MOVEMENTS OF THE SAINTS' ENEMIES.--THE CRISIS.
Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, September 13, 1857.
A would like very well to hear some of the rest of the brethren speak, if I had entirely got over being angry and had patience to sit and hear. I think, however, that I shall be able to calm and control my feelings, though I do not expect to become entirely settled until the affairs around me are settled.
It is a pretty bold stand for this people to take, to say that they will not be controlled by the corrupt administrators of our General Government. We will be controlled by them, if they will be controlled by the Constitution and laws; but they will not. Many of them do not care any more about the Constitution and the laws that they make than they do about the laws of another nation. That class trample the rights of the people under their feet, while there are also many who would like to honour them. All we have ever asked for is our constitutional rights. We wish the laws of our Government honoured, and we have ever honoured them; but they are trampled under foot by administrators.
There cannot be a more damnable, dastardly order issued than was issued by the Administration to this people while they were in an Indian country, in 1846. Before we left Nauvoo, not less than two United States' senators came to receive a pledge from us that we would leave the United States; and then, while we were doing our best to leave their borders, the poor, low, degraded curses sent a requisition for five hundred of our men to go and fight their battles! That was President Polk; and he is now weltering in hell with old Zachary Taylor, where the present administrators will soon be, if they do not repent.
Liars have reported that this people have committed treason; and upon their lies, the President has ordered out troops to aid in officering this Territory: and if those officers are like many who have previously been sent here, (and we have reason to believe that they are, or they would not come when they know they are not wanted,) they are poor, miserable blacklegs, brokendown political hacks, robbers, and whoremongers--men that are not fit for civilized society; so they must dragoon them upon us for officers. I feel that I won't bear such cursed treatment, and that is enough to say; for we are just as free as the mountain air.
I do not lift my voice against the great and glorious Government guaranteed to every citizen by our Constitution, but against those corrupt administrators who trample the Constitution and just laws under their feet. They care no more about them than they do about the Government of France; but they walk them under their feet with impunity. And the most of the characters they have sent here as officers cared no more about the laws of our country and of this Territory than they did about the laws of China, but walked them under their feet with all the recklessness of despots.
I do not want to be angry, nor to have my feelings wrought up; but I cannot keep quiet under the continued outrageous tyranny of the wicked.
I have said that if the brethren will have faith, the Lord will fight our battles, and we will have the privilege of living here in peace. I have counted the cost to this people of a collision with our enemies; but I cannot begin to count the cost it will be to them.
I have told you that if this people will live their religion, all will be well; and I have told you that if there is any man or woman that is not willing to destroy anything and everything of their property that would be of use to an enemy, if left, I wanted them to go out of the Territory; and I again say so to-day; for when the time comes to burn and lay waste our improvements, if any man undertakes to shield his, he will be sheared down; for "judgment will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet." Now the fait-hearted can go in peace; but should that time come, they must not interfere. Before I will suffer what I have in times gone by, there shall not be one building, nor one foot of lumber, nor a stick, nor a tree, nor a particle of grass and hay, that will burn, left in reach of our enemies. I am sworn, if driven to extremity, to utterly lay waste, in the name of Israel's God.
I know that the Saints, both the brethren and sisters, pay that our enemies may not come here; for their entrance is designed by our Government to be the prelude to the introduction of abominations and death. And you cannot talk to a brother, or even to a sister, but that she will tell you that, if she consents in her feelings to have our enemies come here, she feels uncomfortable, and her heart sinks within her. If I consent in my feelings to have them come here, my heart sinks within me, my buoyant spirits are gone, and I have no comfort; for I know the hellish designs concealed under the present movement. But we are free, and every man says, "Stand by the kingdom." When this is the case, every man is like a troop; they are like lions.
Admit of corrupt administrators sending troops here, and what would be the result? All hell would follow after. I naturally dislike to have any trouble, and would not, were I not obliged to; but we are obliged to defend ourselves against the persecution of our oppressors, or have our constitutional rights rent from us, and have ourselves destroyed. We must either suffer that, or stand up and maintain the kingdom of God on the earth.
We have known all the time that the kingdoms of darkness were opposed to the kingdom of God--that the powers of earth and hell were combined against it. Christ and Baal cannot make friends with each other: you cannot mix oil and water, righteousness and wickedness. This is the kingdom of God; all others are of Devil. They never can be united in this world, nor in any other: there is no possibility of the two kingdoms becoming one. Those who believe and obey the Gospel of the Son of God, and forsake all for its interests, belong to the kingdom of God, and all the rest belong to the other kingdom. There is a distinction, and the line must be drawn; and you and I have to stand up to it, even though it may take from us our right eyes and right hands. We must stand up to the line and maintain the kingdom of God, or we will all go to destruction together.
I am perfectly willing that the brethren should stop all improvements, if they choose, and spend a few years in seeing what our enemies will do; though their efforts against us will only tend to use them up the faster. If the people prefer it, they may stop their improvements and take care of their wheat, and cache a supply of grain, flour, &c., where no other persons can find it; though we can raise train here all the time,--yes, all the time.
Suppose that our enemies send 50,000 troops here, they will have to transport all that will be requisite to sustain them over one winter; for I will promise them, before they come, that there shall not be one particle of forage, nor one mouthful of food for them, should they come. They will have to bring all their provisions and forage; and though they start their teams with as heavy loads as they can draw, there is no team that can bring enough to sustain itself, to say nothing of the men. If there were no more men here than there are in the Seminole nation, our enemies never could use us up; but they could use up themselves, which they will do. The Seminoles--a little tribe of a few hundred in Florida--have cost our government, I suppose, in the neighbourhood of 100,000,000 dollars; and they are no nearer being conquered than when the war commenced. And what few have removed have been induced to do so by compromise; and it would be far cheapest for the Government to pay the debts they honestly owe us, and leave us unmolested in the peaceful enjoyment of our rights.
Would not our enemies feel well in going to the kanyons for wood the first night to cook their suppers with? The idea puts me in mind of an anecdote told by one Brown about the man who took the first barrel of whisky up the Missouri river on a log-raft.
They might stay amid blackened desolation till they had ate up what they had brought, and then they would have to go back.
It has been asked, "Have you counted the cost?" Yes, for ourselves; but I cannot begin to count it for our enemies. It will cost them all they have in this world, and will land them in hell in the world to come, while the only trouble with us is that we have two or three times more men than we need for using up all who can come here to deprive us of our rights.
As I said this morning, ten years ago on this ground I stated that we would not ask any odds of our enemies in ten years from that date; and the next time that I thought of it was ten years afterwards to a day. "They are now sending their troops" was the news; and it directly occurred to me, "Will you ask any odds of them?" No; in the name of Israel's God we will not; for as soon as we ask odds, we get ends--of bayonets. When we have asked them for bread, they have given us stones; and when we have asked them for meat, they have given us scorpions; and what is the use in asking any more? I do not ask any odds of those who are striving to deprive us of every vestige of freedom and to destroy us from the earth.
Suppose that we should now bow down, and they should order their troops back, and then send a Governor and other officers here, how long would it be before some miserable scamp would get into a fuss with the Indians in Utah County, or in some other county, and get killed? Then the Governor would order out the Militia--probably two or three hundred men--to kill off those Indians. Well, the brethren, knowing that the aggressor is a white man, do not want to turn out and, like Gen. Harney, kill the squaws; and they say, "We shall not go." Then the Governor would say, "They have committed treason;" and it would be, "Send an army here, and shoot and hang them." Our enemies are determined to bring us into collision with the Government, so that they can kill us; but they shall not come here.
If the troops are now this side of Laramie, remember that the Sweetwater is this side of that place. They must have some place to winter, for they cannot come through here this season. We could go out and use them up, and it would not require fifty men to do it. But probably we shall not have occasion to take that course, for we do not want to kill men. They may winter in peace at some place east of us; but when spring comes, they must go back to the States, or, at any rate, they must leave the mountains.
We have no desire to kill men, but we wish to keep the devils from killing us. If you hear that they are near the upper crossing of the Platte, they will probably stay there till they can collect 50.000 troops. We will say that 9 and 3 equal 17; and if that is so, how long will it take to get those troops here? Let an arithmetician figure out how long it will be before 9 and 3 will make 17; for that will just be as soon as our enemies will get 50,000 troops here.
We have got to be called treasoners by our enemies. Joseph was taken up six times, if I remember rightly, on the charge of treason. Once he was brought into court by some enemies who thought they could prove that he had committed adultery, and that they termed treason. At another time our brethren wanted to vote in Davies County, Missouri, and said they would cast their votes and have their rights with other citizens; whereupon Joseph was taken up for treason. Another time, he was taken up on a charge of high treason; and when he came before the grand jury, his enemies wanted to prove that he had more than one wife, asserting that that was high treason.
Our enemies are constantly yelling "Rebellion! treason!" no matter how peaceful, orderly, and loyal we may be. And now to come out in open opposition to their cursed, corrupt practices, will of course be counted treason. But let me tell you that the real, actual treason is committed in Washington, by the administrators of our Government sending an army to take the lives of innocent citizens. Every man is allowed by the Constitution to have what religion he pleases and to profess what religion he pleases. That liberty is guaranteed by the Constitution; "but you, 'Mormons,' an army must be sent against you, because you are Latter-day Saints." Yes, an army must be sent to drive us from the earth.
There is high treason in Washington; and if the law was carried out, it would hang up many of them. And the very act of James K. Polk in taking five hundred of our men, while we were making our way out of the country under an agreement forced upon us, would have hung him between the heavens and the earth, if the laws had been faithfully executed. And now, if they can send a force against this people, we have every constitutional and legal right to send them to hell, and we calculate to send them there.
When I get over being angry, I may preach something else; but the past travels and sufferings of this people through mobocracy are before me.
I am not speaking of the Government, but of the corrupt administrators of the Government. They make me think of a sign in New York, upon which was lettered, "All manner of twisting and turning done here." It is just so in Washington city; they can twist and turn in any and every way, to suit their hellish appetites.
Were I an officer sent to Utah for the purpose of aiding the unhallowed oppression of the innocent, (and in this connection I disclaim all personalities,) I would know the facts in the case before I would make any hostile move; and sooner than side with tyranny and murder, I would resign my commission, and say, "Take it and stick it in your boot, and go to hell, and I will go my way." And I would rather go and raise my own potatoes for my wives and children than to hold office under such a set of administrators and bow down to their wicked designs; though, if I were of the world, I should probably do as the rest do.
I have already told you that the main cause of an army being now sent here is a political scheme for the purpose of getting money out of the United States treasury. Politicians and traders combine to lay plans, no matter how devilish, for getting their hands into the treasury of the United States, that they may have money with which to sow corruption and gratify their debauched natures.
Some men do not realize what they are doing. I said, a few weeks ago, that the deeds of some men are out of sight. Our merchants here have fanned the flame, and what for? To peddle off my blood and yours for gold and silver. Although that design may have been out of their sight, yet such is the case; but they will not make money by the operation. Should the crisis come, they will find themselves in poor pasture, with nothing but greasewood and sage to feed upon. It will not do for them to sell us for money; for we are worth more than the Methodist society was sold for in Canada, where they were sold at three cents a head.
I am aware that you will want to know what will be the result of the present movement against us. "Mormonism" will take an almighty stride into influence and power, while our enemies will sink and become weaker and weaker, and be no more; and I know it just as well now as I shall five years hence. The Lord Almighty wants a name and a character; and he will show our enemies that he is God, and that he has set to his hand again to gather Israel, and to try our faith and integrity. And he is saying, "Now, you, my children, dare you take a step to promote righteousness, in direct and open opposition to the popular feelings of all the wicked in your Government? If you do, I will fight your battles."
Our enemies had better count the cost; for if they continue to job, they will want to let it out to sub-contractors, before they get half through with it. If they persist in sending troops here, I want the people in the west and in the east to understand that it will not be safe for them to cross the Plains.
It has cost the Government hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the Indians in other territories than it has in this; and I have saved the Government hundreds of thousands of dollars, by keeping the Indians peaceable in Utah. Hundreds of miles have the Indians travelled to see me, to know whether they might use up the emigrants, saying--"they have killed many of us; and they damn you and damn us, and shall we stand it?" I have always told them to hold on, to stop shedding blood, and to live in peace. But I have been told that the first company of packers that went through here this season, on their way from california to the States, shot at every Indian they saw between Carson Valley and Box Elder; and what has been the result? Probably scores of persons have been killed; animals have been taken from nearly all the emigrants that have passed on that road; and the Indians in that region have now more stock than they know how to take care of; and they come into settlements with their pockets full of gold. The whites first commenced on the Indians; and now, if they do not quit such conduct, they must stop travelling through this country; for it is more than I can do to keep the Indians still under such outrageous treatment.
The people do not realize what they have done by driving us into the midst of the Lamanites. They prevented Joseph from associating with the Indians; but they, through their ignorance, thought that we were going to Vancouver's Island, or on the borders of the Pacific; but lo! they have driven us into the midst of the Lamanites. These Lamanites begin to have a knowledge of their forefathers, and they are cultivating the earth. Here were the most degraded classes of Indians to be found; but now there is not a tribe so enlightened, nor one that has so good a knowledge of its real position and standing before the Lord as have some of these Utah Indians. It is now very different with them to what it was when we first came here. It is now becoming a universal practice with them to punish the guilty, and not the innocent: they have been taught that from the time we first came here. Talk with them, and you will learn that they have a good deal of knowledge. They must be saved, for they are the children of Abraham.
The Lord in his mercy has suffered our enemies to do that which we could not have accomplished for many years; and, let a war commence, and there is no knowing where we shall next land in Jackson County, Missouri. They will learn that "Mormonism" is a living creature.
All the world have to learn that the Lord is God, and that he is the God of his children. He will protect his anointed; he will defend his own family; and all we have to do is to do his will; and every man, woman, and child ought to seek to learn the will of God and do it. When that is the case, we need not fear all earth and hell. Do not offend God by not doing as he wants you to.
May the Lord God bless you, brethren and sisters. Amen.
COMMUNISM--SECTARIANISM--THE GOSPEL AND ITS EFFECTS, ETC.
Remarks by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, on Sunday Morning, September 13, 1857.
It is rather a strange anomaly, particularly in the estimation of the world, that a people so numerous as the Latter-day Saints should be gathered together in one place, having the one faith, and believing in the same doctrines. It is the more strange because there have been various social and political movements, aided by philosophy, established among men in various ages of the world; and almost, if not all of these have signally failed.
Among the number of social movements in our day, there is that of Robert Dale Owen, who thought he could ameliorate the condition of mankind by a sort of communism, having a fellowship of goods among them--a sort of common stock principle. Everything pertaining to this speculation, however, has flatted out; and in all his schemes and movements, whether in England or in this country, they have signally failed.
It is so also with Fourierism--a species of French philosophy, established by one Fourier, a Frenchman, and advocated by Greeley of the <New York Tribune.> They had tried it in France, and then came over to this country; and not far from New York a society of this kind was established. They had a good deal of property, and I am informed they established something of the nature of what is called the free love principle; but within twelve months back, while I was residing in New York, everything they had was sold under the hammer.
Mr. Cabet commenced lecturing in France, and had very extensive societies there. About the time we left Nauvoo to come to this land, Mr. Cabet, with a company of his men, came there. This is a species of communism; they are called "Communists," believing, with Mr. Owen, in a community of goods. They published a newspaper in Nauvoo, and one or more in France. I baptized one of their editors while in Paris on my mission--a man who is now in this valley, by the name of Bertrand.
Mr. Krolokoski, who was also an editor of the same paper with Mr. Bertrand, came to me to have a conversation about the first principles of the Gospel. After a long conversation, he said, "Mr. Taylor, do you propose no other plan to ameliorate the condition of mankind than that of baptism for the remission of sins?"
I replied--"This is all I propose about the matter."
"Well," he said, "I wish you every success; but I am afraid you will not succeed."
Said I, "Mr. Krolokoski, you sent, some time ago, Mr. Cabet to Nauvoo. He was considered your leader--the most talented man you had. He went to Nauvoo when it was deserted--when houses and lands were at a mere nominal value: he went there with his community at the time we left. Rich farms were deserted, and thousands of us had left our houses and furniture in them, and there was everything that was calculated to promote the happiness of human beings there. Never could a person go to a place under more happy circumstances. Mr. Cabet, to try his experiment, had also the selection in France of whom he pleased. He and his company went to Nauvoo, and what is the result? You have seen the published account in the papers. We were banished from civilized society into the valleys of the Rocky Mountains to seek for that protection among savages which Christian civilization denied us--among the <peau rouges,> or red skins, as they call them. There our people have built houses, enclosed lands, cultivated gardens, built school-houses, opened farms, and have organized a government and are prospering in all the blessings and immunities of civilized life. Not only this, but they have sent thousands and thousands of dollars over to Europe to assist the suffering poor to go to America, where they might find an asylum. You, on the other hand, that went to our empty houses and farms--you, I say, went there under most favourable circumstances. Now, what is the result? I read in all of your reports from there, published in your own paper in Paris, a continued cry for help. The cry is to you for money, money: 'We want money to help us to carry out our designs.' The society that I represent comes with the fear of God--the worship of the great Eloheim: they offer the simple plan ordained of God--viz., repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying-on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Our people have not been seeking the influence of the world, nor the power of government, but they have obtained both; whilst you, with your philosophy independent of God, have been seeking to build up a system of communism and a government which is, according to your own accounts, the way to introduce the millennial reign. Now, which is the best--our religion, or your philosophy?"
"Well," said he, "I cannot say anything."
He could not, because these were facts that he was familiar with.
What has become of that society? There are very few of them left. They have had dissensions, bickerings, trouble, and desertions, until they are nearly dwindled to nothing.
I might enumerate many societies of a similar nature, commenced in different parts of the world and at various times. The results, however, would be proved to be the same: they commenced in the wisdom of man, and ended as speculative bubbles. Truth, based on eternal principles, alone can stand the test.
If Owen, Fourier, Cabet, and other philosophers have failed,--if all the varied schemes of communism have failed,--if human philosophy is found to be at fault, and all its plans incompetent, and we have not failed, it it [sic] shows there is something associated with this people and with "Mormonism" that there is not with them.
Now the question is, What is this principle?--why is there a difference?
The first account I ever heard of this Gospel was simply preaching what are termed the first principles of the Gospel of Christ. There was nothing very ostentatious about it--nothing very grand--no great pomp or parade. The Elders were in many instances uneducated: they had no particular advantages among men; but they had received certain principles, certain doctrines, that were plain and easy to comprehend--things that were childlike and simple, and that recommended themselves to every intelligent, unbiased mind.
What was it we first learned in relation to this Gospel? Was it something very profound and philosophical, that some sage either in this or some other country had discovered--the plan of some politician or statesman?
Verily no; it was no such thing. What was it? It was a proclamation made, declaring that a holy angel from heaven had appeared--that he had revealed himself unto a young man that was born in the backwoods of America--a farmer's son, without any particular educational advantages; that this angel, having appeared unto him, had revealed unto him an ancient record that gave an account of the aboriginal inhabitants of this country; that in this record there was an acount [sic] of Prophets having existed on this continent in former days, of Jesus having appeared, and of angels having administered unto them,--an account of their having been in possession of the Gospel, having the same doctrines, the same blessings, the same privileges and powers that were associated with the Gospel on the Asiatic continent; and that this record agreed with the Bible in doctrines, ordinances, teachings, and blessings.
And furthermore, these men referred us to the Bible, and showed us that this book was spoken of--that it was to come forth--that it was the "stick of Joseph," and that it was to be one with the "stick of Judah,"--one in prophecy, one in revelation, one in unfolding the purposes of God, and one in bringing to pass the great events that were to transpire in the last days.
We heard of these things, and to many of us they seemed foolish. We heard the cry of "False prophet and deceiver!" The first thing that I heard from a priest, after hearing this Gospel preached by Parley P. Pratt, some twenty years ago, was the cry of "Delusion!" I was immediately informed that "Joe Smith was a money-digger," that he tried to deceive people buy walking on planks laid under the water, and that he was a wicked and corrupt man, a deceiver, and one of the biggest fools in creation, and so forth. I heard every kind of story; and the priests have kept up the same things, pretty much, to the present day.
I remember, when I first had an Elder introduced to me, I said to him, "I do not know what to think about you 'Mormons.' I do not believe any kind of fanaticism: I profess to be acquainted with the Bible; and, sir," said I, "in any conversation we may have, I wish you to confine yourself to the Bible; for I tell you I shall not listen to anything in opposition to that word."
From the report which I had heard of "Mormonism," I thought it was anything but a religious system. I was told about the French prophets--I was told about Matthias, Johanna Southcote, and of all the follies that had existed for centuries; and then they put "Mormonism" at the end of them all.
In my researches, I examined things very carefully and critically. I wrote down six of the first sermons I heard preached by Parley P. Pratt, in order that I might compare them with the Bible, and I could not find any difference. I could easily controvert any other doctrine, but I could not overturn one principle of "Mormonism."
I have travelled to preach these doctrines in most of the United States and in the Canadas; I have preached them in England, in Scotland, in Wales, in the Isles of Man and the Jerseys, in france, Germany, in the principal cities of America and Europe, and to many prominent men in the world; and I have not yet found a man that could controvert one principle of "Mormonism" upon scriptural grounds. If there is a man, I have yet to find him.
The first proclamation by the Elders was, that the ancient Gospel had been restored. We had had Methodism, Presbyterianism, Dunkerism, Shakerism, Catholicism, Quakerism, and every other ism that you could think of; but there was none that had the ancient Gospel,--no, not one.
I was, however, well acquainted with theology. I consider that if ever I lost any time in my life, it was while studying the Christian theology. Sectarian theology is the greatest tomfoolery in the world.
There are certain principles in reason which are unalterable. Two and two made four 1,800 years ago, and they still make the same. Two parallel lines never would meet: they will not now. A Gospel that was true 1,800 years ago could not be false now. If they, then, have the same Bible, and profess to have the same Spirit, and to be educated men, why do they not see alike? If there are any of whom we have spoken possessed of good common sense, it would lead them to union, and not to discord; for the scriptures tell us, there is "one Lord, who is above all, in you all, and through you all."
We used to quarrel with one another, when we were among the sectarians, about our peculiar doctrines. One was a brother methodist, and another was a brother Presbyterian; and we used to fall out about which was right--whether the doctrine of freewill or of fate was right; for we did not know which was right,--through both were right, if we had understood them. There was also much wrangling as to whether infants that died went to hell or not. Some sent them to heaven, and some to hell, where they were to be pitched up with pitchforks, and stung with scorpions, and wasted there everlastingly.
This is the doctrine of the Catholic Church. I have got a book at home that I obtained in france, which represents sinners falling into a tremendous fire; and there are dragons, scorpions, serpents, and every kind of reptile searching like fiends for their prey. Naked sinners are depicted falling into devouring flames, and a great dragon, with open mouth, forked tongue, and horrid teeth, ready to receive them. If they should miss it, there are scorpions, and serpents, and devils, with three-pronged pitchforks, waiting a little below, that they may get the sinners and give them a good roasting.
You are here, a conglomeration from all the different churches. The day when you came into this Church was the time when you showed your honesty. What! are there honest-hearted Methodists and Presbyterians? Yes. And honest Baptists? Yes. Persons have been brought into this Church of all those different kinds of faith, and you are actually all one.
[President B. Young: "That scares the world."]
Yes, as President Young says, that scares the world. Why are they no one? Because they have not the Gospel as it existed in its purity.
Peter preached it, Jesus, and James, John, and Paul preached it, and the Apostles and Elders preached it on this continent; for the Gospel in the Book of Mormon and the Gospel in the Bible both agree: the doctrines in both books are one. The historical part differs only: the one gives the history of an Asiatic, the other of an American people.
Stephens and Catherwood, after examining the ruins that were found at Guatemala, in central America, and gazing upon magnificent ruins, mouldering [sic] temples, stately edifices, rich sculpture, elegant statuary, and all the traces of a highly cultivated and civilized people, said--"Here are the works of a great and mighty people that have inhabited these ruins; but now they are no more; history is silent on the subject, and no man can unravel this profound mystery. Nations have planted, and reaped, and built, and lived, and died, that are now no more; and no one can tell anything about them or reveal their history."
Why, there was a young man in Ontario county, New York, to whom the angel of God appeared and gave an account of the whole. These majestic ruins bespeak the existence of a mighty people. The Book of Mormon unfolds their history. O yes; but his was of too humble an origin, like Jesus of Nazareth. It was not some great professor, who had got an education in a European or an American college, but one who professed to have a revelation from God,--and the world don't believe in revelation; but nevertheless it is true, and we know it.
Those men who profess so much intelligence that they cannot listen to the world of the Lord, and have so much egotism and philosophy that they cannot listen to sound reason and common sense, cannot be edified by these things, while we, who have not such lofty pretensions, enjoy them.
Now, what did Jesus teach? He said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature: he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark xvi. 16-18.)
This is what Jesus taught: this is the Gospel that he and his disciples taught. Who teaches this Gospel now? Do the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Dunkers, the Baptists, or the Catholics? Could you find anybody that taught the doctrines that Jesus taught his disciples to teach? I have not found them anywhere; and yet the thing is so plain that he that runs may read.
Go and preach the Gospel to every creature; and he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. "O yes, we believe that." Well, then, read on. "O no," they will say; "stop there if you please." But it reads: "And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
"But," say they, "you must not read that." But it is in the Bible. "True," say they; "but it is a spiritual thing: it means those that are sick spiritually--they shall be healed. "It means," say they, "the sin-sick soul."
It is like the school-ma'm who came to a difficult word, and not understanding it herself, told the child to say "hard word," and pass on. You must not say that which is contrary to their belief.
Now, if we look a little further, we shall find that the disciples were instructed to "tarry at Jerusalem until they were endowed with power from on high." It was necessary that they should be qualified. Did they tarry? They did.
Why was it necessary for them to tarry? Had they not been with Jesus? And had they not ate and drank with him? Yes. Had they not seen his miracles? They had; and they were called to go and preach the Gospel. And were they not prepared? No, not until they had received the necessary qualification. It was not every upstart that could go and preach the Gospel.
There are some, now a days, that go to college; and by their learning they think they will preach a Gospel without God. There are others who go because they are fools. Now, when the Lord qualified the Apostles to go forth and preach the Gospel, he endowed them with wisdom and inspired them from on high, and they spake as the Holy Ghost gave them utterance; and the word that they spake was not the word of man, but the word of God, dictated by the Spirit of God, pointing out to the people the way of life.
Why was it necessary for those Apostles to tarry at Jerusalem? They had an important mission to perform; their testimony was going to seal the doom of nations. Their message was, "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned."
Could the Methodists, Baptists, or Presbyterians say this? No. No one professes to say that their word will seal the doom of nations, among modern Christians.
Those men, however, who stayed at Jerusalem till they were endowed with power from on high, made this profession. They assembled in an upper room, and the Spirit of the Lord God rested upon them, and they spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance. There were no Methodists, or Presbyterians, or Baptists there.
As soon as it was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and some said, "Why, these men are drunk: we have got a lot of drunken scamps here--the followers of Jesus of Nazareth." But Peter said, "O no, this is not the case; it is but the third hour of the day." The Jews never got drunk before nine o'clock in the morning; so that was a sufficient argument.
Peter said, "These men are not drunk as ye suppose; but this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel--"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophecy." (Acts ii.) This is not drunkenness, but it is the power of God beginning to be made manifest: these are the servants of the living God, the Apostles of the Lord, set apart to preach the principles of eternal truth to the nations of the earth; and they are speaking as the Spirit gives them utterance.
The Apostles began to tell them about Jesus, that he was the Son of God, that they had rejected him, crucified, and slain him. They testified that he was not an impostor, as the people had supposed, but that he was the Messiah.
When they heard these things, they were pricked to the heart, and cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
You have heard this kind of cry in those revival meetings among the sectarians: people would get convinced and under a sort of contraction of mind, and they would want to know what they should do to be saved.
Now, here was a lot of people gathered from all parts of the surrounding country, speaking different languages; and Peter was preaching to them to believe, repent, and be baptised: and while reasoning upon the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, they cried out, "What shall we do?" Did he tell them to go to the anxious seat to be prayed for? No, he did not know anything about such a seat: the Devil had not yet invented it. Did he tell them to go and put their names into a class-book, and that they would receive them on probation, and then, if they were worthy, they would be received as members? No: this is something in advance of Petter's time; it is something of Christian civilization.
It was necessary that we should have the enlightenment of the 19th century to reveal these things. Did he tell them to pray? No, he did not. Prayer is well enough in the season thereof; but they had something else to do.
Is it not right to go into your closet and pray? Yes. But when you have ordinances to attend to, then that is your business. What did Peter say to them? He said, "Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
You perceive that he told the people the same that Jesus told him to teach.
"In the first place, you tell us to repent, and then to be baptised in the name of Jesus christ for the remission of sins; and what then?"
To have hands laid upon you for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
"What will the Holy Ghost do for us, Peter?"
You have seen its effects upon us. It shall bring things past to your remembrance; it shall show you things to come; it shall make prophets of you; your sons and daughters shall see visions; the heavens shall be opened unto you; you shall know of your origin, comprehend who you are, what you are, where you are going to, the relationship which exists between you and your God; and there shall be a channel opened between the eternal worlds and you; and the purposes of God shall be made known unto you.
What did the Elders of this Church preach to you? The very same things which Peter taught. And have not the same effects, or signs, followed them that believe? They have, as you all know this day. (See 1st Cor. chap. xii.)
I will tell you how I felt when I was investigating the doctrines of "Mormonism." I compared them to try if they agreed with the Scriptures; but when I tried to pick "Mormonism" to pieces, I could not do it. And now, said I to the Elders, you promise me that if I embrace the doctrines you teach, I shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: what will this produce? They told me it would produce the same as it did anciently. If I had not experienced those things and seen them manifested around me, I would have got up and called those men impostors. I would have said, "Sirs, you promised me and others blessings which we have not experienced, and this people and you, sirs, are impostors.
I do not call the priests of the day impostors, because they do not profess anything of the kind that I have spoken of: they are simply false teachers, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," as the Scriptures say.
We red the Book of Mormon, and found it contained the same doctrines the Apostles taught on the Asiatic continent.
And what has this Gospel done? It has caused you to leave your families, your connections, your homes, and your associations in life. Many of you have left thousands and thousands of dollars' worth of property; you have wandered over oceans, deserts, plains, and mountains; you have been mobbed and scourged from city to city, and from State to State, and you have endured all this. Why? Because of that hope which is within your bosoms, which blooms with immortality and eternal lives. You have asked this question to yourselves, "Who am I, and what is the design of my existence?" and the Gospel has unfolded these things to your understandings. You feel that you are eternal beings: you feel that you are living for eternity and not for time only.
I have heard it recommended, by some poor fools in the shape of editors in the United States, to send missionaries here to convert the people. I told them to send them, and promised they should have a hearing. They thought if they came here and introduced some of their good Christian ideas and practices and some of their pure morals, that you would see such a striking difference that you must be enamored with them, and that you would be broken up.
Why, said I, poor fools! Do you think that this people have left their friends, associations, and everything that would render life precious among men, and wandered off among those who are called fanatics and fools--those who are everywhere spoken against?--and do you think that they are going to be led astray by your poor-pussy priests?
Are you to be like the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Catholics? No; you are to have one faith, one baptism, one Lord, one Holy Spirit.
You are terribly tyrannized over, according to what I hear; and many of you want to leave.
I engaged, when I was back in the States, that if they would send all to Utah that wanted to come, we would send all back that wanted to go. That would be a fair bargain, you know; but I think they would have the heaviest job on hand.
[Voices: We know they would.]
What was your object in coming here? Was it to rebel against the General Government?
[President B. Young: To get away from Christians.]
Brother Young says it was to get away from Christians--from that unbounded charity which you had experienced amongst them. In consequence of their treatment, you had to come away to seek a home in the desert wilds, and to obtain that protection among savages which Christian philanthropy denied you.
We came here because we could no help it, and now we have got an idea to stay here because we <can> help it: this is about the feeling.
What was it that implanted the idea of gathering and union in our bosoms? It was the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and that principle is implanted in our breasts by the power of the Holy Ghost, which earth and hell cannot eradicate.
There are certain ideas of God, and futurity, and the nature and fitness of things implanted in the human bosom, even while in the world; for there are many things which lead to reflection.
Why do this people feel so comfortable when an army is approaching? Are you not afraid of being killed? No, not a great deal. Why are you not mourning and sorrowing, and why are you not distressed and troubled? Because you have got a principle within you that cannot be conquered in time nor in eternity: you possess the principles of eternal life in your bosoms, that cannot be subdued. You know what your relationship is with the Eternal God, and his Spirit gives joy and consolation to your bosoms.
I have heard men and women rejoice in france and in germany as much as in any parts of the world, and in their own tongue blessing and thanking God that ever he permitted the light of truth to beam upon their minds. you feel the same: you have got the treasure in earthen vessels; you have got that within you of which Jesus spake--a well of water "springing up unto eternal life." You are looking forward to the time when thrones, principalities, powers, and eternal lives will be given unto you in the kingdoms of our God.
Again: You know that you are in the kingdom of God; for God, among other things, has revealed this to you. And while the Communists, Fourierites, and others have sought to bring about a reign of righteousness without revelation, God has revealed unto you a kingdom that shall abide for ever, by the principles of eternal truth and by the revelations of God. You know that you are associated with this kingdom: you feel it; and no man can deprive you of this feeling, nor rob you of that Spirit.
Satan has had the dominion over the world for centuries, and no nation or people has acknowledged God or bowed to his sceptre. They have anointed their kings, they have hewn down and trampled upon the rights of man, and their hands reek with blood. In this condition they have had priests to come and anoint them kings! But they are wholesale murderers and robbers.
Who has reigned by the grace of God in the nations? And who has had authority from heaven? Who has acknowledged God in all their ways? Has any kingdom or dominion under heaven? Not one! You go into any kingdom, or let a Prophet of God go into any cabinet, to any governor, or potentate, and say unto them, <Thus saith the Lord!> and they would kick him out. [Voice: "They would kill him."] Would they do it in the United States? They would anywhere.
To behold man, whose breath is in his nostrils, who flourishes, and is cut down like the grass that exists, and withers and dies, that expands and bursts like a bubble--poor, pusillanimous man--assume government, authority, and power, without any authority from God, to regulate the kingdoms of the earth, shows his littleness, weakness, egotism, and pusillanimity, and reminds one of boys playing marbles or building cob-houses.
Why was this earth made? and who made it? We are told in the Scriptures that "all things were created by him and for him; whether they be principalities, powers, or dominions, all things were created by him and for him." Has he had the dominion? If so, when and where has he had it? He did partially rule for a short time among the ancient Patriarchs, and also among the Jews; but all the rest of the nations have ruled without him and taken to themselves the glory. They have assumed to themselves certain positions and powers, and, aided by their peers, lords, governors, and immediate associates, they have oppressed the human family, and brought them into bondage.
The nations have forgotten God. They have forsaken God, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out to themselves broken cisterns, that can hold no water; and like dogs, wolves, panthers, and beasts of prey, they have done nothing but tear each other to pieces.
Red the history of nations, and examine the paintings they have in their National Galleries, and you will find they represent, almost exclusively, scenes of blood, deadly struggles, triumphant victories, or sanguinary battles, and the groaning, troubles, sighs, sufferings, and death of the human family.
This has been the way that things have been carried on by kings and governors; but where and when has there been a person to save, and bless, and act as a father and benefactor to the world? And where has there been a servant of God listened to? Jesus came among his friends; but they would not listen to him. He sent his servants--his Apostles, but they put them to death. He has sent again in the last days; he has anointed his servant Joseph Smith, and afterwards Brigham Young, to speak as his mouthpiece to the people, for the government of his Saints not only here, but to all that will hear and obey the Gospel throughout the world.
God has determined to have a people that will serve him. What have you heard taught here? Nothing but the law of God and obedience to the laws of the land. Nobody but the most blackhearted villains that ever lived would have gone among our enemies and represented things otherwise.
You comprehend liberty, and you will have this boon. Many of your fathers have fought for this, and you are resolved to enjoy it. Will you endeavour to disannul the Government? No; but we will rally round the Constitution that was purchased by the blood of our fathers, and will support it.
These are our views; and while we do not trample under foot the Constitution, we will take care that others do not do it.
[The congregation responded, "Amen."]
What has been the difficulty with you for some time past? You have had doctrines of purity revealed unto you; you have been taught principles of righteousness, to repent of all your evils, to purify yourselves, that, as Saints of the living God, you might come and receive blessings at the hands of the Almighty.
While you have been doing this, the spirit of psychology has been operating in the hearts of men, even the spirits and powers of darkness; devils have been railing, and men thundering out their anathemas; all hell has been to pay, and "no pitch hot," and why? Because you have been adhering to the principles of truth, and been doing better than you have before.
What was the reason that they crucified Jesus Christ? Because he adhered to the truth; and those very men that persecute us would crucify him, if he was here to-day.
[Voices: "Yes, they would."]
Well, what is the matter? The Lord has given to us a Prophet who receives the word of the Lord for us. These revelations have led us from principle to principle, from doctrine to doctrine, and from ordinance to ordinance, until we are found as we are at the present time.
We feel well, our spirits are light and buoyant, and our hopes strong in the God of Israel. If we could not trust in God, we should indeed be without hope. How many have gone from here to teach the principles that God has revealed? Thousands of the Elders of Israel. They were sent to do the people good, and have been more disinterested in it than any other people.
Have you, Elders, gone because you were sent by missionary societies? No, you have not. Have you gone because you had drafts and acceptances on banks and merchants? No: you have gone without purse or scrip. President Young, brother Woodruff, brother Hyde, brother Franklin, myself, and others, have travelled thousands and thousands of miles without purse or scrip, trusting in the living God.
Did we have to beg? No. I do not believe in begging: God will take care of us. It is not so with other ministers. You tell them to trust in God for the support of their bodies, and they are not willing to do it. They will be quite willing to trust in God for the support of their bodies, and they are not willing to do it. They will be quite willing to trust in God for their spirits; but they dare not trust him for their bodies.
Go to the United States, and I will engage to give $50,000, if you will find a thousand men in all the United States that will go without purse or scrip to the nations of the earth to preach the Gospel. Come, now, I will banter the world with this offer.
On the other hand, if President Young wants a thousand men, they will be ready in one day, if it is necessary. Is it not so, brethren?
[Thousands of voices responded, "Yes."]
This state of things exists in the world because they are governed by filthy lucre.
We have embraced the Gospel because we knew it was true. I have travelled with brother Young thousands of miles, preaching the Gospel, and with brother Woodruff, brother Hyde, brother Smith, brother Franklin, and many others around me. What did we do? We went trusting in Israel's God; and we are doing the same now. What did we go for? Because we loved the human family, and knowing that God had revealed principles that would exalt men and women in the kingdom of God. We wandered forth to preach those principles voluntarily. We did it because we loved mankind.
Why have this people confidence in President Young and others? Because they have seen them leave their homes and go forth and endure every privation to promote their welfare in time and in eternity. They could not have confidence in a priest that would not go to preach except he had $10,000.
Furthermore, this people have confidence in their leaders, because in times of trouble and trial they have stemmed the torrents and been foremost in the battle. It is not a kind of soft, smooth eloquence to tickle the ears of men, but it is stern matters of fact that the people know.
As Paul said, "Can anything separate us from the love of God? No, brethren; we are cemented together by eternal ties that the world does not know, nor can it comprehend. Talk to us of bowing to the Gentile yoke! Nonsense. What would be your feeling if the United States wanted to have the honour of driving us from our homes and bringing us subject to their depraved standard of moral and religious truth? Would you, if necessary, brethren, put the torch to your buildings, and lay them in ashes, and wander houseless into the mountains? I know what you would say and what you would do.
[President Brigham Young: Try the vote.]
All you that are willing to set fire to your property and lay it in ashes, rather than submit to their military rule and oppression, manifest it by raising your hands.
[The congregation unanimously raised their hands.]
I know what your feelings are. We have been persecuted and robbed long enough; and, in the name of Israel's God, we will be free! [The whole congregation responded, "Amen." And President B. Young said, "I say amen all the time to that."]
I feel to thank God that I am associated with such men, with such a people, where honesty and truth dwell in the heart--where men have got a religion that they are not afraid to live by, and that they are not afraid to die by; and I would not give a straw for anything short of that.
The great God has set his hand to roll forth his purposes; and the hand that opposes it shall be palsied. The power of God shall be felt among the nations that reject the truth. All is right in Israel, and we do not want to hurt anybody; but we feel to bless everybody, and our hearts are full of blessings for all who will work righteousness.
Shall we still bless the human family? Yes. Shall we rally around the Constitution of the United States, and protect it in its purity? Yes; we will save it when others forsake it.
In the day of our sorrow and affliction, when hunted by our enemies, was there anybody to pour in comfort to the wounded bosom? Have there been any of the priests and editors to take our part? Where are they?
Brethren, I feel thankful that God has revealed unto us the keys of the kingdom of God and given us a knowledge of the things that shall transpire in these last days.
I ask my heavenly Father that I may be counted worthy and faithful to endure to the end, that I may obtain the crown that is in reversion for me.
I do not care anything about shooting: I have been shot. Neither do I care anything about dying; for I could have died many a time if I had desired to; but I had not got ready. But I do care about those principles of truth which I have received; and I would not exchange my position for that of any emperor, king, or potentate in any nation under heaven.
God will put a hook in the jaws of our enemies and turn them aside; and the day is not far distant when empires will crumble to pieces and the hand of God be against the nations; and they will know that there is a God in heaven, and a hand that is stronger than theirs.
Brethren, all we have to do is to live our religion, to obey the counsel of our President, be humble and faithful, and not exalted in our own strength; but ask wisdom of God, and see that we have peace with God, with our families, with one another, that peace may reign in our bosoms and in our community.
I pray God to preserve you in peace unto the day of redemption, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
POSSESSION OF THE ONE SPIRIT--BLESSINGS PERTAINING TO THE RIGHTEOUS--TRIAL OF THE SAINTS, ETC.
A Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday morning, September 20, 1857.
There is but one course for this people to take, in order to be Saints; and that is to do right, to be just, to be true, and to be honest. I will tell you, gentlemen, it is not the character of a Saint to lie, to deceive, and to take the advantage of one another: that is not the character of a Saint. It is to receive the truth from God, from his Son Jesus Christ, and from the Holy Ghost.
Just as sure as I abide in the vine, so sure am I to partake of that Spirit that is in the Father; and it comes down through the Son, continuing down through that vine till it comes to me.
Well, I am standing very near the head of that vine; that is, the vine that is springing out of the Father, even in the latter days. Brother Brigham is the head of the vine, and I stand right by him, and every man that holds the Priesthood stands right by us, and should have the same Spirit that we have, and the same that was in Jesus Christ.
Now, if I have got the Holy Ghost in me, I am dictated by the Father, and by the Son, and by the Holy Ghost; and everything is clean and right between me and the Father. Then what is there to hinder me asking the Father, in the name of Jesus, and receiving, if all is right and there is no obstruction?
If there is an obstruction, that obstruction is not in the Father, it is not in Jesus, neither is it in the Holy Ghost; but if there is an obstruction, it is in me. I caused it, did I not? Yes, I did. But if we have the principles of this Gospel dwelling in us, that is by the Spirit of truth; and they are life.
Every word of truth you receive and treasure up in your bosoms is light and life, for light is life; and if these principles are in us, and we cultivate them, I tell you there is no spirit of death in us. But we abandon the principles of death, and there is no place in us for death; but it is light, and life, and intelligence; and if those principles continue to dwell in us, we will be like a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
How can a man lie when there is not an untruth in him? How can he take the advantage of his brother? How can he act the hypocrite? How can he be dishonest, when there are none of these things in him? How can he do any of these evil things, when there is nothing but light and truth in him?
I am aware that a great many people have not an idea that light is life, and truth is light: they do not believe it nor comprehend it; but it is so. Have I a disposition to lie to my brother? If I had said anything, and brother Brigham was to say, "Brother Heber, how is it? Is it so?" I would not dare to lie to him; for he holds the keys of life, light, and intelligence to this whole nation: he holds the keys of light and truth; and you might as well lie to God as to lie to him; for the man that would lie to him would lie to God.
Now, if any man follow the practice of lying, deceiving, or working any manner of iniquity, I do not care if he pretends to be a Saint to-day, his corruption will surely be made manifest; and although he may have a name to live and to dwell among this people, yet, if he continues that course, he will go to destruction, both body and spirit.
Take a person that practises evil, and you will see that person uneasy: such individuals are never easy a minute. But you take a person who has got the Spirit of God, who is humble, meek, and of a child-like spirit, that is the man: I do not care if he is in a mud-hole, neither do I care if he has forty mobocrats after him, or if he is a-straddle of a cannon, he is happy.
This makes me think of brother Amasa and brother McGinn: the mob took them and rode them on a cannon. Well, this is easier than it is to ride on a rail.
They asked them to preach; so brother McGinn preached to them, showing the reverence of the animal creation towards their God, and said, "The hen put down her head and took a drink of water, and then lifted up her head in thanks and adoration to her God. Well, you see, there is a good deal of thankfulness and reverence in a hen." "Amen," says brother Amasa: "Lord, make us all hens." That was about the winding-up of the discourse; and by preaching these things they gained the affections of those mobbers, so that they let them go.
Brethren, let us take the counsel that we received from brother Spencer; and let us be humble and be Saints; and let every man honour his calling and make it honourable; and by so doing, God will honour that man, and he will honour every man who honours that man and who honours his religon [sic]. If every man will live his religion, serve his God, and honour his Priesthood, we never will be troubled from this day henceforth and for ever; no, never.
Will our enemies come among us? They won't come this year; they may try as much as much [sic] as they please.
[President B. Young: "Except we let them in." [sic-bracket]
No, never can they come here, except we let them in.
Well, as the evil is measurably turned away this year, if the Saints will be faithful, they will be foiled next year, and then more abundantly the year after that, and so on. But they will keep sending their troops and forces from year to year and from time to time, and you need not lay down your watch. The day has come when the devil is coming with all his combined forces: he has laid a siege against the kingdom of God, and it never will cease till this kingdom triumphs.
It is for you to be just as good judges of the truth as I am; and you will be, if the truth dwells in you.
Brethren, let me tell you that I have no spirit in me to shed blood. I never had it in me but once in my life, except I have it in me when I am angry. Once I was inspired by the Almighty with that spirit, and that was in Nauvoo; and so was brother Brigham, and I felt to say that I was sorry that peace was declared. We had just got ready when the gap was shut up.
Do I want to shed the blood of my brethren and sisters, or to see it shed? No: and neither do you, unless the Holy Ghost dictates for us to shed the blood of our enemies; then it is just as right as it is for us to partake of the sacrament. But I wish they would take the hint, and go the other way, and not attempt to come here. We do not want to hurt them; but if they come upon us, and we have to repel them by the force of arms, God Almighty will give us the power to do it: now, mark it.
You know, I said that I had wives enough to whip the United States; and why? Because they will whip themselves, and my wives would not have to resist them.
This is a good day; and what is there for us to do? It is for us to take a course to lay up our grain, our corn, our barley, and oats. A great many of you have been brought up on oatmeal porridge. I have been in the old country, and seen you live on it, and have eaten it with you; and so has brother Hyde.
There are thousands of people in England that would consider they were perfectly happy, if they could get one spoonful of oatmeal each day for life. I have heard brother Brigham state the same thing. Why, here are women, and men, too, who sing before us, with whom I have eaten oatmeal porridge; and I like it, for it is digested very quickly, and leaves people very comfortable.
And now, take a course to lay up your stores and prepare for the worst. We are blest, this year, above all the blessings that have been since the earth was organized.
Here is brother James Smithies: he is working some land on shares for me upon the Church farm. He has this year raised one-third more than any previous year, and on less ground. And this people are blest in proportion like that. Who has done it? God has done it, and has blest this people, because they have repented of and forsaken their sins, and confessed them, many of them.
Well, if we take this course, he will continue to bless us and to multiply blessings upon us; but, let me tell you, brethren and sisters, if you persist in evil, in lying, and in your deceptions, the curse of God will be upon you, and you will be cursed.
I do not allude to any, only those of that character; and if there are any of that character present, I will say to them, If you feel disposed to persist in your wickedness, you shall see sorrow, while the virtuous and the honest shall increase in blessings; their crops, their stock, and all that they have shall increase. There is no blessing that can be withheld from a righteous man or a righteous woman: the heavens cannot withhold its blessings; but all the blessings of the heavens and of the earth are theirs, because they are heirs.
We are to become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. What blessings are to be withheld from Jesus Christ? There is no blessing pertaining to this earth but what belongs to Jesus: then there is no blessing that will be withheld from the faithful.
Brethren and sisters, we are heirs with him to the estate of his Father, just as much as two sons and one daughter and their faithful children are legal heirs to a father's estate. When a father dies and makes his will, he wills that property to them that are faithful to him; and so it is with us; and it is natural.
I feel to ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, to help my brethren to live their religion, honour their Priesthood and calling; and I pray you, brethren, to live your religion and serve your God, that we may see the power and the magnitude of our God in the last days. I tell you there never were any people, since the world was organized, that have seen such mighty and romantic power of God as this people will see.
Is there a collision between us and the United States? No; we have not collashed [sic]: that is the word that sounds nearest to what I mean. But now the thread is cut between them and us, and we never will gybe [sic] again; no, never, worlds without end.
[Voices: "Amen."]
You may think that I am not correct; but I am in the habit of telling the truth when in fun as well as in earnest; and men that cannot are not worth much.
We have never been the aggressors, but they have raised the weapons of of [sic] war to exterminate us as many as five times, and they have robbed us of all we had. I have but three little articles in this world that I obtained before I was a "Mormon,"--an earthen vessel, a tin tea-canister, and a chest that brother Brigham made for me: he made me several, but that was the first one.
I have been robbed, and plundered, and afflicted, if you call it affliction; but I do not call it affliction. I have heard many tell of what sorrowful times they have had; but they are as good times as ever I had in this life. I leave it to brother Brigham, if I have not been as happy in the mud as I have been anywhere. Some of you have seen these times in Iowa: I think some of you were there. I had happy days during those times; and I am happy and thankful that I live in the tops of these mountains, right on the backbone, where we have got on some good spurs. I tell you we boast that we are on the tops of the mountains; but let us boast in the Lord and in his strength.
We have received the Gospel of repentance--of baptism for the remission of sins; and we have received the Holy Ghost, and it has brought us here. Well, a great many tell what sorrowful times they have had. "O dear, I think I have a perfect right to lie like the Devil; for I think what I have passed through ought to atone for all I have done." It is a poor coot, let me tell you, that will make such excuses. Let me tell you, that does not pay for one lie.
Supposing you lie, or steal, or commit adultery, and so on,--what you have suffered is not going to pay for this debt. Independently of these things, what are trials for? To prove our integrity--to try us, whether we will stand to God and to his kingdom. The Bible says that we are to come up through great tribulation; that is, the hardest kind of trials. You know, the harder you put on the robes to the wash-board, the better they are washed.
I want to bring up a comparison. Brother Brigham is the head of the limb: and which has the hardest work to bear--he that has to lug all that is attached to that vine, or you that are branches of that vine? Which is the hardest, and which has the most to carry--the tree, or the one apple that clings to the tree? Which has the most suffering to pass through--one individual apple, or the tree itself?
Your troubles, and trials, and perplexities are nothing more than one apple, in comparison to brother Brigham's cares; and still I presume there are lots who think that they have more trouble than brother Brigham or brother Heber. But you do not appreciate your privileges and blessings: you are not thankful to the giver, or to the benefactor; and that makes you troublesome, and you feel as if you could not endure it: you feel that you are passing through more than all the rest of the Saints.
Do you suppose that I calculate to get any pay for what I pass through? No; but I am thankful, and praise the Lord every day of my life that I was true to Joseph, and to Hyrum, and the brethren that have gone. What would those give that were not faithful, if they had been as true as brother Brigham and brother Heber? They would give all they have got; yes, they would sit down and be skinned from head to foot, and have every nail pulled out of their toes and fingers. I am thankful that I was faithful; but I am sorry for them: but that man that has murmured, and complained, and tried to make brother Joseph a dishonest and unhallowed man, has great need to mourn for himself.
If I were in the position of some, instead of letting a week pass before I made an atonement to the satisfaction of those offended, I would go right off and do it at once. Some men come upon this stand who have acted unrighteously, and forsaken and betrayed us, and thereby brought death and destruction upon thousands of men, women, and children. They will get up and say, "I have sinned against God and in his sight; and now, brethren, I want you to restore me to perfect fellowship and friendship."
Do you not see that they want to be restored, every limb and joint, to the perfect embraces of this people? Well, we have to take them at their word and receive them into fellowship. Do I feel to say, yes, receive them? Yes, I do. But are they in full fellowship when they have been out of the Church ten or twenty years? How can such a man be restored to full fellowship without a time for making restitution to the complete satisfaction of all the parties aggrieved--until we can say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into our joys and partake of our blessings?" This is my faith. If a person takes a course to injure me, although he might not injure, yet it is the same as though he did: the will is taken for the deed.
I look to my head and to my governor--the man who holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven on the earth. I have thought, a great many times, of what the Lord has said, through his servant Joseph the Prophet, that not a hair falleth from the head of a righteous man without the notice of our heavenly Father. Do you think that God does not notice little lies and deceptions--little this, that, and the other?
Do you believe, brethren and sisters, that that man who does not appreciate the kindness of his benefactor that feeds him, and clothes him, and administers to his wants,--do you suppose that he will be thankful to God for his favours? No; the men or the women who do not appreciate the kindness of their benefactor, are not thankful to God. They are under condemnation; they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; and I know it.
Did I ever receive a kindness or a blessing from a person without being grateful for it? No, never; but, say I, "Thank you for this, because it comes when I am in need of it." Well, supposing I mete out to a person from year to year, and he or she does not appreciate it, but says, "It is nothing more than your reasonable service, Mr. Kimball, to give me a living." Well, we admit of that; and it is no more than reasonable that you should make some kind of acknowledgement and show kindness to me.
I would not give a dime for you, except your love is manifested by your works--by your faith and works. Love or hatred is manifested in this way. Do not I prove to that man that I return the compliment to him by my kindness? The man or woman that will not return the compliment is not of much account.
I have said for years that never--no, never again will I be subject to such cursed scoundrels as the United States Government have sent here as officers. I say, in the name of Israel's God, I will not.
[Voices: "Amen."]
James Buchanan now occupies the chair of state. He and his counsellors, his coadjutors, his cabinet, and Congress have met and planned the destruction of this people--of brother Brigham and his associates in particular; and the priests of the day say amen to it; and they exhort the people to say amen to it; and the whole people of the United States are under condemnation. They consented to the death of Joseph, Hyrum, David, Parley, and lots of men, women, and children. The ground is planted with men, women, and children, from Nauvoo to this place; and the world have consented to it, and they say it is just.
The Government, the President, the heads of the military departments and of all the governmental affairs have consented to these things.
When we were poor, and lived on cow-hides and cattle, skunks and thistle roots, brother Brigham and his brethren paddled this way and that way, and sought out his place.
While we were in Winter Quarters, 500 men were demanded. They travelled over the Plains and gained a part of Mexico, which is this land. Then came grasshoppers and crickets, and eat up our crops; and our enemies have all the time been saying that it is just--they deserve it.
Now, brethren, if you can comprehend what I have said, they shall suffer all that we have, and it shall be doubled upon them, and then it shall be pressed down.
I know that while you and I have no feelings of anger, we are right. Jesus says, "With what measure ye mete, it shall me measured to you again." The Scriptures say that Jesus said this; but if he did not, it is just as true as anything that is written: it is God Almighty's truth. Yes, they will meet it in the United States, beginning at the head.
But we are free! They have laid a snare to entrap us and to kill brother Brigham; and they want to hang him between the heavens and the earth, and every other man that will support him: but as the Lord God Almighty lives, they shall meet that also; and if I had the power, I would tell it to them so that they could hear it. Do I fear them? I do not fear anything that is upon this earth.
Do I fear my God? No; but I love him, and I fear to offend him. He is my Father, and I sprang out of his loins, just as my son William Kimball's children sprang out of his loins; and every man and woman that has been upon this earth was once in our Father's loins, just as much as my children ever were in mine; and Jesus was the first born, and we are heirs of our Father and our God, and we will gain the prize through much tribulation.
Let me tell you that ten years will not pass away before God will play with this nation as he did with Pharaoh, only worse.
I tell you these things, that you may know that wherein you measure out you have got to receive back; and where you lie, you have got to take that lie back; and where you offend your God and benefactor, as the Lord God liveth, you have to take that back, or you will get a scourging,--that is, where your benefactor is a man of truth and is walking in his calling.
If I abuse brother Brigham, it is my business to make satisfaction to that man. Well, I would not offend him nor any good man in this congregation; no, I would not. If I offend him, I do it ignorantly; and if I did, I would repent of it. I did offend him once or twice in my life, and I repented in tears and in sorrow; and I wish to God there had never such things existed since I was born. Well, I was ignorant, and I was a child. Well, if I have got to make those recantations, you have, too, when you offend or do wrong to each other.
I am teaching what you call strong doctrine; but I am teaching nothing but what is true. It was true to me, and it is equally true to you. It is the duty of every Elder, Teacher, high Priest, and Deacon to begin to live a new life. Why? Can you do any better than you are doing this day? Yes.
This year I have built a barn 102 feet long. Well, then, the next year I may build two such barns. This proves that the more a man does the more he is capable of doing. But because I made ten rods of fence last week, does that prove that I can make twenty this week? If you, sisters, knit one stocking this week, must you knit two next week, and kill yourselves? Or, if you have put ten yards of cloth in your skirt this year, should you put in twenty next year? No; but put in six next year. But I want to show you the extremes.
I was speaking here, last Sunday, by the permission of brother Brigham, of brother Eddington. He is an honest man; or, if he is not, we will prove him.
[President B. Young: "You will prove him to be an honest man."]
Well, brother Eddington seemed to fall in with the idea. We want the ladies to bring in their surplus clothes for brother Eddington to sell for wheat and other grain. I speak of the females, because they have got the most clothes in their hands. If you have got five dresses, hand two over to him, and let him buy wheat, corn, barley, pork, mutton, tallow, &c.; and then he will pay you in those articles for your coats, jackets, pantaloons, and bustles! Just put in your bustles there, and get them full of wheat instead of bran!
I have foreseen the necessities of these things.
Go and take your clothes, and do not be afraid that you will never get any more; for, let me tell you, if you will lay up these stores, you will have clothing till it shall be a drug and a trouble to you.
You do not believe that, some of you; but I tell you, if you do not believe it, and if you do not know it, it is because you are not living your religion. But the day will be, and it is right at our doors, when thousands and millions in the United States and in the old countries will come to us and render to us all the rich things that this earth affords, in exchange for food.
Brother Eddington says that where there is none person that brings clothing there are twenty that have wheat to dispose of. Go into the country north and south, and there is not one woman in ten that has got as much cloth as you have on your backs to-day.
There are many before me that have got an abundance of as good clothes as ever were put on, while those who live in the country have scarcely any.
Do not be afraid of brother Eddington, for he is an honourable man, and will pay you in wheat, corn, buck-wheat, tallow, or anything else that he can command. Well, you take a course to sustain him and buy wheat; and if you do not want it, there are others that are ready to take it; and the day will come when you will hand over your rich clothing and jewellery for it.
Do you not know that brother Brigham told you he would not deal it free again?
[President B. Young: "We will buy them too."]
Brother Brigham Young does not lie, nor his brother Heber.
Well, now, am I going to save men and women by lying. No; I will save myself by telling the truth; and I will take the truth all the time, and others may take lies, and see which get to heaven first. I tell you, you will find us as far apart as are heaven and hell.
"Well," says one, "Are you going to do this?" Yes, I am going to put one suit of clothes on and sell the rest, except a change; and see if the day does not come when I will have so many clothes that my wives will not have boxes to put them in.
I realize that I am a poor man--a worm of creation; but I just know that when I dwell in the truth--in Jesus Christ,--when I dwell in his light and partake of his Spirit, I am right. I would give more for one hundred men of this character than I would give for this whole people, if they were not of that character. Can they whip the world? Yes; men of that character will whip everything that can be put on that road, from this place to Dan, and from there to Beersheba. Amen.
SUPERIORITY OF PURE MOTIVES--ASCENDANCY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD--OBEDIENCE TO COUNSEL.
Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 20, 1857.
Brother Heber wants to know whether he has said anything wrong. So far as I am concerned, and so far as the truth is concerned, he has not. He is very careless in the use of language; but I do not so much care how he or any of the brethren express their ideas, when their hearts are right before God.
When we have only the one desire to promote the kingdom of God on the earth, the people will be right.
Brother Heber is very full of comparisons; and I will liken brother Heber's language to the conduct of some of this people. He talks just as ideas happen to come into his mind; and some of the people act just as it happens at the moment, not thinking what they do. And yet their desire is to do right; and the greatest faults that most of them see in each other arise through weakness and ignorance, and not through an evil design. They desire to do right, just as brother Heber desires to talk as straight as a line; but he has so long been in the habit of making his own dictionary and using his words out of it, that it would be difficult for him to change his style now.
No matter what the outward appearance is--if I can know of a truth that the hearts of the people are fully set to do the will of their Father in heaven, though they may falter and do a great many things through the weaknesses of human nature, yet, they will be saved. You will hear among such persons observations that appear very much out of the way; but, at the same time, they will say that "it does seem that when I would try to do good, and to do my best, evil will come before me."
If there is an outward appearance of mistakes or evils, we ought to have the Spirit of the Lord to look at the designs of the actors, and know whether they act from impure or sinister motives. If their motives are pure--no matter whether their outward appearance is particularly precise, their acts will be discerned by the Spirit of the Lord, and will be appreciated for what they were intended. If people act from pure motives, though their outward movements may not always be so pleasant as our traditions would prefer, yet God will make those acts result in the best good to the people.
I wish the people to know that they have to come to the position that, in their feelings and affections, the kingdom of God must be all in all to us. If we are not in that position, you will find that we will be scourged and afflicted until we are. With us it must be the kingdom of God all the time: it must be that or nothing. The time has come in which that must be the common feeling with the Saints.
As to the world's being in fellowship with us, it never was and it never can be. We cut off the Gentiles just before we left Nauvoo; and they have cut us off from their fellowship. The thread is cut that has hitherto connected us; and now we have to act for ourselves and build up the kingdom of God on the earth, which we will do, by the help of the Lord; for he has decreed that his kingdom shall take the ascendancy over all other kingdoms under heaven.
It was observed by brother Spencer that the time had come for this work to be making far more rapid strides than it has hitherto done. You will find that it has not been by any act of our own that this thread has been cut; but we will now have to sustain ourselves, or we will go under. We have not desired it--we have not naturally wished for this crisis to come; but inasmuch as it has come, if the people, in the strength of Israel's God, sustain themselves, they will be be [sic] sustained.
If we are united, we are independent of the powers of hell and of the world, which terms are synonymous with me. We are now free and easy; and if we succumb to the wicked, our hearts sink within us and we sicken and die; but when my feelings are decided that we will defend ourselves against all who come here to destroy us or to oppose the establishment of truth on the earth, I feel perfectly free and light as the air. Does brother Spencer feel so? I presume that he does, and also that every Saint feels as free as the mountain breezes.
I am free and easy, and I am not concerned about having too much rest; though, when my feelings are at rest, and I have not an hundred tons weight upon my shoulders, a feeling comes over me like this--"Are you not becoming slothful? [sic-no quote] As soon as I have a good sound reflection upon the matter, I feel to thank God that he will let me rest at times, and not always require me to bear a burden like carrying a hundred tons.
Be faithful; and if you are attentive to your duties, God will take care of the rest.
We talk of enjoying, multiplying, and increasing in the things of God. All that we can do is to prepare to receive anything that God may see fit to give. I do not know but that I am just as well prepared to receive revelations this morning as I shall be millions of years hence. I do not know but that I shall be prepared to do the will of God, according to my capacity, as well to-day or to-morrow as I shall be when I have spent millions of years in his presence.
You hear people in the sectarian world talk about preparing to die; but the religion that we have embraced teaches us to prepare to live. If we were now going to exchange this world for another, I do not know but that we are as well prepared as we shall be in years to come. I have felt that I never should be better prepared to receive the glory of the spirit-world than I am now, according to my present capacity. While brother Heber was talking about our travels in 1834, I remember that brother Joseph said the camp should be cursed. We had some wicked men in the company, and Joseph discerned the spirits of those men, and said that the camp should be cursed and that they should feel the heavy hand of the Lord. Brother Heber came to me and said, "I do not know that I could have done any better, even though it had been to save my natural life;" and he did do well and continued to do so. And I will say that I do not know that I can do any better than I am doing.
You and I may be ready to fight: we may be ready to plant seed, and, if called upon, to cache grain in the mountains, and to do whatever the Lord may require at our hands. Let us do whatever may be required. If we are called upon to take our women and children into the mountains, let us do that; if to burn, let us be on hand to burn; if to build more, let us hand to burn; if to build more, let us do that; and whatever we are required to do, let us do.
We called up a Bishop, the other night, to go on an express; and when he came to my office, I said to him, "Brother Thomas, are you ready?" He replied, "Yes." Though he did not know what was wanted of him, yet he was ready. He asked, "When do you want me?" I replied, "Early to-morrow morning" (now, yesterday morning); and he was there at the time--which is the way that men should feel and act.
The main object of my present remarks has been to have the people know whether they are taught right--to have them know whether they are receiving the word of the Lord from this stand--to have them know whether they are led right.
As to being afflicted, never fear that: only fear that you are not living as well as you might, and then there is no danger. You know how you have been led, and I can say that you try to walk in the path that leads to improvement and purity and to never do a known evil. When you know that an evil is before you, pass it by, and do that which tends to good, and all will be right.
If you are not led right, or if you are afraid that you are not going to be led right, just find out a better way; for that is your privilege, if you are not already led right. And if you will live so as to know God better than any other man, of find some one that knows God better, and of whom you can learn more of God--a man that knows better how to dictate the affairs of the Church, all will be right.
I wish that every man would live so that he could have communion with angels--so that Jesus would come to visit him. I wish I could see this people in such a position; but there is yet too much sin in our midst: our traditions cling to us so strongly, that we cannot yet break through into that liberty; but we will see the day, if faithful, in which we can converse with angels. There are persons in this congregation that will converse with angels just as freely as we converse with each other.
Be faithful, and God will not only fight for us, but he will also lead us to victory. What has been said today is true. You know that brother Heber almost always testifies to the truth of what he says; but I do not care whether you think that what I say is true or not, for that does not concern me. You may judge of the truth you hear to-day and of that which you will hear in times to come; for we shall be judges of ourselves as well as of our enemies, and we shall also judge angels. God bless you! Amen.
EDUCATION--REVELATION, OBEDIENCE, ETC.
A Discourse delivered by Elder John Taylor, in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, September 20, 1857.
I listened with very great pleasure to the remarks made this morning both by President Young and President Kimball, and it always affords me pleasure to listen to anything that is associated with the kingdom of God and its interests; and, on the other hand, I feel as ready and willing to communicate anything that the Lord may have committed unto me.
[Asked a blessing on the bread.]
In relation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is something that is full of importance and information, and is associated with our present and eternal welfare: it enters into all the ramifications of life where we can understand it. It is not a sing-song sort of a thing, such as we hear taught among the sectarians; but there is something tangible about it: it consists of eternal principles, unfolding light and intelligence, and is adapted to the nature of man as a mortal and immortal being,--principles that affect us in time and in eternity, in life, in health, in sickness, in death, and which lead to life everlasting.
We heard some remarks made this morning upon education--about words and language, and so forth. In relation to the education of the world generally, a great amount of it is of very little value, consisting more of words than ideas; and whilst men are verbose in their speaking or writing, you have to hunt for ideas or truth like hunting for a grain of wheat among piles of chaff or rubbish. It is true that a great amount of it is really valuable, and it is for us to select the good from the bad.
The education of men ought to be adapted to their positions, both as temporal and eternal beings. It is well to understand the arts and sciences; it is well to understand language and history; it is well to understand agriculture, to be acquainted with mechanics, and to be instructed in everything that is calculated to promote the happiness, the wellbeing, and the comfort of the human family.
That education which but amounts to a little outward appearance and applies only to a few conveniences of this life is very far short of that education and intelligence which immortal beings ought to be in possession of. The education of the present day is generally misapplied; indeed, men have misapplied the education which they have received for generations and generations.
The priests in egypt had mysteries immediately associated with themselves, and the calculation was to keep their people ignorant of those things which they knew, that they might govern them the more readily and that they might reign and tyrannize over them. Among the various nations in different ages, their sages and wise men held their intelligence as a secret mystery to be divulged almost or altogether to their disciples, who generally conveyed it in unknown characters, symbols, or hieroglyphics. The Egyptians had their priests, the Assyrians their magi and astrologers, the Greeks their philosophers, and the Jews their wise men, and all more or less mysterious or cabalistic.
This was a misapplication of information, or that which they might possess; although, in many instances, the information amounted to nothing in reality.
The same is applicable, in a great measure, to our lawyers, doctors, and priests: they make use of terms that nobody can understand but the initiated. If you study medicine, law, or botany, and many of the sciences, you must study Latin first, because the doctors and professors make use of that language to convey their ideas in; and the calculation is for all except men of science or linguists to be befogged and bewildered,--yes, all except the initiated few who have been able to bestow the same amount of time as they have in learning some of the dead languages.
Whom does their learning benefit? Certainly no the multitude. I will tell you my idea of true intelligence and true eloquence. It is not as some people do--to take a very small idea and use a great many grandiloquent words without meaning--something to befog and mystify it with--something to tickle the ear and please the imagination only: that is not true intelligence. But it is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself, and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it. I do not care what words you make use of, if you have the principles and are enabled to convey those principles to the understandings of men.
It is true, at the same time, that a man who has a good use of language can present his ideas to better advantage than one who has not, in some instances, and in some he cannot; for the Lord gives some men a natural talent and powers of description that others do not possess and cannot acquire. But the great principle that we have to come to is the knowledge of God, of the relationship that we sustain to each other, and of the various duties we have to attend to in the various spheres of life in which we are called to act as mortal and immortal, intelligent, eternal beings, in order that we may magnify our calling and approve ourselves before God and the holy angels: and if we obtain knowledge of this kind, we shall do well; for this is the greatest good of the the [sic] whole: it embraces everything that we want.
In relation to the principles of eternal life, we are told that these treasures we have in earthen vessels were given of the Lord and retained in those vessels through our faithfulness.
Now, then, if men, without much of the advantage of what is termed education in this world, are filled with the Spirit of God, the revelations of the Holy Ghost, and can comprehend the relationship of man to God, can know their duties, and can teach a people, a nation, or a world how they may be saved and obtain thrones, principalities, powers, and dominions in the eternal worlds,--if men can understand these principles by the gift of the Holy Ghost and the revelations of the Most High, and are enabled to place them before the people so that they can comprehend them, then, I say, these are the men of education--the men of intellect--the men who are calculated to bless and ennoble the human family. This is the kind of education that we want; and the more simple those principles can be conveyed the better: they are more adapted to the wants and intelligence of the human family.
Here is the difference between us at the present time and the priestcraft and kingcraft and the craft of the various systems among the nations. They have tended to befog, bewilder, bind down, and lead the masses into ignorance; but the principles of the Gospel are calculated to expand the mind, enlarge the heart, unfold the capacity, and make all men feel their relationship to god and to each other, that we may be all partakers of the same blessing, that we may all be intelligent, that we may all be learned in the things of the kingdom of god, and all be prepared for the celestial inheritance in the eternal worlds. This is the difference between the system that we have embraced and the systems of the world--they are of men, this is of God. Among the Gentiles, they tread upon one another and ride into power and influence on the ruin of others; and they do not care who sinks, if they swim. The kingdom of God exalts the good, blesses all, enlightens all, expands the minds of all, and puts within the reach of all the blessings of eternity.
Do you repudiate education, then? No--not at all. I appreciate all true intelligence, whether moral, social, scientific, political, or philosophical; but I despise the folly that they hang on to it and the folly that they call education.
What did any of us know as rational, eternal beings, until we were educated in this Church?
It is true that we are eternal beings; but did we know or understand any thing about the principles of eternal life? Nothing. Yet we have believed that we were going to live for ever. But did we know anything about where we came from, or what was our origin, or what was the object of our creation? We did not know anything about where we were going. We had a dreamy idea of heaven--of a God without body, parts, and passions--of a heaven beyond the bounds of time and space; and the hell we believed in was a bottomless pit. We had a dreamy idea of these things; but what did we know? Was there any authority, religion, or philosophy that could unravel these mysteries? No, not any.
Then of what practical use is their philosophy or religion to us? It did not unfold unto us our position; it did not show us how to obtain eternal life: it could not do it. Of what use was our intelligence as applied to our position?
How many times have you listened to preaching from a speaker who was considered quite an eloquent man? He would study his sermons well, and perhaps write them. They were full of words--the language was eloquent; but, after all, it was mere verbosity, empty sound, and barren in ideas. Then you would go away and say, "What an eloquent sermon Mr. So-and-so preached! He preached the best to-day I ever heard him. It was such a treat--so rich, so great, and so deep!" "What was it about?" "Oh, it was so deep that I could not understand a word of it," as brother Brigham says.
"Well, what was it about?" "I do not know; but I heard it, and it was so deep and so profound that I could not understand it." "But how was it that you could not understand what he was preaching about, when he was so eloquent, so refined, and made use of such elegant language?" Shall I tell you? The man did not know what he was preaching about himself; and as he could not understand it himself, he could not explain it to you. How could he lead others to comprehend that which he did not know himself? These are facts: this is the education of the world. If you examine the philosophy of France and Germany, and other parts of the earth, you will find them to be on a par with the religious world: they are going to ameliorate the condition of mankind and to perform wonders, according to their professions. If you attempt to reason with them about their philosophy, like the Paddy's flea, when you attempt to put your finger on them they are not there.
[Voice: "All the difference is, there is nothing there."]
All their philosophy is mere chimeras of the brain. I met with so much of it in those countries that I was sickened with it.
A gentleman came to me in Paris--an Englishman, and, pointing to a species of very light cake, asked me what it was called. (It is a kind of bread that is so light that a man can eat all the time and not fill himself, and you could blow it away with a puff of your breath.) I told him I did not know what they called it, but I would give it a name; I will call it fried froth, or philosophy, just which you please,--fried bubbles, or the bubbles of learned men; for it reminded me of their philosophy.
I believe in the solid bread, and I do not care if it comes in big chunks; for then it is better than when there is not enough to satisfy the appetite. Truth and intelligence have a tendency to enlarge the capacity, to expand the soul, and to show man his real position--his relationship to himself and to his God, both in relation to the present and the future, that he may know how to live on the earth and be prepared to mingle with the Gods in the eternal worlds.
Now, if men will teach me these principles, I do not care what words they use. If truth comes, tail or head foremost, I am not very particular.
It is the principles of truth which cement us together and make us act in union and strength: it is those principles that buoy up our feelings, animate our souls, and make us feel joyous and jubilant under all circumstances. It is light, it is truth, it is intelligence, it comes from and leads to God, exaltation, and celestial glory. We feel joyous because we have the principles of eternal life within us. It is because we have partaken at the fountain of life, and know our relationship to the Lord, and have a position in his Church and kingdom.
Being, then, in possession of the truth--of a knowledge of those principles which develop the revelations of God, and knowing that he has given unto us the Holy Priesthood, restored Prophets, Apostles, and Revelator to give revelation unto his people, therefore have we confidence in our God and our religion.
And what is that revelation, this order, and this organisation for? They are to enlighten us, to enlarge our minds, to teach us all principles associated with our present and eternal welfare. This revelation is the word of God, the eternal truths of heaven, the everlasting Gospel, the word of life and salvation.
No matter what words are used, it is the principles we are after, and our religion interests and affects us in all the ramifications of life: it does not set up God as some austere being that we cannot approach, but it tells us he is our Father, and that we are his children, and that he cherishes in his bosom a paternal regard for us; and we have experienced something of the feelings that exist between father and son, mother and daughter, parents and children; but we could not apply that unto our God and consider that he was our Father before we embraced the Gospel.
We have been taught by the simple principles of the Gospel to go to our Father who is heaven, and that he will hear us. We have also been taught that if we, as earthly parents, will not give our children stones when they ask for bread, and that if we will not give them scorpions when they ask for fish, God, as our Father, will not give us one thing when we ask another, but that he feels as much concerned about our welfare as we possibly can do about that of our children.
This is the way that we now regard our God; but this is not the way we used to look at him: we used to be all the day long subject to bondage, through the fear of death. Do we feel anything of that now? No, we do not: that feeling is taken away. Now we feel that if it is required of us to die, it is well; if to live, it is well. We feel that we are eternal beings and have laid hold of eternal life, and therefore all is well. We feel altogether different to what we did before we heard this Gospel: it teaches us our duty to each other; it teaches us to reverence God's name, and not blaspheme it as the Christians do.
I will tell you how it is in the world. In the world the masses do not care what the devil they do, if men do not see them; and I am sorry to say that we also are cursed with a few such scoundrels. They do not care about God seeing them, for they have not the fear of God before them, but they have fear of men.
We never ought to do a thing that we would be afraid of God seeing us do; and if we are not afraid of God seeing us, we should not be afraid of man seeing us.
Well, then, we are taught our duty to our God by our brethren. And who are our brethren? The officers and authorities of this Church--the servants of the living God. Who is President Young? The mouthpiece of God to this Church and to the world. Has God any other? Yes, lots of them appointed by him, but he is the head.
[Blessed the sacramental cup.]
Formerly every man used to take his own way: we used to claim a great many rights, privileges, and immunities that belonged to us individually. Well, we enjoy many of them yet; but we did not acknowledge the authority of God, and we could not do it, for the simple reason that we knew nothing of it.
There was no one to come with "Thus saith the Lord"--no man that could go forth and say he was commissioned of Jesus christ; therefore there was no authority. There was no umpire--no standard of truth to go to, to decide any doctrine that you might have in your mind. But now we have "Thus saith the Lord God."
Is there any other place under heaven where there is anybody to say "Thus saith the Lord?" If there is, I have heard nothing about it; I have not read nor heard of it, and I am satisfied there is no such thing.
I suppose there are in the neighbourhood of from 1,000.000.000 to 1,200,000.000 of inhabitants upon the earth; and nowhere but in this place can there be found a man to say, "Thus saith the Lord God,"--nowhere but here, or where those are who have been sent from here.
Are there men of intelligence in the nations? Yes, as to the world's intelligence--as to the intelligence associated with the arts and sciences, natural philosophy, and mechanism, they are as intelligent as any that can be found, without God. There are also many learned professional men, princes, statesmen, and potentates. The latter have the power to govern the nations over which they rule, and yet among the whole of them not a man can be found that can say, "Thus saith the Lord God."
Well, if this is the case in relation to them, and if this is the position of the world, is it not time for the Almighty to interfere? I speak of them, for many of the thousands who are now before me are come from the different nations, and they comprehend what I say, and they know that this is true.
What is our position? Are we not favoured ten thousand times more than any other people under the heavens? Are we not put in a position to have communication with the Lord? Have we not the principles of life given unto us from day to day and from week to week? Have we not the opportunity of hearing the word of the Lord from his chosen servant--the only mouthpiece to lead the people that he has under the heavens?
Can we appreciate this and realise our position? Can we really appreciate our blessings? Do we really feel as we ought to in relation to these matters? Why, we begin to experience, in part, the riches of eternity. They begin to be unfolded before we can fully appreciate them.
We are favoured at the present time, but we cannot comprehend our blessings fully: we can only see in part, comprehend in part, and shall not fully comprehend until the fulness of the blessings of God shall be revealed; then we shall be able to appreciate our position, our relationship to God, and the great blessings we enjoy, as servants of the Most High.
We are only little children now. This is the way I feel. I feel as a little child, and I pray to God, O God, expand my mind that I may understand and comprehend the things of God, and not act the fool, but be a wise man, and be able to comprehend the blessings that are around me.
Why, the kingdom of God is established, the Prophet of God and his servants are among us, and we are now enjoying the very things that Prophets prophesied of as they looked through the dark vista of ages unborn and contemplated these blessings that we enjoy.
They told about the time when the kingdom of God would be established upon the earth, when he would restore the ancient order of things, when his Spirit would be poured out, when light and revelation would be communicated, when his purposes would be developed, and when the little stone would be cut out of the mountain without hands. They saw, in vision, that a little nucleus here in the mountains would arise, and that the mountain of the Lord's house would be established above the hills, and that all nations should flock to the standard, as doves to their windows.
They saw the things in visions that we are now doing; they sang and prophesied and rejoiced at what we have now commenced--the building up of the kingdom of God.
Well, now, can we really appreciate these things? Do not we often feel as we did in the Gentile world? We used to say, "I will be damned if I do not have my own way." I tell you that you will be damned if you do.
But how much of that feeling exists? I could not but think of it when I heard the remarks of brother Kimball this morning. They led me to reflect upon this subject. Some of us think we are smart men; some of us think we know what is for our good as well as our leaders, and that our judgment is quite as good as theirs; and some feel like saying, "We will be damned if we submit to them." But you will be damned if you do not.
Now, I will suppose that you were God, and that you had inspired some men to go forth and preach the Gospel, to gather the people, to establish a kingdom upon the earth,--that you had got a few together, and they gathered others; finally, you issued your will and your law to the people: what would you think if they turned round and said they would do as they pleased? Says one, "I do not know;" and says another, "I do not know." Supposing they should say, "We think we understand better than you do," how would you, as God, regulate the affairs of the earth? What could you do with a people that would not be obedient to your law? Just the same as God did with the antediluvians, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, or the Jews. If you could not do anything with them, how could God?
The Presbyterians used to say that people ought to thank God for the privilege of being damned. But I would not thank anybody for being damned; but I think, however, that such men as would not submit to his authority and rule ought to be damned, whether they like it or not. Nothing but obedience to his law, obedience in families, obedience to Bishops and to the Priesthood in all its ramifications, and especially to President Brigham Young as the head, to carry out his law to the whole people, can accomplish the purposes of God or our salvation as a people.
If the Lord can have a people to listen to his law, there may be a chance to establish his kingdom upon the earth: if not, the only way he can establish his kingdom is to remove them from the earth, or give up his kingdom until another time; for it is impossible to establish his kingdom without having a people obedient to him.
What does that obedience imply? Obedience in all things,--that the Twelve should be obedient to the Presidency, the Seventies to the Twelve, and so on through all the ramifications of the Priesthood,--obedience of wives to husbands, children to parents,--and that a general order of this kind should be established in every neighbourhood, in every house, and in every heart.
Well, this is the feeling that ought to exist; and where this feeling does not exist the Spirit of God does not exist; and where there is not a feeling of obedience, the Spirit of God will be withdrawn: people cannot retain it and be in rebellion against the authorities and counsels of the church and kingdom of God.
When the kingdom of God is established and his word is listened to, the spirit of obedience extends through the ramifications of the body of Christ, even as the sap extends through the trunk of a tree till it reaches to the extreme branches and twigs, and to every part of it. It is just like some of those large streams issuing from the mountains and dividing into smaller streams until they reach to every field and garden throughout the city.
Well, now, suppose some of you should say, or suppose a branch should say, "I want to be independent, and I will not be dependent upon the larger branches." I ask, how will you help yourselves, except you take a course to be cut off? And then where will your sap come from? You will wither and wilt down.
Suppose you undertake to water the garden, and you say that you will not be dependent upon that larger stream. "It is true," say you, "that I got my water from that stream; but I will not have anything to do with it now." Will your vegetation flourish, if you discard the larger stream from whence you get your water? It will not. So in regard to the water of life, and so in regard to a tree. Jesus said, "A branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine;" nor can you do anything without obedience, for the moment you rebel you are in this position.
If we, as a little company gathered together on the tops of these mountains, in possession of the great and glorious privileges that we enjoy,--if we cannot magnify our calling and honour the Priesthood conferred upon us, how do we expect salvation to flow to the world? How can we expect men to do what we do not do?--to listen to and obey us, if we do not obey our superior officers?
Furthermore, as the servants of God here living in these mountains, the Lord is determined to try to prove us in every way; and we are, as it were, just broken loose from the old barren stalk: The old ship is about being launched, and we are thrown upon God and our own resources, both in a governmental and a mental capacity. The Devil will be enraged--the powers of hell let loose upon us.
Now, let me ask how we are going to stand, except we are guided by the revelations of God? And let me further ask how you are going to get the revelations of God, except you live your religion and obey those set over you? Let me further ask, What is the use professing to be the people of God if we do not live our religion and magnify our calling?
I speak of these things merely for argument's sake. I believe that, so far as I have seen, the general feeling among this people is to do right; but I merely speak of them, for it is necessary that we should have line upon line, precept upon precept: it is necessary that we should understand our true relationship.
For instance, there is an army coming up here. Can any of you tell what will be the result, except the proper authorities dictate? Do you know what will be the best? But suppose we get through with this, and I suppose that some of you may begin to guess for this year: but can you for next? Is there a man here that can tell how and where to hide his family and his grain? Are there any in this congregation who know anything about it and that give counsel to this people either for present or coming emergencies? This is bringing things to a focus. Now, you wise men, or men of education and literary attainments, or philosophers, speak and display your wisdom. If you cannot, and if we have not any knowledge in this matter, what next? Why, we have got to be dependent upon the authority that is over us; and if we cannot submit, how can we be governed by it?
This principle pervades all, whether in a civil or military capacity or in any other capacity. We used to have a difference between Church and State, but it is all one now. Thank God, we have no more temporal and spiritual! We have got church and State together, and we used to talk of baptism and repentance, and we used to whip out sectarian priests with their own Bible, and we thought that we were tremendous fellows.
But in what part of the Bible do you find what we are to do this year or the next? This will be part of a new Bible, for when it takes place it will be written, and then that will be a Bible, and then the world will find that we shall have a "Mormon Bible."
Men have been opposed to the Book of Mormon because it was a new Bible. The poor fools did not know that wherever there was a true Church there was revelation, and that wherever there was revelation there was the word of God to man and materials to make Bibles of. We are all of us now in the harness, and the issue is fast rolling upon us: it is therefore necessary that we understand our position. We have all had the opportunity of going away from here; but I do not know that you can have that opportunity now, for I see a proclamation here, and you cannot go without permission.
We have no vague theories: you have now to ask leave to go. The time has come for decisive action; and whether you are called to act in a religious, civil, or military capacity, it is all in the kingdom of God and the will of God is to be done upon the earth as angels do it in heaven.
We are not fit to occupy our places in the kingdom, either as High Priests, or as Seventies, or as Apostles, or as anything else, except we are willing and obedient: and the same thing applies to our families. Then let us seek to submit ourselves to the law of God and do it.
I do not know but I have talked long enough. God bless you, in the name of Jesus! Amen.
BLESSINGS--TRIALS--OBEDIENCE TO COUNSEL, ETC.
Remarks by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, September 27, 1857, [sic-punc]
We are glad to see the brethren return home from their long missions or short ones. We are glad to greet them, to hear them talk, to see their faces, and to hear their testimony that the Lord has been with them, These things are a pleasure to us who remain here in Zion. There are a multiplicity of evidences that God is with this people, and that the Lord has been with his Elders, wherever they have been, from the beginning of this work.
There has been something peculiar connected with the Elders of this Church from the beginning. You may take the rest of the world, politically, temporally, spiritually, or any other way; and there never has been such an example in the eyes of heaven, earth, or hell as has been in the Elders of this Church, in preaching this Gospel to the nations of the earth. The hand of God has been in the work from the beginning, and it is in it yet; and the hand of the Lord has been with them to succour them all the time. The revelations given from heaven, through Joseph, concerning the Elders, have been fulfilled to the very letter.
There are many things that are consoling; and one is, to know that the Lord is with us--that he does reveal his mind and will in the ordinances of the house of God, and through the administration of blessings whether by Patriarchs, or by the Twelve Apostles, or in the endowments. We find those blessings are fulfilled to the very letter.
The brethren to-day have spoken in reference to the blessings that are given to our brethren when they go out on their missions to the various nations of the earth. I remember the day very well when we blessed those missionaries that went to India and to Europe; and I must say that I never had such a variety of feelings as I had at that time.
In blessing brother Luddington, I recollect that I was mouth, and I well remember that I could see nothing but seas, waves, and storms. The seas appeared to be heaped up, and I knew that he was going to see storms and be exposed to troubles and dangers. But there was one thing that we did bless those brethren with that I rejoice in, and that is that they should return home again.
Well, our words have all been fulfilled to the very letter, and this gives us consolation. If we go forth, and have the Priesthood and Apostleship upon us, the Holy Spirit of God, though it may not be visible, does dictate to us; and it is so in ordaining: it is so in going to battle against the nations of the earth, who have given their consent to the shedding of the blood of the Prophets.
Brother Brigham feels calm and serene as a summer's morning; and in his desire to save Israel he wishes to save also the lives of our enemies, if possible. Why is he so calm and steady? It is beause [sic] God is with him; and though armies are approaching and ready, apparently, to swallow up this people, yet he and his brethren feel calm, and the Lord reveals unto them, by the Holy Spirit, how to govern and control this people. They have had a long experience in proving the Almighty God, who holds the destiny of the Saints and the sinner. And has he ever failed us? No, never.
Some of our brethren have told their trials here to-day, and they have said that they have not done much; but the greatest work they have done has been in saving themselves. But this is not all they have done. They have done something else; they have accomplished the purposes of God in India--as much so as though they had baptised every king and queen in those islands: they have literally fulfilled the revelations of Jesus Christ in carrying the Gospel unto them, because those nations could not have been left without excuse and the earth prepared for the judgments of God, if those Elders had not gone and preached to the people of those nations. No matter if they had not have baptised one, they are as much justified as we who first went to Herefordshire, England, and baptised twenty or thirty priests in a day. They have fulfilled the commandments in carrying the Gospel to the nations.
It is no testimony to me that a man is not faithful, because he has not baptised numbers of princes, lords, governors, and kings; not at all. The Lord has sent them there: he has tried them and put them in strait places; but has he left them? No, he has not. Has he not brought them forth? We have had the testimony of brother Musser, who is here; and we see that it is the hand of God that has been over them, and we are glad of it; and we do not expect that the Lord will send the Elders out there again until they have other missionaries and messengers that they cannot stone, tar, or feather, but messengers that will come with their sharp sickles: then they will find that they have messengers that they cannot conquer nor overcome.
I feel to rejoice in these things and to know that the Lord is at work with this people. We are living in a fast age--an age fraught with great events, and every day is bringing to pass more of the predictions; and more revelation is being fulfilled in one year, now, than has been fulfilled in centuries before. We are living in a day when that flood of revelation is coming to a focus; and that focus we stand in, and we are seeing it fulfilled day by day.
The wicked rage and the heathen imagine a vain thing; and they say, "Let us go and take a prey and a spoil; let our eye be upon Zion, and let her be defiled." But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel. God will work for us and defend us, if we do our duty, and Zion will soon be free. We will not suffer the oppressions of our enemies as we have done.
You need not fear: all we have to do is to be passive in the hands of the Lord, and follow the counsel of our leaders, and not be particularly anxious that the Lord should reveal to you or to me his mind and will and intentions concerning our present difficulties; but pray earnestly that the Spirit of the Lord may be upon those men who stand at the head. All we have to do is to live our religion; and when the Presidency say "Come here," or "Go there," let us be on hand to obey, and all will be right.
Let the people be quiet and pray that God may reveal his mind and will to those at the head. We may have our ideas of what we should do in this or that case; but there is no man so well qualified to lead, govern, and direct for the salvation of the people as that man whom God has appointed. We have as good leaders as we need. There never was a better leader given to Israel, nor one more capable of leading this people to salvation, than Brigham Young: he is filled with the Spirit of God day by day. If the United States make war upon this people, the Lord will hold them responsible for it, and the measure they mete will be measured unto them again; and if they are ripe and the cup of their iniquity full, they will be shattered to pieces--their union broken up and destroyed. They will be visited with thunder and lightning and hail and the judgments of God; and every man that will not draw his sword against his neighbour will be obliged to flee to Zion. They are sending their armies here to destroy us; but I ask none to weep for Utah or spend their sympathy for us,--not even my relatives or the priests, the doctors, lawyers, or editors; no, not even one soul--from the President of the United States down through the whole nation, who have given consent to our death; for they will have plenty to bear themselves, and they may save their weeping for themselves and their children. The Lord will teach them that their proud looks and haughty feelings will be laid low. It is right to pray and it is right to keep our powder dry. Pray for the Presidency of this Church--pray for them to have the Spirit of revelation. We have never seen a day when "Mormonism" was taking such a stride as it is at the present time. They may come over the Plains singing their songs about what they will do when they get to Utah; but many of them will find a place in hell before they get here.
There have been many truths taught here to-day. Many who have been here for years do not know or realize the great blessings we are enjoying in these valleys of mountains. Our granaries are filled with bread and we enjoy peace and the comforts of life. We come to the Tabernacle of God and associate with holy men, and we should be holy ourselves: if we are not, it is our own fault.
You have all the blessings which the celestial kingdom and laws of God impart unto men on the earth, while the Gentile nations have suffered ruin, wickedness, and abominations of every kind to increase in their midst until they are ripe for destruction. Do they not thirst for the blood of the Saints and every man who is righteous? Do they not delight in wickedness? They are full of wrath and anger, and they are ripe for the damnation of hell. Yes, the nations of the earth are ripe to-day.
Then we should be faithful and diligent in all things committed to our charge. Even though the Lord has suffered some of the brethren to go through strait places, in days which are past and gone, and he may still call us to go through strait places, yet he will sustain us when we trust in him.
The Lord has suffered some of our Prophets and Apostles to be martyred; and what for? That the cup of the iniquity of the nations might be full and that his servants might be crowned heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ to a martyr's crown.
Through the persecutions of the enemies of truth, many of the Saints have been worn out; but, as a body, the kingdom and people have been led off as victorious conquerers [sic]. We stand now and hold the keys of the American continent; we stand in the strong chambers of the mountains; and can the Lord God give us the victory? He can and he will, and he has been preparing us for this by pouring out upon us his Holy Spirit, uniting the people who have been willing to repent and forsake their sins; and I hope we shall continue faithful to the end.
I am glad, and my soul rejoices in these things, and I believe that the people are ready to shoulder their guns and walk into these kanyons and line them from here to Fort Bridger in defence of the Constitution of the United States and the rights which both the laws of God and man guarantee to us.
We have had to stoop to our enemies heretofore and bear many things from them worse than death; but if there is anything that gives us joy and consolation--at least, I can speak for myself--it was when I heard the brethren say, "you are free, brethren,--you are free; and you may prove yourselves before God and men that you are willing to defend yourselves against tyrants and oppressors."
When I heard this, I was full of joy; and who would not be? Who would not rather die than bow down to the yoke of the enemy? It would sweeten death to a man to know that he should lay down his life in defence of freedom and the kingdom of God rather than to longer bow to the cruelty of mobs, even if the mob have the name of being legalized by the nation.
I thank God and I rejoice that this people are determined to be free from mobocracy and oppression, and that they are determined to have peace, if they have to fight for it; and if the yoke is ever put on again, it will be by ourselves: and I say, God bless this people and the missionaries that have gone to the nations,--no matter whether they have baptized one or a thousand, if they have done the will of God.
Notwithstanding the lightnings may flash, thunders roll, and earthquakes bellow, the Lord will extend his hand over his servants and protect them as he has done those that have returned unto us. And the Lord will remember our brethren that are on the Plains; and let us remember them in our prayers, that the Lord may be on our side; and let us be on hand and be ready at any and every call, and the kingdom will spread abroad, and it will smite the image not only on the toes but on the head; which may God grant for our sake. Amen.
SPIRITUAL DISSOLUTION--IGNORANCE OF THE WORLD.
A Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Bowery, Sunday Afternoon, September 27, 1857.
I was going to say I was glad that I live. Bless your souls, I expect always to live. Most of the people are always talking about death. I do not know anything about it, and I never wish to know anything about what is called death, and I never shall, except I sin and turn away from this Church and away from Jesus Christ. When I turn from him, I follow a character that is called Death; but while I live my religion, I never shall die,--that is, my spirit never will die.
My tabernacle that is now standing before you, that you see with your eyes, I expect will decay just like an old house. When it is done with, it decays, and turns back to the mother earth, from whence it was taken; and it is so with my body; it is so with yours; but it is not so with my spirit, if I live my religion.
If I do not live my religion, but turn away from the principles of light and life, my spirit will die. You have heard me speak of that a great many times, and so you have brother Brigham. There are thousands upon thousands whose bodies will die by the power of the second death; and then they never will return again. Many call that annihilation.
It is just the same with that as it is with this pitcher: it was made in England; it was once in its mother element, and it was taken out of the earth, and went through a certain process. It was then modelled and fashioned into the shape in which you now see it.
Now, will the day come when this pitcher will return to its mother earth? It will; and it may be thrown into some part of the earth where it may be thousands and millions of years before that pitcher or the elements of which it is composed will be brought back again; and so it will be with thousands and millions of the people: they never will be brought back into the shape they were in once.
Some men enquire, "Why?" Simply because they have dishonoured the spirit and bodies that God gave them; therefore God will make a desolation of those bodies and spirits, and he will throw them back into the earth; that is, that portion that belongs to the earth will go back there. And so it will be with our spirits: they will go back into the elements or space that they once occupied before they came here.
Now, you may believe what you have a mind to about it; it is just as easy to conceive of a dissolution as to conceive of anything else. Chemists take elements and dissolve them and separate them, and can it not be done with our bodies? I answer yes, and with our spirits too, just as easy as a chemist can take a five-dollars piece and dissolve it into an element that is like water. Can that be restored again? It can: it can be dissolved, and it can be brought back again. And upon the same principle can our bodies be dissolved and restored again.
You know I am always at work at something that I can make you understand. As to eloquence, brother Taylor told you last Sunday what it was. "What is it?" says one. Nothing but truth, and that in its simplicity. My prayers are--and if your prayers were always right, you would pray so also--that our leader, brother Brigham, would convey things in a plain and simple manner. And you should also pray that I might do it; for I know there are many things laid before this people that hundreds of them do not understand.
I have often talked to this people about their ceasing from their evil ways. You hear the same things every sabbath. Brother Case has been teaching it, and my exhortation today is, Cease from your dissensions.
Well, there are scores of people in this congregation who do not know what that means. When brother Brigham says a thing is so and so, and I answer that I do not believe a word of it, that is justifying my conduct. Do you not see it is? You would not believe that there are people in this congregation who are so ignorant that they do not understand this; but there are. Some are so ignorant that they will make fun of this, and they are of all the most ignorant. You never saw a learned man or a learned woman, who was a gentleman or a lady, that would ever ridicule a man or woman for not being better educated.
There is a difficulty with many of the Elders who go to England, to the United States, and to the islands of the sea: they do not explain things in that simple manner which they ought to do; but they use words that are above the capacity of the people.
Go into Philadelphia, New York, Rochester, and many other great cities, and you will find the most ignorant people that are in the world. In those very cities there are thousands and hundreds of thousands that do not know as much as my old cow.
You may think that is extravagant; but there was a Baptist priest as ignorant as that--a Mr. Barrett, who kept an academy called Barrett's academy, in London. He did no know what baptism or repentance was, and we could not teach him, he was so ignorant and stupid.
But let one of my wives go up to a cow of mine, and say "So," and the cow knows what that means, and will stand still. Then my wife says to her, "Don't you kick one bit while I am milking you. If you do, I will whip you;" and the old cow stands still till the last drop of milk is drawn.
There are a great many men and women who do not know as much as that: but you can teach cattle, for there is instinct in them; and you can teach a horse, for we have seen it done in this city. Did not God cultivate a donkey one time? He did. Yes; the Lord cultivated the ass, and he spoke and rebuked the Prophet: and cannot he do the same now? Did he not speak to a raven and tell it to carry food to Elijah?
These are a few preliminary remarks. I have said what I have said, and you may take from it what you please. We have to learn the principle of obedience and do as we are told.
As a general thing, this people will listen and do what brother Brigham and brother Heber say; but there are some who will not do what their Bishops say. Does that show obedience? You cannot obey him and then disobey his brethren that are with him. If a wife cannot be obedient to me, will she be obedient to anybody else? I don't think she will; but I think, if you place anybody else in my situation, she will disobey him, and she will disobey every other one that she may go with, and there is no end to her disobedience.
I have got to be obedient to whom? To my leader. It does not make any odds what he says. If he says, "brother Heber, go and build a barn thus and so," and he gives me a sketch of that barn, and I go to work and build it, there is obedience. Well, after I built it, there is something about the barn that he does not like, or that does not suit him, and he says, "brother Heber, I want you to go and take that away and put up such and such things;" and then he tells me to take down the barn. I go and do it. Then he tells me to build it again, and I do it. That is obedience. You see it, do you not?
I cannot honour God nor angels unless I am obedient to my leader; neither will God honour me, except I will honour the words of those men whom he sends. Do you know it? You know you have got to come to that standard, every man and every woman. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." (John xiii. 20.)
If I could not see the spirit of obedience in you, I could not warrant you, neither could I warrant any man or woman, nor could any Prophet or Patriarch warrant you salvation. We must be passive in the hands of the authorities, as this pitcher was passive in the hands of the potter that made it.
Gentlemen, ye Elders of Israel, whether you are old men, young men, or middle-aged, you have got to learn the lesson of obedience.
Now, brethren, do you not think it is about time that we began to learn? Does middle age or does old age excuse a man? No, it does not. Well, then, what will justify a man in doing wrong? Not anything. To do as I am told is my duty. It is written in the Bible somewhere, "obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken, than the fat of rams." If I want to honour God, let me honour those whom he has sent and whom he has placed to dictate and control the affairs of his kingdom.
I frequently talk about the clay in the hands of the potter. The Lord said to Jeremiah, "I will show you a thing that I cannot tell you. Go down to the potter's house, and I will be there, but you shall not see me; and I will make that potter mar a vessel." Jeremiah went down to the potter's house, and the Lord showed him the very thing he had promised; for the potter undertook to make a vessel, and the clay marred in his hands, and he cut it off the wheel and threw it into the mill; "and now," says he, "take it out again and shape it into a ball, and turn it into a vessel of honor." He did that very thing, though it is not written. The Scriptures say that out of the same lump he made a vessel first unto dishonour, and then unto honour.
I used to preach upon that in Nauvoo, and Joseph said it was the true interpretation. Now, Jeremiah was a man like brother Brigham, brother Heber, Amasa, and thousands of the servants of God that were valiant. There are thousands here that have never seen a potter's house. But if I was in one, I could take a lump of clay and show you; and perhaps, being out of practice, it would mar in my hands: then I would throw it back into the mill and grind it, and afterwards I would take it up again and make a vessel unto honour. And thus the Lord said to Jeremiah, "As you see that clay mar in the hands of the potter, so shall it be with the house of Israel. They shall go and be in prison till I bring them out and make them vessels unto honour." That is to be done in the latter days, when the Lord is to say to the dry bones, "Come forth," and so on. Go and read the Bible, and you will learn about it. It will be just so with thousands and tens of thousands who will embrace "Mormonism:" they will go back into the mill again, through disobedience.
I do not believe, of all the Branches of this church that were raised up twenty-five years ago, that there is one man out of twenty who now stands firm and is living. Of the two thousand whom I and my brethren baptised, when we first went to old England, I do not believe there are five hundred now in this Church.
Brother Brigham and I paid from ten to fifteen thousand dollars to emigrate Saints from that country to the States. But where are they now? They have not all remained with us; and, in fact, it was not six months before many of them turned round and cursed us. They would not live their religion: they were stupid, and wanted their own way like a mule. All such characters will go overboard, and they will have to lie there till the Lord Almighty says, "Go and deliver the Gospel to them again." I am talking what I know and what I realize.
Brethren and sisters, you have all got to be tested; but I know I cannot force things into your minds; I can only tell you things as I see them. There are a great many of this people that are exulting, and they feel as though they could whip a hundred men each: but you are not going to have very much trouble this fall.
Those troops seem to feel determined to come here. There are about 1,400 of them; and, with their officers and servants, altogether there will be upwards of 2,000. Captain Van Vliet advised them to turn in somewhere and fix up and stay for the winter; but he had no orders about the matter: therefore all he could do was to give them good counsel. But when he found they could not be prevailed upon to take his advice, he told them that if they attempted to come in here we should slay them. When they heard this they shouted with anger, and the next day they travelled thirty miles towards this place: they made two days' march in one.
While brother Jones was there, they exulted over us and sang all manner of songs, telling how they were going to kill brother Brigham and all those who would uphold "Mormonism;" and they seemed to be as crazy as fools. They swore that they would use very woman in this place at their own pleasure--that they would slay old Brigham and old Heber; and they actually think that there are many--especially women--that will feel glad should they enter this valley, that they may be reprieved. Indeed they carry on in a most disgraceful and disgusting manner.
How long is it since brother Brigham proffered to release all the women in this Territory who wished to be released? At the last October Conference. That woman is to blame who wanted to be free and did not take the liberty that was given; and I say to all of mine that want to go, Go, and I will give you all the writings you want; and, besides that, I will give you the means to help you away.
These are my feelings in relation to those who want to go away. I say you shall have the privilege; for we will prepare the way so that you can go, if there are any who wish to go; and such has always been the case. But, as it happens, there are none who want to go, that we know of.
In relation to those soldiers coming here, they never can come, so long as the Lord God Almighty gives us strength to resist them. And that is not all. There is no man that can rule over this people but Brigham Young.
[The congregation shouted, "Amen."]
And as long as we uphold him as the man holding the keys of this kingdom, he shall rule as Governor of this people. What a foolish thing it would be for us to drop brother Brigham and say that a wicked man should have that position! Oh! the hell and the sorrow that this people would see! But we never will have any other man so long as he liveth; and then it shall be his successor in office--the man whom God Almighty appoints, and no other man.
The brethren talk about our freedom. Why, we are just as free as the old veterans of the revolution were before they got their independence.
We have declared our independence But, gentlemen and ladies, we have got to maintain that by the strength of Jehovah. And that man and that woman who cannot stand up to the test, I ask you to leave as quick as you can; for when the time of the test comes, as the Lord God Almighty lives, if you then leave us or betray us, that is the end of you.
Do not exult over our enemies; but when you have an opportunity, get down upon your knees and cry unto the Lord God till you get his Spirit, and be as clay in the hands of the potter, and learn to do as you are told. This is the thing to learn. The virtue is not altogether in taking a fiddle and playing the tune, but it is something of a job to dance to the tune.
This year's trouble will not be much. It is not going to amount to a great deal; but it will amount to this--a collision between this people and the United States; and the gate will be shut down between us and them. This is already done to a certain extent; but many of you do not see it.
We have been telling you these things for years; but did you believe them? Yes, and so did the devils. The devils believe and tremble; but where is the practice, gentlemen? Where is your practice, ladies? Your practice has been chiefly exhibited on your heads, around your necks and shoulders, and all over you. Does this correspond with what is about to take place with us--when there is about to be a collision with us and the world--when we have got to maintain the kingdom of God? As brother Brigham says, it is the kingdom of God or nothing.
Brother Case was talking about our being an independent people; and I say we are independent--just as independent as we ever shall be, until we completely gain the victory. This we have got to do by faith and by good works. We have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, as God Almighty willeth us to do; for all men are subject to him, to do his will, keep his commandments, and bring to pass his righteous purposes.
I would advise my brethren from this day to attend faithfully to their duties wherever they may be called upon to act; and I would advise my sisters to stay at home and attend to their domestic concerns, and prepare diligently for the approaching day of trial. Prepare for the worst; for you need not expect any better times than you now see.
I have told you you have seen the best times that you would see until the kingdom of God is established for this world has to become subject to the kingdom of God and his Christ.
When the United States have done their best, then other nations will tackle us, and so things will go on, until every nation is brought into subjection to the kingdom of God. Go and read it in the Bible. I could not say anything else, if I should try.
All the difference between ancient and modern prophets is--we are fulfilling what they told, only it was not all written. The scenery is the same; and then, again, it is not. This is the fulness of all dispensations; and it so much bigger than any of the others, that all the rest are embodied in it.
Everything spoken of that has not been fulfilled will have to be fulfilled in this dispensation. The kingdom of God is set up in a degree: it is in embryo, and it will continue to receive strength. The child has proclaimed its liberty, although it has not got its full growth. The child is free; but he has got to whip out all the wicked and bring them into subjection to the kingdom of God, or to the kingdom of his Father. We are the boys that are being brought to this test. God is going to test every one of us--men, women, and children.
I will here say, in the name of Israel's God, that I will not be trammelled in the purposes of God; neither should any other one. I have said the day of petting is past with me, and it should be past with all good men. I heard my leader say, the other day, that he could manage the affairs of this people and of the United States and of Europe with more ease to his mind than he can listen to the little, peevish, trifling complaints that women bring to him. A good deal of it is little peevishness.
What kind of matters do they trouble him with? Why, one woman runs and--"Brother Brigham, my old hen has laid an egg; and I herd that if I set it on one end it would be hen, and if on the other it would be a rooster; and I want a rooster." That is a simile.
I am speaking of this for you to let him alone. If you have difficulties, brethren and sisters, go to your Bishops, and let those Bishops investigate the case; and if it is worthy of his notice, let your Bishop go to brother Brigham and have his counsel upon it.
When our President says that these little things trouble him, I say they should never go to him at all. It is generally women that have to go--that class of them that seem to wish to do all the business.
You will frequently see from twenty to sixty women round that Tithing Store. If I have any business there, I go and do it, and then go about my other business. The brethren there are weary; and I want brother Hunter to have his days set to deal out to the people. You should be at home gleaning wheat or knitting. Let me advise you, sisters, to be humble and prayerful before your God. Pray for your husbands, if you have got any; and if you have not, pray for those men who lead you and bear off this kingdom.
You do not have to go out to fight; and you should think of this when you are gadding about from one place to the other--you that have so much visiting to do that you even visit on Sundays too. I want to know why such ones are not serving their God and taking care of that which is put into their hands?
Now, am I hard upon the sisters? No. The good woman sits here and says it is heaven to hear to listen to such teachings. I do not wish to say anything to such persons; but it is those that are guilty that I am after.
Do I want to hurt your feelings? No; I would no for my right arm. But stop going to brother Brigham with your little family affairs. I hardly ever go to brother Brigham's office but there are some sisters there--sometimes from ten to twenty in a day; and some few come to me, but not many.
Do I advise a woman to leave her husband? No. But, say I, Go home; make peace, and be comfort to your husband. Do I advise a man to leave his wife? No. But I tell him to go home and nourish her, comfort her, and clothe her, and then see that she does her duty. I will admit there are some men who are hard and overbearing; and then there are some women who cannot be controlled.
I have one or two women that I cannot control, and never did; and I would as soon try to control a rebellious mule as to control them. I have not given them a word of counsel for the last eight years but what they have murmured or rebelled against and called me a hard man. I have not told you who they are; but I know them.
Is it wrong to speak of these things? I have one or two women that I cannot control, and never did. "Do you support them?" says one. Yes, as well as the best women I have. And if you want to know why I do it, it is because I want to get along with it as well as I can in this life. But I can tell you that if the time comes when I am obliged to desert and lay waste my habitation, I will then lug them no more.
Let us do a good work and be a good people. Do I give you the credit of being the best people on the face of God's earth? I do. There is not a better people on the face of God's footstool; and they are generally doing just as well as they know how to do.
I see the evil that is coming next year, except God frustrates their designs,--which he will do, if we are faithful. Our enemies may undertake to send from fifty to a hundred thousand troops next year; and if we are faithful, God will frustrate their designs. We can plead with the Father, and then it will depend upon our faithfulness as a people.
If there is a good woman that has not got a good man, she can be a good woman as she is; and if there is a good man that has not got a good woman, he can be a good man without one. Before I would live in a quarrel, I would take my johnny-cake and go into the woods! And if I was a man that worked on the public works, and I could not live in peace, I would take my victuals with me, and I would stick to God and to his kingdom, and I would not quarrel. You know I am not a quarrelsome man. This is what I call disputation.
Let us do right, keep the commandments of God, and live in peace and quietude. Is there a man in this congregation that has any difficulty with me? No, there is not; or if there is, I do not know it. If I have any difficulty with any one, I tell them of it; and then if I am in the fault, I repent and make satisfaction, if any is needed; and if they are in fault, I expect them to do the same. That is the Spirit of God, is it not? It is the Spirit that should exist with every man.
Mr. Buchanan and his coadjutors are striving to oppress Utah and deprive us of our constitutional rights. They have taken the Eastern mail from us, and they will endeavour to take away everything they have given us, and will make their heaviest efforts to destroy this people. But if this community will entirely cease to do any evil and will unitedly live their religion, God Almighty will so confound their enemies that they cannot bring an army into this country. He will do that, if you will do as you are told.
When I think of those things that exist among some of this people, I am grieved. "Do you not quarrel, brother Heber?" says one. No, I do not. But when a woman begins to dispute me, about nine times out of ten I get up and say, "Go it," and then go off about my business; and if ever I am so foolish as to quarrel with a woman, I ought to be whipped; for you may always calculate that they will have the last word.
I know that there are some quarrelsome individuals, but I do not want any such spirits about me.
When I sleep, I have fifteen shooters, six shooters, and all other kind of shooters; and the devils do not come there: and if they succeed in troubling me, they have to get into some other person's body. I have left the Devil's kingdom and have enlisted in the kingdom of Jesus, and I never intend to turn away from it.
As for our enemies, they never can injure us; but they will make their heaviest strides against us. And it will not be long before the world will turn over the riches of the world to us, and I know it. If you will only live faithful, you will never be driven to the necessity of burning up your houses, your lumber, or your fruit trees.
Our peach and apple trees are beginning to bear fruit, and we may just as well eat the fruit from them as not. But if we do not live our religion, we may have to go into the mountains and take it Indian fashion.
The United States have robbed the Indians, and now they are trying to afflict us; and they will go to hell with all the nations that forget God.
Brethren and sisters, God bless you! May the Lord God Almighty bless you, every one; and you may consider the blessing just the same as though I had my hands upon your heads; for every one of you shall be blessed who will do right and uphold his servants.
Now, let brother Brigham alone, will you not? I do not suppose there are any who want to annoy him. But let me say to all of you, if you have any difficulties that you cannot settle, go to your Bishops; and then, if the case is worthy of further notice, your Bishops can go to brother Brigham and get the proper information and settle the difficulty accordingly. You have no idea how he is troubled; for of all the trouble and perplexing things on the earth, the little complaints and murmurings of women are the most tedious.
God Almighty bless you, brethren and sisters! and I bless you, and I bless the air, the earth, the mountains, and everything that is in these regions. I bless the elements in these mountains; and my prayer is that the fathers of these Lamanites--the old prophets and old patriarchs--will visit them by night and by day; and they will do it when the proper time comes, and they will visit this people when they are worthy and when it is necessary. God Almighty will arouse every tribe and every nation that exists in the East, West, North, and South, and they will be on hand for our relief. Now, mark it; for the day is nigh at hand, and it will be here sooner than you can lay up your corn, your barley, your wheat, and the comforts of life: yes, they will be here for our relief.
I feel that I am pleading with this people to stop all bickerings and to be Saints in very deed. We give you the name of being the best people upon the earth. Brother Brigham says that this people are doing the best they can. I will admit that. But when a man steals, that man is not living righteously. When a woman steals, I do not believe that she is doing the best she knows.
This people, as a community, with but here and there a solitary exception, are doing about as well as any other people could do upon the face of the earth. I believe and know that I do the best I can to please God and my brethren: I leave it to them if I do not. I did last week: I laboured till I thought I should faint; and I would rather die than be in rebellion. Do I take a course to hurt brother Brigham, brother Spencer, brother Woodruff, brother Amasa, or any other Saint? No, I do not.
God bless you! I want my brethren to live near me, so that I can see them. God bless you, brother Phineas, and brother Case, and the old Patriarch! and God bless you, John and William, and Betsy and Sally! Is not that manifesting good feelings? That is the way to be happy. Now let us go home and take a course to be industrious and happy and to secure a livelihood.
There is considerable sickness from colds in our city: it is a kind of epidemic. It has been in the horses and mules, and now it is turned upon us; and let us fast and pray that the sickness may cease, and it shall not continue upon the hose of Israel; for I rebuke it in the name of Israel's God, and you shall rebuke it, and it shall be turned away from us, and it shall go to our enemies, and they shall see sorrow. They cannot come here. But if they will be peaceable and behave themselves, they shall live, and we will have compassion upon them, though they are in our hands as much as any people ever were in the hands of another upon the face of the earth; but in the mercy of God they have been spared because they are ignorant. But would to God that they were composed of the priests of the day and the thousands that have caused Joseph and Hyrum and many others to lie down in the dust! Would not we have joy, if they were along here? [Voices: "We would."] Yes, and so would I. But these troops are all foreigners--almost all of them: they are what we call the low Dutch, the Irish, the english, and of almost all nations. They are ignorant of the wicked course and object of this movement against us; and so are many, if not all of the officers who lead them. But they must go where they are ordered by their superiors, or resign. However, they cannot get here to work their abominations, destruction, and death. Amen.
MURMURING AGAINST DIVINE AUTHORITY--FAITH IN PRAYER--UNITY OF SPIRIT.
A Discourse by Elder Orson Hyde, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday morning, October 4, 1857.
Brethren and Sisters,--I feel to occupy a portion of the time allotted to us this morning, in calling your attention to some matters which I hope and trust may be for our benefit, for our security, and for our prosperity.
We are all aware, or should be, of the condition that we are in and the circumstances by which we are surrounded. We have duly considered them, for we have had time for reflection: we have had time to weigh the matter in our own minds; and it is now for us to be fixed and firm in our purpose, that we deviate not in our actions, neither in our feelings from the path that is marked out for us, but cheerfully, resolutely, and patiently pursue that track. There is no doubt at all but that we shall have trials to pass through--all, perhaps, that we are able to bear; for all strength that is given to us will be tested, and will be tried, and will be proven.
It is now for us to avoid one fatal rock, I may say, upon which the Israelites of old wrecked to a certain extent; and that is, that when they were gloriously delivered by the hand of our God and brought into the wilderness by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm, they murmured against Moses and they murmured against God because they could not enjoy the luxuries--the good things of Egypt, such as they were wont to enjoy while in bondage.
How soon did they forget the mighty miracles that were wrought for their deliverance! There was a time that the Israelites could do nothing. They had come to the shores of the Red Sea: they could not advance; their enemies were in their rear, and they could not advance. When they looked forward, it seemed impossible for them to pass onward; and when they looked back, destruction awaited them; and in the midst of this they exclaimed, perhaps, "What shall we do?"
It appears that there was nothing to be done, and hence the word was to them to stand still and see the salvation of God. In due time Moses was directed to smite the waters of the Red Sea: the waters were divided and Israel bade to go forward.
It appears that the Lord will open the way wherever he requires his Saints to go, however dark and hedged up it may seem. Yet, when the time comes for us to take one step, the way will open; and it is not likely that we can see the final issue or the result of our journey at first. If we could see the end, there would be no trial of our faith; but all the time we must walk by faith, and not by sight.
It is a good deal in this respect as it was with the disciples of old: it was required that they should take no thought what they should eat, what they should drink, or wherewithal they should be clothed.
It was also required that they should take no thought what they should say, for they were told it should be given unto them in the very hour what they should speak; and so it will be given to the faithful and pure before the Lord in this age of the world in the very hour that it is required and in the very time that it is needed.
They will see how to take one step and where to place one foot; and if they cannot see where to put the second, they must wait till they <can> see where to put it.
This was the case with the children of Israel when they were bade to go through the Red Sea; for whether they could see the track open all the way across is very questionable with me; but as they saw where to take one step, so they were required to advance all the way through that mighty deep, and they went through dryshod; and the very means ordained for their salvation were the very means for the destruction of their enemies.
But after the children of Israel had such a glorious triumph and sang the songs of deliverance, how soon they murmured against the authority of God and the Holy One who was appointed to lead them. They wanted the flesh, the leeks, and onions of Egypt; and the Lord was forced to come out of his hiding-place and cut them off from the face of the earth; and there fell in one day three-and-twenty thousand. This is written for our example, that we through faith and patience of the Scriptures might have comfort.
It is written, "A prophet shall the Lord our God raise up like unto me:" that is Moses speaking: "And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people." I am not going to say who that Prophet is; but I am going to present some few things for your consideration, and you may draw your own conclusions.
Did Jesus Christ ever lead forth the people of God like unto Moses? Did he not say, "How often would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not?" Did he lead them with an outstretched arm? He wrought miracles and did all the good he could; but I cannot see that Jesus ever led the people as did Moses. He performed his work and fulfilled his mission: but a Prophet was to be raised up like unto Moses; and hence I draw the conclusion that this is the only Prophet or the only dynasty of Prophets through whom the Lord would speak.
I know that some think the Lord is going to establish his kingdom through other prophets than those amongst us. Well, if the law is to be given through others, why is the responsibility placed upon us to go and preach the Gospel to all nations? If it is not to proceed from this Priesthood wholly, why should the Twelve Apostles be required to open the Gospel to all the nations of the earth, if there were other channels through which the Gospel might be preached? By this I come to the conclusion that whosoever will not hear this Prophet will be destroyed from among the people.
This is the only people who profess to have Prophets of this character, even like unto Moses; and the word is that whosoever will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. A Prophet shall be at the head to lead, as it was with Israel when Moses led them. Did he not say, "I will take and lead you as in days of old?" Well, then, the ministration and signs of Moses are to be enacted again. Joel shows us how they are to be. Read the 2nd chapter of Joel all the way through, and that will show you how things are to be.
"Why," says the Lord, "I sent my angel before my people hitherto; but I have said that in the last days I will go myself before my people." He has declared that he will utter his voice before his army, for his camp is very great.
We shall be led into straitened places--into tried places; and now it is for us to prepare ourselves, to fortify our hearts, to fortify our spirits, that we never murmur against God nor against the Moses that he has given us; for I tell you that the man that God has raised up is no more responsible than we are; and I have thought not so much.
Can he make one erroneous move? If our prayers are offered up to the Lord in his behalf--if our hearts are set upon doing that which we know to be right, then we are right; but if not, we are wrong. If he is wrong, our prayers are not heard.
Well, then, you see, the weight of responsibility reaches back upon our shoulders; and we are the ones to take that responsibility and to have faith in the words and in the prayers which we utter before the Lord.
Brethren and sisters, be agreed in this respect, and be sure that when you ask for a thing you do not doubt it; but hold on to it and believe that you receive the things you ask for, and you shall have them. What mind of spirit is it that comes and says, "Now, I will go and ask for this or that; I do not know whether I will get it; it is a question whether my prayers are heard; but I will pray because it is my duty?"
Now, a double-minded man is not a man of faith. We should consider what we want and what is the mind and will of God to grant us. Say, "So and so is the mind of God," and satisfy yourself that the prayer you are about to offer is really the mind and will of your Father in heaven; then bow down and ask for that thing or for those very things. And when we have asked for any blessing, never let a doubt arise in our minds as to whether we shall receive the blessing, but believe that our prayers are heard, and then they will be answered.
Let me say, brethren and sisters, do not pray for too many things at once. What would you think if your son were to come and say, "Father, I want a yoke of oxen, I want a cow, I want a horse, I want some money, I want this, and I want that?"
"Why," says the father, "you ask for so many things that I cannot give you anything at all." That son is covetous; he reaches for everything, and I cannot give them to him; and hence the father concludes that he won't give him anything; when, if the son had come and said, "Father, if you can let me have a cow, I shall be glad," and then stop at that, the father would say, "Yes, I will give you a cow;" and he is pleased to do it. The son takes care of her, and by-and-by he comes and says, "Father, won't you give me a horse?" "Yes," says the father. And so, you see, he gets all that he wants, but not all at once.
Our Father in heaven says, "Where two or three of you agree as touching ONE thing, and ask in the name of the Son, it shall be given. Our Saviour had his eye upon this when he said, "If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; but if thy eye be evil, (some say double,) thy whole body shall be full of darkness."
If your affections are divided, can you love two individuals or two objects alike? Water, when its power is concentrated, turns machinery; but when you divide it and apply its force upon many wheels at the same time, it accomplishes little; whereas its condensed force upon one wheel will effect the desired object.
This is true in relation to prayer; but is it true in relation to the plurality of wives? Can a man really love more than one wife at the same time? I may answer this question in the negative or in the affirmative, and either may be considered correct according to circumstances.
It was the prayer of Christ that his disciples, though many, might be one,--that is, to have no mind or will of their own, but all partake of his spirit and his mind; and thus, they being one in him, he could easily love them all. But if one set up a will of his own--rebelled in his feelings against a union with each other and with his legitimate head also, he might pity the folly of that rebellious one, but could not love him as those who rebelled not.
If a man have forty wives, and they all receive his mind and spirit, and are thus one in him, he can as easily love them all (because they are one,) as a father can love a half-score of children who copy his mind and spirit. But if a woman rebel in her feelings against a good man, and yield to the temptations of the Devil, she may know that her husband may pity, but cannot love her, because she has ceased to be one with him and to partake of his mind and spirit. If, therefore, your husband be a good man, and you copy his mind and his spirit, he cannot help loving you, though he have forty other wives in the same situation.
Now, you wives, partake of the spirit of your husbands, and you will be loved: but you set up a standard and a spirit aside from his, and he never will love you; no, he never will. I speak to the knowledge and experience of some: yes, too many know that this is true.
And ye husbands, drink into the Spirit of your God and of your superiors in the Priesthood on earth; and if your wives are good women, they will love you; but if you do not, they will not love you; they won't have confidence in you.
You husbands, go to work by your own spirit and set up a standard independent of the Holy Ghost, and will God love you? No, he won't. If you do not drink into the spirit of your superiors, will they love you?--will they have confidence in you? No, they won't.
Well, you see it is all flowing in our legitimate channel. If God has ten thousand children, or a million, or ten millions, and all partake of one spirit, and they are one, does he not love them all? Yes, he does. But if one steps aside from the path marked out, will he love him? No, he won't. But if the ignorant sin and go astray, he may send a messenger after them and get them back. He may rejoice over them and pity them when they are away, and rejoice over them when they come back.
Now, brethren and sisters, consider these principles: weigh them well in your minds; for the greatest evil that I know of in this people is the little bickerings in families. I am happy to say that even this evil is diminishing; yet there should be none at all.
The spirits of men and women should ever be guided and tempered by the Holy Ghost; and I believe that the desire and intention of a large majority of the people are to keep the spirit of their superiors and of their God--to drink it and live by it.
Would to God that all the women that are adopted into families would partake of the spirit of their husbands, if they are upright men. They have no right to an independent standard, any more than I have a right to a standard independent of the Holy Ghost. I should have an independence to turn away from all sin; for that is the Spirit of God, and that is the right kind of independence, and that is the only kind that is justifiable.
I feel, brethren and sisters, that I should not go amiss--that I should not go astray from the path of duty, were I to call upon families to repent of their sins in this respect. I have laid before you, this morning, some of the greatest evils there are in families--an unwillingness of the members of those families to keep the spirit of their head. Some of them are unwilling to do it: it is too much the case. I only direct these remarks where they are applicable; and therefore those to whom they do not apply will not take them: and perhaps there will be some to whom they are applicable that will say, I do not believe that doctrine. To such I would say. You are the very one; you are the very character to repent and submit yourself to the proper government of God.
In relation to murmuring against God, brethren and sisters, do you not know that the Israelites were reproved and that they were slain because they murmured against their God? Well, now, in the same light do families stand who murmur against their head and partake not of the spirit of their head; for, say the Scriptures, "Whoso will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people." Remember that it is by patient continuance in welldoing that we seek for honour, happiness, and eternal life,--by patient continuance all the time, and not when we come into trying places to turn aside; but to abide in the covenants and be patient, seeking for honour, immortality, and eternal life.
Well, now, you brethren, do not you go home and say that just suits me--that is my doctrine, and take liberty thereby to tyrannize over your families. If it just suits you, and if it is your doctrine, all right. But one thing let me tell you--Seek the spirit of your head; and if you will do that, you will never take advantage of the remarks of the servants of God to mistreat your women. But, at the same time, the principle must be laid open before you, so that you can understand it. No doubt you all know it and understand it perfectly well; but it is necessary once in a while to "stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance." Do not murmur against God, against Moses, nor against your legitimate head: no, do not do it; for "Whoever will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people."
Well, now, brethren and sisters, these are about the remarks that I wanted to make. There are a great many things in which we have improved; and in respect to the things of which I have spoken, there is no doubt but you have greatly improved; but I tell you there is room for a mighty stride of improvement in this respect. This is the way I feel about it.
I do not wish to divide your attention upon a thousand things, but I wish to call your attention to this thing and say, Repent of all your deviations from the path of duty; and I believe that you know this is a true doctrine--that you are satisfied that it is true. Cast away from you every feeling of rebellion and of murmuring that will lead you to oppose your legitimate head, and drink down the spirit of your superiors, and abide by it; and then you are one: and when you are one, God can love you all at the same time. Why, when I love a person, I not only love the head, but I love the face, the hands, the feet, and all the members of that body. Well, then, if we are all members of the body, does not God love us all? Certainly he does. Then away with the idea that a man cannot love but one object at a time: away with this, I say, and let us all be one. Then if any part of us is loved, we are all loved. I believe that I have said all that I wanted to say. May God bless you and save us all in his kingdom. Amen.
There is one word more that I want to say, and it is right in connection with what I have said. I won't turn your minds away from what has been spoken; but I want to tell you that brother Brigham, brother Heber, and brother Daniel's responsibilities laid upon them make them feel more than any other men can feel. They are enough to burst iron hearts, aside from their family responsibilities. Pray, therefore, that their strength may be equal to their day; and while you pray for them, work to your prayer. And if you ask, "How shall I work to it?" I will tell you. If you get some little difficulty on your mind, you Bishops, you Elders, you members, do not run to brother Brigham, to brother Heber, nor to brother Daniel. You have prayed to God that their burdens may be lightened; then do not throw your troubles upon them, but pray to God to nerve their bodies and their spirits, and to give them power and strength sufficient for their day.
You would not say to the mule or jackass that is bending beneath his burden, "Oh! poor animal!" and then jump on to him yourself: you would not do that. Then, when you see the Presidency of our Church--our leaders--when you see them bowed down, if you cannot go to do them any good, do not go to them with any of your petty troubles and difficulties. We want all these miserable petty cases put away or settled between parties and their Bishop, and mercifully relieve our head from unnecessary, petty, and vexatious troubles.
God bless us and enable us all to do so, through Jesus Christ! Amen.
PREPARATION OF HEART FOR DIVINE BLESSINGS--RESPONSIBILITY--FAMILY GOVERNMENT.
Remarks by Elder Erastus Snow, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, October 4, 1857.