NECESSITY OF BUILDING TEMPLES--THE ENDOWMENT.
An Oration by President Brigham Young, Delivered on the South-East Corner Stone of the Temple at Great Salt Lake City, after the First Presidency and the Patriarch had laid the Stone, April 6, 1853.
This morning we have assembled on one of the most solemn, interesting, joyful, and glorious occasions, that ever have transpired, or will transpire among the children of men, while the earth continues in its present organization, and is occupied for its present purposes. And I congratulate my brethren and sisters that it is our unspeakable privilege to stand here this day, and minister before the Lord on an occasion which has caused the tongues and pens of Prophets to speak and write for many scores of centuries which are past.
When the Lord Jesus Christ tabernacled in the flesh--when he had left the most exalted regions of His Father's glory, to suffer and shed his blood for sinning, fallen creatures, like ourselves, and the people crowded around him, a certain man said unto him, <"Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest."> Jesus said unto him, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay HIS <head>." And we find no record that this man followed him any farther.
Why had not the <Son of Man> where to lay <his Head?> Because his Father had no house upon the earth--none dedicated to Him, and preserved for His exclusive use, and the benefit of His obedient children.
The Ark containing the covenant--or the Ark of the Covenant in the days of Moses, containing the sacred records, was moved from place to place in a cart. And so sacred was that Ark, if a man stretched forth his hand to steady it, when the cart jostled, he was smitten, and died. And would to God that all who attempt to do the same in this day, figuratively speaking, might share the same fate. And they will share it sooner or later, if they do not keep their hands, and tongues too, in their proper places, and stop dictating the order of the Gods of the Eternal Worlds.
When the Ark of the Covenant rested, or when the children of Israel had an opportunity to rest, (for they were mobbed and harassed somewhat like the Latter-day Saints,) the Lord, through Moses, commanded a Tabernacle to be built, wherein should rest and be stationed, the Ark of the Covenant. And particular instructions were given by revelation to Moses, how every part of said Tabernacle should be constructed, even to the curtains--the number thereof, and of what they should be made; and the covering, and the wood for the boards, and for the bars, and the court, and the pins, and the vessels, and the furniture, and everything pertaining to the Tabernacle. Why did Moses need such a particular revelation to build a Tabernacle? Because he had never seen one, and did not know how to build it without revelation, without a <pattern>.
Thus the Ark of the Covenant continued until the days of David, King of Israel, standing or occupying a Tabernacle, or tent. But to David, God gave commandment that he should build Him a house, wherein He, Himself, might dwell, or which He might visit, and in which He might commune with His servants when He pleased.
From the day the children of Israel were led out of Egypt to the days of Solomon, Jehovah had no resting place upon the earth, (and for how long a period before that day, the history is unpublished,) but walked in the tent or Tabernacle, before the Ark, as it seemed Him good, having no place to lay His head.
David was not permitted to build the house which he was commanded to build, because he was a "<man of blood>," that is, he was beset by enemies on every hand, and had to spend his days in war and bloodshed to save Israel, (much as the Latter-day Saints have done, only he had the privilege to <defend himself> and <people> from <mobocrats> and <murderers>, while we have hitherto been denied that privilege,) and, consequently, he had no time to build a house unto the Lord, but commanded his son Solomon, who succeeded him on the throne, to erect the Temple at Jerusalem, which God had required at his hands.
The pattern of this Temple, the length, and breadth, and height of the inner and outer courts, with all the fixtures thereunto appertaining, were given to Solomon by revelation, through the proper source. And why was this <revelation-pattern> necessary? Because that Solomon had never built a Temple, and did not know what was necessary in the arrangement of the different apartments, any better than Moses did what was needed in the Tabernacle.
This Temple, called Solomon's Temple, because Solomon was the master workman, was completed some time previous to the appearance of the Son of Man on the earth, in the form of the babe of Bethlehem, and had been dedicated as the House of the Lord, and accepted as a finished work by the Father, who commanded it to be built, that His Son might have a resting place on the earth, when he should enter on his mission.
Why, then, did Jesus exclaim to the man who volunteered to follow him wheresoever he went, that "the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head?" Jesus knew the pretended Saint and follower to be a hypocrite, and that if he told him plainly that he would not fare as well as the birds and foxes, he would leave him at once, and that would save Him much trouble.
But how could Jesus' saying, that he had "<not where to lay his head>," be true? Because the house which the Father had commanded to be built for his reception, although completed, had become polluted, and hence the saying, "My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves," and he made a scourge of cords, and drove the money-changers, and dove-sellers, and faro-gamblers, all out of his house, and overthrew their tables; but that did not purify the house, so that he could not sleep in it, for an holy thing dwelleth not in an unholy Temple.
If Jesus could not lay his head in an unholy, polluted temple, how can the Latter-day Saints expect that the Holy Spirit will take and abide its residence with them, in their tabernacles and temples of clay, unless they keep themselves pure, spotless, and undefiled?
It is no wonder that the Son of Man, soon after his resurrection from the tomb, ascended to his Father, for he had no place on earth to lay his head; his house still remaining in the possession of his enemies, so that no one had the privilege of purifying it, if they had the disposition, and otherwise the power, to do it; and the occupants thereof were professors in name, but hypocrites and <apostates>, from whom no good thing can be expected.
Soon after the ascension of Jesus, through mobocracy, martyrdom, and apostacy, the Church of Christ became extinct from the earth, the Man Child--the Holy Priesthood, was received up into heaven from whence it came, and we hear no more of it on the earth, until the Angels restored it to Joseph Smith, by whose ministry the Church of Jesus Christ was restored, re-organized on earth, twenty-three years ago this day, with the title of "Latter-day Saints," to distinguish them from the Former-day Saints.
Soon after, the Church, though our beloved Prophet Joseph, was commanded to build a Temple to the Most High, in Kirtland, Ohio, and this was the next House of the Lord we hear of on the earth, since the days of Solomon's Temple. Joseph not only received revelation and commandment to build a Temple, but he received a <pattern> also, as did Moses for the Tabernacle, and Solomon for his Temple; for without a pattern, he could not know what was wanting, having never seen one, and not having experienced its use.
Without revelation, Joseph could not know what was wanting, any more than any other man, and, without commandment, the Church were too few in numbers, too weak in faith, and too poor in purse, to attempt such a mighty enterprise. But by means of all these stimulants, a mere handful of men living on air, and a little hominy and milk and often salt or no salt when milk could not be had; the great Prophet Joseph, in the stone quarry, quarrying rock with his own hands; and the few then in the Church, following his example of obedience and diligence wherever most needed; with laborers on the walls, holding the sword in one hand to protect themselves from the mob, while they placed the stone and moved the trowel with the other, the Kirtland Temple,--the second House of the Lord, that we have any published record of on the earth, was so far completed as to be dedicated. And those first Elders who helped to build it, received a portion of their first endowments, or we might say more clearly, some of the first, or introductory, or initiatory ordinances, preparatory to an endowment.
The preparatory ordinances there administered, though accompanied by the ministration of angels, and the presence of the Lord Jesus, were but a faint similitude of the ordinances of the House of the Lord in their fulness; yet many, through the instigation of the devil, thought they had received all, and knew as much as God; they have apostatized, and gone to hell. But be assured, brethren, there are but few, <very few> of the Elders of Israel, now on earth, who know the <meaning> of the word <endowment>. To know, they must experience; and to experience, a Temple must be built.
Let me give you the definition in brief. Your <endowment> is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.
Who has received and understands such an endowment, in this assembly? You need not answer. Your voices would be few and far between, yet the <keys> to these endowments are among you, and thousands have received them, so that the devil, with all his aids, need not suppose he can again destroy the Holy Priesthood from the earth, by <killing> a few, for he cannot do it. God has set His hand, for the last time, to redeem His people, the honest in heart, and Lucifer cannot hinder Him.
Before these endowments could be given at Kirtland, the Saints had to flee before mobocracy. And, by toil and daily labor, they found places in Missouri, where they laid the corner stones of Temples, in Zion and her Stakes, and then had to retreat to Illinois, to save the lives of those who could get away alive from Missouri, where fell the Apostle David W. Patten, with many like associates, and where were imprisoned in loathsome dungeons, and fed on human flesh, Joseph and Hyrum, and many others. But before all this had transpired, the Temple at Kirtland had fallen into the hands of wicked men, and by them been polluted, like the Temple at Jerusalem, and consequently it was disowned by the Father and the Son.
At Nauvoo, Joseph dedicated another Temple, the third on record. He knew what was wanting, for he had previously given most of the prominent individuals then before him their endowment. He needed no revelation, then, of a thing he had long experienced, any more than those now do, who have experienced the same things. It is only where experience fails, that revelation is needed.
Before the Nauvoo Temple was completed, Joseph was murdered--<murdered at sun light>, under the protection of the most noble government that then existed, and that now exists, on our earth. Has his blood been atoned for? No! And why? A martyr's blood to true religion was never atoned for on our earth. No man, or nation of men, without the Priesthood, has power to make atonement for such sins. The souls of all such, since the days of Jesus, are "under the altar," and are crying to God, day and night, for vengeance. And shall they cry in vain? God forbid! He has promised He will hear them in His own due time, and recompense a righteous reward.
But what of the Temple in Nauvoo? By the aid of sword in one hand, and trowel and hammer in the other, with fire arms at hand, and a strong band of police, and the blessings of heaven, the Saints, through hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and watching, and prayings, so far completed the Temple, despite the devices of the mob, that many received a small portion of their endowment, but we know of no one who received it in its fulness. And then, to save the lives of all the Saints from <cruel murder>, we removed westward, and being led by the all-searching eye of the Great Jehovah, we arrived at this place.
Of our journey hither, we need say nothing, only, God led us. Of the sufferings of those who were compelled to, and did, leave Nauvoo in the winter or 1846, we need say nothing. Those who experienced it know it, and those who did not, to tell them of it would be like exhibiting a beautiful painting to a blind man.
We will not stop to tell you of the sufferings of widows and orphans on Omaha lands, while their husbands and fathers were traversing the burning plains of the South, to fight the battles of a country which had banished them from civilization, for they secured the land on which we dwell, from our nation's foe, exposed the gold of California, and turned the world upside down. All these things are before you--you know them, and we need not repeat them.
While these things were transpiring with the Saints in the wilderness, the Temple at Nauvoo passed into the hands of the enemy, who polluted it to that extent the Lord not only ceased to occupy it, but He loathed to have it called by His name, and permitted the wrath of its possessors to purify it by fire, as a token of what will speedily fall on them and their habitations, unless they repent.
But what are we here for, this day? To celebrate the birth-day of our religion! To lay the foundation of a Temple to the Most High God, so that when His Son, our Elder Brother, shall again appear, he may have a place where he can lay his head, and not only spend a night or a day, but find a place of peace, that he may stay till he can say, "I am satisfied."
Brethren, shall the Son of Man be satisfied with our proceedings this day? Shall he have a house on the earth which he can call his own? Shall he have place where he can lay his head, and rest over night, and tarry as long as he pleases, and be satisfied and pleased with his accommodations?
These are questions for you to answer. If you say yes, you have got to do the work, or it will not be done. We do not want any whiners about this Temple. If you cannot commence cheerfully, and go through the labor of the whole building cheerfully, start for California, and the quicker the better. Make you a golden calf, and worship it. If your care for the ordinances of salvation, for yourselves, your living, and dead, is not first and foremost in your hearts, in your actions, and in everything you possess, go! Pay your debts, if you have any, and go in peace, and prove to God and all His Saints that you are what you profess to be, by your acts--a God of Gods, and know more than He that made you.
But if you are what you profess to be, do your duty--stay with the Saints, pay your Tithing, and be prompt in paying, as you are in feeding your family; and the Temple, of which we have now laid the South-east Corner Stone, will arise in beauty and grandeur, in a manner and time which you have not hitherto known or contemplated.
The Saints of these valleys have grown in riches, and abundance of the comforts of life, in a manner hitherto unparalleled on the page of history, and if they will do by their Heavenly Father as He has done by them, soon will this Temple be inclosed [sic]. But if you go in for a speculation with passers by, as many have hitherto done, you will not live to see the Topstone of this Temple laid; and your labors and toils for yourselves and friends, dead and alive, will be worse than though you had had no existence.
We dedicate this, the South-east Corner Stone of this Temple, to the Most High God. May it remain in peace till it has done its work, and until He who has inspired our hearts to fulfil the prophecies of His holy Prophets, that the House of the Lord should be reared in the "Tops of the Mountains," shall be satisfied, and say, "It is enough." And may every tongue, pen, and weapon, that may rise against this or any other Corner Stone of this building, feel the wrath and scourging of an incensed God! May sinners in Zion be afraid, and fearfulness surprise the hypocrite, from this hour. And may all who do not feel to say Amen, go speedily to that long night of rest from which no sleeper will awake, till roused by the trump of the Second Resurrection.
A PRAYER, By President Heber C. Kimball,
Delivered on the South-East Corner Stone of the Temple at Great Salt Lake City, after the First Presidency and the Patriarch had laid the Stone, April 6, 1853.
O God, the Eternal Father, in the name of thy Son Jesus Christ of Nazareth, we ask thee to look upon us at this time in thy tender mercy. Thou beholdest that thy servants, Brigham and his Council, have laid the Chief Corner Stone of a holy House, which we are about to erect unto thy name. We desire to do it with clean hands and pure hearts before thee, and before thine holy angels.
We thank thee that we are permitted to live in the flesh, and have a place upon thy footstool, and partake daily of the bounties thy hand bestows, for thou art our Father, and Jesus Christ is our Elder Brother.
Inasmuch, O Lord, as we desire to erect a House to thy name, that if it seemeth thee good to come and take up thine abode on the earth, thou mayest have a place to lay thy head, we pray thee to assist us to erect it in purity before thee, and the Heavenly hosts.
We ask thee to help us so to conduct ourselves, that all the holy Prophets, the angels of Heaven, with thee and thy Son, may be engaged continually for our welfare, in the work of salvation and eternal lives. Bless us in this attempt to glorify thee. Bless this portion of the earth we dwell upon--even these valleys of the mountains, which we have consecrated unto thee. Cause them to bring forth the productions of the soil in rich abundance. Bless the seeds that are placed therein by thy servants and handmaidens. And inasmuch as they are disposed to do thy work, and erect a Temple to thy name, which is their fixed purpose and determination, let the heavens be gentle over them. May the earth be sanctified for their good, and the seeds they throw into it yield to them an hundred fold in return. We pray thee to bless such men and women--may the blessings of the Almighty richly attend them, and multiply them in their families, in their herds and flocks, in strength and in health, in salvation, and in eternal lives.
We also pray for those who do not feel favorably disposed to thy work--may thy blessings not attend them, but may they go backward and not forward, may they wither and not increase, and may the strength that they might have received, through their faithfulness to thy work, be multiplied and divided amongst these thy servants, who are determined to keep thy commandments, and sanctify their affections unto thee.
Look upon thy servant Brigham, O Lord, and let thy Holy Spirit rest mightily upon him this day, and from henceforth. May he live to dictate the erection of thy house, see the Topstone brought on with rejoicing, and administer the keys of salvation and eternal life unto his brethren therein. Bless his Council in common with him, may they live to a good old age, and glorify God in all their days; may they never want for food and raiment, for fathers and mothers, for wives and children, and for the power of thy Spirit to inspire them, and those thou hast given them.
Pour out thy Spirit upon thy servants, the Twelve Apostles; may thy power abide upon them, to qualify them for the responsible calling unto which thou hast called them. Also, in connexion with them, let thy Spirit rest upon the Quorums of the Seventies, the High Priests, the Bishops, the High Council, the Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons; and upon every faithful member of thy Church in these valleys of the mountains, and in all the world.
Now, O God, we dedicate this Stone to thee. May this spot be holy, and all that pertaineth to it. And inasmuch as there shall be an enemy, or a person that are evil disposed towards thy house, and they shall endeavor to lay snares for the feet of thy people, may they be caught in their own net, be overwhelmed in their own dilemma, and have no power nor influence in the least to hurt thy Saints from this time henceforth and for ever. May the power of the mighty God of Jacob fortify thy servants, enabling them to execute righteousness before thee the Lord our God.
Hear us, O Lord, for we dedicate this, the South-east Corner Stone unto thee, praying that it may sleep in peace, be preserved from decay, for it is the Chief Corner Stone of the House we shall rear to thy name. May the same blessings attend the other three Corner Stones, and all the works thy servants shall set their hands to do, from this time henceforth and for ever.
Bless the architect, the superintendent, the foremen of the various departments, and all the laborers that shall raise a hand, or move a thing for the erection and perfection of this thine house; and provide for them, their wives, their children, and all that pertains unto them, that they may want for no good or necessary thing, while they are engaged in thy service, and from this time henceforth and for ever.
We dedicate ourselves unto thee, with our wives, our children, our flocks, and our herds, with all the settlements and possessions that pertain to thy people in these valleys of the mountains. And all the praise and the glory we will ascribe to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
PERSECUTIONS, POSITION, PROSPECTS, AND AGENCY OF THE SAINTS.
An Oration by Bishop Edward Hunter, delivered on the South-West Corner Stone of the Temple, at Great Salt Lake City, after the Presidencies of the Aaronic Priesthood had laid the Stone, April 6, 1853.
Brethren and Friends--This, the South-west Corner Stone of this Temple, in Salt Lake Valley, and Utah Territory, has been laid by the Aaronic Priesthood, which is in connection with the Melchisedec Priesthood forever--to connect those two Priesthoods to the building up of the kingdom of the last days, and exalt mankind on the earth, and in the presence of God, and prepare for the coming of Christ our Redeemer.
The past, the present, and the future--our history, our destiny, recur with redoubled force upon our minds, upon occasions like this. In honor to the great God we are here assembled. To the Valleys of the mountains we have been led by His Almighty power and watchful guidance. We wave been delivered from our enemies, from our oppressors, by His unerring wisdom, and surpassing kindness.
Never before could the Saints look around, and behold so glorious, so prosperous a prospect before them, for the accomplishment of the enterprise which we this day commence. Although peace may temporarily have smiled around, yet it was like the lone traveller, struggling to make his way through the scarcely incrustated lava, yet warm, and the craters of the momentarily extinct volcano, which has only ceased to pour forth its liquid fire, to gather renewed and increased energy, and again send forth its lurid flame, molten fury, and devastation, to all around. Thus has it ever been with this people--in the midst of enemies have they struggled to build up cities, wherein they might inhabit; erect temples unto the name of the God whom they serve, wherein to worship, and receive their holy anointings and endowments. But no sooner have they commenced, than have also commenced the howlings of the myrmidons of Satan's kingdom, crying, as they did before Pilate, when they murdered the Saviour of the world, "Away with him! away with him! crucify him! crucify him!" And they have poured out their wrath--they have murdered the Saints, driven them from city to city, from land to land, dispossessed them of their inheritances, destroyed their cities, their temples, and slain their Prophets.
As it was in the days of our Saviour and his Apostles, so has it been in our day. They have used every stratagem, every exertion to destroy the Priesthood from the face of the earth. They were successful then--will they be so now? Will the authority of the holy and eternal Priesthood of Almighty God, again be driven from the face of the earth, the Prophets and Apostles all slain, and none left in possession of the living oracles of divine truth? No! no!! The might of Jehovah will preserve us. The Lord God will sustain us, and, if so be we should be scattered as hitherto, He will gather us in greater power, greater numbers, with increased ability to perform His work upon the earth.
Let all people, sinners, mobocrats, and devils, learn from experience that persecution, plunder, robbery, rapine, murder, and expulsion from home and country, will not win. They have effectually tried this plan, and it has as effectually failed every time. Please take notice! and devise some new scheme the next time, wherein you can feel some assurance, that you may possibly succeed, and we have the pleasure of not being plundered, murdered, and disfranchised in the same old way. Tax your inventive genius for some broader scheme to destroy God's people from the face of the earth.
Suppose you try the suggestion of our much esteemed, though distant, learned, very polite, and unsolicited chronicler, Lieutenant Gunnison, "<of letting us alone severely>." But I will not make suggestions for you, having great confidence in your ability of changing your mode of operation. When your plans become so futile, weak, and unavailing, as to become stale and uninteresting, I may suggest for you. In the meantime, let the Saints remember the promise President Young made them, upon the occasion of his breaking the ground for this temple, on the 14th of February last--"Not one of them, who had not been through the fiery ordeal, should lose the privilege, if he continued faithful; he shall not be a whit behind the most exquisite infliction of torture that any of the Saints have had to endure." If you are faithful, you shall have the promised blessing pertaining to those characters who became partakers of the sufferings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
When we look around us, what do we behold? We see the most unmistakable tokens of prosperity, peace, and plenty; the self-evident fruits of high heaven's protecting care, industry, sobriety, and faith. What else do we behold? Wickedness--the hydra-headed monster, apostacy, dares to lift his head; thieves dare to prowl in our midst.
It seems, that no sooner can the Lord pour out His blessings upon His people, and Zion be favored for a season, than it becomes occasion for some to kick and flounder, turning their heel against that beneficent power unto whom they owe their being, their existence--who has fed them, and nurtured them, and led them, like as He did the Saints of old, all the day long.
What becomes the duty of the Saints under such circumstances? Do you realize that upon yourselves, in a great measure, depends your future prosperity, the prosperity of Zion's cause, the extension and advancement of the cause of truth in the world? Do you consider that it is your duty to purify and sanctify your hearts before God, to put evil far from you, to resist the allurements, temptations, and devices of Satan, and thus panoplied in the bright armour of integrity, truth, and righteousness, with pure hearts, and clean hands, and arising in the strength, might, and majesty of the great Jehovah, put down iniquity, yea, with an eagle eye, ferret it out, and with a strong arm, hush in eternal silence every ingrate spirit, who profanes, with his unholy presence, the most holy place; who tramples under his feet, as a thing of naught, those covenants, those most solemn obligations, which he has freely made? So shall Israel put away iniquity from their midst, and obtain and retain the favor of the Lord of Hosts.
Do you remember the history of the Gadiantons, as told in the Book of Mormon? We are surrounded by their descendants. Those loathsome, effeminate specimens of humanity, which we daily see in our midst, are their children, low, degraded, sunken to the lowest depths of human existence. We have our location amid their strongholds, where the ruins of their cities, towns, and fortifications are yet to be seen--they continue unto this day. Shall we, the Saints of the Most High God, who have been the special recipients of the oracles of life and salvation to this generation, to all generations to come, to even those who have preceded us--shall we, through supineness and neglect, permit a foundation to be laid in our midst, for the ultimate triumph of wickedness, apostacy, and every abomination which maketh desolate? I tell you, if we do, we need go no farther in the progress of this work, for we shall most probably share the fate of those Gadiantons and their children. Better, far better, would it be for us to stop, and, in the first place, sweep from our midst and from our borders, every vestige of unmitigated wickedness and sin. If we do not put it down, it will put us down. If we do not, when we have the privilege, the opportunity, magnify our calling, fulfil our covenants, the Lord our God will withdraw His Spirit from our midst, as being unworthy and negligent servants.
I am aware that the devil raves and grows angry when the Saints prepare to build a temple, I am aware that he rummages every nook and corner, to gain the ascendancy, seduce away, stir up strife, contention, and to hinder the progress of the work; he seeks to lull into a false security, the vigilance of the Saints; to cool their ardor, check their efforts, and render them fruitless; to cause them to neglect their duties, grow luke-warm and indifferent towards the cause of God.
Brethren, let me exhort you against these allurements, against this apathy--it will never do, it does not become the Latter-day Saints, whose work rolls upon them as fast as they are able to accomplish it. The Saints pray their Father in heaven to hasten His work, and roll it forth with mighty power.
Do you not know that the heavens are ready to drop with blessings in store for the faithful Saints, if they were ready and able to receive them? The Almighty God is ready to establish His kingdom upon the earth, in power and majesty, if His people were ready to receive, were prepared to administer therein in holiness, purity, and wisdom.
But are this people ready? No! they are not--their work is preparatory, and I am happy in believing that their progress is onward, that they are advancing toward that unity, faith, and perfection, those good works and Godlike attainments, which shall witness unto the Lord our God, that they are rapidly approximating towards that eventful period, when the Son of Man will appear in his temple, to cheer the hearts of his people.
The heavens are propitious, and if we do right, the Lord our God will be our friend, bless and prosper us in our endeavors to bring to pass this our preparatory work. We will build a temple unto the name of the mighty God of Jacob, here in the wilderness of deserts, amid the forest of mountains, upon the foundation which we this day consecrate unto the Lord of Hosts. We will rear a superstructure wherein we can receive the ministrations of angels and holy beings; wherein we can receive instructions, and perform offices for the redemption of our dead, receive keys for the resurrection of the Saints of God, wherein we can meet the spirits of just men made perfect, and again strike hands with the martyred Prophets, Joseph and Hyrum, and all those who have suffered and died for the testimony of Jesus.
We are far more commodiously situated, far better prepared for this work, than ever before, as a people. We have a house wherein we can hold our Councils, a tabernacle wherein to worship, storehouses to contain the tithing of the people, and shops, and machinery in full operation.
The wall around the Temple Block will soon secure those grounds from intrusion. We are comparatively free from debt, everything seems favorable for the rapid progress of this work.
Brethren, it depends upon your efforts, your liberality, your faithfulness, whether its progress be slow or fast. We are now ready to bid the Saints "come lend us your aid--bring up to the Tithing House of the Lord, your tithings and your consecrations; pay up what you owe, that our hands may be untied, and freed from our remaining indebtedness; that the hearts of the public workmen may rejoice in the blessings and comforts of life." Let your liberality be known by your works, and remember that it is your own work you are called upon to perform, and one in which you have the deepest and most abiding interest.
Bring forth the materials for building--stone, lime, and sand; lumber and timber; the pine, the fir, and the cedar; the iron and steel; the silver, gold, and precious stones; to ornament, make beautiful and glorious the place of His presence, whose excellence surpasses the understanding of the children of men. Amen.
PRAYER
By Bishop Alfred Cordon, Delivered on the South-West Corner Stone of the Temple at Great Salt Lake City, after the Presidencies of the Aaronic Priesthood had laid the Stone, April 6, 1853.
O God, the Eternal Father, we thank thee that we are assembled here this morning, to lay the foundation of another Temple to thy name. We ask thee, in the name of Jesus Christ thy Son, to let thy blessing rest upon this, the South-west Corner Stone, which has been laid by the Presiding Bishop of thy Church, and his Council. Also let thy power and strength rest upon thy servants who shall endeavor to build upon the same--may that spirit of unanimity and peace that pervades our bosoms this morning, rest upon those who shall labor upon this building; may it also rest upon their wives and children, and extend itself throughout the length and breadth of this territory, and the whole world, that the honest in heart may rejoice, and thy Saints be filled with thanksgiving, with praise and adorations to thy great name, for the mercies thou art continually extending unto them.
Especially let thine Elders abroad, whose hearts are panting this day with joy and satisfaction, feel the force and influence of thy Spirit, that so richly rest upon us, that they may take comfort and consolation. Let their lives be preserved that they may return, and behold a building reared to thy name, and greatly rejoice and adore thee, O God. May their way be opened, that they may move from nation to nation, from city to city, and from habitation to habitation. Let thine angels go before them, and the secret agency of thy Holy Spirit touch the hearts of the people for their good, that thy purposes may soon be accomplished, that Israel may be gathered from the nations of the earth, that light and truth may spread itself, until all the honest in heart rejoice in the principles of freedom, and every band and yoke of the tyrant is snapped and broken asunder, and the knowledge and power of God shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the face of the great deep.
We pray thee to let the petitions of thy servant, which were offered upon the Chief Corner Stone, be answered upon the heads of this people, and may thy blessing and power rest upon him and his brethren, even the First Presidency of thy Church. May they be filled with the spirit of revelation continually, that thy Saints may flourish, thy kingdom prosper, and thy work roll forth under their guidance, that the day may soon come when Zion shall be respected among the nations, and the <Holy Priesthood> be the only <authority> acknowledged, either at home or abroad, on the land or on the sea.
Direct thy people in thy path, that they may be prepared for the accomplishing of thy purposes. Let the Temple for which we are this day laying the Corner Stones, be reared to thy name, and the Top-stone be brought on with shouts of rejoicing before thee. Let every person that shall put forth his hand to prevent this thing from being accomplished, sink into oblivion, and may this power wither like the gourd of Jonah. Let all those who put forth their hands to rear this House, or in any way assist in doing the same, be blessed abundantly in the blessings of heaven, and the blessings of earth. And may all things work together for the good of thy people in all time to come.
We dedicate this Stone, and resign ourselves to thee, to use us according to thy pleasure, praying thee to direct our course, and save us eternally in thy celestial Kingdom, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
THE CHURCH BUILT ON A ROCK--EFFORTS OF SATAN--THE PRIESTHOOD.
An Oration by Elder John Young, Delivered on the North-West Corner Stone of the Temple at Great Salt Lake City, after the Presidency of the High Priests' Quorum, and the Presidency and the High Council of the Stake had laid the Stone, April 6, 1853.
Brethren and Sisters--I have not a written oration to read before you, but shall content myself with simply expressing the feelings that pervade my breast on this interesting occasion. What I say, will come at once from the fountain of my heart.
I have one thing to say particularly--that this is the best day I ever saw in all my life. I realize that I am greatly blessed, in connection with my brethren and sisters of this Church, that I am permitted to live to see the present day, and to stand upon this rock, which is the North-west Corner Stone of a Temple that is to be built upon this ground, which Stone we have laid in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I firmly believe that, as we stand upon this <rock>, so is the Church of Latter-day Saints founded upon the <rock> of eternal <ages>. My continual prayer and desire are, that we may live to see a Temple built to the name of the Most High God. I feel myself honored of God and my brethren, in having the opportunity of standing here to-day, in speaking, and realizing what I have, since I came on the Temple ground.
I hope we shall see the Cap-stone brought on with shouts of joy. I believe we shall, if we remain faithful in the cause of truth.
I very well know that, at the commencement of the Temples that have heretofore been built to the name of the Lord, by this people, the devil has always moved his artillery with greater power and activity at that time. This is the foundation of the fourth Temple that the Latter-day Saints have laid; and I pray that we shall all feel nerved up with power to accomplish the great and glorious work which we are called to perform.
For my own part, I am sensible that I have not long to stay upon the earth, but I have a great desire to live in connection with my brethren, to see this Temple completed. I believe we shall.
My chief interest in living on the earth is to see the work of the Lord prosper, and to assist all in my power to roll it forth; and why I say this is the best day I ever saw upon the earth, is because the prospects for the advancement of the kingdom of God are greater now than ever I saw them before in my days. I have always, in all my life, been desirous to see the cause of the Lord prosper on the earth, but more especially so since I found a true Church founded by the Prophet of God.
We have Prophets among us--a Seer and Revelator, and also Apostles of Jesus Christ. Do I not know that I am standing this day in the presence of the greatest men that are to be found upon the footstool of God? My voice is now sounding in the ears of the greatest men that are this side of eternity, and I know it. If I should stand before all the kings, potentates, and princes of the earth, in one general assembly, the comparison would not begin to bear with the present occasion. They are men chosen by the people alone, and destitute of the power of an eternal Priesthood. These are the mighty chieftains of Israel, called and appointed by the Lord of Hosts, clothed with salvation and eternal lives, and sent for a blessing to the faithful.
I am thankful and happy. I have not language sufficient at my command to express, in full, my feelings. If I did not make a written oration, it has fallen to my lot to make a few verbal remarks. I am proud to stand here with my brethren, and pray that the power of the Spirit of God may rest upon His people, that they may prosper exceedingly, and bud and blossom like a fruitful bough upon the mountains. I have felt, while these Stones were being laid, that the angels of God were round about us. And may a convoy of them continually attend this holy spot, until all the things we desire to do for the glory of our Heavenly Father, and the extension of His cause on earth, are accomplished, which is my prayer. Amen.
PRAYER
By Elder George B. Wallace, Delivered on the North-West Corner Stone of the Temple, at Great Salt Lake City, after the Presidency of the High Priests' Quorum, and the Presidency and the High Council of the Stake had laid the Stone, April 6, 1853.
Righteous and merciful God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, we consecrate and dedicate this Stone unto thee, even the North-west Corner Stone, which we have laid as part of the foundation of a Temple to be built unto thy great and holy name. We pray thee, O God, to accept this offering from our hands; and may thy peace and blessing be and abide here, that this spot of ground may be holy unto thee, and never be polluted by those who are unholy, or by any unclean thing.
May this foundation be firm as the foundations of the everlasting hills that cannot be moved, that the superstructure which shall be reared upon it may never be shaken, that the people may receive their blessings therein, to qualify them to pass through the vale, into celestial happiness.
We pray thee, O Lord, to let thy peace be upon those who labor upon these works; may their hearts be inspired by the Holy Ghost, to realize that they are working to build a House to thy name, that immortal beings may come and administer in the ordinances of salvation, and teach thy servants things that are beyond the vail, to prepare them to enter into that rest which is prepared and promised to thy Saints. We pray thee to cement this Corner Stone in a bond of indissoluble union with the other three, that they may stand firm as the eternal Priesthood which has been given unto men, even thy servants, that never can be moved out of its place, but will stand, from this time henceforth and for ever.
Bless the people that are congregated together this day; may it be to them a day long to be remembered; let thy Spirit prevail in their midst, and every heart be filled with unutterable joy. Let the vision of eternity be opened unto them, that they may behold things new and precious, and rejoice in the holy principles of the Gospel of God, that has been brought to light in this dispensation, by the administration of angels to thy servants, even in the latter days.
Let our enemies be taken in their own snare, and fall into the pit they dig for thy people. Let confusion come upon them; may they be turned backward, and have no power from his time henceforth and forever, to prevail against the Saints and the Lord's anointed. Inspire the hearts of thy servants that are scattered abroad among the nations of the earth, and upon the islands of the sea; may their eyes be inclined towards us this day, and let their hearts be lifted up in joy and rejoicing before thee. Strengthen them, and give them great prosperity in their missions, and return them with honor to see the Cap-stone of this Temple brought on with shouting grace unto it.
We now dedicate ourselves, our lives, our children, our flocks and herds, unto thee, O God the Eternal Father, and pray thee to accept of us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION.
An Oration by Elder Parley P. Pratt, Delivered on the North-East Corner Stone of the Temple at Great Salt Lake City, after the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidency of the Seventies, and the Presidency of the Elders' Quorum had laid the Stone, April 6, 1853.
"And when they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to hear from the dead?"
The foregoing text was copied by Nephi, from the Book of Isaiah, about six hundred years before Christ, and is now contained in the second Book of Nephi, chap. ix.
For the last few years the world has been disturbed very much by alleged communications from the world of spirits. "Mesmerism," "Clairvoyance," "Spiritual Knockings," " Writing Mediums," &c., are said to be channels of communication between the living and the dead. How often one meets with an invitation to seek to some "<medium>"--to some one "familiar with spirits," in order to hear from a deceased father, mother, husband, wife, or other relative or friend.
On the other hand, these alleged communications from the spirit world are zealously opposed, on the ground that there is no such philosophy in nature; that there can be no medium of communication between the living and those who have passed the vale of death; and that, therefore, all alleged communications from that source must necessarily be false.
It becomes the Saints to be able on this, as on all other subjects, to judge correctly and understandingly, by their knowledge of the principles of true philosophy, and of the laws of God and nature.
If on the one hand we admit the principle of communication between the spirit world and our own, and yield ourselves to the unreserved or indiscriminate guidance of every spiritual manifestation, we are liable to be led about by every wind of doctrine, and by every kind of spirit which constitute the varieties of being and of thought in the spirit world. Demons, foul or unclean spirits, adulterous or murderous spirits, those who love or make a lie, can communicate with beings in the flesh, as well as those who are more true and virtuous.
Again--The spirits who are ignorant, uncultivated, and who remain in error, can communicate through the same medium as those better informed.
To illustrate this subject, we will consider the telegraphic wire as a medium of communication between New York and Boston.
Through this medium a holy Prophet or Apostle could communicate the holy and sacred words of truth; while through the same, could be communicated words of truth in relation to news, business transactions, the sciences, &c.; and also every species of lie, error, imposition, fraud, &c. Hence, if the people of New York should submit to the guidance of beings in Boston, who communicate with them by telegraph or other mediums, they would be guided by a mixture of intelligence, truth, error, falsehood, &c., in every conceivable variety. So with communications from the spirit world, if we once credit the philosophy or fact of an existing medium of communication.
If, on the other hand, we deny the philosophy or the fact of spiritual communication between the living and those who have died, we deny the very fountain from which emanated the great truths or principles which were the foundation of both the ancient and modern Church.
Who communicated with Jesus and his disciples on the holy mount? Moses and Elias, from the invisible world. Who bestowed upon the Apostles the commission to preach the Gospel to every creature in all the world? He that had passed the vale of death, and had dwelt in the spirit world, yea, he that had ascended far on high above the realms of death, and far beyond all the principalities and powers of the spirit world, and had entered, and been crowned, in the mansions of immortal flesh.
Who communicated with the beloved disciple on the Isle of Patmos, and revealed those sublime truths contained in his prophetic book? He that liveth and was dead, through his angel, who declared to John--Behold, I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, that have the testimony of Jesus.
Who communicated with our great modern Prophet, and revealed through him as a medium, the ancient history of a hemisphere, and the records of the ancient dead? Moroni, who had lived upon the earth fourteen hundred years before. Who ordained Joseph the Prophet, and his fellow-servant, to the preparatory Priesthood, to baptize for remission of sins? John the Baptist, who had been beheaded! Who ordained our first founders to the Apostleship, to hold the keys of the kingdom of God, in these the times of restoration? Peter, James, and John, from the eternal world. Who instructed him in the mysteries of the kingdom, and in all things pertaining to Priesthood, law, philosophy, sacred architecture, ordinances, sealings, anointings, baptisms for the dead, and in the mysteries of the first, second, and third heavens, many of which are unlawful to utter? Angels and spirits from the eternal worlds.
Who revealed to him the plan of redemption, and of exaltation for the dead who had died without the Gospel? and the keys and preparations necessary for holy and perpetual converse with Jesus Christ, and with the spirits of just men made perfect, and with the general assembly and Church of the first-born, in the <holy of holies?> Those from the dead!
Again--How do the Saints expect the necessary information by which to complete the ministrations for the salvation and exaltation of their friends who have died?
By one holding the keys of the oracles of God, as a medium through which the living can hear from the dead.
Shall <we>, then, deny the principle, the philosophy, the fact of communication between worlds? No! verily no!
The spiritual philosophy of the present age was introduced to the modern world by Joseph Smith. The people of the United States abandoned him to martyrdom, and his followers to fire, and sword, and plunder, and imprisonment, and final banishment to these far-off mountains and deserts, simply because a medium of communication with the invisible world had been found, whereby the living could hear from the dead. No sooner had the people and nation, thus guilty of innocent blood, completed the banishment of the Saints from their midst, than they began to adopt some of the same principles of spiritual philosophy, although in a perverted sense of the word.
Editors, statesmen, philosophers, priests, and lawyers, as well as the common people, began to advocate the principle of converse with the dead, by visions, divination, clairvoyance, knocking, and writing mediums, &c., &c. This spiritual philosophy of converse with the dead, once established by the labors, toils, sufferings, and martyrdom of its modern founders, and now embraced by a large portion of the learned world, shows a triumph more rapid and complete--a victory more extensive, than has ever achieved in the same length of time in our world.
A quarter of a century since, an obscure boy and his few associates, in the western wilds of New York, commenced to hold converse with the dead. Now, vision, new revelation, clairvoyance, mediums, oracles, &c., are talked of and advocated as far as the modern press extends its influence, or steam its powers of locomotion.
An important point is gained, a victory won, and a countless host of opposing powers vanquished, on one of the leading or fundamental truths of "Mormon" philosophy, viz.--"<That the living may hear from the dead.>"
But, notwithstanding these great victories of truth over error, ignorance, and superstition, in certain points of spiritual philosophy, yet much remains to be done, ere pure, uncontaminated truth will reign triumphant, and darkness and error surrender their last stronghold on the earth.
The fact of spiritual communications being established, by which the living hear from the dead--being no longer a question of controversy with the well informed, we drop that point, and call attention to the means of discriminating or judging between the lawful and the unlawful mediums or channels of communication--between the holy and impure, the truths and falsehoods, thus communicated.
The words of the holy Prophet in our text, while they admit the principle of the living hearing from the dead, openly rebuke, and sharply reprove, persons for seeking to those who have familiar spirits, and to wizards that peep and mutter, and remind us that a people should seek unto their God for the living to hear from the dead!
By what means, then, can a people seek unto their God, for such an important blessing as to hear from the dead?
And how shall we discriminate between those who seek to Him, and those who seek the same by unlawful means?
In the first place, no persons can successfully seek to God for this privilege, unless they believe in direct revelation in modern times.
Secondly, it is impossible for us to seek Him successfully, and remain in our sins. A thorough repentance and reformation of life are absolutely necessary, if we would seek to Him.
Thirdly, Jesus Christ is the only name given under heaven, as a medium through which to approach to God. None, then, can be lawful mediums, who are unbelievers in Jesus Christ, or in modern revelation; or who remain in their sins; or who act in their own name, instead of the name appointed.
And moreover, the Lord has appointed a Holy Priesthood on the earth, and in the heavens, and also in the world of spirits; which Priesthood is after the order or similitude of His Son; and has committed to this Priesthood the keys of holy and divine revelation, and of correspondence, or communication between angels, spirits, and men, and between all the holy departments, principalities, and powers of His government in all worlds.
And again--The Lord has ordained that all the most holy things pertaining to the salvation of the dead, and all the most holy conversations and correspondence with God, angels, and spirits, shall be had only in the sanctuary of His holy Temple on the earth, when prepared for that purpose by His Saints; and shall be received and administered by those who are ordained and sealed unto this power, to hold the keys of the sacred oracles of God.
To this same principle the Prophets Isaiah and Micah bear testimony, saying, that in the last days all nations shall go up to the house (or Temple) of the Lord, in order to be taught in His ways, and to walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, &c. Now it is evident that the people of all nations in the last days would be utterly unable to learn the ways of the Lord to perfection, in any other place except in a holy Temple erected among the mountains. For if the oracles, and most holy ordinances, and the keys or the mysteries, could be had elsewhere, or in any and every place, the people would never take the pains to resort to one house amid the mountains in order to learn of His ways, and to walk in His paths.
It is, then, a matter of certainty, according to the thing revealed to the ancient Prophets, and renewed unto us, that all the animal magnetic phenomena, all the trances and visions of clairvoyant states, all the phenomena of spiritual knockings, writing mediums, &c., are from impure, unlawful, and unholy sources; and what those holy and chosen vessels which hold the keys of Priesthood in this world, in the spirit world, or in the world of resurrected beings, stand as far aloof from all these improper channels, or unholy mediums, of spiritual communication, as the heavens are higher than the earth, or as the mysteries of the third heaven, which are unlawful to utter, differ from the jargon of sectarian ignorance and folly, or the divinations of foul spirits, abandoned wizards, magic-mongers, jugglers, and fortune-tellers.
Ye Latter-day Saint! Ye thousands of the hosts of Israel! Ye are assembled here to-day, and have laid these Corner Stones, for the express purpose that the living might hear from the dead, and that we may prepare a holy sanctuary, where "<the people may seek unto their God, for the living to hear from the dead>," and that heaven and earth, and the world of spirits may commune together--that the kings, nobles, presidents, rulers, judges, priests, counsellors, and senators, which compose the general assembly of the Church of the first-born in all these different spheres of temporal and spiritual existence, may sit in grand Council, and hold a Congress or court on the earth, to concert measures for the overthrow of the "mystery of iniquity," the thrones of tyrants, the sanctuaries of priestcraft and superstition, and the reign of ignorance, sin, and death.
Saints! These victories will be achieved, and Jesus Christ and his Saints will subdue all opposing powers, and attain to universal empire in heaven and on earth, as sure as innocent blood was ever shed on Mount Calvary, or the official seal broken on the door of the tomb of the Son of God. This day's work, in laying these Corner Stones for a Temple amid the mountains, is one advancing step in the progress of the necessary preparations for these mighty revolutions.
Let Zion complete this Temple, let it be dedicated to, and accepted by, the Almighty, let it be preserved in holiness according to the laws of the Holy Priesthood, and Zion shall not want for a man to stand before the Lord, and to receive the oracles, and administer in His holy sanctuary, and to administer the keys of His government upon the earth,
While sun, or moon, or stars shall shine,
Or principalities endure.
If the Saints accomplish these things, and fail not to keep the commandments of Jesus Christ and the counsels of his servants, the kingdoms of the world shall never prevail against them from this time forth and for ever.
But remember, O ye Saints of the Most High! <remember> that the enemy is on the alert. That old serpent and his angels, who have ruled this lower world, with few exceptions, for so many ages, will not tamely, and without a struggle, submit to have the kingdom, and seat of government, and sanctuary of our God, again erected on our planet, no more to be thrown down or subdued, till every square yard of the vast dominion shall be reconquered by its rightful owners. No! From the moment the ground was broken for this Temple, those inspired by him [Satan] have commenced to rage; and he will continue to stir up his servants to anger against that which is good, but, if we are faithful, the victory is ours, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
PRAYER
By President Orson Hyde, Delivered on the North-East Corner Stone of the Temple at Great Salt Lake City, after the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidency of the Seventies, and the Presidency of the Elders' Quorum had laid the Stone, April, 6, 1853.
Almighty Father--Thou who dwellest in the heavens, and who sittest upon the throne of thy glory and power, we beseech thee to behold us, in great mercy, from thy celestial courts, and listen to our prayers which we this day offer to thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, thy Son. Although thou art exalted in temples not made with hands, in the midst of the redeemed and sanctified ones, yet deign thou to meet with us in our humble sphere, and as we have laid, help thou us to dedicate unto thee, this Corner Stone of Zion's earthly Temple, that in her courts thy sons and daughters may rejoice to meet their Lord.
Everlasting thanks are due to thee, O God of our salvation, for thy manifold blessings and mercies extended unto us--that since we have been compelled to flee to the valleys and caves of the mountains, and hide ourselves in thy secret chambers, from the face of the serpent or dragon of persecution, red with the blood of the Saints and martyrs of Jesus, thou hast caused the land to be fruitful--the wilderness and desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. Known unto thee is the history of our career. Our merits and demerits have been open to thy view, and our wisdom and folly have not been hid from thine eyes. Thou has comprehended our strength and our weakness, our joys and our sorrows, and also our sufferings and persecutions for thy name's sake; and the martyrdom of thy servants!
Remember us, Oh Lord, and let the radiance of thy favor, like the rainbow of peace, encompass thy people while we sojourn here, and remain tenants at will in these frail bodies, the abodes of our spirits. And remember, likewise, our enemies who, through cruel jealousy, and malicious intent, have compelled us to find homes in these distant regions, and in the more lonely grave, or wander as strangers and pilgrims on the earth, without an abiding city or resting place. Reward them according to their works, and let them eat the fruits of their own doings, inasmuch as they repent not.
The Twelve Apostles of the LATTER-DAYS, to whom has been committed the pleasing task to lay the North-east Corner Stone of this Temple, even the last Corner Stone of the building, are here convened to discharge their duty before thee, in the midst of the authorities of thy Church, and of the assembled thousands who are come to witness the solemn ceremonies of the occasion.
We, therefore, implore thy blessings upon our heads, on this lovely day, while the sun of heaven, on his annual visit to his northern dominions, is changing the very heart of nature, and lighting up her face with the smiles of welcome. The snows of the everlasting mountains are made to yield at his approach, and to flow down in crystal streams of living waters, spreading life and verdure over all the plain.
From the very hour that the ground was broken to prepare for this foundation, Satan has been more diligently engaged in stirring up the hearts of his children to hate the servants and people of our God. But, O Lord, the work is thine, and thine arm is able to execute and defend it.
We now, in the name of Jesus Christ, our great High Priest and Lawgiver, dedicate and consecrate this Corner Stone unto thee, asking that the walls to be reared upon this foundation may steadily rise, by the persevering industry of thy people under thy providential care and blessings and the protecting and fostering arm of the Angel of thy presence.
Whosoever, O Lord, shall bless and aid the building of this Temple, with their faith, goodwill, and means--with their silver and their gold, with their labor and toil, with their horses, their cattle, their sheep, and their grain, or with any or all of their products, necessaries, or availables--may they rise in wealth and influence, and in the confidence and favor of God and His servants; and may the blessings of this Temple be extended unto them, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, male or female. And whosoever shall attempt to hinder, oppose, or obstruct the progress of this building, or that shall hate or blaspheme the same, or that shall, in any way or manner, knowingly, wilfully, or intentionally destroy, injure, mar, or deface any part or portion of the work, let such not only be powerless, and clothed with shame, disgrace, and condemnation, but receive the very same kind of treatment in their own persons, in the course of thy providences, as they may manifest or desire to manifest towards this edifice.
Hasten thou the period, O Lord, when this thine House, in the midst of the mountains, shall receive the Top-stone with the shouts of gladness, and be completed, and nations flow unto it--when many people shall say, "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law," making manifest every false and delusive spirit, every true principle, and also the errors that have involved nations in broils and contentions, in strife, in darkness, and in sin; and that will remove the vail of the covering that has been cast over all people; and the Gentiles shall come to the light of Zion, and kings to the brightness of her rising. Roll on the hour, Eternal Parent, when the intelligence and knowledge obtained by thy servants, on this consecrated spot, shall prove a beacon light to the nations who are floating on the sea of time in a dark, cloudy day.
O God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, overrule, we pray thee, every act and movement of the power of the world, to further the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom, and to prepare the way for his triumphant reign on earth. Bless every honest-hearted ruler in the governments and kingdoms of men, and, though they may be ignorant of thy purposes and designs, yet make them the agents to bring about and accomplish the very intentions formed in thy bosom, and decreed in thine heart.
Holy Father, bless, we pray thee, the Presidency of this thy Church, and prolong their days, that we may long enjoy their counsels, and avail ourselves of their wisdom. Remember the Twelve Apostles also, with the Presidents of the Seventies, who now call upon thy name with our voices. May none of us ever fall by transgression, or bring dishonor upon thy cause, or a stain upon our reputation. But preserve us in thy fear, in the light of truth, in the favor of our God, in the confidence of one another, in the estimation of our superiors, and in the favor of the just.
As we have laid and dedicated this Corner Stone, with our best wishes, most lively hopes, and unshaken faith that the building may be speedily erected and finished, we ask thee that we may become pillars in thy spiritual Temple, and go no more out, but sustain and uphold, in connexion with all the faithful, the grand superstructure and edifice reared by infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, in which to gather, in thine own due time, every son and daughter of Adam's fallen race. And to God and the Lamb be ascribed everlasting honors, praise, dominion, and glory, both now and for ever. Amen.
DEBTORS TO THE PERPETUAL EMIGRATING FUND.
An Address by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1854.
It is rather late in the morning to offer a lengthy discourse upon any particular subject; but I will give a text for others.
Unless we continue our Conference after the first day of the week, we shall not have time to instruct the people as fully as we should like to; but we will endeavor to do what we feel to be our duty in this matter.
I more particularly wish those who have lately come into this place, to consider the teachings that may be given upon the text. The greater part of those who have come across the plains this season, will no doubt attend this Conference; though, perhaps, a few of them may be necessarily absent, and a few have gone to other settlements.
I will comprise the text in a few words, though not exactly as it reads in the Bible, and will put it in the form of a question. My brethren, you who have been helped to this place by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund--<Will you do to your brethren as you would have, or wish, them to do by you in like circumstances?>
Can you call to mind the time, when you have seen others emigrating to America--being helped away from poverty and distress? Can you recollect the days and weeks when at work, when walking abroad, and when at meetings, that your hearts have been full, and lifted to the Lord, in earnest supplication, to incline the hearts of your brethren in Zion to put forth their hands, and help you away from that country where hundreds and thousands are turned out of employment, in consequence of their embracing the Gospel--thus depriving them of labor, and consequently the necessary food for themselves and families?
Can you who have arrived here this fall, or who arrived one, two, and three years ago, think how you felt when you heard that a company was established, and means were being provided, to help the poor to this place? If you can, call to mind now the feelings you had then, and ask yourselves if you are willing to do to your brethren who are now in that country, as you wished to be done unto by those who emigrated before you; or whether you will do as many have done after they have arrived here.
Many brought here in former years by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund have wanted the highest wages for their labor, when they could not do half the amount of work that a man can do who has been here a few years. They have wanted to make themselves rich, or at least very comfortable, before they could think of paying their passage here. They must have a good house, and a fine garden; and by the time they have got that, they think they really need a farm.
They will say to themselves, "I must raise grain, for it is becoming dear, and there will be a high-priced market opened here for it by and bye; grain is going to be in good demand, and I must have a farm; I must get poles to fence it; I must have my oxen; and I shall not pay what I owe the Perpetual Emigrating Fund yet. I want, at least, time to fence my farm, and I want so many cows that I can have a dairy, for butter and meat will be very scarce. And by the time I have got me a farm and a dairy, I must have a carriage to ride to my farm to see how my servants are getting on; and I must have horses," &c., &c.
With a very few exceptions, no man has put forth his hand to pay the debts he owes the P. E. Fund.
I now ask you if you are willing to do what you have wanted others to do by you? Let the first thing you attend to be to pay the debt you owe the Fund. Do you say, "Well, shall we not get us a house?" No; live in your tents, or go into the woods, and bring down bushes and make bough houses as the Indians do, and say you will be satisfied with that until you have paid the debt you owe the poor. You do not owe it to me, nor to these my brethren; we have plenty. We have houses; we have enough to sustain ourselves. You do not owe it to any individual here, but you owe it to the poor who wish to come here; the debt is due to them alone. If you refuse to do this, would you not shut up the bowels of your compassion against the poor?
Be careful, brethren, that your eyes follow not after the riches of this world, to lust after them; I say, <be careful>, that you do not want a cow, and then another, and another, and another; that you do not want a carriage, and then another, and so on, before paying your debt to the Fund. And if you are not careful, you will never be satisfied with earthly possessions, worlds without end.
I would like about six discourses preached upon this text, each about six hours long, if we had time, to see if we could remove the scales from the eyes of the people, and stir them up to faithfulness in keeping their covenants, and doing to others as they would have others do to them.
If any of the brethren are disposed, they can go into mathematical demonstrations on this subject; and can show to the congregation what the Fund would probably be another year, if all were faithful in paying back what they have received from it. If I were to guess, without entering into an examination of the books, I should judge that we would have between one and two hundred thousand dollars, with which to bring the poor to this place next season.
The Perpetual Emigrating Fund is a business transaction that increases; it is bound to increase, if men and women will be faithful to pay what they owe. The question may be asked, "Do you want the people to pay when they are suffering?" There is no such thing as suffering here. Is there a man, woman or child in this territory who cannot get what is necessary for them to eat without being forced to the necessity of stealing it? Is there a house in this city, or territory, that will refuse a hungry person a meal of victuals, when he has not been here long enough to earn his food? Every person acquainted with the circumstances and disposition of the people here will say "No, there is not a family that would not impart to their brethren and sisters, to the passing stranger, and even to an <enemy>, to feed them."
Again, how many invalids can you find here, or people who cannot do enough to maintain themselves? Very few.
Four years ago we commenced to lay our plans to sustain the poor, and take care of those who could not take care of themselves. We provided sixteen houses on one farm which we purchased, and had men selected to take care of those who could not sustain themselves; but there has not been a man or woman, a widowed lady or an orphan child who was old enough to speak for himself, that has been willing to occupy one of these houses, go to a farm, or live in a house that we purchased for them. They say, "We do not want to live there, for it was purchased for the poor." We have never found a family that would acknowledge themselves so destitute as to live in a house we bought for the accommodation of the poor. "But," say they, "if you will purchase a house for us close to the Tabernacle, we will live in it."
For the last four years, we have fed, on an average, six hundred people, who come to the Tithing Office, and who never give us a dime for it; and yet they will not acknowledge themselves <poor.> There are also hundreds of persons in this city, and in other cities in the territory, who require the Bishops to help them, when at the same time they are able to drive a pretty good team, and occupy as good a house as I live in, and are able to have a good garden, and quite a farm. Yet they will go to the Bishops, and say, "Will you let me have a yoke of oxen?" or, "I wish, Bishop, you would let me have those horses; I do not know when I can pay you for them; I am poor;" or, "Will you let me have that carriage that has been put in on tithing? I do not know when I shall pay you for it; I have raised considerable wheat, but I want to get a quantity of clothing with that for my family this year; let me have the carriage anyhow, and I do not want you to ask me for the pay, or say anything about it." Still we cannot find one family to acknowledge they are sustained by the Church, and own the name of being poor--who cannot sustain themselves. We have the proof on hand for this.
There is much said in the Bible with regard to the rich. In one place it is said, "It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven; but "blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit," &c. Can you understand what the Lord means by these sayings, and others, by His Prophets and Apostles, touching the poor? He means simply this, "Those who have the good things of this world, and will put them to use in building up the kingdom of God on earth; will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and do good with them; they are my people, saith the Lord."
But let me tell you, poor men, or poor women, who have nothing, and covet that which is not their own, are just as wicked in their hearts, as the miserly man who hoards up his gold and silver, and will not put it out to use. I wish the poor to understand, and act as they would wish others to act towards them in like circumstances.
Let the brethren and sisters who have come in this season, as quick as the Lord puts anything in their possession, first pay the debts they owe the poor in foreign countries. They do not owe it here; it is merely paid into the treasury here, from which it is appropriated to bring the poor Saints of other countries to this place. You owe it to people that cannot help themselves; to those who may travel hundreds of miles, and apply to every mechanic's shop or factory for employment to get a penny to buy a loaf of bread, and to no avail.
The Americans do not understand this; they have seen hard times it is true, but they never saw people as poor as they are in Europe. In the eastern countries of America, there are thousands who have hard fare, but they can get food in a way the poor of the old countries cannot. You who have come from there, know what it is; it has been before your eyes all your lifetime.
If the poor there are found asking for a meal of victuals, or soliciting the least help in the streets as vagrants, they are reported to the police; and what is next? They are taken and put into the house of correction, and made to work on the tread-mill, and there, by their own weight, made to turn machinery constructed to grind sand and other substances. In these circumstances thousands of them die yearly. It is against the law in that country for them to be found begging, and in some places, if they are found begging a third time, they are put in the stocks.
As many of you may not know what the stocks are, I will try to describe them. You will see, by the side of the most public thoroughfares, or in the public market-places, two posts sunk firmly in the ground; from post to post there is a thick block of wood let into them and pinned fast; there is also another block above the first one, that is made to slide down upon it, where it can be made fast; there is a half circle made in each block, which, when they come together, form a round hole. In this hole the vagrant is made fast by the neck. The upper block is raised, he is made to put his neck between, it is then slid down, and made fast; and there they leave him, where he is obliged to stay as long as the officer is disposed to keep him.
Do you see any such things in any part of America? The brethren and sisters who have come from the old country will tell you that they have seen hundreds and thousands of men, women, and children, passing through the streets in that country, bowed down with hunger, and their faces pale as death, leaning perhaps upon a little stick they use for a walking cane, and passing slowly along to see if any person would give their something without asking for it.
Are any of our brethren there, in that situation? Yes; there are hundreds of them to-day who have not a morsel of food to put into their stomachs to sustain nature. Are any of them dying with want there? Yes; scores of them will die there before next March, for want of something to eat. Suppose they were here, they would only need to glean in your fields to obtain bread enough, and dig over your gardens again to get the potatoes you have left in the ground, which they would be glad to eat. You may as well abuse your own flesh, as to refuse to put forth your hands to assist the brethren who are thus situated in the old countries.
This text I want preached upon in this Conference, and how many more will be preached upon I do not know. I want the brethren who have come here this season, to do their duty.
Little occurrences may be told with regard to the gathering of the Saints. For instance, men or women put in a few pounds to bring them to these valleys and the Perpetual Emigrating Fund pays the rest. When they get on the plains, the wagons break down. They begin to weigh up, and find a few hundred pounds over weight; they destroy their large boxes, or leave them on the plains; and in the operation find silks and satins that would twice pay their passage. After they arrive here, boxes of English goods are taken away from the camping ground, which have been smuggled here in the Fund train.
Woe to those who profess to be Saints and are not honest. Only be honest with yourselves, and you will be honest to the brethren. I want the brethren preached to upon this subject, and if they do not remember the instructions given, the sin will lie at their doors, and not at ours.
It is not for men to rise in this stand and tell what will be in the Millennium, and what will be after the Millennium. That which pertains to every day life and action, is what pertains to us; that the Saints here may know how to order their course before each other, and before the Lord; that they may be justified and have the Spirit of the Lord with them continually. This is our Gospel, it is our salvation. You need to be instructed with regard to these items of every day duty one towards another; and when you know how to be a Saint to-day, you are in a fair way to know how to be a Saint to-morrow. And if you can continue to be a Saint to-day, you can through the week, and through the year, and you can fill up your whole life in performing the duty and labor of a Saint.
This is our religion, and the Gospel of salvation, and is the salvation held out in the discourses we have been blessed with this morning; and I wish you to treasure them up, and profit by them.
I now request the Presidents of every Branch, and the Bishops and their Counsellors throughout Utah, to hunt up those who are indebted to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund and as fast as possible, collect their dues in available means, and forward the same to my office, even should you have to plan for them, or set them to work, that the Fund may increase, and the poor be delivered from oppression.
And I pray the Lord to bless our efforts for the accomplishment of this and every other good work, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
THE PERPETUAL EMIGRATING FUND--EMIGRATION OF THE SAINTS AND THE NATIONS.
A Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 7, 1854.
We will bring up the subject upon which others have spoken, and that which more immediately concerns us, viz.: the Perpetual Emigrating Fund. What is it? For what was it established? What are your duties in regard to this Fund, and in relation to your fellow-beings, your brethren and sisters, and their families that are scattered abroad in the midst of those wretched, wicked, and abominable governments?
We have already been informed, and taught from this stand, by those who are filled with the Holy Ghost, by those who are filled with the inspiration of the Almighty, setting forth the necessity and importance of being awake in regard to the condition of the Saints that are scattered abroad. We are apt to forget the things we ought to do, though they are told to us in plainness. We think in our hearts--"Well, we will go and do as we have been told; it looks beautiful and very consistent; it seems to be the very law by which we should be governed; and when we go from this Conference, we will make all the necessary arrangements to fulfil and comply with this law, and hearken to the counsels and instructions that have been given; "but straightway, as you go out of the Tabernacle, and get out of the voice of the servants of God, the devil comes along, and begins to whisper in your ears, and tells you to be a little selfish, saying, "Look out more for yourselves, for your wives, and for your children; they may go hungry, they may want food, and houses, and ten thousand other things, and unless you put forth your hands, and exert your energies to provide for them, they may be brought into great suffering; and again, perhaps there may be some great trials a-head of the Saints, there may be pinching times; it would be well for you to look out a little, and be prepared against these times of trial," &c. And thus the good word that is sown in your hearts by the Holy Spirit begins to be caught away, one principle after another, until finally selfishness has full control over your movements, and it is the last thing you think of to do unto others as you would have others do unto you under the same circumstances.
The Lord is going to gather His Saints, and we are already gathered, a great host of us, into this territory; but let me tell you this is hardly a beginning; many nations are yet to be gathered unto the name of the Lord of Hosts, unto Mount Zion, where they can be taught in the ways of the Lord, and be instructed to walk in His paths, and understand the principles of true government, and their duties towards one another, and towards the God whom they profess to worship and serve. Nations, not a few, are to be gathered, and to go up for that purpose.
This is just laying the foundation; it is a little nucleus, and a few thousands are gathering to it year after year; but the work that is now commenced will increase, and continue to increase, like the stone that was hewn out of the mountain. In the first place, the stone taken out of the mountain is much smaller than the mountain, but finally it increases to that magnitude that it begins to be a great mountain, not merely to fill one small territory, but as Daniel said, "it became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."
Very well, then, the Saints are to be gathered, and they are to come not only by thousands, but tens of thousands, scores of thousands, and hundreds of thousands are to be assembled from among the nations. How is this to be brought about? Through the servants of the living God. This is what the Lord told us before one Saint was gathered. In a revelation, given in the presence of six Elders, in Sept, 1830, the Lord says, "Ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect, for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts, therefore the decree hath gone forth from the Father, that they shall be gathered in unto one place upon the face this land."
That is the decree that has gone forth; it is ordained in the heavens, and it will come to pass. As the Saints have already been gathered here unto this territory, even so will it continue to be fulfilled until the last of the elect of God are assembled from the four corners of the earth.
The servants of God are the ones that are called to bring to pass this work, says the revelation. In obedience to this declaration, and in fulfilment of this prophecy, the Holy Ghost wrought upon the heart of our President, to establish a fund--a Perpetual Emigrating Fund, to bring about this great work; he laid the foundation of it; he proposed it to the people, and explained the nature of it--how it was to be used, how it was to be controlled, and how it should be made lasting and perpetual in its nature, to accomplish the design of the Almighty in gathering His elect from the four winds of heaven. Shall we, then, as Saints of the Most High, come here and sit down in our fine habitations, and upon our farms and inheritances, and let this great work of the last days come to naught through our carelessness and indifference? No, brethren; let it not be recorded in the archives of the eternal world that we will thus do, when our brethren have stretched out their hands to help us to this place. Let not the news fly to eternal worlds that we are not willing to do to our brethren scattered abroad, as they have been willing to do to us, when we were in a scattered condition.
I do not know what more can be said, than what other speakers have already said upon this subject. Our President said he would be glad to have some six discourses, each six hours long, preached to the people upon the subject of doing their duty unto others in regard to this Fund. And I have no doubt he included every other duty between man and man, so far as it could be done in that short period of time, for thirty six hours would not begin to be time enough for a man to tell the people all their duties. Many people think that all the duties of man are recorded in the Bible; that idea is held by many of the sectarian world; they think this book contains all the duties in regard to the relationships between man and man, and that it is a sufficient rule of faith and practice, and enough to govern them in dealings with each other, and in their duties towards their God.
Let me tell you, if any one man's duties (if he lived to be an old man) were clearly written, and foretold before he was born, it would take a larger volume than the Bible to contain them all; and when we consider the thousands and millions of human beings that are on the earth now, and the millions that have dropped into their graves in ages past, it is absurd to suppose that one such volume could point out all their duties, even if they all could have been foretold by the spirit of prophecy.
For instance, the duties of to-day, if written, would require something like one page; and as every day's duties would be different the one from the other, it would require three hundred and sixty-five pages in one year, which in seventy years would amount to upwards of twenty-five thousand pages, which would have to be recorded to point out the duties of one individual towards his fellow-man. Think not, then, that six discourses each, only six hours long, could make known to you the whole of your duties towards each other through life.
This is reason why the Lord has appointed a living Priesthood on the earth; why He has sent down the Holy Ghost from heaven, why it enters the heart of man, and inspires him with knowledge and information concerning his own duties, and the duties of others also, that he may impart to them, week after week, and from one meeting to another, in public and in private, before large assemblies and in the family circle, every principle and duty that is necessary to be known; that his family, his wives and his children, and the Church of God at large may be taught by the Holy Ghost--the Comforter that guides into all truth; it is that power that instructs men in regard to all their duties.
Then let not the immigrants--the Saints that have come into this territory in former years, as well as those who have come here the present year, be asleep upon this subject, but awake from a deep sleep. You know what the parable says, on the subject of the kingdom of God in the last days, comparing it to ten virgins, that took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. They did not stay abroad among the nations. "<Then>," says Jesus, "the kingdom of heaven shall be likened unto ten virgins." Not the kingdom he built up in his own day, and in the days of his Apostles, who were with him in the flesh; but "<then>;" having reference to what was previously spoken in the foregoing verses, concerning his second coming in the clouds of heaven in power and great glory. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth from among the nations; some took oil in their lamps, and some did not, but let their lamps go out, only having barely lighted up their wicks a little, which contained no oil to feed the flame; and they all slumbered and slept; but by and bye, about midnight, when they were all in a sound slumber, a cry is heard, "Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him." That waked them all up.
Now it would be much better for us to wake up before the midnight cry is sounded in our ears. We gathered here and brought lamps with us, have we got oil in them? Are we doing the things God requires at our hands? Are we doing unto others that we would have others do to us under the same circumstances? If you want to know just precisely your duties towards your fellow-man, always ask yourselves this question--"If I were placed in that man's or in that woman's condition, how should I desire that they should do unto me?" And whatsoever you would have men do to you, do ye even the same to them. We can always tell what we should do by changing circumstances and places; by placing ourselves in other's circumstances, we can see what we would wish them to do to us under those circumstances, and thus find out what we should do for those in that condition.
What does the Lord intend to do? He is introducing a new dispensation, yet it is the Gospel dispensation, the same as all other dispensations; the Gospel is included in this new dispensation. The Lord intends to do a great many things in this dispensation He never did in former ones; and a great many things that were in former ones will eventually be done away in this new one. What is to be done away? A great many things Jesus taught on the Mount will actually have to be done away in this new dispensation. A great many things were given to meet the circumstances of the people, that when they all become righteous many of those laws and regulations that were given to them in an imperfect state will vanish away; they will be of no use; they are like the platform erected around an edifice, which serves a good purpose for the time being, but when the edifice is completed, the platform is taken away.
We are told a great deal about the poor in former dispensations; how to deal with them, and the laws that were given to regulate mankind in dealing their alms to them. Will this always be the case? No, but the time will come when there will be no poor. The object of this last dispensation is to make the people one as the Father and the Son are one, or as the Book of Doctrine and Covenants says, to make them "equal in earthly things, that they may be made equal in heavenly things."
To bring about this object, and do away with poverty, and make all the people rich, the Lord has introduced laws, and rulers, and governors, to teach us our duty while poverty reigns in the world. If you think it hard to pay back a just and honest debt to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, what will you think when the pure laws of God are introduced, and you are required by His law to pay over every farthing you have in the world! not only to pay your just and honest dues to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, but to pay everything in your possession. If you cannot deal justly in relation to these small accounts, how is it to be expected you will perform the pure law of God--the law of consecration? I tell you, we have got to begin and attend faithfully to these small things. But when we are first born into His kingdom we cannot run alone; we are not able to prance, and trot, and caper about; He has therefore ordained certain helps, and governments, and laws to govern us while we are in the creeping state, and trying to advance into a more perfect order of things. This Perpetual Emigrating Fund is one of those helps, ordained to assist us in our imperfect and weak state: by and bye, when the full law of God comes in force, these helps can then be dispensed with. When that will be, I do not know, but I have an idea that it will not be until we get back to Jackson County, for the Lord has told us, in one revelation, in substance as follows--"Let these laws I have given concerning my people in Jackson County be fulfilled after the redemption of Zion."
The Lord is beginning to redeem Zion. You must not suppose, because you are away here in Utah, that you are out of the reach of the Lord's working for the redemption of Zion; for He has been working, ever since we were scattered from that land, to bring it about, and we are becoming more and more of one heart and mind, more and more willing to hearken to counsel. You see among this people a very different spirit manifested, from what was manifested some ten, fifteen, and twenty years ago. How ready and willing they generally are to receive the instructions and counsel of those God has ordained to teach them.
We can see how the Lord has prospered us as a people since we came to this territory, and how everything has worked for our good through obeying the counsel of those God has appointed for our consolation, happiness, and benefit, both temporally and spiritually. All this has a tendency to the redemption of Zion; it is all making to that great point. Whenever the properties of this Church shall be consecrated to it, and the Saints receive their stewardship, it will all be tending to bring about that which is so often spoken of in ancient and modern revelations.
The Perpetual Emigrating Fund is one of the helps that is introduced to lead us previous to our getting into that more perfect state; and when we get into that, it will all be Perpetual Fund, or any other kind of funds we please to name, for the property will all be consecrated unto the Lord, with a deed and covenant that cannot be broken; then the servants of God can take the whole of the property and use it according to the mind and will of God, and it will be all Perpetual Fund, and all tithing funds, and all public building funds; for it will be just the kind of funds the Lord shall direct to accomplish whatever is designed in His wise purposes through His servants.
Let us step forward, and build up this Fund, and take hold of simple things, if we ever expect to receive the greater ones. We had excellent preaching this forenoon, as to practical duties; this has been my manner of preaching when abroad upon the earth, except on my last mission; on that, I was sent to preach the doctrine of plurality of wives. In all my preaching on other missions, I have endeavored to be just as practical as possible among the people, showing them their every-day duties. I have published many pamphlets and works, and in the most of them, I have published the simple, plain, easy principles of the Gospel. It is true, in answering some queries that have been put forth by the world, I have been obliged to deviate, in some of my publications, from the plain and simple course I have generally pursued in my works.
For instance, the world read in the revelations we have received, that there are more Gods than one. This is something that does not immediately concern us; but yet opposers get up and contend against us, and prejudice the minds of congregations against the people of God, because they profess to believe, not only in a plurality of wives, but also in a plurality of Gods; it is necessary to show them the reasons for our belief--the whys and the wherefores; and this I endeavored to do in some of my last publications; not because I had more light upon this subject than many others, but I endeavored to do it for the benefit of the people--to show them wherein we believe in the plurality of Gods, and yet acknowledge only one God. I believe both of these principles with all my heart. I believe there is one only wise God, and I believe there is an immense number of Gods. The people know we believe these doctrines, and they publish against us on this ground; and if we should not take up any arguments to explain the matter, it would only serve to rivet down their prejudices on their hearts. Notwithstanding this, it was always more delightful to me in all my preachings abroad, and in any publications I have sent forth, to dwell upon faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and upon the plain, simple, every-day duties of the Saints, showing them what to do in order to obtain eternal life in the kingdom of God.
So far as I have ever preached abroad in the world, and published, one thing is certain, I have not published anything but what I verily believed to be true, however much I may have been mistaken, and I have generally endeavored to show the people, from the written word of God, as well as reason, wherein it was true. This has been my general course. I may have erred in some principles; I do not profess to be wise, or to have more understanding than many others. I am not called with the same calling as those who preside over all the Church. I may not have as great a degree of the spirit of revelation; but I have tried, in my teachings, and in my proclamations, and publications, where I could not get light by the Spirit of the Lord (or did not get light; I will not say could not, for I believe it is the privilege of all Elders, authorities, and members of the Church of God to get light by the Spirit of the Lord), but where I did not get light by the Spirit of the Lord, I have generally been careful to back up all the doctrines and principles I set forth by reason, or by, Thus saith the Lord, in some revelation either ancient or modern. Previous to declaring a doctrine, I have always inquired in my own mind, "Can this doctrine be proved by revelation given, or by reason, or can it not?" If I found it could be proved, I set forth the doctrine; but if I found there was no evidence to substantiate it, I laid it aside; in all this, however, I may have erred, for to err is human.
I feel thankful to God this day that I stand in the midst of a great and good people, that are willing to practise the principles of eternal truth and righteousness; and those mysteries about the plurality of Gods, and the plurality of worlds also are good in their places; God has revealed them, and they are intended for our good and instruction, or He never would have revealed them.
But to go back to the words of our text; that is the thing that most concerns us at present. It should be laid before the minds of the people, and instilled into their hearts week after week; they should be taught and instructed in such a way and manner that these mysteries, when we get the true light upon them, may do us good. When the Lord sees fit to pour out wisdom and knowledge, and mysteries, and understanding from the heavens, may we, by practical works, faith, and diligence in doing our duties one towards another, and towards our God, be able to receive them, and have them do us good. The time will come when the Lord will reveal all these things; everything in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth; and everything pertaining to the soul of man will be proclaimed by the sounding of trumpets in the ears of all living.
I will adopt the old saying--"I feel first-rate." It does me good to get back into Utah Territory, after having been gone two years, to behold the faces of the Saints again, and rejoice in their midst, and to bear my weak and humble testimony of the truth of this great and glorious work. It is now over twenty-four years since I was baptized into this Church; it was twenty-four years on the 19th of last month since I was baptized, and became a member of this Church. I have seen it rise to its present greatness from a very few individuals that composed the whole Church in 1830. There were then, perhaps, not fifty Latter-day Saints in the whole world; and every year brings to pass the fulfilment of the sayings, and predictions, and revelations of Joseph, the Prophet.
The work is rolling on as rapidly as the wheels of time will permit. I well recollect a revelation given upwards of twenty-three years ago. What did the Lord say when we were only a little handful? Said He, "It is necessary that my Elders should go forth into all the regions round about, and preach my Gospel, and many shall be converted; and ye shall have power to organize yourselves according to the laws of man." This was spoken before we began to gather. What was the use of organizing ourselves according to the laws of man? "That you may break every band wherewith the enemy, seeketh to destroy, and that you may keep my laws." Has not this been fulfilled? Look at the time that prophecy was given, away back nearly twenty-four years ago. Has it some to pass? Are we not organized according to the laws of man. Are not many converted just as the revelation predicted? And are we not in a position, by being organized here in Utah territory according to the laws of man, to break the bands of the enemy, that they may not destroy us as a people? If mobs undertake to afflict us here, they will find it very difficult, because we are organized according to the laws of man. If they use any exertion or any influence to bring about the destruction of this people, we are organized according to the laws of man, and can fight them with their own weapons.
Not only was this for the purpose of our being secure from the hands of our enemies, but, "that ye may be able to keep my laws." That was another reason the Lord gave in the same revelation. Are there not some laws of God that we could keep if we were scattered over the other states and territories, unorganized according to the laws on man? Yes. There are laws of the greatest moment, that have a bearing upon the present and future destiny of this people; that have a bearing upon their eternal glory, exaltation, and everlasting happiness. These laws never could have been kept had we not been organized according to the laws of man. The Lord has fulfilled this revelation thus far; how much more complete this organization may become hereafter, I know not, neither do I care.
It was not the invention of man, nor the power and wisdom of man, that organized this kingdom, but the God we worship and serve, who made the heavens and the earth. He made this kingdom and organized it, and established it; it is all His, and He holds it in His own lands; and the same great Being rules and governs the wicked; He controls them, and He will fulfil every word that has been given through the mouths of His servants, as He tells us in the preface of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants--These commandments and prophecies shall be fulfilled; though the heavens and the earth shall pass away, not one jot or tittle of the commandments of that book shall pass away.
Everything will roll round, roll round, roll round in its times and seasons until this kingdom shall spread forth, and the dominion and the greatness of it will cover the whole face of the earth, and there will not be a dog to move his tongue from the Rocky Mountains to the uttermost parts of the earth, but all be in subjection to the kingdom of Christ; all must become subject to her laws; and the great nations of the earth--mighty nations not a few, ere long will come up to Zion to seek wisdom and knowledge from the counsellors in Zion. They will read her laws, and say, "Our laws are as nothing, our wisdom as foolishness, our words like the tow that is exposed to the devouring flame; we are broken asunder, torn into fragments, and ready to crush under our own weight; but your laws, government, and officers are all good, righteous, just, and true; surely the God of Israel is in your midst. Come, let us go up to Zion, let us hear from the wise legislators of Zion, and let us hear the laws proclaimed therein; let us learn of the wisdom that dwells in the servants of the Most High." And they will come up with their armies, and their mighty men, and their judges, and their rulers, and kings will come to the brightness of her rising, and the Gentiles will come like a flowing stream, and the gates of Zion will be open day and night, and never be shut, to admit the forces that will come rushing in from all nations, to learn the wisdom, knowledge, and instruction that are poured out from the heavens upon the servants of the Most High.
If we are looking forward to such a glorious time--to such a happy period, let us endeavor to prepare ourselves, and awake from our slumber and do the duties required at our hands. Pay up your debts, pay them up to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund; and let the means be sent back immediately, that those who are starving to death, and are ground down with tyranny, may enjoy the same privileges as you. Remember them, and God will remember you. But if you turn your back upon these principles, and will not seek to do unto others as you would have them do to you; if you will not listen to the instructions of our Prophet, and to the instructions of others who have spoken on this stand, you will wither away like a dried reed, and you will bear no authority, and that you have will be taken from you, and you will be left poor and miserable, and become the offscouring of the earth, under the curse of the Almighty for your disobedience.
GATHERING THE SAINTS--PERPETUAL EMIGRATING FUND.
A Discourse by President Orson Hyde, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 8, 1854.
I am called upon this morning, beloved brethren and sisters, to make a few remarks, and speak unto you concerning the way and manner of gathering the people of God. In the first place, to show unto you that there is no religion with which we are acquainted, except that of the Latter-day Saints, that can, in its exercise and in its operations, bring to pass the fulfilment of the predictions of the Prophets. All the types and figures presented to our Lord and Saviour to illustrate truths, weighty and important, show that in the last days there is to be a gathering together of the people. They will be gathered by the peculiar attraction that will prevail at the time when they are not weighed down with mortal tabernacles, but released from this cumbrous clay, their immortal spirits will be gathered around the throne of God, there to receive a welcome into the everlasting glory prepared for the righteous; or to hear the dreadful sentence--Depart, ye cursed, into outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth!
But, my friends, there is to be a gathering of the people here on earth. The husbandman, when he sows his seed in the soil, watches it, and cultivates it with care; he does not wait to reap his harvest in some other region, but he reaps it on the ground where he sowed his seed, and there he realizes the benefits and returns of his labor; not in some other country, but here.
The Saviour says, the kingdom of heaven is like a fish net that is cast into the sea, which took of every kind, both good and bad, and by and bye they brought the net to the shore, and gathered the good into vessels, and cast the bad away. So shall it be in the last days, in the end, when the gathering dispensation shall be introduced, and the Gospel net be drawn to shore; not in some foreign clime or mountain, beyond the bounds of time and space; but on the shore that skirts the margin of the water, as testified by this figure; so on earth, the gathering of the people will be.
We are also told the manner in which they shall come. They shall come upon swift beasts--upon dromedaries and camels; and the ships of Tarshish shall bear them home, and a highway shall he cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. That highway is not an immaterial one, that leads to mansions in the sky, but it is a highway that has to be cast up on earth; and it may be that the very railroads that are being cast up are one means by which the operation of the gathering will be greatly facilitated. This may be the subject which the Prophet had his eye upon when he said, The lion's whelps have not trod there, and the vulture's eye hath not seen it. At that time it was not cast up; but was reserved to be cast up in the last days. The lion's whelp had never trodden there; but, by and bye, it might when it was cast up.
The old Prophet had his eye upon the increased speed of ships; but our translators have made him to say that swift messengers shall be sent to the nations afar off in vessels of bulrushes. What do we understand by vessels of bulrushes? Do we ever see such vessels, or hear tell of such, except the cradle that was made for Moses to float in on the Nile? Have we ever read of men, swift messengers going in vessels of bulrushes?
It is nonsense; such a vessel could not withstand the buffetings of the winds and the waves, nor ride in safety through the elements contending with each other, as it were, for empire; or as if the winds and waves were both armed with eager vengeance, to see which should first grasp the little speck struggling for life upon the surface of the boiling element. Who believes anything of this sort? The idea is inconsistent. But when we come to look at it in another point of view it is not so inconsistent and obscure. Brother Carn who is present knows how the German Bible reads. I believe it calls them Pipe ships. The bulrush is hollow, resembling a pipe, and the old Prophet had nothing else to represent his idea by, but the bulrush; though he saw ships in which hollow tubes and pipes were running in every direction, and he was at a loss for the name "Steamship" to apply to them. Now, says he, swift messengers shall be sent in Pipe ships, looking at the time when steam should be used as a propelling power. What is this steam power for? Is it merely for the accommodation of mankind? Or has God made this an important agent to perform His work--to facilitate His purposes in the last days? The matter is unquestionably the design of the Great Creator; not only so, but there is another thing in connection with this--the Saviour says, in speaking of his coming, it shall be like the light of the morning, or like lightning that shineth from one end of heaven to the other, even so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. What do we behold being constructed on earth to bring about the designs of heaven? We behold the electric wire running from one country to another, and already it is in contemplation to carry it across the Atlantic, to bring all nations in immediate communication. Does this look like the lightning that spreads from east to west? Even so shall the coming of the Son of Man be! The electric telegraph takes it from eastern climes to western. It is so quick that a speech made in Washington city at twelve o'clock is delivered in St. Louis at half past eleven the same day. Electricity flys [sic] with so much greater velocity than the earth, that it is half an hour before the times between Washington and St. Louis; even so shall the coming of the Son of Man be; or in other words, in the last days intelligence shall fly with such rapidity, so quick shall it be in the day of his coming. We conclude that we are approximating very near that time. We are getting, as it were, in the neighborhood of it. Now, says he, watch! when you see the fig tree and all the trees beginning to bud, and put forth their leaves, know that summer is nigh: and when you begin to see these things come to pass, lift up your hearts and rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh.
I may have begun at the wrong end of my discourse, but if I have, I will get at the other end of it before I have done; so that you shall have all the parts of it, if the Lord will give me strength through your prayers; you shall have the sum and substance of what I was required to make known to you, but I must have my own way of telling it.
The gathering of the Saints together is to take place. "But," says one, "we do not believe that the gathering of the people will take place in the last days literally; we do not believe that angels will minister any more to us." The old-fashioned religion is, "We have got all that heaven was pleased to give, and that can be proven by the good Old Bible. Let the angels stay in glory, and we will stay on our farms, and go to church from one year to another, and follow up the same routine over and over again until we go down to our graves, and that is the end of our service in the flesh." Do you not see that all of the Christian world reject the administration of angels, the Latter Day Saints excepted, and some few others that believe in these things?
There are many in the last days, who believe in Spirit Rapping, and in such kind of angels that have no mouth to speak. The angels that visited the servants of God had mouths, and they spoke! Suppose you were to ask me a question, and I have intelligence and a mouth to communicate but, instead of speaking to you, I set the table to jumping, or kick over the chairs and the bureaus, &c. What would you know about it? You would know the devil was to pay; you would know there was a total absence of good feeling and intelligence. Man was created in the image of God, and the holy angels that surround His throne, the flaming messengers to bear His will to man, are in His image and likeness. Even the servants of God in the days of old, when they saw one of those celestial spirits, began to bow down and worship him, as though he were the God who created the heavens and the earth; but they were commanded to worship God. There he was, standing in the image of his Maker, and the Prophet mistook him for the Lord. These angels are in the likeness and image of God, and men are also in His image. I believe, if God gave me a message to deliver to the people, and I did not deliver it in the legitimate way, He would close my mouth because I would not give it in the way he gave it to me. Spirit Rappers, below par!
"What is the matter?" "There has some dreadful thing taken place." "What is it?" "We cannot tell you any thing about it, only there is a wonderful ado--a wonderful thing has happened in the land of Ham." I tell you, those who reject the truth borne to them by the servants of God, who speak to them in plainness, will be acquainted with muttering spirits that know nothing for their good: for, "for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." When people reject the truth they become the plaything of wild delusive spirits, and are tossed to and fro by them like a bubble on the wave. True messengers of God do not come in this way; but says the world--"Angels came in olden times, but do not come now to earth any more; they have gone to heaven, and there is nothing more for them to do here." I can speak to the servant of a king when I cannot speak to the king himself. I could approach the lower orders of his subjects when I might not approach the higher circle. If men reject the administration of angels, and will not believe in their existence, nor regard their words, I do not know how they will ever obtain access to the king. If they will not acknowledge his ministers, I do not know how they are going to speak to the king himself.
Have angels anything to do with what will take place in the last days? He makes His angels ministering spirits, and they are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. The Lord is everywhere present by His ministering angels, just like any other ruler, monarch or king, who has ministers everywhere throughout His dominions; and God's ministers are everywhere; He has servants tabernacled in flesh on earth, and they are going through the land in every direction, and God is present everywhere with them; and He knows everything. How? When His angels and ministers tell Him of it, like any other ruler. I have been at some of the prayer circles and meetings in the sectarian world, and heard their pious minister say, "Come, sinner, bow to the yoke of Christ; behold the guardian angel standing waiting to be the honored agent to carry the news to heaven, that one more soul is converted." If God knows it already, what is the use of angels to carry the intelligence? God knows everything through His agents, or servants, and that is the way He is everywhere present. But if you were to see Him in <propria persona>, you would see a person like yourself. How was it with Stephen? Was God scattered to the four winds everywhere? If He was in particles smaller than any mathematical calculation could define, you could not see Him. But Stephen, "being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly [sic] into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." If God was without body, parts, and passions, how could Stephen know whether He stood on the right hand, or the left, or whether He stood upon either side?
However we will pass this by for the present. Angels will have a part in the work of the last days. What are they to do? Says the Saviour--"The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." He let them grow together until the time of harvest; then He "will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles and burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." The field is the world. Who are the reapers? The angels are the reapers; and still, angels, you say, are coming to earth no more. This won't do, for the reapers are the angels, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, and the tares are the children of the wicked one, and the enemy that sowed them is the devil. In another place it is said. "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." And yet the present Christian world say that angels have no more to do; of course, then, they do not look for any thing of this kind; their faith does not embrace the sayings of the Savior and His Apostles, touching the winding up scene: and without faith, it is impossible to please God; consequently they cannot share in the blessings of the gathering dispensation of the last days, their unbelief excludes them.
It is said that God helps them that help themselves. I have been showing you what will be done for His elect in the last days; but will He do it for them who will do nothing for themselves? I say no; God helps those who help themselves. I recollect when I was in Potawatomie I was determined to raise a crop if I could. I commenced and plowed up the land, and went into the woods when it was hot enough in the summer season almost to unsolder a skellet [sic], and hauled out my rails, and fenced and sowed the land; when snow came, there was a fleece of wheat over the land like wool on a sheep's back. President Young saw it, and he said it pleased him; and he said, "I know that God helps those who help themselves." We may sit down and persuade ourselves that it is God's will we should do nothing for ourselves, and we may go to beggary; but if we help ourselves, and bestow the labor for nature to bring forth we shall have an abundance, and God will be faithful in blessing our labors.
We are looking for these things to transpire in the last days, to bring about the gathering of the Saints preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man. We can see the electric wires extending through the earth; and ships are constructed to bear forth swiftly the messengers of salvation, to bring home the Saints under the indulgent hand of our heavenly Father. What does He require us to do? Says He, "I commit to you, my servants, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the authority of the Priesthood, light and intelligence, and knowledge to make you acquainted with all these things; now I want to see if you will put forth a helping hand, knowing, as you do, your Master's will, and understanding His whole plan of operation, and work according to the ability I have given you; I will put you to the test." What is to be done? "Go forth and preach the Gospel among the nations, and baptize them in my name for the remission of sins, and confirm them by the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and teach them to gather; for it is the gathering dispensation, and if they have not means to gather, it is for you to advance means to bring them." "Now," says the Almighty, "I want to try you and prove you, and see if you will act in small things that you may render yourselves worthy of being blessed with the means which I will prepare, and which I have ordained. I want to see if you are worthy." What have we done here for the purpose of carrying into effect this desirable object? We have commenced to gather the people, and we have also commenced to raise a Fund by which the poor Saints are to be gathered; and this is based upon principles that are applicable to us in the days of our childhood; but we suppose, when the Almighty begins to put forth His own hand to accomplish His own work, and sustain the operations of His servants on this small scale, which we shall know it is small when we see the mighty engine of God at work, for when we were children we spake as children, and understood as children, and thought as children; but when we become men, we shall put away childish things. We now have to do with small things, that we may advance from one point to another. What are the small things? Here is a Perpetual Emigrating Fund, for instance, for the purpose of gathering the Saints of God. How is this Fund raised? It is raised by voluntary contributions from every one who is able to help and who has a heart and a spirit to engage in the work of God in the last days. It is raised by the hard earnings of the brethren and sisters. lt is the little mites, and large mites, little sums and big sums, all thrown together into one purse.
Now go and take this, ye swift messengers, you faithful agents, in vessels of bulrushes, pipe-ships, or, in other words, steam-ships, and be messengers of glad tidings to the poor, and wretched, and oppressed, and meek of the earth. It is an honor to be a messenger, bearing to them the means of taking them out of their poverty, wretchedness, and oppression. He says to them, "I have come to bring you to the family of God; to rescue you from the land of your oppression and poverty, and put you in a position where you may be blessed temporally and spiritually." Is not he who bears these tidings blessed? "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." This messenger goes and brings them to his place by the means that is put into his hands.
Now I know some, when they are brought here by this agency, think they have got to their desired haven. They say, "Now I am secure in a haven of peace, I am among the people of God, and this is all I came for. Now I will make myself as happy as I can, and I will forget my fellows that I have left in bondage; I will not remember them who are oppressed beneath the galling yoke, I am free, let them take care of themselves." That is the feeling that pervades the breast of many after they are borne here by means that were produced by other hands than their own; and say they--"If we can manage any way to postpone the payment of this debt we owe to the institution that brought us here, until we can gather around us the comforts of life, then peradventure we will pay our obligation." But let me here observe, when it is in the power to pay a debt, or do a good deed, the longer we postpone it, the greater will be the detraction from the merits of that act; now is the accepted time, the day of salvation, when the hungry, the poor, wretched, and oppressed call for redemption. While the power of redeeming them is in our hands, and we will not extend it to them, how can we expect God to hear our prayers to roll on His great work for the final redemption of the scattered remnants of His people. And let me here say, I very much doubt whether God will hear the prayers of any man that owes a just debt, and has means to pay it, but refuses to do it: or withholds a blessing from his fellow when it is in his power to extend it. What is his prayer? "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," or in other words--"Do towards us, as we do towards others;" if we withhold benefits due to others, how can God bestow blessings upon us that are not our due, but are the acts of His mercy and kindness? When we have shared the benefit of any charitable bequest, more especially when we hold a portion of it in our own hands, that ought to be benefiting others, how can we expect God, or any other philanthropist, to extend to us blessings?
What is the duty of the Saints who have come here by the aid and benefit of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund? It is their duty to pay back the debt they owe immediately. "But," says one, "we cannot pay, we have no means." Very well, we will not oppress you; but you can give your note, and you can file your obligation with the agent, or such authorities of the Fund that it concerns, that they may have some voucher to act upon, or that they can tell at least where the funds are--in whose hands they are lodged; but do not go to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south, from the city, without making it a matter of record in some shape; and when God puts the means in your hands, by your own perseverance and economy, pay it over and liquidate the debt, and these means are sent again to relieve some one else; and the same means that brought you, may perhaps bring out a thousand persons, if they are faithful and active in restoring it to the channel of its usefulness. For instance, I take half a dollar, and it is a debt I owe; I pay it, and that man owes it to another; and by the time it has passed round it has paid a hundred debts, and relieved a hundred wants; whereas, if I keep it in my pocket, I prevent it from being circulated, and doing so much good. Do I get any credit by doing so? I have the satisfaction of saying I am not out of money; while at the same time, I have the disgrace, before God and every intelligent being which is my due.
Well, then, this money that has been appropriated to bring the Saints here, let it be refunded with all speed, let it be a matter of conscience. If you should see your neighbor suspended from a tower, and hanging by a brittle cord, and by any little struggle he might break the cord, and be dashed in pieces, whatever you might be engaged in, you would leave it and run to his rescue, and try your utmost to save the man who is ready to plunge into this vortex, a gulf beneath his feet. Look, then, at your brethren in a similar position; and perhaps if they were struggling to gain life, they would be plunged into wretchedness forever. This is a debt, a sacred obligation which you owe, not only to the authorities of this Church and kingdom, but you owe it to your brethren whose cries and prayers are ascending up to God; and if you withhold that which belongs to them--that which they should enjoy, their prayers will recoil on your heads, not in blessings, but in curses.
We all say here, that we are blessed, we say our labor and toil have been blessed; I am sure of it. Can we work out our salvation? Can we witness to God and angels and to our brethren, that we are willing to put forth our hands and contribute to swell the sum total of this Perpetual Emigrating Fund, according to the ability God has given us? Are we willing to put forth our hand and aid in rolling forth this work, by collecting the people together from wretchedness and want? What shall we gain by doing this? We shall gain numbers that will look up to us as their friends and benefactors, and hail us as their saviors. It is said, that "Saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's." Some men think the way they are going to be saviors is to get as many wives as they can, and save them; now, they may slip up on that, if that is their view, and their feelings extend no further. I will tell you what a savior is; if I see a family who are starving for want of bread, and are thirsting and fainting for water, and an individual should give them bread and water, he has saved them; that is the kind of savior I would give the most for, under some circumstances that I have been placed in, and I would prize that savior more precious than gold. If I were in danger of falling from a precipice, or from a building, as I have said before, and had no means of saving myself, if some kind friend would come along, and put forth his hand and help to save me, he is my savior; so if a man rescues me from a galling yoke of oppression, under which I must faint and die, he is my savior. Saviors shall come upon Mount Zion, and they shall judge the Mount of Esau. This is the kind of savior that will judge the ungodly, and give them their due. "What! are you going to judge the ungodly?" Yes, judge the Mount of Esau. You know the Lord has said, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Where is the Mount of Esau? It is the world at large, the wickedness of which God hates. Then saviors shall come upon Mount Zion and judge the Mount of Esau. And says Paul, know ye not, brethren, that the Saints shall judge the world?
We will hand out our money, for that is almighty in the eyes of this world. God has put this means in our hands, and it is for us to advance it to this good purpose according to our ability, and so we shall become saviors to rescue the oppressed from every land; and when we have gone to the extent of our power, and done all we can, will there be any more efficient operations entered into to effect the purposes of God? There will; He will say--"Now, my servants, you have done all you can, I will stretch out my own arm!" Says one, "I really wish I knew how soon it will be when the angels are sent from heaven to gather up the elect at the winding up scene?" I can tell you how soon it will be. "Have you got the word of the Lord upon this subject?" I do not claim that I have, but when I tell you, you will say it is true; and if it is true, it is just as good as the word of the Lord, and as any other revelation already given. When will it be that the angels are sent to gather in the remnant? It will be just at the time when the Saints have done all that is in their power to do, and can do no more, and have been worn out in the service of their God: then the Lord will send the armies of heaven to aid them. He has had an army under His training from the beginning, and when He gives the word of command they will collect the balance of the Saints from the four winds; and not only so, but they will open the graves, and raise the Saints from the dead. An angel showed a little example of this at the time the Saviour ascended from the tomb. He rolled the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and the keepers fell as dead men, and the Son of God arose. There is the work of an angel, of one who was reserved for this purpose, and there are convoys of angels who are schooled and trained to this work, and they can open a grave much quicker than an Irishman can with a spade. At the presence of one of these angels, the earth trembles, and throws out its dead. The angels will do this, but not until we have done our best. I have frequently said to my son, "You take this bag and carry it to a certain place." "I cannot, father." "Well, take hold of it and try." He takes hold of it, and it is a pretty good lift for him, and he begins to labor and lift with all his might; at the moment he begins to try, the father's hand helps him to balance the load. It is just so in this work. "Now," says the Lord, "I have tried you, and you have done as I have told you, and my hand is ever ready to help you. If I were hungry, I would not ask you for food; if I were naked, I would not ask you for clothing." I do not know how many spirits of the condemned are at work making white robes for the just and pure; I do not know how much they are spinning, and how many white robes they are making, for the Saints and the redeemed; but they have to work out all their indebtedness in prison; and if God is hungry or naked, He will not call upon you; for He has millions of resources in another quarter. He can get along without us doing the work, but He gives us a privilege of doing it if we will; and if we will, He will bless us; and if we will not, He don't care.
There are some men in this kingdom who have an idea it cannot roll on without them--"I must be there, I am of so much consequence and importance, that if I should happen to set up my will in opposition to any measure, the wheels would be retarded in their onward course." "But," says the Lord, "if you do not wish to serve me, go your own way; I have plenty at my command, and when you are out of the way I will let you see that my kingdom will roll on faster without you than with you; still, if you desire to take a part among the multitude of my servants in rolling it on, I will make you an honored instrument in doing so."
I think I have spoken about as long as is necessary. Brother Kimball wished me to speak upon this subject. Brother Young will be in soon, and probably there are other matters to be attended to. I might continue to address you, but I esteem it unnecessary. I believe I have fulfilled the charge laid upon me--to show the necessity of putting forth our own hands to pave the way for the exhibition of the great power of the Almighty in accomplishing His purposes on the earth. I wish to say a word or two more, and then I am done. It is the desire of my heart that we may all live, before God, and before one another, in the way and manner that shall reflect honor upon the cause of the Latter Day Saints--upon "Mormonism," as it is termed. They may publish their squibs in the newspapers, and tell all about our wickedness and corruptions, but if we only live to reflect honor on the cause of God, it matters little what our enemies say.
In a communication from an editor to me, he quotes from the 17th chapter of Jeremiah, where it says, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." "Now," says he, "how exactly is this fulfilled in the followers of Joe Smith, that have gone to Utah Territory; there they are in a salt and barren land, and they do not know when good comes." In my communication, I have told him he is mistaken for we have no more salt here than is necessary; but the quotation made me think of Long Island, for the early settlers were surrounded with salt, and it must allude to Long Island; and if it would not suit there he might apply it to the early settlers of Syracuse: it is all in that country.
But to turn the scale: where shall be the habitation of the righteous? The old Prophet says, "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure." Where is the people who have got more rocks than we have? Do we have bread, and plenty of it? Yes! We have had fine crops of wheat since the cricket and grasshopper war was over, and our waters are sure, for here we have them flowing down every street, in the midst of summer, and they are not salt waters either, but they are fresh and good. How applicable are these sayings of he Prophet to the Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake Valley. Their habitation is the "munitions of rocks," and they ask no odds of the world, but they are subject to God, who has redeemed this Basin, and put salt enough in it to save us. It is not a dry and barren ground, for we can make it rain when we please, and they cannot in Long Island. The Bible says, "Have salt in yourselves;" we have it here, and if there comes along a villain who is worthy of it, we can salt him up in Salt Lake too. [Laughter.]
There is another thing I want to say. We should live before God and one another so as to reflect honor upon the cause we have espoused, and never let Satan gain an advantage over it, but like the true American soldier, let us keep our colors unfolded, and flying free, in the hour of battle; and let us all the time be right side up with care in the eyes of everybody. If you light a candle and set it on a table, everybody in the house can see; so let you good works shine before men on earth and angels in heaven.
I spoke in relation to some things on Friday evening, about which I merely wish to say the sentiments advanced, with regard to certain doings here, are unalterable in my heart; I care not whether it is Gentile or "Mormon" that defiles the land in which we dwell. Judgment begins at the House of God, and the "Mormon" will be the first to feel the chastening of the Almighty, because we looked for better things of him: he has light and knowledge, and knows better than to be guilty of such acts. If we always think of God, and maintain our integrity to Him, to ourselves, and towards our neighbors, the unvirtuous and wicked cannot find access into our society. If the gate of the citadel of virtue is never opened to our enemy, he may strive in vain. He cannot find access unless the way is voluntarily opened, and he invited and encouraged. Let every man and woman be on their guard, and situate themselves so that strangers and bogus "Mormons" can neither rob you of your virtue nor of your money or goods, that they cannot do a wrong that will bring a stain upon the fair name of the Saints, or damn themselves forever. I say, then, let the standard of our integrity and virtue be erect, and let it never lean to the right hand or to the left.
I have no blessings upon them that will do these things, even as I have said, whether they be Jew or Gentile, bond or free; but the men or women that observe the common laws of propriety, and walk uprightly, I do not care whether they be black or white, if they mind their own business, I say, God bless them, and guide them in the way of life everlasting. But the villain who seeks to lay the axe at the root of truth, and to bring dishonor upon the Saint, I say, curses be upon that individual, let him die the death of the ungodly. I do not wish anybody to apply this to themselves unless they are worthy of it; and if I am met in the streets and assailed with having spoken rashly, I say, you are the man, the saddle fits you; but those who are not guilty, but are secure in the possession of their virtue and good intentions, may the blessings of the Lord be upon you for ever. Amen.
THE IMMIGRATION--THE PERPETUAL EMIGRATING FUND--SCOFFERS.
An Address by President Jedediah M. Grant, delivered at the General Conference, in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 7, 1854.
This afternoon I have very little disposition to detain you long. My health is such, I would prefer hearing others rather than speak myself.
We have received much good instruction, and I feel that our spirits are refreshed, and cheered up. We have been edified during the Conference.
I like the remarks of Elder Orson Pratt this afternoon. I hope they will be listened to and obeyed.
I regret very much that our immigration this season are so few; though I rejoice on the other hand that the Elders abroad, and the general instructions of the Church, have been able to gather so many. We believe we have brethren here from different settlements, and lots of persons in this city, who are on hand to take into their employment three or four times as many people as have come in this season from the nations of the earth.
The first year we were located in the Valley we wanted a few teams sent out to help the emigration, and we had to use considerable exertion to get those few teams; but this year, all the servants of the Lord had to do was to make a call upon the people, through their Bishops, and all the teams we wanted were forthcoming, with flour and all necessary food, to send forth to help in our emigration.
I have seen the time, in Kirtland, Ohio, the first gathering place I went to, when you could have crowded the whole congregation into one room sixteen feet by eighteen; and these comprised all the Saints that were there. If we had sent up to Jackson County, and brought them all down, and had a house like this, there would have been just a little belt of people in front of the stand, and reaching part way up towards the opposite side of the room.
In the mountains, though it is difficult to gather the people here, though they come from the nations, and have the Atlantic to cross, and have to come from the different parts of the United States, we have got together a considerable body of people. However, there are as yet but few, comparatively. We are looked upon as feeble in the world, of but small height; but it is a very easy thing to bring in an emigration of four or five thousand; and we can bring wagons from different settlements, and the people who have come in are swallowed right up, as it were, so that in three or four weeks we cannot tell what has become of our immigration. They can come by thousands, and be dispersed throughout the Territory among the Saints, and find comfortable homes, and it is scarcely known and felt.
As to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, to make it <perpetual>, you must replenish it, and not take from it--that would make it a short-lived thing. If you are aided by that Fund, throw the aid you have received back into the treasury, that it may be full, that we may be able to send for others. I have heard the President speaking that he designed to call upon individuals who are pretty well off here, who have friends in England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and I don't know where, to operate with the Fund, and become a stay and a staff to it, and associate with it. For instance, here is such a man as father Russell, that has given his thousands; perhaps he knows of some family there he would like to bring here. He can send through the P. E. Fund for that family; and they shall be brought on this condition--that they labor for him, and assist him until they pay for their being brought here.
In Yankee land they make the boys pay for their bringing up; so they can pay for their bringing here, if I have spent the money for them. Some of you who want a gardener, or a farmer, launch out your gold, your cattle, your horses, your food, and your raiment, and deposit the means, and we will send over, and get the family, and that family will aid and assist you in your financial operations, and pay up the debt. I reckon that six or eight thousand in Utah could act upon this principle.
You who have been brought in here, labor, and throw back into the great purse what you have received, that we may bring double the number another year.
Our brethren in Potawatomie County, four or five years ago, had a notion that they were going to get up a machine that would bring fifteen thousand at a load.
The idea of becoming a State in two or three years, when we have only got four or five thousand of an emigration! I do not wonder that the Latter-day Saints believe in the plurality of wives. Launch out your means to help us to bring the poor; if you do not, we will raise up the mountain boys ourselves. This piecemeal business of gathering Saints! we want it upon the wholesale principle. That's the doctrine. I tell you, a few more boys breaking the crust of nations, like brother Carn, after a while, by driving their little wedges, will bring them over by nations.
A great many people who come here, when they do not find everything right handy--plenty of food, houses, and all other conveniences, are discouraged, and lose their energies. If you want to know something about the "Mormon" grit, remember what brother Carn said this morning; if he is whipped, he don't stay whipped. You cannot discourage a real "Mormon." It is necessary to raise up a certain stripe in the Valley, of the real "Mormon" grit, that those who come over here, and who have the whines and the grunts, may have the "Mormon" leaven among them to leaven the whole lump.
I do not know but the President will be calling for volunteers to operate with the Fund to bring more families here.
There are one or two more little items I wanted to speak about.
I have had one or two cases reported to me. For instance, some of our brethren who cross the plains, when they get here, are a little peevish, snappish, vexed, and quarrelsome. When the wind blowed the other day, a man got the servant girl to hold the tent-pole, to keep it from falling, but she not being strong enough, down went the tent. The man then made a scourge out of a rope, and began to beat the girl, and beat her most unmercifully. I do not know whether that man is converted or not; but it makes me think of an old Baptist preacher in Virginia. He came and preached in a certain place; the next time he came round, a drunken man came staggering up to him and said, "Brother Jones, when you was last in our settlement, you converted my soul." "Well," said brother Jones "I should think I did, for I do not believe the Lord had anything to do with it." I am rather inclined to think it is possible that the girl whipper is yet unconverted. We like men here to learn how to treat their families, their cattle, and their horses, &c.
I am entirely of a lively disposition; I know not how to be low-spirited; I never knew what it was to be lonesome in my life. Some talk about being lonesome when they are alone; I know nothing about it. I never misuse a beast, and I am not inclined to misuse people; but when they are right mean, I like to work them up with my tongue once in a while. But the idea of people going to work to beat, and kick, and pound their cattle, horses, children, and everything around them, is nonsense. Good-natured feelings and good-natured conduct are worth a thousand of the opposite character. Do right, be kind and gentle. You have come in the midst of the people of God; you have come to unite with us in serving the mighty God of Jacob, and endeavor to do right.
When brethren start to come here, they are anxious to be in this place, but many of them, when they get here, see no charms in Zion. You can learn their spirits directly, for they are known by their associates. We have some High Priests, &c., who have been among us for years, and others who have come in lately, who like to associate with our enemies, those who have a sneering and malicious spirit. Talk about such persons having the "Mormon" spirit in them, and the light of the Holy Ghost, and yet love the world and the things of the world, and the spirit of the world, and the glory of the world, and the wickedness of the world! Some people can associate with those who laugh at the institutions of heaven, at the principles of eternity, and laugh to scorn the ministry of the people of God; they like to converse with them and they love to be in their society; they love to have them around them. I would rather dig thistle roots and sego roots to live upon, and eat boiled hides, and drink the broth from them, than to take such enemies into my house, and board them; and rather than rent my house to such persons to live in, I would burn it up if they had lived in it, and have a new one. That is my grit. The filthy old building should never hold my family. I wish all the "Mormons" felt as I do, there would be a flame in Zion, and a fire in Jerusalem. I say, if all the "Mormons" felt as I do about those who laugh at our distresses, and when calamities come upon us, wag their heads and say, "Ha, ha! so would we have it," they would think there was a furnace in Zion, and a flame in Jerusalem.
I want "Mormons" to feel like "Mormons," to feel like Saints. I want a man of God to feel fired up with the Holy Ghost, and not place his affections upon the world, and the things of the world; but love your God, and your brethren that are poor and in distress, and who love God. Those high-minded hypocrites, who bow and scrape to get your dimes, let them go to where they belong, they and their dimes; that is the way I feel about them. I like to see the Saints of God fired up to help the poor, and bring them in here to strengthen the reins of Israel. I like to see them exert themselves to send forth the Gospel, and bring from the nations those who are humble, contrite, pure, and holy, and who are uncontaminated by the vices of the world. Go into the circles of high life, if you please; I know about the high and the low in the United States. Talk about high life! about converting many of that class and bringing them here! What will you bring? Those who believe the truth with difficulty. But the poor and needy, who are looked upon as the dross and offscouring of all things, are the best of all creation, and we want the best, the purest, and those that are the most holy, brought to Zion. But the breath of that person who rejects my God is like the upas tree to me--it is poisonous; I do not like it. I admit that I occasionally find some who have not been baptized, in whom there is a stripe of honor and good-will which I like; but I speak generally of those who knowingly persecute the people of God, who reject the truth; I do not love them. I am like the old Indian, "Though I will forgive and forget, I always remember." It is bred in my bones; I was raised up in the "Mormon" Church from my childhood; it is sweet to me, sweeter than the honey or the honeycomb; it is life and breath to me; it is eternal life, and I love it.
I do not like the person who sneers at "Mormonism," and I do not like those who associate with such; they are no brothers, no sisters, nor friends to me. I fellowship those who love the institutions of God--who love the servants of God, and the truth of God, and the principles of righteousness. But that class that sneer at the principles of the Gospel, and the institutions of the kingdom of God, who like to associate with the wicked and ungodly, are not my brothers, they are not my sisters, nor friends, nor the friends of God. But the person who seeks to convert the sinner, and bring him to the truth; I like that disposition. What I am at is this--not that I feel any different towards those out of the Church than the rest of you; there are a great many of the brethren and sisters who are poor devils. All Gentiles, in their eyes, are so good, so kind, so loving, so gentle, and so full of sympathy, that they cannot tell that there is any difference between them and the Latter-day Saints. Give me the man and the woman that can tell the difference between the devil and a Saint. Says one, "Most all of us can." I tell you, you cannot. I see people on my right and on my left who can dwell and associate with the ungodly, drink into their spirit, and fall into the same condemnation as they do. Take a man who is pure, he sees the corruption of the ungodly. I do not like it; it has no spirit of Zion in it.
New-comers, you will find men called Saints who are "land-sharks of Utah." We have all kinds of men here, and we expect to have them; and if some of you who have been brought here by the Fund this year, are no better than many of those who were brought last season, you will whine; but for God's sake, when you feel like whining, bite your tongue; and if you do not like to do that, use brother H. Kimball's remedy--chew a piece of India rubber, and keep chewing it until you get the grunt out of you.
I do not wish to detain you. May the God of heaven bless you, and bless the Saints in every land and nation, that Israel may be gathered, and the Saints saved, which may God grant. Amen.
THE MARRIAGE RELATIONS.
A Lecture by President Orson Hyde, delivered at the General Conference, in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1854.
Beloved Friends and Brethren--It appears to have fallen to my lot to be your speaker at this time, and to call your attention to a subject that was proposed in the former part of the day.
At the time I gave out the appointment for this evening's meeting, my eye was fixed upon another person to deliver the lecture. I shall try to do the subject as good justice as my abilities, aided by the faith of the Saints and the Spirit of God, may enable me to do. I desire not only your candid and undivided attention, but I trust I shall also have your prayers, that the Lord may inspire me with those arguments and reasons that are well pleasing in His sight, that I may acquit myself before Him, if it may not be my good fortune to acquit myself so amply before you as my heart would desire.
While reflecting upon the subject of this evening's lecture, those words occurred to my mind, which our Savior spake to the Jews, who considered themselves righteous, and looked upon others with distrust and disdain--in short, who looked upon others as sinners; to reprove them, he said, "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."
I do not know that I shall confine myself to this text particularly. Although I have repeated these words for the text, yet the text is not a guide at all times for the servant of God. It is the letter that killeth, we read, but it is the Spirit that giveth life. The Spirit of the Almighty is the agent by which His servants should ever be led.
The words contained in this Bible are merely a history of what is gone by; it was never given to guide the servant of God in the course he should pursue, any more than the words and commandments of God, given to a generation under one set of circumstances, would serve for another generation under another set of circumstances. There must be something to suggest or to draw forth the command to answer the circumstance under which we are placed at the time.
It is so with the servants of God. There is a Spirit that is ever ready, and points out, under varied and conflicting circumstances, the very course which the servants of God should pursue. The Bible is not a sufficient guide; it is only the history of the people who lived 1800 years ago. The history of our Church in this day, presents the scenes and transactions of this people--the revelations and words of God to them; but if an individual living an hundred, or eighteen hundred, years hence, under different circumstances, were to adopt the history of this people for his guide in all things, he would not find it sufficient to answer the circumstances surrounding him.
Hence, it is the letter that killeth, and the Spirit giveth life. In the light of that celestial agent I ever hope to walk. I hope that it may be not only my helm and guide, but yours also, through all the labyrinths and windings of this mortal life, until we attain a standing upon ground celestial.
I have heard it remarked sometimes, by individuals who were not identified or connected with our Church, that if they could only be convinced that polygamy was true, they would become "Mormons" at once.
Do you believe the Bible? "Certainly I do," says the inquirer. Did father Abraham and the ancient Patriarchs live in this relation, and practise this doctrine? You say they did. Then if what they practised is true, you are bound to become a "Mormon," upon your own hypothesis and reasons. But, gentlemen, if I know that that was the all-convincing argument, and if that was the principal doctrine that alone influenced you to become a "Mormon," I should at once say, let me never baptize such a person, let me never be the agent to bring such a person into the Church and kingdom of God.
God despises every character who would enter His Church for no other purpose than to criminally indulge his natural propensities. Then, gentlemen, do not indulge the expectation, if you should be convinced by the arguments I may adduce in favor of the doctrine of polygamy, as it is called, that that will prove a sufficient groundwork for your faith. But where is the ground upon which to base your faith? Where shall you go to find out "Mormonism" from the foundation to the top-stone, from the root to the uttermost branch in the tree? Begin at the beginning. If men wish to accomplish any work, they must begin at the beginning of that work, not in the middle of it, or at the end. I must begin at the beginning, and I know that the first stone is laid upon a permanent foundation, I can then with safety add another to that already laid; but if I cannot lay the first stone upon the ground that is solid--if I cannot lay it upon a rock, I may despair of ever rearing a fabric or superstructure that will resist the rain and winds that may be hurled against it by the power of nature. We must begin at the beginning, and not content ourselves by grasping at that which may be beautiful in illustration and enlist our attention, and begin to build upon it as a foundation. In such a case we may have branches, but we do not bear the root.
I know that this doctrine is made the subject of a great deal of ridicule. I know that the world at large who profess to be pious, or, if not pious, morally upright, look upon it as a damning sin, as a stain upon the bright escutcheon of their country, here in the very heart of the United States territory, surrounded by tall mountains; they consider it a dark spot in the country's history. Many of the great politicians of the day view it in this point of light. Religionists are still more scrupulous--they regard it as a heinous and damning sin.
I always consider it my duty, under proper circumstances, to give a reason of the hope that is in me, with meekness and fear; and if I have imbibed a principle, and am unable to defend it upon the principles of truth, justice, equity, and true philosophy, I should consider I was walking in the dark.
Whenever truth is manifested by revelation to the servants of God, it never comes without a reason for it. When the light of revelation bursts upon the mind, it not only unfolds one principle, but many. For instance, to illustrate this idea, suppose this room were in total darkness, and we were seated as we now are, if a brilliant light were introduced in the midst of the room, it would enable us to see not only one person, but the whole multitude.
So it is with the light of revelation. When it bursts into the human mind, it not only reveals one principle, but casts a halo of light upon all connected with it. An individual thus favored, walks in the light of Jehovah's countenance. I have a desire that in this light we may walk; and he whose eye is single, says the Savior, his whole body shall be full of light, and there is no darkness in him, nor occasion of stumbling.
What is the condition of the world at large, both religious and political, who regard us as being in the depths of sin, iniquity, and transgression? What are their customs? Go, if you please, to the large cities of every nation and clime. I have visited many of them in the four quarters of the earth, and in the islands of the sea. I have had some little experience in relation to these things, so far as common observation could give it to me, and I pretty well understand the manner of life of the world at large.
A man, for instance, who has the most riches, the man who can command the most wealth, I do not say this is the case with all, but it is the case with the majority---they not only have their wives and families with whom they publicly live and associate, but they also have in secret places their mistresses, whom they maintain not honorably, but under a cloak as it were. When by their illegitimate connexions they are likely to increase their race, what means do they resort to, to save their credit, to keep their honor unsullied in the eyes of the multitude, to cover up their iniquity, hide their crimes, and smother their shame? A skilful practitioner is employed to destroy the embryo offspring. This is murder.
Nor is this the only means used to hide their shame, and save themselves from reproach. They may be successful in hiding their iniquity from the eye of man, but they cannot hide from the eye of the Omnipotent Jehohovah [sic]. Is there not a day coming when these acts will be searched out, and proclaimed abroad, and that, too, by a mind that penetrates the secret thoughts and intents of the hearts of the children of men? "What! is there indeed such a day approaching?" Yes. It may be hid for a little season from the view of the wicked, but it is steadily approaching, and will come as a thief in the night; and those very persons, both male and female, who often throw out their anathemas against the "Mormons," against their course, and manner of life, will be overwhelmed with it.
Then how will apply the words of our text--"Ye are they that justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is well pleasing in the sight of men, is an abomination to God." What is well pleasing in the eyes of worldly men--men devoid of principle, and destitute of the righteousness of God? It is pleasing to them to hide and smother up anything that would tend to cast reproach and infamy upon their name. The blackness of their character they seek to conceal from the public gaze, and appear good Christians, and honorable men in society, men of principle, virtue, and integrity. If they can hide their shame, no matter what the expense or suffering caused in destroying the embryo coming into being. They care not to risk the life of her who would become a mother. All this is well pleasing in the eyes of unprincipled men, and that their iniquity should not come to light.
But that that is well pleasing in the sight of men, is an abomination in the sight of God. I will venture to say, that you may go into the most populous cities of the world, and you will find a considerable part of those who give tone to Christianity as it is in the world, standing in these miserable relations, under cover, and in secret. These things are true, and it is enough to pain the heart of the philanthropist, and wound the feeling of any man who is the friend of suffering humanity, to read their history, and observe their course. I would not follow them in all their filthy windings, were I able. Had I the discerning eye of an angel, or of a God, I would not wish to follow them up, and disclose to you the corruptions that are practised in the world, and all under the cloak of popularity, shrouded by high standing, and worldly authority; and thus they are protected in their unlawful relations.
I am not disposed to charge home upon the lawgivers of our country things of this kind; I will not presume to do it; yet at the same time, if I can credit their own statements in relation to the acts of one another touching these matters, it is enough to make the nations blush and hide their heads in shame, from such miserable, MISERABLE, corrupt proceedings.
But we do not wish to sustain our own position upon the corruptions of others--our own position, as it is in the mind and revelations of God. God forbid that our faith should be founded upon the corruptions of the world. Our faith is founded upon the purity of the word of life and there let it be grounded.
Well, now, friends and brethren, will you listen to me for a short time, and let me conduct you as far as I shall be able this evening, through the volume of inspiration that is universally acknowledged by all Christendom to be the word of God, the truth of heaven? Will you listen to some of the sayings contained in that book? And then say whether we possess the same spirit now that inspired the breasts of the ancients, whose history is penned upon these pages. Judge for yourselves whether it be so or not.
In the first place, then, we will look unto Abraham our father, and to Sarah who bore us, for if we are Christ's, then we are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Let any story be told of my father whereby dishonor is laid to his charge, or let any reproach be cast upon my mother, and if the feelings of the loyalty of a son towards his parents dwell in my bosom I will resist all such reproach. No matter how sinful they might have been, their sins must not be portrayed before me. I look then unto Abraham as my father, and unto Sarah as my mother who bore me. How was it, then, with Abraham? He is said to be the father of the faithful, and the great head of the Church in the days of the Patriarchs, and the head of those who have been adopted into the covenant of Jehovah through the blood of His only begotten; for if we are Christ's then we are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. If, by the virtue of the Savior's blood, our sins are washed away, we are the children of Abraham; we hail him as our father, and Sarah as our mother; he is the father of the faithful, he is the father of many nations. How was it with Abraham? Did he please God, walk before Him uprightly, and obtain this testimony that he pleased God, and obtain promises that no other man has obtained since the days of Abraham, the Son of God excepted? Jehovah promised that in him and in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, as a pattern of piety, and as the great head of the Church. Because of his faithfulness in keeping the commandments of Jehovah on earth, he drew from on high this great promise. Who has lived since that time who has been thus blessed? I will venture to say not one. Then if we are his children, will we not do the works of faithful Abraham? So said the Savior, who ever spoke the truth, who ever declared the mind and will of his Father in heaven. Are we Abraham's seed, or are we bastards and not sons? That is the question.
Let us see what Abraham's works were. Abraham obtained promises. What promise have you obtained? What promise has the Christian world obtained? "Why," says one, "the Bible is all full of promises made to the people of God long ago." But what have the promises to the people of God long ago to do with us? Have we obtained promises to ourselves? There is the point. If our fathers obtained promises that they should be fed, and were fed, their eating and drinking does not satisfy my appetite. It satisfied them, but that has nothing to do with me, I want the same kind of substantial food myself. If Abraham obtained promises, I want to obtain promises also. "What! A man that has more than one wife obtain promises from God?" I tell you there were but few in olden times who ever did obtain promises from God, that had not more than one wife, if the Bible be true. There was David, and there was Solomon; there were the whole line of the kings of Israel. Says one, "That Old Bible was for the Jews, and has nothing to do with us; that is the Old Testament; and having more wives was according to their law, and according to their custom, but it does not apply to us; the Savior of the world is our great pattern, he is our great lawgiver."
And how is it with him? Let us Inquire. Did the Savior of the world consider it to be his duty to fulfill righteousness? You answer, yes. Even the simple ordinance of baptism he would not pass by, for the Lord commanded it, and therefore it was righteousness to obey what the Lord had commanded, and he would fulfil all righteousness. Upon this hypothesis I will go back to the beginning, and notice the commandment that was given to our first parents in the garden of Eden. The Lord said unto them, "Multiply and replenish the earth." I will digress here for a moment from the thread of the subject, and bring an idea that may perhaps have a bearing upon it.
The earth, you remember, was void and empty, until our first parents began at the garden of Eden. What does the term replenish mean? This word is derived from the Latin; "re" and "plenus;" "re" denotes repetition, iteration; and "plenus" signifies full, complete; then the meaning of the word replenish is, to refill, recomplete. If I were to go into a merchant's store, and find he had got a new stock of goods, I should say--"You have replenished your stock, that is, filled up your establishment, for it looks as it did before." "Now go forth," says the Lord, "and replenish the earth;" for it was covered with gloomy clouds of darkness, excluded from the light of heaven, and darkness brooded upon the face of the deep. The world was peopled before the days of Adam, as much so as it was before the days of Noah. It was said that Noah became the father of a new world, but it was the same old world still, and will continue to be, though it may pass through many changes.
When God said, Go forth and replenish the earth; it was to replenish the inhabitants of the human species, and make it as it was before. Our first parents, then, were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth; and if the Savior found it his duty to be baptized to fulfil all righteousness, a command of far less importance than that of multiplying his race, (if indeed there is any difference in the commandments of Jehovah, for they are all important, and all essential,) would he not find it his duty to join in with the rest of the faithful ones in replenishing the earth? "Mr. Hyde, do you really wish to imply that the immaculate Savior begat children? It is a blasphemous assertion against the purity of the Savior's life, to say the least of it. The holy aspirations that ever ascended from him to his Father would never allow him to have any such fleshly and carnal connexions, never, no never." This is the general idea; but the Savior never thought it beneath him to obey the mandate of his Father; he never thought this stooping beneath his dignity; he never despised what God had made; for they are bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh; kindred spirits, that once basked in rays of immortality and eternal life. When he found them clothed upon and surrounded with the weaknesses of mortal flesh, would he despise them? No. It is true, I have seen men who became poor and miserable all at once, and then those who were their friends in the days of their prosperity turn from them, and scarcely deign to bestow them a look, it being too humiliating to associate with them in their poverty. But it was not so with the Savior; he associated with them in other spheres, and when they came here, descending below all things, he did not despise to associate with these same kindred spirits. "Then you really mean to hold to the doctrine that the Savior of the world was married; do you mean to be understood so? And if so, do you mean to be understood that he had more than one wife?"
The Christian world by their prejudices have driven us away from the Old Bible, so we must now appeal to the New Testament, for that seems to suit the prejudice of the people; though to me it is all alike, both the Old and New Testaments; for the scribe that is well instructed, brings out of his treasury things both new and old. This is my treasury, or rather, it is one of my treasuries, and what I cannot find there, I trust will come down from on high, and lodge in my heart. The gift of God is also my treasury, even the Holy Spirit.
Now suppose I should set out myself, and travel through the cities of the nation as a celebrated reformer, preaching revelations and sentiments as lofty as the skies, and rolling out ideas strange and new, to which the multitude were entirely unaccustomed; and wherever I went, suppose I had with me three or four women--one combing my head, another washing my feet, and another shedding tears upon them, and wiping them with the hair of her head. Suppose I should lean upon them, and they upon me, would it not appear monstrous in the eyes of the world? Would they ride me into Jerusalem upon our ass's colt, and cast branches of the palm tree beneath my feet, shouting, "Hosannah, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, hosannah in the highest?" I guess they would give me a coat of tar and feathers, and ride me on a rail; and it is my opinion they would serve the Savior the same, did he go about now as he did eighteen hundred years ago.
There is an old prophecy of Isaiah, which I cannot stop to read, but you will find it in the 53rd chapter of his prophecies; read the whole of the chapter. This particular prophecy speaks of Christ all the way through. It is there said, "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed." What constitutes the soul? The spirit and body of man united; for you know it is said in one place that so many souls were slain in the night by the angel of God. The immortal part was not slain, but a disunion of the mortal and immortal parts took place. When they shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. If he has no seed, how could he see them? When they make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, and prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." By and bye the Prophet goes on to say, "And who shall declare his generation," for his life is taken from the earth. If he had no generation, who could declare it. I told you there was an agent who would bring out every subject in bold relief, which is the Holy Ghost, who searcheth all things, even the deep things of God, and until that celestial agent should fire some man's heart to declare his generation, it could never be made known. Who shall declare it? He could not, for he was cut off from the earth. I have noticed the prophecy of Isaiah, that portion of it which was fulfilled in the person of the Savior, for the Lord divided him a portion with the great, "and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Upon him was laid the iniquity of us all; he was numbered with thieves, and in his expiring moments he said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken." Now if one portion of this prophecy has been fulfilled, the other portion has, or will be.
How was it with Mary and Martha, and other women that followed him? In old times, and it is common in this day, the women, even as Sarah, called their husbands Lord; the word Lord is tantamount to husband in some languages, master, lord, husband, are about synonymous. In England we frequently hear the wife say, "Where is my master?" She does not mean a tyrant, but as Sarah called her husband Lord, she designates hers by the word master. When Mary of old came to the sepulchre on the first day of the week, instead of finding Jesus she saw two angels in white, "And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She said unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord," or husband, "and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master." Is there not here manifested the affections of a wife. These words speak the kindred ties and sympathies that are common to that relation of husband and wife. Where will you find a family so nearly allied by the ties of common religion? "Well," you say, "that appears rather plausible, but I want a little more evidence, I want you to find where it says the Savior was actually married."
Have you ever read your Bibles? I must confess I have not read it for some time, but looked more to Him who rules on high, and to those who hold the words of life in the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; I look to them more frequently than to it. I have once memorized the Bible, and when any one quoted one verse, I could quote the next. I have memorized it in English, German, and Hebrew, still I do not profess to be very familiar with it now, yet the sentiments and spirit of it are in my heart, and will be as long as I live, and still remain when I am gone to another sphere. When does it say the Savior was married? I believe I will read it for your accommodation, or you might not believe my words were I to say that there is indeed such a Scripture.
We will turn over to the account of the marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Yes, and somebody else too. You will find it in the 2nd chapter of John's Gospel; remember it and read it when you go home. "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: and both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him"--that is, the ruler of the feast saith unto the bridegroom, "Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now."
Gentlemen, that is as plain as the translators, or different councils over this Scripture, dare allow it to go to the world, but the thing is there; it is told; Jesus was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana of Galilee, and he told them what to do.
Now there was actually a marriage; and if Jesus was not the bridegroom on that occasion, please tell who was. If any man can show this, and prove that it was not the Savior of the world, then I will acknowledge I am in error. We say it was Jesus Christ who was married, to be brought into the relation whereby he could see his seed, before he was crucified. "Has he indeed passed by the nature of angels, and taken upon himself the seed of Abraham, to die without leaving a seed to bear his name on the earth?" No. But when the secret is fully out, the seed of the blessed shall be gathered in, in the last days; and he who has not the blood of Abraham flowing in his veins, who has not one particle of the Savior's in him, I am afraid is a stereotyped Gentile, who will be left out and not be gathered in the last days; for I tell you it is the chosen of God, the seed of the blessed, that shall be gathered. I do not despise to be called a son of Abraham, if he had a dozen wives; or to be called a brother, a son, a child of the Savior, if he had Mary, and Martha, and several others, as wives; and though he did cast seven devils out of one of them, it is all the same to me.
Well, then, he shall see his seed, and who shall declare his generation, for he was cut off from the earth? I shall say here, that before the Savior died, he looked upon his own natural children, as we look upon ours; he saw his seed, and immediately afterwards he was cut off from the earth; but who shall declare his generation? They had no father to hold them in honorable remembrance; they passed into the shades of obscurity, never to be exposed to mortal eye as the seed of the blessed one. For no doubt had they been exposed to the eye of the world, those infants might have shared the same fate as the children of Jerusalem in the days of Herod, when all the children were ordered to be slain under such an age, with the hopes of slaying the infant Savior. They might have suffered by the hand of the assassin, as the sons of many kings have done who were heirs apparent to the thrones of their fathers.
History is replete with circumstances of neck-or-nothing politicians dyeing their hands in the blood of those who stood in their way to the throne or to power.
That seed has had its influence upon the chosen of God in the last days. The same spirit inspires them that inspires their father, who bled and died upon the cross after the manner of the flesh.
Well, but, says one, there was certainly an injunction laid upon the Bishops in New Testament times, that they should have but one wife. This is brought up as a great argument against the position the Latter-day Saints have taken. In olden times they might have passed through the same circumstances as some of the Latter-day Saints had to in Illinois. What would it have done for us, if they had known that many of us had more than one wife when we lived in Illinois? They would have broken us up, doubtless, worse than they did. They may break us up, and rout us from one place to another, but by and bye we shall come to a point where we shall have all the women, and they will have none. You may think I am joking about this, but I can bring you the truth of God to demonstrate it to you. I have not advanced anything I have not got an abundance of backing for. There is more truth than poetry in this as sure as you live.
The Bishops anciently, in their office and callings, had a great deal to do with temporal matters--serving tables, attending to the poor, &c. And in as much as so much trust was reposed in them of a temporal character, the were required to have a fair reputation, and must not stand in any relation that would in the least prejudice their reputation with the world of mankind.
In certain countries, plurality of wives is legal. Christendom think they are about everybody, and the "rest of mankind" are few and far between. I have travelled among nations and countries where this doctrine was tolerated by law, and I will venture to say, if we were to take a walk through the world to-night, and find out those who are in favor of, or against, this doctrine, the majority would be in its favor. Could the whole world be assembled here before me, and a vote taken upon this subject, they would give us the right of conscience in this matter.
Has not the Mahomedan a right to be in favor of it? Did not God make him? And is not his right as dear to him as ours? Why should we set ourselves up as a little family of nations in Christendom, and say to the rest of the great family of the world, "You shall not do so and so, and you shall do this or that?" Why should we be restricted in this matter, while the great majority of the world decide in its favor?
Take this question up upon political principles, and what do the majority of the world say about it? They establish our right. Then take it upon the principles of natural philosophy, and the truth of our position is made still more apparent. Had I language to portray to the most delicate ear the principles of our existence, and the laws of our nature, the most stubborn sceptic would be obliged to yield to the power of truth. I might take up the subject in this point of light, but I will forbear, I will spare you. If I had a congregation of men, I would not spare them one whit.
The Bishop is to be the husband of one wife. And as for old Paul, everybody says he lived and died a bachelor; but he said all things were lawful for him, and that he had power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other Apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas. Paul did not make known all things, for all things were not lawful to tell. He said himself, he knew a man that was caught up to the third heavens, and heard things unlawful to utter. If he did not take a wife, and multiply, and replenish the earth, he did not fulfil the first great fundamental law of nature.
There are many living now who are bachelors. I do not complain of the very old men, for they cannot help themselves at all times, but I am going to complain of the old bachelors; and I tell you what it is, if you do not step forward and marry, and try to carry on the great work of Jehovah, it will be left for a better man to do than you. [Voice in the stand, "There is but one old bachelor in the Territory, and he has gone to the States."] O! I beg your pardon; President Young says he does not know of but one old bachelor in all the Territory of Utah, and he has gone to the States; therefore I have nothing more to say on this particular point. Look abroad upon the world at large, and how many are there who are too niggardly to take a wife, and support her and her offspring honorably, and rear up a family that will reflect honor upon them in their old age! No--they cannot afford to do this, but they go where they can gratify their fleshly desires, leaving the consequences altogether with the confiding females whom they dishonor, and who in that state despair of ever being reinstated in society with a good character, give themselves to prostitution, and in rottenness go down to a premature grave with ten thousand curses on the heads of their deceivers.
Do you suppose these things are going to escape the all-seeing eye of the Great Jehovah? And will He not visit the guilty sensualist with a dreadful punishment? He will. Why not in honorable wedlock raise up offspring to glorify God? Why this niggardly disposition? No wonder the Lord Almighty sends the pestilence to lay them waste, and reduce nations and cities to ruins.
Brethren and sisters, it is for us to have the light of truth shining in our eyes, and honor that truth in all our intercourse with one another.
The Bishop shall have but one wife. If you were in a country where only one wife is allowed by law, then you would be obliged to have but one. What shall I say? A Bishop in England, where he knew polygamy to be contrary to law, must have but one wife; if you want another, and the law will not allow it, you must go where it is allowed by law. It was the case with the Bishops in olden times. We must submit to the laws of man until he shall reign whose right it is to reign.
This is the cord that shall revolutionize the whole world, and it will make the United States tremble from the very head to the foot; it is like leaven hid in three measures of meal until the whole is leavened. There is such a tide of irresistible arguments that, like the grand Mississippi, it bears on its bold current everything that dares to oppose its course.
Says one, "Why is it that men in your society may have more than one wife? What is the policy of it?" The men of God who hold the Priesthood of heaven, and imbibe the light of the Holy Ghost, have the privilege and right. Now let me illustrate one thing, and let me bring it home to you. There may be some under the sound of my voice that the case will fit. Some man will perhaps marry a wife of his youth. She dies--he loved her as he loves himself; and her memory ever lingers about his heart. He marries another, and she dies, and he loved her equally as well. He marries a third, and so on, and he loved them all. By and bye he dies, and he dies with devoted affection and love to them all.
Now in the resurrection, which of these wives will he claim? There is no difference in his love to any of them, and they have all perhaps borne children to him. He loves the children of one mother as well as the children of another. What say you? Which shall he have in the resurrection? Why, let him have the whole of them. To whom are they nearer allied?
There is a case opposite to this, where a woman married a husband, and he died, and so on, until she was married to seven husbands, and then she died. The question was asked the Savior, "Whose wife will she be in the resurrection!" for they all had her. The Savior gave a curious answer. Says he, "In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God." Now tell me how the angels are in heaven, and then we shall have the secret.
It is said, "In the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophecy." You are praying every day, "Thy kingdom come, and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." You never can know how it is done in heaven, unless you can see it by vision; or the kingdom, when it does come, unless it is revealed to you by the spirit of prophecy, or in dreams and visions; then you know it.
This is the benefit of dreams and visions, although this power is lightly spoken of, and repudiated in the Christian world. The revelation of the Almighty from God to a man who holds the Priesthood, and is enlightened by the Holy Ghost, whom God designs to make a ruler and a governor in His eternal kingdom is, that he may have many wives, that when he goes yonder to another sphere he may still continue to perpetuate his species, and of the increase of his kingdom and government there shall be no end, says Daniel. How does the kingdom of God increase, but by the increase of its subjects? Everything increases, everything multiplies. As brother Benson said this morning, even the musquitoes [sic] of Nebraska increase and multiply. If they do, why not high orders of the creation have a better right? These musquitoes and insects are the result of a fallen world, but by and bye there will be nothing to hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain.
These men of God who are married here by the authority of heaven are sealed on earth and in heaven. The good old book says, that which is sealed on earth is sealed in heaven; and whosesoever sins ye remit on earth shall be remitted in heaven, and whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. That Priesthood that has not this power is no better than a rope of sand. The true Priesthood alone possesses it. The Priesthood that has not this power is a mock Priesthood, and not the Priesthood of the Almighty. Little did the world know when they treated the Savior as they did, that he held their destiny in his hands; the world knew him not; he came to his own and they received him not; but the time will come that they will know him, and the power of his Priesthood.
When the servants of God and their wives go to heaven there is an eternal union, and they will multiply and replenish the world to which they are going.
It is not every man in the United States that can be the president, or that can be a governor, or a judge, but all are within the pale of the government of the United States, though they do not all bear rule; many are called, and few are chosen. But in yonder world those who bear the Priesthood, and by their faith and obedience obtain the sanction of the Almighty, they are sealed on earth and in heaven, and will be exalted to rule and govern for ever; while those who would not listen to the holy commandments, and died without having a wife sealed to them, are angels; they are lower spirits, and servants to them that rule. Therefore, this family of old, which the Savior spoke of, saying, "In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage," are not Gods, but angels, who neither marry nor are given in marriage, while the men that magnify their callings are they that bear rule, and hold dominion, and receive their crown, and are one with the Savior, as he is one with the Father. Hence, he that is faithful over a few things shall be made ruler over many things.
I have a few words more to say, and a great deal more can be said; for I have only just dipped into the subject a little. I want to say a few things more, and perhaps this is the most fitting occasion on which they could be said. You never see a "Mormon" man who bears the Priesthood, unless it is some characters that only bear it in form, who are devoid of principle, who have transgressed, and have escaped being dealt with--I say you never see a true-hearted "Mormon" man running after a lewd woman; but there are women among the Latter-day Saints who are loose in their conduct, notwithstanding they have embraced the Gospel. We only wish to apply this where it belongs; do not any of you have your feelings hurt, for God knows I would hold the virtuous and good as sacred as I would my own life. At the same time I am bound to speak in plainness, and I feel that the Spirit is on me now, I am warmed with it, and it presses me to speak on this subject, and to speak it out. There are families in this town that have bowed externally to the yoke of Christ, but they are as corrupt as hell, and I can point where they are, in what direction they dwell. When I approach their habitations, I feel that they are an abomination in my sight. "Have you any tangible evidence of this?" Yes, I have, and more than I want, which I shall keep to myself, but the day will come when it will all come out. Do you see "Mormon" men running there? No. Wherever you find a house among the Latter-day Saints where no "Mormon" men go, you may know it is not all sound in Denmark. I will tell you whom you see there in particular--men who fear not God nor regard man. What have I got to say concerning women that will come into the Church and kingdom of God, and bring dishonor upon themselves, and endeavour to bring it upon the whole Church, by cohabiting with those cursed scapegraces who are passing through here to California who make their boast of of [sic] what they did in Great Salt Lake City? I know their secret talk in their chambers, for the Spirit of God searcheth all things. It may not be with me to the same extent all the time, but sometimes the whole vision of my mind is lit up, and I see and understand it all.
I am going to say something upon those who dishonor the Church and kingdom of God in this way. I will tell you what shall happen to those men and women who commit lewdness, and go and boast of it, and laugh in the face of heaven. The day shall come when their flesh shall rot upon their bones, and as they are walking it shall drop, and become a nauseous stink upon the highway. Now go and boast that you can get all you want for a dress pattern, or a yard of ribbon; go and boast of it, and the Lord Almighty shall curse you all the day long. [Voice in the stand, "Amen."] And when you step, chunks of your flesh shall drop off your bones, and stink enough to sicken a dog.
I speak this to both men and women that practise this iniquity in the midst of this people; and if you do not refrain from such intercourse, this prediction shall begin to take effect, and by this you shall know whether I have spoken in the name of the Lord, or in the name of Orson Hyde. For such abominable practices to come in our midst under the robes of sanctity, because there are liberal, holy, and righteous principles practised by the Saints, I say, curse their habitation and their persons; and if this is your mind, let all Israel say amen. [The whole of the congregation at the top of their voices said, "Amen!"] And let these contemptible wretches feel the "Mormon" spirit, not by "Mormon" hands, but by the power of God on high.
I feel charged with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and it burns in my heart like a flame, and this is the testimony I bear. If I do mingle in the streets with the crowd to engage in business as any other man, I am not always asleep, and insensible to what is passing around me. I do not profess to know a great deal, but some things I do know, and some things I do not know.
I have endeavored to illustrate this subject for the benefit of the honest inquirer, I have only just touched it, endeavoring to throw out a few hints for your consideration, that you may know we are not without some reason for our faith and practice touching the subject of polygamy. I wish you to mind the admonition I have given. I have given it to you in faith; I have given it to you regardless of consequences, for I ask no odds of any body, except of my Father in heaven, and of my brethren whose hearts I know to be pure; and I want to be identified with them in time and in all eternity, and with my sisters too; and wish to be exalted with them, and them with me, where the Saints may join hands after passing through much tribulation, and gaining crowns, to rejoice together for ever and ever.
I feel as though I had borne a faithful testimony, and I now say, in the presence of God and angels, that I have given the guilty persons warning, and my garments are clean from your blood. Take warning, and never do a thing that will throw dishonor upon the Saints of the Most High.
May God add His blessing, and preserve us to His heavenly kingdom, which may He grant. Amen.
MARRIAGE RELATIONS OF BISHOPS AND DEACONS.
An Address by President Brigham Young, Delivered at the General Conference, in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1854.
I do not wish to eradicate any items from the lecture Elder Hyde has given us this evening, but simply to give you my views, in a few words, on the portion touching Bishops and Deacons.
In Paul's first epistle to Timothy, third chapter, he writes as follows--
"This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well."
I have read this that your minds may be refreshed, and that you may know how it does read.
Instead of my believing for a moment that Paul wished to signify to Timothy that he must select a man to fill the office of a Bishop that would have but <one> wife, I believe directly the reverse; but his advice to Timothy amounts simply to this--It would not be wise for you to ordain a man to the office of a Bishop unless he has a <wife>; you must not ordain a <single> or <unmarried> man to that calling.
If you will read this chapter carefully, you will learn the qualifications necessary for Deacons and Bishops, and also for their wives.
I will simply give my views with regard to this matter, and then leave it.
I have no testimony from the Bible, neither have I from any history that I have any knowledge of, that a man was ever prohibited in the Church in the days of Paul from taking more than one wife. If any historian has knowledge to the contrary, let him make it known at a suitable time; but if such was the case it has not come to my knowledge.
I will now give you my reasons why it is necessary that a Bishop should have a wife, not but that he may have more than one wife. In the first place he is (or should be) like a father to his ward, or to the people over whom he presides, and a good portion of his time is occupied among them. Still he does not wish to be bound up, or flooded with cares of this world, so but that he can officiate in his office, and magnify it to acceptance.
The office of a Bishop is in his ward; and when he finds a man who is doing a good business as a farmer or a tradesman, and who has plenty around him, and is faithfully paying his tithing, he has no business there only to receive the tithing that man has to pay for the benefit of the kingdom of God; his business is more particularly in the houses of widows and orphans, and he is called to administer to them in righteousness, like a father.
Paul, knowing by observation and his own experience the temptations that were continually thrown before the Elders, gave instructions paramount to this--Before you ordain a person to be a Bishop, to take the charge of a Branch in any one district or place, see that he has a <wife> to begin with; he did not say, "<but one> wife;" it does not read so; but he must have <one> to begin with, in order that he may not be continually drawn into temptation while he is in the line of his duty, visiting the houses of widows and orphans, the poor, the afflicted, and the sick in his ward. He is to converse with families, sometimes upon family matters, and care for them, but if he has no wife, he is not so capable of taking care of a family as he otherwise would be, and perhaps he is not capable of taking care of himself. Now select a young man who has preserved himself in purity and holiness, one who has carried himself circumspectly before the people, and before God; it would not do to ordain him to the office of a Bishop, for he may be drawn into temptation, and he lacks experience in family matters; but take a man who has one wife at least, a man of experience, like thousands of our Elders, men of strength of mind, who have determination in them to preserve themselves pure under all circumstances, at all times, and in all places in their wards. Now, Timothy, select such a man to be a Bishop.
A Bishop in his calling and duty is with the Church all the time; he is not called to travel abroad to preach, but is at home; he is not abroad in the world, but is with the Saints.
When you have got your Bishop, he needs assistants, and he ordains Counsellors, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons, and calls them to help him; and he wishes men of his own heart and hand to do this. Says he, "I dare not even call a man to be a Deacon, to assist me in my calling, unless he has a family." It is not the business of an ignorant young man, of no experience in family matters, to inquire into the circumstances of families, and know the wants of every person. Some may want medicine and nourishment, and to be looked after, and it is not the business of boys to do this; but select a man who has got a family to be a Deacon, whose wife can go with him, and assist him in administering to the needy in the ward.
These are simply my views in a few words on this subject, and always have been since I have reflected upon the doctrine that the fathers teach us in the Holy Scriptures. I will venture to say the view I take of the matter is not to be disputed or disproved by Scripture or reason.
I have no reasonable grounds upon which to say it was not the custom in ancient times for a man to have more than one wife, but every reason to believe that it was the custom among the Jews, from the days of Abraham to the days of the Apostles, for they were lineal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of whom taught and practised the doctrine of plurality of wives, and were revered by the whole Jewish nation, and it is but natural that they should have respected and followed their teachings and example.
So much I wished to say to my brethren and sisters. We have had a splendid address from brother Hyde, or which I am grateful. I feel in my heart to bless the people all the time, and can say amen to brother Hyde's last remarks. I know just as much about those matters as I want to know, and if I do not know more, it is because there is no more of it in the city. It is a hard matter for a man to hide himself from me in this Territory; the birds of the air, they say, carry news, and if they do not, I have plenty of sources for information.
I say to the congregation, treasure up in your hearts what you have heard to-night, and at other times. You will hear more with regard to the doctrine, that is, our "Marriage Relations." Elder Hyde says he has only just dipped into it, but, if it will not be displeasing to him, I will say he has not dipped into it yet; he has only run round the edge of the field. He has done so beautifully, and it will have its desired effect. But the whole subject of the marriage relation is not in my reach, nor in any other man's reach on this earth. It is without beginning of days or end of years; it is a hard matter to reach. We can tell some things with regard to it; it lays the foundation for worlds, for angels, and for the Gods; for intelligent beings to be crowned with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. In fact, it is the thread which runs from the beginning to the end of the holy Gospel of salvation--of the Gospel of the Son of God; it is from eternity to eternity. When the vision of the mind is opened, you can see a great portion of it, but you see it comparatively as a speaker sees the faces of a congregation. To look at, and talk to, each individual separately, and thinking to become fully acquainted with them, only to spend five minutes with each would consume too much time, it could not easily be done. So it is with the visions of eternity; we can see and understand, but it is difficult to tell.
May God bless you. Amen.
ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF MAN.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 6, 1853.
The organization of man, I suppose, is one of the deepest and most profound studies for philosophers and theologians there is in nature. The organization of man, embracing all the attributes and powers of his physical and mental constitution, is considered a mystery by the wisest and most expert philosophers that have lived, and is a subject that daily occupies the thoughts and researches of the more intelligent portion of the children of men.
When we carefully notice the manner of our own reflections, it is a marvel and a wonder to us; and we are apt to say, What am I? Who am I? And for what was I made? Who is the author of my existence? Who laid the foundation of and planned this singular structure? It is a mystery how this wonderful machinery works, and how it is sustained to fulfil the purpose of its creation! In reality, however, there is no such thing as a mystery but to the ignorant. We may also say, there is no such thing, in reality, as a miracle, except to those who do not understand the "Alpha and Omega" of every phenomenon that is made manifest. To a person who thoroughly understands the reason of all things, and can trace from their effects to their true causes, mystery does not exist. Yet the physical and mental existence of man is a great mystery to him.
In the experience of our lives we are taught many principles that are worthy the attention of the most intelligent on earth. The first great principle that ought to occupy the attention of mankind, that should be understood by the child and the adult, and which is the main spring of all action, (whether people understand it or not,) is the principle of improvement. The principle of increase, of exaltation, of adding to that we already possess, is the grand moving principle and cause of the actions of the children of men. No matter what their pursuits are, in what nation they were born, with what people they have been associated, what religion they profess, or what politics they hold, this is the main spring of the actions of the people, embracing all the powers necessary in performing the duties of life.
This is the lesson we should study. The powers of our minds and bodies should be governed and controlled in that way that will secure to us an eternal increase. While the inhabitants of the earth are bestowing all their ability, both mental and physical, upon perishable objects, those who profess to be Latter-day Saints, who have the privilege of receiving and understanding the principles of the holy Gospel, are in duty bound to study and find out, and put in practice in their lives, those principles that are calculated to endure, and that tend to a continual increase in this, and in the world to come. All their earthly avocations should be framed upon this principle. This alone can insure to them an exaltation; this is the starting point, in this existence, to an endless progression. All the ideas, cogitations, and labors of man are circumscribed by and incorporated in this great principle of life.
When we duly reflect upon the cogitations of our own minds, when we look upon the people called Latter-day Saints, upon the earth on which we stand, and upon the mighty universe around us, by the light of the Spirit of truth in our minds, we marvel with astonishment. When the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, illuminates the understanding, and exposes to view the true order of the works of the Framer of the Universe, so that they can contemplate the geat first cause of all things, and then look upon the grovelling pursuits of mortals, and their anxiety to obtain that which will perish, at the expense of the more enduring substance, every person must be struck with astonishment beyond measure.
The human family are like so many children that have just learned how to walk, in the eyes of a person whose mind has been opened by the light of the Holy Ghost. The sage, grey headed grandfathers, and those of fewer years, but not of less experience and wisdom, have viewed the eagerness of children to possess mere trifles, and often something that would be their sure destruction if they obtained it. So it is with the inhabitants of the world. A company of little children at play is a perfect miniature picture of the life of man: "Give me this, and give me that; and I want to have the other thing;" still you are not willing I should possess it; and the parent knows that often its possession would be an injury. Or when one child sits down in a little chair, another one will cry because of it, without receiving the least injury. If you place a plate of apples or plums before a child of three or four years old, he will not be content with one, or two, or with as many as he can hold; but he will try to grasp the whole plate full with his little fingers, dropping one, and taking up another, until he has scattered and wasted them, and at last be contented to sit down and eat one, that is, if the rest of the children have not any but himself; or else cry, when he has as many as he can hold, because he can not hold them all. The little girl will cry for the needle she sees her mother working with, and when she has got it, handle it to her injury; and the little boy will cry for the razor he sees his father using.
It is so with many of the brethren and sisters; <they cry for the razor>. These inconsistent desires of early childhood for trifling things, are exhibited in the human family, after they have arrived to maturer years. They may be reaching after things of weightier importance than the child, but when they are compared with eternal matters, they are just as trifling; and to the mind that is instructed, that has been touched with the light of eternal truth, they appear even more foolish than children, because we expect better things of them. As a general thing, the men of eighty years of age are as contracted in their minds, as to a knowedge of the true principles of life, and the end and purpose of their being, as little children only two and three years old are of the business that occupies the attention of the City Council or the Legislature of the State.
The thousand-and-one inconsistencies of childhood have their parallel in the actions and doings of many of this people. Theatrical companies try to exhibit traits of human life; but a better stage cannot be than the world, nor better actors than men, to a man of understanding. It is pleasing and instructing to see certain characters personified upon the boards of a theatre which is managed upon righteous principles. A prominent feature of the human world was most admirably portrayed by our performers the other evening, in the melo-drama called "The Serious Family." When the mother told the daughter to say to the friend of her husband, they had no spare rooms in the house, the daughter replied, "Shall I tell a lie?" "Yes," answered the old dame, "<if it is to promote our holy cause>." Do anything, no matter what, whether it is right or wrong, to gain the end we wish, is the language of unenlightened, unregenerate man. If the Lord Almighty should give the human family their desire in full, they would not keep the broad road to destruction, but they would go across lots, quick to hell.
It is not my intention to detain the meeting long this afternoon; but before I bring my remarks to a close, I wish to impress upon your minds some few prominent items of our religion. I can say truly that I am happy, and rejoice exceedingly, and am thankful beyond measure, that the items I wish to notice are in a great degree adhered to by this people as a whole. That I may bring the matter before our minds at once, I will repeat part of the "Mormon Creed," viz., "Let every man mind his own business." If this is observed, every man will have business sufficient on hand, so as not to afford time to trouble himself with the business of other people. You can now comprehend the whole discourse by the nature of the text.
While brother Erastus Snow was speaking, he made use of weedy gardens as a comparison, to apply to those who complained of other people's gardens, while their own were neglected. I will refer to the same idea. There are plenty of evils about our neighbors; this no person will pretend to deny; but there is no man or woman on the earth, Saint or sinner, but what has plenty to do to watch the little evils that cling to human nature, and weed their own gardens. We are made subject to vanity, and it is right. We are made subject to the powers of evil, which is necessary to prove all things. We are apt to neglect our own feelings, passions, and undertakings, or in other words, to neglect to weed our own gardens, and while we are weeding our neighbor's, before we are aware, weeds will start up and kill the good seeds in our own. This is the reason why we should most strictly attend to our own business.
I am happy to say that this people do increase in understanding, wisdom, patience, and faith. It appears to me much more easy for mankind to live without sin, than with it. We have been taught that it is contrary to nature to live without sin. If a man should spit in my face, it would be natural for me to knock him down, or in return spit in his face. But suppose one should injure me in person, or estate, and I should overlook it, and show mercy to the individual, it would cause him to reflect upon his conduct, and show him the true bearings of his unjust act, and make him ashamed of it much better than if I retaliated. If I were to pay him back in his own coin, I should render myself worthy of what I have received. If I bear an insult with meek patience, and do not return the injury, I have a decided advantage over my adversary. And if the person is susceptible of feeling such a rebuke, he will say, "I have done wrong; my conscience condemns me, and my neighbor, or my brother, did not retaliate." It at once causes the evil doer to reflect, and he will say, "Why did I do it? The devil tempted me; I will go and confess my sin to my neighbor, for he is not disposed to return the wrong, and he is a better person than I am; and from henceforth I will mind my own business, and keep a guard upon my passions." Is it not better in all such cases to be guided by that principle, than by the principle of retaliation?
To illustrate still further. Suppose A insults B, and B demands satisfaction, and they agree to fight: they meet and inflict upon each other blows and injuries, and whip each other right well. A, however, is the conqueror, and B retires vanquished, in shame and disgrace. He cannot any longer remain in the same neighborhood with his victorious enemy, and therefore concludes to sell out, and leave the place. Now suppose B had borne the first insult, or injury, and returned it only with good, instead of trying to do A an injury; A would have been completely conquered, and B would have escaped a sound whipping. Were we, one and all, to pursue the latter course, quarrels would soon cease in our community. As I said, if we keep our own gardens clear of weeds, our neighbors will take a pattern by us, and produce from their gardens greater quantities of fruit another year.
Now, brethren and sisters, receive the exhortation and counsel of brother Snow, and profit by it; and employ the rest of your lives in good thoughts, kind words, and good works. Shall I sit down and read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Covenants all the time?" says one. Yes, if you please, and when you have done, you may be nothing but a sectarian after all. It is your duty to study to know everything upon the face of the earth, in addition to reading those books. We should not only study good, and its effects upon our race, but also evil, and its consequences.
I make these remarks to lay the foundation for principle in the minds of the people; and if you do not yet understand what I would be at, I will try to illustrate it still further. For example, we will take a strict, religious, holy, down country, eastern Yankee, who would whip a beer barrel for working on Sunday, and never suffer a child to go into company of his age--never suffer him to have any associates, or permit him to do any thing or know anything, only what the deacon, priests, or missionaries bring to the house; when that child attains to mature age, say eighteen or twenty years, he is very apt to steal away from his father and mother; and when he has broken his bands, you would think all hell was let loose, and that he would compass the world at once.
Now understand it--when parents whip their children for reading novels, and never let them go to the theatre, or to any place of recreation and amusement, but bind them to the moral law, until duty becomes loathsome to them; when they are freed by age from the rigorous training of their parents, they are more fit for companions to devils, than to be the children of such religious parents.
If I do not learn what is in the world, from first to last, somebody will be wiser than I am. I intend to know the whole of it, both good and bad. Shall I practise evil? No; neither have I told you to practise it, but to learn by the light of truth every principle there is in existence in the world.
Still further. When I was young, I was kept within very strict bounds, and was not allowed to walk more than half-an-hour on Sunday for exercise. The proper and necessary gambols of youth having been denied me, makes me want active exercise and amusement now. I had not a chance to dance when I was young, and never heard the enchanting tones of the violin, until I was eleven years of age; and then I thought I was on the high way to hell, if I suffered myself to linger and listen to it. I shall not subject my little children to such a course of unnatural training, but they shall go to the dance, study music, read novels, and do anything else that will tend to expand their frames, add fire to their spirits, improve their minds, and make them feel free and untrammeled in body and mind. Let everything come in its season, place everything in the place designed for it, and do everything in its right time. And inasmuch as the Lord Almighty has designed us to know all that is in the earth, both the good and the evil, and to learn not only what is in heaven, but what is in hell, you need not expect ever to get through learning. Though I mean to learn all that is in heaven, earth, and hell. Do I need to commit iniquity to do it? No. If I were to go into the bowels of hell to find out what is there, that does not make it necessary that I should commit one evil, or blaspheme in any way the name of my Maker.
Do you not suppose the Lord is there, and knows all about it? I am satisfied of it. If He is not there, when the wicked inhabitants of the earth begin to inquire where they shall flee to escape from His presence, they will find a hiding place in hell. If the wicked wish to escape from His presence, they must go where He is not, where He does not live, where His influence does not preside. To find such a place is impossible, except they go beyond the bounds of time and space.
I have learned enough to be happy, when I am in the enjoyment of the blessings of the Lord. That is a great lesson for a man to learn. There are two things that make this people unhappy, if ever they are unhappy, viz., themselves, and the spirits that are around them. This, however, will more particularly apply to individuals. As a people, as a community, there is not its parallel to be found on the earth, for contentment and happiness. Will you make yourselves happy? You are greatly blessed of the Lord, all the day long, and should be happy; but we are apt to close our eyes against this fact, and fancy ourselves miserable, when we are actually blessed.
To make ourselves happy is incorporated in the great design of man's existence. I have learned not to fret myself about that which I cannot help. If I can do good, I will do it; and if I cannot reach a thing, I will content myself to be without it. This makes me happy all the day long. I wish you to learn the same profitable lesson. Who hinders you from being happy? from praying, and serving the Lord as much as you please? Who hinders you from doing all the good in your power to do? Who is there here, to mar in any way the peace of any Saint that lives in these peaceful valleys? No one. It is for us to keep our own gardens clean, and see we do not harbor evil in our own hearts. Were we to look into our own hearts, and seek diligently to do all the good in our power, and never commit another evil while we live, what is there to prevent us from being happy? I know there never lived a happier people, upon the earth, I might venture to say, because of the dispensation in which we live; it brings joy, comfort, and satisfaction to those who will receive it, that could not be realized by any people who have lived before us.
Do we expect to see our children grow up in darkness, and rebellion against the principles of the Gospel of Christ? Have you this thought to worry your minds? No. The ancients had, and their souls were sometimes weighed down with sorrow on this account. They saw their children would leave the true Church, transgress the laws, change the ordinances, and break the everlasting covenant. This we have not to fear. God has seen fit in our day to bring forth the Priesthood again, even at the eleventh hour--at the end of summer--at the harvest time--at the gathering up of his sheep. At this time, or never, He has put forth His hand to send the Gospel to all nations, and gather the people together, and give to the chosen of the Lord the inheritance of the earth. Now what hinders our being a happy people? I do not see anything to hinder it.
I have a few words to say concerning our spiritual labors. I cannot, however, define any difference between temporal and spiritual labors. I call it spiritual to accommodate my language to the ideas of the people. Anything that pertains to the building up of the Lord's kingdom on earth, whether it be in preaching the Gospel, or building Temples to His name, we have been taught to consider a spiritual work, though it evidently requires the strength of the natural body to perform it.
If the weather had been fine the past week, we should have been ready to have commenced excavating the earth for the foundation of the Temple. When we call upon the brethren, we wish them to be ready to obey the call. Probably a week from to-morrow we shall call upon them to commence this work. To satisfy those who may wish to know the size of the excavation, I will state that it will be about 250 feet from east to west, and from north to south a little less, and from 16 to 20 feet deep. We expect the mason work of the basement will be 24 feet high, 16 feet below the ground, and 8 feet above. That will require considerable labor.
We wish the excavation made, and everything prepared to lay the corner stones on the 6th day of April next, if the Lord will; and if the Lord will not, I care not whether a stone is laid here, or in any other place; I care as little about it as the snow birds in our fields. All that concerns me, is to do the work the Lord has for me to-day; and if the world is designed for to-morrow, I will prepare for it to-day, so as to be ready to perform it to-morrow with alacrity.
I need not say anything more about the Temple; we shall accomplish that work as expeditiously as we can. I might advance many profitable ideas pertaining to business, if the brethren who are men of business, and understand what is needed in our case, would listen, and profit by them.
I will say a word to the Seventies. Some of them have incorrect notions touching the Seventies' Hall; and I wish them to understand, that the Temple must be the first thing in our thoughts; and if I want all the funds that have been collected for the Seventies' Hall, for the erection of a Temple, I calculate to use them. The people need not expect us to give them the easy circumstances the noblemen of the Gentile nations enjoy, while there is so much for us to do for the public good. There is more before us to be done this year, than will take five to accomplish. We are not, however, going to do all things this year; we are not going to finish the Temple this year, but we will begin it. The Lord requires all we have to be devoted to His kingdom; and though it be but the widow's mite, He can do as much with two mites as we can with millions of them.
May the Lord God of Israel bless you, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
CONSECRATION.
A Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, September 10, 1854.
By the request of our President, I arise this afternoon for the purpose of addressing you upon those subjects that may be presented to my mind, feeling joyful in my heart that I have the opportunity.
I do not say, as many others may have said, that it is a disagreeable task, or a very great cross, for me to address the Saints; this is not the case; it is a pleasure and a joy; and I feel to esteem it as a blessing from the hand of God, that I have the privilege from time to time of meeting with His people, and speaking about the great things that God has revealed, which belong to our peace, happiness, and welfare, both here and hereafter.
There is no other subject that I care much about. As it regards earthly things, temporal things, the riches of this world, or the honors of the world, I will not say they are of a secondary nature to me, but they are far beneath this; though they may be good in their place, yet my whole object and design, delight and joy, is to do the will of God, to benefit the children of men, and to seek after the welfare, happiness, and peace, not only of myself and family, but also of the whole human race, as far as it is within my power.
It does me good to return, after an absence of two years, and again look upon the faces of the brethren and sisters; there is something so different in the expression of your countenances from what we see abroad in the world; the principles of goodness, of righteousuess, of virtue, and of holiness seem to be enstamped upon the countenances of the Saints of the living God; the spirit of meekness, of sobriety, of solemnity--a Godlike spirit is reflected in every feature of those who are truly good, which seem to carry peace, happiness, and joy to the hearts of those who gaze upon them with the same spirit. But after all, brethren, we are not near as good as we might be, in many respects. Though we are far in advance of the nations of the earth, though we have become far exalted above them in the principles of virtue, truth, righteousness, and a oneness of feeling, yet there is still room for improvement and, while we remain here in the flesh there will be room for improvement upon all these principles, upon all the attributes of divinity, and upon every thing that is good and Godlike.
There is one subject that presents itself to my mind, and upon which I have meditated in years past and gone, and which gave me great joy when I learned that it was being established in our midst. What is it? It is the consecration of the properties of the whole Church, according to the written revelations, commandments, and laws of the Most High God. I heard of this about the time I was starting upon the plains for the place, and it gave me great joy to learn that there was a prominent step taken at your last Conference to bring about and accomplish this object. I consider it is one of the most important objects to be accomplished among the Saints of Latter-days.
You may ask why? You may think that this contradicts my first statement--that the temporal things of this life are not even of a secondary consideration with me. They are not in one respect, but, in another, I consider them a part and portion of the religion that we as a people have embraced, and a very essential and necessary part too.
We read in the revelations that God has given, that the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; well, if it is the Lord's and the fulness of it, then it does not belong to you nor me as individuals, exclusive of others. If the Lord had set apart, and consecrated, and given a certain portion of the earth to any individual with a deed and covenant, he might with some propriety call it his own; but all other deeds that are according to Gentile laws, and the institutions of the nations of the earth, do not, according to the laws and revelations of heaven, give to men the exclusive right to the things of this world, as their own; they are good enough in their place, for the Lord deals with the nations according to their light; and suffers laws to be enacted that are good in their place, and calculated to govern imperfect beings; laws to govern and control property; and in many respects, they are just adapted to the circumstances and conditions of the nations where they are enacted; and they are the means of doing much good in preserving what are termed the rights of individuals, and of the citizens generally; and they should not be done away, until circumstances will permit of their being superseded by a more perfect law. That more perfect order is what we wish to speak a few words upon at this present time.
The Lord told us something about it in the revelations He gave a long time ago, in the year 1831, when ancient "Mormonism," as it has often been termed, was first introduced; we call it ancient, because it seems quite long to us narrow minded creatures.
There were certain laws and revelations then given, in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, pertaining to the Lord's earth, and the righteous that He has upon it. I will repeat a small clause which was given before the Church was one year old, in March 1831. It reads thus--wherefore "it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." This was revealed above twenty-three years ago; we will again repeat it, "It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." Here was a hint of the more perfect law and order of things that God intended eventually to introduce among this people; and which I am happy to say, there has been a great step already taken at the last Conference to bring about; and I hope that I may be permitted to live to see this law carried out to the fullest extent among the Saints of the living God.
Remember, that as long as there is inequality in the things that belong to the Lord, the world lieth in sin. It is not given to them that they should possess one above another. I intend to explain how this is to be brought about, and also show how one man can possess hundreds and thousands of dollars, in a certain sense of the word, and another man only one dollar, and yet both be equal; but they possess the same, not as their own, but as stewards of the Lord; it being the Lord's property.
We read, in another revelation that God gave in the early rise of this Church, that unless we are equal in earthly things, we cannot be made equal in heavenly things. Here is an equality preached. There must be an equality in earthly things, in order that we may be equal in heavenly things. Now supposing the people were all to be made equal to-day, to-morrow they would, through circumstances, become unequal: but I will show you how this equality can be established upon an order that never can be shaken--that inequality, in regard to property, never more can be introduced among the Saints, that no circumstance which can transpire can make them unequal. If a fire should burn up a man's barn, and his stacks of grain, and every thing he has accumulated, I will prove to you that it does not render him unequal with his brethren on the principle the Lord has established and ordained; so that when this order is once estabhshed among this people, they will become equal in earthly things, which will prepare them to be made equal in heavenly things.
In the first place how shall we get at this order? In what manner and by what means shall we begin to lay the foundation of this equality? The Lord has told us, that it is required of every man in this Church to lay all things, not one tenth alone, but to lay all things before the bishop of His Church; consecrate the whole of it--everything he has--his flocks and herds--his cattle, horses, and mules--his gold and silver--his wearing apparel, watches, jewellery, and everything he possesses; consecrate it; not keep back a portion like Annanias and his wife, but give everything--make a full consecration to begin with. [Voice in the stand, "Wives and children."] Yes, give wives and children of course: the wives have given themselves to their husband, and he has to consecrate them; they are the Lord's, He has only lent them to us.
Supposing that the people had complied with the law when it was first given, in every respect, instead of seeing inequality that has reigned for these many years in this Church, we should now have seen a different order of things. But we lacked experience, and there was too much covetousness in our hearts, for a full consecration of property, then. In consecrating property, we must, in the first place, remember that it is not ours. Why? Because the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. We have no cattle, no gold or silver, no watches or jewellery, no property of any description, no houses, lands, or any thing else which is our own, if the fulness of the earth is the Lord's. Then in consecrating that which we have been in the habit of calling our own, we are only returning to the Lord His own property--that which we became legally possessed of according to the laws of man, but not according to the laws of God, He never having directly given us the things which we claim as ours; we have not got them according to the celestial law--according to the great principle and order God has established; but we came by them through speculation, trading, labor, etc., and after we thus got them they are the Lord's still. We consecrate this property--it all goes into the hands of the Bishop of the Church. If the whole Church were to consecrate in this way they would have nothing left of their own. Then, it would all be the Lord's, and it has to be consecrated too, says the revelation, with a covenant and a deed that cannot be broken; that is, according to the law of God and man, and if it is made according to the law of God in all respects, and also according to the law of the land in which we live, it will be in the situation the Lord wants it in, even the whole property of the Church.
We ask, are they not all equal now? Yes. If the whole Church have consecrated every thing in their possession to the Bishop, is there not a perfect equality among them before they get their stewardship? Yes: this makes them perfectly so, as far as property is concerned; they are all in a state of equality, owning nothing. What is the next step to be taken in order to bring about equality of property? The Lord says, "Let the Bishop appoint every man his stewardship," for, says the Lord, "It is required of every man to render an account of his stewship [sic], both in time and in eternity." Now the Bishop begins and parcels out to this man his stewardship, and to that one his stewardship, according to the counsels of the First Presidency of the Church--the authority that has the management and control of the Lord's property. Each one sets his stewardship.
Now supposing one man obtained double the quantity of another; it is not his, but the stewardship is the Lord's; consequently the man is on a perfect equality with his brother still. But there is another sense in which this equality may be made, so far as the consecrating of property to the Church is concerned, which includes the whole of it. I say, who does it belong to in another sense of the word? I have shown you that it belongs to the Lord, and if we are His, we shall inherit it with Him; consequently in another sense of the word it is all ours. If each one in the Church, then, possesses the whole of it, as joint heirs with the Lord, is there not an equality? You may diminish the common property or joint fund just as much as you please. Suppose it were diminished to one half by mobs, &c., it does not make the Church unequal, not in the least; for each one may be considered as the possessor of the whole: he inherits all things; he is a joint heir with Jesus Christ in the inheritance of the earth, and all the fulness thereof. Can you make any inequality here? If each man in the Church is a joint inheritor of all the property, and a part of it, it makes each one perfectly equal with the rest.
Now I defy you to bring about an equality upon any other principle. You may divide the properties of the Church to-day, yes, if it be possible, make a perfectly equal division of it, so that every man in the whole Church should have his share, and let him call it his own; it would not be one day before there would be an inequality again introduced; and one man would possess that which is above another; it could not be otherwise; the changes, difficulties, want of judgment in the management and control of property, and all these things combined together, would serve to render these divided shares unequal; one man losing a large portion of his property through mismanagement; another by fire, by mobocracy, or in some other way, so that neither would have one half, one quarter, or perhaps one hundredth part as much as some of his brethren with whom he was only a short time before perfectly equal.
No equality can be brought about by dividing property; the Lord never intended such an order of things. It is not a <division> of property that is going to bring about a oneness among the Latter-day Saints in temporal things, but it is a <union> of property, that all the property may be united, and considered belonging to the Lord, and to every individual in the whole Church, as joint heirs with Him, or as His stewards. You may imagine, then, how my heart rejoiced, when I received a letter from our beloved President, informing me that steps had been taken for a full consecration of the property of the Church, to introduce the order of stewardships among the Saints of God.
But in regard to these stewardships, it is not needful or necessary, or the Lord never intended, that every man should possess an equal amount of stewardship with his brother. Why? Because God has given to some men greater ability to manage and control property than others. He may give to one, one talent; to another, two; to another, three; to another, five; and to another, ten; and then command them to make use of these talents according to the instructions and revelations given, and be accountable to Him who gave them. "It is required of every man," says the Lord, "to be accountable to me in their stewardships, both in time and in eternity;" consequently these stewards have to render all their accounts to some one in time, but to whom? To the Lord's Bishop--to those whom the Lord has appointed to receive the accounts. And if a man undertakes to squander the stewardship which the Lord has entrusted to him, He takes it away, and gives it to another who is a more wise steward; one who will manage His property in such a way as to benefit the whole; each one seeking the interest of the whole as well as of himself.
Each one is to be considered as possessor of all things in the Church; but if it be all common property, how is it that the Saints can get along and give an account of their stewardship of property? Will not one brother go and pick up his brother's plow, and take it off, without asking him for it, imagining that he is the possessor of all things? Yes, if that brother had no understanding he would do it, but when he comes to understand the law of the Lord, he will find that all these stewardships are controlled by the wisest kind of laws; hence the Lord says, <"Thou shall not take thy brother's garment; thou shalt pay for that which thou dost receive from thy brother."*. Notwithstanding the whole property belongs to the Lord, and to each one as joint heirs, yet the Lord has given strict laws with regard to the stewardships, so that one has no business to go and pick up his neighbor's ax, or take any of his steward-ship from him, without leave; but he is to pay for that which he receives from his brother steward, unless he borrow it by fairly asking for it.
On this principle it would be an easy matter for each steward to render an account of his time; and if necessary he could account for every item of his stewardship. But if it were permitted to run at random, according to the vague ideas of common stock in some societies in the world, away would go a man's hat, or his coat, and he could render no account of it at all. But according to the strict principle which the Lord has ordained, he could show to his Bishop a full account of everything in his stewardship--that he has gained so much here, and made so much there, upon the Lord's property. What says the Bishop? "Well done, good and faithful steward, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will enlarge that stewardship," providing he had anything to enlarge it with. "You have gained other talents; you have increased upon that intrusted to your charge; you have not squandered it away foolishly for that which would not profit you."
There would be no desire on the part of stewards to steal, "For, says one, If I go and steal from another steward, it is all the Lord's, and it would do just as much good in the hands of that steward to whom it was intrusted, as if I were to possess it by stealing it from him."
How much every Saint ought to be interested for this order of things to be brought about, realizing that all the property of the Church is for his own good as well as for the good of the whole body.
But in regard to these inequalities in stewardship: I will show you another principle where men may have equal judgment, and yet there may be an inequality of stewardships; it is in consequence of the various branches of business in which they may be engaged. It is well known that for farming purposes, it does not require the same skill as for manufacturing many articles, nor the same capital. And the ingenious mechanic, who understands the nature or construction of machinery, might have to be intrusted with a stewardship of one hundred thousand dollars worth of property to establish his manufactory, and work it so as to have it prove a benefit to the whole Church; and without this amount being put into his hands, as a steward, he might not be able to accomplish anything needed in the particular branch of manufacturing with which he was familiar. The stewardships, in such cases, would be different, not only in kind, but in the amount or value of the stewardship.
Let me illustrate this in another way; not but what I suppose all the Saints understand it, but you only want to be put in mind of that you have understood for years, but have not perhaps practised upon it; and unless a people practise upon that they do understand, it does not benefit them much. Suppose a man have twelve sons, and he had according to the laws of the land 78 acres of ground; he gives to his oldest son twelve acres as a steward; he gives to his next son eleven acres, and to the next ten, and so on down to the youngest, which he gives one acre; and he says unto them, "Manage these different inheritances that I have set off to you, and gain all you can;" would those sons have any right or title to call that property their own? No: they would say, "It is father's property, and he has told us to go and occupy it, and he has given us rules by which we are to be governed; that the youngest may not encroach upon the oldest, nor any one encroach upon another, but that each stewardship may be managed and controlled according to the regulations he has given, and at the end of the year each of us must render strict account to our father of every iota of our business transactions, of our losses and gains in trading, etc." Now all this property, we see, belongs to the father, but it is all for the benefit of the twelve sons; they are all to be made joint heirs with the father in the possession of it. In due time, when they have learned the law the father has ordained, they will be prepared to enter as joint owners upon the grand inheritances, not only of 78 acres, but to possess all things that the father has.
Temporal things are a type of heavenly things, as the Lord says, in one of the revelations, "All things have their likeness, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual." Does this order of things--the equality of property--have its likeness? Yes, in the heavens, and it is typical of that celestial order that we are all praying for, that we all desire the Lord to bestow upon us. We all feel very anxious to enter into the fulness of celestial glory, and inherit thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, and to have kingdoms appointed to us, and to receive crowns and to sway a sceptre over kingdoms, as wise rulers. If we want to get there, we must begin here, and learn the order that is to be there. If we should have a division of property here, as we have had heretofore, and continue this order of things, as has been for many years back, and never should begin to practise upon this equality of things which God ordained in His law, when we come to enter the courts above, we should be ignoramuses; we could say, "We read in your law something about it, but the people did not practise it, they were careless, and did not keep the law." And now we do not know how to manage this celestial glory, and these kingdoms, and these worlds placed under our charge; for we are to give an account, not only in time, but in eternity, of our stewardship; consequently we must improve upon the true order of things here, which is typical of that which is hereafter; and if we learn the lessons here, everything there will be plain before us, and we will be able to enter into the very things we have been practising years before. There will be an inequality, no doubt, in some respects in the eternal worlds, in proportion to the eternal things that will be intrusted to the servants, as in temporal things; but there will be a perfect equality in another respect; the revelation says, "He maketh them equal in might, and in power, and in dominions."
Did you ever think of that? It is only in one respect. Each one will be made joint heir of all things in heaven, and upon earth. What more can a person want, if he is made a joint heir of all things; and one revelation says, he that is a faithful and wise steward in time shall inherit all things; consequently they are equal in dominion, and in power, and in might, as the vision states. This don't say that each one shall actually control, and govern, and manage all things; that is a very different thing; just as it is here in temporal things, though each person may be considered as the inheritor of all the properties of the Church; yet when he comes to the management of property, he has only a share, so in heavenly things, a person may have the management of only one world, or of two, or of three; or of as many as there are particles of dust that compose our globe, yet, after all, each can proclaim himself as the inheritor of all things, being a joint heir of the grand universal inheritance.
There is no division of celestial glory, imparting to each one an equality of dominion, and might, and power; it is not to be divided, but there is an equality in the union of all these things. That is what we want to get at here; we want to learn the alphabet of it here, and advance to the a, be, abbs, and get over into two syllables, and keep on until we understand all about the celestial order by practice in this world, and then we will learn the laws that are to govern the different individuals that control and manage certain portions of the great joint stock inheritance; we will learn the laws that are to rule and govern between man and man; and we will not be ignorant of it when we go into the next world, we will find there that one kingdom will not have the right to encroach upon the royalty of another and take away its right, but each one will be governed by true and holy laws. Upon this principle, and this only, can we understand those revelations which so often speak of the principles of equality in the eternal worlds. Equality of dominion we cannot understand, by supposing each person that comes into the celestial glory is going to have the same number of worlds, and of kingdoms, and thrones set off to him that those have who have been in the celestial glory millions of ages--that he is going to have the same number of principalities and powers, and servants or angels to wait upon him to carry out his commands. An equality of dominion is that that I have already explained, each one inheriting all things, according to the laws God has ordained for celestial beings, but not directly or personally controlling only that which is placed under his management.
Much might be said upon this subject; it is glorious, and it is a principle I wish the Saints in Utah may all be enlisted in, that it may be sought by the nations afar off, when they come to learn that this people are the people of God, and they are governed by God's laws; that they may see the order carried out before them in practice, that we may be looked to as a great light set upon the mountains, that will reflect upon all the face of the earth, and show the people the true order by practice, and then they will see the difference between God's order of the possession of property, and the little, narrow, contracted orders established by man; for each one is grasping for all he can get, oppressing the widow and the fatherless, bearing down his neighbor, and grinding him down in distress, tyrannising over mankind, because he has riches at his command. The Lord has seen this order long enough, and it is a stink in His nostrils, and He wishes it driven away from the earth, and He has given us instructions to do it away, and if we want to do it away, let us begin among ourselves first. I rejoice in this principle, because it takes away the idea of having so many poor in our midst. You know in the days of Enoch the Lord placed the people upon the high places and mountains, and they flourished, and He blessed them, and called them Zion because there was no poor among them, and the Lord was in their midst.
Now the Latter Day Zion is to be built up according to the same pattern, so far as circumstances will permit, for we expect that the Zion which was built up by Enoch, that had no poor in it, will come down again at the commencement of the Millennium to meet the Zion here, according to the song in the Book of Covenants, "The Lord has brought up Zion from beneath, the Lord has brought down Zion from above," and they shall gaze upon each other's countenances, and see eye to eye. When we get there how sadly we should be disappointed, if we should look forward upon all the vast extent of the Zion of Enoch, and all the Zions God has taken out of His creations to heaven, and should see no poor among them; and then we should look upon Zion brought up from beneath, containing poor and rich; should we not be ashamed? especially when we reflected that the law of God had been among us; we should not have boldness to gaze upon their countenances, unless we came into the same order of things that existed among them.
Let us prepare ourselves for the coming of Enoch's Zion, that we may have the same order of things among us that they had in the beginning. Then, again, it will be a glorious thing in many other respects. What is it that creates this great inequality that we naturally see in the world, in regard to the high and low? It is the difference of parentage in many respects. One man is so situated he can train up his children in all the learning of the day; he can take them into his carriage, and they can ride at their ease, and in their grandeur, while the poor and needy and destitute bow before them, or are trampled under their feet. There is no such thing as union there, because they were unequal to begin with. When the Saints have this established in their midst, you will see them all alike, where none can say that "such a person is richer than I am, and I have no right to associate with him." Neither can the rich look upon those that are poor, and say, "My children shall not marry with the poor, and unite with them in their festivities, &c., because I have more property than they;" all these things will be done away, and the principle of equality will be established, and all will be stewards of the Lord's property. That is what I wish to see--that when one family of children have the privilege of being educated, the rest should enjoy it; when one family are in possession of the good things of the earth, the rest should enjoy the same privileges also.
How do I feel, to take it home to myself? I long for the time to come when I can consecreate everything I have got; all the cattle I have; I have got some first-rate cattle, the Lord has prospered them. I want the time to come when I can consecrate every hoof of them; also my hooks, and the right and title I have to publish my works, also my wearing apparel, and my houses; they are not mine, and not being mine, I have no business with this property, only as the Lord sees fit to let me have it. When I have done this, if the Lord in His mercy will give me one team, five or ten teams, to make use of as His steward, I will endeavor to keep a record of that stewardship, of the losses and the gains of it, and will endeavor to render an account of it in time as well as in eternity, and an account of all things pertaining to it, and of my transactions in regard to it; for unless I am a wise and faithful steward in time, I never expect to inherit all things in eternity.
Having said this much, may the Lord bless you, and may His Holy Spirit be poured out upon you, and may your hearts be united to bring about this union; for if we unite ourselves together upon this principle, with all our hearts, mights, minds, and strength, laying aside all covetousness, there is not any power beneath the celestial kingdom that is able to prevail against us; we will prosper in all things, and the Lord will make us the richest of all people that have been upon the face of the earth for many generations, and He will bless our basket and our store, and increase and multiply the flocks and the herds in the fields, and cause them to flourish exceedingly, and make us mighty; and when we go forth He will make the nations to tremble before us, because His power and glory will be with us when we are doing His will and are united in one.
UNION OF THE SAINTS--AUTHORITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD--POWER OF GOD--OBEDIENCE--THE URIM AND THUMMIM, ETC.
A Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered at the Special Conference in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, August 13, 1853.
The preaching we have had by brother Joseph Young, is the kind I love. It is very unlike the mixed up preaching of the world; but it is music to my ears; there are no jars nor discord when we hear the sounds of the glorious Gospel of the Son of God. It matters not to me what kind of an instrument it is played on, it is music to me and to you; but if you will tear in pieces the best and most perfect thing on the earth, it will not look well in that condition.
The Gospel and plan of salvation that I have embraced, is music to me; it is sweet to my body, and congenial to my spirit; and it is more lovely than any thing else I have ever seen since I have been in the world. I love it, and that is why I love this people better than any other people on God's earth, because there was never a better people, that is, I am speaking of the majority of them; but if you take them as a whole, I do not know that you can find any worse--that is, there are some that will compare with the worst in the world for sin and wickedness.
As brother Joseph said, so say I--Do not fear anything this side of hell, or that is in the east, west, north or south. I do not fear it any more than I do that the sun will fall from its position in the heavens, if this people will do just precisely as they are told. You know I preach upon this a great deal. The world considers it to be quite ridiculous for us to be of one heart, and of one mind. It is this union among those who are faithful "Mormons" that makes the world afraid of us; they fear us because we differ from the world. In the United States and in the old countries, they are divided into six or seven hundred different religious denominations, all disagreeing with each other; besides political and a thousand other kinds of divisions and differences, such as whiggery, democratism, socialism, which, in short, may all be summed up under the term, <Devilism>. This is not the policy of the Latter-day Saints. Jesus says, <if you are not one, you are not mine>. Let the Christian world who profess to believe in Jesus Christ, and in his Father, and in this book, the Bible, note that passage, "<Except ye are one, ye are not mine>."
There is more oneness in this people, than in any people that ever lived upon the earth. There was not that oneness in the days of Jesus, that there is now, and I suppose there never has been since the days of Enoch. Because there was such a oneness among the people of Enoch, and they could not continue to be one, and live with the people in the same world, God took them and their city with a part of the earth to Himself, and they sailed away like one ship at sea separating from another.
Jesus says, "<Except ye are one, ye are not mine>." And yet the Christian world take a course to justify themselves in division, in strife, in animosity, in quarreling, in envy, in jealousy, in war and bloodshed. And yet they say they are one: <I say> THEY LIE. A man that says it, lies to me, and he lies to God. I say this to all the world, and to those who are passing through the city as emigrants; if you profess to be disciples of Christ, and have hatred to us in your hearts, I say you lie; in the name of the Lord God Almighty I say it. Do you not think He will sustain me in it? Yes, and all His faithful followers will too; and those who desire to be the disciples of Christ and to be one, will gather together.
I referred to the days of Jesus; was there that union then, that might have been? Jesus said to the disciples, when the people turned away from him, "<Will ye also go?>" This he said to the Twelve. Many of the disciples forsook him. Even Peter, the chief Apostle, turned away from him when he was in the greatest trouble, and denied him, with cursing and swearing.
In this day and age of the world, we profess to be one. Jesus said then, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not. He will do so now if you will let him; he will gather us together from the four quarters of the earth--I mean the Saints, the honest in heart, the elect of God; that they may become one, and lay aside their selfishness, their bickering, their murmuring and complaining, and everything of this nature.
If a man wants my ox, let him come and tell me so, and he shall have it; he need not quarrel with me about it; and if he robs me of it, I want him to enjoy the stolen property, if he can; for I will not quarrel about the foolish things of this world, for they will soon decay, and return to their mother earth, as you and I will.
Now, brethren and sisters, I will say to the emigrants who are passing through this city, and to the world at large, that it is our intention to become perfectly one in heart and mind. Have those who have separated themselves from this people prospered? They may have prospered for a season; but by and bye they become like a limb that is severed from the tree; they wither and vanish away; and all such will continue to do so from this time henceforth and forever. It is just as much impossible for a people to exist that withdraw from this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it is for a limb of a tree to live when it is severed from the body of the tree. Of this I am positive, because I know it. So I will say concerning the world and all the sects and denominations and kingdoms of the world, that oppose the work and people of God, <they will wither in due time likewise, and they cannot help themselves>.
When brother Joseph Smith lived, he was our Prophet, our Seer, and Revelator; he was our dictator in the things of God, and it was for us to listen to him, and do just as he told us. Now that appears very absurd in the eyes of the world; but they all say, if they had lived in the days of Peter, Moses, or Jesus, they would not have done as the people in those days did to them; but at the same time they would take their lives if they could and do just like them.
We are the servants of God; we have been called of God through the ministry of that holy Prophet Joseph Smith, who received his authority through the ministry of holy angels. Now he was just as true a Prophet as Moses was, or as any Prophet that has ever been upon the earth; and we are just as much the authorized servants of God, as the Apostles and disciples in the days of Jesus Christ were, and I know it. And I bear testimony of it to the United States, and to the nations of the world. They say they do not believe it. What do I care whether they do or not? I know it, and God requires me to bear testimony of it, to be valiant in testimony to the truth of this work, and to preach the Gospel, and to lay before my brethren their duty.
Brother Joseph is gone, and now brother Brigham Young, the Governor of the Territory of Utah, is our Prophet, our leader, our Revelator; and it is for me and you to listen to him with all diligence, the same as we would listen to Joseph were he alive. Brother Brigham is his successor; his word is sacred; and if you do not observe it, it will not be well, and there is where I fear for you, brethren. I do not fear so much for myself as I do for you, because it will go hard with you, if you disobey his advice. There will many of you turn from the faith; you will turn your backs to us, and some will be guilty of shedding innocent blood, if you are not aware. This will be the result of apostacy. When that spirit attacks you, you will be led to do as other apostates have, who have turned from the Church of Christ.
Judas, when he lost the faith, received the power of the devil, and betrayed the Son of God into the hands of murderers. Joseph Smith in like manner was betrayed into the hands of wicked men, who took his life. He was betrayed by apostates, by men whom he once loved when they were in our midst, and had the spirit of the Lord. We also would have been slain, if they could have got hold of us; but they were afraid to touch us; they knew it would be certain death to the man who lifted his heel against us. Just so now. I have got my old Gospel preparation laid up drying, preparing himself for action. Do I fear? No. I do not fear anything that lives on the earth, or that is in hell; Indians or anything else never will disturb us, the Saints, from this time to all eternity, if we will do precisely as we are told.
I do not speak of these things to establish myself as a Prophet, but I know what I say; I know you will prosper, and live in peace in the mountains of the Great Salt Lake, and be perfectly independent. You will have food and raiment, houses and lands, flocks and herds, and everything your hearts can desire, that there is in heaven and on earth, if you but do as you are told. If you will do this, you will think my words are very profitable to you, whether I am a Prophet or not. I am not saying anything but what my President has said time and time again. You will live in peace, and God will be your defence; and you will increase in knowledge, in power, in grace, and in every good thing that you can think of, or mention. I have said often, you may go and write blessings for yourselves, and insert every good thing you can think of, that is in heaven or on the earth, and it will all come to pass on your heads, if you do right.
What do I care for what the world says? I care no more about it than I do for the squalking [sic] of a goose. It is none of their business if I have a mind to be a Saint, and keep the commandments of God; and as you have heard it said, so say I--the time will come in which you will dwell in peace and safety; and when the time comes that you will go back to Jackson County, you will be independent, and live without any opposition at all. Can the Lord do it? Yes. All the people are in His hands, and He can turn the nations as I can an obedient horse. They are governed and controlled by the Almighty at much as we are. What can they do against us? Why nothing whatever, but if we do not do right they will be a scourge in the hands of God to scourge us, just as the Indians are at this time. There never would have been a disturbance if this people had done as they were told.
I am not speaking of the people in this city any more than of the people of other settlements. To my certain knowledge there is not a settlement in these mountains but were instructed by brother Brigham to build good forts and live in them; and on these conditions alone were volunteers permitted to go out and make new settlements.
Have any of them built forts? Tell of one settlement, if you please, excepting they commenced one in Iron County which remains unfinished yet. The Indians are now upon us, and our brethren are scattered off, three, four, and five families in a place, away off in this and in that direction, exposed to the Lamanites. They have been called into the city that they might be safe, and they are now teasing us, and wanting to go back again, and live in those exposed locations without a fort.
The Lord has made the Lamanites--the Indians, a scourge; but if this people will turn to and do just as they have been told, their wrath will be turned away in a short time, but not until the Lord God sees that this people are determined to do right. Upon the same principle that my wrath would be turned away from a child that repented under the rod of correction, so will the Lord's wrath be turned away from His children when they repent, and go and do what they are told. A spirit of compassion seizes me the moment I see a repenting child; so it is with our heavenly Father. But the most of parents, when they tell their children to do a thing, and happen to give them a little slap on the ear for disobedience, the next moment they are saying, "O my dear child, I am sorry, let me give you a piece of bread and butter." Our Father in heaven does not do so, until he sees contrition of heart in His children, for their wrongs.
We live in the days of Prophets, Apostles, High Priests, and servants of God who have the Priesthood upon them, and I know it. Gentlemen, I have been a member of this Church near 23 years, and passed through the whole of the difficulties in Kirtland, Ohio, and Missouri. When brother Brigham and myself and others, with our families, left Kirtland to go to Missouri with Joseph Smith, we had to lie with our firelocks by our side. When we arrived in Missouri, the devil contrived to raise the armies of the wicked against us there; and all the Elders and male members that could be counted from the western boundaries of Missouri to Nova Scotia, were not more than 205 men. We went up to Missouri to reinstate our brethren who had been driven out of Jackson County. We went up near 1000 miles with our firelocks in our hands. Was there any fear in us? No. It never entered into our hearts, from the day we started to the time we returned again. I never saw the time but I could whip out twenty of the best men on earth.
I had a spirit on me as much superior to this earth, as the earth is superior to the degraded spirits of the wicked that dwell on its face. It was the Spirit of the Lord that stood by me, and diffused strength into my body, and into my limbs, until the very hair of my head felt all alive. Did they fear us in that upper country? Yes, they ran as though they were never going to stop in the world. We felt perfectly able to clear out that country to Nova Scotia, and we could have done it with 205 men, if the Lord God had commanded us, as the Gideonites did in days of old. Yes; 205 men, with the Spirit and power of God upon them, and their faces shining like the sun, it cannot be told what they could accomplish; neither can we form any conception of it.
Let us be as one person from this time henceforth, and do not let us suffer ourselves to become cold and stupid, but be Saints all the day long; and we shall build up the kingdom of God, and be prospered in all things we set our hands to do.
These are a few things I wanted to say; still there are many more things of great importance to us if we will only listen to them. One is, take care of your grain; for it is of more worth to you than gold and silver. I know you will see harder times before another harvest, than you have seen this season. Do you believe it? Did they believe it last year, when there were 15,000 bushels of wheat in the Tithing Office? No. When brother Brigham said the same thing last spring, to stir up the people to be careful of their grain, they said, "O no, brother Brigham, we cannot surely come to such scarcity as you foretell; look at the storehouse, it is full." How much was there in the storehouse this harvest? There is not one bushel of grain of any kind, and I do not know that there will be.
There has been a great quantity thrashed out this harvest, but little of it has come into the public store, and the hands on the public works are obliged to live. If you go into the joiner's shop, it is almost left desolate. If you go into the machine shops, and into the mason's shop, they are the same; and yet there are thousands of bushels being thrashed out and ground into flour, and sold for from seven to ten dollars per hundred weight to the world--the emigrants who are passing through here yet--and at the same time the business on the public works stopped for want of it.
Brethren and sisters, please to look at this; you know I am telling you the truth, which is every day exhibited before your eyes.
The public ground here has to be inclosed before we can put forth a hand to build a Temple to the name of our God; and you are ready to feed everybody else under the heavens but the workmen. Have you turned from the Lord your God, and forgot His purposes? Think of it, you farmers!
I do not know but I am wearying the brethren, but these things were on my mind, and I have got a back load of them yet; I see them, and reflect upon them in my heart. O Lord God, what will become of us? Have the people forgotten thee and thy purposes, with the Holy Priesthood upon them--with the sacred ordinances of God's house upon them? Now think of it, brethren and sisters. There is enough, and we need never want bread; but if we do not take the right course, we are sure to see sorrow, and the greatest you have ever seen. Some of you never saw any in your lives. Those who were never without bread, and clothing, and good houses to dwell in, murmur the worst; and those who never had any troubles and trials since they have been in this Church, or since they have been on the earth, are the most ready to complain. This may appear strange doctrine to you, but you know it is true.
As to getting rich, why bless your souls, is not the earth the Lord's and the fulness thereof? Are not the gold and precious metals in the mountains, in the dells, and in the cliffs of the earth, all the Lord's? He created all; and the human family, with all the treasures of earth, are in His hand. They all belong to the Lord our God, and we are His people if we do His will. Are we not heirs to all these riches? Certainly we are; every son and daughter of Adam, who loves the great Father of our spirits and His Son Jesus Christ, and obeys the Gospel, and listens to him whom God has delegated as an Apostle and Prophet to counsel His people, I tell you that all this treasure is theirs, and the devils cannot help themselves. I am just as sure of it as I am that the sun will rise and set to-morrow. Do you believe it, brethren and sisters? Do you know it? Yes, you know it. Now if you ever expect to enjoy it, you have got to live for it, as individuals, independent of any other man or woman. You have got to live as independent Saints, and obey the will of God independently as it is taught, and laid before you from time to time. All that wish to be delivered from the scourge, and from afflictions, will have to rise up and do right to their God, and to each other, not as a Conference merely, but as a people, as the Saints of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am not going to command you to do it; but my advice is for you to do it. Rise up now, and do just as you are told, and you will see happy times.
I know there is a greater desire in this people for things that perish, for theatrical performances and dancings, than there is for the public interests of the Kingdom of God. Well, let us be Saints indeed, and show to the world that we are for God and for none else.
Among some people in the world it is popular to be a Christian; and among another class it is not popular; but it is popular with me to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; and then it is popular for me to do the will of the Holy Spirit.
A single man can accomplish more with the power of the Spirit of God, than this whole people can, if they will not do right. Do I fear anything? No; but if I have to bow down to the chastening rod, as I have already done many times in this Church, I will do it like a man of God. I have been driven five or six times, and yonder are my habitations, and they may rot there. And so have some of you been driven in like manner; and some of you never had one thing to trouble you in your lives. I am now well off; but if I have got to come to it again as I have in former times, I will round up my back to the burden, and make it as tough as a piece of sole leather, to bear what shall be laid upon me manfully, or else I will die. I have no fears upon that ground at all; but my prayers are, by night or by day, for the Lord to take me from the earth, rather than I should sin against Him, or against my brethren, or against our President Brigham Young. I have known him 30 years, and he and brother Joseph Smith have been comrades together; and better men never lived on the earth than they are; and you may tell the kings and rulers of the earth this, and the nations over which they preside, if you please. The reason why we would rather have him to be our Governor than any other man, is because he is the best man we are acquainted with.
I have lived in the State of New York, town of Bloomfield, Monroe County, right in the heart of the country where the ancient Lamanites, and other veterans, destroyed each other, root and branch; where the Book of Mormon was discovered in the hill of Cumorah. From among those rich hills the people are flocking to these mountains. Why? Because this is the richest place in the world.
The country adjacent to the Sweet Waters has actually become a rich gold mine. Talk about gold! The Lord can change any of the elements into gold as easy as He could change the water into wine.
I suppose I had better bring my disjointed remarks to a close. I feel first-rate; I feel like a soldier of Christ, like a man of God. I feel sometimes that I could take one of those mountains, and handle it as I could a foot-ball. Bless your souls! if you will only do as the Lord tells you through His delegated agent, who gives you the voice of God and the wisdom of God, I am not troubled at all. The question is asked many times, "Has brother Brigham got the Urim and Thummim?" Yes, he has got everything; everything that is necessary for him to receive the will and mind of God to this people. Do I know it? Yes, I know all about it; and what more do you want? That is true, gentlemen; I am one of his witnesses in the last days, and to bear testimony of the truth of "Mormonism."
I say to the Saints, do not look upon us as perfect beings; notwithstanding, if you are perfect yourselves, then look for it in us, and not until then. If any of you are perfect, we want you to come here that we may see such beings, and know how to model ourselves after you; just as I take a piece of clay and shape it after another model more beautiful still.
Some of you think you have passed through awful tribulations in leaving your mothers and friends. I was glad when I got away from mine, because they persecuted me, and lied about me, and persecuted my brethren; so I was glad to get away from them. But they will see the day when they will be glad to come to brother Heber, and say, "Let me black your boots, clean your horse, or drive your carriage," &c.
You talk about carriages; good heavens! I am just as sure of enjoying these blessings as I am of enjoying anything on this earth. If you do not believe it, read that book (the Bible), which speaks about the armies of heaven, and about horsemen and chariots, and men armed with swords, and all kinds of instruments of music; it is all spoken of in this book, and we will enjoy it, while those who seek our destruction, and all sinners, will go to hell.
All this enjoyment of the good things of heaven and earth will come by a separation of the righteous and the wicked. There was a time when an eruption took place in heaven, and Michael and his armies arose, and cast out the rebellious portion of the angels from heaven. Don't you think they got tired of contention, and broils, and tumults? Yes, so they universally agreed to cast it out. We will get tired of it too, in these last days, and we will make a separation between Saint and Sinner. The Sectarian priests have written and preached about forty years ago, and have proved to their readers, and to their hearers, that there would be a separation, and the sheep would be placed on the right hand and the goats on the left; I suppose the goats mean those that are not good for much, they bear no wool.
I guess I had better stop speaking. May the Lord God bless you for ever; and may union, peace, righteousness, and salvation be with you for ever and ever. Amen.
COMMON SALVATION.
A Discourse by President Orson Hyde, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, September 24, 1853.
Being called upon this morning to occupy a portion of the time, I gladly arise to do so.
I am not in the habit of making many apologies, for I intend to give you the best I have on hand, and also such as may be given me, during the remarks I may make.
While I attempt to edify you upon some of the principles of salvation and eternal life, I desire an interest in your prayers, that I may speak, not according to the wisdom that man deviseth, but according to that which cometh down from above.
As a foundation for some remarks that I will make, I will read a portion of the Epistle of Jude, 3d verse:--"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints."
Were I capable this morning of addressing you upon subjects that are not understood by you, that you do not comprehend, there would remain a doubt in your minds with regard to the truthfulness of what I say; but if I address you upon subjects with which you are familiar, impressing them upon your minds perhaps more forcibly than they have been for some time past--if I refresh your minds with familiar things, you will then know and understand.
The old book, the Bible, which I have read so many times, does not lose its interest by once or twice perusing, but I take it up and read it over and over again, and my mind is refreshed; which is a matter of satisfaction and comfort to me. So it is with the principles of our religion; though we have often heard them, yet we desire to hear them still, and they are of that peculiar nature that they do not lose their interest to those who are seeking for eternal life.
Jude speaks of a common salvation; that it was not only necessary to write unto them of the common salvation, but while he was doing so, that he should exhort them to contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints. Now I know it is too often the case, when we speak of salvation we speak of a state of glory to be attained in the eternal world; that the matters and affairs of this world are of but little consequence, of little importance, but we are looking yonder in the heavens for our reward, for our everlasting inheritance.
I look at it in this light. The husbandman may plant seed in the earth, but if he all the time looks to the golden harvest, and pays no attention to the cultivation of the young plants on their progress to perfection, he will not reap the reward he anticipated. Then it becomes necessary for him, and it is to his interest to attend to the cultivation of the plant in its progressive stages, and encourage its growth.
Just so it is with us. It is for us to attend to the things that are present; the things that are past we are to forget, particularly those things that are of an unpleasant character; and the things that are in future are not in our hands, and subject to our control, but they are in the hands of the Almighty, and with Him they are secured. It is the present, then, with which we have to do--with the things that are immediately before us; that is, I believe, the common salvation. I do not pretend to say what the Apostle had his eye particularly fixed upon, but I shall pursue this subject as it appears unto me.
Another thing I will suggest in the outset. It is often the case that we hear men and women talk about temporal things, and about spiritual things. What are temporal things, and what are spiritual things? Can you tell me what spiritual things are? Says one, "It is a joyful feeling, that buoys us above the cares and anxieties of this world. Spiritual things are our hope of a glorious inheritance in the Kingdom of God in the future. Temporal things are the things we eat, drink, wear, and use in divers ways, to shelter and sustain this mortal body while it remains a tabernacle for our spirits."
I look at temporal and spiritual things in the same point of light; they are to me all spiritual; I know no difference. The hand that has prepared a place in the celestial kingdom for them that are worthy of it, has also formed the earth and caused it to produce food for every living thing. We behold in the starry firmament, the worlds that are revolving continually around us, which are made by the same Omnipotent hand, and they are all His, and they are all spiritual, because they are as eternal as God Himself, for there can be no annihilation of matter; consequently they are eternal; and nothing we may conceive or imagine of more refined substances can do more than continue for ever.
Everything God has created and made, even the hairs of our heads that fall to the ground, do not escape His notice. The Almighty has not organized matter as a mere plaything, of a temporary existence, and then plunge [sic] it into the regions of utter annihilation; but everything He has done is like Himself, Eternal, and everything eternally witnesses the goodness of the Supreme Ruler, for all His works shall praise Him. If His works are to perish, where is the monument of His labor? There will be none. What He does is eternal, and remains an eternal witness of what He has done, and so His works eternally praise Him.
But we want to come to this common salvation. It is said somewhere, whether in the Bible or some other place, I do not pretend to say; but if it is not in the Bible it is none the less true, that "self preservation is the first law of nature." I have reflected this morning a short time upon our condition. I contemplate the circumstances under which the Pioneers came to this valley--the circumstances that attended the early settlements and exertions made here to procure the necessaries of life.
I was not one among the honored company that first led the way to this distant region, that first plowed up the sterile soil of this valley, but I was engaged in some other country. Indeed while Pioneers were on their way to this land--while they were engaged in that arduous enterprise, I was perhaps upon the banks of the Danube, or might possibly be in England, or in Asia, I do not now recollect where I was; but I was in those eastern regions, bearing my testimony perhaps among the Austrians, Russians, or Turks, among their consuls and agents, bearing my testimony to them of the things to come. Perhaps some in those nations may now remember that an humble servant of God at a certain time bore his testimony among the people in that country, which is the most beautiful of God's creation, spreading out in valley or plain, and which perhaps is now laid desolate, and drenched in human blood.
I was elsewhere when this valley was settled. How was it? Behold, when they arrived here, all they had to subsist upon, until they raised it from the soil, was in their wagons. There were no crops to come to; there was nothing provided to cheer them at the end of their long and toilsome journey; and the skeletons of cattle might be seen walking to and fro, without anything provided to feed them upon through a long winter. And then, when they had plowed up the soil, and sowed seed in the earth, and the fields began to show an evidence of a future supply, the crickets came in millions from the mountains, and nearly devoured all that grew; everything that germinated in the shape of food for man was eaten by the insects.
But before they had completed the work of destruction, the hand of Providence prepared agents, and sent them to destroy the destroyer; a circumstance that was rare, one that was never known to exist before, and never since to any extent--behold, the gulls came in swarms, and as clouds, and eat up the crickets, and checked them in their destructive career; and there was just enough saved to feed the hungry with a scanty morsel.
There are many before me this morning who can no doubt remember well when their meal bags were perfectly empty, with only a distant prospect of their being replenished; and when a cow was slaughtered, rare as it was, they eat everything; even the hide was boiled, dressed, and eaten, and everything else, external and internal, that possibly could be eaten was eaten; there was nothing lost.
One man said to me, "I labored hard under the pangs of hunger to put up a little adobie cabin and prepare to live, and at the same time my wife and children, pale with want, were ranging the hills and benches to find thistles and roots to eat, which we boiled in the milk of the remaining cows the wolves had not eaten."
Those who have come here since the Valleys have become a little fattened, think it hard if they cannot get what they want, and immediately enjoy a fulness with those who have borne the burden and heat of the day. They think it hard if they have to pass through a close place, and have to struggle a little to obtain the comforts of life. But look back to the early settlements of this place, when nothing but destruction stared its inhabitants in the face, what surety had they from the savage that was in their doors and in their tents? Here was the hostile and blood-thirsty savage, prowling around, and the early settlers knew not what hour he might pounce upon them; they were out of doors; they had not a house to live in, or to form a defence, much less a fort to protect them, until they were able to throw up something of a temporary character to shield them from the attacks of the wild man of the mountains.
This is a little of the early history of this settlement. We have prospered; we have had accessions to our numbers; to be sure we have had trouble and difficulty with the savages in various ways, but in the midst of it all we have arisen from the germ, and the tree has grown up, and begins to shoot forth its branches.
It is not the inhabitants of the little settlement in Salt Lake Valley alone that are now embraced within the walls of this Tabernacle; but three hundred miles to the south, and the hundred miles to the north, large settlements have sprung up. In the midst of these circumstances, the hand of God has been with us as a people, and prospered our labors abundantly; and I feel proud to meet you this morning in such comfortable circumstances; you all appear comfortably clad, and the bloom of health and the smile of contentment sit triumphantly upon your countenances. The hand of the Almighty is with you, to cheer and gladden you in the midst of all difficulties, and the praise is due unto Him, for He has blessed our labors, and enabled us to acquire these comforts we enjoy; and let me say, they are the staff and bulwark of our common salvation, for it is our lives we wish to prolong on the earth.
Why do we wish to do so in this toilsome and troublesome world? Why not close our mortal career, and our spirits go home to God who gave them? Because we have not done our work. It is said the wicked shall not live half their days; if they did they would only multiply their race until the principles of wickedness would become universally diffused. The Lord will give to the righteous the long end of the cord, for they shall live out their days. Then I say to the Saints, be just and true to each other, and to your God, and you will live out your days, and complete the work assigned you.
I will represent it in another point of light. Suppose a man is sent to England, or to the Continent, to Asia, Egypt, to any part of Africa, to the western islands, or to the islands of the Pacific to fulfil a mission, and he returns before he has completed it; who is ready to greet him? who ready to welcome him, that understands his true position? He has not done his duty; he has not fulfilled his mission, and accomplished the work he was sent to do; and he returns, how? Filled with the Spirit of God? No, but with the spirit of darkness; and his testimony is powerless; he feels he has not done his duty like a faithful servant.
Then how important it is that every missionary that bears a portion of the Holy Priesthood, and this Gospel to the islands of the sea, should magnify it in the eyes of the people, and before his God, and return clean in spirit and in heart; and with a Spirit to bear witness with our spirits that God is with him, and has been all the day long. He is then hailed with a joyful welcome by the servants of God in Zion.
We are all on a mission to this world. We came from yonder bright sphere, and each of us have our lots assigned us; and now if we can accomplish our mission, when we return to the bosom of our Father and God, would you not suppose we shall be hailed with one universal welcome? Yes. "Ah!" says one, "I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked and ye clothed me; I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came unto me. Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." This is the welcome.
Then it is for us to act well our part, and perform our mission faithfully, with fidelity to God and to one another, while we are permitted to dwell upon the earth. If we should not act well our part, and go home to the world of spirits, who will be ready to receive us, to extend to us the welcome hand? Every mouth is silent; no songs of praise greet the ear, or shouts of gladness to bless the heart, that a valiant soldier who has retained his laurels would receive. The unfaithful one has lost his glory, and is shorn of his laurels. What will be said to him? "Inasmuch as you knew your master's will, and did not do it, you shall be beaten with many stripes." He has gone to another society; he is not permitted to mingle with the righteous, but he must seek an asylum in another quarter.
Then remember we are missionaries sent to this lower world to accomplish a work. What is the work we are sent to accomplish? In the beginning it was said to our first parents, Go forth, and multiply and replenish the earth. I have been looking about, and have seen how anxious many of our farmers are to improve their stock of cattle; to make them of better blood, and thus all the time be improving; but I very seldom have heard of man seeking to improve his own species. I wish you to think of that for a moment. I have seldom heard that subject agitated, when indeed it is the most important one that was ever investigated.
Let us go a little into the philosophy of this, and see if it can be done, as much so as we can improve any other portion of the animal creation. It is said we bear the image of God, and now shall we dwindle down to the physical and mental degeneracy of the monkey? Shall we suffer our race to dry up like a parched reed? Let us look at this matter. The question is before you to investigate and understand.
Look around upon all the ranks of mankind, and we see different races, some of a high order of intellect, and some low and grovelling, among all the different grades and classes of the human family. Do you suppose it is so in the spirit world? These earthly tabernacles are merely temporary houses for them to dwell in--moving tabernacles; and there are thousands and tens of thousands in the spirit world that have yet to come and take bodies here; and there are different grades of men. Some are of a high order of intellect, and others are low; some are more noble and generous, and some are less so; they all wish to take tabernacles in this world.
I will illustrate how it is possible to improve our own race. Suppose there comes into the community a noted thief and villain; where will he find a home? He will seek for a man possessing a kindred spirit; with that man he takes up his abode, for he does not find the son of peace there, but the son of villainy.
On the other hand suppose a righteous man comes into the community, would it not be natural for him to make his abode with a righteous man? for no other society would be at all congenial to him. The words of the Savior chime in with this idea. Said he to his Apostles, "And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence."
Will that thief and villain go and call upon a righteous man? The atmosphere that surrounds that devoted family is too scorching for him; he is glad to escape from it.
Now then, how shall we improve our own race? Evil communications corrupt good manners. This is as true a saying as it is common. Let every family, every parent, man and woman, set up the standard of purity and righteousness in their own families, and suffer no corrupt principle to lodge in the mind, and never practise it, but by strict integrity and righteousness maintain an atmosphere that is congenial to the good and great.
So, when those spirits come to take bodies, where will the noble and high order of them go? Will they take bodies that have come through a low and degraded parentage? No, no more than the righteous man will take up his abode with the vile and wicked. Where will he go? "Why," says that noble spirit, that is swelling with light and intelligence, "I will take a body through an honorable parentage; I will have a body that will correspond with my mind; I will go to the place where purity and righteousness dwell."
Where do the spirits of a lower grade go? Among the lowest, and uncultivated, where the cultivation of the principles of virtue and integrity is in part or entirely neglected. In this way the sins of the fathers are answered upon their children to the third and fourth generation.
Do good spirits want to partake of the sins of the low and degraded? No; but they will stay in heaven until a way is opened for purity and righteousness to form a channel in which they can come, and take honorable bodies in this world, and magnify their calling. Let us take that course, and if we do not draw the brightest spirits to honor our generations, it is because I do not understand, and declare unto you, the principles of true philosophy in correctness on this subject.
Try this, and your offspring will be the fairest specimens of the work of God's hand. If the servants of God will maintain the principles of holiness and integrity, they can then have more than one wife, and by that means you can draw in your train more of those spirits that will glorify the God of Israel.
Let me bring it right home to you. Suppose your children were about to go from you to some distance--would you not feel anxious they should fall into good company, into generous hands? Yes. So, when our Father in heaven, who is the Father of the spirits of all flesh, (no mother up there, is there? I do not know that a man can produce his own kind without the agency of woman; I know of no such law in nature,) sends spirits to earth, when they leave Him, is He not anxious they should fall into good hands? Yes. He is anxious they should have an honorable birth, and glorify His name in the flesh, reflecting honor on His character and dignity in heaven. And if there is not much said about the mother, if they honor the Father, the mother will borrow her glory from the father, it will come to her through that channel, and it is a legitimate one.
The parent has a desire that the recreant child may do well, at the same time his good desires and hopes for his welfare are weakened by despair; you commit him to the care and keeping of kind Providence; it gives you sorrow, it pains you that he will not be good, but you cannot help it, for he will not listen to the counsels of a kind parent. So it is with our heavenly Father. He wishes the spirits born to him in the eternal world to do well when they come here to take bodies. If some are not so loyal, so true and faithful as others, yet He wishes them to do well, but at the same time they must pursue their own course, prove themselves, and then receive the reward due to their works done in the body.
Now then, let us commence to improve our race. You know, to one there is given five talents, to another two, and to another one, &c. Let us improve upon the talents we have received--upon every power, ability and trust that has been committed to us. If we do not, the talents we receive may be taken from us. After all these things I have told you about improving our own race, self-preservation is the first law of nature. I have told you about the people in the Valley, about the productions thereof, how it was in the beginning of its settlement.
I wish to come to our present condition, and I want to speak justly and correctly, and if I do not, I know there is a power here that will correct me, and will not fail to do it. If I say anything that is far out of the way, it should be corrected, and I hope I may ever stand in that relation whenever I commit an error, that it may be corrected before it be too late.
This season the Lord has blessed us with abundance. I told you that all things are spiritual to me, and when I talk about potatoes, hay, wheat, &c., I am talking about things that are given to us of God. Suppose the Lord should give to me the gift of tongues, it would be the gift of God. On the other hand, suppose He should give me a loaf of bread when I am hungry, which shall I prize the most? It is all the gift of God. Then with regard to self-preservation being the first law of nature. When our brethren have a good crop given to them by the hand of Providence, coupled with their own industry, they are anxious to sell it. They want to buy many things, and press it into market, and sell it for comparatively half its value, so crazy are they to sell it.
They are like some men, when they get a few dimes in their pockets it burns them as it were, and they must spend their money, because they cannot rest until it is spent; taking comfort from the idea, "O well, we will get along the best way we can;" and when they have spent the last dime they are hard up sure enough. This is the case with many of our friends whose labors the Lord has blessed, and richly repaid them for their toil by a bounteous harvest, and now they are anxious to get rid of it.
When we descend to the matter of dollars and cents, it is also spiritual; God made the metal of which they are made; He put it in the earth. We came down so, to accomodate [sic] ourselves to the understandings of all, for I told you I should talk about things you know, and not about things that you cannot comprehend. I will venture to say, when I talk about dollars and cents, you will all understand me. For instance, you sell your hay at ten dollars per ton, your wheat at a dollar and a half per bushel, and all your other products in the same ratio to the stranger, or any body else that will buy it from you, you are so anxious to get rid of it. But by and by, when your poor brethren come in, and have not means to buy that which they must subsist upon, but are under the necessity by days' work first to earn capital before they can buy the farmer's produce--by the time they get means, the price is raised from fifty to one hundred per cent.
Your own brethren, who stand by you in summer and in winter, in adversity and in prosperity; your own brethren, who roam the world over to bring recruits to strengthen your forces, and make your defences still more invulnerable; when they come fainting from the field of their labors, you make them pay an hundred per cent. [sic-punc] more for your produce than the stranger that passes through your country. Is that right? Will God bless an order of things of that kind? Try it, and if you don't dwindle into monkeys, you will dwindle into something more hideous still.
What is to be done? Shall not the stranger be fed? Most certainly. Where rests the difficulty then? If you will only sell to your poor brethren next spring at the same price you will now sell to the stranger, there is no difficulty--I have nothing more to say, but I will be perfectly quiet upon this matter. If you will not do this, raise the price to the stranger, to the same standard you will exact from your poor brethren next spring. If you will do this, you will do right.
This is the common salvation that I wanted to speak to you upon. The scales of justice should be hung upon an even balance. Who are the best able to pay? Your poor brethren, who have hardly a pittance left when they arrive here--who have nothing to bless and comfort their souls and bodies with, or those who come backed up with resources inexhaustible?
Says one, "Do you calculate to go upon the principle that he who has the most shall pay the most?" No; but he shall pay just as much in the fore part of the year, as those do in the latter part of it. I do not see any injustice in this. You now sell your hay at from eight to ten dollars per ton. Next spring, when your poor brethren who have come from Denmark, England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the islands of the sea, with their cattle poor, and in the winter and spring shivering and perishing around your stack yards, what will you charge these poor fellows for hay? Twenty-five dollars per ton, when in the early part of the season you sold it for ten to the stranger. When it has become scarce because of the draft made upon it in the fore part of the fall at that low price, you then exact more than double from your brethren.
How can you answer for this to the Gods who gave you a being? I will leave you to tell your own story. I say, make your prices so that they continue the same the year round, both in times of scarcity and in times of plenty. What is food for one is food for another.
By taking this course you may perhaps compel a little more money to be left in the Valley. What will be done with it? Why, money, like every other stream, will seek its own level. The water courses here find their own level. Suppose there is more money left in the Valley than we actually need--where will it go to? It will find its own level. By and by the land we occupy will come into market, and then where goes the money? Into the treasury of the United States. Has the Government lost anything? No. Has the consumer? No; he has had the value of his money. The producer has gained, but he has gained no more than his just due for encountering the danger he is exposed to, and the labor he must perform in raising produce in the shape of grain, and stock in an Indian country. When his boys go out to herd the cattle they have to be guarded against the attacks of the savage. When the producer goes into the field to labor, he is liable to be shot down by the Indian. In the midst of dangers they produce the necessaries of life, and yet they will sell their products for a mere song.
"Why," says one, "do you wish to oppress anybody by increasing the price of the staple articles of life to the injury of the purchaser?" That is not the design. But I will tell you what it is; men who pass through here may be thankful to get them on any terms. If they had come eight years ago they would have found a waste howling wilderness. What would they have given then for a bushel of wheat? Almost any price. Who has contended with the obstacles to making things as accessible as they are now? The producers, and they are entitled to the benefit arising from their labors.
We do not wish to oppress any person, but we wish to bring every body to one standard price. We want to see the brethren who come here cold and hungry, have as good a chance as those who come in with their abundance. I am glad we have sufficient to spare to feed the stranger, tho soldier, who is the right arm of the nation's defence; I am glad to see them share the bounties of Providence; but I say, let the scale of justice hang upon an even balance.
Do I want any person oppressed, and taken advantage of? No. But I want free trade and sailors' rights. I want even handed justice all round; then I will be satisfied; for this is the common salvation. But if one party is favored more than another, it is a particular salvation. Good wheat, fine flour, beef, butter, cheese, and vegetables are good ingredients to form a common salvation upon; they prolong our lives, lengthen out our days, that we may perform our mission, and do well our work while we are upon the earth, and not die before we have lived out our days, and fully performed what is designed we should.
Now I did not preach exactly so at Dry Creek and Mountainville, but I preached nearly in this way, and when I had done I told them not to be in a hurry to sell their grain, but keep it and try to maintain an equilibrium in the market all the year through. When I had got through, I believed they would do as I told them; for they saw the wisdom of it, and everybody will act according to it only him who says, "I want to live, and I care not if all the rest go to the devil."
What an unenviable situation a man must be in to live himself, and see everybody else destroyed! What a glory it would be to him! He could then exclaim, like Alexander Selkirk,
I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute.
It is a glory I never want to have.
The religious world scandalize the Deity by saying He is quite alone. I once learned a piece to repeat on the Fourth of July. It began like this--
When time was not, e'er suns and planets shone;
When God their mighty Maker lived alone;
When men, the high born offspring of the sky,
Lived buy in visions to the Eternal's eye;
Twas then that freedom held her bright abode
In cloudless glory in the mind of God.
I do not believe God was ever alone; for He has said Himself, it is not good for man to be alone; and if it is not good, I am sure He will not be alone.
We are created in His image and likeness, and I think He has been moving on the same track we are in, and we shall acquire the same experience if we listen to His revelations. "What!" do you suppose He has lived in the flesh?" Paul says, we have not a God that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Why? Because he has felt about the same as we do. The other day when brother Hyde was mixing mortar, a person came along and said, "Brother Hyde, is it possible that I see you mixing mortar?" "Yes," I replied, and when I stand up yonder, and see you poor fellows mixing mortar, I am sympathise with you." I should hate to enlist under a General, and follow him to the field of battle if he had never been there; I should want him to have a little experience, and then I could follow him with some degree of confidence.
I have spoken to you freely on the common salvation. And while the Spirit is upon me, I would charge you to practise it; to set your standard prices now, and maintain them to your brethren in the spring. If you have not already set them high enough to meet your ambitious views, raise them until they will, and there let them stand. That is my advice, and who is going to be injured by it? No person. Who is going to be benefited by it? The producer, who has to go into the field with his life in one hand, and the implement of husbandry in the other. If this is done, the hand of God will strengthen the hands of the producer, and he will live in time and throughout eternity; and we shall have abundance, and rejoice in the kingdom of our God.
Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints. But if I were to branch out upon that, I should detain you too long. I will therefore leave it for another occasion, or for some one who is better able to handle it than myself.
May God bless us, and save us in His kingdom. Amen.
SAINTS SUBJECT TO TEMPTATION--TRUE RICHES, VIRTUE, AND SANCTIFICATION--"MORMONISM"--GLADDENITES, APOSTLES, AND SAINTS--DEVILS WITHOUT TABERNACLES.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 17, 1853.
I will embrace the present opportunity for making a few remarks, as I expect to leave this city before another Sabbath, to be gone several weeks.
You have heard good instructions, counsel, and advice from Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich; I desire to profit by their sayings, and I hope this people will.
We see men before us who are old Elders in this Church, veterans in the kingdom of God; I hope they will live many years to grace our ranks. Those who have been in the Church from the beginning are men and women who have paid attention to their faith, and to the doctrine of sound common sense; they have been good scholars, and by this time must understand tolerably well what they believe. They must also be schooled in the study of man, and in matters which pertain to nations and kingdoms, and in circumstances which concern us as individuals.
The doctrine we have heard is good; we have listened to principles that pertain to life and salvation; and I repeat again what you have heard often, "Secure for yourselves first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness." When you have done this, every good principle, every good thing, every great endowment, every peaceful influence, and all that can be enjoyed by celestial beings are and will be yours.
We may be within the pale of the kingdom of God on earth, yet we are liable to be overcome of evil. There are many spirits who have gone abroad in the world, and men are overcome by false spirits, and led astray from the path of truth. They will begin by doing some evil thing out of sight, and say, "O, it is nothing, it is a mere trifle, and the Lord is merciful, and forgiveth sin." The sins which are considered trifles lay the foundation for greater evils, and expose men to be tempted, and buffeted by Satan, and they will be overcome little by little, until by and by they are overtaken in a fault which is more aggravating in the sight of justice, which lays the foundation for another trial more severe, and to be buffeted more by the devil, for they lay themselves more liable to his power. We might refer you to many instances of Elders of Israel becoming victims to evil--but I pass over that disagreeable matter.
God never bestows His grace upon an individual without trying it in that person, to see if the compound is good. Men do not realize this, nor think upon it as they ought; if they did they would be more careful never to speak against the Father, against the Son, against any heavenly being, or against any being on the earth.
Brethren, seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, then all the blessings that brother Amasa anticipates enjoying will be yours. But no man or woman can enjoy them unless they have first secured to themselves the kingdom of heaven--unless they have secured to themselves eternal life.
Our bodies are satisfied with plenty of food, and we have property around us of various kinds, which satisfies our temporal wants for the moment. But, as I told you some time since, the king seated upon his throne wearing a glittering crown, and surrounded with all the glory of his greatness to-day, to-morrow may be numbered with the beggar, and his crown given to another. Today we possess riches, and to-morrow they may take the wings of the morning and leave us poor indeed.
How long shall we enjoy the happiness we now enjoy, in coming to this house to worship the Lord, and in associating in other capacities with our dear friends? Perhaps by another Sabbath many of us may be laid away, if not in the graveyard, upon a bed of sickness. We cannot trust to the certainty of mortal possessions; they are transitory, and a dependence upon them will plunge into hopeless disappointment all those who trust in them. When men act upon the principles which will secure to them eternal salvation, they are sure of obtaining all their hearts' desire, sooner or later; if it does not come to-day, it may come tomorrow; if it does not come in this time, it will in the next.
If people would contemplate the stupendous works of God, and be honest and candid in their investigations, there is much to be learned that would show them how comparatively worthless are earthly things. We see the spangled vault of the starry heavens stretched over us; but little is known of the wonders of the firmament. Astronomers have, by their researches, discovered some general facts that have proved useful and instructing to the scientific portion of mankind. The phenomena of the motions of the heavenly bodies, and their times and seasons are understood pretty accurately. But who knows what those distant planets are? Who can tell the part they play in the grand theatre of worlds? Who inhabits them, and who rules over them? Do they contain intelligent beings, who are capable of the happiness, light, glory, power, and enjoyments that would satisfy the mind of an angel of God? Who can tell these things? Can they be discovered by the light of science? They cannot. Let every intelligent person seriously contemplate this subject, and let the true light of reason illuminate the understanding, and a sound judgment inspired by the Spirit of Christ be your guide, and what will be your conclusions? They will be what mine are--that the Lord Almighty reigns there; that His people are there; and that they are, or have been, earths to fulfil a similar destiny to the one we inhabit; and <there> is eternity; and as Enoch of old said--"Thy curtains are stretched out still."
Can any of the astronomers in the world point out the kingdom or the world where God is not? where He does not reign? Can a kingdom be found, by worldly wisdom, study, or by any means that can be employed, over which He does not sway His sceptre? If such a kingdom exists, I will acknowledge that the doctrine I taught you the other day is incorrect; and besides that, you will have to blot out some of the writings of the ancient Scriptures.
I wish to make an application of this, with the sayings we have heard from brother Amasa Lyman to-day.
We talk about true riches--about the eternal attributes of the Deity--and about that which He has given to the children of men. I also heard something said the other day about sanctification. This doctrine I heard taught many years ago, and I perceive that men do not fully understand these principles; even the best of the Latter-day Saints have but a faint idea of the attributes of the Deity.
Were the former and Latter-day Saints, with their Apostles, Prophets Seers, and Revelators collected together to discuss this matter, I am led to think there would be found a great variety in their views and feelings upon this subject, without direct revelation from the Lord. It is as much my right to differ from other men, as it is theirs to differ from me, in points of doctrine and principle, when our minds cannot at once arrive at the same conclusion. I feel it sometimes very difficult indeed to word my thoughts as they exist in my own mind, which, I presume, is the grand cause of many apparent differences in sentiment which may exist among the Saints.
What I consider to be virtue, and the only principle of virtue there is, is to do the will of our Father in heaven. That is the only virtue I wish to know. I do not recognize any other virtue than to do what the Lord Almighty requires of me from day to day. In this sense virtue embraces all good; it branches out into every avenue of moral life, passes through the ranks of the sanctified in heaven, and makes its throne in the breast of the Deity. When the Lord commands the people, let them obey. That is virtue.
The same principle will embrace what is called sanctification. When the will, passions, and feelings of a person are perfectly submissive to God and His requirements, that person is sanctified. It is for my will to be swallowed up in the will of God, that will lead me into all good, and crown me ultimately with immortality and eternal lives.
There are numbers of men who can say much with regard to their faith in, and exalted views of, "Mormonism;" they could converse continually about it. In a word, if "Mormonism" is not my life, I do not know that I have any. I do not understand anything else, for it embraces everything that comes within the range of the understanding of man. If it does not circumscribe everything that is in heaven and on earth, it is not what it purports to be.
I will inform you how I became a "Mormon"--how the first solid impression was made upon my mind. When I undertook to sound the doctrine of "Mormonism," I supposed I could handle it as I could the Methodist, Presbyterian, and other creeds of Christendom, which I had paid some considerable attention to, from the first of my knowing anything about religion. When "Mormonism" was first presented to me, I had not seen one sect of religionists whose doctrines, from beginning to end, did not appear to me like the man's masonry which he had in a box, and which he exhibited for a certain sum. He opened the main box from which he took another box; he unlocked that and slipped out another, then another, and another, and thus continued to take box out of box until he came to an exceedingly small piece of wood; he then said to the spectators, "That, gentlemen and ladies, is free masonry."
I found all religions comparatively like this--they were so deficient in doctrine that when I tried to tie the loose ends and fragments together, they would break in my hands. When I commenced to examine "Mormonism," I found it impossible to take hold of either end of it; I found it was from eternity, passed through time, and into eternity again. When I discovered this, I said, "It is worthy of the notice of man." Then I applied my heart to wisdom, and sought diligently for understanding.
But the natural wisdom and judgment which were given me from my youth, were sufficient to enable me to easily comprehend the discrepancies and lack in the creeds of the day.
"Mormonism" is all in all to me; everything else in the shape of false government and false religion will perish in the due time of the Lord, or else the ancient Prophets have been mistaken. If death is not destroyed, and him that hath the power of it, and every man and woman who are not prepared to enjoy a kingdom where angels administer, then much of the Bible is exceedingly erroneous. Every kingdom will be blotted out of existence, except the one whose ruling spirit is the Holy Ghost, and whose king is the Lord. The Lord said to Jeremiah the Prophet, "Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hands of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it." The clay that marred in the potter's hands was thrown back into the unprepared portion, to be prepared over again. So it will be with every wicked man and woman, and every wicked nation, kingdom, and government upon earth, sooner or later; they will be thrown back to the native element from which they originated, to be worked over again, and be prepared to enjoy some sort of a kingdom.
Then where will be their glory--their lands--their silver and gold--their precious diamonds and jewels--and all their fine pictures, and precious ornaments? In the hands of the Saints. Will the wicked inherit them? No; they will be disinherited.
I do not wonder at the ancients marvelling at the wickedness and unbelief of the people. I do not wonder at the words of the Savior, which will apply to the people generally as well now as then, when he said, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." This generation are seeking eagerly after that which will perish in their hands; they are madly rushing forward, hazarding their eternal all, to secure transitory possessions, which, when they think they have obtained them, are not fully satisfactory; they have grasped at the walls of an airy phantom, and sacrificed an enduring substance. How foolish, in the eyes or the truly intelligent, the pursuits of the wicked appear. They set their hearts' affections upon that which is not durable, seeking happiness where misery and all its attendant effects are sure to be realized. Jesus said to his disciples, when he was about to leave them, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
Who wishes to overvalue earthly things as they are now constituted? They are made to be changed, they are subject to decay. But the earth will not be utterly destroyed; the elements of which it is composed will not be annihilated, but they will be changed. Neither shall those be consumed who can abide the day of the Lord Almighty, and stand in His presence. The earth in that great day will be renovated--cleansed from wickedness--purified from dross, sanctified, and prepared for the habitation of the Saints of the Most High.
On the other hand, the wicked shall be consumed with the Spirit of His mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of his coming. The gold, the silver, the precious stones, and all that is desirable to beautify the heaven of the Saints, will be made pure, and fit for them to handle. It is the <misapplied> intelligence God has given us that makes all the mischief on the earth. That intelligence He designed to carry out the purposes of His will, and endowed it with capabilities to grow, spread abroad, accumulate, and endeavor to enjoy greater happiness, glory, and honor, and continue to expand wider and wider, until eternity is comprehended by it; if not applied to this purpose, but to the grovelling things of earth, it will be taken away, and given to one who has made better use of this gift of God.
I say again--"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," and in due time, no matter when, whether in this year or in the next, in this life or in the life to come, "all these things" (that appear so necessary to have in the world) "shall be added unto you." Everything that is in heaven, on the earth, and in the earth, everything the most fruitful mind can imagine, shall be yours, sooner or later. I wish you would square your lives according to what has been said to you to-day, especially while I am gone.
I wish to say to all the brethren, young men, and boys, while I am gone from your midst for a season, let your conduct and conversation be such as becometh your profession in all things. I hope I shall not hear of drunkenness, confusion, and quarrelling when I return. I am never afraid of it when I am here, for I can manage such characters so completely that they do not think it worth while to begin. While I am gone, behave yourselves. I will preach to you the same sermon I preached to the missionaries a week ago, viz., "Walk uprightly." When I return, and find you have done this, all will be well; if you have violated this counsel, you may expect to be chastised. Let it be said when I return, "All is right; all has been peace; and good order has prevailed in your absence."
I wish to say a few words about some men and families in this city, called Gladdenites. We have been pretty severe upon them, but nowhere, except in the pulpit, to my knowledge. I counsel my brethren to keep away from their houses; let them alone, and treat them as courteously as you would any other person. Do you enquire whether I have any grounds for giving this advice? I answer, I have. For there are few men in this congregation who know when to stop, should they find themselves engaged in a contest with one of that class of people, therefore let them alone entirely. Those individuals are disagreeable to me, and so are their doctrines. The man they hold up is so low and degraded in his spirit, feelings, and life, I have not patience to hear anything said about him. I have known him too long, and too well, not to be satisfied of the wickedness of his heart.
You say you wish to do right, and please the Lord in all your actions; but were I to adopt an evil practice, the greater portion of this community would follow it. Why not follow me then in doing right? Righteousness, in whomsoever found, will never lead you astray; while wickedness will lead you to ruin. No man possessing the Spirit of the Lord, can for a moment believe Gladden Bishop's writings. If it were possible, his system is more foolish than the exhibition of free masonry I have referred to.
I wish this community to understand, that what has been said here touching those men and their views, has been with no other design than to cause them to use their tongues as they ought, and cease abusing me and this people. Some of them visited me yesterday, and wished to know if it was safe for them to stay here. I told them they were as safe as I was, if they did not undertake to make us swallow, whether or not, something we are not willing to take. "We have been driven, and redriven," said I, "and if corrupt people stay in our midst, they have got to use their tongues properly." They promised they would, if they might stay.
If they wish to live here in peace, I am willing they should, but I do not wish them to stir up strife. I never expected that this community would be composed entirely of Latter-day Saints, but I expected there would be goats mixed among the sheep, until they are separated. I do not look for anything else, but I wish them to behave themselves in their sphere, also the sheep; and let the goats associate with their goatish companions, and not endeavor to disturb the equanimity of the sheep in their pasture.
This comparison will apply to this people, and those men. If they wish to labor, and obtain a living, they are welcome to do so; but they are not at liberty to disturb the peace of their neighbors in any way; neither let this people disturb them, but grant them every privilege claimed by, and belonging to, American citizens. Let them meet together and pray if they please; this is their own business. Let them do as some did in a camp-meeting in York State--One man met another and said, "How do you do? How are they getting along on the camp-ground?" "Why they are serving God like the very devil," was the reply. And the Gladdenites may serve God like the devil, if they will keep out of my way, and out of the way of this people.
The men who visited me yesterday, stated that they believed Joseph was a true Prophet, and that they were full-blooded "Mormons;" indeed they seemed to have in them an extra charge of "Mormon" blood. I asked one of them if he had any confidence in the endowment. He confessed he had no faith in it. I then asked him if he did not believe that Joseph Smith was a fallen Prophet. His reply was, "I rather think he is."
When a man throws a stone at me, and with it dashes his own brains out, I have nothing to say. He called himself a full-blooded "Mormon," and almost in the same breath declared Joseph was a fallen Prophet, and that he had no confidence in the endowment. How is it in reality with those men? Why they have not a particle of faith either in Joseph Smith, or in the Book of Mormon. I told one of them, who professed to be so honest, that he wanted the Lord to come down from heaven that moment and judge him, that five years would not pass away before he would be cursing, and swearing, and proclaiming blasphemously against every good principle in heaven and on earth.
They do not know what they believe, neither do they know what they have received; they think they know all about it; they think they know that you are out of the right way, and that they are walking in it. When they say this people are going to be destroyed by the judgments of God, it is to me like the crackling of thorns under the pot. Pass along, and mind your own business, is a fit reply to their declarations.
There has never been a Church of God on the earth without such characters. According to their outward appearance, they are as good men and women as you might think could possibly be. You might say with safety, "They are truly Saints," if you were to judge by the appearance of the outside of the platter. But what does Jesus Christ say? "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Again, "For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."
He that doeth the will of God, is His disciple. You may say Joseph was a devil, if you like, but he is at home, and still holds the keys of the kingdom, which were committed to him by heavenly messengers, <and always will>. Do you ask who brother Brigham is? He is an humble instrument in the hands of God, to keep His people in the path which He has marked out through the instrumentality of His servant Joseph; and to travel in which is all I ask of them. I said some time since on this stand, if I was not a Prophet, I certainly had been profitable to this people. I know I have, by the blessing of the Lord, been successful in profiting them. The Lord has done it through me.
There is a man named Martin Harris, and he is the one who gave the holy roll to Gladden. When Martin was with Joseph Smith, he was continually trying to make the people believe that he (Joseph) was the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. I have heard Joseph chastise him severely for it, and he told me that such a course, if persisted in, would destroy the kingdom of God. Who else ever said that Joseph Smith was anything but an unlearned son of a backwoodsman; who had all his lifetime, ever since he would handle an ax, helped his father to support his little family by cutting wood?
Thus the Lord found him, and called him to be a Prophet, and made him a successful instrument in laying the foundation of His kingdom for the last time. This people never professed that Joseph Smith was anything more than a Prophet given to them of the Lord; and to whom the Lord gave the keys of this last dispensation, which were not to be taken from him in time, neither will they be in eternity.
I wish to see this people fulfil in every particular what Joseph told them to do, and build up the kingdom of God, and this they are doing. I give them praise to-day, for they are a God-blessed people. Which of these Elders that are sitting round me, if they were asked to go on a mission for five, ten, or twenty years, would not rise up and say, "I am ready," notwithstanding all their weaknesses and foolishness?
Ask an apostate to go and preach salvation to a perishing world, and his reply would be, "I cannot go, I am too poor." They are a perfect abomination among men. Did they ever build up the kingdom of God in any way? Never. They have done nothing but apostatize, and they will now continually try to destroy the work of God with all their might. This is all they ever did do, and it is all they ever will do. There is not a faithful Elder here who would not, if called upon, readily go forth to preach the Gospel in distant countries, though he had not a shoe to his feet, or a coat to his back. Would an apostate do it? No, they cannot do anything without money! money! <money!> which is their god. The faithful children of God will be faithful in preaching the Gospel, in building up the cause of their God, and in carrying salvation to thousands and millions of the fallen race of Adam, which we have done.
I wonder what apostate would do as we did when we went to England? I was better off than many of my brethren, for I had three shillings to pay my expenses to Preston. On we went to that town, and held our Conference, and from thence we started out every way, preaching the Gospel in the regions round about.
Allow me the privilege of boasting, though it is not me but the Lord that has done it. We sustained ourselves, and assisted the poor to a very large amount, and only staid in England one year and sixteen days. This means was gathered up by faith, and we baptized over seven thousand people, gave away about sixty thousand tracts, for which I paid the money and sent Elders out to preach in every direction. Would an apostate do this? No. But they wish to sour, corrupt, and desecrate with apostacy every Saint they come in contact with. It is not in them to do any good to the cause of truth; but out of the evil they design the Lord will bring good.
This people commenced with nothing. Joseph Smith, the honored instrument in the hands of God to lay the foundation of this work, commenced with nothing; he had neither the wisdom nor the riches of this world. And it is proven to our satisfaction, that when rich men have come into this Church, the Lord has been determined to take their riches from them and make them poor; that all His Saints may learn to obtain that which they possess by faith.
How many times has He made us poor? Thousands of dollars' worth of property in houses and lands, which the Lord gave me, are now in the East, in the hands of our enemies. I never said they were mine, they were the Lord's, and I was one of His stewards. When I went to Kirtland, I had not a coat in the world, for previous to this I had given away everything I possessed, that I might be free to go forth and proclaim the plan of salvation to the inhabitants of the earth. Neither had I a shoe to my feet, and I had to borrow a pair of pants and a pair of boots. I staid there five years, and accumulated five thousand dollars. How do you think I accomplished this? Why, the Lord Almighty gave me those means. I have often had that done for me that has caused me to marvel. I know, as well as I know I am standing before you to-day, that I have had money put into my trunk and into my pocket without the instrumentality of any man. This I know to a certainty. Ask an apostate, if they can, in truth, bear testimony to such a thing. They cannot do it. Enough about that.
Again, I say if "Mormonism" is not all I anticipated it to be, it is nothing. If it is not in me, and I in it, if it is not all and in all to me, I am deceived in myself. It is everything in heaven and on earth to those who possess it truly; but lose this, and, as I told you the other day, what remains will dwindle, perish, decay, decompose, and be reduced to its native element, or, in other words, be thrown into the mill to be ground over.
The Lord Almighty will not let anything endure that offers hospitality to the devil and his imps. Those who suffer their bodies to be dwellings for evil spirits, must suffer loss, for devils cannot construct a house that will in any way answer their purpose; neither have they been able to do so in all the eternities there are; that is the very thing which causes us trouble continually; for they are trying all the time to get into our dwellings, because they have none of their own. Did you ever desire to take possession of another person's tabernacle, and leave your own? No rational person owning a tabernacle would wish to do so. The devils have no tabernacles, which is the reason of their wanting to possess human bodies. If any of you have suffered any of these houseless spirits to enter you, turn them out, and they will perhaps seek refuge in the body of an ox, or some other animal, or may be go [sic] into Jordan.
Do you think the legion we read of, that entered the swine, in the days of Christ, had bodies of their own? No; they have no meeting houses but in ball rooms, gaming houses, brothels, gin palaces, parlors, bed rooms, and other places which they frequent in the bodies of those they lead captive; otherwise they are wandering to and fro in the earth, seeking to possess tabernacles that other spirits, not of their order, already occupy. They are in our midst watching for an opportunity to enter where they may. What will be the doom of those who give way to them, and yield to them the possession of their tabernacles? They will wander to and fro, happiness will be hid from them, they will weep, and wail, and suffer, until their bodies return to their mother earth, and their spirits to judgment.
Brethren and sisters, you are on the right track; be virtuous, humble, thankful, generous, and true to your God, and to each other, loving Him more than all things else, and making His Law your delight day and night. If I did not love the Lord enough to leave houses, lands, father, mother, wives, and children, and even be ready to lay down my life freely for the kingdom of God's sake, I should not consider I was worthy of it. Were I to forsake all for it, I should lose nothing; for the man who honors and serves God, cannot suffer loss.
The very laws which govern eternity are planned to sustain an eternal growth, gathering together and increasing; so that the true servant of God cannot possibly suffer loss, but will reap eternal gain, though he, for the cause of truth, is poor and needy through the whole of this short life. He has made truth his theme; and what is it? I will say it is that which endures; it is eternity, and its power is to grow, increase, and expand, adding life to life, and power to power, worlds without end.
May God bless you. Amen.
PERFECTION AND SALVATION--SELF-GOVERNMENT.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, December 18, 1853.