Brigham Young 1867-1871.

         WEAKNESS OF THE HUMAN MIND.  EXTORTION.  IMPERFECTION OF
             THE HUMAN JUDGMENT.  INTRODUCTION OF MACHINERY.
          Remarks by President Brigham Young, in the Tabernacle,
                Great Salt Lake City, January 13th, 1867.
                       Reported by Edward L. Sloan.

	It was said by one of old that "faith comes by hearing;" and I might
say, with propriety, that faith comes by hearing and conceiving of the
words of life.  It was also said, "how shall they believe in Him of whom
they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how
shall they preach, except they be sent,"--by proper authority.  Hence, it
is necessary that we should have teachers.  When the elders of this Church
go into places where the Gospel has never been preached before, the Spirit
bears witness to the people of its truth.  A number will believe for a
time. The seed is sown; some of it falls on stony ground; it springs up
rapidly, but has not sufficient root, and it speedily withers.  Some falls
into the ground, and to all appearance will have a thorough growth; but
the cares of the world spring up and choke that seed, and the hearts where
it was sown forsake the truth and neglect to hearken to the voice which
whispered to them, "This is the truth."  But there are a few in the world
who will hearken to the words of life when they hear them, and will remain
faithful.  Yet but few, in comparison to the great numbers who have heard
the Gospel, have received it in good and honest hearts, and have brought
forth fruit meet for repentance; and of those who have embraced it, many
have run well for a season who have not continued to abide in the faith. 
Still, it is necessary that we should be taught and instructed in the
things of God.

	It has just been remarked here, by Brother Musser, that it is hard
for a man to study law without forsaking the spirit of the Gospel.  This
proves that there is a lack of sound knowledge in the individual who
permits himself to be thus led away.  There are many among the inhabitants
of the earth who are weak in comprehension, and of such limited capacity
that they can only look upon one thing at a time; and they forsake the
contemplation of everything else for the one idea which occupies the mind. 
There are some of our Elders who will argue themselves into false doctrine
by giving an undue preference to one scripture and passing over others
equally as important.  This same lack of comprehensiveness of mind is also
very noticeable at times with some men who happen to accumulate property
and it leads them to forsake the Spirit of the Gospel.  Does it not prove
that there is a contractedness of mind in those who do so, which should
not be?  The Lord owns the earth; he made it; the gold and the silver, the
wheat and the fine flour are his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills are
his;"  yet he is not going to forsake the holy Gospel or to apostatize
therefrom because of that.  When Jesus comes to reign King of nations as
he now reigns King of Saints, he will not apostatize although the whole
world will be at his command; and when the Ancient of Days shall come and
sit upon his throne to bring to judgment the vast family of man, he will
not apostatize.  How contracted in mind and short-sighted we must be to
permit the perishable things of this world to swerve us in the least
degree from our fidelity to the truth.  It shows that we lack knowledge
which we should possess.

	If men cannot study and practice law and keep the Spirit of the Lord,
they ought to quit it.  As I have frequently told the people at our places
of recreation, if they cannot go there with the Spirit of the Lord, they
had better stay at home.  We do not want lawyers, nor merchants, nor
business men to be engaged in those pursuits unless they have the Spirit
of God with them.  We do not wish them to continue in their business
unless they can see and understand that all things pertaining to this
earth are subject by right to the priesthood of God, and should be guided
and directed by it in every matter.  All that they are, have, or do, ought
to be subject to the priesthood of the Son of God; and unless they can
feel thus, they had better go into the fields and canons to work,--suffer
themselves to be poor and keep the Holy Spirit with them.  It seems to me,
at times, as though the people should be ashamed that we are under the
necessity of charging them not to become surfeited with the things of this
world, so as to neglect the duties that are obligatory upon them.

	We are like children who require constant teaching; and the teaching
that we principally need is in temporal things.  How often do we hear it
said that we are one in spiritual matters. If any turn away in the least,
it is because they yield to some delusive spirit or argument, which
convinces them that an error is truth.  The Saints want reaching with
regard to their every-day life and their temporal avocations.  People
believe the Gospel to be true in Germany, in France, in Scandinavia, in
England, and wherever on the face of the earth it is preached to them, and
they receive it.

	Brother Musser has been telling us of being in Calcutta, and of
baptizing some who believed the Gospel there.  They wished to be gathered;
but was it to learn of baptism for the remission of sins?  or to learn the
first principles of the Gospel?  No; they could have learned them in
Calcutta.  Do people come from Scandanavia [sic] to learn that the laying
on of hands is a correct principle?  or from England to find out that we
should break bread in commemoration of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? 
No; they could learn these things in the several parts of the earth where
they first heard the Gospel; they could obtain the spirit of prophecy
there, and speak in tongues, and have the discerning of spirits.  What do
you gather here for?  To be guided and dictated in the things of the
kingdom of God, so as to become of one heart and of one mind in all things
political, religious and social; to learn how to live to overcome the
evils that are in you, that you may be kind and gentle and truth-loving,
full of the Spirit of the Lord from Sunday morning to Sunday morning; not
coming together on the first day of the week for our meetings and
sacraments, and then going away and turning to the beggarly elements of
the world without thinking of religion again until the next Sabbath
morning.  The Latter-day Saints are gathered together to learn how to
overcome every sin, and every passion within them, to sanctify themselves
before the heavens, and sanctify the Lord God in their hearts.

	It has been remarked this afternoon that we are introducing a new
order of things by some of the teachings recently given to the Saints.  It
is no new doctrine to let our enemies alone.  This book (Doctrine and
Covenants) contains revelations given to the Church thirty-seven,
thirty-six, thirty-five, and thirty years ago.  This is what we call the
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church; yet it is but a part of them.  Here
are the Bible and the Book of Mormon, both of them containing the doctrine
and covenants of the Church.  But this book contains the revelations given
in this our day; and one of the first revelations that was given to Joseph
the Prophet, concerning the gathering of the house of Israel, points out
the manner in which the brethren should live to be justified before the
Lord.  I have taken the liberty of saying in the past, and I think I might
repeat it with safety, that these first revelations given to the Church
will probably be among the last to be strictly obeyed. The revelation I
refer to dictated the brethren what to do with regard to their temporal
business; and it will be comparatively easy to obey all the revelations
until we come to that which touches the purse.--one of the first that was
given to the Church.

	You can read it in the Doctrine and Covenants; and you will find that
it directs concerning the purchasing of lands, the giving of all property
over into the hands of the Bishop, the receiving of inheritances and being
satisfied therewith; and that all that the Bishop did not feel disposed to
return back to those from whom he received it, was to remain in his
charge, or in the charge of the Trustee-in-Trust, to build-up the kingdom,
preach the Gospel, administer to the wants of the poor, and sustain the
priesthood.  How would this be received by our merchants here, who are
members of the Church?  Commence at the head of East Temple-street, which
I call Whisky-street, and go down it on either side, and ask our brethren
who are merchants to hand over their property to Bishop Hunter, who might
say to them,  "I will let you have ten acres of land to commence farming,
and here are a thousand dollars to start you," and how would they act?  I
feel like saying, as I have said before, unless many of them take a
different course they will go to hell.  These were the first revelations
given to the Church; yet there are men to-day who are Bishops and
Presidents of settlements, who express their willingness to labor for the
welfare of the people and the building up of the kingdom, but feel that no
person holding the priesthood has a right to dictate them with regard to
their property.  They are very willing that Brother Brigham should dictate
in spiritual matters, and trust their eternal salvation to the principles
he teaches; but the property they may have acquired or the manner in which
their labor should be directed, or who they shall trade with, whether an
avowed enemy or a man who pays tithing, and taxes, and helps to build up
the community, are things with which;, they think, he has no business.

	I think it would be well to cleanse the inside of the platter.   I
had a little note put into my hands not long since, which stated that some
of our merchants were taking advantage of the instructions given to the
Saints on the matter of trading. There are some merchants who have never
made a calculation of what the value of their goods is in first cost,
freight, insurance, &c., that they might know at what price they could
afford to sell them, so as to have a reasonable living profit; but they
have asked themselves "How much can I get for these goods?  how much can
the Latter-day Saints bear to be gulled in purchasing them?  Do merchants
here take cent. per cent. of profit?  Yes, 500 per cent., when they can
get it.  An article which costs them a dollar, they will charge from five
to twenty dollars for, as they can obtain it; and they would take fifty
dollars for it, only they think the people will not bear to be gulled to
that extent.  One man came to me lately, who wanted to buy some goods.  He
asked me if he should buy of so and so.  I said I would go among those who
pay their tithing and their taxes, and among those who do not swear nor
blaspheme the name of God, and men who have consciences, who would not
steal your wagon, nor take your stock off the range,--these are good
traits, and I will here say that thousands and millions who are not in the
church are just as good, morally, as we are--I told this friend to go
among those men and see what he could purchase goods at.  He did so, and
returned and showed me his figures.  The first place I directed him to; he
found he would have to pay twenty per cent. more for his goods than in the
second place.  The second was a Latter-day Saint; the first was not in the
church; he concluded to purchase of one of the brethren because he could
do twenty per cent.  better with him.

	The other day a man wanted to to [sic] buy goods of an outsider,
because he could do so much better; the bills were examined and it was
found that this person was selling fifteen per cent.  higher at wholesale
than our brethren were selling the same goods at retail.  There is
something the matter with people who think they can buy cheaper from
outsiders merely because they are outsiders.  How many of those before me
are really judges of goods?  Not one in five hundred.  "Why, Brother
Brigham," it may be asked, "am I not a judge of a piece of ribbon?"  You
know whether the colors please you; but can you tell whether it has been
on the shelf of the store for one year or twenty years?  Brethren will buy
cloth without being judges of the quality; and because they can buy an
article, apparently the same, a little cheaper in one place than they can
in another, they will do so, although the quality is much inferior, and
think they have got a bargain.

	Brother Kimball sometimes brings up the figure of the potter putting
fresh clay into the mill and grinding it to use in his business, to
illustrate the influx of the brethren and sisters who are gathered from
the nations, and who have to be instructed in those principles which have
been taught here for years; but carrying out the figure, I may say that
some of the clay here has been ground over and over for thirty years, and
it comes out as rough as the first time it passed through the mill.  Some
men seem as if they could learn so much and no more.  They appear to be
bounded in their capacity for acquiring knowledge, as Brother Orson Pratt,
has in theory, bounded the capacity of God.  According to his theory, God
can progress no further in knowledge and power; but the God that I serve
is progressing eternally, and so are his children:  they will increase to
all eternity, if they are faithful.  But there are some of our brethren
who know just so much, and they seem to be able to learn no more.  You may
plead with them, scold them, flatter them, coax them, and try in various
ways to increase their knowledge; but it seems as if they would not learn. 
They know the Gospel is true, and that it has brought blessings to them,
but ask them if they know who they are?  where they are from?  why they
are here?  If they have commenced to learn to control the elements around
them?  and if they understand the nature of their own organizations?  and
they will answer, "Why I never thought of them."  They have thought of the
labor they have been engaged in, how to chop down a tree, or plough the
ground, or work at the bench, or do whatever kind of work they have been
accustomed to do?  but do they know anything about the character of Him
whom they profess to worship?  No, only that the Gospel has been revealed. 
The Holy Spirit has touched their hearts; they believe the Gospel, and
they do not know that they can lean any more.

	We do not intend to let you go until we have tried to do something
with you.  We wish to talk to the people until they learn to understand
principle.  When the Saints get understanding they will never ask a
question when they are told to build up a settlement, make farms, or do
anything else that may be requisite in righteousness to build up the
kingdom of God.  Some of our elders have learned a good deal by experience
on many points.  In one thing they are all willing to be obedient, and
that is to go and preach the Gospel to the nations.  What elder who is
called upon a mission would refuse to go.  Yet if he is asked to go and
make a farm he seems to feel that it is quite a different matter.

	There is one subject that I have incessantly kept before the
capitalists of the Latter-day Saints for the past sixteen years; and that
is to go east and purchase machinery with their means.  Go and buy carding
machines, you men who have capital; and you who have not capital, sow a
quarter of an acre of flax, and keep on sowing until you become flax
growers; and you machinists, make mills to spin it, that we may have linen
from flax of our own growing.  This has been done to some little extent;
but for years I have asked the brethren who have capital to go and buy
machinery, yet how much has been bought and imported here?  There are many
of our sisters who like to have silk ribbons for their bonnets, and who
wish silk for sewing, and fabrics made from silk for dresses and other
things.  Why should not this silk be produced and manufactured here?  If a
man was worth a million of dollars, or millions of dollars, in the kingdom
of God, and possessed the Spirit of the Lord, knowing and understanding
his duty, and was told to get worms and make silk, and manufacture it from
the raw material, he would not say a word, nor ask a question, but he
would do as he was desired.  So it would be if he were told to go and buy
machinery; he would go and buy it, and bring it here to be employed for
the good of the people, or his own benefit, and for the upbuilding of the
Kingdom of God.  Until a very few years ago there was not a carding
machine in the Territory only those which I brought, nor a spindle to spin
an ounce of cotton or wool until I started it.  The factory at Parowan,
iron county, I started; there is one little cotton factory in Utah county,
and I have a small cotton and woolen factory, and I have urged and urged
the brethren to bring on woolen machinery here, then the brethren would
save their sheep.  We need from one hundred to two hundred of the same
capacity in the Territory.

	If one of our capitalists is asked to buy machinery, his reply is, "I
can make money faster by bringing goods here to sell."  Is that your
object in coming here?  You who feel so and do so will either stop in your
course and change it, or you will never enter the celestial kingdom.  You
will go where our merchants will go, if they are not careful.  When a man
has one dollar, or a million of dollars, and his duty is pointed out by
the priesthood, and he asks "Can I do better with my means some other
way?" he will sooner or later sink in his means and in his faith and go to
ruin.  The earth is the Lord's, and he is going to give it to his Saints;
and if we are anxious to obtain the world before the Lord is willing to
let us have it, we will lose that which we seek to gain; but if we are
faithful, we shall inherit all things.

	It is for this that we are gathered together.  It is not that we may
be taught baptism for the remission of sins; neither is it that we may
have the gift of prophecy bestowed upon us; nor the gift of tongues, nor
the interpretation of tongues; but we are gathered together that we may
become one, as a people, in our politics and in our financial matters, as
well as in our faith; that we may know how to systematize everything that
we are engaged in, how to deal with one another; and how to organize the
elements to bring forth for our own wants, and do all we do in the name of
the Lord and to his glory.  Will it add any thing to his glory?  No, but
he desires to see his children doing right and living according to the
laws of life; and he has brought forth light into the world for this
purpose, that we might be saved and know how to obtain eternal life; know
how to govern and control ourselves and deal gently with one another; how
to increase the kingdom of God and spread abroad peace throughout the
land, that all may be quietness, peace, good order and happiness. Would
that not be almost Zion?  If we will do this we can produce heaven here
upon the earth.  If we want to enjoy the principles and spirit of heaven,
we must live so as to produce them in our own bosoms; and if we should
unfortunately find ourselves in hell, it will be because by our acts we
will have so chosen. When we are truly one we will be one in those things
that pertain to this life.

	We do not wish harm to those who have not the faith which we possess. 
We wish good to all mankind; and desire to do good to all who will permit
us.  But we should commence our labors of love and kindness with the
family to which we belong; and then extend them to others.  It is written,
"If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own
house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."  If we do
not seek the welfare of the household of faith, we will sooner or later
deny the faith.  Our mission is not to build up the wicked anywhere.  We
are called out of the world to build up the kingdom of God.  We are here
to promote the principles of heaven, and advance the purposes of the
Almighty, and no others; and when you spend a dollar to build up any other
power or kingdom than the one which God has established, you are doing
wrong, and you will find it out sooner or later.  Sometimes when I think
of these things I am very strenuous in my feelings; and some might think
that I was whipping them to it just as we have been whipped into being an
independent people.  We have been whipped, and beaten, and kicked out of
doors; we have been told to go and take care of ourselves; our houses, our
lands, and all we had got were wanted by our enemies; and we were driven
into the wilderness to starve.  Thus we have been whipped to be
independent.  Have we statesmen here amongst us?  Yes, the best in the
world, and that is not boasting.  We have been obliged to learn how to
govern ourselves and the people.  If we know how to manufacture what we
need, to draw a sustenance from the elements in this forbidding country,
it is because we have been obliged to do so.  when we came here, if we did
not know how to get shoes, we knew how to go barefooted.  I will venture
to say that not one of four out of my family had shoes to their feet when
we came to this valley.  Necessity is said to be the mother of invention;
and if we did not know how to make moccasins we learned.  And we learned
how to govern and control ourselves. 

	Occasionally it is said, and published in the world, "what a terrible
people these Mormons are!  No man's life is safe in Utah!"  Put this
people by themselves and there would not be a law suit among them in a
year, nor a murder in fifty years; nor ever, if they would live their
religion.  But if men try to crowd into our houses to seduce our wives,
sisters, and daughters, they should take care.  If they want families, let
them take an honourable course to obtain them; if they want wives, they
should marry them, and give them their names honestly.  What is the
condition of the world?  If you go to Europe, to Germany to France, and
other countries, what will you find?  You need not go beyond the United
States; not even beyond the City of Friends.  I saw a reservoir there in
which they found the bodies of twenty-nine children, when cleaning it, and
it had been cleaned but a short time previously.  Sometimes, I was
informed, they had found more in it.  It is a little better in England,
for there they will keep their illegitimate children if they can, or give
them away.  If a man wants a wife let him take one, and not act the
scoundrel. I will promise every man on the face of this earth, that ever
was or ever will be, that if they will betray the innocent and ruin the
virtuous they shall have damnation for their portion.  Set this people
down by themselves and permit them to remain so would there ever be any
trouble among them?  No; there never would be, so long as they would live
their religion.  Go to cities west, north and east of us, and it is not
uncommon to find half-a-dozen men killed a day here, as in some other
places, it would scarcely be notices; it would not be so rare.

	Do the Latter-day Saints know that they are gathered together to be
taught in temporal things, in all their business movements and dealings,
and to learn how to live in families and as a community in peace and
happiness?  We are charged with abusing our families.  There is not
another community on the earth where families are loved, honored,
respected and cherished as they are among the Latter-day Saints,--even if
we do have more than one wife.  You know we are accused of almost every
crime; and it is said that we hold our families in bondage.  They do not
look as if they were held in bondage.  They like to be held in the bondage
they are in; and there are a great many others in the nations of the earth
who feel the same way, and whom we will gather and hold in the same
bondage--even in the bonds of the Gospel.

	Men are gathered here, and get the spirit of the devil in them.  They
do feel the influence of the Spirit of the Lord at times, and then they
are humble.  But they will allow the spirit of evil to seize hold of them,
and they will get full of passion and abuse a neighbor, a child or a wife. 
The wife will run to the bishop and lay her complaint before him, and he
will chasten the husband.  It seems to me at times as though there are
some men and women who are never happy only when they are miserable, they
appear to delight so much in quarreling and contending.  But if they will
strive to live according to the principles of the Gospel, they will
overcome that, with everything else which hinders their progress in the
truth.  We are here to be sanctified, that every thought, and desire and
feeling may be brought into subjection to the will of God.

	You latter-day Saints are gathered expressly that husbands may be
taught how to live with their wives, and wives with their husbands;
parents with their children, and children with their parents; that all may
become of one heart and of one mind.  The Saints are so in many respects
already.  They are on the increase, and I expect to see the day that they
will be subject in all things to the priesthood of God, and never raise an
argument against anything they may be instructed to do by the priesthood. 
Many are like children who seek to handle the very things that would
destroy them; but when they come to understanding they will never have to
be told of any duty twice by their leaders.

	It was remarked here this afternoon that preaching by example is
better than preaching by precept.  That is so for example exercises a more
powerful influence than precept.  If any of you can set a better example
than is set by myself, do so.  Live a better life than I do, if you can. 
Many men will say they have a violent temper, and try to so excuse
themselves for actions of which they are ashamed.  I will say, there is
not a man in this house who has a more indomitable and unyielding temper
than myself.  But there is not a man in the world who cannot overcome his
passion, if he will struggle earnestly to do so.  If you find passion
coming on you, go off to some place where you cannot be heard; let none of
your family see you or hear you, while it is upon you, but struggle till
it leaves you; and pray for strength to overcome.  As I have said many
times to the Elders, pray in your families; and if, when the time for
prayer comes, you have not the spirit of prayer upon you, and your knees
are unwilling to bow, say to them, "Knees, get down there;" make them
bend, and remain there until you obtain the Spirit of the Lord.  If the
spirit yields to the body, it becomes corrupt; but if the body yields to
the spirit it becomes pure and holy, and is fitted to come forth with the
just in the morning of the first resurrection, and to dwell with the
sanctified; otherwise we cannot be prepared for this glory.  We are
gathered together to sanctify these bodies, to deal, act, transact and do
everything we do in the love of God, and in the fear of God, for the
building up of his kingdom and to his name's honor and glory.

	I could tell you many things that might seem hard to those who are
not members of the Church.  There are a great many different kinds of
capacities on the earth; and a great many who do not understand the
different spirits that are in the world.  Take a person who is quick of
comprehension, if he can receive the Spirit of the Lord, let him have the
Gospel preached to him; and if he is honest he will embrace it.  Excuse
me, outsiders, there are no men or women on the earth, but who, if they
will yield to the Spirit of Christ, will embrace that which is known as
"Mormonism," when they have opportunity.  There is a great variety of
temperaments, many of whom, it seems, cannot see and understand the
revelations of God; and if their eyes were opened to see the heaven of
heavens, as soon as they would be closed again, they would say "I guess I
have been dreaming;" when there is no other spirit of sensibility than the
Spirit of God.  It fills immensity.  David has expressed himself; "Whither
shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  if
I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there.  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the
uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy
right hand shall hold me."  David believed that the Lord is in hell.  But
does he dwell there?  No; he is there by his Spirit, for all the evil that
is there has bounds set to it which it cannot pass by.

	Now, I expect by to-morrow night or next morning, that I shall hear
of some of our bishops trading with some of the worst enemies we have; and
we have men here in our midst who would cut your throats and mine.  But,
bishops, if you understood your duties, you would never have to be told
twice concerning anything that it was right you should do.  We will try to
bear with you until you do understand; yet we are not so merciful as our
Father in heaven.  But when we sanctify ourselves to enter into the
presence of the Father and of the Son, we will be filled with the same
patience that he is filled with.

	May the Lord bless you.  Amen.

    Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                 Great Salt Lake City, February 3, 1867.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
    HOW SAINTS SHOULD ORDER THEIR VOCATION OF LIFE.--HOW EMPLOY THEIR
       WEALTH.  TO BUILD UP ZION, AND NOT BABYLON.  COUNSEL OF THE
       PROPHET JOSEPH.  PROPHET BRIGHAM YOUNG'S EXPERIENCE THEREIN,
          IMPORTANCE OF UNION IN THINGS TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL,
                         RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL.

	If the people can hear me as well as I can hear their noise walking,
there will not be much difficulty in my making myself understood.  This
walking carelessly with heavy boots makes a quite a confusion in the hall. 
In addressing the Saints, whether by the word of exhortation, admonition,
correction or in doctrine, it requires good attention for a person to
retain even a small portion of that which they hear.  This is why it is so
necessary for us to be talked to and preached to so much.  If we read the
Bible, it soon goes from us; we gather principles and have the pleasure of
perusing the experience of others who have lived in former days; but we
soon forget them.  Our own cares and reflections, and the multitude of
thoughts that pass through our minds take away from our recollections that
which we hear and read, and our minds are upon present objects--our woes,
our trials, our joys, or whatever seems to be present with us and directly
in the future, and we forget what we have heard. like to gather.  What
for?  What is the object of being a Saint?  For the express purpose of
enjoying the blessings of the pure in heart--of those who will be prepared
to dwell in the presence of the Father and the Son.  For this I have left
my all;--left, perhaps, father, mother, sisters, brothers, friends,
relatives, a good home; in many instances left a wife, left a husband,
left our children for the sake of the society of the Saints.  And when we
are gathered together we can look around and inquire of ourselves, if we
are really what we profess to be; do we walk in that path that is marked
out for the faithful and obedient as strictly and as tenaciously as we
should, devoting ourselves entirely to the service of God, for the
building up of his kingdom, and the sanctifying of ourselves--striving to
overcome every evil passion, every unhallowed appetite; seeking to the
Lord for strength to subdue every obnoxious weed that seems to grow in our
affections, and overcome the same to that degree that we may be
sanctified?  We can examine ourselves, and decide upon this question,
without asking the counsel of bishop, or presiding elder, or Apostle or
any man or woman in this church.  We are capable of deciding this for
ourselves.

	If any of the Latter-day Saints would like to have the path of duty
pointed out to them in plainness and simplicity, and the road that leads
to perfection marked before them so as to travel therein with ease, they
should seek unto the Lord and obtain his spirit--the Spirit of Christ--so
that they can read and understand for themselves.  Do they love God with
all their hearts?  Do they keep his commandments? Do we know whether we do
love the Lord?  Do we know whether we keep his commandments?  Do we know
whether we are walking in the path of obedience or not?

	There is a trait in the character of man which is frequently made
manifest in the Saints.  It is simply this--to see faults in others when
we do not examine our own.  When you see people, professing to be
Latter-day Saints, examining the faults of others, you may know that they
are not walking in the path of obedience as strictly as they should.  For
this simple reason--it is all that you and I can do as individuals, as
members in the Church and Kingdom of God, to purify ourselves, to sanctify
our own hearts, and to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts.  It may be
observed, or the question may be asked:  "Are we never to know the doings
of others?  Are we never to look to see how others are walking and
progressing in this Gospel?  Must we for ever and for ever confine our
minds to thinking of ourselves, and our eyes to looking at ourselves?"  I
can merely say that if persons only understand the path of duty and walk
therein, attending strictly to whatever is required of them, they will
have plenty to do to examine themselves and to purify their own hearts;
and if they look at their neighbors and examine their conduct, they will
look for good and not for evil.

	It is true that under some circumstances we may have to look at
others.  For instance, here is the High Council, they are called to act
upon cases that come before them.  Of course their duty, then, is to
examine into the conduct of their brethren and sisters; and this is
required of them.  And if they do it without prejudice, without
selfishness, by the power of the Holy Ghost, divested of every improper
feeling, judging righteous judgmentbetween man and man, the performance of
this duty will purify themselves just as much as any other labor. If a
person is not called to sit in the High Council, he may be called to be a
Bishop, and if he is through his ward, faithfully looking after the wants
of the poor, examining into the conduct of each and every family to know
whether they are orderly and respectable, and whether they conduct
themselves accordingly to the word and law of God, seeing there is no
evil, backbiting, mischief or any conduct unbecoming Christians, he is
laboring faithfully in the discharge of his duty, and is entitled to the
Spirit of the Lord to sanctify his own heart and to purify himself, just
as much as if he were on his knees praying.  If an elder is called to go
and preach the Gospel, and he travels over the plains, in a train or in
the coach, or by the railroad, or goes aboard a ship and crosses the
ocean, he is attending to his duty in this just as much as though he were
in the High Council or on his knees praying all the time.  If a man is
called to go and labor for the poor, if his Bishop calls upon him to go
into the kanyon after a load of wood for the poor, and he goes there, with
his heart uplifted to God, and with his eye single to the building up of
the kingdom, and gets the load of wood and lays it at the door of the
Bishop for the poor, for the widow or for those who cannot help
themselves, he is just as much in the line of his duty in so doing as
though he were on his knees praying.  And so we can proceed with the whole
duty of man.  No matter what the person is called to do, if it is to build
up the kingdom of God on the earth, if he cheerfully perform the duty, he
is entitled to the Spirit of the Lord--the Spirit of Truth--the Holy
Ghost; and will most assuredly possess the same.  There is a time for
preaching, for praying, for sacrament meetings, for labor, and when we are
attending to any or all of these, in the season thereof, we are entitled
to the purifying influence of the Spirit of God. If a man is called to go
and farm, and he goes faithfully about it, because he is directed to do so
by the authorities that are over him, and he raises his grain, his cattle,
and brings forth his crops to sustain man and beast, and does this with an
eye single to the glory of God and for the building up of his kingdom, he
is just as much entitled to the Spirit of the Lord, following his plough,
as I am in this pulpit preaching, according to the ministry and calling,
and the duties devolving upon him.  If a man is called to deal in
merchandize for the benefit of the people of God; in traveling to buy his
goods, and looking after them and their safety until they reach their
place of destination, and distributing those goods to the Saints and
taking his pay for them, let him act with an eye single to the glory of
God and the upbuilding of his kingdom on the earth, and he is as much
entitled to the Spirit of the Lord and the Holy Ghost as man is preaching. 
If a man is called to raise stock, and to procure machinery to manufacture
the clothing that is necessary for the Saints, and he goes at that
business with his eye single to the building up of the kingdom of God on
the earth he is entitled to the Spirit of the Holy Gospel, and he will
receive and enjoy it just as much as if he were preaching the Gospel. 
Will he have the spirit of teaching and expounding the Scriptures? No, he
has the spirit to know how to raise sheep, to procure the wool, to put
machinery in operation to make the clothing for the advancement, benefit
and building up of the people of God on the earth.  And the Spirit of the
Lord is here in these labors--farming, merchandizing and in all mechanical
business just as much as it is in preaching the Gospel, if men will live
for it.

	Suppose we bring a few illustrations in regard to the present
feelings and knowledge of the elders of Israel.  We need not go back to
Nauvoo or Kirtland, to find illustrations among our merchants, but take
them as we find them here.  If they enter upon their business without God
in their thoughts, it is "How much can I get for this?  and how much can I
make on that?  and how much will the people give for this and for that? 
and how fast can I get rich?  and how long will it take me to be a
millionaire?"  which thoughts should never come into the mind of a
merchant who professes to be a Latter-day Saint.  But it should be "What
can I do to benefit this people?  And when they live act, and do business
upon this principle, and think "What can I do to benefit the kingdom of
God on the earth, to establish the laws of this kingdom, to make this
kingdom and people honorable, and bring them into note, and give them
influence among the nations so that they can gather the pure in heart,
build up Zion, redeem the House of Israel, and perhaps assist, (though I
do not think there will be any need of it) to gather the Jews to Jerusalem
and prepare for the coming of the Son of Man?"  and labor with all their
might for their own sanctification and the sanctification of their
brethren and sisters, they will find that the idea of "How much can I make
this year?  can I make sixty thousand dollars? can I make in my little
trade a hundred thousand dollars?"  never would enter their minds; they
never would think of it.  But I am sorry to say they do not.  Our
merchants may turn round and ask us if we expect them to make anything. 
Yes, we are perfectly willing they should get rich; no matter how rich
they are, but what will you do with those riches?  The question will not
arise with the Lord, nor with the messengers of the Almighty, how much
wealth a man has got, but how has he come by this wealth and what will he
do with it?"

	I can reveal things to the people, if it would do any good; give them
the mind of the Lord if they could hear and then profit by it, with regard
to wealth.  The Lord has no objection to his people being wealthy; but he
has a great objection to people hoarding up their wealth and not devoting
it, expressly, for the advancement of his cause and kingdom on the earth. 
He has a great objection to this.

	And our mechanics, do they labor for the express purpose of building
up Zion and the kingdom of God?  I am sorry to say that I think there are
but very few into whose hearts it has entered, or whose thoughts are
occupied in the least with such a principle; but it is, "how much can I
make?"  If our mechanics would work upon the principle of establishing the
Kingdom of God upon the earth, and building up Zion, they would, as the
prophet Joseph said, in the year 1833, never do another day's work but
with that end in view.  In that year a number of Elders came up to
Kirtland; I think there were some twenty or thirty Elders.  Brother Joseph
Smith gave us the word of the Lord; it was simply this:  "Never do another
day's work to build up a Gentile city; never lay out another dollar while
you live, to advance the world in its present state; it is full of
wickedness and violence; no regard is paid to the prophets, no the
prophecyings of the prophets, nor to Jesus nor his sayings, nor the word
of the Lord that was given anciently, nor to that given in our day.  They
have gone astray, and they are building up themselves, and they are
promoting sin and iniquity upon the earth; and,"  said he, "it is the word
and commandment of the Lord to his servants that they shall never do
another day's work, nor spend another dollar to build up a Gentile city or
nation."

	Now, if any one is disposed to ask whether Brother Brigham has ever,
since them, worked a day, or half a day, or an hour, to build up a Gentile
city or the Gentile world, he will most emphatically tell the Latter-day
Saints that he never has.

	I could illustrate by circumstances, and could relate if I were
disposed to give them to you, the povidences of God, and how favorable
they are to those who walk humbly before him.  In the summer of 1833, in
July, Brother Joseph gave the word of the Lord to the Elders, as I have
been telling you.  I returned east; and in September Brother Kimball and I
went up together with our little families.  When we arrived in Kirtland,
if any man that ever did gather with the Saints was any poorer than I
was--it was because he had nothing.  I had something and I had nothing; if
he had less than I had, I do not know what it could be.  I had two
children to take care of--that was all.  I was a widower.  "Brother
Brigham, had you any shoes?"  No; not a shoe to my foot, except a pair of
borrowed boots I had no winter clothing, except a homemade coat that I had
had three or four years.  "Any pantaloons?"  No.  "What did you do?  Did
you go without?"  No; I borrowed a pair to wear till I could get another
pair.  I had travelled and preached and given away every dollar of my
property.  I was worth a little property when I started to preach; but I
was something like Bunyan--it was "life, life, eternal life," with me,
everything else was secondary.  I had traveled and preached until I had
nothing left to gather with; but Joseph said:  "come up;" and I went up
the best I could, hiring Brother Kimball to take my two little children
and myself and carry us up to Kirtland.  In those days provisions and
clothing were as dear as they are now in this place; and a mechanic in
that country who got a dollar a day and boarded himself was considered
rather an extra man.  A dollar a day!  And my brethren when they have
three or five dollars a day, and have worked a year, will be sure to come
out four or five or six hundred dollars in debt if they can get it.  We
did not live so in that country; we never used anything more than our
means.  When I reached Kirtland I went to work as soon as the word was
that I could work and not preach I knew that I could get plenty; for I
knew how; I always could gather around me and make property.

	There were some thirty or forty Elders gathered to Kirtland that
fall; but there was only one mechanic in the entire number whom I knew
that did not go to Cleveland and the neighboring towns to work during the
winter--for the simple reason, that they thought they could not get one
day's work and get their pay for it, in the place Joseph was trying to
build up--and that exception was your humble servant.  I made up my mind
that I would stay in Kirtland, and work if I never got a farthing for it;
and I went to work for Brother Cahoon, one of the Trustees of the Temple,
to build his new house.  I worked all winter, and when spring came, was
called upon to go to Missouri--a tramp of a thousand miles on foot--and a
thousand back.  Before going, the brethren gathered in who had been to the
surrounding places during the winter--joiners, painters, masons and
plasterers.  I asked some of the brethren how much they had made?  I had
worked there through the winter, and at its commencement had not the least
prospect of getting twenty-five cents for my winter's work.  I told
Brother Cahoon I would work whether I could get anything for it or not,
"for," said I, "the word of the Lord is for me to work, to build up Zion,
and poor as I am I shall do it."  But the Lord opened the way; and I
gained Brother Cahoon's heart to that degree that if he received anything
he always came to me, and said, "Bother Brigham, I have so and so, and I
will divide it with you."  Brother William F. Cahoon and I kept to work at
the house until his father got into it.  When we had finished the house,
he had paid me all that was coming to me.  The Lord had opened the way. 
This work finished, another job came, and then another, and when the
spring opened, I can safely say that there was not any four, nor perhaps
any six or ten of the brethren who had gone elsewhere to work who could
produce as much property, made by them through that winter, as I had made.

	You can see for this the providences of God, with one winter's work
in Kirtland, when it was one of the hardest places that ever mortal man
had to get a living in, and that too, when I had to work for nothing and
find myself, that is, seemingly so, to all outward appearance.

		I had my pants and coats, two cows, a hired house and a wife in
the meantime.  And I was better off than any other man who came to
Kirtland the fall be ore [sic], according to the property that we came
with, and I had enough to live with my family and leave them comfortable,
and my gun and sword and money enough to pay my expenses.  If I had no
work to do, and there was nobody to hire me, there was plenty of timber
and I made some bedsteads or stands, and if anybody wanted such things
they would come along and say, I will give you a little oats or a little
corn, or something or other for them, and so the Lord opened the way most
astonishingly.

	I tell this, because it is an experience I am acquainted with, for it
is my own.  I am not so well acquainted with the providences of God in the
experience of others, as I am with my own, except by faith and the visions
of the Spirit.

	I stayed in Kirtland from 1833 till 1837; I preached every summer. 
Here are brethren who know what I am saying.  I traveled and preached, and
still went back nothing; but was willing to exchange, deal, work and labor
for the benefit of my brethren and myself, with the kingdom and nothing
else before me all the time. When I left there for Missouri I left
property worth over five thousand dollars in gold, that I got
comparatively nothing for.  I could travel along, with regard to my
experience, to this valley.  I left my property in Nauvoo, and many know
that I left a number of good houses and lots and a farm, and came here
without one farthing for them, with the exception of a span of horses,
harness and carriage, that Almon W. Babbit let me have for my own
dwelling-house that my family lived in; and when I arrived here I owed for
my horses, cows, oxen and wagons.  Now, the brethren say:--"Why, Brother
Brigham you are rich."  I simply relate this to show you how I have lived
and what I have been doing, and the result, that God, and not I, has
brought forth.  Now, I have some four or five grist mills, besides saw
mills and farms; and let anyone ask my clerks if they ever hear me mention
them from one year's end to another, unless somebody comes into the office
and alludes to them; but my mind is upon increasing the wealth and
advancing the interests of this people, and upon the spread of the Gospel
on the continents and the islands of the sea.  Ask my clerks and my
closest associates if they ever hear me mention my individual property
unless somebody speaks about it.  I own property, and I employ the best
men I can find to look after it.  If God does not give it to me, I do not
want it; if he does I will do the very best I can with it; but as for
spending my own time in doing it, or letting my own mind dwell upon the
affairs of this world, I will not do it.  I have no heart to look after my
own individual advantage, I never have had; my heart is not upon the
things of this world.

	Excuse me for referring to myself.  But I know that there is no man
on this earth who can call around him property, be he a merchant,
tradesman, or farmer, with his mind continually occupied with:  "How shall
I get this or that; how rich can I get; or, how much can I get out of this
brother o from that brother?"  and dicker and work, and take advantage
here and there--no such man ever can magnify the priesthood nor enter the
celestial kingdom.  Now, remember, they will not enter that kingdom; and
if they happen to go there, it will be because somebody takes them by the
hand, saying, "I want you for a servant;" or, "Master, will you let this
man pass in my service?"  "Yes, he may go into your service; but he is not
fit for a lord, nor a master, nor fit to be crowned;" and if such men get
there, it will be because somebody takes them in as servants.

	I have now related a little of my own experience.  My experience has
taught me, and it has become a principle with me, that it is never any
benefit to give, out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing, or
anything else, if they are able-bodied, and can work and earn what they
need, when there is anything on the earth for them to do.  This is my
principle, and I try to act upon it.  To pursue a contrary course would
ruin any community in the world and make them idlers.  People trained in
this way have no interest in working; "but, "say they, "we can beg, or we
can get this, that, or the other."  No, my plan and counsel would be, let
every person, able to work, work and earn what he needs; and if the poor
come around me--able-bodied men and women--take them and put them into the
house.  "Do you need them?"  No; but I will teach this girl to do
housework, and teach that woman to sew and do other kinds of work, that
they may be profitable when they get married or go for themselves.  "Will
you give them anything to wear?"  O, yes, make them comfortable, give them
plenty to eat and teach them to labor and earn what they need; for the
bone and sinew of men and women are the capital of the world.

	If I could see my brethren and my sisters as willing to be taught,
led and directed in the little trifling affairs of life, with regard to
their food, raiment, houses, and labors, and how to make themselves useful
and not waste their time and strength on that which does them no good; if
I could see this people as willing to be taught in these things as they
are in the great things--the revelations of the prophets, and what Jesus
has said, and the beauties of eternity, and the excellency of the
millennium, and what great men and women we are going to be, that would be
delightful.  But what would you be good for if you were in that condition? 
Nothing.  What would you do?  Nothing at all.  Learn to be good for
something.  We have these things to learn here, or, if not here, somewhere
else; and if we are not willing to learn here, and practice what we know
for the benefit of ourselves, and improve on the grace God gives to us,
how can he bestow his blessings upon us in the next state of existence? 
He will not do it; we have to learn and be willing to be taught here.

	To return to the subjects of merchandizing and merchants.  I know,
and knew sixteen years ago as well as I do to-day, that from the very
first the merchants who came here were laying the foundation for the
uprooting of this people unless we had exceeding great faith; and that
every dollar that was given to them was given to ruin you and me, and to
destroy the kingdom of God on the earth.  Can you believe this?  "I do not
know anything about that,"  says one, "but I think I shall go where I can
buy my calico the cheapest, and I do not know that it is any of your
business where I buy my ribbons, hats or coats; I think that it is my
business."  It is just as much my business, Latter-day Saints, to dictate
in these things as it is in regard to the sacrament we are partaking of
here to-day.  Do the people know it?  It is strange to them.  Because your
priests in England, France, Germany, in the eastern or Southern states,
and the islands of the sea, did not preach such doctrine, you cannot
receive it.  Did they preach baptism for the remission of sins?  No.  Then
why receive it?  Our fathers and priests did not preach any such doctrine
as that a man has a right to dictate in temporal matters.  Now by the same
kind of reasoning, it might be proved that you could never receive the
doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins.  Why?  Because the priests
did not preach it; your fathers did not tell you that it was correct
doctrine, and why did you receive it?  Well, you did receive it, and the
Spirit of the Lord bore witness that it was true.  The Spirit also bore
witness that you should have hands laid upon you for the reception of the
Holy Ghost; and that the gifts of tongues, of prophecy, of faith, and the
healing of the sick were to be enjoyed by the Saints.  Now ask the Father
in the name of Jesus whether I am telling you the truth about temporal
things or not, and the same Spirit that bore witness to you that baptism
by immersion is the correct way according to the Scriptures, will bear
witness that the man whom God calls to dictate affairs in the building up
of his Zion has the right to dictate about everything connected with the
building up of Zion, yes even to the ribbons the women wear; and any
person who denies it is ignorant.  There is not a man or woman in the
world who rises up against this principle but what is ignorant; all such
are destitute of the spirit of revelation and enjoy not the Spirit of
Christ.

	Do I want to dictate?  No, I am just as far from that, naturally, as
a man can be; it is not in my heart.  How glad would I be to be excused
from this.  Would I not rejoice to be left to mind my own concerns, and to
attend to my own business, providing for the wants of my family and
enjoying myself just as much as you?  Yes.  But the Spirit prompts me to
perform the labors which devolve upon me, to plead with and urge the
people to act for their own benefit. If this people would hearken to the
counsel, given them, and be of one heart and one mind in their temporal
affairs, can you not see the result? These men who have been urging
trouble upon us, writing lies, and whose whole study is to destroy the
kingdom of God from the earth would not be in our midst.  Why?  There
would be nothing for them to do. "No;" says the sister, "if I give you ten
dollars profit on your goods you use that for the destruction of this
kingdom that I think so much of."  "No;" says a brother, "if I give you
one dollar or one thousand dollars profit on your goods, you use that for
the destruction of the kingdom of God that I am willing to sacrifice
everything for.  I can not give it to you, it is not reasonable to think
that I must give this to you."

	"But," says the merchant, "I demand it of you."  "Yes," but I have
just as good a right to go where I please to trade as you have to trade,
and I shall give my ten, hundred, or thousand dollars to the man who would
devote that means to the building up of the kingdom of God."  I do not say
that all our merchants, mechanics or tradesmen are precisely as they
should be before the Lord with regard to devoting their means.  Touch
their means, and in many instances you touch their souls.  Still what does
that prove?  It proves that they are wrong and not right.  And they should
be right and their whole souls should be centred on the building up of the
kingdom of God.  There are many persons here who when they get five
hundred or five thousand dollars, want to bring a few wagon loads of goods
here to speculate upon.  Why not bring machinery here?  Why not raise
silk?  Through my own exertions I have the mulberry tree growing here in
great abundance.  The foundation is at length laid for making as much silk
as we wish.  But we have to tease the women to get them to weave silk here
as they did in the old country.  Have we no ladies here who can weave silk
ribbons?  if not we can soon send for some.  But no, the manufacture of
silk is not thought of; it is, "how shall I get money to spend with my
enemies?" how rich can I get this year?" "how much can I make out of this
people?"   I am sorry to see it; it is not very creditable; for in so
doing, we foster our enemies in our midst--they who seek with all the
power they have to uproot us.  You who have been in the Church thirty or
thirty-five years know that there has always been a set of scavengers
following the people to pick up what they could; and they are with us here
to collect the filth. Are they willing to go and build up a city for
themselves?  No; they are not.  I am speaking of those who deserve this;
but there are many that are not of those speculators.  Are they willing to
go and take up a farm?  No, they would not give a farthing for a farm
unless they obtain a "Mormon's" claim and bring about a fight in getting
it.  The latter they can do very easily; they can find all the fight they
want.  Their designs are to interrupt this community; they want some
gambling houses, and they will have them.  The City Council is no more
willing now than ever to license gambling houses and grog shops; but it
must be done, and all hell is stirred up if I ask the people to suppress
them.  What do they want them for?  They want what they call
"civilization"--that is fighting, gambling, killing, whore houses,
drinking houses, and every species of debauchery that can be imagined on
the face of the earth.  That is their "civilization," and what they want
introduced here.  These scavengers are here and they want to introduce
their systems.  There are not a great many of them perhaps at the present
time; but they will follow up, and I can tell the Latter-day Saints that
we will be followed just as long as the devil reigns on the earth.  He is
untiring in his exertions, fervent in every act possible, for the
accomplishment of his work.  If the people would take the counsel given
them, health, wealth, influence, and power among the nations of the earth
would surely come to them in a tenfold degree to what it ever has; it
would come in such a manner that you would not know what to do with it,
and you would wonder and be astonished.  "But no," say many, "we will
mingle with, live among, and nourish and cherish the servants of the
devil, and give our money to, and associate with, and have his coadjutors
in our midst."  And so we have got to continue to labor, fight, toil,
counsel, exercise faith, ask God over and over, and have been praying to
the Lord for thirty odd years for that which we might have received and
accomplished in one year.

	"I do not know," says one, "how to do better than I do."  The Lord
has given you and me the privilege of gathering up from among the wicked. 
"Come out of her my people," are some of the last words revealed through
his servant John in the last of the revelations given in the New
Testament.  And one of the last writers we have here in this book--John
the Revelator--looking at the Church in the latter days, says: "Come out
of her, my people"--out of Babylon, out of this confusion and wickedness,
which they call "civilization."  Civilization!  it is corruption and
wickedness of the deepest dye.  It is no society for you, my people, come
out of her.  Gather out where you can pray, where you can have meetings
and sacraments; where you can meet, associate, and mingle together; where
you can beautify the earth and gather around you the necessaries of life,
and make everything as beautiful as Zion, and begin to establish Zion on
the earth; sanctify yourselves, sanctify your houses, the lands that you
live upon; your farms, the streams of water that flow through your cities,
country places and farms; sanctify your hills and mountains and valleys,
and the land around about, and begin to build up Zion.  Now, "come out of
her, my people,"  for this purpose, "and partake not of her sins, lest ye
receive of her plagues."  After all these revelations and commandments the
people who profess to be Saints will mingle with the wicked, and foster
those who would cut their throats, and feed and clothe, and give them
everything they can gather together.

	How is it if you come down to the acts of the people?  Will the women
knit their own stockings, and make their own clothing?  Some of them may
try to do so; but as a general thing, no.  It is:  "Husband, I want some
money to go to the store to buy a bonnet; I will not be troubled with
braiding the straw; I want some shoes, frocks and pants for my boys, and I
will not be at the trouble of spinning this dirty wool."  And the man will
not be at the trouble of raising it.

	That is not the way to get rich.  If you wish to get rich, save what
you get.  A fool can earn money; but it takes a wise man to save and
dispose of it to his own advantage.  Then go to work, and save everything,
and make your own bonnets and clothing.  And let our merchants do their
business for the building up of the kingdom of God.  If our merchants do
not take this course, the time is not far distant when they will be cut
off from the Church.  Let them go their own road.  If they think that a
little money or property will pay their way into the kingdom of God, they
may try it.  They will find themselves mistaken; they will miss the gate
and take another road.  The same will apply to our mechanics,--if they
will not labor for the building up of this kingdom, instead of working to
get rich, they will miss the gate of the celestial kingdom, and will not
get in there unless we take them in for servants.  I do not care whether a
man is a merchant or a beggar, whether he has much or little, he must live
so that neither the things of this world, nor the cares of this life will
becloud his mind, nor exclude him from the revelations of the Lord Jesus
Christ; but all, whether merchants or preachers, tradesmen or farmers, and
mechanics and laborers of every kind, whether they work in the ditch, or
building post and rail fence, must live so that the revelations of the
Lord Jesus are upon them; and if they live not according to this rule,
they will miss the kingdom they are anticipating.

	You may think this is pretty hard talk; but recollect the saying of
one of the Apostles, when speaking about getting into the kingdom of
heaven, that "if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly
and and [sic] the sinner appear?"  The best man that ever lived on this
earth only just made out to save himself through the grace of God.  The
best woman that ever lived on the earth has only just made her escape from
this world to a better one, with a full assurance of enjoying the first
resurrection.  It requires all the atonement of Christ, the mercy of the
Father, the pity of angels and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be
with us always, and then to do the very best we possibly can, to get rid
of this sin within us, so that we may escape from this world into the
celestial kingdom.  This is just as much as we can do, and there is no
room for that carelessness manifested by too many among us.

	I do not wonder at this people having trouble; I do not wonder at
some of our sisters having sorrow in what is termed plural marriage; for
they do not live so as to have the Spirit and power of God upon them; if
they did, they would see its beauty and excellence, and not a word would
be said against it from this time henceforth and for ever.  But they see
this with a selfish eye, and say, "I want my glory and my comfort here;" 
their eye is not on the resurrection and on the kingdom we are looking for
when Jesus will come and reign King of nations as he does King of Saints.

	With regard to the wealth of this people, I can say they would soon
get immensely rich if they would take the counsel that is given them.  For
instance, here is one little circumstance:  we have quite an outlet for
our grain; our oats, barley and flour are very much wanted in the
neighhoring [sic] Territories.  Who raise this grain?  The Latter-day
Saints.  Suppose they were perfectly united, do you not think they could
get a suitable price for it?  They could.  We required Brother Hunter to
counsel the Bishops to take measures to bring about union in this
direction, and we saved for the Territory two or three hundred thousand
dollars a year for two or three years.  Then business slackened; but I was
satisfied; we had shown the people what could be done; they have become
comparatively well off, and if they have a mind to pursue a proper policy,
they have matters in their own hands.  Many will not, however, do this. 
One says "I want to sell my oats; how much are they selling at?"  "They
are selling at one dollar and a quarter to-day; but there is nobody
buying."  "How much will you give?"  "Well, I'll give you a dollar;" and
so they are sold; we are so anxious for the money.  There is a story,
which I have told before, but it will do to tell again.  Four years ago a
certain sister took down a hundred pounds of flour to the square, hearing
that flour was being sold there; but owing to the number of sellers
reduction in price had been continually going on.  Our sister, however,
determined to sell at any price, said "you can have my flour for one
dollar," and she actually sold her hundred pounds of flour and the sack
for one dollar. One of the brethren, who had recently arrived here, went
on to the square, and saw a load of wheat for sale.  He inquired of the
owner how much he asked for his wheat.  The owner of the wheat told him
and a bargain was made for it.  Before they reached the house of the
purchaser, the seller suspected he had sold to a "Mormon;" and, upon
inquiry, finding it was so, "ah" said he,  "had I known that you belonged
to the Church I should have made you pay for it."  Such little things as
these are like straws--they tell which way the wind blows.  If the people
would only take the counsel given them, instead of there being people in
our midst, in want, or that could be called poor, there would not have
been a family in the whole community, but would have been so far above
want that it might have been safely said, hard times would come again no
more.  Every man and woman wishes to work for his or her own interest, but
they do not know how, they do not know what is for their best interest and
greatest good. 

	Now, we are here to build up the kingdom of God, and for nothing
else; but here are our enemies determined that the kingdom of God shall
not be built up. I have often thought that I ought not to blame them so
much.  They have had possession of this earth some six thousand years; the
devil has reigned triumphant, and without a rival has held possession; the
wicked rule all over the earth, and they have had possession of this
little farm, called earth, so long that they think they are the rightful
heirs, and inherit it from the Father.  But the Lord has said that the
Saints should possess it.  And when Joseph translated the Book of Mormon,
and revealed the Gospel as it was among God's children on this continent
anciently, that was the starting point.  The Lord said "I am going to
establish my kingdom; my open foe has had possession of this earth long
enough, and I am going to show all the inhabitants of the earth, saint and
sinner, good and bad, that it is time for Jesus, according to his promise,
sufferings and death to commence to redeem the earth and those who will
hearken to his counsel, and bring them forth to enjoy his presence." The
enemy has had possession of the earth a great while, and they really feel
as though it is their right, and that they are the legal heirs.

	If the Gospel goes to the uttermost parts of the earth and fulfills
its destiny as predicted by the Prophets, by Jesus and by the Apostles, it
will eventually swallow up all the good there is on the earth; it will
take every honest, truthful and virtuous man and woman and every good
person and gather them into the fold of this kingdom, and this society
will enlarge, spread abroad and multiply, and will increase in knowledge
until the members composing it know enough to lengthen out their days and
man's longevity returns, and they begin to live as men did anciently.

	This people are spreading and increasing, and religiously--so far as
the ordinances of the house of God are concerned--they are of one heart
and one mind.

	How is it politically?  Do they vote the Democratic ticket or do they
take the Republican side of the question?  I rather think that so far as
voting is concerned they are of one heart and one mind; then they are one
religiously and politically.  "Oh," say our enemies, "what will be the
result if this people are let alone?  the idea of such a thing is rather
fearful."  Another man says:  "I wish they could be let alone for a
hundred years, just to see what they would amount to."  "But," says
another, "I should not; I tell you if those people prosper as they seem to
do, I am not going to hold my place in a national capacity."  The Priests
in their pulpits, from the holy Catholic down, say, "If this religion is
right, ours is wrong, and it is terrible to us to see the prosperity that
prevails in their midst, and to know that they are of one heart and of one
mind."

	How is it politically?  Do they vote the Democratic ticket or do they
take the Republican side of the question?  I rather think that so far as
voting is concerned they are of one heart and one mind; then they are one
religiously and politically.  "Oh," say our enemies, "what will be the
result if this people are let alone?  the idea of such a thing is rather
fearful."  Another man says:  "I wish they could be let alone for a
hundred years, just to see what they would amount to."  "But," says
another, " I should not; I tell you if those people prosper as they seem
to do, I am not going to hold my place in a national capacity."  The
Priests in their pulpits, from the holy Catholic down, say, "If this
religion is right, ours is wrong, and it is terrible to us to see the
prosperity that prevails in their midst, and to know that they are of one
heart and of one mind."

	Now, then, here comes this party, and say to us, "You do not own a
farm on this earth; we have had power on the earth so long, and shall
still reign, and every foot of it shall be divided among us and our
adherents."  "It is true," say they, "that in the days of Moses the Lord
did once send a messenger to preach the Gospel to the children of Israel,
but our master had such power in their midst that they would not receive
the kingdom."  In the days of Abraham, also, long before the days of Moses
the Lord revealed the principles of the kingdom, but they would not have
them.  And even before that the Lord delivered the principles of the
kingdom to Noah, but they were not received by his posterity.  Enoch and
his band received sufficient of those principles to lead them on step by
scep [sic] till they were so far perfected that the Lord took them from
this earth; and down from Enoch to Noah, Abraham and Moses and the
children of Israel in the wilderness; these latter, however, would not
have the Gospel.

	If you turn over this Bible you may read that when the children of
Israel would not receive the Gospel, the Lord gave to them what is called
the law of carnal commandments.  In that he tells them whom a man shall
not marry; you can read it for yourselves--he shall not marry his wife's
mother, nor her sister, nor his wife's aunt, &c.  Previous to this the
Lord had commanded the children of Israel, through Abraham, Isaac, and
through Jacob and the twelve patriarchs never to marry out of their own
families.   But they would run over yonder to a strange nation and worship
other gods, and bring back a wife, or two or three into a family; and then
go into another nation and worship idols, and bring their corruption into
the midst of Israel, till at length they became so alienated and estranged
from the principles of righteousness and the Holy Gospel, that when Moses
delivered to them the principles of life and salvation they utterly
rejected them, and this is the reason the Lord gave to them the law of
carnal commandments.

	We are raising up a little party by ourselves; we are actually
getting a people here not of the world.  We are gathering out of the
world, and assembling together, and we have the right to purchase a farm,
build a a [sic] city or inhabit a Territory or State.  But it is grievous
for the other party to bear.  Yet we "render unto Caesar the things that
are Caesar's" we pay our taxes and keep the laws of the land.  I do not
know that I blame them for exercising all their ability to prevent Jesus
from coming to reign King of nations as he does King of Saints.  They have
so long held the reins of government with undisputed sway.  They have
swept over the earth and have controlled all its inhabitants so long that
I do not know that I can blame them for feeling.  "We do not like these
Latter-day Saints to increase.  It is dangerous, very dangerous.  If they
are going to trade with themselves--have merchants of their own, and not
going to trade with us, it is a terrible thing.  If they are going to be
permitted to buy land and occupy it, the nation ought to take it in hand. 
If they are going to cease licensing gambling houses, the nation ought to
take it in hand."  I cannot blame them so much for feeling so--they see
the danger.

	They are for themselves and their master, and if they let the Saints
alone it will be, as it was said in the days of Jesus, "If we let him thus
alone, all men will believe on him; and the Romans shall come and take
away both our place and nation."  So it will be with the Latter-day
Saints; if they are let alone, their doctrine will spread and prosper till
it gathers up all the truth in the world; it will gather every good person
in the world and will save and preserve them from the ravages of the
enemy. 

	As I said here, once, with regard to preaching the Gospel, a very
simple person can tell the truth, but it takes a very smart person to tell
a lie and make it appear like the truth.  Go into the sectarian world with
their systems called religion now before the people; it requires a very
learned and talented man to make it appear anyway commendable to the
hearts of the honest, so far as doctrine is concerned.  When we come to
the doctrines that Jesus taught, they are what can save the people, and
the only ones on the face of the earth that can.  In conversation not long
since with a visitor who was about returning to the Eastern States, said
he, "You," as a people, consider that you are perfect?"  "Oh, no;" said I,
"not by any means.  Let me define to you.  The doctrine that we have
embraced is perfect; but when we come to the people, we have just as many
imperfections as you can ask for.  We are not perfect; but the Gospel that
we preach is calculated to perfect the people so that they can obtain a
glorious resurrection and enter into the presence of the Father and the
Son."

	Our doctrine embraces all the good.  It descends to the capacities of
the weakest of the weak; it will teach the girl how to knit, and to be a
good housekeeper, and the man how to plant corn.  It will teach men and
women every vocation in life; how they should eat; how much to eat; how to
feed, clothe, and take care of themselves and their children; how to
preserve themselves in life and health.  But you will ask, how?  By close
application, and learning from others, and obtaining all the knowledge
possible from our surroundings, and by the assistance of the Spirit, as
all who have introduced art and science into the world by the aid of
revelation.  The Gospel will teach us all that variety that we see before
us in nature--the greatest variety imaginable.  One sister would get up a
certain fashioned bonnet, and another one another fashion; one would trim
it in a certain way, and another in another way.  When the brethren build
their houses, the styles would be different; and in walking through the
city one would see a vast variety in the gardens, in the orchards, in the
walks and in the houses.  The same variety would exist in the internal
arrangements of the houses.  We should see this variety with regard to
families--here is one's taste, and another's taste, and this constant
variety would give beauty to the whole.  Thus a variety of talent would be
brought forth and exhibited of which nothing would be known, if houses and
dresses and other things were all alike.  But let the people bring out
their talents, and have the variety within them brought forth and made
manifest so that we can behold it, like the variety in the works of
nature.  See the variety Good has created--no two trees alike, no two
leaves, no two spears of grass alike.  The same variety that we see in all
the works of God, that we see in the features, visages and forms, exists
in the spirits of men.  Now let us develop the variety within us, and show
to the world that we have talent and taste, and prove to the heavens that
our minds are set on beauty and true excellence, so that we can become
worthy to enjoy the society of angels, and raise ourselves above the level
of the wicked world and begin to increase in faith, and the power that God
has given us, and so show to the world an example worthy of imitation.

	May the Lord bless you.  Amen.

    Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                  Great Salt Lake City, Feb. 10th, 1867.
                       [Reported by David W. Evans]
       THE IMPROVED CONDITION OF THE SAINTS--PREPARATION NECESSARY
       TO BUILD UP THE CENTRE STAKE OF ZION--THE LAW OF MOSES GIVEN
        IN CONSEQUENCE OF REBELLION--NO TRUE PLEASURE WITHOUT THE
                           SPIRIT OF THE LORD.

	When I look at the faces of people, look at the image of our Creator. 
When I behold one of the images or likenesses of our Creator, I behold
more or less of His character by the manifestations and the influences of
the spirit that is in man.  "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration
of the Almighty giveth it understanding."  There is none without a spirit;
this spirit is from heaven, and when we look at each other we behold, more
or less, the power that is in Him who created and brought us forth, and
who sustains all things.

	In hearing doctrines and exhortations do we recollect those portions
that will actually benefit and purify, and enable us to grow in grace and
in the knowledge of the truth?

	We as a people are commanded to leave our places of abode in the
countries where we received the gospel, and are required to gather
together.  This makes us conspicuous; it places us in a position where we
are looked at.  If we have any influence it is felt; if we do exist, if we
have a being here as a congregated people, as I think we have, of course
we are so conspicuous that we are noticed by the world.  Whether this
makes us as Saints, any better, is for our experience, and those who have
wisdom, to decide.  But we are here I do believe; I do not want anybody to
pinch me, to know whether I am in existence or not; I am pretty well
convinced that I live, move, and have a being.

	Many of the Latter-day Saints are fearful that trouble will come to
us.  I do not know that our condition is any more critical or dangerous
than that of other people.  It is true, it appears that we are in a very
peculiar and dangerous condition.  We have had our enemies after us, to my
certain knowledge, for the last thirty-five years, and to-day I am as free
from the influences of the wicked as I ever was any day in my life.  I
never enjoyed more liberty and freedom, nor had greater access to that
which is good than I have to-day.  This is what we all believe, and what
our experience proves.  My beloved brother Joseph, who has been speaking
to you, testifies that he realizes that the condition of this people,
though they may be a target for the whole world, is safer than that of any
other people, no matter who they are nor where they live.

	Suppose br. Joseph, the prophet, were with us to-day, do you not
think that he would feel safer than he ever did before on any day of his
public life?  He would.  I recollect a little of his history that I will
relate. I think it has been told to the congregation, or a portion of
them, by br. George A. Smith. When he had almost finished translating the
Book of Mormon, nearly forty years ago, and some time before the Church
was organized, he was hunted, harassed, tormented, afflicted, and
perplexed; taken before this magistrate and that magistrate, and sometimes
they would keep him a whole night trying to prove something or other
against him.  "O, he was guilty man!  his crimes were enormous!  No man
was ever so guilty as he."  The priests commenced this outcry against him: 
"Did you not hear this man say so and so?"  said they to their deacons and
the members of their church.  "Well, no, we do not know that we did hear
him."  "Has he not said or done something or other, transgressed some law
of the land, spoken against the government, or something by which he can
be proved guilty?"  And so he was hunted and hunted, and at one time I
recollect that Mr. Reed, the father of the present Secretary of our
Territory, then something of a lawyer, defended him from court to court,
night after night
--they kept Joseph I do not know how many days and nights, and finally
they could find nothing against him.  They knew in the first place that he
was guilty of nothing; but from that time to his last persecution when
they served a writ on him in Carthage and he delivered himself up to the
Governor, and was examined and committed to prison by the magistrate,
their cry was, "Has not Mr. Smith said something or other that we can make
treason out of it?"  "Well, Dr. Bennet says so, or Jackson and the Laws
say so."  "Will you not come forward and testify something or other so
that we can condemn this man?"  No.  They could not get parties to swear
this, that, or the other; but they wanted to prove him guilty of treason
by trying to prove that he had more than one wife.  Very singular treason,
that!  But so it was.

	Now, as bad as myself and my brethren are, and as far as we are from
the mark, and from the privileges we should enjoy, if Joseph Smith, jun.,
the prophet, could have seen the people in his day as willing to obey his
voice, as they are to-day to obey the voice of their President, he would
have been a happy man.  He lived, labored, toiled, and worked; his courage
was like the courage of an angel, and his will was like the will of the
Almighty, and he labored till they killed him. 

	We had to leave, and we have come here into these mountains, and do
you think we are going to be swallowed up by our enemies?  Why, they have
already done their uttermost.  "Could they not send a hundred thousand men
here to destroy the 'Mormons?'"  Yes; that is, they could try.  In the
winter of 1857-58, when the army was at Bridger, Col. Kane came here to
see what he could do for the benefit of the people, and to caution and
advise me.  He was all the time fearful that I would not take the right
step, and that I would do something or other that would bring upon us the
ire of the nation.  "Why," said he, "at one word there would be a hundred
thousand men ready to come here."  I replied that "I would like to see
them trying it."  Afterwards a calculation was made that, for men to come
here.--tary through the winter and get back the next summer, it would
require four and a half oxen to carry the food, clothing, and ammunition
necessary for each man.  This was more stock than they could take care of,
to say  nothing about fighting.  I was resolved that they would find
nothing here to eat, nor houses to live in, for we were determined that we
would not leave a green thing, and if I had time not one adobie should be
left standing on another.  I was satisfied that if Col. Kane could see
what I saw, he would know that the weight of such an army would be so
ponderous that it would crush itself, and it could never get here.  It is
just so now, too.

	James Buchanan did all he could do, and when he found he could do
nothing, he sent a pardon here.  What did he pardon us for?  He was the
man that had transgressed the laws, and had trampled the Constitution of
the United States under his feet.  We had neither transgressed against the
one nor violated the other.  But we did receive his pardon, you know, and
when they find out they can do nothing they will be sending on their
pardons again.  I do not know how it will be out west in Nevada, which is
a part of the State of Deseret.  In the first place they obtained from the
government the right of a Territorial government, and, finally, the right
to become a State was granted.  But they cannot maintain themselves; they
have nothing to eat; and a great many of them cannot get anything to wear
unless they steal it.  Now they have sent their petition to Washington to
have Utah annexed to them, so that they can get a little bread.  Now, you
see, we are gone in and no mistake; I say, if Nevada should really obtain
the rest of Utah we are gone in.  They have not thought of it, it has
never entered their minds at all, but they have opened the door and we
have gone in and taken possession of the house.  This does not frighten
me, not at all.  One gentleman from the west sent a telegram to br.
Kimball for money to enable him to stop this petition.  I told br. Kimball
to give no attention to it, and not to pay a dime.  Finally the memorial
went over the wires, and I received a short acount from our Delegate; I
telegraphed back to him saying, "Change the name from Nevada to Deseret. 
Go ahead, and we have our State government."  They do not have more than
one-quarter or one-third the people there that we have in Utah, and I
rather think the majority would rule in this case.

	There is not much danger, however, from that quarter.  But are they
not sending troops on here?  Yes; and they will have plenty for them to
do.  Eleven thousand were ordered here by James Buchanan; seven thousand
arrived, and about ten thousand hangers on--gamblers, thieves, and so
forth.  It made a pretty good army, but what did they accomplish?  They
used one another up.  I recollect in the days of Camp Floyd it was thought
nothing of to hear every morning to two or three men being killed; but
now, if one is killed about once in six months all hell is on the move. 
If the whisky drinkers and gamblers who were here to winter, were to go to
work, and kill off a few of themselves every night, it would stop all
excitement about killing.

	What would be said if the United States mail were robbed in this
neighborhood, as it is east, west, and north of this city every few weeks? 
It would be thought that we were becoming civilized; but in the absence of
frequent deeds of this character, whenever a scoundrel meets with his just
deserts here, there is a great outcry raised.

	Now, to tell the truth, there are but few, in comparison with the
numbers that now live, who are rabid against and seek to destroy the
kingdom of God.  A great portion ofthe human family are honorable men and
women, and they would just as soon that "Mormonism" should live as any
other ism.  The few who seek to destroy the kingdom of God are priests,
politicians, and office seekers, and they would care nothing about it,
only they are afraid we will take away their place and nation.  Let them
tell the truth, and they say that we have the best government to be found
anywhere, and that no other people are controlled so easily as the people
in this Territory.  I believe that Governor Cumming came to the conclusion
that he was Governor of the Territory as domain; but that Brigham young
was Governor of the people.  They have to acknowledge this, no matter whom
they may send here.  And where is there another people that is controlled
as easily as this people?  It is true that we have not come to
understanding as much as we expect to.  We have yet to be trained and
schooled and receive our lessons with regard to this life.  We can go to
any part of the world and preach this gospel, and the people will believe
and enter the Church, and they receive all the blessings and ordinances
necessary till they gather together.  But here they have to be instructed
with regard to their every-day life.  We may talk about the great things
of the kingdom, and how glorious the millenium will be, that there will be
no sin, nor pain, nor death, and we will pray without ceasing, and in
everything give thanks, and have it like a camp mecting; but what is the
use of all this to us?  You and I are gathered here expressly to prepare
for that day; we could not enjoy it now, but our duty is to prepare
ourselves to enjoy the glory that the Lord has in store for the faithful. 
We are going to try and save ourselves, and when we come to understanding
we will then be counted worthy to possess Zion, even the centre stake of
Zion.  It is true this is Zion--North and South America are Zion, and the
land where the Lord commenced His work; and where He commenced He will
finish.  This is the land of Zion; but we are not yet prepared to go and
establish the Centre Stake of Zion.  The Lord tried this in the first
place. He called the people together to the place where the New Jerusalem
and the great temple will be built, and where He will prepare for the City
of Enoch.  And He gave revelation after revelation; but the people could
not abide them, and the Church was scattered and peeled, and the people
hunted from place to place till, finally, they were driven into the
mountains, and here we are.  Now, it is for you and me to prepare to
return back again; not to our fatherland, in many cases, but to return
east, and by-and-by to build up the Centre Stake of Zion.  We are not
prepared to do this now, but we are here to learn until we are of one
heart and of one mind in the things of this life.  Do all the Latter-day
Saints arrive at this?  No; they have not, our former experience has
proved this.  Of the great many who have been baptized into this Chuch,
but few have been able to abide the word of the Lord; they have fallen out
on the right and on the left, and have foundered by the way, and a few
have gathered together.  Will these be prepared to enter the celestial
kingdom?  Some of them will be, and will become kings and priests; but not
all of these, only a portion of them.  They do not know what to do with
the revelations, commandments and blessings of God.  Talking, for instance
about every-day things, how many do we see here that know what to do with
money and property when they get it?  Are their eyes single to the
building up of the kingdom of God?  No; they are single to the building up
of themselves.  With all the knowledge that Elders have obtained who have
travelled in the Church five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, or thirty
years, there are few who understand the principles of the kingdom and
whose eyes are single to tbe building of it up in all respects; but their
eyes are like the fool's eye-looking to the ends of the earth.  They want
this and that, and they do not know what to do; they lack wisdom. 
By-and-by, perhaps, their wealth will depart from them, and when left poor
and penniless, they will humble themselves before the Lord that they may
be saved.

	This is the situation of the Latter-day Saints, yet they are
increasing.  It is astonishing to look back and see the ignorance that was
manifested by the people in their first gatheing together; their
experience then was far less than their experience and doings now.  Still
we are far short of being what we should and must be.

	When the people assemble together they should be instructed with
regard to their temporal lives.  It is good to assemble together and pray,
and preach, and exhort, so that we may obtain the power of God to that
degree that we can heal the sick, cast out devils, speak with tongues,
prophecy and enjoy all the blessings and gifts of the holy gospel; but
that does not raise our bread, nor perfect the Saints in wisdom.  I
referred here, last Sunday, to men  out of the Church who possess great
gifts and who are not in the Church.  Men who know nothing of the
Priesthood receive revelation and prophecy, and yet these gifts belong to
the Church, and those who are faithful in the kingdom of God inherit them
and are entitled to them; and all ought to live so as to enjoy the spirit
of these gifts and callings continually.

	Do we know and understand that it is our business to build up Zion? 
To have seen the way this people have conducted themselves in years past,
one would not have had the least idea that such was our business; but it
made no difference whom we built cities for; many would build for Jew or
Gentile, Greek, Mahommedan, or Pagan, every class of men on the earth, as
readily, apparently, as they would build up Zion.  Yet the word of the
Lord to us is to build up Zion and her cities and stakes.  Lengthen her
cords and strengthen her stakes, O ye House of Israel; add to her beauty
and add to her strength!  Why, to have seen the conduct of the people you
might have supposed they knew no more about Zion than about a city of the
Chinese, or a city in France, Italy, Germany, or Asia; just as soon build
up a city in Asia or Africa as anywhere else, "no matter whom we build for
if we only get the dollar, only get our pay for our work."  Yet the
commandment of God to us is to build up Zion and her cities.  I told you
here last Sunday what Joseph said in this respect--what we should build
and what we should not build up.  This book [the book of Doctrine and
Covenants] is full of it.

	We say we believe Joseph was a prophet, that he had the priesthood
and was called of God to gather the people together and establish Zion. 
If we believe this, why not let our lives prove that we believe the
doctrine that we pofess?  Can you see any of the Chistians in the world
who do not believe the doctrine they profess?  It is a very dark picture
to look upon--a sad affair that we disbelieve our own doctrines.  Let us
remember them and live accordingly. I will take the liberty of reading a
portion of a revelation given in November, 1831 (Book Doctrine and
Covenants, sec. 21), in reference to duties into which W. W. Phelps,
Joseph Smith, Edward Partridge, Sidney Gilbert, and a few others were
called:  "Wherefore a commandment I give unto them that they shall not
give these things unto the Church, neither unto the world: nevertheless,
inasmuch as they receive more than is needful for their necessities and
their wants, it shall be given into my store-house, and the benefit shall
be consecrated uuto [sic] the inhabitants of Zion, and unto their
generations, inasmuch as they become heirs according to the laws of the
kingdom.

	"Behold this is what the Lord requires of every man in his
stewardship, even as I the Lord have appointed, or shall hereafter appoint
unto any man.  And behold, none are exempt from this law who belong to the
Church of the living God; yea, neither the bishop, neither the agent who
keepeth the Lord's storehouse, neither he who is appointed in a
stewardship over temporal things; he who is appointed to administer
spiritual things, the same is worthy of his hire even as those who are
appointed to a stewardship, to administer in temporal things."

	In the next revelation it speaks of Sidney Gilbert, "And let my
servant Sidney Gilbert stand in the office which I have appointed him, to
receive monies, to be an agent unto the Church, to buy lands in all the
regions round about, inasmuch as can be in righteousness and as wisdom
shall direct.

	"And let my servant Edward Partridge stand in the office which I have
appointed him, to divide the Saints their inheritance, even as I have
commanded; and also those whom he has appointed to assist him.

	"And again, verily I say unto you, let my servant Sidney Gilbert
plant himself in this place," [that was Independence, Jackson County,
Missouri,] "and establish a store that he may sell goods without fraud,
that he may obtain money to buy land for the good of the Saints, and that
he may obtain whatever things the disciples may need to plant them in
their inheritances."

	Sell goods without fraud!  That is a point I wish ou merchants to
look at, if that does not hit them square in the face I am mistaken.  Does
the Lord talk about a merchant as though he was a mere trader who had
gathered for the purpose of clutching all he possibly could without caring
for anybody else?

	Will the time ever come that we can commence and organise this people
as a family?  It will.  Do we know how?  Yes; what was lacking in these
revelations from Joseph to enable us to do so was revealed to me.  Do you
think we will ever be one?  When we get home to our Father and God will we
not wish to be in the family?  Will it not be our highest ambition and
desire to be reckoned as the sons of the living God, as the daughters of
the Almighty, with a right to the household, and the faith that belongs to
the household, heirs of the Father, His goods, His wealth, His power, His
excellency, His knowledge and wisdom?  Ought it not to be our highest
ambition to attain to this?  How many families do you think there will be
then?  It is true that we read in the Bible with regard to the twelve
tribes of Israel, that they will be gathered together tribe by tribe, and
that when they are so gathered they will hear the sentence of the Ancient
of Days. They were commanded never to go out of their own family--the
family of Abraham--to seek a partner for life.  Did they keep that
command?  No; but they ran here and there, to the rebellious nations
around, and got their wives; and so they continued transgressing and
rebelling until the days of Moses, when the gospel was offered to, and
utterly rejected by them, and so the Lord gave them the law of Carnal
Commandments, in which they were forbidden to marry, as you can read in
the Bible.  That was a yoke of bondage.  And the whole religious world
swallow this down as the revelations of the Lord Almighty to His people;
they were to His people, but were given in consequence of their rebellion. 
A great many arguments might be adduced in favor of this, many more, I
think, than could be advanced against it.  Still we do not care anything
about that; we look at facts just as they are.  Abraham married his half
sister according to the Bible; but there is a discrepancy in the record,
for it is stated in his own writings that she was the daughter of his
older brother, and he was the chosen of the Lord; and all can read for
themselves and see whom Isaac and Jacob got for wives.  Did not Jacob,
when going to his uncle's house, see Rachel at the well drawing water? 
Said he, "She is a pretty nice looking girl, I guess I'll help her,"  and
going to do so, he found she was the daughter of the very man to whose
house the Lord had sent him; and he liked her well enough to work seven
years for her for a wife, and then Leah was palmed on to him, so he worked
seven years more for Rachel, and Jacob and his wives were own cousins.
Jacob's mother and his wives' father were sister and bother; consequently
his wives' grandfather and grandmother--Nehor and Milcah--were his
grandfather and grandmother.  Besides, Nehor was the brother of Abraham,
Jacob's grandfather on his father's side--and Milcah was the sister of
Sarah--his grandmother on his father's side.  So it was with Israel, in
the days of their obedience they were commanded to take partners in their
own families; but Israel was finaly divided up into twelve parts, and they
will be brought up so. This, however, is something that I understand, and
which the people may understand, perhaps, sometime.  They will come up
tribe by tribe, and the Ancient of Days, He who led Abraham, and talked to
Noah, Enoch, Isaac, and Jacob, that very Being will come and judge the
twelve tribes of Israel.  He will say, "You rebelled, and you have been
left to the mercies of the wicked."  See the tribe of Judah and the half
tribe of Benjamin, that tarried in Palestine when the rest went into the
north country, how they have been trampled down!--they have not outgrown
it to this day.  Take them in England, or across on the Continent, or even
in this country, no matter what you do to them, they will not resent it;
they submit to it.  But they will rise by-and-by and assert their rights
and have them.  They are the oldest nation in the world, and they have as
bright talents as any other people in the world, and the time will come
when they will obtain their rights and be restored to the land of their
fathers, only be patient about it.

	There is another class of individuals to whom I will briefly refer. 
Shall we call them Christians?  They were Christians originally.  We
cannot be admitted into their social societies, into their places of
ghatering at certain times and on certain occasions, beaause [sic] they
are afraid of polygamy.  I will give you their title that you may all know
whom I am talking about it--I refer to the Freemasons.  They have refused
our brethren membership in their lodge, because they were polygamists. 
Who was the founder of Freemasonry?  They can go back as far as Salomon,
and there they stop.  There is the king who established this high and holy
order.  Now was he a polygamist, or was he not?  If he did believe in
monogamy he did not practise it a great deal, for he had seven hundred
wives, and that is more than I have; and he had three hundred concubines,
of which I have none that I know of.  Yet the whole fraternity throughout
Christendom will cry out against this order.  "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" 
What is the matter?  "I am in pain,"  they all cry out, "I am suffering at
witnessing the wickedness there is in our land.  Here is one of the
'relics of barbarism!'"  Yes, one of the relics of Adam, of Enoch, of
Noah, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Moses, David, Solomon, the
Prophets, of Jesus, and his Apostles.  And the other relic they have--you
know whether they have used it up or not.  Now what does our Bible tell us
about this?  Under this law of Carnal Commandments, the Lord told Moses to
command the people to release their manservants and their maidservants,
and forgive their debts once in seven years, and to let their land rest
one year in seven; and when seven times seven years had passed over they
were commanded to rest seven years, and to release all their manservants
and maidservants.  How will it be in eternity?  We will wait till we get
there, for there is no use in telling you; you would not know anything
about it.  I reckon there will be servants there, and I do not think they
will be released once in seven years either; if they are, they will have
to be brought right in again, for they will not know how to get their
bread, and will have to be taken care of.

	A certain portion of the human family have to be looked after and
taken care of.  If you do not know it, just look through the world and see
the very few heads and brains that do all the legislating, and even the
obtaining of what the children eat; it is only just a few that do this,
out of the inhabitants of the whole earth.  We are trying to teach this
people to use their brains, that they may obtain knowledge and wisdom to
sustain themselves and to dictate for others; that they may be worthy to
be made kings and priests to God, which they never can be unless they
learn, here or somewhere else, to govern, manage, legislate, and sustain
themselves, their families, and friends, even to the making of nations,
and nation after nation.  If they cannot attain to this, they will have to
be servants somewhere.  

	I say unto you that it is wisdom for us to apply ourselves to the
revelations that the Lord has given us, and seek after Him that we may
know His will concerning us, that we may be able to abide the day of His
wrath, and be counted worthy, through our obedience and faithfulness, to
enjoy the blessings that are prepared for the faithful.

	We frequently talk about variety.  My brother Joseph was talking
about the variety in the feelings of this people.  Can you see two faces
alike in this congregation? If you cannot, you cannot find two spirits
alike, you cannot find two who are the same in disposition.  And if you
search the world over, and all the works of God, you will find that same
eternal variety.

	We are capable of talking, thinking, and communicating; then we are
capable of receiving, and we can receive a little here, and a little
there, as the prophet has said, "Line upon line, and precept upon
precept," until we come to understanding.  This is our privilege; we are
capable of doing this, and if we will go to work with our might, and apply
ourselves to learning the things of God, you will find there will not be
quite so much selfishness as there is now.

	I do not know but some people would ask br. Brigham if he is ready to
hand over what he has got?  just as ready as the man who has only three
dimes--just exactly, it is nothing to me.  If we could live as one family,
and could see that intelligence that is distributed among the minds of the
people acted upon, we ahould see no idleness, slothfulness, wastefulness,
covetousness, no contention one with another, but every man and woman
would be content with what was given them, and with all their souls would
seek to obtain salvation, and would not be so eager after a little worldly
honor or pleasure, and they would not feel "If I do not have my heaven
here, I do not know that I shall ever have it."  You cannot have it unless
you enjoy the spirit of the Lord, not one of you; you cannot find comfort,
solace, or bliss without the Spirit of the Lord.  All else contaminates
and mars, and is calculated to destroy.  As I said to the brethren the
other day in the Thirteenth Ward Schoolhouse, with regard to worldly
pleasure, comfort, and enjoyment; you may take as much as you please of
the Spirit of the Lord, and it will not make your stomach or head ache. 
You may drink nine cups of strong spiritual drink, and it will not hurt
you; but if you drink nine cups of strong tea, see what it will do for
you.  Let a person that is very thirsty and warm satiate his appetite with
cold water, and when he gets through he will perhaps have laid the
foundation for death, and may go to an untimely grave, which is frequently
done.  Excessive eating, drinking, or exercise all tend to the grave; but
you may take as much of the Spirit of the Lord as you have a mind to, I do
not care if you take a good hearty supper of it and then go right to bed,
it will not hurt you in the least; if you take it early in the morning it
will not spoil your breakfast.  It will never hurt you, but will give
life, joy, peace, satisfaction, and contentment; it is light,
intelligence, strength, power, glory, wisdom, and finally, it comprehends
the kingdoms that are, that were, or that will be, and all that we can
contemplate or desire, and will lead us to everlasting life.  Only let us
have the Spirit of the Lord and we can be happy; while the things of this
world, that are so eagerly sought after, all point directly to the grave. 
Men and women who are trying to make themselves happy in the possession of
wealth or power will miss it, for nothing short of the gospel of the Son
of God can make the inhabitants of the earth happy, and prepare them to
enjoy heaven here and hereafter.

	May the Lord bless you.

          Remarks by President Brigham Young, in the Tabernacle,
                  Great Salt Lake City, April 6th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
             THE ELDERS TO LABOR FOR THE UNITY OF THE SAINTS.

	I recollect a few years ago, while we were holding Conference in the
Bowery, that the brethren who addressed the congregation were in the habit
of turning to the right to preach, and then to the left, and then
preaching to those behind them, so that only one portion of the
congregation could hear them at once.  I set up a mark, and told them to
preach to it, right straight ahead, and not turn to the right or to the
left, as I wanted all the people to hear.  I am now going to set up a mark
for the Elders of Israel to preach to.  It will not be an old table or a
board; but the mark I shall set up for the Elders to preach to is this: 
Never to cease their labors until they get this people, called Latter-day
Saints, to be of one heart and one mind.  That is the mark.  We hear
Elders in Israel paying and praying that the Lord would preserve us from
the wicked, and probably within an hour after they will be found coaxing
perhaps one of the most ungodly men in the world to trade with them, to
rent their houses, or to let them build houses for him, and to be his
servant or servants.  Such individuals will keep praying to the Lord to
preserve us from the wicked when their constant effort is to mingle with,
and to call into the midst of this people the wicked and the ungodly; and
they are so blind to the mind and will of the Lord that their efforts in
this direction would never cease until there was enough of the wicked to
overthrow the Kingdom of God, or to break us up and drive us somewhere
else.  I have very frequently said to the Latter-day Saints that I am
willing to try to do my utmost to carry out the designs of Heaven
concerning myself, my friends, and the Kingdom of God.  Certain ideas
arise in our minds, and questions are proposed. What would you do in such
and such cases if the wicked, the ungodly, and those who have persecuted
and driven us from our homes, and have consented to the death of the
Prophets and the innocent, will still follow us, and will have a place
among us?  What would you do?  I would do, I think, about as the Lord
does; He lets them alone to take their own course.  They have life and
death set before them, and can choose between the two.  They can refrain,
and turn away from wickedness and become righteous, if they are so
disposed; but if they are not, why the Lord permits them to take their own
course.  Then why are we under the necessity of praying the Lord to shield
us in this place and in that place? 

	Perhaps this application is not agreeable to many, and they wish to
be sanctified in the midst of the ungodly and in the most wicked place
that can be found.  To people of this class we say, just come forward and
we will give you a mission to go into the world to live, preach, labor,
and toil until you pass into the spirit world, if this is your desire; but
do not stay here praying the Lord to deliver you from the wicked, and then
get up off your knees, and, precisely like the sectarians, let your acts
give the lie to the prayers you have offered to God.  You know, among the
New School Presbyterians, for instance, and the Reform Baptists and
Methodists, and the Wesleyan Methodists, the ministers get into the pulpit
and pay for the Lord to come into their midst, and that the Holy Ghost may
be shed upon the people; and they will pray most fervently that angels may
come and dwell with them, that the heavens may be opened that the people
will declare in their sermons that there is no Holy Ghost given, and that
they worship a god without body, parts, and passions.  How in the world
can such a god come into their midst?  If he could come, what would there
be?  Nothing.  What can they comprehend concerning such a god?  Nothing;
for there is nothing of him.  They will pray most fervently for the Lord
to give them revelation, and then will get up and say that no such thing
as revelation is needed.  Do not their sermons give the lie to their
prayers?  And do not the lives of the Elders of Israel, in many instances,
give the lie to their faith and prayers?  They do.  Can you go to work and
make a people of one heart and mind while they are possessed of the spirit
of the world?  You cannot.  Can they feel the same interest in the Kingdom
of God while possessing the spirit of the world that they would if they
were filled with the Spirit of Christ?  They cannot.  How can they devote
their lives to the building up of the Kingdom of God when they do not
delight in it, but delight in building themselves up in making gain, and
in gathering around them the riches of the world?  The Latter-day Saints,
in their conduct and acts with regard to financial matters, are like the
rest of the world.  The course pursued by men of business in the world has
a tendency to make a few rich, and to sink the masses of the people in
poverty and degradation.  Too many of the Elders of Israel take this
course. No matter what comes they are for gain--for gathering around them
riches; and when they get rich how are those riches used?  Spent on the
lusts of the flesh, wasted as a thing of nought, and they who were once
rich are left in poverty, as they are this day. To give an example: 
Suppose that one year ago to-day--the 6th of April, 1866--we had asked the
brethren and sisters at the head of families, and then asked those who
were not heads of families, to sit down and make an estimate of what it
cost them through the fiscal year 1865-66 for the tobacco they chewed, and
the tea, coffee, and liquor they drank; and after footing it up in round
numbers, and seeing what it amounted to, suppose the proclamation had been
made that we must all observe the Word of Wisdom, and that in consequence
of that proclamation we each of us had said that for the year to come--the
fiscal year of 1866-67--I will lay by in the drawer the money that it
costs me for tobacco, tea, coffee, and liquor.  If we had each adopted
this course we would have seen a people at this Conference--April,
1867--with means enough to have purchased and secured their pre-emption
right to the land in this Territory, provided that we were permitted to do
so.  But how is it to-day?  Suppose that today news were to come by
telegraph that within six weeks a Land Office for this Territory would be
established in Great Salt Lake City, whereby actual settlers would have
the privilege of paying the pre-emption payment and obtaining the
Government title to their land, and thus securing their inheritance, who
is there amongst us that could buy the first section or quarter-section? 
There are very few in the Territory who could do so.

	I merely mention this to illustrate my ideas, so that you can see for
yourselves where we are.  Instead of being united in our feelings to build
up all, each one takes his own course; whereas, if we were united, we
would get rich ten times faster than we do now.  How are you going to
bring a people to that point when they will all be united in the things of
this life?  By no other means than prevailing upon them to live their
religion that they all may possess the Holy Ghost, the spirit of
revelation, the light of Christ, which will enable them to see eye to eye. 
Then their acts and all their dealings would be so connected that they
would pull together, as Joseph used to say:  "A long pull, a strong pull,
and a pull all together."  This point gained, we could bear off the
Kingdom victoriously, and we could do what we pleased; but there is no
doctrine in existence, short of the gospel of the Son of God, by which a
people can be brought to a oneness in their temporal matters.  We are
approaching this happy period, this delightful state of society; but to
enjoy it in its fulness we must live so that the spirit of revelation will
be within us a living preacher by day and by night continually, that we
may be taught, led, governed, and controlled thereby.  We must not get
down and pray, and then get right up and let our actions say we do not
believe a word of our prayer; but all the acts of our lives must be
concentrated on the building up of the Kingdom of God, then we shall be
His disciples in very deed.

	We will have a good many things to lay before the Conference; but I
think I have given my brethren a mark to preach to.  You may shoot when
you please, and shoot from whatever point you please; but shoot at that
mark.  You may use what gun you please.  I do not care, comparatively,
whether it is a Henry's rifle, a shot gun, an old Kentucky rifle, or an
old musket, but shoot at that mark, and in all your preaching let this
thread--the oneness of the people of God--be preserved.

     Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                  Great Salt Lake City, April 6th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
            HOW THE SISTERS CAN HELP TO BUILD UP THE KINGDOM.

	I think I will preach a short sermon to the sisters.  "I want to do
good; I want to do something to build up the Kingdom of God; I wish I was
in a position to do something for this work.  I would delight in doing
something for the building up of this kingdom if I had it in my power." 
These expressions are in the mouth of every sister who has embraced the
gospel in her heart.  I want to preach them a short sermon.  Brother Heber
has, in part, touched some of the items, to which I will now more
particularly call your attention.  I will ask if there is a sister in this
Church who is too poor, when we come to dollars and cents, to get tea to
drink if she wants to?  No, not one.  Is there a sister who does not have
her cup of coffee to drink?  No, not one.  Then we are not so poor as to
suffer materially after all.  Now, I will ask the question:  Sisters, if
each of you were to save the price of these cups of tea and coffee for one
month, what do you suppose the sum in each case would amount to?  We will
say a shilling, a dime, a quarter, dollar, a half dollar, a dollar, or two
dollars, as the case may be.  Now, say the sisters:  "We will cease
drinking this tea and coffee, and we will give the money to some of the
Elders who are called to preach the gospel, either in the Territory or
abroad in the nations of the earth, or who are called on an Indian
expedition; or we will give this means to help to bring the poor from the
old country."  Would you be doing anything for the Kingdom or would you
not?  Is there an individual sister in this Church out of the reach of
doing good?  Not one.  "Why,"  exclaims a sister, "I am sick, weary,
diseased; I cannot work--I cannot do anything."  Is doing good beyond her
reach?  No; that sister who is sick and unable to cook her own food, wash
her own clothing, or to knit or mend her stockings, can give good counsel
to her brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, to the members of the
family in which she lives, to her neighbors, and to all with whom she may
associate.  Says she"  "I am sick and feeble, but I do not drink any tea. 
My husband or my bishop would find it for me, if I would drink it; but I
tell them to take that sixpence, dime, or dollar, and put it by to help to
bring the poor."  She can teach her children to let such things alone. 
"You must not have any tea or coffee this morning, children; if you feel
as though you need it, take a little water porridge."  There is more
strength and nutriment in a bowl of water gruel than there is in tea; and
there is no unhealthy influence in the water gruel, but there is in tea
and coffee.

	There is not a person in the world that cannot do good; even the
mother who is too feeble to work; she can teach her daughters to work
instead of permitting them to patrol these streets; she can teach her
children to refrain from drinking tea and coffee, to take care of their
clothing.  Instead of our girls walking the streets or playing, instead of
sliding on the carpets or climbing the peach trees and fences and tearing
their clothes they should learn to make their frocks, their aprons, and
all their clothing, and to knit their stockings; and when they have cloth
to make up, instead of hiring help into the house and getting all the
sewing machines that are peddled off in the United States, why not they
sit down and make it up themselves?  This would be far more economical
than to hire women to work your sewing machines when you have them. 
"But," says one, "I must have a woman to knit my stockings, to make my
underclothing and my children's clothing, and I must have a woman to wash
and iron for me."

	If our mothers want to do good, why do they not sit down, take the
wool and card it and spin it--if they cannot get it carded by machine--and
knit stockings to put on these men and boys who are working on the
Tabernacle, the Temple, and the canal, and help to save your husbands'
shillings and dollars, and not ask for three or four hired women to do the
washing and cooking, that you may idle away your time?  Why not take hold
and attend to your household affairs, and thus help to build up the
Kingdom of God?  Every dime thus saved can go to gather the poor and to
help to support the families of the elders who are abroad preaching.  But
the cry now is, "You must go to Bro. Brigham or the bishop; I can do
nothing for you.  I want a ribbon, or my daughter wants a new hat."  How
many have you had in the course of the season?  "I do not know."  "How
many pairs of shoes have you had through the winter my daughter, or my
little boy?"  "I do not know; ask mother."  "Mother, how many pairs of
shoes has your boy had through the winter?"  "I do not know."  Does the
mother see to the children?  She will let them run about and wade here and
there until their shoes are wet through, then they are put under the stove
and spoiled; a new pair must be procured by the husband or father.  Is
good beyond your reach, sisters?  You say, "We want to do good."  No;
there are many who do not; they want to waste everything they put their
hands upon.  It is the great ignorance which is among the people that
prevents their doing better.

	What do the sisters want so many hired women for?  "O, I want a
seamstress, or I want somebody or other to clean the house and the carpets
and to wait upon me, to bring the water to wash me, and to wash my neck or
my feet; and I have so much cloth to make up, and I want help to make it
up."  If there are women who want to do good, let them do their own work,
and save their sixpences and dollars for the building of temples,
tabernacles, meeting-houses, school-houses, educating the youth, preaching
the gospel, and gathering the poor.  Put something in the Perpetual
Emigration Fund.  We have done a great deal to bring the poor here.  When
we get the poor here, they say they want to do good; but their actions
give the lie to their words.  Their wives want hired women or girls to do
their work for them; instead of knitting their own stockings, they want to
be waited upon; instead of spending their time to the best advantage, they
waste it, and let their daughters do the same, and their children imbibe
habits that grow upon them, and which tend to evil. Now mothers, if you
want to do good, do not let your sons and daughters drink either tea or
coffee while under your protection.  Save the money to gather the poor to
preach the gospel, to build temples, and to sustain the Priesthood.  Make
your own drawers, your own shirts, knit your stockings, make your frocks,
your bonnets, and hats.  I had a very beautiful hat presented to me last
evening by one of the wives of Judge Phelps.  I believe one of the sisters
Pratt sewed it.  Now, suppose we set the girls to cutting straw when it is
ripe enough, and teach them to cure it, and how to split and open it, and
then prepare it with a machine for braiding, and teach them to braid; and
then, instead of permitting them to gad around, keep them at home and
teach them to do a little good.

	I will ask--is doing good out of the reach of any person living who
is able to talk?  No; it is not.  Every woman in this Church can be useful
to the Church if she has a mind to be.  There are none but what can do
good, not one, as long as they can talk to their neighbors or to their
children, and teach them how to be saving, and set them an example worthy
of imitation. 

	In speaking in this wise I do not wish the people to be as some
are--filthy and dirty.  That will not do.  We must be neat and clean.  If
we have only a tow frock and a coarse straw hat to wear let them be kept
neat and clean; there is water enough, plenty of it.  If you have nothing
but a home-made ribbon, woven by yourselves out of the flax that your
husbands or neighbors have raised and dressed, you can get logwood,
mountain mahogany, or a little of this stuff that grows by the creeks and
on the mountains to color it up; and, when it is made, and you are
prepared to put on your garments, let them be clean, neat, and nice; and
let the beauty of your garments be the work of your own hands.  But as
matters are now, you must run and buy here and there, and it makes me
think of the old saying--"That which is dear bought and far fetched is fit
for the ladies."  We must stop this, and if we want to be useful we must
begin to teach our children how to save.  "My little boy, do not put your
shoes under the stove to burn up, and when you undress at night do not
fling your hat one way, your jacket another, your breeches under foot, and
your stockings under the stove, on the stove, or out of doors, but have a
place for everything, and everything in its place;"  and when your boys
come in show them a place for their hats where they will not be trampled
under foot; and when they take off their coats let them be put in the
wardrobe or on hooks prepared for that purpose, and take care of them and
not have them under foot.  The waste that there is in the midst of this
people is enough to support a small nation.

	Now, sisters, do you want to be useful?  If you do, take a course to
be so, for this will bring us to the point where we can build up Zion and
be of one heart and of one mind, and it will lead us to do all that we do
in the name, in the love, and in the fear of our God. By so doing, if the
fear of God is upon us, and we work with an eye single to tbe building up
of Zion, our labors will be blessed.

	Can we do good?  Yes; we can do good by teaching that little girl not
to drink tea and coffee, and to take care of her clothing, and as soon as
she is big enough teach her to knit her stockings, and her garters, and
her nubias.  She may learn to do all this just as well as going to the
store to buy them.  The foolishness of the people here has waxed so strong
that unless they get something that is bought in New York it is not good
for anything.  It makes me think of our brethren, the school teachers.  We
have brethren here who understand the languages of the nations of the
earth, and the various branches of education taught in the world, as well
as any man or men out of the Church.  But if the man possessing the best
talent we have among us were to go to some of our Bishops and say, "Can I
keep your school?"  The answer would be, "Yes, if you will work for
nothing, find yourself, and pay the children for going."  But bring a
poor, miserable, rotten-hearted, cursed gentile, and they will lick the
dust off his shoes to have him keep school, when he does not know half as
much as the Elders in Israel know.  This would not apply to every case,
but it does to a great many.  You go to our brethren, and ask them if they
can get their pay for keeping school, and they will tell you they cannot. 
Ask them if they can get a school, and they will reply, "No, we are looked
down upon as something inferior"  Why is this?  Because the folly and
wickedness of the people have waxed so strong that nothing is of any
account unless it is imported.  It is strange; it is astonishing!  Why not
seek to be one in building up and sustaining the Kingdom of God, instead
of sustaining wickedness upon the earth?  It is time to close.  Now, this
is a short sermon to the sisters.

       REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery,
                  Great Salt Lake City, April 7th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
                        EVERY SAINT ON A MISSION.

	I confess before the Latter-day Saints that like others who live in
the religious and political world, or the world of history, or any other
world you have a mind to name, I really want power and influence.  I
confess to the Latter-day Saints and to the world that I want power to
prevail on all the inhabitants of the earth to embrace the gospel of the
Son of God that they may be saved in the Kingdom of Heaven.  I want
influence in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, sufficient to get all men
and women to sanctify themselves before the Lord and to sanctify the Lord
God in their hearts, and that they may be of one heart and one mind in all
things, that they may be the disciples of the Lord Jesus.  This
comprehends a great deal.

	I will now take the liberty of telling you what I do not want.  I do
not want influence or power over any nation, people, family, or individual
on the face of the earth to do them an injury or lead them astray, to
promote strife or corruption in their hearts, or direct them in the way
that leads to death.  But I would like to have power with the people to
induce them to accept those principles which would put them in possession
of life, liberty, peace, joy, and all the blessings that can be enjoyed by
the children of men, and that are promised in the gospel of life and
salvation.  I wish you ever to remember this when you think of yourselves,
your brethren, or of any man that wants influence in the world.  Always
learn what an individual wants influence for.  If he wants it for good, to
promote peace and righteousness, never hinder his efforts, but promote
them if you can.  But when men try to gain influence for evil, to lead
their fellow creatures in the way to death, exercise all the power you
possess to a bridge such influence; destroy it if you can.  I calculate to
take this course myself.

	There are a few of the Latter-day Saints here to-day; only just a
few, scarcely any from the country.  You know we are estimated variously,
some say 80,000, some 100,000, some 150,000; but, to tell you the secret,
I do not want anybody to know our number.  I do not want to number Israel
yet.  I am very frequently asked the question by political men, "How many
do the Latter-day Saints number in the mountains?"  My invariable reply is
that we have enough to make a Territory.  I wish the Latter-day Saints to
increase and multiply.  It has been said to me--"Why do you not call men
to go on missions to preach the gospel in order to swell the ranks of the
Saints?"  I will tell you what my feelings are with regard to the
Latter-day Saints increasing.  One of these young men or girls around me
here to-day, born and brought up in the Church, is worth, as a general
thing, far more than those who come into the Church with all their
traditions when we go preaching.  I recollect the stand I took when I was
in England or whenever I was out preaching.  Whenever a man would
transgress we would talk with and persuade him to forsake evil, and he
would confess and say, "I will do so no more," but by and by we would
confess and say, "I will do so no more," but by and by we would have
occasion to call him up again, and I felt and said that "I would rather
convert two men or women who never heard the gospel than attempt to make
righteous men or women of those who know the way but will not walk in it."

	We wish the brethren to understand the facts just as they are; that
is, there is neither man or woman in this Church who is not on a mission. 
That mission will last as long as they live, and it is to do good, to
promote righteousness, to teach the principles of truth, and to prevail
upon themselves and everybody around them to live those principles that
they may obtain eternal life.  This is the mission of every Latter-day
Saint.  I talked to the sisters yesterday; I can talk to the brethren
to-day on the same principle--there is not a man in this Church but what
is capable of doing good if he has a mind to do so.  Here are Elders who
say, "I want a mission; I want to go and preach; I want to be ordained a
Seventy, or a High Priest," or something or other.  I will tell you what
you really need.  You need eyes to see things as they are, and to know
your standing before God and the people.  This is what the elders need. 
To go and preach, or to be ordained into the quorums of the Seventies,
does not make good men of them, if they are not so before.  The ordination
of a man to the High Priest's quorum does not make him a good man.  Let
every elder, priest, teacher, and deacon set that example before his
family, his brethren, and the world, that the nations of the earth will
hear of the good works of the Latter-day Saints, that the honest in heart
may be constrained to say--"We are going up to Zion to join this people,
of whom we hear nothing but that they are honest, upright, industrious,
frugal, and intelligent.  Let us go up and join this people against whom
so much has heretofore been said."

	Will you do this, priests, teachers, and deacons?  Will you do this,
Elders of Israel, Seventies, High Priests, and Apostles?  Will you live so
that the report may go out from this time from Utah Territory that the
Latter-day Saints are perfect examples for the nations of the earth? This
will be the loudest preaching we can do.  We have a good deal to say yet
to this Conference, if we have the time, and the people attend.  We will
bring our meeting to a close now.


     REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                  Great Salt Lake City, April 7th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
                           THE WORD OF WISDOM.

	I will take the liberty of suggesting to my brethren who address the
congregation that our sermons should be short, and if they are not filled
with life and spirit let them be shorter, for we have not time at this
Conference to let all the Elders who speak preach a long sermon, but we
have time to say a few words in bearing testimony, to give a few words of
counsel to encourage the Saints, to strengthen the weak, to endeavor to
confirm those who are wavering, and so forward the Kingdom of God.  I have
a few words to say to the Bishops and others who are leading men in the
House of Israel, including your humble servant now addressing you.  There
are certain rights and privileges belonging to the Elders in Israel, and
there are certain things that it is not their privilege to indulge in. 
You go through the wards in the city, and then through the wards in the
city, and then through the wards in the country, and ask the Bishops--"Do
you keep the Word of Wisdom?"  The reply will be "Yes; no, not exactly." 
"Do you drink tea?"  "No."  "Coffee?"  "No."  "Do you drink whisky?" 
"No."  "Well, then, why do you not observe the Word of Wisdom?"  "Well,
this tobacco, I cannot give it up."  And in this he sets an example to
every man, and to every boy over ten years of age, in his ward, to nibble
at and chew tobacco.  You go to another ward, and perhaps the Bishop does
not chew tobacco, nor drink tea nor coffee, but once in a while he takes a
little spirits, and keeps whisky in his house, in which he will
occasionally indulge.  Go to another ward, and perhaps the Bishop does not
drink whisky nor chew tobacco, but he "cannot give up his tea and coffee." 
And so it goes through the whole church.  Not that every Bishop indulges
in one or more of these habits, but most of them do. I recollect being at
a trial not long since where quite a number of Bishops had been called in
as witnesses, but I could not learn that there was one who did not drink
whisky, and I think that most of them drank tea and coffee.  I think that
we have some Bishops in this city who do not chew tobacco, nor drink
liquor nor tea nor coffee to excess.

	The Word of Wisdom is one thing, and ignorance, superstition or
bigotry is another.  I wish people to come to an understanding with regard
to the Word of Wisdom.  For illustration, I will refer to a certain
brother who was in the church once, and President of the Elder's Quorum in
Nauvoo.  While living at that place there was a great deal of sickness
among the people, and he was sometimes called in to lay hands on the sick,
but if he had the least doubt about their drinking tea, if he even saw a
tea-pot, he would refuse. I recollect he went into a house where a woman
was sick, who wanted him to lay hands on her; he saw a teapot in the
corner containing catnip tea, but without stopping to enquire he left the
house, exclaiming against her and her practices.

	Now, there is no harm in a teapot, even if it contains tea, if it is
let alone; and I say of a truth that where a person is diseased, say, for
instance, with canker, there is no better medicine than green tea, and
where it is thus used it should be drank sparingly.  Instead of drinking
thirteen or fourteen cups every morning, noon, and night, there should not
be any used.  You may think I am speaking extravagantly, but I remember a
tea-drinking match once in which fourteen cups a-piece were drank, so you
see it can be done.  But top drink half a dozen or even three or four cups
of strong tea is hurtful.  It injures and impairs the system, benumbs the
faculties of the stomach, and affects the blood, and is deleterious in its
nature.  If a person is weary, worn out, cast down, fainting, or dying, a
brandy sling, a little wine, or a cup of tea is good to revive them.  Do
not throw these things away, and say they must never be used; they are
good to be used with judgment, prudence, and discretion.  Ask our Bishops
if they drink tea every day, and in most cases they will tell you they do
if they can get it.  They take it when they do not need it and when it
injures them.  I want to say to the Elders in Israel, this is not our
privilege.  We have a great many privileges, but to indulge in liquor or
other things to our own injury is not one of them.  We have the right to
live, labor, build our houses, make our farms, raise our cattle and
horses, buy our carriages, marry our wives, raise and school our children,
and then we have the right to set before them an example worthy of
imitation, but we have not the right to throw sin in their path or to lead
them to destruction.

	I recollect telling the people here, not long ago, something in
regard to the rights of the Elders.  Our rights are numerous.  if we are
so disposed, we have the right to dictate the House of Israel in their
daily avocations.  We have the right to counsel them to go to the gold
mines if it is wisdom and God requires it, and we have the right to
counsel them away from the gold mines when it is not wisdom to go there. 
We have the right to ask them to go and buy goods, and to sell those goods
without fraud or deception.  I am sorry to say we cannot say this of many
of our merchants.  We have merchants that say they are of us and with us,
and that they wish to be Saints, but they are not honest in their
dealings; they will trade fradulently [sic], and they will take all the
advantage they possibly can.  I said here a year or two ago that unless
such merchants repent they will go down to hell; I say so to-day.  They
never can enter the celestial kingdom of our God unless they refrain from
their dishonest course and become Saints indeed.

	To the Bishops and the Elders in Israel I wish to say that we have
the right to do right, but not to sin.  The right to obtain large
families, although to obtain large families, although obnoxious to the
refined Christians, all classes of whom preach against it--the priest in
the pulpit, they judge on the bench, the senators and representatives in
Congress, as well as the bar-keeper and the drunkard wallowing in his
filth--they are all against it except God and the Saints; yet this is a
right that the Saints have, and which no others legally possess.  Others
will presumptuously arrogate to themselves certain rights and privileges,
but the result will be their overthrow, their condemnation, and their
damnation.

	We urge the people continually to be one in their temporal affairs. 
We do not offer prayers to dead Saints--to Peter, Paul, Mary, and
others--but we frequently pray the living Saints, in Christ's stead, to be
reconciled to God.  If we urge the people to this until we get them to be
really of one heart and one mind, what will be the result?  We shall then
possess Zion, it will then be developed in our midst, and we will be as
independent as ever the children of Zion can be in our capacity.  Will
wrath, anger, strife, and selfishness then reign within us?  No, they will
not.  It is our right and privilege to live so that we may attain to this,
so that we may sanctify our hearts before the Lord, and sanctify the Lord
God in our hearts, but it is not my privilege to drink liquor, neither is
it my privilege to eat tobacco.  Well, bro. Brigham, have you not done it? 
Yes, for many years, but I ceased its habitual practice.  I used it for
toothache; now I am free from that pain, and my mouth is never stained
with tobacco.  It is not my privilege to drink liquor nor strong tea and
coffee, although I am naturally a great lover of tea.  Brethren and
sisters, it is not our privilege to indulge in these things, but it is our
right and privilege to set an example worthy of imitation.

	When we come to home-made cloth, I must say it would make clothes
good enough for me to wear.  "Then why do you not wear it, bro. Brigham?" 
Shall I tell you?  I have hardly worn a suit of clothes for years that has
not been presented to me.  If I knew that doing this would be a hindrance
to the work of God, I would say to the next friend who wished to present
me with a suit of clothes--"I thank you, but I will not wear them; you
will please take them back to the store, or take them home and put them in
the trunk."  I know the thoughts of many are--"I wish they would serve me
so."  I wish they would; and if they will I will never say wear home-made
again as long as friends will give you that which is imported, and you can
lay by the money you save to send the Elders abroad to preach the gospel,
to gather the poor, to help to build the temple of the Lord, or to finish
the canal that we may get the rock here for the temple.

	You men owning saw mills bring on the lumber to finish the
tabernacle, and you carpenters and joiners come and help to use it up.  We
are going to plaster the main body of this building here immediately; take
down the scaffold at the west end from the body of the building while the
east end is being put up.  And we are going to lay a platform for the
organ, and then make a plan for the seats.  And we calculate by next
October, when the brethren and sisters come together, to have room for
all; and if there is not room under the roof, the doors are placed in such
a way that the people can stand in the openings and hear just as well as
inside.  I expect, however, that by the time our building is finished we
shall find that we shall want a little more room.  "Mormonism" is growing,
spreading abroad, swelling and increasing, and I expect it is likely that
our building will not be quite large enough, but we have it so arranged,
standing on piers, that we can open all the doors and preach to people
outside.

	Now I want you should recollect--Bishops, Elders of Israel, High
Priests, Seventies, the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidency, and all the
House of Israel, hearken ye, O, my people!  keep the word of the Lord,
observe the Word of Wisdom, sustain one another, sustain the household of
faith, and let our enemies alone.  As for those in our midst who love and
work iniquity, the Lord will gather them from among us in His own due
time.  They will grow fewer and fewer until we will be free from them. 
The Lord chasteneth His people for their good, but see the sufferings of
the wicked!  God has always favored the righteous more than the wicked. 
Still, we have those among us who are afraid.  "Well, this time we are
going to see trouble," or "we are going to be afflicted," or "I think the
Mormons will have to leave," is their cry.  I want to tell you we are not
going to leave these mountains unless the Lord says so.  The devil may say
so until his throat splits, but we shall not do it; and woe to the men or
people who drive us into the mountains, and compel us to hide ourselves in
the dens and caves of the earth!  Woe to the people who do this; they will
find something they never learned yet; but they will never do it.  I am
looking for something entirely different.  The wicked will waste away and
destroy each other.

	We are blamed for praying that sin and wickedness may cease on the
earth, but the only way to effect that is for the perpetration of crime to
cease.  Will the people turn from evil, refrain from sin and iniquity, and
serve the Lord?  I would to God they would, but they will not do it.  Sin
must cease on the earth before iniquity and the workers thereof are
unknown, there is no other way.  We should not be blamed for praying that
righteousness may reign, and that peace may come to the people.  Is there
war in our religion?  No; neither war nor bloodshed.  Yet our enemies cry
out "bloodshed," and "oh, what dreadful men these Mormons are, and those
Danites!  how they slay and kill!"  Such is all nonsense and folly in the
extreme.  The wicked slay the wicked, and they will lay it on the Saints. 
But I say again that if the people called Latter-day Saints will live
their religion they will never be driven from their homes in the
mountains, but if they do sin to that extent that the Lord God of heaven
will let them be driven, woe to them that come after us, for they will
find greater desolation than we found when we came.  If we will do right
we are safe in the hands of God.  We wish evil to no man or woman on this
earth, but we wish to do good to all.  Our Elders have circumscribed this
little globe again and again without purse and scrip, offering the gospel
to the nations of the earth.  Will they have it?  No; they prefer death,
carnage, and destruction, and in the end they will receive the reward of
the unjust.  Let us take a course in which we shall be justified.  We wish
all people to do right, and if the Latter-day Saints will do so, and will
sustain themselves and live within their own means, and never let their
wants swell beyond them, all is right, we shall reign, and triumph over
sin and iniquity.  It is no more than reasonable, right, just, and
equitable for us to ask those who wish to supplant us here to go to other
places and build cities, plant orchards, raise grain, and make themselves
comfortable, as we have done.  They are perfectly welcome to eat, live,
rule, and reign over one another, but let us alone to serve our God, build
up His Kingdom on the earth, and live righteously and godly as we should.

	Now, Elders of Israel, if you have the right to chew tobacco, you
have a privilege I have not; if you have a right to drink whisky, you have
a right that I have not; if you have a right to transgress the Word of
Wisdom, you have a right that I have not.  If you have the right to buy
and sell and get gain, to go here and there, to do this and that, to build
up the wicked and the ungodly, or their cities, you have rights that I
have not got.  I have the right to build up Zion, but I have no right to
build up a city in wickedness.  It is time to close our morning's meeting.

       REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery,
                  Great Salt Lake City, April 8th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
                    EDUCATION--EMPLOYMENT OF FEMALES.

	A few words to the Latter-day Saints, and especially to our young
men.  We have a great deal of time to spare over and above going to the
kanyon, and working in the fields and in our shops.  It is true this is
not exactly the time of year to establish evening schools and lyceums, but
we wish our young men to make preparation this summer, and send east to
procure the necessary articles for the formation of societies in this and
other cities throughout the Territory for the purposed of studying the
arts and sciences.  Now, if a man in the North, say sixty-eight or a
hundred miles away, should have a limb broken, he has to send to this city
for a surgeon.  It is all folly; there is no more real necessity for it,
if men would devote their time to the study of such things, than there is
to send for a man to put a rafter or joint on his house, or a panel into
his door.

	As the subject of education is open, and has been from time to time
during this Conference, I will now urge it upon the people--the young men
and the middle-aged--to get up schools and study.  If they are disposed to
study physic or surgery, all right; they will know then what to do if a
person is sickly, or has his elbow, wrist, or shoulder put out of joint,
or his arm or any other bone broken.  It is just as easy to learn such
things as it is to learn to plant potatoes.  I would like to urge these
matters upon our young men, and I am convinced this meets the feelings of
all the brethren.  I do hope, and pray you, my brethren and sisters, to be
careful to observe what br. Wells has said in regard to introducing into
our schools the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the
Standard works of the Church, and all the works pertaining to our faith,
that our children may become acquainted with its principles, and that our
young men, when they go out to preach, may not be so ignorant as they have
been hitherto.  I would like very much to urge upon our young people, the
sisters as well as the brethren, to pay more attention to arithmetic and
other things that are useful, instead of acquiring a little French and
German and other fanciful studies that are not of so much practical
importance.  I do not know how long it will be before we call upon the
brethren and sisters to enter upon business in an entirely different way
from what they have done.  I have been an advocate for our printing to be
done by females, and as for men being in stores, you might as well set
them to knitting stockings as to sell tape.  Such business ought to be
done by the sisters.  It would enable them to sustain themselves, and
would be far better than for them to spend their time in the parlor or in
walking the streets.  Hardy men have no business behind the counter; they
who are not able to hoe potatoes, go to the kanyon, cut down the trees,
saw the lumber, &c., can attend to that business.  Our young men in the
stores ought to be turned out and the sisters take their place; and they
should study arithmetic and bookkeeping necessary to qualify them for such
positions.  I would also like our school teachers to introduce phonography
into every school; it is an excellent thing to learn.  By its means we can
commit our thoughts and reflections to paper with ease and rapidity, and
thus preserve that which will be of benefit to ourselves and others, and
which would otherwise be for ever lost.  This is a delightful study!  In
these and all other branches of science and education we should know as
much as any people in the world.  We have them within our reach, for we
have as good teachers as can be found on the face of the earth, if our
Bishops would only employ and pay them, but they will not.  Let a
miserable little, smooth-faced, beardless, good-for-nothing Gentile come
along, without regard for either truth or honesty, and they will pay him
when they will not pay a Latter-day Saint.  Think of these things. 
Introduce every kind of useful studies into our schools.  I have been
urging upon our young men for years to get up classes for the study of
law.  The laws of this Territory, of the United States, of the different
States, of England, and foreign lands.  Do this instead of riding over the
prairies hunting and wasting your time, which is property that belongs to
the Lord our God, and if we do not make good use of it we shall be held
accountable.

	Now, my brethren and sisters, I feel to bless you in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and I pray my Father in heaven to continue His mercies
to us, and I pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God in all
things.  We will now bring our conference to a close.



       Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery,
                  Great Salt Lake City, April 8th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
            BUILDING THE TEMPLE--MORMONISM EMBRACES ALL TRUTH.

	I want your attention.  I do not know how long it will be prudent to
continue our meeting, but we would like to say a great deal more to the
people.  I will talk to you a little with regard to building the Temple. 
When br. Heber asks you to come and join us in drawing rock, you turn
round and say, "I have paid my tithing; what more do you want?  Do you
want any donations or extra help?  What do you do with the tithing?"  This
is in the minds of the people, and it is something that I think about,
too, but I confess to you that, although I am Trustee-in-Trust and have
the management of all this, I know but little about what is done with the
tithing.  Br. Hunter is Bishop, and whether he could give you a knowledge
of what goes with the tithing I do not know.  The brethren turn in their
grain and their stock, and it is gathered up, but that does not bring the
rock here to build the Temple.  Br. Kimball and some others have assisted
in bringing some rock here, and a few have been drawn with my teams.  Now,
the rock does not come as we want it.  We have commenced a Temple that I
want to see stand a thousand years when the earth rests.  We do not
calculate that that building will fall down.  You know I was so
distrustful about the foundation, there were so many things about I did
not like, that we took it up and had to commence it again.  We have got
started now, and I think it is safe. When the Temple is built I want it to
stand through the millenium [sic], in connection with many others that
will yet be built, that the Elders may go in and labor for the dead who
have died without the gospel, back to the days of Adam.  But to see this
Temple built and then pass into the hands of the wicked, I would rather
that the walls should never rise another foot.  I shall not tell you,
to-day, all that I think about building temples and giving endowments.

	We have decided that this Temple shall be built of this beautiful
granite rock, which, I think, will please everyone.  We are preparing a
canal to bring the rock to this city, still we shall have five or six
miles to draw the rock to the canal, but the most of the distance where
our bad roads are we shall float this rock on little boats that we shall
have on this canal.  We want all the brethren to pay their tithing or tax
for the privilege of watering their lands from this ditch or canal
according to the charter and organization of the company who are
performing this labor.  If the brethren will do this we can have the ditch
finished up and in operation in a month or two.

	A great many want this Temple done that they may go in there and get
their endowments.  I want to say to the Latter-day Saints, one and all,
that we have all the privileges and blessings conferred upon us that we
live for.  The Latter-day Saints are not prepared to receive the celestial
kingdom at once, because they have not eyes to see and ears to hear; and
they do not understand the mind and will of the Lord on these subjects. 
If we did we would see at once that our blessings are greater than our
labors merit, and we would not find fault nor be in a hurry, but we would
move steadily along.  As I told you the other day when talking of the
sayings of Joseph, "the Latter-day Saints want to pull together--a long
pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether."  These were the words of
Joseph.  We want to labor unitedly that our labors may be successful.  I
want this Temple that we are now building to the name of our God, to stand
for all time to come as a monument of the industry, faithfulness, faith,
and integrity of the Latter-day Saints who were driven into the mountains. 
I want to see the Temple finished as soon as it is reasonable and
practicable.  Whether we go in there to work or not makes no difference; I
am perfectly willing to finish it to the last leaf of gold that shall be
laid upon it, and to the last lock that should be put on the doors, and
then lock every door, and there let it stand until the earth can rest
before the Saints commence their labors there.  They receive more in the
House of the Lord now than is their due.  Our brethren and sisters,
baptized three, four, or six months ago, go and get their endowments, the
sealing blessings for all eternity, the highest that can be conferred upon
them, yet how lightly they are treated!  Many do not consider, they do not
realize these things.  They have not the spirit of revelation, they do not
live for it, hence they do not see these things in their proper light, and
we are not in such a hurry as many think we ought to be.

	Well, will we go to work and build this Temple?  The brethren around
say we will pay our tithing, and we will pay it willingly, and you may do
what you please with it.  Sometimes I have thought that our tithing is so
great that it requires more looking after than it is worth.  See a dozen
men in the Tithing Office, and a dozen or fifteen in another place taking
care of tithing; but how it is used I do not know. One thing I do know,
that when our tithing is paid in the north and in the south it costs
almost as much to get it here as it is worth.  What is paid here is clear
profit, and is useful and beneficial for us to work upon.  If the brethren
pay their tithing, and pay it willingly, we are satisfied; that is all
that is required of them.  If my brethren who live near here, whom the
Lord is blessing, have a mind to put in some teams extra for drawing rock,
I give them the privilege.

	There are some things with regard to the general business of the
Church that is hardly worth while for me to mention.  I could name a few
things; but I do not know that it would be any benefit.  I do not know
that doing so would relieve my feelings in the least.  If it would be any
satisfaction to my brethren, and would enlighten them at all, they are
welcome to a few items.  I will ask the Elders of Israel who it is that
finds the money to defray all these expenses?  I will ask them how much
money they pay in on their tithing?  "Why," say they, "we let you have our
wheat and cattle, and they are just as good as money."  Ask yourselves if
you ever knew a bushel of wheat, a hundred pounds of flour, or a horse, an
ox, a cow, a mule, a sheep, a load of potatoes, a load of onions, or
anything else that comes in on tithing to be sold for money.  Go and see
if there ever was five dollars worth of this property sold for money. 
What did our emigration cost last season?  We will make a rough guess
(which will probably be below the mark by many thousand dollars), and say
forty thousand dollars.  Do the brethren living in the counties around or
anywhere else pay any money in towards this?  Where do you think it comes
from?  It is paid, there is no doubt of that, and the poor are brought
here; and there are over nine hundred thousand dollars owing to the
Perpetual Emigration Fund for helping the poor here.

	Does this enlighten your mind any?  "Why, no," say some, "unless we
know where the money comes from."  It would puzzle our astrologers to tell
you; still, you can ask them if you wish; they can be just as sensible
about that as anything else.  Who pays this money?  Who is it that buys
every dollar's worth of goods that is brought here to pay to these hands
who work on the public works?  Is there a man at work there but who gets a
portion of money and store-pay?  And with the exception of what the
merchants here pay in on tithing, is there a dollar's worth of store-pay
to be got without paying the money for it?  Is there a light of glass, a
pound of nails, a pound of rope, or anything else brought here from the
east that the money is not paid for?  No, not one pound.  Now, then, you
astrologers, sit down and make your figures and see if you can tell where
the money comes from; or you scholars and learned men enlighten the minds
of the people on these matters if you can.  I will tell you what you can
do--you can be economical, prudent, and saving, and help a great deal more
than you now do.  If we will go to work and finish this canal we can bring
the rock here for the Temple.  I have asked my brethren, and I will ask
again, will not you who have sawmills bring on some lumber so that we can
go on with this tabernacle?  Will you not help a little in this
telegraphic operation?  We want lumber for this, that, and the other--will
you not bring on some?  "Yes," say they, "if you will pay us money for
it."

	With regard to paying tithing, I will say that is becoming easier and
more congenial to the minds of the people every year, and they pay it with
a glad heart.  This is a blessing to them.  Let me say to you, just what
the Lord requires of you, if you would only do it.  He requires at our
hands, each and every one of us, to begin and sustain the Kingdom of God,
and to withdraw from the world and the business of the world.  If our
neighbours want our flour, let them come here to buy it, pay a good fair
price for it, and take it away, but never carry it to them--never, never,
no, never!  If we want goods, hats, boots, shoes, bonnets, coats, and so
forth, we should send Latter-day Saints, Elders of Israel, with our money
to markets where they have them for sale, and purchase them and bring them
here; and we should buy of our brethren, and sustain the Kingdom of God. 
I say this is the mind and the will of God concerning this people, if they
will hearken to it.  Purchase no more of your enemies.  I read a
revelation here on this subject a few weeks since, given in Jackson
County, Missouri, commanding br. Gilbert to go and purchase goods and sell
them to the Saints without fraud.  I will take the liberty of saying that
I consider some of our own merchants do not come up to the requirements of
this revelation, for they would sell to the Latter-day Saints a piece of
goods worth fifty cents for a thousand dollars if they could get it,
without any regard to truth, righteousness, or justice, or the building up
of anybody on God's earth but themselves.  This is the case with some of
our own merchants, while there are others who deal fairer.  There are some
amongst us who would not speculate, had they all the opportunity in the
world, as much as some who are called Latter-day Saints.  All this is
true, but we cannot begin to point out and individualize; that will not do
here.  But it is the will of the Lord that you and I live within
ourselves.

	Do you recollect that I made mention of our government yesterday?  We
have sued to them many times for our rights.  We have asked for bread, and
they have given us a stone; we have asked for a fish, and they have given
us a serpent; we have asked for an egg, and they have given us a scorpion;
so we have got to live within ourselves and trust in God.  We will pay our
taxes and we will pay our tithing.  But there are some among us who,
probably, would like to meddle with our tithing.  I wonder if they would
like to meddle with the tithing that is paid to build churches in the
east, and with the donations made for that purpose?  I wonder if they
would not like to legislate upon them, and see who has been paying
donations to build this church or that schoolhouse or academy.  I wonder
if they would not like to legislate as they do about schools for the
freedmen [sic].  I suppose it will not be long before before [sic] they
will want to dictate in some other places, and say how much shall be
raised for schools and so forth; and I suppose it will be but a little
while before some of those officious characters will determine the number
of beans that brother Kimball and I shall have in our porridge, and
whether they shall be white or black.  I think, if same [sic] of them had
their way, they would have them all black.

	I have told you some few things with regard to the Temple.  We want
the tabernacle finished, and when a man is asked to go and work on it, do
not begin to make a wry face, and say, "I have got so much work to do." 
When you carpenters are asked to go and help to finish it, so that we can
hold our October Conference in it, do not begin to say, "I have so many
jobs on hand, and so much work to do, and this engagement and that
engagement," where-ever they will pay you sixpence a day more; and "I will
work for the devil as quick as for the Lord Jesus Christ."  Do not say
that any more.  The mechanics, by their conduct, have said hitherto, "We
will build up hell just as quick as we will heaven, if we can get sixpence
a day more for doing it."  Do you want to know the true policy of building
up Zion, and what is required of us as a people?  I can give it to you. 
It is to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth, to build temples and
tabernacles, to preach the gospel, to sustain the families of the Elders
abroad, and to sustain the Priesthood at home and abroad, whether we get a
dollar a day or nothing, it is all the same.  Work whether we get our pay
or not, or whether we have money offered to us or not.  You and I will
find in the end that there is not a man on the earth who can give the
increase to our labor; but it is the Lord who gives it.  No matter whether
you make fifty cents of fifty dollars a day, the Lord gives the increase;
and whatever He pleases to give He will give, and whatever He pleases to
withhold He will withhold.  I say to you again and again that the
blessings of this people are more than they merit by their lives; but if
we live every day of our lives so as to possess the Spirit of the Lord,
and are dictated in all our business transactions and in every move we
make by the spirit of revelation, we should merit, and justly and
righteously obtain greater blessings than we now possess.

	Now, my brethren, you who have sinned, repent of your sins.  I can
say to you in regard to Jesus and the atonement (it is so written, and I
firmly believe it), that Christ has died for all.  He has paid the full
debt, whether you receive the gift or not.  But if we continue to sin, to
lie, steal, bear false witness, we must repent of and forsake that sin to
have the full efficacy of the blood of Christ.  Without this it will be of
no effect; repentance must come, in order that the atonement may prove a
benefit to us.  Let all who are doing wrong cease doing wrong; live no
longer in transgression, no matter of what kind; but live every day of
your lives according to the revelations given, and so that your examples
may be worthy of imitation.  Let us remember that we never get beyond the
purview of our religion--never, never!  "Mormonism," so-called, embraces
every principle pertaining to life and salvation, for time and eternity. 
No matter who has it.  If the infidel has got truth it belongs to
"Mormonism."  The truth and sound doctrine possessed by the sectarian
world, and they have a great deal, all belong to this church.  As for
their morality many of them are morally just as good as we are.  All that
is good, lovely, and praiseworthy belongs to this church and kingdom. 
Death, hell, and the grave only are outside of "Mormonism."  "Mormonism"
includes all truth.  There is no truth but what belongs to the gospel.  It
is life, eternal life; it is bliss; it is the fullness of all things in
the gods and in the eternities of the gods.  What is the difference, then,
what we are called to do?  Let us do it with a cheerful heart and a
willing mind, that we may receive the blessing which the Lord has for the
faithful.

    DISCOURSE by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                 Great Salt Lake City, April 14th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
            GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS TO MISSIONARIES GOING ABROAD.

	Inasmuch as I am a missionary, and have been called of God to
proclaim the gospel, I rise here to bear my testimony in connection with
my brethren whom you have heard speak this day.  We hear the testimony of
brethren brought up in the Church, as well as the testimony of those who
receive the gospel in other lands and gather with the Church.  They all
agree that this is the truth--the gospel of life and salvation.  These
brethren are going to preach, because they have got the truth and the
world are destitute of it.  One of the brethren said he was going after
truth.  I would correct him, and say he has got truth, and is going to
carry to others who have it not.  You are not going to England, Scotland,
or to the Continent for truth, but to carry truth to people who sit in
darkness and in the regions of the shadow of death.  I am a missionary
called to preach the gospel, and I am going on a mission; not that I have
been lately converted, but I feel to go and strengthen my brethren, and I
am going on a preaching tour for that purpose.  There is no place on this
earth where greater good can be done than here, preaching the gospel to
this people and getting them to be Saints indeed.  I would say to my young
friends and to the middle-aged brethren, though I believe all who are
going may be called young men, that if you go on a mission to preach the
gospel with lightness and frivolity in your hearts, looking for this and
that, and to learn what is in the world, and not having your minds
riveted--yes, I may say riveted--on the cross of Christ, you will go and
return in vain.  Go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, full of the
power of God, and full of faith to heal the sick even by the touch of your
hand, rebuking and casting out foul spirits, and causing the poor among
men to rejoice, and you will return bringing your sheaves with you.  If
you do not go in this way your mission will not be very profitable to
yourselves nor to the people.  I wish you to bear this in mind.  We do not
send these elders forth for political purposes; we have nothing to do with
the political world.  Neither do we wish them to go for two or three years
to learn what is transpiring in the scientific world.  If they wish to
study the sciences, they can do that at home.  We have an abundance of
scientific men among us.  If you wish to know what is going on in
theatres, do not go to theatres to learn, but wait until you come back to
our own.  I am simply giving you a word of counsel.  This is as good a
time to do it as when you assemble together to receive your parting
blessing.  We do not send you for any of these purposes, but to preach the
gospel.  Let your minds be centered on your missions, and labor earnestly
to bring souls to Christ.

	I would like to impress upon the minds of the brethren, that he who
goes forth in the name of the Lord, trusting in Him with all his heart,
will never want for wisdom to answer any question that is asked him, or to
give any counsel that may be required to lead the people in the way of
life and salvation, and he will never be confounded worlds without end;
while he who trusts in the wisdom of man, or leans on the arm of flesh, is
weak and blind, and destitute of the principles that will lead the Elders
of Israel to victory and glory.  Go in the name of the Lord, trust in the
name of the Lord, lean upon the Lord, and call upon the Lord fervently and
without ceasing, and pay no attention to the world.  You will see plenty
of the world--it will be before you all the time--but if you live so as to
possess the Holy Ghost you will be able to understand more in relation to
it in one day than you could in a dozen days without it, and you will at
once see the difference between the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God,
and you can weigh things in the balance and estimate them at their true
worth.  I can say also to the brethren and sisters, no matter what you are
doing--working in the garden, plowing, sowing, going to the kanyon,
building houses, laying rock or adobies, attending your household affairs
in the kitchen, the washroom, in the parlor, or in the your bedchambers,
live continually so that you may have the Spirit of the Lord with you and
the counsel of God within you, that you may be able to give a word of
counsel, instruction, and comfort to the disconsolate, to strengthen the
weak, and to confirm the wavering, and spend every day of your lives in
doing good.  Unless we take this course it is useless to talk about being
Latter-day Saints, the redemption of Zion, or the establishment of the
Kingdom of God, for nothing short of the wisdom and power of God and the
Holy Ghost will ever enable any people on the face of the earth to redeem
Zion, and to establish the kingdom of God in these latter days.

	A great many things were said while we were assembled in a Conference
capacity.  We are composed of such material, and our organization and
education are of such a nature, that a great many things have to said to
us continually.  Like children, there is no day but we need instruction,
and if we do not live that we may have the Holy Ghost within us
continually we need to be taught by our friends around us how to build up
the Kingdom of God, to sanctify ourselves, to prepare for the coming of
the son of man, and for the accomplishment of the great work of the latter
days.  The work in which we are engaged should be interesting to every
soul that has named the name of Christ; it should be first and foremost,
morning, noon, and night, with us every day of our lives.  Our religion
should be first with us all the time.  Coming to this tabernacle to
worship and do the will of God for one day in the week, and following our
own inclinations and doing our own will at all other times, is a folly; it
is useless, and a perfect burlesque on the service of God.  We should do
the will of God, and spend all our time for the accomplishment of His
purposes, whether we are in this tabernacle or elsewhere.  We are often
told that, so far as the principles of our religion are concerned, we are
one.  Our brethren here are going on missions to Scandinavia, Germany, and
perhaps to places where the gospel has never been preached before, and
some, perhaps, to the antipodes of others, yet in the proclamation of the
principles of the gospel I do not expect there will be any variation. 
They will go north, south, east, and west, and they will all take up the
scriptures of truth contained in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Book of
Doctrine and Covenants, and each one will corroborate the testimony of the
other in establishing the truth of the gospel of the Son of God, and all
will exactly agree.  Yet, when we are gathered together, there are as many
minds as there are persons in regard to the affairs of every-day life and
the managing of financial affairs.  Now, the people of God are being
gathered together expressly to become one with regard to the things of
this world.

	I would like to be understood, if I could explain myself.  We never
shall become one to that extent that we shall look alike or possess
precisely the same mental power and ability; this is not the design of
Heaven.  But we expect to become one in all our operations to bring forth
the fullness of the Kingdom of God on the earth, that Jesus may come and
reign King of nations as He does King of Saints.  Shall we call this a
union for political purposes?  I say it is good policy for people to be of
one heart and mind in all their operations.  I have frequently looked at
the inhabitants of the earth and seen how their feelings, dispositions,
and pursuits differ; no two, scarcely, can agree.  If two men enter into
partnership, say in the banking business, or in mercantile business or
manufacturing, it is very seldom that they agree a great while.  Their
minds will run in different channels with regard to business matters, and
one will not be trammeled with the ideas of the other, so each resolves to
take his own course.  If you wish for a perfect example of this, I can
tell you where to find it:  just as quick as warm weather comes you see
these little red and black ants on the hills.  You will see them running
in every direction, but it is seldom that two of them take the same
course; they will run against each other, tumble over each other, and,
finally, rob each other.  This is a perfect example of the course pursued
by the inhabitants of the earth.

	I would say that it is good policy if we can be agreed in all
matters.  To illustrate, suppose we want to go and quarry rock out of the
granite mountain here; we are building a huge fabric and we want some
columns, say sixty feet high, five, six, seven, or eight feet through at
the base, and perhaps four or five feet through at the top.  Let one man
undertake such a work, and how long would it take him?  But let us be
united in the undertaking, and we can soon have our columns quarried,
hauled, and erected.  Suppose there was a union of effort in every
political and financial matter undertaken for the benefit of the whole
people, who cannot see the good that would result?  We have tried this to
some extent in relation to our markets here; but suppose we were fully
agreed on the point, we could demand a fair price for our products, and we
need not be imposed upon by traders and traffickers.  If we were agreed,
we could supply ourselves from distant markets, say with our clothing, at
a far less cost than now.  Suppose, as was said at Conference, that we
dispense with the luxuries of tobacco, tea, coffee, and whisky, how much
could we save?  If we had the money on hand that we have spent on these
needless articles during the the [sic] year that is past, we should have
abundance to donate to the missionaries to land them in their fields of
labor.

 	The people, perhaps, will turn round and say--"We pay our tithing,
and that is all we feel to do."  If you do, you do more than the people
did some years ago.  At that time we found that in the staple article of
wheat, of which there is more paid on tithing than anything else in the
Territory, that we did not receive one bushel in a hundred of that which
was raised, to say nothing one in ten.  The people are not compelled to
pay their tithing, they do as they please about it, it is urged upon them
only as a matter of duty between them and their God.  This little moiety
that is now paid on tithing is used to bring the poor here, to find them
houses to live in, bread to eat, and wood to burn, when we can get the
brethren to bring it in on tithing, but that is an article pretty hard to
get.  Now, suppose we had a little more of this surplus on hand, could we
not help the brethren on their way to preach the gospel to the nations? 
Yes, we could.  Some of them will leave their families that will, probably
be destitute, and if we had means on hand we could donate to help them,
and to prevent them from running continually to the Bishops.  The Bishops
have nothing in their hands, the tithing is used up, it has gone to
sustain the poor, the Priesthood, and the Public Works.  Yet when they go
to a Bishop he has to look round to procure them a house, some wood, or
some wheat or flour on tithing.  But suppose we had the money on hand that
we have spent on these useless articles which have been referred to the
case would be different.  When I begin to talk about these things I see so
much that I can tell but very little.  To see the slackness, slothfulness,
and neglect of duty in taking care of the things which God gives to us. 
We may say we have abundance--more than we need--but will we give it to
those who need it?  No, but it is wasted in buying articles for which
there is no real need.  The people here seem to be perfectly lost, and
cannot imagine what they do want.  They are not clogged with every luxury,
to be sure; they are not over surfeited with riches, for they are not
rich; but they  are comfortable, and they spend their substance for
naught, for that which neither enriches the soul nor builds up the Kingdom
of God.

	How is it with you, my brethren and sisters?  Can you call to mind
any circumstances that have transpired in the midst of this people that
could have been avoided, and that should put you on your guard?  Yes,
plenty of them, if you will only reflect.  I asked one man, for instance,
how he lived.  "Oh," said he, "I hardly know how; I can hardly sustain my
family."  "How many have you in family?"  "Eight of us."  "And what do you
have a day?"  "Three dollars."  Perhaps here is another man who gets five
dollar a day, and he is poor; and another one who has a hundred cattle
running on the prairie, and he is living on a dirt floor; he is not able
to buy a few boards to make a floor.  Go through the country and you will
see numbers living, year after year, on dirt floors, and unable to procure
a little sand and lime to plaster the walls of their dwellings, and at the
same time, perhaps, they have hundreds and hundreds of animals running on
the prairie.  What economy!

	You recollect that I asked a few questions at Conference as to the
amount paid out last year for those needless articles--tea, coffee, &c. 
Will one hundred thousand dollars pay for the tobacco that the Elders of
Israel chewed and spit out?  It will not, and the tea that was drunk will
perhaps cost a hundred thousand more, and the coffee will amount to pretty
near the same sum.  As for the sugar, I should say, continue to purchase
that, and let the children have it, not to live on it alone, but in
connection with other nutriment, for you should understand that our food
is composed of three staple articles--sugar, starch, and glue,
consequently sugar is good.  But to train your children to drink tea and
coffee at two, three, or four years old is very pernicious and injurious. 
You mothers and daughters in Israel who are taking this course, how do you
expect to live to accomplish the work the Lord has assigned you?  Why you
will not live half your days; you will come short of it as much as the
wicked.  Is this true?  It is verily true.  You get up in the morning and
have your cup of tea, your fried ham, and cold beef and mince pies, and
everything you can possibly cram into the stomach, until you surfeit the
system and lay the foundation for disease and early death.  Says the
mother--"Do eat, my little daughter, you are sick; take a piece of pie,
toast, or meat, or drink a little tea or coffee; you must take something
or other."  Mothers in Israel, such a course engenders disease, and you
are laying a foundation that will cut off one-half or two-thirds of the
lives of your children; and yet a more healthy country than ours cannot be
found upon the face of the earth, if the people would learn to live
prudently.

	In foreign lands you may find districts where many of the people do
not have, probably, more than two-thirds of what they need to eat--and
they live thus from year to year--yet you will find them much more healthy
than they who gorge themselves continually.  Take the Americans, say in
the old Granite State where I have travelled, and to look at their
surroundings out of doors you would not think they had more than one bean
to a pint of water, but go into their houses and you will find beef, pork,
apple pie, custard pie, pumpkin pie, mince pie, and every luxury, and they
live so as to shorten their days and the days of their children.  You may
think that these things are not of much importance; no more they are,
unless they are observed, but let the people observe them and they lay the
foundation for longevity, and they will begin to live out their days, not
only a hundred years, but, by and bye, hundreds of years on the earth.  Do
you think they will stuff themselves then with tea and coffee, and perhaps
with a little brandy sling before breakfast and a little before going to
bed, and then beef, pork, mutton, sweet-meats, and pastry, morning, noon,
and night?  No; you will find they will live as our first parents did, on
fruits and on a little simple food, and they will never overload the
stomach.

	Let the people be temperate in their food, then go to work and clothe
themselves.  Ladies, why can you not make your own bonnets as well as buy
them?  Will you go to work and do it?  I know not.  You can do as you
please.  Will you dispense with your frills, ruffles, bows, and nonsense? 
To correspond with the ladies the gentlemen ought to have one half of
their hats covered with feathers and the others half with a cockade, and
frills up and down the sleeves of their coats and the legs of their
pantaloons.  Still, we see some who wear home-made.  I noticed one young
man, who is going on a mission, and who spoke here to-day, with a suit of
home-made cloth on.  We can make our own cloth and then wear it.  We can
learn how to raise and improve our stock, how to raise our grain, fruit,
and vegetables, we can raise our our [sic] own wool and flax and make it
into cloth, and in fact we can learn to raise and make all that we need,
and this is one of the great objects to be attained to in the gathering of
the Saints together.  As for your surplus, means, you can lay it away, and
when a call is made you can donate to assist the elders who are sent on
missions to the nations of the earth, and help to sustain their families
while they are  away.

	To the elders who are going to preach I will give another word of
counsel--try and maintain yourselves as much as you can.  You are going
where thousands of the people die annually of starvation.  Do not go and
beg of them, but rather give to them.  I have told every one of my boys
not to depend on the people, but when they get a dinner from the poor,
instead of taking the last crumb or morsel they have, leave something for
them to enable them to supply their wants.  I have known many sisters, and
perhaps there are some of them here to-day, who, when times were far
better than they are now, would pinch themselves for a whole week in order
to provide a comfortable dinner or supper for an elder who would visit
them, at the same time they, probably, did not have more than one-half, or
at most two-thirds, or what was necessary to sustain themselves.  The
Elders of Israel should go forth calculating to help the people both
temporally and spiritually, but some of them have done nothing but beg
from the time they left here until their return.  For brethren to leave a
country like this, where labor is plentiful and means so easily acquired,
and go and ask alms of the poor in other countries is a shame and
disgrace.  I want the missionaries to remember this and lay it to heart,
if they will.  Go and preach the gospel, and help the honest-in-heart to
gather, that they may aid in building up Zion, for that was the design of
the Lord when He said, through the Revelator John, "Come out of her my
people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her
plagues."

	Take the people in the east, west, north, and south who have obeyed
the gospel, and, so far as the spiritual gifts are concerned, they are all
of one heart and one mind, but not one soul knows how to build up Zion. 
Not a man in all the realms and kingdoms that exist knows how to commence
the foundation of the Zion of God in the latter days without revelation. 
If the people in the world could sanctify themselves and prepare
themselves to build up Zion they might remain scattered, but they cannot,
they must be gathered together to be taught, that they may sanctify
themselves before the Lord and become of one heart and of one mind.  By
and by the Jews will be gathered to the land of their fathers, and the ten
tribes, who wandered into the north, will be gathered home, and the blood
of Ephraim, the second son of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, which is to
be found in every kingdom and nation under heaven, will be gathered from
among the Gentiles, and the Gentiles who will receive and adhere to the
principles of the gospel will be adopted and initiated into the family of
Father Abraham, and Jesus will reign over His own and Satan will reign
over his own.  This will be the result.

	Now, Latter-day Saints, only think how far short we come of being
what we ought to be.  Some will indulge in a little falsehood here and
there, evil, folly, nonsense, wickedness, lies, deception, arrogating to
themselves that which does not belong to them.  We are gathered together
expressly to expose the wickedness that is in our hearts.  How often, in
looking over the congregations of the Saints, I can pick out a man here
and a woman there guilty of these things.  Here, probably, is a brother
who has been a deacon in the Baptist or Presbyterian church for thirty of
forty years, and was just as good a man as there was in the world, but
gather him home with the Saints, and though his whole judgment is
convinced that the gospel is true, and he believes it with all his heart,
yet he will deceive and lie a little and take that which is not his own. 
"Did you ever know those who have been deacons in the sectarian churches
guilty of such things?"  Yes, many of them, who have been considered
flaming lights there, yet, when they gathered with the Saints, according
to the words of the prophets, they have spued out the iniquity that was in
them, and revealed the secrets of their hearts to their neighbors.  If
John should drop his axe in the kanyon, and Benjamin should come along,
although he had been a preacher, he would pick up that axe and keep it.  I
have seen many such things.  Such practices, if not repented of and
forsaken, will canker the very souls of those who are guilty, and will
deprive them of the glory that will be enjoyed by honest and virtuous men
and women.

	When Jesus was preaching on these principles, and showing how strict
and pure in their lives they must be who are counted worthy to be brought
into the presence of the Father and the Son, be crowned with crowns of
glory, immortality, and eternal life, and become Gods, even the Sons of
God, I do not wonder that His disciples cried out, "Who, then, can be
saved?"  Said Jesus, "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads
to the lives to come and few there be that find it."  This is the
rendering in the new translation.  As Jesus said to the disciples so I say
to the Latter-day Saints--"Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that
leads to the lives to come and few there be that find it."  I know you
might turn round and say:  "Brother Brigham, do you expect to find it?"  I
expect to try; and when I get through I expect the Lord to do what He
pleases with me.  I have not asked where He is going to place me, nor what
He will do with me, nor anything about my crown or mansion.  I only ask
God, my Father, in the name of Jesus, to help me to live my religion, and
to give me ability to save my fellow-beings from the corruptions of the
world, to fill them with the peace of God, and to prepare them for a
better kingdom than this.  That is all I have inquired about.  What the
Lord will do with me, or where He will place me, I do not know, neither do
I care.  I serve, and have implicit confidence in Him, and I am perfectly
satisfied that we will all receive all we are worthy of.  May the Lord
help us to live so that we may be worthy of a place in His presence. 
Amen.

    DISCOURSE by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                  Great Salt Lake City, May 26th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
     OUR DELEGATE TO CONGRESS--THE WORD OF WISDOM--THE UNION PACIFIC
           RAILROAD--SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE OF POPULAR PREACHERS.

	If br. Hooper had accomplished his wish in saying just what he
desired to say, would he have not have been a superior man?  He would.  If
he were to do so, he would be about the only man whom I know who could do
so.  I am happy to hear what I have heard from him in his speaking to-day,
and in our communications one with the other.  Since his return home it
has pleased me more than anything else in the world concerning our
Delegate to find that the spirit of faith, humility, and resignation to
the will and providences of God, our Father, is increasing in him.  This
pleases me more than it would to learn that he had grown exceedingly rich;
and, as we profess to be Latter-day Saints, I rejoice for myself and for
his constituents that the spirit of the holy gospel is increasing in him
from year to year.  I do not say this to flatter br. Hooper; I am not the
least concerned about in injuring him, for when a persons see things as
they are, flattery and reproach are all the same to him, he sees no
difference.  If he finds that he is pleasing God and his brethren, he is
exceedingly rejoiced, and feels and increase of humility and resignation. 
When a man is proud and arrogant, flattery fills him with vanity and
injures him; but it is not so when he is increasing in the faith of God;
and I can say of a truth, according to my understanding of the spirit of
the gospel, that it grows as fast in Wm. H. Hooper as in any man I know. 
He came to this Territory, as he has said, seventeen years ago next month;
he came as clerk to Ben. Holladay.  We found him as he was, he found us as
we were.  We have lived together many years, and, notwithstanding his
speculations, I learned years and years ago, through his honesty,
uprightness, child-like feeling, and naturally humble, contrite spirit,
that there was in him the germ of truth and salvation.  Now he is our
Delegate, and I am really proud of him, not to detract in the least from
br. Bernhisel, for I am proud of him, too, as a true gentleman.  Br.
Hooper has been fervent in every labor placed upon him, and he has labored
indefatigably; his tasks have been arduous, yet he has succeeded to my
astonishment and his own.  This is in consequence of his faith and
integrity in the truth that he has embraced.  We sent one delegate to
Congress, who was baptized, confirmed, and ordained an elder, to my
certain knowledge, for he was ordained under my hands, and when he got to
Congress I understand he denied being a "Mormon."  But br. Hooper, every
time he is asked if he is a Latter-day Saint, replies:  "Yes, and I thank
God that I am."  By this course he has won the battle, and he has obtained
more than I could have anticipated.  I am glad that I have this to say in
his behalf.  Now I will venture to say a little more, that William H.
Hooper, from the period of his earliest recollection, never enjoyed that
peace, quietness, and solid joy that he now possesses in the situation
with which we have honored him, and that he has obtained by his submission
to the providences of God and his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  [Br.
HOOPER:  I never was so happy, nor enjoyed such good health in my life as
now.]

	Now, is not this encouraging?  Why, just for the sake of passing
through this life I would not fail of being a Saint for all the riches in
this world.  Talk about kings on their thrones!  Is there one of them who
feels safe and who can repose in quietness and security?  Do you know one
who can?

	Take all the Emperors and great men of the world, who receive so much
honor and homage, and what is their peace?  It is sorrow.  What is their
joy?  It is grief and sorrow.  Are they safe?  No, I think not; and I will
say to my brethren and sisters that there is not a king, emperor, or
potentate on the earth who begins to possess the joy, peace, and quietness
that our delegate now experiences in returning to his constituents.  I
think not any of them, unless they enjoy the spirit of the holy gospel of
the Son of God, though their subjects bow their knees to the ground and
take off their hats to them to do them homage and honor, it is mere show,
outward appearance; many of the people do not do these things from their
hearts.  This we very well know.

	Br. Hooper has returned here to visit, mingle, and talk with the
brethren and sisters, and to learn their feelings.  I will say for his
satisfaction, and for the satisfaction of my friends who live in this city
and throughout the Territory, that I am perfectly satisfied with his
labors.  Has he been as indefatigable as we could wish?  He has.  Has he
accomplished as much as we expected he could?  More; and above all this,
there is nothing so consoling and cheering to me as to find br. Hooper
increasing in the faith of the holy gospel.  I have heard expressions from
his mouth since he came home that have been heart-cheering to me. 
Speaking of his business and of the hard times here, said he, "What is all
this speculation, money, or property?  It is nothing at all when compared
with peace and the blessings of Heaven that we desire upon the people
called Latter-day Saints, and their success in spreading the gospel and
gathering the poor."  This is first and foremost in his heart, and this
makes me cry Hallelujah, and thank God.  I say this for br. Hooper.

	I am now going to say few words for myself with regard to my own
situation and circumstances in the midst of this people, the joy and
thankfulness that seem to surround the people and their leaders.  The
increase that is perceptible to those who live in the faith of the holy
gospel is heart-cheering, comforting, and consoling, and is praiseworthy
to the Latter-day Saints.  To illustrate, I will refer to one item of our
proceedings at Conference.  While assembled there I told the people what
my feelings were in regard to the Word of Wisdom.  I said to them--"The
Spirit signifies to me that we should cease drinking tea, coffee, and
liquor, and chewing tobacco."  On our journey south I saw one old lady
over eighty years of age drink a little coffee, and that was the only
coffee I saw while from home. I think there was one of our sisters in the
company who was sick one day, and she had a little tea; with this
exception, from the time we left home until we returned, I did not see a
drop of tea or coffee offered to the company.  Is not this marvellous? 
Was there any command given to the people, or any coercion used towards
them at Conference in relation to these things?  Not the least in the
world, and the strongest term I used was that "the Spirit signifies to me
that this people should observe the Word of Wisdom."

	It has been said to me--"This reformation in the midst of the people
is too hasty to be permanent."  I have replied--"I trust not; I have not
been hasty in my reflections and considerations to honor the purposes and
to do the will of God."  It is true that to illustrate the advantages that
would accrue from our observance of the Word of Wisdom, I compared the
abundance of means we should then possess with the scarcity now existing. 
Instead of being poor and needy, this would give us all we could ask, to
assist our poor brethren and sisters abroad to emigrate to this country,
to send our elders abroad to preach the gospel, and to furnish the means
necessary to enable them to do without seeking assistance of those who are
already so poor that they seldom have more than half enough to eat.  There
are many there who have grown to manhood and womanhood, who can say of a
truth--"Never in my life did I have the privilege of eating what my nature
desired or required."

	If we would observe the Word of Wisdom, and cultivate faith, economy,
and wisdom, the Lord would add blessings to us so that we would have
abundance to give our elders, that they need never be under the necessity
of saying to this sister or that brother, "give me a breakfast or
something to assist me on my way," but they would have enough to provide
for their own necessities, and something with which to assist the poor
whom they might meet.  When I was in the old country I never was under the
necessity of asking a penny from any person, and for which I have been
thankful a thousand times since in reflecting upon it.  I believe the only
alms I ever asked, or the only intimation I ever gave of being in need,
was on Long Island, when on my way to England.  The brethren there, or
rather those who were brethren afterwards, gave me some money.  When I got
to England I had a few shillings left.  While there the Lord put means
into my hands, and after I was established in my office, I do not know
that I ever went out without first putting into my pocket as many coppers
as my hand could grasp, to give to the needy I met by the way, and I have
fed and clothed many.  I have been very thankful for this.  But most of
our elders, when they go to the old country, are under the necessity of
obtaining assistance from the people.  We should not suffer this, and if
we, here, will observe the Word of Wisdom, there will be no need of their
doing so in the future.  Last week I received a note in which was enclosed
three dollars from a sister; I cannot tell her name, for she did not give
it.  She said she had not drank any tea since Conference, and she had
saved about three dollars, which she enclosed for me to do good with.  I
felt "God bless her," and she will be blessed as sure as she lives.

	Now, here are brethren on the right hand and on the left who, if they
had observed my counsel and the Word of Wisdom in their economy and in
their dealings, would have been worth hundreds of thousands to-day where
they have not got a shilling.  But you know when we exercise faith and
influence to induce the people to take a certain course, they will not
always be satisfied that the result will be as it is described, until, by
experience, they learn the opposite.  There have been times when we have
let the people do as they had a mind to without trying to restrain them by
counsel, and when we had done so, and not sought with all the power we had
to concentrate them in their dealings and in their faith, they have met
with difficulty and come to want; but when we hold them together, and they
take our counsel, they always have plenty.  Thank the Lord we do not
suffer for food, and I do not know anybody who suffers for raiment.  We
have plenty of food, and we expect we shall have.

	As I have not appeared before you since my return from the south
until to-day, I will say a few words in relation to that.  I designed
coming to this Tabernacle last Sabbath, but my health would not permit me. 
I am here to-day, however, to present to you my heartfelt thanks for your
faith and confidence in your leaders.  When I returned home I saw an
exceedingly delightful manifestation of the good feelings of the people. 
The greeting we received from thousands of children and grown people, who
lined the sides of the streets, and the hundreds who came in carriages to
meet us, was very gratifying.  When I got home I felt perfectly peaceable,
and not the least concerned about anybody coming to injure me.  I am not
like the monarchs of the world, although I have no doubt there are
individuals who would like to throw me a little lead--I have had
intimations to that effect--but I am not at all concerned.  I am always
prepared.  I am always on the watch.  If any man can creep on me, day or
night, he must be exceedingly quick.  Still, I am in the hands of God, and
I have to acknowledge that I am not preserved by my own wisdom and
watchfulness, but it is through the providences of God.  The Lord raises
up one here and pulls down another there.  He brings forth kingdoms and
empires, and He sets monarchs on their thrones through His providences and
at His pleasure.  The Lord has His eye upon all His creatures.  His
presence and His influence fill immensity.  Understand, Latter-day Saints,
I do not teach you the doctrine that the centre of God is everywhere and
His circumference nowhere.  That is false doctrine and nonsense.  But His
influence, His power, His spirit fill immensity, and are around about all
things, above all things, beneath all things, and through all things, and
they govern and control all things,and He watches His creatures with that
minuteness that not a hair of the head of even a wicked and ungodly man
falls to the ground unnoticed.  Now, permit me to say that through the
providences of God, you and I are, I mean in our present condition.

	Our delegate says he is not fearful of anything arising in this world
to militate against this work and people, except it arises among
ourselves.  Now, for your consolation I want to say that we are not going
to commit errors, wrongs, and sins that will disfellowship us from the
heavens, cut us off from the Holy Priesthood, and cast us out.  I have no
such faith, not a particle of it.  There will be a great many foolish
ones, no doubt.  If you and I live to see the time when the voice is
heard, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him,"  we shall
find many right in the midst of this people without oil in their lamps; no
question of this.  But as for believing that this people will apostatize
(without having any allusion to what br. Hooper has said), I do not fear
it, though, in reality, it is the only fear I ever had.  I do not fear
anything from God and holy angels, from the powers of this world, the only
things I ever feared were the discord, discontent, confusion, and apostacy
in the midst of this people.  Still, you and I are not going to
apostatize, we will not apostatize.  There are individuals among us who
will, but they will be very few.  Another thing that creates exceeding joy
in my heart is, that when a person apostatizes from the truth, and becomes
filled with darkness and unbelief, how anxious he is to get away from this
poor, miserable, sterile, sage plain, where, as br. Hooper has said, the
people have the privilege of getting up in the night to water their land. 
This is a matter of great joy to me, for it is one of the providences of
God.

	Speaking of the completion of this railroad, I am anxious to see it,
and I say to the Congress of the United States, through our Delegate, to
the Company, and to others, hurry up, hasten the work!  We want to hear
the iron horse puffing through this valley.  What for?  To bring our
brethren and sisters here.  "But," says one, "we shall not have any
money."  Yes, we shall, if you and I observe the Word of Wisdom, we shall
have plenty of it.  Now, let me extend that a little further than to tea,
coffee, tobacco, and whisky--that is, keep your flour here, and do not
send it to Montana nor anywhere else, but keep it here and store it up,
and your grain too.  You flour speculators here, do you know what flour is
worth a barrel in New York?  It is worth twenty-two dollars.  In my young
days, when it reached ten or twelve dollars per barrel we thought we were
all going to starve to death.  It is worth eighteen dollars on the
frontiers and twenty at St. Louis.  But, again, with regard to this
railroad; when it is through, even in ordinary times it opens to us the
market, and we are at the door of New York, right at the threshold of the
emporium of the United States.  We can send our butter, eggs, cheese, and
fruits, and receive in return oysters, clams, cod fish, mackarel, oranges,
and lemons.  Let me say more to you--do up your peaches in the best style,
for they will want them.  Their fruit trees are failing in the east. 
Right in the very land where the Book of Mormon came forth, and was
translated by Joseph, there has not been an apple grown for this dozen
years without a worm in the centre, as I have been told by men who live
there.  The worm is in the centre of all there is there, and it will
canker and eat them until they are consumed.  Wherever this work has been,
and the powers of darkness have succeeded in driving the Priesthood, I can
tell you that desolation will follow.  But where the Saints cultivate the
soil, the Lord will bless it and cause it to bring forth.  Let us be
fervent, then, in all our labors, in producing fruits, grains, vegetables,
and everything necessary to sustain life, for by and by it will be
said--"We must send to Zion, or starve to death."  Do you believe it?  I
do not care whether anybody believes it or not, it makes no difference to
me.  I am  a Yankee; I guess things, and very frequently guess right.

	To the Latter-day Saints I say, live your religion.  This is the cry
all the time.  Let us live our religion, be faithful, watchful, prayerful,
keep the commandments of God, and observe His word.  And now that we have
commenced to observe the Word of Wisdom, never treat resolution with a cup
of tea or coffee, for as sure as you treat resolution with a cup of tea or
coffee, for as sure as you treat resolution once, it will plead hard for a
treat again.  "But is not tea and coffee good medicine?"  Yes, first-rate;
but if you use it as medicine you will never use it for pleasure.  Keep
the Word of Wisdom, help the poor, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked. 
Never let it be said of the Territory of Utah that a poor person had to go
to the second house for a morsel to eat.  It never has been said.  I never
heard of a person going to the second house for something to eat, from the
fact that he always got it at the first, no matter whether friends or
foes, saints or sinners.  It is for you and me to do good to all, and to
bless all.  As far as we have the ability and capacity, let us bless our
fellow beings, preach to them the gospel of life and salvation, and treat
them as our brethren, sisters, and friends, until they prove themselves
otherwise.

	Oh, what a blessing that I have been born!  When br. Hooper was
speaking about Mr. Beecher's having said that it was the greatest
misfortune that ever happened to man to be born, it proved to me
positively that he (Mr. Beecher) had not the first glimpse of the
importance of this life, the organization of the earth, or the destinies
of the human family.  It never entered his heart, and his mind never
conceived the first principle of the design of the Almighty in forming the
earth and peopling it.  He is an eloquent orator, and pleases the people,
but he cannot understand the ways of God.  In this respect he is like the
rest of the world.  In my youthful days I have asked some of the smartest
and most intelligent ministers America ever produced, if they could tell
me one thing about God, and I have been mortified, ashamed, and chagrined
when I found they could not.  They could read the Bible, and if they had
believed it they could have told me about Him just as well as about their
brother or their father, but no, they could not tell the first thing. 
Neither had they the slightest idea with regard to the location of Heaven,
hell, or the spirit world.  I believe I have already told here about
listening to one of the smartest of American preachers preach on the soul
of man.  When he had exhausted two hours on the subject, he finally wound
up, in his eloquent style, by saying--"My beloved brethren and sisters, I
must come to the conclusion that the soul of man is an immaterial
substance!"  Why, such a thing never did nor can exist.  What could I
learn from that man with regard to Heaven, earth, hell, man, the soul of
man, a prior existence, a present or a future existence, more than just to
eat and drink, like the brute beasts that are made to be taken and
destroyed.  I concluded that I would not give a farthing for all the
religions that existed,a nd I found the revelations that Joseph Smith
received from Heaven and delivered to the people.  I have spent time
enough.  May God bless you.  Amen.

    DISCOURSE by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                  Great Salt Lake City, June 16th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
        THE PRIESTHOOD TO DICTATE IN TEMPORAL AS WELL AS SPIRITUAL
       THINGS--INCONSISTENCY OF AN EQUAL DIVISION OF PROPERTY--LET
                             APOSTATES ALONE.

	These words--"If ye are not one ye are not mine"--are the words of
the Savior, through the prophet Joseph, and given to us.  This is a
principle about which you have heard bro. Robert Williams say a good deal
in his way of talking.  His mind is like the minds of a great many, both
in this Church and out of it, with regard to temporal things.  If they had
the privilege of dictating the affairs of this people, or of any other,
they would divide the substance of the rich among the poor, and make all
what they call equal.  But the question would arise with me at once, how
long would they remain equal?  Make the rich and the poor of this
community, or of any other, equal by the distribution of their earthly
substance, and how long would it be before a certain portion of them,
would be calling upon the other portion, for something with which to
sustain themselves?  The cry would soon be--"I have no bread, no house, no
team, no farm; I have nothing."  And in a very few years, at the most,
large properties would thus pass from the hands of such individuals, and
would be distributed among those who know how to accumulate wealth and to
preserve it when accumulated.  We should be one, there is no doubt of
that, but the very men and women who would take the property of the rich
and dispose of it to their own advantage, would spurn from their presence
and disregard every word of counsel given by those who know how to
accumulate and preserve, and they would say, "We know as much as you, and
we can dictate our own affairs."  So they can, until they make themselves
poor and have to be helped by others.

	The capacity of the inhabitants of the earth to dictate their
temporal affairs, is a matter that has occupied a certain portion of my
time and reflection.  Now, politically, we as a government enjoy the
extent of the franchise granted to us by our Constitution, and that is all
we can ask for; but who knows and understands how to dictate and guide in
wisdom for the benefit of the whole community?  Very few.  And take the
inhabitants of the earth from first to last, there is not one man in ten,
neither is there one in twenty,and probably not one in forty, who is
capable of guiding himself through life, so as to accumulate the
necessaries and comforts of life for himself and family, and go to the
grave independent, leaving a comfortable living for his wife and family,
with instructions to enable them to pass through life judiciously, wisely,
and prudently.  Politically and financially there is not one man in forty
capable of pursuing the course I have indicated.  Then in a moral point of
view, take our young men, who are easily operated upon, do they know how
to guide their steps so that a good life may crown their last days?  No,
they do not.  Do the young ladies know the course to take to preserve
themselves in honor?  They do not, any more than the young men.  They have
to be watched like an infant running around the house, that knows no
better than to take the carving knife or fork and fall upon it and put out
its eyes.  And it is so with the middle aged as well as with the
young--they have to be looked after and cared for.  And when this people
become one, it will be one in the Lord.  They will not look alike.  We
will not all have grey, blue, or black eyes.  Our features will differ one
from another, and in our acts, dispositions, and efforts to accumulate,
distribute, and dispose of our time, talents, wealth, and whatever the
Lord gives to us, in our journey through life, we will differ just as much
as in our features.  The point that the Lord wishes  to bring us to is to
obey His counsel and observe His word.  Then every one will be dictated so
that we can act as a family.  Then if br. Robert wanted a pair of boots,
pants, a coat, or a hat, or a dress for his wife or child, he could have
it, but only in the order of God, and not until he can be dictated by the
Priesthood.

	I am talking with regard to our temporal affairs--of being so
dictated, guided, and directed, that every man's time and talents will
amount to all he could wish and desire.  Are the Latter-day Saints in this
situation?  Partially so.  Can they be dictated?  Yes, in some things. 
You take these very men and women who want to make us all equal, and they
tell us that we are covetous, because we have horses, carriages, houses,
lands, and money.  Have the poor got greedy eyes?  Are they covetous and
penurious?  I shall go a little too far if I am not careful.  I must guard
myself, because the Lord has chosen the poor of this world.  But what kind
of poor?  Now the poor may be divided into three classes.  In the first
place there is the Lord's poor, of which you may pick up one here and
another there, one in a city, two in a family.  Is there any other kind? 
Yes, you come across a certain class that may be called the Devil's poor. 
Is there any other class?  Yes, there is another class, who, long before I
ever mentioned them, were denominated poor devils.  Hence we have the
Lord's poor, the devil's poor, and poor devils.

	We have plenty of men in this community whom we have gathered from
England, Scotland, France, Germany, and the islands of the sea.  They have
believed the truth and received it, and we have sent for them here that
they may live their religion.  But if Jesus tells the truth, there is a
certain class of people who receive the truth without the love of it. 
When such characters gather--and there are plenty of them here--they would
just as soon fellowship, deal, and associate with, and hold in close
communion the poor miserable sharks that follow us, as they would with the
best Saint here, and they do not know the difference.  Why is this? 
Because, although they have embraced the gospel and know it is true, they
have not received the spirit of Christ.

	When we come to the doctrines that we preach, as contained in the
Bible, and lay them before the people, the whole Christian world cannot
gainsay a word of them.  I have read many and many a time out of the
prophecies, and the sayings of the Savior and His apostles that the Bible
contains, until they who listened have got up and declared they would hear
no more from that wicked book, believing it to be the Book of Mormon. 
Priests and deacons have declared they would hear no more from that vile
record.  I have said, "Does not this agree with your faith and feelings?" 
"No, it does not, and if we had it in our houses, we would take the tongs
and put it in the fire."  "Well," I have replied, "the book I have been
reading from is the Holy Bible, the Old and New Testaments, translated by
order of King James."  But they did not know what those records contained. 
When we come to the doctrines contained in this book the Christians cannot
gainsay them; they are struck dumb and silent as night, or rage in anger. 
Truth overcomes error, and when it is set before the people, the honest
receive it.  I wonder if there are any elders here who ever had a
minister, deacon, or so-called Christian say to them, "If you will perform
such and such miracles I will believe."  I have had that said to me a
great many times; it always shocked me.  I would say to them:  "You have
not read the Bible, I think."  "Oh, yes, we have," they would say, "we are
Bible scholars."  "Well, then, I will ask you a question.  Did you ever
read in your Bible anything like this--'A wicked and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign
of the prophet Jonas?"  "We do not know that we ever did."  I would turn
to the passage and show it to them.  Still, men have believed because they
have seen a miracle wrought.  They cannot withstand that by argument,
because they see the truth mathematically demonstrated.  Do such
characters endure?  No; they come here and then turn away from their God,
from the angels, from the holy prophecies of the Lord Jesus, from their
brethren and benefactors who brought them here from the land of
oppression, where they could not own so much as a chicken, and where
almost all they could get was a morsel of bread.  Yet they come here and
turn away from their brethren and the covenants they have made, and are
traitors to God and heaven, and to the good in the heavens and on the
earth.  Are there men who came here in this way who have got rich?  Yes,
there are men now in this city who came here poor, naked, and barefoot,
and willing to take a spade and go a ditching for me, or for anybody else
who would furnish them a little bread, and now they are rich.  They have
made their wealth out of this people who constitute the kingdom of God,
and they are using it to build up the kingdom of the devil.  What are we
to say to them? I would say, let them alone severely.  The man who will
apostatize from the truth, forsake his God and his religion, is a traitor
to everything there is in heaven, earth, and hell.  There is no soundness,
goodness, truth, or virtue in him; nothing but darkness and corruption,
and down to hell he will go.  This may grate on the delicate ears of some,
and they may think it is a pretty hard sentence, still it is true.

	When apostates in this city of Territory crave your gold, silver,
fine flour, and your substance, refuse them.  Tell them they have the same
privilege to earn bread that you have, and if they will work for and earn
it, like honest men and women, they are free to do so, but not to pluck it
from the pockets of the honest and poor.  Let the Latter-day Saints give
their substance to men who will pay their tithing, help to support the
elders in their preaching to us, donate to the families here whose
husbands and fathers have gone to preach the gospel to the nations, and
let the apostates alone.  If I were to ask you honestly and sincerely, and
in the character of a Christian, and then a little stronger, in the name
of the Lord God of Israel, will you let apostates alone and trade with
them no more, what would the Saints say?

	How many of the Latter-day Saints would say--"I would as soon trade
with this man as that man, or spend my money in this store as in that
store, even though they pay their tithing, and do good with their means?" 
Those men and women in whom this feeling exists must get rid of it, of
they will not be numbered with those who are of one heart and of one mind. 
Now, remember that!  I will promise those who feel in their hearts that
they would sooner trade with an apostate or with a corrupt outsider, than
with a brother, if the former would sell them a shawl a dollar cheaper,
and persist in such a course of things, that they will never enter in at
the strait gate, nor be numbered with those who are sanctified and
prepared to enjoy the celestial presence of God our Father and of Jesus
the Redeemer.  I promise you this in the name of the Lord God of Israel.

	You may say it is hard that I should dictate you in your temporal
affairs.  Is it not my privilege to dictate you?  Is it not my privilege
to give this people counsel to direct them so that their labors will build
up the Kingdom of God instead of the kingdom of the devil?  I will quote
you a little Scripture if you wish, the words of an apostle of the Lord
Jesus Christ to me.  You may think that I saw him in vision, and it was a
vision given right in broad daylight.  Said he--"Never spend another day
to build up a Gentile city, but spend your days, dollars, and dimes for
the upbuilding of the Zion of God upon the earth, to promote peace and
righteousness, and to prepare for the coming of the Son of Man, and he who
does not abide this law will suffer loss."

	That is a saying of one of the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He
said it to me.  Do you want to know his name?  It is not recorded in the
New Testament among the apostles, but it was an apostle whom the Lord
called and ordained in this my day, and in the day of a good portion of
the congregation, and his name was Joseph Smith, junior.  These words were
delivered to me in July, 1833, in the town of Kirtland, Geauga County,
State of Ohio.  The word to the elders who were there was:  "Never, from
this time henceforth, do you spend one day or one hour to sustain the
kingdoms of this world or the kingdoms of the devil, but sustain the
Kingdom of God to your uttermost."  Now, if I were to ask the elders of
Israel to abide this, what would be the reply of some amongst us?  The
language in the hearts of some would be--"It is none of your business
where I trade."  I will promise those who feel thus that they will never
enter the celestial Kingdom of our Father and God.  That is my business. 
It is my business to preach the truth to the people, and it will be my
business by and by to testify for the just and to bear witness against the
ungodly.  It is your privilege to do as you please.  Just please
yourselves; but when you do so, will you please bear the results and not
whine over them.

	It is the way with thousands and thousands, when they burn their
fingers they will turn round and complain of somebody else, when they
themselves are the only ones to blame.  How natural is it for some to
endeavor to blame others for the troubles their own follies have induced! 
It is a trick of the devil.  You never see Saints take this course.  When
they do wrong they do not try to lay the responsibility on their neighbor,
or on some brother or sister.  The Saint is ready to acknowledge his
fault, to bear the responsibility, and to kiss the rod and reverence the
hand that corrects him.  But you hear those who are not Saints continually
complaining.  It is so, to a great extent, with our new comers.  When they
come here they look for perfection. They say this is Zion.  And so it is;
but if we go to the Scriptures we shall find that the Zion of God is
composed of the pure in heart.  Brethren and sisters, have you Zion within
you?  If Jesus Christ is not in you, the apostle says, "then are ye
reprobates."  If the Zion of God is not within the bosom of you who
profess to be Latter-day Saints take care that you are not reprobates.  Be
careful that no man takes advantage of you, leads you astray, and causes
you to leave the Church and Kingdom of God, apostatize, and go down to
hell.  If you have Jesus and the Kingdom of God within you, then the Zion
of God is here.

	Our brethren and sisters, when they gather here, are apt to find
fault and to say this is not right and that is not right, and this brother
or that sister has done wrong, and they do not believe that he or she can
be a Latter-day Saint in reality and do such things.  The people come here
from the east and the west, from the north and the south, with all their
traditions, which impede their progress in the truth and are difficult to
lay aside.  Yet they will pass judgment on the acts of their brethren and
sisters.  I want to ask who made them the judges of the servants and
handmaidens of the Almighty, who, shoulder to shoulder, have borne off
this kingdom for more than a third of a century?  Thousands upon whom the
yoke of Christ has rested so long, and who have borne off the kingdom, are
judged and found fault with, by some who probably were baptized last
summer of but a short time ago.  You know that this is so, you are
witnesses to the truth of what I am saying, for you hear it yourselves. 
Now, who are they who will be one with Christ?  If I were to tell the
truth just as it is, it might not be congenial to the feelings of some of
my hearers, for truth is not always pleasant when it relates to our own
dear selves.  You take some of those characters to whom I have referred
to-day, who want us all to be of one heart and of one mind, and they think
we cannot be so unless we all have the same number of houses, farms,
carriages, and horses, and the same amount in greenbacks.  There are
plenty in this Church who entertain such a notion, and I do not say but
there are good men who, if they had the power, would dictate in this
manner, and in doing so they would exercise all the judgment they are
masters of, but let such characters guide and dictate, and they would soon
accomplish the overthrow of this Church and people.  This is not what the
Lord means when He said:  "Be ye of one heart and of one mind."  He meant
that we must be one in observing His word and in carrying out His counsel,
and not to divide our worldly substance so that a temporary equality might
be made among the rich and the poor.

	You take these very characters who are so anxious for the poor, and
what would they tell us?  Just what they told us back yonder--"Sell your
feather beds, your gold rings, ear rings, breast pins, necklaces, your
silver tea spoons or table spoons, or anything valuable that you have in
the world, to help the poor."  I recollect once the people wanted to sell
their jewellery to help the poor; I told them that would not help them. 
The people wanted to sell such things so that they might be able to bring
into camp three, ten, or a hundred bushels of corn meal.  Then they would
sit down and eat it up, and they would have nothing with which to buy
another hundred bushels of meal, and would be just where they started.  My
advice was for them to keep their jewellery and valuables, and to set the
poor to work--setting out orchards, splitting rails, digging ditches,
making fences, or anything useful, and so enable them to buy meal and
flour and the necessaries of life.

	A great many good men would say to me--"Br. Brigham, you have a gold
ring on your finger, why not give it to the poor?"  Because to do so would
make them worse off.  Go to work and get a gold ring, then you will have
yours and I will have mine.  That will adorn your body.  Not that I care
anything about a gold ring.  I do not have a gold ring on my finger
perhaps once in a year.

	You who are poor and want me to sell that ring, go to work and I will
dictate you how to make yourselves comfortable, and how to adorn your
bodies and become delightful.  But no, in many instances you would
say--"We will not have your counsel, we want your money and your
property."  This is not what the Lord wants of us.

	There was a certain class of men called Socialists, or Communists,
organized, I believe, in France.  I remember there was a very smart man,
by the name of M. Cabot, came over with a company of several hundreds. 
When they came to America they found the City of Nauvoo deserted and
forsaken by the "Mormons," who had been driven away.  They set themselves
down there where we had built our fine houses, and made our farms and
gardens, and made ourselves rich by the labor of our own hands, and they
had to send back year by year to France for money to assist them to
sustain themselves.  We went there naked and barefoot, and had wisdom
enough, under the dictation of the Prophet, to build up a beautiful city
and temple by our own economy and industry without owing a cent for it. 
We came to these mountains naked and barefoot.  Are you not speaking
figuratively?  Yes, I am, for it was only the figure that got got [sic]
here, for, comparatively, we left ourselves behind.  We lived on rawhide
as long we could get it, but when it came to the wolf beef it was pretty
tough.  We lived, however, and built a fort, and built our houses inside
the fort.  Then we commenced our gardens, we planted our corn, wheat, rye,
buckwheat, oats, potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, parsnips, and we
planted our peach and apple seeds, and we got grapes and strawberries, and
currants from the mountains.  The seeds grew, and so did the Latter-day
Saints, and we are here to-day.

	I am not unfrequently asked the question--"What induced you to come
to this desert sterile country?"  Sometimes my answer is--"We came here to
get rid of the so-called Christians."  This is somewhat of a stumbling
block to them; they do not knew [sic] how to understand it.  They could
understand it if they had been with us and had seen the Methodists,
Baptists, and Presbyterians leading on the mob to rob, plunder, and
destroy, as I have seen them.  Do you think we came here of our own
choice?  No; we would have stayed in those rich valleys and prairies back
yonder if we could have had the privilege of inheriting the land for which
we had paid the government our gold and silver, but we could not, so we
came here because we were obliged to.  And now we are gathering,
gathering.  Did you ever read in the New Testament that the Kingdom of
Heaven in the last days would be like a net cast into the sea which should
gather all kinds--the good and the bad?  If this is not a proof to the
inhabitants of the earth that this is the Kingdom of God, why there is
abundance of other evidence to prove it.  But this is one true evidence to
all the inhabitants of the earth--we are gathering the good and the bad of
all kinds.  The good, I expect, will improve until they are gathered into
the garner, and the bad will be cast away, thrust overboard.

	Now, I want to come back to a subject upon which I have already
touched.  I want to hit somebody or other.  Will you remember it?  Never,
from this time henceforth and forever, sustain a man, men, a people, a
community, or anybody that operates against or forsakes the Kingdom of
God.  Do you know what I call them, or have your forgotten what I said
about the poor of this world?  The Lord has chosen them, it is true, but
He has not chosen the devil's poor nor the poor devils.  They who forsake
or operate against the Kingdom of God are what I call poor, miserable
devils.  That is a harsh expression, especially to come from the pulpit,
but I built this stand to say just what I pleased in it.  Who among the
people of the world can dictate for themselves?  They want to be talked
to, guided, directed, pampered, and caressed like little children.  This
people also do.  How many are there here who, if they had stayed in their
native land, would ever have owned a chicken or a six-pence, who have now
a good house, farm, garden, orchard, and a carriage to ride in?  There are
hundreds.

	Shall I make an application of this?  If you please I will.  The Lord
owns the heavens and the earth, all things are His, and He delights to
give them to His children, and He would much sooner that they should enjoy
the good things of the earth than that they should not do so, if they
would use them for the accomplishment of His purposes.  It would cheer and
comfort His heart to see all the Latter-day Saints combined in their
efforts to promote His kingdom instead of promoting the kingdoms of this
world.  But we are but children, and the Lord is merciful, gracious, and
long-suffering to His people and to all the inhabitants of the earth.  We
are all His children--saint or sinner, it makes not difference.  Every son
and daughter of Adam and Eve that ever came on this earth is the offspring
of that God who lives in the heavens whom we serve and acknowledge.  How
merciful He is to His children!  To see the wicked flourish like a green
bay tree, and see the nations of the earth that oppose Him, set at naught
all His counsel and will have none of His reproof, and spurn His servants,
yet see how merciful He is to them.  But let me say that the time is now
at hand when the chastening hand of the Almighty will be upon the nations
of the earth.  He has commenced His work. Through His kind providences He
has ordained that it should commence here where it commenced in the
morning of creation.  On this continent He will wind up His work; from
here He will send the gospel of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the
earth, and woe to the nation that rejects it, and that persecutes and
slays His servants; they will have to pay the debt.

 	I can make a just comparison between the nations of the earth and the
children of Israel.  Of all the hundreds of thousands who left Egypt, and
who were over twenty years of age, who crossed the Red Sea, and travelled
in the wilderness, two only were permitted to go into the land of Canaan. 
This was in consequence of their transgressions, and the Lord cut them off
in the flesh that He might save them in the day of the Lord Jesus.  So it
will be with all the nations of the earth.  Some few will be saved, but,
to use scripture terms, very few will escape the punishment of the lake
that burns with fire and brimstone.  The Lord is merciful, but, when He
comes to His Kingdom on the earth, He will banish traitors from His
presence, and they will be sons of perdition. Every apostate who ever
received this gospel in faith, and had the spirit of it, will have to
repent in sackcloth and ashes, and sacrifice all he possesses, or be a son
of perdition, go down to hell, and there dwell with the damned; and those
who persecute and destroy the people of God, and shed the blood of
innocence, will be judged accordingly.

	Now, if you will please to hearken and hear, you Latter-day Saints,
do not spend another dollar with an apostate, neither in this city nor in
any other.  Will we purchase from outsiders?  Yes, and call them ladies
and gentlemen, because many of them are the friends of God if they did but
know it.  There are plenty in the world who want to be, but very few come
here except these apostates, who would sap the fountain of the Kingdom of
God, and destroy all that was virtuous and truthful on the earth, like
many others who never come into the Church.  Let them alone.  Will you
sell them your wheat?  No, sir; if you do--but remember you can do just as
you please.  I will not injure you, nor speak, nor even think evil of you,
but my prayer will ever be--"O, God, the eternal Father, I ask Thee, in
the name of Thy Son Jesus Christ, to save the righteous, and let the
wicked and the ungodly go to their place and share the reward of their
doings."  I will lift my heart to God in your behalf who feel to build up
the kingdoms of this world.  You say this is harsh.  No, it is not, it is
good policy, to say nothing abut religion.  Is it not good policy to trade
with and support our friends?  If you go to London, Paris, the German
States, or even in America, do you ever hear a Catholic found fault with
for trading at a store owned by a Catholic?  And the same is true with
regard to the Church of England, Methodists, or any other society.  It is
good policy and economy to sustain each other.  Then why is it not so with
the Latter-day Saints?  It is so, and we will do it, so help us God.  We
are here because there was no other place on the face of the earth where
we could go and be safe; but here we are all right, and here the Lord
designs that we should stay.  By and bye we shall hear the locomotive
whistle, screaming through our valleys, dragging in its train our brethren
and sisters, and taking away and the apostates.  "Will not our enemies
overslaugh us when we get the railroad?"  No, ladies and gentlemen.  Do
you want to know what will take every apostate and corrupt hearted man and
woman from our midst?  Live so that the fire of God may be in you and
around about you and burn them out.  But if we mingle, fellowship, shake
hands with, and think they are as good as anybody, the Lord says:  All
right; you may try it until you are tired.  But the Lord has said that He
will gather the pure in heart; they shall come by thousands, and "the
chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one another in the
broadways, they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the
lightnings."  I do not know what the prophet referred to here unless it
was one of those engines.  But the Lord will gather up His people, and
fill the land of Zion with those who love and serve Him, and will waste
away the wicked and the ungodly.

	I can say to you, Latter-day Saints, I will guide you in the way of
truth if you will be guided, and I will tell you how to save yourselves
spiritually and temporally.  

	May the Lord bless you.  Amen.

      DISCOURSE by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery,
                  Great Salt Lake City, June 23rd, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
    HOW DIVISIONS WERE INTRODUCED INTO THE CHRISTIAN WORLD--THE GOSPEL
 PERFECT, BUT ITS TEACHERS IMPERFECT--THE PRIESTHOOD AND ITS RESTORATION.

	The Latter-day Saints believe in the doctrine that was taught by the
prophets, by Jesus, and by his Apostles.  Much has been said and written
concerning the Church that was organized in the days of the incarnation of
the Savior, and there has been a great deal of speculation as to the faith
of that Church and the doings of its members.  To tell what this religion,
which we call the gospel of salvation, comprises, would require more than
a lifetime.  It would take more than our lifetime to learn it, and if it
were learned by us we should not have time to tell it.  In it is
incorporated all the wisdom and knowledge that have ever been imparted to
man, and when man has passed through the little space of time called life,
he will find that he has only just commenced to learn the principles of
this great salvation.  In the early days of the Christian Church we
understand that there was a good deal of speculation among its members
with regard to their belief and practice, and the propagation of these
speculative ideas created divisions and schisms.  Even in the days of the
Apostles there was evidently considerable division, for we read that some
were for Paul, some for Apollos, and others for Cephas.  The people in
those days had their favorites, who taught them peculiar doctrines not
generally received and promulgated.  The Apostles had the truth, and
thought that they were so established in it in their day that they really
had the power to unite the Church together in all temporal matters, as
Jesus prayed they might be, but they found themselves mistaken.  Have we
any proof of this?  Yes; you recollect reading that the Apostles assembled
themselves together to break bread and to administer; and they did
administer from house, and from congregation to congregation, the words
words [sic] of life and the ordinances of the gospel.  They thought they
had power to make the people of one heart and one mind with regard to
temporal things, and that they could amalgamate the feelings of the people
sufficiently to organize them as one family.  And the people sold their
possessions and laid the price at the Apostles' feet, and they had all
things in common.  There is no doubt that this is a correct doctrine, and
can be practiced to the benefit of a community at large, if believed and
understood.  But who has got the doctrine; who has eyes to see, ears to
hear, and a heart to believe?  Who has the authority and the capability to
organize such a society?  The Apostles thought they had, but when Ananias
and Sapphira fell dead because they had lied, not only to man but to the
Holy Ghost,in saying they had laid their all at the feet of the Apostles
when they had only laid part there, a great fear fell upon the people, and
they dispersed.  Have we any history that the people ever assembled in a
like capacity afterwards?  I think you cannot find it.  After the days of
the Apostles, when the Council of Nice was called, they then and there
determined what they considered to be correct and scriptural and what they
would lay aside, but that sure word of prophecy which Jesus had shed forth
into the hearts of those who believed on him seemed to be so mixed up and
interwoven with darkness and unbelief, that they could not come to
understanding and receive the full testimony of Jesus.  So the old
Christians lived, and so they spent their days down to the days of the
Reformation.

	If we have eyes to see, we can understand at once, the difficulties
that the Apostles had to encounter.  If the people have lived according to
the gospel that was delivered to them, the Apostles would have had power
to accomplish a great deal more than they did, although there can be no
doubt but they were mistaken with regard to the time of the winding up
scene, thinking it was much nearer than it really was, and they might have
made mistakes in other respects.  Many of the difficulties they had to
encounter, we are not troubled with.  We have not only the sure word of
prophecy delivered in the days of the Apostles, but we actually have that
surer word of prophecy delivered to us through the Prophet Joseph, that in
the last days the Lord would gather Israel, build up Zion, and establish
His kingdom upon the earth.  This is a more sure word of prophecy than was
delivered in the days of the Apostles, and is a greater work than they had
to perform.

	The few hints that I have dropped clearly show, I think, to all who
are acquainted with its history, how these schisms and divisions have been
introduced into the Christian world.  For more than seventeen hundred
years the Christian nations have been struggling, striving, praying, and
seeking to know and understand the mind and will of God. Why have they not
had it?  Can you tell me why it is there has not been a succession of the
Apostleship from one to another through all these seventeen centuries, by
which the people might have been led, guided, and directed, and have
received wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to enable them to build up
the Kingdom of God, and to give counsel concerning it until the whole
earth should be enveloped in the knowledge of God?  "O, yes, it was the
apostacy."  Very true, if it had not been for these schisms such might not
have been the case.  I have taken the liberty of telling the Latter-day
Saints in this and other places something with regard to the Apostles in
this our day.  It is true that we have a greater assurance of the Kingdom
and the power of God being upon the earth than was possessed by the
Apostles anciently, and yet right here in the Quorum of the Twelve, if you
ask one of its members what he believes with regard to the Deity, he will
tell you that he believes in those great and holy principles which seem to
be exhibited to man for his perfection and enjoyment in time and in
eternity.  But do you believe in the existence of a personage called God? 
"No, I do not," says this Apostle.  So you see there are schisms in our
day.  Do you think there was any in the days of the Apostles?  Yes, worse
than this.  They were a great deal more tenacious than we are.

	We have another one in the Quorum of the Twelve who believes that
infants actually have the spirits of some who have formerly lived on the
earth, and that this is their resurrection, which is a doctrine so absurd
and foolish that I cannot find language to express my sentiments in
relation to it.  It is as ridiculous as to say that God--the Being whom we
worship--is principle without personage.  I worship a person.  I believe
in the resurrection, and I believe the resurrection was exhibited to
perfection in the person of the Savior, who rose on the third day after
his burial.  This is not all.  we [sic] have another one of these
Apostles, right in this Quorum of the Twelve, who, I understand, for
fifteen years, has been preaching on the sly in the chimney corner to the
brethren and sisters with whom he has had influence, that the Savior was
nothing more than a good man, and that his death had nothing to do with
your salvation or mine. The question might arise, if the ancient Apostles
believed doctrines as absurd as these, why were they not handed down to
after generations that they might avoid the dilemma, the vortex, the
whirlpool of destruction and folly?  We will not say what they did or did
not believe and teach, but they did differ one from another, and they
would not visit each other.  This was not through the perfection of the
gospel, but through the weakness of man.

	The principles of the gospel are perfect, but are the Apostles who
teach it perfect?  No, they are not.  Now, bringing the two together, what
they taught is not for me to say, but it is enough to say this, that
through the weaknesses in the lives of the Apostles many were caused to
err.  Our historians and ministers tell us that the church went into the
wilderness, but they were in the wilderness all the time.  They had the
way marked out to get out of the wilderness and go straightforward into
the Kingdom of God, but they took various paths, and the two substantial
churches that remain--a remnant from the apostles, that divided, are now
called the Holy Catholic Church and the Greek Church.  You recollect
reading in the Revelations of John what the angel said to John, when he
was on the Isle of Patmos, about the Seven Churches.  What was the matter
with those Churches?  They were not living according to the light that had
been exhibited.  Do the Latter-day Saints live according to the light that
has been exhibited to them?  No, they do not.  Did the ancient saints live
according to the revelations  given through the Savior and written by the
Apostles, and the revelations given through the Apostles, and left on
record for the Saints to read?  No, they did not.  We may say there is
some difference between the days of Jesus and the Apostles and these days. 
Then, Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature;" proffer this gospel to all the inhabitants of the earth.  That
was a day of scattering and dispersion for those who believed in the
Savior.  When we come to discriminate between the former and the
Latter-day Saints we shall find there was a little difference in their
callings and duties, and in many points that we may say pertain to our
temporal lives.  Not in the doctrine of baptism, the laying one [sic] of
hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, nor in the gifts of the gospel. 
There is no difference in these things, but there is a difference in
regard to the temporal duties devolving upon us.  In those days the
command was "Go to the nations of the earth;" in these days it is "Come
from the nations of the earth."  Do you not see the difference?  Read the
revelations of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants given through Joseph,
and you will find that the burden of the gathering of the House of Israel,
the building up of Zion, and the sanctifying of the people, and the
preparing for the coming of the Son of Man is upon the elders of this
church.

	Soon after the death of Jesus the word He gave to His Apostles was to
go and preach the gospel to the nations, that all might be benefitted
thereby; but now, it is to gather up the House of Israel, and the fulness
of the Gentiles, and bring them home to Zion, and to the lands of their
fathers, that they may receive their inheritances on the lands given to
them of the Lord in ancient days.  So you see there is some difference
between the duties and callings of the Saints in former and in latter
days.  When the Lord called upon Joseph he was but a boy--a child, only
about fourteen years of age.  He was not filled with traditions; his mind
was not made up to this, that, or the other.  I very well recollect the
reformation which took place in the country among the various
denominations of Christians--the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and
others--when Joseph was a boy.  Joseph's mother, one of his brothers, and
one, if not two, or his sisters were members of the Presbyterian Church,
and on this account the Presbyterians hung to the family with great
tenacity.  And in the midst of these revivals among the religious bodies,
the invitation, "Come and join our church," was often extended to Joseph,
but more particularly from the Presbyterians.  Joseph was naturally
inclined to be religious, and being young, and surrounded with this
excitement, no wonder that he became seriously impressed with the
necessity of serving the Lord.  But as the cry on every hand was, "Lo,
here is Christ," and "Lo, there!"  Said he, "Lord, teach me, that I may
know for myself, who among these are right."  And what was the answer? 
"They are all out of the way; they have gone astray, and there is none
that doeth good, no not one."  When he found out that none were right, he
began to inquire of the Lord what was right, and he learned for himself. 
Was he aware of what was going to be done?  By no means.  He did not know
what the Lord was going to do with him, although He had informed him that
the Christian churches were all wrong, because they had not the Holy
Priesthood, and had strayed from the holy commandments of the Lord,
precisely as the children of Israel did.  They were the children of
promise, of whom the Lord had said--"They shall be called by my name, and
I will save them;" and for generations he had striven to do so.  When
pursued by the hosts of Pharaoh He had delivered them from Egyptian
bondage; He had destroyed the Hittites and other heathen nations, and had
given them possession of the land of Canaan, and in every way had tried to
bless them; yet they would not be blessed, and in the Prophet Isaiah's
writings we read that they had transgressed the laws, changed the
ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenants.  Do you think the
Gentile Christian nations have rebelled?  I know they have.  Take, for
instance, the sayings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Savior of the world, as
found in this book--the Bible.  He commanded His Apostles to go to all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature, and he that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved.  How many methods of baptism were practised in
those days?  Just as many as there were saviors--one.  How many methods of
laying on of hands for the Holy Ghost?  One.  How many methods of
obtaining the spirit of prophecy and the gifts of healing and the
discerning of spirits?  One.  One God, one faith, and one Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, and one only.  Well, the Apostles went and preached this
gospel, yet one would vary a little on one point, and another on another,
and those who took the gospel and ran here and there would introduce items
of doctrine that were altogether imaginary.  Do we find any curious ideas
advanced in our day?  Yes, I can relate a circumstance that I once heard
myself, from one of the first elders in this church.  He was preaching to
the people on the principle of adultery, and told them that, according to
the law of the Lord, whosever commits adultery shall have his blood shed. 
But the idea striking him that millions had committed this crime whose
blood had never been shed, he thought this could not be correct, and so to
improve it he said if their blood was not shed in this life it would be in
the resurrection.  What an absurdity!  There is no blood there.  Flesh and
blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.  Does not this show to you how
these little things will creep into the Church?  Have we the power and
authority and the method of detecting every such error?  We have.  Do you
know what they are?  Some of you do, and if you do not I shall not tell
you to-day.  But we are in possession of the means by which to detect
every error that comes into the church, and to decide satisfactorily on
every point, and to decide what is and what is not true.

	The gospel is a fountain of truth, and truth is what we are after. 
We have embraced the truth--namely, the gospel of the son of God.  Its
first principles are to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of our
sins, then go down into the waters of baptism for the remission of our
sins, and have hands laid upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost,
which will lead us into all truth.  If there are any of my friends or
enemies here who do not know what "Mormonism" is, I am telling them.  We
believe in God our Father.  This leads me right to another point that I
have not much time to talk about.  I recollect preaching once in the old
bowery with regard to our Father and God, the Being we worship and whom we
think so much of.  There was a Baptist minister present; he was staying at
my house.  He was a kind, friendly man, and was on his way to the gold
mines.  He was sitting beside me.  I wanted to leave him in a puzzle.  I
would not tell him, but brought him right to the point, and there left
him.  When we got home, said he, "Oh!  brother Young, you came right to
the point exactly, and I did pray that you might tell us what kind of a
being God is."  I replied, "I left you in a puzzle on purpose for you to
guess it.  You have read it frequently, and you can hardly read the Bible
at all without reading precisely what kind of a being our Father is." 
Said he, "I am not aware that I know anything about it."  I asked him if
he could tell me what kind of a being Adam was.  "Oh, Adam was a man like
I am."  I asked him if he believed in the history of creation, as given in
Genesis by Moses, for if he did he would find that God said to His
associates, "Let us go down and make man in our own image and likeness." 
He believed the history given by Moses, and had read the passage to which
I referred.  "Then," said I, "you must believe that Adam was created in
the exact image of the Father."  He had never thought of that in his life. 
I told him I had read that  many times to Christians and to Christian
ministers, but they would not believe what was in the Bible.  Says Jesus,
"Whosoever has seen me has seen the Father."  He is the Being the
Latter-day Saints worship; He is a man-God.  Can you get a better term
than that--a God-man?  It is said that Jesus is the only begotten of the
Father.  It is strange that people cannot understand it, but they cannot
unless they are told.  How can we know unless we are told, and how can we
tell the people unless the Lord tells us to do so?  Faith comes by hearing
the word of God declared, and this must be declared by those having
authority.  This character whom we serve is God, the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of our spirits, if the Apostle tells the
truth; if he has not, who can correct him unless they have a revelation
from the heavens?  I have had a great many ministers tell me that I must
understand that spiritually.  I have told them that I read and understood
it just as it as, and if it was not right, and they could give the correct
meaning (which it was impossible for them to do without revelation), they
were under condemnation before the Lord if they did not do so.  That would
stop them.

	Our Lord Jesus Christ--the Savior, who has redeemed the world and all
things pertaining to it, is the only begotten of the Father pertaining to
the flesh.  He is our elder brother, and the heir of the family, and as
such we worship him.  He has tasted death for every man, and has paid the
debt contracted by our first parents.  What about this?  I am not going to
tell this, for I have a few more ideas with regard to the Christian world
that I wish to lay before you.  Why have they wandered so far from the
path of truth and rectitude?  Because they left the Priesthood and have
had no guide, no leader, no means of finding out what is true and what is
not true.  It is said the Priesthood was taken from the Church, but it is
not so, the Church went from the Priesthood, and continued to travel in
the wilderness, turned from the commandments of the Lord, and instituted
other ordinances.  There are a great many churches that do not believe in
ordinances at all, and there are some called Christians who do not believe
in the blood of the Savior, and that he, himself, was nothing more nor
less than a good man.  If they believe in the baby resurrection, or that a
person who had committed adultery would have his blood shed in the
resurrection, it would be just as consistent as to believe what they do
believe.  These ideas are all wrong.

	The Christian world struggled on until the days of the Reformation. 
But what of the Reformation?  Nothing, only it shows that there were some
few among them who had courage to come out against the orthodox principles
ordained, published, and proclaimed by the Priests.  They had an idea in
their minds that the Lord was going to do something for the people, but
they could not tell what.  There was a spirit upon them that prompted them
to declare against the wickedness of those professing to be Christians. 
Did they profess to know enough to take the truth and leave the error? 
No; down to the days of my youth the Christians did not know any better
than to renounce any doctrine that the Church believed from which they
came.  This is more or less the case with every denomination on the face
of the earth.  Some who call themselves Christians are very tenacious with
regard to the Universalians, yet the latter possess many excellent ideas
and good truths. Have the Catholics?  Yes, a great many very excellent
truths.  Have the Protestants?  Yes, from first to last.  Has the infidel? 
Yes, he has a good deal of truth; and truth is all over the earth.  The
earth could not stand but for the light and truth it contains.  The people
could not abide were it not that truth holds them.  It is the Fountain of
truth that feeds, clothes, and gives light and intelligence to the
inhabitants of the earth, no matter whether they are saints or sinners. 
Do you think there is any truth in hell?  Yes, a great deal, and where
truth is there we calculate the Lord has a right to be. You will not find
the Lord where there is no truth.  The devil had truth in his mouth as
well as lies when he came to mother Eve.  Said he, "If you will eat of the
fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you will see as the gods
see."  That was just as true as anything that ever was spoken on the face
of the earth.  She did eat, her eyes were opened,  and she saw good and
evil.  She gave of the fruit to her husband, and he ate too.  What would
have been the consequence if he had not done so?  They would have been
separated, and where would we have been?  I am glad he did eat.  I am glad
the fruit was given to mother Eve, that she ate of it, and that her eyes
were opened, that I have tasted the sweet as well as the bitter, and that
I understand the difference between good and evil.

	When the Lord called upon His servant Joseph, after leading him along
for years until he got the plates, from a portion of which the Book of
Mormon was translated, "By and bye," said he, "you are going to organize
my church and establish my kingdom.  I am going to have a church on the
earth.  All these churches you have inquired about are wrong; they have
the truth amongst them, but not the Priesthood.  They lack a guide to
direct the affairs of the Kingdom of God on the earth--that is the keys of
the priesthood of the Son of God."  This tells the story.  We possess the
Priesthood.  The Lord sent John to ordain Joseph to the Aaronic
Priesthood, and when he commenced to baptize people he sent a greater
power--Peter, James, and John, who ordained him to the apostleship, which
is the highest office pertaining to the Kingdom of God that any man can
possess on the face of the earth, for it holds the keys of the Kingdom of
Heaven, and has power to dispense the blessings of the kingdom.  This
priesthood is that which the Christian world do not possess, for they have
taken leave of the kingdom and the priesthood.  Joseph bestowed this
priesthood upon others, and this Church possesses it and its power, which
enables us to detect all error, and to know what it true.

	There are other things I wanted to talk about, not pertaining to the
Kingdom of God on the earth, but to the faith of this people before God,
but I shall leave this for the present, as I feel that I have talked as
long as is prudent for me.  May the Lord God of Israel bless you, is my prayer, in
the name of Jesus.  Amen.

       REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery,
                  Great Salt Lake City, June 30th, 1867.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
        CONDITION OF APOSTATES--THE YOUNG MEN OF THE SAINTS--BIBLE
    CHRISTIANS--MORMON BATTALION--HIS TESTIMONY TO STRANGERS--COUNCIL
                  TO MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS ON POLYGAMY.

	We have heard good instruction and good news from our brethren in the
south and in the east, and we hear good news concerning Zion.  But this is
not good to the world, for Zion and the spirit of Zion are not loved by
the wicked.  There is good news, and it may be summed up by saying that
God is carrying on His work most admirably.  He has commenced His work in
the last days, for the last time; and into this work He will gather all
things.  We are here in these mountains.  Accidentally?  Perhaps so.  If
we had Brother George A. Smith to tell the story, he would say we came
here because we were obliged to come, and we stay here because there is no
other place to which we can go.  We have built cities in this mountainous
region, because there was no other place where we could do so.  We have
not got through with our work here yet.  The people have hardly commenced
to realize the beauty, excellence, and glory that will yet crown this
city.  I do not know that I will live in the flesh to see what I saw in
vision when I came here.  I see some things, but a great deal more has yet
to be accomplished.  We go abroad and preach to the people and gather them
home to Zion, and it appears to be the feelings of a great many that when
they get here they have done all that the Lord requires of them--their
mission is out, and they are then ready to go and work for themselves.  I
heard of one man who came here twenty years ago, who stayed a few years
and got more property than he ever had before, then sold it, and went to
California, feeling and believing that he had worked long enough for the
Lord, and that henceforth he would work for himself.  The last I heard of
him he was in poverty, distress, and disgrace.  Loved of the Lord?  No; if
the Lord did not hate him, he did not love him.  Angels did not love him,
Saints did not love him, and the devil despised him, as he does all
apostates.

	On this particular point I said a little a Sunday or two ago.  I will
now take the liberty of saying a little more.  If there is a despicable
character on the face of the earth, it is an apostate from this Church. 
He is a traitor who has deceived his best friends, betrayed his trust, and
forfeited every principle of honor that God placed within him.  They may
think they are respected, but they are not.  They are disgraced in their
own eyes.  There is not much honesty withiu [sic] them; they have
forfeited their heaven, sold their birthright, and betrayed their friends. 
What will the devil do with such characters?  Will he have them in his
kingdom?  Yes, he will be obliged to, because he is an apostate himself. 
He apostatized from the Celestial Kingdom, and was thrust down to hell. 
Yet, when apostates get to his kingdom, he will say--"I do not like you,
for you are just as mean as I am.  I was a traitor and a liar, and I am
yet.  I despise myself and every character that betrays his trust."  That
is all I wish to say on that point.  Let apostates go.

	A word now to the Elders of Israel, especially to the young elders. 
There are a great many young men born and brought up in this Church, and
if they do not go to the nations of the earth to preach they are not,
therefore, obliged to make shipwreck of their good education and the faith
they have received.  Brother Pitkin was talking about young men being
ruined through acquiring bad habits and forming bad associations here.  If
we had sent such young men to preach they would, in all probability, have
disgraced themselves and the cause; for I am sstisfied [sic] that if any
man or woman, old or young, wished to be honest, upright, truthful, and
virtuous, there is no community on the face of the earthy that honors and
seeks to promote every holy principle to such an extent as this does.  Do
you know it?  If you do not, just go into the world and mingle with the
people, and you will soon find it out.

	If there are any ladies and gentlemen present who have not joined the
Church, I wish to say a few words to them.  Are men or women honest with
themselves and their God when they refuse or neglect to search diligently
to know the truth of the latter-day work?  I could not be, with the
sensibility God has blessed me with.  A man or woman desirous of knowing
the truth, upon hearing the gospel of the Son of God proclaimed in truth
and simplicity, should ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, if this is
true.  If they do not take this course, they may try and argue themselves
into the belief that they are as honest as any man or woman can be on the
face of the earth; but they are not, they are careless as to their own
best interests.  Before I heard the gospel I searched diligently to know
and understand whatever could be learned among the sectarians respecting
God and the plan of salvation.  It was so with the majority of the
Latter-day Saints.  But very little can be learned among Christian
professors; they are ignorant about God and His kingdom, and the design He
had in view in the formation of the earth and peopling it with His
creatures.  The Christian world are deficient in these matters; and many
among them who believed the Bible was true have felt this, and Martin
Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, and other great Reformers and
revivalists have felt this, and have had the spirit of conviction upon
them that God was going to reveal something or other to His creatures.  My
brother Joseph once said to me (and we were both Methodists at the time),
"Brother Brigham, there is not a Bible Christian in the world; what will
become of the people?"  For many years no person saw a smile on his
countenance, in consequence of the burden of the Lord being upon him, and
realizing that the inhabitants of the earth had all gone out of the way
and had turned every man to his own views.  I am not speaking now of the
world morally, but of thei [sic] ignorance of the gospel of the Son of God
and of the way to be saved in the celestial kingdom of our Father.  There
was not a Bible Christian on the face of the earth who was known to us.  I
cannot say what is to be found in the frozen regions of the north, or a
little beyond; if any nook or corner among the icebergs contains an
Apostle, I do not know it, but I suppose none have been able to find one. 
No people on this earth had the Priesthood of the Son of God at their
command or within their grasp, and there was no delegation from God to the
children of men.

	Now, we come proclaiming that the Lord has spoken from Heaven, and
has sent His angels to administer to the children of men.  If you ask
"where is my proof?" my reply is, I am a witness?  Yes, here is this whole
people.  What else has brought them together?  Do you think they have been
gathered for the sake of making money, or for raising a political kingdom? 
Try it, you statesmen and philosophers, and see if you can gather a people
together as we came here.  How did we come here?  We came comparatively
naked and barefoot, driven from our homes into these mountains, robbed of
our horses and cattle, and our houses rifled by mobs.  Were we sustained
by any government?  Did England put forth her hand to sustain us, or did
France donate anything for the assistance of this poor people?  No not
anything.  Did the Government of the United States?  No, but I will you
what they did do--they imposed a trifling tax upon us.  When they were at
war with Mexico they said, "Now, you Mormons are going into the
wilderness, but we will prove whether you are loyal or not--we want five
hundred of your men."  Did we give them?  Yes, we took the men from their
wagons, from their aged fathers and mothers, theirwives and children, and
they went to fight the battles of the United States.  Who helped us here? 
The Lord Almighty, and He has fed and clothed and sustained us, and given
us the ability to gather around us the comforts of life.  And now we
declare that the principles of the gospel of the Son of God, and no man
nor nation beneath the Heavens can contradict or confute what I say.  And
here are my witnesses--some few thousands in this congregation, who would
rise and testify by the power of the Holy Ghost that this is the gospel of
life and salvation.  Can men and women be honest who let this pass by as a
thing of nought, and say--"These poor despised `Mormons' and their
religion are not worthy of our notice, they are beneath our dignity and
refinement."  Stop!  Pause and think!  Do you know what refinement is?  Do
you know what belongs to honor and greatness?  If you do, you will never
make use of such expressions.  Those who are honorable will honor their
being, and prepare according to the best of their ability and knowledge,
and the revelations God has given, to preserve their existence and
identity, and to dwell for ever in the presence of the Father and the Son. 
Every person who is honorable and loves truth will do this.  I do not want
men to come to me or my brethren for testimony as to the truth of this
work; but let them take the Scriptures of divine truth, and there the path
is pointed out to them as plainly as ever a guideboard indicated the right
path to the weary traveller.  There they are directed to go, not to
Brothers Brigham, Heber, or Daniel, to any apostle or elder in Israel, but
to the Father in the name of Jesus, and ask for the information they need. 
Can they who take this course in honesty and sincerity receive
information?  Will the Lord turn away from the honest heart seeking for
the truth?  No, He will not; He will prove to them, by the revelations of
His Spirit, the facts in the case.  And when the mind is open to the
revelations of the Lord it comprehends them quicker and keener than
anything that is seen by the natural eye.  It is not what we see with our
eyes--they may be deceived--but what is revealed by the Lord from Heaven
is sure and steadfast, and abides for ever.  We do not want the people to
rely on human testimony, although that cannot be confuted and destroyed;
still, there is a more sure word of prophecy that all may gain if they
will seek it earnestly before the Lord.  This is to my friends or my
enemies who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the gospel
which He has revealed in these days.  Now, mark my words, if you are
honest to yourselves you will inquire as to its truth.  You are invited to
inquire, and it is your duty to do so, of the Father in the name of Jesus,
if these things are so.  "Well," say a great many, "when Jesus was on the
earth he wrought miracles."  Very true, and have we not done so?  You read
all the history of the world, laying aside the Book of Mormon containing
the history of the people who once inhabited this continent, and you
cannot produce anything that will compare with the labors of this people
in these mountains.  Everything is thrown into the shade when compared
with it.  Have we any witnesses with regard to the healing of the sick by
the power of God?  Plenty of them.  "O," say you, "we do not know anything
about that."  We do not want you to know anything about it until you learn
for yourselves. Miracles, or these extraordinary manifestations of the
power of God, are not for the unbeliever; they are to console the Saints,
and to strengthen and confirm the faith of those who love, fear, and serve
God, and not for outsiders.  When Jesus was spoken to with regard to
miracles, he said, "an evil and an adulterous generation seeketh after a
sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the Prophet
Jonas," and this principle is as true with regard to individuals as to
generations.  Here is the truth--God has spoken from the heavens, calling
upon the inhabitants of the earth to repent, and we call upon them to
repent.  Is there anything immoral or in the least unchristianlike in
this?  Not in the least.  We also call upon all men to be baptized for the
remission of their sins.  Is this a heresy, is it immoral or
unchristianlike?  No, everybody will agree that it is not in the least. 
Then we say to all, if you have been in the habit of lying, stealing, or
committing any sin whatever, do it no more, but live righteously and godly
as long as you stay on the earth.  Who can complain of this.

	Now, the sermon which I design preaching to the ladies comes right
before me.  It is said--"If it were not for your obnoxious doctrine of
plurality of wives we could believe in the rest very well."  It is not
that.  That is not the touchstone at all, but it is because our wives and
daughters cannot be seduced; it is because this people are strictly moral,
virtuous, and truthful.  Now, taking the history of creation as given by
Moses, let me ask the question--"Mother Eve, did you not partake of the
forbidden fruit, as also did Adam, and thus bring sin and iniquity into
the world?"  "O, yes," says mother Eve.  Then, why cannot you bear the
affliction of it?  Why not say--"If I was the cause of bringing evil into
the world, I will firmly bear all that God puts upon me, and maintain His
word and His law, and so work out my salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God working within me."  I ask this question of you, mother
Eves, every one of you.  If you are not sanctified and prepared, you ought
to be sanctifying and preparing yourselves for the blessings in store for
you when it will be said of you, this is Eve.  Why?  Because you are the
mother of all living.  You might as well prepare first as last.  If you
wish to be Eves and mothers of human families you ought to bear the
burden.  But you say this is cruel.  No, it is not cruel at all.  Is there
a passion in man that he cannot subdue for the sake of the gospel of
salvation, that he may be crowned with glory, immortality, and eternal
lives?  Shame on the elder who, if duty calls, cannot go and preach the
gospel until he winds up his earthly career and never permit a female to
kiss him.  I do not wish to say much upon this subject, but I say, woe to
you Eves if you proclaim or entertain feelings against this doctrine!  Woe
to every female in this Church who says, "I will not submit to the
doctrine that God has revealed."  You will wake up by and by and say, "I
have lost the crown and exaltation I might have gained had I only been
faithful to my covenants and the rvelations [sic] which God gave.  I might
have been crowned as well as you, but now I must go to another kingdom." 
Be careful, O, ye mothers in Israel, and do not teach your daughters in
future, as many of them have been taught, to marry out of Israel.  Woe to
you who do it; you will lose your crowns as sure as God lives.  Be
careful!  "Well," but say you, "these men, these elders of Israel, have it
all their own way."  That is not so, and we are not going to have it all
our own way, unless our way is to do just right.  And the man and woman
who set up their will against the providence of God, will be found wanting
when accounts are squared.  They will have to say, "the summer is past,
the harvest is ended, and we have not received our crowns."  Will you
think of this, sisters, you who are not married as well as you who are?  I
have a good many daughters, but it would be better for every one of my
daughters, and for every female in this Church, to marry men who have
proved themselves to be men of God, no matter how many wives they have,
than to take these miserable characters who are running around here.  For
myself, I desire to please God, whether it is ever to see another wife or
child while I live or not.  Have I proved it?  Yes, God, the heavens, and
the Saints know it.  When Joseph called upon me and my brethren here, we
were always ready.  We made it a point ever to be ready to leave fathers,
mothers, sisters and brothers, wives and children to go and preach the
gospel to a perishing world, and save as many as would hearken to our
counsel.  We have proved this years ago.  We have been willing to leave
all for the sake of the gospel, and therein the Lord has made us rich. 
But who is going to complain about it?

	I want the daughters of Israel, both old and young, to remember that
part of my sermon intended especially for them; and I want our friends who
come here, who are not of us, to hear what the Latter-day Saints have to
say.  If we have the words of eternal life for you, and you will not
receive them at our hands, we want you to be left without excuse.  The
Lord has spoken from the heavens; He has sent His delegation to the earth,
and He has commissioned men on the earth to preach this gospel and to
bring people into the Church.  If they disobey they must take the
consequence; it is they and the Lord for it.  As we have always told them,
the gospel of Jesus which we believe and preach, which they call
"Mormonism," is the doctrine of life and salvation, and if they do not
believe it, they can pray to the Lord and ask Him for knowledge.  All this
they can do if they please.  We do our duty in telling them what they
should do, and the result is with them and their God.  May God bless you. 
Amen.

      REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in Tooele City,
                            August 17th, 1867.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
         THE WORD OF WISDOM--DEGENERACY--WICKEDNESS IN THE UNITED
                       STATES--HOW TO PROLONG LIFE.

	I desire to say much to the people, but I fear I shall have to deny
myself the satisfaction, unless I am strengthened of the Lord.  I will
present before you a few things with which I am more particularly
impressed.  I desire you to hearken to that which has been said during the
session of this Conference, and to that which may yet be said during the
continuation of our meeting.

	We can enjoy the blessings of heaven, or we can deprive ourselves of
that enjoyment.  Intelligent beings have the power to exercise their free
will and choice in doing evil.  All have the privilege of doing evil if
they are disposed so to do, but they will always find that the wages of
sin is death.  The Latter-day Saints, by their righteousness, can enjoy
all the blessings which the Lord has promised to bestow upon His people,
and they can, by their unrighteousness, deprive themselves of the
enjoyment of those blessings.  We, for instance, exhort the Saints to
observe the Word of Wisdom, that they may, through its observance, enjoy
the promised blessing.  Many try to excuse themselves because tea and
coffee are not mentioned, arguing that it refers to hot drinks only.  What
did we drink hot when that Word of Wisdom was given?  Tea and coffee.  It
definitely refers to that which we drink with our food.  I said to the
Saints at our last annual Conference, the Spirit whispers to me to call
upon the Latter-day Saints to observe the Word of Wisdom, to let tea,
coffee, and tobacco alone, and to abstain from drinking spirituous drinks. 
This is what the Spirit signifies through me.  If the Spirit of God
whispers this to His people through their leader, and they will not listen
nor obey, what will be the consequence of their disobedience?  Darkness
and blindness of mind with regard to the things of God will be their lot;
they will cease to have the spirit of prayer, and the spirit of the world
will increase in them in proportion to their disobedience until they
apostatize entirely from God and His ways.

	This is no new or strange thing that you are required to do. 
Thirty-five years ago we were called upon to reform our lives, by giving
heed to the same Words of Wisdom; and if any man comes to you and tells
you that you must have a little tea and a little coffee, by the same rule
he may urge you to take a little tobacco and a little intoxicating liquor,
or a little of any other substance which is hurtful to man.  This destroys
their claim and right to the spirit of revelation, and they go into
darkness.  There is not a single Saint deprived of the privilege of asking
the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, in the name of Jesus Christ, our
Savior, if it is true that the Spirit of the Almighty whispers through His
servant Brigham to urge upon the Latter-day Saints to observe the Word of
Wisdom.  All have this privilege from the apostle to the lay member.  Ask
for yourselves.

	We are called to be Saints, to be the chosen people of the Lord
Almighty, to be the saviors of the children of men, to gather the house of
Israel, and save the house of Esau.  Are we trifling with our high and
holy calling before the Lord?  Are we trifling away our precious time?  If
we are, we are trifling with our salvation.  Then hearken, O ye Latter-day
Saints, and hear the Words of Wisdom which the Lord has given unto you. 
It is written:  "For the children of this world are in their generation
wiser than the children of light."  There is a just reason for this
saying.  But the Latter-day Saints who hearken to the words of the Lord,
given to them touching their political, social, and financial concerns, I
say, and say it boldly, that they will have wisdom which is altogether
superior to the wisdom of the children of darkness, or the children of
this world.  I know this by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
by the results of my own actions.  They who have hearkened to the counsels
given to them in temporal matters, have invariably bettered their
condition temporally and spiritually.  The day has gone by in which the
people of God are to be trodden under foot by their enemies, in which they
are to be poor outcasts to wander in sheep skins and goat skins, etc., but
they had better continue to do that, and dwell in the caves of these
mountains, and dress as the Indians do, than to forsake their God and
their religion.  Who is there among this people who cannot handle the
things of this world without loving them in preference to the things of
God?  If there is such a person, I pray God to make him or her poor.  Some
among us are so foolish as to lift up their heels against the Almighty as
soon as He blesses them sufficiently to make them a little comfortable and
independent.  This is lamentable.  It is a disgrace to humanity to suffer
the paltry things of this mortality to decoy away our affections from God
and turn them to the beggarly elements of this world.

	If you observe faithfully the Word of Wisdom, you will have your
dollar, your five dollars, your hundred dollars, yea, you will have your
hundreds of dollars to spend for that which will be useful and profitable
to you.  Why should we continue to practise in our lives those pernicious
habits that have already sapped the foundation of the human constitution,
and shortened the life of man to that degree that a generation passes away
in the brief period of from twenty-seven to twenty-nine years?  The
strength, power, beauty, and glory that once adorned the form and
constitution of man have vanished away before the blighting influences of
inordinate appetite and love of this world.  Doubtless we are about the
best looking people to-day upon this footstool, and about the healthiest;
but where is the iron constitution, the marrow in the bone, the power in
the loins and the strength in the sinew and muscle of which the ancient
fathers could boast?  These have, in a great measure, passed away; they
have decayed from generation to generation, until constitutional weakness
and effeminacy are bequeathed to us through the irregularities and sins of
our fathers.  The health and power and beauty that once adorned the noble
form of man must again be restored to our race; and God designs that we
shall engage in this great work of restoration.  Then let us not trifle
with our mission, by indulging in the use of injurious substances.  These
lay the foundation of disease and death in the systems of men, and the
same are committed to their children, and another generation of feeble
human beings is introduced into the world.  Such children have
insufficient bone, sinew, muscle, and constitution, and are of little use
to themselves, or to their fellow creatures; they are not prepared for
life, but for the grave; not to live five, six, eight, and nine hundred
years, but to appear for a moment, as it were, and pass away.  Now, when a
person is fifty years of age he or she is considered an old man or an old
woman; they begin to feel decrepit, and think they must feel old, appear
old, and begin to die.  Premature death is in the marrow of their bones,
the seeds of early dissolution are sown in their bodies, they feel old at
fifty, sixty, and seventy years, when they should feel like boys of
fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen.  Instead of feeling decrepit at those
years they should feel full of strength, vigor, and life, having attained
to early maturity, prepared now to enter upon the duties of a long future
life, and when two hundred years have been attained, they should then feel
more vigorous than the healthiest of men do in this age at forty and fifty
years.

	Let me assure you, my friends, that there does not exist another
people in all the world who will take good counsel as readily as the
Latter-day Saints do.  All men are free to do right or to do wrong, to
take good advice or reject it, to pursue the path that leads to eternal
life, or to go down to death their own way.  I am as independent in
praying, and living a righteous life, as I would be if I were to violate
the laws of God and man.  This is my philosophy with regard to the human
mind.  We have cried to the nation of the United States, and to other
nations for over a third of a century, saying, the wages of sin is death. 
Every man and woman who wishes to forfeit their right to the tree of life
have the privilege of doing so.  The nation that kills the prophets of God
in any age must expect to reap cursings instead of blessings, unless it
speedily repent.  Judgment must begin at the house of God first, and we
are perfectly willing it should.  In 1857 they sent an army to Utah to
annihilate "Mormonism," but the scourge with which they intended to
overwhelm this people has come upon their own heads, and the end is not
yet.  I told General Thomas L. Kane, that friend to humanity, when he
visited us in 1857, that the coming of that army was the entering wedge to
split the Government of the United States in pieces, and that soon.  He,
of course, could not see how this could ever be.  They then were in great
prosperity, and were going to annex the whole continent and neighboring
islands, and so continue to annex until the whole world should take
shelter under our national banner.  He only saw this from a political
stand point, basing his expectations of such grand results upon the
goodness of the Constitution and laws.  I acknowledged to him that we have
the best system of government in existence, but queried if the people of
this nation were righteous enough to sustain its institutions.  I say they
are not, but will trample them under their feet.  I told General Kane that
the Government of the United States would be shivered to pieces.  Will
this Government ever be restored to its former peace and tranquility, and
the institutions thereof ever be maintained and honored?  If they are, it
will be by this people.  Everything they are doing at present in Congress
is only calculated to widen the breach, and alienate and destroy every
vestige of love and affection that may yet be existing; and this they will
continue to do until they have severed the last tie and worked out the
entire destruction of the Government.  They think they are doing the best
that can be done.  Many of them are honorable men, and would do good to
the nation if they knew how.  The results of their acts will be
dissolution, strife, war, and bloodshed, until they are wasted away.  The
Lord will waste away the wicked as He said He would.  A curse will come
upon them to the third and fourth generation, saith the Lord Almighty, if
they repent not, and refrain not from their sins.  There is no likelihood
of their doing this.

	The destruction of property and life during the war has been
enormous; but I am satisfied that the destruction of the love of
virtue--the love of every exalted principle of honor, and of political and
social government--has been greater, comparatively, than the destruction
of property and life.  Religious societies abound in the nation.  Although
it never was more wicked than at the present time, it is strange to say
that it never was more religious in profession.  Religion is the ruling
power.  The conscience of the masses in regard to religion, to politics,
and social life is moulded from the pulpit.  In my early life I was
acquainted with ministers of the sects of the day, and am satisfied that
many of them lived honorably in their families, praying, and desiring, and
seeking for guidance from on high.  While on the other hand, to my certain
knowledge, many of them encouraged a practice which to-day exists to an
alarming extent, and which is openly and shamelessly acknowledged as a
necessity of the age.  To check the increase of our race has its advocates
among the influential and powerful circles of society in our nation and in
other nations.  The same practice existed forty-five years ago, and
various devices were used by married persons to prevent the expenses and
responsibilities of a family of children, which they must have incurred
had they suffered nature's laws to rule pre-eminent.  That which was
practised then in fear and against a reproving conscience, is now boldly
trumpeted abroad as one of the best means of ameliorating the miseries and
sorrows of humanity.  Infanticide is very prevalent in our nation.  It is
a crime that comes within the purview of the law, and is therefore not so
boldly practised as is the other equally great crime, which no doubt, to a
great extent, prevents the necessity of infanticide.  The unnatural style
of living, the extensive use of narcotics, the attempts to destroy and dry
up the fountains of life, are fast destroying the American element of the
nation; it is passing away before the increase of the more healthy,
robust, honest, and less sinful class of the people which are pouring into
the country daily from the Old World.  The wife of the servant man is the
mother of eight or ten healthy children, while the wife of his master if
the mother of one or two poor, sickly children, devoid of vitality and
constitution, and if daughters, unfit, in their turn, to be mothers, and
the health and vitality which nature has denied them through the
irregularities of their parents are not repaired in the least by their
education.  A great proportion of the leading men of our nation have
sprung from wealthy and influential families, have been reared and
educated in the midst of circles where the vices of the age flourish the
most vigorously, destroying moral force and the love of truth and virtue,
making education and refinement mere cloaks to cover sins of the blackest
dye.  The great majority of that class of persons appear in society as
polished gentlemen, whose suavity of manners would deceive, if it were
possible, the very elect.  They have been educated in our seminaries of
learning, and this class of men are now seeking to denude the Constitution
of the United States of all its protective and saving powers.  

	Why all this?  They killed the Prophet.  The mob that collected at
Carthage, Illinois, to commit that deed of blood contained a delegation
representing every State in the Union.  Each has received its blood stain. 
In the perpetration of this great national sin, they acted upon their own
free volition which God implanted within them, as much so as if they had
been willing to hearken to the advice of the Prophet and his friends when
they showed them how to preserve the nation from destruction, how to do
good to all, and how so introduce every holy principle that is calculated
to bless and exalt a people.  But, said they, "we will not hearken to the
counsels of this man;" for, like the Jews of old, they were afraid if they
let him live he would take away their place and nation.  They not only
feared the principles which he taught, but they feared the increasing
numbers which followed him; they feared that if they let him alone he
would incorporate in his religion all the religion there is that is good
for anything, or that is according to the Bible, and all the honest,
truthful, and virtuous of the nation, they feared, would follow him; and
they feared that thereby they would be deprived of their rich emoluments
and livings, so they concluded to get rid of him by slaying him.  In
killing the Prophet Joseph Smith, they did not kill "Mormonism," and they
cannot kill it unless they kill all the "Mormons," for if they leave a
single Latter-day Saint living he will cry to the people to repent of
their sins and return to the Lord, and the Lord will work with him to
gather the righteous, build up His kingdom, build up Zion, and establish
Jerusalem no more to be thrown down.  Well, they will go on their way, and
we will go on ours.  If they had hearkened to the counsel of Joseph Smith,
this nation would have had no wars; there would have been no division in
the Government, but it would have gone on in harmony and prosperity.  So
this people if they will take the counsels which the Lord  gives to them
through His servants with regard to their grain, and prepare for all
contingencies to which they are subject in this mountainous country, we
shall never see a famine; but if we neglect his counsel, refusing to
hearken to good advice, we shall, by taking this course, bring distress
upon ourselves and upon all who depend upon us for a subsistence.  Let us
pursue a course to preserve ourselves and avert every calamity.  This we
can do.  It is not necessary for calamity to come upon us, if we will only
take a course to prevent it.  According to present appearances, next year
we may expect grasshoppers to eat up nearly all our crops.  But if we have
provisions enough to last us another year, we can say to the
grasshoppers--these creatures of God--you are welcome.  I have never yet
had a feeling to drive them from one plant in my garden; but I look upon
them as the armies of the Lord, and with them it is easy for Him to
consume a great nation.  We had better lay up bread instead of selling it
to strangers, and thus avoid a great calamity that otherwise might
overtake us.  If the people refuse to hearken to this timely counsel they
will commit a great error.  Good actions always result in blessings.  The
history of the people of God in all ages testifies that whenever they have
listened to the counsel of heaven they have always been blessed.  All this
people are satisfied that they will be more blessed to hearken to good
counsel than not to do so.

	Instead of doing two days' work in one day, wisdom would dictate to
our sisters, and to every other person, that if they desire long life and
good health, they must, after sufficient exertion, allow the body to rest
before it is entirely exhausted.  When exhausted, some argue that they
need stimulants in the shape of tea, coffee, spirituous liquors, tobacco,
or some of those narcotic substances which are often taken to goad on the
lagging powers to great exertions, but instead of these kind of stimulants
they should recruit by rest.  Our artificial wants, and not our real
wants, and the following of senseless customs subject our sisters to an
excess of labor.  To supply these wants--to get a ribbon, an artificial
flower, this, that, and the other gewgaw, rather than substantial
necessaries--our farmers sell their wheat.  Work less, wear less, eat
less, and we shall be a great deal wiser, healthier, and wealthier people
than by taking the course we do now.  This whole Yankee nation eat so
much, and so many good things, that they are always poor in their bodily
habit; now and then only you will see a fleshy person among them; it is
also the case with the people of the southern portion of the nation.  It
is difficult to find anything more healthy to drink than good cold water,
such as flows down to us from springs and snows of our mountains.  This is
the beverage we should drink. It should be our drink at all times.  If we
constantly drink even malt liquor made from our barley and wheat, our
health would be injured more or less thereby.  It may be remarked that
some men who use spirituous liquors and tobacco are healthy, but I argue
that they would be much more healthy if they did not use it, and then they
are entitled to the blessings promised to those who observe the advice
given in the "Work of Wisdom."  Some few persons who have been addicted to
the use of hot drinks, &c., have reached the age of eighty, eighty-three,
and eighty-four years, but had they not been addicted to such habits of
living they might have reached the age of a hundred or a hundred and five
years.

	We profess to be Saints of the Most High.  We are the children of
that Being who lives in the heavens, who is filled with all intelligence,
and possesses all power.  We cannot be prepared to dwell with Him unless
we instruct our minds and sanctify ourselves in all things.  I am happy to
see our children engaged in the study and practice of music.  Let them be
educated in every useful branch of learning, for we, as a people, have in
the future to excel the nations of the earth in religion, science, and
philosophy.  Great advancement has been made in knowledge by the learned
of this world, still there is yet much to learn.  The hidden powers of
nature which give life, growth, and existence to all things, have not yet
been approached by the wisdom of this world.  There exists around us, in
the works of God, an everlasting variety--no two leaves, no two blades of
grass are alike. Natural philosophy, so far as known, marks these
phenomena of nature, and reveals her wonders, but is incapable of
revealing the modus operandi of the production.  All this is veiled in
impenetrable mystery to mortals.  It is information which cannot be
approached by science and philosophy known to man; it can only be reached
through the revelations of the Almighty, the Great Author of Nature's
work.  Great perfection has been attained in the application of important
discoveries to the wants and necessities of mankind.  I can, in a moment,
transmit my wishes to the east, and in a few minutes to the city of
London.  Great perfection has been attained in the art of telegraphy, yet
there is much more to be learned, and the same may be said of the power of
steam, and its application to the wants of mankind.  While the wonders of
art and science in the present age astonish us, yet there was much useful
knowledge possessed by the ancients which is lost to us.  One little
simple art that they understood was that of tempering copper and making it
equal to our finest tempered steel.

	Let the children in our schools be taught everything that is
necessary with regard to doctrine and principle, and then how to live; and
let mothers teach their daughters regarding themselves, and how they
should live in their sphere of existence, that they may be good wives and
good mothers.  Let the sisters study economy in the labor and management
of their homes.  I am satisfied that more than one-half of the labor that
is done in our houses can be saved by a judicious exercise of thought and
good judgment.  Then be wise in these things, and we shall not need tea
and coffee, or any other stimulant stronger than our natural food.  I say,
God bless you, and I bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Amen.



   REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Old Tabernacle,
                Great Salt Lake City, November 3rd, 1867.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
               THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT--BISHOPS SHOULD BE
                    EXAMPLES--THE SAINTS NOT IGNORANT.

	I will, in the commencement of my remarks, take up a subject upon
which much as been said in the pulpit and in the chimney corner.  It is
regarding the Spirit of the Lord manifesting His will to His children. 
There is no doubt, if a person lives according to the revelations given to
God's people, he may have the Spirit of the Lord to signify to him His
will, and to guide and to direct him in the discharge of his duties, in
his temporal as well as his spiritual exercises.  I am satisfied, however,
that in this respect, we live far beneath our privileges.  If this is
true, it is necessary that we become more fervent in the service of
God--in living our religion--and more truthful and honest with one
another, that we be not slack in the performance of any duty, but labor
with a right good will for God and truth.  If this people, called
Latter-day Saints, live beneath their privileges in the holy gospel of the
Son of God, are they justified in every respect before Him?  They are not. 
If we do not live in the lively exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus,
possessing His Spirit always, how can we know when He speaks to us through
His servants whom He has placed to lead us?  It was observed here this
morning, by one of the brethren, that he never attempted to perform a duty
required of him unless the Spirit manifested to him beforehand that he
would be justified in doing it.  Now, let me ask, how many of you know, by
the manifestation of the Spirit of revelation, that the Lord has whispered
to His servants the necessity of this people observing the Word of Wisdom? 
Some submit to it, and say that it is right, because their President says
so; but, how many of the Saints have received the manifestations of the
Spirit to themselves that this is the will of God?  Again, how many know
by the Spirit of revelation that they should contribute of the substance
the Lord has given to them to gather home the poor Latter-day Saints from
Europe?  Many may have received a testimony from the Holy Spirit that this
is their duty, but there may be one-half of the community who have not
received such a manifestation.  Now, is it the duty of those who have not
lived so as to enjoy the Spirit of revelation, as others do, to perform
this labour of love and charity, the same as those who have received the
Spirit of revelation, to witness to them that it is right?  We think that
it is.  I can call to mind revelations which the Lord delivered to His
servant Joseph, that when they were written and given to the people there
would not be one if fifty of the members of the Church who could say that
they knew, by the revelations of the Lord Jesus, that they were of the
Lord; but they would have to pray and exercise faith to be able to receive
them, and in some instances some apostatized in consequence of revelations
that had been given. This was the case when the "Vision" was given through
Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon.

	At that time there was not as many in the whole Church as there is in
this congregation.  Yes, many forsook the faith when the Lord revealed the
fact to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, as He did to His ancient Apostles,
that all would receive a salvation except those who had sinned a sin unto
death, of which the Apostle John said--"I do not say that ye shall pray
for it."  I prayed and reflected about it, and so did others.  I became
satisfied that, when a revelation came to Joseph for the people to perform
any labor or duty, it was their privilege to go to with their might and do
it collectively and individually, not waiting for the manifestations of
the Spirit to me, but believing that the Prophet knew more than I knew,
that the Lord spoke through him, and that He could do as He pleased about
speaking to me. This is a close point; but I will tell you what is right,
what is the duty of the Latter-day Saints, unless they can, by undeniable
proof, show that the word of the Lord has not come through the President,
they have no right to hesitate one moment in performing the duties
required of them. This is the way I understand revelation.  It is the
privilege of the Latter-day Saints to know and understand the mind and
will of God concerning them; yea, it is even the privilege of the wicked
world to know this.  The Spirit of the Lord bears witness to all people
according to the faith, honesty, and humility which dwell in the
individual who hears and in those who administer the word.  In a great
measure it depends upon this with regard to the witness of God to them. 
It is hard, however, for people to understand these things.  The
intelligence we possess is from our Father and our God.  Every attribute
that is in His character is in His children in embryo.  It is their duty
to improve and develop those attributes; and it is, consequently,
necessary to pay strict attention to every requirement of Heaven, that we
may better understand the mind and will of God concerning us and our duty. 
If we will live so as to enjoy the Spirit of revelation, we may know
concerning ourselves and those we preside over.

	If the people are ready and prepared to receive the word of the Lord
continually, it can be given to them.  An elder may declare the truth
philosophically, and the light of Christ may kindle up the candle of the
Lord within those who hear him, and they see, understand, and are
convicted of its truth, although the elder who preaches it to them may
himself be void of the Spirit of revelation.  Again, a man may preach to a
people whose ears are closed, and their hearts hardened against
conviction, they will not believe the gospel, yet the man who testifies to
them may be full of the power of God.  For example, we will say, here is a
man on the right or the left, who declares that he cannot perform this or
that duty unless he receives a witness to himself, direct from the Lord,
that He requires the duty at his hands.  Upon what principle has he the
right to question any requirement made by the constituted authority of God
on the earth?  Is he entitled to any such right?  He is not.  He is not
entitled to the right of bringing up any argument in his own mind, as to
the right or wrong of it, or to in any way remonstrate against any
requirement the Lord has made of him through His servants.  He is under
obligation to obey, whether the Spirit of the Lord gives him a
manifestation or not.  When the authorities call for so many loads of rock
to be hauled for the Temple, should every man wait to know by direct
revelation to himself whether he should draw rock or not?  Or should all
acknowledge the call as the word of the Lord to us, and promptly and
willingly obey?  When we asked the brethren to build this New Tabernacle,
did they wait to get a revelation to themselves before the commenced the
work?  No; but while they were engaged in that work, when they knelt down
to pray before the Lord, His Spirit was with them, and it justified the
act.  And so will it be with every duty that is required of this people,
if they perform the same in faith before God.  Our beloved brother did not
speak as he meant.  He will be understood to mean simply this:  If a
requirement is made of this people, it is their privilege to have a
testimony that it is of God.  This is what I mean, and it is what my
brother meant who spoke this morning.  I wish now to say a few words to
the Bishops.  It is a common saying, "as with the priest so with the
people."  I will change that a little, and say as are our bishops so are
the people.  We have said much to the people with regard to laying up
provisions to last them a few years.  How many of our bishops have
provisions laid up for one year, two years, or seven years?  There may be
a few bishops who have got their grain laid away to last their families a
year, but the great majority of them have not.  The people do, or should
look to their bishops for example.  Each bishop should be an example to
his ward.  If the bishop of a ward lays up wheat to last his family a
year, two years, or seven years, as the case may be, his neighbors on the
right and on the left will be very apt to do the same; they will very
likely build good bins and try to fill them.  But I need not talk much
about this.  Do you ask me if I have wheat laid up?  Yes, I have it all
the time.  I have been furnishing this tithing office in part with my own
flour for the building of the New Tabernacle, and I calculate to furnish
it still.  I have so many hundreds of people to feed, it cannot be
expected that I can save much; yet I have enough laid by to last my family
for years.

	I wish now to refer to what was said this afternoon regarding this
people's knowledge.  It is said by our enemies that the Latter-day Saints
are an ignorant people.  I ask all the nations of Christendom if they can
produce a people, considering all the circumstances, who are better
educated in all the great branches of learning than this people, as a
people.  Many of them have been brought from poverty, and have been placed
in comfortable circumstances in these mountains, where they have been
taught how to get their living from the elements, and to become partially
self-sustaining.  How much do you know among the nations?  Can you make an
axe helve?  "Yes," and so can we, and make an axe to fit it, and then we
know how to use it.  We can make a hoe-handle and a hoe to fit it, and
then we know how to hoe the ground with it.  Can we make a plough?  Yes,
and know how to use it as well as any people on the earth.  We can make
every agricltural [sic] implement, and can use it.  We can make a cambric
needle; and we can make the steam engine and vessel to carry it.  We can
direct the lightning, and make it our servant, after Franklin showed us
how; and the philosophers of the day are as dependent on his discoveries
as we are.  We have all the improvements that have been made in the arts
and sciences, and know how to use them to our advantage.  We can make
boots and shoes for the sturdy, plodding agriculturist in the field, and
for the delicate lady in the parlor, and we know how to make the leather
as well as others do.  We can read the Bible and understand it, and our
lexicographers can make dictionaries.  Wherein, then, are we more ignorant
than others?  We have good mechanics, good philosophers, good astronomers,
good mathematicians, good architects, good theologians, good historians,
good orators, good statesmen, good school teachers, and we can make a good
prayer and preach a good sermon.  I heard a very sensible prayer the other
day at camp Wasatch.  In the prayer were these words--that "the militia
might be enabled to keep their guns bright and their powder dry."  We know
how to make cloth, how to make it into garments, and wear it; we know how
to provide for ourselves, how to protect ourselves, and we ask nobody to
help us but God our heavenly Father.  Then, wherein are we so woefully
ignorant as some people make us out to be?  We know how to build houses,
and can make the furniture to furnish them; we know how to plant gardens,
set out orchards, and plant vineyards.  We know how to raise all kinds of
vegetables, fruit, and grain, and everything else that will flourish in
this latitude.  Wherein are we ignorant?

	We may not be able to get out a great burst of words, which mean
nothing, as many of the preachers and reverend divines abroad can.  They
speculate a great deal about walking the golden streets of the New
Jerusalem, and about going into the presence of God to sing psalms
forevermore, but when they are asked seriously where they are going when
they leave this earth, they are unable to tell you.  If you ask them what
they are going to do in the next existence, when the labors of this word
are ended, they are still in the dark.  You may ask them where God lives,
and they do not know--they say in heaven; but where is heaven?  They do
not know.  If you ask them what He looks like, still they do not know. 
Some have gone so far as to say that He dwells beyond the bounds of time
and space, and is seated on a topless throne, being Himself without body,
parts, and passions.  Numerous are the wild speculations of religionists
regarding God and His habitation.  We can instruct the world on these
matters; wherein are we ignorant?  We know and read history; we understand
the geography of the world, the manners, customs, and laws of nations. 
Our astronomers describe to us the geography of the heavens, measure the
distances between the earth and the sun, moon, and planets.  We have
learning to speculate on all these works of God and revelation unfolding
reliable knowledge on many of the wonders of the heavens.  Now, wherein
are we more ignorant than other people?  Is it because we believe the
Bible, which declares that man is made in the likeness and image of God,
that He has ears to hear our prayers, eyes to see His handiwork, a
stretched-out arm to defend His people, and to make bare to punish the
wicked nations of the earth?  Wherein are we ignorant? We understand the
laws of domestic and civil government; we know how to conduct ourselves
like men of sense, like gentlemen and christians; we understand natural
philosophy and medicine; and are satisfied of the emptiness of the vain
philosophy of the world.  If believing and knowing what we do constitute
ignorance, then let us be ignorant still, and continue in the way which
will lead us to the perfection of knowledge which the world call
ignorance.

	Now, let me say to you, it is our imperative duty to use a portion of
our substance to send for our poor brethren and sisters who are still back
in the old countries.  May the Lord bless you.  Amen.

   REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Old Tabernacle,
                Great Salt Lake City, November 17th, 1867.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
          THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT--HOW TO CONTINUE TO BE SONS
                       OF GOD--NECESSITY OF PRAYER.

	We have great reason to be thankful for the blessings we enjoy as
individuals and as a people.  There is no other people on the earth, that
we have any knowledge of, who are blessed to the same extent as this
people called the Latter-day Saints.  If we are blessed more than others,
we should be more thankful than others.  The blessings and bounties of the
Lord upon us are bestowed according to our faithfulness and obedience to
the requirements made of us.  We have seen times in our history as a
people, that if the hand of God had not been immediately over us, we must
have perished.  But to secure His blessings the Lord requires the strict
obedience of His people.  This is our duty.  We obey the Lord, Him who is
called Jehovah, the Great I AM, I am a man of war, Eloheim, etc.  We are
under many obligations to obey Him.  How shall we know that we obey Him? 
There is but one method by which we can know it, and that is by the
inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord witnessing unto our spirit that we
are His, that we love Him, and that He loves us.  It is by the spirit of
revelation we know this.  We have no witness to ourselves internally,
without the spirit of revelation.  We have no witness outwardly only by
obedience to the ordinances.

	About the time I was preparing myself to embrace the gospel, there
were great reformation meetings, and many professed to be converted. 
Those were very stirring times.  The cause of religion was the great topic
and theme of conversation, and preachers were full of zeal to bring souls
to Christ through repentance and faith in His name.  I recollect very
distinctly that if I permitted myself to speak in any of their meetings,
the spirit forbade me mentioning or referring to the testimony of Jesus,
only in a superficial way.  A few who believed in the everlasting gospel
which had been revealed through Joseph, the prophet, testified in their
meetings that they knew by the spirit of revelation that God had done thus
and so, and they were hooted at immediately by those reformers.  If I
spoke at all in their meetings, I had to guard every word I uttered, lest
I should offend those who professed to understand the gospel of life and
salvation, but who did not.  Gradually we broke through this fear, and
ventured to utter the sentiments of our hearts, in faith before God,
delivering that to the people which the Lord had revealed to us.  Such is
the condition of the professed religious portions of Christendom to-day. 
They refuse to receive the testimony of Jesus through revelation from His
spirit; but they believe in the mutterings, whisperings, and rappings of
low, foul, degraded spirits, who delight to lead astray rather than to
guide to the truth.  They "Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and
unto wizards that peep, and that mutter; should not a people seek unto
their God for the living to the dead?"  Unless we are willing to be guided
by the revelations of the spirit of the Almighty, by obeying and living up
to the principles of His gospel, we are as apt to believe one thing as
another, and to be influenced by, and follow the dictations of a bad
spirit as a good one.  We have the same testimony as the faithful
followers of the Lord Jesus had anciently.

	The scriptures made use of by Elder George A. Smith this morning,
show the way in which the former Saints became the sons of God.  "But as
many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name."  Who did receive Him and believe
on His name?  Did the Jews as a nation?  No.  Did the Gentiles as nations? 
No.  A few Jews and a few Gentiles only received Him and believed on His
name.  When the gospel was preached to the Jews and to the Gentiles, a few
had ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts that understood by the spirit of
revelation; they believed the sayings of the Savior, and received the Lord
Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah.  It is written, "The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things
soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.  For the Father loveth
the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth."  Again, it is
written, "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me."  The
disciples believed the words of the Savior, and proved to Him and to His
apostles that they were sincere and honest in their belief.  Thus they
were entitled to the spirit of revelation through their obedience.  They
asked and they did receive, "not the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.  The spirit itself
bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God."  While
the same Holy Spirit, or comforter, becomes the testimony of Jesus to all
true believers, "He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment;" for in the days of the Savior many who did not receive
the gospel were pricked in their hearts, and they did perish, although
convinced of its truth.  And so it is to-day; wherever the gospel is
preached by the Elders of this Church many are pricked in their hearts,
and they testify in their own conscience that it is from heaven, and yet
they will not receive the gospel, and perish in their sins.  They smother
the spirit of conviction within them, and go into greater darkness than
before.  "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." 
When a man or woman anciently renounced the Jewish religion, or any of the
sects of it that then existed among the Jews, forsaking every mode of
worship excepting that which Jesus introduced, it was regarded as a
sufficient testimony that they were honest--that they were born of
God--and all the sincere and honest believers received the testimony of
Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy, and received power to become His
sons.

	I think, however, that the rendering of this Scripture is not so true
as the following, namely:  "But as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to continue to be the sons of God."  Instead of receiving the gospel
to become the sons of God, my language would be--to receive the gospel
that we may continue to be the sons of God.  Are we not all sons of God
when we are born into this world?  Old Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was just as
much a son of God as Moses and Aaron were His sons, with this
difference--he rejected the word of the Lord, the true light, and they
received it.  For "this is the condemnation, that light is come into the
world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are
evil."  Then we receive not the gospel that we may become the sons of God,
but that we may remain the sons of God without rebuke.  Inasmuch as all
had apostatized, they had to become the sons of God by adoption, still,
originally, all were the sons of God.  We receive the gospel, not that we
may have our names written in the Lamb's book of life, but that our names
may not be blotted out of that book.  "For," saith the Lord, "He that
overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not
blot out his name out of the book of life."  Why?  Because he had overcome
through his faithfulness.  My doctrine is--that there never was a son and
daughter of Adam and Eve born on this earth whose names were not already
written in the Lamb's book of life, and there they will remain until their
conduct is such that the angel who keeps the record is authorized to blot
them out and record them elsewhere.  These are my views on that intricate
point, but we are satisfied to use this Scripture as it is rendered by our
translators.

	I now wish to make an application of this to our own day.  By what
means shall the people of this generation become the sons and daughters of
the Almighty?  By believing on the Lord Jesus Christ?  Yes.  How shall
they know that they believe in Him?  By yielding obedience to the gospel
as it is revealed to us in this generation, at the same time believing in
all that has been revealed to others until now, concerning the children of
men, the character of God, the creation of the earth, the ordinances of
the Lord's house, the oracles of truth--believing in all things that have
been revealed to mankind from the time that the Lord first began to reveal
His will to them.  Now, we say to the people of the nineteenth century,
and we speak the truth and lie not, whosoever believes that Joseph Smith,
jun., was a prophet sent of God, and was ordained by Him to receive and
hold the keys of the Holy Priesthood, which is after the order of the Son
of God, and power to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth, to gather
the house of Israel, to guide all who believe and obey to redemption, to
restore that which has been lost through transgression--whosoever believes
this, believing in the Lord, and obeying His commandments to the end of
their lives, their names shall not be blotted out of the Lamb's book of
life, and they shall receive crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal
life.  This is for the nineteenth century, for the generation of people
now living, and who lived thirty or thirty-seven years ago.  I am not now
preaching to a congregation of unbelievers, that all who reject the
gospel, who despise the principles of life and salvation that have been
delivered to us, they must taste of the second death if they do not
repent.  There may be some, however, who are so ignorant that repentance
is yet left for them.  This is the gospel that we preach, the testimony
which we send forth to the world, inculcating strict obedience to the
requirements of heaven, which is expected from all who embrace this
gospel.  For example, Joseph, the prophet, said to the Colesville branch,
"sell your farms."  So he said to other branches, "gather up and let us go
to the Ohio," and they went, and from the Ohio to Missouri.  Before we
went to the Ohio, Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer jun., Parley P. Pratt, and
Ziba Peterson started in the fall of 1830 to visit the land where the
centre take [sic] of Zion was afterwards located.  When Joseph went up he
located the city.  Those who had farms and stores were instructed to sell
out, to forsake all, to give to the poor, and to impart of their substance
to sustain this elder, clothe another elder, and to send another on his
mission, which they did, and up they got, and to the Ohio and to the
Missouri they moved.  What other people would have done this?  They are
not to be found in Christendom.  While in Missouri they moved from county
to county, and then back east into Illinois; for, thus said the Lord,
through the prophet Joseph, return to Illinois, and there the prophet was
killed.  Then the word of the Lord to us was:  gather up my people, and
flee to the mountains, and hide yourselves, and there wait until you shall
see the hand of the Lord made bare, and the wrath of the Almighty poured
out upon the wicked nation that has consented to the death of my prophets. 
Impart of your substance, was the word of the Lord to them, and who were
there in all those trains of Saints that did not impart of their
substance?  When we left Missouri we covenanted before the Lord that we
never would cease our endeavours until the last man, woman, and child
should be brought out of Missouri to Illinois who wanted to be moved.  A
few tarried in Missouri and apostatized.  When the persecuted and driven
Saints reached Illinois, the word of the Lord through the prophet Joseph
was--gather up to Commerce, which was afterwards named Nauvoo.  We did not
lose sight of one Saint in Missouri, and gave our means to gather out the
last and least Saint that would leave.  When the word came--"gather to the
mountains from Nauvoo"--we agreed before we left that city that we would
use our means and our influence to gather the last Saint to the mountains. 
I have sent, time and time again, to inquire if there was a Saint in
Nauvoo who wished to be gathered to these mountains.  If there are any,
let them come, for we have means and teams to bring them.  This proves
that we have kept our covenants.  Now the word of the Lord is go
forward--press on. The kingdom of God is onward and upward.  The proof of
this declaration is before me to-day. 

	Who believes Joseph Smith to be a prophet?  These my brethren and
sisters who are now sitting before me.  They entertain no doubts on this
subject.  They may sometimes be tempted and tried, and neglect their
prayers, until they hardly know whether "Mormonism" is true or untrue. 
The cares of the world, we know very well, flood in upon them; but let me
tell you one thing--and I want you to seriously remember it--if you are in
darkness, and have not the spirit of prayer, still do not neglect your
prayers in your families in the morning.  you, fathers and husbands, get
down on your knees, and when the cares of this world intrude themselves
upon your devotions, let them wait while you remain on your knees and
finish your prayers.  Brother Daniel D. Hunt's blessing over a dinner in
Missouri, when he and Benjamin Clapp first met, is a very good prayer for
us all.  It was:  "O, Lord, save us from error."  If you can say no more
than this very short but comprehensive prayer, go down upon your knees and
say it.  When you have labored faithfully for years, you will learn this
simple fact--that if your hearts are aright, and you still continue to be
obedient, continue to serve God, continue to pray, the spirit of
revelation will be in you like a well of water springing up to everlasting
life.  Let no person give up prayer because he has not the spirit of
prayer, neither let any earthly circumstance hurry you while in the
performance of this important duty.  By bowing down before the Lord to ask
Him to bless you, you will simply find this result--God will multiply
blessings on you temporally and spiritually.  Let a merchant, a farmer, a
mechanic, any person in business, live his religion faithfully, and he
need never lose one minute's sleep by thinking about his business; he need
not worry in the least, but trust in God, go to sleep and rest.  I say to
this people--pray, and if you cannot do anything else, read a prayer aloud
that your family may hear it, until you get a worshipping spirit, and are
full of the riches of eternity, then you will be prepared at any time to
lay hands on the sick, or to officiate in any of the ordinances of this
religion.  I do not recollect that I have seen five minutes since I was
baptized that I have not been ready to preach a funeral sermon, lay hands
on the sick, or to pray in private or in public.  I will tell you the
secret of this.  In all your business transactions, words, and
communications, if you commit an overt act, repent of that immediately,
and call upon God to deliver you from evil and give you the light of His
spirit.  Never do a thing that your conscience, and the light within you,
tell you is wrong.  Never do a wrong, but do all the good you possibly
can.  Never do a thing to mar the peaceable influence of the Holy Spirit
in you; then whatever you are engaged in--whether in business, in the
dance, or in the pulpit--you are ready to officiate at any time in any of
the ordinances of the House of God.  If I commit an overt act, the Lord
knows the integrity of my heart, and through sincere repentance, He
forgives me.  Before Joseph's death he had a revelation concerning myself
and others, which signified that we had passed the ordeal, and that we
should never apostatize from the faith of the holy gospel; "and," said
Joseph, "if there is any danger of your doing this, the the [sic] Lord
will take you to Himself forthwith, for you cannot stray from the truth." 
When men and women have travelled to a certain point in their labors in
this life, God sets a seal upon them that they never can forsake their God
or His kingdom; for, rather than they should do this, He will at once take
them to Himself.  Probably this is so with many of the elders who are
taken from us, and over whom many ignorantly mourn.  I say, to God give
thanks, for who knows but that had they lived there might have been trials
to pass through which they could not overcome.  It is all right, blessed
be the name of the Lord.

	May the Lord bless you.  Amen.

   REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Old Tabernacle,
                Great Salt Lake City, December 8th, 1867.
                      [Reported by Edward L. Sloan.]
        SALVATION--ALL KNOWLEDGE THE RESULT OF REVELATION--FREEDOM
             OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD--HOW TO CARE FOR THE POOR.

	The subject of salvation is one which should occupy the attention of
the reflecting among mankind.  Salvation is the full existence of man, of
the angels, and the Gods; it is eternal life--the life which was, which
is, and which is to come.  And we, as human beings, are heirs to all this
life, if we apply ourselves strictly to obey the requirements of the law
of God, and continue in faithfulness.  The first object of our existence
is to know and understand the principles of life, to know good from evil,
to understand light from darkness, to have the ability to choose between
that which gives and perpetuates life and that which would take it away. 
The volition of the creature to choose is free; we have this power given
to us.

	We have reason to be thankful more than any other people.  We have no
knowledge of any other people on the face of the earth who possess the
oracles of God, the priesthood, and the keys of eternal life.  We are in
possession of those keys, and, consequently, we are under greater
obligations, as individuals and as a community, to work righteousness.  I
hope and trust we will continually manifest before the Lord that we
appreciate these blessings.  There is no question but every person here
who seriously reflects upon his own existence, his being here, and the
hereafter which awaits him, must many times feel that he comes short of
doing all the good for which our Father in heaven has brought us forth. 
This I conclude from my own experience.  Every mind that thinks deeply
upon the things of time and eternity, sees that time, which we measure by
our lives, is like the stream from the mountains which gushes forth, yet
we cannot tell from whence it comes, nor do we know naturally where it
goeth, only it passes again into the clouds; so our lives are here, and
this we are certain of.  We do know that we live and that we have the
power of sight.  We do know and can realize that we possess the faculty of
hearing.  We can discern between that which we like and that which we
dislike.  Give a child candy and it is fond of it, it wishes more; but
give it calomel and jalap, and it turns from it with loathing.  It has the
power of discerning between that in which it delights and that in which it
does not delight.  It can taste, smell, see, and hear.  We know we are in
possession of these faculties.  This life that you and I possess is for
eternity.  Contemplate the idea of beings endowed with all the powers and
faculties which we possess, becoming annihilated, passing out of
existence, ceasing to be, and then try to reconcile it with our feelings
and with our present lives.  No intelligent person can do it.  Yet it is
only by the spirit of revelation that we can understand these things.  By
the revelations of the Lord Jesus we understand things as they were, that
have been made known unto us; things that are in the life which we now
enjoy, and things as they will be, not to the fullest extent, but all that
the Lord designs that we should understand, to make it profitable to us,
in order to give us the experience necessary in this life to prepare us to
enjoy eternal life hereafter.

	These principles are before us.  We are now acting upon them.  We
feel to exhort ourselves and our fellow-beings, not only those who have
embraced the gospel, but all mankind, to hearken to the still, small voice
that whispers to the conscience and understanding of all living beings
according to the knowledge and wisdom which they possess, instructing them
in right and wrong, entreating them, wooing them, beseeching them to
refrain from evil.  There is not a person so sunk in ignorance but has
that principle in him teaching him that this is right and that is wrong,
guiding him in the way that he will not sin a sin unto death.  Can we
realize this?  Yes.  There are many who possess the spirit of revelation
to that degree that they can understand its operations upon the creature,
no matter whether they have heard the gospel preached or not, nor whether
they are Christians, Jews, or Mahommedans.  They are taught of the Lord,
and the candle of the Lord is within them, giving them light.

	This principle we are in possession of, and it should be nourished
and cherished by us; it is the principle of revelation, or, if you like
the term better, of foreseeing.  There are those who possess
fore-knowledge, who do not believe as we believe with regard to the
establishment of the Kingdom of God on the earth.  Take the statesman, for
instance; he has a certain degree of knowledge with regard to the results
of the measures which he may recommend, but does he know whence he derives
that knowledge?  No.  He may say:  "I foresee if we take this course we
shall perpetuate our government and strengthen it, but if we take the
opposite course we will destroy it."  But can he tell whence he has
received that wisdom and foreknowledge?  He cannot.  Yet that is the
condition of the statesmen in the nations of the earth.  If the
philosopher can gaze into the immensity of space, and understand how to
fashion and make glasses that will magnify a million times, that knowledge
comes from the fountain of knowledge.  A man of the world may say:  "I can
foresee, I can understand, I can frame an engine, make a track, and run
that engine upon it, bearing along a train of loaded cars at the rate of
forty, fifty, or sixty miles an hour."  Another may say:  "I can take the
lightning, convey it on wires, and speak to foreign nations."  But where
do they get this wisdom?  From the same source where you and I get our
wisdom and our knowledge of God and godliness.  Realizing these things, I
look upon my brethren and sisters, and ask what manner of persons ought we
to be?  We are apt to think wrong and to speak wrong.  Our passions will
rise within us, and without reflection the organs of speech are put in
motion and we utter that which we should not speak.  We have feelings
which we should not have, and we neglect the great and glorious principles
of eternal life.  We are grovelling, of the earth earthy.  We look after
the the [sic] things of this life, are attached to them, and it is hard
for us to see and understand the final result of things, even though we
have the spirit of revelation.

	What will be the final result of the restoration of the gospel, and
the destiny of the Latter-day Saints?  If they are faithful to the
priesthood which God has bestowed upon us, the gospel will revolutionize
the whole world of mankind; the earth will be sanctified, and God will
glorify it, and the Saints will dwell upon it in the presence of the
Father and the Son. We need to exert our powers, and call forth all the
ability within us, and put into requisition every talent that God has
given us, to bring about his glorious result, to bear off this Kingdom,
and see that the gospel is preached to all the inhabitants of the earth. 
This is our duty and calling.  It is obligatory upon us to see that the
House of Israel have the gospel preached to them; to do all that is in our
power to gather them to the land of their fathers, and to gather up the
fulness of the Gentiles before the gospel can go with success to the Jews. 
We are under obligations to establish the Zion of our God upon the earth,
and establish and maintain its laws, so that the law of the priesthood of
the Son of God may govern and control the people.

	Go into the world, among the inhabitants of the nations of
Christendom, whether Infidels, Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists,
Presbyterians, or people of any other religious sect, and tell them
plainly that the law of God is going to be the law of the land, and they
would be terrified, they would fear and tremble.  But tell them that the
law of liberty, and equal right to every person, would prevail and they
could understand that, for it is according to the Constitution of our
country.  To do the greatest good to the greatest number of the people is
the principle inculcated in it.  But tell them that the law of Zion will
be the law of the land, and it grates upon their ears, they do not like to
hear it.  Many have read with regard to the effects of Catholicism, when
it exercised great power among the nations, and the thought of any church
getting such a power strikes a terror to them.  That church professed to
be the church of God upon the earth, and some dread similar results to
those which attended that.  Supposing the early Christians had not
departed from the truth, but had retained the keys of the kingdom, there
never would have been a man put to the test with regard to this religious
faith.  If an Infidel had abused a Christian, it would have been stopped,
and the wrong-doer would have been compelled to cease his violence, but no
religious test would have been applied.  The law of right would have
prevailed.  Some suppose that when the Kingdom of God governs on the
earth, everybody who does not belong to the Church of Jesus Christ will be
persecuted and killed.  This is as false an idea as can exist.  The Church
and Kingdom of God upon the earth will take the lead in everything that is
praiseworthy, in everything that is good, in everything that is
delightful, in everything that will promote knowledge and extend an
understanding of truth.  The Holy Priesthood and the laws thereof will be
known to the inhabitants of the earth, and the friends of truth, and those
who delight in it, will delight in those laws and cheerfully submit to
them, for they will secure the rights of all men.  Many conclude, from
reading the history of various nations, that Catholicism never granted any
rights to any person, unless he would believe it as he was required to
believe.  But it is not so in the Kingdom of God; it is not so with the
law nor with the Priesthood of the Son of God.  You can believe in one
God, or in three gods, or in a thousand gods; you can worship the sun or
the moon, or a stick or a stone, or anything you please.  Are not all
mankind the workmanship of the hands of God?  And does he not control the
workmanship of His hands?  They have the privilege of worshipping as they
please.  They can do as they please, so long as they do not infringe upon
the rights of their fellow-beings.  If they do well they will receive
their reward, and if they do ill they will receive the results of their
works.  You and I have the privilege of serving God, of building up Zion,
sending the gospel to the nations of the earth and preaching it at home,
subduing every passion within us, and bringing all subject to the law of
God.  We have also the privilege of worshipping Him according to the
dictates of our own consciences, with none to molest or make us afraid.

	I am now going to preach you a short sermon concerning our temporal
duties.  My sermon is to the poor, and to those who are not poor.  As a
people, we are not poor; and we wish to say to the Bishops, not only this
city, but through the country, "Bishops, take care of your poor."  The
poor in this city do not number a great many.  I think there are a few
over seventy who draw sustenance from the General Tithing Office.  They
come to the Tithing Office, or somebody comes for them, to draw
sustenance.  If some of our clever arithmeticians will sit down and make a
calculation of the hours lost in coming from the various parts of the city
to the Tithing Office, and in waiting around there, and then value those
hours, if occupied in some useful employment, at twelve and a half cents
each, every eight of them making a dollar, it will be found that the
number of dollars thus lost by those seventy odd persons in a week would
go far towards sustaining them.  We have among us some brethren and
sisters who are not strong, nor healthy, and they must be supported.  We
wish to adopt the most economical plan of taking care of them, and we say
to you Bishops, take care of them.  You may ask the question, "shall we
take the tithing that should go to the Tithing Office to support them, or
shall we ask the brethren to donate for that purpose?"  If you will take
the time consumed in obtaining the rations drawn by them out of the
General Tithing Office--for every person who is not able to come must send
some one for them--and have that time profitably employed, there will be
but little more to seek for their sustenance.  Get a house in your Ward,
and if you have two sisters, or two brethren, put them in it, make them
comfortable, find them food and clothing, and fuel, and direct the time
now spent coming to this Tithing Office wisely in profitable labor. 
Furnish the sisters with needles and thread to work at sewing, and find
something for them to do.  Take those little girls who have been coming to
the Tithing Office, and have them taught to knit edging, and tidies, and
other kinds of knitting, and make lace, and sell the products of their
labor.  Those little girls have nimble fingers, and it will only take a
little capital to start them at such kinds of work.  Where you have
brethren who are not strong enough to saw and split wood, or do some kind
of out-door labor, agree with some chairmakers to have his chairs
bottomed, and get rushes, and set the brethren to bottoming the chairs. 
If you cannot get that for them to do, procure some flags or rushes, and
let them make foot-mats, and sell them, but do not ask too high a price
for them; do not ask a dollar or two dollars each for them, for one can be
made in an hour or two.  And if the market should get stocked with them,
get some willows and have willow baskets made, and you can scarcely stock
the market with them, for they wear out almost as fast as they can be
made.  In the spring have these brethren sow some broom-corn,--they will
enjoy working a little out of doors in the nice spring weather,--and then
in fall they can make brooms with the corn.  By pursuing this course a
Bishop will soon be able to say, "I have accomplished a good work; the
brethren and sisters whom I had to help themselves."  And in a short time,
if their labor and time are wisely employed, you can build for them the
finest house in the ward.  You may call it a poor-house if you choose,
though it should be the best house in the ward, and there its inmates can
enjoy themselves, the younger ones can be taught music, and thus a source
of enjoyment be created, as well as being taught in various kinds of
profitable employment, and the lives of all be made a blessing to
themselves, they being in the enjoyment of happiness and comfort.  You may
think that I am painting a fancy sketch, but it is practicable, and those
are places I intend to visit by and by.

	Now, Bishops, you have smart women for wives, many of you; let them
organize Female Relief Societies in the various wards.  We have many
talented women among us, and we wish their help in this matter.  Some may
think this is a trifling thing, but it is not; and you will find that the
sisters will be the mainspring of the movement.  Give them the benefit of
your wisdom and experience, give them your influence, guide and direct
them wisely and well, and they will find rooms for the poor, and obtain
the means for supporting them ten times quicker than even the Bishop
could.  If he should go or send to a man for a donation, and if the person
thus visited should happen to be cross or out of temper for some cause,
the likelihood is that while in that state of feeling he would refuse to
give anything, and so a variety of causes would operate to render the
mission an unsuccessful one.  But let a sister appeal for the relief of
suffering and poverty, and she is almost sure to be successful, especially
if she appeals to those of her own sex.  If you take this course you will
relieve the wants of the poor a great deal better than they are now dealt
by.  We recommend these Female Relief Societies to be organized
immediately.

	Another thing I wish to say.  You know that the first Thursday in
each month we hold as a fast day.  How many here know the origin of this
day?  Before tithing was paid, the poor were supported by donations.  They
came to Joseph and wanted help, in Kirtland, and he said there should be a
fast day, which was decided upon.  It was to be held once a month, as it
is now, and all that would have been eaten that day, of flour, or meat, or
butter, or fruit, or anything else, was to be carried to the fast meeting
and put into the hands of a person selected for the purpose of taking care
of it and distributing it among the poor.  If we were to do this now
faithfully, do you think the poor would lack for flour, or butter, or
cheese, or meat, or sugar, or anything they needed to eat?  No, there
would be more than could be used by all the poor among us.  It is economy
in us to take this course, and do better by our poor brethren and sisters
than they have hitherto been done by.  Let this be published in our
newspapers.  Let it be sent forth to the people, that on the first
Thursday of each month, the fast day, all that would be eaten by husbands
and wives and children and servants should be put in the hands of the
Bishop for the sustenance of the poor.  I am willing to do my share as
well as the rest, and if there are no poor in my ward, I am willing to
divide with those wards where there are poor.  If the sisters who need to
be taken care of, and see them provided for, you will find that we will
possess more comfort and more peace in our hearts, and our spirits will be
buoyant and light, full of joy and peace.  The Bishops should, through
their teachers, see that every family in their wards, who is able, should
donate what they would naturally consume on the fast day to the poor.

	You have read, probably, that we are starting the school of the
prophets.  We have been in this school all the time.  The revelations of
the Lord Jesus Christ to the human family is all the learning we can ever
possess.  Much of this knowledge is obtained from books, which have been
written by men who have contemplated deeply on various subjects, and the
revelations of Jesus have opened their minds, whether they knew it or
acknowledged it or not.  We will start this school of the prophets to
increase in knowledge.  Brother Calder commences to-morrow to teach our
youth and those of middle age the art of book-keeping and impart to them a
good mercantile education.  We expect soon to have our sisters join in the
class and mingle with the brethren in their studies, for why should not a
lady be capable of taking charge of her husband's business affairs when he
goes into the grave?  We have sisters now engaged in several of our
telegraph offices, and we wish them to learn not only to act as as [sic]
operators but to keep the books of our offices, and let sturdy men go to
work at some employment for which by their strength they are adapted, and
we hope eventually to see every store in Zion attended by ladies.  We wish
to have our young boys and girls taught in the different branches of an
English education, and in other languages, and in the various sciences,
all of which we intend eventually to have taught in this school. 
To-morrow evening we shall commence our course of lectures on theology. 
To that class I have invited a few, but not many.  I believe I have
invited the First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles, Bishop Hunter and his
Counsellors, the first seven presidents of Seventies, the Presidency of
the High Priests' quorum, the Presidency of this Stake of Zion, the High
Council, the Bishops and their Counsellors, and the City Council.  A few
more will be invited, enough to fill the room.  I wish us to profit by
what we hear, to learn how to live, to make ourselves comfortable, to
purify ourselves, and prepare ourselves to inherit this earth when it is
glorified, and go back in the presence of the Father and the Son.

	God bless you.  Amen.

   REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Old Tabernacle,
                Great Salt Lake City, December 29th, 1867.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
      SAINTS IMPROVING SLOWLY--GUIDANCE OF THE SPIRIT AND DICTATION
           OF THE PRIESTHOOD--FASTING, AND GATHERING THE POOR.

	It is said that short visits make long friends, and short sermons
perhaps make interesting meetings.  I am sure this is the case sometimes. 
I am thankful for the privilege of being instructed, and of meeting with a
people who manifest by their lives a desire for improvement.  I am
thankful that we have the privilege of meeting in this tabernacle from
Sabbath to Sabbath.  Last Sabbath I referred to the meagre congregations
that generally attend in the morning, and to-day I really expected to see
every seat in this house occupied.  I cannot think that the people are
sleigh riding, for there is no snow; neither can I conclude that they are
in the kanyon, for the roads cannot be travelled.  I do not think that
they are fishing at this season of the year; neither can they all be in
attendance at Sabbath schools.  Then what are they doing?  Are they
praying, resting, sleeping, or wasting their time in frivolous and
unprofitable employment?  We are happy to see large congregations of the
Saints in the afternoons.  This is the only public meeting house in which
meetings are held in the morning and afternoon on the Sabbath day in this
city.  The people of Great Salt Lake City make to one point to attend
meeting in the morning and afternoon, unlike the people of the large
cities of the world.  I have seen them go to meeting in some of those
cities, and I cannot compare them to anything that will describe them as
they appeared to me better than the inhabitants of an ant hill.  They run
in all directions, the Methodists jostle against the Baptists, and the
Baptists against the Presbyterians, and the Presbyterians against the
Quakers, &c.

	Let the people come to meeting, and hear what is said, and if any of
you are not instructed to your satisfaction, be so kind as to send up a
card to the stand, intimating your desire to speak, and we will give you
an opportunity of doing so, to display your wisdom; for we wish to learn
wisdom and get understanding.

	We are in a great school, and we should be diligent to learn, and
continue to store up the knowledge of heaven and of earth, and read good
books, although I cannot say that I would recommend the reading of all
books, for it is not all books which are good.  Read good books, and
extract from them wisdom and understanding as much as you possibly can,
aided by the Spirit of God, for without His Spirit we are left in the
dark.  I have very frequently urged upon the people to live so that they
can enjoy the spirit of revelation, even that intelligence which proceeds
directly from heaven--from the fountain of all intelligence.  Do this
people live so?  Yes, measurably.  We improve slowly, and as brother
George A. Smith has said, we do not improve fast enough.  I acknowledge
that this people are improving, and I am proud of it.  When I address the
throne of grace in prayer, I am happy to be able to thank God that the
Latter-day Saints are striving to order their lives correctly before Him. 
I am pleased, I am happy, I am full of comfort, of joy, of peace, because
of the progress this people are making; and yet I see how easy it is for a
person to slide backward, and get into darkness and a blindness of mind. 
We are prone to wander, and do that which our inclinations bid us do; like
the boys with their sleds, we go up hill very slowly, but rush quickly
down again.  We are too apt to be slow to learn righteousness, and quick
to run in the ways of sin.  The adversary of our souls is the path of
truth and duty to God, until we become reckless in our disobedience to His
commandments and to the counsels of His servants.  There is one path--one
line to follow to obtain and continue in the love and light of the Lord,
which is, as it were, a compass to direct the Saints to the haven of
safety, and it will not vary, for its directions are sure.

	We have many duties to perform, and a great work is before us.  We
have Zion to build up, and upon this we are all agreed, but we differ more
or less respecting the modus operandi for we wish, in the majority of
instances to follow the dictates of our own inclinations.  We do this too
much for our good.  If the people will live so as to be directed
continually by the light of the Spirit of the Lord, they never will go
much astray.  In many instances our anxieties, our desires, and our wills
are so great that we actually plead with the Lord to allow us to bend duty
a little particle for the purpose of accomplishing what we wish.  We are
pleased to do this, and to do evil also, hence "man is born to trouble as
the sparks fly upward."  We are very prone to wander.  Let the people
watch themselves lest they take a course that will lead them into
darkness, and they know not the things of God, and be left to believe a
lie instead of the truth.  What is that which turns people away from this
Church?  Very trifling affairs are generally the commencement of their
divergence from the right path.  If we follow a compass, the needle of
which does not point correctly, a very slight deviation in the beginning
will lead us, when we have travelled some distance, far to one side of the
true point for which we are aiming.  When men take upon themselves
strength, depending upon their own wisdom, light, and knowledge,
saying--"I am right, and I care not what anybody else says;" and, "I will
do thus and so on my own responsibility," asking no odds of God and His
servants.  "If I wish to go to the north, south, east, or west, or follow
this or that employment, or pursue this or that course to obtain the
necessaries of life, it is my affair, and I cannot see that any other man
has anything whatever to do with it."  I say, if we thus arrogate to
ourselves strength, wisdom, and power, and think that we can judge for
ourselves in all things independent of God and His servants, then are we
liable to be led astray.  Every man and woman who walks in the light of
the Lord can see and understand these things for themselves; but through
our anxiety, and over desire to have our own way, we often swerve and turn
to the right or to the left of the true line of our duty.  How often have
we sealed blessings of health and life upon our children and companions in
the name of Jesus Christ and by the authority of the Holy Priesthood of
the Son of God, and yet our faith and prayers did not succeed in
accomplishing the desires of our hearts.  Why is this?  In many instances
our anxiety is so great that we do not pause to know the spirit of
revelation and its operations upon the human mind.  We have anxiety
instead of faith.  When a man prophesies by the power of the Holy Ghost,
his words will be fulfilled as sure as the Lord lives; but if he has
anxiety in his heart, it swerves him from the thread of the Holy Gospel,
from the true thread of revelation, so that he is liable to err, and he
prophesies, but it does not come to pass, he lays his hands upon the sick,
but they are not healed.  It is in consequence of not being completely
moulded to the will of God.  Do we not realize that this is so?  And do we
not realize that we should constantly strive to live in the counsel and
light of God day by day, and hour by hour?  If we do this we shall
certainly make sure to ourselves a celestial inheritance.

	We have gathered the best people from among the nations of the earth,
and yet we are not so good as we should be.  Why are we not as good as we
should be?  Because we have eternal light and knowledge here, and no
person is deprived of the privilege of asking and receiving of God for
himself, but we do not all avail ourselves of this great privilege.  We
are not like others who are called by men to go on missions to the world,
we are called of God, and carry with us true credentials, not the
credentials of Paul, Peter, or any of the old Apostles and servants of
God, who used them a thousand years ago, but we have the living oracles
and the Holy Priesthood restored in our day, giving authority to men in
the nineteenth century as in days of old.  Having this authority, and
these great advantages, we should be better than anybody else.  We have
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have received in our faith the
fullness of the gospel, we have yielded obedience to God's commandments,
obeyed the ordinances of His house, receiving them in our faith and
practice, and these we have received through apostles and prophets, called
of God, in our own age, as was Aaron.  These blessings and callings the
Almighty has revealed in this as in all ages of the benefit of finite
beings, that through obedience to the gospel, eternal life in the presence
of God might be brought upon all who endure to the end in righteousness. 
By obeying the ordinances of God, mankind glorify God, but if they do not
obey Him, they do not detract one particle from His glory and power. 
Although all His children should wander from the holy commandments, God
will be glorified, for they are left to choose for themselves, to choose
death instead of life, darkness instead of light, pain instead of ease,
delight, and comfort.  This liberty all beings enjoy who are created after
the likeness and image of God, and thus they become accountable for their
own actions.  The commandments of God are given to us expressly for our
benefit, and if we live in obedience to them we shall live in obedience to
them we shall live so as to understand the mind and will of God for
ourselves, and concerning ourselves as individuals.  This is a subject
upon which a great deal can be said, but I shall not follow it at this
time.

	I exhort my brethren continually to live so that they may have the
light of the Holy Spirit in them, to know their duty, and when they know
their duty fully it will be to follow truly those whom God has placed over
them to lead them as a community, as a people, as a kingdom of God; it
will be to obey the counsel that is given them from time to time.  What
does the man who understands the spirit of his religion believe with
regard to his own affairs, with regard to his life, with regard to his
business transactions, &c.?  He believes that it is his privilege to be
dictated by the constituted authorities of the church of God and the
spirit of revelation in all things in his mortal life.  There is no part
of his life that he will consider exempt from the guidance and dictation
of the Priesthood of the Son of God.

	We wish the Latter-day Saints to meet at their respective houses,
erected for that purpose, on the day appointed for a fast, and take with
them of their substance to feed the poor and the hungry among us, and, if
it is necessary, to cloth the naked.  We expect to see the sisters there;
for they are generally first and foremost in deeds of charity and
kindness.  Let the hearts of the poor be made glad, and let their prayers
and thanksgiving ascend unto God, and receive an answer of rich blessings
upon our heads.  I think I told you last Sabbath that I would mention this
subject again to-day.

	If you would be healthy, wealthy, full of wisdom, light and knowledge
do all you can for the kingdom of God.  I expect that there are brethren
who are well to do, who can command their thousands, who consider that
their business crowds them this year, and they do not see how they can
give anything for the gathering of the poor Saints.  I have a word of
consolation for such.  You, merchants, mechanics and farmers; yea, every
one; let me console you, and say to you, keep your money, and pay your
debts, and buy your teams, and your farms, and your goods.  You think I am
speaking to you ironically.  Well, I acknowledge to you that I am.  You
keep all, and do not apply one dollar for any purpose outside of your
business, and I will promise you, in the name of the Lord, that you will
be poorer than you would have been if you had given of your substance to
the poor.  Do you consider these hard words?  They are true words. The
earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the gold and the silver are
all his; and he throws up the precious metals to view whenever he pleases,
and when he pleases he sends his messengers to hide them in the bowels of
the earth, beyond the reach of man.  He also closes the eyes of the wicked
gold hungers that they cannot see them; but they walk over them, and leave
them for the righteous to gather in the due time of the Lord.  Now, you
who think that you must keep your means and that you cannot spare a
portion to gather the poor another year, remember that you will not get
rich by so doing.  You may ask what I am going to do?  I am going to get
rich, for I calculate to give considerably more to gather the poor than
any other man; because I want to be richer than any other man.  I want
more, because I believe I know what to do with it better than most of men.

	These are a few words of consolation to the brethren who wish to keep
their riches, and with them I promise you leanness of soul, darkness of
mind, narrow and contracted hearts, and the bowels of your compassion will
be shut up, and by and by you will be overcome with the spirit of apostacy
and forsake your God and your brethren.

	I see around me a great people.  Joseph Smith was called of God, and
sent to lay the foundation of this latter-day kingdom.  He presided over
this people fourteen years.  Then he was martyred.  Since that time your
humble servant has presided over and counselled this people; he has
directed the Twelve Apostles, the Seventies, the High Priests, and every
quorum and department of the Melchesidec and Aaronic Priesthoods, guiding
them through the wilderness where there was no way into a dry, barren
land.  For the space of twenty-four years he has watched over their
interests, holding at bay their enemies, teaching them how to live, and
redeem this country from the barrenness and desolation that have, for many
generations, made it unfit for the habitation of man.  What man or woman
on the earth, what spirit in the spirit-world can say truthfully that I
ever gave a wrong word of counsel, or a word of advice that could not be
sanctioned by the heavens?  The success which has attended me in my
presidency is owing to the blessings and mercy of the Almighty.  Why I
have referred to this is to show you that I realize the importance of
obeying the words of the Lord, which he gives through his acknowledged
servants.  When a revelation is given to any people, they must walk
according to it, or suffer the penalty which is the punishment of
disobedience; but when the word is, "will you do thus and so?"  "It is the
mind and will of God that you perform such and such a duty;" the
consequences of disobedience are not so dreadful, as they would be if the
word of the Lord were to be written under the declaration, "Thus saith the
Lord."

	Now, I say to the people, will you gather the poor?  To the Elders I
say, will you carry the Gospel to all the world?  Blessed are they who
obey when the Lord gives a direct commandment, but more blessed are they
who obey without a direct commandment.  For it is written:  "It is not
meet that I should command in all things, for he that is compelled in all
things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he
receiveth no reward.  Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a
good cause, and do many things of their own free will,a nd bring to pass
much righteousness, for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto
themselves.  And inasmuch as men do good they shall in no wise lose their
reward.  But he that doeth not any thing until he is commanded, and
receiveth a commandment with a doubtful heart, and keepeth it with
slothfulness, the same is damned."  I say this that you may understand
that I feel just as patient, and just as kind towards the Latter-day
Saints as a man's heart can feel, and am careful to take every precaution
in directing their steps to the possession of eternal life in the presence
of God that none may be lost.  My course is not to scold, but to persuade
and entreat the people to do their duty, holding before them the reward of
faithfulness.  It requires all the care and faithfulness which we can
exercise in order to keep the faith of the Lord Jesus; for there are
invisible agencies around us in sufficient numbers to encourage the
slightest disposition they may discover in us to forsake the true way, and
fan into a flame the slightest spark of discontent and unbelief.  The
spirits of the ancient Gadiantons are around us.  You may see battle-field
after battle-field, scattered over this American continent, where the
wicked have slain the wicked.  Their spirits are watching us continually
for an opportunity to influence us to do evil, or to make us decline in
the performance of our duties.  And I will defy any man on earth to be
more gentlemanly and bland in his manners than the master spirit of all
evil.  We call him the devil; a gentleman so smooth and so oily, that he
can almost deceive the very elect.  We have been baptized by men having
the authority of the holy Priesthood of the Son of God, and consequently
we have power over him which the rest of the world do not possess, and all
who possess the power of the Priesthood have the power and right to rebuke
those evil powers, and they obey not, it is because we do not live so as
to have the power with God, which it is our privilege to have.  If we do
not live for this privilege and right we are under condemnation.

	I know that the Bishops in this Church are improving, and are better
men,  and they should lead and dictate their Wards still better than they
do.

	It may be asked, should not brother Brigham lead the people better? 
No doubt he should.  Will you hearken to one little saying?  I can say,
follow me as I follow Christ, and every one of us is sure to go into the
celestial kingdom of our God, God being our helper.  Can all the Bishops
say this?  I think not in every case.  But are they improving?  They are
and that is not all, they will continue to improve, and they will become
wise leaders of the people.  They should be fathers to their Wards.  They
are looked upon as such by the people; and their example has its effect
for better or for worse, and they should be foremost in every good word
and work, to be successful in leading the people into the celestial
kingdom of God.

	Here is a great people, and we have called upon them to contribute of
their substance to gather the poor saints from abroad another year.  It is
now nearly three months since we commenced to call upon them for means to
apply in this way.  Men as for this purpose does not come in so readily as
we think it should.  Now, I will mention a single circumstance in this
city to show you that there is money in the country.  One mercantile house
in this city traded in one month forty-one thousand dollars.  If one house
can sell this amount of goods in a month, surely we can gather
considerable for so laudable a purpose as the gathering of our poor
brethren and sisters to a place where they can be fed and clothed, and
taught further in the things of God.  Yet, for all this, we are improving
as a people; but do we serve God with a perfect heart and a ready and
willing mind?  We do not.  If the Latter-day Saints will put into my hands
one-twentieth part of the means that go into the hands of their enemies, I
think we can gather up every poor saint there is in the old country.  Will
they do this?  I do not expect they will.  My brethren are willing to go
and preach the gospel in all the world.  I would like to see them just as
willing to assist in gather in them home.  The kingdom of God is the
safest institution on earth in which to invest means.  We are citizens of
His kingdom and members of His church, and we realize that we have to
suffer all things for the gospel, but it will make us richer than we can
possibly be in any other work.  May God bless you.  Amen.

   REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Old Tabernacle,
                   Salt Lake City, January 12th, 1868.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
           LIBERTY OF THE SAINTS--WHY THEY ARE GATHERED--OBJECT
                         OF THE "WORD OF WISDOM."

	I feel happy for the privilege of again speaking to the Latter-day
Saints in this city; and I am also happy for the privilege of being a
member of this Church.  In this I am exceedingly blessed, and I can say of
a truth, that my soul drinketh of that "river, the streams whereof shall
make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most
High."  I am full of peace by day and by night--in the morning, at noon,
and in the evening, and from the evening until the morning.  I am
extremely happy for the privilege of living with those who are seeking to
do the will of God.  We are gathered together in the tops of these
mountains for the express purpose of building up Zion, the Zion of the
last days, the glory of which was seen by the prophets of the Almighty
from the days of old.  "And they shall call thee," says Isaiah, "the city
of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel."  "The Lord shall be unto
thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory."  We are removed far
away from those who bore rule over us and oppressed us, and who deprived
the Saints of their constitutional rights.  The Lord has led His people to
a land where they can enjoy as much liberty as they are disposed to live
for.  There is no oppression here; there is no people on earth who have as
few encumbrances upon their spiritual and temporal rights as the
Latter-day Saints in these mountains.  We have all liberty, yet we are not
at liberty to do wrong in this community, and have it sanctioned, although
many do wrong, which wrongs are in many cases overlooked and forgiven.

	The law of liberty is the law of right in every particular--that is,
if we understand it to mean the privilege of doing anything and everything
to promote the peace, happiness, and well-being of mankind, whether in a
national, State, Territorial, county, city, neighborhood, or family
capacity, with a view to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man,
and to have a place in the presence of their Father and God.  Shall we say
that we enjoy this law of liberty to the fullest extent?  We do, in fact,
and no power can deprive us of it.  We have a good and wholesome
government, when it is administered in righteousness and equity, and its
laws scrupulously obeyed; and it guarentees [sic] to all their political,
religious, and social rights.  We have the privilege of worshipping God
according to the dictates of our own consciences, and according to the
revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is true our consciences are
formed more or less by circumstances and by the effects of early
teachings, until we enter upon the stage of action for ourselves. 
Parental influences upon the growing organization of the unborn infant
have much to to [sic] in giving character to conscience.  But we always
have the privilege of answering a good conscience.  We have the privilege
of praying as many times a day as we please; we have the privilege of
praying from morning until evening and from evening until morning without
anyone to molest us.  We have the privilege to meet in a congregational
capacity in our great public meeting-houses, or in our ward
meeting-houses, to attend to our sacraments and fasts, and there to tarry,
when we are thus assembled, as long as we please without any restrictions
whatever.

	There are circumstances in which it would be right to restrict a
person even in prayer and worship.  For instance, if a man should hire
another to work for him so many hours a day, for which he agrees to pay
him so much, the employed is thereby bound by the conditions of the
agreement to work the number of hours stipulated, that he may justly
collect his pay, for he is not paid for praying, nor for holding religious
meetings and religious conversations with his fellow-workmen.  If this may
be called a restriction upon the free exercise of religion, it is a just
one, for the restriction itself becomes religious duty in order that
mistaken notions of religious freedom may be corrected.  In such a case we
would not say that a person is in the least degree abridged in the free
exercise of his religious privileges, but rather, by keeping him to a
faithful observance of his agreement, he is made to exemplify one of the
foremost principles of true religion--namely, honesty.  If a man has
sufficient to supply his wants, and the wants of those who depend upon
him, and can, without infringing upon the rights of others, afford to pray
all the day long and then all the night long, he is free to do so.

	A great many instances might here be introduced to illustrate wherein
men should not be permitted to do as they please in all things; for there
are rules regulating all good societies, and the business intercourse of
men with each other, which are just and righteous in themselves, the
violation of which cannot be countenanced either by civil or religious
usages.  It is not the privilege of any man to waste the time of his
employer under any pretence whatever, and the cause of religion, good
government, and humanity is not in the least degree advanced by the
practice, but the contrary is really the case.  Men should be abridged in
doing wrong; they should not be free to sin against God or against man
without suffering such penalties as their sins deserve.

	I have looked upon the community of the Latter-day Saints in vision
and beheld them organized as one great family of heaven, each person
performing his several duties in his line of industry, working for the
good of the whole more than for individual aggrandizement; and in this I
have beheld the most beautiful order that the mind of man can contemplate,
and the grandest results for the upbuilding of the kingdom of God and the
spread of righteousness upon the earth.  Will this people ever come to
this order of things?  Are they now prepared to live according to that
patriarchal order that will be organized among the true and faithful
before God receives His own?  We all concede the point that when this
mortality falls off, and with it its cares, anxieties, love of self, love
of wealth, and love of power, and all the conflicting interests which
pertain to this flesh, that then, when our spirits have returned to God
who gave them, we will be subject to every requirement that He may make of
us, that we shall then live together as one great family; our interest
will be a general, a common interest.  Why can we not so live in this
world?  This people have been gathered together for a further purpose than
to prepare them to be one in the faith of the doctrine of Christ, to be
one in the proclamation of the Gospel in all the world, to be one in our
obedience to the ordinances of the house of God.  All this we could have
done in the different countries from whence we have been gathered out.  We
could have lived and died there, as many have, in faithfulness to the
spiritual requirements of our religion, if the Lord had not had in view a
great spiritual and temporal purpose in gathering His people from the four
winds.  The order of God among men is not complete without a gathering. 
Hence Jesus says--"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not."  And because they would not be gathered and
avail themselves of the great blessings consequent upon it, their house
was left unto them desolate, etc.

	We are gathered together expressly to build up the kingdom of God. 
We are not gathered together to build up the kingdom of this world.  The
voice of God has not called us together from the uttermost parts of the
earth to build up and enrich those who are diametrically opposed to His
kingdom and its interests.  No, but we are gathered together expressly to
become of one heart and of one mind in all our operations and endeavors to
establish Christ's spiritual and temporal kingdom upon the earth, to
prepare for the coming of the Son of Man in power and great glory.

	When the everlasting gospel is preached by the power of the Holy
Ghost, the minds of those who are honest and worthy of the truth are
opened, and they see the beauty of Zion and the excellence of the
knowledge of God which is poured out upon the faithful.  Such men and
women have seen in the revelations of the Spirit that God would gather His
people even before the gathering was taught to them by the servants of
God; and they understood the great object of the gathering, they say that
the people of the Lord could not be sanctified while they remained
scattered abroad among the nations of the Gentiles.  When the people first
receive the Spirit you may ask what you will of them, and they will yield
it in a moment; their submission to God and the counsels of His servants
is almost complete.  They are ready to give their substance, their houses
and lands, they are ready to leave all and follow Christ; they are ready
to leave their good, comfortable, happy homes, their fathers and their
mothers, and their friends; and some have left their companions and their
children for the gospels' sake, and all this because of the vision of
eternity--which has been opened to their minds so that they beheld the
beauty of Zion, and they sacrifice all to gather to the home of the
Saints.

	We have been assembled together from among all nations to be
corrected in our lives and manners, and for purification before the Lord. 
We have come up to these mountains through trials and tribulations and
perplexities, and what do we see when we come here?  The fatigues of the
journey have proved and tried the souls of many, so that they have
faltered in their faith; the light of the Spirit within them has become
darkened and the understanding benighted.  They look for perfection in
their brethren and sisters, forgetting that in the vision of the Spirit
they saw Zion in her perfection and beauty, and that this state must be
obtained by passing through a strict school of experience.  When they
arrive here they find the people like themselves, subject to many
weaknesses of the flesh, and some giving way to them every day.  The great
majority of the people are apt to lose the Spirit they at first possessed
through the cares of the world and the many afflictions they pass through
in gathering together from the distant nations of the Gentiles, and
through looking for perfections in others which they do not find and which
they themselves do not possess.  Notwithstanding this there exists no
other community so dissimilar in their education and training, and yet so
agreed in theological and civil polity as we are.

	What does the Lord want of us up here in the tops of these mountains? 
He wishes us to build up Zion.  What are the people doing?  They are
merchandizing, trafficing and trading.  I wish to view them as they are
and where they are.  Here is a merchant--"How much have you made this
year, 1867?"  "I have made sixty thousand dollars."  "Where did you get
it?  Did the merchants in the east or the west give it to you?"  "No." 
"Who did give it to you?"  I answer that this poor people, the Latter-day
Saints, who have gathered together in their penury, have put this means
into the hands of the merchant.  He has got it from a people, a great
number of whom have been helped here by the means of others; and when they
get a dime, a dollar, ten dollars, they carry it at once to the merchant
for ribbons, artificials, etc., making him immensely rich.  We all have
our pursuits, our different ways of supplying ourselves with the common
necessaries of life and also its luxuries. This is right and the
possession of earthly wealth is right, if we follow our varied pursuits,
and amass the wealth of this life for the purpose of advancing
righteousness and building up the kingdom of God on earth.  But how easy
it is to wander from the path of righteousness.  We toil days and months
to attain a certain degree of perfection, a certain victory over a failing
or weakness, and in an unguarded moment slide back again to our former
state.  How quickly we become darkened in our minds when we neglect our
duties to God and each other, and forget the great objects of our lives.

	The purpose of the Lord is to get the Saints together, and then
preach to them the doctrines of the kingdom of God by the voices of His
servants, and it is the duty and the privilege of all His people to
conform to them in their lives, in all their daily pursuits, until they
become one in all things, in every day's operations in life, for the
obtaining of our bread and meat and clothing of every description, being
one in the exercise of our ability in gathering together the various
comforts of life around us, sustaining ourselves and the household of
faith, and still being kind to the stranger.  The Lord has not called us
here to make our enemies rich by giving to them our substance for
considerable less than it has cost us to produce it from the elements. 
They would use that means for our destruction.  This course is against the
mind of the Holy Spirit, against the mind of the angels who watch over us,
against the commandments of the Almighty, against the mind of every
faithful and true Latter-day Saint, and against the cause of God and
truth.  As Elder Orson Hyde has said, I would that all the inhabitants of
the earth would repent of their evil ways and become righteous, and then
work the works of righteousness all their days.

	As Latter-day Saints it is our business, morning, noon, and night,
all the day long, all the week long, all the month long, all the year
long, and all our life long, to sustain those who sustain the kingdom of
God.  Does not the religion which we have embraced incorporate everything
which is in heaven and earth and under the earth?  Yes, if there is a
truth among the ungodly and wicked it belongs to us, and if there is a
truth in hell it is ours.  Everything that will produce good to the people
is within our religion.  With our religion we have embraced all good, but
we have not engaged to sustain the powers of Satan and the kingdoms of
this world.  We have left them and engaged to sustain the good--the wine
and the oil--until we become one, and act as with one voice in maintaining
every temporal and spiritual interest of the political kingdom of our God
on earth, whose officers shall be peace and whose exactors shall be
righteousness.  Our judges will be of our own selection, who will deal out
justice and righteousness to the people.  We are looking forward to this
state of things.  We expect to see the day when there will be none in our
midst but those who are for God and truth and who are valiant for His
kingdom on earth.  As the Prophet has said--"Thy people also shall be all
righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my
planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified."  We are longing
for this state of things, then why not begin to work for it to-day?  Why
not commence the work to day by ceasing to do evil, by ceasing to give
strength to the hand which would pierce us through with many sorrows?  Why
not begin to-day by sustaining those who will sustain the kingdom of God? 
This is my text for the Latter-day Saints, and I wish it to be constantly
held before them until they exemplify it in their lives, by becoming of
one heart and of one mind in all things in righteousness and holiness
before the Lord.
	To observe the Word of Wisdom is nothing more than we ought to have
done over thirty years ago.  Touching this matter, I tell the people the
will of God concerning them, and then they are left to do as they please
in obeying it or not.  It is a piece of good counsel which the Lord
desires His people to observe, that they may live on the earth until the
measure of their creation is full.  This is the object the Lord had in
view in giving that Word of Wisdom.  To those who observe it He will give
great wisdom and understanding, increasing their health, giving strength
and endurance to the faculties of their bodies and minds until they shall
be full of years upon the earth.  This will be their blessing if they will
observe His word with a good and willing heart and in faithfulness before
the Lord.

	I am talking to the bishops continually almost, giving them
instruction and advice, but it is hard for them to get the people to be
guided by them.  Now, for example, we will take the least ward in the
city, and suppose the people all consent to be guided and controlled by
the word of the Lord in all things, to be faithful in their labor and in
the discharge of every duty, being economical, prudent, and industrious in
all their labors, taking care of everything, abstaining from the use of
spirituous liquor, tea, coffee, and tobacco, etc., also to let doctors
alone, and faithfully abide the word of the Lord relating to the sick,
manufacturing what they need to wear, and raising what they need for food;
saving their dollars as they happen to get them by the sale of some of
their products, sustaining themselves in all things, wanting only what
they can produce in the country from the elements and the labor of their
hands--suppose, I say, they were to take this course, three years would
not pass away before the people of that ward would be able to produce
everything they need in life.  Thus, by a union of purpose and a
concentration of action, that little ward would soon be able to buy out
their neighboring wards, who would persist in pursuing the opposite
course; and perhaps fifteen years would not pass away before this prudent
ward would be able to buy out and own this whole city, if they continued
to do as they were desired to do, and the rest of the wards pursued their
own way.  I pray my brethren the Bishops, the Elders, the Seventies, the
Apostles, yea, every man and woman and child who has named the name of
Christ, to be of one heart and of one mind, for if we do not become of one
heart and mind we shall surely perish by the way.

	Before I close my remarks I will again remind my brethren and sisters
that we have a duty to perform in sending for our brethren and sisters who
are in foreign lands.  We wish to gather them together.  As to whether
they will stick to the faith after they are gathered I know not, neither
do I care.  It is better to feed nine unworthy persons than to omit
feeding one who is unworthy among the ten.  So it is with clothing the
needy and sending for the poor.  They must have the same opportunities for
salvation that we have, for the neglect of which they will be held
accountable in the day of judgment as we will also be.  Let us send for
the poor.  We are doing considerable, though we are not doing as much as
we should do.  If I could only have power sufficient with God I think I
should accomplish the desire of my heart in this matter and that of my
brethren and sisters.  We do desire to have our friends relieved from
their bondage, and brought to these valleys of the mountains to share with
us the blessings we enjoy.  It would be a blessing to the poor if we could
only exercise the faith that Elijah had in the case of the widow's meal
and cruse of oil, that the little we do get for the emigration of the poor
may accomplish, under the blessing of God, much more than is natural for
us to expect from it.  If we can only obtain faith to multiply the means
we do get, we may make a little reach out so far as to accomplish the
desires of our hearts.

	May God bless you.  Amen.

         REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered at Provo,
                      Saturday, February 8th, 1868.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
               SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS--IMPROVEMENT OF PROVO
                  CITY--LITIGATION--INJUDICIOUS TRADING.

	I am happy in the privilege of meeting with you.  We have come here
to lay before you matters pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of
God upon the earth.  The remarks which you have just heard from Brother
George A. Smith are to the point.  As far as I am acquainted with the
inhabitants of Provo I think they are as good a people as those who dwell
in Salt Lake City or in any other settlement in Utah Territory.  I think
much of Provo; it is a very favored locality.  We have established a
school of the prophets in Salt Lake City.  It is written in a revelation
given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, August, 1833--"Behold, I say unto you,
concerning the school in Zion, I, the Lord, am well pleased that there
should be a school in Zion."  And when speaking of the President of that
school, it is written--"And I will bless him with a multitude of
blessings, in expounding all scriptures and mysteries to the edification
of the school and of the Church in Zion."

	When the school of the prophets was inaugurated one of the first
revelations given by the Lord to His servant Joseph was the Word of
Wisdom.  The members of that school were but a few at first, and the
prophet commenced to teach them in doctrine to prepare them to go out into
the world to preach the gospel unto all people, and gather the elect from
the four quarters of the earth, as the prophets anciently have spoken. 
While this instruction prepared the Elders to administer in word and
doctrine, it did not supply the teachings necessary to govern their
private or temporal lives; it did not say whether they should be
merchants, farmers, mechanics, or money changers.  The prophet began to
instruct them how to live that they might be the better prepared to
perform the great work they were called to accomplish.  I think I am as
well acquainted with the circumstances which led to the giving of the Word
of Wisdom as any man in the Church, although I was not present at the time
to witness them.  The first school of the prophets was held in a small
room situated over the Prophet Joseph's kitchen, in a house which belonged
to Bishop Whitney, and which was attached to his store, which store
probably might be about fifteen feet square.  In the rear of this building
was a kitchen, probably ten by fourteen feet, containing rooms and
pantries.  Over this kitchen was situated the room in which the Prophet
received revelations and in which he instructed his brethren.  The
brethren came to that place for hundreds of miles to attend school in a
little room probably no larger than eleven by fourteen.  When they
assembled together in this room after breakfast, the first they did was to
light their pipes, and, while smoking, talk about the great things of the
kingdom and spit all over the room, and as soon as the pipe was out of
their mouths a large chew of tobacco would then be taken.  Often when the
Prophet entered the room to give the school instructions he would find
himself in a cloud of tobacco smoke.  This, and the complaints of his wife
at having to clean so filthy a floor, made the Prophet think upon the
matter, and he inquired of the Lord relating to the conduct of the Elders
in using tobacco, and the revelation known as the Word of Wisdom was the
result of his inquiry.  You know what it is, and can read it at your
leisure.

	So we see that almost the very first teachings the first Elders of
this Church received were as to what to eat, what to drink, and how to
order their natural lives, that they might be united temporally as well as
spiritually.  This is the great purpose which God has in view in sending
to the world, by His servants, the gospel of life and salvation.  It will
teach us how to deal, how to act in all things, and how to live with each
other to become one in the Lord.  There is no question but that the waste
places of Zion will be built up, that temples of God will be reared, and
the Elders of Israel will enter into them and perform ordinances for the
redemption of their dead friends back to Adam; but do you know the method
of operation by which this will be brought about?  Do you understand the
workings of this great machinery of salvation to accomplish the great end
for which we are looking?  With all of our experience we have but a very
scanty or partial knowledge of this great work.  We say that we will enter
into this business or that business to suit our own tastes and notions,
without thinking whether our proceedings will advance the kingdom of God
or not, and when strangers come into our midst we are too apt to
strengthen their hands, to destroy the very Zion which we are trying to
build up.  It may be that those who do this are not aware of the evil
which they commit in taking this course; for while we encourage and
strengthen those who are not of us, at the same time we firmly believe
that scripture of the revelator respecting the separation of the Saints
from the wicked--"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying:  Come out
of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues."

	We have met in these valleys of the mountains with an eye to the
perfection of the Latter-day Saints as individuals or as a community, that
instead of every man turning to his own way, all should be willing to be
controlled by the God of heaven.  We have established a school in Salt
Lake City for the instruction of the Elders of Israel in the doctrines
which are contained in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, etc., and that is also the place where questions may be asked,
and instructions given touching all doctrines and principles that may be
entertained by them.  That is also the place where correction may be given
and explanations be made upon all matters which pertain to the temporal
and spiritual lives of the Saints.  It is about two months since that
school was established.

	There have been petitions presented to the Legislature and much said
concerning the division of this county.  While cogitating upon this matter
in our class, it came to me very forcibly to make a proposition for a few
men to go to Provo and comfort the hearts of the brethren here, to show
them the necessity of becoming one, of laying aside all individual
bickerings, of overlooking and forgiving the weakness of one another, and
of uniting our faith together to make this one of the most beautiful and
lovely cities of Zion.  Why not do this, brethren?  I believe I made the
motion myself before the class for President B. Young and President H. C.
Kimball to go to Provo and make homes there, and live there a portion of
the time; others were also named to do the same.  If the brethren of the
city of Provo are willing for us to dictate and guide them, and make our
homes with them, we will try to do them good, and teach them the ways of
life and salvation, and show them how to overcome the darkness so natural
to the human mind, and give them extended ideas on the building up of the
kingdom of God on earth.

	I have been informed by your presiding Bishop that this day was set
apart for the people to make nominations for their municipal election.  At
the meeting for this purpose the people will have an opportunity of
expressing their views and of making their nominations.  If we would live
according to the laws of God, be contented to live according to the rules
and regulations of the Holy Priesthood, we should have but little use for
probate courts, district courts, or supreme courts in our Territory; their
existence here would only be in a name and form, for the people would live
above the laws of man.  We should have very little use for anything else
in the shape of Government but the Priesthood, which is after the order of
the Son of God.  The Jews and Gentiles have of late brought some of their
difficulties before the High Council in Salt Lake City for adjudication,
in preference to going before the District Court; and the High Council, I
believe, has invariably given satisfaction when such cases have been
brought before it.  This is a step in the right direction--to settle all
matters without having recourse to law, which would do away with the
necessity of employing and paying lawyers, court fees, etc.  If we could
ever see the time when we will live according to the laws of the Lord as
given to us, and never suffer ourselves to transgress the wholesome, just,
and righteous principles and rules which they inculcate for our guidance,
we could live within ourselves, sustain ourselves, and make ourselves
rich--rich in the knowledge of God and in the possession of this life.  If
we could learn to sustain one another and the interests of the kingdom of
God, we would advance in the wealth of this world much faster than to
sustain those who have no interest whatever with us.  I would delight much
to see a people who would actually live the principles of the Holy Gospel
in every respect.  But we are careless and thoughtless; we are not
ignorant of the fact that we are continually making ourselves poorer by
our unwise proceedings.  This is grievous to behold.  If every man in this
Church would consent to be guided by the dictations of the Holy Priesthood
in all their business transactions, dealing honestly with one another,
giving to every man his due, instead of making a few rich and a great many
poor, we would all become rich together, and have every convenience and
appliance which is calculated to give comfort and happiness to man.  We
have got now about ten thousand dollars for the gathering of the poor, and
a number of cattle of various kinds and ages, which we shall sell as soon
as possible for money.  If we had the money which the people have
squandered by their injudicious trading, and by wrongly applied labor, we
should have means sufficient to gather every poor Saint in the old world.

	I can see the foolishness of the Elders of Israel in wandering here
and there with their produce to make gain, and trying to undersell each
other; they have always lost by this proceeding, whereas if they had
stayed at home they would have made money.  Every man who has property and
means should live so as to obtain wisdom to know how to use them in the
best possible way to produce the greatest amount of good for himself, for
his family, and for the kingdom of God; but instead of taking this course
it does appear that the great majority of the Elders of Israel are crazy
to run here and there to get rid of what they possess at any price.  What
for?  Do they do this to build up the Kingdom of God?  "Have you built a
good house?"  "No."  "What have you got?"  "Folly, folly, weakness, and
poverty."  When we can get the people to stay at home, and observe the law
of God, we have the things of God for them, and the things of the world
too as soon as they are prepared to receive them and make a good use of
them.  It grieves me to see the people take such special pains to make
themselves foolish and miserable.  I am speaking of the community, and it
is the one man, the one woman, and the one child multiplied that makes the
great nation or people.  Let us learn wisdom and govern ourselves
accordingly.

	We shall hold meeting among you to-day and to-morrow, and I hope the
people of Provo will be benefited by our visit, and I pray that they will
apply their hearts to understand, receive, and treasure up, and bring
forth truth to the glory of God.  Amen.

   REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Old Tabernacle,
                    Salt Lake City, February 16, 1868.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
      OBJECT OF THE GATHERING--NECESSITY OF A TEMPLE--TRIALS OF THE
                     SAINTS--SEALING--VISIT TO PROVO.

	I am thankful that I have the privilege of meeting with you; I am
thankful for the blessings of this day, and that I live in this age of the
world.  The beginning of this dispensation of the fullness of times may
well be compared to the commencement of a temple, the material of which it
is to be built being still scattered, unshaped and unpolished, in a state
of nature.  I am thankful that the way is being prepared, and that we have
the privilege of erecting a spiritual and moral superstructure--a temple
of God.  I am happy to be a member of this community; it is my joy, my
delight to perform the little services which God has given me ability to
do for the temporal and spiritual welfare of the children of men, for the
establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth, and for the bringing
forth of His laws.

	We have been gathered to the valleys of these mountains for the
express purpose of purifying ourselves, that we may become polished stones
in the temple of God, for it is written, "Him that overcometh will I make
a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out."  Christ is
represented as a living stone, chosen of God and precious, and the Apostle
represents the Saints "as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house,
an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by
Jesus Christ."  We "are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow
citizens with the Saints and of the household of God, and are built upon
the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief corner-stone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth
into an holy temple in the Lord."  Then my brethren, "what agreement hath
the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as
God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people.  Wherefore come out from among them, and
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I
will receive you, and be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."  We are here for the purpose of
establishing the kingdom of God on the earth.  To be prepared for this
work it has been necessary to gather us out from the nations and countries
of the world, for if we had remained in those lands we could not have
received the ordinances of the Holy Priesthood of the Son of God, which
are necessary for the perfection of the Saints preparatory to His coming.

	The great work of the gathering in the last days was plainly seen by
the ancient Prophets and Apostles, and the glory of Zion was portrayed to
them by the Spirit; but the sufferings and labors and toils and travels of
the Saints to bring about the grand results which they saw they have not
particularly described, for very likely the minutiae were not revealed to
them; still they plainly saw by the spirit of revelation that the Saints
would be gathered in the last days to be perfected and sanctified to
become the bride, the Lamb's wife.  I suppose that the visions of the Lord
and the revelation of His Spirit given to His faithful people in former
times, relating to the Zion of the the [sic] last days, were much the same
as they are when given to His people in our days.  When we first receive
the Spirit of the Gospel we receive great joy therein, great peace, and
great satisfaction to our minds; and we are carried away in the Spirit to
behold the beauties of Zion, and to contemplate the mysteries of the
kingdom of God.  Our brethren and sisters far away among the nations, when
they received the gospel, and the spirit of revelation came upon them,
delighted to contemplate the gathering of the Saints, it was a matter of
joy to them to dream about it and think about it when they would awake
from their slumbers.  They would reflect upon it through the day, and talk
about it in their prayer meetings, and in their prayer circles at home,
the subject of gathering to Zion was constantly before them if they lived
so as to enjoy the spirit of their religion.  This spirit caused their
hearts constantly to rejoice; it was not the journey across the sea and
across the plains that gave them joy, but it was the contemplation of Zion
in its beauty and glory, for they could not see the troubles and
disappointments, perplexities and vexations they would have to pass
through in gathering to Zion, nor did they think of the hardships they
would have to endure after they were gathered.  So the ancients viewed the
glory of Zion in the last days.

	We cannot now administer the further ordinances of God in the fullest
sense of the word legally unto the people, neither shall we be able to do
so until we have a temple built for that purpose.  Some may consider that
I am notifying our common foe in saying this, but it is true,
notwithstanding, and our common foe knows it.  We must be situated in
local circumstances wherein we can efficiently administer in those
ordinances of the house of God that cannot be administered to a people
while they are scattered abroad among the nations of the wicked.  The
Apostle John no doubt saw in vision, by the spirit of revelation, Zion in
her beauty and perfection, and that Zion would have to be built up by the
gathering of God's people out of Babylon.  Under the influence of the same
spirit the Psalmist exclaims--"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God
hath shined."  "He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth,
that He may judge His people.  Gather my Saints together unto me; those
that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."  The High Priest
Caiaphas, under the influence of the same spirit of prophecy, foretold
that Jesus should die for the nation; "and," as John says, "not for that
nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children
of God that were scattered abroad."  The gathering previously foretold is
now being accomplished, and wherever the children of men are, if there are
individuals among them who would delight to be disciples of the Lord
Jesus, forsake sin and sinful company and practices, they are called upon
to gather out from the wicked and assemble themselves together at some
place designated by the finger of the Almighty.  This work the Lord
commenced over thirty years ago, and it is still progressing; the call is
still to His people among the nations of the earth--Gather out of her my
people, be not partakers of her sins lest ye receive of her plagues.  When
the righteous are thus gathered they will then be prepared for the coming
of the Messiah.

	It was remarked by Elder Woodruff that he did not think it would be a
hundred years before the Savior will come.  It is no matter about when he
will come; I do not think the Father has yet been pleased to reveal it to
any man upon the earth, and I do not known [sic] that He has revealed it
to the angels.  He had not done so in the days of the Savior, and I do not
think that He has yet revealed it.  Whether He comes to-day, to-morrow,
this week, next week, this year, or next year, it matters not; we should
be prepared for His coming, and this should satisfy us.  It is our duty to
make a close application of the requirements of heaven to our lives, and
qualify ourselves to accomplish the work which the Lord has committed into
our hands.  How can we perform this work?  Can we do it by every man
turning to his own way, and by following the vain imaginations of his own
heart?  No, we will all decide at once that we never can perform this
labor without being guided and directed by the Lord himself, through the
means which it pleases Him to use to bring about the perfecting of His
people, to prepare them for the glory which is to follow.  I would not
question the truth of the statement that the people ordered their lives
before the Lord and their neighbors while they were scattered among the
nations more perfectly than they do here in many instances, for there they
had nothing to try them only the common enemy, and the finger of scorn
pointed at them by unbelievers, which made them cling closer to their God;
they had not the trials to undergo which the Saints have here.  If it is
necessary for us to be tried in all things, then weep not, mourn not
because we are tried, neither let us object to the Lord directing our
course in that path wherein the trials necessary for our perfection lie. 
If it is in sailing across the sea in ships, in being sick and cast down,
in witnessing the sorrow of our dear friends, in receiving temptations and
trials to which we have before been strangers; if it is in crossing the
country from the United States to this place, by railroad or by ox team,
no matter how, the Lord leads His people in this way expressly to give
them trials which they have not passed through before, and which it is
necessary they should have.  While it is necessary that we should be
tempted and tried, it is not necessary that we should give way to
temptation.

	The Latter-day Saints are often drawn into circumstances that are
most peculiar, and sometimes very trying, yet there exists no other people
on the earth who enjoy the privileges and the freedom that we do.  Our
laws are often trampled upon with impunity, and the offender goes free. 
The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often
commit sins that if they were to commit in the world would cut them off
from the church anti-christ, yet we retain them as members of the Church
of Christ in mercy, and in consideration of the weaknesses of poor human
nature, and they pass along unscathed, receiving the fellowship of their
faithful brethren and sisters with the hope that they will reform and
learn to live their religion more faithfully.

	It is absolutely necessary that the Saints should receive the further
ordinances of the house of God before this short existence shall come to a
close, that they may be prepared and fully able to pass all the sentinels
leading into the celestial kingdom and into the presence of God.  Our
brethren and sisters who are scattered abroad must be gathered to be
tried, and then to be blessed with a preparation for a glorious reward. 
This people will be tried more or less while they remain in the flesh;
they may even be called as Abraham of old was to offer up that which is
the most dear to them of all earthly objects for the Gospel's sake.  Some
have already forsaken all and followed Christ; they have left their
children, their husbands, their wives, their brothers and sisters and dear
friends, some hoping again to see them, and many never expecting to see
them again in this life.  We shall be tried in all things, and the Lord is
now disposed to try us by calling upon us to be of one heart and of one
mind, to submit to be guided and dictated, governed and controlled by Him
through the constituted authorities of His kingdom.  We should not
consider this a trial above what we can bear.

	Is the wife tried because her husband wishes to dictate her and give
her good and wholesome advice?  Is somebody tried because his bishop
wishes to control him for his good?  Your bishop is very likely doing the
best he can to advise the members of his ward for their best good.  Does
he advise you to do wrong?  All the members of that ward who are full of
faith and the power of God will be of one heart and mind with their
bishop, and will go with him in all things, and while union continues in
the Lord He will cause every move they make to culminate for the greatest
good to that people and the cause of truth.  If a bishop counsels the
people of his ward to swear shall they swear?  No.  If he counsels them to
steal shall they steal?  No.  If he counsels them to lie and bear false
witness shall they do these wrongs?  No.  If he teaches them to break the
Sabbath shall they break the Sabbath?  No.  If a bishop or any other
officer in this Church shall counsel the people to violate any of the laws
of God, and to sustain and build up the kingdoms of this world, I will
justify them, and the Lord will justify them in refusing to obey that
counsel.  But if they counsel you to do right, which they do, take their
counsel.  Instead of supporting anti-christ we have agreed to give our
time, our talent, our substance, our all, for the building up of the
kingdom of God.

	Do right, and you will be tried all you wish to bear, and if you
overcome, being made perfect through suffering, your rewards will be
eternal life in the kingdom of God.  Do wrong, and continue in doing
wrong, and you will have trials more than you can bear, and be damned at
last.  When we receive chastisement let us not be discouraged, but be more
faithful, enduring temptation, hardship, and perplexity, trusting in God,
and walking in the light of His countenance day by day and hour by hour. 
By pursuing this course our life will be a cheerful and happy one even in
the midst of severe trials.  We have now some little trial to endure, but
not much.  We are part of a great nation; it has been one of the happiest
and best nations that has ever existed with regard to liberty, the
greatness of its institutions, and the land which it occupies.  The Lord
says--Let my servants and handmaidens be sealed, and let their children be
sealed.  This great and happy government under which we have lived so long
says we shall not perform the ordinance of sealing.  This may be a small
trial to us for the moment.  We shall see who will conquer--whether God
will have His way in making manifest His purposes and having them
fulfilled, or whether the wicked will have their way.  They have had it,
and have succeeded many times in overcoming the Saints and destroying them
to that degree, causing them to apostatize, and putting them to death,
that the Priesthood was taken from the children of men; but this is the
last dispensation, and we shall see whether they succeed in this kind of
proceeding now as they have formerly done.

	The Lord has revealed His will for His servants to take more wives
than one.  Our government says that a man shall not have but one wife,
though he may have as many mistresses as he pleases; he may ruin and
destroy as many of the daughters of Eve as he pleases; but his is
forbidden to acknowledge but one as his wife.  The government says you
shall only have one wife; the Lord says take unto yourselves wives; and
Saints obey the Lord, and we shall see who will come off victorious.  The
ordinance of sealing must be performed here man to man, and woman to man,
and children to parents, etc., until the chain of generation is made
perfect in the sealing ordinances back to father Adam; hence, we have been
commanded to gather ourselves together, to come out from Babylon, and
sanctify ourselves, and build up the Zion of our God, by building cities
and temples, redeeming countries from the solitude of nature, until the
earth is sanctified and prepared for the residence of God and angels.

	Our enemies say we shall not do this, and here will be a trial, as it
has been for a long time past.  One of the first objections that was urged
against Joseph Smith was that he was a money digger; and now the digging
of gold is considered an honorable and praiseworthy employment.  They are
hunting for gold all over the country, doing the very thing which they
condemned in him.  The next fault they found with Joseph and the Saints
was that they were stirring up the slaves to rebellion against their
masters; and this was published abroad.  Have they not done, and are they
not now doing, the very thing for which they falsely blamed the Saints? 
The next accusation was that the Saints took more wives than one.  Whether
they will make one grand sweep of it in the future, and all conclude to
take more wives, I cannot say.  I wish they might; I do not, however, wish
this for any private benefit it will be to me or to God's people, but that
they may make women honorable wives whom they now destroy, and conduct
themselves more like human beings who bear the image of God than they now
do before Him.  It is for their own sakes that I wish this, and for the
sake of the unfortunate females whom they outrage.  I would like you to
behold your little darling sisters and daughters here throwing themselves
in the way of the Gentiles.  Any Mormon brother or father who can suffer
this to go on without reproof or advice must be ignorant of the
consequences.  The Lord says to the sons Israel, take the daughters of
Israel to wife, and make them honorable, and let them multiply and
replenish the earth, and fillup the measure of their creation, that their
names may be had in honorable remembrance to the latest generation on
earth and in eternity.  Supposing that the Latter-day Saints had possessed
the city of New York for the last twenty years, as they have these valleys
of Utah, and the young women of that city from sixteen years of age to
twenty-one had been in the hands of Mormon Elders as wives, how many would
have now been living and honorable mothers of a bright, intelligent, and
vigorous race of men and women, that have met an untimely grave,
husbandless, childless, friendless, disgraced, and forgotten?  Under such
circumstances there would have been now living in honor, according to
moderate calculation, from two to four hundred thousand females, whose
filthy and corrupted remains are now mingling with the dust of that sinful
city.

	This is a waste of life.  Who will be answerable to God in the day of
judgment for such acts?  The voice of the Lord is gather out from her, my
people, thet [sic] ye partake not of her sins nor of her plagues, and
build temples to My name, and seal up My sons and daughters to eternal
life, to prepare them for My coming, for "the hour is not yet, but is nigh
at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall
have power over his own dominion; and also the Lord shall have power over
His Saints, and shall reign in their midst, and shall come down in
judgement upon Idumea, or the world."  For, behold, the days are coming in
which they shall say--"Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never
bore, and the paps that never gave suck.  Then shall they begin to say to
the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us.  For if they do
these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"  Devouring
flames have already taken hold of the dry tree, and the hand of God in
judgment is beginning to be felt by this nation, and soon will be upon all
nations under heaven.  Who will acknowledge the hand of God in the
sufferings, travails, and deliverance of this people from the hands of
their persecutors, and His handiwork in sustaining them in the wilderness,
through sorrow, affliction, poverty, and wretchedness?  All the faithful
Saints will do it; but how few outsiders, as we call them, will stop to
pray to God in the name of Jesus to know if this work is true; they pass
it by as a thing of nought, as unworthy of their attention; they are so
absorbed in the affairs of this world that the preparation for the next
scarcely enters into their thoughts, and many of this class are honorable
men.

	I rejoice when I contemplate the work of the last days, and survey
the Saints in their possessions in Utah.  I have but one text which I
desire to keep before them--it is to forsake their sins and become united
as one man in the purpose of all their temporal acts, that their labors
may all centre in the building up and sustaining of God's kingdom instead
of building up the kingdoms of this world.

	For their consolation I will say to my brethren and sisters that we
have had a very happy time on our short visit in the south, and I think I
never experienced greater peace, sweeter peace, than I have done on our
short visit to Provo a week ago.  We left the city a week ago last Friday,
and returned again to this city on the Tuesday following.  We had a most
excellent meeting at American Fork, and everybody and everything seemed to
cry peace on earth and good will to men.  When we returned home we found
rumors that there had been difficulty in Provo, and some of the brethren
had been killed.  Br. Heber C. Kimball, in conversing upon this subject in
the School of the Prophets, remarked that the brethren voted that we
should go to Provo and that the angels of the Lord should accompany us,
but he did not expect that they would all go with us and leave you without
any.  There are good Saints in Provo, and they want to be better Saints;
they may have committed errors, but when you arrive at the truth of the
matter, they wish to be Saints.  We are all called to be Saints, to be
filled with the purity of God, and with the power of the Holy Spirit of
the Lord Jesus--the spirit of revelation--we are called from darkness into
light, from error to truth, from the power of Satan to the living God, we
are called from the kingdoms of darkness to the kingdom of God and light,
and, by and bye, we shall be chosen because we are worthy, and it will be
said to us:  "You have lived the life of a Saint, now you are chosen to be
an heir of the celestial kingdom of our Father and god."  Let us not
forget, my brethren and sisters, the gathering of the Saints for
sanctification and preparation to inherit all things.  Let us live closer
to our duty, that we may be sanctified and be prepared to dwell together
in the celestial kingdom, which may God grant.  Amen.

     REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                    Salt Lake City, March 29th, 1868.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
    HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN--SAINTS DELIGHT TO
    DO THE WILL OF GOD--PROPER DIRECTION OF LABOR AND TALENT--CHILDREN
                  OF THE SAINTS HEIRS TO THE PRIESTHOOD.

	I am thankful for the privilege of again meeting with the Saints in
this city, for the privilege of speaking to them, and of hearing others
speak; and, in fact, I am happy in this life, which is a very excellent
one, answering the purpose for which it has been ordained--a state of
existence wherein to prepare for a better kingdom and a better life.  We
are now in a day of trial to prove ourselves worthy or unworthy of the
life which is to come.  We have reason to be thankful that the Lord has
given unto us this opportunity and privilege to receiving truth and acting
upon it for our own good, the privilege of increasing in knowledge and in
wisdom, in understanding and in all things pertaining to this life and to
that which is to come.  I often think that we are all dull scholars, slow
to comprehend things as they are, slow to believe, and slow to act in the
right.  We often act without wisdom, and often speak without
consideration, causing grief and sorrow to our hearts.  But we are here in
this life to learn; we are in a great school, and if we are diligent and
faithful, and fervent in our studies, then we have hope of being prepared
to enter into an existence wherein we shall receive more than we can
receive in this state,--where we can adopt in our lives principles of
exaltation and progression faster than we can here.  Let us apply our
minds to wisdom in this life.

	The Latter-day Saints who dwell in these valleys have left their all
to gather with the Saints, and for the express purpose of preparing for
the coming of the Son of Man.  When we consider this, and then consider
how we spend our time--the precious time allotted to us in this life--to
me it is a matter of astonishment.  Men and women for slight causes make
spipwreck [sic] of faith, lose the spirit of the Gospel, losing the object
for which they left their homes and their friends.  We are all searching
for happiness; we hope for it, we think we live for it, it is our aim in
this life.  But do we live so as to enjoy the happiness we so much desire? 
There is only one way for Latter-day Saints to be happy, which is simply
to live their religion, or in other words believe the Gospel of Jesus
Christ in every part, obeying the gospel of liberty with full purpose of
heart, which sets us free indeed.  If we will, as a community, obey the
law of God, and comply with the ordinances of salvation, then we may
expect to find the happiness we so much desire, but if we do not pursue
this course we cannot enjoy the unalloyed happiness which is to be found
in the Gospel.  To profess to be a Saint, and not enjoy the spirit of it,
tries every fibre of the heart, and is one of the most painful experiences
that man can suffer.  Let not the Latter-day Saints deceive themselves,
let them not pursue a course that will bring sorrow to their hearts
instead of joy and peace.  Let them not flatter themselves that they will
receive salvation in the kingdom of God while living in the neglect of
their duties.  Unless we live our religion and sanctify ourselves by the
law of God, we flatter ourselves in vain that we shall be made
instrumental in the hands of God in preparing the way for the coming of
the Son of Man for the redemption of Zion according to the words of the
prophets, for the redemption of the earth, for the gathering of the
children of Israel to the lands of their forefathers, for the ushering in
of the fullness of the Gentiles and the reign of universal peace.  These
are serious matters with me, and should be looked upon as such by all the
people.

	It is true that we are weak, feeble, frail, and prone to wander from
the paths of righteousness.  We are made subject to vanity, still it is
our duty to bring into subjection to the law of Christ all the powers of
our natures.  If we thus subdue the wicked man that is within us,
sanctifying the Lord God in our hearts, we may then begin to enjoy the
glorious hope of joining the throng that will be gathered with the
sanctified, and of being prepared for the coming of the Son of Man, when
it will be said--"Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him." 
Now, will we deceive ourselves and be found among the foolish virgins,
with no oil in our vessels; and when the wheat and the tares are
separated, shall I be found a tare or a wheat?  Let us ask ourselves the
question, am I a wheat or a tare?  The proof as to whether we are tares or
wheat may be seen in our lives, as it is written--"For whosoever shall do
the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and
sister, and mother."  Again, "not every one that saith unto me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will
of my Father which is in heaven."  This is the proof--keep the
commandments, observe the ordinances, and preserve the institutions of
Christ's Church inviolate, doing all things that are required of us, as
unto the Lord, sanctifying ourselves before Him, and, "By this shall all
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."  By
pursuing this course no person who is a true follower of Christ will be
left without a witness, for "if any man will do His will, he shall know of
the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself."  I am
satisfied that no man can live faithfully according to the requirements of
heaven without having the testimony of the Spirit that they are born of
God; but if they do not live so they have no such assurance, for the Lord
is under no obligations to give them the witness of the Spirit, but if
they live as He requires them He will fulfill unto them His promise.  He
is held to this according to His own word to His children that He would
send unto them the spirit of promise, even the Holy Ghost, which will show
them things to come.

	When I speak to the Saints I include myself.  I profess to be a Saint
with the rest of my brethren and sisters, and my public and private life
is the proof whether I am truly a Saint or not.  This is not all, but the
spirit which I possess and communicate to the people is another proof, and
the spirit which you possess and communicate to your neighbours is the
proof by which you are known, as it is with myself.  If we walk in
obedience to the covenants which we have made with God and one another, we
have the assurance that we shall walk no more in darkness, but in the
light of life--in the light of the countenance of our heavenly Father. 
Then we can bear witness that we are born of God, and testify of Jesus as
being the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth; and we then can strengthen our brethren, and are prepared to speak
the truth to a wicked world and call upon them to repent, and forsake
their sins, return unto the Lord, seek salvation, and make their peace
with God before it is too late.

	A great many good people, who possess much of the spirit of the Lord,
are naturally given to doubting, having so little self-reliance that they
sometimes doubt whether they are Saints in truth or not.  These often
doubt when they should not.  So long as they are walking humbly before
God, keeping His commandments, and observing His ordinances, feeling
willing to give all for Christ, and do everything that will promote His
kingdom, they need never doubt, for the Spirit will testify to them
whether they are of God or not.  There are some who are always fearful,
trembling, doubting, wavering, and at the same time doing everything they
can for the promotion of righteousness.  Yet they are in doubts whether
they are doing the best possible good, and they fear and fail here and
there, and will doubt their own experience and the witness of the Spirit
to them.

	As we are now partaking of the emblems of the body and blood of the
Savior, I will refer to this ordinance of the house of God, and ask the
Latter-day Saints to call to mind their own feelings on this subject, as a
testimony regarding their faith and assurance.  Do you delight to partake
of the sacrament of the Lord's supper?  Would you assemble yourselves
together here, Sabbath after Sabbath, for the express purpose of partaking
of the broken bread, and of this water that has been prepared, as a
witness to God, our Father, that we have received the Gospel of His Son,
that we do delight in His words, and in keeping His commandments and
requirements, thus testifying to our Heavenly Father, and to His Son Jesus
Christ, that we are the disciples of Jesus?  Would you leave your homes in
the distant parts of the city to bear this witness and attend a meeting to
observe this ordinance?  The great majority of this people would do this
Sabbath after Sabbath, month after month, and year year [sic], if they
were left entirely to their own choice, without the interference of
bishops and teachers, while a few would consider it not convenient to
attend meeting, because the witness of the Spirit is not in them.  Again,
do we delight to call upon the Father in the name of Jesus--it is our joy
and happiness to do so?  Do we believe that He will hear our prayers, and
that we shall receive benefit from our petitions to Him in the name of
Jesus?  Do we rely upon Him, and are we acquainted with His character in
the least degree?  Have we any knowledge of Him?  Let us answer these
questions in our own minds, that we may ascertain whether we do delight to
bow down before Him to ask for the things which we need, and seek unto Him
for His Spirit to guide us, and preserve us from all danger, that we may
not wander into by and [sic] forbidden paths and fall out by the way, but
be kept constantly in the narrow path which leads to life everlasting.  Is
it our pleasure to do good to our fellow-creatures, by travelling far away
from our homes and friends to preach the gospel to a perishing world? 
This applies to the Elders of Israel, and also to the mothers and
daughters and sons of those Elders.  Do they delight to part with their
husbands that they may go and call upon the nations to repent of their
sins?  Is it a joy to them to bear the burdens of a family in the absence
of their husbands, preserving everything they have left?  Is it a pleasure
for the Elders to travel among the nations without purse or scrip,
travelling from people to people, and from neighborhood to neighborhood,
submitting to the finger of scorn, and the abuse of the wicked and
ungodly?

	I will here say, however, that I have been treated kindly when
travelling among strangers to preach this gospel.  I do not know that I
ever asked for a meal of victuals without obtaining it.  Still, I have
seen enough from the experience of others to know the real feelings, and
to understand the desires of the ungodly concerning the Elders of Israel. 
They do not desire them any good.

	If you can answer these questions in the affirmative, it is a
testimony to you that you delight in the building up His kingdom, that you
delight in the Zion of the Lord as established in latter days.  The answer
of every faithful heart to these questions is--Yes, I delight in these
things, and these are so many evidences that they are of God.  Do we
delight to feed the poor and clothe the naked?  We do.  I am happy in my
reflections, it is a source of gratification to contemplate facts as they
are, and I can say of a truth that I have done more, probably a hundred
times over, for my enemies in feeding, clothing, and lodging them, and
doing them good than they all ever did for me.  Has a minister of religion
ever passed through this country and been refused the privilege of
speaking in any of our places of worship?  No.  Can the vilest of the vile
enter into a house belonging to a Latter-day Saint and complain of
suffering for food, and be turned away unsupplied?  It is no matter
whether they are Christian, Pagan, or Jew, they can tarry over night and
be made as comfortable as the family can make them, and they can depart in
peace and safety.  Can the Elders of Israel say this of the world?  They
cannot.

 	Whether it is a credit to me or not, that is with the Lord, but He
has given me the ability that whenever I have wished to receive favors
from those who knew me not I have obtained them.  I know it is the custom
of many Elders to say, "I am a 'Mormon' Elder; will you keep me over
night?" and he is at once spurned from the doors of the stranger.  Whether
it is a credit to me or not, I never told them I was a "Mormon" Elder
until I got what I wanted.  I have have [sic] thus stopped at many a
house, and had the privilege of introducing the principles of our
religion, and they have exclaimed, "Well, if this is Mormonism, my house
shall be your home as long as you stay in this neighbourhood," when,
perhaps, if I had said, "I am a 'Mormon' Elder" at the first they would
have refused me their hospitality.  I can say to the world they used me
pretty well, and I have no fault to find with them in this respect.  I
have been abused sometimes by priests, but on such occasions I have ever
been ready to defend the cause of righteousness and preach the gospel to
all.  The Elders of Israel have received more kindness from the infidel
portions of mankind where they have travelled, than from those who profess
Christianity.

	Thousands of the Elders of Israel who are now occupying these valleys
are now willing, if called upon, to leave their families and homes to go
and preach the Gospel in all the world, and be abused, and cast out and
suffer poverty and want for the Gospel's sake.  Is not this a witness that
you are right before God?  It is.  You are willing to feed and clothe the
needy, and send means out of your scanty supplies to foreign lands to
gather the poor Saints from those old countries; and it is marvellous in
my eyes what the people have done within a few months back.  About the 5th
of February last we found that we could only raise about from eight to
nine thousand dollars to send to Europe for the poor.  Elders Hiram B.
Clawson and Wm. C. Staines started for New York on the 17th of the month. 
Last Conference I had faith that the Lord would favor us and multiply
means.  When we came to send away the means we had, we were able to send
25,000 dols. with the brethren.  This means was contributed in small
amounts; but it is marvellous how it came in.  We have exercised faith in
this matter, and now we are able to send 25,000 dols. more, and we have
not touched a bushel of wheat or a hundred of flour nor an animal that has
been turned in, and the means keep coming in, and it comes more and more,
and they will continue to give until the emigration is over.  This is a
witness to the people that they are right before high Heaven in these
things, that the Elders are right in going to preach, that their wives and
mothers and daughters are right in preserving their means and property
from wasting in the absence of their natural guardians.  They are right if
they delight in coming to meeting to partake of the sacrament, and to bow
down before the Lord and worship Him.  They are right in feeding the poor
and in paying their tithing.

	I will here say to the Latter-day Saints, if you will feed the poor
with a willing heart and ready hand neither you nor your children will
ever be found begging bread.  In these things the people are right; they
are right in establishing Female Relief Societies, that the hearts of the
widow and the orphan may be made glad by the blessings which are so
abundantly and so freely poured out upon them.  And, inasmuch as we have
embraced the fullness of the Gospel with honest hearts, the Lord has sworn
by Himself that He will save us if we will continue to be obedient to His
will.  It is our privilege to seek unto Him, and obtain His Spirit to
witness unto us continually regarding our labors and works, that we may
always know whether we are in the line of our duty or not.

	This is the gospel; this is the plan of salvation; this is the
Kingdom of of [sic] God; this is the Zion that has been spoken and written
of by all the Prophets since the world began.  This is the world of Zion
which the Lord has promised to bring forth.  We are right when we pray for
our neighbors, for our brethren and friends, and for our enemies.  We are
right when we are striving to become of one heart and of one mind.  We are
right when we are humble before the Lord, when we are as willing to
forgive as we are to be forgiven.  We are right in educating our children,
and while we strive to be educated in every useful branch of an English
education, let us also be learned in every moral and physical attainment;
let us learn how to take care of and preserve our [sic] ourselves and
friends, how to plant, how to gather, how to build up, and how to
beautify.

	The Saints in these mountains are a stalwart, athletic people.  They
have a great capital of bone, muscle, and sinew on hand.  When this is not
employed in the establishment and maintenance of various industries, in
prudent, economical labor, the employed doing justice to the employer,
working to do good for their own benefit and the benefit of the Kingdom of
God, gathering around them in abundance the comforts of life, the great
capital which God has given to us as individuals and as a people is
wasted.  This reminds me of what I said to the people of Provo.  They
naturally might have expected that they were going to be made more
prosperous as a city by the money which we should take there.  I told them
that we brought nothing but knowledge to direct them in their labors and
to teach them how to employ their time.  This is the greatest wealth we
possess--to know how to rightly direct our labors, spending every hour
advantageously for the benefit of our wives and children and neighbors. 
This is right and commendable; it is required by Him whom we say we serve,
and it is the only true way to fill honestly the mission we have here upon
earth.  We should not only learn the principles of education known to
mankind, but we should reach out further than this, learning to live so
that our minds will gather in information from the heavens and the earth
until we can incorporate in our faith and understanding all knowledge
which is useful and practicable in our present condition and that will
lead to life eternal.

	Ye wise men of the world, ye men who profess to know how to guide the
destinies of great nations, ye kings and potentates, ye emperors and
rulers, who of you could take a people as poor and as ignorant in the
affairs of this world as the Latter-day Saints were when they were
scattered abroad among the nations, and gather them together, organize
them politically and religiously, and show them how to become healthy,
wealthy, and wise like this people?  Statesmen and rulers can lay waste
and destroy, but who of them can build up, enrich, and save the nation? 
They are not to be found.  They give no evidence of possessing the
capacity, for the proof of the ability of men to rule and manage is their
works.  I told them at Provo I would teach them how to get rich, in
wasting no time, and wisely disposing of all ability which God has given
them to do good.

	I have not spoken of the wrong, and I wish never to have an occasion
to do so, that I may never have occasion to find fault with Israel again. 
It is the good I delight to dwell upon and promote and encourage.  I
delight to see the inhabitants of Zion increase in good works, in faith
and faithfulness, and let sin pass behind, while they go on valiant and
strong in the service of God.  If we will hearken to counsel we shall be
the best people in the world; we shall be as a bright light set upon a
hill that cannot be hid, or like a candle upon a candlestick.  We declare
it to all the inhabitants of the earth from the valleys in the tops of
these mountains that we are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints--not a church but the church--and we have the doctrine of life and
salvation for all the honest-in-heart in all the world.  Who else has got
it?  Is it to be found in the creeds of Christendom?  It is not.  We have
the living oracles of the Lord Almighty to lead us day by day.  In
consideration of these things we should be exemplary in all our actions. 
We may do great works for the good of the poor, we may give all our goods
to feed them, and our bodies to be burned for the work of God, yet if we
trifle with the sacred name of the Lord, and with our own salvation, it
will profit us nothing, and we shall be found wanting, with no oil in our
vessels in the great day of the Lord.

	High Councillors, do you have any trials before you?  "Yes."  Have
the brethren complained of each other?  "Yes."  Are their feelings
alienated one from the other?  Is there a party spirit manifested in the
Council?  "Sometimes."  Do the brethren go off satisfied with the
decisions of the Council?  Bishops, do you have any trials?  Are the
feelings of the brethren in your Wards alienated?  "Yes."  What should
they do in such cases?  They should follow the rules laid down, and be
reconciled to their brethren forthwith.  I think that it can be shown that
the great majority of difficulties between brethren, arises from
misunderstandings rather than from malice and a wicked heart, and instead
of talking the matter over with each other in a saint-like spirit, they
will contend with each other until a real fault is created, and they have
brought a sin upon themselves.  "Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the
altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee,
leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled
to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.  Agree with thine
adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time
the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison.  Verily, I say unto thee, thou
shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost
farthing."  When we have done good ninety-nine times and then do an evil,
how common it is, my brethren and sisters, to look at that one evil all
the day long and never think of the good.  Before we judge each other we
should look at the design of the heart, and if it is evil, then chasten
that individual, and take a course to bring him back again to
righteousness.

	I want you to learn all you possibly can, and teach your neighbors,
giving them all the information you can.  When I see a brother or a sister
refuse to impart knowledge, I know there is something wrong in the heart
of that person.  I am here to do good, and to teach my brethren and
sisters to sanctify themselves, to get their food, to build cities and
make farms, to teach them to accumulate knowledge, and then dispense it to
all.

	I hope to see the time when we shall have a reformation in the
orthography of the English language, among this people, for it is greatly
needed.  Such a reformation would be a great benefit, and would make the
acquirement of an education much easier than at present.  I say to fathers
and mothers, never say a word that you would not be willing your son and
daughter should say, or commit an act you would not sanction in your son
or daughter, and so walk before your children that they may be prepared by
your example to walk in the ways of life everlasting, and they will not
depart from them; and if they, notwithstanding your example, should become
froward in their feelings, and unruly, they will soon see the folly of
their ways and turn to their parents and acknowledge their faults and
again wish to be feasted at their father's table.  Parents should never
drive their children, but lead them along, giving them knowledge as their
minds are prepared to receive it.  Solomon has written, "He that spareth
his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes."  I
do not think that these words of Solomon will justify the ruling of
children with an iron hand.  Chastening may be necessary betimes, but
parents should govern their children by faith rather than by the rod,
leading them kindly by good example into all truth and holiness.

	Our children who are born in the Priesthood are legal heirs, and
entitled to the revelations of the Lord, and as the Lord lives, his angels
have charge over them, though they may be left to themselves occasionally. 
We should learn our own nature, and live worthy of our being.  When Jesus
Christ was left to himself, in His darkest hour, he faltered not, but
overcame.  He was ordained to this work.  If we should ever be left to
ourselves, and the Spirit withdrawn from us, it will be to try the
strength of our integrity and faithfulness, to see whether we will walk in
His ways even in a dark and cloudy hour.  At times our children may not be
in possession of a good spirit, but if the parent continues to possess the
good spirit, the children will have the bad spirit but a short time. 
Parents who are Latter-day Saints are the ruling power; they are the kings
and queens.  Rule in righteousness, and in the fear and love of God, and
yonr [sic] children will follow you.  May God bless you.  Amen.

        REMARKS by President Brigham Young, in the New Tabernacle,
                              April 6, 1868.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
         NECESSITY OF OBEYING COUNSEL--REFORMATION IN EATING AND
        DRINKING--IMPROVEMENTS--FEMALE RELIEF SOCIETIES--CHASTITY.

	The items of instruction which have been laid before us by Elders
George A. Smith and George Q. Cannon are very important to us, they are
subjects which we have dwelt upon for years.  It is generally known among
us that we commenced some years ago to raise cotton in the southern
portion of our Territory, and it is also known that machinery to
manufacture it has been introduced into this country.  All this has been
done to encourage the people to become self-sustaining.  I am ready to
acknowledge that the Latter-day Saints are the best people, and the most
willing people to do right that I know anything about.  But when we take
into particular and close consideration their acts, and compare them with
the teaching they are constantly receiving, we think and say they are very
far from taking all the counsel given them of the Lord through His
servants.  But were they to be counseled, for instance, to go to the gold
mines, many of them would obey with alacrity.  If they were to be
counseled to chew or smoke tobacco, many would lift up both hands for
this, and shout for joy?  If the sisters many of them, were counseled to
continue the use of tea and coffee they would sit up all night to bless
you.  When we are counseled to do that which pleases us then are we
willing to obey counsel.  Yet when I consider the pit from whence we have
been taken, and the rock from whence we have been hewn, I can say, praise
to the Latter-day Saints.  Again, when we consider the immensity of
knowledge and wisdom and understanding pertaining to the things of this
life, pertaining to the learning of this world, pertaining to that which
is within our reach, and ready for the use and profit of the people, and
particularly with regard to taking care of ourselves, and then consider
our shortcomings, and slothfulness, we may look upon ourselves with
shamefacedness because of the smallness of our attainments in the midst of
so many great advantages.

	A thorough reformation is needed in regard to our eating and
drinking, and on this point I will freely express myself, and shall be
glad if the people will hear, believe and obey.  If the people were
willing to receive the true knowledge from heaven in regard to their diet
they would cease eating swine's flesh.  I know this as well as Moses knew
it, and without putting it in a code of commandments.  When I tell you
that it is the will of the Lord to cease eating swine's flesh, very likely
some one will tell you that it is the will of the Lord to stop eating beef
and mutton, and another that it is the will of the Lord to stop eating
fowl and fish until the minds of the people become bewildered, so that
they know not how to decide between right and wrong, truth and error.  The
beef fed upon our mountain grasses is as healthy food as we need at
present.  Beef, so fattened, is as good as wild meat, and is quite
different in its nature from stall-fed meat.  But we can eat fish; and I
ask the people of this community, Who hinders you from raising fowls for
their eggs?  Who hinders you from cultivating fruit of every variety that
will flourish in the different parts of this Territory?  There has not
been a day through the whole winter that I have not had fresh peaches, and
plenty of apples and strawberries.  Who hinders any person in this
community from having these different kinds of food in their families? 
Fish is as healthy a food as we can eat, if we except vegetables and
fruit, and with them will become a very wholesome diet.  What hinders us
from surrounding ourselves with an abundance of those various articles of
food which will promote health and produce longevity?  If it is anything,
it is our own neglect; or, in other words, which will answer my purpose
better, the want of knowing how.

	We cannot say there are loafers on our streets; still, there are
persons in our community who seem to have no other aim in existence, than
to pass away their time to no purpose or use to themselves or the
community.  They have nothing to do, and think that they cannot apply
themselves to anything that will benefit themselves and their families,
when they might with great propriety be engaged in laying out a garden,
fencing and planting it, and laying a foundation to make themselves and
their families comfortable.  It is true we have taken a great share of
this people from manufacturing districts, where the great masses of the
people know nothing about cultivating the earth; but they can learn it
soon, if they will, after they get here.  Let your minds be at home, and
let your attention be directed to that which the Lord has given you for
honor and glory to yourself, instead of being, like the fool which Solomon
wrote about, whose eyes are in the ends of the earth.  Consider that you
are at home, and strive to make your homes happy, comfortable and
delightful; let the spirit which you enjoy yourself abound therein.

	What is the reason that our brethren do not progress faster in their
improvements?  In a great measure it is for the want of leaders.  But this
is not altogether so.  Generally it is for lack of judgement and wisdom,
tact and talent, taste, industry and prudence in our Bishops.  As it has
been said, as with the priest so with the people.  This is the case in a
great measure; and we can say, as is the Bishop so are the members of his
ward.  It is the duty of the Bishops to take a course to make their lives,
characters, doings and sayings fit examples in all things to the people of
their wards.  Some of our Bishops have made no improvements for eighteen
years.  I have asked the Bishops to sow a little rye, to make straw for
hats and bonnets.  A few have done so.  I have asked them to do the same
thing this spring, that the sisters of their wards may have straw to
manufacture.  If the Bishops have not time to do this, or have not the
ground, get some of the brethren to do it who have time and ground, and
let there be an acre of rye sown to each ward, and then ask the sisters to
gather it in the proper season.  Some say that wheat straw is as good as
rye, if properly prepared.  Gather the straw, and make your bonnets and
hats, and wear them when you come to this tabernacle; and make hats for
your husbands and sons to wear, and for your brothers and your sisters,
your daughters and your mothers, and let us see all the sisters and all
our brethren and all our children wearing hats and bonnets of material
produced and manufactured by ourselves.  I have been pleading for this for
years and years.

	This is leap year; let the ladies take the lead in this and every
other species of home industry at which they can be employed.  We have
asked the sisters to organize themselves into Relief Societies; I again
ask the sisters in every ward of the Territory to do so, and get women of
good understanding to be your leaders, and then get counsel from men of
understanding; and let your fashions proceed from yourselves, and become
acquainted with those noble traits of character which belong to your sex. 
Ever since I knew that my mother was a woman I have loved the sex, and
delight in their chastity.  The man who abuses, or tries to bring dishonor
upon the female sex is a fool, and does not know that his mother and his
sisters were women.  Women are more ready to do and love the right that
[sic] men are; and if they could have a little guidance, and were
encouraged to carry out the instincts of their nature, they would effect a
revolution for good in any community a great deal quicker than men can
accomplish it.  Men have been placed on the earth to bear rule and to lead
in every good work, and if they would do their duty to-day in their own
government, and then throughout the world, they would stop whining about
the "Mormons" marrying so many wives, and the ladies would have somebody
to protect them and they would not need to flee to the "Mormon" Elders for
protection.  But outside of this community they are destroying the sex,
ruining all they can, and then they boast of their villainy.  Shall I say
that the women are short-sighted?  I will say they are weak: I will say
that it is in their nature to confide in and look to the sterner sex for
guidance, and thus they are the more liable to be led astray and ruined. 
It is the decree of the Almighty upon them to lean upon man as their
superior, and he has abused his privilege as their natural protector and
covered them with abuse and dishonor.

	I wish the whole people of the United States could hear me now, I
would say to them, let every man in the land over eighteen years of age
take a wife, and then go to work with your hands and cultivate the earth,
or labor at some mechanical business, or some honest trade to provide an
honest living for yourselves and those who depend upon you for their
subsistence; observing temperance, and loving truth and virtue; then would
the women be cared for, be nourished, honored and blest, becoming
honorable mothers of a race of men and women farther advanced in physical
and mental perfection than their fathers.  This would create a revolution
in our country, and would produce results that would be of incalculable
good.  If they would do this, the Elders of this Church would not be under
the necessity of taking so many wives.  Will they do this?  No, they will
not; and there are many who will continue to ruin every virtuous woman
they can, buying the virtue of woman with money and deception, and thus,
the lords of creation proceed from one conquest to another, boasting of
their victories, leaving ruin, tears and death in their pathway; and what
have they conquered?  A poor, weak, confiding, loving woman. And what have
they broken and crushed and destroyed?  One of the fairest gems of all
God's creation.  O man! for shame.  If the men of the city of New York
alone had done for the last twenty years as the men of this commnnity
[sic] have done, from two to four hundred thousand females from sixteen
years of age and upwards, whose dishonor and ruin are mercifully covered
in the grave, would now be in life and health, moving in the circles af
[sic] happy homes, prayed for, respected, loved and honored.

	Now, ladies, go to and organize yourselves into industrial societies,
and get your husbands to produce you some straw, and commence bonnet and
hat making.  If every ward would commence and continue this and other
industrial pursuits, it would not be long before the females of the wards
of our Territory would have stores in their wards, and means sufficient to
send and get the articles which they need, that cannot yet be manufactured
here and which they may want to distribute.

	It is an old saying that a woman can throw out of the window with a
spoon as fast as a man can throw into the door with a shovel; but a good
house-keeper will be saving and economical, and teach her children to be
good housekeepers, and how to take care of everything that is put in their
charge.  I do not wish to go into detail here; I see too much; I know too
much of the waste and neglect of our females to feel satisfied with them. 
Is this any more so with the female portion of our community than among
the males?  No, not at all; but the neglect, the idleness, the waste, and
the extravagance of men in our community are ridiculous.  They are
constantly taught better; they know better; yet, in many instances, the
same reckless waste is indulged in by the whole family.  If we will learn
to be wise and careful, we shall devote all our time in that way that will
be of the greatest advantage to us and to our common cause, continually
bettering our condition, and become more and more competent to do good.

	I have tried continually to get this people to pursue a course that
will make them self-sustaining, taking care of their poor--the lame, the
halt and the blind, lifting the ignorant from where they have no
opportunity of observing the ways of the world, and of understanding the
common knowledge possessed among the children of men, bringing them
together from the four quarters of the world, and making of them an
intelligent, thrifty and self-sustaining people.  This is a work that is
worthy the attention of the Saints.  We have gathered thousands from many
nations.  By the aid of the Almighty we have raised them out of penury and
miserable dependence, and have taught them how to become wealthy in
possessions, useful to themselves and their neighbors, good citizens, and,
I trust, faithful Saints.  We are still continuing our labors in gathering
the poor from foreign lands, and the people are doing marvels in
contributing their means for this purpose; and it is still coming, and we
hope to be able to still enlarge our operations for the deliverance of the
poor and downtrodden Saints of all nations.  We can continue to receive
and send means until July.

	Now, sisters, will you commence to pay attention to the raising of
silk?  There are numbers of sisters in our community who could pay
attention to this industry, and teach the children to gather the mulberry
leaves and to feed the worms.  I wish all those sisters whose hands are
not tied with large families to enter into this business with heart and
hand in their different wards.  Plant the mulberry tree, and raise silk
every year, also silk worm eggs.  By pursuing this business faithfully,
year by year, it will bring a yearly revenue to each ward of thousands of
dollars, making the people more and more able to perform works of
benevolence and mercy, and to make themselves more and more comfortable in
their living.

	The Kingdom of God is upward and onward, and will so continue until
its power and influence extend to the relief of the honest of all nations. 
It is for us to look to the welfare of the Kingdom of God; for it alone
will sustain us, build us up and save us now and hereafter, and prepare us
to enjoy a blessed eternity.  May God bless you.  Amen.


        REMARKS by President Brigham Young, in the New Tabernacle,
                        afternoon, April 8, 1868.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
           DOMESTIC ECONOMY--TRAINING CHILDREN--CULTIVATION OF
                  SILK--APPLICATION OF LABOR--LONGEVITY.

	President Heber C. Kimball has exhorted the bishops to gather around
them the young men and teach them the privileges which they enjoy, and try
to lead them in the right way.  Bishops, I wish you to hearken to this
piece of good advice.  I will give each of the young men in Israel, who
have arrived at an age to marry, a mission to go straightway and get
married to a good sister, fence a city lot, lay out a garden and orchard
and make a home, and especially do not forget to plant a proper proportion
of mulberry trees.  This is the mission that I give to all the young men
in Israel.  And I say to you, sisters, if you do not know how to milk a
cow, you can soon learn.  If you do not know how to feed the fows [sic],
you can learn.  If you do not know how to feed the chickens, get them and
learn how, and if your husband takes you to live in ever so small and
humble a cottage, make it neat and nice and clean, and set out flowers
around the doors, and let the husband plant fruit trees and shade trees,
and let wives help their husbands that they may be encouraged to take hold
of more important business that will create an income sufficient to
sustain their wives, and by economy and care become wealthy in a short
time, and have your carriage to ride in.  What a satisfaction it will be
to you to know that what you possess is the result of your industry and
economy.  "It was not given to us by grandfather, or by father, or by
mother, or any relation; but we have got these comforts by our industry,
saving, and the blessings of the Lord."  By this means our young men and
maidens will gain for themselves credit, respect, and a name in Israel
worthy of the admiration of all good persons.  How much better is this
course than the opposite, to spend precious time to no profit, always
being in a state of dependence.  Were the Lord to speak of such conduct,
he would use terms to show that He is not well pleased with it.

	I have a short sermon for my sisters.  I wish you, under the
direction of your bishops and wise men, to establish your relief
societies, and organize yourselves under the direction of the brethren,
and establish yourselves for doing business, gathering up your little
amounts of means that would otherwise go to waste, and put them to usury,
and make more of them, and thus keep gathering in.  Let this be commenced
forthwith.  Ask your husbands to furnish you some straw for hats and
bonnets, and when you get it put more than three straws over your head,
and make a hat that will shade you from the scorching sun.  I have a great
desire to live and see the prosperity of this people, and one thing among
the rest, I would like to see the time when our sisters will take more
pains to beautify their children.  When your children arise in the morning
instead of sending them out of doors to wash in cold, hard water, with a
little soft soap, and wiping them as though you would tear the skin off
them, creating roughness and darkness of skin, take a piece of soft
flannel, and wipe the faces of your children smooth and nice, dry them
with a soft cloth; and instead of giving them pork for their breakfast,
give them good wholesome bread and sweet milk, baked potatoes, and also
buttermilk if they like it, and a little fruit, and I would have no
objections to their eating a little rice.  Rice is an excellent food for
children, and I wish some of the brethren would cultivate it in these
valleys.  Upland rice will flourish in this country.  Train up your
children to be beautiful and fair, instead of neglecting them until they
are sunburned and become like the natives of our mountains.  Let the
sisters take care of themselves, and make themselves beautiful, and if any
of you are so superstitious and ignorant as to say that this is pride, I
can say that you are not informed as to the pride which is sinful before
the Lord, you are also ignorant as to the excellency of the heavens, and
of the beauty which dwells in the society of the Gods.  Were you to see an
angel, you would see a beautiful and lovely creature.  Make yourselves
like angels in goodness and beauty.  Let the mothers in Israel make their
sons and daughters healthy and beautiful, by cleanliness and a proper
diet.  Whether you have much or little clothing for your children, it can
be kept clean and healthy, and be made to fit their persons neatly.  Make
your children lovely and fair that you may delight in them.  Cease to send
out your children to herd sheep with their skins exposed to the hot sun,
until their hands and faces appear as though they lived in an ash heap.  I
call upon my sisters to lead out in these things; and create your own
fashions, and make your clothing to please yourselves, independent of
outside influences; and make your hats and bonnets to shade you.  I wish
you, sisters, to listen to these counsels, and place yourselves in a
condition to administer to the poor.  Get your husbands to provide you
with a little of this and a little of that of which you can make something
by adding your own labor.  I do not mean that you shall apply to them for
five dollars and ten dollars to spend for that which is of no profit, but
manufacture something that will be useful as well as beautiful and comely.

	You ought to enter into the cultivation of silk.  Our bench lands are
well adapted to the growth of the mulberry tree, the leaves of which
produce the natural food for the silk worm.  There is no better land nor
climate in the world than we have for this branch of business.  We can
make ourselves independently rich at this business alone, if it is
properly pursued.  There ought to be a plot of land in each ward devoted
to the cultivation of silk, and a cocoonery built in the centre of it, and
in the season thereof let the children of the wards who have nothing to
do, and aged people, gather the leaves and feed the worms.  The work is
light and interesting, while the sales of wound silk, for which there is
always a market to be found, will do much towards feeding and clothing
poor persons that would otherwise be entirely dependent.  If the worms are
well taken care of, the season of feeding only lasts from thirty-five to
forty days.  If I cannot succeed in getting the sisters with their
children to attend to this business, I shall be under the necessity of
sending to China for Chinamen to come here and raise silk for us, which I
do not wish to do.  To pay people the wages they want here would prevent
us from raising silk profitably.  We look forward to the period when the
price of labor here will be brought to a reasonable and judicious
standard.

	Now, sisters, go to forthwith and get you an acre of land, and get
the Bishops and the brethren to fence it, and prepare it for the reception
of the trees, and go and help them; but be sure to wear a wide brimmed hat
while doing it, so as not to get tanned with the sun and the wind.  Go to
and raise silk.  You can do it, and those who cannot set themselves to
work we will set them to work gathering straw, and making straw hats and
straw bonnets; we will set others to gathering willows, and others to
making baskets; we will set others to gathering flags and rushes, and to
making mats, and bottoming chairs, and making carpets.  I pray you in
Christ's stead to let gold hunting alone, and pray the Lord to cover it up
in our region of country that it cannot be found.  Those among us who are
anxious to find rich gold deposits, are equally anxious to destroy
themselves, and we are no wiser than our little children are in handling
sharp-edged tools.  They would not only destroy themselves, but allaround
them if they had the power to do it.  Instead of hunting gold, let every
man go to work at raising wheat, oats, barley, corn and vegetables, and
fruit in abundance, that there may be plenty in the land.  Raise sheep,
and produce the finest quality of wool in large quantities.  By the
migratory system of feeding sheep in this country they will be healthy,
and produce large clips of wool.  I hope, by the blessings of the Lord, to
demonstrate this the present season.  In these pursuits are the true
sources of wealth, and we have as much capital in these mountains to begin
with as any people in the world, according to the number of our community. 
Real capital consists in knowledge and physical strength.  If we know how
to apply our labor, it will produce for us everything we can ask for; it
will bring to us the food and the clothing we want, and every facility we
need for comfort, for refinement, for excellence, for beauty, and for
adornment.  It will bring to us the wealth of the world, the gold and the
silver, although gold and silver are not real wealth.  They are useful as
a medium of exchange, as foundation upon which to base a currency, and to
use as ornaments and household vessels; and so gold should be regarded
until there is enough of it to pave our streets.  O, ye Elders of Israel
who are greedy for gold, instead of wasting your time in search of it,
gather around you the comforts of life, with which the elements are
loaded, and make yourselves rich in all the elegancies and conveniences by
means of economy and industry.  I wish the sisters to lead out in the
fashions.  It is very little difference what fashion you produce.  I would
just as soon see you wear hats with wide brims as not, if you have that
fashion that will give comfort and convenience and produce health and
longevity.  We wish to promote the longevity of the people.  Tell your
husbands to get you a heifer calf or two and some chickens, and you will
feed them, and take care of them, instead of feeding pigs, and if your
husbands have springs on their land, get them to clean them out and dam
them up a little, and introduce the spawn of the best fish we have in
these mountains, and collect all the information that has been printed,
and which comes within your reach on the subject of raising fish.  And
raise your potatoes and parsnips and carrots for feeding them with, adding
a little corn meal, or a little oat meal.  We can raise fish here, and the
cost will be one fourth less per pound than other meats.  You may think
that fowls are injurious to the garden; but they are not.  They will pick
up grubs and cut worms and other destructive insects, and the good they do
in this respect will far overbalance any trifling injury they may do to
young plants.  They will keep your gardens clean of these pests, and
fatten, giving you plenty of eggs to eat.  Take care of them, and get a
little patch of lucerne planted to give to your young heifer, and rear her
until she gives you her increase.  This is for you young women who want to
get husbands.  Tell the young men that you will sustain yourselves, and
teach them how to sustain themselves if they do not know how, if they will
only come and marry you.  Now, girls, court up the boys, it is leap year. 
Give them to understand in some way that it is all right.  You are ready,
and you want to help them to make a good home, to form a nucleus around
which to gather the blessings and comforts of life, a place to rally to. 
While you are on the move and unsettled you can get nothing that is
permanent.  Tell the boys what to do, and you sisters of experience, ye
mothers in Israel, go to and get up your societies, and teach these girls
what to do, and how to get the boys to come and marry them.  The neglect
and lazy habits which our boys are falling into are a disgrace to us, to
say nothing about the sin of such conduct.  They produce nothing, and
consider themselves unable to take care of a family, and they will not
marry.  This conduct of theirs leaves our young women without partners;
they want somebody to look to, and something that they can do to advantage
and bless themselves, and have a home to go to.  Young men, fit you up a
little log cabin, if it is not more than ten feet square, and then get you
a bird to put in your little cage.  You can then work all day with
satisfaction to yourself, considering that you have a home to go to, and a
loving heart to welcome you.  You will then have something to encourage
you to labor and gather around you the comforts of life, and a place to
gather them to.  Strive to make your little home attractive.  Use lime
freely, and let your houses nestle beneath the cool shades of trees, and
be made fragrant with perfumes of flowers.

	These are practical teachings; they are things which this people must
be taught, for if we do not learn to take care of ourselves and save
ourselves, who will do it for us?  Will the Gentiles help us, and care for
us?  Will they do us good?  No.  And I tell you further, Elders of Israel,
that you do not know the day of your visitation, neither do you understand
the signs of the times, for if you did you would be awake to these things. 
Every organization of our government, the best government in the world, is
crumbling to pieces.  Those who have it in their hands are the ones who
are destroying it.  How long will it be before the words of the prophet
Joseph will be fulfilled?  He said if the Constitution of the United
States were saved at all it must be done by this people.  It will not be
many years before these words come to pass.  How long will it be before
they will be coming here for bread, for the bread of life, and for the
bread which sustains the body?  Do you know this?  You do not.  This
community live as it were from hand to mouth.  They must learn to lay up
food.  Notwithstanding all that has been said to the people on this
subject, not one man to thirty has bread sufficient to last him one year. 
As our mechanics are paid, they might have laid up their hundreds if not
their thousands a year.  Brethren, learn.  You have learned a good deal it
is true; but learn more; learn to sustain yourselves; lay up grain and
flour, and save it against a day of scarcity.  Sisters, do not ask your
husbands to sell the last bushel of grain you have to buy something for
you out of the stores, but aid your husbands in storing it up against a
day of want, and always have a year or two's provision on hand.  A great
abundance of fruit can be dried.  There are but few families in this city
who do not have the privilege of drying and laying up fruit.  Yet the
majority of families in this community, instead of using fruit that was
dried last fall but one, are using fruit dried last year when the
grasshoppers were here.  A year's supply should be kept ahead, so that
families would not be compelled to eat fruit that had been injured by
grasshoppers and other insects.  We should accumulate all kinds of
nutritive substances, and preserve them from worms, which can easily be
done.  If we do not take care of ourselves, we shall have a very poor
chance to be taken care of. If we will hearken to the counsel that is
given to us we shall know how to sustain ourselves in every particular. 
Mothers in Israel, sisters, ask your husbands to take care of the sheep
they have got, and not wilfully waste them; but multiply them and bring
our wool to the factories to be manufactured, or trade it for yarn and
cloth.  The woolen mills which we now have in the country will work up a
great deal of wool if they can get it.  Who is there in our community that
raises flax?  Is there any attention paid to this culture?  I think not,
but it is, "Husband, sell your wheat, sell your oats to buy me the linen I
want."  We shall in the future have flax machines here to make the finest
of linen; and we can make the cotton and silk in abundance.  I would urge
the brethren of the southern country to plant cotton sufficient to supply
the wants of the factories that are now in the country, and let us
continue our labors until we can manufacture everything we want.  All this
is embraced in our religion, every good word and work, all things
temporal, and all things spiritual, things in heaven, things on earth, and
things that are under the earth and circumscribed by our religion.  We are
in the fastnesses of the mountains, and if we do these things, and delight
in doing right, our feet will be made fast and immovable like the bases of
these everlasting hills.  We ought not to desire anything only on
righteous principles, and if we want right, let us then deal it out to
others, being kind and full of love and charity to all.  My brethren and
sisters, I have occupied considerable time; but I have not spoken one
tenth of what I wish to say to you.  By the authority that the Lord has
granted to me, I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

   REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle,
                     Salt Lake City, May 10th, 1868.
                        [Reported by G. D. Watt.]
     THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST--THE LIVING TESTIMONY--WORD OF WISDOM.

	The gospel which we preach is the gospel of life and salvation.  The
Church which we represent is the Church and Kingdom of God, and possesses
the only faith by which the children of men can be brought back into the
presence of our Father and God.  The Lord has set his hands to restore all
things as in the beginning, and by the administration of His Holy
Priesthood, save all who can be saved, cleanse from the world the
consequenses [sic] of the fall and give it to the hands of His Saints.  I
am a witness of these things.  How far short we may come of being what we
should be, or of improving as fast as we should, matters not; this is the
Kingdom of God, this is the way of life and salvation, and all who hearken
to and receive it in their faith, and live it in their lives, will have
the privilege of returning to their Father and their God; and none else
will come into His presence.  It is true that the spirits of all people
will return to God who gave the, both Saint and sinner, but as to their
staying there and becoming permanent settlers in His immediate presence is
another question.

	The practical part of the lives of the Saints in our day, and in
former days on this earth or on other earths, is another part of the great
subject of salvation.  The faith of the people as a general thing is
correct; but the lives of many of the Latter-day Saints are far from being
what they should be.  To be Latter-day Saints men and women must be
strictly honest; they must observe that code of moral religion which is
taught in the world and which is as good as can be taught.  There are
numbers of the human family who profess the religions of men who live the
moral code acknowledged among them as strictly as men and women can do.

	When we talk of the true Church of Christ we speak of a system of
theology, the principles of which will bear upon every motive and act of
mankind.  If there is a fault in the people, it will make it manifest; if
there is a weakness, it will be made apparent, for the Lord takes this
course that His children may exhibit what is in them.  In the latter days
He will reveal the secrets of the hearts of the children of men.  He is
now doing this by breaking up the people here and there.  He is leading
them through circumstances to try them to the uttermost.  If we are not
tried in all things already, there is plenty of time yet for us to be so
tried, even as Abraham was.  Be patient, my brethren and sisters, for we
shall all have the privilege of being tried to the uttermost if we are
worthy.  How many trials Abraham had, and how severe they were we have not
been fully informed.  A portion of his life has been committed to paper,
and handed down to us, which we can read at our leisure.  Whether he was
tried as we are tried, and in as many ways as the Latter-day Saints are
tried, I do no [sic] know.  There is no question but that he was tried
sufficiently to prove before his Father and God that he was worthy of the
blessings he obtained--that he was worthy of the priesthood and the keys
thereof--that he was worthy to receive the articles of truth, to dispense
salvation to his father's house and to his friends and neighbors, and to
all who would hearken to his counsels.

	The Latter-day Saints are a very peculiar people, and they are led in
a peculiar way.  We are brought into circumstances so as to be a stumbling
block to the nations, through the failings and weaknesses of the
Latter-day Saints.  Jesus was a stumbling block to the nation of the Jews,
and to the generation in which he lived, and to all that knew him, and how
singular it is that Jesus Christ, at this late day, and at such a distance
from the theatre of his operations, should have attained such celebrity
and fame; even his disciples are not only canonized, but almost deified,
and looked upon as though they were gods come down to dwell with men. 
Every circumstance connected with the Savior's life is looked upon as
being divine.  Christendom now acknowledge that Jesus was the Son of God;
they look upon him as God manifested in the flesh according to the New
Testament; yet the generation in which He lived did not see these tokens
of divinity which this generation recognize.  To them he was "a root out
of dry ground"--"a stumbling block," "a rock of offence."  So with the
Latter-day Saints.  They are a stumbling block to this generation.  The
world see all their weaknesses and faults, and see no divinity in the work
in which they are engaged.  Yet this is not to be wondered at, inasmuch as
the world could not see it in Jesus when he dwelt in mortality.  We are
looked upon as a low, degraded, ignorant set of fanatics.  This is the
opinion of the great majority of the learned and refined world.  Others
say that our people are the dupes of a few.  We do not claim to be very
wise, but we do know that that portion of mankind called Christians in our
day, who profess to be followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, are grossly
ignorant of His character, and of the means and way of Salvation which He
offers to the world.  The Latter-day Saints, as a people, may not be so
far advanced in the knowledge of many of the sciences, as their neighbors;
but they are learning how to take care of themselves, which is one of the
greatest arts known to man.  When the most learned and scientific among
men scrutinize their own lives and experience, they are under the
necessity of acknowledging that they are faulty, weak, ignorant; they are
"strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world."

	Instead of considering that there is nothing known and understood,
only as we know and understand things naturally, I take the other side of
the question, and believe positively that there is nothing known except by
the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether in theology, science, or
art.  The world receive information and light on great principles of
science and knowledge in the arts, to subserve the hidden purposes of the
Almighty, but they are ignorant of the source from whence it comes to
them.  They seek not to know God, whom to know is life everlasting.  They
seek not to know the source of their own existence, and of all light and
truth.  They are not willing to acknowledge His hand in anything; and for
this the God of Heaven is displeased with them, and His anger is kindled
against them.  They have every evidence that can be asked that Joseph
Smith was a prophet sent from God, yet they cannot acknowledge it; while
at the same time, with the scriptures in their hands, they can but
acknowledge the supremacy of the doctrine we preach over the dogmas of the
age, and in the growth of this community in the face of a constant stream
of abuse and persecution, gathering the poor from all nations, they must
acknowledge the superior wisdom and power displayed, that cannot be
attributed to man.  The wisdom which God has given them teaches them
better.  It teaches them that a secret something, an invisible agency is
evidently at work behind the curtain.  What mortal has the power to call
people from the ends of the earth?  While Jesus Christ was in the flesh He
did not manifest his power.  How much power did He manifest over the
people of the world in His day?  Did He send His disciples to the nations
and call His followers together from the ends of the earth by thousands? 
He did not.  There is no doubt but that He had the power to call the
people together; but he did not manifest it.  The people saw no exhibition
of this power when he was among them.  But He is doing it now, and if it
had been the time to do it in His day it could have been done by the power
of the heavens through Him, as it is now done by the same power through
Joseph Smith and his brethren.  God is now displaying His power in a
marvelous degree, whispering to the inmost souls of the children of men in
foreign lands with a still, small voice, "flee to the mountains, for the
day of the Lord is upon the wicked nations of Babylon;" and the cry: "come
out of her, my people" has gone throughout the world.  Do we improve as
fast as we should?  We do not improve as fast as we might; but I am happy
to know that we improve, and we can improve more if we please.  Compare
the progress of the Saints in the days of the Savior and His disciples,
with the progress of the Saints in these days.

	When a "Mormon" Elder offers evidence of this great work to
unbelievers, they tell him that he is a party concerned, and his evidence
cannot be taken with regard to Joseph Smith's mission.  I ask the
Christian world where are your witnesses that Jesus is the Christ?  Who
are those who testified of His mission, and how many are there?  Eight
persons testified of Him, and their testimony is recorded, and they were
his disciples and parties concerned; yet at this day all the Christian
world is ready to receive their testimony.  I testify that this work of
God in which we are engaged has been commenced to gather the house of
Israel and establish Zion in the last days, and has more outward and
weighty evidence to prove that it is of God than there was in the days of
Jesus to prove that he was the Christ.  When the Book of Mormon came forth
it was testified to by twelve witnesses, and who can dispute their
testimony?  No living person on the earth can do it; and besides the
testimony of these twelve witnesses, hundreds and thousands have received
a witness to themselves from the Heavens, and who can dispute their
testimony?  No living person on the earth can do it.  This infidel world
inquires, "where do you get your testimony?"  We answer, we get it from
the Heavens.  Were we to ask them where they get the knowledge they
possess, they reply, "We do not know it; it came to us; we know not its
source."  We have testimony that the Bible is true, that the prophecies
contained in it are true, that Jesus is the son of God, and came to redeem
the world.  Have the so-called Christian world this kind of testimony? 
They have not.  All the testimony they can boast of is the testimony of
eight men who lived nearly two thousand years ago.  The infidel world
cannot receive their testimony, because they were parties concerned.

	We are asked if signs follow the believer in our day as in days of
old.  We answer, they do.  The blind see, the lame leap, the deaf hear,
the gift of prophecy is manifest, also the gift of healing, the gift of
revelation, the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues.  Jesus
said that these signs should follow them that believe.  His Church and
Kingdom always have these signs which follow the believer in all ages when
the true Church is in existence.  Do they follow any but believers?  They
do not.  The gift and power of the Holy Ghost, as enjoyed by the ancient
saints, and its various manifestations, are not received in the faith of
modern Christian sects.  They say that the gift and power of the Holy
Ghost have ceased; that the canon of Scripture is full; that there is no
more new revelation, no more prophecy, no more inspired visions, no more
administrations of angels as in days of old, no more voice of God from the
heavens, no more inspired prophets and apostles, who seal on earth and it
is sealed in heaven; from whence then have they testimony that Jesus is
the Christ, and that God lives?  The very book which they believe to be
inspired, and which they offer to the heathen and the infidel as the
strongest evidence they possess for the divinity of their religion
declares positively that signs shall follow the believer, and this very
important declaration and promise they discard altogether.  We say that
signs do in our day follow the believer, and here is the witness and
testimony that Jesus is the Christ.

	If we speak of ourselves our testimony is nothing, but if we speak by
the power of God that is within us, the same Spirit bears witness that we
are the true followers of the Lord Jesus, and convinceth the world of sin
and of a judgment to come.  The Spirit of the Almighty is abroad among the
people, and all, who will listen to the truth will be convinced by the
spirit of truth, and they will flow together from distant lands, and as
the salt of the earth is gathered out the nations will break to pieces;
and are they not at this time breaking to pieces?  The honest in heart are
gathering out, by thousands and tens of thousands from the nations of
Babylon.  They are leaving their fathers, and mothers, and husbands, and
wives, and children, and friends, and associations, at the call of the
gospel preached by the Elders of this Church.  What power, but the power
of God, could stir up the world and enlighten the soul and better the
condition of multitudes, teaching them to make the wilderness blossom as
the rose and the desert places to be inhabited?

	After the Latter-day Saints are gathered together, I repeat, that we
do not improve as fast as we should.  This World of wisdom which has been
supposed to have become stale, and not in force, is like all the counsels
of God, in force as much to-day as it ever was.  There is life,
everlasting life in it--the life which now is and the life which is to
come.  We have had this Word of Wisdom thirty-five years last February,
and the whole people have not yet learned to observe it after the true
spirit and meaning of it.  There is within a few years past a great
improvement in this, so much so that I very much doubt whether a tobacco
spittle could be found upon the floor of this tabernacle after this
congregation is dismissed.  Tobacco is not good to receive into the human
system; hot drinks are not good.  We will use cold drinks to allay thirst
and warm drinks for medicine.  Flesh should be used sparingly, in famine
and in cold.  The people are beginning to listen to these things.  The
Spirit of the Lord is urging the people to cease from everything that is
evil, and to reform in their lives; for unless the spirit urged the people
to do right, we might as well talk to the sides of this house.  We are
urged by the spirit to refrain from articles which tend to death, to
preserve this life, which is the most precious life given to mortal beings
preparatory to an immortal life.  It is our business to prepare to live
here to do good.  Instead of crying to the people prepare to die, our cry
is prepare to live forevermore.  These mortal houses will drop off
sometime, and when they are cleansed and purified, sanctified and
glorified, we shall inherit them again forever and ever.  Let all the
Saints pursue a course to live.  Let those who fight against God's Kingdom
fall asleep; and let those who build it up live and prosper until their
work in the flesh is done.  We say to worldly-wise men, acknowledge the
hand of God in your greatness and wisdom and in all the blessings which
you receive, for you receive them all from him.

	Are we improving as a people? We are.  I have said, and say to-day,
that according to the age of the people we have improved as fast as the
church of Enoch.  I trust we improve faster, for we have not as much time
as they had.  In some of the first revelations which were given to this
Church the order of Enoch was given for a pattern to this people; and
Enoch patterned after the heavens.  The object of the School of the
Prophets is to train ourselves until we can receive the order of Enoch in
all its fullness.  In the commencement of this Church the Latter-day
Saints could not receive it, and they were driven from city to city, as
the Lord said they should be through the mouth of His servant Joseph,
until they should be willing to receive this order.

	There is no evil in doing good, no wrong in doing right.  It is the
evil that people do which renders them obnoxious to the heavens, hateful
to each other, and unworthy of their being upon the earth.  Let the people
be righteous, full of love, faith and good works, loving and serving God
with all their hearts, and they are happy, and they strive to make
everybody around them happy.  From henceforth the wicked will become more
wicked, and their wickedness will be made more manifest, and the
corruptions which now lurk in darkness will stalk abroad, and confidence
and safety will vanish from among men, until the good-meaning people among
all nations will be willing to flee to any place to fine [sic] peace and
safety.  Let us be obedient to the man we serve.  We believe in a one Man
power, and that Man is God our Father, who lives in the Heavens.  In being
united with Him we can see the beauty of the order of heaven.

	The written word which we have, namely, the Old and New Testament,
the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants all agree in
testifying that Jesus is the Christ, but no man can know this without the
testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.  Flesh and blood did
not reveal that fact to Peter, but the Father who is in heaven.  By this
power do we known [sic] that Christ lives and is the Savior of the world,
and has commenced His work in the last days, to gather His people, redeem
and build up Zion, gather the remnants of Israel, bring the Gentiles into
His covenant who will receive the gospel, restore the Jews to their land,
and establish the New and Everlasting covenant, which He established with
the fathers and ratified to the children.  We are in this work; and we are
called to be faithful and to sanctify ourselves as a people and prepare
for the coming of the Son of Man.  May God help us to do so.  Amen.

            REMARKS by President Brigham Young, at Bountiful,
                             May 17th, 1868.
                      [Reported by Edward L. Sloan.]
           EVIDENCES THAT THE SAINTS LOVE AND SERVE GOD--HOW TO
                   BUILD UP ZION--TAKING CARE OF GRAIN.

	I have been looking back over my own experience a little, with regard
to the religion that we have embraced.  I have been asking myself what
proof have the Latter-day Saints that they are actually in the path that
leads to everlasting life?  Have the Saints any evidence that they love
and serve God?  I will tell you my experience in a few words.  Before the
gospel came to me, the world was dark and thorny; and I studied for myself
to do business as a man of the world.  I soon became disgusted with the
world as it was, for I found that I could scarcely trust any one.  When
the gospel came I found what I wanted.  It filled every wish, desire and
hope pertaining to this life or that which is to come.  I received it and
the spirit and life of it, and I have asked myself, while sitting here,
what proof have I that I love God, that I delight to serve Him and build
up His kingdom?  It is natural to love somebody, or something or other. 
If you find a person who does not wish to love some object, you would call
that man or woman an unnatural person.  If I am asked what I love, I would
answer, "I love this gospel which I have received."  "Do you love the
wicked?"  No.  "Do you not like to converse with them?"  No.  I have no
delight in the wicked, in their conversation or society, only to do them
good.  This proves to me that if I do not love God I do not love any
being.  If I do not love His gospel which He has revealed in the day in
which we live, I do not love any principles upon the earth.  If I do not
love the people who are gathered out from the nations, who compose the
Church and Kingdom of God on the earth, I do not love any body.  If I do
not love to talk about our religion and to teach it to others, have it in
my house and with me all the time, I do not love anything.  If I spend a
minute that is not in some way devoted to building up the Kingdom of God
and promoting righteousness, I regret that minute, and wish it had been
otherwise spent.  This proves to me that the Spirit of the Lord is with
me.

	Our teaching to the brethren and sisters is for them to purify
themselves.  I shall not ask them to love the Lord our God with all their
hearts, it is a requirement of Heaven, and you know it as well as I do. 
But will ask some things.  Will our brethren cease using language which
they should not use?  This is one of the rules in the School of the
Prophets.  Will the Elders of Israel pray in their families?  Will they
pay their tithing?  We can ask this, for it is an outward labor.  If they
do not love the Lord with all their hearts, they can pay their tithing,
and pay it as an old gentleman in the east said he could do when he was
paying a poor man some grain.  He said the devil stepped up to him and
whispered "scoop out a little,"  He stood and listened, and something said
to him again, "scoop out a little," tempting him.  Said he, "Mr Devil,
leave my barn; if you don't I'll heap every half bushel for this poor
man."

	They can heap up the half bushel, and send in the butter and eggs for
the Public Works, and to feed the poor a great many of whom are supported
from tithing; they can perform required labor, if they do not love the
Lord with all their hearts; and they can cease to take the name of the
Lord in vain.  If you say you get tempted to use language you should not
use, I will tell you what to do.  If you are in the kanyon and your cattle
are likely to fill you with wrath, fill your mouth with India-rubber and
keep it close that the words cannot get out.  Do not say a word to grieve
the Spirit of God.

	Cease contending with each other.  Keep the Word of Wisdom.  There
are but few of the Elders now who use tobacco, and our sisters can do
without their tea and coffee.  They can keep the Word of Wisdom, for many
of them do keep it.  I only saw one cup of coffee last summer during my
trip south, and it was for an old lady eighty years of age.  She asked me
if she might not take her cups of coffee; and I told her to take it, and
blessed her and her coffee.  We can stop the use of liquor.  We can be
wise in our work and not labor beyond our strength.  We can cease running
in debt and purchasing things that we could do without.

	If the Latter-day Saints could look at things as they are, they would
see that there is a grevious [sic] sin upon this people for neglecting
their stock and letting them perish; turning their sheep on to the range
for a few hours, and bringing them up and penning them twenty hours out of
the twenty-four, until they become diseased and sickly.  If the people
could see as an angel sees, they would behold a great sin in neglecting
the stock which the Lord has given them, for it is the Lord who gives us
the increase of cattle and sheep, yet many of the people treat them as a
thing of naught.  I heard a man say, in 1853, that it was a curse to the
people to have so much wheat.  He said he could not get anything but wheat
for his work.  I told him if he did not see cause in this life, to repent
his saying, he would yet repent it.  These are all the gifts of God; and
when we treat lightly His gifts, it is a sign we desire that which we
should not possess.

	These are things concerning which the people need to be instructed. 
We should take a course to preserve our lives and the lives of the animals
committed to our care.  We should refrain from using swine's flesh.  We
should breathe the pure mountain air in our bed-rooms.  We should have
lofty rooms, high above the ground, for though this earth is pure,
compared with miasmatic places, the air that is above the ground is
preferable to that close to it.  We should have plenty of pure, fresh air. 
If children are kept in close bed-rooms, they become puny and weakly.  Let
them sleep where they can have abundance of pure air, in well ventilated
rooms, or out of doors, in the summer time, in a safe place; it will be
most beneficial for their health.

	In building up the Zion of God on this land we must become very
different from what we are now, in many respects and particularly in
financial matters.  I look at myself and ask myself what have I done to
become wealthy?  Nothing; only to preach the gospel.  Yet I have nothing
but what is the Lord's.  He has only made me steward over it, to see what
I will do with it.  I have never walked across the streets to make a
trade.  I do not care anything about such things; I desire to preach the
gospel and build up the Kingdom of God.  True, I have considerable wealth,
but it has not been my wisdom that has put it in my posession [sic]. 
There are many men who are so anxious for wealth, that if they cannot make
a fortune in a few months, they feel they are not succeeding according to
their desires, and they turn to something else.  I do not do this; nor am
I anxious to spend a dollar as fast as I make it.  Some people feel as if
a dollar would burn a hole in their pockets; and you will see a great many
almost crazy to spend whatever they have.  When they see wheat selling for
a price far below its value, instead of putting it in a bin and keeping
it, they dispose of it--throw it away, comparatively speaking.  I keep it,
and by this means I am now able to feed the public hands.

	Years ago, Brother Kimball counseled the people to lay up two year's
provisions, and then enough for four, for six and for seven years.  I have
it now, and I am dealing it out.  Some people have so much faith that
although the grasshoppers are around in such vast numbers, they are
confident of an abundant harvest, because of the movements made to gather
the poor this season.  They say the Lord would not inspire His servants to
bring the poor from the nations that they might starve.  And so believing,
they will go and sell the last bushel of wheat for comparatively nothing,
trusting in God to provide for their wants.  My faith is not of this kind;
it is reasonable.  If the Lord gives good crops this season, and tells us
to lay up from that abundance, I do not think He will increase His
blessings upon us if we foolishly squander those He has already given us. 
I belive [sic] He will bless the earth for His people's sake; and I will
till it and try to get a crop from it; but if I neglect to take advantage
of the goodness of the Lord, or misuse or treat lightly His mercies, I
need not expect that they will be continued upon me to the same extent. 
Have not my sisters here, gleaned in the fields around for years past? 
And when they have had their gleanings thrashed out, have they not taken
the grain to the stores and sold it to our enemies, instead of laying it
by?  And yet they will expect to be blessed continually with plenty!  I
have not so much faith as this.  I have a reasonable faith, a sustaining
faith, one that I can build my hopes upon; and I think I will not be
disappointed.  I labor and toil, but I do not waste my labor.

	Now, you who wish to hire out with wicked and mingle with the
ungodly, does it suit you to hear the name and character of the Deity
profaned, and every principle of propriety violated?  If you go to the
gold mines, or wherever the wicked are, you will hear the name of that
Being whom you recognize and acknowledge as your Savior, blasphemed and
taken in vain, and the name and character of the Almighty vilified and
abused.  Can you bear this?  Does it suit you to have your ears saluted
with such language and your spirits contaminated with such society?  I
would not associate with those who blaspheme the name of God, nor would I
let my family associate with them.  By this you may know whether you are
in the path that leads to life and salvation.  If you can hear the name of
the Diety [sic] lightly spoken of and blasphemed, and not be shocked at it
you may know that you are not in that path.  Some of the young men who had
been with the surveying party last year, wanted to come into my house as
friends and visit my daugthers [sic], when they came home.  They asked me
if I had any objections.  I told them I had.  They asked me the reason. 
My reply was, I believe you have been wicked, while you have been gone. 
Have you not been in the habit of taking the name of the Deity in vain? 
They admitted they had occasionally; and I told them that was my
objections to their being in my house.  I do not wish my daughters to be
entangled with any who do not serve God.  I would rather see every one of
them sealed to Father Perkins here, who is 85 years of age, than that any
of them should be sealed to a wicked man.

	Can you mingle with the wicked and feel contended [sic] in their
company?  If you can you are on the road to destruction; you are not on
the road to perfection.  If you can deal, and trade, and visit, and ride,
and be with the ungodly, and cannot see the difference between them and
the righteous, if you are ever saved in any decent kingdom, it will be
because you are totally ignorant.  But if you can truthfully say, I love
prayer, not swearing; I love truth, not lying; I love honesty, not
dishonesty; I love God and His laws, you may be assured you are on the
road to exaltation and eternal life.  Let us sustain the kingdom of God;
and if we do, we will sustain ourselves in truth and righteousness.

	From my remarks, some may gather the idea that if a poor, miserable,
corrupt, wicked person was to be found among us, who was suffering for
lack of food, he should be turned out of doors.  No, no; feed him, and let
him go his own way; but do not let him have any influence in your
families.  Be kind to all as our Father in heaven is kind.  He sends His
rain upon the just and the unjust; and gives the sun to shine upon the
evil and the good.  So let our goodness extend to al the works of His
hands, where we can; but do not yield to the spirit and influence of evil. 
Do not encourage wickedness in our midst.  Do not encourage the wicked to
come and live with us, to lead our brethren astray.  Do not follow after
vain and foolish fashions.  If our ladies see a new fashion brought in by
some poor, miserable, corrupt person, they adopt it; and every one wants
to pattern after the fashions that are brought here no matter how
ridiculous they may be nor how wicked the person who introduces them. 
Many of the fashions are unbecoming and inconvenient.  They do not become
Saints.  And the daughters of Israel should understand what fashions they
should have, without borrowing from the impure and unrighteous.  They
should hearken to the counsels of those whom God has appointed to lead His
people.  We have the words of life; we are the head; and we should lead in
fashions and in everything that is right and proper; and not be led by the
world.  We have salvation to offer to the people; and if they will not
accept it, the result will be with themselves.

	The Latter-day Saints should wake up and begin to think of these
things.  We must mark out a path for ourselves and walk in it.  Just as
sure as we are the Church and Kingdom of God, just so sure have we to give
laws and fashions to the world, sooner or later.  When we walk humbly
before the Lord and observe His precepts, we can say to the world, follow
us and our fashions.  Then they may offer us fashions--new ones--from New
York, from London, from Paris, but we will not have them.  We will tell
them we are capable of making our own fashions, and our own clothing,
without following after any one.

	Brethren and sisters, I can say with all my heart, God bless you.  I
desired to come here to see you, to talk with you, to see how you felt. 
By coming into this house I can tell something of your spirit.  You are
improving.  The people are improving as well as their leaders; and if they
will look at their own experience, they will say concerning the subjects I
have been treating on, "that is what I have been looking for and what I
want."  We desire to get closer to the mark, to have closer communion with
God, to be prepared for the day that is approaching, when we will have to
go and build up the centre stake of Zion, where the order of Enoch, as is
recorded in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, will be established.

	May the Lord bless you.  Amen.


                   REMARKS by President Brigham Young,
                      at Bountiful, May 17th, 1868.
                      [Reported by Edward L. Sloan.]
             THE OBJECT OF GATHERING--PRACTICAL RELIGION--THE
                       LOVE OF GOD--OUR COVENANTS.

	There is a large congregation of people before me who profess to be
Latter-day Saints, though they are few in number when compared with the
people at large.  But those who are here, are here because of our
religion.  It is very seldom that you find a person in our midst, who is
one of our citizens, who has come here with any other object than to serve
God, be numbered with His Saints, help to build up Zion and establish
peace and righteousness upon the earth.  We look upon each other as though
we ought to be Saints indeed; but while we are looking at our brethren and
sisters we are very apt to behold their faults instead of their virtues. 
We are all liable to err; we are subject to weaknesses and liable to go
astray; to do that which we should not do, and leave undone that we should
do.  This seems to be interwoven with the nature of all mankind through
the fall.  Still, we are here as Latter-day Saints; we have assembled
ourselves together to become one; to become the people of God, the
children of Zion, the children of light.  We are here for the express
purpose of separating ourselves from the world and establishing that order
of government that we read of in the Holy Scriptures; and we desire to see
the glory of Zion upon the earth that has been spoken of by the Prophets
of God.

	The mass of the people in Christendom are taught to believe in the
Bible, and they are taught to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Redeemer and Savior of the world.  This is the tradition of our fathers. 
This has been taught to us.  And the Christian world have sought to
understand enough with regard to the plan of salvation to prepare them to
enjoy the happiness and bliss of a world where righteousness reigns
triumphant.  A portion of the Christian world say they are preparing for
the Millennium and the Second Advent of the Savior; but their lives and
conduct do not agree with their professions.  They are taught to believe
the sayings of Jesus and the Apostles and Prophets, sufficient to die by,
and that they may be prepared to enjoy heaven hereafter; but they have no
idea of making a heaven here on earth, of building up the Kingdom of God,
that Jesus can come and receive his own.  Our traditions have been to try
and get through this world having religion enough and belief enough in
Christ so that we could leave it and go where we could enjoy heavenly
bliss forever.  The Christian world have very limited ideas with regard to
the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth.  We as Latter-day Saints have
confessed before Heaven, before the heavenly hosts, and before the
inhabitants of the earth, that we really believe the Scriptures as they
are given to us, according to the best understanding and knowledge that we
have of the translation, and the spirit and meaning of the Old and New
Testaments.

	We have confessed before angels and men, and have acknowledged by our
acts that we believe most assuredly that Jesus has called upon us as his
disciples--those who will receive the truth, obey His commandsments [sic],
observe His precepts and honor His laws, to come out from among the
wicked, to separate ourselves from sinners and from sin.  If we have not
confessed this by our acts as well as by our faith, then we are mistaken
concerning the gathering of ourselves together.  But we have confessed it,
and we do believe it, and it is for us to live according to that which we
acknowledge.  We acknowledge the covenant under which we live; we believe
it, and are honest in our believe [sic]; and we will honor that covenant
by obedience to the laws of God.  If we do not, our words and our actions
contradict each other.  By our acts, by our coming together, by our
leaving our homes, our friends, and our birthplaces that were dear to us
according to the customs and belief of the world, we have declared our
desire to serve the Lord.  We have left the graves of our fathers--as our
natives here would say, who lay great stress on birthplaces as well as
many civilized nations; many have left fathers and mothers, brothers and
sisters; and some have left husbands and some have left wives and
children: what for?  Because they believed in the words of Jesus and His
Apostles, as well as in the Prophets and in the testimony of the Prophet
Joseph and the Elders who have been sent unto them.  This people have
confessed this, and have shown to the world that they are honest in their
belief; and that they are willing to carry out in their lives the spirit
and meaning of this faith.  Is not this the situation of the Latter-day
Saints?  It is.  This is our profession before the Heavens and all the
inhabitants of the earth.  Yet when we examine the feelings, views,
wishes, desires and aspirations of this people, we see them wandering
after almost everything but that which they should possess.  With all
these professions, and our willingness to forsake fathers, mothers,
sisters, brothers, wives and children, houses and homes, and the comforts
of life for the gospel's sake, we are yet far from aspiring to the
holiness and the purity and perfection of Latter-day Saints.  That people
should forsake everything on the earth that would naturally be dear to
them, of a worldly nature, for righteousness' sake, and then fall into a
deeper vortex of folly and sin than they were in before, is astonishing.

	My mission to the people is to teach them with regard to their
every-day lives.  I presume there are many here who have heard me say,
years and years ago, that I cared very little about what will take place
after the millennium.  Elders may preach long discourses concerning what
took place in the days of Adam, what occurred before the creation, and
what will take place thousands of years from now, talking of things which
have occurred or that will occur yet, of which they are ignorant, feeding
the people on wind; but that is not my method of teaching.  My desire is
to teach the people what they should do now, and let the millennium take
care of itself.  To teach them to serve God and to build up His Kingdom is
my mission.  I have taught faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of
sins, and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. 
These principles you were taught in foreign lands.  You are teaching them
to your children.  There is scarcely a child in Israel but is looking
forward with anxiety to the time when he or she will be baptized.  These
things we understand alike.  We have been baptized and have had hands laid
upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost.  We have been taught to
exercise faith, and to enjoy the gifts of the gospel.  What has to be
taught now?  How to live.  Have they to be taught to send for the Elders
when they are sick, and that the prayer of faith will heal them?  They
understand these things.  We are to be taught with regard to our every day
life in a temporal point of view.

	Some may think they have the privilege of going to the gold mines or
doing as they please, without being instructed concerning their temporal
duties; that no person has a right to interfere with their temporal
matters.  Yet we have been performing labors year after year from the
beginning, of various kinds, that the people have not seemed to think have
had anything to do with temporal matters.  I commenced such labors in the
beginning of my career in the ministry.  When the people believed and
received the gospel, I commenced my temporal labors.  They were baptized,
which is a temporal work.  By the laying on of hands--another temporal
labor--they received the Holy Ghost.  When they received that Spirit they
saw they were to be gathered out from among the wicked.  They saw the
judgments of God were to be poured out upon the ungodly.  This they saw in
the vision of their minds.  They saw the Saints were to be gathered out,
understanding this by the Spirit which they had received.  What had to be
taught to them then?  To gather up their little substance; if they had a
farm or possessions, to sell them; and gather up with their families and
friends and substance, to the land of Zion.  And where is the land of
Zion?  It is wherever the finger of the Lord has pointed out for His
people to gather to.  That is the place to go to.  I recollect a lady
asked me in Canada, in 1832 or '33, how large Jackson County was; and when
I said 30 miles square, said she, "Suppose the whole world would embrace
your doctrine, how would they get into Jackson County?"  My reply was
that, "Jackson County, in that case, would cover the whole world.  Zion
will expand as far as the necessity of the case requires it.  You need not
fear but there will be room for you, if you believe and gather with the
Saints."

	We commenced teaching the people the doctrine of Jesus, and then we
commenced to build up the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth.  We commenced
this years ago.  Have we been successful?  In part, we have.  A few have
been gathered together, but our work is not accomplished.  The Lord never
could teach His people while they were among the wicked how to live by
themselves, how to unite their efforts and their whole power for the
establishment of His Kingdom.  This kingdom is not of the world, says
Jesus.  It is different from any other kingdom that is now upon the earth;
and while the people of it are mixed with the people of other nations and
kingdoms, the Lord could never teach them how to establish His Kingdom. 
He must get them away from the wicked; gather them out; bring them into a
place He has reserved for them to gather together, where He can teach them
of His laws.

	As I said once to by brethren in the school of the Prophets,--I have
not asked you, I dare not ask you to fulfil almost the first requirement
of the Kingdom of Heaven, almost the simplest principle, and one of the
first things that should be observed.  I have not asked the people yet to
perform this great labor, and if I were to refer it to you, you would say
the same.  You may ask what it is?  It is to love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, with all thy mind and with all thy strength, and thy
neighbor as thyself.  Now, is this not almost one of the first
requirements that God has made of His people? and I have not yet required
it of the people.  Love the Lord thy God will all thy heart, and then
speak evil of thy neighbor?  No, no!  Love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and speak that which is not true?  No, oh, no!  Love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and take that which is not thy own?  No, no, no! 
Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and seek after the riches of the
world and forsake your religion?  No!  Love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart and take His name in vain, curse and swear?  No, never!  If the love
of God was really in the hearts of all who call themselves Latter-day
Saints, there would be no more swearing, no more lying, no more deceiving,
no more speaking evil of one another, no more running after the ungodly
nor dealing with the enemies of Zion, no more running after the gold
mines; nothing would be sought after only to build up the Kingdom of God. 
This we have not yet asked.  But we do ask some things.  Let us forsake
those sins that are so grievous, and let us try to do right before the
Heavens and with each other.  Look at the Elders of Israel to-day; how
many of them are gone to hunt gold.  Hundreds of them are running off to
Cheyenne to get work on the railroad.  Where are their crops, their flocks
and their families?  All left, that they may get a little wealth.

	We have been crying to the people for years and years to cease their
trading and trying to speculate with the enemies of this people.  We have
said to them, "Store up those things that the Lord gives to us, these are
years of plenty, these are the days when the abundance of the blessings of
Heaven are upon the soil we occupy; treasure up your wheat or our traders
will take our flour and carry it to our enemies."  But our elders will go
and borrow money of strangers for the sake of speculating.  Is this a
fact?  I do not know how it is here in Bountiful, but it is so in other
places.  Bountiful is a good and suggestive name; is it an appropriate
one?  Have you here an abundance of flour?  If so, I will call upon you
for some for the Public Works.  There is nothing, nor has there been for a
long time, to supply the public hands, only what I furnish out of my
private store-house.  If you have an abundance of beeves and flour and
butter and eggs, and other things, will you furnish something for the
Public Works?  But if you are as they are in many other places, many of
you have not got breadstuffs to last you one week.  If one-half  have
breadstuffs to last them till harvest, it is more than they have in other
places.  Yet we have asked the people to save their wheat against such a
year as last year or this year.  Here are the devouring insects ready to
take everything that we have.  These are things the people have got to be
taught to observe.  There are certain rules in life and certain principles
to be observed by this people.  They must cease trading with those who
would destroy us.  To be called out from the wicked, and then take a
course to call the wicked to us, how inconsistent it is!  If the Lord were
to say, "I will let the wicked drive you again, and I will call you to
another place, where there is no one to disturb you;" how long would it be
until the course taken by many would call the wicked in among us again, to
seek to destroy us?  The Latter-day Saints must stop this course, or they
will bring evil upon themselves, and we will have to leave.  These are the
things we have to learn.  We have the privilege of choosing now.  It is in
our hands, it is within our power, whether we will stay in these mountains
and build up the Zion of our God, or make the wicked and ungodly fat by
our labor and give them our posessions [sic].  This many are doing, by
running in debt to our enemies, and pursuing a course that is wrong.  If
they do not cease it they will have cause to weep and mourn.

	All Latter-day Saints enter the new and everlasting covenant when
they enter this Church.  They covenant to cease sustaining, upholding and
cherishing the kingdom of the devil and the kingdoms of this world.  They
enter into the new and everlasting covenant to sustain the Kingdom of God
and no other kingdom.  They take a vow of the most solemn kind, before the
heavens and earth, and that, too, upon the validity of their own
salvation, that they will sustain truth and righteousness instead of
wickedness and falsehood, and build up the Kingdom of God, instead of the
kingdoms of this world.  When we came here to these valleys, who were here
to trouble us?  Nobody; but we have fed those who would destroy us, opened
our houses and farms to them, to speculate and trade and traffic and get
gain, and what do we make by it?

	Now, some of my brethren may ask, "Brother Brigham, do you expect to
dictate me where I shall sow my wheat, and when I shall sow it, and in
similar matters?"  I have said and will say again, if Brother Brigham had
time to be in every house he would teach them how to keep house.  How many
sisters set up their stockings by guess work, and do not know the number
of the yarn and the number of the needles to use?  In this matter I would
instruct many of the sisters, if they would not take umbrage at me for
doing so.  The sisters ought to know about housekeeping and the brethren
who farm about farming, but they need to be taught.  Learn to be neat and
cleanly in all that you do.  Do you ask me if I am going to dictate you in
such matters?  If I am not to dictate you, you are not to be saved in the
kingdom I calculate to be saved in.  If I know something that you do not
understand it is my duty to teach you; and if you know something that I do
not know, it is your duty to communicate your knowledge to me, till we
become perfect by increasing in knowledge.  Brethren, we have many things
yet to learn.  Many of the brethren south are ruined by running in debt;
men of handsome property, which will go for comparatively nothing because
of their vain imaginations.

	Ye Latter-day Saints, learn to sustain yourselves, produce everything
you need to eat, drink or wear; and if you cannot obtain all you wish for
to-day, learn to do without that which you cannot purchase and pay for;
and bring your minds into subjection that you must and will live within
your means.  When we, as a people, can come to understand that we can live
by ourselves, then we can live of ourselves, without any outside world. 
We did live so when we first came here.  Were there any stores to go to? 
Were there places to go to where money could be hired?  Did we live?  Yes. 
Were we healthy?  Yes.  Much healthier, as a people, than we are now.  Did
we grow and increase?  Yes; and as soon as we had time to till the earth
and reap a crop, we produced wheat and corn and potatoes.  We turned our
cattle on to the range to make our beef.  We had plenty of wheat.  We
began to make our clothing here.  We drove in sheep and we took care of
the wool, and made it into cloth.  I brought a carding machine with me. 
It was the only one in the Territory for years, and it carded up a great
deal of wool.  We made up this wool into cloth and wore it.  When the gold
came, then merchants came and the spirit of speculation came.  Then men
ran to the gold mines to get money; and then was the rush to the stores. 
Says the husband "I must have a suit of broadcloth and a fine pair of
boots;" while the wife and daughters said they must have nice bonnets and
dresses; and this has been continued until we have involved ourselves.

	Are you going to be dictated in these matters?  Yes, or you will
sooner or later leave the Kingdom of God and go somewhere else.  Is it
hard to say this to the people?  Is it infringing upon their rights?  They
have the privilege to choose the good or to choose the evil.  It is as
manly and as praiseworthy for an individual to make the choice to do good,
work righteousness and love and serve God--it is more noble, than to
choose the downward road.  One or the other will be the choice of every
individual.  Do not trifle with evil, or you will be overcome by it before
you know.  Our business is to build up the Zion of God on the earth.  Do
you think you will do it and go hand in hand with the wicked?  No, never. 
I know you may say, and say truly, according to the parable spoken by
Jesus to his disciples, when the bridegroom was coming, the cry was, "Go
ye out to meet him," but while he tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 
And when they awoke with the cry, "the bridegroom is here," there were
foolish virgins among them who had no oil in their lamps.  He did not say
that they would be among the ungodly.  It is among those who are the
bride, the Lamb's wife, that the foolish are to be found.  But he never
has instructed us to call on the ungodly, and those who would mob us, to
make foolish virgins.  Some may quote the parable of the wheat and the
tares and say they must grow together.  Let me tell you, the tares will be
in the field, and many will think they are wheat, until harvest comes; but
at no time has the Lord said, bring the wicked and ungodly among my people
to scourge them; for they are capable of bringing upon themselves all the
evil necessaey [sic] to perfect the good.  The Lord bless you: Amen.



            DISCOURCES [sic] delivered in the New Tabernacle,
                     Salt Lake City June 24th, 1868.
                 THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HEBER C. KIMBALL.

                           President B. Young.

	I wish the people to be as still as possible, and not to whisper.  I
do not know that I can speak so that you can hear me; but if I can I have
a few reflections to lay before you.  We are called here on this very
important occasion, and we can say truly that the day of this man's death
was far better to him than the day of his birth.  I will relate to you my
feelings concerning the departure of bro. Kimball.  He was a man of as
much integrity I presume as any man who ever lived on the earth.  I have
been personally acquainted with him forty-three years and I can testify
that he has been a man of truth, a man of benevolence, a man that was to
be trusted.  Now he has gone and left us.  I will say to his wives and his
children that I have not felt one particle of death in his house nor about
it, and through this scene we are now passing I have not felt one particle
of the spirit of death.  He has fallen asleep for a certain purpose,--to
be prepared for a glorious resurrection; and the same Heber C. Kimball,
every component particle of his body, from the crown of his head to the
soles of his feet, will be resurrected, and he, in the flesh, will see God
and converse with Him; and see his brethren and associate with them and
they will enjoy a happy eternity together.

	Bro. Kimball has had the privilege of living and dying in his own
house in peace; and has not been followed up by mobs and massacred.  I
consider this a great consolation to his family and friends; and it is a
great comfort to me to think that bro. Heber C. Kimball had the privilege
of dying in peace.  It is not a matter of regret; it is nothing that we
should mourn for.  It is a great cause of joy and rejoicing and comfort to
his friends to know that a person has passed away in peace from this life,
and has secured to himself a glorious resurrection.  The earth and the
fullness of the earth and all that pertains to this earth in an earthly
capacity is no comparison with the glory, joy and peace and happiness of
the soul that departs in peace.  You may think I have reason to mourn. 
Bro. Heber C. Kimball has been my first counselor for almost twenty-four
years.  I am happy to state, it is a matter of great joy to me; this is
the third counselor that has fallen asleep since I have stood to counsel
this people--and they have died in the faith, full of hope; their lives
were filled up with good works, full of faith, comfort, peace and joy to
their brethren.  I have looked over this matter.  In the fourteen years
that bro. Joseph presided over the Church, three of the prominent
conselors [sic] he had apostatised.  This was a matter of regret.  Sidney
Rigdon, F. G. Williams and William Law, whom many of this congregation
knew in Nauvoo, apostatized and left bro. Joseph.  I have not been under
the necessity of mourning and lamenting over the apostacy of any one of my
counselors, and I hope I shall never have this to regret.  I had rather
bury them by the score than see one of them apostatize.

	A great deal could be said cocnerning bro. Kimball, whose remains are
here.  He is not dead.  His earthly tabernacle has fallen asleep to be
prepared for this glorious resurrection that you and I live for.  What can
we say to one another?  Live as he has lived; be as faithful as he has
been; be as full of good works as his life has manifested to us.  If we do
so, our end will be peace and joy, and we will fall asleep as peacefully. 
I held my watch with one hand and fanned him with the other while he
breathed his last.

	For this family to mourn is perhaps natural; but they have not really
the first cause to do so.  How would you feel if you had a husband or a
father that would lead you from the truth?  I would to God that we would
all follow him in his example in our faithfulness, and be as faithful as
he was in his life.  To his wives, his children, his friends, his brethren
and sisters, to this family whom God has selected from the human family to
be his sons and daguthers, I say let us follow his example.  He has gone
to rest.  We can say of him all that can be said of any good man.  The
Lord selected him and he has been faithful and this has made him a great
man; just as you and I can become if we will live faithful to our God and
our religion.  There is no man but what can do good if he chooses; and if
he be disposed to choose the good and refuse the evil.  If any man choose
the evil he will dwindle, especially if he has been called to the holy
priesthood of the Son of God.  Such a man will dwindle and falter, stumble
and fall; and instead of becoming great and good, he will be lost in
forgetfulness.

	We pay our last respects unto bro. Kimball.  I can say to the
congregation we thank you for your attention.  We are happy to see you
here.  It would be a pleasure to us if it would be prudent, and we had
time, for you to see the corpse; but it would not be prudent and we have
not the time.  This, perhaps, will be a matter of regret to many of you;
but you must put up with it.  I want to say to every one who wishes to see
brother Heber again, live so that you will secure to yourselves a part in
the first resurrection, and I promise you that you will meet him and shake
hands with him.  But if you do not live so, I can give you no such
promise.

	Now, my friends, I feel to bless you; and the family, the wives and
children of bro. Heber C. Kimball.  I bless you in the name of Jesus
Christ.  Will you receive the blessings which a father and husband has
placed upon your heads?  If you live for them you will enjoy them.  I
think he has never cursed one of his family; but his heart was full of
blessings for them.  He has blessed his brethren and sisters and neighbors
and friends.  His heart was full of blessings; but he was a scourge to the
wicked and they feared him.  Now, my friends, I cannot talk to you; my
sore throat will not let me.  But I feel to thank you for your kind
attention here to-day, in paying our respects to the remains of bro.
Kimball, and may God bless you:  Amen.

       REMARKS by President Brigham Young, made in Mill Creek Ward
                 meeting house, Sunday, July 25th, 1868.
                      [Reported by Edward L. Sloan.]
           EDUCATION--RECREATION--NECESSITY OF OBEYING COUNSEL.

	From my earliest labors in the ministry I have taken truth as my
text; but I will refer this morning to the words on one of the banners
here, "Education is our motto."  This will by my text.  We are here that
we may learn to improve.  My inquiry is, How can I do the most good to my
fellow beings?  What can I say to them; what can I do; how shall I walk
before them; how shall I commune with them to do the greatest possible
good to the human family?  I am so weak that when I give instructions to
my brethren and sisters it seems but a very feeble effort, when the mind
is open to behold the great things of God, the riches of eternity; to
behold that which is understood by angels and by those made perfect.

	My first remarks will be concerning such exercises as we have seen
here this morning.  The Latter-day Saints have many pastimes, and they
enjoy themselves in social society with one another.  Yet I think, in my
reflections, that we should have an increase--and we are having partially
an increase--of recreation for our youth.  We have very few holy-days. 
When the 24th of July comes, we hail it as the anniversary of a day
deliverance; a day of peace and joy to the Latter-day Saints, in finding
the peaceful valleys of these mountains, where we can rest and gather the
people together, and enjoy the privilege of serving God without any to
molest or make us afraid.  These two days with Christmas and New Year's,
are about all the holidays we have, that we notice at all. On reflection,
I have come to the conclusion that it would be better if we would pay more
attention to these public exercises, and direct the minds of our children
by observing them, taking a course to have them avoid getting into the
habit of drinking and every kind of rowdyism, and other things that are
unbecoming; and in all of our amusements have objects of improvement that
are worthy of pursuit. I think we are improving a little in this respect;
but more of us should take an increased interest in it.  We should have
more of the children attend Sunday School, and the teachers should
continually place objects before them that will lead them to study to
improve in their manners, in their words, in their looks and in their
behavior; and that will guide their minds aright.  You will find we can
place before them objects that will do them much good in their thoughts
and reflections, that will improve their young and tender minds, and have
an influence upon their future lives for good; and we can thus bring them
up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord by taking a course to lead
their minds.

	The brethren here have caught us as they generally do.  I had no
thought of any person coming to meet us, nor of seeing the schools lining
the road.  I thank them for their good feelings to the elders of Israel. 
But is there any good in it?  Yes.  It attracts the attention of the young
people--that is, I mean all under a hundred years old--elevates their
feelings, and is calculated to induce reflections and thoughts of a life
that is useful; and they will think, when are we going to have another
meeting?  when is brother Brigham coming to see us again; with brother
Wells and brother Cannon, and others?--we cannot say brother Kimball, for
he has gone to reap the reward of his labors.  It will have the effect of
drawing them to good, and they will follow after good continually.  Is
there any harm in Sunday School parties? No! it is one of the most
harmless kinds of enjoyment when conducted aright.  If they wish to dance,
let them dance; let them talk and play; but not do any wrong.  They must
not get angry with each other; and if any do wrong instruct them to do
right.  If our children are thus taught, they will be patterns of piety
and their conduct will be worthy of imitation.

	I would be very pleased to learn that your Bishop, brother Miller,
was preparing a place for parties; with a little pond to float boats on,
and other means of enjoyment, where the people could assemble to have
their exercises.  Get the young minds to follow after you in these things,
and they will follow after you in every precept that is good.  And I would
like to hear of other Bishops taking steps to prepare suitable places for
the same purpose.

	We are gathered here from various nations of the earth; and many of
us have been in conditions of society where we have been wanting in many
privileges which others enjoy.  The people come here and their feelings
are united directly, which is a positive proof that there is something in
our belief more than there is in the beliefs that are recognized in the
world.  They come here and try to be one immediately, and to amalgamate
their feelings.  We see this, and it is encouraging; and we see our
prominent men leading out and directing the minds of those from the
eastern and those from the western world, and teaching them never to do a
wrong, never to do evil; and, by example, to beautify themselves and their
places, and everything around them.  This is good, for in it we do no
wrong; we do not do anything by it to injure our feelings or the feelings
of others, nor to grieve our spirits; but we do that which will increase
beauty and excellence among the people.  In this the Lord is well pleased.
For the sake of our children, for the sake of the youth of our land, I am
pleased, every time I travel, to see this manifestation of respect for the
elders of Israel.

	We wish to improve.  I will ask a question with regard to knowledge
and wisdom and understanding and all the blessings of Heaven bestowed upon
the people, and it is this:  Who are deserving of honor and glory, who are
deserving of a good name?  The man and the woman who seek to know and
understand the mind and will of God and to carry it out in their lives, or
those who are slothful and who seek to live by what they call faith alone? 
I think we would decide that those who manifest by their works that they
seek to do the will of the Lord are more acceptable before Him than those
who live by faith alone.  I believe the Latter-day Saints are the best
people on the earth of whom we have any knowledge.  Still, I believe that
we are, in many things, very negligent, slothful and slow to obey the
words of the Lord.  Many seem to act upon the faith that  God will sustain
us instead of our trying to sustain ourselves.  We are frightened at
seeing  the grasshoppers coming and destroying our crops.  We pray to the
Lord and try to exercise faith that He may remove these devouring insects. 
We got along very well in the first part of the season, and our crops
looked beautiful. But how has it been for the last few days?  I can
understand your feelings by my own.  A week ago yesterday I went through
here on my way to Provo, and everything looked promising.  Yesterday when
I returned, fields were stripped, young orchards were stripped of the
leaves, and the evidences of destruction were to be seen around.  Some try
to exercise faith and ask the Lord to remove this destructive power. I
remember saying in the School of the Prophets, that I would rather the
people would exercise a little more sense and save means to provide for
themselves, instead of squandering it away and asking the Lord to feed
them.  In my reflections I have carried this matter a considerable length. 
I have paid attention to the counsel that has been given me.  For years
past it has been sounded in my ears, year after year, to lay up grain, so
that we might have an abundance in the day of want.  Perhaps the Lord
would bring a partial famine on us; perhaps a famine would come upon our
neighbors.  I have been told that He might bring just such a time as we
are now having.  But suppose I had taken no heed to this counsel, and had
not regarded the coming time, what would have been my condition to-day.

	View the actions of the Latter-day Saints on this matter, and their
neglect of the counsel given; and suppose the Lord would allow these
insects to destroy our crops this season and the next, what would be the
result?  I can see death, misery and want on the faces of this people. 
But some may say, "I have faith the Lord will turn them away."  What
ground have we to hope this?  Have I any good reason to say to my Father
in heaven, "Fight my battles," when He has given me the sword to wield,
the arm and the brain that I can fight for myself?  Can I ask Him to fight
my battles and sit quietly down waiting for Him to do so?  I cannot.  I
can pray the people to hearken to wisdom, to listen to counsel; but to ask
God to do for me that which I can do for myself is preposterous to my
mind.  Look at the Latter-day Saints.  We have had our fields laden with
grain for years; and if we had been so disposed, our bins might have been
filled to overflowing, and with seven years' provisions on hand we might
have disregarded the ravages of these insects, and have gone to the kanyon
and got our lumber, procured the materials, and built up and beautified
our places, instead of devoting our time to fighting and endeavoring to
replace that which has been lost through their destructiveness.  We might
have made our fences, improved our buildings, beautified Zion, let our
ground rest, and prepared for the time when these insects would have gone. 
But now the people are running distracted here and there.  I do not wish
to condemn them.  I wish all the justification that can be brought to
them.  But I look at them as they are.  They are in want and in trouble,
and they are perplexed.  They do not know what to do.  They have been told
what to do, but they did not hearken to this counsel. 

	I have never promised a famine to the Latter-day Saints, if we will
do half right.  You have never heard it drop from my lips that a famine
would come upon this people.  There never will, if we will only do half
right, and we expect to do better than that.  There is not another people
on the earth whose faith and works are directed for the accomplishment of
good like the Latter-day Saints.  But we do not obey counsel as we should. 
Yet when we look at them and at others on the face of the earth, we have
reason to say we are proud of the Latter-day Saints.  But are we all we
should be?  No.  We must learn to listen to the whispering of the Holy
Spirit, and the counsels of the servants of God, until we come to the
unity of the faith.  If we had obeyed counsel we would have had granaries
to-day, and they would have been full of grain; and we would have had
wheat and oats and barley for ourselves and for our animals, to last us
for years.  The people have also been counseled to take their straw and
stack it up, making nice beautiful ricks of it.  You may see the day your
cattle will want it or perish.  If you keep your straw you will be able to
have your cattle to work with when you want them.  Is the hay kept?  No:
it must be sold.  A train will come in from Utah County, from Davis
County, from Tooele, loaded with hay, and it must be sold, even if there
is nothing--comparatively speaking--got for it.  Save your hay; save your
chaff; save your straw; save your wheat; save your oats; save your barley,
and everything that can be saved and preserved against a day of want.  We
have taken our flour north, and sold it for a song, and now we see the day
when our brethren are paying twelve dollars a hundred for it on the
railroad, brought from the States.  If we had been prudent we might have
had enough to supply them, and we could have sold hundreds and thousands
and tens of thousands of dollars' worth this season.  I was inquired of
this spring what I would sell flour for, to be taken down with the teams
that went to the terminus, and I had to say we have none to spare.  But we
have sent it to Montana, and we have sold it for next to nothing, and now
our bins are empty.  Who is deserving of honor or glory from God?  Those
who have preserved their substance, or those who have wasted it?  Those
who have preserved it; for they know how to preserve those things which
the Lord places in their hands.  But some have had so much faith in the
providences of God to feed them that they would sell their grain even if
they got a mere nothing for it.  I remember a time when some people almost
cursed wheat, it was so plenty.  Would the common laborers and mechanics
take wheat for their pay?  No. Would they save it?  No.  The Lord had
given us large crops; would they build bins and store the grain away?  No. 
But it was taken to the city and sold for anything it would bring.  There
was a time when my heart was pained at hearing wheat spoken of as it was;
and I was afraid at seeing the manifestations of ill feeling which were
exhibited by some of the brethren, principally among the mechanics,
concerning grain.

	We have seen one grasshopper war before this.  Then we had two years
of it.  We are having two years now.  Suppose we have good crops next
year, the people will think less of this visitation than they do now; and
still less the next year; until in four or five years it will be almost
gone from their minds.  We are capable of being perfectly independent of
these insects.  If we had thousands on thousands of bushels of wheat, rye,
and barley, and corn we might have said to them, "you may go, we are not
going to plant for you."  Then we could have plowed up the ground, put in
the manure, and let the land rest, and the grasshoppers would not have
destroyed the fruits of our labors which could have been directed to the
beautifying of Zion and making our habitations places of loveliness.

	Just as sure as the Lord lives we are going to see times when our
neighbors around us will be in want.  But some may say, here have ten
years, twenty years, thirty years gone, and the sayings of Joseph and the
Apostles have not all come to pass.  If they have not all been fulfilled,
they all will be fulfilled.  When we saw the flaming sword unsheathed in
the terrible war between the north and the south, we could see in it the
fulfillment in part of the prophecies of Joseph.  But when peace comes for
a short time we forget all about it, like a person who comes into the
Church because of seeing a miracle.  If he has professed an obedience to
the gospel and a belief in its principles because he saw a miracle
performed, he would need another in a day or two to continue him in his
belief; and he wants a repetition of miracles to keep him in the Church. 
Let peace continue for a few years, and the prediction of Joseph spoken of
would be forgotten by all but a few.  So it is with us, comparatively. 
Let crickets, or grasshoppers, or frosts, or anything else come and
destroy our crops, and we feel it then; but just as soon as prosperity
comes we forget what has happened.

	Take the people and I am proud of them; but there is a feeling with
them that they must not be counseled in their temporal matters.  I call
this a sectarian notion, for we will find yet that God is Dictator in
everything.  Take the case of the Children of Israel and the miracles that
were wrought in their deliverance from the land of Egypt.  The question
arises, was it through their faith, or because of the promises which God
had made to their fathers?  The Lord sent Moses to Pharaoh, who wrought
many miracles before him; and Pharaoh sent for his wise men, his
astrologers, soothsayers and magicians, and they wrought their miracles
before Moses and Aaron.  Finally, the Lord said, the Children of Israel
must be brought out of Egypt; but was it because of their faith, or
because of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?  It was because
of the promises of the Lord, and not because of the righteousness of that
people, that He brought them out.  They came to a place where they were
hemmed in, with the Red Sea before them and the armies of the Egyptian
monarch behind them, and the mountains on either side of them, and they
cried out that they would be destroyed.  But the Lord divided the water,
and took them over in safety; and it was because of the promises He had
made to their fathers.  They passed through the Red Sea in safety and the
Egyptians were drowned.  Was it because the Egyptians were so much more
wicked?  I suppose not; but it was because the Lord had said, "Let the
Children of Israel go free,"  and they would not; and He punished the
Egyptians for not letting them go; and He punished the Children of Israel
by not letting them go into the promised land, for their wickedness in the
wilderness.  They cried against Moses because he had led them away from
the fleshpots and leeks of Egypt, and the Lord said he would feed them. 
But was it because of their righteousness that he sent them down Manna for
food?  I have no evidence to believe that it was because of their
righteousness.  Do you think they were so very righteous that the Lord
would not let their clothing grow old?  It was not because of the
righteousness of the Children of Israel, but because of the promises of
the Lord to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for He must fulfill the promises
made to His servants.  He wanted at one time to destroy the whole people,
and told Moses to let Him alone that He might destroy them because of
their wickedness and rebellion, and He would make of him (Moses) a great
nation; but Moses pleaded in their behalf, and called upon the Lord to
remember His promises, and they were preserved.  When Moses was on the
mount they went to Aaron and inquired where Moses was, and demanded gods
to go before them.  And Aaron told them to bring him their ear rings and
their jewelry, and they did so, and he made of them a golden calf; and the
people ran around it, and said these be the gods which brought us out of
the land of Egypt.  How much credit was due to them?  Just as much as to
us, for not saving our grain when we had an abundance, and, when the
grasshoppers come, crying, "Lord turn them away and save us."  It is just
as consistent as for a man on board a steamboat on the wide ocean to say,
I will show you what faith I have, and then to jump overboard, crying,
"Lord save me!"  It may not seem so daring; but is it any more
inconsistent than to throw away and waste the substance the Lord has given
us, and when we come to want, crying to Him for what we have wasted and
squandered?  The Lord has been blessing us all the time, and He asks us
why we have not been blessing ourselves. 

	Will this be instructive to you, by brethren, hereafter?  A great
many have taken this counsel, and they are prepared.  I had my seven years
breadstuffs on hand last year; but I have to deal it out, and I will deal
it out to the last bushel, and try my faith with my brethren.  But are we
deserving of praise from God or man?  Who are deserving of praise?  The
persons who take care of themselves, or the ones who always trust in the
great mercies of the Lord to take care of them?  It is just as consistent
to expect that the Lord with supply us with fruit when we do not plant the
trees; or that, when we do not plow and sow and are saved the labor of
harvesting, we should cry to the Lord to save us from want, as to ask Him
to save us from the consequences of our own folly, disobedience and waste. 
It is said, by some, that the Lord is not going to tell His servants to
gather His people here to starve.  That is true; but the Lord has said,
"Gather the poor from the nations;" and to the people here, "Gather and
save the produce I put within your reach, and prepare against a day of
want."  Suppose a hundred thousand or a million of starving people were
coming here, and we had only grain to last for a couple of years, with
famine around; they would offer their gold and their silver and their
plate and their precious things for bread to eat, and you would hand it
out until all was gone.  Then you could sit down and look at the riches
you had got, until all would perish together with hunger.  This would be
so, unless the people act more wisely than they do now.

	We have had peace in these mountains since we came here; and the
protection of the Lord over this people has been as visible to me as when
Moses caused darkness to come upon all the land of Egypt except the land
of Goshen, where the children of Israel dwelt.  But what credit is due to
us before the Heavens and the earth, even supposing we had such faith as
to get the Lord to fight our battles and do for us what we could do for
ourselves?  Not a particle.  He requires obedience at our hands.  One of
the prophets has said, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken
than the fat of rams;" and it is written, and I have never heard it
contradicted--it was said in the days of Jesus and His Apostles, and it
has been said in this our day--that we shall be judged according to our
works and not according to our faith.  One of the Apostles has said, "Show
me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my
works."  If a man heals a person who is sick, it does not prove that he
keeps all the commandments of God.  One man went to Jesus and said, I know
you have power; my servant is sick, and if you come and touch him he will
be healed.  And Jesus said he had not seen such faith in Israel.  And he
said, "Your servant is made whole."  Was it the faith of this man who came
to Jesus, or the charity and mercy of the Savior, by which the sick person
was healed?  Jesus saw the man's faith, and he said I will bestow a
blessing here; and in this is manifested the mercy of God.  In many things
are the mercies of God made manifest; and for the people to turn around
and claim that it is because of their righteousness is foolish and wrong. 
If these grasshoppers were all moved away it would not be because of the
righteousness of the people, but through the mercies of God.  It is for us
to lie so that we can claim the blessings of God. You recollect reading of
the brother of Jared, Mahonri Moriancumer, who saw the Lord.  If he had
not kept the commandments of God he would not have had power to see the
finger of the Lord.  But he was faithful in all things, and this gave
Mahonri such exceeding great faith that he had a right to the blessings he
asked.  If we were to keep the commandments of God, as he did, we would
have the right to claim the blessings even as Mahonri had.  But if we will
not be obedient in all things we cannot claim them.  If we are obedient in
all things He will bestow upon us every blessing we desire; if we are
obedient in some things and disobedient in others, He will do as He
pleases.

	Twelve years from now will tell whether we have been instructed today
or not.  If the grasshoppers come again we can then find who has grain in
their bins.  With regard to faith and repentance, and baptism for the
remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the reception of the
Holy Ghost, and the ordinances of the Gospel, the people are united; but
when we come to the providences of God to us, then is the place for
scepticism to come in and the people to differ.  We are bound by our
covenants to accept the word of the Lord.  There is a difference of
opinion as to getting the word of the Lord; but if you will read and
cultivate the Spirit of God you will understand how it is obtained.  The
Lord is not everywhere in person; but He has His agents, speaking and
acting for Him.  His angels, his messengers, His Apostles and servants are
appointed and authorized to act in His name.  And His servants are
authorized to counsel and dictate in the greatest and what might be deemed
the most trifling matters, to instruct direct and guide His Saints.  The
people have done well for the past year or two, in leaving off their
tobacco, their whisky, their coffee and their tea; and if they will keep
on doing this, and increasing in righteousness, we are as surely on the
high road to excellence, glory and eternal lives, as we are here to-day.

	I pray the Lord that we may have His spirit to guide us to help build
up the Kingdom of God.  Amen.

 	DISCOURSE by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New
Tabernacle,
                     Salt Lake City, Aug. 9th, 1868.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
        THE GOSPEL A PERFECT SYSTEM--EVIDENCE THAT THE LATTER-DAY
          SAINTS HAVE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT--PLURAL MARRIAGE.

	I will endeavor to speak to the people so that they can hear me.  We
very frequently hear complaints about the people being unable to hear. 
That is very annoying to me; there is no satisfaction in taking to people
if they cannot hear.  I talk a great deal in public and in private.  I
have labored for many years in preaching the gospel of the Son of God; and
when I first commenced, it seemed as though I was under the necessity of
speaking very loud.  I could not satisfy my own feelings without talking
with a loud voice.  I have acquired this habit, and to talk loud and long
for many years wears on a person's constitution.

	This gospel that we have embraced is worthy the attention of the high
and the low, the rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant, the noble
and the ignoble.  It commends itself to the feelings, understanding and
conscience of every creature beneath the heavens that is endowed with
intelligence.  There is no system that is perfect except the gospel of the
Son of God.  Every art and science is incorporated in the gospel of
salvation delivered to the children of men.  If the inhabitants of the
earth possess ingenuity, knowledge, wisdom or understanding they receive
it within the purview or pale of this gospel that comes from heaven.  I
have said, and I still feel it, that outside the gospel of the Son of
God--the plan of salvation--there is nothing but death, hell and the
grave; everything else is within our religion.  But when we talk about
comprehending our religion, why, we might as well undertake to comprehend
eternity.  We have a little of it.  The Lord has made manifest to the
children of men a portion of it, enough to enable them to continue on, to
grow, increase, expand, to add wisdom to wisdom and knowledge to
knowledge, for light cleaves to light and truth to truth.  The power to
increase in knowledge is in our possession if we will improve the golden
moments as they pass by.

	We talk a great deal to the Latter-day Saints.  What for?  To bring
them to a knowledge of the truth; to place them in a position in which
they may be prepared to inherit that glory which they anticipate.  And to
obtain that perfection which we desire more will be required of us than
merely a spiritual exercise of the mind; our outward works pertaining to
our natural life, and in fact our whole souls must be devoted to God, and
the upbuilding of His Kingdom.  We talk to the people to bring them to the
knowledge of the truth, and to bring ourselves, for we are with you, so
that we may understand what we should do, how we should labor, how direct
our lives here, in order that we may be perfected and prepared to enjoy
life everlasting in the presence of the Father and the Son.  I still feel
to urge upon the Latter-day Saints the necessity of a close application of
the principles of the gospel in our lives, conduct and words and all that
we do; and it requires the whole man, the whole life to be devoted to
improvement in order to come to knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus
Christ.  Herein is the fullness of perfection.  It was couched in the
character of our Savior; although but a scanty portion of it was made
manifest to the people, in consequence of their not being able to receive
it.  All they were prepared to receive He gave them.  All we are prepared
to receive the Lord gives us; all that the nations of the earth are
prepared to receive He imparts unto them.

	The inhabitants of the earth do not acknowledge the Lord as they
should.  There are very few but who believe in a Supreme Being; but do
they honor God? No, they take His name in vain.  Do they believe Him to be
what He is?  No, they so far mystify the character of Deity that it is
impossible for the people to understand it.  Do they reverence His name? 
No.  If they believe in a God, He is so far off that they never can get
near Him; they know nothing about the conduct of this Being; and He is so
far off in their imaginations that He knows nothing about the children of
men; at least such is the feeling amongst them, and yet many of the
so-called Christians say His centre is everywhere and His circumference
nowhere.  They have mystified the affairs of salvation to that degree that
the whole world of mankind have lost that reverence that is due to the
Supreme Being.

	The Latter-day Saints have received the Spirit of the Lord; the proof
is here in the gathering and the oneness of the people.  Have the Elders
of Israel been to any other country but this?  Yes.  To preach the Gospel? 
Yes.  Have they been to England and preached the gospel there?  Yes.  have
the people believed?  Yes.  Where is your proof?  The proof is that they
have left all, if they had anything, and have come up to the
gathering-place where the Saints are assembled.  The Elders have also
preached through the different nations of Europe so far as they were
allowed to do so.  In some countries the law would not permit them; but
the Lord will yet revolutionize those nations until the door will be
opened and the gospel will be preached to all.  Have the people believed? 
A few of them.  But we gather the poorest of the people, the unlearned,
and a few of the learned; but generally, we gather those who are poor, who
wish to be redeemed; who feel the oppression the high and the proud have
made them endure; they have felt a wish to be delivered, and consequently
their ears were open to receive the truth.  Take those who are in the
enjoyment of all the luxuries of this life, and their ears are stopped up;
they cannot hear; but go to the poor, to those who are in poverty and
want, and they are looking every way for deliverance, and when they hear
the Elders preach their ears are open to hear and their hearts are touched
with the Spirit of the Lord, and many of them have believed.  These are
they that we gather together.

	Now, when we look around upon the Latter-day Saints, in a temporal
point of view, we are proud of them.  I have been in countries where the
men, women and children had to labor--wearying their lives out of them to
get the bread necessary to keep their lives in them.  I have gone to bed
many a time, and when I have turned down the bed I would find the sheet
patched from end to end, so that I would wonder which was the original
sheet.  I have also known young ladies--I do not know that I ought

	to say this, but I do not say it to their disgrace, but to their
praise--come home from their work on a Saturday evening, and retiring to a
room, throw a blanket over their shoulders, and wash every particle of
their clothing, that they might be able to go out on Sunday to attend
meeting.  These are they that we have baptized.  Why?  Because their ears
were open, and the Spirit of the Lord found a way to their hearts, and
they saw there was deliverance in the gospel.  The rich and noble, as a
general thing, have turned a deaf ear to the voice of the Elders of
Israel.  Now, the gospel that we have embraced comprises every glory,
honor, excellency and truth there is in the heavens, on the earth or
beneath the earth.  Is it worthy of the attention of the poor?  Yes, it
is.  According to the reading of this book--the Old and New Testament as
well as the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants--which
we regard as the foundation of our work, the Lord has chosen the poor of
this world,--rich in faith--and the time will come when He will give the
earth to His poor for an everlasting inheritance.  I speak this for the
comfort of my brethren and sisters who have been poor.  They have come
here, and what do we see?  The youth, the middle-aged and the old
improving in letters, in mechanism and in the arts and sciences.  We bring
them here to improve them, and if the Lord will bless us sufficiently, and
the people will bless themselves, we will have a nation that understands
all things pertaining to the earth that it is possible for man to grasp. 
Will this people be praiseworthy?  Yes, and honored and honorable.  Will
they be looked to as examples?  Yes; and it is the duty ef [sic] the
Latter-day Saints to live their religion so that all the world can say
there is a pattern for us, not only in our business and worship, but in
our knowledge of things that are, things that have been and of things that
are yet to come, until the knowledge of Zion shall reach the uttermost
parts of the earth, and the kings and great men shall say, "Let us go up
to Zion and learn wisdom".  Will they come here to learn how to govern? 
Yes.  One of the simplest things in the world is to control a people.  Is
there any particular art in making this people obedient?  There is just
one.  If you Elders of Israel can get the art of preaching the Holy Ghost
into the hearts of the people, you will have an obedient people.  This is
the only art required. Teach the people truth, teach them correct
principle; show them what is for their greatest good and don't you think
they will follow in that path?  They will just as far as it is consistent
with their weaknesses and the power of darkness that is over the
inhabitants of the earth--with us as with others.  We have merged
partially into the light, and we should be very thankful and obedient to
the requirements of Heaven, that we may receive more and more. 

	Every art and science known and studied by the children of men is
comprised within the Gospel.  Where did the knowledge come from which has
enabled man to accomplish such great achievements in science and mechanism
within the last few years?  We know that knowledge is from God, but why do
they not acknowledge him?  Because they are blind to their own interests,
they do not see and understand things as they are.  Who taught men to
chain the lightning?  Did man unaided and of himself discover that?  No,
he received  the knowledge from the Supreme Being.  From Him, too, has
every art and science proceeded, although the credit is given to this
individual, and that individual.  But where did they get the knowledge
from, have they it in and of themselves?  No, they must acknowledge that,
if they cannot make one spear of grass grow, nor one hair white or black
without artificial aid, they are dependent upon the Supreme Being just the
same as the poor and the ignorant.  Where have we received the knowledge
to construct the labor-saving machinery for which the present age is
remarkable?  From Heaven.  Where have we received our knowledge of
astronomy, or the power to make glasses to penetrate the immensity of
space?  We received it from the same Being that Moses, and those who were
before him, received their knowledge from; the same Being who told Noah
that the world should be drowned and its people destroyed.  From Him has
every astronomer, artist and mechanician that ever lived on the earth
obtained his knowledge.  By Him, too, has the power to receive from one
another, been bestowed, and to search into the deep things pertaining to
this earth and every principle connected with it.

	We can receive all this in our education here; but to acquire a
knowledge of these principles, time and study are required.  Let a child
go to school, and he commences with a, b, c, and goes on to a-b ab, and
then to words of two or three syllables until he is prepared for a higher
course of studies.  No child can learn algebra or common arithmetic at
first, but he has to go on day by day, just as you and I have to do.  We
have learned many things concerning the Kingdom of God upon the earth, and
we can learn still more.  But with all we have learned, are we prepared,
Latter-day Saints, to put our trust in God implicitly?  No, we are not. 
How do we know?  By the acts of the people and by our own experience. 
This is in consequence of the evil and the power of satan that is in the
world through the fall.  He has beguiled the inhabitants of the earth, and
has thrown a mist before their eyes so that they can not see the
providences of God.  Who is it can see the power by which the leaves of
yonder trees grow?  Can you see and understand it?  No; why?  Because
there is a vail dropped over the eyes and minds of the children of men, so
that they can not behold the providences of God nor His handiwork in all
nature.  We are deprived of this knowledge; but we can begin to see and
understand through receiving the Gospel.  But we have still a great deal
to learn.

	It is said that "obedience is better than sacrifice."  It is far
better.  When I look at the Latter-day Saints--and when I say you, I
reckon myself--(I, Brigham, am with you,) where are we?  what do we
understand?  how far have we advanced?  What do we expect to receive?  How
are we looking at things pertaining to this world?  We have received the
first principles of the Gospel; and we have received the spirit of the
Gospel; but do we live so as to increase in this day by day?  That is the
question.  Do we live our religion so that we improve on all the knowledge
that God has given us?  Do we live up to the light that the Lord has
revealed?  You may answer this question.  The Latter-day Saints, as a
people, are a very good people, they are excellent; they have come to a
oneness that is most remarkable--astonishing to ourselves, and also to
others.  But are we one yet? No, not exactly; we have a great deal to
learn before we come to a unity of the faith and see eye to eye as the
people of God have to do in the Latter-days.  We see some things, but we
do not see all that is for our best interest; if we did we would live our
religion.

	Now, my brethren and sisters, from the high and from the lower
circles of life, find if you can on the face of the earth a gentleman or
lady, that is, one who is a true gentlemen or a true lady, (we have many
that are called gentlemen and ladies); but you find one in the strict
sense of the word, that is, as I would interpret the word, and you will
find a man or woman that would border very closely on an angel.  Every
word that they speak will be seasoned with grace:  every act of their
lives would be as nigh as mortals can come to angels; nothing pertaining
to them low, degrading or disgraceful.  You find a gentleman an you will
find a man who possesses a heart full of charity, faith and love, full of
good works, whose hand is always open to do good to every creature.  You
find a lady, and she is one who is ready to impart wisdom, knowledge,
truth, and every virtuous and holy principle to her sisters and her fellow
beings.  These are the true lady and gentleman; but they are of a higher
order than those we now call ladies and gentlemen.  You may say my
definition is incorrect.  Be it so, it matters not to me.  I have my own
views with regard to these things.  I look upon the Latter-day Saints as
being a very good people, but very far from what they should be.  "Well,
we must have time to grow," says one.  Very true, we can not learn even
the "First Reader" in a day.  When we commenced going to school we learned
a little to-day, and a little more tomorrow, and a little more the next
day, and so added knowledge to knowledge; and by and by you and I have to
come to a unity of the faith.  This is the gospel--the plan of
salvation--that we believe in.  This is the doctrine we preach to the
people--to purify ourselves as He is pure; to sanctify the Lord God in our
hearts, that we may be counted worthy to receive His blessings and be
sustained by Him. 

	We know very well that the name "Mormon" is rudely applied to the
Latter-day Saints, and we know very well what the world thinks of us; but
what matters it to us?  Nothing.  Suppose that we had the power to take
the poor and the ignorant, the low and the degraded who are trodden under
foot by the great and the powerful among earth's inhabitants, and bring
them together and purify them and fill them with knowledge and
understanding and make a nation of them worthy of admiration, what would
you say to this?  O, ye inhabitants of the earth, can you do it? The Lord
can.  Well it is such a people that I am looking upon; this is the people
I expect to be saved with.  I am proud of them.  Not proud of their
ignorance or meanness; not proud of their wickedness by any means.  But I
am proud to think that we have received the gospel and are enabled to
sanctify ourselves if we are disposed to.  I delight in the Later-day
Saints, because of their obedience to these principles, and not because of
their rough, uncouth course of life.

	Now, it is for us to perfect ourselves by these principles.  We have
received the gospel and have been baptized for the remission of our sins. 
Is there anything wrong in this?  No, the Christian world profess to
believe the Old and New Testaments; the Jews say they believe the Old
Testament.  We believe both, and that is not all, we believe in the Book
of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants given by the Lord to Joseph Smith
and by him to the Church.  We also believe if we were destitute of the
Spirit of the Lord, and our eyes were closed so that we could not see and
understand things as they are by the spirit of revelation, we might say
farewell to all these books, no matter how numerous.  If we had all the
revelation given since the days of Adam and were without the spirit of
revelation to be and abide in the midst of the people, it would be
impossible for us to be saved in the celestial Kingdom of God.  The world
look upon us a set of fanatics for believing this; but that does not
matter at all to us.  We have our course before us; the path for us to
tread in is marked out.  What is it?  It is march on, march on, ye
Latter-day Saints, to the higher orders of life in this world.  March on,
ye Latter-day Saints, to the higher orders of life in this world.  March
on, ye Latter-day Saints, until you are prepared to receive life
everlasting in the presence of the Father and the Son.  What matters it
what the world say?  That makes no difference to us, not in the least. 
But I will tell you what concerns us, to order our lives in accordance
with the principles of the gospel that we have embraced.  Let a Christian
live his religion and he is honored and thought much of by his brethren
and friends and acquaintances.  And even the wicked contemplate a man or
woman who lives his or her religion with a feeling of reverence, and they
involuntarily honor that being who honors his God.  The vilest wretch that
lives on the face of the earth looks with reverence on a person who is a
true follower of Jesus, and cannot help it.  If we respect ourselves we
will shape our lives accordingly.  If we do so, we shall become pure and
holy.  Is there anything wrong in this?  No; neither is there the least
wrong in the world in acknowledging the hand of God in all things.  If I
had the skill given me to-day to construct a machine by which we could
pass from nation to nation in the atmosphere as they now do on terra firma
on the railway, would there be any harm in acknowledging God in this?  I
should receive the knowledge from Him; it is not independent and of
myself.  I am dependent upon Him for every breath I draw and for every
blessing I receive.  If you, ye nations or wise men of the earth, are not
dependent upon Him, we would like to see you act independently.  Let a man
who thinks he has power independent of God--if there be such a man--take a
grain of wheat, rye, barley, or a kernel of corn from the element God has
ordained and organized for its development, and see if he can make it
grow.  All acknowledge that it can not be done.  Well, then, there would
be no harm in acknowledging God in all things.  But, here I pause a
moment; I do not mean that we should acknowledge the hand of God in a man
or woman doing wrong; but I will acknowledge the hand of God in sustaining
the individual while he does it.  No matter what wrong a human being may
commit he or she is sustained by the Almighty while doing it.  But the act
is of the creature and not the Creator.  We should acknowledge the hand of
God in all things.  And if we do this we will live our religion a little
better than we have.

	O, ye my sisters, will not you improve a little?  Shall I come to our
own capacity here to-day?  Yes; then let us look a little and see what is
for our advantage.  How many of my brethren and sisters are there who have
a mint or a bank to go to with an inexhaustible fountain of wealth?  None;
we are poor.  We gathered poor.  It is true that we are decently clad; but
why not go to the fields and take the straw and make you hats and bonnets,
and save that means to send for the poor Saints?  Would ten thousand
dollars pay for the hats and bonnets worn by this congregation to-day?  By
no means.  But suppose that we say five thousand, that amount had better
be used in sending for the poor than in spending it in articles the
material for which can be gathered and manufactured right here.  I see a
very few straw hats in this congregation to-day with straw trimmings, made
by the bands of the wearers perhaps, and can you beat them for beauty with
imported articles?  No, you can not.  Well, these are lessons we try to
teach the people all the time.  We teach men who have been in the factory
all their lives how to prepare the ground, to plant potatoes, corn,
squash, cucumbers, onions, and cabbage, that they may have something to
eat when the dreary storms of winter overtake them.  And thus we teach the
people how to live.  This is our business.  If you do not learn to live
here, how can you live hereafter?  If you do not understand the things of
this life, how can you understand the things pertaining to the life to
come?  Just as the apostle says with regard to loving one another--"If you
say you love God and hate your brother you deny your own words, for how
can you hate him whom you have seen and love Him whom you have not seen?" 
You can not do it.  We make the application here, how can we understand
things a thousand years ahead if we do not understand what is here to-day? 
We take children, and teach the little girl to spin, weave, and knit her
stockings; and the boys to drive team, plow, to go to the field to hoe and
prepare the ground, and to sow the seed so that they may have food to eat. 
What next?  Why, say your prayers always before going to work.  Never
forget that.  A father--the head of the family--should never miss calling
his family together and dedicating himself and them to the Lord of Hosts,
asking the guidance and direction of His holy spirit to lead them through
the day--that very day.  Lead us this day, guide us this day, preserve us
this day, save us from sinning against Thee or any being in heaven or on
earth this day!  If we do this every day, the last day we live we will be
prepared to enjoy a higher glory.  

	There is a little matter I want to speak upon to you, my sisters.  It
is a subject that is very obnoxious to outsiders.  They have given us the
credit for industry and prudence; but we have one doctrine in our faith
that to their view is erroneous, and very bad; it is painful to think of. 
Shall I tell you what it is sisters?  "Oh," says one, "I know what you
mean, my husband has two, four, or half a dozen wives."  Well, I want to
tell the sisters how to free themselves from this odium as many of them
consider it.  This doctrine so hateful and annoying to the feelings of
many, was revealed from heaven to Joseph Smith, and obedience is required
to it by the Latter-day Saints,--this very principle will work out the
moral salvation of the world.  Do you believe it?  It makes no difference
whether you do or not, it is true.  It is said that women rule among all
nations; and if the women, not only in this congregation, Territory and
government, but the world, would rise up in the spirit and might of the
holy gospel and make good men of those who are bad, and show them that
they will be under the necessity of marrying a wife or else not have a
woman at all, they would soon come to the mark.  Yes, this odious doctrine
will work out the moral reformation and salvation of this generation. 
People generally do not see it; my sisters do not see it; and I do not
know that all the elders of Israel see it.  But if this course be pursued,
and we make this the rule of practice, it will force all men to take a
wife.  Then we will be satisfied with one wife.  I should have been in the
beginning; the one wife system would not have disagreed with me at all. 
If the prophet had said to me, "Brother Brigham, you can never have but
one wife at a time."  I should have said, "glory, hallelujah, that is just
what I like."  But he said, "You will have to take more than one wife, and
this order has to spread and increase until the inhabitants of the earth
repent of their evils and men will do what is right towards the females. 
In this also I say glory, hallelujah.  Do men do that which is right now? 
No.  You see travelers--young, middle-aged, or old--roaming over the
world, and ask them where their families are, and the answer will
generally be, "I have none."  You go to the city of New York, and among
the merchants there I doubt whether there is one man in three who has a
wife.  Go to the doctor and ask him, "where is your wife and family?" 
and, "thank God I have none,"  will be his reply.  It is the same with the
lawyer.  Ask him about his wife, and his reply will be, "O bless me, I
havn't any, I say it to my praise, I am not troubled with a family."  You
go to the parson, and were it not for his profession, the cloak of
religion that is around him, not one in a thousand of them would have wife
or children.

	Do not be startled, my sisters; do not be at all afraid; just get
influence enough among the daughters of Eve in the midst of this
generation until you have power enough over the males to bring them to
their senses so that they will act according to the rule of right, and you
will see that we will be free at once, and the elders of Israel will not
be under the necessity of taking so many women.  But we shall continue to
do it until God tells us to stop, or until we pass into sin and iniquity,
which will never be.

	Do you see anything very bad in this?  Just ask yourselves,
historians, when was monogamy introduced on to the face of the earth? 
When those buccaneers, who settled on the peninsula where Rome now stands,
could not steal women enough to have two or three apiece, they passed a
law that a man should have but one woman.  And this started monogamy and
the downfall of the plurality system.  In the days of Jesus, Rome, having
dominion over Jerusalem, they carried out the doctrine more or less.  This
was the rise, start and foundation of the doctrine of monogamy; and never
till then was there a law passed, that we have any knowledge of, that a
man should have but one wife.

	Now, sisters, I want you to see to this.  I advise you to have faith
and good works; be fervent in spirit and virtue, and try to live so as to
bring the men to the standard of right, then we shall have no trouble at
all.  I believe that in Massachusetts they have only 27,000 more women
than men; but that is not many.  There is a cause, perhaps, for this.  A
good many young men go into the army, or go here or there.  What is done
with the daughters of Eve?  In may countries they stick them in the
factories, into the fields, the coal mines, and into the streets--as I
have seen hundreds of them--gathering manure, &c., working all day and
getting a penny at night to buy a loaf of bread with.  They stick some of
them down into the iron works, under the ground to pack the ore, or into
the building to lug off the iron.  But the young men are sent to the wars. 
When England and the rest of the nations learn war no more, instead of
passing a law in this or any other nation against a man having more than
one wife, they will pass a law to make men do as they should in honoring
the daughters of Eve and making wives of and providing for them.  Will not
this be a happy time?  Yes, very fine.  If you will produce this to-day,
I"ll tell you what I would be willing to do, I would be willing to give up
half or two-thirds of my wives, or to let the whole of them go, if it was
necessary, if those who should take them would lead them to eternal
salvation.  And then you may have my daughters, if you will only lead them
in the way they should go that they may obtain eternal life; if you will
teach them the gospel, how to live, how to honor their being, honor their
God and live their religion.  Do this and you are welcome to them.  Would
I get more wives?  if I had a mind to; but if I had none at all it would
be all right.  If I have one it is all right, and if I should have a score
it would be all right.

	I mean to teach, pray and plead with the people to save themselves by
hearkening to the commandments of God, and to live their religion so that
we may get through a world of sin, darkness, ignorance and unbelief.  Man
is prone to wander as the sparks are to fly upwards.  The spirit is
warring with the flesh continually, and the flesh against the spirit. 
Which will come off victorious?  This will decide the destiny of all the
inhabitants of the earth.  If the spirit reigns triumphant and overcomes
the body and its passions, that character will receive glory; but if the
passions and sin, within the flesh, overcome the spirit and subdue it,
that character will be lost.  That is all there is of it.  The Lord has
done all on His part.  His grace is sufficient; He has laid the plan of
salvation for us to follow.  Work on the square and all will be right. 
God bless you.  Amen.

   REMARKS by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle,
                     Salt Lake City, Aug. 16th, 1868.
                      [Reported by David W. Evans.]
               THE VALUE OF ATTENDING MEETINGS--GENTILE OR
                  GENTILISM--ISOLATION--PREACHING--ZION.

	I wish to make a few remarks to the Elders of Israel, who are the
ones who are called to preach the gospel at home and abroad, and to
administer in the ordinances of the House of God.  My remarks will apply
to the sisters, if they wish to receive them.  I wish to say that, when I
see Elders in Israel who are careless and unconcerned, who trifle away
their time, and neglect to attend High Council and other Meetings where
there are opportunities to learn, my experience for the best part of forty
years teaches me that they never progress--they are as they were, and as
they no doubt will be.  I notice that the seats of the Elders here in this
Tabernacle are frequently vacant.  I also notice in the High Council,
where intricate matters are often tried, in which the principles of
government and law are involved, the consideration of which would be
profitable and instructive, that whenever an Elder can make an excuse his
place is vacant.  In my experience I never did let an opportunity pass of
getting with the Prophet Joseph and of hearing him speak in public or in
private, so that I might draw understanding from the fountain from which
he spoke, that I might have it and bring it forth when it was needed.  My
own experience tells me that the great success with which the Lord has
crowned my labors is owing to the fact of applying my heart to wisdom.  I
notice that even my own natural brothers when they come into my office,
which is very seldom, if there are important matters on hand--when I am
teaching the brethren the principles of government, and how to apply them
to families, neighborhoods and nations, will leave the office as though it
was a thing of no account.  And this is the case with too many of the
Elders in the Church.  This is mortifying to me.  In the days of the
Prophet Joseph, such moments were more precious to me than all the wealth
of the world.  No matter how great my poverty--if I had to borrow meal to
feed my wife and children, I never let an opportunity pass of learning
what the Prophet had to impart.  This is the secret of the success of your
humble servant.  I make this application to the Elders of Israel.

	Brother Carrington has been speaking of his mission, and of his long
stay at home.  I do not know that I can altogether excuse him, but I think
that my remarks are partially applicable to him, although we have called
him to fill as important a station as there is in the Church.  If Brother
Albert Carrington, who is on the eve of departure for a foreign mission,
is not prepared now to teach the nations of the earth, and to lead them
home to Zion, it is his own fault.  He has been in the midst of counsel
ever since he has been in the Church; and others have been here with us
all the day long, and if they are not filled with wisdom and the power of
God it is their own fault.

	I want, now, to say a few words with regard to a term that is
frequently used in our midst.  I refer to the term "Gentile."  I have
explained this a great many times to the Elders both in public and in
private, and I was surprised at the use made of the term this afternoon. 
"Gentile," or "gentilism," applies only to those who reject the gospel,
and will not submit to and receive the plan of salvation.  Will you
remember this?  It does not apply to any only those who are opposed to God
and His Kingdom.  When the Jews, as a nation, were in their glory, they
called the nations around them Gentiles.  Why?  Because they were opposed
to the laws and precepts that the Lord, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and
Moses, had revealed for the guidance of Israel.  But it does not apply to
this or any other nation, simply because they are not of our faith; and in
fact, in these days, on account of their conduct, the term could be more
properly applied to the Jews than to any other people; but it does not
apply to them for they are of the chosen seed. Among the nations of the
earth there is a great mixture, but there are many millions that we shall
yet gather into this Church. 

	Remember this, O, ye Elders of Israel, and do not apply the term
"Gentile" to a man because he is not baptized.  There are some of pure
gentile blood will come into this Church.  There are  a few already, but
very few.  When a person of real gentile blood, through honesty of heart,
submits to the gospel and is baptized and receives the laying on of hands
from a man duly authorized, you might naturally suppose, from the
contortions of the muscles, that such a person had a fit, for the power of
the Holy Ghost falls upon and renovates that rebellious blood and stirs it
up, and perhaps the person thus administered to falls prostrate on the
floor.  I have seen this, and it is in consequence of the power of the
Holy Ghost operating upon the power of the enemy within the individual. 
Whoever has been in our Councils would never make the application of
"Gentile" to a man or woman, simply because he or she was not baptized,
for that has nothing to do with it either one way or the other.  I want
the brethren to learn this, and everything that is useful.

	A few words now with reference to the isolation that Bro. Carrington
has been talking about.  We have come out from the world that we might bid
farewell to sin; and we are not only the salt of the earth, but we are the
light of the world.  Do you suppose that if a man wanted a light that he
would light a candle and put it under a bushel, or where it could not be
seen?  No.  And do you think that our Father, who has revealed the way of
life and salvation, the path in which every person should walk in order to
gain eternal life, would put that light under a bushel?  No, He has put it
in on a candlestick and set it in a place where it can be seen by the
whole world.  Are we isolated?  No, I do not think we are.  We are right
in the great highway from sea to sea.  And instead of the railroad being
any detriment to us, all I have to regret is that they tried to get it on
the north side of the Lake; we want it in this city where it belongs.  And
that is not all, the attempt to carry it in that direction is an insult to
the people of this city, for in so doing they have tried to shun us.  They
would not have had a telegraph or railroad across the continent, and
coaches would not have run as they do now for one generation yet, if it
not had been for the Later-day Saints; and for them to try to take it away
from us I look upon as an insult.  We do not care about it; we are in the
habit of being insulted and imposed upon.  Far from wishing not to have a
railroad, it ought to have been built years ago.  When we came to this
valley we never traveled a day without marking the path for the road to
this place.  We anticipated it, and if they had done as they should have
done, instead of going to war and killing each other, we should have had a
railroad long ago.

	These are my feelings with regard to the railroad; and whether it
comes through this city or not, it is all right, because God rules, and He
will have things as He pleases.  We can act, but He will over-rule.  Man
proposes, but God disposes.  He does it all the time, and it is all right,
just as right as it is for the grasshoppers to come and teach us what the
Lord can do when he opens the windows of his judgments from His secret
chambers.  He can chasten or consume a nation with grasshoppers at His
pleasure.  If we do not understand it now, we shall see the time when we
shall have to come to the mark, and shall be able to see and understand
the providences of god.  He is teaching us to lay up our breadstuffs.  How
many of our sisters are there here who have gone into the field and
gleaned wheat, and after getting it cleaned, instead of laying it up,
have-taken it to the stores and sold it for a trifle to buy a tassel,
artificial for their bonnets, a waist ribbon, or some frivolous thing that
was of no earthly use to them?  The Lord is going to teach us, and we may
as well begin to understand His providences.  The Lord knows what he is
doing, and it is all right.  

	A few words now, with regard to preaching.  The greatest and loudest
sermon that can be preached, or that ever was preached on the face of the
earth, is practice.  No other is equal to it.  Can we preach to the world
by practice?  Yes, we are preaching to them by setting out these shade
trees.  When they come here from north, south, east, or west, they say,
"Your city is a perfect paradise, with its streams of water and beautiful
shade trees down every street."  Every little cot, no matter how humble,
is encircled with beautiful shade trees; and they want to know who these
people are who take such pride in beautifying  and adorning their city. 
Why they are the poor "Mormons" who have been driven into the mountains. 
I have been driven from a good, handsome property five times.  Many of my
brethren have been served in the same manner.  But here we are again, and
we are teaching the people to be industrious, and how to raise their own
bread, make their own clothing and gather around them the fruits of the
earth, that there may be no suffering through our whole community.  Is not
this praise worthy?  Yes, it is, and the statesmen of this nation--those
of them who have brains--are looking at the industry of this people; they
admire it.  Is this preaching?  Yes, and there are many amongst them that
we shall gather in yet.  They would come now by thousands and thousands,
if the Latter-day Saints were only popular.  "What, these honorable men?"
Yes, they would say, "I want to be baptized.  I admire your industry, and
your skill in governing.  You have a system of governing that is not to be
found anywhere else.  You know how to govern cities, territories, or a
world, and I would like to join you." But take care, if you join this
people without the love of God in your soul it will do you no good.  If
they were to do this, they would bring in their sophistry, and introduce
that which would poison the innocent and honest and lead them astray.  I
look at this, and I am satisfied that it will not do for the Lord to make
this people popular.  Why?  Because all hell would want to be in the
church.  The people must be kept where the finger of scorn can be pointed
at them.  Although it is admitted that we are honest, industrious,
truthful, virtuous, self-denying, and, as a community, possess every moral
excellence, yet we must be looked upon as ignorant and unworthy, and as
the offscouring of society, and be hated by the world.  What is the reason
of this? Christ and Baal can not become friends.  When I see this people
grow and spread and prosper, I feel that there is more danger than when
they are in poverty.  Being driven from city to city or into the mountains
is nothing compared to the danger of our becoming rich and being hailed by
outsiders as a first-class community.  I am afraid of only one thing. 
What is that?  That we will not live our religion, and that we will
partially slide a little from the path of rectitude, and go part of the
way to meet our friends.  They say now that if we will only give up the
doctrine of plurality of wives, they will admit us as a state, and hail us
as "a pet state" give us the preference to all the states, for our
industry and prudence.
	But hold on, were we driven into the mountains here for polygamy? 
Were we driven from York State to Ohio and persecuted and hated for
polygamy?  No.  Was Joseph Smith persecuted and driven from Pennsylvania
to York State, and from York State to Pennsylvania, with writ after writ,
for polygamy?  No; no such thing was ever thought of.  When we were driven
from Jackson into Clay, Caldwell and Davis and other counties, and from
there out of the State by the mob, was it for polygamy?  By no means. 
When we were driven from Nauvoo, after having made it like the Garden of
Eden, was it because polygamy was offensive to the people?  No; they knew
nothing of it.  Why was it that we were thus compelled to leave State
after State, and ultimately the United States?  "Because you are Mormons,
and we hate you."  We know the root and foundation of this hatred.  It
comes from the pulpit, from corrupt priests.  Say they, "These people
possess a union and a power that we do not possess, and if we let them
alone, they will come and take away our place and nation, and we shall
lose our fat livings."  There is where it originated--with priests and
deacons, with hounds professing to be Christians, but who are no better
than the devils in hell.  From the pulpit it has spread into political
society, and they all hate us.  Why?  Because the priesthood of the Son of
God is among this people, and they know that if we are let alone we shall
convert the world and bring it into subjection to the law of Christ.  The
devil says,  "I have had power over the earth for six thousand years, and
do you think I am going to loose my grasp upon it?  No, I will hold it,
and before ever the Latter-day Saints obtain one foot of inheritance upon
it they will have to contest it inch by inch."  But we will contend with
him until we gain power and influence sufficient to convert the world.

	I, and every faithful elder in Israel want the whole of this people
to be Saints in deed, word and feeling; Saints when they are asleep,
Saints when they are awake, when they rise up and when they lie down, when
they go out and when they come in.  We want every individual to live his
religion; and if we do this we shall gain influence and the devil cannot
help it; and just as sure as we live our religion will our influence
increase.  And in our intercourse with outsiders--do not call them
gentiles--let our example be such as is worthy of imitation; then every
one among them who is honest will say, "I guess you are right, I think I
will come and stay with you."  Thousands of them are looking right here to
the Latter-day Saints.  What says the man who has a daughter that he wants
taken care of?  Says he, "I will take her to the Mormons and leave her
there, because I know that she will be safe among them, for the Mormon
elders will protect her to the death, yet they have more wives than one." 
And if we had not a wife at all we would protect them to the death, and
preserve them inviolate, or we are not Saints.  This cannot be said of
other communities.  Says the man who wants to go on a journey and leave
his family behind, "I will take them to the Mormons and leave them there,
because I know that they will be safe."  I will just refer you to one
gentleman who used to be here.  He said,  "Let me be in New York and I
want double bolts, and fire-proof safes, and I want a safe in a safe, and
even then I do not feel safe to have my money there; but when I get into
the streets of Salt Lake City I feel safe."  The Latter-day Saints should
live so that this confidence may increase.

	I want every man and woman to live in such a way that outsiders who
wish their children taught truth and righteousness will be anxious to get
them into a "Mormon" family. If we will live our religion we will be
honest, truthful and upright in all things, dealing with others as we wish
them to do by us under the same circumstances.  If we do this we will be
honored.  The devils cannot help but honor us.  They may look from hell
and say, "there is a people whom we cannot influence to do wrong, and we
will give up the chase."  I want this city to be sanctified.  Let the
people live as they should live, devoting themselves to God and His cause,
and this ground is hallowed, sacred and will be preserved for His Saints,
and the power of the enemy never can get foothold here just as sure as we
do it.  Can we extend this?  Yes, to other towns, counties, through the
Territory, to other Territories, through the mountains and plains until
the earth is redeemed and sanctified and the people enjoy the rights and
privileges God has designed for them.

	Let me say a few words with regard to Zion.  We profess to be Zion. 
If we are the pure in heart we are so, for Zion is the pure in heart." 
Now when Zion is built up and reigns, the question may arise with some,
will all be Latter-day Saints?  No.  Will there be this variety of classes
and faiths that we now behold?  I do not know whether there will be as
many, or whether there will be more.  There may be more societies than 666
for aught I know.  But be that as it may, Jesus has gone to prepare
mansions for every creature.  Who will go down as "sons of perdition" and
receive the reward of the damned?  None but those who have sinned against
the Holy Ghost.  All others will be gathered into kingdoms where there
will be a certain amount of peace and glory.  Will the Methodists have
their heaven?  I will venture to say that John Wesley, if he never hears
the gospel preached in the world of spirits, will enjoy all the happiness
and glory that he ever thought of.  And so it will be with others; I
mention him merely because he is a noted character.  In all those kingdoms
the people will be as varied as they are here.  In the millennium men will
have the privilege of being Presbyterians, Methodists or Infidels, but
they will not have the privilege of treating the name and character of
Deity as they have done heretofore.  No, but every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father that Jesus is the
Christ.  This is a strange doctrine to outsiders.  But what do they know
about the Bible, heaven, angels or God?  Nothing; they have not the least
conception about their true character, although they feel and influence
that is divine, that comes from heaven, which leads them to worship that
which is pure, but they know nothing of Him from whom all good comes.

	I have talked long enough for the present.  I do hope and pray that
the Latter-day Saints will be Saints indeed.  I do not ask God to make you
Saints, for He has done everything that can be done for a fallen world.  I
pray you, Latter-day Saints, to live your religion, and may God help you
to do so.  Amen.

                  DISCOURSE by President Brigham Young,
delivered in the Old Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Nov. 29th, 1868.
   [Reported by David W. Evans.] PREACHING THE GOSPEL--DISOBEDIENCE AND
PERSECUTION--EXCLUSIVENESS--THE SEARCH AFTER HAPPINESS.

	To the Latter-day Saints the Gospel of life and salvation is worthy
of particular attention.  In my reflections upon the great work that the
Lord has commenced, its operations appear marvelous to me.  I look upon
those who have separated themselves from sin with a great deal of pleasure
and delight; they are a very peculiar people.  When the elders go and
preach
the Gospel, all who have the privilege of hearing, with a very few
exceptions, are convinced of its truth in a greater or smaller degree. 
Perhaps there may be a few who have received traditions to that degree
that
the truth cannot find the way to their hearts; but such persons are very
rare.  When a man preaches the Gospel by the power of God sent down from
heaven, it is hard for me to believe that they who hear him are not
convinced of its truth.  Then, when I look upon the few of the blood of
Ephraim scattered among the people who have the courage, fortitude and
self-will to acknowledge the truth of the Gospel and to yield obedience to
it, I think they are very peculiarly organized.

	This Gospel is adapted to the capacity of the whole human family. 
Why are the principles of truth and the people whom embrace them so
ridiculed?  I can attribute it to nothing but sin, or a determination to
do
that which is wrong.  Go to those portions of the world where the Elders
have labored their lives almost out to preach to the people the words of
eternal life and to put them in possession of that which would save them
here and hereafter, and it has been the fact that hardly a word of truth
has
been told about us.  This is astonishing.  And this work, according to the
words of the prophet, is "a marvelous work and a wonder."  It appears to
me
that if the human family had the least conception of the principles of
life
and salvation, they would not do as they do, or they must believe that
they
would be chastened, like disobedient children, who many times, seemingly,
are disobedient expressly to be corrected.  There is no need of this,
especially among the Latter-day Saints.  What few words I have to say to
them is upon this wise,--be perfect, wise, pure, holy, and fear and revere
the word of the Lord, His commandments and requirements. 

	When we look at the Latter-day Saints we ask, is there any necessity
of their being persecuted?  Yes, if they are disobedient.  Is there any
necessity of chastening a son or a daughter?  Yes, if they are
disobedient. 
But suppose they are perfectly obedient to every requirement of their
parents, is there any necessity of chastening them then?  If there is, I
do
not understand the principle of it. I have not yet been able to see the
necessity of chastening an obedient child, neither have I been able to see
the necessity of chastisement from the Lord upon a people who are
perfectly
obedient.  Have this people been chastened?  Yes, they have.

	Although we preach the Gospel of life and salvation to the
inhabitants of the earth, and tell them that this Gospel is calculated to
save every son and daughter of Adam and Eve who will hearken to it,
whether
it be those who have lived, those who are now living, or those who may
hereafter live, will the present generation have this Gospel?  No, they
will
not.  Why?  Because they have so much religion already that they do not
know
what to do with it.  I have often said to them, "If you will not believe
the
Gospel, because you say you have religion already, will you not please
repent of your religion?"  Is there any need for them to repent of their
religion?  Yes.  Why?  Because it is not correct.  The whole world of
mankind is full of religion, and if they do not worship one object they
worship another. It is just as natural for the children of men to worship
and revere something as it is to breathe, hence the Christian world is
full
of religion, and it is the same with the heathen world.  We, too, have our
religion, and it is adapted to the capacity of the whole human family.  It
does not send a portion of the people to howl in torment for ever and
ever,
but it reaches after the last son and daughter of Adam and Eve, and will
pluck them from the prison, unlock the doors, and burst the bonds and
bring
forth every soul who will receive salvation.

	I ask the nations of the earth what objection is there to this? 
"Oh," say they, "you are different from us."  How different?  "Why you
have
many doctrines we do not believe in."  We cannot help it.  We have taken
this book, called the Old and the New Testament for our standard.  We
believe this book and receive it as the word of the Lord.  Not but there
are
many words in this book that are not the words of the Lord, but that which
came from the heavens, and which the Lord has delivered to us, we receive,
and especially the sayings of the Savior.  We receive the Lord Jesus
Christ
as our Savior, and we believe in Him as our Savior.  There are many
persons
in this city who ridicule the idea that Jesus was the Christ; but take
those
very individuals, both male and female, and let them square their course
through life in all respects according to the words of the Savior, and
would
they not be better men and women than they now are?  Yes, they would. 
Then
where is the harm or evil of believing in a character whose doctrine from
beginning to end is perfectly pure and holy?  Although the children of
Judah, universally, and many others ridicule the idea that Jesus is the
Christ, yet take the doctrines that He taught His disciples and which they
preached to the people, and endeavored to practice, and let any people
live
in accordance with them, and you will find a pure, holy and perfect
community.  There would be no wars, bloodshed nor contention among them as
nations, communities, neighborhoods and families. 

	It has been said here that there are some whose feelings can not
accede to all that is taught by the Latter-day Saints.  But let me say
there
never was a doctrine taught by Jesus Christ and His apostles, by the
prophets before them, or by Joseph Smith and this people, but what, if
followed out, brings peace to every family and individual who observes it.
Do we enjoy peace?  A great many do not.  What is the reason? Because they
do not faithfully carry out those doctrines. 


and sisters, that you and I should suffer persecution to perfect us?  Are
we
willing to be obedient, and to sanctify ourselves and to sanctify the Lord
God in our hearts without the rod of chastisement?  if we are, we shall
bring in the doctrine that has been taught to the people on temporal
matters.  We say, and profess, that we are one, and in a great measure we
are.  In our religious and political sentiments we are one; but in the
pursuit of life and happiness, as individuals and families, we are not
one. 
Now, if we will believe the Gospel, which can do no harm to anyone--I say
this for all ears--it does not contain a single doctrine but what is true. 
You may ask the question:  Has no one Elder in Israel ever taught false
doctrine?  Yes, but no man has who has been authorized to teach, guide and
direct the Saints.  Did Jesus, Peter, James, John or Joseph Smith ever
teach
a false or incorrect doctrine?  Not that you or I know of; we cannot find
it.  Now, if we have got correct doctrines, and will fashion our lives by
them we may sanctify ourselves without being chastened. 

	We look forward to the day when this people will be pure, holy and
sanctified, and when we will be prepared to build up Zion.  Are we
prepared
now?  No, we are not.  We are only professedly Latter-day Saints;
practically, we are only so in part.  To be a Saint is to be as Jesus was;
to be assimilated to the spirit and character which He exhibited while
here
on earth.  Now, I exhort the Latter-day Saints to live so that each and
everyone may enjoy the spirit of the Lord Jesus day by day, that we may be
one in all things, in temporal matters as well as spiritual.

	As I have but a few minutes that I want to speak, I shall now come
to temporal matters.  You and I wish to live, and to have the privilege of
pursuing, unmolested, the path that leads to happiness.  Now, I can not
say
it of you all, but I can of a few here, that they have been trying to
serve
the Lord for nearly forty years.  During that period we have passed
through
scenes we do not wish to behold again.  Five times many of us here have
been
broken up, and have left our houses, gardens, farms, orchards, vineyards
and
all we had, and have had to run for our lives.  What for?  because we
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ--and tried to practice the doctrine He
taught.  For anything else?  No.  Were all perfect?  No. Did some sin?  O,
yes, we were all sinners.  Why were we obliged to leave our homes?  Did we
disturb our neighbors, or pilfer and purloin their substance?  No.  What
did
we do?  We taught the Gospel of life and salvation.  Not that all were
righteous, but our sins--of worldly-mindedness, covetousness and
selfishness--were between ourselves and our God, and for this the Lord
suffered us to be chastened. 

	We look forward to the day when this people will be pure, holy and
sanctified, and when we will be prepared to build up Zion.  Are we
prepared
now?  No, we are not.  We are only professedly Latter-day Saints;
practically, we are only so in part.  To be a Saint is to be as Jesus was;
to be assimilated to the spirit and character which He exhibited while
here
on earth. Now, I exhort the Latter-day Saints to live so that each and
everyone may enjoy the spirit of the Lord Jesus day by day, that we may be
one in all things, in temporal matters as well as spiritual.

	As I have but a few minutes that I want to speak, I shall now come
to temporal matters.  You and I wish to live, and to have the privilege of
pursuing, unmolested, the path that leads to happiness.  Now, I can not
say
it of you all, but I can of a few here, that they have been trying to
serve
the Lord for nearly forty years.  During that period we have passed
through
scenes we do not wish to behold again.  Five times many of us here have
been
broken up, and have left our houses, gardens, farms, orchards, vineyards
and
all we had, and have had to run for our lives.  What for?  because we
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ--and tried to practice the doctrine He
taught.  For anything else?  No.  Were all perfect?  No.  Did some sin? 
O,
yes, we were all sinners.  Why were we obliged to leave our homes?  Did we
disturb our neighbors, or pilfer and purloin their substance?  No.  What
did
we do?  We taught the Gospel of life and salvation.  Not that all were
righteous, but our sins--of worldly-mindedness, covetousness and
selfishness--were between ourselves and our God, and for this the Lord
suffered us to be chastened.  The faith that we profess is the best and
the
only doctrine calculated to save the children of men.  

	I say, five times some of this people have been broken up, and the
last time, when we left the State of Illinois, we cut our road through the
timber, we hunted our path over the prairies, and dug our roads through
the
canons [sic], for fourteen hundred miles to this place, because we were
obliged to go somewhere.

	Our prophet, before us, told us that if we could get out of the way
of Christianity, so called, and civilization, we could serve God and build
up His kingdom, and we could be happy.  We came here to these isolated and
lonely valleys.  Who led us here?  Did our nation hold out a fostering
hand
to us?  No:  to this day they never gave us a dollar; but now we expect
they
will give us our homesteads here.  Have the wicked become more righteous? 
No.  Has the world become more enlightened in the things of God?  No, it
has
not; and the enmity that did exist, exists still, and has grown, increased
and strengthened, and this warfare between the power of the devil and the
power of Jesus Christ will continue until Jesus obtains possession of the
kingdom.  These words are meant for the ears of all, both Saints and
sinners.

	Did we ask any of the outside merchants in this City to come here? 
They are called "gentiles," but we do not know whether they are "gentiles"
or not, for a gentile is one who has none of the blood of Israel within
him

	There may be some of this class among the Israelites.  But what do
these
outsiders follow us up for?  They say "we know you Latter-day Saints are a
very nice people, very kind, very free, generous and benevolent; we know
you
believe in helping the stranger, and that is not all, we know you believe
in
giving all your substance to your enemies."  Is this proved?  yes, right
here before our eyes.  Now, I would say to every man and woman on the
earth
if I could speak to them, it is no matter what men say, but it is how they
say it.  I will tell you what we want--and we know what you want--we want
the privilege of building up the kingdom of God on the earth, and of
living
in peace one with another.  We want our streets so that we can traverse
them
in safety by day or by night, and so that if a midwife is called up at
midnight, or one o'clock in the morning to go to a neighbor's house she
can
go there without being plundered or destroyed before she gets to the place
of her destination.  And if our daughters are out visiting until nine,
ten,
eleven or twelve o'clock at night, that they can pass along these streets
without molestation.  We want a community that does not take the name of
God
in vain; that does not lie, or purloin that which is not their own, and
that
will live day by day, week by week and year by year in perfect peace. 
This
is not according to the feelings of a great many, they would rather see
quarrelling and strife.  I have learned of so many facts that exist in the
world in relation to contentions, speaking of them in a family capacity,
that to my certain knowledge there is more there with but one wife than
here
where there are ten, where this obnoxious doctrine our brother has just
referred to is practiced. So don't worry about contentions any of you, for
they exist all over the world.  Look at the kings and queens, and then at
the lower classes; and from them to the House of Representatives, the
lords,
dukes, knights and every grand character you can mention or think of, and
how do they live?  We know how they live, they live in jeopardy, in fear,
and jealousy, which is the mother of torment.  And the inhabitants of the
earth are jealous of one another, and they have reason to be.  Have we any
facts in the case?  Yes, thousands of them, all over the world.  Take the
king upon his throne, he must pay a doctor more than anybody else, or he
will be poisoned to death.  It is so with the queens, if they have not
power
to buy everybody around them there is no knowing what day poison will be
put
into their coffee or their tea or some of their food.  If the husband
steps
out of doors, she don't know where he is; and if the lady is left alone in
the house or rides out, the husband does not know where she is.  But you
come to the Saints and you know about them.  If we send an Elder to preach
the Gospel and he travels the earth over, when he returns we know where he
has been and what he has been doing, and if he has been guilty of that
crime
to which the world is so much addicted he can not keep it; he must confess
it; then he is not a fit character to be a member of the Church or an
Elder
in Israel, and we deprive him of his standing and licence.  But you take
an
Elder in Israel who honors his calling, and though he may travel the world
over, his wife at home says:  "I am perfectly satisfied with regard to my
husband, he would suffer his head to be taken from his shoulders before he
would violate his covenants with me, they are sacred before God."  It is
so
with our women as well as our men; it is so with Israel in the latter
days. 
Here I pause, and say, not with all Israel.

	Our sisters need not be worried about any doctrine.  Brother Penrose
said it would be better for them if they believed in the doctrine of
polygamy.  But they do believe it; they know it is true, and that is their
torment.  It perplexes and annoys many of them, because they are not
sanctified by the spirit of it; if they were there would be no trouble.  I
want to say this much--the sisters do believe it.  Where is the proof? 
You
take a woman in this Church who does not believe in the doctrine of
celestial marriage or plurality of wives, and she does not believe
anything
at all about the Gospel, and she will soon manifest this by her unwise
course, and by and by she drops off and away she goes.  But our sisters
believe and know that this doctrine is true, and consequently they feel
bound to abide it.

	Now, I will return to my remarks about our present condition.  We do
not wish to be broken up and compelled to leave our homes again.  What do
you want, outsiders?  You want all the money the "Mormons" can make.  I do
not blame you for it, I never did.  It is reasonable and right, and you
are
as much entitled to it as to any other money you can get.  But we are not
going to let you have it.  Is there any harm in this?  "Exclusive," are
we? 
We are not half exclusive enough.  There is no other way to save this
people
from being broken up again than by trading with ourselves.  I know this as
well as I know the sun shines.  I have passed through it, and know all
about
it.  Now, I do not wish to see this people, of whom I am proud, and in
whom
I delight, pack up their goods and go off again.  Where should we go? 
When
we were in Missouri we had a place we could go to; when we were in
Illinois
we had a place we could go to, but now, that we have come here to the
middle
of this continent, where can we go?  Is there another place we can go to?

	If I were to say to the financial world, we have taken it into our
heads to do our own internal business, and not foster those in our midst
who
are not of us, what would they say?  They would say this is the first step
the Latter-day Saints ever took that manifested wisdom.  How exclusive do
we
want to be?  Just enough so to sustain and preserve ourselves, to build
our
own houses, make our gardens and orchards, our carriages and our own
places
of amusement, like our theatre. I built that theatre to attract the young
of
our community and to provide amusement for the boys and girls, rather than
have them running all over creation for recreation.  Long before that was
built I said to the bishops, "Get up your parties and pleasure grounds to
amuse the people."  This brings my former experience and that of my
friends
right to me.  Whenever we get into the kingdom of Heaven, where God and
Christ dwell, we shall find something more to do than to "sit and sing
ourselves away to everlasting bliss."  The mind of man is active, and we
must have exercise and amusement for the mind as well as the body.

	You go into that theatre, and what is there behind the curtain that
would disgrace the most perfect lady on the face of the earth?  Not the
least in the world.  I have to watch some who come here as actors and
actresses, and if they do not manifest the marks and traits of a lady and
gentleman, I say, "Stop a moment.  I want to tell you something.  Your
course will lead you wrong, and if you persist in it you cannot present
yourself before the public".  So much for that.

	We say to the bishops and to everybody, exercise yourselves, provide
innocent amusement for the youth, attract the minds of the children, and
get
the upper hand of them and be on the lead.  I see mothers right among us
whose course is very imprudent with their children.  You ought always to
take the lead of your children in their minds and affections.  Instead of
being behind with the whip, always be in advance, then you can say, "Come
along," and you will have no use for the rod.  They will delight to follow
you, and will like your words and ways, because you are always comforting
them and giving them pleasure and enjoyment.  If they get a little
naughty,
stop them when they have gone far enough.  We say to the brethren, humor
your wives and children as far as you can, but when they transgress, and
transcend certain bounds we want them to stop.  If you are in the lead
they
will stop, they cannot run over you; but if you are behind they will run
away from you.  Husbands, always be in advance of your wives, and then if
they undertake to do something that is very displeasing to you they will
run
right against you, and then stop and sit down because they can't go any
further.  Do you know how to do this?  "No," says one, "I don't know that
I
do."  Well, then, learn by searching after truth, according to the
revelations given in this book.  Search after truth in all good books, and
learn the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God, and put them together
and you will be able to benefit yourselves.

	I will now say to my friends,--and I call you all, and all mankind,
friends, until you have proved yourselves enemies,--you who do not belong
to
this Church, that we have got the Gospel of life and salvation.  I do not
say that we have a Gospel, but I say that we have the definite and
only Gospel that ever was or ever will be that will save the children of
men.  Hearken to this every one of you, and all the inhabitants of the
earth, and do not say, "you are Mormons, and we do not want to hear
anything
about you."  Wait until you have searched and researched and have obtained
wisdom to understand what we preach, or to prove it to be untrue.  If you
cannot prove it untrue and are not disposed to receive it, let it alone. 
If
it is the work of God, it will stand.  What do you say, outsiders?  What
do
you say, Christian world and heathen world?  If we have the truth to
present
to you, which will do you good here and hereafter, which will save you
to-day and to-morrow and every day, until it saves you in the kingdom of
God
and brings you to a perfect state of felicity and happiness in the
presence
of the Father, will you have it? 

	I want to say again to the brethren and sisters--and this is the
great secret we are teaching in the School of the Prophets--be exclusive
enough to sustain the kingdom of God.  We want our means ourselves, and if
we trade with outsiders at all we want it to be yonder at a distance, and
not here.  What do you say to this, friends?  Is it wisdom?  Try it, and
see
what you would do under the same circumstances.  Have you been driven from
your homes?  Yes, there may be a few from the Southern States who have
been
driven from their homes and suffered the loss of all they had on earth;
but
it was not for their religion.  We suffered at the hands of Missourians
and
Southerners for our religion; they have suffered for their wickedness. We
have never suffered as they have.  But we do not want to suffer again; we
do
not want to be driven from our homes again.  We like this country, and we
do
not want to support any persons in our midst who will lay a foundation to
overslaugh this people so that they will have to pull up states and leave. 
"A burnt child dreads the fire."  Do you know it?  Put your hand in the
fire
until it has burned you severely, and it will cause you pain enough to
remember it for years, and until you have forgotten that pain you will not
want to put your hand in the fire again.  But we did not put it there,
somebody else did.

	Have we not the right to our own money?  We are not digging for gold
and silver;  we are not bringing a society here among whom you can hear
shooting all night long through our streets, or cursing and swearing or
fiddling and dancing.  So you want this "civilization" outsiders?  There
may
be a few who do not.  I will tell you what the priests want.  They want to
see a groggery at the corner of every street, and houses of accommodation
between and behind them, and they want to hear cursing and swearing, and
they want to see drinking and carousing and the drunkard falling in the
street and rolling in the mire, then they could come along with their long
faces, crying, "Oh, what a sinful people!"  We do not want any such thing. 
We want to see every countenance full of cheerfulness, and every eye
bright
with the hope of future happiness.

	Do you suppose you can find a person on this earth who is not
seeking for happiness?  There may be a few who, if they are not seeking
for
happiness, are seeking to get rid of their misery.  This makes me to think
of one I heard of who committed suicide in New York, in one of those fine
houses, which you would suppose was a palace, where ladies and gentlemen
live in a perfect paradise, but which are in reality gambling houses. 
This
individual that I heard of had played there all night, and in the morning,
when his last dollar was gone, he leaned back on his seat and said, "I am
played out," and drawing a pistol from his pocket he shot himself and fell
dead on the floor.  This man sought to get rid of his misery.

	The whole world are after happiness.  It is not in gold and silver,
but it is in peace and love.  Did I say love?  Yes.  You watch your own
feelings when you hear delightful sounds, for instance, or when you see
anything beautiful.  Are those feelings productive of misery?  No, they
produce happiness, peace and joy.  Well, then, pursue and walk in that
path
that leads to that, and walk in it day by day.  And you, sisters, cease
trading with any man or being in this city or country who does not belong
to
the church.  If you do not, we are going to cut you off from the church,
for
we are determined not to be driven or broken up again, and we are
determined
to deal with love and sustain our nation, our community.  We mean to live
here.  We came, 1,400 miles to get away from that power which is trying to
get into our midst to break us up again.  We have subdued the country and
made it fruitful, and have fed hundreds of thousands passing on their way
east and west, and we calculate to stay here if you will do as I tell you,
and cease trading with those who are not of us.  Do you suppose that Jesus
did not understand the spirit and the feelings of the world when He said,
"He who is not for us is against us."  Every man and woman of intelligence
that ever was or ever will be upon the earth is either for God or against
Him.


dispositions, a perfect curiosity.  I was in a store not long since, and
they asked my opinion with regard to the amount of trade that would be
done
this season providing we had plenty of goods.  Said I, "you must find out
how much money the Latter-day Saints have, and then how much credit they
have, and you will find out pretty nearly how much business will be done." 
If we were like other people and would only hearken to wisdom, these men
sitting each side of me to-day, instead of spending their money would save
it and buy the land that will shortly be in the market.  The government
has
at last condescended to take into consideration the propriety of selling
their land to the Latter-day Saints.  A few have tried year after year to
get up and act to prevent us from owning a foot of land in America, but
they
are out of the way.  Now we have the privilege of purchasing our lands,
and
if our brethren had any wisdom they would purchase them.  "O," but says
one,
"why we can get a homestead."  I would rather pay my $200 and buy their
lands, and tell them we made the country and now we are willing to
purchase
it.  We are willing to pay our taxes, and we have proven that we are
willing
to fight their battles, and to do anything to promote peace and happiness
in
the country.  But we say, hands off.

	Now, if you don't want to quarrel, take measures to prevent it. 
That is what we are after.  We are trying to get the people to hearken to
counsel that will prevent a quarrel, and a serious one.  If you can
prevent
a quarrel in a family you do a good thing.  "Blessed are the peacemakers." 
We are peacemakers.  We are preserving the peace.  Is it our right?  You
take the Catholics in London, and they would go by a thousand doors to
find
one of their own faith to spend three halfpence.  Do not the Jews do it? 
Yes, they do it all over the world.  They say we are obliged to trade with
them, but we are not.  We would just as soon trade with them as anybody
else
outside the Church.  But do they build up the kingdom of God?  No, they
hold
the very name of Jesus in derision, and yet they are as full of religion
as
any sect there is.  You may take the Mother Church, and the whole family
of
Protestants, and the House of Judah is as full of religion as any of them. 
But are they correct?  No, they are not.  We offer life and salvation to
the
whole human family in the Gospel of the Son of God, and if they are not
disposed to receive it they will suffer the consequence. It is for the
Latter-day Saints to live their religion.

	Now, brethren and sisters, do you think it is necessary for us to be
chastened?  Can we not sanctify ourselves without the chastening hand of
the
Almighty upon us?  We can, if we will do as we are told.  By whom?  By the
Old and New Testaments, and all the revelations given in them and the Book
of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.  They all centre on one
point in this respect.--You, Saints, gather yourselves together, sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts, live by yourselves and build up the kingdom
of
God.  We might just as well stay in Scotland as to be here in the midst of
the wicked and ungodly; just as well stay in Scandinavia as come here, if
we
have to dwell amid drunkenness and debauchery. You have gathered out to
sanctify yourselves. Then live your religion, sustain the kingdom of God
and
those who sustain it, and let everybody else alone.  May the Lord help us
to
do it.  Amen.


                    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.

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

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

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

	Ask any Christian in the world if he thinks the Lord rules and reigns
supreme in heaven, and he will tell you, "Yes."  Is it right for the Lord
to reign?  "Certainly it is."  Ask him if he would delight to live in a
place where one character rules and reigns supreme, and he will answer,
"Yes, if I could go to heaven."  Why?  "Why, the Lord reigns there."  Just
ask the Christian if he knows the Lord, and he will tell you, "No."  Did
you ever see him?  "No."  Can you tell me anything of His character?  "No,
only He is something without body, parts, and passions."  One of the
apostles says that "God is love, and they who dwell in God dwell in love." 
Ask the Christian world if they know anything about God, and they will
tell you they do not.  Ask if He has eyes, and they will say, "No,--yes,
He is all eyes."  Has he a head?  "Yes, He is all head."  Has he ears? 
"Yes, He is all ears, He is all mouth, He is all body, and all limbs;" and
still without body, parts, or passions.  Why what do they make of Him?  A
monster, if He is anything; that is what they make of Him.  Would you like
to go to heaven?  "O, yes," says the Christian, "the Lord reigns there." 
How do you know you would like the place and the order when you get there? 
Do you think you will have your farm and your substance by yourself, and
live in the gratification of your selfish propensities as you now do?  "O,
no, we expect to be made pure and holy."  Where will 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.

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

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

	I want to say a few words still further to the people with regard to
their faith in temporal things.  If the people called Latter-day Saints do
not become one in temporal things as they are in spiritual things, they
will not redeem and build up the Zion of God upon the earth.  This
co-operative movement is a stepping stone.  We say to the people, take
advantage of it, it is your privilege.  Instead of giving it into the
hands of a few individuals to make their hundreds and thousands, let the
people, generally, enjoy the benefit arising from the sale of merchandize. 
I have already told you that this will stop the operations of many little
traders, but it will make them producers as well as consumers.  You will
find that if the people unitedly hearken to the counsel that is given
them, it will not be long before the hats, caps, bonnets, boots and shoes,
pants, coats, vests and underclothing of this entire community will all be
made in our midst.  What next?  Shall we have to run to London, Paris, or
New York for the fashions?  When I see the disposition among the
Latter-day Saints to follow the fashions and customs of the world, I
think, why do you stay here?  You had better go back again.  I am tired of
this everlasting ding-dong about fashions.  If I happen to have a coat on
that is not what is called fashionable, some of my wives will be sure to
say, "Husband, or Mr. President, may I give this away;" or, "I wish it was
out of sight, it is not fashionable."  If I were to tell the truth I
should say, who cares for the fashions of the world?  I do not; if I get
anything that is comfortable and sits well, and suits my system, it is all
I ask.  I do not care who wears a bonnet that is six feet above the head
behind, twelve feet in front, or that sits close to the crown of her head,
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.

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

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

	I frequently think of the difference between the power of God and the
power of the devil.  To illustrate, here is a structure in which we can be
seated comfortably, protected from the heat of summer or the cold of
winter.  Now, it required labour, mechanical skill and ingenuity and
faithfulness and diligence to erect this building, but any poor, miserable
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.

                   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.

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

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

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

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

	Do you 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.

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

	I spoke a little here yesterday andthe 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.

	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.

	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.

	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.

	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?

	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.

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

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

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

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

                   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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

	In the search after truth, those who are unconverted might say with
propriety that where the signs follow 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.

	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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

	I recollect once, not long after we came to the Valley, I think it
was in 1851, a Baptist preacher came here; he put up at my house; I kept
him while he stayed in the city.  He was a gentleman, very kind and very
good.  I preached one day on the character of the Deity, and when I
reached a certain point, a point where he could learn nothing further, I
left it.  When we reached home he said to me, "Brother Young, why did you
not proceed with your discourse?  I would have given anything in the world
if you 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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

	I want now to say a few words on political matters.  First, I will
say we are a very religious people; the world knows that; and it was our
religion that influenced our minds to leave our homes and parents, and in
many instances our companions and children.  Are we a political people? 
Yes, very political indeed.  But what party do you belong to or would you
vote for?  I will tell you whom we will vote for:  we will vote for the
man who will sustain the principles of civil and religious liberty, the
man who knows the most and who has the best heart and brain for a
statesman; and we do not care a farthing whether he is a whig, a democrat,
a barnburner, a republican, a new light or anything else.  These are our
politics.  If we could have got men to control the affairs of the nation
who had sufficient foresight and forethought to know the results of their
own actions, it would have been better for the nation than it is at
present.  But we are just as we are; no matter what brought about the
present condition of things.  I leave the people to judge whether it is
righteousness or sin that has brought upon the nation the evils it has
been called to endure.  Of one thing I am sure:  God never 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.

	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.

	God bless you.  Amen.





                  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.

	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.

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

	How am I to know whether I have passed from death unto life?  The
apostle says by loving the brethren.  How shall I know the brethren?  They
are my brethren who have received and obeyed the Gospel of the Son of God. 
This is just as easy to test as it is to test a man who says he is a
citizen of the United States.  A man may declare that he is so, but upon
inquiry we find that he has never taken the oath of allegiance nor even
declared his intention 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

	Our work, our every-day labor, our whole lives are within the scope
of our religion.  This is what we believe and what we try to practice. 
Yet the Lord permits a great many things that He never commands.  I have
frequently heard my old brethren in the Christian world make remarks about
the impropriety of indulging in pastimes and amusements.  The Lord never
commanded me to dance, yet I have danced; you all know it, for my life is
before the world.  Yet while the Lord 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.

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

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


              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.

	"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.

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

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

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

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

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


                  DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
       Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, August 8, 1869.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
      TRADITIONS--OPPRESSING THE POOR--INFLUENCE OF WOMEN--FASHIONS.

	This is a very singular world that we live in; yet were it not for
the spirit of error and confusion that everywhere prevails I think we
should call it a very fine, excellent world.  The annoyances,
difficulties, errors, perplexities, sorrows, and troubles of this life,
from first to last, are in consequence of sin being in the world.  For me
to say it is not right for sin to be in the world, or if we, as
intelligent beings, come to the conclusion that sin entered the world by
chance, through some mistake, and it was contrary to the design of him who
created us, we should err.

	This people called Latter-day Saints are looked upon as a very
singular people; in fact, we are regarded as an anomaly in the world.  Why
is this so?  Are we different to others who are born into the world?  Are
we not of the same blood as the people of the other nations and tongues of
the earth?  We certainly are, for we are gathered from among them.  Like
them, we have eyes to see with, ears to hear with; we have lips and organs
of speech, and we use them as others do; we eat, drink, sleep, plant, sow,
reap, mow, build houses and inhabit them, just as they do.  Then what is
the difference between us and them, and why are we looked upon by the
world as though we are entirely different from them, and why have we from
the beginning met with vituperation and abuse from the hands of many, and
been deprived of our civil and religious rights and treated as outlaws? 
If we search the Old and New Testaments, and then the corroborative
evidence contained in the Book of Mormon, and find therein how the kingdom
of God was organized, and compare our present organization with it, we
shall find that one is a perfect fac-simile of the other.  This
constitutes the difference between us and the world, and this is why we
have been treated as we have been, and why we are looked upon as we are. 
We believe the Bible and practice it, as far as our weaknesses will
permit.  Not that we do it perfectly; as it has been stated this morning,
we have darkness, unbelief, ignorance, superstition, and our traditions to
contend with and overcome; and they cling to us to that degree that we can
hardly overcome them.

	The traditions that we have imbibed in the several countries in which
we have been born, and under the various circumstances under which we have
been raised, offer a wide field for reflection, and in passing judgment
upon each other's acts a great deal of charity is necessary.  The people
of one nation will do a thousand things, and, according to their
traditions, feel themselves perfectly justified, which those of another
nation, with their traditions, would not consider it right to do.  How
would it look here in the United States of America to enter a large
meeting house like this, move out the benches, and then for a congregation
to enter the house, kneel down and say a few words of prayer, get up and
begin to waltz around to the music of the organ?  This would be considered
a very strange proceeding among the people of America; yet in other
countries it is done and is considered most sacred; and it is in
accordance with their traditions.  People's notions of honesty as well as
of worship differ very widely, and this difference of opinion is the
result of the traditions they have imbibed; and for any persons to say we
will bring a motley mass together from various countries, and we will
judge all of them by our standard, would be diverging somewhat from the
path of truth and justice.  Still, notwithstanding the various traditions
we have severally imbibed, we are all capable of coming to a perfect
understanding of truth and justice, and of what we should do to be
perfectly right before God.  This is a subject I have reflected upon a
great deal, and I have come to the conclusion that we shall be judged
according to the deeds done in the body and according to the thoughts and
intents of the heart.

	In viewing the traditions of the Christian world, so far as I have
been acquainted with them, before I knew anything of the Gospel, and
before it was revealed from heaven, I have seen men who thought they were
as full of grace, faith, and sanctity as possible, in fact, full of
self-righteousness, which they considered the righteousness of God; and
yet what would they do?  I have known such men, in time of harvest, or
when they had a press of work, say to the poor man who was hardly able to
procure the bread necessary for his wife and children, "I will give you
fifty cents a day if you will come and help me harvest, and pay you in
Indian meal."  Such men feel justified, for to oppress the poor is in
accordance with their traditions.

	A similar course is pursued with the female sex.  A young woman,
compelled to labor for her daily bread, applies for work to some lady in
comfortable circumstances.  The lady perhaps says, "What wages do you
want?"  "I do not know.  What will you give me?"  The reply is, probably,
"Well, I will give you fifty cents a week and your board, but I shall want
you to do my washing, ironing, milking, scrubbing and cooking," the whole
of it, most likely, keeping the poor girl at work from five o'clock in the
morning until ten at night.  Yet her poverty leaves her no choice, and she
is compelled to become a slave in order to procure, day by day, her
breakfast, dinner, and supper.  It is probable that if her father be alive
he is too poor to help her; and if she has a mother she may be a widow and
unable to rescue her from a life of toil and slavery.  A lady, whom I knew
in my youth, the wife of a minister, where I used to attend meeting, said
once to some of her sisters in the church, "Do you suppose that we shall
be under the necessity of eating with our hired help when we get into
heaven?  We do not do it here, and I have an idea that there will be two
tables in heaven."  Yet she was a lady of refinement and education, still
the traditions that had been woven into her very being proved the folly
she possessed to ask such a question.

	Do these and similar traditions exist in the world?  Yes; I know of
countries in which if a poor person--or perhaps I should say any person,
and not confine it to the poor--where if any person, man or woman, were
passing along the street, and were to pick up a pocket book containing
one, ten, a hundred, or a thousand pounds, he or she would feel to thank
God for the blessing, and would never think of trying to find the owners
of this property, or of letting them know anything about it, even if they
were known.  Such parties would feel justified in the act, and would
rejoice because they were able to make themselves comfortable.  Are any of
you acquainted with such traditions?  Yes, many of you have been brought
up in the midst of them.

	What would you do, who have lived in England, if you had rented a
place, and in that place you had found some old secret cupboard or hole in
the wall containing a fortune in treasure which had belonged to some one
who had formerly resided in those premises, and whose children or
relatives might be living in the neighborhood even then?  Would you
divulge such a circumstance, and do your best to discover those to whom it
rightfully belonged, in order to restore it to them?  No; you would put it
in your pocket, considering it a godsend, and never say a word about it.

	I see these and numberless other traits of character among the people
here, all of which are the results of their traditions.  Now, what can we
expect of them?  We expect to treat them as children until we can teach
them to become men and women.  Seeing, then, that these differences in
sentiment exist among the people, and knowing that they are the natural
result of the traditions and circumstances by which they have been
surrounded, it will not do to judge according to the outward appearance,
but according to the sincerity and honesty of the heart.

	I look at the Latter-day Saints, and I sometimes take the liberty to
preach to them; and this principle, of being judged according to our
works, is as applicable to communities as individuals.  I, therefore, wish
to apply it to those amongst us who are not as diligent as they might be
in the duties of every day life, as they present themselves before them,
whether they be of a spiritual or temporal nature.  Whatever you do, you
have been taught sufficient to know that all our duties are in the Lord
and are circumscribed in the faith and practice of the kingdom of God. 
"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof."  The gold and the
silver the earth contains are his; the wheat and fine flour, the wine and
the oil are his; the cattle that roam over the plains and mountains belong
to him we serve, and whom we acknowledge as the God of the universe.  And
whether we are raising cattle, planting, gathering, building or
inhabiting, we are in the Lord, and all we do is within the pale of his
kingdom upon the earth, consequently it is all spiritual and all temporal,
no matter what we are laboring to accomplish.

	We frequently call the brethren to go on missions to preach the
Gospel, and they will go and labor as faithfully as men can do, fervent in
spirit, in prayer, in laying on hands, in preaching to and teaching the
people how to be saved.  In a few years they come home, and throwing off
their coats and hats, they will say, "Religion, stand aside, I am going to
work now to get something for myself and my family."  This is folly in the
extreme!  When a man returns from a mission where he has been preaching
the Gospel he ought to be just as ready to come to this pulpit to preach
as if he were in England, France, Germany, or on the islands of the sea. 
And when he has been at home a week, a month, a year, or ten years, the
spirit of preaching and the spirit of the Gospel ought to be within him
like a river flowing forth to the people in good words, teachings,
precepts, and examples.  If this is not the case he does not fill his
mission.

	Men may think, and some of them do, that we have a right to work for
ourselves; but I say we have no time to do that in the narrow, selfish
sense generally entertained when speaking about working for self.  We have
no time allotted to us here on the earth to work for ourselves in that
sense; and yet when laboring in the most disinterested and fervent manner
for the cause and kingdom of God, it is all for ourselves.  When I say we
do not labor for ourselves, I reflect in a moment that I do nothing but
what is for myself and then for my friends.  It is equally true with all
of us; and though our time be entirely occupied in laboring for the
advancement of the kingdom of God on the earth we are in reality laboring
most effectually for self, for all our interest and welfare both in time
and eternity are circumscribed and bound up in that kingdom.

	How often, when I was engaged in traveling and preaching the Gospel,
have the people said to me, "O, this must be all a speculation!  You
differ so much from other people that we cannot believe all you teach." 
"We have heard a great deal about Mr. Smith, or 'Joe Smith,'" they would
often say, and he must be a speculator, and these doctrines you preach
were gotton [sic] up by him expressly for a speculation."  I have
acknowledged a great many times, and I am as free to acknowledge it
to-day, that it is the greatest speculation ever entered into by God, men,
or angels, for it is a speculation involving eternal lives in the
celestial kingdom of God.  It is the grandest investment on the face of
the earth, and one in which you may invest all and everything you possess
for the present and eternal benefit of yourself, your wives, your
children, parents, relatives and friends; and all who are wise will enter
into it, for they can make more by it, and be exalted higher by its means
than by any other speculation ever introduced among the children of men. 
When I labor in the kingdom of God, I labor for my own dear self, I have
self continually before me; the object of my pursuit is to benefit my
individual person; and this is the case with every person who ever was or
ever will be exalted.  Happiness and glory are the pursuit of every person
that lives on the face of the earth, who is thoroughly endowed with wisdom
and the spirit of enterprise, whether immorality is brought in or not. 
Such are after honor, ease, comfort; such want to wield power, and would
like to have influence and dominion.  Now, if they will enter this great
speculation--the kingdom of God on the earth, the plan of redemption and
exaltation devised before the foundation of the world was laid, it will
lead to greater happiness, power, influence, and dominion than ever man
possessed or thought of.

 	I believe it is generally allowed that "self-preservation is the
first law of nature."  If it is, let us save ourselves and enter into
covenant with God, who holds the issues of life and death, and who can
give and no one can dispute his right; who can withhold and no one can
hinder it.  Let us enter into covenant with him by enlisting in this
great, good cause, and thus take ourselves back into his presence.  We can
do this through his grace and Gospel, through the atonement of his Son, by
faith in the Father and the Son and by our obedience to their
requirements.

	Now, if we are to be judged according to our works I want to proceed
a little further.  You will permit me to be plain in making my remarks; in
so doing, however, I may interfere with individual ears and feelings.  I
have a word to say to my sisters.  When I reflect upon the duties and
responsibilities devolving upon our mothers and sisters, and the influence
they wield, I look upon them as the mainspring and soul of our being here. 
It is true that man is first.  Father Adam was placed here as king of the
earth, to bring it into subjection.  But when Mother Eve came she had a
splendid influence over him.  A great many have thought it was not very
good; I think it was excellent.  After she had partaken of the fruit she
carried it to her husband, saying, "Husband, a certain character came to
me and said if you will eat of this fruit you will find it excellent, and
it will make you as Gods, knowing good from evil; and I have tasted it,
and I assure you it is excellent."  Her influence was so great with Adam
that he also partook of it, and his eyes were opened.  You know the
result--they were both driven from the garden.  Before this, however, they
were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth and thus fill the
measure of their creation.

	Now, I say the women have great influence.  Look at the nations of
the earth.  Any nation you like, no matter which, and you enlist the
sympathies of the female portion of it and what is there you cannot
perform?  If the government wants soldiers, they are on hand; if means, it
is forthcoming.  If you want influence and power, and have the ladies on
your side, they will give it you.  You take a nation that is going to war,
whether our nation or any other; in the late struggle, for instance,
between the Northern and Southern States, suppose all the mothers, sisters
and daughters of the Republic had set their will and determination that no
soldiers should go to the field, how many do you suppose would have been
obtained?  A few Irishmen and Germans might have been hired, but that is
all.  This is the influence the ladies hold in the nations of the earth. 
It is true that they are not allowed to go to the ballot-box, but let the
females in any district be united and say that such a man shall not go to
Congress, and I reckon he cannot go.  He may make up his mind to stay at
home and make shingles, raise potatoes, or do something else.  If he is a
lawyer, he may try to get a living by pleading law, but he cannot go to
Congress.  And when the ladies say send such a man, he is pretty sure to
go if they are united and determined that it shall be so.  The ladies may
not know that they wield so much influence as this, and they would
probably want some outward sign before they could be convinced, but it is
nevertheless true that their influence is as powerful as I have stated.

	Now, a few words directly to my sisters here in the kingdom of God. 
We want your influence and power in helping to build up that kingdom, and
what I wish to say to you is simply this, if you will govern and control
yourselves in all things in accordance with good, sound, common sense and
the principles of truth and righteousness, there is not the least fear but
what father, uncle, grandfather, brothers, and sons will follow in the
wake.

	It is the ladies who introduce the fashions here.  I will take the
liberty of speaking with regard to some of them.  If you take up some of
the fashion magazines sent here you will find the ladies very beautifully
portrayed with those "Grecian bends."  They are being introduced here, but
they are of very moderate dimensions yet.  By and by, in about another
year perhaps, they will be as large again as they are now; and in two
years from the present time they will be three or four times as large, and
if this ridiculous fashion should continue they may keep on increasing in
size until on a hazy day, or in the dusk of the evening, you will not be
able, for the life of you, to tell a lady, at a distance, from a camel. 
Now, the ladies can do just as they please about adopting or changing this
fashion.  If it is adopted there is one thing I am afraid of.  In the
world, you know, it is no uncommon thing to see children born deformed;
every such instance might have been avoided with proper care, for all such
deformities are the result of natural causes.  I hope we shall never see
such things in Zion, but if our ladies continue the fashion of the
"Grecian bend" I am afraid some of their children will be born with humps
on their backs.

	There is another item in relation to fashions to which I wish to call
the attention of the sisters, being satisfied that ladies, of naturally
good taste, need only to have their attention directed to anything showing
a want of it, to discontinue it.  I refer now to the trails or trains that
it is fashionable for ladies to wear at the bottom of their dresses.  You
know it is the custom of some here to have a long trail of cloth dragging
after them through the dirt; others, again, will have their dresses so
short that one must shut his eyes, or he cannot help seeing their garters. 
Excuse me for the expression; but this is true, and it is not right.  The
ladies of Israel should consider these things, and as they will be judged
according to their works just as much as the men, they should seek to have
good works, and be governed by good sense instead of foolish fashions in
their modes of adorning and dressing themselves.

	It is true that we have not the etiquette here, as a general thing,
that is in the world; and this is not at all strange when the
circumstances in which most of the people have been reared are considered. 
When I meet ladies and gentlemen of high rank, as I sometimes do, they
must not expect from me the same formal ceremony and etiquette that are
observed among the great in the courts of kings.  In my youthful days,
instead of going to school, I had to chop logs, to sow and plant, to plow
in the midst of roots barefooted, and if I had on a pair of pants that
would cover me I did pretty well.  Seeing that this was the way I was
brought up they cannot expect from me the same etiquette and ceremony as
if I had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.  The most of the people
called Latter-day Saints have been taken from the rural and manufacturing
districts of this and the old countries, and they belonged to the poorest
of the poor.  Many of them, I may say the great majority, never had
anything around them to make life very desirable; they have been
acquainted with poverty and wretchedness, hence it cannot be expected that
they should manifest that refinement and culture prevalent among the rich. 
Many and many a man here, who is now able to ride in his wagon and perhaps
in his carriage, for years and years before he started for Zion never saw
daylight.  His days were spent in the coal mines, and his daily toil would
commence before light in the morning and continue until after dark at
night.  Now what can be expected from a community so many of whose members
have been brought up like this, or if not just like this, still under
circumstances of poverty and privation?  Certainly not what we might
expect from those reared under more favorable circumstances.  But I will
tell you what we have in our mind's eye with regard to these very people,
and what we are trying to make of them.  We take the poorest we can find
on earth who will receive the truth, and we are trying to make ladies and
gentlemen of them.  We are trying to educate them, to school their
children, and to so train them that they may be able to gather around them
the comforts of life, that they may pass their lives as the human family
should do--that their days, weeks, and months may be pleasant to them.  We
prove that this is our design, for the result, to some extent, is already
before us.

	I will now return to the influence of the female portion of our
community.  The ladies have power and influence to suppress the "Grecian
bend" and other fashionable follies, if they will.  I want them to
consider well their standing, condition, and influence.  Suppose that our
wives and daughters should say to us, "Husband," or "Father, will you wear
a straw hat of our make?" or, "We had some flax got out last season and we
have made some tow or linen cloth, and we have some that would make a nice
coat, will you wear it if we make it up for you?"  What do you suppose we
should say?  The reply would be, "Wives," or "Daughters, yes, and we thank
you; we see your good works and we will wear the hat or the coat you may
make for us."  And we should do this without ever having a thought about
anybody else being pleased with them or not; if we looked well in the eyes
of our wives and daughters, we should care very little for others.  Then
suppose, after they had made these garments for us, they go to the boys
and say, "Here, boys, will you wear what father wears?"  There would be no
fear but the boys would say, "Yes, if it is good enough for father it is
good enough for us."  We sometimes see a few home made hats in our
congregations, and without a close examination they might be taken for
foreign goods, they are so excellent and possess such a delicacy of
appearance and finish, which is praiseworthy.

	What is there in these respects that the members of the Female Relief
Societies cannot accomplish.  They can abolish the "Grecian bend," if they
wish to do so, and so far as my taste is concerned I would much rather see
a "Mormon bend" than a "Grecian bend;" and besides this, they can control
the fashions, and if they are so disposed, make home-manufactured articles
of all kinds the fashion throughout the Territory.  Is there any necessity
for this?  Certainly there is.  Just for want of a few hundred thousand
dollars, owing to this people by the railway companies, almost every
business man in our community is oppressed.  Suppose the amount due were
paid, in a few months it would be spent and the people would be in about
the same condition they are in to-day.  Where then could you procure money
to buy foreign goods?  Our merchants are complaining of dull times and no
sales.  Ask them what are their dividends, and they will tell you "a mere
nothing."  Why not relieve this portion of the community, and keep them
from the necessity of straining their brains until they become insane to
know how to pay their debts?  Say to them, "Pay your debts, we will help
you to do so, but do not run into debt any more.  We are going to make our
own bonnets and hats."  Will you make the ribbons?  No; you are not
prepared to do so now, but you soon will be.  If any of you want to do so
now I have silk I can furnish you, and we have plenty of silk weavers
amongst us.  But if you are not prepared for this just say, "We will do
without ribbons," or "We will do with as few as possible," and make the
ornaments you wear on your heads of the straw that grows in our fields.

	Ladies, can you do this?  You can, and we require you to do it.  If
you are the means of plunging this whole people into debt so as to
distress them, will there be anything required of you?  I think there
will, for you will be judged according to your works.  Are not the men as
extravagant as the women?  Yes, certainly they are, and just as foolish. 
I could point out instances by the score and by the hundred of men who are
just as unwise, shortsighted, and foolish as the women can be; but a
condemnation of the male portion of the community will not justify the
female portion of it.

	There is a great deal said in these days with regard to woman's
rights.  I wish our women understood their rights, and would then assume
them.  They have a great many rights they are not aware of.  As I pass
around from house to house, occasionally, I sometimes think, "I wish the
lady who lives here understood her rights; if she did I think her house
and children would look a little different."  It is your right, wives, to
ask your husbands to set out beautiful shade and fruit trees, and to get
you some vine and flowers with which to adorn the outside of your
dwellings; and if your husbands have not time, get them yourselves and
plant them out.  Some, perhaps, will say, "O, I have nothing but a log
house, and it is not worth that."  Yes; it is worth it.  Whitewash and
plaster it up, and get vines to run over the door, so that everybody who
passes will say, "What a lovely little cottage!"  This is your privilege
and I wish you to exercise yourselves in your own rights.

	It is your right and privilege, too, to stop all folly in your
conversation, and how necessary this is!  I have often thought and said,
"How necessary it is for mothers, who are the first teachers of their
children and who make the first impressions on their young minds, to be
strict."  How careful they should be never to impress a false idea on the
mind of a child!  They should never teach them anything unless they know
it is correct in every respect.  They should never say a word, especially
in the hearing of a child, that is improper.  How natural it is for women
to talk babytalk to their children; and it seems just as natural for the
men to do so.  It is just as natural for me as to draw my breath to talk
nonsense to a child on my lap, and yet I have been trying to break myself
of it ever since I began to have a family.

	These duties and responsibilities devolve upon mothers far more than
upon fathers, for you know the latter are often in the field or canon, and
are frequently away from home, sometimes for several days together,
attending to labors which compel them to be absent from home.  But the
mother is at home with the children continually; and if they are taught
lessons of usefulness it depends upon her.  How foolish it is--and some
mothers do it, to dress a child in the most gaudy apparel you can get hold
of, when you know that, unless under your own eye, that very child, in
five minutes after being dressed, will be playing in the mud!  Why not
rather dress the child in something useful and appropriate, for play,
sunshine, and fresh air are as necessary to children as food.  Do I see
any of this nonsensical short-sightedness on the part of mothers?  Yes,
but it is for the want of thought and through mistaken kindness that they
do this and many other foolish things to their children.

	One thing is very true and we believe it, and that is that a woman is
the glory of the man; but she was not made to be worshipped by him.  As
the Scriptures say, Man is not without the woman, neither is woman without
the man in the Lord.  Yet woman was not made to be worshipped any more
than man was.  A man is not made to be worshipped by his family; but he is
to be their head, and to be good and upright before them, and to be
respected by them.  It is his privilege to walk erect, to converse the
same as God, in fact he is made in the express image of his Heavenly
Father, and he should honor this position.  Yet he is not made to be
worshipped, but to be the head and superior, and to be obeyed in all love
and kindness, and the woman is to be his helpmeet.  Woman has her
influence, and she should use that in training her children in the way
they should go; if she fails to do this she assumes fearful
responsibilities.

	We have instances in this Church of mothers full of faith and good
works, and if you mark their children you cannot find one that is froward
in his ways; I do not remember an instance among the children of such
mothers but what believed in and delighted in the Gospel.  We have also
here the children of mothers of an opposite character--mothers who have
been careless and indifferent about the Gospel or the kingdom of God, and,
if you mark their children, they are the same, and they stray away from
the kingdom of God and from the ordinances of life and salvation.  This is
the result of the influence of the mother; I am an eyewitness of it.

	If our sisters comprehended the power they bear and the influence
they wield in the midst of the people it does appear to me that they would
consider their condition a little more than they do.  It is true that I
sometimes chasten them pretty severely and talk to them harshly, and tell
them precisely how they look and act, and the path they are walking in and
point out the dangers to which they are exposed; and sometimes it hurts
their feelings, but I cannot help this.  I take the liberty of doing this
and I do it for their good, for it is seldom that a man will say anything
to his wife or daughters about their every day labor and conduct.  It is
true that there is occasionally a man who will find fault with everything,
and a woman who will do the same; and there is a certain few on this earth
who are never happy unless they are miserable, and who are never easy
until they are in pain; but such people are not commonly to be met with. 
Let the husband train himself to be submissive to the Lord and his
requirements in every respect, and teach his wife or wives and children
the doctrine of life and salvation and set before them an example worthy
of imitation, and there are few families but what will follow such a
husband and father.  Occasionally you may meet with a family who will be
rebellious under such circumstances, and you may once in a while find a
man who will be rebellious when his wife and children are full of faith
and good works.  But such individuals are of Gentile blood, which is the
rebellious blood, and will show it out.

	Now, sisters, hearken!  Look to yourselves in your capacity as Relief
Societies in this city and throughout the mountains.  Look at your
condition.  Consider it for yourselves, and decide whether you will go to
and learn the influence which you possess, and then wield that influence
for doing good and to relieve the poor among the people.  When I have been
out in the nations I have frequently been pained to see the scenes of
distress there to be met with.  I recollect one circumstance, while in
England.  I have related it often, but will do so now.  When standing in
Smithfield Market, in the City of Manchester, once, I spent a penny for a
bunch of grapes that had just come from France.  Immediately after I felt
as guilty as I could feel, for I saw a woman passing by who, I knew by her
appearance, was starving to death.  She dare not steal nor beg, for if she
had done either she would have been instantly arrested and taken to prison
or the workhouse.  I say I felt guilty for spending that in luxury which,
if it had been given to that woman, might have procured her a morsel of
bread, and so have helped to relieve her misery.

	Sisters, do you see any children around your neighborhoods poorly
clad and without shoes?  If you do, I say to you Female Relief Societies
pick up these children and relieve their necessities, and send them to
school.  And if you see any young, middle-aged or old ladies in need find
them something to do that will enable them to sustain themselves; but
don't relieve the idle, for relieving those who are able but unwilling to
work is ruinous to any community.  The time we spend here is our life, our
substance, our capital, our fortune, and that time should be used
profitably.  Take these old ladies, there are a great many of them around
rather poor, and give them something to do; that is their delight.  You
will hardly find an old lady in the community who has not been brought up
to work; and they would rather knit stockings or do some other useful
labor than eat the bread of charity.  Relieve the wants of every
individual in need in your neighborhoods.  This is in the capacity and in
the power of the Female Relief Societies when it is not in the power of
the Bishops.  Do you know it?  I do, whether you do or not; and you are
learning it.  Find out what your influence is and how far it extends, and
use it to do good; and live every day so that when you lie down at night
you can look back on the day and say, in all honesty before God, "I do not
know that I have done a wrong action, said an improper word, indulged in a
bad thought, or neglected to perform any duty that I ought to have
attended to this day, and I can lie down in peace, and submit myself to
the Lord, and if I never wake again in this world, all right, I am just as
ready to go now as I ever shall be.  This is the way we all should live,
but I know we come short of it, and then plead ignorance as an excuse, as
has been stated here to-day.

	We are here in these mountains.  How often do I think of it?  Bro.
George A. says we are here because we are obliged to go somewhere.  This
is true, we are absolutely under the necessity of going somewhere or of
fighting the whole world.  The Lord did not desire this.  It was necessary
for the people to be scourged, it was necessary for us to learn whether we
loved our property better than the truth.  Five times I have left a good
handsome property; but no matter, the earth is the Lord's, and he can give
and take away what he pleases.  Every time I have been driven I have
improved in my circumstances.  Every time this work has been removed it
has become taller, wider, and longer; and if in the reign of King James
Buchanan, they had succeeded in removing us we should have been still
better off, because the Lord would have prepared everything for the people
to have been better off; but this was not his mind.  Here is our home,
right here in these mountains.  What you have heard to-day from the
previous speaker I acknowledge may grate on the ears of some; nevertheless
it is true.  I acknowledge another thing--truth should not at all times be
spoken.  But we are here, and the statement you have heard with regard to
the President of this people saying, "If they let us alone ten years we
would ask no odds of them," is true; and the only thing in which we have
never failed in obtaining satisfaction has been to ask no odds of them,
for the most of things that we have asked for have been denied us.  In
that we can have satisfaction; we cannot help it.  We would not have
things as they are if we could help it.  We should not have left the
States if we could have stayed there.  If we could have all the people
believe the truth we would not have them unbelievers.  There is hardly a
civilized nation on earth to which we have not carried the Gospel without
purse and scrip.  He who had money left it at home.  We have offered life
and salvation to the inhabitants of the earth without money and without
price, so you see we do not believe in a hireling priesthood.  We preach
here without pay.  Do our Bishops labor for pay?  No, if they are not
capable of getting a living and sustaining themselves and families, and of
filling the office of Bishop without pay, they are hardly worthy of the
Bishopric.  If a High Priest is called to be a president or to travel and
preach the Gospel to the nations of the earth, he must do it without pay;
and we think that any man who is not able to keep himself and family and
travel and preach one-half or two-thirds of his time without being paid,
is not so good a financier as he ought to be, still we find many who do
not possess this qualification.  When we have all learned this we shall
find that we can have all we can ask for or desire; everything to make us
happy and comfortable, no matter whether we are called to go abroad and
preach or whether we stay and labor at home.

	Brethren and sisters, and especially the sisters, I hope you will
listen to what has been said this morning.  I have been preaching to the
sisters of the Church this morning, not to outsiders.  If I had preached
to outsiders I should have told them what the Gospel is; how they can come
to God, not to an "anxious bench."  I should have told them to repent of
their sins, and to be baptized for the remission of them, and to have
hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, which would
bring to their remembrance things past, present, and to come; that would
make prophets and prophetesses of them; give to them those gifts that God
has set in his Church--the gift of healing, the gift of discerning of
spirits, of tongues, of the interpretation of tongues, of prophecy, etc.,
etc.  Are they here?  Yes, right here in abundance, to overflowing.  If
the Saints would be faithful in cultivating these gifts every doctor might
be removed from our midst. Let the mothers, say nothing about the Elders
in Israel, exercise the faith that it is their right to exercise, and I am
satisfied that nine out of every ten children that now die might be saved. 
Doctors and their medicines I regard as a deadly bane to any community. 
Give your children, when sick, a little simple herb drink; and if they
have eaten too much let them go without food until their stomachs are
cleansed and purified, and have faith in the name of Jesus and in the
ordinances of his Church, and they will live.  That is my faith with
regard to this thing.  I am not very partial to doctors and lawyers, I can
see no use for them unless it is to raise grain or go to mechanical work. 
But I need not go into this subject at the present.

	We say forgive us of our errors, accept the truth and love and serve
God that you may be saved in his kingdom, which I ask in the name of
Jesus.  Amen.


                  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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

	Many of our brethren who have come here when in their own land worked
under ground, and probably seldom saw the light of day, but spent year
after year of their lives digging out coal.  If you chanced to ask them,
"Are you ever going to America?" the answer would invariably be, "Yes, I
am going to Zion."  If you asked the wife and children would they like to
go to Zion, the reply would be, "Yes, with all our hearts.  We would do
anything to get there; if necessary we would be the slaves of those of our
brethren who have gone there if we could only go."  Yet these same persons
when they reach here are not satisfied.  If you ask them if this is Zion,
they will say, "I do not see much that looks like Zion."  When they
received the work perhaps their minds were open to see Zion in its beauty
and glory; but when they come here and call this Zion they feel
disappointed.  They have not the least idea in relation to establishing
this kingdom.  They thought they were going to a Zion whose towers would
reach the clouds, with streets paved with gold and the Tree of Life
growing on every block.  They say, "I do not like this place; I am not
exactly suited with it."  What do you want?  "I do not know exactly what I
want; I want something else; I do not like this place" [sic-punc]  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.

	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.

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

	If the people would like something by way of a change, I will propose
something to them, as I did to sister Horne, the President of the Female
Relief Society in the 14th Ward, who was at Gunnison, about one hundred
and thirty miles south of this place, when we were there.  I invited her,
when she returned, to call the sisters of the Relief Society together, and
ask them to begin a reform in eating and housekeeping.  I told her I
wished to get up a society whose members would agree to have a light, nice
breakfast in the morning, for themselves and children, without cooking
something less than forty different kinds of food, making slaves of
themselves and requiring three or four hired girls to wash dishes. 
Prepare 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.

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

	When we go on a trip to the settlements and stop at the brethren's
houses, it is, "Brother Brigham, let us manifest our feelings towards you
and your company.  I tell them to do so, but give me a piece of
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.

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

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

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

	If the people are inclined to complain about co-operation, let them
do so.  I have a constitutional right to eat sweetmeats if I choose, so
long as I raise them and they belong to no one else; or a piece of
johnnycake or wheat bread.  This is my legal right and yours also.  I have
a right to wear a hat that my wife or daughters or my sister has made, and
I need not be called in question for doing so.  I have a legal and
constitutional right, and so have my sisters, to set their table out in a
morning with a little plain food on it if they choose so to do.  Let the
people eat as I used to eat when I was a child.  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!

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

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

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

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

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

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




                   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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

	But why need the wisdom of the nation trouble itself about the
"Mormons?"  The whole cry, according to the newspapers, is about this
people.  Religious teachers, scribblers, public speakers and everybody
join in this murmur against the Latter-day Saints.  Let us keep the law of
God and the laws of our country and preserve ourselves in these mountains
without much quarreling and contention, and where is the great fault that
can be found with the Latter-day Saints?  We observe the law of God and it
makes us one.  It is the Priesthood they are opposed to.  The wickedness
of the whole world is opposed to the Priesthood of the Son of God.  It was
opposed to Jesus when he was here on the earth in the flesh.  It appears
that the whole world of mankind was opposed to the Gospel in the days of
Noah.  Who 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

	This people do this pretty well.  There is not much complaint on this
score.  I do not think there is a house in these mountains where a
Latter-day Saint lives, that a person can go to and ask for a meal of
victuals, where he would not get it if the people living in the house had
it in their possession.  I do not think he or she could ask to stay
over-night and be refused the privilege.  That is saying a good deal for a
community.  Would we be honest in returning that which we have found to
the owner?  We would.  Would we ever take that which is not our own?  We
would not.  Would we be honest in our labor?  We would.  Would we be
honest in our merchandizing?  We would.  Would we be honest in every
respect?  We would.  Would we take usury?  I hope to see the day when
there will be no such thing as one man taking usury from another.  But it
is not so now; people do not come to this; we do not expect them to do so
while they follow the spirit of the world.  But these are things they have
to learn when they gather together.  Will there be any extortion, any
selling our goods for a hundred to five hundred per cent. [sic-punc] 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.

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

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

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

	Let us live so that we can say we are the Saints of God; and when the
finger of scorn is pointed at us and we are held in derision and the
nations talk about us, let us show an example before them that is worthy
of imitation, that they cannot but blush before all sensible and
intelligent persons when they say, "There is a people that sin; there is a
people that are corrupt;" and with shame-facedness they will look upon
each other and condemn themselves.  Let them howl and bark against us as
much as they please, but let us live so that they will have no reason to
say a word.  Some people say, "Why don't you contradict this and that?  I
have been proclaiming the Gospel almost forty years, and a few have come
forth and received and obeyed it.  What do you think the leading men among
our Christian neighbors said about us?  They lied about us until we
thought they ought to be satisfied and we were tired of hearing them and
we found it was no use contradicting them.  Yet these professed to be
good, pious Methodists and Baptists.  There is a world of liars.  It is
said that a lie will pass out of the key-hole and travel a thousand miles
before truth can get out of doors.  The whole tribe of scribblers and
everybody else, almost, are ready to contradict every truth and make a lie
of it; ready to ridicule every just and holy truth; and the individuals
that say children born in polygamy are feeble, have no knowledge of the
human race or else they belie themselves.  Let them study physiology and
human nature.  Let them study their own bodies.  What do you see among
them?  You see children that are born into the world sickly, weak and
unable to walk for years; they are poor, emaciated little things, almost
without flesh on their bones.  It is from such that the cry comes about
the "Mormon" children.  Why, one of our children at three months old has
much more flesh on its bones than theirs have at ten; and, on 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.

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

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

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

                  DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
       Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Feb. 20, 1870.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
 THE SAINTS ARE A STRANGE PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY PRACTISE WHAT THEY PROFESS.

	It is some time since I have spoken to the people in this capacity,
and I have a few words to say to Saints and sinners.  That is a common
expression, but as we are all sinners, I might say a few words to sinners
exclusively.

	The Gospel of the Son of God that has been revealed is a plan or
system of laws and ordinances, by strict obedience to which the people who
inhabit this earth are assured that they may return again into the
presence of the Father and the Son.

	I frequently contemplate the condition of this so-called strange
people the Latter-day Saints.  "A strange people" is a peculiar
expression, as though we were different from others!  I know that we are
so considered, but in my opinion we are the most rational, common sense
people that live on the face of the earth.  We are trying to become
natural in our habits, and are striving to fulfil the end and design of
our creation.  When we read of and contemplate the manners, morals and
customs that prevail in the world and compare them with those of the
Latter-day Saints, wemay justly come to the conclusion that we are "a
strange people," for, in these respects, we are very different to the rest
of the world.  How strange it is that we should do differently from the
rest of mankind!  How strange it is that we should believe differently
from our neighbors!  It is very strange indeed that we cannot embrace the
so-called Christian religion and be satisfied therewith.  If we were to
ask the infidel world some few questions, they might talk, philosophize
and bring up their sophistry, but they could not prove a truth to be an
untruth.  The whole infidel world cannot prove that we are not here on
this earth, that the sun does not shine, that we do not speak and hear,
that we do not see with our eyes and handle with our hands, that we have
not the power of tasting and smelling and have not the use of our natural
senses.  You all know that I have got eyes, for you can see them; you know
I can speak, for you can hear my voice; you know that you are here in a
building, rude as it may be, and you know that you walk on the ground; you
know that you breathe the air, and you also know that when you are thirsty
you desire water to drink, and that when you are hungry you want something
palatable to eat.  We all know these things by the exercise of our natural
senses, but there are many things of which we are ignorant.  We may look
at ourselves and the people generally, and the earth upon which we walk,
and without the revelations of God we know not who we are, whence we came,
nor who formed the earth on which we live, move and have our being.  Did I
bring the particles of matter together and form the earth?  No.  Did you,
Mr. Philosopher?  Did you, Mr. Infidel, or you, Mr. Christian, Pagan, or
Jew?  No, not any of us.  We know that we are here, but who brought us
here or how we came are questions the solution of which depends upon a
power superior to ours.  The ideas of the inhabitants of the earth with
regard to their own creation and destiny, and with regard to the destiny
of the earth, are very crude and vague.  But we must all acknowledge that
some individual, being, power or influence superior to ourselves produced
us and the earth and brought us forth and holds us in existence, and
causes the revolutions of the earth and of the planetary system.  These
are facts that neither we nor all mankind can controvert; the whole
Christian and even the heathen world will acknowledge all this; but what
do they know about it?  Who understands the modus operandi by which all
this was brought about and continued?  Who is able to leap forth into the
immensity of thought, space, contemplation and research, and search out
the principles by which we are here and by which we are sustained?  The
strangest phenomenon to the inhabitants of the earth to-day is that God,
the maker and preserver of the earth and all it contains, should speak
from heaven to His creatures, the works of His hands here.  What would
there be strange in the mechanician, after constructing the most beautiful
and ingenious piece of mechanism it is possible to conceive of, speaking
to it and admiring the beauty, regularity and order of its motions? 
Nothing whatever.  Well, to me it is not at all strange that He who framed
and fashioned this beautiful world and all the myriads and varieties of
organizations it contains, should come and visit them; to me this is
perfectly natural, and when we remember and compare the belief of this
people with that of the rest of the world we need not be surprized at
being considered "a strange people."

 	Brother George A. Smith has been relating to us something about the
history and belief of some of his forefathers, and others; one believed
one thing and another another.  It was with them, as it was in the days of
the Apostles--some were for Paul, some for Apollos, some for Cephas and
some for Christ.  To me it is more rational for an intelligent being to
embrace truth, than it is to mix up a little truth with a great deal of
error, or to embrace all error and undertake to follow a phantom.  Have
you embraced truth, Latter-day Saints?  Have you anything different from
other Christians?  Yes.  What have you got?  You have got a Father in
heaven, a system of religion, a plan of salvation, with doctrines and
ordinances.  What are they?  We read them in the Bible, and the same
things again in the Book of Mormon, both of which are precisely the same
as the principles contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, each
one corroborating the other.  It is written that out of the mouths of two
or three witnesses every word shall be established, and here, in the New
Testament, we have the words of the evangelists; in the Old Testament the
words of the prophets and patriarchs; and again, the testimony of others
in the Book of Mormon; and last of all, given in our own day, the
testimony of Joseph Smith in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; all
coinciding, and the two latter corroborating, the fact that the Bible, as
far as it is correctly translated, is the word of God.  The Bible contains
the word of God, the word of Jesus, of angels, of good men, of those
tolerably good, of wicked men, and the words of the devil, the enemy of
all righteousness, the enemy of Jesus, and the enemy of this world, who is
determined that he will possess the earth and its inhabitants; and in the
main it is true; and every item of doctrine taught by the Latter-day
Saints is to be found in this book.  Then, why should the Latter-day
Saints appear so obnoxious and disagreeable to the world--fairly a hiss
and a by-word?  What is the reason of this?  Is it because we can swear
more and better than others?  No.  Because we can lie more and better than
others?  Well, can you steal better than others?  No; I will defy you to
do that.  Are you better gamblers?  No.  Do you intrude more on your
neighbors' rights than others?  No.  Do you bear false witness more than
others?  No.  Can you revile the name of the Savior more than others?  No. 
Well then, why are we considered so strange a people?  Simply because we
believe in the reality of the principles contained in the word of God, and
maintain that man, in this day, needs and obtains direct revelation from
his Creator for guidance.

	Let us look now for a moment at what is termed the "moral code," the
ten commandments revealed by the Lord to the Jews, the House of Israel,
for a law to control their everyday walk and conduct.  Do the Latter-day
Saints keep this?  Yes.  Does that make them so very strange?  Why should
it?  Does that fact make them a speckled bird in the communities of the
world?  It should not.  Then why is it that we are so considered?  We have
a Father; He is in heaven; He has told us to call Him Father; He says that
we are His children.  Now, excuse me everybody that does not believe iu
[sic] the Bible, or who is inclined not to believe in it, we are so
unwise, so shortsighted, so foolish in our imagination that we believe the
Bible, we actually believe that God the Father is our heavenly Father,
that we are His children; and we believe that Jesus Christ is our elder
brother--that he is actually the Son of our Father and that he is the
Savior of the world, and was appointed to this before the foundations of
this earth were laid.  We are just so foolish and short-sighted as to
believe all this.

	We know that this age, by the outside world, is considered a fast
age; we think it is very fast, so far as unbelief goes.  The people
now-a-days profess to be very enlightened and they say, "Don't be so
superstitious as to believe the Bible;" and the idea of Jesus being
sacrificed for the sins of the world is ridiculed by many.  They say, "Oh,
don't have any such ideas, be more liberal, be as we are;" and I heard of
one man who said he would not believe in, worship, nor acknowledge a God
who would command a man to sacrifice his only son, as Abraham was called
to sacrifice Isaac.  We Latter-day Saints are just so unwise and foolish
as to believe that the Lord Almighty required this at the hands of
Abraham; and He did not tell Abraham that he would have that ram ready in
the bushes.  He said, "Have you confidence in me, my son Abraham?"  "Yes,"
said Abraham.  "Well, I will prove you.  Bring up your son Isaac to Mount
Moriah, build an altar there, place the wood on the altar and bind your
son and place him on the altar and sacrifice him to me, and this will
prove whether you have faith in me or not."  The sacrifice was offered and
acepted [sic], 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.

	Who is that God?  He is my Father, He is your Father; we are His
offspring.  He has planted within each of us the germ of the same
intelligence, power, glory and exaltation that He enjoys Himself.  This
proves that we are a peculiar race.  We belong to the highest order of
intelligence; and though we, as yet, are very ignorant, we have the
privilege of increasing in intelligence, growing, expanding, spreading
abroad, gathering in, enlarging and gaining, and the more we learn to-day,
the better for us, for it does not destroy the knowledge we had yesterday;
and when we learn more to-morrow it does not destroy the knowledge of
to-day.  We are creatures susceptible of continual education and
improvement.  And we take this book, the Bible, which I expect to see
voted out of the so-called Christian world very soon, they are coming to
it as fast as possible, I say we take this book for our guide, for our
rule of action; we take it as the foundation of our faith.  It points the
way to salvation like a fingerboard pointing to a city, or a map which
designates the locality of mountains, rivers, or the latitude and
longitude of any place on the surface of the earth that we desire to find,
and we have no better sense than to believe it; hence, I say that the
Latter-day Saints have the most natural faith and belief of any people on
the face of the earth.

	We believe in God the Father, in Jesus the Mediator; we believe in
the ordinances that He has placed in His house, we believe in keeping the
laws that He has left on record by which His Saints are required to square
their lives, and to direct their steps.  We do all this and we keep the
moral code.  Others do this, and when we reflect upon the righteous course
of many of those who have lived before us, who have observed this moral
code, we can see that great good has been done.  But why should we be
considered so strange by those who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ?

	One says, "You believe in baptism by immersion, and we do not believe
in it; you Latter-day Saints believe that a person should come to the
years of accountability before he is baptized, but we believe in taking
our infants and dipping our fingers, or in the priest dipping his fingers
in the water and touching the children's foreheads and that they then
become members of the living church and heirs of salvation."  But where do
you find this in the Bible?

	The method of administering the ordinance of baptism is a much
disputed point among the different sects of the religious world, the
Baptists alone maintaining that immersion is absolutely necessary.  Some
are so liberal in their views on this subject that they will either
sprinkle or immerse at the option of the candidate.  None, however, regard
it as necessary or efficacious for the remission of sins, but simply as a
profession of faith.  We, the Latter-day Saints, believe in being baptized
by immersion for the remission of sins, according to the testimony of the
disciples of Jesus and the revelations of the Lord given in these last
days.  Infants are pure, they have neither sorrow of heart, nor sins to
repent of and forsake, and consequently are incapable of being baptized
for the remission of sin.  If we have sinned, we must know good from evil;
an infant does not know this, it cannot know it; it has not grown into the
idea of contemplation of good and evil; it has not the capacity to listen
to the parent or teacher or to the priest when they tell what is right or
wrong or what is injurious; and until these things are understood a person
cannot be held accountable and consequently cannot be baptized for the
remission of sin.

	"Well," says the Christian, "If you really believe in being baptized
by immersion, I expect it is correct for you, and it will answer every
purpose; but we think sprinkling will answer for us."  If, however,
sprinkling infants be the correct method of administering the ordinance of
baptism, we are safe even on Christian grounds, for all Christians will
acknowledge that immersion is as good.  If, on the other hand, immersion,
or being buried with Christ by baptism, be the only correct method of
administering the ordinance, and it is, according to the testimony of more
than one of his disciples, our system will not avail those who have been
sprinkled.  But we are safe anyhow.

	Again, with regard to faith in Jesus.  Along comes a man and says,
"It is all folly to have faith in the name of Jesus.  It is true that
Christ died for all, but it is folly for you to fret yourselves about
keeping his commandments and observing the ordinances left on record in
the Scriptures.  Jesus will save all.  He did not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance, and if he came to save sinners do
you not think he will accomplish the task?"

	We, the Latter-day Saints, certainly believe that Christ will
accomplish all that he undertook to do, but he never yet said he would
save a sinner in his sins, but that he would save him from his sins.  He
has instituted laws and ordinances whereby this can be effected.  But this
gentleman says, "Christ will save all."  The Mormon 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.

	Now the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes every
word of truth believed in by the holy Catholic Church--the mother church
of the Christian world; and then every truth believed in by every
Protestant reformer and revivalist that has ever come out from the mother
church or from any of her children; and having all this, we wish to frame,
fashion and build after the pattern that God has revealed; and in doing so
we take all the laws, rules, ordinances and regulations contained in the
Scriptures and practice them as far as possible, and then keep learning
and improving until we can live by every word that proceeds out of the
mouth of God.

	You may take the mother church of the Christian world, the reformers,
universalists, deists, atheists, spiritualists and everybody else, and if
any or all of them are right, we are sure that we are, for every particle
of truth believed in by any one of them, and all the truth possessed by
the whole of them combined is believed in by the Latter-day Saints; but if
we are right, they will fail.  Now, who is on the safe ground?  Who is
most likely to be deluded and to be found wanting?  Let the people decide.

	There is not a word in these three books, Bible, Book of Mormon and
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that I have ever found yet, that has
been delivered by the Lord to His servants, but what, if it is lived up
to, or practiced in the life of an individual, it makes him or her better
in every sense of the word.  There is no code ever got up by the children
of men that would direct them so purely in their lives as that contained
in these three books, and if the people of the Christian world, or any
portion of them, were to throw away or set aside faith in God and in Jesus
Christ, and the various ordinances of the Gospel as contained in the
Scriptures, and were to observe only the moral code, and observe it
strictly, it would make them a better people than any who now live on the
face of the earth, the Latter-day Saints excepted.

	But what is the use of forsaking any portion of the law of the Lord? 
It is true that some portions of it, through disuse or neglect, are now
looked upon as obsolete, just as it is with some laws still remaining on
the statute books of the nations of the earth; but a law possesses neither
more nor less intrinsic merit on this account.  The law once passed in
England inflicting a penalty upon all who ate bread until it was three
days old, possesses no less merit or virtue now that it is obsolete than
in the day when it was enacted.  It was gotten up many years ago because
fresh bread was considered injurious to the stomach; but, although it is
not enforced now, I believe it has never been repealed.  Did my English
brethren and sisters observe this law while they lived in England?  I
think not; perhaps they did not know anything about it.  If, however, that
law was good when it was made, it is good now, and there is no person in
that country who uses bread under that age but is liable to be prosecuted. 
So it is with regard to many laws under our own and other governments. 
They are found to be inapplicable to the situation and condition of the
people, and hence they become obsolete.  We may take the laws contained in
the Old and New Testaments, and if they were good in the days of the
Apostles, Prophets and Patriarchs, why are they not good to-day?  It is
not because they are not good that they are passed over, but in some
respects they are not as applicable to the feelings of the Christian world
now as when they were given, because of the traditions of the fathers.

	I know that the outside world say, "Oh, you Mormons, what a poor
degraded people you are!"  You know, one public lecturer says there is not
a public school in all Utah.  I can say that if there are no public
schools there are plenty of private schools, and there are no people on
the face of the earth that support as many children in private schools as
the people of Utah, according to their numbers.  Still, the world declare
that we are degraded, miserable and ignorant; and, "Oh, that horrid
principle!  Oh dear, it makes me blush!"  Yes, it makes one think of a
little circumstance that transpired with one of our Elders who went after
machinery to Massachusetts.  He went to inquire about machinery for a
cotton factory, and the gentleman to whom he applied said, "Where are you
from?"  "Utah."  "O, you are out among the Mormons?"  "Yes."  "Are you a
Mormon?"  "Yes."  "Well, I believe," said the interrogator, "you, out
there, believe in having more wives than one?"  "Yes, that is true," said
the Elder.  "Well," said the gentleman, "I want you to come up and see my
partner."  So our brother was invited up to see the partner of the
gentleman who had questioned him so closely, in order to talk a little
about the number of people here, and the improvements, etc.  The first
thing, on meeting the partner, was to pitch into the "Mormon" about how
many wives he had, and he replied that "he had just enough to enable him
to keep from troubling his neighbors' wives."  The gentleman that took our
Elder to this place had a family, but the gentleman whom they visited had
not, and he was considered a great libertine; and the one who had a family
was delighted with the answer made by the Elder, and said he to his
partner, "I guess you are satisfied now, I wish you could say as much." 
This is the way with the world--"How many wives have you got?" and, "Oh,
it is so wicked, it is so degrading!"

	Well, I need not talk about this; but I will say that the principle
of patriarchal marriage is one of the highest and purest ever revealed to
the children of men.  I do not say that it will not injure a great many. 
I heard brother Joseph Smith say a number of times, "There is no question
but it will be the means of damning many of the Elders of Israel; it is
nevertheless true and must be revealed; and the Lord designs that it shall
be revealed and go forth, and that this people must receive the oracles of
truth, and they must receive this holy ordinance, and that that pertains
to the celestial world; and they will retrograde if they do not embrace
more of the celestial law than they have yet."

	I say, with regard to this principle, if it was good in the days of
Abraham and of the Patriarchs and Prophets, or at any other period of the
world's history, and the fact that the Lord commanded His servants
anciently to observe it, is conclusive proof that it was so considered by
Him, why is it not good now?  It certainly does not go as far as some of
our lecturers in the East, who advocate the abolition of the marriage
ceremony by Government.  We do not go quite as far as this; we can't
receive all that they do or would receive.  We can't believe a great many
things the so-called Christian world believe, because they are neither
Scriptural nor true.

	Now, with regard to this moral code, of which I have been speaking, I
will leave it to the greatest infidel, or to the smallest infidel on the
earth, or to the wickedest and most riotous person that can be found, and
I am satisfied that he will say that lives squared according to its
precepts, whether of individuals or communities, are the very best that
can be led.  I say to the world, do not blame us for believing it.  Do not
blame the Latter-day Saints for believing the Bible.  "We will not," says
the Christian world, "if you will not practice it."  Aye, there's the rub! 
Now, I ask the question, who manifest true wisdom, they who possess the
principles of truth and practice them, or they who possess and profess to
believe them and yet refuse to practice them?  I leave it to the world to
say which is the wiser course.  I think that if I did not believe in
baptism enough to be baptized for the remission of my sins, I would say I
do not believe and consequently I will not be baptized.  And if I did not
believe in the Lord's Supper, I would say so, and would set that aside in
my practice.  If I did not believe in the atonement of the Son of God, or
in the virtue and efficacy of his blood, I would say I do not believe
enough to practice what he has told me, I think I would be honest enough
to say so, and I would live as fast and as close as my feeble capacity
would permit me to what I did believe in.

	When I look at universalism, deism, atheism, and at the various sects
of the day, I feel that if we fail they are ready to catch us; but if we
are right, they are wrong, and we must officiate for them and bring them
up or they are 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.

	Let me ask again, who is on safe ground?  Is the apostate on safe
ground?  What has he got?  If he has found truth, it is here.  We have
embraced all truth in the heavens, on the earth, under the earth, on other
planets, and in every kingdom there is in all the eternities.  Every truth
in every kingdom that exists is embraced in our faith, and the Lord
reveals a little here and a little there, line upon line, and He will
continue to do so until we can reach into eternity and embrace a fullness
of His glory, excellency and power.  Who are on safe ground, then?  These
poor despised "Mormons" are the only people who live on the face of the
earth that we know anything of who are on safe ground.  Whether the Bible
is true or not, no matter.

	Now then, for a few words on the opposite side.  Leaving the
difference between the good and the evil, between light and darkness, and
between right and wrong, truth and error, as marked out by the dividing
line, let us glance at the effects of the two principles.  Light,
intelligence, good, that which is of God, creates, fashions, forms, builds
up, brings into existence, beautifies, makes excellent, 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.

	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.

	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.

                  DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
   Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, April 17, 1870.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
                        KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS.

	I would like the attention of the congregation.  First, to my
brethren and sisters, How do you do?  I hope you are well.  My health is
very excellent.  I am happy to greet you again.  It gives me pleasure to
see the people, but greater pleasure to see them striving to do the will
of God.

	I understand that this morning the congregation were treated to a
discourse giving the details of our travels for fifty-two days.  I have no
doubt they were very satisfactory.  Those who heard the remarks of Brother
George A. Smith this morning must be aware that we are somewhat fatigued
in body and want a little rest.  We went from here to rest; but travelling
every day for nearly two months, and holding sometimes two or three
meetings a day, does not afford much chance for rest.  However, it was a
change--a change of climate, scenery, congregations and friends; and we
have had great pleasure in visiting the Saints.  It is delightful to see
those who profess to be Saints living together in unity and peace, which I
am happy to say is the case to a great degree with the people among whom
we have been travelling.

	When we talk to and instruct the people we have to chasten and
correct them sometimes, so as to lead their minds to principles more
advanced than they are in the habit of practicing.  The Latter-day Saints
are an excellent good people; but when we contemplate the perfection of
the inhabitants of Zion we see that there is an opportunity for a great
deal of improvement.  Of the time that is allotted to man here on the
earth there is none to lose or to run to waste.  After suitable rest and
relaxation there is not a day, hour or minute that we should spend in
idleness, but every minute of every day of our lives we should strive to
improve our minds and to increase in the faith of the holy Gospel, in
charity, patience, and good works, that we may grow in the knowledge of
the truth as it is in Jesus Christ.  If we are not Saints I do not think I
ever saw any; but still there is a lack in the faith and works of this
people, preparatory to the inhabiting of the Zion that is spoken and
prophecied of and written about.

	There are a great many texts which might be used, very comprehensive
and full of meaning, but I know of none, either in the Old or New
Testament, more so than that saying, said to have been made by the Savior,
and I have no doubt it was, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."  You
recollect that, after the resurrection, when Jesus came to Peter and
others who had been fishing all night, but had caught nothing, he said to
them, "Cast your net to the right side of the ship."  They did so, and we
read that they drew a multitude to shore, and then they beheld their
Savior.  After broiling and eating of their fish, Jesus, knowing their
feelings, and how apt men are to forget that which they once knew, said to
Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" pointing to
the fish.  They had professed to love him; they had followed him, and had
suffered persecution for his sake; they had delighted in his words,
rejoiced in his labors, and had seen the wonderful works which he
performed, and some which, in his name, they had performed themselves;
yet, after all this, they seemed inclined to turn away and go a fishing;
and when they had caught fish and drawn them to the shore, Jesus said, "Do
you love me more than you love these?"  He had previously told them:  "If
ye love me, keep my commandments."

	"How long?  For a day?  Keep the commandments of the Lord for a week? 
Observe and do his will for a month or a year?  There is no promise to any
individual, that I have any knowledge of, that he shall receive the reward
of the just, unless he is faithful to the end.  If we fully understand and
faithfully carry out in our lives the saying of Jesus, "If ye love me,
keep my commandments," we shall be prepared to go back and dwell in the
presence of the Father and the Son.

	What are his commandments?  Did he ever teach the people anything
that is wrong?  If we read the requirements made by Jesus, by the Father,
or by any messenger sent from the heavens to the children of men we shall
find nothing that will injure any human being or that will destroy the
soul of one of the sons or daughters of Adam and Eve.  Many think that the
sayings and doings of some of the prophets and servants of God, in ancient
and modern times, said and done in obedience to the commands of the Lord
Almighty, tend to evil; but it is not so.  All God's requirements tend to
good to His children.  Any notion to the contrary is the result of
ignorance.  The human family are enveloped in ignorance, so far as the
origin and object of their existence here is concerned.  Their ignorance,
superstition, darkness and blindness are very apparent to all who are in
the least enlightened by the spirit of truth.  They seek to hide
themselves in ignorance and blindness rather than learn who they are and
the object of their being here.  What do the human family know of God or
Jesus, or of the words which I have quoted, "If ye love me, keep my
commandments?"  "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have
eternal life," says Jesus, "and they are they which testify of me."  They
testify of the Savior, of his doctrines and requirements, and of the
ordinances of his house; the plan of salvation is there portrayed, and any
person who follows its dictation may redeem himself from the thraldom of
sin, and know, by the Spirit, that Jesus is the Christ.  All who will take
this course will know by revelation that God is our Father; they will
understand the relationship they hold to him and to their fellow-beings. 
The world may in vain ask the question, "Who are we?"  But the Gospel
tells us that we are the sons and daughters of that God whom we serve. 
Some say, "we are the children of Adam and Eve."  So we are, and they are
the children of our Heavenly Father.  We are all the children of Adam and
Eve, and they and we are the offspring of Him who dwells in the heavens,
the highest Intelligence that dwells anywhere that we have any knowledge
of.  Here we find ourselves, and when infants, the most helpless, and
needing the most care and attention of any creatures that come into being
on the face of the earth.  Here we find in ourselves the germ and the
foundation, the embryo of exaltation, glory, immortality and eternal
lives.  As we grow up we receive strength, knowledge and wisdom, some more
and some less; but only by keeping the commands of the Lord Jesus can we
have the privilege of knowing the things pertaining to eternity and our
relationship to the heavens.

	When I contemplate the effects of keeping the commands of the Lord,
and look at the Christian world, I cannot help being struck with the
difference of the results which flow from serving God and Satan.  I have
dwelt, for many years, in the Christian world.  I have tried to learn all
that they know.  But what does it amount to?  Nothing.  How many chapters,
pamphlets, and volumes have been written upon the Holy Ghost, the birth of
the Savior, and concerning the being of that God whom we serve?  But who
knows the truth pertaining to these subjects or to any one of them?  Not
one.  But all who keep the commandments of Jesus have the privilege of
gaining a correct understanding of these things.  If we draw near to him,
he will draw near to us; if we seek him early, we shall find him; if we
apply our minds faithfully and diligently, day by day, to know and
understand the mind and will of God, it is as easy as, yes, I will say
easier than, it is to know the minds of each other, for to know and
understand ourselves and our own being is to know and understand God and
His being.  It is true there is a great deal of speculation in the world;
and it becomes more apparent every year; and it will continue so until the
people believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, or are given over to
infidelity.  See the sects and parties springing up here and springing up
there, from this and that, and embracing this and the other phantom; or
following after this and that dream or phantasy of their imagination. 
They are dividing and subdividing, and drifting, as fast as time can roll,
into infidelity.

	Who will know the Son of God?  Who will know that Jesus is the
Christ?  Who, in this our day, can say as Peter did, "Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God."  How many will come to this?  Very few.  How
often I have contemplated the condition of the Christian world!  I have
preached the Gospel to hundreds of thousands of them.  Did they believe? 
If they did, they did not yield obedience.  They would contend and argue
against the truth, but only one here and another there, or as it is
written, "one of a city, and two of a family;" or, to reverse it, one of a
family and two of a city, would obey it, and gather with the Saints.  Many
of those who have gathered, when they have been blessed with a few of the
good things of this life, have lifted their heels against Jesus and in
position to his commands and revelations, and have turned away to fables. 
I have often asked this question, "Has one-half of those who have obeyed
the Gospel and been baptized into the Church ever gathered with the
Saints?"  No, they have not; and to many who have gathered the Gospel soon
became like a dream.  They have had their minds opened and seen things
correctly; they have had the manifestations of the Spirit of the Lord and
have rejoiced in the truth; but by and by, through the lusts of the flesh,
they have become sordid, have turned again to the world, and have forgot
the Gospel and its blessings.

	Is this the case with the Saints?  It is the case with many who have
been called Saints, and yet we say that the Latter-day Saints, as a body,
are the best people that can be found.  Who would have done as they have? 
Who, in the world, are willing to manifest that they are believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ, in the prophets and Apostles, and in Joseph Smith?  One
of the Apostles, writing of confessing the Savior, says, "Every spirit
that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ is of God; and every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus is the Christ is not of God."  I say that every
spirit that confesseth Jesus to be the Savior of the world, the Old and
New Testament and the Book of Mormon to be true, and Joseph Smith to be a
prophet, is of God; but every spirit that does not confess these things is
not of God.

	I can say to my brethren and sisters who profess to believe in the
Gospel of the Son of God, as it has been revealed to us in these latter
days, that we need to pay attention to our faith, and to observe the
principles of our religion inviolate, and to live by every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of God, or we shall not be prepared to inherit
that glory that we anticipate.  Is this so?  It is, most assuredly.  I
know that many Latter-day Saints think when they have obeyed the Gospel,
made a sacrifice in forsaking their homes, perhaps their parents,
husbands, wives, children, farms, native lands, or other things held dear,
that the work is done; but it is only just commenced.  The work of
purifying ourselves and preparing to build up the Zion of God on this
continent has only just begun with us when we have got as far as that. 
Are we prepared now to establish the Zion that the Lord designs to build
up?  I have many times asked the questions, "Where is the man that knows
how to lay the first rock for the wall that is to surround the New
Jerusalem or the Zion of God on the earth?  Where is the man who knows how
to construct the first gate of the city?  Where is the man who understands
how to build up the kingdom of God in its purity and to prepare for Zion
to come down to meet it?"  "Well," says one, "I thought the Lord was going
to do this."  So He is if we will let Him.  That is what we want: we want
the people to be willing for the Lord to do it.  But He will do it by
means.  He will not send His angels to gather up the rock to build up the
New Jerusalem.  He will not send His angels from the heavens to go to the
mountains to cut the timber and make it into lumber to adorn the city of
Zion.  He has called upon us to do this work; and if we will let Him work
by, through, and with us, He can accomplish it; otherwise we shall fall
short, and shall never have the honor of building up Zion on the earth. 
Is this so?  Certainly.  Well, then, let us keep the commandments.

	What are His commandments to us?  Has He commanded us to build an
ark?  No.  He told Noah to do that for the salvation of those who would go
into it; and after he had built it, and had preached righteousness for a
long space of time, warning the people of the coming judgments of the
Almighty, how many believed his testimony?  Only eight souls, and they
were members of his own family.  All the rest were swept from the face of
the earth.  This is according to the account given to us in the Old
Testament which we believe.  I know that there are a great many in the
world who are so wise in their own eyes that they are not disposed to
believe the account contained in the bible of the Creation, of Adam and
Eve in the Garden of Eden, the antediluvian world and other things, but we
profess to believe, and we do or should believe these things.

	The Lord has said that He will never again destroy the world by a
flood.  What will the next great catastrophe be?  It will be fire:  He
will cleanse the earth as by fire, and will purify and make it holy, and
prepare it for the habitation of His Saints.  But in doing this, which
will be accomplished by the united labors of His Saints under His
direction, He has not told us to build an ark; He has not told us to go
out of Sodom, as He did Lot and his family; neither has He told us to go
down into Egypt or to come out of Egypt.  What has He told us?  He has
told us, and it is recorded in the revelations contained in the New
Testament, that in the latter days He would send His angel flying through
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who
dwell on the earth.  That angel has flown, the Gospel is delivered, the
kingdom is established, and Zion has to be built up.  Are the Laiter-day
[sic] Saints going to do this?  Yes, we say so; we think the Latter-day
Saints are going to do it.  But are these my brethren and sisters now
before me going to do it?  Am I going to help to do it?  I know that I
have labored nearly forty years to get the people to believe and to
embrace, in their faith and practice, what the Lord has told us to do. 
The Lord wants to build up His Zion, and He wants to build it up through
you and me.  We are the ones He has called upon.  Will we consent to do
this?  I firmly believe that, before we make any very effectual progress
in the accomplishment of that work, we must become more united and more
fervent in our faith and practice than we have ever yet been at any time. 
We have to become more like a single family, and be one, that we may be
the Lord's; and not every one have his own individual interest.  This is
destructive, this disconnects the feelings of the people one from another,
and causes divisions and disunion.  But when we make the general cause of
Zion our individual cause it brings us closer together.

	We must observe all the words of the Lord.  The commandments
contained in the New Testament with regard to the ordinances of the house
of God are obligatory upon us.  But we are not called upon to build an ark
to save ourselves; we are called to build up Zion.  God has spoken from
the heavens, and given us revelations, and it is for you and me to obey. 
The command has been given, it is recorded, and you can all read for
yourselves.

	In partaking of this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper we are all
agreed.  When Jesus broke the bread and poured out and blessed the wine,
said he, "Do this till I come."  We do it every Sabbath in remembrance of
him, and we all agree in doing this.  When the word is, "Be baptized for
the remission of sins," we also agree on this:  no dissenting voice.  When
we say we must have hands laid on for the reception of the Holy Ghost, we
all consent to it, all feel alike in this.  When we say that the Lord is
pouring out the gifts of prophecy, revelation, tongues, visions, faith,
healings, and so forth, we all agree in these things.  They are all right,
all correct, we believe in them all, and we yield obedience to them.  But
when He speaks from the heavens and says, "Now, my children, gather out
from the wicked," some consent to this, and actually go so far as to
gather, and that is why we are here in these mountains.  But our labor is
not done: we must still progress until we become one.  The Lord says, "Be
one, except ye are one, ye are not mine, be united."  But do we take a
course to become so?  I will ask, have we, as a general thing, obeyed the
first revelations, to gather to Zion, and when there, to consecrate our
property and devote all our substance, time and talents for the building
up the kingdom?  Have we obeyed the commandments and requirements of
Heaven in yielding up everything to the will of God, and being dictated,
as we should be, by the spirit of revelation?  No, we have not.  Herein we
come short of that that we might do and perform for our own benefit and
for the salvation of others, for it is not only for the glory of God, but
for our own benefit that we each of us labor.  The Lord is perfectly
independent:  He has received His glory, He reigns supreme and omnipotent. 
He is not dependent upon you and me.  If every one of us should apostatize
and go down to hell, it would neither add to nor diminish from His glory. 
He would mourn at our folly in turning away from the holy commandments and
suffering the wrath of the Almighty to come upon us; the Heavens would
weep over us, but still the Lord has His glory, and you and I are not
laboring for His benefit.  For whose benefit are we laboring?  For our
own.  All my preaching, laboring, and toils in this kingdom have been for
myself, to get into the Celestial Kingdom of God.  I have been laboring
for that and nothing else.

	The Latter-day Saints require considerable preaching to; they ought
to pray a little more; they are doing pretty well, but if we try to draw
them a little closer together, how quickly we see the selfishness of the
children of men in our own midst.  If we ask them to devote their time,
talents and powers more completely to the building up of the Kingdom of
God, one says, "That is mine, I am not going to have anybody control me;"
another one says, "I am not going to submit to this."  Why, bless me! what
have they?  Nothing but what the Lord gave them, even to their own lives. 
Everything they have is what the Lord has given, and He can take it away
at His pleasure.  He can bestow millions upon them if He pleases, or take
away at His pleasure.  Yet, while men will acknowledge this, one will say,
"I am not going to be controlled;" and another, "I am going to draw out of
this."  You have heard and seen through this city a great deal of talking,
writing, and sophistry on this subject.  No matter how many pretty words
are strung together into sentences and made to appear beautiful on paper,
it amounts to nothing.  It is the truth; it is the love and the power of
the Lord Almighty, and it is the Gospel of the Son of God that you and I
have embraced.  Should we be controlled by that?  Yes, in everything. 
Well, get the people united together and they will be controlled by it;
but as it is now, the purchasing of a little merchandise sends a parcel of
them to the devil.  It is folly in the extreme!  By and by such characters
will go to their own place.  There will be no carriages there; no horses,
fine houses, silks and satins there.  Oh, the foolishness of the children
of men!

	Who are we, I ask again?  We are the children of the Almighty, of Him
who framed this earth and brought it into existence and placed His
children upon it, to see what they would do.  He gave them their agency
and said, "Now, act for yourselves;" and every one does act for himself,
for good or evil, for blessings or curses.  We all act for ourselves.  I
am laboring expressly to get back again into the presence of my Father and
of my elder brother.  What are you laboring for?  Gold?  Just see how some
are running to the gold mines!  "Oh," says one, "there is silver found
yonder."  Says another, "There is gold or there is copper found yonder." 
See the greediness of the hearts of the children of men, and that too
right in the midst of this people.  We can praise the people, generally a
great deal; we give them credit for considerable good they have done; but
we cannot give our brethren and sisters credit for any particular good
while following the foolish fashions of the world.  The Lord cannot credit
them for running after gold and silver and the riches of this world.  If
they do good, they shall receive credit; if they give alms to the poor,
they shall receive credit for it.  If they are disposed to do anything for
the benefit of the kingdom of God on the earth, they will be blessed and
credited for it.  But when their hearts are turned from the holy
commandments of the Lord Jesus, and to seeking after the things of this
life, which perish, they will find that they will perish as well as the
things they are using.  What a pity!  How lamentable it is.

	Now I ask the Latter-day Saints, have you anything to fear?  Yes, you
have.  Have I anything to fear?  Yes.  What is it?  I fear lest I may
slacken in my faith and obedience in living as the Spirit of the Lord
Almighty has required me to live, and is urging this people to live, so
that we may be worthy to build up Zion.  Have you or I anything else to be
afraid of?  No; not at all.  I have no fear of heavenly beings, for they
are my friends.  I want to go to their society and to be associated with
them.  I like some of God's messengers, who travel about, to visit me.  I
am fond of their society.  I like the spirits that dwell there.  I want to
go home; I want to go back again and live there for ever.  Why, the
thought that the intelligence that is brought into existence here, may be
annihilated, is enough to make one shudder!  There are some who go so far
in their unbelief that they deny the resurrection of the body; and even to
say that the soul sleeps eternally.  What is the use of your intelligence,
what is it good for if this be true?  There is no such thing as destroying
element!  There is no such philosophy as annihilation.  If the spirit
should return to native element the element would not be destroyed; the
particles of matter will remain for ever.  There are some now getting so
lofty in their imaginations, and so wise and intelligent in their own
estimation that they pretend to explain all the mysteries of the past,
present and future.  They are like some called Latter-day Saints; they can
talk very glibly about the principles of what they term the Gospel; but
the practical workings of the religion of the Savior they know or care
little about.  You come to the Latter-day Saints, and you may find plenty
who talk their religion a great deal; you may find a hundred willing even
to die for it to one who is willing to live it.  If all were willing to
live it we would risk the dying; we care nothing about that.  We shall all
go sooner or later.  We shall not stay in this world in our present
condition for ever.  Something or other will divide this intelligence or
spirit from the body which it inhabits; and the tabernacle will go down to
dust.  Our spirits will not sleep an eternal sleep, but our bodies will be
resurrected, and our spirits and our bodies will be reunited; and all who
believe to the contrary are in a state of darkness, wretchedness and
unbelief.

	Brethren and sisters, be faithful to your religion.  There is not the
least reason for fear from any other source in the world.  Keep as calm as
a summer's evening; no harm can come to him who serves God will all his
heart and trusts in Him for future results.  "But" some say, "cannot they
kill us?"  Yes, they can kill you and me, if the Lord permits; but if He
does not, I reckon they cannot.  And suppose they do kill us!  Do we want
to stay in this world in our present condition for ever?  O, no.  If
Joseph and Hyrum Smith had not been killed in Carthage jail, do you think
they would have lived for ever?  No, they could not; the fiat has gone
forth that our bodies must all return to mother earth.

	There is no danger for the Latter-day Saints.  The Lord reigns.  He
has said that he would fight our battles.  Has He done so?  Look back, ye
Saints, for forty years, from the sixth of this month when this Church was
organized.  Brother George A. Smith and a few of us were away on the
anniversary of the day; but you, here, had a little Conference and
adjourned over.  Did you realize that forty years had elapsed since this
Church was organized?  Yes, and there is no question that you talked of
it.  Look back, members of this Church, for thirty-nine years!  Has the
Lord fought our battles?  He has.  Has He protected and fed and clothed
us?  Certainly He has.  When we came here no man knew that we could raise
an ear of corn, and a great many believed that we could not.  How many
contended against our setting out fruit trees?  Said they, "you never can
raise an apple, plum, or pear, and you certainly can never raise a peach
or an apricot.  We told them we should set out trees and trust in the
Lord; and although when we came here everything was freezing to death, yet
now, through the Lord blessing the elements and tempering the soil, water
and atmosphere, the Saints in every settlement are raising beautiful
grains and fruits; and the people are increasing and multiplying. 
Wherever we have been on our recent journey they flocked out by hundreds
to welcome us; and there were swarms of healthy, bright intelligent
children everywhere.

	Talk about polygamy!  There is no true philosopher on the face of the
earth but what will admit that such a system, properly carried out
according to the order of heaven, is far superior to monogamy for the
raising of healthy, robust children!  A person possessing a moderate
knowledge of physiology, or who has paid attention to his own nature and
the nature of the gentler sex, can readily understand this.

	"But," says one, "are we not all to be killed for our belief in this
principle?"  I reckon not.  "Are we not going to be driven from our
homes?"  I don't know.  This is a good place; I would like to stay here; I
would rather not go; I have considerable to leave if we should go from
here.  I do not know how to do without the liberty that my father fought
for.  He went into the Revolutionary army when he was fourteen years old,
and stayed until the close of the war; and I do not know how to do without
that liberty anyway in the world.  I guess I can think as I please, and I
guess I can live happy, I shall try to, at any rate, until I finish my
work, and I rather think you will, brethren and sisters, if you love
Jesus, and prove it by keeping his commandments.  If you do this, there is
no danger in the world.  But when I look round and see the foolish habits
of the people, it is a little mortifying, and I wish it were otherwise. 
Still we put up with it, and do the best we can; and talk and preach and
set you examples, and teach you how to be Saints in very deed, so that by
and by you may be prepared to go and build up the Centre Stake of Zion. 
If I have to go from here, if I live to do so, I want to go to Jackson
county.  May I?  (Yes, from the congregation.)  That is the place I want
to go to.  It is not healthy like this; but the Lord will make it so, and
He will bless the soil, the water, and the atmosphere, and they will
become healthy if the Saints will live their religion.  Let us do the will
of God and there is no fear from any quarter.  I never felt calmer since I
have been in this Church, and I have been in the wars.  I have left my
home five times, and a good handsome property each time; but I do not feel
a bit like it now, and I cannot get the spirit of it.

	To the Latter-day Saints I say, live your religion, sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts, live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of
God, and we shall we [sic] prospered.

	God bless you.  Amen.

                   REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
      Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon,
                             April 24, 1870.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
                             TRUTH AND ERROR.

	I am sure that, to strangers, such a meeting as this must be very
novel.  I might say to those who have been here to-day that our meetings
are conducted very much like the meetings of the Presbyterians, the
Baptists, and Methodists in England and in the United States.  It is true
that we continue our discourses longer than they usually do, and sometimes
two or three speak; but such a meeting as this is to-day is a novel thing
to me.  I might almost say it is equal to a theatre; but there is good
here, and I would not permit evil in my theatre.  If I were to learn of
any unbecoming conduct there, in looks, words or actions, those guilty of
it would have to leave that stage.  I would not allow them to remain
there.

	I want to say to my friends that we believe in all good.  If you can
find a truth in heaven, earth or hell, it belongs to our doctrine.  We
believe it; it is ours; we claim it.  Is that right?  If you find an error
here, I ask you to leave it, pass it by, let it alone, do not embrace it
in your faith, do not practice it in your lives.  I say to all, to my
brethren and sisters and to strangers, if we teach anything that is good,
receive it, I beseech you.  If we have any good in our doctrine, believe
it and embrace it, it will do you good.  If we have errors, do not embrace
them.  I have been trying, for almost forty years, to tell the people how
to be saved.  I have always made this proposition to every man I have
conversed with on the subject of truth and error, "If I have errors, I
will give ten errors for a truth.  Do you want to trade?"

	Do not embrace error!  Christians, search the Scriptures of the Old
and New Testament, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they
are they that testify of the doctrine that we preach; and if we can get
you to believe what is written there concerning God the Father and Jesus
the Mediator, and to render obedience to what is required there of the
children of men, we ask no more.

	Here is the Book of Mormon.  We believe it contains the history of
the Aborigines of our continent, just as the Old Testament contains the
history of the Jewish nation.  In that book we learn that Jesus visited
this continent, delivered his Gospel and ordained Twelve Apostles.  We
believe all this, but we do not ask you to believe it.  What we do ask is
that you will believe what is recorded in the Holy Bible concerning God
and His revelations to the children of men.  Do this in all honesty and
sincerity, then you will know that the Book of Mormon is true.  Your minds
will be opened and you will know by the visions of the Spirit of God that
we teach the truth.  For this we are persecuted; for this we have been
driven; for this we have left our homes and all many times; for this we
came to these mountains, comparatively naked and barefoot, and here you
can see what we have done.  And now they are seeking again to break up
this people.  God will hold them in derision.  (Amen, from the
congregation.)

	Now, I say, honestly, if the inhabitants of the earth will read this
book called the Old and New Testament (though it contains the words of God
and the words of men; the words of Jesus and the words of the devil), and
believe the truth that is there, just as it is portrayed and written and
given to us without any new translation, it will be good for them in time
and eternity.  The Bible, or part of it, has been re-translated by Joseph
Smith.  Many precious parts were taken out by men in former days.  But
believe it as it is and we are one--if we practice it.  I will put that
in.  But if we believe the truth, we will practice it.  We may say we
believe it, and practice it not.  But this is no proof to God, angels, or
to one another.  "By their fruits ye shall know them," is a scriptural
saying, and is as true now as when it was spoken.

	I have a little item which, if I had time, I would like to read,
portraying our feelings towards the inhabitants of the earth.  It is
called the "Vision"--a vision Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had while
they were translating the New Testament.  I would like to read this
because it is our faith.  But we also believe the Bible.  Do you, my
friends?  I would to God you did.  I am like Moses when a messenger came
to him saying, "The people are prophesying in their tents."  Said Moses,
Well, what of that?  I would to God that the Lord's people were all
prophets!  I would to God that they all had revelation!  When they receive
revelation from heaven the story is told, they know for themselves.

	Now, my friends, brethren and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, how do
you know anything?  Can you be deceived by the eye?  You can; you have
proved this; you all know that there are men who can deceive the sight of
the eye, no matter how closely you observe their movements.  Can you be
deceived in hearing?  Yes; you may hear sounds but not understand their
import or whence they come.  Can you be deceived by the touch of the
finger?  You can.  The nervous system will not detect everything.  What
will?  The revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of truth will
detect everything, and enable all who possess it to understand truth from
error, light from darkness, the things of God from the things not of God. 
It is the only thing that will enable us to understand the Gospel of the
Son of God, the will of God, and how we can be saved.  Follow it, and it
will lead to God, the fountain of light, where the gate will be open, and
the mind will be enlightened so that we shall see, know and understand
things as they are.

	God bless you, and help us all to do what He requires of us.  Amen.



                  DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
   Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, April 24, 1870.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
                       THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.

	We delight in the spirit manifested by our young friend who has just
spoken.  He advocates the use of the sword of the Spirit, or the
principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, backed by the spirit of that
Gospel, to convince people of the error of their ways.  We, as a people,
or the Elders of this Church, have carried that over the face of the
earth; we have offered it to the people in nearly all parts of the earth,
without money and without price.

	We delight to meet together to worship God; we delight to have our
brethren and sisters come together for this purpose, and we also esteem it
a pleasure to have strangers of age and experience, who have the spirit to
discern, meet with and preach to us.  In our community we have very few
from the heathen world; but from the Christian world thousands have
gathered here.  They understand and know the effects of what is called
Christianity.  But it is otherwise with our children.  They have been
brought up here; and, except in a few instances, they have heard nothing
but the Gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints.  They are not capable
of judging what the outside world is until they have had it exhibited
before them, which has been their privilege occasionally; and I always
feel to urge our youth to attend meetings when strangers preach, that they
may be able to understand that which is and that which is not of God, and
learn the difference between the doctrine taught by us and others.  We
believe a great many things that the Christian world cannot believe.  If
their eyes were open and they had the spirit to see things as they are,
they could understand them.  There is not a man or woman on the earth but
what, if they understood God and the things of God, would yield obedience
to His requirements.  Those who set themselves up against the truth do it
in consequence of not seeing things as they are--in consequence of
ignorance, and were it not for this ignorance with regard to God and His
Gospel they would be able to believe in the Gospel.  The Latter-day Saints
believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, simply because it is true.  They
believe in baptism for the remission of sins, personal and by proxy; they
believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world; they believe that all who
attain to any glory whatever, in any kingdom, will do so because Jesus has
purchased it by his atonement.

	The Chistian [sic] world says, "We are going to the kingdom of
Heaven;" but what is to become of those who have died, not believing as
they do, or who have died without hearing the Gospel?  Millions of them
have passed away, both in the Christian and in the heathen worlds, just as
honest, virtuous and upright as any now living.  The Christian world say
they are lost; but the Lord will save them, or, at least, all who will
receive the Gospel.  The plan of salvation which Jesus has revealed, and
which we preach, reaches to the lowest and most degraded of Adam's lost
race.  Is He going to save all in the same glory and bring all to the same
state of felicity?  Will they who refuse to obey the Gospel of the Son of
God be saved and exalted in the same kingdom and glory as they who have
obeyed?  No, never, never!  It is impossible.  Do you suppose that a
person can see the kingdom of heaven without being born of the Spirit? 
Jesus said not.  Shall we say to the contrary, and maintain that we can
see the kingdom of God without being born of the Spirit, and say that
Jesus is a liar?  Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Except a man is born of the
spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Shall we admit that Jesus
spoke the truth, or shall man say that his doctrine is true and Jesus
spoke that which is not true?  Which shall we do?  There is no alternative
but to admit that Jesus is true, and will save on no other condition than
that laid down in the Scriptures, and that all who preach any other
doctrine take the testimony of men instead of the testimony of Jesus, or
that the Christian world with their varied opinions and creeds are true
and that Jesus is untrue.

	This is plain talk, my friends.  Can you mistake it?  Can you gain
any idea from what I say except what I mean--let God be true, if it makes
every man a liar.  I think my words are so pointed and emphatic that no
person can mistake them.  Did Jesus say, "Except a man is born of the
water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God?"  Yes, all
Christians will admit that.  Then do you think there was one plan of
salvation for Nicodemus and another for you and me?  It is all folly for
any person to expect any such thing!  Come with the sword of the Spirit! 
Let the whole world of Christendom come with their arguments and
Scriptures, and let us argue these things together!  Let us lay them
before the people and see who is right and who is wrong.

	Let me say to you, if it is true that no man can enter the kingdom of
God unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit, God must provide a
plan by which those who have died ignorant of the Gospel may have the
privilege of doing so, or he would appear to be a partial being.  Has He
provided that way?  He has.  The Christian world have taught, preached,
contemplated, meditated, sung about and prayed for the Millennium.  What
are you going to do during that period, Christians?  Do you know what the
Millennium is for, and what work will have to be done during that period? 
Suppose the Christian world were now one in heart, faith, sentiment and
works, so that the Lord could commence the Millennium in power and glory,
do you know what would be done?  Would you sit and sing yourselves away to
everlasting bliss?  No, I reckon not.  I think there is a work to be done
then which the whole world seems determined we shall not do.  What is it? 
To build temples.  We never yet commenced to lay the foundation of a
temple but what all hell was in arms against us.  That is the difficulty
now:  we have commenced the foundation of this temple.  What are we going
to do in these temples?  Anything to be done there?  Yes, and we will not
wait for the Millennium and the fullness of the glory of God on the earth;
we will commence, as soon as we have a temple, and work for the salvation
of our forefathers; we will get their genealogies as far as we can.  By
and by, we shall get them perfect.  In these temples we will officiate in
the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for our friends, for no man
can enter the kingdom of God without being born of the water and of the
Spirit.  We will officiate for them who are in the spirit world, where
Jesus went to preach to the spirits, as Peter has written in the third
chapter, verses 18, 19, and 20, of his first epistle:

	"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the
spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the
longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was
preparing," etc.

	In the next chapter, Peter, alluding to this same subject, says--

	"For, for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the spirit."

	What will we do for and in behalf of the dead?  We will be baptized
for the remission of sins, as Paul has said, in his first epistle to the
Corinthians, 15th chapter and 29th verse:

	"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead
rise not at all?  Why are they then baptized for the dead?"

	We will also have hands laid on us for the reception of the Holy
Ghost; and then we will receive the washings and anointings for and in
their behalf, preparatory to their becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs
with Christ.  Are you going to do this, Latter-day Saints?  Yes.  What
will the Christian world do with their dead?  Let them sleep an eternal
sleep, for there are no provisions made for them in the gospel they
believe in and have taught to them.

	This is one item of doctrine believed in by the Latter-day Saints
that the inhabitants of the earth are opposed to.  Why?  Because they are
governed and controlled by the spirit of darkness.  This may seem harsh,
but it is true.  They are opposed to Jesus, to God, and to the salvation
of the children of men, and are controled by this evil spirit, and they
know it not.  They say:

	"Latter-day Saints, let your dead and ordinances for their benefit
alone, we will pass laws forbidding you the observance and practice of the
ordinances of the house of God."

	We trust in God.  I reckon He will fight out battles and we will be
baptized for and in behalf of the human family during a thousand years;
and we will have hundreds of temples and thousands of men and women
officiating therein for those who have fallen asleep, without having had
the privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel, that they may be brought
forth and have a glorious resurrection, and enjoy the kingdom which God
has prepared for them.  The devil will fight hard to hinder us, and we
shall not take an inch of ground except by obedience to the power of, and
faith in, the Gospel of the Son of God.  The whole world is opposed to
this doctrine.  But is there any harm in it?  If they could only see it as
it is in the Lord, they would rejoice in it, and instead of fighting it,
they would praise God for having revealed so glorious a doctrine.  Suppose
that the notion entertained by some is true, that after the death of our
bodies our spirits sleep an eternal sleep, and I am baptized for my
father, grandfather, and so on, does it injure them?  Answer, all ye
intelligences on the face of the earth, above, beneath, or around about
the earth!  All will admit that no harm would be done in practicing these
ordinances.  Then let us alone if our practices will do no harm, why
oppose us in their observance?  The result might possibly affect
beneficially our progenitors, and then you who oppose would be found
fighting against God.  Better let the Gospel have its course.

	We have had a nice discourse this morning from the Rev. Mr. Andrews,
exhorting all to believe in Jesus.  His text was as good a one as ever a
man quoted, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation unto all them that believe; to the Jew first, and
then to the Greek," or to the rest of the world.  Jesus says, pointedly,
"If ye love me, keep my commandments."  This is the test?  Are there any
commandments?  Yes, plenty of them, and the only way to prove our belief
in and love for the Lord Jesus is by observing the sayings that he has
left on record.

	They are coming from the East and from the West, from the North and
from the South to sit down in our Father's kingdom; but no man can sit
down there unless he gain admittance through the faithful observance of
the commands of God, and obedience to the ordinances of His house.  Then
why not repent and obey the ordinances and commandments?  Why not be
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ?  Is there any harm in it?  I say to
every being on the face of the earth, Christian, Pagan, or Jew, supposing
my doctrine is not true, and that there is no necessity for believing in
Jesus, being baptized for the remission of sins and having hands laid upon
you for the Holy Ghost, will it do you any harm?  Pagan, will it do you
any harm?  Believers or unbelievers, will it do you any harm? 
Universalian, will it do you any harm?  Apostates, will it do you any
harm?  Wise man, will it do you any harm?  Fools, will it do you any harm? 
What is your answer?  "No; it will not."  Well, then, let me alone.  I may
be right, and you wrong; and if I should be right, you are cut off, and I
have the advantage of you; but if you are right, and I am wrong, I am with
you and will share in all the blessings that you can get.

	This Gospel will save the whole human family; the blood of Jesus will
atone for our sins, if we accept the terms he has laid down; but we must
accept those terms or else it will avail nothing in our behalf.

	I have talked long enough.  I bid you all welcome to the Gospel. 
Jesus Christ has commissioned me to say to the whole human family, "You
can have this Gospel without money and without price."  We have traversed
the world over and offered it to the human family and asked them to
receive it.  We are still saying to them believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
keep his commandments, and obey his ordinances, that it may be well with
you.  God bless you.  Amen.

                   REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
      Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 5, 1870.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
                        PROPER CONDUCT IN MEETING.

	During our Conference we shall require the people to pay attention
and to preserve good order, and perhaps we shall require that that will
not be altogether pleasing in some respects.  One thing which strikes me
here this morning, and which is a source of considerable annoyance to the
congregation, appears to me might be avoided, and that is bringing
children here who are not capable of understanding the preaching.  If we
were to set them on the stand, where they could hear every word, it would
convey to them no knowledge or instruction, and would not be the least
benefit to them.  I will ask my sisters:  Cannot we avoid this?  Have you
not daughters, sisters, or friends, or some one who can take care of these
children while you attend meeting?  When meetings are over, the mothers
can go home and bestow all the care and attention upon their children
which may be necessary.  I cannot understand the utility of bringing
children into such a congregation as we shall have here through the
Conference, just for the sake of pleasing the mothers, when the noise made
by them disturbs all around them.  I therefore request that the sisters
will leave their babies at home in the care of good nurses.  And when you
come here, sisters and brethren, sit still and make no noise by shuffling
your feet or whispering.  Wait till meeting is dismissed, then you may go
out and talk and walk as much as you please; but while you are in this
house it is necessary to keep perfectly still.

	I hope our doorkeepers are instructed and understand, so that they
will keep order, and also be still themselves.  I have noticed sometimes
that our doorkeepers and policemen will make more disturbance in a
congregation than the people do.  This is very unbecoming, and it
certainly exhibits a great lack of understanding.  If a look or motion
will not answer, do not holloa; we, on the Stand, will do all the talking
necessary.  But if a doorkeeper holloas to this one and that one, he makes
more confusion than the people will make.  Now, doorkeepers, be sure that
you are perfectly still; and if you are obliged to walk around here much,
I would recommend that you wear india-rubber overshoes, so that you may be
able to walk without making a noise.

	There is another subject I wish to refer to.  Last Sabbath this front
gallery, the gentleman's gallery, was very full.  After meeting was
dismissed I took a walk through it, and to see the floor that had been
occupied by those professing to be gentlemen, and I do not know but
brethren, you might have supposed that cattle had been there rolling and
standing around, for here and there were great quids of tobacco, and
places one or two feet square smeared with tobacco juice.  I want to say
to the doorkeepers that when you see gentlemen who cannot omit chewing and
spitting while in this house, request them to leave; and if such persons
refuse to leave, and continue their spitting, just take them and lead them
out carefully and kindly.  We do not want to have the house thus defiled. 
It is an imposition for gentlemen to spit tobacco juice around, or to
leave their quids of tobacco on the floor; they dirty the house, and if a
lady happen to besmear the bottom of her dress, which can hardly be
avoided, it is highly offensive.  We therefore request all gentlemen
attending Conference to omit tobacco chewing while here.  To the Elders of
Israel who cannot and will not keep the Word of Wisdom, I say, omit
tobacco chewing while here.

	In all probability our congregations will be large, and we shall be
under the necessity of being a little stringent and exacting in regard to
leaving the children at home and in preserving quietness and order while
in the house.  You may think it a little unreasonable, sisters, to make
such a request, but it is not so, for you who are here this morning have
seen the great amount of confusion and annoyance the crying of children
has caused; and if you cannot, for the space of two or three hours, forego
the pleasure of gazing upon the faces of your little darlings, just stay
at home with them.  This we earnestly request while we are here in
Conference.  We have all the brethren of the Twelve here, except Brother
Carrington, who is in Liverpool, and we shall have speeches, exhortations
and advice from them, which, if followed and observed by the people, will
lead them in the path of truth, light, intelligence, virtue, soberness and
godliness, and we want such good order preserved and maintained that all
attending Conference can hear the instructions given.

	We have many things to say to the people.  They need a great amount
of talking to and instruction.  They are a good deal like children and
need to have words of counsel and advice constantly reiterated.  The
mother says to the child, "My darling little Johnny, don't you get that
knife," or "Can't you let your father's razor alone," or "Let the crockery
alone, you will break it."  And the "little darling Johnny" lets it alone
for a minute or two, but soon he makes another stretch after the knife,
razor, tumbler, pitcher, or something that his mother does not want him to
have, and again her voice is heard, "Johnny, let that alone it is not good
for you to have;" or, "You will break that pitcher."  Johnny sets down the
pitcher, and pretty soon it is gone from his mind, but he runs around a
little, and then he wants a drink, and while getting the pitcher, or
perhaps the knife, the mother coaxingly says, "My darling dear, will you
let that alone," and finally, wearied with talking to "Johnny," she
probably boxes his ears.  It is precisely so with the people, or many of
them.  We exhort them to observe the Word of Wisdom, to be faithful,
truthful and prayerful, and so on, but many of them forget, and we have to
ask and beseech them again and again.

	We shall now dismiss our morning's meeting, and shall assemble again
at two o'clock this afternoon, and I trust that strict attention will be
paid to what is said.  I am of the opinion that what is said will be
instructive and good for the people.  We do not want the teachings of the
Elders to drop upon senseless, careless, indolent ears; but let every ear
be open, and every heart receive understanding, that good may result from
our labors.  We are teaching the people how to be saved--how to walk and
talk so as to secure eternal salvation, and I do hope and pray my brethren
and sisters to pay attention, that the Spirit of the Lord may be in your
hearts, that you may see and understand things as they are.  I would say,
still further, if there be error advanced here, do not receive it, pass it
by, and live so that you will know truth from error, light from darkness,
the things that are of God from those not of God; and if an error should
drop from the lips of one of our Elders, do not receive, believe, or
practice it.  Truth is what we want, and we ought to live so that we can
understand and know it for ourselves.  This is our privilege and duty; and
we request of the Latter-day Saints, and of all people, to live so that
they may know and understand the things of God, and receive and embrace
them in their faith, and practice hem [sic] in their lives.

                   REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
      Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 6, 1870.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
      THE FASHIONS OF THE WORLD--MAKING OUR OWN CLOTHING & FASHIONS.

	If I can have the ears and attention of the people, I want to preach
to them a short sermon on our present condition and on some particulars
with regard to our customs.  We, the Latter-day Saints, as a people,
received a command many years ago to gather out from the wicked world and
to gather ourselves together to stand in holy places, preparatory to the
coming of the Son of Man.  We have been gathered together promiscuously
from the nations of the earth, and in many respects we are like the rest
of the world.  But I wish to make a few remarks on some points wherein we
differ.  We differ from the infidel world in our belief, and from the
vulgar world in regard to the language we use.  It is not common for the
Latter-day Saints to take the name of the Deity in vain, while it is
common and quite fashionable to do so in Christendom.  Herein we disagree
with the outside world, or we may call it the vulgar world, for no matter
how high or how low their position may be, or how poor or how wealthy,
when people use language which is unbecoming they descend to a very low
level, and in this respect I am happy to say that the Latter-day Saints
differ from the wicked or vulgar world.  I will also put in the political
world.  It is a very common practice throughout the fashionable, political
world to gamble; we differ also in this respect, for the Latter-day Saints
are not in the habit of gambling at any game whatever; neither are they in
the habit of drinking intoxicating liquors, which, throughout the world at
large, and especially the Christian world, is such a prolific source of
wretchedness and misery.  In a great degree, I may also say that, as a
people, we are not in the habit of lying and deceiving; but there is one
thing that we are too much guilty of, and that is, evil speaking of our
neighbors--bearing false witness against them.  As a people we are too
lavish in our conversation in this respect, our words come too easy and
cheap, and we use them too freely in many instances.  This is one thing in
which we do not differ so much from the world as I should wish.  There is
another point on which the same remark is true, and that is fashion in
dress.  Look over this congregation and we see this demonstrated before
us, and on this particular item I wish to lay my views before the minds of
the people.

	To me a desire to follow the ever-varying fashions of the world
manifests a great weakness of mind in either gentleman or lady.  We are
too apt to follow the foolish fashions of the world; and if means were
plentiful, I do not think that there are many families among the
Latter-day Saints but what would be up to the highest and latest fashions
of the day.  Perhaps there are a great many that would not follow these
fashions had they ever so much means.  But too many of this people follow
after the foolish, giddy, vain fashions of the world.  If any persons want
proof of this they need only look over this congregation, and view the
bonnets, hats or headdresses of our fashionable ladies.  Do they wear
bonnets that will screen their faces from the sun, or shelter their heads
from the rain?  Oh, no, it is not fashionable.  Well what do they wear? 
Just such as the wicked would wear.

	My discourse will have to be brief, and I am going to ask my sisters
in particular to stop following these foolish fashions, and to introduce
fashions of their own.  This is the place, and this the time to make known
the word of the Lord to the people.

	It is vain and foolish, it does not evince godliness, and is
inconsistent with the spirit of a saint to follow after the fashions of
the world.  I wish to impress these remarks especially on the minds of my
young sisters--the daughters of the Elders of Israel.  Not but what our
wives as well as daughters follow many fashions that are uncomely, foolish
and vain.  What do you say?  "Shall we introduce a fashion of our own, and
what shall it be?"  Do you want us to answer and tell you how to make your
bonnets?  Let me say to you that, in the works of God, you see an eternal
variety, consequently we do not ask the people to become Quakers, and all
the men wear wide-brimmed hats, and the ladies wear drab or cream-colored
silk bonnets projecting in the front, perhaps six or seven inches, rounded
on the corners, with a cape behind.  This is Quakerism, that is, so far as
headdresses are concerned for ladies and gentlemen.  But while we do not
ask this, we do ask the sisters to make their bonnets so as to shelter
themselves from the storm and from the rays of the sun.  I have heard a
saying that three straws and a ribbon would make a headdress for a
fashionable lady.  This was a year or two ago; and the same varying,
fantastic, foolish notions prevail with regard to other portions of a
lady's habiliments as much as with her headdress.  A few years ago it took
about sixteen yards of common-width cloth to make a dress for a lady, for
she wanted two or three yards to drag in the streets, to be smeared by
every nuisance she walked over.  Now I suppose they make their dresses out
of five yards and a half, and then have abundance left for an apron.  They
put me now strongly in mind of the ladies I used to see in Canada some
years ago, who made their dresses out of two breadths of tow and linen,
and when they were in meeting they were all the time busy pulling them
down, for they would draw up.  The young ladies look now as if they needed
somebody to walk after them to keep pulling down their dresses.

	How foolish and unwise this is, and how contrary to the spirit of the
Gospel that we have embraced!  This Gospel is full of good sense,
judgment, discretion and intelligence.  Does this look intelligent? 
Suppose the ladies continue the fashion of shortening their dresses how
long will it be before three-quarters of a yard will be enough for them? 
You may say that such extravagant comparisons are ridiculous.  I say, no
more than your dresses and many of your habits and fashions now, only they
may be a little exaggerated, that is all.  Anything is ridiculous, more or
less, that is not comely.  I do beseech my sisters to stop their
foolishness and to go to work and make their own headdresses.  If they
will they will be blessed.  Do you say, "How shall we be blessed?"--I will
tell you--by introducing a spirit of industry into your families, and a
spirit of contentment into your hearts, which will give you an interest in
your domestic cares and affairs that you have not hitherto enjoyed. 
Doctor Young says that

		"Life's cares are comforts,"
and they who take an interest in and try to promote their individual
welfare, that of their neighbors or of the human family, will find a
pleasure such as is derived from few other sources.  They derive delight
and pleasure from it, and are filled with peace.  But when the eyes of
people are like the fool's eyes--wandering to the ends of the earth,
continually wishing, longing for and desiring that which they have not
got, they are never happy.  If we will take the course I have indicated,
we shall be benefited in our spirits, and shall have more of the Spirit of
the Lord.

	I wish to say to you, and you may read it in the Bible if you wish,
that he who has the love of the world within him hath not the love of the
Father.  They who love the things of this world are destitute of the love
of the Gospel of the Son of God.  This is my Scripture:  They who long and
lust after the fashions of the world are destitute of the Spirit of God. 
Every person of experience will testify that this is the truth.  Now, my
sisters, let me urge you to make your own headdresses.  You have the
material here, and if you wish to make your hat with a brim six, twelve,
twenty, or three inches wide, we will not quarrel with you; but make your
own headdresses, and do not hunt after the fashions of the wicked world. 
If you wish to make a cottage, or a corn-fan bonnet, or a hat, make it to
suit yourselves, but do not run after the fashions of the world.  I
expect, by and by, if this taste for fashion be not checked, to see this
house alive, more or less, with what are termed "shoo fly" hats, bonnets
and headdresses; and what else you'll get I do not know.  But no matter
what the name nor what the fashion if we do not lust after the wicked
world.  And when you buy yourselves dresses do not purchase one for six or
eight dollars, and then want about twenty more for trimmings.  What is the
use of of [sic] it?  I asked some of my wives the other evening, "What is
the use of all this velvet ribbon--perhaps ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty
yards, on a linsey dress?"  Said I, "What is the use of it?  Does it do
any good?"  I was asked, very spiritedly and promptly, in return, "What
good do those buttons do on the back of your coat?"  Said I, "How many
have I got?" and turning round I showed that there were none there.

	This reform in fashion and extravagance in dress is needed.  God has
a purpose in it, and so have his servants.  What is it?  If the Lord has
given me means and I spend it needlessly, in rings for my fingers, and
jewelry for adornment, I deprive the Priesthood of that which they ought
to have to gather the poor, to preach the Gospel, to build temples and to
feed the hungry in our midst.  I deprive a people, who will by and by
inherit the earth, of so many blessings.  Every yard of ribbon that I buy
that is needless, every flounce, and every gewgaw that is purchased for my
family needlessly, robs the Church of God of just so much.  But it seems
as though the people do not think of these things; they do not lay them to
heart.  Our wives and daughters seem to forget that they have
responsibilities resting upon them in these respects.  The conduct of a
great many of them indicates a care for nothing but, "How much can I get? 
Can I get everything I want?  I wish I could see something new, I want to
pattern after it!"  This manifests the spirit of the world, and a foolish,
vain disposition.  Not but that I am guilty myself, perhaps, of using
means for my individual person that is not necessary; but if I do, will
some of you kindly tell me?  I recollect once, when preaching in England,
that I passed through Smithfield Market, in Manchester, and I saw some
very fine grapes just arrived from France.  I spent a penny for some of
them, but I had not taken half a dozen steps from the stand where I
purchased them, before I say an old lady passing along who, I could tell
by her appearance, was starving to death.  Said I, "I have done wrong in
spending that penny, I should have given it to that old lady."  I made it
a practice, before leaving my office, of going to a drawer, taking out a
handful of pence, in order to give to the numerous beggars which
everywhere meet the eye in walking the streets in the large towns in that
country, and in this instance I felt guilty at having spent a penny in
grapes, and I thought of it many times after.  What else did I spend
needlessly?  Not much.  "Well," but say some, "Brother Brigham do not you
have good horses?"  Yes, I do.  Do you know where I got them?  But some of
them were given to me, and I thank God and those who bestowed them, and I
use them prudently.  But I would as lief my poor brethren and sisters
would ride in my carriage as to ride in it myself.  Yet in many things I
may be to blame, and do wrong, but in many things I know that we as a
people do wrong.

	"Well, Brother Brigham, what shall we do?"  I say make your own
headdresses; here is abundance of material to do it with, and it is not
right for me to pay out hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars annually
for needless articles of dress for my family.  The same is true of my
brethren.  If that means were to go to gather the poor this season, it
would bring many from the old countries.  About this, however, I will say
that it is rather discouraging to bring people here and to put them in
situations to live and accumulate, and then they, as soon as they make a
little means, lift their heel against God and his anointed.  Nevertheless
it is our duty to feed nine persons who are unworthy rather than to turn
away the tenth, if he be worthy.  It is better to bring ninety-nine
persons here who are unworthy than to leave one that is worthy to perish
there, consequently we say we will do all we can.  They, whom we bring
here, are agents for themselves before God, and they act for themselves.

	But now, brethren and sisters, let us stop and again consider and
think.  Can we not sustain ourselves more than we do?  I do not ask my
sisters to make themselves sunbonnets and wear them and nothing else.  I
do not say, all of you adopt some particular fashion and stick to that
alone.  This is not the question; the question is, will we stop wearing
that that is so useless and needless?  If we will, we can have scores of
thousands annually to bestow upon the poor, to rear temples, to build
tabernacles and schoolhouses, to endow schools, to educate our children,
and to aid every charitable institution and every other purpose that will
advance the kingdom of God on the earth.

	This would be wisdom in us.  What do we think about it?  What do you
say, young ladies--I mean all of you this side of a hundred years
old--will you stop following the foolish fashions of the world, and begin
to act like people possessing moral courage and good natural sense?  If
this is your mind, brethren and sisters, I ask you, young and old, to make
it manifest, as I do, by raising your right hand.  (A sea of hands was
immediately raised.)  Some, no doubt, feel ready to say, "Why, Brother
Brigham, do not you know that your family is the most fashionable in the
city?"  No, I do not; but I am sure that my wives and children, in their
fashions and gewgaws, cannot beat some of my neighbors.  I will tell you
what I have said to my wives and children; shall I?  Shall I expose what I
say to them on these points?  Yes, I will.  I have said to my wives, "If
you will not stop these foolish fashions and customs I will give you a
bill if you want it."  That is what I have said, and that is what I think. 
"Well, but you would not part with your wives?"  Yes, indeed I would.  I
am not bound to wife or child, to house or farm, or anything else on the
face of the earth, but the Gospel of the Son of God.  I have enlisted all
in this cause, and in it is my heart, and here is my treasure.  Some may
say, "Why, really, Brother Brigham, you almost worship your family; you
think a great deal of your wives."  Yes, I do, but, from my youth up, I
never had but one object in taking a wife, and that was to do her good. 
The first one I had was the poorest girl I could find in the town; and my
object with the second, and third, and so on to the last one was to save
them.  You say, "Do I humor them?"  Yes I do, and perhaps too much.

	Now, my brethren and sisters, a few words more.  We have been
striving for some time to get the people to observe the Word of Wisdom. 
But why do they not observe it?  Why will they cling to those habits that
are inimical to life and health?  "Well," says a sister, "I cannot leave
off my tea, I must have a cup of tea every morning, I feel so sick."  I
say then, go to bed, and there lie until you are better.  "Oh, but it will
kill me if I quit it."  Then die, and die in the faith, instead of living
and breaking the requests of Heaven.  That is my mind about the sisters
dying for the want of tea.  With regard to drinking liquor, I am happy to
say that we are improving.  But there are some of our Elders who still
drink a little liquor occasionally, I think, and use a little tobacco. 
They feel as though they would die without it, but I say they will die
with it, and they will die transgressing the revelations and commands of
Heaven, and the wishes of our heavenly Father, who has said hot drinks are
not good.

	Now let us observe the Word of Wisdom.  Shall I take a vote on it? 
Everybody would vote, but who would observe it?  A good many, but not all. 
I can say that a good many do observe their covenants in this thing.  But
who is it that understands wisdom before God?  In some respects we have to
define it for ourselves--each for himself--according to our own views,
judgment and faith, and the observance of the Word of Wisdom, or the
interpretation of God's requirements on this subject, must be left,
partially, with the people.  We cannot make laws like the Medes and
Persians.  We cannot say you shall never drink a cup of tea, or you shall
never taste of this, or you shall never taste of that; but we can say that
Wisdom is justified of her children.  Brethren and sisters, hearken to
these things.  I do not know that we shall have much time to talk about
them; but take the little counsel given, and observe it.  This is the
place to give counsel to the people.  Go home, Bishops and Elders, when
the Conference is over, and observe what has been told you here.  If we
commence making our own bonnets, we shall find that we shall increase in
other directions besides making leather for our boots and shoes, and cloth
for coats and pantaloons.

	It is very pleasant in passing through the Territory to have brethren
in the various settlements say, "Bro. Brigham, Brother Geo. A., or Brother
Daniel, come and see our store, or our shop; here are boots and shoes made
from leather of our own manufacture;" and some are as fine looking as you
can see anywhere.  They are doing a good deal in this city, and also in
other places.  Some are making straw hats and bonnets, and others are
endeavoring to promote other branches of home manufacture.  This is very
pleasant, but we want to see it more general in this great community.  If
it were so this season in the one branch of straw hat and bonnet
manufacture we should not see the scores and hundreds of five-dollar hats
brought here and sold, that are good for nothing in the world.  They have
no strength about them.  The manufacturers of these hats pick up old cloth
that is rotten and good for nothing, and make hats of it, and the result
is that the hats brought here have very little wear in them.  They may
look decent to being with, but after being worn a few times they are
shapeless and worthless.  Let us go to work and make them for ourselves
and save this expense.  If we do this, we are wise; if we do it not, we
are foolish.

	We heard Brother Taylor's exposition of what is called Socialism this
morning.  What can they do?  Live on each other and beg.  It is a poor,
unwise and very imbecile people who cannot take care of themselves.  Well,
we, in the providences of God, are forced to do a great many things that
are very advantageous to us.  Let us observe the Word of Wisdom, and also
begin and manufacture our clothing.  We are doing a good deal now, but let
us do more.  I have learned one fact that is very gratifying:  A few years
ago when we commenced our little factories here we could obtain no
wool--the sheep were not taken care of.  A [sic] soon as we commenced to
manufacture cloth and to distribute it among the people, taking their wool
in exchange, we found that the wool increased; and this season, if we had
had the factory, in course of construction at Provo, finished, the supply
of wool would have been so great that the factory would have been
overstocked.  Some idea may be formed of the great increase in the supply
of wool when I state that the Provo factory, when running, will be capable
of making perhaps ten or twelve hundred yards of cloth per day.  This is
pleasing.  Let us get factories built.  I find they are building South,
and they are preparing to build North; and pretty soon you will see the
brethren, as a general thing, dressed in home-made.

	Some here are thinking, probably:  "Brigham, why don't you dress in
home-made?"  I do.  "Well, have you got it on to-day?"  No, but I want to
wear out, if I can, what I have on hand.  I give away a suit every little
while, and I would like to give some more away if I could find anybody my
clothes would fit.  I travel in home-made and wear it at home.  As for
fashion, it does not trouble me, my fashion is convenience and comfort. 
The most comfortable coat that a man can wear in my opinion is what the
old Yankees and Eastern and Southern people call a "warmus."  Some of the
people here know what I mean; it is something between an overshirt and a
blouse, buttons round the neck and wrists.  I have worked in one many a
day.  If I introduce the fashion of wearing them here who will follow it? 
I expect a good many would.  I recollect that I wore one when Colonel Kane
was here.  Said he, "I am gratified to see that you do not ask any odds
about the fashions, you have one of your own."  My feelings then, as now,
were, whatever, in Brother Brigham's judgment, is comfortable and comely
is the fashion with him, and he cares nothing about the fashions of the
world.  There is a style of pantaloons very generally worn, about which I
would say something if there were no ladies here.  When I first saw them I
gave them a name.  I never wore them; I consider them uncomely and
indecent.  But why is it that they are worn so generally by others? 
Because they are fashionable.  If it were the fashion to go with them
unbuttoned I expect you would see plenty of our Elders wearing them
unbuttoned.  This shows the power that fashion exerts over the majority of
minds.  You may see it in the theatre; if you had attended ours recently
you might have seen that that was not comely; you might have seen Mazeppa
ride, with but a very small amount of clothing on.  In New York I am told
it is much worse.  I heard a gentleman say that a full dress for Mazeppa
there was one Government stamp.  I do not know whether it is so or not. 
Fashion has great influence everywhere, Salt Lake not excepted.  No matter
how ridiculous, the fashions must be followed.  If it be for the ladies to
have their dresses to drag along the streets, or so short that they show
their garters, we see it here; the same is true if they are sixteen or
twenty-four feet round, or so tight that they can hardly walk.  A great
many seem to regard and follow fashion, with all its follies and vagaries,
far more fervently than duty.  How foolish is such a course.  I have
talked long enough.  God bless you.

                  DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
      Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 8, 1870.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
    CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS--INFIDELITY--THE
                      ATONEMENT--CELESTIAL MARRIAGE.

	We have now been together in a Conference capacity for four days.  It
seems a very short time; we would like to stay a little longer, if it were
prudent.  This is the place to give general instruction to the Latter-day
Saints.  It is good when the Saints meet together to look at each other,
to hear the brethren bear testimony of the truth and to feel the
fellowship of the Holy Ghost.  This makes our hearts joyful and glad.  It
will be prudent for us now to bring our Conference to a close, and, after
I have spent a few minutes in speaking, we shall adjourn until the 6th of
next October, at ten o'clock in the morning, at this place.

	There are many things which we would like to talk about; I would like
to do a great deal of talking if I had the opportunity and were able to do
so.  There are many little items pertaining to what are called temporal
matters, which it would be well for the people to understand in order to
promote their happiness here on the earth and to aid them in securing
eternal salvation.  It is not those who are hearers of the word only who
are blessed and who secure to themselves the blessings of eternal life;
they who secure eternal life are doers of the word as well as hearers.  If
we hear the word and do not perform the labors indicated by it, it will
profit us nothing.  To hear the word, as the Latter-day Saints do, and
then to perform the labor devolving upon them, requires a great deal of
wisdom; and to bring the people up to this standard much labor and
instruction from the Elders is necessary.

	If we can remember what we have heard at this Conference, and carry
it out in our lives, it will profit us.  I hope and trust that we may. 
Let us apply our hearts to the wisdom that has been exhibited before the
Conference, and observe the little duties of every-day life, that we may
be prepared to receive more.  It is not possible for a person to learn all
the will of God in an hour, a day, or a week; it requires much time and
attention to do this.  The Lord gives a little here and a little there, a
precept now and a precept again, and by close observance of these things
in our lives we grow in grace and in a knowledge of the truth.

	We are thankful for the privilege of talking a little.  We ought all
to be very thankful that we have the privilege of the Gospel and of the
ordinances of the house of God, for by applying them to the duties of life
we can increase in knowledge, wisdom and understanding.  We are thankful
to see the increase that there is in the midst of the people.

	You very well know that it is said by many of those who wish to
traduce the character of the Latter-day Saints that we are a poor,
miserable, ignorant people.  If we are, there is a great chance for
improvement.  We will acknowledge that we are very ignorant, and that the
Lord has taken the weak things of the world to confound the wisdom of the
wise.  He has picked up the poor of the earth and brought them together,
because they seek after him; while the hearts of the rich and the proud,
the high and the noble, are lifted up, and they cannot hearken to the
principles of the Gospel and receive them and obey them.  They feel
themselves too good; they know too much; while the poor and needy, those
who suffer from hunger and nakedness, and from hard labor and taskmasters,
are the ones who naturally seek after the Lord.  The Lord is just as
willing to bless and to pour out his Spirit upon the king on the throne as
upon the beggar in the street; but the king has sufficient--he does not
feel after the Lord; but the beggar cries unto the Lord for his daily
bread.  Hence the Lord gathers the poor.  When we are gathered together,
if we will improve ourselves, by and by we will be filled with wisdom.

	When we look at the Latter-day Saints and remember that they have
been taken from the coal pits, from the ironworks, from the streets, from
the kitchens and from the barns and factories and from hard service in the
countries where they formerly lived, we cannot wonder at their ignorance. 
But when they are brought together they soon become scholars.  Many of
them become farmers and merchants, and they soon learn to procure a
sustenance for themselves and families, and gather around them the
necessaries and comforts of life.  They also learn the object of their
being, of the creation of the earth, and how to organize the elements so
as to subserve their own wants and necessities.  This is a blessing, and
we are proud to see the industry of the Latter-day Saints, and also their
improvements and faithfulness.  If we are ignorant, let us become wise; if
we are poor, let us gather around us the comforts of life.  I look around
among my brethren and I see scholars.  The world say we are ignorant; we
acknowledge it, but we are not as ignorant as they are, although they have
had opportunities of education perhaps that many of our brethren have not
had.  We study from the great book of nature.  We are driven to this of
necessity.  Where is there another people who have done what this people
have done in these mountains, by way of making improvements in their own
midst--upon the soil and in their cities and towns.  They are not to be
found on the face of the earth.  If this is not intelligence--if this is
not good, hard, sound sense, I wish somebody would come and teach us a
little.  If we are taken from the poor, ignorant, low and degraded, and
make ourselves wise and happy, it is a credit to us.

	There are causes for this which some may not have thought about.  I
often think of them.  You take, for instance, a father, who has, say,
four, ten or twelve sons.  He may have abundance to dispose of to each and
every one; but he dislikes some particular one, and perhaps feeds and
clothes eleven, but the twelfth, whom he hates and despises, he turns out
of doors to provide for himself.  This one son goes forth weeping, and
says, "I am forsaken of my father and his house; now I have to look after
myself.  I have the earth before me; I have to live; I do not want to kill
myself, and as I have life before me I certainly must make my own future. 
I will go to work and accumulate a little of something, so that I can
purchase me a piece of land.  When it is purchased I will put improvements
upon it.  I will build me a house; I will fence my farm; I will set off my
orchard and plant out my garden; and I will gather around me my horses, my
cattle, my wagons and carriages, and I will get me a family."  Pretty soon
here is a boy who knows how to live as well as his father does.  How is it
with the rest of the family?  They are fed and clothed by their father;
they know not where it comes from nor how it is obtained, and they
scarcely know their right hand from their left with regard to the things
of the world.

	This illustrates the history of this people.  We have been under the
necessity of learning every art--to cultivate the soil and how to provide
for our own wants under the most adverse circumstances.  We have been
compelled to do this or go without, for none would do it for us.  We have
been forced to study mechanism, all kinds of machinery, how to build, and
how to provide and take care of ourselves in every respect.  I thank the
parent and the boys for turning us out of doors.  Why?  Because it has
thrown us on our own resources, and taught us to provide for ourselves. 
We have a future before us, and God will take care of us.  In my
meditations I say, "Shall I complain of father?  No.  I will not complain
at all, he has done the best he could for me, though he knew it not.  If
he had made my house, opened my farm, planted my orchard, seen to my
planting and ploughing as well as the gathering; and then had brought my
food to my chamber and appointed a servant to feed me, what should I have
known about getting my living?  How could I have known anything about
raising fruit or anything else?  I could not have known.  I might read
books until Doomsday, and unless I apply the knowledge thus obtained I
should know but little."  Without the application of knowledge acquired by
reading, it makes mere machines of us; we can tell what others have done,
but we know nothing ourselves.  Then speak evil of no man, and acknowledge
that it has been a blessing to us to be cast aside and compelled to take
care of ourselves.

	When we left our homes in the East and started for the Rocky
Mountains the feeling in regard to us was, "There is starvation before you
Mormons; but if you do not die of starvation the Indians will kill you." 
We knew that they would do no such thing; we knew that we could live when
we got here, and we also knew that we could travel twelve or fourteen
hundred miles with our cows, calves, colts, lame cattle, our seed grain
and provisions and farming utensils on wagons, carts and handcarts,
without an ounce of iron on some of them.  It was said that we could raise
nothing when we got here; but I said, "We will wait and see; we know that
God has led us out here, and we will wait and see what he will do for us." 
You can see what he has done, and thank his name and be humble.  Shall we
speak evil of others?  No.  Why?  Because the result of their treatment
towards us has made us better and greater than we could have been
otherwise.  It has brought us closer together than we could possibly have
come without a great deal more revelation than we have had.  Our enemies
have pushed us together; and it is excellent to be surrounded by
circumstances that will bring us close together.  We learn then whether we
have fellowship one for another.  Let us thank God, and speak evil of
none; and instead of finding fault with father, let us thank him for
turning us out of doors, for we have learned a great many useful lessons
in life that we could not have learned without.  We can read just as much
as the inhabitants of the earth, and after reading we can practice a
thousand times more than many of them.

	I wish now to say a few words in relation to a subject which is
attracting the attention of thousands of people in the world.  I refer to
what is termed infidelity.  We are very well aware that a statement made
in reference to this matter in this Conference is true--namely, that the
inhabitants of the earth are drifting, as fast as time can roll, to
infidelity.  I do not profess to know a great deal; but some things I do
know.  Shall I take the liberty of telling you the story of the boy who
went to the mill?  He was looking at the miller's hogs, which were very
fat, clean and fine.  The miller came out, and, seeing the boy attentively
observing the pigs, said to him, "What are you thinking about?"  Said the
boy, "I was thinking that millers have fat hogs."  "Were you thinking of
anything else?"  said the miller.  "Yes."  "What was it?"  "I do not know
whose grain they are fed on," said the boy.  I take the liberty of telling
this story for illustration.  Some things I do know and some I do not
know; if I do not know whose grain the pigs eat, I do know that there are
some fat hogs.

	What shall I say with regard to infidelity?  I do not know a great
deal, but I say that a man has not good common sense who denies his Maker;
such a man is not endowed with reasoning powers.  I hold this book in my
hand, and I say that for its production from the crude element it required
a type founder, paper maker, printer and a book binder, and by their
united exertions the book was made.  But the infidel bases his argument on
the principle that the book is here without a producer--that no type
founder, paper maker, printer, nor bookbinder was necessary.  Is not a man
who argues on this principle a fool?  If he is not he comes pretty near
it.

	There are a great many who say that there is no embodiment of the
Deity.  Our Christian brethren almost deny the existence of a God; but it
is in word only; they do not feel it in their hearts, they do not mean any
such thing.  They are like the people of whom Paul speaks, who had temples
reared to the unknown God.  The Christians do not know anything about God,
neither does the infidel.  The Christian world say, "We believe in a God
who has no body."  You do not believe in anything of the sort, Christian
world!  You think you believe it, but it is only tradition with you.  Your
fathers told you that God has no body; the priests told them; the
schoolmasters have joined in the endorsement of the same ridiculous idea;
it is also written in your church creeds; but, when you let common sense
have place in your hearts, you do not believe in any such nonentity or
nondescript as a God without body, parts or passions.

	But foolish and absurd as is such an idea, it is not so ridiculous as
that of the infidel.  The Christian world, while virtually declaring that
God is nothing, also declare that the world was created by him; but the
infidel says the world had no creator, it is the result of chance.  Now I
defy any infidel, or any other person on the face of the earth, to prove
that anything can be made or exist without a maker.  The world and all its
various grades of organized denizens, from the lowest forms of vegetable
or animal life, up to man, the lord of creation, were framed and made, or
they would not have been here.

	I just want to say with regard to infidelity, it means nothing more
nor less than to disbelieve anything we have a mind to.  If we disbelieve
in the existence of the Eternal, as an embodiment or personage, we are
infidel on that point.  If we disbelieve in the efficacy of the blood of
the Savior and his atonement, we are infidels on that subject.  I wish to
say, however, to the Christian world, that the moment the atonement of the
Savior is done away, that moment, at one sweep, the hopes of salvation
entertained by the Christian world are destroyed, the foundation of their
faith is taken away, and there is nothing left for them to stand upon. 
When this is gone all the revelations God ever gave to the Jewish nation,
to the Gentiles and to us are rendered valueless, and all hope is taken
from us at one sweep.

	What proof have you, Infidels, that Jesus is not the Christ?  What
proof have you of the negative of the existence of God the Father, or of
Jesus as the Mediator, or of the Holy Ghost as God's minister, or of the
gifts and graces that God has bestowed upon his people?  None at all, not
the least thing in the world.  Is there anybody living on the earth that
has the proof of the affirmative?  Yes; we have.  We have proof that God
lives and that he has a body; that he has eyes, and ears to hear; that he
has arms, hands and feet; that he can walk and does walk.  He has declared
himself to be a man of war--Jehovah, the great I Am, the Lord Almighty,
and many other titles of a like import are used in reference to him in the
Scriptures.  But take away the atonement of the Son of God and the
Scriptures fall useless to the ground.

	How is it, Infidel, have you any proof that Jesus did not die for the
sins of the world?  No; not the least, any more than you have proof that
there was no need to go to the mountains to cut the timber used in
building this house, or to quarry the rock of which the pillars of this
house are composed.  How is it, Mr. Infidel, have you any proof of the
non-existence of Him who rules and reigns in heaven, and who controls the
destinies of the earth?  No; not the least.  But you say, "I do not
believe it."  That is your affair only, nobody cares about that.

	Infidelity extends to other subjects besides the existence of God and
the atonement of the Savior.  Some are infidel on one point and some on
another.  I want to say that so far as a God without a body, parts and
passions is concerned, I am a complete infidel.  The God whom I serve has
got eyes, ears, nose and mouth.  He has hands to handle; his footsteps are
seen in the midst of his people, and his goings forth among the nations;
and he who has the Spirit of the Almighty can see the providences of God
and behold his ways.  I ask the infidel if he has any proof that I do not
enjoy that Spirit?  I have proof that I do.  What is that proof.  The
peace, light and intelligence that I enjoy, which I have not obtained from
the infidel, from reading books, from going to school, nor from studying
the wisdom of any man that ever lived on the face of the earth.  "Where
did you obtain it?"  says the infidel.  From heaven, from the fountain of
light and intelligence.  "Where is your wisdom?"  again says the infidel. 
Here, right before me, teaching the people how to be saved, how to live,
and to live with each other; how to improve their minds; how to govern and
control themselves.  It was so with Joseph Smith, in his day.  So it is
to-day; how else could it be done?  Who can gather the people from the
nations in their poverty and ignorance and fill them with light and
intelligence, teach them how to live, what the earth is and what it is
for, make them understand that God is our father, Jesus the Mediator, and
that we belong to the highest intelligence that there is in existence, and
that we are the natural offspring of God the Father?  God only can do
this.  Yet the infidel will say there is no God, that we are creatures of
to-day, that we had no existence before this, and that when this is over
there is nothing after.  And following down the chain of his reasoning, he
will say there was a time when there was no earth, no stars, no worlds, no
anything.  Well, I know there never was such a time.  That is faith
against faith, declaration against declaration.  What a pitiful condition
it would be for all space to contain nothing!  To suppose that element,
worlds, men, the grass of the fields, or the trees of the forest were
created, is all folly!  They are from eternity.  It is equally vain to
imagine space empty!  There is no space without a kingdom, neither is
there any kingdom without space, and they are from everlasting to
everlasting.  "How do you know it?"  asks the unbeliever.  By the
revelations of God, by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ.  "How do
you know how to teach the people to control themselves and make them of
one heart and one mind?"  By the revelations of the Lord.  Well, then, I
guess we will sing and pray and serve our God and keep his commandments;
and I rather think that Zion will prosper.  That is my opinion.

	While the chapter from the prophecies of Daniel was being read,
showing the plans and schemes of those who sought to entrap Daniel, and
their miserable end, I was thinking how wise (!) men were in those days. 
How wise were those great captains, counselors and presidents!  Could they
not foresee that they could not overthrow Daniel?  No, they could see no
further than to believe that if the King would sign the decree that no
petition should be presented to any potentate, on, above, or around about
the earth, but to himself, for the space of thirty days, they would entrap
and destroy Daniel.  What was the result?  Just as quick as they commenced
their special legislation against Daniel the Lord commenced special
legislation for him and against those who got him into the lion's den. 
The final result was that Daniel lodged with the lions over night and came
out unscathed, not injured in the least; the lions lay there peaceable
when the stone was rolled away, and those who had caused him to be thrust
there were condemned to take the place he left, and the lions devoured
them.  They could not foresee what Daniel could; he could have foretold
their destiny, and that the legislation of the Lord Almighty would be a
little above the special legislation of which they were the authors
against him.

	Brethren and sisters, will you keep the Word of Wisdom, say your
prayers, observe the Sabbath, speak evil of no man, and strive to be
humble and faithful in all things?  If you will, we shall be one by and
by; we are not yet.  We must overcome the love of the world.  He that hath
the love of the world hath not the love of the Father.  He that loves the
things of the world loves not the kingdom of heaven on the earth. 
Whosoever serves mammon cannot serve God.  We must let these things go out
of our affections, then lay hold of the principles of eternal life and
sustain the kingdom of God on the earth, or else we shall go by the board. 
If we jump over, we shall certainly sink, and if we stay aboard Zion's
ship, we can do no more than sink, and it will be just as well if Zion's
ship sink to be aboard as to jump overboard and sink.  We had better stay
aboard, she may go into harbor; and I can promise you in the name of
Israel's God that she will go there safe and carry every one of her
passengers.  Will we be humble and faithful?  I trust we will.  I hope--I
pray you, brethren and sisters, let us be humble, be faithful to our God,
our religion, and each other.

	I will say a few words on a subject which has been mentioned
here--that is, celestial marriage.  God has given a revelation to seal for
time and for eternity, just as he did in days of old.  In our own days he
has commanded his people to receive the New and Everlasting Covenant, and
he has said, "If ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned."  We have
received it.  What is the result of it?  I look at the world, or that
small portion of it which believes in monogamy.  It is only a small
portion of the human family who do believe in it, for from nine to ten of
the twelve hundred millions that live on the earth believe in and practice
polygamy.  Well, what is the result?  Right in our land the doctrine and
practice of plurality of wives tend to the preservation of life.  Do you
know it?  Do you see it?  What is our duty?  To preserve life or destroy
it?  Can any of you answer?  Why yes, it is to perpetuate and preserve
life.  But what principle do we see prevailing in our own land?  What is
that of which, in the East, West, North and South, ministers in their
pulpits complain, and against which both gentlemen and ladies lecture?  It
is against taking life.  They say, "Cease the destruction of pre-natal
life!"  Our doctrine and practice make and preserve life; theirs destroy
it.  Which is the best, saying nothing about revelation, which is the best
in a moral point of view, to preserve or to destroy the life which God
designs to bring upon the earth.  Just look at it and decide for
yourselves.

	This house is very large, but as a general thing the people have been
very attentive, and they have tried to keep as still as possible.  Still,
I believe they can improve a little.  I think that many of our sisters who
have children can stay nearer the doors, and then, if they cannot prevent
their children crying, they can step out.  I do believe they can stop
their whispering.  When there is anything said from this Stand that
pleases or displeases you, you turn to your neighbor and whisper, and the
next one does the same, and directly there are a few thousand whispering,
creating a noise like the rushing of many waters.  Then you scrape your
feet a little, and the many little noises are like the dust that composes
the mountains and the whole earth.  Every person should be silent when we
meet here to worship God.  Remember and try to keep perfectly quiet, and
do not whisper, talk, nor scrape your feet; and do not let your children
cry if you can help it.  Twenty years ago I used to tell you that you
might pinch your children to make them cry as loud as they could if you
wished, and I could preach louder than they could cry.  I could do it
then, but now I want all to keep still.

	I trust we shall long have the privilege of enjoying this shade which
we have built; it is a cover from the burning sun in summer; and when the
storm of rain comes this umbrella will shelter us.  I perceive that, in
the gallery, there is a little more heat now than before; we shall open
the ventilators and put in some skylights, then I think it will be as cool
as in the past.

	Brethren and sisters, I feel to bless you.  I ask my Father in heaven
to bless the Saints, to bless every quorum and organization of his
kingdom, from the First Presidency down to the last organization to
promote good in the midst of his people.  I pray continually for the
Bishops, presiding Elders, High Councillors, and the Female Relief
Societies.  I will bless you, my sisters, if you will hearken to the
counsel which has been given you with regard to these fashions.  Then, to
my brethren, I say, I will bless you, if you will seek a little closer to
sustain yourselves, by preserving and wisely using that which the Lord
gives you, and not suffer your cattle and sheep to die on the prairies,
but preserve them, that we may have the wherewithal to supply ourselves
with the necessaries of life, by raising sheep, building factories,
raising flax, the mulberry and silk and other things useful.  I do not
care how beautifully you are adorned, ladies, if you will only raise the
silk and adorn yourselves with your own hands.  That is the requirement of
heaven.  It was so almost forty years ago.  The word of the Lord to his
Saints then was, "Let the beauty of your apparel be the beauty of the work
of your own hands."  If you will observe this, adorn yourselves as much as
you please.  Make your hats and bonnets, and also make hats for your
brothers and sons.  It is your duty to do it.  Preserve that that the Lord
has given you, and waste nothing.  I can say to the Latter-day Saints that
there is no man nor woman, person or persons, but what I would rather
feed, clothe, and sustain than to see a particle wasted in the midst of my
family or this people.  God does not like it, his Spirit is grieved with
it.  Idleness and wastefulness are not according to the rules of heaven. 
Preserve all you can, that you may have abundance to bless your friends
and your enemies, as we did in '49, '50 and '61.  In those years we fed
thousands and thousands of poor, starving emigrants, who had gold so big
in their eyes that, when they started for the Plains, they did not know
whether they had anything to eat or not.  By our instrumentality they were
fed and sent on their way rejoicing.  If we take the counsel now given we
shall have abundance to bless our enemies if it be necessary.  Shall we
say that we have any?  Yes, there are those who would delight to be our
enemies if they knew how; but they do not know how.  I do not suppose that
there was a greater enemy to the Savior, when he was on the earth, than
the devil.  How he did plead with the Savior to worship him!  Said he, "I
will give you all you can see, if you will fall down and worship me."  But
Jesus rebuked him.  Yet the devil hunted and followed up Jews and
Gentiles, that is, the Romans, until they betrayed the Redeemer into the
hands of his enemies, who crucified him, and in doing that they
consummated the great act for the salvation of the human family, which
will cheat the devil out of pretty much all of them, one way or the other. 
If he had had any good sense about him--but he was as short of that as the
infidels in our day--he would have said, "I am with you, I will go with
you, pay your taxes, and will make you welcome to my house."  But no, the
devil and his followers did not know enough to do this, neither do our
enemies, and thank God for it!

	Again I say, I feel to bless my brethren and sisters--every quorum,
every authority; our brethren and sisters who have sung for us, or played
on the organ.  I thank you, doorkeepers, and you who have waited on the
congregation, and I say God bless you, and in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ I bless the whole house of Israel.  I pray for the redemption of
the centre stake of Zion, and the upbuilding thereof.  It is before us
continually in our faith, and I hope that we shall live to see it.  Amen.

                  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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

	We had to have faith to come here.  When we met Mr. Bridger on the
Big Sandy River, said he, "Mr. Young, I would give a thousand dollars if I
knew an ear of corn could be ripened in the Great Basin."  Said I, "Wait
eighteen months and I will show you many of them."  Did I say this from
knowledge?  No, it was my faith; but we had not the least
encouragement--from natural reasoning and all that we could learn of this
country--of its sterility, its cold and frost, to believe that we could
ever raise anything.  But we travelled on, breaking the road through the
mountains and building bridges until we arrived here, and then we did
everything we could to sustain ourselves.  We had faith that we could
raise grain; was there any harm in this?  Not at all.  If we had not had
faith, what would have become of us?  We would have gone down in unbelief,
have closed up every resource for our sustenance and should never have
raised anything.  I ask the whole world, is there any harm in having faith
in God?  Have you faith?  Ask Mr. Pullman if he had faith that he could
build a car more convenient than any the travelling community enjoyed
before, and he will say that he had faith that he could build cars in
which ladies and gentlemen might travel 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?

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

	Some, in their curiosity, will say, "But you Mormons have another
Bible!  Do you believe in the Old and New Testaments?"  I answer we do
believe in the Old and New Testaments, and we have also another book,
called the Book of Mormon.  What are the doctrines of the Book of Mormon? 
The same as those of the Bible.  "What is the utility of this book--the
Book of Mormon?  Has it been of any use whatever to the people anywhere?" 
O, yes.  "Where and when?"  I will refer to one of the sayings of Jesus
recorded in the New Testament.  Just before his crucifixion 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

	God help us to do so!


               REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG[sic-punc]
             Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
                              July 3, 1870.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
              DEBTS--INGRATITUDE--CONFIDENCE--OUR RELIGION.

	I have a few words to say to the Latter-day Saints with regard to
borrowing money and not repaying it.  The individual referred to by
Brother Carrington is not the only one who has done this.  If we were to
do justice by them I think we should deprive them of the fellowship of the
Saints until they learned to keep their word and to deal honorably with
their brethren.  It is bad enough, quite bad enough, to borrow from an
enemy and not to repay him; to do this is beneath the character of any
human being; but all who will borrow from a friend, and especially from
the poor, are undeserving the fellowship of the Saints if they do not
repay.  If anybody in the congregation is disposed to make a motion to
that effect I certainly should put it to the vote.  Then again, I will
pause.  There are circumstances that are discouraging, and which naturally
weaken the faith and confidence of the Saints, and few things more so than
to send money to bring the poor home to Zion, and, after teaching them how
to take care of themselves, to accumulate the necessaries of life around
them, and when they become comfortable and have a little to spare, for
them to lift their heels against God and his Anointed.  And this is not
unfrequently [sic] done.

	I look over the congregations of the Saints as I travel through the
Territory and I see quite a large percentage of people who, I know, never
in their lives owned a house, a foot of land, a horse, a wagon, a
carriage, an ox, a cow, a sheep, or even a fowl.  But gather them here,
make them comfortable and put them in happy circumstances and they often
forget their God, their covenants and their benefactors.  I do not know of
anyone, excepting the unpardonable sin, that is greater than the sin of
ingratitude; and I do think that many of this people are guilty of it.  I
will say, however, that if there be those in this congregation who have
held out to the poor Saints any prospects of helping them to gather, keep
your word with them.

	A very serious question frequently arises in my mind with regard to
the character of men and women.  It is this; "Are our characters our own?" 
We may say "yes, we form these characters."  Suppose that we are fortunate
enough to form a good, honest character in the minds and in the faith of
those who are acquainted with us, do not those characters belong to our
neighbors, although we may be the framers of them?  And I would like to
ask:  Have we the right to destroy them?  It is a serious question with
me.  If we have confidence in each other, and our conduct has been such
that we have created confidence in the feelings of our neighbors towards
us, have we a right to destroy that confidence?  Is it not sacrilege?  I
will simply reply by giving my views with regard to myself.  According to
the knowledge which I possess it is a great deal easier for an individual
to preserve a good character than to frame and make one if it is lost.  It
is much easier to keep a fort when it is well armed and defended than to
give it into the hands of the enemy and then regain it.  Consequently we
had better keep our characters, if they are good, than to suffer the enemy
to rob us of them.

	Now, to the Latter-day Saints, I will say that when you received the
Gospel in foreign lands you received no more, in comparison, than a child
receives at school when he learns his first lesson.  If he masters the
alphabet he thinks he is progressing finely.  If the Saints receive the
alphabet abroad they are doing well.  When they come here they have more
to learn.  The school we are in will never cease; the lessons we have to
learn will never be less than those which we have received:  they will
never end; consequently it is important that we school and train ourselves
until we are in subjection to the mind and will of heaven.

	In passing through the world I see that the most of parents are very
anxious to govern and control their children.  As far as my observations
have gone I have seen more parents who were unable to control themselves
than I ever saw who were unable to control their children.  If a mother
wishes to control her child, in the first place let her learn to control
herself, then she may be successful in bringing the child into perfect
subjection to her will.  But if she does not control herself how can she
expect a child,--an infant in understanding--to be more wise, prudent and
better than one of grown age and matured?  I think it would be asking too
much.  If we will school ourselves and bring our own tempers and
dispositions into subjection we shall then have influence to do good, over
the minds of our acquaintances; but if we do not control ourselves how can
we have influence over others?  You let two men meet, for instance, say
two neighbors, between whom there is a difficulty, and one is full of
anger and wrath and he is ready to settle the matter on the spot; but the
other one, calm and quiet in feeling, says:  "Neighbor, stop a moment, let
us look at and reason on this subject; I perceive that you are angry this
morning, you are not in a good temper, and are not in a situation now to
consider this matter justly.  Wait a few moments and see if this evil
influence will depart from you.  We will then endeavor to revise this
matter thoroughly and learn who is to blame."  Now the one who is calm and
full of judgment, discretion and patience pretty soon overcomes the
opposite influence.  Which of the two has the mastery?  The one who is
angry or the one who is full of patience?  Why, the one who is angry at
once submits in his own feelings to his superior.  Who is the superior? 
The one who has possessed his soul.  If we take this course we will gain
influence.

	But we do know, the Christian knows, the heathen knows, and the whole
world of mankind knows, and it is acknowledged by all, that confidence is
lost; the members of the human family have not confidence in each other,
as nations, individuals, kings, potentates, statesmen, or as officers of
governments; and I am sorry to say that people have not confidence in each
other as Christians.  Confidence is lost.  The work in which you and I
have enlisted is to restore confidence in the minds of the people; and
when I hear of circumstances transpiring in which brethren forfeit their
word I regard it as a blot upon the character of this people.  We should
keep our word with each other.  And if we have difficulty of
misunderstanding with each other, talk it over, canvass the subject
thoroughly, seriously and discreetly, and we shall find that all
difficulties will be remedied in this way easier than any other; and we
shall also find that nearly every difficulty that arises in the midst of
the inhabitants of the earth, is through misunderstanding; and if a wrong
in intent and design really exists, if the matter is canvassed over in the
manner I have advised, the wrong-doer is generally willing to come to
terms.

	This restoration of confidence devolves upon us, then let us do what
we can in our humble sphere to do so among ourselves in the first place,
and by-and-by it will reach to others.  I am happy to say that those who
are not of us have a great deal more confidence in us, in many respects, I
mean as business men and traders, than in any other community on this
continent; and I do not believe that there is a community in the whole of
Christendom, the members of which pay their debts as well as the
Latter-day Saints.  But they are not up to the mark, and are defaulters in
many respects; yet they may not be nearly so much to blame as outward
appearances seem to indicate, for there are so many men who will deal on
prospect, really believing that their business matters are so propitious
and promising that they will be able to make both ends meet and accomplish
all their designs.  Such persons have more confidence in themselves and in
future fortune than they should have; and through this the Latter-day
Saints oftentimes fail in their business transactions and engagements with
one another.  How desirable it is that we should be prompt with each other
in every respect!  Failure in this is often the source of ill feeling and
of a bad reputation.  How often I have heard the saying, from my youth up,
"There is a bad neighbor," or "such a one is a bad neighbor!"  But in most
of such cases which have come under my notice, I have learned that the
"bad neighbor," wants that returned which others have borrowed, and at the
time they have promised; and if they were not prompt and true to their
word he speaks uncomfortable words and gets angry.  And, as a general
thing, I have found that "bad neighbors" in a country are, in nearly every
case, men who are very prompt, and because others are not so, difficulties
arise; for instance, Mr. A. goes to Mr. B. and says, "Can I borrow your
hoe, plow or wagon of you to-day?"  Says Mr. B., "Yes sir, you can have
it, if you will return it in the evening, for I shall want it early
to-morrow morning."  But to-morrow morning comes and the plow is not
brought home, and here stands the team and the hired man and boy waiting
for it, and thus anger is created.  These little bars should be put up. 
It is hard for us to enjoy that spirit of peace that we should enjoy
unless we are very prompt in our dealings with each other.  We sometimes
say to the brethren, "We do not see nor understand how in the world you
can enjoy your religion unless you have a good fence around your garden;
you have a fine garden with good vegetables and fruits growing, but no
fence around it."  "Well, it is the law here for people to take care of
their cattle."  "Yes, but they don't do it."  In this garden there may be
a patch of beans coming on finely, or some young fruit trees growing
thriftily.  The owner of the garden gets down on his knees for morning
prayer, and presently he hears a rush round the house.  "What is the
matter?"  "Why cattle are in the garden."  I think he cannot pray much. 
It destroys the spirit of prayer and takes peace from him.  But let him
put a good fence around his garden, orchard or field and he can kneel down
and pray in peace, and ask his heavenly Father for the blessings he wants,
and not be interrupted, and the devil is fenced out.  Well, in all these
things guard against temptation, against this loose life, and be prompt in
everything, and especially to pay your debts.

	The Perpetual Emigrating Fund is not doing anything this season.

	But it is painful to hear the cries, wishes[sic-punc] wants and
importunities of the poor Saints.  If we will do right we shall have
abundance to gather the poor.  They must all have a chance, although many
of them forsake their God, deny their Savior, forsake their brethren and
turn away and become traitors, yet they must have their chance.  Gather
them, give them all the chance possible for life and salvation, and if
they receive it right, blessed are they; if they reject it, their blood be
upon their own garments.

	I want to say a few words with regard to our religion, our spiritual
faith and belief, to my friends who are here.  I am accosted frequently
with the expression, "I think you have done wonders here, but I do not
believe anything of your religion."  Now, you certainly do.  There is not
an infidel in the world but who believes in our religion more or less; and
the same is true of the heathen and also of professing Christians and
their ministers; but they do not know how to define it.  They believe in a
God, but they do not know how to define that God.  If they turn to the
Bible and read, it will tell what God is; it will describe the character
and form of the very God that the Christians serve.  He has a body, parts
and passions; he has feelings, sensibility, principle, attributes, and
powers and this Bible proves it definitely to every person who really
believes the Bible is true.

	Do the Christian world believe in the Son of God--the Savior of the
world?  They say they do, and we certainly do; and we also believe that he
came and died for sinners--died to save the world.  Do the Christian world
believe it?  Yes, they say they do.  Do not we believe alike?  Yes.  They
do not know how to define it, but we do.  Do they believe in the gifts and
graces of God?  They certainly do.  I have heard ministers begin to preach
and read from the scriptures and give their interpretations of what the
Lord meant.  I have said to them "there must be more revelation in the
world than ever before, for how can you tell what the Lord means, if you
do not read it, unless he tells you?"  Here is the word of inspired men,
but you say it does not mean what it says.  I believe it means what it
says, where it is translated correctly.  I believe that inspired men said
what they meant, and meant what they said.  I believe that Jesus said
precisely what he meant, and meant precisely what he said.  Do Christians
believe this?  They say they do, and I have heard ministers of the gospel
declare that they believed every word in the Bible was the word of God.  I
have said to them "you believe more than I do."  I believe the words of
God are there; I believe the words of the devil are there; I believe that
the words of men and the words of angels are there; and that is not
all,--I believe that the words of a dumb brute are there.  I recollect one
of the prophets riding, and prophesying againts [sic] Israel, and the
animal he rode rebuked his madness.

	Do you believe all this is the word of God?  If you do you certainly
believe more than I do.  The words of the Lord are the words of the Lord,
and the revelations God has given concerning himself are true.  When Moses
wrote and said that man was formed precisely in the image of God he wrote
the truth.  We are the children of our father,--his offspring, of the same
family; we belong to him by birthright, and we are his children and Jesus
is our brother.  Does the Bible tell all this?  Just as plain as words can
tell anything.  The Christian world do believe "Mormonism," and
"Mormonism" is the truth.

	"Where is your code, your particular creed," says one.  It fills
eternity; it is all truth in heaven, on earth or in hell.  This is
"Mormonism."  It embraces every true science and all true philosophy.  Is
this so?  Certainly it is; but vain philosophy is the result of vain
conjurations of the brains of men.  How often we hear men philosophise
[sic] about what would have been suppose we had not been here, and suppose
the earth had not been made, and suppose Adam had not come into the garden
of Eden, and suppose he had not sinned, what would have been the condition
of the world!  Always arguing from false premises, and on a false
foundation.  Facts are facts, and we might as well argue that there is not
a railway across this continent to carry the people and goods as to argue
that Adam was not in the garden of Eden, that he did not fall, that sin is
not in the world or that Jesus is not the Christ.  The negative of these
propositions is hard to prove, but the affirmative is easy to prove and
comprehend, and easy to understand and live by.

	Well, I will say that our religion is nothing more nor less than the
true order of heaven--the system of laws by which the Gods and the angels
are governed.  Are they governed by law?  Certainly.  There is no being in
all the eternities but what is governed by law.  Who is it who desires to
have liberty and no law?  They who are from beneath.  This is what
Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, wanted.  He wanted to save the world
without law, to redeem the world without order.  There must be law, order,
rules and regulations; there must be a system of government; and, to have
a kingdom of God on the earth, there must be a king, and subjects to rule,
and territory for those subjects to dwell upon.  These things comprise the
kingdom of God, the embryo of which is now being formed by the Latter-day
Saints, by the will of the Father, by the power of God; and they will
endure and truth will prevail, and we need not be afraid as to the result.

	True science, true art and true knowledge comprehend all that are in
heaven or on the earth, or in all the eternities.  By these all beings
exist, whether they be celestial, terrestial, or telestial; or whether
they are from beneath and dwell with the devils among the damned.  All
truth is ours.  Now, if anybody wants to make a trade, come on!  If you
have truths, and I have errors, I will give ten errors for one truth.  I
have said a great many times to my friends, "if I have errors bring on
your truth."  I have embraced the Gospel of the Son of God, by the world
[sic] termed "Mormonism," simply because it is true; and there is no
power, no argument, no true philosophy, no principle of science, there is
no truth from heaven, no word of God or of angels that says to the
contrary; but all agree that this is the word of God, this is the power of
God, this is life everlasting; and we can say, as it was said in old
times, "This is eternal life to know the only wise and true God and Jesus
Christ whom he has sent," and thanks be to God we are tolerably well
acquainted with him, and with the principles which he has revealed for the
guidance and salvation of the children of men.  He extends life and
salvation to all, and says, "Come to me all ye ends of the earth and be ye
saved."  Is there any person excused, any left out of doors, to whom no
invitation is sent?  Not one.  It was a marvel to me, when I first
believed, how it was that professing Christians in the world need to
repent.  But I took this ground in my own mind, and I carried it out. 
Said I, "If I have no sins to repent of let me repent of that religion
that I have embraced that is not true."  So we say to all others.  If you
have been righteous from your birth up, and have never committed known
sins and transgressions, be baptized to fulfil all righteousness, as Jesus
was.  If you can say you have no sins to repent of, forsake your false
theories, and love and serve God with an undivided heart.

	God bless you.  Amen.



                    REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
         Delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, July 10, 1870.
                      (Reported by David W. Evans.)
          SIN--THE ATONEMENT--GOOD AND EVIL--THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

	I am disposed to ask a few questions of this congregation, though not
expecting them to give audible answers.  Judging from what I know and
understand of the Latter-day Saints, I can answer these questions
satisfactorily to myself, and probably to the satisfaction of most of the
people.

	Do we believe in the Scriptures of Divine truth?--those which are
contained in the Old and New Testaments, in the Book of Mormon, the Book
of Doctrine and Covenants, and other revelations that have been given to
this people?  I can answer this in the affirmative, by saying that we
certainly do.  This leads my mind to the reflection that if we believe the
Scriptures and the revelations I have referred to, we also believe that
Jesus is the Christ; and believing the Scriptures and that Jesus is the
Christ, we must believe other things also.  If the Scriptures are true, it
proves that sin is in the world, and the question arises, Is it necessary
that sin should be here?  What will the Latter-day Saints say?  Is it
necessary that we should know good from evil?  I can answer this to suit
myself by saying it is absolutely necessary, for the simple reason that if
we had never realized darkness we never could have comprehended the light;
if we never tasted anything bitter, but were to eat sweets, the honey and
the honeycomb, from the time we come into this world until the time we go
out of it, what knowledge could we have of the bitter?  This leads me to
the decision that every fact that exists in this world is demonstrated by
its opposite.  If this is the fact--and all true philosophy proves it--it
leads me to the conclusion that the transgression of our first parents was
absolutely necessary, that we might be brought in contact with sin and
have the opportunity of knowing good and evil.  It may be deemed strange
and singular by the Christian world that we should believe such a thing;
but the Scriptures inform us, in Genesis iii., 22, that the Lord God said,
"Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil."  Are we
the sons and daughters of that God whom we serve?  We answer we are.  Do
we expect to be exalted with our Father in heaven?  We do.  How are we to
be exalted?  We have sinned and transgressed the law of God.  The
Christian world and the world of mankind have not only transgressed the
laws of God, but they have changed the ordinances and broken every
covenant that God has given them.  Then I ask, Is there a debt contracted
between the Father and his children?  There is.  Our first parents
transgressed the law that was given them in the garden; their eyes were
opened.  This created the debt.  What is the nature of this debt?  It is a
divine debt.  What will pay it?  I ask, Is there anything short of a
divine sacrifice that can pay this debt?  No; there is not.

	I say this to gratify myself, and to gratify my brethren and sisters. 
A divine debt has been contracted by the children, and the Father demands
recompense.  He says to his children on this earth, who are in sin and
transgression, it is impossible for you to pay this debt; I have prepared
a sacrifice; I will send my Only Begotten Son to pay this divine debt. 
Was it necessary then that Jesus should die?  Do we understand why he
should sacrifice his life?  The idea that the Son of God, who never
committed sin, should sacrifice his life, is unquestionably preposterous
to the minds of many in the Christian world.  But the fact exists that the
Father, the Divine Father, whom we serve, the God of the Universe, the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of our spirits,
provided this sacrifice and sent his Son to die for us; and it is also a
great fact that the Son came to do the will of the Father, and that he has
paid the debt, in fulfilment of the Scripture which says, "He was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world."  Is it so on any other earth?  On
every earth.  How many earths are there?  I observed this morning that you
may take the particles of matter composing this earth, and if they could
be enumerated they would only be a beginning to the number of the
creations of God; and they are continually coming into existence, and
undergoing changes and passing through the same experience that we are
passing through.  Sin is upon every earth that ever was created, and if it
was not so, I would like some philosophers to let us know how people can
be exalted to become sons of God, and enjoy a fulness of glory with the
Redeemer.  Consequently every earth has its redeemer, and every earth has
its tempter; and every earth, and the people thereof, in their turn and
time, receive all that we receive, and pass through all the ordeals that
we are passing through.

	Is this easy to understand?  It is perfectly easy to me; and my
advice to those who have queries and doubts on this subject is, when they
reason and philosophize upon it, not to plant their position in falsehood
or argue hypothetically, but upon the facts as they exist, and they will
come to the conclusion that unless God provides a Savior to pay this debt
it can never be paid.  Can all the wisdom of the world devise means by
which we can be redeemed, and return to the presence of our Father and
elder brother, and dwell with holy angels and celestial beings?  No; it is
beyond the power and wisdom of the inhabitants of the earth that now live,
or that ever did or ever will live, to prepare or create a sacrifice that
will pay this divine debt.  But God provided it, and his Son has paid it,
and we, each and every one, can now receive the truth and be saved in the
kingdom of God.  Is it clear and plain?  It is to me, and if you have the
Spirit of God, it is as plain to you as anything else in the world.  Why
are you baptized for the remission of sins?  Is there virtue in it?  There
is.  Why do we lay hands on the sick?  Is there virtue in doing so?  There
is, and the wicked world as well as the Saints prove this.  Since Joseph
Smith received revelations from God, Spiritualism has taken its rise, and
has spread with unprecedented rapidity; and they will lay hands on each
other--one system proving another--spiritualism demonstrating the reality
of animal magnetism?  Is there virtue in one person more than another? 
Power in one more than another?  Spirit in one more than another?  Yes,
there is.  I will tell you how much I have.  You may assemble together
every spiritualist on the face of the earth, and I will defy them to make
a table move or get a communication from hell or any other place while I
am present.  Yes, there is more spirit in some han [sic] in others; and
this power--called by the world animal magnetism--enables those possessing
it to put others into the mesmeric [sic] sleep.  When I lay hands on the
sick, I expect the healing power and influence of God to pass through me
to the patient, and the disease to give way.  I do not say that I heal
everybody I lay hands on; but many have been healed under my
administration.  Jesus said, on one occasion, "Who has touched me?"  A
woman had crept up behind him in the crowd, and