PROGRESS OF THE LATTER-DAY CHURCH--THE SAINTS OF ALL AGES CO-OPERATING FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON THE EARTH.
A Discourse by Elder Parley P. Pratt, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 7, 1856.
My brethren, sisters, and friends, I have rejoiced in the return of this anniversary of the rise of the Church, and to see so may of those that we have reason to believe love the truth, assembled in general conference; in beholding and seeing the faces of so many as were assembled on yesterday, and as are here to-day; to feel the spirit, behold the unanimity, and the good feeling that appear to exist, and the dispatch with which we are enabled to transact business; and in reviewing the past looking at the present, and contemplating the future, my heart has been cheered.
I have been highly edified and interested, and have had reason to rejoice in looking at the Saints gathered in from the north and from the south, from the east and from the west, who have met to rejoice and reflect upon the things of God. I have rejoiced while listening to the edifying discourses which have been delivered: I have not heard anything more useful and more to the point for a long time than the discourse on yesterday in the forenoon; it was practical and instructive in all its points, just the advice and counsel that are needed at the present time; nor have I been less edified and instructed in the remarks made, as I conceive in the spirit of prophecy, in a great measure, that flowed from my brother yesterday in the afternoon, a parting discourse as we may call it, as he expects soon to depart to a foreign land on the other side of the ocean.
I have also been led to reflect much in contemplating that this is the twenty-six year since the restoration of the Church of God, visibly as an organization upon the earth. Twenty-six years have rolled away in the experience of this Church, and it naturally leads the mind to contemplate upon the past, and past events will rise in review, the memory will fall back upon them and whether we look at the past, the present, or the future, the mind cannot but view it, if it is constituted like mine, or influenced by the same spirit that mine is influenced by, with pleasure and delight.
Twenty-six years ago, the coming summer, mine eyes glanced over the Book of Mormon, and I afterward heard the voice of the servant of the Lord and enjoyed the smiles and the blessings of the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum, and received under their hands and those of Oliver Cowdery the Priesthood, or a portion of it, and the keys and power of the same, they having received it by the ministering of angels, to be carried through to all the people of the earth; and at that time all the people of this Church upon the face of the earth, could have been assembled in the vestry of this Tabernacle without being much crowded.
The joy which filled my bosom in reading that sacred record, waking up our minds and giving us the knowledge of the past dealings of God with the inhabitants of this vast western hemisphere, and of a nation of people as ancient as that of Abraham or of the Jaredites, and giving us a knowledge also of a branch of scattered Israel led away from the land of their fathers 600 years before Christ, and the glorious fact, the most important of all others in the book, that the risen Jesus in his glorified immortal flesh and bones set his feet upon this western hemisphere and ministered publicly to thousands and thousands of the Nephites blessed them, revealed to them his Gospel in its fulness, and was glorified in their presence, and thousands of them had the privilege of bowing at his feet, of bathing his feet with their tears and of kissing them, and of handling him and seeing and beholding the wounds that were pierced in his side and his hands and feet, and of hearing the words of salvation and the commandments of God from his own mouth, and then from day to day they had the privilege of assembling in general conference and hearing his prophesyings, and his remarks on the prophecies of the Prophets referring to himself and to others, prophecies also concerning this our day, and the coming forth of this work to us, and the visions that should appear and be given at the opening up of this dispensation; all these things received in faith in my heart, and by the spirit of knowledge and of light and of understanding, and of hope and joy, and charity filled my heart in a way that I never can express to any being; to have the same joy understood, it must be experienced.
Nor have I been disappointed in my hopes since I embraced this Gospel. After twenty-six years of progress--progressive fulfilment of the things spoken by that Redeemer to the Nephites, and the things written by his commandment and brought forth unto us, I not only believe but I realize and know by the Spirit of the Lord as well as a man knows anything that he sees and hears, and better too, for a man might be deceived in seeing or in hearing, but I know these things by that light that reflects on the understanding, and in which there is no mistake, nor deception; by that I knew that the work was true and that Joseph Smith, the finder, translator, and the restorer of the Priesthood upon the earth, was a Prophet and a Apostle of Jesus Christ--a restorer, raised up according to that which is written, to bring back and commit unto the person appointed, those covenants, those keys, those ordinances, that Gospel and plan of salvation which were had in old times, but which had been suspended and lost from the enjoyment of the people; I say, that he was such, I had a knowledge and an understanding.
He was only about twenty-four or twenty-five years old when I first met him, and I became intimately acquainted with him and his brothers, and with his father's house, and I remained so, as far as I was not separated by foreign missions, until his death; and did I not know, and do I not know and bear testimony that he lived and that he died an Apostle and Prophet of Jesus Christ? And from the day of his death, or long before that until the present, I have been intimately acquainted and associated with the Apostles of this Church and kingdom under all circumstances, whether in sickness or in health, whether in the midst of life or in death, whether in prosperity or adversity; whether abounding or suffering want; whether by sea or land; whether in the midst of peace or of mobs and oppression. And do I not know that President Young and his counsellors and the other Apostles associated with him in this Church, hold the keys of salvation? That they hold that authority which administers life and salvation to the obedient and the humble, and which to reject is condemnation, wherever it exists, to every soul of man upon the earth? Yes I do know it, and I do this day bear testimony of it, and of that glorious Gospel in its fulness which was restored to the earth twenty-six years ago, that filled my heart with joy and charity and love for my fellow men, and with a desire to do good, and to impart the truth as it is revealed.
Has it become dim and waxed cold in my heart, or departed from it? I say unto you no! But if it be possible for a man to rejoice more than I rejoiced Twenty-six years ago, I say if it be possible, then I rejoice more to-day than I did on yesterday and more than I did twenty-six years ago--and why? Because my heart is larger; it was full then, it is full now, and although outwardly and according to the flesh, and in the world I may be in tribulation and sorrow, and care, and labor, and anxiety yet in Jesus Christ there is peace, in the fulness of the Gospel there is joy, in the Spirit of God there is gladness; and whether we look to the past we rejoice with thanksgiving, and whether we look to the present our hearts seem to grow larger, and whether we look to the future there is hope and a fulness of joy, and we increase in understanding--and why? Because the Spirit that is in us sheds forth in abundance in our souls joy and satisfaction, and the Gospel inspires us with a degree of knowledge and light, and certainty in regard to what we are about, in regard to the work we are engaged in and the prospects that lie before us.
We know for what we labor, although in the flesh, subject to mortality and its weaknesses; we may be partially asleep, or in other words we may know in part, comprehend in part, prophesy in part, and hope in part not seeing and realizing the fulness, nor the thousandth part of the fulness that will be consummated in the progress of this work. But after we see enough of it to serve us for the time being, and we enter into it with sufficient comprehension to rejoice with a heart full of joy and of satisfaction, it inspires us to act with all our heart, might, mind and strength.
I have often been reminded by the faithful laborers in this Church, the Presidency and others, of the parable in the Book of Mormon that these latter-day laborers should be called to prune the vineyard of the Lord. It says that "Their numbers were few, but they did go to labor with their might," and it says, "The Lord labored with them."
Well, do they not do so? Do not the old Prophets and Apostles help us? Have we not their aid and their influence in our favor? Zenos and many other Prophets are helping us. Lehi and all the Prophets understood the principle of union and concentration that would be necessary in the last days. And Nephi in bringing up this prophesy which was uttered by the Prophet Zenos and putting it in his book, shows that he considered it of importance to the people of God, and it is written there that we might see and understand how it was that the great work of the last days was to be fulfilled.
Is it not being fulfilled every whit? Have not the eleventh hour laborers been called? Are not their numbers few? And have they not labored with all their might, many of them? We won't say all, because there are many called but few chosen, but those chosen men that have been faithful, have no denied the faith, nor departed from the labors assigned them, nor forsaken the cause, but have held on and held out all the day long; and many more laborers of more recent date, have they not labored with all their might, temporally, and spiritually? Verily I say unto you, yea, and the Lord has labored with them; and if you want the proof look around here! What else but the power of these laborers and the powers of the Almighty God with them could have led these thousands and tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints over seas, deserts, through the mountains, overcoming every obstacle and then have sustained them in these Valleys? Did not the Almighty labor with them when He clothed them and fed them? Was not His eye over them in providing circumstances through which they might be fed and clothed, and have the necessary comforts of life? When He caused them to flourish in the midst of a desert country? When He inspired the Gentiles to pass through here with all kinds of tools, clothing, shoes, seeds, with cattle and horses, flour, bacon, powder and lead, from the frontiers of the United States, and throw them down at the feet of this people cheaper than they could buy them where the articles were produced?
Did not the Lord labor with His servants and with this people? Yes, He did. And when they had made the track where neither wagon nor horse tracks had been seen for hundreds of years and for hundreds of miles of the journey, and made the bridges and crossed the streams, they had not more than made a commencement on their journey when five hundred men were called for by the United States to go to the seat of the Mexican war; and these men took California and made it secure to the government of the United States.
When these men were discharged from government service, two thousand miles from their friends and without means to return, did not He guide them to bring forth the treasures of the earth, to bring forth the shining dust, and turn the world upside down? And did He not cause persons from all parts of the earth to follow in their wake, with their implements, their provisions, and their various kinds of tools, from the United States to this country, and when they came here they found themselves too heavily laden, their animals worn out; but they were bound to press onward, and hence they stripped for the race and harnessed for the battle, to see who would reach the gold mines first.
Well, suppose a man had stood up and prophesied before the Battalion went to California, or when we were first driven out from Illinois, that we should ever be prospered, clothed and fed until we could come here into these mountains and raise food for our own sustenance, who would have believed it?
And suppose a man had prophesied thus--"The Gentiles will follow you like a flowing stream by scores, and hundreds, and thousands, and they will bring their flour and bacon, their sugar and dry goods, their tools and implements of husbandry, their iron, and everything that is of use and pour them out at your feet, so that your every want will be supplied, and the treasures of the earth will open under your feet, and the treasures of the ancient mountains shall be opened unto you, and the clouds shall drop down their rains." Suppose that all this had been prophesied; also that Great Salt Lake City would become the great central seat of government for this country, and that the Gentiles would come like a mighty flowing stream, and that we should after all our difficulties be sustained, who would have believed it? Why some one would have said, this is wild enthusiasm; it is too good to be true.
Well, this people came, sustained themselves on the journey, and arrived in this desert country, plowed up the parched earth and put in their seeds, after bringing them more than a thousand miles, besides what they had to bring to sustain themselves on their journey, and they have lived until now on what they could raise in these deserts. Who ever heard such things? And yet the very moment that we are tried, some of us are complaining, and you will find that our stores are not overflowing with plenty, and the insects eat our grain, nearly everything is destroyed by the grasshoppers and drought, and we are then brought to ourselves.
For these trying times some will begin to say in their hearts that the Lord has forsaken us, and the Lord has forgotten us, but He will show that He hath not. Can a mother forget her suckling child? Say, mothers, can you forget your infant children? Peradventure you may, but it is not likely; yet though a mother may forget her child when it cries with hunger, yet the Lord says He will not forget Zion. He may show that He is displeased with the acts of some, He may hide His face from them in His justice, yet in His loving kindness He will chastise them, but He will make a way for their escape. Brethren, will His friends ever forsake Him? Or will He ever forsake them? No, never.
To sinners He has never made any promise, but that they shall be rewarded according to their works; but to the Saints that keep the commandments and abide in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to them that do believe and know His will, He has made these; but those who have known Him and in the day of tribulation forsaken His laws will be beaten with many stripes. To all those who stand firm and steadfast when the love of many shall wax cold because of the famine and pestilence, and great trials with which the Saints of God are to be tried before the judgments pass from the house of God to the wicked, to all such He has made precious promises, and they will be fulfilled; and the promises concerning things to the house of Israel as well as to the Saints of the Most High will surely be fulfilled, for those promises hold good to the other side of the vail; for although the remnants of Israel are not yet in the Church, although not in the covenant, yet they are beloved for their father's sake, and the promises have claim on them because of the promises made to their fathers; and though these their children do not understand it, and though they are in a state of ignorance, not knowing the Lord, ignorant in relation to the promises obtained by the obedience of their fathers, yet the promises extend to them as well as to us Latter-day Saints.
Do you suppose these promises will be fulfilled? I know they will. I knew they would twenty-six years ago this summer; I knew it then, I have testified to it ever since; I know it now, and though heaven and earth should pass away, yet not one jot nor one tittle of the promises of God concerning the Latter-day Saints, concerning Zion, concerning Jerusalem, concerning the Jews, concerning the Lamanites, concerning the remnants of Joseph, concerning the seed of Lehi, or concerning the ten tribes of Israel, or any of the branches thereof--not one will fail, but they all will be fulfilled in their time and in their season.
The work has rolled on progressively up to the present time; not one jot or tittle has rolled out of its place, but it has moved on harmoniously, and it will continue to progress, and all the promises will be fulfilled.
In order to aid in their fulfilment, the Latter-day Saints, the faithful, those who hold the keys of this ministry, must fill their storehouses with grain, their treasures with the comforts of life, their cellars with vegetables and all kinds of food, which can be preserved, and this will be done in the own due time of the Lord.
Whatever straits, whatever poverty, and however long they may last, yet the Lord will smile upon us and we shall again have plentiful harvests; and however much there may appear to be in the world at the present, yet in the own due time of the Lord they will need bread and provision, and the necessaries of life, and if faithful to the counsel given, we shall be able to succor the poor, and have means to help the laborers and the mechanics, and to supply the wants of the needy.
We shall be able to call into requisition the skill of the able mechanics, to have the benefit of machinery, and we shall have all the skill, and all the power, and all the wisdom, and all the treasures, and all the means necessary to build up Zion, gather the people, redeem Israel, fulfil the promises, and build the holy temples and cities of our God; redeem and bring about the restoration of the living, and administer for the dead, and do all things necessary to accomplish the purposes of God whereunto we are called.
Who will live to see it? We will live to see a great deal of it before we die, but in one sense of the word, we all will live to see it, for we will never die, but we shall part with our bodies, and beyond the vail, we shall then be no less interested in this great and glorious work.
I know some people are apt to think, while the Latter-day Saints are s small people, and considering what we sift out, and what go to California and the States, and with one thing or another, that we do not increase very fast, and that we cannot accomplish all these things that were predicted.
Well, I do not expect that the Latter-day Saints will accomplish the work; I never thought they would. I will tell you my opinion, no, my knowledge, and my testimony; call it opinion if you please. The Latter-day Saints never expect to do it all themselves, but they expect reinforcements of the former-day Saints, and that the two will carry it all out.
You know the prophecy of Daniel about the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens being given to the Saints of the Most High God to possess it forever and forever; you have read it and no doubt understand it.
Well, a mock court under the administration of Austin A. King, since governor of Missouri, while Joseph Smith and others were taken by a mob and were made subject to this inquisition, and to a mock trial, and while undergoing this mock trial the question was put to a witness, "Do these people, these 'Mormons' believe in this verse in the Prophet Daniel?" and at the same time quoting it. "Yes," said the witness. "Put that down," said the judge, "it is a strong point for treason." "But," says one of the lawyers in defence, "Judge, you had better put the Bible down for treason."
That was a very suitable reply; but mind you the text does not say that the Latter-day Saints would possess the kingdom, but it says that the Saints of the Most High, and of course that includes the Latter-day as well as all the former-day Saints from Adam down to the end of time.
Well, then, when the former-day Saints reinforce the Latter-day Saints, and all the powers of heaven are in the midst of Zion, and all the people from Adam and from Jesus Christ, and from the lest and last Latter-day Saint all combine their faith and their works, and their powers, and their gifts, I would leave it to any intelligent person in Christendom whether or no they will be able to do this.
I say they will; I know it; but to say that the Latter-day Saints ever undertook it is not correct, for they never undertook any such thing. It is, as I told them in California, in public debates and everywhere throughout the State where I had an opportunity of speaking to them, and while they were threatening the sword because they could not get the governor out of the chair. I told them to their faces that they need not worry themselves about the Latter-day Saints undertaking that job, for they never would, and they never would be strong enough; but the Saints of the Most High had undertaken it, and I told them that these would reinforce the Latter-day Saints, and then they will all combine together, and they will do it, for it has to be done, and it will be accomplished; and this is what we are here for to-day; it is for what we are assembled at this conference, and we never had but that one object in view, neither have we now, whether we come together to sing, pray, prophesy or bless, to say wood or to chop it in the kanyon; if we are Saints we never had but this one object in view.
Just so with the former day Saints, they never had any thing in view, in heaven or on earth, but this one object in relation to the earth and the inhabitants thereof, and that was to rule and reign on the earth and over it, and over the elements, and over the people, and over all kings and all presidents, and all governors, and all rulers, and all powers that exist upon this planet, and finally over death, and hell, and the devil, and all his hosts, and the last enemy that will be conquered on this earth is death; so it is written.
Well, that is the object, brethren, is it not, of our coming together into these mountains? This is the object, and we have armed forces enough to do it, and they will be brought to bear, and our part of the business is to get ourselves ready. The powers of the heavens will not co-operate with unholy powers directly, and fully, and immediately; of course we as a people are not yet holy, we have not yet gained that fulness of the Gospel and of righteousness, but hardness of heart and blindness of mind do prevent us from rending the vail, and it doth cause us still to measurably remain in that state of blindness spoken of by the Prophet.
We have not yet learned all things as they are, and to entirely overcome iniquity, and because of this the powers of heaven, although ready, cannot fully commune with us, for we are not ready. For this cause your President labors, and for this cause his counsellors preach here, and lift up their voices from day to day, and from time to time, and for this cause the Apostles labor and toil amongst you; it is to get a modern people, a latter-day people, a latter-day kingdom or Church ready, united, sanctified, enlightened, made holy, and prepared for the glorious union, and immediate presence and co-operation of those who have gone before us; for the conquest of the earth, the elements, and all the powers connected therewith, to put down iniquity, to put down Satan, to put down sin, to put down corruption, darkness, and error, and misrule, that the cause of light and truth, and the principles of virtue and rectitude may prevail, and the reign of peace and righteousness be ushered in.
This is the object, and now, is it not worthy of our attention and of our suffering a little? Why, the Almighty God will chasten His people from time to time, because He loves them, and He will purge out the sinners from among them, and some will repent and become righteous, and a great many who promise themselves that they are going to repent and become first rate Saints, but do not begin, need not flatter themselves, for they never will do so in that manner.
When you see men that are not ready to repent, to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, but say, I want to indulge in sin a little longer, and then I am going to turn round and be a first rate good Saint, I will tell you they are deceiving themselves, for they will not do it, for every time they think of doing it they will love sin as much as they did before, and they will continue to love sin, and why? Because, when He (the Lord) spoke they would not hear; when He sent His servants they would not listen, and they would none of His reproof, and because of this He will laugh at their calamities and mock when their fear cometh, and when they call He will not hear, and when they seek Him earnestly they will not find Him.
A man cannot be righteous of his own will and without the Spirit of the Lord; there is no assurance for men, they cannot have the Spirit unless they determine to walk in the light as fast as they see it. Those who promise to repent, but want to indulge in sin a little longer, do not repent, and their hearts are not fit for the kingdom of God.
That man is on the right track who always loved the truth, and lived up to it, as far as he could, with all his exertions, and walked in the light thereof every day, and every time he saw a little more truth obeyed it, and if he did anything at all it was his purpose continually to avoid error and walk in the truth. If he failed at any time it was his weakness, his error of judgment, his mistake, his temptation; it was not because he did not want to do right, or to put it off purposely and choose sin; but it was through his weakness and temptation.
I tell you there is a poor prospect of a man that makes no progress; there is a more promising prospect of a man that has no light, yet lives in the practical duties of his religion, that man or that woman must be happy. Why, bless your souls, there is hope with such a man, and though he may err in judgment and make mistakes, and though he may trespass, and though he may sin many sins that are not unto death, make many mistakes through weakness, and have to be borne with a long time, yet I tell you there is hope of such a man, because if he lives he learns to see his duties, and if he stumbles and falls down, what of all that?--he will get up again and start on his journey, and when he starts the next time he will start well.
Brethren, don't seek to discourage or crush such a man; it will not do to destroy a man because he makes one or two blunders; it will never do to cry for spilt milk, but try again; and if you cannot overcome at first, try again, and keep trying until you overcome.
But when a man is not trying, but loves to live in sin, but still says every day, "I am going to be a good 'Mormon,'" I have but little hope of such a man, and I generally say to him, you will not do it, for the Lord will not give you His Spirit when you please to get ready to repent.
But the honest man says, "I have been brought to see the truth, and I will do the best I know, though I have a thousand traditions, and though I make a thousand mistakes, and my brethren have to bear with me, yet I will do the best I can, and will be willing to try again; and if I find myself weak and unable to progress and overcome, I will pray that the good Spirit and the strength of the Lord may help me." When a man talks in this way there is hope in his case; I don't care how such traditions have been entwined around him, or how many blunders he may make; I say there is hope in those who seek diligently to learn their duties, and endeavor to live up to them; and this makes me have hope for this people and for myself.
But when a man is careless and indifferent to the blessings of providence, and keeps putting off his repentance, and is continually looking after the things of this life, the Lord don't want such a man; he has no use for him, and damnation awaits such a man, and he will have to wait patiently for the return of the good Spirit to again lead him to repentance. Such a man won't prosper, for a man that will fix his own business first, and them serve God, he is not worthy of Him. He has no business with his own business, his business is to serve God, he has no other business; as I said, whether preaching or whatever place he may be in, he should have but one object in view--the kingdom of God. In whatever part of the earth he may be located, whether among the Saints or in the very midst of wickedness, and where the power of the devil holds sway, it is his duty to preach righteousness faithfully before the people.
Well, brethren, I bear testimony that Joseph Smith and the witnesses to the Book of Mormon were, and, so far as they held out faithful, are men of God, holding the keys of the dispensation of the fulness of times, which is calculated to lead the people out from the iniquity and abominations of this lower world; and that their successors, the Apostles, your President and his Counsellors, received the keys under the hands of the Prophet Joseph. They are the Apostles of Joseph Smith, and holding the keys of a dispensation which will never come to an end, for although all other institutions on the earth come to an end, this will stand for ever.
They are faithful and they labor diligently, and I bear them record that they labor with all diligence, and God is with them, and their counsels will lead to exaltation, and to celestial glory and eternal life, and those that are with them bear a portion of the same keys; they are men that have been faithful and true, many of them have been proved to be such through a long series of years, and they would lay down their lives for the cause; and they, I say, hold a portion of the keys of this kingdom, which they received under the hands of Joseph the Prophet and others of the Apostles, and they will bear those keys and this ministry triumphant to the nations, and while they live they will live for this purpose; whether the flesh lives or not, they will never cease in this world, nor in the spirit world, nor in the resurrected world; whatever their circumstances may be, they never will cease to labor until they accomplish that which they have undertaken; they will labor for this worthy object.
I am not speaking of the eternities, but they will labor for this earth and every creature therein until the conquest is achieved, and death swallowed up in victory; for the powers and keys of endless life, without beginning of days or end of years, have undertaken the great work of the redemption of this earth; they have not and will not pass to others until they have redeemed this little world. Christ offered himself a sacrifice for this earth, for men, for the animals, for fishes, and the creeping things. Christ died for the earth and for the elements; Christ died for all mankind upon its face. Christ died, his blood was spilt, the Priesthood was given, and the labor will continue with the Priesthood from generation to generation, until the kingdom will finally be given to the Saints to possess for ever and ever. He died to accomplish the salvation of all except the sons of perdition, and they have had all these blessings applied to them, and have partaken of them, known them, and then turned enemies to them, and there is not anything greater that you can do for them, and they perish, for after the blood of Christ has been shed and they despised it, nothing more can be done for them than already has been, for they have rejected the means of salvation.
If salt won't save me, what else will? If salt loses its saltness [sic], what will salt the earth? All this was undertaken, and it will be carried through until every son and daughter of Adam have an opportunity of participating in its benefits.
Then here is my heart, and here is my hand to every good Saint in this world, in the world of spirits, in the resurrected world, and in all the worlds connected with this warfare and this work--here is my heart and hand! Depend upon it, if I am counted worthy, I will be somewhere about whether I stay here or go there, whether I stay in the flesh or go into the spirit world, or whether in the resurrected world, depend upon it, while my name is Parley P. Pratt, I will be somewhere about, and while I am, I will have that one object in view, and if I go into heaven, I shall think of nothing else until this is done, nor act with any other view, and I want to be counted worthy, and I mean to try to be, and trust in God for the rest. God bless you all. Amen.
DISINCLINATION OF MEN TO LEARN THROUGH THE TEACHINGS AND EXPERIENCE OF OTHERS--LATTER-DAY SAINTS COMPARED WITH THOSE OF FORMER DAYS--SACRIFICE--SHEEP AND GOATS--CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
Great Salt Lake City, April 20, 1856.
Sometimes I think it quite strange that the children of men are so constituted as to need to be taught one lesson all the time, and again it is not so marvellous to me, when I reflect upon and understand their organization, and the designed effect thereupon of this state of probation. Men are organized to be independent in their sphere, are organized for an independent being, yet they have, as soldiers term it, to run the gauntlet all the time. They are organized to be just as independent as any being in eternity, but that independency, in order for them to occupy a position in the sphere of an independent being having control over all things, must be proved and tried while in this state of existence, must be operated upon by the good and the evil.
It is not so strange to me that the people should continually need talking to, that they should continually need instructing, when I take this view of the matter. Mothers when bringing up their children, if they will observe and reflect, can see and understand the feelings of the whole human family. The mother says to the child, "Don't do that; you must not handle those things;" but the little child thinks itself just as capable of handling a tea cup, or a tumbler, as are father and mother. The little girl takes up a broom to sweep the hearth, but if mother is not watching her she may let the broom take fire and set it by the bed, and thereby the bed and then the building be set in a blaze. In the actions of their children parents can detect the course of all, from the king upon his throne to the humblest peasant, they are all performing their part on the theatre of the earth.
People may be advanced far in life, and yet be surrounded by weaknesses comparatively like those of children. The man or woman of eighty, sixty, forty, twenty, or the child of two or five years of age, have something ahead of them to attain to, and which they are striving to accomplish. There is a principle in the feelings of people which is implanted in their organization expressly for them to become independent, to become Gods, and it is continually urging them to reach forward and to wish to do and perform that which they do not understand. These weaknesses are in the organization, irrespective of age. True, persons can do many things at twenty-five years of age which they could not do when but five years old, and men may know much more at fifty than at twenty, yet the same common weakness is apparent which you can see exhibited in the little child. There is one rule to adopt, one course to pursue, one lesson to be learned, and it is applicable alike to all ages, from the child of one or two years old to the grey-haired veteran, and which, if they would learn, would prove highly beneficial, and that is, to do those things which they know they can do, and when required by a superior to do a thing they never have done, to take the advice of those who have successfully performed the same act, and then with the best skill they can command, do as they are told, and thus further their education in life and be satisfied.
If the child could understand and be satisfied that the mother knows better than it does, when it is told to let the dishes alone, the broom, or the pin-cushion, or not to swing on the table lest it be turned over and break the dishes, or not to do this or that, and that such and such things it might do, it would be a great aid to it to take the course laid down by a judicious parent, and would save it much trouble while passing through its mortal career. I ask myself why it is that people do not learn to be satisfied and contented with what they do know, until they are instructed and learn more, and practise this principle in their lives. We are taught here all the time to be passive and contented, to do the things we know how to do. Still I have no question, but what, if I could unobserved and unknown to them listen to the remarks of many of the Elders, or of brethren and sisters, I should hear doctrines taught and suggestions made which God never designed to have His servants teach. At the same time remarks such as these might be dropped, "I am impressed and the Spirit leads me thus and so; true I believe all that is written and taught, but I tell you that brother Brigham does not tell us all of it; he says he does not, but that he tells us as fast as we can understand and practise what he does teach." Now that is true; but all do not stop and reflect, neither do they fully understand the principles of the Gospel, the principles of the holy Priesthood; and from this cause many imbibe the idea that they are capable of leading out in teaching principles that never have been taught. They are not aware that the moment they give way to this hallucination the devil has power over them to lead them on to unholy ground; though this is a lesson which they ought to have learned long ago, yet it is one that was learned by but few in the days of Joseph.
I was speaking about this matter last night, about the feelings of the people towards the Prophet Joseph. The mass of the people never realized, to the day of his death, but what Joseph was made by them. They actually believed that he was amenable to the people, that he did not know it all, and that other men knew things which he did not know concerning the kingdom of God on the earth.
Here let me give you one lesson that may be profitable to many. If the Lord Almighty should reveal to a High Priest, or to any other than the head, things that are, or that have been and will be, and show to him the destiny of this people twenty-five years from now, or a new doctrine that will in five, ten, or twenty years hence become the doctrine of this Church and kingdom, but which has not yet been revealed to this people, and reveal it to him by the same Spirit, the same messenger, the same voice, and the same power that gave revelations to Joseph when he was living, it would be a blessing to that High Priest, or individual; but he must rarely divulge it to a second person on the face of the earth, until God reveals it through the proper source to become the property of the people at large. Therefore when you hear Elders, High Priests, Seventies, or the Twelve, (though you cannot catch any of the Twelve there, but you may the High Priests, Seventies, and Elders) say that God does not reveal through the President of the Church that which they know, and tell wonderful things, you may generally set it down as a God's truth that the revelation they have had, is from the devil, and not from God. If they had received from the proper source, the same power that revealed to them would have shown them that they must keep the things revealed in their own bosoms, and they seldom would have a desire to disclose them to the second person. That is a general rule, but will it apply in every case, and to the people called the kingdom of God at all times? No, not in the strictest sense, but the Spirit which reveals will impart the proper discretion. All the people have not learned this lesson, they should have learned it long ago.
As I have already observed, comparatively few learned, in the days of Joseph, that he was placed between the people and God, that they had no more right to dictate him than they had to dictate the angel Gabriel, that they had no more business to interfere with him, or call him to an account, than we have to call to an account the angel Gabriel.
This we all ought to understand, and also how and when to teach and practise what we do know, and when we have done that much then stop until we learn more.
I know, and so do many others, by experience, by what we have seen and passed through, by what has passed before us and by what we have seen in others, that when the devil cannot overcome an individual through temptation to commit wickedness, when he sees that a person is determined to walk to the line and travel straight forward into the Celestial Kingdom, he will adopt a course of flattery, will strive to exercise a pleasing influence and move along smoothly with him and when he sees an opportunity he will try to turn him out of the way, if it is only to the extent of a hair's breadth. And if he cannot keep a person this side the Gospel line, he will walk with that individual on the line and strive to push him over.
That is so invariably the case that people need eyes to see, and understanding to know how to discriminate between the things of God and the things that are not of Him. Will this people learn? I am happy and joyful, I am thankful, and can say of a truth, brethren and sisters, that the manifestations of goodness from this people are not to be compared, in my opinion, with those from any other people upon the face of the whole earth since the days of Enoch.
Old Israel, in all their travels, wanderings, exercises, powers, and keys of the Priesthood, never came nigh enough to the path this people have walked in to see them in their obedience that was and is required by the Gospel. Yet there are thousands of weaknesses and overt acts in some of this people, which render us more or less obnoxious to each other.
Still, you may search all the history extant of the children of Israel, or that of any people that ever lived on the face of the earth since the days of Enoch, and I very much doubt, taking that people with their traditions, and comparing them with this mixed multitude from the different nations now in the world with our traditions, whether you would find a people from the days of Enoch until now that could favorably compare with this people in their willingness to obey the Gospel, and to go all lengths to build up the kingdom of God.
I have said a great many times, and repeat it now, and whether I am mistaken or not I will leave for the future to determine, and though, as I do, Joseph when living reproved the people, that I believe with all my heart that the people who gathered around Enoch, and lived with him and built up his City, when they had traveled the same length of time in their experience as this people have, were not as far advanced in the things of the kingdom of God.
Make your own comparisons between the two people, think of the traditions of the two. How many nations were there in the days of Enoch? The very men who were associated with him had been with Adam; they knew him and his children, and had the privilege of talking with God. Just think of it.
Though we have it in history that our father Adam was made of the dust of this earth, and that he knew nothing about his God previous to being made here, yet it is not so; and when we learn the truth we shall see and understand that he helped to make this world, and was the chief manager in that operation.
He was the person who brought the animals and the seeds from other planets to this world, and brought a wife with him and stayed here. You may read and believe what you please as to what is found written in the Bible. Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of this earth. He was made as you and I are made, and no person was ever made upon any other principle.
Do you not suppose that he was acquainted with his associates, who came and helped to make this earth? Yes, they were just as familiar with each other as we are with our children and parents.
Suppose a number of our sons were going to Carson Valley to build houses, open farms, and erect mills and workshops, and that we should say to them that we wish them to stay there five years, and that then we will come and visit them, when I go there will they be afraid of me? No, they would receive me as their father, just as Adam received his Father.
The very man who walked and talked with and knew the God of heaven, and knew and understood all about making this earth had associates who were associated with Enoch, and yet twenty-five years of the travel and experience of Enoch with his people had not advanced them so far, in my opinion, as this people have advanced in the same time, taking into account the difference of traditions and other advantages.
They had not a diversity of languages, but all spoke one language; they were not trained in the various traditions in which we have been, for they received only one from Adam; they were as intimately associated as we would be in living in this City two hundred years, with the gates shut down upon all egress and ingress, and under such circumstances do you not think that our traditions would be all alike?
Yet Enoch had to talk with and teach his people during a period of three hundred and sixty years, before he could get them prepared to enter into their rest, and then he obtained power to translate himself and his people, with the region they inhabited, their houses, gardens, fields, cattle, and all their possessions. He had learned enough from Adam and his associates to know how to handle the elements, and those who would not listen to his teachings were so wicked that they were fit to be destroyed, and he obtained power to take his portion of the earth and move out a little while, where he remains to this day.
You know that I sometimes reprove you because you deserve it, yet there is a constant and rapid increase of willingness to build up this kingdom.
Where is there a woman that would say to her husband, or to her son, "I do not wish you to go on the mission you have been called to perform"? That would say "It is true you were called, but I do not like to have you go, cannot you get excused and stay at home?" I do not believe you could find five such women in this Territory.
There may be a few who are going to California that would say, "Yes, you may go on your mission, but I will go with you." All they desire is to get away. Can you find five such women?
I care not if they should be old ladies of seventy-five years of age and had not the first thing to subsist upon, and though their whole dependence was upon their sons or husbands, they would say, "Go John, my son; or, go husband, if you do not we shall suffer; but if you go and do your duty God will provide for us in your absence." Are not these the feelings of every wife and mother?
In the midst of all this some talk about sacrifices, but upon that point I wish to be allowed to differ from the class who view the matter in that light.
There may be some few exceptions, but I have made no sacrifices. "Mormonism" has done everything for me that ever has been done from me on the earth; it has made me happy, it has made me wealthy and comfortable; it has filled me with good feelings with joy and rejoicing. Whereas, before I possessed the spirit of the Gospel, I was troubled with that which I hear others complain of, that is, with, at times, feeling cast down, gloomy, and desponding; with everything wearing to me, at times, a dreary aspect.
But have the trees, the streams, the rocks, or any part of creation worn a gloomy aspect to me for one half minute since I came in possession of the Spirit of this Gospel? No, though before that time I might view the most beautiful gardens, buildings, cities, plantations, or anything else in nature, yet to me they all wore at times a shade of death.
They appeared at times as though a vail was brooding over them, which cast a dark shade upon all things, like the shade of the valley of death, and I felt lonesome and bad. But since I have embraced the Gospel not for one half minute, to the best of my recollection, has anything worn to me a gloomy aspect, under all circumstances I have felt pleasant and cheerful.
When surrounded by mobs, with death and destruction threatening on every hand, I am not aware but that I felt just as joyful, just as well in my spirit, as I do now. Prospects might appear dull and very dark, but I have never seen a time in this Gospel but what I knew that the result would be beneficial to the cause of truth and the lovers of righteousness, and I have always felt to joyfully acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things.
When I was among the wicked, they looked to me as do the wicked, and when I saw devils possessing the bodies of the children of men I knew that God permitted it, and that He permitted them to be on the earth, and wherein would this be a state of probation, without those devils? We cannot even give endowments without representing a devil.
What would we know about heaven or happiness were it not for their opposite? Consequently we could not have got along so well and so rapidly without those mobocrats. And if mobbers should happen to come here do not look too sour at them, for we need them.
We could not build up the kingdom of God without the aid of devils, they must help to do it. They persecute and drive us from city to city, from place to place, until we learn the difference between the power of God and the power of the devil.
But does it then follow that we should say to them, "Come on here, we are good fellows well met?" By no means, care must be observed that we do not overrun the rule; we only need enough of them to help do up the work.
If we should get too many here they would overcome the good, and the Saints would have to flee.
Some of our Elders desire all the time to say, as I plainly phrase it, "How do you do brother Christ, and How do you do brother devil? Walk in and take breakfast with me."
I consider such men useful in their places. This fact was very clearly exemplified to me in a dream which I had while so many were going to California, at a time when many of the brethren were under quite an excitement about the Saints going there to dig gold.
I thought considerably about the movement, and there had been a feeling abroad among the people that when the Saints got into the mountains "judgment would be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet," that the axe would be laid at the root of the tree, and that every person who did not meet the measure would, in accordance with the iron bedstead rule, be chopped off if too long, and stretched out if too short.
Several supposed that this would be the case; and perhaps thought that they would be able to so sanctify themselves, that in one year they could take Great Salt Lake Valley and the regions round about up to Enoch, or have him come here. I did not so view the matter, and did not give any special instructions upon it.
At that time I dreamed that while I was a little below the road and just north of the Hot Springs, about four miles from here, I saw brother Joseph coming and walked up to the road to see him, and asked him where he was going? He replied, "I am going north."
There were two or three horsemen along, and some men were riding with him upon a few boards placed loosely upon the running gears of a wagon, upon which were also a tent and camp utensils. I wished to talk with him, but he did not seem inclined to conversation, and it occurred to me that he was going to Captain James Brown's to buy all his goats.
I had been promised ten or a dozen of them, but I thought that he was going to buy every one, and that I should not get a single goat to put with my sheep, and I laughed in my sleep.
Pretty soon he came back, with a large flock of sheep and goats following the wagon, and as I looked upon them I saw some sheep that were white, pure, and clean, and as large as a two year old cow, with wool from ten to twenty inches in length, as fine as silk and as white as the driven snow.
With them were all lesser sizes down to the smallest goat or sheep I ever saw, and all mixed up together. I saw some sheep with hair like that of goats, and goats of all colors, red, black, white, &c., mixed with the sheep; and their sizes, colors, and quality of fleeces, seemed to be almost innumerable.
I remarked to Joseph that he had got the strangest flock I ever saw, and looked at him slyly and laughed, and asked him what he was going to do with them. He looked at me in his usual shrewd manner and replied, "They are all good in their places."
On awaking I at once understood the dream, and I then said, go to California, or where you please, for goats are as good in their places as sheep, until the time for them to mingle is over. And in striving to guide and improve the flock we sometimes have to cry out, shoo, and at other times to draw them nigh by calling, sheep, sheep.
We are trying to train the flock, and to turn the goats into sheep, and the spotted, ring-streaked and speckled into beautiful white, and how shall we succeed? Perhaps we shall see rather a curious flock at last, but we will do the best we can.
Sometimes I rise up here and really feel to storm at some who are in this community, for their conduct is awful, it is outrageous. I presume I could come here this afternoon and eat bread and drink of the cup, in the name of Israel's God, with men who would go straight from the communion and steal my property.
Let us consider this point a little, for this matter has been through me, round me, over me, and under me; I have turned it inside out and round about and looked at it, and then I have turned it over again. Brother Fullmer has just alluded to the rails disappearing from fences. Are not your fences taken? Is not you clothing taken when it is hung out to dry? And is not wood taken from your wood piles? How many have to lock up their wood, or lose it? Taking property without leave from the owner is what I call stealing, but many who practise that do not so understand it.
Even if I had to work by the day for bread, wood, clothing, and comforts for myself and family, and should then without authority go and take wood from brother Joseph's wood pile, were he living here and President of the Church, my judgment, what I know of right and wrong, the traditions of my fathers, and the teachings of my parents and of the neighbors where I was brought up would all confirm me in the belief that I was stealing. Do all persons feel so? No, they do not.
During two or three of the past winters, except the last, I have no question but that women and children carried from one to three cords of wood per day from my woodyard, and when the wood was scarce they would take my fence poles. I have myself seen the take back loads of wood and then fill their bags with the chips and small sticks, but when they took my fence poles and posts I stopped them, and told them that if they were not satisfied with taking my wood without taking my fencing to leave my yard, and not to come there to steal any ore.
But do I see some there yet? Yes, you may see women and children carrying away my wood every day. If my workmen ask them what they are doing, they reply "Brother Brigham said I might have some wood, he will not say anything." Do you suppose that those persons fully realize that they are stealing? No.
I will tell you a little that I know about the difference in traditions and customs, and will go no further than where I have traveled and preached. A large number of the inhabitants in the old countries are tenants, renting houses for longer or shorter periods, generally for from three to twelve months.
Now suppose that A, when vacating a house, accidentally leaves his pocket-book in a cupboard, and that B, who next occupies the same building, finds A's pocket-book with perhaps, twenty sovereigns in it; what does the custom of that country warrant in such a case? Their traditions are such that B claims that property as his own, and A cannot get it, unless B is honest enough to give it up.
B's course in that case may not be in accordance with law, but it is according to custom, which in such instances is stronger than law.
An American would consider, if he was to find hand irons left in the fireplace, or a chair of sofa left in the sitting-room, that the former tenant had the right to call and take them away; and if he was to undertake to smuggle any of those things he would consider himself stealing.
That difference of feeling and conduct arises from the difference there is in the traditions of different countries. In America a man would as soon venture to go into his neighbor's house and steal a chair, as to retain one accidentally left there by a previous occupant. I will notice another difference in traditions.
Among various other occupations I have been a carpenter, painter and glazier, and when I learned my trades and worked, both as journeyman and master, if I took a job of painting and glazing, say to the amount of one pound sterling, or five dollars, and through my own carelessness in any manner injured the work or material, I considered it my duty to repair the injury at my own expense.
In Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, or anywhere else in England if you employ a glazier to work to the value of one pound, ten or fifty pounds, and he can manage in any way to put the windows in such a position that the wind will blow them over and break them, he will do it, in order to get the work to do over.
Do they think they do wrong? No. Why? Because their employers would make them do their work for nothing, and then compel them to live on roots and grass if their physical organization could endure it, therefore, says the mechanic, "If I can get anything out of you I will call it a godsend."
Servants into he houses of the great ones, if they can get anything out of their masters besides their wages, call it a godsend. If they can take bread, eat, butter, and cheese, without the masters knowing it, to support their wives, others, fathers, children, brothers, and sisters who are not capable of taking care of themselves, they will put that provision in their possession, to keep them from starving to death, and call it a godsend.
Let me do that in this country, and I should consider myself a culprit, according to my judgment and traditions. No matter if I were suffering for bread, and at the same time working among millions of it, if I could not procure it by my labor, I must ask for it and have it given to me, for if I got it in any other way, I must consider myself a thief. Are the Americans altogether excusable? No, for if I wish to find the rough and ready ones, I can do it as quick in America as any where else.
Shall I tell you what are some of the traditions of a few of the Americans? Yes. If they have not all they need to eat, drink, or wear, and find an ox or cow on the range over Jordan, or any where else, that belongs to me or you, and can take that animal and kill it they will do so, and then sell the meat to you and me, and call that a godsend, and say, "O we are all of one family." That is an American tradition among a few; but as a general thing, the customs of this country and the traditions of the nations across the great waters differ materially.
When I went to England the brethren and sisters would not have me to shave on the Sabbath, they would pay any price to have me shave on Saturday. Said I, "I will shave on Sunday morning, if I have no time to do so on Saturday." I told them that I did not come there to learn their customs and traditions, but to teach the people the Gospel of salvation. That we had traditions in America with regard to blacking boots, shaving, &c. on Sunday, as well as they, but if I had no time to do that work on Saturday I would do it on Sunday, if I deemed it necessary. And if I wished to go to meeting and worship God, it was just as acceptable to do so on Saturday as on Sunday.
Adam Clark is taken by any as a standard amongst the comentators, and it is said, if the clock struck twelve on Saturday night, and he happened to have but one shoe blacked, that he would drop the blacking and brushes, and go to meeting next day with one shoe blacked and the other unblacked. That might by some be esteemed a pious example, and by others a wayark to the kingdom of folly.
Such are a few of the traditions extant among different people. I have no question but that any in our community do things which are actually sinful if they did but know them right, but their traditions are such that they act with impunity, and pass on as unconcerned and unconscious of wrong as if they had just been on their knees praying. If we live long enough together, we shall have a tradition of our own, and that is, to be so trained in the law of the Celestial kingdom, to so learn the law of right, as to be able at all times to know right from wrong, and then always to do right. Is this the case now? No.
Suppose that several of the brethren were to go for fuel and timber in Red Bute kanyon, where we generally went when we first came to this Territory. Some go on up the kanyon cutting a tree for timber in one place, and preparing fuel for loading in another, while others follow up with their teams, and you know that when they get a little brush-whipped they are apt to become angry, to forget themselves a little, and to say, "Damn it," and directly one will begin to say to himself, "This kanyon is as much mine as any persons; I think I shall take this tree and this wood that are already cut."
Another comes across a wagon that is broken down, and takes one of the hounds from it and puts it into his own. Still another passes by where somebody has lost an axe; he finds it and takes it along, saying, "Well, it is lost here, we are away in the wilderness, these are as much my premises as any one's; I will take out this helve and put in another, and grind the axe over a little, and nobody will know it; thank the Lord, I have an axe now."
Do you know that some people feel and act in that manner? I know they do. Some will find wood cut in the kanyon and load it on their wagons, perhaps that which grandad, with his crippled libs, had toiled hard to collect together; but that makes no difference, they pile it on, saying, "I believe I am blessed of the Lord, I am much favored of Him to-day," and come out rejoicing, having found a load of wood already cut. But what have they done? They have found loads of wood cut to their hands, and apparently have not reflected but what an angel had cut it expressly for them. This is a tradition and custom of the Mountains. Some of you may inquire whether I believe what I am talking about. Let me tell you what I have observed; two or three years ago I went up City Creek kanyon to show a man where he might get wood on shares, which I was having cut. I came to where my men were cutting wood and brush to clear out the road, and I told them to pile it so that my teamster could drive up and load it handily. Soon afterwards and old gentleman came along and, without any privilege from me, drove off the man to whom I had just engaged the wood and began to load it on his wagon. That individual was an old Saint, one who had been twenty years in this Church.
What is the feeling with some of the Yankees, English, Scotch, Irish, French, Germans, &c? "We have come to Zion where all things are common." The devil has put this idea into the minds of some, and the devil, I was going to say, cannot take it away from them. They possess this feeling, and they are determined to have it so. With such the idea is, "We are all children of one parent, we all belong to the household of faith, we are one family, and we will have it so, and will not be beat out of it."
This notion is partly right and partly wrong, and, as I have often said, people ought to know how to discern between the things that are of God and the things that are not of God. This is the spirit they receive in the first place--"Ye are one in Christ Jesus," and that is right, but are we one out of Christ Jesus? Many would like to have it so. You have come here from all quarters to be one family, yet if some of you come across a wagon wheel, you will appropriate it to your own use, asking no leave; or if you have no axe, you will get one from some part of the great family, and thank God for an axe; and if you come across piles of wood, that you have not labored to cut, you shout, "Thank God, hallelujah, I have found some wood ready cut to my hand." That is being one out of Christ.
Others will say, "Let us take down this fence, and turn our cattle into this meadow." You can find plenty of earth and pole fences purposely thrown down, and might hear the trespassers exclaim, "O, this is Father's land, let us enjoy it." Others will say, "Damn it, it is mine as well as yours." I will take some of the reputed best men now in this congregation, who, through carelessness and thoughtlessness, when they have done their forenoon's work on their five acre lots, turn out their cattle in other people's oats, wheat, or grass, while they lay asleep. Yes, some of the would-be-thought best men in this congregation are sure to keep their cattle on their neighbor's lots, and off from their own, and should you pass along and rouse them up, saying "Why, brethren, your cattle are in my oats," they would reply, "Really, brother, I did not know it, I turned them out a little while, and lay down to rest."
All such people deserve whipping and scolding, and require much training. What for? Not for their goodness, their faith, obedience, honesty, and anxiety to build up the kingdom of God, but for their careless, indolent feelings, for their stupidity in laying down and permitting their animals to trespass upon their neighbor's crops, for trying to train themselves into the belief that it is right to take this or that, or to do thus and so, when it is not strictly according to the law of God. You and I have got to learn better things.
Let this land come into market and the brethren buy sections, half sections, or quarter sections, and soon, and how soon you would hear, "Bless you, now we have law to defend us." Can you not see that tradition makes the brethren, where there is a little difficulty, walk into the court room with all the confidence imaginable, feeling almost like little gods,and exclaiming, "Now things will be done as they should be, matters will go right now." And what is done? Why, the lawyers and court take pretty much all the money; for a debt of five dollars taken into court they will expend one hundred dollars of your means in lawyers' fees, jury fees, and other court expenses, when the question could have been settled in five minutes.
This is an American tradition, though there are fortunately many exceptions to the power of this general tradition. Some men will go into court and spend five hundred dollars and feel as nicely about it as possible, even when their case has not been adjudicated as justly as a sensible "Mormon" boy, ten years old, would do it. And yet, when they know this fact full well, they will spend their time, day after day, and their means with seeming contentment, saying to themselves, "Oh, if we can only go into the court, and address the court, and say, may it please the court, may it please your honor, may it please you, gentlemen of the jury, O, how joyous we shall be--we shall feel as though we were men of some importance, if we can only get up and strut and splutter before a court." Even when merely a judge is sitting there, like a bean on the end of a pipe stem, who would be flipped off should a grain of good sense happen to strike him, how big he feels while sitting there for days to adjudicate a case that should not require five minutes.
We have got to learn better than to practise and follow after such nonsense, and learn the principle and law of right. That is the doctrine, the tradition which this people have got to come to. Will they come to it? Yes, or be damned, one or the other. I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for all the law that was ever made on this earth, outside of that which has come from heaven, to control a righteous man, neither would any man or woman that desires truth and righteousness. Cannot you observe the law of righteousness as easily as you can observe the poor, miserable, sunken laws devised by a set of wicked men? Some may reply, "My traditions will not let me."
How do you suppose that the Lord looks upon litigation? It is just as mean and contemptible, in the eyes of angels and of the Almighty, to go to law, and thereby wrong a fellow being, as it is for you to go and steal my property, yet some of you justify yourselves in going to law, and in your other false and unholy traditions. Learn the law of Christ and let alone the traditions of the children of men; make the law of Christ your tradition, for we have got to come to this position.
I will now return to where I began, and again ask, why do you require to be talked to so much? You know right from wrong; there is hardly a person here, but what knows right from wrong, then why do you not all do right? Because of your filthy traditions and dispositions. I have often sincerely and absolutely thought that the doctrine and practice of a certain lawyer was in the end strictly worldly wise; he first studied divinity and preached to the people for the salvation of their souls, until he learned that they did not care so much for their spiritual as for their temporal salvation, when he studied and practised medicine, but soon discovered that the poor miserable wills of men were more to them than the salvation of their bodies, and he finally studied law and indulged all his clients in the expensive gratification of their wills, which was dearer to them than the salvation of soul and body.
When we have an antipathy towards a person, the temptation is strong to be revenged, and one is inclined to say,"I will do this and that, and will let the passion of the moment control me." But we have to learn the law of Christ, and to train ourselves to it until it will become the tradition of this people, and then you can bring up your children in the way they should go. In every nation, community, and family, there are peculiar traditions, and the child is trained in them. If the law of Christ becomes the tradition of this people, the children will be brought up according to the law of the celestial kingdom, else they are not brought up in the way the should go. Children will them be brought up in the way they should go. Children will them be brought up, under the traditions of their fathers, to do just right, and to refrain from all evil, and when old they will not depart from a righteous course. Solomon could not carry out this principle in his life, because he was not thoroughly brought up in the way he should go. The old Indian adage is rather the most applicable to the present practise of many, viz., "Train up a child, and away it goes, as it pleases."
If this people could be shut out from all communication with other people, and have no customs and traditions introduced foreign to the law of Christ, we should soon see eye to eye, and our traditions would be framed according to the celestial law; and we should then be prepared to bring up our children in the way they should go.
I have spoken with much plainness concerning several traditions and practices, in order that the Saints abroad may correctly understand that we are not all, as yet, fully sanctified by the truth, and that both they and the world may know that the Gospel net still gathereth fish of every kind, that the flock has some goats intermingled with sheep of various grades, and that they day of separation has not yet arrived. May God bless you. Amen.
IRRIGATION--EVERY SAINT SHOULD LABOR FOR THE INTEREST OF THE COMMUNITY--IT IS THE LORD THAT GIVES THE INCREASE--ETC.
Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 8, 1856.
I wish to say a few words before this meeting is dismissed, upon the subject of the Big Cottonwood Canal. I have been along the line of the canal, more or less, during nearly every day of the last week, and I will say, for the gratification of the Bishops and brethren present, that I think they have done extremely well. A great many men have labored on that canal during the past week, and had it not been for faith, or the Spirit of the Lord upon them, many might have sunk with fatigue, for they looked as though they would faint; but they have labored faithfully. What was absolutely necessary to be done a week ago to-day could have been done in one week, if all the labor could have been judiciously applied, an the portion we derived to finish this season would have now been completed. But such drawbacks will occur, when time cannot be previously taken to make the proper estimate and distribution of men and teams for different points of the work. With the circumstances under which we commenced last Monday morning, it could not be expected but what there would be more or less confusion and misapplication of labor; but even with these disadvantages the work has prospered extremely well.
If we can get the water of Big Cottonwood as far as Big Kanyon, as ditches have already been opened from the last named point, we can water the five acre lots and about one-third of the city; but we expect to continue operations until we bring the water to the termination of the canal above the city, on the north side. The large reservoirs formed by the embankments across the deep ravines will hold an immense quantity of water, and we wish to have them speedily finished for containing water to be used when we need it.
In regard to irrigation, I will venture to say that one-half of the water is wasted; instead of being applied where and when it is needed, it runs here and there, and perhaps one-half reaches the drooping plants. If people would take a little more pains in preparing ditches, gates, and embankments for economically conducting water where it is most needed, it would be very great advantage to them.
When water is brought to the termination of the canal, which we can accomplish in a few days, I presume that the reservoirs on the line of the work and those portions which are excavated in full will contain water enough to allow the people to irrigate when necessary, and thus do away with the practice of watering only two hours a week on a city lot, and much of that to be done in the night. And that is not all, for by the time the water is fairly on a lot it is taken by the next person whose right it is to use it. And lots which have had thousands of dollars expended on them, and which would yield more than a thousand dollars' worth of fruit and vegetables, could they be properly irrigated, are only allowed a small stream of water for two hours once a week, and at the same time and adjoining lot planted with corn, the hills six feet apart and one stalk in a hill, comparatively speaking, the balance of the ground being covered with weeds, is allotted the same time and amount of water as the one on which the fruit trees and other choice vegetation are worth thousands of dollars.
There ought to be are formation in the distribution of the water. The man who will not raise five dollars' worth of produce on his lot, has the same water privilege as the man who could raise a thousand dollars' worth. For instance, brother Staines gets the water for two hours in a week, and what are his fruit trees worth? He could make his thousand dollars a year from them, if he were disposed to sell the fruit instead of giving it away, could he have a fair portion of water. I have a lot just below him well cultivated in fruit trees, a nursery, and choice vegetables, I also can only have the water on my lot for two hours in a week; when lots near by, with but little on them except weeds, get the same water privilege, and that too in the day time, while we have to use it in the night. Water masters ought to look to this matter, until they have arranged a more just distribution.
So soon as we can complete the canal and its reservoirs, the people will be enabled to water their gardens thoroughly, which will be scores of thousands of dollars advantage to this city yearly, besides the immense benefit to the farming lands. There is much grain growing in the city lots, and many persons have spaded their ground, not having teams to plow with, consequently their lots are better cultivated this year than heretofore, and we wish to water them that we may not lose our labor. If we can have your help for a few days more, we shall bring much more water to the city than we now have.
I have personally interested myself very diligently in the labors upon the canal, and have endeavored to follow the instructions of brother Kimball during last Sabbath. Who has been impoverished by our labor? Who has been injured by it? Not a single individual, old or young. Who is benefited by it? The whole community: every man, woman, and child. This canal will be a lasting benefit; without it we may be discouraged with regard to the farming interests of this portion of the valley. We expect to see this canal completed. I know that some have thought it would be almost impossible to complete such a work here, to secure the banks of the deep ravines, but we shall not leave it until it is completed.
Shall we stop making canals, when the one now in progress is finished? No, for as soon as that is completed from Big Cottonwood to this city, we expect to make a canal on the west side of Jordan, and take its water along the east base of the west mountains, as there is more farming land on the west side of that river than on the east. When that work is accomplished we shall continue our exertions, until Provo river runs to this city. We intend to bring it around the point of the mountain to Little Cottonwood, from that to Big Cottonwood, and lead its waters upon all the land from Provo kanyon to this city, for there is more water runs in that stream alone than would be needed for that purpose.
If we had time we should build several reservoirs to save the waters of City Creek, each one to contain enough for once irrigating one-third of the city. If we had such reservoirs the whole of this city might be irrigated with water that now runs to waste. Even then we do not intend to cease our improvements, for we expect that part of the Weber will be brought to the Hot Springs, there to meet the waters from the south and empty into Jordan. Then we contemplate that Bear river will be taken out at the gates to irrigate a rich and extensive region on its left bank, and also upon the other side to meet the waters of the Malad. We know not the end of our public labors and enterprises in this Territory, and we design performing them as fast as we can.
Our preaching to you from Sabbath to Sabbath, sending the Gospel to the nations, gathering the people, opening farms, making needed improvements, and building cities, all pertain to salvation. The Gospel is designed to gather a people that will be of one heart and of one mind. Let every individual in this city feel the same interest for the public good as he does for his own, and you will at once see this community still more prosperous, and still more rapidly increasing in wealth, influence, and power. But where each one seeks to benefit himself or herself alone, and does not cherish a feeling for the prosperity and benefit of the whole, that people will be disorderly, unhappy, and poverty-stricken, and distress, animosity, and strife will reign.
Efforts to accumulate property in the correct channel are far from being an injury to any community, on the contrary they are highly beneficial, provided individuals, with all that they have, always hold themselves in readiness to advance the interests of the kingdom of God on the earth. Let every man and woman be industrious, prudent, and economical in their acts and feelings, and while gathering to themselves, let each one strive to identify his or her interests with the interests of this community, with those of their neighbor and neighborhood, let them seek their happiness and welfare in that of all, and we will be blessed and prospered.
I do not wish to boast in the least, neither do I think much of myself, nor ever did, nor do I ever pause much to think, in all my labors, doings, travelings, toils, and preachings, whether I have friends or foes, but the care that I have for this community I do manifest in my works. Not that I think that I am extraordinarily praiseworthy, or that I am a very good man, for you know that I have never professed to be a very religious man; but what I wish you to do to your neighbor I do by you; but I will not ask my Father in heaven to deal any more kindly with me than I deal with my brethren.
My interest is the interest of this community; this has been characteristic of my course from the beginning. I have witnesses here to prove that, from the time I entered this kingdom until this day, this community and its welfare have been my interest.
I have proven this all the time, and I prove it still. I have proven it this year, in the scarce time we are passing through. Ask the poor brethren and sisters who have come to me for bread if they have been turned away empty. I have had a large amount of flour and means, for among other property I have two of the best mills in the Territory, and a large farm upon which I generally raise much wheat and other produce. I have always raised more grain than my family consumed, and in these scarce times find the man or woman that I have taken fifty cents from for flour.
I have had money offered to me, but I have told such persons to go and buy where flour is for sale; I have none to sell.
In all my transactions in this community I have acted in a similar manner. What do I get for taking such a course? When I came into this valley I owed for my outfit; I had but little; I do not think that one third of my family had shoes to their feet, and I had no leather from which to make shoes.
We came with what we had, and I borrowed oxen from one man, and horses from another, which I have since paid for, besides paying thousands of dollars for my poor brethren who could not pay.
What the Lord has done for me, you all know. Have I wronged any man, or pinched any man in a time of trouble, or in any way taken an advantage of his necessities? Bring forward a man whom I have wronged, and I will restore to him not only four but tenfold. My hands are open; I have naturally an open hand, it does not contract on the needy like that. (Holding his hand with the fingers shut.)
Neither am I like the miller who striked the toll dish with a crowning hand, thus leaving the grain convex, but who, when he quit milling and opened a tavern, reversed his hand and left the grain concave.
I do not wish you to deal any better by me than I do by you, neither do I wish God my Father do deal any more kindly towards me than I do towards you. How came I by what I have? We may dig water ditches, make canals, sow wheat, build mills, and labor with our mights, but if God does not give the increase we remain poor. Though we bestow much labor upon our fields, if God does not give the increase we shall have no grain.
How few there are who fully understand this matter, who realize thoroughly that unless God blesses our exertions we shall have nothing. It is the Lord that gives the increase. He could send showers to water our fields, but I do not know that I have prayed for rain since I have been in these valleys until this year, during which I believe that I have prayed two or three times for rain, and then with a faint heart, for there is plenty of water flowing down these kanyons in crystal streams as pure as the breezes of Zion, and it is our business to use them.
I do not feel disposed to ask the Lord to do for me what I can do for myself. I know when I sow the wheat and water it that I cannot give the increase, for that is in the hands of the Almighty; and when it is time to worship the Lord, I will leave all and worship Him. As I said yesterday to a Bishop who was mending a breach in the canal, and expressed a wish to continue his labor on the following Sabbath, as his wheat was burning up, let it burn, when the time comes that is set apart for worship, go up and worship the Lord.
When Bishops and the brethren can perceive and understand that it is the Lord that gives the increase, after all their exertions to sustain themselves, they will be satisfied that the glory belongs to Him, and not altogether to the exertions of man. You know Paul says that he considered himself an unprofitable servant, and so is every other man; that is, when we have done all we can to save ourselves, spiritually and temporally, it is the Lord who gave us the means.
He opened up the way of life and salvation, organized the elements to sustain our mortal bodies, and thus afforded all the means for increase. It is all through the wisdom of Him who has created all things, who rules over and sustains all things.
Have the Latter-day Saints got to learn this? Yes. And they have got to learn that the interest of their brethren is their own interest, or they never can be saved in the celestial kingdom of God. While saying a few words here last Sabbath about the canal, I told you when you lifted your hands to heaven, in token of your willingness to do a certain thing that you ought to do it. A great many of you have had your endowments, and you know what a vote with uplifted hands means.
It is a sign which you make in token of your covenant with God and with one another, and it is for you to perform your vows. When you raise your hands to heaven and let them fall and then pass on with your covenants unfulfilled, you will be cursed.
I feel sometimes like lecturing men and women severely, who enter into covenants without realizing the nature of the covenants they make, and who use little or no effort to fulfil them.
Some Elders go to the nations and preach the Gospel of life and salvation, and return without thoroughly understanding the nature of a covenant. It is written in the Bible that every man should perform his own vows, even if to this own hurt; in this way you will show to all creation and to God that you are full of integrity.
This people have got to entirely wake out of their sleep, they have got to be a strictly righteous people, or they will have to meet worse things than a scanty morsel of bread.
Do they believe this? Some think--"Well, perhaps it will be so, and perhaps not. I have a little flour now, and I really want the money, and if I can get twelve or thirteen dollars a hundred for it I can spare it."
This is the principle some persons operate upon, and it is sectarianism. It seems of the long-faced deacon style, who, when a poor man wants flour for his wife and children, in measured tone and with a long religious face, says, "No;" but who, after long importunity on the part of the hungry man, will at last, in a very soft, measured, pious, long-faced, sighing style, reply, "Well, brother, I have not any to spare, but I don't know but that if you will come and work for me a couple of days in harvest, I will spare you a bushel to accommodate you. I shall have to hire labor at harvest, can you come and help me?"
The answer is, "Yes," when at the same time he knows that he can have two bushels a day for work in harvest, but the long-faced deacon will make him agree to work two days for one bushel.
I have heard of a man in this city who was stopped from building a house. Why? Because he got first-rate mechanics to work for five pounds of flour a day, which is at the rate of thirty cents a day. His Bishop told him that he could not build a house in his Ward upon any such principle.
Do you suppose that such a man is fit to belong to any church? Yes, to Joe Bowers' church, and his was a hell-fired church.
You who have surplus flour hoarded up, give it to the poor,and say that you will trust in God.
The first year that I came into this valley I had not flour enough to last my family until harvest, and that I had brought with me, and persons were coming to my house every day for bread. I had the blues about one day; I went down to the old fort, and by the time I got back to my house I was completely cured. I said to my wife, "Do not let a person come here for food and go away empty handed, for if you do we shall suffer before harvest; but if you give to every individual that comes we shall have enough to last us through."
I have proven this many a time, and we have again proven it this year. I have plenty on hand, and shall have plenty, if I keep giving away. More than two hundred persons eat from my provisions every day, besides my own family and those who work for me.
I intend to keep doing so, that my bread may hold out, for if I do not I shall come short.
Do you believe that principle? I know it is true, because I have proven it so many times.
I have formerly told this community of a circumstance that occurred to brother Heber and myself, when we were on our way to England. We paid our passage to Kirtland, and to my certain knowledge we had only $13.50, but we paid out #87.00; this is but one instance among many which I could name.
You who have flour and meat, deal it out, and do not be afraid that you will be too much straightened, for if you will give, you will have plenty, for it is God who sustains us and we have got to learn this lesson. All I ask of you is to apply your heart to wisdom and to watch the providences of God, until you prove for yourselves that I am telling the truth, even that which I do know and have experienced.
I have experienced much in my life, and I will not ask you to do any better by one another nor by me than I do by you, and I will bless you all the time. I feel to bless you continually; my life is here, my interest, my glory, my pride, my comfort, my all are here, and all I expect to have, to all eternity is wrapped up in the midst of this Church.
If I do not get it in this channel, I shall not have it at all. How do you suppose I feel? I feel as a father should feel towards his children. I have felt so for many years, even when I durst not say so; I have felt as a mother feels towards her tender offspring, and durst not express my feelings; but I have tried to carry out their expression in my life. May God bless you. Amen.
REMARKS ON A REVELATION GIVEN IN AUGUST 1831--GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS.
A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 15, 1856.
I will read a revelation printed in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and given in Zion in August, 1831. It was given in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, I think during the first time that Joseph was in that land. (The President read the revelation, section 18.)
I do not anticipate, in the few remarks that I shall make, throwing any particular light upon this revelation, especially to those who are acquainted with the circumstances under which it was given,.
When revelations are given through an individual appointed to receive them, they are given to the understandings of the people. These revelations, after a lapse of years, become mystified to those who were not personally acquainted with the circumstances at the time they were given.
The revelation that I have been reading may be as mysterious to our children, in a thousand or fifteen hundred years from now, in case the world continues in the same degree of enlightenment that it has for a few ages past, as the revelations contained in the Old and New Testaments are to this generation, and it would be commented upon with the same scrutiny and accuracy; and men would study, year after year, and fret themselves almost to death to find out the mysterious meaning of the revelation given to us their forefathers.
This revelation is as plain and clear to the understandings of those who know the circumstances that called it forth, as it would be for you to understand me should I talk about making a canal to bring the waters of Big Cottonwood to this city for irrigating our gardens and the farming lands. It is plain and easy to be understood, it is familiar to us who were in that country at the time, we know all about it.
But a portion of this congregation have not been personally acquainted with the early experience and travels of this Church, and with the sayings and doings of the Prophet Joseph, and it may be that they do not fully understand what this revelation really does mean.
They do not actually know that there is such a place as Independence, in Jackson County, Missouri; they have heard of it, and may have an idea that it is situated in the regions where angels dwell.
The revelation which I have read was perfectly plain, and could readily be understood by all the brethren then in Jackson County, Missouri, and in Kirtland, Ohio, as easily as you can understand me when I talk about digging canals, building dwellings, tabernacles, temples, and store-houses, or when I talk about drawing sand and clay, burning lime, &c.
Is it strange or is it not strange, to people endowed with wisdom, that the inhabitants of the earth, beclouded as they are, should have such revelations given to them? Is it strange or is it not strange that they should reject them?
Would this be a hard question for the congregation to answer? Looking at these things, after the manner of the wisdom of the world, we say that it would be very strange indeed, as a certain professor would say, "It would be <passing> strange."
It would be strange indeed should people receive such ideas, upon such subjects, as revelations from God, from the Supreme of the Universe, the great Eloheim, the Creator and upholder of all things, who is enthroned in eternity in glory and in power, yet who condescends to talk about such matters as building store-houses, sending men to do this or that, to go to this or that land, to gather up money for this or that purpose. And very many would exclaim, "O, it is money, money, money!"
That has been the cry continually from the enemies of the kingdom of God. You know that was the cry in the days of Joseph; "O, he is after money, you can see this is in all his revelations; money, money, money; he wants to get your money! He pretends it is going into the hands of the Bishop to purchase lands, but when he gets hold of it you do not get it again. It is money, money, money, all the time."
The commands to go and buy this or that farm, to build houses, sell out a farm here and rent one there, take a mission to preach the Gospel to the world, gather money to purchase lands, and divide with the poor brethren, are all familiar talk with us, easy to be understood, and without mystery.
When Joseph received this revelation, it was as plain to the understanding of the Saints, as are my instructions when telling you what to do.
The Lord said to the people through Joseph, "You must keep the law here, and be careful to repent of your sins." Occasionally a man's name would be mentioned, and he might be pointed out as a pattern for the rest.
Do you repent of your sins? If you do not, you will be overcome by the enemy. He said to the people, "Repent of your sins and keep the law, or you will have no inheritance in this region."
Many who are here now, owned farms there, and some owned large tracts of land. Have you possession of them now? You have not. You may be rightful owners of those lands, but you are not the possessors. There are many in this congregation who own the right of the soil there, that is to say, if the government of the United States could or would give any right to it.
The Lord said, "Repent of your sins, or you cannot stay here and receive your inheritance; and this land will not be given to the Saints until they are scourged and driven from city to city." This is plain, and every person can understand it.
As there are persons named in the revelation which I have read, to whom I wish to refer more particularly, I will again read a portion of it.
"Now as I spake concerning my servant Edward Partridge, this land is the land of his residence, and those whom he has appointed for his counsellors. And also the land of the residence of him whom I have appointed to keep my store-house; wherefore let them bring their families to this land, as they shall counsel between themselves and me: for behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things, for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward."
Here are two characters pointed out, brother Partridge and another whose name is not mentioned here, but whose name was Gilbert, and who was appointed keeper of the store-house.
You can understand what this plain revelation meant, and it will come home to your comprehension. "For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things, for he that is compelled in all things, the same is slothful and not a wise servant." Those men whose names are mentioned were considered to be as holy, I may say, as any men in the world.
I am a witness, so far as this is concerned, that the persons whose names are mentioned, and many others of the first Elders of the Church, were looked upon almost as angels. They were looked upon by the young members as being so filled with the Spirit and power of God, that we were hardly worthy to converse with them. You hear the names of Bishop Partridge, of brother W. W. Phelps, who is now sitting in this stand, of Parley P. Pratt, of David Whitmer, of Oliver Cowdery, and the names of many others of the first Elders who had been up to Zion, and I declare to you that brethren in other parts of the land, those who had not seen the persons named, felt that should they come into their presence they would have to pull off their shoes, as the ground would be so holy upon which they trod.
Do you know what distance and age accomplish? They produce in people the most reverential awe that can be imagined.
When we reflect and rightly understand, we learn how easy of comprehension the Gospel is, how plain it is in its plan, in every part and principle fitted perfectly to the capacity of mankind, insomuch that when it is introduced among the lovers of truth it appears very easy and very plain, and how very ready the honest are to receive it.
But send it abroad and give it antiquity, and it is at once clothed with mystery. This is the case with all the ancient revelations. Those which were received and understood by the ancients are shrouded in mystery and uncertainty to this generation, and men are employed to reveal the meaning of the ancient Scriptures.
The people on every hand are inquiring, "What does this scripture mean, and how shall we understand this or that passage?" Now I wish, my brethren and sisters, for us to understand things precisely as they are, and not as the flitting, changing imagination of the human mind may frame them.
The Bible is just as plain and easy of comprehension as the revelation which I have just read to you, if you understand the Spirit of God--the Spirit of revelation, and know how the Gospel of Salvation is adapted to the capacity of weak man.
If you could see things as they are, you would know that the whole plan of salvation, and all the revelations ever given to man on the earth are as plain as would be the remarks of an Elder, were he to stand here and talk about our every day business.
I want you to understand this, that you may know how to understandingly read the Bible and the revelations delivered to you in your own generation, and how to honor your religion and your God.
When you read the revelations, or when you hear the will of the Lord concerning you, for your own sakes never receive that with a doubtful heart. This is a matter that I have frequently impressed upon the people here; I have exhorted them from year to year upon this very point, and have asked, why do you receive the counsel of God with doubtful hearts when you are taught the way of life and salvation, when things are made so plain and easy to you that you cannot misunderstand them? Why do you admit of such unbelief in your hearts and feelings as to say--"This or that is beneath the notice of the Almighty, and say that He does not deal in such simple, small, and every day affairs?"
Why say, "We want to hear from the stand concerning the mysteries--the eternal mysteries of the kingdom of God, that which we have never heard?" I might say to such, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken. Is it a mystery to you, sisters, how to knit a stocking? You all answer, "No, not at all."
But bring an individual from a world where they never had stockings, and it is as much of a mystery to that person, as any thing you have ever thought of could be to you, because he would be perfectly ignorant of all ideas pertaining to that art.
You may now be inclined to say, "O, this is too simple and child-like, we wish to hear the mysteries of the kingdoms of the Gods who have existed from eternity, and of all the kingdoms in which they will dwell; we desire to have these things portrayed to our understandings."
Allow me to inform you that you are in the midst of it all now, that you are in just as good a kingdom as you will ever attain to, from now to all eternity, unless you make it yourselves by the grace of God, by the will of God, by the eternal Priesthood of God, which is a code of laws perfectly calculated to govern and control eternal matter. If you and I do not by this means make that better kingdom which we anticipate, we shall never enjoy it.
We can only enjoy the kingdom we have labored to make. If you say that you want mysteries, commandments, and revelations, I reply that scarcely a Sabbath passes over your heads, those of you who come here, without your having the revelations of Jesus Christ poured upon you like water on the ground.
"Why do you not write them, brother Brigham?" I will tell you one reason why:--I expect that they will be one of these days, but I expect that you will have them written when God and His faithful servants have suffered enough from the ignorance, foolishness, wickedness, and slothfulness of the people, from their slowness of heart to believe, and from their unrighteous dealing one with another.
Then I expect that there will be just revelation enough given and written to cut all the ungodly off from the Church, and send them to hell. The reason it is not given now, is because of the mercy the Lord still sees fit to extend towards them.
You recollect that last sabbath, and two weeks ago to-day, I told the people that it would be for their good to go and perform a certain piece of work, which was just as much revelation to you as would be teachings upon the subject of getting your endowment. It was life, and was upon the principles of eternal lives. I recollect telling you, when you lift your hands to heaven like that (raising his hand) and say that you will perform thus and so and do not, that such a course would damn you, as sure as you are now living. Men and women ought to fulfil all their covenants.
I exhorted the brethren not to say that they would do the work, unless they intended to go and do it, for if they did not, I said they would be cursed.
I am almost constrained by the power that is within me to draw the dividing line in the midst of this people, and to cut many from the Church, but I plead for mercy. I have mercy for the people, and I ask God to bear with the wickedness there is in their midst, which can hardly be borne with by the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost.
I said, two weeks ago to-day, that some of you would be cursed, but have you ever heard me curse the people? You have not, though I have to hang, as it were, on a slender thread of faith to plead with the Almighty to yet spare the wicked in our midst. What hinders them from observing the law of God? Do I or does any other person hinder them? Who hinders you from doing a good work? I am wearied with seeing the conduct of some of this people, their thieving, lying, tattling, deceiving, running after the Gentile spirit, after the spirits of this world, receiving delusive spirits, and adhering to all manner of principles that are not of God.
What hinders us in living as close to our religion as do the angels? Angels do not hinder us, God certainly does not, and we ought to say to devils, "You shall not." But in the midst of this people there is a set of thieves, idolaters, drunkards, whoremongers, and vile persons. It may be asked, "Shall we not draw the dividing line soon?" Yes, some will in due time get line enough to send them to hell. Many are pleading for revelations; do you suppose that Saints lack revelations? They have plenty of them, and they are stored in the archives of those who have understanding of the principles of the Priesthood, ready to be brought forth as the people need. I will again read a portion of the revelation, "For he that is compelled in all things the same is a slothful and not a wise servant, wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness, for the power is in them wherein they are agents unto themselves, and inasmuch as men do good they shall in no wise lose their reward."
There is one principle that I do wish the people would observe, that is, do not ask God to give you knowledge, when you are confident that you will not keep and rightly improve upon that knowledge. It is a mercy in God that many are as ignorant as they are, for were it not so they would not be borne with as they are. Do not ask for revelations to dictate you in this, that, or the other, unless you are sure that you can obey them. Do not suffer yourselves to falter in your faith, and to say that the door of revelation is closed, for I tell you that there are now too many for your good, unless you hearken more diligently than you have hitherto, unless you apply more closely in your lives what is revealed and live your religion more faithfully.
You are frequently told that the chastisements which come upon this people are for their good. We may ask, "Is pinching want for our good? Is the destruction of our crops for our good? Is the losing of our property for our good?" Who will lay it to heart? Who will realize it? There are a few who will. I can say with safety that I firmly believe that there are five wise virgins and five foolish ones; that there are five who are wise servants and hand-maidens to five who are foolish. But in looking at the people in mass this may not appear, for you are frequently told that one evil person can corrupt many. It is an old saying, and a true one, that "a wicked king can corrupt a nation," and a wicked father will corrupt a family, and a wicked ruler will corrupt those he rules over. We wish to be one, but "Evil communications corrupt good manners." Unrighteous dealings and doings appear to exert a wider influence than righteous ones, consequently in this community when you find one evil person in a family, or in a neighborhood, that person will actually make it appear to a stranger that the whole family, or neighborhoods is evil. The good and evil are mixed together, the wheat and the tares are growing together, the wise and foolish virgins are traveling on together. Some of the people are actually foolish, and they think that the Lord looks upon sin with a great deal of compassion, and are thinking, "O, if I should do this or that I will be forgiven. Yes, I will go and tell it all to the heads of the Church and get their forgiveness, and pass on in my wickedness." Do you wish your friends to stay here, and all to be Saints indeed? Now some children are wicked and their parents righteous, and again children may be Saints and their parents wicked. There are good people who have wicked brothers and sisters, and they say, "Let us be forgiving, let us hold on to them, if we have compassion, perhaps they will do better and repent of their sins, and yet be Saints." Is this not the feeling of every heart? It is, more or less. Who is there entirely void of these compassionate feelings? Father, save your son if possible; save your daughter, parents, if it is possible; brothers, save your brethren, if it is possible; save your sisters, if it is possible; save this man, or that woman, and let us have mercy on them, we will be compassionate on them.
A great many come to me and say, "I wish to do exactly as the Lord shall direct through you, brother Brigham." If I had the word of the Lord I would not dare give it to them, unless I knew it was an absolute duty. They never would obey it, because they are taught the word of the Lord here all the time, but do they hearken to it? Those who have wisdom within themselves, who have in possession the spirit of the Gospel, know what they hear from this stand. They know truth from error, they are satisfied, and never ask the Lord to give them more revelation, but to give them grace to observe and keep what they have received.
You can perceive what kind of characters they are who need to be commanded, they are slothful and not wise servants. Many of you may inquire why I am urging this point today; because it is necessary, it ought to be done. I wish those who are Saints to walk uprightly before their God, and to do everything they can for their brethren who are not Saints. I desire every man and woman to exercise themselves to the utmost, for they will, in all probability, be lost unless we save them. You came to me and want to know the will of God, what for? It would send you to hell, as likely as not, for you will not do it, and that would lay the foundation for your condemnation, as it is written, "Those that receive the commandments of God and do not do them are damned." I feel to urge these things upon the people that they may save themselves, that they may be industrious, and go to with a ready heart and willing mind, with all their might, to do the things that are necessary to be done.
Suppose that the Lord should give you a written revelation through me, I am satisfied that it would not infringe upon your planting corn, sowing wheat, and watering in the season thereof. The very first thing would be to instruct the people to take care of their temporal lives, for if a people do not provide to live on the earth they cannot accomplish the work given them to do. The first thing to be written would be for people to prepare to live on the earth, until they could overcome the wickedness that is in the world.
This would be dictating you in your temporal affairs; I can dictate you in those matters, and if the Lord does not move me to the point of drawing the dividing line, though if He does I expect to be on hand, let us go to with all our might and do every good work we can, and be satisfied, and not be continually grumbling and complaining against the Lord, and teazing Him for more than you know what to do with.
I could not, nor could any other man, give a revelation that would be more plain to the comprehension of the people than the one I have read to you this morning. There is no mystery about it, nothing mysterious or in the dark, but every man may easily know precisely what it means; all the people may understand it to perfection. This revelation was given to the people in their ignorance; it was given, we may say, at the birth of the man child, in the first days of the being of the Priesthood again upon the earth, and yet it was so calculated and so worded, that every person could understand it. Brother Partridge knew what to do; Gilbert, Rigdon, and Peterson knew what to do; and in Returning to Kirtland the Elders were to lift up their voices by the way, and to build up Churches.
One man is told to do this, and another to do that. Edward, you go and get your family and move them up here, &c. Can you understand this? It is one of the revelations of God, given to this people in the first rise of the Church. I do not expect to give you any particular light upon it by the way of illustration, for it would be like my telling you that the sun shines, and that we are within the walls of this Temple Block, seated under a partial shade, constructed for screening us from the rays of the sun. You know all this, you understand it as well as I do; so did those to whom it was given understand this revelation. Would you understand what might be said to you, if I should command you to do this or that. Ask some man to command you, and never ask God to do it, until you are prepared to keep His commandments.
You are ready to say in your hearts, "We are always scolded." Who hurts you? You will never be hurt, unless you hurt yourselves. If we live our religion we shall prosper, and if we live in the neglect of our duty, and continue to do so, as many do, there will be tribulation and anguish here, and the chastening hand of the Almighty will be on this people, more so than it has ever been. If I could stand here and talk to you without advancing these ideas, I would endeavor to do so, and would be very much pleased if there was no occasion for rebuke. It would delight me to be able to preach all the time upon the glories of Zion, that Zion prospers, that we are all in the straight and narrow way, that all feel fully engaged in building up the kingdom of God, and that every man, woman, and child is doing right, but such is not the case. If I could prevail upon the people to so lay instruction to heart, that they would repent of their sins and refrain from them, that they would forsake their hard-heartedness and follies, I should be thankful indeed.
I need not go into particulars in explaining the feelings of this people, for they are too well known. We see them exhibited in our temporal management, and in our transactions one with another. Some you see walking uprightly, and again you may see the honest suffering, and but few ready to extend the hand of charity to relieve them, while the dishonest who have followed this people, we will say, for the loaves and fishes, are begging, and their children also, from morning until night and hoarding up more than they can possibly consume. We see these different dispositions, yet we all are known under the appellation of Saints, we are all brethren and sisters in the Church of Christ.
There is a disposition in many of the brethren like this, "I want to consecrate all I have to the Church, and I will not reserve anything to myself." Very well, there are blank deeds in the Office, fill one out, if you wish, but do as you please about it. "I really feel as though it would be a great privilege to give everything I possess to the Church." What have you got? "O, I have a five-acre lot." What is it worth? "Well, I don't know; it is full of saleratus and greasewood." Such characters are so loving and kind, and will say, "Now, brother Brigham, I feel better than I ever felt in my life, I feel happy that I am in the kingdom of God with all that I have; I have dedicated everything I have. Brother Brigham, do you think I can have a house and lot?" They do not talk so loud as I am now talking, they whisper in my ear: "Could you let me have a yoke of oxen, or a span of horses and a wagon, or twenty bushels of wheat," &c., &c.? If I were to hearken to one third of such calls, these characters would drain our means to that degree, that the Church would never have the first sixpence, from this time forth to the day of judgment, with which to carry on this work. There is not one third enough paid in tithing by this great people, to answer the calls of hypocrites and ungodly persons.
Are all hypocrites? No, but if you see honest persons, you see those who are ready to take hold and labor with their might, even though they have but one potatoe in a day; they will suffer rather than impoverish the Church.
I will relate a circumstance that transpired lately. I think it was last Tuesday or Wednesday night, as I was sitting in one of my houses, about nine o'clock in the evening, that a little boy, some nine or ten years of age, came along. As soon as he came to the door he began a story, but in such a manner that I could not understand him. I called him near to me, and desired him to relate his story again. He commenced by telling about his father's dying with the cholera on the Plains, that his mother was sick and had several children to take care of, and wound up by saying, that his mother had not eaten anything since the morning of the day previous. I told my wife to give him some bread, remarking that if I could walk as I once could I would know the true situation of that family. Brother Wells was by and said, "I can walk," I then asked the boy where he lived; he replied, "Over yonder." In what Ward? He did not know. What is your name? "David Jones." What was your father's name? "Jones." Who are your neighbors? He did not know. Brother Wells started off in an easterly direction with him. The boy began to limp and complained of sore feet, and ere long sat down and began to cry loudly and raise the neighborhood. Bishop Woolley hearing the crying came up, and, after trying to make him hush and start for his home, gave him a good spanking, and started him homeward. He at length mentioned the name of Bishop Perkins, and, from that Bishop, brother Wells learned that the name of the family was Meiklejohn, and that they lived in the Seventh Ward. After much inquiry the boy's home was found, though he was determined not to go home, and it was soon discovered that he had a father (whose christian name is David) and mother living, both of whom had gone to bed, and a little sister, who waited on the opposite side of a street while the boy who begged, was still out.
The parents of course said the boy did very wrong, and that they had no idea of his conducting himself so, when the fact is, the boy has been trained to lie from his childhood by his father and mother, and so has the girl. Scores of times would not amount to the number that these very children have been to my house, and we have given them flour, meal, and bread which they have carried home.
On the same evening, persons were overheard talking beneath some trees. One said, "Sister, where did you get your flour to-day?" "I got it at brother Brigham's." "I have some money, and shall have to buy some."
"Don't buy one pound, but go to brother Brigham and tell him a good story, and you will get some flour. I have money, but I will not pay one cent for my flour."
I mention these facts to illustrate the spirit that is in a portion of this community. If you go into England, or into any of the old countries, you will see the same class of poor, guilty, miserable wretches begging for a living, and they carry on that business to such a degree, and in such a manner, that the rich and those who are in comfortable circumstances, aware of the rascality of many, often refrain from given to any through fear of being imposed upon, and thereby the honest, innocent poor suffer. They would also suffer here if we were equally fearful of being imposed upon; but many who are unworthy are now aided, by those who are ever ready to assist the destitute, lest some honest poor should suffer; for this reason we withhold not from any.
If this loose course of begging is suffered to go on in this community, without a check being put to it, but a few years would elapse before the honest might be permitted to starve to death in the streets; for those who have would say, "We do not know but that you have your thousands at home, and we will not take the trouble to find out."
We have our arrangements for learning the condition of the people, and I will here make a few remarks concerning the Bishops. If they magnify their office and calling, they will know the circumstances of every family in their Wards. But with all our experience in regard to Bishops, especially those who have been in the Church so long, and who know so much about the kingdom of God, they ought to know a little more about the families residing in their Wards, and not quite so much about the kingdom, if they cannot understand both at the same time. I very well know that they have their own families to take care of, and that they are allowed nothing for their services. That is partly why we have been appointing some new Bishops. I want men to act as Bishops who are smart enough to take care of themselves, and at the same time magnify their calling; and if we do not find them to be honest we mean to appoint other persons, and to continue so doing until that Quorum is filled with honest men. I am sorry to say that we have proven a few Bishops dishonest. Perhaps some of the Bishops here, or of those who live in other part of the Territory, will say, "It comes very hard, brother Brigham, for you to make such a statement as that, and not point out the dishonest person; the people may think that you mean me." You are the very ones I mean, if your consciences accuse you, for if you are not guilty you care not for such a statement, as your consciences are clear and you are not accused, therefore I mean those who say, "This is hard."
Do you wish me to explain myself? I have proof ready to show that Bishops have taken in thousands of pounds in weight of tithing which they have never reported to the General Tithing Office. We have documents to show that Bishops have taken in hundreds of bushels of wheat, and only a small portion of it has come into the General Tithing Office; they stole it to let their friends speculate upon. If any one is doubtful about this, will you not call on me to produce my proof before a proper tribunal? I should take pleasure in doing so, but we pass over such things in mercy to the people.
Will you repent of your sins, and go to and do that which you know you ought to do, without being commanded of the Lord, and thus be compelled to do it, or be damned? Will you live so as to know the voice of the Good Shepherd when you hear it, or are you determined to live so as not to know the difference between that voice and the voice of a stranger? In this I fear for the people. I have explained and commented upon these seemingly small items, though in reality they are of much importance.
Chemists who are familiar with analizing [sic] matter, inform you that the globe we inhabit is composed of small particles, so small that they cannot be seen with the unaided natural eye, and that one of these small particles may be divided into millions of parts, each part so minute as to be undiscernable [sic] by the aid of the finest microscopes. So the walk of man is made up of acts performed from day to day. It is the aggregate of the acts which I perform through life that makes up the conduct that will be exhibited in the day of judgment, and when the books are opened, there will be the life which I have lived for me to look upon, and there also will be the acts of your lives for you to look upon. Do you not know that the building up of the kingdom of God, the gathering of Israel, is to be done by little acts? You breathe one breath at a time; each moment is set apart to its act, and each act to its moment. It is the moments and the little acts that make the sum of the life of man. Let every second, minute, hour, and day we live be spent in doing that which we know to be right.
If you do not know what to do, in order to do right, come to me at any time and I will give you the word of the Lord on that point. But if you wish the word of the Lord on your nonsensical, foolish notions and traits, be pleased to keep away from me, for I know too much about such characters for them to pass before me unobserved. Mankind are weak and feeble, poor and needy; how destitute they are of true knowledge, how little they have when they have any at all. We have need to increase in knowledge and understanding, and to apply our hearts more to wisdom.
How necessary it is for us to live our religion so as to know ourselves better, and to know how to live better in accordance with the religion we have embraced. To know how to gather up the sons and daughters of Abraham, and to establish the kingdom of God on the earth, how necessary it is for you and I to live our religion, and not be slothful and negligent in fulfilling our duty.
The Book of Mormon, of Doctrine and Covenants, the Old and New Testaments all corroborate the fact that when you receive the Spirit that gives you light, intelligence, peace, joy, and comfort, that it is from God. But when you, sisters, particularly in your family affairs, are tried and tempted, when parents and children have a spirit come upon them that irritates them, that causes them to have bad feelings, disagreeable, unhappy, and miserable sensations, causing them to say, "We wish it was some way else; we wish our circumstances were different; we are not happy; something or the other is always wrong; we wish to do just right, but we are very unhappy;" I desire to tell you that your own conduct is the cause of all this. "But," says one, " I have done nothing wrong, nothing evil." No matter whether you have or not, you have given way to a spirit of temptation. There is not that man or woman in this congregation, or on the face of the earth, that has the privilege of the holy Gospel, and lives strictly to it, whom all hell can make unhappy. You cannot make the man, woman, or child unhappy, who possesses the Spirit of the living God; unhappiness is caused by some other spirit.
The spirit of contention divides families as we see some divided. We can hardly associate with some persons, for we have to walk in their midst like walking upon eggs. What is the matter? You do not know the spirit they are led by. Treat them kindly, and, perhaps, by and bye they will come to understanding. What would they do were they of one heart and mind? They would be like little children, would respect their superiors and honor their God and their religion. This they would do, if they understood things as they are. Be careful of them, and treat them kindly. Who is there that walks up to the line, and knows the will of God without being commanded? A great many do; but it is not all of this people who are doing as I have been counselling you. Still I will venture to say that there are as many wise ones as foolish. But many will have to separate from their own family conexions, if they do not do better. Parents and children will have to separate, and husbands and wives, ere long. How long shall they live together? Until the Lord says, gather up the tares and prepare them for the burning. I am not going to undertake to separate the tares from the wheat, the sheep from the goats, but we will try to make you goats produce fleeces of wool instead of hair, and we will keep hammering at you with the word of God, which is quick and powerful, until you become sheep, if possible, that we may not have five foolish virgins in the company. Though in all this I do not expect to even desire to thwart the plans and sayings of Jesus Christ in the least.
Let us do all the good we can, extend the hand of benevolence to all, keep the commandments of God and live our religion, and after all there will be five foolish virgins, and if we are not careful, we shall all be on the list of the foolish ones.
I dedicate myself, this congregation, and the whole interest of the kingdom of God on the earth, to our Father, to His Son Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Ghost, that we may be saved; and I pray that this may be our happy lot. Amen.
THE FAITH AND VISIONS OF THE ANCIENT SAINTS--THE SAME GREAT BLESSINGS TO BE ENJOYED BY THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
A Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 13, 1856.
Elder Pratt read the 7th, 8th, and 9th paragraphs of the Book of Ether.
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