Discourse by Elder Joseph F. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Feb. 17, 1867.

Very unexpectedly to me I have been asked to stand before you for a short time this afternoon; and although to me it is a great task to attempt to speak to so many, yet it is a pleasure to be able to express my feelings in relation to the truth. I do not know why it should be embarrassing or a task for me to rise before the Saints, for I feel, when I am in their midst, that I am in the midst of the people of God and my friends, whose faith is in common with, and whose desires to a great extent are the same as my own. I feel that I am in the midst of those who are praying to the same God, desiring the accomplishment of the same purposes and objects, and who are ever willing to lend their faith and prayers for the assistance of those who are called upon to officiate in the ministry, and who are not looking for a fault nor seeking to make one an offender for a word, but whose feelings are drawn out after the truth, and who desire to hear words that will be comforting, instructing and beneficial to us all. Why under these circumstances, one should feel embarrassed to rise up here is a little singular to me, and always has been. But it is so, unless he who speaks is filled with the Spirit of the Lord to such an extent that he cares for nothing but God and his approval.

I suppose that this embarrassment is, to some extent, owing to false notions—to pride, perhaps, and to feelings that are more or less common to us all, though not founded upon any correct principle. Why should we fear one another? Why should we fear to discharge the duties devolving upon us as the servants and people of God, under any circumstances or in any place? Why should we fear to stand up and speak the truth, although aware of our weakness and feeling our dependence on God? Have we not the promise that God will give us strength according to our day, and that he will help those who desire it to accomplish all the good that is in their hearts? God has made this promise, and it is our duty to go forward and engage in the work he requires of us, fearlessly and with a determination to carry it out regardless of man. God being our helper.

I have felt this way when traveling in the world, perhaps more so than it would be possible for me to feel here; for when one is thrown upon his own resources, or I may say upon God for assistance, he realizes that he has but few friends; he lives nearer to God, exercises more faith, is more diligent in prayer, and is, therefore, more alive to the duties devolving upon him than when associating in the midst of his friends. I have often reflected why I should tremble and fear to stand before the Saints, the Prophet, or the Apostles, and let them hear my voice, or to give expression to my thoughts. Again, I have thought was there anything in me, any secret feelings that were not right, or that I feared were not right, and for expressing which I would be censured; and even were this the case, how foundationless is such a fear, for were there any thoughts and reflections within me not of God, or not true, why should I be fearful to express them where they might be corrected? Would it not be better to express them and have them corrected, than to harbor, cling to, and reason upon them until I convinced myself that they were right, when to have them corrected would perhaps prove a very great trial to me, if not my overthrow.

When I look at and think of myself I do not know that I now entertain or have ever entertained a thought which I would be ashamed of my friends or the servants of God knowing. I desire so to live continually that my thoughts and feelings may be right before God, that my heart may be pure and open to the influences and dictations of the Holy Spirit, that I may be led wholly by the truth, and in the path that leads to eternal life. These should be the feelings of every Saint; if they are not mine, they should be, and when I look at and think of myself, I feel that this is the case. Yet we are all fallible and all liable to err, susceptible of prejudices and assailed by good and bad influences. In every condition of life we are more or less liable to be influenced and controlled in our thoughts and actions by the circumstances by which we are surrounded; the result is we are sometimes alive to the truth and faithful before the Lord, full of kindness, of friendship and love towards our brethren—the servants of God—and towards the work in which we are engaged; and sometimes we are lukewarm and indifferent about these things. I would love to see the time when we could so live in the enjoyment of the Holy Spirit, every moment of our lives, that no circumstance nor influence could be brought to bear against us that would change that even tenor which is inspired and called forth by the influences of the good Spirit.

Will this time ever be? While surrounded by so many imperfections, clothed in mortality, and subject to the weakness and failings of the flesh, will the time ever be when we as a people, with such glorious promises, privileges and rights, and with such inestimable blessings, shall enjoy the Spirit of God to the exclusion of every other influence that exists? Will we ever be able to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, while in mortality, to such a degree that we can govern ourselves and not give way one moment to an evil thought or passion? I do not know; but this I do know, that we now have all that is necessary to enable us to attain to this perfection in the truth and the knowledge of God. If we have it not now, I do not believe we ever will. “Why,” inquires one, “what have we now?” We have the promise of Almighty God that he will give his Spirit to guide, strengthen, and assist every individual to accomplish all the good in his heart, if he will only come up to the standard he has established. Besides this promise which the Lord has made, we have the holy priesthood, a powerful auxiliary in our hands if used properly, to enable us to overcome the evils that surround us in the world. But when engaged in our daily avocations, or tried by poverty, sickness, enemies, false friends, or when we are spoken evil of, we too often forget that we hold the priesthood, that we are Elders in Israel—the servants of God—chosen to accomplish his great work in the last days. The result is we regard ourselves simply as men mixed up with and surrounded by sin, and we are apt to drink into the spirit around us, forget God, our callings, and the responsibilities resting upon us, and become like others, through giving way to evils which they practice.

I have seen individuals, of whom we might expect better things, give way to evils of this kind until I have heard them say, “What is religion?” “In what way is one religion better than another? Mormon, Jew, Catholic, Protestant, or any and all religious denominations in the world are all after the same thing, and there are good and bad in all, and there is about as much evil among the Latter-day Saints as among any other religious denomination.” “Why,” say they, “look at the Methodists, some of them are as pious, good and faithful and are as good citizens, neighbors and friends as any you will find among the Latter-day Saints or any other denomination; or go among the Catholics and you will find some as honest, virtuous, upright, and charitable as any you will find among the Latter-day Saints.” This being their opinion they decide that one is just as good as another. Now it is true that, so far as moral worth is concerned, we may find hundreds of thousands in the world who are honest, moral and upright to the best of their knowledge. I believe that among the inhabitants of the earth today, notwithstanding the vast amount of corruption and sin and the almost universal moral degradation, there are thousands of good, honest, well-meaning people.

So far as they have light and knowledge and understand the principles of truth, so far do thousands of the inhabitants of the earth today honor them in their lives. But that does not constitute them the people of God, neither does it argue that they have the holy priesthood, nor that the Gospel in its purity and fulness has been revealed to them; nothing of the kind. Then I say that they are wanting. Although I feel liberal in my heart towards mankind, and willing to accord this truth to the benefit of the honest in heart; yet I am compelled to acknowledge that they are lacking. And because there are good people out of this Church as well as in, that does not argue that we have not the priesthood, that God is not in communion with us, that we are not in fellowship with him, nor that we are not the people he has chosen, through whom to accomplish his great work in the latter days. It simply proves what the prophets and the servants of God have often said, that there are honest people in the world who are not in this Church, and for that reason the Gospel is preached to the nations, that the honest may be gathered into the fold and family of God, that they may take a part in the building up of his kingdom in the last days.

When you compare the systems, creeds, and governing principles among the sects and religious denominations in the world, where will you find one that is perfect, or that is calculated to lead men back to a unity of the faith and to God? Where will you find a system or a denomination of religious people in the world who have such principles embodied in their faith? You cannot find such a system, if you go beyond the pale of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Well,” inquires one, “are those principles embodied in our faith? Is that principle of government here that is calculated to unite not only this Church but the whole human family in one faith? Are we not to some extent divided one against another, and have we not selfish thoughts and feelings, and do we not have strife in our midst, and do we love one another with a brotherly love and act under the influence of the good Spirit all the time?”

If we did act under its influence and followed its dictation continually, we would be one, and bickering, strife, and selfishness would be laid aside, and we would look after and be as zealous for our neighbor’s as for our own good. But we still see in our midst controversies, differences of thought and opinion, one up and another down, and the same thing regarded in a different light by different persons, &c. Why is this? Because the Gospel net has gathered in of every kind, and because we are only children in the school; because we have learned only the first letters, as it were, in the great Gospel plan, and that but imperfectly. And one cause of the diversity in our thoughts and reflections is that some have had greater experience and comprehend the truth more perfectly than others. But does this prove that the Gospel we have embraced does not contain those principles necessary to unite all mankind in the truth. No, it does not. What are these great principles that are calculated to unite the whole human family, and to cause them to worship the same God, adhere it the same counsel and be governed by the same voice? They are the principle of revelation, the power of God revealed to his people, the belief in the hearts of the people that it is God’s right to rule and dictate, and that it is not the right of any man to say it shall be thus and so; nor are the people required to obey these principles blindly—without knowledge.

When we learn the truth and understand what is for our greatest good, we will feel in our hearts that it is God’s right to rule and reign, and to say to us what shall be, and that it is our privilege to obey, and there will not be a feeling in our hearts contrary to his dictation. We will then feel that whatever is, is right; and in this we cannot then rightly be called superstitious, blind, or deluded, for that would be impossible because we will then be governed by higher light and intelligence—by that intelligence which convinces us that God lives, reigns, made the earth and all things it contains, that he is the Father of all, that we are his children, and that all things are in his hands. We will then comprehend this, and, consequently, will feel that it is his right to say and ours to do. But how is it today? We do not practically comprehend these facts to their full extent, our own selfish interests more or less blind us, we measurably stand in our own light and choke the channel of blessings from heaven, and cannot fully receive from the Giver of all good that blessing, exaltation, and glory that he is ever willing to bestow upon all who will acknowledge and love him and worship him in spirit and in truth.

This is a great and important work—one that we do not fully comprehend. When the Spirit of the Lord rests powerfully upon us, we realize it to some extent; but we do not always have that Spirit in such copious measure, and when we are left to ourselves we are weak, frail, and liable to err. This shows to us that we should be more faithful than we have ever been, and that day and night, wherever we are and under whatever circumstances we may be placed, in order to enjoy the Spirit of the Gospel we must live to God by observing truth, honoring his law, and ever manifest a vigorous determination to accomplish the work he has assigned us.

I thank the Lord that I have the privilege of being associated with this people; and, whatever men may say or do, I desire that the testimony of the truth may continue with me, that I may ever realize for myself that the Gospel has again been revealed to man on the earth.

It seems to me that today, or I may say this present moment is a moment of trial for this people. I have often heard the President say, in relation to our having been driven from our homes, hated and mistreated by our enemies and the enemies of truth, that we were not then particularly tried. I believe it. I believe that then we were more happy and better alive to the work we are engaged in than many are today. I believe, of the two, take the period when the Saints were driven from the State of Missouri, or subsequently, when we were driven from the State of Illinois, and compare it with the present day, that today is the day of trial for this people. When you go along the street, and meet a man or a woman, do you know whether he or she is a Latter-day Saint or not? There was a time when we could walk up and down the streets and tell by the very countenances of men whether they were Latter-day Saints, or not; but can you do it now? You cannot, unless you have greater discernment and more of the Spirit and power of God than I have. Why? Because many are trying as hard as they can to transform themselves into the very shape, character, and spirit of the world. Elders in Israel, young men, mothers and daughters in Israel are conforming to the world’s fashions until their very countenances indicate its spirit and character. This course is to the shame and disgrace of those who are so unwise. It is not so much in the settlements, but go where you will in this city and you can see some of these foolish ones. And when the line is drawn and the choice made, there are many, who we think today are in fellowship with the Lord, that will be left without the pale. Yet they are now going smoothly along, and we meet, shake hands and call each other brother. We meet here in this Tabernacle and partake of the Holy Sacrament together as brethren in the bonds of the covenant, and go smoothly along together; but it is not all gold that glitters. It is not all as it appears; the surface is deceptive, and while many think that it is no harm to pattern after the foolish, wicked, nonsensical notions and fashions of the world and the character of worldlings, taking them into our homes and making them our companions, and think that we are just as good Saints with as without them, by and by we will wake up to the astounding fact that we have been deceived and misled.

Why did God call us from the world and denounce it? Why did he say that none were good, and that the religious worship of the world was not acceptable to him, but was a mockery and an abomination in his sight? Why tell this to the Prophet and say to him, “I will make you an instrument in my hands to gather out my people from the world, that I may have a righteous and pure people who will worship me in spirit and in truth, and who will not draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me?” It was because the world was corrupt and had gone after the fashions and follies of men; because the people were led by the doctrines of men, put their faith in man and made flesh their arm; and had forsaken God. They boasted of themselves, in their own strength, glory, might and power, and said that they cared not for God, as was manifested on an occasion during the late rebellion, in a convention that was called, I think at Chicago. A proposition was made that they conquer the South; someone proposed, “by the help of God;” but they unanimously voted that they would do it without the help of God, or not at all. They would have the glory of it themselves, they wanted none of the help of God to do it. God was out of the question with them, for they gloried in their own strength.

And the world, today, glory in their own wealth, power and knowledge, and for this they are an abomination in the sight of God; and he has raised up a Prophet and has put forth his hand for the last time to gather his people and to do his great and marvelous work. He is sending forth his missionaries to preach the Gospel to the nations of the earth, to gather out the honest and those who will serve him with full purpose of heart, that they may be gathered from the midst of the world’s wickedness and corruption, to a place where they can better serve the Lord and accomplish his purposes. Then, when we are gathered, when the Lord has delivered us from the hands of our enemies, brought us out of bondage with his outstretched arm and planted us in the midst of these mountains in peace and surrounded us with blessings, and has enriched the soil so that it yields its strength for our good, and has made of us a peculiar people—when the Lord has done this for us—today some will cringe and bow to the degrading fashions of the world, and court the society and habits of the wicked. Such conduct is a crying shame on those who, professing to be Latter-day Saints, act so unwisely. We profess to have forsaken the world and to live accordingly to the requirements of the Gospel, and it behooves us to walk worthily of so excellent a profession.

We cannot trifle with the things of God. Many talents have been committed to us; if we put them in a napkin and hide them in the earth, we shall be beaten with many stripes; but if we use them wisely, we shall receive great blessings and rewards. If we wish to see the work of God carried victoriously forward, if we wish to accomplish the purposes of the Almighty, and have a desire to carry out his will on the earth, that it may be done here as it is in heaven, we must live as we profess, be guided by the whisperings of his Spirit and the teachings and counsels of his servants. Who is there among us that does not feel an interest in the work of God. Those who do not will be cut short, they will loose their inheritance, and the rights and privileges guaranteed to man through his faithfulness.

It grieves me when I hear young men, who have been born and reared in this Church, speaking indifferently of the truth, and as apt to take up an argument against as in its favor. I thank the Lord that I have never been guilty of that to my knowledge; but I do not claim any particular credit on this account, for I was taught from my childhood that the great work in which we are engaged is true, and designed for the salvation of mankind. Until I was fifteen years old I did not know this, but I believed it, my heart was in it, and my feelings were enlisted, and any opposite influence, obstacle or power with which I came in contact, even in my childhood, roused me in a moment, and I felt that I was for the truth and the people of God.

When I was sent on my first mission, though only fifteen years of age, I began to learn and sense things for myself, I began to receive and bear testimony of the truth. In my weakness I endeavored to preach the Gospel, to tell people the truth, and to explain to them the way of life. This gave to me a knowledge and fixed my faith and feelings, and made them to me seemingly unchangeable. But we are changeable, weak and frail, we know not today what we may do or what may occur tomorrow. This is a frail, poor, low condition for the offspring of God to be in, yet it is our condition exactly. Notwithstanding this, men today will boast of their greatness, power, wealth, descent, associations, influence and honors, when the poor, insignificant, miserable things may be dead and food for worms tomorrow. That great thing that boasted of his influence, is proud and stands up in majesty today, may be food for worms tomorrow. O, the foolishness of man!

It is for the people called Latter-day Saints to make God their boast, to ascribe to him the honor and power, and to say within themselves, O Father, we are thine. That is the way all mortality should feel. They should feel that the earth and its fulness are God’s, that the gold and silver, the cattle on a thousand hills, the rich fields, the streams of water, the rivers, lakes, ocean, and all they contain are his. He made them; they are not ours, for he has not given them to us; we have not earned them; but when we have earned them, when we have proved faithful over a few things committed to us here, when we have proved wise stewards over the little things, when we have fought the good fight of faith, endured to the end and worked out our salvation, then the earth and its fulness will be given to the Saints of the Most High, and they shall possess it forever and ever. But it is not ours yet, neither is it man’s, neither will it be, until he has earned an inheritance upon it by his faithfulness, diligence, good precepts and examples, and by his endurance to the end in the truth, and not till then. And when we think that by simply bearing the name of Saint, or associating with good men and women, we shall secure an inheritance on this goodly earth, that will yet be purified and made like a sea of glass for a dwelling place for the just, we shall find that we have deceived ourselves, and will see the crown and inheritance designed for us taken away and given to this one or that one who lived on the earth when we did, but who, instead of having only the name of Saints, were Saints in very deed.

I was very much pleased with Brother Hyde’s discourse on this subject a few months ago; it was a most excellent description of things as they are and as they will be, and it was true. If we do not now know that it was so, we will have to learn; and if we are not willing to receive instruction and counsel, we will have to learn through experience and stern necessity, and be made to realize our condition and dependence on God.

In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, when the latter, looking beyond the yawning gulf that separated him from Paradise, saw Lazarus enjoying bliss in Abraham’s bosom, and wanted an angel sent to warn his friends on earth, the Lord Jesus said, if they will not believe the Prophets and Apostles, neither would they believe though one should be raised from the dead. So in these days, if the Prophets, Apostles and Elders called of God and commissioned to preach the Gospel are not believed by the people, neither would they believe an angel, or one raised from the dead. I once felt that this was a pretty hard saying, but I am now convinced that it is true. I always, perhaps, conceded that it was true, yet at times I felt, would it not be possible for an angel to convince the people when we could not.

Since then I have seen and conversed with men, have known the feelings of their hearts and seen that they were just as full of the darkness of hell as they could be. So full and firmly rooted were they in darkness and ignorance and in a determination not to receive the truth that, though angels and ministering spirits had taught them, they would still have preferred to remain in ignorance and unbelief. I was forcibly reminded of this a short time ago, when in conversation with Alexander H. Smith. Do you suppose an angel would convince him? He said that no human testimony could convince him. Affliction and the chastisement of God might affect his body, but could not touch his heart; it is like adamant, and there are thousands and thousands in the same condition—shutting out the very possibility of truth’s reaching their understandings. They will not receive the testimony of men, yet they will quote and reiterate the testimonies of men whom we know to be as wicked and corrupt as the devil; but when Prophets and Apostles ordained under the hands of the Prophet Joseph, and who are carrying out the very plans and purposes made manifest through him, bear testimony of these things, their testimony is rejected, for they will not receive the testimony of men. It is simply this—we will not have the truth, we cannot bear it, and you cannot force it upon us—we do not want it.

This is a free country; the kingdom of God is a kingdom of freedom; the Gospel of the Son of God is the Gospel of liberty. Men can worship God, if they wish to, but, if not, they may go and worship stones, the sun, moon, stars, or anything else that they wish. We will protect and respect every man in his rights, so far as they do not interfere with the rights of others, for every man must answer for his own deeds.

I sometimes hear the Latter-day Saints instructed about the way they should treat strangers; they are told to extend to all men due respect and kindness. You would not be a Latter-day Saint if you did not; you would not manifest the Spirit of the Gospel did you not show them due kindness, and respect; but remember, at the same time, that you do not compromise yourselves. In trying to be kind and courteous to others, we sometimes place ourselves in their power, and as sure as we do, bad men will take advantage of it. How was the counsel given by the Savior to the Apostles, “Be ye therefore as wise as serpents, and as harmless as doves.” But this generation is wiser than the children of light—the Saints. Why? In one particular, because, when we embrace the Gospel we feel well, so thankful to the Lord, so full of gratitude, that we are thrown off our guard, suspect no evil, nor look for sin in any man, and so invite them into our circles, and, by and by they get the upper hand of us; we begin to loose faith and to think that the devil has not such an awkward cloven foot, that his horns and tail are not quite so long, nor he quite so deformed, black, and hideous as we thought. We have been deceived; we thought that the devil had long horns and tail, a cloven foot, and was black, hideous, and grinning; but when we find him out, he is a gentleman in black broad cloth, with a smooth tongue, pleasant countenance, high forehead, and so on; quite a good-looking fellow. That is the kind of a person we find the devil to be, and we will find him in more persons than one, and that too right in this city.

I feel well and thankful to have the privilege of being a Saint; and I hope, brethren and sisters, that anything good that is said to us we will feel like carrying out in our lives. It is our duty, and we should never fail to do so.

May God bless us and all Israel, and keep us in the paths of truth.

Notwithstanding what I have said here today about the vanity and foolishness amongst us, especially in Great Salt Lake City, yet I believe, as has been frequently said, that taking this people as a whole they are the best on the earth; and I believe that more good people can be found here that can be found in the same number anywhere else on the earth, and that if one-third, one-half, or two-thirds of this people should fall away and go astray, the number then remaining would be sufficient to carry off the work victoriously, for it is God’s work, and he has decreed that it shall be fulfilled according to the predictions of the Prophets. May God grant it, and help us all to be faithful, that we may be numbered among those who obtain a crown and inheritance, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Feb. 10, 1867.

When I look at the faces of people, I 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 today. 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 today. 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 today, 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. Bennett 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 today 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—tarry 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 account 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 of 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 whiskey 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 desserts 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 of the 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 everyday life. We may talk about the great things of the kingdom, and how glorious the millennium 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 meeting; 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 in 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 under– standing we will then be counted worthy to possess Zion, even the Center 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 Center 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 Center 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 Church, 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 everyday 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 traveled 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 the 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 gathering 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 profess? Can you see any of the Christians 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 storehouse; And the benefits shall be consecrated unto 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 moneys, to be an agent unto the church, to buy lands in all the regions round about, inasmuch as can be done in righteousness, and as wisdom shall direct.

“And let my servant Edward Partridge stand in the office which I have appointed him, to divide unto 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 lands for the good of the saints, and that he may obtain whatsoever things the disciples may need to plant them in their inheritance.”

Sell goods without fraud! That is a point I wish our 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 organize 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 onto him, so he worked seven years more for Rachel, and Jacob and his wives were his own cousins. Jacob’s mother and his wives’ father were sister and brother; consequently his wives’ grandfather and grandmother—Ne– hor 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 finally 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 gathering at certain times and on certain occasions, because 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 Solomon, 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 practice 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 should see no idleness, slothfulness, wastefulness, covetousness, nor 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.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 3, 1867.

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 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.

When I address the Latter-day Saints, I address a people who wish to be Saints indeed. I look upon my brethren and sisters, and I think, what have you come here for? What brought you here into to this territory—this mountainous country—into these wild regions? Why, the answer is, at once, “I came here because I was a Latter-day Saint, I wanted to gather with this people; my heart was with those who had embraced the Gospel, and I wished to be with the Saints.” There are none who have done so but would 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 whe– ther 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 forever and forever 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 judgment between 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 canyon 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 merchandise 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 a 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, merchandising 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 last 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 thinks 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, nor the prophesyings 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 anyone is disposed to ask whether Brother Brigham has ever, since then, 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 providences 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 panta– loons?” No. “What did you do? Did you go without?” No; I borrowed a pair to wear till I could get another pair. I had traveled 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, “Brother 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 from 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, seem– ingly 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 before, 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 yet 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 or 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 merchandising and merchants. I know, and knew sixteen years ago as well as I do today, 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 call 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 today. 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 cannot 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 centered 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, whorehouses, 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 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 forever. 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 neighboring Territories. Who raised 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 became 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 today; 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 this 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.”

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 step 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 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 anyways 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 God 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.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 13, 1867.

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 shortsighted 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 businessmen 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 canyons 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 teaching with regard to their everyday 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 Scandinavia 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 Whiskey 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 today 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 percent of profit? Yes, 500 percent, 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 percent 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 percent better with him.

The other day a man wanted to 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 percent 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 pro– gress 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 learn 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 woollen factory, and I have urged and urged the brethren to bring on woollen 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 orga– nize 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 anything 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 specially 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 lawsuit 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 honorable 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 dead by violence in a morning. What is said about it? Why, nothing. But if a scoundrel should meet his just deserts here, what an outcry is made? The Christian world is in an uproar about it. Yet I do not wonder at it; the thing is so rare. But if there were half-a-dozen men killed a day here, as in some other places, it would scarcely be noticed; 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 deal– ings, 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 or 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 tomorrow 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 under– stood 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.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday, Dec. 23, 1866.

I will try to speak to the people. I shall need silence in the house, and the close attention of my hearers. I expect the faith of the Saints even without asking for it. The faithful will exercise faith, and pray always for all who are within the reach of mercy. The good desire good to all. I have words to say to the good, and also to the froward—to the righteous and to the unrighteous—to the Saint and the sinner.

I wish in the first place to address myself to those who profess to be Latter-day Saints upon the subject of the faith that we have embraced. As to the ordinances of the Gospel we are united, we are one; but I will inquire are we one in all temporal matters? Are we one, as we are exhorted to be by the Savior and by his disciples? Jesus prayed, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” We should very much dislike not to be acknowledged as the Saints of the Most High God, and the disciples of his Son Jesus Christ. Are we one, as the Savior prayed that his disciples might be? If we are, then are we a happy people; if we are, then are we a powerful and influential people. Jesus had power to do many miracles so-called; he changed water into wine, fed thousands upon a few loaves and fishes, and raised the dead.

If we were one, we should then prove to heaven, to God our Father, to Jesus Christ our elder brother, to the angels, to the good upon the earth, and to all mankind that we are the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are not one, we are not in the true sense of the word the disciples of the Lord Jesus. What is necessary to constitute a Saint, or a disciple of Jesus? It is simply this: a strict obedience to all the requirements of the ordinances of the house of God, and to be one in all things as the Father and the Son are one, which will prepare every person for a life of usefulness, and fill them with joy, peace, life, intelligence, good feelings for themselves, for their friends, and for their enemies—good feelings for the world of mankind at large. This spirit of oneness fills them with good desires, with good hopes, and qualifies them to administer good to every person who has determined to cease to do evil and learn to do well. We are constantly taught to love and serve God, and keep his commandments. If we do this, then are we his disciples and preparing ourselves to accomplish a great and good work.

Are the people who are living in this mountainous country, who profess to be members of the Church of Christ, Latter-day Saints indeed? It is true they have left their former homes and friends and come to this distant land to enjoy the privilege of worshipping God according to the revelations He has given unto us, where no one could molest or make us afraid, or break us up as a community again, drive us from our homes, take possession of our farms and rob us of everything we possess. We are here for the purpose of enjoying the fruits of our labors, for the purpose of serving God with an undivided heart. Still, we are prone to wander and come short of faithfully fulfilling all our duties. We are, nevertheless, in these mountains. You inquire if we shall stay in these mountains. I answer yes, as long as we please to do the will of God, our Father in heaven. If we are pleased to turn away from the holy commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ, as ancient Israel did, every man turning to his own way, we shall be scattered and peeled, driven before our enemies and persecuted, until we learn to remember the Lord our God and are willing to walk in his ways.

“But,” says one, “I thought that we were to suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake.” I would to God that all our persecutions were for righteousness’ sake, instead of for our evil doings. Still, as I have often remarked, I never believed that the righteous have ever suffered as much as the wicked. Jesus Christ said to his disciples, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” I admit that the Saints anciently “were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; they wandered in deserts, and in the mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” We are still further informed by historians that the Apostle Peter was crucified, head downwards; and John, the beloved disciple, was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, but escaped unhurt. Yet in all this suffering and persecution, they were blessed and comforted and rejoiced though in tribulation.

Since I embraced the Gospel, with many of my brethren, I have been broken up and compelled to leave my home five times, yet we live as a people, and are as comfortable and as well off as our neighbors who do not belong to the Church; and I do not know that our enemies hate us any more than they hate each other. The sufferings that have come upon the Latter-day Saints, through persecution, will not compare in severity with the sufferings which have come upon the wicked in our own day. I desire and pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that I may live so that the wicked and haters of good will not like me very well. It is impossible to unite Christ and Baal—their spirits cannot unite, their objects and purposes are entirely different; the one leads to eternal life and exaltation, the other to death and final destruction. I esteem the persecutions which we suffer as a light thing. We have an object in view, and that is to gain influence among all the inhabitants of the earth for the purpose of establishing the kingdom of God in its righteousness, power and glory, and to exalt the name of the Deity, and cause that name by which we live to be revered everywhere, that he may be honored, that his works may be honored, that we may be honored ourselves, and deport ourselves worthy of the character of his children.

Whoever lives a few years more will see suffering among the wicked until their hearts sicken. If I have one wish which is greater than another, it is, if I had the power, to make men do right; to make them stop their swearing, their lying, their deceiving, to stop trying to injure the innocent, and begin to be honest and upright in all their dealings with one another and honor the name of the Deity. This is the worst wish I have ever had in my heart towards my fellow beings. The great object of my life is to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth. The Latter-day Saints are one in their faith in the great leading doctrines of the Church, but are they one in their efforts to establish the kingdom of God, that must be established upon the earth in the latter days?

It may be asked what I mean by the kingdom of God. The Church of Jesus Christ has been established now for many years, and the kingdom of God has got to be established, even that kingdom which will circumscribe all the kingdoms of this world. It will yet give laws to every nation that exists upon the earth. This is the kingdom that Daniel, the prophet, saw should be set up in the last days. What Daniel saw should come to pass in the latter times is believed by nearly all the religious societies of Christendom. The only great difference between us and them is in the method of its establishment. The mother Church, in trying to establish it, expected that they had to make holy Catholic Christians of everybody who lived on the earth.

If the Latter-day Saints think, when the kingdom of God is estab– lished on the earth, that all the inhabitants of the earth will join the church called Latter-day Saints, they are egregiously mistaken. I presume there will be as many sects and parties then as now. Still, when the kingdom of God triumphs, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, to the glory of the Father. Even the Jews will do it then; but will the Jews and Gentiles be obliged to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? No; not by any means. Jesus said to his disciples, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: were it not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there ye may be also,” &c. There are mansions in sufficient numbers to suit the different classes of mankind, and a variety will always exist to all eternity, requiring a classification and an arrangement into societies and communities in the many mansions which are in the Lord’s house, and this will be so forever and ever. Then do not imagine that if the kingdom of God is established over the whole earth, that all the people will become Latter-day Saints. They will cease their persecutions against the Church of Jesus Christ, and they will be willing to acknowledge that the Lord is God, and that Jesus is the Savior of the world.

If the Latter-day Saints were one politically and financially, and in all their endeavors to build up the kingdom of God, there would be a great power in the midst of this people. There has been considerable said of late touching a class of men that are here who call themselves “Gentiles.” I do not know whether they are “Gentiles” or not; I have no doubt but that some of them are, but I do not think they know the meaning of the term they apply to themselves; but they are welcome to it if it pleases them. Much has been said and printed about the “Mormons” spoiling the “Gentiles” here, and bringing their lives and property into jeopardy. We know that hundreds of thousands of dollars go into their hands yearly from this community, which many of them freely spend to bring, if possible, swift destruction on the very people who have made them rich.

In yesterday’s Daily Telegraph you will see a card addressed to the authorities of the Church, and you will also see my answer to it. There is a class of men who are here to pick the pockets of the Latter-day Saints, and then use the means they get from us to bring about our destruction. They want my houses, and your houses, and the privilege of defiling our beds; and if there is any thing said or done about it, lying dispatches are sent to the General Government to get an army sent out here as quickly as possible, for “O dear, we are in danger; and need protection!” What are you in danger of? You have not the privilege of driving a stake on any lot of land you want for the purpose of claiming it, when it has been owned and improved for years. There is a lot opposite the theater that I took the fence off and rented to the City Council for a hay market. A man whom I now see in this congregation suggested its occupancy; said he, “why does not somebody go and sleep on it, and survey it in the morning and claim it.” If anybody had done so, undoubtedly he would have got a preemption right that would have lasted him as long as he would have wanted it. It is such men as these, who are striving with all their might to rob us of our homes, of our rights and privileges of the country which, by our industry, we have made—it is these men that we should cease to deal with. We should be of one heart and mind, and be determined not to put means in their power to create trouble for us, and bring us to sorrow. The laws of self-preservation demand this of us. Do I wish this to apply to all outsiders? I do not, for there are just as good men who do not belong to the Church, as those who do, as far as they know and understand. There are men with whom we deal who are gentlemen inside and out, men who would not steal my property, and rob me of every right and privilege which belongs to me as an American citizen. They would not insinuate themselves into my family and try to take from me my wife without a legal process, or my daughter without the consent of the parties concerned. These are the men with whom we should deal, and let alone those who are here to destroy the Latter-day Saints.

I was a little sorry, though I do not know that I ought to be, to see certain names attached to the card I have referred to, and I do not now believe that they mean, by attaching their names to it, what the document shows to the world. It shows that the persons, whose names are there signed, are in open opposition to the people called Latter-day Saints. Shall we foster such a band of men? No.

I understand there are a few men in Congress—and I am glad to think that they are very few—who go so far as to say that the Latter-day Saints never should be permitted to own a foot of land in America, and they will do all they can to deprive us of this privilege; and there are men here who entertain the same ideas, and they will do all they can to wrest our possessions from us. Men of this class have followed us like bloodhounds in all our wanderings as a people from the beginning to this day; and I have thought for some time that I should lift my voice to the Latter-day Saints to become sufficiently of one heart and of one mind to let this class of men severely alone. I say, from merchants, lawyers, editors, farmers, mechanics, and all individuals who will give succor to such a class of men and to the paper which they have published here, withdraw your support. If he is a lawyer, let him alone. If he is a merchant, pass by his store or place of business; serve the mechanic the same; and let every enemy of this people become satisfied that they cannot look to us for support while they, at the same time, are seeking with all their might to bring about our destruction. I am giving you my counsel upon this matter, that you have no deal or communication with men who would destroy you. For it is written, “He that receiveth you, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.”

You say you have dealt with your enemies, and they have treated you kindly, and you can get things cheaper from them than from your brethren, and you will spend your money where you please, etc. You have the privilege of doing so, and the result of such a course you can easily learn. Those very men you are dealing with are wishing and desiring with all their hearts that they had the power to destroy the influence of Brigham Young and his counselors, and the apostles and the elders of this Church: “If we had the power we would destroy them from the face of the earth.” Do they hate Brigham Young and his friends? They do. Are you a Saint, can you be a Saint, without their hating you as they hate me and my friends, and Jesus Christ and his Father? Are you so shortsighted and blind as to believe that you can be fellowshipped by the wicked, and be a Saint? If such is the case, you had better repent of your sins and be baptized forthwith, before the water freezes up. It is your privilege to trade where you please; but if you trade with your enemies, I will promise you that you will expose yourselves to wicked influences, and, finally, be cut off from the Church, without the necessity of our trying you for your fellowship because you trade at this store or at that store. We shall do no such thing as try you for your fellowship because you trade where you please. All men have power to do good, or to do evil; they have power to serve God or the devil, and we do not wish to deprive any person, Saint or sinner, of this liberty. We advise you; we give you good and safe counsel. You are at liberty to listen to good advice or not. You are at liberty to be guided by good counsel, if you will. If you observe it, blessings to you will be the result. If you abide not by it, you will walk in darkness. Neglect your duty to your God and your brethren and you will commit evils for which you will be tried for your fellowship and be severed from the Church.

We advise you to pass by the shops and stores of your enemies, and let them alone, but give your means into the hands of men who are honest men, honorable men, and upright men—men who will deal justly and truly with all. Shall we deal with the Jew? Yes. With those who call themselves Gentiles? Certainly. We calculate to continue to deal with them; but shall we mingle our spirits together, and be of their faith? No. We will have our religion, serve our God, and build up his kingdom on the earth; and our friends may have the privilege of eating and drinking and enjoying themselves as well as we, if they get it honestly.

Let the Latter-day Saints be agreed upon their temporal and financial interests. I will ask the question: Do you think the Father and the Son are agreed in their political views and their financial operations? Why every Christian in the world says yes, and we say yes; and we cannot be one, in the sense Jesus prayed for us to be, without this. Would you like to live at ease and get rich? Would you like to keep your homes in this city? I know you would. You can do so by being one in all things. There is much envy in the hearts of men with regard to this city. They want to possess it. They see it as the great emporium of the west—as the great nucleus of commercial wealth in the interior of America. Who will make it so? The Lord. But they do not know this. They imagine that this will be done solely by the industry of the “Mormons.” We could burn up this city, and lay it waste, and go to another district of country and make a city just as good as this, and as desirable, in a few years, by the help of the Lord. I have frequently wondered why our neighbors do not go and settle in some other place, and build up a great city the same as we have done; but no, they want the “Mormons” to build cities for them to possess. This we shall do no more for them, if I can help it. If we build cities we mean to possess them.

A word to the sisters. You run to this store and to that store, and you do not think that men who are used to and are acquainted with the tricks of trade know how to buy you. You want an article that has been sold, we will say, at two dollars at the other stores, you get it for two-thirds of what you would have to pay them. By means of this device, and a proper use of velvet lips, and a whine of sympathy, this sister and that brother is bought. “O it is hard that we cannot go and spend our money where we please.” You may go and trade where you please, I tell you, with the promise that, by and by, you will go out of the Church, and you will go to destruction. And why is this? Because light has come into the world, but if you are disposed to choose darkness rather than light, it will prove that your deeds are evil. Will you come to the light? I am holding it up before you. I am telling the Latter-day Saints how to make themselves useful in the world, how to make themselves happy and comfortable and secure, that they cannot be moved out of their place. But give your means to your enemies, and you lay a foundation for your perfect overthrow.

The Bishop of the 13th Ward tried to collect school taxes from some of the “Gentile” population. They refused to pay, and suits were commenced before the District Court. That court decided that we had no right to make a law to collect taxes to build schoolhouses. In any of our neighboring Territories an opposite decision would have been given; but here expounders of the law encourage outsiders not to pay a single dollar of taxes if they can help it, or do anything to improve the city, to erect public buildings, or to maintain public peace and good order. The policy of the traders to whom I have referred, is to get all the people’s money they possibly can, to send men to Wash– ington to howl for an army to come to Utah.

There is a gentleman present this afternoon who said, “we want an army here, not to injure the people, but to get our hands into the public pocket, and our arms too up to the shoulders. I want myself to get one hundred thousand dollars.” What else do they want an army here for? As a means of getting into my houses and into yours, to defile our beds and drive us from our homes. That they will never do again; it never will take place. If the Latter-day Saints will cease supporting such men, they will leave our borders without our buying them out at the rates they propose. They are already sold at an exceedingly cheap rate. There are gentlemen here who are men of honor, and they may be found even among the Jews.

Let me here say a word to the Jews. We do not want you to believe our doctrine. If any professing to be Jews should do so, it would prove that they are not Jews. A Jew cannot now believe in Jesus Christ. Brother Neibaur, who thinks he is a Jew, is a good Latter-day Saint; he has not any of the blood of Judah in his veins. The decree has gone forth from the Almighty that they cannot have the benefit of the atonement until they gather to Jerusalem, for they said, let his blood be upon us and upon our children, consequently, they cannot believe in him until his second coming. We have a great desire for their welfare, and are looking for the time soon to come when they will gather to Jerusalem, build up the city and the land of Palestine, and prepare for the coming of the Messiah. When he comes again he will not come as he did when the Jews rejected him; nei– ther will he appear first at Jerusalem when he makes his second appearance on the earth; but he will appear first on the land where he commenced his work in the beginning, and planted the garden of Eden, and that was done in the land of America.

When the Savior visits Jerusalem, and the Jews look upon him, and see the wounds in his hands and in his side and in his feet, they will then know that they have persecuted and put to death the true Messiah, and then they will acknowledge him, but not till then. They have confounded his first and second coming, expecting his first coming to be as a mighty prince instead of as a servant. They will go back by and by to Jerusalem and own their Lord and Master. We have no feelings against them. I wish they were all gentlemen, men of heart and brain, and knew precisely how the Lord looks upon them.

The Latter-day Saints, in all their travels, have not been as rebellious as the Children of Israel were. Here we are, and the kingdom of God has to be built up by us, and we have a warfare on hand. We have men in our midst who are as full of lies and enmity against this people as the air is full of matter, who are constantly trying to bring evil upon this community. We have the principles and powers of darkness to combat; they stalk abroad at noonday and in the night, and their influences are at work in secret chambers. We must contend against them.

I will return to our present condition of affairs. I do not think the Government of the United States collects one-hundredth part of the revenue which is due to them for liquor sold by importers and those who manufacture liquor here in this Territory, though I may be mistaken in this. The City Council manufacture liquor and they pay the revenue due on it to the Government, and I am of the opinion they are the only ones in this Territory who promptly do so.

I mean to hold this subject, of not supporting our enemies, before the people, until I get the Saints to build up the kingdom of God unitedly, and let our open and secret enemies alone. Let the Saints spend their money with those merchants who pay their taxes and seek to build up this place and develop the country. Let our enemies alone. “What, all the outsiders?” Not by any means. I trade with outsiders all the time. We trade with them abroad in the east, and by and by we shall trade with them in China and Japan, and with other nations of the world. Our course is upward and onward. “Mormonism” is not going to die out.

My counsel to the Latter-day Saints is to let all merchants alone who seek to do evil to this people. Those who will do well, deal righteously and justly, will be one with us in our financial affairs. There is nothing uncommon in this course. We see it carried out in almost every city in the Union. The Roman Catholics will deal with their friends in preference to their enemies. The same may be said of the Methodists, and of almost every religious sect in Christendom. The same also will apply to political factions. Do you not think that it would be impolitic for us to pursue an opposite course to this? Should we not be of one heart and mind in our temporal interests as well as in our spiritual? What interest have we upon the earth, only to build up the kingdom of God and share and enjoy the benefits arising from this labor? Have you any interest in the “Gentile” nations? Have you any interest in building up “Gentile” cities, as they are called? You have not. Your whole interest is embraced in building up the kingdom of God.

While I advise my brethren to withdraw all support from their enemies, I would have it distinctly understood that we deport ourselves in a friendly and neighborly manner towards our friends. This I calculate always to do; and I shall require something more of them by and by. We shall expect them to open their mouths and use their pens for the right, the just and the honorable. With them we will deal, and together build up settlements and cities, and produce peace and harmony in the country, instead of anarchy and war. I wish our friends to lift their voices against those vile wretches who are seeking to destroy an innocent and industrious people. We wish them to write, and send their testimony to these who will publish it to the world, that the Latter-day Saints are doing as near right as any people. There are some who do it, and more will do it by and by. We will be known and understood better than we have been. Sustain those who sustain this kingdom, and those that fight against it, cease to sustain them.

I am disposed to make a few remarks with regard to a circumstance that transpired here a short time ago; I refer to the death of Dr. Robinson. I have preached here a number of times since he was killed in the street, and have never referred to the subject here. Ex-Governor Weller was assisted in the investigation of this matter by the best counsel that could be got. The great drift of that investigation was to trace that murder to the pulpit of the Tabernacle. I sent word to them by those who I thought would tell them while they were in session where they sat day after day and week after week, not to cease their investigations until they had traced that murder to Brigham Young if it was possible. I also sent word to them to call upon Brigham Young for examination. There is a gentleman here this afternoon who has said that he knows all about it. If he does, why does he not tell of it; and privately he places the murder upon President Brigham Young. Why do you not testify to what you know before the Courts? If President Young is guilty of any such crime, trace it to him. There are some things that Brigham has said he would do; but has never happened to do them; and that is not all, he prays fervently, to his Father and God that he may never be brought into circumstances to be obliged to shed human blood. He never has yet been brought into such a position. Still, let me find a dog in my bedroom, I would not say that he would be very safe; I hope he will never get there. If I should find a dog in my buttery, or in my bedroom as some have, I fear they would give their last howl. I hope and pray they never will come there. If they jump my claims here, I shall be very apt to give them a pre-emption right that will last them to the last resurrection. I hope no man will ever venture so far as to tempt me to do such a thing. The Latter-day Saints will never again pull up stakes and give their possessions to their enemies. You think that you can get the Government to help you to do this. It will never be done worlds without end. (A unanimous amen.) We are going to live our religion, and be fervent in the service of our God.

I see a notice in the Daily Telegraph that they are going to send a detec– tive here to trace the murderers of Dr. Robinson. It is published to the world that the murdered man had no enemies only in the City Council. He had no enemies there. Were it not that there are many outsiders here today I would like the Saints to know how I feel about all such dastardly transactions. I will tell the Latter-day Saints that there are some things which transpire that I cannot think about. There are transactions that are too horrible for me to contemplate.

The massacre at Haun’s mill, and that of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and the Mountain Meadow’s massacre, and the murder of Dr. Robinson are of this character. I cannot think that there are beings upon the earth who have any claim to the sentiments and feelings which dwell in the breasts of civilized men who could be guilty of such atrocities; and it is hard to suppose that even savages would be capable of performing such inhuman acts. To call a physician out of his bed in the night under the pretext of needing his services, and then brutally kill him in the dark, is horrible. “Have you any idea who did that horrible deed?” I have not the least idea in the world who could perpetrate such a crime. I say to all concerned, cease not your efforts until you find the murderers; and place the guilt where it belongs. I have not said this much before on that matter, and should not have spoken of it now, if the excitement which it created had not passed away. I do not care about the outsiders hearing this, as their opinion is neither here nor there to me; the Saints, however, are welcome to my views upon this matter. If the outsiders think that I am guilty of the crime, let them trace it to me and prove it on me.

If any man, woman, or child that ever lived has said that Brigham Young ever counseled them to commit crime of any description, they are liars in the face of heaven. If I am guilty of any such thing, let it be proved on me, and not go sneaking around insinuating that Brigham knows all about it. Infernal thieves will come into my public office and sit ten minutes, and then go out and lead thoughtless persons into the practice of thieving, saying: “It is all right; I have been up to see the President.” Such men will be damned. This will answer my mind for the present. This, however, is not all I shall say on this subject; but shall, so help me my Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus, continue my exertions until the Latter-day Saints shall cease supporting their enemies and learn to build up the kingdom of God. If the Latter-day Saints will live their religion, they will increase in political and commercial strength and influence, power and glory on this earth, until we shall be above and entirely out of the reach of those miserable creatures who are continually seeking our overthrow; and we shall go upward and onward, and rise, and continue to rise and increase, until the kingdom of God is fully established on the earth.

The genius of our religion is to have mercy upon all, do good to all, as far as they will let us do good to them. So far as any people will let the Lord do good to them, so far will he do it. We preach life and salvation to all. “But we will not have your doctrine, we will be Jews.” Be Jews; be honest Jews and live your religion that was given to you by Moses. Let every other religious sect do the same. Let the fraternity of the brotherhood keep their oaths and covenants and vows, and they will be honest, upright men, and gentlemen. May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, in the Bowery, G.S.L. City, August 19, 1866.

There is quite a number of subjects and little points that I wish to speak upon, and hope that I shall be able to set them forth in a manner which will answer my wishes.

In the first place, I will say with regard to our Delegate to Congress who has addressed you this afternoon, and this I will say for myself, that I am perfectly satisfied with his course while he has been absent on this mission as our Delegate to the seat of our government. I am satisfied that he has done all that we could expect of him, and I will say further, he has done more than we believed he could perform. Had we possessed the assurance which we now have of his ability, faithfulness and perseverance before he went to Washington, we might have anticipated all his labors and success. He told you the truth, when he said that his affliction, through the bereavement he has suffered, caused him to cleave to the Lord; and I can say of a truth, judging from the spirit which is in him, that the words Brother Stenhouse spoke concerning him this afternoon are true; he is a better man than when he left here for the city of Washington—he is a better man than ever he was before on the earth; he has more faith in God today than ever he had; he is sur– rounded with an influence that I never saw him possess before his travels and labors at Washington this last term. His labors are known to me. They were known to me when he was in Washington—both his conduct and his success were known to individuals here. We are glad to say of him that we are proud of his labors. We can say this safely in his presence, for he has enough of the Spirit of the Lord in him not to feel flattered. This I believe will satisfy all the Latter-day Saints, and very likely a great many others. Enough on this.

Brother Hooper and Brother Stenhouse have avoided, in their speaking this afternoon, an error that I committed last Sunday by mentioning names; and I will now ask the pardon of this congregation forever speaking a name when attached to such a vile character, as I mentioned last Sunday. We know by the power of the Spirit of God that it is true, that when men rise up against the Gospel of life and salvation, they will always commit themselves, and then they will commit themselves with one another to that degree that they cannot believe each other. This is the case with those more particularly who have arrayed themselves against us for a few years past. Their work they must perform. I do not wish to injure them. They must have their day. Their time and season are allotted to them, the same as to all men for good or for evil. They can do us no harm—they can do nothing against the truth. The Lord will make the wicked and the ungodly and their acts accomplish his design, for, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” We need have no fears with regard to the outside world, if we will purify and cleanse the inside of the platter. If this people, the Latter-day Saints, who profess to know and understand the way of life and salvation, can sanctify themselves so that they are accepted of God our Father, and of Jesus Christ, his Son, our Elder Brother and Savior, then all is right everywhere. Rest assured that the omitting of that duty is all we need fear.

I wish to give my views with regard to that doctrine and practice which are so obnoxious to the outsiders—to those who do not believe. It is an old saying that a continual dropping will wear a stone, so a continual laboring will bring about the purposes of the Lord. They say that polygamy is obnoxious to the world. This is really not so; it is the name of it that they object to the most. In connection with this let us look at the Christian world, and I will refer to the ladies who compose a portion of this congregation. There are many ladies, probably, here, who have lived long in the outside world, previous to coming to Utah, and who are not entirely unacquainted with the usages of society there. You know that it is customary to admit a certain class of gentlemen to private parties and entertainments where they are greeted cordially and welcome. They are esteemed as gentlemen of grace, edu– cation and polished manners; they are adept in all the little extras of most refined society. They are great lovers of the fair sex, and their gallantry, fine appearance, and gentlemanly bearing too readily win for them the deepest admiration of the fair ones who may chance to cross their path. Yet it is not unknown, in the circles they frequent, that they are vile and corrupt, with regard to chastity. Yes, it is known that those beautiful gentlemen are libertines, that they do not respect female virtue any more than they do their old clothes, which they have worn and cast off. Yet, they are greeted with the most profound respect and deference, their great crimes against female chastity are winked at, and they are still permitted to frequent the best society to lead astray, and decoy from the paths of virtue, the unsuspecting and unwary female.

Take another view of this subject. Let anyone of the poor unfortunates, whom those unprincipled scoundrels have, by their hellish arts, seduced from the paths of virtue and honor, make her appearance in a select party where the ladies are fanning the vanity of those wicked men with their unmeaning and insincere adulations, and what would be the consequence? Instead of making the poor creature welcome, she would be spurned from their presence; unceremoniously cast out upon the cold world to be crushed down still deeper into the dark depths of crime and degradation, with none to reach forth a saving hand, or shed a tear of sympathy over the dreadful fate of the dishonored and lost one.

This is one of the inconsistencies of the refined society of the age. The defiler of the innocent is the one who should be branded with infamy and cast out from respectable society, and shunned as a pest, or as a contagious disease is shunned. The doors of respectable families should be closed against him, and he should be frowned upon by all high-minded and virtuous persons. Wealth, influence and position should not screen him from their righteous indignation. His sin is one of the blackest in the calendar of crime, and he should be cast down from the high pinnacle of respectability and consideration, to find his place among the worst of felons.

Every virtuous woman desires a husband to whom she can look for guidance and protection through this world. God has placed this desire in woman’s nature. It should be respected by the stronger sex. Any man who takes advantage of this, and humbles a daughter of Eve to rob her of her virtue, and cast her off dishonored and defiled, is her destroyer, and is responsible to God for the deed. If the refined Christian society of the nineteenth century will tolerate such a crime, God will not; but he will call the perpetrator to an account. He will be damned; in hell he will lift up his eyes, being in torment, until he has paid the uttermost farthing, and made a full atonement for his sins. It is this very class of men, though not all of them, who have set up such a howl against the doctrine of polygamy, which is so much despised and which was believed in and practiced by the ancients—by the very men who are held up to us as patterns of all the piety that was ever exhibited through man upon the face of the earth.

This matter was a little changed in the case of the Savior of the world, the Son of the living God. The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband. On this account infidels have called the Savior a bastard. This is merely a human opinion upon one of the inscrutable doings of the Almighty. That very babe that was cradled in the manger, was begotten, not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being. Do you inquire by whom? He was begotten by God our heavenly Father. This answer may suffice you—you need never inquire more upon that point. Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father, and he is the Savior of the world, and full of grace and truth. It is not polygamy that men fight against when they persecute this people; but, still, if we continue to be faithful to our God, he will defend us in doing what is right. If it is wrong for a man to have more than one wife at a time, the Lord will reveal it by and by, and he will put it away that it will not be known in the Church. I did not ask Him for the revelation upon this subject. When that revelation was first read to me by Joseph Smith, I plainly saw the great trials and the abuse of it that would be made by many of the Elders, and the trouble and the persecution that it would bring upon this whole people. But the Lord revealed it, and it was my business to accept it.

Now, we as Christians desire to be saved in the kingdom of God. We desire to attain to the possession of all the blessings there are for the most faithful man or people that ever lived upon the face of the earth, even him who is said to be the father of the faithful, Abraham of old. We wish to obtain all that father Abraham obtained. I wish here to say to the Elders of Israel, and to all the members of this Church and kingdom, that it is in the hearts of many of them to wish that the doctrine of polygamy was not taught and practiced by us. It may be hard for many, and especially for the ladies, yet it is no harder for them than it is for the gentlemen. It is the word of the Lord, and I wish to say to you, and all the world, that if you desire with all your hearts to obtain the blessings which Abraham obtained, you will be polygamists at least in your faith, or you will come short of enjoying the salvation and the glory which Abraham has obtained. This is as true as that God lives. You who wish that there were no such thing in existence, if you have in your hearts to say: “We will pass along in the Church without obeying or submitting to it in our faith or believing this order, because, for aught that we know, this community may be broken up yet, and we may have lucrative offices offered to us; we will not, therefore, be polygamists lest we should fail in obtaining some earthly honor, character, and office, etc.” The man that has that in his heart, and will continue to persist in pursuing that policy, will come short of dwelling in the presence of the Father and the Son, in celestial glory. The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy. Others attain unto a glory and may even be permitted to come into the presence of the Father and the Son; but they cannot reign as kings in glory, because they had blessings offered unto them, and they refused to accept them.

The Lord gave a revelation through Joseph Smith, His servant; and we have believed and practiced it. Now, then, it is said that this must be done away before we are permitted to receive our place as a State in the Union. It may be, or it may not be. One of the twin relics—slavery—they say, is abolished. I do not, however, wish to speak about this; but if slavery and oppression and ironhanded cruelty are not more felt by the blacks today than before, I am glad of it. My heart is pained for that unfortunate race of men. One twin relic having been strangled, the other, they say, must next be destroyed. It is they and God for it, and you will all find that out. It is not Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Daniel H. Wells and the Elders of Israel they are fighting against; but it is the Lord Almighty. What is the Lord going to do? He is going to do just as he pleases, and the world cannot help themselves.

I heard the revelation on polygamy, and I believed it with all my heart, and I know it is from God—I know that he revealed it from heaven; I know that it is true, and understand the bearings of it and why it is. “Do you think that we shall ever be admitted as a State into the Union without denying the principle of polygamy?” If we are not admitted until then, we shall never be admitted. These things will be just as the Lord will. Let us live to take just what he sends to us, and when our enemies rise up against us, we will meet them as we can, and exercise faith and pray for wisdom and power more than they have, and contend continually for the right. Go along, my children, saith the Lord, do all you can, and remember that your blessings come through your faith. Be faithful and cut the corners of your enemies where you can—get the advantage of them by faith and good works, take care of yourselves, and they will destroy themselves. Be what you should be, live as you should, and all will be well.

Who knows but the time will come when the inquiry will be made in Washington, by the President, by the Congressmen: “Are things any worse in Utah than in Washington: than they are in New York? Or in any State of the Union? Are they more unvirtuous, are they more disloyal to the Government? But then there is polygamy.” That has nothing in the least to do with our being loyal or disloyal, one way or the other. But is not the practice of polygamy a transgression of the law of the United States? How are we transgressing that law? In no other way than by obeying a revelation which God has given unto us touching a religious ordinance of his Church. And the anti-polygamy law has yet to be tested, as to its constitutionality, by the courts which have jurisdiction. By and by men will appear in the departments of the Government who will inquire into the validity of some laws and question their constitutionality. Marriage is a civil contract. You might as well make a law to say how many children a man shall have, as to make a law to say how many wives he shall have. It would be as sensible to make a law to say how many horses or oxen he shall possess, or how many cows his wife shall milk. If a woman wants to live with me as a wife, all right; but the law says you must not marry her, and own her as your wife openly. As the law stands, she can come home to me, not as my wife, you know; she can sweep my house, make my bed, help me to make the butter and cheese, and share in all my pleasure and wealth, but the ceremony of marriage must not be performed. This is what is practiced in the outside world from the President in his chair to the lowest dog-whipper on the street that has means to obtain. They have their mistresses, and thereby violate every principle of virtue, chastity and righteousness.

In the large cities of the east—New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Cincinnati, Albany, Boston, etc., clubs are formed, composed of young men of those cities who pass in society as bachelors. Instead of entering into the honorable state of marriage, they hire and support girls. If one of the young men in the club should get honorably married, he is at once rejected, and his name is erased from the roll. The members of those clubs have their girls here and there; but no binding contract exists between them, either for time or eternity—for this life or that which is to come. They are hired the same as you would hire a horse and chaise at a livery stable; you go out a few days for a ride, return again, put up your horse, pay down your money, and you are freed from all further responsibility. The Lord of heaven and earth frowns upon this sort of traffic. The constitution and every just law of the United States are opposed to it. All honorable ladies and gentlemen in North and South America, and in all the world, should be ready to raise their voices against it, in terms of indignation and disgust.

The last time I was in the city of Lowell there were fourteen thousand more females than males in that one city. That is many years ago. They live and die in a single state, and are forgotten. Have they filled the measure of their creation, and accomplished the design of heaven in bringing them upon the earth? No; they have not. Two thousand good, Godfearing men should go there, and take to themselves seven wives apiece. It is written in the Bible, “And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.” The Government of the United States do not intend that that prophecy shall be fulfilled, and the Lord Almighty means that it shall. Do you not think that the Lord will conquer? I think he will, and we are helping him. It is the decree of the Almighty, that in the last days seven women shall take hold of one man, &c., to be counseled and advised by him, being willing to spin their own wool, make their own clothing and do everything they can to earn their own living, if they can only bear his name to take away their reproach. What is this order for? It is for the resurrection; it is not for this world. I would not go across this bowery for polygamy, if it only pertained to this world. It is for the resurrection; and the Spirit of the Lord has come upon the people, and upon the ladies especially, to prepare the way for the fulfillment of his word. The female sex have been deceived so long, and been trodden under foot of man so long, that a spirit has come upon them, and they want a place, and a name, and a head; for the man is the head of the woman, to lead her into the celestial kingdom of our Father and God.

A great many people who have lived in this Territory for a time have testified to their friends at home that there is more peace, more real happiness and joy, more union and fellowship in the families of Utah, than can be found in their own neighborhoods and cities. They say that which is true. There is not a tenth part of the trouble in families in this city where there are many wives that there is where there is but one wife. I have more trouble and difficulties to settle with those who have but one companion than I have with those who have more than one, to counsel and advise them, and coax and persuade them to live their religion and do as they should do.

I have proved to my Father and God that I am willing to forsake wives and children, and labor all my life time to build up his kingdom and never enjoy the society of a companion while I live; that I did in my young days, and I feel the same today. By and by the word will be given to me and my brethren to arise from the dead in the first resurrection, and receive the keys thereof, and go and call forth the rest. That will be here in a little while. When a man comes upon the borders of three-score years and ten he begins to prepare and look to where he shall be buried; though he may live a little longer, the sands of life will soon be run out. There are now many in this congregation who will soon see the allotted number of years for man to live. I shall see it in less than five years more. Whether I shall live over that time is no matter to me, if I can do the work designed of the Lord for me to do.

I will here notice what Brother Joseph F. Smith was talking of this morning. It was said to Joseph Smith, the prophet, “according to your faith and the teachings of your Elders, nobody will be saved but you, Mormons; now, Mr. Smith, will all be damned but the Mormons?” Jos. Smith replied, “yes, and the most of them, unless they repent and do better.” To be damned is to be banished from, or be deprived of living in the presence of the Father and the Son. Who will live with him? Those whom I have already mentioned. They will come up and inherit the highest glory that is prepared for the faithful—those who live as father Abraham did, and improve upon every means of grace, and upon every privilege given to them of the Lord. What is going to become of the others? Brother Joseph F. Smith told us the truth this morning. None will become angels to the devil except those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost. There exists many intermediate states between the highest glory, where God the father dwells, and the lowest kingdom among these kingdoms which are not kingdoms of glory. “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” said Jesus. The mansions in his Father’s house are many, and they are ready to receive the people of this world who have lived according to the best light they have; and they contain all who have lived upon the earth from the beginning to this time, and they are capacious enough to receive all who will live to the end of time. John Wesley, and other great ecclesiastical reformers, could not attain to the same glory, by their own acts, while in the flesh that they would have done had the fullness of the Holy Priesthood been upon the earth in their day, and they had possessed all the glory and power and keys of it, and lived faithful to its requirements all their days. They cannot be crowned as Gods, even the Sons of God. Will they be saved? They will. In a kingdom? in a good kingdom? A kingdom full of glory, full of light and joy, more than ever entered into the heart of man to conceive. While they lived it never entered into their hearts to conceive of the glory they do or will enjoy. If they have committed wrongs, and repented of them, the blood of the Savior will cleanse them from all sin, except the sin against the Holy Ghost, which is a sin unto death. The Apostle John writes, “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that ye shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.”

I have endeavored to give you a few items relating to the celestial kingdom of God and to the other kingdoms which the Lord has prepared for his children. The Lamanites or Indians are just as much the children of our Father and God as we are. So also are the Africans. But we are also the children of adoption through obedience to the Gospel of his Son. Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a sin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the Holy Priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the Holy Priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to. The volition of the creature is free; this is a law of their existence, and the Lord cannot violate his own law; were he to do that, he would cease to be God. He has placed life and death before his children, and it is for them to choose. If they choose life, they receive the blessings of life; if they chose death, they must abide the penalty. This is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every intelligent being must have the power of choice, and God brings forth the results of the acts of his creatures to promote his kingdom and subserve his purposes in the salvation and exaltation of his children. If the Lord could have his own way, he would have all the human family to enter into his church and kingdom, receive the Holy Priesthood and come into the celestial kingdom of our Father and God, by the power of their own choice.

May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, in the Bowery, G.S.L. City, August 12, 1866.

I have a few words to say to the Latter-day Saints this afternoon, and if I had time, I have many I could say. I would exhort the Latter-day Saints to live in peace, to pursue a course that will effectually preserve the peace that is taught them in the Gospel of the Son of God, and avoid by every possible and righteous means entering into contention, quarreling, disputations, lawsuits, &c., &c.

You have heard from brother Geo. A. Smith this afternoon a little of the history of this Church and people, and the cause of their coming to these valleys. I am thankful that the rehearsal of those occurrences has ceased to irritate me as it did formerly. But we are here, and we wish to enjoy peace; we earnestly desire it, and we calculate to have it. We are where our enemies cannot come from Carthage and Warsaw before breakfast, and from Springfield in two days. We are so far off, and it is so inconvenient to bring this people to sorrow and affliction in the way it was formerly done, that they consider another plan necessary to be instituted. I wish to tell you what it is.

Brother George A. this afternoon has referred to the lawyers. Where the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together, and it seems they think that there is one here to which they are gathering. I want them to live here; but I want them to plant their own potatoes and hoe them. It would appear that they think that a civilized community cannot live long together without contention and consequent lawsuits. I think that a community is civilized so far as it is free from contentions, lawsuits and litigation of every kind. We wish our friends to come here, and participate with us in the good things the Lord has provided for his people; but we do not want contention. When I hear men and women say that they will go to a Gentile court to have their difficulties adjusted, I think they will go to hell unless they refrain from such a spirit.

The law is made for the lawless and disobedient, not for the good, wise, just, and virtuous. Law is made for the maintenance of peace, not for the introduction of litigation and disorder.

What is the true relationship of lawyers to the law and to the community? They should be the true representatives of peace; it should be their business to promote it. I am now taking the liberty of discharging a duty I owe to the lawyers in telling them what their duty is. They read the law; they do or should understand the law of the United States, of the States, and of the Territories and cities in which they live, and whenever they have an opportunity of telling the people how to live in a way to avoid litigation, it is their duty so to do. Then if they wish to get a living, instead of picking people’s pockets, as is too commonly the case, let them have their stores, and bring on goods and trade, buy farms and follow the healthy and honorable professing of farming, and raise their own provisions, and stock enough for themselves and some to part with, and when their services are wanted in the law, give it as freely as we do the Gospel. It is said by lawyers, “We cannot spend our time without some remuneration.” You have no need to spend your time only in some way to produce means for your subsistence. You can give legal advice freely, and pursue an honorable and productive business for a living.

Once I had the pleasure of hearing of a lawyer in old Massachusetts, who attended strictly to his duty. He came into the western part of Massachusetts and bought him a farm. He was probably as sound a lawyer as Boston ever produced. They wanted to know why he went to farming instead of following the profession of the law. He replied, that according to the present practice a man could not answer the demands of his clients and be honest. When any of the people would come to him for advice, if he was ploughing in the field, he would stop his team and request them to tell him the truth, to state the case as it was, keeping nothing back on their side of the question. When he had heard their case he would advise them to settle the affair without going to law, telling them what was right and just. When they would ask him what he charged for his advice, he would receive nothing, his team had been resting while he had been conversing, and he would go to ploughing again. One lawyer has actually lived in the United States who did not depend upon the practice of the law for a living, but followed a legitimate business and gave legal advice freely to all who asked it. In pursuing this course he did not follow the practice of picking the pockets of the widow and the fatherless.

We have a few lawyers here, and I know the object of their being here. I object to their introducing litigation among this people. In some instances it may be necessary to sue men. We have some men in this community who are dishonest; they will run into debt, and will not pay their debts. What shall we do with such men? Shall we sue them? Yes; if they will not pay their debts and have the means to do so, sue them; turn them over to the law, which is made for such characters, but they should first be deprived of the fellowship of the Saints. A man who will not pay his honest debts is no Latter-day Saint, if he has the means to pay them. A man who will run into debt, when he has no prospect of paying it back again, does not understand the principles that should prevail in a well regulated community, or he is willfully dishonest. In this country no persons need run into debt to get bread to feed themselves and their families. There is no need to go into the second house in this Community to ask for food. Those who need can obtain food at the first house, in nearly every instance, at which they will apply. This community feed the poor and the hungry, and clothe the naked, and they will not let the stranger, or those in necessity, ask alms without responding to their calls, if it is in their power to relieve them. Consequently, there is no need of any person running into debt without a prospect of paying. Men in our community run into debt to our brethren, and if they are asked for the pay, they think it is not saint– like if they are asked to sell their stock or put themselves about in the least to pay their just debts. I have had to contend for, and defend men of business who have sought to do the community good in transacting business here, from being imposed upon in this way. But there is no need of further explanation regarding this; we all understand it; if there are strangers, or any who belong to the church, who do not understand it, watch the careers and lives of those who have been long in the church and who understand true principle, and see whether they pay their debts or not.

Now, I ask every man and woman who wishes an honorable name in the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, if they have entertained any idea of going to law, to banish it from their minds at once. We have our Bishop’s courts; they can tell us what is right. We have our High Councils, and we have also our Selectmen here who are sustained by the suffrages of the people. If you are not satisfied with the decisions of the Bishop’s court and the High Council, call upon the Selectmen, and let them judge your case. We may be told that it is necessary for us to have a lawyer to present our case in a legal manner before the courts; but the less we have to do with this class of professional men the easier and cheaper will our difficulties be settled. When a lawyer is going to court with a case, if you ask him, “Do you calculate to be honest?”

“Certainly.”

“Just?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Truthful?”

“Most assuredly.”

“Do you expect, in presenting a case to the court, to do anything more than to present the facts in the case?”

“No.”

“Where do you get the facts which you present before the judge and jury?”

“From the witnesses.”

“Have you men of common sense on the jury?”

“Yes; the best we can find; they are men of good capacity and capable of judging right from wrong.”

Then what good does it do to reiterate the testimony of witnesses before the jury? It is an endeavor to make white black and black white, to make the jury believe that they do not know anything, but that “I know it all,” and “I tell you law,” &c. Lawyers will quote law that has been obsolete for years before a jury who may not be so well acquainted with the letter of the law, and this they will do to endeavor, if possible, to blind the eyes and confuse the minds of the judge and jury, to make out something that is different from the facts in the case. Is this the business and duty of a lawyer? It is not. His duty is to place facts before the court. The jury can hear the witnesses as well as the lawyer can, the judge can hear the witnesses as well as the lawyer can, and when the simple facts are told, then let just men decide.

It should be considered beneath the profession of a lawyer to endeavor to clear the guilty, and place the innocent in bonds or bring them into disrepute. I wish to say to that class of gentlemen who are here, that if they expect to break up this people by lawsuits, I think they will have a hard time. I will use my influence with every good man, whether he is in the church or out of it, never to think of going to law. What comes of litigation? Poverty and degradation to any community that will en– courage it. Will it build cities, open farms, build railroads, erect telegraph lines and improve a country? It will not; but it will bring any community to ruin. It draws hundreds of men within the circle of its influence, who crowd the courtrooms and spend days and weeks and months of their precious time for naught, time that should be employed in getting lumber from the canyons, in building houses and in providing comfortable means of subsistence for their families. Does it make peaceable, honest, and industrious citizens? It does not, but it engenders strife and habits of intemperance and idleness. Instead of crime being lessened by its influence, it only helps to swell the dark stream.

We have not been broken up, as has been anticipated, by military force, and now it is expected that a course of lawsuits will accomplish what the military failed to do. I will say one thing to my friends, or to my enemies as they may consider themselves (I myself am not an enemy to any man, yet I am an enemy to some actions), if you undertake to drive a stake in my garden with an intention to jump my claim, there will be a fight before you get it; if you come within an enclosure of mine with any such intent, I will send you home, God being my helper. You can occupy and build where you please, but let our claims alone. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taking out the waters of our mountain streams, fencing in farms and improving the country, and we cannot tamely suffer strangers, who have not spent one day’s labor to make these improvements, to wrest our homesteads out of our hands. There is land enough in the country: go to and improve it, as we have improved our possessions; build cities, as we have done, and thus strive to reclaim the country from its wild state. Is it not a strange thing that men cannot see anything only what the “Mormons” possess; hence, I swear it, by the Gods of eternity, if we are obliged to leave this country, we will leave it as desolate as we found it, and we will hunt those who would compel us to leave to the last minute. Let us alone, and help us to build up cities and towns and villages in these mountains, instead of seeking to destroy the few industrious inhabitants that are here and have made the country. You cannot destroy this community; it never can be done. Remember that. And you men and women who think of going to Gentile law to have your difficulties adjusted, I would advise you to stop it, and let the lawyers go into other business.

We have plenty of good lawyers who belong to the Church, and there are more coming. I have some friends coming here, as eminent lawyers as Massachusetts can produce. I advised them to bring their capital and so invest it that they could live without depending upon litigation and the practice of the law. Ever since this Church was first organized until now we have had to manage and scheme to escape the toils and snares of our enemies. We have had to ask God for wisdom that we might know how to wind our way through the difficulties you have just heard Brother George A. Smith relate. Lawyers will plead law for the Latter-day Saints as well as for anybody else in the world if they can get their pay for it. I have seen too much of this for 34 years past. In the days of Joseph Smith lawyers would get together and hatch out a vexatious lawsuit; one would agree to defend him and another would agree to plead against him, and this with a view to get his money. Thousands, and tens of thousands of dollars have been collected to pay lawyers’ fees. “Brother Brigham, how much have you paid?” Not one farthing. I defied our enemies to get anything against me wherein I had in any way transgressed the laws of my country; and if they tried unlawfully, and with a design to put me in bonds, and to get money from me, they would have to run some risk. We have had to work and pray in order to get along when we had lawyers watching us all the time to get something against the leaders of this people whereby they could in some way bring a lawsuit against them.

Now, they suppose that they have got us safely on polygamy. What about that? I would say to Congress that if they will pass a law, making it death for any man to hold illicit intercourse with any woman but his lawful wife, we would meet them half way on that ground. It is not uncommon for men who have not been lawfully married to any woman, but who pass as old bachelors, to have children by several women. A recent case occurred in Europe which illustrates this point. Prince Christian of Holstein, who has recently married one of the daughters of Victoria, Queen of England, has what is termed a morganatic wife in Germany, by whom he has several children, yet the first lady in Europe, as Queen Victoria is called, with the knowledge of the fact that this Prince, who proposed for her daughter’s hand, was the father of several children by a woman, who to all intents and purposes was his wife, accepts him as a suitable match for her youthful daughter. The first Court in Europe is not shocked by an alliance of this kind, no more than is the first society of this country by similar occurrences in the cities east. Men may do as they please with women, have numerous children by them, and take as many liberties with them as if they were their wives, and yet not call them wives, and modern society smiles upon them. But whenever a man applies the sacred name of wife to the mother of his children, if he happen to have more than one, then the world professes to be wonderfully shocked at the idea. What inconsistency!

Such men will go to hell for ruining innocent women and increasing illegitimate children in the land. The community or nation that indulge in such practices will be damned. If I have wives, I take care of them, and I want my neighbors to let them and my daughters alone. Do you understand it? If you do not, and should undertake to infringe upon any of them, I will point my finger at you. Our young men, and we have many, live virtuous lives with regard to illicit communication with the sexes; they observe the law which has been given to this people. Ask the Lamanites if their women ever complained of being insulted by any of our men at any time, and they cannot produce an instance. How is it with the outsiders—mountaineers, trappers, hunters, soldiers, and other men who have been brought in contact with them. What will the Indians tell you about them? By mingling with those outsiders the Indians will soon be in the dust. Many of them have gone there already by mingling with the Gentiles; the seeds of death have been sown among them, and many of them are dying off; and they will continue to die through that cause. When our Elders go abroad to preach the Gospel, or when they remain at home, if they do not live according to the law of God, we sever them from the Church, and have no further fellowship with them.

The doctrine of plurality of wives was revealed to this people from heaven, and if heaven had revealed that we should have no wife at all, it would have been as faithfully ob– served as the present law, even if it should result in the depopulation of the world, according to the profession of the Shaking Quakers. But the Lord did not get his kingdom in that way. The kingdoms he possesses and rules over are his own progeny. Every man who is faithful and gets a salvation and glory, and becomes a king of kings and Lord of Lords, or a father of fathers, it will be by the increase of his own progeny. Our Father and God rules over his own children. Wherever there is a God in all the eternities possessing a kingdom and glory and power it is by means of his own progeny. I am not going to ask the people whether they believe it or not; and I do not want Brother Heber to do it either, for it is none of their business. When I tell the truth I do not ask anyone’s testimony to swear to it.

The economy of heaven is to gather in all, and save everybody who can be saved. Do we wish to destroy people? We do not, not even those ignorant, bloodthirsty Lamanites. Did we ever destroy? No; it is not our doctrine; but our doctrine is to build up and save life instead of destroying it. Is it necessary on any occasion and under any circumstances whatever? Yes, let a man meet me with a design to kill me, and I am going to get the first blow if I can. I have not come to die for the sins of the world as our Savior, Jesus Christ, did. It was necessary for him to be killed; but it is not necessary for me. It was not necessary for Joseph Smith to be killed, if the people had believed his testimony; but as the testator has sealed it with his blood, his testimony is in force on all the inhabitants of the earth, and wherever it goes those who reject it will be damned. Our doctrine is to preach the Gospel of life and salvation, and get every man, woman, and child to believe and embrace it, and live as near to its requirements as possible. That is the duty of the Elders of Israel, and it is our duty to preserve ourselves, our wives and children, whether we have many or few. Why does not our government make a law to say how many children a man shall have? They might as well do so as to make a law to say how many wives a man shall have.

There are a few in the Government who will listen to any testimony against us, no matter how false. The man who was referred to this morning has given testimony against us, respecting matters here, which is utterly false. After making such infamous statements, that man could not live here twenty-four hours, if it were not that we are Latter-day Saints who live here. By letting him alone, however, he will kill himself. There is also a man down the street who tried to exhibit the endowments to a party who was here. You will see what becomes of that man. Do not touch him. He has forfeited every right and title to eternal life; but let him alone, and you will see by and by what will become of him. His heart will ache, and so will the heart of every apostate that fights against Zion; they will destroy themselves. It is a mistaken idea that God destroys people, or that the Saints wish to destroy them. It is not so. The seeds of sin which are in them are sufficient to accomplish their destruction. Every government of the world has the seeds of its own destruction in itself.

I hope and trust and pray that the government of our country may remain, because it is so good; but if they cut off this, and cast out that, and institute another thing, they may destroy all the good it contains. This, I hope, they will not do; they cannot do it. I expect to see the day when the Elders of Israel will protect and sustain civil and religious liberty and every constitutional right bequeathed to us by our fathers, and spread those rights abroad in connection with the Gospel for the salvation of all nations. I shall see this whether I live or die.

May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, in Springville, Sunday, July 28, 1866.

Brother Ezra T. Benson’s remarks referring to our present difficulties with the Indians, and prospects of future difficulties, should be well considered by this people. As we have here an assemblage of the people from other settlements, I wish to impress them with the necessity of treating the Indians with kindness, and to refrain from harboring that revengeful, vindictive feeling that many indulge in. I am convinced that as long as we harbor in us such feelings towards them, so long they will be our enemies, and the Lord will suffer them to afflict us. I certainly believe that the present affliction, which has come upon us from the Indians, is a consequence of the wickedness which dwells in the hearts of some of our brethren. If the Elders of Israel had always treated the Lamanites as they should, I do not believe that we should have had any difficulty with them at all. This is my firm conviction, and my conclusion according to the light that is in me. I believe that the Lord permits them to chasten us at the present time to convince us that we have to overcome the vindictive feelings which we have harbored towards that poor, downtrodden branch of the house of Israel.

I spoke a harsh word here yesterday with regard to a man who professes to be a Latter-day Saint who has been guilty of killing an innocent Indian. I say today that he is just as much a murderer through killing that Indian, as he would have been had he shot down a white man. To slay an innocent person is murder according to the law of Moses. Not that we believe that the law of Moses should, in all its bearings, be observed by us; but we believe that it has been fulfilled in a great measure with regard to the law of sacrifice. The Lord said to Noah, before the law was given to Moses: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” Those who shed the blood of the innocent at the present day will have to pay the penalty here, or come short of receiving the glory and the peace which they anticipate receiving hereafter. This may appear very hard and unreasonable to some.

Brother Benson expressed himself as though some of the brethren felt like wiping out the Lamanites in these regions, root and branch. The evil passions that arise in our hearts would prompt us to do this, but we must bring them into subjection to the law of Christ.

I am told by Bishop Aaron Johnson that the Indians who formerly lived in this district, in Provo, on Peteetneet and round about Spanish Fork, have sent word that they wish to return to these settlements and live as they formerly did. Were they to come back again without the minds of the people being prepared, probably some of the Indians might get killed. I wish the people to take care of themselves—to not expose themselves to the ignorant Lamanites, without being prepared to defend themselves. When they come to live in your vicinity again, let them come in peace; and that they may come in peace and safety, and live with us as heretofore, it is necessary that all feelings of vengeance should be banished from our hearts. Do we wish to do right? You answer, yes. Then let the Lamanites come back to their homes, where they were born and brought up. This is the land that they and their fathers have walked over and called their own; and they have just as good a right to call it theirs today as any people have to call any land their own. They have buried their fathers and mothers and children here; this is their home, and we have taken possession of it, and occupy the land where they used to hunt the rabbit and, not a great while since, the buffalo, and the antelope were in these valleys in large herds when we first came here.

When we came here, they could catch fish in great abundance in the lake in the season thereof, and live upon them pretty much through the summer. But now their game has gone, and they are left to starve. It is our duty to feed them. The Lord has given us ability to cultivate the ground and reap bountiful harvests. We have an abundance of food for ourselves and for the stranger. It is our duty to feed these poor ignorant Indians; we are living on their possessions and at their homes.

The Lord has brought us here and it is all right. We are not intruders, but we are here by the providence of God. We should now use the Indians kindly, and deal with them so gently that we will win their hearts and affections to us more strongly than before; and the much good that has been done them, and the many kindnesses that have been shown them, will come up before them, and they will see that we are their friends. We could circumscribe their camps and kill every man, woman and child of them. This is what others have done, and if we were to do it, what better are we than the wicked and the ungodly? It is our duty to be better than them in our administrations of justice and our general conduct toward the Lamanites. It is not our duty to kill them; but it is our duty to save their lives and the lives of their children. We may not be able to foretell all things that will come to pass in the future, but we can tell when we deal righteously with one another.

If the people had taken the counsel which has been given with regard to the proper steps to be taken for the defense of life and property in new settlements, they would have been as secure from the depredations of Indians as the people are in the old settlements; but they would not build forts nor believe it necessary to follow the salutary counsels which have been continually given them. They have gone out unprotected with their wives and children to settle in the wilderness, exposing their lives and property to the attacks of the untutored, ungoverned and wild Indian. By their works shall ye know them, and by their works shall they be justified or condemned. Their works speak for them. We beg of them to secure themselves when they go into new places; they will not do it, until sorrow overtakes them, and they are obliged to mourn the loss of a father, a husband, a wife, a brother, a sister, a mother, a daughter, or a son who has been killed by the Indians.

Shall we do as the Lamanites do? No. I forbid it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—I forbid any elder or member in this church slaying an innocent Lamanite, any more than he would slay an innocent white man; but treat them as they are in their degraded state. When a man undertakes to shoot an ignorant Indian, except in defense of life and property, he degrades himself to the level of the red man, and the portion of that Indian shall be his, and his generations shall be cut off from the earth.

We shall have an end of this Indian war; they are not going to slay us by any means, no; they will see the time they would rather defend this people than slay them. The present difficulties will end in the benefit of the Latter-day Saints, and the exaltation of the poor, ignorant Lamanites; and the person or persons who supply the Lamanites with powder and lead, and foster and encourage them in killing the Saints, will find that their iniquity will turn upon their own heads. Let the Indians live, and help them to live.

By and by they will be suing to us for mercy, and if they repent, according to the revelations given to us we are bound to forgive them. I would rather that a man repent than persist in his wickedness. Is there a heart here today that would desire to have a man damned rather than to be saved? I would rather all men would serve God. That heart that would rather have a man damned, and never come to the knowledge of the truth, is devoid of the Spirit of revelation that wishes all men to be saved. The spirit of Him who has redeemed us, cries upon all men to come unto him and be saved. Jesus Christ has redeemed the earth and all things belonging to it, and all mankind may receive salvation if they will come unto him and receive it.

If the Lamanites come in here, and there is any person who kills any of them, take that man and try him by law and let him receive the penalty. The law will slay him. If any of the Lamanites who return have been guilty of murdering our brethren, request them to keep a little to themselves, and not be too free in mixing among the people; we do not wish to see them, and let the friendly Indians get a slice of bread and carry it to them. If they get over it, so that they repent enough to go and bring in Black Hawk and his men and deliver them up to the law, then we will believe that they are sincere in their repentance. But they are ignorant. How is it with the whites? Let the spirit of war be let loose among the Elders of Israel, and they will become as wild as unbroken colts on the prairie. If this would be the case among this people, what may we expect of others? What may we expect of the degraded and ignorant Lamanites? Let us set an example for all mankind to follow in the high road to peace, love, union, fellowship, and confidence, restoring to the world that which has been lost. To close my few remarks, remem– ber that you must not slacken your hands in the least with regard to guarding the people and the stock day and night.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, in the Tabernacle, in G.S.L City, June 17, 1866.

The elders frequently refer to the kingdom of God, and to the ordinances thereof, and to this people and their duty and privilege to roll it forth and to maintain it until it shall triumph, and introduce peace and universal brotherhood over all the earth. I will inform all the elders of Israel and their wives and their children, and also those who are not of us but whose eyes are upon the results arising continually from its establishment among men, that when the kingdom of God is established, if each member of that kingdom singly and individually will do his or her duty it will take care of itself, for it is a living, self-moving, self-sustaining, independent and heaven-ordained establishment.

The priesthood of the Son of God in its operations comprises the kingdom of God, and I know of no form of expression that will better tell what that priesthood is than the language given to me by the Spirit, namely, that it is a pure system of government. If the people who subject themselves to be governed by it, will live strictly according to its pure system of laws and ordinances, they will harmonize in one, and the kingdom of God will steadily move on to the ultimate triumph of truth and the subjugation of wickedness everywhere on this earth.

The establishment of this kingdom is a standing fact—an established truth in the eyes of the rulers and people of all nations; it is like a city upon a hill that cannot be hid. Its great governing power is not confined to one man, or to ten, or a thousand men, but the Great architect, manager and superintendent, controller and dictator who guides this work is out of sight to our natural eyes. He lives on another planet; he is in another state of existence; he has passed the ordeals we are now passing through; he has received an experience, has suffered and enjoyed, and knows all that we know regarding the toils, sufferings, life, and death of this mortality, for he has passed through the whole of it, and has received his crown and exaltation, and holds the keys and the power of this kingdom; he sways his scepter, and does his will among the children of men, among Saints and among sinners, and brings forth results to suit his purpose among kingdoms and nations and empires, that all may redound to his glory and to the perfection of his work.

This kingdom is governed and controlled by him who knows all things; and he will bring forth the righteous, the just, the humble, and the meek of the earth, all those who serve him and keep his commandments to the enjoyment of the fulness of his glory. This kingdom or work is proffered to the whole of the human family, even to all who will accept it, upon the terms of strict obedience to all its ordinances and requirements, and to its organization of prophets and apostles, gifts and blessings and graces. All may receive it upon these simple terms, and become entitled to all its blessings and privileges. When all who constitute this kingdom are faithful to its requirements, it moves along; the old ship Zion will not stop; upon this we may be satisfied, and give ourselves no further trouble.

When we look abroad upon the world we see mankind running to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south, here and there. They are thrown upon the great ocean of human affairs, without compass, rudder, or pilot to guide their little barques to a safe haven of rest. They wander to and fro upon the earth; eyes have they, but they see not; ears, but they hear not; and they know not whither to go to find that joy and peace their hearts seek and long for. Their minds individually are confused and distracted, and they cannot see the way of safety when it is placed before them; yet here it is—this kingdom, a living miracle to all its beholders; this is admitted by and astonishes the world.

The great skill and ability of a single man in bearing off this people, and in giving this kingdom success as a nation and as a community is often referred to. This is a mistaken idea; but still the people who know not and understand not the things of God, will entertain it. They attribute the success of this work to human agency entirely; they are averse to giving the Lord Almighty the credit which justly and rightly belongs to him. The same disposition was manifested by the Scribes and Pharisees of old. In the 9th chapter of the gospel by John, we have an instance of this in the case of the man who was born blind, but whose eyes were opened by Jesus Christ. The neighbors and those who had seen him that was blind, said: “Is not this he that sat and begged?” They inquired how his eyes were opened. He told them and gave the credit of this great miracle to Jesus Christ. The Scribes and Pharisees were not willing to give the glory and credit of this miracle to the Savior; and because the man that was blind, and could now see, persisted that Jesus was a prophet and had opened his eyes, they cast him out.

If the Father of Jesus Christ were here, and should publicly feed the multitudes, and clothe them, and build their houses for them, they would not be willing to acknowledge God and give him the praise and glory and credit that is due to him. This arises from the spirit of opposition which is in the hearts of the children of men. It is the spirit and power of evil in opposition to the power of good that has forever existed, and ever will exist, and here is the warfare.

We are the subjects of the kingdom of God; if we observe its laws and ordinances and transgress none of them—neglect none of them—lay aside none of them—then the kingdom itself will bear off all its members to the haven of salvation and rest. We know this; it is our daily experience. How can the world know the things of God? They can read about them, but they cannot know them without the Spirit of God; “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” They know nothing about this kingdom; we do not expect them to know, and it is no marvel to us when we reflect upon all that is done by the power of Satan against it, for his power will be continually exerted against it through the agency of the ignorant and wicked of mankind.

How long will this opposition continue? Until Jesus comes to take the kingdom and destroys death and him that hath the power of death. Will evil all be destroyed? Yes, the evil which pertains to this earth; but still the same principle of evil will exist elsewhere. Pertaining to this earth death will be swallowed up in victory, and Jesus Christ will come and rule and reign over all nations as he does in the kingdom of the Saints. Until then, this evil power will be exerted to its uttermost to destroy and lead astray every man and woman who loves the truth. It is no matter to the devil what religion men profess or what they worship, how many sacraments they observe, or how many ordinances they pass through, so that they are not legally in the possession of the priesthood of the Son of God, and will not worship the true and living God in the manner he has directed. The devil does not care how much religion there is on the earth; he is a great preacher, and to all appearance a great gentleman, and it is necessary that he should be, and that all his co-workers should be as like their great leader and master as possible. They have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. It is popular nowadays to be religious, it has become the seasoning to a great deal of rascality, hypocrisy and crime.

Here is the kingdom of God, and the Saints should understand, that, if they abide in this kingdom they will realize every promise made to them in its ordinances and covenants. There can be no safety or merit claimed in forsaking the true Church and kingdom of God; there is nothing excellent or praiseworthy in this act. What would you think of a person who would forsake a good staunch ship at sea in a storm and commit himself to the mercy of the raging elements? I should think the same of him as I would of these who forsake this Church. The devil has blinded their eyes to that degree that they recklessly and willfully plunge into sure and certain destruction. The devil and his servants give their sanction and support to anything that will lead astray the people, even if it is very like the kingdom of God, yet a little different to that order of things which the Lord has established in his Church for the salvation of mankind.

Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”

The same Apostle writes to the Ephesians upon the same subject, “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers: For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” What kind of ministers do the modern Christian churches acknowledge? Are they apostles? No; they tell us apostles are done away. Are they prophets? No; they tell us prophets are no longer needed in the church in this enlightened age, in which, they say, all the people bask in the sunshine—in the full blaze of gospel light.

The kingdom of God on earth is a living, moving, effective institution, and is governed, controlled, dictated, and led by the invisible God whom we serve, who is an exalted living being, possessing body, parts and passions, who listens to the prayers of his Saints, is a reasonable, merciful, and intelligent being, who is filled with knowledge and wisdom, who is full of light and glory, and the foundations of whose throne are laid in eternal truth; whose personal form is perfect in proportion and beauty. He loves the good, and is angry with the wicked every day as it is written in the Scriptures. He hates the evil that is done by evildoers, and is merciful to the repenting sinner. He is beloved by all who know him for the attributes he possesses in and of himself, in common with all glorified beings who now dwell with him, and who will yet be glorified and crowned with crowns of glory, immortality and eternal lives. This kingdom of which we are citizens has life in itself; and if we individually and collectively do our duty, it will move on to intelligence, to glory, and to God. We do not have to carry off the kingdom, but, through our faithfulness, it giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have seen men who belonged to this kingdom, and who really thought that if they were not associated with it, it could not progress. One man especially, whom I now think of, who was peculiarly gifted in self-reliance and general ability. He said as much to the Prophet Joseph a number of times as to say that if he left this kingdom, it could not progress any further. I speak of Oliver Cowdery. He forsook it, and it still rolled on and still triumphed over every opposing foe, and bore off safely all those who clung to it. “How is it, brother Brigham, that you manage affairs, and dictate and guide and direct this kingdom as you do?” The secret is I know enough to let the kingdom of God alone, and it goes of its own accord.

When King David, together with all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand in number, arose to bring up the ark of God from the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah, they put it upon a new cart, and Uzzah and Ahio the sons of Abinadab drove the new cart. When they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. Let the kingdom alone, the Lord steadies the ark; and if it does jostle, and appear to need steadying, if the way is a little sideling sometimes, and to all appearance threatens its overthrow, be careful how you stretch forth your hands to steady it; let us not be too officious in meddling with that which does not concern us; let it alone, it is the Lord’s work. I know enough to let the kingdom alone, and do my duty. It carries me, I do not carry the kingdom. I sail in the old ship Zion, and it bears me safely above the raging elements. I have my sphere of action and duties to perform on board of that ship; to faithfully perform them should be my constant and unceasing endeavor. If every bishop, every president, every person holding any portion of the holy priesthood, every person who holds a membership in this church and kingdom would take this course the kingdom would roll without our help.

Let each bishop attend faithfully to his ward, and see that every man and woman is well and faithfully and profitably employed, that the sick and aged are properly cared for that none suffer. Let each bishop be a tender and indulgent father to his ward, administering a word of comfort and encouragement here, a word of advice and counsel there, and a word of chastisement in another place, where needed, without partiality, wisely judging between man and man, caring for and seeking earnestly the welfare of all, watching over the flock of God with the eye of a true shepherd, that wolves and dogs may not enter among the flock to rend them. Let the presidents and apostles and elders do the work the Lord has set them to do, and obey the counsel which is given them, and the kingdom will continue to roll, to increase in strength, in importance, in magnitude and in power, in wisdom, intelligence, and glory; and no one need be concerned, for it is the kingdom which the Lord our God has established, and has sustained by his matchless wisdom and power from the beginning to this day. He called upon his servant Joseph Smith, Jun., when he was but a boy, to lay the foundation of his kingdom for the last time. Why did he call upon Joseph Smith to do it? Because he was disposed to do it. Was Joseph Smith the only person on earth who could have done this work? No doubt there were many others who, under the direction of the Lord, could have done that work; but the Lord selected the one that pleased him, and that is sufficient.

From the spirit and tenor of the ancient Scriptures and revelations which we have received, it is plainly set forth that there are men pre-appointed to perform certain works in their lifetime, and bring to pass certain ends and purposes in the economy of heaven. I believe that Jesus Christ was foreordained before the worlds were to perform the work he came to do; whom God “hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.” He was ordained to come to this world and redeem it, with mankind upon it and all things pertaining to it. “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” The Lord has ordained some men to the performance of good and some to the performance of evil. Pharaoh was ordained to do the worst which he performed. “For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.” The Lord fulfilled his purpose through the wickedness of Pharaoh, and the nations beheld his handiwork in bringing the children of Israel out of the wilderness. They had a crooked path to walk in, and it was made crooked through their disobedience, and hardheartedness. They rebelled against the Lord, and against his servant Moses; they would not submit to the ordinances of salvation which they had in their possession. After they had received many chastisements and many blessings and mercies from the hand of God, the children of those who left Egypt possessed the land of promise. These works were wrought by the hand of the Almighty, and so does he with all his people.

He has set up his kingdom among us, and the people had better look to it closely and see that each one is performing his and her duty faithfully. If we do this, then all will be well. Will the Latter-day Saints do this? I know not what they will do, but I fully believe that we are naturally a little rebellious, and that we are practically so; we are a little disposed to have our own way too much. There is a disposition among mankind generally that leads them to the extreme of being damned rather than to submit to anything only that which suits them, unless they are made to submit by the strong hand of the law.

As the world is now so were ancient Israel; they were ignorant of God’s righteousness, and went about to establish their own righteousness, not submitting themselves to the righteousness of God. We are too much disposed to believe and act like the world, not rendering that submission and humble obedience to the righteousness of God which would justly accord with our high profession. Many are disposed through their own wickedness “to do as I damned please,” and they are damned. The volition of the creature is free, to do good or to do evil; but we are responsible to God for our acts, as man is responsible to man if he breaks the laws which man enacts. When we boast of our independence to act, it would be well for us to remember that we are bounded by these limits; if we transcend them and violate the laws of God and man, we shall sooner or later be made to suffer the penalty, without any reference to our choice whether we are willing to suffer that penalty or not. Hence, true independence and freedom can only exist in doing right. It is written, “That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Every item will be recorded and all will be known when the books are opened.

We are acting upon our own responsibility and agency which God has given us, if we secretly violate the laws of righteousness, and our wicked works are in the dark while we maintain a pious and fair exterior; they are nevertheless known; and for every evil word and work which we commit, unless repented of we shall be brought into judgment and be made to pay the utmost farthing of the penalty. The Spirit of the Lord is in the hearts of all people to teach them to cleave to good, and to forsake evil. If they will listen to the whisperings of this Spirit when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is presented to them, whether by the voice of his ministers, or in the written word, their minds will be enlightened to understand it.

Before Joseph Smith made known what the Lord had revealed to him, before his name was even known among many of his neighbors, I knew that Jesus Christ had no true Church upon the earth. I read the Bible for myself; I was supposed to be an infidel and to content myself with a moral religion. When I was told to believe in Jesus Christ, and that was all that was required for salvation, I did not so understand the Bible. I understood from the Bible that when the Lord had a church upon the earth it was a system of ordinances, of laws and regulations to be obeyed, a society presided over and regulated by officers and ministers peculiar to itself to answer such and such purposes, and bring to pass such and such results, and I have not received a revelation to the contrary. Such a system answering the description given in the Bible I could not find on the earth, and I was not prepared to listen to the men who said “lo here” and “lo there,” who presented themselves, as they said, as true ministers of heaven. When I would ask the ministers of religion, if they were prepared to tell me how the kingdom of God should be built up; if that which is laid down in the new Testament is not the pattern, all the reply I could receive from them was; “but you know, my dear friend, that these things are done away.” They would tell me that ordinances were mere matters of ceremony, that belief in Jesus Christ was all-essential and all that was really necessary.

I could only think of the religious world as a mass of confusion; and when I visited England I saw it in its perfection. There I saw hundreds of men and women down upon their knees in the middle of the streets praying for sinners. In that country it rains often, and it is then very muddy. I would stop and listen to their cries for the power to come down upon them, etc., and concluded that that filled the bill exactly for sectarian religion as I looked upon it, no acknowledged ordinances, no standard, no beacon light, no compass or rudder to guide the ship of Zion. In one of their chapels, on one occasion, where a Latter-day Saint sister happened to be present, a young man was convicted of his sins, and cried out, saying: “What can I do to be saved?” That sister answered him, and said: “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost.” They put her downstairs in double-quick time.

Will the inhabitants of the earth receive the truth? They will not. Will the Latter-day Saints live the truth? You answer, “I mean to be a good Saint;” yet there are contention and abuse here and there. We are elders in this Church—ministers of God to perfect the people for the coming of the Son of man. Many of us have been in this Church for years, and yet we cannot live in peace and dwell together in union; and if we cannot do this, how can we sanctify the people; and if we cannot live and love each other as we should, be as neighbors as we should, serve the Lord together as we should, deal with each other as we should, fellowship each other as we should, how are we going to prepare the people for the coming of the Son of man? It is folly in the extreme to think of it, unless we set the pattern ourselves.

I believe it is our duty to imitate everything that is good, lovely, dignified, and praiseworthy. We ought to imitate the best speakers, and study to convey our ideas to each other in the best and choicest language, especially when we are dispensing the great truths of the Gospel of peace to the people. I generally use the best language I can command. We often hear people excuse themselves for their uncouth manners and offensive language, by remarking “I am no hypocrite,” thus taking to themselves credit for that which is really no credit to them. When evil arises within me let me throw a cloak over it, subdue it instead of acting it out upon the false presumption that I am honest and no hypocrite. Let not thy tongue give utterance to the evil that is in thine heart, but command thy tongue to be silent until good shall prevail over the evil, until thy wrath has passed away and the good spirit shall move thy tongue to blessings and words of kindness. So far I believe in being a hypocrite. This is practical with me. When my feelings are aroused to anger by the ill doings of others, I hold them as I would hold a wild horse, and I gain the victory. Some think and say that it makes them feel better when they are mad, as they call it, to give vent to their madness in abusive and unbecoming language. This, however, is a mistake. Instead of its making you feel better, it is making bad worse. When you think and say it makes you better you give credit to a falsehood. When the wrath and bitterness of the human heart are molded into words and hurled with violence at one another, without any check or hindrance, the fire has no sooner expended itself than it is again rekindled through some trifling course, until the course of nature if set on fire; “and it is set on fire of hell.”

If this practice is continued, it will lead to alienation between man and wife, parents and children, brethren and sisters, until there is no fellow– ship to be found in the hearts of the people for one another. How can we, and be consistent, with the same tongue bless God, even the Father, and curse man who is made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth should not proceed blessings and cursings, but bless and curse not. “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom.” “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”

As I have often remarked on former occasions, confidence is lost from among mankind; men who are in authority, who sit at the head of nations, kingdoms and governments, all fear the knife of the assassin, and the torch of the incendiary. Wickedness has submerged the world, and confidence and good faith have fled. We are trying to restore the lost treasure to the world. Then, let me exhort the Latter-day Saints to live a life that is worthy of imitation. Envy not those who do better than you do; do not pursue them with malice, but try to shape and frame your life by theirs. We are trying to govern ourselves, and if we continue trying and faint not, we shall assuredly conquer. Let us from this time forth live so as to create confidence in all men with whom we deal and come in contact; and treasure up each particle of confidence we obtain as one of the most precious possessions mortals can possibly possess. When by my good actions I have created confidence in my neighbor towards me, I pray that I may never do anything that will destroy it. I have tried to do this, and have constantly endeavored to have it increase within me, that when my word is given it may be just as good as the word of an angel. Let us seek always to be guided by the spirit of truth in our utterances, that we may never say anything which we shall afterwards regret.

The psalmist inquires, “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned; but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not,” etc. Let every man honor his word that he has given to his neighbor, although it may be to his disadvantage and loss, yet in the future it will be to his gain. Preserve your honor, and your integrity, and ever cherish the confidence that men repose in you.

May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, June 3, 1866.

I wish the few remarks which I may now make to be comprehensive and instructive.

The subject upon which Brother Wells has spoken this afternoon is a very intricate one to define. It is very difficult to convey even the ideas which we may have respecting the operations of, to us, invisible spirits upon the hearts of the children of men; and it is very difficult to frame in the mind a system of thinking and reasoning upon this subject that is at all satisfactory. It is very difficult to form in the mind an even, and unbroken, and correct thread of ideas which will truthfully and satisfactorily explain the variations which we see in the motives and actions of mankind, and to understand the varied motives and feelings of the people, and what they design in performing such and such acts. There are some who have a correct and clear thread of ideas framed in their minds relating to this subject, but cannot convey them to their fellow beings. This is a weakness that I believe is inherent to a greater or less degree in each and every one of us.

The opposition which we find in the hearts of the children of men to the Gospel of life and salvation, Brother Wells has been setting before us this afternoon in a very able manner. Upon this subject I have my own reflections, and my own way of revealing those reflections to others.

The opposition which we see manifested against the truth in this our day has been manifested in every day and age of the world wherein the Gospel of the Son of God has been preached to the children of men. There is no difference today in this respect from what it was formerly. Our opponents tell us that were it not for the doctrine we believe, teach, and practice, there would be no difficulty—no strife between the Latter-day Saints and those who call themselves Gentiles. We are all Gentiles by birth who are not of Jewish descent. We who are called Latter-day Saints are Gentiles by birth—we are nationally so. The opposition which we have to meet is not because we believe in polygamy. That principle is not the real bone of contention, but it is the power of Satan against the power of Jesus Christ here upon this earth. It is no matter what the doctrines are; it is no matter by what name they are called, in what manner they are presented, or by whom they are believed; it is the power of God on the one hand, and the power of Satan on the other. We can see the workings of the two spirits upon the hearts and dispositions of the children of men. Opposition to the truth is made manifest by those who render themselves servants to obey false principles or false ideas, and their actions are directed by the power of Satan against the truth of heaven in the persons of those who love and advocate it.

We have been told that when error is introduced it is generally done in a most genteel, religious, scientific, and most refined and civilized manner. The servants of sin should appear polished and pious. It is necessary they should be learned, and be able to call to their assistance the accomplishments and elegancies of science and art, and the subtle, persuasive power of rhetoric. Jesus Christ describes this class of deceivers very forcibly in the following words—“But all their works they do to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.” This external polish is really necessary for them as a covering to make successful the introduction of false theories and false principles, and to cover up licentious and wicked lives.

The servants of God have truth, and nothing but truth, to present to the world, that the world may be sanctified by the truth. The truth needeth no polish to make it lovely and desirable to those who love it. The principles of truth and goodness, and of eternal lives and the power of God are from eternity to eternity. The principle of falsehood and wickedness, the power of the devil and the power of death are also from eternity to eternity. These two powers have ever existed and always will exist in all the eternities that are yet to come. Although in relation to this earth, some time in its future history there will be no death, and him that hath the power of death will be destroyed. It is written in the Book of Mormon, “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.”

When man is born into the world he is at once subject to the influences of life and death, and to the innumerable and varied vicissitudes which he meets in his passage from birth to the grave, to give him an experience which will prepare him to enter into and enjoy life everlasting. He is endowed with agency to choose either life or death, and must abide the consequences in the next life of the choice which he makes in this. Were it not that evil exists with good, man could not have been an agent unto himself. When the spirit of man enters the earthly tabernacle, it is as pure as an angel of God. When man, as a child, is brought forth to the light, and begins to live, move, and have a visible and an individual being in this world, he is brought in contact with the principle of evil—he receives the mark of sin, and as passes the usual stages from infancy to manhood, he learns to become disobedient to the requirements of heaven, disobedient to the laws of man, and disobedient to the laws of his own nature; he engenders the spirit of hatred, malice, wrath, strife, and all that class of evils which render him unfit to return again to the presence of his Father and God; but if he will obey the Gospel and walk in the ways of the Lord, his mortal existence and his proneness to sin, which he has inherited through the fall, become profitable and essentially ne– cessary to the full enjoyment of salvation and eternal life.

These ideas may be profitable to the Saints and aid them in understanding to some extent why things are as they are.

Then the opposition to the truth is not because we have no wife, because we have one wife or many wives; it is not because we are Socialists and have all things common; it is not because we believe in or practice this or that doctrine as individuals and as a people; but it is the spirit of him who is an enemy to all righteousness that is in the hearts of those who yield themselves to obey false principles. Paul, in his writing to the Romans, says, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” When truth comes, error comes also. When the Gospel of the Son of God is introduced among the children of men, it comes with light and intelligence, with pure and holy principles. It embraces all morality, all virtue, all light, all intelligence, all greatness, and all goodness. It introduces a system of laws and ordinances, and a code of moral rectitude which, if obeyed by the human family, will lead them back to the presence of God. As we were exhorted this morning to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, be baptized for the remission of sins, receive the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, receive the spirit of prophecy, the spirit of discerning of spirits, the gift of healing, and, in short, all the gifts, and graces, and laws, and ordinances of the Gospel, which are for life and salvation. Now, the power of Satan is opposed to all this.

Now, let me state somewhat the reason why the devil appears as a gentleman when he presents himself to the children of men. The children of men have good principles dwelling within them. When their spirits came into this mortal flesh, they brought with them the love of all truth, virtue, and goodness; but the sin that has contaminated the mortal tabernacle through the fall creates what the Apostle Paul, when writing in Timothy, calls a “warfare.” When Joseph Smith first preached the Gospel to this generation the Spirit of God attended it, and that Spirit met an opposing spirit, which was the spirit of Satan, exerting his power to lead away mankind from the truth to everlasting ruin; while the Spirit of the Gospel, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, sought to lead to exaltation and everlasting life. Here are the two powers in opposition to each other.

Now, remember that it is not because we are called “Mormons,” or Latter-day Saints, that we meet opposition; there is nothing odious in mere names and titles. Joseph Smith has as good a right to his name as John Smith has to his. There is nothing criminal in the simple name of Joseph Smith; yet, he being a servant of God and a preacher of righteousness, his name became odious to the wicked, and the three simple words, “Old Joe Smith,” were sufficient to arouse in their hearts every vindictive and bloodthirsty desire. It was not, however, this simple name that aroused the worst feelings of the human heart against those who loved and obeyed the truth; but it was the spirit of Satan working in the hearts of the children of disobedience against the truth. Why was Joseph Smith, and why are his brethren, so odious to those who are not of us? Because we have the words of eternal life to offer to the world. The devil is opposed to this, and offers resistance to the progress of the spirit of the Gospel by arousing the wicked, who are under his influence, to hate, and persecute, and annoy in every possible way, the true followers of the Lord Jesus.

Let me say to you, my friends (and if I have foes here I say it also to them), there is no spirit inhabiting a mortal tabernacle (that has not sinned away the day of grace), but what naturally loves and adores the truth, and would bless and honor all those who seek to walk in the way of the Lord, were it not for the influence and power of evil by which they are controlled. There is a constant warfare between the good and the evil. The mortal tabernacle is of the earth earthy, and came forth for the express purpose of being prepared to serve as a dwelling for the eternal spirit; and the spirit has come here for the express purpose of getting a tabernacle; and the sin that is in the fleshy tabernacle is against the good that is in the spirit. The Apostle Paul, when writing to the Romans, says, “For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

It is not the name of a man or the name of a sect which inspires this warfare, but it is a war which has always existed, and will always continue to exist, between the good and the bad, between the power of God and the power of the devil. To these who are not instructed in the things of God it appears to be a warfare between sects and parties. The votaries of the bad excuse themselves for their persecutions of the good by supposing that they, themselves, as individuals, or their nations, are about to suffer some great wrong from the upholders of the good. As an example of this I will quote from the Gospel according to St. Luke—“And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him (Jesus Christ) unto Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a king.” This is the cunning of the devil, and a means by which he leads down to destruction great numbers of the human family. He gets the political world to believe that they are, or are going to, be infringed upon; he makes the religious world believe that the sanctity and rights of their holy religion are in danger, and thus he gets them to make his cause their own; they are lashed into a frenzy of excitement and hatred against the Saints; every high-toned, honorable and truthful feeling of the human heart is blunted or entirely subdued in them; they plan for the destruction of God’s people, and, in many instances, the blood of the Saints—the blood of innocence—has been shed by their hands. It is written in the book of Revelation: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels with him.”

Paul in view of the power of this great deceiver and his host exhorted the Saints anciently to, “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” A great number of those who oppose the truth, and mob and rob and kill the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, know not what they oppose, but they are moved to commit depredations against the people of God by men who are desperately wicked; these are among the bitterest enemies of the truth. The multitude in the days of Jesus cried out: “Crucify him.” The chief priests had delivered him up from envy. Pilate knew this; “But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. When Pilate inquired what evil he had done, they cried out more exceedingly: crucify him.” They know not what they did.

Wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached, either in these or in former days, it has met with a class of men to whom the truth looked lovely and Godlike, and the spirit within would prompt them to embrace it; but they find themselves so advantageously connected in the world, and have so many interests at stake if they should embrace it, they conclude that it will not do, and here comes the warfare again. Some few will overcome the reasonings of the flesh, and follow the dictates of the Spirit; while the great majority of this class of persons are won over by sordid considerations and cleave to their idols. The good spirit tries to overcome the wayward will of the flesh, and the flesh, aided by the cunning and power of the devil, maintains a strong warfare; but, notwithstanding this great power against which the spirit has to contend, the power of God is greater than the power of the wicked one; and unless the Saints sin against light and knowledge, and willfully neglect their plain and well understood duties, and the Spirit of God is grieved and it ceases to strive with them, the Spirit is sure to prevail over the flesh, and ultimately succeeds in sanctifying the tabernacle for a residence in the presence of God.

The spirit which inhabits these tabernacles naturally loves truth, it naturally loves light and intelligence, it naturally loves virtue, God and godliness; but being so closely united with the flesh their sympathies are blended, and their union being necessary to the possession of a fullness of joy to both, the spirit is indeed subject to be influenced by the sin that is in the mortal body, and to be overcome by it and by the power of the devil, unless it is constantly enlightened by that spirit which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world, and by the power of the Holy Ghost which is imparted through the Gospel. In this, and this alone, consists the warfare between Christ and the devil.

It is not in my being called a Quaker, a Methodist, or a “Mormon” that is the true cause of contention between these two great powers—Christ and Belial; but it is in the fact that God has established His kingdom upon the earth and restored the Holy Priesthood, which gives men authority and power to administer in His name.

It has been told us this afternoon, and was this morning also, that we must be baptized in order to be saved. Much remains to be said on the means necessary to effect salvation in its completeness. We might as well say that a beautiful temple could be built and all its details completed and finished in a day, as to say that we can tell all we know about the plan of man’s salvation in a short hour and a half or in a day. It is plain to every enlightened person that the Lord has introduced fit and proper laws by which he will save His children and exalt them into his presence. If these laws are not obeyed by the human family, they cannot be saved, nor be exalted to the presence of God. What will become of all those who will not obey the laws of salvation? Will they be confined throughout an endless eternity in that bottomless pit, where their worm dieth not, and where their fire is not quenched?

It is necessary that men should become acquainted with the laws of God, and the ordinances of His kingdom, and receive of the power of the world to come in order to fit them to become angels of the devil, and that the devil may have full power over them; and these are the only ones who are cut off from every degree of salvation. Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

He has been lifted up, and He will save every son and daughter of Adam and Eve, except the sons of perdition, in some kingdom where there shall be no more death, no more aches and pains to afflict and torment them; and let me assure you that none of those kingdoms will be any worse than the one we now inhabit. Jesus Christ will draw all men unto him, except those who contend against the power of God and against his kingdom until they have sealed their own damnation.

The adversary presents his principles and arguments in the most approved style, and in the most winning tone, attended with the most graceful attitudes; and he is very careful to ingratiate himself into the favor of the powerful and influential of mankind, uniting himself with popular parties, floating into offices of trust and emolument by pandering to popular feeling, though it should seriously wrong and oppress the innocent. Such characters put on the manners of an angel, appearing as nigh like angels of light as they possibly can, to deceive the innocent and the unwary. The good which they do, they do it to bring to pass an evil purpose upon the good and honest followers of Jesus Christ. Yet the little good, if any, that is in them, they have received from God. Lucifer, the son of the morning, has not got a good principle, does not say a good word, perform a good act, or present a good idea to any people upon this earth or any other earth that he has not received from that God whom you and I serve. Everything that is good, everything that is lovely and truthful, virtuous and kind, everything to be admired and desired by the pure in heart comes from God, our Father, who dwells in heaven. The most wicked person that ever dwelt upon the earth, the Lord supports; He gives to him the breath of life, and causes His sun to rise upon that poor miserable wretch, who would, if he had the power, destroy everything that is good. The Lord our God sends His rain upon the just and upon the unjust, and gives food and raiment to the good and to the evil; He parcels out the earth among his children, and his mercy and loving kindness are over all the works of his hands. Though the Lord is thus kind and merciful to all, yet he saith, “them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”

In the days before Noah’s flood those who served God and kept his commandments were prepared to receive glory, immortality and eternal life, according to the law of the Gospel. When this law was given to the people in any age, the kingdom of God was established, and the devil and his hosts were made mad even as they are at this day.

We are told that if we would give up polygamy—which we know to be a doctrine revealed from heaven, and it is God and the world for it—but suppose this Church should give up this holy order of marriage, then would the devil, and all who are in league with him against the cause of God, re– joice that they had prevailed upon the Saints to refuse to obey one of the revelations and commandments of God to them. Would they be satisfied with this? No; but they would next want us to renounce Joseph Smith as a true prophet of God, then the Book of Mormon, then baptism for the remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. Then they would wish us to disclaim the gift of prophecy, and the other gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, on the ground that they are done away and no longer needed in our day, also prophets and apostles, etc.

They want us to yield all these points, transgress the laws God has revealed for the salvation of the world, and change all the ordinances of God’s house, and conform to the dogmas of modern Christianity and to the corruptions of the age. Will the Latter-day Saints do this? No; they will not to please anybody. Shall we have a warfare? We shall; we will war and contend for the right, and trust in our God until righteousness is established upon the earth, until peace shall reign everywhere, until the children of men shall lay down the weapons of their warfare and cease to exhaust their ability and ingenuity in forming weapons of destruction to slay their fellow men, until the minds and affections of mankind shall be turned unto the Lord their God, and their energies be directed to beautifying the earth and making it like the garden of Eden. We calculate to struggle on, and continue to exercise faith and enjoy our religion, keeping all the commandments of God, observing the ordinances of his house, trying to fulfill all his words, trusting in him, and we shall see what this course will come to.

I can tell the whole world that we shall preach the gospel of life and salvation and call upon the children of men to cease their wickedness and their warring against God and one another, and embrace those saving principles that will lead them to life here and to eternal life hereafter. We shall preach on, we shall struggle on until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ. To be gentle and kind, modest and truthful, to be full of faith and integrity, doing no wrong is of God; goodness sheds a halo of loveliness around every person who possesses it, making their countenances beam with light, and their society desirable because of its excellency. They are loved of God, of holy angels, and of all the good on earth, while they are hated, envied, admired and feared by the wicked.

What, then, is the mission of Satan, that common foe of all the children of men? It is to destroy and make desolate. When this house was built, every principle, every desire that prompted the putting of these materials together, had good for its object in making the people comfortable and happy. The desire to build cities, open farms, set out orchards and adorn and beautify the earth in every possible way is of God. But you say that those who do not believe in religion at all do that. Very good, are not their lives as much in the hands of God as yours and mine? Does He not prompt them day by day to do good, and blessed are they who resist not the Spirit. There is a spirit of truth gone forth to all the inhabitants of the world. The book of Job says, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” Again, it is written of Jesus, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

There is that in all men which prompts them to do good and forsake evil; then there is another principle which prompts them to do evil and forsake the good. The few who have moral courage enough to yield obedience to the promptings of the Spirit of God, bringing themselves in subjection to his will, are the ones who compose the church and kingdom of God on the earth, so far as they have opportunity. Whatsoever is good is of God, no matter by whom possessed or presented. If the devil presents principles that are good and pure and lovely, they are not of him, but they are of God.

The devil delights in the work of destruction—to burn and lay waste and destroy the whole earth. He delights to convulse and throw into confusion the affairs of men, politically, religiously and morally, introducing war with its long train of dreadful consequences. It is evil which causeth all these miseries and all deformity to come upon the inhabitants of the earth. But that which is of God is pure, lovely, holy, and full of all excellency and truth, no matter where it is found, in hell, in heaven, upon the earth, or in the planets. Let us live in obedience to the good; let us live our religion.

I do not know that I have explained these things sufficiently clear to you. The thread of the whole subject is clearly defined in my mind. I know what the children of men are when they come upon the earth, and the influence that attends them, and the power of Satan who lives upon the earth by permission like the wicked and ungodly do. Will we live our religion? I hope so. It was asked me by a gentleman how I guided the people by revelation. I teach them to live so that the Spirit of revelation may make plain to them their duty day by day that they are able to guide themselves. To get this revelation it is necessary that the people live so that their spirits are as pure and clean as a piece of blank paper that lies on the desk before the inditer, ready to receive any mark the writer may make upon it. When you see the Latter-day Saints greedy, and covetous of the things of this world, do you think their minds are in a fit condition to be written upon by the pen of revelation? When people will live so that the Spirit of revelation will be with them day by day, they are then in the path of their duty; if they do not live according to this rule, they live beneath their duty and privileges. I hope and pray that we may all live up to our privileges. Amen.