Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 9, 1862.

I am very much gratified with what I have heard from our brethren today. I think they have spoken well. I have been interested and instructed.

As I have often told you, I am unable to draw the dividing line between the spiritual and the temporal. We set apart one day in the week for the purpose of meeting together to administer the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and to speak upon things which pertain to building up the kingdom of God on the earth. This is our business—this labor is upon us—and I do not know that we have anything else to do, for it comprehends the whole existence of man. Thus far we have been successful in this great work; in it we have been blessed, and in it we delight to be blessed.

Every person is seeking after happiness, and all persons pursue a course that seems to them to lead to the possession of happiness; when they pursue an opposite course to that they are fully aware of it. The most profligate and wicked person is always ready to acknowledge, when willing to tell the truth, that he knows that he does wrong and is not happy in doing so; and that, if he ever enjoys happiness, he must cease to do evil and learn to do well. We wish to obtain happiness; we wish to obtain our rights.

In regard to our political rights, I will ask, have we ever seen a day, since Joseph found the plates from which was taken the Book of Mormon until this day, in which the Christian, the moral, and the political world, or any other portion of the inhabitants of the earth, ever gave to Joseph Smith and his brethren one blessing that they could possibly keep from them? They have withheld every favor, every blessing, every accommodation that was possible for them to hold from the Latter-day Saints. Yet every move they have made has actually tended to sustain, build up, strengthen, and increase the very power they were trying to destroy. They have tried to destroy the truth, to hinder the increase of the Latter-day Saints, to lessen their numbers, rob them of their location and homes, and last of all drive them from what is called civilization. But the results of all these acts, instead of accomplishing what they desired, have given the Latter-day Saints territory and comparative independence. All the evil they have sought to bring upon us the Lord, through his inscrutable providence, has converted into blessings for his people.

We are infinitely more blessed by the persecutions and injustice we have suffered, than we could have been if we had remained in our habitations from which we have been driven—than if we had been suffered to occupy our farms, gardens, stores, mills, machinery, and everything we had in our former possessions. Had we not been persecuted, we would now be in the midst of the wars and bloodshed that are desolating the nation, instead of where we are, comfortably located in our peaceful dwellings in these silent, far off mountains and valleys. Instead of seeing my brethren comfortably seated around me today, many of them would be found in the front ranks on the battle field. I realize the blessings of God in our present safety. We are greatly blessed, greatly favored and greatly exalted, while our enemies, who sought to destroy us, are being humbled.

We want our political rights, and they are here within our reach; we need not go to California, Oregon, Washington Territory, Nebraska, Missouri, nor New York to obtain them. The people are here, and they possess rights. We have a right to labor, to accumulate food and clothing, to gather the various products of the earth, to cut the timber and saw it into boards, to make adobies and quarry rock and build habitations, and then we have a right to inhabit them. We have a right to drink of the water that flows from the mountains, and we have a right to get up in the morning when we are sufficiently rested. We have a right to go to the canyons after wood, or to harness our teams and go on a visit to Davis, Utah, or any other county. We have also a right to assemble, as we did a short time ago, in the capacity of a mass meeting, and we have a right to say that we will have laws, rules, and regulations for the public good, and officers and adjudicators of the laws. It is our right to frame our own laws, and to elect our own officers to administer them.

We were told this morning, that some brethren prayed but did not believe they would receive an answer. I do not find fault with them for this, but I say, pray on until you can make yourselves believe that your prayers will be fully answered according to that which is best for you to receive. Self-argument is the most effectual argument that can be used. Let each person argue himself into the belief that God will grant to him his request in righteousness. Some people are naturally of a doubtful mind, and have to contend continually against unbelief.

The enemies of God and truth do not love us any better this year than they did last year, nor will their love for us increase in the year that is to come. They would dethrone the Almighty, and would have destroyed Joseph Smith, when he had not three men to stand by him, had they the power to do so; and they would blot out every vestige of this kingdom if they could. The body may be destroyed, but the spirit still lives.

According to the Constitution of our Government, we have rights in common with our fellow countrymen. We have a right to settle in any unoccupied and unclaimed part of the public domain owned by our Government, where the machinery of the Government has not extended, and there govern and control ourselves according to republican principles; and the Congress of the United States is not authorized in the least, by the Constitution that governs it, to make laws for that new settlement, and appoint adjudicators and administrators of the law for it, any more than we have a right to make laws and appoint administrators of the law for California, Ohio, Illinois, or Missouri. This, however, is done by the Congress of the United States; but it is an assumption of power not within the Constitution of the American Republic. When Congress, or the President of the United States, appoints a governor for a territory, that appointment is not according to the Constitution, though it is according to laws enacted by Congress. In “Amendments to the Constitution of the United States,” articles nine and ten, it is definitely stated that, “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

We were told this morning that we shall not always be driven. Were we driven in 1857 and 1858? No. And they might have traveled up and down Ham’s Fork to this day, and we still would have remained here enjoying our safe retreat. They had no power, and did not exercise any.

I say to the enemies of truth that I can tell them the words that are spoken in their private counsels. The very thoughts of their hearts are made known to me. They lay their plans to accomplish such and such a work in so long a time, and then plan a movement to destroy the “Mormons.” That is what they talk about and what is in their hearts, but they will be disappointed in it all. Every time they make a movement against this kingdom they will sink still lower in the scale of national power, while the kingdom of God will rise more and more in influence and importance in the eyes of all people.

If any of you are afraid, think not that you can escape danger by fleeing to the States east, or west to California, “For it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare.” Again, “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”

The valleys of Utah are the safest places in the world. There is not another place upon this globe where a people can with more safety assert their rights before the heavens and in the face of all men. Look at those ranges of rocky peaks with which we are surrounded, for “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” “The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.” Therefore, O Israel, fear not. If any are afraid, search out among the caves of the impregnable rocks safe places to store up grain and other nutritious substances, and when trouble comes you can retire and crawl into your hiding places, while the more courageous of your brethren shall fight your battles, and we will whip your enemies soundly, God being our helper.

When I think of the weakness and littleness of men, and the folly of their trying to thwart the purposes of the Almighty, it makes me feel like the Prophet Elijah—“For it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” I laugh at their folly; God laughs at their folly. So long as the Latter-day Saints will live their religion, they shall never be confounded, worlds without end. Never be afraid; your hearts are brave, your arms are strong, and God is our defense. There are those among us who are timid, and are apt to flee from under the protecting care of our heavenly Father, and be caught weak and unprotected by the very enemy they are trying to escape from.

We will cling to the Constitution of our country, and to the Government that reveres that sacred charter of freemen’s rights; and, if necessary, pour out our best blood for the defense of every good and righteous principle.

I heard a gentleman say, not long ago, that he was going to stick to the Union. When the Southern revolt transpired, it was asked of him, “Where is the Union now? There are now two Governments, instead of one.” His reply was, that he should stick to the Government that protected him in the possession of freemen’s rights. The spirit and letter of our Constitution and laws will always give us our rights, and under them we could have served God in Missouri and Illinois as well as in the courts of high heaven. But the administrators of the law trampled it under their feet, and willfully and openly desecrated the holy principles held forth in the Constitution of our country.

The kingdom of God has sustained me a good while, and I mean to stick to it. We shall form a State Government, and you need not fear any consequences that may arise from such a course. You may tell your neighbors that in this step we do not violate any law, nor in the least transcend the bounds of our rights. If we do not do this, we are living beneath those rights set forth in the Declaration of Independence, and the privileges granted to us in the Constitution of the United States which our fathers bought so dearly for us. Let us unfurl the stars and stripes—the flag of our country; let us sustain the Constitution that our fathers have bequeathed to us in letters of blood; and those who violate it will have to meet the crushing and damning penalties that will bury them in the mire of everlasting disgrace. If we sustain it, it will be sustained; otherwise it will not.

Let us so live that the spirits and power of our religion will be constantly with us; that the Holy Ghost will be our constant companion, opening for us an unobstructed intercourse with our heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ, and all is right—there is no danger then. Our own evils make for us danger; and if chastisement comes upon us, it is the result of our own unrighteous acts. But if we live our religion, honor our God and his Priesthood, then we shall honor every wholesome government and law there is upon the earth, and become aliens to all unrighteous, unjust, and unlawful administrators, wherever they may be found. In the various nations, kingdoms, and governments of the world are to be found laws, ordinances and statutes as good as can be made for mortal man.

We have forsaken the kingdom of darkness, have come out in open rebellion to the power of the Devil on this earth, and I for one will fight him, so help me God, as long as there is breath in my body, and do all in my power to overthrow his government and rule. And if he complains that I am infringing upon his ground, I shall very politely ask him to go to his own place, where he belongs. If any among this community want to sustain the Government of the Devil, in preference to the kingdom of God, I wish them to go where they belong. I want to sustain the government of Heaven, and shall stick fast to it, by the help of God. If we sustain it, it will build us up and crown us with victory and eternal life.

There is not a man upon the earth who can magnify even an earthly office, without the power and wisdom of God to aid him. When Mr. Fillmore appointed me Governor of Utah, I proclaimed openly that my Priesthood should govern and control that office. I am of the same mind today. We have not yet received our election returns; but, should I be elected Governor of the State of Deseret, that office shall be sustained and controlled by the power of the eternal Priesthood of the Son of God, or I will walk the office under my feet. Hear it, both Saint and sinner, and send it to the uttermost parts of the earth, that whatever office I hold from any Government on this earth shall honor the Government of heaven, or I will not hold it.

There was a notice read today for the High Council to meet next Thursday. I would like to see the High Council and Bishops and all Judges filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, that when a person comes before them they can read and understand that person, and be able to decide a case quickly and justly. When men have a just appreciation of right and wrong, their decision can be made as well the first minute after hearing a statement of the case, as to waste hours and days to make it. I would like the Bishops and other officers to have sufficient power and wisdom from God to make them fully aware of the true nature of every case that may come before them. But there are some of our great men who are so ignorant that a personal favor will so bias their minds that they will twist the truth and sustain a person in evil. This principle is to be found, more or less, in the old, middle-aged, and youth. Some, with a trifling consideration, can so prejudice the mind of a High Councilor, a High Priest, a Bishop, or an Apostle, that he will lean to the individual instead of the truth. I despise a man that would offer me money to buy me to his favor. Goodness will always find stout supporters in the good, and need not to buy favor. The man who tries to buy the influence of another to cover up his iniquity, will go to hell.

The kingdom of God is indebted to no man; though a man should give to it all he possesses, he has only given that which the Lord put in his possession, and is not excusable in sin on that account, for in giving his all to the kingdom of God he has done no more than his duty. I hate to see a man bought. I hate to see High Councilors bought. It is good to hold on to an old friend; and, no matter how many new friends I have, I always hold fast to the old ones and never let them go, unless their wicked conduct breaks the thread of fellowship between us. But with all the friends I have, I hope in God never to see the day, while I live, that I cannot decide a case as the Almighty would, whether it goes against friend or foe. What my friends have done for me, and the deep affection I bear them, are not taken into account in the consideration of right and wrong. Let me judge in righteousness before God, if it cuts off every friend I have.

May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made at the Dedication of the New Theater in Great Salt Lake City, March 6, 1862.

Man is organized and brought forth as the king of the earth, to understand, to criticize, examine, improve, manufacture, arrange, and organize the crude matter, and honor and glorify the works of God’s hands. This is a wide field for the operation of man, that reaches into eternity; and it is good for mortals to search out the things of this earth.

The elements are to be brought into shape and operation for the benefit, happiness, beauty, excellency, glory, and exaltation of the children of men that dwell upon the earth; though we cannot produce that which has not already been produced. Are we capable, by our most critical researches, of finding that which has not already been found? We are not. We are capable of improving upon the crude elements, until we understand the organization of this earth, and the power by which it is sustained, for what purpose man was created, and the immortality that will crown his existence. All this is what others have learned before us.

Were we capable of scanning the eternities of the Gods, we should find works and exhibitions of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and power, by whom? By those who were as we are. It is the privilege of man to search out the wisdom of God pertaining to the earth and the heavens.

Professing Christians generally would not consider this a fit position for those who profess the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ to occupy. These Saints of the Most High appear here in the capacity of an assembly to exercise and amuse the mind of the natural man. This idea brings at once to my mind a thousand reflections. What is nature? Everything that pertains to the heavens and the earth. “My son,” says the Christian father, “you should not attend a theater, for there the wicked assemble; nor a ballroom, for there the wicked assemble; you should not be found playing a ball, for the sinner does that.” Hundreds of like admonitions are thus given, and so we have been thus traditioned; but it is our privilege and our duty to scan all the works of man from the days of Adam until now, and thereby learn what man was made for, what he is capable of performing, and how far his wisdom can reach into the heavens, and to know the evil and the good.

It is written in the Scriptures, “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” Is there an evil thing upon the earth that he does not fully understand? There is not. The Psalmist very beautifully illustrates this idea—“Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” The Lord understands the evil and the good; why should we not likewise understand them? We should. Why? To know how to choose the good and refuse the evil; which we cannot do, unless we understand the evil as well as the good. I do not wish to convey the idea that it is necessary to commit evil in order to obtain this knowledge.

Upon the stage of a theater can be represented in character, evil and its consequences, good and its happy results and rewards; the weakness and the follies of man, the magnanimity of virtue and the greatness of truth. The stage can be made to aid the pulpit in impressing upon the minds of a community an enlightened sense of a virtuous life, also a proper horror of the enormity of sin and a just dread of its consequences. The path of sin with its thorns and pitfalls, its gins and snares can be revealed, and how to shun it.

The Lord knows all things; man should know all things pertaining to this life, and to obtain this knowledge it is right that he should use every feasible means; and I do not hesitate to say that the stage can, in a great degree, be made to subserve this end. It is written, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” Refuse evil, choose good, hate iniquity, love truth. All this our fathers have done before us; I do not particularly mean father Adam, or his Father; I do not particularly mean Abraham, or Moses, the Prophets, or Apostles, but I mean our fathers who have been exalted for millions of years previous to Adam’s time. They have all passed through the same ordeals we are now passing through, and have searched all things, even to the depths of hell.

Is there evil in the theater? In the ballroom? In the place of worship? In the dwelling? In the world? Yes, when men are inclined to do evil in any of these places. There is evil in persons meeting simply for a chit-chat; if they will allow themselves to commit evil while thus engaged. Can we not sift out every particle of wheat from the vast body of chaff we find in books on science and religion? That we find in governmental constitutions and judicial rulings? In learned commentaries and on law and order? And in the rudiments and advanced branches of education? Can we not even make the stage of a theater the platform upon which to exhibit truth in all its simple beauty? And sift out from the theatrical lore of ages the chaff and folly that has encumbered it? And preserve and profit by that which is truly good and great? This, however, is not the work of a day or a year; but, as the chaff is protective to wheat in a pile, so the true lore of ages is concealed and preserved in the chaff pile of folly and nonsense, until the Saints of the Most High cause a separation.

We shall endeavor to make our theatrical performances a source of good, and not of evil. Rather than the latter, and rather than it should pass into the hands of the ungodly, I ask the Lord to let the whole fabric return to its native elements. It is our privilege and our duty to search all things upon the face of the earth, and learn what there is for man to enjoy, what God has ordained for the benefit and happiness of mankind, and then make use of it without sinning against him.

Our eyes are delighted in seeing, our ears in hearing. We behold the faces of our friends, we see the gems of intelligence sparkling through those outward windows of the soul; and what a blessing it is to see the countenances of our friends radiant with delight. Our senses, if properly educated, are channels of endless felicity to us, but we can devote them to evil or to good. Let us devote all to the glory of God and the building up of his kingdom, for in this there is lasting joy.

Man is of the earth, earthy; but the Spirit is pure from heaven. This mortal existence must be prolonged by the use of food. Food that is good for the use of man is abundant in the elements, and God has endowed us with the ability to combine the elements, through the means of useful plants and animals, to supply ourselves with all we need. Should we refuse to avail ourselves of this means, hunger and nakedness must be our portion. Heaven will not perform the labor that it has designed us to perform. We must sow, reap, clean, and grind into flour our wheat, and make it into bread. Were we not to do this, we should go without bread until doomsday, and without clothing, if we wait for the Lord to make clothes for us. It is for us to search out the elements, learn how to combine them to make silk, wool, linen, cotton, and every other textile material that can be made into cloth, for the comfort and convenience of man.

When man is industrious and righteous, then is he happy. Sin blights all true happiness, and throws a deep gloom over man’s whole existence. Let us be righteous, and then learn to make ourselves comfortable and joyful in the possession of creature comforts. Man is always happy when he is righteous. The Lord will not build our houses and temples, after he has given us the elements and taught us how to build comfortable houses, magnificent temples, and commodious places of worship. Everything that is joyful, beautiful, glorious, comforting, consoling, lovely, pleasing to the eye, good to the taste, pleasant to the smell, and happifying in every respect is for the Saints.

Tight-laced religious professors of the present generation have a horror at the sound of a fiddle. There is no music in hell, for all good music belongs to heaven. Sweet harmonious sounds give exquisite joy to human beings capable of appreciating music. I delight in hearing harmonious tones made by the human voice, by musical instruments, and by both combined. Every sweet musical sound that can be made belongs to the Saints and is for the Saints. Every flower, shrub, and tree to beautify, and to gratify the taste and smell, and every sensation that gives to man joy and felicity are for the Saints who receive them from the Most High.

There are many of our aged brethren and sisters, who, through the traditions of their fathers and the requirements of a false religion, were never inside a ballroom or a theater until they became Latter-day Saints, and now they seem more anxious for this kind of amusement than are our children. This arises from the fact they have been starved for many years for that amusement which is designed to buoy up their spirits and make their bodies vigorous and strong, and tens of thousands have sunk into untimely graves for want of such exercises to the body and the mind. They require mutual nourishment to make them sound and healthy. Every faculty and power of both body and mind is a gift from God. Never say that means used to create and continue healthy action of body and mind are from hell. Such means never originated there. Hell is a great distance from us, and we can never arrive there, unless we change our path, for the way we are now pursuing leads to heaven and happiness.

When the Saints come into this building, and look on this stage, to see our brethren and sisters perform to satisfy the sight, to satisfy the ear, and the desires and mind of the people, I want you to pray for them that the Lord Almighty may preserve them from ever having one wicked thought in their bosoms, that our actors may be just as virtuous, truthful, and humble before God and each other as though they were on a Mission to preach the Gospel.

I say to those who perform, if anything is discovered contrary to the strictest virtue and decorum, the offenders must leave this building. I intend this remark to apply also to the musicians. I wish the dramatic company to seek diligently and in all kindness to promote the happiness of all concerned.

Unless by my order, I do not wish a drop of intoxicating liquor brought into this house; I want the actors behind the curtain, the musicians in the orchestra, and the audience to hear and observe this.

When this house is finished, there will be places in the passages where cakes, pies, fruits, &c., can be bought; but no intoxicating liquor will be allowed in these saloons. No drunken person will be permitted to enter this house. I will not have it polluted and disgraced by the presence of the drunken, nor my brethren and sisters, who strive continually to do right, annoyed by the filthy breath of a poor, miserable, filthy loafer.

We intend to preserve the strictest order here; we do expect the people to come to this house praying, and their whole souls devoted to God, and to their religion.

Tragedy is favored by the outside world; I am not in favor of it. I do not wish murder and all its horrors and the villainy leading to it portrayed before our women and children. I want no child to carry home with it the fear of the fagot, the sword, the pistol, or the dagger, and suffer in the night from frightful dreams. I want such plays performed as will make the spectators feel well; and I wish those who perform to select a class of plays that will improve the public mind, and exalt the literary taste of the community.

If we wish to hold a Conference in this hall, we shall do so, and shall use it for all purposes that will satisfy our feelings in doing right, and no evil.

May God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 2, 1862.

All things were created firstly spiritual; then it seems that secondly, all things were created temporal. The laws and principles that tie together spiritual and temporal things are so complicated, are so interwoven with each other, so inseparably connected, and yet in the minds of the people they appear so distinct one from the other, that we evidently need a great deal of experience and reflection to make this subject clear to our understandings. I shall only make a few remarks, and leave the subject I shall now introduce for others to speak upon.

This building is set apart expressly for the worship of the Lord our God, and to many it may seem to infringe upon the rights of our religion to talk about temporal matters here. In the beginning things were created first spiritual, then temporal; but now it is first temporal and then spiritual. We cannot attend to any one of the ordinances of the Holy Priesthood without a temporal act. We must perform a temporal labor—a manual labor—in order to arrive at the condition which fits us to receive the full benefit of the spiritual. At present the few remarks I shall make will be upon the matter of obtaining rock for our contemplated temple, which we intend to build upon this block. The canal that we started from Big Cottonwood Creek to this city was for the purpose of transporting material for building the Temple. We have learned some things in regard to the nature of the soil in which the bed of the canal is made that we did not know before. We pretty much completed the canal, or, in other words, we hewed out the cistern, but, behold, it would not hold water. We have not the time now to make that canal carry water, so we will continue to haul rock with cattle; and when an opportunity presents, we will finish the canal. We now contemplate repairing the State road, so that we can haul heavy blocks of granite. We were not very successful the last winter in hauling rock, for the road was so soaked with water that it was almost impassible; but we will now repair that road, and continue our hauling.

We cannot even enter the Temple when it is built, and perform those ordinances which lead to spiritual blessings, without performing a temporal labor. Temporal ordinances must be performed to secure the spiritual blessings the Great Supreme has in store for his faithful children. Every act is first a temporal act. The Apostle says, faith comes by hearing. What should be heard to produce faith? The preaching of the Word. For that we must have a preacher; and he is not an invisible Spirit, but a temporal, ordinary man like ourselves, and subject to the same regulations and rules of life. To preach the Gospel is a temporal labor, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is the result of a temporal labor. To be baptized is a temporal labor, both to the person administered to and the administrator. I am a living witness to the truth of this statement, for I have made my feet sore many a time, and tired myself out traveling and preaching, that by hearing the Gospel the people might have faith. The blessings we so earnestly desire will come to us by performing the manual labor required, and thus preparing all things necessary to receive the invi– sible blessings Jehovah has for his children.

Do we need a Temple? We do, to prepare us to enter in through the gate into the city where the Saints are at rest. Ordinances necessary to this have not yet been performed and cannot be in the absence of a suitable place. We wish a Temple, not for the public congregation, but for the Priesthood, wherein to arrange and organize fully the Priesthood in its order and degrees, to administer the ordinance of the Priesthood to the Saints for their exaltations. The first thing to be done is a temporal labor with the pick and the spade, to prepare a good solid road upon which to haul the rock; then we call upon the quarrymen to get the rock out of the mountains and split them into sizes convenient for putting upon wagons. Now all this work is not done by faith alone, but nerve, bone, and muscle are exceedingly essential with faith, also, in this case, the strength of the ox. When the rock is on the ground, it must then be hewn and prepared for the walls. While this work is progressing on a still morning, you may hear a hundred chisels at work, and we want to hear two or three hundred at work. Thus we will rear the Temple of the Lord, and when it is completed we can enter therein and receive the ordinances of the Holy Priesthood, and our spiritual blessings; but we first have to perform our manual labor, and we wish the people to fully understand this. I will now call upon Bishop Hunter to make some remarks. ——————

I wish to preach another discourse.

At a Bishops’ meeting, on Thursday evening last, it was concluded to cut a large ditch on the upper side of the State road, from here to Gardner’s mill, to carry off the water from the surface of the road, which would then soon be in good order for travel. This matter I wish to have laid before the people, to receive an expression from them whether they will sustain their Bishops in this labor, and this is the reason why we speak of it this morning. If the work is properly taken hold of and in good earnest, with strong hands and willing hearts, it will soon be accomplished. The Bishops are willing to have the ground divided among them, which Bishop Hunter will attend to.

We want to build this Temple as speedily as possible, through the blessings and kind providences of the Almighty in whom we will trust, doing the labor our hands find to do, asking no questions as to what we are going to receive when the Temple is done, or how long we shall be in building it, but we will build it as fast as possible. Some care nothing about building a Temple, for, say they, as sure as we commence we shall have to fight the enemy. If we have an enemy to encounter the quicker we do so the better, for we are able to do whatever the Lord requires. Union is strength, and this terrifies our enemies. Who can resist the power possessed by the Latter-day Saints in their union? And the stronger our union, the more mighty are the bands of our strength; while disunion is weakening our enemies, and splitting them asunder; they will be left in weakness, while we shall grow in strength in our union, and in confidence in God and each other. And let us take a course to create confidence in ourselves as well as in our neighbors, and we will constantly grow strong.

We can all help a little in repairing the road I have mentioned, so I will ask the brethren and the sisters too, will you sustain your Bishops in making a good road upon which to haul rock for the Temple? [The vote was unanimous in favor.] Let Bishop Hunter and other Bishops, as far south as Fort Union, proportion to each ward its share of the labor to be done on the road.

I thought well of the discourse this morning; I like a great deal of it. Were I to speak what is now in my mind, I should say that succotash is the best dish I ever partook of; you get that, when I talk to you, and you had it from Bishop Hunter this morning, a little of this, and a little of that.

The kingdom of God is before us; we have it to build up, and to establish the Zion of our God upon this land. And if I am right in my views and feelings, the Latter-day Saints cannot labor too fast nor too diligently to accomplish the work they are called to do. Then let us go to with our might, and labor faithfully to establish that kingdom which is all and in all to us. May the Lord help us. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 23, 1862.

We certainly should be extremely knowing, did we know everything; but, as we do not, we will be satisfied with what we do know and can still learn. This people know much. Their experience and their knowledge, coupled with that which has been revealed to them from the Fountain of all knowledge, are far beyond the capacities of those who have not heard and received the Gospel.

I have a few words to say touching our present existence, and in reference to the remarks made today by brother Kimball pertaining to the body. Our mortal bodies are all important to us; without them we never can be glorified in the eternities that will be. We are in this state of being for the express purpose of obtaining habitations for our spirits to dwell in, that they may become personages of tabernacle. Our former religious traditions have taught us that our Father in heaven has no tabernacle, that his center is everywhere and his circumference nowhere. Yet we read that, “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran.” “Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.” “And the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool.” “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?” “And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face thou shalt not see.” “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.” The idea that the Lord our God is not a personage of tabernacle is entirely a mistaken notion. He was once a man.

Brother Kimball quoted a saying of Joseph the Prophet, that he would not worship a God who had not a Father; and I do not know that he would if he had not a mother; the one would be as absurd as the other. If he had a Father, he was made in his likeness. And if he is our Father we are made after his image and likeness. He once possessed a body, as we now do; and our bodies are as much to us, as his body to him. Every iota of this organization is necessary to secure for us an exaltation with the Gods. Our mortal tabernacles decline. The spirit is inseparably connected with the body until death, and it is so designed; but when we get through with our worship in this Tabernacle or building for worship, we dispense with it until we wish to meet again. We are not inseparably connected with it; it may be consumed by the element of fire and pass away forever. But it is not so with our bodies; if we willfully loose these, we loose everything that God has provided for the faithful.

This is an item I wished to explain, though we do not know everything. When brother Kimball speaks, I am so well acquainted with his views and style that I easily understand his meaning; but he does not always fully explain his views to the understanding of the people. This is a point of doctrine that is all and in all to us, consequently it is essentially necessary that we should understand it as it is, and not carry away the idea, from what has been said by brother Kimball, that this is a spiritual kingdom and the body is nothing. Brother Kimball understands this doctrine as I do, but he has his method of expressing his ideas and I have mine; and I am extremely anxious to so convey my ideas to the people that they will understand them as I do. Our language is deficient, and I do not possess in this particular the natural endowment that some men enjoy. I am a man of few words, and unlearned in the learning of this generation. The reason why brother Kimball has not language as perfectly and fully as some other men is not in consequence of a lack in his spirit, for he never has preached when I have heard him, that I did not know what he was about, if he knew himself. I know that his ideas are as clear as the sun that is now shining, and I care not what the words are that he uses to express them.

We have foolish Elders, and I have had to contend, time after time, against their foolish doctrines. One of our most intelligent Apostles in one of his discourses left the people entirely in the dark with regard to Jacob and Esau, and he never understood the difference between foreknowledge and foreordination. Foreknowledge and foreordination are two distinct principles. And again, I have had to contend against what is called the “baby resurrection” doctrine, which, as has been taught and indulged by some, is one of the most absurd doctrines that can be thought of. Having had these foolish doctrines to combat, I am not willing that the idea should possess your minds that the body is neither here nor there, and that the work of salvation is entirely spiritual. We have received these bodies for an exaltation, to be crowned with those who have been crowned with crowns of glory and eternal life. Yes, Joseph Smith said, the Lord whispers to the spirit in the tabernacle the same as though it were out of it. That is correct and true.

What you understand with regard to this doctrine and religion, and with regard to the things of God generally, you understand in the Spirit. Take the spirit from the body, and the body is lifeless; but in the resurrection the component parts of our bodies will again be called together, expressly for a glorious resurrection to immortality. Our bodies, which are now subject to death, will return to mother earth for a time, to be refined from that which pertains to the fall of man, which has particularly affected the body but not the spirit. When the spirit enters the body, it is pure and holy from the heavens; and could it reign predominantly in the tabernacle, ruling, dictating, and directing its actions without an opposing force, man never would commit a sin; but the tabernacle has to suffer the effects of the fall, of that sin which Satan has introduced into the world and hence the spirit does not bear rule all the time.

When we receive the Gospel, a warfare commences immediately; Paul says, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” We have to fight continually, as it were, sword in hand to make the spirit master of the tabernacle, or the flesh subject to the law of the spirit. If this warfare is not diligently prosecuted, then the law of sin prevails, and in consequence of this some apostatize from the truth when crossing the plains, learn to swear instead of to pray, become high-minded and high-tempered instead of learning to be patient and humble, and when they arrive in these valleys they feel so self-sufficient that they consider themselves the only ones that are really right; they are filled with darkness, the authority of the Spirit is not listened to, and the law of sin and death is the ruling power in their tabernacles. They could once testify, by the revelations of Jesus Christ to them that Mormonism, or the Gospel is true; then the Spirit triumphed over the flesh, they walked in the light of God, and great was their joy, and brilliant their hope of immortality and eternal life. The rule of the flesh brings darkness and death, while, on the other hand, the rule of the Spirit brings light and life. When through the Gospel, the Spirit in man has so subdued the flesh that he can live without willful transgression, the Spirit of God unites with his spirit, they become congenial companions, and the mind and will of the Creator is thus transmitted to the creature. Did their spirits have their choice, there is not a son or daughter of Adam and Eve on the earth but what would be obedient to the Gospel of salvation, and redeem their bodies to exaltation and glory. But there is a constant warfare between them, still they must remain together, be saved and exalted together, or neither of them will be saved and exalted with the salvation and the exaltation which the Gospel offers.

Our bodies are all important to us, though they may be old and withered, emaciated with toil, pain, and sickness, and our limbs bent with rheumatism, all uniting to hasten dissolu– tion, for death is sown in our mortal bodies. The food and drink we partake of are contaminated with the seeds of death, yet we partake of them to extend our lives until our allotted work is finished, when our tabernacle, in a state of ripeness, are sown in the earth to produce immortal fruit. Yet, if we live our holy religion and let the Spirit reign, it will not become dull and stupid, but as the body approaches dissolution the spirit takes a firmer hold on that enduring substance behind the veil, drawing from the depths of that eternal Fountain of Light sparkling gems of intelligence which surround the frail and sinking tabernacle with a halo of immortal wisdom.

I shall soon be sixty-one years of age, and my spirit is more vigorous and powerful today than it has been in any day I ever saw; it is more quick to comprehend, more ready to discern, the understanding is more matured, more correct in judgment, the memory more vivid and enduring and discretion more circumspect, and when I have attained eighty years I shall be better than I am today, God being my helper. I am better now than I was twenty years ago. Write it down and read it twenty years hence, and see whether my spirit is not better and brighter than it is today. Need we in spirit bow down to this poor, miserable, decaying body? We will not. Brother Kimball’s side has been broken by a fall from a wagon, but he will be mended up, and his life will not be shortened on that account; and we are going to live until we are satisfied.

The Elders of Israel, though the great majority of them are moral men, and as clear of spot and blemish as men well can be, live beneath their privilege; they live continually without enjoying the power of God. I want to see men and women breathe the Holy Ghost in every breath of their lives, living constantly in the light of God’s countenance. Brother Kimball says you must keep alive, and give nourishment and vitality to the body, comparing the Church to a tree; that you must help your Prophet and Revelator and keep that portion of the tree alive. God keeps that alive, brethren and sisters. I thank you for your prayers, your integrity, &c., but I feel today as I did in Nauvoo, when Sidney Rigdon and others intended to ride the Church into hell. I told them that I would take my hat and the few that would go with me and build up the kingdom of God, asking no odds of them. If you support me, you support yourselves; if you do not choose to do this you will dry up, blow away and be damned.

A tree or plant of any kind that sends its roots into the ground does not gain strength and vitality from the ground alone, but the atmosphere contributes to its support as well as the ground, and it will live longer out of the ground with air than in the ground without it. From the atmosphere and the rays of the sun it gathers elements that we do not see, which operate upon the sap sent up through the roots under the bark into the branches and leaves where it is prepared to make wood and fruit, and give strength and growth to the trunk, roots, and the whole tree. Then you may cut off all the limbs and roots of some trees, and the atmosphere will make more in great profusion.

I do not expect to preach a lengthy sermon this afternoon, but there is a great deal to be said and done. The Lord Almighty leads this Church, and he will never suffer you to be led astray if you are found doing your duty. You may go home and sleep as sweetly as a babe in its mother’s arms, as to any danger of your leaders leading you astray, for if they should try to do so the Lord would quickly sweep them from the earth. Your leaders are trying to live their religion as far as I am capable of doing so? Yes, I do. The power of God is with me continually and I never mean to live an hour without it.

I am satisfied that we do not realize to the fullest extent our moral and intellectual growth as a people, but let us be straightened up and a fountain of knowledge is opened, a rich mine of intellectual wealth is revealed, and in time we shall find that heaven and earth have come together, for the earth will be celestialized and brought back to the presence of God, who dwells in eternal burnings in the midst of perfection. Then we should be prepared to enjoy the fullness of the blessings and glory God has in store for us. If we live in these bodies as we should we shall be prepared to receive all the glory he has for the faithful. Let us continue the warfare, fight the good fight of faith, sanctify our hearts before the Lord, and day by day perform the labor he has for us to do, and we shall be accounted worthy to receive our exaltation.

May God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 23, 1862.

Those who are capable of contemplating upon and realizing the relationship of mankind to the Heavens, the object of their existence here, the common salvation that is provided for all who have lived, now live, and will live upon the earth, and the power that is given to each person to preserve his identity to an endless duration, must be aware that there is a great deal to be said and done by those to whom are committed the Priesthood of the Son of God and the management of his work upon the earth in the last days.

It is written, “Thy watchman shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” Again, “Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.” Again, “For, behold, I say unto you that Zion shall flourish, and the glory of the Lord shall be upon her; And she shall be an ensign unto the people, and there shall come unto her out of every nation under heaven.” And, again, “Zion shall flourish upon the hills and rejoice upon the mountains, and shall be assembled together unto the place which I have appointed,” &c. We talk and read about Zion, we contemplate upon it, and in our imaginations we reach forth to grasp something that is transcendent in heavenly beauty, excellency, and glory. But while contemplating the future greatness of Zion, do we realize that we are the pioneers of that future greatness and glory? Do we realize that if we enjoy a Zion in time or in eternity, we must make it for ourselves? That all who have a Zion in the eternities of the gods organized, framed, consolidated, and perfected it themselves, and consequently are entitled to enjoy it.

Were we to send a hundred families of Saints into a valley not yet inhabited, being acquainted with its climate, soil, and general capabilities for productiveness, in the vision of our minds we could see in the future comfortable and commodious houses for the people to dwell in, buildings for religious worship and education; temples, tabernacles, and academies; also houses for amusement and State purposes, barns, and stables, yards, for the accommodation of animals, well-fenced farms, granaries filled with grain, orchards and gardens, wine, fruit, meat, silk, woolen, and cotton fabrics, and the people clothed and beautified with the productions of the works of their own hands, and entirely sustained by their industry and the blessings of God through their righteousness. The Lord brings forth all those temporal blessings precisely in the same way in which he will build up Zion. He will build our houses, tabernacles, and temples, make our farms, raise our wheat, meat, and fruit, make our spinning wheels and looms, and weave our cloth, while we remain in a state of complete inactivity, just as much as he will bring again Zion without our cooperation. The Lord has done his share of the work; he has surrounded us with the elements containing wheat, meat, flax, wool, silk, fruit, and everything with which to build up, beautify and glorify the Zion of the last days, and it is our business to mold these elements to our wants and necessities, according to the knowledge we now have and the wisdom we can obtain from the Heavens through our faithfulness. In this way will the Lord bring again Zion upon the earth, and in no other.

If we wish to make linen, we must prepare the soil that is suitable for raising flax, cast the seed into the ground, cultivate it, gather it, and prepare it to be spun and woven into linen. The Lord will not do this for us. We must also raise our bread by sowing grain, after the ground is prepared, then cultivating and watching it until it is ripened, then passing it through all the different processes until it is made into bread. The Lord will not do this for us anymore than he will bring again Zion without our cooperation. He has placed within our reach everything necessary for food, raiment, houses, and possessions, and for beauty, goodness, excellency, exaltation, life, glory, and bliss. The Lord would clothe these naked Indians, for they are of the house of Israel, if he would clothe us. He will build up Zion upon the same principle that he raises grain, flax, silk, wool, fruit, &c., &c. There is not one thing wanting in all the works of God’s hands to make a Zion upon the earth when the people conclude to make it. We can make a Zion of God on earth at our pleasure, upon the same principle that we can raise a field of wheat, or build and inhabit. There has been no time when the material has not been here from which to produce corn, wheat, &c.; and by the judicious management and arrangement of this ever-existing material a Zion of God can always be built on the earth.

Man is the offspring of God. Who can fully realize this? Our Heavenly Father orders all things that pertain to this earth and to multitudes of worlds of which we are ignorant. We are as much the children of this great Being as we are the children of our mortal progenitors. We are flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone, and the same fluid that circulates in our bodies, called blood, once circulated in his veins as it does in ours. As the seeds of grains, vegetables and fruits produce their kind, so man is in the image of God. We hope to be exalted. We hope that God our Father will make us noble and good, but he will only direct and aid us in making ourselves righteous. He has formed us, and in his providences brought us forth upon this earth, but he without our efforts will not make anything of us. What we shall be, depends upon ourselves. We can improve this organization and bring it back to its original purity and goodness, by faithfulness to the will of Heaven, and by daily adding to the intelligence we now possess until we are prepared to stand in the presence of our Creator.

When we conclude to make a Zion we will make it, and this work commences in the heart of each person. When the father of a family wishes to make a Zion in his own house, he must take the lead in this good work, which it is impossible for him to do unless he himself possesses the Spirit of Zion. Before he can produce the work of sanctification in his family, he must sanctify himself, and by this means God can help him to sanctify his family. There are many families in this community that have constantly with them the Spirit of Zion. Visit them when you will, and you find them dwelling in peace; a heavenly influence constantly broods over them and over everything they possess. But are they perfect? No. It would not do for them to be perfect because we have still to associate more or less with that which is evil.

We have all the material we need to build up Zion, and I wish the Spirit of Zion to extend from heart to heart, and from house to house. This good work must commence in each person; there must be instituted a watchful care over the passions to bring them under control, that an angry feeling may not arise, that an evil passion may not gain the mastery to the overthrow of wisdom and good, sound judgment, until the power of the enemy that is sown within us is entirely subdued to the will of Christ, for the purpose of the enemy of all righteousness is to destroy the human family, and make them what they were not intended to be.

I do not wish you to carry away a wrong impression of our true situation before the heavens relative to perfection. For you to be perfect, in one sense of the word, is to be prepared to inherit eternal glory in the presence of the Father and the Son. Should any mortal attain to this state of perfection, he could not longer remain among his fellow mortals. I do not want you so very perfect, but I am anxious that we should commence the growth of Zion in ourselves, and when we do this, we shall cease to willingly hold fellowship with that which is evil. But so long as we willingly hold fellowship with that which tends to death and destruction, we cannot progress as we should in the work of perfection in ourselves, nor in building up and beautifying Zion.

The work of building up Zion is in every sense a practical work; it is not a mere theory. A theoretical religion amounts to very little real good or advantage to any person. To possess an inheritance in Zion or in Jerusalem only in theory—only in imagination—would be the same as having no inheritance at all. It is necessary to get a deed of it, to make an inheritance, practical, substantial and profitable. Then let us not rest contented with a mere theoretical religion, but let it be practical, self-purifying, and self-sustaining, keeping the love of God within us, walking by every precept, by every law, and by every word that is given to lead us to truth, to God, and to life eternal.

I have Zion in my view constantly. We are not going to wait for angels, or for Enoch and his company to come and build up Zion, but we are going to build it. We will raise our wheat, build our houses, fence our farms, plant our vineyards and orchards, and produce everything that will make our bodies comfortable and happy, and in this manner we intend to build up Zion on the earth and purify it and cleanse it from all pollutions. Let there be an hallowed influence go from us over all things over which we have any power; over the soil we cultivate, over the houses we build, and over everything we possess; and if we cease to hold fellowship with that which is corrupt and establish the Zion of God in our hearts, in our own houses, in our cities, and throughout our country, we shall ultimately overcome the earth, for we are the lords of the earth; and, instead of thorns and thistles, every useful plant that is good for the food of man and to beautify and adorn will spring from its bosom.

We have certain laws to observe in order to obtain wheat. We do not sow wheat on a bare rock, for we have learned by experience that it will not grow there. We do not sow onion and carrot seed in the middle of the street and expect to reap a bountiful crop, for our experience teaches us differently. Instead of doing this, we observe the laws in nature which govern the productions of the earth, as our fathers before us have done, and prepare the ground properly, subduing and enriching and cleansing from it every obnoxious weed. Then if we wish to raise Toas wheat, we sow the seed that will produce it, and proceed in like manner with whatever we desire to produce from the ground, for every seed will produce its kind, and with care and watchfulness the husbandman will reap an abundant increase. Thus it is plainly manifest that we have the laws of nature and of God by which we can build up Zion. Let us then take advantage of the laws and of the blessings which God is willing to pour upon us, and cultivate and subdue the ground, sow the good seed, fence it in that the enemy cannot come and sow tares, and bar up the gates and keep the watchman there to watch day and night.

Those who are sent to sow the good seed are faithfully waiting for the ground to be prepared. Cultivate the seed well, and it will bring forth its kind, that which pertains to the earth and that which pertains to the grace of God and the principles of eternity. Plant and cultivate in your hearts and bring forth the fruits of Zion. Let us prepare our hearts, as we prepare our fields, to receive the good word of God, and never let anything mar our peace, or step in between us and our God and our holy religion, remembering that whatsoever a man soweth that also shall he reap; and as your acts in life are, so you may expect to be judged. The elements are here to produce as good a Zion as was ever made in all the eternities of the Gods. Here are the elements to produce grain which is good for the food of man, as also the fruit of the vine, and that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground. Nevertheless, wheat for man, corn for the ox, oats for the horse, and rye (not for whiskey) for fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

It is for us, as children of our heavenly Father, to arise and assume the right the law of the Holy Priesthood gives us, and organize the elements for a Zion, and bring it forth, no matter where we are. I would not give much for a religion that is not thus practical. Some Elders have in a manner to convey the idea that the practical part of our religion is only manifest here. We should be sorry if this were the case, and a little reflection will show them their mistake. Did you ever have sore feet and aching limbs, while traveling abroad preaching the Gospel? “Yes.” Was that practical, or was it only spiritual? After walking twenty-five miles to fill an appointment, and, before eating a mouthful of food, preaching an hour or two, for nobody had thought you wanted anything to eat, and then baptizing, and then wading through the mud for miles in wet clothes before you could get a dry sock, was that practical? I thought preaching the Gospel was as nigh manual labor as anything I could work at.

We have the material here to build up Zion. Will we build it, up? What do you say? (Voices, “Yes.”) Yes, we will establish it on the earth, no more to be thrown down or removed forever. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 16, 1862.

I have only a few remarks that I wish to make this morning, and they will chiefly relate to our practical and immediate duties.

We amuse and enjoy ourselves a great deal in this Territory, in dancing and in other amusements. I am as fond of amusement as any person, and love to see others enjoy rational amusement in its season. I have this to comfort me; in all our assemblies for amusement this winter, I have not seen or heard anything that has seriously annoyed my feelings. The people have been very civil, and have conducted themselves discreetly and as Saints, as far as I know.

I have now a request to make of the people, through their Bishops, that during the coming week we bring our dancing parties to a close and prepare to attend to matters of greater importance, as the winter is drawing to a close, and the season for business is approaching. In a few weeks from now, we intend to give the people a few evenings entertainment in our new theater, which will not be entirely finished; after which, as the spring opens, we shall attend to preparing material for building our Temple, to gathering the poor, to farming and gardening, to building and fencing, &c.

The exhortation we have heard this morning is good, just, and true. We can gather much from it, touching the evidences of the Gospel. Upon this point the people, in many in– stances, do not understand themselves, they forsake the Gospel, turn away from the holy commandments, and turn to fables. It is very remarkable, though true, that some persons who profess to be intelligent beings are never easy unless they are in pain, nor happy unless they are miserable. When they are comfortable, well fed, and clothed, have good health, and the society of the just, comparatively speaking they must pinch themselves, or stick pins and needles into themselves, in order to feel happier when the pain has ceased. This is marvelous to me.

It is disgraceful for a member of this community to turn away from the truth. When a person receives the truth, has a knowledge of the things of God, is instructed with regard to his position relative to the heavens, he knows a great deal; and it is astonishing to me that there is power enough among the wicked on earth and among devils in hell to turn such a soul away from righteousness. A few in our community seem to be in their glory when they are doing wrong, though this portion is comparatively very small. We do not see in our community quite so much drunkenness as heretofore, nor so many gambling shops, but how long this improved state of things will remain I know not. For a few weeks we have also had a respite from marauding thieves.

Are the people righteous and pure enough in heart not to turn to fables when they are presented to them? Not to commit iniquity when they are tempted? Not to join hands with the ungodly when the ungodly are here to take them by the hand? If we have attained to that power, that Satan and all his forces will fail to turn us away from the holy commandments of the Lord Jesus, we never again will be afflicted through the power of the wicked. When we are tried by afflictions we are apt to forsake the faith of Christ, and then the wicked are permitted to bear rule over us; then unrighteousness surrounds us, and the influence of Satan and of hell prevails in our midst.

Have we yet to endure affliction as we have at the hands of our enemies, the ungodly Gentiles? Have we again to see armies here? And again be driven from our homes? Have we to be visited with pestilence, famine, and earthquake? Is all this necessary? If our hearts are pure we shall never see any of those afflictions poured out upon this people, from this time henceforth; on the contrary, the Lord delights to bless such a people until there is not room to receive more. Still in our afflictions we will not complain, for the Lord has his own way of training his people. How joyful my heart would be if the people would receive the Gospel, if they would understand it as they understand their daily avocations.

Yet, when I realize that God dwells in the midst of eternal burnings, that everything must be pure and holy that comes into his presence; that he has marked out in the Gospel the path for the believer to walk in to attain to holiness, and that no man or woman can receive the Gospel without humbling themselves before the Lord, forsaking their sins, and receiving the Holy Spirit, it is a matter of joy to me that unholy beings are thereby prohibited from entering into his presence. No unhallowed or unclean thing can enter the heavenly abode of the righteous; and it is beyond the capacity of man to make a safer place than that which God has prepared for the righteous. Jesus, in consideration of this, said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal.” Let us bind to heaven all that is near and dear unto us, and if our treasures are there, there also will our affections be.

It is thirty years the 15th day of next April (though it has accidentally been recorded and printed the fourteenth) since I was baptized into this Church, and in that time I have gained quite an experience. I will tell you a little of it, though I will first make a few remarks touching ourselves as a people. We are prone to do wrong, or, as the preacher has recorded—“Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” We are merchants, speculators, traders, and love the best end of a bargain. We delight to talk about our neighbors. “Oh, how I delight to go over to such a house to see that sister, she is so sociable, so full of chit-chat, and knows everything that is going on.” And thus they meet to bereave the characters of their neighbors, and there is not an evil that can be imagined but what will be told. After they have finished their chatting, backbiting, and slandering, they conclude it all by apologizing—“Really, sister, I do not know, but I have said more than I ought, but let us pass it over, you know we are all brethren and sisters.” Again, says one brother in the Church to another, “Well, we had a good time last evening, we enjoyed ourselves pretty well. It is true we got drunk, and it is not quite right to get drunk. My head ached this morning, and I feel a little sorry that we indulged so far.” Another has indulged too much in making liquor, and in putting the deadly draught to his neighbor’s lips. Another has indulged too much in swearing. Another is troubled because he has indulged in taking the advantage of his neighbor in a trade, and, to make a cent, has cheated the simple and good-hearted who trusted in him. Another has stolen a little, or done this and that wrong; and all are apt to excuse themselves under the plea of the weaknesses of human nature.

Now, I come to my own experience and say—there is not an individual here but what has power, and God has given it to him, to drink whiskey or let it alone, to swear or not swear, to lie or not lie, deceive or not deceive, cheat and take advantage of a neighbor or not do so, slander and backbite a brother or a sister or not. This power is our own individual property, and we shall be brought into judgment for the manner in which we use it, and for all our actions in the flesh. Thirty years’ experience has taught me that every moment of my life must be holiness to the Lord, resulting from equity, justice, mercy, and uprightness in all my actions, which is the only course by which I can preserve the Spirit of the Almighty to myself. What is your experience? It is the same as my own. You cannot constantly be sinning a little and repenting, and retain the Spirit of the Lord as your constant companion. My experience up to this time, has been to do as I would that others should do unto me, under like circumstances; and, if I understand myself, there is not a man or woman on the face of this earth that I have dealt with contrary to this rule, and this practice I have continued each day.

When Monday morning breaks upon the eyes of the people, they must be as faithful to God and righteousness as they are here when partaking of the sacrament, or lose the Spirit of the Lord. We have no permission to sin for one moment. You may ask me if I ever do wrong. I answer—yes, like everybody else, owing to the weakness of the flesh; but if I do wrong knowingly, then I sin. When this people can live and never do a wrong knowingly, if they should sin in their ignorance, God will freely forgive that sin, if they are ready to repent when it is made known to them and refrain from it in the future. Let us live in this way and the kingdom is ours. It is the kingdom of God with us, or nothing. It is in our possession, and God will have a people that will preserve it inviolate. There may be some in our midst who do not honor the character of our religion, yet the Lord will preserve his kingdom.

There are some who wish to regain the Spirit of the Lord they have lost, and others desire to go on a Mission to get that Spirit. My advice to all such persons is—so live daily that all the light of God’s Spirit given to you will be preserved in you and increase from day to day, until you become perfect in your sphere as our Father in heaven is perfect. This is my experience. We cannot believe any truth that exists in all the eternities of the Gods that is not embraced in our holy religion, commonly called “Mormonism.” It incorporates every truth that has been known, is known, and will be known, in all the eternities past, and in all the eternities to come; in short, it is eternal truth upon which the throne of God is founded and cannot be moved. May the Lord help us to be faithful.

Again, in all the duties and labors pertaining to our mortal existence, let us remember that Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but it is God alone who gives the increase. And how long will it be before we shall learn to take good care of the increase God gives us? Our labor is our wealth; it is the best capital that any nation can possess. We have an immense capital that will bring us a large interest, if it is expended judiciously and with that wisdom which cometh from Heaven. Every man and woman capable of labor have their stock of capital on hand; dispose of it wisely; let everything be put to good use in the best possible manner to build up the kingdom of God, and to make ourselves comfortable and happy on this earth, and the Lord will preserve us and give us all we ask for. The kingdom is ours. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 9, 1862.

I have four sermons that I wish to preach this morning, and I wish about thirty-five minutes in which to preach them.

The first subject I shall notice this morning is robbing the dead. Many have desired me to express myself in public relative to what has transpired in our graveyard during four or five years past. Robbing the dead is not a new thing. Robbing dead people of their jewelry and clothing is customary in the cities of Europe; and it has been and is customary in many places to steal the body for the purpose of dissection. I have, in the course of my life, been under the necessity of watching graves to keep them from being robbed.

It appears that a man named John Baptiste has practiced robbing the dead of their clothing in our graveyard during some five years past. If you wish to know what I think about it, I answer, I am unable to think so low as to fully get at such a mean, contemptible, damnable trick. To hang a man for such a deed would not begin to satisfy my feelings. What shall we do with him? Shoot him? No, that would do no good to anybody but himself. Would you imprison him during life? That would do nobody any good. What I would do with him came to me quickly, after I heard of the circumstance; this I will mention, before I make other remarks. If it was left to me, I would make him a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth. This would be my sentence, but probably the people will not want this done.

Many are anxious to know what effect it will have upon their dead who have been robbed. I have three sisters in the graveyard in this city, and two wives, and several children, besides other connections and near relatives. I have not been to open any of their graves to see whether they were robbed, and do not mean to do so. I gave them as good a burial as I could; and in burying our dead, we all have made everything as agreeable and as comfortable as we could to the eye and taste of the people in their various capacities, according to the best of our judgments; we have done our duty in this particular, and I for one am satisfied. I will defy any thief there is on the earth or in hell to rob a Saint of one blessing. A thief may dig up dead bodies and sell them for the dissecting knife, or may take their raiment from them, but when the resurrection takes place, the Saints will come forth with all the glory, beauty, and excellency of resurrected Saints clothed as they were when they were laid away.

Some may inquire whether it is necessary to put fresh linen into the coffins of those who have been robbed of their clothing. As to this you can pursue the course that will give you the most contentment and satisfaction; but if the dead are laid away as well as they can be, I will promise you that they will be well clothed in the resurrection, for the earth and the elements around it are full of these things. All that is needed is power to bring forth those things necessary, as Jesus did when he fed the multitude with a few loaves and fishes, perhaps no more than would on ordinary occasions feed six men; he organized the elements around, and fed five thousand. In the resurrection everything that is necessary will be brought from the elements to clothe and to beautify the resurrected Saints, who will receive their reward. I do not trouble myself about my dead. If they are stripped of their clothing, I do not want to know it.

Some, I have been informed, can now remember having had singular dreams, and others have heard rappings on the floor, on the bedstead, on the door, on the table, &c., and have imagined that they might have proceeded from the spirits of the dead calling on their friends to give them clothing, for they were naked. My dead friends have not been to me to tell me that they were naked, cold, &c.; and if any such rappings should come to me, I should tell them to go to their own place. I have little faith in those rappings. If I felt that I ought to pay attention to such things, I would not, so to speak, let my right hand know what my left did; and it would require a greater power than John Baptiste to make me believe either a truth or a lie.

I thought the remark made by a lad to a group of weeping women was very appropriate, though I do not blame them for weeping when they saw the clothing they had put upon their departed darlings; said he, “supposing the linen was all burnt up and the ashes scattered to the four winds, could not the angel Gabriel call those particles together as easily as he could call together the particles of the body?” The elements are all here, and they will be called forth in their proper time and place. Let the minds of the people be at rest upon this matter. What has been done they cannot help. If any wish to open the graves of their dead and put clothing in the coffins to satisfy their feelings, all right; I am satisfied. I am also satisfied that had we been brought up and traditionated to burn a wife upon the funeral pile, we should not be satisfied unless this practice was followed out; we would have the same grief and sorrow that we now have when we find that our dead have been robbed of their clothing. Or if we had been brought up as our natives are, when a chief died if we did not kill a wife or two, a few horses, or a few prisoners, &c., as soon as the darkness of night set in we very likely should fancy ourselves haunted with the spirits of the dead, dissatisfied at our not giving them proper burial rites, and company to pass with them through the dark shadows of the grave to the good land where there are better hunting grounds. The power and influence of tradition has a great deal to do with the way we feel about this matter of our dead being robbed.

We are here in circumstances to bury our dead according to the order of the Priesthood. But some of our brethren die upon the ocean; they cannot be buried in a burying ground, but they are sewed up in canvas and cast into the sea, and perhaps in two minutes after they are in the bowels of the shark, yet those persons will come forth in the resurrection, and receive all the glory of which they are worthy, and be clothed upon with all the beauty of resurrected Saints, as much so as if they had been laid away in a gold or silver coffin, and in a place expressly for burying the dead. If you think opposite to this your thoughts are in vain. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of these things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” If the particles of which the body is composed are distributed to the four quarters of the earth, at the sound of the trumpet, when the dead are to come forth the dust that composed their bodies, that portion which is suffered to endure, will come from the ends of the earth, mote by mote, particle by particle, atom to atom, bone to bone, sinew to sinew, and flesh will cover them, and the same body will come forth in the resurrection, as much so as the body of Jesus came forth from the tomb.

Do as you please with regard to taking up your friends. If I should undertake to do anything of the kind, I should clothe them completely and then lay them away again. And if you are afraid of their being robbed again, put them into your gardens, where you can watch them by day and night until you are pretty sure that the clothing is rotted, and then lay them away in the burying ground. I would let my friends lay and sleep in peace. I am aware of the excited state of the feelings of the community; I have little to say about the cause of it. The meanness of the act is so far beneath my comprehension that I have not ventured to think much about it.

I will now proceed to my next text. I have lately preached a short sermon to the Bishops, in a Bishops’ meeting, and I now wish to present the subject of those remarks to this congregation; they were in relation to the Bishops building dancing rooms for their schoolhouses and ward meetings. In my heart, soul, affections, feelings, and judgment, I am opposed to making a cotillion hall a place of worship. All men have their agency, and should be permitted to act as freely as consistent, that they may manifest by their acts whether they are controlled by the pure principle of righteousness. Many of you remember that at first we assembled in a bowery on the southeast corner of this block, where we met for some time under its shade, and held preaching meetings, sacrament meetings, political meetings, and every kind of public gathering, because it was the only place that would then accommodate the people. Soon after that we built this Tabernacle. We probably had not the first stick of timber on the ground before I was besought to build it for dancing in and for theatrical purposes. I said no, to everyone that requested me to do that. I told them that dancing and theatrical performances were no part of our religion; we are merely permitted to occupy a portion of the time in those amusements, being very careful not to grieve the Spirit of the Lord. More or less amusement of that kind suits our organization, but when we come to the things of God, I had rather not have them mixed up with amusement like a dish of succotash.

I like to dance, but do I want to sin? No; rather than sin I would wish never to dance or hear a fiddle again while I live. Let that which I would sin in be taken from me, and let me be kept from it from this time henceforth and forever, no matter what it is. I like my pastimes and enjoy myself as you do, in amusements wherein we do not sin. Brother E. D. Woolley and myself had some conversation on this subject, and he thought that he would build a house to accommodate social gatherings but could not at that time very well do it, so I built the hall which is called the Social Hall. In it are combined a dancing room and a small stage for theatrical performances. That is our fun hall, and not a place in which to administer the sacrament. We dedicated it to the purpose for which it was built, and from the day we first met there until now, I would rather see it laid in ashes in a moment than to see it possessed by the wicked. We prayed that the Lord would preserve it to the Saints; and if it could not thus be preserved, let it be destroyed and not be occupied by the wicked. You know what spirit attends that room. There we have had governors, judges, doctors, lawyers, merchants, passersby, &c., who did not belong to our Church, and what has been the universal declaration of each and every one? “I never felt so well before in all my life at any party as I do here;” and the Saints do not feel as well in any other place of amusement. We have a beautiful assembly room in the 13th Ward, but you cannot feel as well in a party there as you can in the hall that was built and dedicated to that purpose. Everything in its time, and everything in its place.

In the year 1849, I think it was, I was called upon to give a draft for a schoolhouse, that would be commodious and suitable for each ward. I gave that draft, and I do not think that I could now alter it for the better. Has there been a schoolhouse built according to the draft? There have been a few wings built, and the main body of the building I drafted was not intended for a dancing hall. By referring to the plan I gave, you can see my idea of a Ward schoolhouse, but it has not been carried out. It is now whispered around that we are opposed to dancing in the 14th Ward Schoolroom. This is not so. I have been there several times, and enjoyed myself well, as also in the 13th Ward house, which is called the Assembly Rooms, though I would call it a cotillion hall. I am opposed to making the youth of our land believe that dancing and frolicking are a part of our religion, when in truth they are not any part of it, though I hear from every quarter that the Gentiles say, “I like this part of your religion, for I understand that this is one branch of your religion, and I like this dancing very much.” It is no part of our religion, and I am opposed to devoting to a cotillion room, a house set apart for the worship of God. I am opposed to having cotillions or theatrical performances in this Tabernacle. I am opposed to making this a fun hall, I do not mean for wickedness, I mean for the recuperation of our spirits and bodies. I shall not be opposed to the brethren’s building a meetinghouse somewhere else, and keeping their cotillions halls for parties, but I am not willing that they should convert the house that has been set apart for religious meetings into a dancing hall.

I will now pass to my third text. I can say with confidence, that there is no people on the face of this earth that pay more respect to females than do this people. I know of no community where females enjoy the privileges they do here. If anyone of them is old and withered and so dried up that you have to put weights on her skirts to keep her from blowing away, she is so privileged that she is in everybody’s dish or platter—her nose is everywhere present—and still she will go home and tell her husband that she is slighted. Here we see the marked effect of the curse that was in the beginning placed upon woman, their desire is to their husbands all the time. It is also written, “and he shall rule over you.” Now put the two together. Nobody else must be spoken to, no other body must be danced with, no other lady must sit at the head of the table with her husband.

A few years ago one of my wives, when talking about wives leaving their husbands said, “I wish my husband’s wives would leave him, every soul of them except myself.” That is the way they all feel, more or less, at times, both old and young. The ladies of seventy, seventy-five, eighty, and eighty-five years of age are greeted here with the same cheerfulness as are the rest. All are greeted with kindness, respect, and gentleness, no matter whether they wear linsey or silks and satin, they are all alike respected and beloved according to their behavior; at least they are so far as I am concerned.

It may be all well enough if a woman can attain faith to throw off the curse, but there is one thing she cannot away with, at least not so far as I am concerned, and that is, “and he shall rule over thee.” I can do that by causing my women to do as they have a mind to; and at the same time they do not know what is going on. When I say rule, I do not mean with an iron hand, but merely to take the lead—to lead them in the path I wish them to walk in. They may be determined not to answer my will, but they are doing it all the time without knowing it. Kindness, love, and affection are the best rod to use upon the refractory. Solomon is said to have been the wisest man that ever lived, and he is said to have recommended another kind of rod. I have tried both kinds on children. I can pick out scores of men in this congregation who have driven their children from them by using the wooden rod. Where there is severity there is no affection or filial feeling in the hearts of either party; the children would rather be away from father than be with him.

In some families the children are afraid to see father—they will run and hide as from a tyrant. My children are not afraid of my footfall; except in the case of their having done something wrong they are not afraid to approach me. I could break the wills of my little children, and whip them to this, that, and the other, but this I do not do. Let the child have a mild training until it has judgment and sense to guide it. I differ with Solomon’s recorded saying as to spoiling the child by sparing the rod. True it is written in the New Testament that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.” It is necessary to try the faith of children as well as of grown people, but there are ways of doing so besides taking a club and knocking them down with it. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” There is nothing consistent in abusing your wives and children. There is quite a portion of the Elders of Israel who do not know how to use one wife well. I love my wives, respect them, and honor them, but to make a queen of one and peasants of the rest I have no such disposition, neither do I expect to do it.

I will now pass to my fourth text, and the sermon will be quite brief. It is well known that we now receive news from the west and east by the telegraphic wire that is stretched across the Continent. Last night we read a manuscript telegram, containing yesterday’s news from New York City and Chicago. There are a great many in this Territory, who want that news while it is fresh, but it goes into our printing office, and there remains from two to five days before the people can get it. I want a company raised to stretch a wire through our settlements in this Territory, that information may be communicated to all parts with lightning speed.

I am now constantly annoyed with “What is the news? Have you received it?” Yes, we have received it. “When?” Three or four days ago, but it is not yet set up; when, at the same time, if there is a particle of manuscript telegram in my office, they never rest until they get it; and when they have got it they seem to care no more about it.

I wish some kind of arrangements entered into whereby we can have the news before us in some reasonable time. We have been put off with printers’ excuses until I am tired. We send down to the printing office, and inquire if the extra is out. Answer—“It will be out in a few minutes.” We wait until morning and send again. “It will be out in a few minutes; we are now working at it;” when, perhaps, it has never been touched. This I do not like. Thus endeth my fourth and last sermon.

May the Lord bless you all, brethren. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George A. Smith, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 6, 1862.

I desire to offer a few reflections that are now suggested to me by the abundant blessings which surround us. I need not say that I have been delighted with the remarks of our brethren that have spoken today; but I will say that while we enjoy the multiplicity of blessings which now surround us, we should remember the poor Saints that are scattered abroad in distant lands.

It is only a few days since I re– ceived a letter from Bishop Jacob G. Bigler, who is now on a mission in Ireland. He writes that the brethren and sisters are very kind to him, and feed him a great deal better than they are able to feed themselves. He says they give him meat twice a week, while they cannot get it at all; and he feels thankful for the kindness manifested by the people to him under such extreme poverty, and wishes me to importune with the brethren here that they may be delivered from the poverty and bondage with which they are environed.

Not long since, a letter was received in Provo from Elder William Cluff, who is now laboring in Denmark. He incidentally remarked that a sister sheared thirty-seven head of sheep to get money to pay the postage of that letter.

A few days since, I received a letter from my brother John L., who is laboring in Switzerland. It is rather a hard country to labor in, in consequence of the oppressive laws and variety of institutions of the twenty-two cantons composing that Confederation. He says that there are a great many of the brethren in that country who labor for ten cents per week and their board, and there is no earthly prospect of their condition being improved; but every year the oppressive bonds that grow upon them become tighter and tighter. I merely refer to these incidents that we may compare the situation of the Saints in the old world with our own in the fertile vales of Utah. Will we exert ourselves to relieve those brethren that are scattered abroad? We believe, ere long, that the vengeance of the Almighty will be poured out upon the inhabitants of the whole earth. Peace having been taken from the earth, men thirst for each other’s destruction; and in their conflicts and destructive wars, our brethren and sisters who desire to emigrate to these peaceful vales may be overwhelmed, and have to suffer with the multitude of the wicked, unless we stretch forth our hand and use our means for their deliverance.

We are exhorted this morning by our President to send back teams and wagons, and to go ourselves to aid in bringing the poor and worthy Saints home. Are we on hand? Are we fully awake to this important matter? I recollect, last season, passing through the settlements south, when I was told repeatedly that the number of teams called for would paralyze the farming interests. In the same region, only a few months after, while passing through, they said, “We have more grain than we can actually harvest and secure: we never had such a crop before.” There are thousands of our brethren abroad who are reduced to the greatest extremities, and as a wise and provident people it is our duty to provide for ourselves, and as far as possible to provide an asylum for the oppressed of all nations.

Great Britain, so famous for political economists and statesmen, has planned so unwisely, that, through a family quarrel between the Northern and Southern States of America, five millions of her subjects are in danger of starvation. Some of them are members of this Church. We must plan differently, and combine the talent, enterprise, and ingenuity in our midst to develop the resources of our country, so that outside complications cannot reduce us to starvation or deprive us of the comforts of life. “The wisdom of the wise shall perish in the last days.” True wisdom in the rulers of a nation would dictate a system of political economy that would provide the means of living and sustaining the nation within itself as one common family. When a nation fails to do this, it lacks the exercise of that prudent policy which makes the country self-preserving.

We talk about going to the States to procure a few articles which we cannot at present produce. But, suppose the people of the States should become as infuriated as the Jaredites, or the Nephites and Lamanites of old were, and should fight and slay each other as they did, whom would you get your supplies from? Who would grow or manufacture cotton for you, or supply you with mill saws, scythes, axes, cotton or wool cards, steel, or silks and satins? We should have to supply ourselves or go without. Think of these things, and realize that the Lord has taken peace from the earth, and is suffering the wicked to slay the wicked, and that the Prophet Brigham has this day blown the trumpet and warned us to prepare to supply our own wants. “But,” says a brother, “I want to follow that business I can make the most at.” I would manufacture combs, but I can make more by raising wheat. Suppose all the tradesmen in the country should do the same, what would you do? No blacksmiths, carpenters, tanners, or shoemakers, but all farmers, and farming without ploughs, hoes, and going barefoot, would soon be the inevitable result of this policy. We must all act our part, and act it prudently and wisely.

I wished to add my testimony to the things you have listened to. May the blessings of God rest upon us, and give unto us wisdom and ability to contribute our aid to make the people of Zion self-sustaining. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Feb. 6, 1862.

The spirit and the body are the soul of man, and one is not perfect without the other, any more than we can be perfect in the immortal state without those who have gone before us, or they without us. There will be a restitution of all things in heaven and on earth to make things perfect. That which we call this present life, in reality, has no end; that which we call time is in reality eternity. We say the dead have departed this life as though they had departed to some other life. This, however, is not so; dying is like going from one room to another, or from one part of the earth to another, the life still exists though the body decays, but the life which dwelt in it is indestructible.

We read of men who have been translated, but they must pass through a change which is equal to death, for it is appointed that all men shall die, and after that cometh the judgment. These things are not new to you, but it is well to speak of them that we may constantly be reminded that we shall live forever in some state. If this were not so, then immortality would be as an idle tale, and utter annihilation must follow the dissolution of this body. By observing strictly the precepts of the Gospel, we can learn how to live forever, and how to receive our tabernacles again in the morning of the first resurrection, to dwell on this earth forever. To attain the possession of these blessings, we must live worthy of them.

There is no sin more heinous in the sight of God than the sin of ingratitude. All beings that pertain to this earth, whether visible or invisible, draw their sustenance from it. The heavens and the earth associate together and minister one to the other. If the earthly is separated from the heavenly, or the temporal from the spiritual, then is the earthly or the temporal dead; the one is necessary to the other for a fulness of joy and an endless duration. The earth abideth the law by which it was made; if it could break that law it would have to receive damnation. If we violate the law by which we were made, then we forfeit our title to exaltation and eternal lives. The earth is the mother of us all, and from its bosom we are fed, and receive our growth and strength as an infant receives its nourishment from the maternal breast. I want us to obtain power to dedicate and consecrate the earth unto God, that his Spirit may continue upon it forever; that by this means the earthly may partake of the attributes of the heavenly, and become sanctified and prepared to enter the presence of God.

It is often said here that this people are blessed above all other people; this is truly so. We are in the mountains; we did not come here of our own accord, but we came by the will of the Father. We are in the tops of the mountains where the prophet said the people of God would be in the last days. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” The ancient prophets have joy in seeing the fulfilment of the words they spoke when they were upon the earth. Jesus spake a parable to the Pharisees and Scribes, saying—“What man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine and goeth into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray? And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” We are here at home in the tops of the mountains; and there was joy in heaven when we embraced the truth and were gathered into this safe fold. The sheep that are still scattered need our aid and pity. Those that are at home, many of them, think they ought to be pitied now more than anybody else, when there are thousands still wandering from the true fold. We shall be the saviors of men sooner or later if we are faithful, and shall have power to redeem and save mankind through the atonement made by Jesus Christ.

Why should those who are in the house, well fed and clad, be jealous and envious of a poor sheep I may seek and save? If we cannot save a person temporally, it is a very hard case to save him spiritually, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” That is, let every man save himself as far as he can. The Saints that are yet scattered among the nations are as good people as we are, but they cannot get away from their present bondage; they have not the means necessary to work out their temporal deliverance. This year we will probably give you a chance to help to gather in the sheep that are still wandering in the desert, seeking the friendly shelter of this fold which we so happily enjoy. I understand President Young intends to call for five hundred teams this season to send to the frontiers for the Saints. Some have supposed that so many teams could not be loaded. The teams we sent down last year were loaded to the brim, and those this year will be to their utmost capacity. It is a true saying that “God helps them that help themselves;” and the Savior says, “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you.” If we send down teams and say to the poor Saints among all nations, Come—shall we be frustrated in our noble design? We shall not, for that would not be in keeping with the character of God, nor with the character of his angels.

Who are his angels? They are men who stood fast through tribulation; they are prophets and apostles and patriarchs who once lived upon the earth, and bore testimony of the truth of the Gospel of the Son of God, the same Gospel that we preach. If we try to gather the poor, the Lord and his angels will help us and open the way before us, and as we return with the poor Saints to this land he will shut up the way behind us. It is our privilege to step forth and show ourselves approved, and if it is not the mind of the Lord we should prosper in the way and at the time we wish, let us be contented, knowing that we have shown our good will. If the Lord tells us to do anything and our enemies hinder us, the Lord will require it at their hands and they must pay that debt, and fully satisfy the demands of justice. One half of the people we gather may not be true Saints, but that makes no difference, for if there is not more than one Saint to ten who profess to be Saints, the Almighty will preserve the ten unworthy persons for the sake of the one good Saint. For the sake of a few true-hearted Saints traveling in a large company, the Lord will preserve their ships, the cars they travel on, and their teams; this I know from actual experience from the first day I entered into this Church to this day. God is the same today as he was in the days of the great flood, he loves and respects his friends, and so should we love and respect the faithful and true, and nourish and cherish them. We have not proved the Saints that are scattered abroad, nor they us; they may have proved themselves with their brethren in their own country and kept the commandments; but out of a thousand persons whom we emigrate, if we get only one hundred Saints how great will be our joy with them in the kingdom of our Father.

Let the brethren be ready when the call is made upon them to supply teams, and if the call is not made, then they are prepared to go to plowing and cultivating the ground and filling the earth with seed.

We are now partaking of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper; when we partake of the bread, let us pray the Father that strength may be given to our bodies that they may not wither, but be strengthened to reach a good old age; when we partake of the wine—or water, which is emble– matic of his blood, let us ask the Father that our blood may never be spilled unless it is necessary for the advancement of his Kingdom and the glory of God. We are in the true fold and are fed with the bread of life, the Word of God, which, if we receive faithfully and truly, will create within us that which will be as a well of water, springing up to everlasting life, and we shall never be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of God, for we shall partake of the attributes of our Heavenly Father. My prayer is that our hearts may become pregnant with the word of God and with the power of God, showing our connection with God, with Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Ghost, with the angels, and with the prophets and apostles that dwell in heaven.

I will make another remark regarding angels. God sent an angel to John on the Isle of Patmos, and John says, concerning it, “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God.” Men are made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, but when men are clothed with the holy priesthood and sent forth to minister the word of life, the comparison between them and the angels is somewhat different. “And of his angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.” While in the act of ministering the Gospel, the servants of God may be considered angels. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for some have entertained angels unawares.” The servants of God are angels in one sense, sent forth to gather the house of Israel from the four corners of the earth; and the Elders of this Church in their labors have fulfilled, partly, the sayings of the Savior, when they have found two working in the field, one has received the Gospel and been gathered, and the other left; two working in a mill, one has been taken and the other left; two lying in a bed, the one has been taken and the other left. But no doubt these sayings will have their final and complete fulfilment about the time of the second coming of the Savior. “For as in the days of Noah that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Again, there are hundreds who profess to receive the Gospel from our hands, and the sacrament, but they do not receive the power of God, and do not gather with the true sheep into the sheepfold. There are scores of people in England that I baptized twenty-six years ago, who are there yet, firm and steadfast, so I hear—they will be gathered to the fold in due time. The angels of this Church travel without purse and scrip, they are destitute of the means necessary to bring them along; but we are watching for an opportunity to deliver them, before universal destruction shall come upon the wicked nations.

The Lord sent three angels to watch over Abraham and Lot anciently. They stayed with Abraham, and Sarah baked a cake apiece for them; Abraham killed a calf, and supplied butter and milk to refresh them, after they had washed their feet. Jacob, on one occasion, wrestled with an angel all night long, but could not throw him. Jacob had hold of a being full of spring and power like unto a man, and he did not know the difference; he was a man and an angel. We are exhorted daily to conduct ourselves like the angels of God, to try and be like them: we are ex– horted to be godlike; and to be godlike is to do as God wishes us to do. God feeds the wicked and the good, clothes the righteous and the unrighteous, and is merciful to all the workmanship of his hands. I see the necessity of being more pure, more merciful, more faithful, and more true. If we pursue this course, my brethren and sisters, how great will be our blessings. No blessing will be withheld from the truly faithful. When a man is placed to preside over us, let us nourish and sustain that man as though he were an angel direct from the presence of God. I wish you to understand and appreciate what I say, and treasure it up.

A man who raises up his puny arm against the priesthood of God on the earth, is measuring arms with the Almighty. If an unfaithful wife shall raise the standard of war against her husband who is faithful to God, she is making war against the Almighty, and she will be wasted away, and she will ultimately curse God and die.

May God bless his people from the rivers to the ends of the earth, in all their settlements and abiding places. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 2, 1862.

I have a few items of business that I wish to lay before you this morning, and the first is a call upon the brethren for teams to haul the granite blocks from Little Cottonwood to the Temple Block. The road became so muddy that the teams were sent home, but we understand that the road is now very good. This county, Davis, Tooele, and the northern part of Utah counties can forward teams in a day or two, and if the road again becomes bad, they are not so far from their homes but what they can easily return. I wish to have all the teams that can be gathered from this city and the adjoining neighborhoods and Wards go to work immediately, so that our stonecutters may have constant work. Some of them are from a distance, and we do not like to have them out of work through want of rough blocks. It requires a large quantity of rock for the first story of the Temple, and we would like to complete the walls of that story, and as much more as possible during the present season.

I have another call to make upon the people now, which I wish to go out from this place. You will recollect that a year ago this coming spring we sent some two hundred teams to the Frontiers to bring the Saints to this Territory. We wish to send three hundred this year, and they are as few as will answer to accomplish the purpose. Last season I think there were rising of sixty teams went from this city. I shall propose that we make the dividend as we did last year, and let this city take the lead; and if we are not over one quarter in number, we ought to be in faith and good works. We know that the people in this city and in the regions round about are wealthy in cattle, and you know very well that it is against my doctrine and feelings for men to scrape together the wealth of the world and let it waste and do no good. We have more stock than we well take care of. We want to send some twelve hundred yoke of cattle to the States for freight and people, and we want to send some cattle to sell and purchase things that are needed for families when crossing the Plains, for we wish to bring all the poor that can get to the Frontiers in time to come on this season.

Now I have a particular request to make of all our capitalists, and that is, for them to send and procure machinery to aid in supplying all our reasonable wants in manufactured articles, that we may have everything within ourselves for houses, for goods, for chattels, for chariots, for ribbons, and for ruffles, yes, everything that we require to clothe ourselves with from the stockings on our feet to the articles worn on our heads. You who have money and other available means, send and get such machinery as is really necessary for manufacturing those things that we require to make us comfortable. It is our duty to do this, and it is not your duty neither is it mine to send and get ten thousand dollars worth of ribbons.

It may be asked, “Does not brother Brigham buy as many store goods for his wives and children as any man in the Territory of Utah?” I buy more. Probably I bestow more, according to the number I have to sustain, than any other man. “Why do you do so?” Shall I say, to keep peace out of the family, or to keep peace in the family? Which is it? I will leave that for you to answer. Such buying is no part of the duty of any man in this community; neither is it the duty of any man to be a merchant in this community, in the manner that many are and have been. I frequently tell the people that it is no part of my religion or duty to dance, but it is as much a part of my religious duty to dance as it is to buy ribbons and other useless articles of clothing. We are permitted to do such things because of our ignorance, and the sin that is in the world; because of the want of the knowledge possessed by heavenly beings; the want of true knowledge concerning the earth and the inhabitants thereon. Were it not for this ignorance and darkness we should not be pardoned as we are now. When we become weaned from the love of the world, become humble, penitent, contrite in spirit, and begin to love the Lord a little, it almost distracts us—some almost go crazy.

At no distant period merchandising in imported goods will cease in this Territory, and the fabrics we wear will be manufactured by ourselves—imported fabrics will not be here. The inquiry may arise, “What will be done with the money that will accumulate?” for we have paid merchants here during eleven to twelve years past not less than from six to ten hundred thousand dollars annually. If any should be fearful that they will be cumbered with sur– plus means, I will promise them to provide a way in which they may expend their means for the upbuilding of the kingdom of God. I do not feel to find fault, complain, or cast reflections upon myself, upon my family, or upon my brethren and sisters for what we have hitherto done and still are doing in the capacity of merchants, or purchasers, or consumers. I look forward to the time when this people will possess what is called the wealth of the earth, that is, those articles which are accounted very valuable, but many of which are in reality of very little worth. The diamond is considered of the most value, still its intrinsic value is but trifling; by heat it can be burned like other coal. I esteem gold as more valuable, for it cannot be consumed by fire. We would like to have a little of this metal, for how much better would it be to drink out of a gold cup than out of an old rusty tin basin. We expect to have earthenware, it is true, when we get men here that know how to put the material together to make it, but if you accidentally let a piece of fine expensive earthenware drop, it breaks and that is the end of it; should a child or a grown person make a misstep and fall, when carrying a gold or silver cup or vessel, it cannot be broken. But this will be hereafter, it is not yet. When we see the time that the people will possess the true riches of the earth and the heavens, we can preserve that which we have, it will not be stolen by thieves.

Apparently the merchandising interest in this community is coming to a close, and I feel like urging upon the people the necessity of preparing to grow and manufacture that which they consume. It is my indispensable duty to urge this important item upon them and to warn them of coming evil to themselves, unless they attend to it. We want, in view of this, a liberal turn out of teams to bring machinery from the East this coming summer. It may be asked what we need here. Why are your wives unable to card a little wool into rolls to spin and knit you and your children some stockings? Because they have no cards. Suppose there was not a carding machine in this Territory or a single pair of hand cards, and they were not to be had, how could we make ourselves comfortable without them? We might possibly manage to make cloth in a rude way, but the demand would be far beyond the supply—it could not possibly keep pace with the wants of our growing community. We need a cardmaking machine here, one that will draw the wire, perforate the leather, and cut, bend, and insert the teeth. We could make one here, but it would cost much more than to import one. I want some of the brethren to send and get one or more machines of this kind, for we do not need many; but when we come to cotton and woolen fabrics that we need to wear every day, and without which we cannot be so comfortable as we now are, we need much machinery to manufacture them. We now need twenty times more carding machines in this Territory than we have. Wool now lies in the mill month after month before it can be carded, which injures it. Will our capitalists send and bring in carding machines and other machinery? I want to see fifty or one hundred cotton spinning jennies, introduced into the country, they will cost about one hundred dollars each, and with one of them a child twelve or fifteen years old can in a day gin, card, and spin cotton enough to make twelve yards of cloth.

These are matters that pertain to our present life, to us at this time and in our present circumstances. I am anxious that the people should fully understand the vital importance of maintaining their present lives to make them useful, hence I speak much in this strain. There is great credit due the female portion of our community for the things they try to teach their children; still I would like to see a closer application in giving their daughters a good sound practical moral education. I feel gratified when I look around upon the congregation and see many of the mothers wearing dresses they have made themselves of wool grown in this Territory; and I have not seen in any new country a better article of cloth than our sisters make here; it will bear the inspection of the most fastidious votaries of pride and fashion; in that class of goods it cannot be excelled. Great credit is due to this people for the progress they have made. We have not in our society an aristocratic circle. Whether a brother wears a coonskin cap or a fine beaver hat is all the same to us. If a person is a faithful servant of God we do not object to his coming to meeting, though he has only but a piece of buffalo skin to wear on his head. We partake of the sacrament with him, hail him in the street as a brother and a friend, ride with him, converse with him, meet with him in social parties, and greet him as an equal. I also see brethren walk into meeting with overcoats on which their wives and daughters have made, but suppose you had not the means for getting your wool carded, nor the means for carding it yourselves, could you have produced the excellent cloth you now wear? You could not.

I delight to see the mother learn her daughters to be housekeepers; to be particular, clean, and neat; to sew, spin, and weave; to make butter and cheese; and I have no objection to their learning to cultivate flowers herbs, and useful shrubs in the gardens. It is good for their health to rise early in the morning and work in the soil an hour or two before breakfast; this practice is especially beneficial to those who have weak lungs. And while you delight in raising flowers, &c., do not neglect to learn how to take care of the cream, and how to make of it good wholesome butter, and of the milk good healthy nutritious cheese; neither forget your sewing, spinning, and weaving; and I would not have them neglect to learn music and would encourage them to read history and the Scriptures, to take up a newspaper, geography, and other publications, and make themselves acquainted with the manners and customs of distant kingdoms and nations, with their laws, religion, geographical location on the face of the world, their climate, natural productions, the extent of their commerce, and the nature of their political organization; in fine, let our boys and girls be thoroughly instructed in every useful branch of physical and mental education. Let this education begin early. Teach little children the principles of order; the little girl to put the broom in its right place, to arrange the stove furniture in the nearest possible way, and everything in its own place. Teach them to lay away their clothing neatly, and where it can be found; and when they tear their frocks and aprons teach them how to mend the rent so neatly that the place cannot be seen at a short distance; and instead of asking your husbands to buy them ribbons and frills, learn them to make them of the material we can produce. Teach the little boys to lay away the garden hoe, the spade, &c., where they will not be destroyed by rust; and let them have access to tools that they may learn their use, and develop their mechanical skill while young; and see that they gather up the tools when they have done with them, and deposit them in the proper place. Let both males and females encourage within them mechanical ingenuity, and seek constantly to understand the world they are in, and what use to make of their existence.

It is unnecessary to send to England, to France, to the East Indies, to China, or to any other country for a little crockeryware, silk, calico, muslin, &c., for we can make those articles here. We need the machinery; let us unite and get it. Last fall brother A. R. Wright brought in an excellent piece of machinery for manufacturing flax; it now belongs to brother Pyper. I would like to see some man manifest interest enough to take that machinery and put it to work. Thousands of pounds of flax could be worked up by it this coming fall and next winter. Who will do this? I know not.

This people are dilatory in some things. What are many of them thinking about? The kingdom of God, sometimes. They want to pray and have faith just sufficient to keep in the path of the angel that is going round to gather up the righteous, and the rest of the time their minds are upon a gold mine, or upon going to the States to buy goods, and they see themselves behind a counter, “Ah,” think they, “Won’t I look a gentlemanly looking man when I am dealing out the calico?” I never could, the poorest day I ever saw in my life, descend so low as to stand behind a counter. Taking that class of men as a whole, I think they are of extremely small caliber.

Women and children can deal out pins, and needles, and ribbons; this is too trifling a business for men. Their business is to organize the elements and draw from them the raw material in abundance, and then manufacture it into those things which are calculated to make comfortable, beautiful, lovely, healthy, and happy God’s people. Our brethren calculate on the increase of their stock, and are keen to gather around them the riches of this life, but they do not make judicious calculations how to dispose of those riches to the best advantage. They will fill the whole country with stock of every kind, but can see no way how it should be put to proper use. The merchant calculates that he will make fifty or a hundred thousand dollars in so many years, but if you ask him what he is going to do with it he is astonished at the question, for he never thought of that. All he thought of was piling up the riches. Did you ever think it was your privilege to place those riches out to usury in building up the kingdom of God? Do you not belong to the Church of God? Do you not pray? What do you pray for? One says, “I pray the Lord to keep and preserve me, to sanctify me and prepare me for his kingdom and glory; I just want to slip inside the gate, I am not very ambitious.” Do you think anything about preparing for it here? “Only in heart, or in spirit.”

My doctrine is to put every dollar to usury for building up the kingdom of God, whether it be much or little. I want the brethren to man out their teams, and send down three hundred this season, and four or five hundred when required. And then I want to see the brethren join together their teams and money and send for machinery, besides sending teams for the poor; and thus we will fill the Territory with the necessary articles of machinery for a self-sustaining people. It is necessary for us to sustain ourselves, or we will be left in poverty, nakedness, and distress, as a consequence of war and the breaking up of the general govern– ment. We now meet men who seemingly have very little clothing—they wear patch upon patch. I would not by this remark have it understood that clothing ought not to be neatly and somewhat extensively mended, but I have seen men wear pantaloons so patched that it would puzzle you to place your finger upon a piece of the original. They have wives and daughters, but they do not spin. In Exodus we read, “And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands.” If, instead of our wives and daughters passing their hours in idleness, folding their hands, and rocking themselves in their easy chairs, they would spin a little wool, and a little cotton from our Dixie, or that grown in their own gardens and fields, and make some good warm clothing for the men and boys, and some linsey frocks for the women and girls, they could with propriety be called wise women in Israel. If you happen to be in a party where I am and wearing dresses made with your own hands, I shall take pleasure in dancing with you in preference to the lady dressed in silks and satins. We can do this, but we need to be taught day after day, month after month, and year after year.

Human beings are expected by their Creator to be actively employed in doing good every day of their lives, either in improving their own mental and physical condition or that of their neighbors. But there are thousands whose days, months, and years are nothing more than a blank; there is not a single trace upon their life’s pages that might be construed as useful to the cause of humanity. This people have embraced the philosophy of eternal lives, and in view of this we should cease to be children and become philosophers, understanding our own existence, its purpose and ultimate design, then our days will not become a blank through ignorance, but every day will bring with it its useful and profitable employment. God has placed us here, given us the ability we possess, and supplied the means upon which we can operate to produce social, national, and eternal happiness.

Seeing we are so wonderfully endowed with priceless gifts by our Heavenly Father, will he not require usury at our hands? He will. But he has made us agents to ourselves, which makes us responsible for the way in which we use the talents he has given us, for the manner we expend the gold and silver, the wheat and fine flour, the cattle upon a thousand hills, and the wine and oil, for they all belong to Him; and we too belong to Him, but he has created man after His own image, and endowed him with a germ of independence that will crown him a God through his faithfulness. He required us to devote these godlike powers to our own advantage, life, wealth, beauty, comfort, and exaltation by giving to His cause—the cause of righteousness—universal triumph over sin. Then do not hoard up your gold; if you do, it will canker, but put out every dollar to usury. Instead of your souls being bound up in your cattle and other property, put it all where it should be placed for the benefit of the kingdom of God on earth and for his glory.

I have merely touched this subject. I wish the Elders, and we have many talented Elders, to verbally follow out this subject in the afternoon, and then physically follow it out by rightly using your cattle and wagons, your silver and gold, and your time and talents, then God will bless us. Amen.