Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1860.

We have come together this morning for the purpose of holding our General Conference, and to attend to matters of business that pertain to the whole Church, not only for the people in this Territory; but we have met to do business that concerns all nations and people, both the living and the dead, or those who have passed behind the veil; and I feel to rejoice in the privilege we now have.

I know that this is the kingdom of God. It is that kingdom which was shown to the Prophet Daniel, as recorded in the second chapter of his book. This is the kingdom that was set up in the days of Jesus, and it is the kingdom that our Father and God set up after he organized this earth; and he is the King: but there are and will be tens of thousands of kings this side of him, and will be a perpetual increase of kings and priests in the kingdoms of our Father.

I desire to express my feelings in a few words upon those things, that you may know how I feel, and understand that I view this kingdom as something that pertains to or that will affect all the creatures of God in this creation—yes, the thousands and millions of beings who have not yet appeared upon this stage of action. It is that kingdom that concerns every man that ever did or that ever will live.

I wish to encourage you Elders and all good Saints to live so as to get that Spirit that is promised to the faithful; and let us lay aside our selfishness, and become interested in the general welfare of the kingdom of God; for it is something that should interest every man and woman in the world.

This Church is that Church which has been spoken of by the Prophets, and this people constitute that king– dom that was to come forth in the latter days. We are members of this kingdom, and we proceeded from the King of this earth. We are all his sons; and when, through our obedience, we become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, we in reality become princes, for we emanated from that King; and he is our Father and God, and he will call every son and daughter of Adam to an account for their deeds. It does not matter whether they belong to the Church or are outside of the fold of Christ, our Father will call them to give an account of the deeds done in the body; and the spirits of men that were in existence before they inhabited these bodies have got to be responsible for the acts that are wrought in the flesh. This is upon the same principle that President Young commits to me the care and supervision of a house—for instance, the sanctum sanctorum—a holy place, where the ordinances of God are administered. He commits that to me, and holds me responsible for its safe keeping. So it will be with you and me; so it will be with all men and women in regard to their works on the earth. There will be thousands of men brought to an account for their conduct towards women, for in many instances it is shameful.

We have come here today to worship God, to speak of his purposes and designs, and to bear testimony of his work. It is rainy and rather wet and unpleasant, and therefore we cannot do much else; and we shall stay here until the Spirit indicates that it is best to adjourn; and when that will be I cannot now tell. But I hope none of you will be troubled upon that point, for President Young will hold it as long as it is interesting and the Spirit of God shall dictate to him. In referring to the sons and daughters of Adam, and to this great work which I have already said concerns us all, and especially the Elders that have come into the Church in the beginning, and who hold this Priesthood which God has revealed through his servant Joseph. I wish you to understand that all that is connected with you—your wives and children—should interest you in their welfare and in the prosperity of the work of God; and you will be interested in proportion to the light, knowledge, power, and spirit there is in the Elders; and that spirit will rest upon the Elders, their wives, and children. Their animals and all they possess will be quickened by it.

You can read in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants that the Lord spoke to Thomas B. Marsh and the Twelve Apostles, telling them that they held the keys of the kingdom with the First Presidency and the fathers from the beginning of the creation.

“For unto you, the Twelve, and those, the First Presidency, who are appointed with you to be your counselors and your leaders, is the power of this priesthood given, for the last days and for the last time, in the which is the dispensation of the fulness of times. Which power you hold, in connection with all those who have received a dispensation at any time from the beginning of the creation; For verily I say unto you, the keys of the dispensation, which ye have received, have come down from the fathers, and last of all, being sent down from heaven unto you.” (Doc. and Cov., sec. 104, par. 12.)

The Lord told us there that the fathers are interested for us just in proportion to the interest we feel for this work and for the Church and kingdom of God here upon the earth. I want you to think of that and reflect upon it. You need not doubt in relation to the truth of what the world call “Mormonism,” for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, established and organized through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith, is the true Church of God. With it is the Priesthood and power of God; and you might as well try to doubt that the sun shines, for it is truth; and although all hell may deny it, and all the men upon the earth, that will make no difference, for it is from God. The Lord called that man, and sent his angels to ordain him and confer upon him that authority necessary for the building up of the kingdom of God; and it was through him that we received all the authority we hold, and through us every soul of you who have received the truth received it—through that Priesthood which came from God through Joseph Smith; and you grew out of that Priesthood, and none of you have a particle of power except that which comes through that medium. It came from Jesus to Peter, from Peter to Joseph, and from Joseph to President Young and his brethren, and from us to you. You hold that Priesthood and authority in connection with them; and except you are connected with them, you cannot have any Priesthood or authority. You must honor that tree with which you are connected; for, if you dishonor that tree, you dishonor yourselves, and I would not give a farthing for your authority.

These are some of my views upon the subject; and I feel to say that this work will roll forth with greater power hereafter than it has done in times past; and my prayer to my Father in heaven is, Let thy work roll on, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is the way it has got to be, for things must eventually be done here as they are in heaven. We have got to do right, and we cannot do this except we honor our callings and Priesthood; for we are like a great tree, having roots, body, great and small limbs; and I want to know what the difference is between one limb and another, so far as honor is concerned? All should be honored in their place and calling. Let every man honor the head, the body, and every member that pertains to that body, if you wish to honor God. Now, can I rise up and chastise the limb that I am connected with? No, I cannot; and the limb will die quicker without my interference, if there is anything wrong about it. Could a man rise up and chastise President Joseph Smith when he was alive? No; no man had the right. Well, then, can any man chastise President Young? No, sir; but it is the duty of all to honor the head and the body with which they are connected. Upon the same principle, the smallest member of the body should honor the part to which it is attached. You know two feet are required to carry two legs, and two legs to carry a body; and so it is in the Church of Christ.

The Apostles and Prophets used to talk in this way, presenting figures and comparisons for the purpose of conveying things to the minds of the people more forcibly. Now, let every man take a course to honor one another and the Priesthood they have received. “Well,” says one, “I will honor the First Presidency of the Church; but I don’t want anything to do with the Twelve: they are not of much account.” That is the way some of you feel. Now, if you treat these men in this way, how long will it be before you will treat President Young in like manner?

The course for us to take is to honor the Priesthood which the Almighty has given to man. How can you honor God except you honor that Priesthood? This is well worth your consideration. You all sprang out of that Priesthood as one limb of a tree comes out of the main body. This is honorable in all men, and I feel to say, Let every man honor his calling, and his fruit will appear.

Will a good apple tree produce a thorn or a thistle? No, it never will. But notwithstanding this, I believe there are a great many thistles that call themselves apples; yes, many that are briars, thistles, and other useless things they ought not to be. I frequently think of these things. I consider our Priesthood and the vows that we have made with God. “But,” says one, “we have made those vows with our brethren, and not with the Lord.” Let me tell you that it was the brethren in authority in the Priesthood who called you into the house of the Lord; but you made your covenants with God. The brethren were merely the witnesses of those things which you did—of the covenants you made with the Father, with the Son, with the Holy Ghost, and with all the heavenly hosts; and your brethren stood as witnesses for God, and you will have to give an account of the way and manner you keep and observe those covenants.

There are many who think these things are of no account; but I will tell you, brethren, that you will be straightened out when the Lord appears, taking vengeance upon those that will not obey his Gospel. In that day the wicked will be as chaff or stubble, and they will be destroyed from the earth, and their tabernacles dissolved; but the righteous will receive new bodies, and they will inhabit a new earth, and eternally enjoy the favor of that God who sent his Son that you and I might be redeemed and brought back into his presence.

There is a great deal for us to do, and I wish you would all think so, and have these things before your minds continually. How can this evil be remedied? I say, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, Wake up from your slumber, and get within your souls the Spirit of the Most High God; and the more you have of it, the more you will feel the necessity of being wide awake and attentive to your duties.

Your eyes have become dim because of your dullness and inattention to your duties. The Scriptures say—“Let thine eye be single, that thy whole body may be full of light.” The reason we do not see things as they are is because we have become dull and stupid, and do not understand the things of God. It is said in the Scriptures that the eyes of certain characters are like the fool’s eyes, reaching to the ends of the earth; and like the door upon its hinges, doing no good, but just swinging backwards and forwards. Brother Benson, won’t you shut that vestry door, and open it again? [Which he did.] Now, don’t you see, brethren, that has neither lost nor gained anything; but it will soon wear out. This figure I wish to apply to you indolent persons, and thereby show you that you ought to go to work and improve—bring about something for the honor and glory of God, and the adorning and building up of his kingdom. I do not want you to be like the sow that has been taken and washed clean, and then as soon as the door is open she goes into the dirtiest mudhole there is in the neighborhood. But as you have been washed in the waters of baptism and entered into the fold, I want you to remain clean and pure, and to labor for the welfare of Zion and the upbuilding of the kingdom of our God. If you act like the sow, then your last end will be worse than your first.

You have entered into the kingdom, and should be like a little child, humble, meek, and passive in the hands of your superiors.

You will remember that when those commissioners came to make peace with us, we came up from the South to see them, to find out what they wanted. The night we arrived in the city, I dreamed that there was an awful flood, and that the floodwood had stopped up the stream. I watched it; and after a while the floodwood gave way, and it came down Emigration Canyon, and went in a southwesterly direction. I then looked round to see what the effects were, and all at once this whole city and adjacent country became full of hogs. I spoke to the President and the brethren who were with him, and said—“The country is full of hogs,” and they were frothing at the mouth just like mad hogs do; and I saw them running after the brethren, who got on the walls and fences in different directions, and they were jumping up at them, but their mouths were full of froth; and I was pleased to see that there was not one of those hogs could bite any of the brethren. By-and-by our attention was called to other business, and when I had a little leisure I looked round and said to the brethren—“Where are those hogs gone?” We looked around us, and lo and behold there was not a hog to be found in the country!

But while they were here did they not froth at the mouth? They did, and they jumped and made a terrible stew; but I do not know that they have ever hurt anybody. They have not had the power to meddle with or hurt anybody except those who wanted to be meddled with. Now I consider that those men and women who have suffered themselves to be overcome by these hogs are no better than the hogs themselves.

This may be considered a very good introduction, in my way, to this General Conference.

I do not know that I ever felt better in my life than I do today. I feel that I can touch a little thing here and another there, and I see before me ten thousand times more than I speak of; and among the many things that I can see, one is, that all the hogs are going to leave as fast as they can! If the Elders and Saints will only do right, all will be right for them and with them; and they ought to know that the responsibility is upon their shoulders.

If you, brethren, go and sell your wheat, that will not be laid to the sisters, excepting in those cases where the men are under petticoat government. Those who do this are taking a course that will bring sorrow upon themselves; yes, those who trade away the staff of life will suffer pain, sorrow, and nakedness, and many things that have not entered into their hearts to think of.

Since the Latter-day Saints have been in these mountains, there has never been such a deep designing and well-got-up scheme to draw grain out of this Territory as there is now; for there is a branch of a store in almost every settlement, and they are buying wheat and sending it to Pike’s Peak, and they are getting it at a very low price, too. I am afraid this is going to bring trouble upon you, brethren and sisters. President Young has talked and talked upon the subject of saving your breadstuff, and the Twelve have borne testimony of it in all your settlements day after day and year after year; and yet many of the people don’t care any more about it than if we had never spoken upon the subject.

There are some who have listened and laid up their grain. Look at the men who have done this, and you will find men that have got power with God and man. Let us try to improve, and get as many to do this as we can, and we shall do well. We cannot get everybody to do it, but we can use an influence with a few. There are a great many here who have lived from hand to mouth all their lives, they have been accustomed to get their wages on a Saturday night; and let their wives have them; then their wives would go and pay such a portion for the week’s provisions—so much for ale, so much for the priest, the tithing, and other things; and they don’t know how to get along any other way.

How can you be saviors, except you lay up knowledge of the things of God? And how can you be temporal saviors, except you lay up provisions? Jesus says, Seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you. The Lord is not bound to feed us, except we take care and do our part. Do you imagine that the Lord will go and raise you a crop of wheat, without your first going and ploughing the ground?

You have heard President Young say that none of us know enough to make a spear of grass grow, and this we all know to be true; but I will tell you what you can do. You can obtain the ground, plough it, drag it, sow the seed, and dedicate it to your Father and God. Then, when you find it necessary, you can irrigate it, and you will be pretty sure to get a good crop of wheat, or corn, or whatever you may choose to plant.

There are a great many that are going into speculation nowadays. Some of our Elders are becoming merchants, taking the Gentiles’ goods and peddling them off for wheat, and then turning it over to our Gentile speculators who have persecuted us. Well, you will see that pretty much everyone of them will lose the Spirit, except they repent.

Now, you have been told again and again to take care of your cattle, and send back for your goods. This has been done this year by a number of the brethren, and it can be done by the majority of the people. There was a train of goods came in a few days ago: the cattle started from here last spring, and they have come in better condition than any other cattle that have crossed the Plains this sea– son. The same thing has been done before. The year the pioneers came in, we bought oxen, mules, and horses; and some of the cattle we brought in with us went back to the Missouri River the same season, and they got through about three weeks before we did, for we had to stay back and help our horses. When we struck the Platte River on our return, we found that there was no substance in the grass; the frost had killed it. But in the spring, when cattle go down from here, the grass is fresh and good, and the cattle get fat; and then on their return they get into the “bunchgrass country” before the frost comes, and you know bunchgrass is good all the year round. I want to see the people go into this business forthwith.

I cannot do much, but I have had it in my heart ever since I have been in this Church to do some good, not only to myself but to this people; and I want to honor this Priesthood, and to see the day when this people will circumscribe and circumnavigate the whole world; and I want to see the kingdom of God govern and rule the world, and this I will see with mine eyes, if I am faithful; and if I am not faithful, I shall be sure to see it, and that to my sorrow.

I desire to be humble and faithful; but I am like you—I have my weaknesses to contend with. We seem as if we must have something to excite us to good works—to encourage us to press forward in the good work of our Heavenly Father; and I consider we have everything to encourage us to do good—to practice virtue and righteousness.

Brethren, I feel to bless you with the blessings of Almighty God, that the Spirit of God may run through your bones like blood running through your veins, to cheer up your hearts. And I ask my Heavenly Father to bless you; and he will do it, if you be faithful and diligent. He will bless the virtuous, the upright, and those that honor their calling, and that honor this Church; and he will honor me forever, so long as I do right and honor the Priesthood; and he will honor my wives, my sons, and daughters, if they will honor themselves; and I will honor them. The men who honor this Church, and try to promote its interests, God will bless; and if they honor God, they never will take a course to crush their brethren: they will honor their Presidents, whether they be Apostles, High Priests, or Elders.

Uncle John Young is a Patriarch in the Church of God, which office he received honorably, for he is an heir to it through his father; and he may bless all the people with the blessings of the heavens and of the earth, and they will only get what they live for. This is the promise of God to his Saints.

The Spirit of the Lord giveth line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little for the comfort of the Saints. These are given to you to improve upon. I feel this spirit of improvement, and desire to advance and see my brethren advance in the things of God.

I pray God to bless you all, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1860.

I feel quite thankful for the comfortable circumstances we enjoy—for our blessings, spiritually and temporally, which I realize to be the free gift of our Father and God. All the wisdom, ability, and talent displayed among the children of men are the gift of God to them. He has given us ability to make ourselves comfortable and happy, for which I am extremely thankful.

I am happy in hearing the voices of the brethren, and would be very much gratified if we had time, and it would meet the minds of the brethren, to give them an opportunity to speak as the Spirit might dictate, and bear their testimony. It has been a source of comfort to me to hear the speeches of my brethren, and to observe the variety of capacity, of reflection, and manner of communication displayed by them. I should be very glad if we could have the privilege of hearing many of them speak during this Conference. Whether we shall or not, I am not now able to say. Our Conference commences today. Tomorrow is the Sabbath, and probably many who have come from the country will wish to return home on Monday. Whether we shall continue our Conference longer than tomorrow, I do not know. We shall continue it until we finish the business to be transacted and fully answer our feelings, and then we will close. I wish to present several ideas; but I have been more edified in hearing the music in brother Kimball’s remarks this morning than I would have been in speaking myself.

When the authorities of the Church are present, if we are possessed of the true spirit, we are ready to sustain the faithful, and to wish them to continue in the faithful discharge of their duties. And the brethren who rise to testify of the things of God, if they enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, know that “Mormonism” is true. No person can receive a knowledge of this work, except by the power of revelation.

All the world are ready to tell you that this work is not of God. Kings, princes, dukes, lords, and other great men of the earth are all combined in this testimony. Why do they fear this work, if it is the work of men? The very sound of it carries conviction to all the inhabitants of the earth—a conviction that it is ordained of God. Were this not so, you would not see it contended against by the priests in the pulpit, who are bitter against it, and are most vigilant in circulating all manner of falsehood concerning it, picking up the sayings of corrupt, debased, abandoned characters to swell their catalogue of lies against it, which they publish throughout the world. All this would sleep, if this work was not of God. They would never think enough of it to say one word about it. But they are pricked by the conviction of its truth when they hear the sound of it. When false reports go out against Joseph Smith and his brethren, against the Book of Mormon, and the kingdom of God, a conviction goes with them to the hearts of the people that this is the work of the Almighty. Were this not so, we should not have been persecuted—we should not have been driven as we have been. But we have been driven for the last time, thank God my heavenly Father. But our persecutions are a subject that I do not wish to speak about. We have the power in our own hands, if we live with our lives hid with Christ in God. We are here where the Lord wants us to be; and if we will be as he wants us to be, the kingdom is ours—the greatness, the glory, power, excellency, light, intelligence, and eternity of the kingdom of God are ours, and no power can hinder it.

When men lose the spirit of the work in which we are engaged, they become infidel in their feelings. They say that they do not know whether the Bible is true, whether the Book of Mormon is true, nor about new revelations, nor whether there is a God or not. When they lose the spirit of this work, they lose the knowledge of the things of God in time and in eternity; all are lost to them. Contemplate the things of God and his kingdom, this earth, man in his present condition, and you may clearly comprehend that we are now in the midst of eternity. When we preach, or pray, or exhort each other to good works, if we could realize it, we are in the midst of the kingdom of God, and his all-searching eye is here. You may readily comprehend this; for, when I look at you as you are now assembled, I can see several hundred faces at once. Now, suppose that I had power to see as the Spirit sees, I could then look through the earth and see our antipodes as well as I can look through what some term empty space. My eyes would be eternal, and I could see the vast eternities of God as I can now see your faces. God sees us; and if we had eyes like his, we could behold him as we sit here as easily as we can now see each other’s faces—no matter where he dwells, whether in Kolob or anywhere else; for his glory and light fill the sun, and we could behold it as we now behold each other’s faces. God has the power to look at his vast works; and if we had power and eyes like his, we could behold him as he does us. He is in the midst of eternity. His kingdom is here, a portion of his glory is here, eternity is here, and we are in the midst of them. Let us live worthy of them, and not dishonor our being upon the earth.

There are many of the Bishops here today, and my advice to them is for them to be honest with me, to be honest with their God, to keep their covenants sacred, and to make a clean breast of all their business transactions, that their consciences may be void of offense towards God and man. I am not searching only the course of the Twelve, or that of the High Priests and Seventies, but I am searching after all the authorities whose conduct is not in accordance with the best interests of the Church; and from this time forth, if they do not do different from what many have done, they shall do wrong knowingly, with their eyes open. I want the Bishops to remember the counsel I have given them. I shall learn whether they are strictly honest or not; and if they are not honest, I will expose them. If they come out and own things as they are, and honestly prove that their past errors have proceeded from the head, and not from the heart, they can be placed upon the right track and magnify their calling. Some may not understand the cause of these remarks concerning the Bishops, and I will explain. For instance, when tithing chickens, butter, &c., are brought in, a Bishop says to his clerk—“You need not trouble to take an account of these chickens; my wife will keep an account of them;” and the Bishop’s wife takes the chickens, the ham, the butter, the cheese, &c., and puts them away; and when the clerk wants to know what has been brought in by such a brother, “O never mind,” says the Bishop; “my wife will give an account of it;” and the wife forgets it. “Are such things done?” Yes, more or less, all the time. This example was set long ago, and some of the Bishops have followed it.

At the death of Joseph, when the Twelve returned to Nauvoo, to use a comparison, the horses were all harnessed and the people were in the big carriage, and where were they going? They did not know. Who would gather up the lines and guide the team? No man would step forward, until I did. There was not one of the Twelve with me when I went to meet Sidney Rigdon on the meeting ground. I went alone, and was ready alone to face and drive the dogs from the flock. When I got hold of the lines, and began to direct the team, I found tithing butter spoiled, potatoes rotted in the cellars, and pork spoiled in the barrels, while the brethren at work on the Temple would come to their labor without breakfast, and pork, butter, beef, &c., rotting under the feet of the Temple Committee. Said I, “Empty these barrels, or I will walk into your cellars and empty them for you: let these workmen have something to eat.” “Oh,” said the committee, “we are afraid there will not be enough to last a year.” Then, if we starve, we starve together; and if we live, we live together. I ordered the wheat, the pork, the butter, &c., to be issued to the workmen. Too many of the Bishops here have taken pattern from those who have gone before. I have been to Bishops’ houses when they had hams and eggs during months in the year, while our hands on the works were not able to get one; for the Bishops had eaten all the hams, every egg and chicken, and all the butter. I will trace out those who conduct in this manner and expose them, unless they honestly report their transactions and strive to do right. Brethren, you may think that I am a little extravagant in my talk; but time will prove.

When a good, handsome cow has been turned in on tithing, she has been smuggled, and an old three-titted cow—one that would kick the tobacco out of the mouth of a man who went to milk her—would be turned into the General Tithing Office, instead of the good cow. If one hundred dollars in cash are paid into the hands of a Bishop, in many instances he will smuggle it, and turn into the General Tithing Office old, ringboned, spavined horses, instead of the money. I am inquiring after such conduct, and will continue until I cleanse the inside of the platter.

Brother Heber has been speaking about discipline. Elders in Israel, I am as willing and ready to be closely examined and scanned as I am to examine and scan you. Walk into my office, examine my books, and scan every act of my life. I am as ready to have it done as I am to search into your practices. You may say that you have not been dishonest, or, if you have been, that you were ignorantly so. I am glad, if such statements will prove to be correct. I never saw the day in this Church that I could consider it honest to take one cent of tithing and turn it out of its legitimate channel; but some of our smart men do not know as much as that, though they would seem to know more of the great things of the kingdom than I do. I want to instruct you in the little things. It is the little foxes that spoil the vine; it is the little acts of men that make up the sum of their lives and form their characters for eternity.

Some may think that I am rather too severe; but if you had the Pro– phet Joseph to deal with, you would think that I am quite mild. There are many here that are acquainted with brother Joseph’s manner. He would not bear the usage I have borne, and would appear as though he would tear down all the houses in the city, and tear up trees by the roots, if men conducted to him in the way they have to me.

I am required by those who sit here today and by the whole Church to bear off this kingdom, to see that it is preserved inviolate, and that the Priesthood is honored; but it seems, on the right hand and on the left, as though there is a concerted plan among nearly all the Elders and High Priests to keep every dime of money out of my hands, make me pay the debts of the Church, do the work, and they keep the means and use it for their own purposes. The ancient Apostles and ministers of Christ could not live without eating. They had to eat, drink, and wear—to have sustenance while on earth. So do I, though I do not require the rich luxuries of life. I am not so fond as many are of high living, but I have to eat and rest. And when a Church debt comes from England, New York, Missouri, St. Louis, or elsewhere, the money has to be paid. I cannot chew paper and spit out bank bills that will pass in payment of those debts, neither shall I undertake to do it. I want the gold and silver that are paid on tithing, and the identical horses, cows, and young stock that are brought in on tithing; or, if stock and other products are retained, give us better than what you keep, and not keep the good and give us the bad. Neither do I wish a person owing tithing to offer an old hipped horse at forty dollars, and ask me to pay him twenty dollars in cash and let the balance go to pay tithing, when the old animal is not worth ten dollars.

Pour means into the storehouse of the Lord, and prove him, and see whether he will not pour out greater blessings than you can contain. You have not room enough this year in which to store the abundance of grain the Lord has given you: you have to store it in wagon boxes, &c., and much of it goes to waste, and the people are not blessed for it. You ought to carefully save every kernel. As for prophesying that a famine will come upon you, I shall not do so. Should it come, we will do the best we can. We have had a light famine here, and dealt out provisions to the brethren as long as we could, and got along very well.

May God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1860.

Last spring we called upon some of the Bishops to furnish a few teams to go to the Missouri River and back this season, to prove to the people a fact that several of us were convinced did exist. We obtained twenty teams from the Wards; I also sent a few, and they have successfully performed the journey to Florence, N.T., and back, under the charge of Elder Joseph W. Young. Bishop Woolley also went down with some mule and ox teams, and returned with the ox train. I want to hear them both speak this afternoon on the subject of freighting with teams sent from here.

The handcart system has been pretty well tried; and if a handcart company start in proper season, and manage properly, I will venture to say the most of them can come in that way more pleasantly than they generally come with wagons. But drawing their provisions, &c., is a hard task, and it would be more satisfactory, if we could manage it, to bring in wagons the freight and those who are unable to walk.

In 1834, a company of us were called upon to go to Missouri, and in that trip the labor of walking, so far as we averaged in a day, was very fatiguing. A great many of that company walked, and we cooked by the way as much as do those who travel across the Plains, and we carried a greater weight than is generally carried by those who walk from the Missouri River to this city. This I know, for I was one of those who walked the whole distance. In less than three months I walked two thousand miles, as far as to Florence and back; and others of the company did the same. And instead of having a healthy climate to walk in, we passed through one of the most deathly and sickly climates in the United States, which proved to me that most people can walk, if they will try.

We now contemplate trying another plan. If we can go with our teams to the Missouri River and back in one season, and bring the poor, their provisions, &c., it will save about half of the cash we now expend in bringing the Saints to this point from Europe. It now costs in cash nearly as much for their teams, wagons, handcarts, cooking utensils, provisions, &c, for their journey across the Plains, as it does to transport them to the frontiers. We can raise cattle without an outlay of money, and use them in transporting the Saints from the frontiers, and such freight as we may require. Brethren and sisters, save your fives, tens, fifties, a hundred dollars, or as much as you can, until next spring (considering yourselves, as it were, a thousand miles from a store), and send your money, your cattle, and wagons to the States, and buy your goods and freight them. Twenty dollars expended in this way will do you as much good as several times that amount paid to the stores here.

If we can convince the brethren that it is a successful operation, we shall endeavor to engage in it largely next year. We wish to send two or three hundred wagons, with two or three yokes of cattle to a light Chicago wagon. If you have not the wagons, you can send the money and buy them. In this way, where we could emigrate a hundred from Liverpool to this place by the old method, we can emigrate some two hundred by going to the frontiers and bringing them. This will facilitate, by almost half, the gathering of the Saints, and at the same time enable us to procure, at cheap rates, such articles as we do not produce. I wish the brethren to grasp in their faith the facts that will be presented, and believe that we can do all that we can, and then be ready to do it. We have plenty of cattle and can send them, and they will perform the journey as well as horses or mules, with far less risk of their being stolen on the Plains.

I wish the Bishops to improve upon the counsel I gave them this morning, receiving it as kindly as it was given; for we only desire to turn the current of our business transactions into the channel that will most conduce to the welfare of the Saints. I also want them to present to their Wards the plan of sending teams to the frontier; and I want the men who think and write to send to the Editor of the Deseret News articles about sending teams to the States to bring our poor brethren and our freight, and to take out and bring back our Missionaries.

Last spring our Elders went down with the trains at a saving of some two thousands dollars in cash, and on reaching the frontier were prepared to go on their way rejoicing. And when they return, I anticipate the honor of our teams bringing them back as poor as they went—that they will not return as merchants; for if they do, from this time forth, the curse of God will rest upon them, and they will lose the spirit of their religion and apostatize. I want them to respect their missions, themselves, their brethren, their religion, and our God, as to return poor in regard to gold, silver, &c., but rich in gathering the souls of the children of men to this place, where we can chasten them and prove whether they are Saints or not, and where the Lord will have the privilege of proving them either to be Saints or unworthy of the kingdom.

I will now call upon brother E. D. Woolley to preach a sermon about ox-trains going to the States.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 30, 1860.

I feel the force of the ancient saying—“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”

I realize all that has just been said in regard to the blessings of heaven being ready to be poured out upon this people, if they were prepared to receive them, and that too in a far greater degree than has ever entered into the heart of man to conceive; for the heart of man is incapable of fully comprehending the blessings that God has in store for the faithful, unless he has revealed those blessings to them by the revelations of his Spirit. The natural man is contracted in his feelings, in his views, faith, and desires, and so are the Saints, unless they live their religion. If they live their religion, all that has been said this morning they will fully realize to be true.

It may be asked, “Shall we go to the world for wisdom?” They have none, so far as pertains to the plan of salvation. To be sure, they have considerable knowledge of the arts and sciences; but in those do they understand all that has formerly been understood? I have no idea that they do. Do they know anything of the things of God? No. Brother Taylor observed, “Go to the priests of the day, and they cannot inform you.” There is a good reason why—because they know nothing directly in regard to the things of the kingdom, and they are equally ignorant with regard to the design of their present existence, to say nothing of either their prior or future existence. They are a mystery to themselves, and do not even understand the things which they see; still they are searching and researching, and studying and striving with all their powers to understand the things they see every day, and come short of doing that. How, then, can they understand the invisible things that pertain to eternity? There is no knowledge of these things in the so-called Christian world, in comparison with what they should possess, in consideration of the advantages which have been granted to them, neither is that knowledge among those denominated heathen. There are only a few dark traditions—a few incorrect and garbled ceremonies and ordinances remaining of the true system that was once possessed by mankind.

We are in the kingdom of God, and must yield obedience to it. We say that we do—we feel that we do, but when will this people fully see and understand things as they are? I may answer in the future, and all I can now say is that they are learning —growing in grace and in the knowledge of the truth; but to say we are perfect, we cannot. When brother Taylor referred, in his remarks, to our leader and dictator, with regard to his perfections and imperfections, I felt that I could almost say that I did not want him to be perfect yet. I remember Joseph Smith’s saying, “If I were as pure and holy as you wish me to be, I could not stay with you; I should not be here to guide and direct you, for the Lord would take me from you.” He did take him; the people were not worthy of him. The people required him to be as holy as the Almighty himself, and to never make a mistake. Wherein the First Presidency and the Twelve do wrong, it is not in the ability of the people to detect them in those wrongs. They are far advanced, and they know enough more to lead out; and if they commit an error, it is passed over, and the people cannot tell wherein or when, nor how to correct it.

The Christian world are all looking for a day of perfection, and are donating their money and sending out Missionaries—they have also a great many Tract and Bible Societies, &c., &c., expressly to convert the world and bring forth the day the ancient Prophets have written about—a day of rest, the millennium, or any other term you please to apply to it, but it is a day when the Saints who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall see eye to eye, when all shall come to the knowledge of the truth, and the law of the Lord shall be written in the hearts of all, and none shall need to say to his neighbor, “Know ye the Lord,” for all shall know him, &c. All Christendom is looking for that day. I will inform this congregation and the whole world that they will never come to perfection—never can commence the great work of reformation in them– selves and with each other, until the superior knowledge can take the inferior and direct it, and, if need be, chasten it, and remove its errors, and give it the truth.

During a few weeks past much has been said in relation to the folly, feelings, and doings of Elders of Israel. Joseph Smith was a rod in the hands of the Lord to scourge the Elders of Israel; he was the mouthpiece of the Almighty, and was always ready to rebuke them when requisite. You who were acquainted with him know his course and life. He had a word of comfort and consolation to the humble and faithful, and a word of rebuke to the froward and disobedient. But for a few years past, in the midst of the Elders of Israel, they have treated each other with what may be called silken words spoken with velvet lips; and what you have lately been hearing about has produced this course of life and feeling among the Elders not to chasten or rebuke each other. If they wished to correct, they would preach a long sermon, and tell how miserable they themselves were, how wicked they had been, how much evil they had done, and how many times they had transgressed and been out of the way; and after they had painted their own characters as black as darkness, they would say, “Brethren, do you not think that you have done wrong in what you have done? I am afraid you have; but my own evil works are so much greater than yours, that I dare not mention it.” This conduct is connected with other things; in fact, the whole experience of man and the whole plan of salvation are so interwoven that it is hard to draw out and divide one subject from another, though it may be done in some instances. Men become darkened in their minds; they say that the Elders of Israel, they believe, have fallen from grace and have received the spirit of the world. Those Elders are not willing to acknowledge this, but almost every track they make proves it; almost every deed they perform proves that they have become lukewarm, and they preach with silken lips, and do not pour the truth of God upon the people as the Lord wishes them to, nor cause the overt acts of the ungodly to feel the wrath of justice and the weight of truth. This is what I see, and what I have seen for a long time.

People become covetous. The whole world is more or less covetous; and when the questions are asked, “Where shall we go for wisdom—for strength? To whom shall we apply for knowledge? Where shall we seek for life?”—there is but one source, and that is the God who organized us. When will we become entirely independent? Never, though we are as independent in our spheres as the Gods of eternity are in theirs. When will we lead out and act for ourselves? When we have overcome, and that is not yet. Jesus has not yet overcome; he has not received his kingdom from the Father. He has to contend against the enemy—against the power of the Devil, until he overcomes death and him that has the power of it. If he is successful, and we believe that he will be, when he overcomes and subdues all enemies and puts them under his feet, he will present the kingdom to the Father; and then he will be crowned, and not until then. When will we be crowned? Not until we pass through ordeals preparatory to receiving those crowns. We are not our own. We have our existence, but it is not our own.

That which we seem to possess is not our own, but is owned and controlled by a superior power. Even the power of the Devil can take money from one man’s pocket and place it in another man’s pocket, to say nothing of what the power of God can do. Some men seemingly possess much riches, as did Job, and how long may it be before they have not a farthing’s worth of property, or a wife, or child? In a few weeks the Lord took almost all from Job; he spared to him a wife, who, as recorded in the Bible, seemed to taunt Job’s trust in his God—his fidelity to his Maker. “Now,” says she, “you had better curse God at once and die. I told you that he would not stand by you.” I presume Job felt like saying, “Go to the Devil your own road.”

Who does have true power? Those who have overcome and sat down with the Gods in eternity, and who have committed to them the keys that are prepared for them. Then they can reign triumphantly, for they have perfect control over death and him that has the power of death, and over all evil: then they control life.

I frequently reflect upon how much power we need. You hear the Elders of Israel praying for power to overcome their enemies: they want power to strike them blind and to strike them dead. We have seen times, within a few years back, when we would have been glad to have had power to destroy our enemies. Have you power, independently, to make a kernel of wheat grow, or any vegetable with which to feed yourselves? No; you have not power to control those lesser powers that pertain to the elements.

What does the Lord want of us? To build temples, raise potatoes, wheat, &c., and preach the Gospel to and gather the poor. The Elders of Israel do not thoroughly know how to do this; yet they want to rise here and tell how the Gods are made. They had better learn how to raise potatoes, and how to take care of them after they are raised. Some do not know even this, but would let the potatoes rot before they are half used up. If they had an abundance of gold and silver, they would not know what to do with it. Are not the people reaching after that which does not belong to them? That is the reason why the whole world do not receive the Gospel; it is too low and humble for them. They are looking after something in the future; they are like the fool, whose eyes are wandering to the ends of the earth; like some of the Elders who rise here to preach and want to tell what is going to be in the millennium, and what has been long before the creation of the world, but never think of inquiring as to their duty today. Learn first to obtain power over the smaller objects and principles around you. Learn to control yourselves and that which is immediately around you, and always keep in view that the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms—the earth and its fulness—will all, except the children of men, abide their creation—the law by which they were made, and will receive their exaltation.

Who will possess the earth and the fulness thereof? Will those who love money, and who barter their lives and their hopes of salvation for a little gold? Those who love it in its present existence will perish. Gold is one of the most refined metals, and mankind have to be tried like gold that has passed seven times through the crucible, making it a little hotter each time, until the metal is as pure as it can be. Who will possess it? Who will possess the earth and all its fulness? Will it not be those whom the Lord has reserved to this honor? And they will come upon Mount Zion as saviors, to labor through the millennium to save others.

Are the Elders able to correct a person when he is wrong, without having personal feelings? You are not as you should be, unless you can correct every person you know to be wrong, without having personal ill feelings against them. If you cannot possess gold and silver without having one particle of love for it, you are not as you must learn to be. All that a man should have in his heart with regard to goods, and chattels, and possessions on the earth, is to know of the Lord what to do with them. If I do a wrong, let me correct that wrong, and become right; if I see a wrong in my neighbor, correct that, and remove the fault from him, and give him something better. The object of the Elders of Israel ought to be to glorify God and sanctify their feelings and affections before him. If we have anything else in our hearts, it is wrong: contending one with another is wrong.

May God bless you, brethren! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 23, 1860.

I am happy in discerning from brother Calkin’s remarks that he is really expanding and improving. He could not have talked to this people before he went on his mission as he can today. I now know that he has been prompt and fervent in the discharge of his duty, and has enjoyed the Spirit of the Lord. And so far as I have learned concerning his labors, I do not know but that I am perfectly satisfied with his course during his absence. He reported himself immediately upon his arrival, before he went home, saying, “I am here, and all I have is here; now what is wanted of me?” Go home, rest, and make yourself happy and comfortable, and by-and-by we will have a long talk. I am pleased with his remarks today. He is ready to leave again tomorrow, to go here or there, east or west, north or south. This is a satisfaction to me. He feels to bless the people, and to pray for them. He has had no doubt in regard to the results of the afflictions or seeming trials that our enemies strove to bring upon us. Every heart that believes in the fulness of the Gospel of life and salvation, as it is revealed in this our day, has never had a doubt as to the good results: there is no doubt in the case. We may fail, if we are not faithful; but God will not fail in accomplishing his work, whether we abide in it or not.

I will now express a wish in relation to all who may rise here to ask a blessing on the bread and water of the sacrament, or to speak to such large congregations as assemble here. When a blessing is asked upon the bread and water by some persons, you cannot hear them ten feet from the stand, and only a few persons in this vast congregation can hear one word. I want brother Hunter to let his voice partially correspond with his body; and when brother Hardy opens his mouth, or any of the rest of the Bishops, I want their voices to correspond with the occasion; I want them to so lift up their voices that all may hear, that all may say “Amen.” When the Elders rise here to speak, I want them to so raise their voices that the people can hear them, that the audience may be able to say “Amen” to all the good; and if there is evil, refuse it. Naturally, I speak low, and use but few words; but here I see thousands of people who wish to hear what is said; and how can they hear, unless the speaker uses sufficient voice? I am often obliged to so raise my voice beyond my natural strength that it hurts my lungs and my whole frame; but I do this for the satisfaction of the people. I want my brethren to do the same, that the hearts and faith of the congregation may have an opportunity to join in the worship of God. When anyone rises to preach, pray, sing, exhort, or bless the sacramental emblems, let him do so with voice sufficient for all to hear.

I am highly gratified with brother Calkin’s report in relation to the Foreign Missions. We understand the situation of the brethren in those Missions, and one fact we wish the Saints at the gathering place to understand. How many hearts are now ready to receive what I am going to say? How many of you can receive the sentiments I will now advance, and treasure them up—make them more choice in your feelings than the pure gold? They are worth everything to us and to the people abroad. Do you know that here is the standard, the nucleus, the fountain, the head for all the exercises of the kingdom of God upon the face of the whole earth? Now, let the Saints in this congregation droop in their faith, and that spirit will spread before tomorrow morning throughout the vast domain of this creation. Every Elder that goes abroad is a witness of this fact. This spirit spreads through a telegraphic influence or force that is independent of wires. Let this people at the gathering place wake out of their slumbers, gird on their armor, and go forth like men of war against wickedness, and every Branch throughout the Church feels the influence in a very short time—it is speedily imparted to all creation. The wires, as it were, are set, the lightnings flash over them, and all feel the influence, when we are doing our duty here. It all depends upon us here. “Are we not obliged to send forth Elders?” Yes, for helps and governments, which are all necessary to God’s work.

Here is the kingdom, the Priesthood, and the power. Here are the eyes, and here is the sense; the head and the body are here, and every component part that comprises the kingdom of God upon the earth. The small Branches abroad feel the impulse of the spirit here, whether it is for good or for bad, whether it is for information, for forgiveness, for life, for faith, for light, or for power, or apostasy; the whole Church throughout the world feels the spirit that predominates here. Hear it, O ye Saints, and profit by it. We are sending forth our Elders, and do you think it is in our power to tie their hands? If the head that has sent them forth into the world to preach the everlasting Gospel goes to sleep in its armor, wallows in wealth, or in anything that is this side of the power of God, our Elders are at once tied; they feel the oppression, are trammeled and weakened, and will totter and fall, unless the head is wide awake for them.

Brother W. C. Staines, in his remarks, wished the Saints here to remember him in their prayers. Thousands here will hold him up in their faith and prayers. I wanted to add to his life on the earth, which going on his mission will do, even many years, if he does his duty. Such will be the case with brother John Needham. They are merchants, and have heard that they are sent on this mission because they are speculators. I do not know anything about that, but I feel that it is time that William C. Staines went on a mission: his life is worth more than the gold which he gathers from the sale of the goods he deals in. He is going on a mission, and is going just right. Brother Needham has been a merchant from his youth, and brother Staines has been a tiller of the soil. I have not the least fault to find with either of them; but brother Needham would probably die in a short time, were he to stay here. If he goes on this mission, he will probably live many years to do good, and be richer than if he stayed here and followed merchandising. We have called them because we want them to go, and we wish them to go their way rejoicing.

We have promised the Missionaries, if they will live according to the manifestations of the Spirit, and preach the Gospel by the power of God sent down from heaven, that they will feel more of the Spirit and power of their calling than they have ever felt before. Do you think that we are always going to remain the same size? I am not a stereotyped Latter-day Saint, and do not believe in the doctrine. Every year the Elders of Israel are improving and learning, and have more power, more influence with the Heavens, more power over the elements, and over diseases, and over the power of Satan, who has ruled this earth from the days of the fall until now. We have to gain power until we break the chain of the Enemy. Are we going to stand still? Away with stereotyped “Mormons.” I have more power than I had last year. I feel much stronger than ever before, and that too in the power of God; and I feel as though I could take the people and bring them into the presence of God, if they only hearken to counsel. Do you think that I am improving? “Yes.” Keep up, then; keep your places, and follow in the track.

The kingdom of God is all that is of real worth. All else is not worth possessing, either here or hereafter. Without it, all else would be like a dry tree prepared for the burning—it is all consumed, and the ashes are driven to the four winds. Let the brethren who go upon missions go with the power of God upon them, and shun every appearance of evil. Love the Gospel and cling to the Lord. Seek unto him by day and by night, that you may have his Holy Spirit to be with you to guide your feet and your affections, and give you wisdom to ask and answer questions; then you will not be apt to fall into temptation and be caught away in the snares of the Devil.

So far as I have learned, the brethren and sisters have most liberally responded to the call made on them last Sunday for sending forth the Elders. I have not a full list of the contributions, or I would report it to you today. A few of the Bishops have reported to me what their Wards have done, but I have not learned the full amount that has been collected. So far as I can learn, the Saints have felt the responsibility that is upon them. It belongs to us to send the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, and it belongs to the Elders to preach it. Some may say that the Elders ought to start from here without anything, and go into the world and get their support. You who have never given anything, since you have been in the Church, for the spread of the Gospel, have an opportunity to begin now; and those who have always been on hand to help will help more; and between the two classes, we will receive enough to send the Elders abroad, and sustain their families during their absence, so far as their families need assistance.

I wish the Elders to go forth as I have taught them. If you have a clean shirt and one to be washed, then be satisfied. If you are clothed so as to be comfortable, be satisfied, and do not let your minds reach out after anything, only to preach the Gospel and gather the souls of men. That is all the business you have upon your hands—it is your whole mission; and trust in God to get home—trust in the Lord to go from place to place, and the way will be opened for you. And when you start to come home, if you have more than you need to bring you home, without bringing a dress pattern for your wife or children, and though, when you reach home, your own clothes will be worn to strings and tatters, if you have five dollars more than you need to defray your expenses on your return, help the poor Saints with it, and I will warrant you more food to eat, more clothing to wear, and more friends in heaven and on earth, more houses, lands, and possessions, than you would have, were you to bring home rich dresses for your wives and expensive clothes for yourselves, with your minds shrunk with covetousness and love of the world.

I have been striving with my brethren, all the day long, to build up the kingdom of God. As long as Joseph lived, I labored with all my might with my brethren. In the days of the Prophet it was proven to a demonstration that he could not bear off this kingdom without temporal means. If this was absolutely necessary in his day, why not now? Elders of Israel have taken a course—those who have been to Australia, to the East Indies, to California, San Bernardino, the State of New York, Philadelphia, and other places in the United States, and those who have had charge of the European Missions, to keep every dime out of my hands. I will not suffer this any longer. They require me to bear off the kingdom of God, and they would keep every dollar from me, if they could. I am satisfied with the brethren, for they seem to have supposed that this kingdom was a kingdom of merchandise. I do not say that the brethren have done as they have with their eyes open, for they are as good men as ever walked on this footstool; but they have been mistaken. This is the kingdom of God, to gather the poor, for the poor are the people of God, and they shall inherit the earth; and if you make merchandise of anything, buy the souls of the children of men, and bring them into the kingdom of God, and lay them at the feet of Jesus.

Every person who knows anything about life must know that it requires means to carry on this work; and that means I shall require, from this day forth, to be at my control, and not at the beck and call of every Elder; and at the same time they make me gather the poor and pay all the debts of the Church. We want to build the Temple walls on this block. We now support thousands of people, and wish to support thousands more. They want hats, coats, shirts, dresses, tea, coffee, and sugar. The wife wants the comforts of life to give to her husband while he is laboring hard, and for herself while she is knitting stockings, etc., for the hands. The Elders abroad are wallowing in their riches, and there are women here before me in their silks and satins that have been bought with money that belongs to my purse. They shall not do this any longer. I wrote to brother Calkin to give me a history of matters abroad: he has done so. In the emigration operations of one season Church funds were kept out of my hands by Elders, and they rolled seventy-six thousand dollars of Church indebtedness on me to pay, and that too without the least notification, until it was all transacted and done. While the Elders were buying the best silks and satins for their wives, and the most expensive clothes for themselves, with the money that I ought to have controlled (going out preachers and coming home merchants, with their pockets full of money and drafts), I have had to take the old worn-out horses, and the old toothless cows, and the potatoes, and wheat, when they would not bring money, and make a shift of a shirt, and a shirt of a shift, and a pair of breeches of a shirt, and then make another shift to get hold of money to keep the work in motion. If I were not one of the best financiers on the earth, we should have been in trouble today; and all I know, God has taught me. I have been obliged to ask brother Wells to work like a slave, to deal for me here and there, and change property, and to keep him running until he was almost run out; and now the people are teasing him all the time, for they want dresses, shirts, boots, pantaloons, etc.; and he has nothing to give them, while some are rolling in wealth.

I am going to make the Elders of Israel help to bear off this kingdom, or I will scourge them until they do. “How is it with yourself, brother Brigham?” I would rather wear gray homespun than your fine broadcloth. I have it made up; but, to please my family and the people, I wear such as I do. I would as soon wear a good homemade coat as a coat of the finest cloth in the world. As to food, my greatest luxury is roasted potatoes and a little good, clean, sour buttermilk. Such fare is good enough for Brigham.

Now, let me say to you all, and hear it, O Israel, you have either to give me the control of the Church funds, and pay your Tithing promptly, or take the responsibility of bearing off this kingdom. If the Twelve Apostles and the Presidents of Seventies and the High Priests will take the responsibility of bearing off this kingdom and sending the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, of gathering the poor, building up Zion, and doing all that is necessary preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man, Brigham is with you to labor with you all his days, and support himself. I have fed and clothed myself from the beginning, and I am willing to do it now, and to spend all my time in the work of God, no matter in what department. If you take the responsibility, you shall have the means; but if you roll the responsibility upon me, I must have the means. If you wish me to bear off the kingdom, will you give me the means to do it with? If you will, raise your right hands. [All hands were raised. To the contrary vote, not a hand was raised.]

We all should follow our leader; and when we are perfectly united in one, we produce the best results for Israel.

God bless you! Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 16, 1860.

I arise to address myself to the congregation of the Saints who are here assembled with a degree of pleasure and satisfaction, feeling that it is a great privilege that we enjoy of meeting together in this bowery, from Sabbath to Sabbath, for the purpose of hearing from and worshipping the Lord our God.

It has always been a great satisfaction to my mind, and a source of pleasure, to speak of the things of the kingdom of God, especially on those occasions on which the Lord has condescended to bless me with a portion of his Spirit; for the Spirit of the Lord gives joy and satisfaction to all those who are made partakers of it, whether it be the speaker or the hearer; and without that Spirit no person can expect to enjoy any great degree of happiness in this life or in that which is to come. It is contrary to the nature of happiness for us to undertake to enjoy ourselves independent of the approbation of Heaven, and independent of the Holy Spirit which the Almighty pours out upon those who are honest and upright before him. There is no happiness in anything else; there is no place worthy of being called a place of happiness only in the enjoyment of the favor of God and of his Holy Spirit. And those persons are truly blessed who have the greatest share of that Spirit abiding with them; and when that Spirit withdraws from the hearts of mankind, they are truly cursed. In the Spirit of the Lord there is peace, there is joy, there is light, there is truth, there is hope, and there is truth. Without that Spirit all is darkness, all is wretchedness, and all is shut up and closed as it were to the human mind, and future hope, or hope of future blessings and exaltation, is cut off.

Perhaps this may be the last opportunity, for some time to come, at least, that I shall have of addressing the Saints in Utah. In a few days I expect to be wending my way, in company with some of my brethren, on another mission to the United States, for the purpose of doing whatever the Spirit of the Lord may direct in those lands. Whether I shall return again to Utah, it matters not, if it so be that I keep the commandments of God and do his will. All flesh is in His hands, and He governs and controls all things according to his own righteous will and purposes, and preserves in life whomsoever he sees proper, and takes away his servants whenever it seems to him good to do so. Whether I shall be spared many years or few, it matters not to me, if I am only faithful to the end. This is my object; this is the foremost thing in my mind; and it should be the foremost in the minds of all the Latter-day Saints. Many great and good men have fallen by the power of their enemies, by the Destroyer, by sickness, and by accidents; but this is the lot of all mankind, to pass through the veil—to go from this stage of existence to another, altogether a different state of existence from this, in many respects. But even this state of existence that we now enjoy is a pleasure to the righteous; it is a great satisfaction to those that keep the commandments of God. Life is sweet, and there are but very few individuals who are willing to part with it, even though they knew with the perfect knowledge that when leaving this mortal state of existence, where we are subject to toil and fatigue, to pain and sorrow—though they knew that they would enter into the presence of God, and enjoy complete happiness in his kingdom henceforth and forever; yet there are many, who although they might know this with the most perfect knowledge, they would pray in their hearts that they might abide here a little longer. There are but very few individuals upon the earth among the Latter-day Saints who desire to die; and I doubt very much whether there have been many persons of that kind, in the past ages of the world, among the true-hearted servants of God, who desired to die. When they reflected upon the work that they might accomplish and perform in this world, they would still feel to pray for life, even immortal life to be continued unto them.

Why do we desire to live? Is it to accumulate riches? No; this ought not to be the cause of the desire in our hearts; for if we should have power to heap up gold as the sands—if we should have power to collect the treasures of the earth together to a very great extent, and have power to have everything, so far as this world’s goods are concerned, to the fullest extent of our desires, what is it even then? Can we take those things into the grave with us? Can we carry our farms, our houses, our carriages, and other property, behind the veil with us? No, we cannot. Then why should this be in the hearts of so many of those who profess to be Saints as the uppermost desire? Why should the people lie awake to study how to collect an abundance of the things of this life? Why should they cling to the things that must perish and be done away? This is one of the great temptations that beset the pathway of mortal man. He desires to heap up the riches of this world, as though he were to stay here forever. But he may inquire if the original desire is not placed in the heart of man for a good purpose? Yes, it is; but that desire should be controlled according to the law of God and the will of Heaven. We should seek for nothing in this dispensation and in the kingdom in which we are engaged—we should seek for nothing, I repeat, that would be calculated to lead our minds astray from the great purposes we have in view as Latter-day Saints. Nothing should be permitted to lead our minds from God and his kingdom, and from worshipping him with the fulness of our hearts. Desires are very good in their places: when dictated by the Spirit of God, they will be gratified in due time. Every man and woman should seek in a lawful way to procure the things that are necessary in this life to benefit themselves, their neighbors, and the poor around them, and make a good use of the blessings God bestows, and the things he entrusts them with in this world. But how many there are among the Saints of the living God, whose hearts and minds are almost overwhelmed with the things of this present life! They covet gold and silver, houses and lands, and other riches in abundance; and they know not why. I should delight to see the Saints of God rich; yes, I should be pleased to see the poorest Saint among us have in his possession all that his heart could desire, if he would use those things properly that were committed to his charge and according to the will of Him that made him. I should also desire to see no poor in the midst of Zion, but that all might be blest with a good supply of the things of this life. I desire to see the day come when all the Latter-day Saints who have suffered shall have everything which their hearts can desire in righteousness of the things of this world, when they will be good for them, and when they can use them for the glory of God. Until that period shall come, I doubt whether riches will benefit the Saints of God. If, peradventure, any of you, by your diligence and perseverance, should happen to accumulate riches to some extent, if you should use them for the purposes which God has ordained, all will be well; but if not, they will prove a curse to you, instead of a blessing. And I will add that there is one thing that I am confident of—viz., that in Utah there is not much danger of the Latter-day Saints becoming very rich. If they accumulate by their perseverance a sufficiency of breadstuffs and those things that are necessary for their present sustenance and future security against the famines that are to spread desolation in the earth, they will do well. I think there are no people upon the face of the earth that need to envy the Latter-day Saints, so far as their temporal prospects are concerned. In other respects they have great cause to envy them.

There is not much chance for the Latter-day Saints to grow rich in this Territory—I mean according to the meaning of the term in the world. There is and ever will be too much to be done in various kinds of labor for the building up of the kingdom of God. Your land, of course, yields abundantly where it is well cultivated; but it requires a great deal of toil to accomplish it. About three or four times the labor is required of the farmers and agriculturists than is required in other countries. Why, it takes a man almost one-half of his time to get his fuel from the canyons, about one-quarter to irrigate the soil, and of course the rest is well occupied with the other duties of life. This being the case, then, there is not much prospect of soon becoming very rich. We ought, nevertheless, to be thankful for the blessings we enjoy; for the Almighty has brought us into a country where we have not the privilege of heaping up riches and ruining ourselves forever. It takes a people a long time to prepare themselves for riches. The old principle which was planted in the hearts of our ancestors, which was a principle of covetousness, as practiced by the Gentiles in all ages, has become a part of the nature of the human family, by tradition; so much so, that it seems to be one of the most difficult things to root out of the hearts of men. To accomplish this, the Lord has to train the people, year after year, in order to get it out of their minds; and he has given us a very thorough training and experience in order to deliver this people from this covetous feeling and principle.

If we reflect back upon our past history—and I believe that the Latter-day Saints are acquainted with that history, either by actual experience, by reading, or by hearing it verbally recited; suffice it to say that they are pretty well acquainted with the history of this Church for the last thirty years—what has the Lord been trying to accomplish since the rise of this Church? Has he not been trying to accomplish one of the greatest events and one of the greatest works ever accomplished among mankind? Yes, he has been trying to eradicate from the people the old leaven of the Gentiles that has been established in the hearts of men so many generations, and to prepare the Saints for the great work of the last days. In regard to heaping up a multitude of the riches of this life, all our past history shows that the Lord was so determined to rid us of this principle as far as possible, in order that we might enjoy riches when he shall see fit to bestow them upon us, that he suffered us to be driven from our inheritances, to undergo many privations, and thus be prepared for the vicissitudes of future life.

We need not be fainthearted nor discouraged in regard to the riches of this life, for this people are bound to be the richest of any people upon the face of the whole earth, in the Lord’s own due time. That will be in fulfillment of prophecy, and no people that ever dwelt upon this earth ever came up to what the Latter-day Saints will be in the accumulation of the things of this life. But when we reflect upon these things, we ought to pray earnestly that we may never be put in the possession of those things until we are rid of those feelings of selfishness and covetousness. (President B. Young: We shall not be; for the Lord knows that wealth would certainly be a curse to us.) It frequently looks very curious to me, looking at it naturally, and causes me some astonishment, when I see the pride and arrogance of the children of men; for I see that the whole bent of their minds is upon the wheat and corn, that they may grow: their contemplations seem to be upon the plans and means by which they can best accumulate the treasures of this world. Who would place their minds in this direction when they see thousands and millions perishing and annually going into their graves? And who would believe that they would be so exceedingly anxious to heap up millions more than they actually need? They see scores of their neighbors cut down upon their right hand and upon their left: they have the experience before them to prove that all must go into their graves without carrying with them the goods and riches of this world. Why is it that it does not take away this feeling from them, either morning or night? Men of this kind are awake during many of the silent hours of the night to calculate how they can the easiest accumulate riches.

We have brought these principles and notions with us; we have inherited them from our fathers; they were instilled into us by our parents; and we have to get rid of them as soon as we can, in order that we may be prepared to receive the true principles in the proper spirit. We ought to be thankful that we are in a country where we cannot get rich as easily as we desire to—a country where it takes from morning till night in hard labor to get the common necessaries of life, and that this will continue until the Lord says that our hearts are prepared, and we are capable of enjoying the good things of this life.

We, as Latter-day Saints, not only have the promise of earthly riches and temporal comforts; but, what is far more joyful to us and more satisfactory to our minds, is, that we look forward to an eternity of riches—to a perpetual increase of wealth to be given unto us, if we are faithful before the Lord, to be enjoyed upon righteous principles—to be enjoyed where no covetousness shall mar our feelings—to be participated in by the Latter-day Saints when they have clean hands, pure hearts—when they can use the blessings bestowed upon them according to the mind and will of God and in peace, where riches will impart the most perfect happiness to the Saints of the living God.

These are the riches we should seek after first—these the treasures that our hearts should be set upon—the riches that are behind the veil, that extend beyond this mortal sphere—the riches that are as endurable as eternity. It is these riches that will be able to endure and stand when all earthly riches shall vanish away like the dream of a night vision.

Thirty years ago next January, by a revelation that was given through the Prophet Joseph, we were told to seek earnestly for the riches of eternity; and the Lord said it must needs be that my people shall be tried and proven, that they may be prepared to receive that which is in store for the faithful. Seek first for the riches that are in the future life. Seek first, as our Savior bade his disciples, the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all things shall be added to you, that are needful and necessary.

It will be thirty years next Wednesday since I was baptized into this Church—almost one-third of a century since I have had an opportunity of understanding the things of the kingdom of God in some measure—of being baptized into that kingdom which shall endure forever. How shall I look back upon these thirty years? In many respects I look back with exceeding great joy; in some respects, with exceeding great sorrow. I can see where I have failed in many things, and that if I had lived as faithful as I might have done, I might have done more to the honor and glory of God. I might have been a person more humble and diligent in obeying counsel—more faithful in the discharge of many duties that are required of a person holding the Priesthood; I might have taken a course that would have been better for myself in many respects, better for mankind, better for my family, and for the cause and kingdom of God. You can easily perceive, then, that reflection upon these things gives me a degree of sorrow. But after considering all these matters, when I reflect upon the little good that I have done, and upon the travels and labors that I have performed, the success that has attended my efforts, and the few good desires that I have had to build up the kingdom, I certainly have great joy. I feel a satisfaction in my own mind in contemplating my past life. I feel a joy and satisfaction that I would not part with for all the luxuries and honors of this present life. These would be nothing in comparison with it. I ever expect to look back upon the past period of my history with joy, so far as the good is concerned. I shall have to reflect with pleasure that I have preached the Gospel to so many—that I have so often borne my testimony to the great work of the last days in which we are engaged. I shall never regret any of the testimonies that I have borne in regard to the future events that are coming upon the earth; I shall never have to regret exhorting mankind to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins, to believe in the laws, doctrines, and ordinances of the Church and kingdom of God, and in the holy Priesthood restored to man in this generation. Have I any reason to regret these things now? No; and I should very much dislike being placed back thirty years in my his– tory, and to have to live my life over again. I should be exceedingly fearful that I might not live it as well as I have done; I should be afraid of taking a step that would prove my overthrow. How long I shall live hereafter it matters not. I desire to live, if it is the will of my Heavenly Father; and if it is his will, I desire to die. I desire to be perfectly submissive. Death has lost its terrors to me. I feel no fear of pain, for it is only momentary. There is pain in yielding up this mortal tabernacle in many cases, but what is it? It only lasts for a few minutes, a few hours, days, or weeks, and then all is over.

The great object of our existence is to have the mind and the spirit right, the feelings and passions under control—to have the mortal man that dwells within led and dictated by the Holy Spirit. If that is right, the pain and suffering of the body is but small. If we have hope of eternal life—I do not mean that kind of hope that exists among the Christian world at large, or that which exists among the Pagans or Mahomedans—but I mean that kind of hope that is based upon a sure foundation—a hope that we can really depend upon—a hope that is not built upon a sandy foundation, but one that takes hold of the things in eternity, that lays hold of the things of the Most High God—a hope founded upon the promises of the Almighty, upon the Priesthood which is after the order of an endless life, and obedience to the laws of heaven and those of the kingdom of God on the earth—a hope that blooms with immortality and eternal lives.

This is what imparts confidence to man and takes away the fear of death, distress, and terror from the minds of the Saints.

Have I this hope? I have to some degree, and I would to God that I had it to a greater degree. Promises have been showered upon my head; blessings have been pronounced upon me by the Priesthood at different times; other blessings have been sealed upon me, through the holy ordinances of the Gospel, by the proper authority: but I contemplate that these are conditional. There is a small degree of trembling and fear that, after all, I may prove unfaithful, and that I may not be able to endure unto the end.

The great promises of our Savior to his Apostles have been made upon this condition. It is true there are some promises that God has made upon some subjects without conditions. We might mention the following in the revelation upon marriage, concerning sealing blessings upon persons, and sealing them up to eternal life—sealing upon them blessings for time and for all eternity, at the time when the man and woman go forth and are sealed by the Priesthood having authority to do this. This remains upon them, if they are sealed unconditionally; at least, the revelation says, if such a one transgresses, he shall be destroyed in the flesh and suffer until the day of redemption; and then they shall come forth and inherit all that was placed upon their heads by the servants of God, on the condition that they have not committed the sin against the Holy Ghost or shed innocent blood. This would seem to be as near an unconditional promise as can well be made to mortals. But this is not altogether unconditional, for there are some exceptions; but it would come as near as anything we have ever read of.

This ought to be a comfort to the Saints, and not a license for them to sin and commit all manner of blasphemies; but it should be a comfort and a consolation to those that may, in the hour of temptation, be overtaken in a fault, to encourage them to turn unto the Lord their God with all their hearts, minds, might, and strength. Then they can lay hold of these promises, and with them come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, and inherit all that was placed upon their heads. But when we reflect upon pain in this life, it is grievous to be borne and to think of. When we think that a man may be buffeted, not only in this life, but until the morning of the first resurrection, this ought to cause the heart of every Latter-day Saint to shrink from everything that is sinful. What! Shall we offend God who has made these great and precious promises? Where is our life, if we should offend God, the giver of all these good things? If we should dare to sin upon such a promise, we should indeed be deserving of the severest punishment. Let no Latter-day Saint, then, try to claim these great and precious things, if they willfully commit sin, and because the Lord has promised that they should only be punished for a season. The time of their punishment is here in this life, and it is sure not to extend into the other for any great period. Yet there is far more satisfaction in being perfectly honest before God and men—yes, far more satisfaction, joy, and consolation here in this life, to live without any threatening and punishment in this or in the next life. Every man that has the right spirit within him will feel that he ought to keep the commandments of God; and it is the great source of our happiness and the fountain from which we draw all these great, glorious, and honorable tokens of the approval of our Heavenly Father. Obedience produces enduring happiness in our minds. Then let us love God and love righteousness, because it is right; let us love honesty, love to do good, because there is pleasure in doing so; let us hate wickedness because it is hateful in its nature; let us hate that which has the appearance of evil, and do that because we know it to be the feeling of God, of angels, and of all good men.

These should be the feelings of every Latter-day Saint; they should study to discriminate between the right and the wrong, and be determined to walk continually in the path of virtue, of righteousness, and of truth. Let us study to make ourselves approved before God, that we may have his smiles and approbation continually.

We are fallen beings, and are not aware how deeply the prejudices of our forefathers have been visited upon our minds. When we think ourselves free from the bondage of our fathers, we then imagine that we become perfectly untrammeled, and we are not at all aware how deeply these prejudices have entwined themselves around our hearts. How diligent we should be to root them out, and get every feeling of our nature in the proper direction for that new state of society into which we have entered. The Lord does not prompt his servants to love the manners and evil customs of the world, and you can scarcely put your finger upon the custom that is not evil; and although the passions of human nature have been planted in the breasts of men for wise and good purposes, yet they have become so changed by associating evil with them that we do not appear to realize the influence they may exert over our minds. We therefore ought to study and to seek diligently for that light which comes from heaven, to look into our own hearts as we look into a mirror, that we may be enabled to see our foolish practices, turn from them, and feel that we are not only in the presence of man, but that we are in the presence of God, that we may become sensible of our responsibility, and act consistently in all things, that our government may be righteous and holy in all things. Let us ask ourselves the question, Are we practicing as though we were in the presence of heavenly beings, and enjoying what they enjoy, and being with them day after day, and night after night throughout all eternity? Are we prepared to stand up before God, angels, and before holy and celestial beings, with confidence and a oneness of feeling, being assured that there is nothing the matter in our hearts, but that we are upright as they are upright—that we hate iniquity as they hate it? We may feel that we are trying to do this; but a little more light of the Spirit from heaven—of the Holy Ghost shed forth upon our hearts—would enable us to see many imperfections and follies that are gathered up by the traditions of our forefathers and from the acts of our neighbors.

This being the last time, probably, that I shall have the opportunity of speaking to you in this place for some time to come, although I almost consider it unnecessary to bear my testimony before a people that have so often heard it, yet it seems it would be a satisfaction to my own mind, if it is not so to you, to bear testimony concerning the kingdom and work in which you are engaged as well as myself. Do I know that this Church and kingdom that is established here in the Territory of Utah, and whose branches extend abroad in England, in France, and in various parts of the earth—do I know that this is the kingdom spoken of by the Prophets of old—that this is the great Latter-day Kingdom of the Most High God? Yes, I do. How do I know this? Not by miracles that my eyes have beheld, though I have seen many; not by manifestations in healing the sick, although I have seen many healed; not by the testimony of others, although I have heard many, but that would not give me a living and an abiding witness. How do I know that this Latter-day Kingdom, organized by the inhabitants of this Territory, as well as the Branches that are abroad, are all included in that great and glorious kingdom of the last days that is to stand forever? Have I seen the face of the Almighty in open vision? No; this is a great privilege that I have never attained to. Have holy angels come down from heaven when I was awake and conversed with me as one man converses with another? No; I have not had so great a privilege—I have not attained to that. But I know by the power of the Holy Ghost shed forth in my heart from time to time; for, notwithstanding all my faults, all my weaknesses, my imperfections, and failings, through the past thirty years, I do know one fact, and that is that God has from time to time, through his infinite mercy and goodness, shed forth upon me his Holy Spirit, unworthy as I was to receive it, and that has borne testimony, time and again, that this is the work of God: it has given me a knowledge which it is impossible for me to doubt. If I had seen angels, I might doubt, without having the Holy Ghost. I might doubt if I had seen great miracles, without the Holy Ghost accompanying them; and I might doubt if I saw the heavens opened, if I heard the thunders roll; and I might go and build a golden calf and worship it: but when the Holy Ghost speaks to me and gives me a knowledge that this is the kingdom of God, so that I know it just as well as I know anything else, then that knowledge is past controversy. By that knowledge I know this work to be true; by it I know that this kingdom will roll on until it shall attain its high destiny, and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ.

I feel truly thankful for this know– ledge that I have been counted worthy to receive, and the greatest desire of my heart is that I may always retain this knowledge within me. The Spirit may depart for a little season, but it will return again, if we are faithful. How miserable, how unhappy would every person be to have this knowledge remain and the Spirit be taken from him. It would be calculated to make a man one of the most wretched beings upon the face of the earth. What! A knowledge that this is the work of God, and at the same time lose the Spirit that imparted it?

Now, brethren and sisters, if all of you have this knowledge, and have had the Spirit to bear this witness, beware how you grieve the Spirit of the living God, and how you turn from the influences of that Spirit to evil, unless you want to become miserable all the days of your lives.

I am going forth shortly to the United States, and I pray that the grace of God may sustain me. What is the desire of my heart? It is, O Lord my God, let thy servant have thy Spirit to direct him while upon this mission. This is the chief desire of my heart. I do not care whether I preach much or little, or whether I administer much or little, so that I perform those duties that may be re– quired at my hands. As for poverty or affliction, they matter not, if I only have the Spirit of God to accompany me. If it were not for this, I would not give anything for the testimony of this work. All those holding the Priesthood without the Spirit to accompany them can do nothing. Without a man’s testimony is accompanied by the Spirit, it will do nothing. He may multiply words—he may study, as the revelations says; and after he has done all this, without the Spirit is with him to carry conviction to the hearts of the people, all his labors will be in vain.

They have systems in the world; they have the best books that are published amongst themselves; but they do not make a right use of them; and when a man goes to preach without the Holy Ghost, to bear testimony, to be in his heart to give him utterance, it will be all in vain. Nothing can be done satisfactory either to himself or to this people.

Then I do hope and pray that not only myself, but all the Missionaries that are going across the Plains may have this Spirit all the time to be with them. Give me the Holy Spirit, and I can work the work of the Lord. Let this be promised, and all will be well.

May God bless you all! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 16, 1860.

In the forenoon, brother Hooper asked—“What will not people do for gold?” I will answer the question. They will not serve God with a pure heart; you cannot hire them to do this. If they serve God, it will be by their own free will and choice. Persons can be hired to preach for money, but it does not follow that such preaching is doing God service.

As I mentioned this morning, when the god of this world is hoisted, the priest from the pulpit and the pious deacon and the people worship at its shrine. All the churches and all the world run after gold.

The arts and sciences are somewhat advanced among the Christian nations; but as to a true knowledge of things as they are in eternity, there never were nations more ignorant. According to my definition of the word, a people are heathenish that do not know things as they ought. The Christian world, so called, are heathens as to their knowledge of the salvation of God. If those nations that we call heathen were civilized as we are, intelligent as we are, we would not call them heathen. The civilized world term those heathen who do not follow their customs, who are not educated as they are, and who do not worship according to the modern Christian form of worship. Without doubt, much of the display and pretended knowledge and wisdom that were presented to the Japanese visitors by the senators, representatives, and great men of our nation, were offensive to them; and perhaps they looked upon the inhabitants of the United States as a poor, miserable, degraded, abominable people, not fit to live upon the earth. Pass from Japan to China, then to India, then westerly across Asia, and probably those people view our nation in much the same light. And when you arrive in the Christian nations, they esteem themselves wiser and far in advance of those they call heathen.

The women in Christendom cannot successfully compete, in spinning and weaving, with those in the East Indies and some other heathen nations. And arts and sciences, in the so-called heathen nations, in many respects excel the attainments of the Christian nations. Then pass in review the ancient heathen nations—examine their architecture and their other productions in the mechanical departments, as to this day exhibited in their works and ruins, and all the boasted knowledge of Christendom in those branches fades in comparison. The civilized world have a tolerably good understanding of the art of navigation, but father Noah knew more about it than do all the mariners now upon the earth. Abraham knew more about astronomy and true philosophy than does all Christendom. The civilized nations know how to make machinery, put up telegraph wires, &c., &c.; and in nearly all branches, they are trying to cheat each other; and finally they will learn that they have been cheat– ing themselves for the golden god—the Mammon of this world.

The world is drunk, but not with wine or strong drink; and our country is the most drunken of all. They are deluding themselves; they are drunk with party fanaticism; they are high-minded, heady, and senseless, and are fast going to destruction. As brother Heber has stated, the Lord Almighty will empty the earth of the wickedness that has dwelt upon it for so many hundreds of years: it will not be suffered to dwell upon it much longer. The wicked will go to their place, and the Almighty will gather his Saints and raise up a people who know their right hands from their left, which Christendom does not know, so far as pertains to the plan of salvation.

Serve your God, but not for gold. Strive to be righteous, not for any speculation, but because righteousness is lovely, pure, holy, beautiful, and exalting: it is designed to make the soul happy and full of joy, to the extent of the whole capacity of man, filling him with light, glory, and intelligence. If you cannot love it for that, do not undertake to be righteous. A man cannot be a Saint at the same time that he loves sin and rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel, any more than an Elder can do good on a mission while his heart is set upon riches, planning to bring home merchandise. The Elders cannot accomplish both these things at once; and in trying to do so they have missed their aim, for they have neither got rich nor magnified their calling and priesthood.

I can say amen to what brother Heber has said. Those who now go forth upon missions will feel more of the power of God than they ever had, and will speak as men having authority, asking no odds of the wicked. I said, in Nauvoo, that we were going to leave our possessions. We did so, and God has been and is our helper, and is on our right and left, and round about us like a wall of fire to defend this people, if they serve him with an undivided heart. Will our enemies be saved? No. They have had the Gospel preached to them year after year, and have rejected it. What are they? Comparatively nothing. Where are they? Nowhere. Who are they? Nobody; and as they ripen in iniquity they will depart to the place prepared for them, and be as though they had never been. Can you so much as hire them to serve God? No: but go into the East Indies and you can hire hundreds to profess to serve God, by paying them so much a day. Christian ministers are said to build up their churches there by hiring the natives to be sprinkled and have their names written in the church records. There is a gentleman now in our city who has been blamed by missionaries, both in Europe and America, for writing the truth about their operations in Africa. They had not made as many converts as they had lost missionaries on the African soil.

We want the Elders of Israel to preach the Gospel without purse or scrip, and to trust in God for their food, raiment, and lodging. If you have not a second shirt with you, do not be fretting about it, but trust in God for some person to give you another; for you will not have anything without the Lord pleases, neither food nor raiment; and what he wants you to have he will bring about. Then trust in the Lord, going forth in his name. I will leave the matter of gathering means to the Bishops.

“How much, brother Brigham, do you want gathered to enable the Missionaries to reach their fields of labor and assist their families during their absence? Will five dollars do? for we are very poor in our Ward: we cannot give much.” You are a poor Bishop. We want your hundreds and thousands; and what is not needed now, we will save for the Elders next spring; and when we bind burdens for you, you shall not be able to truthfully say that we will not reach out our little fingers to lift them. You may bring two or three of your best men, and I will give more than they all; I will put forth my whole hand. If any man in this kingdom will give me two-thirds of what my property is worth, I will sell it to him and give every dime of the money towards gathering the poor, and in ten years from now I will be far richer than I am now. I would like to devote every dollar I am worth to preaching the Gospel and gathering the poor, to show the people what God is willing to do for his servants, though he be possessed of weaknesses. Bring the man or woman, who has labored for me, that can say in truth that I have oppressed the hireling in his wages. No living being can in truth say that I have; but I have fed and clothed hundreds and thousands who have not labored for me.

I shall keep the plan of assisting our Missionaries from here before the people until we learn that it is the best policy. I do not, on this account, wish the people abroad to omit paying their Tithing and doing all they can; but I wish to dictate the Church means in a way that will benefit the kingdom of God; for I will gather the poor and build up Zion, while the course of others wastes and destroys. Doubtless many of the Elders think that they are smarter than I am. As brother Kimball has said, some of the knowing ones marveled when we were called to the Apostleship. It was indeed a mystery to me; but when I considered what consummate blockheads they were, I did not deem it so great a wonder. When they would meet brother Kimball and myself, their looks expressed, “What a pity!” Then I would think, You may, perhaps, make tolerably good men after a while; but I guess that you will tumble out by-and-by, just as they did: they could not stay in the Gospel net, they were so big and grew so fast; they became larger than the ship and slid overboard.

I ask no odds of the enemies of truth, neither have we from the beginning. Let us so live that God and angels are with us, and all is right; and if we do not, it matters not what becomes of us, nor how quickly we are overthrown as a people. Let all hearts be fervent in their covenants, and glorify their Father who is in heaven, with their spirits and bodies, which are his. Let our most earnest desire be to bring forth and build up the kingdom of God upon the earth, save the house of Israel and all the honest among the Gentiles, and fill the whole earth with the light, glory, power, and knowledge of God, and be prepared to enjoy it; which may Jesus grant. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 16, 1860.

I can say amen to what brother Pratt has just said. I think I can with propriety say to him and a great many of the Elders of Israel that they may dismiss those little doubts that brother Pratt has spoken of in regard to proving faithful. You who are in the Church and have been a long time faithful, the Lord will never suffer to so fall away that you cannot be saved. I hardly know of a man who has been in the Church fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years and longer, but what had better be thankful that that time is past, and not wish to live it over again, for fear he would not do as well. True, some of the brethren have taken missteps—have dealt amiss in some instances, and have not done so well as they could, had they lived so as to have known more; but I am satisfied with them, if they will continue to learn and improve upon their gifts and become perfect; otherwise, I shall not be satisfied, either with myself or with my brethren, the Elders of Israel. The knowledge we now have in our possession is sufficient to guide and direct us step by step, day by day, until we are made perfect before the Lord our Father. If we do not take a course to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and attain to perfection, I do not intend to be satisfied with either myself or anyone who comes short of this.

When I came into the meeting, brother Pratt was speaking upon the principle of covetousness, which is idolatry. This a matter that ought to be understood, though it is as impossible to make those understand who are not seeking to know, as it is to make blind people understand the difference between colors. It is a hard matter to so bring some to their understanding that they will comprehend, recollect, and practice correct principles. Preaching the word to Saint or sinner is of but little moment, unless there is a place in the hearts of the hearers to receive it; otherwise it is to them like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. To enjoy the light and power of the Holy Ghost day by day is prayed for by brother Pratt; but the preacher does not need it any more than the hearers. The preacher needs the power of the Holy Ghost to deal out to each heart a word in due season, and the hearers need the Holy Ghost to bring forth the fruits of the preached word of God to his glory.

We need not refer to the traditions of the fathers with regard to the manifestations of the covetousness we see so much of. Observe the customs and habits, not of the fathers, but of the children—our brethren and sisters here. We see men, from twenty years up to old age, who are entirely overcome by their desire to obtain gold. It is asserted that there are 75,000 people at Pike’s Peak. What business have they there? Simply to worship the god of this world. He was said to be there, and they flocked there to worship him. A little gold dust was found near Pike’s Peak; the golden god—the god of this world—was hoisted, and what is the result? Priests and people, the old and young, rich and poor, wise and foolish, noble and ignoble, are all running after this god.

Are all who profess to be Latter-day Saints entirely free from this Mammon worship? No. You have heard “Oppression!” sounded from Maine to Texas, from Texas to California, then to Washington Territory, in the British Provinces in America, in England, and all over the world—“Great oppression in Utah!” because we exhort the people not to be such fools as to run after the golden image; and sometimes we tell them that we will cut them off from the Church, if they do. This has caused this great outcry. Some who have come here this season expressly to enjoy the privilege of their religion are not satisfied, but want to go where there is more money. Money is their god. Go—go after it and worship it as much as you please, and trouble us not. Go your way rejoicing as much as you can; but you will have sorrow in that course. Instead of bettering your condition, you will make it a great deal worse. Your spirits will sink into darkness and wretchedness, and you will go your way mourning instead of rejoicing.

It is reported that thousands of persons will soon be on Strawberry Creek, a little east of the South Pass. What are they after? Someone, they say, has found sand with a little gold dust in it. There is their god again, and hosts are coming running after it. The world is after riches; riches is the god they worship. It is a marvel that they do not discover the emptiness of earthly riches, when hundreds are going out like a candle burnt down in the socket. We know that we are here, and how soon we shall go hence we know not. Perhaps some of us may be called from this life before tomorrow morning, and some, perhaps, before sunset will pass into the spirit world. But that does not lessen the appetite for gold. I do not know that a miser’s appetite for gold would be lessened in the least degree, if he knew that he would be required to leave it tomorrow.

Such riches can give no real enjoyment. There is no happiness in gold, not the least. It is very convenient as an article of exchange, in purchasing what we need; and instead of finding comfort and happiness in gold, you exchange it to obtain happiness, or that which may conduce to it. There is no real wealth in gold. People talk about being wealthy—about being rich; but place the richest banking company in the world upon a barren rock, with their gold piled around them, with no possible chance of exchanging it, and destitute of the creature comforts; and they would be poor indeed. Where then is their joy, their comfort, their great wealth? They have none.

What constitutes health, wealth, joy, and peace? In the first place, good pure air is the greatest sustainer of animal life. Other elements of life we can dispense with for a time, but this seems to be essential every moment; hence the necessity of well ventilated dwelling houses, especially the rooms occupied for sleeping. You can live without water and food longer than you can without air, and water is of more importance than meat and bread. In what, then, consists your riches? In being comfortably clad, comfortably sheltered, and suitably provided with food. Gold, where those comforts could not be obtained, would avail nothing. But the greatest of all comforts are the words of eternal life: they also comprise the greatest of all riches. The greatest riches that can be bestowed upon man is eternal life—the power to sustain ourselves and preserve our identity before our God, though this is not esteemed riches by the world. You may assemble such men as Dick Turpin of England, Joaquin of California, and Joseph C. Hare of the United States, and let them hoist the golden flag, and you will see priest and people running after them, and they will call them fine gentlemen, give them of their substance, and their daughters to wives.

We have the real wealth here. We have not much gold and silver here, but we have the good, fine flour, good wheat, horses, cattle, beef, pork, vegetables, fruit, sheep, and wool, and good wives to manufacture the wool into clothing. This is real wealth. This people is a rich people. We are the wealthiest people, in what constitutes true wealth, and in proportion to our number, that there are in any other part of our country: we have the comforts of life.

I will now inform the Latter-day Saints in this Territory that I wish them to fit out our Missionaries, who are going into the world to preach, with means to go to their fields of labor, and then sustain their families when they are gone. That is the text I wish to lay before the people. If I do not preach upon it this morning, I may this afternoon. I was with the Bishops last Thursday evening, and I requested them to notify the brethren to come here prepared to donate their half-eagles, eagles, fifty dollar pieces, horses, mules, wagons, wheat by the twenty and hundred bushels, and other available means, that we may send these brethren away rejoicing; and then we will give them a promise that we will provide for their families after they are gone, so far as they are unable to provide for themselves.

You may inquire, “What has hap– pened? Is there anything new under the sun? Are the Church and kingdom of God becoming different from what they were?” All this can be explained to you—only give us time. I think that the brethren were required to go and preach “without purse and scrip,” and that is what I am now trying to get them to do—to go “without purse and scrip,” and not beg the poor Saints to death. Let us support the Elders, instead of making the poor do it. We are able to send these men out to preach the Gospel, and they may go “without purse or scrip.” It may be asked, “What do you say to the following words of Paul?—’Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and so remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” When the Elders are on Missions, I want them to let speculation alone. I call trading, begging, and borrowing, and laying plans to come home wealthy, speculation. The Elders of Israel have not magnified their callings as they should have done. Had they known things as they really are, and seen them as they are in the bosom of eternity, they would rather have suffered their right hands to be cut off, or their heads to be severed from their bodies, than do as some have done.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” All the gold and silver are in the hands of the Lord. When he is so disposed, gold cannot be found; and when he is disposed, the surface of the earth is full of it. There may be gold here; but, to find it, the persons will have to ride over my faith. No doubt many of the Elders are hunting to find gold. I was going to say that I would rather they would find hell; for they would, if they found gold. Every man that prays to find it here virtually prays that the Devil may have power over the kingdom of God to destroy it from the earth. Perhaps some of these very men will give a sixpence, shilling, or a dollar to the Elders who are going out to preach. Such men know no more than those Elders who go out on missions to gather gold to administer to their nonsensical appetites; but it goes from them, and they know not where it goes. Every Saint should understand that the Lord will bring forth to us the gold when we need it. We now want shoes, boots, hats, bonnets, dresses, coats, food, and comfortable houses, to enable us to live long on the earth, with wisdom to know how to use all creature comforts.

The means which you donate for supporting our Missions shall be entered in the book of the law of the Lord, that the record thereof may go down to your posterity. It will not be put into our pockets, nor used for other purposes—at least, not with my knowledge or consent. I shall throw this business into the hands of the Bishops. The good Bishop will get a liberal donation, while the others will not get much. “As is the priests, so are the people;” and as is the Bishop, so is his Ward. Let the Bishops commence at the intermission to receive donations, and continue so to do until a week from tonight. With these means we expect to send the Elders directly to their fields of labor.

It is my business to control the disbursements of the Tithing paid by the Saints, and not the business of every Elder in the kingdom who thinks the Tithing belongs to him. In the English Mission, where comparatively but little was done, fifty-four thousand dollars of the Tithing money has been expended by the Elders during the last two years. This has been kept from my knowledge until recently; but I have now got hold of the rope, and I will search out every secret act pertaining to this matter. The money that has been spent on those Elders ought to have been used to gather the poor and pay the debts previously contracted in their emigration. Elders have expended hundreds of thousands of dollars of Church funds, and have left me hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay. The motto of many seems to have been—“Not one cent will we let the Trustee-in-Trust have, if we can keep it out of his hands.” I am going to search into this course until it is stopped. It is the business of the Elders to preach the Gospel and gather the poor. If they do not do this, they will come home shorn of their strength. You may wonder why I have not sooner spoken of this. I could not get it in shape to do so until now, and have had to groan under it. My Counselors and immediate associates know how I have felt, ever since I have been in this Valley, with regard to the way in which the work is carried on abroad.

The Lord takes one man, whom he knows to be just and righteous, and places in his path an abundance of possessions—houses and lands, cattle, and every good thing that can be bestowed upon an individual, while many of his brethren and neighbors around him imagine that he has obtained his possessions by deceiving, by oppressing the poor, and keeping back the wages of the hireling, and they undertake to get rich by dishonesty. This is the case with many of the Elders of Israel, and herein they make a great mistake. “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor riches to men of wisdom,” but to those whom God favors. You may ask me for proof of this. It is ready, were it wise to produce it. May the Lord bless you! Amen.

Instructions by President Brigham Young made in the Bowery, and in the Historian’s Office, Great Salt Lake City, September 9, 1860.

If I have the Spirit of the Lord sufficiently, I may have a word for each and all classes present; though in a few remarks I by no means expect to comprehend all the duties that devolve upon the Saints. Here are newcomers who, for the first time, have the privilege of assembling with the Saints at the gathering place; some of them perhaps have been here one Sabbath, and others two. You have traveled thousands of miles to be assembled with the Saints. Here is another class of persons who have been living here for years, and who also need teaching. And here is still another class that needs teaching, perhaps, more than unbelievers. I refer to the Elders who are about to start on their missions.

We say to them, Go forth and preach the Gospel, gain an experience, learn wisdom, and walk humbly before your God, that you may receive the Holy Ghost to guide and direct you, and teach you all things past, present, and to come. I cannot say that this is sufficient to say to them, for it is not.

We say to the citizens of these valleys who have lived here and are going to stay here, Seek unto the Lord your God with all your hearts, ye Latter-day Saints, and so live, that the Holy Ghost will be your constant companion. It will teach you all things; it will bring to your remembrance past things that you have forgotten, things that are now present, and show you the providences of God, the dealings of the Lord with his people, his designs in organizing the world and in peopling it, &c. You Latter-day Saints, live humbly and live your religion faithfully, that you may enjoy the spirit of revelation to a fulness.

We say to the newcomers, If you will live your religion—live to the light that was given to you when you embraced the truth, you will enjoy the same Spirit you then received, and there is not the least danger but what in so doing you will be Saints at home and abroad, in the morning and in the evening, enjoying the light of the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Ghost will be your constant companion, teaching you all things, which will constantly suffice for you.

For unbelievers we will quote from the Scriptures—“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Again—“Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” I will now give my scripture—“Whosoever confesseth that Joseph Smith was sent of God to reveal the holy Gospel to the children of men, and lay the foundation for gathering Israel, and building up the kingdom of God on the earth, that spirit is of God;” and every spirit that does not confess that God has sent Joseph Smith, and revealed the everlasting Gospel to and through him, is of Antichrist, no matter whether it is found in a pulpit or on a throne, nor how much divinity it may profess, nor what it professes with regard to revealed religion and the account that is given of the Savior and his Father in the Bible. They may say that they acknowledge Him until doomsday, and he will never own them, nor bestow the Holy Spirit upon them, and they will never have visions of eternity opened to them, unless they acknowledge that Joseph Smith is sent of God. Such people I call unbelievers. They tell about believing in Jesus Christ, but they might as well talk about birds understanding the Hebrew language. This statement is no more positive than true.

The spirit that confesses that this is the kingdom of God and his Church has the Spirit that fills the heavenly worlds, and every other spirit is of Antichrist. All whom I call unbelievers, if they will repent of their sins, obey the requirements in the New Testament, be baptized for the remission of sins by a man who holds the key and authority to lead them into the waters of baptism, and receive the laying on of hands for the Holy Ghost, shall receive a witness that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and that he was sent of God to build up his kingdom in this last dispensation. You will receive a Spirit that will bring all things to your remembrance, past, present, and to come, teaching you all things necessary for you to understand. There are but a few in this generation who will do this. “Will one to a thousand?” Doubtful. “One to ten thousand, or a hundred thousand?” I hope so. Of the Latter-day Saints there will be many who will not so live their religion as to fully enjoy the Holy Ghost. The Latter-day Saints are like children who have to be taught continually, and still, like children, they handle, figuratively speaking, razors, glasses, cups, sau– cers, &c., contrary to the teachings that are given them.

Those Elders about to start on their missions will declare before this congregation and before the whole world that they do know, by the power of God, that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God, and that this is the work of God; that God has set to his hand to gather Israel: but let them neglect their duty and get into darkness, and they will lose this Spirit and testimony. They do not see this with their natural eyes, for it is spiritually discerned, as all things of God are. Let them do wrong and lose the Spirit, and by-and-by they apostatize and declare that they do not know “Mormonism” to be true, and think that they never did. How many are there of this class? Brethren, live your religion. As a mischievous child needs constant watching to keep it from falling into the fire, or otherwise injuring itself, so you need watching, warning, teaching, and admonishing all the time; you need to be continually teased to your duty.

A spirit prompts both the good and the evil: an invisible influence seems to be shed abroad upon all nations. Let us seek unto the Lord, that we may be prompted by a good spirit. It matters not what your neighbors do, look to your God with all your heart, instead of watching your neighbors, and there will be no danger of your leaving the true path. If they will only live up to it, there has already been enough taught the brethren who have lived here for years to prepare them to enter into the strait gate and into the New Jerusalem, and be prepared to enjoy the society of the holy angels.

No other people are under the obligations to God that we are, who have been privileged to meet here Sabbath after Sabbath. We have the privilege of being gathered—the privilege of the law of the celestial kingdom, of receiving revelation, of enjoying the keys and power of the blessings of the Priesthood as sons of God. What other people have these privileges? No other that we have any knowledge of. This brings us under deep obligation to one another, to angels, to Jesus, and to God our Father. We have to live close to the Lord, in order to have his Spirit to learn and understand what he requires of us. You hear some say—“I wish I had influence and power, and were in a situation to do good!” Is there a man in this community deprived of the privilege of doing all the good his heart can desire? You can every day live to promote the cause of our God, and your whole lives can be filled with doing good.

The travels and labors of the Elders about to go on missions will throw them into positions which will cause them to seek unto the Lord. They need to live their religion, to go forth with pure hearts and clean hands, and then preach the Gospel by the power of God sent down from heaven. They should touch not and taste not of sin, and when they return they should come pure and clean, ready to meet the Saints with open countenances. To all appearance, the Elders on missions have been in the habit of making their pockets a matter of more consideration than the souls of men. I am not going to suffer this any longer.

I want every Elder to make his calculations to get rich here, and not go abroad to get riches from the Saints there. Plan and operate here to make as much property as you please; and if you can put it in a shape to gather the Saints, do so; and when you are abroad use every sovereign to emigrate the poor. You may have one shirt on and one at the washerwoman’s, and decent and comfortable clothing; but what you obtain over this must be used to gather the poor. “May I obtain money enough to come home?” Yes. “How many coats and pantaloons may we bring, and how many trunks packed with clothing of the most expensive kinds, for our wives and children?” I utterly forbid this practice. I forbid your bringing or sending home silk dresses and the like. Send and bring home the poor. I forbid your coming home in your carriages; I forbid your going out preachers and coming home merchants, but come home bringing your sheaves with you—the souls of the children of men—spirits clothed in tabernacles. I forbid the Elders of Israel coming home as they have; but men, women, and children must be all the property, means, wealth, glory, and power that they bring home.

O ye gentiles, let me tell you that every Elder will do as I have told him, when he learns that the opposite course is wrong. And let me tell you that you will see the day when you will wish that you were “Mormon” Elders. By-and-by the Elders of Israel will have gold and silver for plates, cups, saucers, &c.; and when we have adorned and furnished our houses we will have gold and silver to pave our streets, and their enemies will be in hell, unable to raise a decent fiddler there, or any liquor, for it will all burn up, and every decent fiddler will go into a decent kingdom: we will have them. We are going to have the kingdom of God and the fulness thereof, and all the heights and depths of glory, power, and knowledge; and we shall have fathers and mothers, and wives and children.

Brother Cannon remarked that people wondered how many wives and children I had. He may inform them that I shall have wives and children by the million, and glory, and riches, and power, and dominion, and kingdom after kingdom, and reign triumphantly. “What will you do with all those who have sought to kill you?” Make them soap boilers and kitchen flunkeys. We are not going to send them into hell fire, for it takes a good Latter-day Saint apostatized to get down into that deep (did I say bottomless?) pit. A person, to become an angel of the Devil, has first to be a good Saint, and then deny the Lord who bought him.

Do you query why we give endowments to A., B., and C.? It is to make devils of those who will deny the faith, for that is also necessary, as a host of devils will be needed. We also want Saints, angels, holy ones, and those that are exalted to the highest glory—we want them to inherit kingdoms that number millions on millions.

Brother Hooper stated that he had charity. My charity is that God has provided for his children, the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, where all who have lived according to the best light they had will have better kingdoms than ever entered into their hearts to conceive. That is the charity of God in his plans to save his people. Will the Latter-day Saints so live that they can enjoy the fulness of the heights, depths, glory, and intelligence in which the Father and the Son dwell? If they do not, they must go into another kingdom. He has designed that we should become Gods—the sons of God—fathers of eternal lives, like Abraham. This is the promise he received—to be the father of endless lives, that his posterity and generation should never cease, in time nor eternity.

Some may think that the restrictions upon our Missionaries are greater than they should be; but if they learn to be practical men, they will learn that my system is the best. Send Elders forth to attend to the business of the churches—to the spiritual and the financial departments, and to preside over them, and the care and toil are very laborious. But if, at the same time, their minds are upon speculation, and they lay awake at night to calculate how they are going to speculate—how many teams they need to bring a lot of goods across the Plains, &c., the labor becomes so severe as to nearly drive them crazy: it at least causes them to have but little spiritual strength when they return; and I really think it best to relieve them from this extra burden. To study, plan, and labor to be merchants, and to bring home silks, satins, velvet, &c., for their wives and children, is a great burden; and we wish to relieve them from that, and let them come home, bringing the poor with them.

If Elders go and fill their missions, they have enough to do; and if they at the same time study to be merchants and to speculate, it will crush them into weakness and poverty. Those who have mixed speculation with preaching, and have thereby oppressed and hedged up the emigration of the poor, upon their return seem to have no spirit left for anything except speculation. Your best plan, if you wish to make money, is to make it here at the gathering place. This is the place for you to accumulate property—to make your families comfortable, that when you go on your missions you can go stript for the race and harnessed for the battle, for the work before you, and have nothing else in your hearts.

If the Lord ever revealed anything to me, he has shown me that the Elders of Israel must let speculation alone and attend to the duties of their calling, otherwise they will have little or no power in their missions or upon their return. It commenced long ago in England, and those who have practiced it are in poverty; and it is high time that it was put a stop to, which I am going to do, God and good brethren being my helpers.

I am in earnest in this matter, and God will sustain me in it. Quit sending or bringing silks, satins, and furbelows for your wives to flaunt in. I am strongly opposed to it.

Some may inquire whether I did not make money when on missions. If I did, it has been expended to gather the poor. When I returned from England, I had but one sovereign left when I reached home. Brother Joseph asked me what I was going to do for a living. I told him that I was going to borrow fifteen cents to put with my sovereign to buy a barrel of flour, visit my friends, and when that flour was eaten I should be ready to do what the Lord required. I went on my mission to England, performed its duties, and returned with clean hands and a pure heart; and all who desire to honor God and their holy calling to the Priesthood must pursue this course.

From this time forth every man that goes on a mission with a view to speculation will be overtaken by poverty, for speculation is no part of the duties devolving upon the Elders. They should practice the strictest economy, especially while on their missions. I have not sought for riches, nor placed my affections upon the things of this world. I do not at home any more than I did abroad. When I obtain money and other property, I study to dispose of it to the best advantage for promoting the cause in which we are engaged. And I tell you, in the name of Israel’s God, that it is my counsel and imperative command that our Missionaries let speculation alone, and preach the Gospel, and so live that when you blow the Gospel trump your words will be like melted lead in the hearts of the people, and not return unto you void, that you may glory and do good in the labor to which God has called you. Do not operate as some have, but let your minds and energies be devoted to the business on which you are sent.

Publications have been issued from the Liverpool Office and crowded upon the people, seemingly regardless of the wants or ability of the brethren, and creating what is known as the “Book Debt,” the very sound of which is disagreeable; lithographed and engraved likenesses of Elders have been forced upon Conferences; and in some instances the money on hand in London and Liverpool has been taken and used by the Elders to the estimated amount of the publications and likenesses, a large portion of which remain lumbering storerooms as dead stock, except where sold out of the way as waste paper. Brethren have been obliged to take more or less copies of publications, whether they could use them, or afford to pay for them, or not; and this very system of forcing publications upon the brethren and Conferences has prevented hundreds and thousands of the Saints from emigrating, turned a great deal of money from its legitimate channel, and left us useless articles instead of the money the Church or the people should have had. Put thousands of pounds into the hands of an Elder in this manner, and it will go from him without his being able to tell where or how it has gone: it seems impossible for him to keep it or its value; it slips away.

There are thousands of pounds’ worth of books, &c., now lying useless in the Liverpool Office, that have been paid for with Tithing money, which ought to have been used for emigrating the poor, paying debts, and otherwise carrying on the work, in accordance with counsel from here: but instead of this, the books lie use– less in the Office. And a few have tried to get rich, but all their riches seem to have had the wings of the morning and have flown far from them.

How many in Utah pay Tithing on their money? Comparatively very few. Probably we do not get one dollar to a thousand on cash Tithing. And if horses, oxen, or cows could be sold for money, probably but few of them would be turned in on Tithing; and if wheat could be sold for money, we should get no wheat except from a very few. But we get along and are not dead yet; and we shall live and do well, while others will be dead and in their graves. The humble will live, their spirits will be buoyant, and they will live to a great age.

You Elders who are selected to go on missions, be virtuous and holy before the Lord your God, that you may be filled with his Spirit. And when you reach your respective fields of labor in the States, in England, or elsewhere, do not begin to pull down your predecessors. So far as their conduct will permit speak of them as your brethren, and as men who have done the best they knew how. Testify that you know them to be good men, when you know that they have been doing according to their best judgment and understanding; and do not say hard words about your predecessors in the vineyard. Not one who does this will gain anything by it. Do not discourage, deride, or bring anything against any of your predecessors to lessen the character of anyone who has done the best he knew how. You have not heard me say that I disfellowship them, for I believe that they have not intended to do a wrong thing in all that is past. All that I blame them for is because I believe that they could or should have known better. I consider that having lived till now, they should so live as to have the Holy Ghost within them continually, to guide them in the way of life.

We are so organized that we need preaching to all the time. This is because of our weaknesses, and we shall have to bear with one another until we become stronger and wiser. Until then, we will travel and preach and do all the good we can. And those that put their shoulders to the wheel, with a desire and determination to preach the Gospel, save souls, and aid in whatever they are called upon to do for the rolling forth of this great work, will live the longest, have the most gold and silver, and enjoy more eternities of happiness and exaltation than those who do nothing but grumble and find fault with what others do and say.

It is not necessary, in crossing the Plains, for our Missionaries to travel on foot and carry their valises; and we wish you to be provided to cross the Plains comfortably, and to take prudent care of your bodies while absent and to come home as comfortably as you can: but do not get money from the poor Saints to buy a carriage with. I have traveled and preached a great deal, and had to live, and I have always had a large family to support. I have had to borrow money to come home with, and I do not remember that I ever brought any money home, but what it has gone directly to relieve the Prophet of his burdens. He used to ask me how I managed to support myself and family. I told him that I made a sixpence go, perhaps, as far as some would make a quarter of a dollar go—that I had done what I could, and the Lord had done the rest, and that was all I knew about it. Of course there are some things I know, and many that I do not; but I do know that Heber C. Kimball and myself used 86 dollars in board and other expenses when tra– velling on a mission, and that when we started we had but 13 dollars, 50 cents. And I do know that I once took a five-dollar bill out of my pocket, when we were raising money for brother Joseph, and threw it in, and that the next day I had just as much as I had before I gave away the five dollars. I do know that when I went to pay some money that I owed, after giving some away to the poor, I had just as much when I came to pay my debts as I had before I gave any to the poor. I do know that I handed out a half-eagle to a poor man in my office, and then found two half-eagles in my pocket that I never put there. And I also do know that I never hungered or thirsted for property.

Some may say—“Brother Brigham, you are boasting, and you may be tried.” I may be tried; but if I am, I pray God to give me strength to bear the trial. I feel under the most positive and strict obligation to make every penny go as far as I can towards preaching the Gospel, gathering Israel, and doing good. I do not lust after property; and I wish my brethren could see my heart as I see theirs. I know the hearts of my brethren who are around me, whether I chasten them or not. You act out what is naturally in you, and I can tell, by the acts, by the faces, and by the doings of men, what is in their hearts. We are here, and we have the kingdom of God to build up as the Lord directs, and carry out his requirements in all things.

The Saints abroad are required to pay their Tithing, but they have been made to donate and pay so much that they have felt that the cords were drawn pretty tight. Of late we have let the strings loose, and the people in the European Missions have become slack in regard to paying even their Tithing. This is a natural result, and I expected it. The brethren will now exhort them to renew their good works in again paying Tithing, and we must have a correct account of it, and must have the privilege of directing its expenditure for gathering the Saints and building up the kingdom. We wish to hurry and gather the brethren, that they may receive their endowments, and either remain Saints or apostatize; and those who continue faithful may be taught to more and more honor their faith and cooperate in building up the kingdom of God on the earth.

I have detained you long enough. God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 9, 1860.

The instructions, faith, revelations, and Scriptures that have been given from the earliest ages to the present—all the past that has come within my notice—all that is now transpiring among the nations of the earth, so far as we can see and understand—all the privileges that men can enjoy, that are allotted to the intelligent beings now before me, with the rest of mankind, and much more than all this, continually occupy my mind, feelings, sympathies, and judgment. We enjoy the greatest blessings and privileges of any people we are acquainted with.

What causes this people to do as they do? It is written, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” It is a spirit that causes this people to do what they do—to leave their native countries, to leave their fathers and mothers, brethren and sisters, and take up their line of march and travel thousands of miles to this distant country; and then, when selected for missions, to again leave their fathers, mothers, and friends, and travel back to their native lands, or to some other place, wherever they are appointed to go. We cannot behold that spirit and influence with our natural eyes. The results alone are known.

What causes the inhabitants of the earth to do as they do—those who do not believe in the Christian religion? You remember that a few years ago Mr. Sutter, in California, hired some of our brethren, who had been in the Mormon Battalion, to dig a millrace, in which they found gold. The news spread rapidly; and now, in the States, how many places you can find forsaken! Good farms, mechanic shops, stores, and other good situations for men to live in and make themselves comfortable, are deserted, having been sold or mortgaged for a few hundred dollars with which to go and get gold. Then try to number the widows and orphans who have been left in a state of destitution; then count the bones that are bleaching on the prairies between the frontiers of the Eastern States and California, and is not this conduct as great a mystery as it is to see our Elders do as they do? There is also a spirit that prompts this craving for gold.

There is a spirit that prompts the nations to prepare for war, desolation, and bloodshed—to waste each other away. Do they realize it? No—no more than a wicked man realizes the propriety of an Elder’s taking his line of march to Europe to preach the Gospel. The Spirit of the Gospel that is in the hearts of believers prompts them to do as they do, and the spirit of the enemy that is in the wicked prompts them to do as they do and is it not a mystery? Verily we can say that man is a mystery to himself—that he does not understand himself. When he understands himself, he will understand much about his Creator—his Father and God.

The greatest desire in the bosom of our Father Adam, or in his faithful children who are coworkers with God our Father in heaven, is to save the inhabitants of the earth. Many spirits have gone forth into the world—very many, as also the Holy Spirit of the Gospel to lead this people and all the human family, who will receive it, back into the presence of our Father and God. It has been the greatest desire of the faithful to see their relatives and friends follow that good Spirit, that they may return to the presence of their Father and God.

Brother Hooper has stated that he has charity. Every good man has; but there are only a few men on the earth who understand the charity that fills the bosom of our Savior. We should have charity; we should do all we can to reclaim the lost sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, and bring them back to be saved in the presence of our Father and God. If we do this, our charity will extend to the utmost extent that it is designed for the charity of God to extend in the midst of this people. But I have no love or charity for a wicked and corrupt scoundrel, who commits iniquity with his eyes wide open, though I pity and regret the condition of the human family in their ignorance. They would come to the light, but for one thing—their deeds are evil, and they do not mean to have them reproved. They would be rebuked, and they will not bear it; and so they pass on, and will, until they are punished.

May God bless the righteous and sustain his cause. He will do so. The wicked cannot do anything against the truth. Every move they make to crush the kingdom of God will be attended with the signal blessings of the Almighty for its further extension and ultimate triumph. All their efforts will result in the overthrow of sin and iniquity, and the increase of righteousness and the kingdom of God upon the earth, until “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” “Shall we see this in the flesh?” Yes. “Before we receive new bodies?” I do not know, though I expect to see all this in the flesh. Whether in this or in a new body, God being my helper, I shall contend for the righteousness of God and the rights of his Saints, and contend manfully, until we gain possession of our relatives, friends, neighbors, country, the nations of the earth, and the earth, to purify it and prepare it for the habitation of angels. That is our business. May the Lord help us to accomplish this purpose! Amen.