{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_74447/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_74447","id":"gutenberg_74447","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74447","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - American","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines"],"text":"Discourses\n\nof\n\nBrigham Young\n\n\n\nSECOND PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH\n\nOF JESUS CHRIST\n\nOF LATTER-DAY SAINTS\n\n\n\n\"I am called to preach the Gospel of Life and Salvation.\"\n\n--_Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, p. 11_\n\n-----\n\nSelected and Arranged\n\nBy\n\nJOHN A. WIDTSOE\n\n-----\n\nSalt Lake City, Utah\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nBRIGHAM YOUNG, second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of\nLatter-day Saints, and first Governor of Utah, was the founder and\nchief builder of the Great Intermountain West of the United States of\nAmerica. He is recognized as one of the foremost colonizers and empire\nbuilders of all time. His unsurpassed methods of conquering for human\nuse the Great American Desert, have been adopted to some degree by all\nwho, since his day, have been engaged in the reclamation and settlement\nof unoccupied lands, especially under a low rainfall. Statesmen,\nscholars and business men have acclaimed the leadership, organizing\npower and sound philosophy which brought social and economic happiness\nto the people who were led into the wilderness by Brigham Young. He not\nonly brought contentment to the people, gathered from many lands, but\nhe guided the Church over which he presided, until, at his death, it\nwas larger in numbers and more firmly established than ever before.\n\nThe tremendous world significance of the labors of Brigham Young, and\nthe universal applicability of his methods, under modern conditions,\nmake it certain that the work he accomplished was not due, primarily,\nto the gigantic personality of the man. Rather, the success achieved\nmust have been due to the possession of a life philosophy of sufficient\ndepth and extent to meet varying human needs. Another man, of less\ndominant personality, armed with the same principles, would have won\nsuccess. As he, himself, would say, it was the possession of the Gospel\nof Life and Salvation that enabled him and his associates to do the\nwork so well. In fact, Brigham Young was first a spiritual teacher and\nsecondly a material leader. The religion that he professed made him the\nman that he became; its principles were used in guiding the people in\nall their affairs.\n\nBooks enough to fill a library have been written about the history,\ncharacter and accomplishments of Brigham Young. Few of these books\nattempt to analyze the system of doctrine and practice that brought\nunbounded success to the Latter-day Saints. Many display such extreme\nreligious partisanship that even the sympathetic reader can place\nno reliance upon their statements. Something harsher might be said\nabout the large number of books written about Brigham Young and his\ntimes that manifestly aim to secure popularity by appealing to the\nsensational and the lurid, at the expense of truth. Even recently, when\nthe years have given perspective, some writers have set up hypotheses\nconcerning Brigham Young, and have proceeded to argue the case--as if\nthat were history! It is amazing that intelligent people, knowing the\nhigh order of accomplishments of the Latter-day Saints, give credence\nto the weird and crude stories, appealing to the baser emotions of\nmankind, which fill the pages of anti-\"Mormon\" literature.\n\nIn this book Brigham Young is allowed to speak for himself. Excerpts\nhave been made from his many discourses, and these have been arranged\nto show the coherent system of faith which he continuously taught his\npeople and by which he was enabled to win success for his followers.\nThe philosophy thus set forth is clear and unmistakable in its purpose.\nIt reveals Brigham Young as a man who applied the simple principles\nof the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the everyday affairs of men; and who\nproved the efficacy, in common life, among common men, of the Gospel of\nthe Son of God.\n\nThis book was made possible because Brigham Young secured stenographic\nreports of his addresses. As he traveled among the people, reporters\naccompanied him. All that he said was recorded. Practically all of\nthese discourses (from December 16, 1851 to August 19, 1877) were\npublished in the Journal of Discourses, which was widely distributed.\nThe public utterances of few great historical figures have been so\nfaithfully and fully preserved. Clearly, this mass of material,\ncovering nearly thirty years of incessant public speaking could not be\npresented with any hope of serving the general reader, save in the form\nof selections of essential doctrines.\n\nThe discourses, from which this volume has been culled, were spoken\nextemporaneously. The state papers of Governor Brigham Young, and\nthe epistles signed by him and his counselors in the Presidency of\nthe Church, have not been used in this collection. The excerpts here\npresented came from his lips under the inspiration, at the moment, of\nthe Power that guided his life. The corrections for the printer, as\nshown by existing manuscripts, were few and of minor consequence. The\ndiscourses are a remarkable self-revelation of the character and moving\nimpulses of a man who accomplished huge tasks for his generation. It\nis marvelous that the enemies of Brigham Young, with this wealth of\nmaterial before them, have found so little to use to his disadvantage.\nBut, a dishonest or insincere man would not have had his public\nutterances reported and published all over the world. The consistency\nof the views presented, from the first to the last discourse, would\nbe astounding, were it not for the fact that he clung constantly for\ninterpretation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he had been taught\nit by the Prophet Joseph Smith. His devotion to his teacher and\npredecessor, the Prophet, is tenderly beautiful.\n\nThe school education of Brigham Young was very limited, but his\ndiscourses show a wide knowledge of men and affairs and an excellent\npower to use the English language clearly and forcefully. Often, his\nsimple eloquence rises to great heights. Those who heard him speak\nhave declared that they were held in tense attention, however long\nthe address might be. His vivid imagination, dramatic power and\nunquestioned sincerity made him a natural orator. He seldom confined\nhimself to one subject in his discourses. The needs of the day were the\nthemes about which he wound his teachings.\n\nNo liberties have been taken, in this book, with the words of Brigham\nYoung. In a few instances, errors in language or spelling, which\nshould have been caught by the printer, have been corrected. All\ndistinct sentiments, as expressed in the discourses, are represented\nby one or more quotations, except such as refer to conditions now no\nlonger existing. The excerpts are confined to the principles of the\nGospel. The mass of historical and autobiographical detail could not\nbe included without making this volume too large for popular use. As\nit is, severe pruning and elimination have been employed to enable the\ninclusion of the message of each of the 363 addresses in the Journal\nof Discourses, and the many others printed in the Deseret News, the\nMillennial Star and other periodicals. The many summaries of Brigham\nYoung's discourses, appearing in the Deseret News have not been used.\nThe excerpts contained in this volume are from verbatim reports. The\nfigures at the end of each excerpt indicates the volume and page of the\nJournal of Discourses.\n\nThese discourses are Brigham Young's witness to the existence of God,\nthe divine mission of Jesus the Christ, the restoration of the Gospel\nin its fulness by Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and the possibility of\nsecuring happiness here and hereafter by obedience to the requirements\nof the Gospel. This volume is but another testimony that the Lord\ncontinues to speak through his prophets.\n\n\n\nPREFACE TO SECOND EDITION\n\nThe reception of this book far surpassed the hopes of the publishers.\nThe first edition of fifteen thousand was soon exhausted. The second\nedition of ten thousand is the same as the first edition except for\nsome minor letter corrections.\n\nTHE PUBLISHERS.\n\nFeb. 15, 1926.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE GOSPEL DEFINED\n\nComposed of Eternal Laws--Embraces all Truth--Increasing Knowledge\nof Gospel--Holds Power of Priesthood--The Gospel of Life and\nSalvation--Offers Salvation to All--A Guide in Daily Life--A\nFountain of Truth--We Need a Practical Religion--Temporal Labors are\nNecessary--We Need a Present Everyday Religion--We Must Learn to\nSupport Ourselves\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE GODHEAD\n\nOur Father in Heaven--Personality and Fatherhood of God--The Son of\nGod--the Holy Ghost\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN GOD AND MAN\n\nThe Spirit of God--Revelation--Angels--Prayer\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nPRE-EXISTENCE, THE PLAN OF SALVATION\n\nTime--The Organized Universe--Man and Matter Eternal--Man the\nOffspring of God--The Spirit of Man--The Council in Heaven--The Plan of\nSalvation\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nFREE AGENCY\n\nDefinition of\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE POWER OF EVIL\n\nLucifer--False Spirits--Priestcraft--Sin and\nWickedness--Temptation--Apostasy\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE LAW OF ETERNAL PROGRESSION\n\nObject of Mortal Life--Man to Endure Forever--The Business of\nlife--Prepare to Live--Eternal Increase--Blessings are Proportioned to\nour Capacity\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE DESTINY OF MAN\n\nThe Gift of Eternal Life--Eternal Increase--The Celestial\nWorld--Opposition to Death\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nDISPENSATIONS OF THE GOSPEL\n\nThe Earth--Adam and Eve--Enoch and Moses--Jesus on Earth--The\nApostasy--The Restoration--The Book of Mormon\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nTHE LAST DAYS\n\nConfusion of the Last Days--Ultimate Triumph of Righteousness--Return\nto Jackson County--Coming of Christ--The Millennium--Rapid Movements\nin the Last Days--Zion--The Land of Zion--The City of Zion--Purpose of\nGathering--The Jews and Jerusalem--The Indians or Lamanites\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE SCRIPTURES\n\nThe Bible--the Standard Church Works--The Use of the Scriptures\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHE PRIESTHOOD\n\nThe Priesthood--The First Presidency--The Apostle and Melchizedek\nPriesthood--The Bishop and the Aaronic Priesthood--Church Organization\nand Government\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nTHE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPEL\n\nImportance of the Principles of the Gospel--Need of\nOrdinances--Faith--Repentance--Baptism--The Gift of the Holy\nGhost--Healing the Sick\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nTHE SABBATH; MEETINGS; THE SACRAMENT\n\nHow to Spend the Sabbath Day--Worship on Every Day--Preaching and\nListening in Meetings--Testimony Meetings--The Sacrament of the Lord's\nSupper\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTITHING; THE UNITED ORDER\n\nThe Law of Tithing--The Lord has Given All--People Not Compelled to Pay\nTithing--Use of the Tithing--The United Order\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nTHE WORD OF WISDOM\n\nModeration--The Word of Wisdom--Live Long--Eating for Health--Living\nOut-of-Doors--Exercise and Mental Vigor--Physiological\nDifferences--Feeding Children--The Giving of the Word of Wisdom\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nTHE FAMILY\n\nVirtue--Marriage--Do Not Marry Unbelievers--Birth Control--The\nHusband--The Wife--Children--Family Life--Importance of Early\nTraining--Influence of the Mother--Teach Children the Gospel--Parents\nShould Teach by Example--Guides for Child Training--Need of Parent\nTraining\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nSOME WOMANLY DUTIES\n\nThe Housewife--Woman's Fashions--Some Duties of the Relief Societies\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nOBEDIENCE\n\nCounsel--Obedience--Effect of Obedience--Obedience and Free\nAgency----Effects of Disobedience\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nGRATITUDE, HUMILITY, DEVOTION, LIBERALITY, HONESTY\n\nGratitude--Humility--Devotion to the Gospel--Give Freely--Be\nHonest--Honest in Labor--Consistency and Sincerity\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nHAPPINESS AND SOCIAL ENJOYMENTS\n\nSaints Should be Happy--Social Amusements--Dancing--The\nTheater--Excursions\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nEDUCATION\n\nKnowledge and Intelligence--A Religion of Improvement--Knowledge\nto be Sought--Continuous Education--Effects of Education--Educate\nOur Children--Establish Schools--What to Study--Religious\nEducation--Science and Religion--the Body and the Mind--Studies in\nSunday Schools\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\nSELF CONTROL\n\nThe Will of Man--Self-Control Necessary--Check your Words--Cease your\nAnger--Learn to Know Ourselves--Let us Mind our own Business\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\nOUR FELLOW-MEN\n\nLove Each Other--Let us be Merciful--Show Charity--Establish\nConfidence--Avoid Contention--Do not Deal Judgment--Respect for\nNeighbors--Lady and Gentleman Defined--The Negro--The Generous Nature\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\nUNITY AND CO-OPERATION\n\nBe of One Mind and One Heart--Perfect Oneness will Save a People--Unity\nin God's Work, the Strength of Zion--Advantage of Temporal Unity--Unity\nDoes not Mean Individual Uniformity--the Co-operative Movement\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\nTHRIFT AND INDUSTRY\n\nFaith and Works--Time Should be Spent Wisely--Labor Indispensable--Let\nNothing go to Waste--We Must be a Self-sustaining People--The Elements\nof Wealth are Around Us--Agriculture--Manufacturing--Commerce--Capital\nand Labor--Build Good Houses and Beautiful Cities--Accumulate\nProperty--Debt\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\nWEALTH\n\nWealth Belongs to the Lord--Uncertainty of Temporal Possessions--The\nSin of Covetousness--True Riches--Gold is not Wealth--How to Become\nWealthy--Wealth Must be Used--Wealth Brings Happiness Only When Used\nfor the Gospel--Some Dangers of Wealth--The Poor\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\nMISSIONARY WORK\n\nThe Gospel to be Preached to all Men--Help to Save Every Person--Words\nto Departing Missionaries--Advice to Missionaries in the Field--The\nReturned Missionary--The Gospel is Preached with Authority--The Spirit,\nnot Logic or Debate, Makes Converts--Humility and Devotion, the\nEssentials--Preach only that which is Known--Hints to Teachers\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\nVISIONS, MYSTERIES AND MIRACLES\n\nVisions of a Personal Matter--Leave Alone Mysteries--Providences of\nGod, all Miracles--Miracles for Believers--Faith not Dependent on\nMiracles\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\nTRIALS AND PERSECUTION\n\nTrials are Necessary--Purpose of Persecution--Persecution May be\nExpected--Meet Trials Cheerfully--Cause of Persecution--Disobedience\nCauses Persecution--Result of Persecution--Cannot Overtake\nFalsehood--Danger of Persecuting the Saints--Persecution Comes from\nEfforts of Few\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\nPOLITICAL GOVERNMENT\n\nTheocratic Government--Republican Government--God and\nGovernments--Fitness of Rulers--Labor and Politics--Saints and\nPolitics--The Constitution of U. S. an Inspired Document--The\nSaints Will Yet Save the Constitution--Religious Liberty Should be\nObserved--Opposed to Corrupt Administrators of Law--The President of\nthe U. S.--Political Parties--States' Rights--Forebodings of the Civil\nWar--War--Woman Suffrage\n\nCHAPTER XXXII\n\nDEATH AND RESURRECTION\n\nThe Body Must Return to Mother Earth--Man Should Live out His Days--We\nShould Not Mourn for the Righteous Dead--Our Identity will be\nPreserved--Our Bodies will be Resurrected--Jesus, the First Fruits of\nthe Resurrection--The Resurrected Body--Resurrection Necessary to Full\nSalvation\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII\n\nTHE SPIRIT WORLD\n\nAll go to the Spirit World--Where is the Spirit World--Labors in the\npet World--Life in the Spirit World\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV\n\nETERNAL JUDGMENT\n\nJudgment According to Works--Honesty in Action Will Temper\nJudgment--Hell Defined--The Second Death--Measure of Human Judgment\n\nCHAPTER XXXV\n\nSALVATION\n\nUniversal Salvation--The Way to Salvation--Salvation an Individual\nWork--Many Degrees of Salvation--Exaltation Proportioned to\nCapacity--The Celestial Kingdom\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI\n\nTEMPLES AND SALVATION FOR THE DEAD\n\nSaints Always Commanded to Build Temples--Temples Indispensable\nfor Higher Ordinances--Endowments Given in Temples--Vicarious Work\nfor the Dead in Temples--Who Should Represent the Dead--Saviors on\nMount Zion--Powers of Evil Opposed to Temple Building--The Salt Lake\nTemple--Address at the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Salt Lake\nTemple--St. George Temple\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII\n\nMAN'S SEARCH FOR TRUTH AND SALVATION\n\nMan Desires Salvation--Humanity Loves Truth and Righteousness--Human\nFamily Alike in Sentiments--A Variety of Human Gifts--Man's Powers are\nLimited--Man Must have Confidence in Himself--Man Always Dependent--We\nMust Fight Our Battles--How to Know Oneself--Our Good Character Must be\nCherished--The Need of Leaders--Duty and Responsibility of Man\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII\n\nTESTIMONY OF THE TRUTH\n\nAll Latter-day Saints May Know the Gospel is True--How a Witness of the\nTruth is Won--Why Some Men Reject the Gospel--Testimony Not Built Upon\na Man--Joseph Smith a Witness of the Truth--A Duty to Listen to the\nTruth\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX\n\nTHE CHURCH AND KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH\n\nIsrael--The Church and the Kingdom--An Object of the Church--The\nKingdom of God to Develop Gradually--The Effect of the Kingdom of\nGod--It Will Continue--The Business of Latter-day Saints--Individual\nLabor Required in the Kingdom of God--The Kingdom of God or Nothing\n\nCHAPTER XL\n\nSOME EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL\n\nThe Nature of the Gospel--Some of the Effects of the Gospel--His\nPersonal Joy in the Gospel--Blessings Continued Upon Good\nWorks--Increasing Blessings--Personal Blessings Upon the People\n\nCHAPTER XLI\n\nJOSEPH SMITH THE PROPHET\n\nJoseph Smith, a Prophet of God--Joseph Called and Directed by\nGod--The Development of the Prophet--What Joseph Taught--Results\nof the Prophet's Labors--Persecutions of the Prophet--The Prophet\nHarassed by Law-suits--Joseph of Good Character--Why the Prophet was\nKilled--Joseph's Work in the Spirit World--Nature of the Prophet and\nHis Family--The Twelve, the Successors of the Prophet--Some Sayings of\nthe Prophet\n\nCHAPTER XLII\n\nTHE SETTLEMENT IN THE WEST\n\nThe Journey Across the Plains--The Mormon Battalion--Settlement in the\nGreat Salt Lake Valley\n\n{1}\n\n\n\nDiscourses of Brigham Young\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\n_THE GOSPEL DEFINED_\n\n_Composed of Eternal Laws_--The Gospel of the Son of God that has\nbeen revealed is a plan or system of laws and ordinances, by strict\nobedience to which the people who inhabit this earth are assured that\nthey may return again into the presence of the Father and the Son.\n13:233 [A]\n\n[Footnote A: The numbers at the end of each excerpt refer to the volume\nand page of the Journal of Discourses. Where the excerpt occurs thus,\n13:233, it means Journal of Discourses, volume 13, page 233.]\n\nThe laws of the Gospel are neither more nor less than a few of the\nprinciples of eternity revealed to the people, by which they can return\nto heaven from whence they came. We delight in the heavenly law--in\nthat law that will preserve us to all eternity. 8:208.\n\nThe laws and ordinances which the Lord has revealed in these latter\ndays, are calculated to save all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve\nwho have not sinned against the Holy Ghost, for all will be saved in a\nkingdom of glory, though it may not be in the celestial kingdom, for\nthere are many mansions. 15:122. {2}\n\nOur religion is nothing more nor less than the true order of\nheaven--the system of laws by which the gods and the angels are\ngoverned. Are they governed by law? Certainly. There is no being in all\nthe eternities but what is governed by law. Who desires to have liberty\nand no law? They who are from beneath. 14:280.\n\nOur religion, in common with everything of which God is the Author, is\na system of law and order. He has instituted laws and ordinances for\nthe government and benefit of the children of men, to see if they would\nobey them and prove themselves worthy of eternal life by the law of the\ncelestial worlds. This holy Priesthood that we talk about is a perfect\nsystem of government. By obedience to these laws we expect to enter the\ncelestial kingdom and to be exalted. 14:95.\n\nThe principles of truth and goodness, and of eternal lives and the\npower of God are from eternity to eternity. The principle of falsehood\nand wickedness, the power of the Devil and the power of death are also\nfrom eternity to eternity. These two powers have ever existed and\nalways will exist in all the eternities that are yet to come. 11:234.\n\n_Embraces All Truth_--Our religion measures, weighs, and\ncircumscribes all the wisdom in the world--all that God has ever\nrevealed to man. God has revealed all the truth that is now in the\npossession of the world, whether it be scientific or religious. The\nwhole world are under obligation to him for what they know and enjoy;\nthey are indebted to him for it all, and I acknowledge him in all\nthings. 8:162.\n\nI want to say to my friends that we believe in all good. If you can\nfind a truth in heaven, earth or hell, it belongs to our doctrine. We\nbelieve it; it is ours; we claim it. 15:335.\n\nIn a word, if \"Mormonism\" is not my life, I do not know that I have\nany. I do not understand anything else, for it embraces everything that\ncomes within the range of the understanding of man. If it does not\ncircumscribe everything {3} that is in heaven and on earth, it is not\nwhat it purports to be. 2:123.\n\nOur religion is simply the truth. It is all said in this one\nexpression--it embraces all truth, wherever found, in all the works of\nGod and man that are visible or invisible to mortal eye. 10:251.\n\nThe Gospel is simple, it is plain.\n\nThere is no mystery throughout the whole plan of salvation, only to\nthose who do not understand. 3:367.\n\n\"Mormonism\" embraces all truth that is revealed and that is unrevealed,\nwhether religious, political, scientific, or philosophical. 9:149.\n\nIt comprehends all true science known by man, angels, and the gods.\nThere is one true system and science of life; all else tends to death.\nThat system emanates from the Fountain of life. 8:70.\n\nTrue science, true art and true knowledge comprehend all that are in\nheaven or on the earth, or in all the eternities. By these all beings\nexist, whether they be celestial, terrestial or telestial; or whether\nthey are from beneath and dwell with the devils among the damned. All\ntruth is ours. 14:281.\n\n\"Where is your code, your particular creed?\" says one. It fills\neternity; it is all truth in heaven, on earth or in hell. This is\n\"Mormonism.\" It embraces every true science; all true philosophy.\n14:280.\n\nThe philosophy of the heavens and the earth of the worlds that are,\nthat were, and that are yet to come into existence, is all in the\nGospel that we have embraced. Every true philosopher, so far as he\nunderstands the principles of truth, has so much of the Gospel, and\nso far he is a Latter-day Saint, whether he knows it or not. Our {4}\nFather, the great God, is the author of the sciences, he is the great\nmechanic, he is the systematizer of all things, he plans and devises\nall things, and every particle of knowledge which man has in his\npossession is the gift of God, whether they consider it divine, or\nwhether it is the wisdom of man; it belongs to God, and he has bestowed\nit upon us, his children dwelling here upon the earth. 18:359.\n\nA fact is a fact, all truth issues forth from the Fountain of truth,\nand the sciences are facts as far as men have proved them. 14:117.\n\n\"Mormonism,\" so-called, embraces every principle pertaining to life\nand salvation, for time and eternity. No matter who has it. If the\ninfidel has got truth it belongs to \"Mormonism.\" The truth and sound\ndoctrine possessed by the sectarian world, and they have a great\ndeal, all belongs to this Church. As for their morality, many of them\nare, morally, just as good as we are. All that is good, lovely, and\npraiseworthy belongs to this Church and Kingdom. \"Mormonism\" includes\nall truth. There is no truth but what belongs to the Gospel. It is\nlife, eternal life; it is bliss; it is the fulness of all things in the\ngods and in the eternities of the gods. 11:375.\n\nWe wish to frame, fashion and build after the pattern that God has\nrevealed; and in doing so we take all the laws, rules, ordinances and\nregulations contained in the Scriptures and practice them as far as\npossible, and then keep learning and improving until we can live by\nevery word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 13:238.\n\nThe Lord reveals a little here and a little there, line upon line, and\nhe will continue to do so until we can reach into eternity and embrace\na fulness of his glory, excellency and power. 13:241. {5}\n\nTruth will endure for ever and for ever, and every man that preaches\nthe Gospel of salvation may take the old text that some of us took in\nthe commencement of the building up of the Kingdom of God upon the\nearth in the last days. I took truth for my text, salvation for my\nsubject, and the whole world for my circuit, to go as far as I could\nand talk all I could about it. It takes every truth from every sect and\nparty. What! in a civil capacity also? Yes. All law, all powers, all\nkingdoms, and all thrones,--in fine, all things are under the control\nof God. 7:148.\n\nWhen the Gospel of the Son of God is introduced among the children\nof men, it comes with light and intelligence, with pure and holy\nprinciples. It embraces all morality, all virtue, all light, all\nintelligence, all greatness, and all goodness. It introduces a system\nof laws and ordinances and a code of moral rectitude which, if obeyed\nby the human family, will lead them back to the presence of God. 11:235.\n\nFor me, the plan of salvation must be a system that is pure and holy in\nall its points; it must reveal things that no other church or kingdom\ncan reveal; it must circumscribe the knowledge that is upon the face\nof the earth, or it is not from God. Such a plan incorporates every\nsystem of true doctrine on the earth, whether it be ecclesiastical,\nmoral, philosophical, or civil; it incorporates all good laws that\nhave been made from the days of Adam until now; it swallows up the\nlaws of nations, for it exceeds them all in knowledge and purity, it\ncircumscribes the doctrines of the day, and takes from the right and\nthe left, and brings all truth together in one system, and leaves the\nchaff to be scattered hither and thither. That is the proof to me,\nand has been from the beginning, that the {6} principles are pure\nand holy; and every person living to them will attain through them\nsanctification. 7:148.\n\nI will tell you who the real fanatics are: they are they who\nadopt false principles and ideas as facts, and try to establish a\nsuperstructure upon a false foundation. They are the fanatics; and\nhowever ardent and zealous they may be, they may reason or argue on\nfalse premises till doomsday, and the result will be false. 13:271.\n\n_Increasing Knowledge of Gospel_--I want to say that we are for\nthe truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; we are pursuing\nthe path of truth, and by and by we expect to possess a great deal more\nthan we do now; but to say that we shall ever possess all truth, I\npause; I do not know when. 14:196.\n\nThe laws that the Lord has given are not fully perfect, because the\npeople could not receive them in their perfect fulness; but they can\nreceive a little here and a little there, a little today and a little\ntomorrow, a little more next week, and a little more in advance of\nthat next year, if they make a wise improvement upon every little they\nreceive; if they do not, they are left in the shade, and the light\nwhich the Lord reveals will appear darkness to them, and the kingdom\nof heaven will travel on and leave them groping. Hence, if we wish to\nact upon the fulness of the knowledge that the Lord designs to reveal,\nlittle by little, to the inhabitants of the earth, we must improve upon\nevery little as it is revealed. 2:314.\n\nWe know enough to damn us; and when we know enough for that, we know\nenough to save us, if that knowledge is improved upon. 6:198.\n\n_Holds Power of Priesthood_--The Gospel which we preach is the\nGospel of life and salvation. The Church {7} which we represent is the\nChurch and Kingdom of God, and possesses the only faith by which the\nchildren of men can be brought back into the presence of our Father\nand God. The Lord has set his hands to restore all things as in the\nbeginning, and by the administration of his holy Priesthood, save all\nwho can be saved, cleanse from the world the consequences of the Fall\nand give it to the hands of his Saints.\n\nThe Gospel of salvation--the Priesthood of the Son of God--is so\nordered and organized, in the very nature of it, being a portion\nof that law of heaven by which worlds are organized, that it is\ncalculated to enlighten the children of men and give them power to\nsave themselves. It is of the same nature as the further principles of\neternal existence by which the worlds are and were, and by which they\nwill endure; and these principles are pure in their nature, from the\nfact that they are of God, who is pure; but, without the revelation of\nthe Spirit of God, no man can understand them. That is the peculiarity\nthere is about this mysterious work. 7:54.\n\nThe power of all truth dwells in the bosom of our Father and God, which\nhe dispenses to his children as he will, by the means of his eternal\nPriesthood. He is enthroned in the light, glory and power of truth.\nHe has abided the truth, and is thereby exalted, and his power, light\nand glory are eternal. The Gospel and the Priesthood are the means he\nemploys to save and exalt his obedient children to the possession with\nhim of the same glory and power to be crowned with crowns of glory,\nimmortality and eternal lives. 9:330.\n\nNow, we say to the people of the nineteenth century, and we speak the\ntruth and lie not, whosoever believes that {8} Joseph Smith, Junior,\nwas a Prophet sent of God, and was ordained by him to receive and hold\nthe keys of the holy Priesthood, which is after the order of the Son of\nGod, and power to build up the Kingdom of God upon the earth, to gather\nthe House of Israel, to guide all who believe and obey to redemption,\nto restore that which has been lost through transgression--whosoever\nbelieves this, believing in the Lord, and obeying his commandments\nto the end of their lives, their names shall not be blotted out of\nthe Lamb's book of life, and they shall receive crowns of glory,\nimmortality, and eternal life. This is for the nineteenth century, for\nthe generation of people now living. 12:101.\n\n_The Gospel of Life and Salvation_--We have something more than\nmorality alone to teach the people. What is it? It is how to redeem the\nhuman family. 19:47.\n\nI will now say to my friends,--and I call you all, and all mankind,\nfriends, until you have proved yourselves, enemies,--you who do\nnot belong to this Church, that we have got the Gospel of life and\nsalvation. I do not say that we have a Gospel, but I say that we have\nthe definite and only Gospel that ever was or ever will be that will\nsave the children of men. 12:313.\n\n_It Takes the Whole Man to Make a Saint_--There are no exceptions\nin \"Mormonism.\" Learn so to think and direct your acts in every\ntransaction of life, that we may overcome the evil that is sown within\nus. Overcome the inward enemy; then we can overcome the Devil's\nkingdom. And while others choose evil principles and build upon a\nfoundation which leads to destruction, let us build upon the principles\nof eternal salvation, as we have striven to do all the day long. 7:66.\n\nThe doctrines of salvation are the same now as they {9} were in the\ndays of Adam, or Elijah, or Jesus, when he was upon the earth. 5:229.\n\nWe have brought the doctrine of life and salvation to you, that you may\nexchange your low, narrow, contracted, selfish dispositions for the\nennobling Spirit of the Lord, for the Spirit of the Gospel, which gives\njoy and peace. If you enjoy that, your food will be sweet to you, your\nsleep will be refreshing, and your days will pass away in usefulness.\n3:119.\n\nWe have as good a right to adopt tenets in our religion as the Church\nof England, or the Methodists, or Baptists, or any other denomination\nhave in theirs. Our doctrine is a Bible doctrine, a patriarchal\ndoctrine, and is the doctrine of the gods of eternity, and of the\nheavens, and was revealed to our fathers on the earth, and will save\nthe world at last. 2:187.\n\nThe revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ are sweeter than honey or the\nhoneycomb. We can eat, and continue to eat; drink, and continue to\ndrink. Is there durable satisfaction? Yes. I am in the height of my\nenjoyment. All the pleasure and all the joy that can be bestowed upon\na finite being is in the Gospel of salvation, through the Spirit of\nrevelation, upon the creature--upon the Saint of God--old or young,\nmale or female. Not that this comparison fully conveys the idea; for\nthe language of mortals fails to fully portray the joys of the Gospel\nof life everlasting. 8:139.\n\nWe have the Gospel of life and salvation, to make bad men good and good\nmen better. We are to preach, exhort expound, continue in our duty,\nbe fervent in spirit, bearing and forbearing with our brethren, being\nfilled with love and kindness. 8:130. {10}\n\nThere is no freedom anywhere outside the Gospel of salvation. 5:52.\n\n_Offers Salvation to All_--A few here and a few there will receive\nthe truth, and the Lord will empty the earth of the wickedness that now\ndwells upon it. 8:195.\n\nThe Gospel of Jesus Christ is the opening avenue--the open gate in the\nroad or way from earth to heaven, through which direct revelation comes\nto the children of men in their various capacities, according to their\ncallings and standing in the society in which they live. The Gospel of\nsalvation is a portion of the law that pertains to the kingdom where\nGod resides; and the ordinances pertaining to the holy Priesthood are\nthe means by which the children of men find access to the way of life,\nwherein they can extend their travels until they return to the presence\nof their Father and God. 8:159.\n\n\"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to continue to\nbe the sons of God.\" Instead of receiving the Gospel to become the\nsons of God, my language would be--to receive the Gospel that we may\ncontinue to be the sons of God. Are we not all sons of God when we are\nborn into this world? Old Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was just as much a\nson of God as Moses and Aaron were his sons, with this difference--he\nrejected the word of the Lord, the true light, and they received it.\nFor \"this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and\nmen love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.\"\nThen we receive not the Gospel that we may become the sons of God but\nthat we may remain the sons of God without rebuke. Inasmuch as all had\napostatized, they had to become the sons of God by adoption, still,\noriginally, all were the sons of God. We receive the Gospel, not that\nwe {11} may have our names written in the Lamb's book of life, but that\nour names may not be blotted out of that book. \"For,\" saith the Lord,\n\"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and\nI will not blot out his name out of the book of life.\" Why? Because\nhe had overcome through his faithfulness. My doctrine is--that there\nnever was a son and daughter of Adam and Eve born on this earth whose\nnames were not already written in the Lamb's book of life, and there\nthey will remain until their conduct is such that the angel who keeps\nthe record is authorized to blot them out and record them elsewhere.\n12:100-101.\n\nIn conversation not long since with a visitor who was about returning\nto the Eastern States, said he, \"You, as a people, consider that you\nare perfect?\" \"Oh, no;\" said I, \"not by any means. Let me define to\nyou. The doctrine that we have embraced is perfect; but when we come to\nthe people, we have just as many imperfections as you can ask for. We\nare not perfect; but the Gospel that we preach is calculated to perfect\nthe people so that they can obtain a glorious resurrection and enter\ninto the presence of the Father and the Son.\" 11:304.\n\nOur motive is to make every man and woman to know just as much as we\ndo; this is the plan of the Gospel, and this is what I would like to\ndo. I would like all the Latter-day Saints to come up to this standard,\nand know as much as I do, and then just as much more as they can learn,\nand if they can get ahead of me, all right. 19:96.\n\nWe declare it to all the inhabitants of the earth from the valleys in\nthe tops of these mountains that we are the Church of Jesus Christ\nof Latter-day Saints--not a church but the Church--and we have the\ndoctrine of life and salvation for all the honest-in-heart in all the\nworld. 12:173. {12}\n\nThis Gospel will save the whole human family; the blood of Jesus will\natone for our sins, if we accept the terms he has laid down; but we\nmust accept those terms or else it will avail nothing in our behalf.\n\n_A Guide in Daily Life_--I reduce the Gospel to the present time,\ncircumstances and condition of the people. 10:1.\n\nThat system that brings present security and peace is the best to live\nby, and the best to die by; it is the best for doing business; it is\nthe best for making farms, for building cities and temples, and that\nsystem is the law of God. But it requires strict obedience. The rule\nof right, and the line which God has drawn for the people to walk\nby insures peace, comfort, and happiness now and eternal glory and\nexaltation; but nothing short of strict obedience to God's law will do\nthis. 13:241.\n\nWe do not allow ourselves to go into a field to plough without taking\nour religion with us; we do not go into an office, behind the counter\nto deal out goods, into a counting house with the books, or anywhere to\nattend to or transact any business without taking our religion with us.\nIf we are railroading or on a pleasure trip our God and our religion\nmust be with us. We are the most religious people in the world; but we\nare not so enthusiastic as some are. We have seen plenty of enthusiasm,\nbut we do not care about it. Said I, \"This shouting and singing one's\nself away to everlasting bliss, may be all very well in its place, but\nthis alone is folly to me; my religion is to know the will of God and\ndo it.\" 14:118.\n\nWith God, and also with those who understand the principles of life\nand salvation, the Priesthood, the oracles of truth and the gifts and\ncallings of God to the children of men, there is no difference in\nspiritual and temporal {13} labors--all are one. If I am in the line of\nmy duty, I am doing the will of God, whether I am preaching, praying,\nlaboring with my hands for an honorable support; whether I am in the\nfield, mechanic's shop, or following mercantile business, or wherever\nduty calls, I am serving God as much in one place as another; and so it\nis with all, each in his place, turn and time. 13:260.\n\nOur religion descends to the whole life of man, although some,\nsometimes, say, there is divine law, there is human law, and there are\nprinciples which pertain to our religion and there are principles which\npertain to the philosophy of the world. But let me here say to you,\nthat the philosophy of the religion of heaven incorporates every truth\nthat there is in heaven, on earth, or in hell. 15:125.\n\nMy mission to the people is to teach them with regard to their\nevery-day lives. I presume there are many here who have heard me\nsay, years and years ago, that I cared very little about what will\ntake place after the Millennium. Elders may preach long discourses\nconcerning what took place in the days of Adam, what occurred before\nthe creation, and what will take place thousands of years from now,\ntalking of things which have occurred or that will occur yet, of which\nthey are ignorant, feeding the people on wind; but that is not my\nmethod of teaching. My desire is to teach the people what they should\ndo now, and let the Millennium take care of itself. To teach them to\nserve God and to build up his Kingdom is my mission. I have taught\nfaith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on\nof hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. We are to be taught with\nregard to our every-day life in a temporal point of view. 12:228.\n\nOur religion incorporates every act and word of man. {14} No man should\ngo to merchandising unless he does it in God; no man should go to\nfarming or any other business unless he does it in the Lord. No man of\ncouncil should sit to judge the people but what should judge in the\nLord, that he may righteously and impartially discern between right\nand wrong, truth and error, light and darkness, justice and injustice.\nShould any legislature sit without the Lord? If it do, sooner or later\nit will fall to pieces. No nation ever did live that counseled and\ntransacted its national affairs without the Lord, but what sooner or\nlater went to pieces and came to naught. The same is true of all the\nnations that now live or ever will live. 13:60.\n\nThis Gospel is full of good sense, judgment, discretion and\nintelligence. 14:17.\n\nNo matter how true and beautiful truth is, you have to take the\npassions of the people and mould them to the law of God. 7:55.\n\n_A Fountain of Truth_--The Gospel is a fountain of truth, and\ntruth is what we are after. We have embraced the truth--namely, the\nGospel of the Son of God. Its first principles are to believe in the\nLord Jesus Christ, to repent of our sins, then go down into the waters\nof baptism for the remission of our sins, and have hands laid upon us\nfor the reception of the Holy Ghost, which will lead us into all truth?\n12.268.\n\nTruth will abide when error passes away. Life will remain when they who\nhave rejected the words of eternal life are swallowed up in death. I\nlike the truth because it is true, because it is lovely and delightful,\nbecause it is so glorious in its nature, and so worthy the admiration,\nfaith and consideration of all intelligent beings in heaven or on the\nearth. Should I be hated and my name cast out as {15} evil because I\nlove the truth? Yes, or the words of Jesus could not be fulfilled, for\nhe said, \"Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.\" He told his\ndisciples to rejoice evermore and to pray without ceasing when they\nwere held in derision by their enemies, and to lift up their heads and\nrejoice when all men spoke evil of them, for \"behold your redemption\ndraweth nigh.\" 13:216.\n\nTo me it is more rational for an intelligent being to embrace truth,\nthan it is to mix up a little truth with a great deal of error, or to\nembrace all error and undertake to follow a phantom. 13:235.\n\nSome who call themselves Christians are very tenacious with regard to\nthe Universalians, yet the latter possess many excellent ideas and good\ntruths. Have the Catholics? Yes, a great many very excellent truths.\nHave the Protestants? Yes, from first to last. Has the infidel? Yes, he\nhas a good deal of truth; and truth is all over the earth. The earth\ncould not stand but for the light and truth it contains. The people\ncould not abide were it not that truth holds them. It is the Fountain\nof truth that feeds, clothes, and gives light and intelligence to the\ninhabitants of the earth, no matter whether they are saints or sinners.\nDo you think there is any truth in hell? Yes, a great deal, and where\ntruth is there we calculate the Lord has a right to be. You will not\nfind the Lord where there is no truth. 12:70.\n\nIf you love the truth you can remember it. 3:358.\n\nAgain, what do you love truth for? Is it because you can discover a\nbeauty in it, because it is congenial to you; or because you think it\nwill make you a ruler, or a Lord? If you conceive that you will attain\nto power upon such a motive, you are much mistaken. It is a trick of\nthe unseen power, that is abroad amongst the inhabitants of the earth\n{16} that leads them astray, binds their minds, and subverts their\nunderstanding.\n\nSuppose that our Father in heaven, our Elder Brother, the risen\nRedeemer, the Savior of the world, or any of the gods of eternity\nshould act upon this principle, to love truth, knowledge, and wisdom,\nbecause they are all powerful, and by the aid of this power they\ncould send devils to hell, torment the people of the earth, exercise\nsovereignty over them, and make them miserable at their pleasure; they\nwould cease to be Gods; and as fast as they adopted and acted upon\nsuch principles, they would become devils, and be thrust down in the\ntwinkling of an eye; the extension of their kingdom would cease, and\ntheir Godhead come to an end.\n\nNo man can disprove a truth. 8:132.\n\nWhat do you know on natural principles? I do not say natural\nphilosophy, because my religion is natural philosophy. You never heard\nme preach a doctrine but what has a natural system to it, and, when\nunderstood, is as easy to comprehend as that two and two equal four.\nAll the revelations of the Lord Almighty to the children of men, and\nall revealed doctrines of salvation are upon natural principles, upon\nnatural philosophy. When I use this term, I use it as synonymous with\nthe plan of salvation; natural philosophy is the plan of salvation, and\nthe plan of salvation is natural philosophy. 4:202.\n\nOur doctrine and practice is, and I have made it mine through life--to\nreceive truth no matter where it comes from. 14:160.\n\nWhen we demonstrate a truth, we demonstrate a portion of the faith,\nlaw, or power by which all intelligent beings exist, whether in heaven\nor on earth, consequently {17} when we have truth in our possession we\nhave so much of the knowledge of God. I delight in this, because truth\nis calculated to sustain itself; it is based upon eternal facts and\nwill endure, while all else will, sooner or later, perish. 14:115.\n\nAll truth is worthy and worth possessing. 19:39.\n\nHow easy it is to live by the truth. Did you ever think of it, my\nfriends? Did you ever think of it, my brethren and sisters? In every\ncircumstance of life, no matter whether among the humble or lofty,\ntruth is always the surest guide and the easiest to square our lives\nby. 14:76.\n\nBe willing to receive the truth, let it come from whom it may; no\ndifference, not a particle. Just as soon receive the Gospel from Joseph\nSmith as from Peter, who lived in the days of Jesus. Receive it from\none man as soon as another. If God has called an individual and sent\nhim to preach the Gospel that is enough for me to know; it is no matter\nwho it is, all I want is to know the truth. 14:136.\n\nAll truth is for the salvation of the children of men--for the benefit\nand learning--for their furtherance in the principles of divine\nknowledge; and divine knowledge is any matter of fact--truth; and all\ntruth pertains to divinity. 7:284.\n\n_We Need a Practical Religion_--I am preaching to you practical\nreligion. 13:155.\n\nI am decidedly in favor of practical religion--of everyday useful\nlife. And if I today attend to what devolves upon me to do, and then\ndo that which presents itself tomorrow, and so on, when eternity comes\nI will be prepared to enter on the things of eternity. But I would not\nbe prepared for that sphere of action, unless I could manage {18} the\nthings that are now within my reach. You must all learn to do this. 5:3.\n\nI still feel to urge upon the Latter-day Saints the necessity of a\nclose application of the principles of the Gospel in our lives, conduct\nand words and all that we do; and it requires the whole man, the whole\nlife to be devoted to improvement in order to come to knowledge of the\ntruth as it is in Jesus Christ. Herein is the fulness of perfection.\nIt was couched in the character of our Savior; although but a scanty\nportion of it was made manifest to the people, in consequence of their\nnot being able to receive it. All they were prepared to receive he\ngave them. All we are prepared to receive the Lord gives us; all that\nthe nations of the earth are prepared to receive he imparts unto them.\n12:225-226.\n\nOn reading carefully the Old and New Testaments we can discover\nthat the majority of the revelations given to mankind anciently\nwere in regard to their daily duties; we follow in the same path.\nThe revelations contained in the Bible and the Book of Mormon are\nexamples to us, and the book of Doctrine and Covenants contains direct\nrevelation to this Church; they are a guide to us, and we do not wish\nto do them away; we do not want them to become obsolete and to set them\naside. We wish to continue in the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ\nday by day, and to have his Spirit with us continually. If we can do\nthis, we shall no more walk in darkness but we shall walk in the light\nof life. 10:284.\n\nIf we wish to enjoy the Spirit of Zion, we must live for it. Our\nreligion is not merely theory; it is a practical religion, to bring\npresent enjoyment to every heart. 8:33.\n\nAt times when I think of addressing you, it occurs to {19} me that\nstrict sermonizing upon topics pertaining to the distant future, or\nreviewing the history of the past, will doubtless please and highly\ninterest a portion of my hearers; but my judgment and the spirit\nof intelligence that is in me teach that, by taking such a course,\nthe people would not be instructed pertaining to their every-day\nduties. For this reason, I do not feel impressed to instruct you on\nduties to be performed a hundred years hence, but rather to give\nthose instructions pertaining to the present, to our daily walk and\nconversation, that we may know how to benefit ourselves under the\npassing time, and present privileges, and be able to lay a foundation\nfor future happiness. 3:272.\n\nThe work of building up Zion is in every sense a practical work; it is\nnot a mere theory. A theoretical religion amounts to very little real\ngood or advantage to any person. To possess an inheritance in Zion or\nin Jerusalem only in theory--only in imagination--would be the same as\nhaving no inheritance at all. It is necessary to get a deed of it, to\nmake an inheritance practical, substantial and profitable. Then let\nus not rest contented with a mere theoretical religion, but let it be\npractical, self-purifying and self-sustaining, keeping the love of God\nwithin us, walking by every precept, by every law, and by every word\nthat is given to lead us. 9:284.\n\nThe religion of Jesus Christ is a matter-of-fact religion, and taketh\nhold of the every-day duties and realities of this life. 1:133.\n\nI am in the hands of the Lord, and never trouble myself about my\nsalvation, or what the Lord will do with me hereafter. It is for me to\ndo the will of God today, and when tomorrow comes, to inquire what is\nhis will concerning {20} me; then do the will of my Father in the work\nhe has appointed me to do, and that is enough for me. I am serving a\nGod who will give me all I merit, when I come to receive my reward.\nThis is what I have always thought; and if I still think so, it is\nenough for me. 6:276.\n\n_Temporal Labors are Necessary_--In the mind of God there is no\nsuch a thing as dividing spiritual from temporal, or temporal from\nspiritual; for they are one in the Lord. 11:18.\n\nThe brethren have been talking about temporal things. We cannot talk\nabout spiritual things without connecting with them temporal things,\nneither can we talk about temporal things without connecting spiritual\nthings with them. They are inseparably connected. 10:329.\n\nI cannot, however, define any difference between temporal and spiritual\nlabors. I call it spiritual to accommodate my language to the ideas of\nthe people. Anything that pertains to the building up of the Lord's\nkingdom on earth, whether it be in preaching the Gospel or building\ntemples to his name, we have been taught to consider a spiritual work,\nthough it evidently requires the strength of the natural body to\nperform it. 2:95.\n\nBe wise: be as wise as the generations of this world. In the days of\nJesus, those who received the kingdom and the spirit of the kingdom\nseemed to lose all sight of a temporal salvation; and Jesus said to his\ndisciples, \"The children of this world are wiser in their generations\nthan the children of light.\" The children of light did not know how to\nsustain themselves; they did not understand how to preserve themselves\nand the kingdom with them. 4:343.\n\nIf you cannot provide for your natural lives, how can you expect to\nhave wisdom to obtain eternal lives? God {21} has given you your\nexistence--your body and spirit, and has blest you with ability,\nand thereby laid the foundation of all knowledge, wisdom, and\nunderstanding, and all glory and eternal lives. If you have not\nattained ability to provide for your natural wants, and for a wife and\na few children, what have you to do with heavenly things? 8:68.\n\nWe cannot even enter the temple when it is built, and perform those\nordinances which lead to spiritual blessings, without performing a\ntemporal labor. Temporal ordinances must be performed to secure the\nspiritual blessings the Great Supreme has in store for his faithful\nchildren. Every act is first a temporal act. The Apostle says, faith\ncomes by hearing. What should be heard to produce faith? The preaching\nof the Word. For that we must have a preacher; and he is not an\ninvisible spirit, but a temporal, ordinary man like ourselves, and\nsubject to the same regulations and rules of life. To preach the Gospel\nis a temporal labor, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is the\nresult of a temporal labor. To be baptized is a temporal labor, both to\nthe person administered to and the administrator. I am a living witness\nto the truth of this statement, for I have made my feet sore many a\ntime, and tired myself out traveling and preaching, that by hearing\nthe Gospel the people might have faith. The blessings we so earnestly\ndesire will come to us by performing the manual labor required, and\nthus preparing all things necessary to receive the invisible blessings\nJehovah has for his children. 9:240.\n\nThere is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. All things\nare natural, and all are spiritual. Every duty of life, no matter\nwhat it is, every requirement necessary to sustain and exalt man,\nis incorporated in the Kingdom of God and in the ordinances of his\nhouse--in the duties God {22} requires of his children. It is all in\nthe Church and Kingdom of our God. \"What! our labor?\" Yes. I sometimes\ntake the liberty of preaching upon economy to this people. Perhaps some\nare inclined to think that in so doing I transcend my own duties and\nobligations. I do not. I instruct the husbandman how to till his farm,\nbecause I know and I understand the nature of the elements that produce\ngrain better than he does. I know how he should prepare the elements\nfor the seed to produce the increase which he desires in the things\nnecessary to sustain himself and family. It is my duty to instruct\nmy brethren, if I understand my branch of business better than they\ndo. If I understand how to make myself comfortable--if I understand\nbetter than others do the organization of the elements God has given\nus ability to operate with for our benefit, it is my duty to instruct\nthem. Here are the elements. They are not made in vain, but are made\nfor the benefit, comfort, convenience, and happiness of God's children.\n\nThe principles of eternity and eternal exaltation are of no use to us,\nunless they are brought down to our capacities so that we practice them\nin our lives. 4:28.\n\n_We Need a Present, Every-day Religion_--My religion must be with\nme from one Monday morning to the next, the year around, or it will not\nanswer me. 1:338.\n\nThe Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is given in the Old and New\nTestaments, the Book of Mormon, the book of Doctrine and Covenants, and\nin the experience of every true Christian who has lived and still lives\nupon the earth, teaches that it is the privilege of every Saint so to\nlive and walk before their God, as to enjoy the light of the spirit\nof truth-from day to day, from week to week, and from year to year,\nthrough their whole lives. Without this privilege {23} in the Gospel,\nconnected with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, I should be inclined to\nbelieve that the religion that is taught in the Bible and in the\nBook of Mormon, would amount to nothing more than a mere phantom--an\nimaginary thing. It would be inadequate to satisfy, in any degree, the\nmind of man, as it is now organized. 1:233.\n\nWere it not that our bodies have to be fed and clothed, I would propose\nthat we tarry here a few months, to give all a chance to speak, to\nexhort, to pray, to prophesy, to sing, to speak in tongues, or to do\nwhatsoever the Spirit should manifest unto them. But our work is a work\nof the present. The salvation we are seeking is for the present, and\nsought correctly, it can be obtained, and be continually enjoyed. If it\ncontinues to-day, it is upon the same principle that it will continue\nto-morrow, the next day, the next week, or the next year, and, we might\nsay, the next eternity. 1:131.\n\nIt is present salvation and the present influence of the Holy Ghost\nthat we need every day to keep us on saving ground. When an individual\nrefuses to comply with the further requirements of Heaven, then the\nsins he had formerly committed return upon his head; his former\nrighteousness departs from him, and is not accounted to him for\nrighteousness; but if he had continued in righteousness and obedience\nto the requirements of Heaven, he is saved all the time, through\nbaptism, the laying on of hands, and obeying the commandments of\nthe Lord and all that is required of him by the heavens--the living\noracles. He is saved now, next week, next year, and continually, and is\nprepared for the celestial kingdom of God whenever the time comes for\nhim to inherit it. 8:124.\n\nThere is no life more precious than the present life which {24} we enjoy;\nthere is no life that is worth any more to us than this life is. It may\nbe said that an eternal life is worth more. We are in eternity, and\nall that we have to do is to take the road that leads into the eternal\nlives. Eternal life is an inherent quality of the creature, and nothing\nbut sin can put a termination to it. The elements in their nature\nare as eternal as are the gods. Let us learn, under the guidance and\ndirection of Heaven, how to use these eternal elements for the building\nup, establishment and sending forth, of the Kingdom of God, gathering\nup the poor in heart to begin with, and the further things we will\nlearn as we progress. 10:22.\n\nI wish to urge upon the people the necessity of knowing what to\ndo with their present life, which pertains more particularly to\ntemporalities. The very object of our existence here is to handle the\ntemporal elements of this world and subdue the earth, multiplying those\norganisms of plants and animals God has designed shall dwell upon it.\nWhen we have learned to live according to the full value of the life we\nnow possess, we are prepared for eternal advancement in the scale of\neternal progression--for a more glorious and exalted sphere. 9:168.\n\nTradition has taught us that the great purpose of religion is to\nprepare people to die; that when they have passed through a change\nof heart, become converted, then they are ready for glory at any\nmoment and to dwell with the Father and the Son in the heavens to\nall eternity. This is a mistake; for they have to improve, become\nsubstantially changed from bad to good, from sin to holiness, here\nor somewhere else, before they are prepared for the society they\nanticipate enjoying. They would not be nearly so well prepared for the\nsociety of the sanctified in heaven as a person {25} brought up in the\nlowest classes of society would be prepared to present properly and\nconduct himself among the highest and most polished grades of mankind.\nThose who are counted worthy to dwell with the Father and the Son have\npreviously received an education fitting them for that society; they\nhave been made fully acquainted with every pass-word, token and sign\nwhich has enabled them to pass by the porters through the doors into\nthe celestial kingdom. 10:172.\n\nI want present salvation. I preach, comparatively, but little about the\neternities and Gods, and their wonderful works in eternity; and do not\ntell who first made them, nor how they were made; for I know nothing\nabout that. Life is for us, and it is for us to receive it today, and\nnot wait for the Millennium. Let us take a course to be saved today,\nand, when evening comes, review the acts of the day, repent of our\nsins, if we have any to repent of, and say our prayers; then we can lie\ndown and sleep in peace until the morning, arise with gratitude to God,\ncommence the labors of another day, and strive to live the whole day to\nGod and nobody else. 8:124.\n\n_We Must Learn to Support Ourselves_--I am under obligation to\ntake a course which will sustain life within myself and others, on\nrational principles, without any special manifestation from God. 14:111.\n\nI have tried continually to get this people to pursue a course that\nwill make them self-sustaining, taking care of their poor, the lame,\nthe halt and the blind, lifting the ignorant from where they have no\nopportunity of observing the ways of the world, and of understanding\nthe common knowledge possessed among the children of men, bringing them\ntogether from the four quarters of the world, and making {26} of them\nan intelligent, thrifty and self-sustaining people. 12:195.\n\nMy warfare is, and has been for years, to get the people to understand\nthat if they do not take care of themselves they will not be taken care\nof; that if we do not lay the foundation to feed and clothe and shelter\nourselves we shall perish with hunger and with cold; we might also\nsuffer in the summer season from the direct rays of the sun upon our\nnaked and unprotected bodies. 10:200.\n\nI see more and more that there are but very few men and women that are\neven capable of taking care of themselves temporally. 4:314. {27}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\n_THE GODHEAD_\n\n_Our Father in Heaven_--Let every person be the friend of God.\n4:372.\n\nSome believe or conceive the idea that to know God would lessen him in\nour estimation; but I can say that for me to understand any principle\nor being, on earth or in heaven, it does not lessen its true value to\nme, but on the contrary, it increases it; and the more I can know of\nGod, the dearer and more precious he is to me, and the more exalted are\nmy feelings towards him. 13:57.\n\nThere is a Power that has organized all things from the crude matter\nthat floats in the immensity of space. He has given form, motion and\nlife to this material world; has made the great and small lights that\nbespangle the firmament above; has allotted to them their times and\ntheir seasons, and has marked out their spheres. He has caused the air\nand the waters to teem with life, and covered the hills and plains with\ncreeping things, and has made man to be a ruler over his creations. All\nthese wonders are the works of the Almighty Ruler of the universe, in\nwhom we believe and whom we worship. 11:120.\n\nAll the creations are his work, and they are for his glory and for\nthe benefit of the children of men; and all things are put into the\npossession of man for his comfort, improvement and consolation, and for\nhis health, wealth, beauty and excellency. 13:151.\n\nHe is a God of system, order, law, science, and art; a God of knowledge\nand of power. 13:309.\n\nHe is the Father, God, Savior, Maker, Preserver, and {28} Redeemer of\nman. He holds in his hands the issue of all things and will judge every\nman according to his works. 3:259-260.\n\nGod is the source, the fountain of all intelligence, no matter\nwho possesses it, whether man upon the earth, the spirits in the\nspirit-world, the angels that dwell in the eternities of the Gods,\nor the most inferior intelligence among the devils in hell. All have\nderived what intelligence, light, power, and existence they have from\nGod--from the same source from which we have received ours. 8:205.\n\nEvery good and perfect gift cometh from God. Every discovery in science\nand art, that is really true and useful to mankind has been given by\ndirect revelation from God, though but few acknowledge it. It has been\ngiven with a view to prepare the way for the ultimate triumph of truth,\nand the redemption of the earth from the power of sin and Satan. We\nshould take advantage of all these great discoveries, the accumulated\nwisdom of ages, and give to our children the benefit of every branch of\nuseful knowledge, to prepare them to step forward and efficiently do\ntheir part in the great work. 9:369.\n\nHe is our Heavenly Father; he is also our God, and the Maker and\nupholder of all things in heaven and on earth. He sends forth his\ncounsels and extends his providences to all living. He is the Supreme\nController of the universe. At his rebuke the sea is dried up, and the\nrivers become a wilderness. He measures the waters in the hollow of his\nhand, and meteth out heaven with a span, and comprehendeth the dust\nof the earth in a measure, and weigheth the mountains in scales, and\nthe hills in a balance; the nations to him are as a drop in a bucket,\nand he taketh up the isles as a very little thing; the hairs of our\nheads are numbered {29} by him, and not a sparrow falleth to the ground\nwithout our Father; and he knoweth every thought and intent of the\nhearts of all living, for he is everywhere present by the power of his\nSpirit--his minister, the Holy Ghost. He is the Father of all, is above\nall, through all, and in you all; he knoweth all things pertaining to\nthis earth, and he knows all things pertaining to millions of earths\nlike this. 11:41.\n\nWhether they make good or bad use of it, all power is ordained of God\nand is in his hand. He sets up a kingdom here, and pulls down another\nthere at his pleasure. He breaks the nations like a potter's vessel;\nhe forms a nucleus, and around it builds up a kingdom or nation,\npermitting the people to act upon their own agency, that they may do\nright, or corrupt themselves, as did the Children of Israel; and after\nthey have become ripe for destruction, they will be scattered to the\nfour winds. If the people of God in ancient days had continued holy\nthey would have continued in power and authority to this day. 7:148.\n\nIf there is anything that is great and good and wise among men,\nit cometh from God. If there are men who possess great ability as\nstatesmen, or as philosophers, or who possess remarkable scientific\nknowledge and skill, the credit thereof belongs to God, for he\ndispenses it to his children whether they believe in him or not, or\nwhether they sin against him or not; it makes no difference; but all\nwill have to account to him for the way and manner in which they have\nused the talents committed unto them. If we believe the plain, broad\nstatements of the Bible, we must believe that Jesus Christ is the light\nthat lighteth every man that cometh into the world; none are exempt.\n11:123. {30}\n\nThe fulness of the heavens and the earth is the Lord's--the gold and\nthe silver, the wheat, the fine flour, and the cattle upon a thousand\nhills; and when we fully understand his works, we shall know that he\nis in all the earth, and fulfils his will among the children of men,\nexalting and debasing them according to his pleasure, for the systems,\ncreeds, thrones, and kingdoms of the world are all under his control.\n1:49.\n\nWe believe that God is round about all things, above all things, in all\nthings, and through all things: To tell about empty space is to tell of\na space where God is not, and where the wicked might safely hide from\nhis presence. There is not such a thing as empty space. 1:276.\n\nHe is compassionate to all the works of his hands, the plan of his\nredemption, and salvation, and mercy is stretched out over all; and\nhis plans are to gather up, and bring together, and save all the\ninhabitants of the earth, with the exception of those who have received\nthe Holy Ghost, and sinned against it. With this exception, all the\nworld besides shall be saved. 3:92.\n\nWhen the Lord fights the battles of the Saints, he does it so\neffectually that nobody gets nervous but the enemy. 8:235.\n\nNo person deceives the Lord. 16:163.\n\nIt is written that God knows all things and has all power. He has the\nrule and command of this earth, and is the Father of all the human\nbeings that have lived, do live and will live upon it. If any of his\nchildren become heirs to all things, they in their turn can say,\nby-and-by, that they know all things, and they will be called Supreme,\nAlmighty, King of kings, Lord of lords. All this and more that cannot\nenter into our hearts to conceive is promised to {31} the faithful, and\nare but so many stages in that ceaseless progression of eternal lives.\nThis will not detract anything from the glory and might of our Heavenly\nFather. For he will still remain our Father, and we shall still be\nsubject to him, and as we progress in glory and power, the more it\nenhances the glory and power of our Heavenly Father. This principle\nholds good in either state, whether mortal or immortal. 10:5.\n\nAll that the Lord requires of us is a perfect submission in our hearts\nto his will. 18:238.\n\nThe Lord gives us little by little and is ever willing to give us more\nand more, even the fulness, when our hearts are prepared to receive\nall the truths of heaven. This is what the Lord desires, what he would\ndelight in doing, for his children. 18:217.\n\nOur Father in heaven wishes us to preserve that which he gives to us.\n9:169.\n\nHe presides over the worlds on worlds that illuminate this little\nplanet, and millions on millions of worlds that we cannot see; and yet\nhe looks upon the minutest object of his creations; not one of these\ncreatures escapes his notice; and there is not one of them but his\nwisdom and power has produced. 1:39.\n\nI believe in a God who has power to exalt and glorify all who believe\nin him, and are faithful in serving him to the end of their lives,\nfor this make them Gods, even the sons of God, and in this sense also\nthere are Gods many, but to us there is but one God, and one Lord Jesus\nChrist--one Savior who came in the meridian of time to redeem the earth\nand the children of men from the original sin that was committed by our\nfirst parents, and bring to pass the restoration of all things through\nhis death and suffering, open {32} wide to all believers the gates of\nlife and salvation and exaltation to the presence of the Father and the\nSon to dwell with them for evermore. 11:122.\n\nAs I said once to my brethren in the School of the Prophets, I have not\nasked you, I dare not ask you to fulfil almost the first requirement\nof the Kingdom of Heaven, almost the simplest principle, and one of\nthe first things that should be observed. I have not asked the people\nto perform this great labor, I will say it is a great labor, and if I\nwere to refer it to you, you would say the same. You may ask what it\nis? It is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy\nmind and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself. Now, is\nthis not almost one of the first requirements that God has made of his\npeople? And I have not yet required it of the people. Love the Lord\nthy God with all thy heart, and then speak evil of thy neighbor? No!\nNo! Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and speak that which is\nnot true? No, oh, no! Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and\ntake that which is not thy own? No, no, no! Love the Lord thy God with\nall thy heart, and seek after the riches of the world and forsake your\nreligion? No! Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and take his\nname in vain, curse and swear? No, never! If the love of God was really\nin the hearts of all who call themselves Latter-day Saints, there\nwould be no more swearing, no more lying, no more deceiving, no more\nspeaking evil of one another, no more running after the ungodly nor\ndealing with the enemies of Zion, no more running after the gold mines;\nnothing would be sought after, only to build up the Kingdom of God.\nThis we have not yet asked. But we do ask some things. Let us forsake\nthose sins that are so grievous, and let us try to do right before the\nHeavens and with each other. 12:229. {33}\n\nHe has not committed the keys of the results of the acts of the nations\nof the earth to any man on the earth; but that power he retains to\nhimself. 8:31.\n\nWhat is commonly termed idolatry has arisen from a few sincere men,\nfull of faith and having a little knowledge, urging upon a backsliding\npeople to preserve some customs--to cling to some fashions or\nfigures, to put them in mind of that God with whom their fathers were\nacquainted, without designing or wishing the people to worship an\nidol--to worship stocks, stones, beasts, and birds. Idols have been\nintroduced, which are now worshiped, and have been for centuries and\nthousands of years; but they were not introduced at once. They were\nintroduced to preserve among the people the idea of the true God. 6:194.\n\nWe are nothing, only what the Lord makes us. 5:343.\n\nCease bringing the names of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ\ninto disrespect and learn to reverence those names. 7:147.\n\nThe Lord operates upon the principles of continuing to organize, of\nadding to, gathering up, bringing forth, increasing and spreading\nabroad; while the opposite power does not. It shows the nature of his\nopposition to that peculiar trait of Christianity, based upon the\nprinciples of eternal duration, increase, power, glory, and exaltation;\nand points out the difference between the two adverse powers. 1:117.\n\nUnless God blesses our exertions we shall have nothing. It is the Lord\nthat gives the increase. 3:331.\n\nThe God that I serve is progressing eternally, and so are his children:\nthey will increase to all eternity, if they are faithful. 11:286.\n\nIt is written, \"Prove all things, hold fast that which is {34} good.\"\nRefuse evil, choose good, hate iniquity, love truth. All this our\nfathers have done before us; I do not particularly mean Father Adam, or\nhis Father; I do not particularly mean Abraham, or Moses, the Prophets,\nor Apostles, but I mean our fathers who have been exalted for millions\nof years previous to Adam's time. They have all passed through the same\nordeals we are now passing through, and have searched all things, even\nto the depths of hell. 9:243.\n\nThe great architect, manager and superintendent, controller and\ndictator who guides this work is out of sight to our natural eyes.\nHe lives on another world; he is in another state of existence; he\nhas passed the ordeals we are now passing through; he has received\nan experience, has suffered and enjoyed, and knows all that we know\nregarding the toils, sufferings, life and death of this mortality, for\nhe has passed through the whole of it, and has received his crown and\nexaltation and holds the keys and the power of this Kingdom; he sways\nhis scepter, and does his will among the children of men, among Saints\nand among sinners, and brings forth results to suit his purpose among\nkingdoms and nations and empires, that all may redound to his glory and\nto the perfection of his work. 11:249.\n\nHow many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when\nthere were not Gods and worlds, and when men were not passing through\nthe same ordeals that we are now passing through. That course has been\nfrom all eternity, and it is and will be to all eternity. You cannot\ncomprehend this but when you can, it will be to you a matter of great\nconsolation. 7:333.\n\nWherever the human family dwell upon the face of the earth, whether\nthey are savage or civilized, there is a desire implanted within\nthem to worship a great Supreme Ruler, {35} and not knowing him they\nsuppose that through offering worship and sacrifice to their idols they\ncan conciliate his anger which they think they see manifested in the\nthunder, in the lightning, in the storm, in the floods, in the reverses\nof war, in the hand of death, etc., etc.; thus they try to woo his\nprotection and his blessing for victory over their enemies, and at the\ntermination of this life for a place in the heaven their imaginations\nhave created, or tradition has handed down to them. I have much charity\nfor this portion of the human family called heathens or idolators; they\nhave made images to represent to their eyes a power which they cannot\nsee, and desire to worship a Supreme Being through the figure which\nthey have made. 11:120.\n\nWe believe in one God, one Mediator and one Holy Ghost. We cannot\nbelieve for a moment that God is destitute of body, parts, passions, or\nattributes. Attributes can be made manifest only through an organized\npersonage. All attributes are couched in and are the results of\norganized existence. 10:192.\n\nThe Lord is perfectly independent. He has received his glory, he reigns\nsupreme and omnipotent. He is not dependent upon you and me. If every\none of us should apostatize and go down to hell, it would neither add\nto nor diminish from his glory. He would mourn at our folly in turning\naway from the holy commandments and suffering the wrath of the Almighty\nto come upon us; the heavens would weep over us, but still the Lord has\nhis glory, and you and I are not laboring for his benefit. For whose\nbenefit are we laboring? For our own. All my preaching, laboring and\ntoils in this Kingdom have been for myself, to get into the Celestial\nKingdom of God. I have been laboring for that and nothing else, 13:315.\n{36}\n\nRead the history of any kingdom or nation, and trace through all the\nchannels from the history of nations and kingdoms to that of families\nand individuals who have not known God nor observed his commandments,\nand you will find that sorrow and disappointment have been intimately\nmingled in all the gaiety, luxuries, and pretended enjoyments of their\nmortal lives. They have found a bitter sting in their happiest moments\nand a deadly poison in their cups. 6:39.\n\nThere is no influence, truth, or righteousness in the world, only what\nflows from God our Father in the heavens. 5:78.\n\n_Personality and Fatherhood of God_--Some would have us believe\nthat God is present everywhere. It is not so. He is no more everywhere\npresent in person than the Father and Son are one in person. 6:345.\n\nGod is considered to be everywhere present at the same moment; and the\nPsalmist says, \"Whither shall I flee from thy presence?\" He is present\nwith all his creations through his influence, through his government,\nspirit and power, but he himself is a personage of tabernacle, and we\nare made after his likeness. 10:319.\n\nOur God and Father in Heaven, is a being of tabernacle, or, in other\nwords, he has a body, with parts the same as you and I have; and\nis capable of showing forth his works to organized beings, as, for\ninstance, in the world in which we live, it is the result of the\nknowledge and infinite wisdom that dwell in his organized body. His Son\nJesus Christ has become a personage of tabernacle, and has a body like\nhis Father. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Lord, and issues forth\nfrom himself, and may properly be called God's minister to execute his\nwill in immensity; {37} being called to govern by his influence and\npower; but he is not a person of flesh as we are, and as our Father in\nHeaven and Jesus Christ are. 1:50.\n\nThe Kingdom of God on earth is a living, moving, effective institution,\nand is governed, controlled, dictated and led by the invisible God whom\nwe serve who is an exalted, living being, possessing body, parts and\npassions, who listens to the prayers of his Saints, is a reasonable,\nmerciful and intelligent being, who is filled with knowledge and\nwisdom, who is full of light and glory, and the foundations of whose\nthrone are laid in eternal truth; whose personal form is perfect in\nproportion and beauty. He loves the good, and is angry with the wicked\nevery day as it is written in the Scriptures. He hates the evil that\nis done by evil doers, and is merciful to the repenting sinner. He is\nbeloved by all who know him for the attributes he possesses in and\nof himself, in common with all glorified beings who now dwell with\nhim, and who will yet be glorified and crowned with crowns of glory,\nimmortality and eternal lives. 11:251.\n\nIt must be that God knows something about temporal things, and has had\na body and been on an earth. Were it not so, he would not know how to\njudge men righteously, according to the temptations and sin they have\nhad to contend with. 4:271.\n\nOur Father in Heaven begat all the spirits that ever were, or ever will\nbe, upon this earth; and they were born spirits in the eternal world.\nThen the Lord by his power and wisdom organized the mortal tabernacle\nof man. We were made first spiritual, and afterwards temporal. 1:50.\n\nHe is our Father; he is our God, the Father of our spirits; he is the\nframer of our bodies, and set the machine in successful operation\nto bring forth these tabernacles that {38} I now look upon in this\nbuilding, and all that ever did or ever will live on the face of the\nwhole earth. 13:250.\n\nThe Apostles and Prophets, when speaking of our relationship to God,\nsay that we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, God is our\nFather, and Jesus Christ is our Elder Brother, and both are our\neverlasting friends. 6:332.\n\nThe kingdoms he possesses and rules over are his own progeny. Every\nman who is faithful and gets a salvation and glory, and becomes a King\nof kings and Lord of lords, or a Father of fathers, it will be by the\nincrease of his own progeny. Our Father and God rules over his own\nchildren. Wherever there is a God in all the eternities possessing a\nkingdom and glory and power it is by means of his own progeny. 11:262.\n\nMany have tried to penetrate to the First Cause of all things; but it\nwould be as easy for an ant to number the grains of sand on the earth.\nIt is not for man, with his limited intelligence, to grasp eternity in\nhis comprehension. There is an eternity of life, from which we were\ncomposed by the wisdom and skill of Superior Beings. It would be as\neasy for a gnat to trace the history of man back to his origin as for\nman to fathom the First Cause of all things, lift the veil of eternity,\nand reveal the mysteries that have been sought after by philosophers\nfrom the beginning. What then, should be the calling and duty of the\nchildren of men? Instead of inquiring after the origin of Gods--instead\nof trying to explore the depths of eternities that have been, that are,\nand that will be, instead of endeavoring to discover the boundaries\nof boundless space, let them seek to know the object of their present\nexistence, and how to apply, in the most profitable manner for their\nmutual good and salvation, the intelligence they possess. Let them seek\nto {39} know and thoroughly understand things within their reach, and\nto make themselves well acquainted with the object of their being here,\nby diligently seeking unto a super-power for information and by the\ncareful study of the best books. 7:284-5.\n\nGod has given this great variety of intelligence. He has also given\nthis great variety of forms--that eternal variety which we see upon\nthis earth, not only among human beings, but in every class of all the\ncreations of God; and they are all designed to be preserved to all\neternity. None of them were made to be destroyed, except those that do\nnot abide the law given them. 8:8.\n\nI now see before me beings who are in the image of those heavenly\npersonages who are enthroned in glory and crowned with eternal lives in\nthe very image of those beings who organized the earth and its fulness,\nand who constitute the Godhead. 9:246.\n\n_The Son of God_--Our faith is concentrated in the Son of God,\nand through him in the Father; and the Holy Ghost is their minister to\nbring truths to our remembrance, to reveal new truths to us, and teach,\nguide, and direct the course of every mind, until we become perfected\nand prepared to go home, where we can see and converse with our Father\nin Heaven. 6:98.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten\nSon of the Father, who came in the meridian of time, performed his\nwork, suffered the penalty and paid the debt of man's original sin by\noffering up himself, was resurrected from the dead, and ascended to\nhis Father; and as Jesus descended below all things, so he will ascend\nabove all things. We believe that Jesus Christ will come again, as\nit is written of him: \"And while they looked {40} steadfastly toward\nheaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel;\nwhich also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?\nthis same Jesus which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in\nlike manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.\" 11:123.\n\nJesus is our captain and leader; Jesus, the Savior of the world--the\nChrist that we believe in. 14:118.\n\nI testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the\nworld; I have obeyed his sayings, and realized his promise, and the\nknowledge I have of him, the wisdom of this world cannot give, neither\ncan it take away. 18:233.\n\nMy faith is placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and my knowledge I have\nreceived from him. 3:155.\n\nOur Lord Jesus Christ--the Savior, who has redeemed the world and all\nthings pertaining to it, is the Only Begotten of the Father pertaining\nto the flesh. He is our Elder Brother, and the Heir of the family, and\nas such we worship him. He has tasted death for every man, and has paid\nthe debt contracted by our first parents. 12:69.\n\nNone of them have power to produce themselves. Jesus Christ is the Heir\nof this vast family. He said that he had power to lay down his life\nand take it up again; but he had no more power to produce his life,\nin the beginning of his existence, than we have. Every human being is\nendowed, more or less, with eternal intelligence, with the germ of life\neverlasting, of glory immortal. 8:153.\n\nHe did nothing of himself. He wrought miracles and performed a good\nwork on the earth; but of himself he did nothing. He said, \"As I have\nseen my Father do, so do I.\" \"I came not to do my will, but the will of\nhim that sent me.\" We must come to the conclusion that the Son of {41}\nGod did not suggest, dictate, act, or produce any manifestation of his\npower, of his glory, or of his errand upon the earth, only as it came\nfrom the mind and will of his Father. 6:96.\n\nThe Lord has revealed to us a plan by which we may be saved both here\nand hereafter. God has done everything we could ask, and more than we\ncould ask. The errand of Jesus to earth was to bring his brethren and\nsisters back into the presence of the Father; he has done his part of\nthe work, and it remains for us to do ours. There is not one thing that\nthe Lord could do for the salvation of the human family that he has\nneglected to do; and it remains for the children of men to receive the\ntruth or reject it; all that can be accomplished for their salvation,\nindependent of them, has been accomplished in and by the Savior. It\nhas been justly remarked this afternoon that \"Jesus paid the debt;\nhe atoned for the original sin; he came and suffered and died on the\ncross.\" He is now King of kings and Lords of lords, and the time will\ncome when every knee will bow and every tongue confess, to the glory\nof God the Father, that Jesus is the Christ. That very character\nthat was looked upon, not as the Savior, but as an outcast, who was\ncrucified between two thieves and treated with scorn and derision, will\nbe greeted by all men as the only Being through whom they can obtain\nsalvation. 13:59.\n\nJesus was appointed, from the beginning, to die for our redemption, and\nhe suffered an excruciating death on the cross. 8:115.\n\nHe has died to redeem it, and he is the lawful heir pertaining to this\nearth. Jesus will continue to reign with his Father, and is dictated\nby his Father in all his acts and ruling and governing in the building\nup and overthrow of {42} nations, to make the wrath of man praise him,\nuntil he brings all into subjection to his will and government. And\nwhen he has subdued all his enemies, destroyed death and him that hath\nthe power of death, and perfected his work, he will deliver up the\nkingdom spotless to his Father. 7:144.\n\nThe character we have been hearing of is our Savior and Redeemer, the\nSavior of the whole world of mankind, and of all creatures pertaining\nto the earth, and the earth itself, for all will be redeemed by the\nblood of the Son of God. 14:130.\n\nThe moment the atonement of the Savior is done away, that moment,\nat one sweep, the hopes of salvation entertained by the Christian\nworld are destroyed, the foundation of their faith is taken away, and\nthere is nothing left for them to stand upon. When it is gone all the\nrevelations God ever gave to the Jewish nation, to the Gentiles, and to\nus are rendered valueless, and all hope is taken from us at one sweep.\n14:41.\n\nThe knowledge of the character of the Only Begotten of the Father comes\nto us through the testimony, not of disinterested witnesses, but of his\nfriends, those who were most especially and deeply interested for their\nown welfare, and the welfare of their brethren. We have no testimony\nconcerning the Savior's character and works, only from those who were\nthus interested in his welfare and success, and in the building up of\nhis kingdom. It has been often said, if a disinterested witness would\ntestify that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, many might believe his\ntestimony; but no person could be believed, by any intelligent person,\nwho would testify to a matter of such importance, and who would still\nview it as a thing in which he had no interest. But they who are\ninterested, who know the {43} worth of that man and understand the\nspirit and the power of his mission, and the character of the Being\nthat sent and ordained him, are the proper persons to testify of the\ntruth of his mission, and they are the most interested of any living\nupon the earth. So it was with those who bore witness of the Savior,\nand of his mission on the earth. 11:41.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints and every other person who is entitled to\nsalvation, and all except those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost,\nmay know that Jesus is the Christ in the same way that Peter knew it.\nMiracles do not give this knowledge to mankind, though they may serve\nas collateral evidence to strengthen the believer. The miracles of\nJesus were known to the Jews, yet they suffered him to be put to death\nas a deceiver of mankind and one possessed of a devil. 10:193.\n\nWho are the Saints? All those who believe in Jesus Christ and keep his\ncommandments. And who may be Saints? All the inhabitants of the earth,\nfor Jesus said, \"Come unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye\nsaved.\" 10:305.\n\nAll the Lord has called us to do is to renovate our own hearts, then\nour families, extending the principle to neighborhoods, to the earth\nwe occupy, and so continue until we drive the power of Satan from the\nearth and Satan to his own place. That is the work Jesus is engaged in,\nand we will be co-workers with him. 10:173.\n\n\"I and my Father are one,\" says Jesus; what, one body? No, it never\nentered the Savior's mind that such a rendering of this saying would\never enter into the minds of persons holding the least claim to good\nsense. They are no more one person than I and one of my sons are one\nperson. If my son receives my teaching, will walk in the path I {44}\nmark out for him to walk in, if his faith is the same as mine, his\npurpose is the same, and he does the work of his father as Jesus did\nthe work of his Father, then is my son one with me in the scriptural\nsense. 10:192.\n\nInasmuch as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one, the desire of the\nSavior, as manifested in his sayings and teachings, is, that his people\nshould also be one, even as he and his Father are one. 6:97.\n\nAll the works of mankind amount to but little, unless they are\nperformed in the name of the Lord and under the direction of his\nSpirit. Let every man seek to learn the things of God by the\nrevelations of Jesus Christ to himself. 10:1.\n\nJesus undertook to establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth. He\nintroduced the laws and ordinances of the Kingdom. 15:125.\n\nJesus Christ will draw all men unto him, except those who contend\nagainst the power of God and against his Kingdom until they have sealed\ntheir own damnation. 11:238.\n\nJesus fulfilled the obligations he had entered into as the heir of all\nthings pertaining to this earth. 8:115.\n\nWe, the Latter-day Saints, certainly believe that Christ will\naccomplish all that he undertook to do, but he never yet said he would\nsave a sinner in his sins, but that he would save him from his sins.\nHe has instituted laws and ordinances whereby this can be effected.\nThe \"Mormon\" Elder says that he will save all who come to him, all who\nhearken to his word and keep his commandments, and Jesus has said, \"If\nye love me, keep my commandments.\" The \"Mormon\" says, \"I love Jesus,\nand in proof of it I keep his commandments.\" 13:237. {45}\n\nJesus will redeem the last and least of the sons of Adam, except the\nsons of perdition, who will be held in reserve for another time. They\nwill become angels of the Devil. 8:154.\n\nChrist will not cease his labors pertaining to this earth until it is\nredeemed and sanctified, ready to be presented spotless to the Father.\n10:18.\n\nWe believe that Jesus Christ will descend from heaven to earth again\neven as he ascended into heaven. \"Behold, he cometh with clouds, and\nevery eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all\nkindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.\" He will come to\nreceive his own, and rule and reign king of nations as he does king\nof Saints; \"For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his\nfeet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.\" He will banish\nsin from the earth and its dreadful consequences, tears shall be wiped\nfrom every eye and there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all\nGod's holy mountain. 11:123.\n\nThe Savior has not finished his work, and cannot receive the fulness\nof his glory until the influence and power of the wicked are overcome\nand brought into subjection. When the wicked inhabitants of the earth,\nthe beasts of the field, fowls of the air, fish of the sea, all mineral\nsubstances, and all else pertaining to this earth, are overcome, then\nhe will take the kingdom, present it to the Father, and say, \"Here is\nthe work you gave me to do--you made the appointment--I have wrought\nfaithfully, and here are my brethren and sisters who have wrought\nwith me. We have wrought faithfully together; we have overcome the\nflesh, hell and the Devil. I have overcome, they have followed in my\nfootsteps, and here are all thou hast given me; I have lost none,\nexcept the sons of perdition.\" 8:118. {46}\n\nWhen he again visits this earth, he will come to thoroughly purge his\nkingdom from wickedness, and, as ruler of the nations, to dictate and\nadminister to them as the heir to the kingdom; and the Gentiles will\nbe as much mistaken in regard to his second advent as the Jews were in\nrelation to the first. 8:115.\n\nTake a pride in acknowledging the Savior. Train and educate yourselves\nuntil you will take a pride in acknowledging God, the Author of all.\nTake a pride in the religion that makes you pure and holy, and that\nproduces in the heart of every individual who embraces it a feeling\nto be truthful in every word he speaks, to be honest in every act he\nperforms, in all his dealings with his neighbors. Take pride in this\nand fear not the wicked. 12:326.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, simply\nbecause it is true. They believe in baptism for the remission of sins,\npersonal and by proxy; they believe that Jesus is the Savior of the\nworld; they believe that all who attain to any glory whatever, in any\nkingdom, will do so because Jesus has purchased it by his atonement.\n13:323.\n\n_The Holy Ghost_--The Holy Ghost, we believe, is one of the\ncharacters that form the Trinity, or the Godhead. Not one person in\nthree, nor three persons in one; but the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost\nare one in essence, as the hearts of three men who are united in all\nthings. He is one of the three characters we believe in, whose office\nit is to administer to those of the human family who love the truth.\nI have stated that they are one, as the hearts of three men might be\none. Lest you should mistake me, I will say that I do not wish you to\nunderstand that the Holy Ghost is a personage having a tabernacle, like\nthe Father and the Son; {47} but he is God's messenger that diffuses\nhis influence through all the works of the Almighty. 6:95.\n\nNot a desire, act, wish, or thought does the Holy Ghost indulge in\ncontrary to that which is dictated by the Father. 6:95.\n\nNow ask yourselves whether you believe that the Holy Ghost ever\ncommenced to produce a work or an effect before it was in the heart and\nmind of that Being we call our Heavenly Father. Do you think that the\nHoly Ghost ever thought of dictating that Being we call our God? This\nwhole people have learned enough upon this subject to answer at once,\nthat we do not believe that the Holy Ghost ever dictated, suggested,\nmoved, or pretended to offer a plan, except that which the Eternal\nFather dictated. 6:95.\n\nThough a man should say but a few words, and his sentences and words be\never so ungrammatical, if he speaks by the power of the Holy Ghost, he\nwill do good. 8:120.\n\nI have proven to my satisfaction, according to the best knowledge I\ncan gather, that man can be deceived by the sight of the natural eye,\nhe can be deceived by the hearing of the ear, and by the touch of the\nhand; that he can be deceived in all of what is called the natural\nsenses. But there is one thing in which he cannot be deceived. What is\nthat? It is the operations of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit and power of\nGod upon the creature. It teaches him of heavenly things; it directs\nhim in the way of life; it affords him the key by which he can test the\ndevices of man, and which recommends the things of God. Not only the\nSaints who are present, and who gathered to Zion, but those of every\nnation, continent, or island who live the religion taught by our Savior\nand his Apostles, and also by Joseph Smith; they also bear the same\ntestimony, their eyes have {48} been quickened by the Spirit of God,\nand they see alike, their hearts have been quickened, and they feel and\nunderstand alike, and there are no disputations among them with regard\nto the doctrines of the Savior. 18:230.\n\nAgain it is asked:--\"Is the Holy Ghost given in this age of the world?\"\nYes, but they could not send men to Joppa for Peter, for behold there\nwas no Peter, or men possessing the holy Priesthood, to send for,\nneither has there been since the church lost the holy Priesthood,\nuntil it was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Cornelius did\nnot belong to the House of Israel, yet he received the Holy Ghost.\nContinue this history, and what does it give to us? It gives to us the\nkey of knowledge with regard to receiving the Holy Ghost through the\nordinances of the Gospel, that it is free to all, Jew and Gentile, as\nPeter exclaimed when Cornelius had related to him how he was instructed\nto send men to Joppa: \"Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter\nof persons; but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh\nrighteousness, is accepted of him.\" 10:322.\n\nWithout the power of the Holy Ghost a person is liable to go to the\nright or the left from the straight path of duty; they are liable to\ndo things they are sorry for; they are liable to make mistakes; and\nwhen they try to do their best, behold they do that which they dislike.\n10:289.\n\nI want to see men and women breathe the Holy Ghost in every breath\nof their lives, living constantly in the light of God's countenance.\n9:288-289. {49}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\n_THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN GOD AND MAN_\n\n_The Spirit of God_--God is here: his influence fills immensity.\nHe has his messengers throughout all the works of his hands. He watches\nevery one of his creatures; their acts, their affections, and thoughts\nare all known to him; for his intelligence and power fill immensity.\nNot that his person does, but his Spirit does; and he is here teaching,\nguiding and directing the nations of the earth. 7:159.\n\nThe Spirit of the Lord enlightens every man that comes into the world.\nThere is no one that lives upon the earth but what is, more or less,\nenlightened by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. It is said of him, that he\nis the light of the world. He lighteth every man that comes into the\nworld and every person, at times, has the light of the spirit of truth\nupon him. 14:201.\n\nI do not believe for one moment that there has been a man or woman upon\nthe face of the earth, from the days of Adam to this day, who has not\nbeen enlightened, instructed, and taught by the revelations of Jesus\nChrist. \"What! the ignorant heathen?\" Yes, every human being who has\npossessed a sane mind. I am far from believing that the children of\nmen have been deprived of the privilege of receiving the Spirit of the\nLord to teach them right from wrong. No matter what the traditions of\ntheir fathers were, those who were honest before the Lord, and acted\nuprightly, according to the best knowledge they had, will have an\nopportunity to go into the Kingdom of God. I believe this privilege\nbelonged to the sons and daughters of {50} Adam, and descended from\nhim, and his children who were contemporary with him, throughout all\ngenerations. 2:139.\n\nAll who would understand the things of God must understand them by the\nSpirit of God. 8:115.\n\nI will, in the commencement of my remarks, take up a subject upon\nwhich much has been said in the pulpit and in the chimney corner.\nIt is regarding the Spirit of the Lord manifesting his will to his\nchildren. There is no doubt, if a person lives according to the\nrevelations given to God's people, he may have the Spirit of the Lord\nto signify to him his will, and to guide and to direct him in the\ndischarge of his duties, in his temporal as well as his spiritual\nexercises. I am satisfied, however, that in this respect, we live\nfar beneath our privileges. If this is true, it is necessary that we\nbecome more fervent in the service of God--in living our religion--and\nmore truthful and honest with one another, that we be not slack in the\nperformance of any duty, but labor with a right good will for God and\ntruth. If this people, called Latter-day Saints, live beneath their\nprivileges in the holy Gospel of the Son of God, are they justified in\nevery respect before him? They are not. If we do not live in the lively\nexercise of faith in the Lord Jesus, possessing his Spirit always,\nhow can we know when he speaks to us through his servants whom he has\nplaced to lead us? 12:104.\n\nThe light of the Spirit upon the hearts and understandings of some\nLatter-day Saints, is like the peeping of the stars through the broken\nshingles of the roof over our heads, when we are watching through the\nsilent watches of the night and behold the glimmer of a twinkling star.\n15:3.\n\nNo man can gain influence in this Kingdom, and maintain {51} himself in\nit, or magnify his calling, without the power of God being with him.\nPersons must so live that they can enjoy the light of the Holy Spirit,\nor they will have no confidence in themselves, in their religion, or in\ntheir God, and will sooner or later turn from the faith. 8:65.\n\nYou need the Spirit of the Almighty to look through a man and discern\nwhat is in his heart, while his face smiles upon you and his words flow\nas smoothly as oil. 3:225.\n\nThrust a man into prison and bind him with chains, and then let him\nbe filled with the comfort and with the glory of eternity, and that\nprison is a palace to him. Again, let a man be seated upon a throne\nwith power and dominion in this world, ruling his millions and millions\nand without that peace which flows from the Lord of Hosts--without that\ncontentment and joy that comes from heaven, his palace is a prison; his\nlife is a burden to him; he lives in fear, in dread, and in sorrow. But\nwhen a person is filled with the peace and power of God, all is right\nwith him. 5:1-2.\n\nThere are men of talent, of thought, of reflection, and knowledge in\nall cunning mechanism; they are expert in that, though they do not know\nfrom whence they receive their intelligence. The Spirit of the Lord has\nnot yet entirely done striving with the people, offering them knowledge\nand intelligence; consequently, it reveals unto them, instructs them,\nteaches them, and guides them even in the way they like to travel.\nMen know how to construct railroads and all manner of machinery; they\nunderstand cunning workmanship, etc.; but that is all revealed to them\nby the Spirit of the Lord, though they know it not. 5:124.\n\nI rejoice in the privilege of meeting with the Saints, in hearing\nthem speak, and in enjoying the influence that is within and around\nthem. That influence opens to my {52} understanding the true position\nof those who are endeavoring to serve their God. I do not require to\nhear them speak to enable me to know their feelings. Is it not also\nyour experience that, when you meet persons in the streets, in your\nhouses, in your offices, or in your workshops, more or less of an\ninfluence attends them which conveys more than words can? By this the\nFather knows his children, Jesus knows his brethren, and the angels\nare acquainted with those who delight to associate with them and with\nthose who hate them. This knowledge is obtained through that invisible\ninfluence which attends intelligent beings, and betrays the atmosphere\nin which they delight to live. 8:57.\n\nWithout the light of the Spirit of Christ, no person can truly enjoy\nlife. 8:66.\n\nNow, my friends, brethren and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, how do\nyou know anything? Can you be deceived by the eye? You can, you have\nproved this; you all know that there are men who can deceive the\nsight of the eye, no matter how closely you observe their movements.\nCan you be deceived in hearing? Yes; you may hear sounds but not\nunderstand their import or whence they come. Can you be deceived by\nthe touch of the finger? You can. The nervous system will not detect\neverything. What will? The revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, the\nspirit of truth will detect everything, and enable all who possess it\nto understand truth from error, light from darkness, the things of God\nfrom the things not of God. It is the only thing that will enable us\nto understand the Gospel of the Son of God, the will of God, and how\nwe can be saved. Follow it, and it will lead to God, the Fountain of\nlight, where the gate will be open, and the mind will be enlightened so\nthat we shall see, know and understand things as they are. 13:336. {53}\n\nThere is not a man upon the earth who can magnify even an earthly\noffice, without the power and wisdom of God to aid him. 10:42.\n\nThe eloquence of angels never can convince any person that God\nlives and makes truth the habitation of his throne, independent of\nthat eloquence being clothed with the power of the Holy Ghost; in\nthe absence of this, it would be a combination of useless sounds.\nWhat is it that convinces man? It is the influence of the Almighty,\nenlightening his mind, giving instruction to the understanding, when\nthat which inhabits this body, that which came from the regions of\nGlory, is enlightened by the influence, power and Spirit of the Father\nof light, it swallows up the organization which pertains to this world.\n1:90.\n\nThose who love righteousness and possess the Spirit of God, those who\ndelight to do good can remember good. They can remember every good\nprinciple and every good act. 3:358.\n\nWhat causes this people to do as they do? It is written, \"But there\nis a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them\nunderstanding.\" It is a spirit that causes this people to do what\nthey do--to leave their native countries, to leave their fathers and\nmothers, brethren and sisters, and take up their line of march and\ntravel thousands of miles to this distant country; and then, when\nselected for missions, again to leave their fathers, mothers, and\nfriends, and travel back to their native lands, or to some other place,\nwherever they are appointed to go. We cannot behold that spirit and\ninfluence with our natural eyes. The results alone are known. 8:174.\n\nYou hearken to that still small voice that whispers eternal truth,\nthat opens the visions of eternity to you that you {54} can discern,\nunderstand and follow, and the foul spirits that throng the air, and\nthat fill our houses if we let them in, will not have power over you.\n15:7.\n\nEvery individual that lives according to the laws that the Lord has\ngiven to his people, and has received the blessings that he has in\nstore for the faithful, should be able to know the things of God from\nthe things which are not of God, the light from the darkness, that\nwhich comes from heaven and that which comes from somewhere else. This\nis the satisfaction and the consolation that the Latter-day Saints\nenjoy by living their religion; this is the knowledge which every one\nwho thus lives possesses. 16:163.\n\nNow, I ask the wise, where did you get your wisdom? Was it taught you?\nYes, I say it was taught you. By your professors in college? No, it\nwas taught you by the influence of the spirit that is in man, and the\ninspiration of the Spirit of God giveth it understanding; and every\ncreature can thus add intelligence to intelligence. 13:172.\n\n_Revelation_--No person can receive a knowledge of this work,\nexcept by the power of revelation. 8:315.\n\nThe spirit of revelation, even the spirit of eternal life, is within\nthat person who lives so as to bear properly the yoke of Jesus. The\nheavens are open to such persons, and they see and understand things\nthat pertain to eternity, and also the things that pertain to this\nearth. 8:206.\n\nThe spirit of revelation attends the Gospel, and without that spirit no\nman can understand it. 8:130.\n\nMany of the first revelations given to Joseph were of a temporal\ncharacter, pertaining to a literal kingdom on the earth. And most of\nthe revelations he received in the early part of his ministry pertained\nto what the few around him should do in this or in that case--when and\nhow they should {55} perform their duties; at the same time calling\nupon them to preach the Gospel and diffuse the spirit and principles of\nthe Kingdom of God, that their eyes might be open to see and gather the\npeople together that they might begin and organize a literal, temporal\norganization on the earth. 6:171.\n\nHow can you know the Latter-day work to be true? You can know it only\nby the spirit of revelation direct from heaven.\n\nWhat proved this work true to you in England, Ireland, Scotland,\nGermany, France, the United States, etc.? Was it not the spirit of\nrevelation that rested upon you? Then why should you lose the spirit?\nYou should add to it day by day; you should add as the Lord gives--a\nlittle here and a little there, and treasure up truth in your faith\nand understanding, until you become perfect before the Lord and are\nprepared to receive the further things of the Kingdom of God. 7:159-160.\n\nThis principle we are in possession of, and it should be nourished and\ncherished by us; it is the principle of revelation, or, if you like the\nterm better, of foreseeing. There are those who possess fore-knowledge,\nwho do not believe as we believe with regard to the establishment of\nthe Kingdom of God on the earth. Take the statesman, for instance: he\nhas a certain degree of knowledge with regard to the results of the\nmeasures which he may recommend, but does he know whence he derived\nthat knowledge? No. He may say: \"I foresee if we take this course we\nshall perpetuate our government and strengthen it, but if we take the\nopposite course we will destroy it.\" But can he tell whence he has\nreceived that wisdom and fore-knowledge? He cannot. Yet that is the\ncondition of the statesmen in the nations of {56} the earth. If the\nphilosopher can gaze into the immensity of space, and understand how\nto fashion and make glasses that will magnify a million times, that\nknowledge comes from the Fountain of knowledge. A man of the world may\nsay: \"I can foresee, I can understand, I can frame an engine, make a\ntrack, and run that engine upon it, bearing along a train of loaded\ncars at the rate of forty, fifty, or sixty miles an hour.\" Another\nmay say: \"I can take the lightning, convey it on wires, and speak to\nforeign nations.\" But where do they get this wisdom? From the same\nsource where you and I get our wisdom and our knowledge of God and\ngodliness. 12:112-13.\n\nBut we should all live so that the Spirit of revelation could dictate\nand write on the heart and tell us what we should do, instead of the\ntraditions of our parents and teachers. But to do this we must become\nlike little children; and Jesus says if we do not we cannot enter the\nkingdom of heaven. How simple it is! Live free from envy, malice,\nwrath, strife, bitter feelings, and evil speaking in our families and\nabout our neighbors and friends and all the inhabitants of the earth,\nwherever we meet them. Live so that our consciences are free, clean and\nclear. 14:161.\n\nNo man can know Jesus the Christ except it be revealed from heaven to\nhim. 14:199.\n\nNo earthly argument, no earthly reasoning can open the minds of\nintelligent beings and show them heavenly things; that can only be done\nby the Spirit of revelation. 18:249.\n\nWhen the Spirit of revelation from God inspires a man, his mind is\nopened to behold the beauty, order, and glory of the creation of this\nearth and its inhabitants, the object of its creation, and the purpose\nof its Creator in peopling it with his children. He can then clearly\nunderstand that {57} our existence here is for the sole purpose of\nexaltation and restoration to the presence of our Father and God, where\nwe may progress endlessly in the power of godliness. After the mind has\nthus been illuminated, the ignorance and blindness of the great mass of\nmankind are more apparent. Yet there is no son or daughter of Adam and\nEve who has not incorporated in his organization the priceless gem of\nendless life, for the endless duration and endless lives which they are\napproaching. 9:256.\n\nWithout the revelations of God we know not who we are, whence we came,\nnor who formed the earth on which we live, move and have our being. Did\nI bring the particles of matter together and form the earth? No. Did\nyou, Mr. Philosopher? No? Did you Mr. Infidel, or you Mr. Christian,\nPagan or Jew? No, not any of us. We know that we are here, but who\nbrought us here, or how we came are questions the solution of which\ndepends upon a power superior to ours. The ideas of the inhabitants\nof the earth with regard to the destiny of the earth, are very crude\nand vague. But we must all acknowledge that some individual, being,\npower or influence superior to ourselves produced us and the earth and\nbrought us forth and holds us in existence, and causes the revolutions\nof the earth and of the planetary system. These are facts that neither\nwe nor all mankind can controvert; the whole Christian and even the\nheathen world will acknowledge all this; but what do they know about\nit? Who understands the modus operandi by which all this was brought\nabout and continued? Who is able to leap forth into the immensity\nof thought, space, contemplation and research, and search out the\nprinciples by which we are here and by which we are sustained? The\nstrangest phenomenon to the inhabitants of the earth today {58} is that\nGod, the maker and preserver of the earth and all it contains, should\nspeak from heaven to his creatures, the works of his hands here. What\nwould there be strange in the mechanician, after constructing the most\nbeautiful and ingenious piece of mechanism it is possible to conceive\nof, speaking to it and admiring the beauty, regularity and order of its\nmotions? Nothing whatever. Well, to me it is not at all strange that\nhe who framed and fashioned this beautiful world and all the myriads\nand varieties of organizations it contains, should come and visit them;\nto me this is perfectly natural, and when we remember and compare the\nbelief of this people with that of the rest of the world we need not be\nsurprised at being considered \"a strange people.\" 13:234.\n\nHow do we know that prophets wrote the word of the Lord? By revelation.\nHow do we know that Joseph Smith was called of God to establish his\nKingdom upon the earth? By revelation. How do we know that the leaders\nof this people teach the truth? By revelation. How do we know the\ndoctrine of baptism for the remission of sins to be true? It is written\nin the Bible; but the Christian world deny it, because it is not\nmanifested to them by the revelations of the Lord Jesus. 14:209.\n\nWithout revelation direct from heaven, it is impossible for any person\nto understand fully the plan of salvation. We often hear it said that\nthe living oracles must be in the Church, in order that the Kingdom of\nGod may be established and prosper on the earth. I will give another\nversion of this sentiment. I say that the living oracles of God, or the\nSpirit of revelation must be in each and every individual, to know the\nplan of salvation and keep in the path that leads them to the presence\nof God. 9:279. {59}\n\nThis people believe in revelation. This people did believe and do\nbelieve that the Lord has spoken from the heavens. They did believe and\ndo believe that God has sent angels to proclaim the everlasting Gospel,\naccording to the testimony of John. It was this that gave rise to the\nmalice, hatred and vindictive feelings that have been so often made\nmanifest against them. 12:282.\n\nWhen a revelation is given to any people, they must walk according to\nit, or suffer the penalty which is the punishment of disobedience, but\nwhen the word is, \"will you do thus and so?\" \"it is the mind and will\nof God that you perform such and such a duty;\" the consequences of\ndisobedience are not so dreadful, as they would be if the word of the\nLord were to be written under the declaration, \"Thus saith the Lord.\"\n12:127.\n\nInstead of considering that there is nothing known and understood,\nonly as we know and understand things naturally, I take the other side\nof the question, and believe positively that there is nothing known\nexcept by the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether in theology,\nscience, or art. 12:207.\n\nIt pleases me a little to think how anxious this people are for new\nrevelation. I wish to ask you a question: Do this people know whether\nthey have received any revelation since the death of Joseph, as a\npeople? I can tell you that you receive them continually. 6:282.\n\nAll the revelations of God teach simply this--son, daughter, you\nare the workmanship of mine hands; walk and live before me in\nrighteousness; let your conversations be chaste; let your daily\ndeportment be according to my law; let your dealings one with another\nbe in justice and equity; let my character be sacred in your mouth, and\ndo {60} not profane my holy name and trample upon my authority; do not\ndespise any of my sayings, for I will not be disgraced. 6:284-85.\n\nIt has been observed that the people want revelation. This is a\nrevelation; and were it written, it would then be written revelation,\nas truly as the revelations which are contained in the book of Doctrine\nand Covenants. I could give you revelation upon the subject of paying\nyour tithing and building a temple to the name of the Lord; for the\nlight is in me. I could put these revelations as straight to the line\nof truth in writing as any revelation you ever read. I could write the\nmind of the Lord, and you could put it in your pockets. But before we\ndesire more written revelation, let us fulfil the revelations that are\nalready written, and which we have scarcely begun to fulfil. 6:319.\n\nIn every part and portion of the revelations of God as given to the\nchildren of men, or to any individual in heaven or on earth, to\nunderstand them properly, a man needs the Spirit by which they were\ngiven--the Spirit that reveals such matters to the understanding, and\nmakes them familiar to the mind. 8:27.\n\nThere are revelations, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding yet to be\nproclaimed. 8:59.\n\n\"Well, Brother Brigham, have you had visions?\" Yes, I have. \"Have you\nhad revelations?\" Yes, I have them all the time, I live constantly by\nthe principle of revelation. I never received one iota of intelligence,\nfrom the letter A to what I now know, I mean that, from the very\nstart of my life to this time, I have never received one particle of\nintelligence, only by revelation, no matter whether father or mother\nrevealed it, or my sister, or neighbor.\n\nNo person receives knowledge, only upon the principle {61} of\nrevelation, that is, by having something revealed to them. \"Do you have\nthe revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ?\" I will leave that for others\nto judge. If the Lord requires anything of this people, and speaks\nthrough me, I will tell them of it; but if he does not, still we all\nlive by the principle of revelation. Who reveals? Everybody around us;\nwe learn of each other. I have something which you have not, and you\nhave something which I have not; I reveal what I have to you, and you\nreveal what you have to me. I believe that we are revelators to each\nother. Are the heavens opened? Yes, to some at times, yet upon natural\nprinciples upon the principle of natural philosophy. \"Do you know the\nwill and mind of the Lord?\" Yes, concerning this people, and concerning\nmyself. Does every one of my brethren and sisters know the will of\nthe Lord? Let me say to the Latter-day Saints, if they will take up\ntheir cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ in the regeneration, many\nof them will receive more, know more, and have more of the Spirit of\nrevelation than they are aware of; but the revelations which I receive\nare all upon natural principles. 3:209.\n\nI am so far from believing that any government upon this earth has\nconstitutions and laws that are perfect, that I do not even believe\nthat there is a single revelation, among the many God has given to the\nChurch, that is perfect in its fulness. The revelations of God contain\ncorrect doctrine and principle, so far as they go; but it is impossible\nfor the poor, weak, low, grovelling, sinful inhabitants of the earth to\nreceive a revelation from the Almighty in all its perfections. He has\nto speak to us in a manner to meet the extent of our capacities, as we\nhave to do with these benighted Lamanites; it would be of no benefit\nto talk to them as I am now speaking to you. Before you can enter into\n{62} conversation with them, give them your ideas, you are under the\nnecessity of condescending to their low estate, so far as communication\nis concerned, in order to exalt them. 2:314.\n\nThe construction of the electric telegraph and the method of using\nit enabling the people to send messages from one end of the earth to\nthe other, is just as much a revelation from God as any ever given.\nThe same is true with regard to making machinery, whether it be a\nsteamboat, a carding machine, threshing machine, or anything else, it\nmakes no difference--these things have existed from all eternity and\nwill continue to all eternity, and the Lord has revealed them to his\nchildren. 13:305.\n\nMany are pleading for revelations; do you suppose that Saints lack\nrevelations? They have plenty of them, and they are stored in the\narchives of those who have understanding of the principles of the\nPriesthood, ready to be brought forth as the people need. 3:337.\n\nMen who know nothing of the Priesthood receive revelation and prophecy,\nand yet these gifts belong to the Church, and those who are faithful\nin the Kingdom of God inherit them and are entitled to them; and all\nought to live so as to enjoy the spirit of these gifts and callings\ncontinually. 11:325.\n\nShould you receive a vision or revelation from the Almighty, one that\nthe Lord gave you concerning yourselves, or this people, but which\nyou are not to reveal on account of your not being the proper person,\nor because it ought not to be known by the people at present, you\nshould shut it up and seal it as close, and lock it as tight as heaven\nis to you, and make it as secret as the grave. The Lord has no {63}\nconfidence in those who reveal secrets, for he cannot safely reveal\nhimself to such persons. 4:288.\n\nTake a course to open and keep open a communication with your Elder\nBrother or file-leader--our Savior. Were I to draw a distinction in\nall the duties that are required of the children of men, from first\nto last, I would place first and foremost the duty of seeking unto\nthe Lord our God until we open the path of communication from heaven\nto earth--from God to our own souls. Keep every avenue of your hearts\nclean and pure before him. 8:339.\n\nThat man who cannot know things without telling any other living being\nupon the earth, who cannot keep his secrets and those that God reveals\nto him, never can receive the voice of his Lord to dictate him and the\npeople on this earth. 4:287.\n\nIt was asked me by a gentleman how I guided the people by revelation. I\nteach them to live so that the Spirit of revelation may make plain to\nthem their duty day by day that they are able to guide themselves. To\nget this revelation it is necessary that the people live so that their\nspirits are as pure and clean as a piece of blank paper that lies on\nthe desk before the inditer, ready to receive any mark the writer may\nmake upon it. 11:240.\n\nYes, my brethren and sisters here, both men and women, have revelation,\nand I can say with Moses of old--\"Would God that all the Lord's people\nwere prophets.\" 1:242.\n\n_Angels_--There is a difference of opinion as to getting the word\nof the Lord; but if you will read and cultivate the Spirit of God,\nyou will understand how it is obtained. The Lord is not everywhere in\nperson; but he has his agents speaking and acting for him. His angels,\nhis messengers, his apostles and servants are appointed and authorized\nto {64} act in his name. And his servants are authorized to counsel\nand dictate in the greatest and what might be deemed the most trifling\nmatters, to instruct, direct and guide his Saints. 12:245.\n\nThe Lord is here with us, not in person, but his angels are around\nus, and he takes cognizance of every act of the children of men,\nas individuals and as nations. He is here ready by his agents, the\nangels, and by the power of his Holy Spirit and Priesthood, which he\nhas restored in these last days, to bring most perfect and absolute\ndeliverance unto all who put their trust in him, when they are ready to\nreceive it. 11:14.\n\nWhen an angel is appointed to perform a duty, to go to the earth,\nto preach the Gospel, or to do anything for the advancement of his\nFather's kingdom in any part of the great domain of heaven, the vision\nof that angel is opened to see and understand the magnitude of the work\nthat is expected of him to perform, and the grand results which will\ngrow out of it. That is the reason why the angels are of one heart and\nof one mind, in their faithfulness and obedience to the requirements\nof their Father and God. They can desire and ask for nothing that will\nmake them happy, good and great that is withheld from them; and life\neternal is theirs. Why, then, should they not be of one heart and of\none mind? They see alike, understand alike, and know alike, and all\nthings are before them, and, as far as their knowledge and experience\nextend, they see the propriety of all the works of God, and the harmony\nand beauty thereof. 11:15.\n\nWhat is the difference between Saints of God and an angel of God? One\nis clothed upon with mortality, the other has passed through mortality\nand has received the {65} celestial glory of our Heavenly Father,\nand is free from the contaminating influences of sin that we have to\ncontend with. 19:66.\n\nThere is much in my presence besides those who sit here, if we had eyes\nto see the heavenly beings that are in our presence. 8:207.\n\nWhen the Lord commands those invisible beings, shall I say, those who\nhave had their resurrection?--yes, millions and millions more than the\ninhabitants of this earth, they can fight your battles. 2:255.\n\n_Prayer_--Let all persons be fervent in prayer, until they know\nthe things of God for themselves and become certain that they are\nwalking in the path that leads to everlasting life; then will envy,\nthe child of ignorance, vanish and there will be no disposition in\nany man to place himself above another; for such a feeling meets no\ncountenance in the order of heaven. Jesus Christ never wanted to be\ndifferent from his Father. They were and are one. If a people are led\nby the revelations of Jesus Christ, and they are cognizant of the fact\nthrough their faithfulness, there is no fear but they will be one in\nJesus Christ, and see eye to eye. 9:150.\n\nIf we draw near to him, he will draw near to us; if we seek him early,\nwe shall find him; if we apply our minds faithfully and diligently day\nby day, to know and understand the mind and will of God, it is as easy\nas, yes, I will say easier than, it is to know the minds of each other,\nfor to know and understand ourselves and our own being is to know and\nunderstand God and his being. 13:312.\n\nPractice your religion today, and say your prayers faithfully. 16:28.\n\nThe duty of the Latter-day Saints is to pray without {66} ceasing, and\nin everything to give thanks, to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in\nall things, and to be subject to his requirements. 15:63.\n\nLet every man and every woman call upon the name of the Lord, and that,\ntoo, from a pure heart, while they are at work as well as in their\ncloset; while they are in public as well as while they are in private,\nasking the Father in the name of Jesus, to bless them, and to preserve\nand guide in, and to teach them, the way of life and salvation and to\nenable them so to live that they will obtain this eternal salvation\nthat we are after. 15:63.\n\nThe Lord says, I will be sought unto by my people for the blessings\nthat they need. And instead of our classing prayer among the duties\ndevolving upon us as Latter-day Saints, we should live so as to deem it\none of the greatest privileges accorded to us; for were it not for the\nefficacy of prayer what would have become of us both as a people and as\nindividuals? 19:222.\n\nYou know that it is one peculiarity of our faith and religion never to\nask the Lord to do a thing without being willing to help him all that\nwe are able; and then the Lord will do the rest. 5:293.\n\nI shall not ask the Lord to do what I am not willing to do. 8:143.\n\nDo not ask God to give you knowledge, when you are confident that you\nwill not keep and rightly improve upon that knowledge. 3:338.\n\nI pray both for my friends and for my enemies, that, if they will not\nrepent, the earth may be speedily emptied of the ungodly. 4:346.\n\nIf I ask him to give me wisdom concerning any requirement in life, or\nin regard to my own course, or that of my {67} friends, my family, my\nchildren, or those that I preside over, and get no answer from him, and\nthen do the very best that my judgment will teach me, he is bound to\nown and honor that transaction, and he will do so to all intents and\npurposes. 3:205.\n\nWhen you approach the throne of grace and petition the Father, in the\nname of the Savior who has redeemed the world, do you use the name\nas the name of a stranger? If you understand your own religion, you\npetition that Personage as you would one of your brethren in the flesh.\nIs this strange to you? It should bring near to you things that pertain\nto eternity, give your reflections and views a more exalted cast, stamp\nyour daily actions with truth and honesty, and cause you to be filled\nwith the Spirit and power of God. 7:274-5.\n\nYour prayers cannot prevail if there is disunion among you. 5:331.\n\nI do not know any other way for the Latter-day Saints than for every\nbreath to be virtually a prayer for God to guide and direct his people,\nand that he will never suffer us to possess anything that will be an\ninjury to us. I am satisfied that this should be the feeling of every\nLatter-day Saint in the world. If you are making a bargain, if you are\ntalking in the house, visiting in the social party, going forth in the\ndance, every breath should virtually be a prayer that God will preserve\nus from sin and from the effects of sin. 10:313.\n\nLet us be humble, fervent, submissive, yielding ourselves to the will\nof the Lord, and there is no danger but that we shall have his Spirit\nto guide us. If we will open our lips and call upon our Heavenly\nFather, in the name of Jesus, we will have the spirit of prayer. I have\nproved this to be {68} the best way. If we do everything in the season\nthereof, attending to our prayers and daily labors in their proper\norder and at the right time, all will go well. 13:155.\n\nWhen you get up in the morning, before you suffer yourselves to eat one\nmouthful of food, call your wife and children together, bow down before\nthe Lord, ask him to forgive your sins, and protect you through the\nday, to preserve you from temptation and all evil, to guide your steps\naright, that you may do something that day that shall be beneficial\nto the Kingdom of God on the earth. Have you time to do this? Elders,\nsisters, have you time to pray? 15:36.\n\nSay your prayers always before going to work. Never forget that. A\nfather--the head of the family--should never miss calling his family\ntogether and dedicating himself and them to the Lord of Hosts, asking\nthe guidance and direction of his Holy Spirit to lead them through the\nday--that very day. Lead us this day, guide us this day, preserve us\nthis day, save us from sinning against thee or any being in heaven or\non earth this day! If we do this every day, the last day we live we\nwill be prepared to enjoy a higher glory. 12:261.\n\nWe may say that our work drives us and that we have not time to pray,\nhardly time to eat our breakfasts. Then let the breakfasts go, and\npray; get down upon our knees and pray until we are filled with the\nspirit of peace. 10:174.\n\nIt matters not whether you or I feel like praying, when the time\ncomes to pray, pray. If we do not feel like it, we should pray till\nwe do. And if there is a heavy storm coming on and our hay is likely\nto be wet, let it come. You will find that those who wait till the\nSpirit-bids them pray, will never pray much on this earth. Such people\nwould come to meeting and look at each other and then when they had\n{69} stayed as long as they felt inclined, address their brethren\nwith--\"Goodbye, I am going home,\" and then leave. But when the time\ncomes to have prayers, let them be made, and there will be no danger.\n13:155.\n\nThere are times and places when all should vocally repeat the words\nspoken, but in our prayer meetings and in our family circles let every\nheart be united with the one who takes the lead by being mouth before\nthe Lord, and let every person mentally repeat the prayers, and all\nunite in whatever is asked for, and the Lord will not withhold, but\nwill give to such persons the things which they ask for and rightly\nneed. 3:53.\n\nSome of the brethren come to me and say, \"Brother Brigham, is it my\nduty to pray when I have not one particle of the spirit of prayer in\nme?\" True, at times, men are perplexed and full of care and trouble,\ntheir ploughs and other implements are out of order, their animals have\nstrayed and a thousand things perplex them; yet our judgment teaches us\nthat it is our duty to pray, whether we are particularly in the spirit\nof praying or not. My doctrine is, it is your duty to pray; and when\nthe time for prayer comes, John should say, \"This is the place and\nthis is the time to pray; knees bend down upon the floor, and do so at\nonce.\" But John said, \"I do not want to pray; I do not feel like it.\"\nKnees get down, I say; and down bend the knees, and he begins to think\nand reflect. Can you say anything? Can you not say, God have mercy\non me a sinner? Yes, he can do this, if he can rise up and curse his\nneighbor for some ill deeds. Now, John, open your mouth and say, Lord,\nhave mercy upon me. \"But I do not feel the spirit of prayer.\" That does\nnot excuse you, for you know what your duty is. You have a passion, a\nwill, a temper to overcome. You {70} are subject to temptation as other\nmen; and when you are tempted, let the judgment which God has placed\nwithin you and the intelligence he has given you by the light of the\nSpirit be the master in this case.\n\nIf I could not master my mouth, I would my knees, and make them bend\nuntil my mouth would speak. \"But the cattle are in the corn.\" Let them\neat; you can attend to them when you have finished praying. Let the\nwill of man be brought into subjection to the law of Christ--to all the\nordinances of the house of God. What, in his darkness and depression?\nYes; for that is the time to prove whether one is a friend of God, that\nthe confidence of the Almighty may increase in his Son. We should so\nlive that our confidence and faith may increase in him. We must even go\nfurther than that. Let us so live that the faith and confidence of our\nHeavenly Father may increase towards us, until he shall know that we\nwill be true to him under any and all circumstances and at all times.\nWhen in our darkness and temptation we are found faithful to our duty,\nthat increases the confidence of our God in us. He sees that we will be\nhis servants. 7:164.\n\nIf the Devil says you cannot pray when you are angry, tell him it\nis none of his business, and pray until that species of insanity is\ndispelled and serenity is restored to the mind. 10:175.\n\nLet every Saint, when he prays, ask God for the things he needs to\nenable him to promote righteousness on the earth. If you do not know\nwhat to ask for, let me tell you how to pray. When you pray in secret\nwith your families, if you do not know anything to ask for, submit\nyourselves to your Father in Heaven and beseech him to guide you by\nthe inspirations of the Holy Ghost, and to guide this people, {71} and\ndictate the affairs of his Kingdom on the earth, and there leave it.\nAsk him to put you just where he wants you, and to tell you what he\nwants you to do, and feel that you are on hand to do it. 6:43.\n\nWhen you have labored faithfully for years, you will learn this\nsimple fact--that if your hearts are aright, and you still continue\nto be obedient, continue to serve God, continue to pray, the Spirit\nof revelation will be in you like a well of water springing up to\neverlasting life. Let no person give up prayer because he has not\nthe spirit of prayer, neither let any earthly circumstance hurry\nyou while in the performance of this important duty. By bowing down\nbefore the Lord to ask him to bless you, you will simply find this\nresult--God will multiply blessings on you temporally and spiritually.\nLet a merchant, a farmer, a mechanic, any person in business, live\nhis religion faithfully, and he need never lose one minute's sleep by\nthinking about his business; he need not worry in the least, but trust\nin God, go to sleep and rest. I say to this people--pray, and if you\ncannot do anything else, read a prayer aloud that your family may hear\nit, until you get a worshiping spirit, and are full of the riches of\neternity, then you will be prepared at any time to lay hands on the\nsick, or to officiate in any of the ordinances of this religion. 12:103.\n\nIf I did not feel like praying, and asking my Father in Heaven to give\nme a morning blessing, and to preserve me and my family and the good\nupon the earth through the day, I should say, \"Brigham, get down here\non your knees, bow your body down before the throne of him who rules in\nthe heavens, and stay there until you can feel to supplicate at that\nthrone of grace erected for sinners.\" 16:28. {71}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\n_PRE-EXISTENCE; THE PLAN OF SALVATION_\n\n_Time_--When was there a beginning? There never was one; if there\nwas, there will be an end; but there never was a beginning, and hence\nthere will never be an end; that looks like eternity. When we talk\nabout the beginning of eternity, it is rather simple conversation, and\ngoes far beyond the capacity of man. 2:307.\n\nHere is time, where is eternity? It is here, just as much as anywhere\nin all the expanse of space; a measured space of time is only a part of\neternity. 3:367.\n\nEvery mind that thinks deeply upon the things of time and eternity,\nsees that time, which we measure by our lives, is like the stream from\nthe mountains which gushes forth, yet we cannot tell from whence it\ncomes, nor do we know naturally where it goeth, only it passes again\ninto the clouds; so our lives are here, and this we are certain of.\nWe do know that we live and that we have the power of sight. We do\nknow and can realize that we possess the faculty of hearing. We can\ndiscern between that which we like and that which we dislike. This\nlife that you and I possess is for eternity. Contemplate the idea of\nbeings endowed with all the powers and faculties which we possess,\nbecoming annihilated, passing out of existence, ceasing to be, and\nthen try to reconcile it with our feelings and with our present lives.\nNo intelligent person can do it. Yet it is only by the spirit of\nrevelation that we can understand these things. By the revelations of\nthe Lord Jesus we understand things as they were, that have been made\nknown unto us; things that are in the life which we now enjoy, and {73}\nthings as they will be, not to the fullest extent, but all that the\nLord designs that we should understand, to make it profitable to us, in\norder to give us the experience necessary in this life to prepare us to\nenjoy eternal life hereafter. 12:111-112.\n\nThe present is that portion of time that more particularly concerns\nus, and the greatest and most important labor we have to perform is\nto cultivate ourselves. That man may know his fellow creatures, it is\nnecessary that he should first know himself. When he thoroughly knows\nhimself, he measurably knows God, whom to know is eternal life. 10:2.\n\nAs far as we can compare eternal things with earthly things that lie\nwithin the scope of our understanding, so far we can understand them.\n10:1.\n\nAs to the word annihilate, as we understand it, there is no such\nprinciple as to put a thing which exists, entirely out of existence, so\nthat it does not exist in any form, shape, or place whatever. It would\nbe as reasonable to say that endless, which is synonymous to the word\neternity, has both a beginning and an end. 1:352.\n\n_The Organized Universe_--The creations of God--the worlds that\nare and the worlds that have been,--who can grasp in the vision of his\nmind the truth that there never has been a time when there have not\nbeen worlds like this, and that there never will be a time when there\nwill not be worlds organized and prepared for intelligent beings to\ndwell upon? 8:81.\n\nThere is an eternity of matter. Astronomers estimate that there is\nbetween us and the nearest fixed star matter enough from which to\norganize millions of earths like this. There is an eternity of matter,\nand it is all acted upon and {74} filled with a portion of divinity.\nMatter is to exist; it cannot be annihilated. Eternity is without\nbounds, and is filled with matter; and there is no such place as empty\nspace. And matter is capacitated to receive intelligence. 7:2.\n\nWorlds are made of crude element which floats, without bounds in the\neternities--in the immensity of space; an eternity of matter--no limits\nto it, in its natural crude state, and the power of the Almighty has\nthis influence and wisdom--when he speaks he is obeyed, and matter\ncomes together and is organized. 13:248.\n\nAccording to all that the world has ever learned by the researches of\nphilosophers and wise men, according to all the truths now revealed\nby science, philosophy and religion, qualities and attributes depend\nentirely upon their connection with organized matter for their\ndevelopment and visible manifestation. 11:121.\n\n_Man and Matter Eternal_--Mankind are organized of element\ndesigned to endure to all eternity; it never had a beginning and never\ncan have an end. There never was a time when this matter, of which you\nand I are composed, was not in existence, and there never can be a time\nwhen it will pass out of existence; it cannot be annihilated.\n\nIt is brought together, organized, and capacitated to receive knowledge\nand intelligence, to be enthroned in glory, to be made angels,\nGods--beings who will hold control over the elements, and have power\nby their word to command the creation and redemption of worlds, or to\nextinguish suns by their breath, and disorganize worlds, hurling them\nback into their chaotic state. This is what you and I are created for.\n3:356. {75}\n\nThe elements with which we are surrounded are as eternal as we are, and\nare loaded with supplies of every kind for the comfort and happiness of\nthe human race. 10:3.\n\nEarthly things will be decomposed and their reorganization will be by\nthe power of the resurrection; then we shall begin to understand the\nproper use of element. 7:65.\n\n\"Immaterial substance.\" It is like the center of a being everywhere and\nhis circumference nowhere, or like being seated on the top of a topless\nthrone. These are self-confounding expressions, and there is no meaning\nto any of them. 16:31.\n\nIf we could so understand true philosophy as to understand our own\ncreation, and what it is for--what design and intent the Supreme Ruler\nhad in organizing matter and bringing it forth in the capacity that\nI behold you here today, we could comprehend that matter cannot be\ndestroyed--that it is subject to organization and disorganization;\nand could understand that matter can be organized and brought forth\ninto intelligence, and to possess more intelligence and to continue\nto increase in that intelligence; and could learn those principles\nthat organized matter into animals, vegetables, and into intelligent\nbeings; and could discern the Divinity acting, operating, and diffusing\nprinciples into matter to produce intelligent beings and to exalt\nthem--to what? Happiness. Will nothing short of that fully satisfy the\nspirits implanted within us? No. 7:2-3.\n\nGold and silver are composing, and so does every other kind of\nmetal, the same as the hair upon my head, or the wheat in the field;\nthey do not compose as fast, but they are all the time composing or\ndecomposing. 1:219.\n\nThere never was a time when man did not exist, and {76} there never\nwill be a time when he will cease to exist. Eternity is without\nconfines, and all things animate and inanimate have their existence in\nit. The Priesthood of God, that was given to the ancients and is given\nto men in the latter days, is co-equal in duration with eternity--is\nwithout beginning of days or end of life. It is unchangeable in its\nsystem of government and its Gospel of salvation. It gives to Gods\nand angels their supremacy and power, and offers wealth, influence,\nposterity, exaltations, power, glory, kingdoms and thrones, ceaseless\nin their duration, to all who will accept them on the terms upon which\nthey are offered. 10:5.\n\nThe life that is within us is a part of an eternity of life, and\nis organized spirit, which is clothed upon by tabernacles, thereby\nconstituting our present being, which is designed for the attainment of\nfurther intelligence. The matter composing our bodies and spirits has\nbeen organized from the eternity of matter that fills immensity. 7:285.\n\nMan is organized and brought forth as the king of the earth, to\nunderstand, to criticise, examine, improve, manufacture, arrange, and\norganize the crude matter, and honor and glorify the works of God's\nhands. This is a wide field for the operation of man, that reaches into\neternity; and it is good for mortals to search out the things of this\nearth. 9:242.\n\n_Man the Offspring of God_--No human being has had power to\norganize his own existence. Then there is a greater than we. Are we our\nown in our bodies? Are we our own in our spirits? We are not our own.\nWe belong to our progenitors--to our Father and our God. 8:67.\n\nThings were first created spiritually; the Father actually begat the\nspirits, and they were brought forth and {77} lived with him. Then he\ncommenced the work of creating earthly tabernacles, precisely as he\nhad been created in this flesh himself, by partaking of the coarse\nmaterial that was organized and composed this earth, until his system\nwas charged with it, consequently the tabernacles of his children were\norganized from the coarse materials of this earth.\n\nWhen the time came that his First-born, the Savior, should come into\nthe world and take a tabernacle, the Father came himself and favored\nthat Spirit with a tabernacle instead of letting any other man do it.\nThe Savior was begotten by the Father and his Spirit, by the same\nBeing who is the Father of our spirits, and that is all the organic\ndifference between Jesus Christ and you and me. And a difference\nthere is between our Father and us consists in that he has gained his\nexaltation, and has obtained eternal lives. The principle of eternal\nlives is an eternal existence, eternal duration, eternal exaltation.\nEndless are his kingdoms, endless his thrones and his dominions and\nendless are his posterity; they never will cease to multiply from this\ntime henceforth and forever. 4:218.\n\nI want to tell you, each and every one of you, that you are well\nacquainted with God our Heavenly Father, or the great Elohim. You are\nall well acquainted with him, for there is not a soul of you but what\nhas lived in his house and dwelt with him year after year; and yet you\nare seeking to become acquainted with him, when the fact is, you have\nmerely forgotten what you did know.\n\nThere is not a person here to-day but what is a son or a daughter of\nthat Being. In the spirit world their spirits were first begotten and\nbrought forth, and they lived there {78} with their parents for ages\nbefore they came here. This, perhaps, is hard for many to believe, but\nit is the greatest nonsense in the world not to believe it. If you do\nnot believe it, cease to call him Father; and when you pray, pray to\nsome other character. 4:216.\n\nWe are the sons and daughters of celestial Beings, and the germ of\nthe Deity dwells within us. When our spirits took possession of these\ntabernacles, they were as pure as the angels of God, wherefore total\ndepravity cannot be a true doctrine. 10:192.\n\nOur spirits once dwelt in the heavens and were as pure and holy as\nthe angels; but angels have tabernacles and spirits have none; and\nthey come to the meanest, lowest and humblest of the human race to\nobtain one rather than run any risk of not doing so. I have heard that\nthe celebrated Mr. Beecher, of Brooklyn, once said that the greatest\nmisfortune that could ever happen to man was to be born; but I say\nthat the greatest good fortune that ever happened or can happen to\nhuman beings is to be born on this earth, for then life and salvation\nare before them; then they have the privilege of overcoming death, and\nof treading sin and iniquity under their feet, of incorporating into\ntheir daily lives every principle of life and salvation and of dwelling\neternally with the Gods. 13:145.\n\nWhen we look upon the human face we look upon the image of our Father\nand God; there is a divinity in each person, male and female; there\nis the heavenly, there is the divine and with this is amalgamated the\nhuman, the earthly, the weaker portions of our nature, and it is the\nhuman that shrinks in the presence of the divine, and this accounts for\nour man-fearing spirit, and it is all there is of it. 9:291.\n\nThe origin of thought was planted in our organization {79} at the\nbeginning of our being. This is not telling you how it came there, or\nwho put it there. Thought originated with our individual being, which\nis organized to be as independent as any being in eternity. 2:135.\n\nWe were created upright, pure, and holy, in the image of our father and\nour mother, the image of our God.\n\nWherein do we differ? In the talents that are given us, and in our\ncallings. We are made of the same materials; our spirits were begotten\nby the same parents; in the begetting of the flesh we are of the same\nfirst parents, and all the kindreds of the earth are made of one flesh;\nbut we are different in regard to our callings. 3:365.\n\nWe have no true interest, only conjointly with our Father in Heaven.\nWe are his children, his sons and daughters, and this should not be\na mystery to this people, even though there are many who have been\ngathered with us but a short time. He is the God and Father of our\nspirits; he devised the plan that produced our tabernacles; the houses\nfor our spirits to dwell in. 4:27.\n\n_The Spirit of Man_--The spirits that live in these tabernacles\nwere as pure as the heavens, when they entered them. They came to\ntabernacles that are contaminated, pertaining to the flesh, by the fall\nof man. The Psalmist says, \"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in\nsin did my mother conceive me.\" This Scripture has established in the\nminds of some the doctrine of total depravity--that it is impossible\nfor them to have one good thought, that they are altogether sinful,\nthat there is no good, no soundness, and no spiritual health in them.\nThis is not correct, yet we have a warfare within us. We have to\ncontend against evil passions, or the seeds of iniquity that are sown\nin the flesh through the fall. The pure spirits that occupy these {80}\ntabernacles are operated upon, and it is the-right of him that sent\nthem into these tabernacles to hold the pre-eminence, and to always\ngive the Spirit of truth to influence the spirits of men, that it may\ntriumph and reign predominantly in our tabernacles, the God and Lord of\nevery motion. We not only have this warfare continually, day by day,\nwithin ourselves, but we also have an outside influence or pressure to\nresist. Both the religious and the political world have influences to\ncontend against that very much resemble each other; they are more or\nless exercised, governed and controlled by surrounding influences. We,\nLatter-day Saints, have an influence of this kind to contend against.\n10:105.\n\nWe see life spring into existence all around us. Where is its fountain?\nAnd how is it originated? It exists for a day, a night, a year, or\nan age, and it is gone; and who can say where? Who can tell what\nhas become of the life that dwelt in that tabernacle, causing it to\nthink,--that lit up the eye with living fire, and caused the mouth to\nutter forth wisdom? Can mortal man tell? Not unless he is inspired\nby the Almighty, and understands eternal things. The origin of all\nthings is in eternity. Like a cloud passing across a clear sky--like a\nbird that suddenly flits across our path--like a pure gushing stream\nfrom a hidden fountain, that soon sinks in some mountain chasm, so,\napparently, life flashes into this mortal existence, and passes away.\n7:173.\n\nIntelligence is given unto us to improve upon. 8:81.\n\nThe origin of thought and reflection is in ourselves. We think, because\nwe are, and are made susceptible of external influences, and to feel\nour relationship to external objects. Thus thoughts of revenge, and\nthoughts of blessing will arise in the same mind, as it is influenced\nby external circumstances. 2:135. {81}\n\nThere is just as much difference in the spiritual organization, as you\nsee in the temporal organization. You can see that eternal variety in\nboth. 9:125.\n\nI see a man grow up from the infant stage to be a scholar, and by and\nby he has an empire, and can give laws to the people, that can equalize\nthem, and bring them to a state of happiness and excellency, and give\nthem all the advantages that man can possess upon the earth, and make\nevery man happy and comfortable. This is the work that we have upon our\nhands. Teach the people the faith of the Gospel. Teach them what God\nis, and what his work is, and that there never was a time such as many\nof our philosophers speak of, who drift back and back, and come to this\ntheory and that theory, and go back, and back to the time when we were\nall reptiles. When was there a time when there was not a God? But, say\nthey, there must have been a time. Then you declare to me, do you, that\nthere was a time when there was no time? And this is the philosophy\nof a great many of the scientific in this day. They see the heavens\nstretched out, but they comprehend them not. And why do they not say,\nif there was a time when there was no time, there will be a time again\nwhen there will be no time. What a condition for man to be in! Can we\nlook onward and upward through the immensity of space, and behold the\nworlds on worlds that we call stars, and imagine that they will be\nblotted out forever? What an idea! 19:49.\n\nEverything in heaven, on earth, and in hell is organized for the\nbenefit, advantage, and exaltation of intelligent beings; therefore\nthere is nothing that is out of the pale of our faith. There is\nnothing, I may say, good or bad, light or darkness, truth or error,\nbut what is to be controlled {82} by intelligent beings; and we\nshould learn how to take into our possession every blessing and every\nprivilege that God has put within our reach, and know how to use our\ntime, our talents, and all our acts for the advancement of his Kingdom\nupon the earth. 6:145.\n\nWe are all his children. We are his sons and daughters naturally, and\nby the principles of eternal life. We are brethren and sisters. What is\nit that makes the distinctions we see in the classes of the children\nof men? We see the low and the degraded, like the aborigines of our\ncountry; what is the cause of their being in their present condition?\nIt is because of the rejection by their fathers of the Gospel of the\nSon of God. The Gospel brings intelligence, happiness, and glory to\nall who obey it and live according to its precepts. It will give them\nintelligence that comes from God. Their minds will be open so as to\nunderstand things as they are; they will rejoice in being blessed\nthemselves and in blessing their fellow beings, and in being prepared\nto re-enter the presence of the Father and the Son. This will be their\ndelight. 13:178.\n\n_The Council in Heaven_--The Council in heaven said, \"Let there be\nan earth, and let there be a firmament above and beneath it,\" and it\nwas so. They said, \"Let there be heat and cold,\" and it was so. They\nsaid, \"Let there be spring and summer, autumn and winter,\" and it was\nso. 9:254.\n\n\"Who will redeem the earth, who will go forth and make the sacrifice\nfor the earth and all things it contains?\" The Eldest Son said: \"Here\nam I;\" and then he added, \"Send me.\" But the second one, which was\n\"Lucifer, Son of the Morning,\" said, \"Lord, here am I, send me, I will\nredeem every son and daughter of Adam and Eve that lives on the {83}\nearth, or that ever goes on the earth.\" \"But,\" says the Father, \"that\nwill not answer at all. I give each and every individual his agency;\nall must use that in order to gain exaltation in my kingdom; inasmuch\nas they have the power of choice they must exercise that power. They\nare my children; the attributes which you see in me are in my children\nand they must use their agency. If you undertake to save all, you must\nsave them in unrighteousness and corruption. You will be the man that\nwill say to the thief on the cross, to the murderer on the gallows, and\nto him who has killed his father, mother, brothers, and sisters and\nlittle ones, 'Now, if you will say, I repent and believe on the Lord\nJesus Christ, or on the Savior of the world, you shall be saved.'\" This\nis what all the religious sects of the day are saying now, but Jesus\ndid not say any such thing. 13:282.\n\nWhen there was rebellion in heaven, judgment was laid to the line and\nrighteousness to the plummet, and the evil were cast out. Yet there was\na portion of grace allotted to those rebellious characters.\n\nBut they must go from heaven, they could not dwell there, they must be\ncast down to the earth to try the sons of men, and to perform their\nlabor in producing an opposite in all things, that the inhabitants of\nthe earth might have the privilege of improving upon the intelligence\ngiven to them, the opportunity for overcoming evil, and for learning\nthe principles which govern eternity, that they may be exalted therein.\n3:256.\n\nThe Lord Almighty suffered this schism in heaven to see what his\nsubjects would do preparatory to their coming to this earth. 14:93.\n\nIn regard to the battle in heaven, that Brother Truman O. Angell\nreferred to, how much of a battle it was I have {84} forgotten. I\ncannot relate the principal circumstances, it is so long since it\nhappened; but I do not think it lasted very long; for when Lucifer, the\nSon of the Morning, claimed the privilege of having the control of this\nearth, and redeeming it, a contention arose; but I do not think it took\nlong to cast down one-third of the hosts of heaven, as it is written\nin the Bible. But let me tell you that it was one-third part of the\nspirits who were prepared to take tabernacles upon this earth, and who\nrebelled against the other two-thirds of the heavenly host; and they\nwere cast down to this world. It is written that they were cast down\nto the earth. They were cast down to this globe--to this terra firma\nthat you and I walk upon, and whose atmosphere we breathe. One-third\npart of the spirits that were prepared for this earth rebelled against\nJesus Christ, and were cast down to the earth, and they have been\nopposed to him from that day to this, with Lucifer at their head. He is\ntheir general--Lucifer, the Son of the Morning. He was once a brilliant\nand influential character in heaven, and we will know more about him\nhereafter. 5:54-55.\n\nFrom the spirit and tenor of the ancient Scriptures and revelations\nwhich we have received, it is plainly set forth that there are men\npre-appointed to perform certain works in their lifetime, and bring to\npass certain ends and purposes in the economy of heaven. 11:253.\n\nDo you not think that the Lord has his eye upon a great many? There is\na passage of Scripture that reads thus: \"For whom he did foreknow, he\nalso did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that\nhe might be the firstborn among many brethren,\" etc. Whom did he not\nforeknow? I do not think there is anybody now on the earth, that has\nlived before us, or that will come after us, {85} but what he knew. He\nknew who would be his anointed; he had his eye upon them all the time,\nas he had upon Moses, Pharaoh, Abraham, Melchizedek, and Noah, who was\na chosen vessel to build the ark and save a remnant from the flood.\n8:229.\n\nIt is a mistaken idea that God has decreed all things whatsoever that\ncome to pass, for the volition of the creature is as free as air. You\nmay inquire whether we believe in foreordination; we do, as strongly as\nany people in the world. We believe that Jesus was foreordained before\nthe foundations of the world were built, and his mission was appointed\nhim in eternity to be the Savior of the world, yet when he came in the\nflesh he was left free to choose or refuse to obey his Father. Had he\nrefused to obey his Father, he would have become a son of perdition. We\nalso are free to choose or refuse the principles of eternal life. God\nhas decreed and foreordained many things that have come to pass, and\nhe will continue to do so; but when he decrees great blessings upon a\nnation or upon an individual they are decreed upon certain conditions.\nWhen he decrees great plagues and overwhelming destructions upon\nnations or people, those decrees come to pass because those nations and\npeople will not forsake their wickedness and turn unto the Lord. It was\ndecreed that Nineveh should be destroyed in forty days, but the decree\nwas stayed on the repentance of the inhabitants of Nineveh. God rules\nand reigns, and has made all his children as free as himself, to choose\nthe right or the wrong, and we shall then be judged according to our\nworks. 10:324.\n\nYou cannot give any persons their exaltation unless they know what evil\nis, what sin, sorrow, and misery are, for no person could comprehend,\nappreciate and enjoy an exaltation {86} upon any other principle.\nThe Devil with one-third part of the spirits of our Father's Kingdom\ngot here before us, and we tarried there with our friends, until the\ntime came for us to come to the earth and take tabernacles, but those\nspirits that revolted were forbidden ever to have tabernacles of their\nown. You can now comprehend how it is that they are always trying to\nget possession of the bodies of human beings; you read of a man's being\npossessed of a legion, and Mary Magdalene had seven. 3:369.\n\nForeordination, for instance, and free grace are both true doctrines;\nbut they must be properly coupled together and correctly classified, so\nas to produce harmony between these two apparently opposite doctrines.\n6:291.\n\n_The Plan of Salvation_--The great plan called the plan of\nsalvation--the system of doctrine, ideas, and practices that pertain to\nall the intelligence that exists in eternity. 8:32.\n\nElevation, exaltation and glory are the objects of the Father in\npeopling this earth with his progeny. 10:191.\n\nThis is the plan of salvation. Jesus will never cease his work until\nall are brought up to the enjoyment of a kingdom in the mansions of his\nFather, where there are many kingdoms and many glories, to suit the\nworks and faithfulness of all men that have lived on the earth. Some\nwill obey the celestial law and receive of its glory, some will abide\nthe terrestrial and some the telestial, and others will receive no\nglory. 13:76.\n\nWhen you understand the Gospel plan, you will comprehend that it is the\nmost reasonable way of dealing with the human family. You will discern\nthat purity, holiness, {87} justice, perfection, and all that adorns\nthe character of the Deity are contributing to the salvation of men.\n8:115.\n\nOur mortal existence is a school of experience. 9:29.\n\nOur mortal bodies are all important to us; without them we never can be\nglorified in the eternities that will be. We are in this state of being\nfor the express purpose of obtaining habitations for our spirits to\ndwell in, that they may become personages of tabernacle. 9:286.\n\nOur bodies are all important to us, though they may be old and\nwithered, emaciated with toil, pain, and sickness, and our limbs bent\nwith rheumatism, all uniting to hasten dissolution, for death is sown\nin our mortal bodies. The food and drink we partake of are contaminated\nwith the seeds of death, yet we partake of them to extend our lives\nuntil our allotted work is finished, when our tabernacles, in a state\nof ripeness, are sown in the earth to produce immortal fruit. Yet, if\nwe live our holy religion and let the spirit reign, it will not become\ndull and stupid, but as the body approaches dissolution the spirit\ntakes a firmer hold on that enduring substance behind the veil, drawing\nfrom the depths of that eternal Fountain of Light sparkling gems of\nintelligence which surround the frail and sinking tabernacle with a\nhalo of immortal wisdom. 9:288.\n\nUntil the last spirit that has been designed to come here and take a\ntabernacle has come upon the earth, the winding-up scene cannot come.\n8:352.\n\nCan you save all? Yes, you can save all that will be saved. If people\nare not saved, it is because they are not disposed to be saved. They\nact for themselves, and act from choice. 9:125.\n\nThe whole object of the creation of this world is to exalt the\nintelligencies that are placed upon it, that they may live, {88}\nendure, and increase for ever and ever. We are not here to quarrel\nand contend about the things of this world, but we are here to subdue\nand beautify it. Let every man and woman worship their God with all\ntheir heart. Let them pay their devotions and sacrifices to him, the\nSupreme, and the Author of their existence. Do all the good you can to\nyour fellow-creatures. You are flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone.\nGod has created of one blood all the nations and kingdoms of men that\ndwell upon all the face of the earth: black, white, copper-colored, or\nwhatever their color, customs, or religion, they have all sprung from\nthe same origin; the blood of all is from the same element. 7:290.\n\nThe Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods like\nhimself; when we have been proved in our present capacity, and have\nbeen faithful with all things he puts into our possession.\n\nHow many will become thus privileged? Those who honor the Father and\nthe Son; those who receive the Holy Ghost, and magnify their calling,\nand are found pure and holy; they shall be crowned in the presence of\nthe Father and the Son. 43:93.\n\nThe great and grand secret of salvation, which we should continually\nseek to understand through our faithfulness, is the continuation of the\nlives. 18:260.\n\nWe are all the children of our common Father, who has placed us on the\nearth to prove ourselves, to govern, control, educate and sanctify\nourselves, body and spirit, unto him, according to his will and\npleasure. When all that class of spirits designed to take bodies upon\nthis earth have done so, then will come the winding-up scene of this\nparticular department of the works of God on this earth. It is his\nwill that we should prepare ourselves to build up his {89} Kingdom,\ngather the House of Israel, redeem and build up Zion and Jerusalem,\nrevolutionize the world, and bring back that which has been lost\nthrough the fall. 10:2.\n\nThe Lord has given the earth to the children of men, that by the union\nof mind and matter, inspired and directed by the power of eternal\nPriesthood, all may be made subject to the Great Supreme Ruler of the\nuniverse. 9:255.\n\nThe very laws which govern eternity are planned to sustain an eternal\ngrowth, gathering together and increasing; so that the true servant of\nGod cannot possibly suffer loss, but will reap eternal gain, though he,\nfor the cause of truth, is poor and needy through the whole of this\nshort life. He has made truth his theme; and what is it? I will say\nit is that which endures; it is eternity, and its power is to grow,\nincrease, and expand, adding life to life, and power to power, worlds\nwithout end. 2:129.\n\nYou may ask, \"What is meted out to us?\" I answer the ordinances, the\nsacraments that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted for the salvation of\nthe Jews, for all the House of Israel, and then for the Gentiles. This\nis the Gospel--the plan of salvation the Lord has given to us. This is\nthe Kingdom the Lord has presented to us; the same he presented to the\nApostles in the days of Jesus. 3:90.\n\nIt is the wish of our Heavenly Father to bring all his children back\ninto his presence. The spirits of all the human family dwelt with him\nbefore they took tabernacles of flesh and became subject to the fall\nand to sin. He is their spiritual Father, and has sent them here to be\nclothed with flesh, and to be subject, with their tabernacles, to the\nills that afflict fallen humanity. When they have proved themselves\nfaithful in all things, and worthy before him, they can then have the\nprivilege of returning again to his {90} presence, with their bodies,\nto dwell in the abodes of the blessed. If man could have been made\nperfect in his double capacity of body and spirit, without passing\nthrough the ordeals of mortality, there would have been no necessity of\nour coming into this state of trial and suffering. Could the Lord have\nglorified his children in spirit, without a body like his own, he no\ndoubt would have done so. 11:43.\n\nWe had an existence before we came into the world. Our spirits came\nhere pure to take these tabernacles; they came to occupy them as\nhabitations, with the understanding that all that had passed previously\nto our coming here should be taken away from us, that we should not\nknow anything about it. 3:367.\n\nThe plan by which God works is rational, and meets the capacity of his\nchildren. This earth is the home he has prepared for us, and we are to\nprepare ourselves and our habitations for the celestial glory in store\nfor the faithful. None will be destroyed except those who receive the\noracles of truth and reject them. None are condemned except those who\nhave the privilege of receiving the words of eternal life and refuse to\nreceive them. 8:294.\n\nHe governs by law. He has also provided means and, in connection with\nthe attributes he has implanted within us, has instituted ordinances\nwhich, if we will receive and improve upon, will enable us to return\nback into his presence. 13:171.\n\nIs there a debt contracted between the Father and his children? There\nis. Our first parents transgressed the law that was given them in the\ngarden; their eyes were opened. This created the debt. What is the\nnature of this debt? It is a divine debt. What will pay it? {91} I ask,\nIs there anything short of a divine sacrifice that can pay this debt?\nNo; there is not.\n\nA divine debt has been contracted by the children, and the Father\ndemands recompense. He says to his children on this earth, who are\nin sin and transgression, it is impossible for you to pay this debt;\nI have prepared a sacrifice; I will send my Only Begotten Son to pay\nthis divine debt. Was it necessary then that Jesus should die? Do\nwe understand why he should sacrifice his life? The idea that the\nSon of God, who never committed sin, should sacrifice his life is\nunquestionably preposterous to the minds of many in the Christian\nworld. But the fact exists that the Father, the Divine Father, whom we\nserve, the God of the Universe, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus\nChrist, and the Father of our spirits, provided this sacrifice and sent\nhis Son to die for us; and it is also a great fact that the Son came to\ndo the will of the Father, and that he has paid the debt, in fulfilment\nof the Scripture which says, \"He was the Lamb slain from the foundation\nof the world.\"\n\nIs this easy to understand? It is perfectly easy to me; and my advice\nto those who have queries and doubts on this subject is, when they\nreason and philosophize upon it, not to plant their position in\nfalsehood or argue hypothetically, but upon the facts as they exist,\nand they will come to the conclusion that unless God provides a Savior\nto pay this debt it can never be paid. Can all the wisdom of the world\ndevise means by which we can be redeemed, and return to the presence of\nour Father and Elder Brother, and dwell with holy angels and celestial\nbeings? No; it is beyond the power and wisdom of the inhabitants of the\nearth that now live, or that ever did or ever will live, to prepare\nor create a sacrifice that will pay this divine debt. But God {92}\nprovided it, and his Son has paid it, and we, each and every one, can\nnow receive the truth and be saved in the Kingdom of God. Is it clear\nand plain? It is to me, and if you have the Spirit of God, it is as\nplain to you as anything else in the world. 14:71.\n\nHas the Lord cast an obstacle in the way of any individual, to deprive\nhim of the privilege of being exalted? No, not one; but every thing\nthat could be done has been done, every provision that could be made\nhas been made, every law that could be instituted to encourage and\nelevate the people, to increase their faith, their knowledge, their\nunderstanding, and to lead them to life and salvation, the Lord has\nbrought to this people. 4:196.\n\nThe world is before us, eternity is before us, and an inexhaustible\nfountain of intelligence for us to obtain. 8:8.\n\nIt seems to be absolutely necessary in the providence of him who\ncreated us, and who organized and fashioned all things according to\nhis wisdom, that man must descend below all things. It is written of\nthe Savior in the Bible that he descended below all things that he\nmight ascend above all. Is it not so with every man? Certainly it is.\nIt is fit, then, that we should descend below all things and come up\ngradually, and learn a little now and again, receive \"line upon line,\nprecept upon precept, here a little and there a little.\" 15:3.\n\nWe know the design of our Father in Heaven in creating the earth and\nin peopling it, and bringing forth the myriads of organizations which\ndwell upon it. We know that all this is for his glory--to swell the\neternities that are before him with intelligent beings who are capable\nof enjoying the height of glory. But, before we can come in possession\nof this, we need large experience, and its acquisition {93} is a slow\nprocess. Our lives here are for the purpose of acquiring this, and the\nlonger we live the greater it should be. 14:229.\n\nIt has also been decreed by the Almighty that spirits, upon taking\nbodies, shall forget all they had known previously, or they could\nnot have a day of trial--could not have an opportunity for proving\nthemselves in darkness and temptation, in unbelief and wickedness, to\nprove themselves worthy of eternal existence. 6:333.\n\nRecollect the saying of one of the Apostles, when speaking about\ngetting into the kingdom of heaven, that \"if the righteous scarcely\nbe saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?\" The best\nman that ever lived on this earth only just made out to save himself\nthrough the grace of God. The best woman that ever lived on the earth\nhas only just made her escape from this world to a better one, with a\nfull assurance of enjoying the first resurrection. It requires all the\natonement of Christ, the mercy of the Father, the pity of angels and\nthe grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with us always, and then to\ndo the very best we possibly can, to get rid of this sin within us, so\nthat we may escape from this world into the celestial kingdom. 11:301.\n\nMillions of them have passed away, both in the Christian and in the\nheathen worlds, just as honest, virtuous and upright as any now living.\nThe Christian world say they are lost; but the Lord will save them, or,\nat least, all who will receive the Gospel. The plan of salvation which\nJesus has revealed, and which we preach, reaches to the lowest and\nmost degraded of Adam's lost race. Is he going to save all in the same\nglory and bring all the same state of felicity? Will they who refuse\nto obey the Gospel of the Son of God {94} be saved and exalted in the\nsame kingdom and glory as they who have obeyed? No, never, never! It is\nimpossible. 13:232.\n\nDarkness and sin were permitted to come on this earth. Man partook of\nthe forbidden fruit in accordance with a plan devised from eternity,\nthat mankind might be brought in contact with the principles and powers\nof darkness, that they might know the bitter and the sweet, the good\nand the evil, and be able to discern between light and darkness, to\nenable them to receive light continually. 7:158.\n\nThe greatest desire in the bosom of our Father Adam, or of his faithful\nchildren who are co-workers with God, our Father in Heaven, is to save\nthe inhabitants of the earth. 8:174. {95}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\n_FREE AGENCY_\n\nAll rational beings have an agency of their own; and according to their\nown choice they will be saved or damned. 6:97.\n\nThe volition of the creature is free; this is a law of their existence\nand the Lord cannot violate his own law; were he to do that, he would\ncease to be God. He has placed life and death before his children,\nand it is for them to choose. If they choose life, they receive the\nblessing of life; if they choose death, they must abide the penalty.\nThis is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will\ncontinue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every\nintelligent being must have the power of choice, and God brings forth\nthe results of the acts of his creatures to promote his Kingdom and\nsubserve his purposes in the salvation and exaltation of his children.\n11:272.\n\nMy independence is sacred to me--it is a portion of that same Deity\nthat rules in the heavens. There is not a being upon the face of\nthe earth who is made in the image of God, who stands erect and is\norganized as God is, that would be deprived of the free exercise of his\nagency so far as he does not infringe upon others' rights, save by good\nadvice and a good example. 10:191.\n\nWhen the Lord made man, he made him an agent accountable to his God,\nwith liberty to act and to do as he pleases, to a certain extent, in\norder to prove himself. There is a law that governs man thus far; but\nthe law of the celestial {96} kingdom, as I have frequently told you,\nis, and always will be, the same to all the children of Adam. 2:139.\n\nHe has given them the privilege of choosing for themselves, whether it\nbe good or evil; but the result of our choice is still in his hand. All\nhis children have the right of making a path for themselves, of walking\nto the right or to the left, of telling the truth or that which is not\ntrue. This right God has given to all people who dwell on the earth,\nand they can legislate and act as they please; but God holds them in\nhis hands, and he will bring forth the results of his glory, and for\nthe benefit of those who love and serve him, and he will make the wrath\nof men to praise him. All of us are in the hands of that God. 13:178.\n\nWe possess no ability; only that which is given us of God. He has\nendowed us with glorious faculties, with Godlike attributes like those\nwhich are incorporated in his own nature, and he has placed us upon\nthis earth to honor them, and to sanctify ourselves and the earth\npreparatory to enjoying it in its celestial state. We are not, in\nanything, independent of God. We inherit what we possess from him. Yet\nit is so ordained, in the fathomless wisdom of God, that we should be\nagents to ourselves to choose the good or the evil, and thereby save\nand exalt our existence, or lose it. 10:265.\n\nOur Father controls the results of our acts at his own pleasure, and\nwe cannot prevent it. Man can produce and control his own acts, but he\nhas no control over their results. God causes even the wrath of man to\npraise him, to redound to his glory and the salvation of his children.\n8:18.\n\nThe Lord has not established laws by which I am compelled to have my\nshoes made in a certain style. He has never given a law to determine\nwhether I shall have a {97} square-toed boot or a peaked-toe boot;\nwhether I shall have a coat with the waist just under my arms, and the\nskirts down to my heels; or whether I shall have a coat like the one\nI have on. Intelligence, to a certain extent, was bestowed both upon\nSaint and sinner, to use independently, aside from whether they have\nthe law of the Priesthood or not, or whether they have ever heard of it\nor not. 2:139.\n\nWe cannot all do just as we please, because a great many times we want\nto and cannot, and that is what produces misery, which is called hell.\n13:33.\n\nHow far does our agency extend? There are certain bounds to it. What\nwe have witnessed in thirty years' experience teaches us that man can\nappoint, but God can disappoint. Man can load his gun to shoot his\nneighbor, but he cannot make the ball hit him, if the Lord Almighty see\nfit to turn it away. He can draw the sword to hew down his fellow-man;\nbut instead of that, he may fall upon it himself. 8:31.\n\nThere are limits to agency, and to all things and to all beings, and\nour agency must not infringe upon that law. A man must choose life\nor death, and if he chooses death he will find himself abridged, and\nthat the agency which is given to him is so bound up that he cannot\nexercise it in opposition to the law, without laying himself liable to\nbe corrected and punished by the Almighty.\n\nA man can dispose of his agency or of his birth-right, as did Esau of\nold, but when disposed of, he cannot again obtain it; consequently, it\nbehooves us to be careful, and not forfeit that agency that is given\nto us. The difference between the righteous and the sinner, eternal\nlife or death, happiness or misery, is this, to those who are exalted\nthere are no bounds or limits to their privileges, their blessings {98}\nhave a continuation, and to their kingdoms, thrones, and dominions,\nprincipalities, and powers there is no end, but they increase through\nall eternity; whereas, those who reject the offer, who despise the\nproffered mercies of the Lord, and prepare themselves to be banished\nfrom his presence, and to become companions of the devils, have their\nagency abridged immediately, and bounds and limits are put to their\noperations. 3:267.\n\nThe Lord does not compel any person to embrace the Gospel, and I do\nnot think he will compel them to live it after they have embraced it.\n10:282.\n\nOur religion will not permit us to command or force any man or woman\nto obey the Gospel we have embraced. And we are under no obligation\nto do this, for every creature has as good a right, according to his\norganization, to choose for himself as the Gods. 14:94.\n\nNot that the diverse creeds are right, but the agency of the believers\ntherein demands protection for them, as well as for us. 3:257.\n\nDo you suppose that the Lord would have ever given a king to Israel, if\nthey had not required one of his hands? No, he would have been their\nking and ruler, and there would have been a prophet to guide them, had\nit not been for their rebellion. They made choice of a king, and God\ngave them one in his anger.\n\nTheir rebellion against the law, the agency given to them allowing\ntheir free choice, induced them to ask for a king, and God gave them\none. 3:257.\n\nWhen I contemplate the endless variety in the dispositions,\nunderstandings, temperaments, countenances, and organizations of\npeople, I am not surprised that there are those who do not understand\nthings as I do. I expect people {99} to have their own peculiar views,\nforms, principles, and notions. In consequence of this great variety,\nwe should not be astonished if all do not believe the Gospel--do not\nlove the truth. 8:131.\n\nIt is as much my right to differ from other men, as it is theirs to\ndiffer from me, in points of doctrine and principle, when our minds\ncannot at once arrive at the same conclusion. I feel it sometimes very\ndifficult indeed to word my thoughts as they exist in my own mind,\nwhich, I presume, is the grand cause of many apparent differences in\nsentiment which may exist among the Saints. 2:123.\n\nI am not going to drive a man or a woman to heaven. A great many think\nthat they will be able to flog people into heaven, but this can never\nbe done, for the intelligence in us is as independent as the Gods.\nPeople are not to be driven, and you can put into a gnat's eye all the\nsouls of the children of men that are driven into heaven by preaching\nhell-fire. 9:124.\n\nWhen misuse of power has reached a certain stage, the divinity that is\nwithin the people asserts its right and they free themselves from the\npower of despotism. 10:191.\n\nWhen the people do all they can, the Lord is bound to do the rest.\n3:154.\n\nMany are disposed through their own wickedness \"to do as I damned\nplease,\" and they are damned. 11:254.\n\nWhen a truth is presented to an intelligent person he ought to grasp it\nand receive it in his faith. 8:59.\n\nYou may know whether you are led right or wrong, as well as you know\nthe way home; for every principle God has revealed carries its own\nconvictions of its truth to the human mind, and there is no calling of\nGod to man on earth {100} but what brings with it the evidence of its\nauthenticity. 9:149.\n\nYou cannot break nor destroy the will. It is influenced and controlled,\nmore or less, by the evil that is sown in the flesh, but not in the\nspirit, until the body has grown to years of accountability; then evil,\nwhen listened to, begins to rule and overrule the spirit God has placed\nwithin man. 6:332.\n\nMen should not be permitted to do as they please in all things;\nfor there are rules regulating all good societies and the business\nintercourse of men with each other, which are just and righteous in\nthemselves, the violation of which cannot be countenanced either by\ncivil or religious usages. It is not the privilege of any man to waste\nthe time of his employer under any pretense whatever, and the cause\nof religion, good government, and humanity is not in the least degree\nadvanced by the practice, but the contrary is really the case. Men\nshould be abridged in doing wrong; they should not be free to sin\nagainst God or against man without suffering such penalties as their\nsins deserve. 12:153.\n\nDoes it follow that a man is deprived of his rights, because he lists\nin his heart to do the will of God? Must a man swear to prove that\nhe has an agency? I contend there is no necessity for that, nor for\nstealing nor for doing any wrong. I can manifest to the heavens and to\nthe inhabitants of the earth that I am free-born, and have my liberty\nbefore God, angels and men, when I kneel down to pray, certainly as\nmuch as if I were to go out and swear. I have the right to call my\nfamily together at certain hours for prayer, and I believe that this\ncourse proves that I am a free agent, as much as if I were to steal,\nswear, lie, and get drunk. 10:323. {101}\n\nWe would not make everybody bow down to our religion, if we had the\npower; for this would not be Godlike. 14:94.\n\nThe eternal laws by which he and all others exist in the eternities\nof the Gods decree that the consent of the creature must be obtained\nbefore the Creator can rule perfectly. 15:134.\n\nThe Lord has a school upon the earth, and we are his scholars; and the\nDevil also has a school attended by a great number of scholars. While\nwe have been learning how to sustain the Kingdom of God upon the earth,\nthe Devil and his pupils have been learning how to sustain the kingdom\nof darkness. From the very nature of the two kingdoms upon one planet,\nthe crisis must come when there will be a literal open warfare, just\nas much as there now is a warfare within us against evil; and if we,\nas individuals and as a community, have gained the victory over our\npassions to such a degree that our Father knows that we are capable\nof actually sustaining the Kingdom of God upon the earth, just so\ntrue we shall be a kingdom by ourselves. If we are not yet capable of\nmaintaining and rightly managing that kingdom, it will not at present\nbe given to us in the fulness thereof; but the time will come when it\nwill be given and established in its perfect organization on the earth.\n5:328.\n\nThe law of liberty is the law of right in every particular. 12:152.\n\nThere is not, has not been, and never can be any method, scheme, or\nplan devised by any being in this world for intelligence to exist\neternally and obtain an exaltation, without knowing the good and\nthe evil--without tasting the bitter and the sweet. Can the people\nunderstand that it is {102} actually necessary for opposite principles\nto be placed before them, or this state of being would be no probation,\nand we should have no opportunity for exercising the agency given\nus? Can they understand that we cannot obtain eternal life unless we\nactually know and comprehend by our experience the principle of good\nand the principle of evil, the light and the darkness, truth, virtue,\nand holiness,--also vice, wickedness, and corruption? We must discern\nand acknowledge that the providences of the Lord are over all the works\nof his hands--that when he produces intelligent beings he watches over\nthem for their good. He has given human beings an intelligence designed\nto become eternal, self-existent, independent, and as Godlike as any\nbeing in the heavens.\n\nTo answer such design, we are given our agency--the control of our\nbelief, and must know the darkness from the light and the light from\nthe darkness, and must taste the bitter as well as the sweet. 7:237-238.\n\nWhat would we know about heaven or happiness were it not for their\nopposite? 3:321.\n\nLet the Kingdom alone, the Lord steadies the ark; and if it does\njostle, and appear to need steadying, if the way is a little sideling\nsometimes, and to all appearance threatens its overthrow, be careful\nhow you stretch forth your hands to steady it; let us not be too\nofficious in meddling with that which does not concern us; let it\nalone, it is the Lord's work. 11:252.\n\nEvery person who will examine his own experience--who will watch\nclosely the leading of his own desires--will learn that the very great\nmajority prefer to do good rather than to do evil, and would pursue a\ncorrect course, were it not for the evil power that subjects them to\nits sway. {103} In wrong doing, their own consciences condemn them.\n6:330-331.\n\nShall we deny the existence of that which we do not understand? If we\ndo, we would want to keep an iron bedstead to measure every person\naccording to our own measurements and dimensions; and if persons were\ntoo long we would cut them off, and if too short draw them out. But we\nshould discard this principle, and our motto should be, we will let\nevery one believe as he pleases and follow out the convictions of his\nown mind, for all are free to choose or refuse; they are free to serve\nGod or to deny him. We have the Scriptures of divine truth, and we\nare free to believe or deny them. But we shall be brought to judgment\nbefore God for all these things, and shall have to give an account to\nhim who has the right to call us to an account for the deeds done in\nthe body. 14:131.\n\nThere is not an individual upon the earth but what has within himself\nability to save or to destroy himself; and such is the case with\nnations. 5:53. {104}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\n_THE POWER OF EVIL_\n\n_Lucifer_--There was a devil in heaven, and he strove to possess\nthe birthright of the Savior. He was a liar from the beginning, and\nloves those who love and make lies, as do his imps and followers here\non the earth. 8:279-80.\n\nThe spirits that were cast out of heaven, which you know are recorded\nto have been one-third part, were thrust down to this earth, and have\nbeen here all the time, with Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, at their\nhead. 4:133.\n\nThe spirits of devils have been deprived of bodies, and that\nconstitutes their curse, that is to say, speaking after the manner of\nmen, you shall be wanderers on the earth, you have got to live out of\ndoors all the time you live.\n\nThat is the situation of the spirits that were sent to the earth, when\nthe revolt took place in heaven, when Lucifer, the Son of the Morning,\nwas cast out. Where did he go? He came here, and one-third part of the\nspirits in heaven came with him. Do you suppose that one-third part of\nall beings that existed in eternity came with him? No, but one-third\npart of the spirits that were begotten and organized and brought forth\nto become tenants of fleshly bodies to dwell upon this earth. They\nforsook Jesus Christ, the rightful heir, and joined with Lucifer, the\nSon of the Morning, and came to this earth; they got here first. As\nsoon as Mother Eve made her appearance in the garden of Eden, the Devil\nwas on hand. 3:368-369.\n\nAs it has always been, and will be yet for some time, when the sons of\nGod assemble together Satan will be on {105} hand as an accuser of the\nbrethren, to find fault with those who are trying to do good. 11:141.\n\nThe power of the Devil is limited; the power of God is unlimited. 3:267.\n\nWho owns this earth? Does the Devil? No, he does not, he pretended to\nown it when the Savior was here, and promised it all to him if he would\nfall down and worship him; but he did not own a foot of land, he only\nhad possession of it. He was an intruder, and is still; this earth\nbelongs to him that framed and organized it, and it is expressly for\nhis glory and the possession of those who love and serve him and keep\nhis commandments; but the enemy has possession of it. 15:5.\n\nIf true principles are revealed from heaven to men, and if there are\nangels, and there is a possibility of their communicating to the human\nfamily, always look for an opposite power, an evil power, to give\nmanifestations also; look out for the counterfeit. 240.\n\nI frequently think of the difference between the power of God and the\npower of the Devil. To illustrate, here is a structure in which we\ncan be seated comfortably, protected from the heat of summer or the\ncold of winter. Now, it required labor, mechanical skill and ingenuity\nand faithfulness and diligence to erect this building, but any poor,\nmiserable fool or devil can set fire to it and destroy it. That is just\nwhat the Devil can do, but he never can build anything. The difference\nbetween God and the Devil is that God creates and organizes, while the\nwhole study of the Devil is to destroy. Every one that follows the evil\ninclinations of his own natural evil heart is going to destruction, and\nsooner or later he will be no more. I pray you Latter-day Saints to\nlive your religion. 13:4. {106}\n\nWhat, then, is the mission of Satan, that common foe of all the\nchildren of men? It is to destroy and make desolate. 11:240.\n\nThe Devil delights in the work of destruction--to burn and lay waste\nand destroy the whole earth. He delights to convulse and throw into\nconfusion the affairs of men, politically, religiously and morally,\nintroducing war with its long train of dreadful consequences. It is\nevil which causeth all these miseries and all deformity to come upon\nthe inhabitants of the earth. But that which is of God is pure, lovely,\nholy and full of all excellency and truth, no matter where it is found,\nin hell, in heaven, upon the earth, or in the planets. 11:240.\n\nEvery providence and dispensation of God to his earthly children tends\ndirectly to life and salvation, while the influences and powers exerted\nby the enemy upon mankind and every suggestion of our corrupt natures\ntends to death. 10:221.\n\nThe adversary presents his principles and arguments in the most\napproved style, and in the most winning tone, attended with the most\ngraceful attitudes; and he is very careful to ingratiate himself into\nthe favor of the powerful and influential of mankind, uniting himself\nwith popular parties, floating into offices of trust and emolument by\npandering to popular feeling, though it should seriously wrong and\noppress the innocent. 11:238.\n\nShow me one principle that has originated by the power of the Devil.\nYou cannot do it. I call evil inverted good, or a correct principle\nmade an evil use of. 3:157.\n\nThe Devil's forces are particularly marshalled against us. 5:353.\n\nYou are aware that many think that the Devil has rule {107} and power\nover both body and spirit. Now, I want to tell you that he does not\nhold any power over man, only so far as the body overcomes the spirit\nthat is in a man, through yielding to the spirit of evil. The spirit\nthat the Lord puts into a tabernacle of flesh, is under the dictation\nof the Lord Almighty; but the spirit and body are united in order that\nthe spirit may have a tabernacle, and be exalted; and the spirit is\ninfluenced by the body, and the body by the spirit.\n\nIn the first place the spirit is pure, and under the special control\nand influence of the Lord, but the body is of the earth, and is subject\nto the power of the Devil, and is under the mighty influence of that\nfallen nature that is of the earth. If the spirit yields to the body,\nthe Devil then has power to overcome the body and spirit of that man,\nand he loses both.\n\nRecollect, brethren and sisters, every one of you, that when evil is\nsuggested to you, when it arises in your hearts, it is through the\ntemporal organization. When you are tempted, buffeted, and step out of\nthe way inadvertently; when you are overtaken in a fault, or commit an\novert act unthinkingly; when you are full of evil passion, and wish to\nyield to it, then stop and let the spirit, which God has put into your\ntabernacles, take the lead. If you do that, I will promise that you\nwill overcome all evil, and obtain eternal lives. But many, very many,\nlet the spirit yield to the body, and are overcome and destroyed. 2:255.\n\nEvil is with us, it is that influence which tempts to sin, and which\nhas been permitted to come into the world for the express purpose\nof giving us an opportunity of proving ourselves before God, before\nJesus Christ, our Elder Brother, before the holy angels, and before\nall good men, that we are determined to overcome the evil, and cleave\nto the good, for {108} the Lord has given us the ability to do so.\nConsequently, when the evil is present with me, I have a little\nfighting to do, I must turn and combat it until it is eradicated from\nmy affections, as well as from my actions, that I may have power to do\nall the good I wish to perform. Every person is capable of this, all\ncan bridle their tongues, and cease from every evil act from this time\nhenceforth and forever, and do good instead. 1:91.\n\nThere are but two parties on the earth, one for God and the other for\nthe world or the evil one. No matter how many names the Christian or\nheathen world bear, or how many sects and creeds may exist, there are\nbut two parties, one for heaven and God, and the other will go to some\nother kingdom than the celestial kingdom of God. 14:73.\n\nDo not imagine that I am in the least finding fault with the Devil. I\nwould not bring a railing accusation against him, for he is fulfilling\nhis office and calling manfully; he is more faithful in his calling\nthan are many of the people. God is not yet going to destroy wickedness\nfrom the earth. How frequently we hear it reiterated from the pulpit\nthat he is going to destroy all wickedness. No such thing. He will\ndestroy the power of sin. The work the Savior has on hand is to reduce\nthe power of the Devil to perfect subjection; and when he has destroyed\ndeath and him that has the power of it, pertaining to this world, then\nhe will deliver up the kingdom spotless to the Father. 9:108.\n\nCease to mingle with the wicked. Many of our Elders seem to believe\nthat Christ and Baal can yet be made friends. How many times Elders\nof Israel try to make me fellowship the Devil, or his imps, or his\nservants; also try to make you fellowship your enemies, to amalgamate\nthe feelings of the Saints and the ungodly! It cannot be done; {109} it\nnever was done, and never can be accomplished. Christ and Baal never\ncan be friends. One or the other must reign triumphantly on the earth,\nand I say that Jesus Christ shall reign, and I will help him; and Baal\nshall not reign here much longer--the Devil shall not have power much\nlonger upon the land of Joseph. 8:325-6.\n\nWho is the enemy of mankind? He who wishes to change truth for error\nand light for darkness; he who wishes to take peace from a family,\ncity, state or nation and give the sword in return. He is my enemy, he\nis your enemy and the enemy of mankind. Who is the friend of mankind?\nHe who makes peace between those who are at enmity, who brings together\nthose who, perhaps, through some misunderstanding, have been at\nvariance with and lost friendship and fellowship for each other, and\nshows them that their ill-will is without foundation and existed simply\nbecause they did not understand each other. 16:24.\n\nWho is your enemy and mine? He that teaches language that is\nunbecoming, that presents falsehood for truth, that furnishes false\npremises to build upon instead of true, or that is full of anger and\nmischief to his fellow beings. I call no others enemies. 16:24.\n\nCan error live? No, it is the very plant of destruction, it destroys\nitself; it withers, it fades, it falls and decays and returns to its\nnative element. Every untruth, all error, everything that is unholy,\nunlike God, will, in its time, perish. 14:93.\n\nYou need have no fear but the fear to offend God. 4:369.\n\nWho are the evildoers? Those who have had the light presented to them,\nand rejected it. 8:357.\n\nIf we live so as to enjoy the spirit of the faith that we {110} have\nembraced there is no danger of our being deceived. 14:157.\n\nThe wicked cannot do anything against the truth. Every move they make\nto crush the Kingdom of God will be attended with the signal blessings\nof the Almighty for its further extension and ultimate triumph. All\ntheir efforts will result in the overthrow of sin and iniquity, and the\nincrease of righteousness and the Kingdom of God upon the earth. 8:175.\n\n_False Spirits_--There are many spirits gone out into the world,\nand the false spirits are giving revelations as well as the Spirit of\nthe Lord. 3:44.\n\nThere are myriads of disembodied evil spirits--those who have long ago\nlaid down their bodies here and in the regions round about, among and\naround us; and they are trying to make us and our children sick, and\nare trying to destroy us and to tempt us to evil. They will try every\npossible means they are masters of to draw us aside from the path of\nrighteousness. 6:73-4.\n\nThe children of men give heed to the deceiving spirits that are abroad,\nand that is the cause of the ten thousand errors, wrongs, sins and\ndivisions which are in the world, and for this reason the multitude are\nunable to distinguish between the voice of the Good Shepherd and the\nvoice of the stranger. 16:75.\n\nIt was revealed to me in the commencement of this Church, that the\nChurch would spread, prosper, grow and extend, and that in proportion\nto the spread of the Gospel among the nations of the earth, so would\nthe power of Satan rise. It was told you here that Brother Joseph\nwarned the Elders of Israel against false spirits. It was revealed to\nme that if the people did not receive the spirit of {111} revelation\nthat God had sent for the salvation of the world, they would receive\nfalse spirits and would have revelation. Men would have revelation,\nwomen would have revelation, the priest in the pulpit and the deacon\nunder the pulpit would have revelation, and the people would have\nrevelation enough to damn the whole nation, and nations of them, unless\nthey would hearken to the voice of God. It was not only revealed to\nJoseph but to your humble servant, that false spirits would be as\nprevalent and as common among the inhabitants of the earth as we now\nsee them. 13:280.\n\nNo man gets power from God to raise disturbance in any Branch of the\nChurch. Such power is obtained from an evil source. 9.93.\n\nWe may be within the pale of the Kingdom of God on earth, yet we are\nliable to be overcome of evil. There are many spirits who have gone\nabroad in the world, and men are overcome by false spirits, and led\nastray from the path of truth. They will begin by doing some evil thing\nout of sight, and say, \"O, it is nothing, it is a mere trifle, and the\nLord is merciful and forgiveth sin.\" The sins which are considered\ntrifles lay the foundation for greater evils, and expose men to be\ntempted, and buffeted by Satan, and they will be overcome little by\nlittle, until by and by they are overtaken in a fault which is more\naggravating in the sight of justice, which lays the foundation for\nanother trial more severe, and to be buffeted more by the Devil, for\nthey lay themselves more liable to his power. 2:121.\n\nSuppose I were to teach you a false doctrine, how are you to know it if\nyou do not possess the Spirit of God? As it is written, \"The things of\nGod knoweth no man but by the Spirit of God.\" 18:72.\n\nOur doctrine is right--there is no deception in it. It {112} requires\nno argument, for it is a self-evident fact. Still, when we meddle with\nthat which we know nothing about, we are apt to fall into error and\ndiffer; but we have so much which we do know, and think about and talk\nabout, that we have no time to speculate about that which we do not\nknow. We know that God lives. 10:327.\n\nWhat is called spirit-rapping, spirit-knocking, and so forth, is\nproduced by the spirits that the Lord has suffered to communicate to\npeople on the earth, and make them believe in revelation. 7:239.\n\nWhen we go into the world we find quite a portion of the people who\nbelong' to a class called Spiritualists. They would like to have it\nconsidered that \"Mormonism\" is nothing but Spiritualism. A great many\nwant to know the difference between the two. I will give one-feature\nof the difference, and then set the whole scientific world to work to\nsee if they can ever bring to bear the same feature in Spiritualism.\nTake all who are called Spiritualists and see if they can produce the\norder that is in the midst of this people. Here are system, order,\norganization, law, rule, and facts. Now see if they can produce any\none of these features. They cannot. Why? Because their system is from\nbeneath, while ours is perfect and is from above; one is from God, the\nother is from the Devil, that is all the difference. 13:266.\n\nSpiritualism is a mass of confusion, it is a body without parts and\npassions, principle or power. 13:266.\n\nThere is evil in the world, and there is also good. Was there ever\na counterfeit without a true coin? No. Is there communication from\nGod? Yes. From holy angels? Yes; and we have been proclaiming these\nfacts during nearly thirty years. Are there any communications from\nevil {113} spirits? Yes; and the Devil is making the people believe\nvery strongly in revelations from the spirit world. This is called\nSpiritualism, and it is said that thousands of spirits declare that\n\"Mormonism\" is true; but what do that class of spirits know more than\nmortals? Perhaps a little more in some particulars than is known here,\nbut it is only a little more. They are subject in the spirit world to\nthe same powers they were subject to here. 7:240.\n\nMesmerism is an inverted truth; it originated in holy, good and\nrighteous principles, which have been inverted by the power of the\nDevil. 3:156.\n\nThe principle of animal magnetism is true, but wicked men use it to an\nevil purpose. Speaking is a true gift, but I can speak to the glory of\nGod, or to the injury of his cause and to my condemnation, as I please;\nand still the gift is of God. The gift of animal magnetism is a gift of\nGod, but wicked men use it to promote the cause of the Devil, and that\nis precisely the difference. 3:370.\n\nI know of many whom mesmerism has led out of this Church; they would\nsee the sick healed, and attribute it to the power of God; would fall\nunder its influence, embrace and practice it, and thus give the Devil\npower over them to lead them out of the Kingdom of God. They could not\ntell whether it was the power of God or the power of the Devil. What\nis the reason? They had not the light of revelation within them; they\nhad not the knowledge of God. Are you not aware how easily we may be\ndeceived? 3:156.\n\nThere are many Elders in this house who, if I had the power to\nmesmerize that vase and make it dance on that table, would say that it\nwas done by the power of God. Who could tell whether it was done by the\npower of God or the power of the Devil? No person, unless he had the\n{114} revelations of Jesus Christ within him. I suppose you are ready\nto ask Brother Brigham if he thinks the power of the Devil could make\nthe vase dance. Yes, and could take it up and carry it out doors, just\nas easy as to turn up a table and move it here and there, or to cause a\nrap, rap, rap, or to bake and pass around pancakes, or to get hold of\na person's hand, and make him write in every style you can think of,\nimitating George Washington's, Benjamin Franklin's, Joseph Smith's, and\nother autographs. Can you tell whether that is by the power of God or\nby the power of the Devil? No, unless you have the revelations of Jesus\nChrist. 3:157.\n\nI have seen the effects of animal magnetism, or some anomalous sleep,\nor whatever it may be called, many a time in my youth. I have seen\npersons lie on the benches, on the floor of the meeting house, or on\nthe ground at their camp meetings, for ten, twenty, and thirty minutes,\nand I do not know but an hour, and not a particle of pulse about them.\nThat was the effect of what I call animal magnetism; they called it the\npower of God, but no matter what it was, I used to think that I should\nlike to ask such persons what they had seen in their trance or vision;\nand when I got old enough and dared ask them, I did so. I have said to\nsuch persons: \"Brother, what have you experienced?\" \"Nothing.\" \"What do\nyou know more than before you had this; what do you call it--trance,\nsleep or dream? Do you know any more now than before you fell to the\nearth?\" \"Nothing more.\" \"Have you seen any person?\" \"No.\" \"Then what is\nthe use or utility of your falling down here in the dirt?\" I could not\nsee it, and consequently I was an infidel to this. But I said then as\nI say now--\"Show me a church that God has organized, and you will find\napostles {115} to rule, govern, control, dictate, and give counsel.\nYou will find prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, governments,\nhelps, and diversities of tongues. When the Church and Kingdom of God\nis upon the earth you will find all these things and you will also hear\nprophesying therein.\" 14:113.\n\nMany people in this city do not know whether astrology is true or\nnot, whether it is of God or the Devil; hence they are liable to be\ndeceived, as is every person unless they have the power of revelation\nwithin themselves. If there are any brethren here who have been\nstudying astrology, and they were called upon to speak, would they\nnot say that they believed it to be a true science? They would; they\ntestify that they know it to be true. But what does it do for them?\nIt leads them into thousands of errors. Does God ever lead you into\nerror? Is he mistaken when he reveals? No; when he sets you to make\ncalculations and figures, I will insure you that every sum will prove\nand come out precisely right. The Lord does not deceive people, but\nastrology and mesmerism do lead them astray. How many deceptions are\nthere in the world? Millions, for a great many spirits have gone forth\ninto the world to deceive the people. Spirit rappings are of the same\nclass. 3:156.\n\n_Priestcraft_--The priests are angry because they are afraid that\ntheir religion is nothing but a sandy foundationed fabric; and whenever\nthey meditate upon the subject and humble themselves, and the Spirit\nof the Lord finds its way to their hearts and convicts them, the truth\nthen is made manifest before them, and they begin to learn the falsity\nof their systems; and when that spirit leaves them, they become angry.\n\"Mormonism\" is declared to be true by hosts of witnesses, and this\nmakes the priests angry; for {116} this Gospel bears its own weight and\ntestimony, and they know not how to gainsay it. True, I have aimed to\npoint out their errors; but it is not you or me that they are opposed\nto, although they throw their darts at us; but it is the spirit of\nconviction that goes with the report of this work; for wherever it\ngoes it strikes conviction to the heart, and that is what disturbs the\npriests and the people. 5:4-5.\n\nGo to the United States, into Europe, or wherever you can come across\nmen who have been in the midst of this people, and one will tell you\nthat we are a poor, ignorant, deluded people; the next will tell you\nthat we are the most industrious and intelligent people on the earth,\nand are destined to rise to eminence as a nation, and spread, and\ncontinue to spread, until we revolutionize the whole earth. If you pass\non to the third man, and inquire what he thinks of the \"Mormons,\" he\nwill say they are fools, duped and led astray by Joe Smith, who was a\nknave, and a false prophet, and a money digger. Why is all this? It is\nbecause there is a spirit in man. And when the Gospel of Jesus Christ\nis preached on the earth, and the Kingdom of God is established, there\nis also a spirit in these things, and an almighty spirit too. When\nthese two spirits come in contact one with the other, the spirit of\nthe Gospel reflects light upon the spirit which God has placed in man,\nand wakes him up to a consciousness of his true state, which makes him\nafraid he will be condemned, for he perceives at once that \"Mormonism\"\nis true. \"Our craft is in danger,\" is the first thought that strikes\nthe wicked and dishonest of mankind, when the light of truth shines\nupon them. Say they, \"If these people called Latter-day Saints are\ncorrect in their views, the whole world must be wrong, and what will\nbecome of our time-honored institutions, and of our {117} influence,\nwhich we have swayed successfully over the minds of the people for\nages. This Mormonism must be put down.\" So priestcraft presents a bold\nand extended front against the truth. 1:188.\n\nIt is not in my being called a Quaker, a Methodist or a \"Mormon\" that\nis the true cause of contention between these two great powers--Christ\nand Belial; but it is in the fact that God has established his Kingdom\nupon the earth and restored the holy Priesthood which gives men\nauthority and power to administer in his name. 11:238.\n\nInstead of seeking unto the Lord for wisdom, they seek unto vain\nphilosophy and the deceit and traditions of men, which are after the\nrudiments of the world and not after Christ. They are led by their own\nimaginations and by the dictates of their selfish will, which will lead\nthem in the end to miss the object of their pursuit. 10:209.\n\n_Sin and Wickedness_--God permits sin, or it could not be here.\n13:151.\n\nThe law is for the transgressor. 15:161.\n\nAll evil is from beneath, while all that is good is from God. 13:267.\n\nAside from the revelations in our day, there is not knowledge enough\nto tell you why God suffered sin to come into the world. You have been\ntold the reason why--that all intelligence must prove facts by their\nopposite. 6:144.\n\nI wish you to understand that sin is not an attribute in the nature of\nman, but it is an inversion of the attributes God has placed in him.\nRighteousness tends to an eternal duration of organized intelligence,\nwhile sin bringeth to pass their dissolution. 10:251.\n\nSin has come into the world, and death by sin. I frequently ask myself\nthe question: Was there any necessity {118} for sin to enter the world?\nMost assuredly there was, according to my understanding and reasoning\npowers. Did I not know the evil I could never know the good; had I not\nseen the light I should never be able to comprehend what darkness is.\nHad I never tried to see and behold a thing in darkness I could not\nunderstand the beauty and glory of the light. If I had never tasted the\nbitter or the sour how could I define or describe the sweet? 13:59.\n\nThe annoyances, difficulties, errors, perplexities, sorrows, and\ntroubles of this life, from first to last, are in consequence of sin\nbeing in the world. For me to say it is not right for sin to be in the\nworld, or if we, as intelligent beings, come to the conclusion that sin\nentered the world by chance, through some mistake, and it was contrary\nto the design of him who created us, we should err. 14:98.\n\nLet a Saint diverge from the path of truth and rectitude, in the least,\nno matter in what, it may be in a deal with his neighbor, in lusting\nafter that which is not in his possession, in neglecting his duty, in\nhaving an over anxiety for something he should not be anxious about, in\nbeing a little distrustful with regard to the providences of God, in\nentertaining a misgiving in his heart and feeling with regard to the\nhand of the Lord towards him, and his mind will begin to be darkened.\n3:222.\n\nThe law of God is pointed against sin and iniquity, and where they\nappear it is unbending in its nature and must, sooner or later, hold\nsovereign rule against them, or righteousness could never prevail.\n3:256.\n\nPaul asks, \"Shall we sin that righteousness may abound?\" No, there is\nplenty of sin without your sinning. We can have all the experience we\nneed, without sinning ourselves, therefore we will not sin that good\nmay come, {119} we will not transgress the law of God that we may know\nthe opposite. There is no necessity for such a course, for the world\nis full of transgression, and this people need not mingle up with it.\n3:224.\n\nIt is as manly and as praiseworthy for an individual to make the choice\nto do good, work righteousness and love and serve God--it is more\nnoble, than to choose the downward road. One or the other will be the\nchoice of every individual. Do not trifle with evil, or you will be\novercome by it before you know. 12:231.\n\nMany imbibe the idea that they are capable of leading out in teaching\nprinciples that never have been taught. They are not aware that the\nmoment they give way to this hallucination the Devil has power over\nthem to lead them onto unholy ground; though this is a lesson which\nthey ought to have learned long ago, yet it is one that was learned by\nbut few in the days of Joseph. 3:318.\n\nIt is far better to die in a good cause than to live in a bad one; it\nis better to die doing good than to live doing evil. 11:134.\n\nSin is in the world, but it is not necessary that we should sin,\nbecause sin is in the world; but, to the contrary, it is necessary that\nwe should resist sin, and for this purpose is sin necessary. Sin exists\nin all the eternities. Sin is coeternal with righteousness, for it must\nneeds be that there is an opposition in all things. 10:2.\n\nLook at ourselves--run over our own experience, and we shall discover\nthat ourselves, our neighbors, our friends, our acquaintances, and\nall people do not always know when they are happy. In other words,\nif you could crowd an individual or a community into heaven without\nexperience, it would be no enjoyment to them. They must know the\n{120} opposite; they must know how to contrast, in order to prize and\nappreciate the comfort and happiness, the joy and the bliss they are\nactually in possession of. 5:294.\n\nThere is a clear distinction made between the sinner and the ungodly.\nA person to be ungodly must have known godliness, and must have a\nknowledge of what the Lord requires concerning him. There are many in\nthe midst of this people who believe the Gospel with all their hearts,\nbut yet do wickedly; this makes them ungodly. 2:258.\n\nI would not associate with those who blaspheme the name of God, nor\nwould I let my family associate with them. By this you may know whether\nyou are in the path that leads to life and salvation. If you can hear\nthe name of the Deity lightly spoken of and blasphemed, and not be\nshocked at it, you may know that you are not in that path. 12:219-220.\n\nImprovement belongs to the spirit and plan of the heavens. To improve\nin our minds, to increase in wisdom, knowledge and understanding,\nto gather every item of knowledge that we can in mechanism and in\nscience of every description, respecting the earth, the object of the\norganization of the earth, the heavens, the heavenly bodies--all this\nis of Heaven, it is from God; but when a person or a people begin to\ndwindle, to lessen and to take the downward course, they are going from\nheaven and heavenly things. 16:65.\n\nMany of us have been taught the doctrine of total depravity--that man\nis not naturally inclined to do good. I am satisfied that he is more\ninclined to do right than to do wrong. There is a greater power within\nhim to shun evil and perform good, than to do the opposite. 9:247.\n\nThe wickedness of the children of men is what influences {121} them to\nfear. They are not afraid of their own laws, because they originated\nfrom themselves; they can manage them and blot them out of existence\nwhenever they wish. But when that which is said to be the Kingdom\nof God, or the theocracy of heaven, is upon the earth, many of the\ninhabitants thereof tremble, and fear that it is not correct. 7:148.\n\nHow much does it take to prepare a man, or woman, or any being, to\nbecome angels to the Devil, to suffer with him to all eternity? Just\nas much as it does to prepare a man to go into the celestial kingdom,\ninto the presence of the Father and the Son, and to be made an heir to\nhis Kingdom, and all his glory, and be crowned with crowns of glory,\nimmortality, and eternal lives. 3:93.\n\nLet not your feelings be afflicted or in anywise troubled by the\nsayings and doings of the wicked, for they are in the hands of the\nAlmighty, and he will dispose of individuals and nations as seemeth him\ngood. He must give them an opportunity to receive the truth and prepare\nthemselves to dwell eternally with him, or to reject it and prepare\nthemselves to be cut down as cumberers of the ground, suffer the wrath\nof the Almighty, and perish and be wasted away until they will be known\nno more. Seek for that which will endure. 7:270.\n\nIt is not right, I will say, for people to know the truth and live in\ndisobedience to it; it is not right for them to understand the ways\nand providences of God as they are dealt out to the people on the\nearth, when they live and are determined to live in violation of every\ncommandment and law of God; and because they do so live, ignorance\ncovers them as with a mantle, shuts out the light of truth from them,\nand keeps them in darkness; and if the light were to {122} shine upon\nthem, as it does now and as it did in the days of the Apostles, would\nthey receive it? No, they would not. Light has come into the world, but\nthe wicked choose darkness rather than light. Why? It was told in days\nof old that their deeds were evil. That is the fact today--\"They choose\ndarkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil,\" and their\nhearts are fully set in them to do evil. 15:64.\n\nLet the wicked say what they please, for their breath is in their\nnostrils, and all their glory is like the grass and the flower of the\ngrass that passeth away. They are here but for a moment, and soon those\nwho know them now will know them no more for ever. They will soon be as\nthough they had not been upon the earth. 7:270.\n\nThe hand of the Almighty is over the wicked, and he handles them\naccording to his good pleasure, as he does the Saints. His hand is over\nus, and his hand is over them. But there is a thick mist cast before\ntheir eyes, so they do not discern the truth of \"Mormonism.\" Do you\nwonder that they are mad, when they see the progress of truth? I do\nnot. 4:38.\n\nI never believed that the righteous have ever suffered as much as the\nwicked. 11:274.\n\nThe wicked do not know how to enjoy life, but the closer we live to God\nthe better we know and understand how to enjoy it. Live so that you can\nenjoy the Spirit of the Lord continually. 10:336.\n\n_Temptation_--I am happy, brethren, for the privilege of having\ntemptation. A great many people have thought that in my life I was\nnot tempted like other men. I tell them if I am it is none of their\nbusiness; it is nothing to them. Some say, \"Brother Brigham, you slide\nalong and {123} the Devil lets you alone.\" If I have battles with him,\nI can overcome him single handed quicker than to call in my neighbors\nto help me. If I am tempted to speak an evil word, I will keep my lips\nlocked together. Says one, \"I do not know about that, that would be\nsmothering up bad feelings, I am wonderfully tried about my neighbor,\nhe has done wrong, he has abused me and I feel dreadful bad about it.\nHad I not better let it out than to keep it rankling within me?\" No. I\nwill keep bad feelings under and actually smother them to death, then\nthey are gone. But as sure as I let them out they will live and afflict\nme. If I smother them in myself, if I actually choke them to death,\ndestroy the life, the power, and vigor thereof, they will pass off and\nleave me clear of fault, and pure, so far as that is concerned; and no\nman or woman on earth knows that I have ever been tempted to indulge in\nwicked feelings. Keep them to yourselves.\n\nIf you feel evil, keep it to yourselves until you overcome that evil\nprinciple. This is what I call resisting the Devil, and he flees from\nme. I strive not to speak evil, not to feel evil, and if I do, to keep\nit to myself until it is gone from me, and not let it pass my lips.\n3:195.\n\nThousands of temptations assail, and you make a miss here and a slip\nthere, and say that you have not lived up to all the knowledge you\nhave. True; but often it is a marvel to me that you have lived up\nto so much as you have, considering the power of the enemy upon the\nearth. Few that have ever lived have fully understood that power. I do\nnot fully comprehend the awful power and influence Satan has upon the\nearth, but I understand enough to know that it is a marvel that the\nLatter-day Saints are as good as they are. 8:285. {124}\n\nIt is necessary in the very nature of things, in the economy of heaven,\nthat we should be tried and tempted in all things, in order to prove\nourselves and prepare ourselves to enjoy that eternal life that is\nprepared for the just. The time will be when people will not be tempted\nas they now are--when there will be no Tempter upon the earth. The\nknowledge and intelligence that will be diffused among the people will\nenable them to live a time and a season without the Tempter. But we\nlive in a day when the power and rule of that evil principle is more\nexcessive upon the earth than it ever has been. 7:268.\n\nWhen we neglect any one of these duties, the enemy says, \"I have made\nso much ground.\" If the-Devil can induce an Elder to drink a little,\nhe is not satisfied with this triumph, but says to him, \"Your wife and\nchildren know it, don't pray tonight.\" The Elder says to his family,\n\"I feel tired tonight, we won't have prayers.\" The enemy says, \"I have\ngained another point.\" You indulge still further, and you will find\nother excuses. Your head is not right, your heart is not right, your\nconscience is not right, and you retire again without praying. By and\nby, you begin to doubt something the Lord has revealed to us, and it is\nnot long before such a one is led away captive of the Devil. 18:216.\n\nWhen you are tempted to do wrong, do not stop one moment to argue, but\ntell Mr. Devil to walk out of your barn. 3:359.\n\nWhen the Devil cannot overcome an individual through temptation to\ncommit wickedness, when he sees that a person is determined to walk in\nthe line and travel straight forward into the celestial kingdom, he\nwill adopt a course of flattery, will strive to exercise a pleasing\ninfluence and move along smoothly with him, and when he sees an\nopportunity {125} he will try to turn him out of the way, if it is only\nto the extent of a hair's breadth. 3:318.\n\nDo not suppose that we shall ever in the flesh be free from temptations\nto sin. Some suppose that they can in the flesh be sanctified, body and\nspirit, and become so pure that they will never again feel the effects\nof the power of the adversary of truth. Were it possible for a person\nto attain to this degree of perfection in the flesh, he could not die,\nneither remain in a world where sin predominates. Sin has entered into\nthe world, and death by sin. I think we shall more or less feel the\neffects of sin so long as we live, and finally have to pass the ordeals\nof death. Do not understand that in the flesh we shall ever overcome\nthe power of sin to such a degree that we shall never taste death. I do\nnot look for any such thing, though what we call death, or laying down\nthis body, is only the door to a higher state of life for the faithful.\nIf we live our religion it will enable us to so overcome sin that it\nwill not reign in our mortal bodies but will become subject to us,\nand the world and its fulness will become our servant instead of our\nmaster. 10:173.\n\nAs soon as a man hears the Gospel preached and becomes convinced of its\ntruthfulness, he is tempted of the Devil, who, whenever there is an\nopportunity, suggests doubt for his reflection. If he entertain these\ndoubting influences it is not long before what he believed true becomes\na matter of conjecture. Another may receive the Gospel, travel and\npreach it faithfully, feeling in his heart to exclaim, \"Glory to God\nin the highest,\" having no other motive than to do good to his fellow\nbeings. By and by he perhaps is left to himself, saying--\"I wonder if I\nreally was {126} right?\" This single doubt is perhaps the beginning of\nhis apostasy from the Church. 18:215.\n\nServe God according to the best knowledge you have, and lay down and\nsleep quietly; and when the Devil comes along and says, \"You are not\na very good Saint, you might enjoy greater blessings and more of the\npower of God, and have the vision of your mind opened, if you would\nlive up to your privileges,\" tell him to leave; that you have long\nago forsaken his ranks and enlisted in the army of Jesus, who is your\ncaptain, and that you want no more of the Devil. 4:270.\n\nWhen temptations come to you, be humble and faithful, and determined\nthat you will overcome, and you will receive a deliverance, and\ncontinue faithful, having the promise of receiving blessings. 16:164.\n\n_Apostasy_--It is most astonishing to every principle of\nintelligence that any man or woman will close their eyes upon eternal\nthings after they have been made acquainted with them, and let the\ngay things of this world, the lusts of the eye, and the lusts of the\nflesh, entangle their minds and draw them one hair's breadth from the\nprinciples of life. 4:59.\n\nIf the candle of the Almighty does not shine from this place, you need\nnot seek for light anywhere else. 4:93.\n\nTo know the truth of my testimony he must have the visions and\nrevelations of God for himself. And when he gets them, and turns aside\nbecoming a traitor to the cause of righteousness, the wrath of God will\nbeat upon him, and the vengeance of the Almighty will be heavy upon\nhim. 2:140.\n\nIt was said here this morning that no person ever apostatized, without\nactual transgression. Omission of duty {127} leads to commission. We\nwant to live so as to have the Spirit every day, every hour of the day,\nevery minute of the day, and every Latter-day Saint is entitled to\nthe Spirit of God, to the power of the Holy Ghost, to lead him in his\nindividual duties. 10:296.\n\nHe will make false prophecies, yet he will do it by the spirit of\nprophecy; he will feel that he is a prophet and can prophesy, but he\ndoes it by another spirit and power than that which was given him of\nthe Lord. He uses the gift as much as you and I use ours. 3:364.\n\nLet a man or woman who has received much of the power of God, visions\nand revelations, turn away from the holy commandments of the Lord, and\nit seems that their senses are taken from them, their understanding and\njudgment in righteousness are taken away, they go into darkness, and\nbecome like a blind person who gropes by the wall. 2:301.\n\nThe person that forsakes the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ will find\nhimself ruined for time and eternity. How are they looked upon who\nhave received the Spirit of the Gospel and forsaken it? With a few\nexceptions, they are despised by the good and wise among men, by the\nnoble and ignoble; all despise them, and they are in a most miserable\ncondition. 7:146.\n\nWhenever there is a disposition manifested in any of the members of\nthis Church to question the right of the President of the whole Church\nto direct in all things, you see manifested evidences of apostasy--of a\nspirit which, if encouraged, will lead to a separation from the Church\nand to final destruction; wherever there is a disposition to operate\nagainst any legally appointed officer of this Kingdom, no matter in\nwhat capacity he is called to act, if persisted in, {128} it will be\nfollowed by the same results; they will \"walk after the flesh in the\nlust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they,\nself-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.\" 11:136.\n\nWhen a man begins to find fault, inquiring in regard to this, that, and\nthe other, saying, \"Does this or that look as though the Lord dictated\nit?\" you may know that that person has more or less of the spirit of\napostasy. Every man in this Kingdom, or upon the face of the earth,\nwho is seeking with all his heart to save himself, has as much to do\nas he can conveniently attend to, without calling in question that\nwhich does not belong to him. If he succeeds in saving himself, it has\nwell occupied his time and attention. See to it that you are right\nyourselves; see that sins and folly do not manifest themselves with the\nrising sun. I repeat that it is as much as any one can well do to take\ncare of himself by: performing every duty that pertains to his temporal\nand eternal welfare. 8:12.\n\nWhat is that which turns people away from this Church? Very trifling\naffairs are generally the commencement of their divergence from the\nright path. If we follow a compass, the needle of which does not point\ncorrectly, a very slight deviation in the beginning will lead us, when\nwe have traveled some distance, far to one side of the true point for\nwhich we are aiming. 12:125.\n\nWhen men lose the spirit of the work in which we are engaged, they\nbecome infidel in their feelings. They say that they do not know\nwhether the Bible is true, whether the Book of Mormon is true, nor\nabout new revelations, nor whether there is a God or not. When they\nlose the spirit of this work, they lose the knowledge of the things of\nGod in time and in eternity; all is lost to them. 8:316. {129}\n\nThose who leave the Church are like a feather blown to and fro in the\nair. They know not whither they are going; they do not understand\nanything about their own existence; their faith, judgment and the\noperation of their minds are as unstable as the movements of the\nfeather floating in the air. We have not anything to cling to, only\nfaith in the Gospel. 15:136.\n\nIf the people would live their religion, there would be no apostasy and\nwe would hear no complaining or faultfinding. If the people were hungry\nfor the words of eternal life, and their whole souls even centered on\nthe building up of the Kingdom of God, every heart and hand would be\nready and willing and the work would move forward mightily and we would\nadvance as we should do. 13:153.\n\nMen begin to apostatize by taking to themselves strength, by hearkening\nto the whisperings of the enemy who leads them astray little by little,\nuntil they gather to themselves that which they call the wisdom of man;\nthen they begin to depart from God, and their minds become confused.\n18:231.\n\nYou have known men who, while in the Church, were active, quick and\nfull of intelligence; but after they have left the Church, they have\nbecome contracted in their understandings, they have become darkened\nin their minds and everything has become a mystery to them, and in\nregard to the things of God, they have become like the rest of the\nworld, who think, hope and pray that such and such things may be so,\nbut they do not know the least about it. This is precisely the position\nof those who leave this Church; they go into the dark, they are not\nable to judge, conceive or comprehend things as they are. They are like\nthe drunken man--he thinks that everybody is the worse for liquor but\nhimself, and he is the only sober man in the neighborhood. {130} The\napostates think that everybody is wrong but themselves. 16:65.\n\nYou hear many say, \"I am a Latter-day Saint, and I never will\napostatize\"; \"I am a Latter-day Saint, and shall be to the day of my\ndeath.\" I never make such declarations, and never shall. I think I have\nlearned that of myself I have no power, but my system is organized to\nincrease in wisdom, knowledge, and power, getting a little here and a\nlittle there. But when I am left to myself, I have no power, and my\nwisdom is foolishness; then I cling close to the Lord, and I have power\nin his name. I think I have learned the Gospel so as to know, that in\nand of myself I am nothing. 1:337.\n\nIf you want to see the principle of devilism to perfection, hunt among\nthose who have once enjoyed the faith of the holy Gospel and then\nforsaken their religion. We have the best and the worst. Why the worst?\nBecause the Devil prompts men and women of the meanest and lowest grade\nto embrace the Gospel and get a foothold in the Kingdom of God to\ndestroy it. 7:145.\n\nPeople do, however, leave this Church, but they leave it because they\nget into darkness, and the very day they conclude that there should\nbe a democratic vote, or in other words, that we should have two\ncandidates for the presiding Priesthood in the midst of the Latter-day\nSaints, they conclude to be apostates. There is no such thing as\nconfusion, division, strife, animosity, hatred, malice, or two sides to\nthe question in the house of God; there is but one side to the question\nthere. 14:92.\n\nIf the Saints neglect to pray, and violate the day that is set apart\nfor the worship of God, they will lose his Spirit. If a man shall\nsuffer himself to be overcome with anger, and curse and swear, taking\nthe name of the Deity in vain, {131} he cannot retain the Holy Spirit.\nIn short, if a man shall do anything which he knows to be wrong, and\nrepenteth not, he cannot enjoy the Holy Spirit, but will walk in\ndarkness and ultimately deny the faith. 11:134.\n\nWhat have the Latter-day Saints got to apostatize from? Everything that\nthere is good, pure, holy, God-like, exalting, ennobling, extending\nthe ideas, the capacities of the intelligent beings that our Heavenly\nFather has brought forth upon this earth. What will they receive in\nexchange? I can comprehend it in a very few words. These would be the\nwords that I should use: death, hell and the grave. That is what they\nwill get in exchange. We may go into the particulars of that which they\nexperience. They experience darkness, ignorance, doubt, pain, sorrow,\ngrief, mourning, unhappiness; no person to condole with in the hour of\ntrouble, no arm to lean upon in the day of calamity, no eye to pity\nwhen they are forlorn and cast down; and I comprehend it by saying\ndeath, hell and the grave. This is what they will get in exchange for\ntheir apostasy from the Gospel of the Son of God. 16:160.\n\nWhy do people apostatize? You know we are on the \"Old Ship Zion.\" We\nare in the midst of the ocean. A storm comes on, and, as sailors say,\nshe labors very hard. \"I am not going to stay here,\" says one; \"I don't\nbelieve this is the 'Ship Zion.'\" \"But we are in the midst of the\nocean.\" \"I don't care, I am not going to stay here.\" Off goes the coat,\nand he jumps overboard. Will he not be drowned? Yes. So with those who\nleave this Church. It is the \"Old Ship Zion,\" let us stay in it. 10:295.\n\nWill there still be apostasy? Yes, brethren and sisters, you may expect\nthat people will come into the Church and then apostatize. You may\nexpect that some people will run well for a season, and then fall out\nby the way. 2:250. {132}\n\nMany receive the Gospel because they know it is true; they are\nconvinced in their judgment that it is true; strong argument overpowers\nthem, and they are rationally compelled to admit the Gospel to be true\nupon fair reasoning. They yield to it, and obey its first principles,\nbut never seek to be enlightened by the power of the Holy Ghost; such\nones frequently step out of the way. 2:250.\n\nWhat has already become of those who, during our short existence\nas a Church, have come out against us, politically, judicially, or\notherwise, those who have raised their puny arms to destroy the Kingdom\nof God from the earth! They have become powerless, like the dew before\nthe rising sun; they have vanished away, their names are almost\nforgotten; and if this is not the case with all, it will be. 18:232.\n\nOne of the first steps to apostasy is to find fault with your Bishop;\nand when that is done, unless repented of, a second step is soon taken,\nand by and by the person is cut off from the Church, and that is the\nend of it. Will you allow yourselves to find fault with your Bishop?\nNo; but come to me, go to the High Council, or to the President of the\nStake, and ascertain whether your Bishop is doing wrong, before you\nfind fault and suffer yourselves to speak against a presiding officer.\n9:141.\n\nGod is at the helm of this great ship, and that makes me feel good.\nWhen I think about the world, and the enemies of the cause of God, I\ncare no more about them than I do for a parcel of mosquitoes. All hell\nmay howl, and they may run up and down the earth and seek whom they may\ndestroy, but they cannot move the faithful and pure in heart. Let those\napostatize who wish to, but God will save all who are determined to be\nsaved. 4:111. {133}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\n_THE LAW OF ETERNAL PROGRESSION_\n\n_Object of Mortal Life_--This life is worth as much to us as any\nlife in the eternities of the Gods. 9:170.\n\nThe object of this existence is to learn, which we can only do a little\nat a time. 9:167.\n\nWhat are we here for? To learn to enjoy more, and to increase in\nknowledge and in experience. 14:228.\n\nThe whole mortal existence of man is neither more nor less than a\npreparatory state given to finite beings, a space wherein they may\nimprove themselves for a higher state of being. 1:334.\n\nWe are placed on this earth to prove whether we are worthy to go into\nthe celestial world, the terrestrial, or the telestial, or to hell, or\nto any other kingdom, or place, and we have enough of life given us to\ndo this. 4:269.\n\nThis is a world in which we are to prove ourselves. The lifetime of man\nis a day of trial, wherein we may prove to God, in our darkness, in our\nweakness, and where the enemy reigns, that we are our Father's friends,\nand that we receive light from him and are worthy to be leaders of our\nchildren--to become lords of lords, and kings of kings--to have perfect\ndominion over that portion of our families that will be crowned in the\ncelestial kingdom with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. 8:61.\n\nThe first great principle that ought to occupy the attention of\nmankind, that should be understood by the child and the adult, and\nwhich is the main spring of all action, whether people understand it or\nnot, is the principle of {134} improvement. The principle of increase,\nof exaltation, of adding to that we already possess, is the grand\nmoving principle and cause of the actions of the children of men. No\nmatter what their pursuits are, in what nation they were born, with\nwhat people they have been associated, what religion they profess, or\nwhat politics they hold, this is the main spring of the actions of the\npeople, embracing all the powers necessary in performing the duties of\nlife. 2:91.\n\n_Man to Endure Forever_--Hear it, all ye Latter-day Saints! Will\nyou spend the time of your probation for naught, and fool away your\nexistence and being? You were organized, and brought into being, for\nthe purpose of enduring forever, if you fulfil the measure of your\ncreation, pursue the right path, observe the requirements of the\ncelestial law, and obey the commandments of our God. 1:113.\n\nWe are urged by the Spirit to refrain from articles which tend to\ndeath, to preserve this life, which is the most precious life given\nto mortal beings preparatory to an immortal life. It is our business\nto prepare to live here to do good. Instead of crying to the people,\nprepare to die, our cry is, prepare to live forever. These mortal\nhouses will drop off sometime, and when they are cleansed and purified,\nsanctified and glorified, we shall inherit them again forever and ever.\nLet all the Saints pursue a course to live. 12:209.\n\nMankind, in general, do not stop to reflect, they are pressing headlong\nto grasp the whole world if possible; each individual is for himself,\nand he is ignorant of the design the Almighty had in his creation and\nexistence in this life. To obtain a knowledge of this design is a duty\nobligatory upon all the sons and daughters of Adam. 1:334.\n\n_The Business of Life_--The only business that we have {135} on\nhand is to build up the Kingdom of God and prepare the way of the Son\nof Man. 5:230.\n\nWe are here to live, to spread intelligence and knowledge among the\npeople. I am here to school my brethren, to teach my family the way of\nlife, to propagate my species, and to live, if in my power, until sin,\niniquity, corruption, hell, and the Devil, and all classes and grades\nof abominations are driven from the earth. That is my religion and the\nobject of my existence. We are not here merely to prepare to die, and\nthen die; but we are here to live and build up the Kingdom of God on\nthe earth--to promote the Priesthood, overcome the powers of Satan, and\nteach the children of man what they are created for--that in them is\nconcealed the germ of all intelligence. Here is the starting-point--the\nfoundation that is laid in the organization of man for receiving a\nfulness of eternal knowledge and glory. Are we to go yonder to obtain\nit? No; we are to promote it on this earth. 8:282.\n\nHuman beings are expected by their Creator to be actively employed in\ndoing good every day of their lives, either in improving their own\nmental and physical condition or that of their neighbors. 9:190.\n\nThe purpose of our life should be to build up the Zion of our God,\nto gather the House of Israel, bring in the fulness of the Gentiles,\nrestore and bless the earth with our ability and make it as the\nGarden of Eden, store up treasures of knowledge and wisdom in our own\nunderstandings, purify our own hearts and prepare a people to meet the\nLord when he comes. 10:222.\n\nSome say that \"this is a miserable world, I do not care how soon I\nget through.\" Well, go and destroy yourselves, if you choose; you\nhave all the opportunity that you can {136} desire, there is plenty\nof arsenic, calomel, and other means, within your reach. But I would\nnot give a cent for such persons; I do not delight in such characters,\nand I do not believe that the Lord delights in people who wish to die\nbefore they have accomplished the work that he designed for them to do.\n2:270-271.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints throughout the valleys in these mountains and\nthroughout the world ought to be learning what they are on this earth\nfor. They are here to increase and multiply, to enlarge, to gather\nthe House of Israel, redeem Zion, build up the Zion of our God, and\nto promote that eternal intelligence that dwells with the Gods, and\nbegin to plant it in this earth, and make it take root downward and\nbring forth fruit upward to the glory of God, until every obnoxious\nprinciple in the hearts of men is destroyed, and the earth returns to\nits paradisical state, and the Lord comes and dwells with this people,\nand walks and talks with them as he did with Father Adam. That is our\nbusiness, and not to suffer all our energies to be expended in merely\npreparing to die. 8:282.\n\nIt may appear strange to some of you, and it certainly does to the\nworld, to say it is possible for a man or woman to become perfect\non this earth. It is written \"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your\nFather which is in heaven is perfect.\" Again, \"If any man offend not\nin word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole\nbody.\" This is perfectly consistent to the person who understands what\nperfection really is.\n\nIf the first passage I have quoted is not worded to our understanding,\nwe can alter the phraseology of the sentence, and say, \"Be ye as\nperfect as ye can,\" for that is all we can do, though it is written,\nbe ye perfect as your Father who is {137} in heaven is perfect. He\ncannot be any more perfect than he knows how, any more than we. When\nwe are doing as well as we know how in the sphere and station which we\noccupy here, we are justified in the justice, righteousness, mercy,\nand judgment that go before the Lord of heaven and earth. We are as\njustified as the angels who are before the throne of God. The sin that\nwill cleave to all the posterity of Adam and Eve is, that they have not\ndone as well as they knew how. 2:129.\n\nWhen we use the term perfection, it applies to man in his present\ncondition, as well as to heavenly beings. We are now, or may be, as\nperfect in our sphere as God and angels are in theirs, but the greatest\nintelligence in existence can continually ascend to greater heights of\nperfection. 1:93.\n\n_Prepare to Live_--Instead of preparing to die, prepare to live in\nthe midst of all the exaltations of the Gods. 9:291.\n\nWe are organized for the express purpose of controlling the\nelements, of organizing and disorganizing, of ruling over kingdoms,\nprincipalities, and powers, and yet our affections are often too highly\nplaced upon paltry, perishable objects. We love houses, gold, silver,\nand various kinds of property, and all who unduly prize any object\nthere is beneath the celestial world are idolators. 3:257.\n\nBut so long as we willingly hold fellowship with that which tends to\ndeath and destruction, we cannot progress as we should in the work of\nperfection in ourselves, nor in building up and beautifying Zion. 9:284.\n\nIt is our privilege to say, every day in our lives, \"That is the best\nday I ever lived.\" Never let a day so pass that you will have cause to\nsay, \"I will live better to-morrow,\" and I will promise you, in the\nname of the Lord Jesus, that {138} your lives will be as a well of\nwater springing up to everlasting life. You will have his Spirit to\ndwell in you continually, and your eyes will be open to see, your ears\nto hear, and your understandings to comprehend. 8:140.\n\nHe gives a little to his humble followers today, and if they improve\nupon it, tomorrow he will give them a little more, and the next day a\nlittle more. He does not add to that which they do not improve upon,\nbut they are required to continually improve upon the knowledge they\nalready possess, and thus obtain a store of wisdom. It is plain, then,\nthat we may receive the truth, and know, through every portion of the\nsoul, that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation; that it is\nthe way to life eternal; still there may be added to this, more power,\nwisdom, knowledge, and understanding. 2:2.\n\n_Eternal Increase_--This people must go forward, or they will go\nbackward. 16:165.\n\nThis work is a progressive work, this doctrine that is taught the\nLatter-day Saints in its nature is exalting, increasing, expanding and\nextending broader and broader until we can know as we are known, see as\nwe are seen. 16:165.\n\nUnless this work is in progress as a whole, it is not complete--we are\nfound wanting, and not prepared to do the work we are called and sent\nto do. 6:267.\n\nIgnorant? Yes, we are ignorant; but we are on the high road to that\neternal knowledge that fills the bosoms of the Gods in eternity. 7:4.\n\nWe can still improve, we are made for that purpose, our capacities\nare organized to expand until we can receive into our comprehension\ncelestial knowledge and wisdom, and to continue, worlds without end.\n1:92. {139}\n\nShall we ever be learning and never be able to come to a knowledge of\nthe truth? No, I say we shall not; but we shall come to the knowledge\nof the truth. This is my hope and anticipation, and this is my joy.\n18:237.\n\nWe are in the school and keep learning, and we do not expect to cease\nlearning while we live on earth; and when we pass through the veil, we\nexpect still to continue to learn and increase our fund of information.\nThat may appear a strange idea to some; but it is for the plain and\nsimple reason that we are not capacitated to receive all knowledge at\nonce. We must therefore receive a little here and a little there. 6:286.\n\nWe have the principle within us, and so has every being on this earth;\nto increase and to continue to increase, to enlarge, and receive and\ntreasure up truth, until we become perfect. It is wisdom for us to\nbe the friends of God; and unless we are filled with integrity and\npreserve ourselves in our integrity before our God, we actually lay the\nfoundation for our destruction. 5:54.\n\nIf we are saved, we are happy, we are filled with light, glory,\nintelligence, and we pursue a course to enjoy the blessings that the\nLord has in store for us. If we continue to pursue that course, it\nproduces just the thing we want, that is, to be saved at this present\nmoment. And this will lay the foundation to be saved forever and\nforever, which will amount to an eternal salvation. 1:131.\n\nCan mortal beings live so that they are worthy of the society of\nangels? I can answer the question for myself--I believe that they can;\nI am sure that they can. But in doing this, they must subdue the sin\nthat is within themselves, correct every influence that arises within\ntheir own hearts that is opposed to the sanctifying influences of\nthe {140} grace of God, and purify themselves by their faith and by\ntheir conduct, so that they are worthy. Then they are prepared for the\nsociety of angels. To be Saints indeed requires every wrong influence\nthat is within them, as individuals, to be subdued, until every evil\ndesire is eradicated, and every feeling of their hearts is brought into\nsubjection to the will of Christ. 19:66.\n\nWe ought not to speak lightly of and undervalue the life we now enjoy,\nbut so dispose of each passing day that the hours and minutes are spent\nin doing good, or at least doing no harm, in making ourselves useful,\nin improving our talents and abilities to do more good, cultivating the\nprinciple of kindness to every being pertaining to our earthly sphere,\nlearning their uses and how to apply them to produce the greatest\npossible amount of good; learning to conduct ourselves towards our\nfamilies and friends in a way to win the love and confidence of the\ngood, and overcome every ungovernable passion by a constant practice of\ncool judgment and deliberate thoughts. 9:291.\n\nBecause of the weakness of human nature, it must crumble to the dust.\nBut in all the revolutions and changes in the existence of men, in\nthe eternal world which they inhabit, and in the knowledge they have\nobtained as people on the earth, there is no such thing as principle,\npower, wisdom, knowledge, life, position, or anything that can be\nimagined, that remains stationary--they must increase or decrease.\n1:350.\n\nTake the history of this Church from the commencement, and we have\nproved that we cannot receive all the Lord has for us. We have proved\nto the heavens and to one another that we are not yet capacitated to\nreceive all the Lord has for us, and that we have not yet a disposition\n{141} to receive all he has for us. Can you understand that there is a\ntime you can receive, and there is a time you cannot receive, a time\nwhen there is no place in the heart to receive? The heart of man will\nbe closed up, the will will be set against this and that, that we have\nopportunity to receive. There is an abundance the Lord has for the\npeople, if they would receive it. 10:291.\n\nTo me, life is increase; death is the opposite. 1:350.\n\nDo you think that we are always going to remain the same size? I am not\na stereotyped Latter-day Saint, and do not believe in the doctrine.\nEvery year the Elders of Israel are improving and learning, and have\nmore power, more influence with the Heavens, more power over the\nelements, and over diseases, and over the power of Satan, who has ruled\nthis earth from the days of the fall until now. We have to gain power\nuntil we break the chain of the enemy. Are we going to stand still?\nAway with stereotyped \"Mormons.\" I have more power than I had last\nyear. I feel much stronger than ever before, and that too in the power\nof God; and I feel as though I could take the people and bring them\ninto the presence of God, if they only hearken to counsel. Do you think\nthat I am improving? \"Yes.\" Keep up, then; keep your places, and follow\nin the track. 8:185.\n\nWe are privileged, in a spiritual point of view, precisely as we are in\na temporal point of view. We have the privilege of learning and adding\nto the knowledge we have already obtained. We have a knowledge, for\ninstance, of the rudiments of the English language. If we continue in\nour studies--in our exertions to acquire information, we obtain more\nknowledge; and if we continue still to persevere, {142} we add still\nmore to that, until we are perfect masters of the language.\n\nAgain, with regard to mechanism, in a certain sense, the same principle\nwill hold good. We have the privilege of learning the arts and sciences\nthat the learned among the Gentile nations understand; we have the\nprivilege of becoming classical scholars--of commencing with the\nrudiments of all knowledge--of entering into the academies, we might\nsay, of perfection. We might study, and add knowledge to knowledge,\nfrom the time that we are capable of knowing anything until we go down\nto the grave. If we enjoyed healthy bodies, so as not to wear upon\nthe functions of the mind, there is no end to a man's learning. This\ncompares precisely with our situation pertaining to heavenly things.\n6:283-284.\n\nBut simply to take the path pointed out in the Gospel by those who\nhave given us the plan of salvation, is to take the path that leads\nto life, to eternal increase; it is to pursue that course wherein\nwe shall never, never lose what we obtain, but continue to collect,\nto gather together, to increase, to spread abroad, and extend to an\nendless duration. Those persons who strive to gain eternal life, gain\nthat which will produce the increase their hearts will be satisfied\nwith. Nothing less than the privilege of increasing eternally, in every\nsense of the word, can satisfy the immortal spirit. If the endless\nstream of knowledge from the eternal fountain could all be drunk in by\norganized intelligences, so sure immortality would come to an end, and\nall eternity be thrown upon the retrograde path. 1:350.\n\nThere is one principle that I wish the people would understand and lay\nto heart. Just as fast as you will prove before your God that you are\n{143} worthy to receive the mysteries, if you please to call them so,\nof the Kingdom of heaven--that you are full of confidence in God--that\nyou will never betray a thing that God tells you--that you will never\nreveal to your neighbor that which ought not to be revealed, as quick\nas you prepare to be entrusted with the things of God, there is an\neternity of them to bestow upon you. Instead of pleading with the Lord\nto bestow more upon you, plead with yourselves to have confidence in\nyourselves, to have integrity in yourselves, and know when to speak\nand what to speak, what to reveal, and how to carry yourselves and\nwalk before the Lord. And just as fast as you prove to him that you\nwill preserve everything secret that ought to be--that you will deal\nout to your neighbors all which you ought, and no more, and learn how\nto dispense your knowledge to your families, friends, neighbors, and\nbrethren, the Lord will bestow upon you, and give to you, and bestow\nupon you, until finally he will say to you, \"You shall never fall; your\nsalvation is sealed unto you; you are sealed up unto eternal life and\nsalvation, through your integrity.\" 4:371.\n\nLife is an accumulation of every property and principle that is\ncalculated to enrich, to ennoble, to enlarge, and to increase, in every\nparticular, the dominion of individual man. To me, life would signify\nan extension. I have the privilege of spreading abroad, of enlarging\nmy borders, of increasing in endless knowledge, wisdom, and power, and\nin every gift of God. To live as I am, without progress, is not life,\nin fact we may say that is impossible. There is no such principle in\nexistence, neither can there be. You may explore all the eternities\nthat have been, were it {144} possible, then come to that which we now\nunderstand according to the principles of natural philosophy, and where\nis there an element, an individual living thing, an organized body,\nof whatever nature, that continues as it is? It cannot be found. All\nthings that have come within the bounds of man's limited knowledge--the\nthings he naturally understands, teach him that there is no period, in\nall the eternities, wherein organized existence will become stationary,\nthat it cannot advance in knowledge, wisdom, power, and glory.\n\nIf a man could ever arrive at the point that would put an end to the\naccumulation of life--the point at which he could increase no more, and\nadvance no further, we should naturally say he commenced to decrease\nat the same point. Again, when he has gained the zenith of knowledge,\nwisdom, and power, it is the point at which he begins to retrograde;\nhis natural abilities will begin to contract, and so he will continue\nto decrease, until all he knew is lost in the chaos of forgetfulness.\nAs we understand naturally, this is the conclusion we must come to, if\na termination to the increase of life and the acquisition of knowledge\nis true. 1:349.\n\nThe knowledge we now have in our possession is sufficient to guide and\ndirect us step by step, day by day, until we are made perfect before\nthe Lord our Father. 8:167.\n\nCan you not live it for one hour? Begin at a small point; can you not\nlive to the Lord for one minute? Yes. Then can we not multiply that by\nsixty and make an hour, and live that hour to the Lord? Yes; and then\nfor a day, a week, a month, and a year? Then, when the year is past, it\nhas been spent most satisfactorily. 8:59-60.\n\nThere are great and glorious things yet to be revealed. {145} We are\nbut babes and sucklings in the knowledge of God and godliness. With\nall we know and understand by the Priesthood here in the midst of this\npeople, we are mere infants before the angels in heaven. 8:203.\n\nI will apply my heart to wisdom, and ask the Lord to impart it to me;\nand if I know but little, I will improve upon it, that to-morrow I\nmay have more, and thus grow from day to day, in the knowledge of the\ntruth, as Jesus Christ grew in stature and knowledge from a babe to\nmanhood. 1:313.\n\nThis principle is inherent in the organization of all intelligent\nbeings, so that we are capable of receiving, and receiving, and\nreceiving from the inexhaustible fountain of knowledge and truth. 3:354.\n\nIt is enough for me to know that mankind are made to improve\nthemselves. All creation, visible and invisible, is the workmanship of\nour God, the supreme Architect and Ruler of the whole, who organized\nthe world, and created every living thing upon it, to act in its\nsphere and order. To this end has he ordained all things to increase\nand multiply. The Lord God Almighty has decreed this principle to be\nthe great, governing law of existence, and for that purpose are we\nformed. Furthermore, if men can understand and receive it, mankind are\norganized to receive intelligence until they become perfect in the\nsphere they are appointed to fill, which is far ahead of us at present.\n1:92.\n\nA time when there was no God, no eternity! It cannot be possible, and\nthe philosopher who tries to establish such a doctrine cannot possess\nany correct ideas of his own being. Will there ever be such a time? No.\nBut forever onward and upward. 19:50.\n\nKnowledge increases among this people; they know {146} more of the\nthings of the Kingdom of God to-day than they did in the days of Joseph\nSmith. 10:222.\n\nIf a person suffers his feelings to rise above the natural level of his\ncapacity, they will sink in the same ratio. 8:32.\n\n_Blessings are Proportioned to Our Capacity_--We are prepared for\nsome things, and we receive just as fast as we prepare ourselves. 15:4.\n\nThe heart of man is incapable of fully comprehending the blessings\nthat God has in store for the faithful, unless he has revealed those\nblessings to them by the revelations of his Spirit. The natural man is\ncontracted in his feelings, in his views, faith and desires, and so are\nthe Saints, unless they live their religion. 8:188.\n\nSome might suppose that it would be a great blessing to be taken\nand carried directly into heaven and there set down, but in reality\nthat would be no blessing to such persons; they could not reap a\nfull reward, could not enjoy the glory of the kingdom, and could not\ncomprehend and abide the light thereof, but it would be to them a\nhell intolerable and I suppose would consume them much quicker than\nwould hell fire. It would be no blessing to you to be carried into\nthe celestial kingdom, and obliged to stay therein, unless you were\nprepared to dwell there. 3:221.\n\nA man who has had his mind opened to the operation of the Priesthood\nof the Son of God--who understands anything of the government of\nheaven, must understand that finite beings are not capable of receiving\nand abiding the celestial law in its fulness. When can you abide a\ncelestial law? When you become a celestial being, and never until then.\n7:143. {147}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\n_THE DESTINY OF MAN_\n\n_The Gift of Eternal Life_--This is the greatest gift that can\nbe conferred on intelligent beings, to live forever and never be\ndestroyed. 8:261.\n\nIt is written that the greatest gift God can bestow upon man is the\ngift of eternal life. The greatest attainment that we can reach is\nto preserve our identity to an eternal duration in the midst of the\nheavenly hosts. We have the words of eternal life given to us through\nthe Gospel, which, if we obey, will secure unto us that precious gift.\n8:7.\n\nSuppose it possible that you have the privilege of securing to\nyourselves eternal life--to live and enjoy these blessings for ever;\nyou will say this is the greatest blessing that can be bestowed upon\nyou, to live forever and enjoy the society, of wives, children, and\nchildren's children, to a thousand generations, and forever; and also\nthe society of brethren, sisters, neighbors, and associates, and to\npossess all you can ask for to make you happy and comfortable. What\nblessing is equal to this? What blessing is equal to the continuation\nof life--to the continuation of our organization? 8:63.\n\nThe intelligence that is in me to cease to exist is a horrid\nthought; it is past enduring. This intelligence must exist; it must\ndwell somewhere. If I take the right course and preserve it in its\norganization, I will preserve to myself eternal life. 5:53.\n\nNever serve God because you are afraid of hell; but live your religion,\nbecause it is calculated to give you eternal {148} life. It points\nto that existence that never ends, while the other course leads to\ndestruction. 5:340.\n\nI am for life everlasting. I have a being and a life here; and this\nlife is very valuable; it is a most excellent life! I have a future! I\nam living for another existence that is far above this sinful world,\nwherein I will be free from this darkness, sin, error, ignorance\nand unbelief. I am looking forward to a world filled with light and\nintelligence, where men and women will live in the knowledge and light\nof God. 13:220.\n\nI tell you that if we strive with all our powers, by-and-by the time\nwill come that we will be Saints indeed. I have not said that we are\nSaints. We are trying to be, and we profess to have the keys that will\nlead us in the path of eternal life. 6:46.\n\nUnderstand eternity? There is not and never was a man in finite flesh\nwho understands it. Enoch has been referred to in this matter. How\nmany of the Gods and kingdoms he saw when the vision of his mind was\nopened, matters not. If he had seen more than he could have enumerated\nthroughout his long life, and more than all the men on earth could\nmultiply from the time his vision opened until now, he would not have\nattained to the comprehension of eternity. How much Enoch saw, how many\nworlds he saw, has nothing to do with the case. This is a matter that\nwise men know nothing about. 8:17.\n\nWe are going to have the Kingdom of God in the fulness thereof, and all\nthe heights and depths of glory, power, and knowledge; and we shall\nhave fathers and mothers, and wives and children. 8:178.\n\n_Eternal Increase_--Whenever we get into the Kingdom of Heaven,\nwhere God and Christ dwell, we shall find something {149} more to do\nthan to \"sit and sing ourselves away to everlasting bliss.\" The mind of\nman is active, and we must have exercise and amusement for the mind as\nwell as the body. 12:313.\n\nNow understand, to choose life is to choose principles that will lead\nyou to an eternal increase, and nothing short of them will produce\nlife in the resurrection for the faithful. Those that choose death,\nmake choice of the path which leads to the end of their organization.\nThe one leads to endless increase and progression, the other to the\ndestruction. 1:352.\n\nIf men are faithful, the time will come when they will possess the\npower and the knowledge to obtain, organize, bring into existence,\nand own. \"What, of themselves, independent of their Creator?\" No. But\nthey and their Creator will always be one, they will always be of one\nheart and of one mind, working and operating together; for whatsoever\nthe Father doeth so doeth the Son, and so they continue throughout all\ntheir operations to all eternity. 2:304.\n\nThe Lord has blessed us with the ability to enjoy an eternal life with\nthe Gods, and this is pronounced the greatest gift of God. The gift of\neternal life, without a posterity, to become an angel, is one of the\ngreatest gifts that can be bestowed; yet the Lord has bestowed on us\nthe privilege of becoming fathers of lives. What is a father of lives\nas mentioned in the Scriptures? A man who has a posterity to an eternal\ncontinuance. That is the blessing Abraham received, and it perfectly\nsatisfied his soul. He obtained the promise that he should be the\nfather of lives. 8:63.\n\nI expect, if I am faithful, with yourselves, that I shall see the time,\nwith yourselves, that we shall know how to {150} prepare to organize an\nearth like this--know how to people that earth, how to redeem it, how\nto sanctify it, and how to glorify it, with those who live upon it who\nhearken to our counsels. 6:274-5.\n\nThe faithful will become Gods, even the sons of God; but this does not\noverthrow the idea that we have a father. 6:279.\n\nAfter men have got their exaltations and their crowns--have become\nGods, even the sons of God--are made kings of kings and lords of lords,\nthey have the power then of propagating their species in spirit. Power\nis then given to them to organize the elements, and then commence the\norganization of tabernacles. 6:275.\n\nThe Father and the Son have attained to this point already; I am on the\nway, and so are you, and every faithful servant of God. 6:275.\n\n_The Celestial World_--If we keep the celestial law when our\nspirits go to God who gave them, we shall find that we are acquainted\nthere and distinctly realize that we know all about that world. 4:218.\n\nWhen you are qualified and purified, so that you can endure the glory\nof eternity, so that you can see your Father, and your friends who have\ngone behind the veil, you will fall upon their necks and kiss them, as\nwe do an earthly friend that has been long absent from us, and that we\nhave been anxiously desiring to see. 4:55.\n\nWhen you see celestial beings, you will see men and women, but you\nwill see those beings clothed upon with robes of celestial purity. We\ncannot bear the presence of our Father now; and we are placed at a\ndistance to prove whether we will honor these tabernacles, whether we\nwill be obedient and prepare ourselves to live in the glory of {151}\nthe light, privileges, and blessings of celestial beings. We could not\nhave the glory and the light without first knowing the contrast. Do you\ncomprehend that we could have no exaltation, without first learning by\ncontrast? 4:54.\n\n_Opposition to Death_--We are striving for eternal life, and are\nopposed to those who love and have the power of death. We have the\ninfluence and the power of life, and that necessarily brings us in\nopposition to those who prefer the principles of death. 7:56.\n\nWe are not in opposition to anything in earth or hell, except the\nprinciple of death. God has introduced life, and it is the principle of\nlife that we are after. The power of the enemy is all the time trying\nto destroy this life, and I am opposed to that power. 7:56.\n\nThe principle opposite to that of eternal increase is that the person\ndecreases, loses his knowledge, tact, talent, and ultimately, in a\nshort period of time, is lost; But where, Oh! where is his spirit? I\nwill not now take the time to follow his destiny; but here, strong\nlanguage could be used, for when the Lord Jesus Christ shall be\nrevealed, after the termination of the thousand years' rest, he will\nsummon the armies of heaven for the conflict, he will come forth in\nflaming fire, he will descend to execute the mandates of an incensed\nGod, and, amid the thunderings of the wrath of Omnipotence, roll up the\nheavens as a scroll, and destroy death, and him that has the power of\nit. 1:118.\n\nMankind have forfeited the right they once possessed to the friendship\nof their Heavenly Father, and through sin have exposed themselves\nto misery and wretchedness. Who is to bring back to the sin-stained\nmillions of earth that which they have lost through disobedience? Who\nis to {152} plant smiling peace and plenty where war and desolation\nreign? Who is to remove the curse and its consequences from earth--the\nhomestead of mankind? Who shall say to the raging and contending\nelements, \"Peace, be still\", and extract the poison from the reptile's\ntooth, and the savage and destructive nature from beast and creeping\nthing?\n\nWho placed the dark stain of sin upon this fair creation? Man. Who\nbut man shall remove the foul blot, and restore all things to their\nprimeval purity and innocence? But can he do this independent of\nheavenly aid? He can not. To aid him in this work heavenly grace is\nhere; heavenly wisdom, power, and help are here, and God's laws and\nordinances are here; the angels and spirits of just men made perfect\nare here; Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, with Prophets, Apostles,\nand Saints, ancient and modern, are here to help man in the great work\nof sanctifying himself and the earth for final glorification in its\nparadisical state. All this will be accomplished through the law of the\nholy Priesthood. 10:301. {153}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\n_DISPENSATIONS OF THE GOSPEL_\n\n_The Earth_--The world and all its various grades of organized\ndenizens, from the lowest forms of vegetable or animal life, up to man,\nthe lord of creation, were framed and made, or they would not have been\nhere. 14.41.\n\nIt is said in this book (the Bible) that God made the earth in six\ndays. This is a mere term, but it matters not whether it took six days,\nsix months, six years, or six thousand years. The creation occupied\ncertain periods of time. We are not authorized to say what the duration\nof these days was, whether Moses penned these words as we have them,\nor whether the translators of the Bible have given the words their\nintended meaning. However, God created the world. God brought forth\nmaterial out of which he formed this little terra firma upon which\nwe roam. How long had this material been in existence? Forever and\nforever, in some shape, in some condition. We need not refer to all\nof those who were with God, and who assisted him in this work. The\nelements form and develop, and continue to do so until they mature,\nand then they commence to decay and become disorganized. The mountains\naround us were formed in this way. By and by, when they shall have\nreached their maturity, the work of disintegration and decay will\ncommence. It has been so from all eternity, and will continue to be so\nuntil they are made celestial. 18:231.\n\nThis earth is brought together and organized from native elements as\nwe now behold it, our tabernacles included. The matter of which all\nanimate and inanimate existence is formed is from all eternity, and it\nmust remain {154} to all eternity, without beginning and without end.\nThere are certain portions of this native element that will be refined\nand prepared to enter into the celestial kingdom--into the celestial\nfamily of the celestial world. If the spirit honors the body and the\nbody honors the spirit while they are here united, the particles of\nmatter that compose the mortal tabernacle will be resurrected and\nbrought forth to immortality and eternal life; but it cannot be brought\nforth and made immortal, except it undergoes a change, for \"dust thou\nart, and unto dust shalt thou return.\" What for? To prepare the body to\nbe made immortal and fitted to dwell in the presence of the Gods. 8:27.\n\nWe shall go and come; and when we are in the eternity, we shall be on\nthis earth, which will be brought into the immediate presence of the\nFather and the Son. We shall inhabit different mansions, and worlds\nwill continue to be made, formed, and organized, and messengers from\nthis earth will be sent to others. This earth will become a celestial\nbody--be like a sea of glass, or like a Urim and Thummim; and when\nyou wish to know anything, you can look in this earth and see all the\neternities of God. We shall make our home here, and go on our missions\nas we do now, but at greater than railroad speed. 8:200.\n\nWe are for the Kingdom of God, and not going to the moon, nor to any\nother planet pertaining to this solar system; but are determined\nto have a heaven here, and are going to make it ourselves, by the\nhelp of God and his angels. We have been traditionated that when we\nwere prepared to be saved, we ought then to pass from this stage of\nexistence, and that then we never would have anything more to do with\nthis earth; for all our connections and associations with it, as\npertaining to this life, also passed {155} away, and we should see\nand know nothing about it in the future. This is not according to the\ndesign, as we believe, of God and his providences and works. It is not\nthe work of the Lord to organize an earth and destroy it. That is not\nthe system he has devised. His plan is to organize an earth, people\nit with intelligent beings, present to them the principles of eternal\nlife, and bestow upon them the keys thereof, that they may be able to\nprepare themselves to dwell to all eternity, and to bring forth their\nincrease to dwell with them. This is our belief. 8:293.\n\nThe animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms abide the law of their\nCreator; the whole earth and all things pertaining to it, except man,\nabide the law of their creation. 9:246.\n\nThe earth is organized for a glorious resurrection. 2:124.\n\nBut the earth will not be utterly destroyed; the elements of which it\nis composed will not be annihilated, but they will be changed. Neither\nshall those be consumed who can abide the day of the Lord Almighty,\nand stand in his presence. The earth in that great day will be\nrenovated--cleansed from wickedness--purified from dross, sanctified,\nand prepared for the habitation of the Saints of the Most High. 2:124.\n\nThe earth is very good in and of itself, and has abided a celestial\nlaw, consequently we should not despise it, nor desire to leave it, but\nrather desire and strive to obey the same law that the earth abides,\nand abide it as honorably as does the earth. 2:302-303.\n\nThe earth will abide its creation, and will be counted worthy of\nreceiving the blessings designed for it, and will ultimately roll back\ninto the presence of God who formed it and established its mineral,\nvegetable, and animal kingdoms. {156} These will all be retained upon\nthe earth, come forth in the resurrection, and abide for ever and for\never. 8:8.\n\nThis earth in its present condition and situation, is not a fit\nhabitation for the sanctified; but it abides the law of its creation,\nhas been baptized with water, will be baptized by fire and the Holy\nGhost, and by-and-by will be prepared for the faithful to dwell upon.\n8:83.\n\n_Adam and Eve_--Mankind is composed of two distinct elements; the\nfirst is a spiritual organization in eternity, the second is a natural\norganization on this earth, formed out of the material of which this\nearth is composed. Man is first spiritual, then temporal.\n\nThese spirits I shall leave for the present, and refer to our first\nparents, Adam and Eve, who were found in the Garden of Eden, tempted\nand overcome by the power of evil, and consequently subject to evil\nand sin, which was the penalty of their transgression. They were now\nprepared, as we are, to form bodies or tabernacles for the reception of\npure and holy spirits. 18:257.\n\nWhen Father Adam came to assist in organizing the earth out of the\ncrude material that was found, an earth was made upon which the\nchildren of men could live. After the earth was prepared Father Adam\ncame and stayed here, and there was a woman brought to him. There was\na certain woman brought to Father Adam whose name was Eve, because she\nwas the first woman, and she was given to him to be his wife. 16:167.\n\nWhen Moses wrote and said that man was formed precisely in the image\nof God he wrote the truth. We are the children of our Father--his\noffspring, of the same family; we belong to him by birthright, and we\nare his children {157} and Jesus is our brother. Does the Bible tell\nall this? Just as plain as words can tell anything. 14:280.\n\nIn the beginning, after this earth was prepared for man, the Lord\ncommenced his work upon what is now called the American continent,\nwhere the Garden of Eden was made. In the days of Noah, in the days\nof the floating of the ark, he took the people to another part of the\nearth; the earth was divided, and there he set up his kingdom. 8:195.\n\nThe human family are formed after the image of our Father and God.\nAfter the earth was organized the Lord placed his children upon it,\ngave them possession of it, and told them that it was their home--the\nplace of their habitation from thenceforth; he told them to till the\nground and subdue it; he gave it to them for their inheritance, and to\ndo their will upon it. Then Satan steps in and overcomes them through\nthe weakness there was in the children of the Father when they were\nsent to the earth, and sin was brought in, and thus we are subjected to\nsin. 10:300.\n\nSome may regret that our first parents sinned. This is nonsense. If\nwe had been there, and they had not sinned, we should have sinned. I\nwill not blame Adam or Eve. Why? Because it was necessary that sin\nshould enter into the world; no man could ever understand the principle\nof exaltation without its opposite; no one could ever receive an\nexaltation without being acquainted with its opposite. How did Adam\nand Eve sin? Did they come out in direct opposition to God and to\nhis government? No. But they transgressed a command of the Lord, and\nthrough that transgression sin came into the world. The Lord knew\nthey would do this, and he had designed that they should. Then came\nthe curse upon the fruit, upon the vegetables, and upon our mother\nearth; and it came upon the creeping {158} things, upon the grain in\nthe field, the fish in the sea, and upon all things pertaining to this\nearth, through man's transgression. 10:312.\n\nMother Eve partook of the forbidden fruit. We should not have been\nhere to-day if she had not; we could never have possessed wisdom and\nintelligence if she had not done it. It was all in the economy of\nheaven, and we need not talk about it; it is all right. We should never\nblame Mother Eve, not the least. I am thankful to God that I know good\nfrom evil, the bitter from the sweet, the things of God from the things\nnot of God. When I look at the economy of heaven my heart leaps for\njoy, and if I had the tongue of an angel, or the tongues of the whole\nhuman family combined, I would praise God in the highest for his great\nwisdom and condescension in suffering the children of men to fall into\nthe very sin into which they had fallen, for he did it that they, like\nJesus, might descend below all things and then press forward and rise\nabove all. 13:145.\n\nThe Devil had truth in his mouth as well as lies when he came to Mother\nEve. Said he, \"If you will eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of\ngood and evil, you will see as the Gods see.\" That was just as true as\nanything that ever was spoken on the face of the earth. She did eat,\nher eyes were opened, and she saw good and evil. She gave of the fruit\nto her husband, and he ate, too. What would have been the consequence\nif he had not done so? They would have been separated, and where would\nwe have been? I am glad he did eat. 12:70.\n\nWe are safe in saying that from the day that Adam was created and\nplaced in the Garden of Eden to this day, the plan of salvation and the\nrevelations of the will of God to man are unchanged, although mankind\nhave not for many {159} ages been favored therewith, in consequence of\napostasy and wickedness. There is no evidence to be found in the Bible\nthat the Gospel should be one thing in the days of the Israelites,\nanother in the days of Christ and his Apostles, and another in the 19th\ncentury, but, on the contrary, we are instructed that God is the same\nin every age, and that his plan of saving his children is the same. The\nplan of salvation is one, from the beginning of the world to the end\nthereof. 10:324.\n\nI wish you all to understand \"Mormonism\" as it is. We embraced it\nin different parts of the world, because we considered it the best\nreligion we could find. Can we tell how much better \"Mormonism\" is than\nother religions and isms of the present day? More or less truth may be\nfound in them all, both in civilized and barbarous nations. How has\nit transpired that theological truth is thus so widely disseminated?\nIt is because God was once known on the earth among his children of\nmankind, as we know one another. Adam was as conversant with his\nFather who placed him upon this earth as we are conversant with our\nearthly parents. The Father frequently came to visit his son Adam, and\ntalked and walked with him; and the children of Adam were more or less\nacquainted with him, and the things that pertain to God and to heaven\nwere as familiar among mankind in the first ages of their existence on\nthe earth, as these mountains are to our mountain boys, as our gardens\nare to our wives and children, or as the road to the Western Ocean is\nto the experienced traveler. From this source mankind have received\ntheir religious traditions. 9:148.\n\nThe Gospel was among the children of men from the days of Adam until\nthe coming of the Messiah; this Gospel {160} of Christ is from\nthe beginning to the end. Then why was the law of Moses given? In\nconsequence of the disobedience of the Children of Israel, the elect\nof God; the very seed that he had selected to be his people, and upon\nwhom he said he would place his name. This seed of Abraham so rebelled\nagainst him and his commands that the Lord said to Moses, \"I will give\nyou a law which shall be a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ.\" But\nthis law is grievous; it is a law of carnal commandments. 13:269.\n\nCain conversed with his God every day, and knew all about the plan of\ncreating this earth, for his father told him. But, for the want of\nhumility, and through jealousy, and an anxiety to possess the kingdom,\nand to have the whole of it under his own control, and not allow\nanybody else the right to say one word, what did he do? He killed his\nbrother. Then the Lord put a mark on him. 2:142-143.\n\nHere let me state to all philosophers of every class upon the earth,\nwhen you tell me that Father Adam was made as we make adobes from the\nearth, you tell me what I deem an idle tale. When you tell me that the\nbeasts of the field were produced in that manner, you are speaking idle\nwords devoid of meaning. There is no such thing in all the eternities\nwhere the Gods dwell. Mankind are here because they are the offspring\nof parents who were first brought here from another planet, and power\nwas given them to propagate their species, and they were commanded to\nmultiply and replenish the earth. 7:285-6.\n\nWe all belong to the races which have sprung from Father Adam and\nMother Eve; and every son and daughter of that God we serve, who\norganized this earth and millions of others, and who holds them in\nexistence by law. 14:111.\n\nThere are no persons without evil passions to embitter {161} their\nlives. Mankind are revengeful, passionate, hateful, and devilish in\ntheir dispositions. This we inherit through the fall, and the grace\nof God is designed to enable us to overcome it. The grace of God is\nbestowed upon all, and the Kingdom of God is planted on the earth\nexpressly to enable mankind to overcome the evil that is in them, and\nto save all. 8:160.\n\nIt is true mankind have wandered and have fallen from that which they\nmight have attained through the redemption made by Jesus Christ; but\nthere is one point in connection with this statement on which I differ\nfrom the orthodox divines of the day. They say that man is naturally\nprone to evil. In some respects this is true, where by the force of\nexample and wrong tradition has become ingrained, but if man had always\nbeen permitted to follow the instincts of his nature, had he always\nfollowed the great and holy principles of his organism, they would have\nled him into the path of life everlasting, which the whole human family\nare constantly trying to find. 10:189.\n\n_Enoch to Moses_--The Lord sent forth his Gospel to the people;\nhe said, I will give it to my son Adam, from whom Methuselah received\nit; and Noah received from Methuselah; and Melchizedek administered to\nAbraham. 3:94.\n\nEnoch possessed intelligence and wisdom from God that few men ever\nenjoyed, walking and talking with God for many years; yet, according\nto the history written by Moses, he was a great length of time in\nestablishing his kingdom among men. The few that followed him enjoyed\nthe fulness of the Gospel, and the rest of the world rejected it. Enoch\nand his party were taken from the earth, and the world continued to\nripen in iniquity until they were overthrown by the great flood in the\ndays of Noah; and, \"as it {162} was in the days of Noah, so shall it be\nin the days of the coming of the Son of Man.\" 9:365.\n\nEnoch had to talk with and teach his people during a period of three\nhundred and sixty years, before he could get them prepared to enter\ninto their rest, and then he obtained power to translate himself and\nhis people, with the region they inhabited, their houses, gardens,\nfields, cattle and all their possessions. 3:320.\n\nAbraham was faithful to the true God, he overthrew the idols of his\nfather and obtained the Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek,\nwhich is after the order of the Son of God, and a promise that of the\nincrease of his seed there should be no end; when you obtain the holy\nPriesthood, which is after the order of Melchizedek, sealed upon you,\nand the promise that your seed shall be numerous as the stars in the\nfirmament, or as the sands upon the sea shore, and of your increase\nthere shall be no end, you have then got the promise of Abraham, Isaac\nand Jacob, and all the blessings that were conferred upon them. 11:118.\n\nIf they had been sanctified and holy, the Children of Israel would not\nhave traveled one year with Moses before they would have received their\nendowments and the Melchizedek Priesthood. 6:100.\n\nMankind have degenerated; they have lost the physical and mental power\nthey once possessed. In many points pertaining to mechanism, men\nhave in modern times been instructed by revelation to them, and this\nmechanical knowledge causes them almost to boast against their Creator,\nand to set themselves up as competitors with the Lord Almighty,\nnotwithstanding they have produced nothing but what has been revealed\nto them. In the knowledge of astronomical and other philosophical\ntruths, which our {163} modern great men are searching after and pride\nthemselves in, they are but babes, compared with the ancient fathers.\nDo the wise men of modern ages understand the laws which govern the\nworlds that are, that were, and that are to come? They cannot fathom\nthis matter. They have grown weaker when they ought to have grown\nstronger and wiser. 8:61.\n\n_Jesus on Earth_--It was necessary for Jesus Christ to open\nthe heavens to certain individuals that they might be witnesses of\nhis personage, death, sufferings, and resurrection; those men were\nwitnesses. But as Jesus appeared to the two brethren going out of\nJerusalem, he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. Now\nsuppose he had eaten that bread, and gone out without opening their\neyes, how could they have known that he was the Savior who had been\ncrucified on Mount Calvary? They could not; but in the breaking of\nbread the vision of their minds was opened. This was necessary in order\nto constitute safe witnesses, and they returned to Jerusalem and told\nthe brethren what they had seen. 3:208.\n\nWhen we come to discriminate between the former and the Latter-day\nSaints we shall find there was a little difference in their callings\nand duties, and in many points that we may say pertain to our temporal\nlives. Not in the doctrine of baptism, the laying on of hands for the\nreception of the Holy Ghost, nor in the gifts of the Gospel. There is\nno difference in these things, but there is a difference in regard to\nthe temporal duties devolving upon us. 12:67.\n\n_The Apostasy_--In the early days of the Christian Church we\nunderstand that there was a good deal of speculation among its members\nwith regard to their belief and practice, and the propagation of these\nspeculative ideas {164} created divisions and schisms. Even in the\ndays of the Apostles there was evidently considerable division, for we\nread that some were for Paul, some for Apollos, and others for Cephas.\nThe people in those days had their favorites, who taught them peculiar\ndoctrines not generally received and promulgated. 12:64.\n\nWhy have they wandered so far from the path of truth and rectitude?\nBecause they left the Priesthood and have had no guide, no leader, no\nmeans of finding out what is true and what is not true. It is said the\nPriesthood was taken from the Church, but it is not so, the Church went\nfrom the Priesthood and continued to travel in the wilderness, turned\nfrom the commandments of the Lord, and instituted other ordinances.\n12:69.\n\nYou can read the account given of our first parents. Along came a\ncertain character and said to Eve, you know women are of tender heart,\nand he could operate on this tender heart, \"The Lord knows that in\nthe day thou eatest thereof thou shalt not surely die, but if thou\nwilt take of this fruit and eat thereof thine eyes will be opened and\nthou wilt see as the Gods see\"; and he worked upon the tender heart of\nMother Eve until she partook of the fruit, and her eyes were opened.\nHe told the truth. And they say now, \"Do this that your eyes may be\nopened, that you may see; do this that you may know thus and so.\" In\nthe days of Jesus and his Apostles the same power was operating, and,\nactuated by that, men hunted them until the last one was banished\nfrom human society, and until the Christian religion was so perverted\nthat the people received it with open hands, arms, mouth and heart.\nIt was adulterated until it was congenial to the wicked heart, and\nthey received the Gospel as they supposed. But that was the time they\ncommenced {165} little by little to transgress the laws, change the\nordinances, and break the everlasting covenant, and the Gospel of the\nkingdom that Jesus undertook to establish in his day and the priesthood\nwere taken from the earth. 15:126.\n\nThe land of Judea has fallen into disrepute, and it has become a\ndesert, just through the apostasy of those who once inhabited it, who\nhad the oracles of God among them. 16:66.\n\n_The Restoration_--Generations have come and gone without the\nprivilege of hearing the sound of the Gospel, which has come to you\nthrough Joseph Smith--that was revealed to him from heaven by angels\nand visions. We have the Gospel and the keys of the holy Priesthood.\n7:173.\n\nWe are a people whose rise and progress from the beginning, has been\nthe work of God our Heavenly Father, which in his wisdom he has seen\nproper to commence for the re-establishment of his Kingdom upon the\nearth. 2:170.\n\nDo you think the Lord Almighty will reveal the great improvements in\nthe arts and sciences which are being constantly made known and will\nnot revive a pure religion? If any man imagines that with the mighty\nstrides which the sciences have been making for a few years past,\nthere will be no improvement in religion, that man is vain in his\nimagination. God will improve the religion of the nations of the earth\nin proportion to the improvement made in the sciences. This is true\nwhether you believe it or not. The Lord has commenced the work, and it\nis a marvelous one. 12:135.\n\nIt was decreed in the counsels of eternity, long before the foundations\nof the earth were laid, that he, Joseph Smith, should be the man, in\nthe last dispensation of this {166} world, to bring forth the word\nof God to the people, and receive the fulness of the keys and power\nof the Priesthood of the Son of God. The Lord had his eyes upon him,\nand upon his father, and upon his father's father, and upon their\nprogenitors clear back to Abraham, and from Abraham to the flood, from\nthe flood to Enoch, and from Enoch to Adam. He has watched that family\nand that blood as it has circulated from its fountain to the birth of\nthat man. He was fore-ordained in eternity to preside over this last\ndispensation. 7:289.\n\nBut as it was in the days of our Savior, so was it in the advent of\nthis new dispensation. It was not in accordance with the notions,\ntraditions, and pre-conceived ideas of the American people. The\nmessenger did not come to an eminent divine of any of the so-called\northodoxy, he did not adopt their interpretation of the Holy\nScriptures. The Lord did not come with the armies of heaven in power\nand great glory, nor send his messengers panoplied with aught else than\nthe truth of heaven, to communicate to the meek, the lowly, the youth\nof humble origin, the sincere enquirer after the knowledge of God. But\nhe did send his angel to this same obscure person, Joseph Smith, Jr.\nwho afterwards became a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and informed him\nthat he should not join any of the religious sects of the day, for they\nwere all wrong; that they were following the precepts of men instead of\nthe Lord Jesus; that he had a work for him to perform, inasmuch as he\nshould prove faithful before him.\n\nNo sooner was this made known, and published abroad, and people began\nto listen and obey the heavenly summons, than opposition began to\nrage, and the people, even in this favored land, began to persecute\ntheir neighbors and friends {167} for entertaining religious opinions\ndiffering from their own. 2:171.\n\nYou may remember it and lay it to heart, and if you wish, write it in\nyour journals that some of the best spirits that have ever been sent to\nearth are coming at the present time. 11:117.\n\nThe beginning of this dispensation of the fulness of times may well be\ncompared to the commencement of a temple, the material of which it is\nto be built being still scattered, unshaped and unpolished, in a state\nof nature. I am thankful that the way is being prepared, and that we\nhave the privilege of erecting a spiritual and moral superstructure--a\ntemple of God. 12:161.\n\n_The Book of Mormon_--There is not another nation under heaven,\nin whose midst the Book of Mormon could have been brought forth. The\nLord has been operating for centuries to prepare the way for the coming\nforth of the contents of that Book from the bowels of the earth, to\nbe published to the world, to show to the inhabitants thereof that he\nstill lives, and that he will, in the latter days, gather his elect\nfrom the four corners of the earth. It was the Lord who directed\nthe discovery of this land to the nations of the Old World, and its\nsettlement, and the war for independence, and the final victory of the\ncolonies, and the unprecedented prosperity of the American nation,\nup to the calling of Joseph the Prophet. The Lord has dictated and\ndirected the whole of this, for the bringing forth, and establishing of\nhis Kingdom in the last days. 11:17.\n\nHere is the Book of Mormon. We believe it contains the history of\nthe aborigines of our continent, just as the Old Testament contains\nthe history of the Jewish nation. In that book we learn that Jesus\nvisited this continent, delivered {168} his Gospel and ordained Twelve\nApostles. We believe all this, but we do not ask you to believe it.\nWhat we do ask is that you will believe what is recorded in the Holy\nBible concerning God and his revelations to the children of men. Do\nthis in all honesty and sincerity, then you will know that the Book\nof Mormon is true. Your minds will be opened and you will know by the\nvisions of the Spirit of God that we teach the truth. 13:335.\n\nI was somewhat acquainted with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon,\nnot only through what I read in the newspapers, but I also heard a\ngreat many stories and reports which were circulated as quick as the\nBook of Mormon was printed, and began to be scattered abroad. Then the\nspirit of persecution, the spirit of death, the spirit of destruction\nimmediately seemed to enter the hearts of the pious priests more\nparticularly than any other portion of the people; they could not bear\nit. 2:249.\n\nWhat did Oliver Cowdery (one of the three witnesses to the Book of\nMormon) say, after he had been away from the Church years and years?\nHe saw and conversed with the angel, who showed him the plates, and he\nhandled them. He left the Church because he lost the love of the truth;\nand after he had traveled alone for years, a gentleman walked into his\nlaw office and said to him, \"Mr. Cowdery, what do you think of the\nBook of Mormon now? Do you believe that it is true?\" He replied, \"No,\nsir, I do not!\" \"Well,\" said the gentleman, \"I thought as much; for I\nconcluded that you had seen the folly of your ways and had resolved to\nrenounce what you once declared to be true.\" \"Sir, you mistake me; I do\nnot believe that the Book of Mormon is true; I am past belief on that\npoint, for I _know_ that it is true, as well as I know that you now sit\n{169} before me.\" \"Do you still testify that you saw an angel?\" \"Yes,\nas much as I see you now; and I know the Book of Mormon to be true.\"\nYet he forsook it. Every honest person who has fairly heard it knows\nthat \"Mormonism\" is true, if they have had the testimony of it; but to\npractice it in our lives is another thing. 7:55. {170}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\n_THE LAST DAYS_\n\n_Confusion of the Last Days_--The time is coming when a good man\nwill be more precious than fine gold. 10:295.\n\nThe sinner will slay the sinner, the wicked will fall upon the wicked,\nuntil: there is an utter overthrow and consumption upon the face of the\nwhole earth, until God reigns, whose right it is. 2:190.\n\nThe world is drunk, but not with wine or strong drink; and our country\nis the most drunken of all. They are deluding themselves; they\nare drunk with party fanaticism; they are high-minded, heady, and\nsenseless, and are fast going to destruction.\n\nThinking men, inquiring minds, ask whether it is really necessary for\nthe Government of God to be on the earth at the present day; I answer,\nmost assuredly; there never was a time when it was more needed than it\nis now. Why? Because men do not know how to govern themselves without\nit. Would it be considered treason of any Christian government in\nour day to profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the\nefficacy of his death and resurrection for the salvation of man, and to\nprofess and declare that it is his inalienable, indisputable right and\nprerogative to reign over men, the earth and all things upon it? 10:320.\n\nIf we live, we shall see the nations of the earth arrayed against this\npeople; for that time must come, in fulfilment of prophecy. Tell about\nwar commencing! Bitter and relentless war was waged against Joseph\nSmith before he had received the plates of the Book of Mormon; and from\nthat time till now the wicked have only fallen back at times to {171}\ngain strength and learn how to attack the Kingdom of God. 5:339.\n\nAll we have yet heard and all we have experienced is scarcely a\npreface to the sermon that is going to be preached. When the testimony\nof the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, \"Come\nhome; I will now preach my own sermons to the nations of the earth,\"\nall you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that\nwill be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail,\nrain, thunders and lightnings, and fearful destruction. What matters\nthe destruction of a few railway cars? You will hear of magnificent\ncities, now idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the\ninhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing\nmighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations and nation will rise\nup against nation, kingdom against kingdom and states against states,\nin our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each\nother, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their\nfamilies, or for their own lives. 8:123.\n\nThere never has been a day for ages and ages, not since the true church\nwas destroyed after the days of the Apostles, that required the faith\nand the energy of godly men and godly women, and the skill, wisdom and\npower of the Almighty to be with them, so much as this people require\nit at the present time. There never was that necessity; there never has\nbeen a time on the face of the earth, from the time that the church\nwent to destruction, and the Priesthood was taken from the earth,\nthat the powers of darkness and the powers of earth and hell were so\nembittered, and enraged, and incensed against God and Godliness on\nthe earth, as they are at the present. And when the {172} spirit of\npersecution, the spirit of hatred, of wrath, and malice ceases in the\nworld against this people, it will be the time that this people have\napostatized and joined hands with the wicked, and never until then;\nwhich I pray may never come. 4:326.\n\nThe Devil is just as much opposed to Jesus now as he was when the\nrevolt took place in heaven. And as the Devil increases his numbers by\ngetting the people to be wicked, so Jesus Christ increases his numbers\nand strength by getting the people to be humble and righteous. The\nhuman family are going to the polls by and by, and they wish to know\nwhich party is going to carry the day. 4:38.\n\n_Ultimate Triumph of Righteousness_--I most assuredly expect that\nthe time will come when every tongue shall confess, and every knee\nshall bow to the Savior, though the people may believe what they will\nwith regard to religion. 2:189.\n\nThe Savior will dictate his Kingdom, through his Apostles and Prophets,\nuntil all the heathen nations are virtually redeemed by the ordinances\nthat effect redemption, that they may inherit the kingdom that is\nprepared for them. 8:83.\n\nThis is a day of days, and a time of times; this is the fulness of\ntimes, in which all things that are in Christ are to be gathered in\none. This is a momentous period. 10:308.\n\nI expect to see the time when the inhabitants of the earth will pride\nthemselves in doing good. 8:363.\n\nThe time will come when every knee will bow, and every tongue confess\nto and acknowledge him, and when they who have lived upon the earth\nand have spurned the idea of a Supreme Being and of revelations from\nhim, will fall with shamefacedness and humble themselves before him,\n{173} exclaiming, \"There is a God! O God, we once rejected thee and\ndisbelieved thy word and set at naught thy counsels, but now we bow\ndown in shame and we do acknowledge that there is a God, and that Jesus\nis the Christ.\" This time will come, most assuredly. We have the faith\nof the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. 13:306.\n\nWhat will they do? They will hear of the wisdom of Zion and the kings\nand potentates of the nations will come up to Zion to inquire after\nthe ways of the Lord, and to seek out the great knowledge, wisdom and\nunderstanding manifested through the Saints of the Most High. They will\ninform the people of God that they belong to such and such a church,\nand do not wish to change their religion.\n\nThey will be drawn to Zion by the great wisdom displayed there, and\nwill attribute it to the cunning and craftiness of men. It will be\nasked, \"What do you want to do, ye strangers from afar?\" \"We want to\nlive our own religion.\" \"Will you bow the knee before God with us?\" \"O\nyes, we would as soon do it as not\"; and at that time every knee shall\nbow, and every tongue acknowledge that God who is the framer and maker\nof all things, the governor and controller of the universe. They will\nhave to bow the knee and confess that he is God, and that Jesus Christ,\nwho suffered for the sins of the world, is actually its Redeemer; that\nby the shedding of his blood he has redeemed men, women, children,\nbeasts, birds, fish, the earth itself, and everything that John saw and\nheard praising in heaven. 2:316-317.\n\nBy and by the world will be overturned according to the words of the\nprophet, and we will see the reign of righteousness enter in, and sin\nand iniquity will have to walk off. But the power and principles of\nevil, if they can {174} be called principles, will never yield one\nparticle to the righteous march of the Savior, only as they are beaten\nback inch by inch, and we have got to take the ground by force. Yes, by\nthe mental force of faith, and by good works, the march forth of the\nGospel will increase, spread, grow and prosper, until the nations of\nthe earth will feel that Jesus has the right to rule King of nations as\nhe does King of Saints. 14:226.\n\n_Return to Jackson County_--When are we going back to Jackson\nCounty? Not until the Lord commands his people; and it is just as much\nas you and I can do to get ready to go when he does command us. 6:269.\n\nIf that is back to Jackson County, do not be scared, for as the Lord\nlives this people will go back and build a great temple there. This\npeople will surely go back to Jackson County. How soon that may be, or\nwhen it may be, I do not care; but that is not now the gathering place\nfor this people: 3:278.\n\nWhere is the center Stake of Zion? In Jackson County, Missouri. 8:198.\n\nThere has been considerable said this afternoon with regard to\nredeeming and building up Zion, the Order of Enoch, etc. I see men and\nwomen in this congregation--only a few of them--who were driven from\nthe central Stake of Zion. Ask them if they had any sorrow or trouble;\nthen let them look at the beautiful land that the Lord would have given\nthem if all had been faithful in keeping his commandments, and had\nwalked before him as they should; and then ask them with regard to the\nblessings they would have received. If they tell you the sentiments of\ntheir minds, they will tell you that the yoke of Jesus would have been\neasy and his burden would have been {175} light, and that it would have\nbeen a delightful task to have walked in obedience to his commandments\nand to have been of one heart and one mind; but through the selfishness\nof some, which is idolatry, through their covetousness, which is the\nsame, and the lustful desire of their minds, they were cast out and\ndriven from their homes. We have been driven many times; but each time,\nif they who professed to be the servants of God had served him with\nan undivided heart, they would have had the privilege of living in\ntheir houses, possessing their lands, attending to their meetings, and\nspreading abroad on the right and the left, lengthening the cords of\nZion, and strengthening her stakes until the land had been dedicated\nto the Gospel of the Son of God. Well, I have been with the rest and I\nexpect I have been covetous like them, and probably I am now; but if I\nam, I wish somebody would tell me wherein. 13:1.\n\n_Coming of Christ_--Do you know that it is the eleventh hour of\nthe reign of Satan on the earth? Jesus is coming to reign, and all you\nwho fear and tremble because of your enemies, cease to fear them, and\nlearn to fear to offend God, fear to transgress his laws, fear to do\nany evil to your brother, or to any being upon the earth, and do not\nfear Satan and his power, nor those who have only power to slay the\nbody, for God will preserve his people. 10:250.\n\nIn the progress of the age in which we live, we discern the fulfilment\nof prophecy, and the preparation for the second coming of our Lord\nand Savior to dwell upon the earth. We expect that the refuge of lies\nwill be swept away, and that city, nation, government, or kingdom\nwhich serves not God, and gives no heed to the principles of truth and\nreligion, will be utterly wasted away and destroyed. 2:178. {176}\n\nJesus has been upon the earth a great many more times than you are\naware of. When Jesus makes his next appearance upon the earth, but few\nof this Church will be prepared to receive him and see him face to face\nand converse with him; but he will come to his temple. Will he remain\nand dwell upon the earth a thousand years, without returning? He will\ncome here, and return to his mansions where he dwells with his Father,\nand come again to the earth, and again return to his Father, according\nto my understanding. Then angels will come and begin to resurrect the\ndead, and the Savior will also raise the dead, and they will receive\nthe keys of the resurrection, and will begin to assist in that work.\nWill the wicked know of it? They will know just as much about that as\nthey now know about \"Mormonism,\" and no more. 7:142.\n\nWhen your eyes are open, you will see that this earth has fallen from\nthe glory and presence of the Father, to pass through certain ordeals,\ntogether with the people upon it. And by and by, when Jesus reigns and\nrules, King of nations, he will say to his Father, \"Here is my work!\nHere are my brethren! Here is my redemption--the fruit of my labor! I\nhave ceased not to contend with the Enemy until I have put him under\nmy feet. I have destroyed death, and him that has the power of death.\"\n8:297.\n\nAt times I may to many of the brethren appear to be severe. I sometimes\nchasten them; but it is because I wish them to live so that the power\nof God, like a flame of fire, will dwell within them and be around\nabout them. These are my feelings and desires. I wish to see this\npeople take a course to bring back the days, years, and intelligence\nthat have been lost through transgression. This cannot be performed in\na day. Zion will not be redeemed and built up {177} in a day. Israel\nwill not be brought back to the fold of Christ and redeemed in a day.\n8:62.\n\n_The Millennium_--The Millennium consists in this--every heart\nin the Church and Kingdom of God being united in one; the Kingdom\nincreasing to the overcoming of everything opposed to the economy of\nheaven, and Satan being bound, and having a seal set upon him. All\nthings else will be as they are now, we shall eat, drink, and wear\nclothing. 1:203.\n\nWhen all nations are so subdued to Jesus that every knee shall bow and\nevery tongue shall confess, there will still be millions on the earth\nwho will not believe in him; but they will be obliged to acknowledge\nhis kingly government. 7:142.\n\nLet the people be holy, and the earth under their feet will be holy.\nLet the people be holy, and filled with the Spirit of God, and every\nanimal and creeping thing will be filled with peace; the soil of the\nearth will bring forth in its strength, and the fruits thereof will be\nmeat for man. The more purity that exists, the less is the strife; the\nmore kind we are to our animals, the more will peace increase, and the\nsavage nature of the brute creation vanish away. If the people will not\nserve the Devil another moment whilst they live, if this congregation\nis possessed of that spirit and resolution, here in this house is the\nMillennium. Let the inhabitants of this city be possessed of that\nspirit, let the people of the territory be possessed of that spirit,\nand here is the Millennium, and so will it spread over all the world.\n1:203.\n\nIn the Millennium, when the Kingdom of God is established on the earth\nin power, glory and perfection, and the reign of wickedness that\nhas so long prevailed is subdued, {178} the Saints of God will have\nthe privilege of building their temples, and of entering into them,\nbecoming, as it were, pillars in the temples of God, and they will\nofficiate for their dead. Then we will see our friends come up, and\nperhaps some that we have been acquainted with here. If we ask who\nwill stand at the head of the resurrection in this last dispensation,\nthe answer is--Joseph Smith, Junior, the Prophet of God. He is the man\nwho will be resurrected and receive the keys of the resurrection, and\nhe will seal this authority upon others, and they will hunt up their\nfriends and resurrect them when they shall have been officiated for,\nand bring them up. And we will have revelations to know our forefathers\nclear back to Father Adam and Mother Eve, and we will enter into the\ntemples of God and officiate for them. Then man will be sealed to man\nuntil the chain is made perfect back to Adam, so that there will be a\nperfect chain of priesthood from Adam to the winding-up scene.\n\nThis will be the work of the Latter-day Saints in the Millennium.\n15:138.\n\nWhen Jesus comes to rule and reign, King of nations, as he now does,\nKing of Saints, the veil of the covering will be taken from all\nnations, that all flesh may see his glory together, but that will not\nmake them all Saints. Seeing the Lord does not make a man a Saint;\nseeing an angel does not make a man a Saint by any means. A man may see\nthe finger of the Lord, and not thereby become a Saint; the veil of the\ncovering may be taken from before the nations, and all flesh see his\nglory together, and at the same time declare they will not serve him.\n2:316.\n\n_Rapid Movements in the Last Days_--Do you understand that what\nthe Lord will perform in the latter days will {179} be done quicker\nthan in the former days? He suffered Noah to occupy one hundred and\ntwenty years in building the ark. Were he to command us to build an\nark, he would not allow so long a time for completing it. 8:134.\n\nIf I live as long as Enoch lived, who walked with the Lord three\nhundred and sixty-five years, can I then see a people prepared to enter\nat once in the celestial world? No. Many may think that Enoch and his\nwhole city were taken from the earth directly into the presence of God.\nThat is a mistaken idea. If, within three hundred and sixty-five years,\nI can see a people capable of surmounting every sin, of overcoming\nevery evil and effect of sin to such a degree as to be separated in the\nflesh from the sinful portion of the world and from all the effects of\nthe fall--a great people as pure and holy as were the people of Enoch,\nI should not complain, and, perhaps, have no cause to. Yet, in the\nlatter days, God will cut short his work in righteousness. 8:134.\n\nAccording to my definition of the word, there is not a strictly\nand fully civilized community now upon the earth. Is there murder\nby wholesale to be found in a strictly civilized community? Will a\ncommunity of civilized nations rise up one against another, nation\nagainst nation, and kingdom against kingdom, using against each other\nevery destructive invention that can be brought to bear in their\nwars? When will they be civilized? When the Lord shall judge among\nthe nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their\nswords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; when\nnations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither learn war any\nmore. When the world is in a state of true civilization, man will have\nceased to contend against his fellow-man, either as {180} individuals,\nparties, communities, sects, or nations. This state of civilization\nwill be brought about by the holy Priesthood of the Son of God; and\nmen, with full purpose of heart, will seek unto him who is pure and\nholy, even our great Creator--our Father and God; and he will give them\na law that is pure--a government and plan of society possessed by holy\nbeings in heaven. Then there will be no more war, no more bloodshed,\nno more evil speaking and evil doing; but all will be contented to\nfollow in the path of truth, which alone is calculated to exalt and\ndignify the whole man, mentally and physically, in all his operations,\nlabors, and purposes. Short of this, mankind cannot be said to be truly\ncivilized. 8:6-7.\n\nThen, do not be too anxious for the Lord to hasten his work. Let our\nanxiety be centered upon one thing, the sanctification of our own\nhearts, the purifying of our own affections, the preparing of ourselves\nfor the approach of the events that are hastening upon us. This should\nbe our concern, this should be our study, this should be our daily\nprayer, and not to be in a hurry to see the overthrow of the wicked.\n9:3.\n\nWhether the world is going to be burned up within a year, or within\na thousand years, does not matter a groat to you and me. We have the\nwords of eternal life, we have the privilege of obtaining glory,\nimmortality, and eternal lives, now will you obtain these blessings?\n4:53.\n\nThis is the day in which we are to learn-and to increase in our\nknowledge. 4:204.\n\nThe Lord's time is not for me to know; but he is kind, long-suffering,\nand patient, and his wrath endureth silently, and will until mercy is\ncompletely exhausted, and then judgment will take the reins. I do not\nknow how, neither {181} do I at present wish to know. It is enough for\nus to know how to serve our God and live our religion, and thus we will\nincrease in the favor of God. 4:371.\n\nIt is too late in the day for this people ever to be cast off and\ndisowned by the Lord. The work the Lord promised to do is too nigh\naccomplished, and he has promised to make a short work on the earth.\nThis work has some time since commenced; and if any of the people will\nnot serve their God and do the work he has given them to do, they will\nbe removed out of the way, and that speedily. It is too late in the day\nfor this people to apostatize and the Priesthood to be taken again from\nthe earth; so there is not much ground for fears even in this respect.\n6:267.\n\n_Zion_--Where is Zion? Where the organization of the Church of God\nis. And may it dwell spiritually in every heart; and may we so live as\nto enjoy the spirit of Zion always! 8:205.\n\nDo we realize that if we enjoy a Zion in time or in eternity we must\nmake it for ourselves? That all, who have a Zion in the eternities of\nthe Gods, organized, framed, consolidated, and perfected it themselves,\nand consequently are entitled to enjoy it? 9:282.\n\nThis is the Gospel; this is the plan of salvation; this is the Kingdom\nof God; this is the Zion that has been spoken and written of by all the\nProphets since the world began. This is the work of Zion which the Lord\nhas promised to bring forth. 12:172.\n\nWhen we conclude to make a Zion we will make it, and this work\ncommences in the heart of each person. When the father of a family\nwishes to make a Zion in his own house, he must take the lead in this\ngood work, which it is impossible for him to do unless he himself\npossesses the {182} spirit of Zion. Before he can produce the work of\nsanctification in his family, he must sanctify himself, and by this\nmeans God can help him to sanctify his family. 9:283.\n\nThere is not one thing wanting in all the works of God's hands to make\na Zion upon the earth when the people conclude to make it. We can make\na Zion of God on earth at our pleasure, upon the same principle that\nwe can raise a field of wheat, or build and inhabit. There has been no\ntime when the material has not been here from which to produce corn,\nwheat, etc., and by the judicious management and arrangement of this\never-existing material a Zion of God can always be built on the earth.\n9:283.\n\nLet me say a few words with regard to Zion. We profess to be Zion. If\nwe are the pure in heart we are so, for \"Zion is the pure in heart.\"\nNow when Zion is built up and reigns, the question may arise with\nsome, will all be Latter-day Saints? No. Will there be this variety\nof classes and faiths that we now behold? I do not know whether there\nwill be as many, or whether there will be more. But be that as it may,\nJesus has gone to prepare mansions for every creature. Who will go\ndown as \"sons of perdition\" and receive the reward of the damned? None\nbut those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost. All others will be\ngathered into kingdoms where there will be a certain amount of peace\nand glory. Will the Methodists have their heaven? I will venture to say\nthat John Wesley, if he never hears the Gospel preached in the world of\nspirits, will enjoy all the happiness and glory that he ever thought\nof. And so it will be with others; I mention him merely because he is a\nnoted character. In all those kingdoms the people will be as varied as\nthey are here. In the Millennium men will have the privilege of their\nown belief, but they will not have {183} the privilege of treating the\nname and character of Deity as they have done heretofore. No, but every\nknee shall bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father\nthat Jesus is the Christ. 12:274.\n\nMy spiritual enjoyment must be obtained by my own life, but it would\nadd much to the comfort of the community, and to my happiness, as one\nwith them, if every man and woman would live their religion, and enjoy\nthe light and glory of the Gospel for themselves, be passive, humble,\nand faithful; rejoice continually before the Lord, attend to the\nbusiness they are called to do, and be sure never to do anything wrong.\n\nAll would then be peace, joy, and tranquility, in our streets and in\nour houses. Litigation would cease, there would be no difficulties\nbefore the High Council and Bishops' Courts, and courts, turmoil, and\nstrife would not be known.\n\nThen we would have Zion, for all would be pure in heart. 3:255.\n\n_The Land of Zion_--This is the land of Zion. West of us is a body\nof water that we call the Pacific, and to the east there is another\nlarge body of water which we call the Atlantic, and to the north is\nwhere they have tried to discover a northwest passage; these waters\nsurround the land of Zion. 4:301.\n\nAnd what is Zion? In one sense Zion is the pure in heart. But is\nthere a land that ever will be called Zion? Yes, brethren. What land\nis it? It is the land that the Lord gave to Jacob, who bequeathed it\nto his son Joseph, and his posterity, and they inhabit it, and that\nland is North and South America. That is Zion, as to land, as to {184}\nterritory, and location. The children of Zion have not yet much in\ntheir possession, but their territory is North and South America to\nbegin with. As to the spirit of Zion, it is in the hearts of the Saints\nof those who love and serve the Lord with all their might, mind and\nstrength. 2:253.\n\nThis American continent will be Zion; for it is so spoken of by the\nprophets. Jerusalem will be rebuilt and will be the place of gathering,\nand the tribe of Judah will gather there; but this continent of America\nis the land of Zion. 5:4.\n\nThis is the land of Zion--this is the continent whereon the Lord has\ncommenced his work for the last time, and whereon Jesus will make his\nappearance the second time, when he comes to gather and save the House\nof Israel. 8:81-2.\n\nZion will extend, eventually, all over this earth. There will be no\nnook or corner upon the earth but what will be in Zion. It will all be\nZion. 9:138.\n\n_The City of Zion_--We look forward to the day when the Lord will\nprepare for the building of the New Jerusalem, preparatory to the\nCity of Enoch's going to be joined with it when it is built upon this\nearth. We are anticipating to enjoy that day, whether we sleep in death\nprevious to that, or not. We look forward, with all the anticipation\nand confidence that children can possess in a parent, that we shall be\nthere when Jesus comes; and if we are not there, we will come with him:\nin either case we shall be there when he comes. 8:342.\n\nWe want all the Latter-day Saints to understand how to build up Zion.\nThe City of Zion, in beauty and magnificence, will outstrip anything\nthat is now known upon the earth. The curse will be taken from the\nearth and sin and {185} corruption will be swept from its face. Who\nwill do this great work? Is the Lord going to convince the people that\nhe will redeem the center Stake of Zion, beautify it and then place\nthem there without an exertion on their part? No. He will not come here\nto build a Temple, a Tabernacle, a Bowery, or to set out fruit trees,\nmake aprons of fig leaves or coats of skins, or work in brass and iron,\nfor we already know how to do these things. He will not come here to\nteach us how to raise and manufacture cotton, how to make hand cards,\nhow to card, how to make spinning machines, looms, etc., etc. We have\nto build up Zion, if we do our duty. 10:172.\n\nI have many times asked the questions, \"Where is the man that knows\nhow to lay the first rock for the wall that is to surround the New\nJerusalem or the Zion of God on the earth? Where is the man who knows\nhow to construct the first gate of the city? Where is the man who\nunderstands how to build up the Kingdom of God in its purity and to\nprepare for Zion to come down to meet it?\" \"Well,\" says one, \"I thought\nthe Lord was going to do this.\" So he is if we will let him. This is\nwhat we want: we want the people to be willing for the Lord to do it.\nBut he will do it by means. He will not send his angels to gather up\nthe rock to build up the New Jerusalem. He will not send his angels\nfrom the heavens to go to the mountains to cut the timber and make it\ninto lumber to adorn the City of Zion. He has called upon us to do this\nwork; and if we will let him work by, through, and with us, he can\naccomplish it; otherwise we shall fall short, and shall never have the\nhonor of building up Zion on the earth. 13:313.\n\n_Purpose of Gathering_--A remnant of the people of Israel {186}\nare to be saved, and they will yet be gathered together. 16:109.\n\nEphraim has become mixed with all the nations of the earth, and it is\nEphraim that is gathering together. 2:268.\n\nWe are gathering the people as fast as we can. We are gathering them to\nmake Saints of them and of ourselves. 9:137-8.\n\nWe have been gathered to the valleys of these mountains for the express\npurpose of purifying ourselves, that we may become polished stones\nin the temple of God. We are here for the purpose of establishing\nthe Kingdom of God on the earth. To be prepared for this work it has\nbeen necessary to gather us out from the nations and countries of the\nworld, for if we had remained in those lands we could not have received\nthe ordinances of the holy Priesthood of the Son of God, which are\nnecessary for the perfection of the Saints preparatory to his coming.\n12:161.\n\n_The Jews and Jerusalem_--Jerusalem is not to be redeemed by our\ngoing there and preaching to the inhabitants. It will be redeemed by\nthe high hand of the Almighty. It will be given into the possession of\nthe ancient Israelites by the power of God, and by the pouring out of\nhis judgments. 2:141.\n\nJerusalem is not to be redeemed by the soft, still voice of the\npreacher of the Gospel of peace. Why? Because they were once the\nblessed of the Lord, the chosen of the Lord, the promised seed.\nThey were the people from among whom should spring the Messiah; and\nsalvation could be found only through that people. The Messiah came\nthrough them, and they killed him; and they will be the last of all\nthe seed of Abraham to have the privilege of receiving the New and\nEverlasting Covenant. You may {187} hand out to them gold, you may feed\nand clothe them, but it is impossible to convert the Jews, until the\nLord God Almighty does it. 2:142.\n\nBy and by the Jews will be gathered to the land of their fathers, and\nthe ten tribes, who wandered into the north, will be gathered home,\nand the blood of Ephraim, the second son of Joseph, who was sold into\nEgypt, which is to be found in every kingdom and nation under heaven,\nwill be gathered from among the Gentiles, and the Gentiles who will\nreceive and adhere to the principles of the Gospel will be adopted and\ninitiated into the family of Father Abraham, and Jesus will reign over\nhis own and Satan will reign over his own. 12:38.\n\nWe have a great desire for their welfare, and are looking for the time\nsoon to come when they will gather at Jerusalem, build up the city and\nthe land of Palestine, and prepare for the coming of the Messiah. When\nhe comes again, he will not come as he did when the Jews rejected him;\nneither will he appear first at Jerusalem when he makes his second\nappearance on the earth; but he will appear first on the land where he\ncommenced his work in the beginning, and planted the Garden of Eden,\nand that was done in the land of America.\n\nWhen the Savior visits Jerusalem, and the Jews look upon him, and see\nthe wounds in his hands and in his side and in his feet, they will then\nknow that they have persecuted and put to death the true Messiah, and\nthen they will acknowledge him, but not till then. They have confounded\nhis first and second coming, expecting his first coming to be as a\nmighty prince instead of as a servant. They will go back by and by to\nJerusalem and own their Lord and Master. We have no feelings against\nthem. 11:279. {188}\n\n_The Indians or Lamanites_--The Lamanites or Indians are just as\nmuch the children of our Father and God as we are. So also are the\nAfricans. But we are also the children of adoption through obedience to\nthe Gospel of his Son. 11:272.\n\nI spoke a harsh word yesterday with regard to a man who professes to be\na Latter-day Saint who has been guilty of killing an innocent Indian.\nI say today that he is just as much a murderer through killing that\nIndian, as he would have been had he shot down a white man. To slay an\ninnocent person is murder according to the law of Moses. 11:263.\n\nWe could circumscribe their camps and kill every man, woman and child\nof them. This is what others have done, and if we were to do it, what\nbetter are we than the wicked and the ungodly? It is our duty to be\nbetter than they in our administrations of justice and our general\nconduct toward the Lamanites. It is not our duty to kill them; but it\nis our duty to save their lives and the lives of their children. 11:264.\n\nThere is a curse on these aborigines of our country who roam the\nplains, and are so wild that you cannot tame them. They are of the\nHouse of Israel; they once had the Gospel delivered to them, they had\nthe oracles of truth; Jesus came and administered to them after his\nresurrection, and they received and delighted in the Gospel until the\nfourth generation when they turned away and became so wicked that God\ncursed them with this dark and benighted and loathsome condition. 14:86.\n\nAs we have here an assemblage of the people from other settlements,\nI wish to impress them with the necessity of treating the Indians\nwith kindness, and to refrain from harboring {189} that revengeful,\nvindictive feeling that many indulge in. I am convinced that as long\nas we harbor in us such feelings toward them, so long they will be\nour enemies, and the Lord will suffer them to afflict us. I certainly\nbelieve that the present affliction, which has come upon us from the\nIndians, is a consequence of the wickedness which dwells in the hearts\nof some of our brethren. If the Elders of Israel had always treated\nthe Lamanites as they should, I do not believe that we should have had\nany difficulty with them at all. This is my firm conviction, and my\nconclusion according to the light that is in me. I believe that the\nLord permits them to chasten us at the present time to convince us that\nwe have to overcome the vindictive feelings which we have harbored\ntowards that poor, downtrodden branch of the House of Israel. 11:263.\n\nDo we wish to do right? You answer, yes. Then let the Lamanites come\nback to their homes, where they were born and brought up. This is the\nland that they and their fathers have walked over and called their\nown; and they have just as good a right to call it theirs today as any\npeople have to call any land their own. They have buried their fathers\nand mothers and children here; this is their home, and we have taken\npossession of it, and occupy the land where they used to hunt the\nrabbit, and, not a great while since, the buffalo, and the antelope\nwere in these valleys in large herds when we first came here.\n\nWhen we came here, they could catch fish in great abundance in the\nlake in the season thereof, and live upon them pretty much through the\nsummer. But now their game has gone, and they are left to starve. It\nis our duty to feed them. The Lord has given us ability to cultivate\nthe ground and reap bountiful harvests. We have an {190} abundance of\nfood for ourselves and for the stranger. It is our duty to feed these\npoor ignorant Indians; we are living on their possessions and at their\nhomes. 11:264. {191}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\n_THE SCRIPTURES_\n\n_The Bible_--In the Bible are the words of life and salvation.\n13:214.\n\nWe are believers in the Bible, and to our unshaken faith in its\nprecepts, doctrine, and prophecy, may be attributed \"the strangeness of\nour course,\" and the unwarrantable conduct of many towards this people.\n1:237.\n\nBut I want to know if we agree with the teachings of the Bible, in our\nbelief and practice. The Latter-day Saints believe in doing just what\nthe Lord has told them to do in this book. 1:239.\n\nWe believe the New Testament, and consequently, to be consistent, we\nmust believe in new revelation, visions, angels, in all the gifts of\nthe Holy Ghost, and all the promises contained in these books, and\nbelieve it about as it reads. 1:242.\n\nWe have a holy reverence for and a belief in the Bible. 14:113.\n\nThe Bible is true. It may not all have been translated aright, and\nmany precious things may have been rejected in the compilation and\ntranslation of the Bible; but we understand, from the writings of one\nof the Apostles, that if all the sayings and doings of the Savior\nhad been written, the world could not contain them. I will say that\nthe world could not understand them. They do not understand what we\nhave on record, nor the character of the Savior, as delineated in the\nScriptures; and yet it is one of the simplest things in the world, and\nthe Bible, when it is understood, is one of the simplest books in the\nworld, for, as far {192} as it is translated correctly, it is nothing\nbut truth, and in truth there is no mystery save to the ignorant. The\nrevelations of the Lord to his creatures are adapted to the lowest\ncapacity, and they bring life and salvation to all who are willing to\nreceive them. 14:135.\n\nTake the Bible just as it reads; and if it be translated incorrectly\nand there is a scholar on the earth who professes to be a Christian,\nand he can translate it any better than King James's translators did\nit, he is under obligation to do so. If I understood Greek and Hebrew\nas some may profess to do, and I knew the Bible was not correctly\ntranslated, I should feel myself bound by the law of justice to the\ninhabitants of the earth to translate that which is incorrect and\ngive it just as it was spoken anciently. Is that proper? Yes, I would\nbe under obligation to do it. But I think it is translated just as\ncorrectly as the scholars could get it, although it is not correct in\na great many instances. But it is no matter about that. Read it and\nobserve it and it will not hurt any person in the world. 14:226.\n\nBy reading the Bible we find that the Gospel is contained not only\nin the New Testament, but also in the Old. Moses and the Prophets\nsaw and predicted the apostasy of the Church. They saw that the Lord\nwould strive with the children of men from time to time, that he would\ndeliver to them the truth and the Priesthood; they also saw that\nthrough the wickedness of the people they would change his ordinances,\nbreak the covenants, and transgress his laws, until the Priesthood\nwould be taken from the earth, and its inhabitants be left in apostasy\nand darkness. 16:74.\n\nI have heard ministers of the Gospel declare that they believed every\nword in the Bible was the word of God. I have said to them, \"You\nbelieve more than I do.\" I believe {193} the words of God are there; I\nbelieve the words of the Devil are there; I believe that the words of\nmen and the words of angels are there; and that is not all,--I believe\nthat the words of a dumb brute are there. I recollect one of the\nprophets riding, and prophesying against Israel, and the animal he rode\nrebuked his madness. 14:280.\n\nI believe the words of the Bible are just what they are; but aside\nfrom that I believe the doctrines concerning salvation contained in\nthat book are true, and that their observance will elevate any people,\nnation or family that dwells on the face of the earth. The doctrines\ncontained in the Bible will lift to a superior condition all who\nobserve them; they will impart to them knowledge, wisdom, charity, fill\nthem with compassion and cause them to feel after the wants of those\nwho are in distress, or in painful or degraded circumstances. They who\nobserve the precepts contained in the Scriptures will be just and true\nand virtuous and peaceable at home and abroad. Follow out the doctrines\nof the Bible, and men will make splendid husbands, women excellent\nwives, and children will be obedient; they will make families happy and\nthe nations wealthy and happy and lifted up above the things of this\nlife. 13:175.\n\nWe take this book, the Bible, which I expect to see voted out of the\nso-called Christian world very soon, they are coming to it as fast\nas possible, I say we take this book for our guide, for our rule of\naction; we take it as the foundation of our faith. It points the way\nto salvation like a fingerboard pointing to a city, or a map which\ndesignates the locality of mountains, rivers, or the latitude and\nlongitude of any place on the surface of the earth that we desire to\nfind, and we have no better sense than to believe {194} it; hence, I\nsay that the Latter-day Saints have the most natural faith and belief\nof any people on the face of the earth. 13:236.\n\nWe as Latter-day Saints have confessed before Heaven, before the\nheavenly hosts, and before the inhabitants of the earth, that we really\nbelieve the Scriptures as they are given to us, according to the best\nunderstanding and knowledge that we have of the translation, and the\nspirit and meaning of the Old and New Testaments. 12:227.\n\nTake up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter-day Saints with\nit, and see if it will stand the test. 17:46.\n\nThis Book, which is the Old and New Testament, preaches but one sermon\nfrom Genesis to Revelation. 6:284.\n\nThe doctrine that we preach is the doctrine of the Bible, it is the\ndoctrine the Lord has revealed for the salvation of the children of\nGod, and when men, who have once obeyed it, deny it, they deny it with\ntheir eyes wide open, and knowing that they deny the truth and set at\nnaught the counsels of the Almighty. 14:200.\n\nI ask you, brother B, how I must believe the Bible, and how shall you\nand every other follower of the Lord Jesus Christ believe it? \"Brother\nMormon, how do you believe it?\" I believe it just as it is. I do not\nbelieve in putting any man's interpretation upon it, whatever, unless\nit should be directed by the Lord himself in some way. I do not believe\nwe need interpreters and expounders of the Scriptures, to wrest them\nfrom their literal, plain, simple meaning. 1:237.\n\nThere is one idea entertained by the \"Mormons\" which is somewhat of a\nstumbling-block to the people, and apostates handle it to suit their\npurpose. It is, that we consider {195} the Bible merely as a guide\nor fingerboard, pointing to a certain destination. This is a true\ndoctrine, which we boldly advance. If you will follow the doctrines,\nand be guided by the precepts of that book, it will direct you where\nyou may see as you are seen, where you may converse with Jesus Christ,\nhave the visitation of angels, have dreams, visions, and revelations,\nand understand and know God for yourselves. Is it not a stay and a\nstaff to you? Yes; it will prove to you that you are following in the\nfootsteps of the ancients. You can see what they saw, understand what\nthey enjoyed. 1:243.\n\n_The Standard Church Works._ With us the Bible is the first book,\nthe Book of Mormon comes next, then the revelations in the book of\nDoctrine and Covenants, then the teachings of the living oracles,\nyet you will find, in the end, that the living oracles of God have\nto take all things of heaven and earth, above and beneath, and bring\nthem together and devote them to God, and sanctify and purify them and\nprepare them to enter into the Kingdom of heaven. 9:297.\n\nThere is no clash in the principles revealed in the Bible, the Book of\nMormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants; and there would be no clash\nbetween any of the doctrines taught by Joseph the Prophet and by the\nbrethren now, if all would live in a way to be governed by the Spirit\nof the Lord. All do not live so as to have the Spirit of the Lord with\nthem all the time, and the result is that some get out of the way.\n5:329.\n\nWe have learned much from the Bible. We have also learned much from\nthe Book of Mormon and the book of Doctrine and Covenants; but all the\nsalvation you can obtain by means of those books alone is comparatively\nof little {196} value. They contain a history of what other men have\ndone, show the path they walked in, and the way in which they obtained\nthe words of eternal life for themselves; but all the Scriptures from\nthe days of Adam until now cannot, alone, save one individual. Were\nthey all committed to memory so perfectly that they could be recited\nwith the greatest ease, that alone would not save one of the smallest\nof God's creatures, nor bring any person nearer the gate of the\ncelestial kingdom. In visiting a foreign nation, an understanding of\nits language, geography, manners, customs, and laws is very agreeable\nand: beneficial. So the reading of the Bible gives comfort and\nhappiness to the traveler to eternity, and points out to him in part\nthe character and attributes of the Being whom to know is life eternal.\nWe have not yet attained to that knowledge, and the mere reading of the\nScriptures can never put us in possession of it. 7:332.\n\nIt is your privilege and duty to live so, as to be able to understand\nthe things of God. There are the Old and New Testaments, the Book of\nMormon, and the book of Doctrine and Covenants, which Joseph has given\nus, and they are of great worth to a person wandering in darkness.\nThey are like a lighthouse in the ocean, or a finger-post which points\nout the road we should travel. Where do they point? To the Fountain of\nlight. 8:129.\n\nWhat do the infidel world say about the Bible? They say that the\nBible is nothing better than last year's almanac; it is nothing but a\nfable of priestcraft, and it is good for nothing. The Book of Mormon,\nhowever, declares that the Bible is true, and it proves it; and the\ntwo prove each other true. The Old and New Testaments are the stick of\nJudah. You recollect that the tribe of Judah tarried in {197} Jerusalem\nand the Lord blessed Judah, and the result was the writings of the Old\nand New Testaments. But where is the stick of Joseph? Can you tell\nwhere it is? Yes. It was the children of Joseph who came across the\nwaters to this continent, and this land was filled with people, and\nthe Book of Mormon or the stick of Joseph contains their writings, and\nthey are in the hands of Ephraim. Where are the Ephraimites? They are\nmixed through all the nations of the earth. God is calling upon them to\ngather out, and he is uniting them, and they are giving the Gospel to\nall the world. Is there any harm or any false doctrine in that? A great\nmany say there is. If there is, it is all in the Bible. 13:174.\n\nThe Christian world profess to believe the Old and New Testaments; the\nJews say they believe the Old Testament. We believe both, and that\nis not all, we believe in the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and\nCovenants given by the Lord to Joseph Smith and by him to the Church.\nWe also believe if we were destitute of the Spirit of the Lord, and our\neyes were closed so that we could not see and understand things as they\nare by the spirit of revelation, we might say farewell to all these\nbooks, no matter how numerous. If we had all the revelation given since\nthe days of Adam and were without the spirit of revelation to be and\nabide in the midst of the people, it would be impossible for us to be\nsaved in the celestial kingdom of God. 12:259-260.\n\nThe book of Doctrine and Covenants is given for the Latter-day Saints\nexpressly for their everyday walk and actions. 16:188.\n\n_The Use of the Scriptures_--Do you read the Scriptures, my\nbrethren and sisters, as though you were writing them {198} a thousand,\ntwo thousand, or five thousand years ago? Do you read them as though\nyou stood in the place of the men who wrote them? If you do not feel\nthus, it is your privilege to do so, that you may be as familiar with\nthe spirit and meaning of the written word of God as you are with your\ndaily walk and conversation, or as you are with your workmen or with\nyour households. 7:333.\n\nThe people on every hand are inquiring, \"What does this scripture\nmean, and how shall we understand this or that passage?\" Now I wish,\nmy brethren and sisters, for us to understand things precisely as they\nare, and not as the flitting, changing imagination of the human mind\nmay frame them.\n\nThe Bible is just as plain and easy of comprehension as the revelation\nwhich I have just read to you, if you understand the Spirit of God--the\nSpirit of Revelation, and know how the Gospel of salvation is adapted\nto the capacity of weak man. 3:336.\n\nWe are not in the same attitude that the people were a few thousand\nyears ago--they were depending on the Prophet or Prophets, or on having\nimmediate revelation for themselves to know the will of the Lord,\nwithout the record of their predecessors, while we have the records of\nthose who have lived before us, also the testimony of the Holy Spirit;\nand, to the satisfaction of all who desire a testimony, we can turn\nto this book and read that which we believe, learn the object of our\npursuit, the end that we expect to accomplish--the end of the race as\nfar as mortality is concerned--and the fulness of the glory that is\nbeyond this vale of tears; consequently we have the advantage of those\nwho lived before us. We are in pursuit of knowledge; and when you meet\ntogether, if you have a word of prophecy, {199} a dream, a vision, or a\nword of wisdom, impart the same to the people. 15:35.\n\nIs there anything in the Bible that should not be read by the scholars\nin schools? If there be, leave out such parts, or rather replace the\nlanguage there used, with phraseology more in accordance with modern\nusage, so that the principles contained in the Bible may be taught in\nyour catechisms or other books. I know that there is some plain talk\nin the Bible, plainer than I heard this morning; but that plain talk\nwas the custom of the ancients. The mere phraseology there used is not\nof much consequence, it is the true principle which that book teaches\nwhich renders it so valuable. If any of you, ladies and gentlemen, were\nto step on a steamboat and cross over to Liverpool, you would hear\nlanguage and see customs that you never heard or saw in Yankee land.\nIt is the same with regard to the Bible, the phraseology is that which\nwas customary centuries ago; but no matter what the language is, that\nis merely custom. But I will say that the doctrines taught in the Old\nand New Testaments concerning the will of God towards his children here\non the earth; the history of what he has done for their salvation; the\nordinances which he has instituted for their redemption; the gift of\nhis Son and his atonement--all these are true, and we, the Latter-day\nSaints, believe in them. 13:174.\n\nI am a witness, so far as this is concerned, that the persons whose\nnames are mentioned, and many others of the first Elders of the Church,\nwere looked upon almost as angels. They were looked upon by the young\nmembers as being so filled with the Spirit and power of God, that we\nwere hardly worthy to converse with them. You hear the names of Bishop\nPartridge, of Brother W. W. Phelps, who {200} is now sitting in this\nstand, of Parley P. Pratt, of David Whitmer, of Oliver Cowdery, and the\nnames of many others of the first Elders who had been up to Zion, and\nI declare to you that brethren in other parts of the land, those who\nhad not seen the persons named, felt that should they come into their\npresence they would have to pull off their shoes, as the ground would\nbe so holy upon which they trod.\n\nDo you know what distance and age accomplish? They produce in people\nthe most reverential awe that can be imagined.\n\nWhen we reflect and rightly understand, we learn how easy of\ncomprehension the Gospel is, how plain it is in its plan, in every part\nand principle fitted perfectly to the capacity of mankind, insomuch\nthat when it is introduced among the lovers of truth it appears very\neasy and very plain, and how very ready the honest are to receive it.\n\nBut send it abroad and give it antiquity, and it is at once clothed\nwith mystery. This is the case with all the ancient revelations. Those\nwhich were received and understood by the ancients are shrouded in\nmystery and uncertainty to this generation, and men are employed to\nreveal the meaning of the ancient Scriptures. 3:335-6. {201}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\n_THE PRIESTHOOD_\n\n_The Priesthood_--All ye inhabitants of the earth, hearken and\nhear! God has, in our day, spoken from the heavens; he has bestowed his\nholy Priesthood on the children of men; he has called upon all people\nto repent. 8:136.\n\nLet us submit to him, that we may share in this invisible, almighty,\nGod-like power, which is the everlasting Priesthood. 3:259.\n\nThe Priesthood of the Son of God, which we have in our midst, is a\nperfect order and system of government, and this alone can deliver the\nhuman family from all the evils which now afflict its members, and\ninsure them happiness and felicity hereafter. 13:242.\n\nIf anybody wants to know what the Priesthood of the Son of God is, it\nis the law by which the worlds are, were, and will continue for ever\nand ever. It is that system which brings worlds into existence and\npeoples them, gives them their revolutions--their days, weeks, months,\nyears, their seasons and times and by which they are rolled up as a\nscroll, as it were, and go into a higher state of existence. 15:127.\n\nWhen we talk of the celestial law which is revealed from heaven, that\nis, the Priesthood, we are talking about the principle of salvation, a\nperfect system of government, of laws and ordinances, by which we can\nbe prepared to pass from one gate to another, and from one sentinel\nto another, until we go into the presence of our Father and God. This\nlaw has not always been upon the earth; and in its absence, other laws\nhave been given to the children {202} of men for their improvement, for\ntheir education, for their government, and to prove what they would do\nwhen left to control themselves; and what we now call tradition has\ngrown out of these circumstances. 2:139.\n\nThe Priesthood of the Son of God in its operations comprises the\nKingdom of God. 11:249.\n\nSome of the brightest spirits who dwell in the bosom of the Father are\nmaking their appearance among this people, of whom the Lord will make\na Royal Priesthood, a peculiar nation that he can own and bless, talk\nwith, and associate with. 11:132.\n\nMen who are vessels of the holy Priesthood, who are charged with words\nof eternal life to the world, should strive continually in their words\nand actions and daily deportment to do honor to the great dignity of\ntheir calling and office as ministers and representatives of the Most\nHigh. 11:216.\n\nThe Gospel has brought to us the holy Priesthood, which is again\nrestored to the children of men. The keys of that Priesthood are here;\nwe have them in our possession; we can unlock, and we can shut up. We\ncan obtain salvation, and we can administer it. 4:299.\n\nThis Priesthood has been on the earth at various times. Adam had it,\nSeth had it, Enoch had it, Noah had it, Abraham and Lot had it, and it\nwas handed down to the days of the Prophets, long after the days of the\nancients. This High Priesthood rules, directs, governs, and controls\nall the Priesthoods, because it is the highest of all. 9:87.\n\nBut the Lord has so ordained that no man shall receive the benefits of\nthe everlasting Priesthood without humbling himself before him, and\ngiving him the glory for teaching him, that he may be able to witness\nto every man of the {203} truth, and not depend upon the words of any\nindividual on the earth, but know for himself, live \"by every word that\nproceedeth out of the mouth of God,\" love the Lord Jesus Christ and the\ninstitutions of his Kingdom, and finally enter into his glory. Every\nman and woman may be a revelator, and have the testimony of Jesus,\nwhich is the spirit of prophecy, and foresee the mind and will of God\nconcerning them, eschew evil, and choose that which is good. 2:189.\n\nThe Priesthood is given to the people and the keys thereof, and, when\nproperly understood, they may actually unlock the treasury of the\nLord, and receive to their fullest satisfaction. But through our own\nweaknesses, through the frailty of human nature, we are not capable of\ndoing so. 3:191-2.\n\nThe Priesthood does not wait for ignorance; it instructs those who have\nnot wisdom, and are desirous of learning correct principles. 7:64.\n\nIt is the business, duty, and power of the eternal Priesthood to\ncommence laying the foundation to bring back the days, years, and\nintelligence that have been lost through transgression. I intend to\npursue this course so long as I possibly can. I trust that I shall not\ncommit an act that will annoy my feelings when I meet my Savior. I pray\nfor this every day and every moment. 8:62.\n\nThe Lord Almighty will not suffer his Priesthood to be again driven\nfrom the earth. 2:183-184.\n\nBut mark it well, if we live according to the holy Priesthood bestowed\nupon us, while God bears rule in the midst of these mountains, I\npromise you, in the name of Israel's God, that he will give us\nseed-time and harvest. We must forfeit our right to the Priesthood,\nbefore the blessings of {204} the heavens cease to come upon us. Let us\nlive our religion and hearken to the counsel given to us. 10:292.\n\nMuch has been said about the power of the Latter-day Saints. Is it the\npeople called Latter-day Saints that have this power, or is it the\nPriesthood? It is the Priesthood; and if they live according to that\nPriesthood, they can commence their work here and gain many victories,\nand be prepared to receive glory, immortality, and eternal life, that\nwhen they go into the spirit-world, their work will far surpass that of\nany other man or being that has not been blessed with the keys of the\nPriesthood here. 7:288-9.\n\nThere is not a despot upon the earth whose power has not originally\nsprung from the Priesthood, and there is not a law in the Priesthood\nbut what is founded on the revelations of Jesus Christ. These are the\nlaws upon which all governments were originally based. Truth will\nendure forever, and every person that cannot abide truth will fail in\nobtaining eternal life. Truth is what we have. Let us live to it, and\nwe shall abide for ever and no power can prevent it. 7:149.\n\nWhen the faithful Elders, holding this Priesthood, go into the spirit\nworld they carry with them the same power and Priesthood that they had\nwhile in the mortal tabernacle. 3:371.\n\nWhen the holy Priesthood is upon the earth, and the fulness of the\nKingdom of God has come to the people, it requires a strict obedience\nto every point of law and doctrine and to every ordinance which the\nLord reveals. 10:286.\n\nWere your faith concentrated upon the proper object, your confidence\nunshaken, your lives pure and holy, every one fulfilling the duties\nof his or her calling according to the {205} Priesthood and capacity\nbestowed upon you, you would be filled with the Holy Ghost, and\nit would be as impossible for any man to deceive and lead you to\ndestruction as for a feather to remain unconsumed in the midst of\nintense heat. 7:277.\n\nAn individual who holds a share in the Priesthood, and continues\nfaithful to his calling, who delights himself continually in doing the\nthings God requires at his hands, and continues through life in the\nperformance of every duty will secure to himself not only the privilege\nof receiving, but the knowledge how to receive the things of God,\nthat he may know the mind of God continually; and he will be enabled\nto discern between right and wrong, between the things of God and the\nthings that are not of God. And the Priesthood--the Spirit that is\nwithin him, will continue to increase until it becomes like a fountain\nof living water; until it is like the tree of life; until it is one\ncontinued source of intelligence and instruction to that individual.\n3:192.\n\nIt is the privilege of every person who is faithful to the Priesthood,\nwho can overcome the enemy, thwart the design of death, or him that\nhath the power of it, to live upon the earth until their appointed\ntime; and they may know, see, and understand, by revelation, the things\nof God just as naturally as we understand natural things that are\naround us. 3:192-193.\n\nAll the acts we perform should be governed by the guidance of the\nPriesthood. 7:64.\n\nThere is no act of a Latter-day Saint--no duty required--no time given,\nexclusive and independent of the Priesthood. Everything is subject to\nit, whether preaching, business, or any other act pertaining to the\nproper conduct of this life. 7:66. {206}\n\nUntil a selfish, individual interest is banished from our minds, and\nwe become interested in the general welfare, we shall never be able to\nmagnify our holy Priesthood as we should. 11:115.\n\nNo man will gain influence in this Kingdom, save what he gains by the\ninfluence and power of the Holy One that has called him to truth,\nholiness, and virtue. That is all the influence I have, and I pray God\nthat I may never have any different influence. 7:140.\n\nLet me say to the brethren and sisters, when you are chastened by any\nof your leaders, never consider that the enemy does it, but receive\nit always as a kindness from the hand of a friend and not as from an\nenemy. If your presidents were your enemies they would let you alone\nin your faults. If you are beloved of the Lord you will be chastened;\nreceive it with joy. 10:174.\n\nIn trying all matters of doctrine, to make a decision valid, it is\nnecessary to obtain a unanimous voice, faith and decision. In the\ncapacity of a Quorum, the three First Presidents must be one in their\nvoice; the Twelve Apostles must be unanimous in their voice, to obtain\na righteous decision upon any matter that may come before them, as you\nmay read in the Doctrine and Covenants. Whenever you see these Quorums\nunanimous in their declaration, you may set it down as true. Let the\nElders get together, being faithful and true; and when they agree upon\nany point, you may know that it is true. 9:91-92.\n\nI would like to see the High Council and Bishops and all Judges filled\nwith the power of the Holy Ghost, that when a person comes before them\nthey can read and understand that person, and be able to decide a case\nquickly and justly. When men have a just appreciation of right and\n{207} wrong, their decision can be made as well the first minute after\nhearing a statement of the case, as to waste hours and days to make it.\nI would like the Bishops and other officers to have sufficient power\nand wisdom from God to make them fully aware of the true nature of\nevery case that may come before them. But there are some of our great\nmen who are so ignorant that a personal favor will so bias their minds\nthat they will twist the truth and sustain a person in evil. Some,\nwith a trifling consideration, can so prejudice the mind of a High\nCouncilor, a High Priest, a Bishop, or an Apostle, that he will lean to\nthe individual instead of the truth. I despise a man that would offer\nme money to buy me to his favor. 10:42.\n\nIn all High Councils, in Bishops' Courts, and in all other departments\nfor transacting our business, the Church and Kingdom of God, with the\nLord Almighty at the head, will cause every man to exhibit the feeling\nof his heart, for you recollect it is written that in the last days the\nLord will reveal the secrets of the hearts of the children of men. 3:47.\n\nWhen I am brought to the test to fight for my religion, which I trust\nI never will be, I will call men who are full of the power of God for\nsuch an emergency. 7:143.\n\nI relate these circumstances to show you that a person who is ordained\nto the office of an Elder in this Kingdom has the same Priesthood that\nthe High Priests, that the Twelve Apostles, that the Seventies, and\nthat the First Presidency hold; but all are not called to be one of the\nTwelve Apostles nor are all called to be one of the First Presidency,\nnor to be one of the First Presidents of all the Seventies, nor to be\none of the Presidents of a Quorum of Seventies, nor to preside over the\nHigh Priests' Quorum; but every man in his order and place, possessing\na portion {208} of the same Priesthood, according to the gifts and\ncallings to each. Does not this clear up the subject? This will explain\nit to you so that you can understand it. When we find where our\ncallings and positions are in the midst of the people of God, and every\nperson willing to act in the discharge of his duty, there is enough for\nus all to do. All persons can have all they desire to do to promote the\nKingdom of God on the earth; they can exercise themselves in all that\nGod has granted to them to prove themselves worthy before God and the\npeople. 9:89.\n\nDid they destroy it when they took the life of Joseph? No. \"Mormonism\"\nis here, the Priesthood is here, the keys of the Kingdom are here on\nthe earth; and when Joseph went, they did not go. And if the wicked\nshould succeed in taking my life, the keys of the Kingdom will remain\nwith the Church. 5:76-7.\n\nIf I find a man, as I do once in a while, who thinks that he ought to\nbe sustained in a higher position than he occupies, that proves to me\nthat he does not understand his true position, and is not capable of\nmagnifying it. Has he not already the privilege of exhibiting all the\ntalents he has--of doing all the good he is capable of in this Kingdom?\nIs he curtailed in the least, in anywise or place, in bringing forth\nhis wisdom and powers, and exhibiting them before the community and\nleading out? No, not in the least. Are any of you infringed upon or\nabridged in the least? Is there a sister who has not the privilege of\nexhibiting all the talent and power she will, or is capable of, for\nthe benefit of her sisters and her children? Are the sisters deprived\nof any liberty in displaying their taste and talent to improve the\ncommunity?\n\nWhen I hear persons say that they ought to occupy a {209} station more\nexalted than they do, and hide the talents they are in possession of,\nthey have not the true wisdom they ought to have. There is a lack in\nthem, or they would improve upon the talents given. 7:161-2.\n\nI am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their\nleaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they\nare led by him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind\nself-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their\nleaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the\npurposes of God in their salvation, and weaken that influence they\ncould give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by the\nrevelations of Jesus, that they are led in the right way. Let every man\nand woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves,\nwhether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or\nnot. 9:150.\n\nYou may take the Quorums in this Church--the First Presidency, the\nTwelve, the Presidents of the High Priests, the High Councilors, and\nthe Presidents of the Seventies; and a person may go to each of those\nQuorums for counsel upon any subject, and he will invariably receive\nthe same counsel. Why is this the case? Because they are all actuated\nby the same spirit. 5:328-9.\n\nAdam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, all the Patriarchs and Prophets, Jesus and the\nApostles, and every man that has ever written the word of the Lord,\nhave written the same doctrine upon the same subject; and you never can\nfind that Prophets and Apostles clashed in their doctrines in ancient\ndays; neither will they now, if all would at all times be led by the\nSpirit of salvation. 5:329.\n\nWhere the Priesthood is not, the people are expected to {210} live\naccording to the best knowledge they have; but even then they cannot\nwith impunity commit many heinous faults. The Lord more readily\noverlooks them in consequence of their unenlightened condition, and\nthere is a kingdom prepared for them. 10:286.\n\nWhen a man merely from a spirit of conviction goes forth to build up\nthe Kingdom of God--to reform the nations of the earth, he can go so\nfar as morality operates upon and enlightens him; but he is without\nauthority from heaven. We are under no obligation to obey any man or\nbeing in matters pertaining to salvation, unless his words have the\nauthority and sanction of the holy Priesthood. 8:122.\n\nI never passed John Wesley's church in London without stopping to\nlook at it. Was he a good man? Yes; I suppose him to have been, by\nall accounts, as good as ever walked on this earth, according to his\nknowledge. Has he obtained a rest? Yes, and greater than ever entered\nhis mind to expect; and so have thousands of others of the various\nreligious denominations. Why could he not build up the Kingdom of God\non the earth? He had not the Priesthood; that was all the difficulty\nhe labored under. Had the Priesthood been conferred upon him, he would\nhave built up the Kingdom of God in his day as it is now being built\nup. He would have introduced the ordinances, powers, grades, and\nquorums of the Priesthood; but, not holding the Priesthood, he could\nnot do it. Did the Spirit of God rest upon him? Yes, and does, more or\nless, at times, upon all people. 7:5.\n\nMany persons think, if they see a Prophet they see one possessing all\nthe keys of the Kingdom of God on the earth. This is not so; many\npersons have prophesied without having {211} any Priesthood on them at\nall. It is no particular revelation or gift for a person to prophesy.\nYou take a good statesman, for instance, he will tell you what will\nbecome of a nation by their actions. He forsees this and that, and\nknows the results of any line of policy that may be pursued. To be a\nprophet is simply to be a foreteller of future events; but an Apostle\nof the Lord Jesus Christ has the keys of the holy Priesthood, and the\npower thereof is sealed upon his head, and by this he is authorized to\nproclaim the truth to the people, and if they receive it, well; if not,\nthe sin be upon their own heads. 13:144.\n\nSeek diligently to know the will of God. How can you know it? In\nmatters pertaining to yourselves as individuals, you can obtain it\ndirectly from the Lord; but in matters pertaining to public affairs,\nhis will is ascertained through the proper channel, and may be known by\nthe general counsel that is given you from the proper source. 1:78.\n\nI have already said that Christ set in his Church Apostles and\nProphets; he also set in his Church evangelists, pastors and teachers;\nalso the gifts of the Spirit, such as diverse tongues, healing the\nsick, discernment of spirits, and various other gifts. Now, I would\nask the whole world, Who has received revelation that the Lord has\ndiscontinued these offices and gifts in his Church? I have not. I have\nhad revelation that they should be in the Church, and that there is no\nChurch without them. I have had many revelations proving to me that the\nOld and New Testaments are true. Their doctrines are comprised in the\nGospel that we preach, which is the power of God unto salvation to all\nwho believe. 13:144.\n\nI plead with the Elders of Israel day by day, when I have an\nopportunity, to live their religion--to live so that {212} the Holy\nGhost will be their constant companion; and then they will be qualified\nto be judges in Israel, to preside as Bishops, presiding Elders,\nand High Councilors, and as men of God, to take their families and\nfriends by the hand and lead them in the path of truth and virtue, and\neventually into the Kingdom of God. 6:331.\n\n_The First Presidency_--In the setting forth of items of doctrine\nwhich pertain to the progress and further building up of the Kingdom\nof God upon the earth, and the revealing of his mind and will, he has\nbut one mouth through which to make known his will to his people. When\nthe Lord wishes to give a revelation to his people, when he wishes\nto reveal new items of doctrine to them, or administer chastisement,\nhe will do it through the man whom he has appointed to that office\nand calling. The rest of the offices and callings of the Church are\nhelps and governments for the edifying of the body of Christ and the\nperfection of the Saints, etc., every president, bishop, elder, priest,\nteacher, deacon and member standing in his order and officiating in his\nstanding and degree of Priesthood as ministers of the words of life as\nshepherds to watch over departments and sections of the flock of God in\nall the world, and as helps to strengthen the hands of the Presidency\nof the whole Church. 11:135.\n\nThe Lord Almighty leads this Church, and he will never suffer you to be\nled astray if you are found doing your duty. You may go home and sleep\nas sweetly as a babe in its mother's arms, as to any danger of your\nleaders leading you astray, for if they should try to do so the Lord\nwould quickly sweep them from the earth. Your leaders are trying to\nlive their religion as far as they are capable of doing so. 9:289. {213}\n\nThe First Presidency have of right a great influence over this\npeople; and if we should get out of the way and lead this people to\ndestruction, what a pity it would be! How can you know whether we lead\nyou correctly or not? Can you know by any other power than that of\nthe Holy Ghost? I have uniformly exhorted the people to obtain this\nliving witness, each for themselves; then no man on earth can lead them\nastray. 6:100.\n\nBe careful, all the world, and touch not the anointed of the Lord.\nAfflict not the people who have the oracles of salvation for all the\nhuman family. 8:195.\n\nTo possess and retain the spirit of the Gospel, gather Israel, redeem\nZion, and save the world must be attended to first and foremost, and\nshould be the prevailing desire in the hearts of the First Presidency\nof the Elders of Israel, and of every officer in the Church and Kingdom\nof God. 7:174.\n\nPerhaps it may make some of you stumble, were I to ask you a\nquestion--Does a man's being a Prophet in this Church prove that he\nshall be the President of it? I answer, No! A man may be a Prophet,\nSeer, and Revelator, and it may have nothing to do with his being\nthe President of the Church. Suffice it to say, that Joseph was the\nPresident of the Church, as long as he lived. He always filled that\nresponsible station by the voice of the people. Can you find any\nrevelation appointing him the President of the Church? The keys of the\nPriesthood were committed to Joseph, to build up the Kingdom of God on\nthe earth, and were not to be taken from him in time or in eternity,\nbut when he was called to preside over the Church, it was by the voice\nof the people; though he held the keys of the Priesthood, independent\nof their voice. 1:133. {214}\n\nI would beseech and pray the people to live so that if I do not magnify\nmy office and calling, you will burn me by your faith and good works,\nand I shall be removed. 7:281.\n\nThe spirit of Joseph which fell upon me is ready to fall upon somebody\nelse when I am removed. 5:57.\n\nThe first name I shall present to you is that of Brigham Young,\nPresident of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If any\nperson can say that he should not be sustained in this office, say so.\nIf there is no objection, as it is usual in the marriage ceremony of\nthe Church of England, \"Let them for ever afterwards hold their peace,\"\nand not go snivelling around, saying that you would like to have a\nbetter man, and one who is more capable of leading the Church. 7:228.\n\nSuppose that Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams had been taken\naway or had apostatized, as one of them did soon after the revelation I\nhave referred to was given, and there had been only Joseph Smith left\nof the First Presidency, would he alone have had authority to set in\norder the Kingdom of God on the earth? Yes. Again: Suppose that eleven\nof the Twelve had been taken away by the power of the Adversary, that\none Apostle has the same power that Joseph had, and could preach,\nbaptize, and set in order the whole Kingdom of God upon the earth,\nas much so as the Twelve, were they all together. Again: If in the\nprovidence of God he should permit the enemy to destroy these two first\nQuorums, and then destroy the Quorum of the Seventy, all but one man,\nwhat is his power? It would be to go and preach, baptize, confirm,\nlay on hands, ordain, set in order, build up, and establish the whole\nKingdom of God as it is now. Suppose the enemy had power to destroy\nall but one of the High Priests from the {215} face of the earth, what\nwould that one possess in the power of his Priesthood? He would have\npower and authority to go and preach, baptize, confirm, ordain, and set\nin order the Kingdom of God in all its perfection of the earth. Could\nhe do this without revelation? No. Could the Seventies? No. Could the\nTwelve? No. And we ask, could Joseph Smith or the First Presidency\ndo this without revelation? No. Not one of them could do such a work\nwithout revelation direct from God. I can go still further. Whoever is\nordained to the office of an Elder to a certain degree possesses the\nkeys of the Melchizedek Priesthood; and suppose only one Elder should\nbe left on the earth, could he go and set in order the Kingdom of God?\nYes, by revelation. 9:88.\n\nAlthough Brothers Willard Richards, Heber C. Kimball, and myself are\nout of the Quorum of the Twelve, our Apostleship has not been taken\nfrom us. I preached considerable upon this subject in Nauvoo, to give\nthe people the understanding of the different callings of men. 6:320.\n\nMany may think that a man in my standing ought to be perfect; no such\nthing. If you would only think of it for a moment you would not have\nme perfect, for if I were perfect the Lord would take me to Paradise\nquicker than you would be willing to have me go there. I want to stay\nwith you; and I expect to be just nearly perfect enough to lead you on.\n10:212.\n\nI had the promise, years ago, that I never should apostatize and bring\nan evil upon this people. God revealed that through Joseph, long before\nhe died; and if I am not doing right, you may calculate that the Lord\nis going to take me home. He will not send me to hell, but he will take\nme home to himself. \"I will take you up here, Brigham, and give you a\nfew lessons.\" 9:142. {216}\n\n(After putting the motion for himself to be sustained as \"Prophet,\nSeer, and Revelator,\" the President remarked):\n\nI will say that I never dictated the latter part of that sentence. I\nmake this remark, because those words in that connection always made me\nfeel as though I am called more than I am deserving of. I am Brigham\nYoung, an Apostle of Joseph Smith, and also of Jesus Christ. If I have\nbeen profitable to this people, I am glad of it. The brethren call me\nso; and if it be so, I am glad. 5:296.\n\n_The Apostle and Melchizedek Priesthood_--The calling of an\nApostle is to build up the Kingdom of God in all the world; it is the\nApostle that holds the keys of this power, and nobody else. If an\nApostle magnifies his calling, he is the word of the Lord to his people\nall the time. 6:282.\n\nIt is the duty and privilege of the Twelve Apostles to have the Holy\nGhost for their constant companion, and live always in the Spirit of\nRevelation, to know their duty and understand their calling; this is\nalso the duty and privilege of the First Presidency of the Church.\n11:135.\n\nI can tell you the spirit of the Twelve, which will be a consolation\nto you, and also to the Twelve. If I could see every one of the Elders\nwith their wives and children as obedient to every requirement made of\nthem--the children to the parents, the wives to the husbands, and the\nhusbands to the Priesthood--as the Twelve are--my soul would be happy.\nI will say further: those of the Twelve that travel the most and serve\nGod, are the most obedient. 10:310.\n\nIn the last week's News I published a portion of a revelation, showing\nthe authority of the First Presidency of the Church, composed at\nfirst of Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. When\nthis revelation was {217} given, the two last-named brethren were\nJoseph Smith's counselors, and this First Presidency possessed the\npower and authority of building up the Kingdom of God upon all the\nearth, and of setting the Church in order in its perfection. You read\nin the revelation alluded to that when the Twelve were called and\nordained, they possessed the same power and authority as the three\nFirst Presidents; and in reading further you find that there must\nneeds be appendages and helps growing out of this Priesthood. The\nSeventies possess the same power and authority; they hold the keys of\nestablishing, building up, regulating, ordaining and setting in order\nthe Kingdom of God in all its perfections upon the earth. We have a\nQuorum of High Priests, and there are a great many of them. They are a\nlocal body--they tarry at home; but the Seventies travel and preach;\nso also do the High Priests, when they are called upon. They possess\nprecisely the same Priesthood that the Seventies and the Twelve and the\nFirst Presidency possess; but are they ordained to officiate in all the\nauthority, powers, and keys of this Priesthood? No, they are not. Still\nthey are High Priests of God; and if they magnify their Priesthood,\nthey will receive at some time all the authority and power that it is\npossible for men to receive. 9:87.\n\nThe Bishopric by right belongs to the literal descendants of Aaron, but\nwe shall have to ordain from the other tribes, men who hold the High\nPriesthood, to act in the Lesser, until we find a literal descendant of\nAaron, who is prepared to receive it.\n\nThe Lesser Priesthood, then, you perceive, comes within the purview\nof the Apostleship, because a man that holds it has a right to act\nor officiate as a High Priest, as one of {218} the High Council, as\na Patriarch, as a Bishop, Elder, Priest, Teacher, and Deacon, and in\nevery other office and calling that is in the Church, from first to\nlast, when duty demands it. 1:136.\n\nNow will it cause some of you to marvel that I was not ordained a High\nPriest before I was ordained an Apostle? Brother Kimball and myself\nwere never ordained High Priests. How wonderful! I was going to say how\nlittle some of the brethren understood the Priesthood, after the Twelve\nwere called. In our early career in this Church, on one occasion, in\none of our Councils, we were telling about some of the Twelve wanting\nto ordain us High Priests, and what I said to Brother Patten when he\nwanted to ordain me in York State: said I, \"Brother Patten, wait until\nI can lift my hand to heaven and say, I have magnified the office of\nan Elder.\" After our conversation was over in the Council, some of\nthe brethren began to query, and said we ought to be ordained High\nPriests; at the same time I did not consider that an Apostle needed to\nbe ordained a High Priest, an Elder, or a Teacher. I did not express\nmy views on the subject, at that time, but thought I would hear what\nbrother Joseph would say about it. It was William E. McLellin who told\nJoseph, that I and Heber were not ordained High Priests, and wanted\nto know if it should not be done. Said Joseph, \"Will you insult the\nPriesthood? Is that all the knowledge you have of the office of an\nApostle? Do you not know that the man who receives the Apostleship,\nreceives all the keys that ever were, or that can be, conferred upon\nmortal man? What are you talking about? I am astonished!\" Nothing more\nwas said about it.\n\nI have tried to show you, brethren, as briefly as possible, {219} the\norder of the Priesthood. When a man is ordained to be an Apostle, his\nPriesthood is without beginning of days, or end of life, like the\nPriesthood of Melchizedek; for it was his Priesthood that was spoken of\nin this language and not the man. 1:136.\n\nTwenty-seven years ago, on the 5th of this month, in the year 1834, a\ncompany started for Kirtland to redeem the land of Zion. Brother Heber\nC. Kimball and my brother Joseph were in that camp. There had not then\nbeen ordained any Twelve Apostles, nor any Seventies, although there\nwas a revelation pertaining to the Apostles and Seventies. There were\nHigh Priests, but no High Priests' Quorum. I am relating this as a\nlittle matter of history that will no doubt be interesting to those who\nwere not there.\n\nAfter we returned from Missouri, my brother Joseph Young and myself\nhad been singing after preaching in a meeting; and when the meeting\nwas dismissed, Brother Joseph Smith, said, \"Come, go down to my house\nwith me.\" We went and sung to him a long time, and talked with him.\nHe then opened the subject of the Twelve and Seventies for the first\ntime I ever thought of it. He said, \"Brethren, I am going to call out\nTwelve Apostles. I think we will get together, by-and-by, and select\nTwelve Apostles, and select a Quorum of Seventies from those who have\nbeen up to Zion, out of the camp boys.\" In 1835 the last of January\nor in February, or about that time, we held our meetings from day to\nday, and Brother Joseph called out Twelve Apostles at that time. He had\na revelation when we were singing to him. Those who were acquainted\nwith him knew when the Spirit of Revelation was on him, for his\ncountenance wore an expression peculiar to himself while under {220}\nthat influence. He preached by the Spirit of Revelation, and taught\nin his council by it, and those who were acquainted with him could\ndiscover it at once, for at such times there was a peculiar clearness\nand transparency in his face. He followed up that revelation until he\norganized the Church, and so along until the baptism for the dead was\nrevealed. 9:89.\n\nHow came these Apostles, these Seventies, these High Priests, and all\nthis organization we now enjoy? It came by revelation. Father Cahoon,\nwho lately died in your neighborhood, was one of the first ordained to\nthe office of High Priest in this Kingdom. In the year 1831 the Prophet\nJoseph went to Ohio. He left the State of New York on the last of\nApril, if my memory serves me, and arrived in Kirtland sometime in May.\nThey held a General Conference, which was the first General Conference\never called or held in Ohio. Joseph then received a revelation, and\nordained High Priests. You read in the book of Doctrine and Covenants\nhow he received the Priesthood in the first place. It is there stated\nhow Joseph received the Aaronic Priesthood. John the Baptist came to\nJoseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. When a person passes behind the veil,\nhe can only officiate in the spirit-world; but when he is resurrected\nhe officiates as a resurrected being, and not as a mortal being. You\nread in the revelation that Joseph was ordained, as it is written. When\nhe received the Melchizedek Priesthood, he had another revelation.\nPeter, James, and John came to him. You can read the revelation at\nyour leisure. When he received this revelation in Kirtland, the Lord\nrevealed to him that he should begin and ordain High Priests; and he\nthen ordained quite a number, all whose names I do not now recollect;\nbut Lyman {271} Wight was one; Fathers Cahoon and Morley, John Murdock,\nSidney Rigdon, and others were also then ordained. These were the first\nthat were ordained to this office in the Church. I relate this to show\nyou how Joseph proceeded step by step in organizing the Church. At that\ntime there were no Seventies nor Twelve Apostles. 9:88-89.\n\nJoseph Smith never would permit the Seventies to get together and\nbelieve themselves a separate body from the rest of the Church. I\nnever cared much about this, for I was not a particle afraid that\nthey would get any power that truly does not belong to them; for, if\nthey did, I was always satisfied that it would be blown to the four\nwinds. I want to inform the Seventies living in Bishop Miller's Ward\n(and what I now say applies to all the other Wards and Bishops) if\nhe calls on them to act as Teachers, it is their imperative duty to\nact as Teachers, seeking to benefit and bless the people by enlarging\ntheir understandings, that they may prove themselves before God and one\nanother. There is a world of intelligence to impart, and the Priesthood\n(in its various callings, appointments, helps, and governments) is the\nmeans, through its ministers, of imparting it to the people. It is not\na duty of a Seventy or High Priest, who is appointed a Teacher or a\nBishop, to neglect the duties of those callings to attend a Seventies'\nor High Priests' meeting. Attend to the wishes of your Bishop, and\nnever ask who has the most power. The man who has the most power with\nGod will wield it, and earth and hell cannot hinder it. Every man who\nhas true influence has obtained it before God through faithfulness, and\nin all such cases there is not the least danger but what he will have\nit before the Saints. It is the man who converses with the heavens,\nwho delights in doing so, and knows for himself {222} that this is the\nKingdom of God, who has true influence. 9:92.\n\nThere is no retrograde movement in ordaining a High Priest to the\noffice of a Bishop, for, properly speaking, he is set apart to act in\nthat office. 10:96.\n\nWe shall dissolve the present High Council of this Stake. Many of\nthem are far advanced in years, and some of them live at considerable\ndistances from this city. They have labored according to the best of\ntheir ability. 7:337.\n\n_The Bishop and the Aaronic Priesthood_--The office of a Bishop\nbelongs to the lesser Priesthood. He is the highest officer in the\nAaronic Priesthood, and has the privilege of using the Urim and\nThummim--has the administration of angels, if he has faith, and lives\nso that he can receive and enjoy the blessings Aaron enjoyed. At the\nsame time, could Aaron rise up and say, \"I have as much power and\nauthority as you, Moses?\" No; for Moses held the keys and authority\nabove all the rest upon the earth. He holds the keys of the Priesthood\nof Melchizedek, which is the Priesthood of the Son of God, which\nholds the keys of all these Priesthoods, dispensing the blessings and\nprivileges of both Priesthoods to the people, as he did in the days of\nthe Children of Israel when he led them out of Egypt. 9:87.\n\nI will say a few words with regard to a Bishop. Except we find a\nliteral descendant of Aaron, a man has to be ordained to the High\nPriesthood to administer as did Aaron and his sons. Can the Bishop\nbaptize the people, according to his Bishopric? He can. When the people\nhe has baptized assemble for confirmation, can he confirm them? He\ncannot, under the power of his Bishopric; but as he has been ordained\nto the office of a High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek, to\nprepare him to act in the office of a {223} Bishop in the Priesthood\nof Aaron, when he has baptized the people under the authority of his\nBishopric, he has a right as a High Priest to confirm them into the\nChurch by the laying on of hands. 9:280.\n\nA Bishop in his calling and duty is with the Church all the time; he is\nnot called to travel abroad to preach, but is at home; he is not abroad\nin the world, but is with the Saints. 2:89.\n\nIn the capacity of a Bishop, has any person a right to direct the\nspiritual affairs of the Kingdom of God? No. In that capacity his right\nis restricted to affairs in a temporal and moral point of view. He has\na right to deal with the transgressor. I do not care what office a\ntransgressor bears in the Church and Kingdom of God, if he should be\none of the Twelve Apostles, and come into a Bishop's neighborhood, and\npurloin his neighbor's books, defile his neighbor's bed, or commit any\nbreach of the moral law, the Bishop has a right to take that man before\nhimself and his council, and there hold him to answer for the crime he\nhas been guilty of, and deal with him for his fellowship in the Church.\n9:91.\n\nWho, then, has the greatest power? Those who best do the will of God.\nWhen a Bishop calls upon a man to officiate as an assistant to him, he\ndoes not call upon him as a Seventy or as a High Priest, but as one of\nhis own family--as a member of his Ward. 9:93.\n\nInstead of my believing for a moment that Paul wished to signify to\nTimothy that he must select a man to fill the office of a Bishop that\nwould have but one wife, I believe directly the reverse; but his advice\nto Timothy amounts simply to this--it would not be wise for you to\nordain a man to the office of a Bishop unless he has a wife; you {224}\nmust not ordain a single or unmarried man to that calling. 2:88.\n\nThe Bishops should be a perfect example to their Wards in all things.\n16:44.\n\nLet each Bishop attend faithfully to his Ward, and see that every man\nand woman is well and faithfully and profitably employed; that the\nsick and aged are properly cared for that none suffer. Let each Bishop\nbe a tender and indulgent father to his Ward, administering a word of\ncomfort and encouragement here, a word of advice and counsel there,\nand a word of chastisement in another place, where needed, without\npartiality, wisely judging between man and man, caring for and seeking\nearnestly the welfare of all, watching over the flock of God with the\neye of a true shepherd, that wolves and dogs may not enter-among the\nflock to rend them. 11:252.\n\nThe Bishops should, through their teachers, see that every family in\ntheir Wards, who is able, should donate what they would naturally\nconsume on the fast day to the poor. 12:116.\n\nIf a Bishop will act to the extent of his calling and office, and\nmagnify it, there will not be an individual in his Ward that is not\nemployed to the best advantage. He would see that all lived as they\nshould, walking humbly with their God. There would not be a person in\nhis Ward that he does not know, and he would be acquainted with their\ncircumstances, conduct, and feeling. 8:146.\n\nThe Bishops should set those whom they have confidence in, those whom\nthey know to be honest, to be watchmen on the tower, and let them find\nout who are suffering. 3:245.\n\nThere are many of the Bishops here today, and my advice {225} to them\nis for them to be honest with me, to be honest with their God, to\nkeep their covenants sacred, and to make a clean breast of all their\nbusiness transactions that their consciences may be void of offense\ntowards God and man. 8:316.\n\nWhen your Bishop calls upon you, or advises you to do anything that\nwill be for your good, do not call that oppression. All the instruction\nhe gives will be calculated to do you good, to raise you in that scale\nof intelligence that will make of you wise men and wise women. When we\nare recommended to do that which will lead to good, that cannot very\nwell be construed into oppression. 10:313.\n\nIf the people of a Ward are living in the faithful performance of their\nseveral duties, their faith and their prayers will be concentrated\nbefore the Lord, in the name of Jesus, for and in behalf of their\nBishop, that he may know his business and be made fully capable to\nfulfil the duties of his calling to the honor of God and the salvation\nof the people. 11:135.\n\nYou have often heard me and my brethren say that if the people in the\ncapacity of a Ward, for instance, would let their faith be perfectly\nunited, and their whole desires rise to the Father, through the name\nof Jesus Christ, and hold their Bishop in his calling between God and\nthem, it would hardly be possible for that Bishop to do wrong, for he\nwould be filled with wisdom. 6:98-99.\n\nDo our Bishops labor for pay? No, if they are not capable of getting\na living and sustaining themselves and families, and of filling the\noffice of Bishop without pay, they are hardly worthy of the Bishopric.\nIf a High Priest is called to be a president or to travel and preach\nthe Gospel to the nations of the earth, he must do it without pay; and\n{226} we think that any man who is not able to keep himself and family\nand travel and preach one-half or two-thirds of his time without being\npaid, is not so good a financier as he ought to be. 14:108.\n\nI say to the Bishop who has just addressed us, won't you do as I have\nformerly directed you, and appoint good, wise, judicious men to go\nthrough your Ward, to find out what is in that Ward, and the situation\nof every family, whether they have money, flour, or costly clothing\nor whether they are destitute and suffering? This is your business\nand calling. Do not let there be one place, in the habitations of the\nSaints in your Wards, about which you are uninformed. Brother Woolley\nhas reported the circumstance of a Bishop finding a woman who had been\nliving upon the charity of her neighbors, and who, at the same time,\nhad valuable property, and money hid up. I can refer you to scores of\nlike circumstances, and what is more, to some of the Elders, those who\nare supposed to be among the best of our Elders. 3:244.\n\nBishops' Counselors should be examples to the Church; they should be\nlike fathers to the Church. If they are really the Counselors of the\nBishop, they should practice everything that is good that he practices;\nand if the Bishop himself should neglect any duty, they should perform\ntheir duty as counselors, and should teach, guide, direct, and counsel\nthe Bishop to improve in his life. 13:275.\n\nThe Wards will be organized hereafter; Bishops will be placed over\nthem, with their two Counselors, all of whom will be ordained High\nPriests, if not already so ordained, and then be set apart to act in\ntheir several offices. They then will form a court; and all the other\nquorums of Priesthood will be set in order. 19:43. {227}\n\n_Church Organization and Government_--The living oracles of the\nLord, * * * are always in the midst of his people. 10:302.\n\nTeach the people true knowledge, and they will govern themselves.\n10:190.\n\nThe government of this Church is based upon true principles,\nand the reason people fall out by the way is because of their\nignorance--because they do not thoroughly canvass their acts, and\nwisely ponder the probable results. 7:65.\n\nWe shall never have the keys of authority committed to us to be rulers\nuntil we will rule just as God would rule if he were here himself.\n14:97.\n\nBut the Kingdom of heaven, when organized upon the earth, will have\nevery officer, law and ordinance necessary for the managing of those\nwho are unruly, or who transgress its laws, and to govern those who\ndesire to do right, but cannot quite walk to the line; and all these\npowers and authorities are in existence in the midst of this people.\n15:161.\n\nI am for the Kingdom of God. I like a good government, and then I like\nto have it wisely and justly administered. The government of heaven, if\nwickedly administered, would become one of the worst governments upon\nthe face of the earth. No matter how good a government is, unless it is\nadministered by righteous men, an evil government will be made of it.\n10:177.\n\n\"But we thought that the government you are talking about was a\ntheocratic government.\" It is; and it is the only true form of\ngovernment on the earth--the only one that possesses all the true\nprinciples of republicanism. It puts every man and woman right, puts\neverything in its place, and gives to each one his due according to his\nwork; for so will they be judged in that day. 7:8. {228}\n\nPeople have reason to fear the bogus or spurious theocracy. There\nare but few upon the earth who do not in their hearts acknowledge a\nSupreme Being, and also believe that Being to be holy; and, if they\ncould be dictated by that Being, and be sure that they were dictated\nby the influence from him, there are but few who would object to that\ninfluence, and that government. 7:147.\n\nI wish you to build up every man who is in the faith of the Gospel--who\nis in the faith of God, angels, and good men; and if you strive to pull\ndown good men who are around you, you are sure to fall yourselves. 8:71.\n\nThere is only one way to obtain power and influence in the Kingdom of\nGod, and only one way to obtain foreknowledge, and that is to live so\nthat that influence will come from our Creator, enlightening the mind\nand revealing things that are past, present and future pertaining to\nthe earth and its inhabitants, and to the dealings of God with the\nchildren of men; in short, there is no source of true information\noutside of the Spirit of Revelation; it maketh manifest all things,\nand revealeth the dispositions of communities and of individuals. By\npossessing this Spirit, mankind can obtain power that is durable,\nbeneficial, and that will result in a higher state of knowledge, of\nhonor and of glory. This can be obtained only by strictly marking the\npath of truth, and walking faithfully therein. 10:104.\n\nIt is the right and privilege of every Elder in Israel to enjoy the\nHoly Ghost, and the light of it, to know everything which concerns\nhimself and his individual duties, but it is not his right and\nprivilege to dictate his superior in office, nor to give him counsel,\nunless he is called upon to do so, then he may make suggestions. 11:135.\n\nNow ask yourselves, and let me ask you, who has been {229} to you,\nindividually, and told you to vote just as you have voted here today?\nHas any man visited your habitations to tell you that when you come to\nthis house you must all vote precisely alike? I will pause right here\nand will request that, if any person present has been so instructed, he\nor she will let us know it. I do not see any person rise, and I need\nnot look for any one to do so, from the simple fact that not a word on\nthis subject has been said to the Latter-day Saints. Our doctrine is\ntrue and we like it; our faith is one and we are one in it, our object\nis one and we unitedly pursue the straight and narrow path that leads\nto it. 14:91.\n\nIf the time was that the Elders of Israel could not be chastened and\ncorrected for their wrongs, and be set right, you may know that they\nhave proved recreant to the faith. And if those who are appointed to\nlead this people dare not rise up and tell them of their iniquity and\nchastise them therefor, and teach them the way of life and salvation,\nyou may know that your leaders have fallen from their station. 5:124.\n\nWe will first present the Authorities of the Church; and I sincerely\nrequest the members to act freely and independently in voting--also\nin speaking if it be necessary. There has been no instance in this\nChurch of a person's being in the least curtailed in the privilege\nof speaking his honest sentiments. It cannot be shown in the history\nof this people that a man has ever been injured, either in person,\nproperty, or character, for openly expressing, in the proper time and\nplace, his objections to any man holding authority in this Church, or\nfor assigning his reasons for such objections. Persons have frequently\nruined their own characters by making false accusations. 7:227-228.\n{230}\n\nOur ecclesiastical government is the government of heaven.\n\nNo being possesses intelligence, in any degree, that he has not\nreceived from the God of heaven, or, in other words, from the Fountain\nof all intelligence, whether he acknowledges his God in it or not. No\nman, independent of the Great Ruler of the universe, is capable of\ndevising that which we see and are well acquainted with. All mechanism,\ngood government, wholesome principle, and true philosophy of whatever\nname or nature, flows from God to finite man. What for? To determine\nwhat he will do with it. It is for his improvement and advancement in\nthe arts of civilized life, morality, and true religion. This has been\ntaught you from the beginning as the unmistakable features of our holy\nreligion. 7:141.\n\nLet the Presidents and Apostles and Elders do the work the Lord has set\nthem to do, and obey the counsel which is given them, and the Kingdom\nwill continue to roll, to increase in strength, in importance, in\nmagnitude and in power, in wisdom, intelligence and glory; and no one\nneed be concerned, for it is the Kingdom which the Lord our God has\nestablished, and has sustained by his matchless wisdom and power from\nthe beginning to this day. 11:253.\n\nIt is a common adage, \"Old men for counsel, and young men for war.\"\nUntil men born in the Priesthood grow old therein in faithfulness, I\nwould say, with comparatively few exceptions, \"Young men for counsel,\nand young men for war.\" For knowledge and understanding, I would\nrather, as a general thing, select young men from eighteen years of\nage--the sons of men who have been in this Church from the beginning,\nthan to select their fathers. Their minds have {231} been but little,\nif any, trammeled with erroneous traditions and teachings. Let the yoke\nof the Gospel be put upon those young men Brother Joseph referred to in\nhis remarks, who have been sowing their wild oats for years, and they\nare generally better and more correct in the offices of the Priesthood\nthan many of the gray-haired fathers. They understand more about God,\nabout Jesus Christ, and the government of God on the earth, than do\nmany of the fathers and grand-fathers. 7:335.\n\nIt is true that under some circumstances we may have to look at the\nothers. For instance, here is the High Council, they are called to\nact upon cases that come before them. Of course their duty, then, is\nto examine into the conduct of their brethren and sisters; and this\nis required of them. And if they do it without prejudice, without\nselfishness, by the power of the Holy Ghost, divested of every\nimproper feeling, judging righteous judgment between man and man, the\nperformance of this duty will purify them just as much any other labor.\n11:292.\n\nIt may be considered that we are a mixed congregation, consisting of\nBishops, Seventies, High Priests, Elders, the Twelve, and the First\nPresidency; but I consider we are, strictly speaking, a meeting of the\nElders of Israel; for if we were to be instructed in the duties of any\none of these Quorums, that instruction would be equally good for all.\n6:314.\n\nHigh Councilors, do you have any trials before you? \"Yes.\" Have the\nbrethren complained of each other? \"Yes.\" Are their feelings alienated\none from the other? Is there a party spirit manifested in the Council?\n\"Sometimes.\" Do the brethren go off satisfied with the decisions of the\nCouncil? Bishops, do you have any trials? Are the feelings of {232} the\nbrethren in your Wards alienated? \"Yes.\" What should they do in such\ncases? They should follow the rules laid down, and be reconciled to\ntheir brethren forthwith. I think that it can be shown that the great\nmajority of difficulties between brethren arises from misunderstandings\nrather than from malice and a wicked heart, and instead of talking the\nmatter over with each other in a saint-like spirit, they will contend\nwith each other until a real fault is created, and they have brought a\nsin upon themselves. When we have done good ninety-nine times and then\ndo an evil, how common it is, my brethren and sisters, to look at that\none evil all the day long and never think of the good. Before we judge\neach other we should look at the design of the heart, and if it is\nevil, then chasten that individual, and take a course to bring him back\nagain to righteousness. 12:173.\n\nWhen you are rebuked by each other--when brethren meet you and say,\n\"This is wrong in you,\" you should receive it kindly, and express your\nthanks for the reproof, and acknowledge the wrong frankly, and admit\nthat you may frequently do wrong when you do not know it, and say, \"I\nwish you to enlighten my mind, to take me by the hand, and let me go\nalong hand-in-hand and strengthen and sustain each other.\" What, in\nyour weaknesses? Yes. Do you expect to see a perfect man? Not while you\nstay here. 8:367.\n\nYou may, figuratively speaking, pound one Elder over the head with a\nclub, and he does not know but what you have handed him a straw dipped\nin molasses to suck. There are others, if you speak a word to them, or\ntake a straw and chasten them, whose hearts are broken; they are as\ntender in their feelings as an infant, and will melt like wax {233}\nbefore the flame. You must not chasten them severely; you must chasten\naccording to the spirit that is in the person. Some you may talk to all\nday long, and they do not know what you are talking about. There is a\ngreat variety. Treat people as they are. 8:367.\n\nJust a few words to the Presidency of this Stake of Zion. It is now\ntheir duty to see that the officers within their jurisdiction perform\ntheir several duties, it is sufficient work for them, too, if they will\nattend to it. The High Council, I hope, will not have much business to\ndo. I am told that there have only been three cases during the last\ntwenty-three years, that have gone for trial before the High Council\nfrom Farmington. That is doing very well. To the now acting Bishops,\nwho will be ordained Bishops, as well as to Brother Hess, who I believe\nis the only ordained Bishop in the county, I will say that you will\nnow be required to look after your several Wards more assiduously than\nheretofore; see that Teachers are diligent in the performance of their\nduties, and that all difficulties that may arise among the brethren of\nthe Ward be settled, if possible, by the Teachers; and also see that\nall who claim membership in this Church observe the moral law of our\nreligion. We shall not expect to hear of people breaking the Sabbath,\nand a hundred other things all of which are inconsistent with our\nholy callings, and opposed to the accomplishment of the work that the\nFather has given us to do. You are called upon now to make yourselves\nfamiliar with the revelations and commandments that have been given us\nof the Lord for our perfection, for our sanctification preparatory to\nour exaltation, and so live that our acts and conversations may conform\nto the same. You are called upon now to improve your ways, to seek\nwith all {234} earnestness for an increase of faith that you may live\naccording to the higher laws, which is your privilege to do, and which\nis so necessary for our peace and comfort and for the good order of\nsociety and for the salvation of the Latter-day Saints. 19:43. {235}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\n_FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPEL_\n\n_Importance of the Principles of the Gospel_--By faithfully\nattending to the first principles of the Gospel laid down in the New\nTestament, you are introduced into the knowledge of the works of God in\nthe dispensation of the fulness of time. 1:244.\n\nTo understand the first principles of the Gospel--to rightly understand\nthem, a man must have the wisdom that comes from above; he must be\nenlightened by the Holy Ghost; his mind must be in open vision; he must\nenjoy the blessings of salvation himself, in order to impart them to\nothers. 6:283.\n\n_Need of Ordinances_--There is no ordinance that God has delivered\nby his own voice, through his Son Jesus Christ, or by the mouths of\nany of his Prophets, Apostles or Evangelists, that is useless. Every\nordinance, every commandment and requirement is necessary for the\nsalvation of the human family. 13:215.\n\nWith regard to the ordinances of God, we may remark that we yield\nobedience to them because he requires it; and every iota of his\nrequirements has a rational philosophy with it. We do not get up things\non a hypothesis. That philosophy reaches to all eternity, and is the\nphilosophy that the Latter-day Saints believe in. Every particle of\ntruth that every person has received is a gift of God. We receive these\ntruths, and go on from glory to glory, from eternal lives to eternal\nlives, gaining a knowledge of all things, and becoming Gods, even Sons\nof God. These are the celestial ones. These are they whom the Lord has\n{236} chosen through their obedience. They have not spurned the truth,\nwhen they have heard it. These are they that have not spurned the\nGospel, but have acknowledged Jesus and God, in their true character;\nthat have acknowledged the angels in their true character. These are\nthey that work for the salvation of the human family. 19:50.\n\nBecause we believe in the ordinance of baptism, the ordinance of the\nsacrament is not to be done away. To learn that, if you believe in the\nlaying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, you are not to\ndeny the laying on of hands for the healing of the sick. It is not for\npeople to take only part of the religion of Christ, and say, \"It is all\nwe require;\" but take the whole truth wherever you find it. It is good;\nclaim it, take it to yourself, and cleave to it, for it will do you\ngood. Cease to separate truth from truth. 8:260.\n\nHowever much we may profess attachment to God and his cause we are not\nentitled to the blessings and privileges of his Kingdom until we become\ncitizens therein. How can we do this? By repenting of our sins, and\nobeying the requirements of the Gospel of the Son of God which has been\ndelivered to us. Hundreds and thousands of people have believed on the\nLord Jesus Christ and repented of their sins, and have had the Holy\nSpirit to witness unto them that God is love, that they loved him and\nthat he loved them, and yet they are not in his Kingdom. They have not\ncomplied with the necessary requirements, they have not entered in at\nthe door. 13:57.\n\n_Faith_--The Gospel that we preach is the power of God unto\nsalvation; and the first principle of that Gospel is, as I have already\nsaid, faith in God, and faith in Jesus Christ his Son, our Savior. We\nmust believe that he is the character {237} he is represented to be in\nthe Holy Scriptures. Believe that he told the truth when he said to his\ndisciples, \"Go ye forth and preach the Gospel to every creature; he\nthat believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth\nnot shall be damned.\" We must believe that this same Jesus was\ncrucified for the sins of the world, that is for the original sin, not\nthe actual individual transgressions of the people; not but that the\nblood of Christ will cleanse from all sin, all who are disposed to act\ntheir part by repentance, and faith in his name. But the original sin\nwas atoned for by the death of Christ, although its effects we still\nsee in the diseases, distempers and every species of wickedness with\nwhich the human family is afflicted. 13:143.\n\nFaith is an eternal principle; belief is an admission of the fact.\nFaith, to us, is the gift of God; belief is inherent in the children\nof men, and is the foundation for the reception of faith. Belief and\nunbelief are independent in men, the same as other attributes. Men can\nacknowledge or reject, turn to the right or to the left, rise up or\nremain seated, you can say that the Lord and his Gospel are not worthy\nof notice, or you can bow to them. 8:16.\n\nBelief is inherent in the creature--implanted within him for his use\nand benefit--to believe or disbelieve. Your own experience may satisfy\nyou that faith is not brought into requisition by the presentation of\neither facts or falsehoods, to the external senses, or to the inward\nperceptions of the mind. If we speak of faith in the abstract, it is\nthe power of God by which the worlds are and were made, and is a gift\nof God to those who believe and obey his commandments. On the other\nhand, no living, intelligent being, whether serving God or not, acts\nwithout belief. He might as well undertake to live without breathing as\nto live without the {238} principle of belief. But he must believe the\ntruth, obey the truth, and practice the truth, to obtain the power of\nGod called faith. 8:259-260.\n\nWhen men are in the habit of philosophising upon every point, only\nrelying upon what we call human reason, they are constantly liable to\nerror. But place a man in a situation where he is obliged or compelled,\nin order to sustain himself, to have faith in the name of Jesus Christ,\nand it brings him to a point where he will know for himself; and happy\nare those who pass through trials, if they maintain their integrity and\ntheir faith to their calling. 7:158.\n\nWhen you believe the principles of the Gospel and attain unto faith,\nwhich is a gift of God, he adds more faith, adding faith to faith.\nHe bestows faith upon his creatures as a gift; but his creatures\ninherently possess the privilege of believing the Gospel to be true or\nfalse. 8:17.\n\nIf the people will only be full of good works, I will insure that they\nwill have faith in time of need. 3:154.\n\nThere is no saving faith merely upon the principles of believing or\nacknowledging a fact. Take a course to let the Spirit of God leave your\nhearts, and every soul of you would apostatize. 7:55.\n\nIt is the easiest thing in the world to believe the truth. It is a\ngreat deal easier to believe truth than error. It is easier to defend\nthe truth than to defend error. 19:42.\n\nWe are under obligation to trust in our God; and this is the\nground-work of all we can do ourselves. 4:356.\n\nThe first principle of the Gospel is faith in God--faith in a Supreme\nBeing. This is a point that meets the infidel, and is one upon which\nI have reflected and talked a great deal, and I have come to this\nconclusion--that good, solid, sound sense teaches me never to judge\na matter until I {239} understand it, and infidels should never pass\ntheir opinion with regard to the character of a Supreme Being until\nthey know whether there is one or not. If this principle were an\narticle in the creed of the infidel world, I think they would not be\nquite so sceptical as they are; I think we should not meet with any\nperson who would deny the existence of a Deity. The infidel looks\nabroad and sees the works of nature, in all their diversity--the\nmountain piercing the clouds with its snowy peaks, the mighty river,\nfertilizing, in its course to the sea, the valleys and plains in every\ndirection, the sun in his glory at mid-day, the moon in her silvery\nsplendor, and the myriad organizations from man to the minutest form\nof insect life, all giving the most irrefutable evidence of a Designer\nand Creator of infinite wisdom, skill and power, and yet he says there\nis no Deity, no Supreme Ruler, but all is the result of blind chance.\nHow preposterous! Now, here is a book called the Bible. It is enclosed\nin what we call the cover, consisting of boards, paper and leather.\nWithin the covers we see a vast amount of writing--syllables, words and\nsentences; now if we say there never was a person to compose, write,\nprint or bind this book, but that it is here wholly as the result of\nchance, we shall only give expression to the faith, if faith it can be\ncalled, of those who are termed infidels; in fact this is infidelity. I\ndo not want to say much about it, it is too vain! 13:142.\n\nWhen you read the revelations, or when you hear the will of the Lord\nconcerning you, for your own sakes never receive that with a doubtful\nheart. 3:336.\n\nTo explain how much confidence we should have in God, were I using a\nterm to suit myself, I should say _implicit_ confidence. I have faith\nin my God, and that faith corresponds {240} with the works I produce. I\nhave no confidence in faith without works. 4:24.\n\nMy faith is, when we have done all we can, then the Lord is under\nobligation, and will not disappoint the faithful; he will perform the\nrest. 4:91.\n\nA great many good people, who possess much of the Spirit of the Lord,\nare naturally given to doubting, having so little self-reliance that\nthey sometimes doubt whether they are Saints in truth or not. These\noften doubt when they should not. So long as they are walking humbly\nbefore God, keeping his commandments, and observing his ordinances,\nfeeling willing to give all for Christ, and do everything that will\npromote his Kingdom, they need never doubt, for the Spirit will testify\nto them whether they are of God or not. There are some who are always\nfearful, trembling, doubting, wavering, and at the same time doing\neverything they can for the promotion of righteousness. Yet, they are\nin doubt whether they are doing the best possible good, and they fear\nand fail here and there, and will doubt their own experience and the\nwitness of the Spirit to them. 12:169.\n\nWhen a person is placed in circumstances that he cannot possibly\nobtain one particle of anything to sustain life, it would then be his\nprivilege to exercise faith in God to feed him, who might cause a raven\nto pick up a piece of dried meat from some quarter where there was\nplenty, and drop it over the famishing man. When I cannot feed myself\nthrough the means God has placed in my power, it is then time enough\nfor him to exercise his providence in an unusual manner to administer\nto my wants. But while we can help ourselves, it is our duty to do so.\nIf a Saint of God be locked up in prison, by his enemies, to starve to\n{241} death, it is then time enough for God to interpose, and feed him.\n1:108.\n\nAre you full of faith? You can tell whether I am or not by looking at\nme. You can tell whether the brethren who have been speaking to you are\nfull of faith in the Gospel by the look of their countenances. You can\nsee this if there is not a word spoken; we can tell by our feelings\nwhen we look at a congregation whether they have faith or not. I see\nthere is a great amount of faith in the midst of the Latter-day Saints,\nand I wish there was a little more patience and obedience. 15:37.\n\nIf the Latter-day Saints will walk up to their privileges, and exercise\nfaith in the name of Jesus Christ, and live in the enjoyment of the\nfulness of the Holy Ghost constantly day by day, there is nothing on\nthe face of the earth that they could ask for, that would not be given\nto them. The Lord is waiting to be very gracious unto this people, and\nto pour out upon them riches, honor, glory and power, even that they\nmay possess all things according to the promises he has made through\nhis Apostles and Prophets. 11:114.\n\nWhen faith springs up in the heart, good works will follow, and good\nworks will increase that pure faith within them. 3:155.\n\nThe expression, \"true believer,\" needs qualifying, for many believe who\ndo not obey--I will qualify it by saying, a believer in Jesus Christ,\nwho manifests his faith to God, angels, and his brethren, by his\nobedience. Not but that there are believers who do not obey, but the\nonly true believers are they who prove their belief by their obedience\nto the requirements of the Gospel. 1:234.\n\nOur Heavenly Father does not always reveal to his children the secret\nworkings of his providences, nor does he {242} show them the end from\nthe beginning; for they have to learn to trust in him who has promised\nto fight our battles, and crown us with victory, if we are faithful as\nwas faithful Abraham. 11:13.\n\n_Repentance_--Sin consists in doing wrong when we know and can do\nbetter, and it will be punished with a just retribution, in the due\ntime of the Lord. 2:133.\n\nThough we may do the best we know how at this time, can there be no\nimprovement made in our lives? There can. If we do wrong ignorantly,\nwhen we learn it is wrong, then it is our duty to refrain from that\nwrong immediately and for ever, and the sin of ignorance is winked at,\nand passes into oblivion. 2:130.\n\nWhen men truly and heartily repent, and make manifest to the heavens\nthat their repentance is genuine by obedience to the requirements made\nknown to them through the laws of the Gospel, then are they entitled\nto the administration of salvation, and no power can withhold the good\nspirit from them. 10:18.\n\nNow, my brethren, you who have sinned, repent of your sins. I can say\nto you in regard to Jesus and the atonement (it is so written, and I\nfirmly believe it), that Christ has died for all. He has paid the full\ndebt, whether you receive the gift or not. But if we continue to sin,\nto lie, steal, bear false witness, we must repent of and forsake that\nsin to have the full efficacy of the blood of Christ. Without this it\nwill be of no effect; repentance must come, in order that the atonement\nmay prove a benefit to us. Let all who are doing wrong cease doing\nwrong; live no longer in transgression, no matter of what kind; but\nlive every day of your lives according to the revelations given, and so\nthat your examples may be worthy of imitation. Let us remember {243}\nthat we never get beyond the purview of our religion--never, never!\n11:375.\n\nSome of our old traditions teach us that a man guilty of atrocious\nand murderous acts may savingly repent when on the scaffold; and upon\nhis execution will hear the expression, \"Bless God! he has gone to\nheaven, to be crowned in glory, through the all-redeeming merits of\nChrist the Lord.\" This is all nonsense. Such a character never will see\nheaven. Some will pray, \"O that I had passed through the veil on the\nnight of my conversion!\" This proves the false ideas and vain notions\nentertained by the Christian world. 8:61.\n\nWhen I first came into the Church it was a subject of considerable\nthought to me why people whom I knew to be as good and moral as they\ncould be, should have to repent. But I could see afterwards that if\nthey had nothing else to repent of they could and ought to repent of\ntheir false religions, of their narrow, contracted creeds in which\nthey were bound, of the ordinances of men, and get something better.\nThese narrow, contracted religions have spread infidelity in the world.\nThey should repent of these and take hold of the things of God and\nreceive the truths of heaven. \"Well,\" say the ministers, \"we have lived\naccording to the light we have received.\" We say, are you willing to\nreceive more? If so, here is more for you. So far as your faith in\nChrist goes, and your morality, we say, Amen. But here is something\nmore. 16:43.\n\nThe Savior has warned us to be careful how we judge, forgiving each\nother seven times seventy in a day, if we repent, and confess our sins\none to another. Can we be more merciful and forgiving than our Father\nin Heaven? We cannot. Therefore let people do the best they can, and\n{244} they will pave the way for the rising generation to walk up into\nthe light, wisdom, and knowledge of the angels, and of the redeemed\nfrom this earth, to say nothing of other earths, and they will be\nprepared to enjoy in the resurrection all the blessings which are for\nthe faithful, and enjoy them in the flesh. 2:132.\n\nWe should never cease reforming and seeking to the Lord our God. 4:269.\n\nAll I have ever asked for or contended for is a reformation in the life\nof this people; that the thief should stop his stealing, the swearer\nhis swearing, the liar his lying, the deceiver his deceiving, and\nthe man who loves the world more than his God and his religion wean\nhis affections from those objects and place them where they of right\nbelong. I do not wish anybody to cherish a wild enthusiasm, so common\nin the world, which is produced by the excitement of animal passions,\nand makes people weep and cry out in an insane manner. I wish the\npeople to make themselves acquainted with facts pertaining to God, to\nheaven, to mankind upon the earth, their errand here, for what they are\ncreated, the nature of their organization, who has power over them,\nwho controls them, how much they can control themselves, etc., etc.;\nand then let us see whether we can be men and conduct ourselves like\nSaints, or live and act like the wicked. 9:103.\n\nKeep your follies that do not concern others to yourselves, and keep\nyour private wickedness as still as possible; hide it from the eyes\nof the public gaze as far as you can. I wish to say this upon this\nparticular point in regard to people's confessing. We wish to see\npeople honestly confess as they should and what they should. 8:362.\n{245}\n\nIf I have injured any person, I ought to confess to that person and\nmake right what I did wrong. 8:361.\n\nBut if you have stolen your neighbor's cattle, own it, and restore the\nproperty, with fourfold if it is requested. If you have taken your\nneighbor's spade, own it, and return it, with fourfold if he requires\nit. I believe in coming out and being plain and honest with that which\nshould be made public, and in keeping to yourselves that which should\nbe kept. If you have your weaknesses, keep them hid from your brethren\nas much as you can. You never hear me ask the people to tell their\nfollies. But when we ask the brethren, as we frequently do, to speak in\nsacrament meetings, we wish them, if they have injured their neighbors,\nto confess their wrongs; but do not tell about your nonsensical conduct\nthat nobody knows of but yourselves. Tell to the public that which\nbelongs to the public. If you have sinned against the people, confess\nto them. If you have sinned against a family or a neighborhood, go to\nthem and confess. If you have sinned against your Ward, confess to\nyour Ward. If you have sinned against one individual, take that person\nby yourselves and make your confession to him. And if you have sinned\nagainst your God, or against yourselves, confess to God, and keep the\nmatter to yourselves, for I do not want to know anything about it.\n8:362.\n\n_Baptism_--We, the Latter-day Saints, believe in being baptized\nby immersion for the remission of sins, according to the testimony of\nthe disciples of Jesus and the revelations of the Lord given in these\nlast days. Infants are pure, they have neither sorrow of heart, nor\nsins to repent of and forsake, and consequently are incapable of being\nbaptized for the remission of sin. If we have sinned, we must know good\nfrom evil; an infant does not know this, it cannot {246} know it; it\nhas not grown into the idea of contemplation of good and evil; it has\nnot the capacity to listen to the parent or teacher or to the priest\nwhen they tell what is right or wrong or what is injurious; and until\nthese things are understood a person cannot be held accountable and\nconsequently cannot be baptized for the remission of sin. 13:237.\n\nThe Lord has instituted laws and ordinances, and all have their\npeculiar design and meaning. And though we may not know the origin of\nthe necessity of being baptized for the remission of sins, it answers\nthat portion of the law we are now under to teach the people in their\nignorance that water is designed for purification, and to instruct them\nto be baptized therein for the remission of their sins. If the people\ncould fully understand this matter, they would perceive that it is\nperfectly reasonable and has been the law to all worlds. 7:162-163.\n\nWhat is required of us as soon as we come to the years of\naccountability? It is required of us, for it is an institution of\nheaven, the origin of which you and I cannot tell, for the simple\nreason that it has no beginning, it is from eternity to eternity--it\nis required of us to go down into the waters of baptism. Here is a\nfountain or element, typical of the purity of the eternities. Go down\ninto the waters, and there be baptized for the remission of sins, and\nthen have hands laid upon us to confirm us members of the Church of\nJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then receive the Spirit of Truth, or\nthe Holy Ghost. Then live according to every word that proceeds out of\nthe mouth of God, through those men whom he has appointed here upon the\nearth, until we are perfect. 19:48.\n\nIf you have been righteous from your birth up, and have never\ncommitted known sins and transgressions, be {247} baptized to fulfil\nall righteousness, as Jesus was. If you can say you have no sins to\nrepent of, forsake your false theories, and love and serve God with an\nundivided heart. 14:281.\n\nHas water, in itself, any virtue to wash away sin? Certainly not; but\nthe Lord said, \"If the sinner will repent of his sins, and go down into\nthe waters of baptism, and there be buried in the likeness of being put\ninto the earth and buried, and again be delivered from the water, in\nthe likeness of being born--if in the sincerity of his heart he will do\nthis, his sins shall be washed away.\" Will the water of itself wash them\naway? No; but keeping the commandments of God will cleanse away the\nstain of sin. 2:4.\n\nIn the beginning God cursed the earth; but did he curse all things\npertaining to it? No, he did not curse the water, but he blessed\nit. Pure water is cleansing--it serves to purify; and you are aware\nthat the ancient Saints were very tenacious with regard to their\npurification by water. From the beginning the Lord instituted water for\nthat purpose among others. I do not mean from the beginning of this\nearth alone; and although we have no immediate concern in inquiring\ninto the organization of other earths that do not come within reach\nof our investigation, yet I will say that water has been the means\nof purification in every world that has been organized out of the\nimmensity of matter. 7:162.\n\nAll Latter-day Saints enter the new and everlasting covenant when they\nenter this Church. They covenant to cease sustaining, upholding and\ncherishing the kingdom of the Devil and the kingdoms of this world.\nThey enter the new and everlasting covenant to sustain the Kingdom of\nGod and no other kingdom. They take a vow of the most {248} solemn\nkind, before the heavens and earth, and that, too, upon the validity\nof their own salvation, that they will sustain truth and righteousness\ninstead of wickedness and falsehood, and build up the Kingdom of God,\ninstead of the kingdoms of this world. 12:230.\n\nYou have not the power to baptize yourselves, neither have you power to\nresurrect yourselves; and you could not legally baptize a second person\nfor the remission of sins until some person first baptized you and\nordained you to this authority. 6:275.\n\n_Gift of the Holy Ghost_--In the New Testament and Book of Mormon,\nwe learn that when the Gospel is preached the people are taught to\nbelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins, be baptized\nfor the remission of sin, and receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on\nof hands; the Holy Ghost is then the special gift of the Father and is\nhis minister. He also gives intelligence by angels, as well as by the\ninspiration of the Holy Spirit, and by opening the minds of the Saints\nto behold in vision things as they are in eternity. When true doctrines\nare advanced, though they may be new to the hearers, yet the principles\ncontained therein are perfectly natural and easy to be understood, so\nmuch so that the hearers often imagine that they had always known them.\nThis arises from the influence of the Spirit of Truth upon the spirit\nof intelligence that is within each person. The influence that comes\nfrom heaven is all the time teaching the children of men. 9:254.\n\nWe believe we are entitled to the gift of the Holy Ghost in extent\naccording to the discretion and wisdom of God and our faithfulness;\nwhich gift brings all things to our remembrance, past, present, and\nto come, that are necessary for us to know, and as far as our minds\nare prepared {249} to receive the knowledge of God revealed by that\nall-wise Agent. The Holy Ghost is God's minister, and is delegated to\nvisit the sons and daughters of men. All intelligent beings pertaining\nto this earth are instructed from the same source. 9:254.\n\nThe Holy Ghost reveals unto you things past, present, and to come; it\nmakes your minds quick and vivid to understand the handiwork of the\nLord. Your joy is made full in beholding the footsteps of our Father\ngoing forth among the inhabitants of the earth; this is invisible to\nthe world, but it is made visible to the Saints, and they behold the\nLord in his providences, bringing forth the work of the last days. 4:22.\n\nMy knowledge is, if you will follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and\nhis Apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, every man and woman\nwill be put in possession of the Holy Ghost; every person will become a\nProphet, Seer, and Revelator, and an expounder of truth. They will know\nthings that are, that will be, and that have been. They will understand\nthings in heaven, things on the earth, and things under the earth,\nthings of time, and things of eternity, according to their several\ncallings and capacities. 1:243.\n\nThere is a variety of blessings; a different blessing being probably\ngiven to one, two, three or four of this congregation. Thus, one will\nhave faith to lay hands upon the sick and rebuke disease, and drive it\nfrom the person afflicted. Many may receive this blessing of faith, the\ngift of healing. Some may receive faith to the discerning of spirits;\nthey can discern the spirit of a person, whether it is good or evil.\nThey have such power that when a person enters this congregation they\ncan tell the spirit of such {250} person; then they have received the\ngift of discerning of spirits. Some may receive the gift of tongues,\nthat they will get up and speak in tongues, and speak in many other\nlanguages beside their mother tongue, the language that they were\nbrought up in, that they were first taught, and be able to proclaim the\nGospel of life and salvation that all men could understand it. These\nare the blessings; but others might receive the gift of prophecy, get\nup and prophesy what is to befall this nation, what will befall this\nor that individual, and what will befall the different nations of the\nearth, etc. 16:164.\n\nThe gifts of the Gospel are given to strengthen the faith of the\nbeliever. 10:324.\n\nSuppose you obey the ordinances of the Gospel, and do not speak in\ntongues today, never mind that. Suppose you do not have the spirit of\nprophecy, no matter. Suppose you do not receive any particular gift\nattended by the rushing of a mighty wind, as on the day of Pentecost,\nthere is no particular necessity that you should. On the day of\nPentecost there was special need for it, it was a peculiarly trying\ntime. Some special and powerful manifestation of the power of the\nAlmighty was necessary to open the eyes of the people and let them know\nthat Jesus has paid the debt, and that they had actually crucified him\nwho, by his death, had become the Savior of the world. It required this\nat that time to convince the people. 14:114.\n\nThe gift of seeing with the natural eyes is just as much a gift as the\ngift of tongues. The Lord gave that gift and we can do as we please\nwith regard to seeing; we can use the sight of the eye to the glory of\nGod, or to our own destruction. 3:364.\n\nThe gift of communicating one with another is the gift {251} of God,\njust as much so as the gift of prophecy, of discerning spirits, of\ntongues, of healing, or any other gift, though sight, taste, and\nspeech, are so generally bestowed that they are not considered in the\nsame miraculous light as are those gifts mentioned in the Gospel.\n\nWe can use these gifts and every other gift God has given us, to the\npraise and glory of God, to serve him, or we can use them to dishonor\nhim and his cause; we can use the gift of speech to blaspheme his name.\n3:364.\n\n_Healing the Sick_--We lay hands on the sick and wish them to be\nhealed, and pray the Lord to heal them, but we cannot always say that\nhe will. 4:284.\n\nI am here to testify to hundreds of instances, of men, women, and\nchildren being healed by the power of God, through the laying on of\nhands, and many I have seen raised from the gates of death, and brought\nback from the verge of eternity; and some whose spirits had actually\nleft their bodies, returned again. I testify that I have seen the sick\nhealed by the laying on of hands, according to the promise of the\nSavior. 1:240.\n\nWhen I lay hands on the sick, I expect the healing power and influence\nof God to pass through me to the patient, and the disease to give way.\nI do not say that I heal everybody I lay hands on; but many have been\nhealed under my administration. Jesus said, on one occasion, \"Who has\ntouched me?\" A woman had crept up behind him in the crowd, and touched\nthe hem of his garment, and he knew it, because virtue had gone from\nhim. Do you see the reason and propriety of laying hands on each other?\nWhen we are prepared, when we are holy vessels before the Lord, a\nstream of power from the Almighty can pass through the tabernacle of\nthe administrator to the system of the patient, {252} and the sick are\nmade whole; the headache, fever or other disease has to give way. My\nbrethren and sisters, there is virtue in us if we will do right; if we\nlive our religion we are the temples of God wherein he will dwell; if\nwe defile ourselves, these temples God will destroy. 14:72.\n\nInstead of calling for a doctor you should administer to them by the\nlaying on of hands and anointing with oil, and give them mild food, and\nherbs, and medicines that you understand; and if you want the mind and\nwill of God at such a time, get it, it is just as much your privilege\nas of any other member of the Church and Kingdom of God. It is your\nprivilege and duty to live so that you know when the word of the Lord\nis spoken to you and when the mind of the Lord is revealed to you. I\nsay it is your duty to live so as to know and understand all these\nthings. 18:71.\n\nMany people are unwilling to do one thing for themselves in case of\nsickness, but ask God to do it all. 4:25.\n\nI am sent for continually, though I only go occasionally, because it is\na privilege of every father, who is an Elder in Israel, to have faith\nto heal his family, just as much so as it is my privilege to have faith\nto heal my family; and if he does not do it he is not living up to his\nprivilege. It is just as reasonable for him to ask me to cut his wood\nand maintain his family, for if he had faith himself he would save me\nthe trouble of leaving other duties to attend to his request. 3:46.\n\nYou may go to some people here, and ask what ails them, and they\nanswer, \"I don't know, but we feel a dreadful distress in the stomach\nand in the back; we feel all out of order, and we wish you to lay\nhands on us.\" \"Have you used any remedies?\" No. \"We wish the Elders to\nlay hands upon us, and we have faith that we shall be healed.\" {253}\nThat is very inconsistent according to my faith. If we are sick, and\nask the Lord to heal us, and to do all for us that is necessary to be\ndone, according to my understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might\nas well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my\nplowing the ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me\nto apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and\nto ask my Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to sanctify\nthat application to the healing of my body; to another this may appear\ninconsistent.\n\nBut supposing we were traveling in the mountains, and all we had or\ncould get, in the shape of nourishment, was a little venison, and one\nor two were taken sick, without anything in the world in the shape of\nhealing medicine within our reach, what should we do? According to my\nfaith, ask the Lord Almighty to send an angel to heal the sick. This\nis our privilege, when so situated that we cannot get anything to help\nourselves. Then the Lord and his servants can do all. But it is my duty\nto do, when I have it in my power. 4:24. {254}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\n_THE SABBATH; MEETINGS; THE SACRAMENT_\n\n_How to Spend the Sabbath Day_--Spend the Sabbath day prudently,\nin the love and fear of God. 19:65.\n\nPersons professing to be Saints should assemble themselves together on\nthe Lord's day, except those who may be necessarily detained at home to\nkeep the house, take care of the children, or to perform some work of\nnecessity and mercy; the rest should assemble in the place appointed\nfor worship and the offering up of our sacraments. 10:284.\n\nYou take this book (the book of Doctrine and Covenants) and you will\nread here that the Saints are to meet together on the Sabbath day. It\nis what we call the first day of the week. No matter whether it is the\nJewish Sabbath or not. I do not think there is anybody who can bring\nfacts to prove which is the seventh day, or when Adam was put in the\ngarden, or the day about which the Lord spoke to Moses. This matter is\nnot very well known, so we call the day on which we rest and worship\nGod, the first day of the week. This people called Latter-day Saints,\nare required by the revelations that the Lord has given, to assemble\nthemselves together on this day. In this commandment we are required to\ncome together and repent of our sins and confess our sins and partake\nof the bread and of the wine, or water, in commemoration of the death\nand sufferings of our Lord and Savior. 16:168.\n\nInstead of suffering our labors to occupy the Sabbath--instead of\nplanning our business to infringe upon the first day of the week, we\nshould do as little as possible; if {255} it is necessary to cook food,\ndo so; but even if that could be dispensed with, it would be better. As\nto keeping the Sabbath according to the Mosaic law, indeed, I do not;\nfor it would be almost beyond my power. Still, under the new covenant,\nwe should remember to preserve holy one day in the week as a day of\nrest--as a memorial of the rest of the Lord and the rest of the Saints;\nalso for our temporal advantage, for it is instituted for the express\npurpose of benefiting man. It is written in this book (the Bible), that\nthe Sabbath was made for man. It is a blessing to him. As little labor\nas possible should be done upon that day; it should be set apart as a\nday of rest, to assemble together in the place appointed, according to\nthe revelation, confessing our sins, bringing our tithes and offerings,\nand presenting ourselves before the Lord, there to commemorate the\ndeath and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. 6:277-8.\n\nNow, remember, my brethren, those who go skating, buggy riding or\non excursions on the Sabbath day--and there is a great deal of this\npracticed--are weak in the faith. Gradually, little by little, little\nby little, the spirit of their religion leaks out of their hearts\nand their affections, and by and by they begin to see faults in\ntheir brethren, faults in the doctrines of the Church, faults in the\norganization, and at last they leave the Kingdom of God and go to\ndestruction. I really wish you would remember this, and tell it to your\nneighbors. 15:83.\n\nThe Lord has directed his people to rest one-seventh part of the time,\nand we take the first day of the week, and call it our Sabbath. This\nis according to the order of the Christians. We should observe this\nfor our own temporal good and spiritual welfare. When we see a farmer\nin such a hurry, that he has to attend to his harvest, and to haying,\n{256} fence-making, or to gathering his cattle on the Sabbath day,\nas far as I am concerned, I count him weak in the faith. He has lost\nthe spirit of his religion, more or less. Six days are enough for us\nto work, and if we wish to play, play within the six days; if we wish\nto go on excursions, take one of those six days, but on the seventh\nday, come to the place of worship, attend to the Sacrament, confess\nyour faults one to another and to our God, and pay attention to the\nordinances of the house of God. 15:81.\n\nI said yesterday to a Bishop who was mending a breach in the canal, and\nexpressed a wish to continue his labor on the following Sabbath, as\nhis wheat was burning up, let it burn, when the time comes that is set\napart for worship, go up and worship the Lord. 3:331.\n\nThe Lord has planted within us a divinity; and that divine immortal\nspirit requires to be fed. Will earthly food answer for that purpose?\nNo; it will only keep this body alive as long as the spirit stays with\nit, which gives us an opportunity of doing good. That divinity within\nus needs food from the Fountain from which it emanated. It is not of\nthe earth, earthy, but is from heaven. Principles of eternal life, of\nGod and godliness, will alone feed the immortal capacity of man and\ngive true satisfaction. 7:138.\n\nWe are under the necessity of assembling here from Sabbath to Sabbath,\nand in Ward meetings, and besides, have to call our solemn assemblies,\nto teach, talk, pray, sing, and exhort. What for? To keep us in\nremembrance of our God and our holy religion. Is this custom necessary?\nYes; because we are so liable to forget--so prone to wander, that we\nneed to have the Gospel sounded in our ears as much as once, twice, or\nthrice a week, or, behold, we will turn again to our idols. 6:195. {257}\n\nIf you can make as good a beginning as did an old lady, you will do\nwell. She went to a schoolhouse, and, on her return, called at a\nneighbor's who inquired where she had been. She replied, \"I have been\nto meeting.\" \"Has there been a meeting?\" \"Oh, yes, and a glorious one,\ntoo.\" \"Dear me, we did not hear of it. Were there many there?\" \"No,\nthere were not many.\" \"Who was there?\" \"Why, the Lord was there, and\nI was there, and had a blessed good meeting.\" If you cannot get any\nperson to meet with you, be sure and have the Lord meet with you, and\nyou will soon gain confidence in yourselves and have influence with\nyour brethren. 8:65.\n\n_Worship on Every Day_--Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,\nFriday, and Saturday must be spent to the glory of God, as much as\nSunday, or we shall come short of the object of our pursuit. 13:261.\n\nThe Lord knows the wants of his mortal children, and has appointed unto\nthem one-seventh part of the time for rest, though we cannot say, in\nevery sense of the word, that this is a day of rest to the Latter-day\nSaints or to the professing Christians, some of whom are in the habit\nof rising at sunrise to hold prayer-meetings; they then eat breakfast\nand hurry away to the morning service until noon; in the afternoon they\nagain have meetings, and class meetings, prayer meetings, confessing\nmeetings, etc., and so continue until nine in the evening. To such\npersons I cannot consider it really a day of rest. 10:187.\n\nComing to this Tabernacle to worship and do the will of God for one day\nin the week, and following our own inclinations and doing our own will\nat all other times, is a folly; it is useless, and a perfect burlesque\non the service of God. We should do the will of God, and spend all our\ntime {258} for the accomplishment of his purposes, whether we are in\nthis Tabernacle or elsewhere. 12:34.\n\nIf I had my own mind, I would devote the time for meetings like this\nwithin the measure of the six days, and on the seventh rest from all\nmy labors, for the express purpose of renewing the mental and physical\npowers of man. They require it, as the Lord well knew; hence he\nestablished a day of rest. The natural tendency of the physical powers\nof man is to decay; and to preserve them as long as possible, they need\nthis retirement from labor--this rest--this ease. 8:58.\n\n_Preaching and Listening in Meetings_--While we have the\nprivilege of speaking to each other, let us speak words of comfort\nand consolation. When you are influenced by the Spirit of holiness\nand purity, let your light shine; but if you are tried and tempted\nand buffeted by Satan, keep your thoughts to yourselves--keep your\nmouths closed; for speaking produces fruit, either of a good or evil\ncharacter. 7:268.\n\nAs we have met in the capacity of a General Conference, we shall expect\nto hear instructions from the Elders pertaining to the building up of\nthe Kingdom of God on earth. This is our calling, this is the labor\ndevolving upon us, and it should occupy our attention day by day from\nmorning until evening and from week to week; in fact, we have no other\ncalling or business. 13:260.\n\nToday we are able to meet together to speak to each other, to\nstrengthen and do each other good; and by forsaking our fields for a\nseason, to gather together to worship our God, I can assure you that\nour crops will be better than they would be if we were to spend all\nour time in our fields. We may water and plant and toil, but we should\nnever forget {259} that it is God who gives the increase; and by\nmeeting together, our health and spirits will be better, we will look\nbetter, and the things of this world will increase around us more, and\nwe will know better how to enjoy them. 11:116.\n\nI will take the liberty of suggesting to my brethren who address the\ncongregation that our sermons should be short, and if they are not\nfilled with life and spirit let them be shorter, for we have not time\nat this Conference to let all the Elders who speak preach a long\nsermon, but we have time to say a few words in bearing testimony, to\ngive a few words of counsel to encourage the Saints, to strengthen the\nweak, to endeavor to confirm those who are wavering, and so forward the\nKingdom of God. 12:27.\n\nBrethren and sisters, I will make one request of you. When you speak,\nspeak so that we can hear and understand you, whether it be much or\nlittle, good or bad. If you have nothing to say, take my counsel, and\nkeep your seat. If you have anything to say, say it; and when you get\nthrough, stop. Let your feelings be governed and controlled by the\nprinciples of eternal life, as should the children of God, delighting\nin truth and righteousness. 7:270.\n\nMany have a foreboding in their hearts; a fearfulness, a tremor comes\nover them, when they arise to address a congregation. They think that\nit will not do to tell the people just what they understand, but talk\nabout it and talk about it. In this way they darken counsel: Do not\ndarken counsel by your words. 4:368.\n\nWhen people assemble to worship they should leave their worldly cares\nwhere they belong, then their minds are in a proper condition to\nworship the Lord, to call upon him in the name of Jesus, and to get his\nHoly Spirit, that {260} they may hear and understand things as they are\nin eternity, and know how to comprehend the providences of our God.\nThis is the time for their minds to be open, to behold the invisible\nthings of God, that he reveals by his Spirit. 3:53.\n\nEvery person should be silent when we meet here to worship God.\nRemember and try to keep perfectly quiet, and do not whisper, talk, nor\nscrape your feet; and do not let your children cry if you can help it.\n14:44.\n\nMy greatest desire to my Father and God is that I may so speak that my\nremarks will be acceptable to him and beneficial to those who hear me.\n7:131.\n\nI am responsible for the doctrine I teach; but I am not responsible for\nthe obedience of the people to that doctrine. 13:1.\n\nThe same weakness is in me, that is common to the most of my brethren\nwho address you from this stand, that is, a degree of timidity, which\narises from a sense of the importance of the work in which we are\nengaged; but my resolution overbalances this. 1:334.\n\nI am extremely anxious so to convey my ideas to the people that they\nwill understand them as I do. Our language is deficient, and I do\nnot possess in this particular the natural endowment that some men\nenjoy. I am a man of few words, and unlearned in the learning of this\ngeneration. 9:287.\n\nI have never yet seen the time that I had wisdom, strength, and ability\nenough to preach a Gospel discourse--to commence it, and finish it,\nsetting before the people the plan of salvation sufficiently full, that\nthereby they might be saved. But it is only given in portions--a little\nhere, and a little there, by feeble man, 6:283. {261}\n\nWhen I have endeavored to address a congregation, I have almost always\nfelt a repugnance in my heart to the practice of premeditation, or of\npre-constructing a discourse to deliver to the people, but let me ask\nGod my Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, to give me his\nSpirit, and put into my heart the things he wishes me to speak whether\nthey be for better or worse. These have been my private feelings, as a\ngeneral thing. 1:264.\n\nI need the attention of the congregation and the faith of those who\nhave faith; I need the wisdom of God and his Spirit to be in my heart\nto enable me to speak to the edification of the people. Although I\nhave been a public speaker for thirty-seven years, it is seldom that I\nrise before a congregation without feeling a child-like timidity; if I\nlive to the age of Methuselah I do not know that I shall outgrow it.\nThere are reasons for this which I understand. When I look upon the\nfaces of intelligent beings I look upon the image of the God I serve.\nThere are none but what have a certain portion of divinity within them;\nand though we are clothed with bodies which are in the image of our\nGod, yet this mortality shrinks before that portion of divinity which\nwe inherit from our Father. This is the cause of my timidity, and of\nall others who feel this embarrassment when they address their fellow\nbeings. 13:139.\n\nIn addressing a congregation, though the speaker be unable to say more\nthan half a dozen sentences, and those awkwardly constructed, if his\nheart is pure before God, those few broken sentences are of more value\nthan the greatest eloquence without the Spirit of the Lord and of more\nreal worth in the sight of God, angels, and all good men. In praying,\nthough a person's words be few and awkwardly expressed, if the heart is\npure before God, that {262} prayer will avail more than the eloquence\nof a Cicero. What does the Lord, the Father of us all, care about our\nmode of expression? The simple, honest heart is of more avail with the\nLord than all the pomp, pride, splendor, and eloquence produced by men.\nWhen he looks upon a heart full of sincerity, integrity, and child-like\nsimplicity, he sees a principle that will endure forever--\"That is the\nspirit of my own kingdom--the spirit I have given to my children.\"\n8:283-4.\n\nI believe, according to my feelings, that if I had all the mastery of\nlanguage that has ever been obtained by the learned, my spirit would\ndelight more in childlike conversation, and that too, in a simple\nlanguage, than in the most learned literary style that is used. A\nplain, clear method of expressing ideas is the most pleasing to me.\n4:341.\n\nI believe it is our duty to imitate everything that is good, lovely,\ndignified and praiseworthy. We ought to imitate the best speakers,\nand study to convey our ideas to each other in the best and choicest\nlanguage, especially when we are dispensing the great truths of the\nGospel of peace to the people. I generally use the best language I can\ncommand. 11:255.\n\n_Testimony Meetings_--You know that the first Thursday in each\nmonth we hold as a fast day. How many here know the origin of this day?\nBefore tithing was paid, the poor were supported by donations. They\ncame to Joseph and wanted help, in Kirtland, and he said there should\nbe a fast day, which was decided upon. It was to be held once a month,\nas it is now,[A] and all that would have been eaten {263} that day,\nof flour, or meat, or butter, or fruit, or anything else, was to be\ncarried to the fast meeting and put into the hands of a person selected\nfor the purpose of taking care of it and distributing it among the\npoor. 12:115.\n\n[Footnote A: At present the first Sunday of the month is designated fast\nday.]\n\nDo not hesitate to tell your feelings. 4:368.\n\nIn our fast-day meetings, the Saints meet to express their feelings and\nto strengthen each other in their faith in the holy Gospel. 7:267.\n\nWe wish the Latter-day Saints to meet at their respective houses,\nerected for that purpose, on the day appointed for a fast, and take\nwith them of their substance to feed the poor and the hungry among us,\nand, if it is necessary, to clothe the naked. We expect to see the\nsisters there; for they are generally first and foremost in deeds of\ncharity and kindness. Let the hearts of the poor be made glad, and let\ntheir prayers and thanksgiving ascend unto God, and receive an answer\nof rich blessings upon our heads. 12:126.\n\nDo you not receive as much of the spirit of intelligence, of the spirit\nof knowledge, and the consoling influences of the Holy Ghost, to have\npeople rise and testify of the things of God which they do know, of\nthose things which they have experienced themselves? Does not that\nvividly bring to your minds the goodness of the Lord in revealing to\nyou the truths of the Gospel? Does not that strengthen your faith,\ngive you an increase of confidence and witness to you that you are a\nchild of God? Most assuredly it does. Therefore, when any testify of\nthe things of God, it strengthens their brethren, precisely as it did\nin days of old when they observed the counsel to, \"Speak often one to\nanother,\" \"strengthen the brethren,\" and so on. 4:367.\n\nIf any of you feel that there is no life in your meetings, as I\noccasionally hear some of the brethren say, then it becomes {264} your\nduty to go and instill life into that meeting, and do your part to\nproduce an increase of the Spirit and power of God in the meetings in\nyour locality. 10:309.\n\nI always feel to urge our youth to attend meetings when strangers\npreach, that they may be able to understand that which is not of God,\nand learn the difference between the doctrine taught by us and others.\n13:323.\n\nNow, then, if our brethren of the Presbyterians, Methodists or any\nothers visit here and want to preach to you, certainly let them preach,\nand have your children hear them. They will tell you to keep the\nSabbath and to love your father and mother; they will tell you to be\ntrue, honest, industrious, to be faithful to your studies, to read the\nBible and all good books, to study the sciences, etc., which is all\ngood, and as far as such teaching goes just as good as it can be. I\nsay, parents, do not be afraid of having your children learn everything\nthat is worth learning. And if any of our Christian brethren want to go\ninto our Sabbath schools to teach our children, let them do so. They\nwill not teach them anything immoral in the presence of those who are\nin charge of the schools. 14:196.\n\nWhether we are poor or rich, if we neglect our prayers and our\nsacrament meetings, we neglect the Spirit of the Lord, and a spirit of\ndarkness comes over us. 10:300.\n\nWhen a man opens or closes a meeting with prayer, every man, woman, and\nchild in the congregation who professes to be a Saint should have no\ndesire or words in their hearts and mouths but what are being offered\nby the man who is mouth for all the congregation. 6:42.\n\n_The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper_--The revelations of God to\nJoseph Smith instruct the Latter-day Saints to live their religion day\nby day, and to meet on the first day {265} of the week to break bread,\nconfess their faults one to another and pray with and for each other. I\nwould like this tradition fastened not only upon the people generally,\nbut particularly upon the Bishops and other leaders of this Church.\n9:369.\n\nI say to the brethren and sisters, in the name of the Lord, it is our\nduty and it is required of us, by our Father in Heaven, by the spirit\nof our religion, by our covenants with God and each other, that we\nobserve the ordinances of the house of God, and especially on the\nSabbath day, to attend to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Then\nattend the Ward meetings and the Quorum meetings. 15:82.\n\nIn the ordinance we here attend to in the afternoon, we show to the\nFather that we remember Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother; we testify to\nhim that we are willing to take upon us his name. When we are doing\nthis, I want the minds here as well as the bodies. I want the whole man\nhere when you come to meeting. 8:137.\n\nThis is a very solemn ordinance. The Christian world accepts it, in\npreference to any other, as one of the ordinances of the house of God.\nWith some, this ordinance is the first and the last; and with others\nthis ordinance is not thought to be of sufficient importance to be\nattended to. I wish to say to the Latter-day Saints, and also to those\nwho do not believe in the fulness of the Gospel, that this ordinance,\nwhich we are now attending to this afternoon, is, in reality, no more\nsacred than any other ordinance of the house of God in the eyes of him\nwho has instituted the same. The validity of one divine law is the same\nas the validity of another with our Father and God. 11:39-40.\n\nI would exhort my brethren and sisters to receive this ordinance\nevery Sabbath, when they meet together, as is {266} our practice; not\nfollowing the customs of others, for with some denominations this is\nadministered once a month, with others once in three months, with\nothers never, they not believing in outward ordinances. We are in the\nhabit of partaking of the contents of the cup each Sabbath when we meet\ntogether, and I do pray you, my brethren and sisters, to contemplate\nthis ordinance thoroughly, and seek unto the Lord with all your hearts\nthat you may obtain the promised blessings by obedience to it. Teach\nits observance to your children; impress upon them its necessity.\nIts observance is as necessary to our salvation as any other of the\nordinances and commandments that have been instituted in order that\nthe people may be sanctified, that Jesus may bless them and give unto\nthem his spirit, and guide and direct them that they may secure unto\nthemselves life eternal. Impress the sacredness of this important\nordinance upon the minds of your children. 19:91.\n\nWe do this in remembrance of the death of our Savior; it is required of\nhis disciples until he comes again, no matter how long that may be. No\nmatter how many generations come and go, believers in him are required\nto eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of his death and sufferings\nuntil he comes again. Why are they required to do this? To witness unto\nthe Father, to Jesus and to the angels that they are believers in and\ndesire to follow him in the regeneration, keep his commandments, build\nup his Kingdom, revere his name and serve him with an undivided heart,\nthat they may be worthy to eat and drink with him in his Father's\nKingdom. This is why the Latter-day Saints partake of the ordinance of\nthe Lord's Supper.\n\nI know that in the Christian world sermon after sermon is preached on\nthis subject; yet people there differ in their {267} belief concerning\nthese emblems. The Mother Church, of the Christian world, believes that\nthe bread becomes the actual flesh of Jesus, and that the wine becomes\nhis blood; this is preposterous to me. It is bread, and it is wine;\nbut both are blessed to the souls of those who partake thereof. But to\nbe followers of the Lord Jesus more is required than merely to partake\nof the bread and wine--the emblems of his death and suffering--it\nis necessary that strict obedience be rendered to his requirements.\n13:139-140.\n\nIn what consists the benefit we derive from this ordinance? It is in\nobeying the commands of the Lord. When we obey the commandments of our\nHeavenly Father, if we have a correct understanding of the ordinances\nof the house of God, we receive all the promises attached to the\nobedience rendered to his commandments. 2:3.\n\nIt is one of the greatest blessings we could enjoy, to come before the\nLord, and before the angels, and before each other, to witness that we\nremember that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us. This proves to the\nFather that we remember our covenants, that we love his Gospel, that we\nlove to keep his commandments, and to honor the name of the Lord Jesus\nupon the earth. 6:277.\n\nIn the days of ancient Israel, while in the land of Palestine, they\nwere not blessed so profusely as we are with the crystal streams from\nthe mountains. They were in the habit of drinking a great deal of wine,\nand among the few who have continued to inhabit that land, this habit,\nI believe, has been kept up to the present time. It is a wine country.\nBut the Lord has said to us it mattered not what we partake of when\nwe administer the cup to the people, inasmuch as we do it with an eye\nsingle to the glory of God; it is then acceptable to him. Consequently\nwe use water as {268} though it were wine; for we are commanded to\ndrink not of wine for this sacred purpose except it be made by our own\nhands. 19:92.\n\nIn some of our Wards and settlements the administering of the Sacrament\nhas been introduced in the Sunday schools. It is very pleasing and\ngratifying to the spirit that I possess, for the parents to see that\ntheir children attend Sunday school and receive the proper instruction\nwith regard to their faith. After the Sunday school is over, let the\nparents take the pains to bring their children to meeting. 19:92.\n\nI will now express a wish in relation to all who may rise here to ask\na blessing on the bread and water of the Sacrament, or to preach to\nsuch large congregations as assemble here. When the Elders rise here to\nspeak, I want them to raise their voices so that the people can hear\nthem, that the audience may be able to say \"Amen\" to all the good; and\nif there is evil, refuse it. When any one rises to preach, pray, sing,\nexhort, or bless the Sacramental emblems, let him do so with voice\nsufficient for all to hear. 8:183. {269}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\n_TITHING; THE UNITED ORDER_\n\n_The Law of Tithing_--One thing is required at the hands of this\npeople, and to understand which there is no necessity for receiving\na commandment every year, viz.: to pay their tithing. I do not\nsuppose for a moment, that there is a person in this Church, who is\nunacquainted with the duty of paying tithing, neither is it necessary\nto have revelation every year upon the subject. There is the Law--pay\none-tenth. 1:278.\n\nI like the term, because it is scriptural, and I would rather use it\nthan any other. The Lord instituted tithing; it was practiced in the\ndays of Abraham, and Enoch and Adam and his children did not forget\ntheir tithes and offerings. You can read for yourselves with regard to\nwhat the Lord requires. I want to say this much to those who profess to\nbe Latter-day Saints--if we neglect our tithes and offerings we will\nreceive the chastening hand of the Lord. We may just as well count on\nthis first as last. If we neglect to pay our tithes and offerings we\nwill neglect other things and this will grow upon us until the spirit\nof the Gospel is entirely gone from us, and we are in the dark, and\nknow not whither we are going. 15:163.\n\nIf the Lord requires one-tenth of my ability to be devoted to building\ntemples, meeting houses, school houses, to schooling our children,\ngathering the poor from the nations of the earth, bringing home the\naged, lame, halt and blind, and building houses for them to live in,\nthat they may be comfortable when they reach Zion, and to sustaining\nthe Priesthood, it is not my prerogative to question the {270}\nauthority of the Almighty in this, nor of his servants who have charge\nof it. If I am required to pay my tithing it is my duty to pay it. In\nthe days of Joseph, when my circumstances were very, very straitened,\nI never had $500, $100, one dollar, fifty cents or twenty-five cents,\nbut what, if it were wanted, it went as free as a cup of water from a\nwell--Joseph was welcome to it. Was I tried in this? Yes, for many and\nmany has been the time in my poverty, when if I had a dollar or fifty\ncents in my possession I have thought, \"I can buy a pint or a half pint\nof molasses for my children to sop their bread in,\" but it was called\nfor, and it went as free as the water of the river here would be to a\nthirsty person. And as for my time, from the day that I entered this\nChurch until now, I have paid no attention to any business except that\nof building up this Kingdom. The question may be asked, \"Do you not\nattend to your private affairs and business?\" Yes, when I can, but I\ndo not know that I have ever spent one minute in attending to business\nbelonging to Brigham Young, when the business of the Church and Kingdom\nof God on the earth required his attention. Yet I would not say that\nthis is any excuse for not strictly paying my tithing. I have paid a\ngreat deal of tithing, more perhaps than any other man, or any other\nten men who were ever in the Church, and yet my tithing is not paid.\nBut I pay tithing, and when the grain upon my farm is ripened, or the\ncattle upon it are matured, I say to my men, \"Be sure and pay the\ntithing on whatever we have raised.\" But in some instances I have found\nthat it was neglected. 16:111.\n\nIt is very true that the poor pay their tithing better than the rich\ndo. If the rich would pay their tithing we should have plenty. The\npoor are faithful and prompt in paying {271} their tithing, but the\nrich can hardly afford to pay theirs--they have too much. If he has\nonly ten dollars he can pay one; if he has only one dollar he can pay\nten cents; it does not hurt him at all. If he has a hundred dollars he\ncan possibly pay ten. If he has a thousand dollars he looks over it a\nlittle and says, \"I guess I will pay it; it ought to be paid anyhow;\"\nand he manages to pay his ten dollars or his hundred dollars. But\nsuppose a man is wealthy enough to pay ten thousand, he looks that\nover a good many times and says, \"I guess I will wait until I get a\nlittle more, and then I will pay a good deal.\" And they wait and wait,\nlike an old gentleman in the East; he waited and waited and waited to\npay his tithing until he went out of the world, and this is the way\nwith a great many. They wait and continue waiting, until, finally, the\ncharacter comes along who is called Death, and he slips up to them\nand takes away their breath, then they are gone and cannot pay their\ntithing, they are too late, and so it goes. 15:163-164.\n\nThe Saints abroad are required to pay their tithing. 8:182.\n\nWhen men are Saints, they will bring their thousands and lay them at\nthe feet of the Bishops, Apostles, and Prophets, saying, \"Here is my\nmoney; it is now where it should be.\" 6:175.\n\nWhen a man wishes to give anything, let him give the best he has got.\nThe Lord has given to me all I possess; I have nothing in reality, not\na single dime of it is mine. You may ask, \"Do you feel as you say?\"\nYes, I actually do. The coat I have on my back is not mine, and never\nwas; the Lord put it in my possession honorably, and I wear it; but if\nhe wishes for it, and all there is under it, he {272} is welcome to the\nwhole. I do not own a house, or a single farm of land, a horse, mule,\ncarriage, or wagon, or wife, nor child, but what the Lord gave me, and\nif he wants them, he can take them at his pleasure, whether he speaks\nfor them, or takes them without speaking. 2:307.\n\nWhen my Bishop came to value my property, he wanted to know what he\nshould take my tithing in. I told him to take anything I had, for I\ndid not set my heart upon any one thing; my horses, cows, hogs, or any\nother thing he might take; my heart is set upon the work of my God,\nupon the public good of his great Kingdom. 1:376.\n\nIf we live our religion we will be willing to pay tithing. 10:283.\n\nHere is a character--a man--that God has created, organized, fashioned\nand made,--every part and particle of my system from the top of my head\nto the soles of my feet, has been produced by my Father in Heaven; and\nhe requires one-tenth part of my brain, heart, nerve, muscle, sinew,\nflesh, bone, and of my whole system, for the building of temples, for\nthe ministry, for sustaining missionaries and missionaries' families,\nfor feeding the poor, the aged, the halt and blind, and for gathering\nthem home from the nations and taking care of them after they are\ngathered. He has said, \"My son, devote one-tenth of yourself to the\ngood and wholesome work of taking care of your fellow-beings, preaching\nthe Gospel, bringing people into the Kingdom; lay your plans to take\ncare of those who cannot take care of themselves; direct the labors of\nthose who are able to labor; and one-tenth part is all-sufficient if it\nis devoted properly, carefully and judiciously for the advancement of\nmy Kingdom on the earth.\" 16:69.\n\n_The Lord Has Given All_--It is not for me to rise up {273} and\nsay that I can give to the Lord, for in reality I have nothing to give.\nI seem to have something. Why? Because the Lord has seen fit to bring\nme forth, and has blessed my efforts in gathering things which are\ndesirable, and which are termed property. 2:300.\n\nWe are not our own, we are bought with a price, we are the Lord's; our\ntime, our talents, our gold and silver, our wheat and fine flour, our\nwine and our oil, our cattle, and all there is on this earth that we\nhave in our possession is the Lord's, and he requires one-tenth of this\nfor the building up of his Kingdom. Whether we have much or little,\none-tenth should be paid in for tithing. 14:88.\n\nWhat object have I in saying to the Latter-day Saints, do this, that\nor the other? It is for my own benefit, it is for your benefit; it is\nfor my own wealth and happiness, and for your wealth and happiness\nthat we pay tithing and render obedience to any requirement of Heaven.\nWe can not add anything to the Lord by doing these things. Tell about\nmaking sacrifices for the Kingdom of heaven. There is no man who ever\nmade a sacrifice on this earth for the Kingdom of heaven, that I know\nanything about, except the Savior. He drank the bitter cup to the\ndregs, and tasted for every man and for every woman, and redeemed the\nearth and all things upon it. But he was God in the flesh, or he could\nnot have endured it. \"But we suffer, we sacrifice, we give something,\nwe have preached so long.\" What for? \"Why, for the Lord.\" I would not\ngive the ashes of a rye straw for the man who feels that he is making\nsacrifice for God. We are doing this for our own happiness, welfare and\nexaltation, and for nobody else's. This is the fact, and what we do, we\ndo for the salvation of the inhabitants {274} of the earth, not for the\nsalvation of the heavens, the angels, or the Gods. 16:114.\n\nI do not expect to see the day when I am perfectly independent,\nuntil I am crowned in the celestial kingdom of my Father, and made\nas independent as my Father in Heaven. I have not yet received my\ninheritance as my own, and I expect to be dependent until I do, for all\nthat I have is lent to me. 3:245.\n\nWe own nothing but the talents God has given to us to improve upon, to\nshow him what we will do with them. 8:293.\n\n_People Not Compelled to Pay Tithing_--The people are not\ncompelled to pay their tithing, they do as they please about it, it is\nurged upon them only as a matter of duty between them and their God.\n12:36.\n\nWe do not ask anybody to pay tithing, unless they are disposed to do\nso; but if you pretend to pay tithing, pay it like honest men. 8:202.\n\nSome complain and say that they are taxed by tithing. We ask no tithing\nof any man. In this we are as independent as the Lord is. I say, do not\npay another dollar in tithing unless you want to. 8:345.\n\nPay your tithing, just because you like to, not unless you want to.\nThey say we cut people off the Church for not paying tithing; we\nnever have yet, but they ought to be. God does not fellowship them.\nThe law of tithing is an eternal law. The Lord Almighty never had his\nKingdom on the earth without the law of tithing being in the midst\nof his people, and he never will. It is an eternal law that God has\ninstituted for the benefit of the human family, for their salvation and\nexaltation. This law is in the Priesthood, {275} but we do not want any\nto observe it unless they are willing to do so. 14:89.\n\n_Use of the Tithing_--It may be supposed by some that the tithing\nis used to sustain and feed the First Presidency and the Twelve; this\nis a false impression. I can say, without boasting, that there is not\nanother man in this Kingdom has done more in dollars and cents to\nbuild it up than I have, and yet I have not done a farthing's worth of\nmyself, for the means I have handled God has given me; it is not mine,\nand if it ever is mine it will be when I have overcome and gained my\nexaltation and received it from him who rightfully owns all things.\n10:270.\n\nThe little moiety that is now paid on tithing is used to bring the poor\nhere, to find them houses to live in, bread to eat, and wood to burn.\nNow, suppose we had a little more of this surplus on hand, could we not\nhelp the brethren on their way to preach the Gospel to the nations?\nYes, we could. Some of them will leave families that will, probably, be\ndestitute, and if we had means on hand we could donate to help them,\nand to prevent them from running continually to the Bishops. 12:36.\n\nThe Lord requires one-tenth of that which he has given me; it is\nfor me to pay the one-tenth of the increase of my flocks and of all\nthat I have, and all the people should do the same. The question may\narise, \"What is to be done with the tithing?\" It is for the building\nof temples to God; for the enlarging of the borders of Zion; sending\nElders on missions to preach the Gospel and taking care of their\nfamilies. By and by we shall have some temples to go into, and we\nwill receive our blessings, the blessings of heaven, by obedience to\nthe doctrine of tithing. We shall have temples built throughout these\nmountains, in the {276} valleys of this Territory and the valleys of\nthe next Territory, and finally, all through these mountain valleys. We\nexpect to build temples in a great many valleys. We go to the Endowment\nHouse, and before going, we get a recommendation from our Bishop that\nwe have paid our tithing. 16:168.\n\nIn regard to this whining of the world about Brigham's handling the\ntithing, I can say that he has put in ten dollars where he has taken\none out of the treasury, and he has paid more tithing than any other\nman in the Church. Everybody should pay their tenth. A poor woman ought\nto pay her tenth chicken, if she has to draw out ten times its value\nfor her support. It is all the Lord's and we are only his stewards.\n16:45.\n\nIt is my business to control the disbursements of the tithing paid by\nthe Saints, and not the business of every Elder in the Kingdom who\nthinks the tithing belongs to him. 8:170.\n\n_The United Order_--The Lord has declared it to be his will that\nhis people enter into covenant, even as Enoch and his people did, which\nof necessity must be before we shall have the privilege of building the\nCenter Stake of Zion, for the power and glory of God will be there, and\nnone but the pure in heart will be able to live and enjoy it. 18:263.\n\nWhen the Lord gave the revelation instructing us in our duty as to\nconsecrating what we have, if the people then could have understood\nthings precisely as they are; and had obeyed that revelation, it would\nhave been neither more no less than yielding up that which is not their\nown, to him to whom it belongs. And so it is now. 2:303.\n\nWhen they bow down to worship the Lord, they acknowledge that the\nearth is his, and the cattle upon a {277} thousand hills; and tell the Lord\nthere is no sacrifice they are not willing to make for the sake of the\nreligion of Jesus Christ. The people were crying this continually among\nthe churches when the Book of Mormon came forth, and the Lord spoke\nthrough Joseph, revealing the law of consecration, to see whether they\nwere willing to do as they said in their prayers. 2:305.\n\nThere is another revelation still prior to this time, stating that\nit is the duty of all people who go to Zion to consecrate all their\nproperty to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This\nrevelation was referred to at the April Conference in 1854. It was one\nof the first commandments, or revelations given to this people after\nthey had the privilege of organizing themselves as a Church, as a body,\nas the Kingdom of God on the earth. I observed then, and I now think,\nthat it will be one of the last revelations which the people will\nreceive into their hearts and understanding, of their own free will and\nchoice, and esteem it as a pleasure, a privilege, and a blessing unto\nthem to observe and keep most holy. 2:299.\n\nI have said, and say today, that according to the age of the people\nwe have improved as fast as the church of Enoch. I trust we improve\nfaster, for we have not as much time as they had. In some of the first\nrevelations which were given to this Church, the Order of Enoch was\ngiven for a pattern to this people; and Enoch patterned after the\nheavens. In the commencement of the Church, the Latter-day Saints could\nnot receive it, and they were driven from city to city, as the Lord\nsaid they should be, through the mouth of his servant Joseph, until\nthey should be willing to receive this Order. 12:210.\n\nWill the time ever come that we can commence and {278} organize this\npeople as a family? It will. Do we know how? Yes; what was lacking in\nthese revelations from Joseph to enable us to do so was revealed to me.\nDo you think we will ever be one? When we get home to our Father and\nGod, will we not wish to be in the family? Will it not be our highest\nambition and desire to be reckoned as the sons of the living God, as\nthe daughters of the Almighty, with a right to the household, and the\nfaith that belongs to the household, heirs of the Father, his goods,\nhis wealth, his power, his excellency, his knowledge and wisdom? 11:326.\n\nI will say, first, that the Lord Almighty has not the least objection\nin the world to our entering into the Order of Enoch. I will stand\nbetween the people and all harm in this. He has not the least objection\nto any man, every man, all mankind on the face of the earth turning\nfrom evil and loving and serving him with all their hearts. With\nregard to all those orders that the Lord has revealed, it depends upon\nthe will and doings of the people, and we are at liberty, from this\nConference, to go and build up a settlement, or we can join ourselves\ntogether in this city, do it legally--according to the laws of the\nland--and enter into covenant with each other by a firm agreement that\nwe will live as a family, that we will put our property into the hands\nof a committee of trustees, who shall dictate the affairs of this\nsociety. 16:8.\n\nAnd when this people become one, it will be one in the Lord. They will\nnot look alike. We will not all have grey, blue, or black eyes. Our\nfeatures will differ one from another, and in our acts, dispositions,\nand efforts to accumulate, distribute, and dispose of our time,\ntalents, wealth, and whatever the Lord gives to us, in our journey\n{279} through life, we will differ just as much as in our features. The\npoint that the Lord wishes to bring us to is to obey his counsel and\nobserve his word. Then every one will be dictated so that we can act as\na family. 12:57.\n\nBut to the text. We want to see a community organized in which every\nperson will be industrious, faithful and prudent. What will you do with\nthe children? We will bring them up until they are of legal age, then\nsay, \"Go where you please. We have given you a splendid education,\nthe advantage of all the learning of the day, and if you do not wish\nto stay with the Saints, go where you please.\" What will you do with\nthose who apostatize after having entered into covenant and agreement\nwith others, that their property shall be one, and be in the hands\nof trustees, and shall never be taken out? If any of these parties\napostatize, and say we wish to withdraw from this community, what will\nyou do with them? We will say to them, \"Go, and welcome,\" and if we are\ndisposed to give them anything, it is all right. 15:226.\n\nI know how to start such a society, right in this city, and how to make\nits members rich. I would go to now, and buy out the poorest Ward in\nthis city, and then commence with men and women who have not a dollar\nin the world. Bring them here from England, or any part of the earth,\nset them down in this Ward and put them to work, and in five years\nwe would begin to enter other Wards, and we would buy this house and\nthat house, and the next house, and we would add Ward to Ward until we\nowned the whole city, every dollar's worth of property there is in it.\nWe could do this, and let the rich go to California to get gold, and\nwe would buy their property. Would you like to know how to do this? I\ncan tell you {280} in a very few words--never want a thing you cannot\nget, live within your means, manufacture that which you wear, and raise\nthat which you eat. Raise every calf and lamb; raise the chickens, and\nhave your eggs, make your butter and cheese, and always have a little\nto spare. The first year we raise a crop, and we have more than we\nwant. We buy nothing, we sell a little. The next year we raise more;\nwe buy nothing and we sell more. In this way we could pile up the gold\nand silver and in twenty years a hundred families working like this\ncould buy out their neighbors. I see men who earn four, five, ten or\nfifteen dollars a day and spend every dime of it. Such men spend their\nmeans foolishly, they waste it instead of taking care of it. They do\nnot know what to do with it, and they seem to fear that it will burn\ntheir pockets, and they get rid of it. If you get a dollar, sovereign,\nhalf-eagle or eagle, and are afraid it will burn your pockets, put\nit into a safe. It will not burn anything there, and you will not be\nforced to spend, spend, spend as you do now. 16:11.\n\nI have looked upon the community of Latter-day Saints in vision and\nbeheld them organized as one great family of heaven, each person\nperforming his several duties in his line of industry, working for\nthe good of the whole more than for individual aggrandizement; and in\nthis I have beheld the most beautiful order that the mind of man can\ncontemplate, and the grandest results for the upbuilding of the Kingdom\nof God and the spread of righteousness upon the earth. Will this people\never come to this order of things? Are they now prepared to live\naccording to that patriarchal order that will be organized among the\ntrue and faithful before God receives his own? We all concede the point\nthat when this mortality falls off, and with it its cares, anxieties,\n{281} love of self, love of wealth, and love of power, and all the\nconflicting interests which pertain to this flesh, that then, when our\nspirits have returned to God who gave them, we will be subject to every\nrequirement that he may make of us, that we shall then live together as\none great family; our interest will be a general, a common interest.\nWhy can we not so live in this world? 12:153. {282}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\n_THE WORD OF WISDOM_\n\n_Moderation_--By temperance and moderation lay the foundation for\nthe development of the mind. 19:68.\n\nIndulgence of appetite is not worthy the notice of men and women,\nthough the body must be sustained, for that is a duty God has placed\nupon us. 8:141.\n\nSatisfying the appetite brings to an end the pleasure of eating; and\nwhere food is partaken of chiefly to gratify the pleasureable sensation\nderived from eating, disease is engendered, and true misery springs\nout of this unwise gratification. Some healthy, strong-constitutioned\npersons can eat large quantities of food with apparent impunity; but,\nin so doing, the tax they place upon their systems will ultimately\nbring disease and death. 8:139.\n\nAs I said to the brethren the other day in the Thirteenth Ward\nschoolhouse, with regard to worldly pleasure, comfort, and enjoyment:\nyou may take as much as you please of the Spirit of the Lord, and it\nwill not make your stomach or head ache. You may drink nine cups of\nstrong spiritual drink, and it will not hurt you; but if you drink nine\ncups of strong tea, see what it will do for you. Let a person that is\nvery thirsty and warm satiate his appetite with cold water, and when\nhe gets through he will perhaps have laid the foundation for death,\nand may go to an untimely grave, which is frequently done. Excessive\neating, drinking, or exercise all tend to the grave. 11:329.\n\nThe blessings of food, sleep, and social enjoyment are ordained of God\nfor his glory and our benefit, and it is for us to learn to use them\nand not abuse them, that his Kingdom {283} may advance on the earth,\nand we advance in it. 6:149.\n\n_The Word of Wisdom_--This Word of Wisdom prohibits the use of hot\ndrinks and tobacco. I have heard it argued that tea and coffee are not\nmentioned therein; that is very true; but what were the people in the\nhabit of taking as hot drinks when that revelation was given? Tea and\ncoffee. We were not in the habit of drinking water very hot, but tea\nand coffee--the beverages in common use. And the Lord said hot drinks\nare not good for the body nor the belly, liquor is not good for the\nbody or the belly, but for the washing of the body, etc. Tobacco is not\ngood, save for sick cattle, and for bruises and sores, its cleansing\nproperties being then very useful. 13:277.\n\nI know that some say the revelations upon these points are not given by\nway of commandment. Very well, but we are commanded to observe every\nword that proceeds from the mouth of God. 13:3.\n\nNow I want you should recollect--Bishops, Elders of Israel, High\nPriests, Seventies, the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidency, and all\nthe House of Israel, hearken ye. O my people! keep the word of the\nLord, observe the Word of Wisdom, sustain one another, sustain the\nhousehold of faith, and let our enemies alone. 12:29.\n\nNow, Elders of Israel, if you have the right to chew tobacco, you have\na privilege I have not; if you have a right to drink whisky, you have\na right that I have not; if you have a right to transgress the Word of\nWisdom, you have a right that I have not. 12:30.\n\nI said to the Saints at our last annual Conference, the Spirit whispers\nto me to call upon the Latter-day Saints to observe the Word of Wisdom,\nto let tea, coffee, and tobacco alone, and to abstain from drinking\nspirituous drinks. {284} This is what the Spirit signifies through me.\nIf the Spirit of God whispers this to his people through their leader,\nand they will not listen nor obey, what will be the consequences of\ntheir disobedience? Darkness and blindness of mind with regard to the\nthings of God will be their lot; they will cease to have the spirit of\nprayer, and the spirit of the world will increase in them in proportion\nto their disobedience until they apostatize entirely from God and his\nways. 12:118.\n\nIn the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command the Elders of\nIsrael--those who have been in the habit of getting drunk--to cease\ndrinking strong drink from this time henceforth. But some may think\nthey need it as soon as they go out of this house. Let me be your\nphysician in this matter. So long as you are able to walk and attend\nto your business, it is folly to say that you need ardent spirits to\nkeep you alive. The constitution that a person has should be nourished\nand cherished; and whenever we take anything into the system to force\nand stimulate it beyond its natural capacity, it shortens life. I am\nphysician enough to know that. When you are tired and think you need a\nlittle spirituous liquor, take some bread and butter or bread and milk,\nand lie down and rest. Do not labor so hard as to deem it requisite to\nget half drunk in order to keep up your spirits. If you will follow\nthis counsel, you will be full of life and health, and you will\nincrease your intelligence, your joy, and comfort. 7:337.\n\nI now again request the authorities of this Church in their various\nlocalities to sever from this society those who will not cease getting\ndrunk. 7:338.\n\nIt is my positive counsel and command that drinking liquor be stopped.\nIf I had the influence the world gives me {285} credit for, I would\nnot have a single drunkard, thief, or liar in this society. I do not\nprofess to have that influence, but I can raise my voice against those\nevils. 1:337.\n\nThis Word of Wisdom which has been supposed to have become stale, and\nnot in force, is like all the counsels of God, in force as much today\nas it ever was. There is life, everlasting life in it--the life which\nnow is and the life which is to come. 12:209.\n\nIt is a piece of good counsel which the Lord desires his people to\nobserve, that they may live on the earth until the measure of their\ncreation is full. This is the object the Lord had in view in giving\nthat Word of Wisdom. To those who observe it he will give great wisdom\nand understanding, increasing their health, giving strength and\nendurance to the faculties of their bodies and minds until they shall\nbe full of years upon the earth. This will be their blessing if they\nwill observe his word with a good and willing heart and in faithfulness\nbefore the Lord. 12:156.\n\nMankind would not become attached to these unnecessary articles were it\nnot for the poison they contain. The poisonous or narcotic properties\nin spirits, tobacco and tea are the cause of their being so much liked\nby those who use them. 13:276.\n\nI say to all the Elders of Israel, if it makes you sick and so sleepy\nthat you cannot keep out of bed unless you have tobacco, go to bed and\nthere lie. How long? Until you can get up and go to your business like\nrational men, like men who have heads on their shoulders and who are\nnot controlled by their foolish appetites. I have said to my family,\nand I now say to all the sisters in the Church, if you cannot get up\nand do your washing without a cup of tea in the morning, go to bed, and\nthere lie. How long? {286} Until the influence of tea is out of the\nsystem. Will it take a month? No matter if it does; if it takes three\nmonths, six months, or a year, it is better to lie there in bed until\nthe influence of tea, coffee and liquor is out of the system, so that\nyou may go about your business like rational persons, than to give way\nto these foolish habits. They are destructive to the human system;\nthey filch money from our pockets, and they deprive the poor of the\nnecessaries of life. 13:278.\n\nThe sisters may inquire, \"What can we do?\" Rule your own passions, and\nexercise faith until you can govern and control your appetites, instead\nof drinking tea, coffee, and hot drinks. That is one of the smallest\nduties I can think of. Permit your bodies to have natural forms; also\ntake pains to have the bodies of your daughters grow naturally, and\nteach them what they are made for, and that they, through faith, must\novercome every besetting sin and every unholy passion and appetite.\n8:283.\n\nAnd now that we have commenced to observe the Word of Wisdom, never\ntreat resolution with a cup of tea or coffee, for as sure as you treat\nresolution once, it will plead hard for a treat again. Keep the Word of\nWisdom--help the poor, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked. Never let\nit be said of the Territory of Utah that a poor person had to go to the\nsecond house for a morsel to eat. 12:54-55.\n\nMany of our sisters think they cannot live without tea. I will tell\nyou what we can do--I have frequently said it to my brethren and\nsisters--if they cannot live without tea, coffee, brandy, whiskey,\nwine, beer, tobacco, etc., they can die without them. This is beyond\ncontroversy. If we had the determination that we should have, we would\nlive without them or die without them. Let the mother {287} impregnate\nher system with these narcotic influences when she is bringing forth a\nfamily on the earth, and what does she do? She lays the foundation of\nweakness, palpitation of the heart, nervous affections, and many other\nills and diseases in the system of her offspring that will afflict them\nfrom the cradle to the grave. Is this righteous or unrighteous, good or\nevil? Let my sisters ask and answer the question for themselves, and\nthe conclusion which each and every one of them may come to is this,\n\"If I do an injury to my child, I sin.\" 13:276.\n\nLast week I received a note in which was enclosed three dollars from a\nsister; I cannot tell her name, for she did not give it. She said she\nhad not drunk any tea since Conference, and she had saved about three\ndollars, which she enclosed for me to do good with. I felt \"God bless\nher,\" and she will be blessed as sure as she lives. 12:52.\n\nIf you observe faithfully the Word of Wisdom, you will have your\ndollar, your five dollars, your hundred dollars, yea, you will have\nyour hundreds of dollars to spend for that which will be useful and\nprofitable to you. Why should we continue to practice in our lives\nthose pernicious habits that have already sapped the foundation of the\nhuman constitution, and shortened the life of man to that degree that\na generation passes away in the brief period of from twenty-seven to\ntwenty-nine years? The strength, power, beauty and glory that once\nadorned that form and constitution of man have vanished away before the\nblighting influences of inordinate appetite and love of this world.\nThe health and power and beauty that once adorned the noble form of\nman must again be restored to our race; and God designs that we shall\nengage in this great work of restoration. Then let us not trifle with\nour mission, by indulging in the use {288} of injurious substances.\nThese lay the foundation of disease and death in the systems of men,\nand the same are committed to their children, and another generation of\nfeeble human beings is introduced into the world. Such children have\ninsufficient bone, sinew, muscle, and constitution, and are of little\nuse to themselves, or to their fellow creatures; they are not prepared\nfor life. 12:118.\n\nA man who indulges in any habit that is pernicious to the general good\nin its example and influence, is not only an enemy to himself but to\nthe community so far as the influence of that habit goes. A man who\nwould not sacrifice a pernicious habit for the good it would do the\ncommunity is, to say the least of it, lukewarm in his desires and\nwishes for public and general improvement.\n\nSo we see that almost the very first teachings the first Elders of this\nChurch received were as to what to eat, what to drink, and how to order\ntheir natural lives that they might be united temporally as well as\nspiritually. This is the great purpose which God has in view in sending\nto the world, by his servants, the Gospel of life and salvation. 12:158.\n\nThere is more strength and nutriment in a bowl of water gruel than\nthere is in tea; and there is no unhealthy influence in the water\ngruel, but there is in tea and coffee. 11:350.\n\n_Live Long._ Take care of yourselves, and live as long as you can,\nand do all the good you can. 4:302.\n\nThe first principle that pertains to the intelligence God has bestowed\nupon us is to know how to preserve the present organization with which\nwe are endowed. It is man's first duty to his existence, a knowledge of\nwhich would cause him to use all prudent efforts for the preservation\n{289} of his life on the earth until his work here is completed. 8:281.\n\nPrepare to die, is not the exhortation in this Church and Kingdom;\nbut prepare to live is the word with us, and improve all we can in\nthe life hereafter, wherein we may enjoy a more exalted condition of\nintelligence, wisdom, light, knowledge, power, glory, and exaltation.\nThen let us seek to extend the present life to the uttermost, by\nobserving every law of health, and by properly balancing labor, study,\nrest, and recreation, and thus prepare for a better life. Let us teach\nthese principles to our children, that, in the morning of their days,\nthey may be taught to lay the foundation of health and strength and\nconstitution and power of life in their bodies. 11:132.\n\nThis is the duty of the human family, instead of wasting their lives\nand the lives of their fellow-beings, and the precious time God has\ngiven us to improve our minds and bodies by observing the laws of life,\nso that the longevity of the human family may begin to return. By and\nby, according to the Scriptures, the days of a man shall be like the\ndays of a tree. But in those days people will not eat and drink as they\ndo now; if they do their days will not be like a tree, unless it be a\nvery short-lived tree. This is our business. 14:89.\n\nWe are trying to become natural in our habits, and are striving to\nfulfil the end and design of our creation. 13:233.\n\nThe fathers and mothers have laid the foundation for many of these\ndiseases, from generation to generation, until the people are reduced\nto their present condition. True, some live to from fifty to ninety\nyears of age, but it is an unusual circumstance to see a man an hundred\nyears old, or a woman ninety. The people have laid the foundation of\n{290} short life through their diet, their rest, their labor, and\ntheir doing this, that, and the other in a wrong manner, with improper\nmotives, and at improper times. 2:269.\n\nYou, mothers and daughters in Israel, who are taking this course, how\ndo you expect to live to accomplish the work the Lord has assigned\nyou? You get up in the morning and have your cup of tea, your fried\nham, your cold beef and mince pies, and everything you can possibly\ncram into the stomach, until you surfeit the system and lay the\nfoundation for disease and early death. Says the mother--\"Do eat, my\nlittle daughter, you are sick; take a piece of pie, toast, or meat,\nor drink a little tea or coffee; you must take something or other.\"\nMothers in Israel, such a course engenders disease, and you are laying\na foundation that will cut off one-half or two-thirds of the lives of\nyour children. 12:37.\n\n_Eating for Health_--Instead of doing two days' work in one day,\nwisdom would dictate to our sisters, and to every other person, that\nif they desire long life and good health, they must, after sufficient\nexertion, allow the body to rest before it is entirely exhausted.\nWhen exhausted, some argue that they need stimulants in the shape of\ntea, coffee, spirituous liquors, tobacco, or some of those narcotic\nsubstances which are often taken to goad on the lagging powers to\ngreater exertions. But instead of these kind of stimulants they should\nrecruit by rest. Work less, wear less, eat less, and we shall be a\ngreat deal wiser, healthier, and wealthier people than by taking the\ncourse we now do. It is difficult to find anything more healthy to\ndrink than good cold water, such as flows down to us from springs and\nsnows of our mountains. This is the beverage we should drink. It should\nbe our drink at all times. If we {291} constantly drink even malt\nliquor made from our barley and wheat, our health would be injured more\nor less thereby. It may be remarked that some men who use spirituous\nliquors and tobacco are healthy, but I argue that they would be much\nmore healthy if they did not use it, and then they are entitled to\nthe blessings promised to those who observe the advice given in the\n\"Word of Wisdom.\" Some few persons who have been addicted to the use\nof hot drinks, etc. have reached the age of eighty, eighty-three, and\neighty-four years, but had they not been addicted to such habits of\nliving they might have reached the age of an hundred or an hundred and\nfive years. 12:122.\n\nI do not mean to go without food and go to fasting. This is the other\nextreme. A sufficient amount of food that will agree with the-stomach\nis healthy, and should be partaken of. Aged or middle aged, youth or\nchildren, never should go without food until their stomachs are faint,\ndemanding something to sustain their systems, and continue to undergo\nthis; for this lays the foundation of weakness, and this weakness will\ntempt disease. But keep the stomach in a perfectly healthy condition.\nNow I do not mean fasting, but eating moderately; and if my sisters\nwill go home and commence to adopt this rule, you will find that you\nbegin to get better, your children and neighbors will get better. We\ndo not expect all to be free from sickness. I have had a great deal\nof sickness in my life. I do not expect to be free from the ills, the\nweakness, debility and disease that prey upon the human family, but we\ncan amend our ways, and amend our life by being prudent; and I wish the\nsisters to understand this, and to adopt these instructions. 19:68.\n\nThe citizens of this city are tolerably comfortable; a {292} great\nmany of them have an abundance of fruit, and they enjoy it. It is very\nhealthy for them and their children to eat in the season thereof.\n11:141.\n\nAs we got richer and built warm houses, and have lived more richly,\nindulging in sweet cake, plum pudding, roast beef and so on, we have\nhad more or less disease among us. 13:132.\n\nGo into their houses and you will find beef, pork, apple pie, custard\npie, pumpkin pie, mince pie, and every luxury, and they live so as\nto shorten their days and the days of their children. You may think\nthat these things are not of much importance; no more they are, unless\nthey are observed, but let the people observe them and they lay the\nfoundation for longevity, and they will begin to live out their days,\nnot only a hundred years, but, by and by, hundreds of years on the\nearth. Do you think they will stuff themselves then with tea and\ncoffee, and perhaps with a little brandy sling before breakfast and a\nlittle before going to bed, and then beef, pork, mutton, sweet meats,\nand pastry, morning, noon and night? No; you will find they will live\nas our first parents did, on fruits and on a little simple food, and\nthey will never overload the stomach. 12:37.\n\nSuppose I happen to say, \"Come, wife, let us have a good dinner today\";\nwhat does she get? Pork and beef boiled, stewed, roasted, and fried\npotatoes, onions, cabbage, and turnips, custard, eggs, pies of all\nkinds, cheese and sweet meats. 2:269.\n\nA thorough reformation is needed in regard to our eating and drinking,\nand on this point I will freely express myself, and shall be glad if\nthe people will hear, believe and obey. If the people were willing to\nreceive the true knowledge from heaven in regard to their diet they\nwould cease {293} eating swine's flesh. I know this as well as Moses\nknew it, and without putting it in a code of commandments. The beef fed\nupon our mountain grasses is as healthy food as we need at present.\nBeef, so fattened, is as good as wild meat, and is quite different in\nits nature from stall-fed meat. But we can eat fish; and I ask the\npeople of this community, Who hinders you from raising fowls for their\neggs? Who hinders you from cultivating fruit of every variety that\nwill flourish in the different parts of this Territory? There has not\nbeen a day through the whole winter that I have not had fresh peaches,\nand plenty of apples and strawberries. Who hinders any person in this\ncommunity from having these different kinds of food in their families?\nFish is as healthy a food as we can eat, if we except vegetables and\nfruit, and with them will become a very wholesome diet. 12:192.\n\nWhen we go on a trip to the settlements and stop at the brethren's\nhouses, it is, \"Brother Brigham, let us manifest our feelings towards\nyou and your company.\" I tell them to do so, but give me a piece of\nJohnny-cake; I would rather have it than their pies and tarts and sweet\nmeats. Let me have something that will sustain nature and leave my\nstomach and whole system clear to receive the Spirit of the Lord and be\nfree from headache and pains of every kind.\n\nThe Americans, as a nation, are killing themselves with their vices\nand high living. As much as a man ought to eat in half an hour they\nswallow in three minutes, gulping down their food like the canine\nquadruped under the table, which, when a chunk of meat is thrown down\nto it, swallows it before you can say \"twice.\" If you want a reform,\ncarry out the advice I have just given you. Dispense {294} with your\nmultitudinous dishes, and, depend upon it, you will do much towards\npreserving your families from sickness, disease and death.\n\nIf this method were adopted in this community, I will venture to say\nthat it would add ten years to the lives of our children. That is worth\na great deal. 13:153-154.\n\nIf the days of man are to begin to return, we must cease all\nextravagant living. When men live to the age of a tree, their food will\nbe fruit. Mothers, to produce offspring full of life and days, must\ncease drinking liquor, tea, and coffee, that their systems may be free\nfrom bad effects. If every woman in this Church will now cease drinking\ntea, coffee, liquor, and all other powerful stimulants, and live upon\nvegetables, etc. not many generations will pass away before the days\nof man will again return. But it will take generations to eradicate\nentirely the influences of deleterious substances. 8:63.\n\n_Living out-of-Doors_--People need not be afraid of living out of\ndoors, nor sleeping out of doors. This country is much healthier than\nthe lowlands in the States, or than many places in the Old World. 4:92.\n\nGood pure air is the greatest sustainer of animal life. Other elements\nof life we can dispense with for a time, but this seems to be essential\nevery moment; hence the necessity of well ventilated dwelling-houses,\nespecially the rooms occupied for sleeping. You can live without\nwater and food longer than you can without air, and water is of more\nimportance than meat and bread. 8:168.\n\nThe out-door air is what the people need for health, it is good for\nthem to camp out. Close houses are injurious to the health; if our\nhouses were every one of them levelled to the ground, and we were\nobliged to live in our wagons {295} and tents, the people would be\nhealthier, from year to year, than they are now. Good houses are\ncomfortable and very convenient, and please our feelings, and are\ntolerably healthful when properly ventilated. 2:284.\n\nWhat gives the people colds and makes them sick? You hear many say\n\"I had not had a cold this fall, until I came into our new house.\"\nBrethren and sisters that have come into the city from living in the\ncanyons, and those who have arrived from the States this season, have\nnot been troubled with colds until they came into warm houses; that\ngives them colds, by depriving their lungs of the benefit they are\norganized to receive from the atmosphere. 4:91.\n\nWe should have plenty of pure, fresh air. If children are kept in close\nbed-rooms, they become puny and weakly. Let them sleep where they can\nhave abundance of pure air, in well ventilated rooms, or out of doors,\nin the summer time, in a safe place; it will be most beneficial for\ntheir health. 12:218.\n\n_Exercise and Mental Vigor_--Do you know that it is your privilege\nso to live that your minds may all the time be perfectly within your\ncontrol? Study to preserve your bodies in life and health, and you will\nbe able to control your minds. 8:135.\n\nMy mind becomes tired, and perhaps some of yours do. If so, go and\nexercise your bodies. 6:148.\n\nIn the eastern country there was a man who used to go crazy, at times,\nand then come to his senses again. One of his neighbors asked him\nwhat made him go crazy; he replied, \"I get to thinking, and thinking,\nuntil finally I think so far that I am not always able to think back\nagain.\" Can you think too much for the spirit which is put in the\ntabernacle? {296} You can, and this is a subject which I wish the\nbrethren instructed upon, and the people to understand. The spirit\nis the intelligent part of man, and is intimately connected with the\ntabernacle. Let this intelligent part labor to excess, and it will\neventually overcome the tabernacle, the equilibrium will be destroyed,\nand the whole organization deranged. Many people have deranged\nthemselves by thinking too much.\n\nThe thinking part is the immortal or invisible portion, and it is that\nwhich performs the mental labor; then the tabernacle, which is formed\nand organized for that express purpose, brings about or effects the\nresult of that mental labor. Let the body work with the mind, and let\nthem both labor fairly together, and, with but few exceptions, you will\nhave a strong-minded, athletic individual, powerful both physically and\nmentally.\n\nWhen you find the thinking faculty perfectly active, in a healthy\nperson, it should put the physical organization into active operation,\nand the result of the reflection is carried out, and the object is\naccomplished. In such a person you will see mental and physical health\nand strength combined, in their perfection. 3:247.\n\nAs for health, it is far healthier to walk than to ride, and better\nevery way for the people. 4:103.\n\nMany persons are so constituted, that if you put them in a parlor, keep\na good fire for them, furnish them tea, cake, sweet meats, etc., and\nnurse them tenderly, soaking their feet, and putting them to bed, they\nwill die in a short time; but throw them into snow banks, and they will\nlive a great many years. Brother Heywood would have been in his grave\nlong ago, if he had not led an out-door life, and {297} such is the\ncase with others; but he is again here, and we have the privilege of\nseeing him. 4:295.\n\n_Physiological Differences_--The study and practice of anatomy and\nsurgery are very good; they are mechanical, and are frequently needed.\nDo you not think it is necessary to give medicine sometimes? Yes, I can\nsee the faces of this congregation, but I do not see two alike; and if\nI could look into your nervous systems and behold the operations of\ndisease, from the crowns of your heads to the soles of your feet, I\nshould behold the same difference that I see in your physiognomy--there\nwould be no two precisely alike. Doctors make experiments, and if they\nfind a medicine that will have the desired effect on one person, they\nset it down that it is good for everybody, but it is not so, for upon\nthe second person that medicine is administered to, seemingly with the\nsame disease, it might produce death. If you do not know this, you\nhave not had the experience that I have. I say that unless a man or\nwoman who administers medicine to assist the human system to overcome\ndisease, understands, and has that intuitive knowledge, by the Spirit,\nthat such an article is good for that individual at that very time,\nthey had better let him alone. Let the sick do without eating, take a\nlittle of something to cleanse the stomach, bowels and blood, and wait\npatiently, and let nature have time to gain the advantage over the\ndisease. 15:225.\n\n_Feeding Children_--Now, mothers, if you want to do good, do not\nlet your sons and daughters drink either tea or coffee, while under\nyour protection. 11:352.\n\nSome mothers, when bearing children, long for tea and coffee, or for\nbrandy and other strong drinks, and if they give way to that influence\nthe next time they will want {298} more, and the next still more, and\nthus lay the foundation for drunkenness in their offspring. An appetite\nis engendered, bred, and born in the child, and it is a miracle if it\ndoes not grow up a confirmed drunkard. 2:270.\n\nInfants, children, youth, young men, and young women, thousands and\ntens of thousands of them, go to an untimely grave through the diseases\nengendered in their systems by their progenitors. 13:276.\n\nSisters, will you take notice, and instruct those who are not here\ntoday, to adopt this rule--stop your children from eating meat, and\nespecially fat meat; let them have composition to drink, instead of\nunhealthy water; let them eat a little milk porridge; let them eat\nsparingly and not oppress the stomach so as to create a fever. No\nmatter whether it is a child or a middle-aged person, whenever the\nstomach is over-loaded and charged with more than is required it\ncreates a fever; this fever creates sickness, until death relieves the\nsufferer. 19:68.\n\nMany husbands are made sick and many children are sent to an untimely\ngrave through eating badly prepared food, the result of ignorance or\ncarelessness. 10:28.\n\nChildren should have milk, bread, water, and potatoes; and everything\nthat would lay the foundation for disease should be strenuously kept\nfrom their stomachs, that no appetites may be formed for pernicious\nsubstances, which, when formed, cannot be overcome easily, if at all.\n2:21.\n\nI will tell you how you can enjoy health. You let your children have\na little milk in the morning. Give them a little bread with it--not\nsoft bread; teach your children to eat crust--hard baked bread, that\nthe Americans would call stale, but the English would not. Teach them\nto eat this, {299} and to eat sparingly. Instead of drinking unhealthy\nwater, boil such water, and let it stand until it is cool. If the\nchildren are in the least troubled with summer complaint, and are weak\nin their bowels, make a weak composition tea, sweeten it with loaf\nsugar and put a little nice cream in it; and let the children make a\npractice of drinking composition instead of cold water. Mothers, keep\nthe children from eating meat; and let them eat vegetables that are\nfully matured, not unripe, and bread that is well baked, not soft.\nDo not put your loaf into the oven with a fire hot enough to burn it\nbefore it is baked through, but with a slow heat, and let it remain\nuntil it is perfectly baked; and I would prefer, for my own eating,\neach and every loaf to be not thicker than my two hands--you tell how\nthick they are--and I would want the crust as thick as my hand. 19:67.\n\nBe careful of your bodies; be prudent in laying out your energies,\nfor when you are old you will need the strength and power you are now\nwasting. Preserve your lives. Until you know and practice this, you are\nnot thoroughly good soldiers nor wise stewards. 8:136-137. {300}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\n_THE FAMILY_\n\n_Virtue_--Purity preserves, sustains and increases. 16:108.\n\nThe principle of pure affection is the gift of God, and it is for us to\nlearn to control it and exercise proper dominion over it. 6:149.\n\nLearn the will of God, keep his commandments and do his will, and you\nwill be a virtuous person. 3:204.\n\nAny man who humbles a daughter of Eve to rob her of her virtue,\nand cast her off dishonored and defiled, is her destroyer, and is\nresponsible to God for the deed. If the refined Christian society of\nthe nineteenth century will tolerate such a crime, God will not; but\nhe will call the perpetrator to an account. He will be damned; in hell\nhe will lift up his eyes, being in torment, until he has paid the\nuttermost farthing, and made a full atonement for his sins. 11:268.\n\nThe defiler of the innocent is the one who should be branded with\ninfamy and cast out from respectable society, and shunned as a pest,\nor, as a contagious disease, is shunned. The doors of respectable\nfamilies should be closed against him, and he should be frowned upon by\nall high-minded and virtuous persons. Wealth, influence and position\nshould not screen him from their righteous indignation. His sin is one\nof the blackest in the calendar of crime, and he should be cast down\nfrom the high pinnacle of respectability and consideration, to find his\nplace among the worst of felons. 11:267.\n\nI would rather follow her to the grave, and send her {301} home pure,\nthan suffer my daughter to be prostituted. I will not suffer any female\nmember of my family to be polluted through the corruptions of wicked\nmen. 2:322.\n\nEver since I knew that my mother was a woman I loved the sex, and\ndelighted in their chastity. The man who abuses, or tries to bring\ndishonor upon the female sex is a fool, and does not know that his\nmother and his sisters were women. 12:194.\n\n_Marriage_--Let every man in the land over eighteen years of age\ntake a wife, and then go to work with your hands and cultivate the\nearth, or labor at some mechanical business, or some honest trade to\nprovide an honest living for yourselves and those who depend upon you\nfor their subsistence; observing temperance, and loving truth and\nvirtue; then would the woman be cared for, be nourished, honored and\nblest, becoming honorable mothers of a race of men and women farther\nadvanced in physical and mental perfection than their fathers. This\nwould create a revolution in our country, and would produce results\nthat would be of incalculable good. 12:194-195.\n\nYoung men, fit you up a little log cabin, if it is not more than ten\nfeet square, and then get you a bird to put in your little cage. You\ncan then work all day with satisfaction to yourself considering that\nyou have a home to go to, and a loving heart to welcome you. You will\nthen have something to encourage you to labor and gather around you the\ncomforts of life, and a place to gather them to. Strive to make your\nlittle home attractive. Use lime freely, and let your houses nestle\nbeneath the cool shades of trees, and be made fragrant with perfume of\nflowers. 12:204.\n\nThe Lord says--Let my servants and handmaidens be sealed, and let their\nchildren be sealed. 12:164. {302}\n\nWe understand that we are to be made kings and priests unto God; now if\nI be made the king and lawgiver to my family, and if I have many sons,\nI shall become the father of many fathers, for they will have sons, and\ntheir sons will have sons, and so on, from generation to generation,\nand, in this way, I may become the father of many fathers, or the king\nof many kings. This will constitute every man a prince, king, lord, or\nwhatever the Father sees fit to confer upon us.\n\nIn this way we can become king of kings, and lord of lords, or father\nof fathers, or prince of princes, and this is the only course, for\nanother man is not going to raise up a kingdom for you. 3:265-266.\n\nBut the whole subject of the marriage relation is not in my reach, nor\nin any other man's reach on this earth. It is without beginning of days\nor end of years; it is a hard matter to reach. We can tell some things\nwith regard to it; it lays the foundation for worlds, for angels,\nand for the Gods; for intelligent beings to be crowned with glory,\nimmortality, and eternal lives. In fact, it is the thread which runs\nfrom the beginning to the end of the holy Gospel of Salvation--of the\nGospel of the Son of God; it is from eternity to eternity. 2:90.\n\nWhen a man and woman have received their endowments and sealings[A], and\nthen had children born to them afterwards, those children are legal\nheirs to the Kingdom and to all its blessings and promises, and they\nare the only ones that are on this earth. There is not a young man in\nour community who would not be willing to travel from here to England\nto be married right, if he understood things as they are; there is not\na young woman in our community, {303} who loves the Gospel and wishes\nits blessings, that would be married in any other way; they would live\nunmarried until they could be married as they should be, if they lived\nuntil they were as old as Sarah before she had Isaac born to her. Many\nof our brethren have married off their children without taking this\ninto consideration, and thinking it a matter of little importance. I\nwish we all understood this in the light in which heaven understands\nit. 11:118.\n\n[Footnote A: In the Temple--For Eternity.]\n\nOur children who are born in the Priesthood are legal heirs, and\nentitled to the revelations of the Lord, and as the Lord lives, his\nangels have charge over them, though they may be left to themselves\noccasionally. 12:174.\n\nThere is no ecclesiastical law that you know anything about, to free\na wife from a man to whom she has been sealed, if he honors his\nPriesthood. 8:345.\n\nI will give each of the young men in Israel, who have arrived at an age\nto marry, a mission to go straightway and get married to a good sister,\nfence a city lot, lay out garden and orchard and make a home. This is\nthe mission that I give to all young men in Israel. And I say to you,\nsisters, if you do not know how to milk a cow, you can soon learn. If\nyou do not know how to feed the cows, you can learn. If you do not know\nhow to feed the chickens, get them and learn how, and if your husband\ntakes you to live in ever so small and humble a cottage, make it neat\nand nice and clean, and set out flowers around the doors, and let the\nhusband plant fruit trees and shade trees, and let wives help their\nhusbands that they may be encouraged to take hold of more important\nbusiness that will create an income sufficient to sustain their wives,\nand by economy and care become wealthy in a short time, and have your\ncarriage to ride in. What a satisfaction it will be to you to know that\n{304} what you possess is the result of your industry and economy.\n12:200-201.\n\n_Do Not Marry Unbelievers_--Be careful, O ye mothers in Israel,\nand do not teach your daughters in future, as many of them have been\ntaught, to marry out of Israel. Woe to you who do it; you will lose\nyour crowns as sure as God lives. 12:97.\n\nWhat was the cause of the first, or one of the first, curses that\ncame upon Israel? I will tell you. One of the first transgressions of\nthe family called Israel, was their going to other families or other\nnations to select partners. This was one of the great mistakes made by\nthe children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for they would go and marry\nwith other families, although the Lord had forbidden them to do so,\nand had given them a very strict and stringent law on the subject. He\ncommanded them not to marry among the Gentiles, but they did and would\ndo it. Inasmuch as they would not do what he required of them, then he\ngave them what I call a portion of the law of carnal commandments. This\nlaw told them what they might and whom they might not marry. It was\nreferred to by the Savior and his Apostles and it was a grievous yoke\nto place on the necks of any people; but as the children of this family\nwould run after Babylon, and after the pride and the vanity and evils\nof the world, and seek to introduce them into Israel, the Lord saw fit\nto place this burden upon them. 16:111.\n\nHow is it with you, sisters? Do you distinguish between a man of God\nand a man of the world? It is one of the strangest things that happens\nin my existence, to think that any man or woman can love a being that\nwill not receive the truth of heaven. The love this Gospel produces\n{305} is far above the love of women; it is the love of God--the love\nof eternity--of eternal lives. 8:199-200.\n\n_Birth Control_--There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits\nwaiting to take tabernacles, now what is our duty?--To prepare\ntabernacles for them; to take a course that will not tend to drive\nthose spirits into the families of the wicked, where they will be\ntrained in wickedness, debauchery, and every species of crime. It is\nthe duty of every righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles for\nall the spirits they can. 4:56.\n\nThis is the reason why the doctrine of plurality of wives was revealed,\nthat the noble spirits which are waiting for tabernacles might be\nbrought forth. 4:56.\n\nTo check the increase of our race has its advocates among the\ninfluential and powerful circles of society in our nation and in\nother nations. The same practice existed forty-five years ago, and\nvarious devices were used by married persons to prevent the expenses\nand responsibilities of a family of children, which they must have\nincurred had they suffered nature's laws to rule preeminent. That\nwhich was practiced then in fear and against reproving conscience, is\nnow boldly trumpeted abroad as one of the best means of ameliorating\nthe miseries and sorrows of humanity. Infanticide is very prevalent\nin our nation. It is a crime that comes within the purview of the\nlaw, and is therefore not so boldly practiced as is the other equally\ngreat crime, which no doubt, to a great extent, prevents the necessity\nof infanticide. The unnatural style of living, the extensive use of\nnarcotics, the attempts to destroy and dry up the fountains of life,\nare fast destroying the American element of the nation; it is passing\naway before the increase of the more healthy, robust, honest, and less\nsinful class of the {306} people which are pouring into the country\ndaily from the Old World. The wife of the servant man is the mother\nof eight or ten healthy children, while the wife of his master is the\nmother of one or two poor, sickly children, devoid of vitality and\nconstitution, and, if daughters, unfit, in their turn, to be mothers,\nand the health and vitality which nature has denied them through the\nirregularities of their parents are not repaired in the least by their\neducation. 12:120-121.\n\n_The Husband_--Let the father be the head of the family, the\nmaster of his own household; and let him treat them as an angel would\ntreat them; and let the wives and the children say amen to what he\nsays, and be subject to his dictates, instead of their dictating the\nman, instead of their trying to govern him. 4:55.\n\nNow let me say to the First Presidency, to the Apostles, to all the\nBishops in Israel, and to every quorum, and especially to those who\nare presiding officers, Set that example before your wives and your\nchildren, before your neighbors and this people, that you can say:\n\"Follow me, as I follow Christ.\" When we do this, all is right, and our\nconsciences are clear! 15:229.\n\nI exhort you, masters, fathers, and husbands, to be affectionate and\nkind to those you preside over. And let them be obedient, let the\nwife be subject to her husband, and the children to their parents.\nMothers, let your minds be sanctified before the Lord, for this is\nthe commencement, the true foundation of a proper education in your\nchildren, the beginning point to form a disposition in your offspring,\nthat will bring honor, glory, comfort, and satisfaction to you all your\nlife time. 1:69.\n\nLet the husband and father learn to bend his will to the {307} will\nof his God, and then instruct his wives and children in this lesson\nof self-government by his example as well as by precept, and his\nneighbors also, showing them how to be brave and steadfast, in subduing\nthe rebellious and sinful disposition. Such a course as this will\neventually subdue that unhallowed influence which works upon the human\nheart. 9:256.\n\nIt is for the husband to learn how to gather around his family the\ncomforts of life, how to control his passions and temper, and how to\ncommand the respect, not only of his family but of all his brethren,\nsisters, and friends. It is the calling of the wife and mother to know\nwhat to do with everything that is brought into the house, laboring to\nmake her home desirable to her husband and children, making herself an\nEve in the midst of a little paradise of her own creating, securing her\nhusband's love and confidence, and tying her offspring to herself, with\na love that is stronger than death, for an everlasting inheritance.\n10:28.\n\nLet the husband make an improvement upon his kitchen and pantry\nand upon his bedrooms for the benefit of his family, and improve\nhis gardens, walks, etc., beautifying your habitations and their\nsurroundings, making pavements and planting shade trees. 10:177.\n\nI have been into houses which have not had the least convenience for\nthe women, not so much as a bench to set their water pails on, and they\nhave to set them on the floor, and yet their husbands will sit there\nyear after year, and never make so much improvement as a bench to set\nthe pail on. Yet they have the ability, but they will not exercise it.\n18:75.\n\nThe father should be full of kindness, and endeavor to {308} happify\nand cheer the mother, that her heart may be comforted and her\naffections unimpaired in her earthly protector, that her love for God\nand righteousness may vibrate throughout her whole being, that she\nmay bear and bring forth offspring impressed and endowed with all the\nqualities necessary to a being designed to reign king of kings and lord\nof lords. 8:62.\n\n_The Wife_--You cannot read in the Bible that women take the\nlead--that the responsibility is upon the women, for it is not so.\n9:143.\n\nOne thing is very true and we believe it, and that is that a woman is\nthe glory of the man; but she was not made to be worshiped by him. As\nthe Scriptures say, Man is not without the woman, neither is woman\nwithout the man in the Lord. Yet woman was not made to be worshiped\nanymore than man was. Woman has her influence, and she should use that\nin training her children in the way they should go; if she fails to do\nthis she assumes fearful responsibilities. 14:106.\n\nI have a word to say to my sisters. When I reflect upon the duties\nand responsibilities devolving upon our mothers and sisters, and the\ninfluence they wield, I look upon them as the mainspring and soul of\nour being here. It is true that man is first. Father Adam was placed\nhere as king of the earth, to bring it into subjection. But when Mother\nEve came she had a splendid influence over him. A great many have\nthought it was not very good; I think it was excellent.\n\nNow, I say the women have great influence. Look at the nations of\nthe earth. Any nation you like, no matter which, and you enlist the\nsympathies of the female portion of it and what is there you cannot\nperform? If the government wants soldiers, they are on hand; if means,\nit is forthcoming. {309} If you want influence and power, and have the\nladies on your side, they will give it you. 14:102.\n\nNow, a few words directly to my sisters here in the Kingdom of God.\nWe want your influence and power in helping to build up that Kingdom\nand what I wish to say to you is simply this, if you will govern and\ncontrol yourselves in all things in accordance with good, sound, common\nsense and the principles of truth and righteousness, there is not the\nleast fear but what father, uncle, grandfather, brothers, and sons will\nfollow in the wake. 14:102.\n\nYou ought to love a woman only so far as she adorns the doctrine you\nprofess. 3:360.\n\nThe mothers are the moving instruments in the hands of Providence to\nguide the destinies of nations. Let the mothers of any nation teach\ntheir children not to make war, the children would grow up and never\nenter into it. Let the mothers teach their children, \"War, war upon\nyour enemies, yes, war to the hilt!\" and they will be filled with this\nspirit. Consequently, you see at once what I wish to impress upon your\nmind is, that the mothers are the machinery that give zest to the whole\nman, and guide the destinies and lives of men upon the earth. 19:72.\n\nIt is the right of the mother who labors in the kitchen, with her\nlittle prattling children around, to enjoy the Spirit of Christ, and\nto know her duty with regard to those children; but it is not her duty\nand privilege to dictate to her husband in his duties and business. If\nthat mother or wife enjoys the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, she\nwill never intrude upon the rights of her husband. It is the right and\nprivilege of the husband to know his duty with regard to his wives and\nchildren, his flocks and his herds, his fields and his possessions;\nthough I have seen women who, I {310} thought, actually knew more about\nthe business of life than their husbands themselves did, and were\nreally more capable of directing a farm, the building of a house, and\nthe management of flocks and herds, etc., than the men were; but if men\nwere to live up to their privileges this would not be the case; for it\nis their right to, claim the light of truth and that intelligence and\nknowledge necessary to enable them to carry on every branch of their\nbusiness successfully. 11:135.\n\nStudy order and cleanliness in your various occupations. Adorn your\ncity and neighborhood. Make your homes lovely, and adorn your hearts\nwith the grace of God. 8:297.\n\nYou may say that it is hard work to please a man; yes, and woman too.\nBut when a man does his duty in providing for a family, there can\nreasonably be but little complaint on the part of any sensible woman.\n4:314.\n\nMany of the sisters grieve because they are not blessed with offspring.\nYou will see the time when you will have millions of children around\nyou. If you are faithful to your covenants, you will be mothers of\nnations. 8:208.\n\nIt is your right, wives, to ask your husbands to set out beautiful\nshade and fruit trees, and to get you some vines and flowers with which\nto adorn the outside of your dwellings; and if your husbands have not\ntime, get them yourselves and plant them out. Some, perhaps, will say,\n\"O, I have nothing but a log house, and it is not worth that.\" Yes; it\nis worth it. Whitewash and plaster it up, and get vines to run over\nthe door, so that everybody who passes will say, \"What a lovely little\ncottage!\" This is your privilege and I wish you to exercise yourselves\nin your own rights. 14:105. {311}\n\nIt is not my general practice to counsel the sisters to disobey their\nhusbands, but my counsel is--obey your husbands; and I am sanguine and\nmost emphatic on that subject. But I never counseled a woman to follow\nher husband to the Devil. If a man is determined to expose the lives\nof his friends, let that man go to the Devil and to destruction alone.\n1:77.\n\nA few words to the sisters, you mothers who are trifling with the\nordinances of the house of God, and the blessings that are proffered\nto you, I will say that the time will come, if you persist in doing\nso, when you will mourn, and will be willing to give worlds, if you\npossessed them, for the privilege of living your lives over again.\nSome of you are treating with contempt the oracles of the Kingdom of\nGod upon the earth, and in the commission of this sin you trifle with\nyour own salvation, as well as the salvation of your children. Repent,\nand turn unto God, and teach your children the importance of doing the\nsame, and of the sacredness of the ordinances and the laws of God.\n18:263.\n\nThe duty of the mother is to watch over her children and give them\ntheir early education, for impressions received in infancy are lasting.\nYou know, yourselves, by experience, that the impressions you have\nreceived in the dawn of your mortal existence, bear, to this day,\nwith the greatest weight upon your mind. The child reposes implicit\nconfidence in the mother, you behold in him a natural attachment, no\nmatter what her appearance may be, that makes him think his mother\nis the best and handsomest mother in the world. I speak for myself.\nChildren have all confidence in their mothers; and if mothers would\ntake proper pains, they can instill into the hearts of their children\nwhat they please. You will, no doubt, recollect reading, in the {312}\nBook of Mormon, of two thousand young men, who were brought up to\nbelieve that, if they put their whole trust in God, and served him, no\npower would overcome them. You also recollect reading of them going out\nto fight, and so bold were they, and so mighty their faith, that it was\nimpossible for their enemies to slay them. This power and faith they\nobtained through the teachings of their mothers.\n\nThese duties and responsibilities devolve upon mothers far more than\nupon fathers, for you know the latter are often in the field or canyon,\nand are frequently away from home, sometimes for several days together,\nattending to labors which compel them to be absent from home. But the\nmother is at home with the children continually; and if they are taught\nlessons of usefulness it depends upon her. 14:105.\n\nMothers, remember that when your husbands are engaged in the service\nof the Church, and are all the time occupied in the duties of the\nPriesthood, so that they have not time to instruct their children,\nthe duty devolves upon you. Then bring your children up in the ways\nof truth, and be to them both a father and mother, until they are old\nenough to perform duties by the side, and under the immediate eye, of\ntheir father. I like to see mothers bring their children to meeting, as\nsoon as they can be brought without injuring them, and when they can\ntell what they want, and call for water when they are faint. As soon\nas they are old enough to receive instruction, bring them here to be\ntaught. 2:21.\n\nWere I a woman possessed of great powers of mind, filled with wisdom,\nand, upon the whole, a magnanimous woman, and had been privileged with\nmy choice, and had married a man, and found myself deceived, he not\nanswering {313} my expectations, and I being sorry that I had made such\na choice, let me show my wisdom by not complaining about it. A woman's\nwisdom and judgment has failed her once in the choice of a husband,\nand it may again, if she is not very careful. By seeking to cast off\nher husband--by withdrawing her confidence and good will from him, she\ncasts a dark shade upon his path, when, by pursuing a proper course of\nlove, obedience, and encouragement, he might attain to that perfection\nshe had anticipated in him. 7:280.\n\nIs it not a blessing to you, mothers, to raise up Prophets and\nApostles--men filled with the glory of God, to go forth and extend the\nwork of our God? 8:92.\n\nI can say to the sisters, if you have superior talents, arise and let\nyour light shine. Prove to your neighbors and the community that you\nare capable of teaching those sisters whom you deem to be ignorant or\nneglectful. 7:162.\n\n_Children_--I wish to say to the children, obey your parents, be\ngood, never suffer yourselves to do that which will mortify you through\nlife, and that will cause you to look back with regret. While you are\npure and spotless preserve yourselves in the integrity of your souls.\nAlthough you are young you know good from evil, and live so that you\ncan look back on your lives and thank the Lord that he has preserved\nyou, or has enabled you to preserve yourselves, so that you have no\nmisconduct to regret or mourn over. Take this course and you will\nsecure to yourselves an honorable name on earth among the good and\nthe pure; you will maintain your integrity before heaven, and prove\nyourselves worthy of a high state of glory when you get through with\nthis world. 14:200.\n\nYou may say to yourselves, \"If I can do as well as my {314} parents, I\nthink I shall do well, and be as good as I want to be, and I should not\nstrive to excel them.\" But if you do your duty you will far excel them\nin everything that is good--in holiness, in physical and intellectual\nstrength, for this is your privilege, and it becomes your duty. 2:18.\n\nOur young folks who have arrived at years of maturity should think\nand act for themselves. They are citizens of the earth; they have\na share here, and have a part to bear--a character to form and\nframe and present to the world, or they will sink into oblivion and\nforgetfulness. 13:263.\n\nThe spirits which are reserved have to be born into the world, and the\nLord will prepare some way for them to have tabernacles. 3:264.\n\nI can pick out scores of men in this congregation who have driven their\nchildren from them by using the wooden rod. Where there is severity\nthere is no affection or filial feeling in the hearts of either party;\nthe children would rather be away from father than be with him. 9:196.\n\nThose whom I once knew as little boys are growing out of my\nrecollection; these young men know nothing but \"Mormonism.\" They are\nin some instances called wild and ungovernable; but these wild boys,\nproperly guided and directed, will make the greatest men who have ever\nlived upon this earth; and I want them to throw aside their diffidence\nand come up and shake hands with me, and say, \"How do you do, Brother\nBrigham?\" for I feel warmly towards them. 11:118.\n\n_Family Life_--If every person, who professes to be a Latter-day\nSaint, was actually a Saint, our home would be a paradise, there would\nbe nothing heard, nothing felt, nothing realized, but praise to the\nname of our God, doing our duty, and keeping his commandments. 3:254.\n{315}\n\nTo gain the spiritual ascendancy over ourselves, and the\ninfluences with which we are surrounded, through a rigid course of\nself-discipline, is our first consideration, it is our first labor,\nbefore we can pave the way for our children to grow up without sin unto\nsalvation. 2:131.\n\nIn my experience I have learned that the greatest difficulty that\nexists in the little bickerings and strifes of man with man, woman with\nwoman, children with children, parents with children, brothers with\nsisters, and sisters with brothers, arises from the want of rightly\nunderstanding each other. 4:368.\n\nIn our daily pursuits in life, of whatever nature and kind, Latter-day\nSaints, and especially those who hold important positions in the\nKingdom of God, should maintain a uniform and even temper, both\nwhen at home and when abroad. They should not suffer reverses and\nunpleasant circumstances to sour their natures and render them fretful\nand unsocial at home, speaking words full of bitterness and biting\nacrimony to their wives and children, creating gloom and sorrow in\ntheir habitations, making themselves feared rather than loved by their\nfamilies. Anger should never be permitted to rise in our bosoms, and\nwords suggested by angry feelings should never be permitted to pass our\nlips. \"A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up\nanger.\" \"Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous;\" but \"the discretion\nof a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a\ntransgression.\" 11:136.\n\nFathers, mothers, brothers and sisters are no more to me than are any\nother persons, unless they embrace this work. Here are my fathers,\nmy mothers, my sisters, and my brethren in the Kingdom, and I have\nnone outside of it, neither in any part of the earth, nor in all the\neternity of {316} the Gods. In this Kingdom are my acquaintances,\nrelatives, and friends,--my soul, my affections, my all. 8:199.\n\nIf a child or relative of mine forsakes the Gospel, the holy\nPriesthood, his God, and the Kingdom of God, farewell to that child or\nrelative, whether near or distant. I own none as relatives, only those\nwho love and serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All that belong\nto my Father's house I own. I love them, I delight in their society,\nno matter whether they are poor or rich, learned or unlearned, if they\nobserve the laws of the Kingdom of God and live according to it. 9:155.\n\nIf children have sinned against their parents, or husbands against\ntheir wives, or wives against their husbands, let them confess their\nfaults one to another and forgive each other, and there let the\nconfession stop; and then let them ask pardon from their God. Confess\nyour sins to whoever you have sinned against, and let it stop there.\nIf you have committed a sin against the community, confess to them.\nIf you have sinned in your family, confess there. Confess your sins,\niniquities, and follies, where that confession belongs, and learn to\nclassify your actions. 4:78.\n\nLet us live so that the spirit of our religion will live within us,\nthen we have peace, joy, happiness and contentment, which makes such\npleasant fathers, pleasant mothers, pleasant children, pleasant\nhouseholds, neighbors, communities and cities. That is worth living\nfor, and I do think that the Latter-day Saints ought to strive for\nthis. 15:135.\n\nI will illustrate the method of establishing confidence in each other\nby taking, for example, the child of four or five years of age. The\nmother allows that child to own a small chest in which to keep his\nlittle trinkets, such as little bosom pins, ribbons, doll clothes,\netc. This is considered {317} by all the family the child's chest. Now let\nnone go into that chest and take anything from it, without the consent\nof the child. This is a very small matter, some may think; but begin\nat as small a point as this to create confidence, and let it grow up\nfrom little to much. Wives, let your husband's stores alone, if they\nhave not committed them to your charge. Husbands, commit that to your\nwives that belongs to them, and never search their boxes without their\nconsent. I can boast of this. I have lived in the marriage relation\nnearly thirty years, and I never was the man to open my wife's chest,\nwithout her consent, except once, and that was to get out a likeness\nthat I wanted on the instant, and she was not at home to get it for\nme. That was the first time I ever opened a trunk in my life, that\nbelonged to my wife, or to my child. The child's little chest, with its\ncontents, is as sacred to him, as mine is to me. If this principle were\nstrictly carried out by every man, woman, and child among the Saints,\nit would make them a blessed people indeed. 1:315.\n\nI wish the daughters of Israel to far exceed their mothers in wisdom.\nAnd I wish these young men and boys to far exceed their fathers. I wish\nmy sons to far exceed me in goodness and virtue. 2:17.\n\nI say to our young men, be faithful, for you do not know what is before\nyou, and abstain from bad company and bad habits. Let me say to the\nboys sixteen years old and even younger, make up your minds to mark\nout the path of rectitude for yourselves, and when evil is presented,\nlet it pass by unnoticed by you, and preserve yourselves in truth,\nin righteousness, virtue and holiness before the Lord. You were born\nin the Kingdom of God; it is to be built up; the earth has to be\nrenovated, and the people sanctified, {318} after they are gathered\nfrom the nations, and it requires considerable skill and ability to do\nthis; let our young men prepare themselves to aid and do their part in\nthis great work. I want you to remember this teaching with regard to\nour youth. 11.118.\n\n_Importance of Early Training_--We see the infant in its mother's\narms. What is this infant here for? What is the design in the creation\nof this little infant child? It lies here in its mothers' arms; it\nwould not resist, in the least, if it were dropped into a caldron of\nboiling oil; if it were thrown into fire it would not know it until\nit felt the flames; it might be laid down here, and the wolf might\ncome and lick its face, and it would not know but that its mother was\nsoothing it. You see this foundation, the starting point, the germ of\nintelligence embodied in this infant, calculated to grow and expand\ninto manhood, then to the capacity of an angel, and so onward to\neternal exaltation. But here is the foundation. Sent to school, the\nchild learns to read, and continues to improve as long as it lives. Is\nthis the end of the knowledge of man? No. It is only the beginning. It\nis the first stage of all the intelligence that the philosopher in his\nreflections, taking the starry world before him, and looking into the\nimmensity of the creations of God, can imagine. Here is the first place\nwhere we learn, this is the foot of the hill. 19:46.\n\nWhen children are old enough to labor in the field, then the father\nwill take them in charge. If children are not taught by their mothers,\nin the days of their youth, to revere and follow the counsels of their\nfathers, it will be hard indeed for the father ever to control them.\n1:68.\n\nParents, have you ever noticed that your children have exercised faith\nfor you when you have been sick? The little {319} daughter, seeing\nyou sick, will lift her heart with a pure, angelic-like prayer to\nheaven; and disease is rebuked when that kind of faith is exercised.\nGod bless the children! I pray that they may live and be reared up\nin righteousness, that God may have a people that will spread and\nestablish one universal reign of peace, and possess the powers of the\nworld to come. 8:117.\n\n_Influence of the Mother_--Let mothers commence to teach their\nchildren while in their laps, there do you teach them to love the Lord,\nand keep his commandments. Teach them to keep your commandments, and\nyou will teach them to keep the commandments of your husbands. It is\nnot the prerogative of a child to dictate to his mother, or his father;\nand it is not the prerogative of the father to rise up and dictate to\nhis God whom he serves. 1:68.\n\nIf you, mothers, will live your religion, then in the love and fear of\nGod teach your children constantly and thoroughly in the way of life\nand salvation, training them up in the way they should go, when they\nare old they will not depart from it. I promise you this, it is as true\nas the shining sun, it is an eternal truth. In this duty we fail; we\ndo not bring up our children in the way they should go, or there would\nbe no turning away, wandering here and there from the society of the\nSaints. We let our children do too much as they have a mind to; if they\nwant this or that their wishes must be gratified. 19:92.\n\nIf a mother wishes to control her child, in the first place let her\nlearn to control herself, then she may be successful in bringing the\nchild into perfect subjection to her will. 14:277.\n\nThe first thing that is taught by the mother to the child {320} should\nbe true; we should never allow ourselves to teach our children one\nthing and practice another. 13:244.\n\nI have often thought and said, \"How necessary it is for mothers,\nwho are the first teachers of their children and who make the first\nimpressions on their young minds, to be strict.\" How careful they\nshould be never to impress a false idea on the mind of a child! They\nshould never teach them anything unless they know it is correct in\nevery respect. They should never say a word, especially in the hearing\nof a child that is improper. How natural it is for women to talk baby\ntalk to their children; and it seems just as natural for the men to do\nso. It is just as natural for me as to draw my breath to talk nonsense\nto a child on my lap, and yet I have been trying to break myself of it\never since I began to have a family. 14:105.\n\n_Teach Children the Gospel_--If we do not take the pains to train\nour children, to teach and instruct them concerning these revealed\ntruths, the condemnation will be upon us, as parents, or at least in a\nmeasure. 19:92.\n\nTeach your children from their youth, never to set their hearts\nimmoderately upon an object of this world. 3:357.\n\nBring up your children in the love and fear of the Lord; study their\ndispositions and their temperaments, and deal with them accordingly,\nnever allowing yourself to correct them in the heat of passion; teach\nthem to love you rather than to fear you, and let it be your constant\ncare that the children that God has so kindly given you are taught\nin their early youth the importance of the oracles of God, and the\nbeauty of the principles of our holy religion, that when they grow\nto the years of man and womanhood they may always cherish a tender\nregard for them and never forsake the truth. I do not wish you to lay\nthe stress and importance {321} upon outward ceremonies that many do.\nParents, teach your children by precept and example, the importance of\naddressing the Throne of grace; teach them how to live, how to draw\nfrom the elements the necessaries of life, and teach them the laws of\nlife that they may know how to preserve themselves in health and be\nable to minister to others. And when instructing them in the principles\nof the Gospel, teach them that they are true, truth sent down from\nheaven for our salvation, and that the Gospel incorporates every truth\nwhether in heaven, in earth, or in hell; and teach them, too, that we\nhold the keys of eternal life, and that they must obey and observe the\nordinances and laws pertaining to this holy Priesthood, which God has\nrevealed and restored for the exaltation of the children of men. 19:221.\n\nIf the law of Christ becomes the tradition of this people, the children\nwill be brought up according to the law of the celestial kingdom, else\nthey are not brought up in the way they should go. 3:327.\n\nLatter-day Saints, have your children come to meeting. Sisters, let\nyour little girls go to Sunday school or come to meeting! Brethren,\nlet your children go to Sunday school, or to meeting, and advise your\nneighbors to do the same. 14:118.\n\nIn the morning, it is true, there are many in the Sunday school, and\nthat we recommend; but in the afterpart of the day, where are these\nschool children? Are they playing in the streets, or are they visiting?\nIn going to Sunday school they have done their duty so far; but they\nought to be here. In their youth they ought to learn the principles and\ndoctrines of their faith, the arguments for truth, and the advantages\nof truth. 15:83.\n\nTeach your children honesty and uprightness, and teach {322} them also\nnever to injure others. As I say to my Sisters sometimes, \"Look here,\nmy dear sister, if your child quarrels with your neighbor's child, do\nnot chasten your neighbor's child. Go and make peace, be a peace-maker.\nTeach your child never to do a wrong; and if your neighbor's child has\ninjured you or yours, or taken anything from you, never mind. You stop\nuntil you find out. Perhaps the child has meant no wrong. You should\nlearn the facts in the case, and go with a meek, humble, quiet spirit,\nand peace will result.\" 13:252.\n\n_Parents Should Teach by Example:_ If parents will continually\nset before their children examples worthy of their imitation and the\napproval of our Father in Heaven, they will turn the current, and the\ntide of feelings of their children, and they, eventually, will desire\nrighteousness more than evil. 14:195.\n\nLet the father and mother, who are members of this Church and Kingdom,\ntake a righteous course, and strive with all their might never to do\na wrong, but to do good all their lives; if they have one child or\none hundred children, if they conduct themselves towards them as they\nshould, binding them to the Lord by their faith and prayers, I care\nnot where those children go, they are bound up to their parents by an\neverlasting tie, and no power of earth or hell can separate them from\ntheir parents in eternity; they will return again to the fountain from\nwhence they sprang. 11:215.\n\nWe should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing\nto see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish\nthem to imitate. Do we realize this? How often we see parents demand\nobedience, good behavior, kind words, pleasant looks, a sweet voice\n{323} and a bright eye from a child or children when they themselves\nare full of bitterness and scolding! How inconsistent and unreasonable\nthis is! 14:192.\n\nParents should never drive their children, but lead them along, giving\nthem knowledge as their minds are prepared to receive it. Chastening\nmay be necessary betimes, but parents should govern their children by\nfaith rather than by the rod, leading them kindly by good example into\nall truth and holiness. 12:174.\n\nOur children will have the love of the truth, if we but live our\nreligion. Parents should take that course that their children can say,\n\"I never knew my father to deceive or take advantage of a neighbor; I\nnever knew my father to take to himself that which did not belong to\nhim, never, never! No, but he said, 'Son, or daughter, be honest, true,\nvirtuous, kind, industrious, prudent and full of good works.'\" Such\nteachings from parents to their children will abide with them forever,\nunless they sin against the Holy Ghost, and some few, perhaps, will do\nthis. 14:195.\n\n_Guides for Child Training_--We can guide, direct, and prune a\ntender sprout, and it inclines to our direction, if it is wisely and\nskilfully applied. So, if we surround a child with healthy and salutary\ninfluences, give him suitable instructions and store his mind with\ntruthful traditions, may be that will direct his feet in the way of\nlife. 9:248.\n\nA child loves the smiles of its mother, but hates her frowns. I tell\nthe mothers not to allow the children to indulge in evils, but at the\nsame time to treat them with mildness. If a child is required to step\nin a certain direction, and it does not seem willing to do so, gently\nput it in the desired way, and say, There, my little dear, you must\nstep when I speak to you. Children need directing and {324} teaching\nwhat is right in a kind, affectionate manner. 8:74.\n\nYou cannot break down the indomitable will of the human family. I have\nknown children to be so abused and whipped as to render them almost or\nentirely worthless, and still the indomitable will remained. 6:332.\n\nNow understand it--when parents whip their children for reading novels,\nand never let them go to the theater, or to any place of recreation and\namusement, but bind them to the moral law, until duty becomes loathsome\nto them; when they are freed by age from the rigorous training of their\nparents, they are more fit for companions to devils, than to be the\nchildren of such religious parents. 2:94.\n\nIt never hurts my feelings to see young exuberant life and animation\nmanifest themselves. Do not be discouraged about the follies of the\nyoung. 7:336.\n\nYou see, hear and witness a good deal of contention among\nchildren--some of you do, if not all--and I will give you a few words\nwith regard to your future lives, that you may have children that are\nnot contentious, not quarrelsome. Always be good-natured yourselves,\nis the first step. Never allow yourselves to become out of temper and\nget fretful. Why, mother says, \"this is a very mischievous little boy\nor little girl.\" What do you see? That amount of vitality in those\nlittle children that they cannot be still. If they cannot do anything\nelse they will tip over the chairs, cut up and pull away at anything\nto raise a row. They are so full of life that they cannot contain\nthemselves; and they are something like ourselves--boys. They have so\nmuch vitality in them that their bones fairly ache with strength. They\nhave such an amount of vitality--life, strength and activity, that they\nmust dispose of them; and the young ones will contend with each other.\nDo not be out of temper {325} yourselves. Always sympathize with them\nand soothe them. Be mild and pleasant. 19:69.\n\nI believe in indulging children, in a reasonable way. If the little\ngirls want dolls, shall they have them? Yes. But must they be taken to\nthe dressmaker's to be dressed? No. Let the girls learn to cut and sew\nthe clothing for their dolls, and in a few years they will know how to\nmake a dress for themselves and others. Let the little boys have tools,\nand let them make their sleds, little wagons, etc., and when they grow\nup, they are acquainted with the use of tools and can build a carriage,\na house, or anything else. 9:173.\n\nBe careful of the clothing, you have. Do not let your children's\nclothing lie underfoot when you undress them at night, but teach\nyour boys and girls, when they come into the house, to find a place\nfor their hats, cloaks, and bonnets, that, when they want them, they\ncan put their hands upon them in a moment. When they take off their\nboots and shoes, let them be deposited where they can be found in the\ndark, that, if the children are obliged to get up at night, perhaps\nin case of fire, they can find their clothing, and not be under the\nnecessity of being turned out naked. If a person can put his hand on\nhis clothing, he can dress in the dark. 9:172-3.\n\nWhat did you promise your little girl if she would do so and so? Did\nyou promise her a present for well doing? \"Yes.\" Have you recollected\nit? \"No, it has gone from my mind,\" says the mother. If she does ill\nhave you promised her a chastisement? \"Yes.\" Did you keep your word?\nYou have not, and the child forms the conclusion in its own mind\ndirectly that the mother tells that which is not true--she says she\nwill do this or that, and she does not do it. It {326} is an easy\nlesson for mothers to learn to pass their time with their children and\nnever give them a false impression. Think before you speak; promise\nyour children nothing. If you wish to make them presents, do so; if you\npromise a chastisement, keep your word, but be cautious! 13:244.\n\nMothers, will you be missionaries? We will appoint you a mission to\nteach your children their duty, and instead of ruffles and fine dresses\nto adorn the body, teach them that which will adorn their minds. Let\nwhat you have to clothe them with be neat and clean and nice. Teach\nthem cleanness and purity of body and the principles of salvation, and\nthey will delight to come to these meetings. 14:220.\n\nI delight to see the mother teach her daughters to be housekeepers, to\nbe particular, clean, and neat; to sew, spin, and weave; to make butter\nand cheese; and I have no objection to their learning to cultivate\nflowers, herbs, and useful shrubs in the gardens. It is good for their\nhealth to rise early in the morning and work in the soil an hour or\ntwo before breakfast, this practice is especially beneficial to those\nwho have weak lungs. And while you delight in raising flowers, etc.,\ndo not neglect to learn how to take care of the cream, and how to make\nof it good wholesome butter, and of the milk good healthy nutritious\ncheese; neither forget your sewing, spinning, and weaving; and I would\nnot have them neglect to learn music and would encourage them to read\nhistory and the Scriptures, to take up a newspaper, geography, and\nother publications, and make themselves acquainted with the manners and\ncustoms of distant kingdoms and nations, with their laws, religion,\ngeographical location on the face of the world, their climate, natural\nproductions, the extent of their commerce, and the {327} nature of\ntheir political organization; in fine, let our boys and girls be\nthoroughly instructed in every useful branch of physical and mental\neducation. Let this education begin early. Teach little children the\nprinciples of order; the little girl to put the broom in its right\nplace, to arrange the stove furniture in the neatest possible way, and\neverything in its own place. Teach them to lay away their clothing\nneatly, and where it can be found; and when they tear their frocks and\naprons teach them how to mend the rent so neatly that the place cannot\nbe seen at a short distance; and instead of asking your husbands to\nbuy them ribbons and frills, teach them to make them of the material\nwe can produce. Teach the little boys to lay away the garden hoe, the\nspade, etc., where they will not be destroyed by rust; and let them\nhave access to tools that they may learn their use, and develop their\nmechanical skill while young; and see that they gather up the tools\nwhen they have done with them, and deposit them in the proper place.\nLet both males and females encourage within them mechanical ingenuity,\nand seek constantly to understand the world they are in, and what use\nto make of their existence. 9:188-189.\n\nI would like to see the time when our sisters will take more pains\nto beautify their children. When your children arise in the morning,\ninstead of sending them out of doors to wash in cold, hard water, with\na little soft soap, and wiping them as though you would tear the skin\noff them, creating roughness and darkness of skin, take a piece of soft\nflannel, and wipe the faces of your children smooth and nice, dry them\nwith a soft cloth; and instead of giving them pork for their breakfast,\ngive them good wholesome bread and sweet milk, baked potatoes and also\nbuttermilk if they like it, and a little fruit, and I would have no\nobjections {328} to their eating a little rice. Rice is an excellent\nfood for children, and I wish some of the brethren would cultivate it\nin these valleys. Upland rice will flourish in this country. Train up\nyour children to be beautiful and fair, instead of neglecting them\nuntil they are sunburned and become like the natives of our mountains.\n12:201.\n\n_Need of Parent Training_--You should go to work to study and see\nwhat you can do for the recovery of your children. If a child is taken\nsick with fever, give it something to stay that fever or relieve that\nstomach and bowels, so that mortification may not set in. Treat the\nchild with prudence and care, with faith and patience, and be careful\nin not overcharging it with medicine. If you take too much medicine\ninto the system, it is worse than too much food. But you will always\nfind that an ounce of preventive is worth a pound of cure. Study and\nlearn something for yourselves. It is the privilege of a mother to have\nfaith and to administer to her child; this she can do herself, as well\nas sending for the Elders to have the benefit of their faith. 13:155. {329}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\n_SOME WOMANLY DUTIES_\n\n_The Housewife_--I am addressing myself to the ladies of the\nKingdom of God, to those who know how to keep their houses, furniture\nand beds pure and clean, who can cook food for their husbands, and\nchildren in a way that it will be clean, tasteful and wholesome. The\nwoman that can do this I call a lady. In this view I differ from the\nworld generally; for the lady of the world is not supposed to know\nanything about what is going on in the kitchen; her highest ambition is\nto be sure and be in the fashion, at no matter what cost to her husband\nor father; she considers that she may as well be out of the world as\nout of the fashion. 11:138.\n\nA good housewife, whether she possesses much or little, will have a\nplace for everything she has in the house, and make her house orderly\nand comfortable, and everything when wanted can be found in its place.\n9:157.\n\nIf I had nothing but a piece of an old newspaper folded for a holder\nI would have it where I could put my hand on it in a moment, in the\ndark if I wanted it. And so with the dishcloth, the broom, the chairs,\ntables, sofas, and everything about the house, so that if you had to\nget up in the night you could lay your hand on whatever you wanted\ninstantly. Have a place for everything and everything in its place.\n14:89.\n\nWhen I go into a house, I can soon know whether the woman is an\neconomical housekeeper or not; and if I stay a few days, I can tell\nwhether a husband can get rich or not. If she is determined on her own\ncourse, and will waste and {330} spoil the food entrusted to her, that\nman will always be poor. 4:313.\n\nIt is an old saying that a woman can throw out of the window with a\nspoon as fast as a man can throw into the door with a shovel; but a\ngood house-keeper will be saving and economical and teach her children\nto be good housekeepers, and how to take care of everything that is put\nin their charge. 12:195.\n\nLadies, if you are the means of plunging this whole people into debt so\nas to distress them, will there be anything required of you? I think\nthere will, for you will be judged according to your works. Are not the\nmen as extravagant as the women? Yes, certainly they are, and just as\nfoolish. I could point out instances by the score and by the hundred of\nmen who are just as unwise, shortsighted, and foolish as the women can\nbe; but a condemnation of the male portion of the community will not\njustify the female portion of it. 14:105.\n\nNow, sisters, if you will consider these things you will readily\nsee that time is all the capital stock there is on the earth; and\nyou should consider your time golden, it is actually wealth, and,\nif properly used, it brings that which will add to your comfort,\nconvenience, and satisfaction. Let us consider this, and no longer sit\nwith hands folded, wasting time, for it is the duty of every man and of\nevery woman to do all that is possible to promote the Kingdom of God on\nthe earth. 18:77.\n\nIf there are women who want to do good, let them do their own work,\nand save their sixpences and dollars for the building of temples,\ntabernacles, meeting-houses, school-houses, educating the youth,\npreaching the Gospel, and gathering the poor. 11:351. {331}\n\nWhat I say of housewives will fully apply to farmers and mechanics. I\nlabored many years as a mechanic, and in the darkest night I could put\nmy hand upon any tool I used. You may call this boasting, but it is\nnot. It is merely mentioning the order in which I kept my shop. 8:296.\n\nCount the steps that a woman takes when she is doing her work, let them\nbe measured, and it will be found that in many instances she had taken\nsteps enough to have traveled from fifteen to twenty miles a day; I\nwill warrant this to be the case. 4:101.\n\n_Woman's Fashions_--Beauty must be sought in the expression of\nthe countenance, combined with neatness and cleanliness and graceful\nmanners. 18:75.\n\nAnything is ridiculous, more or less, that is not comely. 14:17.\n\nLet the beauty of your adorning be the work of your hands. 19:75.\n\nI love to see the human form and the human face adorned, but let our\nadorning be the workmanship of our hands, from the elements with\nwhich we are constantly surrounded. I love beauty whether adorned or\nunadorned. I love chaste and refined manners, especially when they are\nfounded upon virtue. 10:6.\n\nIn the works of God, you see an eternal variety, consequently we do not\nask the people to become Quakers, and all the men wear wide-brimmed\nhats, and the ladies wear drab or cream-colored silk bonnets projecting\nin the front, perhaps six or seven inches, rounded on the corners, with\na cape behind. 14:17.\n\nThe daughters of Israel should understand what fashions they should\nhave, without borrowing from the impure and unrighteous. 12:220. {332}\n\nCreate your own fashions, and make your clothing to please yourselves,\nindependent of outside influences; and make your hats and bonnets to\nshade you. I wish you, sisters, to listen to these counsels, and place\nyourselves in a condition to administer to the poor. Get your husbands\nto provide you with a little of this and a little of that of which you\ncan make something by adding your own labor. I do not mean that you\nshall apply to them for five dollars and ten dollars to spend for that\nwhich is of no profit, but manufacture something that will be useful as\nwell as beautiful and comely. 12:202.\n\nNot flaunting, flirting and gossiping, as a great many are, and\nthinking continually of their dresses, and of this that and the other\nthat will minister to and gratify their vanity. Such women seldom think\nof their prayers. 15:162.\n\nI am ashamed to see the tight clothes--to see the shape of the ladies.\n19:75.\n\nAsk your mothers, then, to make your clothes suitable and becoming; and\nkeep your hair smooth and nice. The hair is given to the female for\nadornment; and therefore let the ladies, young and old, adorn their\nheads with their hair. Mothers should study and children should study\nto preserve the skin of the children from being ruined by dirt, and the\nheat of a scorching sun, and to keep themselves clean and pure. 19:65.\n\nIf I were a lady and had a piece of cloth to make me a dress, I would\ncut it so as to cover my person handsomely and neatly; and whether it\nwas cut according to the fashion or not, custom would soon make it\nbeautiful. 15:38.\n\nIt adds no beauty to a lady, in my opinion, to adorn her with fine\nfeathers. When I look at a woman, I look at her face, which is composed\nof her forehead, cheeks, nose, {333} mouth and chin, and I like to\nsee it clean, her hair combed neat and nice, and her eyes bright and\nsparkling; and if they are so, what do I care what she has on her head,\nor how or of what material her dress is made? Not the least in the\nworld. 18:74.\n\nThe Lord instructs us in a revelation, to let our clothing be plain:\n\"Let all thy garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of the work\nof thine own hands.\" He never said to us, \"Do not make a silk or satin\nribbon, or fine broadcloth,\" but he has said to us, \"Make the articles\nof clothing that you wear;\" if we do not, we shall find by and by that\nwe shall not be able to get them. 10:311.\n\nLet the sisters take care of themselves, and make themselves beautiful,\nand if any of you are so superstitious and ignorant as to say that this\nis pride, I can say that you are not informed as to the pride which\nis sinful before the Lord, you are also ignorant as to the excellency\nof the heavens, and of the beauty which dwells in the society of the\nGods. Were you to see an angel, you would see a beautiful and lovely\ncreature. Make yourselves like angels in goodness and beauty. Let the\nmothers in Israel make their sons and daughters healthy and beautiful,\nby cleanliness and a proper diet. Whether you have much or little\nclothing for your children, it can be kept clean and healthy, and\nbe made to fit their persons neatly. Make your children lovely and\nfair that you may delight in them. Cease to send out your children to\nherd sheep with their skins exposed to the hot sun, until their hands\nand faces appear as though they lived in an ash heap. I call upon my\nsisters to lead out in these things. 12:201.\n\nIt is a disgrace to a community to drag their cloth in the dirt. How\nmany women are there here today who {334} walked to this Tabernacle\nwithout throwing dirt every step they took, not only on themselves but\nupon those who walked near them? I shun them; when I see them coming.\nI try to make my way in some other direction in order to avoid their\ndust. I can get enough of it without receiving it from them. If there\nis a nuisance in the path, they are sure to wipe up a portion of it\nwith their dress, and then trail it on to their carpet or into the\nbedrooms and distribute it through the house.\n\nOn the other hand I will say, ladies, if we ask you to make your\ndresses a little shorter, do not be extravagant and cut them so short\nthat we can see the tops of your stockings. Bring them down to the top\nof your shoes, and have them so that you can walk and clear the dust,\nand do not expose your persons. Have your dresses neat and comely, and\nconduct yourselves, in the strictest sense of the word, in chastity.\n12:299.\n\nIf my mother and her grandmother got one silk dress, and they lived\nto a hundred years old, it was all that they wanted. I think my\ngrandmother's silk dress came down to her children. She put her silk\ndress on when I went to see her. It was, I think, her wedding dress,\nand she had been married some seventy years. 19:74.\n\nThat which is convenient should be beautiful. 15:38.\n\nAs for fashion, it does not trouble me, my fashion is convenience and\ncomfort. 14:21.\n\n_Some Duties of the Relief Societies_--These societies are for the\nimprovement of our manners, our dress, our habits, and our methods of\nliving. 19:68.\n\nThe sisters in our Female Relief Societies have done great good. Can\nyou tell the amount of good that the mothers and daughters in Israel\nare capable of doing? No, {335} it is impossible. And the good they do\nwill follow them to all eternity. 13:34.\n\nAs I have often told my sisters in the Female Relief Societies, we have\nsisters here who, if they had the privilege of studying, would make\njust as good mathematicians or accountants as any man; and we think\nthey ought to have the privilege to study these branches of knowledge\nthat they may develop the powers with which they are endowed. We\nbelieve that women are useful, not only to sweep houses, wash dishes,\nmake beds, and raise babies, but that they should stand behind the\ncounter, study law or physic, or become good bookkeepers and be able to\ndo the business in any counting house, and all this to enlarge their\nsphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large.\n\nIn following these things they but answer the design of their creation.\n13:61.\n\nNow, ladies, go to and organize yourselves into industrial societies,\nand get your husbands to produce you some straw, and commence bonnet\nand hat making. If every Ward would commence and continue this and\nother industrial pursuits, it would not be long before the females of\nthe Wards of our Territory would have stores in their Wards, and means\nsufficient to send and get the articles which they need, that cannot\nyet be manufactured here and which they may want to distribute. 12:195.\n\nWhen the sisters, for instance, meet together at a quilting or for a\nvisit, if every one speaks, believes and loves the truth, and there is\nnothing in them that is deceptive, how easy it is to converse and pass\nthe time! We all delight in the truth; and if a wrong, or that which\nis false, is manifested it must be corrected or banished, and truth be\nadopted in the place thereof. It is the easiest life to lead {336} on\nthe face of the earth. How do I know it? By experience; I never tried\nthe opposite much. 14:76.\n\nI will here say to the Latter-day Saints, if you will feed the poor\nwith a willing heart and ready hand, neither you, nor your children,\nwill ever be found begging bread. In these things the people are right;\nthey are right in establishing Female Relief Societies, that the hearts\nof the widow and the orphan may be made glad by the blessings which are\nso abundantly and so freely poured out upon them. 12:171.\n\nSisters, do you see any children around your neighborhood poorly clad\nand without shoes? If you do, I say to you, Female Relief Societies,\npick up these children and relieve their necessities, and send them to\nschool. And if you see any young, middle-aged or old ladies in need\nfind them something to do that will enable them to sustain themselves;\nbut don't relieve the idle, for relieving those who are able but\nunwilling to work is ruinous to any community. The time we spend here\nis our life, our substance, our capital, our fortune, and that time\nshould be used profitably. Take these old ladies, there are a great\nmany of them around rather poor, and give them something to do; that is\ntheir delight. You will hardly find an old lady in the community who\nhas not been brought up to work; and they would rather knit stockings\nor do some other useful labor than eat the bread of charity. Relieve\nthe wants of every individual in need in your neighborhoods. This is in\nthe capacity and in the power of the Female Relief Societies when it is\nnot in the power of the Bishops. 14:107.\n\nI wish to call the attention of our sisters to our Relief Societies.\nWe are happy to say that many of them have done a great deal. We wish\nthem to continue and progress. {337} In our Relief Societies we wish\nto introduce many improvements. We wish our sisters of experience to\nteach the young girls not to be so anxious for the gratification of\ntheir imaginary wants, but to confine themselves more to their real\nnecessities. Fancy has no bounds, and I often think it is without\nform and comeliness. We are too apt to give way to the imagination\nof our hearts, but if we will be guided by wisdom, our judgment will\nbe corrected, and we will find that we can improve very much. We can\nimprove the language we use. 12:298.\n\nThe ladies can learn to keep books as well as the men; we have some\nfew, already, who are just as good accountants as any of our brethren.\nWhy not teach more of them to keep books and sell goods, and let them\ndo this business, and let the men go to raising sheep, wheat, or\ncattle, or go and do something or other to beautify the earth and help\nto make it like the Garden of Eden, instead of spending their time in a\nlazy, loafing manner? 12:374-5.\n\nI have a short sermon for my sisters. I wish you, under the direction\nof your Bishops and wise men, to establish your Relief Societies, and\norganize yourselves under the direction of the brethren, and establish\nyourselves for doing business, gathering up your little amounts of\nmeans that would otherwise go to waste, and put them to usury, and\nmake more of them, and thus keep gathering in. Let this be commenced\nforthwith. 12:201. {338}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\n_OBEDIENCE_\n\n_Counsel_--How my heart longs to see the brethren and sisters in\na condition that when the words of truth and virtue--righteous words\nof counsel--are poured upon them, they will meet like drops of water\nmeeting each other. How I long to see the brethren, when they hear the\nwords of truth poured upon them, ready to receive those words because\nthey are perfectly congenial to their feelings, and every soul exclaim,\n\"Those words savor of the Spirit that is in me; they are my delight, my\nmeat, and my drink; they are the streams of eternal life. How congenial\nthey are, instead of their being contrary to my feelings.\" 9:3.\n\nIf we hearken to counsel, we shall be the best people in the world; we\nshall be as a bright light set upon a hill, that cannot be hid, or like\na candle upon a candlestick. 12:173.\n\nIf I or any other man give counsel that meets with opposition, that\nintrudes upon the affections, meditations, and feelings of the people,\nand is harsh to their ears, bitter to their souls, it is either not\nthe words of truth, or they have not the fountain of life within them,\none of the two. If the Lord speaks from the heavens, reveals his will,\nand it comes in contact with our feelings and notions of things, or\nwith our judgments, we are destitute of that fountain of truth which we\nshould possess. If our hearts are filled with the Spirit of truth, with\nthe Spirit of the Lord, no matter what the true words from heaven are,\nwhen God speaks, all his subjects should shout, \"Hallelujah! praise\nGod! We are ready to receive those words, for they are true.\" 9:3-4.\n{339}\n\nEvery man in the Kingdom of God would give the same counsel upon each\nsubject, if he would wait until he had the mind of Christ upon it. Then\nall would have one word and mind, and all men would see eye to eye.\n5:100.\n\nIf you would always pause and say, I have no counsel for you, I have no\nanswer for you on this subject, because I have no manifestation of the\nSpirit, and be willing to let everybody in the world know that you are\nignorant when you are, you would become wise a great deal quicker than\nto give counsel on your own judgment, without the Spirit of revelation.\n5:100.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints who hearken to the words of the Lord, given to\nthem touching their political, social, and financial concerns, I say,\nand say it boldly, that they will have wisdom which is altogether\nsuperior to the wisdom of the children of darkness, or the children of\nthis world. I know this by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ,\nand by the results of my own actions. They who have hearkened to the\ncounsels given to them in temporal matters, have invariably bettered\ntheir condition temporally and spiritually. 12:118.\n\n_Obedience_--When the Lord commands the people, let them obey.\n2:123.\n\nEvery son and daughter of God is expected to obey with a willing heart\nevery word which the Lord has spoken, and which he will in the future\nspeak to us. It is expected that we hearken to the revelations of his\nwill, and adhere to them, cleave to them with all our might; for this\nis salvation, and any thing short of this clips the salvation and the\nglory of the Saints. 2:2.\n\nObedience is one of the plainest, most every-day and home principles\nthat you ever thought or know anything {340} about. In the first place,\nlearn that you have a father, and then learn strict obedience to that\nparent. Is not that a plain, domestic, home principle? 6:173.\n\nI cannot save you. I can tell you how to save yourselves, but you must\ndo the will of God. 10:317.\n\nHow shall we know what to do? By being obedient to every requirement of\nthe Gospel. 8:148.\n\nA mere theory amounts to but little, while practice and obedience have\nto do with stern realities. 9:330.\n\nEvery good and wholesome law we should obey strictly, and do it with a\ngood and honest-heart. 11:134.\n\nBlessed are they who obey when the Lord gives a direct commandment, but\nmore blessed are they who obey without a direct commandment. 12:128.\n\nDo you think that people will obey the truth because it is true, unless\nthey love it? No, they will not. Truth is obeyed when it is loved.\nStrict obedience to the truth will alone enable people to dwell in the\npresence of the Almighty. 7:55.\n\nThe Lord has sent forth his laws, commandments, and ordinances to the\nchildren of men, and requires them to be strictly obeyed, and we do\nnot wish to transgress those laws, but to keep them. We do not wish to\nchange his ordinances, but to observe them; we do not wish to break the\neverlasting covenant, but to keep that with our fathers, with Jesus,\nwith our Father in Heaven, with holy angels, and to live according to\nthem. 16:31.\n\nIf a man is called to go and labor for the poor, if his Bishop calls\nupon him to go into the canyon after a load of wood for the poor, and\nhe goes there, with his heart uplifted to God, and with his eye single\nto the building up of the Kingdom, and gets the load of wood and lays\nit at the {341} door of the Bishop for the poor, for the widow or for\nthose who cannot help themselves, he is just as much in the line of his\nduty in so doing as though he were on his knees praying. 11:293.\n\nThis people have got to become of one heart and one mind. They have\nto know the will of God and do it, for to know the will of God is one\nthing, and to bring our wills, our dispositions, into subjection to\nthat which we do understand to be the will of God is another. 3:54-5.\n\nWe believe in obeying the laws of the land, we should also obey the\nlaws of God. 16:45.\n\nSome of you may ask, \"Is there a single ordinance to be dispensed\nwith? Is there one of the commandments that God has enjoined upon the\npeople, that he will excuse them from obeying?\" Not one, no matter how\ntrifling or small in our own estimation. No matter if we esteem them\nnon-essential, or least or last of all the commandments of the house of\nGod, we are under obligation to observe them. 8:339.\n\nWith regard to the obedience of heavenly beings, to which reference has\nbeen made to-day; they live pure and holy, and they have attained unto\nthis power through suffering. Many of them have drunk of the bitter cup\neven to the dregs. They have learned that righteousness will prevail,\nthat truth is the foundation of their very existence. 11:15.\n\nThe most effectual way to establish the religion of Heaven is to live\nit, rather than to die for it: I think I am safe in saying that there\nare many of the Latter-day Saints who are more willing to die for their\nreligion than to live it faithfully. There is no other proof can be\nadduced to God, angels, and men, that a people faithfully live their\n{342} religion, than that they repent truly of their sins, obey the law\nof baptism for the remission of sins, and then continue to do the works\nof righteousness day by day. 9:333.\n\nThere are a great many texts which might be used, very comprehensive\nand full of meaning, but I know of none, either in the Old or New\nTestament, more so than that saying, said to have been made by\nthe Savior, and I have no doubt it was, \"If ye love me, keep my\ncommandments.\"\n\nHow long? For a day? Keep the commandments of the Lord for a week?\nObserve and do his will for a month or a year? There is no promise to\nany individual, that I have any knowledge of, that he shall receive\nthe reward of the just, unless he is faithful to the end. If we fully\nunderstand and faithfully carry out in our lives the saying of Jesus,\n\"If ye love me, keep my commandments,\" we shall be prepared to go back\nand dwell in the presence of the Father and the Son.\n\nWhat are his commandments? Did he ever teach the people anything that\nis wrong? If we read the requirements made by Jesus, by the Father, or\nby any messenger sent from the heavens to the children of men, we shall\nfind nothing that will injure any human being or that will destroy\nthe soul of one of the sons or daughters of Adam and Eve. Many think\nthat the sayings and doings of some of the prophets and servants of\nGod, in ancient and modern times, said and done in obedience to the\ncommands of the Lord Almighty, tend to evil; but it is not so. All\nGod's requirements tend to do good to his children. Any notion to the\ncontrary is the result of ignorance. The human family are enveloped\nin ignorance, so far as the origin and object of their existence here\nis concerned. Their ignorance, superstition, darkness and blindness\nare very {343} apparent to all who are in the least enlightened by\nthe Spirit of truth. They seek to hide themselves in ignorance and\nblindness rather than learn who they are and the object of their being\nhere. What do the human family know of God or Jesus, or of the words\nwhich I have quoted \"If ye love me, keep my commandments?\" \"Search the\nScriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life,\" says Jesus,\n\"and they are they which testify of me.\" They testify of the Savior, of\nhis doctrines and requirements, and of the ordinances of his house; the\nplan of salvation is there portrayed, and any person who follows its\ndictation may redeem himself from the thraldom of sin, and know, by the\nSpirit, that Jesus is the Christ. All who will take this course will\nknow by revelation that God is our Father; they will understand the\nrelationship they hold to him and to their fellow-beings. The world may\nin vain ask the question, \"Who are we?\" But the Gospel tells us that\nwe are the sons and daughters of that God whom we serve. Some say, \"We\nare the children of Adam and Eve.\" So we are, and they are the children\nof our Heavenly Father. We are all the children of Adam and Eve, and\nthey are the offspring of him who dwells in the heavens, the highest\nIntelligence that dwells anywhere that we have any knowledge of. Here\nwe find ourselves, and when infants, the most helpless, and needing\nthe most care and attention of any creatures that come into being on\nthe face of the earth. Here we find in ourselves the germ and the\nfoundation, the embryo of exaltation, glory, immortality and eternal\nlives. As we grow up we receive strength, knowledge and wisdom, some\nmore and some less; but only by keeping the commands of the Lord Jesus\ncan we have the privilege of {344} knowing the things pertaining to\neternity and our relationship to the heavens. 13:310.\n\nThe most excellent human or divine laws are of no use to earthly or\nheavenly beings, unless they are faithfully observed. Law is for the\nprotection of the law-abider; and the penalty of the law is for the\nlaw-breaker. 9:332.\n\nPeople will never be taken and sacrificed for their ignorance, when\nthey have had no opportunity to know and understand the truth. Such a\nproceeding would be contrary to the economy of heaven. But after we\nreceive and understand things as they are, if we then disobey, we may\nlook for the chastening hand of the Almighty. 3:246.\n\nWalk up, O ye Latter-day Saints, and wake up! Come to the Lord, forsake\nyour covetousness, your back-slidings, forsake the spirit of the world,\nand return to the Lord with full purpose of heart until you get the\nSpirit of Christ within you, that you, like others, can cry, \"Abba\nFather, the Lord, he is God, and I am his servant.\" 15:6.\n\nWe have nothing to sacrifice. All we have to do is to love and serve\nour God, and do everything we can to bring knowledge to ourselves and\nto the people. 6:196.\n\nWhen the Gospel is preached to the honest in heart they receive it\nby faith, but when they obey it labor is required. To practice the\nGospel requires time, faith, the heart's affections and a great deal\nof labor. Here many stop. They hear and believe, but before they go on\nto practice they begin to think that they were mistaken, and unbelief\nenters into their hearts. 16:40.\n\nWhen we get to understand all knowledge, all wisdom, that it is\nnecessary for us to understand in the flesh, we will be like clay in\nthe hands of the potter, willing to be moulded and fashioned according\nto the will of him who {345} has called us to this great and glorious\nwork, of purifying ourselves and our fellow-beings, and of preparing\nthe nations of the earth for the glory that awaits them through\nobedience. 19:93.\n\nI believe that it is a hell intolerable for a people, a family or a\nsingle person, to strive to grasp truth with one hand, and error with\nthe other, to profess to walk in obedience to the commandments of God,\nand, at the same time, mingle heart and hand with the wicked. 3:254.\n\n_Effect of Obedience_--Great peace have they who love the law of\nthe Lord and abide in his commandments. 8:121.\n\nIf you wish to receive and enjoy the favor of our Heavenly Father, do\nhis will. 8:33.\n\nWhen will this people become Saints indeed? Not until they observe\nevery counsel that is given to them of this kind, doing with their\nmight the things that are required of them. 11:139.\n\nAll who receive eternal life and salvation will receive it on no other\nconditions than believing in the Son of God and obeying the principles\nthat he has laid down. Can we devise any other means and plan of\nsalvation? We cannot. 13:213.\n\nThe Saints who live their religion will be exalted, for they never\nwill deny any revelation which the Lord has given or may give, though,\nwhen there is a doctrine coming to them which they cannot comprehend\nfully, they may be found saying, \"The Lord sendeth this unto me,\nand I pray that he will save and preserve me from denying anything\nwhich proceedeth from him, and give me patience to wait until I can\nunderstand it for myself.\"\n\nSuch persons will never deny, but will allow those subjects which they\ndo not understand, to remain until the {346} visions of their minds\nbecome open. This is the course which I have invariably pursued, and if\nanything came that I could not understand, I would pray until I could\ncomprehend it.\n\nDo not reject anything because it is new or strange, and do not sneer\nnor jeer at what comes from the Lord, for if we do, we endanger our\nsalvation. It is given to us, as agents, to choose or refuse, as\nbrother S. W. Richards has set before you, but we are agents within\nlimits; if it were not so there would be no law. 3:266.\n\nBy obeying the ordinances of God, mankind glorify God, but if they\ndo not obey him, they do not detract one particle from his glory and\npower. The commandments of God are given to us expressly for our\nbenefit, and if we live in obedience to them we shall live so as to\nunderstand the mind and will of God for ourselves, and concerning\nourselves as individuals. 12:126.\n\nHow shall we know that we obey him? There is but one method by which we\ncan know it, and that is by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord\nwitnessing unto our spirit that we are his, that we love him, and that\nhe loves us. It is by the spirit of revelation we know this. We have no\nwitness to ourselves internally, without the spirit of revelation. We\nhave no witness outwardly, only by obedience to the ordinances. 12:99.\n\nLaw is made for the lawless. Let the Saints live their religion, and\nthere is not a law that can justly infringe upon them. 8:140.\n\nThere is no law against doing good. There is no law against love. There\nis no law against serving God. There is no law against charity and\nbenevolence. There is no law {347} against the principles of eternal\nlife. Live them, and no righteous law of man can reach you. 8:140.\n\nWhen the law of God is written on the hearts of a people, every person\nwill know his place. 8:296.\n\nWhen men and women talk about giving everything for the salvation which\nthey anticipate and live for, behold, they have nothing to give; nor\nhave they anything to do, only to do their duty. And what is that? To\nimprove upon that which is committed to their possession--to prove\nthemselves worthy to their Father and God, that ere long they may be\nworthy to receive crowns of glory, immortality and eternal life. Then\nwe shall be beyond the power of Satan. 6:196.\n\nSo long as the Latter-day Saints will live their religion, they shall\nnever be confounded, worlds without end. Never be afraid; your hearts\nare brave, your arms are strong, and God is our defense. 10:40.\n\nThose who live their religion will enjoy the Spirit, and that enjoyment\nwill increase; and if we will be faithful, the Lord will make our\nfeet as firm in these valleys as are the everlasting riches in these\nmountains, and no power can remove us. He will give us a sure place\nin these mountains until we go forth and redeem Zion. Do right, be\nfaithful, and make no calculations about removing before the time\ncomes. 8:285.\n\n_Obedience and Free Agency_--Here is a brother who says, \"Why,\nyes, you may have some of my property or even take it all; but I\nwant to be a man for myself; I do not want to be dictated; I want to\npreserve my own freedom; I do not want to be a slave.\" What an idea!\nIt is from the enemy, and because a person has not the Spirit of the\nLord to see how things are. There is not a man of {348} us but what is\nwilling to acknowledge at once that God demands strict obedience to\nhis requirements. But in rendering that strict obedience, are we made\nslaves? No, it is the only way on the face of the earth for you and me\nto become free, and we shall become slaves of our own passions, and of\nthe wicked one, and servants to the Devil, if we take any other course,\nand we shall be eventually cast into hell with the devils. Now to say\nthat I do not enjoy the volition of my own will just as much when I\npray as I would to swear, is a false principle, it is false ground to\ntake. You take the man who swears, and he has no more freedom, and acts\nno more on his own will than the man who prays; the man who yields\nstrict obedience to the requirements of Heaven, acts upon the volition\nof his own will and exercises his freedom just as much as when he was\na slave to passion; and I think it is much better and more honorable\nfor us, whether children or adults, youthful, middle-aged or old, it\nis better to live by and better to die by, to have our hearts pure,\nand to yield strict obedience to the principles of life which the Lord\nhas revealed, than be a slave to sin and wickedness. All that the\nLord requires of us is strict obedience to the laws of life. All the\nsacrifice that the Lord asks of his people is strict obedience to our\nown covenants that we have made with our God, and that is to serve him\nwith an undivided heart. 18:246.\n\nOne of the simplest things in the world is to control a people. Is\nthere any particular art in making this people obedient? There is just\none. If you, Elders of Israel, can get the art of preaching the Holy\nGhost into the hearts of the people, you will have an obedient people.\nThis is the only art required. Teach the people truth, teach them\ncorrect principles; show them what is for their greatest good {349} and\ndon't you think they will follow in that path? They will, just as far\nas it is consistent with their weaknesses and the power of darkness\nthat is over the inhabitants of the earth--with us as with others.\n12:257.\n\nA person before he can understand the law and government of God must\nsee and understand the propriety of it and see its beauties. So it\nis with the whole system of salvation. Not that I would say we are\nmachines, for we have our agency; but God has placed us here, and he\nexacts strict obedience to his laws before we can derive the benefit\nand blessings their observance will yield. You may take a beautiful\nmachine of any kind you please, and when the machinist has finished his\nwork and set it in perfect order, how could it be expected to operate\nsatisfactorily if a hook here or a journal yonder were to say, I am not\ngoing to stay here, or, I am going to jump out of place and am going\nsomewhere else; and then another piece of the machinery would jump out\nof its place into another part of the machine. What would be the state\nof such a machine? Confusion and disorganization would soon result and\nthe machinist might very properly say, what a pity that I bestowed so\nmuch labor on such unruly members of my machine. 13:241.\n\nThe world will not receive the Gospel, unless they can have it on their\nown terms, and will persecute the few that do receive it. 9:331.\n\nWe as a people, will be chastened until we can wholly submit ourselves\nto the Lord and be Saints indeed. 5:354.\n\n_Effects of Disobedience_--When light comes, if the people reject\nthat light, it will condemn them, and will add to their sorrow and\naffliction. 6:288.\n\nIf we live our religion we shall prosper, and if we live {350} in the\nneglect of our duty, and continue to do so, there will be tribulation\nand anguish here, and the chastening hand of the Almighty will be on\nthis people. 3:340.\n\nI feel in my heart to bless you; it is full of blessings and not\ncursing. It is something that does not occupy my feelings to curse any\nindividual, but I will modify this by saying those who ought not to be\ncursed. Who ought to be? Those who know their Master's will, and do it\nnot; they are worthy of many stripes; it is not those who do not know,\nand do not do, but those who know it, and do not do it--they are the\nones to be chastised. 1:248.\n\nAs soon as you are overcome by the spirit of the world, you forget\nevery good deed and kindness that has been extended to you, and you\nonly remember the transpiring and infliction of what you deemed to be\nevil that would have resulted in good, had you done right. 3:358.\n\nIt is the misapplied intelligence God has given us that makes all the\nmischief on the earth. That intelligence he designed to carry out the\npurposes of his will, and endowed it with capabilities to grow, spread\nabroad, accumulate, and endeavor to enjoy greater happiness, glory,\nand honor, and continue to expand wider and wider, until eternity\nis comprehended by it; if not applied to this purpose, but to the\ngrovelling things of earth, it will be taken away, and given to one who\nhas made better use of this gift of God. 2:124-5.\n\nIf we will only practice what we profess, I tell you we are at the\ndefiance of hell. 2:186.\n\nFor a man to undertake to live a Saint and walk in darkness is one of\nthe hardest tasks that he can undertake. You cannot imagine a position\nthat will sink a person more deeply in perplexity and trouble than to\ntry to be a Saint without living as a Saint should--without enjoying\nthe {351} spirit of his religion. It is our privilege to live so as to\nenjoy the spirit of our religion. That is designed to restore us to\nthe presence of the Gods. Gods exist, and we had better strive to be\nprepared to be one with them. 7:238.\n\nAnything that is impure must, sooner or later, perish; no matter\nwhether it is in the faith and practice of an individual, town, nation,\nor government. That kingdom, principality, power or person that is not\ncontrolled by principles that are pure and holy must eventually pass\naway and perish. 14:75.\n\nI know it is hard to receive chastisement, for no chastisement is\njoyous, but grievous at the time it is given; but if a person will\nreceive chastisement and pray for the Holy Spirit to rest upon him,\nthat he may have the Spirit of truth in his heart, and cleave to that\nwhich is pleasing to the Lord, the Lord will give him grace to bear the\nchastisement, and he will submit to and receive it, knowing that it is\nfor his good. 3:47.\n\nMen must quit swearing and taking the name of God in vain; they must\nrefrain from lying, stealing, cheating, and doing that which they know\nthey ought not to do, or they must be severed from this Church and\nKingdom. 4:307.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints, in all their travels, have not been as\nrebellious as the Children of Israel were. 11:279. {352}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\n_GRATITUDE, HUMILITY, DEVOTION, LIBERALITY, HONESTY_\n\n_Gratitude_--I do not know of any, excepting the unpardonable sin,\nthat is greater than the sin of ingratitude. 14:277.\n\nWe rejoice because the Lord is ours, because we are sown in weakness\nfor the express purpose of attaining to greater power and perfection.\nIn everything the Saints may rejoice--in persecution, because it\nis necessary to purge them, and prepare the wicked for their doom;\nin sickness and in pain, though they are hard to bear, because we\nare thereby made acquainted with pain, with sorrow, and with every\naffliction that mortals can endure, for by contrast all things are\ndemonstrated to our senses. We have reason to rejoice exceedingly that\nfaith is in the world, that the Lord reigns, and does his pleasure\namong the inhabitants of the earth. Do you ask if I rejoice because\nthe Devil has the advantage over the inhabitants of the earth, and\nhas afflicted mankind? I most assuredly answer in the affirmative; I\nrejoice in this as much as in anything else. I rejoice because I am\nafflicted. I rejoice because lam poor. I rejoice because I am cast\ndown. Why? Because I shall be lifted up again. I rejoice that I am poor\nbecause I shall be made rich; that I am afflicted, because I shall be\ncomforted, and prepared to enjoy the felicity of perfect happiness, for\nit is impossible to properly appreciate happiness except by enduring\nthe opposite. 1:359.\n\n_Humility_--I delight extremely in plain simplicity. 4:341. {353}\n\nThe humble will live, their spirits will be buoyant, and they will live\nto a great age. 8:181.\n\nWe have to humble ourselves and become like little children in our\nfeelings--to become humble and childlike in spirit, in order to receive\nthe first illuminations of the spirit of the Gospel, then we have the\nprivilege of growing, of increasing in knowledge, in wisdom, and in\nunderstanding. 3:192.\n\nThe hearts of the meek and humble are full of joy and comfort\ncontinually. 4:22.\n\nWhen a person sees things as they are, flattery and reproach are all\nthe same to him, he sees no difference. If he finds that he is pleasing\nGod and his brethren, he is exceedingly rejoiced, and feels an increase\nof humility and resignation. When a man is proud and arrogant, flattery\nfills him with vanity and injures him; but it is not so when he is\nincreasing in the faith of God. 12:50.\n\nI exhort the brethren not to boast over our enemies' downfall. Boast\nnot, brethren. God has come out of his hiding-place, and has commenced\nto vex the nations that have rejected us, and he will vex them with a\nsore vexation. 8:324.\n\n_Devotion to the Gospel_--To the Latter-day Saints I say, live\nyour religion, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, live by every word\nthat proceeds from the mouth of God, and we shall be prospered. 13:318.\n\nA man, or a woman, desiring to know the will of God, and having an\nopportunity to know it, will apply their hearts to this wisdom until\nit becomes easy and familiar to them, and they will love to do good\ninstead of evil. 3:363.\n\nTo enjoy the protection of the Almighty, we have got {354} to live our\nreligion--to live so that we have the mind of Christ within us. 4:358.\n\nAll I ask of you is to apply your hearts to the Gospel of Jesus Christ\nand be Saints. I will not ask anything else on this earth of you, only\nto live so as to know the mind and will of God when you receive it,\nand then abide in it. If you will do that, you will be prepared to do\na great many things, and you will find that there is much good to be\ndone. 3:375.\n\nWhen you know how to be a Saint today, you are in a fair way to know\nhow to be a Saint tomorrow. And if you can continue to be a Saint\ntoday, you can through the week, and through the year, and you can fill\nup your whole life in performing the duty and labor of a Saint. 2:53.\n\nIf I am organized and capacitated to receive this glory and this\nexaltation, I must be the friend of him who has brought me forth and\ninstituted this exaltation for me; I must not be his enemy at any time.\n4:198.\n\nI have sought to teach you how to get rich, but I never taught you to\nneglect your duty; I never instructed you nor taught you to forsake\nthe Lord; and today I would rather not own one farthing, and take my\nvalise in my hand, as I did at the rise of the Church, and travel\namong the nations of the earth, and beg my bread from door to door,\nthan to neglect my duty and lose the Spirit of Almighty God. If I have\nwealth and cannot use it to the glory of God and the building up of his\nKingdom, I ask the Lord to take it from me. 13:280.\n\nThere is not a wicked man on the face of the earth but what reveres a\npure servant of God. They may not acknowledge it with their organs of\nspeech, but in their hearts, sentiments and feelings they revere such\na character. {355} When they see a pure and holy man or woman, say\nthey, \"I wish I was as good as you are.\" Then let us take a pride in\nacknowledging our religion and living it, by being virtuous, true and\ngood in everything, and then take pride in educating your minds until\nyou can conquer and control yourselves in everything. Educate your\nchildren in all the knowledge the world can give them. God has given it\nto the world, it is all his. Every true principle, every true science,\nevery art, and all the knowledge that men possess, or that they ever\ndid or ever will possess, is from God. We should take pains and pride\nto instill this knowledge into the minds of our neighbors, and our\nbrethren, and rear our children so that the learning and education of\nthe world may be theirs, and that virtue, truth and holiness may crown\ntheir lives that they may be saved in the Kingdom of God. 12:326.\n\nI say to this community, Be humble, be faithful to your God, true to\nhis Church, benevolent to the strangers that may pass through our\nTerritory, and kind to all people, serving the Lord with all your\nmight, trusting in him; but never fear the frowns of an enemy, nor\nbe moved by the flatteries of friends or of enemies from the path of\nright. Serve your God; believe in him, and never be ashamed of him, and\nsustain your character before him.\n\nI say to the aged, to the middle-aged, and to the young--All be true to\nyour God, true to your brethren, and kind to all, serving God with all\nyour heart. And may he bless you for Jesus' sake. Amen. 1:146.\n\nWhile speaking the other day to the people, I observed that \"the race\nwas not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,\" neither riches\nto men of wisdom. I happened to cast my eyes upon Ira Ames, who was\nsitting in the congregation. {356} I knew he had been in the Church a\nconsiderable length of time, I have been personally acquainted with him\nfor twenty years. My eye also caught many more of the first Saints at\nthe same time. These men know that \"Mormonism\" is true, they have moved\nsteadily forward, and have not sought to become noted characters as\nmany have; but, unseen as it were, they have maintained their footing\nsteadily in the right path. I could place my hand upon many in this\ncongregation, who will win the race, though they are not very swift,\nto outward appearance, and they make no great pretensions; they are\nfound continually attending to their own business. They do not appear\nto be great warriors, or as if they were likely to win the battle. But\nwhat is their true character? They have faith today, they are filled\nwith faith, their words are few, but they are full of integrity. You\nwill find them tomorrow as they were yesterday, or are today. Visit\nthem when you will, or under what circumstances, and you find them\nunalterably the same; and finally when you have spent your life with\nthem, you will find that their lives throughout have been well spent,\nfull of faith, hope, charity, and good works, as far as they have had\nthe ability. These are the ones who will win the race, conquer in the\nbattle, and obtain the peace and righteousness of eternity. 1:89.\n\nYou may examine from the beginning to this day, and continue to watch\nin the future, and where you find a man who wishes to steady the ark\nof God, without being called to do so, you will find a dark spot in\nhim. The man full of light and intelligence discerns that God steadies\nhis own ark, dictates his own affairs, guides his people, controls\nhis kingdom, governs nations, and holds the hearts of all living in\nhis hands, and turns them hither and thither at his {357} pleasure,\nnot infringing upon their agency. There is not the least danger of\ndisagreeing with persons enjoying the Holy Spirit. 8:66.\n\nTo be great is to be good before the Heavens and before all good men.\n10:111.\n\n_Give Freely_--Let us not love the things of this world above the\nthings of God, but strip for the race and harness for the battle of the\nGospel plan of salvation. 10:328.\n\nHow contracted in mind and short-sighted we must be to permit the\nperishable things of this world to swerve us in the least degree from\nour fidelity to the truth. It shows that we lack knowledge which we\nshould possess. 11:283.\n\nSuppose that you are required to do ten pieces of work, but of the ten\nonly one is necessary for the promotion of the Kingdom of God; which\nhad you better do--perform the ten pieces of labor, to be sure of doing\nthe right piece, or neglect the whole ten because you do not know which\nthe right one is? Had you not better do the whole ten pieces, that you\nmay be sure of performing that which the Lord really requires at your\nhands? 8:12-13.\n\nI wish you to understand, however, that a man giving his means to build\nup the Kingdom of God is no proof to me that he is true in heart. I\nhave long since learned, that a person may give a gift with an impure\ndesign. 10:268.\n\nMan may think, and some of them do, that we have a right to work for\nourselves; but I say we have no time to do that in the narrow, selfish\nsense generally entertained when speaking about working for self. We\nhave no time allotted to us here on the earth to work for ourselves\nin that sense; and yet when laboring in the most disinterested and\nfervent manner for the cause and Kingdom of God, it is all for\nourselves. Though our time be entirely occupied {358} in laboring for\nthe advancement of the Kingdom of God on the earth we are in reality\nlaboring most effectually for self, for all our interest and welfare,\nboth in time and eternity, are circumscribed and bound up in that\nKingdom. 14:101.\n\n_Be Honest_--Woe to those who profess to be Saints and are not\nhonest. Only be honest with yourselves, and you will be honest to the\nbrethren. 2:53.\n\nMen must be honest, they must live faithfully before their God,\nand honor their calling and being on the earth. You ask if that is\npossible? Yes; the doctrine which we have embraced takes away the stony\nhearts. 3:118-119.\n\nWe need to learn, practice, study, know and understand how angels live\nwith each other. When this community comes to the point to be perfectly\nhonest and upright, you will never find a poor person; none will lack,\nall will have sufficient. Every man, woman, and child will have all\nthey need just as soon as they all become honest. When the majority of\nthe community are dishonest, it maketh the honest portion poor, for the\ndishonest serve and enrich themselves at their expense. 6:76.\n\nIt is much better to be honest; to live here uprightly, and forsake and\nshun evil, than it is to be dishonest. It is the easiest path in the\nworld to be honest,--to be upright before God; and when people learn\nthis, they will practice it. 5:295.\n\nHonest hearts produce honest actions--holy desires produce\ncorresponding outward works.\n\nFulfil your contracts and sacredly keep your word. 10:97.\n\nI have no fellowship for a man that will make a promise and not fulfil\nit. 13:301. {359}\n\nSimple truth, simplicity, honesty, uprightness, justice, mercy, love,\nkindness, do good to all and evil to none, how easy it is to live by\nsuch principles! A thousand times easier than to practice deception!\n14:76.\n\n_Honesty in Labor_--I have tried to suppress dishonesty in\nindividuals, and have tried thereby to make them honest. If I hire a\ncarpenter and pay him three dollars a day, and he is three days in\nmaking a six-panel door that a good workman can make in one, or even a\ndoor and a half, I do not want to pay him three dollars a day for that\nlabor. 6:73.\n\nWe want the Saints to increase in goodness, until our mechanics, for\ninstance, are so honest and reliable that this Railroad Company will\nsay, \"Give us a 'Mormon' Elder for an engineer, then none need have\nthe least fear to ride, for if he knows there is danger he will take\nevery measure necessary to preserve the lives of those entrusted to\nhis care.\" I want to see our Elders so full of integrity that they\nwill be preferred by this Company for their engine builders, watchmen,\nengineers, clerks, and business managers. If we live our religion and\nare worthy the name of Latter-day Saints, we are just the men that all\nsuch business can be entrusted to with perfect safety; if it can not it\nwill prove that we do not live our religion. 12:300.\n\nIf you see honest persons, you see those who are ready to take hold and\nlabor with their might, even though they have but one potato in a day;\nthey will suffer rather than impoverish the Church. 3:340.\n\nOne liar is like a bad king. A corrupt and wicked king can corrupt a\nwhole nation. One liar can deceive thousands. 16:30.\n\nA very simple person can tell the truth, but it takes a {360} very\nsmart person to tell a lie and make it appear like the truth. 11:304.\n\n_Consistency and Sincerity_--O, consistency, thou art one of the\nfairest jewels in the life of a Saint. 11:136.\n\nIf we teach righteousness, let us also practice righteousness in every\nsense of the word; if we teach morality, let us be moral; let us see to\nit that we preserve ourselves within the bounds of all the good which\nwe teach to others. I am sure this course will be good to live by and\ngood to die by, and when we get through the journey of life, here, what\na consolation it will be to us to know that we have done as we have\nwished others to do by us in all respects. 11:130.\n\nThere is not one man in this city, nor in the Territory, who hates the\ntruth and the Latter-day Saints, whose influence I dread, no, not even\nthe hundredth part, as I do a smooth, slick hypocrite who professes to\nbe a Latter-day Saint. The former cannot sow the seeds of infidelity\nand unbelief in the hearts of the people; but the latter can. 18:359.\n\nA person who is a thief, a liar, and a murderer in his heart, but\nprofesses to be a Saint, is more odious in the sight of God, angels and\ngood men, than a person who comes out and openly declares that he is\nour enemy. I know how to take such a man, but a devil with a Saint's\ncloak on is one of the meanest characters you can imagine. I say,\nblessings on the head of a wicked Gentile who is my avowed enemy, far\nsooner than upon an enemy cloaked with a Saint's profession. 3:120.\n\nBut I hope and trust in the Lord my God that I shall never be left to\npraise this people, to speak well of them, for the purpose of cheering\nand comforting them by the art {361} of flattery; to lead them on by\nsmooth speeches day after day, week after week, month after month, and\nyear after year, and let them roll sin as a sweet morsel under their\ntongues, and be guilty of transgressing the law of God. I hope I shall\nnever be left to flatter this people, or any people, on the earth, in\ntheir iniquity, but far rather chasten them for their wickedness and\npraise them for their goodness. 4:22.\n\nThe religion that we have embraced must last a man from Monday morning\nuntil Monday morning, and from Saturday night until Saturday night,\nand from one new year until another; it must be in all our thoughts\nand words, in all our ways and dealings. We come here to tell the\npeople how to be saved; we know how, consequently we can tell others.\nSuppose our calling tomorrow is to conduct a railroad, to go into\nsome philosophical business, or no matter what, our minds, our faith\nor religion, our God and his Spirit are with us; and if we should\nhappen to be found in a room dedicated for purposes of amusement and\nan accident should occur, and an Elder engaged in the dance is called\nupon to go and lay hands on the sick, if he is not prepared to exercise\nhis calling and his faith in God as much there as at any other time\nand in any other place, he never should be found there, for none have\na legal right to the amusements which the Lord has ordained for his\nchildren except those who acknowledge his hand in all things and keep\nhis commandments. 14:117. {362}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\n_HAPPINESS AND SOCIAL ENJOYMENTS_\n\n_Saints Should be Happy_--Then learn to be happy when you have the\nprivilege. 5:294.\n\nThe whole world are after happiness. It is not found in gold and\nsilver, but it is in peace and love. 12:314.\n\nWhat will give a man joy? That which will give him peace. 7:3.\n\nIf the heart is cheerful, all is light and glory within; there is no\nsorrow. 6:41.\n\nWhen man is industrious and righteous, then is he happy. 9:244.\n\nThe person who enjoys the experience of the knowledge of the Kingdom of\nGod on the earth, and at the same time has the love of God within him,\nis the happiest of any individuals on the earth. 18:236.\n\nWhat principal object have human beings in view? Happiness. Give\nme glory, give me power, give me wealth, give me a good name, give\nme influence with my fellowmen, give me all these, and it does not\nfollow that I am thereby made happy; that depends altogether upon what\nprinciple those acquisitions were gained. 7:3.\n\nThe only heaven for you is that which you make yourselves. My heaven is\nhere--(laying his hand upon his heart). I carry it with me. When do I\nexpect it in its perfection? When I come up in the resurrection; then I\nshall have it, and not till then. 4:57.\n\nYou never saw a true Saint in the world that had sorrow, neither can\nyou find one. If persons are destitute of the fountain of living water,\nor the principles of eternal life, {363} then they are sorrowful. If\nthe words of life dwell within us, and we have the hope of eternal\nlife and glory, and let that spark within us kindle to a flame, to the\nconsuming of the least and last remains of selfishness, we never can\nwalk in darkness and are strangers to doubt and fear. 6:41.\n\nIf this is the work of God, let us understand its beauty and glory.\nI do not say that all are like myself; but from the day I commenced\npreaching the Gospel to this present moment, I never had a feeling in\nmy heart to occupy much time in preaching hell to the people, or in\ntelling them much about being damned. There are the kingdoms and worlds\nwhich God has prepared, and which are waiting for the just. There are\nmore beauty, glory, excellency, knowledge, power, and heavenly things\nthan I have time to talk about, without spending my time in talking\nabout the hells prepared for the damned. I have not time to talk much\nabout them. 8:42.\n\nIt does make the Devil mad. That is true, it makes him mad that he\ncannot afflict this people so as to make them have a sad countenance.\n4:299.\n\nTo make ourselves happy is incorporated in the great design of man's\nexistence. I have learned not to fret myself about that which I cannot\nhelp. If I can do good, I will do it; and if I cannot reach a thing, I\nwill content myself to be without it. This makes me happy all the day\nlong. 2:95.\n\nWhere is happiness, real happiness? Nowhere but in God. By possessing\nthe spirit of our holy religion, we are happy in the morning, we are\nhappy at noon, we are happy in the evening; for the spirit of love\nand union is with us, and we rejoice in the spirit because, it is of\nGod, and we rejoice in God, for he is the giver of every good thing.\nEvery {364} Latter-day Saint, who has experienced the love of God in\nhis heart, after having received the remission of his sins, through\nbaptism, and the laying on of hands, realizes that he is filled with\njoy, and happiness, and consolation. He may be in pain, in error, in\npoverty, or in prison, if necessity demands, still, he is joyful. This\nis our experience, and each and every Latter-day Saint can bear witness\nto it. 18:213.\n\nTruly happy is that man or woman, or that people, who enjoys the\nprivileges of the Gospel of the Son of God, and who know how to\nappreciate his blessings. 1:309.\n\nMen and women, for slight causes, make shipwreck of faith, lose the\nspirit of the Gospel, losing the object for which they left their homes\nand their friends. We are all searching for happiness; we hope for it,\nwe think we live for it, it is our aim in this life. But do we live so\nas to enjoy the happiness we so much desire? There is only one way for\nLatter-day Saints to be happy, which is simply to live their religion,\nor in other words believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ in every part,\nobeying the gospel of liberty with full purpose of heart, which sets\nus free indeed. If we will, as a community, obey the law of God, and\ncomply with the ordinances of salvation, then we may expect to find\nthe happiness we so much desire, but if we do not pursue this course\nwe cannot enjoy the unalloyed happiness which is to be found in the\nGospel. To profess to be a Saint, and not enjoy the spirit of it, tries\nevery fibre of the heart, and is one of the most painful experiences\nthat man can suffer. 12:168.\n\n_Social Amusements_--There is no true enjoyment in life--nothing\nthat can be a blessing to an individual or to a {365} community, but\nwhat is ordained of God to bless his people. 6:143.\n\nWe want to see every countenance full of cheerfulness, and every eye\nbright with the hope of future happiness. 12:314.\n\nWe are made to enjoy all that God enjoys, to inherit all he inherits,\nto possess all the power that he possesses, all the excellency with\nwhich he is endowed--all things are to be brought into subjection to\nhim by his faithful children, that they may enjoy all things with\nhim; these considerations bring peace to the heart that is opened to\nunderstanding. 10:171.\n\nA gathering and social spirit seems to be the order of heaven--of\nthe spirit that is in the Gospel we have embraced. Though it may be\nesteemed as a fault--as an unwarrantable act to separate ourselves\nfrom those who do not believe as we believe, yet such is the nature\nof a portion of our religion pertaining to the performance of outward\nduties. If the Latter-day Saints can associate together, free from the\ncontaminating influences that are in the world, it is a blessing and a\ngreat privilege. What would induce a child to grow up in the wickedness\nof the wicked world, if it never saw or heard any of it? 7:267.\n\nIs there anything immoral in recreation? If I see my sons and daughters\nenjoying themselves, chatting, visiting, riding, going to a party or\na dance, is there anything immoral in that? I watch very closely, and\nif I hear a word, see a look, or a sneer at divine things or anything\nderogatory to a good moral character, I feel it in a moment, and I say,\n\"If you follow that it will not lead to good, it is evil; it will not\nlead to the fountain of life and intelligence; follow, only, the path\nthat leads to life everlasting.\" {366}\n\nIt is the privilege of the Saints to enjoy every good thing, for the\nearth and its fulness belong to the Lord, and he has promised all\nto his faithful Saints; but it must be enjoyed without spirit of\ncovetousness and selfishness--without the spirit of lust, and in the\nspirit of the Gospel; then the sun will shine sweetly upon us; each day\nwill be filled with delight, and all things will be filled with beauty,\ngiving joy, pleasure, and rest to the Saints. 8:82.\n\nWe are to learn how to enjoy the things of life--how to pass our mortal\nexistence here. There is no enjoyment, no comfort, no pleasure, nothing\nthat the human heart can imagine, with all the spirit of revelation\nwe can get, that tends to beautify, happify, make comfortable and\npeaceful, and exalt the feelings of mortals, but what the Lord has in\nstore for his people. He never objected to their taking comfort. He\nnever revealed any doctrine, that I have any knowledge of, but what in\nits nature is calculated to fill with peace and glory, and lift every\nsentiment and impulse of the heart above every low, sad, deathly, false\nand grovelling feeling. The Lord wishes us to live that we may enjoy\nthe fulness of the glory that pertains to the upper world, and bid\nfarewell to all that gloomy, dark, deathly feeling that is spread over\nthe inhabitants of the earth. 8:128-129.\n\nOur organism makes us capable of exquisite enjoyment. Do I not love my\nwife, my son, my daughter, my brother, my sister, my father, and my\nmother? And do I not love to associate with my friends? I do, and love\nto reflect and talk on eternal principles. 7:138.\n\nWe say to the Bishops and to everybody, exercise yourselves, provide\ninnocent amusement for the youth, attract the minds of the children,\nand get the upper hand of them {367} and be on the lead. I see mothers\nright among us whose course is very imprudent with their children.\nYou ought always to take the lead of your children in their minds\nand affections. Instead of being behind with the whip, always be in\nadvance, then you can say, \"Come along,\" and you will have no use for\nthe rod. They will delight to follow you, and will like your words and\nways, because you are always comforting them and giving them pleasure\nand enjoyment. If they get a little naughty, stop them when they have\ngone far enough. We say to the brethren, humor your wives and children\nas far as you can, but when they transgress, and transcend certain\nbounds we want them to stop. If you are in the lead they will stop,\nthey cannot run over you; but if you are behind they will run away from\nyou. Husbands, always be in advance of your wives, and then if they\nundertake to do something that is very displeasing to you they will run\nright against you, and then stop and sit down because they can't go any\nfurther. Do you know how to do this? \"No,\" says one, \"I don't know that\nI do.\" Well, then, learn by searching after truth, according to the\nrevelations given in this book. Search after truth in all good books,\nand learn the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God, and put them\ntogether and you will be able to benefit yourselves. 12:313.\n\nOur work, our every-day labor, our whole lives are within the scope of\nour religion. This is what we believe and what we try to practice. Yet\nthe Lord permits a great many things that he never commands. I have\nfrequently heard my old brethren in the Christian world make remarks\nabout the impropriety of indulging in pastimes and amusements. The\nLord never commanded me to dance, yet I have danced: you all know it,\nfor my life is before the world. {368} Yet while the Lord has never\ncommanded me to do it, he has permitted it. I do not know that he\never commanded the boys to go and play at ball, yet he permits it. I\nam not aware that he ever commanded us to build a theater, but he has\npermitted it, and I can give the reason why. Recreation and diversion\nare as necessary to our well-being as the more serious pursuits of\nlife. There is not a man in the world but what, if kept at any one\nbranch of business or study, will become like a machine. Our pursuits\nshould be so diversified as to develop every trait of character and\ndiversity of talent. If you would develop every power and faculty\npossessed by your children, they must have the privilege of engaging\nin and enjoying a diversity of amusements and studies; to attain great\nexcellence, however, they cannot all be kept to any one individual\nbranch of study. I recollect once while in England, in the district of\ncountry called the \"Potteries,\" seeing a man pass along the street,\nhis head, perhaps, within sixteen or eighteen inches of the ground. I\ninquired what occupation he had followed for a living, and learned that\nhe had never done anything in his life but turned a tea cup, and he\nwas then seventy-four years of age. How do we know but what, if he had\nhad the privilege, he would have made a statesman or a fine physician,\nan excellent mechanic or a good judge? We cannot tell. This shows the\nnecessity of the mind being kept active and having the opportunity of\nindulging in every exercise it can enjoy in order to attain to a full\ndevelopment of its powers. 13:61.\n\nLittle boys play with their wagons, tops, marbles, etc.; little girls\nwith their dolls, cradles, and skipping ropes. They are in the height\nof their enjoyment, while there sits the mother whose mind comprehends\nall the children can {369} enjoy, and then she can see enjoyment far\nbeyond what they are then capable of enjoying. Perhaps her vision is\nopen to see forward into the eternity before her, and that she will be\nable to preserve her identity in her future existence. Do you not see\nhow easy it is for her to circumscribe all those little children can\nenjoy? Her feeling is, \"I am delighted: it is a great satisfaction to\nsee my children enjoy themselves.\" But how would she like to engage in\ntheir plays? \"It is my joy to see them enjoy themselves.\" Do you like\nto get together in your parties? How are you looked upon by beings\nin the eternal worlds? Precisely as a mother looks upon her children\nwhen they are enjoying themselves and passing their time so kindly\nwith each other. Says the mother, \"I do delight in seeing my children\nenjoy themselves.\" I also delight in enjoying myself with the brethren\nand sisters, and giving to my natural organization the food that the\nnatural body requires. The body requires food, and the immortal spirit\nrequires food; the whole organization requires something to feast upon,\nand we get up amusements to satisfy it. 8:358-9.\n\nI repeat that it is not your lawful privilege to yield to anything\nin the shape of amusement, until you have performed every duty, and\nobtained the power of God to enable you to withstand and resist all\nfoul spirits that might attack you, and lead you astray; until you have\ncommand over them, and by your faith, obtained, through prayer and\nsupplication, the blessings of the Holy Spirit, and it rests upon, and\nabides continually with you. 1:113.\n\nIn all your social communications, or whatever your associations\nare, let all the dark, discontented, murmuring, unhappy, miserable\nfeelings--all the evil fruit of the mind, {370} fall from the tree in\nsilence and unnoticed; and so let it perish, without taking it up to\npresent to your neighbors. But when you have joy and happiness, light\nand intelligence, truth and virtue, offer that fruit abundantly to your\nneighbors, and it will do them good, and so strengthen the hands of\nyour fellow-beings, even though you may be looked upon as an outcast,\nvile people, not worthy of the society of what are commonly deemed the\nintelligent portion of the world. 7:269.\n\nI have frequently told the people at our places of recreation, if they\ncannot go there with the Spirit of the Lord, they had better stay at\nhome. 11:283.\n\nOn every such occasion, it is right, reasonable, and necessary, that\nevery heart be directed to the Lord. When we have had sufficient\nrecreation for our good, let that suffice. It is all right; then let\nour minds labor instead of our bodies; and in all our exercises of body\nand mind, it is good to remember the Lord. 1:30.\n\nI am most perfectly satisfied to associate with those whose hearts are\nfilled with peace, with praise and adoration to our God, and whose\nlives are full of good works. Their voices to me are like sweet music.\nI have not the least desire to mingle with or look upon the faces of\nthose who hate God and his cause. 8:57.\n\nWe are now enjoying our pastimes. We often meet together and worship\nthe Lord by singing, praying, and preaching, fasting, and communing\nwith each other in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Now we are\nmet in the capacity of a social community--for what? That our minds\nmay rest, and our bodies receive that recreation which is proper and\nnecessary to keep up an equilibrium, to promote healthy action to the\nwhole system. {371}\n\nLet our minds sing for joy, and let life diffuse itself into every\navenue of the body; for the object of our meeting is for its exercise,\nfor its good.\n\nThis party was gotten up by the members of the Legislature, to rest\ntheir minds, to convene in a social capacity, and enjoy the society\nof each other, with their families, and to give renewed activity and\nenergy, which will invigorate and strengthen them in the discharge of\nthe arduous duties devolving upon them. 1:29.\n\nOur present situation, and the enjoyments of this evening, will become\nsubjects of pleasant and agreeable reflection, when we shall be\nseparated from this community, and go to the right and to the left;\nthen these moments of festive joy will be remembered with pleasing\nemotions, and cherished in fond memory in after years. 1:30.\n\nIs there any harm in Sunday school parties? No! It is one of the most\nharmless kinds of enjoyment when conducted aright. If they wish to\ndance, let them dance; let them talk and play; but not do any wrong.\nThey must not get angry with each other; and if any do wrong instruct\nthem to do right. If our children are thus taught, they will be\npatterns of piety and their conduct will be worthy of imitation. 12:239.\n\nOne of the most useful amusements we could have would be for the\nSeventies and High Priests to meet here, instead of in their small\nhalls, and lecture. Which is the most delightful, to satisfy the wants\nof the natural body, or those of the intelligent part within us? Which\nis the most precious? Both. 8:358.\n\nMy first remarks will be concerning such exercises as we have seen\nhere this morning. The Latter-day Saints have many pastimes, and they\nenjoy themselves in social {372} society with one another. Yet I\nthink, in my reflections, that we should have an increase--and we are\nhaving partially an increase of recreation for our youth. We have very\nfew holidays. When the 4th of July comes, we have our amusements and\nexercises. When the 24th of July comes, we hail it as the anniversary\nof a day of deliverance. On reflection, I have come to the conclusion\nthat it would be better if we would pay more attention to these public\nexercises, and direct the minds of our children by observing them,\ntaking a course to have them avoid getting into the habit of drinking\nand every kind of rowdyism, and other things that are unbecoming; and\nin all of our amusements have objects of improvement that are worthy\nof pursuit. We should have more of the children attend Sunday school,\nand the teachers should continually place objects before them that\nwill lead them to study to improve in their manners, in their words,\nin their looks and in their behavior; and that will guide their minds\naright. You will find we can place before them objects that will do\nthem much good in their thoughts and reflections, that will improve\ntheir young and tender minds, and have an influence upon their future\nlives for good; and we can thus bring them up in the nurture and\nadmonition of the Lord by taking a course to lead their minds. 12:238-9.\n\nI am satisfied that those persons who stamp, clap hands, whistle,\nand make other noisy and boisterous demonstrations in the theaters,\nso untimed and uncalled for, have but little sense, and know not\nthe difference between a happy smile of satisfaction to cheer the\ncountenance of a friend, or a contemptuous sneer that brings the curses\nof man upon man. 9:290.\n\nNever give way to vain laughter. I have seldom {373} laughed aloud for\ntwenty or thirty years without regretting it, and I always blush for\nthose who laugh aloud without meaning. 9:290.\n\n_Dancing_--Those that have kept their covenants and served their\nGod, if they wish to exercise themselves in any way, to rest their\nminds and tire their bodies, go and enjoy yourselves in the dance, and\nlet God be in all your thoughts in this as in all other things, and he\nwill bless you. 6:149.\n\nThere are many of our aged brethren and sisters, who, through the\ntraditions of their fathers and the requirements of a false religion,\nwere never inside a ball-room or a theater until they became Latter-day\nSaints, and now they seem more anxious for this kind of amusement\nthan are our children. This arises from the fact they have been\nstarved for many years for that amusement which is designed to buoy up\ntheir spirits and make their bodies vigorous and strong, and tens of\nthousands have sunk into untimely graves for want of such exercises to\nthe body and the mind. They require mutual nourishment to make them\nsound and healthy. Every faculty and power of both body and mind is a\ngift from God. Never say that means used to create and continue healthy\naction of body and mind are from hell. 9:244.\n\nI want it distinctly understood, that fiddling and dancing are no part\nof our worship. The question may be asked, What are they for, then? I\nanswer, that my body may keep pace with my mind. My mind labors like\na man logging, all the time; and this is the reason why I am fond of\nthese pastimes--they give me a privilege to throw everything off,\nand shake myself, that my body may exercise, and my mind rest. What\nfor? To get strength, and be renewed and quickened, and enlivened,\nand animated, so {374} that my mind may not wear out. Experience\ntells us that the most of the inhabitants of the earth wear out their\nbodies without wearing their minds at all, through the sufferings\nthey endure from hard labor, with distress, poverty, and want. While\non the other hand, a great portion of mankind wear out their bodies\nwithout laboring, only in anxiety. But when men are brought to labor\nentirely in the field of intelligence, there are few minds to be\nfound possessing strength enough to bear all things; the mind becomes\novercharged, and when this is the case, it begins to wear upon the\nbody, which will sink for want of the proper exercises. This is the\nreason why I believe in and practice what I do. 1:30.\n\nThere is no music in hell, for all good music belongs to heaven.\nSweet harmonious sounds give exquisite joy to human beings capable of\nappreciating music. I delight in hearing harmonious tones made by the\nhuman voice, by musical instruments, and by both combined. Every sweet\nmusical sound that can be made belongs to the Saints and is for the\nSaints. Every flower, shrub and tree to beautify, and to gratify the\ntaste and smell, and every sensation that gives to man joy and felicity\nare for the Saints who receive them from the Most High. 9:244.\n\nIt you happen to be in a party where I am and wearing dresses made with\nyour own hands, I shall take pleasure in dancing with you in preference\nto the lady dressed in silks and satins. 9:190.\n\nI am opposed to making a cotillion hall a place of worship. 9:194.\n\nI am opposed to having cotillions or theatrical performances in this\nTabernacle. I am opposed to making this a fun hall, I do not mean\nfor wickedness, I mean for the {375} recuperation of our spirits and\nbodies. I am not willing that they should convert the house that has\nbeen set apart for religious meetings into a dancing hall. 9:195.\n\n[IMAGE: THE OLD TABERNACLE, SALT LAKE CITY]\n\n[IMAGE: THE PRESENT TABERNACLE, SALT LAKE CITY]\n\nThose who cannot serve God with a pure heart in the dance should not\ndance. 6:148.\n\nIf you want to dance, run a foot race, pitch quoits, or play at ball,\ndo it, and exercise your bodies, and let your minds rest. 6:149.\n\nIf you wish to dance, dance; and you are just as much prepared for a\nprayer meeting after dancing as ever you were, if you are Saints. If\nyou desire to ask God for anything, you are as well prepared to do so\nin the dance as in any other place, if you are Saints. Are your eyes\nopen to know that everything in the earth, in hell, or in heaven, is\nordained for the use of intelligent beings? 6:148.\n\n_The Theater_--Is there evil in the theater; in the ball room; in\nthe place of worship; in the dwelling; in the world? Yes, when men are\ninclined to do evil in any of these places. There is evil in persons\nmeeting simply for a chit chat, if they will allow themselves to commit\nevil while thus engaged. 9:243.\n\nI built that theater to attract the young of our community and to\nprovide amusement for the boys and girls, rather than have them running\nall over creation for recreation. Long before that was built I said to\nthe Bishops, \"Get up your parties and pleasure grounds to amuse the\npeople.\" 12:312-313.\n\nUpon the stage of a theater can be represented in character, evil and\nits consequences, good and its happy results and rewards; the weakness\nand the follies of man, the magnanimity of virtue and the greatness of\ntruth. The stage can be made to aid the pulpit in impressing upon the\nminds {376} of a community an enlightened sense of a virtuous life,\nalso a proper horror of the enormity of sin and a just dread of its\nconsequences. The path of sin with its thorns and pitfalls, its gins\nand snares can be revealed, and how to shun it. 9:243.\n\nTragedy is favored by the outside world; I am not in favor of it. I\ndo not wish murder and all its horrors and the villainy leading to it\nportrayed before our women and children; I do not want the child to\ncarry home with it the fear of the fagot, the sword, the pistol, or\nthe dagger, and suffer in the night from frightful dreams. I want such\nplays performed as will make the spectators feel well; and I wish those\nwho perform to select a class of plays that will improve the public\nmind, and exalt the literary taste of the community. 9:245.\n\n_Excursions_--If the people should conclude to take short\nexcursions with their families, except the smallest children, it would\nbe much to their comfort, and would cheer them up. 2:283.\n\nI would be very pleased to learn that your Bishop, Brother Miller,\nwas preparing a place for parties; with a little pond to float boats\non, and other means of enjoyment, where the people could assemble to\nhave their exercises. Get the young minds to follow after you in these\nthings, and they will follow after you in every precept that is good.\nAnd I would like to hear of other Bishops taking steps to prepare\nsuitable places for the same purpose. 12:239. {377}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\n_EDUCATION_\n\n_Knowledge and Intelligence_--Education is a good thing, and\nblessed is the man who has it, and can use it for the dissemination of\nthe Gospel without being puffed up with pride. 11:214.\n\nWhen we speak upon education, it is not to be understood that it alone\nconsists in a man's learning the letters of the alphabet, in being\ntrained in every branch of scholastic lore, in becoming a proficient\nin the knowledge of the sciences, and a classical scholar, but also in\nlearning to classify himself and others. 1:66.\n\nFind a true philosopher and you find one who has the true principles of\nChristianity. He delights in them; and sees and understands the hand of\nProvidence guiding and directing in all the affairs of this life. 14:82.\n\nA firm, unchangeable course of righteousness through life is what\nsecures to a person true intelligence. 8:32.\n\nIntelligent beings are organized to become Gods, even the Sons of\nGod, to dwell in the presence of the Gods, and become associated with\nthe highest intelligencies that dwell in eternity. We are now in the\nschool, and must practice upon what we receive. 8:160.\n\nWhen we have faith to understand that he must dictate, and that we\nmust be perfectly submissive to him, then we shall begin to rapidly\ncollect the intelligence that is bestowed upon the nations, for all\nthis intelligence belongs to Zion. All the knowledge, wisdom, power,\nand glory that have been bestowed upon the nations of the earth, from\nthe {378} days of Adam till now, must be gathered home to Zion. 8:278.\n\nThis people have embraced the philosophy of eternal lives, and in\nview of this we should cease to be children and become philosophers,\nunderstanding our own existence, its purpose and intimate design,\nthen our days will not become a blank through ignorance, but every\nday will bring with it its useful and profitable employment. God has\nplaced us here, given us the ability we possess, and supplied the means\nupon which we can operate to produce social, national, and eternal\nhappiness. 9:190.\n\nWhen a man is capable of correcting you, and of giving you light, and\ntrue doctrine, do not get up an altercation, but submit to be taught\nlike little children, and strive with all your might to understand.\n1:47.\n\nLearning a, b, c, d, does not hinder me learning e, f, g. 16:27.\n\n_A Religion of Improvement_--Ours is a religion of improvement; it\nis not contracted and confined; but is calculated to expand the minds\nof the children of men and lead them up into the state of intelligence\nthat will be an honor to our being. 10:290.\n\nEvery art and science known and studied by the children of men is\ncomprised within the Gospel. Where did the knowledge come from which\nhas enabled man to accomplish such great achievements in science and\nmechanism within the last few years? We know that knowledge is from\nGod, but why do they not acknowledge him? Because they are blind to\ntheir own interests, they do not see and understand things as they\nare. Who taught men to chain the lightning? Did man unaided of himself\ndiscover that? No, he received the knowledge from the Supreme {379}\nBeing. From him, too, has every art and science proceeded, although\nthe credit is given to this individual, and that individual. But where\ndid they get the knowledge from, have they it in and of themselves?\nNo, they must acknowledge that, if they cannot make one spear of\ngrass grow, nor one hair white or black without artificial aid, they\nare dependent upon the Supreme Being just the same as the poor and\nthe ignorant. Where have we received the knowledge to construct the\nlabor-saving machinery for which the present age is remarkable? From\nHeaven. Where have we received our knowledge of astronomy, or the\npower to make glasses to penetrate the immensity of space? We received\nit from the same Being that Moses, and those who were before him,\nreceived their knowledge from; the same Being who told Noah that\nthe world should be drowned and its people destroyed. From him has\nevery astronomer, artist and mechanician that ever lived on the earth\nobtained his knowledge. By him, too, has the power to receive from one\nanother, been bestowed, and to search into the deep things pertaining\nto this earth and every principle connected with it. 12:257.\n\nIt is highly gratifying to the Lord, to angels, and to all good men,\nto see intelligent beings organized to receive a great amount of\nintelligence--seeking to possess eternal life. 8:136.\n\nThe Lord has chosen the poor of this world,--rich in faith--and\nthe time will come when he will give the earth to his poor for an\neverlasting inheritance. I speak this for the comfort of my brethren\nand sisters who have been poor. They have come here, and what do we\nsee? The youth, the middle-aged and the old improving in letters, in\nmechanism and in the arts and sciences. We bring them {380} here to\nimprove them, and if the Lord will bless us sufficiently, and the\npeople will bless themselves, we will have a nation that understands\nall things pertaining to the earth that it is possible for man\nto grasp. Will this people be praiseworthy? Yes, and honored and\nhonorable. Will they be looked to as examples? Yes; and it is the\nduty of the Latter-day Saints to live their religion so that all the\nworld can say there is a pattern for us, not only in our business and\nworship, but in our knowledge of things that are, things that have been\nand of things that are yet to come, until the knowledge of Zion shall\nreach the uttermost parts of the earth, and the kings and great men\nshall say, \"Let us go up to Zion and learn wisdom.\" 12:257.\n\nThe greatest difficulty we have to meet is what may be termed\nignorance, or want of understanding in the people. 7:63.\n\nNot only does the religion of Jesus Christ make the people acquainted\nwith the things of God, and develop within them moral excellence and\npurity, but it holds out every encouragement and inducement possible,\nfor them to increase in knowledge and intelligence, in every branch of\nmechanism, or in the arts and sciences, for all wisdom, and all the\narts and sciences in the world are from God, and are designed for the\ngood of his people. 13:147.\n\n_Knowledge to be Sought_--The religion embraced by the Latter-day\nSaints, if only slightly understood, prompts them to search diligently\nafter knowledge. There is no other people in existence more eager to\nsee, hear, learn, and understand truth. 8:6.\n\nLet there be a mutual desire in every man to disseminate knowledge,\nthat all may know. I have always followed {381} out the rule of\ndispensing what I know to others, and been blessed in so doing. 9:370.\n\nPut forth your ability to learn as fast as you can, and gather all the\nstrength of mind and principle of faith you possibly can, and then\ndistribute your knowledge to the people. 8:146.\n\nWe, who believe in and have obeyed this Gospel, look forward with the\nanticipation of obtaining a great amount of knowledge and wisdom. When\nwe embraced the Gospel, the spirit opened up to our minds the fact that\nthe wisdom, the knowledge and the power of God would increase in the\nmidst of the Saints. This is our experience, knowing for myself, what\nthe Spirit of the Lord brings to the understanding, testify what it\nreveals to others. 18:236.\n\nLet us train our minds until we delight in that which is good, lovely\nand holy, seeking continually after that intelligence which will enable\nus effectually to build up Zion, which consists in building houses,\ntabernacles, temples, streets, and every convenience and necessity to\nembellish and beautify, seeking to do the will of the Lord all the days\nof our lives, improving our minds in all scientific and mechanical\nknowledge, seeking diligently to understand the great design and plan\nof all created things, that we may know what to do with our lives and\nhow to improve upon the facilities placed within our reach. 10:177.\n\nIf we wish to be taught, to receive, and understand, we must train\nourselves. 6:99.\n\nWe are in a great school, and we should be diligent to learn, and\ncontinue to store up the knowledge of heaven and of earth, and read\ngood books, although I cannot say that I would recommend the reading\nof all books, for it is not all books which are good. Read good books,\nand extract {382} from them wisdom and understanding as much as you\npossibly can, aided by the Spirit of God. 12:124.\n\nEvery man and woman that has talent and hides it will be called a\nslothful servant. Improve day by day upon the capital you have. In\nproportion as we are capacitated to receive, so it is our duty to do.\n7:7.\n\nIt is our duty and calling, as ministers of the same salvation and\nGospel, to gather every item of truth and reject every error. Whether\na truth be found with professed infidels, or with the Universalists,\nor the Church of Rome, or the Methodists, the Church of England, the\nPresbyterians, the Baptists, the Quakers, the Shakers, or any other of\nthe various and numerous different sects and parties, all of whom have\nmore or less truth, it is the business of the Elders of this Church\n(Jesus, their Elder Brother, being at their head) to gather up all the\ntruths in the world pertaining to life and salvation, to the Gospel we\npreach, to mechanism of every kind, to the sciences, and to philosophy,\nwherever it may be found in every nation, kindred, tongue, and people\nand bring it to Zion. 7:283.\n\n_Continuous Education_--This is our labor, our business, and our\ncalling--to grow in grace and in knowledge from day to day and from\nyear to year. 6:268.\n\nI shall not cease learning while I live, nor when I arrive in the\nspirit-world; but shall there learn with greater facility; and when\nI again receive my body, I shall learn a thousand times more in a\nthousand times less time; and then I do not mean to cease learning, but\nshall still continue my researches. 8:10.\n\nWe shall never see the time when we shall not need to be taught, nor\nwhen there will not be an object to be gained. I never expect to see\nthe time that there will not {383} be a superior power and a superior\nknowledge, and, consequently, incitements to further progress and\nfurther improvement. 10:221.\n\nIf I do not learn what is in the world, from first to last, somebody\nwill be wiser than I am. I intend to know the whole of it, both good\nand bad. Shall I practice evil? No; neither have I told you to practice\nit, but to learn by the light of truth every principle there is in\nexistence in the world. 2:94.\n\nWe need constant instruction, and our great heavenly Teacher requires\nof us to be diligent pupils in his school, that we may in time reach\nhis glorified presence. If we will not lay to heart the rules of\neducation which our Teacher gives us to study, and continue to advance\nfrom one branch of learning to another, we never can be scholars of the\nfirst class and become endowed with the science, power, excellency,\nbrightness and glory of the heavenly hosts; and unless we are educated\nas they are, we cannot associate with them. 10:266.\n\nAnd inasmuch as the Lord Almighty has designed us to know all that is\nin the earth, both the good and the evil, and to learn not only what\nis in heaven, but what is in hell, you need not expect ever to get\nthrough learning. Though I mean to learn all that is in heaven, earth,\nand hell. Do I need to commit iniquity to do it? No. If I were to go\ninto the bowels of hell to find out what is there, that does not make\nit necessary that I should commit one evil, or blaspheme in any way the\nname of my Maker. 2:94.\n\nThe extent of knowledge incorporated within the salvation extended to\nthe children of men, will vastly exceed the researches of the human\nfamily, and when they have {384} passed the veil, they will then\nunderstand that they have but just commenced to learn. Brother Morley\nsays he never expects to be too old to learn; I believe that doctrine.\n\nCould we live to the age of Methuselah, and eat the fruits which the\nearth would produce in her strength, as did Adam and Eve before the\ntransgression, and spend our lives in searching after the principles of\neternal life, we would find, when one eternity had passed to us, that\nwe had been but children thus far, babies just commencing to learn the\nthings which pertain to the eternities of the Gods.\n\nWe might ask, when shall we cease to learn? I will give you my opinion\nabout it: never, never. 3:202.\n\nIf we continue to learn all that we can, pertaining to the salvation\nwhich is purchased and presented to us through the Son of God, is there\na time when a person will cease to learn? Yes, when he has sinned\nagainst God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost--God's\nminister; when he has denied the Lord, defied him and committed the sin\nthat in the Bible is termed the unpardonable sin--the sin against the\nHoly Ghost. That is the time when a person will cease to learn, and\nfrom that time forth, will descend in ignorance, forgetting that which\nthey formerly knew. They will cease to increase, but must decrease.\nThese are the only characters who will ever cease to learn, both in\ntime and eternity. 3:203.\n\nI ask, have the great and learned men completed their education? No,\nthey are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the\ntruth. 1:70.\n\nI will not say, as do many, that the more I learn the more I am\nsatisfied that I know nothing; for the more I learn the more I discern\nan eternity of knowledge to improve upon. {385}\n\nOne scholar in a school may far outstrip the rest; but give them\nsufficient time, and they can learn what the quick, bright scholar has\nlearned so easily and quickly. If we are capacitated to learn one thing\ntoday, we can learn another tomorrow. It is the height of folly to say\nthat a man can only learn so much and no more. The further literary men\nadvance in their studies, the more they discern there is to learn, and\nthe more anxious they are to learn.\n\nWe may live here year after year, and store up knowledge all the time,\nand yet not have an opportunity of exhibiting it to others; it is on\nhand; whenever the time comes it should be used. 6:274.\n\nExperience has taught us that it requires time to acquire certain\nbranches of mechanism, also all principles and ideas that we wish to\nbecome masters of. The closer people apply their minds to any correct\npurpose the faster they can grow and increase in the knowledge of the\ntruth. When they learn to master their feelings, they can soon learn\nto master their reflections and thoughts in the degree requisite for\nattaining the objects they are seeking. But while they yield to a\nfeeling or spirit that distracts their minds from a subject they wish\nto study and learn, so long they will never gain the mastery of their\nminds. 6:94.\n\nNo matter what your circumstances ate, whether you are in prosperity\nor in adversity, you can learn from every person, transaction, and\ncircumstance around you. 4:287.\n\n_Effects of Education_--The results of the education and\ntraditions of the inhabitants of the earth, are interwoven with their\nfeelings, and are like a cloak that envelops them, in the capacity of\nsocieties, neighborhoods, people, or individuals; they frame that kind\nof government and religion, {386} and pursue that course collectively\nor individually, that seemeth good to themselves. 3:88.\n\nEvery principle of true philosophy convinces a person who understands\nthe spirit of the Gospel and has received the good word of life, that\nthe darkness is in proportion to the light that has been forsaken.\nRear a child in a cell which only admits a small glimmer of light, and\nthe child will pass its time with some degree of satisfaction, when a\nperson accustomed to the bright light of day could not at first see\nanything. And the greater the light bestowed upon an individual or upon\na people, the greater the darkness when that light is forsaken. 8:121.\n\nWill education feed and clothe you, keep you warm on a cold day, or\nenable you to build a house? Not at all. Should we cry down education\non this account? No. What is it for? The improvement of the mind; to\ninstruct us in all arts and sciences, in the history of the world, in\nthe laws of nations; to enable us to understand the laws and principles\nof life, and how to be useful while we live. 14:83.\n\nWhat is the religion of the day? What are all the civil laws and\ngovernments of the day? They are merely traditions, without a single\nexception. Do the people realize this--that it is the force of their\neducation that makes right and wrong with them? It is not the line\nwhich the Lord has drawn out; it is not the law which the Lord has\ngiven them; it is not the righteousness which is according to the\ncharacter of him who has created all things, and by his own law governs\nand controls all things; but by the prejudice of education--the\nprepossessed feeling that is begotten in the hearts of the children of\nmen, by surrounding objects. 3:86.\n\nIf I should hear a man advocate the erroneous principles {387} he had\nimbibed through education, and oppose those principles, some might\nimagine that I was opposed to that man, when, in fact, I am only\nopposed to every evil and erroneous principle he advances. 6:331.\n\nThere is not a law of God, nor a law of any nation that exercises so\nstrong an influence upon us as do our traditions at times, to, bind us\nto certain customs, habits and ceremonies. 8:58.\n\n_Educate our Children_--Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, obey\nhis doctrine, cease your warring and contention, beat your swords\ninto ploughshares and your spears into pruning hooks; make railroads,\nbuild colleges, teach the children, give them the learning of the\nworld and the things of God; elevate their minds, that they may not\nonly understand the earth we walk upon, but the air we breathe, the\nwater we drink, and all the elements pertaining to the earth; and then\nsearch other worlds, and become acquainted with the planetary system,\nthe dwellings of the angels and the heavenly beings, that they may\nultimately be prepared for a higher state of being, and finally be\nassociated with them. I wish we would do it; I pray the Lord to do it,\nbut he will not, unless we help him. 14:210.\n\nThe education of our children is worthy of our attention, and the\ninstruction of the Elders from this stand. It is a subject that should\nbe thoroughly impressed upon the minds of parents and the rising\ngeneration; and those who wish to preach from this text may do so.\n13:262.\n\nIt is a duty we owe to our children to educate and train them in every\nprinciple of honor and good manners, in a knowledge of God and his\nways, and in popular school education. I am happy to hear the little\nchildren sing, and {388} hope they are also learning to read and write,\nand are progressing in every useful branch of learning. 11:111.\n\nSee that your children are properly educated in the rudiments of\ntheir mother tongue, and then let them proceed to higher branches of\nlearning; let them become more informed in every department of true\nand useful learning than their fathers are. When they have become\nwell acquainted with their language, let them study other languages,\nand make themselves fully acquainted with the manners, customs, laws,\ngovernments and literature of other nations, peoples, and tongues. Let\nthem also learn all the truth pertaining to the arts and sciences, and\nhow to apply the same to their temporal wants. Let them study things\nthat are upon the earth, that are in the earth, and that are in the\nheavens. 8:9.\n\nI wish this people to pay particular attention to the education\nof their children. If we can do no more, we should give them the\nfacilities of a common education, that when our sons are sent into the\nworld as ministers of salvation and as representatives of the Kingdom\nof God in the mountains, they can mingle with the best society and\nintelligibly and sensibly present the principles of truth to mankind,\nfor all truth is the offspring of heaven, and is incorporated in the\nreligion which we have embraced.\n\nEvery accomplishment, every polished grace, every useful attainment\nin mathematics, music, and in all science and art belongs to the\nSaints, and they should avail themselves as expeditiously as possible\nof the wealth of knowledge the sciences offer to every diligent and\npersevering scholar. 10:224.\n\nThe education of youth is an important text for the brethren to preach\nfrom. A very high value should be {389} placed upon it by the Saints.\nWe have the privilege of enjoying the spirit of revelation and the\nknowledge which comes from above, and in addition to this, every branch\nof education known in the world should be taught among and acquired by\nus. 13:263.\n\nMy policy is to keep everybody busy in building up this Kingdom;\nin building houses; in breaking up land; in setting out fruit and\nornamental trees; in laying out fine gardens, pleasant walks, and\nbeautiful groves; and in building academies and other places of\nlearning.\n\nThere are hundreds of young men here who can go to school, which is far\nbetter than to waste their time. Study languages, get knowledge and\nunderstanding; and while doing this, get wisdom from God, and forget it\nnot, and learn how to apply it, that you may be good with it all the\ndays of your lives. 2:145.\n\n_Establish Schools_--Is it not a blessing to have schools in\nour community, where our teachers can teach our children correct\nprinciples, and impart to them education that will be useful? 8:92.\n\nLet a few schools be started by those who are capable of teaching\nthe sciences. The science of architecture, for instance, is worthy\nthe attention of every student. It yields a great amount of real\npleasure to be able to understand the grand architectural designs of\nthose magnificent structures that are scattered over Europe and other\ncountries. 9:173.\n\nGo to work and start some schools, go to school and study; have the\ngirls go, and teach them chemistry, so that they can take any of these\nrocks and analyze them. The sciences can be learned without much\ndifficulty. I want to have schools to entertain the minds of the people\nand draw {390} them out to learn the arts and sciences. Send the old\nchildren to school, and the young ones also; there is nothing I would\nlike better than to learn chemistry, botany, geology, and mineralogy,\nso that I could tell what I walk on, the properties of the air I\nbreathe, what I drink, etc. 16:170.\n\nLet our teachers ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, to bestow upon\nthem and upon their scholars the Spirit of wisdom and intelligence from\nheaven; ask for skill to control and ability to teach on the part of\nthe teacher, and willingness to be controlled and adaptability to be\ntaught on the part of the scholars. Let parents aid the teacher in his\nlabors, by seeing that their children attend school punctually, with a\nproper supply of books, slates, pencils, etc., and permit not a good\ndiligent, faithful school-teacher to suffer for the common necessaries\nof life, while he is laboring to educate and bless their children.\n9:369.\n\nI will now urge it upon the people--the young men and middle-aged--to\nget up schools and study. If they are disposed to study physic or\nsurgery, all right; they will know then what to do if a person is\nsickly, or has his elbow, wrist, or shoulder put out of joint, or his\narm or any bone broken. It is just as important to learn such things\nas it is to learn to plant potatoes. Pay more attention to arithmetic\nand other things that are useful, instead of acquiring a little French\nand German and other fanciful studies that are not of so much practical\nimportance. I do not know how long it will be before we call upon the\nbrethren and sisters to enter upon business in an entirely different\nway from what they have done. I have been an advocate for our printing\nto be done by females, and as for men being in stores, you might as\nwell set them to knitting stockings as to sell tape. Such business\nought to be done by the sisters. It would {391} enable them to sustain\nthemselves, and would be far better than for them to spend their time\nin the parlor or in walking the streets. Hardy men have no business\nbehind the counter; they who are not able to hoe potatoes, go to the\ncanyon, cut down the trees, saw the lumber, etc., can attend to that\nbusiness. Study arithmetic and bookkeeping. Introduce stenography into\nevery school; it is an excellent thing to learn. By its means we can\ncommit our thoughts and reflections to paper with ease and rapidity,\nand thus preserve that which will be of benefit to ourselves and\nothers, and which would otherwise be forever lost. Introduce every kind\nof useful studies into our schools. Get up classes for the study of\nlaw. The laws of this Territory, of the United States, of the different\nStates, of England, and foreign lands. Do this instead of riding over\nthe prairies hunting and wasting your time, which is property that\nbelongs to the Lord our God, and if we do not make good use of it we\nshall be held accountable. 12:31-32.\n\nLet good schools be established throughout all the settlements of\nthe Saints in Utah. Let good teachers, who are Latter-day Saints in\nprinciple and at heart, be employed to educate our children. A good\nschool teacher is one of the most essential members in society; he\nrelieves parents, in part, of a great responsibility and labor; we\nshould, therefore, make the business of school teaching a permanent\ninstitution, and the remuneration should be in amount and in kind equal\nto the receipts of our best mechanics; it should also be promptly and\nwillingly paid, and school commissioners and trustees should see to\nit that teachers are properly qualified and do earn their pay. Could\nI have my wish, I would introduce into our system of education every\nreal improvement. 10:225. {392}\n\nUnderstand men and women as they are, and not understand them as you\nare. 8:37.\n\n_What to Study_--It is our privilege and our duty to search all\nthings upon the face of the earth, and learn what there is for man to\nenjoy, what God has ordained for the benefit and happiness of mankind,\nand then make use of it without sinning against him. 9:243.\n\nLearn everything that the children of men know, and be prepared for\nthe most refined society upon the face of the earth, then improve upon\nthis until we are prepared and permitted to enter the society of the\nblessed--the holy angels that dwell in the presence of God, for our\nGod, because of his purity, is a consuming fire. 16:77.\n\nWe should be a people of profound learning pertaining to the things of\nthe world. We should be familiar with the various languages, for we\nwish to send missionaries to the different nations and to the islands\nof the sea. We wish missionaries who may go to France to be able to\nspeak the French language fluently, and those who may go to Germany,\nItaly, Spain, and so on to all nations, to be familiar with the\nlanguages of those nations.\n\nWe also wish them to understand the geography, habits, customs, and\nlaws of nations and kingdoms, whether they be barbarians or civilized.\nThis is recommended in the revelations given to us. In them we are\ntaught to study the best books, that we may become as well acquainted\nwith the geography of the world as we are with our gardens, and as\nfamilies with the people--so far at least as they are portrayed in\nprint--as we are with our families and neighbors. 8:40.\n\nHow gladly would we understand every principle pertaining to science\nand art, and become thoroughly acquainted {393} with every intricate\noperation of nature, and with all the chemical changes that are\nconstantly going on around us! How delightful this would be, and what\na boundless field of truth and power is open for us to explore! We are\nonly just approaching the shores of the vast ocean of information that\npertains to this physical world, to say nothing of that which pertains\nto the heavens, to angels and celestial beings, to the place of their\nhabitation, to the manner of their life, and their progress to still\nhigher degrees of perfection. 9:167.\n\nOur education should be such as to improve our minds and fit us for\nincreased usefulness; to make us of greater service to the human\nfamily; to enable us to stop our rude methods of living, speaking, and\nthinking. 14:83.\n\nLearn to be good for something. 11:298.\n\nIf we could only learn enough to be self-preserving and\nself-sustaining, we should then have learned what the Gods have learned\nbefore us, and what we must eventually learn before we can be exalted.\n9:169.\n\nLearn all you can. Learn how to raise calves, chickens, lambs, and all\nkinds of useful fowls and animals; learn how to till the ground to the\nbest advantage for raising all useful products of the soil; and learn\nhow to manufacture molasses and sugar from the sugar-cane. Raise flax,\nhusbands, and let your wives learn to manufacture fine linen. 9:173.\n\nLet the boys from ten to twenty years of age get up schools to learn\nsword exercise, musket and rifle exercise, and, in short, every act\nof war. Shall we need this knowledge? No matter; it is good to be\nacquainted with this kind of exercise. 9:173.\n\nIf I could get my own feelings answered I would have law in our school\nbooks, and have our youth study law at {394} school. Then lead their\nminds to study the decisions and counsels of the just and the wise, and\nnot forever be studying how to get the advantage of their neighbor.\nThis is wisdom. 16:9.\n\nI have a few things to lay before the Conference, one of which\nis--and I think my brethren will agree with me that this is wise and\npracticable--for from one to five thousand of our young and middle-aged\nmen to turn their attention to the study of law. I would not speak\nlightly in the least of law, we are sustained by it; but what is called\nthe practice of law is not always the administration of justice, and\nwould not be so considered in many courts. 16:9.\n\nEvery Elder should have at least one trade, and if possible more than\none. 10:77.\n\nI am happy to see our children engaged in the study and practice of\nmusic. Let them be educated in every useful branch of learning, for\nwe, as a people, have in the future to excel the nations of the earth\nin religion, science and philosophy. Great advancement has been made\nin knowledge by the learned of this world, still there is yet much\nto learn. The hidden powers of nature which give life, growth, and\nexistence to all things have not yet been approached by the wisdom of\nthis world. There exists around us, in the works of God, an everlasting\nvariety--no two leaves, no two blades of grass are alike. Natural\nphilosophy, so far as known, marks these phenomena of nature, and\nreveals her wonders, but is incapable of revealing the modus operandi\nof the production.\n\nLet the children in our schools be taught everything that is necessary\nwith regard to doctrine and principle, and then how to live; and let\nmothers teach their daughters regarding themselves, and how they\nshould live in their {395} sphere of existence, that they may be good\nwives and good mothers. Let the sisters study economy in the labor\nand management of their homes. I am satisfied that more than one-half\nof the labor that is done in our houses can be saved by a judicious\nexercise of thought and good judgment Then be wise in these things, and\nwe shall not need tea and coffee, or any other stimulant stronger than\nour natural food. 12:122-123.\n\nStudy to apply your labor to advantage, and you will accomplish much\nmore, without wearing yourselves out so fast. If you have to roll\na log, cut down a tree, etc., study how to take advantage of the\nwork. Contrive to accomplish your work with the least expenditure of\nstrength. 8:297.\n\nI would advise you to read books that are worth reading; read reliable\nhistory, and search wisdom out of the best books you can procure. 9:173.\n\n\"Shall I sit down and read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book\nof Covenants all the time?\" says one. Yes, if you please, and when you\nhave done, you may be nothing but a sectarian after all. It is your\nduty to study to know everything upon the face of the earth in addition\nto reading those books. We should not only study good, and its effects\nupon our race, but also evil, and its consequences. 2:93-94.\n\nAll men should study to learn the nature of mankind, and to discern\nthat divinity inherent in them. A spirit and power of research is\nplanted within, yet they remain undeveloped. 7:1.\n\nNovel reading--is it profitable? I would rather that persons read\nnovels than read nothing. 9:173.\n\nI hope to see the time when we shall have a reformation {396} in the\northography of the English language, among this people, for it is\ngreatly needed. Such a reformation would be a great benefit, and would\nmake the acquirement of an education much easier than at present.\n12:174.\n\nI long for the time that a point of the finger, or motion of the hand,\nwill express every idea without utterance. When a man is full of the\nlight of eternity, then the eye is not the only medium through which he\nsees, his ear is not the only medium by which he hears, nor the brain\nthe only means by which he understands. When the whole body is full\nof the Holy Ghost, he can see behind him with as much ease, without\nturning, his head, as he can see before him. If, you have not that\nexperience, you ought to have. It is not the optic nerve alone that\ngives the knowledge of surrounding objects to the mind, but it is that\nwhich God has placed in man--a system of intelligence that attracts\nknowledge, as light cleaves to light, intelligence to intelligence, and\ntruth to truth. It is this which lays in man a proper foundation for\nall education. I shall yet see the time that I can converse with this\npeople, and not speak to them, but the expression of my countenance\nwill tell the congregation what I wish to convey, without opening my\nmouth.\n\n_Religious Education_--We have established a school in Salt Lake\nCity for the instruction of the Elders of Israel in the doctrines which\nare contained in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and book of Doctrine and\nCovenants, etc., and that is also the place where questions may be\nasked, and instructions given touching all doctrines and principles\nthat may be entertained by them. That is also the place where\ncorrection may be given and explanations be made upon all matters which\npertain to the temporal and spiritual lives {397} of the Saints. It is\nabout two months since that school was established. 12:159.\n\nWe are starting the School of the Prophets. We have been in this\nschool all the time. The revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ to the\nhuman family are all the learning we can ever possess. Much of this\nknowledge is obtained from books, which have been written by men who\nhave contemplated deeply on various subjects, and the revelation of\nJesus have opened their minds, whether they knew it or acknowledged\nit or not. We will start this School of the Prophets to increase in\nknowledge. 12:1106.\n\nThere are a great many branches of education: some go to college to\nlearn languages, some to study law, some to study physic, and some to\nstudy astronomy, and various other branches of science. We want every\nbranch of science taught in this place that is taught in the world.\nBut our favorite study is that branch which particularly belongs to\nthe Elders of Israel--namely, theology. Every Elder should become a\nprofound theologian--should understand this branch better than all the\nworld. 6:317.\n\nThe Christian world is actually coming to the point that they will\ndismiss the Bible from their schools; and by and by they will dismiss\nit from their pulpits and get one to suit themselves; they will hew out\nfor themselves cisterns that will hold no water. 13:213.\n\n_Science and Religion_--I am not astonished that infidelity\nprevails to a great extent among the inhabitants of the earth, for the\nreligious teachers of the people advance many ideas and notions for\ntruth which are in opposition to and contradict facts demonstrated by\nscience, and which are generally understood. You take, for instance,\nour geologists, and they tell us that this earth has been in existence\n{398} for thousands and millions of years. They think, and they have\ngood reason for their faith, that their researches and investigations\nenable them to demonstrate that this earth has been in existence as\nlong as they assert it has; and they say, \"If the Lord, as religionists\ndeclare, made the earth out of nothing in six days, six thousand years\nago, our studies are all vain; but by what we can learn from nature\nand the immutable laws of the Creator as revealed therein, we know\nthat your theories are incorrect and consequently we must reject your\nreligions as false and vain; we must be what you call infidels, with\nthe demonstrated truths of science in our possession; or, rejecting\nthose truths, become enthusiasts in, what you call, Christianity.\"\n\nIn these respects we differ from the Christian world, for our\nreligion will not clash with or contradict the facts of science in\nany particular. You may take geology, for instance, and it is true\nscience; not that I would say for a moment that all the conclusions and\ndeductions of its professors are true, but its leading principles are;\nthey are facts--they are eternal; and to assert that the Lord made this\nearth out of nothing is preposterous and impossible. God never made\nsomething out of nothing; it is not in the economy or law by which the\nworlds were, are, or will exist. There is an eternity before us, and\nit is full of matter; and if we but understand enough of the Lord and\nhis ways, we would say that he took of this matter and organized this\nearth from it. How long it has been organized it is not for me to say,\nand I do not care anything about it. As for the Bible account of the\ncreation we may say that the Lord gave it to Moses. If we understood\nthe process of creation there would be no mystery about it, it would\nbe all reasonable and plain, for there is no mystery except to {399}\nthe ignorant. This we know by what we have learned naturally since we\nhave had a being on the earth. We can now take a hymn book and read\nits contents; but if we had never learned letters and knew nothing\nabout type or paper or their uses, and should take up a book and look\nat it, it would be a great mystery; and still more so would it be to\nsee a person read line after line, and give expression therefrom to\nthe sentiments of himself or others. But this is no mystery to us now,\nbecause we have learned our letters, and then learned to place those\nletters into syllables, the syllables into words, and the words into\nsentences.\n\nFifty or a hundred years ago, if any one had told the people of the\nEast Indies that water could be congealed, and form ice so thick\nand hard that you could walk on and drive teams over it, they would\nprobably have said, \"We do not believe a word of it.\" Why? Because they\ndid not know anything about it. A proper reply for all mankind to make\nunder similar circumstances would be, \"We do not know anything about\nwhat you say, and do not know whether we should have faith in it or\nnot. Perhaps we should, but we have no evidence at present on which to\nfound such a belief.\" You go down south here among some of our native\nIndian tribes, where some of the very best of blankets are made, and\nyou will find them twisting their yarn with their fingers and little\nsticks, and their loom attached to the limbs of trees for weaving\npurposes. Show them a loom such as white people use, and it would be\na perfect mystery to them. Sixty or seventy years ago a loom worked\nby water power would have been a mystery to an American, but there is\nno mystery in that today, because the process is understood. So it is\nwith the East Indians and ice, for the chemist now, by a chemical {400}\nprocess, will congeal the water and make ice of it before their eyes,\nand it is in this way, by testimony, evidence, and demonstration that\nignorance and prejudice are removed, faith implanted and knowledge\nacquired. It is so with regard to all the facts in existence that we do\nnot understand. 14:115.\n\nThere is no ingenious mind that has ever invented anything beneficial\nto the human family but what he obtained it from the one Source,\nwhether he knows or believes it or not. There is only one Source whence\nmen obtain wisdom, and that is God, the Fountain of all wisdom; and\nthough men may claim to make their discoveries by their own wisdom, by\nmeditation and reflection, they are indebted to our Father in Heaven\nfor all. 13:148.\n\nIt has been observed here this morning that we are called fanatics.\nBless me! That is nothing. Who has not been called a fanatic who has\ndiscovered anything new in philosophy or science? We have all read of\nGalileo the astronomer, who, contrary to the system of astronomy that\nhad been received for ages before his day, taught that the sun, and\nnot the earth, was the center of our planetary system? For this the\nlearned astronomer was called \"fanatic,\" and subjected to persecution\nand imprisonment of the most rigorous character. So it has been with\nothers who have discovered and explained new truths in science and\nphilosophy which have been in opposition to long-established theories;\nand the opposition they have encountered has endured until the truth of\ntheir discoveries has been demonstrated by time. The term \"fanatic\" is\nnot applied to professors of religion only. How was it with Dr. Morse,\nwhen shut up in the attic of an old building in Baltimore for more {401} than\na year, with a little wire stretched round the room, experimenting upon\nit with his battery, he told a friend that by means of that he could\nsit there and talk to Congress in Washington? Was he not considered\na fanatic, and wild, and crazy? Certainly he was; and so it was with\nRobert Fulton, when he was conducting his experiments with steam and\nendeavoring to apply it so as to propel a vessel through the water. And\nall great discoverers in art, science, or mechanism have been denounced\nas fanatics and crazy; and it has been declared by their contemporaries\nthat they did not know what they were saying, and they were thought to\nbe almost as wild and incoherent as the generality of the people now\nthink George Francis Train to be. 13:270.\n\nHow difficult it is to teach the natural man, who comprehends nothing\nmore than that which he sees with the natural eye! How hard it is\nfor him to believe! How difficult would be the task to make the\nphilosopher, who, for many years, has argued himself into the belief\nthat his spirit is no more after his body sleeps in the grave, believe\nthat his intelligence came from eternity, and is as eternal, in its\nnature, as the elements, or as the Gods. Such doctrine by him would\nbe considered vanity and foolishness, it would be entirely beyond his\ncomprehension. It is difficult, indeed, to remove an opinion or belief\ninto which he has argued himself from the mind of the natural man. Talk\nto him about angels, heavens, God, immortality, and eternal lives, and\nit is like sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal to his ears; it has no\nmusic to him; there is nothing in it that charms his senses, soothes\nhis feelings, attracts his attention, or engages his affections, in the\nleast; to him it is all vanity. 1:2. {402}\n\nTrue principles will abide, while all false principles will fall with\nthose who choose and cleave to them. 7:65.\n\nWe should seek substantial information, and trust little to that kind\nof so-called learning that is based upon theory. We should pluck fruit\nfrom the tree of knowledge, and taste, then shall our eyes be open to\nsee, our ears to hear and our hearts to understand. I would recommend\nthe same course to those who have not embraced and tasted the sweets\nof \"Mormonism.\" We should get wisdom by reading and by study. We\nshould introduce the best books into our schools for the education and\nimprovement of our children. Let our school teachers seek constantly to\nfasten upon the young mind useful information, and banish from their\nschools, every study that only tends to perplex the student and waste\nhis valuable time. 9:369.\n\n_The Body and the Mind_--Some think too much, and should labor\nmore, others labor too much and should think more, and thus maintain\nan equilibrium between the mental and physical members of the\nindividual; then you will enjoy health and vigor, will be active, and\nready to discern truly, and judge quickly. Men who do much thinking,\nphilosophers for instance, should apply their bodies to more manual\nlabor in order to make their bodies more healthy and their minds more\nvigorous and active. 3:248.\n\n_Studies in Sunday Schools_--We wish in our Sunday and day\nschools, that they who are inclined to any particular branch of study\nmay have the privilege to study it. 13:61.\n\n_Wisdom_--The person that applies his heart to wisdom, and seeks\ndiligently for understanding, will grow to be mighty in Israel. 3:363.\n\nLet wisdom be sown in your hearts, and let it bring forth a bountiful\nharvest. It is more profitable to you than {403} all the gold and\nsilver and other riches of earth. Let wisdom spring up in your hearts,\nand cultivate it. 8:140.\n\nAfter all our endeavors to obtain wisdom from the best books, etc.,\nthere still remains an open fountain for all; \"If any man lack wisdom\nlet him ask of God.\" Let every Latter-day Saint constantly practice\nhimself in the performance of every good word and work, to acknowledge\nGod to be God, to be strict in keeping his laws, and learning to love\nmercy, eschew evil and delight in constantly doing that which is\npleasing to God. This is the only sure way to obtain influence with God\nand all good men. 9:370.\n\nAs we prepare materials to build a house or temple, so man can prepare\nhimself for the reception of eternal wisdom. We go where the materials\nfor a house are, and prepare them to answer our purpose; so we may go\nto where eternal wisdom dwells and there diligently seek to possess it,\nfor its price is above rubies. 9:250.\n\nWho is it that understands wisdom before God? In some respects we have\nto define it for ourselves--each for himself--according to our own\nviews, judgment and faith, and the observance of the Word of Wisdom or\nthe interpretation of God's requirements on this subject, must be left\npartially, with the people. 14:20.\n\nIt is our privilege to be as wise in our generation as the children of\nthis world; and not only so, but it is our duty to be as wise in our\ngeneration as the children of this world. We have the true light and\nknowledge and we ought to know as much as the philosophical world, or\nas any other people on the earth. We ought at least to know as much\nabout politics as do the political world, or as do any other people. I\nexpect that we do; and if we only apply our minds in the proper time\nand channel, we know as much {404} about the Christian world as do\nany other people, and we ought to know as much about the whole world\nas do any other people. In fact, we ought to know more upon all those\nmatters than any other people; for we are privileged with far superior\nadvantages, through faith and obedience to the Gospel. 4:356.\n\nWe pray for wisdom, but God will as soon put bread and meat in our\ncupboards without any endeavor of ours, as he will give us wisdom\nwithout our trying to get it. If a man wants a farm, let him make it;\nif he wishes an orchard he plants it; if he wants a house for his\nfamily to live in, he must gather the materials and build it. He will\ngive us wisdom in these things, but he will not come down to do the\nmanual labor. 9:250.\n\nThis people are increasing in the wisdom which cometh from God, and\ntheir power to organize the crude elements around them into the\nnecessaries of life is in ratio to their increase of intelligence and\napplication of labor. In this way we ought to understand these great\nprinciples. We need not seek for a revelation to know how to make\ncloth, when the mode is plainly marked before our eyes. Sheep produce\na textile material, and how to make it into cloth has been known time\nout of mind; we can raise sheep in abundance. I do not look for power\nfrom the heavens that will produce for us wool, cloth, iron, food, or\nanything we need, without being made with hands. We should understand\nwhat is required of us to sustain ourselves. 9:255.\n\nIt is the privilege of man to search out the wisdom of God pertaining\nto the earth and the heavens. 9:242.\n\nReal wisdom is a real pleasure; real wisdom, prudence, and\nunderstanding, is a real comfort. 19:96.\n\nI want our children to go and hear all there is to hear, {405} for the\nwhole sum of it will be wound up as I once heard one of the finest\nspeakers America has ever produced say, when speaking on the soul\nof man. After laboring long on the subject, he straightened himself\nup--he was a fine looking man--and, said he, \"My brethren and sisters,\nI must come to the conclusion that the soul of man is an immaterial\nsubstance.\" Said I, \"Bah!\" 14:198. {406}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\n_SELF CONTROL_\n\n_The Will of Man_--You call it will. It is the divinity God has\nplaced in his intelligent creatures. 8:209.\n\nHave we a will? Yes. It is an endowment, a trait of the character of\nthe Gods, with which all intelligence is endowed, in heaven and on\nearth,--the power to accept or reject. 9:106.\n\nGod has placed within us a will, and we should be satisfied to have\nit controlled by the will of the Almighty. Let the human will be\nindomitable for right. It has been the custom of parents to break the\nwill until it is weakened, and the noble, God-like powers of the child\nare reduced to a comparative state of imbecility and cowardice. Let\nthat heaven-born property of human agents be properly tempered and\nwisely directed, instead of pursuing the opposite course, and it will\nconquer in the cause of right. Break not the spirit of any person, but\nguide it to feel that it is its greatest delight and highest ambition\nto be controlled by the revelations of Jesus Christ, then the will of\nman becomes God-like in overcoming the evil that is sown in the flesh,\nuntil God shall reign within us to will and do of his good pleasure.\n9:150.\n\nTake people in every capacity of life, and their wills are first and\nforemost. You can gain and lead the affections of the people, but you\ncannot scare them, nor whip them, nor burn them to do right against\ntheir wills. The human family will die to gratify their wills. Then\nlearn to rightly direct those wills, and you can direct the influence\nand power of the people. 8:363. {407}\n\nThere is no man or woman on the earth in the habit of stealing, but\nwhat can cease the practice right square if they are disposed. And so\nwith the liar, he can stop lying, and lie no more, and tell the truth.\nIt only wants the will to do it, and that will brought into exercise to\nenable the liar to be truthful, the thief to be honest, and the swearer\nto stop his evil speaking. 18:77.\n\nWe want the spirit, knowledge, power and principle within us to govern\nand control our tempers; there is no danger of having too much if we\nwill only control them by the Spirit of the Almighty. Every intelligent\nbeing on the earth is tempered for glory, beauty, excellency and\nknowledge here, and for immortality and eternal lives in the worlds to\ncome. But every being who attains to this must be sanctified before\nGod and be completely under the control of his Spirit. If I am thus\ncontrolled by the Spirit of the Most High, I am a king. I am supreme\nso far as the control of self is concerned; and it also enables me to\ncontrol my wives and children. And when they thus see that I am under\nthe government and control of the good Spirit, they will be perfectly\nsubmissive to my dictates. 13:272.\n\nNow I charge you again, and I charge myself not to get angry. Never let\nanger arise in your hearts. No, Brigham, never let anger arise in your\nheart, never, never! Although you may be called upon to chastise and to\nspeak to the people sharply, do not let anger arise in you, no, never!\n14:156.\n\n_Self Control Necessary_--We are trying to govern ourselves, and\nif we continue trying and faint not, we shall assuredly conquer. 11:256.\n\nLet the people study to bring their thinking or reflecting faculties\ninto subjection. 6:94.\n\nLearn to control yourselves; learn to be in the hands of {408} God as\nclay in the hands of the potter; and if he will turn our enemies away,\npraised be his name. But if it should become a duty to take the sword,\nlet us do it manfully and in the strength of Israel's God. 5:229.\n\nI answer, it is the absolute and imperative duty of the Elders of\nIsrael to try and control themselves and their families and their\nbrethren, until they can hold control over all things in righteousness.\n10:333.\n\nI have frequently said that the greatest endowment God ever gave to man\nis good, sound, solid sense to know how to govern ourselves. 9:250.\n\nNo man can ever become a ruler in the Kingdom of God, until he can\nperfectly rule himself; then is he capable of raising a family of\nchildren who will rise up and call him blessed. 9:334.\n\nNo man ever did, or ever will rule judiciously on this earth, with\nhonor to himself and glory to his God, unless he first learn to rule\nand control himself. A man must first learn to rule himself rightly\nbefore his knowledge can be fully brought to bear for the correct\ngovernment of a family, a neighborhood, or nation, over which it is his\nlot to preside. 3:256.\n\nIn this probation, we have evil to contend with, and we must overcome\nit in ourselves, or we never shall overcome it anywhere else. 6:99.\n\nYou have been taught the standard of right. Now subdue your rebellious\npassions, dismiss everything that you know or consider to be wrong, and\nembrace that which is better. 6:74.\n\nLet each person be determined, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,\nto overcome every besetment--to be the master of himself, that the\nSpirit God has put in your tabernacles {409} shall rule; then you can\nconverse, live, labor, go here or there, do this or that, and converse\nand deal with your brethren as you ought. 8:139.\n\nYou cannot inherit eternal life, unless your appetites are brought in\nsubjection to the spirit that lives within you, that spirit which our\nFather in Heaven gave. I mean the Father of your spirits, of those\nspirits which he has put into these tabernacles. The tabernacle must be\nbrought in subjection to the spirit perfectly, or your bodies cannot\nbe raised to inherit eternal life; if they do come forth, they must\ndwell in a lower kingdom. Seek diligently, until you bring all into\nsubjection to the law of Christ. 4:200.\n\nWe often hear people excuse themselves for their uncouth manners and\noffensive language, by remarking \"I am no hypocrite,\" thus taking to\nthemselves credit for that which is really no credit to them. When evil\narises within me, let me throw a cloak over it, subdue it, instead\nof acting it out upon the false presumption that I am honest and no\nhypocrite. Let not thy tongue give utterance to the evil that is in\nthine heart, but command thy tongue to be silent until good shall\nprevail over the evil, until thy wrath has passed away and the good\nSpirit shall move thy tongue to blessings and words of kindness. So\nfar I believe in being a hypocrite. This is practical with me. When my\nfeelings are aroused to anger by the ill-doings of others, I hold them\nas I would hold a wild horse, and I gain the victory. Some think and\nsay that it makes them feel better when they are mad, as they call it,\nto give vent to their madness in abusive and unbecoming language. This,\nhowever, is a mistake. Instead of its making you feel better, it is\nmaking bad worse. When you think and say it makes you better you give\ncredit to a falsehood. When the wrath {410} and bitterness of the human\nheart are moulded into words and hurled with violence at one another,\nwithout any check or hindrance, the fire has no sooner expended itself\nthan it is again re-kindled through some trifling course, until the\ncourse of nature is set on fire; \"and it is set on fire of hell.\"\n11:255.\n\nBe patient; do not murmur at the dealings of Providence. The Lord\nrules in the heavens and works his pleasure upon the earth. Can you\ncomprehend the meaning of the Prophet Amos in the question: \"Shall\nthere be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?\" His\nprovidences are constantly ruling and overruling, to a greater or less\ndegree, in the affairs of the children of men. 7:237.\n\nThe sooner an individual resists temptation to do, say, or think wrong,\nwhile he has light to correct his judgment, the quicker he will gain\nstrength and power to overcome every temptation to evil. 6:94.\n\nI am trying to civilize myself. Are you trying to do the same? If\nwe have succeeded in this, then we have control over our words and\nover our actions, and also, so far as our influence goes, over our\nassociates. If we are civilized ourselves, we shall be partially\nprepared to receive the things that our Father and God has in store\nfor all such as prepare themselves to become recipients of his choice\ngifts--for enlightenment, for intelligence, for glory, for power, and\nfor every qualification he wishes to bestow upon his children here upon\nthe earth, to prepare them to dwell in mansions of eternal light. 8:7.\n\nUntil we can subdue our own passions, and bring every human feeling\nand aspiration into subjection to the will of God, we are not really\ncapable of guiding and dictating others to the full possession of\nvictory in the Kingdom of God. {411} To conquer and subdue, and school\nourselves until we bring everything into subjection to the law of\nChrist, is our work. 11:13.\n\nThe thousands and tens of thousands of incidents that make up the\nsum of human lives, whether for good or evil, depend on a momentary\nwatchfulness and care. 8:52.\n\nA righteous person will never be discouraged, but will constantly\ncontend against his evil passions, and against evil in his family and\nneighborhood; and the Lord will utterly cleanse his thrashing floor as\nwith the besom of destruction. 8:151.\n\nMany men will say they have a violent temper, and try to excuse\nthemselves for actions of which they are ashamed. I will say, there\nis not a man in this house who has a more indomitable and unyielding\ntemper than myself. But there is not a man in the world who cannot\novercome his passion, if he will struggle earnestly to do so. If you\nfind passion coming on you, go off to some place where you cannot\nbe heard; let none of your family see you or hear you, while it is\nupon you, but struggle till it leaves you; and pray for strength\nto overcome. As I have said many times to the Elders, pray in your\nfamilies; and if, when the time for prayer comes, you have not the\nspirit of prayer upon you, and your knees are unwilling to bow, say to\nthem \"Knees, get down there;\" make them bend, and remain there until\nyou obtain the Spirit of the Lord. If the spirit yields to the body, it\nbecomes corrupt; but if the body yields to the spirit it becomes pure\nand holy. 11:290.\n\nThirty years' experience has taught me that every moment of my life\nmust be holiness to the Lord, resulting from equity, justice, mercy,\nand uprightness in all my actions, {412} which is the only course by\nwhich I can preserve the Spirit of the Almighty to myself. 9:220.\n\n_Check Your Words_--If you first gain power to check your words,\nyou will then begin to have power to check your judgment, and at length\nactually gain power to check your thoughts and reflections. 6:98.\n\nYou should succeed in bringing your tongues into subjection, so as\nnever to let them speak evil, so that they will perfectly obey your\njudgment and the discretion God has given you, and are perfectly\nobedient to the will of the holy Gospel. 3:195.\n\nThere is an old maxim, and in many cases an excellent one. It is,\n\"Think twice before you speak, and three times before you act.\" If we\ntrain ourselves to think what we are about to do, before we do it,\nand have understanding to know, and power to perform the good, we can\nthereby avoid the evil that is present with us. 1:92.\n\nIt is also a precious gift, that some people seem to be possessed of,\nto have knowledge enough not to talk until they can say something to\nadvantage and benefit to themselves, or others, or both. 9:86.\n\nIf any are in the habit of taking the name of God in vain, cease doing\nso today, tomorrow and throughout the coming week, and so continue,\nand you will soon gain strength to overcome the habit entirely; you\nwill gain power over your words. Some are in the habit of talking about\ntheir neighbors, of vending stories they know nothing about, only that\nAunt Sally said that Cousin Fanny told Aunt Betsy that old Aunt Ruth\nsaid something or other, or somebody had had a dream; and by the time\nthe story or dream reaches you, it has assumed the semblance of a fact,\nand you are very foolishly spending your time in {413} talking about\nthings that amount to nothing, or that you have no concern with. A\nreport is started that such a one has done wrong, and, by the time it\nhas gone its round, has become anointed with the salve of the backbiter\nand talebearer--become endowed with their spirit. One and another\nfalls in with it and says, \"That is true--your cause is just, you are\nexactly right, and the other is surely wrong,\" when they know nothing\nabout the matter, thereby engendering entirely groundless ill feelings\nagainst each other. Before we condemn, we should wait until the heavens\nclearly indicate a fault in a father, brother, sister, wife, husband,\nor neighbor. And if heaven declares a fault, wait until the Holy Ghost\nmanifests to you that such is a fault. Let the Father reveal to you\nthat the person you are thinking or talking about is actually wrong.\nTraduce no person. When you know what right is, and are capable of\ncorrecting a person that is wrong, then it is time enough for you to\njudge. 6:97-98.\n\n_Cease Your Anger_--No man or people possessing wisdom will give\nvent to wrath, for that is calculated to weaken, to destroy, to blot\nout of existence. 7:10.\n\nCease your anger, and sullenness of temper, and serve the Lord with\ncheerfulness, and singleness of heart. You need not expect salvation,\nexcept you can administer the same salvation to others, both in precept\nand example. If you expect compassion from me, administer the same to\nme. If you wish kind words and kind treatment from me, give me the same\nblessing you desire yourself; and that is the way you will be saved.\n1:245.\n\nDo not get so angry that you cannot pray; do not allow yourselves to\nbecome so angry that you cannot feed an enemy--even your worst enemy,\nif an opportunity should {414} present itself. There is a wicked anger,\nand there is a righteous anger. The Lord does not suffer wicked anger\nto be in his heart; but there is anger in his bosom, and he will hold a\ncontroversy with the nations, and will sift them, and no power can stay\nhis hand. 5:228.\n\nIf you give way to your angry feelings, it sets on fire the whole\ncourse of nature, and is set on fire of hell; and you are then apt to\nset those on fire who are contending with you. When you feel as though\nyou would burst, tell the old boiler to burst, and just laugh at the\ntemptation to speak evil. If you will continue to do that, you will\nsoon be so masters of yourselves as to be able, if not to tame, to\ncontrol your tongues--able to speak when you ought, and to be silent\nwhen you ought. 6:75.\n\n_Learn to Know Ourselves_--The greatest lesson you can learn is\nto know yourselves. When we know ourselves, we know our neighbors.\nWhen we know precisely how to deal with ourselves, we know how to deal\nwith our neighbors. You have come here to learn this. You cannot learn\nit immediately, neither can all the philosophy of the age teach it to\nyou; you have to come here to get a practical experience and to know\nyourselves. You will then begin to learn more perfectly the things\nof God. No being can thoroughly know himself, without understanding\nmore or less of the things of God; neither can any being learn and\nunderstand the things of God, without knowing himself: he must know\nhimself, or he never can know God. 8:334.\n\nBut people cannot judge themselves as they can others, nor look upon\ntheir own conduct as they do upon the conduct of others. We must learn\nto look at ourselves, to judge ourselves, and know how to deal with\nourselves and {415} that will enable us to bring ourselves into perfect\nsubjection to the law of Christ. 6:73.\n\nThere is a trait in the character of man which is frequently made\nmanifest in the Saints. It is simply this--to see faults in others\nwhen we do not examine our own. When you see people, professing to be\nLatter-day Saints, examining the faults of others, you may know that\nthey are not walking in the path of obedience as strictly as they\nshould. 11:292.\n\n_Let Us Mind Our Own Business_--I will repeat part of the \"Mormon\nCreed,\" viz: \"Let every man mind his own business.\" If this is\nobserved, every man will have business sufficient on hand, so as not\nto afford time to trouble himself with the business of other people.\n2:92-93.\n\nIf we will faithfully mind our own concerns, live our religion, do\ngood to all men, preach the Gospel to the nations of the earth, gather\nup the honest in heart, build up and establish Zion in the earth, and\nsend the Gospel to the House of Israel, and live and serve God in all\nthings, all will be well with us, we have no cause for fear in the\nleast. 19:5.\n\nThe question may be asked: \"Are we never to know the doings of others?\nAre we never to look to see how others are walking and progressing in\nthis Gospel? Must we forever and forever confine our minds to thinking\nof ourselves, and our eyes to looking at ourselves?\" I can merely say\nthat if persons only understand the path of duty and walk therein,\nattending strictly to whatever is required of them, they will have\nplenty to do to examine themselves and to purify their own hearts; and\nif they look at their neighbors and examine their conduct, they will\nlook for good and not for evil. 11:292. {416}\n\nMy position in the presence of God, before the angels and upon the face\nof the earth, is that it is easier and more delightful to serve God\nthan to serve ourselves and the Devil. 13:1. {417}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\n_OUR FELLOW MEN_\n\n_Love Each Other_--Go on until we are perfect, loving our neighbor\nmore than we love ourselves. 19:49.\n\nPut away all unkind feelings, and let all your meditations be correct.\n8:72.\n\nIt is folly in the extreme for persons to say that they love God; when\nthey do not love their brethren; and it is of no use for them to say\nthat they have confidence in God, when they have none in righteous men.\n4:297.\n\nWe are not here isolated and alone, differently formed and composed\nof different material from the rest of the human race. We belong to\nand are part of this family, consequently we are under obligations one\nto another, and the Latter-day Saints in these mountains are under\nobligations to their brethren and sisters scattered in the nations who,\nthrough indigent circumstances, are unable to gather to themselves the\ncomforts of life. 13:301.\n\nBe just as independent as a God to do good. Love mercy, eschew evil, be\na savior to yourselves and to your families, and to your fellow beings\njust as much as you possibly can, and go on with your independence and\ndo not yield yourselves servants to obey an evil principle or an evil\nbeing. 15:7.\n\nIt should be satisfactory evidence that you are in the path of life,\nif you love God and your brethren with all your hearts. You may see,\nor think you see, a thousand faults in your brethren; yet they are\norganized as you are; they are flesh of your flesh, bone of your bone;\nthey are of your Father who is in heaven; we are all his children, and\n{418} should be satisfied with each other as far as possible. The main\ndifficulty in the hearts of those who are dissatisfied is, they are not\nsatisfied with themselves. 8:287.\n\nWe should commence our labors of love and kindness with the family to\nwhich we belong; and then extend them to others. 11:288.\n\nA man or woman who has embraced, and who enjoys, the principles of this\nChurch, ought to live like an angel. They ought never to be angry with\neach other, but live in the light of the truth continually, and every\nman be kind to his neighbor. 1:245.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints have got to learn that the interest of their\nbrethren is their own interest, or they never can be saved in the\ncelestial kingdom of God. 3:331.\n\nLet us have compassion upon each other, and let the strong tenderly\nnurse the weak into strength, and let those who can see guide the blind\nuntil they can see the way for themselves. 10:213.\n\nWhen you see a neighbor begin to slip, pray for him that he may have\nthe Spirit of the Gospel as he once had. And if you feel this Spirit\nwithin yourselves, pray for an increase of that light you received when\nyou first received the Gospel, and you will save yourself and house.\n8:164.\n\nEnvy not those who do better than you do; do not pursue them with\nmalice, but try to shape and frame your life by theirs. 11:256.\n\nReason as to why it is that you can remember an injury better than a\nkindness; why you can retain hatred longer than love. Is it through\nyour fallen nature? Is it because you were begotten and born in sin?\nOr is it not rather because the power of the tempter has control over\nyou, and because the world is full of evil principles, and you have\n{419} adhered to them? Yes, this is the cause, and you must acknowledge\nit. The whole world is contaminated with a spirit to remember evil and\nforget the good. 3:356.\n\nI have examined myself very closely; I have been trying to know myself,\nto govern myself, and purify my own heart. The worst evil I can imagine\nor wish to come upon the enemies of truth is, that they be obliged to\nlive by holy principles, and to deal by their fellow-creatures as they\nwould wish to be dealt by. 8:13-14.\n\nBe kind to all as our Father in Heaven is kind. He sends his rain upon\nthe just and the unjust; and gives the sun to shine upon the evil and\nthe good. So let our goodness extend to all the works of his hands,\nwhere we can; but do not yield to the spirit and influence of evil. Do\nnot encourage wickedness in our midst. 12:220.\n\nDo I say, Love your enemies? Yes, upon certain principles. But you are\nnot required to love their wickedness; you are only required to love\nthem so far as concerns a desire and effort to turn them from their\nevil ways, that they may be saved through obedience to the Gospel. 8:71.\n\nIf there is nothing in the heart which governs us, and controls to an\nevil effect, the tongue of itself will never produce evil. 3:196.\n\n_Let Us Be Merciful_--The genius of our religion is to have mercy\nupon all, do good to all, as far as they will let us do good to them.\n11:282.\n\nGod bless the humble and the righteous, and may he have compassion upon\nus because of the weakness that is in our nature. And considering the\ngreat weakness and ignorance of mortals, let us have mercy upon each\nother. 9:158.\n\nLet us be just, merciful, faithful and true, and let us {420} live our\nreligion, and we shall be taught all things pertaining to the building\nup of Zion. 10:177.\n\nThe merciful man shall find mercy. When a man designedly does wrong, he\nought to be chastised for that wrong, receiving according to his works.\nIf a man does wrong through ignorance, and manifests sincere sorrow for\nthe wrong, he is the one whom we should forgive seventy times in a day,\nif necessary, and not the one who has designedly done wrong and repents\nnot. 7:244.\n\nMen should act upon the principle of righteousness, because it is\nright, and is a principle which they love to cherish and see practiced\nby all men. They should love mercy, because of its benevolence,\ncharity, love, clemency, and all of its lovely attributes, and be\ninspired thereby to deal justly, fairly, honorably, meting out to\nothers their just deservings. 1:119.\n\nWhen we hold unrighteous, ungodly persons in fellowship, it injures the\nwhole body of Christ; but we do it because we have compassion for them.\n10:284.\n\nBe steadfast, always abiding in the truth. Never encourage malice or\nhatred in your hearts; that does not belong to a Saint. I can say in\ntruth, that with all the abuse I have ever met, driven from my home,\nrobbed of my substance, I do not know that a spirit of malice has ever\nrested in my heart. I have asked the Lord to mete out justice to those\nwho have oppressed us, and the Lord will take his own time and way for\ndoing this. It is in his hands, and not in mine, and I am glad of it,\nfor I could not deal with the wicked as they should be dealt with.\n10:297.\n\n_Show Charity_--Only a few men on the earth understand the charity\nthat fills the bosom of our Savior. We should have charity; we should\ndo all we can to reclaim the lost {421} sons and daughters of Adam and\nEve, and bring them back to be saved in the presence of our Father and\nGod. If we do this, our charity will extend to the utmost extent that\nit is designed for the charity of God to extend in the midst of this\npeople. 8:175.\n\nLet all Latter-day Saints learn that the weaknesses of their brethren\nare not sins. When men or women undesignedly commit a wrong, do not\nattribute that to them as a sin. Let us learn to be compassionate one\nwith another; let mercy and kindness soften every angry and fretful\ntemper, that we may become long suffering and beneficent in all our\ncommunications one with another. 9:334.\n\nLet us be patient with one another. I do not altogether look at things\nas you do. My judgment is not in all things like yours, nor yours like\nmine. When you judge a man or woman, judge the intentions of the heart.\nIt is not by words, particularly, nor by actions, that men will be\njudged in the great day of the Lord; but, in connection with words and\nactions, the sentiments and intentions of the heart will be taken, and\nby these will men be judged. 8:10.\n\nYe mighty men of God, make sure the path for your own feet to walk to\neternal life, and take as many with you as you can. Take them as they\nare, understand them as they are, and deal with them as they are; look\nat them as God looks at them, and then you can judge them as he would\njudge them. 8:10.\n\nRespect one another; do not speak lightly of each other. Some, if they\nget a little pique against an individual, are disposed to cast him\ndown to hell, as not worthy of a place upon earth. O fools! not to\nunderstand that those you condemn are the workmanship of God, as well\nas yourselves! God overlooks their weaknesses; and so far as they do\ngood, {422} they are as acceptable as we are. Thank God that you know\nbetter, and be full of mercy and kindness. 8:149.\n\nSuppose that in this community there are ten beggars who beg from door\nto door for something to eat, and that nine of them are imposters who\nbeg to escape work, and with an evil heart practice imposition upon\nthe generous and sympathetic, and that only one of the ten who visit\nyour doors is worthy of your bounty; which is best, to give food to the\nten, to make sure of helping the truly needy one, or to repulse the\nten because you do not know which is the worthy one? You will all say,\nadminister charitable gifts to the ten, rather than turn away the only\ntruly worthy and truly needy person among them. If you do this, it will\nmake no difference in your blessings, whether you administer to worthy\nor unworthy persons, inasmuch as you give alms with a single eye to\nassist the truly needy. 8:12.\n\nMy experience has taught me, and it has become a principle with me,\nthat it is never any benefit to give, out and out, to man or woman,\nmoney, food, clothing, or anything else, if they are able-bodied, and\ncan work and earn what they need, when there is anything on the earth,\nfor them to do. This is my principle, and I try to act upon it. To\npursue a contrary course would ruin any community in the world and make\nthem idlers. People trained in this way have no interest in working;\n\"but,\" say they, \"we can beg, or we can get this, that, or the other.\"\nNo, my plan and counsel would be, let every person, able to work, work\nand earn what he needs; and if the poor come around me--able-bodied men\nand women--take them and put them into the house. \"Do you need them?\"\nNo; but I will teach this girl to do housework, and teach that woman to\nsew and do other kinds of work, that they may be profitable when they\n{423} get married or go for themselves. \"Will you give them anything to\nwear?\" O, yes make them comfortable, give them plenty to eat and teach\nthem to labor and earn what they need; for the bone and sinew of men\nand women are the capital of the world. 11:297.\n\nTo give to the idler is as wicked as anything else. Never give anything\nto the idler. 16:19.\n\nSet the poor to work--setting out orchards, splitting rails, digging\nditches, making fences, or anything useful, and so enable them to buy\nmeal and flour and the necessaries of life. 12:60-61.\n\nHave the poor got greedy eyes? Are they covetous and penurious? I shall\ngo a little too far if I am not careful. I must guard myself, because\nthe Lord has chosen the poor of this world. But what kind of poor? Now\nthe poor may be divided into three classes. In the first place there is\nthe Lord's poor, of which you may pick up one here and another there,\none in a city, two in a family. Is there any other kind? Yes, you come\nacross a certain class that may be called the Devil's poor. Is there\nany other class? Yes, there is another class, who, long before I ever\nmentioned them, were denominated poor devils. Hence we have the Lord's\npoor, the Devil's poor, and poor devils. 12:57.\n\n_Establish Confidence_--Preserve your honor, and your integrity,\nand ever cherish the confidence that men repose in you. 11:256.\n\nWant of confidence is the parent of moral imbecility and intellectual\nweakness. 10:20.\n\nBut if we lack confidence in each other, and be jealous of each other,\nour peace will be destroyed. If we cultivate the principles of unshaken\nconfidence in each other, our joy will be full. 1:33. {424}\n\nIf we could obtain that faith and confidence in each other, and in our\nGod, that when we ask a favor, we could do so with a full assurance and\nknowledge that we should receive, do you not perceive that it would\nlead us directly to do as we would be done by, in every transaction and\ncircumstance of life? It would prompt us to do, not only as much as\nrequested, but more. If your brother should request you to go with him\na mile, you would go two; if he should sue you for your coat, you would\ngive him your cloak also. This principle prompts us to do all we can\nto promote the interest of each other, the cause of God on the earth,\nand whatever the Lord desires us to do; makes us ready and willing to\nperform it at once. 1:115.\n\nIf you wish to establish a confidence such as the Gods enjoy, let us\ncease from every evil act, and from the contemplation of every evil\ndesign; never infringe upon another's rights, but let each one sustain\nhis brother in the enjoyment of his privileges and rights, holding\nthem as sacred as our own salvation. If confidence has been lost,\nthis is the surest and only successful way to restore it. Hear it, ye\npreachers, ye Apostles, and Prophets; ye Elders, High Priests, and\nSeventies; ye Priests, Teachers, Deacons, and Bishops; every man and\nwoman in the Church of God throughout the world; commence to preach\nthis discourse at home, beginning with your own heart; then teach your\nwives and your children; then let it spread its warning and cheering\ninfluence, like the genial sunbeam, from family to family, until the\nwhole Church of-Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is united as the\nheart of one man. 1:315.\n\nLet us from this time forth live so as to create confidence in all men\nwith whom we deal and come in contact; and treasure up each particle\nof confidence we obtain as {425} one of the most precious possessions\nmortals can possibly possess. When by my good actions I have created\nconfidence in my neighbor towards me, I pray that I may never do\nanything that will destroy it. 11:256.\n\nThe work in which you and I have enlisted is to restore confidence in\nthe minds of the people; and when I hear of circumstances transpiring\nin which brethren forfeit their word I regard it as a blot upon the\ncharacter of this people. We should keep our word with each other. And\nif we have difficulty or misunderstanding with each other, talk it\nover, canvass the subject thoroughly, seriously and discreetly, and we\nshall find that all difficulties will be remedied in this way easier\nthan any other; and we shall also find that nearly every difficulty\nthat arises in the midst of the inhabitants of the earth, is through\nmisunderstanding; and if a wrong in intent and design really exists, if\nthe matter is canvassed over, the wrong-doer is generally willing to\ncome to terms. 14:278.\n\n_Avoid Contention_--I consider it as a disgrace to the community,\nand in the eyes of the Lord, and of angels, and in the eyes of all the\nProphets and Revelators that have ever lived upon the earth, when a\ncommunity will descend to a low, degraded state of contention with each\nother. 1:32.\n\nI wish men would look upon that eternity which is before them. In the\ngreat morning of the resurrection, with what grief would they look upon\ntheir little trifling affairs of this probation; they would say, \"O! do\nnot mention it, for it is a source of mortification to me to think that\nI ever should be guilty of doing wrong, or of neglecting to do good to\nmy fellowmen, even if they have abused me.\" 1:32:\n\nWhen a difference of judgment exists between two {426} parties, let\nthem come together and lay their difficulties at each other's feet,\nlaying themselves down in the cradle of humility, and say, \"brother\n(or sister) I want to do right; yea, I will even wrong myself, to\nmake you right.\" Do you not think that a man or woman, acting in that\nmanner towards his or her neighbor, would be justified by the law of\nrighteousness? Their judgments come together, and they are agreed:\nthere would, consequently, be no need of calling in a third person to\nsettle the difference. After taking this course, if you cannot come\ntogether, then call in a third person and settle it. 6:319.\n\nContentions frequently arise to so alienating a degree that brethren\nhave no faith in each other's honesty and integrity, when, perhaps,\nboth parties have stumbled over a little, selfish, ignorant, personal\nmisunderstanding, are carrying it to the extent of wishing to cut each\nother off from the Church. Very frequently such cases are presented\nbefore me. Unravel the difficulty, and it is found to have started\nin a trifling misunderstanding in relation to some small matter; all\nthe trouble has arisen from a most frivolous cause. Avoid nursing\nmisunderstandings into difficulties. Some talk with a heavy, deep\nstress upon their words, without intending anything harsh or unkind.\n8:72.\n\nIf your neighbors talk about you, and you think that they do wrong in\nspeaking evil of you, do not let them know that you ever heard a word,\nand conduct yourselves as if they always did right, and it will mortify\nthem, and they will say, \"We'll not try this game any longer.\" 19:70.\n\nLet us make ourselves capable of doing at least a little good, and\nthis will occupy our minds upon something that is indeed profitable to\nothers, and will somewhat divert our {427} attention from worshiping\nourselves and blaming everybody that does not do the same. 10:205.\n\nNow, if you do not want to quarrel, take measures to prevent it. 12:315.\n\n_Do Not Deal Out Judgment_--Cease looking at others. Cease to\njudge each other. 6:74.\n\nKindness, love, and affection are the best rod to use upon the\nrefractory. 9:195.\n\nAway with all little meannesses, and deal out kindness to all. Chasten,\nwhere chastening will answer best; but try persuasion before you try\nthe rod. 8:63.\n\nDo not throw away a man or a woman, old or young. If they commit an\nevil today, and another tomorrow, but wish to be Saints and to be\nforgiven, do you forgive them, not only seven times, but seventy times\nseven in a-day, if their hearts are fully set to do right. Let us make\nit a point to pass over their weaknesses and say, \"God bless you in\ntrying to be better in time to come,\" and act as wise stewards in the\nKingdom of God. 8:368.\n\nYou are not as you should be, unless you can correct every person you\nknow to be wrong, without having personal ill-feelings against them.\n8:191.\n\nJudge not, that ye be not judged. Let no man judge his fellow being,\nunless he knows he has the mind of Christ within him. We ought to\nreflect seriously upon this point; how often it is said--\"Such a person\nhas done wrong, and he cannot be a Saint, or he would not do so.\" How\ndo you know? We hear some swear and lie; they trample upon the rights\nof their neighbor, break the Sabbath by staying away from meeting,\nriding about the city, hunting horses and cattle, or working in the\ncanyons. Do not judge such persons, for you do not know the design of\nthe Lord {428} concerning them; therefore, do not say they are not\nSaints. What shall we do with them? Bear with them. The brethren and\nsisters from the old countries frequently place great confidence in the\nAmerican Elders who have been their pastors, but some trifling thing\noccurs that does not appear right to them, and they say in a moment,\n\"That Elder is not a Latter-day Saint.\" Judge no man. A person who\nwould say another is not a Latter-day Saint, for some trifling affair\nin human life proves that he does not possess the Spirit of God. Think\nof this, brethren and sisters; write it down, that you may refresh your\nmemories with it; carry it with you and look at it often. If I judge my\nbrethren and sisters, unless I judge them by the revelations of Jesus\nChrist, I have not the spirit of Christ; if I had, I should judge no\nman. 1:339.\n\nI am very thankful that it is not our province, in our present\ncondition, to judge the world; if it were, we would ruin everything. We\nhave not sufficient wisdom, our minds are not filled with the knowledge\nand power of God; the spirit needs to contend with the flesh a little\nmore until it shall be successful in subduing its passions, until the\nwhole soul is brought into perfect harmony with the mind and will of\nGod. And we must also acquire the discretion that God exercises in\nbeing able to look into futurity, and to ascertain and know the results\nof our acts away in the future, even in eternity, before we will be\ncapable of judging. 19:7.\n\nIf you are ever called upon to chasten a person, never chasten beyond\nthe balm you have within you to bind up. 9:124-5.\n\nWhen a man has power over his neighbor, over his fellow-being, and puts\nhim in torment, which is like the {429} flames of everlasting fire,\nso that he never dares to speak his mind, or walk across the street,\nor attend to any branch of business without a continual fear of his\noppressor, and of the rod hanging over him for punishment, it is worse\nthan to kill and eat him. That is as the torment of hell. 2:140.\n\n_Respect for Neighbors_--Treat the passing strangers with kindness\nand respect; treat all kindly and respectfully who respect you and your\nrights as American citizens. 10:249.\n\nHere is truth--here are life and salvation. Will you have them? If\nyou say, \"Nay,\" all right; for you have the privilege of making your\nown choice. It has never altered my feelings towards individuals, as\nmen or as women, whether they believe as I do or not. Can you live as\nneighbors with me? I can with you; and it is no particular concern of\nmine whether you believe with me or not. 7:165.\n\nIn our intercourse with outsiders--do not call them Gentiles--let our\nexample be such as is worthy of imitation; then every one among them\nwho is honest will say, \"I guess you are right, I think I will come and\nstay with you.\" 12:273.\n\n_Lady and Gentleman Defined_--Now, my brethren and sisters, from\nthe high and from the lower circles of life, find if you can on the\nface of the earth a gentleman or lady, in the strict sense of the word,\nand you will find a man or woman that would border very closely on an\nangel. Every word that they speak will be seasoned with grace; every\nact of their lives would be as nigh as mortals can come to angels;\nnothing pertaining to them low, degrading or disgraceful. You find\na gentleman and you will find a man who possesses a heart full of\ncharity, faith and love, full of {430} good works, whose hand is always\nopen to do good to every creature. You find a lady, and she is one who\nis ready to impart wisdom, knowledge, truth, and every virtuous and\nholy principle to her sisters and her fellow beings. These are the true\nlady and gentleman; but they are of a higher order than those we now\ncall ladies and gentlemen. 12:259.\n\n_The Negro_--The seed of Ham, which is the seed of Cain descending\nthrough Ham, will, according to the curse put upon him, serve his\nbrethren, and be a \"servant of servants\" to his fellow-creatures, until\nGod removes the curse; and no power can hinder it. 2:184.\n\n_The Generous Nature_--It floods my heart with sorrow to see so\nmany Elders of Israel who wish everybody to come to their standard and\nbe measured by their measure. Every man must be just so long, to fit\ntheir iron bedstead, or be cut off to the right length; if too short,\nhe must be stretched, to fill the requirement.\n\nThe faithful will exercise faith, and pray always for all who are\nwithin the reach of mercy. The good desire good to all. 11:273.\n\nIf they see an erring brother or sister, whose course does not comport\nwith their particular ideas of things, they conclude at once that he or\nshe cannot be a Saint, and withdraw their fellowship, concluding that,\nif they are in the path of truth, others must have precisely their\nweight and dimensions.\n\nThe ignorance I see, in this particular, among this great people is\nlamentable. Let us not narrow ourselves up; for the world, with all its\nvariety of useful information and its rich hoard of hidden treasure,\nis before us; and eternity, with all its sparkling intelligence, lofty\naspirations, and unspeakable glories, is before us, and ready to aid us\nin the {431} scale of advancement and every useful improvement. 8:9.\n\nServe the Lord, and try not to find fault with each other. Live so that\nyou will not have any fault to find with yourselves, and never mind\nthe faults of your brethren, for each person has enough of his own to\nattend to. 8:291.\n\nTo be gentle and kind, modest and truthful, to be full of faith\nand integrity, doing no wrong is of God; goodness sheds a halo\nof loveliness around every person who possesses it, making their\ncountenances beam with light, and their society desirable because of\nits excellency. They are loved of God, of holy angels, and of all the\ngood on earth, while they are hated, envied, admired and feared by the\nwicked. 11:240.\n\nWe ought to be ourselves and not anybody else. We do not wish to be\nanybody else, neither do we wish to be anybody but Saints. 3:363.\n\nEvery moment of human life should be devoted to doing good somewhere\nand in some way. 9:296.\n\nIf every person in the community would correct his own errors each day\nhe lives, the errors of the whole would continually be effectually\ncorrected. It is an individual business, over which each man must\npreside, until every fault in our whole lives is corrected and we are\nsanctified before the Lord. 6:316.\n\nIt is good to hold on to an old friend; and, no matter how many new\nfriends I have, I always hold fast to the old ones, and never let them\ngo, unless their wicked conduct breaks the thread of fellowship between\nus. 10:42.\n\nWhat comes of litigation? Poverty and degradation to any community that\nwill encourage it. Will it build cities, open farms, build railroads,\nerect telegraph lines and {432} improve a country? It will not; but it\nwill bring any community to ruin. 11:259.\n\nHe will bless any man, any family, or any people who is liberal. As it\nis written in the good book, \"The liberal man deviseth liberal things,\"\nand if he deviseth liberal things by his liberality he shall stand. The\nLord will bless that people that is full of charity, kindness and good\nworks. 13:279.\n\nI also say, Cease speaking evil one of another, and cease being\ndishonest. Masters, deal honestly and justly with those whom you hire,\nwho are called servants. Servants, deal honestly and uprightly with\nthose who employ you, who are called masters, that confidence and the\nspirit of brotherhood may be kindled, where now, in too many instances,\nthe desire to take advantage exists. 18:233. {432}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\n_UNITY AND CO-OPERATION_\n\n_Be of One Mind and One Heart_--I pray, my brethren, the Bishops,\nthe Elders, the Seventies, the Apostles, yea, every man and woman and\nchild who has named the name of Christ, to be of one heart and of one\nmind, for if we do not become of one heart and mind we shall surely\nperish by the way. 12:156.\n\nIf we were one, we should then prove to heaven, to God our Father, to\nJesus Christ our Elder Brother, to the angels, to the good upon the\nearth, and to all mankind that we are the disciples of the Lord Jesus\nChrist. If we are not one, we are not in the true sense of the word the\ndisciples of the Lord Jesus. 11:273.\n\nWhen truth comes, receive it as from the Lord, and let everything be\nsimplified to us as unto children, for the Lord has ordained that we\nmay grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth, and be able\nto receive more knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and it is not\npossible for us to receive it any other way, only as we apply our\nhearts strictly to overcome every evil and cleave to that which is\npleasing to the Lord--to that which tends to life and salvation. This\nis the only channel in which we can become of one heart, and of one\nmind. 3:355.\n\nJesus offered up one of the most essential prayers that could possibly\nbe offered up by a human or heavenly being--no matter who, pertaining\nto the salvation of the people, and embodying a principle without which\nnone can be saved, when he prayed the Father to make his disciples\none, as he and his Father were one. He knew that if they did {434} not\nbecome one, they could not be saved in the celestial kingdom of God.\nIf persons do not see as he did while in the flesh, hear as he heard,\nunderstand as he understood, and become precisely as he was, according\nto their several capacities and callings, they can never dwell with him\nand his Father. 6:96.\n\nThe Church of Jesus Christ could not exist, and be divided up into\nparties. Where such disunion exists in any government, it ultimately\nbecomes the means of the utter overthrow of that government or\npeople, unless a timely remedy is applied. Party spirit once made its\nappearance in heaven, but was promptly checked. 9:332.\n\nThat perfect union, which must ultimately be enjoyed by the Latter-day\nSaints, can only be brought about by every man and woman living so as\nto keep their minds pure and unspotted like a piece of clean, white\npaper, being constantly free from the love of the world, that the\nspirit of revelation may easily indite upon the heart whatever is the\nmind and will of the Lord. We cannot be truly the members of Christ's\nmystical body without living in this way, that the Spirit may indite\nas easily upon the heart the things of God, as these brethren, our\nreporters can write with ink on paper. 11:19.\n\n_Perfect Oneness Will Save a People_--We must become of one heart\nand mind, in order to fully enjoy the blessings we anticipate. 6:41.\n\nIf we are united, we are independent of the powers of hell and of the\nworld. 5:257.\n\nUnity of purpose and action, in carrying out the will of our Father,\nhas been my theme all the day long. 18:356.\n\nA perfect oneness will save a people, because intelligent beings cannot\nbecome perfectly one, only by acting upon {435} principles that pertain\nto eternal life. Wicked men may be partially united in evil; but, in\nthe very nature of things, such a union is of short duration. The\nvery principle upon which they are partially united will itself breed\ncontention and disunion to destroy the temporary compact. Only the line\nof truth and righteousness can secure to any kingdom or people, either\nof earthly or heavenly existence, an eternal continuation of perfect\nunion; for only truth and those who are sanctified by it can dwell in\ncelestial glory. 7:277.\n\nThe Savior sought continually to impress upon the minds of his\ndisciples that a perfect oneness reigned among all celestial\nbeings--that the Father and the Son and their Minister, the Holy\nGhost, were one in their administration in heaven and among the people\npertaining to this earth. Between them and all the heavenly hosts\nthere can be no disunion, no discord, no wavering on a suggestion, on\na thought or reflection, on a feeling or manifestation; for such a\nprinciple would differ widely from the character of him who dictates\nthem, who makes his throne the habitation of justice, mercy, equity,\nand truth. If the heavenly hosts were not one, they would be entirely\nunfit to dwell in the eternal burnings with the Father and Ruler of the\nuniverse. 7:276.\n\nAll who keep the faith are of one heart and one mind, and this\ntestimony is so confirmed to all that we cannot be mistaken. 18:231.\n\nHow is it that the Latter-day Saints feel and understand alike, are of\none heart and one mind, no matter where they may be when they receive\nthe Gospel, whether in the north, or the south, the east or the west,\neven to the uttermost parts of the earth? They receive that which was\npromised by the Savior when he was about to leave the earth, namely,\n{436} the Comforter, that holy unction from on high which recognizes\none God, one faith, one baptism, whose mind is the will of God the\nFather, in whom there dwelleth unity of faith and action, and in whom\nthere cannot be division or confusion; when they received this further\nlight, it matters not whether they have seen each other or not, they\nhave at once become brothers and sisters, having been adopted into the\nfamily of Christ through the bonds of the everlasting covenant, and all\ncan then exclaim, in the beautiful language of Ruth, \"Thy people shall\nbe my people, and their God my God!\" And the fact that we receive this\nComforter, the Holy Ghost, is proof that the spirit in warring with the\nflesh has overcome, and by continuing in this state of victory over our\nsinful bodies we become the sons and daughters of God. Christ having\nmade us free, and whoever the Son makes free is free indeed. Having\nfought the good fight we then shall be prepared to lay our bodies down\nto rest to await the morning of the resurrection when they will come\nforth and be reunited with the spirits, the faithful, as it is said,\nreceiving crowns, glory, immortality and eternal lives, even a fulness\nwith the Father, when Jesus shall present his work to the Father,\nsaying, \"Father, here is the work thou gavest me to do.\" Then will\nthey become Gods, even the sons of God; then will they become eternal\nfathers, eternal mothers, eternal sons and eternal daughters; being\neternal in their organization they go from glory to glory, from power\nto power; they will never cease to increase and to multiply, worlds\nwithout end. When they receive their crowns, their dominions, they then\nwill be prepared to frame earths like unto ours and to people them in\nthe same manner as we have been brought forth by our parents, by our\nFather and God. 18:259. {437}\n\nTo be a Saint is to be as Jesus was; to be assimilated to the spirit\nand character which he exhibited while here on earth. 12:310.\n\n_Unity in God's Work, the Strength of Zion_--Who can resist the\npower possessed by the Latter-day Saints in their union? And the\nstronger our union, the more mighty are the bands of our strength.\n9:241.\n\nI wish the people to understand that they have no interest apart from\nthe Lord our God. The moment you have a divided interest, that moment\nyou sever yourselves from eternal principles. 4:31.\n\nThe faith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is calculated to unite the\npeople in one, and to bring them back to the unity and faith of those\nwho obeyed the Gospel anciently, and finally to bring them back to\nglory. 5:228.\n\nWe have not in our society an aristocratic circle. Whether a brother\nwears a coon skin cap or a fine beaver hat is all the same to us. If\na person is a faithful servant of God we do not object to his coming\nto meeting, though he has only a piece of buffalo skin to wear on his\nhead. We partake of the Sacrament with him, hail him in the street as\na brother and a friend, converse with him, meet with him in social\nparties and greet him as an equal. 9:188.\n\nWe have been gathered from many nations, and speak many languages; we\nhave been ruled by different nationalities, and educated in different\nreligions, yet we dwell together in Utah under one government, believe\nin the same God and worship him in the same way, and we are all one\nin Christ Jesus. The world wonder at this, and fear the union that\nprevails among this, as they are called, singular people. Why is this?\nIt is because the Spirit of the Lord Almighty is in the people, and\nthey follow its dictates, and {438} they hearken to the truth, and live\nby it; this unites them in one, and causeth them to dwell together in\npeace. 11:124.\n\nI will give you a text: Except I am one with my good brethren, do not\nsay that I am a Latter-day Saint. We must be one. Our faith must be\nconcentrated in one great work--the building up of the Kingdom of God\non the earth, and our works must aim at the accomplishment of that\ngreat purpose. 7:280.\n\nWe have come here to build up Zion. How shall we do it? I have told\nyou a great many times. There is one thing I will say in regard to it.\nWe have got to be united in our efforts. We should go to work with a\nunited faith like the heart of one man; and whatever we do should be\nperformed in the name of the Lord, and we will then be blessed and\nprospered in all we do. We have a work on hand whose magnitude can\nhardly be told. 13:155.\n\nNow, besides being our duty to pray, it is our duty to live in peace\nwith one another. It is also our duty to love the Gospel and the spirit\nof the Gospel, so that we can become one in the Lord, not out of him,\nthat our faith, our affections for the truth, the kingdom of heaven,\nour acts, all our labor will be concentrated in the salvation of the\nchildren of men, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the\nearth. This is co-operation on a very large scale. This is the work of\nredemption that is entered into by the Latter-day Saints. Unitedly we\nperform these duties, we stand, we endure, we increase and multiply,\nwe strengthen and spread abroad, and shall continue so to do until the\nkingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of our God and his Christ.\n15:63.\n\nTo Saint and sinner, believer and unbeliever, I wish here to offer one\nword of advice and counsel, by revealing the {439} mystery that abides\nwith this people called Latter-day Saints; it is the Spirit of the\nliving God that leads them; it is the Spirit of the Almighty that binds\nthem together, it is the influence of the Holy Ghost that makes them\nlove each other like little children; it is the Spirit of Jesus Christ\nthat makes them willing to lay down their lives for the cause of Truth;\nand it was that same Spirit that caused Joseph, our martyred Prophet,\nto lay down his life for the testimony of what the Lord revealed to\nhim. This mystery, the great mystery of \"Mormonism,\" is, that the\nSpirit of the Lord binds the hearts of the people together. Let the\nworld look at it. 1:145.\n\nIf we will live so that Christ can make us one through our obedience,\nwhere are wars and contentions? All will cease. Where is the spirit of\nbickering? There will be no more of it. 14:209.\n\nThe religion of heaven unites the hearts of the people and makes them\none. You may gather a people together, and no matter-how widely they\ndiffer in politics, the Gospel of Jesus Christ will make them one, even\nif among them were found members of all the political parties in the\ncountry. If members of all these various organizations were to obey\nthe Gospel and gather together, the religion of heaven would clear\ntheir hearts of all political rubbish and make them one in voting for\nprinciples and measures, instead of men, and I think that any religion\nthat will not do this is very feeble in its effects. 14:159.\n\n_Advantage of Temporal Unity_--Would you like to live at ease and\nget rich? Would you like to keep your homes in this city? I know you\nwould. You can do so by being one in all things. 11:278.\n\nI want you to be united. If we should build up and organize {440} a\ncommunity, we would have to do it on the principle of oneness, and it\nis one of the simplest things I know of. A city of one hundred thousand\nor a million of people could be united into a perfect family, and\nthey would work together as beautifully as the different parts of the\ncarding machine work together. Why, we could organize millions into a\nfamily under the Order of Enoch. 16:170.\n\nI can see no good accruing to this community in maintaining a divided\ninterest; our interest must be one throughout, in order to produce the\ngood we desire.\n\nIf we will work unitedly, we can work ourselves into wealth, health,\nprosperity and power, and this is required of us. It is the duty of a\nSaint of God to gain all the influence he can on this earth, and to use\nevery particle of that influence to do good. If this is not his duty, I\ndo not understand what the duty of man is. 12:376.\n\nIf we would work together in our farming, in our mechanism, be obedient\nand work as a family for the good of all, it would be almost impossible\nfor anybody to guess the success we would have. But we have got to\ndo it in the Lord. We must not do it with a covetous heart. Always\nbe ready and willing that the Lord should have it all, and do what\nhe pleases with it. I have asked a favor of the Lord in this thing,\nand that is not to place me in such circumstances that what he has\ngiven me shall go into the hands of our enemies. God forbid that! But\nlet it go for the preaching of the Gospel, to sustain and to gather\nthe poor, to build factories, make farms, and set the poor to work,\nas I have hundreds and thousands that had not anything to do. I have\nfed and clothed them and taken care of them until they have become\ncomparatively independent. I have made no man poor, but thousands\nand thousands {441} rich, that is, the Lord has, through your humble\nservant. 15:166.\n\nSuppose there was a union of effort in every political and financial\nmatter undertaken for the benefit of the whole people, who cannot\nsee the good that would result? We have tried this to some extent in\nrelation to our markets here; but suppose we were fully agreed on the\npoint, we could demand a fair price for our products, and we need not\nbe imposed upon by traders and traffickers. If we were agreed we could\nsupply ourselves from distant markets, say with our clothing, at a far\nless cost than now. 12:35.\n\nNow the object is to improve the minds of the inhabitants of the\nearth, until we learn what we are here for, and become one before the\nLord, that we may rejoice together and be equal. Not to make all poor,\nno. The whole world is before us. The earth is here, and the fulness\nthereof is here. It was made for man; and one man was not made to\ntrample his fellowman under his feet, and enjoy all his heart desires,\nwhile the thousands suffer. We will take a moral view, a political\nview, and we see the inequality that exists in the human family. We\ntake the inhabitants of the civilized world, and how many laboring men\nare there in proportion to the inhabitants? About one to every five\nthat are producers, and the supposition is that ten hours work by the\none to three persons in the twenty-four hours will support the five. It\nis an unequal condition to mankind. We see servants that labor early\nand late, and that have not the opportunity of measuring their hours\nten in twenty-four. They cannot go to school, nor hardly get clothing\nto go to meeting in on the Sabbath. I have seen many cases of this\nkind in Europe, when the young lady would have to take her clothing\non a Saturday night and {442} wash it, in order that she might go to\nmeeting on the Sunday with a clean dress on. Who is she laboring for?\nFor those who, many of them, are living in luxury. And, to serve the\nclasses that are living on them, the poor, laboring men and women are\ntoiling, working their lives out to earn that which will keep a little\nlife within them. Is this equality? No. What is going to be done?\nThe Latter-day Saints will never accomplish their mission until this\ninequality shall cease on the earth. 19:46.\n\n_Unity Does Not Mean Individual Uniformity_--How could you ever\nget a people equal with regard to their possessions? They never can be,\nno more than they can be in the appearance of their faces. 4:29.\n\nWe never shall become one to that extent that we shall look alike or\npossess precisely the same mental power and ability; this is not the\ndesign of heaven. But we expect to become one in all our operations to\nbring forth the fulness of the Kingdom of God on the earth, that Jesus\nmay come and reign King of nations as he does King of Saints. Shall we\ncall this a union for political purposes? I say it is good policy for\npeople to be of one heart and mind in all their operations. 12:35.\n\n_The Co-operative Movement_--This co-operative movement is only a\nstepping stone to what is called the Order of Enoch, but which is in\nreality the Order of Heaven. It was revealed to Enoch when he built up\nhis city and gathered the people together and sanctified them, so that\nthey became so holy and pure that they could not live among the rest of\nthe people and the Lord took them away. 13:2.\n\nNow, I will tell you the facts about this movement. We started the\nco-operative system here when we thought we would wait no longer; we\nopened the Wholesale Co-operative {443} Store; and since that, retail\nstores have been established, although some of the latter were opened\nbefore the wholesale store was opened. I know this, that as soon as\nthis movement was commenced the price of goods came down from twenty\nto thirty percent. I recollect very well, after our vote last October\nConference, that it was soon buzzed around, \"Why you can get calico\ndown street at eighteen and seventeen cents a yard;\" and it came down\nto sixteen. But when it came down to sixteen cents, who had a chance to\nbuy any? Why, nobody unless it was just a few yards that were sold to\nthem as a favor. But when it came to the Wholesale Co-operative Store\nthe price was put at sixteen cents, and retail stores are selling it\ntoday at seventeen and a half or eighteen cents a yard. 12:373.\n\nWhat I have in my mind with regard to this co-operative business is\nthis: There are very few people who cannot get twenty-five dollars\nto put into one of these co-operative stores. There are hundreds and\nthousands of women who, by prudence and industry, can obtain this sum.\nAnd we say to you put your capital into one of these stores. What\nfor? To bring you interest for your money. Put your time and talents\nto usury. We have the parable before us. If we have one, two, three\nor five talents, of what advantage will they be if we wrap them in a\nnapkin and lay them away? None at all. Put them out to usury. These\nco-operative stores are instituted to give the poor a little advantage\nas well as the rich.\n\nBrethren, if you will start here and operate together in farming, in\nmaking cheese, in herding sheep and cattle and every other kind of\nwork, and get a factory here and cooperative store--I have been told\nthere is no co-operative store here--get a good co-operative store, and\noperate together {444} in sheep-raising, store-keeping, manufacturing\nand everything else, no matter what it is, by-and-by, when we can plant\nourselves upon a foundation that we cannot be broken up, we shall then\nproceed to arrange a family organization for which we are not yet quite\nprepared. You know, right here in this place, commence to carry on your\nbusiness in a co-operative capacity. In every instance I could show\nevery one of you what a great advantage would be gained in working\ntogether; I could reason it out here just how much advantage there is\nin co-operation in your lumbering and in your herding. You have men\nhere, I suppose, who have had an arm shot off; they cannot go into the\ncanyons and get out wood. Another, perhaps, has had a leg cut off; he\ncannot run here and there like some of you; but he can do something; he\nwill make a first-rate shopman, and at keeping books, perhaps, he will\nbe one of the best. He cannot take the scythe and mow; he cannot attend\nto a threshing machine; he cannot go into the woods lumbering; he could\nnot herd well,--but he could go into the factory, and he can do many\nthings. Well, we can do this and keep up co-operation. I can take fifty\nmen who have not a cent, and if they would do as I would wish them to\ndo, they would soon be worth their thousands, every one of them. 16:169.\n\nI am prepared to prove to any sensible congregation, any good\nphilosopher or thinking person or people, who have steady brain and\nnerve to look at things as they are, that can tell white from black and\ndaylight from midnight darkness, that the closer the connection in a\nbusiness point of view that a community hold themselves together, the\ngreater will be their joy and wealth. I am prepared to prove, from all\nthe facts that have existed or that now exist {445} in all branches of\nhuman affairs, that union is strength, and that division is weakness\nand confusion. 13:267.\n\nIf the people called Latter-day Saints do not become one in temporal\nthings, as they are in spiritual things, they will not redeem and build\nup the Zion of God upon the earth. This co-operative movement is a\nstepping stone. We say to the people, take advantage of it, it is your\nprivilege. Instead of giving it into the hands of a few individuals to\nmake their hundreds and thousands, let the people generally, enjoy the\nbenefit arising from the sale of merchandise. I have already told you\nthat this will stop the operations of many little traders, but it will\nmake them producers as well as consumers. You will find that if the\npeople unitedly hearken to the counsel that is given them, it will not\nbe long before the hats, caps, bonnets, boots and shoes, pants, coats,\nvests and underclothing of this entire community will all be made in\nour midst. 13:3. {446}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\n_THRIFT AND INDUSTRY_\n\n_Faith and Works_--They who secure eternal life are doers of the\nword as well as hearers. 14:37.\n\nThe grand difficulty with the people is they do not do quite as well as\nthey know how; it is that which hinders us from accomplishing the work\ngiven us to do. 19:220.\n\nUnless you improve upon it, every correct principle advanced through\nthe authority of the holy Priesthood becomes to you a dead letter.\nBut if you have the life within you, you, will grow, whether you stay\nat home or come to meeting; and every true principle, power, and\nmanifestation that God gives you, you will improve upon and treasure up\nin your hearts. 8:120.\n\nKnow whether you ought to do a thing or not, and if you ought not, let\nit alone. That is the way to live. 14:161.\n\n_Time Should Be Spent Wisely_--What have we? Our time. Spend it\nas you will. Time is given to you; and when this is spent to the best\npossible advantage for promoting truth upon the earth, it is placed\nto our account, and blessed are you; but when we spend our time in\nidleness and folly it will be placed against us. 19:75.\n\nWe have to give an account of the days we spend in folly. 19:75.\n\nIdleness and wastefulness are not according to the rules of heaven.\nPreserve all you can, that you may have abundance to bless your friends\nand your enemies. 14:44.\n\nDo those things that are necessary to be done and let those alone that\nare not necessary, and we shall accomplish more than we do now. 3:160.\n{447}\n\nOf the time that is allotted to man here on the earth there is none to\nlose or to run to waste. After suitable rest and relaxation there is\nnot a day, hour or minute that we should spend in idleness, but every\nminute of every day of our lives we should strive to improve our minds\nand to increase the faith of the holy Gospel, in charity, patience, and\ngood works, that we may grow in the knowledge of the truth as it is\nspoken and prophesied of and written about. 13:310.\n\nI told them that we brought nothing but knowledge to direct them in\ntheir labors and to teach them how to employ their time. This is the\ngreatest wealth we possess--to know how to direct our labors rightly,\nspending every hour advantageously for the benefit of our wives and\nchildren and neighbors. 12:172.\n\n_Labor Indispensable_--Is not the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God\non earth a temporal labor all the time? It will be built up by physical\nforce and means, by manual labor more than by any particular mental\neffort of the mind. 3:122.\n\nEverything connected with building up Zion requires actual, severe\nlabor. It is nonsense to talk about building up any kingdom except by\nlabor; it requires the labor of every part of our organization, whether\nit be mental, physical, or spiritual, and that is the only way to build\nup the Kingdom of God. 3:122.\n\nIf we are to build up the Kingdom of God, or establish Zion upon the\nearth, we have to labor with our hands, plan with our minds, and devise\nways and means to accomplish that object. 3:51.\n\nYou count me out fifty, a hundred, five hundred, or a thousand of the\npoorest men and women you can find in {448} this community; with the\nmeans that I have in my possession, I will take these ten, fifty,\nhundred, five hundred, or a thousand people, and put them to labor; but\nonly enough to benefit their health and to make their food and sleep\nsweet unto them, and in ten years I will make that community wealthy.\nIn ten years I will put six, a hundred, or a thousand individuals, whom\nwe have to support now by donations, in a position not only to support\nthemselves, but they shall be wealthy, shall ride in their carriages,\nhave fine houses to live in, orchards to go to, flocks and herds and\neverything to make them comfortable. 14:88.\n\nAs was observed this morning, in a wholesome, lovely, excellent\ndiscourse, we will have to go to work and get the gold out of the\nmountains to lay down, if we ever walk in streets paved with gold.\nThe angels that now walk in their golden streets, and they have the\ntree of life within their paradise, had to obtain that gold and put it\nthere. When we have streets paved with gold, we will have placed it\nthere ourselves. When we enjoy a Zion in its beauty and glory, it will\nbe when we have built it. If we enjoy the Zion that we now anticipate,\nit will be after we redeem and prepare it. If we live in the city of\nthe New Jerusalem, it will be because we lay the foundation and build\nit. If we do not as individuals complete that work, we shall lay the\nfoundation for our children and our children's children, as Adam has.\nIf we are to be saved in an ark, as Noah and his family were, it will\nbe because we build it. If the Gospel is preached to the nations, it is\nbecause the Elders of Israel in their poverty, without purse or scrip,\npreach the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. 8:354-55.\n\nMy faith does not lead me to think the Lord will provide us with\nroast pigs, bread already buttered, etc.; he {449} will give us the\nability to raise the grain, to obtain the fruits of the earth, to make\nhabitations, to procure a few boards to make a box, and when harvest\ncomes, giving us the grain, it is for us to preserve it--to save the\nwheat until we have one, two, five, or seven years' provisions on hand,\nuntil there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread\nthemselves and those who will come here seeking for safety. 10:293.\n\n_Let Nothing Go To Waste_--Take things calm and easy, pick up\neverything, let nothing go to waste. 14:88.\n\nNever let anything go to waste. Be prudent, save everything, and what\nyou get more than you can take care of yourselves, ask your neighbors\nto help you consume. 1:250.\n\nNever consider that you have bread enough around you to suffer your\nchildren to waste a crust or a crumb of it. If a man is worth millions\nof bushels of wheat and corn, he is not wealthy enough to suffer his\nservant girl to sweep a single kernel of it into the fire; let it be\neaten by something and pass again into the earth, and thus fulfil the\npurpose for which it grew. Remember it, do not waste anything, but take\ncare of everything. 1:253.\n\nThere is not a family in this city, where there are two, three, four,\nor five persons, but what can save enough from their table, from the\nwaste made by the children, and what must be swept in the fire and out\nof the door, to make pork sufficient to last them through the year, or\nat least all they should eat. 4:314.\n\nGo to the poorest family in this community, and I will venture to say\nthat they waste rags enough every year to buy the school books that are\nneeded for their children, and do even more. 16:16. {450}\n\nIf you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money; but\nit takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage.\n11:301.\n\nIt is to our advantage to take good care of the blessings God bestows\nupon us; if we pursue the opposite course, we cut off the power and\nglory God designs we should inherit. It is through our own carefulness,\nfrugality, and judgment which God has given us, that we are enabled to\npreserve our grain, our flocks and herds, wives and children, houses\nand lands, and increase them around us, continually gaining power and\ninfluence for ourselves as individuals and for the Kingdom of God as a\nwhole. 9:171.\n\nYou may see some little girls around the streets here with their\nmothers' skirts on, or their sun bonnets, and with their aprons full of\ndirt. Your husbands buy you calico, but you do not know what to do with\nit. It is to be carefully worn until the last thread is worn out, and\nthen put into the rag bag to make paper with. 4:319.\n\nIt is good policy and economy to sustain each other. 12:63.\n\nUse just enough of your earnings to make your bodies and your families\nhappy and comfortable, and save the residue. 9:295;\n\n_We Must be a Self-Sustaining People_--We want you henceforth to\nbe a self-sustaining people. Hear it, O Israel! hear it, neighbors,\nfriends and enemies, this is what the Lord requires of this people.\n12:285.\n\nYe Latter-day Saints, learn to sustain yourselves, produce everything\nyou need to eat, drink or wear; and if you cannot obtain all you wish\nfor today, learn to do without that which you cannot purchase and pay\nfor; and bring {451} your minds into subjection that you must and will\nlive within your means. 12:231.\n\nWho are deserving of praise? The persons who take care of themselves\nor the ones who always trust in the great mercies of the Lord to take\ncare of them? It is just as consistent to expect that the Lord will\nsupply us with fruit when we do not plant the trees; or that when we\ndo not plow and sow and are saved the labor of harvesting, we should\ncry to the Lord to save us from want, as to ask him to save us from the\nconsequences of our own folly, disobedience and waste. 12:243-244.\n\nImplicit faith and confidence in God is for you and me to do everything\nwe can to sustain and preserve ourselves; and the community that works\ntogether, heart and hand, to accomplish this, their efforts will be\nlike the efforts of one man. 4:25.\n\nBrethren, learn. You have learned a good deal, it is true; but learn\nmore; learn to sustain yourselves; lay up grain and flour, and save it\nagainst a day of scarcity. Sisters, do not ask your husbands to sell\nthe last bushel of grain you have to buy something for you out of the\nstores, but aid your husbands in storing it up against a day of want,\nand always have a year's, or two, provision on hand. 12:204.\n\nInstead of searching after what the Lord is going to do for us, let us\ninquire what we can do for ourselves. 9:172.\n\nThe first revelation given to Adam was of a temporal nature. Most\nof the revelations he received pertained to his life here. That was\nalso the case in the revelations to Noah. We have but very few of\nthe instructions the Lord gave to Enoch, concerning his city; but,\ndoubtless, most of the revelations he received pertained to a temporal\nnature {452} and condition. And certainly the revelations Noah\nreceived, so far as in our possession, almost exclusively pertained to\nthis life. The same principle was carried out in the days of Moses, and\nin the days of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We may say that\neight or nine-tenths of the doctrines and principles set forth in the\nrevelations given to those men were of a temporal nature.\n\nAs soon as Moses was called upon to go and deliver Israel, the\nrevelations the Lord gave to him were of a temporal nature, pertaining\nto the temporal life of the children of Israel--instructing Moses how\nto deliver them from bondage and lead them from the servile state in\nwhich they then were. He taught them in the same manner while they were\ntraveling through the wilderness; and so it continued down to the days\nof the judges, and then to Saul, whom the Lord permitted them to make a\nking, and then through the teachings of the Prophets. 6:170.\n\nWhatever the Latter-day Saints have gained has been obtained by sheer\nwrestling and unconquerable resolution. 13:93.\n\nAs an instance, we have men who quarry rock out of the mountains; and\nwe would say to those men, can you go and quarry rock without the\nsuitable instruments? Says one, \"I must have so many picks and wedges,\nand I must have so many drills of different sizes, and so many sledges\nand hammers.\" Another man says, \"I am going to make the tools; I have\nthe ability, and I will make the instruments from the ore in the\nmountain.\" You remember what Nephi did. When he came to the sea, and\nprepared to build his barge, the Lord showed him the ore, and Nephi\nmade the tools with which he formed his barge. He did not have to go\nback to Jerusalem to get tools. I would like to see a {453} little more\nof that skill displayed here than I do at the present time. I am using\nthis comparison to show that we, in our poverty, have this work to do.\n8:354.\n\n_The Elements of Wealth are Around Us_--I say to my brethren and\nsisters, come let us learn how to gather around us from the elements an\nabundance of every comfort of life, and convert them to our wants and\nhappiness. Let us not remain ignorant, with the ignorant, but let us\nshow the ignorant how to be wise. 10:6.\n\nThe Lord has done his share of the work; he has surrounded us with\nthe elements containing wheat, meat, flax, wool, silk, fruit, and\neverything with which to build up, beautify and glorify the Zion of the\nlast days, and it is our business to mould these elements to our wants\nand necessities, according to the knowledge we now have and the wisdom\nwe can obtain from the heavens through our faithfulness. In this way\nwill the Lord bring again Zion upon the earth, and in no other. 9:283.\n\nWhile we have a rich soil in this valley, and seed to put in the\nground, we need not ask God to feed us, nor follow us round with a loaf\nof bread begging of us to eat it. He will not do it, neither would I,\nwere I the Lord. We can feed ourselves here; and if we are ever placed\nin circumstances where we cannot, it will then be time enough for the\nLord to work a miracle to sustain us. 1:108.\n\nIt is our duty to be active and diligent in doing everything we can to\nsustain ourselves, to build up his Kingdom, to defend ourselves against\nour enemies, to lay our plans wisely, and to prosecute every method\nthat can be devised to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth, and\nto sanctify and prepare ourselves to dwell in his presence. Yet, after\nall this, if the Lord should not help--if he should {454} not lend his\naid to our endeavors, all our labors will prove in vain. 2:279-280.\n\nThis world is before us. The gold, silver and precious stones are in\nthe mountains, in the rivers, in the plains, in the sands and in the\nwaters, they all belong to this world, and you and I belong to this\nworld. Is there enough to make each of us a finger ring? Certainly\nthere is. Is there enough to make us a breast pin? Certainly there is.\nIs there enough to make jewelry for the ladies to set their diamonds\nand precious stones in? Certainly there is. Is there enough to make\nthe silver plate, the spoons, platters, plates and knives and forks?\nThere is. There is plenty of it in the earth for all these purposes.\nThen what on earth are you and I quarrelling about it for? Go to work\nsystematically and take it from the mountains, and put it to the use\nthat we want it, without contending against each other, and filching\nthe pockets of each other. The world is full of it. If it goes from\nmy pocket it is still in the world, it still belongs to-this little\nball, this little speck in God's creation, so small that from the sun\nI expect you would have to have a telescope that would magnify it\nmany times to see it; and from any of the fixed stars I do not expect\nthat it has ever been seen, only by the celestials--mortals could\nnot see this earth at that distance. And here people are contending,\nquarrelling, seeking how to get the advantage of each other, and how\nto get all the wealth there is in the world; wanting to rule nations,\nwanting to be president, king or ruler. What would they do if they\nwere? Most of them would make everybody around them miserable, that\nis what they would do. There are very few men on the earth who try to\nmake people happy. Occasionally there have been emperors and monarchs\nwho have made {455} their people happy but they have been very rare.\nBut suppose we go to work to gather up all that there is in the bosom\nand upon the surface of our mother earth and bring it into use, is\nthere any lack? There is not, there is enough for all. Then do look\nat these things as they are, Latter-day Saints, and you who are not\nLatter-day Saints, look at things as they are. And I do hope and pray\nfor your sakes, outsiders, and for the sakes of those who profess to\nbe Latter-day Saints, that we shall have good peace for a time here,\nso that we can build our furnaces, open our mines, make our railroads,\ntill the soil, follow our mercantile business uninterrupted; that we\nmay attend to the business of beautifying the earth. 15:19.\n\n_Agriculture_--The increase of our children, and their growing up\nto maturity, increases our responsibilities. More land must be brought\ninto cultivation to supply their wants. This will press the necessity\nof digging canals to guide the waters of our large streams over the\nimmense tracts of bench and bottom lands which now lie waste. We want\nour children to remain near us, where there is an abundance of land\nand water, and not go hundreds of miles away to seek homes. In these\ngreat public improvements the people should enter with heart and soul,\nand freely invest in them their surplus property and means, and thus\nprepare to locate the vast multitudes of our children which are growing\nup, and strengthen our hands, and solidify still more--make still more\ncompact our present organized spiritual and national institutions.\n11:116.\n\nYou have a living off an acre and a quarter of land. Such a little\nfarm well tilled and well managed, and the products of it economically\napplied, will do wonders towards keeping and educating a small family.\nLet the little {456} children do their part, when they are not\nengaged in their studies, in knitting their stockings and mittens,\nbraiding straw for their hats, or spinning yarn for their frocks and\nunderclothing. If this people would strictly observe these simple\nprinciples of economy, they would soon become so rich that they would\nnot have room sufficient to hold their abundance; their store-houses\nwould run over with fulness. 11:142.\n\nNow, cultivate your farms and gardens well, and drive your stock to\nwhere they can live through the winter, if you have not feed for them.\nDo not keep so many cattle, or, in other words, more than you can well\nprovide for and make profitable to yourselves and to the Kingdom of\nGod. We have hundreds and thousands of fat cattle upon the ranges, and\nyet we have no beef to eat, or very little. Kill your cattle when they\nare fat, and salt down the meat, that you may have meat to eat in the\nwinter and some to dispose of to your neighbors for their labor to\nextend your improvements. Lay up your meat, and not let it die on your\nhands. Such a course is not right. Cattle are made for our use, let us\ntake care of them. 11:142.\n\nI intend to plant and sow, not only in the month of May, but in the\nmonth of June, and in the month of July, and I will continue my labors\nto raise what is necessary to sustain life, as long as the season\nlasts. 2:280.\n\nLet groves of olive trees be planted, and vineyards of the most\napproved varieties of grapes, and let sweet potatoes be raised in\nabundance, and all trees and roots that bear fruit in the ground and\nabove the ground that can be used as food for man and beast, that\nplenty may flow in the land like a river, and contentment be enthroned\nin every {457} household, while industry, frugality, and peace prevail\neverywhere. 10:227.\n\nInstead of people being poor, we already have too much, unless we take\nbetter care of it. I heard a man who is living in this city--one who\nhas always been well off--state that he used to keep twelve cows when\nhe first came here, and was often nearly destitute of milk and butter.\nAfter a few years; the number of his cows was reduced to six, and he\nsaid that the six did him more good than the twelve had done. In two\nyears more, they were reduced to two, and the two cows have done him\nmuch more good than the twelve or the six did, for they could be and\nwere more properly attended to. 4:317.\n\nEverything which we use to feed the life of man or beast, not a grain\nof it should be permitted to go to waste, but should be made to pass\nthrough the stomach of some animal; everything, also, which will\nfertilize our gardens and our fields should be sedulously saved and\nwisely husbanded, that nothing may be lost which contains the elements\nof food and raiment for man and sustenance for beast. 11:130.\n\nSave your hay; save your chaff; save your straw; save your wheat; save\nyour oats; save your barley, and everything that can be saved and\npreserved against a day of want. 12:241.\n\nWives, go into the garden and raise the salad and numerous other\narticles within your judgment and strength. Who hindered you from\nmaking a little vinegar last year? People are frequently running round\nand asking, \"Where can I buy some vinegar?\" When I was keeping a house,\nif my neighbors had a million hogsheads of vinegar, I had no need to\nbuy a spoonful of it, for I would make a plenty {458} for my own use,\nand would have eggs, butter, and pork, of my own production, and manage\nto secure beef, and salt it away nicely, and we had all the essentials\nfor comfortable diet. 4:318.\n\nWhat hinders you from raising something to feed a cow? Nothing. Who\nhinders you from planting your garden with corn, and having the suckers\nand the fodder? Who hinders you from raising carrots, parsnips, etc.,\nto feed a cow with through the winter? This you can do on a little more\nthan a quarter of an acre, but will you do it? 4:317.\n\nThe riches of a kingdom or nation do not consist so much in the fulness\nof its treasury as in the fertility of its soil and the industry of its\npeople. 10:266.\n\nOur wants are many, but our real necessities are very few. Let us\ngovern our wants by our necessities, and we shall find that we are not\ncompelled to spend our money for naught. Let us save our money to enter\nand pay for our land, to buy flocks of sheep and improve them, and to\nbuy machinery and start more woolen factories. 12:289.\n\nWe are not anxious to obtain gold; if we can obtain it by raising\npotatoes and wheat, all right. \"Can't you make yourselves rich by\nspeculating?\" We do not wish to. \"Can't you make yourselves rich by\ngoing to the gold mines?\" We are right in the midst of them. \"Why don't\nyou dig the gold from the earth?\" Because it demoralizes any community\nor nation on the earth to give them gold and silver to their hearts'\ncontent; it will ruin any nation. But give them iron and coal, good\nhard work, plenty to eat, good schools and good doctrine, and it will\nmake them a healthy, wealthy and happy people. 13:176.\n\nPurchase cows, for if we have not already supplied you with cows, we\nare able and willing to do so. Most, if not {459} all, have already\nbeen furnished with cows. What did you do with the calves? \"We sold\nthem for a trifle.\" Why did you not raise them? Do you not know that\nthey would very soon be valuable? No, but you waste your calves,\nneglect buying pigs, and live without milk, and many of the easily\nprocured comforts of life. 4:315.\n\nThe time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a\nbushel of wheat. 1:250.\n\nWhen a farmer has done with his ploughs, he should put them under\nshelter until they are again wanted. When harness is taken off, it\nshould be so hung up that you can go at any time of night and find it,\nor a saddle, bridle, saddle-blanket, or any other trapping, and be\nready at once. 8:296.\n\n_Manufacturing_--I pray the Lord to hedge up the way and shut\ndown the gate so, that we may be compelled to depend upon our own\nmanufacturing for the comforts of life. 7:67.\n\nAlso raise flax, and prepare it for the women to manufacture into\nsummer clothing. 4:316.\n\nSave your wool, and send it to the factory. If we want a little cotton\ncloth, we can raise it in the southern country; and we could raise\nsome here as well as in some other places. We can raise about two\ngatherings. 19:73.\n\nI want them to save their wool and to keep it in this Territory. If\nwe have not factories sufficient to work up all the wool that grows\nin this Territory, and in these mountains, we will send and get more\nmachinery, and build more factories, and work up the wool for the\npeople. 15:159.\n\nGo and build a tannery, that the hides that come off our beef cattle,\ncan be made into leather. 19:73.\n\nWe want glass. Some man will come along, by and by, {460} and take the\nquartz rock, rig up a little furnace and make glass. 9:31.\n\nBy-and-by some man will come along, not worth fifty dollars, and take\nthe feldspar, which enters so largely into our granite rock, and make\nthe best of chinaware. 9:31.\n\nDye-stuffs have opened another drain through which considerable of our\nmoney has passed off. Wherever Indian corn will flourish madder can be\nproduced in great quantities, yet we have been paying out our money to\nstrangers for this article. Indigo can be successfully and profitably\nraised in this region. 10:226. Importing sugar has been a great drain\nupon our floating currency. I am satisfied that it is altogether\nunnecessary to purchase sugar in a foreign market. The sorghum is a\nprofitable crop, in Great Salt Lake and the adjoining counties, for the\nmanufacture of molasses; in this section it can be profitably raised\nfor the manufacture of sugar. I have tasted samples of sugar produced\nfrom the sorghum raised in the south of Utah, and a better quality of\nraw sugar I never saw. Let some enterprising persons prosecute this\nbranch of home-production, and thus effectually stop another outlet for\nour money. Sugar ranks high among the staples of life, and should be\nproduced in great abundance. 10:226.\n\nGo to and raise silk. You can do it, and those who cannot set\nthemselves to work we will set them to work gathering straw, and making\nstraw hats and straw bonnets; we will set others to gathering willow,\nand others to making baskets; we will set others to gathering flags and\nrushes, and to making mats, and bottoming chairs and making carpets.\n12:202.\n\nAs I told the people, when we first came into this valley {461} in\n1847, there is plenty of silk in the elements here, as much as in any\nother part of the earth. 9:32.\n\nThe capitalists may say, 'What are we to do with our means?' Go and\nbuild factories and have one, two, or three thousand spindles going.\nSend for fifty, a hundred, or a thousand sheep and raise wool. Some of\nyou go to raising flax and build a factory to manufacture it, and do\nnot take every advantage and pocket every dollar that is to be made.\nYou are rich and I want to turn the stream so as to do good to the\nwhole community. 13:36.\n\n_Commerce_--It may be said that we shall always be poor without\ncommerce; we shall always be poor with it, unless we command it; and\nunless we can do this, we are better without it. 11:134.\n\nBut, again, with regard to this railroad; when it is through, even in\nordinary times it opens to us the market, and we are at the door of\nNew York, right at the threshold of the emporium of the United States.\nWe can send our butter, eggs, cheese, and fruits and receive in return\noysters, clams, cod fish, mackerel, oranges, and lemons. Let me say\nmore to you--do up your peaches in the best style, for they will want\nthem. 12:54.\n\nWhatsoever administers to the sustenance, comfort and health of mankind\nforms the basis of the commerce of the world. Gold and silver in coin\nare only valuable as mediums to facilitate exchange. They can be made\nuseful to us and add to our comfort when made into cups, plates, etc.,\nin our household economy. 10:227.\n\nRecollect that in trading there is great advantage in turning over your\ncapital often. 13:35.\n\nAre our merchants honest? I could not be honest and do as they do; they\nmake five hundred percent on some of {462} their goods, and that, too,\nfrom an innocent, confiding, poor, industrious people. 11:114.\n\n_Capital and Labor_--All the capital there is upon the earth is\nthe bone and sinew of workingmen and women. Were it not for that,\nthe gold and the silver and the precious stones would remain in the\nmountains, upon the plains and in the valleys, and never would be\ngathered or brought into use. The timber would continue to grow, but\nnone of it would be brought into service, and the earth would remain as\nit is; but it is the activity and labor of the inhabitants of the earth\nthat bring forth the wealth. Labor builds our meeting-houses, temples,\ncourt houses, fine halls for music and fine school houses; it is labor\nthat teaches our children, and makes them acquainted with the various\nbranches of education, that makes them proficient in their own language\nand in other languages, and in every branch of knowledge understood by\nthe children of men; and all this enhances the wealth and the glory and\nthe comfort of any people on the earth. 16:66.\n\nWe say to the-Latter-day Saints, work for these capitalists, and\nwork honestly and faithfully, and they will pay you faithfully. I am\nacquainted with a good many of them, and as far as I know them, I do\nnot know but every one is an honorable man. They are capitalists, they\nwant to make money, and they want to make it honestly and according to\nthe principles of honest dealing. If they have means and are determined\nto risk it in opening mines you work for them by the day. Haul their\nores, build their furnaces and take your pay for it, and enter your\nlands, build houses, improve your farms, buy your stock, and make\nyourselves better off. 14:85.\n\nThere are many in the city of New York who never {463} went to school\na day in their lives; they are wallowing in the gutter, ragged, dirty,\nand filthy. They learn sharpness, it is true; but where do they sleep?\nBy the wayside, or crawl into some old building--girls and boys, and\nlive there by the thousand. They have not a shelter to place their\nheads under, but when night comes their only refuge is old buildings,\nhovels, and corners of streets forsaken by the police, and there they\nmust spend the night. Why not take such characters and bring them\nout to this country, or to California, Oregon, or to the plains of\nIllinois, Wisconsin, etc., and make a town, settle up the country,\nand make these poor, miserable creatures better off? You would prove\nyourselves worthy of existence on the earth if you would. 14:84.\n\nTo pay people the wages they want here would prevent us from raising\nsilk profitably. We look forward to the period when the price of labor\nhere will be brought to a reasonable and judicious standard. 12:202.\n\nTime and the ability to labor are the capital stock of the whole world\nof mankind, and we are all indebted to God for the ability to use\ntime to advantage, and he will require of us a strict account of the\ndisposition we make of this ability; and he will not only require an\naccount of our acts, but our words and thoughts will also be brought\ninto judgment. 18:73.\n\nA young woman, compelled to labor for her daily bread, applies for work\nto some lady in comfortable circumstances. The lady perhaps says, \"What\nwages do you want?\" \"I do not know. What will you give me?\" The reply\nis, probably, \"Well, I will give you fifty cents a week and your board,\nbut I shall want you to do my washing, ironing, milking, scrubbing, and\ncooking,\" the whole of it, most {464} likely, keeping the poor girl\nat work from five o'clock in the morning until ten at night. Yet her\npoverty leaves her no choice, and she is compelled to become a slave\nin order to procure, day by day, her breakfast, dinner, and supper. It\nis probable that if her father be alive he is too poor to help her;\nand if she has a mother she may be a widow and unable to rescue her\nfrom a life of toil and slavery. A lady, whom I knew in my youth, the\nwife of a minister, where I used to attend meeting, said once to some\nof her sisters in the church, \"Do you suppose that we shall be under\nthe necessity of eating with our hired help when we get into heaven?\nWe do not do it here, and I have an idea that there will be two tables\nin heaven.\" Yet she was a lady of refinement and education, still the\ntraditions that had been woven into her very being proved the folly she\npossessed to ask such a question. 14:99.\n\nLet mechanics and every man who has capital create business and give\nemployment and means into the hands of laborers; build good and\ncommodious houses, magnificent temples, spacious tabernacles, lofty\nhalls, and every other kind of structure that will give character\nand grandeur to our cities and create respect for our people. Let us\nmake mechanics of our boys, and educate them in every useful branch\nof science and in the history and laws of kingdoms and nations, that\nthey may be fitted to fill any station in life, from a ploughman to a\nphilosopher. 10:270.\n\nThe non-producer must live on the products of those who labor. There is\nno other way. If we all labor a few hours a day, we could then spend\nthe remainder of our time in rest and the improvement of our minds.\nThis would give an opportunity to the children to be educated in the\n{465} learning of the day, and to possess all the wisdom of man. 19:47.\n\nDo not oppress the poor, but trust in God, and you will go neither\nhungry, naked, nor thirsty. If you oppress the poor, the day will come\nwhen you will be naked, thirsty, and hungry, and will not be able to\nget anything to supply your wants. 8:73.\n\n_Build Good Houses and Beautiful Cities_--Let the people build\ngood houses, plant good vineyards and orchards, make good roads,\nbuild beautiful cities in which may be found magnificent edifices for\nthe convenience of the public, handsome streets skirted with shade\ntrees, fountains of water, crystal streams, and every tree, shrub and\nflower that will flourish in this climate, to make our mountain home\na paradise and our hearts wells of gratitude to the God of Joseph,\nenjoying it all with thankful hearts, saying constantly, \"not mine but\nthy will be done, O Father.\" 10:3.\n\nBeautify your gardens, your houses, your farms; beautify the city. This\nwill make us happy, and produce plenty. The earth is a good earth, the\nelements are good if we will use them for our own benefit, in truth and\nrighteousness. Then let us be content, and go to with our mights to\nmake ourselves healthy, wealthy, and beautiful, and preserve ourselves\nin the best possible manner, and live just as long as we can, and do\nall the good we can. 15:20.\n\nEvery improvement that we make not only adds to our comfort but to our\nwealth. 16:64.\n\nMake good houses; learn how to build; become good mechanics and\nbusiness men, that you may know how to build a house, a barn, or a\nstore-house, how to make a farm, and how to raise stock, and take\nevery care of it by providing {466} proper shelter and every suitable\nconvenience for keeping it through the winter; and prove yourselves\nworthy of the greater riches that will be committed to you than this\nvalley and what it can produce. 8:289.\n\n_Accumulate Property_--Efforts to accumulate property in the\ncorrect channel are far from being an injury to any community, on the\ncontrary they are highly beneficial, provided individuals, with all\nthat they have, always hold themselves in readiness to advance the\ninterests of the Kingdom of God on the earth. Let every man and woman\nbe industrious, prudent, and economical in their acts and feelings, and\nwhile gathering to themselves, let each one strive to identify his or\nher interests with the interests of this community, with those of their\nneighbor and neighborhood, let them seek their happiness and welfare in\nthat of all, and we will be blessed and prospered. 3:330.\n\nTo do right can be reduced to perfect simplicity in a few words, viz.,\nfrom this time henceforth, let no person work, or transact any kind of\nbusiness whatever, that he cannot do in the name of the Lord. 1:337.\n\nThis life is worth as much as any life that any being can possess in\ntime or in eternity. There is no life more precious to us in the eye\nof eternal wisdom and justice than the life which we now possess. Our\nfirst duty is to take care of this life. 11:113.\n\nTo be prudent and saving, and to use the elements in our possession for\nour benefit and the benefit of our fellow beings is wise and righteous;\nbut to be slothful, wasteful, lazy and indolent, to spend our time and\nmeans for naught, is unrighteous. 16:16.\n\nWe all believe that the Lord will fight our battles; but how? Will\nhe do it while we are unconcerned and make {467} no effort whatever\nfor our own safety when an enemy is upon us? If we make no efforts to\nguard our towns, our houses, our cities, our wives and children, will\nthe Lord guard them for us? He will not; but if we pursue the opposite\ncourse and strive to help him to accomplish his designs, then will\nhe fight our battles. We are baptized for the remission of sins; but\nit would be quite as reasonable to expect remission of sins without\nbaptism, as to expect the Lord to fight our battles without our taking\nevery precaution to be prepared to defend ourselves. The Lord requires\nus to be quite as willing to fight our own battles as to have him fight\nthem for us. If we are not ready for an enemy when he comes upon us,\nwe have not lived up to the requirements of him who guides the ship of\nZion, or who dictates the affairs of his Kingdom. 11:131.\n\n_Debt_--Pay your debts, we will help you to do so, but do not run\ninto debt any more. 14:105.\n\nBe prompt in everything, and especially to pay your debts. 14:279.\n\nA man who will run into debt, when he has no prospect of paying it back\nagain, does not understand the principles that should prevail in a well\nregulated community, or he is wilfully dishonest. 11:258.\n\nA man who will not pay his honest debts is no Latter-day Saint, if he\nhas the means to pay them. 11:258.\n\nIt is bad enough, quite bad enough, to borrow from an enemy and not to\nrepay him; to do this is beneath the character of any human being; but\nall who will borrow from a friend, and especially from the poor, are\nundeserving the fellowship of the Saints if they do not repay. 14:276. {468}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\n_WEALTH_\n\n_Wealth Belongs to the Lord_--Earthly riches are concealed in\nthe elements God has given to man, and the essence of wealth is power\nto organize from these elements every comfort and convenience of life\nfor our sustenance here, and for eternal existence hereafter. The\npossession of all the gold and silver in the world would not satisfy\nthe cravings of the immortal soul of man. The gift of the Holy Spirit\nof the Lord alone can produce a good, wholesome, contented mind.\nInstead of looking for gold and silver, look to the heavens and try\nto learn wisdom until you can organize the native elements for your\nbenefit; then, and not until then, will you begin to possess the true\nriches. 10:35.\n\nThere is any amount of property, and gold and silver in the earth\nand on the earth, and the Lord gives to this one and that one--the\nwicked as well as the righteous--to see what they will do with it, but\nit all belongs to him. He has handed over a goodly portion to this\npeople, and, through our faith, patience and industry, we have made\nus good, comfortable homes here, and there are many who are tolerably\nwell off, and if they were in many parts of the world they would be\ncalled wealthy. But it is not ours, and all we have to do is to try\nand find out what the Lord wants us to do with what we have in our\npossession, and then go and do it. If we step beyond this, or to the\nright or to the left, we step into an illegitimate train of business.\nOur legitimate business is to do what the Lord wants us to do with that\nwhich he bestows upon us, and dispose of {469} it just as he dictates,\nwhether it is to give all, one-tenth, or the surplus. 16:10.\n\nNo person on the earth can truly call anything his own, and never\nwill until he has passed the ordeals we are all now passing, and has\nreceived his body again in a glorious resurrection, to be crowned by\nhim who will be ordained and set apart to set a crown upon our heads.\nThen will be given to us that which we now only seem to own, and we\nwill be forever one with the Father and the Son, and not until then.\n9:106.\n\nThe elements are to be brought into shape and operation for the\nbenefit, happiness, beauty, excellency, glory, and exaltation of the\nchildren of men that dwell upon the earth. 9:242.\n\n_Uncertainty of Temporal Possessions_--Do you not know that the\npossession of your property is like a shadow, or the dew of the morning\nbefore the noonday sun, that you cannot have any assurance of its\ncontrol for a single moment! It is the unseen hand of Providence that\ncontrols it. 1:114.\n\nWe cannot trust to the certainty of mortal possessions; they are\ntransitory, and a dependence upon them will plunge into hopeless\ndisappointment all those who trust in them. 2:122.\n\nWe should find that the things of this world called riches, are in\nreality not riches. Wee should find they are like mirages to the\nignorant, mere phenomena to the inhabitants of the earth; to-day\nthey are, to-morrow they are not; they were, but now they are gone,\nit is not known where. The earthly king upon his throne, who reigns\ntriumphantly over his subjects, is blasted, with all his kingdom, and\nbrought to naught at one breath of him who possesses true riches. Let\nhim who possesses the true riches say to the {470} elements around\nthat kingdom, \"produce no wheat, nor oil, nor wine, but let there be a\nfamine upon that people,\" in such a circumstance where is the wealth of\nthat king, his power, his grandeur, and his crown? There is no bread,\nno oil, there are no flocks, no herds, for they have perished upon the\nplains, his wheat is blasted, and all his crops are mildewed. What good\ndoes his wealth do him? His subjects are lying all around him lifeless\nfor want of bread; he may cry to them, but in vain; his wealth, power,\nand influence have vanished, they are swept away like the flimsy fabric\nof a cobweb. 1:266.\n\n_The Sin of Covetousness_--How the Devil will play with a man who\nso worships gain! 10:174.\n\nI am more afraid of covetousness in our Elders than I ami of the hordes\nof hell. 5:353.\n\nThose who are covetous and greedy, anxious to grasp the whole world,\nare all the time uneasy, and are constantly laying their plans and\ncontriving how to obtain this, that, and the other. 3:119.\n\nMen are greedy for the vain things of this world. In their hearts they\nare covetous. It is true that the things of this world are designed to\nmake us comfortable, and they make some people as happy as they can be\nhere; but riches can never make the Latter-day Saints happy. Riches of\nthemselves cannot produce permanent happiness; only the Spirit that\ncomes from above can do that. 7:135.\n\nWhen I cast my eyes upon the inhabitants of the earth and see the\nweakness, and I may say, the height of folly in the hearts of the\nkings, rulers, and the great, and those who should be wise and good\nand noble; when I see them grovelling in the dust; longing, craving,\ndesiring, contending for the things of this life, I think, O foolish\nmen, to set {471} your hearts on the thing's of this life! To-day they\nare seeking after the honors and glories of the world, and by the time\nthe sun is hidden by the western mountains the breath is gone out\nof their nostrils, they sink to their mother earth. Where are their\nriches then? Gone forever. As Job says, \"Naked I came into the world.\"\nDestitute and forlorn, they have to travel a path that is untried and\nunknown to them, and wend their way into the spirit world. They know\nnot where they are going nor for what. The designs of the Creator are\nhidden from their eyes; darkness, ignorance, mourning and groaning\ntake hold of them and they pass into eternity. And this is the end of\nthem concerning this life as far as they know. A man or a woman who\nplaces the wealth of this world and the things of time in the scales\nagainst the things of God and the wisdom of eternity, has no eyes to\nsee, no ears to hear, no heart to understand. What are riches for? For\nblessings, to do good. Then let us dispense that which the Lord gives\nus to the best possible use for the building up of his Kingdom, for\nthe promotion of the truth on the earth, that we may see and enjoy the\nblessings of the Zion of God here upon this earth. I look around among\nthe world of mankind and see them grabbing, scrambling, contending,\nand every one seeking to aggrandize himself, and to accomplish his\nown individual purposes, passing the community by, walking upon the\nheads of his neighbors--all are seeking, planning, contriving in their\nwakeful hours, and when asleep dreaming, \"How can I get the advantage\nof my neighbor? How can I spoil him, that I may ascend the ladder of\nfame?\" This is entirely a mistaken idea. You see that nobleman seeking\nthe benefit of all around him, trying to bring, we will say, his\nservants, if you please, his tenants, to his knowledge, to {472} like\nblessings that he enjoys, to dispense his wisdom and talent among them\nand to make them equal with himself. As they ascend and increase, so\ndoes he, and he is in the advance. All eyes are upon that king or that\nnobleman, and the feelings of those around him are, \"God bless him! How\nI love him! How I delight in him! He seeks to bless and to fill me with\njoy, to crown my labors with success, to give me comfort, that I may\nenjoy the world as well as himself.\" But the man who seeks honor and\nglory at the expense of his fellow-men is not worthy of the society of\nthe intelligent. 15:18.\n\nI hope to see the day when there will be no such thing as one man\ntaking usury from another. 13:92.\n\n_True Riches_--There is no such thing as a man being truly rich\nuntil he has power over death, hell, the grave, and him that hath the\npower of death, which is the Devil. For what are the riches, the wealth\npossessed by the inhabitants of the earth? Why, they are a phantom, a\nmere shadow, a bubble on the wave, that bursts with the least breath\nof air. Suppose I possessed millions on millions of wealth of every\ndescription I could think of or ask for, and I took a sudden pain in\nmy head, which threw me entirely out of my mind, and baffled the skill\nof the most eminent physicians, what good would that money do me, in\nthe absence of the power to say to that pain, \"Depart\"? But suppose I\npossessed power to say to the pain, \"Go thou to the land from whence\nthou comest;\" and say, \"Come, health, and give strength to my body;\"\nand when I want death, to say, \"Come you, for I have claim upon you, a\nright, a warranty deed, for this body must be dissolved;\" says death,\n\"I want it, to prey upon;\" but again I can say to death, \"Depart from\nme, thou canst not touch me;\" would I not be {473} rich indeed? How is\nit now? Let the slightest accident come upon one of the human family,\nand they are no more. Do we then possess true riches in this state? We\ndo not. 1:271.\n\nTo possess this world's goods is not in reality wealth, it is not\nriches, it is nothing more nor less than that which is common to all\nmen, to the just and the unjust, to the Saint and to the sinner. The\nsun rises upon the evil and the good; the Lord sends his rain upon the\njust and upon the unjust; this is manifest before our eyes, and in our\ndaily experience. Old King Solomon, the wise man, says, the race is not\nto the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither riches to men of\nwisdom. The truth of this saying comes within our daily observation.\nThose whom we consider swift are not always the ones that gain the\nmastery in the race, but those who are considered not so fleet, or not\nfleet at all, often gain the prize. It is, I may say, the unseen hand\nof Providence, that over-ruling power that controls the destinies of\nmen and nations, that so ordains these things. The weak, trembling, and\nfeeble, are the ones frequently who gain the battle; and the ignorant,\nfoolish, and unwise will blunder into wealth. This is all before us, it\nis the common lot of man; in short, I may say, it is the philosophical\nprovidence of a philosophical world. 1:267.\n\n_Gold is Not Wealth_--What use is gold when you get enough to eat,\ndrink, and wear without it? 1:250.\n\nThere is no happiness in gold, not the least. It is very convenient\nas an article of exchange, in purchasing what we need; and instead\nof finding comfort and happiness in gold, you exchange it to obtain\nhappiness, or that which may conduce to it. There is no real wealth in\ngold. People talk about being wealthy--about being rich; but place the\n{474} richest banking company in the world upon a barren rock, with\ntheir gold piled around them, with no possible chance of exchanging it,\nand destitute of the creature comforts, and they would be poor indeed.\nWhere then is their joy, their comfort, their great wealth? They have\nnone. 8:168.\n\nTrue wealth consists in the skill to produce conveniences and comforts\nfrom the elements. All the power and dignity that wealth can bestow\nis a mere shadow, the substance is found in the bone and sinew of the\ntoiling millions. Well directed labor is the true power that supplies\nour wants. It gives regal grandeur to potentates, education and\nsupplies to religious and political ministers, and supplies the wants\nof the thousands of millions of earth's sons and daughters. There are\nconditions and panics in society that all the power of earthly wealth\ncannot avert. 10:189.\n\nIt has been supposed that wealth gives power. In a depraved state\nof society, in a certain sense it does, if opening a wide field for\nunrighteous monopolies, by which the poor are robbed and oppressed\nand the wealthy are more enriched, is power. In a depraved state of\nsociety money can buy positions and titles, can cover up a multitude\nof incapabilities, can open wide the gates of fashionable society to\nthe lowest and most depraved of human beings; it divides society into\ncastes without any reference to goodness, virtue or truth. It is made\nto pander to the most brutal passions of the human soul; it is made to\nsubvert every wholesome law of God and man, and to trample down every\nsacred bond that should tie society together in a national, municipal,\ndomestic and every other relationship. Wealth thus used is used out of\nits legitimate channel. 10:3.\n\n_How to Become Wealthy_--When men act upon the {475} principles\nwhich will secure to them eternal salvation, they are sure of obtaining\nall their hearts' desire, sooner or later; if it does not come today,\nit may come tomorrow; if it does not come in this time, it will in the\nnext. 2:122.\n\nI am not for hoarding up gold and other property to lie useless, I wish\nto put everything to a good use. I never keep a dollar lying idly by\nme, for I wish all the means to be put into active operation. 3:160.\n\nI can witness one fact, and so can others, that by paying attention to\nthe building up of the Kingdom of God alone we have got rich in the\nthings of this world; and if any man can tell how we can get rich in\nany other way, he can do more than I can. We leave our business and our\nfamilies and go out to preach the peaceable things of the Kingdom, and\npay attention to that, never thinking of our business or our families,\nexcept when we ask the Lord to bless our families in common with all\nthe families of the Saints everywhere. 11:116.\n\nDo you want wealth? If you do, do not be in a hurry. Do you want the\nriches pertaining to this world? Yes, we acknowledge we do. Then, be\ncalm, contented, composed; keep your pulses correct, do not let them\nget up to a hundred and twenty, but keep them as high as you can,\nranging from seventy to seventy-six; and when there is an appointment\nfor a meeting be sure to attend that meeting. If there is to be a\ntwo-days' meeting, come to it; spend the time here and learn what is\ngoing on. Watch closely, hear every word that is spoken, let every\nheart be lifted to God for wisdom, and know and understand every word\nof prophecy, every revelation that may be given, every counsel that may\nbe presented to the people, that you may be able to weigh, measure,\ncomprehend and decide between {476} that which is of God and that which\nis not of God. Refuse the evil, learn wisdom, and grow in grace and in\nthe knowledge of the truth. 15:35.\n\nThe course pursued by men of business in the world has a tendency to\nmake a few rich, and to sink the masses of the people in poverty and\ndegradation. 11:348.\n\nThis is the counsel I have for the Latter-day Saints today. Stop,\ndo not be in a hurry. I do not know that I could find a man in our\ncommunity but what wishes wealth, would like to have everything in his\npossession that would conduce to his comfort and convenience. Do you\nknow how to get it? \"Well,\" replies one, \"if I do not, I wish I did;\nbut I do not seem to be exactly fortunate--fortune is somewhat against\nme.\" I will tell you the reason of this--you are in too much of a\nhurry; you do not go to meeting enough, you do not pray enough, you do\nnot read the Scriptures enough, you do not meditate enough, you are all\nthe time on the wing, and in such a hurry that you do not know what to\ndo first. This is not the way to get rich. I merely use the term \"rich\"\nto lead the mind along, until we obtain eternal riches in the celestial\nkingdom of God. Here we wish for riches in a comparative sense, we wish\nfor the comforts of life. If we desire them let us take a course to get\nthem. Let me reduce this to a simple saying--one of the most simple and\nhomely that can be used--\"Keep your dish right side up,\" so that when\nthe shower of porridge does come, you can catch your dish full. 15:36.\n\nThese are a few words of consolation to the brethren who wish to keep\ntheir riches, and with them I promise you leanness of soul, darkness of\nmind, narrow and contracted hearts, and the bowels of your compassion\nwill be shut up, and by and by you will be overcome with the spirit\n{477} of apostasy and forsake your God and your brethren. 12:127.\n\nMy policy is to get rich; I am a miser in eternal things. Do I want to\nbecome rich in the things of this earth? Yes, if the Lord wishes me to\nhave such riches, and I can use them to good advantage. My policy is to\nkeep every man, woman, and child busily employed, that they may have no\nidle time for hatching mischief in the night, and for making plans to\naccomplish their own ruin. 2:144.\n\nI told you the other day what makes me rich, it is the labor of those\nwhom I feed and clothe; still I do not feel that I have a dollar\nin the world that is my own, it is the Lord's and he has made me a\nsteward over it; and if I can know where the Lord is pleased to have it\nappropriated, there it shall go. 3:118.\n\nOne-third or one-fourth of the time that is spent to procure a living\nwould be sufficient, if your labor were rightly directed. People think\nthey are going to get rich by hard work--by working sixteen hours out\nof the twenty-four; but it is not so. A great many of our brethren can\nhardly spend time to go to meeting. Six days is more time than we need\nto labor. 8:355.\n\nThe great majority of men and women do not know how to take care of\nthemselves. Let me refer the whole of you to a circumstance in Winter\nQuarters. We left Nauvoo in February, 1846, made our own roads through\nIowa, except some 40 or 50 miles, built bridges, cut down timber,\nturned out 500 men to go to Mexico, came this side of the Missouri\nriver, and there wintered. How did you live there? Do you know how\nyou got anything to eat? Brethren came to me, saying, \"We must go to\nMissouri. Can we not take our families and go to Missouri and get\nwork?\" Do you know, to this day, how you lived? I will tell you, and\nthen {478} you will remember it. I had not five dollars in money to\nstart with; but I went to work and built a mill, which we knew we\nshould want only for a few months, that cost 3,600 dollars. I gave\nnotice that I would employ every man and pay him for his labor. If\nI had a sixpence, I turned it into 25 cents; and a half-bushel of\npotatoes I turned into half-a-bushel of wheat. How did I do that? By\nfaith. I went to Brother Neff, who had just come in the place, and\nasked him for and received 2,600 dollars, though he did not know where\nthe money was going. He kept the mill another year, and it died on his\nhands. I say, God bless him forever! for it was the money he brought\nfrom Pennsylvania that preserved thousands of men, women, and children\nfrom starving. I handled and dictated it, and everything went off\nsmoothly and prosperously. 6:173.\n\nShall I give you my ideas in brief with regard to business and business\ntransactions? Here for instance, a merchant comes to our neighborhood\nwith a stock of goods; he sells them at from two to ten hundred per\ncent, above what they cost. As a matter of course he soon becomes\nwealthy, and after a time he will be called a millionaire, when perhaps\nhe was not worth a dollar when he commenced to trade. You will hear\nmany say of such person, what a nice man he is, and what a great\nfinancier he is! My feeling of such a man is, he is a great cheat, a\ndeceiver, a liar! He imposes on the people, he takes that which does\nnot belong to him, and is a living monument of falsehood. Such a man is\nnot a financier! The financier is he that brings the lumber from the\ncanyons and shapes it for the use of his fellowman, employing mechanics\nand laborers to produce from the elements and the crude material\neverything necessary for the sustenance and comfort of man; {479} one\nwho builds tanneries to work up the hides instead of letting them rot\nand waste or be sent out of the country to be made into leather and\nthen brought back in the shape of boots and shoes; and that can take\nthe wool, the furs and straw and convert the same into cloth, into\nhats and bonnets, and that will plant out mulberry trees and raise the\nsilk, and thus give employment to men, women and children, as you have\ncommenced to do here, bringing the elements into successful use for\nthe benefit of man, and reclaiming a barren wilderness, converting it\ninto a fruitful field, making it to blossom as the rose; such a man I\nwould call a financier, a benefactor of his fellow man. But the great\nmajority of men who have amassed great wealth have done it at the\nexpense of their fellows. 19:97.\n\n_Wealth Must Be Used_--Few men know what to do with riches when\nthey possess them. 1:250.\n\nYou know very well that it is against my doctrine and feelings for men\nto scrape together the wealth of the world and let it waste and do no\ngood. 9:186.\n\nThen do not hoard up your gold; if you do, it will canker, but put out\nevery dollar to usury. Instead of your souls being bound up in your\ncattle and other property, put it all where it should be placed for the\nbenefit of the Kingdom of God on earth and for his glory. 9:191.\n\nA man has no right with property, which, according to the laws of the\nland, legally belongs to him, if he does not want to use it; he ought\nto possess no more than he can put to usury, and cause to do good to\nhimself and his fellowman. When will a man accumulate money enough to\njustify him in salting it down, or, in other words, laying it away in\nthe chest, to lock it up, there to lie, doing no manner of good either\nto himself or his neighbor. It is {480} impossible for a man ever to do\nit. No man should keep money or property by him that he cannot put to\nusury for the advancement of that property in value or amount, and for\nthe good of the community in which he lives; if he does, it becomes a\ndead weight upon him. Every man who has got cattle, money, or wealth of\nany description, bone and sinew, should put it out to usury. If a man\nhas the arm, body, head, the component parts of a system to constitute\nhim a laboring man, and has nothing in the world to depend upon but his\nhands, let him put them to usury. Never hide up anything in a napkin,\nbut put it forth to bring an increase. If you have got property of any\nkind, that you do not know what to do with, lay it out in making a\nfarm, or building a saw mill or a woolen factory, and go to with your\nmights to put all your property to usury.\n\nIf you have more oxen and other cattle than you need, put them in the\nhands of other men, and receive their labor in return, and put that\nlabor where it will increase your property value. 1:252.\n\nIf a man comes in the midst of this people with money, let him use\nit in beautifying his inheritance in Zion, and in increasing his\ncapital by thus putting out his money to usury. Let him go and make a\ngreat farm, and stock it well, and fortify all around with a good and\nefficient fence. What for? Why for the purpose of spending his money.\nThen let him cut it up into fields, and adorn it with trees, and build\na fine house upon it. What for? Why for the purpose of spending his\nmoney. What will he do when his money is gone? The money thus spent,\nwith a wise and prudent hand, is in a situation to accumulate and\nincrease a hundred-fold. When he has done making his farm, and his\nmeans still increase by his diligent use of it, he can {481} then\ncommence and build a woolen factory for instance; he can send and buy\nthe sheep and have them brought here, and have them herded here, and\nshear them here, and take care of them, then set the boys and girls\nto cleaning, carding, spinning, and weaving the wool into cloth, and\nthus employ hundreds and thousands of the brethren and sisters who have\ncome from the manufacturing districts of the old country, and have not\nbeen accustomed to dig in the earth for their livelihood, who have\nnot learned anything else but to work in the factory. This would feed\nthem and clothe them, and put within their reach the comforts of life;\nit would also create at home a steady market for the produce of the\nagriculturist, and the labor of the mechanic. 1:253.\n\n_Wealth Brings Happiness Only When Used for the Gospel_--All the\nreal business we have on hand is to promote our religion. 4:355.\n\nIf you come naked and barefooted (I would not care if you had naught\nbut a deer skin around you when you arrive here), and bring your God\nand your religion, you are a thousand times better than if you come\nwith wagon loads of silver and gold and left your God behind. 4:204.\n\nIf, by industrious habits and honorable dealings, you obtain thousands\nor millions, little or much, it is your duty to use all that is put in\nyour possession, as judiciously as you have knowledge, to build up the\nKingdom of God on the earth. 4:29.\n\nIf we are destroyed through the possession of wealth, it will be\nbecause we destroy ourselves. If we possessed hundreds of millions of\ncoin, and devoted that means to building up the Kingdom of God and\ndoing good to his creatures, with an eye single to his glory, we would\nbe as much blessed and as much entitled to salvation as the poor {482}\nbeggar that begs from door to door; the faithful rich man is as much\nentitled to the revelations of Jesus Christ as is the faithful poor\nman. 10:300.\n\nWe must watch and pray, and look well to our walk and conversation, and\nlive near to our God, that the love of this world may not choke the\nprecious seed of truth, and feel ready, if necessary, to offer up all\nthings, even life itself, for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. 11:111.\n\nLook out, ye men of Israel, and be careful that you love not the\nworld or the things of the world in their present state, and in your\nloftiness and pride, forget the Lord your God. We ought to care no more\nfor the silver and the gold, and the property that is so much sought\nfor by the wicked world, than for the soil or the gravel upon which we\ntread. 11:18.\n\nI do not care what becomes of the things of this world, of the gold, of\nthe silver, of the houses and of the lands, so we have power to gather\nthe House of Israel, redeem Zion, and establish the Kingdom of God on\nthe earth. I would not give a cent for all the rest. True, these things\nwhich the Lord bestows upon us are for our comfort, for our happiness\nand convenience, but everything must be devoted to the upbuilding of\nthe Kingdom of God on the earth. 3:361.\n\nIt is thought by many that the possession of gold and silver will\nproduce for them happiness, and, hence, thousands hunt the mountains\nfor the precious metals; in this they are mistaken. The possession\nof wealth alone does not produce happiness, although it will produce\ncomfort, when it can be exchanged for the essentials and luxuries of\nlife. When wealth is obtained by purloining, or in any other unfair\nand dishonorable way, fear of detection and punishment {483} robs the\npossessor of all human happiness. When wealth is honorably obtained by\nman, still the possession of it is embittered by the thought that death\nwill soon strip them of it and others will possess it. What hopes have\nthey in the future, after they get through with this sorrowful world?\nThey know nothing about the future; they see nothing but death and\nhell. Solid comfort and unalloyed joy are unknown to them. 11:15.\n\nMen and women who are trying to make themselves happy in the possession\nof wealth or power will miss it, for nothing short of the Gospel of the\nSon of God can make the inhabitants of the earth happy, and prepare\nthem to enjoy heaven here and hereafter. 11:329.\n\nIt matters little, though we have many times left our houses and other\npossessions, having been driven from them by our enemies; for the\nearth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the gold and the silver\nthey are taking from the earth are all in his hands to dispose of at\nhis pleasure. He sets up kingdoms and casts them down at his pleasure.\nThe fulness of the earth is in his hands, but it cannot be enjoyed, in\nthe full sense of the term, without enjoying it in connection with his\nKingdom. 8:161-2.\n\nThough I possessed millions of money and property, that does not excuse\nme from performing the labor that it is my calling to perform, so far\nas I have strength and ability, any more than the poorest man in the\ncommunity is excused. The more we are blessed with means, the more we\nare blessed with responsibility; the more we are blessed with wisdom\nand ability, the more we are placed under the necessity of using that\nwisdom and ability in the spread of righteousness, the subjugation of\nsin and misery, and the amelioration of the condition of mankind. The\nman that {484} has only one talent and the man that has five talents\nhave responsibility accordingly. If we have a world of means, we have a\nworld of responsibility. If we have an eternity of knowledge, we shall\nhave an eternity of business to transact and to occupy every particle\nof the knowledge bestowed upon us. 9:172.\n\n_Some Dangers of Wealth_--The question will not arise with the\nLord, nor with the messengers of the Almighty, how much wealth a man\nhas got, but how has he come by this wealth and what will he do with\nit? 11:294.\n\nIf the Lord ever revealed anything to me, he has shown me that the\nElders of Israel must let speculation alone and attend to the duties\nof their calling, otherwise they will have little or no power in their\nmissions or upon their return. 8:179.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints who turn their attention to money-making soon\nbecome cold in their feelings toward the ordinances of the house of\nGod. They neglect their prayers, become unwilling to pay any donations;\nthe law of tithing gets too great a task for them; and they finally\nforsake their God, and the providences of heaven seem to be shut from\nthem--all in consequence of this lust after the things of this world,\nwhich will certainly perish in handling, and in their use they will\nfade away and go from us. 18:213.\n\nIf I had only seen in my young days an interest manifested by those\nwho had wealth, power and influence to reach down a hand to take\nthe suffering, ignorant poor and elevate them to the standard they\noccupied, and to place them in possession of every comfort, it would\nhave been a matter of great joy to me. But it was not so then, neither\nis it now. Men generally use their wealth for selfish purposes, {485}\nand do not seek to devote it to God and to the glory of his name.\n13:147.\n\nDo not be anxious to have this people become rich, and possess the\naffection of the world. I have been fearful lest we come to fellowship\nthe world. 10:298.\n\nSome say, \"If we had a gold mine, we would do well.\" If I knew where\nthere was a gold mine, I would not tell you. I do not want you to find\none, and I do not mean that you shall; or, if you do, it shall be over\nmy faith. We have gold enough in the world, and it is all the Lord's,\nand we do not deserve more than we get. Let us make good use of that,\nand send out the Elders. 8:204.\n\nI would as soon see a man worshiping a little god made of brass or of\nwood as to see him worship his property. 6:196.\n\nNever pray for riches; do not entertain such a foolish thought. In my\ndeep poverty, when I knew not where I could procure the next morsel of\nfood for myself and family, I have prayed God to open the way that I\nmight get something to keep myself and family from dying. Those who do\nmore than this are off, more or less, from the track that leads to life\neternal. 7:138.\n\nWe are the greatest speculators in the world. We have the greatest\nspeculation on hand that can be found in all the earth. I never denied\nbeing a speculator. I never denied being a miser, or of feeling eager\nfor riches; but some men will chase a picayune five thousand miles when\nI would not turn round for it, and yet we are preachers of the same\nGospel, and brethren in the same Kingdom of God. You may consider this\nis a little strong; but the speculation I am after, is to exchange\nthis world, which, in its present state, passes away, for a world that\nis eternal {486} and unchangeable, for a glorified world filled with\neternal riches, for the world that is made an inheritance for the Gods\nof eternity. 1:326.\n\n_The Poor_--The poor are the people of God, and they shall inherit\nthe earth. 8:186.\n\nThe Gospel of life and salvation does not reduce those who obey it to\nbeggary; but it takes the poor and the ignorant, makes them wise and\nhappy, and surrounds them with the comforts of life and everything\ndesirable, and teaches them to serve God with all their hearts. 14:121.\n\nIf a man comes to me and says he is out of food, what of that? He is\nout of food; that is all. If a man comes along and says, \"My family is\ndestitute of food and clothing,\" what of that? Simply that they are\ndestitute of food and clothing, and still they may be gentlemen and\nladies, for all that, and be honoring their tabernacles and being on\nthe earth.\n\nThe customs of the world have made it degrading to ask for food, but\nit is not, when a person cannot honestly procure it in any other way.\nThe man who is hungry and destitute has as good a right to my food as\nany other person, and I should feel as happy in associating with him,\nif he had a good heart, as with those who have an abundance, or with\nthe princes of the earth. They all are esteemed by me, not according to\nthe wealth and position they hold, but according to the character they\nhave. 3:245.\n\nThe Lord's poor do not forget their covenants, while the Devil's poor\npay no regard to their promises. 3:2.\n\nWhat causes poverty among this people? It is the want of discretion,\ncalculation, sound judgment. I am paying men more or less by the day,\nand where do you see those who get the least wages? Seated back in the\nbarber's chair {487} three or four times a week. Next at a store to get\na box of blacking to put upon fifteen dollar boots, if they can get\nthem. They must have four or five dollar handkerchiefs, as fine things\nfor their wives and children, and as much in quantity as any other man\nhas. At the end of the year there are two or three hundred dollars on\nthe debit side of their accounts. 9:297.\n\nLet the poor, those who have to depend upon their brethren for bread,\nafter they have done all they can to obtain it themselves be thankful,\nand take no more than they require to use in a frugal manner. 3:375.\n\nThe poor are filled with idolatry as well as the rich, and covet the\nmeans of those who have helped them; the rich also have the same spirit\nof idolatry, and stick to what they have. Let the poor be honest, let\nthe rich be liberal, and lay their plans to assist the poor, to build\nup the Kingdom of God, and at the same time enrich themselves, for that\nis the way to build up God's Kingdom. 3:6.\n\nPoor men, or poor women, who have nothing, and covet that which is\nnot their own, are just as wicked in their hearts, as the miserly man\nwho hoards up his gold and silver, and will not put it out to use. I\nwish the poor to understand, and act as they would wish others to act\ntowards them in like circumstances. 2:52.\n\nIf the poor had all the surplus property of the rich many of them would\nwaste it on the lusts of the flesh, and destroy themselves in using\nit. For this reason the Lord does not require the rich to give all\ntheir substance to the poor. It is true that when the young man came to\nJesus to know what he must do to be saved, he told him, finally, \"sell\nall that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have\ntreasure in heaven, and come, follow me;\" and a great {488} many think\nthat he told the young man to give away all that he had, but Jesus\ndid not require any such thing, neither did he say so, but simply,\n\"distribute to the poor.\" If the poor knew what to do with what they\nhave many, yea very many, in this land would have all that is necessary\nto make them comfortable. 13:302.\n\nIf they had the privilege of dictating the affairs of this people, or\nof any other, they would divide the substance of the rich among the\npoor, and make all what they call equal. But the question would arise\nwith me at once, how long would they remain equal? Make the rich and\nthe poor of this community, or of any other, equal by the distribution\nof their earthly substance, and how long would it be before a certain\nportion of them would be calling upon the other portion, for something\nwith which to sustain themselves? The cry would soon be--\"I have no\nbread, no house, no team, no farm; I have nothing.\" And in a very few\nyears, at the most, large properties would thus pass from the hands of\nsuch individuals, and would be distributed among those who know how to\naccumulate wealth and to preserve it when accumulated. 12:56.\n\nIt is a disgrace to every man and woman that has sense enough to live,\nnot to take care of their own relatives, their own poor, and plan for\nthem to do something they are able to do. 8:145. {489}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\n_MISSIONARY WORK_\n\n_The Gospel to be Preached to all Men_--The Gospel must be\npreached to the world, that the wicked may be left without excuse. 4:58.\n\nIt is necessary that all have the privilege of receiving or rejecting\neternal truth, that they may be prepared to be saved, or be prepared to\nbe damned. 7:139.\n\nOur Father in Heaven, Jesus, our Elder Brother and the Savior of the\nworld, and the whole heavens, are calling upon this people to prepare\nto save the nations of the earth, also the millions who have slept\nwithout the Gospel. 18:77.\n\nThe Lord has called me to this work, and I feel as though I will do it.\nWe will send the Gospel to the nations; and when one nation turns us\naway we will go to another and gather up the honest in heart, and the\nrest we care not for until we come on Mount Zion as saviors, to attend\nto the ordinances of the house of God for them. 8:230-1.\n\nThe Lord has restored the Priesthood in our day for the salvation of\nIsrael. Does he design to save anybody else? Yes; he will save the\nHouse of Esau, and I hope to live until I see Mount Zion established,\nand saviors come up to save those poor, miserable beings who are\ncontinually persecuting us--all who have not sinned against the Holy\nGhost. Our labor is to save ourselves, to save the House of Israel, to\nsave the House of Esau, and all the Gentile nations--every one that can\nbe saved. 7:281.\n\nThis Kingdom or work is proffered to the whole of the human family,\neven to all who will accept it, upon the terms of strict obedience to\nall its ordinances and requirements, {490} and to its organization of\nProphets and Apostles, gifts and blessings and graces. 11:249.\n\nThere are, doubtless, millions of just as honest people among the\nseveral religious denominations as are amongst the professedly\nLatter-day Saints. But they have not the Gospel, they are in darkness\nwith regard to the plan of salvation, and their teachers are blind\nguides, totally unable to give the people the living word, the way of\nlife. If they live up to the best light and knowledge they have and\ncan get, they are safe, and in a saved condition. What is the sin of\nthe ministry and people of the present Christian denominations? It is\nthat light has come to them and they reject it. The condemnation of the\nJewish nation was that light had come into the world, but they chose\ndarkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; so says the\nSavior. The same Gospel that Jesus taught to those who rejected him is\nentrusted to us to preach to the whole world with the same consequences\nwhich must reach them at some time, in some condition. 17:262.\n\nI shall be very happy when I can know that the people of the East\nIndian Archipelago, and the people on every island and continent, both\nthe high and the low, the ignorant and intelligent, have received the\nwords of eternal life, and have had bestowed upon them the power of the\neternal Priesthood of the Son of God, by which they may become truly\ncivilized. 8:7.\n\nThe day will come when the Gospel will be presented to the kings and\nqueens and great ones of the earth; but it will be presented with a\ndifferent influence from that with which it has been presented to the\npoor, but it will be the same Gospel. We shall not present any other\nGospel; it is the same from everlasting to everlasting. 13:150. {491}\n\nThe Elders have also preached through the different nations of Europe\nso far as they were allowed to do so. In some countries the law would\nnot permit them; but the Lord will yet revolutionize those nations\nuntil the door will be opened and the Gospel will be preached to all.\n12:256.\n\nHad I the choice whether to go to the Saints and gather Saints, or to\ngo where the Gospel was preached by the ancient Apostles of the Lord\nJesus Christ, among the children of the people who have formerly had\nthe Gospel preached to them, I would engage to go to the States and\ngather one hundred Saints to one that could be gathered from among the\nchildren of those who heard Peter, Paul, and others of the ancient\nApostles preach the Gospel. 4:306.\n\nThough the people in the States are daily becoming more hardened\nagainst the truth, yet if I were in New York this day, and it was my\nbusiness to be there, I would not be there long before I would have\nmany Elders preaching through different parts of that city; I would\nhave them preaching in the English, Danish, French, German, and other\nlanguages. And soon would have Elders dispersed all over the State, and\nwould raise up new friends enough to sustain me, that is, if the Lord\nwould help me, and if he did not, I would leave. 4:37.\n\n_Help to Save Every Person_--What is Babylon? It is the confused\nworld: come out of her, then, and cease to partake of her sins, for if\nyou do not you will be partakers of her plagues. 12:282.\n\nIf to all eternity you could praise God, through being the means of\nsaving one soul, I may say the least or most inferior intelligence upon\nthe earth, pertaining to the human family,--if you could be the means\nof saving one such {492} person, how great would be your joy in the\nheavens! Then let us save many, and our joy will be great in proportion\nto the number of souls we save. Let us destroy none. 9:124.\n\nA true servant of God takes more pleasure in saving the meanest\ncapacity organized in human form upon the face of the earth than a\nwicked person can in leading hosts astray. Let a Prophet of God,\nan Apostle, or any servant of the Lord Jesus have the privilege of\nbringing the very smallest degree of organized intelligence up higher\nand higher until it is capable of receiving the intelligence of angels,\nand it will give more consolation and happiness than to lead all the\nposterity of Adam into a wrong path. 8:59.\n\nWe had better gather nine that are unworthy than to neglect the tenth\nif he is worthy. 15:18.\n\nWe gather the poorest of the people, the unlearned, and a few of the\nlearned; but generally, we gather those who are poor, who wish to be\nredeemed; who feel the oppression the high and the proud have made\nthem endure; they have felt a wish to be delivered, and consequently\ntheir ears were open to receive the truth. Take those who are in the\nenjoyment of all the luxuries of this life, and their ears are stopped\nup; they cannot hear. 12:256.\n\nAnd when you are called to preach the Gospel on foreign missions, take\na course to save every person. There is no man or woman within the\npale of saving grace but that is worth saving. There is no intelligent\nbeing, except those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost, but that is\nworth, I may say, all the life of an Elder to save in the Kingdom of\nGod. 9:124.\n\nThis people are mostly gathered from what are termed the laboring and\nmiddle classes. We have not gathered {493} into this Church men that\nare by the world esteemed profound in their principles, ideas, and\njudgment. We have none in this Church that are called by them expert\nstatesmen. How frequently it is cast at the Elders, when they are\nabroad preaching, that Joseph Smith, the founder of their Church and\nreligion, was only a poor illiterate boy. That used to be advanced\nas one of the strongest arguments that could be produced against the\ndoctrine of salvation, by the wise and learned of this world, though it\nis no argument at all. The Lord should have revealed himself to some\nof the learned priests or talented men of the age, say they, who could\nhave done some good and borne off the Gospel by their influence and\nlearning, and not to a poor, ignorant, unlettered youth. Not many wise,\nnot many mighty, not many noble, speaking after the manner of men, are\ncalled; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound\nthe wise, the weak things of the world to confound the things that are\nmighty; and base things of the world--things which are despised by the\nworld, hath God in his wisdom chosen; yea, and things which are not,\nto bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his\npresence. 6:70.\n\nIt is the House of Israel we are after, and we care not whether they\ncome from the east, the west, the north, or the south; from China,\nRussia, England, California, North or South America, or some other\nlocality; and it is the very lad on whom Father Jacob laid his hands,\nthat will save the House of Israel. The Book of Mormon came to Ephraim,\nfor Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite. 2:268.\n\nIf this net does not gather the good and the bad we should have no idea\nthat it is the net that Jesus spoke about when he said that it should\ngather of all kinds. 14:78. {494}\n\nI may say that this Gospel is to spread to the nations of the earth,\nIsrael is to be gathered, Zion redeemed, and the land of Joseph, which\nis the land of Zion, is to be in the possession of the Saints, if the\nLord Almighty lets me live; and if I go behind the veil somebody else\nmust see to it. My brethren must bear it off shoulder to shoulder.\n3:361.\n\n_Words to Departing Missionaries_--We wish the brethren to\nunderstand the facts just as they are; that is, there is neither man or\nwoman in this Church who is not on a mission. That mission will last\nas long as they live, and it is to do good, to promote righteousness,\nto teach the principles of truth, and to prevail upon themselves and\neverybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain\neternal life. 12:19.\n\nWhen I came into this Church, I started right out as a missionary, and\ntook a text, and began to travel on a circuit. Truth is my text, the\nGospel of salvation my subject, and the world my circuit. 9:137.\n\nWe do not wish a man to enter on a mission, unless his soul is in it.\n2:267.\n\nThe brethren who have been called upon foreign missions we expect to\nrespond to the call cheerfully. 4:264.\n\nGo forth and preach the Gospel, gain an experience, learn wisdom, and\nwalk humbly before your God, that you may receive the Holy Ghost to\nguide and direct you, and teach you all things past, present, and to\ncome. 8:176.\n\nGo trusting in God, and continue to trust in him, and he will open\nyour way and multiply blessings upon you, and your souls will be\nsatisfied with his goodness. I cannot promise you any good in taking an\nunrighteous course; your lives must be examples of good works. 8:73.\n\nI think that the brethren were required to go and preach {495} \"without\npurse and scrip,\" and that is what I am now trying to get them to\ndo--to go \"without purse and scrip,\" and not beg the poor Saints to\ndeath. Let us support the Elders, instead of making the poor do it. We\nare able to send these men out to preach the Gospel, and they may go\n\"without purse or scrip.\" 8:169.\n\nI wish the Elders to go forth as I have taught them. If you have a\nclean shirt and one to be washed, then be satisfied. If you are clothed\nso as to be comfortable, be satisfied, and do not let your minds reach\nout after anything, only to preach the Gospel and gather the souls of\nmen. That is all the business you have upon your hands--it is your\nwhole mission; and trust in God to get home--trust in the Lord to go\nfrom place to place, and the way will be opened for you. 8:185.\n\nThose who now go forth upon missions will feel more of the power of God\nthan they ever had, and will speak as men having authority, asking no\nodds of the wicked. 8:172.\n\nI would like to impress upon the minds of the brethren, that he who\ngoes forth in the name of the Lord; trusting in him with all his heart,\nwill never want for wisdom to answer any question that is asked him, or\nto give any counsel that may be required to lead the people in the way\nof life and salvation, and he will never be confounded worlds without\nend. Go in the name of the Lord, trust in the name of the Lord, lean\nupon the Lord, and call upon the Lord fervently and without ceasing,\nand pay no attention to the world. You will see plenty of the world--it\nwill be before you all the time--but if you live so as to possess the\nHoly Ghost you will be able to understand more in relation to it in one\nday than you could in a dozen days without it, and you will at once see\nthe difference between {496} the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God,\nand you can weigh things in the balance and estimate them at their true\nworth. 12:34.\n\nIf the Elders cannot go with clean hands and pure hearts, they had\nbetter stay here. Do not go thinking, when you arrive at the Missouri\nRiver, at the Mississippi, at the Ohio, or at the Atlantic, that then\nyou will purify yourselves; but start from here with clean hands and\npure hearts, and be pure from the crown of the head to the soles of\nyour feet; then live so every hour. Go in that manner, and in that\nmanner labor, and return again as clean as a piece of pure white paper.\nThis is the way to go; and if you do not do that, your hearts will ache.\n\nWill you be liable to fall into temptation and be overtaken by sin?\nYes, unless you live so as to have the revelation of Jesus Christ\ncontinually, not only to live in it today or while you are preaching,\nin a prayer meeting, or in a conference; and when you are out of these\nmeetings, when you are guarded more particularly by the Spirit, say\nthat you can get along without the Holy Ghost. You must have it all\nthe time--on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and every day through the week,\nand from year to year, from the time you leave home until you return;\nso that when you come back, you may not be afraid if the Lord Almighty\nshould come into the midst of the Saints and reveal all the acts and\ndoings and designs of your hearts in your missions; but be found clean\nlike a piece of white paper. That is the way for the Elders to live in\ntheir ministry at home and abroad. 6:273-4.\n\nI want to say for the consolation of the Elders of Israel and those\nwho go forth to preside, you need have no trouble with regard to the\nbuilding up of this Kingdom, only do {497} your duty in the sphere to\nwhich you are assigned. 14:79.\n\nElders who go forth to proclaim the Gospel, unless they do something\nto clip their faith, or cause them to apostatize from their religion,\nso that they are left in the dark, are generally on the increase in\nimprovement, grow in grace and in knowledge. They are advancing in the\nprinciples of truth, while the world are receding from the truth they\nonce had; consequently, it appears to the Elders, and to those who\ngo from the Saints into the world, that it is growing wicked faster\nthan it really is, and the Elders do not always realize that their\nadvancement in truth produces much of the appearance of the great\ndistance between them and the world. 3:221-2.\n\nIf those who are going to preach do not go with that faith that\npertains to eternal life, and that spirit that is like a well of water,\nspringing up into everlasting life, their labors will be vain. They may\nbe the best theoretical theologians in the world--may be able to preach\na Bible and a half in a sermon, to read history without a book, and\nunderstand all the dealings with men from the days of Adam till now;\nand, without the Spirit of the living God to guide them, they will not\nbe able to accomplish anything to their credit towards building up his\nKingdom. They must realize that success in preaching the Gospel springs\nnot from the wisdom of this world. They must so live as to enjoy the\npower of God. 8:70-71.\n\nDon't carry your wives or your children in your hearts or in your\naffections with you one rod. Dedicate them to the Lord God of Israel,\nand leave them at home; and when you are in England, or among other\nnations, no matter where, when you pray for your families, pray for\nthem as being in the Great Salt Lake Valley, and do not bring them\n{498} close to you, as though they were in your carpet-bag. Pray for\nthem where they are. You must feel--if they live, all right; if they\ndie, all right; if I die, all right; if I live, all right; for we are\nthe Lord's, and we shall soon meet again. 6:276.\n\nI wish to say to you that are left here, whose husbands and fathers\nare going away for a season--don't cling to them one particle, but let\nthem go as cheerfully as you would give a weary traveler a cup of cold\nwater. If you live, it is all right; and if you fall asleep before they\nreturn, it is all right. Don't send your hearts after them one step,\nnor suffer your spirits to cling to them one moment. Then you, wives,\nin very deed will be blessed and be helpmeets to your husbands. 6:276.\n\nMany have such feelings, that they are greater who are in the world\npreaching the Gospel than those who remain here. It is a grand mistake.\n6:274.\n\nLook over the history of the Church of the living God on the earth from\nthe days of Adam until now, and I will ensure that you cannot find the\nequal to the excessive labor of the Elders of Israel in our day in\nspreading the Truth through the world to save mankind. I have no idea\nthat it was done in the days of Enoch; for the human family had then\nspread over the earth but little, and the Elders did not have to travel\nscores of thousands of miles without purse or scrip among the wicked.\nSo also in the days of Noah; they had but a short distance to travel.\nIn the days of the Israelites, of the Prophets, of Jesus Christ, and\nthe Apostles, what was their labor in the extent of its field, compared\nwith that of this people? Very small. You may trace the course of their\ntravel, and you will find that it {499} was far less than that of the\nElders of Israel in our day. 5:351.\n\nIf you go on a mission to preach the Gospel with lightness and\nfrivolity in your hearts, looking for this and that, and to learn what\nis in the world, and not having your minds riveted--yes, I may say\nriveted--on the cross of Christ, you will go and return in vain. Go\nforth weeping, bearing precious seed, full of the power of God, and\nfull of faith to heal the sick even by the touch of your hand, rebuking\nand casting out foul spirits, and causing the poor among men to\nrejoice, and you will return bringing your sheaves with you. Let your\nminds be centered on your missions and labor earnestly to bring souls\nto Christ. 12:33-34.\n\n_Advice to Missionaries in the Field_--The travels and labors\nof the Elders about to go on missions will throw them into positions\nwhich will cause them to seek unto the Lord. They need to live their\nreligion, to go forth with pure hearts and clean hands, and then preach\nthe Gospel by the power of God sent down from heaven. They should touch\nnot and taste not of sin, and when they return they should come pure\nand clean, ready to meet the Saints with open countenances. 8:178.\n\nWhen you reach your respective fields of labor in the States, in\nEngland, or elsewhere, do not begin to pull down your predecessors.\nSo far as their conduct will permit, speak of them as your brethren,\nand as men who have done the best they knew how. Testify that you know\nthem to be good men, when you know that they have been doing according\nto their best judgment and understanding; and do not say hard words\nabout your predecessors in the vineyard. Not one who does this will\ngain anything by it. {500} Do not discourage, deride, or bring anything\nagainst any of your predecessors to lessen the character of any one who\nhas done the best he knew how. 8:181.\n\nGather the Saints, but do not flatter; invite, but do not urge, and by\nno means compel any one. 8:72.\n\nIf you have a happy influence with your brethren and sisters, preserve\nit, for it is more choice than fine gold. How many times have I told\nthe Elders, \"When you go on missions, be careful to preserve your\nGod-like dignity and integrity.\" 8:346.\n\nThe Elders who are going abroad should deal out kindness to those they\nare sent to watch over, and your smiles will be far better than your\ncursings could be. 8:74.\n\nYou know that I have said that, if it were now my calling to go and\npreach the Gospel, I could make as many converts as I ever did; for I\nwould go in such a manner that the bitterly prejudiced would have to\nlabor hard to find out that I was a \"Mormon\" until I had induced them\nto love the truth. Then they would say, \"If that is 'Mormonism' I want\nit.\" 5:5.\n\nI wish the Elders of Israel to understand mankind as they are--to go to\nthe people and take them as they are. 9:121.\n\nI wish you all to understand that no Elders go to any place among the\nworld but what the wicked find fault with the people of God. 4:78.\n\nLet me now say to my brethren, the Elders of Israel, it is always\nproper to ask kindly and affectionately the people to perform what you\nwish performed, instead of ordering them to do it. This principle is\nalways good for parents and teachers to observe. 10:228.\n\nElders of Israel, learn to be spiritual physicians. Carry {501} the\nmedicine with you to deal out to every patient as he needs it. If a\npatient has chills and fever in his spirit, you must carry the medicine\nto cure it. 9:125.\n\nNever suffer yourselves to mingle in any of those recreations that tend\nto sin and iniquity, while you are away from the body of the Church,\nwhere you cannot so fully control yourselves. 1:48.\n\nI recollect, in England, sending an Elder to Bristol, to open a door\nthere, and see if anybody would believe. He had a little more than\nthirty miles to walk; he starts off one morning, and arrives at\nBristol; he preached the gospel to them, and sealed them all up to\ndamnation, and was back next morning. He was just as good a man, too,\nas we had. It was want of knowledge caused him to do so. I go and\npreach to the people, and tell them at the end of every sermon, He that\nbelieveth and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not,\nshall be damned. I continue preaching there day after day, week after\nweek, and month after month, and yet nobody believes my testimony, that\nI know of, and I don't see any signs of it. \"What shall I do in this\ncase, if I am sent to preach there?\" you may inquire. You must continue\nto preach there, until those who sent you shall tell you to leave\nthat field of labor; and if the people don't manifest by their works,\nthat they believe, as long as they come to hear me, I will continue\nto plead with them until they bend their dispositions to the Gospel?\nWhy? Because I must be patient with them, as the Lord is patient with\nme; as the Lord is merciful to me, I will be merciful to others; as\nhe continues to be merciful to me, consequently I must continue in\nlong-suffering to be merciful to others--patiently waiting, with all\ndiligence, until the people will believe, and until they are prepared\nto {502} become heirs to a celestial kingdom, or angels to the Devil.\n3:91.\n\nIn the first place, I want to say to the Elders who go forth to preach\nthe Gospel--no matter who may apply to you for baptism, even if you\nhave good reason to believe they are unworthy, if they require it,\nforbid them not, but perform that duty and administer the ordinance for\nthem; it clears the skirts of your garments, and the responsibility is\nupon them. 14:78.\n\nThe meek and lowly Jesus sent his disciples without purse or scrip;\nand when the honest in heart see our Elders go in the same manner\nthat Jesus' disciples did, with the doctrine that he delivered to his\ndisciples, and preach without purse or scrip, our Elders will find\nplenty of honest-hearted persons who will receive their testimony.\nBut when the Elders go into the great cities, hire large halls and\nhire carriages to ride to their pulpit in, the people say it is a\nspeculation, and such Elders do not have much of the Spirit of the Lord\nto preach to the people. 13:90.\n\nWhen you reach your fields of labor, do the best you can; and when the\nenemy comes along and tells you that you are somebody, say, \"Mr. Devil,\nit is none of your business. What I have spoken is what the Lord gave\nto me. I have presented it to the people, and that is all I have to\ndo with it.\" If you cannot preach as nicely and smoothly as you wish,\nand a feeling rises that you cannot preach at all--that you had better\nreturn home, tell Satan to get behind you--that he has no power to\ndictate whether you preach a word or not, for you are in the Lord's\nservice. So live that the Spirit of the Lord can instruct your minds\nat all times, and you can then defy the Devil and all his emissaries.\nIf you have nothing from the Lord to present {503} to the people, be\nas willing to be silent as you would to preach what might be termed a\nsplendid discourse. 8:55.\n\nI do not think there was worse said about the Savior and his disciples\nin ancient days than has been said about the people of Utah in modern\ntimes. Take no notice of this, but attend to the business about which\nyou have been sent. Tell this generation the truth, and pass along. Do\nnot contend or argue much but pass along peaceably and preach the first\nprinciples of the Gospel. 8:56.\n\nIf you should have visits here from those professing to be Christians,\nand they intimate a desire to preach to you, by all means invite them\nto do so. Accord to every reputable person who may visit you, and who\nmay wish to occupy the stands of your meeting houses to preach to\nyou, the privilege of doing so, no matter whether he be a Catholic,\nPresbyterian, Congregationalist, Baptist, Free-will Baptist, Methodist,\nor whatever he may be; and if he wishes to speak to your children let\nhim do so. Of course you have the power to correct whatever false\nteachings or impressions, if any, your children may hear or receive.\n14:195.\n\nWhen men enjoy the spirit of their missions and realize their calling\nand standing before the Lord and the people, it constitutes the\nhappiest portions of their lives. 8:53.\n\nSome inquire, \"Why cannot we serve God in other countries as well as\nhere?\" You can just as well in England, in France, in Germany, in\nItaly, on the islands of the sea, in the United States, in California,\nor anywhere else, as you can here. 2:253.\n\n_The Returned Missionary_--Come home with your heads up. Keep\nyourselves clean, from the crowns of your heads to the soles of your\nfeet; be pure in heart,--otherwise you will return bowed down in spirit\nand with a fallen countenance, {504} and will feel as though you never\ncould rise again. 2:253.\n\nI wish to make this request: that the Elders who return from missions\nconsider themselves just as much on a mission here as in England or in\nany other part of the world. 14:220.\n\nWe frequently call the brethren to go on missions to preach the Gospel,\nand they will go and labor as faithfully as men can do, fervent in\nspirit, in prayer, in laying on hands, in preaching to and teaching the\npeople how to be saved. In a few years they come home, and throwing\noff their coats and hats, they will say, \"Religion, stand aside, I am\ngoing to work now to get something for myself and my family.\" This\nis folly in the extreme. When a man returns from a mission where he\nhas been preaching the Gospel he ought to be just as ready to come to\nthis pulpit to preach as if he were in England, France, Germany, or on\nthe islands of the sea. And when he has been at home a week, a month,\na year, or ten years, the spirit of preaching and the spirit of the\nGospel ought to be within him like a river flowing forth to the people\nin good words, teachings, precepts, and examples. If this is not the\ncase he does not fill his mission. 14:100.\n\nDo not come from your missions leaving behind you people whom you\nhave oppressed, from whom you have begged their money. I would work\nmy way there and back again, or beg from strangers, before I would\ntake one dime from the Saints, unless they of their own free will and\naccord wished to make me presents, and were able to do so without\ndistressing themselves. True, I have seen the time, and so have many of\nmy brethren, when my heart has ached to see men and women go without\nfood day after {505} day for the sake of feeding me, when I could\nfeed myself; but any other course would not satisfy them. Under such\ncircumstances you must humor the people and yield to their feelings.\n8:55.\n\nThose faithful Elders who have testified of this work to thousands of\npeople on the continents and islands of the seas will see the fruits of\ntheir labors, whether they have said five words or thousands. They may\nnot see these fruits immediately, and perhaps, in many cases, not until\nthe Millennium; but the savor of their testimony will pass down from\nfather to son. 8:142.\n\n_The Gospel is Preached With Authority_--When a man who is called\nand ordained of God goes forth he preaches the ordinances, faith in\nChrist and obedience to him as our Savior. He declares that the first\nstep to be taken, after believing in the Father and the Son, is to go\ndown into the waters of baptism and there be immersed in the water,\nand come up out of the water as Jesus did. Some may inquire why the\nLatter-day Saints are so strenuous on this point? We do it for the\nremission of sins; Jesus did this to fulfil all righteousness. 14:96.\n\nPerhaps some may say that I have too much faith in the prophecies of\nGod, in the latter-day work, and in the administration of individuals\nthat now live and have lived on the earth in our day. Be it so, no\nmatter to me. I am here to testify in the name of the God of Israel\nthat for many years past there have been men traveling through the\nlength and breadth of the earth who possess the same power and\nauthority as that with which Jesus endowed his Apostles when he told\nthem to go into all the world and \"preach the Gospel to every creature,\nand he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that\nbelieveth not shall be {506} damned, and these signs shall follow them\nthat believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, heal the sick,\nspeak with new tongues,\" etc. 14:131.\n\n_The Spirit, Not Logic or Debate, Makes Converts_--Let one go\nforth who is careful to prove logically all he says by numerous\nquotations from the revelations, and let another travel with him who\ncan say, by the power of the Holy Ghost, Thus saith the Lord, and tell\nwhat the people should believe--what they should do--how they should\nlive, and teach them to yield to the principles of salvation,--though\nhe may not be capable of producing a single logical argument, though\nhe may tremble under a sense of his weakness, cleaving to the Lord for\nstrength, as such men generally do, you will invariably find that the\nman who testifies by the power of the Holy Ghost will convince and\ngather many more of the honest and upright than will the merely logical\nreasoner. 8:53.\n\nHowever good and useful a classical education may be in the possession\nof a good and wise man, yet it is not essentially necessary for him\nto have it, to tell the simple truth which is given to mankind by\nthe revelations of God, because it can be told by the simple and the\nunlearned. 11:215.\n\nDebate and argument have not that saving effect that has testifying to\nthe truth as the Lord reveals it to the Elder by the Spirit. I think\nyou will all agree with me in this; at least, such is my experience.\nI do not wish to be understood as throwing a straw in the way of the\nElders storing their minds with all the arguments they can gather to\nurge in defense of their religion, nor do I wish to hinder them in the\nleast from learning all they can with regard {507} to religions and\ngovernments. The more knowledge the Elders have the better. 8:53.\n\nI had only traveled a short time to testify to the people, before I\nlearned this one fact, that you might prove doctrine from the Bible\ntill doomsday, and it would merely convince a people, but would not\nconvert them. You might read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,\nand prove every iota that you advance, and that alone would have no\nconverting influence upon the people. Nothing short of a testimony\nby the power of the Holy Ghost would bring light and knowledge to\nthem--bring them in their hearts to repentance. Nothing short of that\nwould ever do. You have frequently heard me say that I would rather\nhear an Elder, either here or in the world, speak only five words\naccompanied by the power of God, and they would do more good than to\nhear long sermons without the Spirit. That is true, and we know it.\n5:327.\n\nWhen a false theory has to be maintained, it requires to be set forth\nwith much care; it requires study, and learning, and cunning sophistry\nto gild over a falsehood and give it the semblance of truth, and make\nit plausible and congenial to the feelings of the people; but the\nmost simple and unlearned person can tell you the truth. A child can\ntell you the truth, in child-like language, while falsehood requires\nthe lawyer and the priest to tell it to make it at all plausible; it\nrequires a scholastic education to make falsehood pass for truth.\n11:214.\n\nThe servants of God have truth, and nothing but truth, to present to\nthe world, that the world may be sanctified by the truth. The truth\nneedeth no polish to make it lovely and desirable to those who love it.\n11:234.\n\nThey must eventually either acknowledge that he is the {508} Son of God\nand that his Gospel is the only Gospel, or they must take infidelity.\nSooner or later the sects, one after another, will deny the Savior and\nevery one of the ordinances of his Gospel, until they are all enveloped\nin infidelity, or they must accept the whole. Strange as it may appear,\nthey are now following shadows, phantoms of the brain, and mischievous\nmanifestations. 14:74.\n\nWhat should the wicked hear? They should hear a man testify that Joseph\nSmith was and is a Prophet of God, that he was a good man, and that he\ndid plant and establish the Kingdom of God on the earth, and we know\nit. \"How shall I know?\" says one. By obeying the commandments given to\nyou. The Lord has said, go into the waters of baptism and be baptized\nfor the remission of your sins, and you shall receive a witness that I\nam telling you the truth. How? By baptism and the laying on of hands\nalone? No. By seeing the sick healed? No, but by the Spirit that shall\ncome unto you through obedience, which will make you feel like little\nchildren, and cause you to delight in doing good, to love your Father\nin Heaven and the society of the righteous. Have you malice and wrath\nthen? No, it is taken from you, and you feel like the child in its\nmother's lap. You will feel kind to your children, to your brothers\nand sisters, to your parents and neighbors, and to all around you; you\nwill feel a glow, as of fire, burning within you; and if you open your\nmouths to talk you will declare ideas which you did not formerly think\nof; they will flow into your mind, even such as you have not thought\nof for years. The Scriptures will be opened to you, and you will see\nhow clear and reasonable everything is which this or that Elder teaches\nyou. Your hearts will be comforted, you can lie down and sleep in\npeace, and {509} wake up with feelings as pleasant as the breezes of\nsummer. This is witness to you. 3:211.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints realize that there is no period of man's\nexistence not incorporated with the plan of salvation, and directly\npointing to a future existence. Consequently, when we stand here to\nspeak to the people, let every man speak what is in his heart. If\none of our Elders is capable of giving us a lecture upon any of the\nsciences, let it be delivered in the spirit of meekness--in the spirit\nof the holy Gospel. If, on the Sabbath day, when we are assembled here\nto worship the Lord, one of the Elders should be prompted to give us\na lecture on any branch of education with which he is acquainted, is\nit outside the pale of our religion? I think not. If any of the Elders\nare disposed to give a lecture to parents and children on letters,\non the rudiments of the English language, it is in my religion, it\nis a part of my faith. Or if an Elder shall give us a lecture upon\nastronomy, chemistry, or geology, our religion embraces it all. It\nmatters not what the subject be, if it tends to improve the mind, exalt\nthe feelings, and enlarge the capacity. The truth that is in all the\narts and sciences forms a part of our religion. Faith is no more a part\nof it than any other true principle of philosophy. Were I to give you\na lecture today upon farming, would I be speaking upon a matter that\ntranscends the bounds of our religion? Agriculture is a part of it as\nwell as any other truth. Were I to lecture on business principles of\nany kind, our religion embraces it; and what it does not circumscribe,\nit would be well for us to dispense with at once and forever. 1:334.\n\n_Humility and Devotion, the Essentials_--The Kingdom of our God,\nthat is set upon the earth, does not require men {510} of many words\nand flaming oratorical talents, to establish truth and righteousness.\nIt is not the many words that accomplish the designs of our Father in\nHeaven, with him it is the acts of the people more than their words;\nthis I was convinced of before I embraced the Gospel. Had it not been\nthat I clearly saw and understood that the Lord Almighty would take the\nweak things of this world to confound the mighty, the wise, and the\ntalented, there was nothing that could have induced me, or persuaded\nme, to have ever become a public speaker. 4:20.\n\nOn the other hand, I do not wish any of the brethren to be discouraged,\nfor if you feel that you cannot say a single word, no matter, if you\nwill only be faithful to your God and to your religion, and be humble,\nand cleave unto righteousness, and forsake iniquity and sin, the Lord\nwill guide you and give you words in due season. 2:268.\n\nI have known some of the Elders when they thought they would be called\nout to preach, keep away from meeting lest they should be called upon,\nfor they feel their littleness, their nothingness, their inability\nto rise up and preach to the people. They do not feel that they are\nanybody, and why should they expose their weaknesses? I have noticed\none thing in regard to this--quite as many of these men become giants\nin the cause of truth, as there are of any other class; for when they\nget away they begin to lean on the Lord, and to seek unto him, and\nfeeling their weaknesses, they ask him to give them wisdom to speak to\nthe people as occasion may require. Others can rise up here and preach\na flaming discourse, insomuch that you would think they were going to\ntear down the nations; but when they go out into the world they often\naccomplish but little. 2:267. {511}\n\n_Preach Only That Which is Known_--With regard to doctrinal\npoints, that which we do not understand should not be talked about in,\nthis stand; and the Elders of Israel should never contend about any\npoint of doctrine that does not pertain to the present day's salvation.\n7:47.\n\nI will give a caution to my brethren, the Elders--never undertake to\nteach a thing that you do not understand. Such things will come into\nyour minds; but without launching out on such subjects, questions may\nbe asked and answered, and we gain knowledge from each other. There is\nplenty within the scope of our own brains that, by the assistance of\nthe Spirit of the Lord, will enable us to tell many things--more than\nthe world, or even more than the Saints can receive. 13:263.\n\nIf you do not understand a doctrine or a portion of Scripture, when\ninformation is asked of you, say that the Lord has not revealed that to\nyou, or that he has not opened your understanding to grasp it, and that\nyou do not feel safe in giving an interpretation until he does. 8:56.\n\n_Hints for Preachers_--Short sermons fitly spoken, are better than\nlong ones ill spoken. 3:249.\n\nThe spirit of truth will do more to bring persons to light and\nknowledge, than flowery words. 4:21.\n\nI wish to see the Elders get up here and manifest their spirits, and\nspeak as they feel when they are alone in their meditations. 3:237.\n\nI care little for a man's language, if his spirit proves to me that he\nhas the love of God within him. 9:290.\n\nThe preacher needs the power of the Holy Ghost to deal out to each\nheart a word in due season, and the hearers need the Holy Ghost to\nbring forth the fruits of the preached word of God to his glory. 8:167.\n{512}\n\nNo man ever preached a Gospel sermon, except by the gift and power of\nthe Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Without this power, there is no\nlight in the preaching. 8:138.\n\nElders in this Church--men who have been members for years,--often\nspeak of principles in the abstract, when they would be better\nunderstood if they spoke of them in connection with other kindred\nprinciples. 8:259.\n\nPerfection in conveying ideas is not yet given to the children of men.\nOur language is altogether inadequate for always conveying our ideas\nwith unmistakable precision, and the same ideas are generally advanced\nin different words by different persons. 8:259.\n\nWhen a person opens his mouth, no matter what he talks about, to a\nperson of quick discernment he will disclose more or less of his true\nsentiments. You cannot hide the heart, when the mouth is open. If you\nwant to keep your heart secret, keep your mouth shut. 6:74.\n\nThere are two thousand persons in this assembly, and if only half\na dozen of them have done wrong, I could not chastise them without\nappearing to chastise the whole congregation, which in reality is not\nso. By chastising the guilty, however, it is impossible to spot the\nconscience of good men and women, whose hearts are clean and pure as a\npiece of white paper. 1:92.\n\nWe can form some kind of an idea how a man feels by looking at him,\nbut if you wish a man to portray himself faithfully you must get him\nto talk, and I will insure that the organs of speech will show out the\ntrue state of the mind, sooner or later, and reveal the fruit of his\nheart. No man can hide it if he is allowed to talk; he will be sure to\nmanifest his true feelings. 3:237. {513}\n\nIf you wish to impress on the minds of individuals or an audience\nanything that you desire them to remember, you will have to use\nlanguage accordingly. 14:193.\n\nWhen we hear a man that can speak of heavenly things, and present\nthem to the people in a way that they can be understood, you may\nknow that to that man the avenue is open, and he, by some power, has\ncommunication with heavenly beings; and when the highest intelligence\nis exhibited, he, perhaps, has communication with the highest\nintelligence that exists. 8:206.\n\nI do not like to hear men make excuses, although it is natural, and I\nput up with it. I wish they could see and understand that they have had\nadvantages above many of their brethren--that they have been greatly\nblessed, and should never complain, but should stand up here and\nexercise themselves according to the best of their ability, and do all\nthe good possible for them to do. 5:97.\n\nThe truth is easily understood, and as easily told. The agriculturist\nand the mechanic can tell the truth, and become efficient ministers\nof it, by living faithfully in accordance with what they know of the\nGospel; for in this way they obtain the Holy Ghost, which giveth\nutterance. 11:214.\n\nWhen people are hungry they need substantial food; when they are\nthirsty they need substantial drink. Moses' smiting the rock would not\nhave benefited the people in the least, if water had not gushed out.\nIt is the duty of the true minister of Christ to instruct the people\nof God how to get their food today, and to teach them by precept and\nexample how to become an independent nation. 11:133.\n\nIt is my business to teach mankind how to live, how to honor their\npresent existence, how to treat their bodies so as to live to a good\nold age on the earth, and have power {514} to do good and not evil\nall their days, and be ready to enter into the rest prepared for the\nSaints. 10:27.\n\nIt yields solid satisfaction to hear men testify of the truth of the\nGospel. It is always peculiarly interesting to me to hear the Saints\ntell their experience. It is to me one of the best of sermons to hear\nmen and women relate to each other how the Lord has wrought upon\ntheir understanding and brought them into the path of truth, life,\nand salvation. I would rather hear men tell their own experience, and\ntestify that Joseph was a Prophet of the Lord, and that the Book of\nMormon, the Bible, and other revelations of God, are true; that they\nknow it by the gift and power of God; that they have conversed with\nangels, have had the power of the Holy Ghost upon them, giving them\nvisions and revelations, than hear any kind of preaching that ever\nsaluted my ears. 1:89.\n\nA man who wishes to receive light and knowledge, to increase in the\nfaith of the Holy Gospel, and to grow in the knowledge of the truth\nas it is in Jesus Christ, will find that when he imparts knowledge to\nothers he will also grow and increase. Be not miserly in your feelings,\nbut get knowledge and understanding by freely imparting it to others,\nand be not like a man who selfishly hoards his gold; for that man\nwill not thus increase upon the amount, but will become contracted in\nhis views and feelings. So the man who will not impart freely of the\nknowledge he has received, will become so contracted in his mind that\nhe cannot receive truth when it is presented to him. Wherever you see\nan opportunity to do good, do it, for that is the way to increase and\ngrow in the knowledge of the truth. 2:267.\n\nIf a congregation wish to be instructed so as to understand alike and\nalike receive an increase of wisdom and {515} knowledge, their minds\nmust be intent on the subject before them. They must not suffer their\nthoughts to be roaming over the earth; they must not permit their minds\nto be scanning and traversing their every-day duties and avocations.\n6:93-4.\n\nElders of Israel and Bishops, be fathers, and take a course by which\nyou will win the affections of the people. How? With your silken\nlips? No, no; but with the fear of the Almighty. Do you know that men\nand women of God love truth? They do not love sophistry, it is an\nabomination to them. 4:283.\n\nA few words now, with regard to preaching. The greatest and loudest\nsermon that can be preached, or that ever was preached on the face of\nthe earth, is practice. No other is equal to it. 12:271-2.\n\nIf you will reflect upon what class of speakers have most edified you,\nno matter whether they are taught or untaught in, the learning of the\nschools, you will readily discover that it has been those whose minds\nwere stored with good ideas, and who spoke so that you could readily\nand easily understand them, whether their language was couched in the\nmost approved style or not. When you hear individuals speak whose minds\nare stored with rich ideas, do they not benefit you the most? I care\nbut little about your language, hand out the ideas, and let us know\nwhat you have stored in your minds. 3:243-4.\n\nI have the same diffidence in my feelings that most public speakers\nhave, and am apt to think that others can speak better and more\nedifying than I can. There are but few public speakers but what feel\nmore or less timidity. That is probably not so much a man-fearing\nspirit as it is a natural delicacy or timidity. All of you have\ndoubtless to {516} some extent realized the same feeling, either in\nlarge or small assemblies, and also in social conversation. People\ngenerally are more or less disturbed and thrown off their balance by\nthe sound of their own voices, especially when speaking to an audience,\neven after being much used to addressing assemblies. Some of our most\neloquent and interesting speakers would rather do almost anything than\nspeak to the congregations that assemble here. That diffidence or\ntimidity we must dispense with. When it becomes our duty to talk, we\nought to be willing to talk. If we never exhibit the knowledge within\nus, the people will not know really whether we have any. 6:93.\n\nIf an Elder in preaching the Gospel, does not feel that he has the\npower to preach life and salvation, and legally to administer the\nordinances, and that, too, by the power of God, he will not fill his\nmission to his own credit, nor to the good of the people, and the\nadvancement and honor of the Kingdom of God. From all I can read, from\nall I can gather, from the revelations from God to man, and from the\nrevelations of the Spirit to me, no man can successfully preach the\nGospel and be owned, blessed, and acknowledged by the heavens, unless\nhe preaches by the power of God through direct revelation. Not but\nthat, in a great many instances, a man may not be manifestly under\nthe immediate and powerful influences and direction of revelation to\ndictate him all the time in his meditations and reasonings, and yet can\nadvance many good ideas that he has gathered by means of his natural\nreasoning. But to magnify and make honorable the calling of an Elder\nin this Church, I cannot conceive, in my understanding, any other true\nprinciple by which it can be done, only when perfectly controlled by\nthe Spirit of the Lord. 8:52-53. {517}\n\nWhen a \"Mormon\" Elder offers evidence of this great work to\nunbelievers, they tell him that he is a party concerned, and his\nevidence cannot be taken with regard to Joseph Smith's mission. I ask\nthe Christian world, Where are your witnesses that Jesus is the Christ?\nWho are those who testified of his mission, and how many are there?\nEight persons testified of him, and their testimony is recorded, and\nthey were his disciples and parties concerned; yet at this day all the\nChristian world is ready to receive their testimony. I testify that\nthis work of God in which we are engaged has been commenced to gather\nthe House of Israel and establish Zion in the last days, and has more\noutward and weighty evidence to prove that it is of God than there was\nin the days of Jesus to prove that he was the Christ. When the Book of\nMormon came forth it was testified to by twelve witnesses, and who can\ndispute their testimony? No living person on the earth can do it; and\nbesides the testimony of these twelve witnesses, hundreds and thousands\nhave received a witness to themselves from the heavens, and who can\ndispute their testimony? No living person on the earth can do it. This\ninfidel world inquires, \"Where do you get your testimony?\" We answer,\nwe get it from the heavens. Were we to ask them where they get the\nknowledge they possess, they reply, \"We do not know; it came to us; we\nknow not its source.\" We have testimony that the Bible is true, that\nthe prophecies contained in it are true, that Jesus is the Son of God,\nand came to redeem the world. Have the so-called Christian world this\nkind of testimony? They have not. All the testimony they can boast of\nis the testimony of eight men who lived nearly two thousand years ago.\nThe infidel world cannot {518} receive their testimony, because they\nwere parties concerned. 12:208.\n\nBrother Whiting says that he is a man of but few words. I am satisfied\nthat there is greater wisdom with many who say but little, than there\nis with those who talk so much; as for the multitude of words, they\nare but of little consequence, the ideas are by far the greatest\nimportance. 4:20. {519}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\n_VISIONS, MYSTERIES AND MIRACLES_\n\n_Visions of a Personal Nature_--I ask, Is there a reason for men\nand women being exposed more constantly and more powerfully, to the\npower of the enemy, by having visions than by not having them? There is\nand it is simply this--God never bestows upon his people, or upon an\nindividual, superior blessings without a severe trial to prove them, to\nprove that individual, or that people, to see whether they will keep\ntheir covenants with him, and keep in remembrance what he has shown\nthem. Then the greater the vision, the greater the display of the power\nof the enemy.\n\nSo when individuals are blessed with visions, revelations, and great\nmanifestations, look out, then the Devil is nigh you, and you will be\ntempted in proportion to the visions, revelation, or manifestation you\nhave received. 3:205-206.\n\nIf the Lord Almighty should reveal to a High Priest, or to any other\nthan the head, things that are true, or that have been and will be,\nand show to him the destiny of this people twenty-five years from now,\nor a new doctrine that will in five, ten, or twenty years hence become\nthe doctrine of this Church and Kingdom, but which has not yet been\nrevealed to this people, and reveal it to him by the same Spirit, the\nsame messenger, the same voice, the same power that gave revelations to\nJoseph when he was living, it would be a blessing to that High Priest,\nor individual; but he must rarely divulge it to a second person on\nthe face of the earth, until God reveals it through the proper source\nto become {520} the property of the people at large. Therefore when\nyou hear Elders say that God does not reveal through the President of\nthe Church that which they know, and tell wonderful things, you may\ngenerally set it down as a God's truth that the revelation they have\nhad is from the Devil, and not from God. If they had received from the\nproper source, the same power that revealed to them would have shown\nthem that they must keep the things revealed in their own bosoms, and\nthey seldom would have a desire to disclose them to the second person.\n3:318.\n\n_Leave Mysteries Alone_--Now, brethren, preach the things that we\nverily believe, and when we come to points of doctrine that we do not\nknow, even if we have good reason to believe them, if our philosophy\nteaches us they are true, pass them by and teach only to the people\nthat which we do know. 13:265.\n\nWhat is a mystery? We do not know, it is beyond our comprehension. When\nwe talk about mystery, we talk about eternal obscurity; for that which\nis known, ceases to be a mystery; and all that is known, we may know as\nwe progress in the scale of our intelligence. That which is eternally\nbeyond the comprehension of all our intelligence is mystery. 1:274.\n\nThese are the mysteries of the Kingdom of God upon the earth, to know\nhow to purify and sanctify our affections, the earth upon which we\nstand, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the houses in which we\ndwell and the cities which we build, that when strangers come into our\ncountry they may feel a hallowed influence and acknowledge a power to\nwhich they are strangers. 10:176.\n\nJesus said to his disciples, to them it was given to know the mysteries\nof the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them that {521} were without, it was\nnot given. If we were to examine the subject closely, we should learn\nthat a very scanty portion of the things of the Kingdom were ever\nrevealed, even to the disciples. If we were prepared to gaze upon the\nmysteries of the Kingdom, as they are with God, we should then know\nthat only a very small portion of them has been handed out here and\nthere. God, by his Spirit, has revealed many things to his people, but,\nin almost all cases, he has straightway shut up the vision of the mind.\nHe will let his servants gaze upon eternal things for a moment, but\nstraightway the vision is closed, and they are left as they were, that\nthey may learn to act by faith, or as the Apostle has it, not walking\nby sight, but by faith. 1:264.\n\nYou may now be inclined to say, \"We wish to hear the mysteries of the\nkingdoms of the Gods who have existed from eternity, and of all the\nkingdoms in which they will dwell; we desire to have these things\nportrayed to our understandings.\"\n\nAllow me to inform you that you are in the midst of it all now, that\nyou are in just as good a kingdom as you will ever attain to, from now\nto all eternity, unless you make it yourselves by the grace of God, by\nthe will of God, which is a code of laws perfectly calculated to govern\nand control eternal matter. 3:336.\n\nIf they will only live up to it, there has already been enough taught\nthe brethren who have lived here for years to prepare them to enter\ninto the strait gate and into the New Jerusalem, and be prepared to\nenjoy the society of the holy angels. 8:177.\n\n_Providences of God, All Miracles_--The providences of God are all\na miracle to the human family until they understand them. There are no\nmiracles, only to those who are {522} ignorant. A miracle is supposed\nto be a result without a cause, but there is no such thing. There\nis a cause for every result we see; and if we see a result without\nunderstanding the cause we call it a miracle. 14:79.\n\nThe Gospel plan is so devised, that a miracle to make people believe\nwould only be a condemnation to them. When you hear people tell what\nthey have seen--that they have seen great and powerful miracles\nwrought, and they could not help believing, remember that \"devils\nbelieve and tremble,\" because they cannot help it. When the voice of\nthe Good Shepherd is heard, the honest in heart believe and receive it.\nIt is good to taste with the inward taste, to see with the inward eyes,\nand to enjoy with the sensations of the ever-living spirit. No person,\nunless he is an adulterer, a fornicator, covetous, or an idolator, will\never require a miracle; in other words, no good, honest person ever\nwill. 8:42.\n\nYou have gathered the idea from me that it is not the miracles that are\nperformed before a person's eyes that convince him that one is of God,\nor of the Devil; yet, if the Lord designs that a person should heal the\nsick, the individual can do so; but is that to convince the wicked that\nthe operator is sent of God? No, it is a blessing on the Saints, and\nthe wicked have nothing to-do with it, they have no business to hear\nof it; that is for the Saints, it is especially for their benefit, and\ntheirs alone. 3:211.\n\nThis, in my own mind, is argued out perfectly, upon natural principles.\nIt is natural for me to believe that, if I plough the ground and sow\nwheat, in the proper season I shall reap a crop of wheat; this is\nthe natural result. It was precisely so with the miracles that Jesus\nwrought upon the earth? At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, when they\n{523} had drunk all the wine, they went to the Savior and asked him\nwhat they should do. He ordered them to fill up their pots with water,\nand after having done so they drew forth of that water and found that\nit was wine. I believe that was real wine; I do not believe that it\nwas done on the principle that such things are done in these days by\nwicked men, who, by means of what they term psychology, electrobiology,\nmesmerism, etc., influence men and make them believe that water is\nwine, and other things of a similar character. The Savior converted the\nwater into wine. He knew how to call the necessary elements together in\norder to fill the water with the properties of wine. The elements are\nall around us; we eat, drink and breathe them, and Jesus, understanding\nthe process of calling them together, performed no miracle except to\nthose who were ignorant of that process. It was the same with the woman\nwho was healed by touching the hem of his garment; she was healed by\nfaith, but it was no miracle to Jesus. He understood the process, and\nalthough he was pressed by the crowd, behind and before, and on each\nside, so that he could scarcely make his way through it, the moment\nshe touched him he felt virtue leave him and enquired who touched him.\nThis was no miracle to him. He had the issues of life and death in\nhis power; he had power to lay down his life and power to take it up\nagain. This is what he says, and we must believe this if we believe\nthe history of the Savior and the sayings of the Apostles recorded in\nthe New Testament. Jesus had this power in and of himself; the Father\nbequeathed it to him; it was his legacy, and he had the power to lay\ndown his life and take it again. He had the streams and issues of\nlife within him and when he said \"Live\" to individuals, they lived.\nThe diseases that are {524} and ever have been prevalent among the\nhuman family are from beneath, and are entailed upon them through the\nfall--through the disobedience of our first parents; but Jesus, having\nthe issues of life at his command, could counteract those diseases\nat his pleasure. The case of the Centurion's servant is a striking\ninstance of this. The Centurion sent and besought Jesus to heal his\nservant. \"Say in a word,\" said he, \"and my servant shall be healed.\"\nJesus, seeing the man's earnestness and solicitude, said, \"I have not\nfound so great faith, no, not in Israel.\" And it is said that they who\nwere sent, returned to the Centurion's house and found the servant\nhealed. Jesus counteracted the disease preying upon the system of this\nman, but to himself, knowing the principle by which the disease was\nrebuked, it was no miracle. 13:140-141.\n\nAs quick as I admit that the history Moses gives of himself is true,\nI cannot have any question in the world but what in ancient days they\nunderstood in a measure how to command the elements. The magicians of\nEgypt were instructed in things pertaining to true riches, and had\nobtained keys and powers enough to produce a bogus in opposition to the\ntrue coin, as it were, and thus they deceived the king and the people.\nThey could cause frogs to come upon the land, as well as Moses could.\nThey could turn the waters of Egypt into blood, and in many more things\ncompete with Moses. There was one thing, however, they could not do,\nthough they produced a very good bogus, but it was not quite the true\ncoin. When they threw their staffs on the floor before the king, these\ncould not swallow the staff of Moses, but the staff of Moses swallowed\nthe staffs of the magicians. I have no {525} doubt that men can perform\nmany such wonders by the principles of natural philosophy. 1:270.\n\n_Miracles for Believers_--Miracles, or these extraordinary\nmanifestations of the power of God, are not for the unbeliever; they\nare to console the Saints, and to strengthen and confirm the faith of\nthose who love, fear, and serve God, and not for outsiders. 12:97.\n\n\"Why do not the people speak with tongues?\" We do, and we speak with\ntongues that you can understand, and Paul says he would rather speak\nfive or ten words in a language that can be understood, than many in a\nlanguage that cannot be. This is what may be conveyed. 15:133.\n\n_Faith Not Dependent on Miracles_--I do not want to see a miracle\nto confirm the truth of any doctrine or saying that is revealed to\nme. If I can see that it is calculated to purify the hearts of the\npeople and to sanctify their affections, and to reconcile them to God\nand to his law and government, it satisfies me; and so far as this\ngoes, I might say that I am like the Christian world, in the belief\nthat miracles are no longer needed. But I believe that miracles are as\nabsolutely necessary now as they ever were. 13:140.\n\nTake the case of the Children of Israel and the miracles that were\nwrought in their deliverance from the land of Egypt. The question\narises, was it through their faith, or because of the promises which\nGod had made to their fathers? * * * It was not because of the\nrighteousness of the Children of Israel, but because of the promises\nof the Lord to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for he must fulfil the\npromises made to his servants. He wanted at one time to destroy the\nwhole people, and told Moses to let him alone that he might destroy\nthem because of their wickedness {526} and rebellion, and he would make\nof him (Moses) a great nation; but Moses pleaded in their behalf, and\ncalled upon the Lord to remember his promises, and they were preserved.\n12:242-243.\n\nDo you suppose that Jesus Christ healed every person that was sick, or\nthat all the devils were cast out in the country where he sojourned?\nI do not. Working miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead, and\nthe like, were almost as rare in his day as in this our day. Once in a\nwhile the people would have faith in his power, and what is called a\nmiracle would be performed, but the sick, the blind, the deaf and dumb,\nthe crazy, and those possessed with different kinds of devils were\naround him, and only now and then could his faith have power to take\neffect, on account of the want of faith in the individuals. 3:45-46.\n\nIf we have faith to feel that the issues of life and death are in our\npower, we can say to disease, \"Be ye rebuked in the name of Jesus,\nand let life and health come into the system of this individual, from\nGod, to counteract this disease;\" and our faith will bring this by the\nlaying on of hands by administering the ordinance of the holy Gospel.\n13:141.\n\nMen who have professedly seen the most, known and understood the\nmost, in this Church, and who have testified in the presence of large\ncongregations, in the name of Israel's God, that they have seen Jesus,\netc., have been the very men who have left this Kingdom, before others\nwho had to live by faith. 3:205.\n\nYou will recollect that I have often told you that miracles would not\nsave a person, and I say that they never should. If I were to see a\nman come in here this day, and say, \"I am the great one whom the Lord\nhas sent,\" {527} and cause fire to come down in our sight, through\nthe ceiling that is over our heads, I would not believe any more for\nthat. It is no matter what he does, I cannot believe any more on that\naccount. What will make me believe? What made the twelve Apostles\nof Jesus Christ witnesses? What constituted them Apostles--special\nwitnesses to the world? Was it seeing miracles? No. What was it? The\nvisions of their minds were opened, and it was necessary that a few\nshould receive light, knowledge, and intelligence, that all the powers\nof earth and hell could not gainsay or compete with. That witness\nwas within them, and yet, after all that was done for them, after\nall that Jesus showed them, and after all the power of the spirit of\nrevelation which they possessed, you find that one of them apostatized,\nturned away and sold his Lord and Master for thirty pieces of silver,\nin consequence of his not being firm to his covenant in the hour of\ndarkness and temptation. Another of them was ready to say, \"I do not\nknow anything about the Lord Jesus Christ,\" and denied him.\n\nSome are apt now to say, \"I don't know anything about this Mormonism,\nI don't know about the Priesthood.\" Did you not once know? \"I thought\nI did, but now I find myself deceived.\" What is the reason? Because\nthey give way to temptation; they may have had great light, knowledge,\nand understanding, the visions of their minds may have been opened\nand eternity exhibited to their view, but when this is closed up, in\nproportion to the light given to them, so is the darkness that comes\nupon them to try them. 3:206-207.\n\nA sister who receives the gift of tongues is not thereby empowered to\ndictate her president, or the Church. All gifts and endowments given of\nthe Lord to members of his {528} Church are not given to control the\nChurch; but they are under the control and guidance of the Priesthood,\nand are judged by it. Some have erred upon this point, and have been\nled captive by the Devil. 11:136.\n\nIf you say that you want mysteries, commandments, and revelations, I\nreply that scarcely a Sabbath passes over your heads, those of you who\ncome here, without your having the revelations of Jesus Christ poured\nupon you like water on the ground. 3:336-337.\n\nSome are very anxious that I should have visions. I have all that\nthe Lord gives to me; and all that he keeps back he may; for that is\nno concern of mine. We are on the old ship Zion; and if God is not\nat the helm, the old ship will wreck and go to the Devil. As for my\ntaking charge of the Kingdom of God on the earth, exclusively and\nindependently of direction from heaven, I shall not do any such thing.\nIf the Lord does not direct the old ship and act as captain and pilot,\nit will go to destruction.\n\nHe is at the helm, and will stay there. If you and I will bring our\nfeelings to the point I have just spoken of, he will continue to guide\nthe welfare of Zion and all its rights. 5.352. {529}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\n_TRIALS AND PERSECUTION_\n\n_Trials are Necessary_--We are now in a day of trial to prove\nourselves worthy or unworthy of the life which is to come. 12:167.\n\nIf we have correct doctrines, and will fashion our lives to them, we\nmay sanctify ourselves without being chastened. 12:310.\n\nThe people of the Most High God must be tried. It is written that they\nwill be tried in all things, even as Abraham was tried. If we are\ncalled to go upon mount Moriah to sacrifice a few of our Isaacs, it is\nno matter; we may just as well do that as anything else. I think there\nis a prospect for the Saints to have all the trials they wish for, or\ncan desire. 4:369.\n\nAll intelligent beings who are crowned with crowns of glory,\nimmortality, and eternal lives must pass through every ordeal appointed\nfor intelligent beings to pass through, to gain their glory and\nexaltation. Every calamity that can come upon mortal beings will be\nsuffered to come upon the few, to prepare them to enjoy the presence\nof the Lord. If we obtain the glory that Abraham obtained, we must do\nso by the same means that he did. If we are ever prepared to enjoy the\nsociety of Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or of\ntheir faithful children, and of the faithful Prophets and Apostles,\nwe must pass through the same experience, and gain the knowledge,\nintelligence, and endowments that will prepare us to enter into the\ncelestial kingdom of our Father and God. How many of the Latter-day\nSaints will endure all these {530} things, and be prepared to enjoy\nthe presence of the Father and the Son? You can answer that question\nat your leisure. Every trial and experience you have passed through is\nnecessary for your salvation. 8:150.\n\nShould our lives be extended to a thousand years, still we may live and\nlearn. Every vicissitude we pass through is necessary for experience\nand example, and for preparation to enjoy that reward which is for the\nfaithful. 9:292.\n\nIf Adam had not sinned, and if his posterity had continued upon the\nearth, they could not have known sin, or the bitter from the sweet,\nneither would they have known righteousness, for the plain and simple\nreason that every effect can only be fully manifested by its opposite.\nIf the Saints could realize things as they are when they are called\nto pass through trials, and to suffer what they call sacrifices,\nthey would acknowledge them to be the greatest blessings that could\nbe bestowed upon them. But put them in possession of true principles\nand true enjoyments, without the opposite, and they could not know\nenjoyment, they could not realize happiness. They could not tell\nlight from darkness, because they have no knowledge of darkness and\nconsequently are destitute of a realizing sense of light. If they\nshould not taste the bitter, how could they realize the sweet? They\ncould not. 2:301-302.\n\nYou will learn this in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and in the\nrevelations given through Joseph. We must know and understand the\nopposition that is in all things, in order to discern, choose, and\nreceive that which we do know will exalt us to the presence of God.\nYou cannot know the one without knowing the other. This is a true\nprinciple. 4:373.\n\nNow if you possess the light of the Holy Spirit, you {531} can see\nclearly that trials in the flesh are actually necessary. 2:8.\n\n_Purpose of Persecution_--Let any people enjoy peace and quiet,\nunmolested, undisturbed,--never be persecuted for their religion,\nand they are very likely to neglect their duty, to become cold and\nindifferent, and lose their faith. 7:42.\n\nHe led this people in different parts of the United States, and the\nfinger of scorn has been pointed at them. Officers of the Government of\nthe United States have lifted their heel against them, and this people\nhave been driven from town to town, from county to county, and from\nstate to state. The Lord has his design in this. You may ask what his\ndesign is. You all know that the Saints must be made pure, to enter\ninto the celestial kingdom. It is recorded that Jesus was made perfect\nthrough suffering. If he was made perfect through suffering, why\nshould we imagine for one moment that we can be prepared to enter into\nthe kingdom of rest with him and the Father, without passing through\nsimilar ordeals? 8:66.\n\nWe are infinitely more blessed by the persecutions and injustice we\nhave suffered, than we could have been if we had remained in our\nhabitations from which we have been driven--than if we had been\nsuffered to occupy our farms, gardens, stores, mills, machinery and\neverything we had in our former possessions. 10:38.\n\n_Persecution May Be Expected_--I wish to inform you, brethren and\nsisters, who have just arrived in these valleys, that all your trials\nhitherto are but trifling in comparison to the trials you will now be\ncalled to meet and pass through. 8:163.\n\nWar has been declared against the Saints over twenty-seven {532} years,\nand our enemies have only fallen back so as to gain strength and\npretexts for making another attack. Will that spirit increase? If it\ndoes, and we love our religion, let me tell you that we will increase\nfaster than our enemies will. 5:340.\n\nOnly be faithful, brethren and sisters, and I promise that you shall\nhave all such privileges as shall be for your good. You need not\nbe discouraged, or mourn, because you were not in Jackson County\npersecutions, or were not driven from Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois,\nand stripped, robbed and plundered of all your property. Do not mourn\nand feel bad, because you were not in Nauvoo; have no fears, for if\nthe word of the Lord is true, you shall yet be tried in all things; so\nrejoice, and pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, even\nif it is in the spoiling of your goods, for it is the hand of God that\nleads us, and will continue so to do. Let every man and woman sanctify\nthemselves before the Lord, and every providence of the Almighty shall\nbe sanctified for good of them. 1:279.\n\nThe ancient Saints were, and the Saints of latter days have been,\ndriven from pillar to post, their name a hiss and a by-word, and their\ncharacter traduced to the lowest degree. I will appeal to men in this\ncongregation, who have lived for years in the society of the world, who\nare judges, magistrates, sheriffs, merchants, mechanics, and farmers,\nif anything was ever alleged against their character until they joined\nthe Latter-day Saints. But where are your characters now in the world?\nYour former friends now have found out that you always were miserable\ncreatures, they now declare they never had any confidence in you, for\nyou always were enthusiastic beings, and knew not what you were doing.\nThey always believed you would prove yourselves {533} dishonest, etc.\nThis has been the character given to the Saints by the world in all\nages. 1:236.\n\n[IMAGE: BRIGHAM YOUNG AS A YOUNG MAN]\n\n[IMAGE: BRIGHAM YOUNG MATURED]\n\n[IMAGE: THE HOME OF BRIGHAM YOUNG IN NAUVOO]\n\n_Meet Trials Cheerfully_--We are the happiest people when we have\nwhat are called trials; for then the Spirit of God is more abundantly\nbestowed upon the faithful. If the Lord requires it, I would as soon\nconsume all I have and go into the mountains with my family as to do a\ngood many other things. 5:332.\n\nI say to the Latter-day Saints, all we have to do is to learn of God.\nLet the liars lie on, and let the swearers swear on, and they will\ngo to perdition. All we have to do is to go onward and upward, and\nkeep the commandments of our Father and God; and he will confound our\nenemies. 19:50.\n\nThere is not a hardship, there is not a disappointment, there is not a\ntrial, there is not a hard time, that comes upon this people in this\nplace, but that I am more thankful for than I am for full granaries.\n4:51.\n\nWe have passed through a great many scenes, we may say, of tribulation,\nthough I would have all my brethren understand that I do not take\nthis to myself, for all that I have passed through has been joy and\njoyful to me; but we have seemingly sacrificed a great deal, and passed\nthrough many scenes of trial and temptations, no doubt of this. We have\nhad to suffer temptation more or less, and we have taken the spoiling\nof our goods joyfully. I have, myself, five times before I came to this\nvalley, left everything that the Lord had blessed me with pertaining\nto this world's goods, which, for the country where I lived, was not a\nvery little. 18:237.\n\nAs to trials, why bless your hearts, the man or woman who enjoys the\nspirit of our religion has no trials; but the {534} man or woman who\ntries to live according to the Gospel of the Son of God, and at the\nsame time clings to the spirit of the world, has trials and sorrows\nacute and keen, and that, too, continually.\n\nCast off the yoke of the enemy, and put on the yoke of Christ, and you\nwill say that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. This I know by\nexperience. 16:123.\n\nI have heard a great many tell about what they have suffered for\nChrist's sake. I am happy to say I never had occasion to. I have\nenjoyed a great deal, but so far as suffering goes I have compared it\na great many times, in my feelings and before congregations, to a man\nwearing an old, worn-out, tattered and dirty coat, and somebody comes\nalong and gives him one that is new, whole and beautiful. This is the\ncomparison I draw when I think of what I have suffered for the Gospel's\nsake--I have thrown away an old coat and have put on a new one. No\nman or woman ever heard me tell about suffering. \"Did you not leave a\nhandsome property in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois?\" Yes. \"And have you\nnot suffered through that?\" No, I have been growing better and better\nall the time, and so have this people. And you may take the history of\nthe world from the days of Adam down, and I am at the defiance of any\nhistorian to prove that the Saints have ever suffered as much as the\nsinners. This is my belief about the religion of Jesus Christ. Some\nmay say, \"Did not the children of Israel suffer?\" Yes. \"Why?\" Because\nof their iniquity. They transgressed the laws God had given them; they\nchanged the ordinances and broke the everlasting covenant, and for\ntheir sin and disobedience they were led into captivity. If they had\nbeen obedient, I reckon they would have been led direct to the Holy\nLand, and stayed there. {535} Some may say, \"Now, Mr. Speaker, you have\nbeen driven from your home, was it for righteousness?\" No, I expect\nnot. I expect it was to chasten me and make me better. 13:147.\n\n_Cause of Persecution_--Hatred and persecution have been the lot\nof every man that ever lived upon the earth holding the oracles of\nthe Kingdom of Heaven to deliver to the children of men. Wicked men,\nSatan, and all the powers of hell and hate are at war with every holy\nprinciple that God wishes to place in the possession of his children.\nThat is the true reason of the hatred and persecution meted out to us.\n8:13.\n\nDo you know that that very principle caused the death of all the\nProphets, from the days of Adam until now? Let a Prophet arise upon the\nearth, and never reveal the evils of men, and do you suppose that the\nwicked would desire to kill him? No, for he would cease to be a Prophet\nof the Lord, and they would invite him to their feasts, and hail him as\na friend and brother. Why? Because it would be impossible for him to\nbe anything but one of them. It is impossible for a Prophet of Christ\nto live in an adulterous generation without speaking of the wickedness\nof the people, without revealing their faults and their failings, and\nthere is nothing short of death that will stay him from it, for a\nProphet of God will do as he pleases. 3:48.\n\nThe false religion that is in the world, is what raises this \"hue and\ncry,\" misguides the people, and opposes itself against the Kingdom of\nGod on the earth. Now if we would only fall in with the wicked all\nwould be right, and then no person would wish to persecute us. 2:181.\n\nWhy should we have enemies? \"Why is it,\" say our objectors, \"that\nyou cannot mingle and mix in society like {536} other religious\ndenominations?\" It has been seen that the people would not permit us\nto dwell in their midst in peace. We have been universally driven by\nillegal force, by mobs, murderers, and assassins, as unworthy of having\na place amongst the abodes of civilized man, until, as a last resort,\nwe found peace in these distant valleys. It is because our religion is\nthe only true one. It is because we have the only true authority, upon\nthe face of the whole earth, to administer in the ordinances of the\nGospel. It is because the keys of this dispensation were committed by\nmessengers sent from the Celestial world unto Joseph Smith, and are now\nheld on the earth by this people. It is because Christ and Lucifer are\nenemies, and cannot be made friends; and Lucifer, knowing that we have\nthis Priesthood, this power, this authority, seeks our overthrow. 2:177.\n\nAll hell is moved against this people, because we are of one heart and\nof one mind. 5:228.\n\nIt is light, intelligence, the power of God that make the wicked\ntremble and wish \"Mormonism\" out of the way. If it were a false\ndoctrine or a false theory, the Devil would not endeavor to disturb\nit, wicked men would not fear it, Heaven would not smile upon it, nor\ngive a revelation to any man or woman to believe it, and we should\nhave poor success; and Heaven forbid that we should have success or\ngain influence upon any other principle than the revelations of Jesus\nChrist. 7:160.\n\nWe were not persecuted because we believed in having many wives, for\nthat principle was not known to our persecutors until we came to these\nmountains, although the revelation was received by Joseph Smith and\nwritten a year before his death. 14:119.\n\nWe are Christians professedly, according to our religion. {537} People\nhave gathered to themselves certain ideas, and laid them down as\nsystems, calling them religion, all professing to believe and obey the\nScriptures. Their religions are peculiar to themselves--our religion is\npeculiar to God, to angels, and to the righteous of time and eternity.\nWhy are we persecuted because of our religion? Why was Joseph Smith\npersecuted? Why was he hunted from neighborhood to neighborhood,\nfrom city to city, from state to state, and at last suffered death?\nBecause he received revelations from the Father, from the Son, and was\nministered to by holy angels, and published to the world the direct\nwill of the Lord concerning his children on the earth. Again, why was\nhe persecuted? Because he revealed to all mankind a religion so plain\nand so easily understood, consistent with the Bible, and so true. It\nis now as it was in the days of the Savior; let people believe and\npractice these simple, God-like truths, and it will be as it was in the\nold world, they will say, if this man be let alone he will come and\ntake away our peace and nation. 18:231.\n\n_Disobedience Causes Persecution_--When we look at the Latter-day\nSaints, we ask, is there any necessity of their being persecuted?\nYes, if they are disobedient. Is there any necessity of chastening a\nson or a daughter? Yes, if they are disobedient. But suppose they are\nperfectly obedient to every requirement of their parents, is there any\nnecessity of chastening them then? If there is, I do not understand\nthe principle of it. I have not yet been able to see the necessity\nof chastening an obedient child, neither have I been able to see the\nnecessity of chastisement from the Lord upon a people who are perfectly\nobedient. Have this people been chastened? Yes, they have. 12:308.\n\nWe have been persecuted, driven, smitten, cast out, {538} robbed and\nhated; and I may say it was for our coldness and neglect of duty; and\nif we did not exactly deserve it, there have been times when we did\ndeserve it. If we did not deserve it at the time, it was good for\nand gave us an experience, though I must say that one of the hardest\nlessons for me to learn on earth is to love a man who hates me and\nwould put me to death if he had the power. I do not think I have got\nthis lesson by heart, and I do not know how long I shall have to live\nto learn it. I am trying. 14:97.\n\nThose who turn away from the holy commandments will meet trials that\nare trials indeed. They will feel the wrath of the Almighty upon\nthem. Those who are still and are good children will receive the rich\nblessing of their Father and God. Be still, and let your faith rest on\nthe Lord Almighty. 7:136.\n\n_Result of Persecution_--Every time you kick \"Mormonism\" you kick\nit upstairs; you never kick it downstairs. The Lord Almighty so orders\nit. 7:145.\n\nCan you destroy a true religion by persecuting it? No. 7:145.\n\nJoseph could not have been perfected, though he had lived a thousand\nyears, if he had received no persecution. If he had lived a thousand\nyears, and led this people, and preached the Gospel without\npersecution, he would not have been perfected as well as he was at\nthe age of thirty-nine years. You may calculate, when this people are\ncalled to go through scenes of affliction and suffering, are driven\nfrom their homes, and cast down, and scattered, and smitten, and\npeeled, the Almighty is rolling on his work with greater rapidity. 2:7.\n\nWell, do you think that persecution has done us good? {539} Yes. I\nsit and laugh, and rejoice exceedingly when I see persecution. I care\nno more about it than I do about the whistling of the north wind, the\ncroaking of the crane that flies over my head, or the crackling of the\nthorns under the pot. The Lord has all things in his hand; therefore\nlet it come, for it will give me experience. 2:8.\n\nEvery time they persecute and try to overcome this people, they elevate\nus, weaken their own hands, and strengthen the hands and the arms\nof this people. And every time they undertake to lessen our number,\nthey increase it. And when they try to destroy the faith and virtue\nof this people, the Lord strengthens the feeble knees, and confirms\nthe wavering in faith and power in God, in light, and intelligence.\nRighteousness and power with God increase in this people in proportion\nas the Devil struggles to destroy it. 8:225-6.\n\nIf we did not have to bear the iron hand of persecution, the principles\nwe believe in, which attract the attention of the good and the evil\nupon the earth and which occupy so many tongues and circumscribe their\nphilosophy, would be embraced by thousands who are now indifferent to\nthem. The evil-doer would crowd upon our borders; and we have plenty of\nthem now without receiving any more. They would crowd into this Church.\n18:359.\n\nI say the same now. Let us alone, and we will send Elders to the\nuttermost parts of the earth, and gather out Israel, wherever they are;\nand if you persecute us, we will do it the quicker, because we are\nnaturally dull when let alone, and are disposed to take a little sleep,\na little slumber, and a little rest. If you let us alone, we will do it\na little more leisurely; but if you persecute us, we will sit up nights\nto preach the Gospel. 2:320.\n\nMoses was not to blame because Pharaoh's heart became {540} more and\nmore hard. He was not to blame because an overwhelming destruction came\nupon that devoted army. Neither is God, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith,\nmyself, or the Apostles and Prophets of this last dispensation to blame\nfor the unbelief of this nation, and for the dark and lowering tempest\nthat now threatens to overthrow them with a terrible destruction.\nStill, as Pharaoh's heart became harder and harder, so will it be with\nthe persecutors of God's people and purposes in the latter times, until\nthey are utterly destroyed. 10:4.\n\n_Cannot Overtake Falsehood_--We have been asked a good many\ntimes, \"Why do you not publish the truth in regard to these lies\nwhich are circulated about you?\" We might do this if we owned all the\npapers published in Christendom. Who will publish a letter from me\nor my brethren? Who will publish the truth from us? If it gets into\none paper, it is slipped under the counter or somewhere else; but it\nnever gets into a second. They will send forth lies concerning us very\nreadily. The old adage is that a lie will creep through the keyhole\nand go a thousand miles while truth is getting out of doors; and\nour experience has proved this. We have not the influence and power\nnecessary to refute the falsehoods circulated about us. We depend on\nGod, who sits in the heavens. Our trust is in him who created the\nheavens, who formed the earth, and who has brought forth his children\non the earth, and who has given the intelligence which they possess.\n13:177.\n\nIf I now had in my possession one hundred million dollars in cash, I\ncould buy the favor of the publishers of newspapers and control their\npresses; with that amount I could make this people popular, though I\nexpect that popularity would send us to hell. 3:160. {541}\n\n_Danger of Persecuting the Saints_--When men lift their hands\nagainst the Latter-day Saints, they lift them against the Almighty.\n11:119.\n\nHe who lifts his heel against the Lord and against his anointed will\nfind himself a poor, pusillanimous, weak instrument in the hands of the\nDevil to accomplish his designs. 8:33.\n\nWhen men operate against this people, they may spend all they possess\nand all their ability, and it will pass away like an empty sound, and\nthey will be forgotten. Such persons have always come to naught, and\nall who fight against the people of the Most High will continue to come\nto naught. 3:259.\n\nTell the world--sound it in the ears of kings and rulers, that they\nare persecuting a people to whose God they will have to pay every\ndebt they contract; they will be brought into judgment for every act\nagainst this Kingdom. This is the Kingdom of God; these are the people\nof God, as are all who receive the truth and follow its principles.\nAs to parentage, we are no more the children of God than are the rest\nof the inhabitants of the earth. Originally, as to our parents, as\nto our organization and that which pertains to our life, we are all\nthe children of one Father, whether we be Jew or Gentile, bond or\nfree, black or white, noble or ignoble. The difference we see arises\nin consequence of the different use made of the agency given to man.\n8:194-5.\n\nThe sufferings that have come upon the Latter-day Saints, through\npersecution, will not compare in severity with the sufferings which\nhave come upon the wicked in our own day. 11:274.\n\n_Persecution Comes From Efforts of Few_--Now to tell the truth,\nthere are but few, in comparison with the numbers {542} that now live,\nwho are rabid against and seek to destroy the Kingdom of God. A great\nportion of the human family are honorable men and women, and they would\njust as soon that \"Mormonism\" should live as any other ism. The few who\nseek to destroy the Kingdom of God are priests, politicians, and office\nseekers, and they would care nothing about it, only they are afraid we\nwill take away their place and station. 11:323. {543}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\n_POLITICAL GOVERNMENT_\n\n_Theocratic Government_--I believe in a true republican theocracy,\nand also in a true democratic theocracy, as the term democratic is now\nused; for they are to me, in their present use, convertible terms.\n6:346.\n\nWhat do I understand by a theocratic government? One in which all laws\nare enacted and executed in righteousness, and whose officers possess\nthat power which proceedeth from the Almighty. That is the kind of\ngovernment I allude to when I speak of a theocratic government, or the\nKingdom of God upon the earth. It is, in short, the eternal powers of\nthe Gods. 6:346-7.\n\nIf the Kingdom of God, or a theocratic government, was established on\nthe earth, many practices now prevalent would be abolished.\n\nOne community would not be permitted to array itself in opposition to\nanother to coerce them to their standard; one denomination would not\nbe suffered to persecute another because they differed in religious\nbelief and mode of worship. Every one would be fully protected in\nthe enjoyment of all religious and social rights, and no state, no\ngovernment, no community, no person would have the privilege of\ninfringing on the rights of another; one Christian community would not\nrise up and persecute another. 6:343.\n\nBut few, if any, understand what a theocratic government is. In every\nsense of the word, it is a republican government, and differs but\nlittle in form from our National, State, and Territorial Governments;\nbut its subjects will {544} recognize the will and dictation of\nthe Almighty. The Kingdom of God circumscribes and comprehends the\nmunicipal laws for the people in their outward government, to which\npertain the Gospel covenants, by which the people can be saved; and\nthose covenants pertain to fellowship and faithfulness.\n\nThe Gospel covenants are for those who believe and obey; municipal laws\nare for both Saint and sinner.\n\nThe Constitution and laws of the United States resemble a theocracy\nmore closely than any government now on the earth, or that ever has\nbeen so far as we know, except the government of the Children of Israel\nto the time when they elected a king.\n\nAll governments are more or less under the control of the Almighty,\nand, in their forms, have sprung from the laws that he has from time\nto time given to man. Those laws, in passing from generation to\ngeneration, have been more or less adulterated, and the result has been\nthe various forms of government now in force among the nations; for, as\nthe Prophet says of Israel, \"They have transgressed the laws, changed\nthe ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant.\"\n\nWhoever lives to see the Kingdom of God fully established upon the\nearth will see a government that will protect every person in his\nrights. If that government was now reigning upon this land of Joseph,\nyou would see the Roman Catholic, the Greek Catholic, the Episcopalian,\nthe Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Baptist, the Quaker, the Shaker,\nthe Hindoo, the Mahometan, and every class of worshipers most strictly\nprotected in all their municipal rights and in the privileges of\nworshiping who, what, and when they pleased, not infringing upon the\nrights of others. {545} Does any candid person in his sound judgment\ndesire any greater liberty? 6:342-343.\n\nIn the sincere observances of the principles of true religion and\nvirtue, we recognize the base, the only sure foundation of enlightened\nsociety and well-established government. 2:178.\n\nI have had some people ask me how I manage and control the people. I do\nit by telling them the truth and letting them do just as they have a\nmind to. 14:162.\n\n_Republican Government_--There is no other platform that any\ngovernment can stand upon and endure, but the platform of truth and\nvirtue. 10:108.\n\nHow can a republican government stand? There is only one way for it\nto stand. It can endure; but how? It can endure, as the government of\nheaven endures, upon the eternal rock of truth and virtue; and that is\nthe only basis upon which any government can endure. 9:4.\n\nWhat is a true republican government is easily answered. It is a\ngovernment or institution that is perfect--perfect in its laws and\nordinances, having for its object the perfection of mankind in\nrighteousness. This is true democracy. 7:10.\n\nIndividual self-government lies at the root of all true and effective\ngovernment, whether in heaven or on earth. Those who govern should be\nwiser and better than the governed, that the lesser may be blessed\nof the greater. Were this so, then the people would willingly repose\ntheir dearest interests to the trusts of their rulers or leaders, and\nwith a feeling of pleasure bow to and carry out to the letter their\ninstructions and conclusions on all matters that pertained to the\ngeneral good. This will apply to great kingdoms and mighty nations,\nto small companies of immigrants crossing the plains, or to the home\ncircle. A republican government in the hands {546} of a wicked people\nmust terminate in woe to that people, but in the hands of the righteous\nit is everlasting, while its power reaches to heaven. 10:19.\n\nSuppose this people inhabiting these mountains are broken off entirely\nfrom the nations of the world, rendering no allegiance to any earthly\npower combined or isolated; free to make laws, to obey them, or to\nbreak them; free to act, to choose, and to refuse, and, in every\nsense of the word, to do as they please, without any fixed order\nof government whatever, and they make a constitution a system of\ngovernment for mutual protection and advancement in the principles of\nright, to be framed according to the best wisdom that can be found in\nthis community;--I say, let them govern themselves by a republican\nsystem of government, selecting a man from their midst to preside over\nthem. 7:11.\n\nA true system of civilization will not encourage the existence of every\nabomination and crime in a community but will lead them to observe the\nlaws Heaven has laid down for the regulation of the life of man. There\nis no other civilization. A truly civilized person is one who is a real\ngentleman or lady; in language and manners he is truly refined, and\ngives way to no practice that is unhallowed or uncomely. This is what\nwe are after, and trying to attain to. 12:287.\n\nI believe in a true republican government; but where is the man\ncapable of exhibiting in their true character the principles of such a\ngovernment? 7:10.\n\nThe man who fights with coolness and calculation in moral and domestic\nreform will win every time. 10:205.\n\n_God and Governments_--Every government not ordained of God, as we\nhave just been hearing, will, in its time, crumble to the dust and be\nlost in the fog of forgetfulness. 14:93.\n\nIf your eyes were opened, you would see his hand in the {547} midst\nof the nations of the earth in the setting up of governments and\nin the down-fall of kingdoms--in the revolutions, wars, famine,\ndistress, and wretchedness among the inhabitants of the earth. In these\nmanifestations you would discern the footsteps of the Almighty just as\nplainly as you may see the footsteps of your children upon the soft\nearth. 7:144.\n\nWhy are they thus led to sow the seeds of their own destruction?\nBecause the kingdoms of this world are not designed to stand. When men\nare placed at the head of government who are actually controlled by the\npower of God--by the Holy Ghost--they can lay plans, they can frame\nconstitutions, they can form governments and laws that have not the\nseeds of death within them, and no other men can do it. 4:267.\n\nIn the laws of every government now on this earth, there are certain\nprinciples in their constitutions that will ere long sap the\nfoundations of their existence; and so it will be, so long as men\ncontinue to persist in ruling and making laws, in regulating and\ncontrolling by human wisdom alone, and in issuing their mandates and\nsending their officers to administer laws, made by the wisdom of man.\n4:267.\n\nIf a nation transgresses wholesome laws and oppresses any of its\ncitizens or another nation, until the cup of its iniquity is full,\nthrough acts that are perfectly under its own control, God will\nhurl those who are in authority from their power, and they will be\nforgotten; and he will take another people, though poor and despised,\na hiss and a by-word among the popular nations, and instill into them\npower and wisdom; and they will increase and prosper, until they in\nturn become a great nation on the earth. 6:146.\n\nGreat and mighty empires are raised to the summit of human greatness\nby him, to bring to pass his inscrutable purposes, {548} and at his\npleasure they are swept from existence and lost in the oblivion of\nantiquity. All these mighty changes are pointing to and preparing the\nway for the introduction of his Kingdom in the latter times, that will\nstand forever and grow in greatness and power until a holy, lasting,\nreligious and political peace shall make the hearts of the poor among\nmen exult with joy in the Holy One of Israel, and that his Kingdom is\neverywhere triumphant. 9:368.\n\n_Fitness of Rulers_--No being is fit to rule, govern, and dictate,\nuntil he has been controlled, governed, and dictated,--has yielded\nobedience to law, and proved himself worthy, by magnifying the law that\nwas over him, to be master of that law. 8:324.\n\nWhat is the reign of a king who cannot control his passions? Will not\nhis subjects sorrow? Yes, they will feel the weight of his wrath, and\ntheir backs will ache, and their heads will ache, and they will receive\nthe lash from a heavy hand. 8:324.\n\n_Labor and Politics_--Put a community in possession of knowledge\nby means of which they can obtain what they need by the labor of their\nbodies and their brains, then, instead of being paupers they will be\nfree, independent and happy, and these distinctions of classes will\ncease, and there will be but one class, one grade, one great family.\n16:20.\n\nDo you wish to possess enlarged influence in a political point of\nview? Gather around you the poor and honest of mankind and bestow your\ncharity on them, not by giving them in the way that charity is almost\nuniversally understood, but supply them labor that will pay an interest\non the outlay of means and, at the same time, afford food, raiment\nand shelter to the laborer; in this way the man of means becomes a\nbenefactor to his race. 10:193. {549}\n\nIf you wish to gain power in the minds of any people, give them\nthe same opportunity that you possess to become independent and\nself-sustaining, and endow them with all the wisdom and knowledge that\nthey are capable of receiving, and let them increase with you and\nunitedly grow and become strong. 10:190.\n\n_Saints and Politics_--I stand for Constitutional law, and if\nany transgress, let them be tried by it, and, if guilty, suffer its\npenalty. 10:109.\n\nI say God speed everybody that is for freedom and equal rights! I am\nwith you. Whom do we want to fill our public offices? We want the\nbest men that we can find for governor, president and statesmen, and\nfor every other office of trust and responsibility; and when we have\nobtained them, we will pray for them and give them our faith and\ninfluence to do the will of God and to preserve themselves and the\npeople in truth and righteousness. 13:274.\n\nIf we live our religion, honor our God and his Priesthood, then we\nshall honor every wholesome government and law there is upon the\nearth and become aliens to all unrighteous, unjust and unlawful\nadministrators, wherever they may be found. In the various nations,\nkingdoms and governments of the world are to be found laws, ordinances\nand statutes as good as can be made for mortal man. 10:41.\n\nAre we a political people? Yes, very political indeed. But what party\ndo you belong to or would you vote for? I will tell you whom we will\nvote for: we will vote for the man who will sustain the principles of\ncivil and religious liberty, the man who knows the most and who has the\nbest heart and brain for a statesman; and we do not care a farthing\nwhether he is a whig, a democrat, a barnburner, a republican, a new\nlight or anything else. These are our politics. 13:149. {550}\n\nIf nobody will speak for us, let us speak for ourselves; if no person\nelse will do anything for us, let us do something for ourselves. This\nis right; it is politically right, religiously right, nationally right,\nsocially and morally right, and it is right in every sense of the word\nfor us to sustain ourselves. 11:140.\n\nLet those called Latter-day Saints so learn wisdom as to carry out the\ntrue principles of government, that they may be able to govern and\ncontrol all things wisely. 7:64.\n\n_The Constitution of the United States, an Inspired Document_--We\nmean to sustain the Constitution of the United States and all righteous\nlaws. 9:157.\n\nWe will cling to the Constitution of our country, and to the government\nthat reveres that sacred charter of freemen's rights; and, if\nnecessary, pour out our best blood for the defense of every good and\nrighteous principle. 10:41.\n\nIt was observed this morning that the Government of the United States\nwas the best or most wholesome one on the earth, and the best adapted\nto our condition. That is very true. 2:310.\n\nTo accuse us of being unfriendly to the Government, is to accuse us\nof hostility to our religion, for no item of inspiration is held\nmore sacred with us than the Constitution under which she acts. As a\nreligious society, we, in common with all other denominations, claim\nits protection. 2:175.\n\nThe signers of the Declaration of Independence and the framers of\nthe Constitution were inspired from on high to do that work. But was\nthat which was given to them perfect, not admitting of any addition\nwhatever? No; for if men know anything, they must know that the\nAlmighty has never yet found a man in mortality that was capable, at\nthe first intimation, at the first impulse, to receive anything in a\nstate of {551} entire perfection. They laid the foundation, and it\nwas for after generations to rear the superstructure upon it. It is a\nprogressive--a gradual work. 7:14.\n\nThe general Constitution of our country is good, and a wholesome\ngovernment could be framed upon it, for it was dictated by the\ninvisible operations of the Almighty; he moved upon Columbus to launch\nforth upon the trackless deep to discover the American Continent; he\nmoved upon the signers of the Declaration of Independence; and he moved\nupon Washington to fight and conquer, in the same way as he moved upon\nancient and modern Prophets, each being inspired to accomplish the\nparticular work he was called to perform in the times, seasons, and\ndispensations of the Almighty. God's purpose, in raising up these men\nand inspiring them with daring sufficient to surmount every opposing\npower, was to prepare the way for the formation of a true republican\ngovernment. They laid its foundation; but when others came to build\nupon it, they reared a superstructure far short of their privileges, if\nthey had walked uprightly as they should have done. 7:13.\n\nWe believe that the Lord has been preparing that when he should bring\nforth his work, that, when the set time should fully come, there\nmight be a place upon his footstool where sufficient liberty of\nconscience should exist, that his Saints might dwell in peace under\nthe broad panoply of constitutional law and equal rights. In this\nview we consider that the men in the Revolution were inspired by the\nAlmighty, to throw off the shackles of the mother government, with her\nestablished religion. For this cause were Adams, Jefferson, Franklin,\nWashington, and a host of others inspired to deeds of resistance to\nthe acts of the King of Great Britain, who might also have been led to\nthose aggressive acts, for ought we know, to bring to pass the purposes\nof God, in thus establishing a new {552} government upon a principle of\ngreater freedom, a basis of self-government allowing the free exercise\nof religious worship.\n\nIt was the voice of the Lord inspiring all those worthy men who bore\ninfluence in those trying times, not only to go forth in battle but\nto exercise wisdom in council, fortitude, courage, and endurance in\nthe tented field, as well as subsequently to form and adopt those wise\nand efficient measures which secured to themselves and succeeding\ngenerations, the blessing of a free and independent government.\n\nThis government, so formed, has been blessed by the Almighty until she\nspreads her sails in every sea, and her power is felt in every land.\n2:170.\n\nThis, then, is our position towards the Government of the United\nStates and towards the world, to put down iniquity, and exalt virtue;\nto declare the word of God which he revealed unto us, and build up\nhis Kingdom upon the earth. And, know all men, Governments, Nations,\nKindreds, Tongues, and People, that this is our calling, intention,\nand design. We aim to live our religion, and have communion with our\nGod. We aim to clear our skirts of the blood of this generation, by\nour faithfulness in preaching the truth of heaven in all plainness and\nsimplicity; and I have often said, and repeat it now, that all other\nconsiderations of whatever name or nature, sink into insignificance in\ncomparison with this. To serve God and keep his commandments, are first\nand foremost with me. If this is higher law, so be it. As it is with\nme, so should it be with every department of the Government; for this\ndoctrine is based upon the principles of virtue and integrity; with\nit, the Government, her Constitution, and free institutions are safe;\nwithout it no power can avert their speedy destruction. It is the life\ngiving power to the Government; it is the vital {553} element on which\nshe exists and prospers; in its absence she sinks to rise no more.\n2:176.\n\n_The Saints Will Yet Save the Constitution_--When the day comes in\nwhich the Kingdom of God will bear rule, the flag of the United States\nwill proudly flutter unsullied on the flag staff of liberty and equal\nrights, without a spot to sully its fair surface; the glorious flag our\nfathers have bequeathed to us will then be unfurled to the breeze by\nthose who have power to hoist it aloft and defend its sanctity. 2:317.\n\nHow long will it be before the words of the prophet Joseph will be\nfulfilled? He said if the Constitution of the United States were saved\nat all it must be done by this people. It will not be many years before\nthese words come to pass. 12:204.\n\nWhen the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a\nsingle thread, they will have to call for the \"Mormon\" Elders to save\nit from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it. 2:182.\n\nThe present Constitution, with a few alterations of a trifling nature,\nis just as good as we want; and if it is sustained on this land of\nJoseph, it will be done by us and our posterity. 8:324.\n\nI expect to see the day when the Elders of Israel will protect and\nsustain civil and religious liberty and every constitutional right\nbequeathed to us by our fathers, and spread these rights abroad in\nconnection with the Gospel for the salvation of all nations. I shall\nsee this whether I live or die. 11:262.\n\n_Religious Liberty Should be Observed_--The Government of the\nUnited States, and the President of the United States ought to\ntreat the religion of the Latter-day Saints as they do Methodism,\nPresbyterianism, Quakerism, Shakerism, and many other isms, and say,\n\"Here, I wish you to hold your tongues about the 'Mormons,' for they\nhave just as good a {554} right to their religion as you have to\nyours.\" And when the people petition for this or that (as the right\nof petition should never be denied), it is the duty of those who are\naddressed to hearken to the petitions of the people 2:186.\n\nAre not our religious sentiments as sacred to us as to any other\nportion of the community? And should it not be the duty, as well as\nthe pride, of every American citizen to extend that provision of the\nConstitution to us which he claims for himself? And is not that sacred\ninstrument invaded and broken as much in debarring and excluding this\npeople from its privileges, rights, and blessings, as it would be if\nyour rights and privileges were thus invaded? No, gentlemen, we have\nbroken no laws, our glorious Constitution guarantees unto us all that\nwe claim. Under its broad folds, in its obvious meaning and intents,\nwe are safe, and can always rejoice in peace. All that we have ever\nclaimed, or wish to, on the part of the Government, is the just\nadministration of the powers and privileges of the National Compact.\n2:172.\n\nI pause now to ask, Had not Joseph Smith a right to promulgate and\nestablish a different, a new religion and form of worship in this\nGovernment? Every one must admit he had. This right was always held\nsacred, for upon it was based the religious liberty of every citizen\nof the Republic. It was a privilege held sacred in the bosom of\nevery class of people; no judge dared invade its holy precincts. No\nlegislator nor governor ventured to obstruct the free exercise thereof.\nWhenever the iron hand of oppression and persecution has fallen upon\nthis people, our opposers have broken their own laws, set at defiance\nand trampled under foot every principle of equal rights, justice,\nand liberty found written in that rich legacy of our fathers, _The\nConstitution of the United States_. 2:171.\n\nWhether our religion is believed by any other people or {555} not, it\nis by us, and no power or authority in the Government can lawfully or\nrighteously molest us in the peaceable and quiet enjoyment thereof. It\ncannot be done without law, and surely the Government has no right to\nmake any law concerning it, or to prevent the free exercise thereof.\n2:177.\n\nThe Government of the United States has never engaged in a crusade\nagainst us as a people, although she has remained silent, or refused\nus, when appealed to for redress of grievances. She has permitted us\nto be driven from our own lands, for which she had taken our money,\nand that too with her letters patent in our hands, guaranteeing to\nus peaceable possession. She has calmly looked on and permitted one\nof the fundamental and dearest provisions of the Constitution to be\nbroken; she has permitted us to be driven and trampled under foot\nwith impunity. Under these circumstances, what course is left for us\nto pursue? I answer that, instead of seeking to destroy the very best\nGovernment in the world, as seems to be the fears of some, we, like all\nother good citizens, should seek to place those men in power who will\nfeel the obligations and responsibilities they are under to a mighty\npeople; who would feel and realize the important trusts reposed in\nthem by the voice of the people who call them to administer law under\nthe solemn sanction of an oath of fidelity to that heaven inspired\ninstrument, to the inviolate preservation of which we look for the\nperpetuity of our free institutions. 2:175.\n\n_Opposed to Corrupt Administrators of Law_--I do not lift my voice\nagainst the great and glorious Government guaranteed to every citizen\nby our Constitution, but against those corrupt administrators who\ntrample the Constitution and just laws under their feet. 5:232.\n\nIt is a pretty bold stand for this people to take, to say that they\nwill not be controlled by the corrupt administrators of our {556}\ngeneral Government. We will be controlled by them, if they will be\ncontrolled by the Constitution and laws; but they will not. Many of\nthem do not care any more about the Constitution and the laws that\nthey make than they do about the laws of another nation. That class\ntrample the rights of the people under their feet, while there are\nmany who would like to honor them. All we have ever asked for is our\nConstitutional rights. We wish the laws of our Government honored,\nand we have ever honored them; but they are trampled under foot by\nadministrators. 5:231.\n\nI repeat that the Constitution, laws, and institutions of our\nGovernment are as good as can be, with the intelligence now possessed\nby the people. But they, as also the laws of other nations, are too\noften administered in unrighteousness; and we do not and cannot love\nand respect the acts of the administrators of our laws, unless they act\njustly in their offices. 6:344.\n\n_The President of the United States_--As I have already stated,\nthe President of the United States should be a perfect pattern for\nall the people to walk after; so also should the Vice-President, the\nmembers of the Cabinet, and of Congress, the Governors of States and\nTerritories, and in fine, all the officers in the Government, be\npatterns for the people to imitate. 2:183.\n\nAnd the people should concentrate their feelings, their influence, and\ntheir faith to select the best man they can find to be their President,\nif he has nothing more to eat than potatoes and salt--a man who will\nnot aspire to become greater than the people who appoint him, but be\ncontented to live as they live, be clothed as they are clothed, and in\nevery good thing be one with them. 7:12-13.\n\nWhen the best man is elected President, let him select the best men he\ncan find for his counselors or cabinet; and let all {557} the officers\nwithin the province of the Chief Magistrate to appoint, be selected\nupon the same principle to officiate wisely in different parts of the\nnation. 6:345.\n\nThe Government of the United States is republican in form, and\nshould be in its administration, and requires a man for President\nwho is capable of communicating to the understanding of the people,\naccording to their capacity, information upon all points pertaining\nto the just administration of the Government. He should understand\nwhat administrative policy would be most beneficial to the nation. He\nshould also have the knowledge and disposition to wisely exercise the\nappointing power, so far as it is constitutionally within his control,\nand select only good and capable men for the office. He should not only\ncarry out the legal and just wishes of his constituents, but should be\nable to enlighten their understanding and correct their judgment. And\nall good officers in a truly republican administration will constantly\nlabor for the security of the rights of all, irrespective of sect or\nparty. 7:63.\n\nIn the free and independent Government of the United States, who\nin the eyes of the Almighty ought to have the privilege of sitting\nin the Presidential chair, to be countenanced, adored, loved, and\nreverenced in his capacity, and be justified therein by the heavenly\nhosts? It is that man who is sanctified before God, and who loves the\nLord Jesus with all his heart, or in other words, who is endowed with\nwisdom from on high, and has revelations, visions, and dreams, giving\nhim understanding to provide for the welfare of every portion of the\nnation, and a willingness to preserve to every one their fair and just\nreligious rights, as well as political, for the good and benefit of\nall. In the eyes of eternal justice, only such a man has a right to\nthat office. They are afraid to put a man there who is a professor of\nreligion, lest he favor his own party. A {558} man is a fool that would\ndo that, when he has laws to preserve and keep inviolate towards all\nreligious denominations. 2:188-189.\n\nIn our Government a President is elected for four years, and by custom\nre-elected but once, thus limiting the time of any one person to but\neight years at most. Would it not be better to extend that period\nduring life or good behavior; and when the people have elected the best\nman to that office, continue him in it as long as he will serve them?\n\nWould it not be better for the States to elect their Governors upon the\nsame principle; and if they officiate unjustly, hurl them from office?\nIf a good man is thus elected and continues to do his duty, he will\nkeep in advance of the people; and if he does not, he does not magnify\nhis office. Such is the Kingdom of God, in comparison. 6:345.\n\nIs a man fit to be President of the United States, who will bow and\nsuccumb to the whims of the people? No. A President should learn the\ntrue situation of his constituents, and deal out even-handed justice to\nall, utterly regardless of the clamor of party. 5:126.\n\nWe want men to rule the nation who care more for and love better the\nnations' welfare than gold and silver, fame, or popularity. 7:12.\n\nWho is the most suitable judge between man and man? The man who is\nthe most capable of judging between right and wrong; let him sit upon\nthe judgment seat, and do not ask him whether he is a Democrat, a\nWhig, a Tory, or a Republican. Is he a just man, and will he render\nan impartial judgment? If so, I care not to what political party he\nbelongs; I am content that he should adjudicate between me and my\nneighbor. 10:193.\n\n_Political Parties_--It has been told me from my youth up {559}\nthat opposition is the life of business, especially in the political\narena. It is opposition that has ruined our nation, and has been, is\nand will be the ruin of all nations. 10:190.\n\nWhen the people's affections are interwoven with a republican\ngovernment administered in all its purity, if the administrators act\nnot in virtue and truth it is but natural that the people become\ndisaffected with mal-administration, and divide and sub-divide into\nparties, until the body politic is shivered to pieces. 10:108.\n\nParties in our Government have no better idea than to think the\nRepublic stands all the firmer upon opposition; but I say that it is\nnot so. A republican government consists in letting the people rule by\ntheir united voice, without a dissension,--in learning what is for the\nbest, and unitedly doing it. That is true republicanism. 5:228.\n\n_States' Rights_--Suppose there is a division between the North\nand South, and the fifteen slave States try to form a permanent\ngovernment, can they do it? I tell you they cannot. How long will\nit be before some other States, perhaps New York, forms a separate\ngovernment? And if a State has a right to secede, so has a Territory,\nand so has a county from a State or Territory, and a town from a\ncounty, and a family from a neighborhood, and you will have perfect\nanarchy. 8:322.\n\nIf we are what we profess to be--a republican Government, there is\nno State in the Union but what should be amenable to the general\nGovernment holding to the old English rights in Rhode Island. Then\nCongress, with the President at their head, could meet and veto every\nact made by any department of the Government, if it was necessary.\nSo let Congress come together when any of the States transcend the\nbounds of right and hold them amenable for their actions. The general\nGovernment should never give any portion of the nation license {560} to\nsay they are free and independent. This should only apply to the nation\nas a whole. 7:13.\n\nSo it is with States and Territories. Let them be unduly fostered\nand sustained by the general Government, and it will lead them into\nidleness, inactivity, and corruption; they will not be as spirited and\nactive as when they are made to rely upon their own resources. 2:321.\n\n_Forebodings of the Civil War_--The nation that gave me and\nmany of you birth is very nigh to the hours of sorrow. Their cup is\nvery nigh filled to the brim. They reject the servants of God; they\nreject the Gospel of salvation; they turn away from the principles of\ntruth and righteousness; and they are sinking in their own sins and\ncorruptions. I would that they would have mercy on themselves: I will\npray the Lord to have mercy on them, but I pray them to have mercy on\nthemselves to return to the Lord, forsake their wickedness and learn\nrighteousness, and then God would have mercy on them, and bestow his\nblessings upon them, if they would receive them. 4:371.\n\nWhat will be their condition when the Spirit of the Lord is withdrawn?\nThey will whet the knife to cut each other's throats, and as Brother\nHooper remarked, try to make Mason and Dixon's the dividing line; but\nthat will not remain, for they will cross it to destroy each other, and\nthe sword and fire will be prevalent in the land. 8:147-8.\n\nYes, his mercy yearns over the Nation that has striven for a score\nof years to rid the earth of the Priesthood of the Son of God and to\ndestroy the last Saint. He has mercy upon them, he bears with them, he\npleads with them by his Spirit, and occasionally sends his angels to\nadminister to them. Marvel not, then, that I pray for every soul that\ncan be saved. 8:124. {561}\n\n_War_--If I had my wish, I should entirely stop the shedding of\nhuman blood. 10:108.\n\nThere is a spirit which prompts the nations to prepare for war,\ndesolation, and bloodshed--to waste each other away. 8:174.\n\nFrom the authority of all history, the deadly weapons now stored up and\nbeing manufactured will be used until the people are wasted away, and\nthere is no help for it. The spirit of revolution goes on through the\nnations: it never goes back. 8:157.\n\nDo not be discouraged when you hear of wars, and rumors of wars, and\ntumults, and contentions, and fighting, and bloodshed; for behold they\nare at the thresholds of our doors. 4:369.\n\nDoes one nation rise up to war with another without having motives,\nand those which they will substantiate as being good and sufficient?\nWill one people rise up to war with another people, except the motive\nthat moves them is of a nature to justify them in their own minds and\njudgment for doing so? No. There is not a people upon the face of this\nearth that would do so; they all calculate to do that which seemeth\ngood to them. 3:88.\n\nThe difficulty with the whole world in their divisions and\nsub-divisions, is that they have no more confidence in each other than\nthey have in their God, and that is none at all, no, not one particle.\nThis confuses nations, and breaks them up; it weakens them, and they\ntumble to pieces. It disturbs cities and countries, and really the\nseeds of destruction are within those kingdoms where the people have\nnot confidence in each other. 4:296.\n\nWars, commotions, tumults, strife, nation contending against nation,\nand people against people, have all been governed {562} and controlled\nby him whose right it is to control such matters.\n\nAmong wicked nations, or among Saints, among the ancient Israelites,\nPhilistines, and Romans, the hand of the Lord was felt; in short, all\nthe powers that have been upon the earth, have been dictated, governed,\ncontrolled, and the final issue of their existence has been brought to\npass, according to the wisdom of the Almighty. Then my testimony is, it\nis all right. 1:163.\n\nOf one thing I am sure; God never institutes war; God is not the\nauthor of confusion or of war; they are the results of the acts of the\nchildren of men. Confusion and war necessarily come as the results of\nthe foolish acts and policy of men; but they do not come because God\ndesires they should come. If the people, generally, would turn to the\nLord, there would never be any war. Let men turn from their iniquities\nand sins, and, instead of being covetous and wicked, turn to God and\nseek to promote peace and happiness throughout the land, and wars\nwould cease. We expect to see the day when swords shall be turned into\nploughshares, spears into pruning hooks, and when men shall learn war\nno more. This is what we want. We are for peace, plenty and happiness\nto all the human family. 13:149.\n\nOur traditions have been such that we are not apt to look upon war\nbetween two nations as murder; but suppose that one family should rise\nup against another and begin to slay them, would they not be taken up\nand tried for murder? Then why not nations that rise up and slay each\nother in a scientific way be equally guilty of murder? \"But observe\nthe martial array, how splendid! See the furious war horses, with\ntheir glittering trappings. Then the honor and glory and pride of the\nreigning king must be sustained, and the strength and power {563} and\nwealth of the nation must be displayed in some way; and what better way\nthan to make war upon neighboring nations, under some slight pretext?\"\nDoes it justify the slaying of men, women, and children that otherwise\nwould have remained at home in peace, because a great army is doing the\nwork? No: the guilty will be damned for it. 7:137.\n\nThe very Indians who massacre men, women, and children on the plains,\nhave their religious ceremonies and pray to their God for success in\nkilling men, women, and children. The French and Austrians meet and\nslay one another by hundreds and thousands; and thousands of women and\nchildren who were not engaged in battle are also sacrificed by the\nfolly of those Christian wars. The instigators of those wars are just\nas guilty of murder, before God, as the Indians are for killing the\nmen, women, and children who are passing through their country. What is\nthe difference in the eyes of our Father and God? It is just as much\nmurder to kill, unjustly, a million at a blow as it is to kill one,\nthough Dr. Young has stated that \"One murder makes a villain; millions\nmake a hero.\" Were I to make war upon an innocent people, because I had\nthe power, to possess myself of their territory, their silver, gold,\nand other property, and be the cause of slaying, say fifty thousand\nstrong, hale, hearty men, and devolving consequent suffering upon one\nhundred thousand women and children, who would suffer through privation\nand want, I am very much more guilty of murder than is the man who\nkills only one person to obtain his pocket-book. 7:137.\n\n_Woman Suffrage_--Now, sisters, I want you to vote also, because\nwomen are the characters that rule the ballot box. 1:218. {564}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII\n\n_DEATH AND RESURRECTION_\n\n_The Body Must Return to Mother Earth_--Every person possessing\nthe principle of eternal life should look upon his body as of the earth\nearthy. Our bodies must return to their mother earth. True, to most\npeople it is a wretched thought that our spirits must, for a longer\nor shorter period, be separated from our bodies, and thousands and\nmillions have been subject to this affliction throughout their lives.\nIf they understood the design of this probation and the true principles\nof eternal life, it is but a small matter for the body to suffer and\ndie. 7:240.\n\nThe Lord has pleased to organize tabernacles here, and put spirits into\nthem, and they then become intelligent beings. By and by, sooner or\nlater, the body, this that is tangible to you, that you can feel, see,\nhandle, etc., returns to its mother dust. Is the spirit dead? No. You\nbelieve the spirit still exists, when this body has crumbled to the\nearth again, and the spirit that God puts into the tabernacle goes into\nthe world of spirits. What is their situation? Is there any opportunity\nfor them whatever? Yes, there is. 2:138.\n\n\"Well,\" says Mr. B.: \"If you have got this great power, and can heal\nthe sick by the laying on of hands, come with me and heal the sick in\nour neighborhood; or how is it that any of you 'Mormons' die at all?\"\nTake your time, Mr. B. The Bible teaches me I am dust, and to dust I\nmust return. It is not for me to thwart the plans of Jehovah, or do\naway with any item of doctrine the Lord has taught me. From dust I am,\nand to dust I must return. So it is with the rest of us, we shall all\ndie and be buried in the silent grave. 1:240. {565}\n\nWe shall suffer no more in putting off this flesh and leaving the\nspirit houseless than the child, in its capacity, does in its first\nefforts to breathe the breath of this mortal life. 8:28.\n\nOur bodies are composed of visible, tangible matter, as you all\nunderstand; you also know that they are born into this world. They then\nbegin to partake of the elements adapted to their organization and\ngrowth, increase to manhood, become old, decay, and pass again into the\ndust. Now in the first place, though I have explained this many times,\nwhat we call death is the operation of life, inherent in the matter of\nwhich the body is composed, and which causes the decomposition after\nthe spirit has left the body. Were that not the fact, the body, from\nwhich has fled the spirit, would remain to all eternity, just as it was\nwhen the spirit left it, and would not decay.\n\nWhat is commonly called death does not destroy the body, it only causes\na separation of spirit and body, but the principle of life, inherent\nin the native elements, of which the body is composed, still continues\nwith the particles of that body and causes it to decay, to dissolve\nitself into the elements of which it was composed, and all of which\ncontinues to have life. When the spirit given to man leaves the body,\nthe tabernacle begins to decompose. Is that death? No, death only\nseparates the spirit and body, and a principle of life still operates\nin the untenanted tabernacle, but in a different way, and producing\ndifferent effects from those observed while it was tenanted by the\nspirit. There is not a particle of element which is not filled with\nlife, and all space is filled with element; there is no such thing as\nempty space, though some philosophers contend that there is.\n\nLife in various proportions, combinations, conditions, etc., fills all\nmatter. Is there life in a tree when it ceases to put forth leaves? You\nsee it standing upright, and when it ceases {566} to bear leaves and\nfruit you say it is dead, but that is a mistake. It still has life,\nbut that life operates upon the tree in another way, and continues\nto operate until it resolves it to the native elements. It is life\nin another condition that begins to operate upon man, upon animal,\nupon vegetation, and upon minerals when we see the change termed\ndissolution. There is life in the material of the fleshly tabernacle,\nindependent of the spirit given of God to undergo this probation.\nThere is life in all matter, throughout the vast extent of all the\neternities; it is in the rock, the sand, the dust, in water, air, the\ngases, and in short, in every description and organization of matter,\nwhether it be solid, liquid, or gaseous, particle operating with\nparticle.\n\nI have heard some philosophers argue that because no body could move\nwithout displacing other matter, therefore there must be empty space.\nThat reasoning is nonsense to me, because eternity is, was, and will\ncontinue to be full of matter and life. We put a ship in motion on the\nwater, and have we created an empty space? No, we have only changed\nthe position of matter. Men and animals move upon the earth, birds\nand fishes cleave the elements they are organized to operate in, but\ndo they leave a track of empty space? No, for all eternity is full of\nmatter and life. True, element is capable of contraction and expansion,\nbut that does not by any means imply empty space. You see life in\nhuman beings and in the growing vegetation, and when that spirit of\nlife departs, another condition of life at once begins to operate upon\nthe organization which remains. By way of illustration I will quote\none passage from the Book of Job, who in his afflictions was visited\nby several friends, and after he had concluded that they were all\nmiserable comforters, he exclaimed, \"Though worms destroy this body,\nyet in my flesh shall I see God.\" To make this passage clearer {567}\nto your comprehension, I will paraphrase it, Though my spirit leave my\nbody, and though worms destroy its present organization, yet in the\nmorning of the resurrection I shall behold the face of my Savior, in\nthis same tabernacle; that is my understanding of the idea so briefly\nexpressed by Job. 3:276-7.\n\n_Man Should Live Out His Days_--It is not the design of the Father\nthat the earthly career of any should terminate until they have lived\nout their days; and the reason that so few do live out their days\nis because of the force of sin in the world and the power of death\nover the human family. To these causes, and not to the design of the\nCreator, may be attributed the fact that disease stalks abroad, laying\nlow the aged, middle-aged, youth, and infants, and the human family\ngenerally by millions. 14:230.\n\nSo live that when you wake in the spirit-world you can truthfully say,\n\"I could not better my mortal life, were I to live it over again.\" I\nexhort you, for the sake of the House of Israel, for the sake of Zion\nwhich we are to build up, to so live, from this time, henceforth, and\nforever, that your characters may with pleasure be scrutinized by holy\nbeings. Live godly lives, which you cannot do without living moral\nlives. 8:164.\n\n_We Should Not Mourn for the Righteous Dead_--Those who have\nhonored their calling and Priesthood to the end die in the Lord, and\ntheir works do follow them. 13:75.\n\nIt is a great cause of joy and rejoicing and comfort to his friends to\nknow that a person has passed away in peace from this life, and has\nsecured to himself a glorious resurrection. The earth and the fulness\nof the earth and all that pertains to this earth in an earthly capacity\nis no comparison with the glory, joy and peace and happiness of the\nsoul that departs in peace. 12:186.\n\nMourning for the righteous dead springs from the ignorance {568}\nand weakness that are planted within the mortal tabernacle, the\norganization of this house for the spirit to dwell in. No matter what\npain we suffer, no matter what we pass through, we cling to our mother\nearth, and dislike to have any of her children leave us. We love to\nkeep together the social family relation that we bear one to another,\nand do not like to part with each other; but could we have knowledge\nand see into eternity, if we were perfectly free from the weakness,\nblindness, and lethargy with which we are clothed in the flesh, we\nshould have no disposition to weep or mourn. 4:131.\n\nNothing remains here for us but to pay our last respects to that which\ncame from mother earth. It was formed and fashioned and the spirit was\nput into it, and it has grown and become what it is, and the spirit\nhaving departed, the body lies ready to return to the bosom of its\nmother, there to rest until the morning of the resurrection. But the\nlife and intelligence which once dwelt in that body still live, and\nSister Aurelia moves, talks, walks, enjoys and beholds that which we\ncannot enjoy and behold while we are in these tabernacles of clay. She\nis in glory; she has passed the ordeals and has reached a position\nin which the power of Satan has no influence upon her. The advantage\nof this Priesthood is that when persons yield obedience to it, they\nsecure to themselves the sanction of him who is its author, and who\nhas bestowed it upon the children of men. His power is around them and\ndefends them; and when they pass into the spirit world they are out of\nthe reach of the power of Satan. Where the pure in heart are the wicked\ncannot come. This is the state of the spirit world. 14:229.\n\nWhen death is past, the power of Satan has no more influence over a\nfaithful individual; that spirit is free, and can command the power of\nSatan. The penalty demanded by the {569} fall has been fully paid; all\nis accomplished pertaining to it, when the tabernacle of a faithful\nperson is returned to the earth. All that was lost is passed away,\nand that person will again receive his body. When he is in the spirit\nworld, he is free from those contaminating and condemning influences\nof Satan that we are now subject to. Here our bodies are subject to\nbeing killed by our enemies--our names to being cast out as evil. We\nare persecuted, hated, not beloved: though I presume that we are as\nmuch beloved here as the spirits of the Saints are in the spirit world\nby those spirits who hate righteousness. It is the same warfare, but we\nwill have power over them. Those who have passed through the veil have\npower over the evil spirits to command, and they must obey. 7:240-241.\n\nShall we rejoice that we have the opportunity of paying the last\nrespects due to this lifeless clay, which a few days ago was alive and\nactive, full of spirit, attending the High Council, giving decisions\nfull of knowledge? Yes, we will rejoice. It is a matter of rejoicing\nmore than the day of his birth. It is true it is grievous to part\nwith our friends. We are creatures of passion, of sympathy, of love,\nand it is painful for us to part with our friends. We would keep\nthem in the mortal house, though they should suffer pain. Are we not\nselfish in this? Should we not rather rejoice at the departure of\nthose whose lives have been devoted to doing good, to a good old age?\nBrother Spencer has lived beyond what is counted to be the common\nage of man some four or five years; his judgment was as active as it\nwas twenty-five years ago. He has been faithful in this holy war. He\ninstructed all with whom he met in the way of life. He never gave\ncounsel but what marked the way to life everlasting. 13:75.\n\n_Our Identity Will Be Preserved_--And the thought of {570} being\nannihilated--of being blotted out of existence--is most horrid, even to\nthat class called infidels. 5:53.\n\nThis intelligence must endure. We must preserve our identity before the\nLord, who has sent his Son and angels, and is sending the Holy Ghost,\nand his ministers, and revelations, to comfort, cheer, guide, and\ndirect the affairs of his Kingdom on the earth. 8:155.\n\nI am after life; I want to preserve my identity, so that you can see\nBrigham in the eternal worlds just as you see him now. I want to see\nthat eternal principle of life dwelling within us which will exalt us\neternally in the presence of our Father and God. 7:57.\n\nThe Gospel of life and salvation reveals to each individual who\nreceives it that this world is only a place of temporary duration,\nexistence, trials, etc. Its present fashion and uses are but for a few\ndays, while we were created to exist eternally. The wicked can see no\nfurther than this world is concerned. We understand that when we are\nunclothed in this present state, then we are prepared to be clothed\nupon with immortality--that when we put off these bodies we put on\nimmortality. These bodies will return to dust, but our hope and faith\nare that we will receive these bodies again from the elements--that we\nwill receive the very organization that we have here, and that, if we\nare faithful to the principles of freedom, we shall then be prepared to\nendure eternally. 5:53.\n\n_Our Bodies Will be Resurrected_--After the spirit leaves the\nbody, it remains without a tabernacle in the spirit world until the\nLord, by his law that he has ordained, brings to pass the resurrection\nof the dead. When the angel who holds the keys of the resurrection\nshall sound his trumpet, then the peculiar fundamental particles that\norganized our bodies here, if we do honor to them, though they be\ndeposited in the depths of the {571} sea, and though one particle is in\nthe north, another in the south, another in the east, and another in\nthe west, will be brought together again in the twinkling of an eye,\nand our spirits will take possession of them. We shall then be prepared\nto dwell with the Father and the Son, and we never can be prepared to\ndwell with them until then. Spirits, when they leave their bodies, do\nnot dwell with the Father and the Son, but live in the Spirit world,\nwhere there are places prepared for them. Those who do honor to their\ntabernacles, and love and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, must put\noff this mortality, or they cannot put on immortality. This body must\nbe changed, else it cannot be prepared to dwell in the glory of the\nFather. 8:28.\n\nThe only true riches in existence are for you and me to secure for\nourselves a holy resurrection. 1:272.\n\nAfter the body and spirit are separated by death, what, pertaining to\nthis earth, shall we receive first? The body; that is the first object\nof a divine affection beyond the grave. We first come in possession\nof the body. The spirit has overcome the body, and the body is made\nsubject in every respect to that divine principle God has planted in\nthe person. The spirit within is pure and holy, and goes back pure and\nholy to God, dwells in the spirit world pure and holy, and, by and\nby, will have the privilege of coming and taking the body again. Some\nperson holding the keys of the resurrection, having previously passed\nthrough that ordeal, will be delegated to resurrect our bodies, and our\nspirits will be there and prepared to enter into their bodies. Then,\nwhen we are prepared to receive our bodies, they are the first earthly\nobjects that bear divinity personified in the capacity of the man. Only\nthe body dies; the spirit is looking forth. 9:139.\n\nBut this our place of abode is only temporary; we are on a {572}\njourney; we have only to winter and summer, as it were. Brother Grant\nhas got through here, and has gone to his spiritual place of abode for\na season. Not that he has reached his journey's end, nor will he, until\nhe has again received this body that now lies before me. Every material\npart and portion pertaining to his body, to the temporal organization\nthat constitutes the man, will clothe his spirit again, before he is\nprepared to receive the place and habitation that is prepared for him;\nyet he has gone to his spiritual home for a season. 4:129.\n\nYes, we will lay down these bodies in the grave. What for? That the\ndust, our mother earth, that composes the house of the spirit, may\nbe purified by passing through this ordeal, and be prepared to be\ncalled up and united with the intelligent heavenly body that God has\nprepared. This is nothing but a change. It is not the dissolution of\nthe creature; it is merely putting off the flesh that pertains to this\nworld.\n\nThe particles of this earth that now compose this body will be\nrearranged, and the spirit will be clothed with an immortal tabernacle.\nLet the spirit reign predominant over the flesh, and bring into\nsubjection the whole man, every feeling and every desire of his heart,\nand let him be devoted wholly, body and spirit, to the end for which\nthe has been created. When the flesh is brought into subjection, it is\nmade worthy through that means. 8:43.\n\nWe are here in circumstances to bury our dead according to the order\nof the Priesthood. But some of our brethren die upon the ocean; they\ncannot be buried in a burying ground, but they are sewed up in canvas\nand cast into the sea, and perhaps in two minutes after they are in\nthe bowels of the shark, yet those persons will come forth in the\nresurrection, and receive all the glory of which they are worthy, and\nbe clothed upon with all the beauty of resurrected Saints, as much so\nas if they had {573} been laid away in a gold or silver coffin, and in\na place expressly for burying the dead. 9:193.\n\nThe resurrection from the dead may also, with propriety, be called a\nbirth. 8:260.\n\nThe blood he spilled upon Mount Calvary he did not receive again into\nhis veins. That was poured out, and when he was resurrected, another\nelement took the place of the blood. It will be so with every person\nwho receives a resurrection; the blood will not be resurrected with\nthe body, being designed only to sustain the life of the present\norganization. When that is dissolved, and we again obtain our bodies\nby the power of the resurrection, that which we now call the life of\nthe body, and which is formed from the food we eat and the water we\ndrink will be supplanted by another element; for flesh and blood cannot\ninherit the Kingdom of God. 7:163.\n\n_Jesus, the First Fruits of the Resurrection_--Jesus is the\nfirst begotten from the dead, as you will understand. Neither Enoch,\nElijah, Moses, nor any other man that ever lived on earth, no matter\nhow strictly he lived, ever obtained a resurrection until after Jesus\nChrist's body was called from the tomb by the angel. He was the first\nbegotten from the dead. He is the Master of the resurrection--the first\nflesh that lived here after receiving the glory of the resurrection.\n8:260.\n\nYou read about a first resurrection. If there is a first, there is a\nsecond. And if a second, may there not be a third, and a fourth, and so\non? Yes; and happy are they who have a part in the first resurrection.\nYes, more blessed are they than any others. But blessed also are\nthey that will have part in the second resurrection, for they will\nbe brought forth to enjoy a kingdom that is more glorious than the\nsectarian world ever dreamed of. 7:287.\n\n_The Resurrected Body_--We bear the image of our {574} earthly\nparents in their fallen state, but by obedience to the Gospel of\nsalvation, and the renovating influences of the Holy Ghost, and the\nholy resurrection, we shall put on the image of the heavenly, in\nbeauty, glory, power and goodness. Jesus Christ was so like his Father\nthat on one occasion in answer to a request, \"Show us the Father,\" he\nsaid, \"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.\" 11:123.\n\nIn the resurrection everything that is necessary will be brought from\nthe elements to clothe and to beautify the resurrected Saints, who will\nreceive their reward. I do not trouble myself about my dead. If they\nare stripped of their clothing, I do not want to know it. 9:192.\n\nWhen the body comes forth again, it will be divine, Godlike according\nto the capacity and ordinations of the Lord. Some are fore-ordained to\none station, and some to another. We want a house, and when we get it\nand our spirits enter into it, then we can begin to look forth--for\nwhat? For our friends. We want them resurrected. Here is this friend\nand that friend, until by and by all are resurrected. And the earth is\nresurrected? Yes, and every living thing on the earth that has abided\nthe law by which it was made. Then that which you and I respect, are\nfond of, and love with an earthly love, will become divine, and we can\nthen love it with that affection which it is not now worthy of. 9:140.\n\nOur bodies are now mortal. In the resurrection there will be a reunion\nof the spirits and bodies, and they will walk, talk, eat, drink, and\nenjoy. Those who have passed these ordeals are society for angels--for\nthe Gods, and are the ones who will come into the Temple of the Lord\nthat is to be built in the latter days, when saviors shall come up\nupon Mount Zion, and will say, \"Here, my children, I want this and\nthis done. Here are the names of such and such ones, of our fathers,\nand {575} mothers--our ancestors; we will bring them up. Go forth, you\nwho have not passed the ordeals of death and the resurrection--you who\nlive in the flesh, and attend to the ordinances for those who have died\nwithout the law.\" Those who are resurrected will thus dictate in the\ntemple. When the Saints pass through death, they cannot officiate in\nthis sinful world, but they will dictate those who are here. \"Go, now,\nand be baptized for the honorable--for those who would have received\nthe law of God and the true religion, if they had lived; be baptized\nfor the heathen--for all who were honest; officiate for them, and save\nthem, and bring them up. Be baptized for them, anointed for them,\nwashed and sealed for them, and fulfil all the ordinances which cannot\nbe dispensed with.\" They will all be performed for the living and the\ndead upon Mount Zion. 8:225.\n\n_Resurrection Necessary to Full Salvation_--No man can enter the\ncelestial kingdom and be crowned with a celestial glory, until he gets\nhis resurrected body; but Joseph and the faithful who have died have\ngained a victory over the power of the Devil, which you and I have not\nyet gained. So long as we live in these tabernacles, so long we will\nbe subject to the temptations and power of the Devil; but when we lay\nthem down, if we have been faithful, we have gained the victory so far;\nbut even then we are not so far advanced at once as to be beyond the\nneighborhood of evil spirits. 3:371. {576}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII\n\n_THE SPIRIT WORLD_\n\n_All Go to the Spirit World_--When we get through this state of\nbeing, to the next room, I may call it, we are not going to stop there.\nWe shall still go on, doing all the good we can, administering and\nofficiating for all whom we are permitted to administer and officiate\nfor, and then go on to the next, and to the next, until the Lord shall\ncrown all who have been faithful on this earth, and the work pertaining\nto the earth is finished, and the Savior, whom we have been helping,\nhas completed his task, and the earth, with all things pertaining to\nit, is presented to the Father. Then these faithful ones will receive\ntheir blessings and crowns, and their inheritances will be set off\nto them and be given to them, and they will then go on, worlds upon\nworlds, increasing for ever and ever. 16:70.\n\nNo spirit of Saint or sinner, of the Prophet or him that kills the\nProphet, is prepared for their final state; all pass through the veil\nfrom this state and go into the world of spirits; and there they dwell\nwaiting for their final destiny. 6:294.\n\n_Where Is the Spirit World_--Is the spirit world here? It is not\nbeyond the sun, but is on this earth that was organized for the people\nthat have lived and that do and will live upon it. No other people can\nhave it, and we can have no other kingdom until we are prepared to\ninhabit this eternally. 3:372.\n\nWhen you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? Into the\nspiritual world. Are you going into Abraham's bosom? No, not anywhere\nnigh there but {577} into the spirit world. Where is the spirit world?\nIt is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go together? Yes, they\ndo. Do they both inhabit one kingdom? Yes, they do. Do they go to the\nsun? No. Do they go beyond the boundaries of the organized earth? No,\nthey do not. They are brought forth upon this earth, for the express\npurpose of inhabiting it to all eternity. Where else are you going?\nNowhere else, only as you may be permitted. 3:369.\n\nYou are in the presence of God, and when your eyes are opened you will\nunderstand it. Brother Grant's spirit is in the presence of God; and he\nis with Joseph, when he is not required to be somewhere else. He is at\nwork for the benefit of Zion, for that is all the business that Joseph\nand the Elders of this Church have on hand. 4:133.\n\nIt reads that the spirit goes to God who gave it. Let me render this\nscripture a little plainer; when the spirits leave their bodies they\nare in the presence of our Father and God, they are prepared then to\nsee, hear and understand spiritual things. But where is the spirit\nworld? It is incorporated within this celestial system. Can you see\nit with your natural eyes? No. Can you see spirits in this room? No.\nSuppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you\nthen see the spirits? Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies, as did the\nservant of Elijah. If the Lord would permit it, and it was his will\nthat it should be done, you could see the spirits that have departed\nfrom this world, as plainly as you now see bodies with your natural\neyes. 3:368.\n\nThe Prophet lays down his body, he lays down his life, and his spirit\ngoes to the world of spirits; the persecutor of the Prophet dies, and\nhe goes to Hades; they both go to {578} one place, and they are not to\nbe separated yet. Now understand, that this is part of the great sermon\nthe Lord is preaching in his providence, the righteous and the wicked\nare together in Hades.\n\nIf we go back to our mother country, the States, we find there the\nrighteous, and we there find the wicked; if we go to California, we\nthere find the righteous and the wicked; all dwelling together; and\nwhen we go beyond this veil, and leave our bodies which were taken from\nmother earth, and which must return, our spirits will pass beyond the\nveil; we go where both Saints and sinners go; they all go to one place.\n3:94.\n\nIf the wicked wish to escape from his presence, they must go where he\nis not, where he does not live, where his influence does not preside.\nTo find such a place is impossible, except they go beyond the bounds of\ntime and space. 2:94.\n\n_Labors in the Spirit World_--They must go into prison, both\nSaints and sinners. The good and bad, the righteous and the unrighteous\nmust go to the house of prison, or Paradise, and Jesus went and opened\nthe doors of salvation to them. And unless they lost the keys of\nsalvation on account of transgression, as has been the case on this\nearth, spirits clothed with the Priesthood have ministered to them from\nthat day to this. And if they lost the keys by transgression, some one\nwho had been in the flesh, Joseph, for instance, had to take those keys\nto them. And he is calling one after another to his aid, as the Lord\nsees he wants help. 4:285.\n\nCompare those inhabitants on the earth who have heard the Gospel in\nour day, with the millions who have never heard it, or had the keys of\nsalvation presented to them, and {579} you will conclude at once as\nI do, that there is an almighty work to perform in the spirit world.\nJoseph has not yet got through there. When he finishes his mission\nin the spirit world, he will be resurrected, but he has not yet done\nthere. Reflect upon the millions and millions and millions of people\nthat have lived and died without hearing the Gospel on the earth,\nwithout the keys of the Kingdom. They were not prepared for celestial\nglory, and there was no power that could prepare them without the keys\nof this Priesthood. 4:285.\n\nJesus was the first man that ever went to preach to the spirits in\nprison, holding the keys of the Gospel of salvation to them. Those keys\nwere delivered to him in the day and hour that he went into the spirit\nworld, and with them he opened the door of salvation to the spirits in\nprison. 3:370.\n\nFather Smith and Carlos and Brother Partridge, yes, and every other\ngood Saint, are just as busy in the spirit world as you and I are here.\nThey can see us, but we cannot see them unless our eyes were opened.\nWhat are they doing there? They are preaching, preaching all the time,\nand preparing the way for us to hasten our work in building temples\nhere and elsewhere, and to go back to Jackson County and build the\ngreat temple of the Lord. They are hurrying to get ready by the time we\nare ready, and we are all hurrying to get ready by the time our Elder\nBrother is ready. 3:369-370.\n\nWhen men overcome as our faithful brethren have, and go where they see\nJoseph, who will dictate them and be their head and Prophet all the\ntime, they have power over all disembodied evil spirits, for they have\novercome them. Those evil spirits are under the command and control of\nevery man that has had the Priesthood on him, and has {580} honored it\nin the flesh, just as much as my hand is under my control. 4:132.\n\nEvery faithful man's labor will continue as long as the labor of Jesus,\nuntil all things are redeemed that can be redeemed, and presented to\nthe Father. There is a great work before us. 13:77.\n\nThe spirits that dwell in these tabernacles on this earth, when they\nleave them go directly into this world of spirits. What! A congregated\nmass of inhabitants there in spirit, mingling with each other, as they\ndo here? Yes, brethren, they are there together, and if they associate\ntogether, and collect together, in clans and in societies as they do\nhere, it is their privilege. No doubt they yet, more or less, see,\nhear, converse and have to do with each other, both good and bad. If\nthe Elders of Israel in these latter times go and preach to the spirits\nin prison, they associate with them, precisely as our Elders associate\nwith the wicked in the flesh, when they go to preach to them. 2:137.\n\nIf a person is baptized for the remission of sins, and dies a short\ntime thereafter, he is not prepared at once to enjoy a fulness of the\nglory promised to the faithful in the Gospel; for he must be schooled,\nwhile in the spirit, in the other departments of the house of God,\npassing on from truth to truth, from intelligence to intelligence,\nuntil he is prepared to again receive his body and to enter into the\npresence of the Father and the Son. We cannot enter into celestial\nglory in our present state of ignorance and mental darkness. 7:332.\n\nSuppose, then, that a man is evil in his heart--wholly given up to\nwickedness, and in that condition dies, his spirit will enter the\nspirit world intent upon evil. On the other hand, if we are striving\nwith all the powers and faculties {581} God has given us to improve\nupon our talents, to prepare ourselves to dwell in eternal life,\nand the grave receives our bodies while we are thus engaged, with\nwhat disposition will our spirits enter their next state? They will\nbe still striving to do the things of God, only in a much greater\ndegree--learning, increasing, growing in grace and in the knowledge of\nthe truth. 7:333.\n\nIf we are faithful to our religion, when we go into the spirit world,\nthe fallen spirits--Lucifer and the third part of the heavenly hosts\nthat came with him, and the spirits of wicked men who have dwelt upon\nthis earth, the whole of them combined will have no influence over our\nspirits. Is not that an advantage? Yes. All the rest of the children of\nmen are more or less subject to them, and they are subject to them as\nthey were while here in the flesh. 7:240.\n\nSpirits are just as familiar with spirits as bodies are with bodies,\nthough spirits are composed of matter so refined as not to be tangible\nto this coarser organization. They walk, converse, and have their\nmeetings; and the spirits of good men like Joseph and the Elders, who\nhave left this Church on earth for a season to operate in another\nsphere, are rallying all their powers and going from place to place\npreaching the Gospel, and Joseph is directing them, saying, go ahead,\nmy brethren, and if they hedge up your way, walk up and command them to\ndisperse. You have the Priesthood and can disperse them, but if any of\nthem wish to hear the Gospel, preach to them.\n\nCan they baptize them? No. What can they do? They can preach the\nGospel, and when we have the privilege of building up Zion, the time\nwill come for saviors to come up on Mount Zion. Some of those who\nare not in mortality will come along and say, \"Here are a thousand\nnames I wish you {582} to attend to in this temple, and when you\nhave got through with them I will give you another thousand;\" and\nthe Elders of Israel and their wives will go forth to officiate for\ntheir forefathers, the men for the men, and the women for the women.\n3:371-372.\n\n_Life in the Spirit World_--We have more friends behind the veil\nthan on this side, and they will hail us more joyfully than you were\never welcomed by your parents and friends in this world; and you will\nrejoice more when you meet them than you ever rejoiced to see a friend\nin this life; and then we shall go on from step to step, from rejoicing\nto rejoicing, and from one intelligence and power to another, our\nhappiness becoming more and more exquisite and sensible as we proceed\nin the words and powers of life. 6:349.\n\nWhen the breath leaves the body, your life has not become extinct;\nyour life is still in existence. And when you are in the spirit world,\neverything there will appear as natural as things now do. Spirits\nwill be familiar with spirits in the spirit world--will converse,\nbehold, and exercise every variety of communication with one another as\nfamiliarly and naturally as while here in tabernacles. There, as here,\nall things will be natural, and you will understand them as you now\nunderstand natural things. You will there see that those spirits we are\nspeaking of are active; they sleep not. And you will learn that they\nare striving with all their might--laboring and toiling diligently as\nany individual would to accomplish an act in this world--to destroy the\nchildren of men. 7:239.\n\nI can say with regard to parting with our friends, and going ourselves,\nthat I have been near enough to understand eternity so that I have had\nto exercise a great deal {583} more faith to desire to live than I ever\nexercised in my whole life to live. The brightness and glory of the\nnext apartment is inexpressible. It is not encumbered so that when we\nadvance in years we have to be stubbing along and be careful lest we\nfall down. We see our youth, even, frequently stubbing their toes and\nfalling down. But yonder, how different! They move with ease and like\nlightning. If we want to visit Jerusalem, or this, that, or the other\nplace--and I presume we will be permitted if we desire--there we are,\nlooking at its streets. If we want to behold Jerusalem as it was in the\ndays of the Savior; or if we want to see the Garden of Eden as it was\nwhen created, there we are, and we see it as it existed spiritually,\nfor it was created first spiritually and then temporally, and\nspiritually it still remains. And when there we may behold the earth as\nat the dawn of creation, or we may visit any city we please that exists\nupon its surface. If we wish to understand how they are living here on\nthese western islands, or in China, we are there; in fact, we are like\nthe light of the morning, or, I will not say the electric fluid, but\nits operations on the wires. God has revealed some little things, with\nregard to his movements and power, and the operation and motion of the\nlightning furnish a fine illustration of the ability of the Almighty.\n\nWhen we pass into the spirit world we shall possess a measure of this\npower. Here, we are continually troubled with ills and ailments of\nvarious kinds. In the spirit world we are free from all this and enjoy\nlife, glory, and intelligence; and we have the Father to speak to us,\nJesus to speak to us, and angels to speak to us, and we shall enjoy the\nsociety of the just and the pure who are in the spirit world until the\nresurrection. 14:231. {584}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV\n\n_ETERNAL JUDGMENT_\n\n_Judgment According to Works_--This is a subject I have reflected\nupon a great deal, and I have come to the conclusion that we shall be\njudged according to the deeds done in the body and according to the\nthoughts and intents of the heart. 14:99.\n\nThere are none ticketed for the pit, unless they fill up that ticket\nthemselves through their own misconduct. 4:268.\n\nI do know that the trying day will soon come to you and to me; and ere\nlong we will have to lay down these tabernacles and go into the spirit\nworld. And I do know that as we lie down, so judgment will find us, and\nthat is scriptural; \"as the tree falls so it shall lie,\" or in other\nwords, as death leaves us so judgment will find us. 4:52.\n\nThe sectarian doctrine of final rewards and punishments is as strange\nto me as their bodyless, partless, and passionless God. Every man\nwill receive according to the deeds done in the body, whether they be\ngood or bad. All men, excepting those who sin against the Holy Ghost,\nwho shed innocent blood or who consent thereto, will be saved in some\nkingdom; for in my Father's house, says Jesus, are many mansions.\n11:125.\n\nHow many kingdoms there are has not been told to us; they are\ninnumerable. The disciples of Jesus were to dwell with him. Where will\nthe rest go? Into kingdoms prepared for them, where they will live and\nendure. Jesus will bring forth, by his own redemption, every son and\ndaughter of Adam, except the sons of perdition, who will be cast into\nhell. Others will suffer the wrath of God--will suffer {585} all the\nLord can demand at their hands, or justice can require of them; and\nwhen they have suffered the wrath of God till the utmost farthing is\npaid, they will be brought out of prison. Is this dangerous doctrine to\npreach? Some consider it dangerous; but it is true that every person\nwho does not sin away the day of grace, and become an angel to the\nDevil, will be brought forth to inherit a kingdom of glory. 8:154.\n\nHow many glories and kingdoms will there be in eternity? You will see\nthe same variety in eternity as you see in the world. 6:293.\n\nWe read in the Bible, that there is one glory of the sun, another\nglory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. In the book\nof Doctrine and Covenants, these glories are called telestial,\nterrestrial, and celestial, which is the highest. These are worlds,\ndifferent departments, or mansions, in our Father's house. Now those\nmen, or those women, who know no more about the power of God, and the\ninfluences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by another\nperson, suspending their own understanding, and pinning their faith\nupon another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into the\ncelestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate; they will never be\ncapable of becoming Gods. They cannot rule themselves, to say nothing\nof ruling others, but they must be dictated to in every trifle, like a\nchild. They cannot control themselves in the least, but James, Peter,\nor somebody else must control them. They never can become Gods, nor\nbe crowned as rulers with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. They\nnever can hold sceptres of glory, majesty, and power in the celestial\nkingdom. Who will? Those who are valiant and inspired with the true\nindependence of heaven, who will go forth boldly {586} in the service\nof their God, leaving others to do as they please, determined to do\nright, though all mankind besides should take the opposite course.\n1:312.\n\nMore will prove faithful than will apostatize. A certain class of this\npeople will go into the celestial kingdom, while others cannot enter\nthere, because they cannot abide a celestial law; but they will attain\nto as good a kingdom as they desire and live for. 8:39.\n\nThe punishment of God is God-like. It endures forever, because there\nnever will be a time when people ought not to be damned, and there must\nalways be a hell to send them to. How long the damned remain in hell,\nI know not, nor what degree of suffering they endure. If we could by\nany means compute how much wickedness they are guilty of, it might be\npossible to ascertain the amount of suffering they will receive. They\nwill receive according as their deeds have been while in the body.\nGod's punishment is eternal, but that does not prove that a wicked\nperson will remain eternally in a state of punishment. 9:147.\n\nYou hear some of them preach and teach that which I never taught; you\nhear them preach people into hell. Such doctrine never entered into my\nheart; but you hear others preach, that people will go there to dwell\nthroughout the endless ages of eternity. Such persons know no more\nabout eternity, and are no more capable of instructing others upon the\nsubject, than a little child. 1:352.\n\nBut when the light of the knowledge of God comes to a man, and he\nrejects it, that is his condemnation. 2:140.\n\nAll who believe, have honest hearts, and bring forth fruits of\nrighteousness, are the elect of God and heirs to all things. All who\nrefuse to obey the holy commandments of the Lord and the ordinances of\nhis house will be judged out {587} of their own mouths, will condemn\nthemselves as they do now, will be accounted unworthy and will have no\npart or lot with the righteous. 8:83.\n\n\"Well,\" says one, \"if I am pretty sure to get a state of glory better\nthan this, I guess I will not take the trouble to inherit anything\nmore.\" Well, run the risk of it, every man on the earth has the\nprivilege. The Gospel is preached, sin revives, some die and some\ncontend against it--some receive it and some do not; but this is the\nsin of the people--truth is told them and they reject it. This is the\nsin of the world. \"Light has come into the world, but men love darkness\nrather than light, because their deeds are evil.\" So said Jesus in his\nday. We say, here is the Gospel of life and salvation, and everyone\nthat will receive it, glory, honor, immortality and eternal life are\ntheirs; if they reject it, they take their chance. 15:128.\n\n_Honesty in Action Will Temper Judgment_--A man or woman must know\nthe ways of God before they can become ungodly. Persons may be sinners,\nmay be unrighteous, may be wicked, who have never heard the plan of\nsalvation, who are even unacquainted with the history of the Son of\nMan, or who have heard of the name of the Savior, and, perhaps, the\nhistory of his life while on the earth, but have been taught unbelief\nthrough their tradition and education; but to be ungodly, in the strict\nsense of the word, they must measurably understand godliness. 4:58.\n\nDon't cast them down to hell for their honest belief. 2:140.\n\nIf you do evil ignorantly and in good faith, I promise you it shall\nresult in good. 7:139.\n\nIt has appeared to me, from my childhood to this day, as a piece of\ncomplete nonsense, to talk about the inhabitants {588} of the earth\nbeing thus irretrievably lost--to talk of my father and mother, and\nyours, or our ancestors, who have lived faithfully according to the\nbest light they had; but because they had not the everlasting covenant\nand the holy Priesthood in their midst, that they should go to hell and\nroast there to all eternity. It is nonsense to me; it always was, and\nis yet. 6:291.\n\nSo far as morality is concerned, millions of the inhabitants of the\nearth live according to the best light they have--according to the\nbest knowledge they possess. I have told you frequently that they will\nreceive according to their works; and all, who live according to the\nbest principles in their possession, or that they can understand, will\nreceive peace, glory, comfort, joy and a crown that will be far beyond\nwhat they are anticipating. They will not be lost. 6:332.\n\nI say to every priest on the face of the earth, I do not care whether\nthey be Christian, Pagan or Mohammedan, you should live according to\nthe best light you have; and if you do you will receive all the glory\nyou ever anticipated. We should not be prejudiced against you in the\nleast; even if you are against us and declare falsehoods about us we\nshould not retaliate. But how prone we are to rebuke if we are rebuked,\nor if we receive a sharp word to return one. The Latter-day Saints have\nto overcome this; and the world may cry out and say all manner of evil\nagainst us, but, my brethren and sisters, let us so live that it will\nbe said falsely. 14:151.\n\nThe very heathen we were talking about; if they have a law, no matter\nwho made it, and do the best they know how, they will have a glory\nwhich is beyond your imagination, by any description I might give; you\ncannot conceive {589} of the least portion of the glory of God prepared\nfor his beings, the workmanship of his hands. 3:93.\n\nNone will become angels to the Devil except those who have sinned\nagainst the Holy Ghost. 11:271.\n\n_Hell Defined_--Any person knowing and understanding the\nScriptures as they are, and understanding the mind and will of God,\ncan understand at once that when he is shut out from the presence of\nthe Lord, when he does not hear his voice, sees not his face, receives\nnot the ministering of his angels or ministering spirits, and has no\nmessenger from the heavens to visit him, he must surely be in hell.\n2:137.\n\nWere the wicked, in their sins, under the necessity of walking into the\npresence of the Father and Son, hand-in-hand with those who believe\nthat all will be saved--that Jesus will leave none, their condition\nwould be more excruciating and unendurable than to dwell in the lake\nthat burns with fire and brimstone. The fatalist's doctrine consigns\nto hell the infant not a span long, while the adulterer, whoremonger,\nthief, liar, false swearer, murderer, and every other abominable\ncharacter, if they but repent on the gallows or their death-beds, are,\nby the same doctrine, forced into the presence of the Father and the\nSon, which, could they enter there, would be a hell to them. 8:153-4.\n\nThere is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their\nGod, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ\nwill never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the\njudgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and\nwoman will have to atone for breaking their covenants. To what degree?\nWill they have to go to hell? They are in hell enough now. I do not\nwish them in a greater hell, {590} when their consciences condemn them\nall the time. Let compassion reign in our bosoms. Try to comprehend how\nweak we are, how we are organized, how the spirit and the flesh are\ncontinually at war. 3:247.\n\nWill I prophesy evil? No. Let us prophesy good. But the justice and\nmercy of God must have their demands. 8:195.\n\n_The Second Death_--What is that we call death, compared to the\nagonies of the second death? If people could see it, as Joseph and\nSidney saw it, they would pray that the vision be closed up; for they\ncould not endure the sight. Neither could they endure the sight of the\nFather and the Son in their glory, for it would consume them. 18:217.\n\nIt is a curious idea, but one in favor of which there is much\ntestimony, that when people take the downward road, one that is\ncalculated to destroy them, they will actually in every sense of the\nword be destroyed. Will they be what is termed annihilated? No, there\nis no such thing as annihilation, for you cannot destroy the elements\nof which things are made. 2:302.\n\nNone will be lost or turned away except those who sin against the Holy\nGhost. 16:32.\n\n_Measure of Human Judgment_--Every man and woman has got to have\nclean hands and a pure heart, to execute judgment, else they had better\nlet the matter alone. 3:247.\n\nI have a certain knowledge within me that the Elders of Israel will\nnever be permitted to lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the\nplummet, with regard to the wicked and ungodly, until they understand\nrighteous principles, and live to them. 7:46.\n\nYou may judge of the truth you hear today and of that which you will\nhear in times to come; for we shall be judges {591} of ourselves as\nwell as of our enemies, and we shall also judge angels. 5:258.\n\nWhen the judgment is given to the Saints, it will be because of their\nrighteousness, because they will judge even as the angels and as the\nGods, and not as the wicked do. 19:7. {592}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV\n\n_SALVATION_\n\n_Universal Salvation_--Salvation is the full existence of man, of\nthe angels, and the Gods; it is eternal life--the life which was, which\nis, and which is to come. And we, as human beings, are heirs to all\nthis life, if we apply ourselves strictly to obey the requirements of\nthe law of God, and continue in faithfulness. 12:111.\n\nThe economy of heaven is to gather in all, and save everybody who can\nbe saved. 11:262.\n\nPeople should understand that there is no man born upon the face of the\nearth but what can be saved in the Kingdom of God, if he is disposed to\nbe. 8:160.\n\nI have heard a great many sermons, prayers and exhortations for people\nto go and get religion and have their names written in the \"Lamb's Book\nof Life.\" I want to inform the whole world, all the sons and daughters\nof Adam, that their names are written there, and there they will remain\nto all eternity unless they by their evil acts blot them out. 13:149.\n\nThere never was any person over-saved; all who have been saved, and\nthat ever will be in the future, are only just saved, and then it is\nnot without a struggle to overcome, that calls into exercise every\nenergy of the soul. 2:132.\n\nAll that have lived or will live on this earth will have the privilege\nof receiving the Gospel. They will have Apostles, Prophets, and\nministers there, as we have here, to guide them in the ways of truth\nand righteousness, and lead them back to God. All will have a chance\nfor salvation and eternal life. 6:149. {593}\n\nIf our faith is one, and we are united to gain one grand object, and I,\nas an individual, can possibly get into the celestial kingdom, you and\nevery other person, by the same rule, can also enter there. 2:132.\n\nHow many shall be preserved? All who do not deny and defy the power and\ncharacter of the Son of God--all who do not sin against the Holy Ghost.\n6:292.\n\nThe heathen nations that now exist and that have existed on the\nearth will all be blessed, will see the time when they will have the\nprivilege of receiving the blessings of the covenant established on the\nearth by the Son of God, and through it will be brought into glory and\nrest. 8:83.\n\nThe names of every son and daughter of Adam are already written in the\nLamb's Book of Life. Is there ever a time when they will be taken out\nof it? Yes, when they become sons of perdition, and not till then.\nEvery person has the privilege of retaining it there for ever and ever.\nIf they neglect that privilege, then their names will be erased, and\nnot till then. All the names of the human family are written there,\nand the Lord will hold them there until they come to the knowledge of\nthe truth, that they can rebel against him, and can sin against the\nHoly Ghost; then they will be thrust down to hell, and their names be\nblotted out from the Lamb's Book of Life. 6:297.\n\nNow, the inquiry on our minds is, are all the world going to share in\nthese blessings? Yes, all the world. Are there none going to be lost?\nAre there none going to suffer the wrath of the Almighty? I can say,\nin the first place, as I have said all my life, where I have been\npreaching, I never had the spirit to preach hell and damnation to the\npeople. I have tried a great many times--I tried last Sabbath, and I\nhave tried today to come to that point--the sufferings of {594} the\nwicked. They will suffer, it seems; but I cannot get my heart upon\nanything else, only salvation for the people. All nations are going to\nshare in these blessings; all are incorporated in the redemption of the\nSavior. He has tasted death for every man; they are all in his power,\nand he saves them all, as he says, except the sons of perdition; and\nthe Father has put all the creations upon this earth in his power. The\nearth itself, and mankind upon it, the brute beasts, the fish of the\nsea, and the fowls of heaven, the insects, and every creeping thing,\nwith all things pertaining to this earthly ball,--all are in the hands\nof the Savior, and he has redeemed them all. 6:296-297.\n\nWhere God and Christ dwell, that is a kingdom of itself--the celestial\nkingdom. 7:288.\n\nHow many Gods there are, and how many places there are in their\nkindgoms, is not for me to say; but I can say this, which is a source\nof much comfort, consolation, and gratification to me: Behold the\ngoodness, the long-suffering, the kindness, and the strong parental\nfeeling of our Father and God in preparing the way and providing\nthe means to save the children of men--not alone the Latter-day\nSaints--not alone those who have the privilege of the first principles\nof the celestial law, but to save all. It is a universal salvation--a\nuniversal redemption. 8:35.\n\nIt will be a pleasure to know that we have saved all the Father gave\ninto our power. Jesus said that he lost none except the sons of\nperdition. He will lose none of his brethren, except sons of perdition.\nLet us save all the Father puts in our power. 9:124.\n\nAll heaven is anxious that the people should be saved. The heavens weep\nover the people, because of their {595} hardheartedness, unbelief, and\nslowness to believe and act. 4:196.\n\nOur religion is adapted to the capacity of the whole human family. It\ndoes not send a portion of the people to howl in torment for ever and\never, but it reaches after the last son and daughter of Adam and Eve,\nand will pluck them from the prison, unlock the doors, and burst the\nbonds and bring forth every soul who will receive salvation. 12:309.\n\nThe salvation that Jesus has purchased will reach the whole human\nfamily and save, in a kingdom or in some place where they will enjoy\nto the extent of their capacity, those who reject not the Gospel and\ndespise not the Savior. 14:133.\n\nThere is a chance for those who have lived and for those who now\nlive. The Gospel has come. Truth and light and righteousness are sent\nforth into the world, and those who receive them will be saved in the\ncelestial kingdom of God. And many of those who, through ignorance,\nthrough tradition, superstition, and the erroneous precepts of the\nfathers, do not receive them, will yet inherit a good and glorious\nkingdom, and will enjoy more and receive more than ever entered into\nthe heart of man to conceive, unless he has had a revelation. 8:36.\n\n_The Way to Salvation_--You will be no more perfect in your\nsphere, when you are exalted to thrones, principalities, and powers,\nthan you are required to be and are capable of being in your sphere\ntoday. 6:99.\n\nNo man will be saved and come into the presence of the Father, only\nthrough the Gospel of Jesus Christ--the same for one as the other. The\nLord has his cause, his ways, his work; he will finish it up. Jesus is\nlaboring with his might {596} to sanctify and redeem the earth and to\nbring back his brethren and sisters into the presence of the Father. We\nare laboring with him for the purification of the whole human family,\nthat we and they may be prepared to dwell with God in his Kingdom.\n13:150.\n\nNo matter what the outward appearance is--if I can know of a truth that\nthe hearts of the people are fully set to do the will of their Father\nin Heaven, though they may falter and do a great many things through\nthe weaknesses of human nature, yet they will be-saved. 5:256.\n\nAnd if we accept salvation on the terms it is offered to us, we\nhave got to be honest in every thought, in our reflections, in our\nmeditations, in our private circles, in our deal, in our declarations,\nand in every act of our lives, fearless and regardless of every\nprinciple of error, of every principle of falsehood that may be\npresented. 5:124.\n\nTo look for salvation fifty years hence and do nothing for salvation\nat the present time is preposterous. God has placed the means of\nsalvation within our reach, and the volition of the creature is at his\nown disposal. When his sons and daughters avail themselves of the means\nhe has supplied for their salvation, doing good for themselves, it is\ngratifying to him. 10:221.\n\nSalvation an Individual Work--Though our interest is one as a people,\nyet remember, salvation is an individual work; it is every person for\nhimself. I mean more by this than I have time to tell you in full, but\nI will give you a hint. There are those in this Church who calculate\nto be saved by the righteousness of others. They will miss their\nmark. They are those who will arrive just as the gate is shut, so in\nthat case you may be shut out; then you will call upon some one, who,\nby their own faithfulness, through the {597} mercy of Jesus Christ,\nhave entered in through the celestial gate, to come and open it for\nyou; but to do this is not their province. Such will be the fate of\nthose persons who vainly hope to be saved upon the righteousness and\nthrough the influence of Brother Somebody. I forewarn you therefore to\ncultivate righteousness and faithfulness in yourselves, which is the\nonly passport into celestial happiness. 2:132.\n\nIf Brother Brigham shall take a wrong track, and be shut out of the\nKingdom of heaven, no person will be to blame but Brother Brigham. I am\nthe only being in heaven, earth, or hell, that can be blamed.\n\nThis will equally apply to every Latter-day Saint. Salvation is an\nindividual operation. I am the only person that can possibly save\nmyself. When salvation is sent to me, I can reject or receive it. In\nreceiving it, I yield implicit obedience and submission to its great\nAuthor throughout my life, and to those whom he shall appoint to\ninstruct me; in rejecting it, I follow the dictates of my own will\nin preference to the will of my Creator. There are those among this\npeople who are influenced, controlled, and biased in their thoughts,\nactions, and feelings by some other individual or family, on whom they\nplace their dependence for spiritual and temporal instruction, and for\nsalvation in the end. These persons do not depend upon themselves for\nsalvation, but upon another of their poor, weak, fellow mortals. 1:312.\n\n_Many Degrees of Salvation_--When God revealed to Joseph Smith and\nSidney Rigdon that there was a place prepared for all, according to\nthe light they had received and their rejection of evil and practice\nof good, it was a great trial to many, and some apostatized because\nGod was {598} not going to send to everlasting punishment heathens and\ninfants, but had a place of salvation, in due time, for all, and would\nbless the honest and virtuous and truthful, whether they ever belonged\nto any church or not. It was a new doctrine to this generation, and\nmany stumbled at it. 16:42.\n\nThese words set forth the fact to which Jesus referred when he said,\n\"In my Father's house are many mansions.\" How many I am not prepared\nto say; but here are three distinctly spoken of: the celestial, the\nhighest; the terrestrial, the next below it; and the telestial, the\nthird. If we were to take the pains to read what the Lord has said to\nhis people in the latter days we should find that he has made provision\nfor all the inhabitants of the earth; every creature who desires, and\nwho strives in the least, to overcome evil and subdue iniquity within\nhimself or herself, and to live worthy of a glory, will possess one. We\nwho have received the fulness of the Gospel of the Son of God, or the\nKingdom of heaven that has come to earth, are in possession of those\nlaws, ordinances, commandments and revelations that will prepare us,\nby strict obedience, to inherit the celestial kingdom, to go into the\npresence of the Father and the Son. 14:148.\n\nThere are millions and millions of kingdoms that the people have no\nconception of. The Christians of the day have no knowledge of God, of\ngodliness, of eternity, of the worlds that are, and that have been, and\nthat are coming forth. There are myriads of people pertaining to this\nearth who will come up and receive a glory according to their capacity.\n6:347.\n\nIs it not a glorious thought that there are kingdoms, mansions of\nglory and comfortable habitations prepared for {599} all the sons and\ndaughters of Adam, except the sons of perdition? All will not have part\nin the first resurrection, and perhaps many will not appear in the\nsecond; but all will be resurrected, and, except the sons of perdition,\nenter kingdoms, the least of which I presume is more glorious than ever\nJohn Wesley saw in vision. 8:196-197.\n\n_Exaltation Proportioned to Capacity_---The man or woman who lives\nworthily is now in a state of salvation. 1:6.\n\nIs every man and woman capable of receiving the highest glory of God?\nNo. 9:104.\n\nAre all spirits endowed alike? No, not by any means. Will all be equal\nin the celestial kingdoms? No. Some spirits are more noble than others;\nsome are capable of receiving more than others. There is the same\nvariety in the spirit world that you behold here, yet they are of the\nsame parentage, of one Father, one God. 4:268.\n\nSome are not capable of the same exaltation as are others, arising\nfrom the difference in the conduct and capacities of people. There is\nalso a difference in the spirit world. It is the design, the wish, the\nwill, and mind of the Lord that the inhabitants of the earth should be\nexalted to thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, according to\ntheir capacities. In their exaltation, one may be capable of presiding\nover ten cities, while another may not be capable of presiding over\nmore than five, another over only two, and another over but one. They\nmust all first be subjected to sin and to the calamities of mortal\nflesh, in order to prove themselves worthy; then the Gospel is ready\nto take hold of them and bring them up, unite them, enlighten their\nunderstandings, and make them one in the Lord Jesus, that their\nfaith, prayers, hopes, affections, and all their desires may ever be\nconcentrated in one. 6:97. {600}\n\n_The Celestial Kingdom_--The celestial is the highest of all.\nThe telestial and terrestrial are also spoken of; and how many more\nkingdoms of glory there are, is not for me to say. I do not know that\nthey are not innumerable. This is a source of great joy to me. 8:35.\n\nThe Kingdom that this people are in pertains to the celestial kingdom;\nit is a Kingdom in which we can prepare to go into the presence of the\nFather and the Son. 8:197.\n\nThe men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom,\nwill find that they must battle every day. 11:14.\n\nAs for a person being saved in the celestial kingdom of God without\nbeing prepared to dwell in a pure and holy place, it is all nonsense\nand ridiculous; and if there be any who think they can gain the\npresence of the Father and the Son by fighting for, instead of living,\ntheir religion, they will be mistaken, consequently the quicker we make\nup our minds to live our religion the better it will be for us. 14:157.\n\nWho can define the divinity of man? Only those who understand the\ntrue principles of eternity--the principles that pertain to life and\nsalvation. Man, by being exalted, does not lose the power and ability\nnaturally given to him; but, on the contrary, by taking the road that\nleads to life, he gains more power, more influence and ability during\nevery step he progresses therein. 7:274.\n\nOur spirits, thousands of years ago, were first begotten; and at the\nconsummation of all things, when the Savior has finished his work\nand presented it to the Father, he will be crowned. None of you will\nreceive your crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives before he\nreceives his. He will be crowned first, and then we shall be crowned,\n{601} every one in his order; for the work is finished, and the Spirit\nis complete in its organization with the tabernacle. The world is the\nfirst to be redeemed, and the people last to be crowned upon it. 6:282. {602}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI\n\n_TEMPLES AND SALVATION FOR THE DEAD_\n\n_Saints Always Commanded to Build Temples_--We are going to build\ntemples. This law is given to the children of men. 14:95.\n\nConcerning revelations pertaining to building temples, I will give\nyou the words of our beloved Prophet while he was yet living upon\nthe earth. Many of us that are here today, were with him from the\ncommencement of the Church. He was frequently speaking upon the\nbuilding of temples in Kirtland, Missouri, and Illinois. When the\npeople refused in Kirtland to build a temple, unless by a special\nrevelation, it grieved his heart that they should be so penurious in\ntheir feelings as to require the Lord to command them to build a house\nto his name. It was not only grievous to him, but to the Holy Spirit\nalso. He frequently said that if it were not for the covetousness of\nthe people, the Lord would not give revelations concerning the building\nof temples, for we already knew all about them; the revelations giving\nus the order of the Priesthood make known to us what is wanted in that\nrespect at our hands. 1:277.\n\nWe that are here are enjoying a privilege that we have no knowledge of\nany other people enjoying since the days of Adam, that is, to have a\ntemple completed, wherein all the ordinances of the house of God can be\nbestowed upon his people. Brethren and sisters, do you understand this?\nIt seems that a great many of the people know nothing about it. It is\ntrue that Solomon built a temple for the purpose of giving endowments,\nbut from what we can learn of {603} the history of that time they gave\nvery few if any endowments, and one of the high priests was murdered by\nwicked and corrupt men, who had already begun to apostatize, because he\nwould not reveal those things appertaining to the Priesthood that were\nforbidden him to reveal until he came to the proper place. I will not\nsay but what Enoch had temples and officiated therein, but we have no\naccount of it. We know that he raised up a people so pure and holy that\nthey were not permitted to remain with the wicked inhabitants of the\nearth, but were taken to another place. 18:303.\n\nThe earth, the Lord says, abides its creation; it has been baptized\nwith water, and will, in the future, be baptized with fire and the Holy\nGhost, to be prepared to go back into the celestial presence of God,\nwith all things that dwell upon it which have, like the earth, abided\nthe law of their creation. Taking this view of the matter, it may be\nasked why we build temples. We build temples because there is not a\nhouse on the face of the whole earth that has been reared to God's\nname which will in anywise compare with his character, and that he can\nconsistently call his house. There are places on the earth where the\nLord can come and dwell, if he pleases. They may be found on the tops\nof high mountains, or in some cavern or places where sinful man has\nnever marked the soil with his polluted feet.\n\nHe requires his servants to build him a house that he can come to and\nwhere he can make known his will. 10:252.\n\nWe enjoy the privilege of entering into a temple, built to the name\nof God, and receiving the ordinances of his house, with all the keys\nand blessings preparatory to entering {604} into the \"lives;\" we also\nenjoy the privilege of administering for our fathers and mothers, our\ngrandfathers and grandmothers, for those who have slept without the\nGospel. 19:22.\n\nIn the spirit world those who have got the victory go on to prepare the\nway for those who live in the flesh, fulfilling the work of saviors on\nMount Zion.\n\nTo accomplish this work there will have to be not only one temple but\nthousands of them, and thousands and tens of thousands of men and women\nwill go into those temples and officiate for people who have lived as\nfar back as the Lord shall reveal. If we are faithful enough to go back\nand build that great temple which Joseph has written about, and should\nthe Lord acknowledge the labor of his servants, then watch, for you\nwill see somebody whom you have seen before, and many of you will see\nhim whom you have not seen before, but you will know him as soon as you\nsee him. 3:372.\n\n_Temples Indispensable for Higher Ordinances_--In consequence of\nour having been driven from our homes, and because of our destitute\ncircumstances, the Lord has permitted us to do what we have done,\nnamely, to use this Endowment House for temple purposes. But since,\nthrough the mercies and blessings of God, we are able to build temples,\nit is the will and commandment of God that we do so. 18:263.\n\nDo we need a temple? We do, to prepare us to enter in through the gate\ninto the city where the Saints are at rest. Ordinances necessary to\nthis have not yet been performed and cannot be in the absence of a\nsuitable place. We wish a temple, not for the public congregation, but\nfor the Priesthood, wherein to arrange and organize fully the {605}\nPriesthood in its order and degrees, to administer the ordinance of the\nPriesthood to the Saints for their exaltation. 9:240.\n\nWe cannot now administer the further ordinances of God, in the fullest\nsense of the word, legally unto the people, neither shall we be able to\ndo so until we have a temple built for that purpose. Some may consider\nthat I am notifying our common foe in saying this, but it is true,\nnotwithstanding, and our common foe knows it. We must be situated in\nlocal circumstances wherein we can efficiently administer in those\nordinances of the house of God that cannot be administered to a people\nwhile they are scattered abroad among the nations of the wicked. 12:162.\n\nThere are some of the sealing ordinances that cannot be administered\nin the house that we are now using; we can only administer in it some\nof the first ordinances of the Priesthood pertaining to the endowment.\nThere are more advanced ordinances that cannot be administered there;\nwe would, therefore, like a temple, but I am willing to wait a few\nyears for it. I want to see the temple built in a manner that it will\nendure through the Millennium. This is not the only temple we shall\nbuild; there will be hundreds of them built and dedicated to the Lord.\nThis temple will be known as the first temple built in the mountains\nby the Latter-day Saints. And when the Millennium is over, and all\nthe sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, down to the last of their\nposterity, who come within the reach of the clemency of the Gospel,\nhave been redeemed in hundreds of temples through the administration of\ntheir children as proxies for them, I want that temple still to stand\nas a proud monument of the faith, perseverance and industry of the\nSaints of God in the mountains, in the nineteenth century. 10:254. {606}\n\nWe have often told you that we want to build a temple, but not for\nconvening promiscuous congregations. I inform you, long before you see\nthe walls reared and the building completed, that it will be for the\npurposes of the Priesthood, and not for meetings of the people; we\nshall not hold public meetings in it. I should like to see the temple\nbuilt, in which you will see the Priesthood in its order and true\norganization, each Quorum in its place. 8:202-203.\n\n_Endowments Given in Temples_--The commandments contained in the\nNew Testament with regard to the ordinances of the house of God are\nobligatory upon us. 13:314.\n\nEvery individual who is prepared for the celestial kingdom must go\nthrough the same things. 3:195.\n\nIt is absolutely necessary that-the Saints should receive the further\nordinances of the house of God before this short existence shall come\nto a close, that they may be prepared and fully able to pass all the\nsentinels leading into the celestial kingdom and into the presence of\nGod. 12:163-4.\n\nThen go on and build the temples of the Lord, that you may receive\nthe endowments in store for you, and possess the keys of the eternal\nPriesthood, that you may receive every word, sign, and token, and be\nmade acquainted with the laws of angels, and of the kingdom of our\nFather and our God, and know how to pass from one degree to another,\nand enter fully into the joy of your Lord. 2:315.\n\nSome of us are not dependent on the temple for our endowment blessings,\nfor we have received them under the hands of Joseph the Prophet, and\nknow where to go to bestow the same on others. You may ask me whether\nthe leaders of this Church have received all their endowment blessings.\nI think that we have got all that you can get in your probation, if you\nlive to be the age of Methuselah; and {607} we can give what we possess\nto others who are worthy. 10:254.\n\nA great many of you have had your endowments, and you know what a vote\nwith uplifted hands means.\n\nIt is a sign which you make in token of your covenant with God and\nwith one another, and it is for you to perform your vows. When you\nraise your hands to heaven and let them fall and then pass on with your\ncovenants unfulfilled, you will be cursed.\n\nI feel sometimes like lecturing men and women severely who enter into\ncovenants without realizing the nature of the covenants they make, and\nwho use little or no effort to fulfil them.\n\nSome Elders go to the nations and preach the Gospel of life and\nsalvation, and return without thoroughly understanding the nature of\nthe covenant. It is written in the Bible that every man should perform\nhis own vows, even if to his own hurt; in this way you will show to all\ncreation and to God that you are full of integrity. 3:332.\n\nMost of you, my brethren, are Elders, Seventies, or High Priests;\nperhaps there is not a Priest or Teacher present. The reason of this\nis that when we give the brethren their endowments, we are obliged\nto confer upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood; but I expect to see\nthe day, when we shall be so situated that we can say to a company\nof brethren, You can go and receive the ordinances pertaining to the\nAaronic order of Priesthood, and then you can go into the world and\npreach the Gospel, or do something that will prove whether you will\nhonor that Priesthood before you receive more. Now we pass them through\nthe ordinances of both Priesthoods in one day, but this is not as it\nshould be and would, if we had a temple wherein to administer {608}\nthese ordinances. But this is all right at present; we should not be\nsatisfied in any other way, and consequently we do according to the\ncircumstances we are placed in. 10:309.\n\nThe ordinances of the house of God are for the salvation of the human\nfamily. We are the only ones on the earth at the present time, that we\nhave any knowledge of, who hold the keys of salvation committed to the\nchildren of men from the heavens by the Lord Almighty; and inasmuch as\nthere are those who hold these keys, it is important that they should\nbe acted upon for the salvation of the human family. The building of\ntemples, places in which the ordinances of salvation are administered,\nis necessary to carry out the plan of redemption, and it is a glorious\nsubject upon which to address the Saints. 13:262.\n\nGiving endowments to a great many proves their overthrow, through\nrevealing things to them which they cannot keep. They are not worthy to\nreceive them. 4:372.\n\nWere it not for what is revealed concerning the sealing ordinances,\nchildren born out of the covenant could not be sealed to their parents.\n18:249.\n\nThe ordinances of the house of God are expressly for the Church of the\nFirstborn. 8:154.\n\nI would rather see this people cleansed, and give the righteous their\nendowments after they have waited awhile. Let the poor, and those who\nare humble before the Lord, have the first chance. 2:144.\n\n_Vicarious Work for the Dead in Temples_--We are preaching to them\nthe Gospel of Salvation--to the dead--through those who have lived in\nthis dispensation. 3:90.\n\nThere is an opportunity for men who are in the spirit to receive the\nGospel. Jesus, while his body lay in the grave two nights and one day,\nwent to the world of spirits to {609} show the brethren how they should\nbuild up the kingdom, and bring spirits to the knowledge of the truth\nin the spirit world; he went to set them the pattern there, as he had\ndone on this earth. Hence you perceive that there, spirits have the\nprivilege of embracing the truth.\n\nYou may ask if they are baptized there? No. Can they have hands laid\nupon them for the gift of the Holy Ghost? No. None of the outward\nordinances that pertain to the flesh are administered there, but the\nlight, glory, and power of the Holy Ghost are enjoyed just as freely as\nupon this earth; and there are laws which govern and control the spirit\nworld, and to which they are subject. 2:138.\n\nNow a few words to the brethren and sisters upon the doctrine and\nordinances of the house of God. All who have lived on the earth\naccording to the best light they had, and would have received the\nfulness of the Gospel had it been preached to them, are worthy of a\nglorious resurrection, and will attain to this by being administered\nfor, in the flesh, by those who have the authority. All others will\nhave a resurrection, and receive a glory, except those who have\nsinned against the Holy Ghost. It is supposed by this people that we\nhave all the ordinances in our possession for life and salvation,\nand exaltation, and that we are administering in these ordinances.\nThis is not the case. We are in possession of all the ordinances that\ncan be administered in the flesh; but there are other ordinances and\nadministrations that must be administered beyond this world. I know\nyou would ask what they are. I will mention one. We have not, neither\ncan we receive here, the ordinance and the keys of the resurrection.\nThey will be given to those who have passed off this stage of action\nand have received their bodies again, as many have already done and\n{610} many more will. They will be ordained, by those who hold the keys\nof the resurrection, to go forth and resurrect the Saints, just as we\nreceive the ordinance of baptism, then the keys of authority to baptize\nothers for the remission of their sins. This is one of the ordinances\nwe cannot receive here, and there are many more. We hold the authority\nto dispose of, alter and change the elements; but we have not received\nauthority to organize native element, to even make a spear of grass\ngrow.\n\nWe have no such ordinance here. We organize according to men in the\nflesh. By combining the elements and planting the seed, we cause\nvegetables, trees, grains, etc., to come forth. We are organizing\na Kingdom here according to the pattern that the Lord has given\nfor people in the flesh, but not for those who have received the\nresurrection, although it is a similitude. Another item: We have not\nthe power in the flesh to create and bring forth or produce a spirit;\nbut we have the power to produce a temporal body; the germ of this,\nGod has placed within us. And when our spirits receive our bodies, and\nthrough our faithfulness we are worthy to be crowned, we will then\nreceive authority to produce both spirit and body. But these keys we\ncannot receive in the flesh. Herein, brethren, you can perceive that we\nhave not finished, and cannot finish our work, while we live here, no\nmore than Jesus did while he was in the flesh.\n\nWe cannot receive, while in the flesh, the keys to form and fashion\nkingdoms and to organize matter, for they are beyond our capacity and\ncalling, beyond this world. In the resurrection, men who have been\nfaithful and diligent in all things in the flesh; have kept their first\nand second estate, and are worthy to be crowned Gods, even the Sons of\nGod, {611} will be ordained to organize matter. How much matter do you\nsuppose there is between here and some of the fixed stars which we can\nsee? Enough to frame many, very many millions of such earths as this,\nyet it is now so diffused, clear and pure, that we look through it and\nbehold the stars. Yet the matter is there. Can you form any conception\nof this? Can you form any idea of the minuteness of matter? 15:136.\n\nDo you recollect that in about the year 1840-41, Joseph had a\nrevelation concerning the dead? He had been asked the question a good\nmany times: \"What is the condition of the dead, those that lived and\ndied without the Gospel?\" It was a matter of inquiry with him. He\nconsidered this question for himself, and for the brethren and the\nChurch, \"What is the condition of the dead? What will be their fate? Is\nthere no way today by which they can receive their blessings as there\nwas in the days of the Apostles, and when the Gospel was preached upon\nthe earth in ancient days?\" When Joseph received the revelation that we\nhave in our possession concerning the dead, the subject was opened to\nhim, not in full, but in part, and he kept on receiving. When he had\nfirst received the knowledge by the spirit of revelation how the dead\ncould be officiated for, there are brethren and sisters here, I can see\nquite a number here who were in Nauvoo, and you recollect that when\nthis doctrine was first revealed, and in hurrying in the administration\nof baptism for the dead, that sisters were baptized for their male\nfriends, were baptized for their fathers, their grandfathers, their\nmothers and their grandmothers, etc. I just mention this so that\nyou will come to understanding, that as we knew nothing about this\nmatter at first, the old Saints recollect, there was little by little\ngiven, and the subject was made plain, but little was given at once.\nConsequently, in {612} the first place people were baptized for their\nfriends and no record was kept. Joseph afterwards kept a record. Then\nwomen were baptized for men and men for women, etc. It would be very\nstrange, you know, to the eyes of the wise and those that understood\nthe things pertaining to eternity, if we were called upon to commence a\nwork that we could not finish. This, therefore, was regulated and all\nset in order; for it was revealed that if a woman was baptized for a\nman, she could not be ordained for him, neither could she be made an\nApostle or a Patriarch for the man, consequently the sisters are to be\nbaptized for their own sex only.\n\nThis doctrine of baptism for the dead is a great doctrine, one of the\nmost glorious doctrines that was revealed to the human family; and\nthere are light, power, glory, honor and immortality in it. 16:165.\n\nThere are many of the ordinances of the house of God that must be\nperformed in a temple that is erected expressly for the purpose. There\nare other ordinances that we can administer without a temple. You\nknow that there are some which you have received--baptism, the laying\non of hands for the gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as the speaking in\nand interpretation of tongues, prophesying, healing, discerning of\nspirits, etc., and many blessings bestowed upon the people, we have the\nprivilege of receiving without a temple. There are other blessings,\nthat will not be received, and ordinances that will not be performed\naccording to the law that the Lord has revealed, without their being\ndone in a temple prepared for that purpose. We can, at the present\ntime, go into the Endowment House and be baptized for the dead, receive\nour washings and anointing, etc., for there we have a font that\nhas been erected, dedicated expressly for baptizing people for the\nremission of sins, for their {613} health and for their dead friends;\nin this the Saints have the privilege of being baptized for their\nfriends. We also have the privilege of sealing women to men, without\na temple. This we can do in the Endowment House; but when we come to\nother sealing ordinances, ordinances pertaining to the holy Priesthood,\nto connect the chain of the Priesthood from Father Adam until now, by\nsealing children to their parents, being sealed for our forefathers,\netc., they cannot be done without a temple. When the ordinances are\ncarried out in the temples that will be erected, men will be sealed\nto their fathers, and those who have slept, clear up to Father Adam.\nThis will have to be done, because of the chain of the Priesthood being\nbroken upon the earth. The Priesthood has left the people, but in the\nfirst place the people left the Priesthood. They transgressed the\nlaws, changed the ordinance, and broke the everlasting covenant, and\nthe Priesthood left them; but not until they had left the Priesthood.\nThis Priesthood has been restored again, and by its authority we shall\nbe connected with our fathers, by the ordinance of sealing, until we\nshall form a perfect chain from Father Adam down to the closing up\nscene. This ordinance will not be performed anywhere but in a temple;\nneither will children be sealed to their living parents in any other\nplace than a temple. For instance, a man and his wife come into the\nChurch, and they have a family of children. These children have been\nbegotten out of the covenant, because the marriage of their parents is\nnot recognized by the Lord as performed by his authority; they have,\ntherefore, to be sealed to their parents, or else they cannot claim\nthem in eternity; they will be distributed according to the wisdom of\nthe Lord, who does all things right. When we had a temple prepared\nin Nauvoo, many {614} of the brethren had their children, who were\nout of the covenant, sealed to them, and endowments were given. Then\nparents, after receiving their endowments and being sealed for time\nand eternity, and they have other children; they are begotten and born\nunder the covenant, and they are the rightful heirs to the kingdom,\nthey possess the keys of the kingdom. Children born unto parents,\nbefore the latter enter into the fulness of the covenants, have to be\nsealed to them in-a temple to become legal heirs of the Priesthood.\nIt is true they can receive the ordinances, they can receive their\nendowments, and be blessed in common with their parents; but still the\nparents cannot claim them legally and lawfully in eternity unless they\nare sealed to them. Yet the chain would not be complete without this\nsealing ordinance being performed.\n\nNow, to illustrate this, I will refer to my own father's family. My\nfather died before the endowments were given. None of his children\nhave been sealed to him. If you recollect, you that were in Nauvoo,\nwe were very much hurried in the little time we spent there after the\ntemple was built. The mob was there ready to destroy us; they were\nready to burn our houses, they had been doing it for a long time; but\nwe finished the temple according to the commandment that was given\nto Joseph, and then took our departure. Our time, therefore, was\nshort, and we had no time to attend to this. My father's children,\nconsequently, have not been sealed to him. Perhaps all of his sons may\ngo into eternity, into the spirit world, before this can be attended\nto; but this will make no difference; the heirs of the family will\nattend to this if it is not for a hundred years.\n\nIt will have to be done sometime. If, however, we get a temple prepared\nbefore the sons of my father shall all {615} have gone into the spirit\nworld, if there are any of them remaining, they will attend to this,\nand as heirs be permitted to receive the ordinances for our father\nand mother. This is only one case, and, to illustrate this subject\nperfectly, I might have to refer to hundreds of examples for each case.\n16:186.\n\nWe trust in God. I reckon he will fight our battles and we will be\nbaptized for and in behalf of the human family during a thousand years;\nand we will have hundreds of temples and thousands of men and women\nofficiating therein for those who have fallen asleep, without having\nhad the privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel, that they may be\nbrought forth and have a glorious resurrection, and enjoy the kingdom\nwhich God has prepared for them. The Devil will fight hard to hinder\nus, and we shall not take an inch of ground except by obedience to the\npower of, and faith in, the Gospel of the Son of God. The whole world\nis opposed to this doctrine. But is there any harm in it? If they could\nonly see it as it is in the Lord, they would rejoice in it, and instead\nof fighting it, they would praise God for having revealed so glorious\na doctrine. Suppose that the notion entertained by some is true, that\nafter the death of our bodies our spirits sleep an eternal sleep, and I\nam baptized for my father, grandfather, and so on, above, beneath, or\naround about the earth! All will admit that no harm would be done in\npracticing these ordinances. Then let us alone if our practices will do\nno harm, why oppose us in their observance? The result might possibly\naffect beneficially our progenitors, and then you who oppose would be\nfound fighting against God. Better let the Gospel have its course.\n13:330.\n\nLet me say to you, if it is true that no man can enter the {616}\nKingdom of God unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit, God\nmust provide a plan by which those who have died ignorant of the\nGospel may have the privilege of doing so, or he would appear to be a\npartial being. Has he provided that way? He has. The Christian world\nhave taught, preached, contemplated, meditated, sung about and prayed\nfor the Millennium. What are you going to do during that period,\nChristians? Do you know what the Millennium is for, and what work will\nhave to be done during that period? Suppose the Christian world were\nnow one in heart, faith, sentiment and works, so that the Lord could\ncommence the Millennium in power and glory, do you know what would be\ndone? Would you sit and sing yourselves away to everlasting bliss?\nNo, I reckon not. I think there is a work to be done then which the\nwhole world seems determined we shall not do. What is it? To build\ntemples. We never yet commenced to lay the foundation of a temple but\nwhat all hell was in arms against us. That is the difficulty now. We\nhave commenced the foundation of this temple. What are we going to do\nin these temples? Anything to be done there? Yes, and we will not wait\nfor the Millennium and the fulness of the glory of God on the earth; we\nwill commence as soon as we have a temple, and work for the salvation\nof our forefathers; we will get their genealogies as far as we can. By\nand by, we shall get them perfect. In these temples we will officiate\nin the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for our friends, for no\nman can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of the water and of\nthe Spirit. We will officiate for those who are in the spirit world,\nwhere Jesus went to preach to the spirits, as Peter has written in the\nthird chapter, verses 18, 19, 20, of his first epistle. {617}\n\nWe will also have hands laid on us for the reception of the Holy Ghost;\nand then we will receive the washing and anointings for and in their\nbehalf, preparatory to their becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs with\nChrist. Are you going to do this, Latter-day Saints? Yes. What will the\nChristian world do with their dead? Let them sleep an eternal sleep,\nfor there are no provisions made for them in the Gospel they believe in\nand have taught to them. 13:329.\n\nWe will bring up all the inhabitants of the earth, except those who\nhave sinned against the Holy Ghost, and save them in some kingdom\nwhere they will receive more glory and honor than ever the Methodist\ncontemplated. This should be a comfort and a consolation to all the\ninhabitants of the earth. They will not save themselves, millions\nhave not had a chance, and millions now living, through the strength\nof their traditions, will not do it; their consciences and feelings\nare bound up in their systems and creeds, whereas if they felt as\nindependent as they should feel, they would break loose and receive\nthe truths; but they will live and die in bondage, and we calculate to\nofficiate for them. Many a man I know of, who has fallen asleep, we\nhave been baptized for, since the Church was organized--good, honest,\nhonorable men, charitable to all, living good, virtuous lives. We will\nnot let them go down to hell; God will not. The plan of salvation is\nample to bring them all up and place them where they may enjoy all they\ncould anticipate. 14:97.\n\nCan we do anything for them? Yes. What are we trying to build a temple\nfor? And we shall not only build a temple here, if we are successful,\nand are blessed and preserved, but we shall probably commence two or\nthree more, and so on as fast as the work requires, for the express\npurpose of redeeming our dead. When I get a revelation that {618} some\nof my progenitors lived and died without the blessings of the Gospel,\nor even hearing it preached, but were as honest as I am, as upright as\nI am, or as any man or woman could be upon the earth; as righteous, so\nfar as they knew how, as any Apostle or Prophet that ever lived, I will\ngo and be baptized, confirmed, washed, and anointed, and go through all\nthe ordinances and endowments for them, that their way may be open to\nthe celestial kingdom.\n\nAs I have frequently told you, that is the work of the Millennium.\nIt is the work that has to be performed by the seed of Abraham, the\nchosen seed, the royal seed, the blessed of the Lord, those the Lord\nmade covenants with. They will step forth, and save every son and\ndaughter of Adam who will receive salvation here on the earth; and all\nthe spirits in the spirit world will be preached to, conversed with,\nand the principles of salvation carried to them, that they may have\nthe privilege of receiving the Gospel; and they will have plenty of\nchildren here on the earth to officiate for them in those ordinances of\nthe Gospel that pertain to the flesh. 2:138.\n\nWhat do you suppose the fathers would say if they could speak from the\ndead? Would they not say, \"We have lain here thousands of years, here\nin this prison house, waiting for this dispensation to come? Here we\nare, bound and fettered, in the association of those who are filthy?\"\nWhat would they whisper in our ears? Why, if they had the power the\nvery thunders of heaven would be in our ears, if we could but realize\nthe importance of the work we are engaged in. All the angels in heaven\nare looking at this little handful of people, and stimulating them\nto the salvation of the human family. So also are the devils in hell\nlooking at this people, too, and trying to overthrow us, and {619} the\npeople are still shaking hands with the servants of the Devil, instead\nof sanctifying themselves and calling upon the Lord and doing the work\nwhich he has commanded us and put into our hands to do. When I think\nupon this subject, I want the tongues of seven thunders to wake up the\npeople. 18:304.\n\nWe are trying to save the living and the dead. The living can have\ntheir choice, the dead have not. Millions of them died without the\nGospel, without the Priesthood, and without the opportunities that we\nenjoy. We shall go forth in the name of Israel's God and attend to the\nordinances for them. And through the Millennium, the thousand years\nthat the people will love and serve God, we will build temples and\nofficiate therein for those who have slept for hundreds and thousands\nof years--those who would have received the truth if they had had the\nopportunity; and we will bring them up, and form the chain entire, back\nto Adam. 14:97.\n\nIf we preserve ourselves in the truth and live so that we shall be\nworthy of the celestial kingdom, by and by we can officiate for those\nwho have died without the Gospel--the honest, honorable, truthful,\nvirtuous and pure. By and by it will be said unto us, Go ye forth and\nbe baptized for them and receive the ordinances for them, and the\nhearts of the children will be turned to the fathers who have slept in\ntheir graves, and they will secure to them eternal life. This must be,\nlest the Lord come and smite the earth with a curse. The children will\ngo forth and revive this law for those who have slept for thousands of\nyears who died without the Gospel. Jesus will prepare a way to bring\nthem up into his presence. But were it not for the few who will be\nprepared here on the earth to officiate {620} when the Lord shall come\nto reign King of nations, what would be the condition of the world?\nThey would sleep and sleep on; but the way is prepared for their\nredemption. 14:151.\n\nHundreds of millions of human beings have been born, lived out their\nshort earthly span, and passed away, ignorant alike of themselves and\nof the plan of salvation provided for them. It gives great consolation,\nhowever, to know that this glorious plan devised by Heaven follows them\ninto the next existence, offering for their acceptance eternal life and\nexaltation to thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers in the\npresence of their Father and God, through Jesus Christ, his Son. 9:148.\n\nIf we obey this law, preserve it inviolate, live according to it, we\nshall be prepared to enjoy the blessings of a celestial kingdom. Will\nany others? Yes, thousands and millions of the inhabitants of the earth\nwho would have received and obeyed the law that we preach, if they\nhad had the privilege. When the Lord shall bring again Zion, and the\nwatchmen shall see eye to eye, and Zion shall be established, saviors\nwill come upon Mount Zion and save all the sons and daughters of Adam\nthat are capable of being saved, by administering for them. 8:35.\n\nOur enemies will yet be glad to come to us for safety and salvation;\nand we will do as Brother Kimball has said--we will save the old\nveteran fathers; and the time will come when we will be baptized for\nthem, while those who trample upon the rights of their fellow men will\nbe weltering in hell. Yes, we will bring up those old revolutionary\nsires and save them; for God loves men who are true to each other and\nare true to him. 5:212.\n\n_Who Should Represent the Dead_--A man is ordained {621} and\nreceives his washings, anointings, and endowments for the male portion\nof his and his wife's progenitors, and his wife for the female portion.\n3:372.\n\nFor instance, a man and his wife come into the Church; he says, \"My\nfather and mother were good people; I would like to officiate for\nthem.\" \"Well, have you any other friends in the Church?\" \"Nobody but\nmyself and my wife.\" Well, now, the wife is not a blood relation,\nconsequently she is not in reality the proper person, but she can be\nappointed the heir if there are no other relatives--if there are no\nsisters, this wife of his can officiate for the mother; but if the man\nhas a sister in the Church, it is the privilege and place of the sister\nof this man, the daughter of those parents that are dead, to go and\nofficiate--be baptized, to go and be sealed with her brother for her\nfather and mother. If this man and woman have a daughter old enough\nto officiate for her grandmother, she is a blood relation, and is the\nheir, and can act; but if there is no daughter, the man's wife can be\nappointed as the heir. 16:188.\n\nSome brethren here are anxious to know whether they can receive\nendowments for their sons or for their daughters. No, they cannot\nuntil we have a temple; but they can officiate in the ordinances so\nfar as baptism and sealing are concerned. A man can be baptized for a\nson who died before hearing the Gospel. A woman can be baptized for\nher daughter, who died without the Gospel. Suppose that the father\nof a dead son wishes to have a wife sealed to his son; if the young\nwoman desired as a wife is dead and have a mother or other female\nrelative in the Church, such mother is the heir, and she can act in\nthe sealing ordinances in the stead of her daughter. But if the young\nwoman desired as a wife have no relative in the Church, to act in her\nbehalf, {622} then the mother of the young man can be baptized for her,\nand act as proxy for her in the sealing ordinances. We can attend to\nthese ordinances now before the temple is built here; but no one can\nreceive endowments for another, until a temple is prepared in which to\nadminister them. We administer just so far as the law permits us to\ndo. In reality we should have performed all these ordinances long ago,\nif we had been obedient; we should have had temples in which we could\nattend to all these ordinances. Now, the brethren have the privilege of\nbeing baptized for their dead friends--when I say the brethren, I mean\nthe brethren and sisters--and these friends can be sealed. 16:187.\n\nWe will operate here, in all the ordinances of the house of God\nwhich pertain to this side of the veil, and those who pass beyond\nand secure to themselves a resurrection pertaining to the lives will\ngo on and receive more and more, more and more, and will receive one\nafter another until they are crowned Gods, even the sons of God. This\nidea is very consoling. We are now baptizing for the dead, and we are\nsealing for the dead, and if we had a temple prepared we should be\ngiving endowments for the dead--for our fathers, mothers, grandfathers,\ngrandmothers, uncles, aunts, relatives, friends and old associates, the\nhistory of whom we are now getting from our friends in the East. The\nLord is stirring up the hearts of many there, and there is a perfect\nmania with some to trace their genealogies and to get up printed\nrecords of their ancestors. They do not know what they are doing it\nfor, but the Lord is prompting them; and it will continue and run on\nfrom father to father, father to father, until they get the genealogy\nof their forefathers as far as they possibly can. 15:138.\n\nWe want to sacrifice enough to do the will of God in {623} preparing\nto bring up those who have not had the privilege of hearing the Gospel\nwhile in the flesh, for the simple reason that, in the spirit world,\nthey cannot officiate in the ordinances of the house of God. They\nhave passed the ordeals, and are beyond the possibility of personally\nofficiating for the remission of their sins and for their exaltation,\nconsequently they are under the necessity of trusting in their friends,\ntheir children and their children's children to officiate for them,\nthat they may be brought up into the celestial kingdom of God. 18:238.\n\n_\"Saviors on Mount Zion\"_--We have a work to do just as important\nin its sphere as the Savior's work was in its sphere. Our fathers\ncannot be made perfect without us; we cannot be made perfect without\nthem. They have done their work and now sleep. We are now called upon\nto do ours; which is to be the greatest work man ever performed on the\nearth. Millions of our fellow creatures who have lived upon the earth\nand died without a knowledge of the Gospel must be officiated for in\norder that they may inherit eternal life (that is, all that would have\nreceived the Gospel). And we are called upon to enter into this work.\n18:213.\n\nWe are called, as it has been told you, to redeem the nations of the\nearth. The fathers cannot be made perfect without us; we cannot be\nmade perfect without the fathers. There must be this chain in the holy\nPriesthood; it must be welded together from the latest generation that\nlives on the earth back to Father Adam, to bring back all that can be\nsaved and placed where they can receive salvation and a glory in some\nkingdom. This Priesthood has to do it; this Priesthood is for this\npurpose. 13:280.\n\nCan the fathers be saved without us? No. Can we be {624} saved without\nthem? No, and if we do not wake up and cease to long after the things\nof this earth, we will find that we as individuals will go down to\nhell, although the Lord will preserve a people unto himself. Now, we\nare ready to give endowments, do you have any feelings for those who\nhave died without having the Gospel? 18:304.\n\nThe ordinance of sealing must be performed here man to man, and woman\nto man, and children to parents, etc., until the chain of generation\nis made perfect in the sealing ordinances back to Father Adam; hence,\nwe have been commanded to gather ourselves together, to come out from\nBabylon, and sanctify ourselves, and build up the Zion of our God, by\nbuilding cities and temples, redeeming countries from the solitude of\nnature, until the earth is sanctified and prepared for the residence of\nGod and angels. 12:165.\n\nThe doctrines of the Savior reveal and place the believers in\npossession of principles whereby saviors will come upon Mount Zion to\nsave the House of Esau, which is the Gentile nations, from sin and\ndeath,--all except those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost. Men\nand women will enter into the temples of God, and be, in comparison,\npillars there, and officiate year after year for those who have slept\nthousands of years. 6:344.\n\nWhen his Kingdom is established upon the earth, and Zion built up, the\nLord will send his servants as saviors upon Mount Zion. The servants\nof God who have lived on the earth in ages past will reveal where\ndifferent persons have lived who have died without the Gospel, give\ntheir names, and say, \"Now go forth, ye servants of God, and exercise\nyour rights and privileges; go and perform the ordinances of the house\nof God for those who have passed their {625} probation without the\nGospel, and for all who will receive any kind of salvation; bring them\nup to inherit the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial kingdoms,\" and\nprobably many other kingdoms not mentioned in the Scriptures; for every\nperson will receive according to his capacity and according to the\ndeeds done in the body, whether good or bad, much or little. 6:347.\n\nWho will possess the earth and all its fulness? Will it not be those\nwhom the Lord has reserved to this honor? And they will come upon Mount\nZion as saviors to labor through the Millennium to save others. 8:191.\n\nSuppose we are ready to go into the temples of God to officiate for our\nfathers and our grandfathers--for our ancestors back for hundreds of\nyears, who are all looking to see what their children are doing upon\nthe earth. The Lord says, I have sent the keys of Elijah the Prophet--I\nhave imparted that doctrine to turn the hearts of the fathers to the\nchildren, and the hearts of the children to the fathers. Now, all\nyou children, are you looking to the salvation of your fathers? Are\nyou seeking diligently to redeem those that have died without the\nGospel, inasmuch as they sought the Lord Almighty to obtain promises\nfor you? For our fathers did obtain promises that their seed should\nnot be forgotten. O ye children of the fathers, look at these things.\nYou are to enter into the temples of the Lord and officiate for your\nforefathers.\n\nSuppose we are ready to enter into the temple to be baptized and attend\nto the ordinances for one hundred of our best forefathers, and Thomas\nshould say to John, \"John, take this affair and see to it; I want to go\nto this ferry to make a little money;\" or, \"Joseph, you know the names\nof our ancestors better than I do; won't you go and see to {626} their\nsalvation? I have not time myself; I want to build a bridge.\" \"James,\nare you ready to perform your duties for the dead?\" \"No; I want to go\nand keep a grocery.\" And you know the language that is common to such\nplaces; the name of the Lord is blasphemed, and his servants are cursed\nwith bitter oaths.\n\nWhat do you think of it, gentlemen, Elders in Israel? What would money\nhave to do with you, if you were now upon the threshold of eternity,\nand eternity open to you? Would you have the apostasy, as you have\nnow? A little money is more to such persons than the salvation of all\nthe sons and daughters of Adam. I wish I had a voice like ten thousand\nearthquakes, that all the world might hear and know the loving kindness\nof the Lord. 6:296.\n\nWhat is going to be done with them? By and by Zion will be built up;\ntemples are going to be reared, and the holy Priesthood is going to\ntake effect and rule, and every law of Christ will be obeyed, and he\nwill govern and reign King of nations as he now does King of Saints.\nPretty soon you will see temples reared up, and the sons of Jacob will\nenter into the temples of the Lord. What will they do there? They\nwill do a great many things. When you see Zion redeemed and built\nup--when you see the people performing the ordinances of salvation\nfor themselves and for others, (and they will hereafter,) you will\nsee simply this (but I have not time this morning to tell you, only a\nlittle part of it): About the time that the temples of the Lord will\nbe built and Zion is established--pretty nigh this time, you will see\n(those who are faithful enough,) the first you know, there will be\nstrangers in your midst, walking with you, talking with you; they will\nenter into your houses and eat and drink with you, go to meeting with\nyou, and begin {627} to open your minds, as the Savior did the two\ndisciples who walked out in the country in the days of old.\n\nAbout the time the temples are ready, the strangers will be along and\nwill converse with you, and will inquire of you, probably, if you\nunderstand the resurrection of the dead. You might say you have heard\nand read a great deal about it, but you do not properly understand it;\nand they will then open your minds and tell you the principles of the\nresurrection of the dead and how to save your friends; they will point\nout Scriptures in the Old and New Testament, in the Book of Mormon, and\nother revelations of God, saying, \"Don't you recollect reading so and\nso, that saviors should come up on Mount Zion?\" etc., and they will\nexpound the Scriptures to you. You have got your temples ready; now\ngo forth and be baptized for those good people. There are your father\nand your mother--your ancestors for many generations back--the people\nthat have lived upon the face of the earth since the Priesthood was\ntaken away, thousands and millions of them, who have lived according\nto the best light and knowledge in their possession. They will expound\nthe Scriptures to you, and open your minds, and teach you of the\nresurrection of the just and the unjust of the doctrine of salvation,\nthey will use the keys of the holy Priesthood, and unlock the door of\nknowledge, to let you look into the palace of truth. You will exclaim,\nThat is all plain: why did I not understand it before? and you will\nbegin to feel your hearts burn within you, as they walk and talk with\nyou.\n\nYou will enter into the temple of the Lord and begin to offer up\nordinances before the Lord for your dead. Says this or that man, I want\nto save such a person--I want to save my father; and he straightway\ngoes forth in the ordinance {628} of baptism, and is confirmed, and\nwashed, and anointed, and ordained to the blessings of the holy\nPriesthood for his ancestors? Before his work is finished, a great many\nof the Elders of Israel in Mount Zion will become pillars in the temple\nof God, to go no more out. They will eat and drink and sleep there; and\nthey will often have occasion to say, \"Somebody came to the temple last\nnight; we did not know who he was, but he was no doubt a brother, and\ntold us a great many things we did not before understand. He gave us\nthe names of a great many of our forefathers that are not on record,\nand he gave me my true lineage and the names of my forefathers for\nhundreds of years back. He said to me, you and I are connected in one\nfamily; there are the names of your ancestors; take them and write them\ndown, and be baptized and confirmed, and save such and such ones, and\nreceive of the blessings of the eternal Priesthood for such and such\nan individual, as you do for yourselves.\" This is what we are going to\ndo for the inhabitants of the earth. When I look at it, I do not want\nto rest a great deal, but be industrious all the day long; for when\nwe come to think upon it, we have no time to lose, for it is a pretty\nlaborious work. 6:294-5.\n\nThen in the spirit world they will say, \"Do you not see somebody at\nwork for you? The Lord remembers you and has revealed to his servants\non the earth, what to do for you.\" 3:372.\n\nWhen the Lord shall usher in the morning of rest, we may enter into our\nlabors to officiate for our dead friends back to Adam. 6:149.\n\n_Powers of Evil Opposed to Temple Building_--Some say, \"I do not\nlike to do it, for we never began to build a temple without the bells\nof hell beginning to ring.\" I want to hear {629} them ring again. All\nthe tribes of hell will be on the move, if we uncover the walls of this\ntemple. But what do you think it will amount to? You have all the time\nseen what it has amounted to. 8:355-6.\n\n[Image: THE SALT LAKE TEMPLE]\n\nI can say, for my comfort and consolation, and for yours too, that we\ndid build two temples, and commenced another. We completed a temple in\nKirtland and in Nauvoo; and did not the bells of hell toll all the time\nwe were building them? They did, every week and every day. 8:356.\n\n_The Salt Lake Temple_--This I do know--there should be a temple\nbuilt here. I do know it is the duty of this people to commence to\nbuild a temple. Now, some will want to know what kind of a building\nit will be. Wait patiently, brethren, until it is done, and put forth\nyour hands willingly to finish it. I know what it will be. I scarcely\never say much about revelations, or visions, but suffice it to say,\nfive years ago last July I was here, and saw in the spirit the temple\nnot ten feet from where we have laid the chief cornerstone. I have not\ninquired what kind of a temple we should build. Why? Because it was\nrepresented before me. I have never looked upon that ground, but the\nvision of it was there. I see it as plainly as if it was in reality\nbefore me. Wait until it is done. I will say, however, that it will\nhave six towers, to begin with, instead of one. Now do not any of you\napostatize because it will have six towers, and Joseph only built one.\nIt is easier for us to build sixteen, than it was for him to build one.\nThe time will come when there will be one in the centre of temples we\nshall build, and, on the top, groves and fish ponds. But we shall not\nsee them here, at present. 1:132.\n\nI have determined, by the help of the Lord and this people, to build\nhim a house. You may ask, \"Will he dwell {630} in it?\" He may do just\nas he pleases; it is not my prerogative to dictate to the Lord. But we\nwill build him a house, that, if he pleases to pay us a visit, he may\nhave a place to dwell in, or if he should send any of his servants, we\nmay have suitable accommodations for them. I have built myself a house,\nand the most of you have done the same, and now, shall we not build the\nLord a house? 1:376.\n\n\"Does the Lord require the building of a temple at our hands?\" I can\nsay that he requires it just as much as ever he required one to be\nbuilt elsewhere. If you should ask, \"Brother Brigham, have you any\nknowledge concerning this; have you ever had a revelation from heaven\nupon it?\" I can answer truly, it is before me all the time, not only\ntoday, but it was almost five years ago, when we were on this ground,\nlooking for locations, sending our scouting parties through the\ncountry, to the right and to the left, to the north and the south, to\nthe east and the west; before we had any returns from any of them, I\nknew, just as well as I now know, that this was the ground on which to\nerect a temple--it was before me. 1:277.\n\nWe shall attempt to build a temple to the name of our God. This has\nbeen attempted several times, but we have never yet had the privilege\nof completing and enjoying one. Perhaps we may in this place, but if,\nin the providence of God, we should not, it is all the same. It is\nfor us to do those things which the Lord requires at our hands, and\nleave the result with him. It is for us to labor with a cheerful good\nwill; and if we build a temple that is worth a million of money, and\nit requires all our time and means, we should leave it with cheerful\nhearts, if the Lord in his providence tells us so to do. If the Lord\npermits our enemies to drive us from it, why, we should abandon it with\nas much {631} cheerfulness of heart as we ever enjoy a blessing. It is\nno matter to us what the Lord does, or how he disposes of the labor of\nhis servants. But when he commands, it is for his people to obey. We\nshould be as cheerful in building this temple, if we knew beforehand\nthat we should never enter into it when it was finished, as we would\nthough we knew we were to live here a thousand years to enjoy it. 1:277.\n\nI want this temple that we are now building to the name of our God, to\nstand for all time to come as a monument of the industry, faithfulness,\nfaith, and integrity of the Latter-day Saints who were driven into\nthe mountains. I want to see the temple finished as soon as it is\nreasonable and practicable. Whether we go in there to work or not\nmakes no difference; I am perfectly willing to finish it to the last\nleaf of gold that shall be laid upon it, and to the last lock that\nshould be put on the doors, and then lock every door, and there let it\nstand until the earth can rest before the Saints commence their labors\nthere. They receive more in the house of the Lord now than is their\ndue. Our brethren and sisters, baptized three, four, or six months ago,\ngo and get their endowments, the sealing blessings for all eternity,\nthe highest that can be conferred upon them, yet how lightly they are\ntreated! Many do not consider, they do not realize these things. They\nhave not the spirit of revelation, they do not live for it, hence they\ndo not see these things in their proper light, and we are not in such a\nhurry as many think we ought to be. 11:372.\n\nThe temple will be for the endowments--for the organization and\ninstruction of the Priesthood. If you want to build a temple on these\nconditions, you can have the privilege. But I never again want to see\none built to go into the hands of the wicked. I have asked my Father\nto give me {632} power to build a temple on this block, but not until\nI can forever maintain my rights in it. I would rather see it burnt\nthan to see it go into the hands of devils. I was thankful to see the\ntemple in Nauvoo on fire. Previous to crossing the Mississippi river,\nwe had met in that temple and handed it over to the Lord God of Israel;\nand when I saw the flames, I said, \"Good, Father, if you want it to be\nburned up.\" I hoped to see it burned before I left, but I did not. I\nwas glad when I heard of its being destroyed by fire, and of the walls\nhaving fallen in, and said, \"Hell, you cannot now occupy it.\" When\nthe temple is built here, I want to maintain it for the use of the\nPriesthood; if this cannot be, I would rather not see it built, but go\ninto the mountains and administer there in the ordinances of the holy\nPriesthood, which is our right and privilege. I would rather do this\nthan to build a temple for the wicked to trample under their feet.\n8:203.\n\n_Address at the Laying of the Cornerstone of the Salt Lake\nTemple_--This morning we have assembled on one of the most solemn,\ninteresting, joyful, and glorious occasions that ever have transpired,\nor will transpire among the children of men, while the earth continues\nin its present organization, and is occupied for its present purposes.\nAnd I congratulate my brethren and sisters that it is our unspeakable\nprivilege to stand here this day, and minister before the Lord on an\noccasion which has caused the tongues and pens of Prophets to speak and\nwrite for many scores of centuries which are past.\n\nWhen the Lord Jesus Christ tabernacled in the flesh--when he had left\nthe most exalted regions of his Father's glory, to suffer and shed his\nblood for sinning, fallen creatures, like ourselves, and the people\ncrowded around him, {633} a certain man said unto him, \"Master, I will\nfollow thee withersoever thou goest.\" Jesus said unto him, \"Foxes have\nholes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath\nnowhere to lay his head.\" And we find no record that this man followed\nhim any farther.\n\nWhy had not the Son of Man where to lay his head? Because his Father\nhad no house upon the earth--none dedicated to him, and preserved for\nhis exclusive use, and the benefit of his obedient children.\n\nThe Ark containing the covenant--or the Ark of the Covenant in the days\nof Moses, containing the sacred records, was moved from place to place\nin a cart. And so sacred was that Ark, if a man stretched forth his\nhand to steady it, when the cart jostled, he was smitten, and died.\nAnd would to God that all who attempt to do the same in this day,\nfiguratively speaking, might share the same fate. And they will share\nit sooner or later, if they do not keep their hands, and tongues, too,\nin their proper places, and stop dictating the order of the Gods of the\nEternal Worlds.\n\nWhen the Ark of the Covenant rested, or when the Children of Israel had\nan opportunity to rest (for they were mobbed and harrassed somewhat\nlike the Latter-day Saints), the Lord, through Moses, commanded a\ntabernacle to be built, wherein should rest and be stationed, the Ark\nof the Covenant. And particular instructions were given by revelation\nto Moses, how every part of said tabernacle should be constructed,\neven to the curtains--the number thereof, and of what they should be\nmade; and the covering, and the wood for the boards, and for the bars,\nand the court, and the pins, and the vessels, and the furniture, and\neverything pertaining to the tabernacle. Why did Moses need such a\nparticular revelation to build a tabernacle? Because {634} he had never\nseen one, and did not know how to build it without revelation, without\na pattern.\n\nThus the Ark of the Covenant continued until the days of David, King of\nIsrael, standing or occupying a tabernacle, or tent. But to David, God\ngave commandment that he should make preparation for a house, wherein\nhe, himself, might dwell, or which he might visit, and in which he\nmight commune with his servants when he pleased.\n\nFrom the day the Children of Israel were led out of Egypt to the days\nof Solomon, Jehovah had no resting place upon the earth (and for how\nlong a period before that day, the history is unpublished), but walked\nin a tent or tabernacle, before the Ark, as it seemed him good, having\nno place to lay his head.\n\nDavid was not permitted to build the house which the Lord told him\nshould be built, because he was a \"man of blood,\" that is, he was\nbeset by enemies on every hand, and had to spend his days in war and\nbloodshed to save Israel (much as the Latter-day Saints have done, only\nhe had the privilege of defending himself and the people from mobocrats\nand murderers, while we have hitherto been denied that privilege),\nand, consequently, he had no time to build a house unto the Lord, but,\ncommanded his son Solomon, who succeeded him on the throne, to erect\nthe temple at Jerusalem, which God had required at his hands.\n\nThe pattern of this temple, the length and breadth, and height of the\ninner and outer courts, with all the fixtures thereunto appertaining,\nwere given to Solomon by revelation, through the proper source. And why\nwas this revelation-pattern necessary? Because Solomon had never built\na temple, and did not know what was necessary in the {635} arrangement\nof the different apartments, any better than Moses did what was needed\nin the tabernacle.\n\nThis temple, called Solomon's temple, because Solomon was the master\nworkman, was completed some time previous to the appearance of the Son\nof Man on the earth, in the form of the babe of Bethlehem, and had been\ndedicated as the house of the Lord, and accepted as a finished work by\nthe Father, who commanded it to be built, that his Son might have a\nresting place on the earth, when he should enter on his mission.\n\nWhy, then, did Jesus exclaim to the man who volunteered to follow him\nwheresoever he went, that \"the Son of Man hath not where to lay his\nhead?\" Jesus knew the pretended saint and follower to be a hypocrite,\nand that if he told him plainly that he would not fare as well as the\nbirds and foxes, he would leave him at once, and that would save him\nmuch trouble.\n\nBut how could Jesus' saying, that he had \"not where to lay his head,\"\nbe true? Because the house which the Father had commanded to be built\nfor his reception, although completed, had become polluted, and hence\nthe saying, \"My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made it\na den of thieves,\" and he made a scourge of cords, and drove the\nmoney-changers, and dove-sellers, and faro-gamblers, all out of his\nhouse, and overthrew their tables; but that did not purify the house,\nso that he could not sleep in it, for an holy thing dwelleth not in an\nunholy temple.\n\nIf Jesus could not lay his head in an unholy, polluted temple, how can\nthe Latter-day Saints expect that the Holy Spirit will take and abide\nits residence with them, in their tabernacles and temples of clay,\nunless they keep themselves pure, spotless, and undefiled? {636}\n\nIt is no wonder that the Son of Man, soon after his resurrection from\nthe tomb, ascended to his Father, for he had no place on earth to lay\nhis head; his house still remaining in the possession of his enemies,\nso that no one had the privilege of purifying it, if they had the\ndisposition, and otherwise the power, to do it; and the occupants\nthereof were professors in name, but hypocrites and apostates, from\nwhom no good thing can be expected.\n\nSoon after the ascension of Jesus, through mobocracy, martyrdom, and\napostasy, the Church of Christ became extinct from the earth, the Man\nChild,--the Holy Priesthood, was received up into heaven from whence it\ncame, and we hear no more of it on the earth, until the angels restored\nit to Joseph Smith, by whose ministry the Church of Jesus Christ was\nrestored, reorganized on earth, twenty-three years ago this day, with\nthe title of Latter-day Saints to distinguish them from the Former-day\nSaints.\n\nSoon after, the Church, through our beloved Prophet Joseph, was\ncommanded to build a temple to the Most High, in Kirtland, Ohio. Joseph\nnot only received revelation and commandment to build a temple, but he\nreceived a pattern also, as did Moses for the tabernacle, and Solomon\nfor his temple; for without a pattern, he could not know what was\nwanted, having never seen one, and not having experienced its use.\n\nWithout revelation, Joseph could not know what was wanted, any more\nthan any other man, and, without commandment, the Church were too few\nin number, too weak in faith, and too poor in purse, to attempt such a\nmighty enterprise. But by means of all these stimulants, a mere handful\nof men, living on air, and a little hominy and milk, and often salt or\nno salt, when milk could not be had; the great {637} Prophet Joseph,\nin the stone quarry, quarrying rock with his own hands; and the few\nthen in the Church, following his example of obedience and diligence\nwherever most needed; with laborers on the walls, holding the sword\nin one hand to protect themselves from the mob, while they placed the\nstone and moved the trowel with the other, the Kirtland temple--the\nsecond house of the Lord, that we have any published record of on the\nearth, was so far completed as to be dedicated. And those first Elders\nwho helped to build it, received a portion of their first endowments,\nor we might say more clearly, some of the first, or introductory, or\ninitiatory ordinances, preparatory to an endowment.\n\nThe preparatory ordinances there administered, though accompanied by\nthe ministrations of angels, and the presence of the Lord Jesus, were\nbut a faint similitude of the ordinances of the house of the Lord in\ntheir fulness; yet many, through the instigation of the Devil, thought\nthey had received all, and knew as much as God; they have apostatized,\nand gone to hell. But be assured, brethren, there are but few, very few\nof the Elders of Israel, now on earth, who know the meaning of the word\nendowment. To know, they must experience; and to experience, a temple\nmust be built.\n\nLet me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive\nall those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for\nyou, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to\nthe presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels,\nbeing enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens,\npertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in\nspite of earth and hell. {638}\n\nWho has received and understands such an endowment, in this assembly?\nYou need not answer. Your voices would be few and far between, yet the\nkeys to these endowments are among you, and thousands have received\nthem, so that the Devil, with all his aids, need not suppose he can\nagain destroy the holy Priesthood from the earth, by killing a few, for\nhe cannot do it. God has set his hand, for the last time, to redeem his\npeople, the honest in heart, and Lucifer cannot hinder him.\n\nBefore these endowments could be given at Kirtland, the Saints had to\nflee before mobocracy. And, by toil and daily labor, they found places\nin Missouri, where they laid the cornerstones of temples, in Zion and\nher stakes, and then had to retreat to Illinois, to save the lives of\nthose who could get away alive from Missouri, where fell the Apostle\nDavid W. Patten, with many like associates, and where were imprisoned\nin loathsome dungeons, Joseph and Hyrum, and many others. But before\nall this had transpired, the temple at Kirtland had fallen into the\nhands of wicked men, and by them been polluted, like the temple at\nJerusalem, and consequently it was disowned by the Father and the Son.\n\nAt Nauvoo, Joseph dedicated another temple, the third on record. He\nknew what was wanted, for he had previously given most of the prominent\nindividuals then before him their endowment. He needed no revelation\nthen, of a thing he had long experienced, any more than those now do,\nwho have experienced the same things. It is only where experience\nfails, that revelation is needed.\n\nBefore the Nauvoo temple was completed, Joseph was murdered--murdered\nat sun light, under the protection of the most noble Government that\nthen existed, and that now {639} exists, on our earth. Has his blood\nbeen atoned for? No! And why? A martyr's blood to true religion was\nnever atoned for on our earth. No man, or nation of men, without the\nPriesthood, has power to make atonement for such sins. The souls of all\nsuch, since the days of Jesus, are \"under the altar,\" and are crying\nto God, day and night, for vengeance. And shall they cry in vain? God\nforbid! He has promised he will hear them in his own due time, and\nrecompense a righteous reward.\n\nBut what of the temple in Nauvoo? By the aid of sword in one hand, and\ntrowel and hammer in the other, with fire arms at hand, and a strong\nband of police, and the blessings of heaven, the Saints, through\nhunger, and thirst, and weariness, and watchings, and prayings, so\nfar completed the temple, despite the devices of the mob, that many\nreceived a small portion of their endowment, but we know of no one who\nreceived it in its fulness. And then, to save the lives of all the\nSaints from cruel murder, we removed westward, and being led by the\nall-searching eye of the great Jehovah, we arrived at this place.\n\nOf our journey hither, we need say nothing, only, God led us. Of the\nsufferings of those who were compelled to, and did, leave Nauvoo in the\nwinter of 1846, we need say nothing. Those who experienced it know it,\nand those who did not, to tell them of it would be like exhibiting a\nbeautiful painting to a blind man.\n\nWe will not stop to tell you of the sufferings of widows and orphans\non Omaha lands, while their husbands and fathers were traversing the\nburning plains of the south, to fight the battles of a country which\nhad banished them from civilization, for they secured the land on which\nwe dwell, from our Nation's foe, exposed the gold of California, {640}\nand turned the world upside down. All these things are before you, you\nknow them, and we need not repeat them.\n\nWhile these things were transpiring with the Saints in the wilderness,\nthe temple at Nauvoo passed into the hands of the enemy, who polluted\nit to that extent the Lord not only ceased to occupy it, but he\nloathed to have it called by his name, and permitted the wrath of its\npossessors to purify it by fire, as a token of what will speedily fall\nupon them and their habitations unless they repent.\n\nBut what are we here for, this day? To celebrate the birthday of our\nreligion! To lay the foundation of a temple to the Most High God, so\nthat when his Son, our Elder Brother, shall again appear, he may have a\nplace where he can lay his head, and not only spend a night or a day,\nbut find a place of peace, that he may stay till he can say, \"I am\nsatisfied.\"\n\nBrethren, shall the Son of Man be satisfied with our proceedings this\nday? Shall we have a house on the earth which he can call his own?\nShall we have a place where he can lay his head, and rest over night,\nand tarry as long as he pleases, and be satisfied and pleased with his\naccommodations?\n\nThese are questions for you to answer. If you say yes, you have got to\ndo the work, or it will not be done. We do not want any whiners about\nthis temple. If you cannot commence cheerfully, and go through the\nlabor of the whole building cheerfully, start for California, and the\nquicker the better. Make you a golden calf, and worship it. If your\ncare for the ordinances of salvation, for yourselves, your living, and\ndead, is not first and foremost in your hearts, in your actions, and in\neverything you possess, go! Pay your debts, if you have any, and go in\npeace, and prove {641} to God and all his Saints that you are what you\nprofess to be, by your acts.\n\nBut if you are what you profess to be, do your duty--stay with the\nSaints, pay your tithing, and be prompt in paying, as you are in\nfeeding your family; and the temple, of which we have now laid the\nsoutheast corner stone, will arise in beauty and grandeur, in a manner\nand time which you have not hitherto known or contemplated.\n\nThe Saints of these valleys have grown in riches, and abundance of the\ncomforts of life, in a manner hitherto unparalleled on the page of\nhistory, and if they will do by their Heavenly Father as he has done\nby them, soon will this temple be inclosed. But if you go in for a\nspeculation with passers by, as many have hitherto done, you will not\nlive to see the topstone of this temple laid; and your labors and toils\nfor yourselves and friends, dead and alive, will be worse than though\nyou had no existence.\n\nWe dedicate this, the southeast corner stone of this temple, to the\nMost High God. May it remain in peace till it has done its work, and\nuntil he who has inspired our hearts to fulfil the prophecies of his\nholy Prophets, that the house of the Lord should be reared in the \"Tops\nof the Mountains\" shall be satisfied, and say, \"It is enough.\" And\nmay every tongue, pen, and weapon, that may rise against this or any\nother corner stone of this building, feel the wrath and scourging of an\nincensed God! May sinners in Zion be afraid, and fearfulness surprise\nthe hypocrite, from this hour. And may all who do not feel to say Amen,\ngo speedily to that long night, of rest from which no sleeper will\nawake, till roused by the trump of the second resurrection. 2:29-33.\n\n_St. George Temple_--Now we have a temple which will {642} all\nbe finished in a few days, and of which there is enough completed to\ncommence work therein, which has not been done since the days of Adam,\nthat we have any knowledge of. 18:304.\n\nWe have dedicated this spot of ground upon which we expect to erect\na temple in which to administer the ordinances of the House of God.\nInto this house, when it is completed, we expect to enter to enjoy the\nblessings of the Priesthood, and receive our washings, our anointings,\nour endowments, and our sealings; and the brethren will be sealed to\nbrethren to connect the links and make perfect the chain from ourselves\nto Father Adam: This is the object of the temple which we are about to\ncommence building at this place. 19:33.\n\nNever have I seen to so great an extent that willingness to labor\nfor the cause of righteousness, which was witnessed in the temple at\nSt. George last winter. The Spirit of God pervaded the hearts of the\nbrethren and sisters, and how willing they were to labor! This work\nwill continue, and the brethren and sisters will go into the temples of\nthe Lord, to officiate for those who have died without the Gospel from\nthe days of Father Adam to the winding up scene, until every one is\nofficiated for; who can or will receive the Gospel so that all may have\nthe opportunity and privileges of life and salvation.\n\nDon't you think we have a work to perform? Yes, and it will take a\nthousand years to accomplish it. In the temple last winter the brethren\nand sisters enjoyed themselves the best that they ever did in their\nlives. So they said. And our children, just old enough to work, how\nhappy they were! They would exclaim, \"I never knew anything about\n'Mormonism' before!\" If you were in the temple {643} of God working for\nthe living and the dead, your eyes and hearts would not be after the\nfashions of the world, nor the wealth of the world. Yet the whole of\nthis world's wealth belongs to the Lord, and he can give to whomsoever\nhe pleases. 19:45.\n\nI am aware that you wish to hear something of our labors in the south.\nI will say that we have had a blessed time, such a time as no other\npeople on the earth have enjoyed for many centuries, that we have\nany knowledge of. We have been permitted to enjoy privileges for the\npossession of which we have been striving and laboring for many years.\nFor almost half a century we have been exerting ourselves that we might\nhave the privilege of entering into a temple of God, there to officiate\nand receive the ordinances of his holy house, both for ourselves and\nfor our friends that have slept without the Gospel. This privilege and\nblessing we have not enjoyed until within a very few months past. The\nfeeling experienced by those who have participated in the blessings\nadministered in the temple is something which cannot be described to\nyour understanding. Those only who have shared with us in the temple\nordinances know for themselves the satisfaction there is in realizing\nthat we are indeed co-workers with our Lord and Savior; that we bear a\nhumble part in the great work of salvation; that we have the privilege\nof receiving and obeying the truth, and of securing to ourselves that\nhappiness which the Gospel alone affords; and not only of performing\nthese ordinances for ourselves, but of doing the necessary work for\nour parents and forefathers who have slept without the Gospel, that\nthey may partake also of the waters of life, and be judged according\nto men in the flesh. This is a privilege, a blessing, which no one can\nsense unless {644} he is in possession of it. We are happy to know by\nour faith and feelings through the spirit of revelation within us that\nour labors have been accepted of the Lord. We have enjoyed ourselves\nexceedingly in the society of each other; the aged, the middle-aged and\nthe youth have rejoiced and been made glad in this glorious work. 19:1.\n\n\"We are now prepared to attend to baptizing and giving endowments, and\nshall appoint Tuesdays and Wednesdays for baptisms, and Thursdays and\nFridays for endowments and sealings, as a standing appointment for the\npresent.\" 18:305.\n\nI am so thankful we have completed our temple, it is the greatest\nblessing that could be bestowed upon us. I know of nothing that could\nequal it. But we are not satisfied with this one, we must hurry the\nbuilding of another one, and thus another one and so on, and perform\nthe great work therein that is required at our hands. 19:222.\n\nWe enjoy privileges that are enjoyed by no one else on the face of the\nearth. Suppose we were awake to this thing, namely, the salvation of\nthe-human family, this house would be crowded, as we hope it will be,\nfrom Monday morning until Saturday night. This house (St. George) was\nbuilt here in this place purposely, where it is warm and pleasant in\nthe winter time, and comfortable to work, also for the Lamanites, and\nalso those coming from the south, and other places to receive their\nendowments, and other blessings, 18:304. {645}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII\n\n_MAN'S SEARCH FOR TRUTH AND SALVATION_\n\n_Man Desires Salvation_--Honest hearts, the world over, desire to\nknow the right way. They have sought for it, and still seek it. There\nhave been people upon the earth all the time who sought diligently\nwith all their hearts to know the ways of the Lord. Those individuals\nhave produced good, inasmuch as they had the ability. And to believe\nthat there has been no virtue, no truth, no good upon the earth for\ncenturies, until the Lord revealed the Priesthood through Joseph the\nProphet, I shall say is wrong. There has been more or less virtue and\nrighteousness upon the earth at all times from the days of Adam until\nnow. That we all believe. 6:170.\n\nUntil they sin away the day of grace, there is something in all persons\nthat would delight to rise up and reject the evil and embrace the\ntruth. There is not a person on the earth so vile but, when he looks\ninto his own heart, honors the man of God and the woman of God--the\nvirtuous and holy--and despises his comrades in iniquity who are like\nhimself. There is not a man upon the earth, this side of saving grace,\nunless he has sinned so far that the Spirit of the Lord has ceased to\nstrive with him and enlighten his mind, but delights in the good, in\nthe truth, and in the virtuous. 8:326.\n\nReflect for a moment upon the sensitive faculty implanted within us. We\nknow when we touch anything with our hands. When we discern an object\nwith our eyes, we know that we see. How do we know? By a principle\ncommon to all intelligent beings--by the sensations God has {646}\nplaced within us. Were it not for this, the eye could not see, nor\nsensation be communicated by touch. Were it not for the intelligent\nprinciple God has placed within us, we could neither feel, see, hear,\ntaste, nor smell.\n\nIt is recorded that some have eyes to see, and see not; ears to hear,\nand hear not; hearts have they, but they understand not. You who are\nspiritually-minded, who have the visions of your minds opened--have\nstudied yourselves, your organizations, the power by which you have\nbeen organized, and the influences that act upon you, can understand\nthat the power that has given you physical sensation is the power of\nthe same God that gives you understanding of the truth. The latter\npower is inward. My inward eyes see, my inward hands handle, my inward\ntaste tastes of the word of God. The Apostle used this language. He\nspoke of tasting the good word of God and the powers of the world to\ncome. Do you taste? Yes, by the sensations God has planted within you.\nThousands and thousands know, by their inward and invisible sensation,\nthings that have been, things that are, and things that are in the\nfuture, as well as they know the color of a piece of cloth by means of\ntheir outward or physical vision. When this inner light is taken from\nthem, they become darker than they were before, they cannot understand,\nand turn away from the things of God. 8:41.\n\nDescend from the busy, wealth-seeking middle classes, to the humbler\ngrade of society, and follow them in their various Occupations and\npursuits, and each one of them 1s seeking earnestly that which he\nimagines to be salvation. The poor, ragged, trembling mendicant, who\nis forced by hunger and cold to drag his feeble body from under some\ntemporary shelter, to seek a bit of bread, or a coin from his {647}\nmore fortunate fellow-mortal, if he can only obtain a few crusts of\nbread to satisfy the hunger-worm that gnaws his vitals, and a few\ncoppers to pay his lodgings, he has attained to the summit of his\nexpectations, to what he sought for--salvation, and he is comparatively\nhappy, but his happiness vanishes with the shades of night, and his\nmisery comes with the morning light. From the match-maker up to the\ntradesman, all have an end in view, which they suppose will bring\nto them salvation. King, courtier, commanders, officers, and common\nsoldiers, the commodore, and sailor before the mast, the fair-skinned\nChristian, and the dark-skinned savage, all, in their respective grades\nand spheres of action, have a certain point in view, which, if they can\nobtain, they suppose will put them in possession of salvation. 1:1.\n\n_Humanity Loves Truth and Righteousness_--What would satisfy the\nchildren of men, if they had it in their possession? Only truth and the\ntrue principles and conduct flowing from its observance. True, certain\nclasses of the inhabitants of the earth are pretty well satisfied with\nthemselves, through their researches in the philosophies of the day;\nand yet they are not fully satisfied. What will satisfy us? If we\nunderstood all principles and powers that are, that have been, and that\nare to come, and had wisdom sufficient to control powers and elements\nwith which we are associated, perhaps we would then be satisfied. If\nthis will not satisfy the human mind, there is nothing that will. 7:2.\n\nThe spirit which inhabits these tabernacles naturally loves truth, it\nnaturally loves light and intelligence, it naturally loves virtue,\nGod and godliness; but being so closely united with the flesh their\nsympathies are blended, {648} and their union being necessary to the\npossession of a fulness of joy to both, the spirit is indeed subject\nto be influenced by the sin that is in the mortal body, and to be\novercome by it and by the power of the Devil, unless it is constantly\nenlightened by that spirit which enlighteneth every man that cometh\ninto the world, and by the power of the Holy Ghost which is imparted\nthrough the Gospel. In this, and this alone, consists the warfare\nbetween Christ and the Devil. 11:237.\n\nThe greater portion of the inhabitants of the earth are inclined to\ndo right. That is true. There is a monitor in every person that would\nreign there triumphantly, if permitted so to do, and lead to truth and\nvirtue. 8:320.\n\nAs to the mortals of the world, I have said it a great many times\nand still say that there are just as good men and women on the earth\nin other societies and communities as we have here, as far as they\nunderstand; and we are after such ones. 12:326.\n\nThere are as honest men in other churches as there are in ours. 8:357.\n\n_Human Family Alike in Sentiments_--In reality, the inhabitants\nof the earth do not vary so much in their sentiments as they do in\nthe explaining of them to each other. This I have good reason to\nbelieve; when feelings and ideas are explained, people vary more in\nlanguage than in sentiment, yet they differ widely in their sentiments,\nfeelings, customs, habits, and manner of life. 1:74.\n\nWhen we see and comprehend things in the spirit, we oftimes realize an\nutter inability to simplify and tell them in our language, to others;\nthough we may receive principles, and convey the same to others, to\nsome extent. It would be a great consolation to me, inasmuch as faith\ncomes {649} by hearing the word of God, if I had language to express\nmy feelings. No man can tell all that he can see in the spirit, when\nthe vision of the spirit is upon him. He can see and understand in the\nspirit only. He cannot tell it, yet many things may be given, in part,\nto others. 1:115.\n\n_A Variety of Human Gifts_--I am sensible that people are not\ngifted and capacitated alike. There is not that depth of understanding\nand intensity of thought in some that there is in others, neither is\nthere the same scope of perception. Some are quick to apprehend, while\nothers are slow. 6:93.\n\nWe all enjoy the power of sight, but how differently we look at and\ncomprehend things! And we are very much like the people who have lived\nbefore us. We are a strange and curious composition--no two alike.\nOf all the faces before me this afternoon there are no two alike. We\nmight possibly find those whose judgment would be pretty much alike on\nvarious subjects, still there are no two whose judgments are precisely\nthe same. Human life is a great stage, and it contains a very great\nvariety of scenes and scenery, of thought and of action. 16:23.\n\nThere is quite a diversity in men as to their capacity for learning,\nand also in regard to retaining what they learn. Some comprehend their\nlessons quickly, while others are not so gifted. I have also noticed\nthat some children commit their lessons quickly and well; but ask them\nthe meaning and intent of what they have committed, and they cannot\nanswer you; while others pay more attention to the intent and meaning\nof what they learn. Such is the case with all persons, no matter what\ntheir age; and some are capacitated to receive more and faster than\nothers. 8:158.\n\nLet the people bring out their talents, and have the variety within\nthem brought forth and made manifest so {650} that we can behold it,\nlike the variety in the works of nature. See the variety God has\ncreated--no two trees alike, no two leaves, no two spears of grass\nalike. The same variety that we see in all the works of God, that we\nsee in the features, visages and forms, exists in the spirits of men.\nNow let us develop the variety within us, and show to the world that\nwe have talent and taste, and prove to the heavens that our minds are\nset on beauty and true excellence, so that we can become worthy to\nenjoy the society of angels, and raise ourselves above the level of the\nwicked world and begin to increase in faith, and the power that God\nhas given us, and so show to the world an example worthy of imitation.\n11:305.\n\n_Man's Powers are Limited_--The inhabitants of the earth have the\npleasure of performing the labors they list to do, but they have never\nenjoyed the privilege of controlling the results of their labors, and\nnever will until they are crowned with glory, immortality and eternal\nlives. We have the privilege of going to the gold mines, or staying at\nhome; of serving God, or not serving him; but the result of our acts is\nnot in our hands, it is in the hands of our Father and God. So it is\nwith individuals, with neighborhoods, with communities, and with the\nnations of the earth. 10:331.\n\nIf the Latter-day Saints and all the world understood the philosophy\nof their own being, they would bow in humble reverence to him who is\nthe Author of our being and the Author of all wisdom and all knowledge\nknown among the children of men. It is very little comparatively\nthat we do know, and but very little we can really comprehend. It is\nbelieved that our scientists and philosophers are very far advanced,\nand that wonderful progress has been made {651} in the nineteenth\ncentury; but notwithstanding all the knowledge and power of philosophy\nwhich so distinguish our age, who among our most learned can create\nas simple a thing as a spear of grass, or the leaf of a tree? No one;\nthis can only be done through the natural process; no one can organize\nthe simplest particle of element independent of the laws of nature.\nWhen the philosopher of the age reaches that perfection that one can\nwaft himself to the moon or to the North star, or to any other of the\nfixed stars, and be there in an instant, in the same manner that Jesus\ndid when he ascended to the Father in heaven and returned to the earth\nagain, then we may begin to think we know a little. When we shall\npossess the power and knowledge to cause heavenly planets to take their\nposition, giving them their laws and boundaries which they must obey,\nand which they cannot pass, then we may begin to feel that we possess a\nlittle wisdom and power. 18:259.\n\nIf I look through my telescope, and my friends inquire how far I\ncan see, I tell them I can see anything in sight, no matter how far\nfrom me the object may be; but I cannot see anything out of sight,\nor that which is beyond the power of the instrument. So it is in the\nintellectual faculties of mankind; it is easy for them to see that\nwhich is before their eyes, but when the object is out of sight, it is\na difficult matter for them to see it; and they are at a loss how to\nform an estimate of it, or what position to put themselves in, so as to\nsee the object they desire to see. 1:351.\n\nThere is but a hair's breadth between the vulgar and sublime. There is\nbut a hair's breadth between the depths pot infidelity and the heights\nof the faith of the Gods. Man is here like a feather trembling between\nthe two, liable continually to be operated upon by the power of the\nenemy; {652} and it is through that power that the children of men are\nmade to doubt the evidences of their own senses, when, at the same\ntime, if they would reflect for a moment and listen to the intelligence\nwhich God has placed within them, they would know, when they saw what\nis termed a miracle, the power by which it is wrought; they would know\nwhen they have seen with their eyes and felt with their hands, or when\nthey have had a heavenly vision. 7:163-164.\n\n_Man Must Have Confidence in Himself_--We must be ourselves. 3:365.\n\nThere are a great many men who know but little about what they can do,\nand there are a great many women that never consider what they can\nperform; people do not fully reflect upon their own acts, upon their\nown ability, and therefore do not understand what they are capable of\ndoing. 4:101.\n\nIt is not for any man to think he is a cipher--that what he can do will\nnot tell in this matter, and say, \"They will get along well enough\nwithout me.\" 1:53.\n\nWhen a person is thinking all the time he is little better than a\nmachine, he perverts the purpose of his organization, and injures both\nmind and body. Why? Because the mental labor does not find vent through\nthe organism of the tabernacle, and has not that scope--that field of\nlabor which it desires, and which it was wisely designed that it should\nhave. Think according to your labor, labor according to your thinking.\n3:248.\n\n_Man Always Dependent_--Shall we ever see the time we shall be\nperfectly independent of every other being in all the eternities? No;\nwe shall never see that time. Many have fallen on as simple ground as\nthis, and were I to use Western term, I would say, \"They were troubled\nwith a big {653} head.\" Such persons think they have power to do this,\nthat, and the other, but they are left to themselves, and the Lord\nloves to show them they have no power. 1:338.\n\n_We Must Fight Our Battles_--But some may say, \"I have faith-the\nLord will turn them away.\" What ground have we to hope this? Have I any\ngood reason to say to my Father in Heaven, \"Fight my battles,\" when he\nhas given me the sword to wield, the arm and the brain that I can fight\nfor myself? Can I ask him to fight my battles and sit quietly down\nwaiting for him to do so? I cannot. I can pray the people to hearken to\nwisdom, to listen to counsel; but to ask God to do for me that which I\ncan do for myself is preposterous to my mind. 12:240-1.\n\n_How to Know Oneself_--No man can know himself unless he knows\nGod, and he cannot know God unless he knows himself. 16:75.\n\nOur Good Character Must Be Cherished--When a man by his course in life\nhas acquired a character that is spotless, it is a priceless jewel, and\nnothing should induce him to barter it away. If the wicked try to bring\na blemish or cast a stain upon it their efforts will not be successful.\nThey may throw their mud, but it will not stain the garments of the\npure and holy. 13:218.\n\n\"Are our characters our own?\" We may say, \"Yes, we form these\ncharacters.\" Suppose that we are fortunate enough to form a good,\nhonest character in the minds and in the faith of those who are\nacquainted with us, do not those characters belong to our neighbors,\nalthough we may be the framers of them? And I would like to ask, have\nwe the right to destroy them? It is a serious question with me. If we\nhave confidence in each other, and our conduct has been such that we\nhave created confidence in the feelings of {654} our neighbors toward\nus, have we a right to destroy that confidence? Is it not sacrilege? I\nwill simply reply by giving my views with regard to myself. According\nto the knowledge which I possess it is a great deal easier for an\nindividual to preserve a good character than to frame and make one if\nit is lost. It is much easier to keep a fort when it is well armed and\ndefended than to give it into the hands of the enemy and then regain\nit. Consequently, we had better keep our characters, if they are good,\nthan to suffer the enemy to rob us of them. 14:277.\n\n_The Need of Leaders_--The whole world are sadly in want of what\nthey call a master-spirit. 6:44.\n\nWhen I say rule, I do not mean with an iron hand, but merely to take\nthe lead--to lead them in the path I wish them to walk in. They may be\ndetermined not to answer my will, but they are doing it all the time\nwithout knowing it. 9:195.\n\nIt is not every man that is capable of filling every station, though\nthere is no man but what is capable of filling his proper station, and\nthat, too, with dignity and honor to himself. When you find a person\nthat is capable of receiving light and wisdom, one that can descend to\nthe capacity of the weakest of the weak, and can comprehend the highest\nand most noble intelligence that can be obtained by man, can receive it\nwith all ease, and comprehend it, circumscribe it, understand it from\nfirst to last, that is the man that can ripen for eternity in a few\nyears; that is the individual who is capable of occupying stations that\nmany cannot occupy. 4:130.\n\nLet the people see to it that they get righteous men to be their\nleaders, who will labor with their hands and administer to their\nown necessities, sit in judgment, legislate, and {655} govern in\nrighteousness; and officers that are filled with peace; and see to\nit that every man that goes forth among the people as a traveling\nofficer is full of the fear of the Lord, and would rather do right at a\nsacrifice than do wrong for a reward. 7:12.\n\n_Duty and Responsibility of Man_--\"To mind your own business\"\nincorporates the whole duty of man. 10:295.\n\nWhat is the duty-of a Latter-day Saint? To do all the good he can upon\nthe earth, living in the discharge of every duty obligatory upon him.\n10:295.\n\nHis labor is to build up, not to destroy; to gather together, not to\nscatter abroad; to take the ignorant and lead them to wisdom; to pick\nup the poor and bring them to comfortable circumstances. This is our\nlabor--what we have to do. 10:316.\n\nIt is the business of a Latter-day Saint, in passing through the\nstreet, if he sees a fence pole down, to put it up; if he sees an\nanimal in the mud to stop and help get it out. 10:296.\n\nThe greater our privileges and the greater the blessings bestowed upon\nus, the more faithfulness and diligence are required in our callings to\nsave the children of men. 7:274.\n\nThere are men upon whom God has bestowed gifts and graces, and women\nwho are endowed with strong mental ability, and yet they cannot\nreceive the truth; and then the truth condemns them; it leaves them\nin darkness. When they cannot receive every truth, let it be ever so\nimportant or unimportant to them, their neglect to grasp in their faith\nthe truth God reveals for their benefit weakens them, comparatively,\nfrom the crowns of their heads to the soles of their feet, and the\nenemy may have the advantage over them in an hour when they think not.\n8:59. {656}\n\nStrive to be righteous, not for any speculation, but because\nrighteousness is lovely, pure; holy, beautiful, and exalting; it is\ndesigned to make the soul happy and full of joy, to the extent of the\nwhole capacity of man, filling him with light, glory, and intelligence.\n8:172.\n\nIf we do the best we know how, and yet commit many acts that are wrong\nand contrary to the counsel given to us, there is hope in our case.\n2:132. {657}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII\n\n_THE TESTIMONY OF THE TRUTH_\n\n_All Latter-day Saints May Know the Gospel Is True_--It is a\nspecial privilege and blessing of the holy Gospel to every true\nbeliever, to know the truth for himself. 1:234.\n\nIt is both the duty and privilege of the Latter-day Saints to know that\ntheir religion is true. 8:148.\n\nWe are the witnesses of this great work which the Lord has commenced in\nthe latter days. 11:213.\n\nLet every one get a knowledge for himself that this work is true. We do\nnot want you to say that it is true until you know that it is; and if\nyou know it, that knowledge is as good to you as though the Lord came\ndown and told you. 8:142.\n\nThere is not a man or a woman on this earth who receives the spirit of\nthe Gospel but what can testify to its truth. 11:213.\n\nWe must have the testimony of the Lord Jesus to enable us to discern\nbetween truth and error, light and darkness, him who is of God, and\nhim who is not of God, and to know how to place everything where it\nbelongs. That is the only way to be a scientific Christian; there is no\nother method or process which will actually school a person so that he\ncan become a Saint of God, and prepare him for a celestial glory; he\nmust have within him the testimony of the spirit of the Gospel. 3:155.\n\nIf you are satisfied, in your sensitive powers and faculties, that God\nhas revealed the holy Priesthood, established his Kingdom upon the\nearth, restored the fulness of the Gospel, and set his hand to gather\nthe House of Israel, {658} this will answer your purpose just as well\nas though you went into heaven to see for yourselves. 8:261.\n\nIf I attain to the knowledge of all true principles that have ever\nexisted, and do not govern myself by them, they will damn me deeper in\nhell than if I had never known anything about them. 1:244.\n\n_How a Witness of the Truth Is Won_--I do not want men to come to\nme or my brethren for testimony as to the truth of this work; but let\nthem take the Scriptures of divine truth, and there the path is pointed\nout to them as plainly as ever a guideboard indicated the right path\nto the weary traveler. There they are directed to go, not to Brothers\nBrigham, Heber, or Daniel, to any Apostle or Elder in Israel, but to\nthe Father in the name of Jesus, and ask for the information they\nneed. Can they who take this course in honesty and sincerity receive\ninformation? Will the Lord turn away from the honest heart seeking for\ntruth? No, he will not; he will prove to them, by the revelations of\nhis Spirit, the facts in the case. And when the mind is open to the\nrevelations of the Lord it comprehends them quicker and keener than\nanything that is seen by the natural eye. It is not what we see with\nour eyes--they may be deceived--but what is revealed by the Lord from\nheaven that is sure and steadfast, and abides forever. We do not want\nthe people to rely on human testimony, although that cannot be confuted\nand destroyed; still, there is a more sure word of prophecy that all\nmay gain if they will seek it earnestly before the Lord. 12:96.\n\nYou and I must have the testimony of Jesus within us, or it is of but\nlittle use for us to pretend to be servants of God. We must have that\nliving witness within us. 4:368.\n\nI will now make a few remarks upon testimony. I have {659} heard a\ngreat many Elders in this Church, and people who were professing\nChristians before this work was revealed, testifying of the things of\nGod. Men rise up here and say they do know that this is the work of\nGod, that Joseph was a Prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, that\nthe revelations through Joseph Smith are true, and this is the last\ndispensation and the fulness of times, wherein God has set his hand to\ngather Israel for the last time, and redeem and build up Zion on this\nland. How do they know this? Persons know and will continue to know\nand understand, many things by the manifestations of the Spirit, that\nthrough the organization of the tabernacle it is impossible otherwise\nto convey. Much of the most important information is alone derived\nthrough the power and testimony of the Holy Ghost in the speaker,\nrevealing itself to the understanding and spirit of the hearer. This is\nthe only way you can convey a knowledge of the invisible things of God.\n8:41.\n\nA man or woman desirous of knowing the truth, upon hearing the Gospel\nof the Son of God proclaimed in truth and simplicity, should ask the\nFather, in the name of Jesus, if this is true. If they do not take this\ncourse, they try and argue themselves into the belief that they are as\nhonest as any man of woman can be on the face of the earth; but they\nare not, they are careless as to their own best interests. 12:95.\n\nOn the other hand, nothing short of the power of the Almighty, nothing\nshort of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, can prove to you that this\nis the work of God. Men uninspired of God cannot by their worldly\nwisdom disprove it, or prevail against it; neither can they by wisdom\nalone prove it to be true, either to themselves or to others. Their\n{660} not being able to prevail against it does not prove it to be the\nKingdom of God, for there are many theories and systems on the earth,\nincontrovertible by the wisdom of the world, which are nevertheless\nfalse. Nothing less than the power of the Almighty, enlightening the\nunderstanding of men, can demonstrate this glorious truth to the human\nmind. 1:310.\n\nHow are we to know the voice of the Good Shepherd from the voice of\na stranger? Can any person answer this question? I can. It is very\neasy. To every philosopher upon the earth, I say, your eye can be\ndeceived, so can mine; your ear can be deceived, so can mine; the\ntouch of your hand can be deceived, so can mine; but the Spirit of God\nfilling the creature with revelation and the light of eternity, cannot\nbe mistaken--the revelation which comes from God is never mistaken.\nWhen an individual, filled with the Spirit of God, declares the truth\nof heaven, the sheep hear that, the Spirit of the Lord pierces their\ninmost souls and sinks deep into their hearts; by the testimony of the\nHoly Ghost light springs up within them, and they see and understand\nfor themselves. This is the way the Gospel should be preached by every\nElder in Israel, and by this power every hearer should hear; and if we\nwould know the voice of the Good Shepherd, we must live so that the\nSpirit of the Lord can find its way to our hearts. 16:74.\n\nPeter was blessed, because he had eyes to see; and when he saw with his\nspiritual eyes, he acknowledged it. He was not so proud and high-minded\nas to turn round and deny. If the conviction of their own minds had\nfree course, and were not trammeled through their erroneous traditions,\nmillions and millions would hail this day with thanksgiving. 7:8. {661}\n\nIf there is a person in the midst of the Latter-day Saints--one who has\nnamed the name of Christ as a Latter-day Saint, that can ask for any\nmore literal testimony than we have, I do not know what he would ask.\nHe might wish to see some person that had power to bring fire down from\nheaven. Should such a person appear, the exercise of that power would\nby no means prove that he was a messenger of salvation. Or suppose that\nI should see a man capable of raising the dead every hour in a day,\ncould I merely for that believe he was sent of God? No. Some may think\nit strange, but should I see a man come along here and cast his cane\non the floor, and it became a serpent and ran out of the door, would\nI any more believe that man to be sent of God? No, I would not. Were\nI to see a person fill the air with living creatures, turn the dust\ninto life, or the river Jordan into blood, do you suppose I would any\nmore for that consider that man sent of God? Not in the least. There\nis but one witness--one testimony, pertaining to the evidence of the\nGospel of the son of God, and that is the Spirit that he diffused among\nhis disciples. Do his will, and we shall know whether he speaks by the\nauthority of the Father or of himself. Do as he commands us to do, and\nwe shall know of the doctrine, whether it is of God or not. It is only\nby the revelations of the Spirit that we can know the things of God.\n9:2.\n\nMany men and women who have obeyed the Gospel, and have not received\nfrom the Lord these striking testimonies, will say, \"Well, I really do\nnot know that I can tell whether the Gospel is true or not.\" To all\nsuch I say, Then you are no philosopher at all, for upon the rational\nprinciples of common philosophy you can tell whether it is true or not.\nDoes it contain the seeds of life? Does it promote the {662} plants and\nyield the fruits of life, or does it produce the plants and yield the\nfruits of death? Not that I wish to make a mere historical convert, or\na people who believe historically, mathematically, or philosophically;\nbut I know and understand that the Lord never leaves his children\nwithout a witness. 14:112.\n\nThe older portion of this community embraced the truth through the\nconviction of it, and prayed unto the Lord for the light of it, and\nthey received the testimony of the Spirit of God; but our children do\nnot know the greatness of their blessings and privileges. They are\nentitled to the spirit of the Gospel from their mothers' wombs; they\nhave it with them all the time; they are born in it. 11:215.\n\nA great many come to me and say, \"I wish to do exactly as the Lord\nshall direct through you, Brother Brigham.\" If I had the word of\nthe Lord, I would not dare give it to them, unless I knew it was an\nabsolute duty. They never would obey it, because they are taught the\nword of the Lord here all the time, but do they hearken to it? Those\nwho have wisdom within themselves, who have in possession the spirit of\nthe Gospel, know what they hear from this stand. They know truth from\nerror; they are satisfied, and never ask the Lord to give them more\nrevelation, but to give them grace to observe and keep what they have\nreceived. 3:338.\n\nTruth commends itself to every honest person, it matters not how\nsimply it is told, and when it is received it seems as though we had\nbeen acquainted with it all our lives. It is the testimony of the\nmajority of the Latter-day Saints that when they first heard the\nGospel preached, as contained in the Bible and Doctrine and Covenants,\nalthough entirely new to them, it seemed as though they already\n{663} understood it, and that they must have been \"Mormons\" from the\nbeginning. 19:42.\n\nI frequently think that the only way for a man to prove any fact in\nthe world is by experience. We go, for instance, into an orchard and\nsomeone says there is a sweet apple tree, and he may say the same of\nother trees, but without tasting, how shall I know they are sweet?\nUnless I taste of them I cannot know it. I may take the testimony of\nothers who have tasted them, as to whether they are sweet, sour or\nbitter, but without tasting it cannot prove to my senses that they are\nso. Now, as I understand it, it is the same with all facts that have\ncome to the knowledge of all beings in heaven, or on earth--all facts\nare proved and made manifest by their opposite. 13:59.\n\nMy testimony is based upon experience, upon my own experience, in\nconnection with that obtained by observing others. To me it has become\npositively true--no doubt remains upon my mind, whatever, as to the\npower of the revealed will of heaven to man upon the minds of the\npeople, when the principles of salvation are set before them by, the\nauthorized ministers of heaven. The heavenly truth commends itself\nto every person's judgment and to their faith; and more especially\nto the sense of those who wish to be honest with themselves, with\ntheir God, and with their neighbor. Yet I must admit that all men are\nnot operated upon alike; the evidence of truth comes more forcibly\nto the understandings of some than others. This is owing to numerous\ninfluences. The Gospel may be preached to an individual, and the truth\ncommend itself to the conscience of that person, creating but a little\nfaith in its truth, to which there may be an addition made. If persons\ncan receive a little, it proves they may receive more. If they can\nreceive {664} the first and second principles with an upright feeling,\nthey may receive still more, and the words of the prophet be fulfilled.\n2:1-2.\n\nMy testimony is positive. I know that there are such cities as London,\nParis, and New York--from my own experience or from that of others; I\nknow that the sun shines, I know that I exist and have a being, and\nI testify that there is a God, and that Jesus Christ lives, and that\nhe is the Savior of the world. Have you been to heaven and learned to\nthe contrary? I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and that\nhe had many revelations. Who can disprove this testimony? Any one may\ndispute it, but there is no one in the world who can disprove it. I\nhave had many revelations; I have seen and heard for myself, and know\nthese things are true, and nobody on earth can disprove them. The eye,\nthe ear, the hand, all the senses may be deceived, but the Spirit of\nGod cannot be deceived; and when inspired with that Spirit, the whole\nman is filled with knowledge, he can see with a spiritual eye, and\nhe knows that which is beyond the power of man to controvert. What I\nknow concerning God, concerning the earth, concerning government, I\nhave received from the heavens, not alone through my natural ability,\nand I give God the glory and the praise. Men talk about what has\nbeen accomplished under my direction, and attribute it to my wisdom\nand ability; but it is all by the power of God, and by intelligence\nreceived from him. I say to the whole world, receive the truth, no\nmatter who presents it to you. 16:46.\n\n_Why Some Men Reject the Gospel--_I have often heard men say they\nwere convinced that \"Mormonism\" was true, and that they would cleave to\nit; but as for their hearts being converted, it is altogether another\nthing. 6:321. {665}\n\nWherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached, either in these\nor former days, it has met with a class of men to whom the truth looked\nlovely and God-like, and the spirit within would prompt them to embrace\nit; but they find themselves so advantageously connected in the world,\nand have so many interests at stake if they should embrace it, they\nconclude that it will not do, and here comes the warfare again. Some\nfew will overcome the reasonings of the flesh, and follow the dictates\nof the spirit; while the great majority of this class of persons are\nwon over by sordid considerations and cleave to their idols. 11:237.\n\nThey-would come now by thousands and thousands, if the Latter-day\nSaints were only popular. \"What, these honorable men?\" Yes, they would\nsay, \"I want to be baptized. I admire your industry, and your skill\nin governing. You have a system of governing that is not to be found\nanywhere else. You know how to govern cities, territories, or the\nworld, and I would like to join you.\" But take care, if you join this\npeople without the love of God in your soul it will do you no good.\nIf they were to do this, they would bring in their sophistry, and\nintroduce that which would poison the innocent and honest and lead them\nastray. I look at this, and I am satisfied that it will not do for the\nLord to make this people popular. Why? Because all hell would want to\nbe in the Church. The people must be kept where the finger of scorn\ncan be pointed at them. Although it is admitted that we are honest,\nindustrious, truthful, virtuous, self-denying, and, as a community,\npossess every moral excellence, yet we must be looked upon as ignorant\nand unworthy, and as the offscouring of society, and be hated by the\nworld. What is the reason of this? Christ and Baal can not become\nfriends. When I {666} see this people grow and spread and prosper, I\nfeel that there is more danger than when they are in poverty. Being\ndriven from city to city or into the mountains is nothing compared to\nthe danger of our becoming rich and being hailed by outsiders as a\nfirst-class community. I am afraid of only one thing. What is that?\nThat we will not live our religion, and that we will partially slide a\nlittle from the path of rectitude, and go part of the way to meet our\nfriends. 12:272.\n\n_Testimony Not Built Upon a Man_--Some men declare that they wish\nto have such confidence in their leaders as not to enquire whether this\nor that is right, but to perform what they are bid to do. No man will\nhave that degree of confidence, unless it is founded in truth. 4:296.\n\n_Joseph Smith a Witness of the Truth_--The Devil and his\nemissaries thought if they could only destroy Joseph Smith, that the\nsystem he had laid the foundation to build upon would crumble and fall\nto rise no more; but it is evident to all, that since the death of\nJoseph, the system has flourished with greater vigor than before, for\nwhere there is a testament in full force, there must also of necessity\nbe the death of the testator, for a testament is of force after men are\ndead. 10:304.\n\nWhosoever confesseth that Joseph Smith was sent of God to reveal\nthe holy Gospel to the children of men, and lay the foundation for\ngathering Israel, and building up the Kingdom of God on the earth, that\nspirit is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that God has\nsent Joseph Smith, and revealed the everlasting Gospel to and through\nhim, is of Antichrist, no matter whether it is found in a pulpit or on\na throne. 8:176.\n\nThis whole people were cast out for believing that God {667} spake to\nJoseph Smith and chose him to be his messenger--his Apostle--to this\ngeneration. I testify to you that we were not cast out for teaching and\npracticing the Patriarchal doctrine, as our enemies now declare, for\nat that time it had not been published to the world, but it was for\nbelieving, preaching and practicing the doctrines of the New Testament;\nfor believing in the events to take place in the latter days, as\nforetold by the ancient Prophets; and, for believing the declarations\nof Joseph Smith, that Jesus was indeed the Christ and the Savior of\nall men, but especially of them that believe, and that he had set his\nhand the second time to gather his people, to establish his Kingdom,\nto build up Zion, redeem Jerusalem, empty the earth of wickedness and\nbring in everlasting righteousness. 9:366.\n\n_A Duty to Listen to the Truth_--Do not say, \"You are Mormons,\nand we do not want to hear anything about you.\" Wait until you have\nsearched and researched and have obtained wisdom to understand what we\npreach, or to prove it to be untrue. If you cannot prove it untrue and\nare not disposed to receive it, let it alone. If it is the work of God,\nit will stand. What do you say, outsiders? What do you say, Christian\nworld and heathen world? If we have the truth to present to you, which\nwill do you good here and hereafter, which will save you today and\ntomorrow and every day, until it saves you in the Kingdom of God and\nbrings you to a perfect state of felicity and happiness in the presence\nof the Father, will you have it? 12:313-314.\n\nIn the Christian world, thousands and millions of them are as close to\nthe truth as any man that ever lived upon the face of the earth, so far\nas moral, Christian deportment is concerned. I can find a great many of\nthis community who live as moral lives as men and women can. Is there\n{668} anything else necessary and important? Yes--so to live as to have\nthe light of the Spirit of truth abiding within you day by day, that\nwhen you hear the truth, you know it as well as you know the faces of\nyour father's family, and also understand every manifestation produced\nby erroneous principles. 6:331. {669}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX\n\n_THE CHURCH AND KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH_\n\n_Israel_--Who are Israel? They are those who are of the seed of\nAbraham, who have received the promise through their forefathers; and\nall the rest of the children of men, who receive the truth, are also\nIsrael. My heart is always drawn out for them, whenever I go to the\nthrone of grace. 1:107.\n\nIsrael is dispersed among all the nations of the earth; the blood of\nEphraim is mixed with the blood of all the earth. Abraham's seed is\nmingled with the rebellious seed through the whole world of mankind.\n16:75.\n\nThe Elders who have arisen in this Church and Kingdom are actually of\nIsrael. 2:268.\n\nThose islanders and the natives of this country are of the House of\nIsrael--of the seed of Abraham, and to them pertain the promise; and\nevery soul of them, sooner or later, will be saved in the Kingdom of\nGod, or be destroyed root and branch. 6:199.\n\nAgain, if a pure Gentile firmly believes the Gospel of Jesus Christ,\nand yields obedience to it, in such a case I will give you the words of\nthe Prophet Joseph: \"The effect of the Holy Ghost upon a Gentile, is to\npurge out the old blood, and make him actually of the seed of Abraham.\"\n2:269.\n\nWe are to build up and establish Zion, gather the House of Israel, and\nredeem the nations of the earth. This people have this work to do,\nwhether we live to see it or not. This is all in our hands. 8:68.\n\nIt is obligatory upon us to see that the House of Israel {670} have\nthe Gospel preached to them; to do all that is in our power to gather\nthem to the land of their fathers, and to gather up the fulness of the\nGentiles before the Gospel can go with success to the Jews. 12:113.\n\nWe are now gathering the children of Abraham who have come through the\nloins of Joseph and his sons, more especially through Ephraim, whose\nchildren are mixed among all the nations of the earth. The sons of\nEphraim are wild and uncultivated, unruly, ungovernable. The spirit\nin them is turbulent and resolute; they are the Anglo-Saxon race, and\nthey are upon the face of the whole earth, bearing the spirit of rule\nand dictation, to go forth from conquering to conquer. They search wide\ncreation and scan every nook and corner of this earth to find out what\nis upon and within it. I see a congregation of them before me today.\nNo hardship will discourage these men; they will penetrate the deepest\nwilds and overcome almost insurmountable difficulties to develop\nthe treasures of the earth, to further their indomitable spirit for\nadventure. 10:188.\n\n_The Church and the Kingdom_--Out of this Church will grow the\nKingdom which Daniel saw. This is the very people that Daniel saw would\ncontinue to grow and spread and prosper; and if we are not faithful,\nothers will take our places, for this is the Church and people that\nwill possess the Kingdom forever and ever. 8:143.\n\nWe shall preach on, we shall struggle on until the kingdoms of this\nworld shall become the Kingdom of our God and his Christ. 11:240.\n\nThis is the Kingdom of God on the earth. The people that sit before\nme, in connection with the many thousands that are upon the earth, are\nthe people of God. If we have become so taught that the Lord sees that\nwe shall be capable {671} of managing, governing, and controlling the\nKingdom of God upon the earth in a more perfect manner than it has been\nheretofore, you may rest assured that this people are bound to victory.\nJust as fast as we are capable of rightly dispensing the principles of\npower, of light, of knowledge, of intelligence, of wealth, of heaven,\nand of earth, just so fast will they be bestowed upon this people.\n5:327.\n\nIf this Gospel goes to the uttermost parts of the earth and fulfils its\ndestiny as predicted by the Prophets, by Jesus and by the Apostles,\nit will eventually swallow up all the good there is on the earth; it\nwill take every honest, truthful and virtuous man and woman and every\ngood person and gather them into the fold of this Kingdom, and this\nsociety will enlarge, spread abroad and multiply, and will increase in\nknowledge until the members composing it know enough to lengthen out\ntheir days and man's longevity returns, and they begin to live as men\ndid anciently. 11:303.\n\nWhat will be the final result of the restoration of the Gospel,\nand the destiny of the Latter-day Saints? If they are faithful to\nthe Priesthood which God has bestowed upon us, the Gospel will\nrevolutionize the whole world of mankind; the earth will be sanctified,\nand God will glorify it, and the Saints will dwell upon it in the\npresence of the Father and the Son. 12:113.\n\n_An Object of the Church_--We are exhorted to make our own heaven,\nour own paradise, our own Zion. 9:170.\n\nWe have an object in view, and that is to gain influence among all the\ninhabitants of the earth for the purpose of establishing the Kingdom of\nGod in its righteousness, power and glory, and to exalt the name of the\nDeity, and cause that name by which we live to be revered everywhere\nthat he may be honored, that his works may be honored, {672} that we\nmay be honored ourselves, and deport ourselves worthy of the character\nof his children. 11:274.\n\nIf the Latter-day Saints think, when the Kingdom of God is established\non the earth, that all the inhabitants of the earth will join the\nChurch called Latter-day Saints, they are mistaken. I presume there\nwill be as many sects and parties then as now. Still, when the Kingdom\nof God triumphs, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that\nJesus is the Christ, to the glory of the Father. Even the Jews will do\nit then; but will the Jews and Gentiles be obliged to belong to the\nChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? No; not by any means.\nJesus said to his disciples, \"In my Father's house are many mansions;\nwere it not so I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for\nyou, that where I am, there ye may be also,\" etc. There are mansions\nin sufficient numbers to suit the different classes of mankind, and a\nvariety will always exist to all eternity, requiring a classification\nand an arrangement into societies and communities in the many mansions\nwhich are in the Lord's house, and this will be so for ever and ever.\nThen do not imagine that if the Kingdom of God is established over the\nwhole earth, all the people will become Latter-day Saints. They will\ncease their persecutions against the Church of Jesus Christ, and they\nwill be willing to acknowledge that the Lord is God, and that Jesus is\nthe Savior of the world. 11:275.\n\n_The Kingdom of God to Develop Gradually_--The Kingdom we are\ntalking about, preaching about and trying to build up is the Kingdom\nof God on the earth, not in the starry heavens, nor in the sun. We are\ntrying to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth to which really\nand properly everything that pertains to men--their feelings, their\n{673} faith, their affections, their desires, and every act of their\nlives--belong, that they may be ruled by it spiritually and temporally.\n10:328.\n\nIn that helpless infant upon its mother's breast we see a man, an\nApostle, a Saint,--yea generations of men with kingdoms, thrones, and\ndominions. Then the life of that little frail mortal is fraught with\ngreat and mighty results, and its value is inestimable.\n\nIf this be true of an infant, what may we expect to grow out of this\ninfant Kingdom? We may look forward to all that belongs to greatness\nand goodness, to might and power, to dominion and glory. Then how\njealously we ought to guard the rights of this infant power? How\nzealous and constant we should be in maintaining its interests and\nsupporting its laws and sacred institutions! 9:170-171.\n\nWe are called to establish the Kingdom of God literally, just as much\nas we are spiritually. If we do not build it up in a temporal point of\nview, we will not accomplish what we are called to do; we will come\nshort of our duty, and be removed out of the way, and others will be\ncalled to succeed us who will perform the labor we are called to do.\n10:332.\n\nI do not believe that the City of Enoch made greater advancement, in\nthe same period of time, than this people have done in the twenty-six\nyears of their career, which is saying a great deal for them. 3:374.\n\n_The Effect of the Kingdom of God_--What is the Kingdom of God\ngoing to accomplish on the earth? It will revolutionize not only the\nUnited States, but the whole world, and will go forth from the morning\nto the evening, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the\nsame, so shall be the ushering forth of the Gospel until the whole\n{674} earth is deluged with it, and the righteous are gathered. 2:190.\n\nNo unrighteous person, no person who is filthy in their feelings will\never enter into the Kingdom of God. 3:275.\n\nAs this Kingdom of God grows, spreads, increases, and prospers in its\ncourse, it will cleanse, thoroughly purge, and purify the world from\nwickedness. He who supposes his house to be built upon a rock, and well\ncalculated to withstand any test that may be applied to it, finds, when\nit is tried by the Gospel of the Kingdom, that its foundation proves\nto be sand, and the whole fabric appears nothing in which a man may\nsecurely trust for salvation. 1:190.\n\nWhen the Kingdom of God is fully set up and established on the face\nof the earth, and takes the preeminence over all other nations and\nkingdoms, it will protect the people in the enjoyment of all their\nrights, no matter what they believe, what they profess, or what they\nworship. If they wish to worship a god of their own workmanship,\ninstead of the true and living God, all right, if they will mind their\nown business and let other people alone. 2:310.\n\nIf we wish this Church and Kingdom of God upon earth, to be like a\nfine, healthy, growing tree, we should be careful not to let the dead\nbranches remain too long. 3:274.\n\n_Government of the Kingdom of God_--Every kingdom will be blotted\nout of existence, except the one whose ruling spirit is the Holy Ghost,\nand whose king is the Lord. 2:124.\n\nIt may be asked what I mean by the Kingdom of God. The Church of Jesus\nChrist has been established now for many years, and the Kingdom of God\nhas got to be established, even that Kingdom which will circumscribe\nall the kingdoms of this world. It will yet give laws to every nation\nthat exists upon the earth. This is the Kingdom that {675} Daniel,\nthe Prophet, saw should be set up in the last days. What Daniel saw\nshould come to pass in the latter times is believed by nearly all the\nreligious societies of Christendom. The only great difference between\nus and them is in the method of its establishment. 11:275.\n\nWhen this Kingdom is organized in any age, the Spirit of it dwells\nin the hearts of the faithful, while its visible department exists\namong the people, with laws, ordinances, helps, governments, officers,\nadministrators, and every other appendage necessary for its complete\noperation to the attainment of the end in view. 10:18.\n\nThe Lord designs to build up a Kingdom that will be both a spiritual\nand temporal Kingdom upon the earth. The earth and the kingdoms thereof\nwill be given unto the Saints of the Most High God. Will they be\nrich then? Do you not think they will possess the gold mines and the\ntreasures of the earth? Yes. But some cry out, \"That is not yet.\" That\nis right. How long will it be until then? As soon as we are prepared to\nreceive them. 10:332.\n\nIf we ever attain faith enough to obtain the Kingdom of God, as we\nanticipate, we shall obtain all the wealth there is for this Kingdom\nin time and eternity. We shall not rob other kingdoms, but we shall\npossess the eternity of matter that lies in the path of the onward\nprogress of this Kingdom, and still eternity and its fulness will\ncontinue to stretch out before us. The great powers of eternal wisdom\nwill be exercised to enhance the wealth, beauty, excellency and glory\nof this Kingdom, previous to its being introduced into the presence of\nthe Father and the Son. This work we have to help perform. 10:301.\n\nI have learned years ago that the Lord stands at the helm that guides\nZion's ship. He is its Dictator; and unless {676} we work exactly to\nthe line that is marked out by him, our works will be in vain. This\nhas been my experience from the beginning. In every branch and avenue\nof our lives we must learn to work to the line of truth. It is for us\nto know what ought to be done, and then do it. Though there should be\nno earthly prospect of accomplishing it, we can certainly try; and if\nwe try with all our might, that act will prove at least a resolute\nand determined mind, adorned with patience and perseverance. And if,\nwith all our resolute endeavors we are still unable to accomplish our\npurpose, the Lord will be very likely to stretch forth his hand and\ngive the victory. 6:315.\n\nIf this people live to the principles they have embraced, they will\nbe capable of counselling the nations; for we build upon a just\nfoundation, and our principles are truth, righteousness, and holiness.\nLet us stand by those principles until they crush out folly from these\nvalleys, and we become teachers of wisdom to the nations. 7:66.\n\n_It Will Continue_--All is right. God can carry on his own work.\nThis Kingdom will stand forever. 8:69.\n\nThe Lord will never suffer this people to dwindle down, and be hid up\nin a corner; it cannot be; neither does he want any person to help them\nbut himself. 1:364.\n\nGod has commenced to set up his Kingdom on the earth, and all hell and\nits devils are moving against it. Hell is yawning and sending forth its\ndevils and their imps. What for? To destroy the Kingdom of God from the\nearth. But they cannot do it. 5:75.\n\nThe soldiers of the Lord are in the mountains, in the canyons, upon the\nplains, on the hills, along the mighty streams, and by the rivulets.\nThousands and thousands {677} more are for us than those who are\nagainst us, and you need not have any fears. 5:57.\n\nMy heart is comforted. I behold the people of God, that they have been\nhunted, cast out, driven from the face of men. The powers of earth and\nhell have striven to destroy this Kingdom from the earth. The wicked\nhave succeeded in doing so in former ages; but this Kingdom they\ncannot destroy, because it is the last dispensation--because it is the\nfulness of times. It is the dispensation of all dispensations, and will\nexcel in magnificence and glory every dispensation that has ever been\ncommitted to the children of men upon the earth. The Lord will bring\nagain Zion, redeem his Israel, plant his standard upon the earth, and\nestablish the laws of his Kingdom, and those laws will prevail. 8:36.\n\nIf there are any hearts or spirits in this city, or elsewhere, that\nare fearfully wondering whether or not we are going to be destroyed,\nor whether this Church will endure and become the mighty power in the\nearth, according to the predictions of the servants of God, I will say\nto all such trembling souls, you need entertain no such fears. You need\nhave only one fear, and that is with regard to yourselves, lest you\nshould leave the light that the Lord has imparted to you and wander\ninto darkness, returning to the beggarly elements of the world, lusting\nagain after the things of the world in their sinful state. 19:3.\n\nWe cannot help being Saints; we cannot prevent the rolling forth of\nthe work of God; in and of ourselves we have no power to control our\nown minds and passions; but the grace of God is sufficient to give us\nperfect victory. The power of the Lord our God helps us, and the Devil\nand his emissaries help us--the one on the one hand, the other on {678}\nthe other hand. We have power to receive the truth or reject it, and we\nhave power to reject the evil or receive it. 8:226.\n\nWhen the wicked have power to blow out the sun, that it shines no more;\nwhen they have power to bring to a conclusion the operations of the\nelements, suspend the whole system of nature, and make a footstool of\nthe throne of the Almighty, they may then think to check \"Mormonism\"\nin its course, and thwart the unalterable purposes of heaven. Men may\npersecute the people who believe its doctrines, report and publish\nlies to bring tribulation upon their heads, earth and hell may unite\nin one grand league against it, and exert their malicious powers to\nthe utmost, but it will stand as firm and immovable in the midst of\nit all as the pillars of eternity. Men may persecute the Prophet, and\nthose who believe and uphold him, they may drive the Saints and kill\nthem, but this does not affect the truths of \"Mormonism\" one iota,\nfor they will stand when the elements melt with fervent heat, the\nheavens are wrapt up like a scroll, and the solid earth is dissolved.\n\"Mormonism\" stands upon the eternal basis of omnipotence. Jehovah is\nthe \"Mormonism\" of this people, their Priesthood and their power; and\nall who adhere to it will, in the appointed day, come up into the\npresence of the King Eternal, and receive a crown of life. 1:88.\n\n_The Business of Latter-day Saints_--Our work is to bring forth\nZion, and produce the Kingdom of God in its perfection and beauty upon\nthe earth. 9:293.\n\nWe have no business here other than to build up and establish the\nZion of God. It must be done according to the will and law of God,\nafter that pattern and order by which Enoch built up and perfected the\nformer-day Zion, which {679} was taken away to heaven, hence the saying\nwent abroad that Zion had fled. By and by it will come back again,\nand as Enoch prepared his people to be worthy of translation, so we,\nthrough our faithfulness, must prepare ourselves to meet Zion from\nabove when it shall return to earth, and to abide the brightness and\nglory of its coming. 18:356.\n\nI have Zion in my view constantly. We are not going to wait for angels,\nor for Enoch and his company to come and build up Zion, but we are\ngoing to build it. We will raise our wheat, build our houses, fence\nour farms, plant our vineyards and orchards, and produce everything\nthat will make our bodies comfortable and happy, and in this manner we\nintend to build up Zion on the earth and purify it and cleanse it from\nall pollutions. Let there be an hallowed influence go from us over all\nthings over which we have any power; over the soil we cultivate, over\nthe houses we build, and over everything we possess; and if we cease to\nhold fellowship with that which is corrupt and establish the Zion of\nGod in our hearts, in our own houses, in our cities, and throughout our\ncountry, we shall ultimately overcome the earth, for we are the lords\nof the earth; and, instead of thorns and thistles, every useful plant\nthat is good for the food of man and to beautify and adorn will spring\nfrom its bosom. 9:284.\n\n_Individual Labor Required in the Kingdom of God_--We have all\nkinds of fish in the Gospel net. 3:120.\n\nThe Lord will have a tried people. 16:28.\n\nTo be a Saint in the full sense of the word, is to be something very\nnearly perfect. If, however, we are striving to the utmost of the\nability God has given us to prove that we are willing to serve him and\nperform our duties, we are justified. We have the Kingdom of God to\nbuild up, Zion {680} to redeem; we have to sanctify ourselves so that\nwe may be prepared to be caught up with the Church of the Firstborn,\nand if we improve every day and hour, then if we die we shall be found\njustified. But if we continue to live, we must become Saints in very\ndeed, or come short of the fulness of the glory of God that is to be\nrevealed. 16:41.\n\nMany Latter-day Saints think when they have obeyed the Gospel, made a\nsacrifice in forsaking their homes, perhaps their parents, husbands,\nwives, children, farms, native lands, or other things held dear, that\nthe work is done; but it is only just commenced. The work of purifying\nourselves and preparing to build up the Zion of God on this continent\nhas only just begun with us when we have got as far as that. 13:313.\n\nA great many think that the Kingdom of God is going to bless them and\nexalt them, without any efforts on their part. This is not so. Every\nman and woman is expected to aid the work with all the ability God has\ngiven them. Each person belonging to the human family has a portion of\nlabor to perform in removing the curse from the earth and from every\nliving thing upon it. When this work is performed, then will they\npossess all things. 10:301.\n\nWe have no correct individual interest separate from this Kingdom; if\nwe have true interest at all, it is in the Kingdom of God. 3:154.\n\n_The Kingdom of God or Nothing_--When the Kingdom of God is\nestablished, if each member of that Kingdom singly and individually\nwill do his or her duty it will take care of itself, for it is a\nliving, self-moving, self-sustaining, independent and heaven-ordained\nestablishment. 11:249.\n\nThe Kingdom of God is all that is real worth. All else is not worth\npossessing, either here or hereafter. Without {681} it, all else would\nbe like a dry tree prepared for the burning--it is all consumed and the\nashes are driven to the four winds. 8:185.\n\nTo me it is the Kingdom of God or nothing upon the earth. Without it\nI would not give a farthing for the wealth, glory, prestige and power\nof all the world combined; for like the dew upon the grass, it passeth\naway and is forgotten, and like the flower of the grass it withereth,\nand is not. Death levels the most powerful monarch with the poorest\nstarving mendicant; and both must stand before the judgment seat of\nChrist to answer for the deeds done in the body. 11:126.\n\nWith us, it is the Kingdom of God, or nothing; and we will maintain it,\nor die in trying--though we shall not die in trying. It is comforting\nto many to be assured that we shall not die in trying; but we shall\nlive in trying. We will maintain the Kingdom of God, living; and if we\ndo not maintain it, we shall be found dying not only a temporal, but\nalso an eternal death. Then take a course to live. 5:342.\n\nIf you give anything for the building up of the Kingdom of God, give\nthe best you have. What is the best thing you have to devote to the\nKingdom of God? It is the talents God has given you. How many? Every\none of them. What beautiful talents! What a beautiful gift! It is more\nprecious than fine gold that I can stand here and give you my ideas,\nand you can rise up and tell me what you think and feel, and thus\nexchange our ideas. It is one of the precious gifts bestowed upon human\nbeings. Let us devote every qualification we are in possession of to\nthe building up of God's Kingdom, and you will accomplish the whole of\nit. 8:346. {682}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XL\n\n_SOME EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL_\n\n_The Nature of the Gospel_--We have Zion in our view in her\nperfection. 4:270.\n\nAll knowledge and wisdom and every good that the heart of man can\ndesire is within the circuit and circle of the faith we have embraced.\n13:150.\n\nThe design of the Gospel is to reveal the secrets of the hearts of the\nchildren of men. 3:47-48.\n\nIs there war in our religion? No; neither war nor bloodshed. Yet our\nenemies cry out \"bloodshed,\" and \"Oh, what dreadful men these Mormons\nare, and those Danites! how they slay and kill!\" Such is all nonsense\nand folly in the extreme. The wicked slay the wicked, and they will lay\nit on the Saints. 12:30.\n\nWe offer life and salvation to the whole human family in the Gospel of\nthe Son of God, and if they are not disposed to receive it they will\nsuffer the consequence. It is for the Latter-day Saints to live their\nreligion. 12:315.\n\nDo you know that here is the standard, the nucleus, the fountain, the\nhead for all the exercises of the Kingdom of God upon the face of the\nwhole earth? Now, let the Saints in this congregation droop in their\nfaith, and that spirit will spread before tomorrow morning throughout\nthe vast domain of this creation. Every Elder that goes abroad is\na witness of this fact. This spirit spreads through a telegraphic\ninfluence or force that is independent of wires. Let this people at the\ngathering-place wake out of their slumbers, gird on their armour, and\ngo forth like men of {683} war against wickedness, and every Branch\nthroughout the Church feels the influence in a very short time--it is\nspeedily imparted to all creation. The wires, as it were, are set, the\nlightnings flash over them, and all feel the influence, when we are\ndoing our duty here. It all depends upon us here. 8:184.\n\nThe Gospel of life and salvation is the best institution that we,\nas mortal beings, can invest in. Go into the financial circles of\nthe world, and you will find men gather and project their plans for\nbusiness, for railroads, for ship companies, for merchandizing, and\nvarious other pursuits. You will see those engaged in these companies\nassociate together, confer with each other, lay their plans before each\nother, investigate them, scan every branch, and every part and particle\nof their business. We are engaged in a higher-toned branch of business\nthan any merchants or railroad men, or any institution of an earthly\nnature, and it is pleasing to see the Latter-day Saints meet together\nto talk over this matter, and to learn the course they should pursue to\ngain the object of their pursuit. If an inquiry arises in any of your\nminds with regard to this, I will answer it by saying that we are in\npursuit of all there is before us--life, light, wealth, intelligence,\nall that can be possessed on the earth by mortal man, and then in a\nhigher state, where there will be a more perfect development of the\nsmattering knowledge than we received here, and all that can be enjoyed\nby intelligent beings in the celestial kingdoms of our God. 15:34.\n\nThe Latter-day Saints are a very peculiar people, and they are led\nin a peculiar way. We are brought into circumstances so as to be a\nstumbling block to the nations, through the failings and weaknesses\nof the Latter-day {684} Saints. Jesus was a stumbling block to the\nnation of the Jews, and to the generation in which he lived, and to\nall that knew him, and how singular it is that Jesus Christ, at this\nlate day, and at such a distance from the theater of his operations,\nshould have attained such celebrity and fame; even his disciples are\nnot only canonized, but almost deified, and looked upon as though they\nwere Gods come down to dwell with men. Every circumstance connected\nwith the Savior's life is looked upon as being divine. Christendom\nnow acknowledge that Jesus was the Son of God; they look upon him as\nGod manifested in the flesh according to the New Testament; yet the\ngeneration in which he lived did not see these tokens of divinity\nwhich this generation recognize. To them he was a \"root out of dry\nground\"--\"a stumbling block,\" \"a rock of offense.\" So with the\nLatter-day Saints. They are a stumbling block to this generation. The\nworld see all their weaknesses and faults, and see no divinity in\nthe work in which they are engaged. Yet this is not to be wondered\nat, inasmuch as the world could not see it in Jesus when he dwelt in\nmortality. We are looked upon as a low, degraded, ignorant set of\nfanatics. This is the opinion of the great majority of the learned and\nrefined world. Others say that our people are the dupes of a few. We do\nnot claim to be very wise, but we do know that that portion of mankind\ncalled Christians in our day, who profess to be followers of the meek\nand lowly Jesus, are grossly ignorant of his character, and of the\nmeans and way of salvation which he offers to the world. The Latter-day\nSaints, as a people, may not be so far advanced in the knowledge of\nmany of the sciences, as their neighbors; but they are learning how to\ntake care of themselves, which is one of the greatest arts known to\nman. When the most learned {685} and scientific among men scrutinize\ntheir own lives and experience, they are under the necessity of\nacknowledging that they are faulty, weak, ignorant; they are \"strangers\nfrom the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the\nworld.\" 12:206-207.\n\nThere are professing Christians in our midst, who are so strict in\ntheir religious notions that they would rise in the morning at five\no'clock and walk miles, if necessary, rather than miss their religious\nservices; and they are those who are so zealous that they would measure\nthe soil from here into old Jerusalem with their bodies if they\ncould, to pay penance, as they call it. God does not require any such\nsacrifices as this; neither does he require any of these sacrifices\nwhich involve the shedding of blood or the loss of life. Such things do\nnot belong to God's religion, they come through sin and transgression.\nPerhaps they who show such manifestations of their faith strengthen it\nand do themselves some good. All that is required of us is to sacrifice\nour feelings and to overcome the adversary by subduing the lust within\nus for anything but the Kingdom of God on the earth, the glory of God,\nand the salvation of our friends and families and of the human family\nfrom first to last; that our whole souls may be devoted to the building\nup of the Kingdom of God on the earth, and for the salvation of those\nwho sleep, who died without the Gospel. 18:238.\n\nOur religion is called \"Mormonism\" because the ancient records revealed\nto Joseph Smith were entitled, the Book of Mormon, according to the\ninstructions given to him by the Lord; but I will call it the Plan of\nSalvation devised in the heavens for the redemption of mankind from\nsin, and their restoration to the presence of God. {686}\n\nIt embraces every fact there is in the heavens and in the heaven of\nheavens--every fact there is upon the surface of the earth, in the\nbowels of the earth, and in the starry heavens; in fine, it embraces\nall truth there is in all the eternities of the Gods. 9:149.\n\n_Some of the Effects of the Gospel_--The religion that we have\nembraced teaches us to prepare to live. 5:257.\n\nBut \"Mormonism\" has opened up light. Removing the curtain from the\nbroad sunshine, it has lighted up the souls of hundreds of thousands,\nand they have been made to rejoice in the light of truth. 8:129.\n\nWith all the rest of the good that you can commit to memory, be sure\nto recollect that the Gospel of salvation is expressly designed to\nmake Saints of sinners, to overcome evil with good, to make holy, good\nmen of wicked, bad men, and to make better men of good. Wherein we\nare wicked; wherein we have evil passions, the Gospel will aid us in\novercoming evil. It gives us the influence, the power, the knowledge,\nthe wisdom, and the understanding to overcome our weaknesses and to\npurify ourselves before the Lord our God. 8:160.\n\nWhen people receive the Gospel, their minds are opened; they see Zion\nin its glory; but they do not see the troubles on the plains, or the\ntroubles with false brethren. 8:71.\n\nWhat are the fruits of this Gospel when it is received into the hearts\nof an individual? It will make a bad man good, and a good man better;\nit increases their light, knowledge, and intelligence, and enables them\nto grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, as the Savior did,\nuntil they understand men and things, the world and its doctrines,\nwhether Christian, heathen or pagan, and will ultimately {687} lead\nthem to knowledge of things in heaven, on the earth or under the earth.\n13:144.\n\nOur religion teaches us truth, virtue, holiness, faith in God and\nin his Son Jesus Christ. It reveals mysteries, it brings to mind\nthings past and present--unfolding clearly things to come. It is the\nfoundation of mechanism; it is the spirit that gives intelligence to\nevery living being upon the earth. All true philosophy originates\nfrom that Fountain from which we draw wisdom, knowledge, truth, and\npower. What does it teach us? To love God and our fellow creatures--to\nbe compassionate, full of mercy, long-suffering, and patient to the\nfroward and to those who are ignorant. There is a glory in our religion\nthat no other religion that has ever been established upon the earth,\nin the absence of the true Priesthood, ever possessed. It is the\nfountain of all intelligence; it is to bring heaven to earth and exalt\nearth to heaven, to prepare all intelligence that God has placed in\nthe hearts of the children of men--to mingle with the intelligence\nwhich dwells in eternity, and to elevate the mind above the trifling\nand frivolous objects of time, which tend downward to destruction.\nIt frees the mind of man from darkness and ignorance, gives him that\nintelligence that flows from heaven, and qualifies him to comprehend\nall things. This is the character of the religion we believe in.\n7:140-141.\n\nOur belief will bring peace to all men and good will to all the\ninhabitants of the earth. It will induce all who sincerely follow its\ndictates to cultivate righteousness and peace; to live peaceably in\ntheir families; to praise the Lord morning and evening; to pray with\ntheir families, and will so fill them with the spirit of peace that\nthey will never condemn or chasten any one unless it is well deserved.\n{688} They will rise in the morning with their spirits as smooth and\nserene as the sun that is rising and giving life and heat to the world;\njust as calm and as smooth as the breezes on a summer evening. No\nanger, no wrath, no malice, contention or strife. If a wrong arises,\nthe party wronged will go to his neighbor and quietly investigate\nwhether wrong was designed; and if the seeming transgressor is living\naccording to the spirit of his religion, it will be found that he had\ndesigned no wrong, and that he will make ample amends, forgiveness will\nbe accorded, and the trouble will end. This is the spirit and teaching\nof the Gospel.\n\nHow will perfection be obtained? By all persons in the Kingdom of God\nliving so as to be revelators from the heavens for themselves and for\nall they preside over, that everything they have to perform in this\nlife--every worldly care and duty, and all their walk and conversation\nbefore each other and before the Lord, may be marked out by the spirit\nof revelation. Is this the way to perfection? It is. This is the Gospel\nof our Lord Jesus Christ; this is the Gospel of life and salvation.\n13:215.\n\nWe ought to understand that when our lives have been filled with all\nmanner of wickedness, to turn and repent of our sins, to be baptized\nfor the remission of them, and have our names written upon the Church\nrecords, does not prepare us for the presence of our Father and Elder\nBrother. What will? A continuation of faithfulness to the doctrines of\nChrist; nothing short of this will do it. 3:193-194.\n\nIt is very fortunate for those who receive this Gospel and the spirit\nof it in their hearts, for it awakes within them a desire to know and\nunderstand the things of God more than they ever did before in their\nlives, and they begin to inquire, read and search, and when they go to\nthe {689} Father in the name of Jesus he will not leave them without a\nwitness. 14:135.\n\nWhen people receive this Gospel, what do they sacrifice? Why, death\nfor life. This is what they give: darkness for light, error for truth,\ndoubt and unbelief for knowledge and the certainty of the things of\nGod. 16:1061.\n\nThe Saints in all ages have been protected, sustained and upheld by\nan Almighty Power in their sufferings, and the power of the religion\nof Jesus Christ has ever sustained them. The Jews anciently said, Let\nhis blood be upon us and upon our children, and God took them at their\nword. 10:287.\n\nYou may as well undertake to terrify the Almighty on his throne, as to\nterrify a Latter-day Saint of the true stripe--one who has the true\nblood in him. 2:313.\n\nThe sound of the Gospel of life and salvation, to gather the House of\nIsrael and redeem the children of men, is a terror to all nations. 8:13.\n\nNo blessing that is sealed upon us will do us any good, unless we live\nfor it. 11:117.\n\n_Personal Joy in the Gospel_--With me \"Mormonism\" is, \"Out with\nthe truth.\" 3:255.\n\nThe great object of my life is to establish the Kingdom of God upon the\nearth. 11:275.\n\nIt may be asked whether I have any idols? Yes, I have most darling\nidols--my God and my religion, and they are all the idols I wish to\nhave. 9:106.\n\nI feel happy. \"Mormonism\" has made me all I am, and the grace, the\npower, and the wisdom of God will make me all that I ever will be,\neither in time or eternity. 8:162.\n\nYou hear many talk about having made sacrifices; if I had that word in\nmy vocabulary I would blot it out. I have {690} never yet made what I\ncall sacrifices; in my experience I know nothing about making them.\n3:223.\n\nAgain, I say, if \"Mormonism\" is not all I anticipated it to be, it is\nnothing. If it is not in me, and I in it, if it is not all and in all\nto me, I am deceived in myself. It is everything in heaven and on earth\nto those who possess it truly. 2:128.\n\nOur religion has been a continual feast to me. With me it is Glory!\nHallelujah! Praise God! instead of sorrow and grief. Give me the\nknowledge, power, and blessings that I have the capacity of receiving,\nand I do not care how the Devil originated, nor anything about him; I\nwant the wisdom, knowledge, and power of God. Give me the religion that\nlifts me higher in the scale of intelligence--that gives me the power\nto endure--that when I attain the state of peace and rest prepared\nfor the righteous, I may enjoy to all eternity the society of the\nsanctified. 8:119.\n\nThe last time I spoke to you here I told you that I found my religion\njust as sweet to me in my private capacity, in my secret meditations\nupon my bed, and in my closet, in my office, or with my family, as it\nis when I am in this stand. I love it as well--esteem it as highly;\nit is as precious to my understanding, and it invigorates, buoys up,\nstrengthens, and fills every power of my capacity with unspeakable joy,\njust as much at home as it does here. I hope this is the case with you\nall. If you live your religion, it is as dear to you when you are out\nof this Tabernacle as when you are here. 8:38.\n\nI am happy; I am full of joy, comfort, and peace; all within me is\nlight, for I desire nothing but to do the will of my Father in heaven.\nI delight not in unrighteousness, but in righteousness and truth. I\nseek to promote the good and {691} happiness of myself and those with\nwhom I am associated. 6:40.\n\nMy business is to save the people, not to oppress, plunder, and destroy\nthem. It is also the duty of all the Elders to labor to save the\npeople. 7:229.\n\nI am so thankful that tongue cannot express what I feel, that I have\nthe privilege of associating with the Saints, and of being a member in\nthe Kingdom of God, and that I have friends in the Church of the Living\nGod. 10:314.\n\nI can say that I do not consider that I have ever suffered anything for\nthis Kingdom--nothing in the least. I have never sacrificed anything,\nwithout it be the evil propensities that are sown in our nature,\nspringing from the seed that was sown at the fall. 8:67.\n\nThe Lord has blessed me; he has always blessed me; from the time I\ncommenced to build up Zion, I have been extremely blessed. I could\nrelate circumstances of so extraordinary a character in regard to the\nprovidences of God to me, that my brethren and sisters would say in\ntheir hearts, \"I can hardly give credence to this.\" But my heart has\nbeen set in me to do the will of God, to build up his Kingdom on the\nearth, to establish Zion and its laws, and to save the people; and\nI can say, truly and honestly, that the thought never came into my\nmind, in all my labors, what my reward will be, or whether my crown\nwould be large or small, or any crown at all, a small possession, a\nlarge possession, or no possession. I have never had any thoughts or\nreflections upon this, or cared the first thing about it. All that I\nhave had in my mind has been that it was my duty to do the will of God,\nand to labor to establish his Kingdom on the earth. I do not love,\nserve or fear the Lord for the sake of getting rid of being damned, nor\nfor the sake of {692} getting some great gift or blessing in eternity,\nbut purely because the principles which God has revealed for the\nsalvation of the inhabitants of the earth are pure, holy and exalting\nin their nature. In them there is honor and eternal increase, they lead\non from light to light, strength to strength, glory to glory, knowledge\nto knowledge, and power to power. 16:70.\n\n\"Mormonism\" has done everything for me that ever has been done for\nme on the earth; it has made me happy; it has made me wealthy and\ncomfortable; it has filled me with good feelings, with joy and\nrejoicing. Whereas, before I possessed the spirit of the Gospel I was\ntroubled with that which I hear others complain of, that is, with,\nat times, feeling cast down, gloomy, and despondent; with everything\nwearing to me, at times, a dreary aspect.\n\nBut have the trees, the streams, the rocks, or any part of creation\nworn a gloomy aspect to me for one half minute since I came in\npossession of the spirit of this Gospel? No, though before that time I\nmight view the most beautiful gardens, buildings, cities, plantations,\nor anything else in nature, yet to me they all wore at times a shade of\ndeath.\n\nThey appeared at times as though a vail was brooding over them, which\ncast a dark shade upon all things, like the shade of the valley of\ndeath, and I felt lonesome and bad. But since I have embraced the\nGospel not for one half minute, to the best of my recollection, has\nanything worn to me a gloomy aspect; under all circumstances I have\nfelt pleasant and cheerful.\n\nWhen surrounded by mobs, with death and destruction threatening on\nevery hand, I am not aware but that I felt just as joyful, just as well\nin my spirit, as I do now. Prospects might appear dull and very dark,\nbut I have never {693} seen a time in this Gospel but what I knew that\nthe result would be beneficial to the cause of truth and the lovers of\nrighteousness, and I have always felt to joyfully acknowledge the hand\nof the Lord in all things. 3:320.\n\nI present myself before this congregation as a teacher of the way of\nlife and salvation. 10:318.\n\nPermit me to say, that I am proud of my religion. It is the only thing\nI pride myself in, on the earth. I may heap up gold and silver like the\nmountains; I may gather around me property, goods and chattels, but\nI could have no glory in that, compared with my religion; it is the\nfountain of light and intelligence; it swallows up the truth contained\nin all the philosophy of the world, both heathen and Christian; it\ncircumscribes the wisdom of man; all the wisdom and power of the world;\nit reaches to that within the veil. Its bounds, its circumference, its\nend, its height, and depth, are beyond the comprehension of mortals,\nfor it has none. 1:39.\n\nI have an impulse within me to preach the Gospel of salvation. 4:43.\n\nGod, angels, and good men being my helpers, I will never cease to\ncontend, inch by inch, until we gain the ground and possess the\nKingdom. That is my feeling and faith, and we will accomplish it. I\nwill prophesy, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we will\npossess the Kingdom of God upon the whole earth, and possess the earth.\n8:166.\n\nI know enough to let the Kingdom alone, and do my duty. It carries me,\nI do not carry the Kingdom. I sail in the old ship Zion, and it bears\nme safely above the raging elements; I have my sphere of action and\nduties to perform {694} on board of that ship; to faithfully perform\nthem should be my constant and unceasing endeavor. 11:252.\n\nFor nearly thirty years I have sought to know the truth, and to\nproperly understand the principles of the holy Priesthood revealed from\nheaven through the Prophet Joseph; and I have ceased not, when I have\nhad an opportunity, at the proper time and in the proper place, to\npresent those principles to my fellow-men. 7:131.\n\nI love to fight the devils, but I love to overcome them. 3:224.\n\nWe have forsaken the kingdom of darkness, have come out in open\nrebellion to the power of the Devil on this earth, and I for one will\nfight him, so help me God, as long as there is breath in my body, and\ndo all in my power to overthrow his government and rule. And if he\ncomplains that I am infringing upon his ground, I shall very politely\nask him to go to his own place, where he belongs. If any among this\ncommunity want to sustain the government of the Devil, in preference\nto the Kingdom of God, I wish them to go where they belong. I want to\nsustain the government of heaven, and shall stick fast to it, by the\nhelp of God. If we sustain it, it will build us up and crown us with\nvictory and eternal life. 10:41.\n\nBut I am proud to say of my religion, I have studied it faithfully for\ntwenty-two years, day and night, at home and abroad, upon the rivers,\nand upon the lakes, when travelling by sea and by land; have studied it\nin the pulpit; from morning till night; whatsoever might be my pursuit,\nI have studied it with as close an application as any college student\never did any subject he wished to commit to memory; and I can say I\nhave only just got into the A B C of it; it leads the vision of my mind\ninto eternity. 1:39. {695}\n\n_Blessings Conditioned Upon Good Works_--Every blessing the Lord\nproffers to his people is on conditions. These conditions are: \"Obey my\nlaw, keep my commandments, walk in my ordinances, observe my statutes,\nlove mercy, preserve the law that I have given to you inviolate,\nkeep yourselves pure in the law, and then you are entitled to these\nblessings, and not until then.\" 16:162.\n\nGood actions always result in blessings. The history of the people\nof God in all ages testifies that whenever they have listened to the\ncounsel of heaven they have always been blessed. All this people are\nsatisfied that they will be more blessed to hearken to good counsel\nthan not to do so. 12:122.\n\nBrethren and sisters, if we wish the blessings of heaven upon us,\nlet us be faithful to our covenants and callings, faithful in paying\ntithing, in keeping the Word of Wisdom and in building temples. 16:69.\n\nIf the brethren will take hold and perform the labors devolving upon\nthem, they shall be blessed in them. They will increase in health and\nin wealth. The Lord will bless the people in proportion as they bless\nthemselves. 16:68.\n\nI wish the people could realize that they walk, live, and abide in the\npresence of the Almighty. The faithful shall have eyes to see as they\nare seen, and you shall behold that you are in the midst of eternity\nand in the presence of holy beings, and be enabled ere long to enjoy\ntheir society and presence. You are greatly blessed. 8:200.\n\nDo just as well as you know how in all things, never permitting\nyourself to commit an act unless the Spirit of God within you justifies\nyou in doing it. And if you live every day of your lives according\nto the best light and understanding you possess, glorifying God, our\nHeavenly {696} Father, just as far as your knowledge extends, I will\npromise you eternal life in the Kingdom of God. 19:220.\n\nThe man, or the woman, that mainly looks after the fruit, after\nthe luxuries of life, good food, fine apparel and at the same time\nprofesses to be a Latter-day Saint, if he does not get that spirit\nout of his heart, it will obtain a perfect victory over him; whereas\nhe is required to obtain a victory over his lusts and over his unwise\nfeelings. 4:52.\n\n_Increasing Blessings_--Instead of the righteous being bound\ntighter and tighter, they will continue to have more and more liberty,\nas we are more and more faithful, and obtain more power with the\nheavens and more of the power of God upon us. Let us seek diligently\nunto the Lord, until we obtain the faith of Jesus in its fulness, for\nthose who possess this are free indeed. 10:288.\n\nIf the Lord had a people on the earth that he had perfect confidence\nin, there is not a blessing in the eternities of our God, that they\ncould bear in the flesh, that he would not pour out upon them. Tongue\ncannot tell the blessings the Lord has for a people who have proved\nthemselves before him. 4:79.\n\nThe greatest blessing that can be bestowed on the children of men is\npower to civilize themselves after the order of the civilization of the\nheavens--to prepare themselves to dwell with heavenly beings who are\ncapable of enduring the presence of the Gods. 8:7.\n\n\"Mormonism\" keeps men and women young and handsome; and when they are\nfull of the Spirit of God, there are none of them but what will have a\nglow upon their countenances; and that is what makes you and me young;\nfor the Spirit of God is with us and within us. 5:210.\n\n_Personal Blessings Upon the People_--Brethren and {697} sisters,\nmay God bless you! I bless you all the time, Hallelujah! Praise the\nname of Israel's God; for my soul exults in his name. 6:100.\n\nI will say to you, my brethren and sisters, I bless you. I bless you\naccording to the Priesthood that I hold and the keys thereof. I bless\nyou in the name of Jesus Christ. 16:170.\n\nGod bless you! Peace be with you, and love be multiplied upon the\npeople. I pray for the good all over the earth. My desire is to see the\nKingdom of God prosper. 15:134.\n\nMay God bless you! Peace be upon you! Be fervent in spirit, humble,\nteachable, and prayerful, taking care of yourselves, endeavoring to\nsave yourselves, and all you have any influence over, which is my\ncontinual prayer for you, in the name of Jesus. Amen. 1:111.\n\nBrethren and sisters, inasmuch as I have the right and privilege,\nthrough the Priesthood, I bless you in the name of the Lord, and say,\nbe you blessed. These are my feelings to the Latter-day Saints, and\nwould be to all the human family, if they would receive my blessings,\nin the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 2:10.\n\nMay the Lord God Almighty bless the Saints, and every one who will\npermit his blessings to come upon them. I am under the same obligations\nto bless sinners as I am to bless Saints, if they will receive my\nblessings. I pray for the blessings of heaven upon the work of his\nhands, for we are all his children--the sons and daughters of our\nParent who dwells in the heavens. 8:261.\n\nGod bless every good man. God bless the works of nature, God bless his\nown work, overthrow the wicked and ungodly and them that would destroy\ntheir fellow beings, that war and contentions may cease on the earth. O\nLord, {698} remove these from office and place good men at the head of\nthe nations, that they may learn war no more, but go to, like rational\nand civilized beings, sustain peace on the earth and do good to each\nother. 12:289.\n\nGod bless you, and I pray that you may be blessed; but I pray you to\nbless yourselves. Brethren and sisters, let us bless ourselves, by\ndoing the will of God, then we are right. 16:71.\n\nI have experienced much in my life, and I will not ask you to do any\nbetter by one another, nor by me, than I do by you, and I will bless\nyou all the time. I feel to bless you continually; my life is here,\nmy interest, my glory, my pride, my comfort, my all are here, and all\nI expect to have, to all eternity is wrapped up in the midst of this\nChurch.\n\nIf I do not get it in this channel; I shall not have it at all. How\ndo you suppose I feel? I feel as a father should feel towards his\nchildren. I have felt so for many years, even when I durst not say so;\nI have felt as a mother feels towards her tender offspring, and durst\nnot express my feelings; but I have tried to carry out their expression\nin my life. May God bless, you. Amen. 4:333.\n\nI do not hate any man on earth or in hell. The worst wish I have for\nthe wicked is that they may be obliged to live according to good and\nwholesome laws. 8:43.\n\nThere is not a man or woman on this earth that I hate; but I do\nmost cordially hate their wicked acts. I am at war with false\nprinciples--with wickedness, sin, and abomination; and I expect to\ncontinue my warfare until I overcome. 7:6.\n\nI feel happy; I feel at peace with all the inhabitants of the earth;\nI love my friends, and as for my enemies, I pray for them daily; and\nif they do not believe I would do them {699} good, let them call at my\nhouse, when they are hungry, and I will feed them; yea, I will do good\nto those who despitefully use and persecute me. I pray for them, and\nbless my friends all the time. 11:111.\n\nIf I had power, I certainly would bless the people with everything\ntheir hearts could wish if they would not sin. I would do, as I heard\nthe mothers of some of my children say that went with me to St. George\nthis winter, that I indulged them in every thing they wanted. Why?\nBecause they never manifested a desire for anything wrong. And if\nit were in my power I would bless all the inhabitants of the earth,\nwith everything in which they could glorify God, and purify their own\nhearts. 18:362.\n\nGod bless you, my children, my little ones. I love you, I am a great\nlover of children and innocence and purity, and I am a hater of\niniquity. I think very frequently, in looking upon the actions of\nmen that I do not have compassion enough; but when I see the wolf\namong the lambs I am after them, to see that they do not destroy the\nlambs. I would have given worlds if I could have known the truth in\nmy childhood, as I now hear it. I had a great desire to know it, and\nthe priests were after me from the time I was eight years of age. I\nwas infidel to their creeds, but not to the Bible, not to God, not to\nholiness, but to the creeds of the children of men I was infidel, and\nam to this day. I say, God bless you, my children. 19:65. {700}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLI\n\n_JOSEPH SMITH_\n\n_A Prophet of God_--I honor and revere the name of Joseph Smith. I\ndelight to hear it; I love it. I love his doctrine. 13:216.\n\nWhat I have received from the Lord, I have received by Joseph Smith;\nhe was the instrument made use of. If I drop him, I must drop these\nprinciples; they have not been revealed, declared, or explained by any\nother man since the days of the Apostles. If I lay down the Book of\nMormon, I shall have to deny that Joseph is a Prophet; and if I lay\ndown the doctrine and cease to preach the gathering of Israel and the\nbuilding up of Zion, I must lay down the Bible; and, consequently, I\nmight as well go home as undertake to preach without these three items.\n6:279-280.\n\nI feel like shouting Hallelujah, all the time, when I think that I ever\nknew Joseph Smith, the Prophet whom the Lord raised up and ordained,\nand to whom he gave keys and power to build up the Kingdom of God on\nearth and sustain it. These keys are committed to this people, and we\nhave power to continue the work that Joseph commenced, until everything\nis prepared for the coming of the Son of Man. This is the business of\nthe Latter-day Saints, and it is all the business we have on hand. 3:51.\n\nNot that Joseph was the Savior, but he was a Prophet. As he said once;\nwhen some one asked him, \"Are you the Savior?\" \"No, but I can tell you\nwhat I am--I am his brother.\" So we can say. 14:202.\n\nJoseph Smith has laid the foundation of the Kingdom of {701} God in the\nlast days; others will rear the superstructure. 9:364.\n\nI never saw any one, until I met Joseph Smith, who could tell me\nanything about the character, personality and dwelling-place of God, or\nanything satisfactory about angels, or the relationship of man to his\nMaker. Yet I was as diligent as any man need to be to try and find out\nthese things. 16:46.\n\nWhat is the nature and beauty of Joseph's mission? You know that I am\none of his Apostles. When I first heard him preach, he brought heaven\nand earth together; and all the priests of the day could not tell me\nanything correct about heaven, hell, God, angels, or devils; they were\nas blind as Egyptian darkness. When I saw Joseph Smith, he took heaven,\nfiguratively speaking, and brought it down to earth; and he took the\nearth, brought it up, and opened up, in plainness and simplicity,\nthe things of God; and that is the beauty of his mission. I had a\ntestimony, long before that, that he was a Prophet of the Lord, and\nthat was consoling. Did not Joseph do the same to your understandings?\nWould he not take the Scriptures and make them so plain and simple that\neverybody could understand? Every person says, \"Yes, it is admirable;\nit unites the heavens and the earth together,\" and as for time, it is\nnothing, only to teach us how to live in eternity. 5:332.\n\nWhen you hear a man pour out eternal things, how well you feel, to\nwhat a nearness you seem to be brought with God. What a delight it was\nto hear Brother Joseph talk upon the great principles of eternity; he\nwould bring them down to the capacity of a child, and he would unite\nheaven with earth, this is the beauty of our religion. 4:54.\n\nThere is not that being that ever had the privilege of {702} hearing\nthe way of life and salvation set before him as it is written in the\nNew Testament, and in the Book of Mormon, and in the book of Doctrine\nand Covenants, by a Latter-day Saint, that can say that Jesus lives,\nthat his Gospel is true, and at the same time say that Joseph Smith\nwas not a Prophet of God. That is strong testimony, but it is true. No\nman can say that this book (laying his hand on the Bible) is true, is\nthe word of the Lord, is the way, is the guide-board in the path, and\na charter by which we may learn the will of God; and at the same time\nsay, that the Book of Mormon is untrue; if he has had the privilege of\nreading it, or of hearing it read, and learning its doctrines. There\nis not that person on the face of the earth who has had the privilege\nof learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ from these two books, that can\nsay that one is true, and the other is false. No Latter-day Saint, no\nman or woman, can say the Book of Mormon is true, and at the same time\nsay that the Bible is untrue. If one be true, both are; and if one be\nfalse, both are false. If Jesus lives, and is the Savior of the world,\nJoseph Smith is a Prophet of God, and lives in the bosom of his father\nAbraham. Though they have killed his body, yet he lives and beholds the\nface of his Father in Heaven; and his garments are pure as the angels\nthat surround the throne of God; and no man on the earth can say that\nJesus lives, and deny, at the same time, my assertion about the Prophet\nJoseph. This is my testimony, and it is strong. 1:38.\n\nWho can justly say aught against Joseph Smith? I was as well acquainted\nwith him, as any man. I do not believe that his father and mother knew\nhim any better than I did. I do not think that a man lives on the earth\nthat knew him any better than I did; and I am bold to say that, Jesus\n{703} Christ excepted, no better man ever lived or does live upon this\nearth. I am his witness. He was persecuted for the same reason that any\nother righteous person has been or is persecuted at the present day.\n9:332.\n\nI never have professed to be Brother Joseph, but Brother Brigham,\ntrying to do good to this people. I am no better, nor any more\nimportant than another man who is trying to do good. If I am, I don't\nknow it. If I improve upon what the Lord has given me, and continue to\nimprove, I shall become like those who have gone before me; I shall be\nexalted in the celestial kingdom, and be filled to overflowing with all\nthe power I can wield; and all the keys of knowledge I can manage will\nbe committed unto me. What do we want more? I shall be just like every\nother man--have all that I can, in my capacity, comprehend and manage.\n6:275-276.\n\n_Called and Directed by God_--He called upon his servant Joseph\nSmith, Jr., when he was but a boy, to lay the foundation of his Kingdom\nfor the last time. Why did he call upon Joseph Smith to do it? Because\nhe was disposed to do it. Was Joseph Smith the only person on earth who\ncould have done this work? No doubt there were many others who, under\nthe direction of the Lord, could have done that work; but the Lord\nselected the one that pleased him, and that is sufficient. 11:253.\n\nIn all ages of the world that we have any knowledge of, when there\nwas a people on the earth whom God acknowledged as his people, he\nhas invariably dictated them in Spiritual and in temporal things.\nThis question was agitated year after year in the days of Joseph. The\nfirst two Bishops in the Church--Edward Partridge was the first--I\nwas well acquainted with him, and Newel K. Whitney was {704} the\nsecond--questioned the propriety of Joseph having anything to do with\ntemporal things. Joseph would argue the case with them a little, and\ntell them how things were, and bring up scripture to show them that\nit could not be otherwise--that it was impossible for the Lord to\ndictate to people unless he dictated them in temporal affairs. The\nvery first act after believing is a temporal act. After I hear the\nGospel preached and believe it, I go down into the waters of baptism,\nwhich is a temporal act; it is an act that pertains to my will and my\nbody; I will that my body shall go down into the water and be immersed\nfor the remission of my sins; consequently, I have to go to the Elder\nwho taught me the Gospel, the spiritual portion of the Kingdom, and\napply to him to administer this temporal ordinance, and he has to\ndo it; having taught the doctrine he officiates in the act and you\nwill find it through life, every circumstance, in every case, the man\nthat dictates the spiritual Kingdom of God, must dictate the temporal\naffairs, it cannot be otherwise. I say this to you, because the idea\nin the minds of a few of the people is, \"Brigham ought not to meddle\nwith temporal affairs.\" They said so to Joseph, and they said so much\nabout it, that I went into the temple at Kirtland, and challenged the\nmen who were querying on this, to prove or bring up one instance where\nGod did not manifest his will concerning temporal things whenever he\nmade known his will to the children of men for establishing his Kingdom\non the earth. They always came to the floor; they had to do it, there\nwas nothing else for them; it prostrated every person. There were\nWilliam E. McLellin, John F. Boynton, and Lyman Johnson who belonged\nto the Twelve, Frederick G. Williams, second counselor to Joseph, and\ntwo-thirds of the High Council, all talking {705} about this, and I\nwent into the temple and just challenged them to show wherein the\nLord ever conferred upon any man in the world the power to dictate in\nspiritual affairs, that he did not in temporal affairs? They could not\ndo it. I told them they could not draw the line between the spiritual\nand the temporal. All things were created first spiritual, and then\ntemporal. Everything in the spirit world was presented as we see it\nnow, and this temporal earth was presented there. We were in the spirit\nworld, and we came here into this time, which is in eternity, nothing\nin the world only a change of time and season is allotted to a change\nof being that makes it time to us. It is in eternity, and we are just\nas much in eternity now, as we shall be millions of years hence. But it\nis time measured to finite beings, and it is changeable, and we call\nit temporal, while the fact is it is all spiritual in the first place,\nthen temporal, then spiritual, and made immortal, consequently you\ncannot divide them. I say this for those to reflect upon who think that\nthere is a difference between temporal and spiritual things. I do not\nsay, for I do not know that there are any such here. 18:243.\n\n_Development of the Prophet_--From the day that Joseph obtained\nthe plates, and previous to that time, the Lord dictated him. He\ndirected him day by day and hour by hour. 8:66.\n\nJoseph continued to receive revelation upon revelation, ordinance upon\nordinance, truth upon truth, until he obtained all that was necessary\nfor the salvation of the human family. All the inhabitants of the earth\nare called of God; they are called to repent and be baptized for the\nremission of sins. 16:42.\n\nWe have passed from one thing to another, and I may {706} say from\none degree of knowledge to another. When Joseph first received the\nknowledge of the plates that were in the hill Cumorah, he did not then\nreceive the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, he merely received the\nknowledge that the plates were there, and that the Lord would bring\nthem forth, and that they contained the history of the aborigines\nof this country. He received the knowledge that they were once in\npossession of the Gospel, and from that time he went on, step by step,\nuntil he obtained the plates, and the Urim and Thummim and had power to\ntranslate them. This did not make him an Apostle, it did not give to\nhim the keys of the Kingdom, nor make him an Elder in Israel. He was\na Prophet, and had the spirit of prophecy, and had received all this\nbefore the Lord ordained him. And when the Lord, by revelation, told\nhim to go to Pennsylvania, he did so, and finished the translation of\nthe Book of Mormon; and when the Lord, in another revelation, told him\nto come back, into New York State, and to go to old Father Whitmer's,\nwho lived in a place opposite Waterloo, and there stop, he did so, and\nhad meetings, and gathered up a few who believed in his testimony. He\nreceived the Aaronic Priesthood, and then he received the keys of the\nMelchizedek Priesthood, and organized the Church. He first received the\npower to baptize, and still did not know that he was to receive any\nmore until the Lord told him there was more for him. Then he received\nthe keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and had power to confirm after\nhe had baptized, which he had not before. He would have stood precisely\nas John the Baptist stood, had not the Lord sent his other messengers,\nPeter, James and John, to ordain Joseph to the Melchizedek Priesthood.\nThen, after some of the brethren had been out preaching, he had a\nrevelation that they should go up to {707} the State of Ohio. I knew\nof them, though I was not acquainted with them before they went up\nthere. They were seen by some of my family, my father saw and conversed\nwith them. Then the way opened for a large gathering in the State of\nOhio. Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Ziba Peterson, David Whitmer,\nJohn Whitmer, and a few others, went up there and preached the Gospel,\nand they came among the members of the society called Campbellites,\nformerly members of the Close Communion Baptists, their leader's name\nbeing Alexander Campbell. This man preached the doctrine that baptism\nwas for the remission of sins, and that split the church; but when the\nbrethren came to these societies and taught them, not only baptism for\nthe remission of sins, but the laying on of hands for the reception of\nthe Holy Ghost, they believed it, and were baptized for the remission\nof their sins, and received the laying on of hands for the Holy Ghost,\nand then received other ordinances.\n\nAt this time [1841] came a revelation that we could be baptized for our\ndead friends, but at first it was not revealed that a record should be\nkept of those who were baptized; but when he received an additional\nrevelation to that effect, then a record was kept. Hundreds and\nthousands, I suppose, were baptized before any record was kept at all,\nand they were baptized over, and a record kept of the baptisms and the\nnames of the administrator, those who acted for the dead, and of the\ndead, and of the witnesses. You can read in the book of Doctrine and\nCovenants, the letter that Joseph wrote, when he was away from home, in\nregard to having witnesses at these baptisms. I relate this to show you\nthat the Lord did not reveal everything at once. But I need not dwell\non this any longer, 18:239-40. {708}\n\n_What Joseph Taught_--All that Joseph Smith did was to preach the\ntruth--the Gospel as the Lord revealed it to him--and tell the people\nhow to be saved, and the honest-in-heart ran together and gathered\naround him and loved him as they did their own lives. He could do no\nmore than to preach true principles, and that will gather the Saints\nin the last days, even the honest-in-heart. All who believe and obey\nthe Gospel of Jesus Christ are his witnesses to the truth of these\nstatements. 10:326.\n\nThe excellency of the glory of the character of Brother Joseph Smith\nwas that he could reduce heavenly things to the understanding of the\nfinite. When he preached to the people--revealed the things of God,\nthe will of God, the plan of salvation, the purposes of Jehovah, the\nrelation in which we stand to him and all the heavenly beings, he\nreduced his teachings to the capacity of every man, woman, and child,\nmaking them as plain as a well-defined pathway. This should have\nconvinced every person that ever heard of him of his divine authority\nand power, for no other man was able to teach as he could, and no\nperson can reveal the things of God, but by the revelations of Jesus\nChrist. 8:206.\n\nNo man was to be found who could teach repentance and baptism for the\nremission of sins, with authority to administer in the ordinances,\nuntil God commissioned Joseph Smith, and sent him forth with his\ncommandment to the people. Previous to that time, I searched everything\npertaining to the churches; I searched high and low to find whether\nthere was any such thing as pure religion upon the earth; I searched\nfor a man that could tell me something of God, of heaven, of angels and\nof eternal life. I believed in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ,\nbut I could not believe that the Church of Christ was upon the earth.\nThe question {709} was frequently asked, \"Is the Methodist Church, the\nQuakers, or the Mother Church right?\" No, I would reply, there is not\na Bible church upon the earth. I might have continued to study the\nBible and all the books that have been written, and without revelation\nfrom God I would have been like the sounding brass or tinkling cymbal,\nhaving no knowledge of God, of true religion, of the redemption of the\nliving or of the dead; I would have lived and died in ignorance; and\nthis was the condition of all the inhabitants of the earth. 10:311.\n\nThere was nothing of a temporal or spiritual nature suggested by Joseph\nSmith in his day, for the action of the Latter-day Saints that would\nnot have been beneficial for them, if they had, with one heart and\nmind, performed all he desired them to do. 11:18.\n\n_Results of the Prophet's Labors_--Joseph Smith, though he spent\nonly fourteen years in presiding over this people, organizing the\nChurch, proclaiming the Gospel and receiving revelations, yet had\nhundreds and thousands of men and women who were ready to go to the\ndeath with him. 14:149.\n\nNow, as bad as myself and my brethren are, and as far as we are from\nthe mark, and from the privileges we should enjoy, if Joseph Smith,\nJr., the Prophet, could have seen the people in his day as willing to\nobey his voice, as they are today to obey the voice of their President,\nhe would have been a happy man. He lived, labored, toiled, and worked;\nhis courage was like the courage of an angel, and his will was like the\nwill of the Almighty, and he labored till they killed him. 11:322.\n\n_Persecutions of the Prophet_--Are there not scores of men\nand women here who are familiar with the death of our Prophet? Why\ndid people hate him? Because of his {710} influence. Did he gain\nor exercise an unrighteous influence? By no means. He possessed\na righteous influence over the spirits, feelings, passions, and\ndispositions of all who delighted in truth and goodness, so far as he\nassociated, and could guide them at his pleasure.\n\nAm I hated for the same cause? I am. I am hated for teaching people the\nway of life and salvation--for teaching them principles that pertain\nto eternity, by which the Gods were and are, and by which they gain\ninfluence and power. Obtain that influence, and you will be hated,\ndespised, and hunted like the roe upon the mountains. The way to obtain\nthat influence is pointed out--by whom? By him through whom the worlds\nwere created, and who has redeemed this earth and all things upon it.\n7:3.\n\nOur situation is peculiar at the present time. Has it not been peculiar\never since Joseph found the plates? The circumstances that surrounded\nhim when he found the plates were singular and strange. He passed a\nshort life of sorrow and trouble, surrounded by enemies who sought day\nand night to destroy him. If a thousand hounds were on this Temple\nBlock, let loose on one rabbit, it would not be a bad illustration\nof the situation at times of the Prophet Joseph. He was hunted\nunremittingly. We have the privilege of believing the same Gospel that\nJoseph taught, and with him of being numbered with those whose names\nare cast out as evil. 10:315.\n\nJune 27, 1844, a little over fourteen years after the organization of\nthis Church, Joseph Smith was slain. In his day there were but very\nfew years of rest for the Saints. They occupied Nauvoo longer than any\nother one place; they lived there about seven years. We left Nauvoo\nin 1846, and from that time until now this Church has not been {711}\ncompelled to abandon their property and homes. We came here in the\nbest and quickest way in our power, and have been building, fencing,\nplanting, sowing, and making ourselves comfortable. It is now more than\nten years since we first located here, unmolested and undisturbed. 7:42.\n\nI lived close by where these plates were found. I knew that Joseph\nfound them, from outward circumstances that transpired at the time.\nI shall not take time to relate but a little of the delicate, kind,\nbenevolent, Christian-like, I will say anti-Godlike feelings of the\npriests and of the people who professed Christianity at the time that\nJoseph organized this Church. The very first thing that was circulated\nwas this--\"Did you hear that Joe Smith and his followers got together\nlast night, blew out the light, stripped themselves stark naked, and\nthere they had the holy roll?\" A great many of you do not understand\nthis term. It came from the Shaking Quakers. I shall not attempt to\nrelate here the conduct attributed to them, but from that sprung the\npeculiar phrase I have mentioned in your hearing this afternoon. In a\nvery short time we were all thieves in the estimation of our so-called\nChristian neighbors. Said the priest to a beloved sister, \"Sister,\ndid you hear of such a man, he was a member of our church a few days\nsince, but he has joined old Joe Smith?\" Says the sister, \"No, can it\nbe possible?\" \"Well, they say so,\" says the priest, and he himself had\nfabricated the entire story. This sister would tell it to another, and\nit would go all through the neighborhood that such a man, who only a\nfew days before had been considered by them as good a brother as they\nhad in their church, had become a chicken thief. But you cannot mention\nany crime that this people called Latter-day Saints have not been\naccused of committing by their so-called {712} Christian neighbors; and\nthese stories would generally commence by the priests whispering to\nsome sister, \"Did you hear of such and such a thing?\" That was enough,\nall that was wanted, it became a solemn fact by the time it passed the\nthird mouth. 16:67.\n\nHad Joseph Smith been an impostor and of the world, the world would\nnot have hated him, but would have loved its own. Had Joseph Smith\nmade political capital of his religion and calling, and raised up a\npolitical party, he doubtless would have become celebrated and renowned\nin the world as a great man and as a great leader. 9:332.\n\n_Harrassed by Lawsuits_--He was poor, harrassed, distressed,\nafflicted, and tormented with lawsuits, persecution upon persecution,\nand it cost thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep\nhim alive, which a few had to sustain. Is this affliction upon them\nnow? It is not. The scene is reversed. And as the people once thought,\nthat many by one man could be made poor, they now believe, by one man\nmany will be made rich. At the present day I do not know where the\nopportunity is to prove the people. 1:75.\n\nJoseph Smith was arraigned before Judge Austin A. King, on a charge of\ntreason. The Judge inquired of Mr. Smith, \"Do you believe and teach the\ndoctrine that in the course of time the Saints will possess the earth?\"\nJoseph replied that he did. \"Do you believe that the Lord will raise\nup a kingdom that will fill the whole earth and rule over all other\nkingdoms, as the Prophet Daniel has said?\" \"Yes, sir, I believe that\nJesus Christ will reign King of nations as he does King of Saints?\"\n\"Write that down, clerk; we want to fasten upon him the charge of\ntreason, for if he believes this, he must believe that the State of\nMissouri {713} will crumble and fall to rise no more.\" Lawyer Doniphan\nsaid to the Judge, \"Judge, you had better make the Bible treason and\nhave done with it.\" 9:331.\n\nJoseph, our Prophet, was hunted and driven, arrested and persecuted,\nand although no law was ever made in these United States that would\nbear against him, for he never broke a law, yet to my certain knowledge\nhe was defendant in forty-six lawsuits, and every time Mr. Priest was\nat the head of and led the band or mob who hunted and persecuted him.\nAnd when Joseph and Hyrum were slain in Carthage jail, the mob, painted\nlike Indians, was led by a preacher. 14:199.\n\nJoseph Smith, in forty-six prosecutions, was never proved guilty of\none violation of the laws of his country. They accused him of treason,\nbecause he would not fellowship their wickedness. 10:111.\n\n_Of Good Character_--We can find no person who presents a better\ncharacter to the world, when the facts are known, than Joseph Smith,\nJr., the Prophet, and his brother, Hyrum Smith, who was murdered with\nhim. 14:203.\n\nThe history of Joseph and Mary is given to us by their best friends,\nand precisely as we will give the history of the Prophet Joseph.\nWe know him to have been a good man, we know that he performed his\nmission, we know that he was an honorable man and dealt justly, we know\nhis true character. 3:366.\n\nBut let his enemies give his character, and they will make him out\none of the basest men that ever lived. Let the enemies of Joseph and\nMary give their characters to us, and you would be strongly tempted to\nbelieve as the Jews believe. 3:366.\n\n_Why the Prophet Was Killed_--If it be the will of the {714} Lord\nfor the people to live, they will live. If it had been the will of the\nLord that Joseph and Hyrum should have lived, they would have lived. It\nwas necessary for Joseph to seal his testimony with his blood. Had he\nbeen destined to live he would have lived. The Lord suffered his death\nto bring justice on the nation. The debt is contracted and they have it\nto pay. 13:95.\n\nMany of the Prophets have sealed their testimony with their blood, that\ntheir testament might go forth with force and not return void. As in\nancient days, so in modern days. When Joseph Smith sealed his testimony\nwith his blood, his testament from that moment was in force to all the\nworld; and woe to those who fight against it. 19:5.\n\nJoseph Smith knew this, and when he went to Carthage he said, \"I go to\ndeath; I go like a lamb to the slaughter; I go to my fate.\" 10:194.\n\nIf Brother Joseph Smith had taken a company and come to this country,\nas he intended to do, he could have been living here now, in spite of\nearth and hell. 5:342.\n\nForty-five years ago they were determined to kill the Prophet Joseph.\nI have lain upon the floor scores of nights ready to receive the\nmob who sought his life. This persecution commenced with a little\nneighborhood, then a town, then a county, then a state, and then the\npeople of the United States; and by and by other nations will be just\nas bitter towards us and the doctrines we preach, as many of the people\nof our own nation now are. They will struggle and strive, and plan\nand devise, saying, \"Let us take this course, and that course;\" and\nthey will struggle until they will come to a stop as though they were\nagainst a mountain of solid rock. They will do all they can to break\nus up, and even destroy us; this has been the case now for the last\n{715} forty-five years. Joseph Smith had forty-six lawsuits, and I was\nwith him through the most of them, and never was the first thing proved\nagainst him; he was never guilty of the first violation of the law or\nof good order. And when Governor Ford asked him to go to prison, as the\nmob were so enraged that he could not insure his life, that he might\nbe safe until he returned from Nauvoo, he said: \"I will pledge you the\nfaith of the State of Illinois for your safety.\" But as soon as he was\ngone, the mob murdered both Joseph and his brother Hyrum, in the jail.\nThat was to be so. I heard Joseph say many a time, \"I shall not live\nuntil I am forty years of age.\" The spring before he was killed--his\ndeath occurred the 27th of June, 1844--he hurried off the first Elders\nof the Church. All right, I thought then, and I think so now. It is\nall in the hands of God. They killed Joseph, and what for? For the\nGospel's sake. It was for no evil, for I was well acquainted with him.\nHe testified to the truth, he sealed his testimony with his blood.\nWhether we believe in blood atonement or not, the Lord so ordered it,\nthat Joseph, as well as others of the Prophets, sealed their testimony\nwith their blood. 18:361.\n\n_Joseph's Work in the Spirit World_--Jesus had a work to do on the\nearth. He performed his mission, and then was slain for his testimony.\nSo it has been with every man who has been foreordained to perform\ncertain important missions. Joseph truly said, \"No power can take away\nmy life, until my work is done.\" All the powers of earth and hell could\nnot take his life, until he had completed the work the Father gave\nhim to do; until that was done, he had to live. When he died he had a\nmission in the spirit world, as much so as Jesus had. 4:285.\n\nIs Joseph glorified? No, he is preaching to the spirits {716} in\nprison. He will get his resurrection the first of any one in this\nKingdom, for he was the first that God made choice of to bring forth\nthe work of the last days.\n\nHis office is not taken from him, he has only gone to labor in another\ndepartment of the operations of the Almighty. He is still an Apostle,\nstill a Prophet, and is doing the work of an Apostle and Prophet; he\nhas gone one step beyond us and gained a victory that you and I have\nnot gained, still he has not yet gone into the celestial kingdom, or,\nif he has, it has been by a direct command of the Almighty, and that,\ntoo, to return again so soon as the purpose has been accomplished.\n3:371.\n\n_Nature of the Prophet and His Family_--What of Joseph Smith's\nfamily? What of his boys? I have prayed from the beginning for Sister\nEmma and for the whole family. There is not a man in this Church that\nhas entertained better feelings towards them. Joseph said to me, \"God\nwill take care of my children when I am taken.\" They are in the hands\nof God, and when they make their appearance before this people, full\nof his power, there are none but what will say, \"Amen! we are ready to\nreceive you.\" 8:69.\n\n_The Twelve, the Successors of the Prophet_--At the death of\nJoseph, when the Twelve returned to Nauvoo, to use a comparison, the\nhorses were all harnessed and the people were in the big carriage, and\nwhere were they going? They did not know. Who would gather up the lines\nand guide the team? No man would step forward, until I did. There was\nnot one of the Twelve with me when I went to meet Sidney Rigdon on the\nmeeting-ground. I went alone, and was ready alone to face and drive the\ndogs from the flock. 8:317.\n\nNow, it is no more my duty to live so as to know the {717} mind and\nwill of the Lord than it is the duty of my brethren, the rest of the\nTwelve. I say the rest of the Twelve, because I am the President of the\nQuorum of the Twelve Apostles on the earth, and the only one that the\nLord has ever acknowledged. It is true that Thomas B. Marsh was once\nPresident, but the Lord never acknowledged any man by revelation as\nPresident of that Quorum but myself. At the death of Joseph I stepped\nout from that position in the advance, according to the organization\nof the Church, for the sake of preserving the flock of God, but not\naccording to my wishes, nor the desire of my heart, but it was my duty.\nWhen I heard of the Prophet's death I said, \"What will become of the\npeople? What will the Saints do now that the Prophet has gone?\" It was\nmy whole desire to preserve the sheep of the flock of God, and it is so\ntoday. Brother Kimball also stepped into the first Presidency, and we\ncalled others and ordained them to take our place for the time being,\nthat the Church might be fully organized, and we expect to ordain more\nwhen we feel like it. 18:70.\n\n_Some Sayings of the Prophet_--Joseph used to say, \"When you get\nthe Latter-day Saints to agree on any point, you may know it is the\nvoice of God.\" 12:301.\n\nWill the Constitution be destroyed? No; it will be held inviolate by\nthis people; and, as Joseph Smith said, \"The time will come when the\ndestiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread. At this critical\njuncture, this people will step forth and save it from the threatened\ndestruction.\" It will be so. 7:15.\n\nHundreds of people in this house are my witnesses, who heard Joseph\nsay, when asked whether we should ever dare to leave Nauvoo, \"The\nSaints will leave Nauvoo. I do not say they will be driven, as they\nwere from Jackson County, {718} Missouri, and from that State; but\nthey will leave here and go to the mountains. And the next time the\nSaints remove, or are caused to remove, they will be turned out of the\nfrying-pan, not into the fire, but into the middle of the floor.\" If\nthis is not the middle of the floor, I do not know where you will find\nit. 8:356.\n\nI recollect many times when Brother Joseph, reflecting upon how many\nwould come into the Kingdom of God and go out again, would say,\n\"Brethren, I have not apostatized yet, and don't feel like doing so.\"\nMany of you, no doubt, can call to mind his words. Joseph had to pray\nall the time, exercise faith, live his religion, and magnify his\ncalling, to obtain the manifestations of the Lord, and to keep him\nsteadfast in the faith. 2:257.\n\nWho delivered Joseph Smith from the hands of his enemies to the day of\nhis death? It was God; though he was brought to the brink of death time\nand time again, and, to all human appearance, could not be delivered,\nand there was no probability of his being saved. When he was in jail in\nMissouri, and no person expected that he would ever escape from their\nhands, I had the faith of Abraham, and told the brethren, \"As the Lord\nGod liveth, he shall come out of their hands.\" Though he had prophesied\nthat he would not live to be forty years of age, yet we all cherished\nhopes that that would be a false prophecy, and we should keep him\nforever with us; we thought our faith would outreach it, but we were\nmistaken--he at last fell a martyr to his religion. I said, \"It is all\nright; now the testimony is in full force; he has sealed it with his\nblood, and that makes it valid.\" 1:364.\n\nThe question was asked a great many times of Joseph Smith, by gentlemen\nwho came to see him and his people, {719} \"How is it that you can\ncontrol your people so easily? It appears that they do nothing but what\nyou say; how is it that you can govern them so easily?\" Said he, \"I do\nnot govern them at all. The Lord has revealed certain principles from\nthe heavens by which we are to live in these latter days. The time is\ndrawing near when the Lord is going to gather out his people from the\nwicked, and he is going to cut short his work in righteousness, and the\nprinciples which he has revealed I have taught to the people and they\nare trying to live according to them, and they control themselves.\"\n\nGentlemen, this is the great secret now in controlling this people.\nIt is thought that I control them, but it is not so. It is as much as\nI can do to control myself and to keep myself straight and teach the\npeople the principles by which they should live. 13:176.\n\nI recollect one remark that Brother Joseph used to make frequently,\nwhen talking to the Elders. No matter what he set them to do, whether\nhe wanted them to go to a foreign land on a mission, or to go into\nbusiness, he would say, \"When you commence, go in at the little end of\nthe horn; for if you do not, but enter at the big end, you will either\nhave to turn round and come out at the end you went in at, or go out at\nthe small end, and be squeezed nigh unto death.\"\n\nLet an Elder hire the best halls in large cities to begin with, and go\nto lecturing, and it will take him a long time to raise a Branch of\nthis Church. But let him begin among the poor of the earth--those who\nlive in the cellars, and garrets, and back streets; \"for,\" says the\nAlmighty, \"I am going to take the weak things of the earth, and with\nthem confound the wisdom of the wise.\" You will see that trait {720}\nin every step of \"Mormonism.\" God has chosen the obscure and weak,\nto bring them up and exalt them. Is not that the work of a God, the\nperformance of this work without money and without price? The Gospel\nis sent to all the inhabitants of the earth--to the high and the low,\nthe noble and the ignoble, the young and the old. \"Here is the Gospel;\nyou are welcome to it.\" \"Don't you ask anything for it? Not a farthing.\nIt has to go to the world, without money and price.\" Now, compare this\nwith carrying the Gospel with your pockets full of money; and in the\nlatter case, where is your glory and honor? 8:354.\n\nI recollect, in Far West, Joseph, talking upon these matters, said,\n\"The people cannot bear the revelations that the Lord has for them.\nThere were a great many revelations if the people could bear them.\" I\nthink it was the eighth day of July, 1831, Joseph had a revelation that\nthe people should consecrate their surplus property for the building\nof a temple there in Far West, for the support of the Priesthood, for\nthe paying of the debts of the Presidency, etc., which I could give an\naccount of, for I was present when it came. Joseph was doing business\nin Kirtland, and it seemed as though all creation was upon him, to\nhamper him in every way, and they drove him from his business, and it\nleft him so that some of his debts had to be settled afterwards; and I\nam thankful to say that they were settled up; still further, we have\nsent East to New York, to Ohio, and to every place where I had any\nidea that Joseph had ever done business, and inquired if there was a\nman left to whom Joseph Smith, jr., the Prophet, owed a dollar, or a\nsixpence. If there was we would pay it. But I have not been able to\nfind one. I have advertised this through every {721} neighborhood and\nplace where he formerly lived, consequently I have a right to conclude\nthat all his debts were settled. 18:242.\n\nBrother Kimball quoted a saying of Joseph the Prophet, that he would\nnot worship a God who had not a Father; and I do not know that he would\nif he had not a mother; the one would be as absurd as the other. If he\nhad a Father, he was made in his likeness. And if he is our Father we\nare made after his image and likeness. He once possessed a body, as we\nnow do; and our bodies are as much to us, as his body to him. Every\niota of this organization is necessary to secure for us an exaltation\nwith the Gods. 9:286.\n\nMy name is had for good and evil upon the whole earth, as promised to\nme. Thirty years ago Brother Joseph, in a lecture to the Twelve said to\nme, \"Your name shall be known for good and evil throughout the world,\"\nand it is so. The good love me, weak and humble as I am, and the wicked\nhate me; but there is no individual on the earth but what I would lead\nto salvation, if he would let me; I would take him by the hand, like a\nchild, and lead him like a father in the way that would bring him to\nsalvation. 10:297. {722}\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLII\n\n_THE SETTLEMENT IN THE WEST_\n\n_The Journey Across the Plains_--A short recital of the reasons,\nwhy these children before me were born here instead of being born in\nthe States, I can give to you, and will endeavor to do so in a few\nwords.\n\nIn 1830, forty-seven years ago last March, the Book of Mormon was\nprinted and bound. Joseph Smith had received revelation, and plates\non which were engraved characters from which the book was translated.\nBefore the book was printed, before Joseph had the privilege of\ntestifying to the truth of the latter-day work, persecution was raised\nagainst him. On the 6th day of April of the same year the Church of\nJesus Christ was organized. Persecution increased and continued to\nincrease. He left the State of New York and went to the State of Ohio.\nThe Gospel was preached there and many received it. A settlement was\nformed, but Joseph had not the privilege of staying there long before\nthey hunted him so determinedly that he was forced to leave Kirtland\nand the State of Ohio. He then went to Missouri. In the year 1838,\nin the month of March, in company with a number of brethren, myself\nincluded, Joseph arrived at Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri. We\nhad not the privilege of staying there more than for a few months\nbefore the cry was raised against Joseph Smith, that he was guilty of\nhigh treason. This aroused the people and the government of the state;\nand in October, thirty-five hundred of the militia of the state of\nMissouri were marched against a few of us in Far West. They succeeded\nin taking Joseph and Hyrum {723} and sixty-five others and putting them\nin prison. When Joseph had his trial, the great accusation against him\nwas that he believed in the fulfilment of prophecy--the prophecies that\nhad been made by Prophets of old and contained in Holy Writ. When Judge\nKing asked Joseph if he believed the predictions of Daniel the Prophet,\nthat in the latter-days the God of heaven would set up a kingdom which\nshould succeed and finally rule and hold dominion over all other\nkingdoms, Joseph replied that he did believe this scripture as well as\nthe rest. This was considered treason! Joseph's lawyer turned to Judge\nKing and said, \"Judge, I think you had better write it down that the\nBible is treason,\" and this was all they found against him. But the mob\ncontinued until they drove the Latter-day Saints out of the state of\nMissouri. We were told if we remained there the people would be upon\nus. What we were guilty of we did not know, only that we believed in\nthe Bible and the fulfilment of prophecy, or, in other words, in the\nliteral reading of the word of God. They succeeded, after killing many\nof the Latter-day Saints--men, women, and children, cruelly massacring\nthem--in driving us out of the state to the State of Illinois, where\nthe people received us with open arms, especially the inhabitants of\nthe city of Quincy; for which kindness the hearts of our people who\npassed through these scenes have ever been lifted to God, petitioning\nfor blessings upon them. And they have been blessed. We lived in the\nState of Illinois a few years; and here, as elsewhere, persecution\novertook us. It came from Missouri, centering itself upon Joseph, and\nfastened itself upon others. We lived in Illinois from 1839 to 1844, by\nwhich time they again succeeded in kindling the spirit of persecution\nagainst Joseph and the Latter-day Saints. Treason! Treason! {724}\nTreason! they cried, calling us murderers, thieves, liars, adulterers,\nand the worst people on the earth. And this was done by the priests,\nthose pious dispensers of the Christian religion whose charity was\nsupposed to be extended to all men, Christian and heathen; they were\njoined by drunkards, gamblers, thieves, liars, in crying against the\nLatter-day Saints. They took Joseph and Hyrum, and as a guarantee for\ntheir safety, Governor Thomas Ford pledged the faith of the State\nof Illinois. They were imprisoned, on the pretense of safe keeping,\nbecause the mob was so enraged and violent. The Governor left them in\nthe hands of the mob, who entered the prison and shot them dead. John\nTaylor, who is present with us today, was in the prison too, and was\nalso shot, and was confined to his bed for several months afterwards.\nAfter the mob had committed these murders, they came upon us and burned\nour houses and grain. When the brethren would go out to put out the\nfire, the mob would lie concealed under fences, and in the darkness of\nthe night, they would shoot them. At last they succeeded in driving us\nfrom the State of Illinois.\n\nThree congressmen came in the fall of 1845, and had a conference with\nthe Twelve and others; they were desirous that we should leave the\nUnited States. We told them we would do so, we had stayed long enough\nwith them; we agreed to leave the State of Illinois in consequence of\nthat religious prejudice against us that we could not stay in peace any\nlonger. These men said the people were prejudiced against us. Stephen\nA. Douglas, one of the three, had been acquainted with us. He said,\n\"I know you, I know Joseph Smith; he was a good man,\" and this people\nare a good people; but the prejudices of the priests and the ungodly\n{725} are such that, said he, \"Gentlemen, you cannot stay here and\nlive in peace.\" We agreed to leave. We left Nauvoo in February, 1846.\nThere remained behind a few of the very poor, the sick and the aged,\nwho suffered again from the violence of the mob; they were whipped\nand beaten, and had their houses burned. We travelled west, stopping\nin places, building settlements, where we left the poor who could not\ntravel any farther with the company. Exactly thirty years today myself,\nwith others, came out of what we named Emigration Canyon; we crossed\nthe Big and Little mountains, and came down the valley about three\nquarters of a mile south of this. We located, and we looked about, and\nfinally we came and camped between the two forks of City Creek, one of\nwhich ran south-west and the other west. Here we planted our standard\non this temple block and the one above it; here we pitched our camps\nand determined that here we would settle and stop. Still our brethren\nwho tarried by the way were toiling through poverty and distress. At\none time, I was told, they would have perished from starvation, had\nnot the Lord sent quails among them. These birds flew against their\nwagons, and they either killed or stunned themselves, and the brethren\nand sisters gathered them up, which furnished them with food for days,\nuntil they made their way in the wilderness.\n\nChildren, we are the pioneers of this country, with one exception, west\nof the Mississippi river; we established the first printing press in\nevery state from here to the Pacific Ocean, and we were the first to\nestablish good schools; we were the first to plant out orchards and to\nimprove the desert country, making it like the Garden of Eden. 19:60.\n\nWe wish strangers to understand that we did not come here out of\nchoice, but because we were obliged to go somewhere, {726} and this\nwas the best place we could find. It was impossible for any person to\nlive here unless he labored hard and battled and fought against the\nelements, but it was a first-rate place to raise Latter-day Saints,\nand we shall be blessed in living here, and shall yet make it like the\nGarden of Eden; and the Lord Almighty will hedge about his Saints and\nwill defend and preserve them if they will do his will. The only fear I\nhave is that we will not do right; if we do we will be like a city set\non a hill, our light will not be hid. 14:121.\n\nIn the year 1845 I addressed letters to all the Governors of states\nand territories in the Union, asking them for an asylum, within their\nborders, for the Latter-day Saints. We were refused such privilege,\neither by silent contempt or a flat denial in every instance. They all\nagreed that we could not come within the limits of their territory or\nstate. Three members of Congress came to negotiate with us to leave\nthe confines of the United States, and of the public domain. It was\nunderstood that we were going to Vancouver Island; but we had our\neye on Mexico, and here we are located in the midst of what was then\nnorthern Mexico. 11:18.\n\nWhen we were driven from Nauvoo, our Elders went to the east to lay our\ncase before the judges, governors, and rulers of the different states\nto ask for an asylum; but none was offered us. We sent men through\nthe eastern country to try and raise some means for the destitute\nwomen and children, whose husbands, fathers and brothers had gone into\nthe Mexican war at the call of the general Government, leaving their\nwives and children and aged fathers and mothers upon the open prairies\nwithout home or shelter, and the brethren who went east hardly got\nenough to bear their expenses. The great men of the nation {727} were\nasked if they would do anything for the Lord's people. No; not a thing\nwould they do, but hoped they would perish in the wilderness. 11:17.\n\nWhen I was written to in Nauvoo by the President of the United States,\nthrough another person, inquiring, \"Where are you going, Mr. Young?\" I\nreplied that I did not know where we should land. We had men in England\ntrying to negotiate for Vancouver's Island, and we sent a shipload of\nSaints round Cape Horn to California. Men in authority asked, \"Where\nare you going to?\" \"We may go to California, or to Vancouver's Island.\"\nWhen the Pioneer company reached Green River, we met Samuel Brannan\nand a few others from California, and they wanted us to go there. I\nremarked, \"Let us go to California, and we cannot stay there over five\nyears; but let us stay in the mountains, and we can raise our own\npotatoes, and eat them; and I calculate to stay here.\" We are still on\nthe backbone of the animal, where the bone and the sinew are, and we\nintend to stay here, and all hell cannot help themselves. 5:230-231.\n\nMark our settlements for six hundred miles in these mountains and then\nmark the path that we made coming here, building the bridges and making\nthe roads across the prairies, mountains and canyons! We came here\npenniless in old wagons, our friends back telling us to \"take all the\nprovisions, you can; for you can get no more! Take all the seed grain\nyou can, for you can get none there!\" We did this, and in addition\nto all this we have gathered all the poor we could, and the Lord has\nplanted us in these valleys, promising that he would hide us up for a\nlittle season until his wrath and indignation passed over the nations.\nWill we trust in the Lord? Yes. 13:216. {728}\n\nThe Saints were poor when they came into this valley, twenty-five years\nago. They picked up a few buckskins, antelope skins, sheep skins,\nbuffalo skins, and made leggings and moccasins of them, and wrapped the\nbuffalo robes around them. Some had blankets and some had not; some had\nshirts, and I guess some had not. One man told me that he had not a\nshirt for himself or family. 15:158.\n\nI will venture to say that not one of four out of my family had shoes\nto their feet when we came to this valley. 11:288.\n\nWe printed the first papers, except about two, set out the first\norchards, raised the first wheat, kept almost the first schools, and\nmade the first improvements in our pioneering, in a great measure, from\nthe Mississippi river to the Pacific Ocean; and here we got at last,\nso as to be out of the way of everybody, if possible. We thought we\nwould get as far as we could from the face of man; we wanted to get to\na strange land, like Abraham, that we might be where we should not be\ncontinually wrong with somebody or other, and have them crying, \"Oh,\nyou Mormons!\" and have the priests preaching, the press printing, the\ndrunkard swearing, and all, high and low, rich and poor, wishing these\npoor \"Mormons\" were out of the way. We got out of the way as far as we\ncould; and if we can get out of the way any farther and do any good,\nwe are ready to get out of the way; but I think we are as far out of\nthe way as we need to be; and we have got on the highway which has been\ncast up, and I think we had better stay here. 14:208.\n\n_Mormon Battalion_--When we were right in the midst of Indians,\nwho were said to be hostile, five hundred men were called to go to\nMexico to fight the Mexicans, and, said Mr. Benton--\"If you do not send\nthem we will cover you up, {729} and there will be no more of you.\"\nI do not want to think of these things, their authors belong to the\nclass I referred to yesterday--the enemies of mankind, those who would\ndestroy innocence, truth, righteousness and the Kingdom of God from the\nearth. We sent these five hundred men to fight the Mexicans, and those\nof us who remained behind labored and raised all that we needed to feed\nourselves in the wilderness. We had to pay our own school teachers,\nraise our own bread and earn our own clothing, or go without, there was\nno other choice. We did it then, and we are able to do the same today.\n16:19.\n\nWith regard to our going into the wilderness, and our there being\ncalled upon to turn out five hundred able-bodied men to go to Mexico,\nwe had then seen every religious and political right trampled under\nfoot by mobocrats; there were none left to defend our rights; we were\ndriven from every right which freemen ought to possess. In forming that\nbattalion of five hundred men, brother Kimball and myself rode day and\nnight, until we had raised the full number of men the Government called\nfor. Captain Allen said to me, using his own words, \"I have fallen in\nlove with your people. I love them as I never loved a people before.\"\nHe was a friend to the uttermost. When he had marched that Mormon\nBattalion as far as Fort Leavenworth, he was thrown upon a sick bed\nwhere I then believed, and do now, he was nursed, taken care of, and\ndoctored to the silent tomb, and the battalion went on with God for\ntheir friend.\n\nThat battalion took up their line of march from Fort Leavenworth by\nway of Santa Fe, and over the desert and dreary route, and planted\nthemselves in: the lower part of California, to the joy of all the\nofficers and men that were loyal. At the time of their arrival, General\nKearney was {730} in a straitened position, and Colonel P. St. George\nCooke promptly marched the battalion to his relief, and said to him,\n\"We have the boys here now that can put all things right.\" The boys in\nthat battalion performed their duty faithfully. I never think of that\nlittle company of men without the next thoughts being, \"God bless them\nfor ever and for ever.\" All this we did to prove to the Government\nthat we were loyal. Previous to this, when we left Nauvoo, we knew\nthat they were going to call upon us, and we were prepared for it in\nour faith and in our feelings. I knew then as well as I do now that\nthe Government would call for a battalion of men out of that part of\nIsrael, to test our loyalty to the Government. Thomas H. Benton, if\nI have been rightly informed, obtained the requisition to call for\nthat battalion, and, in case of non-compliance with that requisition,\nto call on the militia of Missouri and Iowa, and other states, if\nnecessary, and to call volunteers from Illinois, from which state we\nhad been driven, to destroy the camp of Israel. This same Mr. Benton\nsaid to the President of the United States, in the presence of some\nother persons, \"Sir, they are a pestilential race, and ought to become\nextinct.\" 10:106.\n\nHave not this people invariably evinced their friendly feelings,\ndisposition, and patriotism towards the Government by every act and\nproof which can be given by any people?\n\nPermit me to draw your attention, for a moment, to a few facts in\nrelation to raising the battalion for the Mexican war. When the storm\ncloud of persecution lowered down upon us on every side, when every\navenue was closed against us, our leaders treacherously betrayed and\nslain by the authorities of the Government in which we lived, and {731}\nno hope of relief could penetrate through the thick darkness and gloom\nwhich surrounded us on every side, no voice was raised in our behalf,\nand the general Government was silent to our appeals. When we had been\ninsulted and abused all the day long, by those in authority requiring\nus to give up our arms, and by every other act of insult and abuse\nwhich the prolific imagination of our enemies could devise to test,\nas they said, our patriotism, which requisitions, be it known, were\nalways complied with on our part; and when we were finally compelled to\nflee, for the preservation of our lives and the lives of our wives and\nchildren to the wilderness; I ask, had we not reason to feel that our\nenemies were also in favor of our destruction? Had we not, I ask, some\nreason to consider them all, both in people and the Government, alike\nour enemies?\n\nAnd when, in addition to all this, and while fleeing from our enemies,\nanother test of fidelity and patriotism was contrived by them for our\ndestruction, and acquiesced in by the Government (through the agency\nof a distinguished politician who evidently sought, and thought he\nhad planned, our overthrow and total annihilation) consisting of a\nrequisition from the war department, to furnish a battalion of five\nhundred men to fight under their officers, and for them, in the\nwar then existing with Mexico, I ask again, could we refrain from\nconsidering both people and Government our most deadly foes? Look\na moment at our situation, and the circumstances under which this\nrequisition was made. We were migrating, we knew not whither, except\nthat it was our intention to go beyond the reach of our enemies. We\nhad no home, save our wagons and tents, and no stores of provisions\nand clothing; but had to earn our daily bread by leaving our families\nin isolated locations for safety, and {732} going among our enemies\nto labor. Were we not, even before this cruel requisition was made,\nunmercifully borne down by oppression and, persecution past endurance\nby any other community? But under these trying circumstances we were\nrequired to turn out of our travelling camps five hundred of our most\nefficient men, leaving the old, the young, the women upon the hands of\nthe residue, to take care of and support; and in case we refused to\ncomply with so unreasonable a requirement, we were to be deemed enemies\nto the Government, and fit only for the slaughter.\n\nLook also at the proportion of the number required of us, compared\nwith that of any other portion of the Republic. A requisition of only\nthirty thousand from a population of more than twenty millions was all\nthat was wanted, and more than was furnished, amounting to only one\nperson and a half to a thousand inhabitants. If all other circumstances\nhad been equal, if we could have left our families in the enjoyment\nof peace, quietness, and security in the houses from which we had\nbeen driven, our quota of an equitable requisition would not have\nexceeded four persons. Instead of this, five hundred must go, thirteen\nthousand per cent above an equal ratio, even if all other things had\nbeen equal, but under the peculiar circumstances in which it was made\ncomparison fails to demonstrate, and reason itself totters beneath\nits enormity. And for whom were we to fight? As I have already shown,\nfor those that we had every reason to believe were our most deadly\nfoes. Could the Government have expected our compliance therewith? Did\nthey expect it? Did not our enemies believe that we would spurn, with\nbecoming resentment and indignation, such an unhallowed proposition?\nAnd were they not prepared to make our rejection of it a pretext\n{733} to inflame the Government still more against us, and thereby\naccomplish their hellish purposes upon an innocent people, in their\nutter extinction? And how was this proposition received, and how was it\nresponded to by this people? I went myself, in company with a few of my\nbrethren, between one and two hundred miles along the several routes of\ntravel, stopping at every little camp, using our influence to obtain\nvolunteers, and on the day appointed for the rendezvous the required\ncomplement was made up; and this was all accomplished in about twenty\ndays from the time that the requisition was made known.\n\nOur battalion went to the scene of action, not in easy berths on\nsteam-boats, nor with a few months' absence, but on foot over two\nthousand miles across trackless deserts and barren plains, experiencing\nevery degree of privation, hardship, and suffering during some two\nyears' absence before they could rejoin their families. Thus was our\ndeliverance again effected by the interposition of that All-wise Being\nwho can discern the end from the beginning, and overrule the wicked\nintentions of men to promote the advancement of his cause upon the\nearth. Thus were we saved from our enemies by complying with their, as\nhitherto, unjust and unparalleled exactions; again proving our loyalty\nto the Government.\n\nHere permit me to pay a tribute of respect to the memory of Captain\nAllen, the bearer of this requisition from the Government. He was a\ngentleman full of humane feelings, and, had he been spared, would\nhave smoothed the path, and made easy the performance of this duty,\nso far as laid in his power. His heart was wrung with sympathy when\nhe saw our situation, and filled with wonder when he witnessed the\nenthusiastic patriotism and ardor which so {734} promptly complied with\nhis requirement; again proving, as we had hundreds of times before\nproved, by our acts, that we were belied by our enemies, and that we\nwere as ready, and even more so than any other inhabitants of the\nRepublic, to shoulder the musket, and go forth to fight the battles\nof our common country, or stand in her defense. History furnishes no\nparallel, either of the severity or injustice of the demand, or in the\nalacrity, faithfulness, and patriotism with which it was answered and\ncomplied. Thus can we cite instance after instance of persons holding\nlegal authority, being moved upon, through the misrepresentation and\ninfluence of our enemies to insult us as a people, by requiring a test\nof our patriotism. How long must this state of things continue? So\nlong as the people choose to remain in wilful ignorance with regard to\nus; so long as they choose to misinterpret our views, misrepresent our\nfeelings, and misunderstand our policy. 2:173.\n\nWe made and broke the road from Nauvoo to this place. Some of the time\nwe followed Indian trails, some of the time we ran by the compass;\nwhen we left the Missouri river we followed the Platte. And we killed\nrattlesnakes by the cord in some places; and made roads and built\nbridges till our backs ached. Where we could not build bridges across\nrivers, we ferried our people across, until we arrived here, where we\nfound a few naked Indians, a few wolves and rabbits, and any amount of\ncrickets; but as for a green tree or a fruit tree, or any green field,\nwe found nothing of the kind, with the exception of a few cottonwoods\nand willows on the edge of City Creek. For some 1200 or 1300 miles\nwe carried every particle of provision we had when we arrived here.\nWhen we left our homes we picked up what the mob did not steal of our\n{735} horses, oxen and calves, and some women drove their own teams\nhere. Instead of 365 pounds of breadstuff when they started from the\nMissouri river, there was not half of them had half of it. We had to\nbring our seed grain, our farming utensils, bureaus, secretaries,\nsideboards, sofas, pianos, large looking glasses, fine chairs, carpets,\nnice shovels and tongs, and other fine furniture, with all the parlor,\ncook stoves, etc., and we had to bring these things piled together\nwith some women and children, helter skelter, topsy turvy, with broken\ndown horses, ring-boned, spavined, pole evil, fistula and hipped; oxen\nwith three legs, and cows with one teat. This was our only means of\ntransportation, and if we had not brought our goods in this manner\nwe would not have had them, for there was nothing here. You may say\nthis is a burlesque. Well, I mean it as such, for we, comparatively\nspeaking, really came here naked and barefoot. 12:286-287.\n\n_Settlement in the Great Salt Lake Valley_--In the days of Joseph\nwe have sat many hours at a time conversing about this very country.\nJoseph has often said, \"If I were only in the Rocky Mountains with\na hundred faithful men, I would then be happy, and ask no odds of\nmobocrats.\" 11:16.\n\nI do not wish men to understand I had anything to do with our being\nmoved here, that was the providence of the Almighty; it was the power\nof God that wrought out salvation for this people, I never could have\ndevised such a plan. 4:41.\n\nI did not devise the great scheme of the Lord's opening the way to send\nthis people to these mountains. Joseph contemplated the move for years\nbefore it took place, but he could not get here, for there was a watch\nplaced upon {736} him continually to see that he had no communication\nwith the Indians. This was in consequence of that which is written in\nthe Book of Mormon; one of the first evils alleged against him was that\nhe was going to connive with the Indians; but did he ever do anything\nof the kind? No, he always strove to promote the best interest of all,\nboth red and white. Was it by any act of ours that this people were\ndriven into their midst? We are now their neighbors, we are on their\nland, for it belongs to them as much as any soil ever belonged to any\nman on earth; we are drinking their water, using their fuel and timber,\nand raising our food from their ground. 4:41.\n\nWe have faith, we live by faith; we came to these mountains by faith.\nWe came here, I often say, though to the ears of some the expression\nmay sound rather rude, naked and barefoot, and comparatively this is\ntrue. 13:172.\n\nWe had to have faith to come here. When we met Mr. Bridger on the Big\nSandy River, said he, \"Mr. Young, I would give a thousand dollars if\nI knew an ear of corn could be ripened in the Great Basin.\" Said I,\n\"Wait eighteen months and I will show you many of them.\" Did I say\nthis from knowledge? No, it was my faith; but we had not the least\nencouragement--from natural reasoning and all that we could learn of\nthis country--of its sterility, its cold and frost, to believe that\nwe could ever raise anything. But we travelled on, breaking the road\nthrough the mountains and building bridges until we arrived here, and\nthen we did everything we could to sustain ourselves. We had faith that\nwe could raise grain; was there any harm in this? Not at all. If we had\nnot had faith, what would have become of us? We would have gone down in\nunbelief, have closed {737} up every resource for our sustenance and\nshould never have raised anything. 13:173.\n\nI cannot help being here. We might have gone to Vancouver's Island; and\nif we had, we should probably have been driven away or used up before\nthis time. But here we are in the valleys of the mountains, where the\nLord directed me to lead the people. The brethren who are in foreign\ncountries desire to gather to the gathering-place of the Saints, and\nthey have for the present to come to Great Salt Lake City. They cannot\nhelp that. Why did we not go to San Francisco? Because the Lord told me\nnot: \"For there are lions in the way, and they will devour the lambs,\nif you take them there.\" What now can we do? Why, instead of being\nmerchants, instead of going to St. Louis to buy goods, we can go down\nto our Dixie land, the southern part of our Territory, and raise cotton\nand manufacture goods for ourselves. 9:105.\n\nA great many wanted to go to the Gila River; that was proposed when\nwe first came to this valley. It was said to be a lovely country, and\nthat men could live there almost without labor. What if we had gone\nthere? You see what has followed us here; but what would have been\nthe result, if we had gone there? Long before this time we would have\nbeen outnumbered by our enemies; there would have been more against\nus than for us in our community. Suppose we had gone to Texas, where\nLyman Wight went? He tried to make all the Saints believe that Joseph\nwanted to take the whole Church there. Long before this, we would have\nbeen killed, or compelled to leave the country. We could not have lived\nthere. 4:344.\n\nWe came to these mountains because we had no other place to go to. We\nhad to leave our homes and possessions {738} on the fertile lands of\nIllinois to make our dwelling places in these desert wilds, on barren,\nsterile plains amid lofty, rugged mountains. None dare come here to\nlive until we came here, and we now find it to be one of the best\ncountries in the world for us. 10:223.\n\nFive years ago we were menaced on every side by the cruel persecutions\nof our inveterate enemies; hundreds of families, who had been forced\nfrom their homes, and compelled to leave behind them their all, were\nwandering as exiles in a state of abject destitution; but, by the favor\nof heaven, we have been enabled to surmount all these difficulties, and\ncan assemble here today in the chamber of these mountains, where there\nare none to make us afraid, far from our persecutors, far from the\nturmoil and confusion of the old world. 1:376.\n\nSeven years ago tomorrow, about eleven o'clock, I crossed the\nMississippi River, with my brethren, for this place, not knowing, at\nthat time, whither we were going, but firmly believing that the Lord\nhad in reserve for us a good place in the mountains, and that he would\nlead us directly to it. It is but seven years since we left Nauvoo,\nand we are now ready to build another temple. I look back upon our\nlabors with pleasure. Here are hundreds and thousands of people that\nhave not had the privileges that some of us have had. Do you ask,\nwhat privileges? Why, of running the gauntlet, of passing through the\nnarrows. They have not had the privilege of being robbed and plundered\nof their property, of being in the midst of mobs and death, as many of\nus have. 1:279.\n\nWhen the pioneers came into these valleys we knew nearly all the\nfamilies which composed the settlements in Upper and Lower California.\n10:189. {739}\n\nThe most of the people called Latter-day Saints have been taken from\nthe rural and manufacturing districts of this and the old countries,\nand they belonged to the poorest of the poor. Many of them, I may say\nthe great majority, never had anything around them to make life very\ndesirable; they have been acquainted with poverty and wretchedness,\nhence it cannot be expected that they should manifest that refinement\nand culture prevalent among the rich. Many and many a man here, who is\nnow able to ride in his wagon and perhaps in his carriage, for years\nbefore he started for Zion never saw daylight. His days were spent\nin the coal mines, and his daily toil would commence before light in\nthe morning and continue until after dark at night. Now what can be\nexpected from a community so many of whose members have been brought\nup like this, or if not just like this, still under circumstances of\npoverty and privation? Certainly not what we might expect from those\nreared under more favorable circumstances. But I will tell you what\nwe have in our mind's eye with regard to these very people, and what\nwe are trying to make of them. We take the poorest we can find on\nearth who will receive the truth, and we are trying to make ladies\nand gentlemen of them. We are trying to educate them, to school their\nchildren, and to so train them that they may be able to gather around\nthem the comforts of life, that they may pass their lives as the human\nfamily should do--that their days, weeks, and months may be pleasant to\nthem. We prove that this is our design, for the result, to some extent,\nis already before us. 14:103.\n\nTalk about these rich valleys, why there is not another people on the\nearth that could have come here and lived. We prayed over the land,\nand dedicated it and the water, {740} air and everything pertaining to\nthem unto the Lord, and the smiles of heaven rested on the land and it\nbecame productive, and today yields us the best of grain, fruit and\nvegetables. 12:288.\n\nThere never has been a land, from the days of Adam until now, that has\nbeen blessed more than this land has been blessed by our Father in\nHeaven; and it will still be blessed more and more, if we are faithful\nand humble, and thankful to God for the wheat and the corn, the oats,\nthe fruit, the vegetables, the cattle and everything he bestows upon\nus, and try to use them for the building up of his Kingdom on the\nearth. 10:35.\n\nYou inquire if we shall stay in these mountains. I answer yes, as\nlong as we please to do the will of God, our Father in Heaven. If\nwe are pleased to turn away from the holy commandments of the Lord\nJesus Christ, as ancient Israel did, every man turning to his own\nway, we shall be scattered and peeled, driven before our enemies and\npersecuted, until we learn to remember the Lord our God and are willing\nto walk in his ways. 11:274.\n\nMany may inquire, \"How long shall we stay here?\" We shall stay here\njust as long as we ought to. \"Shall we be driven, when we go?\" If we\nwill so live as to be satisfied with ourselves, and will not drive\nourselves from our homes, we shall never be driven from them. Seek for\nthe best wisdom you can obtain, learn how to apply your labor, build\ngood houses, make fine farms, set out apple, pear, and other fruit\ntrees that will flourish here, also the mountain currant and raspberry\nbushes, plant strawberry beds, and build up and adorn a beautiful\ncity. The question now arises--\"Do you think it best for us to live in\ncities?\" Lay out your {741} cities, but not so large that you cannot\nreadily raise the whole city, should an enemy come upon you. 8:288.\n\nI do not know that I have prayed for rain since I have been in these\nvalleys until this year, during which I believe that I have prayed two\nor three times for rain, and then with a faint heart, for there is\nplenty of water flowing down these canyons in crystal streams as pure\nas the breezes of Zion, and it is our business to use them. 3:331.\n\nWhen water is brought to the termination of the canal, which we can\naccomplish in a few days, I presume that the reservoirs on the line of\nthe work and those portions which are excavated in full will contain\nwater enough to allow the people to irrigate when necessary, and thus\ndo away with the practice of watering only two hours a week on a city\nlot, and much of that to be done in the night. And that is not all,\nfor by the time the water is fairly on a lot it is taken by the next\nperson whose right it is to use it. And lots which have had thousands\nof dollars expended on them, and which would yield more than a thousand\ndollars' worth of fruit and vegetables, could they be properly\nirrigated, are only allowed a small stream of water for two hours once\na week, and at the same time an adjoining lot planted with corn, the\nhills six feet apart and one stalk in a hill, comparatively speaking,\nthe balance of the ground being covered with weeds, is allotted the\nsame time and amount of water as the one on which the fruit trees and\nother choice vegetation are worth thousands of dollars.\n\nThere ought to be a reformation in the distribution of the water. The\nman who will not raise five dollars' worth of produce on his lot, has\nthe same water privilege as the man who could raise a thousand dollars'\nworth. For instance, brother Staines gets the water for two hours in\na {742} week, and what are his fruit trees worth? He could make his\nthousand dollars a year from them, if he were disposed to sell the\nfruit instead of giving it away, could he have a fair portion of water.\nI have a lot just below him well cultivated in fruit trees, a nursery,\nand choice vegetables, I also can only have the water on my lot for two\nhours in a week; when lots nearby with but little on them except weeds,\nget the same water privilege, and that too in the day time, while\nwe have to use it in the night. Water masters ought to look to this\nmatter, until they have arranged a more just distribution. 3:329.\n\nThe river Jordan will be brought out and made to flow through a\nsubstantial canal to Great Salt Lake City. When this is done, it will\nnot only serve as a means of irrigating, but it will form a means of\ntransportation from the south end of Utah Lake to Great Salt Lake City.\n11:116.\n\nAs soon as that is completed from big Cottonwood to this city, we\nexpect to make a canal on the west side of Jordan, and take its water\nalong the east base of the west mountains, as there is more farming\nland on the west side of that river than on the east. When that work is\naccomplished we shall continue our exertions, until Provo river runs\nto this city. We intend to bring it around the point of the mountain\nto Little Cottonwood, from that to Big Cottonwood, and lead its waters\nupon all the land from Provo canyon to this city, for there is more\nwater runs in that stream alone than would be needed for that purpose.\n3:329.\n\nUntil the Latter-day Saints came here, not a person among all the\nmountaineers and those who had traveled here, so far as we could learn,\nbelieved that an ear of corn would ripen in these valleys. We know that\ncorn and {743} wheat produce abundantly here, and we know that we have\nan excellent region wherein to raise cattle, horses, and every other\nkind of domestic animal that we need. We also knew this when we came\nhere thirteen years ago this summer. Bridger said to me, \"Mr. Young,\nI would give a thousand dollars, if I knew that an ear of corn could\nbe ripened in these mountains. I have been here twenty years, and have\ntried it in vain, over and over again.\" I told him if he would wait a\nyear or two we would show him what could be done. A man named Wells,\nliving with Miles Goodyear, where now is Ogden City, had a few beans\ngrowing, and carried water from the river in a pail to irrigate them.\n8:288. {745}\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\nA\n\nAaron 222; literal descendant of, 222.\n\nAaronic Priesthood, conferred by John the Baptist, 220; Bishop head of,\n222; Aaron held, 222.\n\nAbraham, 161; received Priesthood, 162.\n\nAccountants, ladies can learn to be, 337.\n\nActs, more essential than words, 510.\n\nAdam, greatest desire of, 94; receives the gospel, 159; creation of,\n160.\n\nAdministering to the sick, 252; duty of fathers in, 252; remedies\nshould be applied before, 253; can be done by mothers, 328.\n\nAdministrators of Law, opposed to the corrupt, 555, 556.\n\nAgency, Free, see Free Agency.\n\nAgriculture, more lands must be brought into cultivation, 455; canals\nbuilt, 455; redeem lands which now lie in waste, 455; prepare children\nfor, 455; cultivate your farm and gardens, 456; plant orchards and\nvineyards, 456; produce that which can be used for food of man, 456;\npart of our religion, 509. See also under cotton, flax, indigo, silk,\nsugar, wheat.\n\nAllen, Captain, friend to the Saints, 729, 733; death of, 729:\n\nAngel, duty of, 63; difference between, and Saints, 64.\n\nAnger, pray when in, 70; check your words of, 412; never speak evil\nwhen in, 412; no Man possessing wisdom will give vent to, 413; cease\nyour, 413; wicked, 414; righteous, 414; not to rise in our bosom, 315.\n\nAnnihilation, no such thing as, 73.\n\nAnointing the sick with oil, 252.\n\nApostasy, 126, 132; the, 163.\n\nApostates, condition of, 130.\n\nApostles, priesthood of, 207; hold keys of Priesthood, 211, 218; to be\nin Church of Christ, 211; calling of an, 216; obedience of, testified\nto by President Young, 216; called from members of Zion's Camp, 219;\ncan be brought before Bishop, 223; to do work set them, 230; what makes\nthem special witnesses, 527.\n\nArk of Covenant, sacredness of, 633; place of its keeping, 634.\n\nAstrology, 115.\n\nAtonement, 42.\n\nB\n\nBabylon, what is, 491.\n\nBaptism, by immersion, 245; not necessary for infants, 245; has been a\nlaw to all worlds, 246; for all who apply, 501; a temporal act, 704.\n\nBaptists, 9.\n\nBaptize, you have not power to, yourselves, 248; who can legally, 248.\n\nBeautify, build beautiful cities, 465; your gardens, 465; and make\nyour mountain homes a paradise, 465; and plant shade trees along the\nboulevards, 465; by cultivating flowers and shrubbery, 465.\n\nBegging, if Saints will feed poor willingly, their children will not be\nfound, 336.\n\nBenton, Thomas H., attitude of, toward Saints, 730.\n\nBible, Gospel doctrine in, 9; words of life in, 191; Saints believers\nin, 191; is true, 191; Gospel contained in, 192; to be voted out of\nChristian world, 193; guide of Saints, 193; Saints preach doctrine of,\n194; words of, not to be wrested, 194; standard work of Church, 195;\nwhat infidel world says about, 196; plainness of, 198; language of, 199.\n\nBig Cottonwood, a canal to be built from, 742.\n\nBig Mountain, 725.\n\nBirth Control, 305.\n\nBishop, should be filled with power of Holy Ghost, 206; office of,\nbelongs to Aaronic Priesthood, 217, 222; rights of a, 222, 223; not\ncalled to travel abroad, 223; to act as judge, 223; and members of\nward, 223; {746} to be a married man, 223; to be perfect example, 224;\nduties of a, 224, 226; to be prayed for, 225; counselors of, to be\nexamples, 226.\n\nBlessings, proportioned to capacity, 146; my heart is full of, 350.\n\nBlessed, are they who obey direct commandment, 340; more, are they who\nobey without direct commandment, 340.\n\nBodies, will be resurrected, 570.\n\nBody, importance of, 87; returns to Mother Earth, 564; the resurrected,\n573, 574.\n\nBookkeepers, ladies can learn to be, 337.\n\nBook of Doctrine and Covenants, 18.\n\nBook of Mormon, 167; printed in March, 1830, 722.\n\nBoynton, John F., 704.\n\nBridger, Jim, President Young's statement concerning corn to, 736, 743.\n\nBusiness, ladies can conduct, 337.\n\nC\n\nCahoon, Reynolds, one of first High Priests, 220, 221.\n\nCain, 160.\n\nCampbell, Alexander, 707.\n\nCana of Galilee, miracle performed at, 522, 523.\n\nCanal, to be from Big Cottonwood to Salt Lake City, 742; to be built on\nwest side of Jordan, 742.\n\nCapacity, blessings proportioned to, 146.\n\nCapitalists, need your labor, 462; honorable men, 462; want to make\nmoney, 462; build up your farms with earnings from, 462; should bring\nprice of labor to a reasonable standard, 463; should create business,\n464; do not oppress the poor, 465.\n\nCapital Stock, is time, 330.\n\nCarpentry, how to teach to children, 325.\n\nCarthage, where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred, 724.\n\nCatholics, 15.\n\nCelestial beings, 150.\n\nCelestial Kingdom, who enter, 586; where God and Christ dwell, 594;\nhighest of all, 598, 600; men to obtain, must battle, 600.\n\nCelestial world, 150.\n\nCenter Stake of Zion, 174.\n\nCenturion's Servant, healing of, no miracle, 524.\n\nCharacter, of Saints traduced, 532.\n\nCharity, show, 420; only a few men understand, 420; we should have,\n420; will extend, 421; of God, 421; administer charitable gifts, 422;\ntrue gentleman possesses, 429; Lord will bless the people that is full\nof, 432.\n\nChastened, Saints will be, 349; we will be, if we neglect our duty, 350.\n\nCheating, men must quit, 351.\n\nChild, training, guide to, 328.\n\nChildren, duties of, 313, 314; how and what to teach, 320, 321, 322;\nGospel to be taught to, 320; when and how bound up to parents, 322.\n\nChildren of Israel, more rebellious than the latter-day Saints, 351;\ngovernment of, a theocracy, 544.\n\nChurch of England, 9.\n\nChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the Church, 11; has\nGospel of life and salvation, 11; how guided, 63; God is at the helm\nof, 132; warfare against, 171; led by Lord Almighty, 212; who can\norganize, 214; government of, 227; to be a theocratic government, 227;\nhow to become members of, 236.\n\nChurch of God, definition of, and kingdom, 670; object of, 671; to\ndevelop gradually, 672; effect of, 673; filthy cannot enter, 674;\ngovernment of, 674; will continue, 676; Jehovah head of, 678; business\nof, 678, 679; individual labor required in, 679; is of real worth, 680;\ngive best you have to, 681.\n\nCity Creek, two forks of, 725; camp made on, 725.\n\nCity of Zion, beauty of, 184; New Jerusalem to be, 185.\n\nCivil War, forebodings of the, 560.\n\nCleanliness, to be taught to children, 326.\n\nClose Communion Baptists, 707.\n\nClothing, proper care of, 325.\n\nColumbus, inspired, 551. {747}\n\nCondemnation, upon parents, if they do not properly teach their\nchildren, 320.\n\nCongressmen, desired Saints to leave United States, 724, 727.\n\nCommandments, none to be dispensed with, 341; the keeping of, 342; none\nof, tend to evil, 342; given for our benefit, 346.\n\nCommerce, we must command, 461; unless we can command, better without\nit, 461; railroad will furnish us a market for our, 461.\n\nCommon Consent, how to vote by, 229; authorities sustained by, 229.\n\nCompassion, let us have, 418.\n\nCommunication between God and man, 49.\n\nConfess sins to those sinned against, 316.\n\nConfession of sin, when and how to be made, 244, 245, 316.\n\nConfidence, to be established between each other, 316; established,\n423; cherish, 423; want of, 423; if we lack, 423; unshaken, 423; faith\nand, 424; in each other, 424; if we wish to establish, 424; if, has\nbeen lost, 424; let us live to create, 424; treasure up each particle\nof, 424; in my neighbor, 425; restore, 425.\n\nConfounded, Saints will not be, if they live their religion, 347.\n\nConfusion of last days, 170.\n\nConsistency and Sincerity, practice what we teach, 360; thou art the\nfairest jewels in the life of a saint, 360; flatter not the people\nin their iniquity, but chasten them for their wickedness, 361; our\nreligion must last from Monday morning till Monday morning, 361.\n\nConstitution of the United States--an inspired document, 550; is\ntheocratic, 544; will yet be saved by the Saints, 553; Saints opposed\nto corrupt administrators of the, 556.\n\nContention, between Christ and Belial, 117; how to prevent among\nchildren, 324; avoid, 425; a disgrace, 425; frequently arises, 426;\ntake measures to prevent, 427.\n\nControl, of a people, 348; of self necessary, 407; duty of Elders to,\nthemselves, 408; let every man be the master of himself, 408; appetites\nmust be brought in subjection to spirit that lives within, 409; subdue\nour own passions, 410.\n\nCooke, Col. P. St. George, leader of Mormon Battalion, 730.\n\nCo-operation, be of one heart, 433; become one as the Father and Son\nare one, 433; perfect union, 434; unity of purpose, 434; Church can not\nexist and be divided, 434; is-stepping stone to Order of Enoch, 442;\nbecome one in temporal things, 445.\n\nCorn, conversation about, between President Young and Jim Bridger, 736,\n743.\n\nCotton, raise, 459.\n\nCouncil in Heaven, 82, 83.\n\nCounsel, 338, 339; is not given without the spirit of revelation, 339;\nin temporal matters, 339.\n\nCovenant, Latter-day Saints enter new and everlasting, when they enter\nthis Church, 427; to sustain the Kingdom of God, 248-9.\n\nCovetousness, the sin of, 470; Devil will play with a man who worships\ngain, 470; Elders who have, 470; men who are greedy, 470; men who place\nwealth of this world above the things of God have no eyes to see, 471;\ntakes advantage of neighbor, 471.\n\nCowdery, Oliver, testimony of, 168; early missionary, 220, 707.\n\nCreation, purpose of, 87, 88.\n\nCreations, work of God, 27.\n\nCreeds, entitled to protection, 98.\n\nCumorah, plates hid in, 706.\n\nCursed, who ought to be, 350.\n\nD\n\nDaily duties, 18.\n\nDamnation, know enough for, 6.\n\nDancing, go and enjoy yourselves in, 373; let God be in your thoughts\nin, 373; exercise to the body and mind; 373; not in houses set apart\nfor religious meetings, 375; who should not be, 375.\n\nDay of rest, needed, 258.\n\nDead, should not mourn for righteous, 567.\n\n{748}\n\nDeath, came by sin, 117; defined, 141; opposed to, 151; and\nresurrection, 564; separation of body and spirit, 565.\n\nDebt, pay your, 467; do not go into, 467; man who goes into, who has\nno prospect of paying, is dishonest, 467; man who will not pay, is no\nLatter-day Saint, 467; borrowers who do not pay, undeserving of the\nfellowship of the Saints, 467.\n\nDeceive, cannot, the Lord, 30.\n\nDeclaration of Independence, signers of, were inspired, 550.\n\nDecomposition, 75.\n\nDefiler, how to treat, 300.\n\nDenying, revelations of the Lord, 345.\n\nDestiny of man, 31, 33, 147.\n\nDevil, in heaven, 104; cast out of heaven, 104; does not own the earth,\n105; power of, 105; mission of, 106; has not power over body, only as\nman lets him, 107; enemy of God and man, 108; angels of, 121; servants\nof, 348.\n\nDevotion, to the Gospel, 353.\n\nDevotion and Humility, essentials, 509.\n\nDiet, 290, 292, 293.\n\nDisease, 289, 290.\n\nDisgrace, not to take care of poor relatives, 488.\n\nDishonesty, cease, 432.\n\nDisobedience, effect of, 36; effects of, 349; causes persecution, 537.\n\nDisobey, those who, in ignorance not punished, 344; those who,\nknowingly, are punished, 344.\n\nDivine laws, of no use unless observed, 344.\n\nDivinity, within us, how to feed, 256.\n\nDoctrine and Covenants, purpose of, 197.\n\nDoctrine, righteous decision in, to be had by unanimous vote, 206;\napostles, prophets, write same, upon same subject, 209.\n\nDouglas, Stephen A., friendly to Saints, 724.\n\nDrive, parents should never, children, 323.\n\nDuty, what it is, 347; if we neglect our, we will be chastened, 350.\n\nE\n\nEarth, millions of, 29; end of, 45; eternal abode of man, 154; and\nresurrection, 155; abides law of creation, 155; baptized with water,\n603; see also world.\n\nEast Indian Archipelago, 490.\n\nEating, 290, 293, 298.\n\nEducation, physical and mental to be given to boys and girls, 327;\ncontinuous, 382; shall not cease in the spirit world, 382; never see\nthe time when we shall not need, 382; we need constant, 383; Lord\nAlmighty designed us to have, 388; effects of, 385; of children worthy\nof our attention, 387; of the youth is important, 388; builds up the\nKingdom, 389; establish schools for, 389; what to study to obtain, 392;\nimproves our minds, 393; teaches to be self sustaining, 393; to apply\nyour labors to advantage, 395; religious, 396, 402.\n\nEffects of Disobedience, 349.\n\nElder, Priesthood of, 207; not to dictate his superior in office, 228.\n\nElders, to do work set them, 230; should have generous natures, 430;\nshould exercise faith, 430; should pray always, 430; should serve the\nLord, 431; should cease speaking evil; 432; should deal honestly, 432;\ncourse of, to save every person, 492; should improve, grow in grace and\nknowledge, while preaching the Gospel, 497; successful, must have power\nof God, 516.\n\nElements, eternal as Gods, 24.\n\nElohim, see God.\n\nEmigration Canyon, named, 725.\n\nEnd, when will, come the, 87\n\nEndowment House, all ordinances can not be administered in, 612.\n\nEndowments, 162; given in Solomon's temple, 602; men must hold\nMelchizedek Priesthood before receiving, 607; given to some means their\ndestruction, 608; for Church of First-born, 608; definition of, 637,\n638.\n\nEnoch, 161, 179.\n\nEnthusiasm, 12.\n\nEphraim, blessed by Jacob, 493.\n\nError, to pass away, 14.\n\nEsau, house of, to be saved, 489. {749}\n\nEternal Increase, 138-146.\n\nEternal Life, what it is, 147, 148; condition for obtaining, 345.\n\nEternal progression, 24, 31; law of, 133.\n\nEternity, is here, 24; course of, 384; incomprehensible, 148.\n\nEvangelists, to be in Church of Christ, 211.\n\nEve, in Garden of Eden, 156; temptation of, 164.\n\nEvil, purpose of, 85; power of, 104.\n\nExaltation, proportioned to capacity, 599.\n\nExalted, Saints who live their religion will be, 345.\n\nExample, parents should teach by, 322.\n\nExcursions, prepare suitable places for, 376; should be made for the\ncomfort of families, 376.\n\nExercise, bodies should have, 295, 296.\n\nExistence, object of, 24.\n\nExperience, life a school of, 87; needed, 92; necessary for salvation,\n529, 530.\n\nExtravagant, men as, as women, 330.\n\nF\n\nFaith, first principle, 236, 238; is eternal, 237; is inherent in man,\n237; maintain integrity by, 238; a gift of God, 238; blessings of, 240;\nbe full of, 241; good works follow, 241; not dependent on miracles,\n525; and works, 446; do the things that are necessary by, 446; in God,\n451.\n\nFaithful, young men admonished to be, 317; will exercise faith, 430;\nwill pray always, 430; serve the Lord, 431.\n\nFall, The, 157, 158.\n\nFalsehood, cannot be overtaken, 540.\n\nFalse impressions, never give, to children, 326.\n\nFalse Spirits, 110-114.\n\nFamily, 300.\n\nFamily life, 314, 315.\n\nFanatics, defined, 6.\n\nFar West, 720.\n\nFashions, 331, 332, 333.\n\nFast day, origin of, 262; purpose of, 263.\n\nFather, see God.\n\nFaultfinding, 127.\n\nFirst Cause, 38.\n\nFirst Presidency, 212; influence of, 213; have oracles for human\nfamily, 213; prevailing desire of, to save the world, 213; apostleship\nnot taken from, 215; privilege of, 216; powers of, 217.\n\nFlattery, 124.\n\nFlax, raise, 459.\n\nFood, proper, for little children, 327, 328.\n\nForeordination, Saints believe in, 85, 86.\n\nForgetfulness, 93.\n\nForgive, when to, 243.\n\nFormer-day Saints, like Latter-day Saints, 168.\n\nFree Agency, in council in heaven, 83; all rational beings have, 95,\n96; man can dispose of, 97; explanation of, 98, 99; the law of liberty,\n101, 347.\n\nFreedom, man's own will and, 348.\n\nFree grace, 86.\n\nFrowns, a child loves the smiles of its mother but hates her, 323.\n\nG\n\nGarden of Eden, Adam and Eve in, 156; in America, 157; mentioned, 725.\n\nGathering, purpose of, 185; reasons for, to valleys of mountains, 186.\n\nGentile, to be made seed of Abraham, 669.\n\nGentleman, defined, 429.\n\nGift, of Holy Ghost, 218, 219.\n\nGila River, why Saints did not go to, 737.\n\nGive Freely, to build up the Kingdom of God, 357.\n\nGlories, number of, 585.\n\nGod, governed by law, 1; has power of truth, 7; elements as eternal as,\n24; the Creator, 27; the Father, 27; nature of, 27, 35; his attributes,\n28; omnipresence of, 30; one, 31; our Father, 31; of organization, 33;\nall desire a, 34; many, 34; his abode, 34; Fatherhood of, 36; source\nof all, 36; personality of, 36; Father of our spirits, 37; of temporal\nexperience, 37; communication with, 49; man offspring of, 76; known by\nseed of {750} man, 77; his wish for his children, 89; governs by law,\n90; attainment of, 150; all intelligence from, 230; sanctify, 353; live\nby every word that proceeds from the mouth of, 353; desiring to know\nthe will of, 353; saved in the kingdom of, 355; be faithful to your,\n355; all knowledge that men possess is from, 355; has in store for us,\n410; at helm of ship Zion, 528; not the author of war, 562; removes the\ncurse, 430; who are loved of, 431.\n\nGodhead, 27; unity of, 44.\n\nGods, exist, and we had better strive to be one of them, 351; our\nreligion is designed to restore us to the presence of the, 351.\n\nGold, is not wealth, 473; what used for, 473; true happiness not in,\n473; true wealth, 474; with no possible chance to change, would be\ndestitution, 474.\n\nGospel, defined, 1-13; power of, 1; system of law, 1; includes all\ntruth, 2; comprehension of, 5; holds Priesthood, 6; purpose of, 7,\n8, 9, 11; offers salvation for all, 10; is perfect, 11; saves all,\n12; a daily guide, 12; not theory, 18; temporal nature of, 21; first\nrequirement, 32; founded on revelation, 58; what it brings, 82;\nunchanged, 158; revealed to Adam, 159; importance of principles of,\n235; need to have, sounded in our ears often, 250; to be taught to\nchildren, 320; to practice requires time, faith, affection and labor,\n344; devotion to, 353; apply your hearts to, 354; loose the spirit of,\n364; believe the, 364; comprises every art and science known to man,\n378; preach the, 415; the poor made happy by, 486; to be preached to\nall men, 489; testimony of, gives solid satisfaction, 514; preached\nwith authority, 505; why some men reject, 665; to go to uttermost\nparts of earth, 671; nature of, 682; best institution of all, 683;\nwhy called \"Mormonism\", 685; effects of, 686; What it teaches, 687;\nwill bring peace to earth, 687; perfection to be obtained through,\n688; gives desire to know things of God, 688; personal joy in, 689; a\ncontinual feast, 690; blesses all, 691; dispels gloom, 692; proud of,\n693; carries all, 693; blessings of, conditioned upon good works, 695;\nincreases blessings, 696.\n\nGovernment of God, how to understand, 349.\n\nGovernment of United States, has lifted its heel against Saints, 531.\n\nGovernment, political, 543; republican, 545; how a, can stand, 545;\nwhat is true, 545; belief in true, 546; self, lies at root of all\neffective, 545; theocratic, 543.\n\nGrant, Jedediah M., 572.\n\nGreat Salt Lake Valley, see Salt Lake Valley.\n\nH\n\nHappiness, cause of, 119; Saints should have, 362; the whole world are\nafter, 362; he who has the love of God within him has, 362; found not\nin gold and silver, 362; found in peace and love, 362; incorporated in\nthe great design of man's existence, 363; nowhere but in God, 364; only\none way for Saints to have, 364; we are all searching for, 364; made by\nwealth, when used for the Gospel, 481.\n\nHatred, never encourage, 420.\n\nHealing, the sick, 251.\n\nHealth, law of, 289, 290, 294, 295, 296, 298, 299.\n\nHeart, pure before God, 261; the people to become of one, 341.\n\nHeathen, enlightened, 49; defined, 82; upright, 93.\n\nHeaven, no one forced into, 99.\n\nHeavenly beings, 341.\n\nHell, defined, 97, 589; is to strive to grasp truth with one hand, and\nerror with the other, 345; no music in, 374; covenant breakers to go\nto, 589.\n\nHigh Council, should be filled with power of Holy Ghost, 206; duty of,\n231.\n\nHigh Priest, Priesthood of, 207, 217; first ordained, 220, 221.\n\nHoly Ghost, a minister, 29; one, 35; explanation of, 46; work of, 47;\nreceived by laying on of hands, 248; special, gift of {751} the Father,\n248; is Minister of the Father, 248, 249; mission of, 249.\n\nHoly Spirit, all quickened by, 47; explained, 50, 51.\n\nHomes, for young married men, 301.\n\nHonesty, be honest with yourselves, 358; men must have, 358; honest\nhearts produce, 358; in labor, 359; deal with, 432.\n\nHooper, William, remarks on Mason and Dixon's Line, 560.\n\nHousekeepers, mothers to teach daughters to be, 326.\n\nHouse of Israel, is objective of missionaries, 493.\n\nHousewife, 329.\n\nHumanity, see man.\n\nHumble, will live, 353; ourselves and become like little children, 353;\nare full of joy, 353.\n\nHumility and Devotion, essential to Kingdom of our Lord, 509.\n\nHusband, should be head of the family, 306; should set example for wife\nand children, 306; should be affectionate and kind, 306; should learn\nto bend his will to will of God, 306, 307.\n\nI\n\nIdentity, will be preserved, 567.\n\nIdler, wicked to give to the, 423; never give anything to the, 423.\n\nIgnorance, of Christ and plan of salvation, 342, 343.\n\nIllinois, persecution in, 724.\n\nImaginary wants, of young girls, 337.\n\nImitate, duty to, everything good, lovely, dignified and praiseworthy,\n262.\n\nImprovements, we make, add to our comfort, 465; learn how to build, 465.\n\nImpure, anything, must perish, 351.\n\nIncrease, Eternal, see Eternal Increase.\n\nIndependence, sacred, 95.\n\nIndians, who massacre are guilty of murder, 563; See also Lamanites.\n\nIndigo, can be raised, 460.\n\nIndividuals, receive visions, 519.\n\nIndustry, build up, 465; beautify, 465; plant good vineyards and\norchards by, 465; learn how to build, 465.\n\nInfidel, 15.\n\nInfluence, of mother, 319.\n\nIntelligence, why given, 80; eternal, 147; received from God, 230;\nmisapplied, does mischief, 350; given by God is to carry out purposes\nof his will, 350; good thing, 377; to become Gods by, 377; true, 377;\nbelongs to Zion, 377; gratifying to the Lord and angels, 377.\n\nInventions, 62.\n\nIrrigation, advice to watermasters, 741.\n\nIsrael, in wilderness, 162; who are, 669.\n\nJ\n\nJackson County, return to, 174; Center Stake of Zion at, 174.\n\nJacob, blesses Ephraim, 493.\n\nJerusalem, 186.\n\nJesus Christ, his revelations sweet, 9; atonement of, 12; who he\nis, 39, 40; appointment of, 41; testimony of, 43; mission of, 44;\ncompletion of work of, 45; second coming of, 46; begotten by God, 77;\non earth, 163; coming of, 43; mission of, 44; completion of work of,\n45; second coming of, 46; begotten by God, 77; on earth, 163; coming\nof, 175, 176; says \"Distribute to the poor,\" 487, 488; performs miracle\nat Cana, 522, 523; first-fruits of the resurrection, 573; died for\nevery man, 594.\n\nJews, to be gathered, 187; to prepare for coming of the Messiah, 187;\nto see Savior, 187.\n\nJob, expresses idea of resurrection, 567.\n\nJohnson, Lyman, 704.\n\nJordan River, to be turned into canal, 742; a canal to be made on west\nside of, 742.\n\nJudgment, do not deal out, 427, 428; eternal, 584; according to works,\n584; of God, God-like, 586; to be out of own mouths, 587; honesty of\naction will temper, 587; measure of human, 590; given to Saints, 591.\n\nJustice, Lord to mete out, 420.\n\nK\n\nKimball, Heber C., 215, 219.\n\nKingdom, of God, defined, 37; a government, that protects every person\nin his rights, 544; definition of, 670; to develop gradually, 672;\neffect of, 673; {752} filthy cannot enter, 674; government of, 674;\nwill continue, 676; or nothing, 680; give best you have to, 681.\n\nKingdoms, not controlled by holy and pure principles must pass away,\n351.\n\nKirtland Temple, Joseph commanded to build, 686; Saints built, under\ntrials, 637; preparatory ordinances in, 637.\n\nKnow, how to, that we obey God, 346; those who, Master's will and do it\nnot, ought to be cursed, 350.\n\nKnowledge, is divine, 17; by revelation, 57; of eternity learned only\nby keeping commandments, 343, 344; do everything possible to bring, to\nourselves and to the people, 344.\n\nL\n\nLabor, Gospel in daily, 12; all, in gospel, 13; for ourselves, 35;\nindispensable, 447; manual, 447; building up of Zion requires, 447;\nmental, physical, spiritual, 447; cannot produce without, 462; timber\nwill continue to grow but not brought into service without, 462;\nprecious metals would remain in mountains without, 462; capitalists\nneed your, 462; price of labor should be brought to a reasonable\nstandard, 463.\n\nLabor and politics, 548.\n\nLady, defined, 429.\n\nLamanites, children of God, 188; duty of Saints toward, 188, 189, 190;\nof House of Israel, 188.\n\nLamb's book of life, all names written in, 593; names blotted out of,\nthrough own acts, 593.\n\nLand of Zion, where it is, 183; American continents are, 184.\n\nLast Days, the, 170; the terror of, 171; in Zion, 173; rapid movements\nin, 178; to increase knowledge in, 180.\n\nLast Dispensation, 165.\n\nLatter-day Saints, like former-day Saints, 163; have your children come\nto meeting, 321; not as rebellious as the children of Israel, 351;\ngather the poor, 492; character of, traduced, 532; refused privilege of\nsettlement in any of the states of the Union, 725.\n\nLaw, Gospel, system of, 1; God governs by, 90; nature of God's, 96;\nnot capable of receiving fulness of, 146; should obey every good, 340;\ndivine, of no use, unless faithfully observed, 344; no, against doing\ngood, 346; no, against love, 346; no, against serving God, 346; no,\nagainst charity and benevolence, 346; no, against principles of eternal\nlife, 346.\n\nLaw of Liberty, see free agency.\n\nLaw of Moses, why given, 160.\n\nLaying on of hands, 252.\n\nLearn, to know ourselves, 414; liberty, religious, should be observed,\n553.\n\nLife, present, more precious, 23; eternity of, 38, 76; object of, 133;\nbusiness of, 134, 135; purpose of, 135, 136; defined, 147; long life\nman's first duty, 288; fills all matter, 565, 566.\n\nLight, if people reject, they will be condemned, 349.\n\nLittle Mountain, 725.\n\nLord, the, has sent forth his laws, commandments and ordinances, 340.\n\nLove each other, 417; our fellow man, 417; our neighbor more than self,\n417; God, 417; Mercy, 417; you are in the path of life if you, God,\n417; labor of, 417; our enemies, 419.\n\nLucifer, plan of, 82; his angels, 84; enemy of Christ, 536; See also,\nDevil.\n\nLying, men must quit, 351.\n\nM\n\nMcLellin, Wm. E., 218, 704.\n\nMagicians, of Egypt, perform bogus miracles, 524.\n\nMagnetism, animal, 113.\n\nMalice, never encourage, 420.\n\nMan, may save himself, 7; communication with God and, 49; is eternal,\n74; offspring of God, 76, 160; King of earth, 76; organized spirit,\n76; child of celestial parents, 78; in image of God, 78; spirit of,\n79; differs in talents, 79; power of agency of, 85; volition of, free,\n85; gifts from God to, 96; desires to do, good, 102; spirit pure,\n107; endures forever, 134; stained creation, 152; creation of, 160;\nhas degenerated, 162; {753} should live out his days, 567; desires\nsalvation, 645; delights in good, 645; searches for salvation, 647;\nloves truth and righteousness, 647; spirit of, loves truth, 647;\nhonest, in other churches, 648; alike in sentiments, 648; has variety\nof gifts, 649; power of, limited, 650; to have confidence in himself,\n652; is dependent, 652; must fight own battles, 653; know thyself,\n653; cherishes good character, 653; needs leaders, 654; duty and\nresponsibility of, 655; should strive to be righteous, 655; duty of, to\nlisten to truth, 667.\n\nMankind, our friends, 8.\n\nManner, children need directing and teaching what is right in a kind\nand affectionate, 323-4.\n\nManufacturing, depend upon our own, 459; may the Lord hedge up the way\nagainst foreign, 459; close the gate against foreign, 459; save your\nwool for, 459; if we have not factories sufficient, will send and get\nmore machinery for, 459; build a tannery for, 459; glass, 459; own dye\nstuffs, 460.\n\nMarriage, early, advocated, 301, 303; relation, 302; foundation for\nmany blessings, 302, 303; to unbelievers not approved, 304.\n\nMason and Dixon's Line, 560.\n\nMasters, deal honestly those your hire, 432.\n\nMatter, organized, 27; eternity of, 73, 74; decomposition of, 75; mind\nand, 89.\n\nMedicine, to be used carefully, 297.\n\nMeetings, Saints instructed to have their children come to, 321.\n\nMelchizedek, 161.\n\nMelchizedek Priesthood, conferred by Peter, James and John, 220; Moses\nheld, 222; to be conferred on men before receiving endowments, 607.\n\nMerchants, dishonest, 461.\n\nMercy, let us have, 419; genius of religion to have, 419; merciful men\nshall find, 420; should love, 420; let, soften every angry temper, 421;\nbe full of, 422.\n\nMesmerism, 113.\n\nMethodists, 9.\n\nMethuselah, 161.\n\nMillennium, 172; consists of, 177; privileges of Saints in, 178;\ntemples built in, 178; work for dead to be done in, 178; men to have\nown beliefs in, 182; work of building temples in, 615; purpose of, 616,\n618, 619.\n\nMind, and matter, 89; condition of to worship the Lord, 250; keep pure\nand clean, 434.\n\nMind our own business, Mormon creed, 415.\n\nMinistry, Christian, sin of, 490.\n\nMiracles, mysteries and visions, 519; providences of God, 520; only\nrequired by the wicked, 522; performed at Cana of Galilee by Jesus,\n522, 523; is knowledge how to command elements, 523, 524; bogus,\nperformed by magicians of Egypt, 524; for believers, 525; faith not\ndependent on, 525; cannot save a person, 525.\n\nMischief, caused by misapplied intelligence, 350.\n\nMisery, purpose of, 85.\n\nMissionary work, 489; helps to Save every person, 491.\n\nMissionaries, words to departing, 494; must be examples of good works,\n494; to go without purse or scrip, 495; to go with clean hands and\npure hearts, 496; to dedicate families to the Lord, 497; modern, have\ngreatest work to do, 498; minds centered on bringing souls to Christ,\n499; in the field, advice to, 499, 500, 501; the returned, 503; advice\nto, 504, 505.\n\nMissouri, persecution of Saints in, 722, 723.\n\nMorley, Isaac, 221.\n\nMormon Battalion, why called, 729; line of march of, 730; how gathered,\n731; proportion of, in regard to Nation, 732; severe conditions of\nmarch of, 733.\n\nMormon Creed, Mind our own business, 415.\n\nMormonism, see Gospel.\n\nMoses, 161, 162, 222, performed miracles, 524; not blamed for Pharaoh's\nhard-heartedness, 539, 540.\n\nMother, influence of, 319; to teach children early, 319; to be strict,\n320; appointed missionaries to teach their children their duties, 326;\nto teach children cleanliness and purity of {754} body, 326; to teach\nchildren the principles of salvation, 326; to teach daughters to be\nhouse keepers, 326; can administer to their children, 328.\n\nMother Earth, body returns to, 564.\n\nMount Zion, established, 489.\n\nMurdock, John, 221.\n\nMysteries, 13; visions and miracles, 519; to be left alone, 520.\n\nMystery, what is a, 520.\n\nN\n\nNations, who make war, guilty of murder, 562, 563.\n\nNauvoo, 532; Saints left, in February, 1846, 725, 726.\n\nNauvoo Temple, burned, 632; the Prophet Knew how to build, 638; built\nunder trials, 639; passed into hands of enemy, 640.\n\nNeglect, if we, our duty, we will be chastened, 350.\n\nNegro, the seed of Ham, 430.\n\nNeighbors, respect for, 429; treat with kindness, 429; can you live as,\n429.\n\nO\n\nObedience, required, 31; 338; expected to the word of the Lord, 339;\nhas to do with stern realities, 340; effect of, 345; and free agency,\n347; benefits of, 349.\n\nObey, every good law, 340; how to know that we, 346.\n\nOneness, be of one heart, 433; perfect, will save a people, 434; unity\nof purpose, 434; as he and the Father, 433; except I have, with my\nbrethren, I am not a Latter-day Saint, 438.\n\nOpposites, need of, 102.\n\nOpposition in all things, must be known, 530.\n\nOrder, principles of, to be taught to little children, 327.\n\nOrder of Enoch, unity in, 440, 442.\n\nOrdinances, temporal labor of, 21; need of, 235; baptism an, 236; of\nhouse of God, 341; none to be dispensed with, 341.\n\nOriginal sin, 31.\n\nOvercome by spirit of the world, results of, 350.\n\nP\n\nParents, how and what to teach children, 321; to see that children go\nto meetings as well as Sunday School, 321; not to chasten neighbors'\nchildren, 322; if righteous and faithful, not separated from children\nin eternity, 322; to set examples that they wish their children to\nimitate, 322; not to drive but to lead children, 323; how and what\nto teach their children, 322 to 328; when and how children should be\nsealed to, 322; should never drive children, 323; need of training,\n328; to teach children to pray, the law of health, the principles of\nthe Gospel, to be obedient, 331.\n\nParties, political, 558.\n\nPartridge, Edward, busy in spirit world, 579.\n\nPastors, to be in Church of Christ, 211.\n\nPass away, that kingdom power or person not controlled by pure\nprinciples must, 351.\n\nPassions, must be moulded, 14; embitter life, 160; overcome, 411; check\nyour words of, 412; no man possessing wisdom will give vent to, 413.\n\nPatriarchal doctrine, 9.\n\nPatten, David W., 218.\n\nPeace conditions for obtaining, 5.\n\nPeople, should become of one heart and one mind, 341; must be\nself-sustaining, 450; should live within their means, 451.\n\nPerfection, gospel has, 11.\n\nPerish, anything impure must, 351.\n\nPersecutions and trials, 529; purpose of, 531; bring blessings, 531;\nmay be expected, 531; cause of, 535; caused disobedience, 537; result\nof, 538; comes from efforts of a few, 541, 542; of the Saints, dangers\nof, 541.\n\nPharaoh, hard-heartedness of, 539, 540.\n\nPlan of Salvation, see Gospel.\n\nPolitical government, 543.\n\nPolitical parties, 558.\n\nPolitics and labor, 548.\n\nPolitics of the Latter-day Saints, 549.\n\nPopularity, would send us to hell, 540.\n\nPoor, set to work, 423; Lord has chosen the, 423; what kind of, 423;\nthe Lord's, 423; the devils, 423; the poor devils, {755} 422; the, are\nthe people of God, 486; made happy by the gospel, 486; are covetous,\n487; rich to distribute to, 488; disgrace not to take care of own, 488;\nthe, gathered by Latter-day Saints, 492.\n\nPossessions, uncertainty of temporal, 469; like a shadow, 469; unseen\nhand of providence controls, 469; today they are, tomorrow they are\nnot, 469; true riches, 469; Lord can't take away, 470.\n\nPotter, Saints like clay in hands of, 344.\n\nPractice, has to do with stern realities, 340; of the gospel requires\ntime, faith, love and labor, 344; if we, what we profess at defiance of\nhell, 350; is greatest sermon, 515.\n\nPractical religion, need of 17, 18, 22; Zion built by, 19.\n\nPratt, Parley P., early missionary, 707.\n\nPrayer, 65, 66; how to pray, 67; Spirit of, 67; when to offer, 68-71;\nif neglected, spirit of darkness comes, 264.\n\nPre-appointment, 84.\n\nPreach, what to, 13; temporal labor, 21; by the Holy Ghost, 47; only\nthat which is known, 511.\n\nPreachers, hint to, 511.\n\nPre-existence, 72.\n\nPresence of Almighty, strict obedience to the truth will enable people\nto dwell in, 340; our religion is designed to restore us to the, of\nGod, 351.\n\nPresent, gospel for the, 12; of first importance, 13.\n\nPreserve our gifts, 31.\n\nPriestcraft, 115, 116, 117.\n\nPriesthood, system of government, 2; part of gospel, 6; purpose of,\n7; bestowed upon men, 201; perfect system of government, 201; what\nit is, 201; comprises kingdom of God, 202; where keys of, are, 202;\non earth at various times, 202; purpose of, 203, 204; obedience to,\nbrings blessings, 203, 204, 205; power of, 204; laws based upon, 204;\nexists in spirit world, 204; who shall hold, 205; everything subject\nto, 205; to gain influence by, 206; of Elder same as of Apostle,\n207; not destroyed at death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 208; gives\nsame counsel, 209; man has no right to build up church without, 210;\nApostles hold keys of, 211; will of God made known through, 211; keys\nof, committed to Joseph Smith, 213; restored in our day for Salvation\nof Israel, 489.\n\nPrinting press, first, west of Mississippi by Saints, 725, 728.\n\nProfess, if we practice what we, at defiance of hell, 350.\n\nProgeny, man is, of God, 388.\n\nProgression, see Eternal Progression.\n\nPromises, always keep, made to children, 325.\n\nProgeny, man is, of God, 38.\n\nProphets, to be in Church of Christ; 211.\n\nProperty, accumulate, 466; let every man and woman gather to\nthemselves, 466.\n\nProsper, we shall, if we live our religion, 349.\n\nProtestants, 15.\n\nProvo River, mentioned, 742.\n\nPurity, of body to be taught to children, 326.\n\nPurse or scrip, missionaries to go without, 495, 501.\n\nQ\n\nQuails, sent as food for Saints, 725.\n\nQuincy, people of, open arms for Saints, 723.\n\nR\n\nRebellious, Latter-day Saints, not as the Children of Israel, 351.\n\nReformation, defined, 244.\n\nReject, do not, anything that comes from the Lord, 346.\n\nRelief Societies, some duties of 334; members of, should enlarge\ntheir sphere of usefulness by study, 335; should organize industrial\nsocieties, 335; to relieve necessities of the worthy, 336.\n\nReligion, practical, need of, 17, 18, 22; purpose of, 24; of heaven,\nway to establish, 341; how to live, 341, 346; will prosper, if we live\nour, 349; to restore us to the presence of God, 351; we have embraced\nmust last from Saturday night {756} until Saturday night, 361; our, one\nof improvement, 378; not contradicted or confined, 378; to lead men\nto a state of intelligence, 378; our, comprises every art and science\nknown to man, 378; duty, Latter-day Saints to live their, 380; of Jesus\nChrist makes the people acquainted with the things of God, 380; prompts\nthem to search after knowledge, 380; of the day, 386; and science, 397;\nfalse, brings on persecutions, 535.\n\nRepentance, made manifest by obedience, 242; without, atonement of\nno effect, 242; not upon the scaffold, 243; from false notions, 243;\nshould never cease, 244; what it is, 244.\n\nRespect, for one another, 421; for neighbors, 429; treat the stranger\nwith, 429.\n\nRestoration, the, 165.\n\nResurrection, faith of Job in the, 566, 567; Jesus first-fruits of,\n573; necessary to full salvation, 575.\n\nResurrection and death, 564.\n\nRevelation, about daily duties, 18; explained 54-58; continual, 59; how\nto understand, 60; personal, 60, 62; nature of, 61; to come through\nappointed channel, 212.\n\nRevolution, inspired, 551.\n\nRichards, Willard, 215.\n\nRigdon, Sidney, 214, 216, 221.\n\nRighteousness, triumph of, 172.\n\nRulers, fitness of, 548.\n\nS\n\nSabbath Day, how to spend, 254; those who go skating, pleasure-riding,\nor on excursions on the, are weak in the faith, 254; should be observed\nfor temperance, good and spiritual welfare, 254.\n\nSacrament meetings, if neglected, spirit of darkness comes, 264.\n\nSacrament of Lord's Supper, 265; duty of Saints to attend, 265; more\nsacred than other ordinances, 265; necessary to our salvation, 266;\nrequired of disciples until Savior comes again, 266.\n\nSaint, whole man a, 8; not perfect, 11; calling of a, 258.\n\nSt. George Temple, 641; site of, had been dedicated, 642; Spirit of\nGod in, 642; Tuesdays and Wednesdays appointed for baptisms in, 644;\nThursdays and Fridays for endowments in, 644; for work of Lamanites in,\n644; completed, 644.\n\nSaints, will not be confounded, if they live their religion, 347; know\nhow to be, 354; made perfect by suffering, 531; dangers of persecuting\nthe, 541; will yet save the Constitution, 553; and politics, 549.\n\nSalt Lake Temple, duty of Saints to build, 629; vision of, given to\nPresident Young, 629; to have six towers, 629; to stand as a monument\nof Saints' love of God, 631; will be for endowments, 632; address at\nlaying cornerstone of, 632; cornerstone dedicated, 641.\n\nSalt Lake Valley, settlement in, 735; provided by God, 736-737; reasons\nfor coming to, 737-738; purpose of coming to, 739; a blessed place, 740.\n\nSalvation for all, 10, 12, 44, 49, 86, 87; present, desired, 23, 25;\nsecret of, 88; who will attain, 88; graded, 94; when entitled to, 242;\nconditions of obtaining, 345; universal, 592; for those who overcome,\n592; for heathen nations, 593; for all except sons of perdition,\n594; way to, 595; through gospel, 595; comes through work, 596; and\nindividual work, 596; free agency in receiving, 597; degrees of, 597;\nproportioned to capacity, 599; all not to receive same, 599; man\ndesires, 645.\n\nSalvation for the dead, 602; when revealed, 611; not fully revealed\nat first, 611; purpose of, 611, 612, 613; pertaining to parents and\nchildren, 613, 614; do not wait until Millennium to work for, 616;\nwho shall perform, 618; for those who have not had the gospel, 620; a\nlaw to be obeyed, 62; who should represent the dead in the work of,\n620, 621, 622, 623; doctrine of, revealed from God, 625; greater than\nworldly wealth, 626.\n\nSan Francisco, why Saints did not go to, 737. {757}\n\nSatan, see Devil.\n\nSavage, why so, 82.\n\nSaving, a good house-keeper will be, 330.\n\nSavior, see Jesus Christ.\n\nSaviors, on Mount Zion, 623; meaning of, 623-624.\n\nSayings, brief, of President Young, 340.\n\nSchools, established, 725.\n\nSchool of Prophets, 32.\n\nScriptures, use of, 197-198.\n\nSealed, husband and wife should be, 301.\n\nSecond death, what it is, 590.\n\nSects, have some truth, 4; to deny Savior, 508.\n\nSeed of Ham, the negro, 430.\n\nSelf-control, 107.\n\nSelf-discipline, necessary, 315.\n\nSelf-sustaining, people must be, 450.\n\nServants, of the devil, 348; deal honestly with those who employ you,\n432.\n\nSettlement in West, 722; journey across plains to establish, 722;\ntrials to make, 722; made on City Creek, 725; made by establishing\norchards, etc., 725; to be made like Garden of Eden, 725; made by\nbuilding roads, etc., 727; work to reach, 734; condition of people and\nanimals when they reached, 735.\n\nSeventy, Priesthood of, 207; not separate body from Church, 221; to be\nteachers, 221.\n\nSewing, how to teach to children, 325.\n\nSilk, raise, 460.\n\nSin, purpose of, 85; permitted to come, 94; explanation of, 117-122;\ndoing wrong when we know we can do better, 242.\n\nSisters, to teach young girls as to imaginary wants, 337.\n\nSlaves, of our own passions, 348.\n\nSmiles, a child loves the, of its mother, but hates her frown, 323.\n\nSmith, Joseph, 8; Priesthood restored by, 48; early revelations to,\n54; appointed in councils of eternity, 165; visited by angels, 166;\nwas President of Church, 213; keys of Priesthood committed to, 213;\nmentioned, 217; illiterate boy, argument of the wise, 492; a pure\nEphraimite, 493; a Prophet of God, Saints should testify to the wicked,\n508; why persecuted, 537; persecution of, made him more perfect, 538;\nhad the right to establish a religion, 554; worked in stone quarry for\nthe Kirtland temple, 637; witness of truth, 666; a Prophet of God,\n700; laid foundation of kingdom of God, 700; explained personality of\nGod, 701; a great teacher; 702; a good man, 703; called by God, 703;\ndirected by God, 703; had to do with temporal things, 704; development\nof, 705; received Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, 706; received\nknowledge of plates, 706; God sent John, the Baptist and Peter, James\nand John to, 706; sent missionaries to West, 707; received revelation\non work for dead, 707; teachings of, 708; could explain heavenly\nthings, 708; taught Gospel, 708; result of labors of, 709; persecutions\nof, 709; lies circulated about, 711; not an impostor, 712; harassed by\nlawsuits, 712; of good character, 713; why, was killed, 713; sealed his\ntestimony with his blood, 714; in forty-six lawsuits, 715; works in\nspirit world, 715; nature of family of, 716; successors of, the Twelve,\n716; sayings of, 717; God delivered, from enemies, 718; doctrine of\ngoverning, 719; promised protection of Governor Ford, 724.\n\nSmith, Joseph, Sr., busy in spirit world, 579.\n\nSocial amusements, ordained of God to bless his people, 364; we are\nmade to enjoy all, that God enjoys, 365; are the order of heaven, 365;\na blessing for the Latter-day Saints to associate together, 365; follow\nonly the path that leads to life everlasting, 365; privilege of Saints\nto enjoy, 366; provide innocent, 366; are necessary, 368; to satisfy\nnatural organization, 369; resist all foul spirits in, 369; if you\ncan't go with the spirit of the Lord to, stay home, 370; to promote\nhealthy action to the whole system, 370; no harm in Sunday School\nparties, 371; pay more {758} attention to public exercises in, 372;\nnoisy and boisterous demonstrations in, indicate little sense, 372;\nimprove the body and the mind, 402.\n\nSolomon's temple, David commanded to prepare building of, 634; pattern\nof, given, 634; why called, 635.\n\nSon of God, see Jesus Christ.\n\nSons of perdition, 45; sinners against Holy Ghost are, 182.\n\nSorrow, purpose of, 85.\n\nSpace, no empty, 30.\n\nSpencer, Brother, lived beyond common age, 469.\n\nSpirit, makes converts, not logic or debate, 506.\n\nSpirit of God, how to obtain, 18. See also Holy Ghost.\n\nSpirit of Truth, how engaged, 22.\n\nA of the world, what it does, 350.\n\nSpirits, cannot be baptized, 581; can preach Gospel, 581; can bring\ninformation, 581.\n\nSpiritualism, 112.\n\nSpirit world, 576; all go to, 576; where it is, 576; good and evil\nspirits in, 577; labors in, 578; Jesus, first to preach to spirits in,\n579; dead go to, 580; spirits familiar with spirits in, 581; life in,\n582; cannot be described, 583; transportation in, 583; Joseph Smith in,\n715.\n\nStake presidencies, duties of, 233.\n\nStandard Church works, 195; what they contain, 196; Saints' belief in,\n197.\n\nStates' Rights, 559.\n\nStrangers preach, youth urged to hear, 264; teaching in Sunday School,\n264.\n\nSubdue, our own passions, 410; to conquer and, 411.\n\nSugar, raise, 460.\n\nSunday School, we should have more children at, 372.\n\nSwearing, men must quit, 351.\n\nT\n\nTabernacle, opposed to theatrical performances in, 374; opposed to\nmaking it a hall of fun, 374.\n\nTalents, to be used, 208-209; hide not your, 382; put them out to\nusury, 443; to be improved, 581.\n\nTask, to undertake to live a Saint and walk in darkness is a hard, 350.\n\nTaylor, John, 724.\n\nTeach, mothers to commence with children in their lap, 319; how and\nwhat to, 320.\n\nTeachers, to be in Church of Christ, 211.\n\nTelegraph, a new revelation, 62.\n\nTemper, even temper to be maintained, 315.\n\nTemples, temporal labor in, 21; to be built in Millennium, 178; to\nbe built, 275-276; Saints commenced to build, 602; endowments given\nin Solomon's, 603; for God to come to, 603; indispensable for higher\nordinances, 604; hundreds of, to be built, 605; endowments to be given\nin, 606; ordinances of, for salvation of human family, 608; work for\ndead in, 608; instruction pertaining to ordinances in, 609; during\nMillennium, 615; built expressly to save people, 617; sons of Jacob\nto work in, 626; angels to converse and explain work of, 627; angels\nto bring list of names to, 627; some to remain in, all the time, 628;\npowers of evil opposed to, 628; Saints built two, 629; to have groves\nand fish ponds on, 629; David not permitted to build, 634.\n\nTemporal, and spiritual inseparable, 13-20; labors necessary, 20;\nnature of gospel, 21; revelations, 54.\n\nTemporal matters, counsel in, 339.\n\nTemptation, explained, 122-126.\n\nTen Tribes, to be gathered, 187.\n\nTestimony, how obtained, 43, 52, 53; by revelation, 57; of gospel,\ngives solid satisfaction, 514; where do you get your? 517; all Saints\nmay have, of gospel, 657; must have, of Jesus to know truth, 657; how\nto get a, 658, 659-660; miracles do not give abiding, 661; people join\nChurch by reason of, 662; gained by experience, 663; is positive, 664;\nnot built upon man, 666; concerning Joseph Smith, 666.\n\nTexas, 737.\n\nTheater, is there evil in, 375; built to attract the young, 375; to\nprovide amusement for the boys and girls, 375; to amuse the people,\n375; stage can be made to aid the pulpit, {759} 375; tragedy not\nfavored, 376; to improve the public mind, 376.\n\nTheocratic government, 543; what is, 543.\n\nTheory, amounts to but little, 340.\n\nTime, 72; is capital stock, 330; if properly used, brings many\nblessings, 330.\n\nTithing, law of, 269; consequences when not paid, 269; will be willing\nto pay if we live our religion, 272; for what used, 269-272-273; we\npay, for our own benefit, 273; people not compelled to pay, 274; people\nnot cut off the Church for non-payment of, 274; is an eternal law, 274;\nis for the salvation and exaltation of man, 274; use of, 275; President\nof the Church to control the disbursements of, 276.\n\nTraining, importance of early, 318; guide to child, 323.\n\nTrinity, 46.\n\nTrials, meet cheerfully, 533; are necessary, 529; and persecutions, 529.\n\nTrue believer, definition of, 241.\n\nTrue riches, who obtains, 472; what are, 472; gold is not, 473.\n\nTruth, eternal, 2-4-6-14, revealed by God, 2; is gospel, 3; gospel,\na fountain of, 14; purpose of, 15-17; love and remember, 15; not\ndisproved, 16; accept all, 17; is obeyed when it is loved, 340; strict\nobedience to the, will alone enable people to dwell in the presence of\nthe Almighty, 340; gather up all, 382; in all the arts and sciences is\npart of our religion, 509; manifests itself to honest persons, 662.\n\nU\n\nUnited Order, 276; God's people must enter into, before building the\nCenter Stake of Zion, 276; how to start and conduct, 279-280.\n\nUnity, be of one mind, 433; Church cannot exist without, 434; perfect\nunion, 434; in God's work, 437; advantage of temporal, 439; in\nall things, 439; in Order of Enoch, 440; does not mean individual\nuniformity, 442.\n\nUniversalists, 15.\n\nUniverse, organized, 73.\n\nUrim and Thummim, 706.\n\nV\n\nVancouver Island, 727.\n\nVirtue, 300.\n\nVisions, personal nature of, 519; mysteries and miracles, 519.\n\nVolition, see Free Agency.\n\nW\n\nWar, 106; against Saints, 170; declared against Saints over 27 years,\n531-532; who prompts nations to, 561; God does not institute, 562;\nbetween nations is murder, 562-563; instigators of, guilty of murder,\n563.\n\nWarfare, between Christ and devil, 648.\n\nWater, of itself will not wash away sins, 247; has been the means of\npurification in every world that has been organized, 247; God did not\ncurse the, but blessed it, 247.\n\nWaste, let nothing go to, 449; made by children, 449; poor families,\n449; if you wish to get rich, do not, 450.\n\nWhiting, Brother, man of few words, 518.\n\nWealth, elements of, 453; learn how to gather, 453; in the mountains,\n454; belongs to this world, 454; belongs to the Lord, 468; concealed\nin elements God has given to man, 468; given to wicked as well as\nrighteous, 468; not ours, 468; our business to do what the Lord wants\nus to do with, 468; man who places, above God has no eyes to see,\n471; true, 474; how to gain, 474; eternal salvation brings true, 475;\nobtained by paying attention to building up of Kingdom of God, 475;\ndo you want, 475; few men know what to do with, 479; amassed at the\nexpense of others, 479; do not hoard up, 479; put to usury, 480; to\nbeautify Zion, 480; brings happiness when used for the Gospel, 481;\nproduces comfort, 482; {760} and does not bring happiness, 483; some\ndangers of, 483; used for selfish purposes, 483; not used to build\nKingdom of God, 483.\n\nWesley, John, 210.\n\nWheat, save your, 457.\n\nWhipping children, effects of, 324.\n\nWicked, have no power over truth, 109; what they should hear, 508.\n\nWickedness, 117-122.\n\nWife, not to lead husband, 308; responsibilities and duties of, 308-313.\n\nWight, Lyman, 220; wanted Saints to go to Texas, 737.\n\nWill, the, 100.\n\nWill, God has placed, in his intelligent creatures, 406; a trait of\nGod's divinity, 406; power to accept or reject, 406; ours, should be\ncontrolled by the will of God, 406; first and foremost, 406; human\nfamily die to gratify, 406; learn to direct, 406.\n\nWill of God, this people must know and do, 341.\n\nWilliams, Frederick, G., 214-216; 704.\n\nWisdom, obtain, 20; apply your heart to, 402; seek diligently for,\n402; sow in your hearts, 402; more profitable than gold, 402; obtain,\nfrom best books, 403; if any man lack, let him ask of God, 403; our\nprivilege to have, 403; pray for, but add with that prayer works, 404;\nthis people are increasing in, 404; search out the, of God, 404.\n\nWives, many, not cause of persecution, 536.\n\nWoman suffrage, 563.\n\nWord of Wisdom, 282-283; people of God commanded to keep, 283;\nElders of Israel have no right to transgress, 283; consequences of\ndisobedience to, 284-286; Elders of Israel commanded to cease drinking\nstrong drinks, 284; Church authorities requested to cut off those who\nwill not cease getting drunk, 284; everlasting life in it, 285; for\nwhat purpose given, 285.\n\nWords, not so essential as acts, 510.\n\nWork, 290.\n\nWorld, will not receive gospel, only on their own terms, 349; See also\nEarth.\n\nWorlds, many, 31; composition of, 74.\n\nWorship, desire to, 34; needful on every day, 257; on one day only a\nfolly, 257.\n\nY\n\nYoung, Brigham, mission of 13; has had revelations, 60; spirit of\nJoseph fell upon, 214; sustained as President, 214-216; never to\napostatize, 215; brief Sayings of, 340; gospel did everything for, 629;\nblesses people, 697.\n\nZ\n\nZion, built by practical labor, 19; where it is, 181; make for\nourselves, 181-182; pure in heart is, 182; peace and joy in, 183;\nknowledge of, shall reach the uttermost parts of the earth, 380; let us\ngo up to, 380; build up, 381; establish, 415; strength of, 437; come\nhere to build up, 438; beautify and glorify, 453.\n\nZion's Camp, 219.\n\nZion's ship, God at helm, 528.","title":"Discourses of Brigham Young","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":243687}