Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, June 3, 1860.

Brethren, I am obliged to keep my head covered, for I am fearful of taking cold. I expect I am beginning to look strong again, but I am very weak. You may be assured that I am grateful, and rejoice that I live in this day. I am thankful that I live in this generation, and especially that I dwell in these mountains with you; for it is one of the happiest places that I ever saw, right here upon the tops of these mountains, and particularly if you can have the right kind of microscope—such a one as the Lord will give you.

I presume that you can all see what the world are at down yonder: they are beginning to have times as well as we, and they may well expect to have difficulties. I do not call those drivings, and what we used to call persecutions, difficulties. I never was more happy in my life than I was in Missouri and Illinois, when we were passing through those trying scenes; and I can say that I never felt better than I have for the last two or three years, although it has been very trying to some. Some of our friends think we are cowards; but we only act so when it is necessary; and then when it is not necessary to be such, we stand forth in our proper light; and it is always necessary for us to be men of God, holding the Priesthood in righteousness, doing right and always being ready to do good, and assist in rolling forward the great work. The Lord will help us, if we are willing to be guided by his Holy Spirit.

President Young was speaking to the Elders about coming into this stand to speak, preaching in the Wards, and telling the people honestly what is required of them. I can tell them the plain, simple principles of the Gospel—advise them to lay up their grain, and do all the good they can.

It has troubled and worried me more, perhaps, than anything that has transpired in these mountains, when I have considered how we were situated for grain. We are almost destitute, and our friends have got plenty; and they are capable of selling to us, and then they will have enough for themselves; for, as I told you this morning, they have got at least three years’ provisions on hand at Camp Floyd. It is true that it does not take very much grain to sustain a man and his wife and a few children, if he is prudent with it; but then it requires a certain quantity for every family, and when added together, we need a great deal of wheat and corn to sustain us here in these mountains.

I would rather see my family go very poorly clad than to see them without bread and meat; for there is nothing in the world that will make a woman so cross as to go hungry, and the men are much worse. I have not tried this much; but I have a few times sat down and eaten up all the food I had. I was not cross at that time, but I called upon my Heavenly Father to open the way whereby I might be fed and be nourished and cherished. I know that God is merciful and benevolent to his creatures; I know that the earth belongs to him, and that all power is his, both in heaven and upon the earth, and all the children of men are in his hands. We are all his children, every soul of us, not only the righteous but the wicked; and they all have their agency and the right to do as they please, but they are responsible for all their acts.

As we measure to others, so it will be measured to us again; and as we make up our beds, so we shall sleep, and we shall have to give an account to God for all the acts done in the body. When, for instance, you sin against President Young, you have got to make that right with him: I have no power to remit that sin. And when you sin against Jesus Christ, you have got to make that restitution to him which is necessary to gain forgiveness. When you sin against the Holy Ghost, you have got to make the atonement to him. And as we do to others, so it will be done to us, and the nation and the government that we look to for our rights.

We are born of the fathers who won our liberties. We are the children of that God who spake to our fathers, and gave them the law, and inspired them to write the Constitution of our country. And those who now sit in the judgment seat should remember that as they measure to us it will be measured to them again, and they cannot avoid it; and we may with safety apply the same to ourselves, for as we measure to each other, so will it be measured back to us. If we transgress a law, we must pay the penalty, for the Almighty requires this of every one of us. He will not force any man to keep his law; but all will find, when they wish to enter into the kingdom, that there is Mercy on one side of the door, and Justice on the other; and what Justice cannot claim, Mercy will.

With these views of the subject let us learn to take a course to do unto others as we would wish them to do unto us in like circumstances. Be honest and upright in all things; abstain from all lying and hypocrisy, root it out of your hearts, and work righteousness continually.

This is the religion of Jesus Christ as taught in these books—the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and it is in accordance with that which is in my breast and which is a better book, for it is life in Christ; and that living being that receives light and intelligence from the heavens through the revelations of the Holy Ghost is a living oracle. It is the living Oracle that is within us that will guide us in the way of life.

Now, you require brother Brigham to live in that manner that he can hold the oracles of God and be to you a living oracle—the mouthpiece of the Almighty, to communicate line upon line, and precept upon precept, and have the word of truth constantly on hand. Now, why should you require more of the head than of the other members? The Lord has said that upon those members that you consider the least honorable he has conferred the most honor; and he will confer upon every man and woman that honors the Priesthood, the Presidency, the Bishops, and all the members of the body. We cannot honor God except we honor his authority: there is no possible way of honoring the kingdom of God only by honoring its authorities.

If we take this course, we shall do well and be prospered in all things. I am satisfied that the majority of this people are improving, and it is for their sake that we are sustained. God takes hold of our enemies and controls them, and he has kept them at a distance and led them by his power, as a groom leads a horse by the bit. We have been praying and beseeching the Lord by night and by day to hold them, and he has done it. This is the way it is done, and this is the reason that we can go to work unmolested, and build up the kingdom of heaven, and do all that is required of us. Let us do that which is right. Act towards this Church in every respect just as you would like others to do by you.

Brethren, you need not be troubled in your minds, but be of good cheer and rejoice evermore. Bow down at night, plead with your Heavenly Father, ask him to bless this people—to bless the earth, the mountains, the waters—to bless your wives and children: ask him to bless the seed you put in the earth, and to turn away the storms, that we may have good crops. These things are required of you. You are commanded in this book (Doc. and Cov.) to do these things. There is not a day passes over my head but I bow before my Heavenly Father in secret and plead with him to bless you, to bless the Saints and the Elders abroad among the nations, to give his angels charge concerning them, that they may have power over every evil and over all the enemies of Christ. This is my prayer. I am pleading continually for the work of our Father to be carried on, and for his will to be done upon the earth as it is done in heaven.

Do you think that a Saint will steal poles, or go to a man’s wood pile and steal his firewood? Or do you believe that a Saint will lie and do that which will prejudice a man against his friends? This is the way Lucifer acts; and probably the last thing he did before he left heaven was to take the census; and we calculate that he will leave here soon, seeing that he has commenced to take the census.

Now, brethren, let us remember to pray—“Our Father, who art in heaven, thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Just think how they are in heaven, and then you can form an opinion of what we ought to be. Lucifer is not there now, for the Bible tells us that he was cast out and then things were set in order. Do you suppose they allow lying and stealing there? Do you suppose there are any hypocrites there? I want you to think of these things; for you will find, when you get into heaven, that all kinds of deceitfulness and every abomination will be done away; for they are honest there, and they watch over us: they are interested in our welfare, and they desire us to do good. They have just as strong a desire for our welfare as I have to see my sons do right.

There is nothing in this world that makes me feel worse or more sorrowful than to see my children taking an unwise course. I feel these things very sensitively, and I shall continue to feel so; for my soul and body and all that I possess delight in God and in his work, and to see you doing right. It is all the pride I have when I can see the Latter-day Saints doing their duty. I have no pride in clothing, in dress, or in any man, except he does the will of God; but I delight in walking humbly and faithfully before God, and setting a good example. When my wife pursues this course, I have pride in her—I adore her, as I would you, if you were all to do right, gentlemen, and no more. Why should I love a woman more than a man? They are no more to me than good men.

I am aware that this world is filled with hypocrisy, and I expect it will continue so until the end; but I shall soon leave this tenement and go into a better place. I do not know how long it will be, neither do I care: it does not trouble me one particle.

About two weeks previous to the death of brother Jedediah M. Grant, I dreamed that we were traveling, and we came to a beautiful stream of water. I thought I was going to cross it with him, and with the expectation and understanding that he would guard me across. He crossed the stream unobserved by me, and then I saw him running up the hill as fast as he could, and he got away from me and passed out of my sight. The stream kept rising and becoming more boisterous and apparently more dangerous; and so it continued till I awoke.

As for you Saints looking to the Government of the United States for quarters, I can tell you that you never will get any. Satan never will allow you any quarters, except he does it for the purpose of leading you into a worse snare; and therefore you need not look for anything of the kind. What! The Devil give the Saints any quarters? No, never: but if he has got the back pull upon us, he will hold us. We may whip and flog all we choose—if he has got a claim upon us, he won’t give us any quarters. Would you, if you got the advantage? You all say no. Well, then, if you have got the advantage, keep it. And if you will let the Devil alone, he cannot do much. But I can tell you that you need not look for much from this generation. They may yield to get a better hold of us, but I don’t ask any odds of them; and I pray to my Father and God, saying, “O Lord, preserve thy servant; preserve me in thy truth, that I may never sin against thee, nor against thy faithful servants, nor against angels, that I may be a coworker and be subject to them and to the power of God.”

I never saw the time that I was afraid of sickness, pain, or anguish. Still we are all liable to these things. I do not feel to boast. If I do, it is through mistake and a slip of the tongue. But I feel to bless the Presidency of this Church and the Priesthood generally, and all that believe on their words throughout the world. This work will roll on in spite of all opposition.

Go to work and take care of your grain; store up your wheat, so that the worms cannot get it. I have kept some wheat five years, and it is still good. Let us all take a course to preserve ourselves temporally and spiritually, and listen to what is said by the Priesthood.

I have heard that some of the brethren have found a great deal of fault with me for talking so much about wheat; but I can tell them that this won’t put wheat in their bins, nor flour in their sacks.

God bless us all—root out the wicked from among us, that we may be one. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, June 3, 1860.

I delight to meet with my brethren; it is my chief joy—it affords me great consolation and comfort. But whether I am alone or in the midst of the Saints, the spirit of my religion is continually a sacred consolation to me; I hardly ever see the time when I do not have a flow of it.

One of the greatest blessings I enjoy is the privilege of meeting with the assembled Saints. Do you realize that there is not another denomination, professing Christianity, that enjoys this privilege in so great a degree as do the Latter-day Saints? There is not another society or community professing to believe the Bible, embracing it in their faith, would consent, for one moment, to sell or give away all they have and travel half-way over the earth for the sake of assembling together. The position of all other professing Christians causes them to mingle more or less with the ungodly—with those who take the name of God in vain—with those who delight in unrighteousness. Were they called to make the sacrifices required of this people, they would refuse and abandon their religion rather than comply.

The Latter-day Saints are called to separate themselves from the wicked—to assemble together and associate with each other; and this is one of the greatest blessings bestowed upon me—that I may not be obliged to mingle with the ungodly. My business, my course of life, does not call me where I am under the necessity of hearing the name of that Deity whom I worship blasphemed—where his character, name, place, and attributes are held in the deepest derision, as they are in the world. I am not under the necessity of mingling with such characters. Is not this a blessing? It is. True, in traveling and preaching, I have mingled either more or less with the ungodly since I have been in this Church; though, when I have fallen into such society, I have passed along as speedily as possible.

In Kirtland, in 1833, the Prophet Joseph told the Elders that if they would do right—would promote the kingdom of God upon the earth, as they professed they desired to do, they would take his counsel to never put forth their hands to do another day’s work to build up a Gentile city. From that day to this, I do not know that I have done one hour’s work contrary to that counsel. You have frequently heard me refer to my poverty when I moved to Kirtland in the fall of 1833. Not a man ever gathered with the Saints, so far as I have known, but had more property than I had. When I came into the Church I distributed my substance and went to preaching, and when I gathered with the Saints I had nothing. I then said I would not work to build up a Gentile city. Other mechanics went from Kirtland to different cities to get employment. I said to them, I will work here, if I do not receive one farthing for my labor and have to beg my bread, and I will assist in building up this place, and will make many dollars to your one by so doing. I did; for when I started to the West, on the 5th of the following May, I could have bought what almost the whole of them had made during the winter. They told me that it often cost them more to get twenty dollars they had earned than it did to earn it. I went to work for brother Cahoon, one of the Kirtland Temple Committee. He had little or no means, and only a shell of a house. I helped him, and the Lord threw things in his path, and he paid me for my labor. I worked day by day, and when spring came I had more in my possession for my labor than any who had gone out in search of work during the past winter.

If they had waited for me to have lifted up my hands to build a city at Fairfield and its neighborhood, they would have waited until the judgment day. I said, when they came here, and I now say, if they had loaded every one of their wagons with gold and offered it to me, they could not have bought me, and I would not have worked for them. You may ask, “Have you not helped them?” I have sold them a considerable amount of lumber. But in that operation, which received the most help—they or me? They paid my price, and I do good with it, and intend to continue doing good.

Were I residing in a gathering place where I knew I could remain for two years, and had fifty thousand dollars to spare, I would expend it in the best improvements I could, and labor to improve until the last day of my remaining. The Lord is gathering his people, and this is a city for the Saints. A great many here are satisfied with a log hut. Some act as though they expected to be driven, and others say—“We will soon go back to the Center Stake of Zion, and this house will answer my purpose till then.” Let every mechanic and every scientific man of all classes and occupations, and every woman, improve to the best of their ability, faithfully living their religion, and we shall be none too well qualified to build up Zion when that time arrives. I never saw a stonemason who thoroughly understood his trade. We have not a quarryman who fully understands getting out rock for the Temple walls. Then how, amid such ignorance, are you going to properly lay the foundation of the New Jerusalem—the Zion of our God? What do you know about building the great Temple that is yet to be built, upon which the glory of God will rest by day and by night? Where is the man that knows how to lay the first rock in that Temple, or to get out the first stick of timber for it? Where is the woman that knows how to make a single part of its interior decorations? That knowledge is not now here; and unless you wisely improve upon your privileges day by day, you will not be prepared, when called upon, to engage to the best advantage in building up Zion.

No nation possesses any wisdom but what it has received from the same God that we worship. He is the best mechanic and the most scientific personage that we have any knowledge of. There is not a principle in astronomy, known by men of science, but what has been revealed from heaven. All true knowledge among men, in relation to agriculture, the arts, science, commerce, and every avocation in life, has been given from our Father in heaven to his children, whether they acknowledge and obey him or not.

Brother Wells was just speaking about the Lord’s having a foothold on this earth. He holds dominion over the winged tribes of heaven: they obey his law. He holds dominion in the depths of the sea, where man cannot pollute it. But there is not a mountain, valley, continent, island, or other portion of earth where mankind dwell, but what thereon they more or less pervert the ways of the Lord, and have done so nearly all the time, though his providences are over them all, and he will cause the wrath of man to praise him. Enoch was the only man that could build a city to God; and as soon as he had it completed, he and his city, with its walls, houses, land, rivers, and everything pertaining to it, were taken away.

God does not violate the agency he has given to man; wherefore let this be in the mouth of every Saint, “The Lord shall have perfect dominion in my heart and affections;” then he will begin to reign in the midst of the people; but he cannot do so now. When we have faith to understand that he must dictate, and that we must be perfectly submissive to him, then we shall begin to rapidly collect the intelligence that is bestowed upon the nations, for all this intelligence belongs to Zion. All the knowledge, wisdom, power, and glory that have been bestowed upon the nations of the earth, from the days of Adam till now, must be gathered home to Zion.

The wicked will become more and more weak and ignorant as they increase in wickedness. See the trifling, childish foolishness now among the nations of the earth. Brother George Halliday said this morning—“Mormonism has made me what I am.” That is true. “Mormonism” embraces all truth in heaven, earth, and hell; consequently, all we have received that is calculated to make us of any worth is from the principles taught by it. Look at the world! Where is the wisdom of the emperors, kings, and rulers of the nations? Imbecility and weakness are fast creeping into high places and spread– ing among the people. They love lies, and choose darkness rather than light, and the Lord will grant them their desires until they dwindle into degradation and utter destruction, when the government will rest upon those who are faithful to God and their country.

This is my country. I am a native-born American citizen. My father fought for the liberty we ought to have enjoyed in the States, and we shall yet see the day when we shall enjoy it. Had we the power, would we hold the wicked down and whip them? No; for, except in self-defense, it is our duty to plead with them and offer them the terms of life and salvation—to give them all the opportunity God has designed them to have. But what would they do, if they could get the advantage of this people? According to brother Kimball’s comparison, they would hug us close and tight—they would oppress, corrupt, afflict, and destroy us. If they could but realize the generosity there is in the Gospel of salvation, they would not hate us as they do now. But in their ignorance they would destroy a Saint, because they imagine that a Saint would do the same to them. A Saint would take no unjust advantage, but the Devil will. That is what he tried to do in heaven.

Brother Kimball asked whether there were liars and thieves in heaven. It is recorded that the Devil is somewhere there, accusing the brethren and finding fault with them. Men in the flesh are clothed with the Priesthood with its blessings, the apostatizing from which and turning away from the Lord prepares them to become sons of perdition. There was a Devil in heaven, and he strove to possess the birthright of the Savior. He was a liar from the beginning, and loves those who love and make lies, as do his imps and followers here on the earth. How many devils there are in heaven, or where it is, is not for me to say. Does the Accuser of the brethren dwell with the Father and the Son? No: but he is somewhere; and when we go through the veil we shall know much more about these matters than we now do, for we shall possess all the sensibilities we now possess, brightened and increased in intensity by the visions and power of the spirit world, to an extent of which you now have no idea.

I will now say a few words upon matters that immediately concern us. I believe it to be the duty of all sisters who profess to be Saints to make apparel, and, if they want ornaments, make them. It is the duty of the brethren to know how to build a house, how to make a garden, and how to do everything that can be accomplished by the ingenuity given to man. Why? That we may know how to build and beautify Zion. Let us improve and gather all the knowledge and faith we possibly can, both from heaven and earth, being diligent and fervent in all our duties, private and public, and striving to gather the wisdom of God, as bestowed on the nations, home to Zion.

I feel much encouraged with regard to our academy: it is well attended, and the scholars are interested and energetic in their studies. Schools are becoming numerous and well attended, and the spirit of improvement is among the people.

Let all, in the coming harvest, which promises abundance, strive to secure their breadstuff; and especially do not part with it to feed your enemies.

Much depends upon mothers in regard to improving the rising generation. Let us all try to improve from the many and rich blessings we enjoy. The Priesthood is here. God is beginning to reign on the earth. Open your hearts and let him reign therein predominant. God bless you, every one! Amen.

Remarks by Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, June 3, 1860.

Brethren and sisters, I will try to speak a few words to you. I have spent the last three or four months in my room sick, and I will assure you that I feel grateful for this opportunity of addressing you. I have desired thousands of times that I might have the privilege of again meeting here with you to express my feelings and tell of my reflections. Brother George Halliday has been preaching to you this morning and expressing his feelings: it is all good. Although I have been sick and prostrate, more so than I ever was in my life, which originated with a hurt that I received in my side about a year ago, still I have been happy.

I have been very sick indeed, but I have never had the first feeling, from the day I was taken sick till now, that I should die. I never thought of such a thing; but I have been thinking of living, and as brother George has said, of living to God, of living the religion of Jesus Christ—the religion that you and I believe in, and which I have believed and verily known to be true for twenty-eight years—almost half of my life—that is half of the days that I have lived here in the flesh. I knew it then, for it was revealed to me from heaven by the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. By revelation it was made known to me that God had set up his kingdom in these last days, according to his word, and in fulfillment of his promises, even that kingdom which is to stand forever; and I also know that all people who dwell upon this earth will have to bow to it—yes, both the living and the dead. God has set to his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which are of the house of Israel, and to gather his elect from the four quarters of the earth. That kingdom is established with its authorities and powers agreeably to the will of God, and they are in the mountains, and all the combined powers of earth and hell can never get them out. They will never leave this land until the Lord God Almighty commands them to go, and then they will go where He directs them. You may set your hearts at rest upon this subject, for I have told you the truth about it, brethren and sisters; and you need not falter by the way, nor find fault about anything that transpires; for this kingdom will stand, whether you do or not. I want you to understand that this is my testimony: it is what I know. I am not telling what I believe, but I am telling you what I know.

I wish you to understand also that the United States will not overcome this kingdom, neither will Great Britain, nor all the powers of Europe combined, for it is that kingdom which is to stand forever. The seed has taken root, and all the powers of the earth cannot root it out. It is not merely established in America, but it has a place in Europe, and its principles will be sent to every kindred, tongue, and people, and to every island of the sea, and there are many thousands of them; and this Gospel will penetrate those islands.

Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the living God, for the Lord Almighty revealed it to me more than twenty-eight years ago; and I have never had a doubt upon my mind of the truth of my religion from that day to this. That man was sent to set up this kingdom, to organize it, and to give you a law, not for his benefit only, but for yours; and God spake through him. He has been killed, it is true—I mean his natural tabernacle: his house has been destroyed, but he liveth in the heavens. He dictates this Church and kingdom, and will continue to do so forever. Brigham Young is his legal administrator and successor, and Joseph speaks through him, and the angels that dwell in the heavens are assisting him; and I will say that if there are any of our enemies here, they need not try to overcome this work, for they cannot do it: they might as well try to overthrow the heavens or the throne of God—things which you know they could never accomplish. And I want to say that if there are any here who have come for this purpose, they had better go home again, and the quicker the better. If you do not do this, but continue to pursue an opposite course, the worse it will be for you, and the better for us.

Now, mark it, gentlemen, I am not dead yet; I live, and shall live to see our enemies, God’s enemies, and the enemies of Joseph, Brigham, and Heber overthrown by the power of God. Supposing I do not continue to live in this house, why I will get into another, and I will have a sharper sickle than I have now.

Brethren, this is the work of the Almighty God. Do the world believe it? No. Well, it is true, gentlemen; and the truth will prevail. I am bearing my testimony this morning, and it is for you to do the same thing when you have the opportunity. Those who have not laid a foundation for repentance had better not begin from dead works, but begin again, renew your repentance, and be baptized in water for the remission of sins, and do not forget to forsake them. Then you must receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost; and these ordinances must be administered by a man having authority. This is what all have to do, whether they be in America, Europe, Africa, or Asia, inasmuch as they love the truth and desire salvation in the celestial kingdom of our God, and all nations must bow to the scepter of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Brethren, do you suppose that a little sickness is going to affect my spirit? No, not, at all. I have never seen the day but my spirit has been as bright and as full of light as the sun in his meridian splendor; still, if it had been better for my spirit to have leaped out of my body and gone into another state of existence, I could have done it. You have prayed for me and interceded with the Father for me, and I thank you for it—for your mediation and intercession that I might live and continue with you and with President Brigham Young, and be a coworker with him in the cause of human redemption.

This work is true, and brother Brigham is our President—the legal successor of Joseph Smith, and God speaks through him as he spoke through brother Joseph. The world may wiggle and twist as much as they please. Suppose they should prevail as they did with Joseph Smith, would this work stop? No: if they were to kill a man every day, it would not affect it a particle. There will always be a head, and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the kingdom of God. The organization and authorities are complete, and the work will roll forth, and the more the world oppose it the more brilliant it will grow; and it will purge out those that have an apostate spirit, and those who remain will rejoice. A few of our people have gone to Carson Valley, but it will hurt them more than anyone else. It will weaken them in a similar manner to what I was weakened by my late sickness; and the more disease and death there is purged from the body of Christ, so much more brilliant and powerful it will become.

We are all in the hands of God, and he will lead us by his Spirit in the way of life, and he will lead our enemies in that way that will subserve the interests of the kingdom of God; and all those who have had their minds open for the last two years can see that the Almighty has done this. A little while ago we picked up our goods and moved away, and what did we do it for? We moved away to stay, and you know a man must be willing to die in order to live. Now, my sickness has been unto life, and I shall feel better when I get my strength than I have done for twenty years. Some of the brethren and sisters came in occasionally to see me, and nearly all of them said they were very sorry to find me so sick. I think brother Taylor said so. I replied that I was not, for I considered it was only resting my body, and it is about the first rest I have had for years.

Now, brethren, do not be alarmed, but let everything pass away that is corrupt: for the Almighty says that everything that can be shaken will be, and that which cannot be shaken will remain. The work of our God will move on, let the world do as they please, and they won’t be able to riddle out anything except that which ought to be riddled out. “Well, but,” says one, “Joseph’s successor has arisen.” I would not care if all the heirs to the Priesthood that are in the world were to arise, I know that President Brigham Young will lead this people till the time comes for a change. If the Lord wants another man to take the oversight of this people, he will know it, and in due time make it manifest. But is the Lord going to move upon a man to go and establish his kingdom among apostates? Why a man must be a fool to believe it. President Brigham Young is the man to lead this people, ladies and gentlemen; and he will lead them aright, and God will speak through him, and it will be like the trump of Jehovah. God will lead him, and it is for us to follow him and live our religion—to be one with him, as the members of a man’s body are one. If you live your religion, there are no dishonorable members in that body, for God says through Paul—“And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.” God will turn all things to the glory of his people and for the good of them that do right.

I traveled and associated with Joseph Smith, the Prophet, almost from the beginning. This work first began in the State of New York, and shortly afterwards the few Saints who had received the Gospel moved to Kirtland, Ohio, at which place I first visited the Prophet Joseph. I went with the first mission to England, and when I returned and settled with the Saints in Missouri, I had not much rest, for I had not been there long before our enemies requested us to leave. I went there as a gentleman, and I came away as one, and I have so remained. I went with the Saints to Nauvoo, and from thence I went to England again, and from England back to Nauvoo. Then I had not been there long before they requested us to leave the State of Illinois. Well, we came along to Winter Quarters; and we found very good quarters: and from there we came to this Territory, and his Satanic Majesty has requested us to leave here: but we shan’t do it, and you may tell the whole world so, if you please, gentlemen. The old gentleman has requested us too many times to leave our homes. Heretofore we obeyed, because we were obliged to; but that day has gone by.

There was an army sent here, also certain gentlemen as judges and other civil officers, and many of them really thought that they were going to kill us all off, and they were very hot and rabid about it. But the Lord said, through his servant, “Keep them out in the snow, and they will cool off;” and they remained there until we said they might come in. They went to Cedar Valley and remained there, and they have been very civil. I never saw an army more civil than they have been, with the exception of a few of their officers. The civil officers were sent here to be our servants; but did they serve us? Yes, some of them served us like the Devil would. Excuse me for the expression.

I will now say that all those that rejoiced in the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith partook of the spirit of their murderers. And further, the people between here and Nauvoo, who have mocked at us, will be brought into subjection, and be made to bow the knee to God and to this kingdom, and repent of their sins in the flesh, or they will meet them in another place. When I lay down this body I shall take a new one, and I shall be where they won’t like to see me. You need not try to step in between me and my President, for you cannot do it without hurting yourselves. My name is Faithful! My name is Integrity! And that too in my God and in his work; and I know that his work will roll on until his will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

May God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, a.m., June 3, 1860.

I am thankful for the privilege of standing before you, and feel desirous to enjoy the Spirit of intelligence, that when I speak to the Saints I may be a comfort to them, and strengthen them, and so dictate and guide their minds that they may receive strength and consolation in the faith of the Gospel, and in the hope of eternal life.

One reason why I have not of late addressed you oftener is because I wish other brethren to have an equal opportunity to speak to the people. I often regret when we call upon the Elders to speak in this Tabernacle, to hear them say that they have been in the Church ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, or more years, and have not before had the privilege of speaking to the Saints in their large assemblies, apparently casting a reflection upon me or upon my brethren because we have not invited them to preach. We would be glad to have all such persons preach. Let us know who you are, for it creates a feeling of regret for any of the brethren to intimate that they have been neglected.

Some who have lost the confidence and influence of the Saints, may expect that confidence and influence to be restored to them by me and my brethren. I have always told the brethren, in our private conversations, that that is impossible: it is a work we cannot accomplish. I might call upon a person who had stolen your cattle or your horses, and taken them to the camp and sold them, or who had stolen your fencing or other property, to address you from this stand; but would that restore confidence? No. We might call a man into this stand who has been in the habit of getting drunk and appearing intoxicated in the streets; but would that cause the people to have confidence in him? No. If I and my Counselors should strive with our might to support and recommend him, that would not give him the influence he wishes, but would disgrace the man of God who undertook it.

If the Elders wish to exhibit their talents before the Saints and the world, let them make themselves acquainted with all the principles they desire to represent in speaking and administering to the Saints. And if those who have lost their influence, through disreputable proceedings, wish to regain it, instead of expecting to regain it at once by being called into this stand, go to the private prayer meeting and there humbly pray God to bless you and your brethren. When you imagine that you are neglected and do not have the privilege of exhibiting your talent—I speak of these who have been in the habit of doing wrong, and thereby have lost confidence—pursue a course that will convince your brethren that you have reformed. Go to your neighbors’ houses and tell them you have appointed a meeting in your house. Call the brethren together, and pray with them and for them; and let them see, by the power of the spirit of the holy Gospel, that you have repented of all your evils—that you will refrain from sinning—that you will not again be caught, as heretofore, transgressing the law of God, the grace of God assisting you.

If you can make as good a beginning as did an old lady, you will do well. She went to a schoolhouse, and, on her return, called at a neighbor’s, who inquired where she had been. She replied, “I have been to meeting.” “Has there been a meeting?” “Oh, yes, and a glorious one, too.” “Dear me, we did not hear of it. Were there many there?” “No, there were not many.” “Who was there?” “Why, the Lord was there, and I was there, and had a blessed good meeting.” If you cannot get any person to meet with you, be sure and have the Lord meet with you, and you will soon gain confidence in yourselves and have influence with your brethren.

No man can gain influence in this kingdom, and maintain himself in it, or magnify his calling, without the power of God being with him. Persons must so live that they can enjoy the light of the Holy Spirit, or they will have no confidence in themselves, in their religion, or in their God, and will sooner or later turn from the faith. They are in sorrow, and leave in search of something that will satisfy their minds. Hundreds have been to Camp Floyd, to the States, and to their native foreign lands, to find that comfort and consolation they have lost. They need not go out of their own houses to accomplish this, for the Lord is near them—the Gospel is at their doors—life and salvation are with them, if they will only repent of their sins, return to the Lord with all their hearts, and humble themselves until they get the Spirit: they will then learn that they have the treasure hunted for in California, in Carson Valley, and the world over—the riches of eternal life.

You who feel that you are in the least slighted, begin to have your meetings; and if there is no person to pray with you in your own houses, pray by yourselves until the Lord meets with you and you enjoy the light of the Holy Spirit. Then, if you wish to, call in your neighbors and pray with them and for them. There is no law against doing good. You have all the privilege you can ask for, to perform all the good you have any talent to perform. When a man complains that his talent is not appreciated by his brethren, he is lacking one important piece of information more important to him than to any other—a knowledge of himself. This would do him more good than all his great talents without it. When he knows his own ability—can understand himself, he can properly employ every talent he has. Without that, he cannot do so.

Those who seek for wisdom, for knowledge, and eternal life, understand the exhortation just delivered by brother George Halliday. So far as I heard, it was very sweet—very good. Without the light of the Spirit of Christ, no person can truly enjoy life. I thought brother Halliday very correctly portrayed the feelings of some, when alluding to certain wives becoming as skillful and noted, and a little more so in their own estimation, than were their husbands. I am not in the least fearful that anyone will gain too much knowledge of God, and through that knowledge undertake to dictate me. If you know the Spirit of God, have the power of revelation, and know the mind of the Lord from day to day, I am not afraid of your disagreeing with me. Do not have any fears of knowing too much, lest you should feel to rise up and dictate me, as wives, in many cases, do their husbands.

You may examine from the beginning to this day, and continue to watch in the future, and where you find a man who wishes to steady the ark of God, without being called to do so, you will find a dark spot in him. The man full of light and intelligence discerns that God steadies his own ark, dictates his own affairs, guides his people, controls his kingdom, governs nations, and holds the hearts of all living in his hands, and turns them hither and thither at his pleasure, not infringing upon their agency. There is not the least danger of disagreeing with persons enjoying the Holy Spirit.

With regard to those who leave us, brother Kimball’s comparing it to removing disease from the body is true. Every individual, every family, and every portion of the community that desire to leave this kingdom, the quicker they go the better for us. The sooner such branches are severed, the healthier will be the tree; its roots and stock will become more powerful, and it will spread its branches to the nethermost parts of the earth. Dead branches tend to make the tree sickly, if they are permitted to remain. Let them be cut off, that the healthy branches may drink more strength and vigor from the roots of the tree, and the foliage of the whole tree be beautiful.

Do not have the least fears in regard to this Church and kingdom. Some Elders, and perhaps some presiding Elders, entertain a fearful looking for the time when they shall be driven again. Brother Kimball has told you that we shall not be. We shall not, unless we are disposed to. The Lord has led this people from the beginning. From the day that Joseph obtained the plates, and previous to that time, the Lord dictated him. He directed him day by day and hour by hour. He led this people in different parts of the United States, and the finger of scorn has been pointed at them. Officers of the Government of the United States have lifted their heel against them, and this people have been driven from town to town, from county to county, and from State to State. The Lord has his design in this. You may ask what his design is. You all know that the Saints must be made pure, to enter into the celestial kingdom. It is recorded that Jesus was made perfect through suffering. If he was made perfect through suffering, why should we imagine for one moment that we can be prepared to enter into the kingdom of rest with him and the Father, without passing through similar ordeals?

The iniquity of the evildoer must be made manifest, and those who hate the kingdom of God on the earth must have the privilege of filling up the cup of their iniquity. The Lord has led the people through scenes of sorrow and affliction; but what have we passed through here during the two last years? Nothing, comparatively speaking. I can say that I do not consider that I have ever suffered anything for this kingdom—nothing in the least. I have never sacrificed anything, without it be the evil propensities that are sown in our nature, springing from the seed that was sown at the fall. May that be termed a sacrifice? I will not call it so. What do we possess on this earth? Do we even own our bodies? Had we the power to produce them? Is the intelligence in these bodies our own? Did we organize and implant it? No human being has had power to organize his own existence. Then there is a greater than we. Are we our own in our bodies? Are we our own in our spirits? We are not our own. We belong to our progenitors—to our Father and our God.

We say that we have lost an ox, a cow, or a horse; or, “I left my farm, my house, and have sacrificed a great deal for this work.” This is a mistake. You had nothing to lose. Not one particle of all that comprises this vast creation of God is our own. Everything we have has been bestowed upon us for our action, to see what we would do with it—whether we would use it for eternal life and exaltation or for eternal death and degradation, until we cease operating in this existence. We have nothing to sacrifice: then let us not talk about sacrificing.

The Lord has led the people carefully along, and dictated according to his pleasure. Brother Heber says we have been going from place to place, until, finally, we have come into these valleys in the mountains. Why? Because we were obliged to. The Lord has had his eye on this spot from the beginning—upon this part of the land of Joseph. Read the history contained in the Book of Mormon, and ask yourselves whether God has ever suffered a king to reign on this land. Will he ever? No. This is the land that was given to Joseph—the son so well beloved by his father Jacob; and no king will ever reign upon it but the King, the Lord. Could that book have been brought forth and published to the world under any other government but the Government of the United States? No. He has governed and controlled the settling of this continent. He led our fathers from Europe to this land, and prepared the way to break the yoke that bound them, and inspired the guaranteed freedom in our Government, though that guarantee is too often disregarded. He could bring forth his work, and has prepared a people to receive and commence his kingdom. Could this be done anywhere else? No. He has known, from the beginning of creation, that this is the land whereon to build this Zion. He knows how to commence his work and how to finish it, and he will finish it where he commenced it.

How our faith would stretch out and grasp the heavenly land where our father Adam dwelt in his paradisiacal state! That land is on this continent. Here is where Adam lived. Do you not think the Lord has had his eye upon it? Yes. He is the King of all the earth, and has reigned supreme according to his own goodwill and pleasure, and makes the wrath of man praise him. He has had his eye upon his work, and has led this people from place to place, until he has led them into the chambers of the mountains—into the holy hill of God; and they will reign upon Mount Zion.

Many have looked upon our trip south as a great stumblingblock, because we left our houses and possessions. I am willing to see my houses in ashes, and be stripped of every description of property, if it is necessary to the advancement of the kingdom of God. That move was made for an express purpose: it had and will have the desired effect, and will accomplish all the Lord designed. We have prayed that the wicked may be confused, broken, and scattered. Are they not broken and scattered? And are we not here? We are, and we will stay until we go away. And should the Lord require it, we will make this region as clean and desolate as it was when we found it. Do not murmur or complain about this, that, or the other.

I now wish to ask the strong-minded men—the talented men (we say nothing about strong-minded women), How many of you have had wisdom enough to procure and lay up for yourselves produce enough to last until harvest? You may call this a small matter. How many of you have wheat or flour to last you a year? If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast, and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives? You wish to come here and preach to the people, when you have not knowledge to sustain yourselves temporally, to say nothing of a spiritual salvation. You cannot save yourselves, a wife, and a child from starvation, unless someone takes you by the hand and leads you; and yet you want to make us believe that you are almighty big men. I exhort the brethren to seek unto the Lord for wisdom. If you cannot provide for your natural lives, how can you expect to have wisdom to obtain eternal lives? God has given you your existence—your body and spirit, and has blest you with ability, and thereby laid the foundation of all knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and all glory and eternal lives. If you have not attained ability to provide for your natural wants, and for a wife and a few children, what have you to do with heavenly things?

You know how to raise wheat and corn, how to build a house or a barn, how to raise a horse, a cow, or a sheep, and how to manufacture wool, because you have had practice in those labors from your youth up; but you do not all know how to preserve such things to yourselves and make yourselves comfortable. Instead of trying to find out how God is made, or how angels are made, I wish you would try to learn how to sustain yourselves in your present existence, and at the same time learn the things of God—the things that await you, that you may begin to prepare to dwell to all eternity—not merely to dwell today, tomorrow, this week, next week, and next year, but how to secure salvation in your present organization. If you cannot do this, you must be perfectly submissive in the hands of the Lord, and learn wisdom. This is the first thing for you to learn.

We are to build up and establish Zion, gather the house of Israel, and redeem the nations of the earth. This people have this work to do, whether we live to see it or not. This is all in our hands. I hope to live to see Zion redeemed and built up. I desire to see the time when Jerusalem shall be established, and the Jews gathered—when the law shall go forth from Zion to govern the people, that all may rejoice in the truth—that the poor may rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. If we do not know how to preserve ourselves in our present organization and existence, how can we prepare for an eternity? We must learn this first: it is an everyday experience. Ye men of Israel, go to with all your might, and seek to know how to sustain yourselves, that you may live long on the earth, to glorify our Father in heaven, and build up his kingdom on the earth.

We are legal heirs to all the kingdoms there are in the heavens for the faithful, if we but prove ourselves faithful. We are all the elect, if we will only keep the commandments of God and work righteousness. If we turn away from the holy commandments of the Lord, we shall be accounted as reprobates. What of Joseph Smith’s family? What of his boys? I have prayed from the beginning for sister Emma and for the whole family. There is not a man in this Church that has entertained better feelings towards them. Joseph said to me, “God will take care of my children when I am taken.” They are in the hands of God, and when they make their appearance before this people, full of his power, there are none but what will say—“Amen! We are ready to receive you.”

The brethren testify that brother Brigham is brother Joseph’s legal successor. You never heard me say so. I say that I am a good hand to keep the dogs and wolves out of the flock. I do not care a groat who rises up. I do not think anything about being Joseph’s successor. That is nothing that concerns me. I never asked yet, or had a feeling as to what kind of a great man, O Lord, are you going to make me? But, Father, what do you require of me, and what can I do to promote your kingdom on the earth, and save myself and brethren? I do not trouble myself as to whose successor I am. I do not know but that I am one of those great men that brother Parley preached about in Nauvoo, after Sidney Rigdon preached his great sermon in which he strove to make it appear that he was one of those great men of whom the Prophet wrote. Parley rose up and said, “I am one of those great men the Apostles never wrote about.” I may be one of those men the Prophets never knew or wrote about—one that is hardly worthy the notice of the Lord. He has placed intelligence within us, and it is for us to know what we can do to promote righteousness and peace on the earth, and establish his kingdom. If I can have the privilege to gain faith and grace, and secure to myself an eternal existence in the kingdom of God, I am not concerned but that I shall be as great as I ought to be, and have all I ought to have.

All is right. God can carry on his own work. This kingdom will stand forever. You have heard brother Kimball testify that this kingdom will stand forever. It will begin to roll on to and mash the toes of the great image, and then the feet, the legs, and the body; and by-and-by it will fill the whole earth, and no power of earth or hell can hinder it. The Lord Almighty will reign until he puts all enemies under his feet. That is the promise—that is the decree of the Father, that Jesus shall begin to reign on this earth in the latter days; and his kingdom will increase upon the right and upon the left, until, by-and-by, it becomes a great kingdom and fills the whole earth, when he will begin to reign King of nations, as he now reigns King of Saints. It is and has been a warfare with Satan, and the war will continue until Jesus puts all enemies under his feet, disposing of death and him who has the power of it, who is the Devil. I hope and pray to be always ready to do anything the Lord wishes to be done. We are the men who will strive to live by every word that proceeds from his mouth.

I feel perfectly satisfied. I am rejoiced. My soul magnifies the name of God that there is a people on the earth as good as we are, and yet there is room for us to be better. This people are improving; they are grow– ing in grace. If it had not been for the mighty power of faith here, and the many righteous ones, you would not have had the privilege of living here. The faith of the Saints bound the enemy and sustained our feet on this ground; and my prayer is for the Lord to make fast our feet in the mountains, until we go forth to redeem the Center Stake of Zion. What do you say? [“Amen! Amen!”]

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, May 20, 1860.

I am happy for the privilege of meeting with the Saints. I delight in seeing their faces, and am very fond of their society.

I have much experience in the various habits, feelings, customs, manners, and conditions of mankind; and I have felt, for many years, as though I would be perfectly satisfied to associate with those who live in peace—with those who believe in God the Father and in his Son Jesus—to live with those who believe in the Holy Ghost which the Lord has bestowed upon the children of men—with those who adhere to all the principles in the Gospel, and live according to it day by day. Such society would be perfectly satisfactory to me. It would satisfy every feeling, every desire—in fact, my whole soul, without ever associating with another wicked person on the earth.

I have not the least desire, nor have I had for years, to mingle with a person who takes the name of God in vain, who in the least betrays his covenants, who wavers or falters in his integrity with his God or with his fellow man; but I am most perfectly satisfied to associate with those whose hearts are filled with peace, with praise and adoration to our God, and whose lives are full of good works. Their voices to me are like sweet music. I have not the least desire to mingle with or look upon the faces of those who hate God and his cause.

I rejoice in the privilege of meeting with the Saints, in hearing them speak, and in enjoying the influence that is within and around them. That influence opens to my understanding the true position of those who are endeavoring to serve their God. I do not require to hear them speak to enable me to know their feelings. Is it not also your experience that, when you meet persons in the streets, in your houses, in your offices, or in your workshops, more or less of an influence attends them which conveys more than words can? By this the Father knows his children, Jesus knows his brethren, and the angels are acquainted with those who delight to associate with them and with those who hate them. This knowledge is obtained through that invisible influence which attends intelligent beings, and betrays the atmosphere in which they delight to live. Can you comprehend that I understand their condition when I meet with Saints? I am satisfied all is right: my soul is comforted.

You do not see me here every Sabbath. Perhaps some of you wonder why. I will tell you in a very few words. If I had my own choice, and could have my own dictation with regard to physical and mental labor, I would set apart, for the express benefit of man, at least one-seventh part of the time for rest. There are but very few Sabbaths that I have ever kept in strictly resting from my labors—permitting both body and mind to rest. Perhaps assembling here on the Sabbath is a rest to many, though it is not very much of a rest. To those who have been laboring all the week to the utmost extent of their strength, it may be somewhat of a rest to sit on these hard benches; but when I come here I have a constant labor on my mind. This congregation, the Saints throughout the world, and the world of mankind in general are before me. I think for them all. I would like to take one-seventh part of the time to rest; but I do not often have this privilege. If I had my own mind, I would devote the time for meetings like this within the measure of the six days, and on the seventh, rest from all my labors, for the express purpose of renewing the mental and physical powers of man. They require it, as the Lord well knew; hence he established a day of rest. The natural tendency of the physical powers of man is to decay; and to preserve them as long as possible, they need this retirement from labor—this rest—this ease. I very seldom enjoy this privilege.

Our customs are more or less like the customs of our fathers, and their influence is often stronger upon us than any law. There is not a law of God, nor a law of any nation that exercises so strong an influence upon us as do our traditions at times, to bind us to certain customs, habits, and ceremonies: consequently, to carry out the old traditions, we observe this day of rest as we now do. Father went to meeting on the seventh day, and the priests and all good people go to meeting on that day. It has been the custom from time immemorial. Some men and women walk miles to attend meetings; some men walk as many as ten miles, hold two or three meetings, walk back, and are in their workshops by five o’clock on Monday morning. Custom binds us to this, and here we are today in compliance with its force.

Brother Hyde spoke of a revelation which he tried to find in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. That revelation was reserved at the time the compilation for that book was made by Oliver Cowdery and others, in Kirtland. It was not wisdom to publish it to the world, and it remained in the private escritoire. Brother Joseph had that revelation concerning this nation at a time when the brethren were reflecting and reasoning with regard to African slavery on this continent, and the slavery of the children of men throughout the world. There are other revelations, besides this one, not yet published to the world. In the due time of the Lord, the Saints and the world will be privileged with the revelations that are due to them. They now have many more than they are worthy of, for they do not observe them. The Gentile nations have had more of the revelations of God than is their just due. And I will say, as I have before said, if guilt before my God and my brethren rests upon me in the least, it is in this one thing—that I have revealed too much concerning God and his kingdom, and the designs of our Father in heaven. If my skirts are stained in the least with wrong, it is because I have been too free in telling what God is, how he lives, the nature of his providences and designs in creating the world, in bringing forth the human family on the earth, his designs concerning them, &c. If I had, like Paul, said—“But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant,” perhaps it would have been better for the people.

You may ask whether this is rea– sonable. I can prove it to be so in a few sentences. There are men upon whom God has bestowed gifts and graces, and women who are endowed with strong mental ability, and yet they cannot receive the truth; and then the truth condemns them: it leaves them in darkness. When they cannot receive every truth, let it be ever so important or unimportant to them, their neglect to grasp in their faith the truth God reveals for their benefit weakens them, comparatively, from the crowns of their heads to the soles of their feet, and the enemy may have the advantage over them in an hour when they think not. To please our Father in heaven, and do his will in all things, to walk up faithfully in the discharge of every duty preparatory to being crowned in his kingdom, when a truth is presented to an intelligent person he ought to grasp it and receive it in his faith. There are revelations, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding yet to be proclaimed, and whether they will please the world, or not, is immaterial to me. I shall not pledge myself upon a single point.

I wish to impress upon the minds of the Saints the importance of so living that they will always know the voice of the Good Shepherd. When they hear the voice of the Spirit of inspiration—the power of God, through any person, let the feelings and sensibilities of everyone who professes to know anything of the things of God, be in a state to know and discern between that which is of God and that which is not. I have exhorted the brethren, all the day long, in this way. My whole study is employed and my whole soul is drawn out to induce this people to live their religion. How often has it been taught that if you depend entirely upon the voice, judgment, and sagacity of those appointed to lead you, and neglect to enjoy the Spirit for yourselves, how easily you may be led into error, and finally be cast off to the left hand? Is it desirable to lead you astray? No; it would not be a momentary satisfaction to a Saint of God—to a servant of God—to one who sees things as they are, to be the means of betraying and deceiving the whole human family and leading them astray where he pleased. For any man who understands the things of God to have power to lead the human family astray at his will and pleasure is calculated to destroy: it is ruin, it is waste, and will finally lead to disorganization. But a true servant of God takes more pleasure in saving the meanest capacity organized in human form upon the face of the earth than a wicked person can in leading hosts astray. Let a Prophet of God, an Apostle, or any servant of the Lord Jesus have the privilege of bringing the very smallest degree of organized intelligence up higher and higher until it is capable of receiving the intelligence of angels, and it will give more consolation and happiness than to lead all the posterity of Adam into a wrong path.

Brethren and sisters, I have a few words to say to you with regard to our present position as connected with future events, future prospects, future kingdoms, glories, and existence, and the rise, spread, glory, and power of the kingdom of God upon the face of the earth. You know that I am a today person in my preaching and exhortations. They are for the time we now live in—not particularly for the millennium, for the resurrection, for the eternities yet to come; for if we can live this day as we ought to live, we shall be prepared for tomorrow, and so on for the next day; and when the eternities come, we shall be prepared to enjoy them. You are constantly taught to live your religion for today. Can you not live it for one hour? Begin at a small point: can you not live to the Lord for one minute? Yes. Then can we not multiply that by sixty and make an hour, and live that hour to the Lord? Yes; and then for a day, a week, a month, and a year? Then, when the year is past, it has been spent most satisfactorily.

We may so live our religion every moment, and so watch our own conduct as to not suffer ourselves in the least to do anything that would infringe upon a good conscience that is formed and regulated by the Priesthood of God, and in all our acts to not permit ourselves to do one act that next year or a few years hence will wound the heart and bring shame and confusion over the countenance; but let every day be filled with acts that will be in our reflections a source of joy and consolation. This we can do. You are taught, both by ancient and modern prophecies, that the Lord is going to bring again Zion—is going to build up his kingdom on the earth, and reign King of nations as he does King of Saints. With all this so plainly portrayed in both ancient and modern revelations, we learn, when we look over the history of the children of men, how they have apostatized, have deserted their colors (the flag God gave them for their standard), and have hewn to themselves cisterns that can hold no water. They have wandered after strange gods, and the world has faltered and failed from generation to generation, not only in their mental faculties and pertaining to the things of God, but also in their physical existence.

How far back shall we have to search before we find a people that attained to the longevity for which the body of man is framed? If we could meet here Sabbath after Sabbath for a hundred years to come, would it not be a glorious privilege? What parent would not rejoice in seeing his children and his children’s children grow up to manhood, while he still lived on the earth to direct their minds and mark out the path for them to walk in, and lead out before them in righteousness and holiness, inspiring them to continually pursue the way of obedience to the will of their God? Would not this be more pleasing than laying down the body in an early grave? Would it not be consoling to a good man to live long on the earth in the full enjoyment of all his mental and physical faculties, filled with experience and judgment to direct the steps of youth, and to see his children, his grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and still continue from year to year and from generation to generation, until he is six, seven, eight, or nine hundred years old? “But no,” says a father or mother; “I probably shall not live until I see my children grown up. I will direct them as well as I can while I do live.” It is seldom that men in our day can count more than three generations of their children; but suppose we could count forty or fifty generations of our offspring, and be all the time guiding them in the path which leads back to our heavenly Father—to our heavenly home, guiding our rising generations by our examples, good judgment, and the superior counsel and experience we have gained in the things of God—of heaven and earth; would not this be consoling to every good person?

You read in the Bible, “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.”

The human family has again to return to this state—not you and I as individuals. Mankind have degenerated; they have lost the physical and mental power they once possessed. In many points pertaining to mechanism, men have in modern times been instructed by revelation to them, and this mechanical knowledge causes them to almost boast against their Creator, and to set themselves up as competitors with the Lord Almighty, notwithstanding they have produced nothing but what has been revealed to them. In the knowledge of astronomical and other philosophical truths, which our modern great men are searching after and pride themselves in, they are but babes, compared with the ancient fathers. Do the wise men of modern ages understand the laws which govern the worlds that are, that were, and that are to come? They cannot fathom this matter. They have grown weaker when they ought to have grown stronger and wiser. We look forward to a day when we must begin to approximate towards the life that is eternal—the life that will endure. You may ask, “Do we wish to live in the flesh always?” No; only so long as we can endure the sufferings, hardships, toils, labors, pains, and afflictions that are in this world, and make every day benefit ourselves and our posterity, and our acts redound to our own exaltation and to the increase of the kingdom of our Father who placed us here.

Some of our old traditions teach us that a man guilty of atrocious and murderous acts may savingly repent when on the scaffold; and upon his execu– tion you will hear the expression—“Bless God! He has gone to heaven, to be crowned, in glory, through the all-redeeming merits of Christ the Lord.” This is all nonsense. Such a character never will see heaven. Some will pray, “O that I had passed through the veil on the night of my conversion!” This proves the false ideas and vain notions entertained by the Christian world. They have no good sense pertaining to God and godliness.

This is a world in which we are to prove ourselves. The lifetime of man is a day of trial, wherein we may prove to God, in our darkness, in our weakness, and where the enemy reigns, that we are our Father’s friends, and that we receive light from him and are worthy to be leaders of our children—to become lords of lords, and kings of kings—to have perfect dominion over that portion of our families that will be crowned in the celestial kingdom with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. If we are crowned to become lords of lords and kings of kings, it will be to rule and reign over our own posterity pertaining to this flesh—these tabernacles—this commencement in our finite state of being. When I reign king of kings and lord of lords over my children, it will be when my first, second, third, fourth, and so on, son rises up and counts thousands and millions of his posterity, and is king over them; then I am a king of these kings. Our Father, who is Lord of all, will reign a King of kings and Lord of lords over all his children.

Mothers really and verily have very great influence, from the commencement, in forming the leading temperaments and feelings of their offspring. I have not time, neither do I here wish to fully explain this subject. When a father is abusive in any way—is a drunkard, a swearer, &c., if the mother is humble and looks to her God, beyond her earthly lord, as it is her right under such circumstances, the influence that would otherwise operate upon her has little or no power to affect her offspring. If she secretly prays and lifts her desires to her Father in heaven, beyond her miserable, drinking, swearing husband, the sacred, peaceful, trusting, happifying influence she enjoys, when thus living near to her God, produces its impression upon the earthly tabernacle—upon the course in life of her prospective offspring.

The father should be full of kindness, and endeavor to happify and cheer the mother, that her heart may be comforted and her affections unimpaired in her earthly protector, that her love for God and righteousness may vibrate throughout her whole being, that she may bear and bring forth offspring impressed and endowed with all the qualities necessary to a being designed to reign king of kings and lord of lords.

But few women have a realizing sense of the immortal, invisible, and powerful influence they exert in their sphere. A mother may inquire, “What is to be done?” Break off, by faith, and in the name of Jesus Christ, from every false principle, from every hurtful practice, and overcome every appetite that tends to injure and destroy the tabernacle you wear. Take a course that will produce life, that children may be born full of life and vigor.

And during the period of nursing, let the mother be faithful and prayerful, that her infant may enjoy a powerful, Godlike, and happy influence. Do mothers so act? Or do they prefer to run here and there, and to desire this and fret for that, to gratify their appetites?

Look to it, mothers, that you desire only that which will most promote the health and life of your offspring; and ask the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, to enable you to resist every depraved appetite; and let fathers be full of the power of God, to lead, guide, direct, and influence mothers, that they may have no desires but those which are prompted by the influence of the Almighty. I make these few remarks upon life, that you may know how we ought to begin to conduct ourselves relative to the rising generation, that the days of the children of men may begin to return to them.

It is the business, duty, and power of the eternal Priesthood to commence laying the foundation to bring back the days, years, and intelligence that have been lost through transgression. I intend to pursue this course as long as I possibly can. I have a desire to live on this earth until I am one hundred and thirty-five years old; and I may conclude to ask the privilege to live until I am one hundred and fifty. I intend to live as long as I can; and, through the grace of God, I trust that I shall not commit an act that will annoy my feelings when I meet my Savior. I pray for this every day and every moment.

At times I may to many of the brethren appear to be severe. I sometimes chasten them; but it is because I wish them to so live that the power of God, like a flame of fire, will dwell within them and be round about them. These are my feelings and desires. I wish to see this people take a course to bring back the days, years, and intelligence that have been lost through transgression. This cannot be performed in a day. Zion will not be redeemed and built up in a day. Israel will not be brought back to the fold of Christ and redeemed in a day.

If you fully knew things as they are, you would understand that the “peculiar institution,” as it is called—that doctrine which is so obnoxious to our beloved Christian brethren—for a man to have more than one wife—is one of the greatest blessings bestowed upon man. If the Elders of Israel, who enjoy this privilege, understood it as it is in the bosom of eternity, they would not trifle with and abuse it, and treat the blessings of the Lord lightly, as is too often the case. How often am I called upon to hear tales of sorrow which are like bitterness to my soul—like drinking a cup of wormwood. I hate this. God hates it. He does not hate to have us multiply, increase, and replenish the earth; but he hates for us to live in sin and wickedness, after all the privileges bestowed upon us—to live in the neglect of the great duties which devolve upon us, notwithstanding the state of weakness and darkness in which the human family lives. Burst that veil of darkness from your eyes, that you may see things as they are.

Many professing to be Saints seem to have no knowledge, no light, to see anything beyond a dollar, or a pleasant time, a comfortable house, a fine farm, &c., &c. O fools, and slow of heart to understand the purposes of God and his handiwork among the people. Let me present a few ideas in regard to the things you enjoy. Suppose we say that the time is coming when you will possess this house, that garden, the other farm, and own such and such possessions, and have no more headache, toothache, inflammation of the eyes, backache, rheumatism, pain, sorrow, and death, would you not consider that you were greatly blessed—that you enjoyed a blessing worthy of the eternal world? Suppose it possible that you have the privilege of securing to yourselves eternal life—to live and enjoy these blessings forever; you will say this is the greatest blessing that can be be– stowed upon you, to live forever and enjoy the society of wives, children, and children’s children, to a thousand generations, and forever; also the society of brethren, sisters, neighbors, and associates, and to possess all you can ask for to make you happy and comfortable. What blessing is equal to this? What blessing is equal to the continuation of life—to the continuation of our organizations?

The Lord has blessed us with the ability to enjoy an eternal life with the Gods, and this is pronounced the greatest gift of God. The gift of eternal life, without a posterity, to become an angel, is one of the greatest gifts that can be bestowed; yet the Lord has bestowed on us the privilege of becoming fathers of lives. What is a father of lives, as mentioned in the Scriptures? A man who has a posterity to an eternal continuance. That is the blessing Abraham received, and it perfectly satisfied his soul. He obtained the promise that he should be the father of lives. In comparison with this, what did Abraham care about machinery, railroads, and other great mechanical productions? We have the privilege of becoming fathers of lives to all eternity, and of existing in the presence of God. Is not this worthy of our living in righteousness and complete obedience to the commandments of God? Then away with all little meannesses, and deal out kindness to all. Chasten, where chastening will answer best; but try persuasion before you try the rod.

If the days of man are to begin to return, we must cease all extravagant living. When men live to the age of a tree, their food will be fruit. Mothers, to produce offspring full of life and days, must cease drinking liquor, tea, and coffee, that their systems may be free from bad effects. If every woman in this Church will now cease drinking tea, coffee, liquor, and all other powerful stimulants, and live upon vegetables, &c., not many generations will pass away before the days of man will again return. But it will take generations to entirely eradicate the influences of deleterious substances. This must be done before we can attain our paradisiacal state, for the Lord will bring again Zion to its paradisiacal state.

May God grant that we may see and enjoy it. Amen.

Delivered by President Brigham Young, in the Historian’s Office, Great Salt Lake City, April 25, 1860.

I believe that you already understand all that is necessary for your safe guidance through the perils and temptations that await the Elders and Saints of the last days. None of you can be said to have heard the Gospel last Sabbath, been baptized on Monday last, ordained on Tuesday, and on Wednesday sent forth to preach, as were many of the first Elders. On the contrary, I think you have been pretty well schooled.

But the inquiry arises in my mind, Do the Elders realize the importance of their missions? Do they realize that in their administration they carry with them the keys of life and death, not pertaining to this life alone, but to this in connection with all the life there is? It is necessary that you should fully realize this in your calling as Elders in the Church of Jesus Christ. The thousands and tens of thousands of incidents that make up the sum of human lives, whether for good or evil, depend on a momentary watchfulness and care.

If an Elder, in preaching the Gospel, does not feel that he has the power to preach life and salvation, and to legally administer the ordinances, and that, too, by the power of God, he will not fill his mission to his own credit, nor to the good of the people, and the advancement and honor of the kingdom of God. From all I can read, from all I can gather from the revelations from God to man, and from the revelations of the Spirit to me, no man can successfully preach the Gospel and be owned, blessed, and acknowledged by the heavens, unless he preaches by the power of God through direct revelation. Not but that, in a great many instances, a man may not be manifestly under the immediate and powerful influences and direction of revelation to dictate him all the time in his meditations and reasonings, and yet can advance many good ideas that he has gathered by means of his natural reasoning. But to magnify and make honorable the calling of an Elder in this Church, I cannot conceive, in my understanding, any other true principle by which it can be done, only when perfectly controlled by the Spirit of the Lord.

When men enjoy the spirit of their missions and realize their calling and standing before the Lord and the people, it constitutes the happiest portions of their lives. If our minds can reach forth to eternal things, can conceive the glory, honor, and benefit arising from the plan of salvation Jesus has purchased, and can grasp the gifts, blessings, powers, privileges, light, intelligence, and fulness of the eternities that are to come, these God has bestowed upon us to offer to the people. If they will receive it, they can have all the Lord has purchased for them. If they reject you, they also reject the Son; and if they reject the Son, they reject the Father and heaven and heavenly things, and seal their own condemnation. If the brethren can reach forth unto these things, so as to see and properly understand them, they can magnify their calling; and this is the only way in which they can.

Many of you have been in the world and met with opposition; and when the Scriptures have been honestly adhered to as the standard, you have successfully met all that can be brought against the plan of salvation. That is all very well, and is pleasing to such as have a philosophical turn of mind. Their modes of thinking and reasoning call for solutions of what appears to them mysterious and problematic; and those solutions, to be satisfactory to them, must accord with certain theories. But let one go forth who is careful to logically prove all he says by numerous quotations from the revelations, and let another travel with him who can say, by the power of the Holy Ghost, Thus saith the Lord, and tell what the people should believe—what they should do—how they should live, and teach them to yield to the principles of salvation—though he may not be capable of producing a single logical argument—though he may tremble under a sense of his weakness, cleaving to the Lord for strength, as such men generally do, you will invariably find that the man who testifies by the power of the Holy Ghost will convince and gather many more of the honest and upright than will the merely logical reasoner.

Debate and argument have not that saving effect that has testifying to the truth as the Lord reveals it to the Elder by the Spirit. I think you will all agree with me in this; at least, such is my experience. I do not wish to be understood as throwing a straw in the way of the Elders’ storing their minds with all the arguments they can gather to urge in defense of their religion, nor do I wish to hinder them in the least from learning all they can with regard to religions and governments. The more knowledge the Elders have the better.

It is well to perfectly understand the religious and governmental theories of the world; it is satisfactory: yet, in preaching the Gospel, an Elder who prides himself in using good sound arguments and logic is not so apt to lean upon the Lord for his Spirit as are those who are not so particularly gifted in reasoning. It is our duty, so far as we can, to gain knowledge and information pertaining to human life and the organization of the kingdoms, thrones, empires, and republics of the earth—to become well acquainted with their religions, laws, manners of administration, pursuits of life, manufactures, agriculture, arts, manners and customs, &c.: but when we are possessed of all this knowledge, we need the power of God to teach the truths of the holy Gospel. I wish you to bear this truth in your memories and put it in practice.

By your own experience you know that “Mormonism,” if not true, is worse than nothing; and if true, its value is beyond our computation. In your traveling and preaching, you will meet with many who will oppose the Gospel, and by them your names will be cast out as evil. Pertaining to this, I will make but one requirement of you—that, when you are spoken everywhere against, as were Jesus and his disciples, for the sake of the kingdom, for the sake of the people, for the sake of our Redeemer, for the sake of our heavenly Father, and the heavenly hosts, and for your own sakes, you so live that there never can truthfully be an evil word spoken against you. Never, through committing evil, lay the foundation for a person to truthfully speak evil of you. If you pursue this course, you will be justified before God, Jesus, angels, and your brethren. You can then testify to the truth, and teach it in all plainness, simplicity, and honesty, and be able to bid defiance to the world.

In your traveling you will have to trust in the Lord. I do not know whether you have means sufficient to enable you to go directly to your fields of labor. Probably some of you have, and some have not. Strive to be full of the Holy Ghost, and the necessary means will come to you, often in a way you cannot comprehend, and you will be expedited in your journeyings and perform your missions. And furthermore, if you will not drop one thread in the garments of your characters, from the time you leave here, I am not in the least doubtful in my mind—I have not a shade of hesitancy in my feelings in promising that each of you will accomplish a mission that will please our Father in heaven and every good person on the earth and in heaven, and live to return to this place. Have faith to live, and do just as you should do; and do not imagine that you can go to the right or to the left, or do this, that, or the other wrong with impunity, thinking that it will be well enough in the end. Do that alone which you know to be right and which you ought to do. When you come to that which you do not know to be right, let it alone and trust in the Lord, and you will live.

Some of our Elders have died while on missions. I have nothing to say against them, for all must die sooner or later. But there is no necessity for laying down our bodies until we are full of years. If you only have faith, and every moment live according to the faith of the Gospel, and keep your gaze, thoughts, and acts heavenward, I have no hesitancy in saying that you will live to perform your missions.

You have received your blessings, and I say amen to them, and to much more. In this my faith resembled Father Smith’s, when he was asked by myself and one or two others for a patriarchal blessing. He said to us, “Sit down, and write every good thing you can think of in heaven and on earth, and I will sign my name to them, and they will be your patriarchal blessings. If you only live for them, they shall all come upon you, and more.” Live for the blessings you desire, and you will obtain them, if you do not suffer selfishness, pride, or the least alienation from the path of true virtue and holiness to creep into your hearts.

When you reach your fields of labor, do the best you can; and when the enemy comes along and tells you that you are somebody, say, “Mr. Devil, it is none of your business. What I have spoken is what the Lord gave to me. I have presented it to the people, and that is all I have to do with it.” If you cannot preach as nicely and smoothly as you wish, and a feeling rises that you cannot preach at all—that you had better return home, tell Satan to get behind you—that he has no power to dictate whether you preach a word or not, for you are in the Lord’s service. So live that the Spirit of the Lord can instruct your minds at all times, and you can then defy the Devil and all his emissaries. If you have nothing from the Lord to present to the people, be as willing to be silent as you would to preach what might be termed a splendid discourse.

A short time ago I made a few remarks concerning the Elders who have been on missions, and I will now say to you, Do not come from your missions leaving behind you people whom you have oppressed, from whom you have begged their money. I would work my way there and back again, or beg from strangers, before I would take one dime from the Saints, unless they of their own freewill and accord wished to make me presents, and were able to do so without dis– tressing themselves. True, I have seen the time, and so have many of my brethren, when my heart has ached to see men and women go without food day after day for the sake of feeding me, when I could feed myself; but any other course would not satisfy them. Under such circumstances you must humor the people and yield to their feelings. But do not go to preach this Gospel for the purpose of becoming rich. If the Lord has anything for you, he will give it to you; and if he has not, tell them that you can provide your own living when you reach home, if the Lord will bless you. You may say, “We may bless the people until doomsday, and still they will find fault with us.” Can they justly do so? If they cannot, their faultfinding cannot harm you.

Some of our Missionaries, after an absence of two or three years, return with their eyes cast down: their countenances are fallen. I wish you to take such a course that you can come home with your heads up. Keep yourselves clean, from the crowns of your heads to the soles of your feet; be pure in heart—otherwise you will return bowed down in spirit and with a fallen countenance, and will feel as though you never could rise again. When the Quorum of the Twelve was first organized, Joseph said that the Elders of Israel, and particularly the Twelve Apostles, would receive more temptations, be more buffeted, and have greater difficulty to escape the evil thrown in their way by females than by any other means. This is one of Satan’s most powerful auxiliaries with which to weaken the influence of the ministers of Christ, and bring them down from their high position and calling into darkness, shame, and disgrace. You will have to guard more strictly against that than against any other evil that may beset you. Make up your minds not to yield, for one moment, to the subtle insinuations of the animal propensities of your natures while you are absent on the Lord’s errands. Rather, suffer your heads to be taken from your shoulders than to sacrifice your honor, violate your covenants, and forfeit the sacred trust reposed in you.

When you arrive in Liverpool, you will find brothers Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich, two of the Twelve, and you will be under their direction and supervision. Some of you will again visit your parents and friends in your native lands. This, no doubt, will be very agreeable; but do not sit down in your ancestral homes with a purpose to stay there, but let your missions be first and foremost to preach the Gospel of life and salvation to the people, and gather them to the place appointed. I do not think there was worse said about the Savior and his disciples in ancient days than has been said about the people of Utah in modern times. Take no notice of this, but attend to the business about which you have been sent. Tell this genera– tion the truth, and pass along. Many will tell you that your religion is all error. Reply that you will make an exchange with them of ten errors for one truth. Do not contend or argue much, but pass along peaceably and preach the first principles of the Gospel—faith in God and in his Son Jesus Christ, and teach the people to repent of their sins and be baptized for the remission of them, and they shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost through the laying on of the hands of the Elders. It is often the case that some wish to preach about things of which they have little or no knowledge. Let alone that which you do not know or most assuredly believe to be true—doctrines which you do not perfectly understand, and strive to be honest. If you do not understand a doctrine or a portion of Scripture, when information is asked of you, say that the Lord has not revealed that to you, or that he has not opened your understanding to grasp it, and that you do not feel safe in giving an interpretation until he does.

May God bless you! Amen.

Discourse by Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 22, 1860.

I always feel much pleasure in addressing a congregation of the Saints when I am inspired by the Holy Ghost, for then I can be of benefit to those who hear.

I realize that, until the Priesthood was restored to the earth, we had no way of knowing the truth in relation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is true there were a great many anxiously seeking to know the Lord, but there were none that were able to give them the comfort and consolation they desired.

If a person goes without food for twenty-four hours, we all know that that individual will become very hungry; and it is precisely so with those who hunger for the principles of eternal life. While we enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, we shall find that there is enough and abundance to feed every human soul.

I have never seen the day or the hour that I was not susceptible of being taught by my brethren, neither have I ever seen the time that I thought I knew all the principles of the Gospel; and I can truly say that I feel as much edified today in contemplating the things of God as ever I did in any hour of my life. We are all dependent upon the Lord, upon his Holy Spirit, and upon the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, for instruction, for light, and knowledge, such as is calculated to edify, encourage, sustain, and aid us in magnifying our callings in this life.

We need not enter particularly into the great mysteries of the kingdom of God in order to be edified. A man may preach upon the first principles of the Gospel, and he will find enough in them to instruct the people and edify himself in the things of God. Those principles are plain; they can easily be comprehended when pre– sented to the children of men as they are revealed from heaven. But, as plain and simple as they are, for eighteen hundred years the world was almost destitute of a knowledge of the truth and of the Holy Ghost which is poured out to lead mankind in the way of truth. From the time of the great falling away, which took place in the early part of the Christian era, up to the present time, the world have been ignorant with regard to the first principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is true that professed Christians have had the examples of the Prophets and Apostles from their childhood up, as laid down in the New Testament; and yet they have been far from the truth, and did not know the correct way of worshipping God. It has been a mystery to you and to me that we have never been able to unravel or to find out by our own wisdom the true knowledge of God; but the very fact that generation after generation has risen up and established systems and organizations, all professing to be according to the plan of salvation, and yet opposed one to another, until they have raised up scores of churches, all differing on points of doctrine, proves that there has been something out of the way.

We know that we have the Gospel of Christ that has been revealed from heaven in this generation, wherein are taught faith, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and that obedience to those doctrines will bring all things to our remembrance, and thereby enable us the more perfectly to do the will of God while we dwell here in the flesh. As the Scriptures have informed us, “There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth it understanding.” I do not know that I can explain to you the reasons for the great difference we see in mankind relative to the principles of truth, but it has been so in every age of the world; and when the Gospel has been preached, the honest in heart and meek of the earth have obeyed and been sustained by it, and they have been enabled to pass through many scenes of trial and to endure the persecutions that wicked men have devised to afflict the people of God.

The faithful have always had a positive knowledge that what they were doing was right and acceptable to the Almighty, and that they have been sustained in passing through scenes of trial by the gift and power of God. They have realized that it was better to sacrifice their lives for his kingdom than to live and enjoy the riches and honors of this world for a season. This principle sustained the ancient Saints in all their afflictions; it sustained them in the den of lions and in the fiery furnace; and although they frequently sealed their testimony with their blood, they were comforted and consoled in looking forward to the time when the earth would enjoy her sabbaths, and the Saints enter into their rest.

The Jews marveled and wondered at the Savior, for they saw that he was filled with light and truth. They had eyes to see, but they saw not. The Savior laid before them the principles of truth; he came to them and undertook to convert them; but he wept over them when he saw what would be the consequences of their hardheartedness, and how the Jewish nation would be overthrown and the people scattered among all nations, if they rejected the doctrines he presented to them. He informed them what would be the result of their disobedience, and told them that the judgments of God would fall heavily upon them. He portrayed to them the oppressions and torturings with which they would be afflicted—foretold the destruction of the temple, that it would be thrown down, and that there would not be left one stone upon another. The majority of them mocked his sayings, and finally succeeded in putting him to death; but yet all that he foretold the Jews has come to pass. The predictions of Moses also concerning that nation have been literally fulfilled, and that too in such a plain, pointed, and unmistakable manner that it seems almost impossible for a man to be a disbeliever in the dealings of God with the Jewish nation.

Peter, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, and the Apostles generally warned that people; but they spurned the servants of God and turned unto their idols. The Apostles were inspired by the Spirit of God; they enjoyed the gifts of the Holy Ghost; but the great mass of the Jewish nation hardened their hearts and would not listen to the words of life. I might say the same in relation to the present generation. The Church of Christ is organized precisely as it was in the days of the Apostles, and we are living in the day and age of the world when the righteous blood that has been shed upon the earth will be avenged on the disobedient, because they reject that Gospel which would save them and enable them to assist in the great work of the redemption of the dead. The Gospel has been again restored by the administration of an angel from heaven, whom the revelator John saw in vision when on the isle of Patmos; and when describing it, he says—“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” (Rev., 14th chap., verses 6, 7.)

Did you ever know the Lord to bring his judgments upon any nation, from the days of Adam in the garden of Eden until the present time, before he had warned them of their sins? No; the Lord has always warned the people before he has punished them for their wickedness. He warned Sodom and Gomorrah before he sent destruction upon them, and he has done so in every age of the world. In this generation the Almighty has raised up a Prophet who has organized the kingdom of God, and thousands of the Lord’s anointed have been inspired by the same Spirit to proclaim the words of life to the people. And who cannot foresee the judgments of God that await this generation? After the testimony of the servants of God, the judgments that have been spoken of will be poured out upon the wicked. Every man and woman who lives up to the principles of the Gospel can see by the same Spirit—they can understand by the things that are written in the Scriptures, and by the revelations of God that have been imparted unto us, and that are before the world, that these things are hanging over the nations.

We have before us the example of the antediluvian world: they were hardhearted and unbelieving, and would not believe until it was too late. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did not believe that they would be surrounded with those dire calamities that afterwards befell them.

In looking at the judgments of the Almighty that we have witnessed and have been called to pass through, we see plenty to arouse us and cause us to be diligent in the discharge of our duties. The heavens are full of judgments that are ready to be poured out upon this generation, and the Lord has as many ways in punishing the wicked as he ever had in any previous dispensation. We witness the power of God made manifest by day and by night, and we ought to realize the necessity of being obedient to all the requirements of Heaven.

The Elders of Israel have gone forth and borne a true and faithful testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they have been assisted by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. Our Prophet and Elders have been filled with good desires for the people and have gone abroad and tried to bring mankind to a knowledge of the truth. Our President has cast his mind abroad over the world, and in his meditations he has planned for the welfare of the human family, and yet the wicked have desired his life, and thousands have despised him because he has reproved them for their wickedness, and advocated righteous principles, and called upon them to repent of their sins and be baptized according to the order of God.

The Prophet Joseph was inspired to lay the foundation of the Church and kingdom of God. Before that time the masses of mankind were in darkness—the professors of religion were deceived in regard to God and the things of his kingdom. If the Lord had not sent forth his servant Joseph, the Devil could never have wrought upon the hearts of the children of men as he has done; but because the Prophet was laying the foundation of that great work which the Lord had determined to perform in the last days, the hearts of the children of men were stirred up to roar against the Lord’s anointed. But the truth was bound to prevail, and for the accomplishment of this object the Prophet labored day and night.

I know that Joseph Smith was a good man, a Prophet, a Seer, and Revelator, and that he sealed his testimony with his blood, that the nation that was worthy might receive their reward. There is no principle revealed in this generation but those which are known by the Almighty to be for the salvation of his creatures. The spirit of warfare that is manifested in these days has existed in all ages when the Priesthood was upon the earth. There was always a war between light and darkness, God and the Devil, Saint and sinner, correct principles and false doctrines. We ourselves have a warfare with the evil propensities of our nature: we have already had to meet a warfare outwardly. In some instances there has been a physical contest, and our enemies have sought our destruction from the beginning. That warfare will continue until Satan is bound and iniquity swept from the earth. We need not suppose that we shall have peace, for there will be no peace to the righteous until he reigns whose right it is to reign. It is in this generation precisely as one of the Prophets foretold it should be—“Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.”

Thousands and millions of the sectarian world are in this condition, and will be led to use this or similar language. The honest among them will get their reward, and it will be far superior to anything they have anticipated. It is true they entertain many false doctrines, but let us remember that we believed false doctrines and were surrounded with the traditions of our fathers before we heard the fulness of the Gospel. When we heard its principles taught, we admired and received them for the truth’s sake, and rejoiced in the blessings that followed our obedience.

We have now got a warfare to endure; we must war against every evil principle until we can learn to do right in all things. This is the spirit we must learn to cultivate day by day. The knowledge we have of the Gospel will assist us in doing this.

There is one particular feature connected with the preaching of the Gospel: You may send out a thousand Elders and they will all teach the same doctrines; they will all labor for the building up of the same Church; they will be united; for their faith, their doctrines, and the organization of the Church have all been made known unto them by the revelations of God: hence they will see eye to eye in regard to the principles of the Gospel. Supposing a thousand ministers of different denominations were to be sent out into the world, it would be very different with them from what it is with the Elders of the Church of Christ: they would not be so united or so harmonious in their sentiments. Our union and oneness of sentiment constitutes one of the prominent beauties of the organization of the kingdom of God.

There was never any other Gospel taught to the old Prophets excepting that which is now taught to you and to this generation; neither was there ever any of the children of men saved upon any other principle than that which is now presented to the people. The Church of Christ always had in it Prophets, Apostles, and Patriarchs; it was always blest with the gifts of inspiration—power to heal the sick and to perform such miracles as were necessary for the salvation of the Saints.

If you were to meet with Father Adam, with Seth, Moses, Aaron, Christ, or the Apostles, they would all teach the same principles that we have been taught; they would not vary one particle. This Gospel is everlasting in its nature and unchangeable in its character. It might be urged that the house of Israel had the law of carnal commandments; but that only acted as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ, because they would not receive a celestial law. They had the Priesthood of Aaron for a series of years amongst them; but the old Apostles, Prophets, and Saints were saved by the Gospel, and not by the law of carnal commandments.

I want to say a word about our present position. When we first received the Gospel, we professed to rejoice in its principles and in the blessings which followed our obedience; and should we not continue to rejoice and be diligent in the work of the Lord—yea, even more so today than we did when we first received it? When a boy begins his education at school he begins at the first rudiments, and continues to progress step by step. It is so with the student in the study of the everlasting Gospel. There were not many principles revealed to us when we first received it, but they were developed to us as fast as we were capable of making use of them.

I well remember the first sermon I heard. My conviction was that I had learned more about God and the things of his kingdom than I had learned in all my previous life. I believed the Gospel then, and I not only believe it now, but I know it to be true. Since then I have received much valuable instruction through the revelations of God that have been made manifest; and I have never yet heard a principle set forth, but I have been able to see beauty and glory connected with it.

The subject of the vision that was given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon was alluded to by brother Young and others during our Conference. In reference to that, I wish to say that when I first read that vision it swept away a veil that had been around me all my life; it opened my understanding and shook off my shackles. There was something in it so different from the old sectarian notion—something that swept away the idea of one heaven, one hell, and that those who do not go to one place must go to the other, and that all in heaven have an equal glory, and all in hell an equal misery. There always appeared something very inconsistent connected with the doctrine of future rewards and punishments as taught by modern divines; but when I got hold of the vision, I saw more light, more consistency, and Godlike mercy and justice than I had ever seen in my life.

I refer to these things to show how the veil was taken from my eyes, and how I was made to comprehend that every man is rewarded according to the deeds done in the body. I then saw there was something to encourage a man to be true and faithful, and to be filled with integrity; while, on the other hand, it was made manifest that it would not pay a man to do evil. Every man gets the reward he earns by his labors. We can see this every day of our lives. You never saw a man who had partaken of the blessings of the kingdom of God, and then turned against the Lord, and would do wickedly and blaspheme the name of the Deity, but what the Spirit of God would withdraw from him and leave him miserable. The hand of God always overtakes such a one, evil lies in his path, and he is tormented by day and by night. We have seen this during our experience in this Church.

To me the principle of integrity is one of the greatest blessings we can possibly possess. He who proves true to himself or his brethren, to his friends, and his God, will have the evidence within him that he is accepted; he will have the confidence of his God and of his friends. It is a great and a glorious principle; it is something that gives you that assurance in your friends that you can trust your property, your life, your all in the hands of your brethren.

The Lord has said, “I will prove you in all things, even unto death.” How truly this has been fulfilled in this Church. Scores and hundreds of our brethren have laid down their lives in carrying out the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; they have been hastened away from this world by their enemies, but they have maintained their integrity, proven themselves to be true and faithful before the Lord, and their spirits now mingle with the spirits of the just.

We should all seek to do right, try to perform our duties day by day to God and to each other, and put away everything that wars against the Spirit of the Lord.

I rejoice every day I live in beholding the signs of the times, in looking at the progress of the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth. The Lord has guided and governed us all the day long. We have every reason to be thankful for his goodness unto us, and we may rest assured that his blessings will be poured out upon us just as fast as we are capable of receiving and making a right use of them.

The judgments that are coming upon the wicked will cause the ears of the children of men to tingle and their hearts to quake. Do you think they realize those things? No, they do not; they are all in the dark: but it is just as Elder Pratt said during our Conference—after the testimonies of the servants of God will come those of thunderings, earthquakes, pestilence, famines and the sword. The Lord also says, by revelation, that when these judgments do come, when they are poured out upon the earth, “O, ye nations of the earth, how oft have I called upon you by my servants, by the ministering of angels, and by my own voice, and by famines, tempest, earthquakes, and pestilence of every kind, and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not! Behold, the day has come, when the cup of the wrath of mine indignation is full, and it shall be poured out upon the disobedient.”

Remember these things, for the words of the Lord must be fulfilled. When a man who believes the Gospel reflects, he becomes satisfied that not one of those sayings will be suffered to return unto the Lord void, but he realizes that they will accomplish that for which they were sent. But a man who knows not God cannot realize anything about the calamities that are to come upon the earth. You might preach to him as long as Noah preached to the antediluvians; you might try till you were gray with old age, and you would try in vain to get him to understand the things of God.

If we had correct understanding, we should all see as the Lord does, and should understand how his purposes will be accomplished; but we are to walk by faith, and not by sight.

I feel to rejoice in knowing that the kingdom of God is established on the earth, and that it will spread itself abroad, become like a great moun– tain, and finally fill the earth. The words of the Lord will not return to him void; but whether he speaks by his own voice or the voice of his servants, those words will have their fulfillment.

Let us be faithful and adorn ourselves with the graces of the Gospel. There is nothing gained by doing wrong. Lying, stealing, blaspheming, drunkenness, backbiting, and denying the Lord Jesus Christ bring sorrow and remorse; they debase man who is organized in the image of God; but to do right, to obey the commandments of God, to be charitable and kind, brings joy and peace and the Holy Ghost, and an eventual exaltation in our Father’s kingdom.

May we all so live that we may be worthy to dwell in his presence in the world to come, and to participate in the fulness of that glory and blessedness promised to the faithful, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 22, 1860.

I delight, as brother E. D. Woolley has just observed, in my religion, and had rather talk about it than upon any other subject. I esteem it the only true system of religion, and its practice the only correct course of life. In it are the only true principles of philosophy: it comprehends all true science known by man, angels, and the Gods. There is one true system and science of life; all else tends to death. That system emanates from the Fountain of life.

But to say that we love our religion, and delight to live it and talk about it, is, in comparison, like a person’s telling those who are fond of it how sweet and delicious honey is—how much better they like it than they do mud! Or, to use another comparison, it is like a person’s telling how much pleasanter it is to prosecute a long journey over mountains, deserts, and streams, with his eyes open, than it is to grope his way blindfolded! That is about the comparison, when we speak concerning the prin– ciples of eternal life and those principles that tend to death.

You hear men speak about going to transact temporal business. Suppose you cease the temporal, where is your spiritual business? Does it not end? Yes; and if you wish to live, prepare to live today. My religion comprehends all the mental and physical powers; and a man who realizes this never allows himself to go about any work without wishing and striving to enjoy the principles of eternal life.

I will say a few words in reference to those who are about to start on missions to preach the Gospel, and those who are going on business. If those who are going to preach do not go with that faith that pertains to eternal life, and that spirit that is like a well of water, springing up into everlasting life, their labors will be vain. They may be the best theoretical theologians in the world—may be able to preach a Bible and a half in a sermon, to read history without a book, and understand all the dealings with men from the days of Adam till now; and, without the Spirit of the living God to guide them, they will not be able to accomplish anything to their credit towards building up his kingdom. They must realize that success in preaching the Gospel springs not from the wisdom of this world. They must so live as to enjoy the power of God: otherwise, they may bring home their converts; but what are they good for? They are not worth bringing across the Plains; for, after their arrival, they annoy and disturb the peace of others. Do such come here to build up Zion? Did such persons love the Gospel? No; or, if they did, they lost that love while coming here.

If persons receive the power of God through the Gospel, and turn away, they very soon manifest the spirit they are of. Some do not receive the power of God, but they obey the first principles of the Gospel, live it to all outward appearance, and by-and-by manifest that they do not love it. Though you can scarcely discern the difference by their outward acts, time will disclose who are Saints and who are not.

The day will come when the cry will be—“Lo, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” Till that time, the Elders who go to preach should go clothed upon with the power of God—filled with the Holy Ghost, that they may be enabled to perform a work that will be acceptable in the sight of High Heaven. Do I say, love your enemies? Yes, upon certain principles. But you are not required to love their wickedness: you are only required to love them so far as concerns a desire and effort to turn them from their evil ways, that they may be saved through obedience to the Gospel.

I have observed in this Church from the beginning, that when Elders follow others in the work of the ministry, they wish congregations, Conferences, societies, and all people to respect them a little more than anybody else; and this feeling will more or less beset the Elders now about to go forth. You would like to have the people think that you know a little more than any other persons—particularly more than your predecessors, and that all you teach is just right. I wish you to build up every man who is in the faith of the Gospel—who is in the faith of God, angels, and good men; and if you strive to pull down good men who are around you, you are sure to fall yourselves. Tell the people what we have in Utah—that we have the light of the Gospel, that we hold the keys of the kingdom, and that here is the place to be cleansed, purified, and sanctified by the furnace of affliction. Do not tell them that gold grows on our trees, and that their troubles will all be over when they arrive here. The Saints are not tried in the world as they are here. True, they have trials among their friends and relations, but those trials are not such as they meet here. Tell them that, in gathering, they are going to the thrashing machine—that they will then be run through the smutter, afterwards through the mill; and if they prove to be fine flour, they will be saved: if not, all their previous righteousness will be counted as nothing.

When people receive the Gospel, their minds are opened; they see Zion in its glory; but they do not see the troubles on the Plains, or the troubles with false brethren. They are young, weak, and unprepared to receive those things which the Lord will suffer to come upon them. They are not prepared for those trials that will purify and prepare them for exaltation; their minds are only prepared for the riches and fulness of the glory of God that has been shown to them when the vision of their minds was opened by the Spirit of the living God; and but little do they know what they have to pass through.

You need not teach that this place is Zion, or that Nauvoo or Missouri is Zion; but tell the people that North and South America are the land of Zion, and that our God will finish his work where he commenced it, where the Center Stake of Zion is, and where the Garden of Eden was. Say to them—“If you want to become as gold seven times purified, go up to Utah.” Gather the Saints, but do not flatter; invite, but do not urge, and by no means compel anyone. Gather the Saints here as quickly as possible. Why? Because among the nations their dreams and reflections are all joy and glory, and they know but little else until after they arrive here. Some must come here in order to apostatize. We have thought that we could try to stop that class in the States, and let them apostatize there; but we cannot. They think all things should be here now as they are in heaven. This is the very place for them also, and we want them here as soon as possible.

Brethren and sisters, I like to meet with and speak to you; I also like to reason with myself, to instruct myself, and to consider whether I can detect in myself anything that should not be. I strive to know myself, and would be pleased to have you all strive to know yourselves. Put away all unkind feelings, and let all your meditations be correct—precisely as they should be. I like to ascertain whether my feelings and meditations are correct, and whether in other circumstances I should feel as I now do. But leave that in the hands of the Lord; for my labors and reflections to purify this people and prepare them for the things that are to come, to instruct them, and urge them to look at themselves as they look at their neighbors, seem to bear upon my mind with greater weight.

Contentions frequently arise to so alienating a degree that brethren have no faith in each other’s honesty and integrity, when, perhaps, both parties have stumbled over a little, selfish, ignorant, personal misunderstanding, and are carrying it to the extent of wishing to cut each other off from the Church. Very frequently such cases are presented before me. Unravel the difficulty, and it is found to have started in a trifling misunderstanding in relation to some small matter; all the trouble has arisen from a most frivolous cause. Avoid nursing misunderstandings into difficulties. Some talk with a heavy, deep stress upon their words, without intending anything harsh or unkind. Sometimes a little misunderstanding in dealing causes a contention, and the parties become alienated. An offended person will ask himself, “Does that man want to cheat me?” Or, “Does that sister mean to lie to me?” Or, “Does that neighbor mean to wrong me?” Before you decide, learn, if you can, the design in the heart of the actor.

A few Sabbaths ago, I compared the mind of man to machinery. The human family frame certain ideas or notions in their minds; and when they get them arranged to suit themselves, it seems impossible to induce them to give them up. When the idea of inventing perpetual motion possesses the mind of an individual, he will waste all his time and substance, rather than give it up. A person will get an idea that he must be a merchant, and handle a few calicos and cloths, and deal them out by the yard. I would not condescend to such business: but some cannot see anything else. Why? Because they do not like any other business. We should divest ourselves of all feelings of selfishness, become like clay in the hands of the potter, and say, “I have no mind of my own; it must be passive, and suffer God to direct. He has given me good powers of mind, and he shall have the privilege of directing them.” Then you can enjoy this, that, or the other, and all will be right.

We, as other people, have our minds formed according to the liberty we enjoy and the education and intelligence we have received. We frame, fashion, compose, and arrange things in our mind—form this, that, and the other plan, and say, “I am going to such a city;” “I will trade;” “I will make me a farm;” “I will go to the east, west, north, or south, and will do thus and so.” Do you not know that the whole human family are more or less working upon this principle? Many do not seem to realize that they cannot go to any city and buy and sell, or make a farm, or go to the canyons, to California, to the States, or do this and that, without God permits. The result of the doings of the children of men are all in the hands of God; then shall I say that I will do thus and so? I will stop, unless the Lord requires at my hands such a performance of mental or physical labor. I will wait, for I wish to spend my strength and life upon sure ground. My acts, principles, and powers must be directed by the Almighty, that the results may be according to my desires; and they cannot, unless I am so directed.

The nations and kingdoms of this world are striving for something to make them happy; but if they will pause and consider that though they may go to a city on the right, to another on the left, to the east, west, north, and south, and do as they choose, unless the Almighty directs, they may expect the result will be darkness and death.

The Lord has placed mankind here, and offered them salvation without money and without price. All who take a course opposite to that which is marked out will come to an end. Which is the best—life or death? Bitter or sweet? Let your lives be so directed that the results may be according to your wishes. No man will attain the results he desires without striving for them, while he who will act his part will receive the honor and glory of God as a reward for his labors.

I will urge upon the Elders who are going abroad, and who are judges in Israel, to remember that “there are many masters, but few fathers;” and I wish you to be fathers. Do not oppress the poor, but trust in God, and, you will go neither hungry, naked, nor thirsty. If you oppress the poor, the day will come when you will be naked, thirsty, and hungry, and will not be able to get anything to supply your wants. Go trusting in God, and continue to trust in him, and he will open your way and multiply blessings upon you, and your souls will be satisfied with his goodness. I cannot promise you any good in taking an unrighteous course; your lives must be examples of good works. You know that some men have said, “We have worked long enough for the Lord; we are now going to work for ourselves.” They never worked at all for the Lord. The ignorance of such men is deplorable; they do not know so much as the brutes, for they know enough to come to the crib whence they procure their food; but these characters do not know enough to come and be fed.

We are made intelligent, and are heirs of the everlasting kingdom. Unless we forfeit that heirship, we are heirs to the glory and power of worlds to come; but we must take a course to maintain the position that we occupy. We are the children of our Father in heaven; and unless we do that which will cause our names to be blotted out, and our right to the blessings of the kingdom cut off, all will be well. Let us take a course to save all who will hearken to our counsel; let us be kind and charitable to all people, doing unto others as we would they should do unto us in like circumstances, and the blessings of our Father will be multiplied unto us.

I will relate a little of my course and experience in my family. I have a large family of children, many of them small, and yet I do not think that you ever saw even four children in one family live together with so little contention. Watch them, and their conduct will prove that there is a good spirit influencing them. I never knew one of them to be accidentally hurt, without more sympathies being extended to that one than the whole of them needed. You may ask how I manage to bring about this result. I seldom give a child a cross word; I seldom give a wife a cross word; and I tell my wives never to give a child cause to doubt their word. A child loves the smiles of its mother, but hates her frowns. I tell the mothers not to allow the children to indulge in evils, but at the same time to treat them with mildness. If a child is required to step in a certain direction, and it does not seem willing to do so, gently put it in the desired way, and say, There, my little dear, you must step when I speak to you. Children need directing and teaching what is right in a kind, affectionate manner.

The Elders who are going abroad should deal out kindness to those they are sent to watch over, and your smiles will be far better than your cursings could be.

A child at five years old would disobey me much oftener than one at fifteen. Do you not think that is a good sign? Some may ask whether I may not lose some of my children. I cannot tell. God gave them to me; and if one of them is lost, I want to be able to say, Have I failed to bring them up in a right and acceptable manner? I have done all that I could. Have I done right? It is in thy hands.

Brethren and sisters, we are improving and increasing in the truth, though slowly. I can realize improvement in myself; my sensitive powers are quickened, and I can discern a growth in others that pleases me.

Instead of divisions and excitements, we are preparing for the kingdom of heaven. Walk up to the line of right, for the kingdom is powerful, and is becoming more powerful every year. Your patience and integrity are on the increase; keep faithful until we can return and begin to build up the Center Stake of Zion, and be ready for whatever may be required of us.

I desire to live upon this earth till I see righteousness established. Is there a Saint who wishes to see disorder and confusion here? No: all wish to see the peace of God constantly resting upon the people. Ask sister Cook, who has for years taught my children music, whether she ever saw or heard me scold. She never did; but my children must mind father. Is this feeling increasing among the Saints? It is; and the Lord will increase it as fast as the people are prepared; and the Saints will have oil in their lamps, and will be received at the wedding as the bride of the Lamb.

Be patient. Judge not your brethren in their frivolous faults, nor for faults that are not designed for injury.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by Elder Orson Hyde, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 22, 1860.

Brethren and sisters, having been called upon by brother Spencer to make a few remarks, I cheerfully comply.

We have been listening to many good and wholesome remarks from Bishop Edwin D. Woolley. He has given much good counsel and timely instruction this afternoon. In the morning we had good advice given to us by brother Woodruff, and I do think that we are a highly favored people.

We have the privilege of assembling here in peace and quietness, without anything to disturb our happiness; and we can listen to the words of life that are given unto us, store up the truth, and adopt in our lives those principles that we learn from this stand. Considering our privileges, I think we cannot too highly appreciate them.

For my own part, I see nothing in our way—nothing that will prevent our progress in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I see no obstacle that should obstruct us in our career of working righteousness and building up the kingdom of God.

In his goodness and mercy, our Heavenly Father has graciously moistened the earth with rain from heaven, and prepared it to send forth its fruits, and has admirably adapted it for the use and benefit of man the present season; and if we labor faithfully, we shall reap an abundant harvest.

I feel to acknowledge his hand for temporal as well as for spiritual blessings; for if we were to have the one without the other, we could not get along in this life so well as we do. The body needs to be supported as well as the spirit, in order that we may fill the measure of our creation, and return to our Father with the fruits of welldoing, prepared to enter into his kingdom.

I thank the Lord for his goodness unto me, for I know that his general providences are marked with favor to them that fear his name and live up to the law that he has given, magnifying the high callings whereunto they have been called.

For my own part, I never experience any feelings of trouble concerning the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the arrangement of her officers, and the course they pursue. I say, I have no feelings other than those that are good. It is all right with me. I have neither secret nor public sentiments, only those that are correct and that are in strict accordance with the sentiments and views of my brethren.

I believe—yes, I am satisfied that many who turn away from the faith previously become cold and indif– ferent; they indulge in secret feelings against some of the regulations in the Church. The apostasy of many might be traced to them allowing their secret prejudices to be aroused against the heads of the Church, and in their feelings they have murmured, but probably did not let out immediately what was in them, simply because it was not popular. Still those feelings are written in the heart; they are encouraged to remain there; and what do they do? They corrode and canker the finest feelings of that heart that was once unsullied, they weaken the strength of the resolution that was once possessed, and they so far corrupt the mind that all such persons are obliged to speak out and to act out those very feelings that have been suffered to corrode the mind and to dwell in the heart for many months. The safer plan is to throw off that influence when it first presents itself to our minds.

If we should be tempted, then let us go to work in faith, nothing doubting, and ask God our Heavenly Father to pour the spirit of wisdom, soundness of judgment, integrity, and righteousness upon us.

When we take this course, what shall we care who else may murmur? We can do our duty; we can give good advice to others, and that, too, without contaminating or affecting our own hearts; we can do that and be justified before God, and prevail with the heavens. Then when the answer comes to our petitions, it is a balm to our own souls; it is a blessing to all for whom it is intended.

These are safe grounds to tread upon, and are well calculated to lead us from the snares of the Adversary, and to preserve us in the way of life. Perhaps I should not say wrong if I were to say that there are many who will meet the authorities of the Church with a friendly and a brotherly smile, while they are indulging in feelings which they are ashamed to make manifest. If we carry about with us such views and feelings relative to our brethren, we subject ourselves to become the Devil’s packhorses, and our backs will become sore, and we shall faint and fall under the load that he will place upon our shoulders. It is for us to trust in the living God, that his blessings may be upon our Elders, upon the people, and upon all they take in hand, that they may have wherewithal to sustain themselves.

What do we live for? To get dollars and cents? Those are very useful; the comforts of life are very agreeable; it is very convenient to have money to purchase what we need; and even if we sacrifice the comforts of this life to secure the blessings of that which is to come, we have then gained our point; we have gained everything. And remember that he and she and all who do the will of our Father who is in heaven will reap the reward of the faithful, for Jesus says, “Whosoever doeth the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my mother, my sister, my brother.”

Again: There is another scripture which says something like this—“He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” Hence, all that the Father hath promised unto the obedient shall be given unto him. Now, if all that the Father hath promised shall be given unto him that is faithful—to him that receives the kingdom as a little child, do you not see that by our unwavering steadfastness we gain the victory, we win the prize, we lay hold on eternal life, and enter into the celestial mansions of our Father?

This is the great object we have in view; and what, I ask, is left for those that do not receive the testimony of Jesus, if all is given to them that receive and obey it? Brethren, there is too much at stake for us to allow ourselves to have one unjust feeling, one uncharitable thought, or to indulge in that which might prevent us from becoming substantial heirs to the promised kingdom. If there were only dimes at stake, it would not matter so much; but as it is, we have everything to lose or gain.

Now, brethren and sisters, I always take the liberty of testifying to the truth when I feel the most of the Spirit of the Lord in my heart, for it is then that I feel the best towards my brethren who preside over me; and if all in this house were to speak their sentiments, they would speak the same thing. When we have the Spirit of the Lord, and give utterance to the convictions of our minds, and manifest that which we feel in our hearts, we all say the same thing.

If the Spirit of the Lord justifies, who is he that can condemn? We have nothing to fear. Let us all work to the line that is marked out for us, keep ourselves free from a murmuring and complaining spirit, be like little children that have no guile, no animosity, no hatred, and pray the Lord to give us all that we need to aid us in building up his kingdom, that we may fulfil our missions here, and be received into the bosom of our Father; which may God grant, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 8, 1860.

Pertaining to the school that brother Hyde has been mentioning, we shall devote the large building on the east side of Union Square to school purposes. Tuition will be free, and the school will begin tomorrow morning, with Orson Pratt, Jun., and James Cobb, teachers, under the supervision of Orson Pratt, Sen. The Union Academy is designed exclusively for boys and young men. So soon as we have a suitable building, we intend to open an Academy for females, in which they will be taught the common branches of English education, music, and probably some of the modern languages.

We wish those who attend the Union Academy to qualify themselves to be useful to themselves and this community as speedily as possible. We shall urge the study of mathematics, and more particularly their practical application, that as many as have a taste and aptness may become familiar with surveying, which they can fit themselves for in a very short time. There are but few here who are practical surveyors, and we wish that number increased.

One of the teachers will probably attend to the rudiments of education, though we prefer to have scholars tolerably well advanced in arithmetic, writing, reading, and grammar. Still it may be requisite at the start to admit some in the elementary branches.

I give it as my opinion that you may go to any part of the United States or of the world, where parents are not obliged by law to send their children to school, and you will find more schools in the midst of this people, notwithstanding their poverty, their drivings, sufferings, and persecutions, and more persons that can read and write, in proportion to our population, than in any other place on this earth. You may select any community of the same number, and in this particular we will favorably compare with the best of them, and I think we are ahead of them. But this furnishes us no reason for keeping children from school.

There are many who are anxious to teach school, if the people will encourage them. The people have the privilege of sending their children to school, for there are plenty of teachers and plenty of rooms in every town and neighborhood. However, it is often the case that, when they have sent their children one or two quarters, they neglect paying the teacher.

Some say they are not able to send their children to school. In such a case, I think I would rise in the morning, wash myself, take a little composition, and try, if possible, to muster strength enough to send my children to school, and pay their tuition like a man. When you have done this, if you are still unable, apply to some of your neighbors to assist you.

Men able to ride in their carriages, and not able or unwilling to pay their children’s tuition, ought, I think, to have a little composition, or catnip tea; and then perhaps, they will be able to send their children to school! I know such persons are weak and feeble; but the disease is in the brain and heart—not in the bones, flesh, and blood. Send your children to school.

As I have before remarked, there will be no charge for tuition in the Union Academy, and we shall learn whether the young men will go to school and qualify themselves for doing business and becoming useful in this world. Compare those who had their education before they came here with the boys who were born and brought up in this Church in the midst of our being driven, and I will furnish you ten greyheaded men who cannot reckon up the simplest account in figures, where you can find one of our boys fifteen years old that cannot. That is the difference between this people, with all the ignorance alleged against them pertaining to the learning of the day, and the professed learned world. I want them still to advance and increase.

We should be a people of profound learning pertaining to the things of the world. We should be familiar with the various languages, for we wish to send to the different nations and to the islands of the sea. We wish Missionaries who may go to France to be able to speak the French language fluently, and those who may go to Germany, Italy, Spain, and so on to all nations, to be familiar with the languages of those nations.

We also wish them to understand the geography, habits, customs, and laws of nations and kingdoms, whether they be barbarians or civilized. This is recommended in the revelations given to us. In them we are taught to study the best books, that we may become as well acquainted with the geography of the world as we are with our gardens, and as familiar with the people—so far at least as they are portrayed in print—as we are with our families and neighbors.

I will now make a few remarks upon testimony. I have heard a great many Elders in this Church, and people who were professing Christians before this work was revealed, testifying of the things of God. Men rise up here and say they do know that this is the work of God, that Joseph was a Prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, that the revelations through Joseph Smith are true, that this is the last dispensation and the fulness of times, wherein God has set to his hand to gather Israel for the last time, and redeem and build up Zion on this land. How do they know this? Persons know and will continue to know and understand many things by the manifestations of the Spirit, that through the organization of the tabernacle it is impossible otherwise to convey. Much of the most important information is alone derived through the power and testimony of the Holy Ghost in the speaker, revealing itself to the understanding and spirit of the hearer. This is the only way you can convey a knowledge of the invisible things of God. By way of illustration, though a meager one, suppose that a man may discern in his mind how the principle of perpetual motion can be made to operate, but cannot explain it to his neighbors.

Reflect for a moment upon the sensitive faculty implanted within us. We know when we touch anything with our hands. When we discern an object with our eyes, we know that we see. How do we know? By a principle common to all intelligent beings—by the sensations God has placed within us. Were it not for this, the eye could not see, nor sensation be communicated by touch. Were it not for the intelligent principle God has placed within us, we could neither feel, see, hear, taste, nor smell.

It is recorded that some have eyes to see, and see not; ears to hear, and hear not; hearts have they, but they understand not. You who are spiritually-minded, who have the visions of your minds opened—have studied yourselves, your organizations, the power by which you have been organized, and the influences that act upon you, can understand that the power that has given you physical sensation is the power of the same God that gives you understanding of the truth. The latter power is inward. My inward eyes see, my inward hands handle, my inward taste tastes of the word of God. The Apostle used this language. He spoke of tasting the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. Do you taste? Yes, by the sensations God has planted within you. Thousands and thousands know, by their inward and invisible sensations, things that have been, things that are, and things that are in the future, as well as they know the color of a piece of cloth by means of their outward or physical vision. When this inner light is taken from them, they become darker than they were before, they cannot understand, and turn away from the things of God.

With regard to evidence, testimony, the acquirements of the children of men pertaining to the invisible things of God, who is it that requires a miracle done? Brother Hyde says that when he has been out preaching, this Priest and that Deacon would say, “If you are the servant of God, work a miracle.” I have had the same required of me a great many times; but if I had the power of the Gods, I would not work for them a miracle. Why? Because it would only be to gratify a hellish, worldly, corrupt, devilish disposition on the part of the one requiring it. Have we not an example? Yes—one expressly for the benefit of the Saints who were to follow in the footsteps of the Redeemer and pursue the path he walked in. The Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and saith unto him, “All things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Then the Devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” In other words, If you are the Son of God, work a miracle. All this world is under my control, and I will give it to you, if you will obey me and cast yourself down, that I may go and be a preacher and testify that you are the Son of God. Jesus would not do anything of the kind.

“Then,” said the Devil, “make bread of these stones, that we may have a testimony that you are the Christ; and I will go and tell the people of it.” The Savior said unto him, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Then the Devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. He would not accommodate the feelings of the person that wished to tempt the Lord his God.

At another time Jesus exclaimed—“An evil and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall be no sign given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

In all my preachings and teachings, my faith today is the same as ever, according to the light I have had from time to time. If I had the power to turn the Mississippi directly to the opposite course it is now running, and make it empty into Hudson’s Bay, instead of in the Gulf of Mexico, I would not do it with a view to convince the people of the truth of the work of God.

The Gospel plan is so devised, that a miracle to make people believe would only be condemnation to them. When you hear people tell what they have seen—that they have seen great and powerful miracles wrought, and they could not help believing, remember that “devils believe and tremble,” because they cannot help it. When the voice of the Good Shepherd is heard, the honest in heart believe and receive it. It is good to taste with the inward taste, to see with the inward eyes, and to enjoy with the sensations of the everliving spirit. No person, unless he is an adulterer, a fornicator, covetous, or an idolater, will ever require a miracle; in other words, no good, honest person ever will.

If this is the work of God, let us understand its beauty and glory. I do not say that all are like myself; but from the day I commenced preaching the Gospel to this present moment, I never had a feeling in my heart to occupy much time in preaching hell to the people, or in telling them much about being damned. There are the kingdoms and worlds which God has prepared, and which are waiting for the just. There are more beauty, glory, excellency, knowledge, power, and heavenly things than I have time to talk about, without spending my time in talking about the hells prepared for the damned. I have not time to talk much about them.

We have heaven, eternal life, eternal existence before us. Behold the sea of faces before me this morning, every one of whom God has organized to dwell eternally in his presence. Is not this a theme that is worth the attention of all the human family? We are alive. When shall we die? Never. Says our Savior, “Whosoever believeth in me shall never die.” Shall we put on this mortality? Yes, we will lay down these bodies in the grave. What for? That the dust, our mother earth, that composes the house of the spirit, may be purified by passing through this ordeal, and be prepared to be called up and united with the intelligent heavenly body that God has prepared. This is nothing but a change. It is not the dissolution of the creature; it is merely putting off the flesh that pertains to this world.

The particles of this earth that now compose this body will be rearranged, and the spirit will be clothed with an immortal tabernacle. Let the spirit reign predominant over the flesh, and bring into subjection the whole man, every feeling and every desire of his heart, and let him be devoted wholly, body and spirit, to the end for which he has been created. When the flesh is brought into subjection, it is made worthy through that means.

So live every morning, noon, and evening, every moment, as to enjoy the Holy Ghost continually. Do not deprive yourselves of this privilege, brethren and sisters; then you can see, hear, and understand, and know things that are of God, the visible and invisible, in heaven and on earth—things past, present, and to come. No power can deprive you of this privilege, and God will bless you, and we will bask in his presence with our Elder Brother, and with all the sons and daughters of Adam who have been redeemed from the four quarters of the earth, to live forever.

What a pleasing thought! What an entrancing idea it would be, if we had the privilege of making a selec– tion of one of the most beautiful locations on this earth, where we could have our grounds, gardens, and walks laid out after the most enchanting and beautiful order, with every variety of trees, with fountains of water, and everything to make us happy and comfortable, with our carriages to ride in, &c., &c., and then live ten thousand millions of years upon that beautiful possession! Still that period of time would ultimately come to an end; and when the last moment had come, the possession ceases to be worth a groat, for it is not eternal. Boundless wealth and the most beautiful possessions cannot give pleasure and happiness of that exquisite and heavenly nature that is not in itself eternal.

I expect to see the streets paved with gold, and our common utensils made of the precious metals that the wicked now worship. There is no ornament, no beauty, no excellency, nothing that you can imagine that is great, grand, and useful on earth, but what is typical of the immortal and eternal riches that are in store for all those who overcome.

Excuse me if I speak loud. Were I to speak as I feel, I should speak like a Methodist for a little while, and cry, “Hallelujah!—praise ye the Lord.” Let his praise ring aloud through the heavens, and swell in anthems throughout the earth. Praise the name of our God, who, in the fulness of his mercy, hath provided a great salvation and eternal life for all the Saints, without money and without price.

I do not hate any man on earth or in hell. The worst wish I have for the wicked is that they may be obliged to live according to good and wholesome laws.

May God bless you! Amen.