Remarks by Elder Orson Hyde, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, on Sunday, Dec. 18, 1864.

I feel thankful, my brethren and sisters, for the privilege of once more meeting with you in this tabernacle. I feel thankful that so many of us are spared to meet together.

I need not reiterate in your hearing, that we are living in a most important day and age of the world, equally important to the Saints of the Most High as to the rest of mankind; for the present is fraught with events that should admonish us to live near to the Lord, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. We have been tried in adversity. Many of us know what it is to be in the very depths of poverty and privation; and we now seem to have advanced into a measurable prosperity, in order that we may be proved and tried in another manner, and let it be known in the heavens and to the just on the earth whether we are able to abide prosperity as well as adversity.

There are so many things before me and in my mind, that I hardly know what to speak upon and call your attention to. I do not know that it matters much, for the Saints are interested in everything that is good, comforting, and cheering to the heart. I will say, however, that what was written beforetime was written for our profit and instruction, that we, through an understanding thereof, might have patience and hope. A great enterprise was determined upon by our Heavenly Father, and for this purpose he seemed to have inspired a certain individual with the manifestations of his will in dreams, and visions of the day, perhaps, also, of the night, and that individual was Joseph of old. It appears that in this son of the Patriarch Jacob, the germs of greatness and power were manifest, not only to himself in his own reflections and thoughts, and by reason of the manifestations he received of the Divine will, but, also, to the satisfaction of his brethren, that he was likely to aspire to, or be elevated to, dominion and government over them. This roused their envy and jealousy until they could not endure his presence. They sought to rid themselves of him, and contrived various plans and means to accomplish it, especially after he had told them his dream, that their sheaves had made obeisance to his sheaf as they were binding in the harvest field. And then, to cap the climax, he told them he had had another dream, in which the sun and the moon and the eleven stars had made obeisance to him. Not only was he to have dominion and power over his brethren, but his father and mother, as well, were to recognize his power.

This created a jealousy that was satisfied only in his separation from them, and they sold him to certain Ishmaelitish merchants, who bore him away, a slave, into Egypt. Little did they think, as they saw him take his departure with the camels of those merchants, that he was but a pioneer to open a way before them, and that they would actually have to follow on his track and seek succor at his hands. But in process of time it proved to be true, for the country from which he had been expelled, sold as a bondman and thrust away by force, was visited by famine, and he, by the interposition of Providence, was elevated to power in the land to which he had been banished. He had become a prince in that land, and its revenue and riches were under his control. His brethren were forced by famine to go down there; so were his father and their little ones. When they came to him and found him occupying a princely state, it was overwhelming to them. They bowed down to him. He was a prince! The Almighty had blessed him and made him strong in the land to which they had banished him. Their very jealousy and envy had placed him on the road to greatness and power, and they were themselves compelled to seek succor from the brother they had hated and banished.

I have adverted to but few circumstances connected with the history of these individuals, for it would consume too much time to enter further into them. But enough has been said to show you the analogy that follows: We have been expelled from a certain country because our enemies discovered in us germs of power and greatness which aroused their jealousy and hatred, and they were determined to be rid of us. When they saw us leaving, to cross the vast plains that stretched before us, as we turned our backs upon the homes we had made with much labor and toil, they flattered themselves that they were rid of any dominion of ours, either real or imaginary. But little did they think when they were doing so, that they were forcing us on to a track they would have eventually to travel themselves. This was hid from their eyes.

The Saints did cross the plains to leave that country, and here we are; and who better than ourselves can appreciate the circumstances that now attend us? The Almighty has blessed us in this country; He has poured His blessings bounteously upon us, for which every heart here should beat with gratitude to the Most High. While war is desolating the country from which we came, we are here in peace, for which we should be thankful now that we are here. That element that drove us away, not, perhaps, the first, but that very element is beginning to follow in our track. What is its policy? The policy, no doubt, is to cease to invade us by force of arms. But another is adopted, more easily accomplished. What is it? Why, “We will oil our lips, and smooth our tongues, and ingratiate ourselves into your favor; we will mingle and comingle with you as brothers, and lead you away; we will contaminate you, and by pouring wealth into your laps, we will make you indifferent to your God, your faith, and your covenants.” The object is to destroy those germs of greatness which Heaven has planted in our souls, at which they feel alarmed—germs of greatness which, if cultivated, will lead us to wield a power to which the nations will have to bow, as the nations had to bow to that Joseph who was sold into Egypt.

Another circumstance I will call your attention to. In the first place, every great enterprise is attended with its difficulties, its hardships, and oppositions, for there must needs be opposition in all things. We are told that in the year 1492 this American continent was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Look at the exertions made by him to obtain the necessary means to effect the discovery. It required ships, means, and men to enable him to make his way across the trackless deep to find a country which, to him, seemed necessary to balance the earth. The Spirit of God came upon him, and he had no rest day nor night until he accomplished what the Spirit wrought upon him to do. He went first to one place and then to another to procure help. He applied to different crowned heads, and received rebuffs and discouragements. He was poor; the plans of Jehovah are mostly carried out by humble and poor individuals. So it was with Columbus; he was poor, but daring and persevering, and with a soul formed within his bosom to undertake and prosecute the great enterprise that was to bring to light a vast continent reserved in the providence of God as the theater of great events in a period that was then in the future. By the aid of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain he obtained three small vessels, old and almost rotten, poorly manned and badly provisioned. It was not because they believed he would be successful, but like the unjust judge with the poor widow, they desired to get rid of his importunities. The unjust judge had no very strong feelings in favor of the widow, but that he might be rid of her importunings, he hearkened to her prayer. So did they serve Columbus. They said they would fit him out and send him away, and he might go on his explorations for the imaginary country he fancied lay towards the west. If they had had any faith that he would be successful, they would have fitted him out with the best ships that any navies of the time could have afforded, manned with sufficient men and sup– plied with all the necessary equipments; and then they would have said, “Go and prosper, and the God of the seas pioneer your course.” But they had no faith in the enterprise; they wanted to stop his importunings and get rid of him.

When we look back at our history we find a certain analogy in it to that of this man. Our enemies wanted to get rid of us. We applied to the powers that were for aid and succor. What did we receive in response to our applications? Silence in some cases; contempt in others. And when we had to sell out, it was not with old rotten ships that they paid us, but with old rotten wagons, old spavined horses, and other things equally worthless. Then they said, “Go and do the best you can.” They thought they had given us an outfit that would last us until our destruction would be consummated; they imagined it would last us until we got beyond what they pleased to call civilization; but thinking that, perhaps, we might live through all, they demanded five hundred of our best men, while in camp in the wilderness, leaving our camp to the care of cripples and old men and women, in the midst of an Indian country. But we lived.

Little did Ferdinand and Isabella think that Columbus was leading the way that all Europe would have to follow. If they had so thought, they would have given him better ships and a better outfit. But when they found he had opened a new country, rich and bountifully productive, behold the surface of the ocean was whitened with the sails of vessels, bearing their living freights crowding to seek fortune on the new continent that spread itself invitingly before them. All Europe, figuratively speaking, followed in his track, and spread themselves over the face of the land. But see what these adventurers have come to. This country, discovered by him, is enveloped in war; and if you live a few years longer, you will see much of the land that has been blessed with unequaled prosperity, from the east to the west, a wilderness and a desolation; and this will be in consequence of the abuse of the blessings bestowed upon it by those who enjoyed them. If I mistake not, a certain Senator said to a Senator from Louisiana, “What are you going to do with Louisiana?” “Why,” was the reply, “Louisiana was a wilderness when we bought her from France, and if she secede we will make her a wilderness again.” If the land does not become a wilderness and a desolation, we do not see correctly—we do not understand correctly the revelations which the Almighty has given us. The Scripture says, that in the last days His people will go forth and build up the waste places of Zion. But they must first be made desolate, before they can be called “the waste places of Zion.” Then the hands of the Saints will be required to build them up.

Compare the coming of the Saints here with the banishment of Joseph into Egypt, and the manner in which Columbus was sent off on his perilous exploration, and note the conclusion that follows. The world dreaded the germs of greatness which they saw in the Saints. They dreaded the power that seemed to attend them. They were almost at war with us because we were united. They disliked the idea of our being politically one. They wanted us to be of different parties. But when they saw we were united, they said, “There is a power that is destined to make them great, to exalt them.” And let me say here to the Saints, be you united and be one with your leader, and you will as surely ascend to power and elevation in the earth as Joseph of old did in the land of Egypt. We are here, and in unity. We are not destroyed. When I look at our condition at the present time, I cannot but feel that we should be thankful to the Lord every day of our lives.

I was once in business, in the East, in the mercantile line, and we used to sell our common unbleached factory at 16 2/3rd cents a yard. A yard of factory brought a bushel of oats. When I see that the Saints can now get three yards of factory for a bushel of oats—three times as much for their produce in this “Godforsaken country,” so-called by some, as we could get when we were in the east, I have said, what but the hand of God could have done it? I feel that the hand of God is over this people. Then why, in the day of prosperity, should we permit our hearts to run after the things of this world, and not permit our feelings and affections to be centered in this kingdom, and use the riches of this world as we use the waters of the ocean—not enter into them to be engulfed by them, but glide over them to power and greatness as the ship moves onward to her destined port.

I am glad of the privilege of being with you today, and of speaking a few words to you. In fact, I never felt more thankful to God, nor had feelings of greater joy in the principles of life than I have today. I feel glad that I am counted worthy to bear the name of my master Jesus. We are doing our best to build up the kingdom of our God in that part of the Territory where my time is principally spent, and I presume you are doing the same here. I say to the Saints, in the day of prosperity beware of pride, beware of worldly mindedness, beware that we be not ensnared by the things of this world. Let me tell you, the judgments of the Almighty are beginning to be poured out upon the nations of the earth. A great portion of the nations that will not repent will be eventually swept away before the just judgments of Heaven. And if the Elders are sent forth to bear the truth to the nations, they will go, as it were, in the trough of a wave, as the billows of tribulation and destruction pass over the nations, retiring before another wave comes; and thus, by the voice of mercy and the words of truth, the nations will be prepared for their doom.

Brethren and sisters, be faithful—be true to the Lord our God. Though you should not get so much of this world’s goods, be sure your hearts are in unison with the God of Heaven. May the peace of Israel be and abide with you, and with those who guide the destinies of Israel from this time henceforth and forever. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, Oct. 30, 1864.

It is so uncomfortable outside today that there are but few here, with us, in the Tabernacle. We have reflections with regard to the faith of the people, and the fervency of the Saints in their faith in the Gospel when our meetings are thinly attended, as they are today. Some may think the brethren and sisters are backsliding and growing cold, when they do not attend meeting. It may sometimes be just as good and profitable to stay at home as to come to meeting.

One thing is certain, that where people make a practice of attending meetings frequently, it creates an increased desire to do so. And many who do not attend to the worship of God here may be just as fervent, and humble in their spirits, and trying to live as uprightly before God at home as those who attend religious meetings. I do not think the people are forgetful of God and of their obligations to him because they tarry at home.

I like to come to meeting; I am in the habit of doing so. I was fond of going to meeting when I cared but little about religion, for I was anxious to learn; having a thirst for knowledge I was always gratified in attending meetings to listen to public addresses, to gain instruction and add to my stock of information. The Lord has instructed us to meet together often and hold our sacraments and offer up our oblations before him, confess our faults, and speak words of comfort to each other. Viewing it in this light, we regard it is a duty, and it should be a pleasing one; it is to me. It gives me great pleasure to see the faces of those who delight to serve God assembled together to worship him, and often my feelings have been such that I could have enjoyed a meeting after the Quaker style, without a single word being spoken, or even the ceremony of shaking hands; for I delight to look upon the Saints who keep the commandments of our Father and God. I do not believe that those who stay at home are, in many instances, any worse than those who come to meeting, nor that those who come to meeting are particularly better than those who stay at home; but it is a consolation to me to meet with the Saints, to see them and talk to them, in a way to comfort and instruct them. This is always my object in speaking to the Saints; yet, I consider the best preaching is example; for, as I have often said, it is not my privilege to preach and not practice what I preach. If I preach a truth for others to observe, I am under obligation to observe that truth myself. I do not believe that it is the privilege of any man to preach and not practice. Still, we see it done by many. They preach more than they practice; but this does not diminish the obligations they are under to practice all they preach and live the religion they profess.

I hear my brethren, Sabbath after Sabbath, testify of what they believe, what joy they have in the Gospel, how firm they are in it, and that they desire never to turn away from it, and then they will pray the Lord to let them be faithful! Who hinders them from being faithful? There is nothing that is good, not a truth in heaven, nor in hell, in the earth nor under the earth, but what is in our religion. What can you get outside of the Kingdom of God? Death and destruction, pain, anguish and sorrow, misery and woe, and grief of every description. Some say, “I hope I will be faithful; Lord, let me be faithful!” Who will interfere with you? The Devil will interfere, as far as he has power; but his power is limited, while the Lord possesses unlimited power; and, to use a common phrase, we would like to be on the strongest side; we would like to fight on the side of right, for that will win. We would not knowingly invest capital in an insolvent firm. Then, let us invest in the firm whose stock consists in the riches of eternity; for all the light there is in heaven and on the earth is incorporated in our religion. Is there joy in heaven? That is incorporated in our religion. Is these joy on earth? That, also, is in our religion. Is there intelligence? Yes, an eternity of it, and it is in our religion. Is there glory? Yes, and that is in our religion. Is there immortality? Yes; and that is in our religion. Everlasting lives? That is ours. Friends? They are ours. Wealth? That is ours. Peace? Yes; and that is ours. Every blessing, and infinitely more than we can imagine, is in our religion and for us to enjoy, while, outside of it, there is nothing but death and hell.

We can understand a few of the first principles of our religion, and enjoy a few of its blessings; but can we understand the whole of it? No; not yet. We can understand some of the ordinances of the House of God; but do we understand them all? We shall, if we are faithful. We have had revealed to us some of the ordinances and laws pertaining to the celestial Kingdom of God, but are they all revealed? No. Could we understand them, if they were revealed? We could not. There is a little given, as we can receive it, as the Prophet of old said, the Lord gives a little here and a little there, “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.” Why did he not give more to his people in past times? Because they could not understand it. Why does he not give more to this people now? Because they are incapable of understanding it. But, in the sequel, we will find there is nothing that can be desired by us in righteousness, that is not incorporated in our religion. We see glory and honor and wealth in the world. They belong to the Kingdom of God. But, it may be asked, why does the Lord permit the world to have them? He gives every blessing to both Saint and sinner, just as far as they can receive his blessings. He is bountiful of His mercies and kind to all his children, bestowing blessings upon them abundantly; but they often abuse his bounties. The Lord has given to all men every power and blessing they possess; and he would give them more, if they could receive it. It is a pleasure to me to meet with the Saints, to worship God and to offer up my oblations to him; and it is a pleasure to the Saints generally.

We preach a good deal to the Latter-day Saints, yet they know but little; they can receive but little. We teach them the little things, the first principles of the Gospel, and we talk to them of the goodness of God and of his kind providences, and so on; but, if we could understand the truth with regard to the fulness of the Kingdom of God, our hearts would be full of joy unutterable. These words are as idle tales to the Christian portions of the world, and to those who do not believe in God and in his Son Jesus Christ, and also to many of the Saints. But I know the darkness that is among the people. Go to the Christian world—to say nothing about those who do not believe in God, in Jesus, nor in revealed religion—go to those who make long prayers and attend meetings—to those who pay the priests and wear long faces, and these words are idle tales to them; and so they are almost to the Latter-day Saints. Yet there is a degree of light and intelligence that has come to us and has caused us to do what we have done, and be what we are. The proof of the virtue of a people is in the life they lead.

We talk of the oneness of the people, yet we lack much of that oneness we must yet arrive at. If we could see things as they are, we need never preach this sermon again so long as we live. But we have to talk to the people, and keep talking to them; we have to bear with them, and teach them. We can tell them but little, for we know but little, and they are not prepared to receive more than they get. When any man lifts himself up in his philosophy, and wonders why we do not talk about this, and that, and the other thing that we do not wish to talk about, what does he know of the results that would follow from communicating principles to this people which they are not prepared to receive? I do not know that it would not be as Joseph once remarked—Said he, “If I were to tell the people what I knew of the kingdom of God, there is not a man nor woman that would stay with me.” Said I, “Do not reveal anything to me then, I do not wish to apostatize.” If the Lord were to reveal many things to this people now, which will be made known in the future, they could not abide them—they have not capacity at the present to receive them. Many people look at the wisdom and intelligence there is in the world, concerning many things, and marvel—“What great knowledge! What wonderful skill!” Is there wisdom and mechanism in the world? Yes, and some people will say, “It is wonderful, almost beyond the knowledge of an angel.” They will talk of steam power, the power of the air, of electricity, and other things, and say it is almost beyond the knowledge of an angel. An angel from heaven knows more about the sciences and arts, of which you and I have a little smattering, than all the men on the earth. When they have gone to the extent of their knowledge and ability and understanding in science and art, they are far behind an angel. Does a knowledge of the sciences belong to our religion, too? Yes. There is nothing, only death and hell, but what belongs to it. We are not sanctified yet to receive many things that the Lord will reveal by-and-by. We are not prepared to receive the fulness of the Kingdom of God. If we were, we would stop preaching a great many sermons we now have to preach. But we are here living and improving; and many of the people really love and delight in their religion.

You hear the brethren say, at times, that they never saw the time they were ashamed of their religion. That is true. Who is there on the face of the earth, that knows God or his Son Jesus Christ, that is not proud of it? Not vain, understand me—not proud, like a frivolous young person vain of some fancied superiority, but really thankful to God for the knowledge, and, if the term may be used, proud of it. Who would not be proud to know our elder Brother and Redeemer! Who would not be proud to understand the plan revealed by our Father and God to bestow upon us eternal life! To live, not merely next day and next year, but to live forever and ever, basking in the smiles of God and of angels, and enjoying the happiness and blessings of eternal life! Go to the great men of the earth, and talk to them about Joseph Smith, and many of them would spurn you from them. Go to members of the religious sects, to a Presbyterian, a Methodist, or a Baptist, and speak to them about Joseph and the Kingdom of God established on the earth, and most likely they would order you out of their houses. This causes feelings that are unpleasant. Yet why should it do so? What is there in such actions that should prevent us from rejoicing and feeling thankful that we know God and Jesus Christ. If I had all the young Elders and mission– aries here, I might say to them, when strangers reject your testimony, you have no cause to fail of heart and be downcast in your spirits. If all the kings of the earth were in one man, and all their grandeur and excellency were comprehended in his person, and he were to reject your testimony, instead of feeling ashamed you should be full of pity for him. Your feelings should be like those of a father to a child; “My son, I am sorry for you, and my heart is moved with pity; you have no knowledge of your true position; you are in possession of a certain greatness and knowledge, but your true greatness, knowledge and power you know nothing of. Poor child, I pity you.” These should be the feelings of every Elder that goes forth to preach the Gospel to the nations.

Put it down in your memories, let it be written on the tablets of your hearts that, outside of the religion we have embraced, there is nothing but death, hell and the grave. Every excellency, blessing, comfort, happiness, and light, and everything that can be enjoyed by an intelligent being, is for us, if we live for it.

May the Lord help us to do so. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday p.m., July 17, 1864.

It is some time since I have spoken to the people in this place. The congregations are very large, and when I have met such congregations as we have here, in former years, and they were a little noisy, with babies crying, I have said “cry on, I can talk louder than you can cry,” but I cannot do so now. I wish to favor myself, for there are many things to be said to the Latter-day Saints, as well as to those who do not believe the Gospel, and I desire to live to be able to speak to the people.

I have learned that I can receive and treasure up but little knowledge at a time, and I have learned that this is the case with others. If the people had the whole catalogue of the law to govern them spiritually and temporally repeated to them today, they would need it repeated to them again next week. It is necessary to constantly teach the people.

We are among the happy number of those who have the privilege of having their names cast out as evil by the wicked. We have the privi– lege of purifying and sanctifying ourselves, and preparing ourselves for the day of the coming of the Son of Man. Others might enjoy the same privilege, if they were so disposed, but they are not.

Our situation is peculiar at the present time. Has it not been peculiar ever since Joseph found the plates? The circumstances that surrounded him when he found the plates were singular and strange. He passed a short life of sorrow and trouble, surrounded by enemies who sought day and night to destroy him. If a thousand hounds were on this Temple Block, let loose on one rabbit, it would not be a bad illustration of the situation at times of the Prophet Joseph. He was hunted unremittingly. We have the privilege of believing the same Gospel that Joseph taught, and with him, of being numbered with those whose names are cast out as evil.

The Lord has brought us here, and sustains us. Some people think that the cunning of man has made the characteristics that mark the history of this people. It is not so, the Lord has done it. He suffered our enemies to drive us from our homes. He knew the reason why he permitted it, though at the time we did not. As brother George A. Smith said, we came here willingly because we were obliged to; and were it possible for our enemies to gain power to drive us from these mountains, which I trust they will never do, there is no other place on the earth, that we know of, where we can enjoy the safety and security we do here. We are here, and the Lord has sustained us.

In reflecting upon the conduct of the world, it appears that the wisdom of the wise has perished and the understanding of the prudent is hid. You will see that the wisdom of the wise among the nations will perish and be taken from them. They will fall into difficulties, and they will not be able to tell the reason, nor point a way to avert them any more than they can now in this land. They can fight, quarrel, contend, and destroy each other, but they do not know how to make peace. So it will be with the inhabitants of the earth.

We see men laboring and toiling to gather around them the luxuries of life, to become possessed of fine houses, orchards, gardens and that which adorns and makes beautiful, and in many instances we see such property left to those who have not wisdom to take care of it—left to fools. How quickly the house becomes old, dilapidated, and unfit for a home for any person; the garden and orchard become a desolation, because the occupants have not wisdom to keep them in order. We can see boys, foolish, wicked boys, gathering around them a few associates and going into a man’s garden, stealing the fruit, cutting down the trees, destroying, perhaps, the labor of years, and they think this makes men of them.

Look at the world. The feeling among mankind is, “we will rule or ruin.” An architect may build a splendid habitation, and in so doing do a good work; but a poor fool can come along and with the touch of a torch destroy it. Which does the better work? We see that people can build beautiful cities, make fine roads and walks, and raise lofty buildings, but an idiot can burn and destroy them. Let a few incendiaries go through a city and put the torch here and there, and the city is destroyed—the labor of years, perhaps of centuries, is wasted. Does this make great men of them? Perhaps they think so. If they can destroy a city or a nation they think they will get a great name. They will not. It takes a wise man to build a city, to found a nation, though a fool can destroy either, and thinks he is a great man. How mistaken he is!

I wish you to hearken to the counsel given you on the temporal affairs that have been spoken of, for I realize its importance, as also does brother Kimball and the Twelve. We realize that we gather together a class of men with little or no judgment in taking care of themselves. A great many of them have no knowledge of agriculture, or how to acquire and preserve property of any kind, and it is necessary that we should teach them constantly, till they can learn to take care of themselves. They that hearken to the counsel of the Elders soon begin to gather around them the necessaries of life, make fields and gardens, build good houses, etc. Fools will come along and say, “You are wrong, don’t you see that you are slaves?” Is not this said to this very community? Who are you slaves to? Not to sin, I hope. But unless the world can see us slaves to sin, they will call us slaves. We are servants to God, to whom we are indebted for every blessing we enjoy, to whom we look for succor and from whom we have received it, and we are indebted to nobody else, for the wicked have done us no good. They have had the pleasure of driving me five times from my comfortable home; that is nothing. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.” But what glory and honor is there in having and using power to destroy? This is the work of the Devil, not of Jesus. His labor is to build up, not to destroy; to gather together, not to scatter abroad; to take the ignorant and lead them to wisdom; to pick up the poor and bring them to comfortable circumstances. This is our labor—what we have to do.

We are wiser than we were, and can see that we have received a little, and we are able to teach this to others; and instead of taking those who are ignorant and making slaves of them, we wish to make them honorable, to give them the knowledge and wisdom revealed to man from the heavens, as fast as they are capacitated to receive them, and bring them up to our standard. This is our labor. We are here, and it is our duty to sustain ourselves, and then prepare for the strangers that will come here, and with them many of our connections who are not now with us. Where are they? In peace? No. Were we to relate to you the facts, as reported to us, with regard to many of the towns, villages, farms, and country seats in many parts of our native land, the picture would cause your hearts to mourn. We understand that in many of our Eastern neighborhoods, where there were plenty of young men, and the young ladies had nothing to do but sit at the piano, go visiting, or amuse themselves as they pleased, many young ladies are now compelled to go into the fields and labor. This is true of young girls and their mothers who never before did such work. Where is the brother? Where is the husband and the father? Slain, or before the enemy. What is the situation of our once happy country? It is written here, almost daily—“You know not the state of the inhabitants of this country, and the circumstances in which they are placed.”

What are our circumstances? We have no poorer people in this Territory than there are now in this Bowery. Are any of you suffering? Since we came into this Territory, nearly seventeen years ago, it is true we have fared hard. A little wolf meat once tasted good, but since we began to gather the poor from foreign nations was there ever a man or woman in our community that had to ask the second time for bread, if the family where they asked had it? Not one I believe. Is this the case in other cities in other parts of the nation? In New York, in Philadelphia—the city of brotherly love and so on? No. True there are a few societies that sustain their own poor, but take a community picked up as this one is, and have you ever seen or read of such a community, except one or two named in the Scriptures? The very passage of Scripture that Brother George A. Smith quoted, concerning the reapers leaving a little grain in the corners of the field, and, if they should pass by a bundle, not to go back for it, but leave it for the benefit of the gleaners, shows that, though Moses and the Elders of Israel talked with the people day by day, there was not the same amount of charity manifested by them that there is by this people.

I say to you, as I have always said, the Kingdom of God or nothing. We are in the Kingdom of God, and we will trust in the Lord Almighty to bear us off conquerors, no matter who is against us. All are in the hands of the Almighty; He has preserved us.

Now, Latter-day Saints, mingle not with the wicked. Preserve yourselves in the faith of the Gospel and trust in the Lord, and He will bear us off conquerors. Love your religion. We are agreed in the matter of our religion, and we must be agreed in temporal matters. If we cannot become of one mind in all things, we shall not be that people called the people of the Lord. Let us treasure up wisdom in our hearts. The Lord gave Joseph a revelation thirty years ago, in which he said, “You know not the hearts of your neighbors;” we did not then know what was in the minds of the people, but now we begin to understand.

Brethren and sisters, hearken to the words of the Lord. We are laboring for your preservation and salvation, will you consider us tyrannical? If so, your hearts are not right before God, and those who do so will sooner or later apostatize and go down to hell. Let each of us be careful that we will not be of those who take a wicked course. Let us so live that we can save ourselves. I cannot save you. I can tell you how to save yourselves but you must do the will of God. I have enjoyed the privilege of preaching to the people at times when a stream of revelation has been poured out that would furnish knowledge to save every son and daughter of Adam if they had believed. But when they began to manifest a spirit of opposition and have rejected the teachings of the Spirit, I have said I am not compelled to make you believe the truth.

I have spoken this afternoon that you may see that I am living and in good health; and I intend to live, if I can, until the Zion of our God is established upon the earth, and until all wickedness is swept from the land.

God bless you. Amen.

Synopsis of Instructions by President Brigham Young, during his visit to Davis, Weber, Box Elder, and Cache counties, June 22-29, 1864.

KAYSVILLE.

It is not quite two weeks since we were here and shared largely in your hospitality, for which I thank you in behalf of those with me. Should we continue to pass here as we have recently done, you might begin to think we were taking pleasure trips. Well, so we are, in one sense, for it is a pleasure to us to travel and preach among the brethren. I used to take my carriage rides on foot, traveling and preaching from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from people to people, but we are now in the midst of the Saints. Many times in my travels, I have anticipated the time when we could travel from place to place and see none but Saints, though I did not contemplate seeing that time so soon. I have never felt, since I began to preach the Gospel, as though I could throw off my Gospel armor and say to myself, “Go to the world and get your living.” My feeling is that I have still a mission. When I began preaching I took the universal text—truth; and my subject has been eternal salvation. I took the world for my circuit, and it did not much matter to me where I went. Now we are in the midst of the Saints.

All who are with me have plenty to do at home. Were they to stop there and attend to their business, they would not have a moment to spend in visiting the Saints. This is the case with me; but when I go out I have nothing but what I take with me—the rest I leave in the hands of God. If I was to be so covetous as to stay at home and attend to my private business, do you think others would leave their private affairs and come to visit with and preach to you? Would brother Taylor? No, for he has two mills, and is full of business. How would it be with George A. Smith, brother Woodruff, and the rest of the brethren? They also are full of business. I am setting an example. I trust in God, who gave me what I have. When we come together and devote a little time to meeting, it will not make us a particle poorer.

Brother Taylor has just given us a good exhortation, and I will not longer occupy your time.

May the Lord bless you, and may you realize our blessing; you do realize it every time we pass your place, for we are filled with blessing. We have in our hearts love to God and his children on the earth. Let us not love the things of this world above the things of God, but strip for the race and harness for the battle of the Gospel plan of salvation. God bless you.

BRIGHAM CITY.

The Kingdom we are talking about, preaching about, and trying to build up is the Kingdom of God on the earth, not in the starry heavens, nor in the sun. We are trying to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth to which really and properly everything that pertains to men—their feelings, their faith, their affections, their desires, and every act of their lives—belong, that they may be ruled by it spiritually and temporally.

The brethren have been talking about temporal things. We cannot talk about spiritual things without connecting with them temporal things, neither can we talk about temporal things without connecting spiritual things with them. They are inseparably connected.

The spiritual portions of the Gospel have been, with few exceptions, preached to many of us in foreign lands. The Elders go forth and set before the people the Spiritual Kingdom of God upon the earth; the people hear and believe. Many of them receive the truth in honest hearts, and gather here to the valleys of the mountains. The providences of God have planted our feet here, and we want to do the will of our Father in heaven.

I do not know of a sect of Christians on the face of the earth whose religion does not, more or less, embrace temporal things, and the temporal acts and conduct of its members. We, as Latter-day Saints, really expect, look for, and we will not be satisfied with anything short of being governed and controled by the word of the Lord in all of our acts, both spiritual and temporal. If we do not live for this, we do not live to be one with Christ. We wish to be one, as Jesus prayed, while here in the flesh, that his disciples might be one. We wish to be one in the Lord, and we can agree with regard to faith, repentance, baptism, laying on of hands, and the sacraments and ordi– nances of the House of God, and yet if we contend about land, the water, our cattle, etc., we never can be one, if we live to the age of Methuselah. We must become one in all of our moral and social associations in life.

When we talk of politics we are one. The world complain of us with regard to our politics, and enquire, “Are there any Democrats here? Are there any Republicans here?” We do not care who rules; we are satisfied with God, who setteth up one man, and casteth down another.

All people have to live in this temporal world; they eat temporal food, wear temporal clothing, live in temporal houses, have temporal horses, oxen, farms, etc., and if they have families, they are temporal ones. If we are going to live to secure life everlasting, we require to live so that we can be judged according to the deeds done in these temporal bodies, and be found worthy to live in heaven, and that we cannot do unless we live here according to the word of God.

We want this people to become wealthy, but there is an “if” in the case. If this people can at the same time possess riches and glorify God, then we want them to be rich; but, I would rather see this people half clothed and living in the dens and caves of the earth, than that through riches they should forsake their God. When the people can endure wealth and live and glorify their Father in heaven, it will be pleasing to him to have us wield enough of the wealth of the world to send forth our Elders by thousands, and then gather home the faithful by thousands and millions, who are just as honest as we are. There are thousands of good men and women on the earth, who are praying and seeking unto the Lord to open up the way to bring to them the words of life that they may be saved.

If we will cling closely to the Lord, be more humble, and be filled with the spirit of life, the Lord is willing that we should have the good things of this world. In the first place, will we be of one heart and mind financially? You will at once say, “yes, we are of one heart and mind, and desire to be one in every good thing.”

It has been said here, time and time again, and been prophesied for years and years—Joseph said it when alive—that the time would come when men would be glad to take a bundle under their arms and flee to the mountains, when they will seek unto this people for succor. Already is this coming to pass. People are coming by thousands and scores of thousands into these mountains. Are we willing they should have succor? Yes, and some of us are a little too willing. It is written, “Love your enemies,” but when I hear of what I have heard, and what I am a witness is true, of a poor woman taking a sack of flour and selling it sack and all for a dollar, to a man who, perhaps, helped to kill the Prophet Joseph, while her children are left without bread, I do not think that is right—that is loving our enemies a little too well. It is said self-preservation is the first law of nature, then let us preserve ourselves well enough to save our lives.

Will we sell our grain? Yes, but I will say to the inhabitants of these mountains, who have been here for years and are raising grain, it is their privilege to be paid for their labor. We will sell flour at a fair labor price, and reserve the bran and shorts to feed the cows and fatten the pigs.

Do not say there are men in the midst of this people who cannot get work, for it is not so. And you, sisters, who lack work, if you cannot get washing, sewing, or housework to do, go to your neighbor and tell him, you will go into the field and pick, rake, and glean, if he will pay you in wheat. You, brother, go to your brother and say, “You will want your place fenced; I will cut the poles and make you a fence. I will make adobies, get the timber to saw into lumber, and make you a house; will you pay me in wheat?” There is plenty of work for everybody in this Territory, and the reason many are so poor now is, that in years gone by if a carpenter, a tailor, a blacksmith, etc., was offered wheat in payment, he would say, “I won’t take wheat; I have so much now it is a curse.” This is the way things have gone; and when they sold wheat, they sold it at one-third its value. This has brought evil upon the people.

You are a good people here; and I say to you, one and all, receive my thanks for your attention to us as a company today. I thought we had got right into the middle of the 4th of July—that Independence Day had come—when I saw those little ornamentings, the little ones with their flags and rosettes, and the signs of gladness around. I do not think you did this because brother Taylor, or brother Kimball, or anybody else was coming, but to show your respect for your brethren, and I bless you for it. But if you do not do what I counsel you I will tell you of it. I do not care though all the world bowed to me, it would not make me one particle proud. I feel prouder to be a son of God and a member of the Kingdom of God, than anything else. Still you are disposed to pay us respect in this manner, and I hope you will be blessed forever and ever, which you will be through faithfulness in good works.

The Kingdom of heaven is first and foremost with us. When the people do right, I am satisfied; but when they do wrong, I will tell them of it, for that is my business. It is also my business to bless, and I bless you in the name of Jesus: Amen.

WELLSVILLE.

I shall only detain you a few minutes. The counsel you have received here from my brethren is just as good as can be given, if you will but heed it. There are a great many things that are said, and a great many have not yet been said, which people will hear and learn when they receive truth and practice righteousness sufficiently to be worthy of them. One thing we understand perfectly, that we are to become one in Christ Jesus. Our faith is one, our hope is one, our belief is one with regard to our future and God and his Holy Gospel; but we are not of one heart and mind until we are one in all temporal things as well as in spiritual things.

The Lord has many blessings for us. He is now blessing us. Soon we will behold the golden harvest. Our fields are rich, and it fills the hearts of the people with joy and satisfaction to see the luxuriant grain that now stands upon our mother earth, and bids so fair for an abundant harvest. Do not forget the source from whence these blessings came. It is written, speaking of the Church and Branches of the Church, that “Paul may plant, and Apollos may water; but it is God who giveth the increase.” You may go and plant your grain here and water it, if you bring out the streams, but you cannot produce one kernel of grain. And when the grain is maturing how easy it would be for the Lord to send crickets, though we can war with them easier than we can with grasshoppers, that would destroy the fruits of your toil. The increase is in the hands of the Lord, just as the people are in his hands in regard to the results of their acts.

The inhabitants of the earth have the pleasure of performing the labors they list to do, but they have never enjoyed the privilege of controlling the results of their labors, and never will until they are crowned with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. We have the privilege of going to the gold mines, or staying at home; of serving God, or not serving him; but the result of our acts is not in our hands, it is in the hands of our Father and God. So it is with individuals, with neighborhoods, with communities, and with the nations of the earth.

Did you not think brethren, you who were in Missouri and Illinois, that the inhabitants of those places did just as they pleased with regard to driving the Saints? “Yes.” And also in regard to killing Joseph? “Yes.” They had power to kill him, and now they are reaping the results of their acts. The war now raging in the nation is the consequence of their choosing to do evil instead of good, and the Lord is rewarding them according to their works. So it will be with us.

There are a few things we should constantly have before our minds, day by day and hour by hour. Becoming of one heart and mind is one of these things; becoming one in spiritual things, one in our labors and in all our actions here on the earth, that our united labor may accomplish the design for which we are here in building up the kingdom of God. Let all our thoughts, feelings, and actions point to this end.

Some of the brethren think the Saints ought not to be rich, and they have their various feelings. A great many brethren who have been in the States do not want to build fine houses or make many improvements here, for they are going back to their inheritances. You know there is a certain class who are fearful of getting the good things of this life, saying, “the Lord has chosen the poor in wealth and rich in faith,” etc. My feelings lead out to obtain every good thing we can obtain as a people—the gold, the silver, the flocks and herds, and to building beautiful cities; to having good gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and to making the earth like the garden of Eden. “To gather all we can, honestly or dishonestly?” No, but through laboring faithfully and honestly, and treasuring up these things and thanking the Lord for them. And if we have substance given us from the Lord, it should be devoted to building up His kingdom upon the earth. But let us not forget the spiritual fellowship we should enjoy. I never forget that. It is first of all, and if we can have only the one, let it be the good Spirit of God, to make us one in the spiritual things of the kingdom.

The Lord designs to build up a kingdom that will be both a spiritual and temporal kingdom upon the earth. The earth and the kingdoms thereof will be given unto the Saints of the Most High God. Will they be rich then? Do you not think they will possess the gold mines and the treasures of the earth? Yes. But some cry out, “that is not yet.” That is right. How long will it be until then? As soon as we are prepared to receive them.

Let us try to improve, until we can say, “my peace is like a river, and my righteousness like the waves of the sea.” We have come here to encourage you to do this, and may God help us to accomplish it. Amen.

LOGAN. 25th, Afternoon.

The remarks of brother Kimball this morning, and of brother George A. Smith this afternoon, are worthy our attention.

As I learn the kingdom of God in the latter days, I understand more of the present duties of myself and my brethren. We are called to establish the kingdom of God literally, just as much as we are spiritually. If we do not build it up in a temporal point of view, we will not accomplish what we are called to do; we will come short of our duty, and be removed out of the way, and others will be called to succeed us who will perform the labor we are called to do.

The question arises, will we as a people consider ourselves what we proclaim to each other and believe day by day? And will we by our good acts prove to the heavens, to the inhabitants of the earth, to each other, and to all who know us, that we actually believe what we say we believe? Every heart responds in the affirmative; every voice would declare that we will strive to perform the duties devolving upon us.

Another question arises here, what is our duty? What are we called to do at the present time? We are called to various duties. Many of our brethren are called to go and preach the Gospel, and a great many have been called to go with their teams to the Frontiers after the poor. We are called to our various duties in a home capacity—to plow, sow, plant, build, improve, pray with our families, teach them righteousness, set them and all others a goodly example, in all things striving to do all the good in our power, and no evil. We expect to continue to be called to preach the Gospel and gather the poor Saints; and we expect to be called upon to make provision for them when they gather here, which we have done year after year. There are Bishops here who are ready to receive a hundred families; let the brethren take them and set them to work; they are ready and willing to perform this duty.

The question has been touched upon here with regard to our liberties and rights. A man has a right to preach the Gospel—to declare the truth so far as he knows it. The people who hear him have the right to believe, if they want to, and they also have the right to reject him. The nation, as a people, objected to the Lord’s calling upon his servant Joseph, and sending him as a teacher to this generation. The nation called the United States of America has a right to reject the revelations given through Joseph, to reject the servants of the Lord, and then the Lord has the right to come out from his hiding place and vex the nation. He too has rights. They had a right to kill Joseph, and the Lord has the right to destroy the nation.

We all have rights, and I would not abridge the rights of anybody. But have I not the right to do right, as well as wrong? Yes. The foolishness and weaknesses of people lead them many times to do wrong, to show to the heavens and the earth that they have a right to do as they please. You know people sometimes say they will do as they please. Well, do so. We have a right to help the people gather here and to feed them, and they have the right to go to the gold mines, or to the devil by any road they please, and we have a right to cut them off from all fellowship with the Church, in the heavens and on the earth. Men may come here professedly Latter-day Saints, and when they have accumulated a little property they have the right to apostatize, and we have the right to cut them off from the Church.

Does it follow that a man is deprived of his rights, because he lists in his heart to do the will of God? Must a man swear to prove that he has an agency? I contend there is no necessity for that, nor for stealing, nor for doing any wrong. I can manifest to the heavens and to the inhabitants of the earth that I am freeborn, and have my liberty before God, angels and men, when I kneel down to pray, certainly as much as if I were to go out and swear. I have the right to call my family together at certain hours for prayer, and I believe that this course proves that I am a free agent, as much as if I were to steal, swear, lie, and get drunk.

We have tried to teach ourselves to lead and guide ourselves, to be dictated and controlled by the direction of the Holy Spirit, and then to teach and counsel the people under the dictates of that Spirit. Is it our duty to preach to this people and plead with them, until we can govern and control them in all temporal affairs as much as in spiritual affairs. I answer, it is the absolute and imperative duty of the Elders of Israel to try and control themselves and their families and their brethren, until they can hold control over all things in righteousness.

I know very well the feelings of the people. “In spiritual things you are my leader; I take you for my counsel in spiritual affairs; but if you dictate me in my temporal concerns, you touch a string that does not belong to you, to brother Heber, brother George A. Smith, nor anybody else.” If this is the case, ye Elders of Israel, we have been mistaken all the day long in telling you that we are in a kingdom that in such case we are not in, in preaching a Gospel that in such case we have not in our possession. We have declared that God has spoken from the heavens, when in such case He has not spoken. Our faith and labor are vain, and we are still in our sins, or else it is our duty to lead this people in every act of their lives, as much in their temporal as in their spiritual affairs, so far as pertains to building up the kingdom of God on the earth. Now, to this extent we want to control you for your good in regard to your grain. We want you to sell it at a fair remunerative price for your labor, so that you can build good houses, employ your brethren, send for the poor, provide for a few families when they arrive, and be ready to act in your positions.

I have been accused of being one of Joseph Smith’s followers, and that he was a speculator; I have never denied it. We are in one of the greatest speculations in the world, to honor God, and so live before him that we shall be crowned with glory, immortality and eternal lives, to be numbered with those to whom God will give the gold and silver and precious things and all the riches of this earth and of eternity.

The fluctuations of the money market are such that you cannot tell today what to ask for an article tomorrow. Cotton fabrics, cloth of every kind, and merchandise generally are rating at very high prices in the East, and the prices are still rising. Let us do as brother George A. Smith has said—“raise flax,” such as I saw at brother Maughan’s. He had none to sell; and I was glad of it. Raise flax and sheep, take care of your lambs, and in winter take care of your sheep.

The first cotton we raised in the region we call our “Dixie” cost us about $3.65 a pound; we proved that cotton could be raised there. The next season it cost $1.84, and the next season about 70 cents, and that is the way we proved to the people that we could raise cotton. The experiment cost us thousands of dollars, but now we have cotton. They have shipped cotton to California. We sent some to the States to show that we could raise cotton here, and it sold for some 70 cents a pound, not so much as it would have brought if it had arrived a few days earlier. We now have some cotton factories in operation. I have cotton machinery set up and being run by Mr. Wilmarth, a gentleman from Massachusetts, who says the cotton will spin up to about number 40; that will make a good thread. Our cotton cloth is made from about 20’s, and our ginghams from 24’s. I now have machinery sufficient to keep thirty-five power-looms going, and I wish I had them; but this will not supply the Territory. One of our merchants said to me, last fall, “When you get your machinery going we need not send for any more such material as you will produce.” I told him he had not counted it up. When he reflected and made up the figures he found he had sold more cloth himself than my machinery could make with thirty-five looms. If we go to work and manufacture for ourselves, we can stop the continual drain upon us through purchasing the articles of clothing which we require.

It has been said, “Cotton is king.” Everybody who knows anything of mankind knows they had to live a great many years without cotton. The first cotton factories were started in America within my remembrance. What would the Indians here, who are all but naked, say if they were told cotton is king? They would say, “No, biscuit, biscuit,” that which will sustain life. They can kill rabbits, and make clothing of the skins. Bread is king. God bless you. Amen.

At a meeting of the Priesthood, convened at half-past six in the evening, he said—

I presume the arrangement of the settlements in this county in a church capacity is as good as the brethren can make it at present. I suppose the Bishops represent their various wards and report here at their monthly meetings, that the minutes of their previous meetings are read for approval or disapproval, and then their other business is attended to in due course.

I will ask whether the Bishops have led out sufficiently to have the people follow them in building, adorning, and making the earth as it should be? Have they apple seeds to start a nursery, or plum pits to plant, that they can say to the brethren, if you want any trees we will soon be able to supply you? I have never purchased a peach or apple tree without paying from fifty cents to a dollar each for them, yet in one season I gave away 14,000 peach trees, and if I had received the same price I gave they would have brought me some $7,000. I did this to encourage the people. In the early period of our raising apples and peaches I never suffered a peach pit to be thrown away, nor ate an apple without saving the seeds to plant. It is true you have not been long in this valley, but you have been here long enough to have nursery upon nursery, with trees two and three years old. There are a few trees here. Raise orchards, if only for the welfare of your children, as brother George A. Smith has said, that they may be preserved from growing up thieves. The temptation is strong for the children, and if they can get fruit in no other way they are sorely tempted to steal it. Do not lay a foundation to make your children thieves. The man who sends his little son or hired boy on to the prairie to herd sheep or oxen, lays a foundation for making that boy a thief; and he who will do this will have the curse of God resting upon him in proportion. Trace it back, and you will find it is so. Will you hearken to this counsel? If so, stop sending boys to herd.

Why not quarry rock and build stone houses, and make stone fences? Stone makes a good fence, and it will not winter kill. Build fences, have good gardens, and make yourselves comfortable and happy, serving God; let that be first continually, so that you may have consciences void of offense towards God and man. Build meetinghouses, put up the one you have in contemplation, and finish it nicely. Get lumber and make bins in which to put up your wheat so that it can be safe for fifty years, if needed. If you are compelled to stack your wheat, stack it right, for you may have storms. You have English and Danish brethren here who can stack it so that it will stand for fifty years. But, as far as you can, get lumber and build granaries and preserve your grain.

I want to say a word or two with regard to brethren here taking goods from merchants to sell. Watch and learn the spirit of the man who does this, and in nine cases out of ten his faith, feelings, and affections are wholly to benefit his employer, to get all he can from the people, and really commit the riches of the Saints to his employer, no matter whether he be Jew or Gentile. Such a man will, sooner or later, apostatize. Those who will do this, and will shave the Saints to do a good business for the merchant who employs them, I curse in the name of Jesus Christ, and they shall be cursed.

Sunday Morning, 26th.

There is one principle I would like to have the Latter-day Saints perfectly understand—that is, of blessings and cursings. For instance, we read that war, pestilence, plagues, famine, etc., will be visited upon the inhabitants of the earth; but if distress through the judgments of God comes upon this people, it will be because the majority have turned away from the Lord. Let the majority of the people turn away from the Holy Commandments which the Lord has delivered to us, and cease to hold the balance of power in the Church, and we may expect the judgments of God to come upon us; but while six-tenths or three-fourths of this people will keep the commandments of God, the curse and judgments of the Almighty will never come upon them, though we will have trials of various kinds, and the elements to contend with—natural and spiritual elements. While this people will strive to serve God according to the best of their abilities, they will fare better, have more to eat and to wear, have better houses to live in, better associations, and enjoy themselves better than the wicked ever do or ever will do.

I say to you, and would like to hear the brethren speak upon this subject, that the righteous have never suffered in temporal things like the ungodly. Search history and you will find it is so, whether with nations, neighborhoods, or individuals, from the day that Adam ate the forbidden fruit down to the present time. If you do not wish to go any farther back, look at the history of the Saints who have settled these valleys, and see it exemplified. History does not show that a colony was ever settled, either in North or South America, that had so little difficulty with the Indians as we have had. This is encouraging; and so it has been in our entire history. The wicked do not know how to enjoy life, but the closer we live to God the better we know and understand how to enjoy it. Live so that you can enjoy the spirit of the Lord continually. I bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Afternoon.

I have been thinking that if the sisters had all worn bonnets of their own make, they would know how to do them up, after the brief storm we have had, and they would have been little or none the worse. That is an advantage homemade bonnets have over the fancy ones bought in the stores. A severe storm this afternoon would rather injure the latter kind, and the nice collars, caps, and handkerchiefs that many of the sisters wear. It looked as though a heavy rain storm was coming, which would have done an incalculable amount of good in the present condition of the crops.

I was sorry that we were interrupted in hearing brother Taylor through, as his mind seemed to be so clear on the subject of the life of the Christian and the life of the anti-Christian.

The sufferings recorded of those who were called the people of God were endured by a people who had transgressed the laws of God, changed the ordinances, and substituted other laws and other ordinances, and had broken every covenant made to their fathers. They killed the Prophets, and stoned those sent to them. Their Prophets were the ones who suffered first in the midst of those whom the Lord had selected to be his people, and then the wrath of God was poured out upon them, their enemies were let loose to inflict suffering upon them.

How is it with us? When the whole Church could meet in a little schoolhouse 16 feet by 24, there were more difficulties, contentions and quarrels, to be settled before the High Council and Bishop’s Courts in one month, than there are now in all the settlements in this county in a year. This is encouraging, when we reflect that every year we have to take newcomers and lead them along, people who have lived under such different circumstances. It is encouraging for us to continue our labors, and we do not mean to stop pleading with the Latter-day Saints to send the Gospel to the nations, gather the poor and purify themselves, until we can say in our hearts that, when the voice is heard, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh,” we are actually ready to go out to meet him.

BRIGHAM CITY, 27th.

Brother Weinal asked brother Kimball this question, “You have preached so many years to us about saving our grain, will the people save it now?” They will do just as they please. It is our duty to preach the truth, it is theirs to believe and obey it. Some of the Saints are very full of faith. I remember the case of an old gentleman, who started from Manti for G. S. L. City, during the Indian difficulty, with some three or four companions, though he was counseled to delay his trip for a short time till a company was ready to start; but no, he had faith the Indians would not touch him. He was tomahawked right by the Uinta Springs, with his companions, where they had lain down to sleep in the afternoon. If they had obeyed counsel, they might have been saved.

The Lord has blessed the people with abundance in the past, and while we have been preaching to them to save their grain, they have gone and sold it and squandered it away, they had so much faith, when at the same time it was the power of God and the faith of the few who were consistent in their faith that saved them. My faith must be consistent, and go with my works. It is not my duty to make you build granaries. My duty is done when I tell you what you ought to do. I have no right to stand over you with a rod and make you pray, for you ought to pray of your own choice. And when I have done my duty, and brother Kimball has done his, and the Twelve have done theirs, the rest is with you.

Try to improve your minds; enrich them with every kind of true knowledge known on the earth; by faith so live as to enjoy the Holy Ghost; learn the object of the creation of man, of the formation of the earth, of what it is composed, and what it is for. Why is gold made? For us to worship it? No, it was made to be useful for domestic and other purposes. May God bless you: Amen.

WILLARD CITY, 28th.

We say we believe we are the Kingdom of God on the earth—this is our profession. Let us, by our every act, prove this profession to be true. It has been told you before, time and again, and we want to keep sounding it in your ears, take the course to save yourselves both spiritually and temporally.

The world have lost confidence in each other through transgression, and we must take a course to restore it among each other first, then it will extend to our friends, and finally, when Jesus rules, you will find the friendship and confidence which once existed among men will be restored to them again.

I feel to bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hearken to the counsel given to you, and we will do everything in our power to bring power and glory and honor to the Latter-day Saints.

OGDEN, 28th.

I expect there will never be a law made in this Kingdom that will prevent us from doing good and assisting the poor. If I were to sell my flour to my enemy, and he were to pay me seventy-five dollars a hundred in gold for it, it would not prevent me from giving a poor sister fifteen or twenty pounds of flour in her need. You may think that an extravagant price, but I have been offered $75, for flour, yet I have never sold any at that price.

We have quite a number of people here who never had a farm in their lives. They know nothing about trading. They have been accustomed to work, and, when Saturday came, to receiving their ten or fifteen shillings, and then spending it. We will have to arrange for them to live until they can learn to take care of themselves.

When we moved south there were 20,000 bushels of wheat in the Tithing Office, which we offered to the people, but they would not take five bushels of it. We had to take some of the people, and feed them too! Of what use will they be, either in this world or in the next?

Some people imagine they can obtain possession of knowledge very easily; if they were to have a vision of eternity, they would conclude they knew everything about it. Suppose a being on another planet were to have a vision of this congregation, would he understand all about the earth and its inhabitants? If I were to have the vision of my mind opened to obtain a glimpse of the spirit world, would I possess the knowledge of beings who are exalted in the eternal world?

We must increase in knowledge and understanding, to prove ourselves worthy of the blessings of the Lord. Obtain wisdom that you may so order your lives before the heavens and each other that you may be able to accept the power God has for you, and wield it to his power and glory. God bless you: Amen.

CENTERVILLE, 29th.

I will detain the people but a very short time. The matters which have been laid before you this afternoon are inseparably connected with our spiritual well-being. There is no man on this earth who can receive the Kingdom of God in his heart and be governed according to the laws of that Kingdom, without being governed and controled in all temporal matters. If you are not of one heart and mind in these things, never think of Jackson County, for you will not be wanted there. No man is going to inherit a celestial glory, who trifles with the principles thereof. The man who does not labor from day to day and from hour to hour for building up this Kingdom and bringing forth the fulness of the Kingdom of God on the earth, and the establishment of Zion, will sooner or later, fall and go out of the Church.

If you love brother Brigham, brother Heber, and the Twelve, do as they tell you. As fast as possible, secure a year’s supply of breadstuff, and then try to sustain yourselves without using any of that supply; and take the same course in the harvests of 1865-6-7, and so on, until you have a supply for seven years, then you are prepared either for a famine of that duration, or to feed the thousands who will come here hungry.

We are the descendants of Abraham. Here are the Lamanites—descendants of Joseph, and the seed of Israel is scattered through the nations; and as Joseph was a savior to his father’s house, let us live in obedience to the counsel given us, that we can become saviors to his whole father’s house in the latter days.

I exhort you to obtain the Spirit of the Lord, and to so live as to enjoy it continually. God bless you: Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, May 15, 1864.

I will say to you, and wish you to inform your neighbors, that on the morrow I expect to start with some of my brethren on a short trip north. I do this lest some might suppose that we are going to leave you. If we would live according to our acknowledgments in the holy Gospel, according to the faith we have embraced, and according to the teachings we receive from time to time, we never would be in the dark with regard to any matters we should understand.

Much is taught the Saints by the Elders of Israel concerning their religion, the way we should live, how we should deal with each other, how we should live before God, what our feelings should be and the spirit we should possess. If we live according to our covenants we will always enjoy the light of truth, and if we live faithful enough we shall enjoy the blessing of the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion. In such case no person would turn either to the right hand or the left, in consequence of the motives, the sayings, or the doings of this one or that one; but they would march straightforward in the path that leads to eternal life; and if others stepped out of the way, they would walk straight along. Without the power of the Holy Ghost a person is liable to go to the right or the left from the straight path of duty; they are liable to do things they are sorry for; they are liable to make mistakes; and when they try to do their best, behold they do that which they dislike.

I mention my intended trip because I do not want to hear, when I return, that brother Brigham, or brother Heber, or somebody else, “has slipped away”—that “there is something the matter”—“something that is not right”—somebody saying, “there is an evil of some kind, and we want to know it;” “why don’t you come right out with it?” “If you do not come back so and so, we will leave.”

It was said here today, that very few have embraced the truth, considering the great number of the inhabitants of the earth. It can hardly be discovered where those few are. It is astonishing to relate facts as they are. The Elders go forth and preach the Gospel to the nations; they baptize the people—hunt them up from place to place, yet if you take the names of those who have been baptized, have the one-fourth ever been gathered? No. Is not this strange? Do they keep the faith, and stay in the midst of the wicked? No, they do not. The kingdom of God is living and full of spirit; it is on the move; it is not like what we call sectarianism, religion today, and the world tomorrow; next Sabbath a little more religion, and then the world again; “and as we were so we are, and as we are so we shall be, evermore, amen.” It is not so with our religion. Ours is a religion of improvement; it is not contracted and confined, but is calculated to expand the minds of the children of men and lead them up into that state of intelligence that will be an honor to our being.

Look at the people who are here—the few that have gathered—and then look back at the Branches you came from. How many have gathered? Where are the rest of those who composed those Branches? It is true that occasionally one will remain and keep the faith for many years, but circumstances are such in the world that they eventually fall away from it, if they remain there.

It was truly said here today that the spirit we have embraced is one, and that we will flow together as surely as drops of water flow together. One drop will unite with another drop, others will unite with them until, drop added to drop, they form a pond, a sea, or a mighty ocean. So with those who receive the Gospel. There never was a person who embraced the Gospel but desired to gather with the Saints, yet not one-fourth ever have gathered; and we expect that a good many of those who have gathered will go the downward road that leads to destruction. It seems hardly possible to believe that people, after receiving the truth and the love of it, will turn away from it, but they do.

Now, brethren and sisters, proclaim that brothers Heber and Brigham and some others will be gone for a few days; though I do not promise to preach to you when I come back; I do not intend to preach while I am away, but I expect to attend meeting when I return, so that you can see that I am with you in readiness to meet the requirements of my calling. This should satisfy you about my being absent for a few days.

I expect to be absent, some time from now, for quite a while. I do not say I will be absent, but I expect to be. I expect to take the back track from here. When we came back from the south I told the brethren this. When we shall go is not for me to say. If the people neglect their duty, turn away from the holy commandments which God has given us, seek their own individual wealth, and neglect the interests of the Kingdom of God, we may expect to be here quite a time—perhaps a period that will be far longer than we anticipate. Perhaps some do not understand these remarks. You are like me, and I am like you. I cannot see that which is out of sight; you cannot see that which is out of sight. If you bring objects within the range of vision—within the power of sight—you can see them. These sayings may be somewhat mysterious to some.

Some may ask why we did not tarry at the Center Stake of Zion, when the Lord planted our feet there? We had eyes, but we did not see; we had ears, but we did not hear; we had hearts that were devoid of what the Lord required of his people; consequently we could not abide what the Lord revealed to us. We had to go from there to gain an experience. Can you understand this? I think there are some here who can. If we could have received the words of life and lived according to them, when we were first gathered to the Center Stake of Zion, we never would have been removed from that place. But we did not abide the law the Lord gave to us. We are here to gain an experience, and we cannot increase in that any faster than our capacities will admit. Our capacities are limited, though sometimes we could receive more than we do, but we will not. Preach the riches of eternal life to a congregation, and when the eyes and affections of that congregation are like the fool’s eyes, to the ends of the earth, it is like throwing pearls before swine. If I can actually reach your understandings, you will know just what I know, and see just what I see in regard to what I may say.

Take the history of this Church from the commencement, and we have proven that we cannot receive all the Lord has for us. We have proven to the heavens and to one another that we are not yet capacitated to receive all the Lord has for us, and that we have not yet a disposition to receive all He has for us. Can you understand that there is a time you can receive, and there is a time you cannot receive, a time when there is no place in the heart to receive? The heart of man will be closed up, the will will be set against this and that, that we have opportunity to receive. There is an abundance the Lord has for the people, if they would receive it.

I will now lead your minds directly to our own situation here, leaving the first organization of the people, their gathering, etc., and come to our being now here. Some have been here six months, some one year, some two, some five, some six, some ten, and some seventeen years this summer. Now I will take the liberty of bringing up some circumstances and sayings to connect with the ideas I wish to present in regard to our wills, dispositions, opportunities, etc.

It was said here today, by brother William Carmichael, that he had proved a great many of the sayings and prophecies of Joseph to be true, and also the prophecies of Heber and others. Now you, my brethren and sisters, who have been in the habit of coming here for the last ten, twelve, or fifteen years, have you not been told all the time, at least as often as once a month, that the time would come when you would see the necessity of taking counsel and laying up grain? It has been said that brother Brigham has prophesied that there would be a famine here. I would like to have anyone show me the man or woman who heard brother Brigham make that statement. I have not made that statement, but I have said you will see the time that we will need grain—that we will need bread. We have seen that time. Brother Heber said the same thing. But you never heard me saying the Lord would withdraw his blessings from this land while we live here, unless we forfeit our rights to the Priesthood; then we might expect that the earth would not bring forth.

We have had a cricket war, a grasshopper war, and a dry season, and now we have a time of need. Many of the inhabitants of this very city, I presume, have not breadstuffs enough to last them two days; and I would not be surprised if there are not seven-eighths of the inhabitants who have not breadstuffs sufficient to last them two weeks. Has the Lord stayed the heavens? No. Has He withdrawn His hand? No, He is full of mercy and compassion; He has provided for the Saints. No matter what scarcity there is at present, he gave them bread. If they go without bread, they cannot say the Lord has withheld His hand, for He has been abundantly rich in bestowing the good things of the earth upon this people. Then why are we destitute of the staff of life? Comparing the people with their substance, we might say we have sold ourselves for nought. We have peddled off the grain which God has given us so freely, until we have made ourselves destitute. Has this been told us before? Yes, year after year.

How will it be? Listen, all who are in this house, is this the last season we are going to have a scarcity? I will say I hope it is, but I cannot say that it is, if the people are not wise. Some sow their wheat, and after the Lord has given one hundredfold of an increase, they sell that at one-fourth of its value, and leave themselves wanting. The last time I spoke upon this subject I tried to stir up the minds of the people regarding it; I want them to reflect upon it.

At our Semiannual Conference last fall the Bishops were instructed to go to each house and see what breadstuffs were on hand. Why? “Because the time is coming when they will want breadstuffs.” It comes to my ears every day that this one and that one is in want. “Such a one has had no bread for three days.”

What was told you last harvest? “Sister, you had better get a chest, or a little box, for there is plenty of wheat to be had—it is not worth a dollar a bushel—and you had better fill your box with it.” “Oh, there is plenty of it; there is no necessity for my emptying the paper rags out of my box, or my clothes out of the large chest where I have them packed away; my husband can go and get what he wants at the Tithing Store.” They would not get the wheat and the flour that was then easy to be obtained, and now they are destitute. Why could they not believe what they were told? They ought to have believed, for it is true; and in all these matters the truth has been timely told to the people. And here let me say to you that instead of our having plenty here, with nobody to come to buy our substance—to purchase our surplus grain—the demand for what we can raise here will increase year by year.

Are we going to live our religion—to be the servants and handmaids of the Almighty? Are we going to continue in the faith, and try to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth? If we are, the prophecies will be fulfilled on us. We shall have the privilege of seeing the blest, and will be blest.

I look at things as a man looking philosophically; I look at things before us in the future as a politician, as a statesman, as a thinking person. What is going to be the condition of this people and their surrounding neighbors? Do we not see the storm gathering? It will come from the northeast and the southeast, from the east and from the west, and from the northwest. The clouds are gathering; the distant thunders can be heard; the grumblings and mutterings in the distance are audible, and tell of destruction, want and famine. But mark it well, if we live according to the Holy Priesthood bestowed upon us, while God bears rule in the midst of these mountains, I promise you, in the name of Israel’s God, that he will give us seedtime and harvest. We must forfeit our right to the Priesthood, before the blessings of the Heavens cease to come upon us. Let us live our religion, and hearken to the counsel given to us.

And here let me say to you, buy what flour you need, and do not let it be hauled away. Have you a horse, or an ox, or a wagon, or anything else, if it takes the coat off your back, or the shoes off your feet, and you have to wear moccasins, sell them and go to the merchants who have it to sell and buy the flour before it is hauled away. Why did you not buy it when it was cheap? There is a saying that wit dearly bought is remembered. Now buy your wit, buy your wisdom, buy your counsel and judgment, buy them dearly, so that you will remember. You were last fall counseled to supply yourselves with breadstuffs, when flour could have been bought for whistling a tune, and the seller would have whistled one half of it to induce you to buy. Why have the children of this world been wiser in this day than the children of light? Have not there been Saints enough before us for us to learn by their experience, and revelations enough given for the Saints now not to be in the back ground? It is mortifying that the children of this world should know more about these things than the children of light. We know more about the kingdom of God. Take these young men, sixteen or eighteen years old, or these old men, or some who have just come into the Church, and let them go into the world, and, with regard to the kingdom of God, they can teach kings and queens, statesmen and philosophers, for they are ignorant of these things, but in things pertaining to this life the lack of knowledge manifested by us as a people is disgraceful. Your knowledge should be as much more than that of the children of the world, with regard to the things of the world, as it is with regard to the things of the kingdom of God.

Take your money or your property, brethren and sisters, and buy flour; or shall I hear tomorrow morning, “I am out of bread?” Why not go down street and sell your bonnets, and your shawls, sisters, and not wait? “Why, some good brother will feed us.” But that good brother has not got the flour. “I am not going to buy any; I will trust in the Lord; He will send the ravens to feed me.” Perhaps the faith of some people is such that they think the Lord will send down an angel with a loaf of bread under one arm and a leg of bacon under the other—that an angel will be sent from some other world with bread ready buttered for them to eat, or that it will be as was said of the pigs in Ohio when it was first settled; it was said the soil was so rich that if you hung up one pound of the earth two pounds of fat would run out of it; and that pigs were running through the woods ready roasted, with knives and forks in their backs. My faith is not like that.

A brother told me, when speaking of the rotation of the planets, that he could never believe that the earth did rotate. Said I, do you believe that the sun which shone today shone yesterday? “Yes.” He had not faith to believe that the earth turns round, but he believed that the sun moved round the earth. Now, said I, take your measuring instruments. If the earth rotates upon its axis each given point upon it moves 24,000 miles in twenty-four hours, while if the sun goes round the earth it must travel over a circle, in the same time, of which 95,000,000 is about the semidiameter. He had not faith to believe that the earth could turn on its axis in twenty-four hours, but I showed him that he had to have millions and millions more faith than I had, when he believed the sun went round the earth.

My faith does not lead me to think the Lord will provide us with roast pigs, bread already buttered, &c. He will give us the ability to raise the grain, to obtain the fruits of the earth, to make habitations, to procure a few boards to make a box, and when harvest comes, giving us the grain, it is for us to preserve it—to save the wheat until we have one, two, five, or seven years’ provisions on hand, until there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread themselves and those who will come here seeking for safety.

Will you do this? “Aye, maybe I will,” says one, and “maybe I won’t,” says another; “the kingdom that cannot support me I don’t think of much account; the Lord has said it is His business to provide for His Saints, and I guess He will do it.” I have no doubt but He will provide for His Saints, but, if you do not take this counsel and be industrious and prudent, you will not long continue to be one of His Saints; then continue to do right that ye may be His Saints; sow, plant, buy half a bushel of wheat here, and a bushel there, and store it up till you get your five or seven years’ provisions on hand.

The war now raging in our nation is in the providence of God, and was told us years and years ago by the Prophet Joseph; and what we are now coming to was foreseen by him, and no power can hinder. Can the inhabitants of our once beautiful, delightful and happy country avert the horrors and evils that are now upon them? Only by turning from their wickedness, and calling upon the Lord. If they will turn unto the Lord and seek after Him, they will avert this terrible calamity, otherwise it cannot be averted. There is no power on the earth, nor under it, but the power of God, that can avert the evils that are now upon and are coming upon the nation.

What is the prospect? What does the statesman declare to us? What does he point us to? Peace and prosperity? Brotherly kindness and love? Union and happiness? No! No! Calamity upon calamity; misery upon misery.

Do you see any necessity, Latter-day Saints, for providing for the thousands coming here? Suppose some of your brothers, uncles, children, grandchildren, or your old neighbors, fleeing here from the bloodshed and misery in the world, were to come to you. “Well, I am glad to see you, come to my house; come uncle, come grandson, come aunt, I must take you home.” But what have you to give them? Not a morsel! “The country was full of food; I could have obtained it for sewing, for knitting, for almost every kind of work; I could have procured it a year ago, but it grated on my feelings to have it offered me for my work. I am sorry to say I have nothing in the house, but I think I can borrow it,” when you ought to have your bins full, to feed your friends when they come here.

It is not our open enemies who will come here. I told the people last year that the flood and tide of emigration were conservative people, who wished in peace to raise the necessaries of life, to trade, etc.—peaceful citizens. What do they come here for? To live in peace. Were they those who robbed us in Missouri and Illinois? No.

The time is coming when your friends are going to write to you about coming here, for this is the only place where there will be peace. There will be war, famine, pestilence, and misery through the nations of the earth, and there will be no safety in any place but Zion, as has been foretold by the Prophets of the Lord, both anciently and in our day.

This is the place of peace and safety. We would see how it would be if the wicked had power here, but they have not the power, and they never will have, if we live as the Lord requires us to. (Amen, by the congregation.)

Buy flour, you who can; and you, sisters, and children too, when harvest comes, glean the wheat fields. I would as soon see my wives and children gleaning wheat, as anybody’s. And then, when the people come here by thousands, you will be able to feed them. What will be your feelings, when the women and children begin to cry in your ears, with not a man to protect them? You can believe it or not, but the time is coming when a good man will be more precious than fine gold.

It is distressing to see the condition our nation is in, but I cannot help it. Who can? The people en masse, by turning to God, and ceasing to do wickedly, ceasing to persecute the honest and the truth-lover. If they had done that thirty years ago, it would have been better for them today. When we appealed to the government of our nation for justice, the answer was—“Your cause is just, but we have no power.” Did not Joseph Smith tell them in Washington and Philadelphia, that the time would come when their State rights would be trampled upon?

Joseph said, many and many a time, to us—“Never be anxious for the Lord to pour out his judgments upon the nation; many of you will see the distress and evils poured out upon this nation till you will weep like children.” Many of us have felt to do so already, and it seems to be coming upon us more and more; it seems as though the fangs of destruction were piercing the very vitals of the nation.

We inquire of our friends who come here, the emigration, how it is back where they came from. They say you can ride all day in some places but recently inhabited, and not see any inhabitants, any plowing, any sowing, any planting; you may ride through large districts of country, and see one vast desolation. A gentlemen said here, the other day, that one hundred families were burned alive in their own houses, in the county of Jackson, Missouri; whether this is true is not for me to say, but the thought of it is painful. Have you, Latter-day Saints, ever experienced anything like that? No! You were driven out of your houses, I forget the number, but you were not burned in them. I have said it to the Saints, and would proclaim it to the latest of Adam’s generation, that the wicked suffer more than the righteous.

Why do people apostatize? You know we are on the “Old Ship Zion.” We are in the midst of the ocean. A storm comes on, and, as sailors say, she labors very hard. “I am not going to stay here,” says one; “I don’t believe this is the ‘Ship Zion.’” “But we are in the midst of the ocean.” “I don’t care, I am not going to stay here.” Off goes the coat, and he jumps overboard. Will he not be drowned? Yes. So with those who leave this Church. It is the “Old Ship Zion,” let us stay in it. Is there any wisdom in all doing as we are all told? Yes.

While brother Woodruff was talking about the notable text given by brother Hardy to a gentleman in England, when speaking of the Mormon creed, I thought I could incorporate a very large discourse in the application of that creed. “To mind your own business” incorporates the whole duty of man. What is the duty of a Latter-day Saint? To do all the good he can upon the earth, living in the discharge of every duty obligatory upon him. If you see anybody angry, tell them never to be angry again. If you see anybody chewing tobacco, ask them to stop it, and spend the money for something to eat. Will you stop drinking whiskey? Let me plead with you to do so. And if the sisters would not think it oppressive, I would ask them to not drink quite so much strong tea. And if I make an application of these remarks in my own person, it is my business to point out these things and to ask you to refrain from them. It is the business of a Latter-day Saint, in passing through the street, if he sees a fence pole down, to put it up; if he sees an animal in the mud, to stop and help get it out. I make such acts my business. When I am traveling, I stop my whole train and say—“Boys, let us drive those cattle out of that grain, and put up the fence.” If I can do any good in administering among the people, in trying to have them comprehend what is right and do it, that is my business, and it is also your business.

Let us preach righteousness, and practice it. I do not wish to preach what I do not practice. If I wish to preach to others wholesome doctrine, let me practice it myself—show that example to others I wish them to imitate. If we do this, we will be preserved in the truth. We wish to increase; we do not wish to become aliens in the kingdom of God.

When people’s eyes are opened, and they see and understand how heinous it is to turn away from the truth, were they to reflect, and ask, “Shall I ever leave the faith? Ever turn away from the kingdom of God?” It would make them shudder; there would be chill over them from their heads to their feet; they would feel to say, “No, God forbid!”

It was said here this morning that no person ever apostatized, without actual transgression. Omission of duty leads to commission. We want to live so as to have the Spirit every day, every hour of the day, every minute of the day; and every Latter-day Saint is entitled to the Spirit of God, to the power of the Holy Ghost, to lead him in his individual duties. Is nobody else entitled to it? No. But this wants explanation.

Here, perhaps, is a good Presbyterian brother, a good Baptist brother, or, perhaps, a good Catholic one. Are they entitled to that degree of the Spirit of God that we are? No, but they are entitled to light. And there is one saying I heard here today, that I will repeat; whenever anyone lifts his voice or hand to persecute this people, there is a chill passes through him, unless he is lost to truth and the Spirit of God has entirely left him. He feels it day and night; he feels the Spirit working with him. And the Spirit of the Lord will strive, and strive, and strive with the people, till they have sinned away the day of grace. Until then, all are entitled to the light of Christ, for he is the light that lighteth every man who cometh into the world. But they are not entitled to receive the Holy Ghost. Why not, as well as Cornelius? That bestowal of the Holy Ghost was to convince the superstitious Jews that the Lord designed to send the Gospel to the Gentiles. Peter said, well, now, brethren, can you forbid water to baptize these, seeing the Lord has been so merciful to them as to give them the Holy Ghost? And he baptized them; and that was the opening of the door of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

I pray to the Lord for you; I pray for you to get wisdom—worldly wisdom; not to love the things of the world, but to take care of what you raise. Try to raise a little silk here; you know we are raising cotton. Try to raise some flax, and take care of it. Try and make a little sugar here next fall; I understand that article is now fifty cents a pound in New York. As war is wasting the productive strength of the nation, do you not think it becomes us to raise sugar, corn, wheat, sheep, &c., for the consumption of the old, the blind, the lame, and the helpless who will be left, that we may be able to feed and clothe them when they come here? We will feed and care for them, for there are thousands of them who are good people, who have lived according to the best light and truth they knew. And by and by the prejudices that exist against us will be wiped away, so that the honest can embrace the truth.

I do not want “Mormonism” to become popular; I would not, if I could, make it as popular as the Roman Catholic Church is in Italy, or as the Church of England is in England, because the wicked and ungodly would crowd into it in their sins. There are enough of such characters in it now. There are quite a number here who will apostatize. It needs this and that to occur to make some leave. If “Mormonism” were to become popular, it would be much as it was in the days of the early Christians, when no one could get a good position unless he was baptized for the remission of sins; he could not get an office, without he was baptized into the church.

Suppose this Church were so popular that a man could not be elected President of the United States, unless he was a Latter-day Saint, we would be overrun by the wicked. I would rather pass through all the misery and sorrow, the troubles and trials of the Saints, than to have the religion of Christ become popular with the world. It would in such case go as the ancient Church went. I care not what the world thinks, nor what it says, so they leave us unmolested in the exercise of our inherent rights. Take a straightforward course, and meet the jeers and frowns of the wicked.

Unpopular. “Oh dear, how they are despised and hated, those ‘Mormons!’” Did not Jesus say that His disciples should be hated and despised? Said he, “They hate me, and they will hate you also.” Has it ever been otherwise? He said, emphatically, “In the world ye shall have persecution, but in me ye shall have peace.”

What is proved by people’s leaving us, before the heavens, before the angels, and all the Prophets and holy men who ever lived upon the earth? You will see every man and woman, when they once consent to leave here, I don’t care what name they are known by, whether Morrisites, Gladden Bishopites, Josephites, or any other ite, they make friends with the wicked—with those who blaspheme the holy name we have been commemorating here this afternoon, and they are full of malice and evil. Whenever any person wants to leave here, the thread is broken that bound him to the truth, and he seeks the society of the wicked; and it proves to everybody who has the light of truth within them, that this is the kingdom of God, and that those who leave are of Anti-Christ.

Be steadfast, always abiding in the truth. Never encourage malice or hatred in your hearts; that does not belong to a Saint. I can say in truth, that with all the abuse I have ever met, driven from my home, robbed of my substance, I do not know that a spirit of malice has ever rested in my heart. I have asked the Lord to mete out justice to those who have oppressed us, and the Lord will take his own time and way for doing this. It is in His hands, and not in mine, and I am glad of it, for I could not deal with the wicked as they should be dealt with.

My name is had for good and evil upon the whole earth, as promised to me. Thirty years ago brother Joseph, in a lecture to the Twelve, said to me, “your name shall be known for good and evil throughout the world,” and it is so. The good love me, weak and humble as I am, and the wicked hate me; but there is no individual on the earth but what I would lead to salvation, if he would let me; I would take him by the hand, like a child, and lead him like a father in the way that would bring him to salvation.

Would we not rather live as we are living, than to become one with the spirit of the world? Yes. Do not be anxious to have this people become rich, and possess the affection of the world. I have been fearful lest we come to fellowship the world. Whatever you have, it is the Lord’s. You own nothing, I own nothing. I seem to have a great abundance around me, but I own nothing. The Lord has placed what I have in my hands, to see what I will do with it, and I am perfectly willing for Him to dispose of it otherwise whenever he pleases. I have neither wife nor child, no wives and children; they are only committed to me, to see how I will treat them. If I am faithful, the time will come when they will be given to me.

The Lord has placed it in our power to obtain the greatest gift He can bestow—the gift of eternal life; He has bestowed upon us gifts to be developed and used throughout all eternity—the gifts of seeing, of hearing, of speech, &c.—and we are endowed with every gift and qualification, though in weakness, that are the angels; and the germ of the attributes that are developed in Him who controls is in us to develop. We can see each other, hear each other, converse with each other, and, if we keep the faith, all things will be ours. The Saints do not own anything now. The world do not own anything. They are hunting for gold—it is the Lord’s. If my safe had millions of gold in it, it would be the Lord’s, to be used as he dictates. The time will come when those who are now dissatisfied will not be satisfied with anything, but the Saints who live their religion are and will be satisfied with everything. They know the Lord controls, and that He will control and save the righteous.

May the Lord help us to be righteous and to live our religion, that we may live forever. Amen.