Discourse by Elder Erastus Snow, delivered at Provo, on Sunday Afternoon, June 3, 1877.

The house is so crowded that in order for all to hear it will be advisable that each one keep as quiet as possible.

In my remarks yesterday forenoon I alluded briefly to the subject of the United Order, as I understood it. In the minds and feelings of some the United Order is a sensitive topic: but this is chiefly for the want of a proper understanding of the revelations of God, and the obligations of the Gospel which we have embraced, for the want of understanding what the Lord has purposed to accomplish through this Order. In one of the revelations contained in the Book of Covenants is to be found these words: “Except ye are one in your temporal affairs, how can ye be one in obtaining heavenly things?” This oneness referred to is variously understood, ofttimes construed according to the peculiar views and notions of men and women, who do not take the broad, comprehensive view, as the Lord does, and intended we should do, and who do not comprehend the revelations and the manner in which the Lord purposes to deal with his people.

Under the operations of the United Order the ancient Nephites were said to be the best and most prosperous people on the earth; it was said of them, as of no other people we read of, that there were neither rich nor poor among them; that they dwelt in peace and righteousness, and every man dealt honestly with his neighbor. The fact that every man dealt honestly with his neighbor, necessarily implies individual responsibility and stewardship. The Book of Mormon tells us further that after a period of one hundred and sixty-five years living in this state, there began again to be disunion, and they began to cease to have everything in common; a certain class began to wear jewelry and costly raiment; class distinctions began to spring up, some exalting themselves over their fellows, and they commenced to build up societies and associations and classes which were graded by their wealth. And thus they grew from bad to worse, until the judgment of God fell upon them to their utter destruction. Those who are inspired by the Holy Spirit to comprehend the dealings of God with his people, both ancient and modern, may be able to look forward to the future and behold a prosperous and happy people that shall be one in temporal things, and rich in the enjoyment of heavenly things, and among whom there will be no poor or rich, having all things common, so far as property is concerned, when no one will say “this is mine, and I have a right to do just as I please with it.”

And yet to my mind this state of things will not necessarily be incompatible with individual responsibility and stewardship. It will merely imply that advanced condition of the people, that will enable them to seek each other’s welfare, and build each other up instead of pulling each other down, in order that they may rise upon the ruins of their fellows. And that which they possess, or are stewards over, will be held in trust, from the Lord, accounted for to Him, and to His servants who shall be over them in the Lord. This state of things will be such as Brother Cannon referred to this morning; when there will be no temptation placed before the people to take advantage of their neighbor, because there will be nothing to be gained by it; there there will be no temptation to steal or plunder, for if they need anything for their personal comfort, it could be supplied them with all good feeling; and he that would take stealthily that which would be given to him freely and abundantly, would be a consummate fool, or grossly wicked. This state of things also presupposes a disposition on the part of all to do their duty; to be saints in very deed, to be industrious, to be frugal, using their gifts and talents for the common welfare, to be ready to serve where they are best fitted to serve; in a word, to be the servants and handmaidens of the Lord, instead of serving themselves and having a will of their own contrary to the will of heaven, and determined to follow that if they have to go to hell for doing it. We are, some of us, at times apt to think that this state of feeling is necessary to constitute us good democrats; in other words, unless we have this kind of feeling of “doing as we damn please”—you will please pardon the expression—we are not men, that this is the only way we can give expression to our manhood. To me this is worse than folly; it is ignorance of the true spirit of manhood. A Saint will say, “I have no will of my own, except to do the will of my Heavenly Father who has created me. True, he has given me an agency and this will, but he has given it to me to see what I will do with it, how I will use it; and I have been instructed from heaven sufficiently to know and understand that it is for my best interest to allow this will to be subservient to the will of my Father; it is best for me so to live and so to seek his face and favor, that I may know and learn what his will is concerning me, and that I may be ready to do it, holding my will in subjection to his.” “Well, then, how can you be an independent man? Surely you cannot be an independent man unless you resist everybody’s will but your own.” If good and evil is placed before us, does not the person who chooses the good and refuses the evil exhibit his agency and manhood as much as the man who chooses the evil and refuses the good? Or is the independence of manhood all on the side of the evildoer? I leave you to answer this question in your own mind. To me, I think the angels and saints and all good people have exercised their agency by choosing the good and refusing the evil; and in doing so they not only exhibit their independence and manhood as much, but show a much higher and greater nobility of character and disposition; and I leave the future to determine who are wise in the choice of their freedom and independence.

Joshua said to ancient Israel: “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve; if the Lord be God, serve him; if Baal, serve him. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I think what we need to learn are the true principles that shall lead us to peace, to wealth and happiness in this world, and glory and exaltation in the world to come. And that if we can learn these principles, and receive them in good and honest hearts, and teach them as our faith, and practice them in our lives, we shall show our manhood, our independence and our agency as creditably before the angels and the Gods, as any wicked man can, in refusing the good and cleaving to the evil, exhibit his before the devil and his angels.

Now the Latter-day Saints are gathering from all nations and tongues, with divers customs and habits and traditions, and we have brought them with us, unfortunately we could not leave ourselves behind, while we gathered to Zion. Having brought ourselves along we have the labor of separating the follies of Babylon, the traditions of the fathers and every foolish way, learning something better as fast as we can; and this is the duty that is upon us. Many sermons would be necessary to teach us this lesson; we shall need the lesson often repeated before we can learn these principles and practice them thoroughly; we shall need a great deal of self-control, and a great deal of effort on the part of the brethren to help us, and by mutually assembling together, by doing business together, by learning correct principles and then living them. One thing is certain, that if God accomplishes with the Latter-day Saints what the prophets have foretold, and establishes his Zion, and he makes them a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, a peculiar people to himself, as he has promised, it will not be by our clinging to Babylon and to her foolish ways, and imitating the evil and foolish things of the world. But what we have proved and know to be good, hold fast to it; but lay aside that which tends to evil. We must become a people within and of ourselves, sooner or later, and learn to be self-reliant and self-sustaining; this we cannot do as individuals nor as an individual community, but by combining our energies as a whole, we may eventually arrive at this. To accomplish it requires a united effort, concerted action and perseverance, a long pull and a pull altogether. Disunion and pulling against each other will only retard it; we need never think we can truly enrich ourselves by plundering each other by carrying on merchandising, and importing the products of the labor of other men while our own brethren at home are idle, hungry, naked and destitute. Merchants and middlemen are necessary evils, their legitimate sphere is interchanging commodities between the producing classes. The Lord has taught us that by and by he will waste away the wicked and ungodly, or they will devour and destroy each other, when the righteous shall be gathered out through the preaching of the Gospel. And He designs his people to prepare while there is time, and while he gives them bread to sustain themselves. But if that time should come suddenly upon us in our present condition, who would be prepared for it? If the news was to reach us that Babylon was really going down, that a general war had overtaken her, causing distress of nations, and the closing up of her manufactories, and the struggle between capital and labor were again renewed, causing domestic and national trouble, and as a consequence we found our foreign supplies cut off, how many would begin to pray that Babylon might be spared a little longer? The sisters would begin to cast their eyes around to see where they were to get their pans and kettles, their stoves and articles of domestic use; the farmers would think it very hard that mowers and reapers, plows and harrows could no more be found on the market; and the mechanic would find too that his business was affected for the want of tools; and how the ladies would feel when they found that their hats and bonnets and fine apparel were no longer to be purchased. The real value of Provo Factory would then be appreciated, and it would not be considered transcending to say, that it was worth more to the county than all the merchants in Utah. It is true, it does not net as large dividends to the stockholders, as these merchants get who enrich themselves by encouraging the vanity and foolishness of the people. The Provo Factory takes the raw material produced at home, and converts it into the useful articles of clothing for the people, and that mainly by the labor of your own citizens. The same might be said correspondingly of every other branch of home industry. They ought to be encouraged by the masses of the people; they ought to be multiplied and increased among us by our united efforts, for they produce our wealth. What is wealth? Does it consist of gold and silver? No. Let this Territory be filled with gold, and war prevail outside and all intercourse be cut off, what would we do with it? It would be a medium of exchange, and as such would facilitate home trade; but nothing further. There is no real wealth in metallic or paper currency, in drafts, letters of credit, or any other representative of value. At best they are only the representatives of wealth, though convenient in carrying on our trade. But the real wealth may be summed up in a few words, to be the comforts of life; that is to say what is needed for us and our families and those depending upon us. How are these obtained? We might say money, when we have the money to exchange for them, and when these commodities are to be bought. But where do they come from? They are not in the market unless somebody has produced them; if in the shape of food, some farmer has raised it; if clothing, some manufactory has produced it; if boots and shoes, somebody did the work. It is the labor of men’s hands with the aid of machinery that produced these articles; if not by the labor of our community, by that of some other; and if we are dependent upon other people then are we their servants and they our masters. The Southern States in the late civil war were whipped by the Northern States, why? There may be some general reasons, but you may say, speaking on natural principles they were not sufficiently self-sustaining. They relied mainly upon their cotton, and a few other products of the earth, mainly fruits of their close labor; they had few manufacturing establishments. They sent the raw material to other States and countries, and these worked it up, sending back to them the manufactured articles. No nation under heaven can long thrive, and continue this state of things. Just as soon as their trade was interfered with, their domestic institutions broken into, and the country blockaded, preventing the export of their raw material, and the import of manufactured goods, they were brought to the verge of ruin.

This subject of home manufacture has become somewhat hackneyed. When will we cease to talk about it? When the necessity ceases to exist, when we will have learned to apply these principles in our daily lives and conduct. The greatest lack among us is the means to employ our idle hands. We should be able to afford every man, woman and child in our community profitable employment; were we able to do this, we would by wisely and prudently directing that labor become a thriftier, wealthier and happier people, of whom it might be said, there were no poor among us. Comparatively speaking, we can say now there is no abject poverty among us, yet we are far from enjoying that which is our privilege to enjoy, and that which we have comes from abroad and we are striving for money to pay for it. Crops are mortgaged or sold to our creditors in advance for articles of foreign manufacture. I was told that Sanpete County owed for sewing machines alone from forty to fifty thousand dollars; and I was told by brother Thatcher of Cache Valley, that forty thousand dollars would not clear the indebtedness for sewing machines. The irrepressible sewing machine agents have ravaged our country, imposing themselves upon every simpleton in the land, forcing their goods upon them. Tens of thousands of dollars are lying idle in the houses of the Latter-day Saints today in this article alone; almost every house you enter you can find a sewing machine noiseless and idle, but very seldom you hear it running; and all of which were purchased at enormous figures, and now the patent rights having expired, they can be bought for less than half the prices paid for them. And in this way many of our agricultural machines are obtained; we should be properly classified in our labor, so that our investments in agricultural and other machinery could be kept in constant use in the season thereof, and then well taken care of, as pro– perty ought to be, instead of allowing them to be exposed to the storms of winter, as many are, and get out of repair. Some have thought we need but few factories today; I may be mistaken, but I am under the impression that every factory in the Territory, except yours, before the last wool was brought into market, had to stop running for want of material. The wool that should have supplied them was shipped out of the country, gone abroad to afford other hands employment, and the goods brought back made up ready for wear, to sell to you. You not only buy back again your own product, but you buy the labor of foreign manufacturers, and pay the transportation both ways, all the expenses of the merchants or middlemen who handle the wool, and sell you the clothes, while your own wives and children are idle at home, and your own factories standing still for want of wool. Is this the way to get rich? The same may be said with regard to the manufacture of leather. Our hides and skins either rot upon the fences, or are gathered up and sold mostly to men who ship them to other countries to be tanned and worked up into harness and boots and shoes, which are brought back for you to wear; so that you are buying back your own hides and skins, in the shape of these manufactured articles, and paying the cost of the transportation and the profits of the middlemen, besides employing strangers, while our own bone and sinew too often are engaged either digging a hole in the ground or lounge around the street corners for something to turn up.

Dining the last sixteen years I have been engaged laboring and counseling and trying to assist my brethren in Southern Utah to become self-sustaining, and as much as they can to develop the resources of the country. We have begun a great variety of associations which are incorrectly called cooperative institutions, but in reality they are only combinations of capital. I have sought for the last six or eight years to start cooperative institutions; that is to say associations of laborers, workmen’s and workwomen’s associations, associations to derive benefits from a combined effort, and by the unity of labor accumulate material, manufacturing them into useful articles for the common good, and then to induce those who begin to gather together a little surplus of capital, to encourage these labor associations, by letting them have a little means to help them to start. But the great difficulty I have had to fight against has been the ignorance of the laborers, their inability to make their labor pay for itself, and their unwillingness to be put to the test. They prefer someone to raise the capital to be invested in the enterprises, and employ them and pay them big wages; and if we have not the money necessary, they would have us borrow it at big interest, and establish shoe shops, and woolen factories and other various branches of industry, fitted up with the latest improved machinery, and they will say, “Let us work by the day or piece, and be paid our wages every Saturday night; and then let us have a store to spend our money at, that we might do as our fathers used to do in the old countries we came from.” This is the spirit of the working classes of the old world, and I said before, unfortunately we brought ourselves with us when we emigrated to the new world. They do not seem to know that our capitalists are generally men who have lived closely, have walked instead of rode, and through the dint of perseverance and the study of economy, have accumulated a little means, and that such men are not willing to put their money at the mercy of laborers who have not sense enough to take care of it, or to preserve intact the capital invested, let alone increasing it. This, I say, is one of the great difficulties we have met with throughout this country, in attempting to start home industries. Everybody is willing that somebody else should furnish the means and assume the responsibility; in other words, “if you have anything to give us, we are willing to take it.” “If we work we must have from three to five dollars per day, whether you make anything out of the business or not; we would not want to work for any less, and when we have got it instead of buying articles of home production, we will buy those imported from foreign countries.” Do all the people feel and act like this? O, no; but I think nearly all of us have indulged more or less in that folly. There are not many of us that say by our acts “we desire to do away with the antagonism between capital and labor.” There are not many capitalists in our community; if we counted out a dozen, that would be about all. We are so evenly balanced, that it might even be said of us now, that we have neither rich nor poor among us. The little capital we have, compared with the many who think themselves poor, would be a mere breakfast spell if turned loose among a greedy horde; I include myself of course. When I say, greedy horde, I mean we are ignorant of the laws of life and true liberty, that which is needed among us for our own good. We should look and see how we can make ourselves useful in producing something, and not waste our time either in digging holes in the ground in the hopes of finding something, or laying in our nest with mouth wide open like young robins, for something to be dropped in. This is not the way to become a self-sustaining, wealthy and happy people. Will we form our associations and establish home industries? Will we tan the hides that come off our cattle and our sheep, and goats and other animals, making them into leather, and then work it up into boots and shoes and harness and so forth; or will we suffer them to be shipped out of the country for others to do it for us? Will the sisters ask their husbands and fathers to plant out mulberry trees along the water ditches where the willows are now growing, so that you may secure food for the silkworm? A little while ago we had lots of worms, but nothing to feed them. Let the sisters raise the worms, and commence their little associations for feeding them, that you may have silk to manufacture your ribbons and dresses. This climate is adapted to the silkworm, the growth of the mulberry, and the feeding of the worms, and the manufacture of the silk. Let us then have silk manufactures, let us all say, we will bless this enterprise with our faith; and let the men encourage the sisters by planting the trees for them and affording them every facility within their power. You may say, this is a hard way of getting silk. I assure the Latter-day Saints, that it will be harder by and by when Babylon goes down. We had better improve the time and use the elements now within our reach. Let us multiply our factories, and work up our wool at home, and cease employing spinners and weavers at distant parts of the world, while our own people are hunting for something to do, and crying “hard times,” or wasting their time hunting for minerals. I will venture to say that nine-tenths of the property under mortgage and to be sacrificed in Salt Lake City, and in fact throughout the Territory, is sacrificed at the shrine of this wildcat speculation. One of the best shares in any bank is a plowshare, and the best speculation we can go into, is to raise from the elements around us the things necessary to supply our daily wants. Everything produced at home, furnishes employment for idle hands, and stimulates the production of some other articles. Let home manufacture, and the production of raw material from the elements, be our watchword, that employment may be furnished our sons and daughters, and those who shall come unto us from distant lands. Let us too establish reasonable and consistent fashions within ourselves, and cease patronizing the fashions of the wicked world.

Now, referring to what we call the United Order, what is it? I will tell you. It is to live at home and sustain ourselves. It is not to hunt after capital as we would a fat goose to eat it up, and when eaten to hunt another the next day, for fat geese are not so plentiful. Our true policy is, learn how to produce and be sure to produce a little more than we consume; and if we only produce five cents a day in something more than we consume, we will soon be rich. But if we all consume five cents a day more than we produce, how long before we shall all be poor? We are poor already when we commence that system. It is a great lesson to impress upon the minds of this great people, gathered from all nations and tongues, to induce them to live at home and support themselves, to depend upon their labor for their subsistence, instead of hunting for somebody to devour. Many of the people may say, I do not want to be eaten up by the rich. I can tell you there is a heap of us for the rich to eat up, and there are not many rich to do it. My opinion is the scare is the other way, for, as I have said, the few rich among us are only a breakfast spell. How long do you think it would take if we were all producers, and converting the raw materials into useful articles, to become a self-sustaining people? And then if we heard of Babylon’s downfall, we would not of necessity lift up our hands and cry, “O Lord spare her a little longer, we are not ready for her to go down, we should suffer from the want of boots and shoes, and for our clothing, and our machinery, and so forth.” The United Order is designed to help us to be self-reliant and to teach us to understand what it costs to produce that which we consume. One of the chief obstacles in the way of our progress towards becoming a self-sustaining people is the lack of this understanding among the people. They cling to the habits and customs of Babylon that they have learned abroad—the laborer wishing to eat up the capitalist, and the capitalist constantly guarded for fear he should be drawn into close quarters, and then to succumb to the demands of operatives. This is the way of the world, and the warfare that is going on all the time; and why? Because they comprehend not how to promote their mutual interests; covetousness of capital on one hand, and covetousness of labor on the other, each trying to enrich itself at the expense of the other. Most of the Saints, when they embraced the Gospel, partook of its true spirit, opening their hearts and hands, and those who had it to spare, used their means to gather up the poor; and when they landed among us were generally on a common level. And hence the necessity of our labor, and through our labor accumulate capital instead of needless expenditures, exhausting the results of our labors and getting us into debt. Learn to live within our means that there may be a little increase, that we may have something wherewith to purchase improved machinery, and extend our industries until we shall be able to supply our every need. And that we may learn these lessons, and profit by them for the mutual benefit of the Saints, and the advancement of the Zion of our God, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden, Sunday Morning, May 27, 1877.

I can offer a few of the reflections of my own mind with regard to the discourse of brother Geo. Q. Cannon. I will take his text: “We have a great work to perform.” Not that I have time to take up item by item, and explain and give you correct views, so that you can understand all things pertaining to this great work; but I will give a few words, hoping that you are prepared to receive them in good and honest hearts, and digest them by the spirit of revelation, and understand what I have in my own heart.

The improvement that we are undertaking is not a small labor. It is not the work of a day, or a week, or a month, but the work of a lifetime; and when we end our career here, we hope to leave those behind us on the earth of our own posterity, who are better calculated to go on with this work, and who will do so until it is completed. What is this work? The improvement of the condition of the human family. This work must continue until the people who live on this earth are prepared to receive our coming Lord, and dwell with the sanctified, and to associate with angels and with our Savior, preparatory to entering into the presence of our heavenly Father.

Now this is the work; and how are we to perform this work is the question which I hope you will be able to understand. I wish you had the spirit of revelation. I would delight in the Latter-day Saints living so that the Spirit of God would be within them, so that they could see and understand and judge all these things for themselves.

I will commence by drawing attention to the philosophy of man here upon the earth. We see ourselves here today. Here are old, greyheaded men, aged ladies, infants in their mother’s arms, and persons in the different conditions and stages of life, with varied looks, feelings, sympathies and passions. We see this variety before us today. But we all commenced at the foot of the hill. We see the infant in its mother’s arms. What is this infant here for? What is the design in the creation of this little infant child? It lies here in its mother’s arms; it would not resist, in the least, if it were dropped into a cauldron of boiling oil; if it were thrown into fire it would not know it until it felt the flames; it might be laid down here, and the wolf might come and lick its face, and it would not know but that its mother was soothing it. You see this foundation, the starting point, the germ of intelligence embodied in this infant, calculated to grow and expand into manhood, then to the capacity of an angel, and so onward to eternal exaltation. But here is the foundation. Sent to school, the child learns to read, and continues to improve as long as it lives. Is this the end of the knowledge of man? No. It is only the beginning. It is the first stage of all the intelligence that the philosopher in his reflections, taking the starry world before him, and looking into the immensity of the creations of God, can imagine. Here is the first place where we learn, this is the foot of the hill.

Now the object is to improve the minds of the inhabitants of the earth, until we learn what we are here for, and become one before the Lord, that we may rejoice together and be equal. Not to make all poor. No. The whole world is before us. The earth is here, and the fullness thereof is here. It was made for man; and one man was not made to trample his fellow man under his feet, and enjoy all his heart desires, while the thousands suffer. We will take a moral view, a political view, and we see the inequality that exists in the human family. We take the inhabitants of the civilized world, and how many laboring men are there in proportion to the inhabitants? About one to every five that are producers, and the supposition is that ten hours work by the one to three persons in the twenty-four hours will support the five. It is an unequal condition of mankind. We see servants that labor early and late, and that have not the opportunity of measuring their hours ten in twenty-four. They cannot go to school, nor hardly get clothing to go to meeting in on the Sabbath. I have seen many cases of this kind in Europe, when the young lady would have to take her clothing on a Saturday night and wash it, in order that she might go to meeting on the Sunday with a clean dress on. Who is she laboring for? For those who, many of them, are living in luxury. And, to serve the classes that are living on them, the poor, laboring men and women are toiling, working their lives out to earn that which will keep a little life within them. Is this equality? No! What is going to be done? The Latter-day Saints will never accomplish their mission until this inequality shall cease on the earth.

We say but very little about politics. If we have laws, we should have good laws, and we should get good men to adjudicate those laws. And if we are at variance with our neighbor, and are in want of better judgment than we have to settle our difficulties, let us call three or twelve men, and leave it to them to decide between us. Adopt this course, and it would save an immense amount of time, and set the lawyer to raising his own potatoes and wheat, instead of gulling the people. The nonproducer must live on the products of those who labor. There is no other way. If we all labor a few hours a day, we could then spend the remainder of our time in rest and the improvement of our minds. This would give an opportunity to the children to be educated in the learning of the day, and to possess all the wisdom of man.

But we are to revolutionize the world. Do you think these Latter-day Saints can do it? I do not know. It is the work of the Almighty; and if he sends forth his Spirit to teach the people true principles, we have a right, a moral right, a religious right, to tell the truth to the people without interruption; and men have no business to raise their anger against this people, when we are merely telling the truth to the inhabitants of the earth, and instructing them how they can better their condition.

But we have something more than morality alone to teach the people. What is it? It is how to redeem the human family. In Adam—that is, if we believe this book (the Bible), and believe the history that Moses gave of our first parents, and of the inhabitants of the earth, which indeed we have to depend upon, for we are not in possession of any other history of our first parents, and are consequently obliged to refer to this history—if we believe this, I can say that as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all are made alive. If we can believe Moses and the Apostles, we die in consequence of sin in the conduct of our first parents, in eating that which they were forbidden to eat; that we are shut out and cannot see and understand heavenly beings. We cannot see their faces. We cannot hear their voices. We cannot behold their glory. We are shut out from this. The veil of mortality being dropped between us and the Creator, something has to be done so that we may return and behold those that are exalted.

There is a difference between the Latter-day Saints and the professed Christian world. Shall I remark on this difference? We teach our children that we are serving a God who has an ear to hear, an eye to see. He has a mouth to speak, a hand to handle. He has a body. He has the component parts of man. He moves in his own sphere. He dwells at his own dwelling place. His presence and his power fill immensity. He has filled the heavens and the earth with his works, and placed man here upon the earth, and brought forth in the latter days his greatest work. It is the greatest work for the salvation of the human family that has been revealed to man since the fall of Adam. I hope you teach this in the Sunday school, that we are serving a God who has a body, parts and passions, and who has feelings, and a fellow feeling. Well, you startle at this. You have a fellow feeling. If the Christian world were to hear me declare that our Father in heaven could know and sympathize with this mortality by experience, and has a fellow feeling, and deals kindly and sympathetically and mercifully with those who are froward, they would be startled. Yet this is our Father. We believe in him. Yes. Ask the Christian world, Do you believe in such a God? No, they say. What kind of a being do you believe in? Such as was described in the inscription which Paul saw written on the altar at Athens, “To the unknown God.” “We worship that unknown God.” But the God that the Latter-day Saints are worshiping, and that we teach our children to worship, is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of our spirits, the author of the existence of our bodies, He who placed them here upon the earth. He gave existence to us all. He gave breath and being to all. And yet man has his agency; this truth we must never lose sight of. We must teach our children that Christ came in the meridian of time; that he suffered and died for the original sin Adam committed in the Garden of Eden, and tasted death for every man. He suffered for every man upon the earth.

This is the character of him whom we receive as our Savior.

We want you to believe in Him, my son, my daughter. Believe in His Father, and that they have compassion upon us, and we should hearken to His counsel. What is required of us as soon as we come to the years of accountability? It is required of us, for it is an institution of heaven, the origin of which you and I cannot tell, for the simple reason that it has no beginning, it is from eternity to eternity—it is required of us to go down into the waters of baptism. Here is a fountain or element typical of the purity of the eternities. Go down into the waters, and there be baptized for the remission of sins, and then have hands laid upon us to confirm us members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then receive the Spirit of truth, or the Holy Ghost. Then live according to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, through those men whom he has appointed here upon the earth, until we are perfect.

If we go and preach the Gospel, men and women of age, youths and children believe our testimony, come forward and desire to receive a remission of their sins by obeying the ordinances of the house of God, that are placed in that house for the express purpose of remitting sins. Then they commence to live moral lives, as becometh those who have embraced the truth, and continue to live by the truth until they are prepared to enter into an exaltation. How long will they live here? No matter if they live as long as Methuselah lived, if they commence that moral reform required in their lives. Those who have been in the habit of swearing, swear no more. Never use the name of the Deity without his authority. If we are in the habit of telling that which is not true, learn to speak the truth. If we speak evil of our neighbors, cease to speak evil. Covet not that which is not our own. Keep the Ten Commandments, and then go on until we are perfect, loving our neighbor more than we love ourselves, imparting to all that kind fellow feeling, that we can take those who are in this poor and stricken condition of life, and raise them, that they may come up and possess the fruits of the earth, and enjoy all that we can enjoy in raiment, food and possessions. Raise our own horses, our own food, and let everyone be a producer, and then we can with a good grace, be consumers. Infringe upon no one. Instead of making any poorer, make all wealthy.

A few words upon the minerals found in our mountains. We have had a great many men examining among the mountains, and through the plateaus and ranges in the south. The whole scientific world, a few years ago, would have pledged their reputation that there was not any mineral in the sandstone range along the Rio Virgin River. Now they are finding it in many places. A great many have told me that there was no mineral there, but it is now found in various parts of the southern portion of this Territory. What can I say about it? The Lord, in Isaiah, says, “For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass and for stones iron.“ I can attribute it to no other agency than the power of God diffusing it in these mountains. I will refer it to the scientific world. You may as well take a piece of wood and say that it shall become a piece of sandstone, as to say that you will find silver in sandstone. Did you ever know sandstone to become a petrifaction. It is hard to say where it will not be found, now that it is found in the barks of petrified trees. It is no matter, the Lord is managing all this, and he does just as he pleases with regard to the treasures of the earth, and we may look for them, but if we are not to find them, they will be hid. When God says to his agents, remove this gold, this silver, this copper, it will be done. You do not understand this philosophy, but I do. And my philosophy outreaches the philosophy of men that study books. I have said enough with regard to the minerals of the earth.

I see a man grow up from the infant stage to be a scholar, and by and by he has an empire, and can give laws to the people, that can equalize them, and bring them to a state of happiness and excellency, and give them all the advantages that man can possess upon the earth, and make every man happy and comfortable. This is the work that we have upon our hands. Teach the people the faith of the Gospel. Teach them what God is, and what His work is, and that there never was a time such as many of our philosophers speak of, who drift back and back, and come to this theory and that theory, and go back, and back to the time when we were all reptiles. When was there a time when there was not a God? But, say they, there must have been a time. Then you declare to me, do you, that there was a time when there was no time. And this is the philosophy of a great many of the scientific in this day. They see the heavens stretched out but they comprehend them not. And why do they not say, if there was a time when there was no time there will be a time again when there will be no time. What a condition for man to be in! Can we look onward and upward through the immensity of space, and behold the worlds on worlds that we call stars, and imagine that they will be blotted out forever? What an idea! What a philosophy! Why, it ought to be laughed at by the ignorant, and those who are children in their reflections. A time when there was no God, no eternity! It cannot be possible, and the philosopher who tries to establish such a doctrine cannot possess any correct ideas of his own being. Will there ever be such a time? No. But forever onward and upward. So it is with the religion we have embraced.

Teach the Sunday School children with regard to the heavens, with regard to their faith, with regard to their mortal lives, and reach out to that higher life, far above this, that we may, if we will, enjoy upon the earth. This is the condition of man. This is the road for men to walk in, to be obedient to the principles of eternal truth, those immortal principles that God has revealed to us.

With regard to the ordinances of God, we may remark that we yield obedience to them because He requires it; and every iota of His requirements has a rational philosophy with it. We do not get up things on a hypothesis. That philosophy reaches to all eternity, and is the philosophy that the Latter-day Saints believe in. Every particle of truth that every person has received is a gift of God. We receive these truths, and go on from glory to glory, from eternal lives to eternal lives, gaining a knowledge of all things, and becoming Gods, even Sons of God. These are the celestial ones. These are they whom the Lord has chosen through their obedience. They have not spurned the truth, when they have heard it. These are they that have not spurned the Gospel, but have acknowledged Jesus and God in their true character; that have acknowledged the angels in their true character. These are they that work for the salvation of the human family.

I say to the Latter-day Saints, all we have to do is to learn of God. Let the liars lie on, and let the swearers swear on, and they will go to perdition. All we have to do is to go onward and upward, and keep the commandments of our Father and God; and He will confound our enemies. It is for you and me to improve our children, and teach them to bring forth the elements here, until we possess all things that are on the earth, and then prepare to possess the things that are in Heaven, and go on from glory to glory, until we are crowned with God the Father.

May the Lord bless you, Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered at a Special Conference, at Logan, on Sunday Morning, May 20th, 1877.

I will read a few items from scripture spoken by Mormon, which will be found on the 484th page of the Book of Mormon, European edition—

“And now there cannot be written in this book even a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach unto the people; But behold the plates of Nephi do con– tain the more part of the things which he taught the people. And these things have I written, which are a lesser part of the things which he taught the people; and I have written them to the intent that they may be brought again unto this people, from the Gentiles, according to the words which Jesus hath spoken. And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be manifest unto them. And if it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them, unto their condemnation. Behold, I was about to write them, all which were engraved upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: I will try the faith of my people. Therefore I, Mormon, do write the things which have been commanded me of the Lord.”

The reason why I have read these words is to show to the people more fully, or to impress upon their minds the way and manner in which the Lord deals with his people. It is within his power, if he see proper to do so, to pour out upon the people a vast amount of knowledge all at once, that their minds may be completely surfeited with the abundance of the knowledge communicated to them. But the Lord has not seen proper to thus deal with the Latter-day Saints. He has another object in view than this. He intends to instruct them little by little, here a little when it is needed, and there a little when it is needed; giving them a line upon this subject when it is necessary, and there a line upon another subject, leading them along, step by step, just as a wise, careful parent would his little children, until they become instructed in every principle that would be for their good. It is not because the Lord is not willing that his intelligent children should enjoy this greater amount of knowledge; it is not because he does not desire the human family to placed in possession of all the wisdom that their hearts are prepared to receive. He is willing, on his part, that the people should become very intelligent in regard to everything pertaining to their future welfare. He is willing that they should know more concerning himself, his attributes and their own, to learn concerning the glories of his kingdom and the mysteries thereof and everything that would be essential for their comfort and happiness in this world. This the Lord is willing to do in behalf of his children. But he knows far better than we do, what the people are prepared to receive, and what they are not prepared to receive; and we can see this illustrated by the words which I have read. Mormon informs us that he was about to write all the things which Jesus had taught, but the Lord expressly forbade it, and the reason, as given to Mormon for not permitting this was, that he intended to try the faith of his people in the latter days, and of whom he said that if they would believe these things and hearken, then should the greater things be made manifest to them; but if, on the other hand, they should not believe these few things, then should the greater things be withheld from them, to their condemnation.

This reminds me of a certain saying, given in 1829, before the rise of this Church. Hyrum Smith had left his home in Manchester, N.Y., and had gone down to Susquehanna, Penn., about a hundred miles, to visit his brother Joseph, the Prophet, who was then in the act of translating the Book of Mormon. When Hyrum arrived he felt very anxious to know about his calling and ministry—whether he could not go forth to preach these glorious things. It would be very natural for a person to feel very anxious about this, for the things contained in the manuscript, so far as he had become acquainted with them, were so glorious, that he wished everybody to know about them. As will be found on page 98 Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord told Hyrum not to be in a hurry. In other words, the Lord had his own time to ordain to the ministry, his own time to send forth missionaries among the people. “Don’t you be in a hurry in this matter.” But said the Lord to him, “I will tell you what you may do; you should study my word which has gone forth among the children of men, and also that which shall come forth, even that which is now being translated.” “Seek first to obtain my word, then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my spirit, which shall enable you to convince men of the truth.” Another lesson to be learned from this is, that Hyrum, instead of being in a great hurry in this matter, was required to store up the word of God in his mind, to be thoroughly acquainted with the Jewish record, as well as that which was then being translated, until he had obtained all that the Lord should grant to the children of men in the generation that was then living—1829. We may learn that the Lord did intend to give only about so much to the generation then living.

A great many have supposed that there must be a great lack on the part of the Latter-day Saints, because spiritual knowledge is not all the time being poured down from heaven, like a flood in their midst; some become doubtful and feel to murmur and complain one to another, carrying the idea among the people that God has forsaken Zion, that God has, in a measure, withdrawn his spirit from us: saying, “Where are the revelations such as were given in the days of Joseph? The Lord then poured out upon us of his spirit continually; we then received record after record, book after book, etc.” The reason is clearly defined here; the Lord, in his own time, will fulfill and accomplish his purposes, and he was determined, not only in these days, but he had the same determinations some fifteen centuries ago, when he talked with Mormon the Prophet, that a people who should live on the earth in the last days, should have just about so much information, and no more, as far as sacred records and books are concerned. Do not misunderstand me by this expression, and carry it to the other extreme, and say, that God determines to give about so much, and then shut down the gate and give no revelation at all. But he intended, so far as the great principles of the Gospel are concerned, the fundamental principles of salvation, that we should have the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Then he determined, still further, that there should be a sufficiency given from year to year, during the lifetime of the Prophet Joseph, to know how to properly organize the Church. These further revelations were published in the Doctrine and Covenants. These having been given as a pattern, for the commencement of the organization, the Lord has seen proper to withhold, for the time being, the giving of additional sacred records, that the Saints might show their faith. “I will try the faith of my people, I will see whether they will be obedient to my commandments, and the laws which I have revealed to them. If they will be faithful—if they will practice upon that which I have given, then shall the greater things be made manifest to them. But if they will not do this, they shall be withheld from them, to their condemnation.”

There will be a point, in the history of this people, when they will be counted worthy to receive all that knowledge and intelligence which the Lord has held in reserve for them, from before the foundation of the world. Such is the glorious destiny of this people, to be realized in due time. But our present work is to comply with that which God has already given, and which he may hereafter give, through the living oracles that he has placed within our midst.

Now the Lord has not shut down the gate; he has not closed up the spirit of inspiration, as all these people are witnesses. What man, unless he had been under the spirit of inspiration, and the wisdom that comes down from heaven, could have led forth this people from the midst of the wicked, and established them here in this mountain desert, and created the wonders we now behold? No man, however great might be his natural wisdom and ability, could have accomplished a work of this nature, unless aided by direct revelation. The Spirit of the living God, from the time of the death of Joseph to the present, has rested upon President B. Young, urging him forward, first to organize the people and lead them forth from the midst of their enemies, and, second, to establish them here in these mountains. He had not the experience, beforehand, to do this; he had never lived in a country where the people were accustomed to irrigate their farms; he had never lived in a country where the people necessarily were compelled to live compactly together, as we have to do here. But he had been accustomed to live in a country where the people spread abroad wherever they took a notion to; consequently it was just as new to him, when entering these valleys, as to the rest of us. And nothing but the Spirit of the living God, the inspirations of the Holy Ghost, could have enabled him to do what he has done, and to direct all this people throughout this Territory, in regard to their settlements, not only here, but wherever the Latter-day Saints have been located. Consequently, you perceive that God has not forsaken us, the spirit of revelation has been with us. But then it has not been wisdom in God, that all this revelation should be written and published; because many things the servants of God are inspired to do under one set of circumstances, would not be required of them, under a new condition of circumstances; hence, such revelations would not become a standing law for all future time. For instance, in order to form new settlements, the circumstances are very different from what they are after you have enlarged your settlements and become numerous in population, and other duties become necessary. Consequently the Lord has imparted a little here, and a little there, and instructed and counseled the people, through his servants, what should be done in the incipient stages, or in the forming of settlements, in this mountain region.

In the midst of all this continuous organization that has been going on, ever since the rise of the Church, it is not to be wondered at, that many things have been left apparently at loose ends, for the time being, in order that the people might prove themselves. Men have been sent, year after year, to form new settlements, and to do this kind of work, and that kind, without being specially ordained to accomplish those particular duties. What for? To see whether they would manifest that the Spirit of the living God was with them, and that they were worthy of ordination; and if so, then afterwards they should be ordained and set apart, as Bishops, as presidents of Stakes, etc. But one may inquire, “Why not perfect these organizations at once?” Because there is a day of calling, which is distinct from a day of choosing. And when the Lord has called his servants and appointed them to perform a certain work, if they manifest a willingness, on their part, to exercise the wisdom that comes from God, in the performance of their duties, then perhaps the day of choosing may come, and they be set apart and ordained, according to the law contained in the Book of Covenants. It means, at this present stage of the work, having toiled now about thirty years in these mountains, that the Lord is about to “right up” the people; and he has inspired him who presides over us, to organize us more fully. Let those be chosen who have fulfilled their appointments in faithfulness; let them be ordained, and have their counselors; let them act now in a higher sphere, with more power, because they have proven themselves faithful over a few things, therefore let them be made rulers over many things. This is after the order of heaven; this is after the order of that judgment that will be more fully carried out in the great day of the Lord. Things will pass along here in time, as a pattern of things in regard to his future kingdom. They will pass along for years, until, by and by, in the great judgment day, these persons will have gained an experience and knowledge that will qualify them to act efficiently in the duties and callings to which they have been called; and they will act, not as those who are ignorant, but as men who have had a practical experience, year after year, having used their stewardship to the glory of God.

Brother Erastus Snow spoke to us very plainly, last evening, in relation to all the officers, from the commencement of the Church down to the present time. When we have done all we can do, towards organizing as far as possible, according to the written law of God, as given to us in our weakness, have we completed the organization? By no means. The organization is only perfect as far as the people are prepared to receive it, and no further. To say that there will be a stated time, in the history of this Church, during its imperfections and weakness, when the organization will be perfect, and that there will be no further extension or addition to the organization, would be a mistake. Organization is to go on, step after step, from one degree to another, just as the people increase and grow in the knowledge of the principles and laws of the kingdom of God, and as their borders shall extend. For instance, to illustrate my ideas more fully upon this point. We read, in the Scriptures of truth, concerning the latter-day Zion; we read that Zion is to become a great people, “a small one to become a strong nation.” We also read that out of Zion shall go forth the law. We also read that Zion is to become so glorious, in times to come, that the nations that are afar will say to one another, “Surely Zion is the City of our God, for the Lord is there; his power is there, his glory is there,” etc. Now if there be a time, in the history of the latter-day Zion, that the power of God will be made manifest in their midst, so as to stir up the nations afar off, causing them to exclaim that Zion is truly the City of God; her laws are divine; let us become subject to her laws; do you suppose that we, with our present organization, after perfecting it as much as we can expect to, could be ready and prepared to send forth laws to foreign nations for their government? No. There would then be persons ordained and set apart for various purposes, not to bestow any new Priesthood, for it is all included in the everlasting and eternal Priesthood, after the order of the Son of God; but to set apart persons already holding the Priesthood in the great organization; to receive divine laws; or, in other words, to regulate the nations, according to the laws of Zion; that they may understand her laws, and know what the divine government is, by which they are to be governed; in other words, ministers or plenipotentiaries are to be sent forth to transact business among all nations and peoples who willingly shall become subject to the laws of Zion. As to the rebellious nations, there will be none left alive. As it is written, “that nation or kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish.” “Those nations shall be utterly wasted away;” consequently, the nations left, who are not totally destroyed will be anxious to be governed by the laws of Zion. Hence there will be an organization before the winding-up scene that will control the nations politically, giving them the privilege of remaining in their own land if they choose to do so, but subject to the laws of Zion.

I will not, however, confine the future organizations of the Church of God to the political matters of the nations. There is to be a more perfect organization between the living and the dead of all former dispensations, which organization is just as necessary as that which exists among the living, on this side of the grave. This organization will be fully completed, at a certain period, pointed to by the Prophet Daniel, who says, that he saw in a night vision, and beheld until the Ancient of Days came; and he describes his great and glorious appearance: his face was like a flaming fire, and the hair of his head was white as wool; his chariots were like unto chariots of fire, and thousand thousands ministered unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; and the books were opened. And many things are to be accomplished when this great general assembly of immortal beings come from heaven, communicating with those who are mortal here upon the earth. In other words, every man in that immortal host, among those that shall come down from heaven, and every man among the mortal host will understand his place and calling in this great, grand organization of the Ancient of Days; and you will find no unbroken links there. The Ancient of Days is the father of all; he is our first progenitor, and when he shall reveal himself, to set in order all of his righteous sons and daughters, he will not forget those who have already passed through former dispensations. Every dispensation will be connected; and the last dispensation of the fullness of times will have given to them the keys and powers, knowledge, and understanding, and revelations to know how to weld every link, in order that the entire chain may be completed and made perfect.

Moreover let us now come back to the living. We are commanded to build Temples? Why? What is the great object of building Temples in this dispensation? It is to effect the accomplishment of the very work I have hinted at; the very work of organization that must be completed, by the time the Ancient of Days shall come; the very work that must be introduced, that the children may be more perfectly connected with the fathers of all the former dispensations; and that the Saints of all former dispensations may understand the work that is being done by their children on their behalf, so that when the heavens shall reveal them, they will find things ready to receive them. Before that time, I have no doubt, the generation will have passed away that were living in 1829; but all things will be added to those revelations that the Lord gave to that generation, namely, the records of the ancient Nephites; they existed in great numbers and are of great importance, records kept by their Kings, records of the history of the Nephites for over a thousand years, records of their proceedings and of the things that God had revealed to them, records that were secret, and not permitted to come forth in the days of weakness, records that revealed all things from the foundation of the world to the end thereof, records that were kept when Jesus administered to the Nephites, the ninety-ninth part of which was not written by Mormon, all of which are to come forth. What for? To teach the Latter-day Saints how to organize, how to be prepared for the things that are coming. Then we will know something about what is termed the United Order, when we get hold of these records of the experience of the Nephites for 165 years in the Order; the experience of the people of this great western hemisphere, from the northern to the southern extremity; they will have left some records of their acts and doings that cannot fail to be of great worth to the people of these latter times.

But first, says the Lord, “I will try my people; I will perfect them; I will see whether they will be obedient to my commandments; I will reveal to them little by little; I will give them line upon line; I will impart a little light upon this subject and upon the other subject: and if my people shall inquire of me, in relation to these things, then I will teach them still more, giving them another line and another precept, I will issue forth another commandment; but if they do not inquire of me, and their hearts be found full of covetousness, and they feel in their hearts to slight these things which I have given to them, then I will withhold the greater information; I will not let them know the law which I gave to the ancient Nephites; I will withhold many things calculated to benefit them, until they learn the things that they are already taught. But when they become obedient students, obedient men and women of God, obedient to my commandments, hearkening to the voice of my servants, giving heed to the whisperings of my spirit, doing away with covetousness, then I will reveal more; I will introduce more and more of the principles of the United Order, necessary to govern the people, and to prepare them for the great day of the Lord, which is to come.

In the beginning of the dispensation it is necessary that there should be chosen vessels, raised up on purpose to bear witness of the things of God, to lay the foundation, and to establish the Gospel in the earth. To do this, it is necessary that these witnesses, though inexperienced, should receive revelations and administration of angels, that they may testify, that there may be sufficient evidence, or sufficient number of witnesses sent forth, that the Lord may be justified, in the great day of judgment, in judging the people. But how dangerous it is for people to see heavenly visions, and receive the ministration of angels in their igno– rance. How dangerous for people in their ignorance to obey the Gospel! Yet shall we say that they shall not obey it, because they are very ignorant? No. Let them step forth with all their hearts and obey the Gospel, that they may be put in possession of the Holy Ghost; then if they will seek to cultivate their minds, cherishing that Spirit in their hearts and developing every principle of righteousness, and doing away every iniquitous practice, they shall receive more and more of the Holy Spirit, with its gifts. So in regard to these heavenly manifestations.

In the year 1829, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris were chosen as witnesses to behold the angel of God; to behold the plates in the hands of the angel; to gaze upon the ancient engravings, and to hear the voice of the Lord, at the same time, proclaiming to them, that the plates had been translated correctly, and commanding them to bear record of the same to all peoples, nations and tongues, to whom the work should be sent.

Now this was truly a great manifestation. But who was Oliver Cowdery? Who was David Whitmer? Who was Martin Harris? Poor, weak, frail men; two of them quite young, one of middle age. They had but very little experience; they knew nothing about the arrangement of the organization of the Priesthood, as we now know; they had no Teachers to visit them from week to week. Yet in the midst of all this ignorance, what a glorious manifestation they received from heaven! They lacked experience; they had not been prepared as Joseph was. He was prepared by a series of years of experience, in beholding visions and angels.

In the year 1823, the angel first came to him, telling him about the plates, also telling him that he would return one year afterwards, when he would give him further instruction. Why this delay? Why not commit to his charge the plates at once? It was because of his want of experience. It is true, he had previously received a heavenly vision some four years before, in which he had seen the face of God, the Father. But he lacked all other qualifications; he was left more or less to himself, and the angel was determined to impart to him experience, year after year, for the space of four years; during which, whenever Joseph needed chastisement he received it at the appointed time; his failings were corrected; he was shown wherever he had erred; and he was taught what to do: he was instructed little by little, until he learned, by practice, to do the will of God. Then the sacred records were committed to him; but not so with the three witnesses referred to, and hence they kept not the holy commandments as they ought to have done. They had too much knowledge for their limited experience. You recollect what the Lord has said upon this subject—Where much is given, much is required; and where but little is given, but little is required. Much was given to these three witnesses, and much was required at their hands. Hence a sin that they might commit would throw them into tenfold more darkness than any man who had never seen so great things. This accounts for their apostasy, not for their denying the truth, for they never did that; they held fast to the truth; they declared that the Book of Mormon was true and never denied their testimony. It is not a matter of mere faith with them; they knew it. But how great is the darkness in them that sin against so much light! The Lord told us, when we were living in the State of New York, to go to the Ohio; there to build a Temple to the name of the Most High. And there the Lord condescended to bestow upon his servants and people a great endowment, a blessing such as was not known among the children of men. And from thence they should go the nations of the earth and publish these things. We went to the Ohio; and after we had been sufficiently taught and instructed, the Lord commanded us through Joseph, to build a Temple, giving the pattern thereof, and the size thereof, the size of the inner and outer courts, the size of the several rooms and apartments, and the form of the pulpits and everything pertaining to it, was given by the inspiration of the Almighty that rested upon Joseph, and upon those associated with him.

When the Temple was built, the Lord did not see proper to reveal all the ordinances of the Endowments, such as we now understand. He revealed little by little. No rooms were prepared for washings; no special place prepared for the anointings, such as you understand, and such as you comprehend at the period of the history of the Church! Neither did we know the necessity of the washings, such as we now receive. It is true, our hands were washed, our faces and our feet. The Prophet Joseph was commanded to gird himself with a towel, doing this in the Temple. What for? That the first Elder might witness to our Father and God, that we were clean from the blood of that wicked generation, that then lived. We had gone forth according to our best ability, to publish glad tidings of great joy, for thousands of miles, upon this continent. After this we were called in, and this washing of hands and feet was to testify to God that we were clean from the blood of this generation. The holy anointing was placed upon the heads of his servants, but not the full development of the Endowments in the anointing. These administrations in the Kirtland Temple were revealed, little by little, corresponding with what I have already been saying, that the Lord does not give the fullness at once, but imparts to us according to his own will and pleasure. Great were the blessings received. We were commanded to seek to behold the face of the Lord; to seek after revelation; to seek after the spirit of prophecy, and the gifts of the Spirit; and many testify to what they saw. But yet they were inexperienced; they had not proven themselves in their religion long enough. They obtained blessings greater than some of them were prepared to receive. They perhaps might have been faithful if they had exercised the agency which God gave them. But how easily are mankind toppled first this way, then that way, and are led astray, even after the heavens were opened and chariots and horses of fire, as well as angels were seen: still many of these brethren apostatized.

Now perhaps some of you may say, “Withhold these things; do not send angels; do not bestow the gifts of prophecy, if by being so blessed we are in danger of apostatizing from our religion.” This is the other extreme; on the other hand, we are commanded to seek the face of the Lord always, that we may possess our souls in patience. Again, about three years after the organization of the Church, the Lord gave a revelation contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, saying, “It shall come to pass that every soul that comes to me, obeys my commandments, and hearkens to my voice, and calls upon my name shall see my face, and know that I am.” He has ordained that in his holy House, in a Temple built to his name, these great blessings shall be made manifest to his servants and people. He has told us also the privileges of these two Priesthoods. The privilege of the lesser Priesthood is to see angels. How should they seek after this blessing? By merely praying, and acting dishonestly, full of covetousness, and all manner of evils clinging about us because of our traditions? Is this the way to seek for so great blessings? It is by giving heed to the instructions and laws that pertain to the teaching of this lesser Priesthood; and when this is done, we may claim the ministrations of holy angels.

Again, what are the promises made to the high Priesthood of the order of the Son of God? We are told, in the revelation given on the 22dd and 23rd days of September, 1832, that without the ordinances of this high Priesthood the power of godliness could not be made manifest to men in the flesh. For, says the revelation, “Without this Priesthood, no man can behold the face of God the Father and live.” Again, says the revelation, “this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people, that they might behold the face of God. But they hardened their hearts, and could not endure his presence.”

Here then we perceive that one blessing of this high Priesthood is to behold the face of God the Father and live. And this blessing is, not merely for the persons holding the Priesthood, not merely for those who have been ordained, after the order of the Son of God; but every one that keeps “my commandments and obeys my voice,” etc. This is the privilege of the whole Church; it is the privilege of all the people of God, to sanctify themselves, to be obedient to his laws, and to behold his face, not only the face of Jesus, but of God the Father, and still live.

What means, says one, that passage in the Book of Moses, where the Lord, speaking to Moses, says, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live,” etc. This very passage is explained by new revelation. The Lord at that time became angry with the children of Israel, and he decreed that no man of that whole congregation should behold his face at that time. Hence the Lord said to Moses, “Thou shalt not behold my face as at other times.” How plain that little sentence of new revelation is, showing that Moses had, at other times, enjoyed that privilege, and that it was the privilege of the Children of Israel to become sanctified, and to behold the face of God; but at that time, in consequence of their wickedness, he in his anger, forbade them that privilege. Soon after, he made a decree that all that congregation should be left without this privilege, and he took his presence away from them, because of their transgressions and rebellions, that, had not the Lord withdrawn his presence from them, they might have been totally destroyed. The Lord desired to remember his covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; for he promised them that he would bring up their seed to the promised land; and in order that he might do this he determined not to go up in their midst; for should he do so, he might break forth upon them, and utterly destroy them.

Now we have a promise given to us, that when we are redeemed, and permitted to return to our promised land, his presence shall go with us.

We have a promised land, as well as Israel. The Lord said, on the 2nd of January, 1831, “And I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh:

“And I will give it unto you for the land of your inheritance, if you will seek it with all your hearts.

“And this shall be my covenant with you, ye shall have it for the land of your inheritance, and for the inheritance of your children forever, while the earth shall stand, and ye shall possess it again in eternity, no more to pass away.” Here, then, was a covenant made, that the Latter-day Saints should have for their particular portion a promised land. We were commanded to purchase the land for the time being; for it was to be signally our land of promise, and our children’s land of promise, while the earth should stand, and then they should have it to all eternity.

We are at present cast out of that land, the same as the Israelites were in the land of Egypt, being away from their promised land. We are here in these mountain valleys. It is a goodly land which the Lord has pointed out for us. We are making preparation for our great redemption to go back to the promised land, the same as the Israelites are to gather back to their promised land. And a further promise is made unto us, in this connection, that when the time shall come, the Lord will raise up a man like unto Moses who shall deliver this people out of bondage, the same as the children of Israel, their fathers, were delivered. And he tells us that he will do this with a mighty hand and an out– stretched arm. And he also says, that his angels shall go before us, and also his presence. Here then is a promise made to the Latter-day Saints, that the presence of the Lord, as well as his angels, should go before their camp.

I mention these things to show you what the Lord intends to bestow upon you, that your hearts may not faint, while encountering the trials of reclaiming the desert country; that you in the midst of difficulties and tribulations may still have faith in regard to the promises of the future.

In another revelation given in an early period of the history of the Church, the Lord commanded his people to build unto him a House, promising that if they built a house unto his name, according to the commandment and pattern which should be given, and providing they suffered no unclean thing to enter it, so that it should not be defiled, the Lord himself would appear in it; his presence would be there; his glory would be there; and all that should go into that House, who were pure in heart, should see him. Here then you perceive that there are certain places appointed, and certain provisions to be complied with before the face of the Lord can be seen. He has said that his people are always to build unto his name a house. What for? That his name might be there; that his angels might be there; that his presence might be there; and that there the fullness of the holy Priesthood might be more fully revealed, and that there all the ordinances might be performed, that were ordained from before the foundation of the world. This is the object of Temples. It is to connect the children to the fathers: it is to bring about an organization between the living and the dead. It is seen that when the seventh angel shall sound his trumpet, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man; when the Saints shall receive their inheritances and be made equal with him, they, the dead, as well as the living, receive their inheritances; that will be a perfect organization. When Adam, and Enoch, and his Zion, and all the righteous men before the flood, and all the holy patriarchs and Prophets of the eastern and western Continents, men who lived on the earth as strangers and pilgrims, but who through the eye of faith were permitted to behold, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, all things would be gathered in one that were in Christ, even all things which are in heaven and which are on the earth; I say that when all these receive their inheritances, this will be an organization that takes hold of eternity, that takes hold of the children of God in all ages, that unites all dispensations in one, that brings all the kingdoms, and authorities, and powers, of all other dispensations, and unites them in one; and upon whom knowledge like a flood will be poured out even upon the vast congregations of the Church of the Firstborn, the living and the dead, for the dead will then be living.

Ought not these things, Latter-day Saints, to stimulate every individual to be diligent in the work given him to do, lest he fall out by the way; lest his crown be taken from him and placed upon the head of another; lest the talent he may have hidden in the earth be taken from him and be given to him that hath more abundantly? How diligent we should be! How faithful in the performance of our several callings, and how willing to hearken to the counsels and instructions of those placed over us? By and by we will have Temples, with a great many things contained in them which we now have not; for with them, as with all other things, the Lord begins little by little; he does not reveal everything all at once. He gave the pattern of these things in Kirtland, Ohio, as the beginning; but there were not rooms for the washings, no rooms such as we have now, and such as were prepared in the Nauvoo Temple; and in other respects, there was something added to the Nauvoo Temple. Why? Because we had greater experience, and were prepared for greater things. There was no font in the basement story of the Kirtland Temple, for baptismal purposes in behalf of the dead. Why not? Because that principle was not revealed. But in the Nauvoo Temple this font was prepared, which was something in advance of the Kirtland Temple. We have, of late, constructed a Temple at St. George. Blessings have been administered in that Temple, that were totally unknown in the two former Temples, namely, endowments for the dead. Again, by and by, we will build a Temple in Jackson County, Missouri. Will it be built according to the pattern of our present Temples? No. There will be, according to the progress of this people, and the knowledge they receive, and the greatness of the work that is before them, many things, pertaining to the pattern, that will then be given, which will differ materially, or will be, at least, in addition to that which is in these Temples now built. I think if you will go and search in the Church Historian’s office, you will find a plan of a Temple, that is to be built in Jackson County, which will be very different from the little Temples we now build. By and by there will be a Temple built at Jerusalem. Who do you think is going to build it? You may think that it will be the unbelieving Jews who rejected the Savior. I believe that that which is contained on the 77th page of the Book of Mormon, as well as in many other places, in that same book, will be literally fulfilled. The Temple at Jerusalem will undoubtedly be built, by those who believe in the true Messiah. Its construction will be, in some respects different from the Temples now being built. It will contain the throne of the Lord, upon which he will, at times, personally sit, and will reign over the house of Israel forever. It may also contain twelve other thrones, on which the twelve ancient Apostles will sit, and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. It will, very likely, have an apartment, with a table, on which food and drink will be prepared, such as are suitable to the taste and happiness of immortal resurrected beings, thus fulfilling the words of Jesus—“Ye that have followed me in the regeneration shall eat and drink at my table, and sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Amen.

By Elder Orson Pratt, delivered on the Occasion of Dedicating the Temple Site at Logan, Cache County, Utah, on Friday, at 12 M. O’Clock, May 18, 1877.

O God, the Eternal Father, in the name of thy Son Jesus Christ, thy people and thy servants have met together upon this ground, for the purpose of dedicating the same unto the Lord our God, for building a house to thy name, even a Temple, wherein thy servants and thy handmaidens may receive such blessings as thou hast ordained to be bestowed upon thy people, that are pure in heart. We desire, our Father, that we may do this work with holiness of heart, that we may have the Spirit of the Lord our God to rest upon us, that we may dedicate and consecrate this place to be most holy—a sacred and holy place unto thee, whereon may be erected a Temple that shall be acceptable in thy sight. By virtue and authority of thy holy Priesthood, we do dedicate and consecrate this Temple site, and its immediate surroundings. We pray that it may be sanctified, that the foundation thereof may be steadfast, that it may be permanent, even as a rock.

We pray that thou wilt bless those who shall labor thereon; those that shall make the necessary excavation for the basement story; those that shall quarry the rock, either from the quarries of the mountains or of the valleys; those who shall be engaged thereon and have the superintendence of this place; those that shall shape and cut the rock and prepare them to be placed in their proper places on the building; those who shall be engaged in drawing the sand, the lime and the clay, and in working the mortar; and all those that shall be engaged in any way on the erection of the building, whether in cutting and preparing the timbers, in quarrying rock, or in whatever work they may be engaged, pertaining to the building of this Temple, that they may be preserved by thy power, that thy protection may be over them, that thy holy angels may be with them, and that they may labor with their mights upon the edifice, until it shall be finished, until it shall be prepared for a still further dedication; that it may be built according to the instructions and inspiration and revelations of thy Holy Spirit, that shall rest more especially upon the First Presidency of thy Church; that thou wilt reveal to them the pattern of this building, and all things appertaining to its entire construction, that the same may be given to them by the inspiration of thy Spirit; that thou wilt raise up those who shall be skilled workmen to adorn and beautify the various apartments, and beautify and adorn the pulpits that shall be made for the various orders and presidents of thy holy Priesthood, and for all the work that shall be placed upon this holy Temple; that for strength, and for grandeur, and for beauty, it may be a house which thou shalt delight in. For, O Lord, we know that thou hast promised to place thy name in the House that thy people build to thee, if they shall do the work with holiness of heart. But thou, O Lord, dwellest in heaven, in thy celestial abode, and thou art clothed with greatness, glory and power, but yet thou dost condescend to have holy places here upon the earth, where thou canst more fully manifest thyself to thy servants and handmaidens. We therefore pray that the house which thy people shall erect upon this spot may be a holy place, where the inhabitants of Logan, of Wellsville, of Hyrum, and of all the towns and counties round about, that shall assist in the work of building, may be abundantly blessed therein; that it may be a place, a holy place, a holy sanctuary to them; that those of thy people who shall seek thee in thy house, and shall offer their prayers and their supplications to thee, may be heard in heaven, thy dwelling place, and their petitions be answered to them, according to the righteousness of their hearts.

We pray that thy blessing may be upon all those upon whom thou hast laid this duty of erecting this Temple, that they may be stirred up with great energy and much faith, to devote their means, and their ability and talents, and all that thou hast given to them, to perform the work that thou hast, through thy servants, required at their hands; that they, when it is completed, may have a place in this House; that they may receive ordinances therein; that it may be a house wherein they can minister for themselves, in their washings, in their anointings, in their endowments, in their baptisms for their dead, in their confirmations, and in their sealing ordinances; that in all of these things thy people may accomplish the work which is required of them, in this House; and that records thereof may be kept, and that there may be a place in thy House for the holy records of thy Church—records that shall be acceptable in thy sight, records that shall be most holy, and stand to the justification of thy people who administer therein, and those who receive ordinances therein, whether for themselves or their dead; that out of all these books thy people may be judged, according to their works, according to that which they do, in thy name, with uprightness of heart.

Now, holy Father, we ask thee to bless this Temple site, this land on which this House shall be erected. Bless the elements thereof, that the same may be sanctified and purified and made holy. Bless the waters that come down from the mountains, whether they shall be conveyed in ditches, or aqueducts, or canals, that they may be blessed and made pure, for the purposes for which they shall be used, in thy holy Temple. We pray that thou wilt not only bless the place of the building, but all its surroundings; bless this plane or bench, and the streets around, and the shade trees which are for the purpose of ornamenting, that thy blessing may be upon them, that they may grow to beautify the place of this sanctuary, that there may be a place where thy people shall delight to congregate themselves, and wherein they shall delight to enter into holy communion in supplication to the Most High, and to hold holy converse one with another.

May thy blessing be upon all those of thy people who reside in this county and the surrounding counties, that shall do this work, that they may be blessed in their basket, and stores—blessed in their orchards and gardens, in their farms and fruits. Wilt thou, O Lord, restrain the coldness of the climate, the frosts and the snows, that they may not fall upon the earth out of season, that the earth may not fail to yield to thy people rich harvests, that they may reap and gather in great abundance? May thy blessings be upon all the labors of their hands, and grant that their flocks may be greatly increased and multiplied. Wilt thou bless their labors in their endeavors to beautify their habitations, and in planting out shade trees to make this a delightful place, upon this thy footstool?

O Lord, bless him whom thou hast inspired, even thy servant, President Brigham Young, to say to thy people, “Build to the Lord a house in this part of the Territory.” Bless him, O Lord, with long life; bless him with exceedingly great health and strength of body. Remove from him all the infirmities of old age. Grant, O Lord, that he may live to see this House erected, finished and set in order, according to thy righteous will, that within its walls he may rejoice in the midst of his brethren, and not only live to see the finishing of this Temple, but to behold the completion of the Temple to be erected in Salt Lake City, and the one commenced at Manti, in Sanpete County; that he may rejoice and be made glad in all thy goodness, and in beholding the beauty of the works of the hands of thy people, and thy blessings that shall be in their midst. Bless, O Lord, his generations after him, that they may rise up and be mighty men in the earth; that they may be clothed with the power and the spirit, so abundantly manifested upon their respected father; and may his descendants, in all generations, enjoy, even more abundantly, superior wisdom and knowledge and understanding from the heavens, to discern in their several callings all things which shall tend to the blessing and glory and future exaltation and progress of mankind on the earth; and that there never may be a time or period, in all the generations of this world, when he shall not be represented by a numerous posterity, who shall enjoy the fullness of the holy Priesthood, and the powers, blessings, and keys thereof.

Bless, O Lord, his Counselors and the Council of the Twelve Apostles, and bless all who preside, not only in this Stake of Zion, when it shall be more fully set in order, but in all the Stakes of Zion throughout these mountain regions. Bless this whole community, that they may be prepared to enter into thy House, when it shall be completed, with clean hands and pure hearts.

May blessings, and heavenly manifestations, and excellency of wisdom, and fullness of knowledge be the portion of thy Priesthood and of thy Saints, throughout all their dwelling places, but more especially in these holy places, appointed and dedicated unto thy great name, wherein thou wilt dwell among thy people forevermore. Hear, O Lord, these humble petitions of thy people, and mercifully accept the dedication of this ground, by thy servants. All of which we humbly do, and ask for, in the name of thy beloved Son, even Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by Elder John Taylor, delivered on the Occasion of Dedicating the Temple Site at Logan, Cache County, Utah, on Friday, at 12 M. O’Clock, May 18, 1877.

I feel to rejoice to see the work of God progressing as it is today, and to witness the spirit and feeling that are being manifested among the Saints everywhere throughout the Territory for the advancement of His Church and Kingdom on the earth. In my visit south to attend Conference, I felt to rejoice exceedingly in seeing the Temple completed at St. George. It is a most beautiful building, pure and white as the driven snow, both outside and in. It is elegant in design, and there is a manifest propriety and adaptability in all its arrangements. The labor and finish exhibit talent and artistic skill of the highest order, and it is chaste, exquisite, appropriate, and beautiful in all its appointments.

Approaching from the north, with the black basaltic lava mountain frowning on the background, and the grim red sandstone nearer its base, relieved indeed by the beautiful city of St. George, with its shrubberies, its gardens and orchards, its vines, its trees and flowers, it stands as a chaste memorial, a sweet elysium, a haven of repose, in this beautiful oasis of the desert; and is a proud and lasting monument of its originator and designer, the fidelity of the architect, the skill of the mechanics, and the faith, self-denial, liberality and devotion of the Latter-day Saints.

When I visited that holy Temple, accompanied by my brethren who were with me, we experienced a sacred thrill of joy, and a solemn, reverential sensation. As we entered its sacred portals, we felt that we were standing on holy ground, and experienced, with one of old, “Surely this is the House of God, and the gate of heaven.” That is not simply a metaphorical expression, but a reality, for it is in that House, and it will be in the House to be built on this ground, that the most sacred ordinances of God are to be performed, which are associated with the interest and happiness of the human family, living and dead. I felt to rejoice in my heart that we had been thus far successful in the building of one temple to the name of our Father and God.

On our return from St. George, when we came to Manti, in Sanpete County, we found a place dedicated and set apart like this ground has been. Again I felt to rejoice to witness the spirit and feeling that were manifested among the brethren in that district of country; everybody seemed desirous to commence the work of building the Temple. When I heard of the one to be erected here my joy was still greater, and I am indeed very happy for the privilege of meeting with you, of taking part in this dedication, of listening to the prayer of Brother Pratt and the remarks of President Young, all of which were dictated by the Spirit of the living God, all of which have their meaning, and ought to influence our hearts and minds, and lead us to take a deep and abiding interest in the great and important things that are going on in our midst and around about us. They are things in which the angels and gods are interested, and in which God our Father is interested, and all the ancient prophets and holy men of God that have ever lived; all feel interested in these things which we are now engaged in, and all stand ready to approve of our works. If we go to work with all our hearts and with all our souls, we can accomplish it within the time the President has given us. Yes, I will venture to say we can do it in two-and-a-half years, instead of three-and-a-half years. If we can lay aside our narrow, contracted ideas, and feel that we are servants of the living God, that we are operating and cooperating with Him and with the holy Priesthood behind the veil for the accomplishment of this object, then the power and blessing of Almighty God will be upon us and be within us, and we will feel like giants refreshed with new wine, and the work of God will roll on, Zion will arise and shine, and the glory of God will rest upon her.

I say “Amen” to the prayer of Brother Pratt, and to the remarks of President Young, and I say God bless our President and his Counselors, God bless the Twelve, and God bless the Presidents and Bishops and every good man that fears him and keeps his commandments. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered on the Occasion of Dedicating the Temple Site at Logan, Cache County, Utah, on Friday, at 12 M. O’Clock, May 18, 1877.

Brethren, if you will give me your attention, I will say a few words to you. We have dedicated this spot of ground upon which we expect to erect a Temple, in which to administer the ordinances of the House of God. Into this house, when it is completed, we expect to enter to enjoy the blessings of the priesthood, and receive our washings, our anointings, our endowments, and our sealings; and the brethren will be sealed to brethren to connect the links and make perfect the chain from ourselves to Father Adam. This is the object of the Temple which we are about to commence building at this place. We require the brethren and the sisters to go to with their might and erect this Temple; and from the architect to the boy that carries the drinking water to the men that work on the building, we wish them to understand that wages are entirely out of the question. We are going to build this House for ourselves, and we shall expect the brethren and sisters, neighborhood after neighborhood, ward after ward, to turn out their proportion of men to come here and labor as they shall be notified by the proper authorities.

This may be called a temporal work, but it pertains to the salvation of ourselves as well as our friends who have passed behind the veil, and also to the generations that are to come after us. We can carry this Temple forward with our labor, without any burden to ourselves if our hearts are in the work, and we will be blessed abundantly in doing so. We will be better off in our temporal affairs when it is completed than when we commenced, or than we would be if we did not build it.

The time we enjoy is the Lord’s, but we have the permission to dictate its use according to our own good pleasure. When the brethren come to work on this Temple they may expect to be blessed of the Lord, in proportion to their faith. We feel to ask the brethren to go to as they may be called upon by those who shall be placed to take charge of the work, and complete the building in three years from next fall—I think it can be done within that time— that we may come up and commence to give endowments. This work can be done with all ease in that time if we are disposed to.

We pray for you continually, that you may be blessed. I feel to bless you according to the power and keys of the holy priesthood bestowed upon me, and my brethren with me, heart and hand, and all the Saints feel to say “Amen,” feel to bless each other, feel to do the work of the Lord, and dismiss the narrow, contracted, covetous feelings that are so interwoven with the feelings of our natures. It seems hard to get rid of them, but we must overcome them and unite ourselves together in the holy order of God, that we may be Saints of the Most High, with our interests, our faith and labors, that our hopes and the results of our labors may be concentrated in the salvation of the human family.

Brethren and Sisters, try to realize these things. Awake and lay these things to heart. Seek to the Lord to know his mind and will, and when you ascertain it also to have the will to do it.

God bless you, Amen.

Discourse by Elder Charles C. Rich, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Saturday Afternoon, May 12, 1877.

I am glad to enjoy the opportunity of meeting with the Latter-day Saints in this Tabernacle in Con– ference, under circumstances so favorable. I have been much interested in listening to the instructions we have heard this day. They are words of encouragement to the faithful, they strengthen the weak, they enkindle within us all the fire that burns yet not consumes; and we are stimulated to continue in the good fight of faith despite every opposing power.

We embraced the principles of the everlasting Gospel in various lands, and we gathered here for the express purpose of learning further of his ways that we might walk in his paths. It therefore is plain and easy to understand the great obligation that we have placed ourselves under, an obligation that becomes the more serious and important as we count the years of our membership in this Church, and as we have had opportunity. To become efficient laborers in the kingdom, is that we learn the mind and will of God concerning us, and then go forth and do it to the very best of our ability and power. Unless we seek the Lord with our whole heart, willing to sacrifice all for him and his cause, we cannot be wholly accepted of him.

We are told by revelation that all blessings are to be enjoyed upon the principles by which his kingdom can be built up, and upon no other. It would be in vain for us to imagine that we are going to enjoy the blessing of the celestial world by adopting any principles we may choose, or that may be suitable to our own peculiar ideas and feelings. Then the first lesson for us to learn is how we can best become acquainted with the wishes of our Father, how we can best use our time and our talents to subserve the interests of his cause here upon the earth. We have entered the door of the kingdom, and that is about all. The actual work we have only commenced, and who cannot see that it is of the greatest importance that we organize ourselves that we may the better prosecute our labors! We pray that the will of God may be done on earth as in heaven. What does it avail us if we do not seek first the kingdom of God and all its righteousness? And how can we obey this divine injunction unless we seek in the right and proper way to establish its principles in our hearts and lives, giving that kingdom and its government a foundation, a chance to develop itself into the proportions it eventually will do.

The tendency of mankind generally is to gratify a craving for this world’s goods, adopting such ways as will best secure to them their heart’s desire; this really is their aim and object of life. When we reflect that we live in this important age, when God our heavenly Father has again spoken to the children of men, revealing to them his designs and purposes and the only way to be saved, it is time for us to awake to a sense of duty and prepare ourselves in all readiness, for he does not speak in vain; all must be fulfilled even as it is written, whether we individually take part in it or not.

The Lord will have a people trained in the school of experience until they shall be prepared to receive him when he shall come to dwell upon the earth for the space of a thousand years. This we understand; we have been taught it by divine instruction, and it is for us to be willing to be taught and to be used in accomplishing the preparatory work. He has also declared by the voice of his servants whom he has raised up, and by his own voice, that the wicked and those who delight in abominations he will overthrow as individuals and as nations; and in the place thereof he will have a righteous people who will fear and obey him in all things. This has been preached to the world now for nearly half a century, and we are still declaring it. We know not how many will hearken to this warning voice, but we do know that history informs us that Noah preached one hundred and twenty years, warning the people of threatened judgments, preaching to them the way of life, with but very little success. The word of the Lord through Noah was verified and fulfilled even as he had declared it.

The words of the Lord were lamentably fulfilled on the heads of his chosen seed, because they rejected the same Gospel message which was sent unto them. And the Lord has said that in the last days his word should be verified as in former times. True, the message might be lightly esteemed, and they that bear it, as well as those that receive it, may be set at nought, just in the manner that his word and people always have been treated by the world of mankind generally.

This Latter-day work has been commenced by an illiterate, unlearned boy; but like the leaven that was put into the measures of meal, it has worked until already it attracts not only the attention of men of high and low birth, but of nations. And although its advocates have, as a general thing, been persons of humble birth and of limited education, where has appeared the man that has succeeded in gainsaying them, and proving false the principles they teach? That individual is yet to be found; he cannot be found nor never will be, for it is the truth, we bear the new and the everlasting Gospel which is incontrovertible. And still, with all this before the world, how few comparatively hearken to and obey the message! And how many imperfections we find existing among us! We need careful and gradual training, to be taught a little now and again; and many times we find ourselves almost ready to relinquish our hold on eternal life, having need to be converted again to the truth; and yet we call ourselves Latter-day Saints.

The question that ofttimes arrests my attention is, if we receive not the truth as it is presented to us here, will we be willing to hereafter? Some people imagine that when we pass from this stage of our being we shall all be in a condition to receive truth whether we received or rejected it while upon this earth. It is by reason of our agency that we reject truth and accept evil; and we will find when we go hence that we shall still be possessed of the same agency; and if we were not willing to receive the truth in this world, what assurance have we that our agency will not lead us to reject truth hereafter. If Latter-day Saints cannot endure to the end, if they cannot in their hearts receive as well as practice all of the principles of the Gospel as they are made known to them by his servants, it is folly in the extreme for us to allow ourselves to believe that by rejecting certain principles here we will be able to practice them in the world to come.

We will also find that there are certain things that can be preformed in this world, that peradventure cannot be attended to anywhere else. Baptism by immersion is an ordinance essential to salvation; it is the door to the kingdom and none can be saved without it; and it is an ordinance that strictly belongs to this life. There are also certain ordinances essential to our exaltation in our Father’s kingdom that can be performed only in Temples, except in certain peculiar circumstances; and in order that we should derive their benefit we are called upon to erect these sacred edifices. These are ordinances all-important in their nature that belong to this life, they must be attended to here, that we might be prepared to enter upon the duties of the life to come.

There is one matter that has received a great part of my attention particularly of late, that is the conforming of my will to the will of God, not only pertaining to things spiritual but also to things temporal associated with my everyday life. And it appears to me that we as a people have now reached that stage of the latter-day work when this same question is brought right home to the minds of all who claim membership in the Church and kingdom of God. There is one thing he will require of us, that is to prove by example as well as precept that we love him beyond any and everything else; he will require that we establish beyond a doubt that our affections and hearts are his, and that to do his bidding and further the interests of his cause is our greatest and fondest desire.

There seems to be throughout the world a great love for wealth. It is true that riches ofttimes secure ease, comfort and enjoyment. But then these are indulgences that belong only to this life; as no man brought anything into the world, so none will take anything away. What then may we expect to enjoy in the hereafter? Such blessings only as are secured unto us through the sealing ordinances of the holy Priesthood which reach behind the veil. While reflecting on this, would it not be well for us, as Latter-day Saints, to also imagine, if we can, our feelings if through unworthiness on our part we should find ourselves in the next world disappointed. I think that when we consider these things, that compared with our eternal happiness everything else is small and of little moment.

There is much required at our hands, we have not only to labor for ourselves, but for our dead friends, whom we shall meet sooner or later. If when we renew our acquaintance with them we can tell them that we officiated in the Temple ordinances for them, it will afford us joy as well as them; but if when we shall meet them we are not the bearers of such welcome intelligence, feelings of remorse will overtake us in not having done our duty, when opportunity was afforded us to do so. These are some of my reflections relative to some of our present and immediate duties.

I am pleased to say that wherever I go I perceive a willingness on the part of the people to build Temples, and also to become united in establishing ourselves upon such a basis as will make us independent of the surrounding world, producing and manufacturing everything we need for use and wear, and thus become self-sustaining; so that when Babylon shall fall we may sustain no loss.

There has never been a generation of time so important as the one in which we live. Our prospects too are peculiarly and unusually encouraging, for the Gospel we preach will never be taken away from the earth, and as long as we prove faithful we will maintain our rights which God has given us. There is a prospect too of our posterity living when peace for the space of a thousand years shall be on this earth, when the Savior and holy beings will visit with men in the flesh, and then his glory will surround the habitation of the Saints. I know of no previous dispensation that had such encouraging and glorious prospects.

Then let me say to the Latter-day Saints, let us practice the principles of our holy religion, be willing to be directed and used for the good of our Father’s cause, in whatever capacity we may be placed, and be servants and Saints of God in very deed. And that this may be our happy lot is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 29, 1877.

I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for the privilege of meeting with you again and am happy to say that I am as well satisfied with my labors during the last six months as any of the labors of my life. Here let me ask, are you, my brethren and sisters, satisfied with the labors you have performed during the same length of time? This is a question you will have to answer for yourselves to your own consciences. If you have done well you will be blessed, and you will feel satisfied; if you have suffered yourselves to do that which is wrong towards yourselves or towards any other person on the earth, or to the providences of God, or to our Heavenly Father, your consciences will judge you.

I am aware that you wish to hear something of our labors in the South. I will say that we have had a blessed time, such a time as no other people on the earth have en– joyed for many centuries, that we have any knowledge of. We have been permitted to enjoy privileges for the possession of which we have been striving and laboring for many years. For almost half a century we have been exerting ourselves that we might have the privilege of entering into a Temple of God, there to officiate and receive the ordinances of his holy house, both for ourselves and for our friends that have slept without the Gospel. This privilege and blessing we have not enjoyed until within a very few months past. The feeling experienced by those who have participated in the blessings administered in the Temple is something which cannot be described to your understanding. Those only who have shared with us in the Temple ordinances know for themselves the satisfaction there is in realizing that we are indeed co-workers with our Lord and Savior; that we bear a humble part in the great work of sal– vation; that we have the privilege of receiving and obeying the truth, and of securing to ourselves that happiness which the Gospel alone affords; and not only of performing these ordinances for ourselves, but of doing the necessary work for our parents and forefathers who have slept without the Gospel, that they may partake also of the waters of life, and be judged according to men in the flesh. This is a privilege, a blessing, which no one can sense unless he is in possession of it. We are happy to know by our faith and feelings through the spirit of revelation within us that our labors have been accepted of the Lord. We have enjoyed ourselves exceedingly in the society of each other; the aged, the middle-aged and the youth have rejoiced and been made glad in this glorious work.

When I look upon the youth, our young brethren and sisters, who are more or less unacquainted with the great principles of life and salvation, I wish that they could enjoy what a few of our young people did this past winter, their minds would be detached from the trifles and follies of this weak world, and they would be placed upon more sacred things, upon the principles that are calculated to exalt them and ennoble every feeling and desire of the heart.

The Latter-day Saints present a strange spectacle to those that enjoy the spirit of revelation. To see them following after the spirit of this world and gratifying the lust of the eye and of the mind, like the rest of mankind who have never enjoyed the spirit of the Gospel of life and salvation; and yet not so very strange when we realize the power of the enemy and the thousands of snares which he lays for the feet of the unwary, to draw the people astray from the things of God. Still, when we view the great object of our life, our being here upon the earth, being brought here expressly to receive that experience by which we can discover between right and wrong, between good and evil, between light and darkness, and obtain that experience that angels have, that the gods have, and that all exalted beings have, and remember that we are put in possession of those principles that make us wise unto salvation, that we should stoop to the sinful deeds and sinful reflections that many do, is marvelous and strange. When I think of these things I am impressed with the great importance of this life and of exercising ourselves in the privileges that God has granted to us to prepare our hearts through obedience to the Gospel of the Son of God, for a high station, for a high exaltation in worlds to come, such as we cannot receive whilst clothed in this mortal tabernacle. But still, in this life we can receive little by little, and more and more, growing in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, until our minds are able to comprehend many of the great things of eternity; and thus prepare our hearts, by overcoming sin and the weaknesses of humanity, for that exaltation already awaiting the righteous.

Sometimes I am so exercised that I chastise the people very severely; but I will say to the Latter-day Saints that I have no chastisement for any unless they deserve it, and if I myself am found guilty of the same wrongs, I receive to myself a portion of the rebuke which I give to others. But my feelings are very acute; what I see and hear ofttimes causes me sorrow and wonder, and I feel to exclaim, “O Lord, have mercy upon us, thy people!” How easy it is for us to forget the Lord who atoned for us, and to depart from his ways, giving way to the false influences that are continually prompting our minds to lust after the things of this world in their corrupt condition. All this is strange to the mind opened to see and understand the things of God and the things of eternity as they are. If we possessed that power, that influence over ourselves, a proper portion of that stability that belongs to the heavens, when we once embraced the truth there would be no necessity for our being chastened, no necessity for our being called upon to refrain from this or that wrong; but the weakness of the flesh is so great that we need continually the influence of our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to hold us to the truth, in order that we may not fall away therefrom and finally wander into the darkness of the world, forsaking God and the faith we have embraced.

It is astonishing that men should do so when we consider things as they are, and witness the continued love and kindness of our Heavenly Father, in again speaking from the heavens, revealing himself and his everlasting Gospel to the children of men, as well as the ordinances, laws, rules and regulations of his House which affect the salvation of both the living and the dead.

How is it with my brethren and sisters here? Are they awake to the things of God? If they are we shall have no need of calling upon them from day to day, from week to week. Brethren, will you put forth your hands and rear these Temples, these buildings wherein we can enter and officiate for ourselves and our progenitors, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man, which coming draws near? Will we build up the Zion of God before entering into the millennium of rest, when wickedness will be taken away from the earth? Then the Latter-day Saints will be able to go forth without being persecuted by their enemies, and opposed on every hand by the alluring spirits that are constantly tempting them away from the things of God to follow after the things of a fallen world. Then the Saints will enjoy the privilege of building their Temples unmolested, redeem their friends, and make ready for the time when the nations shall come up to the presence of God the Father, to be judged according to the deeds done in the flesh. There are a few of the brethren and sisters who understand things as they are, and who are ready and willing to devote their time and their means for the salvation of the human family. If there are any hearts or spirits in this city, or elsewhere, that are fearfully wondering whether or not we are going to be destroyed, or whether this Church will endure and become the mighty power in the earth, according to the predictions of the servants of God, I will say to all such trembling souls, You need entertain no such fears. You need have only one fear, and that is with regard to yourselves, lest you should leave the light that the Lord has imparted to you and wander into darkness, returning to the beggarly elements of the world, lusting again after the things of the world in their sinful state. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; even the very things which we are so tempted to covet, through lustful desires, in and of themselves are pure and holy, for they are the Lord’s; but we wish to possess them unrighteously and not according to the will of God. This is the sin which is upon man. Everything which we see and which pertains to this little earth, belongs to the Lord, and the whole of it will be given to his Saints and they will enjoy it forever and ever. But at present the earth is groaning under sin in consequence of the wickedness of the children of men, and it is longing to be delivered, as are the Saints that have slept, whom the Apostle John saw and heard, when he was an exile on the Isle of Patmos. When will the earth be redeemed, when will Jesus come to receive the Church as a bride, when will he come to reign King of nations as he now reigns King of Saints, when will he banish wickedness from the earth, and when will the Saints have power to overcome sin? When we learn to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. As fast as we learn to conform our individual wills to his will, overcoming sin within ourselves, will we have power to subdue sin in those that surround us, and in this way the whole earth will be redeemed from wickedness. The curse which has been brought upon the earth through the Fall will be removed through the faith and virtues of the Saints. When we become sanctified in the truth, and our faith, through the Gospel of the Son of God, becomes sufficiently powerful we will be able to remove the thorns and thistles and obnoxious weeds that grow immediately around us, and to bless and sanctify our gardens and farms, so that they will bring forth spontaneously the fruits and flowers, the cereals and vegetables that sustain life; and upon this principle as righteousness extends will the whole earth eventually be redeemed and sanctified, when all things will be as they were in the beginning, when the Lord finished the earth and pronounced everything to be “very good.” This is the nature of the great latter-day work in which we are engaged, and were it not for the confident assurance that we have of successfully accomplishing it, I would tremble, and fear might enter my heart.

Why is the whole Christian world concerned about your humble servant? They say Brigham Young is not fit to live, that he ought not to be allowed to remain upon the earth. Would they remove him if they had the power to? Yes, many who call themselves Christians would join in the act, and many others would consent to his death! Not the highminded and honorable of the earth, and those who serve God and his Christ; but the bigot, the hypocrite, the wicked and the ungodly would. Why? Simply because they represent their master, the devil, who is carrying on a warfare with the heavens, and their hearts are opposed to God and to all that represent him. This conflict always has been, and will be until the winding up scene. If I had to depend upon my own wisdom and power, in connection with that of my fellow laborers, I might well tremble and fear. But I depend not upon human wisdom or human power. I occupy the position that God our Heavenly Father has placed me in, and while I exercise myself in the duties that he has committed to me, seeking to build up his kingdom and establish righteousness upon the earth, holding the dominion for him and for the family of Christ, I tremble not, I fear not, neither do I care for the insults of the world, for the Lord is my bulwark, my shield and my deliverer. But have not some of the wicked succeeded in removing others from the earth? Yes, they killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith, while under the pledged faith of the State of Illinois; and at Haun’s Mill, Missouri, they massacred about eighteen of our brethren and sisters, innocent men, women and children, without the first cause or provocation; and furthermore, the perpetrators of these and other murders were never brought to justice; in fact, the press of the nation advocated the destruction of “Mormonism,” and on the death of the leaders of our Church, all the consolation that public opinion afforded their bereaved families, as well as the members of the Church, over which they presided, was that that would put an end to “Mormonism.” But will the Lord overlook and forget such crimes? No, for the blood of the innocent is continually crying unto him for vengeance, which he will administer in his own due time. He has already vexed this nation and given the people time to pause and consider their conduct; and if they repent not by turning from their corruptions and wickedness, he has only to say to the innocent, and to the Latter-day Saints, “Wait a little, wait a little, and their cup will be full to overflowing.” I have said to my brethren and sisters, and I say it now, Go to Jackson County, and to Caldwell County, where the lives of Latter-day Saints have been taken and from where they have been driven; go to the region of Haun’s Mill, where so many were massacred because they had come up to the western part of Missouri, and it was said they were “Mormons,” and you will find that we, in all our persecutions, have not suffered so much as the characters who executed judgment upon the innocent. If I were asked today if we as a people had suffered persecution, I would say, “No, nothing worth mentioning.” This has ever been the case with the righteous, and it ever will be. For when their lives are taken for the Gospel’s sake, they go to the Father, to the paradise of rest, where they are free from the influence and power of sinful and wicked men. But how different with the wicked and ungodly! When they die their sufferings which cannot be described, only commence. But have we received enough to understand that the wicked are a rod in the hands of God to chasten his children? If you do not, it is time that you had learned it, for it is even so; and if we are chastened, it is for a purpose, probably to bring us to a sense of our duty, that we may know the hand-dealing of the Lord towards us. But were we ever destroyed? No, neither will God permit us to be, so long as we are desirous of being his servants, and of doing the work given us to do. Although it was necessary that Jesus should suffer on the cross for the sins of the world, still it might be said of those who took an active part in the deed, as well as those who consented to it in their hearts, “Woe unto them by whom this offense came.” Many of the Prophets have sealed their testimony with their blood, that their testament might go forth with force and not return void. As in ancient days, so in modern days. When Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with his blood, his testament, from that moment was in force to all the world; and woe to those who fight against it. What will we do to them? Nothing at all, but preach the Gospel. They may lie about us as they please. If we will faithfully mind our own concerns, live our religion, do good to all men, preach the Gospel to the nations of the earth, gather up the honest in heart, build up and establish Zion in the earth, send the Gospel to the House of Israel, and live and serve God in all things, all will be well with us, we have no cause for fear in the least. When the Lord deems it necessary that his servants should seal their testimony with their blood, in order that his word may be strengthened and of greater force in the earth, so let it be; they are received into the arms of Jehovah, they rejoice in the society of those who are waiting patiently until the trump shall sound, when the sleeping nations shall awake and their bodies come forth to be reunited with their spirits, and the faithful enter into a fullness of his glory. With them all is well, all is right.

But do we live our religion? The only fear I have is that we are not as faithful as we should be. We give way to passion, we yield to temptation; whereas, we ought to live so that the Lord can strengthen the position of his people and multiply the righteous, how fast and to what degree is not for me to say. But if the Latter-day Saints were as righteous and as holy as we are capable of being by reducing to practice the doctrine we have received, I am sure that the Lord could hasten his work, and he would cut it short in righteousness, it would be consummated much quicker than he can in our present condition. The acts and condition of the people here on the earth must be considered, the same is held in remembrance before the throne of God, for he requires of his people to act with him in all things pertaining to the building up of his kingdom upon the earth. But his grace is always ready, his Spirit is always waiting, and the light that Jesus brought into the world is always with the people, teaching them the right from the wrong. He is the light of the world that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and if the whisperings of his Spirit and its dictates were hearkened to and obeyed, all men everywhere would grow in the truth, much faster than we Latter-day Saints are doing. It is a source of mortification to know that men and women who have been in this Church from twenty to forty years should still be so prone to the weaknesses of the flesh. What do I see? If I do not witness it with my own eyes, I hear of it through those who do—men, ofttimes of long standing in the Church, drink a little, they swear a little, smoke or chew a little, and indulge their appetites in those things which the Lord has warned us against, and which he has said are not good for man. They, too, can spend their time wandering about these mountains hunting for gold and silver, they can mingle and associate with those whose lives are records of vice and immorality, and who are ready to oppose God and traduce the character of his servants. Can Saints of God, Elders in Israel, who are exercised by the power and spirit of their holy calling, who have within them the gift of eternal life, can they be guilty of such things and stand approved before God? No, they cannot; and I say, shame upon such men, they are a disgrace to themselves, and their actions are a disgrace to the name of Saint. It is a disgrace, too, to the sisters, as well as the brethren, who thirst after the vain fashions and foolish practices of the world. Cease to pattern after those who know not God. How would such conduct compare with the conversation and deportment of the angels whom we expect to meet? Would they want to adopt the practices and fashions of the wicked world? No, they have higher aims and holier aspirations, they live above vanity; so should the Latter-day Saints. Our hearts should be pure, entertaining such things only as are comely, chaste and praiseworthy before him. This is the course of life that he expects of us.

I have a great many reflections, especially when alone, I converse with myself upon these eternal things, things which the frivolous, the vain, and those who are engaged only with the things of this world, never think of. With regard to the society of heaven, their conversation and deportment, consider the magnitude and greatness of the character of holy beings, contemplate the expanse of eternity and the life that is before us, and then how insignificant appears this world as it now is! Still, in our humanity, in our fallen condition, that divine influence is more or less with us, and if we would preserve ourselves to dwell with the holy ones of heaven and have joy in our being, we must faithfully adhere to and practice the principles of eternal life; and in doing so, he will add for our comfort and enjoyment all things necessary pertaining to this life.

Fear not with regard to the success of this Church and kingdom. Rather fear you should not be counted worthy to be numbered among the sanctified when Jesus comes to make up his jewels; rather fear lest you should be found in the condition of the five foolish virgins whose lamps had gone out and who were unprepared to meet the bridegroom because they had no oil. Remember, Latter-day Saints, there were five wise and five foolish, an equal division, and yet they were all virgins. The application is a just one and has a direct bearing on us, as Latter-day Saints. The wise among us will take heed, will hearken to the instructions and counsels of the servants of God, will pattern after Christ, and thirst after the things of God, and our lamps will be trimmed and burning, and we will be prepared to meet the bridegroom when he comes, and they that are ready will enter in with him to the marriage; and whether or not the door be shut upon those not so well prepared is a matter that belongs solely to him, and he can do just as he pleases about it. I want to have oil in my vessel, so that in case I should, in consequence of the weakness of the flesh, slumber a little, on arising my lamp would be trimmed ready to burn. This is doubtless your desire. Then live for it; mingle not your voices with the wicked, seek not after the delusive things of this world in their present state. But is not the Lord going to give the earth and the riches thereof to his Saints? Yes, that is the promise, and he has spoken it by the mouth of many of his Prophets. But when will this inheritance pass into the hands of his people? When we shall have sanctified the Lord in our hearts, sanctified our bodies and spirits in the truth, and we become pure and holy, free from selfishness and from every sin; and until we shall have reached this state of perfection, we never need expect these things committed to our care, for he will not do it. When the judgment is given to the Saints, it will be because of their righteousness, because they will judge even as the angels and as the Gods, and not as the wicked do at the present time, who care not for God nor for justice, who care not for truth nor mercy, love nor kindness, who judge according to the wickedness of their hearts. I am very thankful that it is not our province, in our present condition, to judge the world; if it were, we would ruin everything. We have not sufficient wisdom, our minds are not filled with the knowledge and power of God; the spirit needs to contend with the flesh a little more until it shall be successful in subduing its passions, until the whole soul is brought into perfect harmony with the mind and will of God. And we must also acquire the discretion that God exercises in being able to look into futurity, and to ascertain and know the results of our acts away in the future, even in eternity, before we will be capable of judging.

Let us live so that we shall be ready for any dispensation of providence. It is said He will come as a thief in the night. We had better be on the watchtower, waiting in readiness for him, than to be putting off the time, for peradventure we might put it off until it is too late.

I have something to say to the Latter-day Saints about their temporal affairs, how we should live temporally, taking proper care of that which is committed to our charge, and using it for the benefit of ourselves and others, which I will tell you on some future occasion.

On the second Saturday and Sunday in May, the 12th and 13th, we will hold a two days’ meeting here, or, if you choose to call it so, a District Conference of this Stake of Zion, to which you, and as many as can make it, convenient to attend, are invited. If you will come with clean hands and pure hearts, full of faith, so that the Lord can pour out his spirit upon us, we will have a time of rejoicing. God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at Richfield, Sevier County, Utah, on Sunday Afternoon, April 22, 1877.

I am very much gratified in the opportunity of appearing in this house again. I am disposed to say a few words to you. I have not time to instruct you in all things, nor to say all I wish to say. Do just as well as you know how in all things, never permitting yourself to commit an act unless the Spirit of God within you justifies you in doing it. And if you live every day of your lives according to the best light and understanding you possess, glorifying God, our Heavenly Father, just as far as your knowledge extends, I will promise you eternal life in the kingdom of God. This is saying a great deal, it is a very important discourse embodied in a few words. The grand difficulty with the people is they do not do quite as well as they know how; it is that which hinders us from accomplishing the work given us to do.

Now let me say to you, my brethren and sisters, if you live according to the light within you, you will be of one heart and one mind; your interests and labors will be one, and you will take hold with all the power God has given you to consummate this great and glorious work com– mitted to our charge. When we become one we shall have a heaven here upon the earth. Do you think that in the family of heaven dwelling in the presence of God there is any jarring, bickerings, contentions, faultfinding, or distrust in the Priesthood? No. It is true we are in a world of darkness, and we have a great many weaknesses, temptations and annoyances all tending to lead us astray. But if we do as well as we know how, we shall accomplish the work.

I have been spending the winter in St. George. Our Temple there is finished, which is the first completed Temple built to the name of the Most High, in which the ordinances for the living and the dead can be performed, since the one built by Solomon in the land of Jerusalem, that we have any knowledge of. The Nephites may have built Temples, and in all probability they did, but we have no account of them. We enjoy privileges that no other people enjoy, or have enjoyed. In the days of Solomon, in the Temple that he built in the land of Jerusalem, there was confusion and bickering and strife, even to murder, and the very man that they looked to to give them the keys of life and salvation, they killed because be refused to administer the ordinances to them when they requested it; and whether they got any of them or not, this history does not say anything about.

We enjoy the privilege of entering into a Temple, built to the name of God, and receiving the ordinances of his House, with all the keys and blessings preparatory of entering into the “lives;” we also enjoy the privilege of administering for our fathers and mothers, our grandfathers and grandmothers, for those who have slept without the Gospel.

You can understand why it is that the press of our nation is so ready to cry out against the “Mormons;” why it is that these poor Latter-day Saints are not considered fit to live, why they ought not to enjoy the common blessings of citizenship, and why the wicked would, if they could, deprive this whole people of their rights and privileges, and destroy their leaders from off the earth? It is evidence to all Latter-day Saints, if they have hearts to understand, that God is with this people, and that the Evil One is using the same means now, as he always has done, to oppose Him. We ought to be thankful that we are worthy to receive these persecutions. And I can promise you, that if we exercise patience and faith, and attend faithfully and diligently to the work given us to do of the Father, that they will work out for us a more excellent degree of glory and exaltation. Consequently it becomes us to be patient, trusting in God and the promises he has made unto us.

I was about to say to you, that our labors during the time I have spent in St. George, are perfectly satisfactory to me; and I believe we have all the evidence we can ask for, that the Lord is satisfied. And now that we have succeeded so well in building one Temple, we feel encouraged to continue our labors in the same direction until we shall have built and finished others. We want to commence another one in your region of country, at Manti; and we intend to lay out the ground when we reach there on our way to the city. We have, traveling with us, in our company, Elder Parry, the man who had charge of the rockwork of the St. George Temple; he is on his way to Manti, to work on the Temple to be built at that place. We expect to say to the Latter-day Saints, Rear these walls forthwith, and complete this building, that you may enjoy the blessings therein promised.

Brethren and sisters, live your holy religion that the spirit of truth, of virtue and of holiness may burn within you, that your only desire may be to do the will of the Father in the literal building up of this his kingdom on the earth. Say your prayers, and increase your faith in the Lord and in his promises made to the faithful. Bring up your children in the love and fear of the Lord; study their dispositions and their temperaments, and deal with them accordingly, never allowing yourself to correct them in the heat of passion; teach them to love you rather than to fear you, and let it be your constant care that the children that God has so kindly given you are taught in their early youth the importance of the oracles of God, and the beauty of the principles of our holy religion, that when they grow to the years of man and womanhood they may always cherish a tender regard for them and never forsake the truth. I do not wish you to lay the stress and importance upon outward ceremonies that many do. There are those belonging to what is called the Mother Church who say give them the care and training of children at from three to seven years old, and they could so ground them in their faith, that they forever afterwards, would remain good Catholics. The secret of their great success is no doubt in their strict observance of outward ordinances and ceremonies. But while they go to one extreme in the observance of ceremony, making bigots of their children, (for one of the earliest recollections of the child, who is reared in Catholicism, is the use of the sign of the cross) many of the Latter-day Saints go to the other, failing entirely to impress the minds of their children with that degree of reverence and sacredness that belongs to the ordinances of our Church. Parents, teach your children by precept and example, the importance of addressing the throne of grace; teach them how to live, how to draw from the elements the necessaries of life, and teach them the laws of life that they may know how to preserve themselves in health and be able to minister to others. And when instructing them in the principles of the Gospel, teach them that they are true, truth sent down from heaven for our salvation, and that the Gospel incorporates every truth whether in heaven, in earth, or in hell; and teach them too that we hold the keys of eternal life, and that they must obey and observe the ordinances and laws pertaining to this holy Priesthood, which God has revealed and restored for the exaltation of the children of men.

If I were to ask the High Priests of this district, Do you pray in your families before going to work, or before you sit around the breakfast table? Do you kneel down in humility and meekness, with the faith that the Father requires at your hands to ask him in the name of Jesus, to bless and preserve and give you grace according to your day; and do you do this before retiring to bed? Seventies, do you call upon the Lord morning and evening? The Lord says, I will be sought unto by my people for the blessings that they need. And instead of our classing prayer among the duties devolving upon us as Latter-day Saints, we should live so as to deem it one of the greatest privileges accorded to us; for were it not for the efficacy of prayer what would have become of us both as a people and as individuals?

I do not feel disposed to preach a lengthy sermon to you, but we feel in our hearts to say, God bless you, peace be to you. I do not expect to come to see you as often as I have done, my health will not permit of it. My voice is good, I feel as though I could make myself heard a mile off, but my system is almost worn out; yet I expect to work right in the harness until I am called for to go hence. I am so thankful we have completed our Temple, it is the greatest blessing that could be bestowed upon us, I know of nothing that could equal it. But we are not satisfied with this one, we must hurry the building of another one, and thus another one and so on, and perform the great work therein that is required at our hands. Let us live so that we may be worthy to be owned of the Lord, and to be received into the fulness with him. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Hyde, delivered in the Temple, St. George, April 5, 1877.

I have not language, my brethren and sisters, to express the feelings and emotions of my heart on coming into this Temple yesterday morning; I could not describe them if I were to undertake to do so, and consequently I will sum up in short by saying, that the sentiments of my heart were, Thank God for such a place in which to worship and to reverence his high and holy name.

We have been listening this morning to some very interesting and truthful remarks, and I have felt edified, instructed, and comforted in my feelings. And I think, if we all remember our prayers in the season thereof, in sincerity and truth, that our light would shine before us according to our needs and wants. It is too often the case that this important duty is neglected. I look at the rivers of water, I trace them to their source, and I find that many times the places where they originate are small and ofttimes hidden from the popular gaze. But, notwithstanding, they flow down and the waters increase, until by tributaries the main channel becomes a mighty river. So our prayers in private and family circle are secret and retired from the public, but they keep the fire burning upon the altar of our hearts. And it is not often that persons who faithfully attend to this duty walk in darkness, it is seldom that they apostatize and turn away from the faith, especially when we couple our solemn prayers with a short sermon or lecture of comfort and of peace to our wives and children, sanctifying our prayers by words of consolation, and then we have a little heaven on earth. And I have noticed that those who do this can generally give a reason for the hope that is in them. Where these things are neglected, however small they may appear in the estimation of some, there is a want of the vital principle that feeds the soul, that keeps the leaves and branches green, that imparts beauty and loveliness to all nature.

I have thought that if we were a little more punctual in the discharge of our obligations one with another and to all men, it would be the means of opening wider the door of light and truth to all pursuing that course. It is too often the case that we sometimes contract duties and make promises to discharge them, when our present condition and future prospects are altogether too slim to justify our doing so. Yet we feel we must go in debt to supply our immediate wants. And when the time comes for payment to be made, it is not at all an infrequent chapter in our lives, that at that particular time we were not so well prepared to meet the obligation as we were the day we made the contract. This I apprehend is a barrier to our success and our prosperity. And I feel that if there was more punctuality manifested by us in paying our obligations than now exists, we would have more confidence in one another than we already have. I do not recommend any person to take his neighbor in hand and say, “Pay me that which thou owest me.” So far as my memory serves me, in such cases as when persons owed me who failed to pay me according to promise, and I believed them honest and upright in their feelings, seeking not to take advantage, I do not recollect ever having crowded such persons, or putting them to the least inconvenience. I think it is good and honorable on the part of the creditor to establish his name and character by showing mercy and easing the burden of those who may be indebted to him. For there should be a disposition on one part to avoid contracting debts, and a disposition on the other to be as lenient as circumstances permit, to move away all the obstruction we can from the path of each other’s prosperity. However small these matters may seem, they are important.

At the time our Prophet and Patriarch were killed, or at least soon afterwards, when the Twelve returned to Nauvoo, their immediate circumstances were not altogether agreeable and pleasant or profitable. But suffice it to say we had a meeting, a Conference, at which President Young was the center of attraction. On his rising to speak, and as soon as he opened his mouth, I heard the voice of Joseph through him, and it was as familiar to me as the voice of my wife, the voice of my child, or the voice of my father. And not only the voice of Joseph did I distinctly and unmistakably hear, but I saw the very gestures of his person, the very features of his countenance, and if I mistake not, the very size of his person appeared on the stand. And it went through me with the thrill of conviction that Brigham was the man to lead this people. And from that day to the present there has not been a query or a doubt upon my mind with regard to the divinity of his appointment; I know that he was the man selected of God to fill the position he now holds.

I have found in my experience that there is a good deal in a man’s having confidence in himself. A person having little confidence in God and more in himself is not good; the capital stock should be in the Lord our God, and the smaller portion in the creature operating.

When the Lord created man, I believe he placed in him a portion of himself, that is a portion of every qualification that he himself possessed. And in our sphere we are to act independently; but under and by the power of those principles of natural inspiration. There is a good deal of natural inspiration in man; and when that is touched by the finger of the Almighty, it makes the cup a delicious one, it makes the mind truly enlightened.

Brethren and sisters, I have all confidence in the Lord our God—I say all confidence, perhaps that calls for a little qualification. At any rate I believe in him, and that he is just, wise and merciful. If I did not believe he was merciful, I could not believe my own eyes while looking upon this vast congregation of his people, assembled in this isolated place, here in the southern portion of our Territory.

I tell you how I feel in relation to the matters that have been spoken of here today. If I had more confidence in myself, and in my own ability, limited though it may be, I could venture farther and do more, and perhaps overcome my natural timidity and become a more efficient agent in the hands of our Father of doing good. This I desire with all my heart. I can say that what little I possess of this world’s goods are subject to the orders of my superiors in the Priesthood, myself and all that I command are at their dictation to be used in the service of our God for the advancement of his kingdom. I labored with my hands until I reached my seventieth year, when I had to cease working; and for the last two years I have not been able to do anything, not even to cut a stick of wood or fetch a bucketful of water. But I feel thankful that my health is as good as it is, and that I have lived to see this day, and to behold this elegant structure reared to the honor of our God, and to have the privilege of meeting and joining with so many of my brethren and sisters to worship within its walls.

Brethren, I rejoice in the service of God, and I want to continue in it; and if our religion had no more consolation than it now affords, it would be ample to inspire us to honor it, and to live it. I look around me and see a great many heads as white and many whiter than my own. I ofttimes wish, Oh, that I were again active and able to work manfully and energetically in the cause of truth! But no; like many others of my age, I am subject to rheumatism and pains in my limbs, which at times disable me; I have commenced to feel the infirmities of increasing age and years; and so many of us now, after these many years of toil, have to struggle with the going down sun of our earthly existence. But we have the consolation of knowing that our mortal body will not always impede our progress, we shall not forever suffer its inconveniences; we are gladdened in the hope of either laying down this mortal tabernacle or undergoing that welcome change which will free us from all afflictions and annoyances. And we hail the day when we shall be free from sorrow and death, to forever rejoice in the joys of everlasting lives. But while we remain let us struggle on, and continue the good fight of faith until we are called home. I calculate, the Lord being my helper, to do the very best I can. How long I may live I know not, neither do I feel much anxiety, feeling as I do that I am in the hands of my Heavenly Father, who will do with me as seemeth him good. But yet if I could be spared in health, I would like to see the adversary bound, to trouble and harass no more the children of our God. I would like to live to see myself entirely redeemed from the tradition of our forefathers, which we have inherited through entailment, and completely baptized in the element of life everlasting. These are my heart’s desires. I pray that God may continue to bless us and help us to walk day by day in obedience to the requirements of heaven. Amen.