little more ease, a little more
land, a little more means, a little finer house, a little better
carriage, a few more horses, a few more possessions; give us your
money, it is all we want of you." And that spirit is distributed
among the people.
280
I will stop right here and say to the Latter-day Saints, I have
sought to teach you how to get rich, but I never taught you to
neglect your duty; I never instructed you nor taught you to
forsake the Lord; and to-day I would rather not own one farthing,
and take my valise in my hand, as I did at the rise of the
Church, and travel among the nations of the earth, and beg my
bread from door to door, than to neglect my duty and lose the
Spirit of Almighty God. If I have wealth and cannot use it to the
glory of God and the building up of His kingdom I ask the Lord to
take it from me. But how is it with some of the people? A little
more ease, a little more ease to my eyelids; as the Prophet said,
"a little more sleep and a little more slumber and a little more
folding of the hands." Say some, "We are pretty easy in
circumstances, have quite enough to last us through life; but we
want a little more for our children; and when we get enough for
them we want a little more for grand-children, and then a little
more for our great-grand-children," and finally they never want
to stop until they get the whole world; and, in very many cases,
what they get will canker their souls and send them down to hell.
It has been so in this Church from the beginning.
281
I will say to you that we have the capacity to receive, but we
need teaching continually. We had three sermons this morning, and
we had not half enough; and we shall keep this meeting two hours
this afternoon; and we might talk to each other again to-morrow
morning, and continue until our hearts get full of the kingdom of
God, and building it up and the establishment of peace and
righteousness upon the earth. We are called, as it has been told
you, to redeem the nations of the earth. The fathers cannot be
made perfect without us; we cannot be made perfect without the
fathers. There must be this chain in the holy Priesthood; it must
be welded together from the latest generation that lives on the
earth back to Father Adam, to bring back all that can be saved
and placed where they can receive salvation and a glory in some
kingdom. This Priesthood has to do it; this Priesthood is for
this purpose. God has revealed the plan of salvation, we know how
to carry it out. If we neglect this will we be justified? No, we
will not; we must carry out this plan of salvation, and in so
doing we expect the whole world to be against us. It was revealed
to me in the commencement of this Church, that the Church would
spread, prosper, grow and extend, and that in proportion to the
spread of the Gospel among the nations of the earth, so would the
power of Satan rise. It was told you here that Brother Joseph
warned the Elders of Israel against false spirits. It was
revealed to me that if the people did not receive the spirit of
revelation that God had sent for the salvation of the world, they
would receive false spirits, and would have revelation. Men would
have revelation, women would have revelation, the priest in the
pulpit and the deacon under the pulpit would have revelation, and
the people would have revelation enough to damn the whole nation,
and nations of them, unless they would hearken to the voice of
God. It was not only revealed to Joseph, but to your humble
servant, that false spirits would be as prevalent and as common
among the inhabitants of the earth as we now see them.
282
Seeing that I have got on this thread, I will ask, Is there any
revelation in the world? Yes, plenty of it. We are accused of
being nothing more nor less than a people possessing what they
term the higher order of Spiritualism. Whenever I see this in
print, or hear it spoken, "You are right," say I. Yes, we belong
to that higher order of Spiritualism; our revelations are from
above, yours from beneath. This is the difference. We receive
revelation from Heaven, you receive your revelations from every
foul spirit that has departed this life, and gone out of the
bodies of mobbers, murderers, highwaymen, drunkards, thieves,
liars, and every kind of debauched character, whose spirits are
floating around here, and searching and seeking whom they can
destroy; for they are the servants of the devil, and they are
permitted to come now to reveal to the people." It was not so
once, anciently or formerly, when there was no Priesthood on the
earth, no revelations from Heaven. Then the Lord Almighty shut up
this evidence, and all intercourse between men on the earth and
the foul spirits, so that the latter could not deceive and
destroy the former with their revelations. But God has spoken
now, and so has the devil; Jesus has revealed his Priesthood, so
has the devil revealed his, and there is quite a difference
between the two. One forms a perfect chain, the links of which
can not be separated; one has perfect order, laws, rules,
regulations, organization; it forms, fashions, makes, creates,
produces, protects and holds in existence the inhabitants of the
earth in a pure and holy form of government, preparatory to their
entering the kingdom of Heaven. The other is a rope of sand; it
is disjointed, jargon, confusion, discord, everybody receiving
revelation to suit himself. If I were disposed to go into their
rings I could make every table, every dot, every particle of
their revelations prove that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I
could lay my hands on the table with them, and if I would consent
to have the spirits wrap, I would make them prove every time that
Joseph Smith was a prophet; but let me go, and another man come
along, a wicked man, and he would have all the evidence he
desired that Joseph was not a prophet of God. I could make them
say, every time, that this is the Church of Christ; while a
wicked man might enter the circle and he would be told that this
was not the Church of Christ; and this is their system--it is
confusion and discord. It is like a rope of sand. There is no
order, no organization; it cannot be reduced to a system, it is
uncertainty. That is the difference between the two spiritual
systems--yes, this is the higher order of spiritualism, to be
led, governed and controled by law, and that, too, the law of
heaven that governs and controls the Gods and the angels. There
is no being in heaven that could abide the heavens unless he is
sanctified, purified and glorified by the law, and lives by law.
But take the other party, and it is without law. Well, what is
it? Death. What is that? Dissolution of the body. And what will
be next? The second death, and I leave every person to speculate
to suit himself with regard to that; but the Scriptures say
"Blessed is he on whom the second death hath no power;" and they
who serve God and keep His commandments, that receive the holy
Priesthood of the Son of God, have something tangible, and if
they live according to this law the second death has nothing to
do with them. They are above it, free from it, they are masters
of it, for they command in the name of Jesus, and their words are
obeyed; and what they say shall be done, is done. This is the
authority that God gives. As the Scriptures say, "Whatsoever you
bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you loose
on earth, is loosed in heaven; and whosesoever sins you remit on
earth, shall be remitted to them in heaven; and whosesoever sins
ye retain on earth, are retained in heaven." This is the
authority of the kingdom of God on the earth, and we possess and
expect nothing less.
282
Look at the Christian world! How many times it was said to me, in
my early career: "Oh, if the Lord had spoken to such a man, to
such a divine that we have all confidence in; if the Lord had
revealed His will to that man, we could have believed the whole
thing." The Lord Almighty could not do it. Do you know the reason
why? I do. I was acquainted with some of the best reformers that
ever walked on the American continent, as good to all appearance
as lived. They would say: "We have prayed, we have fasted, we
have sought, we have believed, we have had faith that God was
about to reveal something from the heavens, but He has not
revealed it to us." That was the trouble. They had their way
marked out before them, and if the Lord would not walk in that
path they would not have anything to do with Him, and their
conduct proved it. When men say: "O Lord, we are the clay, you
are the potter! Fashion, shape and make us, and do with us as
seems good in Thy sight, only let us know Thy will, we are here
to perform whatever Thou requirest," it makes me think of that
second person that came forth in the heavens when the voice went
forth: "Who will redeem the earth, who will go forth and make the
sacrifice for the earth and all things it contains?" The eldest
son said: "Here am I;" but he did not say "send me." But the
second one, which was "Lucifer, son of the morning," said, "Lord,
here am I, send me, I will redeem every son and daughter of Adam
and Eve that lives on the earth, or that ever goes on the earth."
"But," says the Father, "that will not answer at all. I give each
and every individual his agency; all must use that in order to
gain exaltation in my kingdom; inasmuch as they have the power of
choice they must exercise that power. They are my children; the
attributes which you see in me are in my children and they must
use their agency. If you undertake to save all, you must save
them in unrighteousness and corruption. You will be the man that
will say to the thief on the cross, to the murderer on the
gallows, and to him who had killed his father, mother, brothers,
and sisters and little ones, "Now, if you will say, I repent and
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or on the Savior of the world,
you shall be saved." This is what all the religious sects of the
day are saying now, but Jesus did not say any such thing.
283
How many churches are there upon the earth? Two. Let everybody
speculate just as much as they please about this, there are no
more, and the earth never saw but two, and there never will be
but two. If one is for good, what must the other be? Why, for
evil? If one is right, what must the other be? Why, wrong. And
there cannot be two just right without being one. The Father
cannot operate without the Son, neither can the Son officiate and
operate without the Father. They cannot divide their kingdom, and
one go to the right and the other to the left, like Abraham and
Lot, when they divided their stock; no, they must live together;
they must be one, and labor together, and all their efforts being
for the salvation of the human family, must be one. If they made
a division they would fall. Consequently the Lord Jesus works
just as he said he would. "I come not to do my own will, but the
will of Him that sent me." He also said, "I do nothing of myself;
but what I have seen the Father do, that does the Son."
"Whosoever has seen the Son has seen the Father." All this you
know, with hundreds of other Scriptures and testimonies had in
ancient days, showing that the people must be sanctified by law,
they must live according to that law; and they must be justified,
purified, and sanctified in order to get into the kingdom of
heaven, that is, the highest glory.
283
That saying, "the highest glory," may give rise to a little
speculation on the part of some. Let me quote one passage of
Scripture. When Jesus was about to go hence said he, "I will go
away, but I will not leave you comfortless, but I will send you
another comforter," &c. I have not worded it exactly as it is in
the Scriptures, that is a little fuller. He then said, "In my
Father's house are many mansions, if it had not been so I would
have told you; but I go to prepare a place for you, that where I
am there ye may be also." What kind of mansions did Jesus refer
to? This is a question which I shall not pretend to answer at
this time, for I have not time; neither how many there are, nor
the rules, laws and regulations that pertain to each. But Jesus
said, "In my Father's house are many mansions;" or, in other
words, in my Father's dominion are many houses, apartments,
degrees, &c. Well, what does this signify, if it does not mean in
my Father's house or dominions are many grades and degrees of
glory? Now speculate just as much as you please; it is no matter
how much you say or think or reflect upon this. There is space,
and in that space there are mansions or kingdoms which God has
prepared for His children to inhabit, according to their several
capacities. We shall all go somewhere, and all upon whom the
second death has no power will live eternally. We want to prepare
for that mansion that Jesus went to prepare for his disciples.
283
The whole world of wickedness is opposed to this kingdom; but
when they reduce every doctrine and principle that is believed in
and preached by the Latter-day Saints, they will not find one
iota, I will be as particular as Bro. Carrington was in defining
the wisdom and power of man, and I will say there is not the dot
of an i nor the crossing of a t that makes anything against the
welfare of the human family for time or eternity; but all for
comfort, help, satisfaction, glory and immortality; and all for
the glory of God, to be crowned with glory and eternal lives in
the presence of the Father and the Son. Every doctrine and
principle that is believed in and taught by the Latter-day Saints
leads, guides and directs man into the presence of the Father and
the Son. May God help us to take that path. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Lorenzo Snow, January 23, 1870
Lorenzo Snow, January 23, 1870
DISCOURSE BY ELDER LORENZO SNOW,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, January 23,
1870.
(Reported by John Grimshaw.)
THE GOSPEL.
284
In addressing an assembly of Saints, I expect the benefit of
their prayers, without the ceremony of asking, being assured that
they are aware as well as I am that our teachings and
administrations in the Gospel of life are blessed to us according
to our faith and prayers, and the diligence we give and the
attention we bestow.
286
I propose to make some general observations upon the Gospel and
its administrations, and in relation to its effects when
received, and the important blessings derived by this community
through its divine power and virtue. This Gospel, which God has
commanded us to offer to the world, is an order or system of
things, simple, plain, and may be easily understood. In regard to
its principles, the nature of its requirements, and the precise
kind and character of its blessings and promises, no one, however
ignorant or unlearned, needs be left in the dark any great length
of time; but may discover its golden truths, and the emblazoned
mark of divinity in its arrangements as distinctly, as speedily
as Naaman, the Captain of the Assyrian host, found divine virtue
and the hand of Divinity in the order prescribed to him by
Elijah, through which his leprosy was removed. In his case, the
order of obtaining miraculous blessings--viz.: to immerse seven
times in Jordan, as prescribed by Elijah--to break up those
associations, and sever those attachments, leaving the lands of
our nativity, and going forth with our wives and children to a
distant land, of which we had but little knowledge. But a similar
requisition was made upon the House of Israel, in the land of
Egypt; also upon Noah and his family, and upon Abraham and the
family of Lot, in the City of Sodom; and upon the families of
Lehi and Ishmael, as mentioned in the Book of Mormon. But in the
provisions of the Gospel which was offered to us, there were
fairness and safety; it proposed to give us, through obedience to
its requirements, a perfect knowledge of its Divine authenticity,
so that in leaving our kindred, breaking up our social relations,
and going forth from our native land, we should first become
perfectly assured that it was no human contrivance, something
gotten up to effect some political purpose, or satisfy some
worldly ambition, to achieve some private end through human
cunning and craftiness. The Gospel was plain and simple in its
requirements; and there could be no mistaking the precise nature
and character of its blessings and promises, nor the manner and
time in which they were to be reached. The first feature in this
system, which struck us with surprise, and arrested our
attention, was its perfect similarity, in all its parts, with the
Gospel as recorded in the New Testament. It required repentance,
and a forsaking of sins, immersion in water for the remission of
sins, with a promise that, through the laying on of hands by
those having authority, people should receive the Holy Ghost, by
which should come a knowledge of the truth of the doctrine.
Another remarkable feature which called forth our most serious
consideration, was the solemn testimony of the Elders, that they
possessed the right to administer these sacred ordinances, by
virtue of the holy priesthood committed to Joseph Smith, through
the ministration of the Apostles, Peter, James and John. And
furthermore, that the solemn and most important facts should be
revealed to every man upon his faithful obedience to the Gospel
requirements. In these propositions, though at first seemingly
strange, we saw everything was plain, fair and honorable. In
doing what they required, we should only do, in fact, what as
true-hearted believers in the ancient Gospel, we ought to do, and
if we failed to receive the promised blessings, and thereby
proved the Elders' testimony false, our religious condition would
nevertheless be then as good as any other Christian's, and a
little better, perhaps, because we should have approached a
little nearer to the doctrines of the Scripture, inasmuch as
their true forms and ceremonies were concerned. Of course, in
this case, having proved to our satisfaction that there was no
Holy Ghost, no supernatural manifestations, no knowledge, no
revelations accompanying the Elders' administrations of the
Gospel, no human persuasion, no cunning sophistry could have
induced us to leave our homes and friends to embark in a scheme
which our common sense taught us would eventuate in bitter
disappointment and inevitable ruin; but like other Christians,
continued in the enjoyment of friends and home, groping our way
through religious darkness, expecting nothing, hoping nothing,
and receiving nothing. But the fact that I am now speaking to
assembled thousands of intelligent and enlightened people, who
received this Gospel with the aforementioned fond considerations
and lively expectations, gathered here by their own free will and
choice, out of almost every nation, demonstrates most clearly,
most forcibly, and most solemnly, that this scheme of life, this
Gospel as proclaimed by Joseph Smith, has been shown to us by the
revelations of the Almighty, that it is undeniably His will, His
word and His message; not only this, but we find within ourselves
a fixed purpose, an unalterable resolution to do, if need be,
what many of us have already done--show the sincerity of our
convictions of these solemn truths, through sacrificing all we
possess, not even holding our lives as dear to us as this
religion. There was yet another prominent feature embraced in
this order of things--viz., where it found people in poverty,
misery, and in a condition but little above starvation, it spoke
in positive terms of future relief and effectual deliverance. It
did not simply say, "Be ye warmed and be ye clothed," but it
declared plainly, and in distinct terms, that the Lord had seen
their bondage and oppression, and heard their cries of sorrow and
misery, and had now sent them His Gospel for their deliverance,
and would lead them into circumstance of independence, where they
could supply their own wants and necessities. Here, again, was
something fair and consistent and worthy of all praise and
admiration, and characteristic of our Great Parent, which we
discover in all of His dispensations, when they are in actual
working order, as they were in the case of Noah; and in calling
Israel and making them an independent people; likewise as in
calling Lehi to establish a people upon this continent, as well
as in many other instances.
287
A religion or system is of little account where it possesses no
virtue nor power to better a man's condition, spiritually,
intellectually, morally and physically. Enoch's order of the
Gospel did for his people all this, and it has done the same in
every instance, when preached in its purity and obeyed in
sincerity. Many of the thousands of persons in these beautiful
valleys who formerly were compelled to subsist with their wives
and children in a half-starved condition, not owning an
habitation, nor a foot of land, nor a horse, cow, pig, nor
chickens, in fact nothing they could call their own, subject at
any moment, through the whim of their employer, to be turned into
the streets, miserable beggars, now own cabinet shops, factories,
mills, flocks and herds, beautiful gardens and orchards,
productive farms, wagons and carriages, dwelling in their own
houses in comfortable and easy circumstances. No one has any
apprehension of starvation within the jurisdiction of the
Latter-day Saints. The Gospel proposed these blessings at its
announcement, and they have been most miraculously accomplished.
No other religious system could have achieved such things, nor
dared any other Christian denomination venture to send out its
missionaries without purse or script and without a college
education to state to the people that they had authority from God
to administer the sacred ordinances of the Gospel, through which
should be revealed tangible evidence and knowledge of its
divinity, and of their being authorized to administer it and take
the people from a state of poverty, and lead them thousands of
miles and despite every obstacle establish them as a
comparatively independent people in the midst of a wild desert
country. Had they found the people poor, friendless and without
the means of living, and in servitude not much better than the
Egyptian bondage, as we found many of them, they could have
imparted no cheering news of an approaching salvation from the
God of Heaven; but could only have instructed them to be
contented and reconciled with their unhappy lot, and in no case
must look for any new revelation or any miraculous interposition.
287
What philanthropists have wished to accomplish and have often
attempted, the Lord is now doing upon a magnificent scale in this
great American desert. Flourishing settlements, towns and cities
are rapidly being built, extending over a distance of 500 miles
in length, hundreds of miles in width, through the untiring
energy and perseverance of a people formerly totally ignorant of
such labors. In these cities people live in harmony and peace,
and robberies, grog shops, gambling halls, houses of ill-fame and
prostitutes are not known in any of our numerous towns and
cities, except in some instances where Christians, so-called,
possess a footing and an influence; everywhere else this
community flourishes without these demoralizing institutions. No
one, however prejudiced he may be, can scarcely avoid
acknowledging the palpable fact that this scheme of things has
conferred marvelous blessings upon thousands in the way of
putting them in possession of the means of sustaining themselves,
after having delivered them from oppression and tyranny, little
better than African slavery; and no doubt our legislators at
Washington, one and all, would give us credit for our
indefatigable and successful labors in establishing an extensive
and flourishing colony upon a portion of our government's domain,
formerly inhabited only by savages and wild beasts, provided we
would allow this work was of man and not of God--that it had been
accomplished through the artifice and wisdom of man, and not by
the power, wisdom and revelations of God.
288
Joseph Smith, whom God chose to establish this work, was poor and
uneducated, and belonged to no popular denomination of
Christians. He was a mere boy, honest, full of integrity,
unacquainted with the trickery, cunning and sophistry employed by
the politicians and the religious hypocrite to accomplish their
ends. Like Moses he felt incompetent and unqualified for the
task, to stand forth as a religious reformer, in a position the
most unpopular, to battle against opinions and creeds which have
stood for ages, having had the sanction of men, the most profound
in theological obedience; but God had called him to deliver the
poor and honest-hearted of all nations from their spiritual and
temporal thraldom. And God promised him that whosoever should
receive and obey his message, and whosoever would receive baptism
for remission of sins, with honesty of purpose, should receive
divine manifestations, should receive the Holy Ghost, should
receive the same Gospel and blessings as were promised and
obtained through the Gospel, as preached by the ancient Apostles,
and this message, this promise, was to be in force wherever and
to whomsoever it should be carried by the Elders, God's
authorized messengers. So said Joseph Smith, the uneducated, the
unsophisticated, the plain, simple, honest boy. It is through the
virtue and force of this boy's statement that I speak this
afternoon to assembled thousands. In the integrity of my heart,
with honesty of purpose to know the truth, I received this
message; I obeyed this form of Gospel, and I received, in the
most tangible and satisfactory manner, a divine manifestation,
the promised blessing, a knowledge of this work. Am I the only
witness? How is it with the experience of the thousands whom I
now address? Are you also witnesses? If you are not, I ask you in
the name of common sense, why are you here? Why did you leave
your homes and countries, giving your sanction to the truth of a
system which promised you divine manifestations, but which you
failed in experiencing? Being honest ourselves, if we cannot bear
a solemn testimony of having received divine manifestations of
the great fact that God Himself has founded this system of
things, then it becomes a serious fact that we are witnesses, and
in truth the only proper witnesses, that this whole plan and
pretension of Joseph Smith is a sheer falsehood, a miserable
fabrication. It will be recollected that this Gospel message
proposed to give us divine manifestations through doing certain
specified acts; we have performed those acts precisely in the
manner indicated. No one else but we ourselves has attempted to
conform to this arrangement, consequently, no other people are
prepared to be witnesses either for or against this system.
288
The Gospel, as recorded in the New Testament, in its promises and
provisions, was precisely similar. It required certain specified
acts to be done, with promises that divine manifestations should
follow their performance. Jesus said: "He that will do the will
of God, shall know of the doctrine." Peter said, on Pentecost
day, "Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Again, Jesus said:
"These signs shall follow them that believe," etc. A multitude of
testimonies could be adduced from the New Testament, showing that
divine manifestations and perfect knowledge were promised to and
were actually received in a specified and tangible form by those
who then obeyed the Gospel. Those who obeyed its requirements
were the only competent witnesses for or against its divine
authenticity. After honestly complying with its
requisitions--viz., repenting of and forsaking their sins, being
immersed in water for the remission of sins, and receiving the
ordinance of the laying on of hands, then had they failed to
receive the Holy Ghost, with its gifts and promised knowledge and
attendant signs, they would have seen that the entire apostolic
scheme of salvation rested on a baseless fabric.
289
When this Gospel or order of things which we have received, was
presented to us, we carefully compared it with the Gospel
recorded in the Scriptures, and found it alike precisely in every
particular, as regarded its forms, ordinances and the authority
to administer them, its promise of the Holy Ghost and of the
signs that should follow, together with a promise of a knowledge
of its divinity. In many instances it was brought to us by men
with whose character we were perfectly familiar, and for whose
honesty and integrity we could vouch, who would solemnly state,
in private and in public, that through an obedience to its
requirements, they had obtained, in a tangible form, a perfect
knowledge of its Heaven-born principles. This was my experience,
and after having complied with its demands, and thereupon
received a knowledge of its genuineness, and having obtained
authority to preach and administer its ordinances, I commenced
forthwith to proclaim it to the world; and no doubt there are
persons in this audience, out of different nations, to whom I
have administered this Gospel that can witness to its virtue and
efficacy. Thirty-five years I have been employed in forwarding
the interests of this order of things, and you are the proper
judges whether it be of God or of man. We have the same Gospel
the primitive churches had, and the same knowledge and evidence
they had of its divine authenticity, and just as honest and brave
men to preach it as they had, men that have proved their
integrity through sacrifice as great as the Elders of the
primitive churches ever made. The testimony of our Elders is as
valid and worthy of credit as the testimony of their Elders. Our
Apostles who are living, are as honest as the Apostles of the New
Testament, and their testimony is as worthy of credit, so far as
they live and speak according to the Scriptural law and
testimony. If this order of things which we have obeyed is not
the Gospel--if these evidences, these manifestations, this
knowledge, this Holy Ghost, these deliverances from misery,
bondage, and starvation, and being placed in happy and
comfortable circumstances, living together in peace and harmony,
building beautiful towns and cities, free from demoralizing
institutions, be not the legitimate fruits of the working of a
pure and holy system, established by God through Joseph Smith, we
shall be compelled to question the genuineness of the Gospel in
the former-day Saints, as recorded of the New Testament.
289
By some it has been argued that Joseph Smith and his prominent
Elders were the most corrupt, wicked and infamous of impostors,
but his followers, the Latter-day Saints in general, though
deceived, were very good people and perfectly honest in their
religious opinions.
289
From what I have already said in regard to the operations and
effects of this scheme, it is easy to be seen that, if it be an
imposition, it is not confined exclusively to the leaders of this
people, but this whole community are actively and knowingly
engaged in this stupendous work of deception and hypocrisy; and
by the way, as I before hinted, if this could be proved to be the
case, we should be compelled to the belief that the former day
Saints also had been engaged in the same disgraceful business.
More than one hundred thousand people now dwell in these valleys,
many of them having come from distant climes and nations; in this
great fact they willingly and knowingly exhibit to the world a
clear and powerful testimony, more expressive and forcible than
any language could command, that they did undeniably and most
positively receive, through the ordinances of this Gospel,
administered unto them by our Elders, a knowledge of this work,
through the divine manifestations of the Almighty.
290
But it may be objected that, whereas this community were found by
our missionaries in great poverty and distress, therefore they
obeyed the Gospel and emigrated here to better their
circumstances financially, without any regard to its truth or
falsity, as a divine system. This might be true in some
instances, but impossible as regards its application to this
people as a community. Such persons who received this work, not
with religious motives, not with honest convictions of its divine
requirements, but solely for the loaves and fishes, cannot
possibly abide the test to which every man's faith, sooner or
later, must be brought, but will have their dishonesty and
hypocrisy exposed, and will apostatize. Hundreds of my brethren,
Elders of this Church, full of godly zeal, animated with the
purest motives, having obtained a knowledge of the will of God,
have left their wives and children, everything that the heart
holds most dear, and gone forth to the nations, without
compensation, and called on all to repent and turn their hearts
to the Lord, obey the Gospel, and they should receive the Holy
Ghost, which should "lead them into all truth, and show them
things to come," and it should be their guide and monitor, a
principle of revelation, remaining with them through life,
provided they preserved their honesty and integrity, and were
faithful in keeping the commandments of God, devoting their time,
their means, their talents, their all, to the building up of the
Kingdom of God. These duties were required, these blessings
promised in the preaching of the Gospel by our missionaries and
the prominent Elders of this Church. To obtain light, a knowledge
of the will of God, to get the true religion as now revealed
through the Gospel, divine manifestations regarding the truth of
the doctrine, as taught by Joseph Smith, was the first and
all-absorbing proposition presented to the people.
290
Now, whether these Elders and missionaries were miserable
impostors, promulgating base falsehoods or not, is, of course, a
question of grave consideration; and it is a matter of far
greater importance, and of more curious inquiry, whether this
people, as a community, having failed to receive those divine
manifestations, kept silent as to that important and vital fact,
and came here to practice hypocrisy in religion, and thus fasten,
irresistibly, on our children and future generations, a system of
falsehoods for a divine religion. Joseph Smith affirmed that
Peter, James and John visited him and gave him authority to
administer the holy ordinances of the Gospel, through which every
honest-hearted man was promised the Holy Ghost, and a perfect
knowledge of the doctrine. Our Elders simply affirm having
received a divine knowledge of the fact that this Gospel was a
heaven-born institution, and through its virtue and divine force
every honest-hearted man might obtain this same knowledge. I had
been a member of this Church but a few days when I obtained,
through a divine manifestation, a clear, explicit, and tangible
knowledge of the truth of this work. Thousands and tens of
thousands of Latter-day Saints, men and women, in private life,
could testify to the same experience, and though I may know many
things in regard to this doctrine which in their limited
experience, they may not understand, yet in this one fact they
are equal with me in knowledge, equal with the messengers who
administered to them this Gospel.
291
I wish now to examine another prominent feature connected with
this Gospel religion. An important item which was put forward
prominently wherever this Gospel was announced, was that its
followers should have abundance of persecutions, and would
probably, in the progress of their new life, be compelled to make
the most serious sacrifices of wife, children, houses and lands,
spoiling of goods, and even life itself, perhaps. No persons are
properly prepared to enter upon this new life until they have
formed within themselves this resolution. The Savior, the
Apostles, Joseph Smith and our Elders, when offering the people
this great system of salvation, told them clearly and distinctly
it required sacrifices of the most serious and trying
nature--that it would bring persecutions, change our best friends
into bitter and relentless enemies, and that instances would
arise when people, in their confused notions of right and wrong,
would even conceive they were doing God service in taking our
lives. These were dull and forbidding prospects to a rational
person, in being proselytized to a system whose truths he could
not know, but only guess at, by what he was told, or read
somewhere. Every man and every woman, before receiving a system
of such sacrifices, would require a positive assurance, that a
submission to its requirements would bring indisputable knowledge
of its real divinity, so that, after having obtained a divine
witness of its genuineness, they could willingly, cheerfully,
understandingly, and with a resolution inspired by divinity, move
onward over the pathway of persecution and sacrifice, traversed
in all ages by the martyred Saints and Prophets.
291
On this point permit me again to quote what Jesus promised, viz.:
"Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonah, flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father in Heaven, and upon this
rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." Peter had obtained a revelation which Jesus
called a rock, which every man might receive individually to
himself and build upon with perfect assurance and safety, upon
which he could found all his hopes and prospects of salvation.
Peter, at Pentecost, promised the Holy Ghost to all who would be
baptized, or in other words, obey the Gospel. The Holy Ghost
would impart the knowledge which would constitute the rock of
revelation upon which the Savior said his people should be
established. This people have their hopes and prospects of peace
and happiness in this life and in the life to come, resting and
grounded upon this rock of revelation, and we are the only
religious community which dares profess to occupy such a
Scriptural position, and our claims upon the Savior's promise,
that hell shall not prevail against a people so established, give
us peace, tranquility, unshaken confidence, and a pleasing and
happy assurance of security in the midst of all kinds of display
of threatened ruin and overthrow.
291
It is the people, the masses--not exclusively their leaders--who
have the knowledge and boldly testify of its possession. The
astronomer may know of many laws and phenomena connected with the
sun and its movements through ethereal space; but as regards the
simple fact that it exists and shines upon the earth, millions
know it as well as himself. President Brigham Young, or even
Joseph Smith, so far as respects the simple fact that this
Gospel, which we preach, as a divine institution, never professed
to have a knowledge more perfect, more convincing, more
satisfactory, than tens of thousands in these valleys, who never
arose to address a public audience. This system of things, in its
nature, in the character of its origin, the manner of its
operations, and in the purposes for which it was designed,
coupled with the fact that men of honest hearts can and will
apprehend and appreciate divine truth, is such that it cannot be
destroyed. A person honest, full of integrity and love for the
interest and happiness of his species, having explored this long
untrodden path and made this grand and glorious discovery, will
not and cannot keep silence, but despite threatened opposition,
however fierce and terrific, will boldly declare the solemn fact,
spreading and multiplying the divine intelligence, and if so
required, will seal this testimony with his own life's blood.
292
Should the prominent men of this Church, together with tens of
thousands of its Elders, be swept away by our enemies, the Gospel
would still survive, and with unabated force and vigor, still
continue its irrepressible operations. So long as one solitary
Elder, however unlearned, obscure or possessing an honest heart,
remain alive upon the earth, these holy and sacred truths will be
avowed and vindicated, order and proper authority continue their
peaceful and happy reign, and Elders with hearts overflowing with
love and heaven born-zeal, go forth to the nations, churches
spring up in every land and clime, Saints increase and multiply
and gather together; the Kingdom of God continue to be
established, and the suggestive and inspired sayings of the
Prophet Daniel be literally and emphatically accomplished.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Albert Smith, November 20, 1870
George Albert Smith, November 20, 1870
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT GEORGE A. SMITH
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, November 20, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
WRITTEN SERMONS AND EXTEMPORE PREACHING--THE
PRIESTHOOD--OPPOSITION TO IT.
292
In rising before the Saints I ever feel a desire to be guided and
inspired by the light of the Holy Spirit to speak as the
circumstances and condition of the people require. It is not as I
used to observe in my boyhood. I would hear our minister pray the
Lord to give him His Spirit to dictate and indite precisely such
matter as should be suited to the wants and condition of the
assembly, and then he would open his Bible and slip in his
written pamphlet and read a sermon. Now, I confess that I never
had such remarkable answers to my prayers on this subject. The
Lord furnished it to him already written and pointed plainly, and
he had nothing to do but to read it. Whether preaching by notes
in this way is the better policy or not is doubted by many of the
Protestant churches; but I believe it is the custom among most of
them. There are some clergymen who differ from this rule,
thinking probably that, if a man sits in his study and composes
his discourse, he does not have the spirit of delivering it and
enforcing it upon his audience as if it were delivered
extemporary.
293
With the Latter-day Saints the idea of writing sermons or
preparing addresses beforehand is entirely discarded, it never
was practiced amongst them. It was the order of God to choose the
weak things of the world. The learned, as a general thing,
scouted the idea of the Lord revealing Himself to an ignorant man
like Joseph Smith, or of Joseph Smith having faith to obtain
knowledge from God. I know they used to say, "Why did not the
Lord call upon a learned man who has devoted his whole life to
the study of divinity if He wanted anything done?" The real fact
was they thought they knew too much, they would not listen to
anything the Lord might have to say. He simply called upon
Joseph, because he got puzzled with hearing those learned men
preach. He had heard them preach four or five different
doctrines, and then had seen them quarrel over the converts; he
went humbly to God and asked Him, according to the advice given
by the Apostle James, who says, "If any lack wisdom let him ask
of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not."
Joseph Smith was just foolish and simple enough to take this
advice, and he went humbly before the Lord and asked Him which
was the right way, and the Lord showed him. To be sure, I have
heard, in theory, sentiments of this kind in the sectarian world.
I have heard men pray the Lord for a pentecost in their meetings.
You know on the day of Pentecost the disciples prophecied, and
spoke in so many tongues that devout men from almost every nation
under heaven, assembled in Jerusalem, heard the Gospel preached
in the language in which they were born. Now, if any such event
should take place in a Christian church in modern times there
would be a very great excitement, the people would be alarmed,
they do not believe in any such thing. The gifts of the
Spirit--tongues, prophecy, &c., were done away with long ago,
they say, and they are governed by the written word, and they
differ very much in their interpretation of that written word.
293
Joseph Smith taught that every man and woman should seek the Lord
for wisdom, that they might get knowledge from Him who is the
fountain of knowledge; and the promises of the Gospel, as
revealed, were such as to authorize us to believe, that by taking
this course we should gain the object of our pursuit. "He that
believes in me," says the Savior, "the works that I do he shall
do also; and greater works than these, because I go to the
Father." We find that, when the Savior commenced his mission, he
came to John and was baptized of him in Jordan, thus setting an
example for others to follow; and he declared that those who
believed in him must take up their cross and follow him. He
furthermore promised them that, in rendering obedience to his
doctrines, they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and be
born of the Spirit; and that by the light of the Spirit he would
lead them into all truth and make known to them things to come.
293
How many of us Latter-day Saints are living up to this calling
and in the light of this Spirit? How many of us are guided as we
ought to be by the light of the Holy Ghost? Have not many of us
become careless, thoughtless, negligent, heedless, and turned
away to the right or to the left, and fallen into snares and
temptations, and suffered ourselves to be led astray by false
spirits and the doctrines of devils?
294
The Apostle says the Lord set in His Church Apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers, that they who believe might be
no more children, carried away by every wind of doctrine, by the
cunning craftiness of those who lie in wait to deceive. Hunt the
world for this organization and you cannot find it except among
the Latter-day Saints; it does not exist anywhere else, that is,
so far as travel and a knowledge of humanity have developed. I
remember once going to a Baptist church when quite a youth. I
asked the gentleman at the door what church it was. He said it
was the Church of Christ. Said I, "What Apostle built it up?" He
said, "There are no Apostles in these days." "Well," I remarked,
"Paul tells us that God sets in His Church first Apostles." "Oh,"
he replied, "the organization of the priesthood, with its
authority and power, as mentioned in the New Testament, is done
away." That is the trouble throughout Christendom. This man to
whom I refer, asserted however that they had the priesthood in
the Baptist Church, and that it had descended to them through the
Waldenses. This idea naturally sets us to inquire who the
Waldenses were. One Peter Waldo, we are told by Buck, was a
merchant who used a certain portion of his fortune in hiring a
monk to translate the four Gospels; and on the strength of this
work he commenced preaching and gathered around him a number of
persons who believed in his doctrines. They were severely
persecuted by the Catholic Church, which anathematized them and
inflicted upon them every penalty in its power--even
excommunication, sword and fire. Notwithstanding all this the
Waldenses progressed, and their doctrines and the work they
performed was a nursery for the Reformation.
294
But so far as the question of priesthood is concerned, if the
Catholic Church had the authority, it cut the Waldenses off; and
if it had none, all the Waldenses had was derived from it, for
the Waldenses were seceders from the Catholic Church. The result
is that the Baptists could have no priesthood except by special
revelation, and to this they lay no claim whatever.
294
The same rule will apply to other denominations; for I believe
all of them have to acknowledge that they received, either
directly or indirectly, their priesthood originally from the
Roman Catholic Church. Now if that church is not true, the
priesthood which came from it could not be true; if their
priesthood and authority were genuine and bona fide, their
expulsion of the so-called Reformers would have its effect; the
result is that, viewed in any light whatever, these various
denominations are left without a duly authorized and legal
priesthood. Unless the Catholic Church had it, they could not
receive it from it; and if the Catholics did have it they cut the
Reformers off, or expelled them. If you talk with the various
Protestant denominations about these points they will tell you
that the Catholic Church had degenerated, that it had done into
darkness, was anti-Christ, and all this sort of thing, which
doubtless was correct; and according to modern revelation this
must be true; and being true, we are urged to the conclusion that
all the sects and parties of the religious world are wandering in
darkness.
295
Now one denomination out of five or six hundred, more or less,
the number grown out of the original Church, might probably be
correct; but it is quite certain that no two of them, differing
in faith and practice, could be; and under these circumstances
the difficulty would be to determine which was right. It was in
this position of perplexity and doubt that Joseph Smith was
placed when he went and asked the Lord to tell him which was
right; and the Lord revealed to him, though an holy angel, that
they were all wrong, and said He: "I call upon you to go and
preach the Gospel in simplicity and purity." The result was that
the Elders went forth and proclaimed the Gospel, and it produced
a very singular effect on the minds of the people. A few received
it, but they were treated with scorn; their preachers were
mobbed, daubed with tar and feathers, pelted with eggs, their
houses torn down and burned, and finally the leaders of the
Church were murdered, and their followers expelled from the face
of society and driven into the wilderness, or were compelled to
renounce their religion, and the very great majority took shelter
from the face of man in the midst of wild deserts, savage beasts
and savage men. This was the history of it, and this tells why we
are here.
295
Now, brethren, knowing these facts, are we faithful to our
calling? Do we live in the enjoyment of the Holy Spirit? Or do we
suffer the things of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and
the trials incident to our humanity to lead us into difficulty
and cause us to forget God, to neglect our prayers, our tithes
and offerings, our fast meetings, our secret prayers, and other
duties devolving upon us as Saints? How is it with us? Let us ask
ourselves these questions and awake to the performance of our
several duties. If we have been careless, repent of the
carelessness. If we are negligent, wake up! If we suffer
ourselves to do wrong, cease to do so, and live in obedience to
the principles of our faith and the dictations of the Holy
Spirit. The fact is, in relation to our religion, that if we do
not abide by it and observe it, it would have been better for us
if we had never known it; and if we do observe it, much is
expected at our hands, both on our own behalf and on behalf of
our forefathers.
295
You know Paul tells us, in the 15th chapter of Corinthians,
speaking of the resurrection, as an argument in favor of it,
"Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead if the
dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?"
This was a principle connected with the Christian religion that
pertained to the dead, and it was so thoroughly understood that
it was used as an argument in favor of the doctrine of the
resurrection. I suppose that this is seldom or ever thought of by
the Protestants; and when Joseph Smith came forth and announced
that it was the duty of the Latter-day Saints to go forth and be
baptized for their relatives who had died without the knowledge
of the Gospel, it was regarded as an astounding idea; yet, as I
understand the passage in Corinthians, no man can give any other
interpretation to it.
295
In order to have the benefits and blessings of this ordinance
resting upon ourselves and our progenitors it is necessary for us
to live up to our calling and to pay strict attention to our
duties. According to the revelations which were given through
Joseph Smith certain places were set apart for the administration
of these ordinances. Temples had to be built and fonts prepared
and dedicated for this purpose.
295
The Prophet Malachi, in speaking of the latter days, says, "The
day shall come that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud and
all that do wickedly shall be as stubble, it shall burn them up,
that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." But the Lord
declares through Malachi that He will send the Prophet Elijah
before that great and terrible day shall come, and he shall turn
the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the
children to the fathers, lest He come and smite the earth with a
curse. This prophecy has a reference to the revelation of the
doctrine of baptism for the dead in the last days.
296
The Apostle Paul, in enumerating the great blessings which were
bestowed on the ancients through faith, speaks in glowing terms
of those who subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, quenched
the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, waxed
valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens; he
says women received their dead to life; others were tortured,
sawn asunder, wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, and
dwelt in dens and caves of the earth, and all this for the faith;
and then he winds up by saying that they without us could not be
made perfect. Think then, brethren and sisters, of the duties
that we owe to ourselves and to our ancestors! But, if we suffer
ourselves to go into darkness, if we indulge in wickedness, fall
into snares and temptations, we lose the Holy Spirit and the
blessings which pertain to ourselves and our progenitors,
referred to by Obadiah, who says that in the last days saviors
shall stand on mount Zion, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.
296
These sentiments may be clearly and readily appreciated by
Latter-day Saints; and to stir them up to diligence, faithfulness
and obedience I would refer them to the revelation given on the
19th of January, 1841, through Joseph Smith, relative to the
building of the temple at Nauvoo. It was there said that there
was not a baptismal font in the world, and the Church was
required to build that Temple, and the promise was that if it was
built the people should receive certain blessings. It was further
stated that when the Lord commanded any people to do a work, and
they were hindered from performing it by their enemies or by
oppression, the Lord would not require that work at their hands
any more. No people on the face of the earth, probably, during
the present generation at least, or perhaps in any other, were
more oppressed than were the people of Nauvoo while laboring to
perform this work. They were persecuted in various ways: attacked
through vexatious lawsuits by the State of Missouri and by the
State authorities of Illinois, and all means that could be taken
within reach of the law were used to bring distress upon them.
Then the conclusion was, that if law could not reach them powder
and ball should, and the result was that the Prophet and
Patriarch of the Church were murdered, and other Elders severely
wounded. Hundreds of houses were burned and every kind of outrage
that could be imagined was committed on the Saints; and while
building this temple the brethren had to stand guard at night;
and when working they were in a manner compelled to have their
weapons of defence in one hand and their tools to work with in
the other. But they continued amid all this storm of persecution,
during which numbers had to flee to the wilderness, until the
Temple was finished and dedicated; and having completed this task
they had the promise of the Lord to go with them into the
wilderness, with all the powers, blessings and privileges of the
Priesthood, that in the wilderness they might receive and
administer the ordinances for their dead.
296
We should now continue the work for the Temple which the
Latter-day Saints are always commanded to build. We have a
foundation here, a very good substantial one, and that must be
approved by good men and pleasing to the Lord. We have to haul
the material seventeen miles to continue this work, which has
been interrupted from time to time through various causes. Still
it progresses and we should not let it sleep, but should continue
the work until we have an edifice reared according to the
pattern, and dedicate it to the Most High God; and build in its
basement a baptismal font, something after the pattern of King
Solomon's brazen sea, for the baptism of the dead, that within
the walls of that sacred edifice we may be able to perform the
duties and ordinances pertaining to the dead which God has
commanded. Every Latter-day Saint, man or woman, young or old,
should feel alive and awake to this great duty.
297
I understand why it is that men persecute the Latter-day Saints.
It is because of the priesthood and power which exist among them;
Satan stirs up the hearts of the children of men to wickedness,
and to hate and persecute the Saints, to drive them and murder
their leaders. This is the only cause; for the Latter-day Saints,
from the time of their organization to the present time, have
been the most orderly, law-abiding, industrious, temperate, and
moral people that have lived on the face of the earth; and they
are the same in this Territory as they have been elsewhere. For
instance, let a man pass through this country, as Major Powell
did last year, and he comes back and publishes a statement that
he has visited five hundreds miles of Mormon villages, and has
seen a people happy and contented, and has not seen a grog shop,
a loafer, drunkard or idler; but everybody enjoying himself, and
that peace and good order prevail throughout, such a man will
have the same greeting as Major Powell. "Why, Major, you are
interested some way or the other; the 'Mormons' have got you
blinded." That is the spirit and feeling manifested if a man
tells the truth about the Latter-day Saints; and it is one of the
greatest evidences of the truth of the work. The Lord says, "Woe
unto you when all men speak well of you." Sometimes I have known
the papers say this and that good thing about the "Mormons," and
I have said, "What's up? Are we getting wicked, that the world
loves us?" And I almost wondered at it. The fact is we should
live our religion, keep the commandments of God and observe all
things required of us, and care nothing whatever what the world
either says or does about us. "Well, but suppose they should get
up armies and kill you?" If they do they will send us right
straight to heaven; and our duty is to labor in this life as long
as we can and do all the good in our power, and never flinch from
the truth or the principles of eternity. If our enemies are
permitted to kill us they ensure to us a martyr's crown, and we
go to glory celestial. I have heard of men so foolish as to jump
overboard from Zion's ship because they thought she was going to
sink. Why, if she does we shall only sink with her, and the man
who jumps overboard is sure to sink anyhow.
298
I know men who apostatized in Missouri just to save their
property. We were told there, "If you 'Mormons' will renounce
your religion, you can stay here on your farms." I remember one
man who stayed there just for that reason. I got a letter from
him a short time ago. He professes to be a friend to the
"Mormons;" but he apostatized from them for the sake of keeping
his property. I could have stayed in Missouri, and President
Young could have stayed there, if we would have renounced our
"Mormonism," and our faith in Joseph Smith as a prophet, in the
ordinances of anointing the sick with oil and baptism for the
remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the gift of the
Holy Ghost; but we knew these things were true, and we would not
renounce them, and we had to leave what we had. Some called it a
sacrifice. To be sure it was a pretty country and rich soil, and
we had made handsome improvements, and were having many beautiful
farms opened around us; and we were building towns and villages.
But what were they when compared with our religion? We built
them, and we knew how to build more; we had tried it twice in
Missouri and in Illinois; and when they drove us again we thought
that we would go into a country so wretched and miserable that no
man on earth could want it. So we came right into the heart of
the American Desert and built this place; and singularly enough,
some say now, that this is too good a place for the "Mormons,"
and they must drive us out.
298
Now, brethren, if we live our religion and are faithful to the
Lord, we may escape the necessity of being driven again. It will
not be a great while before many of us will take great pleasure
in moving; because when the day comes that the Constitution of
the United States becomes the supreme law of this land--the land
of America, every man will be protected in his religious faith,
and then we will go right back to Jackson county, and build a
Temple, the most beautiful ever built on this continent or any
other. We are going to do it, and the time is not far distant;
and knowing this, our hearts do not cling in the least to any
spot in the world any longer than is necessary to stay there to
do our duty. When that day comes, and it will come, our
countrymen will become so converted that their intolerance will
cease and they will come to the conclusion that all men may enjoy
their faith in the Supreme Being as they please without being
interrupted. If we wait awhile, and are worthy, we will see this
day and then we shall be able to go and build our Temple.
298
Now let us all be diligent and faithful and trust in the Lord and
seek His protection; for it is worth all the protection a man can
give a thousand times told. What can man do? He can kill the
body. What else? That is the end of it, he has no further power.
The principles of Mormonism can not only destroy the body, but
the soul and spirit; and they can confer the bliss of eternal
glory and increase.
299
I do not expect to be permitted to address you again for some
months. I expect to travel and visit the brethren in the southern
country during the winter; shall probably visit some thirty-three
settlements in our Dixie, and be absent several months. I wish to
bear my testimony to the principles of the Gospel which have been
revealed. I know these things are true. I don't come here
believing them simply, I know they are true, and that God has
revealed them; and I also know that all the plans, powers and
schemes of the wicked can never overthrow them. Distress may be
brought upon individuals; and the fact is, that many of us, who
have seemed to move along prosperously, and have surrounded
ourselves in an incredibly short space of time with many of the
comforts of life may cling too close to them and be unwilling to
surrender them; and it may be necessary that we and the Lord
should know by actual experiment whether we worship the things of
this world more than we do the things of a better. It may be
necessary for us to ask ourselves the question, and consider it
thoroughly and carefully: "Do we love the Lord Jesus Christ, and
his laws and the principles of his Gospel more than we love a
piece of land, a little orchard, a garden, field, store,
vineyard, ranch, or a herd of cattle, &c. How is it? Ask these
questions, and if we do, it is time for us to repent, and we had
better begin and make sacrifices. We had better contribute for
the Temple, to help the poor and needy, &c. I remember, very
well, reading of a man who came to the Savior, and said, "Good
master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" After the Savior
had answered him he said, "All these things have I kept from my
youth up." The Savior replied, "Yet lackest thou one thing, go
and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and come and
follow me." And we are told that he went away sorrowful. Why?
Because he had great possessions and could not part with them.
Are we getting into that track? The Savior once remarked that it
was very hard for a rich man to get into heaven. I do not pretend
to quote these passages exactly, you are familiar with them. But
we are told that it is a very hard matter for a rich man to get
into heaven. That is the substance of it. Don't let us get so
rich that we can't go there; and don't let us get so poor that we
can't contribute our mite to help to roll on the work of God. I
remember reading in the Proverbs of an individual who prayed the
Lord not to make him either rich or poor. He didn't want to be
rich for fear he should get proud and forget the Lord; and if he
became poor he was afraid he might steal and take the name of the
Lord in vain. We don't want to go to either extreme. The time is
coming and is not far hence, when the Latter-day Saints will get
so much knowledge of the things of God that they will be able to
bear wealth and control it, and use it to the glory of God; and
when that time comes, to use a familiar expression, "the Lord
will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing upon them
that there will not be room to receive it."
299
I ask my brethren and sisters to cultivate their minds. My
counsel is sustain your Sunday schools; remember and send your
children there, and go yourselves and act as teachers and
contribute the means necessary to carry them on. Remember also
all the duties devolving upon us as Saints in the domestic
circle. We are almost all ready to go on a mission to preach; we
should not forget to preach in our houses, families and wards,
and bear testimony to the truth, and don't let heathens grow up
in our midst. Impress on the minds of your children their duties.
You understand the law in relation to it. We are commanded to
teach our children the principles of salvation, the doctrine of
repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the principles
of righteousness to that extent that when they reach a proper
age, they will wish to be baptized. We are to set before them
examples, precepts and teachings, that they may grow up without
sin unto salvation. These are duties devolving upon us. And when
any of our children rebel against us and turn to wickedness, for
all have to have their trials and temptations, parents ought to
ask themselves, "Have we done our duty?" You know it is said,
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he
will not depart from it." Now, a very excellent way for parents
to pursue with regard to their children, is to walk in that way
themselves.
299
I bear my testimony to the principles of the Gospel, and I pray
that the blessings of Heaven may be upon you; that you may be
able to keep the faith, understand the law and abide in it, and
roll on the great and glorious work. In a short season we shall
be with you again, bearing our testimony, for we are determined
to fulfil our calling and preach the Gospel, which was sealed
upon our heads by Joseph Smith, by the commands of God. Bear
testimony of the truths of salvation, and instruct the children
of men; and there is no field in which greater good can be done
in preaching and in missionary labor by the Elders of Israel than
in Utah amongst the Latter-day Saints.
299
May the blessings of Israel's God be upon you all is my prayer in
the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, November 13, 1870
Brigham Young, November 13, 1870
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, November 13, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
GATHERING THE POOR--RELIGION A SCIENCE.
300
While I attempt to speak to the people I would like their
attention, and for them to keep quiet. I do not particularly
object to the crying of children, but I do to the whispering of
the people. I suppose that, if we were in the congregations of
some of our Christian fellow-countrymen, we would not hear any
children crying. I believe they have none in some societies. I am
very happy to hear the children crying when it is really
necessary and they cannot be kept from it. One thing is certain,
wherever we go there is a proof that the people are keeping the
commandments of the Lord, especially the first one--to multiply
and replenish the earth.
300
The first of my remarks this afternoon will consist of a
petition. We are told to pray, and this is one of the practices
that we consider absolutely necessary. We frequently offer
prayers to kings, legislators, presidents, governors, etc.; but I
am going to offer up a prayer to the Latter-day Saints, and my
prayer is simply--I beseech you, my brethren and sisters, in the
name of the Lord, in the name of humanity, in the name of honor
and for the sake of honor, justice and mercy, that you do listen
and pay attention to the exhortation of my brother Joseph,
delivered this morning, in behalf of our poor brethren in foreign
lands. I might ask the Lord a thousand times over to deliver them
from the oppression and poverty with which they are now
surrounded, and He would not do it unless the means were
provided; He will not do it without agents and agencies. He will
not build balloons or come down with his chariots and pick up the
poor in Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Scandinavia, the
islands of the sea, or any other parts of the globe where they
dwell, and load up with them and their baggage and bring them to
this land while He has given us the ability to gather ourselves
and the poor. If the Latter-day Saints do not understand this it
is time they did. And when we pray the Lord to open the way for
the gathering of the poor, we merely mean that He will operate
upon the hearts of those who have the means, that they will be
reasonable with themselves, their faith and covenants and the
requirements of God, and toward those who are members of the same
family with us.
301
You heard the statement of Brother Joseph this morning, and there
are a great many witnesses here, to the truth of what he said.
When people are in poverty and in their low estate, when they are
pinched with hunger and destitute of the clothing necessary to
make them comfortable, how deeply they can feel for their
friends! But place those very ones where they can have all they
need to eat, of food that relishes and suits their appetite, and
clothing enough to keep them warm and comfortable, and many of
them will sit down and fold their hands, and if you speak to them
about the wants of their poor brethren in foreign lands, and
mention their own situation in former days, their reply will be:
"Oh, I had forgotten all about that! Yes, I believe, now you
mention it, that I have seen the time when I had not sufficient
food to satisfy the demands of hunger, nor clothing to make me
comfortable and respectable. But, dear me, I had forgotten all
that, that was in the past, and I have plenty now, and what is
that you are saying?" "Why, your brethren and sisters in foreign
lands are suffering." "What! Did you say that some of our
brethren and sisters are suffering? I have enough to eat, and all
the clothing I need to make me comfortable, and a pretty good
cabin that I built myself, and I am in debt to no one and quite
happy and comfortable; and I wish you would not trouble me about
other people."
301
This is the story, and these are the feelings of some of the
Latter-day Saints that have been gathered from the depths of
poverty. I do not wish to chide them for their well doing, and
neither do I nor my brethren require of them things that are
unreasonable; but we are under obligations to our families,
connections and friends, and then to the whole human family. We
are not independent of them; we are not here isolated and alone,
differently formed and composed of different material from the
rest of the human race. We belong to and are part of this family,
consequently we are under obligations one to another, and the
Latter-day Saints in these mountains are under obligations to
their brethren and sisters scattered in the nations who, through
indigent circumstances, are unable to gather to themselves the
comforts of life. No matter what may be the cause of their
poverty, they are helpless and destitute. Could I pick out any in
this congregation who have been in these circumstances? I presume
I could, a few score.
301
Sometimes I am inclined to be silent rather than speak of facts
that have come under my own observation. I have seen people in
districts of country, where they were so destitute of the
comforts of life that if they gave a meal to a friend they had to
pinch themselves, perhaps, for a week, having barely sufficient
to keep body and spirit together; and yet when these very
individuals get into circumstances in which they are well fed and
well clothed they forget their former lives.
302
There are certain things connected with what we see and know to
be facts, that actually form principles, and resolve themselves
into eternal principles; and if people could see and understand
them they would be a benefit to them. But we are on the surface,
or outlines of the facts concerning the Latter-day Saints. There
are many of our brethren who have been born and brought up in
America, who have never been called to pass through the ordeals
of poverty that some of our people have in the old countries. A
few of these American Elders, wanting in faith, honesty and
integrity, while on foreign missions, have borrowed money from
these impoverished people, with a promise to pay when they
returned home; but those promises have not been observed. I do
not know whether there are any such Elders here this afternoon;
but, whether there is or not, I want to say to them, wherever
they may be, that I have no fellowship for a man that will make a
promise and not fulfil it, and especially under such
circumstances as I am talking about now; and if there is such an
Elder in this congregation I say omit partaking of the sacrament
here to-day, and never cease your efforts until you pay that
honest debt. I do not offer this as a petition, but as counsel,
to be observed by all such individuals in the Church on the
penalty of being disfellowshipped by the Saints. But to myself
and all of you who are free from such obligations I pray you to
listen to the prayers of these who are asking for deliverance;
and I have a few words to say with regard to this matter on this
wise: We have nothing but what has been given or loaned us of the
Lord; and if we have our hundreds or thousands we may foster the
idea that we have nothing more than we need; but such a notion is
entirely erroneous, for our real wants are very limited. What do
we absolutely need? I possess everything on the face of the earth
that I need, as I appear before you on this stand. I am not
hungry, but I am well fed; I am not cold, but I am well clothed.
I am not suffering for a hat, for I have hair on my head, and
when I go out doors I have my hat to put on; and with these and a
shelter to protect me from the scorching heat or the piercing
cold I have everything that a man needs or can enjoy if he owned
the whole world. If I were the king of the earth I could enjoy no
more. When you have what you wish to eat and sufficient clothing
to make you comfortable you have all that you need, I have all
that I need. Some persons, I know, will ask, "Why not give the
rest to the poor?" I will answer this question, as far as I am
concerned, by saying I do give to the poor and am willing to.
302
If the poor had all the surplus property of the rich many of them
would waste it on the lusts of the flesh, and destroy themselves
in using it. For this reason the Lord does not require the rich
to give all their substance to the poor. It is true that when the
young man came to Jesus to know what he must do to be saved, he
told him, finally, "sell all that thou hast and distribute unto
the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come,
follow me;" and a great many think that he told the young man to
give away all that he had, but Jesus did not require any such
thing, neither did he say so, but simply, "distribute to the
poor." If the poor knew what to do with what they have many, yea
very many, in this land would have all that is necessary to make
them comfortable. But it is different with the great majority of
our friends over the water--they are fettered and bound, and in
the prison of poverty, and have not power to extricate themselves
from the thraldom and wretchedness they are in, and hence it
becomes our duty to lend a helping hand and send for them.
303
Many of us may think that we have nothing we can spare; but the
providences of God might speedily make us think otherwise. If the
Lord were to let loose our enemies upon us! Let Him hiss for the
fly, and whisper for the locust, and they would come here by
myriads and eat up every green thing there is in these mountains;
and when they were destroyed, if the Lord so willed it, they
could commence on the people and the cattle and devour every
living creature on the land. Do we know this? We might know and
realize it. Then, if we had a little bread to eat we should be
happy and contented, and in our poverty we would be willing to
divide with and assist our poor brethren and sisters, and help to
save them from starvation. But now the cry is, "I have a house,
and I want my furniture! I have a farm, I want my teams and my
wagons, and then I want a carriage and time to ride," until the
whole world is swallowed up by the few.
303
You will excuse me if I say a few words with regard to myself in
these charitable sermons. What is my feeling to-day? The same as
it has been for years concerning houses, lands and possessions. I
say to the people, "If you will give me for my property half what
it has cost me I will devote that means for the gathering of the
poor and the building of Zion upon the earth, and will start
again with nothing. I have done it before, and I am willing to do
it again if the people will take my property on these terms, and
the means, to the last dollar, shall be used to send for the poor
if they apostatize the next year. They will not apostatize where
they are now; you could not hire them to do it, you could not
whip them to it; you can not starve their religion out of them;
but bring them here and give them houses and lands, horses and
chariots, make merchants and traders of them, and give them our
means, then some of them will apostatize, but not all. Some of
them will apostatize for very little, it takes but few dollars;
but they will not do it where they are. I would bring them here
if they would apostatize, for they must have a chance to prove
themselves before God and angels with regard to their integrity
to and faith in the religion that we believe in.
303
Now, brethren and sisters, I pray you to remember the poor, and
every time you feel like spending twenty-five or fifty cents in
tea or coffee, liquor or tobacco, stay your hand and put that
money into a safety or charitable fund to help to gather the
poor. Brother Joseph has been pleading for them; I am giving you
the plan. If we will leave off tea, coffee, liquor and tobacco
and devote the means as I have requested, we shall bring the
blessings of heaven to ourselves and bestow the blessings of
earth upon our brethren and sisters, and we shall feel that
comfort and consolation that we could not feel otherwise. Our
hearts will rejoice, our food will be sweet to us, our dreams
will be pleasant and our reflections will be filled with peace,
comfort and consolation in the power of God. But if we shut up
our bowels of compassion our condition will be exactly the
reverse.
303
If the people will take this course towards their poor brethren
and sisters it will relieve our hands at once. I suppose that
there is a million of money now due the Perpetual Emigration
Fund, by those who have been gathered who have not paid their
arrearage. But we cannot get it. If we were to send an agent
through the Territory to collect this indebtedness from these
brethren and sisters, it would probably cost more to sustain him
than the amount he would collect, consequently we conclude to say
nothing about it, and to use the means we have or that is
contributed for this purpose.
304
As for our being comfortable, I will venture to say that we could
pick out, in this congregation, needless articles of dress that
have cost several hundred if not thousands of dollars. I do not
like to charge the ladies with extravagance, but how many yards
of cloth does it take now to make a dress? If Brother Heber C.
Kimball were here he would tell you he used to buy six yards of
calico for his wife Vilate, who was a tall woman. That used to
make a dress, and it was a pretty large pattern; then it got up
to seven since my recollection, then to eight, then to nine, then
to eleven, and I have been called upon to buy sixteen, seventeen
and eighteen yards for a dress. I know there is a cause for this.
My wife will say, "Dear me! Sister so and so wears such and such
a thing, and I want to look as well as she does; and you have
plenty of means, Brigham; O, yes, you have plenty of means, and
you can buy it as well as not." Well, all that I have said, and
my general reply is, "If I am pressed to the necessity of
indulging my family in these needless articles the responsibility
must be upon themselves, not upon me." I will not take that
responsibility. In the day of reckoning if we are in debt and
found wanting in consequence of our extravagance I will not bear
any more responsibility than I have incurred in my own person in
the gratification of this taste for needless articles of dress,
and that will not be much I reckon.
304
Now, brethren and sisters, do you indulge in this taste for
fashion and frivolity in dress? Most assuredly you do, and
circumstances right before my eyes furnish proof of this. I will
venture to say that my mother wore the cloak and hood that her
mother before her wore, and wore them until the day of her death
when she had occasion to wear a cloak; and when she left this
place for the next apartment she was forty-nine years old; and
they went to her daughter. I do not know what has become of them.
She did not take a cloak worth twenty-five, thirty, forty or
fifty dollars and sit down in it with a child and a piece of meat
in each hand to grease it all over. But, now, let some women get
a silk or satin dress and they will, perhaps while wearing it,
take up a child that has a piece of chicken in one hand and a
piece of pork in the other, or a cup of milk to drink, and as
likely as not some of it is spilled on the dress, and then they
say, "Well, I declare my dress is spoiled."
304
I recollect very well, and so do others in this room, when our
fathers and mothers raised the flax and the wool, and when it was
carded with handcards, spun on handwheels, and woven into cloth
on hand looms, and in this way the wants of the family had to be
supplied or they had to go without. But now every woman wants a
sewing machine. What for? To do her sewing. Well, but she can do
a hundred times as much sewing with a machine as she could by
hand, and she does not need a machine more than one day in two or
three weeks. "O yes," she says, "I want my sewing machine every
day of my life." "What are you going to do with it?" "I am going
to sew;" and when the sewing machine is procured they want a
hundred times as much cloth as they used to have. Now, too, then
want a hired girl for every child, and a hired man to every cow
in the yard. I will admit that I am extravagant in these
expressions; but they show the present condition of affairs. The
improvements which have taken place during the last half century
in matters pertaining to domestic life are wonderful, but has not
the extravagance of the people kept pace with these improvements?
It is true that the people are getting wiser in some respects,
and some are getting wealthy; but there is only so much property
in the world. There are the elements that belong to this globe,
and no more. We do not go to the moon to borrow; neither send to
the sun or any of the planets; all our commercial transactions
must be confined to this little earth and its wealth cannot be
increased or diminished; and though the improvements in the arts
of life which have taken place within the memory of many now
living are very wonderful, there is no question that extravagance
has more than kept pace with them.
305
We talk to the Latter-day Saints a great deal, and we wish
them to become a thinking people, a people that will reflect and
begin to systematize their lives, and know the object of their
existence here. This life is as precious and valuable as any life
every possessed, or that ever will be possessed by any
intelligent being, and hence the necessity and propriety of
understanding its object and using it to the best advantage in
every respect, and of understanding principle in all things.
305
It was observed here by Brother Taylor, this morning, when
speaking of the arts and sciences, they are from eternity to
eternity. They can neither be increased nor diminished; and the
Lord has had to teach the people all that they know, no matter
whether it be the wicked who acknowledge Him not, or the
righteous, both are alike in that respect--they receive their
knowledge from the same source. The construction of the electric
telegraph and the method of using it, enabling the people to send
messages from one end of the earth to the other, is just as much
a revelation from God as any ever given. The same is true with
regard to making machinery, whether it be a steamboat, a carding
machine, a sailing vessel, a rowing vessel, a plow, harrow, rake,
sewing machine, threshing machine, or anything else, it makes no
difference--these things have existed from all eternity and will
continue to all eternity, and the Lord has revealed them to His
children.
305
In the infancy of creation the human family commenced down at the
bottom of the ladder, and had to make their way upward. How small
and frail that commencement looks now; whey it is considered
almost beneath the notice of the wise of this day to talk of the
intelligence of our First Parents. When they waked from their
sleep and found themselves in a state of nudity, we are told that
they hid themselves, because they were ashamed and mortified and
did not wish to expose themselves when the Lord came along. And
he picked some fig leaves--what a simple idea! He picked some fig
leaves and sewed them together and made aprons of them. I do not
know whether he used scissors or His penknife for the cutting out
of the garments, or what kind of a needle and thread He used, but
he made aprons for the whole human family--Adam and Eve! What a
simple idea! It is beneath the notice of the mechanic or artist,
or the science of the world now-a-days. Yet simple as it seems
now, the Lord had to reveal to our first parents the modus
operandi of the manufacture of an apron of fig leaves. And when
they wanted a little copper made up, after having found the ore,
the Lord had to come along and show them how to do it; and how to
manufacture the iron. How simple this is! It is beneath the
notice of the intelligence and science that are in the world now;
the scientific men of the present time say those were the days of
ignorance. Yes, that was in the period of the childhood of the
human family, in the infancy of the world. But what does it
manifest unto us? Why that there is a Being superior to man, and
though we may not know the place where He resides, He has come
along occasionally and shown His creatures how to make and work
up brass, iron, copper, and in fact has revealed to them
everything they know at various stages of their development and
progress.
306
The people of this day think they know more than all who have
preceded them--that this is the wisest generation that ever did
live on the earth. Perhaps it is in worldly things, and in some
of the arts and sciences it may be; but there is no question that
many things of great worth known anciently have been lost.
Archaeological developments and investigations bring to light
facts in the mechanical arts which set at defiance the skill of
the world in our day. For instance, where is the mechanic now,
who can sharpen copper so that it would shave the beard from a
man's face, or chop timber like an axe made of steel? The skill
to do that is not in existence now; yet it once was, and many
other arts, revealed to man anciently, have been lost through the
wickedness of the people.
306
I want to say a few words about our religion, but first I will
ask you to remember this prayer which I offered at the
commencement of my remarks with regard to the poor. If you will
do that, they will be looked after and brought home. Now we will
talk a little about our religion. Ask the scientific men of the
world how many of the arts can be reduced to a science? When they
are so reduced they become permanent; but until then they are
uncertain. They go and come, appear and disappear. When they are
reduced to science and system their permanency and stability are
assured. It is so with government--until it is reduced to a
science it is liable to be rent asunder by anarchy and confusion,
and caprice, and scattered to the four winds. Government, to be
stable and permanent and have any show for success, must be
reduced to a science. It is the same with religion; but our
traditions are such that it is one of the most difficult things
in the world to make men believe that the revealed religion of
heaven is a pure science, and all true science in the possession
of men now is a party of the religion of heaven and has been
revealed from that source. But it is hard to get the people to
believe that God is a scientific character, that He lives by
science or strict law, that by this He is, and by law He was made
what He is; and will remain to all eternity because of His
faithful adherence to law. It is a most difficult thing to make
the people believe that every art and science and all wisdom
comes from Him, and that He is their Author. Our spirits are His:
He begot them. We are His children; He set the machine in motion
to produce our tabernacles; and when men discard the principle of
the existence of a Supreme Being, and treat it with lightness, as
Brother Taylor says, they are fools. It is strange that
scientific men do not realize that all they know is derived from
Him; to suppose, or to foster the idea for one moment, that they
are the originators of the wisdom they possess is folly in the
highest! Such men do not know themselves. As for ignoring the
principle of the existence of a Supreme Being, I would as soon
ignore the idea that this house came into existence without the
agency of intelligent beings.
307
Well, the Latter-day Saints are beginning to comprehend that true
religion consists of principles, law and order, and they
acknowledge God in all things; and the time will come when every
knee will bow and every tongue confess to and acknowledge Him,
and when they who have lived upon the earth and have spurned the
idea of a Supreme Being and of revelations from Him, will fall
with shamefacedness and humble themselves before Him, exclaiming,
"There is a God! Oh, God, we once rejected Thee and disbelieved
Thy word and set at naught Thy counsels, but now we bow down in
shame and we do acknowledge that there is a God, and that Jesus
is the Christ." This time will come, most assuredly. We have the
faith of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. It is not a frenzied,
frantic idea, like the systems of religion invented by men. We
have ceremonies, but there is life in those ceremonies; and our
religion has organization, body and soul. The religious systems
of men have a kind of organization, and seemingly they will build
a body, but they have no soul, and some seem to have a soul
without a body, but it is like their god, it cannot be found.
307
We reason with and try to convince the Latter-day Saints that
they should live their religion so that God is in all their
thoughts and reflections, and they should acknowledge Him in
their daily walk and conversation and business transactions as
well as in their prayers. Each of us should continually feel, and
live so as to have it so. "God must be with me and I must have
His Spirit with me under all circumstances." How many are there
of our Elders who carry out their religion in all the affairs of
life? Set them to merchandizing, for instance, and Brother John,
William or Caleb will say, "You set me here at merchandizing, and
my mind is altogether occupied with my business. I have to lay my
plans, and do my best to make my business successful, and I have
not time to pray and seek unto the Lord; I have not got the
spirit of preaching, and do not call upon me to preach, I can not
do it, I have to attend to this store." I say it is almost
impossible to get it into the mind of a business man that he
needs God with him in carrying on his business. Says he, "I must
do this by my natural ability; my business qualities must be
brought into exercise, and that is all I want." To persons who
feel thus I say, Stop and think! Hold on! Do you know how to buy
goods? "Yes," Mr. Merchant says, "I think I understand goods as
well as any man." Where did you get your knowledge, can you tell
me? "Oh, I got that from practice. I have learned, as soon as I
touch a piece of broadcloth, linen, or cotton cloth, to tell its
quality without ever looking at the fabric; I can tell instantly
by the touch of the finger. I have got this by practice." Very
good, we will say you did. Did you plant that ability in your
finger, and which gives sensibility to your nervous system from
the crown of your head to the soles of your feet, which is the
foundation of the knowledge you have acquired by practice?
Acquired or practical knowledge is one thing, but natural or
internal knowledge is the foundation of practical or acquired
knowledge, and without this in the soul no being could acquire it
any more than this stand, not one particle more. Now, Mr.
Merchant, that is the secret of your acquired knowledge or skill.
Then acknowledge it, manly, honestly, uprightly, firmly, and
positively, and give God the praise and honor, for to Him they
belong.
308
Do you need anything more than this innate ability to acquire
knowledge to guide you and to ensure success in your business?
Yes, you do. They say when a person preaches experience, the
facts are not easily got over. I am going to tell Mr. Merchant
what he needs. You take a man who conducts his business on his
own resources, and however well he may lay his plans his business
frequently fails on his hands and he becomes bankrupt; for he
cannot foresee what is going to transpire in the markets. "Well,
how are you going to prevent such mishaps?" You need the Spirit
of the Lord to enable you to foresee. This is what is needed when
you buy goods, where you trade and do business; you need the
spirit of revelation to be with you. We frequently hear our
merchants say they cannot do business and then go into the pulpit
to preach. I will say that there is not a merchant in this
Territory who attends to as much of what is called worldly
business, or temporal things, as I do, yet I can afford to preach
several times each week, and say my prayers as long as I wish to.
Now, if I preach experience, who can controvert it? If any one
does not believe my statement, let him live with me and he will
soon learn that a pressure of business that will take a merchant
a week to think about, I know the moment it is mentioned to me. I
see and understand it from beginning to end, and I say, at once,
"Do thus and so," "Go yonder," or "Take such and such a course;"
but I need the Spirit o the Lord continually to guide and dictate
me in business pertaining to farms, merchandizing, mining,
missions, buying, selling, etc., etc.; and the more I have to do
the more revelation I need, and the more acute my spirit must
become.
308
It is a great mystery to many people, and especially to
strangers, how I have preserved myself. My life depends upon the
Spirit of the Lord, although my body gets sometimes a little out
of order, and it is very probable my stomach will ache pretty bad
after this loud talking, for I am neither iron or immortal. But a
great many marvel at my preservation. I have revealed the secret
a great many times, and can now--I never worry about anything. I
try to live so as to know my business and understand my duty, and
to do it at the moment without a long study. If ever I am in the
least bothered with anything that comes before me it is in some
frivolous case, trying to give counsel and advice to an
individual without doing any mischief. If they want to do right,
regardless of self or the world, it is no trouble to tell them
what to do. And I say to a farmer or a merchant, if you want to
live so as to prolong your days, never worry about anything; but
have the Spirit of the Lord so as to know what to do, and when
you have done or counseled right never fret about the result. It
is in the hands of the Lord, and He will work out the problem,
and you need not be at all afraid of the matter. And this is true
of all the acts of the children of men. The Lord has constituted
us rational beings, and our volition is free to choose good or
evil just as we will; but when we have followed out our choice
the Lord will overrule the result of our acts--it is in His hands
and He will bring it out to suit Himself, and He will make the
wrath of man praise Him. When men undertake, as we see them
occasionally, to interrupt every movement of the kingdom of God,
and lay their plans, and have the train well laid in their own
minds, for the destruction of the kingdom, the first thing they
know they are in the mud and the Saints are thrown up. We have
seen this scores of times. It is just so in the world. Men may
propose, but God will dispose according to His good will and
pleasure.
309
I want to say to the Latter-day Saints, and to those who are not
Saints, we have faith in God, and we have a reason for it. Every
character who has declared himself to be God, except the one we
serve, has failed and been foiled in his calculations; he has
come short in his plans and been put to shame. There is no
question but foul spirits have declared themselves to be deities;
we have history to this effect. But they have come off in shame.
But the Lord is our God and it is He whom we serve; and we say to
the whole world that He is a tangible Being. We have a God with
ears, eyes, nose, mouth; He can and does speak. He has arms,
hands, body, legs and feet; He talks and walks; and we are formed
after His likeness. The good book--the Bible, tells us what kind
of a character our Heavenly Father is. In the first chapter of
Genesis and the 17th verse, speaking of the Lord creating men, it
reads as plain as it can read, and He created man in His own
image and likeness; and if He created Adam and Eve in His own
image, the whole human family are like Him. This same truth is
borne out by the Savior. Said he, when talking to his disciples:
"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;" and, "I and my
Father are one." The Scriptures says that He, the Lord, came
walking in the Temple, with His train; I do not know who they
were, unless His wives and children; but at any rate they filled
the Temple, and how many there were who could not get into the
Temple I cannot say. This is the account given by Isaiah, whether
he told the truth or not I leave every body to judge for himself.
309
The Bible also says the Lord talked with Moses; He talked with
the rich and the poor, the noble and the ignoble. He sent His
angels, and at last sent His Son, who was in the express image of
the Father--His Only Begotten Son, according to the flesh, here
on this earth. That is the God we serve and believe in. He is a
God of system, order, law, science, and art; a God of knowledge
and of power. He says to the human family, "Do as you please, but
I will overrule the results of your actions." He says to the
wicked, "You may fight these Latter-day Saints, but they are my
people, I have called them, and commanded them to come out of
Babylon and to gather themselves together. You, wicked world, may
fight them; you may lay your plans and schemes, but with all your
machinations and wisdom I will show you that I am greater than
you all, and I will put you to shame, and blast your
expectations, and disappoint your calculations, and your attempts
to injure my people will be foiled; for Zion shall arise, her
glory shall be seen, and the kings of the earth shall enquire of
the wisdom of Zion; and God shall be great, and His name shall be
terrible among the inhabitants of the earth; and He will bring
forth His kingdom and establish His government, and Jesus will
come and rule, King of nations, as he does King of Saints." We
have law, we have rule, we have regulations; and they are here,
they are written and published to the world. They are in the Old
and New Testament, Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants; and we call upon all the earth, the rich and the poor,
to hearken unto these things! Who will receive them? Not many
rich, not many noble, not many great men of the earth; but the
poor of this world the Lord has chosen, and He will make them
rich, and they will be heirs of the earth. But they will be heirs
with pure hearts, not with that covetousness we see manifested
now. When we are prepared to receive the kingdom in its purity,
and to honor its laws and principles in our lives, just so soon
the Lord Almighty will bestow upon us strength, power, wisdom,
glory, riches and honor, and all the good things that pertain to
His kingdom; and the Lord will be great among the people, and
they will revere and acknowledge His name.
309
God bless you, brethren and sisters. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, July 18, 1869
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 18, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
OBEYING THE GOSPEL--RECREATION--INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT.
56
I will say to my friends--those who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ--"I beseech you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to
God." Treasure up every truth that you hear, practice it in your
lives, for this will lead you to Jesus. The words that we have
heard this afternoon, with regard to the character of the Son of
God and the plan of salvation, are true so far as they have gone.
We, the Latter-day Saints, take the liberty of believing more
than our Christian brethren: we not only believe part of the
Bible, but the whole of it, and the whole of the plan of
salvation that Jesus has given to us. Do we differ from others
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? No, only in believing more;
we are one with them as far as they believe in him. Do we differ
with regard to the practice of the Gospel that he has delivered
to us? No, not as far as they really believe in and practice the
doctrines taught by him. We believe all that any good man on the
earth need believe. We believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ
His Son, our Savior. We believe all that Moses spoke and wrote of
him, all that the apostles said of him, and all that Jesus
himself has said, which was penned by his apostles and servants.
56
Our Lord and Savior has been beautifully described and set before
us, by the gentleman who has addressed us this afternoon, but I
will take the liberty of saying to every man and woman who wishes
to obtain salvation through him (the Savior) that looking to him,
only, is not enough: they must have faith in his name, character
and atonement; and they must have faith in his father and in the
plan of salvation devised and wrought out by the Father and the
Son. What will this faith lead to? It will lead to obedience to
the requirements of the Gospel; and the few words that I may
deliver to my brethren and sisters and friends this afternoon
will be with the direct view of leading them to God.
57
How am I to know whether I have passed from death unto life? The
apostle says by loving the brethren. How shall I know the
brethren? They are my brethren who have received and obeyed the
Gospel of the Son of God. This is just as easy to test as it is
to test a man who says he is a citizen of the United States. A
man may declare that he is so, but upon inquiry we find that he
has never taken the oath of allegiance nor even declared his
intention to becoming a citizen; but his sole claim to be
considered a citizen rests on the fact that he lives in this
country and has property, perhaps a farm or a store. This will
not entitle any foreigner to the rights and privileges enjoyed by
the humblest citizen. He must first declare his intention, take
the oath of allegiance to this Government and renounce it to his
former one, and then receive his papers of citizenship. It is
just the same in the kingdom of God. However much we may profess
attachment to God and His cause we are not entitled to the
blessings and privileges of His kingdom until we become citizens
therein. How can we do this? By repenting of our sins, and
obeying the requirements of the Gospel of the Son of God which
has been delivered to us. Hundreds and thousands of people have
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and repented of their sins, and
have had the Holy Spirit to witness unto them that God is love,
that they loved Him and that He loved them, and yet they are not
in His kingdom. They have not complied with the necessary
requirements, they have not entered in at the door, and Jesus
says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by
the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the
same is a thief and a robber." He says also, "I am the door: by
me if any man enter in he shall be saved." Jesus has taught us
how we may enter this door and become citizens of his kingdom,
and there is no excuse for our neglecting to do so. Herein we
exceed and go further than our former brethren. We read in this
book (the Bible) of a certain man who came to Jesus by night and
asked him what he should do to be saved. This man, in his own
estimation, had been a strict observer of the law, but Jesus said
to him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." My firm belief is that
thousands have been born of the Spirit and have seen the kingdom,
but not having been born of the water they have never been
permitted to enter that kingdom, for Jesus says, "Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God." This is why we say it is necessary to obey, fully, the
Gospel which Jesus has left on record for us; and to do that we
must repent of our sins, be baptized for the remission of them,
and then receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.
57
Do we believe in the Holy Ghost? Yes. Do our former brethren in
the Christian world? They say they do. They should believe in it,
they preach and teach it. What will the Holy Ghost do for those
who possess it? It will bring to their remembrance things past,
present and to come, and will teach them all things necessary for
them to understand, in order to secure salvation. Is this the
office and ministry of the Holy Ghost? Jesus says:
57
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
57
"Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that he shall speak: and he will shew
you things to come."
57
Then if we receive the Holy Ghost we shall know and understand
things as they are, we shall be able to read the Scriptures by
the Spirit, with which they were written, and if we continue
faithful we shall be led to a knowledge of God and Jesus whom He
has sent, which the apostle says "is eternal life."
58
Some believe or conceive the idea that to know God would lessen
Him in our estimation; but I can say that for me to understand
any principle or being, on earth or in Heaven, it does not lessen
its true value to me, but, on the contrary, it increases it; and
the more I can know of God, the dearer and more precious He is to
me, and the more exalted are my feelings towards Him. Therein I
may be different to some other.
58
If we embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, rendering obedience
thereunto as he has directed, it will lead us into the kingdom of
God here on the earth. We have started to build up this kingdom.
The Lord has revealed His will from the heavens, and we have
faith in Him. Is there any proof of this? Certainly, there is
every proof that is necessary. I recollect reading in the New
Testament that Jesus gave a mission to his apostles in these
words, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but
he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall
follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils;
they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents;
and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they
shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.
58
This Gospel is for all the children of men, and it will save all
who will believe and obey it. Do this people believe in this
Gospel? Yes. Is there any proof of this? Yes. Here before me I
see men who have left their homes and families; women who have
left their homes and families; parents who have left their
children, and children their parents; husbands who have left
their wives, and wives their husbands, and all to gather with the
Saints of the Most High. Is this any testimony that they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes; and this is not all. They speak
with new tongues, they lay hands on the sick and they do recover.
In these particulars we differ from those with whom we formerly
fellowshipped in the Christian world, who say they tell the
people how to come to God and be saved. But if they ever have
done that I have never heard them. In my young days I have been
called an infidel for talking thus, for there was no man who
could tell me anything about the plan of salvation; but I never
saw the day but what I would have walked on my knees across this
continent to have seen a man who could have told me the first
thing about God and Heaven. It is true that the feelings and
attention of the people may be moved and attracted by beautiful
descriptions of Him and Heaven and with beautiful illustrations
of His power and goodness, such as we have heard to-day; but
where is God? Who is He? Who is Jesus Christ? Where do they live?
What is their power and character, and their connection with the
people of the earth? In my scanty experience with the divines of
the day I never yet found the first that could describe the
character of God, locate His dwelling place, or give the first
correct idea with regard to the Father and the Son; but to them
they are hidden in impenetrable mystery, and their cry is, "Great
is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh." To us it
is simple, plain, glorious and divine, and it is worthy the
attention of every intelligent being that dwells on the face of
the earth, for it is eternal life to know God and Jesus Christ
whom He has sent.
59
In these respects we differ from our Christian brethren. We are
the very men and women that have come out from the Mother Church
and her daughters, Methodists, Calvinists and almost every other
persuasion on the face of the earth, the Pagans not excepted. We
never learned from them, however, how to be saved; but we know
how to save ourselves, for the Lord has revealed to us a plan by
which we may be saved both here and hereafter. God has done
everything we could ask, and more than we could ask. The errand
of Jesus to earth was to bring his brethren and sisters back into
the presence of the Father; he has done his part of the work, and
it remains for us to do ours. There is not one thing that the
Lord could do for the salvation of the human family that He has
neglected to do; and it remains for the children of men to
receive the truth or reject it; all that can be accomplished for
their salvation, independent of them, has been accomplished in
and by the Savior. It has been justly remarked this afternoon
that "Jesus paid the debt; he atoned for the original sin; he
came and suffered and died on the cross." He is now King of kings
and Lord of lords, and the time will come when every knee will
bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father,
that Jesus is the Christ. That very character that was looked
upon, not as the Savior, but as an outcast, who was crucified
between two thieves and treated with scorn and derision, will be
greeted by all men as the only Being through whom they can obtain
salvation.
60
We differ from our Christian brethren, and have long been
separated from them; but we are here in these mountains through
necessity--because we were not permitted to live with them. But
we were never hated, despised and derided as Christ was; we have
never been crucified and been such outcasts as Jesus, though our
prophet and patriarch were slain; but not in such an ignominious
manner as Jesus. Who will believe our testimony? "If our Gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." Who will believe our
testimony? Who will believe the testimony that has been delivered
here this afternoon? I believe and know it is true; and that,
too, by the revelations of that very character who was lifted up
on the cross. How are we to blame for believing so much? Why, the
Scriptures say we are to "prove all things and hold fast that
which is good." I frequently think that the only way for a man to
prove any fact in the world is by experience. We go, for
instance, into an orchard and some one says there is a sweet
apple tree, and he may say the same of other trees, but without
tasting how shall I know they are sweet? Unless I taste of them I
cannot know it. I may take the testimony of others who have
tasted them, as to whether they are sweet, sour or bitter, but
without tasting it cannot be proved to my senses that they are
so. Now, as I understand it, it is the same with all facts that
have come to the knowledge of all beings in Heaven, or on
earth--all facts are proved and made manifest by their opposite.
Sin has come into the world, and death by sin. I frequently ask
myself the question: Was there any necessity for sin to enter the
world? Most assuredly there was, according to my understanding
and reasoning powers. Did I not know the evil I could never know
the good; had I not seen the light I should never be able to
comprehend what darkness is. Had I never tried to see and behold
a thing in darkness I could not understand the beauty and glory
of the light. If I had never tasted the bitter or the sour how
could I define or describe the sweet? Consequently, I let all
these things pass, being according to the wisdom of Him who has
done all things for the benefit and salvation of His children
here on the earth. And when we contemplate and realise that He is
our Father and that Jesus is our elder brother, and that we have
the privilege of overcoming sin and death, by faith in Jesus and
obedience to His Gospel, and of being exalted into the presence
of the Father and the Son, the thought should fill our hearts
with gratitude, praise and humility.
60
I extend my religion further than a great many do. I say it is
far beyond the religions of the day; they consist, mainly, of
forms and ceremonies, never revealing to their votaries the
object of their creation and existence, or preparing them to
fulfil their high calling and destiny; but ours incorporates the
whole life of man. Our religion incorporates and includes all the
duties devolving upon us every day of our lives, and enables us,
if we live according to the spirit of it, to discharge those
several duties more honorably and efficiently. I do not think
there is as good a financier on the earth as my Father in Heaven
is; I do not think there is a being among the whole human family
who understands the principles of finance as well as He does. And
I believe the same with regard to any other branch of human
knowledge, or of anything which affects the peace, happiness,
comfort, wealth, health and strength of body, and in fact the
entire welfare, whether political, social or physical of the
children of men, consequently I would like to have Him dictate my
affairs. Why? That I might become the possessor of power, wealth,
and influence, for all the influence the children of men ever
possessed they have received from the Father. Every kingdom that
has been set up on the face of the earth has been set up by the
will of the Father. He sets up a kingdom here and pulls down
another there at His pleasure. He gives influence and power to
this one and takes them from another; and so we see nations come
and go. Some individuals live on the earth rich, noble, powerful
and influential; while others are in the depths of poverty. All
this is permitted by the Father, and is according to His decree.
Every act of the children of men is the result of their own will
and pleasure, but the results of these acts God overrules.
60
Our religion incorporates every act and word of man. No man
should go to merchandising unless he does it in God; no man
should go to farming or any other business unless he does it in
the Lord. No lawyer, no, hold on, I will leave the lawyers out;
we do not want them, we have no use for them. No man of council
should sit to judge the people but what should judge in the Lord,
that he may righteously and impartially discern between right and
wrong, truth and error, light and darkness, justice and
injustice. Should any legislature sit without the Lord? If it do,
sooner or later it will fall to pieces. No nation ever did live
that counseled and transacted its national affairs without the
Lord, but what sooner or later went to pieces and came to naught.
The same is true of all the nations that now live or ever will
live.
61
Our work, our every-day labor, our whole lives are within the
scope of our religion. This is what we believe and what we try to
practice. Yet the Lord permits a great many things that He never
commands. I have frequently heard my old brethren in the
Christian world make remarks about the impropriety of indulging
in pastimes and amusements. The Lord never commanded me to dance,
yet I have danced; you all know it, for my life is before the
world. Yet while the Lord had never commanded me to do it, He has
permitted it. I do not know that He ever commanded the boys to go
and play at ball, yet He permits it. I am not aware that He ever
commanded us to build a theatre, but He has permitted it, and I
can give the reason why. Recreation and diversion are as
necessary to our well-being as the more serious pursuits of life.
There is not a man in the world but what, if kept at any one
branch of business or study, will become like a machine. Our
pursuits should be so diversified as to develop every trait of
character and diversity of talent. If you would develop every
power and faculty possessed by your children, they must have the
privilege of engaging in and enjoying a diversity of amusements
and studies; to attain great excellence, however, they cannot all
be kept to any one individual branch of study. I recollect once
while in England, in the district of country called the
"Potteries," seeing a man pass along the street, his head,
perhaps, within sixteen or eighteen inches of the ground. I
inquired what occupation he had followed for a living, and
learned that he had never done anything in his life but turned a
tea cup, and he was then seventy-four years of age. How do we
know, but what, if he had had the privilege, he would have made a
statesman or a fine physician, an excellent mechanic or a good
judge? We cannot tell. This shows the necessity of the mind being
kept active and having the opportunity of indulging in every
exercise it can enjoy in order to attain to a full development of
its powers.
61
We wish, in our Sunday and day schools, that they who are
inclined to any particular branch of study may have the privilege
to study it. As I have often told my sisters in the Female Relief
societies, we have sisters here who, if they had the privilege of
studying, would make just as good mathematicians or accountants
as any man; and we think they ought to have the privilege to
study these branches of knowledge that they may develop the
powers with which they are endowed. We believe that women are
useful, not only to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds, and
raise babies, but that they should stand behind the counter,
study law or physic, or become good book-keepers and be able to
do the business in any counting house, and all this to enlarge
their sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large.
In following these things they but answer the design of their
creation. These, and many more things of equal utility are
incorporated in our religion, and we believe in and try to
practice them.
62
I will say, now, to the Latter day Saints, sometimes you know, if
a word be dropped unguardedly, we are threatened with an army; if
we speak a word out of the wrong side of the mouth we are
threatened with a legalized mob just as we were in the States.
Hence, we must be careful of what we say, for our enemies are
ready to "make a man an offender for a word, and to lay a snare
for him that reproveth in the gate." I will say, however, that if
you, Latter-day Saints, will live your religion there will be no
necessity whatever to fear all the powers of earth and hell, for
God will sustain you. Jesus is king of this earth and he will
sustain those who walk humbly before him, loving and serving him
and keeping his commandments. I pray the Latter-day Saints to be
faithful; love and serve the Lord, keep His commandments, refrain
from evil and walk humbly before him. When we were in the
Christian world, and were without the Priesthood, we believed in
every good word and work, in every moral principle, in everything
that tended to promote peace, happiness, morality and virtue, in
fact in every good principle that man could teach. Let us live as
consistently now as we did then; let us live so that God will
bless us and enable us to overcome and be saved in His kingdom,
which may He grant for Christ's sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / Orson
Pratt, December 19, 1869
Orson Pratt, December 19, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER ORSON PRATT,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 19, 1869.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
REVELATIONS AND MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD AND OF WICKED SPIRITS.
62
There is a passage which will be found in one of the epistles of
John, the substance of which I will repeat: "Every spirit that
confesses not that Jesus is the Christ is not of God." I may not
have given you this passage word for word, as it is recorded, but
I have given you the substance of it as laid down in the
Scriptures. It is well known by all readers of the Scriptures,
that in every age of our world mankind have had to contend
against a power which is in opposition to the Almighty. It seems
that our world is infested with those spirits of darkness which
were, in the beginning, cast down from the Almighty, in
consequence of their rebellion against Him; and in every age of
the world these wicked spirits have manifested themselves, and
especially when the Priesthood has been upon the earth and a
dispensation has been committed from Heaven to man; then all hell
has seemed to be in an uproar, and the power of all the fallen
angels made manifest. Hence, it is written, somewhere in the New
Testament, that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood merely,
but against spiritual wickedness in high places." We not only
have to meet with wicked men, and the power of the devil
manifested in them, but the Saints of God have always had to meet
with manifestations of power from beneath--powers not ordained of
God, and which are calculated, if possible, to deceive the very
elect.
63
No there are in existence two great powers: one is of God,
including all the heavenly host--the angels and celestial beings
who dwell in the presence of God and partake of His glory,
holding power and authority from Him to go forth and minister
according to His command. The other power is an enemy to God; it
is the power of that being who rebelled against Him in Heaven,
and sought to takes possession of the throne of the Almighty.
According to the history that is given of this event, a general
council was held in Heaven about the time of the creation of this
earth. In that council there was a personage called an angel, who
stood in authority in the presence of God; and when the question
was asked, "Who shall go forth and redeem mankind?" Lucifer, the
Son of the Morning, this angel who stood in the presence of God,
answered and said, "Here am I, send me; I will go forth and
redeem all mankind, that not one soul shall be lost." But the
only begotten Son of the Father, who was with the Father from the
beginning, replied and said, "Father, Thy will be done, and the
glory be Thine for ever." And here a rebellion rose up between
Satan, the Son of the Morning, and the Son of the living God, as
to the redemption of mankind. One sought to destroy the plan of
God and the agency that the Lord intended to give to intelligent
beings, and to redeem them whether they would be redeemed or not;
and because he considered that his plan was so good before the
heavens, and so much superior to the plan that God had devised,
said he, "Surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor,
which is the power of God." That is, he sought to obtain the
throne of the Almighty, and to carry out his own purposes in
preference to yielding to the purposes and power of the Almighty.
This rebellion became so great, and the influence of it spread so
rapidly among the heavenly host, that one-third part of the
heavenly throne, I mean the spirits, rebelled against God and
followed the evil design and purpose of this angel. No doubt some
of them thought that they could accomplish their design; for they
had not a knowledge of the future designs and purposes of God,
only in a small degree, and consequently they supposed that their
plan was better than that of the Almighty; and in this great
rebellion the Lord caused Satan, or Lucifer, the Son of the
Morning, and those who followed him, to be cast out of Heaven.
63
We may form some little calculation of the vast numbers thus
thrown out of Heaven, when we consider that they were one-third
of all the spirits that were born, intended for this creation.
Only two-thirds kept their first estate, and they have the great
privilege of coming here to this creation and taking bodies of
flesh and bones, tabernacles wherein their spirits may dwell, to
prepare themselves for a more glorious state of existence
hereafter. If, then, only two-thirds of the hosts of Heaven are
to come to our earth to tabernacle in the flesh, we may form some
idea of the vast number who fell. Already our earth has teemed
for six thousand years with numberless millions of human beings
whose spirits existed before the foundation of the world. Those
who now exist probably number one thousand or twelve hundred
millions. Twelve hundred millions of spirits now dwelling in
mortal flesh! Think of the immense numbers who must have preceded
us and the myriads who are to come! These are the two-thirds who
kept their first estate. Their numbers, probably, cannot be less
than two hundred thousand millions, leaving, as an approximate
estimate, one hundred thousand millions of rebellious spirits or
devils who were cast out from Heaven and banished to this
creation, having no privilege of fleshly tabernacles.
64
It was in the Garden of Eden that the devil, or one of those foul
spirits, entered into a certain animal or beast, called a
serpent, and came before our first parents and beguiled them, and
they suffered themselves to partake of the forbidden fruit. If,
then, they were in the earth as early as the Garden of Eden, no
doubt, they have been here from that day to this, and that the
earth is the place of their habitation. They wander to and fro in
the earth seeking whom they may devour! Only think of a hundred
devils to every being that now exists on the earth.
64
Though these spirits had not the full knowledge of the Almighty;
though they had not that superior knowledge that reigns in the
bosom of the Son of God, and of many that stood in His presence,
yet they had great information before their fall. They had stood
in the presence of God, and had, no doubt, learned many things
from His own mouth. How long they had been in His presence it is
not for us to say, God has not revealed it. But they had great
experience. I am speaking of the knowledge and the cunning that
these enemies of God possessed when they were cast down here to
the earth. They have cunning beyond what you have ever seen
manifested by the children of men. They can, at times,
apparently, be perfect gentlemen when they enter the tabernacles
of the children of men. They can become, apparently, very pious,
and, if you could not discern spirits, you would think, from the
manifestations of devils, when in the tabernacles of many
individuals, that they were perfect angels on earth.
64
The devil operates in every conceivable form, and this is what
the apostle meant when he said, "We do not merely wrestle against
flesh and blood, but also against principalities and powers." We
have enemies far more powerful than men to contend against. The
devil has not the power to take full possession of the
tabernacles of human creatures, unless they give way to him and
his influence to that degree that he gets power over them. But we
have not time now to trace the history of the powers of darkness
in early ages; but will briefly state, that they did show forth
their power in ancient times.
64
Moses was called of God and ordained to the holy Priesthood after
the order of Melchizedek, by the hands of his father-in-law,
Jethro, and sent forth with power and authority into Egypt to
seek after the welfare of the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
in bondage there. Just as soon as the Almighty began to manifest
Himself through the power of the legal Priesthood, so soon these
opposite powers began to work whenever they could find a chance;
and the individuals through whom they worked were the principal
men of Egypt, the most popular men they had in their midst--the
priests, magicians, and astrologers were the ones through whom
Satan manifested this opposite power. His design, no doubt, was
to frustrate or destroy the influence of the miracles, signs and
wonders that were made manifest by Moses among the people of God
for their redemption. Hence when Moses came before Pharaoh he
cast down his staff and it was turned into a serpent, or into
something having the appearance of a serpent, and was full of
life and animation. That was a great miracle that the Lord saw
proper, on that occasion, to manifest before this wicked king,
that he might have what he had desired, for he had asked for a
sign, and the Lord granted it. But immediately others were called
by the king--the magicians, soothsayers and those whom Satan had
gained power and influence over--and they were commanded to show
what they could do. They cast down their rods and they likewise
became serpents.
65
Now, here was a manifestation of similar power--Moses' rod became
a serpent and the rods of the magicians also became serpents; but
by and by Moses' rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians. What
did that prove? In the estimation of wicked men like the King of
Egypt and his subjects, it was nothing more than the extending of
this power had in possession by the magicians. They did not look
upon it as a distinct and separate power, because they had not
the spirit to discern, the Spirit of the Lord was not with them,
and they could not discern the difference. But there were
manifested on that occasion two distinct and separate powers, so
similar in their effects, that none but those who lived near unto
God and understood the workings of the Holy Spirit, could detect
the difference between them.
65
A succession of wonderful manifestations of the power of God was
made through Moses, and in all, save two or three instances, the
magicians did likewise. What would naturally be the conclusion at
which wicked men would arrive under such circumstances? They
would naturally say, "Here is Moses, who has been brought up in
all the learning of the Egyptians and he is more advanced than
our magicians; he has learned lessons that they have not yet
acquired," consequently men of that stamp would decide that it
was all by the same spirit, and they would not acknowledge the
finger of God in it.
65
That may be a sample to all people in future generations in the
manifestations of these powers. The wicked cannot discern and
comprehend the difference between these two powers. If we believe
that there is a God and a heavenly host standing in His presence,
ready to do His behests, we must believe in the manifestations of
divine power; and if we believe that there are fallen spirits who
have been cast down to this earth, we must also believe that they
will manifest their power just as far as they are suffered or
permitted. But we do not wish to dwell too long upon the history
of past ages, we want to come down more immediately to our own
time.
65
I now appeal to the aged and to the middle-aged in this assembly,
and I will ask them this one question, "What was the condition of
the world forty years ago in regard to miraculous manifestations
of power, and to new revelation?" I am now speaking of the
Christian world at large. Did they believe that God would perform
any miracles in our day? The old and the middle-aged know that
the whole world had come to the conclusion that there was no such
thing as supernatural power to be made manifest in our times.
That was the almost universal belief among the children of men.
When you talked to them about new revelation, they considered the
very idea of such a thing a folly. Tradition had taught them and
their fathers for many generations, that the book called the Old
and New Testaments contained all that God ever did reveal or ever
would reveal to the human family. This notion was not peculiar to
some few classes of Christian society, but it was almost
universal throughout Christendom. Such a thing as new revelation
was discarded by them, all over the world. Said they, "The canon
of Scripture is full, it is complete, and it is the very height
of blasphemy to suppose that God would give any more!"
66
This was the condition of mankind before this Church arose, forty
years ago. By and by an obscure individual, a young man, rose up,
and, in the midst of all Christendom, proclaimed the startling
news that God had sent an angel to him; that through his faith,
prayers, and sincere repentance he had beheld a supernatural
vision, that he had seen a pillar of fire descend from Heaven,
and saw two glorious personages clothed upon with this pillar of
fire, whose countenance shone like the sun at noonday; that he
heard one of these personages say, pointing to the other, "This
is my beloved Son, hear ye him." This occurred before this young
man was fifteen years of age; and it was a startling announcement
to make in the midst of a generation so completely given up to
the traditions of their fathers; and when this was proclaimed by
this young, unlettered boy to the priests and the religious
societies in the State of New York, they laughed him to scorn.
"What!" said they, "visions and revelations in our day! God
speaking to men in our day!" They looked upon him as deluded;
they pointed the finger of scorn at him and warned their
congregations against him. "The canon of Scripture is closed up;
no more communications are to be expected from Heaven. The
ancients saw heavenly visions and personages; they heard the
voice of the Lord; they were inspired by the Holy Ghost to
receive revelations, but behold no such thing is to be given to
man in our day, neither has there been for many generations
past." This was the style of the remarks made by religionists
forty years ago.
66
This young man, some four years afterwards, was visited again by
a holy angel. It was not merely something speaking in the dark;
it was not something wrapped up in mystery, with no glory
attending it, but a glorious angel whose countenance shone like a
vivid flash of lightning, and who was arrayed in a white robe,
and stood before him. This young man saw the countenance of the
angel; he saw his person and his glory and rejoiced therein. This
angel revealed to him some great realities; not mysterious or
dark sayings, covered up without any particular information,
light or knowledge, but certain realities were made manifest to
him concerning the ancient inhabitants of this land. This angel
told him that they were a branch of the House of Israel; that
they kept sacred and holy records; that those records were kept
by prophets and inspired men; that they were deposited, some
fourteen centuries ago, after the nation had fallen into
wickedness, by one of their last prophets, and that the time was
at hand for this record to be brought forth by the gift and power
of God.
66
Here, then, was a reality--something great and glorious, and
after having received from time to time, visits from these
glorious personages, and talking with them, as one man would talk
with another, face to face, beholding their glory, he was
permitted to go and take these plates from the place of their
deposit--plates of gold--records, some of which were made nearly
six hundred years before Christ. And then, to show still further
a reality, something tangible, the Urim and Thummim, a glorious
instrument, used by ancient seers, was also obtained with the
record, through which, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost
and by the commandment of Almighty God, he translated that record
into our language, and the book was published in the fore part of
the year 1830.
67
During the translation, before the book was published, when the
prophet came towards the latter part of the record, he discovered
that the ancient inhabitants of this continent were baptized in a
certain way, by those having authority from Almighty God. He felt
anxious to know how he, in connection with his scribe, Oliver
Cowdery, might participate in the blessings of this holy
ordinance. They very well knew, from what God had revealed to
them, and from what they had understood by translating the main
portion of the record, that there was no man in all Christendom
that had authority to baptize them. They were anxious to know how
they might be baptized, and how the authority might be restored.
They went out into a grove, and joined in secret prayer, and the
Lord sent a holy angel to them, a man who once dwelt on the
earth, and held the Priesthood of his fathers, according to the
promise of God to the lineage of Aaron. John the Baptist, the
fore-runner of Christ, who was beheaded by Herod--John who
preached repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, came
to Joseph and Oliver Cowdery, as a ministering angel.
67
Perhaps you may inquire here: Was John without a tabernacle? Was
he a spirit or was he a personage of tabernacle, of flesh and
bones? We all know that he was beheaded before the crucifixion of
Christ: and if you wish to know the condition of John when he
came to Joseph and Oliver, read the appendix to the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants, and you will find that Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and Joseph and many others, who are named there, among
whom was John the Baptist, were with Christ in his resurrection;
that is, they came forth in the first resurrection, at the time
that Jesus received his body. About that period the graves of the
Saints were opened and many of them came forth. John was amongst
them; and he held, legally, the power, keys and Priesthood,
bestowed upon the lineage of his father, Aaron.
67
What did John do, when he appeared to brothers Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery? He did not go forth into the water to baptize
them, as he did anciently in the Jordan; but he gave the
authority to them to baptize--he laid his hands upon their heads
and ordained them. Thus the hands of an immortal being--a man
sent from heaven--were laid upon their heads! They were ordained
to that same Priesthood that John himself held, with the promise
and prediction that the Priesthood should not be taken from the
earth while the earth should stand.
67
They were commanded to be baptized, and having received the
authority to administer the ordinance, they went forth and
baptized each other, on the 15th of May, 1829, nearly one year
before the rise of this Church, which took place on the 6th of
April, 1830. Prior to the last mentioned date the Lord bestowed
authority upon His servants to officiate in still higher
ordinances than those pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood. That
Priesthood could administer baptism for the remission of sins,
but it had no power or authority to administer the Spirit. But
there was a Priesthood that had that power and authority. John
speaks of another Priesthood greater than that which he held.
Said he, "There is one coming after me mightier than I. He holds
a Priesthood greater than that which has been bestowed upon me,
namely, the Priesthood of Melchizedek. He shall baptize you with
fire and the Holy Ghost. I can only administer in the outward
ordinance; I have not the right to administer to you this higher
ordinance." It was so with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery: they
could only baptize with water until they received a Priesthood
greater than that which John the Baptist held. And when the Lord
was about to organize His Church, He prepared them by sending men
who had once been here on the earth--namely, Peter, James and
John, to bestow upon them this higher Priesthood.
68
How did these celestial personages come? Did they come
manifesting themselves by a mere voice, or behind some screen as
it were? No, they came personally, in their glory. They not only
manifested their persons and their glory, but they also spoke and
gave them the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the holy apostleship,
which is equivalent to that Priesthood, and commanded them to
organize and build up the Church of God on the earth, and to
administer by the laying on of hands to those who were sincerely
baptized in water, that they might be baptized with the greater
baptism--of fire and the Holy Ghost.
68
Here, then, was a succession of manifestations of power from the
celestial abode. God did not suffer, in those days, Satan to make
manifestations of his power in a very great degree. No such
things as spirit rappings in those days! No such thing as
planche'te--a little heart-shaped wooden thing that the devil
makes use of in giving revelations, in those days. No such thing
as tables dancing about the room by the power of Satan in those
days! No such thing as a power seizing upon the hands of a man
and using them independent of his control to write out what were
termed revelations, in those days! By why didn't the devil
manifest these powers long before that time? Because God would
not suffer him: the devil is under the control of the Almighty in
some respects. He has fallen, and the Lord will not suffer him to
go any further than He permits; and when the people have not the
Gospel and Priesthood in their midst, and light and knowledge
from the heavens, He will not suffer the devil to show forth his
power to deceive and lead them astray; therefore He determined
that the preliminary manifestations should come form the
celestial world, and that the Priesthood with its power and
authority should be given from on high, before He would suffer
the devil to come and manifest his strong delusions!
68
Suffice it to say, the Church was organized, individuals were
baptized by water and with the Holy Ghost, and when they were
filled with the Holy Ghost they were oftentimes, in those early
stages of the Church, covered with a pillar of fire. They were
immersed in and clothed upon with fire, and the Holy Ghost
entered their hearts and they were filled with the spirit of
prophecy, and with the gift of tongues, and in process of time
with the gift of visions, and had power to heal the sick and cast
out devils in the name of Jesus Christ, to build up the kingdom
of God and establish righteousness upon the face of the earth, so
far as they could gain influence over the hearts of the children
of men. But wherever these servants of the Most High went
persecution followed them. There was a howl from the pulpit from
Maine to Texas and from one extremity of the Union to the other,
crying out against new revelation. All the papers and periodicals
of the day, far and near, published articles against the idea of
receiving new revelation; there seemed to be a perfect flood
coming from all quarters of the land testifying to the supposed
absurdity of receiving new communication from the Almighty. By
and by persecution became so great that scores and scores of the
Saints were put to death in Missouri; and this was followed up
until the Prophet and Patriarch of the Church were martyred and
the people driven from their homes, their property destroyed, and
every means in the power of the enemy used to uproot and destroy
the fullness of the Gospel and the Priesthood out of the earth.
69
What was the matter in those days, and why were they so
embittered against this people? "You have," said they, "brought
us something so strange! You pretend to visions! You pretend to
new revelations! You pretend that God has spoken! You pretend
that angels have come! You pretend that God has revealed another
record, another Bible! You pretend that you have received the
Priesthood and the apostleship, and for these things you are not
worthy to dwell in our midst! You must be persecuted from city to
city, you must be driven from your houses and lands, your
property must be confiscated and destroyed, and there is no power
in this country of ours that can protect you in those views which
you have so strangely advanced in the midst of this Christian
country."
69
Was there any polygamy in those days among the Latter-day Saints?
No; God had not revealed and established this practice among them
in those days; they were not persecuted for any such thing, it
was not named; but we were persecuted because we believed in the
same principles that the ancient apostles and Christians believed
in. But by and by, after having shed the blood of the prophets,
and the Saints had been driven from their lands and from one city
to another, and their property destroyed, when the wicked had
ripened themselves in iniquity, and prepared themselves in a
great degree for the overwhelming judgments of the Almighty, and
when they found that the people were not to be put down by
persecution, and that we would continue publishing these new
tidings, far and wide, the devil took another turn. What was it?
Said he, "I see they cannot be put down with persecution, they go
forth and the people will believe them more or less; we cannot
destroy them, and if we destroy their property and drive them
from place to place it makes no difference, so I will show them
that the world can have revelation enough," and he commenced. But
instead of calling upon men and beginning something great and
good, in a godlike manner, he called upon certain females,
residing not far from where the plates of the Book of Mormon were
found, where the people had been warned, perhaps, longer than in
any other portion of the United States. These ladies, Misses Fox
by name, began bringing forth supernatural manifestations. Others
did the same in a short time, and they have continued until the
present day and have spread over the whole United States and many
other parts of the world. If you go forth and make inquiries in
regard to these manifestations, you will find that there are
several missions of people in this country that believe in them.
What a change between now and forty years ago! Then you could
scarcely find one in the whole Christian world that would admit
the probability of new revelation or supernatural manifestations;
now there are millions in the United States alone!
70
Do these manifestations affect, for good, those who believe in
them? Do they cause them to repent of their sins? No; they who
blaspheme the name of God almost with every breath, and that will
cheat and take every advantage possible of their brethren; they
who will lie and steal and do every species of wickedness and
abominations are the very ones that the devil works through;
still the whole Christian world, apparently, are now willing to
admit new revelation. Oh, yes! They have forgotten how they
persecuted the Latter-day Saints because they believed in new
revelation, and they can now believe in revelation by wholesale!
They will not believe in records given through the medium of the
prophets; but they are ready enough to believe if a wicked man
who will blaspheme the name of Jesus is the medium and is made a
participant in this great power. Such characters do not need any
organization from God, they do not need any baptism, ordinances
or Priesthood.
70
The devil has invented various names for his manifestations in
order to get the people to swallow them down; the same as the
doctors. When they wish to administer some nauseous kind of
medicine, they sweeten it up a little. So the devil has sweetened
up these things in such a way that he has got almost all these
manifestations under the name of science. If you want to see a
species of devilism made manifest, it comes out under a
scientific phraseology, under the specious name of
electro-biology, animal-magnetism, or some such popular
name--names that have been given to real sciences, which have
their laws, founded in nature, are now given to these
supernatural manifestations. Why does Satan use their artifices?
Because the people at the present day have become naturally
scientific, or a great many of them have; and the devil thinks if
he can only invent a real, nice, beautiful name, with some
resemblance to a scientific name, a great many of these persons
will swallow it down, and think it all right.
70
Several years ago, about the time of the commencement of the war,
Brother Erastus Snow and myself were down in New York City.
Spiritualism, at that time, was all the order of the day. Almost
all those old members of the Church that had been in Nauvoo and
Kirtland and had apostatized, had fled into New York,
Philadelphia, St. Louis, and throughout the Eastern cities; and
in going through any of these cities, if you heard anything about
these apostates, you would hear about them being great mediums:
there was scarcely a case but what they were spiritual mediums.
Some of the worst kind of apostates--apostates who had turned
away from everything good, from every principle of righteousness,
had become great mediums. Some of them were writing mediums; some
of them would work with a table; some would have manifestations
in one way and some in another.
71
While brother Snow and I were in New York, a very learned judge,
a man very noted for his great attainments, and who had been a
judge in the City of New York, I think his name was Edmunds, gave
us an interview. We promised to meet him early in the evening. I
think we stayed until nearly twelve at night and talked with that
man. He had written a great many works in relation to
spiritualism, and had lectured at New York and other places to
very large assemblies in regard to its truth. We were very glad
to have an opportunity of hearing from his own mouth something
about these supernatural manifestations. We did not expect to
gain any particular light, any further than this--while
travelling on a mission abroad we wished to know how to detect
the devil on his own ground, in relation to those things we had
continually to meet with. Mr. Edmunds told us about the mediums
speaking in Greek and in Latin; about persons who had never
learned to write and had never written a word in their lives,
whose arms had been taken possession of, and their writing a
great variety of writing; also about bells being carried about
the room and rung. He also informed us that many persons had not
only seen and heard these manifestations, but they had actually
seen the personages, by whom they were made, especially their
faces, arms and hands.
71
We inquired of him, if they believed in any Priesthood? Oh, no.
"Do they generally believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the
world?" "Oh no, he was a very good man, no doubt, and write a
good many good precepts; he was not much better than other good
men, only he happened to have some precepts beyond the age in
which he lived. But this age is far superior to that, and
consequently all those things that Jesus and his apostles
revealed are thrown in the shade. They belonged to a
semi-barbarous age, but we have a system and dispensation far
superior to that." This was the tenor of this gentleman's
conversation in regard to these things. He also told about
different spheres of glory, and different orders of angels, the
latter, we were told, being personages from different spheres.
They required no Priesthood, no authority, no ordinances, no such
thing as baptism or organization.
71
When we heard these things we saw, truly, that as the devil did
manifest his power in ancient times among the Egyptians, because
they had persecuted the people of God, put to death their young
infants, and shed innocent blood, even so, directly in the midst
of our nation, his evil power was again manifested in strong
delusion. Having persecuted the Saints of God, and having shed
the blood of His prophets and Saints and driven them from place
to place, and banished them beyond the Rocky Mountains, thinking
that they had certainly got rid of them, and that they would
perish there. Having become so exceedingly wicked, we saw that
the devil was showing forth his power on the right hand and on
the left, for their delusion and destruction.
71
Now let us again speak of the apostates. Apostates seem to be the
greatest mediums in Spiritualism, where they have neither order,
church, nor Priesthood. These apostates, generally, had fallen
into the idea that Jesus, and the apostles and prophets of
ancient times, were living in barbarous ages, far behind the
civilization of our day, but that they were called upon to open
up a wonderful dispensation, and to reveal light far superior to
that which had ever been revealed by any prophet who ever lived
on the earth. This seems to have been the general idea of those
apostates called mediums. I do not know but I am taking up too
much time, but I must now come a little nearer home.
72
You have no doubt heard and reflected upon what is termed a very
great and wonderful "movement"--something that is going to build
up Zion in purity, taking place in our midst. The "movement" was
commenced by a few individuals who had been cut off by the
highest authority of the church and kingdom of God, and expelled
because of teaching and publishing things contrary to the order
of this Church. Now what do you suppose is the real foundation on
which these few individuals are working? I will tell you, and
what I tell you, I will tell you as a person that has heard from
their own mouths; I would much rather have it from their own
mouths than from a second-hand source. I have seen Messrs. W. S.
Bodge and E. L. T. Harrison once since they were cut off from the
Church. I went to see Mr. Godbe, but he was not at home. I was
invited to take a seat in the presence of Mr. E. L. T. Harrison,
and heard him, for an hour or two, relate his spiritual
manifestations. Mr. Godbe, hearing that I had been to see him,
sent me a letter requesting me to meet again with them. I met
with him in a private room, separate from any of the rest, and I
had a long conversation with him. My object in meeting with these
gentlemen was to see if it were possible to point out to them
their foolishness and the foolishness of their conduct and the
course they were taking, what it would lead to and how much
misery it would make them in time to come if they did not repent.
I did not know, before going to see them, that they were so fully
wrapt up in Spiritualism, or what I term Spiritualism, for it is
a good species of this same kind of Spiritualism of which I have
been speaking. They both, separately, one on one evening, the
other on another, related to me their supernatural
manifestations, commencing some fifteen months before. They told
me they had had interviews, by hearing a voice without seeing any
person, with Heber C. Kimball, who taught them a great many
things which, according to my ideas, conflicted with the
instructions contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, such as
sending men on missions, etc. The tenor of the instructions he
received on this subject was that no person, when called on a
mission, need go unless he got the light of the Spirit thereon in
his own heart, to tell him whether it was right that he should
go; in other words they need not go because of being appointed by
the voice of the Priesthood or the general Conference of the
Latter-day Saints. Now, who does not know, except those who are
infatuated and overcome by false spirits, that that is directly
in opposition to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants? The Lord
says there, "Whomsoever you shall lay your hands upon and ordain
and send forth will be with them and bless them; I will go before
their faces and will be on their rearward, and my Spirit shall be
in their hearts." It is not, therefore, for every man, when he is
commanded by the voice of the Priesthood, to think he is to be
his own judge whether he is to go forth on that calling or not
and still remain in fellowship. That is not the way of Heaven,
for the Lord says in the same book that "all things"--remember
this is very broad in its nature--"all things shall be done by
the voice of my servants whom I have appointed, pertaining to the
calling and missions of the Priesthood;" and all things
pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God are to be
done in this way. Now these spirits have taught them directly to
the contrary of this. They named over to me other individuals who
came to them. They said that Joseph Smith came to them; that
Peter, James and John came to them; they also said that Jesus,
himself, came to them, and that Solomon came to them, and he was
rather against the idea, recorded in the Book of Mormon, about
his concubines; he said he never had any concubines, but that all
his women, so far as he understood the subject, were wives. This
repudiates not only the Book of Mormon but the Scriptures also,
for in the latter we are told that he had seven hundred wives and
three hundred concubines. The Book of Mormon does not number the
concubines and wives that he had; but the record, contained
there, seemed to touch the feelings of the old gentleman, and he
desired to get out of it and to explain the matter. He said the
things contained in the Book of Mormon and Scriptures were not to
be received just as they were spoken, and that he felt himself
justified in contradicting that saying of Jacob in the Book of
Mormon. So much for Solomon's visit.
73
They also said that James, in connection with Peter and John,
gave them many instructions, which Mr. Godbe read to me; he also
read to me many instructions purporting to have come from Heber
C. Kimball and Joseph Smith, and he told me there was great deal
more that they did not let me see. Probably I was not strong
enough in the faith to see it. These statements were made to me
in the most perfect plainness. I told them, "I do not believe in
the truthfulness of your manifestations. I believe you have had
manifestations, just as you say, but I do not believe that Peter,
James, John, Solomon, Joseph Smith, Heber Kimball or Jesus has
been to you. I do not believe one of them has been to you, it is
the devil, just the same as he has manifested himself in the
world." "Oh," said they, "here is the difference between us and
them: we believe in the Priesthood; we believe in plurality of
wives; we believe in the order of the Church," and so on. Said I,
"Don't you know that the devil would be very foolish, if he
wished to lead astray men who had been in this Church, who had
been taught for years to believe the principles you believe in,
if he should undertake to lead them astray by telling them there
was no truth in all these things? The devil can adapt himself to
the belief of any person. If you believed in plurality he would
make you think it was all right. If he could get you to swallow
down one or two great lies that would effect your destruction,
and which you would preach and destroy many others, he would not
mind how many truths you might believe. He would be willing that
you should believe a great many things absolutely true if he
could only deceive you and lead you astray and get you to reject
some of the fundamental principles of your salvation, and the
salvation of the people." "But O," said they, "how happy we feel!
We do not feel any animosity to anyone; no anger in our bosoms.
We love the President and his council; we love the Twelve and the
whole Church."
73
"Now," said I, "supposing, for argument's sake, that you really
believe these manifestations were from God, but that the
personages calling themselves Peter, James, John, Joseph, Jesus,
Heber C. Kimball were not those personages at all, so long as
your faith was fixed that they were what they represented
themselves to be, what would be your feelings about it? You would
die for it, just the same as the Pagans will do for their idol
worship; just the same as thousands have done among the false
sects of Christendom in ages past. They were sincere, they had
joy in their works, but by and by, as the Book of Mormon says,
'the end comes and they are hewn down and cast into the fire.'"
74
So those men have joy in their works; they are as happy as happy
can be, apparently, because they believe in these simple,
foolish, vain, false spirits that have taken advantage of them to
lead them astray. Said I, "The true reason that I do not believe
in any of your manifestations is, that your 'manifesto,' that you
have published and sent forth among the people, contains things
so absolutely in opposition to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
that I know no good angel or spirit ever revealed them to you."
Mr. Godbe wanted to know in what respects. I pointed out a number
of things where they come out in opposition to that book. In
order to get around this he told me that the spirits had
manifested that it (the Book of doctrine and Covenants) was not
to be relied upon in the fullest sense of the word, in our
present state of light and knowledge; that those revelations and
commandments were given in our weakness; but that God had greater
light to give us now, hence we must not take them exactly as they
are.
74
I referred to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, in opposition
to their "manifesto," to show how the Lord and His Priesthood
were to govern and control in temporal as well as in spiritual
things; "but," said I, "your spirits teach that they must only
teach the spiritual things, and have no business to assume
control in temporal concerns, but let every man follow the bent
of his own mind." "This," said I, "proves to me that your spirits
never came from God." I was very gentle with them; did not
express myself harshly, but in a plain and pointed manner.
74
I have taken up this subject, of false and true spiritual
manifestations, and laid it before this congregation on the spur
of the moment. I inquired of brother Brigham, as I came on the
stand, on what subject I should speak, and he said, "Every spirit
that confesses that Jesus is the Christ is of God, and every
spirit that does not confess this is not of God." The nature of
these spirits, in their manifestations, is to lessen the power
and authority of the great Redeemer, as our God and the Lord of
this creation. You go among the Spiritualists abroad and you can
scarcely find one individual that will acknowledge the power,
glory and greatness of our Redeemer. So it is with those who
manifest themselves here. They dare not come out all at once;
but, as I told them, "You are so infatuated, so led astray by
these false manifestations, and you believe them so firmly, I see
no possible hope for your recovery, until, perhaps, at some
future time the revelations that you will get may be so absurd as
to stagger your own faith; then you may go into infidelity."
74
I expect this. I find that this is the case with these
manifestations abroad. The mediums will work at them for a
season, but they find so many absurdities and contradictions,
that they finally relinquish them, and turn to infidelity, and
say, "There is no truth in anything."
74
Pardon me for speaking so plain. I did not pledge myself when
Messrs. Harrison and Godbe spoke to me about their manifestations
that I would hold my peace. I told them I had spoken very
pointedly against their principles, and I intended to do so in
the future, believing, with all my heart, and know that they were
not from Heaven.
74
Did they see any of these personages? Both of them say they saw
none of them; it was merely a voice that they heard. They
pretended to have seen a light when Jesus came; after he had
talked a little while they say they saw a little light, but no
personage.
74
How very different were the manifestations I have laid before
you, when Jesus ministered to Joseph Smith, and when the angels
came to him! He not only heard their voices but saw their persons
and their glory, and how they were dressed; and he was inspired
to build up the kingdom of God and bring forth the records of the
Book of Mormon. How very different from this is this covering
themselves up in the dark to deceive! The whole spirit world in
the lower orders is full of deception, and unless you have
something to detect and understand the true from the false you
are liable to be led astray and destroyed.
75
I do not know that I need say anything further about these two
powers, only that all evil powers will go to their own place;
and, unless these men repent, the same being that has power over
them here in the flesh will hold them in captivity in the next
world; unless they repent, the same being who gives them
revelation here will hold the mastery over them there, and will
control them; and if they do not find a dictating and controling
power in the Priesthood, they will find it among those beings to
whom they have yielded themselves subject to obey; and so will
every other person that yields to false influences: they will be
overcome and Satan will destroy them, unless they repent. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, December 10th, 1868
Brigham Young, December 10th, 1868
SYNOPSIS OF REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
At the Funeral of the late President Daniel Spencer, on Thursday,
December 10th, 1868, at the 13th Ward Assembly Rooms,
Great Salt Lake City.
75
"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord: yea, saith the
spirit, henceforth they rest from their labors;" or, in other
words, blessed are those who have received the Priesthood of the
Son of God, and have honored it in their lives. Those who have
honored their calling and Priesthood to the end die in the Lord,
and their words do follow them. Our brother has lived faithful
during his life, and has gone to his rest. We do not mourn as
others do. We can truly say that we have a hope--a knowledge. The
way of life and salvation has been revealed to us, giving us
knowledge of the present and future. We rejoice. Shall we rejoice
that we have the opportunity of paying the last respects due to
this lifeless clay, which a few days ago was alive and active,
full of spirit, attending the High Council, giving decisions full
of knowledge? Yes, we will rejoice. It is a matter of rejoicing
more than the day of his birth. It is true it is grievous to part
with our friends. We are creatures of passion, of sympathy, of
love, and it is painful for us to part with our friends. We would
keep them in the mortal house, though they should suffer pain.
Are we not selfish in this? Should we not rather rejoice at the
departure of those whose lives have been devoted to doing good,
to a good old age? Brother Spencer has lived beyond what is
counted to be the common age of man some four or five years; his
judgment was as active as it was twenty-five years ago. He has
been faithful in this holy war. He instructed all with whom he
met in the way of life. He never gave counsel but what marked the
way to life everlasting.
76
I say to the wives and children and relations, we have more
reason to rejoice for Daniel Spencer to-day, than on any day of
his mortal life. He lives--he has gone on a mission. We are
taking steps to the very place he has gone to. That which was
made subject to sin through the fall, has fled to its eternal
place. This is only a mystery to those who do not understand. But
we have joy in the dissolution of the body. While the spirit
remains in the body, it is liable to sin and overthrow. We are
only preserved by the grace of God and our own faithfulness.
Brother Spencer was, while in the body, subject to temptations
and the vanities that are in the world. So with us. That silent
clay is consigned to rest, and the spirit is free--gone to God
who gave it. How far had he to go to get to the Lord? According
to the ancients, he is dwelling there. David says, "If I were to
flee to the uttermost parts of the earth, thou art there." God is
everywhere by His Spirit, and his spirit is free--it can see the
Lord as well in this room as to travel millions of miles away. If
he is watching us now, he has not the privilege of speaking to
us. God has placed the spirits of the departed subject to bounds,
and they are controlled by certain laws. They have not the
privilege of joining with us in our mental exercises; yet brother
Spencer is in the presence of the Lord. Shall we be in the
presence of God, as brother Spencer is? Yes, if we are faithful,
for we have the privilege of being crowned with immortality and
eternal lives. All people have their guardian angels. Whether our
departed dead guard us is not for me to say. I can say we have
our guardian angels.
76
I say to the family of brother Spencer, there is no cause to
mourn. This body is sown in mortality. This tabernacle is from
the elements of the earth. We are of the earth, earthy, yet this
tabernacle, through faithfulness whilst here in the flesh, has
the promise of a glorious resurrection. If the spirit brought
into subjection the whole man, bringing every portion of the
flesh subject to the law of God, it has the promise of a
resurrection. All the component parts of this body, which now
lies before us, will be resurrected, and be prepared to enter
into the presence of the Father and the Son. Some have supposed
that it matters not what particles we receive again. In this they
are mistaken. The parts which have been honored by the
faithfulness of the spirit in this life will be joined in the
life to come.
76
It has been the idea of many that the spirit goes directly to God
who gave it. Does it remain there? Go on the great battle-field
of the past, and if they could be seen the spirits of the slain
are hovering around their dust. They stay about this earth until
there is another call for them. The kingdom and place where
brother Spencer is called to dwell, he will be in. Every departed
spirit is subject to the laws that govern the spirit world. What
do we gain by being faithful to the Gospel of the Son of God? We
gain life and salvation. Salvation in this world and the world to
come. When they leave the body those spirits are free from the
power of the enemy. There are wicked men in the spirit world.
Millions of them will have the privilege of receiving the Gospel
in the spirit, that they may be judged according to men in the
flesh, and no doubt but many will reject the Gospel there. Jesus
went to preach to the spirits in prison. The faithful Elders who
leave this world will preach to the spirits in the spirit world.
In that world there are millions and millions to every Elder who
leaves here, and yet every spirit will be preached to that has
had a tabernacle on the earth and become accountable.
77
This is the plan of salvation. Jesus will never cease his work
until all are brought up to the enjoyment of a kingdom in the
mansions of his Father, where there are many kingdoms and many
glories, to suit the works and faithfulness of all men that have
lived on the earth. Some will obey the celestial law and receive
of its glory, some will abide the terrestrial and some the
telestial, and others will receive a glory. Our brother is living
to-day, and is bright with intelligence to preach the Gospel in
the spirit world. We know where his remains are. They are here.
But where is his spirit? He is in the line of his duty, and
prepared to do more good than if he were upon the earth. As
quickly as the spirit is unlocked from this house of clay, it is
free to travel with lightning speed to any planet, or fixed star,
or to the uttermost part of the earth, or to the depths of the
sea, according to the will of Him who dictates. Every faithful
man's labor will continue as long as the labor of Jesus, until
all things are redeemed that can be redeemed, and presented to
the Father. There is a great work before us. We plant the seed in
the ground and it comes forth, being warmed by the sun and
nourished by the earth. By the same great laws of God the earth
and its fullness have been produced, giving various degrees of
intelligence. The Lord is raising a crop, and He will continue to
labor until the work is finished.
77
May we all be faithful as brother Spencer was. I say to his
family, God bless you. You have cause to rejoice. In 1840 he was
ready to go into the grave with consumption, but he embraced the
Gospel, health was restored to him, and he has lived to a good
old age and has done a good work. May God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Albert Smith, June 20, 1869
George Albert Smith, June 20, 1869
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE A. SMITH,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, June 20, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
78
When Joseph Smith was about 15 years old there was, in the
western part of the State of New York, a considerable excitement
upon the subject of religion. The various denominations in that
part of the country were stirred up with a spirit of revival.
They held protracted meetings and many were converted. At the end
of this excitement a scramble ensued as to which of the
denominations should have the proselytes. Of the family of Joseph
Smith, his mother, his brothers Hyrum and Samuel, and sister
Sophronia, became members of the Presbyterian Church. Joseph
reflected much upon the subject of religion, and was astonished
at the ill-feeling that seemed to have grown out of the division
of the spoils, if we may so use the term, at the close of the
reformation. He spent much time in prayer and reflection and in
seeking the Lord. He was led to pray upon the subject in
consequence of the declaration of the Apostle James: "If any of
you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men
liberally and upbraideth not." [James, 1st chap., 5th verse.] He
sought the Lord by day and by night, and was enlightened by the
vision of an holy angel. When this personage appeared to him, one
of his first inquiries was, "Which of the denominations of
Christians in the vicinity was right?" He was told they had all
gone astray, they had wandered into darkness, and that God was
about to restore the Gospel in its simplicity and purity to the
earth; he was, consequently, directed not to join any one of
them, but to be humble and seek the Lord with all his heart, and
that from time to time he should be taught and instructed in
relation to the right way to serve the Lord.
78
These visions continued from time to time, and in 1830 he
published to the world the translation of the book now known as
the "Book of Mormon," and on the 6th of April of that year,
having received the authority by special revelation, organized
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was
composed of six members--namely, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery,
Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, jun., Samuel H. Smith and David
Whitmer.
78
The family of Joseph Smith were in moderate circumstances. They
were very industrious, and had held a respectable position in
society; but on this occasion the tongue of slander was pointed
at them, and very soon after the organization of the Church,
vexatious lawsuits were commenced, and Joseph was arrested and
taken before a magistrate and dismissed. He was again arrested
and taken to an adjoining county and treated contemptuously, spit
upon and insulted in various other ways. His case was
investigated and he was again dismissed. This time the mob
resolved to treat him to a coat of tar and feathers, from which,
however, he was shielded by the officers in whose custody he had
been held. It was looked upon, by many in those days, as a
species of fun to treat Joseph Smith or the Elders of the Church,
wherever they went, in a contemptuous manner. The pulpit and the
press almost invariably joined in the outcry against the new
Church, and the predictions were that in a few days it would be
annihilated.
79
After a few months a Conference was organized and missionaries
started towards the West, Joseph having been commanded, by
revelation from the Lord, to establish a gathering place near the
western boundary of Missouri. He accordingly sent missionaries in
that direction, among whom were Oliver Cowdery and Parley P.
Pratt. On their way across the State of Ohio they visited a
society known as the Campbellites, led by Sidney Rigdon. They
preached to them and baptized Rigdon and about a hundred members
of his church, many of whom, and their children, are citizens of
this Territory to-day. After this they continued their journey
westward to Independence, in the vicinity of Jackson county. Soon
after this the Saints who were scattered in various parts of
Western New York removed, part to Missouri and part to Kirtland,
in Geauga, now Lake, county, Ohio, where they founded a city and
built a Temple. In Jackson county, Missouri, they purchased land,
built mills, established a printing office, the first one that
was established in the western part of the State of Missouri, and
opened an extensive mercantile house. They introduced the culture
of wheat and many other kinds of grain, for the inhabitants of
that locality were principally new settlers, and they cultivated
chiefly Indian corn. The Saints also commenced the culture of
fruit, and although they came there with little means, the heads
of families were generally able to buy from forty acres to a
section of land, and in a few months, by their untiring industry,
they began to prosper and flourish in a manner almost
astonishing.
79
In about two years, however, they met with opposition; a mob
assembled and tore down their printing office, broke open their
mercantile house, scattered their goods to the four winds. They
also seized their Bishop and presiding Elders, and inflicted upon
them personal abuse, such as whipping, and daubing them with tar
and feathers, while others were mutilated and killed, which
finally resulted, in the month of November, 1833, in the
expulsion from the county of Jackson of about fifteen hundred
people; about three hundred of their houses were burned to ashes.
79
During the period of the residence of the Saints in this county
there had never been a lawsuit of any description instituted
against any of them; if there had been any violation of law
amongst them, there were ample means to have had the law
enforced, because the officers, both civil and military, were not
of their faith. But the real facts of the case were, the Saints
were regarded as fanatics; and one of the main points in a
declaration published against them was, that they "blasphemously
professed to heal the sick with holy oil." In accordance with the
instructions of St. James, contained in his epistle, 5th chap.
and 14th verse, it has ever been a practice in the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from its organization, when any
are sick among them, to send for the Elders of the Church to
anoint such with oil and pray for them, believing the Apostle
James, "that the prayer of faith will save the sick." This item
of faith is still practiced in all the branches of the Church,
and thousands and tens of thousands bear testimony at the present
time of the miraculous healings that have been effected by the
power of God through these administrations. Yet at that period it
was made a crime, and was one of the principal charges on which
the Latter-day Saints were expelled from Jackson county.
79
From this county the Saints were driven to Clay county, and most
of them remained there about three years, during which time they
performed a great amount of labor for the people of Clay county,
for the inhabitants were mostly new settlers who possessed
nothing seemingly in the way of property save Indian corn, hogs
and cattle. They hired the Saints to labor, who made brick, built
fine houses, and enlarged their farms, erected mills, and, in
fact, acquired considerable property by industry in laboring for
the people in Clay county. The mob of Jackson county endeavored
to stir up the people of Clay against the Saints, which
culminated in a request on the part of the people of Clay that
the Latter-day Saints would leave. They accordingly hunted out a
new county without inhabitants and almost without timber, called
Caldwell county, and moved into it, purchasing land and occupying
it, of which they were the sole inhabitants. They also spread out
into the adjoining new counties, on to the unoccupied land, and
purchased and improved it.
80
From the best of my recollection the Latter-day Saints paid the
United States Government some $318,000 for land in the State of
Missouri, but yet, in the winter and early spring of 1839, they
were expelled from that State, with the entire loss of their
lands and improvements and most of their personal property, under
an exterminating order from Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of that
State, requiring them to leave under pain of extermination. But
they were told that any of them who would renounce their religion
would be permitted to stay. The result was that about fifteen
thousand persons were expelled from Missouri and their property,
to most of which they still hold the titles; and when the day
arrives that the Constitution of the United States becomes
absolutely the supreme law of the land, so that all men can be
protected in their civil and religious rights, they and their
children will go back and enjoy their cherished homes in the
State of Missouri.
80
After leaving Missouri they located themselves in the State of
Illinois. There was a town known as Commerce--noted for being
unhealthy. The location was very beautiful, but the place was
surrounded with swamp lands to a considerable extent. Attempts
had been made to settle it, but there were a great many graves in
the burying ground, and but very few living people in the
vicinity. The Saints went there and purchased property. They
drained the swamps and cleaned them out, and converted the whole
vicinity into gardens, and continued to improve and enlarge the
place until February, 1846. The commencement of the settlement in
Commerce, Hancock county, Illinois, was in the summer of 1839.
80
June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Prophet and Patriarch
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were murdered
in Carthage jail, in Hancock county, Illinois, while under the
pledge of the Governor, Thos. Ford, who had plighted the faith of
the State, at the time of their arrest, that they should be
protected from mob violence, and have a fair trial in the
lawfully constituted courts of the State. They were confined in
jail on a trumped up charge of treason upon the affidavit of a
drunken vagabond. They were murdered by about 150 persons with
blackened faces, some of them persons of high position in
society. I will here say that in all these transactions--I refer
to the outrages committed by the mobs on the Latter-day
Saints--there never was a single instance of the guilty parties
being brought to justice under the laws of the State where the
occurrence transpired.
80
The city of Nauvoo and vicinity had probably about 20,000
inhabitants. They were remarkable for their industry, and the
city was conspicuous for peace, quietness and good order, and for
the rapid manner in which improvements had been made. They
continued to build up the city though they were constantly
harassed by mob violence, and warned from time to time that they
should be driven away. They finished the Temple, which was one of
the most beautiful structures in the Western States, and
dedicated it unto the Lord. They were progressing with other
large buildings, establishing factories and making many
improvements, when the efforts of mobocracy culminated in their
expulsion from their beautiful city and Temple.
80
That they might not act hastily nor unadvisedly, a committee of
Latter-day Saints prepared a petition and sent it to the Governor
of every State in the Union, except the Governor of Missouri, and
also to the President of the United States, asking them for an
asylum, and to afford them that protection which was extended to
other religious bodies. All the States, except one, treated their
application with silence. Governor Drew, of Arkansas, wrote them
a respectful letter, in which he advised them to seek a home in
Oregon.
81
Previous to the death of Joseph Smith, he had selected
twenty-five men--most of whom now reside here--to explore the
Rocky Mountains, with the view of finding a place where they
could make a location that would be out of the range and beyond
the influence of mobs, where they could enjoy the rights
guaranteed to them by the Constitution of our common country. The
premature death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, however, prevented
their departure; the result was that, during the year 1845, it
devolved upon the Twelve to carry out this design. But in the
course of that year the mob broke upon them with more than their
usual fury. They commenced by burning the farm-houses in the
vicinity of Lima; they burned 175 houses without the least
resistance on the part of the inhabitants. The sheriff of Hancock
county issued orders for the "citizens who were not Mormons" to
turn out and stop the burning; but none obeyed his order. He then
issued a proclamation calling upon all, irrespective of sect or
party, to turn out and stop the burning. The burning was
accordingly stopped, but there was a general outcry against the
"Mormons," and immediately nine counties assembled in convention
and passed a decree that the "Mormons" should leave the State.
Governor Ford said it was impossible to protect the people of
Nauvoo. The Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, Gen. John J. Hardin and
several other gentlemen repaired thither and made a kind of a
treaty with them, in which it was agreed that mob violence and
vexatious lawsuits were to cease on condition that the people of
Nauvoo would leave the State, and that they would assist the
Saints in the disposal of their property. It was also agreed that
if a majority would leave, the remainder should be permitted to
remain until they, by the sale of their property, were able to
get away. The Saints then organized themselves into companies of
a hundred families each, and established wagon shops for every
fifty. They took the green timber out of the woods and boiled it
in brine and made it into wagons. Their supply of iron was very
limited, but with what little means they could control they
purchased iron, and exhausted the supply of all the towns on the
upper Mississippi, and made up the deficiency with raw hide and
hickory withes.
82
On the 6th of February, 1846, the Saints commenced crossing the
river. They crossed first on flat boats; but in a few days the
river closed up and something like a thousand wagons crossed over
on the ice, moving out west into the sparsely settled district on
the eastern borders of Iowa; the settlements extending back from
fifty to seventy miles. From that point it was a wilderness
without roads, bridges, or improvements of any kind. They moved
off, however, into this wilderness country in winter, and
continued through the spring amid the most terrific storms and
suffering from cold and exposure. In their progress to Council
Bluffs they bridged thirty or forty streams, among which were the
Locust and Medicine rivers, the three forks of the Grand River,
the Little Platte, the One Hundred-and-Two, the Nodaway, Big
Tarkeo, and the Nishnabatona. Bridging these streams,
constructing roads, and breaking and enclosing three large farms
required immense labor, which was done for the benefit and
sustenance of those who would follow. In consequence of this and
the inclemency of the weather they did not arrive at Council
Bluffs on the Missouri river until late in June. The wagons and
tents were numbered by thousands. The camps were spread out on
the prairie for three hundred miles, moving in companies of tens,
fifties, and hundreds.
82
While the advance companies were crossing the Missouri, they, on
the 1st of July, were called upon by Captain James Allen, of the
United States army, who was the bearer of an order for the
enrollment of five hundred volunteers. They could ill be spared
in their condition, but the number was made up in a few days and
they proceeded on their journey to Fort Leavenworth and thence by
way of Santa Fe to California, where they, among a number of our
countrymen, were instrumental in adding this large domain to the
United States.
82
The families of the volunteers who formed the battalion, being
thus left without protectors, entailed much additional
responsibility and labor upon those left behind, and rendered it
impossible for the companies to proceed to the Rocky Mountains
that season. They encamped at Winter Quarters, the place now
called Florence, in the Omaha country, where they built 700 log
cabins and 150 caves or dug-outs, in which a great number of the
people resided through the winter. Some two thousand wagons were
scattered about in the Pottawattamie country, on the east side of
the Missouri--a country then uninhabited except by
Indians--which, by a treaty of purchase, came into the possession
of the United States the ensuing spring.
82
The winter of 1846-7 was one of great suffering among the people.
They had been deprived of vegetable food; their diet, to a great
extent, had consisted of corn meal and pork, which they had
purchased from the Missourians, in exchange for clothing, beds,
jewellery, or any other property that would sell. Yet they had
sold comparatively none of their real estate and valuable
property; in fact, most of the land remains unsold to this day.
Under these circumstances the people suffered a great deal from
scurvy; the exposure they had undergone also brought on fever and
ague, hence their stay in Winter Quarters and the region round
about is a memorable period in their history, from the
sufferings, difficulties, and privations with which they had to
contend. However, they made the necessary preparations for their
departure, and in the spring of 1847--early in April, 143
pioneers, led by Brigham Young, started to explore and make a
road to the Great Salt Lake Basin.
82
There was not a spear of grass that their animals could obtain
for the first two hundred miles of the journey, and they had to
feed them on the cotton-woods that grew on the banks of the
Platte river and other small streams. In this manner the pioneers
worked their way, making the road as they went along. They
travelled on the north side of the Platte, where no road had been
before until they reached Laramie; they then crossed the North
Fork and took the old trappers' trail and travelled on it over
three hundred miles building ferry boats on North Platte and
Green rivers, and then constructed a road over the mountains to
this place.
82
During this journey they looked out a route where they were
satisfied a railroad could be built, and were just as zealous in
their feelings that a railroad would follow their track as we are
to-day.
83
They arrived here on the 24th of July, 1847. They had some
potatoes which they had brought from Missouri; they planted them
not far from where the City Hall now stands. In a few days after
their arrival the Mississippi Company, which had wintered on the
Arkansas river, a few of the sick and some families left by the
Mormon Battalion, being unable to proceed with them to the
Pacific--numbering altogether about 150--arrived here. They then
began to feel that they were quite a populous settlement, as they
counted in the neighborhood of some four hundred persons. They
laid out this Temple Block, and dedicated it to the Lord. It
really was one of the most barren spots they ever saw. However,
they asked the Lord to bless the land and make it fruitful. They
built a dam and made irrigation ditches. Some of their number
lacked faith under those trying circumstances, and subsequently
turned away and went to other parts of the world.
83
That fall--the fall of 1847--there came in here 680 wagons loaded
with families. They built the fort commenced by the pioneers on
the land, a portion of which is now occupied by A. O. Smoot in
the 6th Ward of this city, the whole only covering about thirty
acres. They dwelt in this contracted space that no temptation
should be presented to the Indians to commit depredations.
83
During the winter they prepared a systematic plan for the
irrigation of the land, for they knew nothing about it
previously. They were compelled to ration out their food in small
allowances, for they had no way to get more until it grew, and it
required a great deal of faith on the part of the people to
remain here and run the risk of procuring supplies from the
earth. In the winter one or two hundred of the brethren from the
West arrived almost without provisions, having been discharged
from the Mormon Battalion without rations or transportation to
the place of their enlistment. They explored a new route from
California. Some of them passed on to their families in Winter
Quarters, suffering much for the want of provisions by the way.
Many of them remained here, using as food everything that
possibly could be used. The Saints divided with the battalion
their scanty allowance of food. During the next spring many
hundred acres of land were planted. There was, however, a pest
here that they had never seen anywhere else. After the nursery of
twenty thousand fruit trees had come up and the fields were green
and there was a good prospect of grain being raised, there came
down from the mountains myriads of large black crickets, and they
were awfully hungry. The nurseryman went home to dinner, and when
he returned he found only three trees left; the crickets had
devoured them. The brethren contended with them until they were
utterly tired out, then calling on the Lord for help were ready
to give up the contest, when just at that time there came over
from the Salt Lake large flocks of gulls, which destroyed the
crickets. They would eat them until they were perfectly gorged,
and would then disgorge, vomiting them up, and again go to and
eat, and so they continued until the crickets had entirely
disappeared, and thus by the blessing of God the colony was
saved. I believe the crickets have never been a pest in this
vicinity to any serious extent since. This we regard as a special
providence of the Almighty.
84
The early settlers did not know how to irrigate the crops
properly and the result was that their wheat, the first year, was
most of it very short, so short that it had to be pulled up by
the roots; but singularly enough there was considerable grain in
the ear, and they raised enough to encourage them to persevere in
their experiments, for their labors were only experiments at that
early day and also enabled them to diffuse information on the
subject, which proved of general benefit. This location is so
high in the mountains, the latitude about 41° and the altitude so
great that nearly every one thought it was impossible to raise
fruit, but some continued to plant. In the second year of their
arrival here their settlement was increased by nearly a thousand
wagons from the East and a few from the West. The third year the
immigration continued. In 1849 a handsome sum of money was
contributed as a foundation for the Perpetual Emigration Fund,
and Bishop Edward Hunter went East to aid those to emigrate who
could not do so by their own means. While the Saints were
surrounded by their enemies on every hand in Illinois, they
entered into a solemn covenant within the walls of the Temple at
Nauvoo that they would exert themselves to the extent of their
influence and property to aid every Latter-day Saint that desired
to gather to the mountains. This covenant they did not forget,
and the very moment they began to gather a little surplus they
commenced to use it to aid their brethren and sisters left
behind. At first they purchased, in the East, cattle and wagons
necessary to bring the emigrants here; but in a few years they
raised cattle here, and sent their teams to the Missouri river
year after year, sometimes two hundred and sometimes three
hundred, and they have sent as many as five hundred teams, for
several successive seasons--a team being four yoke of oxen (or
their equivalent in horses and mules), a wagon, a teamster, also
the necessary officers and night guard for each company of fifty
wagons. In this way they continued to bring their brethren not
only from every part of the United States, but also from Europe,
Asia, Africa, and Australasia. This system of emigration is
continued up to the present time, and has resulted in bringing
many of the Saints together, and has materially increased the
population of Utah.
85
In the early settlement of the Territory, the Latter-day Saints
had other obstacles to contend with besides those already
referred to. In 1849, and for several years after, a considerable
number of men passed through here on their way to the gold mines
in California. Numbers of them would have perished had it not
been for the provisions and supplies unexpectedly obtained here.
They knew not how to outfit themselves for such a journey, and
were unwilling to abide the restraints of organization necessary
for their own preservation on the Plains. Hence they wore out
their teams and quarreled with each other, and arrived here in
ever conceivable stage of destitution. Upon their arrival here
they were treated as friends, employed, and furnished with the
necessary outfit as far it could be obtained. I may say that tens
of thousands received the assistance necessary to enable them to
proceed to California to realize, if possible, their visions of
gold. While the Latter-day Saints were pursuing this course, they
too were tempted with a spirit of going to the gold mines. The
counsel given to the brethren by President Young was to stay at
home, make their farms, cultivate the earth, build houses, and
plant gardens and orchards. But many preferred to go to the
mines, and they went; but I believe that in every instance those
who went returned, not having made as much as if they had
followed the counsel given. There was this difference: the men
who went to California could dig a hole and take a little gold
out of it; but after a time the supply of gold would be
exhausted, and then, after paying their expenses, the most of
them had nothing left but a hole in the ground; but the men who
went to work here on their five or ten acre lots, or even on
their city lots of an acre and a quarter, in the course of a year
or two had a snug little home. The result was that those who
remained at home and diligently attended to agricultural pursuits
were the most successful.
85
But among the strangers travelling through the Territory to the
mines were many men of desperate character, and they would cause
trouble by killing Indians near the settlements. One difficulty
occurred here in the north--a band of men from Missouri shot some
squaws who were riding on horseback, and took their horses; in
revenge for this the Indians made an attack on our northern
settlements. Similar occurrences took place in the south. The
results was we were troubled with expensive Indian wars, caused
by the acts of men who would rather entail trouble upon us than
not. In consequence of outrages inflicted on the Indians, we were
under the necessity of keeping ourselves armed and having in our
midst a vigilant militia. In the year 1853 the inhabitants found
it necessary to encircle this city with a wall of earth, at a
cost of $34,000, which they did for the purpose of preventing the
Indians stealing their horses, and to enable the small police
force to protect the city from their depredations. From that
period the Indians have made very little inroad on the property
inside this city. There is, among the Indians in these mountains,
an innate principle to steal anything and everything that lies
unguarded in their way. When the number of horses, sheep, and
cattle, that the people throughout the Territory have raised, is
considered, the number stolen by the Indians is surprisingly
small. Yet some of the outside counties have suffered severely
and are suffering to-day from thieving bands from neighboring
Territories. In their intercourse with the Indians they have
acted on the principle that it is cheaper to feed them than to
fight them. In all cases they have treated them with the
strictest justice as far as possible, and have maintained their
relations with them in a manner truly astonishing.
86
We look around to-day and behold our city clothed with verdure
and beautified with trees and flowers, with streams of water
running in almost every direction, and the question is frequently
asked, "How did you ever find this place?" I answer, we were led
to it by the inspiration of God. After the death of Joseph Smith,
when it seemed as if every trouble and calamity had come upon the
Saints, Brigham Young, who was President of the Twelve, then the
presiding Quorum of the Church, sought the Lord to know what they
should do, and where they should lead the people for safety, and
while they were fasting and praying daily on this subject,
President Young had a vision of Joseph Smith, who showed him the
mountain that we now call Ensign Peak, immediately north of Salt
Lake City, and there was an ensign fell upon that peak, and
Joseph said, "Build under the point where the colors fall and you
will prosper and have peace." The Pioneers had no pilot or guide,
none among then had every been in the country or knew anything
about it. However, they travelled under the direction of
President Young until they reached this valley. When they entered
it President Young pointed to that peak, and said he, "I want to
go there." He went up to the point and said, "This is Ensign
Peak. Now, brethren, organize your exploring parties, so as to be
safe from Indians; go and explore where you will, and you will
come back every time and say this is the best place." They
accordingly started out exploring companies and visited what we
now call Cache, Malad, Tooele, and Utah valleys, and other parts
of the country in various directions, but all came back and
declared this was the best spot.
86
I have travelled somewhat extensively in the Territory, and I
bear my testimony this day, that this is the spot, and I feel
confident that the God of Heaven by His inspiration led our
Prophet right here. And it is the blessing of God upon the
untiring energy and industry of the people that has made this
once barren and sterile spot what it is to-day.
86
We have struggled with all our power and might to maintain that
morality and uprightness which pertain to the kingdom of God, and
to place all men and all women in that high position which God
designs them to occupy, and to prevent them being led astray by
the immoral tendencies which are abroad in the world; but while
doing so we have had to contend with obstacles of every kind. The
Latter-day Saints have built commodious school-houses in every
ward of the various cities and through all the settlements of the
Territory. They have done all they could to promote education,
but they have received no assistance from any source on earth.
Almost every newly settled country has received certain donations
in land and money to aid them in support of their schools, but in
this Territory we have never received a cent. The money that has
been expended for the furtherance of education in this Territory
has been by the voluntary will of the parents. Oregon received
donations in land to encourage its settlement, and persons who
made the earlier settlements were permitted to occupy 640 acres
of land, others who settled later 320, and subsequently 160, and
liberal donations of land were made available to promote the
cause of education. Utah has had no such encouragement. But it is
my opinion to-day that had Congress been as liberal with us as
with Oregon, and had given 640 or 320 acres of land to each, it
might have hindered our progress under the circumstances. Most of
our farmers cultivate from five to thirty acres of land, very few
of them cultivating forty; and it requires tolerably good Saints
not to quarrel about the water while irrigating in a dry time
even on small tracts of land close together; but how would it
have been if our agriculturists had each possessed 640 acres, or
even half or quarter of that, if they were compelled by law to
live upon and cultivate the same or forfeit it? Most of the water
would have been wasted by evaporation and soakage because of the
lengthy ditches which extensive cultivation would have rendered
necessary. I verily believe that if "Gentiles" lived here they
would fight and kill each other with their hoes in a dry time
over the water ditches.
86
The brethren will pardon me for devoting my time on the present
occasion to this brief sketch of the history of the Church and of
the Territory with which they are so well acquainted. In
consequence of there being so many friends and strangers present,
I felt inspired to give a little detail of the circumstances that
led us here, and of some of the incidents since our arrival in
this Territory.
87
I feel to bless God for the many privileges that we enjoy, and
among others that we are now permitted to buy our lands and
obtain a title to them. I feel thankful to the rulers of our
nation for showing a disposition to extend to us the privileges
which are enjoyed in this respect by our fellow-citizens in the
other territories.
87
As early as 1852 our Legislative Assembly memorialized Congress
for a national railway, which was subsequently endorsed by
immense mass meetings in this and other counties. We have done
all in our power to hurry it on. Many looked on it at the time,
and since, as if it were work for a hundred years; but the work
is completed, and men can come from the States in a few hours.
When I came here with my family, in 1849, I was one hundred and
five days driving oxen from the Missouri river across the Plains
to this place. Now a man can come with his family in a few days.
This is a great progress, thank the Lord for it.
87
We are still at work with all our power developing in the new
Territory everything that is useful for the sustenance of its
inhabitants, for the establishment of manufactures, the promotion
of agriculture, and everything that will tend to build up,
strengthen, and benefit mankind. I fully believe that there is no
one hundred thousand people in the United States who have done
more actual service for their country than we have; for what
benefits a nation is to take its worthless desert domain and
endow it with beauty and wealth, by the strong hands of a loyal
people.
87
May God help us to fill out our days with honor is my prayer, in
the name of Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, January 2, 1870
Brigham Young, January 2, 1870
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, January 2, 1870
(Reported by John Grimshaw.)
LATTER-DAY SAINT FAMILIES--PREACHING THE
GOSPEL--BUILDING UP THE KINGDOM.
87
After contemplating what you have been hearing, I want to say,
for the consolation of these my sisters before me, I give you my
word for it, if your children were counted and their number
compared with that of the children born in the healthy city of
Boston, that you do not lose three where they lose five; and I
think the ratio would not vary much from three to six. I want to
say this for the consolation of those sisters who live in Utah
and bear children.
88
As for what has been said here of our children and their state of
health and general appearance, and how they present themselves to
strangers and to friends, I am perfectly willing to compare ours
with any in the world; and if the result is not favorable to us,
I would be willing to part with them; but if the contrary be the
case, let us have theirs.
88
This revelation about our children came through Anna Dickinson.
When she came here I was not at home. She stayed here one day and
one night; I understood she was riding a good part of the night
with a stranger, for the benefit of her health I suppose. These
great statements about the children of Utah have come through the
great wisdom and experience of Anna Dickinson. How much does she
know about family affairs here? She stayed here at the Townsend
House, I suppose, nearly twelve hours. Did sister Townsend make
the statement which Anna Dickinson gives to the world? Anna may
say so, but I do not believe it. I will give you one specimen of
her knowledge with regard to the ladies of this city. In one of
her statements she says that Brigham Young will look after the
young ladies, and on becoming acquainted with them will find some
of them are his own daughters. Her researches in this community
were immense. But let me tell you she is hired by some lackeys to
lecture against "Mormonism" and the "Mormons." I say go ahead,
lecture away until you get into ----; and then continue your
lectures, and afterwards hire men to say this, that and the other
about this people; I do not know that it makes the least
difference to you and me. It matters not to us what the press
says, or what that judge or this officer, or what Congress says.
We are here in these mountains; the Lord has called and led us
here and sustained us and given us strength.
88
I know more about the rising generation than most of the people
who live in this city. I travel a great deal, and as I go into a
small town and see the children strung out a quarter of a mile, I
often say: "Have you borrowed these children? Where did you
borrow them from?" I am answered: "I guess we own them here." I
go to the next settlement and see another group, stretching
perhaps half a mile in length, ready to receive us with their
banners and flags and their merry greetings. I go to another and
see them by hundreds and thousands. Go through this Territory and
what do you see? That which you cannot find elsewhere on the face
of the earth with regard to children; not only in numbers, but in
intelligence, strength, power of mind and general scholastic
ability. Suppose some one says it is not so; does that make any
difference to us? No; not the least.
89
I have never feared but one thing in regard to the Latter-day
Saints in the persecutions they have received or that are in
prospect: and that is, that we shall come short of doing our
duty. It is only when we live short of our privileges, when we
neglect to serve our God and to do as we should do, and as the
Lord our God requires of us, that I have any apprehensions for
this people, and I have certainly seen just about as much with
regard to persecutions as any other man that lives in this
Church. Still, I never had but this one fear: Are the people
doing their duty? Are they neglecting their privileges or are
they living so as to have the Spirit of the Lord constantly in
their hearts? If we are right before the Lord, it is no matter
how we appear before the wicked. We are just as obnoxious now as
we can be. Why are we so? Is it because we have drunkenness in
our midst? No. Is it because we have houses of ill-fame? No. Is
it because we are a gambling people? No. Do we horse-race, bet,
drink, quarrel and go to law with one another from Monday morning
to Saturday night? No; nothing of this kind is claimed against
us. Then what is the matter with the Latter-day Saints? Our
enemies cry out, "Polygamy." It is a false idea. Very many of
them believe in polygamy down yonder East; I won't even except
the leaders of our country, only they believe it on the sly,
while we have our wives and acknowledge them. Anything that is
unlawful is swallowed by them. Anything that is in opposition to
the law of God goes down with them. Anything that tramples under
foot the ordinances of God is all right with them.
89
But we love our God, we honor His laws, we obey His precepts, and
we honor our father Abraham and perform his works. We should live
to the best of our ability in accordance with the revelations God
has given to us.
89
But why need the wisdom of the nation trouble itself about the
"Mormons?" The whole cry, according to the newspapers, is about
this people. Religious teachers, scribblers, public speakers and
everybody join in this murmur against the Latter-day Saints. Let
us keep the law of God and the laws of our country and preserve
ourselves in these mountains without much quarreling and
contention, and where is the great fault that can be found with
the Latter-day Saints? We observe the law of God and it makes us
one. It is the Priesthood they are opposed to. The wickedness of
the whole world is opposed to the Priesthood of the Son of God.
It was opposed to Jesus when he was here on the earth in the
flesh. It appears that the whole world of mankind was opposed to
the Gospel in the days of Noah. Who believe the sayings of Noah?
His family. Who else. Nobody. What was the result? Why, Noah kept
crying to the people for a hundred years that the Lord certainly
would avenge Himself upon the nations unless they repented. Who
believed the Gospel in the days of Enoch? A few, who gathered
together and built a city to the Lord. Who believes in the Gospel
now? Just a few. This Gospel is the Gospel of order and rule; it
is the law of God brought forth to the children of men, by which
they can save themselves by hearkening to its counsels. Who love
it? The righteous. Who hate it? The wicked.
89
We have been hearing about the Latter-day Saints preaching. I
think if our Elders were to go without purse or scrip and had
nothing to fall back upon, and could not write here for means,
but were obliged to take their valise in their hands and preach
the Gospel as we used to do, they would be much more successful
than they are and would find many more who would be willing to
listen to their testimonies. I used to travel without purse or
scrip, and many times I have walked till my feet were sore and
the blood would run in my shoes and out of them, and fill my
appointments--go into houses, ask for something to eat, sing and
talk to them, and when they would commence questioning, answer
them. Converse with them until they have given you what you want,
bless them, and, if they wish, pray with them, and then leave,
unless they wish you to stay longer. If you have an appointment,
and are obliged to go here and there on your mission, go like
Saints--humble before the Lord, full of faith and the power of
God, and you will find the honest in heart, for the Lord is going
to save a great many.
90
It is near twenty-five years since we left the confines of the
United States. Go back there and you will find hundreds, and
perhaps thousands, who are ready to receive the Gospel. Only
carry it to them as they are prepared to receive it. But while we
go and ride in our silver carriages, many never inquire into our
principles; they are looking for something else. The meek and
lowly Jesus sent his disciples without purse or scrip; and when
the honest in heart see our Elders go in the same manner that
Jesus' disciples did, with the doctrine that he delivered to his
disciples, and preach without purse or scrip, our Elders will
find plenty of honest-hearted persons who will receive their
testimony. But when the Elders go into the great cities, hire
large halls and hire carriages to ride to their pulpit in, the
people say it is a speculation, and such Elders do not have much
of the Spirit of the Lord to preach to the people.
90
Our Elders who are in the States will do us good; there is no
question about it. But they will do themselves and the people
good if they will go without purse or scrip. If they travel
without purse or scrip, when they land in the midst of a
community, or wherever they want to preach, and go into the
peoples' houses and talk with them, pray with them and sing with
them, teaching them the way of life and salvation, they will find
there are plenty who are willing to receive them. Many of the
Latter-day Saints go and say, "I am a 'Mormon' Elder, will you
take me in and give me shelter and feed me?" "No," says the owner
of the house, "get out of my house, I do not want any 'Mormons'
here." If you go and say, "I am a servant of God and want to
tarry over night," and sing and pray, you will find many honest
in heart ready and willing to receive you.
90
But here is the place to sanctify the people. They come here as
ignorant as babes; they do not know their first lesson. They
believed the sound of the Gospel. They have been baptized for the
remission of sins and have had hands laid upon them for the gift
of the Holy Ghost. But what do they know about the kingdom of
God? They are mere babes; they know nothing, and they come up
here to be instructed and to be taught how to live and walk
before the Lord and each other. When they come here they need
this teaching, and we are here to teach them; and the people are
improving.
90
Let any of you sisters get out into the world, where you used to
live, and what you used to see there will have quite another
aspect to you. It will appear quite different to your minds and
feelings. Learn how they feel towards His people; learn what is
the state of the world; and then look back upon the people of God
in these mountains, and you will see them lifted up and perceive
that they are pure in heart in comparison with the world, and are
striving with all their might and main to build up the kingdom of
God on the earth. You who are here do not understand it and
cannot see it, because all things are proved by their opposites.
Were it not for darkness, could you give any description of
light? Ask the individual who never saw light, and see if he can
give you any description of it. He cannot do so from actual
knowledge.
91
Those who come here find a pretty good people, but in their
estimation we should be just as holy as angels. We are pretty
good, and we are trying to be better; trying to devote ourselves
more and more to the building up of the kingdom of God; trying to
overcome our passions, subdue our tempers within us; trying to
sanctify ourselves, our children, our friends and families, and
seeking to become Saints in deed. The people are pretty good, and
if they were gathered together so that we could see the
difference between those who have been here for years and those
who have just come, you would understand the comparison brother
Kimball used to make of the clay that is thrown into the mill and
has been grinding for years and prepared to make vessels of honor
of; but in comes a batch of new clay, and you must grind again;
and when it is taken out of the mill it is cut to pieces to see
if there is anything in it that should not be. The impurities
that are in the clay may destroy the vessel. You will therefore
gather all out that should not be in it and throw it away. So it
is with the Saints. Some keep leaving and this renders the clay
purer and purer.
91
We talk a good deal about building up the kingdom of God upon the
earth, according to the knowledge and understanding we have in
regard to the kingdom of God; it requires several things to
constitute a kingdom. If there is a kingdom, there needs a king,
ruler or dictator; some one to govern and control the kingdom.
What else does it signify? It says, in language that cannot be
misunderstood, you must have subjects; if there is a kingdom
there must be a king and subjects; and there must be territory
for the subjects to live upon. Well, now, if we are in a kingdom,
do you think we are in a kingdom without law? No; the strictest
law ever given to mankind is the law of God. If we transgress the
law of God, we cannot be sent to the penitentiary, to stay a few
years in there; it is before the Lord, and He will judge
according to our works, and judge righteous judgment. We cannot
pay a fine of one dollar, five or five hundred and then be
forgiven; if persons neglect to obey the law of God and to walk
humbly before Him, darkness will come into their minds and they
will be left to believe that which is false and erroneous; their
minds will become dim, their eyes will be beclouded and they will
be unable to see things as they are. Why? Because they know not
the laws of God. There are a thousand ways by which persons can
lose the Spirit of God. They neglect their duties, fall away into
temptation and are overcome by Satan, the wicked one.
92
Among the sayings of Jesus there is a parable about a man who
went out to sow. He had good seed to sow in the field. Some of
it, however, fell upon stony ground and some among thorns. That
which was sown on stony ground came up very quickly, but it was
so tender that the rays of the sun were too powerful for it and
it dwindled away and died. It was so with this people; they are
not prepared for all that comes to them. In some instances the
word of God seems to be like seed cast upon stony ground. Some of
the seed was sown among thorns; but the cares of the world choked
it; and some was sown upon good ground where it took root firmly
and brought forth fruit, yielding "some thirty, some sixty, and
some a hundred fold." These are the ideas which Jesus brought
forth to show the people wherein they might fail, and the danger
of receiving the word unless they did so into good and honest
hearts. Look upon the inhabitants of the earth. Whenever any of
you go and preach the Gospel to them, they must acknowledge that
every iota of it is true. Truth, reason, judgment, teach them so.
The revelations the Lord has given teach it. Do they believe it?
Some will say they believe it. They receive the truth, but do
they receive the love of the truth? If persons receive the love
of truth and are faithful to the laws God gives to them, they
will make themselves the elect through their faithfulness; and
they will be the elect of God.
92
It was observed here this morning, in relation to the building up
of the kingdom of God, that many think they have the privilege of
doing just as they please. We have only the privilege to do
right. There is not an iota in the revelations, from Adam down to
the present day, but what requires strict obedience. They who
cannot abide a celestial law--the law that God has revealed for
the sanctification of His people to prepare them to enter into
the presence of the Father and the Son, should try and abide a
lesser law, but they must expect a lower glory, a secondary
glory. If they cannot abide the celestial law, and can abide a
lesser law, then they will receive the blessings of that law, and
whatever law they abide they will receive the blessings thereof.
The Lord has been pleased to reveal unto the people His law by
which they can be sanctified and return into His presence.
Latter-day Saints observe this law. What shall we say to them?
Teach them the law of God. How easy it is? Is it easy to be
understood! Yes, very easy; it can be summed up in these words:
Do right, love God and keep His commandments. Take the moral code
that the Lord has revealed and let it be strictly followed out;
and what man or woman would ever infringe upon the rights of his
or her neighbor? They would never do it; they would do good to
their neighbor all the day long. If we would observe the moral
law which God has given us, we would be honest with our neighbors
and ourselves; and every man and woman belonging to the kingdom
of God would speak truly and honestly. Would they be honest with
regard to their dealings? Yes. If we give our word, it should be
just as good as a bond that can be ensured and be made strong and
powerful by securities. Our word should be just as good as all
the words that can be spoken, or all the names that can be
written. If we write what we say, we will keep that word. Will we
oppress the widow and the fatherless? No. The hireling in his
wages? No; we will give them all that they can do or earn and
then a little more; and if any one comes to us that is poor, in
distress and in want, turn him not away empty handed. "Give to
him that asketh, and from him that would borrow turn thou not
away."
93
This people do this pretty well. There is not much complaint on
this score. I do not think there is a house in these mountains
where a Latter-day Saint lives, that a person can go to and ask
for a meal of victuals, where he would not get it if the people
living in the house had it in their possession. I do not think he
or she could ask to stay over-night and be refused the privilege.
That is saying a good deal for a community. Would we be honest in
returning that which we have found to the owner? We would. Would
we ever take that which is not our own? We would not. Would we be
honest in our labor? We would. Would we be honest in our
merchandizing? We would. Would we be honest in every respect? We
would. Would we take usury? I hope to see the day when there will
be no such thing as one man taking usury from another. But it is
not so now; people do not come to this; we do not expect them to
do so while they follow the spirit of the world. But these are
things they have to learn when they gather together. Will there
be any extortion, any selling our goods for a hundred to five
hundred per cent in advance of cost? No. The time will come when
this co-operative system which we have now partially adopted in
merchandizing will be carried out by the whole people, and it
will be said, "Here are the Saints." The time will come when we
can give all into the store house of the Lord and have our
inheritances given out by those who will be appointed; and when
we have had sufficient for the support of our families, the
surplus will be given into he store house of the Lord. Will there
be any rich or poor then? No. How was it in the time of Enoch?
Had they some rich and some poor? Did some ride in their silver
carriages, as I do? No. If I had my way, we would foot or ride
together, and we shall see the day when we shall do it. Do you
think we will relinquish our claims pertaining to oneness in
action? No. I do not calculate, as far as I am concerned, to
yield one particle. I have asked the Latter-day Saints to go to
and become one in all things; the Lord requires this, but until
they do, I do not expect to yield, not the least. Let us hold on
to all that we can. The enemy of all righteousness is determined
to own and possess this world and govern and control it as far as
he possibly can; and he will do it until Jesus and his Saints
drive him out.
93
Whatever the Latter-day Saints have gained has been obtained by
sheer wrestling and unconquerable resolution. We would never have
been permitted to own a foot of land on this earth if the devil
had had his own way. But we have the land and can build our
temples and endowment houses and then sanctify our inheritances,
sanctify ourselves, our families, and sanctify the Lord our God
in our hearts, that we may be prepared to build up His kingdom.
93
I wonder what the Latter-day Saints would say, to-day, in this
matter. Do you think we had better hold on the ground we have
already gained from the enemy? We have gained a little in this
co-operative system. We feel for each other and try to assist
each other. But let me tell you what I am going to do. I do not
expect to merchandize with our enemies to any great extent, but
to cut it off just as fast as we can. I expect us to raise our
own silk here. I would have had plenty for hundreds of silk
dresses this year if I could have been blessed with some person
who would have taken care of my silk worms and done justly by me.
Raise your own silk, I will raise mine. Raise your own wool, work
it and then wear it, and stop going anywhere to purchase goods.
Let us sustain ourselves, for by and by Babylon will fall. What
will be the result? The merchants will stand and look at one
another worse than they do in this city. No man will buy their
merchandize; and they will look here and there for a customer;
but there will be no one to buy their merchandize, and the cry
will be, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen!" Is this day coming? Yes;
just as sure as we are now living. We are hastening it with all
possible speed, as fast as time and circumstances will admit,
when it will be said, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen!"
93
Are you going to prepare for it? We say we are the people of God
and are building up the kingdom of God. We say we are gathered
out of the nations to establish Zion. Let us prove it by our
works, and we will then manufacture that which we wear. Do we
make clothing enough for me and you to wear? Yes; plenty.
94
Let us live so that we can say we are the Saints of God; and when
the finger of scorn is pointed at us and we are held in derision
and the nations talk about us, let us show an example before them
that is worthy of imitation, that they cannot but blush before
all sensible and intelligent persons when they say, "There is a
people that sin; there is a people that are corrupt;" and with
shame-facedness they will look upon each other and condemn
themselves. Let them howl and bark against us as much as they
please, but let us live so that they will have no reason to say a
word. Some people say, "Why don't you contradict this and that? I
have been proclaiming the Gospel almost forty years, and a few
have come forth and received and obeyed it. What do you think the
leading men among our Christian neighbors said about us? They
lied about us until we thought they ought to be satisfied and we
were tired of hearing them and we found it was no use
contradicting them. Yet these professed to be good, pious
Methodists and Baptists. There is a world of liars. It is said
that a lie will pass out of the key-hole and travel a thousand
miles before truth can get out of doors. The whole tribe of
scribblers and everybody else, almost, are ready to contradict
every truth and make a lie of it; ready to ridicule every just
and holy truth; and the individuals that say children born in
polygamy are feeble, have no knowledge of the human race or else
they belie themselves. Let them study physiology and human
nature. Let them study their own bodies. What do you see among
them? You see children that are born into the world sickly, weak
and unable to walk for years; they are poor, emaciated little
things, almost without flesh on their bones. It is from such that
the cry comes about the "Mormon" children. Why, one of our
children at three months old has much more flesh on its bones
than theirs have at ten; and, on the average, they have more
marrow in their bones and energy in them than theirs do. They do
not know anything about human nature or the organization of human
beings, nor of the beasts. To make any such declarations proves
they are ignorant, or they belie themselves. These are harsh
expressions; I need not have used such harsh words; I might have
said they tell that which is not true, they slightly diverge from
the truth. How soft it would be! But I say they will be
destroyed; and all the nations that follow their corrupt
practices will go down to hell; and we will go onward and upward.
All we have to do is to perform our duty and keep the law of God,
and our course is onward and upward. God overrules the acts of
the wicked and the righteous.
95
I recollect when the army of '57 was coming here, a young man
named Thomas Williams wrote to his father, saying, "God favors
great guns and great armies!" What did those great guns and great
armies do? They took two "Mormon" elders into their camp--brother
McDonald, at Provo, and brother Kearns, who now lives at
Gunnison. What a howl they raised! the whole camp howled to think
they had two "Mormon" elders. But there was too much faith; the
Saints were praying for those elders and they came out unscathed,
unhurt and all right. What power there was! What a magnanimous
camp it was! "the flower of the army," sent to destroy the
"Mormons!" When they blow out the sun and stop the moon from
shining and the earth from revolving on its axis, they may talk
about "wiping out" the "Mormons" or the Gospel, but not until
then. This is the way I feel. I am as unconcerned and just as
happy as a man can be. It is no matter if the whole world is
against us, God is for us. Could not they kill you? Yes, if it be
the Lord's will. If it be the will of the Lord for the people to
live, they will live. If it had been the will of the Lord that
Joseph and Hyrum should have lived, they would have lived. It was
necessary for Joseph to seal his testimony with his blood. Had he
been destined to live he would have lived. The Lord suffered his
death to bring justice on the nation. The debt is contracted and
they have it to pay. The nations of the earth are in the Lord's
hands; and if we serve Him we shall reap the reward of so doing.
If we neglect to obey His laws and ordinances, we shall have to
suffer the consequences.
95
Well, brethren and sisters, try and be Saints. I will try; I have
tried many years to live according to the law which the Lord
reveals unto me. I know just as well what to teach this people
and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring
them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office.
It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He
teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a
sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not
call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon,
and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the
oracles of God continually. In the days of Joseph, revelation was
given and written, and the people were driven from city to city
and place to place, until we were led into these mountains. Let
this go to the people with "Thus saith the Lord," and if they do
not obey it, you will see the chastening hand of the Lord upon
them. But if they are plead with, and led along like children, we
may come to understand the will of the Lord and He may preserve
us as we desire.
95
Let us, then, you and me and all who profess to be Latter-day
Saints, try to be Saints indeed. God bless you, Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Q. Cannon, April 6, 1869
George Q. Cannon, April 6, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 6, 1869.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE ORDER OF ENOCH--SOCIALISTIC EXPERIMENTS--THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.
96
I look upon this Conference as one of the most important, in many
respects, that we have ever had the privilege of participating
in, for, to my view, there are more interesting and important
events connected with the work of God at the present time than
have ever been developed before in our history. We are undergoing
a great change, a great revolution is in progress in our midst--a
revolution foreshadowed by the predictions of both the ancient
and modern prophets, but which we, as yet, have scarcely been
prepared for.
96
Nearly 37 years ago the Prophet Joseph, or rather the Lord,
through him, gave revelations upon the Order of Enoch. Those
revelations were taught to the people in plainness so far as they
went. They were simple and easily understood; but they embodied
within themselves what might have been termed new principles, and
indicated a new course of action and a new organization of
society. I saw new, because they were new so far as this
generation is concerned. The principles taught by those
revelations were as old as eternity; and the Order sought to be
introduced by their means was called the "Order of Enoch," in
consequence of it having been revealed to and practised by Enoch;
and through its practice he and his people were prepared for
translation and, as we read in the Scriptures, were taken from
the earth.
96
The Lord inspired the Prophet Joseph Smith to once more
communicate these principles unto the children of men; but, as I
have remarked, the people were not prepared to carry them out.
They, to some extent, could see and understand their beauty and
consistency but in the practical part they were deficient. As a
people the Latter-day Saints are like their fellows in many
respects. We are very progressive in theory, but our theories are
far ahead of our practice. The teachings of the elders are of
that character that years of practice on the part of the people
is required before they come up to them in their every-day life.
It is so with mankind generally. They can comprehend the theory
and realize the importance of practically observing certain
principles long before they are sufficiently advanced to carry
them out in every-day life. But we may say, without boasting,
that as a people we excel the world in carrying out in our lives
the principles that we teach.
96
Those principles to which I have been referring were received and
admired by the people, but it required faith, knowledge and
experience to enable them to carry them out. For years they have
remained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants to be read by the
curious or by those who had a desire to search after the
principles of life and salvation; but, not being a part of our
practice in our lives, they have been practically a dead letter.
96
I speak, now, generally; of course, there have been exceptions in
regard to this, as there have been with regard to the "Word of
Wisdom." There have been men and women who have endeavored to
carry out the latter strictly and truthfully so far as their
knowledge extended. And so with the principles contained in the
revelations touching the "Order of Enoch"--there have, doubtless,
been men in the Church who have lived in accordance with them so
far as it was practicable under the circumstances; but the entire
people have not carried them out. But though thirty-six or
thirty-seven years have elapsed since these principles were first
revealed, they have never been lost sight of by the President and
those associated with him. It has been their aim from the day
they were given until to-day, the 6th of April, 1869, to bring
the Latter-day Saints to such a condition of union, faith and
knowledge that they would receive these principles and carry them
out in their lives.
97
The labors of the elders to accomplish this have been incessant;
they have ever felt to impress them upon the minds of the Saints,
but more particularly within the last four or five years. It is
essentially necessary that we should receive them now, for upon
the reception and proper carrying out of this Order hinges the
prosperity, development and triumph of the kingdom of God on the
earth; and unless we as a people arrive at such a standard of
faith and perfection as to practically carry them out, we are
assured, on the best of authority, that we cannot be permitted to
go back and build up the Centre Stake and fully accomplish the
redemption of Zion. The consequences involved in not being able
to accomplish that are familiar to the minds of those who are
members of the Church of Jesus Christ, especially if they are old
members. One of the greatest calamities that could be thought of
by us as a congregation, or a Church, to-day, would be to learn
from the Lord through His servants that we should not be
permitted to go back to build up the Centre Stake of Zion. The
edict pronounced by the prophet Moses, when he told Israel that
not one who had arrived at the age of twenty-one years should
ever enter the "Promised Land," had not a greater effect upon
Israel than the prohibition I have just referred to would have
upon the Latter-day Saints. We can realize, then, the importance
of adopting and carrying out the principles that will prepare us
for that great work.
97
It is not to be expected that we shall attain to perfection in
the carrying out of such principles at once. That is not the way
we have progressed in the past; our progress has been gradual. It
has been from principle to principle, from knowledge to
knowledge, one step after another until we have reached the point
for which we have aimed. And so it will be with the principles
pertaining to the "Order of Enoch"--we shall take step after
step, progressing from one point to another until we have reached
the point that God, our Heavenly Father, has designed us to
attain to.
98
When we look abroad among the nations of the earth we see a great
many evils in existence--evils that have existed for many
centuries; in fact, they have existed from the earliest ages of
which we have any account until the present time, in every nation
and among all people. Our own nation is a case in point. When the
foundations of the Government were laid, and liberty proclaimed
throughout the length and breadth of the land, it was anticipated
that this nation would grow to a pitch of glory and attain to a
greatness and power that no other nation on the face of the earth
had ever attained. Everything was favorable to this: a free
Government had been established; a continent of almost
illimitable extent spread itself before the people, and all that
was necessary to develop its boundless resources was population,
and industry on the part of that population. But little over
ninety years have elapsed since the foundations of our Government
were laid, and in that time we have grown to be a great people;
but that which has been enacted in other nations has been
re-enacted here. The evils that have flourished so long in what
is called the Old World have been transplanted to this land. If
Western men travel through the Eastern States they are struck
with the great distinction of classes that exist there. There is
an aristocracy of wealth fast growing up there; and at the same
time there is another class in degradation and poverty, utterly
unable to obtain the blessings and comforts of life. This is
owing to various causes, the chief of which is the incorrect
organization of society. It is so in Europe and in Asia, and, in
fact, wherever wealth abounds.
98
Many men have risen from time to time, who have seen and deplored
these evils, and they have sought with all the wisdom and
knowledge they possessed to correct them. Doubtless many of the
Latter-day Saints recollect an instance of this kind at Nauvoo.
After the Saints evacuated that place, a community of Socialists,
called Icarians, whose leader was Mr. Cabet, came to Nauvoo and
settled there. There were the houses, gardens, farms and orchards
of the Latter-day Saints; the country was a healthy one when
compared with what it was when first settled by the Saints. Many
philanthropic men in France were interested in this experiment,
and were anxious to have it succeed. They forwarded their means
with considerable liberality to sustain the settlement; but
despite their efforts and exertions, it fell to pieces. Yet the
object they had in view was a good one, and the means they used
were effective, so far as they went. But there was a lack of
cohesive power in the system; there was a lack of union, and a
lack of wisdom in the management of the affair. They sought to
ameliorate the condition of mankind and to diffuse the blessings
of life equally among the people, so that hunger, poverty and
wretchedness and the dreadful consequences which follow in their
train might be removed from the midst of mankind and a better
order of things established. But with all the advantages of which
I have spoken, their attempt was a signal failure: the society
was broken up and to-day has no existence.
98
This is a case in point with which many of you are familiar.
Similar experiments, having the same ends in view, have been
tried at other places at various times, but like results have
attended them.
99
It has been seen by thinking men that there is something
radically wrong in the organization of society in this respect,
but they have not known how to remedy the evils. It is so in the
religious world. Religionists have to mourn and deplore the
divisions that exist among the so-called followers of Christ; and
reformers have risen one after another endeavoring to bring about
greater union and to develop a greater amount of love, but with
what success let the history of the various sects of Christendom
answer. They are split up into innumerable parties, and the
effort of every reformer has only resulted in the increase of
religious sects. He has been unable, and his inability has been
confessed by himself, to unite the Christian world and bring
about the oneness which characterized the followers of Christ in
the early days of Christianity. It required the Lord our God to
stretch forth His arm to bring this to pass. It required the
revelation of the Gospel in its purity from the heavens; it
required the restoration of the holy Priesthood to the earth in
the plentitude of its power to bring it about; and as soon as the
Priesthood was restored, as soon as the Gospel was given again in
purity to man, and the Church of Christ was again organized, then
the object for which these reformers labored in vain began to be
accomplished--oneness began to prevail, union began to manifest
itself, love was diffused, the Holy Ghost was bestowed, its gifts
were enjoyed, and men and women from various nations and from the
midst of various churches were gathered together in one as we are
here to-day. It required the wisdom, power and Spirit of the
Almighty to restore this condition of things for which many men
had so long labored in vain.
99
And so it is in relation to the social organization of society.
It requires the wisdom of Almighty God to correct the evils under
which mankind groan. Men may labor and devise schemes, expend
means and do all that is possible for human beings, not directed
by the Spirit and power of God, to do, and after they have done
it all they are compelled to confess that they are weak and
fallible, and incapable of accomplishing that which they have
aimed at. But with God to aid them, with His wisdom to guide and
His Spirit to direct, and His blessings to smile upon them they
can accomplish all that is necessary to redeem and save the human
family, both in a physical and spiritual point of view. God has
chosen His people, the Latter-day Saints, to solve these knotty
problems that have troubled the brains and affected the children
of men for so many centuries.
99
The Lord has said that "if ye are not equal in earthly things, ye
cannot be in obtaining heavenly things." He has revealed a plan
by which this equality can be brought about. Yet, He does not
design to make us of equal height; He does not design that we
should all have the same colored hair or eyes, or that we should
dress exactly alike. This is not the meaning of the word
"equality," as it is used in the revelation; but it means to have
an equal claim on the blessings of our Heavenly Father--on the
properties of the Lord's treasury, and the influences and gifts
of His Holy Spirit. This is the equality meant in the
revelations, and until we attain to this equality we cannot be
equal in spiritual things, and the blessings of God cannot be
bestowed upon us until we attain to this as they otherwise would.
As a people we are expecting the day to come when Jesus will
descend in the clouds of Heaven; but before this day comes we
must be prepared to receive him. The organization of society that
exists in the heavens must exist on the earth; the same condition
of society, so far as it is applicable to mortal beings, must
exist here. And for this purpose God has revealed this Order; for
this purpose He is bringing us into our present condition.
100
A great many of the Latter-day Saints scarcely understand the
persistency with which the Presidency of the Church has labored
to bring about the oneness of the people in temporal things; and
this co-operative movement is an important step in this direction
and is designed to prepare them for the ushering in of this Order
to which I have been alluding. It has already produced greater
union, and it will produce still greater union than anything that
has been witnessed among us; and if we carry it out in the spirit
in which it has been taught to us it will produce immense
results. The Lord will bless us; He will increase our means and
pour into the laps of this people everything necessary for their
greatness in the earth. For be it known unto you and to all
people that God designs to make of the Latter-day Saints the
head; He intends to place in their hands and keeping the wealth
of the world. But before blessings of this description can be
poured upon us we must be prepared to receive and use them
aright. Suppose these things were to be poured upon us in our
present condition, what would be the result? Every one can answer
this question for himself. Each one knows his or her own heart,
and the feelings by which it is animated. We know that if the
whole people were to be made rich it would be an exceedingly
difficult matter to control them; even with the little means we
have to-day it is one of the most difficult things to control the
people in regard to the disposition and correct use of that
means.
100
In a revelation given on this subject in the year 1834 the Lord
says--
100
"I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens and built the earth as a
very handy work, and all things therein are mine, and it is my
purpose to provide for my Saints, for all things are mine; but it
must needs be done in mine own way, and behold, this is the way
that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my Saints, that the
poor shall be exalted in that the rich are made low; for the
earth is full and there is enough and to spare. Yea, I prepared
all things and have given unto the children of men to be agents
unto themselves; therefore if any man shall take of the abundance
which I have made and impart not his portion, according to the
law of my Gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall with the
wicked lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment."
100
In another revelation on the same subject given in 1832, the Lord
says--
100
"For Zion must increase in beauty and holiness; her borders must
be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily, I say
unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments:
therefore I give unto you this commandment that ye bind
yourselves by this covenant, and it shall be done according to
the laws of the Lord. Behold, here is wisdom also in me for your
good. And you are to be equal, or in other words you are to have
equal claims on the properties for the benefit of managing the
concerns of your stewardships, every man according to his wants
and his needs, inasmuch as his wants are just, and all this for
the benefit of the Church of the living God, that every man may
improve upon his talent, and every man may gain other talents,
yea, even an hundredfold, to be cast into the Lord's storehouse,
to become the common property of the whole Church, every man
seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with
an eye single to the glory of God.
100
"This order I have appointed to be an everlasting order unto you,
and unto your successors, inasmuch as you sin not; and the soul
that sins against this covenant, and hardeneth his heart against
it, shall be dealt with according to the laws of my Church, and
shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day
of redemption."
100
While I am reading I will read another extract, that you may get
the idea more fully in your mind. After speaking of the Treasury
that shall be appointed, in which shall be preserved the sacred
things in the Treasury for sacred and holy purposes, which shall
be called the Treasury of the Lord, the Lord continues--
101
"And again, there shall be another Treasury prepared and a
treasurer appointed to keep the Treasury, and a seal shall be
placed upon it; and all monies that you receive in your
stewardships, by improving upon the properties which I have
appointed unto you, in houses, or in lands, or in cattle, or in
all things, save it be the holy and sacred writings, which I have
reserved unto myself for holy and sacred purposes, shall be cast
into the Treasury as fast as you receive the moneys, by hundreds,
or by fifties, or by twenties, or by tens, or by fives; or in
other words, if any man among you obtain five talents, let him
cast them into the Treasury; or if he obtain ten, or twenty, or
fifty or an hundred, let him do likewise, and let not any man
among you say that it is his own, for it shall not be called his,
nor any part of it, and there shall not any part of it be used or
taken out of the Treasury, only by the voice and common consent
of the Order. And this shall be the voice and common consent of
the Order--that any man among you say unto the treasurer, I have
need of this to help me in my stewardship; if it be five talents,
or if it be ten talents, or twenty, or fifty, or an hundred, the
treasurer shall give unto him the sum which he requires, to help
him in his stewardship, until he be found a transgressor, and it
is manifest before the Council of the Order plainly, that he is
an unfaithful and an unwise steward; but so long as he is in full
fellowship, and is faithful, and wise in his stewardship, this
shall be his token unto the treasurer, that the treasurer shall
not withhold."
101
From these extracts which I have read in your hearing you can
form an idea of the Order which God, our Heavenly Father, intends
to establish among us as soon as we are willing to enter upon it.
It is not the design of God that we should fall a prey to the
evils that have existed and that have worked out such misery and
ruin among other people. It is God's design to save and redeem us
from the evils that others have endured. It has been frequently
remarked to me by men out of our faith, when conversing upon our
principles and the success which has attended their proclamation:
"Mr. Cannon, as long as the Latter-day Saints are poor you will
do very well; as long as you are persecuted you will stand; but
you will be like other people when wealth increases in your
midst--when you grow up into classes and some are wealthy and
some are poor, and your Church becomes popular, you will be very
likely to fall into the same evils and errors that have
characterized other churches." If God did not preside over this
Church, such expectations and predictions would doubtless be
fulfilled. But God presides; it is His Church, and He has
provided remedies for every one of these evils, by which the
Church can be preserved, and by which wealth can be increased in
the midst of the Latter-day Saints and yet not work out the
injurious results that we see elsewhere where it abounds. God has
provided a way to prevent this, and that way is to be found in
the revelations that were given unto us upwards of thirty-six
years ago, and we can read and understand them.
101
"Well," says one, "if such an Order as this you speak of be
established, will not the careless and indolent enjoy a share in
the blessings of those who are industrious? and will it not
weaken the hands of the energetic?" Not in the least. The man who
is energetic and faithful will receive the reward of his
faithfulness. If he has a large surplus of means he has more to
put into the Treasury to help to forward that kingdom he loves,
and he is credited with it. In the day of the Lord Jesus we are
told He will say to him, "Thou hast been faithful over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many," and such individuals
will receive a reward in proportion to their faithfulness. But if
they hide up their talent in a napkin and bury it in the ground,
that which was given to them will be taken from them. They who
use their talents righteously and faithfully will have them
increased, but the unfaithful will be deprived of that which he
seems to have.
102
This Order will not have the effect that some anticipate, but it
will be a blessing to all who are engaged in it. There will not
be any temptation to seek for wealth for the sake of aggrandizing
one's self or to place one's heart upon riches, as there is now.
This temptation will be removed. I shall be able to love my
neighbor. Why? Because if I make off him in a trade I know that
whatever I make goes into the treasury and becomes the property
of the whole Church, therefore what inducement would there be to
soil my soul and bring a blot on my character by taking advantage
of my neighbor when it is not going to specially benefit me?
102
I look upon this principle as one of the greatest principles to
save people from avaricious and sordid feelings that God has ever
revealed. It will have a tendency to check dishonesty and remove
want. It will have a tendency to stop stealing and to cure the
evils under which mankind have groaned from the beginning until
now. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ there is a remedy for every
evil that exists among men. Here is the "social problem," that
troubles the minds of all nations to-day. The cities of
Christendom are crowded with prostitutes; their young men are
destroyed in the dawn of their days by the terrible crime of
prostitution. How shall these fearful evils be cured? Has there
been sufficient wisdom found among men to do it? No; they have
confessed their utter inability to cope with it. It is
overwhelming them and sweeping them off like a flood throughout
the length and breadth of the land, until physicians say that
half the diseases that prevail among mankind in Christendom are
directly traceable to this devouring evil. What is to correct it?
I answer, the Lord, through His people--the Latter-day Saints--is
revealing the remedy. You travel throughout the Territory of
Utah, from Bear Lake in the north to St. George in the south, and
what do you see? You see a people free from secret diseases, you
see a people free from the dreadful curse of prostitution. Our
young men and maidens grow up in all the vigor of health and
there is nothing to sap that vigor and lead them to a premature
grave. Then what is to correct these evils in the world? The plan
which God has revealed. It will bring about a pure condition of
things. If it were universally adopted the "social evil" would be
removed, and prostitution would soon cease to exist on the face
of the earth.
102
Will this plan--this glorious Order which God has
revealed--correct the other evils with which the world is
afflicted? Yes, when that Order is universally established there
will no longer be any temptation to steal, defraud one's neighbor
or to commit any wrongs of this kind, for it is said, and truly,
that the love of money is the root of all evil. The Order of
which I speak will correct these evils because there will be a
treasury in the midst of the people, from which those who are
worthy can get that which they need to sustain them in their
stewardship, and into which all who have a surplus will pour
their wealth until it will become the common property of the
church; and the church under this organization which God has
revealed will become a great and mighty power in the midst of the
earth.
103
We have great power now, though not numerically strong; we are
not a very great people so far as numbers are concerned, but we
are strong because we are united. The more wealth we have the
greater is our power, because the President of this Church can
control this people, therefore the people have power, and when
our wealth shall be controlled by the President of this Church,
we shall have greater power in the earth than we have to-day. But
will that power be used for hurtful purposes? No; it will be used
for beneficial ends, for the amelioration of the condition of the
human family, for the practical inauguration of these great and
glorious principles which God has revealed; and it is to bring
you to this condition that the elders are laboring as they are;
it is to bring you to this oneness that they labor as they do
continually--that they travel and preach to and exhort the Saints
all the day long to listen to the counsels of God.
103
Although it has been deferred a good while it will yet be
accomplished and fulfilled and the people brought to a condition
that is desired.
103
Much more might be said on this subject; but I am intruding on
your time. May God bless you, my brethren and sisters, and
prepare us, as a people, to receive the revelations of His will,
which are true and perfect and intended to elevate and exalt us,
and to bring us back into His presence, there to be crowned with
glory and immortality: which I pray may be the case with us all
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Albert Smith, October 8 & 9, 1868
George Albert Smith, October 8 & 9, 1868
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT GEORGE A. SMITH,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October
8th and 9th, 1868.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
103
The circumstances by which we are surrounded are such as to cause
feeling of no ordinary character. In all the Conferences held
hitherto, in this city and in Nauvoo, we have enjoyed the society
of our late lamented President, Heber C. Kimball; and his being
called away from a useful field in which he had long labored,
should remind us that each of us, at any moment, may be called to
close our career here for time, and to await our reward in the
resurrection. We can but rejoice that our brother, in his long
life and labors in the Church, was a pattern of humility, faith
and diligence, and was instrumental in the hands of God in
bringing many thousands to a knowledge of the truth. The blow
which has fallen upon us in being deprived of his company,
counsel and instruction, should remind us of the necessity of
diligence in the discharge of all our duties, that, like him, we
may be prepared to inherit celestial glory, and to associate with
Joseph and Hyrum Smith and David Patten, and the martyrs who have
gone before.
104
The incidents that have been brought to our notice by our
brethren who have spoken during the Conference, give rise to a
series of reflections in relation to our early history as a
people, which, I presume, it would be well for us all to review.
There are some in this Territory who have been in the Church
thirty-six, thirty-seven, or thirty-eight years, but a great many
of the people have been in only a few years. A very large portion
of our population have been reared here, and consequently a brief
sketch of the early incidents of our history may not be
unprofitable to any.
104
When Joseph Smith took the plates of Mormon from the hill
Cumorah, he was immediately surrounded by enemies, and though he
was a young man of unexceptional character, he was compelled to
go from place to place, while translating the work, to avoid
persecution. The press and the pulpit denounced him as an
impostor and his followers as dupes. As soon as he preached the
doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins, and organized a
Church with six members, he was arrested and brought before a
magistrate, honorably discharged by him, and immediately arrested
again and hurried into an adjoining county, where he was
insulted, spit upon, and kept without food during the day, and
then given crusts of bread and water. The next day he was taken
before magistrates who, after a rigid examination, found no fault
in him. A mob resolved to "tar and feather" him, but through the
instrumentality of the constable, who previously treated him
roughly, but who now became his friend, he made his escape in
safety. All these proceedings were instigated by clergymen and
professors of religion in high standing. A similar spirit of
persecution was manifested in a greater or less degree in every
place where the Gospel was proclaimed, not only against Joseph
Smith, but also against other Elders who preached the word.
104
This system of persecution continued, especially in the shape of
vexatious law suits, numbering some fifty in all, up to the day
of his death, and in all of which a most vicious and vindictive
spirit was manifested outside of judicial questions. In every
case he was honorably acquitted, and upon the charge of treason
upon which he was detained in Carthage jail, when murdered, he
had not even been lawfully examined before a magistrate. In all
these trials except one he had been before persons religiously
opposed to him--his enemies were his judges--and all this while
every act of his life was prompted by a firm desire to do good to
his fellow men--to preach the Gospel of peace, to magnify the
high and holy calling he had received from the Lord, and thereby
lead back to the ancient faith of Jesus Christ his fellow beings
who had fallen into darkness.
104
Vexatious law suits not accomplishing the work to the
satisfaction of the persecutors of the Saints, mob violence was
resorted to, as being more effective. On the 25th day of March,
1832, in Hyrum, Portage Co., Ohio, Joseph Smith was dragged from
his bed and carried to the woods, daubed with tar and feathers,
and otherwise ill-treated. The following is his account of the
outrage:
105
"On the 25th of March, the twins before mentioned, which had been
sick for some time with the measles, caused us to be broke of our
rest in taking care of them, especially my wife. In the evening I
told her she had better retire to rest with one of the children,
and I would watch with the sickest child. In the night she told
me I had better lie down on the trundle bed, and I did so, and
was soon after awoke by her screaming 'murder!' when I found
myself going out of the door, in the hands of about a dozen men,
some of whose hands were in my hair, and some had hold of my
shirt, drawers, and limbs. The foot of the trundle bed was
towards the door, leaving only room enough for the door to swing.
My wife heard a gentle tapping on the windows, which she then
took no particular notice of (but which was unquestionably
designed for ascertaining whether we were all asleep), and soon
after the mob burst open the door and surrounded the bed in an
instant, and, as I said, the first I knew, I was going out of the
door in the hands of an infuriated mob. I made a desperate
struggle, as I was forced out, to extricate myself, but only
cleared one leg, with which I made a pass at one man, and he fell
on the door steps. I was immediately confined again; and they
swore by God they would kill me if I did not be still, which
quieted me. As they passed around the house with me, the fellow
that I kicked came to me and thrust his hand into my face, all
covered with blood (for I hit him on the nose), and with an
exulting horse laugh, muttered, 'Gee, Gee, God damn ye, I'll fix
ye.'
105
"They then seized me by the throat, and held on till I lost my
breath. After I came to, as they passed along with me, about
thirty rods from the house, I saw Elder Rigdon stretched out on
the ground, whither they had dragged him by the heels. I supposed
he was dead. I began to plead with them, saying, 'You will have
mercy and spare my life, I hope,' to which they replied, 'God
damn ye, call on your God for help, we'll show ye no mercy;' and
the people began to show themselves in every direction; one
coming from the orchard had a plank, and I expected they would
kill me, and carry me off on the plank. They then turned to the
right and went on about thirty rods further, about sixty rods
from the house and thirty from where I saw Elder Rigdon, into the
meadow, where they stopped, and one said, "Simonds, Simonds,'
(meaning, I suppose, Simonds Rider,) 'pull up his drawers, pull
up his drawers, he will take cold.' Another replied, "Ain't ye
going to kill 'im, ain't ye going to kill 'im?' when a group of
mobbers collected a little way off and said, 'Simonds, Simonds,
come here;' and Simonds charged those who had hold of me to keep
me from touching the ground (as they had all the time done), lest
I should get a spring upon them. They went and held a council,
and, as I could occasionally overhear a word, I supposed it was
to know whether it was best to kill me. They returned after a
while when I learned they had concluded not to kill me, but pound
and scratch me well, tear off my shirt and drawers, and leave me
naked. One cried, 'Simonds, where's the tar bucket?' 'I don't
know,' answered one, 'where 'tis, Eli's left it.' They ran back
and fetched the bucket of tar, when one exclaimed, 'God damn it,
let us tar up his mouth;' and they tried to force the tar-paddle
into my mouth; I twisted my head around, so that they could not,
and they cried out, 'God damn ye, hold up your head and let us
give ye some tar.' They then tried to force a vial into my mouth,
and broke it in my teeth. All my clothes were torn off me except
my shirt collar, and one man fell on me and scratched my body
with his nails like a mad cat, and then muttered out, 'God damn
ye, that's the way the Holy Ghost falls on folks.'
106
"They then left me, and I attempted to rise, but fell again. I
pulled the tar away from my lips, so that I could breathe more
freely, and raised myself up, when I saw two lights. I made my
way towards one of them, and found it was Father Johnson's. When
I had come to the door, I was naked, and the tar made me look as
though I had been covered with blood; and when my wife saw me she
thought I was mashed all to pieces, and fainted. During the
affray abroad, the sisters of the neighborhood had collected at
my room. I called for a blanket, they threw me one, and shut the
door. I wrapped it around me and went in." History of Joseph
Smith, Mill. Star, vol. 14, page 148.
106
I will add that the exposure of the child above referred to, to
the night air, caused its death. This murdered child was
doubtless the first martyr of the last dispensation.
106
In a revelation given Sept, 1831, the Lord said, "It is my will
that the Saints retain a strong hold in the land of Kirtland for
the space of five years."
106
The Saints owned several farms in Kirtland. Mr. Lyman, a
Presbyterian, also owned a grist mill there, and many of us got
our grinding done at his mill, although our brethren owned mills
two or three miles distant. We had commenced building the
Kirtland Temple. A portion of the city site had been surveyed,
and many of the Saints who had recently come in were building
houses on the lots. Mr. Lyman associated himself with a
combination to starve us out. The authorities proceeded to warn
all the Latter-day Saints out of the township, and formed a
compact not to employ us or sell us grain, which was scarce at
the time. Mr. Lyman had 3000 bushels of wheat, but refused to let
us have it at any reasonable price, and it was believed we were
so destitute of money that we would have to scatter abroad. The
warning out of town was designed to prevent our becoming a
township charge, the law of Ohio being that if a person, who had
been warned out of town, applied for assistance, he was to be
carried to the next town and so on till he was taken out of the
State or to the town from which he formerly came.
106
We were obliged to send fifty miles for grain, which cost us one
dollar and six cents per bushel delivered in Kirtland. Mr.
Lyman's grain remained unsold and his effort to starve us taught
us better than to longer patronize his mill, although it cost us
the trouble of going two or three miles to mills belonging to our
brethren. We built a magnificent temple and a large city. W paid
our quota of taxes and we were as noted and remarkable for our
industry, temperance, thrift, and morality there, as our people
are at the present day. We also patronized a Mr. Lyon, who was a
gentlemanly outside merchant, but the moment he got an
opportunity he united with our enemies to oppress us.
106
We sent our children to school to Mr. Bates, a Presbyterian
minister, who soon after went into court and bore false witness
against the Elders, and further testified on oath that every
"Mormon" was intellectually insane. This lesson did admonish us
not to longer intrust the education of our youth to canting
hypocrites.
106
For several years we had used the paper of Geauga Bank at
Painesville, as money. A loan of a few hundred dollars was asked
for by Joseph Smith, with ample security, but was refused, and
Elder Reynolds Cahoon was told they would not accommodate the
"Mormon Prophet," although they acknowledged the endorsers were
above question, simply because it would encourage "Mormonism." So
much of their specie was drawn by Joseph Smith during the three
succeeding days, as greatly improved their tempers, and they said
to Elder Cahoon, "Tell Mr. Smith he must stop this, and any favor
he wants we are ready to accord him."
107
Subsequently application was made to the Legislature of the State
for a bank charter, the notes to be redeemed with specie and
their redemption secured by real estate. The charter was denied
us on the grounds that we were "Mormons," and soon a combination
of apostates and outsiders caused us to leave Kirtland, the most
of our property unsold; and our beautiful Temple yet remains a
lasting monument of our perseverance and industry. The loss
sustained through this persecution was probably not less than one
million dollars.
107
MISSOURI.
107
On the 20th day of July, 1831, at Independence, Jackson county,
Joseph Smith set apart and dedicated a lot as the site of the
Temple of the centre stake of Zion, ground having been purchased
for this purpose, and it still is known as the "Temple lot." The
Saints entered lands in different parts of the county, built
houses, opened farms, constructed mills, established a printing
office (owned by W. W. Phelps and Co., and the first in Western
Missouri), and opened a mercantile establishment, the largest in
the county, owned by Messrs. Gilbert and Whitney.
107
In July, 1833, a mob was organized by signing a circular, which
set forth that the civil law did not afford them a sufficient
guarantee against the "Mormons," whom they accused of
"blasphemously pretending to heal the sick by the administration
of holy oil," and consequently they must be either "fanatics" or
"knaves." Under the influence of Methodist, Baptist and
Presbyterian ministers, they tore down the printing office of the
Evening and Morning Star, which cost some $6000. They stripped
and tarred and feathered Bishop Partridge and Elder Charles
Allen, and seized several other Elders and cast them into prison,
compelled Gilbert and Whitney to close their store, and soon
after broke it open and scattered their goods to the four winds.
They tore down twenty houses over the heads of the inmates, and
whipped and terribly lacerated with hickory withes many of the
Elders, killed Andrew Barber, and severely wounded many others;
robbed the houses of their property, and finally expelled fifteen
hundred people from the county. They also destroyed some two
hundred and sixteen dwellings, and much of the land, being
valuable timber land, became public plunder. The Saints were
robbed of most of their horses, cattle, implements of husbandry,
etc. The total loss in these transactions is estimated at half a
million dollars.
107
"Horrible to relate, several women thus driven from their homes
gave birth to children in the woods and on the prairies,
destitute of beds or clothing, having escaped in fright. It is
stated on the authority of Solomon Hancock, an eye witness, that
he, with the assistance of two or three others, protected one
hundred and twenty women and children for the space of ten days,
who were obliged to keep themselves hid from their pursuers,
while they were hourly expecting to be massacred, and who finally
escaped into Clay county, by finding a circuitous route to the
ferry."
107
They could be traced by the blood from their feet on the burnt
prairie. This occurred in the month of November, and is a
specimen of the kindness that law-abiding Latter-day Saints
received at the hands of those who had power over them. The
Saints were so law-abiding that not a single process had been
issued against any member of the Church in Jackson county up to
the organization of the mob, although all the offices, civil and
military, were in the hands of their enemies.
108
Prominent in these cruelties as actors and apologists were the
Revds. Isaac McCoy and D. Pixley, the former a Baptist and the
latter a Presbyterian missionary to the Indians.
108
CLAY COUNTY.
108
The arrival of the Saints in Clay county was a blessing to the
inhabitants, who had just opened small prairie farms and planted
them with Indian corn, much of which was unharvested. They had
cattle on the bottoms and hogs in the woods. The majority of the
people received the Saints with gladness and gave them
employment, and paid them in corn, pork and beef. The wages were
low, but sufficient to supply the more pressing wants of the
people. From time to time Joseph Smith forwarded money from
Kirtland to Bishop Partridge to supply the most needy. The mob in
Jackson county sent committees to stir up the feelings of the
people of Clay against the Saints. For some time their
oft-repeated efforts to do so were unsuccessful. Parties of the
mob would come over from Jackson and seize our brethren and
inflict violence upon them. The industry of our people soon
enabled them to make some purchases of land, and then their
numbers were increased by arrivals from the east. The mob of
Jackson county continued their endeavors to stir up
dissatisfaction among the people of Clay county against the
Saints. At length the citizens of Clay county held a public
meeting and requested the "Mormons" to seek another home, when
the Saints located in the new county of Caldwell, which contained
only seven families, who were bee hunters. As the county was
mostly prairie, their business was not very profitable, and they
gladly embraced the opportunity of selling their claims.
108
Caldwell county, being nearly destitute of timber, was regarded
by the people of upper Missouri as worthless. Every Saint that
could raise fifty dollars entered forty acres of land, and there
were few but what could do that much, while many entered large
tracts. The Saints migrated from the east and settled Caldwell in
great numbers.
108
In three years they had built mills, shops, school, meeting and
dwelling houses, and opened and fenced hundreds of farms. Our
industry and temperance rendered our settlements the most
prosperous of any in Missouri, while they embraced all of
Caldwell, most of Davis, and large portions of Clinton, Ray,
Carrol and Livingston counties, when the storm of mobocracy was
again aroused and aided by the Governor of the State, Lilburn W.
Boggs, who issued the order expelling all the Latter-day Saints
from the State under penalty of extermination. This caused the
loss of hundreds of lives through violence and suffering. Houses
were plundered, women were violated, men were whipped, and a
great variety of cruelties inflicted, and a loss of property
amounting to millions was sustained, while any one that would
renounce his religion was permitted to remain.
108
Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Alexander McRae, Lyman Wight and others
were for several months thrust into prison, and in one instance,
while there, were fed on human flesh and tantalized with the
inquiry, "How they liked Mormon beef"--it being the flesh of some
of their murdered brethren.
109
The Lord softened the hearts of the people of Quincy, Illinois,
and while the hundreds of Saints were fleeing over the snow-clad
prairies of Missouri, not knowing where to go, the people of
Quincy were holding public meetings, raising subscriptions and
adopting measures to give the fugitives employment and succor,
for which our hearts overflow with gratitude.
109
As soon as the Saints were all expelled from Missouri, Joseph
Smith went to Washington and laid the grievances of the people
before the President and Congress of the United States. Mr. Van
Buren said, "Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you."
Mr. Clay, when appealed to, said we "had better go to Oregon."
Mr. Calhoun informed Mr. Smith it would involve the question of
State rights, and was a dangerous question, and it would not do
to agitate it. Mr. Cass, as chairman of the Senate committee, to
which the petition was referred, reported that Congress had no
business with it.
109
Elder John P. Green went east, and published an appeal in behalf
of the Saints, holding public meetings in Cincinnati and New
York, and received some small contributions for the assistance of
the most needy.
109
As soon as Joseph Smith escaped from Missouri to Illinois, he
purchased lands at a place known as Commerce, in Hancock county,
and commenced the survey of a city which he called Nauvoo, the
word being derived from the Hebrew, meaning beauty and rest.
Although the situation was handsome, it was famed for being
unhealthy. There were but few inhabitants in the vicinity, but
many graves in the burying ground, and much of the subsequent
sickness was the result of exposure and the want of suitable
means of nursing the sick. The swamps in the vicinity of Nauvoo
were soon drained, and the lands around put under cultivation.
Numerous dwellings and several mills were erected, and thrift and
prosperity, the invariable results of industry and sobriety, were
manifest.
109
Demands were made from Missouri for the persons of Joseph and
Hyrum Smith. Joseph was arrested and tried at Monmouth, before
Judge Stephen A. Douglas, and honorably discharged. His principal
attorney in this case was the Hon. O. H. Browning, now U.S.
Secretary of the Interior. This suit cost him upwards of three
thousand dollars. He was soon again arrested on a demand from
Missouri, and discharged by Judge Pope, of the U.S. District
Court. This time it cost him twelve thousand dollars. Not long
after this second acquittal he was again arrested in Lee County,
Illinois, and an attempt made, in the face of the State
authorities, to kidnap him into Missouri. Nauvoo sent out three
hundred men and rescued him. He was afterwards discharged by the
municipal court of that place, and Thomas Ford, Governor of
Illinois, sanctioned his discharged.
109
In 1844 Joseph and Hyrum were arrested on a charge of treason,
under pledge of the executive that they should have a fair trial,
but they were murdered by one hundred and fifty men with
blackened faces; merchants and men that we had sustained in
business, and apostates, took a leading part in bringing this
about.
109
EXPENSES ATTENDANT UPON THE ARREST
OF JOSEPH SMITH.
109
Joseph Smith, the Prophet, was subjected, during his short
ministerial career of fifteen years, to about fifty vexatious law
suits. The principal expense was incurred in liquidating lawyers'
bills, and the brethren's time and expenditure in attending
courts to defend the Prophet from mob violence.
110
Magistrates' court expenses were generally one hundred dollars.
The Prophet paid Generals Doniphan and Atchison for legal
services at Richmond, Mo., in 1838-9, sixteen thousand dollars;
but this amount was fruitlessly expended, as the benefits of the
law were not accorded to him, because of the predominance and
overruling power of a mob.
110
At the Prophet's trial at Monmouth, Ill., in 1841, before Judge
Douglas, the lawyers' fees and expenses amounted to three
thousand dollars.
110
His next trial was before Judge Pope, U.S. District Court, in
1842-3, the expenses of which may be reasonably estimated at
twelve thousand dollars.
110
Cyrus Walker charged ten thousand dollars for defending Joseph in
his political arrest, or the attempt at kidnapping him at Dixon,
Ill., in 1843. There were four other lawyers employed for the
defence besides Walker. The expenses of the defence in this trial
were enormous, involving the amounts incurred by the horse
companies who went in pursuit to aid Joseph, and the trip of the
steamer Maid of Iowa, from Nauvoo to Otawa, and may be fairly
estimated at one hundred thousand dollars.
110
When the mantle of Joseph Smith fell upon Brigham Young, the
enemies of God and His kingdom sought to inaugurate a similar
career for President Young; but he took his revolver from his
pocket at the public stand in Nauvoo, and declared that upon the
first attempt of an officer to read a writ to him in a State that
had violated its plighted faith in the murder of the Prophet and
Patriarch while under arrest, he should serve the contents of
this writ (holding his loaded revolver in his hand) first; to
this the vast congregation assembled said, Amen. He was never
arrested.
110
APPEAL TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE STATES.
110
In 1845, the storm of mobocracy raging around us, we sent an
appeal to the President of the United States, and to the Governor
of every State in the Union, except Missouri, of which the
following, addressed to Governor Drew, of Arkansas, is a copy to
the Governor, he being the only one from whom an answer was
received--
110
"To His Excellency Thomas S. Drew, Governor of Arkansas.
"Nauvoo, Ill., May 1, 1845.
110
"Honorable Sir,--Suffer us, sir, in behalf of a disfranchised and
long afflicted people, to prefer a few suggestions for your
serious consideration, in hope of a friendly and unequivocal
response, at as early a period as may suit your convenience, and
the extreme urgency of the case seems to demand.
110
"It is not our present design to detail the multiplied and
aggravated wrongs that we have received in the midst of a nation
that gave us birth. Some of us have long been loyal citizens of
the State over which you have the honor to preside, while others
claim citizenship in each of the States of this great
confederacy. We say we are a disfranchised people. We are
privately told by the highest authorities of this State, that it
is neither prudent nor safe for us to vote at the polls; still we
have continued to maintain our right to vote, until the blood of
our best men has been shed, both in Missouri and the State of
Illinois, with impunity.
111
"You are doubtless somewhat familiar with the history of our
extermination from the State of Missouri, wherein scores of our
brethren were massacred, hundreds died through want and sickness,
occasioned by their unparalleled sufferings, some millions of our
property were confiscated or destroyed, and some fifteen thousand
souls fled for their lives to the then hospitable and peaceful
shores of Illinois; and that the State of Illinois granted to us
a liberal charter, for the term of perpetual succession, and
under its provisions private rights have become invested, and the
largest city in the State has grown up, numbering about twenty
thousand inhabitants.
111
"But, sir, the startling attitude recently assumed by the State
of Illinois forbids us to think that her designs are any less
vindictive than those of Missouri. She has already used the
military of the State, with the Executive at their head, to
coerce and surrender up our best men to unparalleled murder, and
that, too, under the most sacred pledges of protection and
safety. As a salve for such unearthly perfidy and guilt, she told
us, through her highest Executive officer, that the laws should
be magnified, and the murderers brought to justice; but the blood
of her innocent victims had not been wholly wiped from the floor
of the awful arena, where the citizens of a sovereign State
pounced upon two defenceless servants of God, our Prophet and our
Patriarch, before the Senate of that State rescued one of the
indicted actors in that mournful tragedy from the sheriff of
Hancock county, and gave him an honorable seat in her halls of
legislation. And all others who were indicted by the grand jury
of Hancock county for the murders of Generals Joseph and Hyrum
Smith, are suffered to roam at large, watching for further prey.
111
"To crown the climax of those bloody deeds, the State has
repealed all those chartered rights by which we might have
defended ourselves against aggressors. If we defend ourselves
hereafter against violence, whether it comes under the shadow of
law or otherwise (for we have reason to expect it both ways), we
shall then be charged with treason, and suffer the penalty; and
if we continue passive and non-resistant, we must certainly
expect to perish, for our enemies have sworn it.
111
"And here, sir, permit us to state that General Joseph Smith,
during this short life, was arraigned at the bar of his country
about fifty times, charged with criminal offences, but was
acquitted every time by his country, or rather his religious
opponents almost invariably being his judges. And we further
testify, that as a people we are law-abiding, peaceable, and
without crimes; and we challenge the world to prove the contrary.
And while other less cities in Illinois have had special courts
instituted to try their criminals, we have been stript of every
source of arraigning marauders and murderers who are prowling
around to destroy us, except the common magistracy.
111
"With these facts before you, sir, will you write to us without
delay, as a father and friend, and advise us what to do? We are,
many of us, citizens of your State, and all members of the same
great confederacy. Our fathers, nay, some of us, have fought and
bled for our country, and we love her dearly.
112
"In the name of Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied ties of
country and kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our
favor. Will it be too much to ask you to convene a special
session of your State Legislature, and furnish us an asylum where
we can enjoy our rights of conscience and religion unmolested? Or
will you in a special message to that body, when convened,
recommend a remonstrance against such unhallowed acts of
oppression and expatriation, as this people have continued to
receive from the States of Missouri and Illinois? Or will you
favor us by your personal influence, and by your official rank?
Or will you express your views concerning what is called the
Great Western Measure, of colonizing the Latter-day Saints in
Oregon, the north-western Territory or some location, remote from
the States, where the hand of oppression shall not crush every
noble principle, and extinguish every patriotic feeling?
112
"And now, honored sir, having reached out our imploring hands to
you with deep solemnity, we would importune with you as a father,
a friend, a patriot and statesman; by the constitution of
American liberty; by the blood of our fathers, who have fought
for the independence of this Republic; by the blood of the
martyrs which has been shed in our midst; by the wailings of the
widows and orphans; by our murdered fathers and mothers, brothers
and sisters, wives and children; by the dread of immediate
destruction from secret combinations now forming for our
overthrow; and by every endearing tie that binds men to men, and
renders life bearable, and that, too, for aught we know, for the
last time, that you will lend your immediate aid to quell the
violence of mobocracy, and exert your influence to establish us
as a people in our civil and religious rights, where we now are,
or in some part of the United States, or at some place remote
therefrom, where we may colonize in peace and safety as soon as
circumstances will permit.
112
"We sincerely hope that your future prompt measures towards us
will be dictated by the best feelings that dwell in the bosom of
humanity; and the blessings of a grateful people, and of many
ready to perish, shall come upon you.
112
"We are, sir, with great respect,
"Your obedient servants,
"Brigham Young, Chairman.
"W. Richards,
"Orson Spencer,
"Orson Pratt, }Committee
"W. W. Phelps,
"A. W. Babbit,
"Jno. M. Bernhisel,
"In behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at
Nauvoo, Ill.
112
"P. S.--As many of our communications postmarked at Nauvoo, have
failed of their destination, and the mails around us have been
intercepted by our enemies, we shall send this to some distant
office by the hand of a special messenger."
112
The following reply was received from Governor Drew:--
112
"Executive Office, Little Rock,
Ark., May 27, 1845.
112
"Hon. Brigham Young, President of the Committee of Twelve of
Christ's Church of Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo, Ill.
113
"Sir,--Your letter of the 1st inst. has been received, and claims
my earnest attention. I must acknowledge my inability to serve
your people by calling an extra Session of the General Assembly
of this State for the object contemplated. And although I do not
know that prejudice against your tenets in Arkansas would weigh
aught against the action of that body, in refusing to furnish
within our borders an asylum from the oppression of which you so
sorely complain; yet I am sure that representatives of the people
would long hesitate to extend to any class of citizens exclusive
privileges, however innocent their motives, aims, objects or
actions might appear, when the prospects of collision, from
causes of which in your case I know nothing, appear so evident
from the two very recent manifestations presented in the States
of Missouri and Illinois. I have no doubt Illinois, prompted by
the kindest of sympathies for your people in the late struggle
and overthrow they encountered in Missouri, extended a liberal
helping hand, but to repent her supposed folly. Could Arkansas,
after witnessing the same scene reenacted in Illinois, calculate
on anything short of a like catastrophe?
113
"I am not sufficiently informed of the course taken against you
by the authorities of the State of Illinois, in the difficulties
detailed in your communication, to justify a recommendation from
me to the Legislature to remonstrate against the acts of
Illinois--the detailed statement of facts afforded me by your
communication being of an ex parte character. But were I
regularly informed of all the facts from both parties, and felt
able to form a correct opinion as to the justice of the course
pursued by the State of Illinois, yet I am of opinion that this
State would not have, nor would I have as its chief Executive
officer, the right to interfere in the least with the internal
concerns or police of the State of Illinois, or of any other
neighboring State, where its operations do not distract or in any
way affect the good order of the citizens of the State of
Arkansas. There are instances, but they are rare, where the
interposition of one State to arrest the progress of violence in
another, would be at all admissible. Such, for instance, as where
the public authorities of the State affected are palpably
incompetent to quell an insurrection within her limits, and the
violence is likely to extend its ravages and bad influence to
such neighboring State, or where a proper call has been made for
succor.
113
"Nor can I afford to exercise my official rank as chief Executive
of this State, in behalf of a faction in a neighboring State; and
I humbly conceive that my personal influence would add nothing to
your cause, unless it should prove to be a just one, in which
event public opinion will afford you support of a character more
lasting in the eye of an enlightened public, than wiser and
greater men than your humble servant--than official rank, or
force backed by power. It is true that while prejudice may have
the ascendency over the minds of the neighboring community, your
people may be exposed more or less to loss of life and
destruction of property; I therefore heartily agree with you in
the proposed plan of emigration to the Oregon Territory--or to
California--the north of Texas, or to Nebraska; thereby placing
your community beyond the reach of contention, until, at least,
you shall have had time and opportunity to test the
practicability of your system, and to develop its contemplated
superior advantages in ameliorating the condition of the human
race, and adding to the blessings of civil and religious liberty.
That such a community, constituted as yours, with the mass of
prejudice which surrounds and obstructs its progress at this
time, cannot prosper in that or any of the neighboring States,
appears very evident from the signal failures upon two occasions
under auspices at least as favorable as you could reasonably
expect from any of the States.
114
"My personal sympathies are strong for the oppressed, though my
official station can know nothing but what is sanctioned by the
strictest justice, and that circumscribed to the limited
jurisdiction of my own State; and while I deplore, as a man and a
philanthropist, your distressed situation, I would refer you to
the emphatic and patriarchal proposition of Abraham to Lot; and
whilst I allude to the eloquent paraphrase of one of Virginia's
most gifted sons, wherein he circumscribed the bounds of our
domain within to the great valley of the Mississippi, I would
only add that the way is now open to the Pacific without let or
hindrance. Should the Latter-day Saints migrate to Oregon, they
will carry with them the good will of philanthropists, and the
blessing of every friend of humanity. If they are wrong, their
wrongs will be abated with many degrees of allowance, and if
right, migration will afford an opportunity to make it manifest
in due season to the whole civilized world.
114
"With my hearty desires for your peace and prosperity, I
subscribe myself respectfully yours,
"Thomas S. Drew."
114
This correspondence shows us the necessity of our being united in
sustaining the Latter-day Saints, that we may not build up, by
our own acts, a power to renew persecution again in our midst.
114
EXPULSION FROM ILLINOIS.
114
In September, 1845, the mob commenced burning the houses of the
Saints in the southern part of the county of Hancock, and
continued until stopped by the sheriff, who summoned a posse
comitatus, while few but Latter-day Saints would serve under him.
The Governor sent troops and disbanded the posse. The murderers
of Joseph and Hyrum had a sham trial and were acquitted. A
convention of nine counties notified us that we must leave the
State. The Governor informed us through General John J. Harding
and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, that we could not be protected in
Illinois. We commenced our emigration west on the 6th of
February, 1846. During that month some twelve hundred wagons
crossed the Mississippi, many of them on the ice. Everybody that
was able to leave continued to do so until late in the summer,
and the outfits with which they left were insufficient, while the
winter and spring weather was inclement, which caused a great
deal of suffering.
114
While the strength of Israel had gone westward, the Illinois mob
commenced their hostilities with redoubled fury. They whipped,
plundered and murdered men, abused women and children, and drove
all the scattering ones into Nauvoo, then laid siege to the place
and bombarded it for three days, killing several persons and
wounding others, and peremptorily expelled the remainder across
the river into Iowa, after robbing them of the remainder of the
property they possessed, and leaving them on the shore to perish.
114
Their encampment was probably one of the most miserable and
distressed that ever existed. All who were able, by any possible
means, had got away; those left were the poor and the helpless.
Great numbers were sick, and they were without tents or
conveniences of any kind to make them comfortable. Encamped on
the foggy bottoms of the Mississippi river, they were scorched
with fevers, without medicine or proper food.
114
In this helpless condition a merciful Providence smiled on them
by sending quails, so tame that many caught them with their
hands; yet many perished within sight of hundreds of houses
belonging to them and their friends, which were under the
dominion of the Rev. Thomas S. Brockman and his mob legions, who
viciously trampled the constitution and laws of Illinois, and the
laws of humanity, under their feet.
114
The victims continued to suffer until the camps in the west sent
them relief. For a more full description of these scenes, I read
from the historical address of Col. (now General) Thomas L. Kane,
who was an eye witness.
115
"A few years ago," said Colonel Kane, "ascending the Upper
Mississippi, in the autumn, when its waters were low, I was
compelled to travel by land past the region of the Rapids. My
road lay through the Half-breed Tract, a fine section of Iowa,
which the unsettled state of its land-titles had appropriated as
a sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves, and other outlaws. I had
left my steamer at Keokuk, at the foot of the Lower Fall, to hire
a carriage, and to contend for some fragments of a dirty meal
with the swarming flies, the only scavengers of the locality.
115
"From this place to where the deep water of the river returns, my
eye wearied to see everywhere sordid, vagabond, and idle
settlers, and a country marred, without being improved, by their
careless hands. I was descending the last hill-side upon my
journey, when a landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my
view. Half encircled by a bend of the river, a beautiful city lay
glittering in the fresh morning sun; its bright new dwellings,
set in cool green gardens, ranging up around a stately
dome-shaped hill, which was crowned by a noble edifice, whose
high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city
appeared to cover several miles, and beyond it, in the
background, there rolled off a fair country, chequered by the
careful lines of fruitful husbandry. The unmistakable marks of
industry, enterprise, and educated wealth everywhere, made the
scene one of singular and most striking beauty. It was a natural
impulse to visit this inviting region. I procured a skiff, and
rowing across the river, landed at the chief wharf of the city.
No one met me there. I looked, and saw no one. I could hear no
one move, though the quiet everywhere was such that I heard the
flies buzz, and the water-ripples break against the shallow of
the beach. I walked through the solitary street. The town lay as
in a dream, under some deadening spell of loneliness, from which
I almost feared to wake it, for plainly it had not slept long.
There was no grass growing up in the paved ways; rains had not
entirely washed away the prints of dusty footsteps.
115
"Yet I went about unchecked. I went into empty workshops,
ropewalks and smithies. The spinner's wheel was idle; the
carpenter had gone from his work-bench and shavings, his
unfinished sash and casing. Fresh bark was in the tanner's vat,
and the fresh-chopped lightwood stood piled against the baker's
oven. The blacksmith's shop was cold; but his coal heap and
lading pool, and crooked water horn were all there, as if he had
just gone off for a holiday. No work-people anywhere looked to
know my errand.
115
"If I went into the gardens, clinking the wicket-latch loudly
after me, to pull the marigolds, heartsease, and lady-slippers,
and draw a drink with the water-sodden well-bucket and its noisy
chain; or, knocking off with my stick the tall, heavy-headed
dahlias and sunflowers, hunted over the beds for cucumbers and
love-apples--no one called out to me from any opened window, or
dog sprang forward to bark an alarm.
116
"I could have supposed the people hidden in the houses, but the
doors were unfastened; and when at last I timidly entered them, I
found dead ashes white upon the hearths, and had to tread a
tip-toe, as if walking down the aisle of a country church, to
avoid rousing irreverent echoes from the naked floors. On the
outskirts of the town was the city graveyard; but there was no
record of plague there, nor did it in anywise differ much from
other Protestant American cemeteries. Some of the mounds were not
long sodded; some of the stones were newly set, their dates
recent, and their black inscriptions glossy in the mason's hardly
dried lettering ink. Beyond the graveyard, out in the fields, I
saw, in one spot hard by where the fruited boughs of a young
orchard had been roughly torn down, the still smouldering remains
of a barbecue fire, that had been constructed of rails from the
fencing around it. It was the latest sign of life there. Fields
upon fields of heavy-headed yellow grain lay rotting ungathered
upon the ground. No one was there to take in their rich harvest.
116
"As far as the eye could reach they stretched away--they
sleeping, too, in the hazy air of autumn. Only two portions of
the city seemed to suggest the import of this mysterious
solitude. On the southern suburb, the houses looking out upon the
country showed, by their splintered wood-work and walls battered
to the foundation, that they had lately been the mark of a
destructive cannonade. And in and around the splendid Temple,
which had been the chief object of my admiration, armed men were
barracked, surrounded by their stacks of musketry and pieces of
heavy ordnance. These challenged me to render an account of
myself, and why I had had the temerity to cross the water without
written permit from a leader of their band.
116
"Though these men were generally more or less under the influence
of ardent spirits, after I had explained myself as a passing
stranger, they seemed anxious to gain my good opinion. They told
the story of the Dead City; that it had been a notable
manufacturing and commercial mart, sheltering over twenty
thousand persons; that they had waged war with its inhabitants
for several years, and had been finally successful only a few
days before my visit, in an action fought in front of the ruined
suburb; after which they had driven them forth at the point of
the sword. The defence, they said, had been obstinate, but gave
way on the third day's bombardment. They boasted greatly of their
prowess, especially in this battle, as they called it; but I
discovered they were not of one mind as to certain of the
exploits that had distinguished it, one of which, as I remember,
was, that they had slain a father and his son, a boy of fifteen,
not long residents of the fated city, whom they admitted to have
borne a character without reproach.
117
"They also conducted me inside the massive sculptured walls of
the curious Temple, in which they said the banished inhabitants
were accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed
worship. They particularly pointed out to me certain features of
the building which, having been the peculiar objects of a former
superstitious regard, they had, as a matter of duty, sedulously
defiled and defaced. The reputed sites of certain shrines they
had thus particularly noticed; and various sheltered chambers, in
one of which was a deep well, constructed, they believed, with a
dreadful design. Beside these, they led me to see a large and
deep chiselled marble vase or basin, supported upon twelve oxen,
also of marble, and of the size of life, or which they told some
romantic stories. They said the deluded persons, most of whom
were emigrants from a great distance, believed their Deity
countenanced their reception here of a baptism of regeneration,
as proxies for whomsoever they held in warm affection in the
countries from which they had come. That here parents 'went into
the water' for their lost children, children for their parents,
widows for their spouses, and young persons for their lovers;
that thus the Great Vase came to be for them associated with all
dear and distant memories, and was therefore the object, of all
others in the building, to which they attached the greatest
degree of idolatrous affection. On this account, the victors had
so diligently desecrated it, as to render the apartment in which
it was contained too noisome to abide in.
117
"They permitted me also to ascend into the steeple, to see where
it had been lightning-struck the Sabbath before; and to look out,
east and south, on wasted farms like those I had seen near the
city, extending till they were lost in the distance. Here, in the
face of the pure day, close to the scar of the divine wrath left
by the thunderbolt, were fragments of food, cruises of liquor,
and broken drinking vessels, with a bass drum and a steam boat
signal bell, of which I afterwards learned the use with pain.
117
"It was after nightfall when I was ready to cross the river on my
return. The wind had freshened since the sunset, and the water
beating roughly into my little boat, I edged higher up the stream
than the point I had left in the morning, and landed where a
faint glimmering light invited me to steer.
117
"Here, among the dock and rushes, sheltered only by the darkness,
without roof between them and the sky, I came upon a crowd of
several hundred human beings, whom my movements roused from
uneasy slumber on the ground.
117
"Passing these on my way to the light, I found it came from a
tallow candle in a paper funnel shade, such as is used by street
vendors of apples and peanuts, and which, flaming and guttering
away in the bleak air off the water, shone flickeringly on the
emaciated features of a man in the last stage of a billious
remittent fever. They had done their best for him. Over his head
was something like a tent, made of a sheet or two, and he rested
on a partially ripped open old straw mattress, with a hair sofa
cushion under his head for a pillow. His gaping jaw and glazing
eye told how short a time he would monopolize these luxuries;
though a seemingly bewildered and excited person, who might have
been his wife, seemed to find hope in occasionally forcing him to
swallow, awkwardly, sips of the tepid river water, from a burned
and battered bitter-smelling tin coffee-pot. Those who knew
better had furnished the apothecary he needed; a toothless old
bald-head, whose manner had the repulsive dullness of a man
familiar with death scenes. He, so long as I remained, mumbled in
his patient's ear a monotonous and melancholy prayer, between the
pauses of which I heard the hiccup and sobbing of two little
girls, who were sitting upon a piece of drift wood outside.
117
"Dreadful, indeed, was the suffering of these forsaken beings;
bowed and cramped with cold and sunburn, alternating as each
weary day and night dragged on, they were almost all of them, the
crippled victims of disease. They were there because they had no
homes, nor hospital, nor poor-house, nor friends to offer them
any. They could not satisfy the feeble cravings of their sick;
they had not bread to quiet the fractious hunger-cries of their
children. Mothers and babes, daughters and grand-parents, all of
them alike, were bivouacked in tatters, wanting even covering to
comfort those whom the sick shiver of fever was searching to the
marrow.
118
"These were Mormons, in Lee county, Iowa, in the fourth week of
the month of September, in the year of our Lord 1846. The
city--it was Nauvoo, Ill. The Mormons were the owners of that
city, and the smiling country around. And those who had stopped
their ploughs, who had silenced their hammers, their axes, their
shuttles, and their workshop wheels; those who had put out their
fires, who had eaten their food, spoiled their orchards, and
trampled under foot their thousands of acres of unharvested
bread; these were the keepers of their dwellings, the carouses in
their Temple, whose drunken riot insulted the ears of the dying.
118
"I think it was as I turned from the wretched night-watch of
which I have spoken, that I first listened to the sounds of revel
of a party of the guard within the city. Above the distant hum of
the voices of many, occasionally rose distinct the loud
oath-tainted exclamation, and the falsely intonated scrap of
vulgar song; but lest this requiem should go unheeded, every now
and then, when their boisterous orgies strove to attain a sort of
ecstatic climax, a cruel spirit of insulting frolic carried some
of them up into the high belfry of the Temple steeple, and there,
with the wicked childishness of inebriates, they whooped, and
shrieked, and beat the drum that I had seen, and rang in
charivaric unison their loud-tongued steam-boat bell.
118
"They were, all told, not more than six hundred and forty persons
who were thus lying on the river flats. But the Mormons in Nauvoo
and its dependencies had been numbered the year before at over
twenty thousand. Where were they? They had last been seen
carrying in mournful train their sick and wounded, halt and
blind, to disappear behind the western horizon, pursuing the
phantom of another home. Hardly anything else was known of them;
and people asked with curiosity, 'What had been their fate--what
their fortunes?'"
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / George
Albert Smith, October 9, 1868
George Albert Smith, October 9, 1868
OCTOBER 9TH.
118
The rear of the camp of the Saints that were driven out of
Nauvoo, as we left them last evening lying on the banks of the
Mississippi--a very uncomfortable and distressing situation--were
frequently annoyed by the firing of cannon from the opposite side
of the river, many of the shot landing in the river, but
occasionally some would pass over into the camp. One of them,
picked up in the camp, was sent as a present to the Governor of
Iowa.
118
The Rev. Thomas S. Brockman, leader of the mob who expelled the
Saints from Nauvoo, said when he entered the city, that he
considered he had gained a tremendous triumph; but there is no
language sufficient to describe the ignominy and disgrace that
must attach, in all time to come, to him and his associates, in
the accomplishment of so brutal a work on an innocent and
unoffending people on account of their religious opinions.
119
The settlements of Iowa on the west side of the Mississippi river
were scattering, extending back about seventy miles. We passed
through these settlements on our journey westward, that is,
President Young and the party that left Nauvoo in the winter. We
diverged a little from the regular route in order to be in the
vicinity of the settlements of Missouri. Our brethren scattered
wherever there was an opportunity to take jobs from the people,
making rails, building log houses, and doing a variety of work,
by which they obtained grain for their animals and breadstuff for
themselves. We were enabled to do this while moving slowly. In
fact, the spring rains soon rendered the ground so muddy that it
was impossible to travel but a very short distance at a time.
Soon after, when the grass grew, this divergence from the road
southerly was discontinued, by pursuing a direction further
north, until we reached a point on the east fork of Grand River,
where the President's company commenced a settlement called
Garden Grove, then another called Pisgah was commenced on the
west fork of the same river. These streams and a number of others
had to be bridged at a heavy expense, which was done by the
advanced parties. Our travel west of the settlements, before we
reached the Missouri river, was about 300 miles. The country was
in the possession of Potawattamie Indians. They, however, had
sold their lands to the United States, and were to give
possession the following year. We were delayed building ferry
boats and crossing the Missouri river. A large portion of our
people crossed at a point now known as Omaha city; some crossed a
little below, at Bellevue, or what we sometimes termed Whisky
Point, there being some missionaries and Indian traders there,
who occupied their time in selling whisky to and swindling the
Indians.
119
We were met there by Captain James Allen, of United States
dragoons, with an order from the War Department to enroll five
hundred volunteers for the war in Mexico. The volunteers were
enrolled in a very few days. A portion of our wagons had crossed
the Missouri at this time, and the residue of our people, from
whom the volunteers were drawn, were scattered on the way two
hundred miles towards Nauvoo. The men, however, volunteered,
leaving their families and teams on the prairies without
protectors, and very materially weakened the camp, because they
were the flower of the people. They marched direct for
Leavenworth, and there received the arms of infantry, and then
marched for California by way of Santa Fe. Their commander,
Lieutenant-Colonel Allen, died at Leavenworth, and they were
subsequently placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel P.
Saint George Cooke. They made a march of 2050 miles, to San
Diego. History may be searched in vain for a parallel to this
march of infantry. During a portion of this route they were on
three-quarter rations of bread, their only meat being such
draught animals as they were unable to proceed further. They
were, at one time, temporarily relieved from this pressure
through an encounter with a herd of wild bulls. These men were
discharged on the coast of California; but the Government,
finding it necessary to maintain some show of force in the
southern part of California, requested a company of them to
re-enlist, which they did, and served for a term of six months.
119
The departure of all these men from our party, left a great
burden on the shoulders of those who remained. President Young
gathered them together to a place now called Florence, which we
denominated Winter Quarters. While there we built seven hundred
log houses, one water-power and several horse mills for grinding
grain, and some hundred and fifty dug-outs, being a kind of cave
dug in the earth, or houses half underground.
119
We gathered up the families of the battalion the best we could,
but a great many were sick. Our exposures through the season,
being deprived of vegetable food, and the overwork through so
much bridge and road making, brought on sickness; and all who
were in Winter Quarters remember it as being a place where a
great many persons were afflicted, and many died.
120
Our brethren who were on the other side of the river established
camps in various localities. There were probably two thousand
wagons scattered about on the east side of the river in different
parts of the Potawattamie country, each grove or camping ground
taking the name of its leader. Many of those names are still
retained, the various camping grounds being known as Cutler's,
Perkins', Miller's, &c.
120
Elders Orson Hyde, P. P. Pratt and John Taylor, left the camp and
went on a mission to England. Brother Benson, accompanied by
other brethren, went to the east to solicit donations from our
eastern friends. I am not aware of the exact amount that was
donated, but it was only a trifle. There were a few old clothes
also contributed, which I believe were scarcely worth the
freight. Christian sympathy was not very strong for the
Latter-day Saints. But we feel very thankful to those who did
contribute, and shall ever remember with kindness their
generosity towards the Saints.
120
We were here visited by Col. Thos. L. Kane, of Philadelphia, an
extract from whose historical address was read yesterday. He
visited our camp and saw our condition, and was the only man, I
believe, who by words and deeds manifested that he felt to
sympathise with the outraged and plundered people called
Latter-day Saints. It may be that he was not the only man, but he
was the only man who made himself conspicuous by his sympathy
towards us. It is true that we have had men come here, as
merchants and officers, who have expressed to us that they did
have great sympathy with us at that time. It does us a great deal
of good now to hear them say so, we did not know anything about
it then.
120
In the spring of 1847, President Young, with one hundred and
forty-three pioneers, started in search of a place of settlement.
We started early, before there was a particle of grass in the
Platte valley. We carried our food with us, and fed our animals
on the cottonwood bark, until the grass grew, and managed to get
along, making the road for six hundred and fifty miles, and
followed the trappers' trail about four hundred miles more until
we arrived in this valley. The whole company arrived here on the
24th of July, 1847. There were a few bushes along the streams of
City Creek, and other creeks south. The land was barren; it was
covered with large black crickets, which seemed to be devouring
everything that had outlived the drouth and desolation. Here we
commenced our work by making an irrigation ditch, and planting
potatoes, which we have brought from the States; and late as it
was in the season, with all the disadvantages with which we had
to contend, we raised enough to preserve the seed, though very
few were as large as chestnuts. For the next three years we were
reduced to considerable straits for food. Fast-meetings were
held, and contributions constantly made for those who had no
provisions. Every head of a family issued rations to those
dependent upon him, for fear his supply of provisions should fall
short. Rawhides, wolves, rabbits, thistle roots, segos, and
everything that could be thought of that would preserve life,
were resorted to; there were a few deaths by eating poisonous
roots. A great deal of the grain planted here the first year grew
only a few inches high; it was so short it could not be cut. The
people had to pull it. A great many got discouraged and wanted to
leave the country; some did leave. The discovery of gold mines in
California by the brethren of the battalion, caused many of the
discontented to go to that paradise of gold.
121
During all these trials President Young was firm and decided; he
put on a smile when among the people, and said this was the place
God had pointed out for the gathering place of the Saints, and it
would be blessed and become one of the most productive places in
the world. In this way he encouraged the people, and he was
sustained by men who felt that God had inspired him to lead us
here.
121
President Young went back to Winter Quarters the first season,
and in 1848 returned with his family. John Smith, my honored
father, who was subsequently patriarch of the whole Church, and
who had been President of the Stake in Nauvoo, presided during
the absence of President Young. I think that, for a man of his
position to be place din, for all the murmuring, complaining,
fault-finding, distress, hunger, annoyances, fears and doubts of
the whole people were poured into his ear. But God inspired him,
although a feeble man, to keep up their spirits, and to sustain
the work that was entrusted to him until the arrival of the
President next season.
121
In three years--1850, the idea of a man issuing rations to his
family to keep them from starving had passed away; but the
grasshopper war of 1856 inflicted upon us so great a scarcity,
that issuing rations had to be resorted to again. Through all
these circumstances no one was permitted to suffer, though all
had to be pinched. I shall not attempt to give a detailed account
of all the circumstances connected with our position in those
trying times. But when our brethren arrive here by railroad and
see a country smiling with plenty, I think they can hardly
appreciate how it looked when we came.
121
When I first sat down on this ground, in 1847, I was dressed in
buckskin, having torn most of my clothes to pieces. I had rawhide
soles on my feet, and had a piece of hard bread and a piece of
dried antelope meat to eat. I lay down, took my pistol in my
hand, and held on to my horse by a lariat while eating my meat
and biscuit, for fear the Indians might take a notion to my hair,
of which I was always very choice. I took that meal near where
our City Hall now stands. There has been quite an improvement
since then.
121
The first year of our settlement here the crops were greatly
injured by crickets, and many of the people gave up all hope, and
it seemed as if actual starvation was inevitable for the whole
colony. God sent gulls from the Lake, and they came all devoured
the crickets. It seemed as if they were heavenly messengers sent
to stay the famine. They would eat until they were filled, and
would then disgorge; and so they continued eating and vomiting
until the fields were cleared, and the colony saved: Praise the
Lord! During the time of scarcity, when there was a short
allowance of bread, the people were remarkably healthy, more so
than they were afterwards when food became more plentiful.
122
In 1847 it was the counsel for every person leaving the Missouri
river to be provided with three hundred and sixty-five pounds of
bread stuff; many, however, came with less. The next season they
were to bring three hundred pounds, the season after two hundred
and fifty pounds; but in 1850 the people came with just enough to
serve them during their journey across the Plains. In 1849,
President Young founded the P. E. Fund. We had covenanted while
in Conference in the Temple at Nauvoo, that we would never quit
our exertions to the extent of our influence and property, until
every man, woman and child of the Latter-day Saints who wanted to
come to the mountains had been gathered. In 1849, notwithstanding
all our poverty, a large sum in gold was contributed by the
brethren for emigration purposes, and Bishop Edward Hunter went
back and commenced the work. We also recommenced the work of
missions, which for a short time had been partially suspended.
Missionaries were sent to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy,
Switzerland, Germany, and the islands of the Pacific.
122
The first commercial house established here by strangers was
Livingston and Kinkead's. Mr. Livingston had about eight thousand
dollars, which was all the money the firm had to invest. Kinkead
was taken in as a partner, and they obtained credit in the east
for twenty thousand dollars' worth of goods, freighted them here
and opened their store. They reported to their creditors that on
the first day of opening they received ten thousand dollars in
gold. They remained here until they made themselves fortunes, and
carried gold from this Territory, perhaps to the amount of
millions, and established themselves elsewhere. They were an
honorable business house, but I have often reflected upon the bad
policy that we, as servants of God, adopted at that time in
sustaining strangers. If the ten thousand dollars which were paid
into that house the first day, had been handled by some of our
experienced merchants in a co-operative institution, it would
have been just as easy to have furnished our own merchandize as
to have bought their's. Bishop N. K. Whitney, who was then
living, or Bishop Woolley, and numbers of others were well
acquainted with mercantile business; but they had been robbed of
all they had, and had no capital. It only wanted unity and
willingness on the part of the people to sustain their brethren
in their business relations, to have laid the foundation to
supply all that was ever supplied by Livingston and Kinkead.
122
I would like every one to inquire for himself--What would have
been the result if, instead of sustaining Livingston and Kinkead
and other merchants, our people had sustained Latter-day Saints?
The result would have been, that large sums of money would have
remained here and been used for building up the country; and when
a dark cloud had lowered over us, our brethren with this means in
their possession would have been on hand to aid the Saints in
defending and preserving their lives and liberties; while, as it
was, the influence of the men we had enriched was turned against
us, they believing they could make more money out of the
Government, and get rich quicker through war, than they could by
continuing their honest, legitimate business with the people
here. This firm is but one; several other firms might be
mentioned who pursued a similar course.
123
As soon as it was known in Christendom that the Latter-day Saints
were not dead, but that they were alive and flourishing, and were
gathering their people to the mountains at the rate of from two
to five thousand a year, and that they had succeeded in
reclaiming the desert, and in making grain and grass grow where
nothing would grow before, it seemed as though all hell was
aroused again. Federal officers were sent here, and they thought
it policy to join in the general hue and cry, or at least some of
them; there were a few honorable exceptions. But the majority of
them raised a hue and cry against us, and it was thought so much
of, that one of the rotten planks in the platform of the great
rising party which contested the elevation of James Buchanan to
the Presidency, was the destruction of polygamy. This brought to
our country immense armies, more men being concerned in the
matter than in some of the principal battles of the revolution,
or even in the war of 1812. Some six thousand regulars were
marched in this direction, while teamsters and hangers on
increased this number to about seventeen thousand. There were
also several thousand freight wagons, and everything on the face
of the earth, seemingly, that could be done to hurl into this
country destruction and vengeance, was done. But God overruled
it. When they got here they found that they really had been
deceived. They went and established themselves at Camp Floyd, and
spent their time in destroying arms and ammunition, and breaking
up the property of the United States, until forty million
dollars, the reported cost of the expedition, had been wasted.
The armies then scattered to the four winds of the heaven. This
expenditure of the Government money laid the foundation of these
outside mercantile establishments which have been nursed by us to
so great an extent from that time to this.
123
It has been believed that great benefit, financially, accrued to
the Saints through this expedition; but I think that as a whole
it has been a hindrance to our real progress. Very little of the
money came into the hands of the Saints, but some merchandize at
high prices, which might have been a temporary convenience. But
it caused our people to relax their energies in producing from
the elements what they needed, such as flax, cotton and wool; and
also turned their attention from the manufacture of iron. The
burning of wagons, the bursting of shell, and the destruction of
arms, furnished much of the latter at comparatively nominal
prices; hence a present benefit worked a permanent injury. The
speculators who made vast fortunes at the expense of the nation
soon squandered them, and part of this army, and even its
commander, and many of the officers, were soon found arrayed
against the flag of our country, and taking an active part in the
terrible war between the North and South, the results of which
are being so severely felt at the present time.
123
Scandalous sheets have been issued here for years, and, as far as
possible, sent to all parts of the world, filled with lies,
defamation and abuse, and everything that would tend to rouse the
indignation of the Christian world against us, and to get up an
excuse for our annihilation. These sheets have been sustained by
men in the mercantile business whom we have sustained by our
trade, and consequently have been supported indirectly by our
money. I have been horrified at such a use of our means, and have
felt that it was our duty, as Saints, to stop supporting these
slanders, lest, peradventure, should they continue until they
produced the designed effect, our blood should be upon our own
heads.
124
What did we cross the Plains for? To get where we could enjoy
peace and religious liberty. Why did we drag hand-carts across
the Plains? That we might have the privilege of dwelling and
associating with Saints, and not build up a hostile influence in
our midst, and place wealth in the hands of our enemies, who use
it to spread aborad defamation and falsehood, and to light a
flame that will again have the direct result, unless overruled by
the almighty power of God, of bringing upon the Latter-day Saints
here the same sorrow, distress and desolation that have followed
them elsewhere. For my part I do not fellowship Latter-day Saints
who thus use their money. I advise the Saints to form
co-operative societies and associations all over the Territory,
and to import everything they need that they cannot manufacture,
and not to pay their money to men who use it to buy bayonets to
slay them with, and to stir up the indignation of our fellow-men
against us. Our outside friends should feel contented with the
privilege of paying us the money for the products of our labor,
and we should exact it at their hands, as a due reward for our
exertions in producing the necessaries of life in this desert.
124
Some may say, "We are afraid the brethren are making money too
fast," or, "We do not like to trade with them, they charge us too
high." Suppose they do, you need not buy of them; but do not go
and buy of men who would use that money to cut your throats, or
to publish lies about you, and endeavor to induce all men to come
here and dispossess you of your homes. Do not be so mad as that.
"Well," says one, "I really want some little article that I
cannot buy elsewhere." Man's wants are very numerous, but his
necessities are really very few, and we should abridge our wants,
and go to work and manufacture everything we can within
ourselves; and what we cannot manufacture we can import, and save
ourselves the 40, 120, 400, or 1000 per cent that we are now
paying for our merchandize, and so stop building up those who are
laying a foundation, openly and above board, for our destruction.
And furthermore, cease to fellowship every man that will not
build up Zion. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / Orson
Pratt, April 10, 1870
Orson Pratt, April 10, 1870
DISCOURSE BY ELDER ORSON PRATT,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 10, 1870
(Reported by David W. Evans)
THE LATTER-DAY KINGDOM OF GOD--DIVINE AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF
MORMON--EXTERNAL TESTIMONY.
124
It has fallen to my lot to speak to the congregation this
afternoon, and I humbly hope and trust that, through your faith
and prayers, I may be assisted by the Comforter, the Holy Ghost,
in speaking to your edification; and I ask my Heavenly Father, in
the name of Jesus Christ, that He will pour out upon me that
Spirit which giveth utterance and enlighteneth the understanding,
that I may be able to edify all who hear me.
125
Forty years have passed away since the Church was organized. We
held Conference here on Wednesday last, in commemoration of that
eventful period in the history of our race, for it is a period
that we consider very eventful in our history and in the history
of the world; and we have no doubt in our own minds that the Lord
looks upon it in the same light, for He is interested more than
any other person possibly can be in the salvation of the human
family. And as He has set times in His own mind for the
performance of His own purposes, He no doubt chose the 6th day of
April, 1830, as the set time for the organization, or the
beginning of an organization or kingdom that should have no end.
125
All the governments which have hitherto had a place on our earth,
excepting those now in existence, have had an end. Human
governments have been very changeable in their nature. The Lord
has raised up a nation here and a nation there, a kingdom here
and a kingdom there, and He has suffered them to live and
flourish for a few centuries, and some, perhaps, even for one or
two thousand years; then He has caused them to pass away. But He
spoke to His ancient servant, who is called Daniel, whose
prophecy is written in this book (the Bible), and said that in
the latter days He would set up a government or kingdom which
should have no end. This government will differ from all
preceding governments set up from the Creation down to the period
of its establishment. Daniel says it shall become universal and
shall cover the whole earth. He calls the citizens of that
government Saints. He beheld that the stone cut out of the
mountain without hands should roll forth and become a great
mountain and fill the whole earth, and that all earthly
governments, kingdoms and empires should become like the chaff of
the summer threshing floor, and no place should be found for
them; while the stone that was cut out of the mountains should
have dominion over the whole earth, and the Saints of the Most
High should have dominion under the whole heaven.
125
Now there will have to be a beginning to that work. The Lord will
not make such a wonderful revolution as the one I have named, all
in one day, or in one year. Jesus made his appearance on the
earth in the meridian of time, and he established his kingdom on
the earth. But to fulfill ancient prophecies the Lord suffered
that kingdom to be uprooted; in other words, the kingdoms of this
world made war against the kingdom of God, established eighteen
centuries ago, and they prevailed against it, and the kingdom
ceased to exist. The great beast that John saw made war with it
and prevailed against it, and human institutions, without
prophets or inspired men, usurped the place of the ancient
kingdom of God. But God has promised that the latter-day kingdom
shall stand for ever. Though the heavens and earth be wrapped
together as a scroll and pass away, yet the kingdom that was to
be set up in the latter days will have no end, but will prevail
among all people under the heavens and will have dominion for one
thousand years. After that, when the earth passes away, the
kingdom will be caught up; it will not perish, be annihilated or
overcome, but be caught up into the heavens while the earth is
undergoing its last change; and when the Lord shall resurrect the
earth, the same as He will our bodies, and make it a new earth,
wherein shall dwell righteousness, He will then bring down out of
Heaven to the new earth this latter-day kingdom, with all the
former kingdoms that He has built up in other dispensations, and
they will stand for ever, for the new earth will never pass away.
126
The destiny of all governments established by human wisdom is to
pass away. The great nation of the United States, one of the best
governments ever organized by human authority on the earth, so
far as our knowledge goes, must pass away in many of its
features. The only way for safety to the people of the government
of the United States is to repent of their sins, turn away from
all their iniquities, receive the Gospel of the Son of God and
become citizens of that kingdom which is to endure for ever; then
all the great and glorious principles incorporated in this great
republic will be incorporated in the kingdom of God and be
preserved. I mean the principles of civil and religious liberty,
especially, and all other good principles that are contained in
that great instrument framed by our forefathers will be
incorporated in the kingdom of God; and only in this manner can
all that is good in this and in foreign governments be preserved.
126
The time will shortly come when thrones will be cast down and
empires will fall; and all republics and empires will eventually
fall and become like the dream of a night vision--they will
vanish away; but the kingdom of God will grow, flourish, spread
abroad and become stronger and more powerful, until its King
shall come in the clouds of Heaven, crowned in all the glory and
power of his Father, bringing the celestial hosts with him, to
sit upon his throne in Jerusalem and also in Zion, to reign over
his people here on the earth for the space of a thousand years,
before the destruction of the earth.
126
This is what we believe; and it is the sincere belief and faith
of the Latter-day Saints that we are in that kingdom. It is true
that our King is now absent: he is in the heavens. But we expect
him again; we look for him and he will come in his own due time.
The day when he will come he has not revealed to any of the
inhabitants of the earth, neither will he do so, for the Lord has
told us in a certain revelation, recorded in the Doctrine and
Covenants, that no one should have it revealed to them; but this
much God has revealed--that this kingdom which He has organized
on the earth has been organized preparatory to the day of the
coming of our Lord from the heavens. Hence in organizing this
kingdom He has restored all the essential characteristics of His
kingdom in its embryo, or its beginning: such as inspired men,
inspired prophets, inspired leaders, called by revelation to act
in different positions.
126
Now there is something very peculiar indeed in setting up the
kingdom of God in regard to the time. I told you in the
commencement of my remarks that the Lord generally had set times
to accomplish His purposes. It can be reasonably inferred,
according to the revelations that we have in the Book of Mormon,
that God organized His kingdom, precisely to a day, 1800 years
after the crucifixion. Of course we do not learn this directly
from the Book of Mormon; but we learn enough there of data on
which to found a calculation. We learn not only from this book,
but also from the antiquities of the Jews, from the New
Testament, from historians and from some of the Mosaic rites that
Jesus was crucified about the time of the Passover, and that
happened some time after the vernal equinox; and that 1833 years
had passed from the time of the birth of our Savior before the
organization of this latter-day kingdom.
127
The way we come at this is by the account given in the Book of
Mormon. We find that the ancient Israelites on this continent had
a sign given of the exact time of the crucifixion and a
revelation of the exact time of the Savior's birth, and according
to their reckoning, they made him thirty-three years and a little
over three days old from the time of his birth to the time that
he hung upon the cross. There is no doubt that the year of the
ancient Israelites, who inhabited this continent, differed a
little in length from our years; for they probably reckoned
their's somewhat after the manner of the Jews, at Jerusalem, and
the Jews had formed their reckoning from the Egyptians, among
whom they dwelt some four hundred years. The Egyptians reckoned
three hundred and sixty-five days to the year; but the ancient
Israelites on this continent, according to the records of the
early Spanish historians, did not consider that three hundred and
sixty-five days made up a full year, and hence at the end of
every fifty-two years they added thirteen days, which is
equivalent to adding one day every four years, the same as we do.
If such were the reckoning of the ancient Nephites, then
thirty-three years and three days of their time had passed away
between the time of the Savior's birth and crucifixion. Now these
thirty-three years and three days would, according to our
reckoning, lack five days of the thirty-three years. When we come
to trace back all these authorities, we find that this very day,
on which I am speaking, would be the close of the year, and that
to-morrow, the 11th day of April, would be the anniversary of the
very day on which Jesus was born; and the 6th day of April the
very day on which he was crucified precisely eighteen hundred
years prior to the organization of this Church.
127
I have made mention of this, not bringing all the evidences and
proofs that might be advanced, but merely to show, in a very
brief manner, that God has a set time to perform and accomplish
His work, and that the commencement of the organization of His
kingdom took place eighteen centuries after the time that the
Savior groaned and suffered on the cross.
127
There are a great many, of course, in the world, who disbelieve
this record which is received as divine by the Latter-day Saints.
A great many do not believe that the Book of Mormon is true, and
the reason they do not believe it is because they never have
examined the evidences. I consider that there are some evidences,
that never have been sufficiently put forth before the public, to
prove the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, quite as
strong as those which have been adduced. We have often referred
to the Old Testament to prove that a work of this nature was to
come forth in the latter days. The ancient prophets have spoken
of it in many places, sometimes under the term of a book.
Speaking of the manner in which it should be translated, you will
find it referred to in the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. It is
referred to in other places as sticks, written upon, one for
Judah and one for Joseph, that should be united together by the
power of the Lord in the latter days preparatory to His coming.
In other places it is referred to as truth which, in the latter
days, should come out of the ground, and that, at the same time,
righteousness should come down out of Heaven, and that this
should be a preparatory work for the salvation of Israel and for
the coming of the Lord.
128
But we will pass over all these Scriptural evidences, and name
one which, perhaps, our Elders themselves have not dwelt upon to
any very great extent to prove the divine authenticity of the
Book of Mormon.
128
This book, the Book of Mormon, informs us that the time of day at
which Jesus was crucified, I mean the time of day here in
America, was in the morning; the New Testament tells us that
Jesus was crucified in Asia in the afternoon, between the sixth
and ninth hour according to the Jews' reckoning. They commenced
their reckoning at six o'clock in the morning, and consequently
the sixth hour would be twelve o'clock at noon, and the ninth
hour three o'clock in the afternoon. Jesus, from the sixth to the
ninth hour, in other words, from twelve o'clock to three, was
hanging on the cross. Now the Book of Mormon, or the historians
whose records it contains, when relating the incidents that
transpired at the time of the crucifixion--the darkness that was
spread over the face of the land, the earthquakes, the rending of
rocks, the sinking of cities and the whirlwinds--say these events
occurred in the morning; they also say that darkness was spread
over the face of the land for the space of three days. In
Jerusalem it was only three hours. But the Lord gave them a
special sign in this country, and the darkness lasted three days,
and at the expiration of three days and three nights of darkness,
it cleared off, and it was in the morning. That shows that,
according to the time in this country, the crucifixion must have
taken place in the morning.
128
Says one, "Is not this a contradiction between the Book of Mormon
and the New Testament?" To an unlearned person it would really be
a contradiction, for the four Evangelists place it from twelve to
three in the afternoon, while the Book of Mormon says in the
morning. An unlearned person, seeing this discrepancy, would say,
of course, that both books cannot be true. If the Book of Mormon
be true the Bible cannot be; and if the Bible be true the Book of
Mormon cannot be.
129
I do not know that anybody ever brought up this objection, for I
do not think they ever thought of it. I do not think that the
Prophet Joseph, who translated the book, ever thought of this
apparent discrepancy. "But," says one, "how do you account for it
being in the morning in America and in the afternoon in
Jerusalem?" Simply by the difference in longitude. This would
make a difference of time of several hours; for when it would be
twelve at noon in Jerusalem it would only be half-past four in
the morning in the north-west party of South America, where the
Book of Mormon was then being written. Seven and a half hours
difference in longitude would account for this apparent
discrepancy; and if the Book of Mormon had said the crucifixion
took place in the afternoon we should have known at once that it
could not be true. This is incidental proof to learned or
scientific men that they cannot very well reason away, and
especially when the instrument who brought forth the Book of
Mormon is considered. It must be remembered that he was but a
youth, and unlearned; and, when he translated this work, I
presume that he was unaware that there was any difference in the
time of day, according to the longitude, in different parts of
the earth. I do not suppose that Joseph ever thought about it to
the day of his death. I never heard him or any other person bring
forth this as confirmatory evidence of the divine authenticity of
the Book of Mormon; I never thought of it myself until years
after Joseph's death; but when I did reflect upon it, I could see
the reason why the Lord, through His servants, has said in the
Book of Mormon, that the crucifixion took place in the morning.
129
But we will pass over this and will say a few words in regard to
the object of this great work. The Lord has brought forth the
Book of Mormon in order that all the nations, kindreds, tongues
and peoples on the face of the earth may be warned of the great
events which are about to take place. This book contains
prophecies which affect every nation under Heaven, prophecies
that will be fulfilled on their heads. Can we read the future of
this great American nation--our great republic? Yes, we can learn
a great many features within its pages concerning this nation and
government that we never should have learned without its aid or
the spirit of revelation. From it we learn that two great and
powerful nations formerly dwelt on this continent. One nation, or
rather the colony which founded it, came from the Tower of Babel
soon after the days of the Flood. They colonized what we call
North America, landing on the western coast, a little south of
the Gulf of California, in the south-western part of this north
wing of our continent. They flourished some sixteen hundred
years. When they first colonized this continent from the Tower of
Babel, the Lord told them if they would not serve Him faithfully,
but became ripe in iniquity, they should be cut off from the face
of the land. That was fulfilled about six hundred years before
Christ, when they were entirely swept off, and in their stead the
Lord brought a remnant of Israel, a few families, not the ten
tribes, but a small portion of the tribe of Joseph. He brought
them from Jerusalem first down to the Red Sea. They travelled
along the eastern borders of the Red Sea for many days, and then
bore off in an eastern direction which brought them to the
Arabian Gulf. There they were commanded of the Lord to build a
vessel. They went aboard of this vessel and were brought by the
special providence of God across the great Indian and Pacific
Oceans, and landed on the western coast of South America. This
was about five hundred and eighty years before the coming of
Christ. Eleven years after the Lord brought this first colony of
Israelites from Jerusalem, He brought another small colony,
headed by one of the sons of Zedekiah, a descendant of King
David. They left Jerusalem the same year that the Jews were
carried away captive into Babylon, were brought forth to this
continent and landed somewhere north of the Isthmus. They wended
their way into the northern part of South America. About four
hundred years after this the two colonies amalgamated in the
northern part of South America and they became one nation.
129
The first colony brought with them the Jewish Scriptures, on
plates of brass, containing an account of the Creation and the
history of their nation down to eleven years before the
Captivity, or six hundred years before Christ. These brass plates
were kept among them during the period of their righteousness,
and were preserved by the hand of the Lord. The second colony
that came from Jerusalem came without the Scriptures, and having
no copy of the sacred writings they soon fell into wickedness. In
four hundred years time they disbelieved in the being of a God,
but uniting with the other branch of Israelites they were
converted. Their language had become much corrupted, but through
their conversion their language was restored in a partial measure
by means of the records which were possessed by the other colony.
130
About forty-five years before Christ a very large colony of
five thousand four hundred men, with wives and children, united
themselves together in the northern part of South America, and
came forth by land into North America, and travelled an
exceedingly great distance until they came to large bodies of
water and many rivers, very probably in the great Mississippi
Valley. In the next ten years numerous other colonies came forth
and spread themselves on the northern portion of the continent
and became exceedingly numerous.
130
You may inquire, "Did all these different colonies have the
Scriptures?" Yes. "How did they get them?" They had a great many
scribes in their midst. The Book of Mormon informs us that they
had not only the Scriptures which they brought from Jerusalem,
but those given by the living prophets among them; and that a
great many copies were written and sent forth into all of these
colonies, so that the people in all their colonies were well
acquainted with the law of Moses and with the prophecies of her
prophets in relation to the first coming of our Savior Jesus
Christ.
131
"But," some may inquire, "have you any external evidence to prove
what you are now saying?" I think we have. Thirty years after the
Book of Mormon was put in print, giving the history of the
settlement of this country, one of the great mounds south of the
great lakes near Newark, in Ohio, was opened. What was found in
it? A great many curiosities, among which were some copper
pieces, supposed to be money. After digging down many feet, and
carrying off many thousand loads of stone, they at length found a
coffin in the midst of a hard kind of fire clay. Underneath this
they found a large stone that appeared to be hollow; something
seemed to rattle inside of it. The stone was cemented together in
the middle, but with some little exertion they broke it open,
when another stone was found inside of it, of a different nature
entirely from its covering. On the stone taken from the inside
was carved the figure of a man with a priestly robe flowing from
his shoulders; and over the head of this man were the Hebrew
characters for Moshe, the ancient name of Moses; while on each
side of this likeness, and on different sides of the stone,
above, beneath, and around about were the Ten Commandments that
were received on Mount Sinai, written in the ancient Hebrew
characters. Now recollect that the Book of Mormon had been in
print thirty years before this discovery. And what does this
discovery prove? It proves that the builders of these mounds,
south of the great lakes in the great Mississippi Valley in Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, New York, etc., must have understood the
Hebrew characters; and not only that, but they must also have
understood the law of Moses. Otherwise how happened it that they
should write on this stone the Ten Commandments almost verbatim
as they are now contained in King James' translation of the
Bible. It proves that the builders of these mounds were
Israelites, and that their illustrious dead, buried in these
mounds, had these commandments buried with them, in accordance
with the custom of many of the ancient nations, especially the
Egyptians, who were in the habit of consigning their written
sacred papyrus to their great tombs. In Egypt many of these
ancient manuscripts have been exhumed and, in many instances,
pretended to be translated. So the Israelites followed the
customs of these Eastern nations, and buried that which they
considered most sacred, namely, the Ten Commandments, thundered
by the voice of the Almighty in the midst of flaming fire on
Mount Sinai in the ears of all the congregation of Israel.
131
I have seen that sacred stone. It is not a hatched up story. I
heard tell of it as being in the Antiquarian Society, or rather,
as it is now called, the Ethnological Society, in the City of New
York. I went to the Secretary of that Society, and he kindly
showed me this stone, of which I have been speaking, and being
acquainted with modern Hebrew, I could form some kind of an
estimate of the ancient Hebrew, for some of the modern Hebrew
characters do not vary much in form from the ancient Hebrew. At
any rate we have enough of ancient Hebrew, that has been dug up
in Palestine and taken from among the ruins of the Israelites
east of the Mediterranean Sea, to form some kind of an estimate
of the characters that were in use among them; and having these
characters and comparing them, I could see and understand the
nature of the writing upon these records. They were also taken to
the most learned men of our country, who, as soon as they looked
at them, were able to pronounce them to be not only ancient
Hebrew, but they were also able to translate them and pronounced
them to be the Ten Commandments. This, then, is external proof,
independent of the Scriptural proofs to which I have alluded, in
testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
131
Now, our modern Hebrew has many points; it has also many
additional characters not found in the ancient Hebrew. These
additional characters have been made since these colonies left
Jerusalem. Do you find on these ancient writings any of these
modern characteristics that have been introduced during the last
two thousand four hundred years? Not one. Do you find any Hebrew
points representing vowels? Not one; and all the new consonants
that have been introduced during the last two thousand four
hundred years were not found upon this stone to which I have
referred, showing plainly that it must have been of very ancient
date.
131
Five years after the discovery of this remarkable memento of the
ancient Israelites on the American continent, and thirty-five
years after the Book of Mormon was in print, several other mounds
in the same vicinity of Newark were opened, in several of which
Hebrew characters were found. Among them was this beautiful
expression, buried with one of their ancient dead, "May the Lord
have mercy on me a Nephite." It was translated a little
different--"Nephel." Now we well know that Nephi, who came out of
Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ, was the leader of the
first Jewish colony across to this land, and the people, ever
afterwards, were called "Nephites," after their inspired prophet
and leader. The Nephites were a righteous people and had many
prophets among them; and when they were burying one of their
brethren in these ancient mounds, they introduced the Hebrew
characters signifying "May the Lord have mercy on me a Nephite."
This is another direct evidence of the divine authenticity of the
Book of Mormon, which was brought forth and translated by
inspiration some thirty-five years before this inscription was
found.
132
But I said I would tell you some of the objects that the Lord had
in view in bringing forth this sacred record. It is in order to
prepare the people for the day of His coming, in order to
establish the true Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, with
all its ordinances, gifts, powers and blessings, that the people
might have the old, ancient religion, even the fulness of the
blessings of that Gospel that was preached eighteen hundred years
ago.
132
Another object that the Lord had in view was to gather His people
out from all nations before the coming of the great and terrible
judgments which are pronounced in this ancient record of the
Nephites. God has said, concerning the nation which should
inherit this land in the latter days, when this work should be
brought forth, if they would not repent of their sins and hearken
to the servants of God who should be sent forth among them, if
they would reject this divine record which He should bring forth
by His power, if they would fight against His Church and His
Zion, that when they were fully ripened in iniquity they should
be cut off from the face of this land. And for this reason He
would gather out from their midst His people and assemble them in
one.
132
This is all predicted in the Book of Mormon. And remember this
was in print before the organization of the Church took place.
The Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, and consisted
of six members only; but the Book of Mormon was in print before
that. How did Joseph Smith, if an impostor, as he is represented
to be by a great many of the world, foretell events that have
been taking place during the past forty years? How could he know
that this book would be received beyond his own neighborhood, or
ever extend beyond the limits of the State of New York? How did
he know it would go beyond the limits of this continent and
across the ocean and spread forth among many nations? "Well,"
says one, "he might have guessed it." Yes, but guesses are very
uncertain indeed. Many people may conjecture, and think that such
and such things will be the case; but when it comes to
enumerating particulars in regard to the future, if a man is not
inspired of God, how liable he is to fall into ten thousand
errors!
132
Now this book predicted, not only the spread of this work among
this people or nation, but also that it would go forth to all
people, nations and tongues under the whole heavens. Forty years
only have passed away, and how much of this has been fulfilled
already! This book has been translated into eight different
languages and spread forth upon the islands of the sea--the
Sandwich Islands, the Society Islands, Australia, New Zealand,
Hindostan, and has gone forth to the nations of Europe and has
penetrated to almost every nation under heaven in the course,
only, of forty years.
133
Has there been any gathering, according to the predictions of
this book? for it not only predicts the organization and rising
up of the kingdom of God in the latter days when it should go
forth, but it also speaks of the great gathering together of His
people. Has this been fulfilled? What do I now see before me?
Several thousand people listening to me in the midst of one of
the most frightful deserts of the North American continent; that
is, it was frightful, so much so that Fremont and others could
not traverse it, with any degree of safety, unless a large
company was with them; and even, with all the means he had at his
command, Fremont could not travel through these deserts without
losing a great many of his men. It was a parched up, dry and
sterile country, and it looked as though an agricultural people
never could possess it with any degree of advantage. This was the
description given by those who explored a small portion of this
country before the Latter-day Saints settled it. But what do I
now see? Not only this large congregation now before me, but as I
travel to and fro in the Territory I see four hundred miles of
desert reclaimed, and over one hundred towns, cities and villages
incorporated and organized, cultivating the earth, and numerous
flocks and herds being raised by peaceable settlers. Who are
these settlers? Those who believe in the divine authenticity of
the Book of Mormon; those who believe that Joseph Smith was a
true prophet, and thus have fulfilled his predictions. Is it not
another testimony in favor of the divine authenticity of this
record when we see things transpiring that, to all natural
appearance, never could have transpired? What did our enemies say
when this book was first printed? "O, it is only destined for a
year or two; two years at longest will see the end of
'Mormonism.'" By and by, when two years had passed away, and they
began to see that their prophecies were failing, they concluded
to extend the time for the extinction of "Mormonism," and they
would say, "Watch five years more, and 'Mormonism' will have an
end." Why it was so inconsistent in their opinion that God should
again speak from the heavens, and have inspired men on the earth;
that He should restore all the gifts of the ancient Gospel; that
He should send an angel with the everlasting Gospel in
fulfillment of the predictions of John the Revelator and the
testimony of many of the ancient prophets. It was so foreign to
their minds that any such prophecies should be fulfilled in their
day, that they predicted that this work would have an end in five
years. That was the way the natural man viewed the matter.
133
But God, who can foresee all events among the children of men,
had His eye fixed on the gathering of His children before the
Church was organized, and He predicted that they should come out
of every nation under Heaven. Not only from the settled portions
of the Gentile nation, but they should be brought forth out of
the midst of that Gentile nation, just as we have been.
133
If you want to learn particularly concerning that prophecy, read
the saying of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon, when
he descended in the northern part of South America, soon after
his resurrection, and ascension to heaven. He descended in the
sight of a large congregation of two thousand five hundred men,
women and children, a little south of the Isthmus, at a place
where they had built a temple. After making his appearance in
their midst, he taught them many things, and showed them the
wounds in his hands, in his feet and in his side. In his
instructions on that occasion he commanded them to do away with
the law of Moses, so far as the ordinances, sacrifices and burnt
offerings were concerned, and he commanded them to receive the
Gospel which he taught them. After he had done all this, he
commenced to prophecy to them, and his prophecies are in this
record; and one of them has been fulfilled during the last forty
years. He said he would bring forth their gold plates, which they
then had in their midst. He declared that the Father should bring
them forth unto the Gentiles in the latter days. The prophecy
says, "If the Gentiles will not receive the fulness of my Gospel
which shall be contained in that book, behold, saith the Father,
I will bring the fulness of my Gospel from among them." These are
the words of Jesus, as recorded in this book.
134
Has this prophecy been fulfilled? How could the Lord have
brought the Saints from among the inhabitants of the great nation
of Gentiles, called the United States, any more effectually than
He did twenty-three years ago when He located us in these
mountains? Was there any other part of this continent on which
this prophecy could have been so effectually fulfilled? Nowhere.
We did not come here altogether of our own accord, that is, all
of us did not; some few did, because they understood the mind and
will of the Lord in regard to the gathering of the Saints from
among the Gentiles; but a great many were so attached to their
farms and homes in the East that they had to be driven away
before they would come. It was not indeed a pleasurable thing to
any of us, only to those who understood the mind and will of God
in relation to the matter. The Lord brought us some twelve
hundred miles from the settled portions of the United States, and
planted us in one of the most wild and isolated regions on the
face of the whole continent.
134
How completely were the words of Jesus fulfilled! "If the
Gentiles in that day do not receive the fulness of my Gospel,
which shall be translated from the Record, behold, saith the
Father, I will bring my people, my Priesthood, my Gospel, and my
Saints from their midst." Twenty-three years that prophecy has
been fulfilling, and I think it has been accomplished to the very
letter.
134
What next has the Lord predicted? He has predicted that if the
Gentiles do not repent in that day, "Behold, saith the Father, I
will sweep them from the face of the land, as I did the nation
that I brought from the Tower of Babel. So shall they be swept
off from the face of the land, when they are fully ripened in
iniquity."
135
I do not know when this will be fulfilled; but we are all the
time in expectation. The Lord does not generally do things in a
hurry. He gives the people plenty of time to ripen themselves in
iniquity, if they will not repent. It does not take some people a
very great time to ripen, for you know this is a fast age, and
things are done in a great hurry now-a-days, and when they get on
the downward course, into all manner of wickedness, they seem to
rush with lightning speed into all the corruption that can be
named. What a difference between our fathers, who lived forty
years ago, and the present generation! Every one can see it. The
rising generation are proud, haughty, high-minded, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God; fighting against His people;
given to whoredom and prostitution and all manner of iniquity and
abominations; guilty of all the abominations named by the apostle
that should characterize the false churches of the latter days,
having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. That
is, denying the gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, revelation,
the ministering and discerning of spirits. All these things were
denied when the Book of Mormon came forth. Of course the devil
saw that it was not policy, with all the Scriptures staring them
in the face, and all the Latter-day Saint Elders quoting these
Scriptures to show the necessity of the gifts, to keep them
denying these gifts; hence he introduced them under the name of
Spiritualism. As soon as the Book of Mormon came forth, the
counterfeit then spread like the counterfeit gifts exercised by
the old magicians of Egypt. When Moses went down with the power
and authority of Heaven, the counterfeit sprang up in order to
delude the Egyptians, and make them think the power of Moses was
the same in character as that exercised by the magicians. When
Moses threw down his rod it became a serpent; the rods of the
magicians did the same. When Moses brought up frogs on the land,
they did the same; when he turned the rivers of water into blood,
they did the same; and thus they deluded the Egyptian nation, and
made them believe that if the power of Moses was superior to
theirs, it was only because he had learned the magic art more
thoroughly than they had.
135
Well, it seems as if the Lord our God is giving the nation a
pretty thorough warning. He told this nation by revelation,
twenty-eight years before it commenced, of the great American
war. He told all about how the Southern States should be divided
against the Northern States, and that in the course of the war
many souls should be cut off. This has been fulfilled.
135
I went forth before my beard was gray, before my hair began to
turn white, when I was a youth of nineteen, now I am fifty-eight,
and from that time on I published these tidings among the
inhabitants of the earth. I carried forth the written revelation,
foretelling this great contest, some twenty-eight years before
the war commenced. This prophecy has been printed and circulated
extensively in this and other nations and languages. It pointed
out the place where it should commence in South Carolina. That
which I declared over the New England States, New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and many other parts in the East, when but a
boy, came to pass twenty-eight years after the revelation was
given.
135
When they were talking about a war commencing down here in
Kansas, I told them that was not the place; I also told them that
the revelation had designated South Carolina, "and," said I, "you
have no need to think that the Kansas war is going to be the war
that is to be so terribly destructive in its character and
nature. No, it must commence at the place the Lord has designated
by revelation."
135
What did they have to say to me? They thought it was a Mormon
humbug, and laughed me to scorn, and they looked upon that
revelation as they do upon all others that God has given in these
latter days--as without divine authority. But behold and lo! in
the process of time it came to pass, again establishing the
divinity of this work, and giving another proof that God is in
this work, and is performing that which He spoke by the mouths of
the ancient prophets, as recorded in the Book of Mormon before
any Church of Latter-day Saints was in existence.
136
This same book says, "In that day the blood of the Saints shall
cry from the ground for vengeance on the heads of the wicked."
What! in a free and enlightened nation and government like the
United States, which holds forth, in the first amendment to the
Constitution, liberty, and freedom of conscience! A Constitution
that protects religious societies in their belief! A Constitution
that guarantees liberty of the press, and liberty to all to serve
God according to the dictates of their own consciences! Can it be
that such a prophecy will be fulfilled in the midst of such an
enlightened nation? The Book of Mormon declared it, and that,
too, before the existence of the Latter-day Saints' Church. It
has been printed and sent to all the world, that in that day,
when that book should come forth, the blood of the Saints should
cry to the Lord from the ground of these United States for
vengeance upon the heads of their persecutors and murderers. Has
this been fulfilled? In the history of this people and Church
during the last forty years I read concerning our drivings from
Jackson county, Missouri; from Kirtland, Ohio; of our drivings
from Clay county, Missouri, and from Caldwell county to Ray, and
out of many counties in the western part of Missouri into
Illinois.
136
The word concerning the driving of the people from Illinois,
westward to the Rocky Mountains, in the article of the treaty got
up by the mobocrats, was that "we must not stop short of the
Rocky Mountains, but that we must go beyond them." Were any lives
lost in those terrible persecutions, or was it merely property
taken away from the Saints, without paying them a cent, in the
shape of thousands of acres of land which they had paid the
Government for, and comfortable houses? If it had been only our
houses and lands it would have been bad enough; but lives were
taken--innocent men, women and children were shot down. I might
go on and relate some of the circumstances, but I dislike to
dwell on the subject; it is apt to kindle up old nature in one's
heart, therefore I will leave that topic. Suffice it to say that
the blood of hundreds, and I might almost say thousands, will be
required at the hands of this nation unless the people repent.
136
Where is our prophet who translated this book, that noble youth
whom God raised up when only between fourteen and fifteen years
of age? Where is that noble boy to whom God sent His angel, and
to whom He gave the Urim and Thummim, and to whom He entrusted
the original golden plates from which this book was translated?
He fell a martyr to his religion under this free Government of
the United States. Where is the Patriarch of our Church, the
brother of our Prophet? He, too, was shot down at the same time.
By whom? By people who were painted black for the occasion, and
who boasted of their bloody deeds in Hancock county, Illinois.
Some of them are still alive in that county, and to this day
boast of their bloody deeds in persecuting the Latter-day Saints.
136
Many scores of our people were wasted away, and their blood soaks
the soil of this great government, crying aloud to the heavens
for vengeance on those who shed the blood of the martyrs, and who
persecuted God's people and sent them forth, as they supposed, to
perish in the heart of the Great American Desert.
136
No only will they who committed these deeds be brought to
judgment, but those also who stood back behind the screen and
said, "How glad I am, Joe Smith is now dead, the Mormon Patriarch
Hyrum Smith is shot down, and we have killed many of their
followers, men, women and children. They have been driven five
times from their locations and settlements and been robbed of
millions of dollars' worth of property and we are enjoying it,
and it is all right. Joe Smith ought to have been killed before,
long ago."
137
This seemed to be the feeling of a great many people in the
American nation. They sanctioned the shedding of innocent blood,
if they did not actually shed it themselves and God will require
it at their hands. Will He require anything at the hands of our
nation, in a national capacity, in regard to this matter? Was it
not within their power to protect us on the lands which we
purchased from the General Government? We did not purchase, to
any extent, land from the Missourians, but we took up land that
belonged to the General Government. We paid our money into that
Government Land Office. Did they protect us in the possession of
that land which they guaranteed by their deeds to us and our seed
or heirs for ever? They did not. Did they protect us in our
citizenship? No, they did not. Did we appeal to them for
protection? Yes, we laid our case before them. What was their
reply? Martin Van Buren, who sat at the head of the Government at
that time, said, "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do
nothing for you." He saw the testimony; there was no getting away
from it. His reply indicated that he thought we had been
persecuted so many years that they had the right to persecute us;
and when we asked, "Can you protect us according to the
Constitution, in our just right? can you not restore us our
property--our houses and lands?" the reply was, "No, we can do
nothing for you."
137
Then, according to our ideas of the justice that dwells in the
bosom of the Almighty, who is the Judge of all the earth, we must
suppose that He will not only hold the actual murderers of the
Saints responsible, but all who sanctioned the deed, and the
nation for not punishing those murderers and for not protecting
us in our rights, and suffering us to be exiled unjustly to a
foreign territory, for Utah then belonged to Mexico. When we
could not find safety in the United States we fled to Mexico for
protection; but we ultimately assisted in redeeming the land we
now occupy from the Mexican Government and securing it to the
United States Government. After sending five hundred of our men
to redeem this country, the United States formed a treaty with
Mexico, and this became United States territory.
137
By and by, after having secured this soil to our Government by
the Mormon Battalion, and having redeemed it from its sterility,
and built upwards of a hundred towns and settlements, it was sold
to us. Did we find fault at having to pay for it? No. When the
land office was opened in this Territory two or three years ago,
we considered it all right and we were willing to pay our money
for it. But what now? A bill is before Congress the object of
which is to deprive us of the lands which we have paid for. The
Government has got our money in its Treasury for lands we have
bought and paid for, and for which it bargained to give us a deed
and entered into a compact that we and our children after us
should possess this land for ever, and now Congress has got up a
law to deprive every man in this Territory, whose religious faith
happens to differ from Congress, of these lands. Because we
happen to differ on certain religious points with the General
Government, we are to be deprived of our homestead rights,
guaranteed to us and to the people of all the Territories of the
United States, by the laws of Congress.
138
Does this look like justice? Is this even-handed justice? It does
not seem to agree with my ideas of justice any more than the
proceedings of the mobocrats in Missouri, Ohio or Illinois. When,
therefore, the American nation, as a nation, by the voice of her
Representatives, Senators and President, sanctions a law to
deprive American citizens of their citizenship, to rob them of
their houses and lands, and then deprive them of their liberty,
because of a difference of religious belief and practice, I think
the nation is pretty well ripened, and that it will not take much
more to prepare them for the fulfilment of the prophecies which I
have been repeating. I do not know how long-suffering the Lord
is. It is a good thing that He has wisdom, knowledge and
understanding, that He is not a human being, or He would get
wrathy and swallow up the people in a moment. It is a good thing
that you and I do not have people to deal with according to our
feelings. God is a long-suffering being. He has fulfilled a great
many things pertaining to this people during forty years past.
There are a great many more to be fulfilled in relation to us,
and in relation to the nation which is persecuting us; but
whatever the final result may be, whether the American Congress
pass laws to persecute us or not; whether they rob us of our
houses and lands or not; whether they imprison us and send us for
five years to a Penitentiary or a military camp or not, there is
one thing sure--as sure as the sun shines forth in yonder
heavens, so sure will the Lord fulfil one thing with regard to
this people. What is that? He will return them to Jackson county,
and in the western part of the State of Missouri they will build
up a city which shall be called Zion, which will be the
head-quarters of this Latter-day Saint Church; and that will be
the place where the prophets, apostles and inspired men of God
will have their head-quarters. It will be the place where the
Lord God will manifest Himself to His people, as He has promised
in the Scriptures, as well as in modern revelation.
138
"Do you believe that?" says one. Just as much as we believed,
long before it came to pass, what has taken place. The world can
believe what has taken place, because it has been fulfilled. The
Latter-day Saints believe in prophecies before they take place.
We have just as much confidence in returning to Jackson county
and the building of a great central city that will remain there a
thousand years before the earth passes away, as the Jews have in
returning to Jerusalem and re-building the waste places of
Palestine. In fact we have more faith than they have; for they
have been so many generations cast out of their land that their
descendants have almost lost their faith in returning. But the
Latter-day Saints are fresh, as it were. There are many of the
old stock, who passed through all those tribulations I have
named, still living, whose faith in returning to Jackson county,
and the things that are coming, is as firm and fixed as the
throne of the Almighty. We know the future destiny of this
kingdom as well as we know its past history, that is concerning
the general events which are to transpire.
138
I am taking up too much of your time. May the Lord bless us as a
people; bless us with wisdom, with understanding, with power and
with the heavens, with union, with peace among ourselves; bless
us with righteousness, and joy in the Holy Ghost; bless us with
the spiritual gifts of His kingdom, multiply His favors upon us
and upon our generations after us, forever and ever, is my prayer
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, July 11, 1869
Brigham Young, July 11, 1869
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 11, 1869
(Reported by David W. Evans)
THE LORD'S SUPPER--MIRACLES AND MANIFESTATIONS OF THE POWER
OF GOD--THE GOSPEL AND THE GIFTS AND BLESSINGS THEREOF.
139
I need the attention of the congregation and the faith of those
who have faith; I need the wisdom of God and His Spirit to be in
my heart to enable me to speak to the edification of the people.
Although I have been a public speaker for thirty-seven years, it
is seldom that I rise before a congregation without feeling a
child-like timidity; if I live to the age of Methusaleh I do not
know that I shall outgrow it. There are reasons for this which I
understand. When I look upon the faces of intelligent beings I
look upon the image of the God I serve. There are none but what
have a certain portion of divinity within them; and though we are
clothed with bodies which are in the image of our God, yet this
mortality shrinks before that portion of divinity which we
inherit from our Father. This is the cause of my timidity, and of
all others who feel this embarrassment when they address their
fellow beings.
139
While we are administering the sacrament I will read the 16th
verse of the 10th chapter of Corinthians, where Paul, speaking of
the administration of this ordinance, says, "The cup of blessings
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of
Christ?"
139
There are many passages of Scripture which refer to the
administering of the sacrament. A saying, direct from the lips of
Jesus, has not been understood by all those who have believed in
his name. When he was about to take his departure from this world
he called his disciples into an upper room and he took bread and
brake it and blessed it and gave it to his disciples, and said,
"Take, eat; this is my body." He then took the cup and blessed it
and gave to his disciples, saying, "Drink ye all of it." If we
were to stop here, I think it would be more difficult to
understand than if we were to read the rest of his sayings on
this subject. This is my body which is given for you; this is my
blood of the New Testament. This do in remembrance of me; I will
not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day
when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
140
We do this in remembrance of the death of our Savior; it is
required of his disciples until he comes again, no matter how
long that may be. No matter how many generations come and go,
believers in him are required to eat bread and drink wine in
remembrance of his death and sufferings until he comes again. Why
are they required to do this? To witness unto the Father, to
Jesus and to the angels that they are believers in and desire to
follow him in the regeneration, keep his commandments, build up
his kingdom, revere his name and serve him with an undivided
heart, that they may be worthy to eat and drink with him in his
Father's kingdom. This is why the Latter-day Saints partake of
the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.
140
I know that in the Christian world sermon after sermon is
preached on this subject; yet people there differ in their belief
concerning these emblems. The Mother Church of the Christian
world believes that the bread becomes the actual flesh of Jesus,
and that the wine becomes his blood; this is preposterous to me.
It is bread, and it is wine; but both are blessed to the souls of
those who partake thereof. But to be followers of the Lord Jesus
more is required than merely to partake of the bread and
wine--the emblems of his death and suffering--it is necessary
that strict obedience be rendered to his requirements.
140
On one occasion when the Savior was speaking to his disciples he
gave them a mission, saying, "Go ye into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be
damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my
name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new
tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any
deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the
sick, and they shall recover." These are the words spoken by
Jesus when he sent his disciples forth to preach the Gospel.
140
In the search after truth, those who are unconverted might say
with propriety that where the signs follow believers there is the
Gospel. Yet, in the Christian world, it is generally conceded
that signs are no longer necessary, and that miracles are not
needed now, and were given in the days of Jesus merely to
establish the validity of the Gospel he preached and the
authenticity of his mission from heaven to earth. I do not so
understand it. I think if I had lived in the days of Jesus my
mind would have been led very much as it is now. I do not want to
see a miracle to confirm the truth of any doctrine or saying that
is revealed to me. If I can see that it is calculated to purify
the hearts of the people and to sanctify their affections, and to
reconcile them to God and to His law and government, it satisfies
me; and so far as this goes I might say that I am like the
Christian world, in the belief that miracles are no longer
needed. But I believe that miracles are as absolutely necessary
now as they ever were. Yet I will say with regard to miracles,
there is no such thing save to the ignorant--that is, there never
was a result wrought out by God or by any of His creatures
without there being a cause for it. There may be results, the
causes of which we do not see or understand, and what we call
miracles are no more than this--they are the results or effects
of causes hidden from our understandings.
141
This, in my own mind, is argued out perfectly, upon natural
principles. It is natural for me to believe that, if I plough the
ground and sow wheat, in the proper season I shall reap a crop of
wheat; this is the natural result. It was precisely so with the
miracles that Jesus wrought upon the earth? At the wedding in
Cana of Galilee, when they had drunk all the wine they went to
the Savior and asked him what they should do. He ordered them to
fill up their pots with water, and after having done so they drew
forth of that water and found that it was wine. I believe that
was real wine; I do not believe that it was done on the
principles that such things are done in these days by wicked men,
who, by means of what they term psychology, electro-biology,
mesmerism, &c., influence men and make them believe that water is
wine, and other things of a similar character. The Savior
converted the water into wine. He knew how to call the necessary
elements together in order to fill the water with the properties
of wine. The elements are all around us; we eat, drink and
breathe them, and Jesus, understanding the process of calling
them together, performed no miracle except to those who were
ignorant of that process. It was the same with the woman who was
healed by touching the hem of his garment; she was healed by
faith, but it was no miracle to Jesus. He understood the process,
and although he was pressed by the crowd, behind and before, and
on each side, so that he could scarcely make his way through it,
the moment she touched him he felt virtue leave him and enquired
who touched him. This was no miracle to him. He had the issues of
life and death in his power; he had power to lay down his life
and power to take it up again. This is what he says, and we must
believe this if we believe the history of the Savior and the
sayings of the apostles recorded in the New Testament. Jesus had
this power in and of himself; the Father bequeathed it to him; it
was his legacy, and he had the power to lay down his life and
take it again. He had the streams and issues of life within him
and when he said "LIVE" to individuals, they lived. The diseases
that are and ever have been prevalent among the human family are
from beneath, and are entailed upon them through the
fall--through disobedience of our first parents; but Jesus,
having the issues of life at his command, could counteract those
diseases at his pleasure. The case of the Centurion's servant is
a striking instance of this. The Centurion sent and besought
Jesus to heal his servant. "Say in a word," said he, "and my
servant shall be healed." Jesus, seeing the man's earnestness and
solicitude, said, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel." And it is said that they who were sent, returned to the
Centurion's house and found the servant healed. Jesus
counteracted the disease preying upon the system of this man, but
to himself, knowing the principle by which the disease was
rebuked, it was no miracle.
142
But these miracles or manifestations of the power of God, though
not believed in by the Christian world, are necessary for you and
me and for all who wish to be blessed by their means. Some may
say, "How are we to obtain them?" I answer by obedience to all
the commandments of God in the Gospel of life and salvation.
After obedience to these requirements an individual is entitled
to and may enjoy the blessing of miracles just as well as Jesus
did. To the same degree? Perhaps not. Very few on the earth have
ever had power to raise the dead. We read that Peter did. But it
was a common thing for Jesus to raise the dead, heal the sick,
make the deaf to hear, the blind to see and the lame to walk; and
every person is entitled to those things according to the
obedience and faithfulness inherent in him. When do we need them?
I will tell you when I need them--when my family is sick, and
they need something to counteract the principle of death working
in their systems. Under such circumstances some might want to
administer an emetic to the sick, which might be very well if
they lacked faith; but if we have faith to feel that the issues
of life and death are in our power, we can say to disease, "Be ye
rebuked in the name of Jesus, and let life and health come into
the system of this individual, from God, to counteract this
disease;" and our faith will bring this by the laying on of hands
by administering the ordinances of the holy Gospel.
142
I am happy to say I have never been under the necessity of
calling a doctor to my family for forty years. I have had them in
my family, but not from necessity. I like them when they are
gentlemen; when they are wise and full of intelligence I am very
fond of them; but I do not ask them to doctor my family in any
case; and there are no circumstances under which I think them
necessary except in case of a broken bone, or where skilful
mechanical or surgical aid is necessary. But to call a doctor to
my family to administer physic to them, I am not under the
necessity of doing it. Is this so? Yes, it is; and if the
experiment could be tried, independent of the Gospel and of
faith, in any community, I care not where, nor for what length of
time, of having any number of persons, with regularly qualified
physicians to attend them; and the same number without such
physicians, but who will doctor themselves according to nature
and their own judgments, among that portion without doctors,
there would be less sickness and fewer deaths than among those
who had their doctors. The experience of the Latter-day Saints in
Utah confirms this. When we first came here we had no sickness,
and we had no sickness until we had doctors. When they began to
obey the Gospel they did not want to dig in the field, hoe
potatoes, go to the kanyon for lumber or wood, to secure for
themselves and families the necessaries of life; but they wanted
to live by doctoring the people, and from that time on, as we got
richer and built warm houses, and have lived more richly,
indulging in sweet cake, plum pudding, roast beef and so on, we
have had more or less disease among us. Perhaps I have said
enough about doctors.
142
I say, again, however, that it is absolutely necessary that we
all possess the gift God has seen fit to bestow upon His children
to counteract the power of death. How long? To live for ever? O
no, men must die; it is the decree of the Almighty that all men
shall die within the thousand years. Said He, "In the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This body must sleep
in the bosom of mother earth; this is the decree of the Almighty,
hence it is necessary that all must die of disease or old age,
but for all that, to my certain knowledge, the sick in hundreds
of instances are healed by the power of God through administering
the ordinances of His Gospel.
143
The first principle of the Gospel is faith in God--faith in a
Supreme Being. This is a point that meets the infidel, and is one
upon which I have reflected and talked a great deal, and I have
come to this conclusion--that good, solid, sound sense teaches me
never to judge a matter until I understand it, and infidels
should never pass their opinion with regard to the character of a
Supreme Being until they know whether there is one or not. If
this principle were an article in the creed of the infidel world,
I think they would not be quite so sceptical as they are; I think
we should not meet with any person who would deny the existence
of a Deity. The infidel looks abroad and sees the works of
nature, in all their diversity--the mountain piercing the clouds
with its snowy peaks, the mighty river, fertilizing, in its
course to the sea, the valleys and plains in every direction, the
sun in his glory at mid-day, the moon in her silvery splendor,
and the myriad organizations from man to the minutest form of
insect life, all giving the most irrefutable evidence of a
designer and creator of infinite wisdom, skill and power, and yet
he says there is no Deity, no Supreme Ruler, but all is the
result of blind chance. How preposterous! Now, here is a book
called the Bible. It is enclosed in what we call the cover,
consisting of boards, paper and leather. Within the covers we see
a vast amount of writing--syllables, words and sentences; now if
we say there never was a person to compose, write, print or bind
this book, but that it is here wholly as the result of chance, we
shall only give expression to the faith, if faith it can be
called, of those who are termed infidels; in fact this is
infidelity. I do not want to say much about it, it is too vain!
In my travels and labors I have met a great many persons who have
desired to contend about the principles I taught, though I am
happy to say I have passed through the world thus far without a
discussion. My grounds have always been, when out preaching, "If
you have a truth and I have errors, I will give you ten errors
for one truth just as long as we have any to exchange; and if in
setting my views before the people you say that any portion of
the principles I preach is untrue, you must prove it or be for
ever silent; and if I affirm that anything you have to deliver to
the people is false, I must prove it or for ever hold my peace."
On these grounds I have been free from discussions. So much for
infidelity and debating.
144
The Gospel that we preach is the power of God unto salvation; and
the first principle of that Gospel is, as I have already said,
faith in God, and faith in Jesus Christ His Son our Savior. We
must believe that he is the character he is represented to be in
the holy Scriptures. Believe that he told the truth when he said
to his disciples, "Go ye forth and preach the Gospel to every
creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but
he that believeth not shall be damned." We must believe that this
same Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world, that is for
the original sin, not the actual individual transgressions of the
people; not but that the blood of Christ will cleanse from all
sin, all who are disposed to act their part by repentance, and
faith in his name. But the original sin was atoned for by the
death of Christ, although its effects we still see in the
diseases, tempers and every species of wickedness with which the
human family is afflicted. Again, if our Gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost. There is not a spiritually minded man in
the world who reads the Bible but will acknowledge that the
Elders of Israel, the Latter-day Saints, proclaim the Gospel,
precisely, as Jesus and his apostles proclaimed it. Is this
heresy? I pause and ask the question of the Christian world, is
this heresy? Do not my brethren believe in the Bible? Do not all
the Christian world say that they believe in the Bible? They do.
Then if we preach Jesus and him crucified as the apostles did,
and as they have left it on record, what more can be said? Is
there any harm or sin in this? No; for this pertains to the
Gospel of life and salvation. Jesus set in his Church, so say his
apostles, firstly, apostles. Now I will ask the religious and
philosophical world if they have ever obtained any information or
revelation about Christ having taken them out again? No, they
have not; and if there are no apostles, there is no Church. Jesus
set in his Church, according to Paul's words to the Corinthians,
firstly apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after
that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues. Again I will ask the question: has there
been any revelation from heaven that God has taken these gifts
out of His Church; and if so through whom and when? Many persons
think if they see a prophet they see one possessing all the keys
of the kingdom of God on the earth. This is not so; many persons
have prophecied without having any Priesthood on them at all. It
is no particular revelation or gift for a person to prophecy. You
take a good statesman, for instance, he will tell you what will
become of a nation by their actions. He foresees this and that,
and knows the results; this is what makes a statesman, and no man
is a good statesman unless he can foresee the results of any line
of policy that may be pursued. To be a prophet is simply to be a
foreteller of future events; but an apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ has the keys of the holy Priesthood, and the power thereof
is sealed upon his head, and by this he is authorized to proclaim
the truth to the people, and if they receive it, well; if not,
the sin be upon their own heads.
144
I have already said that Christ set in his Church apostles and
prophets; he also set in his Church evangelists, pastors and
teachers; also the gifts of the Spirit, such as diverse tongues,
healing the sick, discernment of spirits, and various other
gifts. Now, I would ask the whole world, who has received
revelation that the Lord has discontinued these offices and gifts
in his Church? I have not. I have had revelation that they should
be in the Church, and that there is no Church without them. I
have had many revelations proving to me that the Old and New
Testaments are true. Their doctrines are comprized in the Gospel
that we preach, which is the power of God unto salvation to all
who believe. What are the fruits of this Gospel when it is
received into the heart of an individual? It will make a bad man
good, and a good man better; it increases their light, knowledge,
and intelligence, and enables them to grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the truth, as the Savior did, until they understand
men and things, the world and its doctrines, whether Christian,
heathen or Pagan, and will ultimately lead them to a knowledge of
things in heaven, on the earth or under the earth. I will say one
thing more about the Gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints,
and I will quote the words of Jesus--this Gospel will eventually
lead all who faithfully observe its precepts to a knowledge of
the "only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent,
whom to know is life eternal."
145
Now I would ask the Christian world a question, and in doing so I
do not mean to reflect upon, or cast an insinuation in the least
derogatory to, all Christians, or to any who believe in God; but
I would ask them, what do you know of God? Take all the divines
on the face of the earth and place them in this stand, and beyond
the attributes of God they know nothing of Him; they are entirely
ignorant of His person. There is the difference between the
various religious sects of the Christian world and the Latter-day
Saints. We do know God, and we know Jesus Christ. We understand
why Jesus came to the earth; we know the design of the Father in
sending him. We also understand the earth, and the nature of the
earth, and why God permitted Mother Eve to partake of the
forbidden fruit. We should not have been here to-day if she had
not; we could never have possessed wisdom and intelligence if she
had not done it. It was all in the economy of heaven, and we need
not talk about it; it is all right. We should never blame Mother
Eve, not the least. I am thankful to God that I know good from
evil, the bitter from the sweet, the things of God from the
things not of God. When I look at the economy of heaven my heart
leaps for joy, and if I had the tongue of an angel, or the
tongues of the whole human family combined, I would praise God in
the highest for His great wisdom and condescension in suffering
the children of men to fall into the very sin into which they
have fallen, for He did it that they, like Jesus, might descend
below all things and then press forward and rise above all. Our
spirits once dwelt in the heavens and were as pure and holy as
the angels; but angels have tabernacles and spirits have none,
and they are anxious to take tabernacles and they come to the
meanest, lowest and humblest of the human race to obtain one
rather than run any risk of not doing so. I have heard that the
celebrated Mr. Beecher, of Brooklyn, once said that the greatest
misfortune that could ever happen to man was to be born; but I
say that the greatest good fortune that ever happened or can
happen to human beings is to be born on this earth, for then life
and salvation are before them; then they have the privilege of
overcoming death, and of walking sin and iniquity under their
feet, of incorporating into their daily lives every principle of
life and salvation and of dwelling eternally with the Gods. I
would hardly dare say this, but Jesus said, "Is it not written in
your law, I said, Ye are Gods? If He called them Gods, unto whom
the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye
of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world,
thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God?" "And if
children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."
And all who are faithful to the precepts of the Gospel will see
Jesus and be as he is.
146
I recollect once, not long after we came to the Valley, I think
it was in 1851, a Baptist preacher came here; he put up at my
house; I kept him while he stayed in the city. He was a
gentleman, very kind and very good. I preached one day on the
character of the Deity, and when I reached a certain point, a
point where he could learn nothing further, I left it. When we
reached home he said to me, "Brother Young, why did you not
proceed with your discourse? I would have given anything in the
world if you have, for I should then have learned your belief
with regard to our heavenly Father." I said to him, "Do you
believe the Bible?" "O yes," he replied. I then quoted to him the
26th and 27th verses of the 1st chapter of Genesis, in which we
find the following words: "And God said let us make man in our
image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own
image, in the image of God created He him; male and female
created He them."
146
I also referred to the visit of the Lord to Abraham in which
Abraham said, "My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight,
pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water,
I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet, and rest yourselves
under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort ye
your hearts; after that ye shall pass on." I also referred to
where the Lord, talking to Moses, says, "Behold there is a place
by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it shall come to
pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft
of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts,
but my face shall not be seen."
146
All of these passages, said I, to the reverend gentleman, go to
prove, if they prove anything at all, that man is made in the
image of his Maker, and that he is His exact image, having eye
for eye, forehead for forehead, eyebrows for eyebrows, nose for
nose, cheekbones for cheekbones, mouth for mouth, chin for chin,
ears for ears, precisely like our Father in heaven." "Well," said
he, "I have been for twenty-nine years a preacher of the truth,
and never thought that man was created in the exact image of his
Father; I always had the idea that God was a being without body,
parts or passions." He admitted, however, that he had never
gained that idea from the Bible. And notwithstanding the
Scriptures dwell upon this point with such force and clearness,
the idea entertained by this gentleman is that entertained by the
Christian world in general. We are told that Jesus was "the
express image of his Father's person." Think of it! Was Jesus a
man? Yes. Clothed upon as we are? Yes. Did he pass for a man the
same as others? He did. When he did not wish to be known he could
pass through a crowd, and from house to house, neighborhood to
neighborhood, town to town, without the people knowing who he
was. He had this power; and yet he was like other men, having
eyes, forehead, nose, eyebrows, mouth, cheekbones, and chin like
we have, and the Apostle tells us that he was the express image
of his Father's person; and if the saying is true, that to know
the only true and wise God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is
eternal life, we have eternal life, for we know them.
147
I have talked a great deal about what we believe as far as
spiritual things are concerned; but the result of our faith I
have not done with. The faith of the Latter-day Saints, so far as
moral excellence is concerned, leads them to adopt in their
lives, the practice of every moral principle believed in by the
Christian world. It leads them to do good to each other and to
all their fellow beings, and to injure none. It leads us to honor
our beings upon the earth as sons and daughters of the Almighty;
to honor Him that created us, to observe every true principle,
everything that produces peace and happiness, for everything that
has this tendency is of God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches
him that has stolen to steal no more; it teaches the swearer to
swear no more; him that has borne false witness to do it no more;
him that has dishonored his being to do it no more; and, in fact,
there is no height, depth, length or breadth in moral conduct
believed in and practised by the Christian world but what we are
one with them; and we go so far beyond them in the things of God
that they are lost, and yet they think we are lost. I have smiled
thousands of times within myself to hear them talk; they are
ignorant, but they think we are. Besides being far ahead of the
Christian world in the things of God, I will say that in their
morals and their recreations the Latter-day Saints will compare
favorably with any of them. The question arises sometimes in me,
Is there anything immoral in recreation? If I see my sons and
daughters enjoying themselves, chatting, visiting, riding, going
to a party or a dance, is there anything immoral in that? I watch
very closely, and if I hear a word, see a look, or a sneer at
divine things or anything derogatory to a good moral character, I
feel it in a moment, and I say, "If you follow that it will not
lead to good, it is evil; it will not lead to the fountain of
life and intelligence; follow, only, the path that leads to life
everlasting." Where is it? God has it.
147
Not only does the religion of Jesus Christ make the people
acquainted with the things of God, and develop within them moral
excellence and purity, but it holds out every encouragement and
inducement possible, for them to increase in knowledge and
intelligence, in every branch of mechanism, or in the arts and
sciences, for all wisdom, and all the arts and sciences in the
world are from God, and are designed for the good of His people.
If I had only seen in my young days an interest manifested by
those who had wealth, power and influence to reach down a hand to
take the suffering, ignorant poor and elevate them to the
standard they occupied, and to place them in possession of every
comfort, it would have been a matter of great joy to me. But it
was not so then, neither is it now. Men generally use their
wealth for selfish purposes, and do not seek to devote it to God
and to the glory of His name. In the kingdom of God only will the
poor and the ignorant of the children of men be purified and
elevated and prepared to hold the positions God has designed for
His children.
148
I have heard a great many tell about what they have suffered for
Christ's sake. I am happy to say I never had occasion to. I have
enjoyed a great deal; but so far as suffering goes I have
compared it a great many times, in my feelings and before
congregations, to a man wearing an old, worn-out, tattered and
dirty coat, and somebody comes along and gives him one that is
new, whole and beautiful. This is the comparison I draw when I
think of what I have suffered for the Gospel's sake--I have
thrown away an old coat and have put on a new one. No man or
woman ever heard me tell about suffering. "Did you not leave a
handsome property in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois?" Yes. "And
have you not suffered through that?" No, I have been growing
better and better all the time, and so have this people. And you
may take the history of the world from the days of Adam down, and
I am at the defiance of any historian to prove that the Saints
have ever suffered as much as the sinners. This is my belief
about the religion of Jesus Christ. Some may say, "Did not the
children of Israel suffer?" Yes. "Why?" Because of their
iniquity. They transgressed the laws God has given them; they
changed the ordinances and broke the everlasting covenant, and
for their sin and disobedience they were led into captivity. If
they had been obedient, I reckon they would have been led direct
to the Holy Land and stayed there. Some may say, "Now, Mr.
Speaker, you have been driven from your home, was it for
righteousness?" No, I expect not. I expect it was to chasten me
and make me better. I never attributed the driving of the Saints
from Jackson county to anything but that it was necessary to
chasten them and prepare them to build up Zion. They were driven
from Ohio to Missouri, from Missouri to Illinois, and from
Illinois here, only for the advancement of Zion and the work of
God on the earth. I do not complain of persecution. I have left a
great deal of property in different States, considerable in Ohio,
Missouri, and Illinois. Do I care anything about it? No, we have
more land here than we can occupy. God led us from a sickly to a
healthy country, and I thank him for it. Were the Latter-day
Saints driven time after time on account of their sins? One of
the first revelations that God gave to Joseph Smith was for the
gathering of Israel, and when the people came to Jackson county,
Missouri, they were as far from believing and obeying that
revelation as the east is from the west, and a great deal
further, for the east joins the west; but the people were so far
from obeying that revelation that they scarcely complied with it
in one instance. They were ignorant and had neither eyes to see,
ears to hear, nor hearts to understand, and God suffered their
enemies to drive them. What were we driven for? Was it because of
polygamy? No, for that was not known generally until after our
arrival in these valleys, although we received the revelation
years before. The accusation brought against the Latter-day
Saints was that they tampered with the slaves in Missouri, with
the design of setting them free, and because of this the people
were driven, and the Lord suffered it. But I ask did the
Latter-day Saints ever suffer in Missouri as the Missourians did
in the late struggle? No, not a drop in a bucket compared with
it. The Missourians have been driven from their houses and hung
up, their property confiscated, their women and children
murdered, and every conceivable evil has been heaped upon them.
Did we ever suffer like that? In very few instances; and it is a
shame for the Latter-day Saints ever to talk about suffering.
148
What are we doing here, for the people that we are gathering from
the nations? The majority of those that we gather are from the
poorest that can be found; we gather a few scientific and learned
men, but the great majority are the poor and the ignorant. We
take them and we calculate to make them rich; we have taken the
foolish and we calculate to make them wise; we take the weak and
we calculate to make them strong. We calculate to build up this
people until they know as much as any other people on the face of
the earth, in mechanics, in the arts and sciences, and in every
true principle of philosophy. All true wisdom that mankind have
they have received from God, whether they know it or not. There
is no ingenious mind that has ever invented anything beneficial
to the human family but what he obtained it from that One Source,
whether he knows or believes it or not. There is only one source
from whence men obtain wisdom, and that is God, the fountain of
all wisdom; and though men may claim to make their discoveries by
their own wisdom, by meditation and reflection, they are indebted
to our Father in heaven for all.
149
We calculate to make this people just as wise and prudent as they
will be made and just as humble as they will be made. When I look
at the world of mankind and see their pomp, splendor,
covetousness and worldly-mindedness, I think what a shame! What
have you got to be so proud of? They have gold, silver, houses,
lands and possessions, and they feel, "O, we are kings,
potentates, or men of great influence, because of our wealth."
But where did they get their wealth? They will say they have been
fortunate and have gathered it together; or it was bequeathed to
them by their father or grandfather. But none of them have aught
but what came from Him who lives and reigns in the heavens--the
God whom we serve, who alone bestows blessings upon His children,
the sons and daughters of Adam.
149
I have heard a great many sermons, prayers and exhortations for
people to go and get religion and have their names written in the
"Lamb's Book of Life." I want to inform the whole world, all the
sons and daughters of Adam, that their names are written there,
and there they will remain to all eternity unless they by their
evil acts blot them out. I want to inform everybody of this fact.
149
I want now to say a few words on political matters. First, I will
say we are a very religious people; the world knows that; and it
was our religion that influenced our minds to leave our homes and
parents, and in many instances our companions and children. Are
we a political people? Yes, very political indeed. But what party
do you belong to or would you vote for? I will tell you whom we
will vote for: we will vote for the man who will sustain the
principles of civil and religious liberty, the man who knows the
most and who has the best heart and brain for a statesman; and we
do not care a farthing whether he is a whig, a democrat, a
barnburner, a republican, a new light or anything else. These are
our politics. If we could have got men to control the affairs of
the nation who had sufficient foresight and forethought to know
the results of their own actions, it would have been better for
the nation than it is at present. But we are just as we are; no
matter what brought about the present condition of things. I
leave the people to judge whether it is righteousness or sin that
has brought upon the nation the evils it has been called to
endure. Of one thing I am sure: God never instituted war; God is
not the author of confusion or of war; they are the results of
the acts of the children of men. Confusion and war necessarily
come as the results of the foolish acts and policy of men; but
they do not come because God desires they should come. If the
people, generally, would turn to the Lord, there would never be
any war. Let men turn from their iniquities and sins, and,
instead of being covetous and wicked, turn to God and seek to
promote peace and happiness throughout the land, and wars would
cease. We expect to see the day when swords shall be turned into
ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks, and when men shall learn
war no more. This is what we want. We are for peace, plenty and
happiness to all the human family.
150
A great deal could be said about our peculiar faith, and our
peculiar internal institutions, as the world terms them. I do not
want to say anything about them; I act them out. I have got a
family, and a pretty large one. I am willing to compare them with
any family on the face of the earth when the privileges they have
enjoyed are considered. I think that so far as I myself am
concerned, when it is remembered that I never went to school but
eleven days in my life, and that until I commenced to preach the
Gospel I had to work hard every day for my bread, I have made
some improvement. I think this people are improving; and I think
we shall continue our work until the whole human family will give
up all notion of going to war with each other. I expect to see
the time when this people will possess every good thing. All
knowledge and wisdom and every good that the heart of man can
desire is within the circuit and circle of the faith we have
embraced. The day will come when the Gospel will be presented to
the kings and queens and great ones of the earth; but it will be
presented with a different influence from that with which it has
been presented to the poor, but it will be the same Gospel. We
shall not present any other Gospel; it is the same from
everlasting to everlasting. No man will be saved and come into
the presence of the Father only through the Gospel of Jesus
Christ--the same for one as the other. The Lord has His cause,
His ways, His work; He will finish it up. Jesus is laboring with
his might to bring back his brethren and sisters into the
presence of the Father. We are laboring with him for the
purification of the whole human family, that we and they may be
prepared to dwell with God in His kingdom.
150
God bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, November 14, 1869
Brigham Young, November 14, 1869
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, November 14, 1869.
(Reported by John Grimshaw.)
BUILDING UP ZION--TEMPERANCE IN EATING AND DRINKING.
150
If the brethren and sisters will give their attention, I will try
to talk a few minutes. I preach a great deal to the people; but
the exertion of addressing such large congregations as assemble
here in the city bears a little too much on my stomach and lungs,
especially when laboring under a severe cold as I am at present.
150
A few of us have recently been on a visit South. We visited
twenty settlements, and, in eleven days, held twenty-seven
meetings; and universally there was a good turn-out, the largest
meeting houses being always filled to overflowing. It is a
tolerably easy matter to speak to the people in a small house,
much more so than to address a congregation like this.
151
We found the people very much engaged in their religion, and
striving, apparently, to put in practice the faith that they
profess. Still, it is a difficult matter to establish the
principles of the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people.
This is for the want of understanding. Our traditions are strong
upon us. We have been taught that, if we will believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, repent of our sins and exercise faith in his name,
all will be well with us and we shall be brought into the
presence of our Father and God. This was our former tradition.
But there are Latter-day Saints who have almost come to the
conclusion that if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent
of their sins, and are baptized for the remission of them and
have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost,
and partake of the Sacrament or Lord's Supper, they have
accomplished just about all that is required of them in order to
establish the kingdom of God on the earth. Herein lies the
difficulty which the servants of God have to encounter. The
people come short of understanding precisely the order of the
establishment of the kingdom of heaven; consequently it is a
labor that needs a great deal of attention, and one that requires
the influence of the Priesthood over the minds of the people to
get them to draw night unto God and His cause.
151
As we have just heard remarked, in relation to the love of the
world, a great many Latter-day Saints, after receiving the
Gospel, seem to run well for a time and then turn again to the
love of the world in its awful, fallen state, lusting after the
things that are perishable. Still, if they could but understand
true doctrine and correct principles, they would find that there
is nothing pertaining to the elements of this earth, but what, in
and of itself, is good and of God. Some may exclaim, "Sin
excepted." To this I would say that God permits sin, or it could
not be here. All the creations are His work, and they are for His
glory and for the benefit of the children of men; and all things
are put into the possession of man for his comfort, improvement
and consolation, and for his health, wealth, beauty and
excellency.
151
We should also understand what to do with the things which God
has placed in our possession. We should also desire to understand
and should seek to know the object for which the earth was
framed; and then we wish to comprehend His object and design in
placing His children on it. We should also desire to understand
how our Heavenly Father wishes us to act now we are here; how we
should devote our time and talents, our daily labor and whatever
means He puts into our hands, for the building up of His kingdom
on the earth. We want to get the Saints to think of these things.
If we could only get to the affections of the people and could
plant within them the principles of the kingdom of heaven, it
would be an easy matter to bring their hands to join in the
establishment of the Zion of God upon the earth. But herein lies
our labor. The weakness and short-sightedness of man are such,
and he is so prone to wander and give himself up to the
grovelling things of the world, having had so little knowledge
with regard to God and godliness for hundreds of years, that it
is literally a breaking up of the fallow ground of his heart to
prepare him to see the holy city that the Lord will establish.
151
The Latter-day Saints gather together for the express purpose,
they say, to establish Zion. Where is Zion? On the American
continent. Where is the gathering place? For the present, in the
mountains. What are you going there for? To help to build up
Zion.
152
We find a great many trying to be Saints and endeavoring to
understand how they may be of the most benefit in building up the
kingdom of God on the earth. My brother Joseph says it is an easy
matter to be a Saint. So I say. And taking another view of it,
again, it is a hard matter. This is true. It is not an easy thing
to serve God and mammon. If the Saints comprehend what they have
to do in order to establish Zion, and go to work with ready hands
and willing hearts to accomplish the labor, they will find it a
comparatively easy matter; but unless there is a unity of action
on the part of those who are engaged in the work it is not very
easily performed. When there is a great work to be accomplished,
and there are but few hands to perform it, the burden weighs very
heavily on those who are engaged in it. If we have a farm of six
hundred acres to fence, and there is only one man engaged in
getting the poles and lumber from the kanyon, we find it a slow
and tardy work; but if we have a hundred men engaged it is much
easier and pleasanter; if a thousand, still more so. So it is in
regard to establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts of the
children of men. It is not a very hard matter to prevail on a
person to put his treasure where his heart is. Our difficulty is
in not understanding the principles of the kingdom of heaven
sufficiently to enter into it with our whole hearts.
152
Many of our brethren who have come here when in their own land
worked under ground, and probably seldom saw the light of day,
but spent year after year of their lives digging out coal. If you
chanced to ask them, "Are you ever going to America?" the answer
would invariably be, "Yes, I am going to Zion." If you asked the
wife and children would they like to go to Zion, the reply would
be, "Yes, with all our hearts. We would do anything to get there;
if necessary we would be the slaves of those of our brethren who
have gone there if we could only go." Yet these same persons when
they reach here are not satisfied. If you ask them if this is
Zion, they will say, "I do not see much that looks like Zion."
When they received the work perhaps their minds were open to see
Zion in its beauty and glory; but when they come here and call
this Zion they feel disappointed. They have not the least idea in
relation to establishing this kingdom. They thought they were
going to a Zion whose towers would reach the clouds, with streets
paved with gold and the Tree of Life growing on every block. They
say, "I do not like this place; I am not exactly suited with it."
What do you want? "I do not know exactly what I want; I want
something else; I do not like this place." The disposition of
some of these murmurers reminds me of the children of some
families I have seen while travelling in the world. It is
something like this: "Darling, will have you a piece of bread and
butter?" "No, ma'am, I don't want it." "But, my dear, shall I put
some honey upon it?" "No, I don't like it." "Well, then, will you
have a little mince pie, love?" "No, I can't eat it." This is
about how the matter stands.
153
The Saints are full to overflowing with the words of eternal
life, yet they do not know what to do with them; and when we come
to preach, it seems as though the people were surfeited with much
doctrine, persuasion and counsel, and they do not like it very
well. This was evident by the many vacant seats this morning.
There ought to be ten thousand persons at these meetings, both in
the morning and afternoon. But how many do you see? The
tabernacle is not half filled. Why not come to meeting and fill
all the seats. I do not like to see this lack of interest in
attending meetings. Those professing to be Latter-day Saints have
the words of life and do not know it; the brethren read from the
Book of Life and they do not know it, and the words of God are
given them in great abundance and they trifle with them. Is this
the fact? It is. If the people would live their religion, there
would be no apostacy and we would hear no complaining or
fault-finding. If the people were hungry for the words of eternal
life, and their whole souls even centred on the building up of
the kingdom of God, every heart and hand would be ready and
willing and the work would move forward mightily and we would
advance as we should do.
153
It is frequently remarked that there is too much of a sameness in
this community. True, we do not have the variety they do in the
world, drinking, carousing, quarreling, litigation, etc. But if
you want a change of this kind, you can get up a dog fight. I
think that would be about the extent of the quarreling you want
to see. It would be as much as I would desire to witness. I have
seen enough of the world, without even desiring to behold another
drunken man. I never wish to see another lawsuit. I feel
perfectly satisfied without it.
153
If the people would like something by way of a change, I will
propose something to them, as I did to sister Horne, the
President of the Female Relief Society in the 14th Ward, who was
at Gunnison, about one hundred and thirty miles south of this
place, when we were there. I invited her, when she returned, to
call the sisters of the Relief Society together, and ask them to
begin a reform in eating and housekeeping. I told her I wished to
get up a society whose members would agree to have a light, nice
breakfast in the morning, for themselves and children, without
cooking something less than forty different kinds of food, making
slaves of themselves and requiring three or four hired girls to
wash dishes. Prepare our breakfast something like they do in
England, bread and butter, a light cheese, a few eggs, food that
is light and nutritious, and which does not require so much labor
in cooking; and instead of tea, if you cannot drink cold water,
make a bowl of water gruel or meal porridge and you will save
dirtying three or four dishes, knives and forks, or spoons, to
each individual that sits at the table.
153
This would be something to change your feelings and the fashions
of society. Will you do it? If you want something new, try this;
and when dinner time comes, don't pile the table full of roast
meat, boiled meat and baked meat, fat mutton, beef and pork; and
in addition to this two or three kinds of pies and cakes; neither
urge the children, the father and every one at the table to eat
and gorge themselves till they are so full that when night comes
they will want a doctor. This will do for a change.
154
When we go on a trip to the settlements and stop at the
brethren's houses, it is, "Brother Brigham, let us manifest our
feelings towards you and your company. I tell them to do so, but
give me a piece of johnnycake; I would rather have it than their
pies and tarts and sweetmeats. Let me have something that will
sustain nature and leave my stomach and whole system clear to
receive the Spirit of the Lord and be free from headache and
pains of every kind. If I can experience this, it will suit me.
What do you say to it, sisters? Do you want a revolution? They
want one in France; but you need not go to France to have a
revolution of this kind. Yet in that country there are about
twenty-four millions who never eat any flesh meat at all.
154
The Americans, as a nation, are killing themselves with their
vices and high living. As much as a man ought to eat in half an
hour they swallow in three minutes, gulping down their food like
the canine quadruped under the table, which, when a chunk of meat
is thrown down to it, swallows it before you can say "twice." If
you want a reform, carry out the advice I have just given you.
Dispense with your multitudinous dishes, and, depend upon it, you
will do much towards preserving your families from sickness,
disease and death.
154
If this method were adopted in this community, I will venture to
say that it would add ten years to the lives of our children.
That is worth a great deal.
154
If you want a little of something more--if you want another
revolution, let us go to and say we will wear nothing but what we
make; and that which we do not make we will not have.
154
If the people are inclined to complain about co-operation, let
them do so. I have a constitutional right to eat sweetmeats if I
choose, so long as I raise them and they belong to no one else;
or a piece of johnnycake or wheat bread. This is my legal right
and yours also. I have a right to wear a hat that my wife or
daughters or my sister has made, and I need not be called in
question for doing so. I have a legal and constitutional right,
and so have my sisters, to set their table out in a morning with
a little plain food on it if they choose so to do. Let the people
eat as I used to eat when I was a child. If meat were cooked at
all, it was on one plate; and if I had any it was off that plate.
I can go to thousands of houses that are making the knives and
forks and clothing for you and me that will not have a knife on
their table at meal time. Have you ever seen any such thing? Yes,
plenty of you have!
155
I have frequently related a circumstance that transpired while I
was in England. After I recovered from the sickness which
distressed me during the voyage across the ocean, my appetite
became unusually good. I was invited to what is known in that
country as a tea-party. Fourteen of us sat down at the table,
which was about two and a half feet across; but not a knife,
fork, plate or spoon could be seen, with the exception of the
plate in the middle of the table, with some beautiful ham upon
it, swimming in the gravy. I said to myself, "I would like a
piece of that ham if I had any way to eat it; but I have no plate
nor knife and fork." By and by a native elder set down his cup on
one knee, his bread and butter on the other; and putting his hand
in his pocket, pulled out his knife, opened it, and reaching over
his bread and butter, took a piece of ham and slipped it on to
his bread. I said to myself, "I can do that as well as you;" but
I took out my knife before I put down my cup, reached over to the
plate and took a fine piece of ham; although I was afraid I would
get a little gravy on my clothes in doing so. If I had had a
plate it would certainly have been much better; but I got along
very well without even greasing my clothes. "Now," said I, "that
is worth money to me; I have learned something." In about five
minutes after the tea table was deserted by the guests,
everything was cleared away and the sister was ready to visit
with us. It did not take her two hours to fuss around to wash
plates and see that the servants did not break them, fixing
furniture and so forth as we do here.
155
If you want a revolution go to work to improve yourselves and
give your minds something to act upon instead of looking at the
faults of others. We are a poor, feeble set and have hardly eyes
to see; and many of those who have eyes see not, but are
constantly watching the weaknesses and follies of each other.
Endeavor with all your mind and strength to improve yourselves
and ask your sisters and brethren to improve their lives. I am
preaching to you practical religion. Learn to take proper care of
your children. If any of them are sick the cry now, instead of
"Go and fetch the Elders to lay hands on my child!" is, "Run for
a doctor." Why do you not live so as to rebuke disease? It is
your privilege to do so without sending for the Elders. You
should go to work to study and see what you can do for the
recovery of your children. If a child is taken sick with fever
give it something to stay that fever or relieve the stomach and
bowels, so that mortification may not set in. Treat the child
with prudence and care, with faith and patience, and be careful
in not overcharging it with medicine. If you take too much
medicine into the system, it is worse than too much food. But you
will always find that an ounce of preventive is worth a pound of
cure. Study and learn something for yourselves. It is the
privilege of a mother to have faith and to administer to her
child; this she can do herself, as well as sending for the Elders
to have the benefit of their faith.
155
We have come here to build up Zion. How shall we do it? I could
tell you how if I had time. I have told you a great many times.
There is one thing I will say in regard to it. We have got to be
united in our efforts. We should go to work with a united faith
like the heart of one man; and whatever we do should be performed
in the name of the Lord, and we will then be blessed and
prospered in all we do. We have a work on hand whose magnitude
can hardly be told. We have now to go to and save ourselves
according to the plan provided for our salvation, the Savior
having done for us all that he can, except to impart unto us
grace to aid us in our lives, and to save our families, friends,
ancestors, and the nations that have lived before us and those
that may come after us, that all may be brought unto God and be
saved, except the sons of perdition. This is the labor we have
before us.
155
Brother Joseph was speaking about prayer. I will say a word with
regard to prayer. It matters not whether you or I feel like
praying, when the time comes to pray, pray. If we do not feel
like it, we should pray till we do. And if there is a heavy storm
coming on and our hay is likely to be wet, let it come. You will
find that those who wait till the Spirit bids them pray will
never pray much on this earth; for they always find a little
something else to do, and become like some who wait for the
Spirit to bid them pray, consequently they never pray. Such
people would come to meeting and look at each other and then,
when they had stayed as long as they felt inclined, address their
brethren with--"Good bye, I am going home," and then leave. But
when the time comes to have prayers, let them be made, and there
will be no danger.
156
Let us be humble, fervent, submissive, yielding ourselves to the
will of the Lord, and there is no danger but that we shall have
His Spirit to guide us. If we will open our lips and call upon
our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we will have the
spirit of prayer. I have proved this to be the best way. If we do
everything in the season thereof, attending to our prayers and
daily labors in their proper order and all at the right time, all
will go well.
156
In regard to the things of this world, we should learn what they
are for, and then use them wisely. To be proud and lifted up is
the height of folly. It is beneath the intelligence and
understanding of the man of God ever to be filled with foolish
and vain desires. If we wish to exult, let us exult in our God;
if we desire to be proud, let our pride be in our Heavenly
Father; if we desire happiness, let us be humble and faithful in
obeying the commandments of the Almighty and He will dispense
every blessing to us. This is my constant prayer. I desire to
live so that His Spirit may be with me continually; and I ask you
to do so in the name of Jesus, and he will bless you. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Wilford Woodruff, December 12, 1869
Wilford Woodruff, December 12, 1869
DISCOURSE BY ELDER WILFORD WOODRUFF,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 12, 1869.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE HOLY GHOST--LABORING IN FAITH--THE KINGDOM
OF GOD--PATRIARCHAL MARRIAGE.
156
The few of us who met here this forenoon had the privilege of
listening to a very interesting discourse from brother Penrose,
on the first principles of the Gospel. I say the "few" who were
here, for there were few, and there are every Sabbath in the fore
part of the day. I think if the Latter-day Saints prized their
privileges as they ought to do, there would be more attend
meeting on a Sunday morning, there would be more of us faithful
to the Lord our God and to the covenants we have made if we did
but realize the rewards that, in the future, will be awarded for
the deeds done here in the flesh.
157
There was one principle referred to by brother Penrose this
morning, upon which I wish to make a few remarks, for the benefit
of the Elders of Israel. It is a very common saying with us, as
Elders, in our remarks concerning the gifts of the Gospel to
speak of confirming the gifts of the Holy Ghost by the laying on
of hands. There is no difference with regard to our faith,
opinions or views, as a Church, pertaining to this principle; it
is only in the manner in which we use our language. There is a
difference between the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost
itself. As brother Penrose said this morning, we repent of our
sins, are baptized for the remission of them, and we receive the
laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; but the
Elders, when speaking on this principle, instead of saying so,
not unfrequently say "for the reception of the gifts of the Holy
Ghost." Now we have no right, power nor authority to seal the
gifts of the Holy Ghost upon anybody, they are the property of
the Holy Ghost itself. To explain this I will say, for instance,
President Young may go and preach in every ward in this city; yet
it is President Young in each ward. When in the 14th Ward he may
give a man an apple; in the 13th Ward he may give another person
a loaf of bread; in the 10th Ward he may give a man a dollar in
money; in the 1st Ward he may give a man a horse and carriage.
Now they are all different gifts, but he is one and the same man
who bestows them. I merely bring up this figure by way of
illustration.
157
We lay hands upon the heads of those who embrace the Gospel and
we say unto them, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ receive
ye the Holy Ghost." We seal this blessing upon the heads of the
children of men, just as Jesus and his apostles and the servants
of God have done in every age when preaching the Gospel of
Christ. But the gifts of the Holy Ghost are his property to
bestow as he sees fit. To one is given the spirit of prophecy, to
another a tongue, to another the interpretation of tongues and to
another the gift of healing. All these gifts are by the same
Spirit, but all are the gifts of the Holy Ghost, to bestow as he
sees fit, as the messenger of the Father and the Son to the
children of men.
157
The Holy Ghost, as was justly presented this morning, is
different from the common Spirit of God, which we are told
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The Holy Ghost is
only given to men through their obedience to the Gospel of
Christ; and every man who receives that Spirit has a comforter
within--a leader to dictate and guide him. This Spirit reveals,
day by day, to every man who has faith, those things which are
for his benefit. As Job said, "There is a spirit in man and the
inspiration of the Almighty giveth it understanding." It is this
inspiration of God to His children in every age of the world that
is one of the necessary gifts to sustain man and enable him to
walk by faith, and to go forth and obey all the dictations and
commandments and revelations which God gives to His children to
guide and direct them in life.
157
We have a long list given to us in the New Testament Scriptures
of those who, in ancient days, lived, labored and performed their
duties by faith. Among them was Noah, who, being warned of God,
went forth and prepared an ark for the salvation of himself and
family. Abraham, also, offered up his son Isaac by faith, because
he was called and commanded of God, believing in the promises God
had made unto him.
158
This gift and principle of faith is necessary for the Saints in
every age of the world to enable them to build up the kingdom of
God and perform the work required of them. All that the ancients
did was by faith. Jesus and his apostles often quoted the
prophecies of the ancient prophets and showed that they were
fulfilling them. Even the labors of Jesus, from the manger to the
cross, through his whole life of pain, sorrow, affliction,
suffering, persecution and derision, were all by faith. It was by
the power of the Father, whose work he had come to perform, that
he was sustained. He fully believed that he would be able to
accomplish all that he had been sent to perform. It was on this
principle that he fulfilled every requirement and obeyed every
law, even that of baptism, when he was immersed in the Jordan by
John, who held the Aaronic Priesthood and the keys of baptism for
the remission of sins. Baptism was a righteous law; in fact, it
was the law of God to save the children of men, and Jesus was the
door, and he, although free from sin and guile, complied with it
as an ensample to his disciples and the rest of the children of
men.
158
The Apostles, in their labors, had to work on the same principle
that the Saints in both former and latter days have had to work
upon--namely the principle of faith. Joseph Smith had to work by
faith. It is true that he had a knowledge of a great many things,
as the Saints in former days had, but in many things he had to
exercise faith. He believed he was fulfilling the prophecies of
the ancient prophets. He knew that God had called him, but in the
establishment of His kingdom he had to work continually by faith.
The Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, with six
members, but Joseph had faith that the kingdom thus commenced,
like a grain of mustard seed, would become a great Church and
kingdom upon the earth; and from that day until the day on which
he sealed his testimony with his blood, his whole life was as if
wading through the deep waters of persecution and oppression,
received from the hands of his fellowmen. He had all this to
endure through faith, and he was true, faithful and valiant in
the testimony of Jesus to the day of his death.
158
All the labors that we have performed from that day until the
present have been by faith, and we, as Latter-day Saints, should
seek to cherish and grow in this principle, that we may have
faith in every revelation and promise and in every word of the
Lord, that has been given in the Bible, Book of Mormon and
Doctrine and Covenants, for they will surely come to pass as the
Lord God lives, for the unbelief of this generation will not make
the truths of God without effect.
158
When the members of Zion's Camp were called, many of us had never
beheld each others' faces; we were strangers to each other and
many had never seen the prophet. We had been scattered abroad,
like corn sifted in a sieve, throughout the nation. We were young
men, and were called upon in that early day to go up and redeem
Zion, and what we had to do we had to do by faith. We assembled
together from the various States at Kirtland and went up to
redeem Zion, in fulfilment of the commandment of God unto us. God
accepted our works as He did the works of Abraham. We
accomplished a great deal, though apostates and unbelievers many
times asked the question, "What have you done?" We gained an
experience that we never could have gained in any other way. We
had the privilege of beholding the face of the prophet, and we
had the privilege of travelling a thousand miles with him, and
seeing the workings of the Spirit of God with him, and the
revelations of Jesus Christ unto him and the fulfilment of those
revelations. And he gathered some two hundred Elders from
throughout the nation in that early day and sent us broadcast
into the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Had I not
gone up with Zion's Camp I should not have been here to-day, and
I presume that would have been the case with many others in this
Territory. By going there we were thrust into the vineyard to
preach the Gospel, and the Lord accepted our labors. And in all
our labors and persecutions, with lives often at stake, we have
had to work and live by faith.
160
The Twelve Apostles were called by revelation to go to Far West,
Caldwell county, to lay the foundation of the corner stone of the
Temple. When that revelation was given this Church was in peace
in Missouri. It is the only revelation that has ever been given
since the organization of the Church, that I know anything about,
that had day and date given with it. The Lord called the Twelve
Apostles, while in this state of prosperity, on the 26th day of
April, 1838, to go to Far West to lay the corner stone of the
Temple; and from there to take their departure to England to
preach the Gospel. Previous to the arrival of that period the
whole Church was driven out of the State of Missouri, and it was
as much as a man's life was worth to be found in the State if it
was known that he was a Latter-day Saint; and especially was this
the case with the Twelve. When the time came for the corner stone
of the Temple to be laid, as directed in the revelation, the
Church was in Illinois, having been expelled from Missouri by an
edict from the Governor. Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Parley P.
Pratt were in chains in Missouri for the testimony of Jesus. As
the time drew nigh for the accomplishment of this work, the
question arose, "What is to be done?" Here is a revelation
commanding the Twelve to be in Far West on the 26th day of April,
to lay the corner stone of the Temple there; it had to be
fulfilled. The Missourians had sworn by all the gods of eternity
that if every other revelation given through Joseph Smith were
fulfilled, that should not be, for the day and date being given
they declared that it should fail. The general feeling in the
Church, so far as I know, was that, under the circumstances, it
was impossible to accomplish the work; and the Lord would accept
the will for the deed. This was the feeling of Father Smith, the
father of the Prophet. Joseph was not with us, he was in chains
in Missouri, for his religion. When President Young asked the
question of the Twelve, "Brethren, what will you do about this?"
the reply was, "The Lord has spoken and it is for us to obey." We
felt that the Lord God had given the commandment and we had faith
to go forward and accomplish it, feeling that it was His business
whether we lived or died in its accomplishment. We started for
Missouri. There were two wagons. I had one and took brother Pratt
and President Young in mine; brother Cutler, one of the building
committee, had the other. We reached Far West and laid the corner
stone according to the revelation that had been given to us. We
cut off apostates and those who had sworn away the lives of the
brethren. We ordained Darwin Chase and Norman Shearer into the
Seventies. Brother George A. Smith and myself were ordained into
the quorum of the Twelve on the corner stone of the Temple; we
had been called before, but not ordained. We then returned,
nobody having molested or made us afraid. We performed that work
by faith, and the Lord blessed us in doing it. The devil,
however, tried to kill us, for before we started for England
everyone of the Twelve was taken sick, and it was about as much
as we could do to move or stir. I had travelled in Tennessee,
Mississippi, Kentucky and Arkansas for two or three years, and
that, too, during the sickly season, where they were not well
enough to take care of the sick, and I had never had the ague.
But upon this occasion I was taken with the ague, the first time
in my life. All the Twelve had something the matter with them.
But we had to travel sick; we had to travel by faith in order to
fulfil the mission to which we had been called by revelation. But
the Lord sustained us; He did not forsake us.
160
We went to England, and we baptized, in the year 1840, something
like seven thousand people, and established churches in almost
all the principal cities in the kingdom. Brother Pratt
established a branch in Edinburgh, Scotland. Brother Kimball,
George A. and myself built up a branch in London, and several
branches in the south of England. We baptized eighteen hundred
persons in the south of England in seven months; out of that
number two hundred were preachers belonging to different
denominations of that land. We opened an emigration office,
published the Book of Mormon and gathered many to Zion. God was
with us, and I may say that He has been in all the labors of this
Church and kingdom.
160
In the pioneer journey, coming here, we had to come by faith; we
knew nothing about this country, but we intended to come to the
mountains. Joseph had organized a company to come here, before
his death. He had these things before him, and understood them
perfectly. God had revealed to him the future of this Church and
kingdom, and had told him, from time to time, that the work of
which he was laying the foundation would become an everlasting
kingdom--would remain for ever. President Young led the pioneers
to this country. He had faith to believe that the Lord would
sustain us. All who travelled hither at that time had this faith.
The Spirit of God was with us, the Holy Ghost was with us, and
the angels of the Lord were with us and we were blessed. All, and
more than we anticipated, in coming here, has been realized, as
far as time would permit.
160
When the Mormon Battalion was called for by the United States, we
were in our exile, having been driven from our homes, our country
and graves of our fathers, from lands we had bought of the United
States Government, for our religion, into the wilderness. The
Government made a demand upon us for five hundred men to go to
the Mexican war. I do not suppose that they expected we would
furnish them, but we did, and we did it by faith. Five hundred
men, the strength of Israel, were sent to fight the battles of
their country, leaving their wives, children and teams on the
prairie. They had to exercise faith, and so had we who remained,
believing it would turn out for the best, and it has proved so.
Every member of that battalion who has remained faithful has
always rejoiced, from that day to this, that he was a member
thereof. It has proved a blessing to him, and it proved salvation
to Zion.
160
I have referred to these things to show that hitherto, in our
labors to build up the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth,
we have had to labor by faith. It is still requisite. God has
called upon us to warn this generation. He has set His hand to
establish Zion--the great Zion of God--about which the prophets
have said so much. No prophet has spoken more pointedly on this
subject than Isaiah. Our drivings from Missouri, our
persecutions, our travels along the Platte River, the manner of
our coming to the mountains of Israel, our return again to the
land of Zion and the building of the Temple in Jackson county
have all been spoken of by Isaiah as well as by all the prophets
who have spoken concerning the Zion of the latter days.
161
We have exercised faith in the carrying out of these promises and
in the fulfilling of those revelations of God unto us. We have
walked and lived by faith, precisely the same as the Apostles,
prophets and Saints have done in every dispensation and age of
the world; for there is one remarkable feature with regard to the
work of God, and that is, it has always been unpopular in every
inhabitants of the earth but what it has been despised, in a
great measure, by most of them. As it was in the days of Noah and
Lot, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.
In the days of Noah there were eight souls saved, after one
hundred and twenty years' labor in preaching and building the
Ark. In the days of Lot but very few left the city of Sodom. Lot
and his family left, and we are told that his wife was turned
into a pillar of salt; and what the angels had told Lot
concerning Sodom and Gomorrah came to pass--fire and brimstone
were sent down from heaven upon them and they were destroyed.
161
The work of God and the Gospel of Christ had always been
unpopular. Take the life of the Savior himself. There is a fair
example. Trace him from the day he was born until his death, and
who were his friends? A few illiterate fishermen. Jesus Christ
came to the house of Judah and they rejected him; and Jerusalem,
Judea, and the inhabitants of all the region round about rose up
against him with the exception of a few poor men and women. Still
he was the Savior of the world, the great Shiloh of Israel, the
great King of the Jews. That is a fair ensample of the way in
which the work of God has been received in every age and
dispensation. All that Jesus said concerning the Jews has come to
pass to the very letter; not one jot or tittle has fallen
unfulfilled. Their history for the last eighteen hundred years,
until the present day, has been a remarkable ensign to the
nations of the earth of the truth of the Bible and of the truth
of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of him being the Savior of
the world. All that he said concerning them and all that Moses
predicted concerning their dispersion and about their being
driven, as corn is sifted through a sieve, among the nations;
about the manner in which their women did evil to the children of
their own bosoms when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman army,
when it was taken and over two millions of its inhabitants were
destroyed by sword, pestilence and famine, has been fulfilled.
All these things have been in strict fulfilment of the sayings of
Moses and Jesus concerning them. When the Savior was sentenced to
death they cried, "Let his blood be upon us and upon our
children;" and they have been trampled under foot by the whole
Gentile world for the last eighteen hundred years. In their
affliction and persecutions they have had to suffer almost beyond
the endurance of man, and until the last few years have scarcely
had the right of citizenship in any nation under heaven--except
in the United States. All that has been spoken concerning them
has had its fulfilment as fast as time would admit.
161
It is so with regard to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter
days. If they called the master of the house Beelzebub, will they
not say the same of his household? They said that he cast out
devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils, they said he was a
pestilent fellow and a stirrer-up of sedition and strife, still
he was the Savior of the world.
162
This principle of unbelief has existed in every age; it exists
to-day. The Elders of Israel have had to contend with this power
of darkness, with persecution, oppression, ridicule and
opposition from those who should have received their message--a
message which was for the good and salvation of those who
rejected it. The Jews should have received the testimony of
Christ, but as a nation they rejected it. Our experience has been
very similar to that of Jesus and his Apostles. We have had to
exercise faith in the revelations that have been given to us in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon, as well as
in the Bible. These revelations portray what lies before us as a
people. The fate of this nation and the nations of the earth has
been portrayed by the ancient prophets in the Book of Mormon and
Bible. Isaiah has told us what will come to pass in the latter
days concerning those who fight against Mount Zion and against
the children of Zion. Every weapon will be broken, every nation
that will not serve Zion shall be utterly wasted away, saith the
Lord; for the Lord will fight in defence of the land of Zion. He
will establish the kingdom that Daniel saw, in fact that kingdom
has been established; the Zion of God has been set up, the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been established by
revelation from Jesus Christ in our day and generation; and we
are called to build it up, we are called to perform its work. As
I have often remarked, the Gods, the angels, the whole heavens,
all the good men, all the spirits of the just that dwell in the
eternal world are watching with vast interest the labors of this
people.
163
They are not perfect without us, we are not perfect without them.
There is no period in the whole history of the world, no
dispensation of God to man, that is fraught with such interest as
the dispensation in which we live; there never has been. No
prophets, no apostles or inspired men in any age of the world
ever had the privilege of laying the foundation of the Zion of
God to remain on the earth to be thrown down no more for ever. In
every other dispensation of the world the people have risen up
against God and His Christ, against the kingdom and against the
Priesthood, and have overthrown the messengers of heaven, and put
to death every man who has borne the kingdom of God, and the
kingdom has been taken from the earth. This is true of every age,
except that of Enoch. He built up a kingdom and gathered together
the people after laboring and preaching three hundred and
sixty-five years. He perfected a city, which was called the city
of the Zion of God. But behold and lo, the nations of the earth
awoke and found that Zion had fled! The Lord took it to Himself;
took it away from the earth. The people were righteous; they had
become sanctified and the Lord took them away out of the power of
the wicked. Zion could not remain on the earth; there was not
power sufficient to withstand the assaults of the wicked; or if
there was, the time had not come when the Lord would make use of
the children of men; or there were not enough of the children of
men willing to take hold and manifest those principles in their
lives so that they could remain on the earth. But in the latter
days he will do so. He has sworn it by Himself, because there is
none greater to swear by. He has declared it through the mouth of
every prophet that has ever lived on the earth, whose writing we
possess, both in the Bible and Book of Mormon, as well as in
those glorious revelations in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
given through the mouth of Joseph Smith the prophet. These saying
are true. We as a people should exercise faith in them, no matter
what may be transpiring in the outside world. We have had the
powers of wicked men and devils to contend with. We may say that
the devil is mad; he is stirred up against Zion; he knows that
his reign will last but a little season longer.
163
This arch enemy of God and man, called the devil, the "Son of the
Morning," who dwells here on the earth, is a personage of great
power; he has great influence and knowledge. He understands that
if this kingdom, which he rebelled against in heaven, prevails on
the earth, there will be no dominion here for him. He has great
influence over the children of men; he labors continually to
destroy them. He labored to destroy them in heaven; he labored to
destroy the works of God in heaven, and he had to be cast out. He
is here, mighty among the children of men. There is a vast number
of fallen spirits, cast out with him, here on the earth. They do
not die and disappear; they have not bodies only as they enter
the tabernacles of men. They have not organized bodies, and are
not to be seen with the sight of the eye. But there are many evil
spirits amongst us, and they labor to overthrow the Church and
kingdom of God. There never was a prophet in any age of the world
but what the devil was continually at his elbow. This was the
case with Jesus himself. The devil followed him continually
trying to draw him from his purposes and to prevent him carrying
out the great work of God. You see this manifested when he took
Jesus on to the loftiest pinnacle of the temple and showed him
all the glory of the world, telling him that he would give him
all this if he would fall down and worship him. The poor devil
did not own a foot of land nor anything else! The earth was made
by and belonged to the Lord and was His footstool. Yet the devil
offered that to Jesus which was not his own. Jesus said unto him,
"Get thee behind me, Satan."
163
This same character was with the disciples as well as with their
master. He is with the Latter-day Saints; and he or his
emissaries are with all men trying to lead them astray. He rules
in the hearts of the inhabitants of the earth. They are governed
and guided by him far more than by the power of God. This is
strange, still it is true. See the wickedness in the world. See
the abominations with which the earth is deluged, causing it to
groan under the burden. Where does this evil come from? From the
works of the devil. Everything that leads to good is from God,
while everything that leads to evil is from the devil. Here are
the two powers. How many on the earth are honoring God,
acknowledging His hand in all things and keeping His
commandments? Very few. Just the same to-day as in the days of
Noah. We read that one of a family and two of a city will be
gathered to Zion in the last days. Out of twelve hundred
millions, that dwell on the face of the earth, we, after forty
years' labor, have succeeded in gathering a few thousands
together to the valleys of the mountains. The numbers are very
few; but this few should be faithful.
164
Last Sabbath, those who were here listened to a discourse from
brother George Q. Cannon, in which he delivered his testimony
concerning Joseph Smith and President Young. I thought to myself,
it seemed a kind of a queer idea that, at this late date, one of
the Apostles should be called upon to stand up in the sacred desk
and defend the characters of these men as prophets and Apostles.
Yet so it was, and these things are necessary.
164
Joseph Smith was what he professed to be, a prophet of God, a
seer and revelator. He laid the foundation of this Church and
kingdom, and lived long enough to deliver the keys of the kingdom
to the Elders of Israel, unto the Twelve Apostles. He spent the
last winter of his life, some three or four months, with the
Quorum of the Twelve, teaching them. It was not merely a few
hours ministering to them the ordinances of the Gospel; but he
spent day after day, week after week and month after month,
teaching them and a few others the things of the kingdom of God.
Said he, during that period, "I now rejoice. I have lived until I
have seen this burden, which has rested on my shoulders, rolled
on to the shoulders of other men; now the keys of the kingdom are
planted on the earth to be taken away no more for ever." But
until he had done this, they remained with him; and had he been
taken away they would have had to be restored by messengers out
of heaven. But he lived until every key, power and principle of
the holy Priesthood was sealed on the Twelve and on President
Young, as their President. He told us that he was going away to
leave us, going away to rest. Said he, "You have to round up your
shoulders to bear up the kingdom. No matter what becomes of me. I
have desired to see that Temple built, but I shall not live to
see it. You will; you are called upon to bear off this kingdom."
This language was plain enough, but we did not understand it any
more than the disciples of Jesus when he told them he was going
away, and that if he went not the Comforter would not come. It
was just so with Joseph. He said this time after time to the
Twelve and to the Female Relief Societies and in his public
discourses; but none of us seemed to understand that he was going
to seal his testimony with his blood, but so it was. What he said
to us and the Church we have had to perform. Joseph Smith was a
good man, a prophet of God. His works are before the world; they
are before the eyes of the nation; they are before the heavens
and the earth. The foundation that he laid we have built upon
until the present day; and that foundation no power on earth or
in hell will ever be able to remove. That Church and kingdom of
God that is planted here in these valleys of the mountains will
remain on the earth until the little stone Daniel saw will become
a mountain and fill the earth--until the reign of Jesus is
supreme and universal.
165
It startles men when they hear the Elders of Israel tell about
the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our God and
His Christ. They say it is treason for men to teach that the
kingdom Daniel saw is going to be set up, and bear rule over the
whole earth. Is it treason for God Almighty to govern the earth?
Who made it? God, did He not? Who made you? God, if you have any
eternal Father. Well, whose right is it to rule and reign over
you and the earth? It does not belong to the devil, nor to men.
It has never been given to men yet; it has never been given to
the nations. It belongs solely to God and He is coming to rule
and reign over it. When will that be? It may not be perfected
until Christ comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory to reward every man according to the deeds done in the
body. That kingdom, the germ of which is planted here, will
continue to grow and will never be overthrown. As I said before,
no matter what takes place outside of this Territory--we as
Latter-day Saints should exercise faith in God, for just as sure
as God was true to Daniel, Moses, Noah, Enoch and to the prophets
and Apostles, so will He be true to us; so will He be true to His
word in these latter days and will fulfill all He has said.
165
This is the work we have to perform. It is a good work, a great
work, a glorious work, and one in which the Latter-day Saints
should rejoice, for it confers upon them the privilege of being
instruments in the hands of God of helping to build up His
kingdom on the earth. This should give us joy, and the promises
made to us in connection with this work ought to sustain us and
give us hope, joy and consolation.
165
I have been happy since I formed the acquaintance of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ: I was never satisfied until I found the
Latter-day Saints. In my boyhood I could read in the Bible and
New Testament of a people who had power with God, who had the
gifts and graces, who could command the elements and they obeyed
them; who had power to heal the sick, and had the gifts of the
Holy Ghost imparted unto them by God himself. That was the kind
of religion I always desired to live to see. I desired to live to
see a prophet and an Apostle, or some man who was inspired of God
who could teach me the way to be saved. I have lived to see that
day. I rejoice in it for I know it is true. I know this work is
true. I know it is the kingdom of God, as you do, and as all men
do who have received the testimony of the Holy Spirit and have
been faithful for themselves.
166
As to President Young his labors have been with us. It has been
remarked sometimes, by certain individuals, that President Young
has said in public that he was not a prophet nor the son of a
prophet. I have travelled with him since 1833 or the spring of
1834; I have travelled a good many thousand miles with him and
have heard him preach a great many thousand sermons; but I have
never heard him make that remark in my life. He is a prophet, I
am a prophet, you are, and anybody is a prophet who has the
testimony of Jesus Christ, for that is the spirit of prophecy.
The Elders of Israel are prophets. A prophet is not so great as
an Apostle. Christ has set in his Church, first, Apostles; they
hold the keys of the kingdom of God. Any man who has travelled
with President Young knows he is a prophet of God. He has
foretold a great many things that have come to pass. All the
Saints who are well acquainted with him know that he is governed
and controlled by the power of God and the revelations of Jesus
Christ. His works are before the world; they are before the
heavens; before the earth; before the wicked as well as the
righteous; and it is the influence of President Young that the
world is opposed to. This Priesthood, these keys of the kingdom
of God that have been sealed upon him, the world is at war
against; let them say what they may, these things are what they
are at enmity with. Their present objection to the Latter-day
Saints, they say, is plurality of wives. It is this principle
they are trying to raise a persecution against now. But how was
it in Missouri, Kirtland, Jackson county, Far West, Caldwell
county, in all our drivings and afflictions, before this
principle was revealed to the Church? Certainly it was not
polygamy then. No, it was prophets, it was revelation, it was the
organization of an institution founded by revelation from God.
They did not believe in that, and that was the objection in those
days. If we were to do away with polygamy, it would only be one
feather in the bird, one ordinance in the Church and kingdom. Do
away with that, then we must do away with prophets and Apostles,
with revelation and the gifts and graces of the Gospel, and
finally give up our religion altogether and turn sectarians and
do as the world does, then all would be right. We just can't do
that, for God has commanded us to build up His kingdom and to
bear our testimony to the nations of the earth, and we are going
to do it, come life or come death. He has told us to do thus, and
we shall obey Him in days to come as we have in days past.
166
Brethren and sisters, let us exercise faith; the ancient prophets
lived by faith; it is as necessary for us as for them. I believe
what God has said will be fulfilled. I believe the Book of Mormon
and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants will be fulfilled, and all
the promises and prophecies made by the faithful servants of God.
When any man speaks as he is moved upon by the Holy Ghost, that
is the word of God to the people; and though the heavens and the
earth pass away, not one jot or tittle of the word of God will
fall unfulfilled. I care not whether it be by His own voice out
of the heavens; by the ministration of angels; by the voice of a
prophet, or by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost through His
servants, it is the word of God to the people, it is truth and it
will have its effect and fulfilment. Everything that has been
communicated to us by revelation I believe to be true; many of
them I know. I have faith and knowledge, both in a degree. I want
more; I wish for more, and all I ask is that the Lord will enable
me to be faithful. I wish eternal life. I want salvation. This is
the object of my life; for this I embraced "Mormonism." This is
the principle that has sustained me from the time I entered this
Church and kingdom. This hope sustained me when I shouldered my
knapsack and went forth to travel and preach without purse or
scrip, thousands of miles through the United States. This
principle of inspiration has sustained the Elders of Israel in
every age of the world. It is that which sustained Joseph Smith
from the day he commenced his career as a servant of God until
the time that he sealed his testimony with his blood. Somebody
has got to pay the bill for the shedding of that innocent blood.
Shedding innocent blood has cost the Jews eighteen hundred years
of suffering, mourning, woe and destruction; it has cost this
nation already four years of war, with two millions of men laid
in the dust, and four thousand million dollars in money; and woe
be to that nation, tongue or people that sheds the blood of the
Saints of God, or undertakes to oppose the work of God in this or
any other generation. They will have to reap what they sow; for
what you sow you will reap, and the reward you mete will be
rewarded to you again, whether you are Saints or sinners, in all
nations, kindreds, tongues and people under the whole heavens.
167
This is the position that we occupy. This warfare is not between
man and man but between God and the world. If the Lord does not
defend the Latter-day Saints we cannot defend ourselves. We can
do what is required of us, but God Himself has to defend us. He
has done it and He will continue to do it until the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, or until his kingdom triumphs on the earth.
This is my faith; and I would rather, to- day, lay down my life,
honoring the faith once delivered to the Saints, than turn around
and fear men, who have power only to kill the body, instead of
fearing Him who has power to cast both soul and body into hell.
Salvation is of more consequence to me and to this people, and to
all the inhabitants of the earth, than anything else. What is the
world with its honors, gold, silver, thrones, principalities and
powers compared with salvation? They all end at death, they are
of no force after, and are of no moment when compared with
eternal salvation. Oh, what glorious principles have been
revealed to the Latter-day Saints! Where did you get them? How
did you obtain them? Through the voice of Joseph Smith and
Brigham Young by revelation from God. That is the way we obtained
them. The principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ have power and
efficacy after death; they will bring together men and their
wives and children in the family organization and will re-unite
them worlds without end. The power of those who sit upon thrones
in this life will end at their death; they will have no extra
power in the world to come because they have occupied thrones in
this. The Czar of Russia, the Emperor of France, the Queen of
England, or any other sovereign, will not have any additional
power in the world to come because of their present glory. It
will all end with their death. These are the kingdoms of men,
they are not ordained of God. True, they will be held accountable
for the exercise of their power here; God will hold them
responsible for that, but so far as salvation and glory hereafter
are concerned, their exalted positions here will not avail them
anything. There is not a man who has lived since the Church went
into the wilderness and the kingdom of God was taken from the
earth, until Moroni rent the vail and gave to Joseph Smith the
records of the Book of Mormon, and until Peter, James and John
sealed upon him the keys of the holy Priesthood, who can claim a
wife in the resurrection. Not one of them has been married for
eternity, but only until death. But unto the Latter-day Saints
the sealing ordinances have been revealed, and they will have
effect after death, and, as I have said, will re-unite men and
women eternally in the family organization. Herein is why these
principles are a part of our religion, and by them husbands and
wives, parents and children will be re-united back to Father
Adam. We could not obtain a fullness of celestial glory without
this sealing ordinance or the institution called the patriarchal
order of marriage, which is one of the most glorious principles
of our religion. I would just as life the United States
Government would pass a law against my being baptized for the
remission of my sins, or against my receiving the Holy Ghost, as
against my practising the patriarchal order of marriage. I would
just as lief they would take away any other principle of the
Gospel as this. The opinion of men generally, in relation to this
subject, is that the Latter-day Saints practise it for the
gratification of their carnal desires; but such ideas are wholly
untrue. The world seek after this; but the Saints of God practise
this principle that they may partake of eternal lives, that they
may have wives and posterity in the world to come and throughout
the endless ages of eternity.
168
God promised to Abraham that his seed should be as numerous as
the stars in the heaven or as the sands on the sea-shore. We all
know, from reading the history of Abraham, that this promise has
not been fulfilled, for you may take one square yard of sand on
the sea-shore, and the grains it would contain would be more
numerous than all the inhabitants that ever lived on the earth;
hence this promise of the Lord could not be fulfilled if, as the
Christian would imagine, the marriage relation ceases with the
termination of this life, and that after the resurrection there
is no increase. But in the resurrection there will be no end to
the increase of Abraham, it will continue through all eternity.
168
These are some of the principles of the Gospel God has revealed
to us. Are they not worth living for and having faith in? They
are. Then do not fear because of the wicked. We have everything
to encourage us. The Latter-day Saints should be faithful. We
should live our religion and be true and faithful to our
covenants. We should magnify our callings as Apostles, Elders and
Saints, before God, angels and men. We have but little time to
work, and we should work while it is called to-day; by and by
night comes when no man can work. When the vision of my mind is
opened and I gaze abroad upon this generation, I many times feel
to mourn in my spirit to see the darkness and unbelief and the
carelessness of man with regard to his future and eternal state.
Instead of seeking with all their powers to secure to themselves
eternal life they seem to be doing their utmost to turn the last
key to seal their condemnation and to make themselves the sons of
perdition. They will labor to shed innocent blood and to destroy
the Church and kingdom of God on the earth. This is one of the
promptings of the evil one.
168
There are two things which have always followed apostates in
every age of the world, and especially in our day. In the early
days of the Church, in Kirtland, as soon as men apostatized from
the Church and kingdom of God, they immediately began to fear
their fellow men, and to fancy their lives were in danger.
Another peculiarity common to apostates was that they desired to
kill those who had been their benefactors. This was the case with
the Higbees, Laws and others with regard to the Prophet Joseph,
when they turned against him, they sought with all their powers
to take away his life. Not only were they afraid of their own
lives, but they sought to take his, and they eventually
succeeded, and woe is their doom. What would they not give in
exchange for their souls? But no matter, they cannot redeem them.
This spirit always accompanies the apostates. What are they
afraid of? There is something they do not understand or
comprehend; they walk in the dark, and by and by they will unite
with the wicked and try to overthrow the very work they have been
trying to build up.
169
This spirit has always been with the enemies of righteousness.
The devil seeks to overthrow the kingdom of God and the Saints,
and he always will do it as long as he has any power on the
earth; therefore we should be united. We should be faithful and
labor hard to do what we have to do, and not put off anything for
the building up of the kingdom of God. We should obey all the
ordinances we can for ourselves and our children; for the living
and the dead. We should attend to these things as we go along,
and when we get through with our work and into the spirit world,
we may look back and be satisfied with our labors. There is a
great deal for the Latter-day Saints to do. We have done a good
deal, but the work is only just commenced. Zion is not what she
must be; Zion is growing. She has grown since we came to the
valleys of the mountains. We have done something for the living;
we have warned the nations; the garments of many of us are clear
of the blood of this generation. It cannot rise in judgment
against Joseph Smith, Brigham Young or the Twelve Apostles, nor
against thousands of the Elders of this Church and kingdom. We
have lifted up our voices day and night; we have preached to
millions of our fellow men and have travelled hundreds of
thousands of miles to offer this Gospel to the nations of the
earth. Still they have turned against us, and a great many of
them have sought our overthrow. They will receive their reward
and we shall receive ours.
169
What joy, consolation and satisfaction it will be to the
Apostles, Elders and Saints of God, of this day, who remain true
and faithful to the end, having become members of the Church of
the Firstborn, and been valiant in the testimony of Jesus, when
they meet Father Adam, Enoch, Jacob, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus and
the Apostles, how great their joy will be! They labored in their
day for the work of God, and their toils are over; we are having
our day and our labor. By and by we shall meet and mingle in the
eternal world. How fast we pass away! Where is brother Heber,
whom we used to see so often in our midst here and in the
Endowment House? In the spirit world. Brother Willard, Joseph,
Hyrum, David Patten, Jedediah, Parley Pratt, and brother Benson
among the rest, have gone. We shall all go pretty soon, we shall
not remain a great while. Our labors in this life are short, and
we shall soon pass to the other side of the vail. Our children,
the rising generation, will possess the kingdom; on them the
labor of rolling on the work of God will rest, until the kingdom
and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven will be
given to the Saints of the Most High and they will possess it for
ever and ever, and the meek will inherit the earth. Let us be
diligent, let us be faithful; let us labor while it is called
to-day, that we may be counted worthy to receive a reward that
will satisfy us in the end.
169
I pray that God will bless us, that He will pour out His Spirit
upon us and give us the testimony of Jesus Christ; that we may
guard our welfare and watch ourselves that our feet may not slip.
It is an awful thing for a man, in any generation, to receive
this Gospel, to taste the good word of God and the powers of the
world to come, and then turn away and lose the testimony of Jesus
and turn against God; such a man's condition is worse than his
who never heard the Gospel of Christ. He will lament and mourn,
and that, too, without ever receiving redemption. Such
individuals cannot be redeemed and restored to that which they
have forfeited. It is far better to receive the Gospel and be
faithful in the midst of all opposition. If we continue so, when
we meet with the fathers we can rejoice with them and partake of
the same kingdom and the same glory, quickened by the same
spirit, having kept the same law and been preserved thereby.
169
May God bless us all and help us to overcome the world, the flesh
and the devil, for Jesus sake. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 /
Brigham Young, May 29, 1870
Brigham Young, May 29, 1870
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 29, 1870.
(Reported by David W. Evans.)
THE SOURCE OF INTELLIGENCE, ETC.
170
If I can have your attention I will talk to you a few minutes.
Speaking as much as I have in public makes me feel most forcibly
that I have both stomach and lungs, hence I would like to have
stillness in the house. I see some sisters withdrawing in
consequence of their children not being quiet; I am very much
obliged to them, and trust that others will do likewise if they
cannot keep their children still.
171
I am not in the habit of making many apologies nor very many
preliminaries when I speak to a congregation. Sometimes I feel to
say a few words that might be called apologetic in rising to
address a congregation, having that timidity which most men feel
on such occasions. I have seen few public speakers in my life who
were capable of rising and speaking directly upon a subject,
unless it had been studied or perhaps written beforehand. To
speak extempore, on the impulse of the moment, without
reflection, requires considerable steadiness of the nerve. This
is a matter that I have reflected upon a good deal, for in my
experience I have learned that there is a modest timidity in the
feelings of almost all persons I ever saw when called upon to
speak to their fellow-beings. This is frequently the case in
private circles as well as before the public. I think I
understand the reason of it; it is a matter which I have studied.
I find myself here on this earth, in the midst of intelligence. I
ask myself and Wisdom, where has this intelligence come from? Who
has produced and brought into existence, I will say, this
intelligent congregation assembled here this afternoon? We are
here, but whence have we come? Where did we belong before coming
here? Have we dropped accidentally from some of the planets on to
this earth without order, law or rule? Perhaps some, in their
reflections, have come to this conclusion, and think that is all
that is known in relation to this matter. I inquire where is this
intelligence from which I see, more or less, in every being, and
before which I shrink when attempting to address a congregation?
I ask the question of my friends, my brethren and of every man
that lives: Suppose that you, through duty, are called to speak
to a private family, to a small congregation, or even to children
in a Sunday school, do you not feel this same timidity? Where is
the man who can rise to address children without feeling this
same modesty? I have seen a very few in my life who could rise
before a congregation, in a prayer meeting, or go on the stage of
a theatre, or anywhere else, and speak with perfect ease and
confidence. I think they have great reason to be thankful for
their self-confidence; but where they obtained it or whether it
is inherent, whether they are destitute of real refinement or
have a surplus of it, it is not for me to say. I know that I do
not possess this faculty. When I speak to a congregation I know
that I am speaking to the intelligence that is from above. This
intelligence which is within you and me is from heaven. In gazing
upon the intelligence reflected in the countenances of my
fellow-beings, I gaze upon the image of Him whom I worship--the
God I serve. I see His image and a certain amount of His
intelligence there. I feel it within myself. My nature shrinks at
the divinity we see in others. This is the cause of that timidity
to which I have referred, which I experience when rising to
address a congregation.
171
I rise with pleasure this afternoon to speak to my friends,
brethren and sisters, and to the strangers who are here; and I
will take the liberty of looking at my people--my brethren and
sisters, as they are, and we will look at each other as we are. I
look at others as they are, and we will look at each other as we
are. We will chat a little together, and I will give both Saints
and strangers a few of my views. First to the Saints, I will say
that you and I have professed to believe in God who reigns in the
heavens, who formed the earth and the planets. No matter whether
He rules the celestial, terrestrial or telestial, you and I have
professed to believe in that Supreme Being who has set this
machine in motion. He governs by law. He has reduced His
offspring, His legitimate offspring, to all the sin, darkness,
death and misery that we find on this earth; He has also provided
means and, in connection with the attributes He has implanted
within us, has instituted ordinances which, if we will receive
and improve upon, will enable us to return back into His
presence. I say to the Latter-day Saints, live your religion!
Live so that the Spirit of the Lord will dwell within you, that
you may know for a surety and certainty that God lives. For me to
tell you that there is a God in heaven, that Jesus Christ is the
Savior of the world; for me to tell you that Jesus will give his
holy Spirit to them that believe on him and obey his Gospel,
would be fruitless to you unless you obey his requirements. I
know that the Latter-day Saints are looked upon by the world as
dupes--as a low, degraded, imbecile race, and that we are so
unwise and short-sighted, so vain and foolish, that through the
great amount of enthusiasm within us, we have embraced an error,
and have been duped by Joseph Smith. You who have obeyed the
principles he preached know whether you are deceived or not. I
know for myself and you know for yourselves.
171
Now let me ask you, if you trust to my faith, to my word and
teachings, counsel and advice, and do not seek after the Lord to
have His Spirit to guide and direct you, can I not deceive you,
can I not lead you into error? Look at this and see to what
mischief it would lead, and what an amount of evil could be done
to a people if they did not live so that the Spirit of the Lord
would dwell with them that they might know these things for
themselves. It is my request, my prayer, exhortation, faith, wish
and earnest desire that the Latter-day Saints will live their
religion, and that they will teach their children all things
pertaining to God and godliness, that they may grow up into
Christ, their living head.
172
I would ask of my friends or foes, no matter which--I mean those
who do not believe as I do--those who look upon us as a set of
fanatics, I would ask a few questions of the world of mankind, of
the greatest philosophers, of the greatest geniuses, and of the
men of the most profound knowledge on the face of the earth, Can
you tell me where you get your knowledge? Say some, "The
schoolmaster taught me thus and so; my mother taught me thus and
so; or I have learned it from books." Can you tell me the origin
of this knowledge? Can you direct me where I can go and get the
same knowledge? Was this inherent in you? Was it developed
without any nourishment, or instruction--without the life and
intelligence which came from the vision of the mind? Ask the
mechanic--Who influenced you to bring forth this and that
improvement in mechanism? Who influenced Professor Morse to
believe that he could stretch a wire round this building or any
other, and then, by applying a battery at one end of the wire,
that he could receive an answer at the other? Who taught Robert
Fulton that he could apply steam so as to propel a vessel? Did
his mother, his schoolmaster or his preacher tell him this? No,
he would have spurned the idea.
172
Now, all this is in my remembrance. I lived near by those who
assisted Mr. Fulton in building his steamboat. He could not be
dissuaded, by any means, to desist from his operations. I ask
what was it that influenced the mind of Fulton in this direction?
It was that invisible influence or intelligence that comes from
our Creator, day by day, and night by night, in dreams and
visions of the mind. "I see it, I know it," said he. I recollect
him telling some of our neighbors who assisted him in building
the first steam vessel that ever was built, "I know that I can
apply steam so as to propel this vessel from here to New York. I
know it just as well as I live." I recollect a Mr. Curtis, a
carriage maker, who lived in the State of New York; said he, "I
have a little property, and I will spend all I have to assist Mr.
Fulton to put his project into successful operation, for I have
faith in it."
172
This is a question which I would like the scientific and
philosophic world to answer, Where do you get your knowledge
from? I can answer the question; they get it from that Supreme
Being, a portion of whose intelligence is in each and every one.
They have it not independently; it was not there until put there.
They have the foundation, and they can improve and add knowledge
to knowledge, wisdom to wisdom, light to light, and intelligence
to intelligence. This power to increase in wisdom and
intelligence so that we can know things for ourselves is within
every one of us.
172
Now, I ask the wise, where did you get your wisdom? Was it taught
you? Yes, I say it was taught you. By your professors in college?
No, it was taught you by the influence of the spirit that is in
man, and the inspiration of the Spirit of God giveth it
understanding; and every creature can thus add intelligence to
intelligence. We all know that if we learn one page of a book
to-day, we can learn another to-morrow, and yet retain that which
we learned previously; and so we can go on step by step, from day
to day, improving the faculties with which God has endowed us,
until we are filled with the knowledge of God.
173
The "Mormons" believe all this. I ask strangers and the
philosophers of the world, Is there any harm in it? Is it any
harm for you and me to exercise faith in God? We have faith, we
live by faith; we came to these mountains by faith. We came here,
I often say, though to the ears of some the expression may sound
rather rude, naked and barefoot, and comparatively this is true.
Is that a fact? It is. Shall I explain this? I will in part, and
I will commence by satisfying the curiosity of almost everybody
that comes here, or with whom our Elders converse when away. A
great many men and women have an irrepressible curiosity to know
how many wives Brigham Young has. I am now going to gratify that
curiosity by saying, ladies and gentlemen, I have sixteen wives.
If I have any more hereafter it will be my good luck and the
blessing of God. "How many children have you, President Young?" I
have forty-nine living children, and I hope to have a great many
more. Now put that down. I impart this information to gratify the
curiosity of the curious.
173
"President Young, did you come here naked and barefoot?" I will
say, very nearly so. "How many of your wives had shoes to their
feet, after leaving every thing you had in the State of
Illinois?" I do not think that more than one or two of my wives
had shoes to their feet when we came here. We bought buckskins of
the Indians and made moccasins of them. How many of these Elders
had whole pantaloons when they reached here? I do not believe a
dozen of them had. They had worked in the dead of winter ferrying
the people across the river until they had nothing, and they came
here naked and barefoot, that is, comparatively.
173
We had to have faith to come here. When we met Mr. Bridger on the
Big Sandy River, said he, "Mr. Young, I would give a thousand
dollars if I knew an ear of corn could be ripened in the Great
Basin." Said I, "Wait eighteen months and I will show you many of
them." Did I say this from knowledge? No, it was my faith; but we
had not the least encouragement--from natural reasoning and all
that we could learn of this country--of its sterility, its cold
and frost, to believe that we could ever raise anything. But we
travelled on, breaking the road through the mountains and
building bridges until we arrived here, and then we did
everything we could to sustain ourselves. We had faith that we
could raise grain; was there any harm in this? Not at all. If we
had not had faith, what would have become of us? We would have
gone down in unbelief, have closed up every resource for our
sustenance and should never have raised anything. I ask the whole
world, is there any harm in having faith in God? Have you faith?
Ask Mr. Pullman if he had faith that he could build a car more
convenient than any the travelling community enjoyed before, and
he will say that he had faith that he could build cars in which
ladies and gentlemen might travel though the country with all the
ease and comfort they could desire; and he showed his faith by
his works, as we read of the ancient worthies doing. You know
James says, "Show me your faith without works, and I will show
you my faith by my works." Mr. Pullman and others can show their
faith by their works. We show our faith by our works. Is there
any harm in this? I ask the whole Christian world, is there any
harm in believing in God, in a supreme power and influence?
174
The Christian world believe in God, but they say He has no body.
Christianity does not teach any such thing. "God has no parts and
He is without passions," say the Christian world. I do not read
the Scriptures aright if this is the fact. I read that God loves,
that God hates. I read that His eyes are over the works of His
hands; that His arm is stretched out to save His people; that His
footsteps are seen among the nations of the earth. If He has no
feet, He certainly can make no impression; if He has no hands or
arms he cannot reach down to save His people. I read that the
Lord's ears are open to the petitions of His people; but if He
have no ears how can He hear. This is the way that I read the
Bible, and I ask, is there any harm in reading and understanding
it thus? There are a great many infidels now, who were formerly
among our Christian friends and brethren, who are ignoring the
Bible in their public schools. I do not. Is there anything in the
Bible that should not be read by the scholars in schools? If
there be, leave out such parts, or rather replace the language
there used, with phraseology more in accordance with modern
usage, so that the principles contained in the Bible may be
taught in your catechisms or other books. I know that there is
some plain talk in the Bible, plainer than I heard this morning;
but that plain talk was the custom of the ancients. The mere
phraseology there used is not of much consequence, it is the true
principle which that book teaches which renders it so valuable.
If any of you, ladies and gentlemen, were to step on a steamboat
and cross over to Liverpool, you would hear language and see
customs that you never heard or saw in Yankee land. It is the
same with regard to the Bible, the phraseology is that which was
customary centuries ago; but no matter what the language is, that
is merely custom. But I will say that the doctrines taught in the
Old and New Testaments concerning the will of God towards His
children here on the earth; the history of what He has done for
their salvation; the ordinances which He has instituted for their
redemption; the gift of His Son and his atonement--all these are
true, and we, the Latter-day Saints, believe in them.
175
Some, in their curiosity, will say, "But you Mormons have another
Bible! Do you believe in the Old and New Testaments?" I answer we
do believe in the Old and New Testaments, and we have also
another book, called the Book of Mormon. What are the doctrines
of the Book of Mormon? The same as those of the Bible. "What is
the utility of this book--the Book of Mormon? Has it been of any
use whatever to the people anywhere?" O, yes. "Where and when?" I
will refer to one of the sayings of Jesus recorded in the New
Testament. Just before his crucifixion he said to his disciples,
"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must
bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold
and one shepherd." After his crucifixion he came to this
continent, chose Twelve Apostles from among the people and sent
them forth to preach his Gospel. He also did many mighty
miracles. He was seen to come from heaven down into the midst of
the people. He organized his Church amongst them, healed the
sick, and left his Church and Gospel in their midst. I am sorry
to say that we see the descendants of this very people now in a
very low and degraded state. I refer to the aborigines or native
Indians of this continent. But this is in consequence of their
apostacy and turning from God. The aborigines of this country are
the descendants of this very people whom Jesus visited, to whom
he delivered his Gospel, and among whom he organized his Church.
They were obedient for over three hundred years, and served God
with an undivided heart, after which they began to apostatize.
For three hundred years the people on the continent of North and
South America were benefitted by the work of the Savior in
organizing his Church and revealing every principle and ordinance
calculated to assist them back into the presence of God. Is not
that good?
175
"What good does it do you, Latter-day Saints?" It proves that the
Bible is true. What do the infidel world say about the Bible?
They say that the Bible is nothing better than last year's
almanac; it is nothing but a fable and priestcraft, and it is
good for nothing. The Book of Mormon, however, declares that the
Bible is true, and it proves it; and the two prove each other
true. The Old and New Testaments are the stick of Judah. You
recollect that the tribe of Judah tarried in Jerusalem and the
Lord blessed Judah, and the result was the writings of the Old
and New Testaments. But where is the stick of Joseph? Can you
tell where it is? Yes. It was the children of Joseph who came
across the waters to this continent, and this land was filled
with people, and the Book of Mormon or the stick of Joseph
contains their writings, and they are in the hands of Ephraim.
Where are the Ephraimites? They are mixed through all the nations
of the earth. God is calling upon them to gather out, and He is
uniting them, and they are giving the Gospel to the whole world.
Is there any harm or any false doctrine in that? A great many say
there is. If there is, it is all in the Bible.
176
When I first commenced to preach to the people, nearly forty
years ago, to believe the Bible was the great requisite. I have
heard some make the broad assertion that every word within the
lids of the Bible was the word of God. I have said to them, "You
have never read the Bible, have you?" "O, yes, and I believe
every word in it is the word of God." Well, I believe that the
Bible contains the word of God, and the words of good men and the
words of bad men; the words of good angels and the words of bad
angels and words of the devil; and also the words uttered by the
ass when he rebuked the prophet in his madness. I believe the
words of the Bible are just what they are; but aside from that I
believe the doctrines concerning salvation contained in that book
are true, and that their observance will elevate any people,
nation or family that dwells on the face of the earth. The
doctrines contained in the Bible will lift to a superior
condition all who observe them; they will impart to them
knowledge, wisdom, charity, fill them with compassion and cause
them to feel after the wants of those who are in distress, or in
painful or degraded circumstances. They who observe the precepts
contained in the Scriptures will be just and true, and virtuous
and peaceable at home and abroad. Follow out the doctrines of the
Bible and men will make splendid husbands, women excellent wives,
and children will be obedient; they will make families happy and
the nations wealthy and happy and lifted up above the things of
this life. Can any see any harm in all this? "Oh, but you Mormons
are such a strange people. It is true that we have found things
in Utah different from what we expected, but still you people are
so strange!" Why, what did you expect? Did you expect to see men
and women with fins like fishes? We are right from your
country--from England, France, Germany, Massachusetts, Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, New York, from the South, from every State in
the Union; what did you expect to see? We lived with you, went to
school and to meeting with you; but still the saying is, "Oh, the
Mormons are a strange people." It is true that we are; but in
what does our peculiarity consist? We do not believe in
litigation, quarreling, or in having contention with each other.
We take the low and degraded and lift them up. If it would be any
satisfaction to any man in the world to know what advantages
President Young has had, I will say that I used to have the
privilege of cutting down the hemlock, beech and maple trees with
my father and my brothers: and then rolling them together,
burning the logs, splitting the rails, and fencing the little
fields. I wonder if any of you ever did this? You who came from
England, or from the rich prairies of Illinois or Missouri never
did. Well, this was my education. "Did you not go to school?"
Yes; I went eleven days, that was the extent of my schooling.
176
Now, if we can take the low and degraded and elevate them in
their feelings, language and manners; if we can impart to them
the sciences that are in the world, teach them all that books
contain, and in addition to all this, teach them principles that
are eternal, and calculated to make them a beautiful community,
lovely in their appearance, intelligent in every sense of the
word, would you not say that our system is praiseworthy and
possesses great merit? Well, this is all in that book called the
Bible, and the faithful observance of the principles taught in
that book will do this for any family or nation on the earth.
176
We are not anxious to obtain gold; if we can obtain it by raising
potatoes and wheat, all right. "Can't you make yourselves rich by
speculating?" We do not wish to. "Can't you make yourselves rich
by going to the gold mines?" We are right in the midst of them.
"Why don't you dig the gold from the earth?" Because it
demoralizes any community or nation on the earth to give them
gold and silver to their hearts' content; it will ruin any
nation. But give them iron and coal, good hard work, plenty to
eat, good schools and good doctrine, and it will make them a
healthy, wealthy and happy people.
176
This is the great mystery with regard to the Latter-day Saints.
We have got a code of laws that the Lord Almighty has left on
record in the book called the Old and New Testaments. This same
code is contained in the Book of Mormon, also in another book we
have, called the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. These doctrines
are taught in all these books, and taught alike.
176
Now then, does the voice of the Lord, as heard from the heavens,
ever teach men and women to do wrong? Never. You see a man or
woman, in any community, no matter where they are or who they
are, that is inclined to do a wrong act to themselves or anybody
else, and they profess to do that under a religious influence,
and you may know that their ideas of religion are false. Ladies
and gentlemen, write that down. His religion is false who does
not have love to God and to his fellow-creatures; who does not
cherish holiness of heart, purity of life, and sanctification,
that he may be prepared to enter again into the presence of the
Father and the Son.
177
The question was asked a great many times of Joseph Smith, by
gentlemen who came to see him and his people, "How is it that you
can control your people so easily? It appears that they do
nothing but what you say; how is it that you can govern them so
easily?" Said he, "I do not govern them at all. The Lord has
revealed certain principles from the heavens by which we are to
live in these latter days. The time is drawing near when the Lord
is going to gather out His people from the wicked, and He is
going to cut short His work in righteousness, and the principles
which He has revealed I have taught to the people and they are
trying to live according to them, and they control themselves."
177
Gentlemen, this is the great secret now in controlling this
people. It is thought that I control them, but it is not so. It
is as much as I can do to control myself and to keep myself
straight and teach the people the principles by which they should
live. Do all do it? No, and the consequence is we see wickedness
in the land. Men do very wrong. Who is guilty? The Lord? No. The
religion we have embraced? No. The counsel we have given? No. I
have had the question asked me, in the days of Joseph, "Mr.
Young, I suppose that you would obey Joseph Smith, let him tell
you to do what he might?" "Well, I think I would." "Suppose that
he should tell you to kill your neighbor or to steal, or to do
this, that or the other, that is wrong, would you do it?" I would
reply, "Wait till I am told. I have never yet been told from
heaven, by Joseph Smith, the Old or New Testament, the Book of
Mormon or the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, to do a wrong
thing; and I will wait until I am, before I say what I would do;
that is time enough."
177
"Well, have you not committed wrong?" I may have committed a
great many wrongs for want of judgment or wisdom--a little here
and a little there. "But have you not done great wrongs?" I have
not. I know what is in the hearts of almost every person who
comes to this city. It is hurled throughout the length and
breadth of our country like lightning that Brigham Young and the
"Mormons" are guilty of doing this, that and the other, I need
not reiterate; and it is often asked, "Have not you Mormons been
guilty of this or that crime or evil?" I answer, no, ladies and
gentlemen, we have not. It is the wicked who do these crimes; it
is men who will go to hell; and then they try to palm them off on
the just and righteous. You can imagine what you please of the
stories you have read about the people of Utah from the pens of
every lying scribbler who has been here. Imagine what you please,
but write this down, publish it in your little paper (the
Trans-Continental), that a Saint will never do wrong if he knows
it. If a man will do a wrong thing wilfully, he is not a Saint.
When you hear of Brigham Young, and of his brethren who are in
the faith of the holy Gospel, doing this wrong and that wrong,
wait until you find out the truth before you publish it to the
world.
178
We have been asked a good many times, "Why do you not publish the
truth in regard to these lies which are circulated about you?" We
might do this if we owned all the papers published in
Christendom. Who will publish a letter from me or my brethren?
Who will publish the truth from us? If it gets into one paper, it
is slipped under the counter or somewhere else; but it never gets
into a second. They will send forth lies concerning us very
readily. The old adage is that a lie will creep through the
keyhole and go a thousand miles while truth is getting out of
doors; and our experience has proved this. We have not the
influence and power necessary to refute the falsehoods circulated
about us. We depend on God, who sits in the heavens. Our trust is
in Him who created the heavens, who formed the earth, and who has
brought forth His children on the earth, and who has given the
intelligence which they possess. He has given them the privilege
of choosing for themselves, whether it be good or evil; but the
result of our choice is still in His hand. All His children have
the right of making a path for themselves, of walking to the
right or to the left, of telling the truth or that which is not
true. This right God has given to all people who dwell on the
earth, and they can legislate and act as they please; but God
holds them in His hands, and He will bring forth the results to
His glory, and for the benefit of those who love and serve Him,
and He will make the wrath of men to praise Him. All of us are in
the hands of that God. We are all His children. We are His sons
and daughters naturally, and by the principles of eternal life.
We are brethren and sisters. What is it that makes the
distinctions we see in the classes of the children of men? We see
the low and the degraded, like the aborigines of our country;
what is the cause of their being in their present condition? It
is because of the rejection by their fathers of the Gospel of the
Son of God. The Gospel brings intelligence, happiness, and glory
to all who obey it and live according to its precepts. It will
give them intelligence that comes from God. Their minds will be
open so as to understand things as they are; they will rejoice in
being blessed themselves and in blessing their fellow beings, and
in being prepared to re-enter the presence of the Father and the
Son. This will be their delight. Is this so? It is.
178
I was very much gratified a day or two ago with a little
circumstance that transpired while a company of ladies and
gentlemen were visiting me. We were talking over some
circumstances relating to our coming to the valleys, and our
hardships after we got here. I said it was faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ that enabled us to endure. A lady present said,
"That is right, I believe in exercising faith in him. Have faith
in God, for God will bless all who have faith in Him, no matter
who they are nor by whom called; if you have faith in God, and
live according to the light you have, God will lead you to
glory."
178
I delight to hear a person give an intimation of their having
faith in God; to hear it said, "I believe in Jesus Christ. I
believe in his crucifixion and atonement, and in his ordinances."
These ordinances we are trying to live, that we may glorify God,
and prepare ourselves to build up His Zion on the earth, that the
world may be filled with peace, knowledge and joy.
178
God help us to do so!
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 13 / Orson
Hyde, October 6, 1869
Orson Hyde, October 6, 1869